Salon Saturday November 11

Introduction

The holidays are full upon us and that means families getting together, old friends meeting again, glasses raised or clinked to signify our coming together and giving thanks. “The frost is on the pumpkin, the juice is in the barn, waiting for our waiting lips, the cider’s nearly gone.”

Sparkling Wines for the Holidays

It should be no surprise I’d cover sparkling wines for the holidays as the holidays are not complete without them. From the palate-lifting bubbles to the jewel-like colors few things represent this festive season so well. The terms to keep in mind are Champagne, Crémant, sparkling wines, and the methods used to make them.

Only wines that come from the Champagne region of France can be called Champagne. While some sparklers have grandfathered in that name; as in California Champagne, just remember there is no such thing as California Champagne, regardless of what the label states.

Crémant: If you love the taste of Champagne, this is another term to remember as it connotes wines of France done in the same Méthode Champenoise process. Crémant de Loire, Crémant d’Alsace, Crémant de Bourgogne and Crémant de Limoux are examples of excellent sparklers without Champagne’s stiff price tag.

Sparkling wines have been with us for centuries, but they did not originate in Champagne. Nonetheless every other sparkling wine producer wishes they could put champagne on their label. All the quality houses use the méthode champenoise or simply the traditional method.

Sparkling wine grapes

The classic grapes in the Champagne region are Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier. However many different grapes can be employed to make a sparkling wine. Pinot Noir is often the red grape of choice for Rose and Pinot Meunier less frequently outside of Champagne. On the other hand many white wine grapes have been employed for sparkling wines. Generally the best white wine grape in a region is the one selected.

Types of Sparkling Wines

Regardless of the wine grapes use, there are two primary ways of making a sparkling wine; the Champagne method or the Charmat bulk process. In the Charmat process the secondary fermentation is done in a large pressured tank, not in the bottle, which considerably shortens production and is less costly. The bubbles are not as fine or the mouthfeel as frothy and creamy.

Mouthfeel

The other reason the traditional method is preferred is in the mouthfeel. The mousse is generated by the small, intense bubbles that surge up from the glass base. The nucleation site within the glass will also alter the bubble activity.

• Non-Vintage (NV): The most traditional of all sparkling styles. These are a blend of multiple varieties and vintages of wine. The goal is to blend a consistent wine every year. Minimum aging is 1.5 years in Champagne. Some producers call it multiple vintages.
• Vintage: In Champagne, there have been 46 years denoted as vintage years in the last 60 years. Vintage Champagnes are aged a minimum of 3 years prior to release. Other regions might not follow this pattern, but Gruet as one example does not make a vintage sparkler every year.
• Cuvée de prestige: The tête de cuvée or “Grande Cuvee” of a Champagne house–the very best wine a house produces. The term is used by other producers, Many by Champagne houses located in California for example.
• Blanc de Blancs A sparkler made completely of white grapes like Chardonnay.
• Blanc de Noirs: A sparkler made completely with black grapes, such as Pinot Noir and less commonly, with Pinot Meunier, although Gruet now does produce one.
• Rosé: In Champagne, typically a blend of white and red wine to create a pink wine prior to secondary fermentation. Other areas might do a more conventional Rose method.

Details of Champagne Method

While fizz in a wine can be by accident, the Champagne method was a way to deliberately induce a second fermentation even though it took a while to perfect.

• The liqueur di tirage is a mix of yeast, wine and sugar added to induce a second fermentation.
• The riddling process gradually tilts the bottle until it is inverted and the sediment has moved into the bottle’s neck. It was developed by Madame Clicquot.
• The disgorgement removes the sediment by freezing the bottle neck before extracting the plug
• Finally a dosage or liqueur d’expedition of wine and sugar is added to top off the wine.

Early on the dosage could be up to 100 grams per liter, which is very sweet indeed.

• Brut Nature – no added sugar and under 3 grams per liter of residual sugars
• Extra-Brut – between 0 and 6 grams per liter of residual sugars
• Brut – less than 12 grams per liter of residual sugars
• Extra sec (or Extra Dry) – between 12 and 17 grams per liter of residual sugars
• Sec (or Dry) – between 17 and 32 grams per liter of residual sugars
• Demi-Sec – between 32 and 50 grams per liter of residual sugars
• Doux – more than 50 grams per liter of residual sugars, seldom produced now

In Champagne, since the late 20^th century, early 21^st century the warming trend permitted a longer hang time, riper grapes, better farming techniques, and less reliance on sweeter dosage. While brut wines have been around for some time, we are now seeing Extra-brut, Zero Brut and Brut Nature wines. Gruet Sauvage is an extra-brut for example.

Books for November

I’m actually going to recommend an author that I’ve been hooked on for 45 years and counting: Dean Koontz. His first published work was Soft Come the Dragons in 1970, but it was Night Chills in 1976 that I first read. The Silent Corner in 2010 introduced a new heroine, Jane Hawk and a new nightmare with people being forcefully injected with a DNA-controlling substance that takes over their mind. I wonder if he had conversations with Dr. Fauci?

His list of books is quite lengthy, I still have many to read, but below is a list of movies taken from his novels that might give you a better idea. However, they are nothing like reading this great master of suspense. In fact few writers/directors manage to transfer his unique blend of suspense and psychological horrors to the screen.

• 2013 Odd Thomas (based on the novel “Odd Thomas” by) One of the best adaptations of a Koontz novel of the same name in 2003. He has since written 10 more Odd Thomas novels.
• 2004 Frankenstein (TV Movie) (concept) from Frankenstein: Prodigal Son and City of Night (2005) and Dead and Alive (2009). A good cast, good locales
• 2000 Sole Survivor (TV Movie) (novel – as Dean Koontz), although a 4-part mini-series this adaptation is well done. Just hard to find.
• 1998 Watchers 4 (novel “Watchers” – as Dean Koontz) I’m sure by the time they plundered this novel for the fourth time no one was watching the Watcher.
• 1998 Phantoms (novel “Phantoms” – as Dean Koontz) / (screenplay – as Dean Koontz). This was perhaps the best adaptation of a Koontz novel at the time. Perhaps the fact Koontz wrote the screenplay, or the good cast of Peter O’Toole, Ben Affleck, Rose McGowan and Liev Schreiber.
• 1997 Intensity (TV Movie) (novel – as Dean Koontz) I didn’t catch the TV movie, but that’s perhaps because I was so exhausted by the intensity of the novel. Even Koontz switched to a lighthearted comedy/suspense theme for his next novel.
• 1995 Hideaway (novel – as Dean Koontz) A good take on the novel with Jeff Goldblum and Christine Lahti excellent. Roger Ebert gave it 3 stars and commented: “But what “Hideaway” delivers is the sort of experience I occasionally crave at the movies: lurid, overwrought melodrama and an ending that shoots for the moon.”
• 1988 Watchers (based on the novel by) A boy takes in a stray dog, later discovering that it is an ultra-intelligent runaway being stalked by a dangerous creature from the same genetic research lab. The novel expressed Koontz love of dogs and his own Labs.
• 1977 Demon Seed (novel “Demon Seed”) with Julie Christie trying to escape the clutches of Prometheus, the AI machine that is obsessed with her.

 While commenting on his novel, which he re-wrote in 1977, Koontz said, “Prometheus, the computer, is the ultimate intellectual: obsessed with a single Big Idea, intent upon a utopian future that it must achieve at any cost. Like so many utopian Intellectuals, from Marx to Freud to Lenin to Hitler to Mao, the destruction of traditions, of cultures, and even of countless lives is an acceptable price for change. The 20th century was the first in which the course of the world was largely determined by utopian intellectuals, and it is the bloodiest century in history. So far. Now, as we watch fascism on the rise again–and virtually everywhere–the 21st century may be bloodier than the 20th. And while the darkly funny Prometheus is also fearsome, in truth he couldn’t kill a tiny fraction as many people as a human being who, building a utopian movement can kill millions with aplomb.”

November Music: Classic FM Digital Radio

Last week we reviewed Glamour magazines 45 top choices, although we only chose nine. This week we are covering classical music choices, which are a bit more laid back and contemplative. The website (www.classicfm.com ) adds selections from each of the ten pieces featured. The first classical piece, however, is one of my enduring favorites by the great American composer; Aaron Copland.

Aaron Copland – Appalachian Spring

Copland’s popular orchestral suite originated as a ballet, in fact many of his works were for ballet and I’ve seen them all. This piece tells of 19th-century American pioneers building a new farmhouse. The suite is full to the brim with all-American tunes, including a Shaker song, Simple Gifts, which Copland borrowed and incorporated into the music. One can almost imagine the pioneers leaving the field and accepting ladles of water from their wives. For me this work evokes what I love about this country and which Copland expressed so well in his music.

In fact I’m making it a twofer with Fanfare for the Common Man. This one always sends chills up my spine with the assertive brass fanfare.

John Rutter – For the Beauty of the Earth

The sounds of a choir have always excited me; perhaps because I was in church choirs in California and New Mexico.  For the Beauty of the Earth is traditionally associated with Harvest time, and includes two contrasting tunes, ‘Dix’ and ‘England’s Lane’. John Rutter’s lovely arrangement is now a firm favorite with choirs around the world.

J. S. Bach – Brandenburg Concertos 1-6

For the perfect gateway into the world of Baroque music, look no further than Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos. Each of the six contrasting concertos makes the perfect musical accompaniment to a day of festivities. Bright, lively and energetic and they might keep you from nodding off after a big dinner.

Ludwig Van Beethoven – Symphony No. 6 – The Pastoral

Just the name of this work suggests the musical images Beethoven wanted us to hear and see. Even the thunderous storm eventually recedes and all is calm once again. The Pastoral Symphony is a paean to the great outdoors, and one of the first pieces to paint a musical picture of a visual scene.

Abide with Me

Beautifully poignant no matter the occasion, this Christian hymn is a gentle prayer to God to stay with the speaker, through life and trials. On the website it’s performed by perhaps the greatest representatives of choral tradition: King’s College Choir. Visiting King’s College I thought I caught faint echoes of the music that so fills this place.

Charles Ives – Symphony No. 4

Ives’ Fourth Symphony, which premiered in New York City in 1927, was one of the first symphonic masterpieces by an American composer. It’s bold, completely original for its time, and has been hailed as “Ives’s climactic masterpiece”. The third movement, Fugue, includes a lovely choral element.

Leonard Bernstein – Westside Story – America

The selection, taken from West Side Story, ‘America’ sees Puerto Rican immigrants singing the praises, and pitfalls, of the USA. Bernstein combines vibrant Hispanic music with Sondheim’s lyrics, which feature the line: “I like the city of San Juan… I know a boat you can get on”. And the choreography of Jerome Robbins enlivens every lyric. For me this musical never gets old.

Vivaldi – The Four Seasons (Autumn)

The third movement of Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons is the quintessential music for the autumn season. The Baroque composer uses music to paint an idyllic country picture, and a timeless work of art. It’s a pity it is used as on-hold music with violins fairly shrieking over the phone. Sometimes in New Mexico it seems we are getting all four seasons on the same day.

George Gershwin – Rhapsody in Blue

From the alluring opening glissando, we know we’re in a different musical milieu and in the hands of genius. The woodwinds begin it, but the piano is the real star in Gershwin’s 1924 symphonic composition. The work is a permanent fixture of American concert repertoire, with its infusion of jazz and classical music and its distinctly New York sound. In fact it is a musical tribute to that city.

The Vienna Clarinet Connection featured on the musical selection do a credible job of making us believe George really scored it for woodwinds.

Jay Ungar – Ashokan Farewell

American folk musician Jay Ungar wrote the achingly beautiful ‘Ashokan Farewell’ in 1982, and for years it was played as a farewell waltz at dance camps run by the composer and his wife. It’s a melody that cries of home, and you can’t help but be moved by it. For me it has a lovely Celtic feel as well.

The Wine Report: Wines worth Having

For your consideration: 2018 Trader Joe’s reserve Shiraz, Barossa 14.5% ABV, $9.99

What, a Barossa Shiraz for ten bills? You know I wanted to try this one out. The blackberry, plum and spice related very well to other Barossa Shiraz wines, but with less jammy-ness. I’m OK with that. It has to be a well made wine as I’m drinking the second half of this bottle after a few days and was not expecting it to hold up so well. I guess the moral is; never give up on a good wine.

Jon Thorsen, the reverse wine snob stated: The wine (palate) tastes very similar to the nose with a touch of peppery spice thrown in. Again, it drinks a bit more like a Rhone Syrah than the typically ripe and jammy Barossa bottle at this price. It has a touch of earthiness and cigar box too that lead into the dry, long, savory finish. And it held up just fine on day 2.

Jon writes in detail on all Trader Joe’s and Costco wines and is a very reliable source for deciding which wine bargain at these stores really is a bargain. I wouldn’t hesitate to offer this for turkey day. Just pile on some dark meat and cranberry sauce and watch this wine disappear fast.

For your consideration: 2020 Vina Zorzal Garnacha 13% ABV $12 to 14 (Wines.com)

This was an elegant Grenache from Navarra, Spain, a wine region that shows great promise from all the wines I’ve tasted from there. San Gregorio is another producer from there making outstanding wines.

Winemaker Notes: Clear, medium intensity, ruby color wine. Clean, high-intensity aromas of red fruit such as raspberry, strawberry, red cheery, also black pepper and earthy notes. Dry and fresh, soft tannins and medium body. Red fruits flavors, mineral hints, and a long finish.

Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate: 92 points. The incredibly young and juicy 2020 Garnacha was produced with grapes from different villages, hence a regional blend that for the first time contains grapes from the cooler Lerga that adds lower pH, more freshness and complexity to the blend. They do a soft extraction in stainless steel using 20% full clusters and indigenous yeasts, achieving a wine with moderate alcohol (13.47%) and good freshness (pH 3.47). I felt like the wine had gone one step up in complexity and depth from the previous vintage; it’s precise, harmonious, elegant and nuanced and keeps varietal purity. It’s medium-bodied and has very fine tannins with herbal freshness, reminiscent of acid berries and bay leaf.