Humans have been making and drinking wine for over 8000 years. In this episode, we’ll be talking to the former owner of a winery and demystifying this everyday drink for everybody. This Livestream is sponsored by Aura.com. Go to my link https://aura.com/moondog to get a 14-day free trial and see if any of your data has been exposed.
Read my notes: https://moondogindustries.com/tmi-260923-arken-optics/
We’ve been drinking wine for a long time. The oldest evidence of winemaking dates from 6000 BC in the Central Asian steppes of Georgia. It’s written about in the Old Testament and in Greek . It forms the basis of the earliest Christian traditions.
For most of Europe, it’s an everyday drink. But for us here, it’s a snobby drink. What do you think about wine. Is it something you drink regularly or something you’ll drink if served and you have no options?
Confession time: I’m a recovering wine snob. I’ve been attending wine tastings in NYC since the early 1990s. From 2015-2017, I was one of the owners of a winery in Argentina.
But I learned enough to learn this. It’s mostly B.S. Wine should be enjoyed with food like beer.
If you’ve got no clue about what wine to buy if asked to pick up a bottle on the way to a dinner or housewarming, I can give some advice.
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DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE
Wine used to be a snobby drink. And many people still think it is.
I DON’T LIKE WINE
If you like funky cheeses or dry cheeses, you’ll like more sophisticated wine. If you only like American slices or mozzarella sticks. You should enjoy sangria, a dry rosé, or a sweet White Zin.
Sweet wine like White Zinfendel is popular for a reason. Just like when you started drinking you started with a cocktail, then later got into vodka or whiskey.
FOOD AND WINE
Pair wine with your food eg. Sweeter wines with sweeter dishes.
BBQ: Red Wine (Merlot, Red Zinfendel, Red Blend, etc.) or Frutier White (Sauvignon Blanc), or a White Zinfendel by Josh, Sutter Home, Barefoot Cellars
Steak: Dry or bold red (Cabernet, Pinot Noir, Malbec, Chanti) by Mondavi, Kendal Jackson
Seafood: Light red or Dry (Fume Blanc, Pinot Grigio)
ORDERING WINE AT RESTAURANTS
Avoid the cheapest wine on the list.
Avoid the most expensive unless somebody else is picking up the tab.
Ask the waiter/somilier. They want a good tip, so they won’t steer you toward a bad wine.
HOW TO SHOP
Buy your wine at COSTCO.
As a beginner, avoid wines that cost less than $10 and any wine that costs more than $50 from a grocery or liquor store.
Store your wine sideways to keep the cork moist
Avoid boxed wine or jug wine.
Cork is not a guarantee of a good wine.
Avoid fancy labels with lots of gold foil or complicated graphics.
Matte, dull labels are better than shiny labels.
If they put a Wine Score on the label thats good. But it really doesn’t mean much. Almost every decent wine scores a 92 or above if they buy an ad in the magazine.
TIPS
Buy a bottle that is at least 5 years old. Age matters for good wines but not crappy ones.
Wine doesn’t always get better with age. Don’t save your wine for more than 5 years unless you know it’s a very tannin-heavy wine.
Air your wine. Use a decanter or an electric frother. If you can open your bottle an hour or more before serving it will taste better.
COUNTRIES AND REGIONS
Napa is the US’s most famous region but it’s now mostly marketing and money. California is known for bold wines.
French wines are good but there is a huge range of qualities. Most are mild and less bitter/tanin.
Australia is known for good wines. The ones sold in the US are generally good value. They’re most popular variety is Shiraz which is their name for the same grape as Syrah wine here.
Italian and Spanish wines can be great good but generally not as available here nor as good of a value. The cheaper Italian bottles are kind of mediocre and more expensive than mediocre California wines.
Chile and Argentina are known for good value wines. Argentina’s most common variety is Malbec which is a originally from France.
BRAND CONTEST CLUE
This Napa Valley wine brand gets its name from the man credited for discovering gold in California. But it has nothing to do with him. The brand name was an invention by Italian-American winemaking family, the Trinchero’s who bought the winery in 1948 and built it into one of the largest wine makingers in the US.
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FINAL CLUE
In 2004 this wine company produced over 12M bottles of wine. In 1972 it accidentally invented White Zinfandel which became it’s most successful wine variety and for a time became the most popular type of wine sold in the US.
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