Here's a chestnut:
every season has its wine
every season has its wine
October/November 2006
a silky Rioja Gran Reserva, the muscular taste of a
Chateauneuf du Pape, or an Amarone's raisiny flavors. A
serious red will never taste as perfect as it will after you've
been daydreaming about it all summer long.
I discussed the subject with Luca Maroni, a
leading Italian wine critic and author, and he said he thought a
substantial red was a good choice in the fall largely for
psychological reasons.
"It all comes together in the fall," he said. "There's the grape
harvest, the weather cools, more complex foods start to
appear on restaurant menus, and all of a sudden you want a
wine worth looking forward to and really thinking about."
Chateauneuf du Pape, or an Amarone's raisiny flavors. A
serious red will never taste as perfect as it will after you've
been daydreaming about it all summer long.
I discussed the subject with Luca Maroni, a
leading Italian wine critic and author, and he said he thought a
substantial red was a good choice in the fall largely for
psychological reasons.
"It all comes together in the fall," he said. "There's the grape
harvest, the weather cools, more complex foods start to
appear on restaurant menus, and all of a sudden you want a
wine worth looking forward to and really thinking about."
Both of us agreed that the chestnuts that for some people
mark the real start of the autumn are another good reason to
wait to open the first serious red of the season.
"There's something about the way the tannins of the wine
soften when they meet with the tannins of the chestnuts that
make it a wonderful and unusual food and wine match,"
Maroni said. "That combination is one of the best ways to
announce the beginning of fall."
After our conversation, I started to think about my friends back
home.
Though I've been living abroad of most of the last decade and
a half, I grew up in Florida -- where there are really only two
seasons -- and I imagined certain friends I grew up with
arguing that they could create whatever season they desired
with a simple flick of the thermostat switch.
It shouldn't be a surprise to discover that I think they'd be
missing the point.
It is true that technology can make it cool inside when the
weather outside is warm (or visa versa). But it cannot make a
strawberry or a peach or tomato taste good when it has been
forced to grow somewhere out of season. And it can't create a
sense of satisfaction and anticipation in the mind of a wine
lover who drinks the wine that's in sync with nature at that
moment, and who longs for what nature will bring next. Back
mark the real start of the autumn are another good reason to
wait to open the first serious red of the season.
"There's something about the way the tannins of the wine
soften when they meet with the tannins of the chestnuts that
make it a wonderful and unusual food and wine match,"
Maroni said. "That combination is one of the best ways to
announce the beginning of fall."
After our conversation, I started to think about my friends back
home.
Though I've been living abroad of most of the last decade and
a half, I grew up in Florida -- where there are really only two
seasons -- and I imagined certain friends I grew up with
arguing that they could create whatever season they desired
with a simple flick of the thermostat switch.
It shouldn't be a surprise to discover that I think they'd be
missing the point.
It is true that technology can make it cool inside when the
weather outside is warm (or visa versa). But it cannot make a
strawberry or a peach or tomato taste good when it has been
forced to grow somewhere out of season. And it can't create a
sense of satisfaction and anticipation in the mind of a wine
lover who drinks the wine that's in sync with nature at that
moment, and who longs for what nature will bring next. Back
As the weather
turns colder, it may
be time to open a
bottle of Barbaresco.
turns colder, it may
be time to open a
bottle of Barbaresco.
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