By David Oliver 

 It’s the middle of summer and (hopefully) temperatures are soaring. Does that mean you should change your wine drinking habits? Not necessarily, but it depends on what your everyday choices are.

First off, you should be drinking wine. Though, being summer, beer is certainly acceptable and the occasional Margarita is always welcome. But this is a column about wine, so let’s talk about it.

The obvious observation would be that as the weather gets warmer the wine gets colder. Generally speaking, this would be the case. It does seem a bit odd to think about drinking full-bodied, monster reds like Cabernet Sauvignon or Petit Sirah when the temperature is above 80. But this is Wisconsin and it seems as though there are as many days in summer below 70 degrees as there are days above 80. On those cooler days it’s perfectly fine to drink bigger reds. Overall it makes the most sense to follow your own palate and drink what you’re in the mood for regardless of the weather.

Patio Wines

Also known as deck wines, boating wines or just plain hot weather wines. These are wines that should be served very cold, which is normally a no-no for wine. Cold temperature kills flavor. Period. Regardless of what you’re eating or drinking, the lower the temperature the less flavor there is. Think about a garden fresh tomato at room temperature versus one stored in the refrigerator.

But on a hot summer day, a fresh, crisp white served icy cold is as refreshing as beer. The tangy acidity of Sauvignon Blanc or Pinot Grigio will vibrate in your mouth and send chills down your spine. Wines for this purpose should definitely be inexpensive. No sense spending a wad of cash on a wine that’s going to be super cold. Here are a couple of recommendations:

Domaine de Pouy: For me this is the quintessential patio wine. Hailing from the southwest corner of France, the primary grape is Ugni Blanc. While this may be a grape you’ve never heard of, it is used primarily for the distillation of Cognac and is known in Italy as Trebbiano (which happens to be the most planted white grape in that country). The flavor that jumps out at you is Granny Smith apples.

Oak Lane Chenin-Sauvignon Blanc: Americans were denied the delicious wines of South Africa for many years because of U.S. sanctions against apartheid. The mid 1990s brought their wines to our shores and it was quickly recognized that they have a knack for crisp whites. Chenin Blanc is produced with more style than most countries. This blend with Sauvignon Blanc is a super value from a winery that is owned by Green Bay native Andrew Hilliard.

Barbecue Wines

Summer is barbecue season and matching your favorite grilled food with wine is easier than you may think. The reason for that is there is a nearly perfect default wine. Dry rosé (which I wrote an entire column about last summer) goes with just about anything you pull off the coals (or gas jets). Because it’s got more weight than most whites and is lighter than most reds, has good acidity and appealing flavors, it will go with everything from fish and chicken to BBQ ribs. Spicy reds are also a great match for ribs, burgers, brisket or steak. Zinfandel and Syrah/Shiraz are good choices but also some Merlots and Cabernets fit the bill. Try these out:

Domaine de la Petite Cassagne Rosé: From the Costières de Nîmes of France, which is at the southern end of the Rhone Valley, comes this affordable, high-quality pink wine. The winemaker, Diane de Puymorin, is a superstar amongst her peers for good reason. This wine is very seasonal, so look for it soon. If you can’t find it, ask your wine-seller what they recommend in its place.

Oxford Landing GSM: A classic Rhone Valley blend of Grenache, Syrah (Shiraz) an Mourvedre from the oldest family owned winery in Australia, this extremely reasonably priced red offers plenty of bang for your buck. With lots of fruit and spice, it will make you and your guests happy at that mid-summer cookout.

Chillable Reds

There are red wines that benefit from being chilled a bit. Stylistically they are lighter, fruitier wines that may even lean toward being a bit sweet. Perfect for a warm summer day. The first wine that comes to most wine-geeks minds for this category is Beaujolais. Sorry to spend so much time on French wines but they don’t have their stellar reputation for nothing. Beaujolais is a sub-region of Burgundy and the primary grape is Gamay. While not a sweet wine, it has low tannins and lots of fruit. Here are a couple of sweeter options:

Salmon Run Coho Red: A second label of the famed Dr. Konstantin Frank winery in New York State, this blend has just the right amount of residual sugar to make it easy to drink without being cloying.

B. Lovely Sweet Red: Slightly sweeter than the Coho, this is a great wine for people who are transitioning from white to red.

Don’t limit yourself to beer and cocktails in the summer. Wine is versatile enough to fit any warm weather situation.

Cheers!

Judging a book by its cover

By David Oliver

Package design is important for any consumer product. Hours of research and design, not to mention oodles of money, go toward any label before a product is placed on a shelf. It is the first impression a shopper has of what may lie inside. With the vast number of wines at the average retailer, labels are a critical concern for every winery. If you don’t get noticed, you don’t get purchased.

An important consideration for any company is branding. When you build a brand, you want consumers to continue to recognize it every time they shop. Making even a subtle change is considered risky.

For years wine labels were very traditional and rarely changed for this reason. However, in recent years the number of wineries worldwide has grown dramatically.

When you have a new winery you are more likely to design a label whose primary goal is to be attention grabbing. You’re faced with going up against established brands that are easily recognized. Sure, the juice in the bottle may be every bit as good, or even better, than your competition on the shelf. But if people don’t buy it, take it home and drink it, they’ll never know how delicious it is.

Many companies get very nervous about getting too wacky with packaging. If you sell a product that needs to have broad appeal across a variety of demographics, you may be reluctant to have imagery or type that is perceived as silly. But if you sell wine, you don’t have a dozen or even a hundred competitors, you have thousands of competitors. All of a sudden being ridiculous or outrageous doesn’t seem like such a bad idea.

For instance, lately there seems to be a trend toward using the word “bitch” on wine labels. I can think of at least three different wineries selling bitchy wines. Along similar lines are wines that use the word “ass” or are in some ways double entendres. For instance, a wine with a bird on the label called Big Pecker. Some of these labels sell, some don’t.

Animals on labels were the big trend a few years back. Frequently referred to (usually in a negative way) as critter wines. The epicenter for that trend was Australia, where the majority of these wines were low-priced plonk. That’s why some people will now automatically avoid inexpensive wines with fauna on the label. Thankfully, the critter wine trend seems to have run its course. The latest trends seem to veer toward great design.

My wife, Jane, is an art director at Leibold Associates, a graphic design firm in Neenah. Leibold specializes in package design and she has me more focused on labels than many people in my line of work. According to Jane, “Packaging is the final tipping point in the customers purchasing decision. Good packaging is an extremely important factor in building a successful brand.”

Here’s a rundown of some of the more interesting, eye catching labels out there:

Mollydooker: Some of the finest, highest rated, most sought after wines in the world also have some of the funkiest labels. They don’t settle for just the name of the grape. Their Merlot is Scooter, their Shiraz is The Boxer, Cabernet is The Maitre D, etc. The couple that owns the winery, Sarah and Sparky Marquis, have two higher end wines that are named in honor of their children; a Cabernet called Gigglepot after their daughter and a Shiraz named Blue-Eyed Boy after their son.

Charles Smith Wines: Charles has a label style that extends across three wineries he makes wine for. He started a winery called K Vintners that specialized in high end Washington state Syrah (K syrah, syrah?). He decided that he could use an entry level, everyday wine and came up with House Wine. After that wine became an enormous success he sold it and used the revenue from the sale to start Charles Smith Wines. All labels are stark black and white and like Mollydooker, Charles names his wines. Merlot is Velvet Devil, Chardonnay is Eve, Syrah is Boom Boom, Riesling is Kung Fu Girl and so on. Again, these wines are some of the best in the world. Grab them with the label, make them come back because of the quality.

Jim Barry Wines: Another Australian producer that does an exceptional job getting attention on the shelves. It may just be my perception, but it seems there are more Aussies doing interesting things with packaging than other countries. Some of their labels have a cricket (the game) theme as there is a cricket pitch located amongst the vineyards. The Cover Drive Cabernet Sauvignon and The Silly Mid On Sauvignon Blanc/Semillon may mean something to you if you know more about cricket than the average American.

The Other Guys: A division of Don Sebastiani and Sons out of California, their labels include Hey Mambo, Pennywise and Plungerhead. Their style of winemaking appeals to a broad range of palates, and their interesting names and cutting edge design will grab the attention of Joe and Jill Winebuyer.

These are but a few of the many, many wines on the market vying for your attention. Pick up a bottle (or six!) that appeal to you and discover something new!

***

May 2010: Oregon

The majority of all wine made in the United States is produced on the West Coast. The vast majority, nearly 90%, is made in California. New York actually comes in second, with less than 5% of the total production of the country. Washington is third with a little more than 3% and Oregon comes in fourth with a whopping 0.64%!

Despite the small percentage, the wines made in Oregon have an international reputation for quality.

The history of winemaking is relatively short lived in Oregon. While wine has been produced there dating back to the 1800s, the current state of their wine industry has been around for only a few decades. The climate is quite varied from north to south and different grapes thrive in each microclimate. What Oregon is primarily known for ,however, is Pinot Noir.

April 2009: Grape Origins – Bordeaux

by David Oliver

All grapes used to make wine fall into one of two species: vitis vinifera or vitis labrusca. Vinifera grapes come from Europe while labrusca grapes are indigenous to the United States. Generally speaking, the best wines are made from vinifera grapes and some of the most well known come from the Bordeaux region of France.

The French are very serious about wine, history and tradition. There are regulations dictating what grapes are allowed to be grown in any given region. In Bordeaux there are five red grapes that are used. They are Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petite Verdot.

Many consumers believe that red blends are a recent trend in the world of wine. The fact is that blends have been around nearly as long as wine has been made. The red grapes in Bordeaux are well suited to be blended with one another. Through their long history of winemaking it was realized that each grape brings its own characteristic traits to the table and helps offset potential flaws from the other grapes.

Cabernet Sauvignon is often thought of as the king of red grapes. It is very widespread with vines planted in nearly every major wine-growing region around the world. Despite its ubiquitousness it is not one of the oldest grapes out there. Its origins date back only to the 17^th century when it was created by crossing Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc.

Many of the finest and most expensive wines in the world are based on Cabernet Sauvignon. In the United States a wine need only contain 75% of the grape listed on the label in order to call itself that. So Cabernet, as with many other wines, has other grapes blended in that are not listed anywhere on the label.

Merlot is nearly as widely planted worldwide as Cabernet Sauvignon. In France it is actually the most planted grape variety. Because of its ability to make soft, fruity, easy drinking wines, it has enjoyed increasing popularity over the past few decades. In California some of these easy drinking versions came under fire from critics who thought they were too simplistic. This resulted in the famous line from the movie Sideways that derided Merlot and caused a downturn in sales and, I believe, also inspired many winemakers to create more serious versions. I have tasted many more excellent Merlots in the last couple of years than in the previous decade or so.

Okay, time for an interesting story about Merlot, Bordeaux, Chile and another grape called Carménère. When the wine industry was beginning in Chile, clippings were brought over from vines in Bordeaux. All six different red grapes were grown. Wait, didn’t I say there were five types earlier? Yes. There was a sixth grape called Carménère that was grown throughout Bordeaux before 1875. Then the region was decimated by a small pest called phylloxera that attaches itself to the roots of vines and eventually kills them. Nearly every vineyard was destroyed. It was discovered that native American vines (the aforementioned species, vitis labrusca) were immune to phylloxera. The answer was to graft the classic grapes onto labrusca rootstock. So cuttings from the Chilean vines were brought back to Bordeaux. All except for poor Carménère. It never really did that well in the damp climate of Bordeaux. It thrives in Chile, though much of it was confused for Merlot until DNA testing made growers realize it true identity.

Malbec is grown in most regions that grow the other Bordeaux grapes, but it is used primarily for blending. Except for Argentina who has made Malbec their most planted red grape. The popularity of Argentinean Malbec is increasing rapidly. The wines offer a lot of bang for the buck. Plenty of fruit with nice complexity in an easy to drink wine that doesn’t cost a fortune is a sure formula for success. If you haven’t tried one yet, head for your favorite wine seller and ask their opinion on which you should try.

Cabernet Franc is harder to find outside of a blended wine. In France it is commonly grown in the Loire Valley in such sub-regions as Anjou and Chinon. Some California producers bottle varietally labeled Cabernet Franc, but they are few and far between. I keep thinking the popularity of this grape will take off because people who are fans are very passionate about it.

Petite Verdot is rarely bottled by itself. It doesn’t ripen as early as the other grapes mentioned here so it is not nearly as popular. In all the years I’ve been drinking wine, I’ve only seen a handful of Petite Verdots. But I can honestly say that I have enjoyed each and every one of them.

Overall I would recommend that if you like any one of these grapes, try some of the others. They are all related and usually blended, whether it says so on the label or not.