National Wine Day!
more like weekend... because you're worth it 🍷💅🏻
Wines & Woofs took an unexpected, but not surprising, short break and is now back! And just in time for Saturday’s National Wine Day.
I hope this weekend you find a great glass or bottle of wine and share it with your friends outdoors amongst the flowers and trees.
Or if you’re my sister and are currently dealing with some late-season snow flurries, drink something warmer indoors.
Recently, I traveled to Arizona for my youngest sister’s college graduation. When we visited the town of Jerome, I was extremely surprised to see Arizona-made wine being sold. According to my 30-seconds of research, Arizona is one of the oldest wine producing regions in the United States (you can thank the Spanish for that). Then, like most places, Prohibition killed off the industry. Sometime in the 1980’s, wineries were reestablished and continue to grow.
Sadly, I don’t have anything to report beyond that. I couldn’t find any “by the glass” offerings while out to dinner and my family was unwilling to order an entire bottle of “interesting” wine. However, it is something that I will keep my eye out for in the future.
What I did end up buying retail at one restaurant is a Chenin Blanc from Clarksville, Virginia. I’ll let you know how that tastes (as well as more about where it’s from) once we open it later this year (post-baby).
Also, in honor of drinking wine this weekend, I wanted to share an interesting Wine Enthusiast article I read last week.
Writer Kate Dingwall’s article “A New Generation of Sommeliers Is Rewriting the Language of Wine” profiled young industry professionals about their connections to wine, culture, and language.
I am a firm believer in the power of words. However, what I now cannot stop thinking about (thanks to the article) is how colonialism influenced the way wine is described.
It makes sense.
The British (historically a BIG wine importer), French, Spanish, Portuguese, and the Italians (i.e. the Romans) pretty much dominated old world Europe and built empires across the globe. They are the ones who grew wine and turned it into the powerhouse industry we see today. They are the ones who traveled the world seeking to colonize (especially through religion). For all intents and purposes, they wrote the book on how to view and drink wine.
However, that language doesn’t reflect the majority of the world.
Fruits beyond apple, pear, or berries, are simplified to exotic. Spicy is just spicy and does not get into the complexity of the spice or what spices are involved.
When you’re studying for any of the sommelier exams and you get to food pairings, you are pretty much told to match the wine with the region (like Chèvre and Sauvignon Blanc de Touraine). For foods outside of the study “standards”, like rich, complex curries from India or simple soba in Japan, or name any other cuisine from Asia, or any of the island nations, Africa, the Middle East, etc… all those pairings are pretty much nonexistent. Unless you change the beverage to sake, or beer, or whatever. For example (and they write this in the article) the basic pairing for anything Thai is riesling.
Reading the article brought my most recent trip to Japan to mind. Remember the merlot I had that I was shocked was merlot? With it’s plum and toffee profile?
Now, I’m thinking “no shit” it tastes the way it does— it’s most likely a reflection of that region and what’s grown there. I just wish I could have drank a full glass of it with the regional food. Also, if you were to give that same glass of wine to a local, what would they say it smells or tastes like? What aromas and flavors am I missing or just don’t have the words for yet?
So if you’re reading this, I’m giving you homework this weekend.
Buy a bottle of wine you’ve never had before. What do you smell? What do you taste? Then tell me in the comments what you noticed.
a wine & a woof
This weeks pairing is Zarate Val do Salnés Albariño (2021) from Rías Baixas and the friendly, mouthy, and sometimes silly, ball of sunshine, a Yellow Labrador!
For many of us (once again, sorry to my sister), the weather is heating up, the sun is shinning and summer is right around the corner! And when it’s warm out, I crave two things: fresh fruit and seafood. Especially raw fish like poke, ceviche, and oysters.
I bought the Zarate for my certified sommelier exam in 2023 and immediately loved the plump tropical fruit (think mango, pineapple), stone fruit, citrus, and sea salt flavors. It was light, clean, and complex. Even if I was enjoying an Albariño in California or Colorado, drinking it makes me feel like I was on a boat vacationing in the tropics.
I paired this white wine with a yellow lab because both are simply enjoyable.
Labrador Retrievers are one of the most recognizable and popular dog breeds on the planet. They are an extremely trainable, intelligent, and energetic working-class dog with wonderful, family-friendly personalities. People who are familiar with the breed will know that their personalities can be complex. I’ve known some labs who are stage-five clingers, while others like the occasional “hello” pet, but preferred to be more independent. I chose “yellow lab” because of the pale yellow, slightly golden color to the wine (I’m really not that complicated, especially when I’m drinking).
Fun fact about yellow labradors: the melanocortin 1 receptor (MC1R) gene that is responsible for the yellow coat is recessive. Thanks, Google!
i’ll drink to that
Shows: Fallout- Season 1, Shogun- Season 1 (the Portuguese storyline!!! Underscores the wine-language point a bit), Bridgerton- Season 3, Welcome to Wrexham- Season 2.
Books: Make Your Art No Matter What by Beth Pickens
Eats: Seagen - Tokyo, Japan. This place was so incredible, I dream of it (and then cry because it’s too far away). Shift - Flagstaff, Arizona. Cool wine list. Good food. Frank Grizzly’s - San Francisco. No wine (I think), but lots of tacos. And the tacos are amazing.
Thanks for reading and Happy National Wine Day!
~Kir
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