Smile and Show Your Purpley Tooth

It was supposed to be an afternoon of fun aimed at the kids. Bring all the kids over and let them play around on our humongous playhouse; they’ll tire out and both you and they will have a good night’s sleep. The kids were having a great time so we decided to continue the play through dinner. Everyone stay for burgers on the grill (something that can be done in Florida all year long) we said and they did. I discreetly move over towards my husband and whisper the question everyone else was wondering about, “Should we open a bottle of wine?” Sure why not. The kids have been playing all afternoon; let the adults have a turn. The quandary then turned to which wine to open. As I stood in front of the wine cooler – much like a kid in front of the fridge wondering what exactly to get – I finally drew out the Dusted Valley Stained Tooth Syrah. This is an exceptional wine made from a blend of co-fermented Syrah (85%), Viognier, Mourvedre and Grenache (5% each). The scents drift out of the glass and offer the nose a rapture of dark fruits. The tannins are ripe and offer a silky, lengthy finish. Mind you this wine isn’t called “Stained Tooth” for no reason. After one sip and swirl around the mouth, your teeth and tongue turn a plum color. By the time the glass has been fully enjoyed, your mouth is the color of a purple Crayola. This coloration is confirmation of the greatness of the wine. Because red wines get their color from the grape’s skin, you may be able to determine fullness of body. If the skin is in contact with the wine juice for a longer period of time, the wine will be darker and more full-bodied. On the flip side, less contact a lighter color – this is how some rosés are made. You may also be able to tell what kind of wine it is; lighter coloration comes from grape with softer, thinner skins like Pinot Noir or Beaujolais. Color in wine also offers you a glimpse of the age of a wine and whether it has had contact with wood. A red wine will develop tawny to brown hues in it as it ages. Back to the wonders of the Stained Tooth Syrah – we enjoyed the wine with the grilled burgers, grilled pineapple and a tasty bow-tie pasta salad whose dressing was not at all too vinegary. Needless to say it turned out to be a fun day for both the kids and the grown-ups!

What To Do When...

...the wine is from an old vintage, is limited in production, and is from an area you really don't know much about. I posted this picture because it has three bottles of wine that can be seen on the table. Each one represents one of these topics.

At the forefront is a bottle of Barbeito 1960 Bual Madeira, a complex Madeira to say the least. On the nose, there are chocolate and intense coffee notes; on the palate this sweet Madeira offers prunes, hazelnut and caramel with hints of molasses on the finish. Although the wine spent much of its time aging in barrel, it’s still 48 years old. Will it hold up? The good news is that it’s Madeira and very little will cause it to become damaged. Madeira wine goes through a special heating process which allows the wine to become virtually indestructible. However, if this was a Bordeaux or Burgundy wine, you would want to take special care to ensure that it was: 1. stored properly in the last 40 plus years. Light, extreme swings in temperature, upright storage and not enough moisture in the air all cause stress on the wine and its container (the bottle and cork). 2. When you are ready to drink an older vintage wine you will want to take it from its lying position and gently place it in an upright position. This will allow some of the dregs to drop to the bottom. 3. You will want to gently open the bottle with as little agitation as possible. Moving the bottle around too much will move all the dregs and bring them back into mixing with the wine. And 4. you will want to decant in an attempt to completely separate the dregs from the wine.

Behind the Madeira is a bottle of Raymond Burr 1999 Cabernet Sauvignon, which is no longer available but believe me was phenomenal – only the 1994 Raymond Burr overshadowed it. It had black cherry, currant, vanilla and chocolate aromas and flavors. It was densely structured with tannins sweetened from the oak aging. My mouth waters as I think about this wine. Production has always been extremely limited; even now the Raymond Burr Vineyards produce less than 3,000 cases of all their wines. What do you do when you find a gem like this with so few bottles available? Stock up! Once you know the wine is worth the real estate it will take up in your wine cooler, buy three, four or more bottles. The fun will be in tasting how the wine evolves over time. Just remember to enjoy the wine – don’t leave it for your heirs.

On the right the bottle with the dark label is the Aureo 2000 Sangiovese di Romagna from, you guessed it, the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy. Not many people know about this region, let alone the great wines it has to offer. We do however know many of its famous towns: Modena (Balsamic vinegar), Parma & Reggio (cheeses), Bologna and the resort town of Rimini among others. Emilia-Romagna is Italy’s capital of gastronomy. Suffice it to say that where there’s good food, good wine will follow. The Aureo Sangiovese is aged 18 months in oak casks resulting in a deep ruby red wine with a large, earthy bouquet and a finish that is long and pleasant with dark fruits and earth. When you come across a wine from a region you know little of, take it as a learning opportunity. Ask the Sommelier about the wine and its origins, grab an Atlas or go on-line and do a search. Those little-known regions hold a treasure trove of great tasting wines and a chance to learn something new.