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The Very Useful Wine Decanter

   In this age of fast food, fast cars, mass transit, instant communication and instant gratification, the very idea of slowing down to decant a bottle of wine seems somehow an artifact of a bygone era.  An anachronism.  We want our wine and we want it now.  Straight out of the bottle and into the glass, just like we like our beer.  The wine decanter does harken back to an earlier, gentler time.  It releases the soul of wine.  The soul of an unhurried process that began with the sun shining down on grapes slowly ripening on the vine, to the picking at the right time, to the fermentation, and onto the final bottling and aging.   

    It is the very nature of wine, fine wine that is, to be savored, to be coaxed to reveal its true nature.  To be allowed to open up and tell us its story.  Like a fine work of art, a fine piece of music or dare I say, a fine aged cheddar, a fine wine needs to sit, to sing, to play and to blossom.  Wine is by nature a wild thing transformed by a certain alchemy, and the bottle is not only a literal object, but a metaphor as well.  Wild things need to escape being bottled up to fly free.  

   Now back in the day wine bottles contained sediments (and some fine aged wines today do as well).  The wine needed to be poured into a vessel and the sediment left at the bottom of the bottle.  The purpose of a decanter in those times was to produce a pure drink that didn't have, well, dirt in it.  So to speak.  

   But a decanter has another purpose as well.  A nobler one.  When a bottle of wine is put to cellar, it ages.  The ageing softens the tannins and matures the wine.  More complex combinations of molecules are produced giving the wine a deeper personality, a nobility.  This process is accomplished by oxygen.  Air is one of the alchemical elements that produces the transformation-to quote Voltaire or somebody like him.  This process happens very slowly in a bottle.  However, when a wine is released from the bottle, the aeration process speeds up.  It is why people swirl a wine around in a glass, it exposes it to air.

   In a relatively young wine, decanting matures it.  It accelerates the aging process so that in a sense, 2 hours of decanting might equal 2 years or more of cellar aging.  I have actually heard stories of wine being decanted for 2 days! Now the idea is, again, that air-oxygen-immediately begins the start of oxidising, the process that breaks down the harsh tannins, softens the wine, and releases the bouquet, the flavor and the color.   

    Young red wines as well as venerable whites benefit from decanting.  However, a delicate red like a Pinot Noir, if decanted, should only be done for a short while because the diffusion tends to soften them too much and might weaken them.  Swirling the glass is sufficient.  However, a Napa Cabernet, French Bordereaux or Burgundy, or an Italian Barolo, or a Pouilly-Fuissé truely benefit from this, open up and tell their story and blossom like a beautiful rose.  There's a lot of torqued up energy in a powerful bottle of fine wine.  Release it and let it speak to you!  

   As for decanters, I have found that the ones with wide, flared bottom, expose the wine to the most air, however, any vessel that allows aeration, even a large pitcher, will work.  Some decanters are made of crystal or fine glass and make the wine sparkle and shine-another reason to decant.  Now there is a man, a Nathan Myhrvold, an x chief of technology at Microsoft, who claims that putting a wine, ANY WINE, into a blender, " hyperdecants" it, and actually kills normal decanting etc.  He swears by it.  However, the very idea of putting a 93 Chateauneuf du Pape into a blender on 'high', gives me the willies.  To each his own.  However the idea is the same.  Exposing wine to air, opens it up, lets it tell its story, where it came from, what magic it can conjure up, and allows it to transport you into a world of vines, sunlight and good earth, a world of beauty.

The Crazy Good Artichoke

   Its Summer and one of the joys of Summer is the fresh artichokes that are available in stores and farmer's markets.  Everybody loves artichokes, those spiny flowers of the thistle family.  Cooked until tender, dipped in melted butter, blue cheese dressing or my favorite, garlic aioli.  Knock them back with a crisp Champagne or Rosé and its pretty hard to beat!  

   Where artichokes came from is unknown, though they are said to have come from the Maghreb (North Africa).  A pretty exotic beginning to a humble thorn.  They were grown in Sicily since the time of the Greeks and have been a Mediterranean staple for thousands of years.  Here in California, which has a Mediterranean climate, they are cultivated and shipped all over the country and that is why the freshest are found at local farmer's markets.  That is one more indication that the lazy, hazy days of Summer are here, when beautiful, crisp bright green artichokes start popping up, piled high in stores.  

   There is some trepidation when it comes to cooking 'chokes', but I have a very simple recipe that I will share here.  

    Put about 2" of water in a large pot.  Add 1 clove of garlic and a healthy slice of fresh lemon.  You can also add a bay leaf.  Put a steamer cage in the pot (having a large pasta multi-purpose pot with a steamer makes things simple), and bring to a boil.  While the water is heating up, take 2 large artichokes and cut off the brown dead end of the stem and peal off the loose leaves attached.  Cut with a large chef's knife or kitchen shears, an inch or so off the top of each choke.  Put the artichokes into the pot, reduce heat slightly and boil for about 45 minutes.  If a fork sticks easily into the stem, its done.  You can serve them hot or cold but I prefer mine hot.  

       To me there is nothing tastier with artichokes then a cold Champagne or Rosé  and delicious homemade garlic aioli, which is a bit labor intensive but well worth the effort.  Here is how to make it!

                                                                        Garlic Aioli

1 1/2 cups canola oil

1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil

3 large cloves garlic

sea salt

2 egg yokes

1 lemon, halved

2 to 3 tablespoons water

Combine the oils in a 2 cup measure and set aside.

Crush together the garlic and 1 teaspoon salt in a mortar with a pestle until the garlic is completely turned into a paste.  You keep scraping down the sides of the mortar as you mash with a soft rubber spatula or some such implement you may have on hand.  Scrape the resulting paste into a large ceramic bowl, add the egg yokes and a pinch of salt and whisk.  Using a ceramic bowl is really helpful because you want sturdiness.  And you want a narrow bottom, not a broad one.  Also, make sure its room temp or even a bit warm.  NOT COLD, NOT HOT.

   While whisking constantly, begin adding the blended oils 1 drop at a time.  This is time consuming and you don't have to be EXACT, but try, and you will find your own method of accomplishing this.  I dip a shot glass into the oil and let it drip down.  After adding 1 to 2 tablespoons oil, the mixture will become very stiff.  Whisking constantly, blend in 1 tablespoon of the water.  This will thin it out a bit.  Then resume adding the oil drop by drop until the mixture again becomes stiff. Whisk in the juice of 1/2 lemon.  When the mixture smoothes out, resume adding oil, this time in a thin stream.  The aioli will again become stiff and then you add one more tablespoon of water and add the remaining oil in a thin stream while whisking constantly.

   Taste it and add salt as needed.  It should taste more garlicky than lemony and it should be looser than mayonnaise.  But if you like a bit more lemon, go ahead.  If its too thin you can add a bit more water.  Refrigerate. 

   If, in the early stages the aioli turns thin and grainy, it means the emulsion has 'broken'.  Set it aside and place another egg yolk in a clean, deep bowl.  Start whisking and add the broken aioli drop by drop until you have restored the emulsion.  But in all the times I have made this aioli, this has never happened.  

   This garlic aioli is so delicious!  And you can also slather it liberally on baguette or whatever else strikes your fancy.  So enjoy your Summer and start it out right with fresh artichokes and garlic aioli.  

Rosé , The Perfect Summer Wine

   What is your favorite Summer wine?  That question has an easy answer for me.  The answer is Rosé  .  Why Rosé you ask?  Well because its fresh, crisp, has great minerality, pairs well with light Summer food, looks good and chicks dig it.  Any other questions?  But Rosé you might say, brings to mind insipid pink jug wines with names like Gallo and Taylor.  Or isn't it 'white zinfindel' that your mom likes to drink?  Or even worse, wait for it, Pink Chablis?  No.  Its not.  

    Rosé wine, as it is known in France or America (rosado in Spain or rosato in Italy), all refer to a color ranging from deep salmon to a translucent pale pink produced by removing the skins of red grapes before the full color is imparted.  As far as I know, 'pink chiblis' is made by adding food coloring to bad white wine. Rose is produced from venerable veriatials such as Pino Noir, Grenache, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Malbec.  Usually, the skins of a red grape are allowed to have brief contact with the grape juice. The shorter the contact time with the skins, the lighter the wine's color will be.  And the longer, the more fruit forward it will be as well.  But most Rosé is dry. The taste will be a lighter version of the veriatial that it is produced from.  Though best when drunk young, the making of Rosé is an art unto itself and one should not be lulled into a wrong perception that because its pink and young it is shallow and 'light' in a subjective sense.  Its not.  

   The flavors can be as complex as any great wine with hints of lemon, strawberry, grapefruit, cherry, and mushroom.  And underlying all, especially with French Rosé is a delicious minerality that brings to the mouth cold wet stones and chalky earth.  They are, as has been written, the "sophisticated summer sisters of many red wine varietals". 

   Now, as has been stated, Rosé comes in all shades of pink.  But my favorite is usually the pale variates, usually from France and usually from the Côtes de Provence appellation.  Two prevailing qualities are found in the Côtes de Provence – limestone in the Northwest and crystalline in the Southeast.  This is what gives this wine the delicious minerality that puts the C in crisp.  %80 of all wine made in this provence is Rosé.  As Randy Kemner, the owner of my favorite wine store, The Wine Country, in Signal Hill Ca said to me, "Côtes de Provence, because of its climite, rocky hills and limestone, doesn't produce the great reds but for some reason makes the most exquisite Rosé".  The wines from this provence tend to be paler, dryer and more complex.

   So what does it pair with?  Rosé is best when served cold.  Especially if its a hot afternoon!  Duh!  And that is the thing, it is an afternoon and early evening wine.  It goes great with fish, chicken, shellfish, and grilled meats.  Even hamburgers.  But it goes especally well with a variety of cheeses and crispy baguette.  Grapes as well.  I made a lunch of Spanish chorizo, thin ham, cheeses and olives and the crisp fruity Rosé cut through the salty meats like budda!  I've had it with mussels and fries, grilled salmon, clams and pasta and guess what?  All by itself after a day's work!  

   Many specialty wine stores are getting the message and stocking Rosé. It seems to me that in Southern California, this trend was started by The Wine Country, whose French buyer started their 'Rosé tower' a few years ago.  Every Spring they order many different Rosés and put them in a giant stack in the middle of the store.  And actually there are so many good ones that it makes choosing one rather difficult!  But that's ok, its half the fun.  Also one other advantage to Rosé is that its relatively cheap!  You can actually get a good one for under $10 and most run from $12 to $20, up to around $40 for a Domaine Tempier Bandol which is I suppose, the Dom Perignon of Rosé.  

   Try it, you'll love it!  You can order Rosé from The Wine Country at  http://www.thewinecountry.com/ .