I had one of “those moments” when I was cooking dinner tonight. The recipe called for a 1/2 cup of white wine, not unusual. I’ve been cooking for more years than I can sometimes recall, and this is the first time I’ve ever wondered if I should pour straight from the bottle or swirl it in a glass to bring it to it’s peak. We are always cautioned to never use a wine in cooking that we would not put in a glass at our table. So does a wine straight from the bottle serve us as well as one that is swirled and the proper temperature? Wine guys and gals, help me out here. Added bonus: whoever can give me a really and truly answer will be cited in my new book! Wow!
You can’t just claim Oregon as yours cause you’re in the state next to them.
You should be proud however that UW beat Boise St.
Born and Raised in Portland, went to UO!!! What else do you want? sheesh. And yes I’m delighted the Huskies beat Boise State. DH is a Husky, so thing get mighty interestin’ around here when UW plays UO. I even have a stuffed duck that plays our fight song, and UO tennis shoes and slippers…way beyond the normal t=shirts and sweatshirts!
Good, because I am really thinking about purchasing around 10lbs of samples. I am originally from Chicago, and I just can’t find great sausage in SoCal. Especially a great kielbasa.
a heartbreaking triple overtime loss for the Bulldogs- AT Texas A & M. Watch out Oregon (next opponents). Care to make a wager Grammiedaboss??
WD
If you’re cooking with the wine, I don’t see any reason to go through the exercise of allowing the wine to breathe to make it more palatable for drinking. Once you add the wine to the cooking goodies, you’ll quickly reach a point where the ‘wine’ is destroyed by the heat and the incorporation of the fluid into the meal.
That’s my amateur opinion.
Hmmmmm. How “interesting” are you willing to make it? I ALWAYS stand by my Ducks!
Well, might as well fire off a few answers as I guess this is our last day with you great folk…
Brettanomyces, “brett” for short, is a spoilage yeast. Lives in the wood and kicks out a primary metabolite calles 4-ethylphenol. This stuff in it’s pure form smells JUST LIKE the smell you get when you open a tin can of Johnson & Johnson Band-Aids. Swear to GOD. No difference. Remember those? Over time, partitions change and oxidation occurs and then you get smells in wine not unlike the smell of a wet dog or that smell you find when you remove a saddle from an overworked horse. These aren’t arbitrary wine smells that you really need to work your imagination to find…“like a beautiful woman running naked on a beach in the moonlight…delicate aromatics of butterscotch with a a hint of lavender and honeysuckle…” This stuff smells axactly as it is described… Yuk.
Negative. Your opinion counts and we ARE paying attention…
Mind if I use either of these in one of my wine/food pairing presentations?
Finished up before the “commercial winery” was finished, although I was peripherally around for the first Bulldog Wines, produced up north somewhere… I am asked to come back and do blending seminars for the students although I was on the road this spring and was unable to join Susan Rodriguez’s Enology class this year.
I am a Bulldog fan for life, however, I would be hesitant to wager on Pat Hill’s current team as they always play any BCS team well, but seem to fold when the chips are down…unlike years past (David Carr’s QB period) when they just shut everyone down… They seem to play to the level of their opponent…giving them as much chance to beat Sac State as they are the University of Michigan…well, maybe that’s not a good example this year…oof.
The tannins polymerize and get so heavy they “fall out” of solution. They are then relaced with more of the same and the cycle repeats. This is the assumption I have always operated under. You can only have so much of a particular chemical in solution before it drops out (as an overly general statement). Solid question…
\
well, I am certainly not a good cook, but I am a chemist. And at most cooking temps, the water and volatile organic compounds (i.e. the things that you detect when you swirl the wine) plus the EtOH will be gone, evaporated. So I would guess that anything that wine adds to a dish cooked above 100C are compounds that you can’t smell
-steve
Buena Vista has been around since the beginning of commercial winemaking in N. California (with a small hiatus of a century or so). Among other locals with history, I’d love to see Gundlach-Bundschu - awesome people and great wine.
I understand your point. Very much so. We are pretty sensitive to “place”. We happen to have our own appellation that is unique unto itself. The grapes we grow are farther apart in flavor and structure profile to grapes grown down in Soledad than they are to different points up in the Highlands. We have a new vintners association called “the Wine Artisans of the Santa Lucia Highlands” which we would like to bring attention to. I can say that Soledad is both unique and important to the US in that an enormous amount of the best agricultural commodities are grown there…called the “salad bowl” of the US. I am always suprised to find out how much of the nation’s salad crops and greens are grown down at the base of our hill… Many of the vineyards have been yanked over time as there is much more money to be made growing something else, but you can still find some pretty amazing Reisling and Chardonnay down on the eastside of the valley. Much of Bonny Doon’s cool climate varietals are planted there…
I really don’t know anything about wine, but I came across this article from the NYT back in March which addresses the idea of cooking with wine, and whether it matters if you cook with wine you wouldn’t drink – It Boils Down to This: Cheap Wine Works Fine
Not all volatiles evaporate during cooking - otherwise your food wouldn’t have any aroma (or flavor other than sweet, salty, tart, bitter or umami). It takes a while to cook off all the alcohol, so some might remain depending on cooking method. Wine’s main contribution to cooking is acid (performing the same function as vinegar or lemon juice) and some aroma/flavor.
I think the filter of my post referencing something that rhymed with “corn” was much more humorous than what I originally posted. “Midget extreme hardcore bass fishing” is something that I will look forward to taking up as hobby once harvest is over. Off to the lake!!!
I would very much like to see comments from wine professionals, as well as experienced consumers regarding retail (and wholesale) shipping of wine, in consideration of weather.
I’ve lived in Houston for more than 20 years. In my opinion, we have only two seasons: Summer and Not-Quite-So-Hot.
I have little experience having wine shipped in from a distance – fewer than 5 cases, combined. Towards the end of May, I called in an order to a NY retailer. I raised the question about temperature and shipping. The salesperson seemed knowledgeable about this, and suggested that I pay for 3-day shipping, which I agreed to. I asked if they use gel-pack or any other type of cooling material in the packaging. He said that those would not last the 3-day journey, anyway, and would result in more change of temperature in the package. He said that he always checks the weather forecast of the package destinations, and (given my approval) would ship at his discretion. Well, it’s three months later, and I still don’t have my case. Given the weather over the summer, I’m not disappointed at all.
For this offer by Hanh, I put in an order for two. I understand that Woot has recently began using the gel-pacs. I would be grateful for a direct comment from the Hanh professionals, regarding the shipping of these orders.
Thanks.
Please do! If it works, I’d be happy to accept a bottle of your Cab Franc :). I went in for 2 with my younger brother, so I will probably be ordering some as soon as my paychecks start coming in.