Author Archives: Seema Tikare

There are so many factors that come into play when you walk into a wine store.  You may even not know yet whether you want to buy a white, rosé or red.  How do you choose?

Buying a new bottle of wine is like going on a blind date.  Many questions arise.  Is it worth the time and money?  Does the first impression carry through to the actual character of the wine?  Will it match the description?   Will I like it?  Is it worth the money? 

One way some people (even I) decide is by looking at labels.  Perhaps a traditional label, with serifed fonts and dark colors and a family crest? French?  Italian? A “new world wine”?  Or perhaps a more modern, colorful label with funky fonts or oddly shaped labels or catchy art work?

Another way to choose walk in and not ask for help.  It is easy to become intimidated by the wine steward when they ask if they can help you.  You might actually tell them you are “just looking” or “I’m all set.” If you turn down help, look for hand written recommendations on the shelf.  Pre-printed “shelf talkers” are placed there by the distributor or producer as a marketing tool.  They may be accurate but they may also hype the bottle.  A hand written shelf talker means that the workers in the that shop have actually tasted the wine and are recommending it from personal experience.  

If you do accept help, tell them as much information as you can.  For example, “I am going to a friend’s house and need to take a bottle.”  Keep in mind that some sales people are genuinely knowledgeable and some are not.  In a good shop, the clerk will tell you whether they can help you with your needs or if they need call a more knowledgeable colleague over.  If it is someone knowledgeable, then tell them as clearly as you possibly can what you are looking for and tell them your budget – $10? $15? $20?  And if you have tried any wines before, definitely mention which ones you liked or disliked.

Wine shopping has changed a lot also because of the internet and apps.  Again, the validity / accuracy depends on the role of the reviewer.  Is the reviewer benefitting from a positive review in some way? Are the reviews crowd sourced?  If crowd sourced, do these people seem to know what they are talking about?  Do you trust their opinion more than the local sales person? 

If you know more or less what you like, are you buying based on your mood?  Do you need a deep, dark wine to curl up on the couch with?  Do you want something crisp and refreshing that will uplift your palate?  Are you buying for the food you will be serving or expecting at a friend’s place?  Are you just looking for something new and different or tried and true?

Given how many factors affect the way you shop for wine and the bottle you end up with, it is nice to know that most people are in the same boat, even if they are speaking very confidently and using “wine speak”.  Don’t be intimidated, don’t over spend and be open to new experiences.

One cannot talk about wine in any depth without discussing terroir.  Many people, including myself in the beginning, think that terroir just refers to soil.  Terra = earth = terroir.  But this is not the case.  Over the past several years of study, I have come to understand that terroir is a short hand term for the all factors comprising the environment in which a grape grows and ripens.  It is about the climate, the winds, the amount of sunlight, the local trees and bushes and even mushrooms, the change in temperatures from day to night (“diurnal range”), the amount of water that gets to the roots, and so forth.  

When you hear that a wine expresses its “terroir,” what does that mean exactly?  It means that you should be able to taste certain characteristics of its home if it is well-made and carefully handled.  The difference between a small-batch hand-made wine and a mass-produced wine is that terroir-driven wines are often planted to challenging soils and terrains and climates in order to stress the vines a bit.  This encourages the vine to concentrate more energy and therefore more flavors and body into the grapes, allowing the winemaker to produce more concentrated wines with nuance and complexity.  In contrast, mass-produced wines are often made from vines planted on flatter, more fertile soils. They are farmed with more fertilizer and irrigation to create a uniform quality that ensures a predictable character that is often fruity, slightly sweet, and high alcohol with lower tannins and acids.  Mass-produced wines lack the layers of flavors and aromas that often emerge from a terroir-driven wine and therefore, also lack distinction.

So, what makes a wine more complex and interesting?  Here are some questions to think about.  When you taste a wine, do you feel like it is balanced?  Is there some sourness (“raciness” or “acid” or “mouthwatering crispness”)?  Are there flavor characteristics that balance out the acidity? Fruit and floral aromas, minerals – which can often give wine a faint saltiness.  Is there herbaceousness?  Does the wine dry out the surfaces of your mouth?  If so, is it a velvety sensation or a grippy, rougher one? Is there any sweetness in the wine?  Does it feel a bit hot on your palate in a way that you know you are drinking alcohol?  Is that in balance with the other sensations or does it overwhelm the wine?  Is the taste after the swallow pleasant or do you detect a lingering bitterness?  If so, is the bitterness a welcome sensation?  And more importantly, does it please your palate?

Each of these questions potentially addresses a different aspect of terroir.  If you detect acidity, it could very well be underripe grapes.  But it could also indicate cool nights that enhance the development of acids in the grape, which is a desirable trait.  If you taste some sugars, it could be that it is a low alcohol wine in which the fermentation was stopped to preserve some sugar, or it could mean that was made with grapes that received a great deal of warmth and sunlight and were able to (over)ripen to a great degree.  If you taste minerality, it could be that the vines are from a cool climate on rocky slopes with a certain type of geology. It may also mean it is a coastal wine that somehow expresses the wet stones and salty breezes of its home.  The taste and feel the tannins can indicate, that the grape is either under-, perfectly or over-ripe.  If the grapes are very ripe, then the alcohol level will be high, and therefore, even for a high tannin and high acid wine, it will taste round and “hot”.  If you detect the alcohol level right away, you know it is unbalanced.  So each aspect of a wine can have multiple explanations. But you can learn a great deal about it if you take a minute to savor all the sensations and smells and tastes it imparts.  And you can decide whether this wine has individual character and interest or if it is made to cater to the need that certain markets, and palates, have for consistency.

$20.

It is such a nice, round number.  And so easy to track in terms of spending.  I will not spend more than $20 on a t-shirt.  I will not spend more than $20 on a hat.  But when it is ok to spend more than $20 on something you haven’t before?  Well…when it is Wine.

Wine is an ephemeral pleasure.  Even for those of us who have dedicated our careers to wine, we understand – you drink it and it is gone. But while you are drinking it – that is the moment. Almost everyone who loves wine has a story about that glass that changed the way they think about it.  They have that memory seared into their brain of supreme epiphany that made them think, this is worthy of my love.  My epiphany happened many years ago when I had finally finished graduate school and actually had an income.  I thought, I should celebrate with my beloved by buying a great bottle of wine.  Fortunately, I stumbled onto a great choice – a 1998 Vieux Telegraphe Chateauneuf-du-Pape.  It was $36.99 at the time which was a fortune to me!  But it made it me realize that the jug wines I had been drinking until then were just that, jug wines.  Don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with Penfolds and the now defunct Rosemount Shiraz.  Big, red, alcoholic and slightly sweet wines have a lot going for them, but they are not fine wines.

Over the years, I have come to realize that once you begin to appreciate something of higher quality, it is hard to go back – the more comfortable mattress, the better shoes that fit just right, that shampoo that makes your hair feel luxurious.  And inevitably, it is the same with wine.  There are many excellent makers of wine who target the $15 – $20 range and the wines can be very, very good.  But often, the more you spend, the more you will enjoy it.  Our big transition came a few years ago, when we joined a local wine club and for $35 a month, we would get 2 wines with tasting notes and recipes to pair with the wines.  After a few months, we realized that the wines were interesting, but not great.  While it expanded our horizons a bit, we could do it just as well ourselves. And why not spend that same $35 on only ONE bottle of wine and really do it right?  It has really changed the way we enjoy our drink, our dinners and how we entertain now.

Consider – wine is an expensive endeavor.  You have to grow grapes, usually on prime real estate.  Then you have to harvest the grapes, sometimes by hand.  Sort them, keep them in a temperature-controlled environment, soak them, de-stem and crush them, ferment the juice often with cultivated yeasts (more expense), macerate the reds for concentration, age them sometimes in expensive oak barrels, rack them to get them off the yeast residue (“lees”), filter and fine the wine to stabiliize them, and then bottle, label, market and ship them.  It is stunning that any wines at all can be made for below $20. 

So, back to that $20 glass ceiling.  Why it is such a mental barrier?  Think of it this way:  if you go to a restaurant, you are likely to spend $12 on a glass of wine, more if you count the tax and tip. And if you have 2 glasses, that is already well over $25.  And chances are, the wine is not the best wine around.  Whereas, if you were to spend $25 on a bottle of wine at a shop, you are getting a high quality, well made, delicious wine that you will be enjoy for maybe two days if you store it properly (vacu-vin and refrigerate or even spray a bit of NOX into the bottle).  Eric Asimov of the New York Times recommends that if you have budget constraints, cut back to one bottle a week – but make that bottle count.  Drink something that is “sparks joy” (as Marie Kondo would say!).  

The real difference in the quality of the wines comes in the overall experience of the wine – the balance between sweet and sour, bitter and alcohol, the body and mouthfeel, the aromas and flavors on the palate and the finish.  Does the wine continue to give pleasure after you have swallowed?  The better wines will have more concentrated flavors that evolve in the glass and on your tongue.  They are complex and surface many sensations.  They are often silky on the mouth and leave no unpleasant after tastes or regrets.  I dare you to try it sometime.  Splurge once in a while.  You will also have that epiphany one day.

Julia Child was legendary.  Her seminal book, The Way to Cook, brought to the meat and potatoes American palate the quintessential French pleasures of coq au vin, vichyssoise, and even quiche Lorraine.  But cuisine is not France’s only gustatory pleasure – the wine they drink is just as much a part of the meal as the food.

Europeans in general do not question that wine is to be served with meals – it is viewed similarly to salt – something that enhances the experience.  But they also enjoy drinking as a social activity in and of itself.

There is nothing better in Paris (or any city for that matter), than strolling into a sidewalk café on busy thoroughfare, sitting down facing the road to people watch and ordering a pichet du vin – a small jug of a quarter, half or three-quarters liters of wine.  The house wine in invariable very quaffable. If you are feeling a bit more old-fashioned, you might order a kir or a kir royale (cassis syrup in white wine or champagne, respectively), but whatever you order, it is usually the perfect accompaniment to sitting at a bistro table and whiling away the hour, chatting, observing, soaking up the atmosphere.  It is such an experience to see the French promenade in their fashionable fashions and listen to their melodic conversations.

Europe is also filled with gardens – and the gardens are often filled with café tables where you can order some wine, some water and maybe a croque monsieur and enjoy the grass (look but don’t touch in many cases), the flowers, the perfectly groomed trees and as always, the people.  Again, as packed as any itinerary is in a trip to any European country, you have not seen the real city until you sit in a busy square for an hour or two, drink the local wine and watch the people.

And not only gardens, but any open space is rife with picnickers if you go at the right time.  Because the French have no “open container” laws, you can drink alcohol is most places.  The Quai’s in Paris for example are wonderful at 6 or 7 in the evening.  Everyone brings a blanket, a bottle of wine (the local shops will invariably open one for you when you buy a bottle), and some snacks.  There they lounge, watching the bateau mouche (tourist boats) float by, gesturing animatedly, discussing Sartre or Camus or the unfairness of love unrequited and finding the Truth in wine.  

In such circumstances, wine can be drunk from thick bistro glasses with sturdy stems, cheap glass tumblers, plastic cups or even when desperate (as I have known to be!), from the bottle itself.  It will be delicious regardless because wine needn’t always be enjoyed as an elevated experience.  It should be enjoyed as a part of life – good wine, great wine, fun wine and fashionable wine – they are all meant to enhance your life, and not necessarily provide a focus for it. So kick back, grab a good book or a good friend and idle away a few hours over a bottle of something delicious!

The Commonwealth Wine School recently hosted the trade association, “Wines of South Africa,” that promotes South African wines around the world.  Having attended it, I wanted to share with you what it is like to attend a trade tasting and a little about the wines themselves.

In general, trade tastings are free to those in the trade – sommeliers, retailers, distributors, teachers and writers.  The purpose is multifold.  One is just to remind us that the type of wine they are promoting is there and good.  (Un)fortunately, we live in a time of wine riches, an embarrassment of riches and sometimes it is difficult to remember all the myriad wines we can choose from.  Like all people, we fall into ruts and habits.

Second, the tasting is to introduce us to the new vintage that has just been released.  Usually, with white wines, it is the previous year’s vintage.  With red wines, it might be 2 or 3 or even more vintages ago depending on the aging requirements.

Third, it is to let us taste through several expressions of the same grape variety so that we can learn and remember the character that each vineyard, winemaker and stylistic choice brings to a wine.  Not to mention it is also usually a taste-through of a range of prices, from entry-level wines to super premium wines.  

And finally, fourth, it is to teach us the stories around a wine.  How did that winemaker go from humble grower to celebrated enologist?  Or how many generations has it been since the first old vines went into the ground and how have those vineyards been nurtured?  Sometimes, it as simple as knowing where a name for a wine comes from.  We had the immense privilege of meeting some famed winemakers over zoom – one of them being Ken Forrester who has a legendary wine called “FMC,” for Forrester Meinert Chenin, but is better known as that “f***ing marvellous Chenin.”  After hearing that story, it would be hard to turn down that bottle of wine, so knowing the narrative around selling wine is absolutely essential.

Which brings us to the wines we tasted – that is tasted and then spit out!  We tasted three flights of six wines each, totalling 18 wines, beginning with South African (SA) sparkling wine – called “Cap Classique.”  It is traditional method wine like Champagne and of very good quality.  While it is still a growing segment of the market, we were able to try some excellent examples.  Graham Beck was the grandfather of this style of wine in SA and we got a very in-depth view into the Cap Classique market and methods speaking with their wine maker, Pieter Ferreira.

Next came the flight of Chenin Blanc.  If Argentina’s signature grape is Malbec and New Zealand’s is Sauvignon Blanc, then South Africa’s is Chenin Blanc, sometimes called “Steen,” there.  As Ken Forrester pointed out, the vineyards in South Africa were being planted before the Medoc in Bordeaux had been dredged (by the Dutch!) to be arable for grape vines.  And not only are the vines old, many of them are ungrafted because the soils of SA are hostile to the scourge of phylloxera.  As a result, Chenin from SA is truly unique, bringing a distinct set of aromas and flavors to the wine.  And we got to try 6 great Chenins, reminding us that the Loire is not the only place to look for Chenin and it is not necessarily the best either.  Chenin, always high acid, can also have a soft, round mouthfeel and wonderful fruity characters without being sweet like a Vouvray or steely and dry like a Savennieres.  

Finally, we came to the flight of Cabernets.  And I have to say, this is the flight that surprised and delighted me the most.  I had always categorized SA reds as either “not serious,” or too funky – given the flavors of Pinotage.  But the Cabernet Sauvignons were refined and elegant, tannic and velvety, fruity yet structured and overall – serious wines.  

And after the tasting, it is always a pleasure to debrief with people whom you respect in the same field and get all the different perspectives that wine can engender.  But I have to say, it is also exhausting.  Palate fatigue is a definite draw back.  I rarely want to have wine to drink after a trade tasting.  But I do love to think about what I tasted and learned and dig deeper into some of the vineyard or winemaking issues that arose during the tasting.  Cheers!