Monthly Archives: February 2011

Why Is Spice So Scary? The Nuances of Spice in Wine

Posted on by

Last week I talked a little bit about Syrah and Shiraz, and the wonderful spice notes that come along with wines of their nature. But, even though people love to drink Syrah and Shiraz, and while the presence of spice is second nature to us within gastronomic realms, I consistently watch drinkers have an acute aversion to the idea of herbs and spices in wine.

They love how the wine tastes—but the mere suggestion that those wonderful aromas are spice-oriented feels perverse. 

But why? The coupling of food and spice should come as no great surprise. In fact, we seem to expect that flavorful food must involve some generous dash of spice. Proof? Pepper pervades everything: eggs, goat cheese salads, curries, or even grilled sockeye salmon see us all mindlessly (yet intuitively) spiking our food with the treasured spice. Pepper has earned a permanent spot on our table.

Pepper_81

So, why do we flinch at the suggestion of pepper and spice nuances in wine? I suspect that the answer is two-fold:

1.)  Wine is made from grapes, and grapes are a fruit. A mention of black cherries, plums or lemon pulp in a wine description and we don’t flinch—fruit aromas and flavors, borne from a fruity source, make a lot of sense. Aromas or flavors outside of the fruity realm feel innately out of sync. 

2.)  Wine aromas and flavors can be classified as primary, secondary, and tertiary. Primary aromas are usually tied to the overwhelmingly fruity components, while secondary aromas are those often related to the way that the wine was made (type of oak, yeast strains, etc). Tertiary aromas are related to terroir (the essence of the place that the grapes were grown) and to complexities that arise as the wine ages in the bottle. These potential tertiary aromas are numerous, ranging from mold to gasoline to wet stones, to wet dog to ‘barnyard’ to, you guessed it—spices. Spice nuances in wine develop via similar processes to rotting mushrooms or burning rubber nuances. Within this collective tertiary aroma/flavor group, it’s no wonder that spices often get confined to a genre that seems off-putting.

 

—Jayce McQuerter, CSW, CS

Spice Is Where It’s At: Syrah and Shiraz

Posted on by

Check out this post by Robust Wine Director and "Vino Virtuoso" Jayce McQuerter:

Tertiary aromas and flavors are all the rage. 

Syrah is a perfect example. The best manifestations of Syrah integrate juicy fruit overtones with savory spice and earth subtleties, developing a polish that begs for food, wine and more wine. Syrah is all about bringing together seemingly antithetical flavors with harmonious resolve.

Wines made from Syrah are labeled in one of two ways: the first is Syrah (as expected), and the second is Shiraz. Syrah and Shiraz are wines made from the exact same grape, but often signify two different styles of wine. It’s beneficial to notice which name is being used on the bottle, as the spellings can sometimes give you clues as to which style of wine to expect.

Syrah has historic ties to the Rhône Valley in France. In the northern end of the valley, the steeply sloped communes of Hermitage and Côte-Rôtie (where up to 15% of the white grape Viognier is allowed to be blended in) create some of the most complex and special Syrahs on the planet. These wines are prized for their elegance, usually show a perfect restraint of fruity components, and possess a gentle smoky quality that slips into violet perfumes. Subtle raspberry, spices, dried fruit, mocha and wild flowers are all pronounced in perfect accent. 

4200517084_ca6a145b8e

Shiraz is Syrah on steroids. Under the blistering sun of Australia, the dried, cracking mud develops Shiraz into an unctuous, full-flavored and fruit-forward wine. The warmer climate usually converts the smoky undertones (of the French style) to full-on black pepper piquancy. The fruit is strikingly riper, the tannins seem lighter, and the finish can often leave a slightly sweet impression.

5025623751_3a7a053ceb

I get excited when a wine manages to fuse the two different styles into one. Paso Robles, between Los Angeles and San Francisco, is producing incredible Rhône-style wines with a California twist. The warm Californian climate (sometimes up to 100 degrees in Paso) ripens grapes into uber-ripe berries, pushing Syrah to behave like Shiraz. The Calcareous soils (full of fossilized sea-shells from millions of years ago) of the region, though, temper the extreme ripeness of fruit and assure a perfect balance of minerality. It’s heaven for creating world-class Syrah that pairs wonderfully with food.

So, what exactly does Syrah pair well with? Stews and braised meats love to bathe in Syrah, as does Steak au Poivre—the pepper encrusted meat can slosh around with the peppery notes in Syrah for hours. And Syrah’s pairing ability goes much further.

Stop in and sample one of our numerous Syrahs that we carry by the bottle. None will disappoint, and all work incredibly well with many of our tasting plates.

—Jayce