Wine 101: Insights From A Sommelier

Yitz Stern, Sommelier: Hard, hard at work.‘Tis the season to be merry – and nothing gets us quite as merry as a good bottle of wine. To steer us all in the right direction, Hitched! chatted with Yitz Stern, a Toronto-based sommelier and wine consultant.

H!: Yitz! Set us straight – is there really a right way and a wrong way to drink wine?
YS: Yes and no. There is an optimal way to drink wine, at the proper temperature, in the right glass, and with the right food, but the truth is – a great glass of wine can be drunk any way you please.

H!: So, what’s the deal with people swirling and sniffing their wine before drinking it? Is it a sign of snootiness or are they really getting something more from the vino?
YS: Wine geek answer: Most (about 75%) of what we call taste is actually smell (this is why nothing tastes right when you have a cold). Swirling the wine gets the oxygen in, aerating it to release the aromas, allowing you to get the most out of the smell, and as a result, the flavour of the wine. For a fuller tasting experience, I recommend trying it. If you feel a bit dorky tasting wine this way in public, try it out at home and see if you notice a difference.

H!: We’ve all experienced the awkwardness of ordering wine by the bottle in a restaurant. When the server arrives with it and all eyes at the table are on you – what are you supposed to be doing?
YS: Often times, the server will present the bottle to you. This is so you can look at the label and confirm you’ve received what you in fact ordered. You can simply nod if it’s right. When the server uncorks the bottle they might place the cork in front of you. Pick it up and take a look at it. Contrary to popular belief, it’s not so you can sniff it! Instead, it’s so you can confirm that the label on the cork matches the wine you ordered. You can simply put it down if it’s right.

Your server will then pour a small amount of wine for you to taste. This tasting isn’t for you to decide if you like the wine, but rather to ensure that there are no flaws. Give the glass a little swirl, smell the wine and have a drink. If the wine is off or corked don't be afraid to say something or ask the sommelier for their opinion. If it is off, there isn't a sommelier in the world who would want you to drink it. But if you just don't like it (as in, it turns out you ordered a rather smoky wine and you don’t care for that taste), chalk it up to a learning experience and don't order it again. Just nod and let the server pour the wine for the rest of the table.

H!: If we were hosting a dinner party and wanted to pair wine with the food we were serving, are there good rules of thumb to follow?
YS: Certainly. The basic idea is that you don’t want the food or wine to overpower each other, so pair lighter foods with light-bodied wines (i.e. Beaujolais or Chardonnay) and heavier, more flavourful foods with fuller bodied wines (i.e. Cabernet Sauvignon or Shiraz). If you can, try to identify and pair flavour characteristics. For example, the citrus flavour of a Sauvignon Blanc would go well with grilled fish, or an earthy Pinot Noir with wild mushrooms. You won't go wrong with these general rules, but don't be afraid to mix things up. Wine tends to react like a spice, interacting with different foods in different ways. Experiment with different combinations to discover what works or ask a sommelier for suggestions.
Popular Grapes & Flavour Characteristics: Data from Wikipedia
H!: Putting the shoe on the other foot – if we were attending a dinner party, can you recommend some reasonably-priced but safe choices to bring?
YS: The most popular grapes are Cabernet, Merlot, Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Pinot Grigio and Sauvignon Blanc – a lot of people stick within those when gifting wine. The 2007 wines from California are looking like they’re going to be spectacular vintages. Same goes with the 2005 Bordeaux. There was a long hot summer with very little rain – these are near perfect conditions for that grape. As for specific labels, may I suggest Ray's Station Cabernet Sauvignon (California), Cellar No. 8 Cabernet Sauvignon (California), Ruffino Fonte al Sole (Italy) and Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc (New Zealand). They’re all under $20 and are definitely pleasers.

H!: It’s Beaujolais Nouveau season – a time when new, hardly-aged wine comes on the market. Any thoughts on it?
YS: I'm not a huge fan. Unlike most wine, Beaujolais Nouveau is made to drink young – it can be weak and watery with not much going on. Critics have compared drinking it to eating dough. To me, half the fun of wine is drinking something that was produced years ago. Think back to 1997, one of the great California Cab vintages. What was going on then? It was Bill Clinton's second term, Mother Theresa died, the Kyoto protocol was adopted and you were (fill in the blank!)… you get the point. Wine can be like a time capsule bringing back memories of a different time, not so with Beaujolais Nouveau.

H! You’ve convinced us. Beaujolais Nouveau is dead to us. So, what about Canadian wines? How do they compare to the international selections?
YS: Our climate is very well suited to certain grapes but not so kind to others. Ice wines are obviously what we are best known for, whites in general we do well, but red grapes tend to be more of a challenge due to our short summers. Most grapes require hot days and cool nights to reach their optimal ripeness and some need longer to do this, such as Shiraz or Syrah. Two Ontario wineries that I would recommend watching out for are Foreign Affair and Les Clos Jordanne.

H!: Let’s say we want to put this advice to a test and have a few girlfriends over for a wine tasting party. You know, purely for scientific purposes. To get the most of our tasting, how should we prepare for it?
YS: I love a “scientific” wine tasting. Decide whether you want to focus on wine tasting or wine pairing. For a pure wine tasting party, the focus is to compare different bottles of wine to each other. For a wine pairing party, it’s to see how different wines and food work together.

Regardless of the type of wine experience you hope to have, you should supply bottled water, some plain crackers, bread, a variety of cheeses, some fruit and bunch of clean wine glasses – one for each wine, per person. If you want to avoid getting tipsy [Hitched! Note: we’re not. Bring it!], spit buckets at each wine station would be helpful. Finally, having pens and paper available for each person to take notes would be worthwhile.

If the focus of your party is pairing, you can add more food to the mix. A wider variety of cheese is a classic choice. Some people go all out and even have finely cut pieces of meat, fish and vegetables available. Here, you’ll want to try the same wine with different types of food and note how the combination sat with you. If the focus of your party is a tasting, you basically want to try different types of wine, back-to-back (having a sip of water and/or cracker in between to help cleanse your palate).

The wine you choose depends on the theme of the tasting or pairing – it can be structured by varietal (type of grape), vintage (year) and/or region – or simply have everyone bring something new to try and have fun with it! For example, I’ve organized vertical tastings – where we sample a single wine (same grape and winery) but different vintages of it to see how the wine changed as it aged. As a sommelier and wine consultant, I help my clients develop tastings or pairings that suit their interests – there’s really no limit to what you can do!

H!: Alright, the gloves are off: If you had the opportunity to request it – what would be your last meal?
YS: A big steak with a bottle of 1982 Château Lafite Rothschild, followed by a 1997 Opus One and capped off with a 1961 Château Haut-Brion.

H!: And your final words would be …
YS: Don't be afraid to ask anything. All sommeliers are total wine geeks and love any opportunity to talk wine. Remember that you don’t need to know everything about wine to enjoy it. You’ll learn the language and perfect your swirl as you go. Have fun doing it!

For wine advice or more information on wine consulting services, contact Yitz Stern at yitz@rogers.com.