Growing up, wine was something we had only on Shabbat or Yom Tov, and only at kiddush. My father grew up only with the heavy wines from Magan David, so when white zinfandel became a popular choice, it was something of a major shift for us.
It was not really until I had moved into my own place (on the upper (upper) west side that I was introduced to the idea that wine could, and should be enjoyed, not merely tolerated or used. I had a job that started at noon and an apartment mate who had a much better job then my own. He and I would stay up until 3 or 4 am watching the food network. Not long after an episode on wine, he went out and bought a number of bottles for that shabbat, and wowed our guests ( a regular Shabbat saw 20 people at our table, sometimes for each meal) with his knowledge of wine. I knew it was all learned from an evening in front of the TV, but his ability to work it into conversation and truly understand what he was talking about had everyone else convinced he was a long practiced expert.
That first evening of wine (we always had wine, but usually Rashi Muscato, or something randomly chosen) stuck with me because of one particular bottle. A Gan Eden Late Harvest Gerwerstraminer (took most of the next Shabbat to pronounce it correctly, and then three years to find out I was saying it wrong). What made me notice this wine was the interplay of tastes. It wasn't simply sweet, it had flavor. I read the back label and agreed with it. I could taste grapefruit, I could taste a hint of spice. Suddenly the things I had heard on the Food Network no longer seemed snobbish and weird.Normally at this point in time I would give a full review my tasting of this wine, but it has been many years since I have touched it. The owner of the Gan Eden label, Craig Winchell, closed the the label and parent company down to focus on his family. The website is still up, www.ganeden.com, and from there he is selling off his stock. However, no new wines are being aged, casked, bottled, tested, tasted or celebrated. It is a true shame and a great loss to the Kosher wine industry and clientele.
Here's hoping life and G-d work out a way for him to get back into it.
At that same evening I was introduced to another wine that would stick in my head for very different reasons. A Shiraz. This is the same grape as the Syrah (theoretically), but grown and
bottled in Australia. I had some Shiraz that evening and found it to be ok. I followed it with a glass of Cabernet, which tasted almost dusty. To my chagrin I later discovered that, at least to my palate, the Shiraz's strong flavors made any other wine tasted after it seem pale and uninteresting. In light of that evening I did the only thing I could, I bought more Shiraz. The first one that I liked was the Teal Lake Shiraz. The first time I really appreciated it was a motze Shabbat at 4am paired with pan-fried steaks. The strong flavors and solid body of the wine made it work incredibly well with steak (and 4am). A complete review is hard to do as the Teal Lake wines in general, and the Shiraz in specific do not stay anything near to constant from one year to the next. Overall, their Shiraz is a pleasant and inexpensive experience. Certainly a good wine to learn on.After that, I started paying closer attention to Food network shows on wine. What I learned can be distilled rather easily. First off, is that you should drink to enjoy the taste and experience. If a wine is supposed to be 'amazing' but you are just not liking it, don't drink it. Secondly is that while a refined palate may indeed find that a $100 bottle tastes better than a $30 bottle, most of us do not yet have such delicate taste buds. Start at the bottom (or at least reasonably within your budget) and work your way up to more complex, but not necessarily more expensive wines. Third and last is to ask questions and try new wines.
I have rambled on enough for one post, so I will close off with one more link: The Kosher Wine Review. Not the most refined web site, but the fellow who runs it clearly enjoys the subject matter and the site is useful.
Drink responsibly, L'Chaim!
