[wine] You Can't Please Everyone

FYI on the fine art of wines for the holidays. November 12, 2008 Wines of The Times Bottles That Make Good Guests By ERIC ASIMOV SUPPOSE I told you that with your Thanksgiving turkey, your stuffing, your cranberry sauce, and all the delicious side dishes that will grace your holiday table, one wine and one wine only would match up. Unless you pick that one wine you face the specter of horrible embarrassment. Sound ridiculous? Well, of course it is. Yet more people than I care to think about feel exactly this way when selecting Thanksgiving wines. Choosing the wine for any occasion is well known as an exercise in agony. Thanksgiving, for some reason, fills people with an extra dimension of dread. Perhaps it.s the idea of performing for one.s loving family, always so ready to heap scorn for your benefit. Or maybe there.s secret pleasure in being squashed in the paralyzing spotlight, dancing, as Tom Lehrer once put it, to .The Masochism Tango.. If the prospect of shame and disgrace is a welcome part of your holiday ritual, by all means enjoy the feeling. But I would be remiss not to point out that it.s all so unnecessary! Picking a wine should never be an occasion for self-flagellation, and at Thanksgiving least of all. The meal itself is typically a riot of contrasts . the savory stuffing, the sweetness of yams, the blank slate of the turkey . and wide open to individual eccentricities like marshmallows, almond slivers and the like. The wine-selection task couldn.t be simpler: versatility and plentitude. In an effort to demonstrate that this can be done without the suffering, the wine panel.s home team . Julia Moskin, Florence Fabricant, Frank Bruni and me . gathered to celebrate Thanksgiving early, with a complete holiday meal, as we have annually for the last five years. The four of us, along with our tasting coordinator, Bernard Kirsch, each brought two wines to the meal, one red and one white, costing no more than $25 each. If experience has taught us anything, it.s that the soporific effects of a long day of cooking, eating and socializing, whether sincere or forced, must be countered with wines that are light-bodied, limber and above all refreshing. Now, times are tough, but we found some pretty good values, like a $9 wonder Florence brought in. It was a 2007 sauvignon blanc from BV Coastal Estates, Beaulieu.s line of inexpensive mass-market wines. Ordinarily, I wouldn.t expect much from it. But in our blind tasting we were all charmed. All except Frank, that is, who announced that he does not appreciate the sauvignon blanc grape. Actually, on tasting the wine, he offered a grimace and a cry of anguish. Now, pay attention, for here is a case study. Your guest, for whom you have the deepest affection, detests your wine. Did Florence wring her hands or blush with shame? She did not. She joined us in laughing at Frank. Well, why not? It was a light, restrained wine with just enough sass to be refreshing as well as some mineral notes. Dismissive action is required if someone objects to wines as good as Frank.s choice, a not-quite-dry 2006 Savenniès from Domaine du Closel, or my own, a 2007 Muscadet Clos des Briords from Domaine de la Péè. Good feelings abounded as Frank professed his love of the chenin blanc grape. .It.s like drinking sunshine,. he gushed as a fillip of gratitude at sharing the holiday table passed through us all. I was not so lucky. Though my wine had all the lively tang and yeasty goodness that I look for in a good young muscadet, Florence objected, calling it sour. It was her turn to be ignored. Julia and Bernie had more to endure. Julia.s selection, a 2006 sylvaner from Domaine Ostertag in Alsace, was a risk. The sylvaner grape doesn.t often show much of a personality, although Florence did detect an .oily volatility.. I sensed a kind of tropical, bananalike aroma, though it went down easily enough. Bernie, too, chose an Alsatian wine, a 2007 pinot gris from Paul Blanck that was simply too sweet, although it also had an earthy funk that we liked. Bernie said he had enjoyed this wine when visiting the winery. .Pinot gris tastes a little different when you drink it in Alsace,. he said. Our reds gave us plenty of practice in withstanding withering criticism. Frank.s red, the 2006 Terre des Chardons Marginal from the Costiès de Nîs, the southernmost region in the Rhone, would be a terrific choice for a crowd of wine geeks. Its funky, meaty flavor is a turn-on to certain kinds of questing palates. But what Frank called aggressively interesting and I called baconlike, Florence called liver-y, and Julia called weird. Polarizing, yes, but very good. I loved the wine I brought, a 2007 Morgon from Daniel Bouland, an excellent if unsung Beaujolais producer. I found its flavors of violets and minerals endlessly interesting, but Julia said in the blind tasting that it reminded her of Beaujolais, .and not in a good way.. Florence, sticking to her principle of only American wines for Thanksgiving, picked a 2006 cabernet sauvignon from Liberty School in Paso Robles. I don.t usually think of cabernet as versatile, but this wine had both roundness and structure. But Frank and Julia both thought it was generic. Bernie took a good stab with a 2005 cabernet franc, from Domaine Delesvaux from the Anjou region of the Loire Valley. Loire reds are good bets, but this was a little soft, although Julia called it .snippy,. which she meant in a good way. Julia.s red was a 2005 syrah from Morgan in Monterey, and she loved its smoky sweetness. Florence and I both called the wine bland, while Frank explained to Julia that he hated it. It was a useful moment. Thanksgiving guests, after all, are more apt to be emotional than clinical, and Julia handled the situation perfectly, by ignoring Frank. Let.s sum up. As at any other gathering, tempestuous moments will occur as passionate people express their heartfelt feelings. You cannot always satisfy these people. So, keeping in mind what I.ve said about versatile, nimble wines, the most important thing you can do is choose wines you really like. That way, if nobody else is happy, you will at least have pleased yourself. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/12/dining/12wine.html?pagewanted=print -- ------------------------------ * Dr. James Ellingson, jellings(a)me.umn.edu * * University of Minnesota, mobile : 651/645-0753 * * Great Lakes Brewing News, 1569 Laurel Ave., St. Paul, MN 55104 *