Crash

Sierra Nevada, hands down. I have tried and tried to like Anchor Steam, and I never could. Never tried their Liberty Ale, or other types, EXCEPT Anchor Christmas, which is quite possibly the best winter holiday beer I can get, year in and year out. If you can find it in magnum bottles, so much the better. It actually keeps and sometimes improves in the bottle for years if properly stored. When November rolls around, I'd like to see a thread discussing this years crop of winter/holiday beers. The one that I have had once or twice but isn't always available in Washington, D.C. is Mendocino Brewing Company's Yuletide Porter, though we can easily get their Red Tail, Blue Heron and Black Hawk brews. We D.C. denizens are also unfortunate enough to be deprived of everything from Fort Collins Brewing Co. ("Fat Tire", et. al..) Anyway...Sierra Nevada, including their Wheat Beer (very refreshing with a lemon wedge, too) and their Bigfoot as well.

My heavens, that really sounds like a delightful menu! Your initial thoughts are all wonderful, but as a wine professional, I'd have to ask a few questions/make some comments. For the tuna tartare, I like the idea of pairing it with bubbles, but go with something light and dry, a blanc de blancs that has some racy acidity, rather than one that is Pinot based (a tad too heavy for the dish and the weather, I think) If you like, you can even try a nice Vouvray Brut (such as Foreau, Fouquet or Huet, to my mind the three best growers in Vouvray) or a well-made Prosecco Frizzante rather than a Brut. (Bisson is the best I've had in this regard - it tastes like great Muscadet with bubbles!). For the seafood cocktail campeche, I congratulate you on selecting a Riesling, which I consider the King of white wine grapes. Alsace Riesling is wonderful, but select carefully. To my mind, the two best growers in Alsace are Boxler and Deiss, with Albert Mann, Bernard Schoffit and Charles Schleret being personal favorites. (No disrespect to Olivier Humbrecht at Zind-Humbrecht, but that house style is on the sweet side) Any of the recent vintages should suffice. Tavel for the Composed Summer Vegetable Salad? Brilliant. Guajolote, your sensibilities are spot-on. Almost any rosé would be great, but I would lean towards the less weighty ones, such as Tavel, but consider Sancerre rosé if you can find some. Get 2002's if you can, but some slower markets might have 2001's or even 2000's that are still perfectly delightful. Red Burgundy for the Pork Loin? Why not? Any excuse to drink red Burgundy is a good one, and I am a sensualist by nature, so it is always an appealing idea. Sure there are other recommendations I could make, but your instincts are excellent, and my first rule of wine recommendations is this: Drink what YOU like, not what someone THINKS you should like, but always keep an open mind. We aren't born liking these things, after all. I am personnally quite proud that you are embracing some of the best, though least popular wines sold in the U.S.A. Good for you, and bon appetite. à santé!

Perhaps it is time for a 21st century version of "Lend Lease"? It could be called "Hops Help" or some such thing. Microbrewers of America, unite! I would think that the British would be well used to dealing with this sort of heat and knowing how to cope, from their empire experiences in India (which gave birth to India Pale Ale, heavily hopped to handle the long sea voyage) and of course the summertime staple of G&T's, made with really good gin and Schweppes tonic water. Still, my heart goes out to our friends in the U.K. A terrible situation, that. Reminds me of something W.C. Fields once said about wine - "We lost our corkscrew and were forced to survive on water for several days." Chin up over there, lads.

Thanks for the grreeting Badthings - your information looks quite correct to me, and the Olympic size swimming pool analogy is spot-on as well. Here's another good analogy - a mere teaspoonful of TCA could contaminate every single bottle of wine for sale in the United States. Isn't THAT frightening? As for Bonny Doon, yes, Randall has always experimented with different closures over the years, and it is a fact that some of the "first generation" synthetic corks were not destined for long-term storage as it turned out, but give Randall his props, he is an iconoclast and innovator, and the neck-hangars on his Ca' Del Solo "Big House" White and Red wines are an instant education on the subject of Stel-Vin closures. Perhaps consumers rallying cry to reticent wineries should be, "Give us Stel-Vin or give us death!" I must say, that I practically lie awake at night fretting that a truly wonderful wine that I've sold to a less knowledgeable customer is going to be cork-tainted, and they, having no frame of reference for this, will simply assume either a) I've rooked them, b) I don't know what the hell I'm talking about, or c) that it is their own fault, that this type of wine doesn't appeal to them, therefore they won't try it again. Any way you look at it, a sad conclusion. For those wine consumers who are unsure about cork taint, here is something to remember: if it IS present in the bottle, it does NOT "blow-off" or go away with air. If you are ever uncertain, just wait - it only gets worse. Upon opening a bottle, it may be as strong as a punch in the nose, or it may be very faint. I am lucky to have tasted with a seriously wine-knowledgeable friend who is both extremely cork-taint sensitive as well as formally educated in biochemistry. (I joke that he can detect a cork-tainted bottle from two counties away) He often tastes in some of the best grower's cellars in Europe, and has detected cork-taint before the grower himself! He has shoved two glasses of the same wine from two different bottles under my nose and told me that one was corked and the other wasn't, and I couldn't tell which one it was until 20 minutes later - by then it was self-evident. I describe the odor as being akin to wet newspapers, or wet cardboard boxes. One other bit of wisdom to practice - if at all possible, after opening a bottle of wine, do NOT shove the cork back in the bottle upside-down. Always put it back in the way it was. For some reason, and I've witnessed this myself more than once, an otherwise good bottle can become cork-tained that way, EVEN IF THE WINE HAS NO PHYSICAL CONTACT WITH THE CORK! I know, I know, this sounds like so-much "hocus-pocus" but it is true, I've experienced it in the presence of other wine professionals. If anyone cares to enlighten me on how this is possible, please do. I'm no chemistry expert. Readers, please note: Cork-taint isn't the only bugaboo that fouls up otherwise good wines. Wines are living things, and they can develope other problems as well, from bretanomyces (sp?) to volatile acidity problems, over exposure to light, heat, vibration, etc... The motto we have in the wine business is, "There ARE no great wines, only great bottles", since bottle variation, personal mood, the food we're eating and any number of other environmental factors can change our perceptions of any given wine at any particular moment. Stel-Vin closures seem to me to be the best currently available method to level the playing field and eliminate at least one odious possibility from the wine experience.

Great article Craig, and one that deserves widespread attention. As a wine retailer and wholesaler with over ten years experience professionally I, too, dread having to open samples for clients, especially restaurant clients, with only one bottle of each type in my bag. It is often difficult to get appointments with wine buyers, and corked bottles ruin the whole thing. You KNOW that the wine is good, but the damned seal had betrayed you! Randall Grahm, owner and "President-for-life" of Bonny Doon Vineyards (whom I do NOT represent, but whom I admire and am pleased to have met several times over the years) put it best when he said (and I am paraphrasing here): "We use 21st century technology in the winery, in the vineyards, in the construction of the bottles and labels, and we use every means available to make the best wines that we can, and then we seal it all up with 14th century technology!" Small wonder that Mr. Grahm is in the forefront in this country to use Stel-Vin closures. Kudos too, to the Australian and New Zealand wineries for leading the world in switching over to screw-tops. As for the restaurant problem, I don't know of any quality restaurants in my area (Washington, D.C.) who wouldn't hesitate to make the diner happy by replacing the bottle, and then check the wine themselves. If it is indeed faulty, they get a replacement or credit from the wholesaler - on older wines, I admit it could be almost impossible to do that, though. If the wine is good, well, the staff gets itself a treat after the kitchen closes. I'm a "newbie" here to the site, but I look forward to many more such articles from you Craig.