Is Frank Sutherland wrong? What is a "low-alcohol wine?"

This morning following my usual routine, I picked up my newspaper and read the news of the day. Despite at times being disgusted with The Tennessean, I cannot break the newspaper habit. I love my newspaper first thing in the morning.

After scanning the news of day and the editorial page, I turned to the other sections and was greeted by Frank Sutherland's Wine in Nashville column. The headline read, "Lower-alcohol wines still quite lovely."

I always enjoy Frank's column. However, the time he described a white wine as having the aroma of "dusty tomato stems" it made me wonder if he was just waxing poetic or if he really knew his wine. Also, when he described a wine palate as "Texas Grapefruit", I thought that was pretty amazing the he could specify "Texas" grapefruit as opposed to Florida or California grapefruit.

I am not a wine expert, but I like wine. I like drinking it mostly, but I like wine tastings, Wine on the River, reading wine reviews and wine labels. I enjoy shopping for wine. I normally hate to shop. I only shop when I have to. I never understood how people could just shop for pleasure, but I love a trip to the liquor store. Anyway, as I turned to Frank's column on lower-alcohol wines, I expected to read about wines in the 9% to 11% range. That is what I think of when I think about lower-alcohol wines. I was surprised. Frank reviewed five wines and one of them had a 12.5% alcohol rating, one a 12.85% and three had 13% alcohol content.

I don't really think a 13% alcohol wine is low-alcohol. I thought I would see what is on my wine shelf. My wife has developed a taste for sweeter wines and I know that sweeter wines have less alcohol and more residual sugar than drier wines, so I knew a random sampling of my wine cabinet would reveal some sweeter wines; still, I thought that 13% alcohol is not a low-alcohol wine. Here is what I found by just randomly pulling out a few wine bottles:

• Gissen East Coast Riesling, 9.5%. Now that is low-alcohol.
• Mathew Fox Merlot, 12%
• Vino de laTierra de Casltilla, 14%. This is a red Spanish wine made from about seven different varietals.
• Walnut Crest Melot, 13%
• Barton & Guestier Cabernet Sauvignon, a French vin de pays d'oc, 13%
• Wilhelm Bergman, Mosel-Saar-Ruwar. Riesling Qualitatswein. 8.5%. Now that is really lower-alcohol wine, however it is quite sweet.
• Sea Ridge Cabernet Sauvignon, 12.5%
• La Rustia, Erbaluce Di Caluso, 12.5% . This is a white Italian V.Q.P.R.D. wine and I love this wine. It is a rare find at the price I am willing to pay. I wish I would have bought all they had when I found it.

So, maybe my wine cabinet is not typical but I have cruised the wine shelves for years and I am not convinced that 13% alcohol content classifies a wine as "low-alcohol." I think that to get much above 14% you are into fortified wines.

Does Frank Sutherland know what he is talking about? Do I need a new wine guru? How do you apply to be on Frank's wine review panel.

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Frank has really been into the wine this time.

In this week's wine review column in The Tennesseean, Frank Sutherland and his wine tasting panel were reviewing Pinot Noir and Gamay Beaujolais wines to pair with the Thanksgiving meal. Among the aromas and taste they detected from the various wines were rhubarb, cola, Grenadine, campfire scents, and beef jerky, teriyaki and bacon, leather and (are your ready for this?) in his top pick wine, the 2008 Montoya Pinot Noir, he detected the aroma of "barnyard smells." Barnyard smells?? What? Yes, barnyard smells. I was thinking the "campfire scents" was a little out there but "barnyard smells?" Note that this was his top pick wine. I would not think barnyard smells would be something you would want in your wine, but what do I know.

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Frank has been into the wine again.

Frank Sutherland is a former newspaper reporter who began his career as a reporter at the Tennessean in 1963. Sutherland was editor of the paper from 1989 to 2004. He is now retired but writes a weekly wine review column for the paper called, “Wine in Nashville.” Everyone needs to find something to do when they retire. I always read and enjoy his column.

This week Frank reviewed Riojas wines. He had this to say about the aroma of the 2002 Camp Viejo Gran Reserve: “The bouquet included scent of ripe pear juice, sugar cane, prunes, artist clay and hits of ash.”

OK. I am buying the “scent of ripe pear juice,” the “sugar care,” and “prunes.” But, “artist clay?” Artist clay! I bet the only people who can identify the aroma of artist clay or clay artist. What does “artist clay” smell like?

Also, I am not so sure about the “hint of ash.” Is that coal ash or hickory ash, maple ash or oak ash? If it is oak ash, is that French oak or American oak? Help me Frank.

In the same article, after reviewing four different Riojas, he then reviews some other wines in the “Surfing the Wine Shelves” segment of his column. He had this to say about the 2008 Deep Sea Sauvignon Blanc: “This Monterey County wine had quite aromas of stone and herbs followed by clean flavors of pineapple, butter and lime.”

Now, what do we mean by “quite” aromas? Does that mean very subdued, hardly noticeable? I assume. Stone? What is the aroma of stone? I simply don’t know. I think I know what is meant by “minerally” on the palate, but aroma of stone? Which stone? And, “herbs?” Wow! Let me think about that. There are a lot of differnt herbs. Basil is an herb, but so is Annis, and Cilantro and so is Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme. That is a lot of different aromas to choose from. So, what does it mean that the wine has aromas of herbs?

Anyway, Frank Sutherland is entertaining. I will keep reading.

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Band-aid smells?

Frank Sutherland has topped himself again. In today's Tennessean "Wine in Nashville" Column, he described a 2004 Casas del Bosque Merlot this way:

Aroma: the aroma was strongly vegetal, with earth scents, Band-aid smells and lot
of alcohol.

Frank, that beats "Texas pink grapefruit" or "iodine" or "dusty tomato stems." Frank, you are speaking of the "band-aid" brand of adhesive bandage strips, right? Not some generic off-brand? I just wanted to be sure about that. Thanks for the review. Now I will know what to expect if I think about buying a bottle of 2004 Casas del Bosque Merlot.

Frank I have an idea for a future column. Why not contrast and compare all of the wines that have the aroma of band-aid smells? That would really be informative. I always enjoy your column.

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Reading Wine

I love wine. I love to drink wine and try new wines and read wine labels and shop for wine and read wine reviews. I love going to wine tastings. I would not consider myself an expert, but I have learned a little about wine over the years. I don’t “cellar” wine. I don’t invest in wine. I cannot bear to pay over $20 for a bottle, except when dinning out and then $20 is a good price.

It is hard to tell someone what something taste like or smells like. You can say something is tart or sweet but most often you have to resort to comparing one taste to something else with which one is familiar in order to convey what something taste like.

I have experienced enough wine to know what to expect from some wine descriptions. If a white wine is described as having “apple” on the palate, I sort of know what to expect. I understand “oaky” or “citric” or “minerally.”

A red wine may be described as “blackberry” or “dark fruit” or “strawberry.” I sort of know what to expect from those different descriptions. The terms “tobacco,” “coffee,” or “leather,” I think describe the same aroma and I think I know what that means.

Some descriptions of wine leave me totally baffled. Sometimes I think the writer is not trying to describe the wine but is a frustrated poet writing flowery prose. Sometimes I think the wine writer is putting us on. Just like I sometimes wonder if an artist really thinks his box of dirt is a work of art, I wonder if the wine writer is really trying to describe a wine or just trying to see how far along he can sting the reader.

Frank Sutherland, a former editor of The Tennessean, writes a regular wine review column for The Tennessean. He and a panel of experts compare four to six wines of the same category and then Sutherland writes the review, describing the aroma, palate and the panel’s verdict of the wine. I always enjoy reading his column.

One time Frank described a white wine as tasting of “Texas pink grapefruit.” Now, I could understand “grapefruit” or even “pink grapefruit”, but “Texas” pink grapefruit? Honestly now, how many of you can tell a Texas pink grapefruit from a California or a Florida pink grapefruit.

He once described the aroma or the taste of a wine as “dusty tomato stems.” I don’t know what dusty tomato stems smell or taste like.

In a recent review of Pouilly Fuisse, he described the palate as “flavors of apples, pear skins, tangerine peel, apricots and wet stone.” Ok, I can’t detect all of those flavors, but I accept the apples, pear skin, tangerine peel and apricots, but I draw the line at “wet stone.” What does wet stone taste like?

He described the aroma of a 2007 Rodney Strong Russian River Pinot Noir as “bacon.” Ok, maybe so. He described the aroma of the 2007 Benot-Lane Pinot Noir as “yellow cake batter,” and “green banana skins,” and the palate as “cotton candy.” The aroma of the 2006 Spindrift Pinot Noir was “Luden’s Cherry Cough Drops.” Not just cherry cough drops mind you, but “Luden’s” cherry cough drops.” He wouldn’t want us to think that the wine had the aroma of Vicks Cherry Cough Drops or Smith Brothers Cherry Cough Drops; no it has the aroma of Luden’s Cherry Cough Drops. I myself am just not that much of a connoisseur of cough drops.

Maybe my tastes are just not that sophisticated and discerning or either Mr. Southerland is putting us on. I don’t know that I am learning that much about wine from reading his column, but I am being entertained. I will keep reading Frank’s Wine in Nashville column.

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