Slow week at the office. The global shipping crunch we reported on a few weeks ago continues to wreak havoc. The New York Times reports that traffic jams continue to plague ports around the world, with ships sometimes waiting days to offload their containers. Even when the time does come, the ships come in to find a shortage of dockworkers waiting to unload.
Yes, you can still buy wine from an overseas winery – but can they get it to you on time? We’ve found a workaround for the near future. We’ll keep you updated.
In other news, French scientists have come up with an answer to that age-old question: Does wine make food taste better, or does food make wine taste better?
More on that in a moment... But first, can you truly ever be a wine expert?
This week, resident wine expert Julien Miquel recalls his days in the vineyards as he discusses how making wine humbles you… from freak disasters ruining the perfect vintage… to malicious yeasts or bacteria ruining the fermentation… and, why no one is ever a true “expert” in wine…
Julien Miquel’s Winemaking Disasters (continued)
Tannin is an acid found in many plants. It is responsible for the mouthfeel – ranging from prickly, to drying, to gripping – of certain wines and teas. It is also of interest to us because malbec, especially extreme-altitude malbec, is a particularly tannin-y wine.
Tannins were also of interest in a recent French study on the interplay of food and wine. We all know that a great wine livens up any meal, but what’s less known is that great food also livens up wine.
And by “great,” we mean fatty. According to the French study, the fats found in food have a “creaming” effect on the tannins in the wine. The fats – lipids, to be exact – actually enlarge when in contact with tannins, thereby softening their bitterness.
Food does, indeed, make wine taste better.
Until next week,
The Wine Explorer