The Southwest Voice

By: Ann Cierley

  Buying gifts for wine-loving relatives or friends? There are great selections and good prices to be had at Trader Joe’s, World Market and Costco right now. If you don’t know wines, don’t hesitate to ask for help from clerks who are familiar with the wine selection. I’ve also found that the Green Frog Market, 3711 Columbus St.; Luigi’s Restaurant & Delicatessen, 725 E 19th St.; The Gourmet Shoppe, 4801 Stockdale Highway; and Wine Me Up, 3900 Coffee Road, will also spend a lot of time with you while suggesting current choice wines. They all have something for every pocketbook.

Looking for a gift other than a bottle of wine? There are wonderful items out there to gladden the heart of any wino. Start with glassware. I’ve received more inquiries about Riedel glasses than for any other type of gift since I wrote the column on that subject. My big tip for the day is Target! My pharmacist told me that store is now carrying a relatively inexpensive line of Riedels, and I checked it out. True. True. See for yourselves.

You will find many, many gift ideas in wine shops, winery tasting rooms, liquor stores and in the housewares sections of department stores (especially glassware). Don’t forget to look around the liquor department of your neighborhood grocery stores. You’ll be amazed by the amount of wine paraphernalia.

Food to accompany wine is also a welcome gift. Cheeses and nuts. Ahhh. Always a good choice for the wine aficionado. There’s a local almond company I’ve been wanting to visit. Its product is in several winery tasting rooms. Jennifer Rogers-Etcheverry runs a company called My Husband’s Nuts and she sent me their phone number. Visit: www.myhusbandsnuts.com or call 1-866-NUTS-4-US. Those would make a fun gift!

Today’s question: “I have a bottle of wine that says ‘late harvest’ on it and I have been told it is very sweet. I know you don’t serve sweet wines at dinner, but what do you do with them?”

Quick answer: yes, it will be very sweet, but you can serve it after dinner just as you would a dessert. Or serve it with the cheese course after the entree (in the European style). It will be heavenly tasted with a great bleu cheese. Serve it in liqueur glasses as a little bit goes a long, long way with these dessert wines.

“Late harvest” has an important meaning in the wine world. The wine, no matter the varietal, will always be sweet because the grapes have been left on the vines long after the usual picking time in order for the bunches to be attacked by a fungus named botrytis (pronounced bo-TRY-tiss). It’s also referred to as “the noble rot.” It affects ripe grapes in the fall if weather conditions are right, dehydrating the berries and causing their sugar to concentrate flavors. The resulting wine ranks among the world’s most expensive swallows, so expect to pay dearly for it. Often in the hundreds for a half-bottle (or what we call a “split”).

Another late harvest wine we don’t see much of here in California is an Eiswein (literally ice-wine). This is a German wine made by freezing the grapes on the vine in the winter, thereby causing the water in the berries to separate out when pressed, and just the sugars are left in the resulting wine. They don’t have the honeyed flavor of a botrytised wine but they are marvelous to taste and very, very expensive. Most eiswein that I’ve seen here comes from Canada.

Merry Christmas to all my readers, and thanks for your questions, suggestions and tips.

Questions? Comment? E-mail Anne at: acierley@etcrier.net