Organic wine match of the day: Quivira Zinfandel

It’s New Year’s Eve, and have you thought of your 2009 resolutions?  I’ve already made mine, and I’m doing it right now, which is to focus more on organic wines.  This, mind you, after over thirty years of being in the business of drinking everything that has alcohol and eating anything that crawls.  It’s an easy choice for me not because I’ve found religion, but because

1.  There are more wonderful (i.e. delicious) organic wines than you can shake a stick at.
2.  The world is going green, so we might as well make a concerted effort at the table, too.
3.  First class organic and biodynamic wines are found in absolutely every price range (from $8 to $200-plus).

I’m thrilled to talk about today’s organic pick of the day – the 2005 Quivira Dry Creek Valley Zinfandel (about $19) – not only because it has always been one of favorite Zinfandels in the world (whether organic or non-organic), but also because of Quivira’s 100% commitment to certified biodynamic grape growing.  There is, granted, a lot of hocus-pocus associated with biodynamics; but the essential differentiating factor behind it involves an approach to a vineyard or estate as a self-sustaining system through involved use of recycled and organic material for composting, cover cropping, and plant as well as animal biodiversity.  As Martha would say, just good things.

The important thing, of course, is how the wine tastes, and this one is a quintessential red Zin – brimming with raspberry-like aromas with sweet, jammy highlights – that positively bursts with fresh, zesty, snappy varietal fruitiness jumping out of a dense, sturdy body, without being heavy or dried out with excess tannin.  A wine you can drink every day, but never tire of.

In this sense, I think of the Quivira Zinfandel as being a perfect Wednesday night wine:  for an economical meal that you don’t want to work too hard at, yet needs to deliver sustenance and aesthetic pleasure.  One of my favorite prescriptions for exactly that is Julia Child’s old recipe for “French” burgers; which doesn’t involved a bun or ketchup (sorry), but rather pan sautéing of flour coated 80/20 ground beef followed by deglazing with a deep colored red wine (like Zin!) and a minimum of a quarter stick of butter per person.  Hey, if you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.

Here’s a reworking of Child’s classic French Burger, which I offer with these caveats:  pure chopped parsley works just as well or better than thyme; finely chopped shallots (rather than onions) mixed right into the meat adds a wine-friendly sweetness; and really, for the best match you might just as well forgo the beef stock in the deglaze and go with straight Zin and butter.  And I promise you the simplest yet most luscious wine/food experience ever!

WINE BASICS #5:  What are the basic taste sensations?

The human tongue is able to detect four different taste sensations:  sweetness (or in absence of residual sugar, “dryness” in a wine); sourness (tart sensations derived from acidity); bitterness (primarily derived from grape tannins); and saltiness (not a factor in the taste of wines, but certainly a factor in foods and how wines interact with salty ingredients).

The important thing to understand about taste sensations is that the choice of grape type is the major determining factor, starting with black skinned grapes vs. green skinned grapes.  Red wines are made from black grapes fermented with the skins and seeds, and therefore tend to have a heavier, drier taste than white wines, which are separated from skins before fermentation.