Posted on 01/01/2004 8:15:33 PM PST by Mannaggia l'America
A little New Year's humor...
You Know You're Italian If...
My parents (and I) are from solid peasant stock, I mention this because there is so much ignorance in that class, but my parents avoided falling into that mental trap.
We emigrated to the US in '58, so I'm the real deal. Anyway, my mother really liked the men in my life and they really liked her too. She was and is a no-nonsense person who easily castigated me in front of them when I did something to hurt them, but wouldn't castigate them as she felt that was either my job or the job of their parents.
I'm not too attracted to Italian men, I like 'em lean, hovering around 6', blond and anglo, and my mother never once intimated that she hoped I would choose an Italian man, she only hoped he would be Catholic, and even that was not that important, as long as he was a good person.
I would never abandon my parents no matter what, but there's always been room for the lover in my heart and life and that wasn't something I viewed as an either or situation.
Now, about that five orgasms a day....
That is dead on!!!
LOL!! My new wife is the present beneficiary. May German, Scottish, English be more appreciative than FBIs!
Since I haven't heard back, I hope you are still alive and well.. LOL.. gulp! . . :)
You're correct that many varietals are now widely available that were not so 15-20 years ago. Pinot Grigio has always been around as a clean, crisp, dry white wine, but it became popular as the prices of the more traditionally popular clean crisp dry whites, first real Chablis, then the first substitute for it, Poulliy Fuisse, then Macon Villages and Sancerre, and even real Muscadet sur Lies, became more expensive.
California whites are a whole different categoy, with Chardonnay having become very very popular as the huge plantings of the '70s came on line in the '80s, providing lots of cheap, reasonably good wine, but which became too sweet over time (hence the return to French and Italian whites), then began to become over-priced in the '90s, so people turned to Sauvignon blanc, which had traditionally been blended with Semillon to cut the intense grassiness, which has had a vogue.
Shiraz, of course, is the primary grape of the great Rhone wines, long considered among the greatest reds of the world. Think Hermitage and Cote-Rotie. Chateauneuf du Pape for more modest budgets in the '50s and '60s. Very little shiraz, or syrah as its called in France and California, was planted in California before 1970. There was a little, and some award-winning wines were made with it (or a variant), but it was just not a factor. Zinfandel was the mass quality grape (of somewhat obsure origine) with carignane the mass blending red grape for 'commerical' nonvarietal reds. For some reason, however, lots of Shiraz was planted in Australia, and after WWII, their wine industry really took off. The quality was remarkable as scientific methods were introduced and production modernized. Penfolds led the way, and their Grange Hermitage was the wine that, in the late '50s, made the world take notice of fine Australian wine. [I went to a vertical tasting in 1982 when Grange Hermitage was first brought commercially to the US by Wildman in New York. We tasted a dozen or so vintages from 1957 through 1977 (the wine being sold). It was one of the half-dozen most memorable tastings of my life. The wines were a revelation! A month or so later, Jaboulet, proprieter of some of the best Hermitage, was in town at Wildman (who also handled his wine) and we had a lunch at which both old Jaboulet Hermitage and old Penfolds Grange Hermitage were serverd. Everyone agreed the Australian wine, though different, was in the exalted 'premier grand cru' class as Hermitage. But I digress.] Australian wine first became popular in England as a cheap substitute for French reds, and likewise, started making in roads in the US as the price of cabernet sauvignon went up, zinfandel was made so alcoholic it wasn't drinkable for most people, and generic reds lost favor.
Merlot is another story yet. Merlot is a tradtional blending grape in Bordeaux. In the Medoc, it it is used to moderate the tannins and hardness that Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc often have. It is a bland grape, with good color and aroma, but not a lot of struture or tanin. Hence it doesn't do well on its own, generally. In St. Emillion and Pomerol, however, the wines are mostly merlot, and for that reason were traditionally ready to dring young, and fruity, but mostly it doesnt' age (I know, Cheval Blanc and Petrus) for 10-40 years the way traditional Medoc wines do. In California, IIRC, there were only 50 acres or so of merlot in 1970, and that was used for blending. As the Californians in the '70s moved away from their tradtional cabernet style (in which the wine was 80-100% cab, with a little zinfandel perhaps) towards a more French style, the planted more merlot. Someone (probably at Davis) figured out you could grow merlot in the hot regions, and someone decided to sell it as a varietal. This happened about the same time Parker (who doesn't understand cabernet and singlhandedly made St. Emillion and Pomerol popular in the US) was doing his thing. Merlot was a hit because, despite being bland, lacking structure and age-worthiness, it was easy to drink for new wine drinkers: it was a little sweet and very fruity. It required none of the effort to understand that all of the great reds of the world require. Hence, it has become the most popular red.
As you can gather, I don't like merlot much. In fact, I've only bought one merlot for laying down in my life: the 1985 Matanzas Creek, a remarkable wine that reminds me of a good Petrus. Other vintages of the same winery leave me cold. The wine was a sport. Go figure. We'll drink the remaining 2 cases (mostly magnums and a few odd bottles) at my daughter's wedding, whenever that might be (she was born in 1985), and that will be the end of me and merlot.
Thank your for sharing it with all of us. It will definitely be added to my recipe book. Please Freepmail me the recipe so I can put it my recipe book. When I printed it out from the thread, it of course printed across two pages. AARRGGHH.
I will have to hand over one of my favorite recipes to reciprocate the favor.
What you saw around all the time as "Chablis" was California 'chablis', a generic name meant to evoke real chablis, which was a sort of dry (a little sweet really) white wine made from many grapes (but never the expensive chardonnay), often chenin blanc (the Loire grape) and ranged in quality from utter swill (Red Mountain Chablis- $1.49/gallon in 1969) to fairly decent (e.g. the ones made by the better California wineries like Beaulieu Vineyards. California white wine with any pretentions was sold as a varietal, not a generic.
All I have time for now.
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