The Silk Road of Wine: WINE PAIRING: SEASONAL FRUIT AND WINE

Madison Magazine (the Wisconsin version) has a great piece on the proper wines to look for when you crave those juicy fruits for the end of summer -- definitely worth a read, all the more so since one of our local favorites (Ridge) made the "Midwest Best"! In their words:

Late summer ripeness calls for similarly ripe wines. While the season brings a juicy ripeness to our produce, we also start to taste starchy flavors as well, especially in our squashes and apples. These call for broader shouldered wines with uncomplicated, rich fruit and no discernable "earthiness."

The wines below are listed in order of increasing weight/intensity.

Guntrum Scheurebe Kabinett "Red", Germany, 2003 $12
Passion fruit and grapefruit aromas that carry through on the palate. Fresh and piquant, this moderately sweet white shines with Thai food. Look for the red bottle at your wine store.

Serve cold.

D'Arenberg Marsanne/Viogner, "Hermit Crab", Australia 2004 $16.50
Its tropical fruit gives an impression of sweetness, but the wine finishes dry. Rich and nutty, it's quite fine with salmon and fruit-glazed

barbecue.

Clay Station Malbec, Lodi, California 2002 $14
Raspberry and floral scents with a rich, broad mouth-feel and nicely balanced oak flavors of vanilla and spice. Great with steak and barbecue.

Ridge Zinfandel, Spring Mountain, California 2002 $28
Restrained style of Zinfandel with a surprising elegance. Black pepper and blackberries show through moderate tannins. Consider decanting for an hour to bring out its nuance.

Recommended books on wine

Andrea Immer Robinson's excellent teach-yourself course on wine
The other great wine & food pairing book on the market
One of the two best wine & food pairing books on the market
Encylopedic reference tome on all regions and wines. Very educational.
Well-written and very informative.
A great compact reference book -- extremely helpful when trying to decipher wine labels in other languages.
Easily digestible sections for each micro-region in the world. Fantastic maps
The gold standard -- read this cover to cover and you'll know more than most wine shop employees

Great wine shops

Vintage Wine Merchants
More than a destination shop -- you can easily spend the whole day talking with Alex, Joe, Mike, Harry and the gang and learning a ton about fine wine. Santana Row wouldn't be nearly as much fun without their shop!
K&L Wine Merchants
Great selection and newsletter. One of the best-designed wine websites around.
The Wine Club
Some real hard to find gems, good futures prices and a great newsletter.
Joseph George Wines
Think about it -- how many wine shops do you know that are 3rd generation family-owned, provide you the owner's name and phone number on their website (and invite you to call for assistance in selecting wines), and are only open noon-5pm Monday through Friday ...! A sign of how well the shop is doing.
Vin, Vino, Wine Bottle Shop & Tasting Bar
Tucked away on California Ave. in Palo Alto, this is truly a shop for the connoisseur -- not as comprehensive as some of the bigger shops, but they more than make up for it with deep collections of exceptional red and white Burgundies. Their newsletter is required reading each month.

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