by Margaret Swaine | Oct 1, 2002
By Margaret Swaine
1. What are some good wine accessories worth buying?
Until screwcaps become ubiquitous, the most essential is a corkscrew. There are many types, styles and price levels. The most basic is the sommelier corkscrew that looks like a pocketknife with the worm (i.e. screw that winds into the cork) and foil blade folding into its base. These are inexpensive (generally less than ten dollars) unless you go for the ultimate luxury of those hand made by Laguiole which will set you back well over $100. My favourites for ease of use are made by Screwpull. Swissmar is the distributor in Canada – to find your nearest retailer call 187-swissmar (1-877-947-7627) or visit www.swissmar.com The Teflon coated worm and brilliant design pulls the cork out as you turn the screw. The basic table models cost around $40 while the top of the line professional lever model is amazing but pricey ($200). As a result there are many copycats. The best version is by Trudeau, a Montreal based kitchenware manufacturer that spends much time and money on research for their lines. Their Trulever that sells for $100 has a snazzy design that’s cool enough to leave displayed on the kitchen counter. Wine coolers are a handy item. Vacu Vin (www.vacuvin.nl) makes Rapid Ice Coolers ($15.) in colours and fun designs that you keep in the freezer and slip over a bottle to cool wine quickly. Systems to preserve an unfinished bottle of wine are useful for those who like to enjoy a glass at a time. Vacu Vin’s Concerto wine saver ($20. – $25.) is a wine pump with a vacuum indicator that clicks when all the air is out of the bottle. Swissmar sells a duo function one that purges air or with the flip of a knob puts air into a Champagne bottle to keep the bubbles under pressure ($30 a gift set). A spritz or three into the bottle and then you can recap with its own cork. I always use Screwpull’s Champagne “Star” to easily remove corks from bottles of bubbly. To recork these type of bottles you’ll need a “champagne stopper” which seals pressure, hence the bubbles, in the bottle. To decant a port without spillage, a wine funnel is handy. Both these latter two items can be found in various designs and prices at many retailers. Trudeau makes a nifty funnel ($30.) that comes with a stand, sieve and little saucer to catch drips. Swissmar has just come out with two new stainless steel funnels with stands ($26.) If you’ve opened a bottle that turns out to be harsh and tannic, The Wine Cellar Express made by B & W Marketing can come to the rescue. By putting the bottle on this high powered magnetic coaster, in about half an hour the wine tastes silkier. Finally Wine Away ($12/6oz) is a red wine stain remover that actually works. I keep a bottle handy at home and travel with a purse size one.
2. How should I store my wine?
There are a few major principles to keep in mind. Sunlight, heat and smells are enemies of wine. Therefore look for a dark, cool and clean area for storage. That means forget the furnace room, the top of the fridge (which lets off heat) or above the stove and any windowed area where the sun can reach the bottles. Winter cloth closets with mothballs, paint storage areas, or musty cellars should also be avoided. Vibrations can also be detrimental, dry air will cause the corks to shrink as they lose moisture and rapid fluctuations in temperature will prematurely age the wine. Therefore forego the inside of the fridge (unless it’s just for a few days), the laundry room and the garage. If you are in an apartment, a closet (but not the one where you store the cleaning fluids) will be best. However if you keep your place quite warm, the wine will age faster than if it’s kept at an ideal 57 to 59 degrees (14 to 16C). In a house a basement works best as long as it’s reasonable clean and not wet or musty. Humidity however is good; around 70 per cent to 95 per cent (above that mold can set in) is ideal. If you have a serious collection, you will want to consider building a special temperature controlled wine cellar room. Professional cooling units are available that humidify as well as cool a room. https://www.wineracking.ca/
3. Does the shape or type of glass matter when serving a wine?
Yes you can appreciate wine’s aromas and flavour components much more in a fine glass (with stems) appropriate to the type of wine. Georg Riedel (www.riedelcrystal.com), tenth generation of an Austrian stemware making family, has made a career of proving this point. His company produces five million lead crystal glasses a year and he travels the world to convince skeptics that the size and shape of a glass profoundly affects our perception of the wine. Riedel sells a different glass for just about every type of wine but I think that’s going too far. A few basics are all most of us need. First all glasses are best if basically clear to show off the colour of the wine, and for the optimum feel against the lips, as thin and fine as is affordable and practical. For sparkling wines a tall elongated tulip or flute shaped glass with a capacity for 8 to 12 ounces works to hold in the bubbles and concentrate the aromas on the nose. A balloon shaped glass, holding anywhere from 12 to 24 ounces will aerate red wines because of its shape and works well for burgundies, barolos and other elegant, refined wines. An oval shaped bowl that’s narrower at its mouth, with a capacity from 12 to 24 ounces, is ideal for cabernet sauvignons, merlots and other bordeaux style reds. For whites, a capacity of 10 to 12 ounces is enough in a regular tulip shape or oval. Riedel’s Vinum line (about $25 per stem) is machine made crystal hence costs less than their hand-blown ($35. to over $90.). German manufacturer Spiegelau (www.spiegelau.com) makes a knock-off of the Vinum line called Vino Grande that’s about half the price and very good. Waterford Crystal (https://www.waterford.com) in their Marquis Vintage Tasting Collection has created a stylish line, well shaped for wine appreciation. Nova Scotia Crystal’s mouth-blown, hand-cut line are on the heavy side for wine but my husband loves their single malt scotch glass ($83.) which can be ordered on line at www.NovaScotianCrystal.com or 1-888-977-2797.
by Margaret Swaine | Jun 1, 2002
By Margaret Swaine
My brother Ralph’s not much of a wine drinker. Actually he’s not much of a drinker period. So when he opened a bottle of Bordeaux at my birthday dinner he and his wife Jane had cooked, I was impressed.
Now he’s a frugal sort, so we’re not talking expensive Chateau Lafite from the famous Pauillac area, but Chateau Puyfromage from Côtes de Francs on general list (#33605) for $13.95. It went just ducky with the duck they cooked.
Puyfromage happens to be one of the most popular Bordeaux wines in Ontario, selling over 6,000 cases last year. Others besides me therefore obviously agree with his taste. And French wines are by far the most popular imported wines in Canada capturing about a quarter of all wine sales, with Bordeaux a leading region. Impressive figures, considering Bordeaux’s reputation for being so costly as to be unobtainable.
My husband’s first word when I asked him for his opinion on Bordeaux wine was, expensive. That’s also what he says when I mention vacation or shopping so it puts this wine in the category of special occasions only. This is a misnomer. Just like you can get super savers buying travel and cloths, so you can with Bordeaux. While this region boasts some of the world’s classiest and most pricy wines, it also has an enormous array of well made bargains from among its 13,500 producers, including the over 7,000 chateau selling wines. The trick is to sift the good from the bad.
Bordeaux, as you can clearly deduce, is an enormous producer of wine, not only in the number of properties but also in the shear quantity. This area in the southwest of France has some of the nation’s largest estates. Even a mid-size Médoc producer with about 150 acres will make about 26,000 cases a year, more than two or three times that of a North American boutique winery.
There are 57 appellations and hundreds of classified growths – those officially ranked according to quality. I’ll tell more about the classification systems later, after I’ve simplified the region enough to remove a bit of the fear factor. Yes, the fear factor. That sinking feeling you get when confronted with a restaurants wine list, see pages of Bordeaux listed and you don’t have a clue where to begin. Usually you are only looking in this section when you want something special, which makes the task all the more daunting. In this instance call for the resident expert, namely the owner or sommelier to assist. I would and do. Even the wine pros who specialize in the region, say they can never completely master Bordeaux. First there’s the huge number of properties, the fortunes of which shift around like the sand dunes of the nearby Arcachon basin. Then there are the usual suspects namely vintage variations and changes in winemaking techniques that alter how a wine tastes from year to year.
At the LCBO too you can always ask for a consultant to help you. However for a little independence and to know something of which you talk and want, it’s good to have the Bordeaux basics down pat. These are as easy to learn as one, two, three – that is grape varieties, main regions and classifications.
Grapes
Cabernet Sauvignon and merlot are the dominant red grapes, often blended with cabernet franc. Petit verdot has a role of minor importance in some blends. The resultant red wines tend to be more structured and restrained than the New World interlopers. Flavours lean towards herbs, spices and wood and they demand a more educated palate than the ripe, sweet fruit tastes from the young nations.
Sauvignon blanc and sémillon are the two dominant white grapes, sometimes blended with muscadelle to add more aromatics. Both dry and sweet dessert wines are produced. The dry whites are aromatic, fresh and crisp. The sweet whites, among the world’s best, are rich, full flavoured and concentrated with honeyed fruit tastes.
Regions/wine groups
The 57 Bordeaux appellations can be divided into six “families” of wine: four red and two white. Each group shares similar characteristics because of the regulated blends used in production and their similar growing conditions. The Gironde estuary cuts through the middle of the region, splitting north of the city of Bordeaux into the rivers Garonne which heads southeast and Dordogne going somewhat northeast. Thus the land is neatly divided into left and right bank with the area in the middle called Entre-Deux-Mers (between the seas).
Bordeaux and Bordeaux Supérieur are the most generic among the reds, coming from anywhere in the region, and hence offer the best price. Meant to be drunk young, they are light to medium bodied, fairly crisp, and often lean with herby fresh berry notes. Côtes de Bordeaux from the various côtes appellations dotted around, tend to be finer in quality and are light to medium bodied, fresh and quick maturing with typical Bordeaux bouquets. Some of the Côtes are Côtes de Bourg, Côtes de Castillon and Côtes de Francs.
The third grouping, the Libournais vineyards, situated on the eastern bank of the Dordogne River (hence often called right bank wines) includes the prestigious Saint-Emilion and Pomerol wine districts. The picturesque, cobble stoned town of Saint Emilion, perched on an escarpment above the Dordogne, is a tourist’s jewel crowning the region. The soil is particularly suited for merlot and hence the wines tend to be softer and fruitier than wines from the left bank. They are medium to full bodied and the best can be aged many years to bring out their full complexities. Satellite appellations include Puisseguin-Saint-Emilion, Lalande-de-Pomerol, Fronsac and Canon-Fronsac.
The Médoc and Graves “family” of wines are renowned for the stately 19th century châteaux where some of the most legendary and age-worthy wines of the world are produced. On this rather flat, plain land along the left bank of the Gironde and Garonne, vineyards are laid out in prim, perfectly aligned, densely planted rows. Graves is just south of the captivating city of Bordeaux itself, while Médoc is to the north . Cabernet Sauvignon dominates in these districts and the wines, often big, complex and full flavoured, can demand long aging to bring out their potential. Appellations within these areas include Haut-Médoc, Saint-Estèphe, Pauillac, Saint-Julien, Margaux and Pessac-Léognan.
The dry whites basically fall into two styles, either crisp and fresh or fuller bodied and aged in oak. The appellations seen most often here include Bordeaux, Graves, Entre-Deux-Mers and Pessac-Léognan. The sweet whites are produced with a majority of sémillon grape, a variety susceptible to noble rot (a beneficial fungus that concentrates flavours). The most famous region for sweets is Sauternes that makes luscious wines from classified châteaux. Barsac, Sainte-Croix-du-Mont, Cadillac and Cèrons are others.
Ranking the wine
The king of all the globe’s wine ranking systems comes from Bordeaux, and dates back to 1855. At the time, Bordeaux was enjoying its considerable riches as a major port for world trade. Large land holdings were crowned with chateaux (castles), many built in the previous century by the aristocracy of the day. The rich merchant class used their wealth to purchased chateaux and the vineyards surrounding. Some such as Barton and Guestier are still to this day important chateaux owners as well as negotiants. For the 1855 Paris Exhibition, Napoleon III, the Emperor of France at the time, invited Bordeaux’s wine brokers to rank the region’s top wines. After much debate, a five-tier classification was chosen ranging from Premiers Cru (First Growth) to Cinquièmes Cru (Fifth Growth). The final list consisted of 61 red wines from leading chateaux, all from Médoc with the exception of Haut-Brion which was the most prominent Graves chateau. In addition 25 highly rated sweet wines of Sauternes, Barsac and such, were ranked in three tiers (Grand First, First and Second Growths).
While no one likely intended this classification to last so long, little of it has changed to this day. Much of the mystique surrounding Bordeaux wines even now can be traced to top growths or crus classes with their elegant castles, aristocratic tone and of course high prices. The First Growths (Lafite, Latour, Margaux, Haut Brion and Mouton-Rothschild – which received the only official change when upgraded from Second to First Growth in 1973) are so long lived as to be almost immortal. However many of the classed growths have expanded their vineyards holdings since their classification, some have been ravaged by inheritance taxes, others have invested profits into better equipment and technology. Numerous now copy the Americans somewhat, aiming for riper grapes with softer, less green tannins. A lot have reduced aging in oak from three to four years down to 18 to 24 months to make the wine ready to drink earlier. For you, the consumer, this means the Médoc classification system of today can not guarantee that a wine ranked Second Growth for example, will be better than one ranked Fifth. And since price goes up with ranking, some of the best quality buys are found on the lower tiers. Bottom line – don’t fret about learning the individual classifications – you do better to follow the ranking of current wine critics on the wine.
The other systems are no less confusing. Graves was classified first in 1953 and revised in 1959 with no attempt to rank among the chosen wines. The Saint-Emilion classification, which divides into two categories, has been revised several times since first being published in 1955. The crus bourgeois, châteaux of Médoc that were not originally classified, have greatly grown in numbers over the years. This year these over 470 chateaux are being divided into a new pecking order. Some high quality properties with excellent track records are among this group.
Just know there are multi-classifications, wines will generally cost more the higher they are ranked, but quality does not necessarily correspond. However among all, even the lesser, the style is uniquely Bordeaux: with elegance, a defined structure and an herby edge rather than sweet fruit. The aesthete palate steers towards this style, the more educated it becomes. World-renowned British wine writer and critic Hugh Johnson wrote in his Pocket Wine Book 2002 about generic bordeaux “If I had to choose one simple daily wine, this would be it.”
Assuming you’re equally enthused, what do you match with it? The reds like the one my brother served, do go well with duck and equally with goose or even turkey if you have it with a savory stuffing. The chateaux I’ve visited in Médoc, often have served me lamb with their fine reds – a perfect marriage. Steak, stew and sausages are also good with the deeper, fuller Bordeaux reds. With the dry whites, shellfish, grilled fish, oysters, chicken and green vegetables, such as asparagus do well. Cheese, dessert or the classic combo foie gras, go with the sweet whites.
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This holiday season give yourself a treat, buy the best Bordeaux you can afford and start your palate on its upward journey.
Best Bets on General List
White Wines
The most popular Bordeaux whites in Ontario are Calvet Reserve (#144568, $10.95) a dry yet rounded blend of sauvignon blanc and sémillon with citrus character and the perennially popular Mouton Cadet (#2527, $12.35) which has sauvignon, sémillon and muscadelle blended in a crisp, clean style. My own top current choices are:
Chateau Bonnet Entre-Deux-Mers 2001 (83709, $12.95) produced by the fine winemaker André Lurton at his 18th century chateau, which his family acquired at the end of the 19th century. From the vast vineyards surrounding the chateau he creates a blend of 45% sauvignon blanc, 45% sémillon and rest muscadelle that has a fresh passionfruit/grapefruit bouquet and an expressive, refreshing citrus taste with a good finish.
Cordier Collection Privée Sauvignon Blanc 2001 (560235, $9.65) named after founder Desirée Cordier(1858-1940). It’s medium bodied with a crisp, fresh fruity character and tangy finish.
Red Wines
There’s a good selection of Bordeaux reds on general list, over two dozen at the moment. Among the best are:
Chateau de Cartillon 1998 (359653, $20.05), a Cru Bourgeois from Haut-Médoc it’s a blend of equal amounts of merlot, cabernet franc and cabernet sauvignon with 10% petit verdot. It’s robust and generous with spiced, herby, fruity flavours and nice earthy depth. A match for meat, game or hearty meat pies and stews.
Chateau Puyfromage 2000 (33605, $13.35), a Côtes de Francs from a 1574 chateau built on a high plateau called Puy. During the 100 Years War, English troupes stationed in the plain below waited for smoke signals “from edge” of the plateau. Given a French pronunciation the words became “fromage” hence the chateau’s name. The flavours are typically goût Français of herbaceous spiced berry, medium body with no rough edges.
Chateau Canada 1999 (559468, $13.95) from the village of Cubzac-les-Ponts north of Bordeaux city, it’s a blend of 70% merlot with rest cabernet sauvignon. Aged over six months in oak, it has a herby nose and mint-berry taste with a lively structure and good concentration.
Chateau des Laurets 1999 Saint-Emilion Puisseguin (371401, $15.40), a mainly merlot blend with 14% cabernet franc and 11% cabernet sauvignon. The bouquet is a beguiling cassis berry with hints of herbs and the taste is elegant, fresh berry crispness with a dry finish.
Chateau Bonnet 1999 (99044, $15.95), majority cabernet sauvignon with 40% merlot, has a fairly full body and deep, ripe berry, herby character with spiced oak. It’s Bordeaux type-caste while expressive and supple.
Chateau de Terrefort-Quancard 1998 (145110, $15.) has its 16th century property in Cubzac-les-Ponts. Its blend of 70% merlot with cabernets sauvignon and franc is aged in oak. It has an oaky spiced berry nose and tight forest leaf flavours which need air or age to open up, but are worth the wait.
Calvet Saint-Germain 1999 (152587, $13.95) is an Entre-Deux-Mers estate that makes a pleasant, earthy berry red with a dry finish.
Chateau Guibon 1999 (559476, $12.95) a beautiful property, once owned by the Monks at Abbey La Sauve, is now part of André Lurton’s holdings. Half and half merlot and cabernet sauvignon, it’s medium light with a supple, fresh spiced fruit taste.
Chateau de la Tour 1999 (264986, $12.95) near the village of Salleboeuf is named after the ruins of a medieval castle found amongst the vines. It’s cabernet sauvignon with 42% merlot, blended to a fairly bold tangy fruit style with supple tannins, medium body and dry spiced berry finish.
Chateau de Courteillac 2000 (360552, $9.45) from a 16th century chateau in the Entre-Deux-Mers region is mainly merlot. Its minerally, leafy, ripe fruit nose carries through in the rounded berry taste, that’s very French style.
Jacques et François Lurton Merlot 1999 (456665, $9.95), the best of the solely merlot “fighting varietals”, is from the sons of André who have struck out very successfully on their own. Its smooth and easy style has a fairly ripe clean berry character.
What to Watch for in Vintages
The top classified growths and the older, great vintages, are regularly found in the Classics Catalogue. Here you’ll find the likes of Chateau Lafite-Rothschild 1995, an exulted wine with a price to match (#709022, $654) but also the occasional little chateau in the $30 to $40 range. In vintages you’ll find even more of the later. It’s often among these Cru Bourgeois and petits chateaux where the best bargains are found. Chateaux like Phélan-Ségur, Sociando-Mallet, D’Angludet and Clarke-Rothschild tend to be consistently good for example. Other good deals can be found among the lesser known properties of Saint Emilion, the Pomerol satellites and Graves. This fall in vintages, for example, are two wines from the Graves estate of Chateau Roquetaillade La Grange. From the excellent 2000 vintage, are a white (240374, $13.95) and a red (193102, $18.55) both well priced with lovely typical character.
The wine’s vintage is important in Bordeaux, more than with New World wines where weather conditions tend to be more consistent. Among the recent years, the best are 1989, 1990, 1995, 1996, 1998 and 2000. Finally, here are some tips about the four vintages most likely to be found for sale in Ontario today. The 1997 vintage was good but lighter and tended to be overpriced. Stocks languished and now bargains can be found as they get deeply discounted to push sales. In 1998, wines were very good, especially in Pomerol and Saint Emilion. These are a good bet to buy. The 1999 vintage saw lots of rain at harvest and to compensate, good growers had to limit yields, pick at just the right time and use new concentration methods to get rid of excess water. Pick your way thought these by checking reviews. Then the exceptional 2000 harvest came, which has been called a magic year, the best in decades and one of the top of the century. Buy it as it comes on the market.
by Margaret Swaine | Dec 1, 2001
Incoming cold winter weather brings thoughts of warm drinks into my head. Hot toddies after a day of skiing and mulled wine ready on the stove to serve guests over the holidays. In restaurants, I think of going for Asian – perhaps spicy Hunan or crunchy hot Japanese tempura served with a warm flask of sake. However as comforting as warm sake is, it’s not at all the only way to drink it. The tradition came about when sake was much coarser and heat made it more palatable.
Several years ago on a trip to New York, I discovered the hippest bars were those serving sake – chilled. I felt decidedly cool myself when I subsequently knew to ask for cold sake when hot spots in Toronto, such as Centro and Monsoon, started to offer it. Later when I did a tasting at the Japanese Trade Office of 101 sakes, I imagined my education completed. Not so I discovered this year while travelling around Japan. Some 1,800 producers, whose combined brands number more than 10,000, make it in every region of the country. At an upscale sake bar in the Tokyo’s fashionable Ginza district, I further discovered sake has as many styles as wine. There I sampled a gamut including sparkling, unfiltered sweet and cloudy, rosé, bone dry and even vintage dated sakes.
Fortunately, just like with wine, you can enjoy it at any stage of your education. Here in North America, with the popularity of Japanese and Asian fusion cuisine, sake consumption has increased dramatically in the past decade. Its all natural base – no additives, preservatives or sulphites – adds to its appeal, especially among the health conscious. New York magazine and other trendy publications have touted it as the next big drink with monikers such as “wine substitute for the chic” and “vodka lite”.
Despite its vogue today, sake is anything but new. Indeed, it’s one of the oldest alcoholic beverages in the world. Signs of sake brewing have been found dating back to 4800 BC, in the Yangteze Valley in what in now China. Sake was brought to Japan around 300 AD and has played an important role in Japanese life ever since. The first sake was called kuchikami no sake or “chewing-in-the-mouth sake”. Up until 1192 it was primarily used during Shinto festivals of fertility, as post-harvest offerings to the Shinto Gods who protected the fields. A whole village would gather to chew up rice, chestnuts and millet, and then spit the mush into vats to ferment. It’s believed people likely helped themselves to some of this “Drink of the Gods”.
Luckily today’s sake is considerably different. The discovery of yeast increased alcohol content and later industrialization improved the whole process. Rice shortages during the Second World War also altered the recipe. Alcohol and glucose were added to the rice mash, increasing yields by as much as four times. Over ninety percent of today’s sake is made this way. Sake is a brewed alcoholic beverage that starts with raw rice, polished, washed, soaked then steamed and cooled. Of the 120,000 varieties of rice available, 46 are specifically grown for brewing sake. Koji, which are microbes similar to those used in blue cheese production, are added to break down rice starch into glucose. The sake yeast “eats” or ferments the glucose and produces alcohol. This fermentation step lasts 20 to 25 days. The brewery master known as a toji carefully controls all the various stages, and is a much-honoured master in Japan. Polishing or milling the rice removes imperfections and fatty acids – companies claim the more impurities removed, the less the hangover factor. Premium sake has the outer layer milled away until the kernel is less than 65% of the original size.
I’ve read that sake contains more than 400 flavour elements, though I can’t imagine how a Caucasian could ever learn to identify them all. Japanese sake experts have ninety different words to describe aroma alone. If you hold the sake in your mouth and gently exhale through your nose, a secondary fragrance arises from the tongue, know as the “fukumi-ka”. The five “tastes” of sake are simpler to understand – sweetness, dryness, acidity, bitterness and astringency – with the best sakes having a balance of these. The best also have such preferred aromas as apple, banana, strawberry and melon, though it’s perfectly acceptable to have a barely perceptible fragrance. The finish or aftertaste is called its tail. The most important aspect is the balance of the smell with the flavour. The colour can range from totally transparent to cloudy white or even pink, as I discovered.
High quality sake is best served cool to better appreciate its fragrance and delicacy. In the top traditional inns of Japan they often use a small decanter with a glassed-in middle section that holds ice. It’s both practical and attractive. Keeping the bottle on ice, or in the refrigerator, works just as well however. Japanese use tiny glasses, artistically designed and often uniquely shaped, for the cool sakes. Since I’ve seldom seen replicas here, I suggest you use small sherry or port wine glasses.
Less expensive sakes should be served warm but never too hot. The heat masks the coarser aspects of mass-market sake and is certainly welcome during our long cold winters. Such sake is served in a ceramic flask, called a tokkuri and poured into small ceramic cups. A small teapot and tiny tea cups are a fine enough Canadian substitute.
When you are drinking with others, it is polite custom to pour each other’s sake. In Japan, pouring your own is a sign you like alcohol a bit too much. Keeping an eye on your company’s cup however and continually topping it up, is considered a sign of respect. This may explain why the widely accepted excuse for odd or unruly behaviour in Japan is: “I was drinking sake”. Nonetheless, never down your sake in one gulp – it’s polite to sip slowly and savour it.
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Different sakes match with different foods. Delicate Junmai sake (see sidebar examples) goes well with light white fish and vegetable dishes while grilled salmon or pork dishes are better served with the bigger, fuller styles, especially the warm versions, such as regular Gekkeikan, Hakutsuru and Ozeki. The sweet, unfiltered sakes are best saved for dessert. An example is Pearl Sake Junmai Nigori Genshu (Vintages #972729). Sake also makes smooth cocktails. Saketinis have many recipes. One version mixes two parts of sake with one of vodka, served on the rocks with a speared olive. In another put two ounces of sake in a mixing glass filled with ice. Then add a dash of vermouth, stir, strain into a glass and garnish with a pearl onion. Or for a twist on the traditional, take 1¼ ounce of gin, add a splash of sake and serve up on the rocks.
Sidebar
Sake Types
There are four basic types of premium sake, and one special designation. Seishu is the legal name for sake; hence the word “shu” attached to these names simply defines them as sake. Note the more the outer part of the rice is ground away, the higher the quality of the sake and subsequent price.
Junmai-shu: pure sake. Only rice, water and koji mold are used. At least 30% of the outer rice must be milled away (leaving it 70% of its original size). The taste of this top level sake is usually a bit heavier and fuller than other types and the acidity a tad higher. Available on general list are Fukunishiki Junmai (LCBO#890673), a denser savoury, medium sweet one with nut overtones; and Tsukasabotan Junmai (LCBO#891275) which is medium-dry with a round, balance and texture and gently melon fruitiness (which when I had it with shrimp bisque, was wonderful).
Honjozo-shu: a small amount of distilled alcohol is added to the fermenting sake. At least 30% of the outer rice must be milled away. This sake is lighter, drier than most and easier to drink. It can be served warm. NOTE: Most “run-of-the-mill sake” have more alcohol added than Honjozo, and less milling, and these are the ones we see most often here as warmed drinks. Regular Gekkeikan (LCBO#158535) and Ozeki (LCBO#12849) are made in California and while coarser in their delivery of rice/fruit tastes, are smooth, medium sweet and straightforward. Just the ticket to warm.
Ginjo-shu: at least 40% ground away outer rice. Also it’s brewed with labour intensive steps and fermented at colder temperatures for longer periods. The flavour is more complex and delicate, often with fruity or flowery tones. (Junmai-ginjo is a subclass that is pure sake, 40% ground away). Watch in vintages for these types.
Daiginjo-shu: Like ginjo-shu but at least 50% ground away outer rice and often as far as 65% (meaning only 35% of the original kernel is left). It’s the pinnacle of the sake brewer’s art. Generally light, complex and fragrant. (Junmai-daiginjo is a pure sake subclass such as Yaueman Junmai Daigingo in Vintages#958934) Horin Gekkeikan (vintages #951509) is an ultra-premium daiginjo from two selected rice varieties, polished to 48% of original size. It has a fragrant anise seed nose and delicate, soft, mild semi-dry rice/fruit taste. Good with white fish.
Namazake: unpasteurized sake. Any type of sake can be made namazake, though most are not. It has a fresh, lively flavour and may seem a bit sweeter. It’s perishable and must be refrigerated. Watch in vintages for this type.
