For Draper, the wine used was his 1974 Geyserville Zinfandel. For Mondavi, his 1973 Cabernet Sauvignon and for Lichine, his 1967 Chateau Prieuré-Lichine. In each case, for each taster, one of his bottles was decanted one hour before serving. One was simply uncorked an hour before serving. A third was decanted and served minutes before the tasting and the fourth was just uncorked and served minutes before the tasting. Mondavi and Lichine tasted each other’s wine also. Don’t shoot the messenger, but in every case, including a 1973 Chateau Pichon-Lalande with Zraly and Sheldon, the bottle that was just uncorked and served at the time of the tasting was preferred!

Bespaloff goes on to say he queried both the famous French wine consultant Emile Peynaud and the prominent U.C. Davis enology professor Vernon Singleton on the subject, and each just uncorked their wines and poured them with similar thoughts about non-breathing.

Bespaloff went even further and opened two bottles of 1967 Figeac on one occasion and two bottles of 1967 Chateau Latour on another occasion, one decanted an hour before and one uncorked minutes before serving. In each case, four other wine drinkers “…discovered, to their astonishment, that the bottle just opened and poured had more flavor and a bigger bouquet than the one decanted an hour before…”

Now this is serious evidence as to how best to serve wine. But even though this article appeared 33 years ago from one of the most prolific and knowledgeable wine writers in the world, the custom of opening a bottle to let it breathe and decanting wine to let it breathe is as firmly entrenched as ever.

After writing about this several times in the past, I decided to test the theory myself. I asked Bill Floyd at Reef Restaurant if he would round up four or five serious wine professionals to have a go at a blind tasting conducted by myself. The wine was a 2005 (outstanding year for Bordeaux) Chateau Lynch- Moussas ( a very good Classified Growth Bordeaux, at least since 2002). Omitting the fourth bottle which was slightly off, I decanted one bottle two hours before the tasting, I decanted one bottle one hour before the tasting, and opened one bottle just before the “judges” arrived. I then poured the three offerings, two from decanters and one from bottle, separated the tasters, and served the wines blind.

The tasters were composed of the following: renowned “Houston Chronicle” sports and wine writer Dale Robertson, who also wrote up the tasting; one wine-savvy restauranteur; one well-known wine wholesaler; and several well-known Houston sommeliers. All but one thought the wine served from the bottle that was opened and poured into the glasses just prior to the tasting was the most flavorful!

In Europe, wine has been thought of as part of a meal for hundreds of years. I sat down to meals in Italy, France and Spain when I was in my 20s, and I don’t remember anyone discussing the wines. After every bite or so of food, people would simply pick up their glass of wine and take a drink.

At professional tastings, tasters swirl the wine around in the glass vigorously in an attempt to release the aroma or bouquet. Serious enophiles do the same thing, as well as sticking their noses deep into the glass to harvest some fruit or floral components of the wine, and every once in a while, grin knowingly and say something like, “blackberries” or “figs.” There is absolutely nothing wrong with this. It’s a bit like a symphony lover sighing with delight on hearing a perfectly played melody or new arrangement.

Following are some little hints for facilitating an enhanced enjoyment of wine:

1—If you can, use a proper wine glass without a “lip” around the top inside of the glass. This “lip” spreads out the wine instead of the wine going directly into your mouth and negatively affects the taste profile.

2—Only fill the glass 1/3 to ½ full. Therefore, a 10- or 12-ounce glass should be just right in most instances. This way, you can experience a nice bouquet if you take a whiff.

3—In most instances, don’t worry about wine “breathing.” Just pour it in the glass and drink it.

4—The rule about holding the glass by the stem so you won’t heat up the wine is baloney. Think about it—if you have a glass of white wine that is 40-45 degrees, and you pick it up occasionally between bites of food, but hold it by the bowl, does anyone really think it will shoot up to some untenable temperature? And if you do hold it long enough to really affect the temperature, by that time the glass will be empty, so who cares? Unfortunately, this rule is so ensconced now, that one must hold the glass by the stem to appear to be within the rules of wine etiquette.

5—White wine with seafood, white or a light- or medium-red wine with chicken, and bigger reds, like Cabernet Sauvignon or Shiraz, with beef or lamb is a great general rule. But there are exceptions. One is that if you like Chardonnay with your steak, it’s really nobody’s business but yours. As I’ve stated many times, your palate is the best palate in the world for you! Another is Pinot Noir (red) with grilled salmon. The list goes on and on.

6—Finally, how to avoid hangovers (or at least such bad ones):

a.) Don’t drink so much—Duh!

b.)—If you know you’re going to have several glasses of wine with dinner, avoid mixed drinks or beer before dinner

c.)—As soon as you start drinking, start eating. Having two glasses of sparkling wine or white wine on an empty stomach prior to a wine dinner is a recipe for a hangover, not to mention some personality-altering residuals

d.)—If you know you will be having a dessert wine like Port or Sauternes, have less wine with your meal. The combination of the high alcohol (Sauternes around 15% and Port around 18%), and the substantial, natural residual sugar in these wines can exacerbate the effects of too much wine and food. When having a dessert wine, a recommended regimen would be no more than 6 ounces of white wine or sparkling wine with the hors d’oeuvres or appetizer, 6 ounces of red with the entrée and 4 ounces of the dessert wine. As long as I don’t exceed this, I don’t think about the words Tums, Rolaids, Prylosec, Alka-Seltzer, Advil or Benadryl.

Food and wine pairings are all the rage. After all, we’re always looking for a synergism in which both the wine and food taste better together than either one possibly could by itself.

Some of the old favorites are oysters and Vouvray from the Loire Valley in France; goat cheese and Sauvignon Blanc, including Pouilly-Fume and Sancerre from the Loire Valley; rack of lamb with Bordeaux; fowl with Pinot Noir, including Burgundy; and paté or caviar with champagne.

The saying that “white wine goes with fish and red wine goes with meat” is generally correct, in my opinion. However, there are lots of exceptions. For example, grilled salmon goes well with Pinot Noir, particularly from California or Oregon. A local trout cooked in red wine with a great red Burgundy was a smashing success at the Hotel de la Poste in Beaune, France. And if one wants to have a Bordeaux with fish, halibut and swordfish can work well.

Some people serve Chardonnay as a house wine to complement paté, caviar or smoked salmon. Unfortunately, Chardonnay really doesn’t complement these hors d’oeuvres as does champagne. If one wishes to serve a white wine instead of, or along with, champagne, Sauvignon Blanc is a much superior selection.

A few years ago, I matched some wines and foods for a school auction item. My only fee for such “difficult” work was that I be there to enjoy the fruits of my labor. The combination that created the most excitement was a chicken and sausage paella with a Bodegas Arzuaga, one of the excellent Tempranillo-based reds from the Ribero del Duero in Spain.

Another fabulous match, which I have utilized in numerous gourmet dinners for charitable fund-raisers, is the generally forgotten consumé along with Madeira. From driest to sweetest, Madeira is labeled (with several exceptions) Sercial, Verdelho, Bual or Malmsey. Even though Sercial works well, the perfect match is Verdelho, particularly with pheasant consumé. And for a dessert wine, try a Bual or Malmsey with crème brulee, bread pudding, etc.

Every once in a while, I discover a new combination. One year, after the Sonoma winegrowers’ big tasting event here, most of the vintners ended up at our house. I pulled out a couple of great vintage Ports. The only thing I could find to go with the Port was Vanilla Wafers and peanut butter. OK, laugh, but it was just wonderful!

Experiment. Try Bargetto’s Ollolieberry wine with cheesecake. Pour some Pedro Ximinez Sherry on vanilla ice cream. Have fun!

Although the nascent problem was noted in the early to mid-1860s, nobody had a clue for years what was causing the death of the vines. It was finally discovered that this louse, the phylloxera, attached itself to the roots of the vines and sucked out their life supply, thus killing them. And since the California vineyards were planted primarily with vinifera grapes brought over from Europe, they eventually began to suffer the same fate.

T.V. Munson, of Denison, Texas, was one of several men who sent hundreds of thousands of native U. S. rootstocks to Europe, where vinifera vines were grafted onto these immune rootstocks. Munson is recognized as one of the people who helped save France from the phylloxera. He was awarded the Chevalier du Merite Agricole of the Legion of Honor along with two other Americans—the first Americans to be so honored since Thomas Edison.

It is rumored that many of Munson’s cuttings, most of which were from east Texas, were used for grafting in the Champagne area. The next time someone remarks that there is only one real Champagne and that no other sparkling wine is competitive, you can respond, “Well of course that’s true now since so many of the vines there were grafted onto Texas (or U.S.) rootstocks!”

The last year I know of that top-quality pre-phylloxera Bordeaux was produced would be 1878, and I have had the Chateau Mouton-Rothschild from that vintage from a magnum. It looked and tasted like one of the great vintages of the 1920s, 1928 in particular.

I have been fortunate to drink numerous pre-phylloxera wines—perhaps 30. The oldest was Chateau Gruaud Larose 1819, tasted at a magnificent two-day affair in Fort Worth orchestrated by Dr. Marvin Overton, one of America’s great wine connoisseurs and collectors. The bottle was brought from the chateau where it had been recorked and refilled with more 1819 every 30 years or so for about 170 years. The wine showed good color with a light rim and barely a hint of oxidation. A most remarkable, very drinkable wine, it could easily pass for a wine 100 years younger. It had “astonishing preservation” according to David Peppercorn, M.W. (Master of Wine), who was in attendance from England.

The greatest pre-phylloxera wine I’ve ever tasted, which is also my favorite wine of all time, is Chateau Lafite-Rothschild 1870 (magnum) from the famous Glamis Castle cellar. When consumed in the early 1980s, it had a youthful appearance—still opaque—and was a colossus, drinking more like a 1945 on steroids. It was seemingly from another planet. Maybe it was, and when the aliens left, they took the infected rootstocks with them, zapped the phylloxera and are enjoying pre–phylloxera Lafite on Venus.

Alas, the debate about the differences between pre- and post-phylloxera wines is becoming moot. One thing that concerns me is that, sadly, I find no mention of T.V. Munson in many large tomes about wine, including the 1,087-page Oxford Companion to Wine, 1994, and the 365-page Companion to Wine, 1992. If you’re interested in this “Grape Man of Texas,” go towww.eakinpress.com, search for T.V. Munson, then click on “Texas Biographies,” or call 800-880-8642.

The T. V. Munson Memorial Vineyard and the T. V. Munson Viticulture Enology Center are located on the campus of Grayson County College, Denison, Texas, where degrees in viticulture and enology have been offered for the past 30 years. Contact Dr. Roy Renfro for information:renfror@grayson.edu or 903-463-8707 or www.grayson.edu.

Several Americans, including myself, disliked the 1975 because it was still closed-up, austere and tannic!

From my wine-loving beginnings, I have followed the British press, especially Michael Broadbent, now chairman emeritus of the wine department for Christie’s in London. I have always found most of these writers to be less impressed with a young red that has huge, bold, awesome, over-the-top blockbuster fruit and more impressed with a young red that is complex, well-structured, moderately (or even substantially) tannic and rich with a harmonious fruit/acid balance.

Now here’s the confusing part. Primarily because of the weather, north coast California wines have more fruit–sometimes gobs more. This is because of extremely ripe grapes. However, all the sunshine results in less natural acidity and usually, because of vinification methods, among other things, less tannin. So one would expect that the European palate would not go gaga over our wines.

As a matter of fact, I can tell you that on numerous occasions, starting with the fabulous Robert Mondavi Cabernet Sauvignon 1974– which I shared in the early ‘80s with European friends who knew the wine was from America—the reception was less than enthusiastic.

On the other hand, there was the famous Paris tasting in 1976 in which all French experts chose Chateau Montelena Napa Chardonnay 1973 and Stag’s Leap Napa Cabernet Sauvignon 1973 over other fabled French wines. Of course, this was a blind tasting. I’m certain the results would have been vastly different had they known what they were tasting.

Some of the French judges were furious. At least one claimed that the tasting had been rigged by the host, Steven Spurrier—ironically a Londoner. But Steven has stated to me personally and in an article he wrote for me in the ‘80s that he did nothing of the sort. If there is a European Palate, it is strange that nine French experts picked a ripe-fruit $10 California Cabernet Sauvignon over fabled Chateau Mouton-Rothschild and Chateau Haut Brion from excellent vintages, and a ripe-fruit $10 Chateau Montelena Chardonnay over some fabled white Burgundies.

It has been proven on many occasions that California wines with all that ripe fruit and lower natural acidity, win blind tastings. However, many European wines, with less fruit, more acidity and more complexity, are a better complement to many foods. The moral of such stories is that American palate or European palate, quality usually comes through, especially in blind tastings!

Changes began to occur in this country when numerous soldiers returned from World War II with some newly acquired knowledge of dining with wine. But it was just a start. Even by the early ‘70s, I remember that most customers at a good steakhouse preceded dinner with a mixed drink and did not order wine.

Contrast that to today. Oftentimes there is a bottle or a glass of wine on virtually every table. A large part of the catalyst for this change was the effort of French and Italian restaurants all over the country.

It was not obvious that things had changed dramatically until the early to mid-‘80s. By then, Robert Finigan, Robert Parker and Denman Moody, the three favorite wine writers of Food and Wine magazine at that time, had been publishing their newsletters for five years or more. And wine columns began appearing in newspapers around the country—not just in the major metropolitan areas. At about the same time, a small undertaking called The Wine Spectator was purchased by Marvin Shanken and has now become a remarkably successful endeavor. In fact, the behemoth now publishes over 300,000 copies each issue.

Along the way there have been several well-meaning writers who may have hampered the progress of wine enjoyment rather than enhancing it. For example, one writer insisted on publishing misinformation such as the following (these are not quotes, but you’ll get the general idea):

“X” wine—Open 25 minutes prior to drinking and then re-cork between servings so as not to overaerate.

“Y” wine—Refrigerate for one hour and 40 minutes and then open 12 minutes before serving.

“Z” wine—Open one hour and 15 minutes prior to drinking to let breathe properly, and do not re-cork between servings, as it needs to continue to aerate.

I’m sure that many readers bought into this malarkey, thinking that there must be some exact amount of time for “aerating” and chilling that each wine needed prior to being served. Believing that wine was some esoteric substance only understood by the cognoscenti, some readers probably just gave up, or worse, pawned off this spurious information to others as if it were wine gospel.

There are, of course, some general rules concerning wine temperature, and there is room enough for an elephant to wander through on the subject of whether “breathing” is necessary or mostly bunk.

Finally, the first screw caps that appeared on premium wines were greeted with derision; however, studies in the last couple years show that a substantial percentage of wine consumers have accepted them, and for good reason. This simple change and the growing acceptance thereof is another step in the education process.

I sincerely believe that with the proliferation of top-notch journalists, the vast increase in the quality of wines, and the enthusiasm of the public for wine knowledge and enjoyment, we’re on the right path to being able to, as a nation, enjoy a bottle of wine with a meal as an uncomplicated, civilized and simple pleasure.

The legendary Andre Tchelistcheff of B.V. Private Reserve fame (winemaker from 1938-1972) came to Houston in 1979 for a vertical B.V. Private Reserve Cabernet tasting that I organized. The wines were taken to the wine cellar at the Petroleum Club the day before. The temperature was 65 degrees then and at the tasting the next day. Andre later told me that he thought the wines were a little too cold and could not show their best at that temperature.

I’ve always preferred lighter, fruitier wines like Beaujolais at 60 to 65 degrees. The lower temperature seems to enhance the flavors and coax an additional bit of charm. But I’m in Andre’s camp when it comes to the big reds. Some of the greatest I’ve had were served at top-end restaurant temperature (about 70 degrees), even though I prefer them several degrees cooler. In fact, serving them at 65 or even 62 is fine with me if the ambient temperature is around 70 degrees. That way, one can observe how the wine evolves as it warms up in the glass. When I do this however, the wine usually doesn’t stay in the glass at any one temperature long enough for me to see this evolution!

So how do you chill a 70 degree wine down to 67 or 68 degrees? The answer is simple. Don’t. I think manipulating a great red wine by putting a great 70 degree red wine in the refrigerator for 15 or 20 minutes is contraindicated. Now, if it’s cooler outside, I’ll stand a bottle in the shade for an hour or two. And if you have a wine cellar, you can test different times to serve the wine after taking it from the cellar. Once I opened two special reds—a ’92 Maya and a ’90 Chateau Montrose (both Parker 100s)—just after removing them from my 58 degree cellar, and poured them into glasses about an hour prior to drinking them. For dinner parties, we lower the AC to just under 70 degrees. The wines were perfect!

If picnicking in hot or even warm weather, most take a chilled white or chilled rose`. If taking a really good red, it won’t taste good warm, so this would be an occasion in which I would put it in some sort of cooler.

With regard to white wines, the worse the wine, the colder the better, so as to hide the faults! The better whites, such as great white Burgundies, do not open up and show their greatness if chilled too much.

Some connoisseurs even prefer them at cellar temperature, i.e., around 55 degrees. I prefer them at around 45 degrees—although I’m not a stickler about it—and enjoy seeing what happens to the wine as it warms up in the glass.

The point of all this is that there is no “best” temperature to serve wines. Different individuals prefer different temperatures. I knew one connoisseur who served even the best whites right out of the refrigerator—around 37 degrees—because that’s the way he liked them. And all of this advice is tempered by the fact that usually, a white right out of the fridge, and a red at regular room temperature (around 72 degrees) will work just fine!

I’ve always said that your palate is the best palate in the world for you. Although there are some general rules and guidelines for temperature, nobody can tell you what’s best for you.

In 2003, I wrote an article for “Houston Lifestyles and Homes” (and updated it here in 2005) about the wine scene in 2010. Some of my predictions that have already begun to materialize are:
1—After Italy in the ‘80s and Australia in the ‘90s and early ‘00s, Spain is the new wunderkind of the wine world. Priorat, Toro, Jumilla, Yecla, Rias Baixas, Campo de Borja and Catalayud are the “hot” regions, and Garnacha, Albarino and Verdejo are some of the “hot” grapes.
2—Riesling, particularly from the East Coast, is quickly gaining in popularity. With the vast majority of sommeliers and wine writers singing its praises, particularly as a “food” wine, it’s a can’t-miss.
3—Cabernet Franc is used for blending in significantly larger percentages. Dalla Valle started this trend with Heidi Barrett’s Maya, a 50-50 blend with Cabernet Sauvignon. This creation resulted in one of the best wines in the world.
4—What started with the “French Paradox,” the flight to drinking red wines is even more of a massive trend. Just last month, a study (on worms, no less) showed the beneficial effects of the highly acclaimed antioxidant resveratrol. Although the study implied that pills or red grape juice worked just as well, a comprehensive study from a Ph.D. in the late ‘90s concluded that the effect could only be obtained from wine, particularly red wine. As a matter of fact, in the recent study, the worms were given an amount of resveratrol equal to what a human would acquire from something like 100 glasses of red wine a day. Perhaps at that level, the pills would work.
Now that we’re about halfway between 2003 and 2010, what else is on the prognostication radar?
1—Except for business diners (read, expense accounts), more and more patrons will refuse to visit restaurants that mark up their wines 3 to 3 ½ times the cost. On the very low end, this practice may be acceptable to allow the restaurant to recover its costs involved in storing, serving, glassware, washing, etc. But when one sees a wine on a list for $60 or $65, and knows the retail cost was $20 (which means the wholesale cost to the restaurant was around $15), one tends to feel swindled. Or even worse, a $75 wine that is on the list for $225! The higher the cost, the lower the markup should be, within reason. And there are more diners each year who are aware of the costs of some of the wines as wine becomes more and more popular!
2—As a larger number of patrons become educated about wine, restaurants in turn will become more aware of vintages. Consider that 1991, 1992 and 1993 were not good vintages for red Bordeaux wines; however, there they were with their usual markups on wine lists in the mid to late ‘90s. Today, a significantly larger percentage of diners will have some knowledge of vintages and will not buy these wines. Since 1990, the only vintages for north coast Cabernets that were not at least very good were 1998 and 2000 (with some exceptions, like the 2000 Silver Oak Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley, which will knock your socks off). So as a general rule, avoid these two vintages.
3—There is a tremendous groundswell under way; the wines of Argentina and Chile. While the Malbecs of Argentina are flying high and the Cabernet Sauvignons are gaining ground rapidly, Chile is now all the rage. Many are familiar with Maipo Valley and some have heard of Colchagua Valley and Aconcagua Valley, but now we are discovering exciting wines from Casablanca Valley, San Antonio Valley and Cachapoal Valley, not to mention Maule Valley, Bio Bio Valley and Apalta Valley! Excellent Sauvignon Blanc, Viognier, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah and Carmenere are being produced. And huge gobs of money and famous chateau and winery owners from throughout the world are throwing their hats in the ring, the most famous being Almaviva—a joint venture between Concha y Toro and Chateau Mouton-Rothschild. Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Petite Verdot and Malbec are being planted as never before, and some believe the Bordeaux blends, possibly with the addition of Syrah, Tempranillo or Carmenere, may become the best reds.
4—Finally, I believe even more strongly that great wineries will emerge with little or no vineyards—some in wine wastelands. Since grapes and juice now can be shipped just about anywhere, just about anywhere will become the location for some wineries. By 2010, there might be wineries in places like Greenland, Moscow and Panama—who knows? And if global warming continues—temporarily, I hope—places now perfect for vineyards will become too hot, and locations that are currently too cold may become perfect. A dynamic example of this is already occurring—check out the Okanagan Valley in Canada. Amazing!