Gus Clemens on Wine explores and explains the world of wine in simple, humorous, fun posts

This is the weekly newspaper column. The case for swirling 5-25-2022 The classic formula for wine tasting is the “five Ss.” See. Swirl. Sniff/smell. Sip. Savor. Let’s explore swirl. Swirling encourages aeration. When you expose wine to oxygen, aroma compounds attach themselves to evaporating alcohol and present you more aroma to experience and enjoy. The majority of tasting pleasure comes from aro...

This is the weekly newspaper column. Fruit wines 5-18-2022 Almost all the wine we drink is made from various varieties of Vitis vinifera, a grape native to the Mediterranean and Central Asia. There are more than 10,000 varieties of this genus of grape. But Vitis vinifera is not the only fruit that produces wine. Virtually any fruit can produce wine. Vitis labrusca is a grape native to eastern Nort...

This is the weekly newspaper column. Top grapes by country 5-11-2022 While most countries produce a variety of wines, they also have a signature export wine and grape variety. The University of Adelaide in Australia tracks this and presents the signature variety for the top 25 wine-producing countries. Here are the university’s findings. Some are obvious and easy. Some will be grapes or countries...

This is the weekly newspaper column. Future of wine 5-4-2022 As it did to virtually every aspect of life, Covid-19 upended the wine world. But not in some of the ways you might think. Bullet points: • Largely demolished in-person wine tasting at wineries, once a key source of revenue. • Severely hurt restaurants and wine bars. Sommeliers lost their jobs. Wine inventories contracted. Businesses wen...

This is the weekly newspaper column. Bordeaux blends 4-27-2022 When people speak of red wine blends, Bordeaux invariably is in the conversation. Here is a quick primer on the region and its blends. The Bordeaux wine region is located in southwestern France, centered around the port city of Bordeaux. North of the city, the Dordogne and Garonne rivers join to create the Gironde estuary. With a viney...

This is the weekly newspaper column. Needed changes in the wine world 4-20-2022 There are many things right in the wine world. Historic quality and availability, increasing embrace of environmentally responsible farming and winemaking, to name some of the most important. But there always is room for improvement. Suggestions: • Stop using monster bottles. Bottle weight and size does not affect wine...

This is the weekly newspaper column. White oak crisis 4-13-2022 American white oak is unique to the United States, essential to bourbon production, important in wine production, and threatened. There is no snap-your-fingers solution. White oaks need 60-90 years to mature into trees suitable for barrel production. We may have as little as a 30-year supply. Jackie Zykan, master taster for Old Forest...

This is the weekly newspaper column. Wine sugar and calories 4-6-2022 Perhaps you encountered the recent Cassandrian caterwauling of Neo-Prohibitionists about wine. Wine is loaded with sugar and calories and certain to cause health problems! A study cited by the Alcohol Health Alliance in the U.K. (a Neo-Prohibitionist group) noted guidelines recommend ingesting no more than 30 grams of free sugar...

This is the weekly newspaper column. Removing red wine stains 3-30-2022 If you drink red wine, inevitably you spill some of it. On your clothes. On your tablecloth, On your carpet. Take heart, red wine stains are not the heart-halting débâcle you imagine. Especially if you act quickly to remedy your ghastly gaffe. Some tips: • No matter what you spill it on, take swift action. Use a paper towel, c...

This is the weekly newspaper column. U.S. wine statistics 3-23-2022 Grape growing and winemaking are really big businesses in the United States. Some interesting facts: • The U.S. consumes more wine than any other country. • There are some 11,000 wineries in the United States. • There are wineries in every state. • With four wineries, Alaska has twice as many wineries as Mississippi. Hawaiian vine...

This is the weekly newspaper column. Best wines for cooking 3-16-2022 Wines pair with meals. Wines also pair with cooking meals. Foundational understanding—bad wine is not good cooking wine. If you do not like the wine, why mess up a meal with the same bad wine? Sure, avoid using high quality wine in cooking, but that leaves an ocean of very drinkable, affordable, widely available wine to abet you...

This is the weekly newspaper column. Wine-steak pairing 3-9-2022 You do not have to be a wine cognoscente to know cabernet sauvignon plays well with the salty and fatty flavors of a rich, well-marbled steak. But, what if you want to go beyond that pairing? Grilled steaks—strip, rib-eye, hanger—certainly pair with cab, but so do syrah and merlot. Châteauneuf-du-Pape and Gigondas (both grenache-syra...

This is the weekly newspaper column. Cru Beaujolais 3-2-2022 Beaujolais is a lovely French region sandwiched between Burgundy and Lyon. Last century, it was known for its kitschy, flash-in-the-pan plonk—Beaujolais nouveau. Today, it is known for being the next big thing in quality wine. Such are vino’s vicissitudes. Virtually all the 44,000 acres of Beaujolais vineyards are planted in gamay grapes...

This is the weekly newspaper column. When to decant 2-23-2022 Newspaper readers and online followers know of my advocacy of decanting—pouring wine into a vessel to expose it to air to soften tannins and encourage wine to “open up” and become more balanced. Same time, decanting is not a panacea for flawed wines, often is unnecessary, and potentially can harm some wines. So, what is a wine drinker t...