"wine" news and stories

• When pork ribs quit smoking, the results are surprising. (Don't worry, they don't go cold turkey.)
• "Fancy" just isn't what it used to be. (Had a Harry & David pear recently? No? Exactly.)
• Food and wine don't always go together. And maybe that's okay.
• Visit the M. Wells diner in Long Island City. "It would be terrible to miss eating the food there."

Several weeks ago, I attended a grilled cheese and wine pairing seminar hosted by Laura Werlin, the guru of grilled cheese. You know a person really has a passion about a subject when they've penned two books about it (her newest is Grilled Cheese, Please!).

First, we sat down to four glasses of wine and a cheese plate with six different cheeses (from soft to hard). Instead of digging straight into the sandwiches, Laura had everyone taste the wines, then taste the cheeses to understand the foundation of the sandwiches. All of the cheeses on our plates and in the sandwiches came from Wisconsin and ranged from Gouda to Gorgonzola. One of the most important tips Laura shared with us was about the color of cheese vs. the wine. According to Laura, "The whiter the cheese, the lighter the wine."

Each of the unique creations we tasted came from her two books. Below are three of the six creations we tried, along with the its paired wine.

Dutch Grilled Cheese made with Marieke's Gouda
This sandwich was just full of buttery goodness. The gouda, paired with caramelized onions, cumin and rye bread with caraway was a successful balance of sweet and savory. Sometimes caramelized onions overpower the other ingredients in a dish, they complemented this sandwich because they were combined with Gouda -- a strong, distinctive cheese. The Cotes du Rhote was complex but let all of the flavors of the sandwich come through.
Paired with: Jean Luc Columbo "La Redonne" 2007 Cotes de Rhone (Rhone, France)

Some chatter over at The Soapbox caught our eye. Should boozy beverages sport nutritional labeling? It's a topic federal regulators have been reviewing and one that's been brewing since 2003.

Current labeling regulations are complex. Wine, beer and liquor producers are not required to list actual ingredients on the label, but must list items like sulfites or FD&C Yellow No. 5 for consumers who are sensitive. Whether or not nutritional information like calories, carbohydrates and serving size should be added to labels is up for discussion, but Tom Hogue, spokesman for the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) told USA Today that it's unclear when federal officials might make a decision.

"I hear echos of the topic, but I don't think it will become a government mandate," says Rob Cooper, president and founder of St-Germain/Cooper Spirits Company. "There are already a lot of regulations surrounding alcohol. You have to go through the TTB formal approval process to ensure consumers are getting a safe product. It's not the Wild West. You can't just do what you want. They're strict about the ingredients."

And besides, adds Cooper, "Alcohol is not a critical component of ones sustenance. It's for recreational use. Who cares if it's good for you?"

He's got a point.

Many of us first encountered jug wine in college -- the cheap, headache-inducing stuff was to quality wine what PBR is to beer. But things have changed.

A new jug wine has surfaced, and it's legit. Sherman and Hooker's Shebang! red-wine blend is the brainchild of Morgan Twain-Peterson (founder/owner of Bedrock Wine Co. and son of Joel Peterson, who is the founder of Ravenswood Winery in Sonoma, which makes killer Zins). Now in its third release, the grape varietals used, and the composition of each, changes with each vintage.

At $16 for a 1-liter bottle -- the relatively high price tag speaks for its quality -- the screw-top wine is a blend of red-wine grapes (Syrah, Sangiovese, Petite Sirah, Cabernet Sauvignon and Zinfandel) as well as small splashes of white-wine grapes (Roussanne, Marsanne and Grenache Blanc), sourced from esteemed Sonoma regions like Rockpile and Bradford Mountain. So go ahead and drink it with your old college buddies. They won't laugh -- we promise.

• Are you handy? The minds over at Engadget will show you how to transform old wine jugs into a surround-sound system.

Happy Drink Wine Day!

Grapes have been fermenting for this beloved libation for more than 12,000 years. From Chardonnay to Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Noir to Sancerre, most wine drinkers have a preferred type, but how aware are drinkers of the categorized breakdown beyond the simple "red" versus "white"?

According to The New Food Lover's Companion, wine is categorized into four different types of groups:

• Still wines, which may be rosé, red or white and fall into dry, semisweet and sweet qualifications;
• Sparkling wines, which include Champagne, Prosecco and other bubbly international varieties;
• Fortified wines, like sherry or port, with increased alcohol content from brandy or other spirits;
• Aromatic wines, like vermouth, flavored with spices or herbs.

Of course, a serving of port wine isn't quite as drinkable as a crisp glass of white, so we'll inquire as to your favorite type of wine by the classic divide: white or red? Do you decide depending on what is served or are you a devotee according to color? Spill your opinions in the comments!

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