• About
  • Indiana Wineries
  • Michigan Wineries
  • Wisconsin Wineries

Howard W. Hewitt

~ … The "W" stands for wine!

Howard W. Hewitt

Tag Archives: Big wines

Cold Weather Is Time for Muscle Wines

24 Friday Feb 2017

Posted by Howard in Newspaper Column 2017, Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Big wines, Cabernet Sauviginon, Syrah, Zinfandel

This one is for you, guys!

One of the keys in helping people with wine is to appeal to the widest possible audience. The same applies to a wine column. Grape Sense has always focused on affordable wines but has kept the focus pretty diverse.

grape-sense-logoSometimes though a particular focus is helpful. There is a term in the wine world that can be very misleading – ‘feminine wine.’ Generally, the term means a lighter bodied wine with a light hand on the alcohol and mouthfeel.

I’ve never heard the term ‘masculine wine’ in my 8-10 years learning about wine. Occasionally, the term muscular is used, usually meaning big and bold. Well, today men let’s punch somebody in the mouth. Let’s talk about big, bold manly wine that makes you say “damn!”

There is enough cold weather left in the early days of 2017 to go big with your wine choices. Big wines go with big foods. Any discussion of big wines begins and ends with the “king of grapes” or Cabernet Sauvignon. Similar to never hearing about masculine wine I’ve never heard of a queen of grapes.

muscle-wine-illustrationCabernet is the most-planted red wine grape in the world. Cabernet is big fruit, big mouthfeel and big tannins on the finish to stand up to big food. Cabernet should be enjoyed with bloodied red meat, charred on the outside and medium rare on the inside. Growl!

Cabs can pair nicely with big bold, beef-based, stews as well. But nothing quite matches the muscle power of beef and Cab. Good value Cabs are J. Lohr, Robert Mondavi, Clos du Val, Louis Martini. You can usually find one of those on the grocery or liquor store shelf. Most of those wines sell for around $15. Keep in mind gents, big red wine often means big alcohol so choose carefully.

There is no more enjoyable pairing – maybe even with fewer grunts – is red wine and chocolate. Cab is pretty big for most chocolates and not the best pick for pairing. Get some good dark chocolate, about 70 percent dark, and pair it with a Zinfandel. Zin brings bigger and softer fruit than a cab with a nice peppery finish. Try Three Deadly Zins or Consentino Cigar Zin as a good pairing. If you have trouble finding either of those look for a Zin from Lodi, California. There are several good ones under $20.

For another choice I’d suggest Syrah. Washington Syrah is big, rich, smooth and fabulous value wine.

As you develop your wine and chocolate tastes try experimenting with the wine, sure, but experiment with the chocolate as well. The sweet chocolate bars at the checkout counter won’t cut it guys. Kroger stores are now carrying Lindt chocolate – a pretty decent and affordable choice. Experiment by going from 60-80 percent cacao. You might be surprised with the differences.

Real men drink red wine. Be bold and give the big boys a chance.

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • More
  • LinkedIn
  • Email

Like this:

Like Loading...

Recent Posts

  • Huber’s – Not just about wine anymore
  • Where have the all the biscuits gone?
  • Just what is a ‘bad wine?’

Grape Sense on Instagram

Have you met Karen? She works mid week mornings at the shop and is reminding everyone to join us for Saturday Sipps this weekend. We will be pouring the popular Auntsfield Sauv Blanc, another new Rose, and a Pinot noir from the Loire Valley! It all begins at 11 AM through the afternoon
Very mixed thoughts about an unplanned visit to Nonna’s Italian Italian in Plainfield just off I 70 from last night. Unexpectedly stuck in town for a couple of hours thought I would try it out it’s an odd set up where you have to order at the register. Calamari was great my salad was great the lasagna was good except for some odd white sauce top of the marinara which was delicious the white sauce was congealed and tasted bitter… The home-baked roll was delicious… The glass of Gabbiano Chianti was OK well I paid 1150 for a glass that sells for eight bucks … total bill $36 for those items which I thought was a little high mostly the wine cost. Service seem confused and disjointed but they were all very pleasant I’d probably give it a second chance not sure
Join Curt and I Saturday at the Wine Shop for Saturday Sipps. We will be pouring an unusual and delicious Austrian Rose, Italian Vermentino, and Sicilian red! Of course, all three 20 percent off Saturday only!
New coffee shop in Greenwood! Paul Jacquin, in photo, owner of Vino Villa has opened up Cafe Euclid in small house behind the wine shop and restaurant! Lovely patio for outdoor seating and good coffee!

Categories

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 3,651 other followers

Howard’s Wine Ratings

"Very Highly Recommended" - Drop everything and rush out to buy this wine!

"Highly Recommended" - Wine is varietally correct, well made, great balance, a must buy!

"Recommended" - Good wine and a good value. Not spectacular but a solid choice.

"Not Recommended" - Run the other direction.

Wine Travel Photos

My Magazine Stories

Friend Me On …

Follow me on Twitter

My Tweets

Archives

My Summer With Lymphoma: Lymphoma, My Stem Cell Transplant

Good news on cancer and eyes

I have failed miserably at keeping ‘the cancer blog’ updated – and that’s a good thing, I suppose. I have now been “clean” since my April autologous stem cell transplant. I had a PET scan in June and a CT scan this week (Sept. 11) and both showed negative results. My oncologist was very pleased […]

Decisions, Decisions – Job & Health issues

  It’s been two weeks since my last update, one week-plus since I dropped one of my three antibiotics, and 97 days since my stem cell transplant for Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma.   So there are a few things to update and a few thoughts to share. Let’s start with the cancer. My team of oncologists at […]

Blog at WordPress.com.

  • Follow Following
    • Howard W. Hewitt
    • Join 3,651 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • Howard W. Hewitt
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...
 

    %d bloggers like this: