An
Enigma Wrapped In An Mystery And Stored
In A Bottle
On a recent Sunday night, I was performing
the very glamorous job of making lunches
for my two daughters, Erika and Elise. I
mostly forget what I packed, but I do remember
that after I zip-locked three or four Oreo
sandwich cookies and tossed them in the
lunch boxes, I nicked one for myself. Now,
it just so happened that I had a glass of
Cristalino Rose, a pink Spanish bubbly wine
left over from dinner. The wine was featured
in my History of Sparkling Wine in 45 Minutes
seminar that I gave at the Taste of Atlanta
festival. It was still bubbly more than
24 hours after it was opened. I gave the
seminar with the help of wine educator and
guru Eric Crane (Or did Eric give the seminar
and I helped? Whichever. It was a hoot.).
OK, back to the Oreo. As
I enjoyed the chocolaty guilty pleasure
of the cookie, I looked at my flute of bubbling
pink Cava and cringed. My mind said to me:
“Gil, you know your
next sip is going to be gross because of
the sweetness in the cookie, right? All
I'm sayin' is maybe reconsider?”
I couldn't argue with my
mind because it was right (this time). Sweet
foods can really be a bummer for unsweet,
dry wines because it brings out bitterness
and amplifies the sour qualities in the
wines.
As is sometimes the case,
I didn't listen to my mind and took a big
swig of the wine.
“Yum!” said
my tongue.
“Umm, you want try
that again, tongue, because that was the
wrong answer,” my mind replied.
Eager to please, my tongue
was more than happy to comply.
“Nope. It’s
yummy,” my tongue said to my mind.
“In fact, the delicate raspberry quality
that was there before is now quite prominent
and I dig it.”
My compassionate mind let
my tongue enjoy the rest of the wine, but
has since tried to make sense of this odd
event. My mind has come to the conclusion
that while the Oreo/Cava pairing shouldn't
have worked, you just never know sometimes
with wine.
You may be asking yourself
why I bring this up and why you are even
reading the ramblings of a schizophrenic
wine writer. Well, it’s true that
you may not have the chance—or desire—to
eat Oreos and drink Cava rosado any time
soon. But in a couple weeks, many of you
will sit down to a schizophrenic dinner
featuring turkey and a panoply of side dishes.
Take my advice: Don't stress about the wine.
In fact, embrace the enigmatic combinations
of flavors. You just may find your tongue
smiling after your last sip of wine.
Cristalino
Rose, Brut, Cava, Spain
• $10
• Two Thumbs Up
• Pleasant aromas of lemon zest, fresh
oranges and a floral-like touch of red berries.
Nice acidity, but not overpowering, it has
a creaminess about it with lots of citrus
flavors, hints of cinnamon-y spices, strawberry
and raspberries.
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