Winter Warm-Ups
by JB Budny
After a day of skiing, boarding or snowshoeing, there's nothing like cozying up in front of the fireplace with a glass of something that warms. Some folks may take a sherry or Madeira, others brandy or port. A little nibble might be served alongside, or the drink savored solo, swirled slowly in a glass. These are a few of my favorites:
Brandy
Brandy, a spirit distilled from grapes or other fruits, is made the world over. The best-known versions come from two separate geographical regions of France: Cognac and Armagnac. Produced from primarily ugni blanc grapes, these brandies are among the finest available. Most are blended, and generally the older, the pricier.
Brandy from Cognac can have caramel added for color, flavor and texture; it can be fuller bodied, smooth and round on the palate. Armagnac should be bottled without added caramel—rustic or refined, they bring a “sweet fire.” Another fine French brandy, Calvados, is made from apples, in the northern Normandy region. Italian grappa (and French marc) is distilled from wine pomace, the leftover grapes, stems and seeds from wine production. Like other eaux-de-vies (“waters of life”) and fruit brandies—such as kirsch (from cherries), poire williams (from pear) and slivovitz (a plum brandy)—these clear spirits do not see the wood barrels that give other brandies their amber hue. What they do have is the pure essence of fruit on the nose and a fiery finish that warms you from the inside out. PortPort wines are a perfect post-prandial beverage. Their rich sweetness makes them an obvious dessert-in-a-glass and an excellent companion to cheese, fruit and chocolate. Portuguese wine producers have managed to come up with a whole bunch of confusing terminology to describe their products: ruby, white, vintage, crusted, late-bottled vintage, tawny, et cetera. To keep things simple, I'll focus on only two categories: vintage and tawny. Vintage ports are made exclusively in the best-crop years, determined collectively by port producers. After two years in the barrel, these full-bodied wines are bottled without blending (blending is common practice in non-vintage years). A vintage port has a life span of decades; the passing years reward with growing complexities of aroma and flavor. Handle vintage ports gently; the sediment cast as they age requires careful decanting. Exposure to air diminishes the power and beauty of the wine, so drink it soon after opening. If your group is small or you want just a taste, a tawny port may be a better bet. These wines spend three or more years in wood barrels before bottling, acquiring a nut-brown color; sediment gets left behind. The oxidation that occurs in barrel means that tawnies are less likely to decline in an opened bottle. Many people also prefer the more moderate sweetness levels and unique flavors—think candied hazelnuts—that tawny ports provide. Sherry
Jerez, Spain, is the birthplace of sherry wines—not your grandma's sherry, but exquisite wines famed worldwide. While many Spanish wines, white and red, are of excellent quality, it is sherry wines that make the most distinctive expression of grape and ground. Made from sun-baked Palamino grapes, sherries are produced in a process called the solera system, which blends new wines in older barrels year after year. The resulting wines are separated into three categories: pale, delicate fino; softer, darker amontillado; and heavier oloroso, made both dry and as the base of sweet cream sherries.
Choose a chilled fino to accompany tapas, and fat, silky cream sherries to match better with desserts. Amontillados range from dry to sweet and can be paired accordingly. From the nearby coastal town of Sanlúcar de Barrameda come the manzanilla sherries, the driest of all fino sherries, said to have the salty tang of the sea.
Madeira
Located 400 miles west of Morocco, Madeira’s steeply sloped island hillsides are green with vineyards growing the four types of grapes used to make the archipelago’s namesake wines. The first, Sercial, makes a light, fragrant wine. The second varietal, Verdelho, makes a less-dry style often named Rainwater Madeira for its delicate structure. The last two, Bual and Malmsey, are vinified to produce the sweeter-sipping Madeiras most popular after dinner. Madeira is similar to both port and sherry. Like port wines, partially fermented wines are dosed with grape brandy to halt the process and retain the proper levels of sweetness. They are blended using the solera system borrowed from Jerez. Unique to Madeira, though, is the introduction of heat during vinification; it is meant to mimic the effect of crossing through the equator's tropical temperatures during the lengthy sea voyages of long ago (in those days, the wine was stored as ballast in the hulls of the ships). Deliberate exposure to oxygen also contributes to flavor and color, not unlike tawny port. Serve sweet Madeira—the rich Malmseys are my favorite—with a creamy bleu cheese to appreciate the wine’s sweet, nutty flavors at their fullest.
TQ’s wine connoisseur and contributing editor JB Budny says he learned to drink Armagnac with espresso—at any hour—on rainy fall days while traveling through France.
