January has roared in with a frigid dose of reality as the profligacy of the holiday season has come home to roost in the form of credit card debt. Time to pay the piper and recommit to the principles of moderation and even (dare I utter the word)… frugality.

Hey, but you still have to eat and drink, right? While I am not averse to mac and cheese, stews or meatloaf, I’ll still need to pair those tried, true and hearty staples with a sip or two of the grape. And, believe it or not, there are a plethora of good, inexpensive wines from which to choose.

From my point of view, tasty wines priced between $8 and $20 a bottle represent a bargain and are a justifiable and necessary cost of helping ward off the ruinous effects of SAD (seasonal affective disorder). Good food and wine always seem to lift my spirits and shine some much needed light on this gloomy time of year. The only real issue is finding the good to excellent bottles in this price category and that is where your intrepid wine hound excels.

The list of goodies I am providing below is generally available at most wine retailers. If you cannot find them, simply request that your shop order them from their distribution chain. I have selected wines that are especially complimentary to a wide variety of wintertime dishes including, in addition to those mentioned above, soups (especially pasta fagiole), pot roast, pasta as well as chicken and dumplings, gumbo and, of course, chili.

Reds: 2009 Alamos Malbec; 2008 Easton Amador County Zinfandel; 2009 Delas Freres Saint Esprit Cotes Du Rhone; 2009 Hahn Pinot Noir; 2009 Montes Cabernet Sauvignon; 2008 Banfi Centine Rosso; 2008 Bogle Old Vine Zinfandel; 2009 Columbia Crest Caberne3t Sauvignon and 2009 Martin Codax Rioja.




Whites: 2010 Pacific Rim Riesling; 2009 Benzinger Family Chardonnay; 2010 Sitious Con Class Verdejo; Alamos Chardonnay; 2009 Pierre Sparr Pinot Gris; 2009 Trimbach Riesling; 2010 King Estate Pinot Gris; 2009 Clos Du Bois Chardonnay; 2010 Luna Di Luna Chardonnay/Pinot Grigio; 2009 Gini Soave Classico; 2010 Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc and 2010 St. Supery Sauvignon Blanc.
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Kudo’sI’m always on the lookout for restaurants that not only provide excellent cuisine, but also price their wines fairly. Laury’s in Charleston is to be commended for having an excellent list that is priced very fairly. In most instances, wines at Laury’s are marked up one to one-point five times their retail price, and that is about as good as you will find anywhere in the state.

Bluegrass Kitchen in Charleston’s East End also prices their, small, but well thought out list, very reasonably. Other establishments around the state should follow suit which would encourage more diners to add a bottle of wine to the tab. And that’s good for both the customer and the restaurant.

I actually put my money where my palate is when it comes to supporting traditionally grown and produced foods. Some people may refer to these types of victuals as “organic” or “natural” products, but I don’t like labels nor do I wish to be associated with food fanatics who assail anyone who produces or consumes food products available in the commercial marketplace.

Hey, I’ll admit it, every now and then I love to wash down a bag of Uncle Homer’s Chipotle Pork Rinds with a 20-ounce Diet Dr. Pepper!

While I am not an organic foodie zealot, I truly do believe in buying locally, particularly when the producers use natural methods to grow fruits and vegetables, as well as to raise and feed their animals.

What does any of this have to do with wine? Well, there has been a big brouhaha over the past couple of years regarding the supposed differences between commercial vineyard/winery practices and those who claim to produce their product using only natural or organic processes.

This “natural wine” movement is particularly popular in France where the true believers have lifted their Gallic noses up even higher than normal to proclaim their practices superior to the overwhelming majority of operations around the world who use modern techniques in the vineyard and winery.

In a nutshell, natural wines use very little or no manipulation in the vineyard or winery. They claim to use no sulfur to prevent oxidation of the wines, will not add any yeast cultures to insure a stable fermentation and would never allow oak aging. The natural wine advocates are also extremely disdainful and critical of the vast majority of wineries using modern methods to produce their wines.

As you might expect, this has drawn the ire of many wineries around the world and has stirred up the wine press. The doubters believe the natural movement is more about establishing a marketing niche among those to whom the words
natural or organic appeal, rather than in any holy crusade to produce pure, unadulterated wine.

But, as wine lovers, you need to decide for yourself so you may make informed buying decisions. Is there really any qualitative or health reason for seeking out these self-proclaimed “natural” wines?

I can buy into the sustainability practices of the natural movement that was defined for me by an Oregon wine producer. He said sustainability means using natural fertilizers, composting and the cultivation of plants that attract insects that are beneficial to grape vines.

Further, he noted, sustainability practices in the vineyard also extend to actions you would not suspect have a relationship to the quality of the vine such as providing areas for wildlife to flourish and allowing weeds to grow between the vines.

But I draw the line at the bio-dynamic aspect of the natural movement. Here’s what I said about it a couple of years back:

‘ Bio-dynamic farming is sustainability on steroids! It involves some things that are downright loony. It can include practices such as stuffing cow horns with manure and burying them in vineyards over the winter, fermenting flowers in stags’ bladders, and timing these unorthodox methods of farming with the phases of the moon and the location of the stars in the night sky.’



As I stated earlier, I believe in supporting naturally produced products. We’ve been buying meat from Sandy Creek Farms near Ravenswood for more than two decades. Sandy Creek has used organic methods in raising and processing their meats well before “organic” became an overused and overhyped marketing term.

We also purchase more than half of the vegetables we consume from locally farmed produce or reputable retailers like the Purple Onion in Charleston’s Capitol Market. In addition, we regularly buy from a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) Fish Hawk Acres in Rock Cave, West Virginia , and from a Monroe County farm co-op.

To be sure, we still shop at supermarkets and love the produce supplied by reputable local wholesalers like Corey Brothers in Charleston. But it is somehow very satisfying and reassuring to eat food produced nearby, particularly if the stuff is grown in a sustainable manner. I also support our state wineries, many of which are using sustainable practices to produce their wines.

So what’s the answer? Well, I guess it’s a personal decision. I certainly have tried some of the wines that claim to be “natural” and some are good. Some aren’t.

However, I am not convinced that anyone is compromising their health by drinking the 99% of other wines produced without the application of “natural” techniques such as stag’s bladders, cow horns or phases of the moon.

 
 
Cow horns filled with manure. Photo: Jeff Weissler, ConsciousWine.com

I admit it.  I’m easily bored.  So the other evening when I descended to my cellar to pick out a wine for dinner, I searched for something other than the same old, same old. I gotta say, it was tough finding something other than cabernet, pinot noir, zinfandel, chardonnay, sauvignon blanc, etc.

After considerable rooting around, I found a dusty bottle of 2004 Vietti Barbera D’Asti and paired this little lovely with meatballs and faro in marinara sauce.  What a great combo!  Barbera is the lesser-known little brother of Barolo and Barbaresco  - the more famous reds from Italy’s Piedmont region  - and it is the perfect match for spicy, tomato-based dishes.

At about $15 a bottle, barbera is also a great value. Rich, medium-bodied and chock full of dark cherry flavors, barbera also has a good dollop of acid to balance it out. In addition to Vietti, look for producers such as Chiarlo, Prunotto and Pio Cesare.

If variety is the spice of life, then changing up your varietals can spice up your wine life too.  Here are some other alternatives for your consideration which are not only excellent in their own right, but will also make your palate fonder for the usual wine suspects when you return to them later.

Valpolicella can be a light to medium bodied wine full of bright fruit flavors that can successfully be paired with chicken, veal or pasta dishes.  However, Valpolicella made in the Ripasso style, is a fuller-bodied version of the wine. Ripasso is produced by adding the left over skins and seeds from Amarone into the fermenting Valpolicella producing a wine similar in body to zinfandel.

Look for producers such as Allegrini, Bertani, Masi and Zenato for both regular Valpolicella and those made in the Ripasso style.  The Ripasso style wines are more suited to being paired with heavier-flavored dishes such as stews or garlic-enhanced roasted meats.

Finding alternatives to the ubiquitous chardonnay, pinot grigio or sauvignon blanc whites can also take a little searching.  Marsanne and Rousanne, both grapes indigenous to the Rhone region of France, are excellent alternatives especially to chardonnay.

These grapes, often combined in a cuvee, can be full-bodied and rich as well as balanced and can be matched with fuller-flavored dishes spiced with curry, cumin and even peanut sauces.  In the US, look for producers such as Cline, Qupe and Tablas Creek all of which make the  wines in combination or as single varietals.

Arneis, from the Roero region of Piedmont in Italy, is also an excellent substitute for pinot grigio.  Arneis is the actual name of the grape and it is usually a very delicate, sometimes slightly spritzy wine with citrus and melon flavors.  Pair it with plainly cooked seafood or even salads with ranch –type dressings. Look for   producers such as Gallina, Giacosa or Pio Cesare.

And for an excellent alternative red with a local connection, look for Vu ja de Vineyards “Our Journey Together”  ($25). Not sure who is on the journey or where they are going, but the blend of 82% syrah and 18% cabernet sauvignon is a full-bodied mouthful of wine with hints of mocha, chocolate and dark fruits.  Pair this baby with leg of lamb rubbed with garlic, black pepper and kosher salt.

There must be capsaicin in my DNA because I have an insatiable addiction to spicy foods!

Peppers are my crack cocaine, the monkey on my back and the refuge I seek when I am forced, over an extended period of time (say, one day), to eat foods prepared by aliens from the planet of Bland.

So concerned am I about the prospect of having to endure Casper Milquetoast meals, that I regularly and surreptitiously carry a miniature (one ounce) bottle of Tabasco with me at all times. Sometimes those mashed potatoes need a little zing, don’t you think?

At this point, you’re probably wondering how the incessant assault of spicy foods affects the wine judgments of a cultured and sensitive palate. Obviously, you would be asking the wrong person since I cannot remember a time when I did not consume spicy foods (nor am I in any manner cultured or sensitive).

However, I do admit to toning down the heat a bit over the past several years to what might be considered moderate on the Scoville scale (which is a measure of the heat or piquancy of peppers). Still, I readily acknowledge that my predilection toward spicy foods does influence my wine suggestions.

Ah, but that’s the point of today’s lesson, class! There are indeed wines that enhance and compliment spicy foods.

This past weekend, I prepared a dish made famous by David Chang. Chang is a Korean-American chef who has taken the culinary world by storm over the past few years with his all-inclusive brand of “new” American cooking. To be sure, he leans heavily on Korean and Asian foods as a base, but he applies those influences to standard American fare like slow cooked pork or fried chicken.

And while his style is not particularly spicy, I did up the heat-ante on his Bo Ssam roast port shoulder recipe and on his sauces. Incidentally, the sauces are magnificent and easy to prepare. Many of the ingredients for the sauces are available in grocery stores or at the Asian Market on 7th Ave. in South Charleston.

Oh, by the way, this is not a food choice for the sodium or sugar averse folks out there.

In a nutshell, the Bo Ssam recipe calls for an eight to ten pound pork shoulder which is rubbed all over with a cup each of white sugar and Kosher salt. The roast is then covered in plastic wrap and placed over night in the fridge. I spiced up the recipe by adding one teaspoon each of cayenne pepper and smoked paprika.




The next day, the pork is slow roasted at 300 degrees for about 6 hours, allowed to rest for an hour and then rubbed with seven tablespoons of brown sugar and one of salt before placing it in a 500-degree oven to carmelize for about 10 minutes. The meat is then pulled apart, placed in bib lettuce wraps, drizzled with sauce and consumed. Spectacular !

Check out Susan Filson’s article and Chang’s recipe in the “Daily Loaf” at:
http://cltampa.com/dailyloaf/archives/2010/03/03/momofukus-bo-ssandaumlm-recipe#.T0zx-l0j5Jg

Okay, so what’s this have to do with my jaded and heat-infected palate, and how is it possible to match wine to spicy dishes? Granted, you could take the easy way out and pour yourself a cold one (which I have often done), but, hey, this is a wine blog and anyway I believe wine offers a broader selection of liquid alternatives.

For the pork shoulder with two different spicy sauces, I actually paired the dish with an Alsatian gewürztraminer that was slightly sweet. The sweet, tart and flowery flavors of the gewürztraminer melded with and enhanced the salty and spicy pork dish. Look for Alsatian gewürztraminer from Trimbach, Pierre Sparr or Hugel.

You might also try riesling or gewürztraminer from Washington State such as those produced by Chateau Ste. Michelle, Columbia Valley or Pacific Rim.

Pinot noir and rose are also good accompaniments to spicy foods. For the dinner, we opened a 2009 Concannon Central Coast Pinot Noir ($15) and a 2009 Crios Rose of Malbec ($14) from Argentina.

I would also suggest sparkling wines for heat-infused foods. I love the flavor and value of Spanish Cava’s such as Freixenet Cordon Negro ($11), Dibon Cava Brut ($12) or Segura Viudas Brut Reserva ($11).

So, the next time you need to feed ten of your most rabid heat-seeking foodies, try the Bo Ssam recipe with a flagon or three of the above-mentioned wines.

I am often asked what prompted my interest in wine. The answer goes back to my childhood and the influence of my Italian immigrant grandparents and relatives. As I have recounted in this space before, wine was a part of everyday living back then, and an integral component of family meals, particularly the large gatherings after Mass on Sundays at Grandma Iaquinta's home.

Since my family produced their own homemade wine each year, I was able to observe and sometimes assist in the menial labor aspects of wine making.  These experiences certainly formed the foundation for my life long affair with the vine.  However, one particular (almost magical) incident involving wine, food and sport may have been the catalyst.

A stroke of genius! That’s what I like to think it was that sunny afternoon in the fall of 1956.

I had been trying to find something that would provide just the right weight to form the core of a tape ball. Stones or rocks were simply too heavy, paper too light and soft. I had just stroked the tape ball we had been using along the ground and into a curb storm drain. In rather colorful language, my two older cousins graphically described the consequences that would ensue if I did not immediately replace the lost orb.

A golf ball would have been perfect but, because the socio-economic roll of the dice had not favored our fathers and uncles, Maxflies or Titleists were not an option. No sireee. If it wasn’t a baseball, softball or bocce ball, we weren’t playing it.

This was beer drinking, homemade wine-swilling and parlay betting country where Mickey Mantle and Rocky Marciano were the heroes of the day, and where kids like us spent warm afternoons playing our version of the National Pastime along the streets of North View, the working class and ethnically diverse neighborhood of Clarksburg, West (By God) Virginia.

A Tape ball game required only one pitcher and one batter, but no more than two persons per side.  The rules mimicked  baseball with a few caveats.  Cleanly fielded grounders and caught fly balls  counted as outs as did one swing and a miss. There were three outs to an inning, but no bases.

It was simply a nine-inning game of pitching, hitting and keeping score with disputed calls settled by the loudest and largest players.  Hitting the ball over Mrs. Mazza's five foot hedge was an undisputed  home run. A minimalist and inexpensive sport, the game only required  a homemade ball, a broomstick and players.

So as I  struggled to resolve the problem and avoid bodily harm,  I was struck by an idea so novel that I was confident I had the perfect solution. Sneaking into the kitchen of my Aunt Notie’s apartment, I opened the small freezer compartment of the old Kelvinator and extracted the perfectly cylindrical answer to my problem.

Aunt Notie was a gifted cook whose meatballs were the stuff of culinary legend. It was said, she could make a garlic clove sing. Surely, she would not miss one frozen meatball, I thought, and sacrilegiously snatched the circular little treasure that had sealed my aunt’s reputation in our neighborhood as the “meatball queen.”

It felt just right and, as I wrapped the white adhesive tape around the frozen meatball, I realized that with stealth, cunning and courage I could provide our gang with an endless supply of tape ball cores. Proudly, I returned to the game where the new tape ball was an immediate and literal hit. For an hour, we pounded it, smacked it and sent it soaring through the air, and it performed flawlessly.

But then fate stepped in. Standing at the plate, I whacked a hanging curve (meat) ball with a tremendous stroke and lofted it at least 100 feet in the air. At the apex of its trajectory, the ball began a rapid descent toward earth.  Like some miniature asteroid with my future etched on it, the small round object streaked into a vat of fermenting red wine.

My grandfather, who was stirring and punching down the cap of the fermenting grapes, was startled by the impact which immediately splashed and stained his upper torso purple. Reaching into the vat, he fished out the broken, meatball- oozing tape ball, sniffed it and said in his broken English:

“Eat-sa rain meat-a–balls!

The rest is history.