I love to go to the wine store and just browse -- pick up a bottle of wine that looks fun, has a blend that seems interesting or a grape I have never heard of. The other day I was browsing at my local wine shop and came across a Pic Saint Loup Tour de Pierres 2014. It was the Pic that "piqued" my interest! I really enjoy a white picpoul. It's refreshing and light for the summer and mostly, it's fun to say. So, I will admit it was the word Pic that drew me to the red table wine, Pic Saint Loup. I knew nothing about it other than reading the label, it's from the Languedoc region of France where they make a fun interesting variety of wines due to their Mediterranean climate, Plus, it fit my price range for an everyday, take a chance on me wine - $19.
So, we opened this up to have with dinner last night - and to take us into the Presidential debate. We had one of our favorite, easy to make dishes, Rigatoni with Roasted Sausage and Broccoli. You roast the Italian sausage and broccoli along with red onion for 20 minutes. Then mix it with your rigatoni, a little butter and parmesan, voila dinner on the table in 30 minutes. Yes, the advice is always, what grows together, goes together. So, maybe this dish and a heavy red table wine from the Languedoc wasn't a complete match, but the sausage and heavier pasta was a close enough pairing.
As we were drinking the wine my husband's first reaction was , "Oh, this is good. I like the pepper at the end." I was having a hard time getting much of anything at first and thought maybe it was the food combo or the possibility that it was too cold, we pulled it straight from the chiller. But as I kept sipping it and after the dinner plates were cleared, it had time to come to room temperature bit more, I still struggled to get anything from it. I told my husband I could hardly get much on the nose. I got black cherry but that was even hard. He said, "Good, I thought it was just me. I didn't get anything." I kept trying to get something other than pepper. I love pepper in a nice heavy wine, but I like it as my 3rd sense and not the only one. I then concluded the burning in the back of our throat wasn't the nice spice of pepper, it was the burning of an unbalanced wine. All we were getting was the alcohol.
So, the next time you get "pepper" in the back of your throat, ask yourself, "Is it staying and covering everything else I can taste?" If the answer is yes, then it's more than likely a wine where the alcohol isn't balanced within the wine. Remember this, the more sun a grape receives means the more sugar it will produce. Sugar is turned into alcohol in the wine making process. But, just because a wine has a high ABV listed on its label doesn't mean you will feel the burn as it goes down. A good wine will have just the right balance between the fruit and the alcohol and it won't be noticeable.
As a side note, I did pour myself another glass of the Pic Saint Loup while watching the debate -- I was throwing caution to the wind!