FINE Wine & Champagne India - Winter 2018

FINE Irvin
and likeable support – she’s Allison Janney,
Laurie Metcalf, Helena Bonham Carter CBE.
When you burn out on Chardonnay, she’s the
company you long for, the welcome respite.
Which leaves us our ingenues – Riesling,
Chenin and Gewurztraminer – the Sweet-
Young-Things. They are Baywatch Babes of the
wine industry – simple, lovely, vivacious – enjoy
them now as they may not last the test of time.
My Leading Man (Best Actor) is Cabernet
Sauvignon or any wines using ‘Cab’ as a
backbone in the blend. Again, he is sexy,
muscular, assertive, a bit of swagger, hair-onhis-chest,
yet elegant – he’s Harrison Ford, Paul
Newman, Anthony Hopkins, Sean Connery
– they age gracefully. Just when you thought
they’d hit their peak, they just continued to get
better. Granted, not every Cabernet is going
to be George Clooney in a tux – some might
present more like Jeff Bridges in True Grit – so
find your aesthetic, and run with it. For me,
a well crafted ‘Cab’ is one you’d love to have
dinner with today, but would be even sexier and
desirable in 20 years.
Best Supporting Actors – each have a
personality of their own. Take Merlot. He’s
Albert Brooks, James Corden, John Goodman –
he’s got the love handles, is approachable, nonthreatening,
congenial and almost everybody
likes him – he’s the “fun guy” in the room.
Other Best Supporting’s include wonderful
blenders – like Malbec – alone he’s very Johnny
Depp – a chameleon – depending on where the
grape is grown, it presents differently subject
to terroir. In a blend, it fills in all the gaps like
grout on a mosaic. Then there’s Cabernet Franc.
He’s Gregory Peck with a firm tannin core – he
gives gravitas and depth just like the grape to the
Bordeaux blends. Pinot Noir is the stand-alone
Supporting Actor and while temperamental to
both grow and craft, we’re always in search of
the memorable ones. At its best, he is a perfectly
suave and easy – he’s Mathew McConaughey
complete with polished shoes. A spicy, smoky
and hedonistic Syrah – think Antonio Banderas
in Zorro – offers a mealtime sizzle factor while
never taking itself too seriously.
Rosé is my Disney Channel young adult star
of the day – simple and certainly palatable at
“that” moment on a picnic or on the water, but
not a lot of depth – unlikely that some years
from now, you will remember the name.
Of course, there are many other wines that
don’t show up on this cast list, but an overview
for those folks just logging wine styles into their
mental rolodex (if you’re my generation) or
smartphones. I find this very helpful. Hope you
do to! >
109
FINE WINE & CHAMPAGNE INDIA