in good taste, vol. 74: oenophilia
buckle up for a lot of words about wine; also, milk pork
Why is getting into wine so complicated? This thought has occurred to me more than once lately, triggered by this piece in the NYT about how Millennials aren’t drinking enough wine or whatever.
Wine is something I love to drink. But beyond broad appreciation, I don’t really know that much about it. I’ve been trying to change this! Deliberately exploring different varietals and pairings, taking a bit more care in the wine aisle, reading books and articles and all the things one does to learn something new.
So, drinking and enjoying wine is not the issue. Reading and learning about it, on the other hand, … well. Real talk: introductory wine writing is bad. So bad! It’s categorically exclusionary. It never seems to know its audience. There is way too much flowery language and high-concept gibberish about mouthfeel. There is not enough practical application and plain, simple language.
Anyway, younger folks might care less about wine because the barrier to entry is so stupidly high. The whole thing is so gate-kept. Getting into wine assumes a working fluency in what things taste like, in chemistry, in agricultural science, in geography, in actual wine words. It assumes investment in all forms: in time, in money, in access to the product itself as well as to any knowledgeable community that historically, and intentionally, keeps “new” folks out.
I don’t have any proposed solution, it’s just been on my mind. Of note is the only book on wine that has actually taught me anything, specifically about pairing wine & food, called Big Macs & Burgundy. Would love to hear any other suggestions you have, if you have them!
MILDER TAKES ON NON-WINE TOPICS, BELOW
The art of making a good mix CD
Navigating nostalgia in 2022
“Gather together in one room, hang blankets over the windows, cover the floor with rugs and build a den under a table to keep warm.”
KEEP WARMER WITH SOME MILK-BRAISED PORK
Milk-braised pork: it’s a revelation! Succulent, toothsome, all the good words to describe a porcine winter dinner that’s taken a hot milk bath.
INGREDIENTS
1 boneless pork loin, patted dry and seasoned with s&p
4 tbsp. butter
3 tbsp. grapeseed oil (or other neutral oil)
¼ cup, dry white wine
2 yellow onions, sliced thick
4-5 cloves of garlic, peeled
5 cups of whole milk
1 tsp., nutmeg
Bouquet garni of hearty herbs - rosemary, thyme, sage
¼ cup, heavy cream
8 oz., bella mushrooms, quartered
Egg noodles
WHAT TO DO
Preheat your oven to 325. Heat the oil and half the butter in a Dutch oven, until melted. Brown the pork loin on all sides, then set aside on a plate. Toss in garlic cloves and onions, cook until golden, then add wine and stir around until it’s reduced nearly entirely.
Lower the heat a bit and add milk, a dash of nutmeg, salt and pepper. Stir around and put the pork back in along with the herbs. Heat to boiling, then turn off the heat, stick a lid on it and put it in the oven. Cook until internal temperature reaches about 130 (will need to ultimately be about 140). Take it out of the oven when this is the case, stick the pork on a cutting board and wrap in foil to rest while you finish up.
Separately, melt the other half of the butter in a wide skillet, then add mushrooms and cook undisturbed until golden. Season with salt and pepper and add heavy cream on low heat, stirring to a simmer.
After 2-3 minutes, add mushrooms and cream to the milk sauce, slice up your pork, and serve it all over egg noodles and maybe some fresh parsley. If the milk curds are a turn-off, use an immersion blender in the pot to churn ‘em up.
What a great illustration about wine! Often when I tell people I'm a wine drinker the first thing they say is they don't "get it". Neither do I! I've drank enough over the years to have a feel for what I do like and what I don't and take note of the ones I do so I can find more like them. I'm not too worried about mouthfeel and notes and all that jazz.
I was always a big fan of The Grub Street column that inspired the book! https://www.grubstreet.com/author/vanessa-price/
Scotch suffers from the same issue, although I think recent “outsider” entrants like Japanese whiskey and Georgian natural wines have made both categories more approachable.