Epic wine based cocktails with their myths and legends

Not only in Romania, any wine taster, wine afficionado, wine lover or whatsoever needs sometimes to change and replace all the flavors, tastes etc, in order to reset and refresh all their senses.

Maybe Romania is still not excellent positioned at this chapter of the wine culture, nevertheless you can find some good wine bars in Bucharest, other big cities or in the vineyards. The people there could be not very happy when ordering a Julep, Sangria, Bellini etc. please help them to spare their time and money on Google search, giving them the good double checked recipe!

Sangria is an art summer punch, traditionally prepared in Spain. Its name sends to sangre (Spanish for blood), due to it main ingredient, the red wine (and we have plenty of it in Romania!). There are many preparation methods, according to the specific fruits we use, or adding other strong alcoholic drink.You can get a good Sangria even in Romania, the globalization works for you! My tip: never buy a bottled Sangria, it is far away from a real one. besides, remember to prepare it by your own, avoiding it in bars, even in Spain. Shortly, to be more efficient: take a bottle of half dried  red wine and 1 liter of soda; 3-4 spoons of lemon juice, 1 glass of brandy/whisky/Cointreau; 1 peach, 1 apple and 1 orange; 150-200 gr sugar (according one's taste), 1 powder of cinnamon. Peel and cut in pieces the fruits, and let them rest in the chosen alcoholic drink (don't dare to think to gin or vodka!). Before serving, mix the fruits with the juice, wine, soda and lemon juice. At least add the soda and mix softly. Powder with cinnamon and put on some ice.

How to get a perfect Sangria

Bellini is not very common in Romanian wine  bars, and that's why you must be prepared with the right recipe!   This cocktail has an interesting legend, starting in Harry's bar from Venice, where Hemingway and Orson Welles used to go between 1934 and 1938. Giuseppe Cipriani was the bar owner, and discovered this cocktail after many failures. The colour reminds the suit's colour of one saint from a painting by Giovani Bellini. You only need 100 ml of quality white sparkling wine and 50 ml chopped peaches! Put the peaches in a flutte glass, add the wine and stir softly. The original recipe was made with Prosecco wine!

Judge a wine cocktail similarly with a wine tasting

The B2C2 is even more sophisticated, and has the most captivating legend of all cocktails! It happened in march 1945 when the American Intelligence troops G2 found in Ruhr Gebiet a full cellar with fine french drinks, left by the Germans. Obviously, Cognac was drunk as the first, it was almost common those days. But what shall be done with all those fine liquors, as a man never drinks simple liquor. The Americans have been saved by a German war prisoner, who instructed them to mix the drinks in a certain way, resulting the B2C2 (B2=Benedictine+brandy; C2=Cointreau+Champagne). To be more specific, you need 45 ml of brandy (prefer the Cognac), 30 ml Benedictine, 30 ml Cointreau and 120 ml Champagne Brut. Mix the first three ingredients in a highball glass, with a few ice cubes, and add the Champagne at least!

Myths, legends and true facts from the wine history

The history of the mankind is also a history of wine, at least in the last 6000 thousands of years. Can't figure a party in the good old times without wines, good wines, and food. Can't imagine neither today a party without wines, or a sophisticated dinner without wines. Besides, if the sophisticated dinner is a romantic one, the wine makes the perfect excuse for him, but also for her.

I am sure that wines played  an important role in the history of mankind, much more important than a serious scholastic historian could imagine. E.g., Cleopatra made history not only with her nose, but also with the glass of wine for Marc Anthony. The Romanian medieval ruler Stephen the Great enjoyed a glass of wine at the right time, and there must be much more examples for the way of mixing wine and history. Think a little about Churchill, Stalin and Roosevelt, and the abstinent Hitler, who could destroy the world and its good habits!

Drinking wine is much older than you think

An important fact: the oldest evidence of drinking wine date back in 5400 b.C and has been found in Zagros, Iran. Most probably, the wine has been produced in that area. For 5000 years the wine consumption was reserved to the upper class. The kings of Egypt and Mesopotamia served wines to the high ranking guests, showing their wealth. The rich people of antique Athens were labeled according the belonging vineyards! The Greeks, inventors of the civilization, started to do what we call today wine tastings. This good habit has been taken and refined by the Romans.

The Greeks found first wine tastings, but the Romans took over and developed further

Around year 500 a.C takes place the segregation of the Europeans in wine drinkers and beer drinkers, which continues up today. The wine became the favorit drink for the southern part of Europe, where the Roman occupation was tighter and the influences stronger. The Northern part of Europe, with the British Islands, are populated with Barbarians drinking beer. (Actually, the segregation is not so obvious anymore!).

Very close to the places where have been found the first traces of wine, emerged the Islamic belief, forbidding the wine!. There is a legend: two pupils of Mahomed had a strong argument after taking too much on bord. The Prophete, asking advice and guiding from the allmighty Allah, became the simpliest answer: "The wine is a Devil invention". Even the Christians took champagne (actually sparkling wine, to be more precisely) for a Devil invention! It happened when the people did not know what is Carbon Dioxide, a gas which can be found in any wine.

And this is a modern wine tasting, a contest!

Champagne has been created first around 1700, surely not by the Monk Dom Perignon. Some people say, it was simply an accident. Dom Perignon only had major contributions to the development of champagne, which became shortly the favorite drink of the women! Madame de Pompadour used to declare " Champagne is the only wine making a woman more beautiful after drinking a glass!" ( I would add: the woman becomes much more beautiful if her partner drinks the Champagne!)

And a last legend for today: a renowned French porcelain producer created the first champagne cup based on an extraordinary model: the breast of Marie Antoinette.

How to produce a good wine and how to keep it right

You like wine, don't you? I love them too, that's why we are here as wine afficionados, as I like to repeat! At least in this point we all agree!

The grape, if you allow me

First of all, may be you are not sufficiently aware that wine, different from other alcoholic or non alcoholic drinks, is a living organism. If you are very aware while tasting or drinking wine, you can observe it. Watch it in the glass, it breathes. Smell it, taste it, enjoy it, it is really necessary to do so if you wanna get the best from your wine.

Did you ask probably more that once what makes a good wine ? The soil, the climate, the sortiment, the way of cutting the plantation. Everything counts, for sure, and here in Romania we have the best conditions for making some excellent wines. If you wish to set up your own vineyard, bear in mind some facts: you got the best grapes in the vineyards with an yearly average temperature of  more 10 degrees Celsius, with 1500 hours of sun exposure and rain fall of 400-600 liters per quadrat meters.

Further, the agricultural works play an important role. There are works on the ground, as also works on the vine; fighting diseases; harvesting at the right moment etc.

Still interested to set up a vineyard or to get one (for Romania I can get you some information) ? If yes, go to the point: you have the grapes, you must press them now (supposing, just supposing). You can still give up and buy o bottle of good Romanian wine, as you can find it in many places on Earth.(Berlin, Paris, Manchester to name just a few, ask me further if you want.).

This feeder helps crushing the membranes

Nevertheless, nothing compares with making and marketing your own wine, so let's go further! From 1 kg grapes you will get 0,7-0,8 litres of must. 60 % of it will flow almost naturally, and the rest on the press. There is a huge difference between the white and the red wine. For the white, you must separate the grape from its bunch and membranes; on the contrary, for the big Reds you need a good color and a strong flavor. You can get them by crushing first the grapes and allowing them a short fermentation of 2-3 days, without separation of the bunches or the membranes.

We will continue next time our adventure in the world of wine. The best, come in September to Romania and take part to    the new crop and you will understand more.

Best temperatures for the wines

          The hot summer is surely and quickly coming with temperature which are in Romania near the 40 degrees Celsius. No one would like to drink hot wine, and neither hot water at this temperature! The question is how long shall we chill the wine, until what ideal temperature?

          There are some prescriptions you should remember (ideal temperature for wines to be served!)

easy white wines with high acidity                        8-10 degrees Celsius

white, aromatic,roze wines                                  10-12 degrees Celsius

easy red wines                                                    14-16 degrees Celsius

red heavy wines                                                   16-18 degrees Celsius

prestige red wines                                                18-20  degrees Celsius

            At these above mentioned temperatures the qualities of the listed wines are better  enhanced, and the imperfections hidden. On professional wine tasting in Romania or elsewhere, the temperatures are slightly different from the above table. 

             The best chilling is made in the refrigerator or in the cellar (ideal); for the quickly chilling in restaurant the most used method is the cooler, but you, or the personal, shall observe the forming layers, having different temperatures! If you don't pay attention  to this simply fact, the main guest getting the first glass will receive the hottest wine, which is never the best. So, please, before serving a cooled wine always slightly shake the bottle! And you don't need tranportation anymore !

             Another golden prescription applying not only in Romania, is to serve the wine not very cool in winter, neither very hot in summer. French specialists used to recommend letting the wine chambree (to the room temperature), but this thing is only o.k in April or September; May is already too hot! Professional tasters use also to say "every wine with its temperature, and every taste with its temperature!" Important to remember that over 20 degrees Celsius due to slight evaporation not all the hidden flavors are to be discovered, and under 4 degrees Celsius is almost impossible discovering  the flavors and the tastes.

            Keep in mind the speed of heating: when in a room with 21 degrees Celsius every cooler wine wins a degree Celsius every 3 minutes. Many times we can make this speed bigger by simply taking the wine glass between the hands!

             What about heating a wine? The most modern method is the microwave oven, but you can't control very exactly the final temperature! Also, always remember that wine is a living drink and the microwaves kill all the useful germs! So better use the old method of heating by another vessel, where the water reaches the temperature we need, nevertheless this method requires much more time!