Are you ready for football?

Wayne on wine
By Wayne Crawford
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Throughout Georgia college football roars back onto the web page and sports blogs in August with Georgia Tech's first game at 7:30 PM on Thursday, August 28 at Tech in Atlanta.

Two days later Georgia and Georgia Southern play between the hedges on Saturday, August 30 in Athens.  With Georgia rated number one in the coach's poll it would be most satisfying to roam the pre-game tailgate parties and sample the culinary delights and perhaps a few alcoholic drinks in Athens.

Wine overtaking beer

Cold beer remains the dominate tailgate drink across America but the Nielson Company reports beer sales in 2007 dropped to only 42.9% market share while wine rose to 20.7%.

The leading wine varietals remain Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, although Merlot sales continue to drop significantly in 2007 (Wine Business.com).  Americans, even with the raise in gas and grocery costs, continue to purchase wines and other alcoholic beverages at a fairly steady state for home barbecues, picnics and perhaps tailgating with the price point moving to wines from $10.00 to $20.00 segment from below $10.00. 

"Wine sales volume is not determined by the economy" reports Christian Miller of Full Glass Research in Wine Business.com. 

All of this is great news for those of us who would rather enjoy cold Champagne or luscious white wines like Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Gris, Riesling, and Viognier or succulent reds like Pinot Noir, Zinfandel, Sangiovese, Syrah and  Beaujolais with finger foods, hamburgers, hot dogs, chili, pasta salads and all those wonderful treats included in tailgate fair.

Wine heads to the stadium

A few wine and food pairings to mull over if you are headed to Tech or Athens on a weekend:

• Hamburgers with lots of Ketchup a ruby red Beaujolais, Syrah or Zinfandel
• Hot Dogs go with German Riesling or Rose
• Grilled Chicken always consider a cold Chardonnay, Syrah or Zinfandel
• French Fries, Popcorn and Fresh Fruit go with Champagne or other sparkling wines
• Chile go with fruit forward Zinfandel
• Chiles and Salsa go with German Riesling or Sauvignon Blanc or Zinfandel.

On Zinfandel I am talking red wine not white. I also would consider including a few artisan cheeses with fruit and wine to top off your meal and get you headed to your seats for the game.  Most full bodied white wines like Chardonnay will pair well with assorted cheeses along with Champagne. With aged Cheddar pair Cabernet Sauvignon. With a Goat Cheese pair a cold Sauvignon Blanc.

A few cheeses to consider right now include: Humboldt Fog, made by Mary Keens of Cypress Grove Chevre in McKinleyville, California. This is a wonderful young goat's milk cheese sprinkled in vegetable ash to develop a white bloomy rind. This will go well with Chardonnay. Another cheese by Mary Keens and a 25^th Annual Conference, American Cheese Society's Winner in Fog Light also a goat cheese that should go well with Sauvignon Blanc.  These are American Artisanal premium cheese that illustrates how far the American cheese industry has evolved over the last two decades.  Allow your cheese to reach room temperature.

Wines drinking well now

Semi, Chardonnay, 2006 Carneros California, $18: Vibrant notes of pear, green apple with hints of cream. A peach, pear and lemon flavor on the palate and the wine maker is Steve Reeder. Recommended by Dave Blake.

Frogtown, Chardonnay, 2004 Georgia, $16: This chardonnay is fermented at low temperatures in Stainless Steel drums to enhance the natural flavors of chardonnay. Limited production, but when it becomes available again in the fall add to your weekend tailgate trips. Recommended by Knox Glass.

Fazi Battaglia, Titulus, Verdicchio, Le Marche Region, Italy $12: Verdicchio is a white Italian grape with a greenish yellow hue produced near Ancona on the Adriatic coast. This fruity and versatile grape with elegant acidity and nutty flavors is bottled in an amphora shaped container for easy recognition.  This is a fun wine to drink and is a dry light-bodied white wine that will pair wonderfully with grilled fish or pasta dishes or pizza. 

Michael-David Winery, Zinfandel, "7 Deadly Zins"2005 Lodi, Sonoma County, California $15: A bouquet of raspberry, molasses and cinnamon toast simulates the palate of this dark ruby red wine.  Excellent oak integration and very fruit forward. BEST BUY Recommended by Mike Ehrlich.

Foppiano, LOT 96 Red Wine, 2005, Sonoma County, California $10: A blend of seven grapes Sangiovese 28%, Petite Syrah 19%, Zinfandel 17%, Carignane 14%, Merlot 10%, Cabernet Sauvignon 9% and Cabernet Franc 3%. There is nothing fancy about this wine, just delicious blended red wine that should go wonderful with almost any combination of red meat tailgating food. BEST BUY Recommended by Gordon Harnesberger.

Wine to Cellar

K Vintner, 2005, The Creator Cabernet-Syrah blend, Walla Walla Valley, Washington $50:   Located at the base of the Blue Mountains in Walla Walla Washington, K Vintners opened its doors to the public on December 3rd, 2001. The Creator is not produced every year, but is a fruit forward well blended wine that should cellar thru 2013.  Dark Red blends 60% Cabernet and 40% Syrah. Allow the wine to open, should pair well with grilled steak or beef ribs, hints of pepper on the pallet but nicely balanced.

Wine facts & terms

A bottle of wine is 86% water. On average it takes 100 days for a grape to flower and reach harvest. White wines are generally more acidic than red wine.  The color of wine comes from contact with grape skins. In 2006 Americans on average consumed 3 gallons of wine per person, but in Luxembourg it was 16 gallons and in Italy 14.3 gallons - keep drinking America.

Finish, length, and aftertaste: the lingering sense of flavor and tangible sensation that remains in your mouth after the wine is swallowed, in general the longer the finish the higher the quality of the wine. All three words are interchangeable and are intended to allow you the drinker to describe the final step in wine tasting.

Body: the weight or texture of the wine in the mouth combining alcohol, extract, glycerol and acid. Rich, well-rounded and complex wines with lingering flavors is considered full-bodied; thin or watery wines are considered light-bodied and wines in between are medium-bodied.  Dessert wine like Sauternes is a full-bodied wine.

Worth a read

I just finished Tyler Colman's Wine Politics; How Governments, Environmentalists, Mobsters, and Critics Influence the Wines We Drink, University of California Press, 2008.  The book is a quick read at 148 pages, but it is an engaging story on the French and American wine business and the politics of getting wine to the table.

This is a "wet your appetite" narrative with just enough information to stimulate wine drinking while you read, but not so much information as to put you to sleep.  Tyler teaches wine classes at New York University. The author journeys back and forth across the Atlantic outlining starts, stops and redirections in the wine industry touching everything from exports, prohibition, distribution and the politics of American wine labels. 

As you move along with the narrative you discover there were 20 native grapes in America at the time of the Jamestown colony and Portland, Maine was the first city to go dry in 1843.  More wine is consumed in the south versus hard spirits in the north.

Wine critics like Robert Parker and the large distribution companies are all fair game in Tyler's delightful journey of getting wine to your table. As you wait for the games to begin and while you are sipping a glass of wine let this book make you a better educated drinker.

Worth a look

Not likely to be in the movie theater very long, but if you are looking for an enjoyable wine themed movie this is it -- "Bottle Shock".  This is a stylized movie on the 1976 Paris Wine Tasting in which a Napa White and Red were selected as the best in a blind tasting. 

Kathy and I enjoyed the movie and while there is considerable literary license it is based on George M Taber book The judgment of Paris: California vs. France and the Historic 1976 Paris Tasting That Revolutionized Wine.  Worth a trip to the movies, great shots of Napa country. 

Drink what you like

In the next article I plan to concentrate on Zinfandels and Syrah.  Please send your questions and suggestions to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Although he calls Big Canoe home, Wayne Crawford, the former COO of Harry's Farmers Market, works weekly in Dallas and Tulsa as Executive Vice President Operations and Customer Care Docvia.