The Wine Unfiltered 2009 Fall TV Preview Pairing
My favorite time of year. Fall.
Leaves turning. Harvest Festival. Boots come out. Halloween around the corner. Heavy red wines flourish. That is, if you don’t live in Los Angeles.
Sigh….
Well, I can at least enjoy the other part of the Autumnal Equinox that doesn’t have anything to do with druids or school buses. Returning Fall TV shows. Not all of them are repped here of course, and not all are premiering again right now (like Chuck or Lost for example), but it’s a good start. Time to pull out the playbook and plan my wine pairing strategy for a few of this seasons shows. But in typical Wine Unfiltered style, this is not a food pairing.
It’s the other kind.
FRINGE
Premieres Sept. 17 on FOX
Now, I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again, I’m not a dessert wine fan. Well, it’s more that I am picky about my sweet wines.
But this out of this world addictive Hungarian gold monster is hard to walk away from.
The 2003 The Royal Tokaji Wine Company Red Label 5 puttonyos $37
When you drink a Tokaji, it is a slow sipping, deliberate experience. You think it’s going to be just another sweet wine and this it ends up being something unusual and unexpected. In a very good way. Pretty much like Fringe.
Aromas of apricot, light honey, stone, sea and dried pitted fruit. At only 10% alcohol, you’ll stay awake nicely. Which you will need to keep up with what the heck’s going on with Fringe’s plots. There is tons of acidity for a dessert wine, which makes this a nice crisp, clean drink with plenty of texture.
It just explodes with a cheese course, but also just yumtastic with some dessert. Even if it is just doughnuts, Captain Crunch and midnight milkshakes. Walter would approve.
DOLLHOUSE
Premieres Sept. 18 on FOX
When you think of Viognier, it will often emotes images of little white flowers, sweet melon, honey and pineapple.
Not so much with the 2006 Vixen Viognier, Santa Ynez Valley $28
This appropriately named wine is more Dollhouse style. Like Ecko, at first glance it is delicate and smooth, but once you get closer to smell and taste, it hits you with a one two punch. Sharp crisp acidity, geraniums, lemon verbena, dried stone fruits and weighty, big juicy peaches. Okay. Get your mind out of the gutter.
Hit that puppy with some spicy foods such as Thai or Vietnamese cuisine, curries and hot hot coconut as well as stiletto heels and a gun. Unless you’re a guy. Then gun. Just the gun.
CASTLE
Premieres Sept. 21 on ABC
Since Richard Castle seems to like to pay off book reviewers with cases of Chateauneuf-du-Pape*, I think it’s pretty appropriate to sip a nice 2005 Chateau La Nerthe’s Chateauneuf-du-Pape Rouge $39.99.
Silky smooth, with deep spice, sweet berry fruit and the barest hint of bonfire. It is supremely aromatic, opulent and well rounded. Sounds like Castle to me. Well, maybe not the aromatic part. Although, he probably would be.
This is a Grenache heavy wine. If Richard Castle were a wine, he probably would be a Grenache based wine. As I mentioned in my article Super Grapes, Grenache takes on a new sense of power and new-found flavors when mixed with others. Grenache also softens harsher partners but is prone to oxidation and damage from them. Castle himself is deliciously interesting, sharp, fine, charming, and especially shines when mixed in a crowd. He is also always trying to soften Detective Beckett to let her guard down. But when she’s hurt, he feels the damage as well.
Should be a fun match. Now all you will need is a pair of onion goggles, laser tag outfit and Manhattan skyline to complete the evening.
* The Rhone region of southeast France growing old vine Grenache, Syrah and Mourvedre.
HOUSE
Premieres Sept. 21 on FOX
Straightforward, robust, spicy, incessantly lingers.
Am I talking about a wine, or House?
How about both.
The 2007 Laetitia Pinot Noir Estate $24, is pretty much all of those things.
Scent of vanilla, hint of oak. Medium ripe berries with sweet spices. Superbly balanced, smooth and light.
House doesn’t have time to take any crap. A Pinot Noir, one with high antioxidants and delivers everything that should be there. No fuss, no muss. Very nice. Get on with it.
Then again, House does like monster trucks and pissing people off, so he would probably just throw the wine in together with beer, whiskey, skittles and crushed ice in a big brown paper bag wrapped jug while limping down a hallway making snide remarks.
Vicodin optional.
HEROES
Premieres Sept. 21 NBC
Ok, ok I’m quoting my Super Grapes article again:
Grape: Pinot Grigio (Gris)
Thought to be a genetic mutant of the Pinot Noir grape, Pinot Grigio is a grayish blue fruit. The wine color produced can morph from deep gold, to copper, even light pink or salmony yellow. Depending on the maker, this wine can go from subtle, innocuous and invisible, to powerful flavors and extremely aromatic, and even agile lightweight, lean or peppery. Very versatile with many foods and many situations.
Heroes is nothing if not that. I mean it was in awesome season 1. But THAT conversation is another article all together. Anyhoo, my choice? The ever versatile, ever changing (even three days later) 2008 Graffigna Pinot Grigio $11.50
Pale white gold with an almost imperceptible pink hue. Tons of light florals, young white peaches and crispness. Slight orange blossom and linen, aromatic and herbaceously tart finish. Very good for the price. Still good the second and third day. No serious harm in investing in it once to give it a try. And Heroes is nothing if not that. I mean now.
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SMALLVILLE
Premieres Sept. 25 on CW
Staying true to my article Super Grapes (the last time I’m mentioning it, I promise), Smallville would pair with nothing else but a good Cabernet Sauvignon. But I thought I’d take it a step further. Even though Clark comes from simple Kansas stock, he is still a son of Krypton. With the duality he must blend together everyday, it seemed interesting to split the difference and choose an appropriately named Bordeaux blend:
The 2003 Château Clarke $29.99
Yes, Clark himself would probably skip a French wine and go with a good o’l boy drink of OJ. But this wine still plays to his personality. Like Clark, who is gentle on the acrid negativity, large on strength and power, this wine has medium low acid, large and in charge tannins. Lots of lingering oak on the finish. Just like the tree trunk mammoth of a superhero he is.
Besides, you gotta drink something while trying to get through an entire scene of Lois babbling about something or other.
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THE SIMPSONS
Premieres Sept. 27 FOX
DOH! There is no way on this green Earth you can pair a Simpsons episode without beer. Homer just couldn’t handle it. But Marge is still the glue that holds the family together. She would much rather have something like, oh let’s say, Champagne. Put together, that spells a Black Velvet.
BLACK VELVET
4 oz. Stout Beer
4 oz. Champagne or Sparkling Wine
Fill a tall champagne flute halfway with chilled stout beer (such as Guinness)
Float the sparkling wine on top of the stout by pouring it over an upside down spoon, so that the liquid runs gently down to layer it.
My wine choice? Marge like happy pretty things. She would definitely go for pink. Sparkling pink.
The 2008 Francis Coppola Pinot Noir Sofia Rose $15
Filled with rose petal goodness, it is female in a glass. Dry, with juicy ripe red berries, strawberry core, hint of zest and pretty refreshing. Moe definitely wouldn’t serve it. But visually, the Guinness and the Sofia are pretty much Marge and Homer in a glass. Best. look. ever.
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LIE TO ME
Premieres Sept. 28 on FOX
For Lie To Me, you need a smart, interesting wine. Cal would be bored to death with something too simple to figure out.
It’s got to be the 2006 Favia La Josefina Vineyards Pinot Noir $64.95 
It’s a Pinot Noir lying it’s ass off, pretending to be a Merlot or a warm climate Cabernet Sauvignon. Let’s just say interesting. And a good pairing for the Autumn chill about the settle in.
It’s deep red garnet color with moderate aromas of vanilla, oak and blue fruit. A dry, but still medium bodied red. The medium body may be one of its only tells. Even Dr. Lightman would have trouble getting this one to confess to being a Pinot Noir.
It has lower tannin but lots of flavor. This is very viscous for a Pinot Noir, filled with fall evening blackberry, blueberry pie filling and the barest hint of sweet sage and cinnamon. It may almost be a bit too sweet with it’s smooth talking acidity, but it’s still a Pinot Noir. Don’t be fooled. Cal wouldn’t.
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MAD MEN
New Episodes Sundays on AMC
It’s hard to go Mad Men and not do a cocktail of some kind. But that doesn’t mean you have to abandon the grape.
My choice? A Grappa Cocktail.
Long story short, grappa is usually a clear vodka-like spirit fermented from wine grape skins, stems and seeds. Grappa used to have the notorious reputation of having the quality of lighter fluid, but these days there are many incredible, smooth, aromatic grappas on the market and many that tote single varietal grape status.
A good one: Inga Moscato Grappa $26.99. Notes of herb, terra cotta, citrus and apricot. It is smooth, people. As smooth as Don Draper himself. I kid you not.
A two fold cocktail recipe choice for Mad Men would be an original Wine Unfiltered twist on the very popular drink of the early 1960’s, as well as it being one of Sterling Cooper’s clients:
GRAPPA LONDON FOG COCKTAIL
In a container with shaved ice stir:
1 1/2 ounces premium clear grappa with
1/4 ounce Pernod
Watch it fog up as you pour the drink in a well-chilled martini cocktail glass. Makes 1 drink. Serve with disdain and deception.
HAPPY FALL, HAPPY WATCHING, HAPPY DRINKING.
