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CNN Live At Daybreak
Crash Course in What Wines to Sip This Spring
Aired April 19, 2002 - 06:50 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Well if you are wondering what wines to sip this Spring, this is the perfect crash course for you. Our wine expert, Maureen Petrosky, is with me again this morning with some tantalizing suggestions.
MAUREEN PETROSKY, WINE EXPERT: Good morning.
COSTELLO: Oh I can't wait. It's hard to pair some Spring food with wine. And you're here to work it all out for us. And asparagus, I understand, is one of the most difficult foods to pair with wine.
PETROSKY: They say two of our Spring ingredients, asparagus and artichokes, tend to have a metallic effect on wines. Now not everybody gets that effect. So I would say pair it more with the preparation of the food.
If asparagus is prepared with hollandaise, go for a bigger Chardonnay. If you are having that effect with that food, just don't drink while you're eating that. Unless you're having a big plate of asparagus or a big plate of artichokes, I would just...
COSTELLO: Don't do it.
PETROSKY: Because it's an immediate effect. It's not like if you have asparagus and then two hours later you have a glass of wine it's going to effect it. It's that immediate pairing, so just avoid that if you are having that effect. And go (ph) with the preparation.
COSTELLO: Got you -- good advice. There are many different types of white wines and they don't necessarily have to be expensive. And you've brought some fine examples for us, so just whip on through them.
PETROSKY: OK. Well we have examples that range in price from $7 to $22, and they are all California wines. I know that a lot of people think our California wines are overpriced or are expensive.
COSTELLO: Yeah.
PETROSKY: But there are wines that range under $20. So here we have some great examples, that even though the weather right now you might think is Summer time, it is Spring time, still. And these wines would go great with that lighter fare, the things that people are craving right now. COSTELLO: OK. So what's the one on the end?
PETROSKY: Here we have a Chardonnay. And this is actually a kosher wine. And this is about $7 a bottle. And then we've got a Riesling, which is a little bit sweeter. It's a Pacific Rim Riesling. It's a very food-friendly wine.
We've got two styles of Sauvignon Blanc, one here and one down the end. One is much more like Australian, more acidic. One is much more like a porch-sipping wine, a little more raising (ph) characteristics to it.
Another Chardonnay -- as you can see, they're very light-colored. White wines don't vary dramatically in color unless it's really fermented in a heavy oak barrel. But you want to look for clarity and no real flaws that are -- nothing floating around in your wine.
COSTELLO: The smell of white wine is very interesting, too, because a Chardonnay smells quite different from like a (UNINTELLIGIBLE).
PETROSKY: Yes. A Chardonnay is going to be a little more fruit forward. You might get a little oak there, depending on how it's fermented. Some apples, green apples are characteristics of Chardonnay. Whereas like a (UNINTELLIGIBLE), you might have more floral in the nose.
So depending on what you like, just taste them. And for under $20, you can taste a few of these.
COSTELLO: Well just quickly now, how do you know you got a bad Chardonnay? Because I've smelled some Chardonnays that smell incredibly oaky, and they're usually not very good.
PETROSKY: Well, I guess there's two descriptions of bad. Bad, being that there's actually a flaw with the wine, that it's quirked. That means that some air has gotten in there and it's got an off smell. And bad meaning that you just don't like it.
COSTELLO: Yeah.
PETROSKY: If you just don't like it, it's just a matter of preference. But if it's an off smell at all, if it's odd to you, if it doesn't smell like wine and smell fresh and smell really good, then don't hesitate to return it, even if it's to your grocery store. They'll take wines back.
COSTELLO: Be tough with those people. OK. Thank you, Maureen, for joining this morning with some lovely wine selections. And keep in mind that you don't have to pay a lot to get a great wine.
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