Great Wine Made Simple; Andrea Immer In Chile

Oh. I'm in wine country. Actually this could be any great wine region in the world it could be Europe. It could be Napa Valley USA. But in fact it's chilling. I'm standing in the middle of a big Merlo Vineyard and the harvest is just starting. And based on the taste of these grapes room I think it's going to be a great one. Welcome to L.A. and. Then I'm going. I don't know. Delay is great food.

Great wine Central Valley has become one of the world's great wine regions and that same fertile land is home to the orchards and rows that have become freehold to the world. There are more than 3000 miles of coastline. The whole Pacific waters serve out an amazing array of fish and shellfish. The cooking reflects Chile's own world groups and it's. World ingredient it can be hearty and robust. Slow cook and press. The barbecue. Aside I. Will say sausages. The seafood is pristine at the end of the war. Sometimes I'm left with just lime juice and. Coriander. Like I said before filet is great food great wine.

Join Andrea immer day and she takes great and makes it simple and is one of only a living women masters and was the sun during the windows on the World Trade Center. In this show we will take you on it. A little journey through Chile its wine its food and its people playing and enjoying great wine. Never be the same again. Great wines made simple. And really interesting chilli. Made possible in part by a grant from. The grand morning foundation. Michel Roux president. Hi I'm Andrea immer and I'm about to take you on an amazing two for one tour. First a simple tour of your wine shop and at the very same time I'll take you on a fabulous food and wine lovers tour of Chile.

So kick back grab yourself a glass of wine if you care to and let me do. If you're like most people when you walk into a wine store you feel just a bit intimidated by all those bottles. Thousands of different labels fancy foreign terms and even fancier price tags. Well today I'm going to teach you how to understand great wine and how to keep it simple. Before I take you back to the vineyards of Chile I want to start with a few wine basics. Once you've got those down and I promise this is one class that's not difficult to swallow. You'll see that knowing how to choose and buy great wines really is no big deal. First let's talk label. I want you to know there are two main ways wines are named on the label either by the grape or by the region. T.A. for example is a region so is Beausoleil and that's the way most of Europe's wines are named for the region where the grapes are grown here in the U.S. It's the name of the great that's on the label like shart and they are Mello. And the rest of the wine world.

Places like South Africa Australia Argentina and Chile were the same way. In these wine countries all you have to do is memorize a few of the grapes and you're already way ahead of the game. I'll show you what I mean by take you back down to the vineyards of Chile. A lot of times people tell me the only thing they recognize when they pick up a bottle of wine is the price tag. Chilean wines are actually easier for a lot of us because they have some really helpful information on the label the great variety but what does that tell you. Actually a lot for white grapes. The major ones that you should memorize because it makes it easier so long and Chardonnay. These are some shard in a grapes and what does that tell you when you see that name on the label Well it tells you a lot about the body style and what I mean by body style is a sensation of weight or heaviness or richness in the mouth. So for example think about milk. Skim milk is light bodied whole milk is a little richer so it's medium heavy

cream is really rich and full bodied for grapes. So when your block is medium short and A is full bodied and this is what these are going to make a delicious rich luscious full bodied one. Yeah. So now you've got yourself in your blog and charting a down. You can look at red lines the same way you got them or low grade which is medium bodied and the Cabernet Sauvignon grape which is full think of wine the way you think of food if you're not all that hungry may have a light dish like a salad. But if you're starving go for something heavy like a steak or a low liter Cabernet Sauvignon. Well that's the idea of body style. So let's move on. There's that other factor to consider taste and taste is a pretty subjective thing. Perhaps it's a lean in Tang taste that turns you on. Or maybe it's a lush and juicy taste that really gets you going. Start with what the wine is made from which is of course the great writing. This one

is Merlo and it's obviously a black skinned grape So it's going to make a red wine if you memorize just a couple of the major grape varieties we have Cabernet Sauvignon planted just across the way. It's actually very easy. And how do you tell the difference. You'll see the names on the label and each grape variety gives its own taste to the wine so in the same way that two apples both taste happily but a Granny Smith is a little different from a Golden Delicious. Two different wine grapes will taste different from one another although they all taste like wine. So once you know a couple of the grape varieties in their styles it's pretty easy to go into any restaurant and feel like a pro ordering wine for yourself. Of course we don't say a wine tastes more Lowy or Sharda ne. Instead we describe the wines taste in terms of other fruits. No I'm not standing in some newfangled Vineyard with overgrown grapes these are actually another delicious part of the Chilean fruit bowl. There are few ways really cool but they

do bring up another interesting point about the taste of a lot of times people ask why is it that they describe wine in terms of other flavors than grapes. But the fact is once you ferment the grape juice it doesn't really taste like grapes anymore because fermentation leaves in the wine flavors and scents that resemble a lot of other fruits. So the next time you're tasting a white wine Think about it. Apple pear melon citrus and you'll probably be able to recognize those flavors in the wine. And you're really enjoying a lot more. It's of the same idea applies when you're thinking about red wines like chili in their low and Cabernet Sauvignon. Think about the fruits that grow nearby that wonderful strawberries blueberries raspberries and these plums this one here's a real beaut. The same thing applies all over the world too so in cooler regions where they grow perhaps cherries in cranberries the ones that come from those regions will have those flavors as well. When it comes to fruit flavor you know what you like. So the question is how do you find that flavor

in a bottle of wine. The answer is go back to the label the grape variety will tell you the flavor every single time for so long. Think Tang the citrus shard in a ripe for tropical fruits for reds low plummy cherries Cabernet Sauvignon right dark. So now you've got flavor and body down you're well on your way to knowing how to buy wine you're going to love. But there's still one more basic to consider. I'm happy because I'm in a cellar so I'm surrounded by gallons of wine and of course when you're in a cellar you think cool temperature because that's better for the wind and high humidity that's also better for the wine and then of course you look around and you think oak barrels we got to zillions of them here and you've probably seen it on the back of a bottle label this one was fermented in 0 barrels or it tastes OK. What on earth does that mean. Plain and simple particularly for the full bodied grapes like Shar today. They're low in Cabernet Sauvignon if you

ferment them and age them in 0 barrels. It adds a rooma lever and a body to the wine. And people who like that extra richness it tensity of us are willing to pay extra for it because it's just plain yummy. To know whether one's going to be okey or not. Once again check the bottle labeled either the front or the back. Because evidence of this can show up lots of different ways on the label. Look for terms like barrel fermented or barrel aged and check it out. Try a few Okie wines either you'll like them or you won't. Or he may work for you with some tastes in body styles and not others. It gets very interesting and it can give very yummy. Finally there's one more piece of information on a bottle of wine that's often the first thing people look at the price tag but remember how much you pay for a bottle of wine doesn't necessarily correlate to how much you're going to like it. When it comes to buying wine in a store or restaurant. A lot of times people feel like they have to be a big spender

right. But the fact of the matter is that wine doesn't have to be expensive to be good. Sometimes people ask me what is it that goes into the price of a bottle of wine and it's a lot of things. First and foremost supply and demand just like anything else. If there's a wine with a fancy reputation or maybe a great critic score chances are the price is going to reflect that. The fact that lots of people want to drink that same bottle. Another one of the major factors in the price of wine is the source. Where is the vineyard. If the vineyard land where the grapes are grown is expensive that will be reflected in the price of a bottle of wine here in Chile we have a lot of accessible high quality vineyard land and in fact a vineyard like this in the Napa Valley of California would be three or four times as much money. So that would be reflected in the price of the bottle as well. And the last thing that goes into price is attention to detail both in the vineyard expensive farming practices that make for better quality and expensive practices in the winery that make for better quality will be

reflected in the wine. Those are things that you can actually taste in the bottle. Ultimately what's important is whether or not you like the wine whether you're happy with what you've got for the price you paid. That's one of the reasons Chilean wine is so hot right now. Great value for the money. It's also the reason so many great names and wine is in the last 20 years opened up their own wineries and Chile Rothfield Berenger Kendall Jackson Franciscan. It's really happening down there. But the interest in Chile as a wine growing region started long before that. The history of wine in Chile has some pretty amazing parallels to California. Right after Christopher Columbus the Spanish missionaries came to both Chile and California and along with their beautiful architecture they brought white grapes. It was actually called the Mission grape and there are still some planted in the oldest vineyards of Chile and California. Later in the 1850s we saw the arrival of a European classic grapes and European

wine making techniques. Then in the last 20 years there's really been a globalization of the industry both in California and Chile and now they're truly international businesses. In fact without the new world vines there might not be anyone at all. That's because in the 1850s the vineyards of Europe were attacked by microscopic bugs that go by the evil name phylloxera the result was that Europe's classic vineyards were wiped out by it. So European vintners went to New World countries like Chile where there was no phylloxera. And in fact Chile is the only wine country where there never has been. Once the European wine makers had discovered Chile it was love at first sight and that European chalet and love affair still going strong. First it was the Spaniards followed by the French and ultimately all the great names in wine making. They had discovered vineyard land as good as any in the world for a wine maker passionate about making truly great wine. It was nirvana. One of those love

affairs involves a passionate French wine maker a woman named Alexandra Marnie a lump of stone. It was a prized piece of land the appalls a valley in the heart of Chile's one great region that seduced alexándra. Well I can't do my taxi was the taxi. I'm down now are you. Goodness this is a little different from the last time I saw you you're getting out of a yellow taxi cab. But this is probably more more the speed of Chilean viticulture. How are you. I'm great. Nice to see you. And here we are in I call it heaven. But as you tell me it's not a full That's when I came to achieve it and that was when how long ago we first arrived to visit Chile 1993 and we visited the lots of friends and most of the time sometimes they were with

high yields and here when we arrived we saw the beauty of my life the whole was right. And those very vines and they have not true because they are not for 20 years now. So that was for me something unique. She was the first time I saw that and. I was completely blown away by the unions in France. They aren't even allowed to irrigate the vines correct. In most no equality no it's yes right. And when you do irrigate What does that do to the to the way here in Chile. Usually you have to irrigate because it's such a dry climate right that if you don't. Yes exactly let's say that yeah. If you don't irrigate the vines died because it's raining in winter and that seed and then from spring to the end you have no rain.

But normally that's a blessing for a wine maker. They had a dry cat but sometimes you need to have done that to the whale and if they don't have a little bit of water some time said the one you have the flowering and then when you have some bunches of grapes then you need really to be here. It's unique because the vine could survived because the water table because of the shape of mountain is not far from the roots. So the water table is that five to six meters depending if we are in the winter or in summer. And so the roots can go and get too far out to get the one they need. It's truly amazing it's almost a luck just a pure luck thing that these old vines got their start without irrigation and then managed to survive I mean look at this one this is unbelievably. Old and gnarled and yeah that's it it's beautiful. Yeah. So that's 60 years. Wow and you

know you can look chunky I mean you can see it so it's a dreamy old one. Yes and sometimes. Well when you say you want to produce a great you always need to have all Vaughan's tourists and the climate that just gives you the right proper love too much. So the older they get the more complex they get kind of like us right. Yeah. Absolutely right. It's like your baby evolves and then it gives you more and when it's my true it has the complete view those beautiful grapes and not too much we want to have here you have only a growing trend of rind This is because by that we have concentration in the grapes. So it's not necessarily the way to get get to make a lot of money but it is a way to make a lot of great wine exactly the Kerberos is to produce high

quality other greats wine that can be enjoyed by the people right. And so with quality you don't have secrets. Unfortunately you have to produce very little. The thing that's really interesting about the way these Been year of the art is they have very much the European Look card sort of trained in and planted in the form of them much like the European ones. Yes. For example you have only one between each vying and here one pound five me. And so it's very important because like that you have a very high density. And I like that again. I know where you are writing right. Which is really important. So each fine doesn't get stressed but you have a lot of vines within each plot. You know you still get enough off of the vineyard. Yes I want salt so very important just to do for example

what we call a leaf removed because dry that's we have the breeze that can go and you have every right and this is good because like that the bronze the leaves can breathe right. And also what we're doing is what we want is to have balance because balance in the wind. So where the vine right. And so here for example what we try to have it's like a maze. And we have bunches of grapes and if you will. Very important I want to have during when we have too much great use of grapes. We are what we call a green harvest and a green her receipts. So we are so. Bunches of grapes one day too much and we let them in the song here. But like that's the grapes that have more concentration because the vine can concentrate on that. Those grapes.

So the vine fertilize itself with some a sense of fertilizer and but the great thing is that your necklace comes back every year. It's kind of like when you're printing a rose bush or a tree sort of like when you have a rose bush. Absolutely right you pruning to get your more blossom years or does the loss of the Lions have a reaction and they want you to have fruits. Because like that then I have this thing that have babies right and I'm glad they put all the concentration of the grapes right in not in the leaves or for the rest of the vine so we have the French quality. Vine and we have the Chilean style of vineyard and climate. Exactly it's a perfect community it is an amazing combination. And because you have the the breed the pedigree of the vines from friends and now most of the want the vines and brands are grafted onto American roots so that they're resistant to flocks. And here we don't have that so we have an amazing combination.

But here in choosing the plant to the violence as they found it to 1850 and so I looked on most of the plant to Meadow and Common them mixed in the same vineyards and so here in the old man lovin you and you have Mallow on Common them east which is I think a great to me nation because it's so bland and natural blended the vineyard right and I think a lot of times people don't think of blending wine as something that's a good thing but actually a little bit of another flavor adds almost like a seasoning right. Yes it adds some complexity and the thinking is very good just not like so. Rigid right so like you learn exactly and so knowing that you can have something maybe with the most percentage in complexity to bring to the one I remember the days when a salad meant one kind of lettuce. Yeah and it's not like that anymore when you make a salad out but you know I do. It is true and you had better say this I think it's a similar thing.

Alexándra blew me away. And walking in those minutes and seeing her passion in her down to earth level for those greens I was reminded again that great white is really and truly a labor of love. It was clear why Alexandra and so many other winemakers have fallen in love. Surely if you. Can. Stay tuned for Part Two as Andrea continues her tour of Chile pairing its great wine with its great food. Oh. And no much returned to the vineyards appealing to me and

remember me as she returns you to greet one with its native fluent and rusty cooking. Lunch that afternoon in the appalled the valley was Alfresco at the HASI end of Don had big gourds forty years earlier this businessman from Santiago had seen this land in the appalled the valley. Had fallen in love with it and bought it. I'd like my life. So. What. A gift from God. Don Peppe base local Apapa Vineyard became a world class Y once he teamed up with Alexandra and her long heritage of winemaking. So Alexandra you are French but you're obviously at home and in the music she like you grew up around live right. Yes.

The origin of my I mean the Wobblies would use wine. Since a lot of times in 1919 when my great grandfather who died all reaching of the mountain where Van Gogh was in the 17th century. So we have produced the famous recount which we will always love one. Life. And so to you this is why you wanted to extern the. Warring side of the men were from you came here in Chile. We are very happy. To get to world class status. Alexándra brought in the renowned wine nose and palate of Michelle Obama. Michelle is what people in the business call a wine wine maker constantly on the run. Consultant to top wineries all around the world. For Michelle. It all comes down to a delicate balance between the soil and the climate.

What the French call her why are you at the beginning I was on that. But now for for us as a wine maker for people involved in the wine I think the combination of them. So we have to find the right education between sectors and I think in the new world maybe more to us and we know right now. But the case in the next 20 years we step by step. And when Michelle rely on talks the wine world listens to the 2001 harvest range for. The meal with them that afternoon and ocelot will still love that

much. It was the best of the old world and they knew that when I gather just like the wind. And now that I had tasted chili I wanted more. Will outlast an American no one is the highway that runs north south through the entire length of Chile. On the way to Santiago. I stopped at a place called One Radio. It's a roadside restaurant where only women do the cooking. And the cooking is home style chalet. But even if we do want to have it this is a this is a soup or stew for me. Oh boy oh boy you have been using it from time to enjoy the locomotives that are whiny made

a great place to eat. I was ready to try it all. I most want to have it. Oh gosh OK so this is our big chicken do casserole thing. This is our world leaders to us with a back who knows. Or be it still with the meat on the bone which we always you know taste better comes an acorn consummate with an egg for good drops and nags at like that panicked me. And this is weird. This is our being a good cook. You know it's a kind of work life when you're laid down with the latest chops. It's like pork chops best and it

made a southern island cold. Oh thank you. These are the elbow on the. Guess which is it doesn't. Right down the road. When he made a great place to eat and eat and eat. Something Jago is the capital of Chile and there you'll find the mercado Central or Central Market. I had an appointment there with a woman a product of Blackbird the Julia Child of Chile. That man. They. Kept. Right to go. Nice to meet you country. Thank you so much.

First of all the credible thing that has been done in a with a metal structure is exactly what he did only a couple of things here. His quote is my stance on his. Works. But this has been here for over a hundred years but it was getting very modern. Somebody wants to put it down. They didn't reform didn't happen before it was a market. Fruits vegetables for the supermarkets. For that right. So excited. The farms getting it right. Yes of course I have. This horn. Which is different from the American. As you see it's very big. It's. Even right. You're making porn right. And with this would make

me as a friend and. Everywhere they come from the north. Near the border. It's a small town and anger me. For. Hours. And it's very. Very strong. That you have to be very careful with it. And the other thing that. We have the US we have something. We have it we put it in everything.

Now one thing you. See on. Us. We put in a lot of our food. You know there's a saying it was good. But not so much. With rice. Enough of a good. Thing. Right you don't want to overpower the food. Exactly. But that also applies to life. Everything in moderation is yes that's right. I love the. Way I taste. I eat. Oh yes. I'm reading it too is that tomato or no I think that would be. And also it could be made just from the south. Which is basically. That's dried great treaty with the seeds of. Smoked. Salt. So it's almost like a smell. Like sort of like it's like that's a little bit. The. Wow. Things here. Yes absolutely. Well it's nothing. That we did within the video for the shoot and. Susan Rice is a very simple you peel the more you put them in the ring. Yes. You press them and just have it in the first. That's number.

One. So it's about pools has. To. Chill it's really really awesome. But the array of fish and shellfish pretty much. Have a good. Feel. For. Seafood. This is. Here to. Get. Me. Some. Man's Meat. Here. Has also. Razor clams. I have a promise for you or your city to. Know even if you. Are not to it. OK. We have another sound. Because we have. Some.

Farming in the south right and we get a lot of it in the United States. It's wonderful. I probably once a week. 6. Wow. I mean come. Home now. Now.

I am a. Vitamin. Really strong. Yes yes. But you had it with the sort. Of stuff. From if you have it makes. You really. Really feel for you. So it's I that sense to. Credit. You have to have it. You know. Just. What do you do it. But I mean. You're like

you. Know. I want to. Try to go a little bit of it. Because. Right. Now. Based on. What I mean. From back. In. The. 90s and why. How are you. Going to. Do. With our diesel engine. Ok lemme Cotton's in town ready to do some cooking. Veronica's Cullen area school is a spectacular setting and there she teaches a modernized European influenced version of Chilean cuisine. We're going to make first the city to an adaptation of the city too because usually the fish is left with a lemon or night together with the onion and then is a bit sour to some of my tastes I prefer the seafood and the fish cooked very lightly. So now we're going to do we have

first of all a scalloped. And what I do is I take off the coral. Most people don't like it here and then we have over here the fish which what I did is I use as. You can use any white fish. So what I did with the special knife. For cutting smoked salmon that has these dents. We cut it as thin as you can if you don't have this special night just hack away at it and it doesn't matter is going to come all together with I'm going to give you a special secret is very good to keep the green. I'm going to heat some olive oil work on this song I start that if you wash my hands with some cold water and lemon cold water and lemon What's the trick there. If you wash it with hot water yes the spill is going to stick. So either lemon or salt. OK so cold water in the lemon helps a fishy smell go away. That's right. Just some coarse salt. We peel those

and we're going to gently sort it in olive oil. I've never seen anybody cook avocado before where you can't boil it because if you boil it it turns bitter right. But here we just did and it really brings out the flavor and and it fixes the cost so you heat a little oil just enough to cover so we're going to make a dressing with avocado and you want to make it really tasty we do if we put more all of oil in here and you use the only water that's left in the dressing. Fans are very nice Wow. It's great recycling cooking. So that's. Fling a little bit right. Then I'm going to put it over there to get the oil for the dressing. Well this is supposed to work like hacked away at. Then I'm reading over here just so you know. Doesn't matter really because we mixed it with yellow color with some top tomato which we seeded and we peel. So this we saw about four minutes. All right I'm going to try the one in cold water. All right. Put this in a column

there and look at that beautiful color out all that oil. OK so we're going to add that to the dressing. So I'm going to make the dressing. What I'll do is I have one one teaspoon of mustard here. Here we have about half a teaspoon of honey. OK. Then we're going to about a cup of orange juice. Pressure's on to what I want to do is that the olive oil in which we did I would call oh. Yeah. It's beautiful. I should put on my. Desk. So I have the fish here in this beautiful and I have some couple of lemon juice and I'm going to pour this over. OK. And. So he makes that and we leave it. You can leave it. I mean if you like a rule like if you can write it just like that and then when it's already ready so we have you have a crowd here. You don't have to handle it too much. So it won't break up. They're.

Smelling great green rain that's out the sky looks alright right in here. So mix it in your body after brace. Your hands I'm just curious I have here not just when I taste something and I know it's been inside yes. Yeah you can put it over the colander and then you throw out the objects All right. Can you do that will be a little bit more you hope with that. Yeah we get them lots of capacity where you put your hand. Speaking of impeccably clean hands that's what I have so we're OK. So what I want to do is I'm going to crush a little bit. So that all the lemon juice comes out. Because it will be too much of a juice and there is going to be bad for the winds will be bad for the palate bad for everything. First of all I think that's our sort of our first wine lesson with a lot of acidity in the dish. It tends to overpower the wine so it's getting a nice balance we want some of the acidity to come in the marriage from the wine. So that's that's

sort of step one. Wow the colors fantastic. We can. See a uniform. I think I'm going to get some wine work and what do you think. Yes piece Yeah absolutely. I'm thinking so long for the very simple reason that this is the one that has a great deal of the grape varieties that are popular in Chile the whites. This is the one with the most tangle of vibrant acidity got great character to I think really set off anything that's got a lot of fresh flavors and it also anything that's got a lot of acidity a lot of times people say oh you can't mix wine with salad because the salad is going to read. But actually the acidity in the wine in the acidity in the dish kind of cancel each other out and they to really other down I've always tasting as many things are possible with different dishes because it's always fun to see how flavors change one another. So. Right here I go. Why don't. You see it's not nominee. Not at all. You're right.

The excess of limit is usually what I find in Sydney each and I'm always looking for something salty to contrast it but you don't need anything like that. You really are must listen to me. Cheers tears of joy and all in spirit over there. The ironic US version of a classic Chilean cuisine light and clean beautiful and full of flavor. So this is comfort food. That's right. My appetite had been quenched over and over again. But I still had some to do. I was determined to find a side of the Chilean version of barbecue locals told me that the best in all Santiago could be found at the Sheraton Hotel. So that's just where I headed next. I feel good. Oh sorry. And she lives in the United

States of course we call it barbecue but this is really really the good stuff I got I got to get up for got sausage and I got wine that's the most important thing you know you can have a good wine with your barbecue. And Emily Post says that you get to barbecue with your finger so I'm going to. This is one challenge at hand I can do the warm. And the food together. Cabernet Sauvignon or low and watch for the great American the next hot thing from July along the side of us Sato of meat lovers from vaca. From Santiago. Headed. On the way I passed through the Casa Blanca Valley where Chiles best white wines are grown. To make a point. I had to stop and climb a tree.

I'm sitting here in this 200 year old oak tree and it's the kind of tree you can drink wine without but it's probably not the one you're thinking of it's not used for making barrels. This is actually a cork oak tree. They harvest the bark and cut it out like cookie cutters to make the kind of cork you're used to seeing in the top of the bottle. These days though there's such a shortage of them that you're probably seeing more and more corks made of other things maybe even plastic. But this is what the real thing looks like. And the real thing when it comes to seafood are the amazing fish restaurants scattered up and down Chile's coast. Maybe the best place to eat fish in all of Chile is the restaurant called luxury in the seaside town of sapphire. It's basically you and the Sea Eagles competing to see who can get the freshest best you see. As the sun at my house. See I'm a house in raw clams a little bit of 70 along for maybe the Casablanca

Valley. Grilled Salmon they call it I love maybe with a little bit of. She lay incriminating for Mike. Absolutely. Like I said before chili is hot. It's why I return from Chili Bowl. Really people with a taste of great food and great wine. Anyway I hope you've enjoyed touring Chile with me and I also hope but don't you think bring great wine really can be simple. I'd like to leave you with one last thought. People talking endlessly about what it takes to make great wine but ultimately it always goes back to one simple thing. Great wine is made in the big hope to see you again soon. And in the meantime keep it simple with entreating him or in Chile it was made possible in part by a grant from the grant morning foundation. Michel Roux president

and.