LINCOLN SQUARE — Lincoln Square's Spring Wine Stroll is right around the corner, which got us wondering: Why is it that people think nothing of a beer described as "fruity, with a pleasantly mellow finish" but they'd roll their eyes at the pretentiousness if you used the same words to talk about wine?
And they'd sooner eat gum off the sidewalk than attempt to pronounce Pouilly-Fuissé.
Patty Wetli wonders why beer lovers aren't as hated as wine lovers: Tracy Kellner of Provenance Food & Wine estimates she tastes close to 2,000 wines a year. DNAinfo/Patty Wetli
Tracy Kellner, owner of Provenance Food & Wine, 2312 W. Leland Ave., thinks craft brewers have simply done a better job educating drinkers.
"Wine could learn a lot from beer," said Kellner, who's providing the reds and whites for Thursday's stroll.
"Beer has a lot of casual tastings. Wine doesn't do as many for the public ... there's less opportunity to learn," she said.
Choosing a wine that will suit your tastes isn't as mystifying as it seems, said Kellner.
All it takes is a basic understanding of geography and the ability to grasp a handful of vocabulary terms.
Decoding Labels
If you've ever bought a wine based solely on its label, turns out you were on the right track.
According to Kellner, labels contain a lot of helpful information, like where the wine was made.
You can tell a lot about a wine simply from its country of origin. DNAinfo/Patty Wetli
Borrowing a trick she learned from wine authority Andrea Immer Robinson, author of "Great Wine Made Simple," Kellner encourages people to think of wines in terms of their proximity to the equator.
Grapes grown in warmer climates will develop sugars faster, and more sugar tends to translate into higher alcohol levels and fuller body, said Kellner.
On the flip side, Old World wines from countries such as Germany, France and Italy tend to be more acidic and have lower alcohol contents, she said.
Lesson summary: Warmer equals boozier.
Cheat Sheet
You don't need a Ph.D. in viticulture to translate a wine's description into plain English.
Translation please! DNAinfo/Patty Wetli
"Body" refers to a wine's texture, Kellner said, and used an analogy from the dairy world to further explain.
"When you take a sip, does it feel like skim milk, two percent, whole milk, half-and-half, or cream?" she asked, going in order from lightest to fullest body.
When it comes to "acidity," think lemonade — tart but also refreshing.
Acidic wines "tend to soften flavors and prepare the palate for food," Kellner said, which makes them the perfect partner for spicy cuisines.
"Finish" is the taste you get from a wine after you've swallowed. A "crisp" finish is clean and short whereas "lingering" will coat your mouth.
She likened the term "mineral" to the sensation of opening a bottle of Perrier or the smell of wet cement following a rain.
Money's No Object
There's no shame in admitting you have a spending limit, Kellner said.
"Figure out what your threshold is," she said. "If you only want to spend $10, go to a shop like this and ask the staff what they drink. Because they're not drinking expensive wines."
There's no shame in shopping on a budget. DNAinfo/Patty Wetli
All but one of the wines Kellner is providing for the wine stroll retails for under $20 per bottle, a price that reflects the stock she typically carries in her shop.
"I'd rather you come back four times a week than once a month," she said.
Bargain hunters looking to get more bang for their buck would do well to consider wines from Croatia, Slovenia, Austria or California's central coast, Kellner said.
"Obviously there's Napa and Sonoma," she said, "but there's some interesting stuff coming out of Santa Barbara."
Tricks of the Trade
What we really wanted to know: Is all that swirling of wine in the glass necessary?
According to Kellner, it is.
Swirling aerates the wine and frees the aromatics and nuances that have been trapped under cork or screw-top, she explained.
The second glass you pour from a bottle won't taste the same as the first, as the wine's allowed to breathe. DNAinfo/Patty Wetli
As the wine swishes around in the glass, scents and flavors expand and soften, she said.
"If you're not sure about a wine after the first glass, set it aside and let it breathe," Kellner recommended.
Tickets for the wine stroll, 6:30-9:30 p.m. Thursday, are still available online, though some of the routes have sold out. Cost is $40 per person.
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