FIREPLACE WINES

Think of them as Liquid Comfort Food.

In the evening of a cold winter day, there's nothing quite like snuggling on the couch under a cushy blanket in front of a fire... with your favorite person and the right wine.

What, exactly, constitutes a "Fireplace Wine?" Although I'm probably not its sole creator, I personally coined the term back when I was a wine salesman to describe massive and plush wines... wines with big, mouth-filling flavors, yet gentle; never overpowering... wines so unctuously viscous and rich that they seemingly make no sound when you pour them... wines that warm and soothe you like a fabulous vintage sweater on a cold winter day or slowly-simmered stew in your dinner bowl.

All that being said, let's tighten up the concept of "Fireplace Wine" and put it in more concrete and actionable terms.

With apologies to white wine lovers, Fireplace Wine really needs to be a red.

(See possible exceptions below.)

Leave your Old World palate at the dinner table.

In the wine universe, "Old World" connotes wines more acidic, more tannic, and less fruity than their "New World" counterparts. It is generally (if not universally) accepted that Old World wines are more enjoyable with food than without... and thus it follows that in the absence of food, New World wines perform better.

Expand your horizons beyond the usual varietal suspects.

Cabernet Sauvignon is king among Wine & Steak lovers, and great versions of Pinot Noir, Syrah, and Merlot also fill the cellars of wine-loving carnivores like me. But when it comes to Fireplace Wines, one wisely explores a pair of varieties not normally associated with collectable fine wine-- Petite Sirah and Zinfandel.

PETITE SIRAH

We humans are always trying to improve upon the animal and plant kingdoms through cross-breeding, more often than not yielding offspring with the scientist's looks and the supermodel's brains. Mother Nature, however, sometimes gifts us with a great outcome from accidental husbandry, as in the serendipitous crossing of the noble Syrah grape of France's Rhône region with the lowly Peloursin, a variety of little distinction now nearly extinct worldwide.

Other than the diminutive diameter of its grapes, there's nothing "petite" about Petite Sirah. Beneath relentless Californian sun, fully ripe "PS" develops intense flavors of blueberry, plums, chocolate, and pepper that more than counterbalance its sturdy underlying tannic structure. When Bacchus smiles, the result can be the œnological equivalent of the proverbial iron fist in a velvet (boxing) glove-- soft and plush, a-burst with mouth-filling richness. One should avoid overthinking such a wine and simply enjoy its elemental charms; complexity, if any, is a bonus.

ZINFANDEL

Zinfandel's exact genetic origins and its actual path to Californian vineyards remains a topic of inconclusive speculation... current theory associates it with the southern Italian Primitivo grape and a handful of Croatian varieties, and it may well have arrived in California by way of Massachusetts. Whatever the case, Zinfandel has long been an important variety in America. It ripens thoroughly (if unevenly) in Golden State warmth, and, like Petite Sirah, it reliably yields a sturdy if pedestrian red. During Prohibition, Zinfandel's thick skin allowed it to survive the train ride to the eastern seaboard where Italian immigrants used it to (legally) make wine at home. Zinfandel went out of favor when the great American wine boom drove neophyte wine snobs to the Cabernet Sauvignon shelf, but then Zinfandel's vast Californian acreage was preserved by the WHITE Zinfandel boom beginning in the early 1980's. This left us lucky RED Zin lovers with a plethora of "Old Vine" bottlings long after the white Zin fad mostly faded into memory.

When meticulously harvested to mitigate that uneven ripening, the best versions of Zinfandel are jammy-ripe and full-flavored, typically perfumed with notes of raspberry and cracked pepper. As such, they can often constitute respectable substitutes for the far-pricier Cabernets in your cellar, pairing perfectly well with your grilled strip steak and deftly dancing around your mouthful of prime rib. And compared to those pricier and more tannic Cabernets, Zinfandel makes a much better fireplace wine.

HONORABLE MENTION

The universe of Fireplace Wines is hardly confined to Petite Sirah and Zinfandel. While Old World SYRAH belongs at the dinner table, Californian and Washington State versions are decidedly more fruit-forward and thus easier to appreciate without food. More so yet are the Australian bottlings of Shiraz, their alternative moniker for Syrah. A few Aussie and California producers offer "GSM"-- a fireplace-friendly blend of the southern Rhône trinity Grenache, Syrah, and Mourvèdre.

And for the most devoted Pinot Noir lovers, nothing else will do. The good news is that many Californian versions brim with cherry and berry fruitiness and mouth-filling glycerine against a low-tannin backdrop, making them excellent sofa sippers. (Oregon Pinot Noirs are often fantastic expressions of the variety, but tend to stylistically lean a little toward the Old World.)

BUT I'M STILL HUNGRY!

If you need a nibble with your fireplace wine, your favorite cheese will do nicely. Keep it simple (i.e., avoid, say, goat cheese) and serve it at room temperature.

And finally,

WHAT ABOUT FIREPLACE WHITES ?

In the absence of all the delicious goodies extracted from red grape skins, white wines are more "acid-driven" than their red brethren and thus more suited to the dinner table than the couch... and, of course, we drink it chilled. That being said, Californian Chardonnay is reliably richer and fatter than, say, Riesling and Sauvignon Blanc from anywhere... and therefore more enjoyable without food. Another intriguing choice would be Sauternes, a sweet dessert white from France's Bordeaux region that pairs beautifully with Roquefort and other blue-veined cheeses.

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Need a shopping guide? Sorry-- there are way too many producers of way too many good versions wines for me to usefully pare down to a short list. I will, however, happily identify a trio of notable pioneering wineries--

Boring labels, but great wine.

The STAGS’ LEAP WINERY (as opposed to Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars, a different winery in the same Napa sub-appellation) earned a reputation for wonderful Petite Sirah long before other Golden State producers climbed aboard. (I was drinking this stuff in college for ten bucks a bottle... it now costs five times that much.)

Ridge Vineyards began producing fabulous, single-vineyard Zinfandels six decades ago and was almost single-handedly responsible for elevating Zinfandel from jug wine to full œnological seriousness. They continue to offer highly-regarded (and accordingly pricey) single-vineyard bottlings.

Now THAT'S a label! People used to get tattoos of this logo.

Soon after its founding in 1976, RAVENSWOOD (see history HERE) followed the path blazed by RIDGE and eventually established a huge market for bold yet affordable Zinfandel. Unfortunately, after four decades of successful operation the brand was crushed to oblivion in the gears of corporate mergers and acquisitions, and Ravenswood's once-hopping tasting room now lies in ruins.

But don't worry, Dear Reader--

A walk down the California aisle at your favorite retail wine emporium will reveal dozens of options for good Zinfandel and Petite Sirah in the $10-15 range.