Wine and Food - Cooking with Class



“COOKING WITH CLASS”

Food Demonstrations with Flair

Instructor: Staci Joers

Website: cookingwithclass.us

Email: mjoers@

Wine and Food

Although mixed drinks are very popular, wine has become the social beverage of choice for many people. What wine you drink at a party is of little concern beyond red vs. white and that it should be of decent quality. Serious wine is best served with food. but when it comes to choosing a wine to go with food (or in my case, food to go with a particular wine), it can get much more complicated.

The topic of pairing wine with food has delighted and maddened untold millions for centuries, so have no illusions about finding the perfect answer here. In fact, there is no perfect answer. That is really the point. Food/wine pairings are guidelines that have worked for most people most of the time, but clearly not for everyone nor all the time. Mood, ambiance, subtle variations in the ingredients of a dish, and the specifics of how a dish is prepared all affect which wines would best be paired with it as well as how well it will pair with a specific wine. And that doesn’t begin to address personal preferences and order effects. The selection of a wine for a certain dish will be influenced by both the food and the wine that came before it, if any.

Before you throw up your hands in despair and just reach for the rosé (It goes with everything, doesn’t it?), consider that there are some guidelines that have stood the test of time. They come from various sources. But consider also that they are only suggestions. Don’t be a slave to the “experts.” Experiment! You may come up with your own personal favorite combinations.

WINE AND CHEESE

Which wine goes best with which cheese is very much a question of personal taste. The truth is that there are so many wines and so many cheeses that it would take an encyclopedia to list and pair them all. Wine is often at its best with cheese, but not all wines go with all cheeses. Just as with other foods, certain cheeses are best suited to certain wines. Red wines, for example, are generally considered best with most cheeses, but whites go especially well with goats’ milk cheese and cooked cheese dishes. It also is not surprising that the wines of a specific region will generally pair extremely well with the cheeses native to that region.

Especially full-bodied and powerful red  wines - Blue cheeses such as French and Danish blue, Gorgonzola, Roquefort and Stilton; soft goats’ milk cheese

Medium to full-bodied red wines - Asiago, Manchego, Gorgonzola, Parmesan. Some say Brie and Camembert, but I find that these cheeses can make any wine taste odd.

Medium-bodied reds - Munster, Edam, Port Salut, Emmenthal, Swiss, Jarlsburg, Gruyere

Fruity and light reds - Cantal, cream cheeses

Light dry reds and whites - Goats’ and sheep’s milk cheeses, young Cheddar, cooked cheese dishes, Fontina, Gouda, Bel Paese

Robust and full-bodied white wines - Gruyere and Cheddar

Rosé and medium-bodied whites - Gouda, Port Salut, Herbed Cheeses

Sweet dessert wines - Parmesan, sweet Gorgonzola, Cheddar, hard or soft goats’ milk cheeses, Stilton (with Port).

When NOT to serve cheese and wine together: The only time wine should not be accompanied by cheese is at a serious wine tasting. Cheese smoothes the rough edges of certain wines, especially young reds, and tends to overemphasize the value of the wine and gives a false impression of its true quality. Put another way, cheese can hide a wine’s defects and make it taste better than it really is. Professionals have a saying: “Buy on bread, sell on cheese.”  

SOME RULES WORTH FOLLOWING

• Red wines with beef dishes, whites with seafood. BUT, lighter reds can be perfect with many of the more flavorful seafood preparations and there are some rock 'em sock 'em whites that will stand up to meat.

• The heartier (richer, more flavorful) the meal, the heartier (full-bodied, full-flavored) the wine. Neither the wine nor the food should overpower. You want to taste BOTH!

• Match the wine with the sauce more than with the type of meat. (Fish with a heavy, spicy tomato sauce would overwhelm most white wines and even many light reds!)

• The wines of a region often go best with the cuisine of that region.

• Be careful with complex food flavors and mature, complex wines. It’s safer to pair complex dishes with a fruity, relatively straightforward, and even one-dimensional Cabernet rather than a mature Bordeaux with its panoply of aromas and flavors. Use simpler dishes (such as roast beef, unadorned) to show off mature red wines. Either the food or the wine can be complex, usually not both!

• Pinot Noir (also red Burgundies) and Sauvignon Blanc (also Sancerre, Pouilly Fumé, and white Bordeaux) are the most versatile varietals. They go with a wider range of foods than most other varietals. If in doubt....

• White wine tastes sweeter with artichokes and asparagus. Thus, bone-dry, herbal Sauvignon Blanc works best with them.

• White wine tastes metallic with the dark, gray, oily parts of fish such as bluefish, salmon, and tuna. Generally, remove those parts before cooking.

• Red wine tastes metallic with more than a tiny amount of vinegar, shellfish, or snails. 

• Red wine tannins are softened by dishes that contain certain ingredients, such as cracked black pepper or fat. Pepper also fleshes out and improves young, fruity reds.

• Red meat needs red wines with some tannic grip. A modest amount of tannin behaves  like acidity to cleanse the palate. Obviously, a wine that is very tannic should be aged several years before opening.

• Salty foods go well with sweeter wines which counteract the salt to achieve balance in the mouth.

• Spicy foods go best with light weight, low-alcohol, semisweet wines such as German wines or spicy wines such as Alsatian. Alcohol fans the flames; sugar douses them.

• High-acid foods (including those with citrus or tomato) need high-acid wines (Italian wines generally work well). Wines with low acid appear flaccid with acidic foods.

• Subtly flavored foods need subtle, older wines that have lost their youthful exuberance, like mature riesling or Bordeaux.

• Champagne is NOT the best choice with caviar and smoked salmon! The sugar dosage in most Champagne is amplified by the pungent fish oils, turning the wine sweet and fishy. Very dry (nondosage) or aged Brut Champagne can, however, work well.

• Champagne does go well with fried and salty food, salty nuts, Parmigiano Cheese, egg dishes (especially with ham or bacon), soups, salads, sushi, and sashimi.

Wine and Food Pairing - Wine Matches for Grilled Fare

GRILL-FRIENDLY REDS:

Zinfandel will be able to handle a wide variety of red meats. This bold red wine bellies up to meaty, smokey flavors allowing the varietal’s black pepper spice, acidity, and ripe tannins to carry the meat’s fats and texture to a new dimension. A Zin will also work well with barbecue sauce, steak sauce, and mild salsas - if there is too much spice in the sauce the two will compete and both the wine and the sauce end up as losers.

Merlot is the spicy sauce answer to the above dilemma. With the characteristic fruit-forward flavor profile, this varietal will support the spice and not aggravate it. Grilled pork chops, chicken, and garden-variety salads with lighter dressings also mingle well with Merlot.

Shiraz/Syrah is another varietal that makes the grill-friendly wine list. This varietal is delicious with just about any red meat. Offering dynamic, somewhat aggressive fruit flavors, balanced with more mellow tannins and a softer-fuller body - this wine’s place to shine is definitely at a barbecue gathering! Rhone Syrahs tend to have a smokier flavor characteristic and lend themselves extremely well to smoked brisket.

Cabernet Sauvignon is made for steaks with a higher fat content. Burgers of beef or turkey will also pair well. The tighter tannins are significantly mellowed by the meat’s fat producing a palate pleaser to remember! Top your burgers with bold cheeses, like blue or sharp cheddar, and this varietal gets even better!

Pinot Noir is a flexible varietal that is known for being extremely food-friendly. It can go from grilled fish to a juicy burger in a single sip! Pinot Noir is an ideal candidate for grilled fish (especially salmon), burgers, and chicken. If you aren’t sure what wine will work with your grilled dinner, Pinot Noir will likely be your best bet.

Chianti comes in styles ranging from light to quite full. Like Pinot Noir, it is an extremely versatile wine.

GRILL-FRIENDLYWHITES:

Chardonnay, especially if not too oaky, will work wonderfully with grilled fish (including shellfish), chicken with creamy sauces, and grilled corn on the cob with lots of butter!

Riesling is the perfect varietal for grilled bratwurst, shrimp, barbecue chicken, grilled pineapple and a variety of grilled veggies.

Sauvignon Blanc has an herbaceous quality that supports marinades and sauces with similar attributes. For example, grilled chicken that has been doused in Italian dressing or a citrus marinade will be unbeatable with a Sauvignon Blanc. Likewise, roasted peppers, veggies in fresh herbs, and grilled fish with dill & lemon will all be highlighted by a Sauvignon Blanc.

Gewurztraminer (especially Alsatian) offers a balance to spice with its slightly to moderately sweet character. This varietal would be a great choice to go with blackened Mahi Mahi or grilled Cajun chicken with fresh mango salsa. Also consider Pinot Blanc and Pinot Gris.

Others: Pinot Blanc, Pinot Gris (Pinot Grigio), and dry rosés.  

Generally red wines go well with grilled red meats - basic burgers, steaks, ribs, etc. These meats can be somewhat salty, a bit smokey, and tend to be a touch sweeter due to marinades, sauces, condiments, and cooking times. Lighter meats and sauces are apt to go better with white wines that share similar flavors as the foods they are meant to accent. If you are having a backyard barbecue, offer a few whites and a few reds, and let your guests mix and match to see which flavor pairs suit their preferences. They are no hard and fast rules when it comes to pairing wines with your grilled foods. Ultimately it is your palate that you are seeking to please.

Wine and Food Pairing - Some Specifics

Light Appetizers: Canapés (bread topped with spreads, like cheese, paté, etc.) match well with crisp light dry white wines like Muscadet, light Italian and German whites, Champagne, or Pro-secco. Salty or fried appetizers work best with fruity German whites, dry sherry, or Champagne

Heavier Appetizers: such as antipasto (olives, salami, prosciutto and cheeses) are salty and need a bright, fruity wine (Chenin Blanc, Riesling or dry Sherry). Reds include Beaujolais, Pinot Noir and fruity Spanish reds. Rich, oily and salty Spanish tapas work well with sparkling wine (Cava), Albariño, or Manzanilla sherry.

Light Fish Dishes (raw, steamed, poached or broiled delicate fish, crab, scallops, shrimp): Spanish Albariño! Mâcon, light Chardonnay, Muscadet, white Bordeaux, Sauvignon Blanc from the Loire (Sancerre, Pouilly-Fumé, Ménétou-Salon); unoaked Sauvignon Blanc from California; Italian white or French Chablis. Crispness (acidity) is the key! Try a dry rosé such as those from Provence, a Vouvray Sec from the Loire, or a dry Riesling.

Food and Wine Pairing - Classic Mexican Cuisine

Some General Rules

Pair wine with the sauce, not the meat, poultry, or fish on the plate.

The classics of Mexican food are always defined by their sauces. Pay particular attention to the type of chile used. Sauces that feature fresh green chiles typically pair best with white wines.

Sauces that feature dried red chiles typically pair best with red wines.

Sauces that feature tomatillos pair best with fruity Syrahs or NZ Sauvignon Blancs.

Sauces that feature tomatoes pair best with Italian reds such as Sangiovese and Barbera.

Match a wine’s acidity to the characteristic lime, sour orange, and fruit vinegar found in many classic Mexican sauces. Good acidity in a wine is often crucial.

Match a wine’s fruitiness to the fruitiness of the classic sauce. Botanically chilies are fruits, but many Mexican sauces weave in other fruits as well. A wine with concentrated fruit often works best.

Sparkling wines usually do not work with spicy food, but rich, handmade masa appetizers are the exception.

Match a wine’s fruit level to the spice level of the sauce. Spiciness does not detract from the wine if the spice is well integrated into the sauce and the intensity of the wine’s fruit matches the intensity of the spiciness. “Fruit” does not refer to sweetness, but to the flavor of the grape; in fact, off-dry wine can often overwhelm the food’s flavor.

Specific Ingredient Pairings

• Chipotle Chile (a smoke-dried jalapeño, quite spicy, backed up with welcome sweetness) Explore Argentine Malbecs which will be rich and forward with a smoky, earthy finish. The more you spend, the richer they will be. Or try a gutsy Spanish Tempranillo such as those from Ribera del Duero or one of the newer style (more robust) Riojas.

• Epazote (a pungent herb with a piney aroma used extensively in Central, Southern, and Eastern Mexico) - Try an Argentine Torrontés whose floral notes will work perfectly. If you haven’t yet tried the terrific Tittarelli Torrontés (our February Wine of the Month), this is your opportunity! Or try a cool climate Pinot Noir (Burgundy, New Zealand, Oregon, Carneros, Santa Maria Valley, etc.).

• Guajillo Chile (a light, cranberry-red, long, smooth-skin dried chile which is medium to spicy and brightly lively to aggressive) - The supple, forward fruit of a California or Languedoc Syrah will nicely balance the heat.

• Hoja Santa (a bold herb with alluring sarsaparilla and anise flavors integral to Southern and Gulf coast food) - Riesling and Vouvray (Chenin Blanc) are the perfect choice.

• Huitlacoche (an inky-colored, earthy-sweet corn mushroom that is a delicacy in Central Mexico) - Explore Tempranillo or a full-bodied Pinot Noir for their earthy fruitiness.

• Pasilla Chile (a very dark, long, dried chile which is medium spicy with deep flavors that hint at bitter chocolate and coffee) - Try a rich and spicy Zinfandel or a soft Cabernet Sauvignon.

• Poblano Chile (a large, dark green chile, medium spicy with rich, complex, and earthy flavors) - An Austrian Grüner Veltliner, a Moscatel, or a dry Riesling all have lovely citrus flavors that will work well.

WINE TRIVIA

• Jefferson and wine: From Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, and the Opening of the American West, by Stephen E Ambrose, comes the following historical note. Jefferson took up residence in the President’s House in 1801, after his inauguration as the 3rd President of the United States.

   “Jefferson ran the place with only eleven servants (Abigail Adams had needed 30!), brought up from Monticello. There were no more powdered wigs, much less ceremony. Washington and Adams, according to Republican critics, had kept up almost a royal court. Jefferson substituted Republican simplicity - to a point. He had a French chef, and French wines he personally selected. His salary was $25,000 per year - a princely sum, but the expenses were also great. In 1801 Jefferson spent $6500 for provisions and groceries, $2700 for servants (some of whom were liveried), $500 for Lewis’s salary, and $3,000 for wine.”

• Dom Perignon (1638-1715), the Benedictine Abbey (at Hautvillers) cellar master who is generally credited with “inventing” the Champagne making process, was blind.

• Thomas Jefferson helped stock the wine cellars of the first five U.S. presidents and was very partial to fine Bordeaux and Madeira.

• To prevent a sparkling wine from foaming out of the glass, pour an ounce, which will settle quickly. Pouring the remainder of the serving into this starter will not foam as much.

• Old wine almost never turns to vinegar. It spoils by oxidation.

• U.S. 1998 sales of white and blush wines were 67% of total table wine sales. Red wines were 33% of sales. At Beekman’s, the best we can calculate (since we don’t track the color of wine sales from Chile, Australia or Spain or of jug wines) is that our sales of white and blush comprised only 45% of total wine sales. Reds accounted for 55%. That’s in dollars, not unit sales. American wines accounted for 47% of our wine sales vs. 53% for imported wines.

• In King Tut’s Egypt (around 1300 BC), the commoners drank beer and the upper class drank wine.

• According to local legend, the great French white Burgundy, Corton-Charlemagne, owes its existence, not to the emperor Charlemagne, but to his wife. The red wines of Corton stained his white beard so messily that she persuaded him to plant vines that would produce white wines. Charlemagne ordered white grapes to be planted. Thus: Corton-Charlemagne!

• When Leif Ericsson landed in North America in A.D. 1001, he was so impressed by the proliferation of grapevines that he named it Vinland.

• Cork was developed as a bottle closure in the late 17th century. It was only after this that bottles were lain down for aging, and the bottle shapes slowly changed from short and bulbous to tall and slender.

• Merlot was the “hot” varietal in 1999, but in 1949, the “darling of the California wine industry” was Muscatel!

• The Napa Valley crop described in 1889 newspapers as the finest of its kind grown in the U.S. was hops.

• When Mount Vesuvius buried Pompeii in volcanic lava in A.D. 79, it also buried more than 200 wine bars.

• The “top five” chateau of Bordeaux, according to the 1855 Classification, were actually only four: Lafite-Rothschild, Latour, Margaux and Haut-Brion. In the only change to that historic classification, Mouton-Rothschild was added in 1973.

• Grapevines cannot reproduce reliably from seed. To cultivate a particular grape variety, grafting (a plant version of cloning) is used.

• Wine has so many organic chemical compounds it is considered more complex than blood serum.

• Wine grapes are subject to mold when there’s too much moisture. Tight clustered Sauvignon Blanc, Zinfandel and Pinot Noir are most susceptible to mold. The looser clusters of Cabernet Sauvignon allow for faster drying of moist grapes and thus make it less susceptible.

• In 1945, Chateau Mouton-Rothschild began a series of artists’ labels, hiring a different artist each year to design a unique label for that vintage. The artists have included such notables as Chagall, Picasso, Miro and Warhol. The 1993 label was sufficiently controversial in this country (the stylized juvenile nude on the label offended the Political Correctness Police) that the Chateau withdrew the label and substituted a blank label instead.

• It is the VERY slow interaction of oxygen and wine that produces the changes noticed in aging wine. It is believed that wine ages more slowly in larger bottles, since there is less oxygen per volume of wine in larger bottles. Rapid oxidation, as with a leaky cork, spoils wine.

• Before harvest, the canopy of leaves at the top of the vine is often cut away to increase exposure to the sun and speed ripening.

• The average age of a French oak tree harvested for use in wine barrels is 170 years!

• The lip of a red wine glass is sloped inward to capture the aromas of the wine and deliver them to your nose.

• “Cold maceration” means putting the grapes in a refrigerated environment for several days before starting fermentation to encourage color extraction. This is being done more and more frequently with Pinot Noir since the skins of this varietal don’t have as much pigmentation as other red varietals.

• Frenchman Georges de Latour came to America in the late 1800’s to prospect for gold. He didn’t find much gold, but he founded a truly golden winery: Beaulieu Vineyard.

• Mycoderma bacteria convert ethyl alcohol into acetic acid, thus turning wine into vinegar. However, most incidents of spoiled wine are due to air induced oxidation of the fruit, not bacterial conversion of alcohol to vinegar.

• The world’s most planted grape varietal is Airén. It occupies over 1 million acres in central Spain where it is made into mediocre white wine, but some quite good brandy.

• Bettino Ricasoli, founder of Brolio, is credited with having created the original recipe for Chianti, combining two red grapes (Sangiovese and Canaiolo) with two white grapes (Malvasia and Trebbiano). Today the better Chiantis have little or no white grapes in them and may contain some Cabernet. They are thus deeper in color and flavor and more age worthy.

• From 1970 until the late 1980s, sales and consumption of wine in the United States held a ratio of about 75% white to 25% red. At the turn of the Millennium, the ratio is closer to 50-50.

• In the year 2000, Americans spent $20 billion on wine. 72% of that was spent on California wines.

• In ancient Rome bits of toast were floated in goblets of wine. There is a story that a wealthy man threw a lavish party in which the public bath was filled with wine. Beautiful young women were invited to swim in it. When asked his opinion of the wine, one guest responded: “I like it very much, but I prefer the toast.” (referring, presumably, to the women)

• “Cuvée” means “vat” or “tank.” It is used to refer to a particular batch or blend.

• Beaujolais Nouveau cannot be legally released until the third Thursday of every November. The due date this year (2001) is November 15th.

• We’re seeing more and more synthetic corks these days, but the latest technology to prevent contaminated corks is the use of microwaves.

• Labels were first put on wine bottles in the early 1700s, but it wasn’t until the 1860s that suitable glues were developed to hold them on the bottles.

• Top Napa Valley vineyard land sells for over $100,000/acre!

• In the year 2000, there were 847 wineries in California.

• Wine is often called the nectar of the gods, but Sangiovese is the only grape named after a god. Sangiovese means “blood of Jove.”

• Ninety-two percent of California wineries produce fewer than 100,000 cases per year. Sixty percent produce fewer than 25,000 cases.

• Egg whites, bull’s blood, and gelatin have all been used as fining agents to remove suspended particles from wine before bottling. Egg whites are still commonly used.

• “Brix” is the term used to designate the percentage of sugar in the grapes before fermentation. For example, 23° brix will be converted by yeast to 12.5% alcohol, more or less, depending on the conversion efficiency of the strain of yeast used.

• In describing wine, the term “hot” refers to a high level of alcohol, leaving an hot, sometimes burning sensation.

• In the production of port, the crushed grapes are fermented for about two days. Then the fermentation is halted by the addition of a neutral distilled spirit or brandy. This raises the alcohol level and retains some of the grapes’ natural sugar.

• American wine drinkers consume more wine on Thanksgiving than any other day of the year.

• As of 2000, 554,000 acres in California were planted to grapevines.

• “Still wine” does not come from a still. The phrase refers to wine without bubbles, which includes what is also referred to as table wine.

• Fiasco [fee-YAHS-koh]; pl. fiaschi [fee-YAHS-kee] - Italian for “flask.” The word is most often connected with the squat, round-bottomed, straw-covered bottle containing cheaper wine from the Chianti region. The straw covering not only helps the bottle sit upright, but protects the thin, fragile glass. Fiaschi are seldom seen today as the cost of hand-wrapping each flask for cheaper wines has become prohibitive, and the more expensive wines with aging potential need bottles that can be lain on their sides.

• As early as 4000 BC, the Egyptians were the first people to use corks as stoppers.

• The wine industry generates 145,000 jobs in California.

• California has 847 wineries. Napa County is the home of 232 of them.

• Market research shows that most people buy a particular wine either because they recognize the brand name or they are attracted by the packaging. Not Beekman’s customers!

• Portugal has 1/3 of the world's cork forests and supplies 85-90% of the cork used in the U.S.

• There are only three legal categories of wine in the U.S.: table, dessert, and sparkling. In the early 1950s, 82% of the wine Americans drank was classified as dessert wines. These included Sherry, Port, and Madeira. I don’t have current national figures, but  Beekman’s sales of wine today are 90% table wine, 7% sparkling wine, and only 3% dessert wine!

• Until 1970, Bordeaux produced more white wine than red. Today red wine represents about 84% of the total crop.

• California produces approximately 77% of the U.S. wine grape crop

• There is at least one commercial winery in every state of the United States, including Hawaii and Alaska!

• Putting ice and kosher salt in a bucket will chill white wine or Champagne faster.

• The most popular corkscrew, the wing-type, is cheap and easy to use, but it frequently mangles corks and leaves small pieces of cork in your wine. It also tends to pull out just the middle of an old, dry cork. Far superior are the Screwpull, which is also easy to use, and the waiter’s corkscrew, which requires just a little know-how to use effectively. No matter what type you use, you should also have a two-pronged (Ah-So) device to remove problem corks.

• Zinfandel first appeared in the United States in the 1820s when Long Island nursery owner George Gibbs imported several grape vines from the Imperial collection in Vienna. One of the vines was Zinfandel. (The current thinking is that Zinfandel originated in Croatia where it is called Plavac Mali.) In the 1850s, Zinfandel made its way to California.

• An Italian white wine called Est! Est! Est! got its name from a medieval story. A bishop was planning to travel the Italian countryside and asked his scout to find inns that had good wines, marking the door “Est” (“It is” or “This is it”) when he found one. The scout was so excited about the local wine found in the area that he marked one inn’s door “Est! Est! Est!” Another version of this story is that a priest was on his way to minister to a congregation in the boondocks. Upon discovering the wonderful local wine, he sent the message “Est! Est! Est!” back to Rome, renounced the priesthood, and spent the rest of his life enjoying the wine.

• The auger or curly metal part of a corkscrew is sometimes called a worm.

• Graves is thought to be the oldest wine region in Bordeaux.

• The Puritans loaded more beer than water onto the Mayflower.

• In terms of acreage, wine grapes rank #1 among all crops planted worldwide.

• Although “château” means castle, it may also be a mansion or a little house next to a vineyard that meets the requirements for winemaking with storage facilities on its property.

• Château Petrus is the most expensive of the Bordeaux wines. Its price is as much due to its tiny production as to its quality. Petrus is made from at least 95% Merlot grapes.

• The Egyptians were the first to make glass containers around 1500 B.C.E.

• The 1855 Classification of Médoc châteaux listed only the best properties. “Best” was defined as those properties whose wines were the most expensive. The top estates were then divided into five categories (the “growths”) based on price.

• Margaux is the largest of the Médoc appellations.

• Pomerol is the smallest Bordeaux appellation.

• “Grand Cru” is French for “great growth” and designates the best. In Burgundy it refers to the best vineyards which usually have multiple owners. In Bordeaux its meaning varies by the specific region, but it always refers to properties under a single ownership.

• Rose bushes are often planted at the end of a row of grape vines to act as an early warning signal for infestation by diseases and insects like aphids. A vineyard manager who notices black spots or root rot on the roses will spray the grape vines before they are damaged.

• In Empire, California, some 400 copies of Little Red Riding Hood are locked away in a storage room of the public school district because the classic Grimm’s fairy tale recounts that the little girl took a bottle of wine to her grandmother. --- Roger Cohen, New York Times, April 23, 1990 [The crazies aren’t limited to Kansas.]

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