Did Someone Say Paisano???

I have to admit, it is not beneath me to partake in a glass or several of Carlo Rossi's Paisano.  It has been officially declared as the house wine at my parents.  However, that is not why I am writing this.  I received a question pertaining to Paisano and have thought on this a bit myself...what exactly makes Paisano the highly drinkable wine that it is?

Like it or not, Carlo Rossi is to me like Budweiser is to beer consistently producing wines for the masses that are quite tasty.  A big cab they are not, at least in the jug wine line. However, to encounter a red wine that is light, crisp, low in tannin, and with just enough residual sugar is something to admire and consider for your wine making repetoir.

My frame of reference akins it to a picnic red, which is a relatively low alcohol red, light in body and smooth to drink.  Now, I cannot go into how to make Paisano because I don't have their recipe, but I did find some information that may prove useful. 

Mike Dunne of the Sacramento Bee wrote an article titled "Wines of yesteryear still kicking".  Apparently, Paisano was a big hit with hippies. Originally called Carlo Rossi's Red Mountain, the wine was said to be found in every VW van. I'll assume that the hippies were responsible drivers and picniced a lot. How nice...

More interesting, the wine of today is said to be a blend of Zinfandel, Barbera, French Colombard and Chenin Blanc.  Call it a starter wine, pizza wine, or picnic wine it certainly has its share of fans with over 2 million cases sold a year and I would personally consider adding it to my wine making ventures.

So, how do we bridge the gap?  I'd start by testing the finished wine for acid, pH, alcohol, and residual sugar.  I'd then ferment all four of the grapes mentioned separately and to full dryness and to then see about blending them into something similar.  I would add residual sugar back in as a separate an controllable component and then stabilize as you would for a sweet wine siding with sterile filtration given what I know to be the mouth-feel of Paisano.  I do not believe that Paisano has had any Oak or MLF and so my thought would be that making something similar is certainly achievable and relatively straight-forward.

The full artilce mentioned can be found at http://www.azcentral.com/home/wine/articles/0729oldies0729.html

- Nick Coppola
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