Wine with a cycling connection

March 2, 7:55 AMDenver Cycling ExaminerGary Koenig

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Whenever I see a wine or beer that seems to have a cycling connection I feel the need to give it a try. Fat Tire Ale has been around a while and it is well known within the cycling community. It’s a product of nearby New Belgium Brewery in Ft. Collins and it’s a favorite of cyclists and beer drinkers alike. Red Bicyclette Wine is not nearly as well known, but the Pinot Noirs and French Rosés they produce are quite nice. Rosés are not nearly as popular in this country as they are in France, but, short of plenty of ice water, there is nothing more refreshing after a brisk ride on a warm spring day. Big Ass Chardonnay is a full-bodied white that gives even average tapenade a taste so authentic you can almost believe it was recently dredged from the briny Mediterranean. The label on the Big Ass Chardonnay bottle shows a tandem bicycle from the rear, said bicycle being stoked by a woman with a truly large caboose.

Being committed to tasting wines and beers with bicycle themes, I was intrigued when my local wine store sent me an email advertising a limited offering of an Australian Malbec/Syrah called Cycle Buff Beauty. I hustled down to the store and spent untold minutes gazing at the label, concentrating my efforts on trying to identify the river shown to such great effect. So focused was I on trying to pick up clues about the river, for the longest time I didn’t notice the two women standing knee deep in the current. Once I became conscious of their existence, I spent many more moments trying to figure out how cold the water must have been.

So maybe my label examination didn’t go quite as I described, but I swear it wasn’t until I was in the checkout line that I noticed the cycling connection. Hidden in the background, so subtle as to be overlooked by all but the truly discerning, was a tough guy astride a chopper. This was not a bottle evoking the freshness and exhilaration of bicycling, but rather one that perpetuated and exacerbated the most common stereotypes of MOTORCYCLISTS! How crushing! I am also a motorcyclist, but most of the hardened stock-brokers, dentists and hairdressers who don their black T-shirts, hop on their stock-except-for-loud-mufflers Harleys to terrorize other doctors, lawyers and personal wealth managers also dressed in black T-shirts while indulging in the outlaw biker fantasy never drink wine while in costume. They’re strictly about beer, whiskey and tequila.

I bought the wine. I’m not a certified cork dork, nor even a middling wine taster so I can’t give you official sounding tasting notes. I’ll just say the wine was adequate, quite fruity with enough essence of spice to take the edge off the fruit. I tried tasting it blind (i.e. with my eyes closed) and also with my eyes wide open. For some strange reason, the wine seemed much fuller and rounder when I tasted it while gazing at the label. It’s a shame there’s no actual bicycling connection to this wine, but I’ve learned my lesson - lurid wine labels will almost surely have nothing to do with bicycling.