The Alphabet Soup Project – I is for “Inspiration”

Hope folks didn’t mind bit of a pause while the Sweet Partner in Crime and I were vacationing (well, I was – she had to work for a few days...) in Amsterdam. If you’d like to take a gander at our pictures...

Like my travels, one of my great wine tasting joys is discovery. That’s the kind of experience that made me start writing this crazy thing to begin with. This bolt from the blue can take lots of different forms. I might be impressed by someone’s advice on a wine; I could find a random pairing that works; or I could run into into something unexpected. Let me share a few of those fun times with you…

My newly-certified sommelier buddy James V. turned me on to the Domaine Sautereau Sancerre. This is a French sauvignon blanc from the eastern part of the Loire. He gave it two thumbs up and I trust his palate, so I gave it a run. This is simply a pretty smelling wine. "Flowering cantaloupe" was my first thought. Yes, I know – that’s an odd description, but I like it better than "floral with melon undertones." The flavor was intriguing. Like most Sancerre, this is a light bodied, acidic, minerally wine. This one, however, had a wonderfully balanced creaminess that I had never tasted before in one of these wines. Made me light right up.

When James first tried this wine, he had the good fortune to visit the property. He told me that they served it with chevre (goat cheese) and hard salami on crackers, so I tried to duplicate the experience. I was initially a bit skeptical. With the cheese alone, the wine developed an odd flavor, but adding the crackers and meat -- unearthly good as a pairing. I experimented by replacing the water crackers with a rosemary-flavored Triscuit -- and it turned into one of the best "appetizer pairings” I’ve had. The wine is into the 2010 vintage now. It’s $22 from Bond Street Wines (http://www.bondstreetwines.com), and I highly recommend it.

Another day, the Sweet Partner in Crime and I cooked up a pot of turkey chili, which was an interesting concoction. I ran out of cumin, one of my base spices, so I substituted garam masala, an Indian spice blend, and a little bit of coffee. (Rule of good chili: Just keep throwing things in until it tastes right.)

With this amalgamation. we were at a loss for a wine. After reviewing our on-hand options, I rolled the dice and cracked the Bodegas Salentein Killka Collection 2008 Malbec – a $12 Argentinean number I’d picked up on a whim. I love it when a plan comes together. The Killka turned out to be a fruity, fairly complex wine that went down nicely on its own. It had plenty of blackberry and vanilla to start, and its flavor stays quite smooth throughout. There’s that yummy smoky quality a good malbec has, but it lingers in the background and stays subtle on the finish – a finish with a good, firm fruity flavor and enough tannin to be interesting.

Alongside the chili, the malbec’s tannins worked nicely with the spices, revealing some very interesting complementary flavors. The Indian spices deepened and the chili powder had a “fuller” flavor. Also, since tannin is an acid and capsaicin (the molecule that makes chili hot) is a base, the malbec tamed the fire a bit. I don’t know if I could duplicate it, but we sure liked it.

Trips to the wine store occasionally shoot a bolt of inspiration. K2, one of my wine pals, recommended the Highflyer 2009 Grenache Blanc, saying it was his “favorite white wine of the moment.” The Highflyer is a Napa Valley creation. I don’t think I’d ever tried a white Grenache that didn’t come from the Rhone or Spain, so I was, on one hand, really looking forward to the experience . That said, I was also somewhat wary of a white wine from Napa, since I’m not usually a big fan. I had the heavy oak and heavy butter of Napa chardonnay in my head, but I was trusting. I poured and swirled. Bottom line? It’s a tasty, tasty bottle. My first reaction was, “This is California chardonnay, dialed way back.” Sure, there’s oak and butter, but that’s nicely balanced with some prominent pear and berry flavors. The body is medium with am evenness of oak and pear. The finish is oaky and softly lasting. Very enjoyable. It also turned out to be a killer choice with some spice rubbed, grilled chicken breasts and a green bean salad. The Highflyer will run you around $20, but it’s worth it.

Every once in awhile, I even get a little twinkle of inspiration from something utterly mundane. It’s not always tasting central around Vine HQ. Sometimes, one of us just needs a glass of wine to throw down without thinking. We usually have a box of white wine lingering in the fridge for just such a purpose. I’d snagged Big House Wines “The Birdman” Pinot Grigio at around $18 for 3 liters. I was aware of Big House red & white, but I hadn’t tried one of their “single varietals” before. In past experiences, box pinot grigio is normally one step above flavored water. The Birdman was a very pleasant find. (Somewhere, Chris Anderson is smiling…) Light and pleasant with actual structure in its pear and lime flavors, it’s a simple, easy quaffer that’s certainly not the flabby, watery mess you might expect. For a box wine, that’s pretty much all you can ask for.

 

Technorati Tags: wine tasting,wine reviews,wine

National Tempranillo Day

The joys of social media continue. I learned that tomorrow, September 1, is National Tempranillo Day from my new friends at TAPAS – The Tempranillo Advocates, Producers, and Amigos Society. They invite everyone to open a bottle of Tempranillo on that date, drink up, and share the experience on Facebook and on Twitter at #TempranilloDay. They were also kind enough to send along some samples of Tempranillo grown in the good ol’ USA for me to try.

I’d not heard much about North American tempranillo. It’s a grape indigenous to Spain. It’s the main grape used in Rioja and Ribera del Duero wines. There’s also plenty of relatively inexpensive Spanish tempranillo out there. I’ve always found it to be an incredibly flexible food wine. It’s a good summer red option as it’s usually not overly heavy. It’s one of my favorite alterna-reds.

I’d long wondered why this grape isn’t grown in many US wine regions, especially some of the warmer, drier regions of California. It’s a grape that thrives on big temperature swings and dry weather. (I’d enjoy seeing what tempranillo would do in Temecula, outside of San Diego, for instance.) A growing number of winemakers have decided to take a swing at it and I was interested to try this new bounty.

I wanted to spread the wealth, as well. Our friends Milwaukee Mike and @gourmetgroup were hosting a “wine club” gathering at their place. This was our first ever visit to this gathering. The samples showed up just before the scheduled date, so I offered to bring the wine for the group to sample. I didn’t have to twist arms too far. (Also, we discovered were were the lone childless couple, so the Sweet Partner in Crime and I concluded that the club made an excellent excuse to go somewhere after dinner and extend the evening if a sitter was already lined up…)

While high-end Rioja and Ribera del Duero can run into the triple digits, much Spanish tempranillo you’ll find in your local wine store will probably be under $15. Since there’s not a huge amount of tempranillo grown in the US, the prices tend to be a little bit higher. The retail on these samples were between $15-30. I cracked the wines and let the assembled folks have at it. A few decided to play along and help me with tasting notes. Milwaukee Mike, who spent much of the evening wrapped around a bottle or other of Rivertown Brewery Hop Bomber Ale (a Cincinnati concoction which my beer drinking readers need to check out!), gave this helpful note: “They all taste like red wine.”

We had six tempranillos to try – five from California and one from Washington. @gourmetgroup laid out some delicious tapas (the manchego/prosciutto fritters were divine!) and we set to it:

Duarte Georgetown 2007 “Georgetown Divide” Tempranillo – When all was said and done, this wine from Modesto, CA was the big winner of the evening. This wine had little other than positive comments all evening, especially once it had opened up a bit. “Not too fruity,” said the Sweet Partner in Crime, “with some nice mineral on it. Tastes like a European wine, which I like.” @gourmetgroup enjoyed the balance – as did I. My tasting sheet has “Balance!” double underlined. Big cherry notes and a long finish on this. It was the most expensive of the group, retailing at $29.

Pomum 2008 “Tinto” Tempranillo – from Yakima Valley in Washington comes this one, also a crowd favorite. It’s made mostly from tempranillo with some Grenache and merlot thrown in for good measure. It’s a very “solid” wine. @gourmetgroup described it as “tight” and “bracing” – by which I think she meant that you get a whole lot of flavor all at once. Jammy was her thought. An easy drinking, all around quality wine. $25.

Ripken Vineyards 2008 “El Matador” Tempranillo – This wine from Lodi, CA won the award for the best comment of the evening. “This smells like dirty bulls’ balls” said @gourmetgroup. The assembled, for whatever reason, did not press her on how she had definitive evidence of this, but we digress. “Inoffensive but not interesting,” said the SPinC, “Not doing much for me.” I noted that it was a bit funky and earthy, but only stays with you for a moment. I described it as a “hi/bye” wine. At $22, not our favorite.

St. Amant 2008 Amador Tempranillo – Also from Lodi, CA, but the response from the assembled was the other pole from the Matador. The Fat Bastard chimed in with, “This is very easy to drink and goes with every bite of food I’ve tried,” he said, “I can’t say this so much about the others, but I would buy this wine.” This was my favorite of the bunch. I thought it tasted a little like a pinot. Nicely complex, balanced, and just downright tasty. @gourmetgroup wasn’t quite as hot on it, thinking that it needed food. The SPinC thought it was the easiest of the bunch to “just drink” – meaning that it didn’t cry for food. A number of other folks thought so too – it was the first bottle to bite the dust. It’s perfect for parties where folks are just drinking and socializing while nibbling on lots of different foods – like…say…tapas. $23.

Stein Family 2007 “Just Joshin’” Tempranillo – From Napa, CA. This wine with the joker on the label drew decent reviews. I thought it was straightforward and a bit tannic. “Decent, but that’s as far as I’d go,” said my note. The SPinC really liked that it wasn’t a fruit bomb – which is a bit surprising in a wine from Napa. She thought it was a bit “thin,” but that was OK with the profile. @gourmetgroup said that it was “friendly, not aggressive” and “pleasant but with some depth.” At $15, the least expensive of the group.

Tejada Vines 2005 Reserve Tempranillo – “Bring on the funk!” exclaimed @gourmetgroup as she hoisted the last wine of the evening. The SPinC, always a fan of “dirty wine” (as I put on my tasting sheet) wrote, “This is great, IMO. Low fruit, funky but not heavy, but still with a full flavor. Would be so, so yummy with food.” I concurred. I thought that its funkiness (“it’s Parliament, not Prince,” I’d written for some reason) screamed for a steak. This wine also came in a heavy, industrial strength bottle. By “heavy,” this bottle weighed more empty than many bottles of pinot grigio weigh full. Or at least it seemed that way by that point in the evening. Milwaukee Mike considered keeping the empty bottle by the bedside for home defense. “That’s quite a punt,” said @gourmetgroup with a look in her eye that frightened me a bit. $25 and worth it.

I’ll be interested to watch the tempranillo market over the years ahead. If these wines are any indication, there’s an opportunity for U.S. winemakers to make a broad range of styles up and down the west coast, much as they’ve done with shiraz/syrah and merlot. It will certainly be fun to follow.

On a personal note, a big thank-you to our hosts and the other members of the wine club for being such good sports about my little tempranillo experiment. Good fun.

 

Technorati Tags: California,Washington,tempranillo,social media,wine

Wine and Dinner of the Month Club – August 2011

August brings us a very local based meal with fruits and veggies from our garden and a couple farmers markets. The wine is a nice sparkling wine with a twist – it’s a rose. The recipes this month, with the exception of the tapenade which I just made up on my own, are from The America’s Test Kitchen Family Cookbook Third Edition (© 2010 by The Editors at America’s Test Kitchen). Enjoy.

Menu

• Sweet Pepper and Tomato Tapenade with Goat Cheese
• Baked Ratatouille with Rice
• Baked Bourbon Peaches with Raspberry Sauce and Ice Cream

Wine

• Gruet Rose Brut

What I had planned for this month was a Mexican inspired meal using dried hibiscus flowers in all of the recipes. Do you know how hard it is to find dried hibiscus flowers in Cincinnati, particularly on short notice? Not that easy. I’ll have to plan for this meal a little better next time. Fortunately, Christine was in the mood for a less exotic meal made with some of the local goodies we had in our garden and from other local sources. I started the ratatouille by chopping the vegetables and mixing them with olive oil and some spices. The tomatoes and squash for this dish came from our garden and the eggplant and onion came from McGlasson’s Farm, a farm with a produce stand along the Ohio River about 13 miles from our house (http://www.mcglassonfarms.com/). Everything went into a baking pan and into the oven.

While that was baking I prepared the appetizer. We had a lot of little cherry tomatoes and some sweet peppers and I was wondering what I could do with those. In this situation my motto is “olive oil and garlic to the rescue.” I cut up some tomatoes and the peppers and blended them in the food processor with some olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper. It made for a yummy spread on crackers with a little goat cheese.

 

Since the ratatouille was still baking, I got started on the rice for the side dish. We recently acquired a rice cooker and if you follow the directions correctly it makes pretty good rice rather flawlessly. The key phrase here is “follow the directions correctly.” I thought I had done just that, but it turns out I did not add nearly enough water for the amount of rice I was cooking. Is rice supposed to be crunchy? I don’t think so. Christine, who is more adept with the rice cooker, pointed out the error of my ways and we made another batch that turned out perfect – firm but tender and nice and fluffy. I plated this up with the ratatouille and we sat down to dinner.

The wine went well with both the appetizer and the main course, which you would expect from a very food friendly sparkling rose. There was not a lot of fat in either dish so the wine didn’t have to compete against that, and the sweetness helped offset some of the acidity from all the tomatoes.

Finally, we had dessert of baked peaches. The peaches for this dish came from McGlasson’s as well. I also made up a raspberry sauce to go over top of them, creating a type of Peach Melba. Pouring a splash of bourbon over the peaches gives them extra flavor and creates additional sauce in the pan to put on them. They were great with just a little vanilla ice cream. If I had it to do again, I would change two things. First, I would not make the raspberry sauce. The sauce from the baking pan is enough to
give the peaches some additional moisture and I thought the raspberry sauce rather overwhelmed the peach flavor. Second, even though the recipe did not call for it, I would peel the peaches. Even after baking the skins were a little tough and hard to cut through with a spoon, particularly since the peach
flesh was so tender.

 

43 Things Tags: recipes,naked vine

Pinot Smackdown!

While I may never get the hang of the full-on Twitter tasting, I’m certainly enjoying the benefits of the integration of social media into the wine tasting experience. I received notification that August 18^th was the “2^nd Annual Pinot Noir Smackdown.”

According to the release, this day-long event was an online competition among the pinot noir growing regions. Participants tasted pinot, tweeted (or Facebooked) their reviews, and voted for the region they felt was superior. Ed Thralls, marketing manager for Sonoma Coast Vineyards, Windsor Vineyards, and Windsor Sonoma, was good enough to send along a few samples from Sonoma County for the occasion.

I had three bottles to check out:

• Sonoma Coast Vineyards Freestone Hills 2009 Pinot Noir ($45)
• Windsor Sonoma Russian River Valley 2009 Pinot Noir ($30)
• Windsor Vineyards 2010 Pinot Noir ($25)

We started with the Windsor Sonoma. At first pour, even after being allowed to breathe for 45 minutes and aerated, it tasted a little harsh and heavy on the fruit. We split a glass, and we were a bit confused by it. I think we expected a softer profile. This was initially a fruit bomb of a pinot. We finished a glass, recorked it, and decided to try it again in a day.

That next day, we opened the Sonoma Coast Vineyards and poured it side-by-side with the W-S. The Windsor Sonoma had mellowed a bit. It still had a bit of a “spiky” flavor. What’s “spiky?” You’d get big fruit, then an acidic bite, then some smoke. The flavors were all there, but they just didn’t balance as well.

The SCV was a better wine. The flavors were much more integrated initially, but we had to give this one the same treatment. The fruit on the front was just too strong, washing out much of the subtlety usually found in a pinot. After a day, the wine mellowed considerably. It was still fruit forward with lots of cherry and cola flavors, but there was at least a silky smokiness to back it up. I think I liked it more than the Sweet Partner in Crime, who is a huge fan of Burgundy (French pinot noir) which is much more earthy and is a lighter-styled wine.

This lends itself to the idea of terroir. Terroir is the term for the location where a wine’s grapes are grown. More specifically, the climate and the soil where grapes are grown. Sonoma does a lot of things well. Some of our all-time favorite cabernet sauvignons and zinfandels hail from Sonoma. Those wines are big, fruit-forward, and high alcohol. Pinot noirs from Sonoma tend to have that sort of flavor profile, which isn’t generally the characteristics we’re looking for when we crack a bottle of pinot.

Interestingly, our favorite of the three was the least expensive. The Windsor Vineyards was ready to drink right out of the bottle. Even though it was still “Sonoma-ish” with a strong fruit flavor, the cherry and smoke balanced exceedingly well. We tried it with a chicken souvlaki, which had a range of flavors – grilled chicken, lemon, cucumber, yogurt – and it held up extremely well. It was just a plain ol’ nice wine.

Based on these wines, my vote in the Smackdown went to my old standby. I still think that Burgundy makes the world’s best, most consistent pinot noir – my 1^st place vote went to the French. The worldwide smackdown winner? New Zealand. I just so happen to have a few bottles of New Zealand pinot down in the cellar. Perhaps next year…

 

 

43 Things Tags: pinot noir,reviews,California

Repurposing Wine

You may have seen “repurposing” cropping up from time to time in various contexts. First time I saw it, I thought it was first simply a synonym for “recycling,” but I came to understand that it means “converting something for other than its intended use.” For example, if you take an length of old copper pipe, cut it into different lengths, attach it to a piece of scrap wood with fishing line and put a hook on top, you’ve “repurposed” a bunch of junk into a windchime.

Can someone repurpose wine? Sure, I suppose. I guess folks have been doing this for millennia. Vinegar, after all, is just wine that’s gone bad. (the word “vinegar” is actually from the French “vin aigre” – “sour wine.”) But I don’t want to wait until wine is over to repurpose it. For our purposes, why not think about repurposing wine in terms of pairings? When the “traditional” pairing doesn’t work, why not think outside the box?

One evening, The Sweet Partner in Crime and I had a hankering for pepperoni pizza. We ordered one from Newport Pizza Company ( absolutely top notch ‘za, by the way!). We figured we’d crack open an Italian red to go with it. Of course, after we placed the order, we discovered that we didn’t have any Italian reds in the homestead. (Egads! How could this happen?) After an initial panic, we regrouped.

I’d seen a couple of cab francs described as “good pizza wines” recently. I was a little skeptical. I’d thought about it as more of a lighter wine to go with red meat or grilled pork – something to use in place of cabernet sauvignon if that sounded too heavy. We opened the Steele 2006 Lake County Cabernet Franc as a stand-in for our missing Italian.

This turned out to be a good decision on our part. The Steele has a fruitier nose than many Italian wines, but the body and flavor is relatively Chianti-ish. It’s more fruit-forward, but the flavor profile more or less holds – cherries and chalk. The finish has some minerality to go with the tannin. With the pizza – quite excellent. The wine was big enough to stand toe to toe with the meat and come away mostly unscathed. The extra tannin in this wine also helped cut through the inevitable grease. $14-16.

A couple of weeks later, we were at the end of a long weekend and we found ourselves with a bunch of veggies (again from The Chad), a bag of frozen shrimp, and a pack of lo mein noodles tucked away in the back of our pantry. Stir fry time. I cobbled together a spice sauce, so I figured I’d go for a Riesling alongside. Alas, again embarrassingly, there was none to be had in the household. What we did have, however, was a Doña Paula 2009 Torrontes. I’d picked up this Argentinean bottle on a whim. I figured I’d use it for a grilled chicken or fish pairing, but Asian spice wasn’t close to my mind.

Why did I choose to crack it? To be honest…it’s a screwtop, so I didn’t have to think much or go fetch a corkscrew. (Worst case scenario? I get the opener and find another bottle.) The Doña Paula turned out to be a very nice substitute. Rich apples on the nose along with some floral fragrances. The body is a little on the heavy side, but there’s a good amount of apple and lemon flavors. The finish is long, floral, and a little sweet. That sweetness, however, made for a nice match with my spicy lo mein throw-together. The wine had enough weight to be interesting and was firm enough to handle the power of srirachia as a condiment. Certainly a workable choice. $13-15.

I started thinking more about this repurposing thing. Could one go earlier in the winemaking process and repurpose grapes? Turns out the answer is a big ol’ yes. For instance, consider the Rua 2010 Valdeorras. This Spanish white is a blend of Palomino, Dona Blanca, and Godello grapes. While I wasn’t at all familiar with the last two grapes, I’d heard of Palomino. It’s one of the primary grapes in sherry. I’d not tried it in a still wine before. (much like the Pedro Ximenez I mentioned a couple of entries ago). A pretty decent repurposing. It’s got a very light nose of flowers and lemon zest. The body’s of medium weight. It’s got a little bit of glycerin (instead of sugar) thickness there with some minerals at the back. It finishes crisp and dry with plenty of pineapple-citrus flavors. A great summertime white. Had it with some fish tacos. Tasty, tasty. Great deal at $8-10, too.

Since I’ve been stretching the definition a bit here, I’ll close out with an actual repurposing. Perhaps you’ve had a party recently and one of your “friends” brought (and left) a bottle of white zinfandel. You see it every day, sitting forlorn on the bottom of your wine rack. If you’re in this situation, you can make killer Sangria from a white zin:

Cut up a bunch of fruit. I like apples, pineapples, sliced grapes, and strawberries. Put these in a bowl. Pour about a cup of inexpensive brandy over the top. (E&J works well.) Sprinkle with a little bit of brown sugar. Stir this up and put the bowl in the fridge for an hour or so. When you’re ready (since your friends have shown up to drink), get a large pitcher. Add ice. Add the fruit/brandy mixture, the bottle of white zin, a couple of cups of club soda, and three shots of peach schnapps. Stir. Pour. I’m not responsible for what might happen afterwards, but I think you’ll thank me.

 

LiveJournal Tags: wine,wine reviews,repurposing

Wine & Dinner of the Month Club – July 2011

It’s July and that means parades, flags, fireworks and RIBS! This year Christine and I were visiting her sister Vida and brother-in-law (and my doppelganger) Rob and their two boys Orion and Jonas. They live on Bainbridge Island near Seattle, Washington, so we got to spend time with them and experience some of the natural beauty of the Pacific Northwest. Since we were going out there, we decided to take the Wine and Dinner Club on the road. With luck and plenty of bubble wrap in the luggage, the wine made it in fine shape, supplemented by some Washington state wines that Rob picked up for the occasion. Enjoy.

Menu

• Barbecued Baby Back Ribs
• Sweet and Sour Slaw
• Coconut Grilled Corn on the Cob
• Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

Wine (We had a GOOD TIME!!)

• 2008 Owen Roe Ex Umbris Columbia Valley Syrah
• 2007 Dominio IV Columbia Gorge Syrah/Tempranillo
• 2008 Sagelands Columbia Valley Red Wine
• 2004 D’Arenberg The Love Grass McLaren Vale Shiraz (Naked Vine Recommendation)

We started with some cheeses and cured meats as an appetizer. The cheeses were a manchego and a herbed goat cheese, and the meats were a spicy cured Italian salami and some thin prosciutto. They were served with a sourdough baguette and the first of the Washington state wines, the Ex Umbris. We had asked Rob to pick up another bottle of The Love Grass for the meal, but his local wine shop did not have it in stock and would have had to order it in special. When asked about an Australian wine, the person at the shop said, “Well, that’s one way you could go.” According to Rob, he then went on to espouse the superior quality of Washington state wines and pelted Rob with granola until Rob relented and bought the local fare. (That last part may have been a little exaggerated.) As I recall, and since there were four bottles of wine I don’t recall much, nobody was really bowled over by the Ex Umbris. It had a little spice to it, but not enough to stand up to the spicy salami. I thought it went well with the manchego and would probably be good with a simple piece of grilled meat. Thus, we decided it was a good M&M wine (Meat & Manchego).

After the appetizer we had the main meal which included the slaw, corn and ribs that had been cooking low and slow in the oven at 225 degrees Fahrenheit for about five hours. We did two racks. One I dry rubbed with Southside Market & Barbecue Premium Original BBQ Seasoning from the Southside Market in Houston, Texas and the other with Colonel’s Smoky Rub from Colonel De Gourmet Herbs and Spices at Findlay Market in Cincinnati, Ohio. To cook the ribs you just wrap them in aluminum foil, sealing it tightly, and put them on a baking sheet to catch leaking juices. You don’t even have to watch them and they come out supper moist and tasty. I always put a little barbecue sauce on them and put them under the broiler for a while to give them a nice glaze. Oh, and did I mention Rob is the source for my rib recipe? The other key is to wear an orange shirt!

The ribs were delicious and between the four of us we finished both racks. The slaw was tangy and a little sweet and was a cool contrast to the spiciness that the rubs imparted to the ribs. Of the two, the Southside rub was spicier with more pepper in the mix, while the Colonel’s Smoky Rub was just that, smoky. The coconut basted corn was sweet and was a great accompaniment to the meal as well. By this time we were well into the Dominio wine. It was good, but again, nothing really outstanding. We liked saying that the Syrah was tempered by the Tempranillo, but that was probably just the second bottle of wine talking. Before we finished the meal, we broke open The Love Grass. We thought this one was a lot different than the others and much better with more flavor and good tannic structure (take that granola boy). Or so I recall. Hey, give me a break - this was the third bottle of the night!

After the ribs came out of the oven and while we were eating, I put the pie in to bake. We took a long break after the dinner waiting for the pie to finish cooking and then let it cool while we cleaned up the kitchen. The pie was delicious with the sweetness of the strawberries offsetting the tartness of the very rhubarb, and the filling could not have been more local with both the strawberries and the rhubarb from Vida and Rob’s garden behind their house.

We finished The Love Grass and opened the Sagelands, which was good, but not too complex. It was a nice sipping wine to finish up the evening. Thank you to Vida and Rob for a great July 4^th getaway!

Rucking the Right Bank

Hand it to the folks at Planet Bordeaux. They’re a creative bunch.

As I’ve mentioned before, Planet Bordeaux is the marketing arm of the winemakers who produce Bordeaux and Bordeaux Supérieur wines. These are the wines that often get lost between the more inexpensive “vin de pays” table wines and the “classified growth” wines that can go for hundreds of dollars apiece. These mid-priced Bordeaux (which actually aren’t much more expensive than the vin de pays) are designed to be solid, everyday values. The Planet Bordeaux folks were looking for spokesmen. They found a bunch of unexpected takers – a bunch of loud, muddy, sweaty, normally beer-swilling men and women:

Planet Bordeaux is now an official sponsor of USA Rugby.

The Rugby World Cup will be held in New Zealand in September. Planet Bordeaux decided to support the Eagles (the US team, currently ranked 17^th in the world) on their path to the event. I was fascinated by this choice of sponsors, largely because after my remarkably brief and utterly unimpressive career as a rugger, wine was just about the last thing I associate with rugby. Beer, blood, public nudity, beer, and beer…sure.

Apparently, however, the Bordelais are absolutely bonkers about their rugby and at least some of them are willing to trade national loyalty for commerce and visibility. “Planet Bordeaux and the Eagles are both dedicated to excellence and contributing to the game of rugby beyond the field. The partnership will help to prepare the Eagles for their build up to the world’s largest rugby stage in September,” said USA Rugby CEO and President of Rugby Operations, Nigel Melville.

In celebration of this partnership, the good folks at Balzac sent me another set of Planet Bordeaux samples. My enthusiasm for these bottles was much greater than my desire to put on my old kit again. I’m much better gallivanting in front of a wine tasting than I am running for my life as an overmatched outside centerback.

Here’s the latest rundown:

Chateau Raynier 2006 Marc Lurton Bordeaux – This is an exceptionally easy-to-drink Bordeaux. It has the requisite earthiness and “vegetal” nature, but for the most part, it’s just smooth and balanced. The merlot and and cabernet grapes strike an accord, and you can uncork this one with any number of foods. In our case, we had it with some beef kabobs, also skewered with pineapple, tomato, mushrooms, onions, and green peppers. Also, a salad of greens and basil leaves with balsamic vinaigrette. At 12.5% alcohol, nice and light -- just uncomplicated, friendly, and pleasant. About $14.

Chateau Le Grand Verdus 2009 Bordeaux Rosé – The English translation of the back of the label reads: “Crisp, voluptuous, aperitif, fruity, femininity, passion, lustrous, relaxation, pleasure, fragrant, candy, warmth, temptation, intensity, seductive, summer, modern, raspberry, aromatic, energy…” (Jeez…I need a smoke…) While I won’t cop to every term on that list, I will say that this is an exceptionally pleasant rosé. Made from cabernet sauvignon, cabernet franc, and merlot – this is a hearty rosé with plenty of fruit and a pleasant minerality. We grilled turkey burgers alongside some mushroom and parmesan couscous and it went splendidly. Also was quite tasty on its own. An absolutely smashing deal at $9, as well.

Chateau Ballan-Larquette 2009 Bordeaux Blanc -- This one takes a hard but not unpleasant turn when you get to sipping on this one. It starts out with a very tart lemony zing, but quickly mellows into a nice balance of mineral and fruit, which further mellows and finishes creamily instead of acidically. Medium bodied for a white Bordeaux so it can handle some richer foods easily enough. We did mustard-and-pretzel crusted chicken breasts with some new potatoes sautéed with pancetta. Very tasty. Very interesting value and an excellent dinner white at $10-14.

Chai de Bordes 2008 Bordeaux Rouge – Cracking this one, the nose was floral, almost lavenderish to go along with some light berry scents. It’s light bodied and fairly acidic with a cherry and mineral flavor. The finish is quite dry –tannic, but not harshly so. Reminds me a little of a Montepulciano d’Abruzzo, actually. A very pleasant and approachable Bordeaux. $15-18.

Chateau du Cros 2009 Bordeaux Sauvignon – They call this a “field blend,” which is a blend of two grape varieties planted together in the same vineyard. In this case, it’s largely Sauvignon blanc with a little Semillon and Muscadelle thrown in. It starts you with a fairly strong nose of apples and lemons. I found it to be minerally and sharply acidic, like a shot of “lemon juice light.” Finishes slightly astringent. To me, it seemed like a Bordeaux winemaker was trying to make something that tasted like Italian pinot grigio and just missed. It’s a decent quaff and would go well with shellfish, especially raw ones, but at around $16, you could likely find a better sipper.

Chateau Le Calvaire 2007 Bordeaux Superieur – I didn’t really care much for this one at first sip. I opened it about three hours in advance and was hit with an “alcohol and grape”. As a little of the alcohol dissipated, however, the wine opened quickly. The Calvaire had a really interesting nose of graphite and blackberries. Fairly full-bodied. On the tongue, more of that mineral to go with a substantial dose of dark fruit and some tannins that linger for a half minute or more. A good, big choice for Bordeaux if you’re looking for something with a little more punch. It does seem to call for bitter and dark flavors alongside – grilled meat, dark chocolate – that kind of thing, especially after it’s been open for awhile (a day wouldn’t be bad, if you can wait that long). Pretty good deal at $16.

 

 

 

del.icio.us Tags: wine,USA rugby,Bordeaux,wine tasting

The Pizza Wine Showdown

Oh, do we love ourselves some pizza around the household. Pizza’s so deliciously egalitarian. Make it however you like it. Toppings, your choice. Thickness, your choice. Vegan, Vegetarian, Carnivore – there’s a ‘za out there for everyone. For us, it can range from indulgence to “don’t feel like cooking tonight…what can we throw on a crust?” Yep. Put pretty much toppings on a well-covered crust and I’m signing up.

If you’ve poked around this space for any amount of time, you know my usual recommendations for pizza. I either crack a medium-bodied Italian red or some kind of sparkling wine when the disc of deliciousness emerges from the oven. I swear by them both. After receiving a “come hang out and we’ll order pizza” invite from some friends of ours, the idea hit me – why not try a side by side of Italian wine and bubbly. Cage match. Vino a Vino. Or something.

Regardless, it made for the perfect excuse to kill a couple of bottles.

We’re pretty lucky. About five minutes from us (and a block from our pals) is Buona Vita -- a pizzeria owned by a third-generation Italian family. They make a tremendous Southern Italian, stone oven-baked thin crust pie. We ordered two to sample – one pepperoni, one Margarita. For those not familiar, Margarita (or Margherita) is fresh tomatoes, mozzarella, & basil. If you haven’t given such a pizza (or Buona Vita, for that matter!)…do so. Perhaps now.

We packed up the beagle and headed over to their place. While waiting for our pizza, we enjoyed a delicious antipasti provided by Chris, frontman of local rockers Brewer’s Tongue, and Sunshine Rei, his lovely wife. A sufficient amount of time passed. No need for delivery. A block’s not too far to stroll, after all. Pizza retrieved, we opened the two wines for the evening:

• Freixienet (NV) Extra Dry Cava
• Capestrano 2008 Montepulciano d’Abruzzo

The Freixinet is a Spanish sparkling wine I’ve used as a fallback basic bubbly for eons. It’s very flavorful and crisp. If you remember your sparkling wine terminology, among commonly available wines, one labeled “brut” will be the driest. “Extra dry” means that there’s a hint of residual sugar left in the wine. With something like pizza, an ever-so-slight amount of sweetness can make the wine pair a bit better, in my opinion.

The Capestrano is a very decent Montepulciano. It’s easy to get confused with this wine. You may remember: a Montepulciano d’Abruzzo, like the one here, is made from the Montepulciano grape in the region of Abruzzo. It’s a medium bodied, relatively smooth red. You might also see “Rosso di Montepulciano.” This wine is from the Montepulciano region in Tuscany and is made from Sangiovese grapes, as is Chianti.) For a general “drinking with anything” role, I think Montepulciano d’Abruzzo is generally a very solid balance of value and flavor. Both these wines are around ten bucks.

We fell to eating. We tried our best to do the 2x2 comparison, taking detailed notes and really tasting – but as is so common when we all get together, we got to chatting about everything from the Women’s World Cup to T.Rex to Amsterdam (In my mind, a logical progression). After several slices and a few refills, however, consensus formed in a surprising manner.

The preferences broke along gender lines. Chris and I preferred the Cava with the pepperoni and the Montepulciano with the Margarita. We thought that the sparkler cut the fattiness of the sausage and let the flavor (and they use good pepperoni) come through. We thought the red wine pointed up the red sauce and the basil on the other.

Sunshine Rei and the Sweet Partner in Crime went the other way. They thought that the cava went better with the Margarita, since the bubbles cut the mozzarella and let the fresh basil reign. They also both thought that the depth of the Montepulciano was a better complement for the meat.

Thanks to a surprise from Chris, we got to do one additional comparison. A good friend of his, Blake, is in the Navy Reserves and is deployed in Italy, where he’s actually working for the Army. He sent Chris a “share package” not long ago. Within were a couple of traditional Italian aperitifs/digestifs: Limoncello and Crema di Limoni from Limonoro, a liqueur maker in Sorrento. We decided to open them. Chris also had some homemade limoncello crafted by his bass player Dave – so we needed to do a side by side of those in the interest of science, of course.

There was a distinct difference between the Limonoro and the homemade. Dave’s limoncello had a slightly sharper flavor. We could taste a thread of bitterness from the rind and the tartness was sharper. The Limonoro was smoother. Chris and I split on this one. Brewer’s Tongue loyalty won out for him. However, with the Crema di Limono, I thought I was going to lose Chris – I think he discovered his touchstone after-dinner drink. “This blows my mind!” he exclaimed. While I wouldn’t go that far, I thought it was pretty darned tasty, and made a good closer for our evening’s experiment.

So, what did we learn? Our beagle can co-exist quite easily with a cocker spaniel and a collie. You can’t go wrong with either Italian reds or sparkling wine if you’re throwing down a pizza. And palates may be gender-specific. We’ll have to come back to the last for further examination.

Especially if there’s more pizza involved.

Wine and Dinner of the Month Club – June 2011

We decided to do the June wine dinner on the first night of Italianfest here in Newport, Kentucky, so of course we had…Thai beef salad! Okay, so there’s really no connection there. However, you may recall this meal from last year because Christine liked it so much that she requested a repeat.

Wine

• 2009 Cote de Brouilly Beaujolais

Dinner

• No Cook Spring Rolls with Peanut Dipping Sauce (recipe for sauce from The America’s Test Kitchen Family Cookbook Third Edition)
• Thai Grilled Beef Salad
• Mango and Melon Dessert

The spring rolls were easy to make and I whipped up a spicy peanut dipping sauce to go with them. For filling I used lettuce and a little mint and parsley from our garden along with some shredded carrots, peanuts and shrimp. The shrimp were frozen and only took about three minutes to cook in boiling water. The most challenging part was rolling them up in the spring roll wrappers, but after the first couple I got the hang of it.

After I had the appetizer ready I made the mango puree for the dessert and put it in the freezer. It is supposed to be refrigerated for 3 to 4 hours before serving, but I got a late start so I put in the freezer to cool more quickly.

I cleaned up the kitchen a bit, as cleaning is really my specialty, and then prepared the sauce and all of the cold ingredients for the beef salad. You may be asking yourself, “Where is Christine all this time?” Christine had gone to see a movie with our friend Susanna, who was joining for dinner later. In addition to being the first night of Italianfest, it was also the night we had one of the worst and longest lasting rain and thunderstorms of the year. Christine and Susanna had walked to the theater and since it was too rainy to walk home, holed up in a bar to have a martini…and then another. Oh, the humanity!!! Finally they called me and I went to pick them up in the car and return them to the house for dinner.

Once we got home we had the appetizers and then I cooked the meat under the broiler in the oven (Rain, remember?) I mixed the cooked meat with the cold ingredients and the sauce and we had the main course. Everyone loved the salad and the mélange of flavors. [Ed. note – nice word choice there, Jeffrey...you’re getting the hang of this food blogging thing!]

After the main course, I prepared the dessert, adding some watermelon balls to the pureed mango in stemmed glasses for a cool and refreshing treat.

As for the wine, we all liked it and thought it complemented the meal nicely. The label said that the wine was best served slightly chilled so I had put it in the refrigerator for a while. However, we all thought it was actually better when it warmed up and also when it had been sitting out for a while with a chance to breathe.

For a finale we had a little tasting. I opened up a bottle of my special homemade ice apple dessert wine along with some similar wine sent to us by our friends Sue and Mark, owners of Maple Leaf Orchard in Wisconsin (http://www.mapleleaforchard.com/). Both made for a sweet digestif to end the meal.

The Crusher

Another “Many thanks to Mike Wangbickler at Balzac” column. You might remember him last from my last attempt at sharing my thoughts about wines at a “Twitter tasting” in March. Mike invited me to participate again with wines from Don Sebastiani & Sons’ “The Crusher” series of wines. Hardly one to turn down the opportunity, I accepted samples of five Crushers. Unfortunately, my Intertoobz were clogged for some reason and I wasn’t able to fully participate in the virtual gang-tasting. But since I’m not one to let samples go unreviewed…

“The Crusher” is a midpriced line of wines – all have a suggested retail of $18. These wines (with the exception of the Rosé) are from the Clarksburg appellation in California. Clarksburg is about 20 miles south of Sacramento (although it’s described as the “Bay Area Delta”). Since it’s a good ways inland, this is a hot, dry area for grape growing. Hotter growing areas usually lead to fuller, fruitier, sometimes less complex wines. What did we find?

The Crusher 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon – The pairing notes on this one states that it “commands steak!” so I took the bottle along to a cookout we had recently with the Sweet Partner in Crime’s family. I was grilling up strips and filets, along with some similarly charred asparagus and the SPinC’s magical Dijon-and-tarragon potato salad. The meal’s quality was guaranteed. We cracked the wine, let it breathe for a bit, and let the family sample. “It’s kinda fruity,” said Postal Donnie, the SPinC’s brother-in-law, “Tastes kind of like a merlot.” I concurred. It was a very fruity, very soft cabernet sauvignon. The tannins were almost too light. There was plenty of fruit on the body and there was a nice blackberry and currant on the nose. The finish, though, just trailed off into fruit and a little tannin. It was OK with the steak, but the smoky grilled flavor beat up on the wine a bit. It did alright with the other sides. The wine was decent, but I can find a better $18 cabernet.

The Crusher 2009 Chardonnay – One thing that immediately jumped to mind when I cracked this bottle was, “Hey, I just don’t drink a lot of California Chardonnay anymore.” I was curious as to how this reintroduction would go to Cali Chard. I was initially dubious. The nose is quite ample – apple, smoke, and licorice. The first thing we noticed about this wine’s flavor was the oak. “I would have loved this wine eight years ago when all I drank was Meridian!” exclaimed the SPinC. It is quite oaky, especially on the finish. There’s butterscotch and more apple on the palate. It didn’t agree with me – until dinner. I tried my hand at veal saltimbocca, which I’d never made before. Why not, right? The result – very pleasant! The meat and sage tamed the oakiness, leaving a smooth, buttery flavor that complemented the light meats quite nicely. We had a throw-together salad of artichokes and tomatoes on the side. Artichokes are a wine killer, but it handled them satisfactorily. If you like oaky chardonnay or need a white for light meats with richer sauces, this is certainly a winner.

The Crusher 2009 Rosé of Pinot Noir – Summer started slamming us, so I was very happy to see pink amidst the samples. As the name suggests, this is mostly Pinot Noir, with some Viognier thrown in for good measure. The appellation listed for this wine is simply “California,” so I assume that it’s a blend from vineyards across the state. It’s a deep salmon color out of the bottle and is a very “full” rosé – light enough to be refreshing, but with enough body to be interesting and complex. Strawberries and cranberries were my thought at tasting. A little creaminess to the body and a nice acidic zing at the end. “This is a really pretty rosé,” said the SPinC. I tried it next to a tomato and fennel based seafood stew. Quite nice. The solid backbone allowed it to stand up next to a varied set of flavors. It’s a pairing I’d certainly have no qualms about pulling out again. On a hot day, this would be a great wine to pour for friends who are exclusively red drinkers. There’s enough going on to keep them satisfied. A very nice example of what California rosé can be.

The Crusher 2009 Pinot Noir – I’m a big fan of cool weather pinots, so I was particularly interested to see how this one spun out. At first pour (after 30 minutes of decanting), I thought this was a particularly “sharp” pinot noir. It makes me think of what pinot noir would taste like if it were grown in a hotter climate than it was used to. The basic cherry profile is there, but there’s a strong coffee taste – as if you’d made chocolate covered cherries, but covered the fruit in crushed cappuccino beans instead. Powerful, strong wine – reminding me more of a merlot than a traditional pinot. However, it worked with our dinner: grilled lamb burgers with Indian spices topped with cucumber raita (or tzadziki…same diff…) alongside some grilled corn kernels tossed with artichokes. It was a big ‘n bad enough wine to handle those kinds of strong flavors. For a grilling evening, dinnertime pinot – it was certainly serviceable, although you could probably find a less expensive pinot noir to fill that bill.

The Crusher 2009 Petit Sirah – As I was getting ready to write this column, I got an email announcing that this wine had won gold at the California State Fair wine competition. I was looking forward to trying it. The tasting notes indicate that it’s an “an exceptional barbeque wine” since it goes well with brown sugar barbecue sauce. I didn’t want that much heavy meat, but I make a killer spicy mu shu, so I cobbled that together, figuring that sweet, spicy, and meat could work. On its own, it’s certainly a serviceable wine. The very fragrant nose is full of blueberries and plums. The flavor is quite jammy, as I expected from a petit sirah. The jamminess makes it a bit heavy on the palate with straight fruit, but the finish gets a little more interesting with some pepper and firm tannin. With the mu shu, however, this wine shone. A little spice and a little sweetness really brought out fruity complexity, while letting the Asian flavor stand up. It’s a wine that can certainly handle a splash of Sriracha, which you don’t see often outside of Rieslings. I don’t know that I’d recommend it on its own, but alongside meat with a zing, it works.

La Vigna Estate Winery – More good stuff...from Ohio?

A cloud of road dust, stirred up by an early blast of summer heat announced our arrival at La Vigna Estate Winery, just outside of Higginsport, Ohio. Higginsport is a dot on the map along US 52 – the road that traces the curves of the Ohio in the southeastern corner of the state. We were greeted warmly by John (short for Giovanni) Brunicardi, a clear-eyed and charming 80-year old Italian man.

Within the first few minutes of meeting John, the Sweet Partner in Crime and I had the scoop on how a winery on a hill overlooking the Ohio River ended up with its name. Leaning on his quartz-topped cane, John explained to us that “La Vigna” was the name of one of his father Antonio’s two vineyards outside of Lucca in Tuscany. “It tickles me that they name the wines after my family’s old vineyards.” Antonio emigrated to the U.S. after World War II. John’s daughter, Armanda, married La Vigna’s winemaker, Brad Hively.

Brad was manning the tasting table, so we got the lowdown on the place. Brad, a straightforward, confident storyteller, told us that he had been in Charlottesville doing some consulting work for the University of Virginia when he caught the winemaking bug. He started doing home wines from a kit, then purchased grapes, and finally started growing his own. He moved to that corner of Ohio in 2002 and established the first vines on his property three years later. Since tasting traffic was a bit slow, once Brad learned that we were semi-knowledgeable, he offered us a tour of the vineyard.

In the vineyard, which sports an absolutely gorgeous view of the river below, Brad was quick to point out that all of his wines were “estate” wines, meaning all the grapes were grown on the property. “We wanted to do something different. We didn’t just want to make a bunch of fruit wines or import a bunch of juice. We wanted something that worked. With the soil and climate of this particular piece of land, we were pretty sure we could make European style wines.” La Vigna currently has two acres planted with expansion plans for 15 additional.

Brad said his biggest initial challenge was finding vinifera grapes that would grow in the challenging climate of Ohio. “We needed grapes that were resistant to mildew and rot. We could grow chardonnay, but everyone does that. Sauvignon blanc and pinot noir wouldn’t work at all here – they wouldn’t survive the winters. Riesling rots pretty easily. We didn’t want to do “hybrid” grapes, because those wines aren’t usually very good. I was frustrated until I remembered one of the grapes that they were growing in Virginia – Petit Manseng.”

Petit Manseng is a white wine grape grown largely in the Jurancon region in southwestern France. The grape traditionally produces a sweet, late harvest wine, somewhat like a Sauternes. However, the concentration of juice comes from long hanging on the vines rather than noble rot. The La Vigna 2010 Proprietary Late Harvest Petit Manseng is sweet, but a honeyed sweetness like a Sauternes rather than a sugary one. There are plenty of apricot and peach flavors along with a little bit of baking spice in a rich, smooth package. Lovely. It’s available in 375ml bottles for $12 -- a great value.

Brad also concocted a dry version of the Petit Manseng – his 2009 Proprietary White. He was only showing this wine, not selling it, since “we’re down to our last three bottles.” Brad said people ask all the time, “’What does it taste like?’ I tell them, ‘It doesn’t taste like anything else.’” I thought he was on the mark. I couldn’t really put my finger on the flavor. Perhaps it would be helpful to say that it was an interesting cross between a Viognier and a Pinot Grigio – floral, lemony, and with an interesting “nutty” flavor. I enjoyed. Normally retails for around $19. Apparently there may be a few bottles still around in Cincinnati-area wine stores. If I see one, I’ll be snagging it.

La Vigna also does two red wines. The first, the 2008 Proprietary Red, is a blend of estate-grown cabernet sauvignon and cabernet franc. It’s a big frickin’ wine. Powerful flavors of blackberry, leather, and a slight herbal flavor that sometimes pops up in wines from Bordeaux. The wine needed a big, big swirl to open up. Brad said that it was still a bit in bottle shock – that it needed about another month in the bottle to integrate, but that it would cellar for years of someone took a notion. I thought it was a very solid “big red” that’s made for big meat dishes. Since it’s available by the bottle at Jeff Ruby’s steakhouses in Cincinnati, other folks seem to think so. Retails for about $23 a bottle.

Finally, there was Carnevale 2009, the La Vigna “drink now” red wine. Made from 100% cabernet franc, this is a light, fruity, easy to quaff red. While Brad said that he makes it in a French style, it reminded me of something that might have come from “Carnevale”– another of his grandfather-in-law’s Tuscan vineyards. I thought it was similar in flavor to a light Italian red like a Valpolicella. While we were there, “Fireside Pizza” had its portable oven up and running, so we had a couple of glasses with a Naples-like margherita pizza made on the spot. The Carnevale would be an excellent food wine with any kind of red sauce. I thought it tasted good with a slight chill on it, especially on a 90+ degree Memorial Day weekend afternoon. For $12, an excellent summertime red.

Brad said his next challenge would be to clear more acreage to expand his planting. The next grape varietal he wants to get in the ground was Albarino, one of my favorite Spanish/Portuguese grapes. What an interesting and potentially fruitful (I know, I know…) choice.

I thought La Vigna was approaching these wines in the right way. Rather than going for a quick turnaround, they’re trying to find “real” wines that will work. Of the wines from Ohio that I’ve tried so far, only Kinkead Ridge (which is less than 15 minutes further down the road if you’re making a wine-tasting day of it) has matched what La Vigna is accomplishing. Since La Vigna is a relatively young winery, I’ll be interested in following their progress over the coming years. They’re definitely worth checking out. The winery is open for public tastings on Saturdays throughout the summer from 12-6 pm.

Starting up the Summer

I had the good fortune last week to co-lead a tasting with my pal Danny Gold from Party Source. The theme of the tasting changed quite a bit during our planning stages. We thought about doing wines from every continent or just sticking to cabernet blends from all over – but neither of those really rang true.

We each ended up picking three wines that were relatively inexpensive and we “just liked.” To our sold-out crowd, this seemed to work just fine. Only after everything was over and done did I realize that we’d unknowingly cobbled together a pretty decent slate of beginning-of-summer bottles: two easy drinking and interesting whites, a couple of light and flexible reds, and a couple of bigger red wines suitable for grilling. So, Since Memorial Day and the “official start of summer” are upon us, without further ado:

Cucao 2009 Pedro Ximenez – This light white caught my eye because of the grape. “Pedro Ximenez” (or “PX”) is the name of a Spanish grape used largely in the production of Sherry. (If you recall, I haven’t had the greatest experiences with that particular tipple.) Certain grapes do interesting things when planted outside their native home. I’m a huge fan of Malbec, which was largely a minor French blending grape until it was planted in Argentina. I thought I’d take a chance and see what the soils of Chile might have contributed here.

Turns out that the Chilean terroir is very kind to PX. The nose is quite lovely, full of flowers and spice. It’s light bodied and quite acidic like a citrusy pinot grigio, but with an interesting melony flavor and a slight “briny” taste that echoed the not-unpleasant parts of Sherry. The finish is light and crisp. This would be a perfect summer porch day wine and the high acid content makes it a match with many summer cuisines – fish or shellfish, chicken, salads, light pastas. At around nine bucks, it’s a pretty complex, intriguing wine. Certainly worth a try. Vote for Pedro!

Terra di Briganti 2009 Sannio Falanghina – Danny’s selection was another “unfamiliar” grape – this time from Italy. I admitted being somewhat skeptical. My first experience with Falanghina was the wine sent by Savannah Samson a few years ago. It wasn’t, shall we say, the tastiest of whites. Danny knows his stuff, though. This one won me over. Another light bodied white, although with a somewhat creamier feel. The flavor brought more tropical fruits – peaches and pineapples – to the table. The finish was soft and pleasant with a nice little acidic zing. Goat cheeses would go nicely, as would richer fishes like trout or salmon. Lobster would be divine here. I also found it very drinkable on its own. If you’re a fan of Italian whites, give this a run at around $15.

Domaine Dupeuble 2009 Beaujolais – I make no secret of my love of Beaujolais in the summer. I ask you, what’s more perfect for a warm weather bottle than a light, easy-drinking red wines that pair with almost anything foodwise and taste best with a slight chill? Sign me up! The 2009 vintage in Beaujolais was, by all accounts, a year for the ages. Some of the best Beaujolais are being compared favorably to higher end Burgundy. The 2009’s are now readily available and you should snap them up if you’re into this sort of thing.

Off the bat, lovely waves of rich cherry flavor and a bit of smokiness greet you here. Most straight Beaujolais are nowhere near this “full” tasting. Great fruit, nice acid, and just an overall sense of well-balanced yumminess follows. There’s a lot to pull apart in this wine, but don’t work too hard on it. I think it’s best enjoyed as a whole, non-thinking “experience.”

French wine can be confusing, as I’ve mentioned on numerous occasions. One thing you can do is to check the bottle of a French (or Italian or anywhere, really) wine that you liked and check the name of the importer. This particular Beaujolais is a Kermit Lynch selection. I’ve had very good luck with almost anything that has his name on it. Around $13.

Tenuta delle Terre Nere 2009 Etna Rosso – Danny was stoked about pouring this. The Rosso is from vineyards on the side of Mount Etna in Sicily which were left fallow for decades. Winemaker Mark DeGrazia opened these vineyards and made this red from the indigenous Nerello grape. The grapes are grown at the highest elevation in Europe for growing red grapes in soil that’s basically volcanic ash. The method of production is almost identical to that used in Burgundy. The result is a light-bodied, fragrant, exceptionally tasty wine that strongly echoes the flavors of French pinot noir. It’s very well balanced, has a light earthiness to the flavor that I really enjoyed, along with layers of raspberry and minerals. I’d nestle it up nicely next to light red-sauced pastas, grilled fish, or something like a chicken/veal picatta. $15-18.

Charles Smith “The Velvet Devil” 2009 Washington State Merlot – I like throwing Charles Smith’s wines in tastings when I can, since they’re just fun wines. Smith, self-taught winemaker and former manager of Scandinavian death metal bands, has a number of wines in his “Modernist Project” set of offerings. Modernist Project wines (easily locatable in your store by the black and white labels and interesting names) are designed to be wines you can crack, pour, and drink – but that aren’t one-note, unbalanced wines. I think that this merlot is absolutely killer. Blackberry, cinnamon, dark chocolate – all blended and balanced. For a wine this sumptuous, it’s very easy to drink. Grill some meat. Pour this wine. Eat. Drink. You’ll be happy. You’ll also be happy if you want something with a chocolate-based dessert later on and you have a bottle of this on hand. And at around $10, you can afford a couple of bottles.

Thorn-Clarke 2009 “Shotfire” Shiraz – Danny wanted to finish up with a bang, so he dug into the Australian aisle and pulled out this monster of a red. The Shotfire is a jammy, high-alcohol shiraz. It checks in at around 16% alcohol, so make sure you give it a few minutes to catch its breath after you open it before you dip your nose in. You’re hit with big, plummy shiraz flavor backed with a white peppery finish. While you get some enormous flavors, I didn’t find them overwhelming. You just have to know what you’re in for and plan accordingly. If you’ve got yourself a slab of barbecue ribs or almost anything else with a rub or a sauce that you want outside, this is your wine. Like many Aussie Shiraz, it’s also a winner with chocolate, especially dark chocolate. Right around $15.

Drink up and enjoy!

 

Technorati Tags: wine,wine tasting,wine pairing

Wine & Dinner of the Month Club – May 2011

One thing you need to know about Christine is that she loves the bubbly. It doesn’t matter if it is champagne, prosecco or cava; if it sparkles, she’s a fan. I think it matches her sparkling personality. So when picking out the wines for her monthly dinners, I always include a couple of sparklers. Last year I picked up a bottle of Les Rocailles Brut and paired it with a brunch of quiche and cinnamon buns. She like it so much that I decided to repeat it this year. This time, however, we had as special guests - our friends and neighbors Marlane and Steve and Pam and Mike, the Naked Vinester himself. With the exception of the green salad and citrus salad, which I made up myself, all the recipes for this month came from The America’s Test Kitchen Family Cookbook Third Edition (© 2010 by The Editors at America’s Test Kitchen).

Wine

Les Rocailles Brut Sparkling Wine

Brunch

• Farmer’s Market Green Salad with Cucumber and Asparagus
• Fresh Citrus Fruit Salad
• Breakfast Strata with Spinach and Havarti
• Cinnamon Rolls

I have to say that I really love these recipes that you can assemble ahead of time and then pop in the oven. I did that with both the strata and the cinnamon rolls so that in the morning all I had to do was put them in the oven while I made the citrus fruit salad and green salad. For the strata prep I toasted the bread and then layered that in the pan with a sautéed spinach mixture and grated havarti cheese. I then poured over the layers a mixture of eggs, half and half and a little white wine. The strata went in to the refrigerator overnight. One tip from the cookbook is to put plastic over the strata and then place plastic bags of sugar on top as weight. This helps force the egg mixture down into the lower layer of bread.

I had a little trouble with the cinnamon rolls, as it was a particularly humid night and I accidentally added a little too much liquid to the dough. It was very wet and sticky and I was just about to throw it out and start over. Fortunately, Christine was there to talk me down. We added extra flour, got the dough into a nice ball, put it in a bowl and left it alone. A couple of hours later it had risen properly and I was able to assemble the rolls and get them into the refrigerator, ready to be baked the next day.

In the morning I made the citrus salad while Christine rode her bike to the Bellevue Farmer’s Market where she picked up some beautiful spinach, lettuce, cucumber and asparagus for the green salad. At the appointed time, the guests arrived and while we chatted and sipped mimosas (not made with the Les Rocailles, heaven forbid) the strata was baking. We served it up with the salads.

While we enjoyed the strata and salad course, I put the cinnamon rolls in to the oven to bake. After they came out golden brown, I drizzled them with a cream cheese and sugar icing. I served them with some great tasting Starbucks House Blend Coffee.

Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the cinnamon rolls that were (almost) as big as their heads. We even had enough left over to send a couple home with everyone.

As Mike has told us many times, sparklers are very food friendly wines and can go with a wide array of cuisines. In this case, I think it was a great accompaniment to the variety of flavors from the egg-y, cheesy strata to the acidity of the citrus salad. On a personal note, this meal rated high on the fun-meter. Of course, with company like this, every meal is delightful.

[Editor’s Note: I couldn’t agree more. Thanks, Jeff!]

The Alphabet Soup Project – “H” is for “Horizontal”

Wine tastings. Sources of inspiration, knowledge, and occasionally a pretty decent buzz by the time all’s said and done. When I’m asked how I started getting into wine, I can point to a monthly wine tasting series the Sweet Partner in Crime and I used to attend regularly. These events introduced us to varietals, wine regions, the idea of terroir – but the most important part of it all is that we got to compare wines.

Comparison is key. Tasting a chardonnay from California next to one from Chile next to one from France gives you a clear vision of how wildly different a grape can taste when grown in different places. Similarly, you can taste three California chardonnays next to each other – one might be oaky, one buttery, and one crisp – all because of how the wine was treated after harvest. on These kinds of comparisons helps you learn what you like and what you’re looking for in a glass of wine.

Most tastings you find are freeform. They’re often simply collections of wines that someone either thinks would taste good together (like “Wines for Summer” or my May 18th “Wines across the Continents” tasting with Danny Gold at Party Source…hint, hint…) There’s nothing wrong with these and they’re a lot of fun, but it’s not necessarily the most educational experience.

If you hang out in the wine tasting world long enough, you’ll hear the WineSpeak terms “Vertical Tasting” and “Horizontal Tasting.” Either one of these should make your ears prick up like a beagle. These types of tastings are where you can learn the most.

I’ve only been to a couple of vertical tastings. A vertical tasting is a series of wines, usually from the same winery, from different vintages. As you can guess, these don’t come along too often. They’re often pretty high-end affairs, since if someone has that many bottles from a single winery lying around, they’re usually a collector – which will usually put the pricetag largely out of Vine range. So, if you ever get invited to one of these – jump at the chance and befriend this person! It’s a unique experience.

Much more common (and much more naughty sounding) is the Horizontal Tasting. Horizontal tastings you can do at home. (Hmm…more naughty sounding by the minute!.) A horizontal tasting is usually wines of the same varietal, vintage, and region. They often have similar price points. They’re usually from different wineries. If you find a region’s wines that you really like, you can gather a few bottles (and perhaps a few friends) to compare and contrast. This sharpens your palate and gives you a much better understanding of what you like and don’t like about that particular wine.

For example, the SPinC and I decided to do a horizontal tasting of Sauvignon Blanc from Marlborough, New Zealand. When we’re out on the town looking at pre-dinner drinks, she tends to go for these wines. We like them – they’re usually crisp, relatively light, grapefruity, and have an “herbaceous” quality on the nose. They’re good food wines because of their high acidity, but they’re plenty quaffable on their own. We decided to try three of them, all in the $12-15 range:

• The Crossings 2010 Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc
• Brancott 2010 Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc
• Kim Crawford 2010 Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc

Our selections established quite a contrast. We started with the Crossings, which is so light in color that it practically looks like water. It was extremely acidic, full of grapefruit and lime, and very light. Lighter than most pinot grigio, I’d say – although with more character. I thought it tasted delicate and finished somewhat “prickly.”

The Brancott was heavier on the palate and richer. It wasn’t quite as tart – there were some honey flavors next to the citrus. The wine had a little more “oomph” to it. “If the the first is a lime, then this one is key lime pie,” remarked the SPinC.

The Kim Crawford tasted like it was designed for an American palate. Everything was toned down and smoothed out so as to be firmly middle of the road. Very easy to drink. There wasn’t as much herb and the citrus was less pronounced. “This is key lime pie with plenty of whipped cream,” came the comparison. It wasn’t bad – it just wasn’t nearly as interesting.

For dinner that evening, I grilled up some turkey burgers and some asparagus and tried the wines. We topped the burgers with avocado and tomato, and had some extra tomato slices alongside. When we did a little research, New Zealand sauvignon blanc was a recommended pairing for both asparagus and avocado – two foods that can be wine killers.

We discovered that the Crossings was one of the few white wines that tasted really good with tomatoes on their own. It makes sense with its high level of acidity, but we almost always think red wine with tomato-based stuff. It was also our choice with the asparagus (which we drizzled with balsamic vinegar and olive oil). Some people think the “herbaceousness” of New Zealand sauvignon blanc smells like cat pee. While it might, it was a benefit with the asparagus. The flavors actually melded nicely.

The avocado and burgers worked best with the Brancott. The creaminess of the wine worked well with the texture of the avocado. Since this wine had a little more body, it was able to better handle the turkey. The grilled flavor didn’t overwhelm the wine at all.

The Crawford was just “wine” alongside this particular meal. It didn’t really do anything all that interesting for us. However, when we did a steamed sea bass and sautéed squash, tomatoes, and zucchini the next night, this wine was a very solid pairing. While it didn’t do as well for us next to these other New Zealand sauvignons at our initial tasting, on its own with different food, it was plenty tasty enough. The greater “creaminess” of this wine probably complemented the bass better than the other, more acidic Sauvignon Blancs would have.

All of these wines, in general, fall into the general flavor profile for New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc that I mentioned above, but it was fascinating to see how much the wines varied within that general definition. This is what I mean by “sharpening your palate.” The more you try, the more you learn. The more you learn, the easier it is to find exactly what it is you’re looking for.

 

Technorati Tags: wine,wine tasting,New Zealand

The Naked Vine Live

A quick reminder to everyone – Danny Gold and I will be leading another tasting at The Party Source on May 18th. We’re going to be looking at “Wines Across the Continents,” so it should be a pretty good spread of tastiness!
To sign up, click here.
Hope to see you there!