Benito's Wine Reviews

Noroc! Exclusiv Vodca & Sparkling Rosé

2012-01-30T00:41:00.000-08:00

Moldova is a small country sandwiched between Ukraine and Romania, though historically, linguistically and culturally much closer to Romania and western Europe than the nearby Slavic nations of the former Soviet Union. Moldovan is a Romance language (practically the same as Romanian) and uses the Latin alphabet rather than Cyrillic. The history and geography are quite complicated due to different pieces of the modern country belonging to the Russian Empire, Kingdom of Romania, or the Soviet Union from the 1800s to WWII with the formation of the Moldavian SSR. It's also landlocked in what seems to be a purely punitive manner: the southeastern border near Odessa is just 2km/1.2 miles from an estuary of the Black Sea.

Although Moldova boasts five thousand years of wine production, there have been significant interruptions. 300 years of occupation by the Ottoman Empire, WWI, WWII, then half a century of making sweet wine and vodka for Russia, and most recently, since 2006 Russia has had a ban on Moldovan wine due to tensions over Transnistria. Losing their biggest export market meant that Moldovan winemakers had to look elsewhere for sales, which is how a bottle of bubbly and a bottle of vodka from Exclusiv ended up here in Memphis.

A friend asks, "How'd you get Moldovan wine and liquor?" I reply, "Well, it has a lot to do with the 1939 Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact and the Cession of Bessarabia. How much time have you got?"

Exclusiv Vodca
Distilled from wheat
$9, 40% abv.
Typing notes about vodka is always interesting, because you'll have an Absolut and a Polish wodka and now "Exclusiv Vodca", all fun for the spell check. The vodka is clean and neutral with a quick finish. Very mild notes of grain. I sampled it both at room temperature and after a few hours in the freezer, and it's much smoother at low temperatures. The real deal here is that you can get a frosted-glass bottle full of decent wheat vodka for under ten dollars, a third the price of its anserine competitor.

NV Esti Exclusiv Moscato Rosé
Made from Muscat grapes
$9, 10% abv.
I was excited to try this, but I was afraid that it would be incredibly sweet, or perhaps evoke some of the memories of my run-in with Советское Шампанское. But I was pleasantly surprised. Slightly musky nose with touches of ripe plum, classic Muscat aromas but with a deeper edge. Great acidity and not too sweet, great balance. Not cloying on the finish. Fascinating dark flavors and reminiscent of the plump muscadine grapes that grow wild here in the South. It's still sweet enough that I'd recommend it as a dessert wine, though if you're looking for an introduction to Eastern European wines you'll be hard pressed to find one that's a better crowd pleaser. The bottle's non-threatening, it tastes good, and the Italians have made the word "Moscato" a safe one for the wine novice. Really a fun bottle, and worth checking out if you get the opportunity.

Note: These bottles were received as samples.

Kanon Organic Vodka

2012-01-27T00:54:00.000-08:00

I love it when a piece of history shows up on my doorstep. The Kanon Organic Vodka is made by the Gripsholm Distillery in Akers Styckebruk, Sweden. The old factory has been around since 1580, originally a combination distillery and foundry for making cannons during the reign of King Karl IX, the Protestant king who usurped the Catholic Sigismund. I don't know a lot about Karl IX, but for some reason I had to learn a lot about his son Gustav II Adolf, a fascinating figure. Ascending the throne at the age of 17, he became the leader of Protestant Europe against the Holy Roman Empire during the massive and bloody Thirty Years' War. 8 million people died during the conflict, which included armies from virtually every country in Europe plus the Ottoman Empire. Definitely a prelude for the modern industrial world wars that would follow (not just the two big ones, but others like the Seven Years' War of the mid-18th century).

Now, I have no way of knowing this for sure, but it's possible that a young Gustavus Adolphus took his first sip of liquor from the same distillery whose bottle now graces my humble Memphis abode. Skål, Gustav!

Kanon Organic Vodka
Sweden
$25, 40% abv.

This vodka is distilled from locally grown organic wheat, and on top of that the distillery currently runs on wind and water power. There's a somewhat grainy flavor with a crisp finish--no citrus notes, but more earth and a touch of astringent bite on the end. Ultimately smooth but bracing. It works well in cocktails: I tried it with a Moscow Mule as well as a simple Vodka Tonic, and both got the personal seal of approval. Good all-around solid vodka with a fun story.

On top of that, it is an interesting bottle. While the design is a bit hard to make out (not enough contrast in that lower text!), I like the simple sans-serif font and the old metal seal of the cannon foundry. The sliced off cannonball cap is a nice touch, and I'll probably hang onto this bottle for fun even after its contents have gone the way of Sweden's non-neutral past.

P.S. One other odd bit of Swedish military history that I love but rarely get to mention. In the 19th century, the island of Visingsö was planted with oak trees in hopes of having shipbuilding supplies for necessary invasions of Germany or England or whoever needed to be fought... in 200 years. In the 1980s, the forestry service contacted the Swedish Navy and said, "Your trees are ready." Now it's a national forest.

Note: This spirit was received as a sample.

Anniversary Weekend Cooking Adventures

2012-01-25T00:31:00.000-08:00

I didn't really have any plans to celebrate the 7th anniversary of the blog, and after a busy week had thought that I'd just grill some burgers and take it easy. But I awoke early on Saturday with cravings for good food, Northern Italian style, and the knowledge that a pair of Super Tuscans could make it all incredible. I hit a couple of ethnic markets around town for ingredients and was able to perform Act I by lunchtime.

When most people in the US crave "Italian" food, the menu sticks to the Southern Italian and Sicilian recipes as they've become adapted into the distinct Italian-American cuisine of the 20th century: spaghetti, pizza, lasagna... Noodles and cheese and red sauce. When I visited Italy for three weeks, I spent the entire time north of Rome (except for two somewhat unpleasant days in Rome itself). One of my favorite things to make and consume is crespelle, savory crêpes that are sort of like Italian enchiladas: stuffed with meat and vegetables, topped with a sauce, and baked. Here I used Marcella Hazan's classic recipe with a spinach, garlic, and prosciutto filling with besciamella sauce and grated Romano cheese rounding out the inside and outside of the crespelle. Absolutely wonderful, and I limited myself to three as the primo piatto with a little New Zealand white wine I'll write about later.

For secondo piatto, I didn't follow any specific recipe but rather went with a gut feel about what I was craving: a rabbit chopped into its constituent cuts, slowly stewed with sweet discus-shaped cipollini onions, homemade chicken stock, red wine, and San Marzano tomatoes. A few hours did the lagomorph good, and I was able to spoon the rich stew on the plate beside a healthy dollop of freshly mixed polenta.

Sadly, this photo didn't come out quite the way I wanted, but I was ravenous at this point and had just finished a few hours of cooking and plating and everything else for just two people. Julia had never had rabbit before but dove into it enthusiastically, and while I've prepared this meat many different ways in the past, I've got to say that this not only satisfied my cravings for rustic European food but was also my best rabbit dish to date. The onions were great but I knew that I could coax some more flavor out of them. Thankfully I had more cipollini waiting in a little net bag for Sunday lunch...

Time out for wine, which is really the focus of this blog, right? I had a pair of wines from Il Borro, a Tuscan winery operated by the Ferragamo family, famous for their fashionable shoes over the past hundred years.

Both wines are of the following label and built from the same combination of grapes:

Il Borro Toscana IGT
50% Merlot, 35% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Syrah, 5% Petit Verdot

The 2008 celebrates the 10th anniversary of this blend, and retails for around $36 dollars at 14% abv. The 2004 vintage was included for aging comparison and clocks in at 14.5% abv. I really like the inclusion of Syrah along with the standard Bordeaux grapes, whether we're talking about California or elsewhere. Both wines have a dominant profile of bright red cherry, with notes of cedar, leather, and a somewhat creamy finish. Hints of spice showed up later. While both wines had great full-fruit elements, the 2004 was smoother, better balanced, and had lighter tannins.

And, I must admit, both wines were amazing with the stewed rabbit. But how would they hold up the next day for Act II?

As I was celebrating getting out of a small cooking rut with some culinary successes, I chose to continue that momentum with some leftovers and a few additional ingredients. This Southern boy was craving cornbread and collard greens. But I didn't want a slab of ham and some broccoli-rice casserole to round things out. I slow-cooked a big bunch of mustard greens with garlic and leftover prosciutto, seared and roasted a lamb shoulder chop, and pan-fried some of the leftover polenta in slices, topped with a bit more of the shredded Romano.

But what about my precious little cipollini? Oh, I just tossed them with a combination of balsamic vinegar, maple syrup, and olive oil and roasted them for about an hour until they became the sweetest little gems that any root vegetable could ever hope to become. Sunday lunch was a solitary affair, and once again the wines worked quite well with the food I'd made. I was able to quietly toast the anniversary with a pair of great wines in front of me, and no worries about the massive consumption of onions and garlic for any potential social encounters in the following eighteen hours.

All in all a delightful and epicurean weekend. Part of me wishes that I'd been able to entertain more people with the dishes, but on the other hand, it was fun to cook for two and then one. Simple peasant food can often be the source of such deep and wonderful pleasure, and on a cold January afternoon, that can sometimes be best enjoyed in smaller settings.

Note: These wines were received as samples.

7th Anniversary

2012-01-23T00:12:00.000-08:00

For seven years, I've been scribbling messages thrice weekly, tossing digital bottles into the ocean, and am still constantly surprised by how much response I receive. Readers make writing worthwhile, and I thank each and every one of you that drops by, either regularly or through a web search about a certain wine. I've had the opportunity to try some amazing wines, spectacular food, and have met some of the most interesting and friendly people in the world.

How to celebrate? The Seven Year Itch suggests that it's time to wander and maybe start writing for a different, younger blog. The seventh-inning stretch would indicate that it's time to take a short break and make sure I can keep going for another two years. The existential dread of seventh grade encourages me that if I make it through this awkward phase with sanity intact then everything will be great later on.

None of that really applies to blogging, does it? There's no end in sight, no definite map of how things should or can develop over time. Frankly, lasting past a week is a big accomplishment for most any website in terms of making new content and providing regular updates. In that respect bloggers are more like survivors of the Ebola virus: "We don't know how long you'll live because typically people in your position are gone by now. Please don't cough on me."

It's been a fun year blogwise. Some highlights include:

So what next? I've got a few ideas and tweaks and twists that I might apply to the blog, or not depending on how they work. I'll probably redesign the whole layout again in a few months when I get tired of this particular look. Might try to do some more challenging cooking, tackling those areas like pastry or sausage making in which I have limited experience. But for now, I raise my glass to you, dear reader, and shout "Excelsior! Onward and upward!"

Benito vs. the Cocktail: The Suffering Bastard

2012-01-20T00:10:00.000-08:00

On the hour-long drive home from work (rain, Memphis traffic, and construction) I dreamily thought through the ingredients in the old home bar and mentally flipped through a few recipes I'd read recently. One popped to mind, and thus upon arrival at the house ~~my butler~~ I began to combine the ingredients for a restorative beverage. The Suffering Bastard is an old cocktail with a lot of variations. It was invented as a hangover cure in late 1940s Cairo. Think a Casablanca-style bar catering to westerners in post-war North Africa.

There are many versions of this involving some crazy substitute ingredients, but I settled on this one from Robert Hess because it had a kind of Sidecar vibe that I was liking. And about halfway through the cocktail, I introduced the ginger ale to try that style.

The Suffering Bastard

1 oz. Gin
1 oz. Lime Juice
¾ oz. Bourbon
Dash of Angostura Bitters
Ginger Ale to taste

Combine ingredients in glass and stir. Garnish options include all or some of the following: maraschino cherry, orange wedge, sprig of mint, and cucumber peel. Go crazy if you're making it for something else, but a young bachelor making a cocktail for himself after work might want to stick to those ingredients that can be poured from bottles or pulled from jars (though he will squeeze fresh lime juice, because he is not an uncivilized wretch).

The list of ingredients seems insane, but this works amazingly well. It somehow ends up tasting more like fresh squeezed orange juice than a Screwdriver, and you can't detect the presence of either Bourbon or gin. The citrus and bitters combine with the aromatic liquors to produce a strangely balanced new flavor. WIth ginger ale, it moves from a tart and powerful cocktail to a refreshing icy sipper that would be great in the summer. I'd say mix up a pitcher of this and serve it at a party before you tell folks what's in it. They should be pleasantly surprised.

Fisheye Wines

2012-01-18T00:55:00.000-08:00

Today I try a pair of wines from Underdog Wine and Spirits, and looking through the brand portfolio I think I've tried most of their wines over the past few years. Many of these are simple, affordable table wines that are still attached to real winemakers, and many are also available in the convenient Octavin 3L format.

Fisheye is based out of New South Wales, though the grapes come from Southeastern Australia. The holidays are over, but there are still parties to be had in the early part of the year and a need to stock up on inexpensive wines to satisfy a crowd. Like the Super Bowl, or, well, Australia Day on the 26th.

2011 Fisheye Pinot Grigio
Southeastern Australia
$7, 12% abv.
Ripe and fruity with a lot of peach and tart acidity. Great with grilled shellfish and fresh salads, which is a bit at contrast with wintry weather up here in the Northern Hemisphere, but there's no reason to pretend like it's warmer.

2010 Fisheye Shiraz
Southeastern Australia
$7, 13.5% abv
Black cherry and plum, fruit forward with milder tannins than expected. Simple and uncomplicated and a good accompaniment for burgers or some flank steak.

Note: These wines were received as samples.

Dulcius ex asperis

2012-01-16T00:13:00.000-08:00

After doing a lot of cooking at home, at parties, and on icy mountaintops for the past 20 years, I don't have any fear of failure in the kitchen. It doesn't mean that I don't screw up--my New Year's Eve fondue was a dud and I burned a frozen waffle the other day. But I tend to celebrate said disasters rather than get anxious or annoyed. Frankly at this point I enjoy learning something from a cooking failure, and then there are the occasions when the end result is sweeter out of difficulties.

I was planning on doing simple tacos for Saturday, with roasted chicken thighs and braised pork shoulder. With the latter I'll usually throw a few cans of tomatoes and chiles in the enameled Dutch oven along with the pork and let it slow cook until everything is nice and tender, just enough to be pulled easily with a fork. I got distracted with a few other projects and that shoulder ended up simmering for almost ten hours. Because I'd started on Friday, there was plenty of time to make something new for Saturday, but I decided to let it all cool and see what I had to work with in the morning.

Saturday I woke up and discovered that the pork was almost mushy. Flavorful, just barely still in muscular strings but soft and buried under a half inch layer of pork fat and gelatin. I poked around and thought that, it weren't for the tomatoes and chiles and assorted spices, I'd accidentally made rillettes de porc. For the tacos, I took a few spoonfuls and mixed in a bit of chipotles in adobo sauce. I had to be gentle, and just barely warmed it, but the rillettes worked wonderfully in a warm flour tortilla at lunch.

For dinner, I took the opportunity to try another application with my favorite sandwich, the medianoche from Cuba. Ham, Swiss cheese, mustard, pickles, roast pork, all pressed in a loaf of bread split longways and brushed with butter before grilling. Most of the elements of this sandwich are pretty basic and don't change a lot, but the type and preparation of the pork does make a big difference. Sliced pork loin doesn't work that great. Smoked or roasted shoulder that's been pulled is the standard, but can often come out in chunks as you're eating.

But a rillettes-style preparation? Perfect. The flavor is great, but you also get something like a porky version of the tuna melt. Some of the fat renders back out into the bread and helps with crisping, while it slices neatly and makes for easy eating. If I were having to make a lot of these on a regular basis I'd be making Caribbean-spiced rillettes all the time.

I've packed away most of my rillettes de porc mexicaine in the freezer, knowing that in a month or so I'll want to mix some with chopped dates and almonds to serve on toast points.

Dewar's 12

2012-01-13T00:47:00.000-08:00

Dewar's White Label was my father's go-to Scotch during my formative years. I can remember him saying that he didn't develop an interest in Scotch until after he turned thirty, and I found that to be true for myself as well. Despite all of my Scottish enthusiasm during my teens and twenties (Burns' Night Dinners, haggis, bagpipe music, sword dancing, etc.), Scotch smelled revolting until I'd reached my Return of Saturn.

In the past few years I've grown to love and appreciate a good Scotch. On the rare occasions when I order it in a restaurant, I tend to go with the funky, peaty bottles from the islands. And I've had some beautifully aged Scotches as well. Thus I was excited when Julia regifted me with a bottle of Dewars 12. Whoever gives aged Scotch to a twenty-something woman is crazy, but despite all of that I came out as the clear winner.

A quick diversion... The last bearded president was Benjamin Harrison (1889-1893), which has allowed me to rebuke my mother's notion of "scruffy" with my own definitions of "presidential", "Victorian", or perhaps my favorite, Fredric's suggestion that I don't need to shave in order to preserve a certain Rabelaisian character. So I enjoy that little connection to our last president with full facial hair, and have also begged for a bachelor presidential candidate like James Buchanan. Fred Thompson was the closest in recent history, but I bring all of this up because Scottish immigrant Andrew Carnegie gave Benjamin Harrison a bunch of Dewar's Scotch back in 1891 and it became popular in the US because of said gift. Carnegie built a ton of libraries, I love libraries and enjoy reading, and the connections keep intertwining like the complex offspring of a hydra and an ouroboros.

Dewar's 12 Year Old Special Reserve
$18/375mL, 43% abv.
Scotland

Rich and tangy on the initial taste with deep oak notes. Vanilla, caramel, and smoke show up with little touches of tobacco, leather, and orange peel. Entry level Scotch tends to be thin and quick; this has some weight and heft to it, and clings to the glass. Now, I've had deeper 18 and 20 year olds, but I'm quite pleased with the performance of this filly that's made a dozen laps around the sun before settling for a quiet rest in my small brandy snifter. Time to pour another half inch in the glass and enjoy the sting of cold weather against the warmth of slowly sipped whisky as did my ancestors...

Cornish Game Hen Lunch

2012-01-11T00:10:00.000-08:00

I've always enjoyed cooking and eating Cornish Game Hens, but I got dissuaded in 2009 during a dinner party. It was my last time making them, and instead of ridiculous little baseballs, I had pretty hefty chickens. I noticed that local grocery stores weren't carrying them as much, and the ones that were tended to be enormous. And while I don't mind using stranger smaller chickens, I figured that the days of individual servings were over.

As is often the case when you get irritated about a certain food, you stop looking at it and then it becomes invisible. But in my continuing joy of cooking things that are new to Julia, I decided to give the game hen another try. And surprisingly, the local Super Target had a bunch of them in the freezer for around $3 a pop. And more importantly, they were small. Not frail like quail, but the stocky little bantams I'd come to love years ago.

I was going to do simple salt and pepper for the ladies, followed with something spicier for myself, but I rolled the dice and ground up a little mole sauce using dried guajillos, cocoa powder, walnuts, garlic, olive oil, and a few other bits of magic. I thoroughly coated all three birds and roasted them in a hot oven. For sides, a little red cabbage and apples, some multicolored baby potatoes, and suddenly we've got a simple winter meal that's packed full of flavor. The game hens and potatoes were a big hit, with mixed reviews on the cabbage. Now I'm wishing I'd added a lot more vinegar to that particular dish, but I'm happy with the way everything turned out.

While possibly not the ideal pairing, the margaritas from Monday's post turned out to be a very fun and tasty accompaniment to lunch on a rainy Saturday afternoon in January.

2012 Margarita

2012-01-09T01:31:00.000-08:00

The Margarita is one of America's least-respected cocktails. The origin is so simple: good tequila, fresh lime juice, orange liqueur, and a bit of sweetness if desired. Served shaken or over ice, but fresh and with little bits of fresh lime pulp popping between your teeth. Instead, we get green slushes mixd up with white rum or vodka and as long as it's tart and sweet and served in a salted glass, everyone is happy.

I'm not a tequila expert, but I do tend to be a purist when it comes to the margarita. And while I love the classic lime, I've always felt it was in the spirit of the cocktail to use other freshly squeezed citrus, like my Blood Orange Margarita.

For this I used a basic 4:2:2:1 ratio, which is four parts tequila, two parts lime juice, two parts orange liqueur, and one part simple syrup. The tequila is listed below, but I was really impressed with a new orange liqueur I found. O3 is made by DeKuyper and is clear and slightly sweet like Cointreau. It's made from Brazilian pera oranges and has a great fresh orange peel aroma to it. Not really sour or bitter but focused on the sweet and fruity aspects of the orange.

Lunazul Reposado
$30/1.75L bottle, 40% abv.

A decent and affordable tequila with a good bit of oak and earth on the nose. It's got that classic tequila tang to it but with more depth than I was expecting. As a cocktail ingredient it made for a great margarita, just enough agave aroma and flavor to make it authentic without being overwhelming in any direction.

New Year's Eve Roundup

2012-01-06T00:56:00.000-08:00

New Year's made for a fun weekend this year. I waited until almost the last minute to pick up some bubbly for the occasion, and decided to go visit wine retailer, fellow blogger, and friend Michael Hughes at Joe's Wines & Liquors. I let him pick out everything for me. Now, for the reader this might be confusing. Yes, there are thousands of wine reviews here on this site, and I'd like to think I can work my way around a wine shop or a wine list without too much difficulty. But Michael knows what I like, he knows his stock, and can point me in the direction of something I might have otherwise ignored. For instance, on December 30th I served this with dinner:

2007 Giovanni Galliano Brut Rosé
Piedmont, Italy
100% Pinot Noir
$32, 13.5% abv.
A truly wonderful experience. So pale a rosé that it looks white from certain angles. Crisp raspberry aromas and flavors with a touch of toast and lemony acidity. Medium bubbles and a long, lingering finish. Fun but dignified and definitely something different. If you think Italy is all about Prosecco and Moscato, this will change your mind. Highly recommended.

For the party on the 31st with Julia and her friends, I was looking for more casual but still well-constructed wines. Here's what Michael suggested:

NV Poema Cava Extra Dry
Penedès, Spain
35% Macabeo, 35% Xarel-lo, 30% Parellada
$13, 11.5% abv.

NV Poema Cava Brut Rosé
Penedès, Spain
100% Trepat
$13, 11.5% abv.

I love a fun and fizzy Cava, and these two did not disappoint. The Extra Dry was actually quite dry, but of the two I preferred the Brut Rosé. Both were crisp, refreshing, and fairly uncomplicated, but I liked the depth and broader fruit flavors in the pink.

The third bottle is an Australian McWilliams Riesling that ended up as a gift for the hostess to enjoy later, and I hope she likes it.

And then there was fondue... I used some leftover white wine and a splash of brandy with the cheese. And what cheeses? The bulk came from Jarlsberg and St. Paulin with some contributing notes from scraps of Parrano and an aged Gouda. This was not quite as good as it might sound, since it's been quite a while since I've made fondue and I was using an improvised bain marie. The flavor combination was great, but I couldn't quite get it smooth enough and it turned solid rather quickly once removed from the pot. Still, there was a ton of great food contributed by all the guests and we all had a wonderful time.

Michter's American Whiskey Co.

2012-01-04T00:19:00.000-08:00

Michter's story goes back to an enterprising Swiss Mennonite farmer in Pennsylvania. Way back, as in 1753. (European readers are not allowed to laugh at this.) The whiskey warmed George Washington's troops at Valley Forge and survived for more than 150 years before Prohibition but things to an end. It came back later, but was ultimately resurrected as a craft spirit in the 1990s.

What I'm sampling now is made in Bardstown, Kentucky according to the original recipes and methods. Normally I'd decry such a move ("This 'Napa' Cab was actually made in an industrial factory outside of Las Vegas!"), but if anything, I trust the Commonwealth of Kentucky in general and Bardstown in specific to do whiskey right. I'm also impressed that the individual spirits have different alcohol levels. I'm not suggesting that a percentage point here or there is going to change your mind, but it's more a reflection of "this is how the whiskey is" rather than watering it down or punching it up to reach an even 80 proof.

Michter's US*1 Unblended Small Batch American Whiskey
Batch No. 11-179
Aged in Bourbon-soaked American white oak barrels
41.7% abv.
Touch of vanilla, light and mild oak, dry and neat. No sweetness, not as brisk as Scotch, but a good solid whiskey. Oddly reminiscent of a heavily oaked Chardonnay, but here it's a more appropriate application of the flavor.

Michter's US*1 Small Batch Bourbon
Batch No. 11-159
Aged in charred new American white oak barrels
45.7% abv.
Deeper, smokier, heavier oak profile, and more classic Bourbon flavors. Still pretty sharp, but I bet the longer aged versions of this are incredible. I was expecting it to be a little sweeter but it's still drier than some of your entry-level Bourbons. I'm anxious to try this one in a Manhattan.

Michter's US*1 Single Barrel Straight Rye Whiskey
Batch No. H137-76
Aged in charred new American white oak barrels
42.4% abv.
Spicy and peppery, with a nice bite. Unmistakable rye flavor and I just adore it. If you know someone who has never tasted a rye whiskey before, this would be a great invitation. For the Sazerac lover in your life, this would be a thoughtful gift.

Note: These wines were received as samples.

Boru Vodka

2012-01-02T00:58:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a good time and has recovered from the holiday. I'll do a roundup of the sparkling wines from the weekend for Wednesday's post, but today I'll post a brief vodka review.

Julia enjoys a vodka tonic, and as I was grabbing a few odds and ends from the liquor store I needed to get some vodka. In my neverending quest to try new things from new areas, I almost laughed when I saw an Irish vodka named after the legendary king Brian Bóruma mac Cennétig.

Ireland makes more than just beer and whiskey, though this product is much smoother and more refined than the Emerald Isle's version of moonshine called Poitín (sometimes anglicized as Poteen or Potcheen). Here I'm trying the standard vodka, but they also produce varieties flavored with lemon, orange, and "crazzberry" (cranberry + raspberry).

Boru Vodka
$22/1.75L, 40% abv.
Distilled from grain, though if there was ever a candidate for a potato vodka... It's got a basic clear spirit aroma with a good bit of a kick to it on the initial taste and the finish. For that reason, I'd recommend this as more of a mixing vodka for cocktails. In the vodka tonic it worked out well, and I found out that it also made for a decent screwdriver. While it doesn't really stand out great on its own, there's a huge marketing potential out there with the many thousands of Irish pubs in the US. Why not replace all those Russian bottles with the clear cool spirit of Éire? It's last call and there's a round of Boru shots during that tearful singing of "Danny Boy"...

Happy New Year!

2011-12-30T00:02:00.000-08:00

The end of the year is upon us, and while the clock hasn't quite struck midnight, I've got a busy weekend in front of me. In fact, the whole holiday season has been rather hectic with work and family and all sorts of other things, and I've barely had a moment to stop and smell the boughs of holly. For that reason, I'm taking the advice of Fredric and extending the holidays until Twelfth Night. Not only is there historical precedent, but you also get the opportunity to hang out with your Eastern Orthodox friends who celebrate Christmas a little later. Stretch New Year's Eve to Chinese New Year later in January, and you're even better.

As long as I"m mentioning Fredric, be sure to check out his annual Twelve Days of Christmas series on Champagne. You'll get great recommendations from someone who really knows his authentic bubbles.

For my part, I offer up a bunch of posts on proper Champagne, Prosecco, and a whopping 42 posts on sparkling wine, though there's probably some crossover on those categories. My general advice: if you can spare the cash and have a significant other plus another couple that might enjoy the wine, shell out at least $40 for a decent Champagne, and if possible, pick a Grower Champagne. If you're looking for affordable fun for a group of people, grab an assortment of Cavas in a variety of sweetness levels. If you just need fizzy wine to be splashed around at midnight and served to people already too far gone to know what they're drinking, you can have pallets of the stuff delivered for next to nothing.

On another note, during this holiday season, I've left the pen and notebook at home. I've still dutifully tasted and noted samples sent to me, but for wines that I picked up and took to parties or bottles that I sampled at various houses, I took no photos or notes. Oh, people asked me to talk about them, and I did to the best of my ability, but mostly I just said, "What do you think about this wine? Do you like it? If not, it won't hurt my feelings and I won't make fun of you." It was relaxing to simply sit back and enjoy a glass of wine without thinking about linking the winery and writing the PR rep and updating links to the notes on Twitter.

Not that I don't enjoy all of that, and it's part of why I keep scribbling away on this virtual parchment. But we all need perspective, and we all need time to sit back and remember that time with friends and family is wonderful, and if said time can be improved with a little fermented grape juice, all the better.

Dear readers and friends and families, please have fun this weekend, drive safe, and I look forward to a prosperous and engaging 2012. Damn the Mayan calendar, I've got too many things I still want to do.

P.S. Let me explain the photo... It's an old one from five years ago. We used to have a rosebush on the front porch that would dutifully produce a single peach-colored blossom once a year. Not in January, but it was an interesting annual event. I always loved seeing it and took a bunch of pictures each time it bloomed. I always felt that the "Pleasantville" effect was the best way to display it. Sadly, the plant died a few years back.

Benito's Beet Shrub Cocktail

2011-12-28T00:51:00.000-08:00

A man walks into the bar and says, "Barkeep, I'm in the mood for something classic, something that goes back to the colonial era." The bartender grins and replies, "We have hard cider and rye whiskey, both of which were quite popular at the time. I can also make you a flip or a nog of some sort..." The man shakes his head and says, "No, just mix some moonshine with pickled beet juice and that'll hit the spot." Shortly thereafter, the man was thrown out of the bar and onto the sidewalk.

Surprisingly, this isn't as weird a request as it sounds. A shrub is an old-fashioned syrup made from ripe fruit, sugar, and vinegar. It was a great way to preserve fruit and shrubs served a variety of purposes in the kitchen and the bar. I had a jar of pickled beets that was almost emptied of beet slices but still had a lot of delicious liquid in it. The ingredients were simple: sugar, beets, vinegar... Not an official shrub, but it'll do, and I love the flavor. Thousands of years ago, lower class Roman soldiers had to drink vinegar instead of wine. These days it's a trendy cocktail ingredient. No telling what folks will be using two thousand years from now.

Benito's Beet Shrub Cocktail
2 shots Moonshine (or 80 proof clear liquor of your choice)
½ shot Brandy
½ shot Pickled Beet Brine

Combine ingredients in shaker with ice. Shake thoroughly and strain into a cocktail glass. Enjoy the magenta beet stains on your tablecloth.

I considered calling this a "Devil's Cosmopolitan" but I really like beets and didn't want to impugn them. As weird as this thing sounds, the flavors and aromas really balance out well: the moonshine, brandy, and beet brine are all a little sweet, but the vinegar in the brine balances that out. And then the beet flavor provides both a beautiful color and a little earthiness that you more often associate with whiskey cocktails. This will never catch on or be popular, but if you find yourself with the ingredients lying around, I'd suggest giving it a try. When it comes to brine-based cocktails, this one can't be beet.

December Rieslings

2011-12-26T00:45:00.000-08:00

On the Friday before Christmas, I was on my home from work and looking forward to dinner and a movie with Julia. I had a pair of Rieslings chilling back at the house, but wasn't in the mood to cook. I was instead in the mood for something very specific: Vietnamese soup. She'd never had phở before, and I was looking forward to that particular culinary introduction as well as satisfying my own craving for some thinly sliced beef in hot broth with lots of other goodies.

We started off with gỏi cuốn and tương xào followed by phở gà for Julia and phở tái bò viên for me. (Or those soft rice wrapper rolls with shrimp and lettuce, chicken breast and chicken broth for her and sliced beef plus meatballs in my bowl.) The joy of phở is customization, and she kept hers light and simple while I went crazy with a little bit of every ingredient and some additional Sriracha sauce. Outstanding dinner, made even better by the Riesling. I tried the wines before the soup and once with the soup before I added additional heat. Both performed well at all stages of dinner.

2009 Clean Slate Riesling
Mosel
$11, 10.5% abv.
Lightly sweet with with medium acidity. The nose has hints of peach and orange blossom, but nothing is terribly strong. It is an easy-going and extremely affordable white wine with a long, pleasant finish. Julia preferred this one, and I thought it was a great contrast to the bean sauce that came with the rolls.

2009 Weingut Hans Lang Riesling Dry Erste Gewächs
Hattenheim Wisselbrunnen, Rheingau
$50, 13% abv.
Erstes Gewächs means "first growth" and is a relatively new VDP classification denoting a quality dry wine from the top vineyards in Germany. Petrol and wet rocks with light green apple hints in the background. Low acidity, dry, with excellent balance. As it warmed, it developed some lovely earth tones and a wonderful depth. Long finish, highly recommended. My favorite of the two, though toward the end of the meal the Sriacha and jalapeño slice blocked out some of the more subtle tones in the wine.

This is by no means a new wine pairing idea, but it was really delicious and the wine contributed to making an already great dinner even better. Which is what wine is supposed to do.

Note: These wines were received as samples.

Christmas MMXI

2011-12-22T00:34:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas, y'all.

I've always loved this photo I took in 2004 the night that my brother proposed to his now-wife. Memphis experienced a a rare White Christmas and the proposal took place on the top floor of The Peabody Hotel in downtown Memphis. The ballroom was still decorated for Christmas and with, for some reason, Canadian flags. I have a lot of great pictures from that whole experience, but I revisit this photo often. I've lived my whole life in a metro area of a million souls, something considered "The Big City" by everyone in a 300 mile radius, but still not big by city standards. While I've spent time around Christmas in smaller towns, I've only twice done so in bigger towns: 1996 in Rome, Italy (4.5 million metro area) and 2005 in Boston, Massachusetts (7.5 million metro area).

I mention the photo because it was an odd experience for me: snow and city sidewalks, but in my hometown. Yet the sidewalks weren't busy, because downtown was completely deserted that night. There's no one best way to spend the holidays. It mostly comes down to a frame of mind and your surroundings. So with that in mind, I will issue one of my best Christmas wine recommendations: get off the damned computer and spend some time with friends and loved ones. If you decide to pick up a few bottles for the season, stop in at your local wine shop and be really nice to your retailers. They've been dealing with a lot of stupid questions and angry shoppers, and won't really get a break until January 1. There's over a thousand posts here totaling more thousands of wine recommendations. If you need additional help, smile and tell your retail employee that you really appreciate him or her working during this tough season, and then say, "I need a good [red/white] wine in the price range [whatever you are looking to spend]. I would also be interested in a good sparkling wine in the same neighborhood."

To everyone, whether you come here for the wine or food or cocktails or occasional rambling essays, I hope you have a great holiday season, and fear not, this blog does not take vacations. I'll be back next week with some words about New Year's Eve and Orthodox Christmas and Japan's celebration of construction workers during 手斧初式 on January 4. There's something out there for everyone.

In the meantime, have a great time, and pet your dogs, hug your friends, and go out of your way to be nice to someone that might be having a rough time, like the guy working at the gas station on Christmas day, or the waitress at the Waffle House taking care of those who don't have anywhere else to go for dinner.

Love and joy come to you,
And to you your wassail, too,
And God bless you, and send you
A Happy New Year,
And God send you a Happy New Year.

Pine Ridge Vineyards

2011-12-21T00:57:00.000-08:00

I had four great wines leftover from the Crimson Wine Group TasteLive Event and had Julia coming over for lunch. Time to break them all out and enjoy some good food as such wines deserve...

We started with a spinach-yogurt soup with a vegetable broth base and a healthy splash of the Chenin Blanc/Viognier blend. I had to play around with this some, but sea salt, white pepper, (maybe a little Madras curry powder) and a final grating of nutmeg delivered a delicious soup more reminiscent of saag paneer than something out of a red and white can. The two white wines were enjoyed with the soup, saving the reds for...

Ferran Adrià. El Bulli. I'm not a big fan of molecular gastronomy, though since I haven't actually tried it, I can't judge the various foams and powders. And I once passed over an offer to pick up the other half of an El Bulli reservation (made a year ahead of time, and the couple divorced before the promised anniversary dinner, the settlement leaving the lady with both halves of the seating). It would have involved flying to Spain to have dinner with a complete stranger that involved driving up a mountain and.... That wasn't a good life choice at the time for a variety of reasons, mainly because it was short notice and would have cost a fortune.

But recently I was enchanted by one of Adrià's staff dinners featured on Serious Eats. It looked simple yet delicious, and I left it as an open tab in my Chrome browser for a couple of weeks. Couldn't stop staring at it, and had to make it. Fire roasted peppers, thin slices of pork loin (often sold as thin boneless pork chops around here), and a simple blend of olive oil, parsley, and garlic.

This is one of the most delicious things I've had in a long time, and it's so stupidly simple I don't know why it isn't a staple on menus all over the country. Cheap, as well. And one of the best parts is that the oil blend really accentuates a great parsley flavor, which you often don't get from mere garnish. The prep is simple, the execution doesn't demand too much, and if you're concerned about roasting peppers you could always use the jarred version.

But let's not forget to talk about the wines, which were incredible.

Pine Ridge Chenin Blanc & Viognier
California
79% Chenin Blanc, 21% Viognier
$14, 13% abv.
Crisp and acidic, lemony touches. I've always enjoyed these grapes for table whites, and while this one verged on tart, I think it would be a great picnic wine, a term I use with high affection. Serve with cold chicken and potato salad and that acidity will have a perfect complement.

2009 Pine Ridge Chardonnay Dijon Clones
Carneros, Napa
$34, 14.1% abv.
Light and mild with tropical fruit aromas that give way to a light peach flavor and a smooth mouthfeel. Great balanced acidity and overall structure. It rested in French oak for nine months, but bears no resemblance to caramel popcorn or buttered toast. I Can't Believe It's Not Burgundy. It went well with the soup and the first few bites of the pork, but I was very excited to revisit the reds.

2008 Pine Ridge Cabernet Sauvignon
Rutherford, Oakville, & Stags Leap, Napa
100% Cabernet Sauvignon
$54, 14.1% abv.
Cherry pie, touch of spice, black cherry, black pepper, long finish. An excellent, well-structured Napa Cabernet Sauvignon that had mild tannins and provided a fruit note that went great with the fire roasted peppers.

2008 Pine Ridge Cabernet Sauvignon
Stags Leap, Napa
91% Cabernet Sauvignon, 8% Petit Verdot, 1% Merlot
$80, 14.7% abv.
Plum, cassis, touches of cedar and chocolate, tannins are still firm but they're going to be oh so delicate in a few years. Outstanding balance and I find the grape combination fascinating. Highly recommended, and the next time I have this wine it will be with a rack of lamb or a bone-in pork loin roast.

Note: These wines were received as samples.

Stillhouse Moonshine Clear Corn Whiskey

2011-12-19T00:09:00.000-08:00

I was offered a sample of moonshine, and coming from Tennessee, I was familiar with the process. I made a phone call to ask about log cabins. "I'm looking to put up a little two room cabin in the backyard. It only needs a small water heater, something that holds about a quart." I gave the man my address, and just like a child who stays up late on Christmas Eve waiting to hear sleigh bells, I was pretty sure I heard the rumble of a souped-up Dodge Charger around two a.m.

During Wolfie's morning constitutional, I was delighted to find a jug of 'shine hanging on the oak tree in the backyard.

Well, that's the way it used to happen. Moonshine is getting a bit more respectable (and legal) these days, and you can walk into a store and purchase it. Now, I do need to clear up a few definitions. Moonshine® is the brand in this case, and this is a Clear Corn Whiskey made by Stillhouse in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Put this product in a barrel for a few years and you've got regular whiskey. Some would argue that this is not technically moonshine because it is a legal product, and there are other debates about having a protected status just like for aquavit or grappa or any number of other regional white spirits. There are several of these products out on the market, either early sales for a new distillery (selling the clear liquor while waiting for the whiskey to age) or providing an option for people to try an authentic American spirit without shady late night deals or having to know the right people who have an adversarial relationship with the IRS and BATF.

Stillhouse is a collaboration between third-generation distiller Chuck Miller and celebrity chef Adam Perry Lang.

Stillhouse Moonshine Clear Corn Whiskey
$40/750mL, 40% abv.
It's clear with a slightly yellow tinge and has a sweet corn aroma. It's fairly mild on the palate, with a light sweetness. That means that when using for mixing purposes, you're going to want to think rum more than vodka or whiskey. I found that it went very well with citrus flavors (adding balancing bitterness and acidity). Frankly a dash of grapefruit bitters and a splash of sparkling water made for a pretty refreshing cocktail, but you'll be good with a wedge of lime or lemon. Or you can go old school and use the traditional mixer Mountain Dew, now available in a wide variety of flavors.

P.S. This is made in Culpeper, Virginia, a small town of under 10,000. On a Scout trip in 1989 we camped out one night at a miniature golf course in Culpeper. Our Scoutmaster was a master of working out deals for places to sleep for free, which during my run included tennis courts, public parks, parking lots, and many other odd places.

Note: This jug was received as a sample.

NV Villa Sandi "Il Fresco" Prosecco

2011-12-16T00:57:00.000-08:00

In my continuing effort to encourage more sparkling wine consumption throughout the holiday season (not just in the space between 2011-12-31 11:59 pm and 2012-01-01 12:05 am), I can't neglect the affordable and fun Prosecco of northeast Italy. A classic of the Veneto region, I wish I'd started on this stuff as opposed to the really cheap $3 California bubbles Who Shall Not Be Named Here.

There's a lot of variety within the category of Prosecco, but for the novice what you're going to find is a fairly simple and tasty sparkling wine that is great with appetizers, fun with fried foods or popcorn, and is inexpensive enough to open on a Tuesday night while you're watching TV after work.

Like Cava, Prosecco represents a philosophy of bubbly as table wine: an everyday accompaniment to good food rather than something saved for an event. And there's nothing wrong with saving a special bottle for a holiday or anniversary. But there's lots of celebrating this holiday season, and no reason to wait until the last minute to let the corks fly. (Well, don't do that because it's dangerous, but you get the gist.)

NV Villa Sandi "Il Fresco" Prosecco
DOC Treviso
$13, 11% abv.
Lightly toasty aroma with a bit of lemon twist. Barely sweet, which was a surprise to me but not overwhelming. Strong acidity, so I recommend pairing this with something sweet that has a bit of fat to it, like pig candy (served as an appetizer at family Thanksgiving this year, and yes, I got to try this wine with said dish). Also keep in mind as a fun picnic wine for the spring and summer.

Note: This wine was received as a sample.

Sandeman Founder's Reserve Port

2011-12-14T00:02:00.000-08:00

Sandeman has been around since 1790, when an ambitious Scotsman named George Sandeman decided to head for Iberia to get involved in the growing Port business. The Brits and American colonials and many others had a great thirst for sweet, fortified wines like Port, Sherry, and Madeira that could survive a long sea journey that would destroy more delicate standard wines. That's why you see so many well-known Port houses with less-than-Portuguese names like Graham, Niepoort, Dow, Taylor, etc.

Celebrating over 200 years as a Port producer, this year Sandeman issued their Founder's Reserve in a variety of decorative tins that showcase artwork from the 1920s, including the iconic painting of "The Don" that remains as a symbol of the company today. My sample tin features The Centaur by Jean d’Ylen from 1926. D'Ylen was a French commercial illustrator famous for his Art Deco posters for French beer companies and Shell Oil, as well as his multiple ads for Sandeman. (More examples can be found on the company website.) As much as I adore the history of commercial art and advertising, particularly when executed with great skill, I'm even more enchanted by the centaur luring a redhead with two bottles of Port that he keeps just out of reach. And he's bearing the weight of a human torso, horse body, and lusty lass all on a single hoof! I wonder if it's Chiron, but whoever it is seems to be having fun.

Sandeman Founder's Reserve Port
Touriga Franca, Tinta Roriz, Tinta Amarela, Tinta Barroca, Tinto Cão
Aged 5 Years
$20, 20% abv.
This is a great entry-level Port that is bright red, fruity, and sweet. Black cherry flavors dominate with a slight bite that diminishes as you swirl the glass and the evening lingers on. It's not overly sweet or syrupy and works as a lovely accompaniment for white cheeses, creamy desserts, or even ice cream. And the tin makes it an excellent Christmas present that won't break the bank. Because I like the artwork, I'll be keeping the tin on the shelf long after the last drop has disappeared from the bottle.

Note: This wine was received as a sample.

2008 Aurielle Cabernet Sauvignon

2011-12-12T00:30:00.000-08:00

In 2009, I got an opportunity to try a sample of the 2006 Aurielle Cabernet Sauvignon. I elected to surprise my brother (who works the night shift) with a gourmet steak dinner first thing in the morning. We had a blast with that meal, and it's in my top ten personal wine moments.

I had the chance to try a more recent release of the Aurielle, and while I considered various ways to enjoy it, I eventually looked at all the ingredients I had in the kitchen and decided to make a great steakhouse burger. Hand-ground sirloin, served with homemade mayonnaise, chipotle mustard, colby cheese, tomato, and romaine lettuce. Served with some pickled beets (for the Aussies), Claussen pickles, and a healthy dose of pommes frites.

This is a serious red wine, but I made a serious meal to go along with it, and after a long weekend of entertaining and other chores, it was an amazing way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

2008 Aurielle Cabernet Sauvignon
Napa Valley
100% Cabernet Sauvignon
$90, 14.9% abv.
Rich and full of deep black plum aromas. The alcohol is present on the nose but not noticeable on the palate. Soft dark fruit flavor with hints of leather and coffee and firm tannins. Long, lingering finish, and definitely a wine that you want to sit back and enjoy over the course of a few hours. Outstanding balance and highly recommended.

It was a phenomenal match with the meal, as humble as it may appear on the outside. But putting everything together in just the right way resulted in a perfect and memorable meal, and one that I won't be forgetting soon.

Note: This wine was received as a sample.

Terroir of Soave

2011-12-09T00:21:00.000-08:00

I got to participate in an online tasting with Giovanni Ponchia, the head œnologist of the Soave Consortium. This is one of the most creative approaches I've ever seen with a tasting: four wines representing different soil types in the Soave region of northeast Italy. It's amazing how much the type of agriculture in an area depends on what happened millions of years ago. This part used to be under the ocean, this part was lifted up by a volcano, glaciers scraped this region down to bedrock, etc. Here in Memphis I sit atop a bunch of clastics (siltstone and shales) that have developed from the late Mesozoic (70 million years ago) to the present.

Soave is a great, food friendly wine that's pretty affordable and easy to find. It pairs well with lots of things and I've served it in the past at Thanksgiving and Christmas to people with all levels of wine experience who have enjoyed it. Here are four tasty examples, with some notes on the soil.

2010 Vicentini Terrelunghe Soave DOC
80% Garganega, 20% Trebbiano di Soave
$8, 12.5% abv.
Calcareous: containing calcium carbonate, chalky
Light acidity and a round mouthfeel with, yes, a chalky mineral finish.

2009 Cantina di Monteforte Vigneto di Montegrande Soave Superiore DOCG Classico
100% Garganega
$14, 13% abv.
Basaltic: volcanic
Floral nose with high acidity and a crisp, tart finish. Apricot flavors.

2010 Cantina di Soave Rocca Sveva Soave DOC Classico
100% Garganega
$15, 12.5% abv.
Calcareous & Basaltic
Fruity nose of banana and pineapple, mild acidity and a mineral finish.

2010 Fattori Danieli Soave DOC
100% Garganega
$14, 12.5% abv.
Basaltic & Tufaceous: the latter term refers to a type of limestone
Tropical fruit, balanced acidity and a long, soft finish.

Note: These wines were received as samples.

Barefoot Bubbly

2011-12-07T00:21:00.000-08:00

I've said earlier that my big advice and my hope for the holiday season is that you don't wait until New Year's Eve to pop open some bubbles. But the topic of sparkling wines scares many people. I say grab a mixed case of inexpensive (not cheap) bubbles and bring at least one bottle to every gathering you attend this month. To pre-empt a few questions:

1) Am I going to hurt myself or others when I open it?

Don't point it at your face or anything fragile, and just hold the cork while slowly twisting the bottle. Keep a firm grip on the cork, and in a few seconds it will just pull itself out. Better to practice on inexpensive bottles before you try to open a classic vintage Champagne.

2) Why should I pay $100 for a bottle of wine when $50 spills on the floor (or scantily-clad floozies, as music videos have taught me everything I know about opening bubbly)?

Keep the bottle vertical, and don't shake it, regardless of what you've seen on TV. Another good reason to get a lot of practice this month with inexpensive bottles.

3) Don't I have to wait for a really special occasion?

I often think of inexpensive sparklers as grape soda. Does grape soda need a special occasion? No. Have fun and let the bubbles tickle your nose.

4) You say avoid cheap wine, but I can find rounded bottles with foil caps for as low as $3 a bottle. Why not those?

They taste awful, even with lots of orange juice and Tom Collins mix to hide the flavor. There's drinkable stuff starting at $10. Which leads me to...

Barefoot Bubbly. It's fun, it's not expensive, and it's easy to find. Here are three that show off some standard types of sparkling wine. I don't have the alcohol percentages or grapes used in these wines, but I'm going to keep the reviews simple this time for the person that is still a little intimidated by sparkling wine. Start small, and in a year you'll be arguing with me about obscure grower Champagnes.

NV Barefoot Rosé Cuvée
California
$11
Just because it's pink doesn't mean it's sweet. This is a fairly dry rosé that I found to be delightful with a grilled cheese sandwich (with some ham and sliced pears in there). Strawberry and lemon flavors, crisp and tangy like lemonade.

NV Barefoot Moscato Spumante
California
$11
The sweet member of the trio, this is full of honey and musk and will appeal the most to those who almost never drink wine. Serve with some cheesecake and raspberries and feel guilty the next day.

NV Barefoot Brut Cuvée
California
$11
The driest of the three. Dry just means "not sweet", and this one is crisp and toasty with good acidity. If you like inexpensive Chardonnay, you'll enjoy this wine. Serve with your salty appetizers like popcorn and bruschetta and pretzels.

Note: These wines were received as samples.

TasteLive with Benziger Pinot Noir

2011-12-05T00:13:00.000-08:00

Last week I joined other winebloggers around the country to attend a virtual TasteLive event with Rodrigo Soto, Vice President of Winemaking for Benziger. In this online tasting, he showcased four of his high-end Pinot Noirs. Glancing back over my notes I see that in the past three years I've tried over two dozen different wines from Benziger, and yet somehow they still manage to surprise me.

These are all fairly small production wines, but you should be able to order them from the links below. These are all showing well now but should be amazing in a few years.

2009 Signaterra Pinot Noir
San Remo Vineyard
Russian River Valley
Sustainable
$49, 14.5% abv.
693 cases produced
The first Pinot Noir of the evening was tart and crispy with an overall profile of overripe strawberries and a touch of cream on the finish. As it breathes, there is more of a cranberry nose and flavor.

2009 Signaterra Pinot Noir
Bella Luna Vineyard
Russian River Valley
$49, 13.8% abv.
1,291 cases produced
My preferred bottle of the two Signaterras, this one was smooth and mellow with touches of plum and leather, deep and meaty. It has a short and delicate finish that makes you crave the next sip.

2009 Benziger de Coelo Pinot Noir
Quintus Vineyard
Sonoma Coast
Biodynamic
$75, 13% abv.
475 cases produced
Smooth and light with gentle strawberry notes, delicate, brighter than the previous two wines. Still pretty young tasting, and I'd be interested to see how it matures. Fun side note: if you google Quintus and Benziger, you get the British musician and conductor Quintus Benziger.

2009 Benziger de Coelo Pinot Noir
Terra Neuma Vineyard
Sonoma Coast
Biodynamic
$75, 13% abv.
465 cases produced
Far and away my favorite of the tasting, and one of the best Pinot Noirs I've had in ages. Red cherry initial nose but with an earthy depth and a hint of mushrooms. On the palate I got raspberry seeds and stewed fruit, just wonderful. It made me crave very rare rack of lamb with just a little rosemary. Highly recommended.

Note: These wines were received as samples.

Radio Radio

2011-12-02T00:12:00.000-08:00

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for tuning in to XBWR... Radio Free Benito broadcasting at 88.5 MHz on your FM dial. East of the Rockies, I hope you enjoy the following song. West of the Rockies, I will provide the shortwave frequency and the special password for entrance to the "Shameless Self Promotion" side of Benito's Wine Reviews. In the meantime, let's take a quick trip back to 1979 with this track from a British guy with an Italian pseudonym and a Memphis connection, and why does that sound a little familiar?

I hope you've enjoyed listening to Elvis Costello, but now we're turning over our show to KOTO-FM out of Telluride, Colorado. Hostess Maribeth Clemente of Travel Fun and the Bonjour Colorado blog decided to interview a wine blogger for her show, and she picked... now this is a surprise... yours truly.

I was happy to be selected, not just for the opportunity to rant about wine to a radio audience, but also because I'm a big fan of public and community-supported radio in all of its various forms. If you've always wanted to put a voice with the words I fling upon this virtual page, you can get a big dose of it in this interview. I had a lot of fun with it, and was glad to talk about my excitement surrounding this blog and my hobbies.

Just scroll to the bottom of this link, right past my smiling mug, and you can hear me ramble on about wine and food and cooking on car engines for half an hour.

Many thanks to the enchanting Maribeth Clemente for this opportunity, and I hope this is not the last time that we get to chat about wine.

Biltmore Wines for the Holidays

2011-11-30T00:51:00.000-08:00

These are the third and fourth wines I've tried from the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina. (See previous reviews of the 2009 Biltmore Estate Reserve Pinot Noir and the NV Chardonnay Sur Lies.) While the grounds are home to vineyards, the grapes for these two wines came from California while the winemaking took place in North Carolina. In the future I'd love to try more of the Tar Heel grown and vinted wines from this interesting bit of architectural history.

2010 Christmas at Biltmore
Grapes sourced from California: Gewürztraminer, Muscat Canelli, Chenin Blanc, Riesling
$12, 12.5% abv.
The label was designed by Meagan Warren of Matthews, NC, the winner of a design contest they held for the first time last year. I haven't been to the Biltmore for Christmas or at any other time of the year, but as a child I attended a lot of tours of holiday-decorated mansions (to my mind, anything with more than four bedrooms, but including some legitimate Victorian and Gilded Age wonders). The bottle obviously makes a good Christmas party gift, but it's a legitimately good wine. Despite the presence of three sweet grapes, it is only mildly sweet and the Chenin Blanc gives it a good structure. A crowd pleaser that will appeal to the wine enthusiast as an enjoyable sipper.

2007 Biltmore Estate Blanc de Blancs Brut
100% Chardonnay from the Russian River Valley
$25, 12.2% abv.
Méthode Champenoise
A skillfully made sparkler with medium bubbles, firm acidity, and a slight toasty nose. It holds up very well with food, particularly with salty/savory appetizers. The label is dignified (which I think is important for New Year's Eve or classier parties), the structure is serious, and it's got a fun story behind it.

Also note the first appearance of my beloved moose mugs this Christmas season. I prefer sparklers in wine glasses, then flutes, then in coupes, but on the second day a splash of leftover bubbly in a moose mug is worth the odd looks from friends.

Note: These wines were received as samples.

Thanksgiving Roundup

2011-11-28T00:19:00.000-08:00

I had a lovely Thanksgiving weekend, and hope you did as well. I spent Thursday with my immediate family: Mom and Dad; my brother, sister-in-law, and niece (the latter two were recipients of butterbeer); and The Roommate. Let us not forget the canine contingent: Wolfie, Bailey, and Heidi. Dad smoked a small turkey breast, but the big draw was a medium-rare smoked ribeye roast with fresh horseradish sauce. Lots of classic side dishes like my Mom's wonderful sweet potato casserole. We all sluggishly moved from the dining room to the living room and slumped into a variety of couches and easy chairs. And that's what the holiday is all about.

Every year after Thanksgiving, I like to grab a cheap turkey and a few other odds and ends from the store. This began years ago when The Roommate lamented the lack of leftovers associated with attending a big family gathering, so I began doing a small Thanksgiving dinner on Friday or Saturday so that we'd have good stuff to eat for days afterward. And then I began doing little twists here and there. This year, I fabricated a turkey and threw the breast in the oven while saving the legs and wings for the smoker. Four hours with apple wood later, I had some damned fine bird.

Julia joined The Roommate and me Saturday for lunch, where I started out with melted brie. And since she hasn't stopped raving about it, I made Julia another batch of sweet potato-green apple soup (this time I used a whole bulb of roasted garlic, and it was wonderful). I decided to have a little fun with the sour cream garnish. The appetizers and soup were served with a basic sparkling wine (more in a future post!), and the crisp bubbles were a nice contrast against the rich cheese and soup.

I kept the main course pretty simple. Fresh cranberry sauce, steamed vegetables, and intensely flavored turkey. The smoked portion was marinated and basted with Wicker's while the breast was rubbed down with a tandoori spice blend and roasted in the oven. I liked the smoked version better. Served with amazing Pinot Noir, details later.

What of the starch-heavy sides? The gravy? I like those things, but on a second Thanksgiving I like to keep things a little lighter and fresher. I want to make the turkey taste great on its own, to the point that no other additions are necessary. Those smoked wings? Probably going to go in a big pot of collard greens this week.

After a few movies (and I fell asleep during one*), it was time for dinner, and I threw together a delicious little sandwich with the leftovers: smoked turkey, cranberry sauce, and brie grilled on good whole grain bread. The combination is wonderful, but I felt the need to add a little horseradish mustard to mine. And there's enough remnants in the fridge that I can throw together another one of these right now if I want. Yep, I think I want.

* * *

It's been rainy and grey the past couple of days, but inside it's been warm and glowing with the fellowship of family and friends. Cheers to everyone this holiday season, and I hope you get to eat and drink well in December.

*I missed about 45 minutes of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2. I will catch up soon.

Mumm Sparkling Wine

2011-11-25T00:43:00.000-08:00

There's a lot of advice that gets tossed around during the holiday season when it comes to wine, but this year I'm thinking a lot about sparkling wines. They're fun, they're tasty, and the format encourages the group to finish off the bottle. Plus, they match with just about everything.

Consider bringing two or three chilled bottles of bubbly to your next gathering, and let novices practice opening them (with proper instruction and supervision, of course). Enjoy them with food. Lay waste to the myth that you can only drink fizzy wine when the clock strikes midnight or someone gets married or a new ship needs launching.

Here I've got two tasty examples from Mumm Napa, an American offshoot of the well-known French Champagne house.

NV Mumm Napa Brut Prestige
$22, 12.5% abv.
51% Pinot Noir, 46% Chardonnay, 2% Pinot Meunier, 1% Pinot Gris
The splash of Pinot Gris is interesting, though I cannot admit to detecting its presence on my own. However, I love méthode champenoise wines with a big dose of Pinot Noir. This is dry and crisp with a light nose and a refreshing flavor on the palate. A great all-purpose sparkler that looks classy on the table.

NV Mumm Napa Brut Rosé
$22, 12.5% abv.
85% Pinot Noir, 15% Chardonnay
I've had this one several times, and it's a favorite to serve at the beginning of dinner parties. Wild strawberries and just a hint of lemony acidity on the tongue. Beautiful salmon color along with small bubbles. Dry but fruit-forward with excellent balance. I've typically had this with appetizers, but I think it could work well with dinner if you're able to wait that long.

Note: These wines were received as samples.

Rieslings from Selbach & Pfeffingen

2011-11-23T00:08:00.000-08:00

Time once again for a pair of bottles from Wines of Germany. They usually send one sweet and one dry wine, though this time they really outdid themselves on the sweet side. The older I get, the more I appreciate the versatility of Riesling. I used to just get excited about pork and apples and sauerkraut, but that's thinking too small. And, of course, good Riesling can be enjoyed by novices as well as more experienced wine lovers, which makes it great for parties and dinner parties.

Selbach & Pfeffingen sounds like the name of a firm that makes carbon fiber spoilers for Formula One race cars, but they're two separate wine producers from Germany.

2009 Selbach Riesling Dry
Mosel-Saar-Ruwer Region
Qualitätswein bestimmter Anbaugebiete
$10, 11% abv.

There have been a few vintages of this "fish label" Riesling, a great example of one of my favorite trends in German wine: simpler, friendlier labels. And I can say that with all the pineapple, jasmine, and tropical fruit in this wine that it would be perfect wine to go along with something like grilled grouper with a mango salsa. I also got the oddest craving for Cuban food while I was drinking it, which makes me think about a theme dinner centered around a love story between an East German gymnast and a Cuban boxer during the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow.

The magic of wine is that it sometimes inspires the most bizarre thoughts. But speaking of magic...

2004 Pfeffingen Herrenberg Riesling Beerenauslese
Pfalz (Palatinate) Region
$45/375mL, 6% abv.

I was proud to serve this at the October CATNGA Summit with Samantha and Joe, and both of them enjoyed it. Overripe peach and a whiff of petrol, with bright acidity and an intoxicating, slightly musky aroma despite the very low alcohol content. Elements of clover and a light floral nose. Firm sugar but not overwhelming. While I do not have a sweet tooth, some of my favorite wine memories involve incredible botrytized wines with a decent bit of cellar time on them. 2004 wasn't that far away, but this particular wine has aged gracefully. Highly recommended if you can find it, but if not, try to enjoy a good Beerenauslese or Trockenbeerenauslese. It will be a memorable experience.

Note: These wines were received as samples.

Flying Cauldron Butterscotch Beer

2011-11-21T00:29:00.000-08:00

I don't review a lot of soft drinks on this blog, though if you are interested in a critical evaluation of an American classic from the wine lover's perspective, I highly recommend Fredric's series on root beer. I'm going to admit to drinking diet sodas when I need a hit of caffeine or something--no health issues, but The Roommate is a Diet Coke fiend and I've gotten used to it over the years. When I do go for the full sugar verions, I tend to prefer those made with cane sugar or agave syrup and all natural ingredients. And thankfully the products from Reeds, Inc. fall into that category. (I highly recommend their Extra Ginger Brew.)

Flying Cauldron Butterscotch Beer is a butterscotch-flavored cream soda, made with heavy winks and nods to the Harry Potter franchise without violating trademarks. In the books, the young wizards drank butterbeer at The Leaky Cauldron. I'd always assumed it to be some sort of cross between a small beer and hot buttered rum, something mildly alcoholic and consumed by British teenagers. But the official word is that it's a non-alcoholic soda, and the licensed version is sold at The Wizarding World of Harry Potter Theme Park in Orlando, Florida.

The text on the side of the bottle reads:

Since 1374, the Flying Cauldron has been making this magical brew for under aged wizards or wizards who are young at heart at their brew pub in Hogsbreath, England. The recipe has changed little over the cenuries. It has the perfect combination of spells and quality natural ingredients. Add a scoop of vanilla ice cream to create our Giggle Potion.

It's cute, and I'm looking forward to giving the extra bottles to my niece at Thanksgiving. I haven't tried "Giggle Potion", but the soda definitely delivers on the butterscotch, both in aroma and flavor. Imagine drinking a cream soda and sucking on a Werther's Original at the same time. It's too sweet for my personal tastes, but I think 10 year old me would have gone crazy over the stuff. And the fact that it's all natural is a nice touch.

For testing purposes I did add just a bit of rum to a second glass. I wouldn't really recommend it--throws the balance off and just tastes odd. So unlike the ginger beer I can't really suggest this as a cocktail ingredient, but that's not what it was made for in the first place. You can order the butterscotch beer online, and it might be a fun addition to a Christmas gathering or party for small children.

Note: This soda was received as a sample. Hogwarts coat of arms courtesy of Wikipedia image and Creative Commons License.

Thanksgiving 2011

2011-11-18T00:22:00.000-08:00

Ah, Thanksgiving. A magical time to gather with friends and family, and one of the major holidays that begs for an obligatory wine post, article in the paper, or a thousand quizzical e-mails from loved ones. At right is a photo from my cherished Thanksgiving of 2005, when I began my prep work by slicing off the tip of my thumb and then cooked an entire feast with just one arm. I wrote up the full story at the time, but I do warn that it is not for the squeamish.

So what about the wine pairing? I've always felt I hit upon the perfect strategy in 2008, and haven't had the inspiration to revise it since. My Thanksgiving Buying Guide for the Wine Novice still stands pretty well. Don't spend a lot of money per bottle. Think PIGS: Portugal, Italy, Greece, and Spain. It holds up today.

I'm going to add one suggestion this year: introduce somebody to wine. Maybe it's your cousin's new husband or an aged aunt or a kid home from college, but when you've done your duty and have a half dozen bottles open on the table, ranging from sweet to dry and red to pink to white and bubbly and still, you've got a great opportunity to show that wine is not just a single flavor or experience, but is a broad range of sensations. And when that spark catches (and it may not), you have the opportunity to say, "This doesn't just have to be for special occasions. Wine can make a Tuesday evening spaghetti dinner special and elevate it above the routine."

Next week, travel safely, enjoy dinner, and hug those who are close to you. Whether there's a glass of wine in your hand or not, cherish the time together gathered in mutual feasting and fellowship.

Vodka Tonic

2011-11-16T00:07:00.000-08:00

New Amsterdam is the standard cocktail gin here at Casa de Benito. It has an excellent citrus note, good balance, and a respectable quality-price ratio. It's a curious sideline in the Gallo portfolio, but I was honestly impressed with the product when I first tried it. Recently the vodka showed up around here, and I decided to give it a whirl.

New Amsterdam Vodka
Modesto, California
$22/1.5L, 40% abv.
Distilled from "midwestern grains". The vodka is smooth with just a little bite on the finish. Aromatically there's just a touch of wheat, though when blended in cocktails it serves as a solid neutral spirit. Highly recommended as a good standard bar vodka, and I will always love the art deco design of the bottle.

After sampling it straight, I decided to make a vodka tonic.

Vodka Tonic
1 part Vodka
1 part Tonic Water

Stir with ice, strain into glass.

Really? Do I need to have a recipe here? I admit that this is low-grade supermarket tonic water, but while I love the bitter sting of quinine, I dislike the heavy sweetness of even the good organic blends. Diet tonic water is a weird product, because it tastes sweeter than the HFCS stuff but has a disagreeable chalky element. However, this cocktail is one of the classics, and even with a basic tonic water, it made for a quick and refreshing cocktail on a Saturday afternoon. The lemon peel curl is optional but, in my opinion, always appreciated.

Liquid Gold

2011-11-14T00:11:00.000-08:00

If you open a lot of bottles of wine, it can begin to feel routine, almost mechanical. You uncork, sniff, swirl, take notes, sip, slurp, spit, take more notes, and rinse with some water before moving on to the next one. But even then, there are opportunities for recapturing the magic.

After a long Saturday date that included lunch and dinner, I was mulling over dessert and decided to introduce Julia to her first botrytized wine. I had this little half bottle of 2009 Royal Tokaji Mád Cuvée at the right temperature, and poured it into small brandy snifters. I didn't start talking about noble rot, but instead talked about all of the elements I got from the wine: clover blossoms, honeysuckle, balanced sweetness and acidity. Drops of sunshine. Summer in a glass.

It was the fifth or six bottle of wine I'd opened that day (I was working through samples), and that was the first one that really struck her and smelled interesting and distinct, not just like generic wine. I love tasting with people that are new and curious about this subject, and when there's a real epiphany it's delightful to watch. Plus, who isn't happy to taste a Hungarian dessert wine?

2009 Royal Tokaji Mád Cuvée
Mád, Hungary
75% Furmint, 15% Muscat, 10% Hárslevelű
Residual Sugar is 138.8g/L, placing it in the 5 Puttonyos level
$20/375mL, 9.5% abv.
Slightly musky but not overly so, with dominant aromas of honey, honeysuckle, and overripe peach. Little hints of jasmine. Exceptional balance, and considering how much sugar there is you wouldn't know it because of the bright acidity. This is a great bargain, and is highly recommended for the holidays. Serious wine drinkers as well as novices will appreciate it, and the attractive bottle is just begging for a simple ribbon tied around the neck.

(I've danced around the name a bit, because this isn't technically a Tokaji. The grapes and method are right, but by law it's a késői szüretelésű or late harvest wine. In America this specific wine is known as Mád Cuvée after the town, while in Hungary it goes by the name Áts Cuvée after the winemaker. But for all serving and pairing purposes, treat this like a Tokaji and enjoy the savings.)

I'm almost treating it as an afterthought at this point, but we also really enjoyed this white wine earlier in the day:

2010 WillaKenzie Estate Pinot Blanc
Yamhill-Carlton, Willamette Valley
$21, 13.5% abv.
An aroma of freshly cut Bartlett pear with a mild profile. On the palate it has a light fruit character with mild acidity and a good mineral finish. Later as it warms up, elements of wet stones and apricots show up. Quite lovely. I served this with a homemade chicken soup and crostini, where it made for a simple yet delicious Saturday afternoon lunch.

Note: These wines were received as samples.

Book Review: 神の雫

2011-11-11T00:34:00.000-08:00

The Drops of God
Vertical, 2011
(First Japanese edition in 2005)
$14.95, 423 pages
Story by Tadashi Agi (the pen name used by the brother-sister writing team Shin and Yuko Kibayashi)
Art by Shu Okimoto

After becoming popular in Japan, Kami no Shizuku was released in French as Les Gouttes de Dieu, and just recently in English as The Drops of God. Why France first? It's not just the wine connection, but rather that France has a vibrant comics culture that spans all ages and subject matter. Even Barbarella was a popular French comic before it became a trippy vehicle for Jane Fonda.

Japanese comics have exploded in popularity in the past 20 years, moving from an obscure hobby for lonely comic book fans to something consumed by boys and girls of all social strata. There’s action stuff and overcute stuff. Some serious, some goofy. It’s become a challenge for librarians that are excited to have kids reading, but have to learn about a whole new world of literature and keep up with a frequently changing roster of what’s popular or not.

Reading manga can be confusing if you haven’t done it before. You start at the “back” of the book and read starting with the panel in the top right corner, moving left and then down and back to the right side of the page. Even within the panels you have to remember to read the word balloons on the right side before those on the left. Occasionally the art style will shift from dramatic and realistic to tiny cartoonish chibi characters with massive eyes and overemotional expressions. (Frankly I’ve always thought that technique could punch up Mary Worth in the newspaper.)

This series fits into a different niche, more like the graphic novels that have attracted mainstream adult attention and have found homes in films and documentaries. Things like Maus, Ghost World, Road to Perdition, American Splendor, etc. No superheroes or magical powers, just compelling stories that happen to have pictures with the text.

The book opens in a restaurant where a young female sommelier is struggling with a difficult and pompous customer over Romanée-Conti. The 1999 is closed and the customer is angry. In swoops our dashing hero Shizuku who demands a decanter and pours the wine “as fine as a silk thread” from a great height without spilling a drop. The sommelier swoons at his technique as he presents the now aerated wine to the customer who can finally experience the “scent of a hundred flowers combined”.

We learn that Shizuku is the estranged son of a famous wine critic, who forced the young boy to learn everything about wine without ever actually drinking it. Then the father dies—but wait! A week before his death, the old man adopted a younger wine critic, and this critic and Shinzuku must compete to solve the mystery of the twelve heaven-sent wines and the one bottle only known as “Drops of God”. The winner will gain control of a wine collection worth ¥2 billion (US$18 million). And so the saga begins…

When I first heard about the series, it seemed like a silly concept, but apparently it revitalized the wine trade in Japan. The manga uses images of real wines, they talk about real regions and specific vintages. You could really manipulate the market through the writing choices.

I'm not quite through this first volume in the series, but I found myself really enjoying it. They do take a break from the expensive collectibles to occasionally just enjoy everyday wine. There's romance, there's intrigue, and an underground network of mysterious wine experts who assist Shizuku in his quest. There's a poetry in the descriptions that is amplified by full page spreads demonstrating the visual image associated with the nose of that specific wine.

Do I recommend it? I'd suggest picking up the first volume to add to your wine library. It's a curious product: you have to know way more about wine than I do to have direct experience with the high-end Domaines and Châteaux featured. But you also have to interested in reading a 400 page comic book (backwards). I don't know who I would give this as a gift to during Christmas, but I'm probably going to read the rest of the series. Definitely worth checking out if you have a comic book shop near your local wine shop.

P.S. I grabbed most of these images online, and one of them doesn't have the official translations. I would make my own but it would involve cutting the spine off the tight paperback, and I don't want to do that.

Note: This book was received as a sample.

Vinho Verde, Mas Não Verde

2011-11-09T00:53:00.000-08:00

Because it's not easy being green, the folks at Vinho Verde Wines US sent along a white and a rosé from the northern wine region of Portugal famous for young, fresh wines. I'm always excited to try something off the beaten path, but I also got to add a few grapes to the life list with these wines.

Once again, Vinho Verde isn't really green, but most people just think about the slightly verdant, fizzy, low alcohol wine with a good dose of sweetness. It's a fun party wine and a great way to introduce people to wine in general. But the region also produces regular whites and reds and, new to me, a rosé.

2010 Casa de Vila Verde Branco
Vinho Verde
Blend of Arinto, Trajadura, Avesso, Loureiro, Azal Branco
$10, 11.5% abv.
Dark apple aromas and flavors with a bit of overripe peach. Tart and acidic but with a smooth finish. Just a touch of sweetness. Enjoyed with chicken and pasta, but should be great for a wide range of poultry dishes.

2010 Great Sense Vinho Verde Rosado
Vinho Verde
60% Touriga Nacional, 40% Espadeiro
$6, 10.5% abv.
Just barely fizzy, and bone dry. Ripe strawberry aromas and flavors, with mellow mouthfeel followed by a sharp tang on the finish. I was concerned that a six dollar pink wine was going to be sweet and rough, but I'm surprised at how much I enjoyed this with a little crusty bread and brie on a sunny afternoon. Excellent picnic wine.

Note: These wines were received as samples.

A Modern Gentleman's Guide to Entertaining a Young Lady

2011-11-07T00:08:00.000-08:00

I do not mean to overestimate any skill in this area, but based on my various dinner parties and one-on-one dinner dates that I've posted here, I tend to get a lot of questions and e-mails from guys around my age that just want the perfect recipe and wine pairing that will impress women. I tend to counter with, "What woman and what does she like?" I'm tempted to write this post in the style of Esquire circa 1954 (there was a big trunk of old issues in my garage growing up), but I'm reasonably certain that anyone suggesting that a man cook outside of the setting of a BBQ would have been fired posthaste.

The following are a few generic tips for the advancement of civilized behavior amongst my brethren, and many thanks to dear Julia for volunteering as dinner companion.

Set the table
This is by no means a perfect table setting, and the plastic jug chilling the sparkling wine was done more out of convenience than anything else. It's not overly complicated, but it shows you have it together prior to the guest's arrival. I've got a bunch of mismatched dishes and glasses, but try to have at least two of everything. Putting the "little plates on the big plates" is an old French expression for a fancy dinner, but it separates your meal from the everyday rummaging through a bag of fast food.

Have a sparkling wine on hand. Cocktails are great but you need to pace yourself. Spend at least $20 and very politely get someone at the wine shop to pick out something appropriate. If the two of you are novices, go a little sweeter like with a Moscato d'Asti. If you're entertaining a relatively experienced wine drinker, slide over to Samantha's blog and learn about great Champagnes. Now, if your date is an expert like Samantha, you probably need to let her pick out the wine. Sit down, shut up, and listen hard, young man.

There are no recipes that will save you, for a date or otherwise--technique is all that matters
Man up and learn how to cook. End of story. Rudyard Kipling should have include a line in "If" about being presented with three random ingredients, an aluminum pot, and a single burner on top of a mountain. I'm sure he'd have talked about the Khyber Pass, but I would like to think he'd appreciate my own attempt to boil water at nearly 3600m/12,000 ft. in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, hovering over the cook pot so that the fire doesn't go out while getting pelted with hailstones. Let the record state that nobody went to bed hungry that night.

That being said, if you don't know about cheese and wine pairings, start simple with a small wheel of brie topped with honey and walnuts. Here I substituted a British treacle for honey, but use what you've got on hand and warm it up in the oven prior to serving with a decent baguette.

Homemade soup is your friend
Soups are some of the easiest things to make but often impress, and usually they're better if you make them the day before. Make it taste great and serve small portions. Find out a vegetable that she likes, and then figure out how to turn it into a soup. I'm not going to teach you how to tie your shoes, pal, but here were my specific requirements for Saturday: not a cream soup, and sweet potatoes are a go. So I oven roasted two sweet potatoes, two green apples, and then simmered the roasted mush with chicken broth, white wine, and a Madras curry spice blend I had on hand. After a few hours of simmering I blended the hell out of it until it achieved a uniform yet appealing consistency. For serving, a grating of nutmeg followed by drizzles of sour cream with a knife drawn through them. (It's easier to do this with a full bowl, but even in a ramekin I appreciate the random splashes of contrast.) It turned out how to be a big hit. Tomato soups are stupidly simple, but don't double up on your ingredients over the evening. For example...

Learn how to cook pasta
Even the most incompetent of guys will claim to be able to boil noodles and warm up a jar of sauce. And they are wrong. In this case, Julia wanted chicken and broccoli as part of a main course. For timing purposes, I prepared homemade marinara sauce ahead of time from imported canned San Marzano tomatoes, shallots, and garlic. A few splashes of wine, but a good red sauce doesn't require much more. I'm not going to go into full sauce technique, but when you cook your pasta, drain it but don't rinse it. Make sure you save some of the cloudy pasta water.

Throw the pasta in a medium low skillet with your protein and vegetables and a little olive oil, ladle in some of the sauce, ladle in the pasta water, and stir until you get painfully hungry, which should occur within five minutes. Adjust with salt and peper as needed at the last minute. Here I used blanched broccolini and roasted chicken thighs, combined with some great gemelli and my own marinara. Learn how to do it right and people will say, "Wow! So the pasta itself is supposed to taste good? I never knew that!"

Allow the lady to provide dessert
If you're a talented pastry chef or if you work in a gelateria, ignore this. But if you're doing all the cooking, give her the opportunity to be involved in the process. The standard is that she will pick out something delicious from a bakery, such as Julia's selection of wonderful cannoli from The Fresh Market. (By the way, I love their Tiramisù.) Sometimes an aged relative will be invoked to provide something like banana pudding or a peach cobbler or turtles or seven layer cakes or some of Grandpappy's homemade peach ice cream. If you live in the South you are in for a treat. For anyone that had the sad misfortune to be born north of the Mason-Dixon line I can only weep in regret and hope that you are able to come down here and redefine your entire concept of dessert.

Wine
Now... what wines to pair with each course? If you're cool enough to get free samples from around the globe this is not an issue. But for everyone else, if you get an idea of what you are going to cook for dinner, find a wine shop that you like and trust. Present a list of courses--not every ingredient, but broad strokes about dinner. Use the following words: "Here's what I'm cooking, here's what I'm willing to spend per bottle. Can you pick out some bottles that fit?" He or she is going to probably present you with some varying options. Just say, "You pick, I trust your judgment." This will accomplish a few different things. First off, you'll get some great wine. More importantly, you're going to make that salesperson's day. Even more importantly than that, you're going to establish a wine buying relationship with someone that involves mutual trust and respect, and that person is going to go out of his or her way to point you towards amazing wines or even things that aren't out on the retail floor. And the discussions about scheduling the wine and food ahead of time? That's always great to use for any possible lulls in conversation during the actual dinner.

* * *

Gentlemen, go forth and impress.

Rutherford Wine Company

2011-11-04T00:46:00.000-07:00

The Rutherford Wine Company is based in Napa but offers a range of wines from around California that go from stately reds at $75 down to basic table wines at $8. Prior reviews from this company include pairing cactus paddles with the Lander-Jenkins wine and the bargain Round HIll bottles.

We're going to be in the $15-25 range here with a few recent releases.

2010 Predator Old Vine Zinfandel
100% Zinfandel
Lodi, California
$22, 15% abv.
When this wine first arrived, I just saw the dark black label and the name "Predator" and thought it was a bit sinister. Weeks later I saw the ladybug logo and loved it. If you ever get a good magnifying glass and watch ladybugs eat aphids in your garden, you'll have a newfound respect for them. It's like watching a grizzly bear eat salmon but right in your own backyard. This wine has loads of dark berries, a big fruity jam profile, and just a touch of sweetness. Would be interesting with roast pork that didn't have any sort of a sweet glaze to it.

The Lander-Jenkins wines are made from sustainably grown grapes.

2010 Lander-Jenkins Spirit Hawk Chardonnay
95% Chardonnay, 5% Muscat Canelli
California
$15, 13.5% abv.
Mild dried apricot and ripe peach aromas. Tangy but with a round mouthfeel. It's about 1/3 oaked, so you don't really get much of an oak presence. There's a touch of chalk and minerals on the finish. Would be great with lightly smoked chicken, also not a bad choice for Thanksgiving this year. Not too acidic, not oaky, should be a crowd pleaser.

2009 Lander-Jenkins Spirit Hawk Cabernet Sauvignon
96% Cabernet Sauvignon, 1% Merlot, 1% Syrah, 1% Zinfandel, 1% Petite Syrah
California
$15, 13.5% abv.
Big overripe blackberries and a touch of smoke. Strong black cherry flavor and a dash of plum. Medium tannins and a tart berry flavor. I found it unbalanced on the first day but smoother and mellower on the second day. Serve with grilled red meat where it will stand up and fight back.

Note: These wines were received as samples.

Wódka & More

2011-11-02T00:48:00.000-07:00

The story of Wódka is a curious one. It's the Polish word for vodka, but this particular brand was part of the Soviet-era liquor industry. Most of those products are justifiably forgotten to history (and countries like Hungary and Bulgaria are finally able to make decent wine again). It just so happened that the old factory made some pretty solid vodka, and so recently production was restarted and the bottles entered the American market in 2010 as part of a trend in "cheap premium" vodka to counteract the ultra premiums like Grey Goose.

The website uses taglines like "Movie Star Quality, Reality Star Pricing", which is a clever little slogan. But then the next ad is "Escort Quality, Hooker Pricing", and there's a photo of a sheep wearing a sombrero. I'm not offended, but I can't say that would have been my first pitch at the marketing meeting. But I love the simple, original label with distressed type. And though most will be purchasing a standard bottle, this little 200mL number was great for sampling purposes.

Wódka
Przedsiębiorstwo Polmos Białystok
Distilled from rye
$10/750mL bottle, 40% abv.
There's only so much you can say about a vodka, but I very much enjoyed this spirit. It is really surprisingly smooth for a vodka at this price point. There's no discernable aroma or flavor, just a mild alcohol note. No sweetness or rough edges, just a clear and round neutral spirit.

I had a simple vodka martini that was enjoyable (though I always miss real gin), but where I would use this is as a standard cooking vodka to keep in the pantry. It's for those times when you want to make fruit infusions like limoncello, or need a splash of vodka in the tomato sauce, or to use it as the secret ingredient in pie dough. And no reason not to enjoy a cold shot or a crisp clean cocktail while you're at it.

* * *

A few mini-reviews of other new spirits I've tried recently:

Bernheim Original Straight Wheat Whiskey
Bardstown, Kentucky
$40/750mL, 45% abv.
This is the first wheat whiskey on the market since Prohibition. Bourbon has to contain at least 51% corn and the remaining grains can be made up of rye or wheat. A wheat whiskey must contain at least 51% wheat, in this case soft winter wheat. It's smooth and earthy with aromas of baked bread. Smooth and delicious but not sweet like Bourbon. Definitely an interesting change of pace.

Brandon's Gin
Little Rock, Arkansas
$30/750mL, 40% abv.
Rock Town is the first legal distillery in Arkansas since Prohibition. This year they've just released their first whiskey, but since you have to wait a few years for barrel aging to happen, new distilleries often sell vodka and other clear spirits for a few years to keep the operation going. They also offer an "unaged whiskey" called Arkansas Lightning that is a wink and a nod to the legal moonshine trend. The gin is good but not terribly complex. Light botanicals and maybe disappointing if you prefer more heavily seasoned gins, but on the other hand, a good introductory gin for those just making the move from vodka.

Whitley Neill London Dry Gin
Birmingham, England
$30/750mL, 42% abv.
"Inspired by Africa, Made in England". This gin contains two curious components sourced from Africa: the citrus-like fruit of the baobab tree and Cape gooseberries. 5% of the proceeds go to Tree Aid, a charity that supports reforestation projects in some of the poorest regions in Africa. Other botanicals include juniper berries, coriander seeds, lemon peel, orange peel, angelica root, cassia bark, and orris root powder. While the baobab and gooseberries provide a firm citrus foundation, the dominant aroma is juniper. It's been a while since I've had a juniper-heavy gin, and it was great to try again. I prefer this one neat as opposed to in a cocktail, just like with Hendrick's or some of the other more interesting gins out there.

Note: These spirits were received as a sample.

Happy Halloween

2011-10-31T00:24:00.000-07:00

I got pitched a lot of wines for Halloween, and as I wasn't attending any parties and the kids in my neighborhood don't trick-or-treat anymore, I wasn't really thinking about the holiday. (And a full bottle of wine will punch straight through one of those cheap plastic sacks.) But I got a puckish combination, and it didn't hurt that I had lunch with the CEO of Michael David Winery back in August.

On Facebook I invoked the voice of the late Vincent Price to say that this wineglass was... a scream. But honestly, take a trip down the seasonal aisle of your grocery store and grab some stupid wine glasses. They'll come in use eventually and over time you'll have enough for a proper October party. (See also my favorite Champagne flute.)

2010 Incognito White
Lodi
63% Viognier, 21% Chardonnay, 7% Muscat, 5% Sauvignon Blanc, 4% Roussanne
$18, 14.5% abv.

Peach and apricot nose with just a hint of banana creme pie. Bright and light fruit flavors that include pear and tropical fruits, but restrained and dry without any sweetness. Easily quaffable and a fun mix of competing grapes. Absolutely amazing with fried shrimp and a hot chili sauce. It's also approachable enough that folks making the transition from sweet whites should really enjoy this.

2009 7 Deadly Zins
Lodi
Mostly Zinfandel with some Petite Sirah and Petit Verdot in the woodpile
$16, 15% abv.

Blackberry jam aroma with hints of leather and bacon fat. Deep dark fruit flavor, mostly blackberry with edges of black cherry and plum. Soft tannins while cool, firmer as it warms up. Great with grilled burgers.

Note: These wines were received as samples.

Benziger Wines

2011-10-28T00:21:00.000-07:00

These are the wines sampled during a recent online event with Benziger of Sonoma. I visited Benziger back in 2009, and I had a great time. It's a beautiful property and the commitment to sustainable grape growing was impressive.

All of these wines are biodynamic from Sonoma Mountain. If you're not familiar with the method, it's sort of an organic meets folk wisdom philosophy. Arguments fly back and forth about the subject, but at the end of the day my opinion is this: I don't make wine decisions based on whether it's blessed by a priest or a rabbi, whether it came from a country that beat my team in the World Cup, or whether it is certified organic, vegan, biodynamic, or otherwise. But if you give grapes the kind of love and attention that Benziger does, in a great region, in small batches, you're going to make some amazing wine.

Since we're dealing with small production here, remember that 1 barrel = 25 cases = 300 bottles (750mL).

2007 Benziger Oonapais
63% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Franc, 6% Petit Verdot and 1% Zinfandel
$50, 14.2% abv.
8 Barrels Made
Yes, just 8 barrels. You probably won't get to try this wine, but I lucked out. Rich plum and chocolate, with a hint of juniper and spice. Mellow tannins and a soft fruit presence of black plums. Should be great with grilled lamb or braised lamb shanks. Both of the Oonapais wines use the Miwok name for Sonoma Mountain, an extinct volcano.

2006 Benziger Oonapais
58% Cabernet Sauvignon, 17% Merlot, 14% Cabernet Franc, and 11% Petit Verdot
$50, 14.5% abv.
110 Barrels Made
Similar aroma and flavor, but surprisingly bolder and more tannic than the above. I really wish I had the chance to set most of these wines aside for a few years to let them age and develop.

2008 Benziger Obsidian Point Cabernet Sauvignon
49% Cabernet Sauvignon, 22% Cabernet Franc, 19% Merlot, 10% Petit Verdot
$65, 14.6% abv.
245 Cases Made
I mentioned that Sonoma Mountain was a volcano above, and this name refers to black volcanic glass that can be found in the soil (and can make razor sharp knives). Delicate aroma of fig, cherry, and blackberry with medium tannins.

2007 Benziger Obsidian Point Cabernet Sauvignon
49% Cabernet Sauvignon, 22% Cabernet Franc, 19% Merlot, 10% Petit Verdot
$65, 14.5% abv.
24 Barrels Made
Very similar to the 2008, but lighter, milder, and more refined. With all of these wines I had the chance to share them with a group of friends and it was so much fun to let everyone sip back and forth between two adjacent vintages.

2008 Joaquin's Inferno Zinfandel
73% Zinfandel, 27% Petit Sirah
$50, 15.5% abv.
186 Cases Made
I tried the 2005 a few years ago, and I found that it was surprisingly consistent over the years. As I said back then, it's named after the vineyard manager's complaints about farming high up on the hill, out of reach of mechanized equipment and on a steep slope. Dark fruit and a hint of cinnamon and black pepper. Lovely balance.

2007 Benziger Tribute
84% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Cabernet Franc, 3% Merlot, 3% Petit Verdot
$80, 14.6% abv.
102 Barrels Made
The real star of the show, and lovingly enjoyed with a savory ribeye roast as God intended. Mild wonderful, delicious. Blackberry and tea, with hints of leather, chocolate, and tobacco. Long, lingering finish that caused one attractive guest seated to my left to repeatedly catch every stray drop from the neck of the bottle and lick it off her finger. As I was standing there trying to explain volcanic soils and fermentation, it was distracting to say the least. But not in a bad way.

A really spectacular lineup, and I loved the opportunity to try these. But I've got an additional five Benziger wines that I've tasted in the past month, and will have those up soon...

Note: These wines were received as samples.

Ocho Carménères Chilenos

2011-10-26T00:38:00.000-07:00

The latest group of bottles from Wines of Chile comprised an octet of Carménère. Yes, they drop the accent marks for most marketing these days, but I never pass up an opportunity to use special characters. Your fancy iPhones and modern web browsers support Unicode, so why not make use of it? Someday I'll finally get to review something in the Eastern Canadian Inuit language ᐃᓄᒃᑎᑐᑦ.

One of the themes of the online tasting and video conference from Chile was curry. I made a curried custard pumpkin with one of the spice blends, and will do something with the other blend soon. More later... Let's get to the wines.

2010 Emiliana Natura Carménère
Colchagua Valley
$17, 14% abv.
Black cherry, dark and tannic, rough start, slow finish. A common theme throughout these wines is that every single one was better the second day. They're all a little young and brash at the moment.

2008 Casa Silva Los Lingues Gran Reserva Carménère
Colchagua Valley
$22, 14% abv.
Bell pepper and green tobacco, a solid example of the grape if you want to introduce a friend to it.

2008 Santa Rita Medalla Real Gran Reserva Carménère
Colchagua Valley
$20, 14.1% abv.
Light cherry and spice. Bit of tomato leaf. Definitely more subtle than some of the others.

2008 Montes Alpha Carménère
Colchagua Valley
$24, 14.5% abv.
Strong tobacco leaf, dark plum, deep tannins. A heavy hitter, and definitely in need of breathing, but then it can stand up to pretty hearty fare.

2009 Carmen Gran Reserva Carménère
Apalta Valley
$17, 14% abv.
Pretty solid with some tobacco and smoke, black cherry and cinnamon. With leftovers, a great burger wine.

2009 Santa Carolina Reserva de Familia Carménère
Rapel Valley
$20, 15% abv.
Bright cherry, firm tannins, softer finish. A lighter Carm if you're looking for a milder experience.

2009 Concha y Toro Marques de Casa Concha Carménère
Rapel Valley
$20, 14% abv.
Definitely one of the smoothest and well balanced straight out of the bottle. Black cherry and just the tiniest green pepper notes. Restrained in every regard and quite lovely. Tannic finish that will probably soften in a few more years.

2007 Haras de Pirque Cabernet Sauvignon/Carménère
Maipo Valley
$13, 14.5% abv.
My utter favorite label of the tasting, because I love simple black and white design and reversed text. The wine is way too heavy on the green and vegetal scale, though. Which is doubly surprising because this is the oldest wine of the tasting. It still smells and tastes like freshly cut tomato leaves, and the tannins have not softened. I will say that this one was considerably better after being open for a day.

Note: These wines were received as samples.

3rd 35th Birthday Dinner

2011-10-24T00:40:00.000-07:00

This is the third dinner party celebrating my birthday (after dinners 1 and 2) and the first in which I didn't lift a finger or bring a bottle. It also had by far the most impressive wine lineup of them all. The legendary Mike Whitfield and his wife Darlene invited my parents and me over for dinner. I brought along The Roommate, and when I saw the chalkboard menu outside the house wishing me a happy birthday and listing the courses, I knew I was in for a magical evening.

Mike and my father have been friends since the 60s, and in the 80s and 90s Mike was responsible for introducing me to good wine. Over the past few years he's given me the opportunity to try some incredible bottles, such as the tasting of Barolos from 1967-1996.

We started the cheese and fruit course with a 1998 Domaine A.R. Lenoble Blanc de Noirs. With all due respect to Chardonnay, my favorite sparklers come from the red grapes. And I hope that this selection meets with Samantha Dugan's approval, given my usual routine of Prosecco and Cava. This bubbly had nice notes of yeast and toast with just a touch of dried apricot aroma. Good acidity and tiny bubbles, a well-constructed Champagne all around. I particularly enjoyed it with the Comté and Cranberry Wensleydale.

Oh yes, that's some capicola in the background. Love the cured pig cheeks and jowls. There's also a tumbler of Kentucky whiskey back there, but I'm saving the spirits for another post.

The first course was an unbelievably smooth cauliflower soup made with vegetable stock and topped with truffle oil. Rich and savory, and Mike did a great job of coaxing maximum flavor out of the humble vegetable. I did have to admit that the last time I had cauliflower soup, my grandfather heated it up on the engine block somewhere in northeastern California during a road trip.

He paired this course with an Amontillado that I neglected to photograph or jot down, but it had a deep and meaty beef broth profile, and did not overwhelm the soup. In fact, it amplified the flavors and went particularly well with the truffle oil.

Have you ever seen an Alsatian magnum? I hadn't before last night. It is freakishly tall and messes with your sense of proportion and depth perception. This bottle is 48cm/19 inches tall, and carrying it by the neck feels like you're swinging a baseball bat. It is a bottle format that doesn't fit in anything. Back at the house, it won't even go under the cabinets. For storage purposes you have to get creative, sliding it in sideways or diagonally.

That being said, this 1998 Trimbach Pinot Gris Reserve was out of this world. The winery was established in Alsace in 1626, and I got an instant craving for choucroute garnie. It's always fascinating to see what happens when a wine region is in a transitional area between two countries and two different wine traditions. The wine has turned a dark golden color but the mild peach aromas and flavors have survived. Dry with a round mouthfeel, and any acidity has disappeared by now. Just a little hint of petrol and minerals.

The dish served with the Pinot Gris was a complete surprise to me: fish korma. I love Indian food, but that's a bad way to explain it. If you say you love American cuisine, are you talking about Cajun jambalaya, Maine lobsters, Hawaiian poi, or fried chicken? Korma comes from the Mughal years and is associated with northern India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. And of course, the Indian seafood traditions take advantage of the subcontinent's long coastlines.

The biggest compliment I can say about this dish is that The Roommate loved it. She enjoys Indian food but can shy away from anything too hot. This was heavily spiced, but not hot, a distinction that a lot of people miss. The fish was tender and flaky, and the sauce was just thick enough to scrape up with a fork and slide on the fish. The Pinot Gris was a nice match.

1995 S. Anderson Cabernet Sauvignon. Napa, Stags Leap. Great Bordeaux style wine with classic Napa character. Mild and soft at this point, but not too delicate. It maintains a full flavor with dark plum and a little whiff of bell pepper.

The whole evening was like this: Mike bringing various treasures out of the cellar. I can remember going to some wine and cheese parties with my parents and Mike 15 years ago, and someone would pull out a bottle and everyone would ooh and aah. At the time, I really didn't understand what constituted a great wine, and didn't know all the names and grapes and regions. This time, I could recognize the bottles from across the room and already start drooling in anticipation.

(Take note of the dinner table that has panels from wooden wine cases under glass. A few bear the numbers scrawled on there by the late John Grisanti.)

For the main course, a savory fall dish: braised short ribs over polenta with green beans and brown mushrooms roasted in red wine. We had been smelling this dish throughout the entire evening and it was great to finally tuck into it.

The meat was tender and fell apart, and the polenta had the perfect consistency--not too thick or thin, just standing up properly on the plate. I will confess that I did not finish this, because I started waxing poetic about all sorts of things and neglected my food. But it was wonderful and something that I hope to recreate soon.

The pièce de résistance, and the final surprise of the evening that almost brought me to tears: a 1976 Faiveley Morey-Saint-Denis. I've always wanted to try a wine from the year of my birth, and over the years Mike has been on the lookout for one. We don't really have a lot of auctions or old bottles for sale in this area, so such an acquisition involves private collections or travel. I don't know how or where Mike got this, but it was very special to me.

I opened it without any cork issues, but at first I was a little concerned. A garnet color, the nose hadn't opened up yet... I was fearing oxidation. Mike encouraged me to let it wake up, and in about fifteen minutes the wine showed its true profile. Complex and slightly tart with dried figs and bright red cherry, smooth and a really long finish. I took a photo of my parents together with the wine, and just relished in the experience of touching the past, wondering where that bottle had been during its 35 year journey from the vineyard to my lips.

Over the years, my father and Mike and I have eaten hot dogs and Cokes, BBQ and beer, and some of the highest cuisine and finest wines on the planet. Yet the jokes and stories and friendship have remained the same, and with luck will continue well into the future. Thanks to everyone who made this special night happen, and I hope it's not too long before we pull some more corks together in fellowship.

P.S. Blogger now presents photos in a convenient slideshow. Click on any photo for a bigger version, and you can go through all the pictures for that post.

2010 Nine Walks Sauvignon Blanc

2011-10-21T00:32:00.000-07:00

The character on this blog formerly known as The Girlfriend became a serious fan of Vietnamese food after I introduced her to a local soup joint. More local to her part of town than mine, but Memphis has a wide range of options when you need to get your phở on.

I love the spring rolls with shrimp and lettuce and peanut sauce, the quail, the occasional odds and ends that show up as specials... I'm by no means an expert on Vietnamese food and my knowledge of the language and proper pronunciation is horrible. But I know good food, and when you get that craving for phở, nothing else will work.

So it was with much excitement that I got such a craving on a Sunday afternoon and grabbed myself a takeout kit of Phở Bò Viên from Green Bamboo, a little Vietnamese restaurant within walking distance of my house. I throw pretty much everything in there, and I like to eat the sliced beef before it gets too cooked. The basil and bean sprouts are really my favorite part. I have a great set of Japanese noodle bowls that The Roommate gave me over a decade ago, you just have to hold it the right way if you want to do the traditional slurp and shovel.

2010 Nine Walks Sauvignon Blanc
Marlborough, New Zealand
$11, 13% abv.
The nose is floral with notes of peach. On the tongue there is nice tart acidity, but it's not citrus, rather a general overripe fruit note that I like. Touches of minerality on the aftertaste.

How'd it work with the Vietnamese food? Freakin' awesome. I skipped the lemon wedge when building the soup bowl, and let the wine do the acidity balancing for the meal. Letting the wine do some of the work made the whole experience even more fun, and by the end I was ready for more.

Note: These wines were received as samples.

Stuffed Pie Pumpkin

2011-10-19T00:23:00.000-07:00

I've made a couple of these recently and have mentioned them as an afterthought here on the blog and on Facebook. And people have been fascinated by them, so I feel obligated to put all the answers in one place.

Before I go any further, everything here involves the small pie pumpkins, smaller than a volleyball. Do not use big pumpkins for this. Buy a couple of pumpkins, because some will have thick walls (good, but holds less custard) and some will have thin walls (bad, easier to collapse), and it's hard to tell from the outside.

Back when I was a wee lad, Jeff Smith (The Frugal Gourmet) wrote about baking a whole pumpkin with custard, and that it was one of George Washington's favorite dishes. Of course, the only reference for that factoid is Jeff Smith, so take that as you will. Smith's recipe involves cooking the custard and the pumpkin together at the same time. I think this is a bad idea, because you've got a shell that will eventually fall apart and a custard that might not set in time. I prefer to bake the shell until just tender enough, and then pour the cooked custard inside. You'll get a little additional cooking as the gourd cools, but you don't have to worry about it all collapsing in an orange mess. Always bake in a pie tin and keep it in there until serving, just to be safe. It can be squishy by the end, and the bottom tends to get soft.

For the regular pumpkin I made a few weeks ago, I just used a little salt inside the cavity. Last weekend, I decided to use a spice blend I had on hand. The Wines of Chile folks sent along eight bottles of Carménère along with two curry blends. The one marked Tandoori had a hint of cinnamon and clove, and I thought it would be fun with the pumpkin, and I wanted a nice aromatic custard. I made one for the tasting and did a second attempt a few days later for the gathering of the wine bloggers.

Neither of the curry ones worked out perfectly, and most people reacted with "interesting, but no". For one, the spice had more of a hot chili kick than I expected, and it only showed up on the aftertaste. Also, you really have to like the flavor of cooked, unsweetened pumpkin, and not have adverse reactions from opening baby food jars in the middle of the night.

I dusted the interior of the pumpkin with the spice and roasted it. Meanwhile, I incorporated it and a bit of buttermilk into my custard, just enough to tinge it yellow and make it flavorful. My earlier, purely sweet custard was scented with Chinese five spice powder, which was incredible but would have been a jarring contrast with the curried pumpkin walls.

Even though none of these were huge successes, I love experimenting with flavor combinations, and you can't deny that these are a lot of fun to make and look really adorable on the table. And if you just make a plain vanilla custard, anybody who doesn't like the pumpkin can just spoon from the center. Which is what happened to pumpkin #1 that got mysteriously drained of all custard one night. I blame Wolfie.

P.S. Also check out my 2007 post on carbonada criolla, an Argentine stew that involves meat, fruit, and vegetables baked in a pumpkin.

CATNGA Summit

2011-10-17T00:33:00.000-07:00

I had the distinct pleasure of spending time this weekend with two fellow winebloggers here in my home state of Tennessee, in my home town of Memphis: Californian Samantha Dugan of Samantha Sans Dosage and Georgian Joe Herrig of Suburban Wino. Both were in town for different reasons, those reasons being red, white, and sparkling. Longtime friend Grace served as hostess for this epic meeting, Lady A brought dessert, and we spent a leisurely afternoon with good food, good wine, and lots of fun conversation.

UPDATE: Joe's Story, Sam's Story regarding the meetup.

I met Samantha through her comments on my blog years ago, and have kept in touch ever since. I've always admired her unique voice and thorough knowledge of French wines, and though we'll never agree on Pinotage I know I'll always get a hug when I see her.

This is actually my second time meeting Sam and her husband Carl in person--they came by last July and we had a blast. Can't wait for them to come back again.

I don't recall the first time I encountered Joe, but it was around the time that I was taking notice of the growing community of Atlanta winebloggers. I think I noticed one of his comments on another blog, followed the link, and began reading his site. A guy who enjoys barbecue and peppers his wine reviews with 80s pop culture references? How could I not read Suburban Wino.

The fun thing about meeting Joe in person is that he's exactly like he is on the blog. The conversation moved from e-mail to verbal seamlessly, and machinations are in place for a future Nashville gathering. Stay tuned!

Friday night we met in the Cooper-Young district for dinner at The Beauty Shop, one of my local favorites. The good thing about Cooper-Young is that if someone in your group changes his or her mind, there are a lot of other options nearby. But they trusted me, and we enjoyed an amazing dinner. Joe and Carl went for the seafood while Sam and I were chowing down on rare red meat. Hers was a cherry smoked ribeye and I had a pair of lamb chops in a berry sauce, accompanied by fingerling potatoes smashed with goat cheese. I also had a martini made with a gin from Little Rock, Arkansas, but that will have to wait for another post.

Saturday at noon we all gathered at Grace's house for wine and food. I was particularly excited to try this gem that Joe brought along:

2009 Wolf Mountain Blanc de Blancs Brut
Dahlonega, Georgia (about 75 miles NE of Atlanta)
$26, 12.5% abv.
Made in the traditional méthode champenoise from Chardonnay. This is the first Georgia wine I've ever had, and I fear any more in the future will be a disappointment. This is a well-made sparkler with hints of yeast and toast on the nose that give way to a crisp and dry flavor with just enough acidity to balance things out.

Fried chicken is such a great natural pairing with sparkling wine, and due to the regional associations it would be easy to suggest that. But I really found myself craving oysters when I tried this wine. Maybe with a tiny dash of cilantro-serrano-grapefruit salsa on top of each twitching bivalve.

I don't have detailed notes on these wines. I was mostly just having fun and enjoying wine without overthinking it, which everyone needs to do from time to time. Many thanks to Joe and Sam for doing the heavy lifting on the wine here, and for hauling everything across multiple time zones. But here's a few links in case you want more information.

NV Ulysse Collin Blanc de Blancs Extra Brut

NV Quattro Mani Franciacorta Brut

2004 Agrapart & Fils Blanc de Blancs Extra Brut Minéral

Dagueneau Blanc Fumé de Pouilly

2009 Domaine Ostertag Pinot Noir

2008 Ronchi di Cialla Colli Orientali del Friuli Rosso
Got to add a new grape to my list with this one, made from Refosco and Schiopettino ("gunshot").

There was also a Vouvray, and I think I'm forgetting some others, plus my sole vinous contribution: a Pfeffingen Beerenauslese that was quite nice. More notes on that later...

This post has gone on way too long, so I'll conclude with some photos from lunch:

After some cheese and olives, I did a simple salad with spinach, strawberries, Gorgonzola, and a balsalmic vinaigrette.

The night before, I made bœuf bourguignon using most of a bottle of Chilean Carménère. I used leeks and shallots instead of onion, and was happy with the results.

The tandoori-spiced pumpkin custard was not a big hit (I'll give full details in a future post), but Joe provided a pairing of Moon Pies and RC Cola for those that had never experienced that Southern treat. It was the first time I'd ever seen RC Cola served in delicate espresso cups. The real dessert was Lady A's gift of apple pie and gelato.

After cleaning up and a lot of goodbye hugs, this guy went home and slept for a few hours. A great time was had by all, and thanks to everyone who contributed and made it possible.

Brancott Wines

2011-10-14T00:57:00.000-07:00

Brancott wines were some of the first New Zealand bottles I ever tried, and an early introduction to the often confusing corporate ownership of certain brands and vineyards. At the time, Brancott was run by Montana Wines out of New Zealand, but that name was confusing for the American Market. (New Zealand is exotic but safe because they speak English, while wines from the state of Montana might not be the ideal association for customers.) Then Montana was purchased by Allied Domecq, then by Pernod-Ricard.

When it comes to the business side of wine, I'm mostly fascinated by marketing and production methods rather than whose signature is on the lease. And while I've had higher-end NZ wines that are much more delicate, these three are still solid performers for a casual lunch or picnic.

Also, I'm only picturing one of the wines here to show how I'm tasting a lot of things these days: down in the kitchen with the trusty MacBook in front of me. I still like handwritten notes, but I can just snap pictures, plug in the camera, and taste, and have everything in one place. When you try a lot of wine, you have to focus on efficiency at some point. At some point I'll submit my full streamlined process for ANSI or ISO 9000 certification. I'm working on my Lean Six Sigma Burgundy Belt.

2010 Brancott Pinot Grigio
Marlborough, New Zealand
$13, 13% abv.
Lemony and crisp with good minerality. I had brought this along to a gathering for my sister-in-law, a Pinot Grigio fanatic, but she was unable to attend. It did end up being a great match with my heirloom tomato gazpacho.

2010 Brancott Sauvignon Blanc
Marlborough, New Zealand
$13, 12.5% abv.
Pretty aggressive grapefruit peel, bitter nose. Not a bad thing, because a lot of times I like this style, and I crave bitter flavors. Crisp mouthfeel with a bit of minerals again. I'm proud of these two bargain whites for having stony qualities--you don't see that a lot at this price point. Guilty pleasure: I paired this with fried chicken, and the acidity cut through the grease in the most delightful way.

2010 Brancott Pinot Noir
Marlborough, New Zealand
$13, 13% abv.
Dark strawberry nose with a dusky aroma. Much brighter strawberry fruit flavor and touch of acidity, short finish. I prefer a softer, lighter Pinot Noir, but this one's good with grilled salmon or a salty ham sandwich.

Note: These wines were received as samples.

Organic Beaujolais

2011-10-12T00:10:00.000-07:00

About a year ago, I finally made it through the tenth and final Cru Beaujolais. Having tried at least one of each, I breathed a sigh of relief and then didn't think about the region for a while. About a month ago, I got a sample pack of organic wines from Discover Beaujolais, three of them Crus.

I think people tend to forget Beaujolais when pairing foods, thinking that the meat course is going to have the heavy reds and the seafood and salad courses are going to have lighter whites, but the reality is that a good Beaujolais will pair with just about anything, and they're affordable enough to open in the middle of the week or whenever you are in the mood.

2009 Christian Bernard Fleurie
$22, 14%
Light and delicate, with very mild notes of strawberry and earth. Tannins creep up on the finish. A wide favorite for the online Twitter tasting. There's an interesting thing about this label, which is that the front refers to it as "Select Block Gamay". It's only on the back where it's identified as a Fleurie in tiny letters.

2010 Chateau Cambon Rosé
$16, 14%
Bright cherry and happiness, light acidity on the first taste but it smooths out immediately. Touch of lemon and watermelon, orange blossom, and dried fig. Stewed fruit as it warms up, which is something I've never experience in a rosé. I know that sounds a little like heat damage, but it wasn't like that at all, just a very deep and complex rosé. Perfect here in the waning days of summer, which in Memphis extend into November.

2009 Domaine de la Voûte des Crozes Côte-de-Brouilly
$20, 13% abv.
Deeper red flavor than I was expecting, with black cherry. Great structure with medium tannins, and it should be delightful in a few years. I got to enjoy this with some smoked lamb where it was strong enough to stand up to the flavor.

2009 Domaine J. Chamonard Morgon
$24, 13.% abv.
This one has a splash of bright acidity with an overall profile of ripe raspberries. There's even that hint of nuttiness you get from chewing up the raspberry seeds. Mild tannins and a light body.

Note: These wines were received as samples.

I get by with a little wine from my friends...

2011-10-10T00:53:00.000-07:00

I am richly blessed in that I have the opportunity to try wines from around the world at no cost to me. It is often an embarrassment of riches, and I feel a bit of nagging Presbyterian guilt every time I pour excess wine down the drain.

Despite the fact that I am the last man on earth who needs a bottle of wine as a gift, I always welcome said bottles with grace and keen interest, and set them aside so that I may enjoy them properly on my own time rather than just popping another cork at a big dinner with friends or during a marathon solo tasting session.

Alas, both contributors must remain anonymous per their wishes, but I cherish their friendship and very much appreciate the gifts.

First up is a Norton wine from Stone Hill Winery. I've had a few Nortons and Cynthianas over the years, and while I'm not an expert on this particular French-American hybrid, I do believe that if any such grape is going to break out as a star on the national stage, it's going to be Norton rather than Seyval Blanc or Baco Noir or hundreds of others.

2008 Stone Hill Norton
$19, 13.5% abv.
100% Norton
Hermann, Missouri

Hermann sits west of St. Louis in what's called the Missouri Rhineland on the south bank of the Missouri river. German immigrants planted the first vineyards, and native American, European, and hybrid grapes were planted in such volume to make Missouri the #2 wine producing state before Prohibition. So how does it fare in the glass? There is a light nose of blueberries and leather, with just a touch of cinnamon. No foxiness or harsh aromas that you might have encountered from other hybrids, but there is a slight hint of smoke and oak. On the palate it is light and smooth, with a slight tannic tang on the finish. Bit of bright cherry acidity, and flavors that stay on the high side of overripe raspberries and plum. Really quite refined and a great example of how wine can achieve greatness in The Other 46.

Moving along, we have a delightful wine from the south of France. And it's appropriate here, because Missouri was settled by French Canadians from the north and French Louisianans from the south. Where did you think the Show Me State got names like Saint Louis and Sainte Genevieve?

2006 Mas Cal Demoura L'Infidèle
$25, 13.5% abv.
Blend of Syrah, Grenache, Mourvèdre, Carignan, and Cinsault.
Terasses du Larzac
Coteaux du Languedoc

Here we've got a classic wine from the South of France. A blend of luscious Rhône grapes with Old World style. The winery name Cal Demoura means "one must remain" in Occitan (one of the dozens of Romance languages in the NW Mediterrean region), and the rest says "The Infidel" in French.

The nose is initially full of black cherry and pepper from the Syrah. But then you get a smooth and perfectly balanced mix of red grapes that is truly wonderful. The tannins are almost gone at this point with five years of aging, and the bottle exhibits exquisite aromas of violets and lavender. Mellow, relaxing, and perfectly balanced in terms of acidity, tannins, and fruit. Truly one of the best wines from the South of France that I've had in some time, with the exception of that amazing rosé from Xavier Flouret.

Note: These wines were received as gifts.

Wagner Family of Wine

2011-10-07T01:30:00.000-07:00

Always excited to get to try tiny 50mL wine bottles from TastingRoom.com. In this event, I'm trying samples from the Wagner Family of Wine based out of Napa. I think Caymus and Conundrum are the most well known products, but it was fun to try some of the others.

2009 Mer Soleil Silver Unoaked Chardonnay
Santa Lucia Highlands
$22, 14.8% abv.
Oh, just delightful. Some musky aromas combined with peach, with a very smooth and round body and a light finish. Just a touch of acidity, and a brief finish.

2008 Mer Soleil Barrel Fermented Chardonnay
Santa Lucia Highlands
$32, 14.5% abv.
Not too heavily oaked, but with obvious buttered toast and vanilla. Toasted coconut and tropical fruits with, again, low acidity and a brief finish. These two wines are great to try side by side.

2009 Conundrum
California
Proprietary blend of Sauvignon Blanc, Muscat Canelli, Muscat, Viognier, and Chardonnay
$22, 13.5% abv.
The Muscat notes come through immediately with that dark and dusky aroma and flavor. Not as sweet as many people assume, and it's relatively well balanced. Buttery and smooth on the palate, and it's often suggested as a good pairing for spicy Asian fare, by which I mean the thousands of different culinary traditions practiced by two billion people.

2009 Meomi Pinot Noir
Sonoma/Monterey/Santa Barbera
$22, 13.9% abv.
Black cherry and pie crust, with a touch of smoke and spice. Good fruit flavors and a nice tannic kick on the finish. Fairly substantial Pinot Noir.

2009 Belle Glos Pinot Noir
Santa Maria Valley
$44, 14.4% abv.
Mild wild strawberry and leather aromas, with a rich and delicate body. Delightful. Where's my slightly rare veal?

2008 Caymus Cabernet Sauvignon
Napa Valley
$68, 15.2% abv.
Leather and plump with a touch of spice and black pepper. Dark and rich, and while the tannins are definitely present right now, I imagine this will be incredible in a couple of years.

Note: These wines were received as samples.

Dinner Party at my Parents' House

2011-10-05T00:01:00.000-07:00

My parents moved into a new and much larger home late last year, and have been wanting to entertain guests. And they also wanted to have dinner with my brother and me for our recent birthdays. I had a lot of wine on hand and felt like cooking, so we arrived at a compromise in which I planned the meal, they got the ingredients and had all of them ready and waiting for me. Everything came together spectacularly, and we all had a great time throughout the long evening.

In attendance last Saturday night were my friend Michelle, her charming boyfriend from France, my parents, my brother, and the elusive Lady A, making a surprise last minute appearance.

I'll be writing about the wines later so that I can keep them together with their respective groupings. As I write it all out, I realize there's no great theme with this dinner--I bounce from Spain to France to Greece to generic Mediterranean... I think I just wanted one last hurrah of fresh produce here at the end of summer. On with the food!

After a round of good cheeses and crackers with the Cru Beaujolais, I began things with a teacup of gazpacho I'd made the night before. I lucked out on a few pounds of heirloom tomatoes for a song (Cherokee Purples, Yellow Brandywines, and others, all nice and soft). Yes, I toasted the cumin seed and ground it by hand, and had just the right number of jalapeños to give it zing without heat. Here I served the Conundrum and Brancott Pinot Grigio, two light wines to begin the evening.

The next course involved saumon en papillote although this time I didn't cook it on the car engine. Chopped fennel bulb on the bottom, then a salmon filet, then seasonings and olive oil and sliced Meyer lemons and fennel fronds. I cooked it just so it was a little rare in the center, and it was light and delicate. Here I opened up a trio of wines that would go well, all from the Benziger Signaterra line: a Chardonnay, a Sauvignon Blanc, and Pinot Noir.

Καρπούζι με φέτα again! I haven't quite made it for everyone I know yet, so I can cycle through it at various dinners. But I'm craving it, and it's fun and easy to make. Everyone loved it, and I hope more people give it a shot. I tossed it all with chopped mint, a little olive oil and vinegar, black pepper, and some pink Himalayan salt. I let it drain through a colander during the prior courses, so that the final salad was not soggy but had a concentrated fruit and salt flavor.

The main course was designed to show off Dad's new grilling and smoking rigs. The leg of lamb was covered in Dijon mustard and fresh rosemary and then trussed up and smoked for a few hours at low temperature on Dad's new Big Green Egg. While resting, the fire was cranked up to allow for a quick grilling of yellow squash, zucchini, eggplant, asparagus, radicchio, and endive, each of which had been marinated in a variety of vinaigrettes. There at the end of the table are the two standbys for roasted meat in the summer: homemade horseradish sauce and parsley-cilantro-mint chimichurri.

Here the big reds came out: Signaterra Three Blocks and Signaterra Cabernet Sauvignon. Perfect pairings, and as stated, I'll have links and details and tasting notes later. We finished up the evening with a wonderful apple pie and a couple of Ports.

As good as all the food was, I think everyone really enjoyed the 30 minute pauses between courses, allowing for leisurely digestion, much sampling of wine, and boisterous conversation that sometimes involved the whole table and sometimes broke off into separate groups. Many thanks to my parents for hosting, and I'm looking forward to doing this again.

When a problem comes along, you must...

2011-10-03T00:33:00.000-07:00

A while back I participated in an online tasting from Wente that included some of the Murrieta's Well line, again named after the inspiration for Zorro. One bottle was missing from many bloggers' tasting kits, and I didn't think too much about it. But last week, I received the missing bottle with a kind letter, and was excited to give it a try.

2010 Murrieta's Well "The Whip"
Livermore Valley
$20, 13% abv.
31% Sauvignon Blanc, 27% Viognier, 15% Semillon, 11% Pinot Blanc, 8% Orange Muscat, 8% Muscat Canelli

Nose of nectarines and lemon zest with a slightly musky undertone from the Muscat. Bright lemony acidity, with a nice tart mouthfeel and just a bit of sweetness. It's a very approachable and casual white wine, and the obvious comparison is with Conundrum, which I happened to taste just yesterday.

Comparing the two, I prefer The Whip to Conundrum. Part of it is the sweetness factor, but while both wines are perfectly serviceable, The Whip fits my palate better. I'm enjoying it with some cheese and marinated olives on a quiet Sunday afternoon.

And just as a random note, when I saw Devo's video for Whip It back in 1981, it was not that strange. Oh sure, it didn't make any sense, but there was no standard format back in those days. You might have puppets, or animation, or moody black and white, or long stories, or all sorts of crazy stuff. Mark Mothersbaugh wearing an energy dome and whipping the clothes off a woman in a western setting? After 1980's Fish Heads we were ready for anything.

Note: This wine was received as a sample.

Jacob's Creek Reserve Quintet

2011-09-30T00:19:00.000-07:00

Here's the latest roundup of wines from Jacob's Creek. We tasted through these during a virtual tasting with winemaker Bernard Hickin, and over the course of the following week I tried the leftovers with a variety of dishes.

2010 Jacob's Creek Reserve Dry Riesling
Barossa
$13, 12.5% abv.
Light nose with mild, lemony acidity. Gentle and light all around, and dry but not bone dry. Just a hint of sweetness to go with the acidity. A delightful salad wine.

2009 Jacob's Creek Reserve Chardonnay
Adelaide Hills
$13, 13.5% abv.
Again, very mild but with a soft nose of apricot and peach. I was surprised at how delicate this was. Good with grilled seafood.

2009 Jacob's Creek Reserve Pinot Noir
Adelaide Hills
$13, 13.5% abv.
Strawberries and leather, deeper aroma than I remember from prior releases. Mild profile with a smooth, short finish. Not jammy, but the fruit is certainly there. Happily enjoyed with a grilled ham and cheese sandwich.

2009 Jacob's Creek Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon
Coonawarra
$13, 13.9% abv.
Green pepper and leather, hint of black plum. Surprising green tobacco and cherry flavor. More complex than I was expecting, somewhat Bordeaux-like.

2008 Jacob's Creek Reserve Shiraz
Barossa
$13, 14.5% abv.
Licorice and black cherry with a bit of cedar. Medium tannins, long cherry finish. Nice with a lamb gyro.

Note: These wines were received as samples.

Orange Bitters: Angostura vs. Regans'

2011-09-28T00:43:00.000-07:00

Quick note: although I always welcome spelling and grammar corrections, the proper name of the bitters is Regans', because it's a collaboration between Gary and Mardee Haidin Regan. Now, on with the fun!

Years ago I'd put a collection of orange bitters on my Amazon wish list, because I was going to order it at sometime in the future. Then I got deep into the Fee's line and sort of forgot about it. One neat thing with the wish list is that people can buy something for you, it's shipped to you, and the only way you'll ever know is if they tell you. (My address is kept private, so it's not a way for someone to find where I live. Cool system.) Anyway, thanks to the anonymous donor who sent the bitters from Amazon. I've already been using the Fee's for a while, so I'll give that one as a gift to a friend. But I was glad to get the opportunity to try two others bringing my bitters collection up to 17. And what better way to test orange bitters than with a good martini.

For testing purposes, the martini was a 5:1 gin:vermouth ratio, using Tanqueray and Cinzano. I made one big batch and split it evenly between the two glasses, which each contained two drops of the respective bitters.

Angostura Orange Bitters
$7/4 oz., 28% abv.
Aside from the orange peel there's a lot of cinnamon and clove on the nose. In the martini, it gives a slightly hot, spicy mouthfeel. I think I'm going to save this for citrus based cocktails, and for cooking purposes, as I felt it threw the martini off balance.

Regans' Orange Biters No. 6
$4.50/5 oz., 45% abv.
Even though it's got a lot more alcohol than the Angostura, the nose is far milder, with more of an orange blossom aroma and more delicate spices. And we have a pretty good idea of what those are, because Gary Regan has publicly published the recipe for his No. 5 batch. In the martini it's much smoother, and really enhances the cocktail without overwhelming it.

After tasting back and forth, I added Meyer lemon zest to both, and got to try another two different flavor combinations.

Retail prices will vary across the country and across the internet. In general, the Regans' seems to be a couple of dollars cheaper, and you're getting an additional ounce over the Angostura. Plus, I think the Regans' tastes much better, so the choice between these two should be simple.

Note: These bitters were received as gifts.

M

2011-09-26T00:24:00.000-07:00

My previous post was CMXCIX. This one is M.

It's not a review of Fritz Lang's 1931 classic M, though I did get to watch that in my high school German class, and it was the first time I got to watch a foreign language film without subtitles and kind of know what was going on.

This is the obligatory thousandth post notification, which happened to fall between the wistful 35th birthday musings and the 7th anniversary of the blog in January (remember, the traditional gifts are wool and copper). I try not to do too many of these filler clip episodes, but I think my percentage of new content over the years is pretty impressive. Also, I still haven't missed a post on the three per week schedule. If anything I've tossed in a few extra here and there over the years

I'm currently sitting on two dozen wines that need to be reviewed, but in a rare move I'm writing this post right before publishing, and a tornado is on the way. I'm on the back porch with a wonderful martini, listening to the sirens, and watching the clouds roil and the lightning flash. This cell is passing north of Casa de Benito, but we've got one or two more on the way.

Thanks as always for reading, and if I end up in Oz I'll be reporting on whatever the Munchkins are making these days. Frankly I thought the 2008 Lollipop Guild Cuvée was a major disappointment. I have better hopes for the 2010 unoaked Chardonnay release of Yellow Brick. The biodynamic stuff from the guys at Flying Monkey Cellars is just insane.

P.S. That's the actual radar shot from around my time of posting at 1700 CDT. It's like a freight train of storms aimed right at Memphis. Gotta post before the power goes out.

Book Review: Bitters

2011-09-23T00:01:00.000-07:00

I got a chance to review this book by some strange means. Someone suggested the Facebook project of the author/photographer, and I kept an eye on the project during its development. I put the author in touch with Ellen Fee at my beloved Fee Bros., saying, "Hey, there's some gorgeous photographs of your bitters in this upcoming book..."

Then my friends the Knipples of From the Southern Table e-mailed me to say, "Hey, we got a sample of a book about bitters, and told the publisher to send you one!"

Now, I can't comment on the photography because I received a printer's proof (a softback black and white sample that has a few errors and isn't the final copy). It's a little book put together using a process called perfect binding. Oddly enough, I've used that equipment many times in the past. The photos online look spectacular, and I can't wait to see the finished product.

Bitters: A Spirited History of a Classic Cure-All
Brad Thomas Parsons
$25, Ten Speed Press, 240 pages

I was expecting a book entirely about the history of bitters, or a review of many different bitters around the world, but I was surprised. While those topics are covered, the majority of the book is devoted to recipes for making your own. And I'd honestly never thought about doing that, but why not? I've made limoncello and spiced rum and other neat things, so why not bitters? It might have to do with the fact that I own over a dozen bitters that will last me for a decade, and I don't have easy access to Tibetan toadroot, sandalwood bark, and powdered--not coarse ground--unicorn horn.

You won't find any trade secrets in here, but there are various bars and bitters enthusiasts across the country that have provided their custom recipes. And yes, finding all the ingredients might be difficult. But the actual preparation for small batches isn't too difficult, and I've already started thinking about some blends I'd like.

If you're a cocktail enthusiast, it's a good book to have on your shelf. You may not be ready at the moment to start making your own bitters, but at some point you're going to run through all the classic cocktails, then all the new ones, then you'll start making your own recipes, and then you'll start building your own ingredients.

Note: This book was received as a sample.

Entwine

2011-09-21T00:58:00.000-07:00

Ent wine? Why would you make wine out of trees that can walk and talk?

Oh, it's called Entwine.

The wine is made by Wente, and shares branding with Food Network. It's a natural marketing partnership that includes four basic, inexpensive wines: the two below plus Pinot Grigio and Cabernet Sauvignon. For some people, this will be the first bottle of wine they buy, because they trust the Food Network name. If it's attached to Rachel Ray and various cake makers, then it can't be too scary.

And more importantly, Wente makes serious wines at all price levels. They've got a great opportunity to make customers for life who will work their way up the chain of products over the years as they become more and more interested in wine.

2010 Entwine Chardonnay
California
$13, 13% abv.
Fruity with a lot of cantaloupe and peach. Initially low acidity, but it pops up on the finish with a crisp bite. I've been making a lot of smoked chicken this summer, so apologies if the pairing is getting old, but this worked out very well with some smoked chicken and a nice fruit salad.

2009 Entwine Merlot
California
$13, 13.5% abv.
This has a slightly buttery nose with dominant aromas of red cherry. It's fruit forward with firm tannins and a medium finish. It's not the fruit bomb you might think about with a $13 California Merlot, but it does give you a good concept of the grape as it's made in the state. This one is a great pizza or burger wine, though maybe you're using some goat cheese on that pizza or sliced pickled onions on the burger.

Note: These wines were received as samples.

Mark West & Bex

2011-09-19T00:44:00.000-07:00

A pair of wines showed up at Casa de Benito that aren't related to each other, but the world of public relations and distribution tends to group certain things together. I received a California Chardonnay and a German Riesling, and frankly both were welcome in the burning heat of the summer.

Have I ranted enough about the heat this summer? It seems as if the past few summers have been particularly brutal, and that impacts the beverage and dining selections. You find yourself yearning for winter so you can enjoy a baked potato without heating up the kitchen for an hour. Sure, a nice five hour chuck roast braise would be delicious, but do I want to finally serve dinner while covered in sweat and trembling from dehydration?

Ach, let's stop kvetching about the heat and get to the wines...

2009 Mark West Chardonnay
California
$10, 13.8% abv.
Light and fruity, round and low acidity, no oak. Slightly bitter aftertaste. A fairly standard California Chardonnay that performs well at its price bracket. I served this with smoked chicken legs and a light salad. Again, the pervasive BBQ culture of the South has a lot to do with long cooking outside so you don't make the house even more unbearable.

The second wine was a German Riesling called Bex, If I remember correctly, Bex is Latin for "two women named Rebecca". I kid, I kid... I actually don't know the origin behind the name, but would love to know. It also sounds like a comic book nemesis for Ben. Ben is the good one, Bex is the evil twin from a parallel universe who in this case does not have a beard.

Once again I will praise a German wine for having a simple and easy to remember name and label. Screwcap enclosure, and it's not overly tall so it fits in the fridge or wine rack easily. If I need to recommend a German wine, it's easier to say "Bex with the green label" rather than launch into what sounds like a performance of Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen.

This one was a big hit with my Mom and sister-in-law, who enjoyed the light, refreshing and just slightly sweet quality of the wine.

2009 Bex Riesling
Qualitätswein
Mosel, Germany
$8, 9.5% abv.
Bright green apple and peach flavors with low sweetness and a quick, crisp finish. Great acidity and I love the low alcohol. Excellent pairing for salads, sandwiches, picnics, that kind of thing.

Note: These wines were received as samples.

Te Awa Wines

2011-09-16T00:49:00.000-07:00

I still get a little tingle of excitement when I get wines from New Zealand. It's a place that's remote even by Australian standards, but is responsible for mainstream English-speaking entertainment like the film versions of The Lord of the Rings.

Here I present three wines from Te Awa on the north island of New Zealand. The full name of the area is Te Awa o Te Atua, Maori for "River of God". Things like this tickle my old anthropology memories, and I can recall reading first edition ethnographies by Margaret Mead and Franz Boaz in the Pacific. I can recall in my graphic design days when I got a bunch of invitations to typeset in a strange vowel-heavy language and thought, "Where did all these Marshallese come from?" And the answer was that loads of them live in Northwest Arkansas working at the various Tyson chicken factories. But let us move on to wine.

2009 Te Awa Syrah
Hawkes Bay, New Zealand
99% Syrah, 1% Viognier
$27, 13% abv
Starts out with a tart, bright cherry profile, As it breathes, it's really light and delicate, with a quiet, smooth finish.

2009 Te Awa Sauvignon Blanc
Includes a touch of Semillon.
Hawkes Bay, New Zealand
$18, 13.5% abv.
Forward fruit of pineapple and balanced acidity, slightly floral nose and a long finish. Nothing like the big grapefruit SB you might expect from NZ.

2009 Te Awa Chardonnay
Hawkes Bay, New Zealand
$27, 13.5% abv.
Light oak with a touch of vanilla and buttered toast. Light body with a mild touch of creamy lemon flavor. Balanced acidity and a long finish. Quite nice.

Note: These wines were received as samples.

What a Wonderful World

2011-09-14T01:40:00.000-07:00

It's a bit clichéd because of commercials these days, but I'll always have a soft spot for Israel Kamakawiwoʻole's ukulele version of Louis Armstrong's classic hit "What A Wonderful World".

I've been to Hawai'i but haven't actually experienced it. Allow me to elaborate. In the summer of 1976 a pregnant Mom and Dad won a trip to Hawai'i and decided it was too good to pass up. I don't count it on my official list of states visited (I've willingly set foot on 31 as of now), but it's kind of a neat story, and an apt intro to this birthday post. Yes, I turned 35, and why am I showing computers?

In 1984 Dad brought home a bunch of boxes which contained a bunch of gleaming white pieces of technology collectively known as the Apple IIc. It was fully a parents-only thing for a few weeks until I got my wee grubby paws on it and began reading the manuals. Within a month I was doing simple programming in Applesoft BASIC and ProDOS. A few months after that I'd mastered the primitive but mathematically complex applications that allowed for word processing, spreadsheets, and databases. With a 1 mHz processor and a scant 128kb of memory, I pushed that beast to its limits all the way to 1994.

I've held onto the dear machine out of sentimental reasons, though I've tossed out all of the interstitial computers. I do find it fascinating that the latest Apple purchase is the postage stamp-sized iPod Nano. An 8 gigabyte hard drive (the Apple IIc didn't even have one, just the 128 kb of RAM and 140 kB of space on a 5.25" floppy). Full color display (hey, the IIc was advanced for its time), ability to play music for 24 hours straight, grab FM radio broadcasts, serve as a pedometer, and lots of other things.

Similarly, in 1984 I was a voracious reader and quietly thought it would be amazing to be a writer. I either wanted to write science fiction or newspaper editorials, a drive that persisted well into adulthood. Obviously nothing came out of those plans (although I've appeared in magazines and newspapers), but I never stopped writing thanks to the advice of a grouchy English teacher who honestly told me how badly I wrote some things, and how well I wrote other things. And eventually, I got some readers, and today, I had hundreds of them wish me a happy birthday via e-mail and Facebook and other electronic means that I could never have imagined back in 1984.

Lots of people wondered what I was drinking or cooking tonight. And the reality is that I had a vegetarian pizza and a ton of water, because I was hungry and thirsty after work. But I did celebrate last weekend with a long-needed dinner party in Nashville with Sally, her husband Terry, my brother-from-another-mother Paul, and others. I'll write about the wines later, but I'll go ahead and show the dishes. We all had a wonderful time, and it was good to get back in the groove of dinner party magic.

I started out with a sparkling Brut Rosé and a platter of cheese and olives. The cheeses were Wensleydale, Red Leicester and Cambozola. Big hit, but then I brought out the following with a Riesling... moules normande, or mussels cooked with apples, bacon, cream, brandy, shallots, and a great deal of love to keep them from getting tough:

Καρπούζι με φέτα, or as it's known in these parts, watermelon with feta, onion, mint, and a little oil and vinegar, plus the requisite salt and pepper. It's stupidly easy to make but tends to be a show-stopper for those that have never tried it. Pro tip: bad implementations of this dish are really watery, and the fruit juice and whey from the cheese make an unattractive pink slurry. Drain everything and pat dry with paper towels before combining, let rest in the fridge for a few hours, and plate with a slotted spoon to avoid excess liquid. Serve with additional sea salt.

The main course was provided by brother man Paul: a 3.6 kg (8 lb) ribeye roast that was dry-aged in the fridge for a full ten days. Slow roasted to medium rare, and served with grilled endive, homemade horseradish sauce, and a freshly prepared chimichurri sauce. The beef and horseradish were huge hits--chimichurri needs some charred flesh to really work well.

I always pass off dessert responsibilities to the host or a guest. I'm not a great pastry chef, I don't have a sweet tooth, and by that part of the evening I really don't want to cook another course. Sally and Terry provided a delicious carrot cake, while Paul provided the Port. A great combination with the raucous jokes and merriment that ensued:

A great time was had by everyone, and as is my tradition, I'm happiest when I can celebrate my birthday by cooking for a bunch of new friends that don't know it's my birthday. I'm happy, they're happy, and it's a great way to get rid of excess bottles of wine. And what about the wine? They'll show up in future posts about those particular sets...

Until then, thanks for the kind birthday wishes, and many more thanks for reading all these years.

2010 El Raval

2011-09-12T00:13:00.000-07:00

As summer draws to a close, I know I'm excited about getting to enjoy more red wines. As much as I love the whites, rosés, and sparklers, the searing heat of a Memphis summer means that often I'm not in the mood for a red. Fortunately things have cooled off a bit. Across Tennessee, people are saying, "This is great--can we just stop right here and stay like this for the rest of the year?

From the company that made Bogatell comes this red blend named after a barrio in Barcelona. Raval is the Catalan word for suburb, derived from the Arabic rabad meaning neighborhood. About 8% of Spanish is comprised of Arabic loanwords. What's always surprised me is how mundane most of the words are. Albóndigas are meatballs, and the notorious alcatraz just means pelican.

2010 El Raval
Montsant D.O.
$13, 14% abv.
80% Grenache, 20% Carignan

Chocolate and leather, smooth with some blueberry flavors. Creamy, soft finish. It's ready to go right after opening the bottle, and I served it with seared flank steak and seasoned rice. Pleasant and mild wine that's great for a quiet evening at home.

Note: This wine was received as a sample.

2010 Attems Pinot Girgio

2011-09-09T00:22:00.000-07:00

The 2010 Attems Pinot Grigio comes from Friuli–Venezia Giulia in the extreme northeast corner of Italy, nestled next to Slovenia and Austria. It's a place where Romance, Germanic, and Slavic languages crash into each other, and the region has changed hands many times over the past twenty centuries. (Indeed, the current borders weren't officially determined until a treaty was signed in 1975.) The capital city Trieste has a fascinating history that includes a 170 year stretch as a free port in the 1720s-1890s and another run as a sort of city state after WWII.

2010 Attems Pinot Grigio
Venezia Giulia IGT
$20, 12.5% abv.

The English version of the site doesn't have a lot of information, but from the Italian one we learn that 15% of this spent some time in oak while the rest was matured in stainless steel. Overripe peach and apricot, with a slight dusky undertone. Low acidity with a medium body and a clean finish. Great when chilled, but it is also enjoyable at room temperature. Quite good if you're looking to upgrade from the ocean of $10 Pinot Grigio, and there's enough depth here to enjoy it with a lot of different foods.

The meal was driven by the weather, not by the wine. But in a nod to italy, I made Memphis-style barbecue sandwiches with ciabatta bread, which is definitely an improvement over the usual cheap hamburger buns. What is Memphis-style? Usually pulled pork topped with a sweet molasses-based sauce and a mayo-based cole slaw. Some places chop the smoked pork shoulder instead (I prefer pulled), some use a mustard-based cole slaw (sometimes fun for a change), and I personally tend to throw a few dashes of hot sauce in there.

On the side, nothing too special... some sliced tomatoes, baked beans, and a couple of hot and spicy pickled okra. Frankly when you get a craving for pickled okra there is really nothing else that comes close. I discovered that pickled okra and good Pinot Grigio are a really wonderful match, with the low acidity wine and the high acidity okra pod.

Note: This wine was received as a sample.

2008 Feudo Principi di Butera Nero d'Avola

2011-09-07T00:02:00.000-07:00

Here's a rare wine. Not rare as in obscure or expensive, but rare in the context of this blog because I went to a brick and mortar store and purchased it rather than waited for it to show up via FedEx or UPS. The life of the wineblogger can seem hedonistic to many, but there are times when you miss actually picking out a wine you'd like to have with dinner. "I'd really like a Côtes du Rhône right now, but I've got three Zinfandels that need notes."

There are, of course, much worse problems to have in this life, and I consider myself lucky to get to try so many interesting wines from so many places.

I found myself in a wine shop, and just wanted a simple and tasty wine. This Nero d'Avola jumped out at me. I'm a longtime fan of the grape, and if it were legal, I think that pizza companies could make a fortune by delivering a cellar-cool bottle of NdA with the hot pies. Something about cured meats like pepperoni, guanciale, bacon, salami, etc., are just undeniably perfect with Nero d'Avola.

2008 Feudo Principi di Butera Nero d'Avola
Sicily
$10, 13% abv.

This wine is dark and smoky while black cherry aromas dominate. It has a fairly mild flavor with firm, mouth-drying tannins and a long finish. Happily paired with roasted pork where it performed admirably, and of course, I got to pair the leftover wine with some pizza a day later.

That Which I Dislike

2011-09-05T00:35:00.000-07:00

I am not a picky eater by any stretch of the imagination. Part of that was genetics, part was upbringing, but as long as something isn't rotten (in a bad way) or more willing to bite me back (excluding interesting fights with live food), I'm there. I can't recall anything past the age of 13 that I've refused to try. It doesn't mean I liked everything, but when you've consumed live ants and baby octopus that are still twitching slightly and other crazy things, you develop something of an iron stomach.

There's been some talk in the blogosphere recently about the role of negativity in wine writing. I typically don't post negative reviews. I don't lie about wines I dislike, but if something's boring or bad I really just ignore it and focus on the stuff that's drinkable. I think there's also an objective standard like in judging a dog show. The Bedlington Terrier looks ridiculous and might be weird to have running around the house, but I could still say that an individual dog is an excellent representative of the breed standard. I think this approach is important when looking at some of the stranger grapes.

But just to release the valve a bit, I'm going to point out some items that just don't do it for me. I'll consume any of these without crying or moving into projectile vomiting, but it's more a case that I don't get why they are so beloved.

Sake
...and my Japanese readership drops to zero. I've had it hot, cold, cheap, expensive, with food and without. Still not a fan. With sincerity, I bow and say すみません.

Chickpeas
Go on, make hummus with cannellini beans or mashed potatoes and it will be just as tasty. The worst offense is when chickpeas are paired with osso buco, truly one of the greatest dishes ever developed by mankind. Chickpeas are a neutral starch in a nugget form, and are better replaced by rice or beans or pasta or anything with a polysaccharide chain.

Ranch Dressing
Two things really bug me about ranch dressing. 1) People who love it slather it on everything. Fries, dipping your sandwich in it, and coating every vegetable in sight with the stuff. People even have Ranch Dressing Fountains at weddings. Moderation, people. 2) I love buttermilk, and happily cook with it and drink it straight. The population at large finds this disgusting, and will only touch buttermilk if in pancake form and covered with butter and syrup. That ranch dressing you're devouring by the gallon? Lots of buttermilk in there.

Skate
You can add shark in here, since they're both cartilaginous fishes of the Chondrichthyes class that can easily smell like ammonia or urine if the piece of seafood is just fifteen minutes too old. In both cases, you find yourself thinking that it's interesting from a curiosity standpoint, but that there are thousands of tastier things in the ocean.

Jägermeister
Actually, I like Jägermeister. What I can't stand is that the popular perception of it as "the last thing you drink on a dare before you throw up". This gives a bad name to bitters, herbal liqueurs, and anything licorice or anise flavored. There's this amazing world of aperitifs and digestifs out there that people are scared to try in their proper usage because of stupidity in bars.

The Chicago Hot Dog
Sigh... more hate mail. I've had these in Chicago and prepared by expats of Cook County. The concept isn't bad, but I think it's destroyed by the neon green relish. Not only is it as sweet as pancake syrup, but it's dosed up with blue food coloring to get that bright shade not found in nature. I say ditch the relish, and make a crude salsa from the tomato, sport peppers, dill pickle spear, onion, and celery salt.

The Neologism "Foodie"
I don't normally get angry about words, but "foodie" bugs me. There are perfectly good words like gourmand and gourmet and gastronome and epicurean that fit your particular niche. Foodie sounds like the babbling of a toddler that is constantly begging for nourishment but can't use big words yet. I do not object to those who call themselves foodies--such folks love good food and are doing some amazing writing online and in print. But I can still twitch my whiskers in annoyance when someone calls me by that name. If people start calling oenophiles "winies", so help me God I'll shut this site down. I'm talking full on, turn the station wagon around, we're not going to Disney World, kids.

Credit goes to the Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh for the Mr. Yuk logo. I remember it well from my childhood. Not so much from a warning, but rather reading off the numbers to Mom because I'd sampled some bottle of vitamins or dish soap or whatever. What can I say... young Benito had an expansive palate.

Big House Wines: The Slammer & The Birdman

2011-09-02T00:17:00.000-07:00

Whenever I see these jail-themed wines from Big House, a line of dialogue starts running through my head:

"This is the main cellblock area. Home to such famous criminals as Al Capone, Mickey Cohen, Joseph 'Dutch' Cretzer, and Robert Stroud, the famous Birdman of Alcatraz."

So says the late great Phil Hartman in his role as the former prison guard and current tour guide Vicky from the infamous scene in 1993's So I Married An Axe Murderer. That story then takes a dark and disturbing turn that has never failed to make me laugh.

And on the subject of prison wine, be sure to check out the story of Sherman "O.T." Powell via The Moth Podcast. In order to fund his cravings for snacks and cigarettes while in the clink, Powell went into the wine business. He talks about the headaches and challenges of production, marketing, and dealing with the regulatory state--it's strangely like real life wine business.

2009 Big House "The Slammer" Syrah
Central Coast, California
$10, 13.5% abv.
Strawberry and cherries, with black tea and firm tannins. Little bit of pencil shavings and a slightly nutty aftertaste. A decent pizza and burger sort of wine that goes down easily. Good choice for backyard BBQs, which in the South can continue well into November.

2009 Big House "The Birdman" Pinot Grigio
California
$10, 13.5% abv. (also available in the 3L Octavin format)
A little orange marmalade with a supporting cast of dried peach. Light, low acidity, and a quick, short finish.

I served the Pinot Grigio with this neat little thing I found at the local grocery store: a set of a dozen frozen coconut shrimp with a sweet orange sauce and hot chili sauce. OK, it's pre-fab frozen food, and it's not that healthy, but damn these things are delicious, and the box retails for around $8. Excellent pairing with the wine.

Note: These wines were received as samples.

Graffigna Wines

2011-08-31T01:30:00.000-07:00

Here's a couple of wines from Graffigna in Argentina. I've written recently about the Pinot Grigio, and my amusement at an Italian grape and an Italian name coming from Argentina. This really shouldn't be surprising, since there was a lot of Italian emigration to Argentina, and roughly 60% of Argentinians have some Italian heritage. Italian is the second most spoken language in the country after Spanish.

South America has so many fascinating immigration stories, like South Asians in Trinidad and Tobago or the influx of Japanese in Peru, including former president Alberto Fujimori. But let's get back to the wine...

Graffigna was founded in 1870 by Italian immigrant Don Santiago Graffigna, and his wines were the first Argentine wines to be exported abroad. There's an interesting history with the introduction of trains and radio and the devastating earthquake of 1944.

2010 Graffigna Pinot Grigio Reserve
San Juan
$12, 13.5% abv.
This wine holds up as well as the first time I tried it. Light touch of chalk and lime curd, substantial body with a mild citrus profile and a slightly tart finish. Great for seafood, and this isn't your "mommy in the bathtub" Pinot Grigio.

2008 Graffigna Malbec Reserve
San Juan
$12, 14% abv.
I've always admired a simple and inexpensive Malbec. This one starts out with black cherry and cassis, but then there's a touch of rich, savory tobacco. Medium tannins with a good fruit profile, though it avoids being jammy or over the top. Utterly delicious with a bacon cheeseburger.

Note: These wines were received as samples.

Samuel Adams Brewmaster's Collection

2011-08-29T00:28:00.000-07:00

Samuel Adams has a long history of putting out sampler packs, sometimes based around the season and sometimes a group of new styles they're promoting. The Christmas pack that comes out is pretty popular, including my favorite beer name: Old Fezziwig Ale. I'd heard great things about the Latitude 48, but decided to try it as part of a sampler sixer to see what else they're working on.

Samuel Adams Irish Red
Irish Red Ale
5.8% abv.
The ale is nutty and toasty with great malts and solid bitterness. Way better than Killian's, and a great all-purpose beer. I'm not sure how available any of these beers are, but this is one that I would love in a restaurant.

Samuel Adams Coastal Wheat
American Pale Wheat Ale
5.3% abv.
This is supposed to be a twist on Hefeweizen, and there's a lot of debate out there on putting lemon or orange in your wheat beer. I like it sometimes, but prefer to pick my citrus and the amount. Unfortunately, this one includes the lemon peel as part of the brewing process, and it doesn't have the crisp burst of acidity that you get from fresh lemon. Not bad, but disappointing.

Samuel Adams Latitude 48 IPA
American IPA
6% abv.
The idea behind this IPA is to blend six different hops from various points along 48° N latitude. Just like with wine, coffee, chocolate, and tobacco, there are various belts in the north and south hemispheres that are perfect for certain crops. In this case they combined: Hallertau Mittelfrueh Noble from Germany, East Kent Goldings from England, and Zeus, Simcoe, and Ahtanum from the Yakima Valley of Washington. It's deep, dark, deliciously bitter, with a great balance of malts and hops. Little bits of chocolate and toast and citrus and herbs and all sorts of amazing aromas and flavors. Highly recommended.

This beer is also available in a limited "deconstructed" set, in which the beers are separated out by each of the five hops so you can see how each contributes to the flavor. I first heard about the set from my friend Thomas Rickert, and there might be a pack waiting for me in Nashville or Indianapolis... stay tuned!

Rioja from Campo Viejo

2011-08-26T00:28:00.000-07:00

Paul helped me out with this online tasting of Campo Viejo wines with Assistant Winemaker Roberto Vicente Miguel. It's tough to enjoy three great wines with steak, but he soldiered through. With online tastings I like to open early and take some notes, and then I can devote more attention during the actual video/Twitter/etc. while also providing notes on how the wine has opened up over time. All three of these are great bargains, and I'd recommend purchasing all three if you get a chance. Open them all at once and take a look at the differences between the three. Spanish wines provide some outstanding quality-price ratios, but when you hit the Gran Reserva on this set you won't believe how fantastic it is.

2007 Campo Viejo Rioja Crianza
$10, 13.5% abv.
85% Tempranillo, 10% Garnacha, 5% Mazuelo (Carignan)
The youngest and simplest Rioja is Crianza, aged for two years, one of which must be in oak. This one was fruity with black cherry aromas and flavors. Dark and dusty with medium tannins. Tasty and uncomplicated, and not bad at all for a sawbuck.

2006 Campo Viejo Rioja Reserva
$14, 13.5% abv.
85% Tempranillo, 10% Graciano , 5% Mazuelo
Reserva means that it's been aged for three years, again, with at least one of those years in oak. This one was similar to the Crianza, but smoother with light tannins. As it warms, you get a nose of light eucalyptus, tobacco, and green pepper.

2003 Campo Viejo Rioja Gran Reserva
$20, 13.5% abv.
85% Tempranillo, 10% Graciano , 5% Mazuelo
Gran Reserva wines get two years in oak and three years in the bottle before release. This was an amazing wine. Light leather and smoke aromas. On the palate there are mild tannins with hints of black cherry and chocolate. The overall structure is light and delicate, and it just melts on your tongue. Highly recommended.

Note: These wines were received as samples.

Santa Julia Wines

2011-08-24T00:40:00.000-07:00

Santa Julia is a subset of the Argentine Zuccardi wine family, named after the young Julia Zuccardi. (Hey, more Italians in Argentine wine!) Everything is organic, done by hand, and cared for at every stage of the process. While they compost goat droppings and all of that, they do use a small amount of sulfites which means that the wines are not officially organic under U.S. law. This is a common problem that you run into not just with imports but also with some domestic produce: you can grow an organic product, but if you don't follow the precise letter of the law and get the proper certification, it's not Organic. It's a frustration that you'll hear often at the farmer's market.

I've seen some interesting things with wines from Argentina, but I really love it when winemakers focus on the particular grapes that seem to thrive there: Malbec, Torrontés, Bonarda, etc. Don't get me wrong, it's great when people experiment, but I've never had as much joy from an Argentine Cab Sav or Chardonnay as I have from the three or four grapes that truly flourish in the shade of the Andes.

2010 Santa Julia Malbec
Mendoza
$10, 13% abv.
Plum and a little nutty aspect on the nose. Roasted nut flavor continues on the palate with deep dark fruit flavors. Medium tannins, and a long finish. Solid middle of the week wine, and well recommended for something salty like a nice Reuben.

2010 Santa Julia Torrontés
Mendoza
$10, 13% abv.
I've seen a lot of Torrontés recently, and it's such a fun grape. This one has a nice peach and apricot aroma, but there's also this deeper dusty character combined with candied ginger that is amazing. While normally I'd pair a wine like this with shrimp or a salad, I really enjoyed this one all by its lonesome.

Note: These wines were received as samples.

Round Hill Chardonnays

2011-08-22T00:29:00.000-07:00

The Grace made it clear that she wanted a white wine with her steak during her visit to Hot Springs, Arkansas a couple of months ago. And thus, she developed a love for Pinot Gris that might not have happened otherwise.

Wine iconoclasm can be annoying ("I only drink wine out of coffee mugs and I put coffee in my wine! I even throw a little Hershey's Syrup in there when I feel like it, Old Man!"), but often the various rules that are associated with wine are not quite on the level of the Ten Commandments. Red wine with red meat and white wine with fish or poultry is common wisdom, but not a law or physical constant of the universe. Drink what you like and drink what makes you happy. As long as you're willing to try different wines with different foods, and enjoy the pursuit, I'll never criticize your choices.

Frankly, I enjoy Chardonnay with steak sometimes. If it's not heavily seasoned or cooked over fire, rare beef can be light and buttery, perfect for a Chard. (And obviously veal goes great with white wine, so there's established precedent.) Indeed, if you get a dark and heavily oaked Chardonnay, you really need something stronger than a steamed chicken breast with a specific number of green peas that's ordered every day at noon by an elderly dowager in New York.

These wines are from Round Hill via Rutherford Wine Company.

2010 Round Hill Oak Free Chardonnay
97% Chardonnay, 3% Muscat Canelli
$12, 13% abv.
Hallelujah! A great name for unoaked Chard. Much better than something like "grapes who have dreams that they are at a meeting stark naked, and you can taste the shame". This wine has a light nose of pear and apricot. Mild acidity with a soft, pleasant, and refreshing character.

2010 Round Hill Chardonnay
98% Chardonnay, 1% Pinot Grigio, 1% Muscat Canelli
$8, 12.5% abv.
While this one is oaked, it's not overdone. Just mild butter and vanilla tones with a touch of green apple and a hint of sweetness. It's fun to taste the two back to back, but I definitely prefer the unoaked version.

Note: These wines were received as samples.

2008 Educated Guess Cabernet Sauvignon

2011-08-19T00:51:00.000-07:00

During the early summer, I spent a lot of time over at Paul's place in a combination of housesitting and hanging out with him before his departure to Nashville. One one of the "steak nights" he produced a bottle of the 2008 Educated Guess Cabernet Sauvignon from Roots Run Deep Winery. I had the 2005 two years ago and really enjoyed it then.

Frankly the label is still one of my favorites, and makes me a bit nostalgic because you don't see chalkboards that often these days. Yes, whiteboards are easier and don't involve a lot of dust, but I love the classic slate and chalk as well as that palimpsest quality you get from the previous erasures. There's also the ritual of the chalkboard: you begin the semester with soap and water, washing it all. You carefully shake a stick of chalk out of the pack--heavier than a cigarette, but more delicate. Do you bang the erasers together or whack them against a brick wall? Chalk dust accumulates in dunes down in the rail, and at the end of the semester, it's time for another thorough washing.

We enjoyed this wine with a set of ribeyes, creamed spinach, and wedge salads, as God intended.

2008 Educated Guess Cabernet Sauvignon
Napa Valley
$20, 14.5% abv.
89% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Merlot, 5% Cabernet Franc, 1% Petit Verdot

Please give this at least half an hour to breathe. It doesn't necessarily need to soften, but it requires a short period of time to fully open up so that you can enjoy all the characteristics. There's a rich mix of leather, licorice, and black cherry. Underneath there is a touch of toasted caramel. On the palate, the wine has a deep black cherry and spice flavor with medium tannins and just a little acidity. This is a California Bordeaux-style blend done right at an incredible price. Highly recommended.

2009 Concannon Crimson & Clover

2011-08-17T00:24:00.000-07:00

I get a lot of e-mail from wine publicists, but this one hit just the right spot in the old cerebellum. "Would you like to try the Concannon Crimson & Clover?" Although the song was originally recorded by Tommy James and the Shondells, the version that I know and love is by Joan Jett and the Blackhearts. The mere mention of the song takes me back to 1983. A roller skating rink in Southaven, MS, just south of my home in Whitehaven, a small surburb of Memphis. I've been eating popcorn. I've been playing the pinball machine that has some racy Boris Vallejo artwork. I'm wearing the cleanest white t-shirt I have because it looks so awesome when they turn on the blacklights.

Once an hour, they set aside a song for a couples' skate, which is pretty ridiculous when everyone is under the age of ten. Mom encourages me to skate with my cousin, and I refuse. Instead, I hang on the rail and watch while nervous boys and girls slowly turn left for three minutes and Joan Jett wails over the speakers. Shortly thereafter, we get some Van Halen and I'm getting some great bruises on my shins.

This wine isn't officially tied to the song: the crimson refers to the deep red of the wine, and the clover for the Irish heritage of the Concannon family. But while sipping it you'll hear that song in your head over and over.

2009 Concannon Crimson & Clover
Livermore Valley, California
$18, 13.7% abv.
50% Petite Sirah, 25% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Syrah, 10% Zinfandel

Great dark fruit, needs to breathe for a while. Dark, deep, concentrated and tannic. This is chomping a bunch of blackberries and then drinking some tea right afterwards. (Which I've done on many occasions. Ripping out invasive blackberries is a pain, but I'll help myself to any fruit that's ripe, and have often taken a break with unsweetened, bitter iced tea.) I think it's a great expression of Petite Sirah with some excellent supporting cast members.

I got to pair this with some fun stuff that I was playing with in the kitchen and backyard. When it comes to smoking beef, brisket is the king. But I've never successfully prepared a brisket worth serving to anyone who's not starving, and the size and shape of that cut can be problematic if you don't have a big smoker. I had a chuck roast in the freezer, but didn't want to make a roast or beef stew with it.

I covered the defrosted chunk of beef in Dijon mustard and spices, and then smoked it with fresh apple wood for three hours. Then an hour in the oven wrapped in foil, and after resting it was time for serving with the delightful corn salsa that I whipped up. (Garlic and orange bell peppers roasted on the grill, combined with fresh corn, diced shallots, fresh line juice, toasted cumin ground by hand in the mortar, fresh cilantro, diced tomatoes, and a dash of salt.)

To assemble the tacos I used the smoked beef (pulled, not chopped), and used white corn tortillas, the homemade corn salsa, some pickled jalapeños for flavor, and a few crumbles of cotija cheese. The combination of everything was amazing, and I was really happy with the way that it all turned out. Chuck roast is a hell of a lot easier than brisket to cook, and the flavor/mouthfeel is comparable. I've spoken to my father about this revelation, and we think that spreading the word could revolutionize backyard BBQ. If you do any smoking, grab a chuck roast and give it a shot. I think you'll be impressed with the results.

Note: This wine was received as a sample.

Rieslings and Glass Stoppers

2011-08-15T00:59:00.000-07:00

Although it happens every three months, I'm still pleasantly surprised each quarter when a pair of bottles from Wines of Germany shows up here at Casa de Benito. It's a chance to decipher the dozens of words on the front label, but the use of umlauts causes problems all the way down the chain. In accordance with my upbringing, I compose all blog posts on paper in Parker penmanship. Said drafts are submitted to the typing pool, where one of the young lovelies will bang it out on the electric typewriter. From there, the post goes to the press, where lead type is placed backwards on massive metal plates to produce a sheet proof. This is then mailed (second class) to a facility in Princeton, NJ where said proof is scanned on the university mainframe and uploaded to the internet. Many have wondered why my posts tend to lag a couple of weeks behind the current events of the day, and I can only respond so quickly given the technology at hand.

2009 Dr. Pauly Bergweiler Bernkasteler Badstube Riesling Kabinett
Mosel
$22, 9% abv.
I've tasted and reviewed this one previously , but it stands up as a solid German white. Again, nice apples, touch of sweetness, and a light, refreshing body. Really delicious with smoked chicken.

2008 Schloss Reinhartshausen "Old Vines" Riesling
Erbacher Hohenrain, Rheingau
$20, 12% abv.
This dry but relatively strong Riesling has a nose of ripe peach with an interesting touch of cedar. Firm acidity with a taste of pineapple and a long aftertaste. On first sip it's clean and quick, but it rewards a long appreciation.

The second wine was enclosed with a glass stopper. These have shown up in the past few years but it's not a widespread alternative to cork. It's cute and reminds me of apothecaries and ampoules, but I'm not a fan. It doesn't do anything to hurt the wine--it's just glass on glass on wine. But the glass stopper is covered by a metal screwcap... so why not just use a screwcap? And if you pull the chilled white wine from the fridge or cellar, the stopper is covered with condensation and is too slippery to remove.

I'm going to hang on to this bit of glass, because it never hurts to have a spare stopper for an open bottle, but I don't think it's a great choice for wine moving away from cork.

Note: These wines were received as samples.

Michael David Winery

2011-08-12T00:08:00.000-07:00

I recently had lunch at the charming Flight with fellow wineblogger Fredric and Mike Phillips, CEO of Michael David Winery. (His brother, David, is the president and completes the winery name.) The logo for the winery is a reference to Mike's extensive corkscrew collection, and I like the simple, elegant design. What's even more interesting is that out of the many wines produced by the winery, there's no standard theme. Each bottle has its own unique and appropriate layout. For a change, all of the images in this post come from the company website as opposed to my own photography. For some tastings, it's not convenient to clear the table and find good lighting.

The Phillips family has been farming in Lodi since the Civil War, and after the establishment of the winery the following generations have continued to work the land. Talking to Mike was interesting, because it's often convenient to forget that with wine, we're talking about an agricultural product. Speaking with him was more like talking to my great uncles and other relatives that grow cotton and corn rather than discussing the end product with a PR rep. Mike grew up on the farm and picked fruit and drove tractors. If you want to talk about terroir, at some point it comes down to muddy boots.

2010 Seven Heavenly Chards
$14, 14.5% abv.
This is a counterpart to the popular Seven Deadly Zins, both of which involve taking grapes from seven different vineyards and making a well balanced wine from them. There's a little butter on toast aroma. The taste is creamy with a touch of peach. Just enough oak to get the point across (30% oak, 70% stainless steel).

2008 Incognito Rouge
$18, 14.5% abv.
21% Syrah, 18% Carignan, 18% Cinsault, 13% Tannat, 11% Souzão, 10% Cab Franc, 6% Mouvedre, 3% Petite Sirah
Tannat and Souzão! The winery is not afraid to experiment with various grapes, and this is a blend that would get you shot in France. I found that this red had a nice cherry and plum aroma. Smooth, medium tannins and a long finish. This would be so wonderful with properly cooked venison.

2009 6th Sense Syrah
$16, 15.5% abv.
Mostly Syrah with a bit of Petite Sirah and Petit Verdot
On the surface this is a classic Syrah: black cherry, black pepper, good dark fruit, long spicy finish. A solid, reliable wine. At times I prefer a more subtle Syrah, but this one would be great at a BBQ or for pizza night or for another casual dinner. It's always fun when you find someone in California that's really into the Rhône style, and folks in the South of France know the joy of a grill and a solid red as well as those of us in the South of... the South.

2008 Petite Petit
85% Petite Sirah and 15% Petit Verdot
$18, 15% abv.
I'm biased here, because I adore this wine and have loved it every time I've sipped it. Two of my favorite grapes dancing elegantly. Delightful dark fruit, dark berries, not jammy, touch of smoke. Interesting note on this label: when I reviewed this wine last year, the label artist commented on my post.

2006 Earthquake Cabernet Sauvignon
Mostly Cabernet Sauvignon with a little Petite Sirah
$26, 15% abv.
Here in Memphis we're always wondering about the next big earthquake. We sit on the New Madrid fault, source of the violent quakes of 1811-1812 that were powerful enough to make the Mississippi River run backwards and screwed up the state borders. This wine is a far more quiet and pleasant experience. It is light with a mild body of cherry and licorice. Tannins were bit strong at first, but after an hour this had mellowed out considerably. I think this one will be much better after an additional three or four years in the bottle.

Note: These wines were received as samples.

2009 Biltmore Reserve Pinot Noir

2011-08-10T00:32:00.000-07:00

The Biltmore Estate is a mansion in Asheville, North Carolina built for George Washington Vanderbilt II (1862-1914). It's the largest home in North America, and the landscaping was done by Frederick Law Olmsted, who designed Central Park in Manhattan.

George Washington Vanderbilt II was the grandson of "The Commodore" Cornelius Vanderbilt, who founded the university that bears his name. (Lots of great memories competing at Vandy during my Quiz Bowl days. During a particular slice of life, I knew how to navigate a bunch of college campuses in the middle of the night: UT Knoxville, Georgia Tech, Washington University of St. Louis, etc.) Of course, I've always been interested in the Commodore's 1849 plan to build an Atlantic-Pacific canal through Nicaragua.

A vineyard was established in 1971, and due to the estate's draw as a tourist attraction, it's the most visited winery in the United States. I've previously reviewed one of their Chardonnays and was excited to try the Pinot Noir. The Chardonnay was grown and produced in North Carolina, while in this case the grapes came from California but the actual production occurred in the Tar Heel State.

With an aristocratic wine from a mansion, I'm pairing a lawn that needs a mow and a scruffy mutt that needs a good brushing. Yet somehow Wolfie put on a regal stance, as if to remind me that I'm the servant that brings him his food.

2009 Biltmore Reserve Pinot Noir
Russian River, California
$25, 14.5% abv.

This Pinot Noir has a fairly standard first impression of wild strawberries. But as it opens and develops, you get a touch of bacon fat and black cherry. The finish has a little cough syrup, which isn't a bad note--it implies a fruit character with bitterness and dark herbal aspects. If it's too prominent it's obviously a bad thing, but I like it in small doses. While a lighter and more delicate Pinot Noir would be a good match for salmon, I think this one would stand up fairly well with hearty meat dishes. I enjoyed it with smoked beef brisket.

Note: This wine was received as a sample.

2007 Markham "The Philanthropist" Cabernet Sauvignon

2011-08-08T00:06:00.000-07:00

Markham Vineyards has been around since 1978, but the land was home to wine grapes as far back as 1874. This makes it the fourth oldest continuously operating winery in Napa. They produce a Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Sauvignon Blanc, and a Chardonnay, but they also make two very special wines: The Philanthropist and The Altruist are dedicated to recipients of charitable grants issued by Markham (more on that below). There are wines that are associated with specific charities or causes, but I like this one because each year there's a different recipient and a broad spectrum of subjects are covered.

2007 Markham "The Philanthropist" Cabernet Sauvignon
Yountville, Napa
$55, 14.5% abv.
511 cases produced
It's a rich and complex Napa Cabernet Sauvignon with an initial aroma of chocolate and leather. As it opens up you get hints of black cherry and fig on the palate. The profile is deep, strong, and full bodied with firm tannins and a long finish. In another couple of years it should be even better.

I enjoyed it with a thick grilled ribeye and baked potato. There are times when you want a big cab and a classic steakhouse dinner, and this was just such an occasion.

Here are the organizations that recently received grants from Markham:

In the fall of 2010, Markham will release the 2007 vintage of The Philanthropist and The Altruist dedicated to the 2009 Mark of Distinction winners, Island Sled Hockey, of Lynbrook, NY, and the Paul Ruby Foundation of Geneva, IL.

The Long Island Sled Hockey program for both physically and mentally handicapped athletes in Lynbrook, NY, is the nation’s largest and most inclusive sled hockey program in the country. The Paul Ruby Foundation for Parkinson’s Research in Geneva, IL, is committed to funding clinical research to extend the knowledge, treatment and awareness of Parkinson’s disease.

Note: This wine was received as a sample.

Shiner Ruby Redbird

2011-08-05T00:17:00.000-07:00

Irish folklore involves a lot of plots involving the geis, a rule or taboo specific to the hero. Generally the hero has multiple geasa that cause logical conflicts with each other. This means that the old scribes of Éire used the same plot device as Captain Kirk when he needed to make a computer self destruct in the original series of Star Trek. The most famous example probably comes from the story of Cú Chulainn. One geis says that he can't eat dog meat, and another geis says that he can't refuse free food from a woman. And normally there's nothing wrong with having these two rules in your life--to be honest, I'd add them to the Ten Commandments, and I don't think Moses or Charlton Heston would argue with me. But an evil old woman offers him some free dog meat, and he has no choice but to eat it and then die from his breaking of the geis. That's why Irish folktales make such happy bedtime stories for kids. (There are hundreds of arguments to be made here involving various strains of logic and religion, but there's no need to get into that right now. Suffice it to say that this gentile enjoys the creative arguments of the Talmud when it comes to interpreting the strict laws of the Tanakh.)

I was thinking of Cú Chulainn as I stared at the six pack of Ruby Redbird from the good folks at Shiner. I've never had anything from Shiner I didn't like, and I am a big supporter of their history and continued commitment to obscure European beer styles made deep in the heart of Texas. On the other hand adding red grapefruit juice and ginger to beer seemed like a silly gimmick aimed at the Mike's Hard Lemonade crowd. On the gripping hand, it's technically a premixed shandy, and thus traditional, and I've had a powerful craving for grapefruit recently.

Complicating matters is the fact that grapefruit is an important crop in Texas, and as a child I loved the bitter and acidic Texsun grapefruit juice in the can, which required the key to punch holes in the top lid. So we're supporting a local crop here. I decided to tempt fate and grab the sixer, just because I was so curious.

Shiner Ruby Redbird
$7/6 pack, 4% abv.

It's a lot better than it sounds, because it's not sweet or goofy. You get the full tang of the grapefruit and the sting of the ginger, without a bunch of unnecessary sweetness. At the same time, you don't get to appreciate much of the actual beer flavor, but somehow it all just works. I could even see myself dropping a sliced jalapeño pepper in there to add another dimension. I tasted this on its own during a sweltering Memphis afternoon, but a lot of the flavor reminded me of the various spiced lemonades that my Gujarati friend's mother would make when she came to town. And thus I will say that this beer would be absolutely perfect with Thai, Indian, or Vietnamese food. I was craving rich spices and exotic flavor combinations, and it's not often that you get a beer with the perfect acidity and spiciness to match such cuisines. Try it out, and let me know how it works for you.

CalNaturale Wines

2011-08-03T00:19:00.000-07:00

I've said it before, but when it comes to alternative enclosures I have two favorites: screwcaps and Tetra Pak cartons. Screwcaps are obviously convenient and easy, while Tetra Pak cartons are environmentally friendly and more convenient than bag-in-box wines. Also, you can grab a few Tetra Pak cartons and throw them in the pantry next to the chicken and beef stock. They don't take up a lot of room, and you can even toss a few into a cooler along with the beer and sodas for a BBQ.

The wines of CalNaturale come in both half litre and full litre Tetra Pak cartons and are certified organic. I like the 500mL format: it's perfect for two people to share with dinner, but even keeping one to yourself over the course of an evening isn't crazy. It's two thirds of a standard 750mL bottle, which means that it contains 3⅓ regular glasses.

2009 CalNaturale Chardonnay
Mendocino
$7/500mL Tetra Pak carton, 13% abv.
The nose is full of papaya and peach, with a light body. There's no oak, and it's fruity but not sweet with a decent mouth presence. A really surprising bargain that would make a great house white. Great with any chicken dish.

2008 CalNaturale Cabernet Sauvignon
Paso Robles
$7/500mL Tetra Pak carton, 13.8% abv.
This one is mellow and uncomplicated with a profile of blackberry jam. There are low tannins and a good overall balance. Inexpensive Cabernet Sauvignon is usually pretty rough, but this is a decent table wine. Highly recommended for cooking, since there's nothing harsh that will negatively impact the flavor of your recipe.

Note: These wines were received as samples.

Fee Bros. Black Walnut Bitters

2011-08-01T00:56:00.000-07:00

Time once again for new bitters from "the House of Fee by the Genesee since eighteen hundred and sixty-three". Fee Bros. just released their Black Walnut Bitters.

When I was a child my paternal grandparents had a walnut tree in the backyard. One massive limb served as the support for a tire swing, but my brother and I discovered that the tennis ball-sized unripe walnuts were fun to throw at each other. And when cracked open, contained a juice that would stain your hands for days. I don't recall eating any of the fully mature walnuts--somehow pecans were a more popular harvest in my family. But walnuts are delicious, and I enjoy using them in a lot of different dishes, particularly as part of a stuffing for thick pork chops.

This new product has a dark and earthy profile with a wonderful walnut aroma. I found it to be a nice addition to a mediocre Bourbon, where it added complexity and depth. But I'd really love to use a few dashes of this in a batch of cookie dough.

When it was time for a cocktail, I thought that the nutty bitters demanded a pairing of jelly. Fruit preserves have been used in cocktails for a long time, and are recently making a comeback as part of the mixology craze that's hit the hipsters. The pectin gives the drink a slightly silky mouthfeel, but mainly you're getting a concentrated fruit flavor and you don't have to worry about what's in season. Use good stuff (here I used Oregon organic strawberry preserves) and watch out for the sweetness, but even a dollop of cheap marmalade will help you when you don't have any orange peel on hand. Want to get crazy? Put a little jalapeño jelly in your next batch of margaritas. Plus, while you're mixing you can throw out old phrases like "It must be jelly, cause jam don't shake like that!"

Benito's WB&J Cocktail
2 oz. White Rum
½ Tablespoon of Fruit Preserves
Dash of Black Walnut Bitters

Combine ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake thoroughly and strain into a glass filled with ice. I like remnants of fruit in my cocktails, but if you prefer a cleaner presentation, strain through a fine mesh screen.

Yes, it does taste a bit like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Not an everyday kind of cocktail, but amusing and tasty for an afternoon experiment. This brings the bitters collection up to fifteen. Currently I keep them in a box in the living room, but I'm thinking that an enterprising bartender could wear them all on a bandolier for quick access whenever a cocktail needs just a little something extra.

Note: This product was received as a sample.

Boudin Blanc

2011-07-29T00:45:00.000-07:00

As a lover of haggis, and one who has made his own from scratch, I'm no stranger to organ meats stuffed into digestive tracts and cooked up for dinner. While perusing the odd meats corner of the local grocery store (which is a great place to hear a lot of different obscure languages and where I've held court explaining how to cook oxtails), I spied a pack of Tony Chachere's Pork Boudin.

Boudin isn't really rare or exotic, but might not be recognizable to many. We're talking here about the Louisiana style boudin blanc, a combination of pork meat, heart, and liver combined with rice and spices. The classic French sausage of the same name is a very different beast. What I did was poke a few holes in the boudin, steam it, and then seared it off in a skillet to provide for the ideal crispy skin. I served it with some sauerkraut and fresh tomatoes--perhaps more German than N'Awlins, but it seemed like a good fit.

The first thing you need to know is that boudin is more like stuffing than sausage, in that there's a lot of starchy filler. But the heart and liver really add a lot of powerful flavor, so it's far from bland. It worked out well with my sides, although you might want to throw in a few slices of grilled andouille to round things out.

Cooking Improvisation

2011-07-27T00:14:00.000-07:00

Cooking isn't so much about being able to follow a recipe as it is being able to make do with what you've got and work around the complications that arise. I know people that have refused to cook a certain dish because they had everything except for a quarter teaspoon of ground nutmeg. I prefer a more improvisational approach.

Case in point: I felt like smoking some chicken quarters, and had everything I needed. Yet when I got a chance to start, I realized that I'd mistakingly bought a bag of lump mesquite charcoal. Unlike the compact briquettes pressed from charcoal dust, lump charcoal is made using chunks of wood that have been cooked in an oxygen-free environment. I like the flavor of mesquite, but it's much better for grilling (over flame or hot coals) as opposed to smoking (using indirect heat over a longer period of time). If you do a long smoke on mesquite the food will be nasty. Some woods work better than others for smoking, and if you use pine you deserve the ass-kicking your dinner guests will surely deliver.

So... I wanted to do a slow cook because I was using thigh/leg quarters of chicken, but only had lump mesquite and an assortment of chips (hickory/oak/alder/etc.). What to do? I took about two kilos of lump mesquite, prepped it in the chimney starter, and built my fire in the trusty old Weber kettle. The chicken quarters were marinated in Wicker's* for a while, and then I used a combination of grilling and smoking, including a set of old ceramic grill briquettes** that I've got from way back when. Hot fire, chicken is browned over flame, and moved to cold side of grill. Wood chips in a foil pouch are added, and then the whole mess is covered for a while. Flip, baste with more Wicker's, and then smoke a while longer. I did about 90 minutes of alternating grilling and smoking, just enough to get some good flavor without getting the resinous bitterness of mesquite. Then it was time to take a baking dish and the chicken and cover it with foil, and drop it in a warm oven for another hour. This isn't cheating--it's a common tactic, prompted by weather or the need to kick up the heat and grill something over high flame or you've just run out of fuel and can't finish it all on the grill/smoker/etc. (There's a fun trick involving an ice chest, towels, and hot bricks, but we'll save that for another post.)

I was very happy with the results, but during the final roasting I felt the need to make a slightly unusual sauce. In most of the US, barbecue sauce is basically ketchup and corn syrup with some added seasoning. Often it includes liquid smoke so that those without testicular fortitude can pretend that they've cooked something using the most ancient of methods. Some regions have thin vinegar-based sauces, North Carolina has a yellow mustard sauce, but I decided to go with northern Alabama's weird white sauce, made from mayonnaise and vinegar and some other goodies. It's a classic with BBQ chicken, though the sauce itself is odd: it's not a cream sauce, it's not one derived from béchamel, and it's not ranch dressing. It is its own unique little snowflake. But if you've ever had Buffalo wings with bleu cheese sauce, you're most of the way there. It is really tangy, and some preparations go as far as a 1:1 ratio of mayo to vinegar, sometimes with some added lemon juice to boost the acidity.

I served the chicken simply with some greens and fruits/vegetables, and the white barbecue sauce plus the chicken juices made for a delicious dressing for the greens. Try it out sometime--you've probably got the ingredients lying around the kitchen, and it might be a creative solution sometime when you're dans la merde.

*I have to give additional mention to Wicker's, made in Hornersville, Missouri. That's where my great-grandparents settled, and where my grandmother and my great-uncles were born. My father spent part of his youth there, and I have many happy memories of that small town of barely 700 people. Wicker's marinade is made of "vinegar, salt, spices". Nothing else, and it's been a mainstay in our family for decades.

**Gas grills often use lava rocks or ceramic briquettes in the bottom of the grill. The idea is that the stone retains and radiates heat, resulting in more even cooking. With a good setup you can turn down the flame quite a bit so that most of your cooking is coming from the slow roast of the stones rather than the direct heat of the flame. I've thrown some in the bottom of my charcoal grill to serve the same purpose. It's a very energy efficient method, but don't use random rocks from your yard--they might contain dangerous elements or can even explode when heated.

Wente Chardonnay Tasting #TTL

2011-07-25T00:04:00.000-07:00

Just last week I mentioned a Twitter Taste Live event with Wente Vineyards representative Karl Wente, and this is about another one. While the writeups are a week apart, the actual events were held more than a month apart. This time we got a chance to look at a quartet of Chardonnays. I opened the first two a day early to give my friends Grace and Mars and Paul a chance to try them.

These kind of online tastings are great, because you can either invite some friends over to join you in the tasting, or save the leftovers to share with friends later. Lots of people don't get a chance to try the same grape from the same producer, expressed in four different ways in one setting.

2009 Wente Riva Ranch
$20, 13.5% abv.
Arroyo Seco, Monterey
This is a classic oaky California Chardonnay. People argue over this style, but sometimes I'm in the mood for it and sometimes I'm not. This one has big aromas of buttered popcorn and caramel--it reminds me so much of Crunch 'n Munch. Beyond that there are elements vanilla and peach on the palate, with an interesting finish of chalk and minerals.

2009 Wente Morning Fog
$15, 13.5% abv.
Livermore Valley, San Francisco Bay
Initial impression is crisp with a splash of tart acidity. The flavor profile is dominated by overripe peach, but the overall structure is mild and refreshing. This one was fermented half in oak and half in stainless steel, providing a lighter and brighter contrast to the darker and deeper Riva Ranch. The Morning Fog disappeared pretty quickly, as it was a favorite around the table. Terrific bargain here.

2010 Wente Eric's Chardonnay
$21, 13.4% abv.
Livermore Valley, San Francisco Bay
There's a light nose of apricot and flowers. On the tongue it's a little dark, with a slightly rough aftertaste that mellows with time. Trying it at various times, I think this one is much better at room temperature after some breathing rather than cool and fresh from the bottle. This one gave me the strangest craving for trout and green beans with almonds on both.

2009 The Nth Degree Chardonnay
$45, 14.2% abv.
Livermore Valley, San Francisco Bay
350 cases produced
I'd love to try this one in two or three years. It's great now, but it feels like it could develop beautifully with some more time. There's an initial whiff of buttered popcorn, but you quickly discover that there's a lot more going on here. I found it rich, rustic, and earthy. Not barnyard, but definitely farm-related. There's a rich flavor that reminds me of succotash (sweet corn and lima beans), and there's a long, mellow finish. Really quite nice, and highly recommended.

Note: These wines were received as samples.