2013 M. Chapoutier Belleruche Rosé

M. Chapoutier is a négociant based in the Rhône region of France. That means that the grapes are purchased from nearby vineyards and made into the various bottles that bear the Chapoutier name. This is not a practice that is isolated in France, but I don't think that any other countries have a specific name for it.

I love rosé year-round, and was absolutely delighted to get to try this tasty pink wine in the spring...

2013 M. Chapoutier Belleruche Rosé
Côtes du Rhône, France
Grenache & Syrah
$8, 13% abv.

Light aromas of tart raspberry with flavors that follow, including a burst of lemony acidity. Round mouthfeel with a beautiful salmon color and a long, tart finish. Incredible bargain and highly recommended. I had some very specific ideas about what sort of meal I would pair with this wine.

Spring has not entirely arrived here in my dear River City, something that brings me much joy. We had a few warm days last week but thankfully it's dipping down near freezing at night. However, I acknowledge the longer days and greening of the foliage with a proper Provençal lunch: stuffed clams, asparagus tips, and grilled lamb chops. Such a delicious pairing with this rosé and one that I hope you will enjoy at your own table.

Note: This wine was provided as a sample for review.

Brancott Wines of New Zealand + Contest

Originally founded as Montana, these wines were always marketed under the Brancott name in the U.S. to avoid confusion with the Big Sky Country. Now the winery has changed its name to Brancott Estate for markets both foreign and domestic. I've enjoyed their pleasant, inexpensive wines over the many years of this blog, and in the summer heat I was excited to try a pair of their screwcap-enclosed wines again.

If you like Brancott, you may be able to win a trip to New Zealand. Details below the reviews...

Let's start with the food. I found a deal on a bunch of thick-cut lamb loin chops. I prefer rack of lamb, but when the loin chops are cut this thick, they can function as mini porterhouses of delicious, tender meat. I dressed them minimally with salt and pepper, performed a hot sear over charcoal, and then let them slow cook in the cold side of a covered BBQ grill until reaching a succulent medium rare.

For a sauce, I used a variant of Michael Symon's recipe, which is a piquant mole-style sauce incorporating sherry vinegar. I substituted some dried peppers and a few other bits of magic based on prior experience with Mexican savory chocolate sauces.

Rounding out the plate is a little medley of black beans, corn, peppers, and onion, served hot, not like a salsa. The smoky lamb and tangy sauce went perfectly together, and the side dish was just light enough to not be overwhelming. When you've got this much flavor on the plate, you don't really need to eat a pound of potatoes.

I tried both of the wines with the meal:

2012 Brancott Estate Sauvignon Blanc
Marlborough, New Zealand
100% Sauvignon Blanc
$13, 13% abv.

The classic aroma of grapefruit is there but it's balanced out by a riper apricot tone. Great combination of tart and soft body elements, tropical fruits on the tongue, leading to a crisp finish. Vegetal elements emerge as the wine warms up. Highly recommended with a bucket of steamed mussels.

2011 Brancott Estate Pinot Noir
Marlborough, New Zealand
100% Pinot Noir
$14, 13% abv.

Soft plum, strawberry, and just a background note of bacon fat. Medium tart acidity with a finish that is much rounder than expected. Overall a quite mild and refreshing Pinot Noir. I thought it was perfect with the lamb.

And if you're on Facebook, you can enter the Chill Hour Promotion to win a trip for two to New Zealand. I'm not eligible, and I get no kickback on this deal, but if you like these wines and want to enter, go for it!

Note: These wines were provided as samples.

St. Patrick's Day Lunch

What percentage of me is Irish? Blond hair, red beard, freckles, short and stocky... I'm some combination of Scottish/Welsh/English/Irish thrown upon the shores of the New World, but I can say that when I was in Boston I blended into the crowd in a way that was unique amongst my many travels upon this green Earth.

As a Protestant I do not celebrate the feast day of St. Patrick for religious reasons, and as a responsible citizen I do not head out to bars where good beer is adulterated with blue dye to produce pitchers of green piss. However, I do enjoy cooking something Irish on this particular day, and my meal began early with a batch of whole wheat soda bread, using the unique pint glass recipe from Saveur magazine. The result is a dense and chewy bread with a firm crust that marries well with soft butter and molasses. Though it is heavy, I've always enjoyed a wedge of soda bread when it's cold outside.

Instead of just boiling a chunk of corned beef or making potato soup, I decided to go for a proper lamb dish combined with traditional colcannon. For the latter, I used Yukon Gold potatoes, rendered lamb fat, kale, and onions. The result was rich and savory, and the use of kale instead of regular cabbage was the choice my father made earlier in the week for his holiday colcannon. The lamb fat meant that no additional butter was required.

I broke out the mortar and pestle to make a good spice rub for the rack of lamb. Peppercorns, coriander, allspice, sea salt, and dried lemon zest. I rubbed that on the ribs and let them rest for a good hour before slow roasting the rack in the oven. A quick blast of heat at the end to crisp up the edges, and we were done.

Lastly, I drizzled the ribs with a reduction of Guinness Stout, honey, and balsamic vinegar. Cooked down to just above the syrup level and carefully poured over the tender ribs. It provided a sweet and piquant contrast to the savory and fatty lamb.

The end result of it all was decadent and delicious... Earthy and savory flavors of lamb and potato and kale combined with great spices and sauces, all enjoyed on a quiet Sunday afternoon rather than in a bar with a hundred green-clad miscreants spilling beer and trying to sing along to faux-Irish music.

St. Patrick's Day Lunch

I've never really celebrated St. Patrick's Day other than the obligatory wearing of green to avoid getting pinched, but that's more of a good touch/bad touch issue than ethnic pride. Out of respect for the history of brewing I've never touched green beer, out of general self respect I've never dressed as a leprechaun, and because I want to respect myself in the morning I don't go to places like Hjálmar McGillicutty's Norwegian-Irish Chucklehut for loud singing and happy hour half price Irish nachos (made with potato chips instead of tortilla chips).

I was in the mood for cooking something different (I'm trying to exercise the culinary muscles these days), and as it had been so long since my last foray into the cuisine of the British Isles, I decided to make an Irish meal for Saturday lunch. I started, of course, with a very Irish appetizer: various American cheeses like hard aged cheddar from Fiscalini in Modesto, California and Bayley Hazen Blue from Jasper Hill Farm in Greensboro, Vermont.

The blue cheese was soft and tangy, but I loved the aged cheddar, with lots of crunchy tyrosine crystals. Rich and nutty and such a wonderful mouthfeel. And I had some naturally bright green Castelvetrano olives from Sicily, because I thought the table did need a little hint of holiday color. These are delicious olives, and are apparently quite trendy these days. A little salty, a little sweet, a little savory, and so cheerfully colored that you'll forget the fact that you used to own a jar of model airplane paint called olive drab.

OK, nothing Irish about any of that, but lately I've really been digging a nice round of cheese and olives with a martini before dinner. It is far from an original concept but it's often easy to neglect the classics in a rush to plop down an aluminum tray of frozen grocery store lasagna on the table.

Earlier on Friday night I made a simple lamb stew with a pound of shoulder, bacon, a can of Guinness Draught, some beef stock, onions, and a few other odds and ends. A few hours of braising and then I let it all cool and rest in the refrigerator overnight. In the morning I removed the rendered and solidified pork/lamb fat and slowly reheated the remainder. Fortunately these cuts of shoulder had nice thick marrow pieces, which I made sure to distribute throughout the sauce as it reduced.

In the morning I made colcannon, a simple dish of potatoes and cabbage. The more complicated part was making boxty, a class of potato pancakes that come in various forms from latkes to crepes. I decided to go the crepe route, stuffed with the stewed lamb and topped with a little sour cream. The boxty took forever to cook. Each pancake took a good 20 minutes, and I started getting annoyed at the whole process. I was successful, but it was much harder than making crepes or fresh tortillas, and the final product wasn't as flexible as any of the various wrapper flatbreads of the world. This is perhaps entirely due to my inexperience with a potato-based flexible wrapper, but frankly I'd prefer lavash or mu shu or blinis or injera over this particular form.

I grated a little green apple into the batter, and despite the difficulty (I only made four pancakes in the 80 minutes of griddle time), the combination of the potatoes, eggs, apple, lamb, and sour cream was really wonderful and filling. Washing it all down with cold and smooth dark beer was fun as well, and I was finally able to relax after hours of cooking and ponder the question of overthinking the peasant fare that I adore. Remember the KISS principle: Keep It Simple, Stupid. It probably would have been a better idea to do the simpler latke-style boxty with a combination of mashed and grated potato, and I still could have topped it with lamb stew and cream and even a decorative garnish of microgreens that looked like tiny shamrocks, but it wouldn't have taken anywhere near as long.

But at the end of the day, I had a great meal, good company, delicious beer, and didn't have to wade through a horde of idiots wearing "KISS ME--I'M IRISH!" buttons. Instead, it was a quiet meal between a Scots Presbyterian (yours truly) and a redheaded Irish Catholic (Julia) that didn't involve warfare, internecine domestic violence, or the mediation of Bill Clinton on the public stage. Rather, I think that the Irish and most folks around the world would prefer a gentle and respectful celebration of their holidays by non-residents, and I hope that I have done so in this post.

Saffron Road Lamb Saag with Basmati Rice

Frozen food doesn't have to be bad. When I'm talking about my homemade chicken stock (or gloriously rich tubs of duck stock), that's not a bad frozen food. And there are lots of veggies that are great from the freezer, particularly because they were picked and processed at the height of ripeness rather than picked unripe and trucked across the country and left to sit in the produce section for a few days.

I was walking past the organic freezer section at the grocery store, and saw this: Saffron Road Lamb Saag with Basmati Rice. I've had it in Indian restaurants, and thought I'd give it a shot. I'd never eaten microwaved lamb before, but the list of certifications was incredible: Halal, lamb raised without antibiotics, lamb raised on 100% vegetarian foods in an open pasture, etc. It's a far cry from the mystery meat/soy protein mush found in your 75¢ frozen burrito.

The company also makes a variety of other frozen entrees based on dishes from Morocco to Thailand. I haven't tried any of the others, but will probably check them out based on this experience.

I was really happy with how this turned out. Though it's difficult to see, there is a lot of lamb in here, and I'm thinking that the cubes came from the shoulder. There were a few fatty pieces (that were delicious), though most of the cubes were fairly lean. Really tender and flavorful, and superior to the lamb that I've gotten in some local establishments. The saag was mildly seasoned and decent, and the basmati rice was properly tender without being chewy or crunchy.

I'm not planning on making frozen dinners a major or even minor part of my diet, and don't plan on further reviews here. Burt this was a nice surprise, and it's good to see that with quality ingredients and the right technology, it's possible to do this properly.

Anniversary Weekend Cooking Adventures

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.

Hamad and Claret

Most parts of the lamb are tasty, but often seriously overpriced. When I saw a single rack of lamb going for $40 (not organic, not free range), I couldn't believe it. It's possible to get great deals on lamb at Costco or at middle Eastern butcher shops, but sometimes specials show up at the regular grocery store. Shanks are delicious, and most people will pass right by them in favor of a perfectly triangular loin chop. Recently I've been digging these shoulder chops, which work either as steaks or as the main ingredient in a savory stew. Vacuum sealed and about $4 a piece, they are a great way to satisfy that occasional wolfish craving for tasty little lamb.

I decided to improvise a bit and add beets this time. While it simmered away, I wondered if anyone else had the idea, and discovered that I had independently recreated hamad, an Iraqi Jewish recipe prepared for Rosh Hashanah. Nothing new under the sun, folks. Alas, my recipe here isn't kosher (but it's close) and it's Passover right now, which demands a whole different set of rules. But because lots of people of all faiths are eating lamb this weekend, I figured I'd go ahead and share it. (If you're interested in some other obscure Jewish cooking, check out this article on Libyan-Jewish cuisine as it's served in Rome.)

The top photo shows about 1.5 lbs. of lamb shoulder, three beets, two parsnips, a small onion, half a pound of sliced mushrooms, a can of diced tomatoes, and some chicken broth. I've also used wine and beer with great results, but it's not absolutely necessary. (If you're looking for a good kosher beer, there's lots of options out there that might surprise you, but why not go with He'Brew: The Chosen Beer?) Peel and dice your root vegetables, being sure to strip out the woody core of the parsnips. Brown the lamb shoulder, remove, and then brown the onions in the rendered fat. Add in the parsnips and beets and allow to cook for a bit.

Return the lamb to the pot. If you want, you can add everything at once, but I like to layer my liquids. Start with the tomatoes and some rosemary and thyme. Let it simmer until the tomato juice is cooked down (but never burned or caramelized). Then add some chicken broth, reduce down, then add some beer or wine. I used Newcastle here, since it's nutty and similar to a dark meat broth. Let everything simmer uncovered for a couple of hours, add in the sliced mushrooms, then put a lid on it and let it simmer for an additional couple of hours. Total cooking time was around five hours, though it can go longer. Fishing out the rich marrow for yourself is the chef's prerogative.

Towards the end of cooking I took some of the rich liquid and combined it with a tablespoon of corn starch and a tablespoon of dried mustard. Return this slurry to the pot and let it cook for another 30 minutes or so. This will give the broth a silky, thicker mouthfeel. At this point, simply serve and watch out for small bones. If you're going the hamad route, serve it on a plate over rice. But I think it's pretty good just on its own, and even better the next day. I'm happy with the performance of the beets, which provided a little earthiness and sweetness that matched up well with the other elements.

We opened up a bottle of Coppola Claret. Of the Diamond series, I like the Sauvignon Blanc but the Claret is an old favorite. I was first introduced to it at a wine tasting in 2005, and I think I've had every vintage since then. It's a solid, reliable performer, and isn't too difficult to find. In the past few years it's been distributed with a decorative gold net around it, which makes it an easy last minute gift.

2009 Coppola Diamond Claret
$20, 13.5% abv.
81% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Petite Verdot, 5% Malbec, 3% Merlot, 1% Cabernet Franc
This particular vintage is all about the berries: blackberry, black cherry, and blueberry. While the fruit is at the front of the nose and flavor, it's not overbearing or jammy. There are hints of coffee as it warms up, and the tannins are reasonable. It certainly worked out well with the lamb and the occasionally buttery chunk of fat. All right, I'm getting hungry again, time to warm up some hamad...

Sheep Go to Heaven, Goats Go to Hell

Ah, among the first South African wines I ever tried was this little oddity with name based around the goats on the vineyard as well as the classic French wine region Côtes du Rhône. (Indeed, that closeness resulted in a lawsuit that eventually fell apart.) The last time I had this it had a plurality of Pinotage, a third, but it looks like they've phased it out over time.

The wine now comes with a screwcap enclosure, and the label has been redesigned to reflect a more minimalist appearance, using an ancient Mesopotamian drawing of a goat. (Mesopotamia and South Africa are a good 7000 km/4300 miles apart, but let's not get into that here.)

2008 Goats Do Roam Red
$11, 14% abv.
61% Syrah, 14% Cinsault, 13% Mourvèdre, 8% Grenache, 4% Carignane.

The current wine is full of blackberry and plum, big purple profile. Tannic bite on the finish. After breathing it is much different. With just a few hours of decanting, it becomes a mild and soft wine with muted fruit flavors. Sometimes you'll want one or the other, but the joy of slow, natural breathing is that you can find a sweet spot that might appear around the 2.5 hour mark.

I served this with a savory winter dinner with my pal Paul. Lamb shoulder braised in chicken stock, this red wine, and a bit of butter, combined with onions, diced tomatoes, and various seasonings. I let everything stew for a few hours, let it rest overnight, removed most of the fat, and warmed it up for dinner the next day. For side dishes I've got a batch of homemade cranberry sauce (punched up with clementine peels and juice) and Brussels sprouts sautéed with bacon, chicken stock, and white wine. It's the kind of unbelievably savory dinner that makes the whole house smell great, and you wake up in the morning still tasting the succulent flavors coaxed out of the lamb bones.

P.S. If you enjoyed the title of this post, please take a listen to the song of the same name by CAKE. "Now I just want to play on my pan-pipes / I just want to drink me some wine."

2008 Hope Estate "Pink Awareness" Shiraz

A quick post in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. There are several charity-themed wines out there these days, and breast cancer is a common theme. Generally the situation is that a winemaker has lost a wife or mother, or perhaps someone at the winery is a survivor herself. I don't know the inspiration with this particular wine, but a portion of the proceeds go to the Breast Cancer Network of Strength.

2008 Hope Estate "Pink Awareness" Shiraz
Hunter Valley, New South Wales
$13, 13.5% abv.

Plums, blackberries, a touch of raspberry tartness on the finish. Good fruit flavor and medium tannins, but ultimately light due to the restrained alcohol. I know it's odd to say 13.5% is light, but for Aussie Shiraz these days this is practically a German Riesling.

Here are some other breast cancer charity wines I've covered--I'm not sure about current vintages, but you may find bottles still rattling around here and there: Big Tattoo Red & Cline Cashmere.

I had some odds and ends in the fridge and wound up with this earthy Irish-style dinner. At least I prepared it in a fresher fashion than boiling it all to hell in the traditional manner of my ancestors.

The lamb shoulder chop is an unappreciated cut. Normal triangular lamb chops are justifiably popular, and the rack of lamb is one of my all-time favorite things to cook. But I tend to save those for when I'm having dinner with friends. A lamb shoulder, on the other hand, is the choice cut for stews and braises, but it's easy enough to find a half pound, $3 shoulder chop that cooks up very nicely in a hot skillet. Add in some roasted new potatoes with sea salt and Brussels sprouts topped with a little pepper vinegar, and you've got a delicious meal that requires zero culinary skill. Sometimes it's nice to break out a dozen pots and pans and have multiple sauces and microgreens and three different kinds of olive oil, but other times you just want a simple yet flavorful dinner.

Simple Summer Dinner

This is the story of another pleasant dinner with Lady A. She had no special requests this time around, so I dug back into some old favorites that I hadn't fixed in quite a while. I'll provide more details on the wines in future posts (both were parts of larger sets that I want to keep together), but for this post I wanted to focus on a truly delicious meal.

There was a time in the late 90s when you could find the spinach and strawberry salad everywhere. I don't know which caterer pioneered it but suddenly you would see this combination at every wedding rehearsal dinner, every charity function, and every lunch presentation about these crazy things called "e-mail" and "the interweb". I think people got burned out on it after a few years, but I always liked the flavor combination. Here I've got baby spinach greens, toasted pecans, sliced strawberries, thin red onion slices, shaved Romano cheese, and a homemade vinaigrette containing balsamic vinegar, honey, Dijon mustard, olive oil, etc. If you put the hot pecans on right before serving and add a little sizzling bacon, the spinach will wilt just slightly. But it's a hot summer, and I kept it cold. Served with an oaky Sonoma Chardonnay.

Next up: rack of lamb. I find this cut of lamb stupidly easy to make but it's always impressive. Just don't overcook it. I actually used a toaster oven and achieved a nearly perfect medium rare. I frenched the ribs first, removing the gristle and fat. I do this only when I care about presentation, and dogs love those little scraps. There's a smear of chimichurri sauce (olive oil, parsley, mint, garlic, white wine vinegar), and finally some glazed rutabagas. I cooked the rutabagas too long--they were tender, but shrank considerably. Still tasty with a last minute dash of sea salt, brown sugar, and butter on the final part of the roasting. Served with a California Petite Sirah.

As longtime readers know, I'm happy to leave dessert to guests, and A. performed admirably in that regard. A little peach pie from the Fresh Market with a savory layer of cream cheese in it, served with the vanilla ice cream from the Häagen-Dazs Five product line. The idea is simple: just five all-natural ingredients. This contains only skim milk, cream, sugar, egg yolks, and vanilla. Pop the pie in the oven for a while to warm it up, serve it with the ice cream... perfection.

This whole meal is really my favorite kind of dining. Not huge amounts of anything, but a focus more on quality of ingredients, flavors, and balances between those flavors. The salad and dessert were both big hits, while the lamb/chimichurri combination is always a show stopper.

2009 Redwood Creek Malbec

I had a Malbec on hand, and a craving for rack of lamb. A match made in heaven.

Here's what I did to the rack of lamb. I just trimmed the fat cap as usual, but brushed it in a mixture of golden syrup, Dijon mustard, and soy sauce. What were the precise ratios? I have no idea. Mix them 1:1:1 and taste, and if you want it sweeter, add more syrup (or honey/molasses/corn syrup/whatever you're using). If you want it hotter, add more mustard, or dash in some hot sauce. If you can't make up your mind, but it doesn't taste quite right, add canned tomato sauce. Bingo. I've just taught you how to make BBQ sauce on your own. Have fun. If you bottle it and make a million dollars, at least give a little shout out to Benito on the back label.

I trussed it up with string and roasted the rack of lamb in the oven with a probe thermometer, and added another layer of glaze two or three times. Note this was all done at low temperatures. A sugar-based sauce will turn black and unappetizing in a hot oven or grill, so slow and low is your friend here. I gave it a final blast under the broiler just to caramelize the exterior, and set aside the rack to rest. The end result was as mild as veal and tender as butter, with a mouth-watering sweet/salty layer on the outside. Brother Paul provided homemade creamed spinach and grilled zucchini to accompany.

I've made a lot of racks of lamb, but I think this one is the best by far. I almost stood up and applauded myself. Perfect balance of flavors, textures, and appearance. This cut is usually served in four rib sections, or as individual chops, but for this preparation I found that carving into double ribs was fun. And the dogs were growling and begging the whole time, which is generally a good sign. (Zoe, pictured above, was well-behaved, but I saw some drool once we cut into the lamb.)

For the wine, I opened up the 2009 Redwood Creek Malbec. $7, 13.5% abv, Mendoza region of Argentina. Smoky, dark black cherry, black pepper, firm tannins, lots of jammy fruit. Great bargain Malbec, not particularly smooth or complex but good for the price point. I fell in love with Malbecs as a wine newbie because of the affordability, and I found that a $7 Malbec was far superior to a $7 Cabernet Sauvignon. Higher end Malbecs deserve to be paired with more serious meals, but the entry level ones go great with pizzas, burgers, ribs, and the rest of the great summer fare we enjoy here in the Northern Hemisphere during the April to August months.


Note: This wine was received as a sample.

2006 Anne Amie Cuvée A Amrita

Easter was never a big holiday in my family. When we were little kids I remember baskets with candy lovingly prepared by Mom, and hunting for eggs. Folks at church were maybe a bit more dressed up than normal, but the old school Scottish Presbyterians of Memphis were not ostentatious. I know a lot of people for whom the holiday is bigger than Thanksgiving, with massive dinners and traveling across the country to be with family. And of course, the annual debate over lamb vs. ham.

I found myself alone for Easter, but it was not a sad occasion. I'm always happy to fill the house with the sounds of classic jazz and putter around in the kitchen. I had the ingredients on hand to make a decent seasonal dinner. I started out with a broccoli-spinach soup. Dead simple: a handful of frozen chopped spinach, a handful of frozen broccoli, thawed in a pint of chicken broth. I added wine and cream, mixed it with the immersion blender, and added a dash of pepper and nutmeg toward the end.

Friends always rave over main courses that I fix, but somehow I've always been really excited when a soup turns out just right. This one was so delicious that I ended up eating two bowls.

I went for a simple lamb shoulder chop with a peach-white wine sauce. I generally prefer shoulder ground or slow cooked, but often a shoulder chop is a good deal if you just want to enjoy some lamb without making a big production.

For the wine I served the 2006 Anne Amie Cuvée A Amrita from the Willamette Valley of Oregon. $15. There seems to be conflicting information out there regarding the grapes and ratios, but among those listed are Chardonnay, Müller-Thurgau, Pinot Grigio, Riesling, and Viognier. The wine has a delicate apricot nose, slightly sweet, rich full fruit flavors. Spend some time with this one and you'll encounter peach, pear, and various floral elements as well. Oregon white wines are so nice, and need more attention.

Beaujolais Showdown

I was going to skip the Beaujolais Nouveau this year. I got turned off in 2008 by the high price and low quality. But the price was better this year, and I'm hearing that 2009 is a great year for Beaujolais (i.e., the real Cru Beaujolais we'll be drinking in a year or two). Why not give it a shot? I took the opportunity to perform a wholly unscientific experiment testing two ideas:

1) Supposedly Beaujolais Nouveau is better a couple of weeks after the official release, allowing it to settle down and recover from bottle shock. I have no proof of this, nor did I try it before and after, but I thought it'd be worth it to try the wine after a few weeks rather than guzzling it down 45 minutes after bringing it home.

2) Find a real Beaujolais at the same price and alcohol content and evaluate it against the Nouveau, adding additional credence to the widespread fact that any Beaujolais is better than Nouveau.

Starting off... the 2009 Georges Dubœuf Beaujolais Nouveau. $13, 12.5% abv. Bananas and strawberries, as usual, though the 2009 is far smoother than the 2008 and has a more pleasant tartness. It tastes better chilled than at room temperature, and after being open and in the fridge for two days, it was even more relaxed. Did the waiting and resting make a difference? I can't say for sure, but with the haste and jostling of the bottles in the runup to Bojo Novo day ever year, it wouldn't hurt to wait a few days at least.

At one point I began thinking that unused Beaujolais Nouveau could make a really delicious red wine vinegar, one of those odd intersections Terry Pratchett described as "where the falling angel meets the rising ape".

A lot of people have said this year's label design looks Chinese, but to my eye it seems more inspired by the Хохлома folk art of Nizhny Novgorod. I'm by no means an art expert or a specialist in Khokhloma, but having looked at a lot of Russian vases, plates, and lacquer boxes from the region I always wondered why they designed everything in red, gold, and black. Just look at examples of the style, particularly the swan at the bottom of this page.

I lucked out and found a Beaujolais at the same price and alcohol content. 2007 Louis Jadot Beaujolais-Villages. $13, 12.5% abv. Much more balanced, with a dominant raspberry profile and an alluring hint of cardamom. The tartness and acidity of the Nouveau is completely gone, with a light red wine that goes down as easily as water. In fact, it's a joy to try a restrained red after so many fruit bombs. This wine tastes better at room temperature; chilled it loses complexity. All in all a much better wine, and I can't stress this enough, AT THE SAME PRICE AS THE NOUVEAU.

The Nouveau is enclosed with a short plastic cork, and the Jadot has a composite Diam cork, which is engineered using granulated natural cork and treated to avoid TCA contamination. I haven't encountered a lot of Diam-branded corks yet, but they provide the look and feel of "real" corks with fewer of the drawbacks.

First I invited my brother over for dinner (steaks and baked potatoes) and tried the pair of wines. They performed well, and I took my initial notes, but it really wasn't an ideal pairing. That would have to wait until two days later, when I served the leftover Beaujolais with some delicate lamb chops, coated in Dijon mustard and breadcrumbs and baked/broiled until cooked to medium doneness. Together these three little chops barely topped a half pound, but were perfect in flavor, tenderness, and juiciness. I'll eat any cut of lamb at any time of the day or night, yet I'm pretty sure this is the first time I've had a Gamay-based wine with lamb. It's a good pairing, and while the Nouveau worked well, again, the Beaujolais-Villages came shining through as the superior choice.

I know it's become popular in some circles to bash Beaujolais Nouveau for a variety of reasons from anti-French sentiment to snobbishness to carbon footprint, but I don't think it should be completely avoided. As a fun holiday novelty wine at $10? No problem. But I'd urge any fans stocking up this Christmas season to consider picking up a Nouveau and a Cru or Beaujolais-Villages rather than two bottles of the Nouveau. Try them side by side, see what you think, and I've got a hunch you'll be buying a lot more "real" Beaujolais in 2010.

Correction: Alert reader Fredric noted that Beaujolais-Villages is not a Cru, but rather an intermediate level below the ten official Crus. The post has been changed to reflect this, but note that Beaujolais-Villages is made like a traditional wine, not the quick method used for Nouveau. Thanks!

Christmas Dinner Suggestions

Site Update: I've added keywords to all 567 posts. Scroll down on the left and you'll see a list of keywords based on region, grape, ingredient, etc. They're unobtrusive but will help you (and me) find things faster. Sometimes I'll pick up a wine and when I go to research it, I'll find that the first or second result in Google is my own site. There's over 2,000 wines listed on this blog, I can't remember every single one!

And now, some advice if your holiday cooking is stuck in a rut...

Interested in what wines to serve with Christmas dinner? Check out my Thanksgiving advice but add more reds from PIGS and throw in a bottle of Port for after dinner. But what to serve for that dinner?

A properly roast turkey and a good ham are incredible, but thanks to the pervasive sandwich culture of the US we eat lots of turkey and ham all year round. Here's some simple and tasty alternatives. None of these are exotic, but you'll need a probe thermometer and a roasting pan with a wire rack. Stop by some place like Bed Bath & Beyond and you can grab inexpensive versions for a total of $30. If money is tight, a disposable aluminum pan could be used, just set the pan on top of a cookie sheet and the meat on top of some carrots to let the fat drain away.

Do a little comparison shopping and you should be able to find these meats for $3-5 per lb., but aside from the duck you're not messing with a bunch of bones--the rest fall in the "solid chunk of edible meat" category. You may not have as many leftovers as a turkey would provide, but any of them will make for a memorable dinner and perhaps a new family tradition. And while none of these are difficult to cook, if you've never roasted something you might want to do a test run a week or two before the big day.

1. Duck
Duck is rich, savory, and infinitely more flavorful than chicken. It's all dark meat and the whole bird is surrounded by one of the world's most delicious substances, duck fat. Seriously, trim off the fat from the tail and some of the other excess flaps, render it out in a skillet and then fry up potatoes in the resulting grease. You'll never go back to Crisco.

I can usually find fresh ducks during the holidays, though frozen will work just as well. Roast at 350° until the thick part of the thigh registers 160° (duck is pretty forgiving, and you can go lower or higher depending on your comfort level).

2. Leg of Lamb
Boneless is the easiest way to go here for cooking and carving. In the photo, the lamb is on the right, pork loin on the left. Over a grill is the quickest and easiest way (plus lots of great smoke flavor), but an oven will work just as well. If you don't feel like making a French sauce but want something other than mint jelly, try this: take a jar of raspberry preserves and combine it with chopped fresh mint and walnuts or pecans. Stir it all together and serve beside the lamb as a kind of chutney.

While I prefer my rack of lamb medium rare, I think leg tastes best at medium/medium-well. However you roast it, cook until it's about 140° but don't let it dry out.

3. Pork Loin
Unlike the thin tenderloins, a pork loin is about four inches across and is a solid log of meat with a fat cap on one side. Many grocery store versions are pre-brined or marinated and can be roasted as is. Fruit is a natural pairing: I used orange slices for the one in the picture, but apples, prunes, grapes, or cherries will work also. For more liquid flavorings, cook it in a Dutch oven or other covered pot. Try an oven temp of 350°-400°. Don't overcook it or it will be dry and tough; take it out when it reaches an internal temperature of 150°.

After resting, cut thin slices and serve with the sauce of your choice, or even simple Dijon mustard.

4. Ribeye Roast
One of my favorite things in the world, and it definitely has the "wow" factor with a minimum of work. Some prefer the roasts with ribs on, but I find it easier to use the boneless roasts. Buy as much as you need to feed the guests that are coming, let it air dry in the fridge for about a week. Coat with some salt and pepper (or mustard and herbs, or BBQ sauce, or whatever flavor you want), and cook it in a low oven (around 200°) until it reaches an internal temperature of 125°. Let it rest and either carve off steaks or thin slices depending on what folks want. Check out the Alton Brown method if you'd like more details, just ignore the terra cotta pot--it works perfectly fine in a normal roasting pan.

5. Entire Goat
Just kidding! I love goat but it's a little hard to find everywhere. Give it a few years and I'll have a great cabrito recipe for everyone. Until then, good luck with the Christmas planning.

Chilean Carménère

Augustus D. Juilliard, founder of the famous New York conservatory
Paul Revere, silversmith and patriot during the American Revolution
John James Audubon, painter and ornithologist

What do these three people have in common? All were born in the Americas of French parents who sailed across the Atlantic for better opportunities, and these children did great things with their lives in the Western Hemisphere.

Pinot Noir never needed to leave France; the successful stay home. Yes, it has accomplished much in California and New Zealand, but Burgundy still holds the World Welterweight Championship for this grape. Semillon has been planted all over the globe yet has never achieved the sublime glory of Sauternes from Bordeaux.

But for various reasons including Phylloxera France abandoned, neglected, or ignored a handful of native grapes that took root and flourished elsewhere, particularly in South America. Tannat in Uruguay. Malbec in Argentina. And in Chile, a grape that was misidentified for years as Merlot, nearly forgotten, and recently developed to incredible new heights: Carménère.

It's interesting to note that the current president of Chile is Michelle Bachelet, the great-great granddaughter of a French wine merchant who emigrated to Chile in 1860, a few years after the arrival of Carménère.

With a glass raised south toward the honored country for Memphis in May 2009, here are six great Chilean Carménères that I tried with friends and family over a long dinner.


Note: All wines were tasted alone before dinner, with food during the various courses, and one last time after dinner.

The first wine opened during the appetizer course (green grapes and Dubliner cheese) was the 2007 Concha y Toro Casillero del Diablo Carménère. 100% Carménère from the Rapel Valley, $10. Vegetal, green tomato leaf aroma, with cherry and licorice flavors. This, like the rest of the Carmeneres, was dark and deep purple.

For the first course, I roasted a rack of lamb (marinated in a Chinese tea--more on that in a future post) and seared in a skillet. I paired it with Raichlen's chimichurri sauce, a traditional South American accompaniment to roast meat. Avocado and kiwi are important Chilean exports, so I threw them on the plate as well. A little dry salami rounded things out.

With the first course I served two wines. The 2006 Santa Carolina Reserva de Familia Carménère is 86% Carménère, 8% Cabernet Sauvignon, 6% Petit Verdot from the Rapel Valley, $15. Smooth and rich with aromas of green bell pepper and flavors of black cherry. The 2006 San Pedro 1865 Single Vineyard Carménère is 100% Carménère from the Maule Valley, $17. Grassy, with Haut-Medoc characteristics after breathing. Flavors included plum and black pepper. Surprising complexity over the course of the evening.

Next up was a course of French onion soup served in coffee mugs with baguette rounds toasted with shredded Gruyère. (Particularly in a dinner party setting, I love serving soup in cups. Smaller portions, easier distribution.) Here I served the 2006 Caliterra Tribute Carménère, 86% Carménère, 10% Merlot, 4% Merlot from the Colchagua Valley, $17. Bright raspberry aromas, with smooth coffee and chocolate flavors after breathing.

For the third course we took an intermission: with a nod to the seafood traditions of Chile, an ensalada de camarones, or shrimp salad. Tossed with a white wine/Dijon/honey vinaigrette, cherry tomatoes, red onions, and grapes over mesclun greens. Served with sparkling water to clear the palate and ready the taste buds for the next plating...

The fourth course was a (not pictured) ribeye roast cooked to a perfect medium rare and served with a trio of Hollandaise, leftover chimichurri sauce, and a horseradish/sour cream sauce. The side dish (much loved by my sister-in-law) was sherry vinegar and molasses glazed carrots. With the beef I poured the last two wines, starting with the 2005 Estampa Gold Carménère Assemblage Red Blend, 53% Carménère, 30% Cabernet Sauvignon, 14% Cabernet Franc, 3% Petit Verdot, from the Colchagua Valley, $22. This was my favorite of the evening, combining a gorgeous eucalyptus and earth aroma with tart cherry flavors. A hint of anise completed the whole experience. Also well received around the table was the great 2006 De Martino "Alto de Piedra" Single Vineyard Carménère, 100% Carménère from the Maipo Valley, $30. Violets and spice aromas, blackberry flavors and a firm tannic finish.

To finish things off, honored guests the Squirrels were kind enough to make shortbread stuffed with a persimmon filling and topped with Bourbon-flavored whipped cream. Though belts were being loosened throughout the dining room, this dessert was a big hit and a definite new flavor for many at the table. Personally I want to see this dish replace pumpkin pie at Thanksgiving.

Dessert was accompanied by a handful of Ports that were on hand, but this post is all about Chile and the wonderful wines produced on the West Coast of South America.

For more on Chilean wines (not just Carmenere), be sure to check out Wines of Chile for lots of great links and information.

Mixed Grill

This summer I haven't spent as much time grilling as I would have liked. Part of that has to do with being out of town a lot and part of it has to do with the blistering temperatures of July. But I fired up the Weber on a recent Sunday and life was good.

There's a bone-in ribeye, sliced pattypan squash, radicchio, and lamb tenderloins on skewers. Everything was marinated in its own separate mixture prior to grilling, with the tenderloins getting the buttermilk treatment. I threw it all on a platter and brought it inside for everyone to dig in as desired.

These were the first lamb tenderloins I'd fixed, and while definitely tender and boneless, they cook very quickly and lack the depth of flavor you get from a rack, a leg, or chops.

For the wine we popped open a bottle of the 2006 La Posta Cocina Blend from Mendoza in Argentina. $15, 13.5% abv. 60% Malbec, 20% Bonarda, and 20% Syrah. An incredibly smooth red wine made from a curious blend of grapes. It's refreshing to find a young wine that's this mild--just a trace of tannins. Aromas of spice and a touch of plum with light cherry cola flavors and a short finish.

I'm not much of a dessert person, but when the mood strikes this is the kind of thing I like. I halved some Jones Orchard peaches and roasted them in the oven with a little white wine in the baking dish. I topped the peaches with brown sugar and a pinch of sea salt. Then a dollop of ricotta and a chunk of fresh honeycomb from the Farmers Market. From behind the camera, I'm telling Wolfgang that there's nothing on the plate he needs to eat. This dessert was a nice combination of sweet and savory, and the honeycomb was an unexpected treat for my fellow diners.

Breakfast for Dinner

The Girlfriend requested breakfast for dinner, and I was all too happy to oblige. Specifically, she was looking for a sort of Greek omelet: spinach, lamb, and goat cheese, but she wanted something other than spinach. I love these kind of challenges, so here's the menu I created.

First off, let's look at spinach alternatives. While here in the South there are plenty of greens available, I generally substitute rapini (broccoli raab) or Swiss chard. I settled on the latter this time. Now, if you've never purchased this relative of the beet, it can look a little odd at the store. The stalks and veins are white, yellow, pink, and red, and the leaves are often wilted and droopy. I've never had problems in the past, but this time I decided to cut a half inch off the bottom of the stalks and allow capillary action to soak up some water while the leaves sat in a glass. The next morning the chard leaves were all standing at attention, but since the standard method of cooking involves getting rid of as much water as possible, I realized that I hadn't really accomplished anything.

When prepared as a side dish, I chop the stems, sautée them until soft, and then add the chopped leaves and cook those until wilted. Here I just used the leaves, wilted in a small bit of oil. A huge bunch of leaves condenses down to a very small final product--keep that in mind.

For a wine, I decided on an Italian Prosecco. The NV Cantine Maschio Prosecco Brut is a crisp, dry sparkling wine that has a nice touch of acidity but isn't overwhelming. The Girlfriend mixed hers with some orange juice for a little mimosa action. I demurred from the cocktail, but at $12 this wine would be great for brunch or bellinis or even fried chicken/BBQ: two of my favorite foods with sparkling wine. I find that generally if you can't figure out a good match for something, a sparkler or a rosé often works well.

Since I didn't have any leftover roast leg of lamb on hand, I instead chose to trim the bones off a rack of lamb and roast it. The bones and attached meat were roasted in the oven and then simmered with organic chicken stock for a few hours to create a little easy lamb stock, which after cooling went into the freezer for future use. The resulting log of meat looked much like a pork tenderloin. I dusted it with some sea salt and fresh ground pepper and then seared the little ribeye roast in a stainless steel skillet. After it was nicely browned, I threw it into a 350° oven until it reached a medium-rare internal temp of 135°. Then a rest period, followed by slicing the roast into little half-inch steaks. The end result combines the delicious flavor of lamb with the look and texture of prime rib.

Lamb ribeyes aren't an original idea; aside from having it at the Brooks recently, there's a good recipe on the Stags Leap website. On the side I made some sweet potato hash browns, and freshly sliced cantaloupe was also provided. As for the overall meal, it was a nice variation on the old steak and egg special at Waffle House. The lamb ribeyes were delicious and so easy that I can see using them for appetizers and other purposes. The omelet was one of the best I've ever had, and the sweet potatoes provided a nice touch of sweetness and less starch than your standard white potatoes.