Dinner on the Mountain

Following our lunch on the mountain, I cleaned up the kitchen and zoned out for an hour while the others went to look around the Winthrop Rockefeller Institute and visit a local farmer's market. (I passed Julia a twenty and asked her to grab whatever she wanted--she brought back sheep's milk cheese, honey, and peach jam. All delicious.)

There's a substantial cattle raising operation on the mountain and surrounding area, focused on the Santa Gertrudis breed. Producing the Santa Gertrudis is a little complicated, requiring 3/8 Brahman Bos indicus and 5/8 Shorthorn Bos taurus. The benefit of this hybridization is a cow that puts on a lot of meat but can tolerate hot and dry climates. I was taking photos of some of the calves when this heifer started racing towards me.

Speaking of heifers, the Institute donates some cattle to Heifer International, a charity organization that provides livestock for people in developing nations. Instead of just sending food, they send healthy and hearty chickens and bees and cows and other animals that can help build sustainable food-producing operations in places where people are hungry.

For dinner that evening, I started out with a selection of cheeses, capicola, and pickles. Folks nibbled and sipped on a little wine before I served my sweet potato soup, requested by Molly and Julia. I made it a little differently this time, omitting the chicken stock and focusing on the flavors of sweet potato and ginger and Riesling. I liked it, but the soup is good either way.

2012 Bokisch Vineyards Albariño
Terra Alta Vineyard, Lodi, California
100% Albariño
$18, 12.5% abv.

Bright and tart with great citrus aromas and flavors. The acidity worked well with the slightly spicy soup. I'm excited about what American winemakers are doing with Albariño.

2012 LangeTwins Sangiovese Rosé
Lodi, California
100% Sangiovese
$13, 12.5% abv.

With the rosé, I made another repeat dish, grilled shrimp with sweet peppers and a salad. This pink wine had dominant elements of wild strawberry and lemon, dry but with full fruit flavors. A very pleasant weekend sipper.

Paul provided the main course of a ribeye roast while I prepared the side dishes: roasted cipollinis, grilled asparagus, and a homemade horseradish sauce. When you're putting this much beef on the table, it's time to open four wines. Continuing with Lodi:

2011 St. Amant Winery Mohr-Fry Old Vine Zinfandel
Lodi, California
$18, 15.5% abv.

Anna really enjoyed this particular wine, which was rich and dark with aromas of black cherry and pepper. Just a little hint of that chocolate and bramble that you can get from the older vines.

2011 Michael David Winery Bechtold Vineyard Ancient Vine Cinsault
Lodi, California
100% Cinsault
$20, 13.8% abv.

I was really excited to try this wine. You don't see a lot of single-variety Cinsault, even from France, and I had a great lunch with the CEO of Michael David when he came to Memphis a few years ago. Produced from 127-year old vines, this wine goes deep with an earthy nose of beef and leather, though red cherry elements start to emerge later. Smooth and tasty with a lingering finish. Highly recommended, and a great bargain.

We continued with a pair of wines from Argentina.

2010 Altimus Estate
Cafayate, Argentina
40% Cabernet Sauvignon, 35% Malbec, 15% Bonarda, 5% Tannat, and 5% Syrah
$35, 15% abv.

Aromas of prunes and dried cherries, with a tart and slightly acidic flavor. Quite a big wine, and one that was well suited to the slow-roasted beef.

2009 Finca Flichman Dedicado
Mendoza, Argentina
85% Malbec, 10% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 5% Syrah
$30, 14.5% abv.

The first thing that strikes you is that this is one heavy bottle, taller and thicker than usual. However, inside the wine is not something that needed to be in a maximum security prison--you get lots of great red fruit flavors, with red cherry, cassis, and raspberry. With breathing, deeper undertones of wood and leather begin to develop.

As is my custom, with everyone fed and multiple rounds of dishes washed and many courses served, I retired to the living room with a glass of the Cinsault and relaxed. Paul and Anna took care of the last round of dishes, and everyone milled around, trying the many wines of the evening, but mostly talking and having a good time. That's what a successful dinner party is all about, and why I was excited to recreate the ribeye roast dinner that Paul and I used to put on when he lived here in Memphis.

Anna took care of dessert with her pots de crème, made without completely melting the chocolate so that tiny chunks of solid chocolate remained, providing a toothsome texture. The eggs used to make the dish came from her own chickens, and the result was decadent and rich.

We stayed up past midnight, and then one by one retired to the back bedrooms of the guest house. Needless to say, I slept like a rock in the quiet, cool mountain air. Can't wait to go back!

Note: These wines were provided as samples.

Lunch on the Mountain

In late April, I made my second visit to the Winthrop Rockefeller Institute on Petit Jean Mountain in central Arkansas. Julia's friend Molly runs the restaurant at the Institute, and we picked a weekend to run up there again and enjoy a peaceful and relaxing vacation away from the city. This time we were lucky to include my longtime friend, brother from another mother, mister please please please himself, Paul Jones. I hadn't seen Paul in forever, and he was kind enough to bring his better half Anna along with him.

While it's not a bad drive from Memphis (4-5 hours depending on traffic and I-40 construction), the last leg is well off the beaten path, so it's good to pack a few coolers with all the essentials. And I brought many essentials. Three different kinds of vinegar, sixteen different kinds of bitters, a mixed case of a dozen wine samples, plus a ton of food. Paul was 90 minutes behind us with a ribeye roast and the ingredients necessary to make a proper Manhattan. These things are important.

Friday evening we had our dinner with a lot of Julia and Molly's friends at the River Rock Grill at the Institute. Loads of great dishes and conversations that night, but I'm going to dive into our lunch Saturday, when I decided to bring the Munchkin burger to Petit Jean Mountain.

I formed 2 oz. hockey pucks of ground beef, liberally seasoned with soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, and in this instance, Penzey's Mitchell Street seasoning. Butter grilled slider buns, a healthy dollop of my famous red onion marmalade, a scoop of Cambozola, and a few other fixins paired with kettle chips and a homemade aïoli tinged with Sriracha sauce. I also did cheddar toppings for those that preferred a milder burger, and of course I opened a jar of garlic-dill gherkins that we've come to know as baybay pickles.

When I say I came prepared, I came prepared.

Friend of both Paul and me, the inimitable Dave R. passed along the following bottle that brought back a lot of good memories. I was a huge fan of the Bogle Petite Sirah in my early wine days and continue to admire the winery for the great bottles they produce.

2010 Bogle Essential Red
California
31% Zinfandel, 26% Petite Sirah, 24% Cabernet Sauvignon, 19% Syrah
$11, 13.5%

Lots of great fruit in this wine, with aromas of plum and bright red cherry and pie crust. Firm tannins show up on the finish, but overall it is a great jammy sipper that paired quite well with the lunch, and given the great price, this one has a great QPR and is highly recommended.

Earlier in the meal I opened up a pair of Paso Robles wines from Tower 15 Winery.

2012 Tower 15 Sauvignon Blanc
Paso Robles
100% Sauvignon Blanc
$19, 13.2% abv.

Loads of bright acidity here, with flavors of lemon and apricot. Nice crisp finish. Should be served with shellfish and salad.

2012 Tower 15 Sunset Rosé
Paso Robles
93% Grenache, 7% Pinot Noir
$19, 13.7% abv.

Great raspberry elements in this dry but crisp and tangy rosé. Light, onion-skin color, with a great tart finish. These two wines were perfect for appetizers of cheese and pickles, and the convenient screwcaps were even better, because I could just hand a bottle to someone and have him serve it without fumbling for a corkscrew. Highly recommended for the upcoming summer.

Burgers with red onion marmalade, even made in the petite form, do still require a hearty red wine, and I had a pair of Argentine bottles from Alamos Wines. These were great with the griddled Munchkin burgers...

2012 Alamos Red Blend
Mendoza, Argentina
Proprietary blend of Malbec, Bonarda and Tempranillo
$13, 13.5% abv.

Brambly with those nutty elements of raspberry seeds, with good touches of earth and a slightly vegetal finish. This wine was well-received around the table.

2012 Alamos Malbec
Uco Valley, Argentina
100% Malbec
$13, 13.7% abv.

I preferred this one, which was a solid bargain Malbec. Notes of plum and spice with medium tannins and a long finish. I've had this wine so many times over the years and still consider it a solid performer in its weight class.

Coming up soon... Dinner on the Mountain!

Note: These wines were received as samples.

Wódka & More

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.

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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.

Chateau Aux Arc

Chateaux Aux Arc in Altus, Arkansas is run by Audrey House, who started making wine at the age of 13 and founded a winery sometime in her early 20s. In a nation where a parent can be arrested for letting a teenage kid take a sip of beer at a party, this is a remarkable achievement. The name comes from the original French explorers' name for the region "Aux Arcs", meaning with curves or with hills. (Alas, I don't think there's a dirty reference in there in the vein of Les Grande Tetons.) Over time this got bastardized into Ozarks.

Work took me to Little Rock for two weeks, and I'd heard good things about the winery. Given the opportunity to try one I picked the 2004 American Petite Sirah ($15, only available in Arkansas). It's got a black cherry aroma, with medium tannins and a flavor that trends towards blackberry. It's honestly one of the better American red wines I've had that didn't come from the west coast, as well as being one of the smoothest Petite Sirahs that I've tried.

The following weekend, I got curious and decided to visit the winery and sample some of the other offerings. The winery is easy to find and is the first that you encounter on Highway 186 running south from I-40.

The tasting room is set mere yards from the vineyards. I strolled over to a patch of Cynthiana (also known as Norton). Took some photos, but obeyed the warnings about pesticides. Besides, it's too early in the season to be plundering grapes. Kudos to the hosts at the tasting room: the menu is presented with dry wines on one side and sweet wines on the other. Sweet wines are far more popular in this part of the country (and often made using Vitis labrusca native varietals or hybrids), but the host passed me the menu with the dry side showing. Good man. There's maybe 20 wines on offer for tasting, and I tried six wines that were full of surprises.

2005 Chateau Aux Arc Chardonnay. This unoaked Chard throws a lot of fruit, lots of peach and apples. Tart yet creamy, just a touch of toast. Full bodied but well balanced.

2003 Chateau Aux Arc Syrah. Black pepper and black cherry aromas, another creamy feel on the tongue. Medium tannins with a touch of tartness.

2004 Chateau Aux Arc Cabernet Sauvignon. An interesting Bordeaux-style blend that goes off the rails somewhat and includes Pinot Meunier and Syrah in addition to the standard Merlot and Petite Verdot. Spicy with a touch of bitterness, though somewhat closed. I'd love to try it again with some age on the bottle.

2005 Chateau Aux Arc Dragonfly. The wine that most appealed to my sense of adventure but was the only disappointment of the tasting. This wine is a blend of some 50 different grape varieties, most experimental hybrids made by House. Apparently any and all grapes were used in these pairings. It's impossible to pull out any individual grape characteristics from this wine. Off-putting aroma and a harsh flavor, but I'm still glad I tried it.

2004 Chateau Aux Arc Zinfandel. The wine I liked so much I picked up a bottle for $15. And to give you an idea of some of the truth-in-labeling used by this winery, the wine is actually 99.68% Zinfandel, with the remainder comprised of .12% Petite Sirah, .11% Carignane, .05% Syrah, .03% Alicante Bouschet, and .01% Grenache. It had a touch of mint on the nose with full blackberry flavors. Only 15% alcohol, though the 2005 is 17%.

2000 Chateau Aux Arc Champagne. This is a blanc de blancs made in the méthod champenoise, and with the next bottling they're going to drop the Champagne name in honor of the AOC regulations. Light on the aroma but with pleasant flavors of pear and apple, just a hint of banana. Even though the bottle had been opened the previous day (typically they only sample sparklers on Saturday), it was still crisp with good bubble structure. This would be an awesome brunch sparkling wine. Not many bottles are left from their one vintage, so either get one now or wait for next year's batch.

Afterwards I drove down into Altus. Literally down--it's a long trip down to the water, with lots of tight curves and blind corners. I had horrible visions of senior citizens blitzed on Muscadine wine charging down the hills in their RVs, ready to smash my meager rental car without so much as a how-do-you-do. This did not occur, but upon running the main drag of Altus (one block, or less than a dozen buildings), I moved back up the hill. I passed the Post Familie and Mount Bethel wineries. I felt a stop at Wiederkehr was obligatory, but on a Sunday afternoon the place was packed to the gills and I have some bad memories of their sweet jug wines from ten years ago. (This is not meant to criticize their current offerings; I'm just not a sweet wine person anymore. Nor sweets in general, which is why desserts are never featured on this blog.)

Besides these four, there is a fifth winery in Arkansas called Cowie in nearby Paris. For detailed information on the Arkansan wineries, I'd suggest this lovely profile of the Altus AVA by the good folks at Appellation America. At some point I'll return to the area and hit all five for a proper evaluation. For this trip, it was mostly fun to zip through the scenic countryside seeing rows and rows of neat grape vines. In this part of the country we're used to seeing cotton, rice, corn, and soybeans, so grapes are a fascinating change of pace.