Channing Daughters Mudd `06 $40.00

Wine and Food: The anatomy of a pairing

Planning a meal with a wine pairing shouldn't be daunting. Generally, unless you are a wino like me, you choose the food and then you choose the wine.  Pick out what you are hankering for or in the case of the Test Kitchen, add some variety to the menu. (I really shouldn't make chicken EVERY weekend)

Choose a wine that will enhance the meal, either a varietal/blend that you already like or try something new. The internet is full of wine advice (just searching "lamb,wine" will get you over 50,000,000 results) or just ask at your local wine shop.

I like wine shops, usually the staff are friendly and they like wine.  Let them know what you're cooking, what your budget is and what you like: red or white? dry or sweet? That's all a professional needs be able to recommend a wine, and before you know it, you'll have a wine guy/gal and they'll have a happy customer. (Never be afraid to set a budget. I've ranted for years about when I was timid and let a man sell me two $21.00 bottles of wine for making sangria, I refuse to go back to the shop, and it's been over six years  and 400 bottles since the infamous sangria ripoff.)

Last weekend, I proposed Shepherd's Pie with lamb.  My thought process was that it is a very cold, snowy February, I haven't cooked lamb in a while, the leftovers will reheat well and I have a baking dish from the `60's that I love to use.

When I thought of lamb, I thought Merlot and when I thought about what I had in the wine rack, I picked a bottle of `06 Mudd, a juicy and complex, predominantly Merlot red blend from Channing Daughters in Bridgehampton. A win/win pairing in my book.

I first discovered Channing Daughter's Mudd at a Winery Library Tasting.  If you are lucky enough to live near a vineyard, it's a great opportunity to check out the tasting room, try wines by the glass and decide on what you like. If you don't live near any vineyards, a lot of Wine Shops have tastings too,  but remember, wine and food work together, they bring out the best in each other.  To quote my favorite romantic winemaker Robin Pfeiffer "Wine and food want to be married". After one class with Robin and his wife Danuta, I became a romantic convert. There have been quite a few wines that I have sipped and thought "meh", but then I've had them with a good meal, and my socks have been blown off. (or my buttons undone... it all depends on how much wine)

The `06 Mudd in my wine rack hadn't traveled very far since it was bottled.  Channing Daughter's Mudd Red Blend was grown, hand picked, stomped, aged, blended and bottled less than 30 miles away from the Test Kitchen. The only thing I needed to do was buy groceries.

A lot has been written about buying fresh from the farm and seasonal, but I'm writing this in the dead of winter, the streets are piled high with salt & pepper snow and the trees are glazed in ice. For the next couple of months, I'll be buying my ingredients at the grocery store.  En route to the Test Kitchen, I stopped at Fairway Market in Douglaston, Queens to shop. 
 
I'm a Kitchen Witch -  it's magical for me to plan, shop for and cook a meal.  Choosing the wine is like putting final piece of the puzzle in place - when you add the wine, you reveal the finished picture.

(Yes, I am about to compare the tastes of a meal with art, simply because poetry and eating is sooo 18th Century)

CC Pollock ONE  Wikipedia

Sometimes I get the pairing wrong, and for me, the meal ends up like a Jackson Pollock painting, intense pieces that cause confusion on my palate, but if you concentrate, you can appreciate the work and the subtleties- you just have to dig a lot deeper to appreciate it.
(Please Pollock fans, no e-mail, art is SUBJECTIVE)

CC Turner The Fighting Temeraire Wikipedia

Sometimes I get it right, and a meal can be like a J.M.W. Turner sunset - harmonious with the surrounding ships balanced by the intense focus of the light as it colors the scene. (In my mind, the wine is the light)

Using too much tarragon made
my beet salad
a bit like a Pollock. oops

Reality check: the meal I'm writing about wasn't a Pollock or a Turner, it was a simple hearty meal that was enhanced by Channing Daughter's `06 Mudd - a red blend rich with layers of Merlot, Syrah, Dornfelder, Cabernet Franc and Blaufrankisch. At 12% ETOH, it is well balanced, complimentary to the fattiness of the lamb and the subtle seasoning of rosemary & garlic.

You can't buy the `06, `07 or `08  Mudd anymore, they are all sold out.  It's a small batch wine.  The `08 was only 141 cases and 54 magnums - that's just 1800 bottles (2700 liters or 713 gallons for those non euro types) - The wine can't be bought at the Vineyard, it could be tucked away in cellars, a few bottles may be in restaurants or in wine shops or, like mine, it is already poured and enjoyed.  Mudd is a hand made limited number, which makes it an artisanal wine. Pick some up if you can find it and make yourself an ARTisanal meal (hah! get it? I finally tied in my musings on Turner and Pollock with pairing food and wine)

The upshot on all my musings?  Life is too short not to enjoy every moment.

Menu:
Roasted Beet Salad with goat cheese and candied walnuts on a bed of Mache
Shepherd's Pie
Pillsbury Crescent Rolls (I'm a long time fan of bread in a can!)

For dessert, I got to play with fire! (I may be a bit of a pyromaniac...)
I made my very first Crème brûlée.

A Blogger Challenge #covertocover13 #bittenword #bonappetit

After discovering The Bitten Word last year while searching the web on how to can tomatoes. (Their video is CLASSIC) I never canned the tomatoes, but did become and ardent "Bitten" and when tZach and Clay announced their "2013 Cover to Cover Challenge" (cooking the entire September issue of Bon Appetit) I signed up faster than you could say, "Cook a complicated dish on the same holiday weekend that Shea and Tommy are getting married in front of 300 people".

What can I say?  I am an overachiever.... or insane.  Maybe a little of both.

This year, hundreds of "bittens" signed up to cook for the challenge. I was assigned Lamb Tatare.  Well, there were some rules (finish by 9/6 and try to stick to the recipe); so, I ended up having to "cook" my dish on Labor Day, and no one in the house will eat raw meat, and since my transplant, raw meat and raw eggs are off the menu, I made the tartare by the rules and then add a twist ending so that we could all eat it.

Gathering and assembling the ingredients was pretty straight forward:  grocery shopping in two states, - I found preserved lemons at Fairway Market in Queens, and then bought some amazing lamb loin at Whole Foods in Fairfeild, CT; my knife roll packed in the trunk, and we didn't speak of having to buy two copies of the September issue of Bon Appetit (one in NYC and one for CT after I left the first copy on the bedside table in NYC). 

For pairing, I already had a bottle of 2008 Lenz Cuvee sparkling wine from the Lenz Winery on the North Fork of Long Island (in my opinion, the best sparkling wine produced on the East Coast).

Here is how it went:

"Cooking" a tartare is just chopping really good ingredients.  My master plan was to cook it (using heat) then, after I made the raw dish per Bon Appetit, I was going to make a cooked dish.  I kept my lamb trimmings, and started a base of Greek meat sauce:  Tomato, lemon, salt & pepper, onions, olive oil and cinnamon; as I trimmed, I threw in the lamb bones and scraps.  Soon the whole house was smelling AMAZING.

I opened a  bottle of Corona, and started chopping:  shallots, capers from the cupboard, and preserved lemon, the meat was chilling in the freezer. I even had a little mint plant that I was able to harvest some leaves from to add to the mix. 

The spices were straight forward, fresh ground pepper.  I used peppercorn that V brought home from Istanbul, so I felt VERY exotic!

I tossed the ingredients with some healthy glugs of olive oil, cracked a fresh egg, strained the the whites away so that the yellow yolk could nest in the meat, and I sprinkled the whole bowl with Cypriot salt flakes.

It all went together really easily, and soon enough, with the meat sauce bubbling away, I was making toast from the baguette and styling my photograph for the Bitten Word to publish. The flavors were amazing.

But that was only the beginning.

As soon as I tried a bite of the tartare (it was delicious) I pulled the toast, soaked it in some milk, transferred the tartar to a big mixing bowl, and started to make meatballs.

The first meatballs, I served as a Tapas, with a side of green beans.  Then I set about making the Best. Shepherds. Pie. Ever.  I was serving and Irish/Mexican household, and it was a hit.  I added some pan roasted grape tomatoes for color, and I piped the rich mashed potatoes for a fancy finish, and we all dug in and loved it.  I'll make this combination of flavors over and over in the next few years.  It really was that good.

Slideshow from Lenz Winery:

Scuttlehole Chardonnay, `09 $17.99 ***(*)

I was visiting my non-wino friends who were just back from vacation.  We caught up, did some shopping, a lot of laundry and I cooked up a rack of lamb and hand cut french fries for dinner.  (as this was multicultural Manhattan, there was a bowl of fresh steamed edamame on the table for a veg)

I hadn't brought any wine, and I was expecting to go without, when low and behold we found a bottle of Channing Daughters Scuttlehole Chardonnay in the fridge.  It was of indeterminate provenance ("Didn't YOU leave that there?" I was asked) and well, it was a crapshoot.  I had never heard of the winery nor the wine.  (and I thought that I knew the North Fork... I have a lot to learn.) As you can see from the four stars above, I got lucky.  It really is a solid three star all around wine, but I gave it a fourth for being from a small producer on Long Island. The more I am exposed to small artisanal wines, the happier I am to be writing about them and sharing them with you.

C. opened it as I was searing the lamb. It was delicious. I love unoaked Chardonnay anyway, but this was special.  It had some light fruit notes (namely pear) but a heavy, creamy finish that isn't too long. I want more.  For anyone who does not like chardonnay (commonly called the ABC'ers "Anything but Chardonnay") I say try it, it will expand your world, and show you that we are making some really good wine just 80 miles from NYC.  100% Chardonnay, 13% ETOH.

Last summer, I wrote a piece for Snooth called Anna Bennett's New York State of Mind. For as long as I am living on Long Island, I feel like I should spend more time at local vineyards.  My first stop of 2012 will be Channing Daughters Winery.  They have some very interesting stuff going on out there! (and their wine is served at the Princeton Club.☺)

Korbel Brut NV $13.99 ***

If you are having a big crowd like Kate had last night (twelve).  You can save some money, celebrate, buy American and still feel like it is a special occasion with Korbel.  It is a classic California blend of Chardonnay, Chenin Blanc, French Colombard and Pinot Noir, fermented and bottled in the classic French Champagne method.

For us, the special occasion was a new porch, and having almost all of the kids together, and just a nice Sunday Night Family Dinner (I'm the adopted stray in the group). We had this Classic American Champagne as Mimosas.  But it can be had plain as well.  It is a great "Champagne" for a crowd.  Spicy, bubbly, easy to drink, and when well chilled refreshing and crisp.

We had it with grilled lamb, roasted potatoes and tomatoes, and a green salad.

MEH and I made a Banana Cake for dessert,

JPH frosted it with a chocolate Ganache. 

It was yummy with fresh fruit, freshly whipped cream, 

and a dollop of Cappuccino Gelato. 

The leftover cake will be even better 

when we have it for breakfast 

with a nice cup of coffee, and S. 

She missed dinner tonight. 

Darn plane schedules. 

 

Eagle's Rock Piedra del Aguila Malbec `08 $8.99 (not TJ's) *

I searched far and wide to find a saving grace for this wine.  So far, in the great Malbec Experiment, this is a total fail.  It smelled nice, was light, yet tasted of deep fruits (blackberry/tart raspberry) but it was dry, oh so very dry... puckeringly dry, and astringent and it made my throat burn. I think that I may try mulling it tomorrow to see if it can be saved.  FYI: Mulling is my last resort in the winter, Sangria in the summer.

After the vinturi: it goes smooth, velvety and then every imperfection that I tasted before was magnified.  Shudder.  DO NOT Aerate this wine.

This is a 100% Argentinian Malbec, estate bottled, from Mendoza with a pretty good pedigree. I just don't know enough about Malbec to understand where it went wrong.  Maybe this is their factory seconds wine, as I can't find it on their website but the provenance is clearly on the label (website and all). As for pairing, I surfed over to Dave the Wine Merchant and got his Slow Cooked Lamb Stew  recipe, the stew was great. I had some white rice and steamed green beans as an accompaniment, but I had to force myself to drink the first glass and the subsequent sip from the vinturied glass. I like Argentinian Malbec; I want to drink more of it and understand the varietal better. I just hope that the next bottle is better than this one.
  
Now for what makes me really sad about this wine.  I bought it when I went home to Maine.  We had made a quick stop at the Swan Lake Grocery Store, which was the penny candy, soda and ice cream supplying small town store of my childhood.  After a Summer's day of weeding the garden and then riding my bike to the lake to swim with friends, we could get snacks at the dam.  Then Robbie (he's a local success story) bought the store and morphed it into the supermarket that it is today.  Also, it is a literary low ball in my life, possibly my first noticing of a deliberate pun.  The store's logo is still "Best by a Dam Site" (due to its proximity to Swan Lake Dam). Robby's Store now caters to the locals and those with Summer camps around the lake.  He has an impressive selection of wine for the area.  I just wish that I had picked up a good bottle. It would have been a great bookend to my childhood memories of swimming in the lake with friends and then getting a cold Coke and ice cream, now to my adult memories of a good meal and a bottle of wine.  The next time I am home, I'll try again.

I am absolutely gobsmacked that Google Street Views has Swanville Maine, but here it is, in all of it's 

expanded glory: 

View Larger Map

Riondo Prosecco Spago Nero IGT (Not TJ's) ***

The Night of Two Dinner Parties....
 (part one)

There were choices to be made. How often does someone have two amazing dinners offered, but can only accept one?  Well, it my case, that was my Saturday night.  So, I did what any appreciative friend would do, I offered to help cook for both, and then went home to enjoy an evening of great company, food and wine (and fire was involved!) Then decided that we could swap leftovers on Sunday. Win/Win in my book.

First stop, Glen Cove.  I had the The Colonial Williamsburg Tavern Cookbook in hand.  K. poured me a glass of bright, crisp Prosecco and I got to work on the Corn Souffle (Corn Pudding).

This Riondo is dry, with a hint of sour (maybe grapefruit?) It was easy to drink, but since I had to cook, go for a walk with Kodi and then go home to dinner. From my one glass perspective, I can say that this wine is a nice start to a fun evening. (here is a link to part deux - the rest of the evening...)

Glen Cove Menu: (I know that there were four wines being brought, I just don't know what they were)
Mixed Leaf Salad
Corn Pudding
Grilled Lamb Chops
Home Made Granny Smith Apple Crisp with whipped cream.

Warwick Pinotage `07 (not TJ's) $25.99 ***

This wine is from a tasting at Bacchus.  I brought it home it because I liked it, and I had made notes that it would go GREAT with bacon (but then again, what doesn't go well with bacon???). We had it with pasta in a pancetta mushroom cream sauce, fresh heirloom Brandywine tomatoes, fresh corn on the cob and grilled lamb chops.  Yes, it was a delicious Thursday night!

Yes, a little tipsy... but aren't we all?

This is Old Bush Pinotage from the Warwick Estate, Stellenbosch, South Africa. South Africa can lay claim to a lot - some good, some bad. But in the case of this wine, it is all good. This is a well balanced wine. Pinotage is a versatile SA grape - both fruity AND savory. After our first pour, I was trying to to think of how to describe it, and S simply said, it tasted like lovage. She nailed it.  It is a fruity, red berry wine, but it has a depth that is unique in that it is also herbaceous.  That would be the spiciness, and maybe a slight hint of smokiness.  And yes, it tasted of lovage (which is a good thing).  Also, at 14.5% it is a fruity, spicy, well balanced wine that packs a punch.

I was enjoying dinner so much that at one point, I remembered that I had to run it through the Vinturi.  That was a first - was it the meal, the wine or the fact that I may have been on my third glass already???  hmmm.  Welll, I popped up from the table, grabbed the Vinturi and aerated it.  Yeah, a bit smoother, but really, why bother? I finished my glass and went back to my meal.

I'd still like to try a glass with a nice, juicy bacon cheeseburger - but as it stands, this wine was a good dinner wine.  Kind of pricey for everyday dinner, BUT well worth having for a special meal.

And, just because it is always amazing
to come home to stunning flowers on the counter, 

I am leaving you with a shot of the Sunflowers.  

Absolutely gorgeous!

d'Arenberg The Stump Jump Shiraz `08 (not TJ's) $14.99 ***

Who knew? I like Shiraz.  This is a good bottle from South Australia. JPH unscrewed the bottle while he was brazing lamb shanks for dinner.  The smell drew me in to the kitchen and I had a pleading look on my face.  Since it would be silly for me to bury my head in the braising pot (I was starving), I appeased my appetite by pouring a glass and starting a review.

First pour:  mmmm a mouth full of blackberries.  Good, fresh blackberries.  No oak to speak of and not much of a finish.  It was mouth watering. There was a bit of an after burn, I looked at the bottle and realized that it was 14.5%.  Yikes.  A good, strong wine - to say the least.

After the Vinturi:  Not much of a difference.  I wouldn't bother.  Just take a big fruity sniff, have a big, fruity mouthful and enjoy this wine.  We pay a Gold Coast premium on this wine, I know that it can be had for a lot less that $14.99.  If you like a nice fresh, fruity Shiraz, I would go for it.

Fabrice Gasnier Vieilles Vignes Chinon `07 $19.99 (not TJ's) ****

This is a beautiful sipping wine.  Fresh, fruity, dry and only a slight tannin aftertaste.  I may be falling in love with Cabernet Franc. Even before the vinturi, it seems open and aromatic. I know that I am going to sound weird, but it smells like really yummy, fresh Chinese food - sort of sweet smelling, but fresh, with a hint of tanginess (and that is just the smell - we're talking Oriental Jade in Bangor, Maine - before they moved the restaurant) Ok, maybe I am being way too sentimental.  Maybe the smell is plum.  The taste is light and fresh and not sweet at all.  I like that combination. It teases my nose with sweetness, and then delights my mouth with dry fruitiness. (I'm gonna stop there.  I really need a boyfriend!)

After the Vinturi:  NOPE, don't decant it.  It seems rougher, dryer. Aeration seems to accent flaws in this wine.  It is much better straight out of the bottle (well, via a glass that is).

With food, it is lovely. This lamb is subtle, and the orzo is lemony and well, peas are peas... All around this is a GREAT wine.

Today's menu:
Pistachio & Panko crusted Lamb
Orzo with lemon & tomatoes
Peas

Some thoughts:
Wow, I am drinking one of the parents of Cabernet Sauvingnon. This wine is 100% Cabernet Franc.  Someone once suggested that I taste as many 100% wines as possible to develop my palate.  Slowly, I am learning.  I made a pretty big study of Cabernet Sauvingnon for World Kidney Day - (yeah, it was an effort... NOT) now I can really understand the difference between C Franc and C Sauvignon.

In a case of "I really want to do this", wander lust, I stumbled across this blog post about the vineyard....

http://mcduffwine.blogspot.com/2008/04/tasting-chinon-with-fabrice-gasnier.html

This is just a partial quote - this blog has much, much more (with pictures)

We discovered Fabrice Gasnier at work in his vineyards, pruning his vines in preparation for the coming of spring. Fabrice began his work at the property during the benchmark vintage of 1989. He and his father Jacky, who has since retired, incorporated the Domaine as it now stands in 1993. Their family has owned land and farmed here in Chezelet for four generations, during which time the estate has grown from its original three hectares to its current 24. All of those 24 hectares – 23 planted to Cabernet Franc and one to Cabernet Sauvignon – are located on the flat portions of the Cravantine landscape, within a two kilometer radius of Chezelet. Finding Fabrice in his fields presented the perfect opportunity to really gain an understanding of his farming techniques and of some of the peculiarities of his terroir.

All of Gasnier’s vines are Simple Guyot trained, with one main baguette producing seven eyes. A second, smaller baguette is pruned to two eyes and trained in the opposite direction, the intention being both to begin the growth cycle for the following year’s season and to prevent bunch clustering. Farming is entirely organic (the estate is now in the process of organic certification through ECOCERT), using only natural products and homeopathic principles, practices which Fabrice describes as preventive rather than curative viticulture. Predator insects and bio-organisms are relied upon for pest control. As we can see, standing in a freshly plowed 2.5 hectare plot of vines planted by his grandfather 50-60 years earlier, the earth is turned regularly to promote deep root systems and a maximum expression of terroir. Following pruning – and completing the cycle – vine cuttings are mulched and returned to the soil to reintroduce their stored energy to the vineyard.