Dr. Konstantin Frank Gewurztraminer `10 $18.99 *** #Wine #ChickenSoup

It's official, here in New York the seasons have changed. There's a chill in the air, and in the morning I can see my coffee breath as I head off to work. These cold mornings and falling leaves call us to hearth and home.  For me, home is that warm and fuzzy feeling you get when simmering scents waft from the kitchen for hours, music plays in the background as I putter in the kitchen, slicing, dicing and sluicing.  In this ethereal bubble, no matter what, all is right in the world.

On Sunday, I had the chance to be in that moment, I made chicken soup & dinner rolls, and paired it with this NY State Gewurztraminer. The apple pie I baked was just culinary overkill.... (the wine was really good with that too!)

It took me three years to be able to pronounce Gewurztraminer correctly. This Alsatian varietal is a great option when you are an "ABC" like me. (anything but chardonnay). It is rich, with citrus notes, and a hint of sweetness (sometimes with honey tones) - it was a great foil for the fatty chicken soup and rich, buttery dinner rolls.

Dr. Konstantine Frank is a legend in the NY State wine demi-mond. Back in `10 (while the grapes in this Gewurztraminer were still on the vine), I reviewed their Riesling (paired with a PB&J). Traditional northern European wine varietals, grown on old vines in the Finger Lakes of New York. Dr Frank' legacy is robust, available and delicious.

Menu:
Crock Pot Chicken Soup (my own recipe)
Classic Dinner Rolls
Apple Pie





I'll leave you with a slideshow of early fall in Central Park:

Louis Jadot Pinot Noir `08 $17.99 **

I got home from work and found JPH prepping eggplant. It was going to be a comfort food night.  There was a chicken in the fridge that needed to be roasted, potatoes to be baked & mashed, parsley to be chopped and rosemary that needed to be harvested from the patio. (finally the plants are outside  - I am trying to convince S. to start a gardening blog, she has done amazing work with the garden).  As I was seasoning the chicken, JPH pointed out that a wine needed to be selected.  I hesitated on this French Pinot Noir simply because it is a $17.99 bottle of plonk - that is steep for a Wednesday night table wine, but hey, why not?  JPH also challenged me to a review and since I have been slipping in that department this year, I accepted.

This is a classic French Pinot Noir from the classic Bourgogne power house Maison Louis Jadot.  That being said, it is simple French table wine and we were opening it on the down side of it's peak.  It has some forward spice and a watery finish, which is not unattractive in a wine to have with a well seasoned dinner.  At 12.5% ETOH, JPH noted that you could just keep drinking and drinking this with a meal. We wondered just how many French restaurants have it as their house red. We're guessing a lot - Maison Jadot has a winery dedicated exclusively to the production of Bourgogne Pinot Noir. This is high quality, mass production wine and it is the backbone of Burgundy, good wine that you can drink that won't break the bank.

"Well Balanced" was the catch phrase for the evening.  It is an even drinking wine with no surprises.  Slight tannins made it a good astringent foil for the roasted chicken, and the earthiness made the truffles stand out more in the truffled mashed potatoes.  (seriously, between the wine and the potatoes, I wondered if I put any butter in at all)

This is a "safe" classic French wine.  You could bring it to your in-laws and be deemed cultured.  As for me, I am just thrilled that we hit the pairing out of the park.  Dinner was the highlight of my day. Chicken roasted with lemon and rosemary, sauteed eggplant in garlic scented olive oil with parsley and truffled mashed potato. It doesn't get much better on the comfort scale.

I'll leave you with my chicken as it just came out of the oven, and the eggplant waiting to be plated. It was a rainy Spring night, and comfort food hit the spot.

Poggio Trevvalle Santippe, IGT `09 $12.99 ***

Poggio Trevvalle Santippe made a liar out of me.  I used to say that I don't like Sangiovese but I really liked this Tuscan 100% Sangiovese. It it light, easy to drink and fruit forward (rich strawberry) with a subtle earthy finish and very light tannins.  The joke is on me though... it is 14.5% ETOH.  It goes down waaaaayyyy too easy.  This is a wine that I need to watch myself with, it is beguiling and wonderful but could lead to a regrettable morning after.

Made by two Italian brothers at their vineyard Poggio Trevvalle in Maremma, Tuscany, between the towns of Grosseto and Campagnatico, this wine shows their commitment to the area "terroir".  It s a delicious, straightforward juicy wine that could easily be our house wine for Spring 2012. (JPH ran out to buy three more bottles after we polished off the first one with the dinner pictured above)

We paired it with chicken cutlets filled with buffalo mozzarella and parsley, wrapped in prosciutto,; eggplant cubes sauteed in olive oil with a hint of garlic and pasta with a simple red sauce. It was a delicious meal.

This wine can even make you smarter. (if you are lucky enough to have a brilliant Ph.D at the table)  After she had a sip and liked it, S. looked at the bottle and exclaimed "This is named after Socrates's wife!".  Well, that is fascinating (after all, I have always been quite fond of Socrates - as a child, my pet white goat after him)  History was not overly kind to his wife though.  For the original Xanthippe "strong willed" is one of the kinder sentiments that have survived the ages.  Shakespeare mentions her in the Taming of the Shrew which is what has really put her reputation to the test over the centuries. Jet Wine Bar wrote a great review of this wine that touches on a lot of history. I'll let you click over there to read more if you want to.


As for me, as soon as I hit "publish", I'm going to take the glass of Santippe here on my right and go take a walk in S's garden on this beautiful sunny Spring day. I think that Socrates and the brothers Umberto e Bernardo Valle won't have a problem with that!

Mionetto Sergio Rosé Prosecco NV *** $19.99 (gift)

This was one of my gifts from the Easter Bunny!  Little did EB know what happy feelings I have for Mionetto.  Their il prosecco was the last wine that I drank before I got "the call" for my kidney transplant! (That fantastic meal is a very happy memory)

I'll set the scene:  After a very long day at work, I arrived to find the dog guarding an empty house.  JPH had done the dinner shopping and sent me the menu along with a pairing.  I was confused, all of the ingredients were right there, but I searched the wine rack and the fridge high and low and could not find his suggested Vernaccia di San Gimignano to go with Chicken fricassee with rosemary, garlic and lemon, Asparagus with homemade mayonnaise and Cacio e Pepe (JPH is desperate to recreate a dish he tasted at a villa outside of Naples a couple of years ago).

It was opportunity knocking!  I had put the rosé in the fridge over the weekend, and I needed something elegant and bubbly to lift my mood after a long day of bureaucracy.  I grabbed Marcella Hazan's Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking, poured a glass of well chilled Sergio Rosé and with the dog patiently waiting at my feet for any scraps that may fall her way, I started cooking dinner.

This really is a good all around Italian Prosecco Rosé.  It's a bright, bubbly and refreshing blend of 70% Raboso and 30% Lagrein grapes with a hint of raspberry dryness that is not sweet.  And, at 11% ETOH there was no risk of me getting "experimental" with my dinner prep. (ahh, the things I have done under the influence of Australian Shiraz must never be published while I am alive...)

As I sipped and cooked dinner, S. and JPH came home bearing a box a Macaroons for dessert and revealed the secret hiding place of the Vernaccia. (there were two bottles in the beer drawer)  JPH stepped in and made the Cacio e Pepe and we all sat down to a really nice dinner.

Mionetto is well known for producing good, inexpensive bubbly that really adds a highlight to any day or meal. $19.99 is a high retail price.  It can be found for $12.99 and for that price it is a "MUST BUY" - really, why not make Tuesday night a special occasion?

And just so you know, the wine was great as a stand alone sipping wine,
really good with dinner and with the Macaroons???  PERFECT!

La Mozza Morellino di Scansano I Perazzi DOCG `09 *** $19.99

This is a great Tuscan blend wine with an all American foodie pedigree. I was biased.  JPH bought it at our local "Luxury Priced" Wine Shop, and the proprietor told him that it was a "great value" at $19.99. Well, since I have a history with said wine shop, I know that "great value" means that JPH paid an extra $5.00 for the proprieter/sommeliere service - he does know his wine, and we do pay a markup for it.  The value ended up in the flavor and drinkablilty - not the mark up.

This wine is the brainchild of Lydia and Joe Bastianich and Mari Batali. Icons in the American/Italian foodie world.  And well...Mario knows his wine. (I feel like I should link to a famous Mario Batali Drinking Story, So I will)

On first sip, S. said "This is good wine".  I smiled and followed suit.  It is a really good, light red table wine that went perfectly with out Roast Chicken and Pasta with cherry tomatoes, scallions and chili peppers from Marcella Cucina.

An eclectic blend of 85% Sangiovese , 5% Syrah, 5% Alicante, 2% Colorino, 3% Ciliegiolo this is a really versatile wine.  Fresh juicy fruit forward (cherry), the finish is mellow (a hint of smoke to add depth), and it is so easy to just have another glass.  At 13% ETOH it is gentle for the week night.  We finished the bottle before dessert. (I was a bit sad that my glass was really empty)

From Maremma, southwest Tuscany comes La Mozza Winery.  They produce just two wines (so far), and it is a rather large production (10,000 cases of the I Perazzi) - but the flavor remains artisanal, like it is Old World hand crafted; that is special and really shows the talent of the winemakers Gabriele Gadenz and Maurizio Castelli.  This really is a perfect wine for the American market.  Not too overpowering, yet exotic enough to be very interesting.  Normally I am not a fan of Sangiovese, but this blend brings out all of the good in the varietal.


Although it cost JPH $19.99 (it was worth the $$) It can be found between $13.00 and $15.00. I liked it a lot, and I am glad that our food icons have put their money and vision into a winery that lives up to their culinary reputations.

Château des Mille Anges Petit Santal Saint Germain De Graves`02 $9.99 ***

This wine gave me something to crow about.  First of all, it was deliciously juicy and fruity forward with a long saturated finish (stewed strawberries with background of dried cherry), very little tannin and for an `02, it was just juicy and beautiful.  As the intense finish disappeared, it had the hint of being a little long in the tooth, but all in all, if JPH goes back to Coves Discount and gets us six more bottles, I can guarantee that they will be finished by mid-January (and that's NOT a hint).

We played "Guess the Varietal".  I may have done a little Scooby Dance in my chair I was so happy that I was able to identify a couple of the varietals at least.  When I first looked up the blend, I got 3 of four.  I got Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc (I am still convinced that there is Petit Verdot in there) but all of my research says that it is predominantly Merlot.  The producer Château des Mille Anges's website says: Merlot 60%, Cabernet Sauvignon 20% and Cabernet Franc 20%. But it did not have specific tasting notes for the `02, so I am going to cling to my Petit Verdot theory (and my Scooby Dance).  The website doesn't have much more about the production of this wine.  I won't fault them for it.  It is a nice little gem that we enjoyed, and it didn't break the bank.  Win/Win in my book.

At 13% ETOH, it is robust, smooth and easy to drink.  It is great, and much smoother and more elegant than some other blends that we have had in this price range.  It is a typical French table wine, and well, also a great example of why French wine has the reputation that it has.  It was that good. 

The Château des Mille Anges Petit Santal Saint Germain De Graves (or as JPH called it the "thousand Angels Wine") paired really well with tonight's dinner:  Chicken and Parsley Pie from The National Trust Farmhouse Cookbook.  Good comfort food, using the blackbird pie funnel that I brought back from London.

cillar ey silos ribera del duero D.O. `03 **** $15.99

This is the best Tempranillo that I have ever had (Maybe it is the rich uncle to all of the cheap and cheerful tempranillo that I have tasted in the past few years?) and it was simply because we didn't know what to open for dinner.  Lurking in the wine rack along with a few other dusty bottles was this `03.  JPH didn't even know where or when it came from.

This dark complex tannic wine mellowed into a deep, rich smooth delicious dark/dried raspberry wine with a high ETOH (14.5%) It makes me want to buy a bunch, leave it in the cellar and be happily surprised in 8 years.

Cillar de Silos of Ribera del Duero, Spain has a reputation for putting out good wine.  This dusty bottle proves it.

It was tight and concentrated on my first sip.  Which made me comment "This needs the Nuance" but I was caught up in making Macaroni and Cheese and the wine had to aerate in the glass and bottle - as S. and I sipped away.    After about 10 minutes, the wine opened up, became smooth and velvety and went perfectly with our Roast Chicken, Fava Beans a la Marcela Hazan and Swiss Style Macaroni and Cheese. 

Cline Sonoma Coast Viognier `10 $13.99 ***

Ever since I've been back from Virginia, I have been obsessed with two things - Grits with Shrimp, and viognier. I scour wine shops for viognier now. I found this Cline `10 while trolling the aisles of a suburban LI liquor store. We have had Cline Ancient Vine Zinfandel and liked it, I figured that their viognier would be a safe bet. It was.

Cline Sonoma Coast Viognier `10 is a rich, complex white wine with bright, fruity overtones (peach) and a refreshing acidic cleansing, with a faint hint of sweetness at the finish. I love the varietal, and this bottle was a true representation. With a slight minerality giving it depth, this is a good mouthful of wine. It is 14% ETOH, which packs a subtle whollop, so subtle that it is like a sucker punch, because it is so easy to drink, you can wake up in the morning thinking "what hit me?". If it is only a few of you for dinner, resist the temptation to open another bottle when the first one is gulped down. Or, pop them, keep filling your glasses and have a great night - but remember..."Anna warned you!"

We had it with Poulet au vin jaune. What do you ask? Some fancy French name??? Well, yeah. The night before, we had a bottle of wine that wasn't table worthy. The second that S. tasted it, a light went off in her head and she said "we can make Poulet au vin jaune with it". Then she ran to her computer, came back and handed us a recipe. This is where I tell you that S. speaks seven languages. Fluently. French is simply an extended part of her vocabulary. I speak menu French, and even then, I sound mentally diminished when I speak. S gave me a cursory run through of the recipe, assured me that she had full faith, and that was that.

The next day, JPH did the shopping - coming home with some beautiful dried morels that really were the crowing glory of the dish. I took a deep breath, poured my self a glass of wine and well, I cooked it. S. laughed at me when I balked at first. My year of living in Belgium paid off finally! The dish with the fancy French name really is just fricassee of chicken in wine with mushrooms. Ultimately, the house smelled amazing, the chicken was tasty, and the Cline Viognier went perfectly with it.

It was a triumph on all fronts. Well done Cline Cellars, and well done me.

The morel of the story? Just stew it! : )

This pic was styled by NS.
Just a reminder that not everyone is pairing wine with their dinners!

Bodegas Ramirez Rioja Reserva Ramirez de la Piscina `04 D.O.C $19.99 **** #riojabuzz

I have a well documented love for Tempranillo, and over the years I have acquired a taste for Spain - especially the Rioja Region - this wine is a great ambassador for the country and region.

From the Ramírez de la Piscina Family Bodgea in heart of La Rioja Alta, this Rioja Reserva is a smooth, full bodied tempranillo that is easy to drink and very refined. To compare it with other more rustic Tempranillos, I'd say the subtle chocolate and leather undertones and great balance make it more like a bull fighter than a bar fighter. Elegant and at 13% ETOH, it is restrained, which accounts for a lot - after we polished this off, no headache the next morning.

We had it with pan roasted chicken with mushrooms, home-grown garlic, mushroom & pancetta pasta and sauteed spinach. 
Here is the garlic, straight from TGH's mini farm in Locust Valley: 

Geografico Vernaccia di San Gimignano IGT `09 $9.99 (Not TJ's) ****

This historic Tuscan Vernaccia is a pale, subtle, crisp drink that perfectly complimented our dinner.  The first pour was delicious and deceptively light.  Not acidic but not sweet either.  It is nuanced when it comes to flavor - which is why it went so well with our subtly flavored food.  Neither overpowered, yet they we complimentary.  This Vernaccia is pretty much a perfect middle of the road, easy to drink, clean white wine with no oak, a hint of citrus (mostly in the scent) and a bottom note of blanched almond.  And, it  was easy on my stomach at 11.5% ETOH.

The more that I am exposed to historic, niche Italian white wines like: Vernaccia & Falanghina, I realize that Chardonnay made me lazy. Finding a good, economic everyday white wine can be difficult (and I will always have to get over the American over-use of oak) BUT tasting these unique, geography specific white wines is simply yummie, and a great reminder to try outside of the box/bottle/endcap at the wine shop.

I finished my first glass while I was cutting  potatoes to braise with artichokes.  I think that Marcella would have preferred that we buy whole artichokes and peel and cut them, but JPH is the best at "hacks" (Techie Translation: a cheat that bypasses any restriction codes) in cooking.  He picked up a can of quartered artichoke hearts - using canned artichoke hearts made her braised potato and artichoke recipe a very easy dish to make on a weekday after work night.  JPH then used some of the Vernaccia while he was coking our main course: Fricasseed Chicken with Rosemary and Lemon from Marcella's Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking. 


Geografico Vernaccia di San Gimignano IGT `09  was a great find at a great price (Well done JPH on a mad dash through Cove Discount!)  I'm giving them both four stars.
I'll close with a link that I stumbled across as I was researching this post.There is a group of friends who are cooking their way through Marcella's Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking over at the blog Pomodori e Vino
I loved flipping through their posts, looking at their pictures and reading Marcella's comments!!!  It was good to see their version of the chicken we had tonight (The picture is a link to their blog):

Almez Tempranillo `09 (Not TJ's) $7.99 **(*)

This is an interesting tempranillo.  It is juicy/fruity and earthy at the same time with a distinct oakiness that gives it depth and dryness. This is a wine that reminds me of Spring.  There is a light wateriness on the first sip, but as it flows through your mouth, it has an earthy, puckering finish that is bursting. Bright and Brooding - to use industry words.

After aeration with the nuance:  It seemed smoother, but it lost some of the complexity that made it interesting.  This is a solid, complex red wine that says it is Tempranillo, but I feel like there is a blend in there, maybe Merlot.

We had this with JPH's riff on Marcella Hazan's rolled Chicken Breast with parsley, garlic and pancetta; gnocchi with a nutmeg cream Parmesan sauce and fresh asparagus baked with butter and Parmesan.

We've had and liked the Almez Garnacha (I can't wait to make Sangria with it) I think that the Tempranillo is a good addition to the wine rack for nights when you want an interesting Spanish wine.

One morning last month, I looked out the window, and there s/he was.

A single swan,
swimming in the lower pond. 

I was smitten,
and then
I went about feeding him 

(I have decided that 
he is a he 
until proven otherwise).  

S. observed that
he not only swims to me
when I go down by the water
 to feed him,
but he also wags his tail.

He is what I first look for
when I wake up in the morning.

I'll even feed him before
I have had coffee.

He doesn't know it yet,
 but he is my pet swan.

 

Chateauneuf du Pape Val de la Pierre Joel Dupont `08 AOC $17.99 (Not TJ's) ***

This is what happens when JPH takes me shopping with him.  I stand in the wine shop and I am overwhelmed.  He grabs a shopping cart and deftly starts putting bottles in the cart.  I stand and stare at labels, and he makes decisions. Will I ever get over that "Kid in a candy shop" indecisiveness?  Probably not.

As we were checking out of Coves Discount, we saw a display that said "Chateauneuf du Pape" $17.99.  JPH put back a montepulciano and I grabbed this bottle. (We were buying a mixed case for the 20% discount). Then it was off to shop for dinner.  (Today was MLK day, no work) Well, tuna was on the menu but it didn't look so good.  Duck was on sale, so the decision was made.

Chateauneuf du Pape is one of those wines that has been a catchphrase for people like me to make fun of.  Put on a funny accent, swirl your Tickle Pink in your McDonald's wine glass and say "Chateauneuf du Pape" with your pinkie finger in the air.

Really, this is not a totally accessible wine and the embossed bottle just adds to that heraldic aloofness. It figures that wines from this AOC are steeped in papal history.  I posed a head to head drink off between Chateauneuf du Pape and Vino Nobile Montipulciano, (two wines with close ties to papal history) and S. laughed. This could happen in the future... I can be persuasive....

Meanwhile, back to the Chateauneuf du Pape.  It is a remarkable wine, in that it tastes like two wines.  It has the bright fruity taste of a Beaujolais on first sip - a strong raspberry taste and the heavy tannic finish of an old Cabernet Sauvignon.  Wow, so this is an AOC Syrah? This wine has known some oak in its lifetime. I also imagine that when I think of a wine tasting of leather, it is the finish of this wine that will come to mind for me. Fruity and leathery, now THAT is a complex wine! There is some pepper too, that adds to the brightness when you first sip.

After the Nuance:  By aerating it, it smoothed out but that just made the finish seem rougher. I wouldn't bother.  It is remarkably complex in that I still stand by that it tastes like you are drinking two different wines.

Good wine.  I won't go running out for more.  It paired well with the poached then roasted at 500 degrees duck (Thank you Barbara Kafka Roasting), roasted potatoes in Rosemary, and tomatoes in olive oil & red wine vinegar infused with garlic. It was really good flavorful meal, that paired well with a flavorful complex red wine that was an impulse buy. 

Speaking of red wine vinegar... 

it has been a year since I started my adventure
in making my own vinegar.  

We used it tonight. 
It is great to be able to run down to the cellar and 

draw out a quarter cup of
homemade vinegar from the barrel.  

Leftover red wine does have its place.
(that is is you have leftover red wine!)

R Collection by Raymond, Lot #7 Field Blend `08 $17.99 (Not TJ's) $$

First sip "Wow, S come try this!".  Second sip, my mouth was watering, "JPH, is dinner ready yet?!?";  it does have an intense fruit taste  - I got the blueberry notes for the first time, there was a taste of pepper. I was excited, this wine may be a find!  Third sip "mmmm, now for the Vinturi."

After the Vinturi: Shudder.  My mouth was like a cotton ball had been shoved in it, and my brain could not register that this was from the same bottle of wine. What had just happened?!? The same happened after it was unaerated the next day.  It became a tannic hodgepodge of rough flavors.

Raymond is a savvy businessman (ok, there is no Raymond, it is the name of the original owners of one of the estates).  The bottle says that they use the age old system of interplanting a variety of grapes on their California property, so the grapes are mixed when they are harvested.  "Really?" I ask, because when they list their acreage on the website, all of the fields are described as varietal specific, I wonder, where is this mysterious field of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Syrah, Petite Sirah and Zinfandel (the five primary grapes in this blend of seven)??? 

I say this because this wine, to me, was like a pretty good fake Chanel bag. Looks classy, is smooth, feels good and you could easily pull it off for one event, but pretty soon, the facade will fade and you'll be left with tatters.

The best way to serve this wine to get full impact of the flavor, price and marketing is: Have a few friends over and pour it quick.  Enjoy that first glass, and then move on to another bottle of wine for dinner. It is wholly enjoyable if it does not have time to "open up", because I'll tell you, aerating this wine is like opening Pandora's Box.

Menu:

Roast Chicken

Roasted Root Vegetables

And, since Fall is my favorite season, I'll leave you with the beauty of the compost bucket.  In what other season can we simply toss such beautiful vibrant colors on a pile and wait for them to break down into nutrients to be used again???  To me, Spring is the season of mud; Summer is the season of brightness and sunshine; Winter is the season of darkness and Fall is when the sunshine and trees are golden and nature shows her true colors. 

(Take THAT Monet!)

Santa Christina `07 Sangiovese IGT (Not TJ's) $9.99 **

I only decided to review this wine because the chicken was beautiful and I may have a bit of OCD (ya think?).

Here's the problem... on paper, this wine is well pedigreed, Tuscan, from a good family, certified IGT etc., etc., etc.  Nice, with a fruity smell, a distinct taste of cloves and spiciness but nothing stood out. It has a rather long finish, with the requisite oakiness and tannins.  I could drink it, or I could drink something else. They tempered it by having it be 90% Sangiovese and 10% Merlot, but that blend just made it easy to drink, I didn't notice a distinct flavor profile that would ever let me call this a complex or interesting wine, it is simply a table wine.

Whatever you do, DON'T DECANT THIS WINE. Shudder.  Aeration highlights every imperfection. It makes it a "Furry" wine.  My tongue just barely forgives me. And aeration made the finish harsh and sharp.

Out of the bottle, perfectly drinkable, but you could do better for the price.

Tonight's dinner came from the cookbook Classic Techniques of Italian Cooking by Giuliano Bugialli.  It is a rather technical and historic cookbook, but boy does it produce some yummie food.

Menu:
Tuscan Chicken
Mashed potatoes
Fresh Torpedo Rolls

UPDATE in my mind, I've added a (*)
The next evening, after a long day at work....

I arrived home to see JPH experimenting at the cooktop.  Hmmm. I was curious... and there I saw the beginnings of Paella!  I squealed with joy on the inside and on the outside said "hmmmm".  Ok, so maybe I squealed in the kitchen, ran upstairs, changed out of my work clothes and joined him at the stove-top.  He had come across a picture he had taken while he and the family were vacationing in France and well, it inspired him. (see the picture within a picture on the right? JPH, S.& le june filles have GREAT food enhanced family vacations)
I jumped in as sous chef and cooking commenced.  There was leftover wine from the night before and as poured from the bottle, it was quite good.  Maybe a day had settled it, maybe I was being rather harsh last night, who knows?  But with Paella, I upped it a star to be a perfectly palatable table wine.

Domaine d'Ardhuy Bourgogne `07 DOC (not TJ's) $21.99 ***

There was a chicken roasting in the oven and I was sent to the wine rack.  I was perplexed. S noted that this would have been a night for a Beaujolais, but alas, there were no bottles to be found.  I was even sent to the cellar, I came back with a beautiful `03 Chardonnay (that retails for more than a monthly metrocard in NYC) and then I frugally grabbed this Bourgogne from the kitchen rack.  (let's face it, Bourgogne is a cousin to Beaujolais anyway... the Chardonnay is waiting in the fridge though)

Domaine d'Ardhuy Bourgogne is a very pretty, light, fresh red wine.  It is 100% Pinot Noir.  Bright in color, light in density, it adds a nice flavor when sipping, with a slight tannin finish, and it is low ETOH (12.5%).

After the Vinturi:  I am on the fence about this.  I think that the Vinturi may be too aggressive for it, but you do need to let this wine breath and open up.  I think that I would use a big glass* and just swirl it, and skip the aerator.

Menu:
Roast Chicken
Tagalatelli in a pancetta mushroom cream sauce
Chicken of the Woods Mushrooms (There is a whole separate post coming about this)

*My wine glasses (usually pictures) are Reidel Vinum - free from Bacchus when you go to/pay for a tasting or class! I now have many, many wine glasses.

Layer Cake Shiraz `09 $17.99 (Not TJ's) ***

South Australian Layer Cake Shiraz. This is a big, powerful (14.9%), saturated wine. Definitely a food wine.  First sip was wow, intense.  I tried to identify the taste.  It was like a thick blackberry taste with a slight oaky undertone and subtle tannins. I am not a fan of oak but it was understated in this wine, and it gave it a nice platform for the intense dried fruit taste.  After a run through the vinturi, it was smoother, but the tannins were more pronounced.  I wouldn't decant this wine.  Drink it as poured.

We had it with smoked duck breast and venison & pork sausage braised in red cabbage.  (The kitchen was wafting in drool inducing smells all afternoon!) It is getting cooler here in NY, and it is time to start cooking heavier comfort food. There was also some mashed potatoes for the non cabbage eater in the house. (well, they started out as a baked potato and then were modified... long story...)

Layer Cake Wines is an interesting distributor - run by a Canadian.  They seem to have relationships all over the world, their wines come from Australia, Napa, Central Coast CA, Italy and Argentina - truly a global label. It is an interesting story behind Layer Cake - to read more, check this out: Jayson Woodbridge's Layer Cake.  All I can say is good plonk at a good price. I think Jayson's Grandfather would approve.

Perazzeta Sara Rosso Toscano `07 IGT (not TJ's) $16.99 **

I am quickly realizing that I am not a fan of Sangiovese wine. I bought this wine at a tasting and at the time, I wrote that it tasted of strawberries. This Toscano is 90% Sangiovese; 10% Ciliegiolo. Today, I taste dried cherry and although it did smell of strawberry, it just wasn't deep or bright enough.  It is just too middle of the road, either be lush or light.  This is meh. With time, it tastes like it got more body, but I am still not a fan. I would love to be able to remember my thought process when I bought it at the tasting - I really believe I marked the wrong wine. 

DO NOT decant it.  After I ran it through the vinturi, I hated it.

I opened this bottle just so I could have some wine this afternoon. It goes with everything, so my grilled chicken Caesar salad it was a safe bet. This wine is a very all around table red.  Not spectacular.  Fruity, acidic.  I prefer Chianti. And for $17.00 yikes, you can find better. No oak, fermented in stainless steel.  I am back to Trader Joes soon, so hopefully I will be buying some cheap bottles.  I just keep thinking that for the price of this bottles, I could buy three Villa Cerrina Montepulciano @ TJ's.

A few hours later, I am drinking this wine alone, and it seems to have more body, and it is perfectly OK.  But for $16.99, I want more.

Menu:
Grilled Chicken Caesar Salad

Hours later:
Parmesan sprinkled popcorn

Ponti Dry Vermouth $4.99 (second review)****

Some days are for drinking wine, others are for cooking with wine.  After roasting a chicken yesterday, I picked the meat today for Chickpea chili with shredded chicken and the rest went into stock, which is bubbling away on the stove as I type this.

I was tempted to open a nice Gamay that I have waiting - but since there has been a fair amount of drinking over the past few days, my consumption today will only be cooking oriented.

I love this vermouth for cooking.  It is fortified, shelf stable, and perfect for any light dish that needs a kick. Thank you Julia Child for turning me on to cooking with good dry vermouth.  And thank you Trader Joe's for stocking Ponti, a great cheap bottle that tastes a lot more expensive. The price has gone up a dollar since my last Ponti review - but it is still a fantastic buy if you want a shelf stable white cooking wine.  (I don't drink martinis so I can't vouch for it as a mixer)

Menu
Chickpea Chili with Chicken

Barbi Orvieto Classico `08 DOC (not TJ's) $11.99 **(*)

There is some sporting event this weekend that involves helmets....Ok, now that we have established my total girliness when it comes to sports, let's talk about wine.

This is a very crisp wine. I tasted citrus and grapefruit with a cutting minerality. A classic off dry .  Hmm, now I recently learned about "off dry", so I'll share... an off dry wine is one where in the fermentation, the most of the sugar is used up.  There is no sweetness (or very little sweetness). And that is what this wine is, a crisp, fruity, clean wine.  I just made a mistake in what I drank it with (and the temperature I poured it at - I over chilled it).  This wine is screaming for a seafood to match with it, I cooked chicken wings -OOPS (hence the two or three stars - it by rights should be three stars, but I docked it one because it just didn't work with my menu....)

Speaking of mistakes... This wine should be had slightly chilled.  I over chilled it, and made it more cutting.  After it warmed up for 30 mins or so, it was a fruitier, fuller wine - less like tart grapefruit and more like just under ripe pear.

I decided that I should honor that sexy male past-time of Sunday Football, so, my cooking event is Chicken Wings...  many many chicken wings (hey, I can bring something to the party other than my lack of knowledge or interest in football). Since I have no beer in the house, I decided to make a lunch of my cooking and open a bottle of wine. I bought this wine thinking that I'd like to have it on hand for take out Thai. I chose it for lunch because I thought it would go well with the spicy sweetness of the chicken wings and the freshness of the spinach salad. OOPS. Spinach Salad dressed with a red wine vinegar (that I made myself!)- not good with this wine... too many conflicting acids.  Lesson learned.

Menu:
Spinach & Mushroom Salad with a warm bacon dressing
Roasted Chicken Wings with Frank's Hot Sauce and Honey

And in a case of you gotta love the world wide web, here is more than anyone needs to know about this wine.

DOC Orvietto Classico: Umbria, Italy

Abboccato: [ah-boh-KAH-toh] Italian for "lightly sweet," indicating that a wine contains a small amount of residual sugar. Abboccato is used to describe a wide range of wines from semisweet to medium-dry.

Casa Vinicola Barbi: Claudio and Marina Barbi run the Barbi(founded in 1932) and Decugnano wineries with different but complementary roles, forming a lively, dynamic team. For them wine is ongoing research, experimentation, cooperation with nature and with technique, achieving truly surprising results. Qualified experts constantly assess the phases of vinification and refinement in French oak barrels, known as barriques, or in steel containers, depending on the type of wine being produced. The end result is a wide range of top quality Umbrian wines - Orvieto Classico DOC, Sangiovese Umbria IGT, and Lago di Corbara DOC. Accredited specialist press has awarded important recognition, including, among others, the Gambero Rosso Quality/Price Oscar, the Gambero Rosso Three Glasses, and the Seal of Approval from the London Int. Wine Challenge.

Rosenblum Vintners Cuvee XXXI Zinfandel $7.99 ***

I have a cold.  Which means that my taste buds are suboptimal. What to do when your head wants to cede from your body?  Make chicken soup and drink wine (in-between book edits for a friend).

First sip of the Rosenblum, I like it.  Lush, berry-like, with a nice, slightly dry finish.  Like I said, my taste buds are off, I am sure that I am missing some nuance, but all in all, I like this wine.  It is a big taste for $7.99.

Wow, this wine has a tech sheet.... That is impressive marketing for a $7.99 bottle of wine.  (I'd pay $15 for it - but don't tell Trader Joe's that)

Now for a run through the vinturi....  even better.  My suggestion, invite some friends over for a nice rich, meaty dinner.  (Or really good crackers and cheese) pop the cork on the Rosenblum and decant it, then have a great meal.

Or, if you are like me, warm up some home made chicken noodle soup, drink a glass or two, keep a box of Puffs next to you, curl up on the sofa of sloth and watch The Colony (a great Discovery Channel staged reality show about post pandemic survival in a decimated Los Angeles...)