Wine for the holidays

Even though it's late October, thoughts around casa Corkdork are turning to the holidays; partly because November also happens to be my father's birthday, partly because it's the time when we start considering "hey, what should we have with Thanksgiving dinner?"  There'll have to be at least 7 bottles purchased for gifting/celebrating this year -- two for Thanksgiving dinner, two for Christmas Eve, one for Dad's birthday, and two more for Christmas presents.  Oh, and something to ring in the new year with.

There's food to pair with, people's flavor preferences (and dislikes!) to work around, and gift-presentation thoughts to consider!  What is a wine afficianado to do?!

The current thinking is running something like this:

• For Thanksgiving, we traditionally have two bottles; a sparkling wine and a red with dinner.  For the bubbly, I have to say I love Cava, both for it's affordability (hey, they're all under $25 at my local wine store, and most are under $10, including my two favorites, Conde de Caralt and Rondel), and it's zesty flavor -- the perfect thing to start a meal with.
• For dinner, we traditionally have a Pinot Noir, and this year will probably be no different -- Pinot is versatile enough to work with the variety of foods on the table, and it's cranberry notes are a natural choice.  In the past, we've had Oregon and Russian River Pinot, but this year I think we may go for Burgundy, with the Chateau Chamirey Mercury Rouge 2005 (under $40) -- I got to try it twice this past weekend, once newly-opened and once with some air, and it's evolution was wonderful.  Newly-opened, it's fresh and fruity, but with some air, complexity is added, with earthiness and minerality underpinning the ripe fruit.
• My father loves reds and steak, so the natural thought there is a wine to go with steak.  He especially loves California Cabernet and Chateau Neuf du Pape, and those fit quite well in that milleu.  Since his birthday is in November, he'll get two bottles this season; probably one of each.  The current thinking is something from Martin Ray for the California Cab -- Dad's a big fan of their Stag's Leap and Diamond Mountain District cabs -- and a 2006 Chateau Neuf du Pape ('05 was a better year in the Southern Rhone, perfect for laying down for a couple years, but '06 is ready to drink young, and Dad doesn't hold onto wine long).  Another possibility would be a bottle from Von Strasser -- I know Dad's not had anything from them before, but they're excellent.  In all three cases, the presentation is part of the key -- the bottle looks good, as well as having good juice inside it.
• Not unlike with Thanksgiving, we start Christmas eve with bubbles, but generally Champagne.  Here, I'll look for a grower-maker wine -- it'll be a treat, pretty much regardless of what I pick.  Currently, I'm leaning towards a vintage 2000  Pertois-Moriset -- not as great of a year as 1996, but still quite good, and very tasty.
• Christmas Eve dinner traditionally consists of a roast of beef with lots of garlic and herbs.  I've got my eye on a very small-production Barolo (200 cases made, from a single vineyard), which will get a full decanting treatment, as we'll be drinking it young -- Barolo is notoriously long-lived.
  
• My fiancee loves Italian wines, and while a Barolo would make a great gift, she doesn't hold onto wine for more than a year, so a mature Brunello makes sense; there's lots of 2000's still out there, and even some '99's.  In fairness, since I'll likely be consuming the wine with her, it makes sense to pick out something I like too, and I love Brunello.
• Finally, to ring in the new year, something sweet (hopefully a harbinger of the year to come).  Demi-sec Champagne comes to mind -- it's much better for drinking on it's own than a brut -- and one of my favorite grower-makers has just the answer...  Franck Bonville's nonvintage Demi-sec (which they don't mention on their website -- hopefully it's not out of production!).

So, what can we learn from this list?  Well, for one, that I tend to spend about $40 on a bottle of wine for a gift (more or less, but everything averages out around $40 here).  Additionally, the perfect gift for one person may not be perfect for another -- while my fiancee might enjoy the Von Strasser or Martin Ray, she'll love a Brunello, and my father might like a Brunello, but he loves California Cab.  Additionally, it's not necessary to go to one of the major, spendy bottles for a gift (that's, of course, if you can find them -- there's not a lot of cult Brunello for sale in my area); a good gift of good wine, even if it's not from a "name brand" winery, will be appreciated -- and, may, in fact, be better (as the "name brand" wine charges a surcharge for the name!  To wit, I think the Von Strasser Sori Bricco cabernet is the equal of Diamond Creek's Red Rock Terrace, and it's half the price).  Finally, traditions are hard to break; we've had Champagne for probably 20 years for Christmas, and that's probably not going to change any time soon.  So go with it!

Image from slideshows.health.com.

A great pairing

The other night, having found a great special on ribs at the local supermarket, my fiancee and I decided it was time to cook some barbecue with a slightly spicy sauce, with corn and baked potato on the side.  Of course, that meant we had to crack open something nice from the cellar; in this case, we popped open the bottle of Two Hands Angel's Share '07 that I got her for Christmas (hey, she's an Aussie Shiraz fan, what can I say!).

The ribs were easy -- slather on sauce with a brush, cook at about 350 for an hour, then re-sauce and crank up the heat to 450 for 15 minutes to get a nice caramalization.  Add corn and potatoes, and serve.

The wine?  Glad you asked:

Inky purple with a neon-violet rim. The nose shows plenty of spicy berry notes -- think raspberries in baking spice. In the mouth, full, mouth-filling flavors of raspberry, cedar, and more of the spice. Some cherry on the finish, slightly bitter. Surprisingly velvety tannins round out the finish; quite tasty. A bit over-the-top; the wine feels almost too heavy in the mouth, but the finish is long and lingering.  91 points.

Incidentally, I can see why this was one of Wine Spectator's Top 100 wines of 2008 (#83, if you're keeping track).  It was a truly uplifting wine -- a surprisingly decently-balanced wine given it's 15.5% alcohol level.  True, it's going to be topheavy at that point, but that's to be expected.  It's a darn fine wine, and for the cost that the Two Hands non-Garden wines command ($30 or so), it's pretty reasonable.

Alas, these are not the ribs we ate -- Photo from bbq-ribs.com.

Barbecue!

In line with my earlier post about what to have for wine in the summer... I got to thinking this morning, "how do I like to eat in the summer?"

The answer, of course, is barbecue.  What could be more summery -- no matter where you live -- than meat cooked low-n-slow over a fire, with sauce?

So, what kind of wine should go with barbecue?  Of course, it depends on the style.

North Carolina style barbecue, with it's vinegar-based sauce and hefty use of pork, screams out for a heavier white.  Interestingly, I'd be curious to try Chateau Carbonnieux -- a fairly hefty and rich Bordeaux blanc -- with it.  White Rhone would go well, as would an uber-buttery Chardonnay.

A pulled pork sandwich, with it's heavier tomato-based sauce and distinct smoky/spicy notes would go well with Tempranillo, or an Australian Shiraz.  The sweet and spicy notes in the wine would pair off with the food.

Kansas City, with it's dry rub and side serving of molasses-based sauce screams out for a high-test Aussie Shiraz.  Depending on how spicy the rub is, Zinfandel might go well here -- I'm particularly thinking of Macchia, which makes a very high-test (15.5%-16.5% ABV!) zin.

So, there you have it -- for barbecue, it's pretty hard to go wrong with Shiraz, Tempranillo, or Zin.  Big fruit, spice, lots of weight, often a touch sweet.

Barbecue -- it's not just for beer anymore.

Image from gbleem at en.wikipedia.org.  Used under GNU Free Documentation License.

Last meal

An interesting question was posed to me the other day at work.  Suppose that you know that, at a given date, you're going to go to sleep and simply not wake up; you'll be asleep and slowly slip off this mortal coil.  You know the date of your own death... so what would you have for your last meal?  Include foods and wines to pair with them.  And, presume that price is not an object, nor is availability of any specific wines, so if you want a 1961 Petrus, fine.

For me, the choice centers around the main course (yes, it would be a multi-course affair).  There would be beef of some flavor, with a baked potato and good bleu cheese dressing (oddly, I love dressing on potatoes), probably a side of fresh sweet corn and some green beans.  But what about the appetizer...  the dessert...

So I've agonized a bit.  And come up with the following.

1. Appetizer: four or five escargot, served de-shelled in butter on a bed of garlic toast.  A glass of Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Montrachet, from a recent good vintage (2004 or 2005).  I've never had DRC, and I'd like to try it, and I love escargot.
2. Cold cut plate: Jamón Iberico de Bellota, some nice Prosciutto, perhaps some thin-sliced roast beef.  This would also be paired with a Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, probably Echézeaux (I've always liked wines from that appellation), although really, any DRC red would show well with this I think.
3. Fish plate: Some light salt cod, some scallops, perhaps even some shrimp and/or lobster (claws only, please).  Some Champagne Salon 1995 to accompany it would go nicely.
4. Main course: A friend once told me about a roast of beef that he had that involved taking the roast, stuffing it with butter (whole sticks!) and roasted garlic cloves, wrapping it in bacon, and cooking it low and slow for hours.  I'll have a slice of that, made from Black Angus or Wagyu beef.  With a side dish to hold some baked potato, green beans, and corn.  And bleu cheese dressing for the potato, please.  The pairing here would be with a nice, rich, acidic Cabernet-based Bordeaux, ideally something from St. Julien, either Léoville-Barton or Clos du Marquis (yes, I'll happily take a second wine -- Clos du Marquis is the second label of Léoville Les Cases, and it's damn fine in it's own right).  Ideally, it would be a matured 2005, but failing that, a 1982 would do nicely.
5. Cheese plate: Assorted soft cheeses and table water crackers.  Perhaps a nice, buttery California chard to go with this -- probably something Phil Titus has his hand in, be it Sonoma-Loeb, Chappelet, or his Titus label, whatever the current release is.
6. Chocolate plate: Assorted dark chocolates, with raspberries and cherries.  I'll have a bit of Brachetto d'Acqui with this.
7. Dessert: A single slice of raspberry cheesecake, served with  a glass of Dow's 1977 port.
8. Spirits: After dinner, a snifter of Rémy Martin XO (because, really, after all the other wine, Louis XIII would be wasted!), and a good cigar. 

I could die after that meal, and be happy.

Then, the secondary question -- if you had to have just one wine from all the ones you've tried as your last bottle on Earth, what would it be?

For me, right now, that honor would go to Glaetzer Amon-Ra 2006.  It's rich, deep, luxuriant wine, and I could happily die after polishing off some more.  But I'm curious to see how my 2005 Bordeaux's age out -- they may take that place.

So, I leave it to you...  What would you have for your last meal?  How about for the last bottle of wine you ever try?

A food pairing!

A friend of mine, living in Italy, had this for lunch the other day -- due to the magic of Facebook, of course, I got to see the meal.

It's salmon, wrapped around Mozzarella, with honey and sliced almonds on a bed of fresh greens.  Immediately, being a wine geek, I wondered "what would I drink with this?"

It's a well-balanced meal -- creamy, heavier Mozzarella, with slightly more delicate salmon bringing an oily and salty note, the sweet honey, and the slightly bitter almonds and greens.

So what would you pair this with?

The easy way out would be to say "a brut or extra-dry sparkling wine."  And that would work; the acidity of a sparkler would clear out the salmon and Mozzarella, the sweetness of the honey counterbalanced by the dryness of the wine (or, in the case of an extra-dry, echoed by the sweetness of the wine).  But that's a cop-out; sparkling wines are incredibly food-friendly.

So what would you drink, if it were still wines only?

My first thought is a fruit-forward Pinot Noir; it's light enough to not overpower the salmon, but if it's got a good fruit note (and, indeed, perhaps a bit of residual sugar!), it'd pair nicely here.  A Monterrey Pinot, perhaps, then?

Another good pairing would be a Soave -- an Italian white made from Garganaga, which can show off some nice peachy and mineral notes, but still have enough acidity to clear the palate with this meal.

Ditto a Riesling.  I'd look for a good Spätlase or Kabinett Riesling; the sugar would go well with the honey, the acidity would clean off the fattiness of the food.

And my friend?  Alas, he didn't know what they served.

So what would you have with this?

Pairing wine.

"What's the right wine to go with [whatever]?"  If you're a wine geek, and out to your friends about it, it's probably a question you're confronted with every time you go out to a restaurant.  Of course, there's no specific training for pairing food and wine, at least for most people (culinary school/hotel and restaurant management graduates and sommeliers exempted).

However, there are some rules that can be applied to help find good pairings for foods.  No, not "red with meat, white with fish," that won't work at all (imagine drinking an over-the-top Australian Shiraz with a delicate fillet mignon!  Ugh.).  But...

• Think of the weight of the food in the mouth -- heavier food will pair with heavier wines, lighter food with lighter wines.
• How intense the wine is -- an over-the-top wine will overpower a light, delicate food.  Conversely, a rich, heavy food would overpower a delicate wine.
• High-acidity wines will pair well with foods that are mouth-coating and fatty.  So chicken in a cream sauce will pair well with a crisp medium-weight wine (chicken is what I would call "medium weight" food), while sea bass in butter would go with a crisp light wine.
• Think of the flavors in the wine; would they compliment the flavors of the food, or might they contrast well?  The citrus in a New Zealand sauvignon blanc, for example, would go great with fish tacos!  Ditto the earthy flavors of a good Rhône red and a beef stew with mushrooms and potatoes.
• How sweet is the wine?  Sweet wines go well with hot and spicy foods.  Additionally, if you're pairing with dessert, choose a wine that's sweeter than the dessert, or it'll come off slightly bitter.
• Finally, relax.  There's still wine in the glass, there's nothing wrong with that.  If you pair "wrong," there's nothing to worry about -- I know of at least one person who loves White Zinfandel with steaks!

Some good general pairings:  Australian Shiraz and wet barbecue -- spicy, smoky, slightly sweet wine with spicy, smoky, slightly sweet sauce!  Russian River Pinot Noir and tuna steaks -- good, high acidity, medium weight red with fatty, weighty fish (yep, a red with fish!).  Seafood in butter and Loire whites -- Loire whites go phenomenally with seafood, from clams to scallops to lobster.  Spicy Chinese food and slightly sweet Gewürtztraminer or Riesling.

So why fear having to pair wine and food?  As an outspoken friend of mine once said, "why worry?  It's just f*cking wine!"  Given that the speaker is a man with 40+ years as a wine importer, and a gourmet chef... if he doesn't worry, neither should you.

Photo credit: FreePhoto.com.