Drink Eat Love

It is Turkey Day: What should you drink?

Every year most newspapers, wine magazine, and blogs offer wine suggestions for Thanksgiving and I will be doing the same, albeit in hopefully a bit of a different way.

One of the blogs I read, Vinography, wants everyone to "stop the madness" but after talking to my brother this weekend, he asked me what I would be bringing to my in-laws for Thanksgiving. Therefore, I will continue the "madness" and recommend, not specific wines, but a few types and styles of wines that I enjoy with the smorgusborg that is Thanksgiving.

The idea of food and wine pairing is a very contentious one fraught with furious debate. First, there are no rules to pairing, maybe a better word is conventions. Wine and food are a very personal matter. If you only like full-bodied red wines, then you most likely will not like a Mosel Riesling with anything. It is not that it is wrong or right, it is just a matter of taste.

Since this post is about my tastes, I will give you my conventions when it comes to pairing wine with your Thanksgiving meal. The majority of tables this coming Thursday will have so many dishes and flavors it is hard to pick one wine that will go with all the flavors on the table. This is why I bring many different wines. In general, I enjoy light and medium bodied red wines that have little to no oak influence, medium to low alcohol, fresh and fruity. For whites, I enjoy medium bodied whites that have little to no new oak, low alcohol and some good acidity to wash down all the fat. So here is a list of wines that I will be enjoying this Thanksgiving and I think you might want to try out.

Prosecco: A fun, fresh,and great value sparkling wine from Italy

Vouvray: Made from 100% Chenin Blanc made in dry (sec), semi-dry (demi-sec) and sweet (doux) styles, this wine from the Loire Valley of France is one of my favorite T-day wines. It has fruit aromas and flavors of Asian pears, honey, and apples. Chenin Blanc from the Loire also has great minerality and acidity that add a bit of nuance and complexity to the on-slaught of flavors you will enjoy on Thursday.

Pinot Gris: You can pick a Piont Gris up from Mendocino, California, Oregon, or Alsace France. Each will have a medium body profile with ample amounts of tree fruit flavors and aromas and a kiss of acidity. These tend to be crowd pleasers.

Gamay: Gamay is my favorite red for Thanksgiving. I primarily enjoy Cru Beaujolais (select sites with in the Beaujolais region) or Gamay from Oregon. There are a few producers of Gamay in California that make really tasty Gamay too (Andrew Lane and Edmunds St. John). Gamay is medium in body, generally does not have too much oak and has enough acidity to keep my palate fresh so I can have seconds.

Other ideas: Pinot Noir (look for lower oak-ed ones), Cabernet Franc from the Loire Valley, Bierzo DO (from Spain), Barbera, Dolcetto, and well-aged wines (the tannins will have chilled out and the oak mellowed).

At the end of the day, you need to pick out what you like, but the above wines are tasty and have always pleased the crowd at our Thanksgiving meals.

Happy Thanksgiving!

   

Happy Hour: The Pisco Sour

In keeping with last weeks Happy Hour, we are staying with the "sours". A Pisco sour is a unique drink with roots in South America. Pisco is a grape brand produced in Chile and Peru. The majority of the piscos I have tasted are distilled from Muscat grapes, giving the spirit a very pretty aromatic quality.

I enjoy the refreshing quality of this drink.
Pisco sours are very easy to make and make great a start to a dinner party. Here is the recipe I used last week to make a batch of Pisco sours.

Ingredients
3 parts Pisco
1.5 parts lemon juice
1 teaspoon fine sugar
1 egg white
2 to 3 dashes bitters

Recipe
1. Mix every thing into a shaker
2. Shake for at least 30 seconds
3. Fill shaker with ice
4. Shake for at least 30 more seconds
5. Strain into an old-fashioned glass (no ice)
6. Add a few dashes of bitters
7. Enjoy

Keeping up with the Times

Every Wednesday morning I check the New York Times Food & Wine section to see what Eric Asimov, the Times' wine writer, has to say. Today there is an amazing piece of David Chan. Mr. Chan is the concertmaster of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. As a musician and lover of wine I instantly felt a connection and understanding of Mr. Chan's love of wine and its relationship to music.  Enjoy the article and open a nice bottle of wine, listen to some music and relax

The Pour: New York Times wine section

Cheers!

Monday Night Wine: Fallmmer

Fallmmer: When it should be Fall but feels like Summer. This was a new word I came up with this weekend to describe what the weather is like in San Francisco right now. Usually this time of year is cool, foggy, and fall like...but NOT this year, it is sunny with no clouds and in the 80's! Because it is so warm, this weekends drinking was all white wines, beer, or cocktails. The wine that put the biggest smile on my face this past week was Nathalie & Gilles Fevre Chablis 2006.

Wine: Domaine Fevre
Region: Chablis, France
Vintage: 2006
Grape: 100% Chardonnay
Website: www.nathalieetgillesfevre.com
Fun Fact: Nathalie and Gilles met at university while studying oenology and have two young children. Their domaine was started by Gilles' great-grandfather Marcel in the late 1800's. They own 40 hectares of vineyards including rows in the Grand Cru of Les Preuses and the Premier Crus of Fourchaume and Mont-de-Milieu.
Tasting Notes: What makes this wine so lovely is its purity. Most Chablis see no new oak, so you taste the purity of the grape and the land that it was grown on. Chablis sits on a giant deposit of chalk and the wines have a distinct chalky taste. The wine is a pale straw in color and sparkles when light hits it, almost looking like a diamond. The nose has aromas of green apples, peach blossom, lemons, chalk and a hint of creme fresh. The palate is bright, crisp and refreshing. On the palate the wine has intense lemon and green apple flavors with a light to just shy of being medium in body and perky acidity. We enjoyed this wine with a composed salad, but it would be great with crab, shrimp, light fish, or just trying to relax.

Monday Night Wines: Now for Something different...

Sweet wines never get enough love. Most people know of Port, Sauternes, sweet Sherry and now to some respect ice wine, but even these wines get the shaft. Sweet/Dessert wines are very unique and generally are made in ways that make people ask, "Who thought of that?" Sauternes is made from grapes that have been infected by a fungus, ice wine is made from frozen grapes, some wines are made by drying grapes on straw mats then pressing them. All of these styles make unique, interesting, and exquisite wines, but until last week I had still been in the dark. Last week was my monthly tasting group and this month's program called for everyone to bring whatever we wanted and I wanted to try something I have never had: a "real" Marsala. Why do I write "real"? First, I have only had Marsala in food and that Marsala is nasty and cheap. My choice for our wine group was Marco de Bartoli Marsala Superiore Riserva 10 year. It was stupendous, but before I get into the tasting notes, it is important to give a short history on Marsala.

Marsala is located on the west coast of Sicily and has been the center of grape growing for centuries. In 1770, Marsala evolved into what it is today. An Englishman, John Woodhouse (powerful shipper of of Port, Sherry, and Maderia houses) found that region of Marsala was similar to the other homes of fortified wines and decided to make a wine in the same style. The English were the masters of fortified wine, as they had a thirst for wine but the long sea voyage would turn normal wine into vinegar, so by the adding of grape spirits, the wine becomes preserved (albeit a tad stronger and with a different flavor profile, but you get the same physical effect). Woodhouse blended neutral grape spirit with a barrel of wine from vineyards around Marsala, shipped it back to England and viola, Marsala was born.

Over time, new ideas and producers experimented with grapes and methods of production to create the product we know today. Most Marsala is produced from inferior grapes with high yields and are made by shoddy methods but there are few producers who produce it in a way to make fine wine and Marco de Bartoli is the best.

Wine: Marco de Bartoli, Marsala Superiore Riserva 10 anni
Grapes: 50% Grillo + 50% Inzollia
Origin: Marsala, Siciliy Italy
Website: http://www.marcodebartoli.com/home.html
Retail: $50.00 per 500 ml bottle
Fun Fact: The 10 year Riserva is made in the Solera method. A way of blending wines from previous vintages over many years.
Tasting Notes: The color of this wine is a beautiful bronze-amber in color and when light hits the wine produces a gorgeous light show on the table (if you have a white table cloth). The nose is sublime. Roasted nuts predominate with hints of dried oranges, cranberries, cloves, cinnamon sticks, star anise, rosewood, and dried dandelions. The palate is palate filling with rich flavors of dried citrus, roasted nuts, honey and marmalade. We enjoyed this wine with a walnut tort and a semolina cake with a blood orange sauce. Both were great pairings. Though this is an expensive wine it does hold well and will last about a month after you open it. Serve the wine a little between 55 and 60 degrees.

Eating well with Eatwell Farms

Over the past year Shauna and I have gone back and forth over whether or not we should join a Community Supported Agricultural  (CSA) farm box. Many of our friends have been members with various CSA's throughout the Bay Area and have really enjoyed their weekly box of produce. Since I work for a grocery store I really thought it best that I continue to buy all of our produce at my work, but a few weeks ago we had dinner at one of our friends who belong to Terra Firma Farms changing my mind. The produce was so good, the philosophy in line with ours and the price is right. The next day I got on line and searched for a CSA to join. In the Bay Area CSA's are very popular and many have wait-lists, making the search a challenge. We eventually picked EatWell Farm of Dixon, California which is only 68 miles from our front door.

Each week we receive a mixed box of produce that is 100% organic, from the farm in Dixon, and comes with a newsletter about what is going on at the farm. This was our first week receiving our box and here is what we got: 4 Fuji apples, 2 pomegranates, 1 pound of green beans, 1 bunch of leeks, a bag of stir-fry mix, 1 butternut squash, 1 bunch of radishes, 1 head of Boston lettuce, 1 bunch of rainbow chard, and 2 bunches of baby bock choy. All of this is only $24.00 per box.

We just finished our first meal using the leeks and butternut squash and I am really happy that we joined EatWell Farm. The purity and flavor of the leeks and squash was unparalleled, I have never had such tender leeks. Our first meal was a simple pasta dish that was inspired by one of the recommended recipes in the newsletter.

Fresh Fettuccine with Sauteed Leeks and Butternut Squash  

Homemade Pasta

1 Large butternut squash

3 leeks, cleaned and coarsely chopped

2 garlic cloves, carsely chopped

1 tablespoon of butter

Olive oil

Salt & Pepper to taste                                   

Directions:

Pre-heat over to 400 degrees Split the butternut squash in half and scoop out the seeds and stringy meat from the squash. Salt and pepper the squash and rub with olive oil. Place squash in baking dish and roast until just tender (about 45 to 60 minutes). Once tender pull out of oven and allow to cool. Once the squash is cool enough to handle skin it and then cut into 1/2 inch cubes.

In a large saute pan melt butter. Once melted add leeks and cook until tender. Once tender add garlic and squash and cook for about 3 to 5 minutes.

Add cooked pasta to saute pan and toss vegetables together until mixed well. Toss with high grade olive oil, salt and pepper. Serve with freshly graded Parmesan cheese. Serve with a dry, crisp white wine. Possible pairings:

Gavi, Vermentino, Verdicchio, Sauvignon Blanc or White Rioja

Monday Night Wine: 45 minutes to go 3 miles

Starting on Saturday the rain began to fall in San Francisco and though most people do not like it, I kinda do...except when I'm driving. Since I have moved to northern California it has amazed me that people become totally stupid when it rains. It rains every year and for some reason when the first rain appears it is as if it was the first time thousands of drivers have ever seen rain. The sad thing is, that where I am originally from, Texas, the rain here would be considered a sprinkle.

What does rain have to do with wine? Nothing, but tonight it did.  My gym is about three miles from my house, and today it took my 45 minutes to get home and on my slow drive I thought about the wine I was going to drink tonight. I had never tried this wine but had high hopes. Last night I pre-made Lamb meatballs and thought this young Crozes-Hermitage would be a good match. I was not disappointed. If my reward for sitting in traffic is a wine this good, I'll take a deep breath and creep slowly home to pop the cork on this wine.

Wine: Domaine des Entrefaux
         Charles & Francois Tardy
Origin: Crozes - Hermitage, Northern Rhone
           France
Grape: 100% Syrah
Vintage: 2006
Website: N/A
Retail: $25.00
Importer: Kysela Pere et Fils, LTD
Fun Fact: The average age of the vines is 30 years!
Tasting Notes: The moment I popped the cork I knew it was going to be a good wine night. The color of the wine is an inky purple and totally opaque. The nose is packed full of aromas: blackberries, black plums, fig, dates, olives, white pepper, lavender, dried herbs and leather. The palate continued the story with a balance between the fruit and the earth that so many wines lack. The acidity pairs perfectly with the richness of the fruit by cleansing the palate with each sip. The tannins sit gently on the palate rather than grip it providing a velvety texture. I have not had a sip of wine in nearly fifteen minuets and I can still taste it. This is an amazing wine that everyone needs to rush out and find. I only had one bottle and I know I could use another. We enjoyed this wine with roasted Lamb meatballs with white beans and sage. It was a perfect end to a horrible three mile drive.

Happy Hour: The Whiskey Sour

 
Since trying the Ramos Gin fizz I have been on a kick for drinks that use egg whites. The first thing that pops into anyone's head when they hear that raw egg whites are going to be used in their drink is, "Will it make me sick?" That is a good question, and the answer is no, the egg whites won't make you sick but if you drink a lot of Whiskey Sours, you might get sick from all the booze in your system.

The Whiskey sour is a staple in any good bartenders canon of drinks. To my knowledge the first reference of a Whiskey Sour is in Jerry Thomas's, Bartender's Guide or How to Mix Drinks published in 1862. The Whiskey Sour is a very easy drink to make and, if you enjoy whiskey, is a tasty drink. The below recipe is adapted from a bartender named Buffalo who tends bar at The Alembic Bar on Haight Street in San Francisco.

2 ounces Bourbon or Rye Whiskey
1 ounce fresh squeezed lemon juice
1 ounce fresh squeezed lime juice
1 spoon full of fine sugar (the more sugar, the less sour)
1 egg white
Dash of bitters
1 Marschino cherry for garnish (optional)

In a shaker pour the first 5 ingredients in and shake it for 30 seconds. Fill the shaker with ice and shake for another 15 to 20 seconds. Pour into a glass of your choice (My favorite glass for the Whiskey Sour is this vintage glass). Splash a few drops of bitters and drop a Maraschino cherry in and you are ready to drink.