Pigs and Pinot

     The weather has definitely taken on a chill. The season for backyard BBQ’s has passed. So the Winos and their husbands needed to move dinner inside and we were looking for a twist on a traditional dinner party. My husband and I had read about an annual event in Healdsburg, CA, called “Pigs and Pinot” which is held at Hotel Healdsburg and Charlie Palmer’s Dry Creek Kitchen. It looks and sounds like an awesome event that also raises money for charity events, but we all live 2,000 miles away. Lucky for us, Wino Lisa’s husband is a fantastic cook and is a wiz with his backyard pit. So it seemed only logical that we invite some wine loving friends over and try our “Pigs and Pinot”.

     We invited our friends to all bring a bottle of their favorite Pinot for a blind tasting to begin the evening, and what a treat that was. We had wine from California, Oregon, and New Zealand.

The lineup was:

·         Craggy Range Single Vineyard, Martinborough, New Zealand 2009

·         Talley Vineyards, Arroyo Grande Valley, California 2009

·         MacPhail Frattey Shams Vineyard, Healdsburg, California 2009

·         Winderlea Estate, Dundee Hills, Oregon 2007

·         Sequana Santa Lucia Highlander, California 2009

·         Domaine Drouhin, Willamette Valley Oregon 2008

·         Papapietro-Perry Nunes Vineyard, Russian River Valley, California 2009

    

     My husband, Mike, was the Master of Ceremonies for the blind tasting. We all received a scorecard, a blue chip for our first place vote, a red chip for a second place vote, and a white chip for our third place choice. Appetizers were passed during the tasting, pig inspired of course, including water chestnuts wrapped in bacon and drizzled with Maple syrup and Asian pork skewers with Portabella mushrooms. Both were a great match for the Pinots! As we tasted we wrote our impressions on a tasting card spending about five to ten minutes on each wine. After tasting all seven wines, we picked a first, second, and third place winner and awarded the wines accordingly. A first place vote was worth 3 points, a second place vote was 2 points, and a third place vote received one point. All agreed it was tough picking winners because we enjoyed all of the wines, but the Grand Champion was the Sequana Santa Lucia Highlander.

    

     Next it was on to dinner! Bart prepared the majority of the meal in his pit outside and it was all delicious. We enjoyed Pork Brozol in tomato sauce (a chef Bart creation), homemade smoked sausage, baby back ribs, and chopped pork shoulder with a choice of Carolina sauce or a Texas Red Sauce. On the side there was a cold green bean salad, Dutch oven potatoes, baked squash with cheese and breadcrumbs, and a tomato, cucumber, mozzarella salad with Balsamic dressing, and a homemade flatbread with Parmesan cheese. We enjoyed a lovely Meiomi Pinot Noir with dinner. If you had room for dessert there was Blue Bell ice cream with Papaya and a chocolate covered bacon stake.

     Great wine, delicious food and wonderful friends-it doesn’t get any better than that! So grab a few friends, a nice bottle of wine and enjoy.

Cheers,

Beth

 Wine Word(s) of the Day

"Dry"vs "Sweet" -in wine terms "dry" refers to wine without residual sugar. In the wine making process,  fermentation usually turns all the sugar in ripe grapes into alcohol.  Therefore, "sweet" wines may be only 5-6% alcohol and "dry' wines may be 13-15% alcohol.

           

A Wine Trip to Remember

With the autumn chill in the air, the other night my husband and I decided to grill some steaks for dinner before it becomes too chilly outside. With that in mind, we obviously needed a good Cabernet Sauvignon to enjoy with them. So heading down to our "wine cellar", i.e. the basement, I searched through our inventory and found the perfect wine-a 2007 Lancaster Estate Cabernet Sauvignon.  What an excellent choice! This wine is intense with dark fruit, blackberry, and white pepper with hints of chocolate. The red plum and rose aromas compliment finely textured tannins while the earthy finish round out the toast and complexity.

Founded in 1995, Lancaster Estate is a family owned winery, dedicated to crafting wines that are estate grown, bottled and produced.  Situated on 53 hillside acres at the southern tip of the Alexander Valley (CA), near the confluence of the Knights Valley and Chalk Hill appellations, this location enjoys the warm climate, depleted soils, and rugged hillsides uniquely suited to Bordeaux varieties. This particular vintage consists of: 80% Cabernet Sauvignon, 9% Malbec, 9% Merlot, 1% Cabernet Franc, and  1% Petit Verdot.

Enjoying this wine brought back memories of the time we spent at the winery in June 2011.  Beth and her husband, along with me and my husband stayed in the Creekside Home just across the street from the Lancaster Estate Vineyard. This two bedroom-two bath home with a full kitchen was the perfect place for us to stay.  Since my husband enjoys cooking, we found a nearby grocery store to shop and stock up on supplies so that we could enjoy the local wineries during the day and  bring "home" a nice bottle of wine to enjoy with the home cooked evening meal. The guys even enjoyed the putting green in the back yard!

Along with the wonderful location, Lancaster Estates had a wonderful wine tour and tasting.  We experienced a thoughtfully paired wine and cheese tasting in the wine cave that sits deep inside No Name Hill.  Following a tour of the vineyards and production facility we enjoyed artisan cheeses selected by the winemaker to highlight four of the wines during our seated tasting in the wine cave. The atmosphere was fantastic with the wine bottles lining the walls of the "cave room" where we sat.

Staying in this location was the perfect choice since it was located between Napa and Sonoma Valleys. If you are ever in the area, don't forget to stop by Lancaster Estates! If you can't stay, at least enjoy their wines :).

Cheers!
Lisa

Wine Word of the Week

Acescence:  Wine with a sharp, sweet-and-sour tang can be described as having acescence.  The acescence characteristics frequently recalls a vinegary smell.

Wine School, October 16, 2011

Wines

Brachetto d' Acqui
Color: Ruby
Nose: Strawberry, syrupy, sweet
Mouth: Strawberry, syrupy, sweet, not enough frissante to offset syrupy flavor
Price:   $13.99
Conclusion:  This wine was quite sweet with less fizz than I expected and hoped for.  However, for individuals who enjoy sweeter wine, this Brachetto is likely right up their alley!  On the nose and palate, there is strong strawberry notes.

Nivasco Piemonte Brachetto
Color:  Light ruby red
Nose:  Rose, fresh,
Mouth:  Long finish, sweet, but less so than first, crisp, tart finish on back of tongue, more dry than first, more fizz.
Price:  $15.99
Conclusion:  This was a sweet wine, but with just enough fizz to offset the sweetness just the perfect amount.  This wine paired well with sweeter cheeses and chocolate.  On the nose, this wine is freshly aromatic with floral notes.  On the palate, it has a long finish with sweet notes, but tartness and fizz allowing it to pair well with sweeter cheeses and chocolate.

Sottimano - Mate
Color: Brilliant garnet
Nose: Anise, earthy, violet/floral
Mouth: Tart finish, bitterness on the middle of tongue
Price: $19.99
Conclusion:  This wine was the driest of the three and was a great food wine.  It paired well with several of the cheeses and was quite enjoyable.  On the nose are floral, earthy notes with hints of anise. On the palate, there is a bitterness with a tart finish, but pairs well with food.


Pairings

     Cheeses
              Manchego
              Boursin with pepper
              Midnight Moon goat cheese
              Cambozola with honey
   
     Chocolates
               Dark chocolate
               Chocolate truffles
               Dark chocolate covered wine grapes

     Crackers
               Water crackers

Final Thoughts

Beth:  My taste buds were a bit off with this class, but I can definitely see the Nivasco Brachetto pairing nicely with a dessert. As is the case with Italian wines, they were great paired with food, although the Brachetto d' Acqui was too sweet for my taste buds. In the end, I still prefer Tuscan Chiantis as my choice for Italian reds!

Lisa: So why did we go out of our comfort zone? I sampled the Sottomano at Fezziwig's and had never had a dry Brachetto before and was intrigued.  Knowing that most Brachettos are sweet and bubbly, I thought why not compare.  Since the class, I am STILL a dry wine drinker! As for the two sweet wines, you need to try the Cambozola with honey on a water cracker. Paired with the sweetness of the wine, they compliment each other. The chocolate pairings with all the wines were definitely winners too.

Mary Jo:  My favorite wine of the three was the Sottimano.  This is not surprising since it is the closest of the three to a dry red wine - my favorite.  This is a great food wine and paired well with the Manchego, Boursin and goat cheeses.  My second favorite was the Nivasco with which had just enough fizz to offset the super sweet taste.  The Nivasco was delicious with the Cambozola and honey and paired well with the truffles.  Unfortunately, for my palate, I could not get into the Brachetto D'Acqui.  It was very sweet, with less fizz than the Nivasco, thus not offsetting that sweet taste.  While these three wines were out of our comfort zones, I could definitely see a time and place and how individuals could enjoy these wines very much!
               

Porktastic Dinner!

The Stay At Home Winos were fortunate to participate in the "Devine Swine Grilling Event" last Friday evening, sponsored by the O'Fallon Parks and Recreation Department!  It was a beautiful cool evening in the park where Chef Brian Taborski and his Sous Chef Brady grilled a fantastic menu and the Winos paired the dishes with three great wines for about 30 guests.  The food was generously donated by various vendors, as was the Chefs' and Stay At Home Winos' time.  The Regency and Hilton Garden Inn offered a wonderful wait staff as well as the serving items.

There are few people who don't enjoy pork in some form or fashion.  Until Friday evening, I had no idea how many different ways pork can be served, not to mention prepared on a grill!  Further, I was pleasantly surprised at how so many diverse wines crossed traditional lines to pair with each dish!

Chefs Brian and Brady demonstrated grilling techniques to the guests and fielded questions about such things as proper grilling temperatures and the reasons wet wood chips are used when grilling. Participants were able to put the information to the test when they grilled their own maple glazed, pecan wood wrapped pork tenderloin medallions.  While the Chefs imparted their knowledge, a suckling pig "Norman" was being prepared in another area.

The following was the delicious menu:
   
     Butternut squash soup with cinnamon creme fraiche
     Maple glazed pecan wood wrapped pork tenderloin medallion
     Pecan wood smoked apple and cherry stuffed pork loin
     Roasted honey glazed root vegetables (red and gold beets, turnips, parsnips, carrots)
     Sweet potato and chorizo hash (very spicy!)
     Cherry Clafouti (Almost like a soufflé)

The Stay At Home Winos were able to taste the meal in advance and picked three delicious wines to pair with the menu.  The following are the three wines:

     Chateau St. Michelle Gewürztraminer - ($14.99) - A fan favorite, the Gewurztraminer is an 
     enjoyable wine with an exuberant fruit and clove spice.  This is a lush style of Gewurztraminer with 
     a lot of floral character, yet it still maintains the grape’s natural crisp character.  Try this with Thai 
     food or any cuisine with a little “bite” to it.  Serving temperature: 45 to 50 degrees. 
   
     Cloudline Pinot Noir ($14.48) - On the nose, there is an immediate burst of bright, fresh red fruits, 
     including strawberry and raspberry, followed by an earthy quality. On the palate, the wine has fine
     texture, soft tannins, good acidity and a strong core of fruit. It is a wine that offers immediate 
     pleasure, on its own, or better yet,in the company of a delicious meal.  Serving temperature: 58 to 63 
     degrees.    
 
     Cline Ancient Vine Zinfandel ($14.99) - To taste the depth and complexity of flavor of an ancient 
     vine grape just before it is harvested is to understand why the wine made from them is so special. 
     Ancient Vines Zinfandel has flavors of dark berries, coffee and chocolate with great vanilla oak 
     character and a long lingering finish. This wine has it roots in the Cline family’s 80 to 100-year old 
     vines in Oakley. From these historic holdings the wine has grown to include grapes sourced from
     California’s finest zinfandel regions.  Serving temperature: 60 to 67 degrees.

The Gewürztraminer definitely stole the show, as guests truly saw how this wine with the "hard to pronounce name" really paired well with the pork and spicy food.  Having said that, the Pinot Noir and Zinfandel were thoroughly enjoyed by everyone, as well.

We are so excited when we are able to help people who enjoy wine break out of their shells and try wines they would not normally try.  We Winos have made it our own mission to try wines that fall outside of our norm.  We find there are so many preconceived notions about types of wines and people don't realize how much is out there!  For example, most guests were used to "white zinfandel" and were pleasantly surprised to try the Ancient Vine Zinfandel by Cline Cellars.  

Overall, it was a glorious evening of fine food, fine wine, and fine folks!  This was the second such event the O'Fallon Parks and Recreation Department has offered and I can speak for the Stay At Home Winos when I say how much we are looking forward to the next event!  

Cheers!
Mary Jo

Wine Word of the Week

 

Yield:  a measurement of a vineyard's production. In general lower yields are associated with a higher quality wine. Ancient Vine Zinfandel wines generally have a lower yield than a newer Zinfandel vineyard.

  

Rioja, a Spanish Gem

Spain…..everyone in our family seems to be traveling to Spain! My niece and her new husband honeymooned there last month. Now I find out my in-laws will be traveling to Spain later this year. With all this talk about Spain in our family my mind drifted to some of the wonderful wines I have had from Spain, with wine from the Rioja region as my favorite.

Rioja is located in the northern interior of Spain. Vineyards can be found running along either side of the Ebro River for 120 kilometers. The Sierra Cantabrian Mountains border this region to the north, blocking the harsh northern winds, and the Sierra de Demanda form the southern border. The first big boom in Spanish wines began in the 1860’s when the French came to the region in search of wine at a time when phylloxera was devastating the vineyards in France. Some of the French even decided to stay and start their own bodegas (wineries). They began producing wines in the Bordeaux style, aging in small oak barrels. By 1901 phylloxera had made its way to Spain and destroyed 70 percent of the vineyards. The French went home and tended their own vineyards by grafting native European vines onto American rootstock which was immune to the phylloxera louse. The Spanish soon followed this practice, but the wine industry suffered through two world wars, and the Spanish Civil war. At one point there was so much hunger in Spain that the government ordered vineyards to be torn out in order to grow wheat to feed the country. Finally, by the 1960’s financial stability began to return and bodegas, with the help of some outside investment, began to make a comeback. Today, Spain is the third largest producer of wines behind Italy and France.

Tempranillo is the main grape in wines of Rioja. They are usually blended with garancha (Grenache) and Mazuelo (Carignane), as well as other native grapes. Rioja wines have a three tier classification system: Crianza, Reserva, and Gran Reserva. A Crianza is a young, easy drinking wine with vibrant flavors. It is required to be aged two years with at least one year in an oak barrel. This is generally a good, but not exceptional wine. Reserva is made with superior grapes, from superior sights. It is required to have three years of aging before release with a minimum of 1 year in oak barrels. And last but not least, the Gran Reserva. As the name sounds, this is a rare, elegant and silky wine. Both the Reserva and Gran Reserva are only produced in exceptional years.

One of my all-time favorite Rioja wines is the Reserva from Bodega Beronia. It has a beautiful garnet appearance with complex fruit on the nose. The mouth is smooth and silky with just the right amount of spiciness in my opinion. You can’t beat it for the price either at around $20 a bottle. This wine would work great with a pizza, but think game, grilled meats, and yum, some Spanish cheese like Manchego.

A great Crianza to try, that is readily available, is from Marqués de Cáceres. You should be able to find this gem for around $15 a bottle. If you get a chance, grab a friend and a bottle of a Crianza and Reserva. Taste the two next to each other and see if you can detect a difference. Take notes; see if one is more powerful than the other. You should be able to see what a difference the extra aging had on the wine. And if nothing else, have some fun while enjoying a great wine.

So to my in-laws, I’ll be a bit jealous when they are in Spain, enjoying the food, wine, and all the country has to offer, but they deserve it! I will look forward to hearing all about their adventure.

One last note~ Happy Birthday to fellow wino Mary Jo. Lisa and I welcome her to the fabulous forties!

Cheers,

Beth

It's Finally Fall!

It's October and fall has arrived!  With the leaves changing and the weather finally turning cooler, it's time to go back to enjoying more red wines, at least for me, that is.  The warm summer days enjoying a crisp Sauvignon Blanc or buttery Chardonnay are past.  Along with the cooler days comes all the wine shipments from Oregon that I have been patiently waiting for since the first week of June!

You may recall Beth and I blogging about our trip out West in June to Oregon and enjoying some fabulous Pinot Noirs from the Willamette Valley.  Due to the extreme heat and drought conditions this summer, shipping this precious cargo could have been devastating, to say the least.

Well, today my shipment from Archery Summit was delivered and I can't wait to enjoy some.  However, I will have to suffer a little bit longer since I need to let it rest after it's long travel. Due to potential bottle shock, many suggest to wait two weeks and even maybe a month. As for the 2007 Arcus Estate Pinot Noir, that one will be "resting" for about three and a half years since we are saving that special one for our 25th Anniversary! Robert Parker's The Wine Advocate rated this one 90 pts. so it will be well worth the wait. As for the name "Arcus", it is Latin meaning "bow" which describes their estate vineyard  that wraps around both sides of a small valley in the heart of the Dundee Hills.The vines at Arcus Estate are planted on steep slopes that complicate farming but consistently produce intensely flavored, rich fruit.

Another wine from Archery Summit is the 2009 Looney Vineyard Pinot Noir.  This one is from the Ribbon Ridge AVA.  Both Wine Enthusiast and Wine Spectator give this one 93 points.  I'm glad we have several to enjoy!

The next one is the 2009 Renegade Ridge Estate Pinot Noir. The Renegade Ridge Estate is a twelve acre  vineyard  that is contiguous to the Archery  Summit Estate in the Dundee Hills.  This vineyard has been farmed utilizing biodynamic principles and practices since March  2004.  Stephen Tanzer's International Wine Cellars rated this wine 92 points.

Last but not least, is the 2009 Premier Cuvee Pinot Noir.  According to their website, this wine may improve over the next 5-8 years.  I just might not be able to wait and find out because we enjoyed it when we tasted it! It was rated 91 points by Wine Enthusiast and 92 points  by Steven Tanzer's International Wine Cellar.

After waiting the appropriate amount of time, I do plan on enjoying these Pinots with some delicious pork tenderloin or smoked pork butt.  Now that sounds like Fall!

Cheers!
Lisa

Wine Word of the Day

Bottle-shock or Bottle-sickness is a temporary condition of wine characterized by muted or disjointed fruit flavors. It often occurs immediately after bottling or when wines (usually fragile wines) are given an additional dose of sulfur (in the form of sulfur dioxide or sulfite solution), and are subject to other forms of handling and transport. After a few weeks, the condition usually disappears.