A: Good question. I tried this at home and the answer is a qualified “no”. I say it is qualified in that I limited my egg nog blending with a dry white wine. The wine blended easily into the nog, with the resultant beverage being slightly curdled. If I were to try this again, I would blend with a Madera or a Port Wine: I think they would blend more comfortably with the egg nog. I did a little internet research and could not find a posting which had a favorable result with this combination.
Q: What wine pairs best with roasted turkey?
A: My personal preference is a either a non-oaked Chardonnay or a Sauvignon Blanc. It really depends on how the bird is prepared. The Chardonnay would be my choice if the turkey is served with rich sauces or gravy (think fat or butter or cream based). The Sauvignon Blanc would be my choice if I were eating healthier and passing up on the fatty gravies and sauces. As a wild card, I continue to advocate Champagne and sparkling wine with virtually any entree.
Q: What wine works best with baked ham?
A: I have never been satisfied with any wine with which I paired baked ham but here the wines which I have tried in decending order of personal preference: Pinot Gris (Italian), Pinot Grigio (U.S.), Sparkling Syrah (Australian), dry Reisling, and Sparkling Wine. Ham is really challenging because the meat is typically salty and it is served with overly sweet preparations and side dishes. If it were my table and my wine-selecting "cred" were on the line, I'd punt and serve sparkling water!!
Q: How cold should I serve my white wine?
A: As a general rule it is my opinion that we drink our white wines too cold and our red wines too warm. Here is my suggestion for enjoying your wines just a little bit more. Refrigerate your white wine for an hour or more and then set it out 20 minutes at room temperature before you serve. Refrigerate your red wine for 20 minutes before serving. Simple.
Q: What is a good inexpensive sparkling wine for the holiday season?
A: I like Spanish cava's with my favorite value selection being Freixenet. The cava's feature sufficient fruitiness with a dry finish. At $8 to $12 per bottle they are a great value. I saw Freixenet at my local grocery for $8.99 last week.
This is another in a series of posts regarding good or great wines to be found in restaurants for $30 or less.
Maybe I am just a teensy bit of a wine snob though I try very hard not to be so. The "issue" that I sometimes have are with individuals who'll spoil a perfectly fine meal by pairing their meal with a wine that just doesn't fit.
Let me give you an example: Because our customers demanded it, we carried a number of off-dry white wines. Some might call them "Jacuzzi Wines" the sort of easy quaffing wine that is great when accompanied by your significant other in a hot tub or a remote mountain spring. You get the idea. As I have said before, if you like it - it is a good wine.
But, just because you like it does not mean that it is a great wine with food.
Case in point: Trevor Jones' Boots White Wine is a classic "Jacuzzi Wine" combining Riesling and Muscat.
My impressions: Highly aromatic with huge flowers on the nose. Refreshing. Pale-straw in color. Low acidity, long legs, medium finish.
At $28 per bottle it is a good, though not great, value. But who am I to challenge our customers? This was one of our best selling whites.
First in a series of posts regarding good or great wines to be found in restaurants for $30 or less.
I have mentioned several times in this blog the challenge of finding good wines which can be sold at less than $30 per bottle in a restaurant. This requires that the restaurant owner be able to find a good bottle of wine, which suits the menu and is available at less than $12 per bottle from the wine rep. It is harder than it sounds.
This is the first of several posts which I am planning which discuss these sort of high-value, economy wines which I selected and placed on the wine list for Restaurant 213. The first is my all time favorite.
Everyone likes the idea of French wines but almost no one likes the idea of paying $120 for a bottle of 2007 Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru, Les Macharelles, Bernard Morey. So, I went looking for a low-priced French chardonnay which came from a wine-growing region far less glamorous than Chassagne-Montrachet and at a significantly lower price. Enter 2007 Les Frères Couillaud, Chardonnay, Vin de Pays du Jardin de la France Domaine de Bernier.
Make no mistake: Vin de Pays du Jardin is no where as glamorous a grape-growing region as is Cassagne-Montrachet. Think California Central Valley versus California Napa Valley. It is that sort of difference. Think industrial versus boutique.
None the less, Domaine de Bernier has been on our wine list since 2004 providing an attractive low-priced alternative to those who desire a French pedigree with their wine and who don't want to break the bank in the process.
My impressions: Crisp apple and pear on the nose with moderate acidity. A direct and easy drinking wine characteristically dry as you'd expect from a Chardonnay with a moderate finish. We are able to buy this wine from our rep in single case lots of $6.33 per bottle (spring 2009) making it a great value for us as well as our customers.
This wine has been imported in not huge amounts: 2007 - 2000 cases, 2006 - 1000 cases, 2005 - 3000 cases and 2004 - 3000 cases. So, are you going to be able to fine this wine? I doubt it. But, the lesson is that France produces some wonderful, low-priced wines from decidedly minor-league grape growing appellations and are worth a try.
I have only drank one Godello in my entire life and am currently on my third case of this low-cost, high-value gem from Spain.
I was introduced to this wine by accident a couple of summers ago when one of our wine reps noted that he was down to his last several cases of Castelo Papa Godello and wanted to move them (e.g. sell at a discount). We bought three cases for the Restaurant and I took a couple bottles home to give them a try.
By background, Godello's are characteristically clean, light and crisp wines engineered to be served alongside of seafood. We Americans sometimes ignore how long our European cousins have been making wines and how their wine evolution differed from ours. Over the European centuries the wines have evolved alongside the local food each reinforcing the other until you reach a point where the local wine is finely tuned to complement the local cuisine. Such is the case of Godello.
My impressions: Lively golden color darker, I am told, than the majority of Godellos. Refreshing with a perfumed floral nose with citrus and pears at the finish. It is an acidic wine and that makes sense as it is intended to be served around hearty fish dishes, including those with heavy cream or butter bases. At retail this wine sells between $7.50 and $9.00 per 750 mL bottle making it a very good value. At the Restaurant this was a PERFECT match for a grilled Sea Bass which was served in a shallow saffron-infused shellfish consomme.
Godello's don't have much market penetration in America, and I expect that it will be nearly impossible to find this particular wine. That said, I'd recommend giving any Godello you come upon a try.
After reading Terry’s post about his wonderful wines I kept wondering what I have in my cellar already bottled and what I have in the wings. First, let me assure you that I do not have a wine drinking problem – it’s more of a winemaking problem!
And while I am envious of those of you who possess wine cellars filled with the brim with exotic and rare labels, I must confess a bit of satisfaction at making my own variety of rare wines – some of which turned out to be big flops and others award winning.I’ll begin with what is already bottled in the cellar and then talk about what’s coming up.
Peach (2006) – lightly sweetened: One of our very first wines. Thin with notes of old tennis shoes – peach wines have a funky smell. (10 bottles).
Raspberry (2006) – lightly sweetened: Another one of our very first wines. Thin and not enough raspberry fruit flavors. (8 bottles).
Cranberry (2007) – lightly sweetened: A couple holidays ago, we purchased some fresh cranberries and made our first cranberry wine.Very tart and very past its useful life - oxidized (3 bottles).
Rhubarb (2007) – lightly sweetened: Grown behind the garage and fermented in the house!We produced only a gallon during our first try with rhubarb –a rascal to work with. (5 bottles).
Wild Grape (2007) - Dry: Handpicked wild grapes on state land in Iowa.One gallon was not enough!Very tasty!(2 bottles).
Concord/Marechal Foch Blend (2007) – lightly sweetened: A nice, fruity blend of Iowa grown grapes. First place: Eastern Iowa Amateur Wine Competition. (3 bottles).
Catawba (2007) – off dry: We got the juice from NY and fermented it here. This wine was very tough to start and is plagued with some off flavors – probably diethyl sulfide. Despite that we won these awards: First place: Cedar County Fair; third place: Eastern Iowa Amateur Wine Competition(13 bottles).
Apple-Kiwi-Strawberry (2007) – lightly sweetened: A summer, sitting in the garden drunk, wine! Second place: Eastern Iowa Amateur Wine Competition; Third place: Cedar County Fair.
Apple (2007) – off-dry: One of our favorites!Very reminiscent of a Riesling and so easy to drink.First place: Eastern Iowa Amateur Wine Competition and top-5 selection. (6 bottles – we’re sad).
I Was Bored – Grapefruit (2007) – lightly sweetened: Okay, I’ve heard that grapefruit makes wine with notes of Sauvignon Blanc – so, we tried!Yuck!
Rhubarb (2008) – Dessert-styled.If you like rhubarb crisp in a bottle, you might like this! (14 bottles).
Blackberry (2008) – Dry: We went wild making blackberry wine.Okay. (10 bottles).
Blackberry (2008) – Lightly sweetened: We left a little residual sugar.Okay (7 bottles).
Blackberry Port (2008) – Dessert, Port-Inspired: Our first attempt making a port-styled wine and we really like it.Bottled just before Christmas (2008) we give them as presents (375ml)!Very tasty! (22, 750ml bottles and 13, 375ml bottles).
Total: 142 bottles!
Just so you know, a family is legally allowed to make 200 gallons of wine per year and if our cellar isn’t full enough already, here is what is coming.FYI: 1 gallon is roughly equivalent to 5, 750ml bottles of wine!
To be bottled in 2009:
Peach – Sweet:We are phasing out of fruit wine making but I was bored in early August and so here is the result.Has nice peach flavor and its typical aromatic baggage. (6 gallons)
Marechal Foch (red) – free-run: We helped pick these grapes in late August – probably a little early but is showing its Fochy characteristics – strong earthy and coffee notes. Oak. (22 gallons).
Marechal Foch (red) – press-fraction. Same batch as above, but we separated the pressed portion. Thinner but less of the earthiness. Oak. (5 gallons).
Traminette (white): I have written about Traminette before. We are very impressed with this one.It is in the final stages of cold stabilization. (10 gallons).
Malbec (red): Our winemaking group purchased grapes from Chile and crushed them in April (08). Currently undergoing cold stabilization. We aged it with MT oak and is promising. (5 gallons).
Chambourcin (red): A true Midwestern favorite! Delicious berries and very tasty wine.One of our most promising reds!oak. (15 gallons).
Peach-Traminette (blend): We blended 50:50 peach-Traminette – sweetened!Yummy (1 gallon)
Pear – Sparkling): I helped a winemaking friend process a few hundred pounds of pears and came away with a few gallons. We are planning on making a sparkling wine from it using the traditional method.(2 gallons).
Zinfandel (red): After working the crush with a local winery that sourced some organic Zinfandel grapes from California, I was given four pails of must!Yay!(7 gallons).
Total: 73 gallons
If you’re in Iowa later this year and have an interest in being part of a bottling process, we welcome your help!What’s in your cellar???
Several months ago we visited a Midwestern winery, tasted several of their wines, and purchased a bottle of “pink” (or blush or rose’) and placed it on our wine rack and forgot about it. A few nights ago we decided to uncork the bottle. As I placed the bottle on the counter Jill remarked on how our pink wine had developed a darker hue (our winemaker alarms were activated!). As I poured the wine into our awaiting glasses we braced ourselves for the inevitable – oxidation!
In white wines, oxidation is evident in yellowing, loss of fruity character, increased bitterness, lifeless aroma, and a has a distinctive caramel aroma (or honey smell); in pink wines, oxidation is evinced similarly and typically has a brownish hue; and in red wines, oxidation shows its ugly head when the pigments in red wine become polymerized and lose their color. White and pink wines are more susceptible to oxidation.
Whatever the cause of oxidation (and there are many) the root of the problem rests mostly on how the wine is handled – read: lack of attention to detail by the winemaker. When processing wine it is important, and there are some exceptions, to keep oxygen away from our must and wine. For the professional winemaker that means a judicious use of inert gas covers during crush and transfers. By flushing a receiving tank (during a racking or transfer) with an inert-like gas such as carbon dioxide, nitrogen or argon, the oxygen is displaced by the heavier gas and our wine is protected during this potentially oxidative situation.
As you might expect, even in the most stringent of conditions some oxygen makes its way into our must/wine. How do winemakers manage oxygen that finds its way into wine? Through the addition of sulfur-dioxide (SO2) – you see it as a message on the bottle that says “sulfites added.” SO2 or “sulfur” serves a couple of important purposes: 1) Antiseptic: at crush, it inhibits the growth of wild yeasts (although yeast can handle SO2 better than bacteria), bacteria (acetic – vinegar and lactic acid bacteria, aka: secondary fermentation), and mold; 2) Antioxidant: sulfur inhibits enzymatic action of polyphenol oxidase and laccase that leads to oxidation.
Pretty simple: SO2 cleans up our must/wine (antiseptic) and SO2 protects our wine from oxygen’s dark side (antioxidant). It is imperative for winemakers to evaluate the levels of SO2 in our wines to ensure they are properly protected. Regularly monitored using a fairly easy test, called aeration-oxidation method, gives accurate readings of how much SO2 is available or “Free” to bind with oxygen -- and informs to whether we need to make an addition!
If the Midwestern wine industry wants to be competitive and taken seriously by those outside of our region we must ensure all of our wines are properly protected against the adverse effects of oxygen.
Sources:
Margallit, Y. (2004). Concepts in Wine Technology. Wine Appreciation Guild, San Francisco, CA.
Dharmadhikari, M.R., and Wilker, K.L. (2001). Micro Vinification: A practical guide to small-scale wine production. Southwest Missouri State University. Mountain Grove, MO.
Terry post: Typically, people will begin with a entree and then find a wine with which to accompany. Typically, but not always. Earlier this year I purchased a case of Castelo do Papa - a white Spanish Godello at a very good price and have been trying various dishes with the wine. If you crack open a wine magazine they'll tell you that Godello is best when paired with seafood and for the most part I agree. The taste is dryer than a Pinot Grigio and having a nose reminiscent of a good Sauvignon Blanc: pear, almond and a little citris. The good ones are crisp and clean. The great ones have a deep golden hue, and concentrated citris flavors. The Castelo do Papa is a good Godello and at $3.47 a bottle - a great value wine.
This evening I tried the Godello with one of my seafood favorites: Pork and Clams. I highly recommend the Godello with the Pork and Clams.
Ingredients: 2 lbs of clams (24 to 36 depending upon size) 1.5 to 2 lbs of pork loin 4 cloves of fresh garlic chopped 2 tablespoons of salt 1 tablespoon of red pepper flakes (the hot ones) 8 tablespoons of cooking oil 1/4th cup of Godello wine
1. Combine 4 tablespoons of oil, garlic, pepper flakes and salt and set them aside. 2. Cut the pork loin into nice sized cubes - about 1 to 2 inches per side. Add the oil mixture to the pork loin and toss well to cover the meat. Cover and allow the mixture to marinate for 12 - 24 hours. 3. Scrub the clams. 4. Purge the clams using a mixture of 1/3 cup of kosher salt and one gallon of water. I like to purge the clams over night. Expect to change the water at least twice. Some people advocate adding a little cornmeal to the water as it help the clams purge out the old nasty stuff inside. 5. Fry the pork in 4 tablespoons of oil using a hot pan. You'll want a nice browned pork. It is best to not fry all of the pork at one time - if you put all of the pork in at once the heat will decrease and the pork will "boil" in its juice and not fry. 6. After the pork is cooked. Return all of the pork back into the pan and get the pan very hot. Add the clams and the wine. Cover. You want to cook the clams in a hot pan so that they open quickly. The clams should all open in 3 to 4 minutes. Discard any that don't open. 7. Transfer the pork, clams and juice to a large dish. Serve with basic salad, Italian bread and (of course) the Godello wine.
