Tonight, I sat in the basement cave of Bacchus Wines and I took a Wane Tasting Course. You know, $75.00 is expensive - yes, BUT I had a great time. There were 9 of us at two stone top bars. We had the fun bar, a French Canadian man, me, a SoHo hipster with a shag haircut and horn rimmed glasses, a shaved head Brit, and a buttoned down married couple, he in the requisite Brooks Brothers suit, and she was a fun blonde. All of us had paid our money because we like wine and wanted to know more about it.
To start, the wineshop on Broadway between 70th and 71st bears the motto "Wine Made Simple". There are no pretensions, no dinner jackets, no Niles Crane types waffling on and on about appellations and vintage. It was a straightforward tasting of nine wines, starting light and white and ending with a rich dessert wine. You get two Riedel multipurpose wineglasses (to keep), a big plate of cheese and crackers to munch on as you work your way through the wines, and a powerpoint presentation with commentary about the basics of wine taste:
Color and Clarity; Aroma & Bouquet; Body; Taste Components & Flavor Concentration.
And the group participation of the class was smelling essential oils and identifying them. That is when our Bar started having fun, we sniffed, and guessed, then sniffed again, and then passed the bottle to the next person. It really broke the ice. We joked around, debated smells and had fun.
Then we sipped our way through the wines. I was cuffed at the end of the evening to find out that my favorite for the whole night was also the cheapest bottle! $12.99 Graff Riesling. I bought a bottle, and my next review will be of the Graff. Will this make my reviews any better - well, I hope so.
Carol, our teacher, also turned me on to a new in bottle aerator to try in place of the Vinturi, the Soiree. I bought one and I will test it head to head against the Vinturi on my next bottle of red. Both Carol & I agreed that decanting makes a HUGE difference, so I will stick to my guns and say that an aerator can make your cheap Trader Joe's bottle of red wine much much better!
I was chatting with the sales clerk as she was ringing up my purchases, and she was talking about cooking - well, with a few glasses of wine in me, some great cheese and good company... I was all about talking food. She was talking about reading magazines to get ideas, and well, my advice was cook what you love and then expand on it. Find flavors that make you smile, develop a signature meal, serve it to people you love, and grow from that satisfaction. Food and wine always taste so much better when you are sharing it with people you like.
I'll try to incorporate some of what I learned in my future reviews. It wouldn't be fair for me to transcribe the whole class.
Monday, November 9, 2009
Sunday, November 8, 2009
El Quintanal Ribera del Duero `06 $13.99 **
Today is a beautiful, sunny, 60 degree November Sunday. I've got a hangar steak cooking on the stovetop, I've cleaned the apartment top to bottom, and I just popped the cork on the El Quintanel.
Shudder... this wine is rough. Pour it, and give it some time to breathe. Then the sudden taste of acetone won't be so shocking. So, the steak is sizzling away, I am sitting at the computer and my second and third sips are better. It is very fruity. Cherry. Bright. Some tannin aftertaste. Definitely NOT a sipping wine.
While the steak rests, I am going to throw together a lavash pizza with pesto, tomato and buffalo mozzarella with a small salad, and that will be Sunday lunch.
After a run through the Vinturi - nope, not my kind of wine. The Vinturi mellowed it - more like muddled it. This is a bright wine, with a lot of sharpness, that is okay for a rich fatty dinner. Meh - not worth the price. I am much happier with the cheaper and tastier Albero wines.
Shudder... this wine is rough. Pour it, and give it some time to breathe. Then the sudden taste of acetone won't be so shocking. So, the steak is sizzling away, I am sitting at the computer and my second and third sips are better. It is very fruity. Cherry. Bright. Some tannin aftertaste. Definitely NOT a sipping wine.
While the steak rests, I am going to throw together a lavash pizza with pesto, tomato and buffalo mozzarella with a small salad, and that will be Sunday lunch.
After a run through the Vinturi - nope, not my kind of wine. The Vinturi mellowed it - more like muddled it. This is a bright wine, with a lot of sharpness, that is okay for a rich fatty dinner. Meh - not worth the price. I am much happier with the cheaper and tastier Albero wines.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Cline Ancient Vine Zinfandel `07 $12.99 ****
I am a very lucky girl.
This Fall has been stressful. (When I am stressed... surprisingly, I don't drink much! huh...) When my friends J& S let me stay/housesit for the weekend, it is a little slice of paradise. Which includes an amazing dinner and some great wine.
The Cline Ancient Vine Zinfandel is a rich, flavorful (raspberry and coffee overtones) and easy to drink wine. No real tannins, just a burst of lush flavor when you sip it.
J made grilled skirt steak, pasta in a four mushroom cream sauce and a mixed green salad with a side of rustic french bread. S and I opened the bottle as J was grilling the steak and I finished the bottle the day after with my lunch of delicious leftovers.
Red wine and steak, pasta and cream sauce. You can't go wrong.
Cline is an interesting vineyard. The label has a lot of info. They are 100% off the grid with their energy consumption. 50,000 square feel of solar panels over their winery roof. - -cool, I like that. Although they call their vines "Ancient" - I don't get that, 86 - 100 is ancient? I know a few grandparents who would take umbrage - especially after polishing off a couple of glasses of wine. What can I say, all my favorite grand parents & great grand parents are winos - birds of a feather....
I like this wine. It is a fair price. I wish I had the Vinturi to try it out, but I am not at home. Shhh don't tell them, but I know one thing that is going under their Christmas tree. After all, I do drink wine at their place, I might as well be able to do a full review!
NB: After dinner, S and I had an amazing Pedro Ximenez San Emillo Sherry, definitely NOT a TJ's wine.. But is was a perfect postprandial drink, well, drinks, my glass was always full and my head was heavy when I woke up this morning. Years ago, S turned me into a Sherry/Madeira drinker, I am just too cheap to buy the good stuff. It tasted of smooth sugary raisins. A perfect to end a great evening meal, as we watched J do the dishes.
This Fall has been stressful. (When I am stressed... surprisingly, I don't drink much! huh...) When my friends J& S let me stay/housesit for the weekend, it is a little slice of paradise. Which includes an amazing dinner and some great wine.
The Cline Ancient Vine Zinfandel is a rich, flavorful (raspberry and coffee overtones) and easy to drink wine. No real tannins, just a burst of lush flavor when you sip it.
J made grilled skirt steak, pasta in a four mushroom cream sauce and a mixed green salad with a side of rustic french bread. S and I opened the bottle as J was grilling the steak and I finished the bottle the day after with my lunch of delicious leftovers.
Red wine and steak, pasta and cream sauce. You can't go wrong.
Cline is an interesting vineyard. The label has a lot of info. They are 100% off the grid with their energy consumption. 50,000 square feel of solar panels over their winery roof. - -cool, I like that. Although they call their vines "Ancient" - I don't get that, 86 - 100 is ancient? I know a few grandparents who would take umbrage - especially after polishing off a couple of glasses of wine. What can I say, all my favorite grand parents & great grand parents are winos - birds of a feather....
I like this wine. It is a fair price. I wish I had the Vinturi to try it out, but I am not at home. Shhh don't tell them, but I know one thing that is going under their Christmas tree. After all, I do drink wine at their place, I might as well be able to do a full review!
NB: After dinner, S and I had an amazing Pedro Ximenez San Emillo Sherry, definitely NOT a TJ's wine.. But is was a perfect postprandial drink, well, drinks, my glass was always full and my head was heavy when I woke up this morning. Years ago, S turned me into a Sherry/Madeira drinker, I am just too cheap to buy the good stuff. It tasted of smooth sugary raisins. A perfect to end a great evening meal, as we watched J do the dishes.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Trellis Sonoma Cabernet $5.99 ***
Decant this wine. My first sip after my shaking hands opened this bottle sent a shudder down my spine. It was very fruity and dry. That being said, let me give you the backstory:
In June, I was suddenly unemployed... shudder in this economy.... But, I am a writer, and what do writers do? They write. So, I wrote and cooked and drank....
Tonight, after a soul crushing week, exhausting, nerve wracking and troubling, I came home to a bound galley of my first novel. It was boxed, sent from the publisher, just waiting for me to open it. I'll never get rich as a writer but I will be published (Westover: Haunted Lives, Spring 2010). With that in mind, I opened the Trellis.
It is a good, rich fruity wine. Really, I wish I had cooked but I was just a cyclone of excitement in a body of sloth.... People called, I gushed. I drank more of the Trellis. It may become my favorite red by default. It was the bottle I had on hand when I realized that I would be a published author - so that is how memories are made...pure coincidence.
A bottle of wine later and some Trader Joe's Mexican White Shrimp ($4.99)- that I cooked in Old Bay Seasoning - it is an amazing night.
Now, back to edits and rewrites. But, for one bottle, it was a great lush red wine and a bright future.
More to come...
In June, I was suddenly unemployed... shudder in this economy.... But, I am a writer, and what do writers do? They write. So, I wrote and cooked and drank....
Tonight, after a soul crushing week, exhausting, nerve wracking and troubling, I came home to a bound galley of my first novel. It was boxed, sent from the publisher, just waiting for me to open it. I'll never get rich as a writer but I will be published (Westover: Haunted Lives, Spring 2010). With that in mind, I opened the Trellis.
It is a good, rich fruity wine. Really, I wish I had cooked but I was just a cyclone of excitement in a body of sloth.... People called, I gushed. I drank more of the Trellis. It may become my favorite red by default. It was the bottle I had on hand when I realized that I would be a published author - so that is how memories are made...pure coincidence.
A bottle of wine later and some Trader Joe's Mexican White Shrimp ($4.99)- that I cooked in Old Bay Seasoning - it is an amazing night.
Now, back to edits and rewrites. But, for one bottle, it was a great lush red wine and a bright future.
More to come...
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Gan Eden Cabernet Sauvignon `97 **** (not a TJ's Wine)
I am not Jewish. But... I am a Shabbos Goy. (which is pretty amazing for a girl from Maine). Some of my closest friends invite me every year for their Rosh Hashanna dinner. I love it. I love the closeness, I love the reverence, and I love the food. I will add that I loved the wine.
Gan Eden is/was the premier American Kosher Wine (I'm not sure if the vineyard is still in operation). It transcends any stereotypical kosher wine prejudice out there. It is a bright wine, with cherry & current overtones, and very fresh. It went with the fleisig (meat) meal very well. The wine would do well decanted, allowing it to breathe mellows the fruitiness and adds to the depth.
The menu was: Bread, honey, apples, chicken soup, roast beef, roast chicken, gefilte fish, kugel (noodle pudding two kinds, sweet (raisin) and Savory (onion)),salad, pickles and olives and a honey fruit bread were the spread for last night... with a finale of chilled, fresh strawberries..... What an amazing meal.
As I sat, sipping my wine, surrounded by 16 of Manhattan's liberal Intelligentsia, I felt like I had struck gold. I sat and listened as religion, history, politics and life were discussed - all at a level well over my head. These discussions will play out on stage, on the page and on the airways as the participants return to their daily lives. I was privileged to be in their company.
Being able to review a great wine and a great meal make me realize how truly blessed I am. After I complained to a friend that my life was like a puzzle, she replied "the puzzle you speak of, sounds like your edges are all done, but the middle is giving you hard time, because you have longer to put it together and no picture to go by." Last night I felt like some of the pieces came together, all over a great meal and a few bottles of great kosher wine.
Gan Eden is/was the premier American Kosher Wine (I'm not sure if the vineyard is still in operation). It transcends any stereotypical kosher wine prejudice out there. It is a bright wine, with cherry & current overtones, and very fresh. It went with the fleisig (meat) meal very well. The wine would do well decanted, allowing it to breathe mellows the fruitiness and adds to the depth.
The menu was: Bread, honey, apples, chicken soup, roast beef, roast chicken, gefilte fish, kugel (noodle pudding two kinds, sweet (raisin) and Savory (onion)),salad, pickles and olives and a honey fruit bread were the spread for last night... with a finale of chilled, fresh strawberries..... What an amazing meal.
As I sat, sipping my wine, surrounded by 16 of Manhattan's liberal Intelligentsia, I felt like I had struck gold. I sat and listened as religion, history, politics and life were discussed - all at a level well over my head. These discussions will play out on stage, on the page and on the airways as the participants return to their daily lives. I was privileged to be in their company.
Being able to review a great wine and a great meal make me realize how truly blessed I am. After I complained to a friend that my life was like a puzzle, she replied "the puzzle you speak of, sounds like your edges are all done, but the middle is giving you hard time, because you have longer to put it together and no picture to go by." Last night I felt like some of the pieces came together, all over a great meal and a few bottles of great kosher wine.
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