Vindulge

Open That Bottle Night, part II: Even special wines are meant to be opened

This past Saturday I did something I’ve been putting off for a long time.  Inspired by Open That Bottle Night (OTBN) I opened two bottles of wine that I never quite found the right occasion to do so.  They were not my most expensive, rare, or oldest wines. They were just wines that had a lot of meaning to me. 

Created in 1999 by Dorothy “Dottie” J. Gaiter and John Brecher, the former writers of the Wall Street Journal’s tastings column, OTBN encourages wine lovers from all over the globe to stop putting off opening up that special bottle of wine and just drink and enjoy it already!  When I heard about the dates for this year’s OTBN I knew exactly which two bottles I needed to open.  It was figuring out what to make for dinner that night that took contemplation.

The Wines:

2008 Domaine La Ferme Blanche Cassis (AOC)

The first bottle we opened was given to us by our former next-door neighbors in Portland just before we moved to Connecticut.  To back up just a little bit – I spent the better part of four years trying to get Stephanie, our neighbor, to drink white wine.  She, a self proclaimed "red wine only" drinker, hadn’t found a white wine she liked, so it became a mission of mine to change that.  Her husband, Dan, drank sparkling wine on occasion, but also didn’t really drink white wine (nor red for that matter, but that’s another story).  I had almost given up on both of them when it happened. Their white wine “a-ha” moment. 

Stephanie went to southern France this past summer on a work-study program for three weeks in Marseille (in Provence), and Dan joined her for a week.  Upon their return they gave us this bottle of wine. A white!  They both raved about the food and wine they experienced in Provence and how they fell in love with the white wines there.  They had their “a-ha” moment (finally)!  I couldn’t have been more happy for them and I couldn’t wait to try the bottle.
 
That’s what wine is all about for me. That moment; when the experience of being surrounded by the culture can change your perspective (and taste) about a wine.  I could only imagine the two of them sitting in an adorable French café, in the sun, overlooking the Mediterranean sea, eating the freshest seafood and drinking the local wine. 

I wanted so badly to share that bottle with them and hear stories of their trip to France.  But alas, time caught up to us and before we knew it we were packed up and rushing to Connecticut and never got to open the bottle together.  So I held onto it… and couldn't think of an appropriate occasion to drink the wine since…

2002 Anthem, Meritage, Sonoma Valley by St. Francis Winery

Our other bottle was chalk full of memories of when we lived in San Francisco (where we lived before moving to Oregon).  You see, St. Francis Winery was one of the first wineries we visited on our very first trip to Sonoma in 2001.  We joined the wine club right off and remained members until we moved to Oregon in 2006.  Most trips to Sonoma, whether it was just the two of us or with friends and family, involved a stop at St. Francis where we would enjoy their food and wine pairing experience. 

Then, one day, they released a new wine, “Anthem” they called it.  A “reverse Bordeaux blend” consisting of mostly Petit Verdot and Malbec with small amounts of Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon & Merlot (as opposed to a traditional Bordeaux blend where Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot dominate the blend with Petit Verdot and Malbec playing minor roles).  The staff was very excited to showcase the wine but they didn’t have any open that day.  So we decided to buy a bottle, open it right there on their deck, and share it with the staff and anybody else who wanted a sip.  That’s what wine is all about anyways, sharing it!  It was an awesome afternoon.

Since that first release (which was their 1999 I believe), we always bought a couple bottles of the Anthem to have on hand.  Our last trip before we moved we bought a couple bottles of the 2002, and after moving to Oregon we dwindled down to one bottle very quickly.   For months anytime I asked to the hubby “what do you want to open tonight”. His response was always “the Anthem?”.  “No”, I would respond, “I want to wait until we can find a good meal to pair with it”, or “It’s not an ‘Anthem’ night”, or a simple “I’m just not feeling it”.  Months became years, and he still brought up that wine each and every time like clockwork.  It became almost comical.  At the time I didn’t really know what was holding me back, but now I do.  It was one of the last bottles we bought before starting our life in Oregon.  I think somehow it was my connection to our life in San Francisco.  It certainly wasn’t our oldest wine from our time in CA (vintage wise), and still isn’t, it was just the individual bottle that I had put off drinking the longest and had such good memories assiciated with it. 

When I thought about OTBN and what to drink, I knew immediately it had to be these two bottles.  To me, opening up both these wines somehow represented change and transition.  Something difficult to do, but important nonetheless. 

The food:

We paired the Cassis with an appetizer of seared scallops with shallots, butter, and wine in honor of the region the wine came from.  Fantastic!  The wine had a rich fruitiness, herbal, and mineral character to it that was the perfect compliment to the sweet and savory scallops.



For the Anthem, we made oven roasted rack of lamb with an herb and panko crust and a balsamic wine reduction drizzle.  Along side the lamb we roasted an assortment of vegetables (potatoes, onions, carrots, parsnips, and tomatoes).  We wanted to honor the wine with a delicious and solid pairing, and this certainly did the trick.  The wine was rich, but not too tannic, with a depth of flavors that was enhanced by the flavors of the lamb, the sweet sauce, and the roasted vegetables. 

We finished the night with homemade chocolate pots de crème, which is basically chocolaty rich custardy deliciousness!  I never seem to remember to take pictures of dessert as I must be too busy devouring it! 

It was an awesome meal, paired with delicious wines, shared with my favorite guy.  A great evening and an even better reminder that wine is meant to be opened and shared, not tucked away in storage… especially those special bottles that remind you of a particular person, place, or time in your life. 

Finally, drinking these wines was a delicious reminder of the good times we spent living in both San Francisco and Portland, and a toast to the many adventures to come.

I secretly think the best part of the night was that our twin boys (now three months old) were both sound asleep the entire time, allowing mommy and daddy to truly enjoy the evening together!  Thanks guys!

Do I regret opening the wines?  Not for one second. And I can still keep the memories alive by saving the empty bottles and putting them on display on my bookshelf with other memorable bottles I have collected over the years.

Now I have to know. Did you open up a special bottle of wine for OTBN?

If so I would LOVE to know what wine it was.

 

 

 

Last Minute Thanksgiving Wine Ideas

It's almost here. The holiday embraced by food and wine lovers all over the country. Thanksgiving!!! 

If you’re anything like me and do most of your grocery shopping last minute, don’t worry.  I have some great last minute wine ideas for your holiday dinner.  Now this post was written last year as my Thanksgiving wine pairing and buying guide, but in reality the recommendations stay the same, with some tweaks for specific wines and producers, year after year just as the traditional food for Thanksgiving stays pretty much the same each year.  Most importantly the day is about being with family, friends, and giving thanks for all the wonderful things in your life… and yes, good wine is definitely something to be thankful for. 

So please check out my Thanksgiving wine recommendations from 2009 post by clicking here.  I hope this guide can help you find some delicious wines to share with your loved ones this year.  Let me know if you would like any specific producer and/or vintage recommendations for this year, and have a fantastic holiday with your family and friends.

Thanksgiving Wine Pairing & Buying Guide (it never goes out of style)

Cheers!

I will leave you with a beauty shot of our turkeys from last Thanksgiving (yes we cooked two).  We smoked these babies and they were insanely delicious.  And yes, we most definitely plan to smoke our turkey again this year... only this year we're just doing one!  I promise to post the recipe sometime soon because they were probably the best flavored turkeys I've ever had and you must try them.  Believe me, it is worth the effort to smoke them!

Smoked Pulled Pork Sandwiches: The recipe of all smoker recipes!

This post is long overdue.   I was first inspired to write about this recipe over a year ago when my hubby and I started making it.  For some reason it kept getting pushed off, and pushed off.  And finally the time has arrived for this, the recipe of all smoker recipes.  Our signature recipe.  The one that defines us as bbq folks.  And as we wrap up grilling season in many parts of the country I decided to pay homage to the greatest smoker recipe ever in honor of my favorite season of the year.

We premiered this recipe at our 2009 PBR-BQ (basically a BBQ celebrating all things PBR and meat. Believe me, the theme was NOT my idea, otherwise it would have been called "Bubbles-BQ") last summer for an intimate group of, oh, 50 of our closest Portland-based friends, and have been making it ever since.   At that particular party, the meat (about 30 lbs of the pulled pork and brisket provided by a friend) was completely gone within 20 minutes.  This recipe has even been endorsed by two vegetarians who ate multiple servings (true story) and one local Portland chef who described it as "the best bbq he's ever had".   I kid you not.  It was that good.

Now I have asked my hubby, the smoker master, to describe here the detailed process that leads to a good smoked recipe, especially smoked pork shoulder (aka pork butt).  I am the sauce girl, the side girl, the appetizer girl, the everything but the meat girl.  So I will leave it to the meat man to describe the meat smoking process in his own words and I'll cover the rest.  So, without further adieu …

Smoked Pulled Pork Sandwiches with a Simple Cole Slaw and Homemade BBQ Sauce
(aka the BEST pulled pork sandwiches you’ll ever have)

The Meat:
Grab 7-8 lbs pork shoulder (or pork butt), bone in from a local butcher.  Sometimes the butcher will call it “Boston Butt”.  I highly recommend bone in because it gives it more flavor, but will work either way.

Dry Rub:
Ingredients:

¾ cup brown sugar

Then I take the ¾ cup again and just fill it to the top with:

3 tablespoons paprika (for more flavor splurge for smoked paprika)
2 tablespoons onion powder
2 tablespoons salt
1 tablespoon ground pepper
1 tablespoon Coleman’s Dry Mustard
1 tablespoon garlic powder
2 teaspoons cayenne pepper

That should equal the second ¾ cup.

Instructions:  Mix all ingredients together in a medium bowl.  Reserve about 2 tablespoons for the mop.

The Mop: 
A mop is a liquid-based solution I’ve used to baste the meat over a long period of time on the smoker.  I typically use the apple cider mix as it adds a little flavor too.  You apply it with a brush or spray bottle if you opt to use just liquid and no dry rub in it (*Note from experience, if you try the spray bottle after putting dry rub in the liquid, it will clog the bottle and not work so well).
Ingredients:

½ cup water
½ cup apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon Dijon Mustard
2 tablespoons of the reserved of the dry rub

Instructions: Mix it all together in a medium sized bowl and reserve the day you do the smoking.

Instructions for smoking the pork butt:

Day before: 
I love the idea of a meat marinating overnight with a dry rub so it soaks into the meat.  The pork butt is a combination of fat and fibrous meat and I think it lends itself to the rub.  So, up to 24 hours prior to firing up the smoker, grab a big jar of Dijon mustard and your dry rub.  Use cold water and rinse the meat and pat dry.  Apply a light mustard coating to the entire butt to use to adhere the dry rub.  Too much, and your rub becomes a paste; so don’t go too thick.  Your dry rub can be sprinkled on all sides, lightly patted into the meat.  Then place into a container in the fridge, covered overnight.  The next time you're getting the meat is to put it on the smoker.

Day of:
Be patient, this is an all day event.  Be sure to buy a 12 pack of your favorite beer, one for each hour of cooking.  A 7 pound butt can take up to 13 hours on the smoker, so be prepared!  Take your meat out of the fridge, and uncover.  Then get your smoker prepared and bring it up to 225 degrees (we use a Traeger smoker).  Put the meat into the smoker and start the low and slow process of cooking the meat.  *I should note, I make sure the fat side (you’ll see that the top of the butt will have a considerable amount of fat) is on top, as it cooks the fat will render and baste the meat.  

Monitor your smoker to keep the temp at 225 throughout your day.  About five hours into smoking it’s time to start applying your mop. Using a paint brush or a kitchen brush, lightly apply the mop to the top and sides of the pork butt, no need to be exact, the idea is to open your cover and quickly apply so you don’t lose your heat, but apply the liquid.  Do this once an hour for about six hours.  If you don’t use the dry rub in the mop and it’s just liquid, then use a spray bottle.

At about the nine hour mark, start taking temperature reads.  When the thermometer is put in the meat I stay away from touching the bone and I am looking to get the meat to 190 degrees F.  If the pork internal temperature is too low, you get a meat that doesn’t pull apart and is not truly moist and delicious.  If it’s too hot then you can expect it to be dry and a little tough, so I go for 190 degrees.  Most of the fat is rendered down and the meat is adequately moist.  So, total cooking time can take up to 14 hours but usually 12 is average for seven pounds.  (*Factors like weather, if it’s hot, cold, raining all can add or subtract the time).  At 190 degrees F take the meat off the heat and let it sit for about 30 minutes, then you’ll use a large fork and a small fork and begin pulling (or shredding) the meat apart.  Be sure to eat some, you’ve earned the taste test!

Let the meat rest for 30 minutes. Notice the bark (described below).

Shredding the meat

The bark:  As you mop and watch the meat, you’ll note the browning of the meat and outer fat layer.  This is good!  The brown sugar in your mop caramelizes over the time it takes to cook and makes for a thick crust that adds a ton of flavor, so that is a good thing. 

Smoke Ring:  With any smoking, you want to see a pink layer of color right under the bark, this smoke ring is a sign of a well penetrated meat with good smoke flavor and is totally normal.  It’s a badge of honor.

Preparation:  After shredding the meat, serve on your favorite small bun (we LOVE the dinner rolls they have at New Seasons in Portland, but any style will do as long as you like them), place as much or little bbq sauce on the bun and a tablespoon or so of the cole slaw and enjoy all your hard work! 

Homemade BBQ Sauce
At first glance this sauce may seem like it has a lot of ingredients. But take a look in your pantry, you probably have everything you need sitting right in there!  And it’s so worth it to make your own homemade sauce.

Ingredients:

4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 medium finely chopped onion (about 1 - 1 ½ cups)
6 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 1/2 teaspoons paprika
2 1/2 teaspoons dry mustard
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 (6-ounce) can tomato paste
1 cup water
½ cup tomato sauce
¾ cup cider vinegar
1 tablespoon liquid smoke
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
6 tablespoons brown sugar

Instructions:  Set a medium saucepan to medium-high heat, add the butter and once melted add the onions and cook until very soft, about 5-7 minutes. Add all dry spices and cook for about 2 minutes. Add the tomato paste and cook, stirring frequently, for 2 more minutes, or until the tomato paste begins to brown. Add the water, tomato sauce, cider vinegar, liquid smoke, Worcestershire sauce, and brown sugar, and stir to combine.  Lower heat to low simmer and cook uncovered until the sauce has thickened and reduced, typically about 30 minutes.

Once the sauce is at the consistency you like you can opt to use a hand immersion blender to make the sauce smooth.  It only takes a few pulses.  If you like it chunky, no need to blend the sauce.

Let cool.  Can be made days in advance and kept in the refrigerator. 

Simple Cole Slaw (the easiest cole slaw you’ll ever make)
Since there is so much incredible flavor in the pork we like to keep the cole slaw very simple. No heavy sauce or mayo needed.  Just a little flavor and crunch.  And the cumin gives it a unique flavor that your guests will love.

Ingredients:

Pre-shredded cabbage mix (1 lb bag)
2 tablespoons cumin
2-3 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
1 handful of diced green onions (about 1 bunch, just the green parts, save the white for something else)
Salt & Pepper to taste

Instructions:  Mix and toss all ingredients together.  Easy as that! 

It may seem crazy to invest so much time into sandwiches, but this is truly a special treat.  If you want to really see how good smoked pork can be, I highly encourage you to try this recipe and let me know what you think!

Happy Smoking

As for wine? Well, in all honesty when you're savoring the deliciousness that is these amazing sandwiches you aren't really thinking about wine.  Most of the wine is consumed during this long 12 hour smoking process.  I recommend a low alcohol spritzer wine like Vinho Verde so you're not tipsy come sandwich eating time.  However, we did recently serve this meal at our Portland going away party, served with an array of white wines (since it was 95 degrees out that day).  I will highlight the wines we drank in the next post. 

Olympic Provisions: Checking things off my Portland to do list

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about my goal to do, see, and eat certain things in Portland before the big move date.  And with the date growing closer and closer everyday I’ve finally made plans to accomplish them all.  This past Monday I checked the first of the four restaurants off the list (and will check off two more within the next few days), by eating lunch at Olympic Provisions.

We were celebrating some good news and all my hubby wanted to eat was meat (no big shock there), and the first place that popped into my head was Olympic Provisions, known for their meat… charcuterie to be more specific. 

Olympic Provisions opened in late 2009 and is described on their website as “European-style restaurant and deli serving lunch and dinner, as well as Oregon’s first USDA certified meat-curing facility”.  They are located in the Southeast Portland industrial area near the corner of SE 2nd and Washington.   The restaurant is led by chef Jason Barwikowski, formerly of the popular Clyde Common, in addition to Elias Cairo as the Salumist.   The menu is small but diverse, featuring a selection of meat options as well as a variety of vegetable and egg dishes.  So have no fear if you’re not a meat freak, there are plenty of options for the vegetarian and carnivore alike.  They also sport a petty diverse wine list worth checking out.

Parking can be tricky, at least during the lunch hour.  Hubby was having flashbacks to our former life in San Francisco having to circle the building a couple times, but I assured him nothing is worse than parking in San Francisco (except maybe New York) so he calmed down after finding a spot with a short walk to the restaurant.  Lunch options are plenty with a small variety of sandwiches, vegetable, and a couple of egg-based dishes to choose from.  The ambiance is super casual and open and they even had a wall open to the outside for fresh air.  It felt like we were dining al fresco, which is perfect for the summertime. 

We selected the house charcuterie plate to start with (how can you not?), then a couple of sandwiches.  We attempted to be conservative with the charcuterie, but I won’t lie to you, it went fast.  My favorite was the smoked salami (pictured in the top left, the darkest one on the plate).  The best west coast charcuterie I’ve had outside of Salumi in Seattle. 

For lunch, I opted for the roasted pork loin sandwich with rapini, romesco sauce on focaccia. This was basically a very healthy portion of fresh delicious thin cut pork with small broccolini bites, and a romesco sauce (a sauce traditionally made from roasted red peppers or tomatoes, almonds, pine nuts, and/or hazelnuts, roasted garlic, and olive oil - although I have no idea exactly what was in this one. I do know this, it was good).  The sandwich was delicious and hit the spot.  Nice fresh crusty bread, lots of meat, a sauce I could drink, and the broccolini for crunch!  Yes please!

Hubby, feeling more risky, ordered the beef tongue sandwich with arugula, pickled onion, salsa verde on baguette.   As a recovering semi-vegetarian I really wanted nothing to do with beef tongue, but tried it anyway.  It was interesting, and the meat (is that even considered meat?) was very tender. I’ll leave it at that.  He, however, loved the sandwich and raved about it. 

At that point we were pretty darn full but their pastry options sounded very tempting and all very inexpensive (all $5 or less).  Next time…. And there will be a next time.  We plan to return for dinner some night soon, as we empty the shelves of our pantry and fridge and need to dine out before moving day. 

I highly recommend this spot for lunch (and I’m sure I’ll have the same to say about dinner).  The most expensive thing on the lunch menu was the charcuterie plate at $12, after that nothing exceeds $8.  You just cannot get a better sandwich than that for $8!  Their dinner menu is equally enticing price-wise, with most dishes resting at about $12.  How’s that for value?  Plus they have a decent wine list to top it all off.

Cheers

Question:  Have you been to Olympic Provisions?  If so, what’s your favorite thing to eat there?


 

Grilled Rack of Lamb and Pinot Noir: A food and wine pairing

A couple weeks back we had some friends over for dinner.  The plan, they bring the wine, we come up with food to pair with the wine.  They had a couple of nice Italian wines they wanted to drink so our challenge was to come up with something to pair with a '97 Brunelleo (made from a clone of the Sangiovese grape from Tuscany), a '00 Barbaresco, and an '03 Barbaresco.  Barbaresco’s  (made from Nebbiolo grapes in the Piedmont region) can tend to be very tannic when young, but with 10 and 7 years of age respectively, I knew they probably would have had some time to relax, but I still knew we needed something to balance the tannins that remain… meat.  We had already decided on a stuffed shell with a rich red sauce (for acidity) but still needed meat.  Thinking of something not too heavy, but rather light and earthy, we decided on lamb.  It would provide some meat fat to soften those remaining tannins, and also harmonize with the earthy flavors of the Northern Italian wines. 
  
Dinner turned out to be a great success, the wines were delicious (my favorite was the ’00 Barbaresco, hubby liked the Brunello) and the pairing worked out quite well! 

Since lamb is something we rarely cook these days (I have no idea why since this one was so delicious), we decided to recreate the meal this weekend, but this time for just the two of us… and no Italian wines. 

Instead, I was thinking Pinot Noir.  I had recently received two samples of Pinot Noir from two different wineries in two different states.  Wondering how they both would pair with the grilled lamb, I opened up the two and tasted them side-by-side then again paired with the lamb (recipe below). 

Lamb can be a great pairing for Pinot Noir when done right and with the right Pinot.  Assuming the Oregon one would be on the lighter side we went with a light herb season and grill, no topping or sauce, simply to taste the pure lamb flavors with no interaction from a heavy sauce.  Much like we did with the Italian wines. 

I tasted the wines first, before dinner, and then we had them side by side with the main dish, Grilled Rack of Lamb with Herbed Crust and (yes AGAIN) Roasted Beet Salad with Goat Cheese (I told you, we can’t stop eating this salad.  Plus, I had a feeling the beets would pair well with the Pinot… and you know what, I was right). 

The wines:

Four Graces 2008 Willamette Valley Pinot Noir
Four Graces is a family own winery located in the Red Hills of Dundee in the Willamette Valley.  Named after owner’s Steve and Paula Blacks four daughters, Four Graces wines are made with only grapes grown on their own two vineyards and with sustainable farming techniques with a focus on both organic and biodynamic practices. 

Their 2008 Willamette Valley Pinot Noir is their base level Pinot Noir and the initial smell is undeniably Oregon with its light earth and funk characteristics, with undertones of cherry, rose, and herbs.  The body was dry with more of that funk, along with spice (pepper), soft tannins, with a light yet elegant finish.  The only thing I was missing on this light bodied wine was more of a fruit balance to the earth, but that came out with the pairing.  For the price, this is a nice example of an everyday light bodied Oregon Pinot Noir.

Appellation:  Willamette Valley
Grapes:  Pinot Noir
Retail:  $29
Alcohol:  13.7%

The pairing:  The earthy flavors of the lamb met with the soft earthy flavors of the wine, but neither the meat nor wine really “improved” so to speak.  The beets, however, paired with the wine turned out to be a delicious pairing.  The rich and sweet roasted flavor of the beets really brought out the bright fruit that was hiding behind the earth of the wine and really freshened it up.  To me, that’s what a successful pairing does, it enhances both the experience of the wine and the food.  While the lamb slightly overwhelmed the wine with a little too much earth meets earth flavors, the beets provided a great fruit balance.  Thumbs up!


Consilience Winery 2006 Pinot Noir Bien Nacido Vineyard
Consilience Winery, located in Los Olivos, California in Santa Barbara County was founded in 1997 by two couples wanting to produce great wine in Santa Barbara County.  Their focus seems to be mostly on typical Rhône varietals of Syrah, Grenache, Grenache Blanc, Roussanne, Viognier, along with some additional non-Rhône varietals of Zinfandel and Pinot Noir.  The majority of the fruit they work with is sourced from growers throughout the county. 

I tasted their 2006 Bien Nacido Vineyard Pinot Noir initially at a Pinot Noir twitter tasting at Storyteller Wine Company two weeks ago.  The wine was somewhat unfairly represented among over 15 Pinots from Oregon and stuck out like a sore thumb (in a bad way).  It was too big, dark and high alcohol for that crowd.  Since I received a bottle at home I decided to give the poor guy a second chance.  Sadly, even unsurrounded by the flavors of Oregon, the wine still seemed too big, hot, and unbalanced.  This wine is a BIG wine, something I’m not used to in my typical Pinot.
 
It had lots of dark berry, cola, leather, and concentrated candied cherry flavors throughout and the alcohol was screaming through on the nose.  Dark fruit followed this wine through the finish with spicy bold flavors I’m more used to seeing in a Syrah.  Is this really Pinot Noir I thought to myself?  The wine was just off balanced to me and hot. Very hot.  I couldn’t get past the high alcohol on this wine at over 16%.  But perhaps with food it will be different?

Appellation:  Santa Barbara County
Grapes:  Pinot Noir
Retail:  $36
Alcohol:  16.2%

The pairing:  The Lamb definitely calmed down and softened the wine bringing it down to a level more drinkable, but still had noticeable alcohol.  I still didn’t love the wine, but the food did definitely cover up some of the heavy characteristics of the wine.  The beets provided too much added sweetness and richness already in the wine that it ended up enhancing the already distracting rich flavors in the wine.  To me, it just wasn’t a successful pairing. Perhaps the wine needs something a little bolder to stand up to its big flavors, or perhaps the wine is just too big for me.

Now, for the moment you’ve been waiting for… The recipe

Grilled Rack of Lamb with Herb Crust

Serves 3 (multiply recipe for extra people)

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. of lamb racks
• 2 tablespoons each of fresh herbs (thyme, rosemary and sage) all finely chopped
• Salt and pepper
• Extra virgin olive oil (about 1 tablespoon)

Directions:
Snip a little fat off the lamb to prevent major flare-ups on the grill.  Salt and pepper the lamb and rub with olive oil to coat.  Sprinkle half the herbed dry rub on both sides and place in a container in the fridge for at least one hour to marinate.

Set grill to medium heat.  Grill both sides of the lamb until the internal temperature is 140 degrees (for medium to medium rare) approximately 6-8 minutes per side.  Remove from grill, then sprinkle the remaining herbs on the meat.  Let the lamb rest for 15 minutes.  Cut and serve along side with Roasted Beet Salad (recipe here) and a delicious Pinot Noir or older Barbaresco if you have it!

 

Cheers

Roasted Beet and Goat Cheese Salad, a must try summer salad

I went berry picking with a friend the other day at Kruger's Farm on Sauvie Island and after picking an abundance of raspberries we perused their market for additional goodies when I spotted a 10 lb bag of beets.  Mind you, I’ve never bought raw beets before, and have just recently grown fond of them.   It all started a few weeks ago.  Hubby and I were checking out restaurants in Hartford, Connecticut, last month and ate beet dishes three times during our four day trip there. Our favorite was the roasted beet salad with pistachio crusted goat cheese at Max’s Oyster Bar in West Hartford.  Delicious.  Ever since then I’ve wanted to recreate it, or at least come close.

So, when I saw this 10 lb bag I just thought, I have to have it. I don’t even really know what to do with that many beets, but I’ll surely figure something out.  And I did.

After deciding to roast a whole tray of them at the suggestion of my berry picking companion, I proceeded to make salads all week. Lots and lots of different types of beet salads.  And this one in particular was so delicious that even the hubby loved it.  I mean he really loved it!  So much so that the first time I made it for him, he opted to eat the entire thing and skimmed on the main dish, which was penne with my sausage marinara sauce, one of his favorites (recipe here, only I substituted the meatballs for chicken sausage).  I knew when he ate the whole salad before even touching the main dish, this salad was a keeper.  Now, he’s requesting this beet salad on a regular basis, and salad is rarely something he requests.  I have a feeling I’ll be back at Kruger's soon not only for more berries to satisfy my berry obsession this summer, but for another 10 lb bag of beets! 

Roasted Beet and Goat Cheese Salad
Serves 2

Dressing:
1 teaspoon honey
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
2 tablespoon shallots, chopped
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
Salt & pepper
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Salad:
3-4 medium sized beets, roasted and quartered
About 3 cups fresh arugula
3 tablespoons dried cranberries (a small palm full), for sweetness
3 tablespoons sunflower seeds, candied walnuts or pecans (a small palm full), for crunch
1 oz goat cheese (a small palm full), crumbled

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Rinse the beets, then layout to dry.  Layer beets on a baking sheet, and toss with about a tablespoon of olive oil. Just enough to coat the beets.  Roast until knife tender (approx 45- 60 minutes).  Let cool, then remove the skins.  Warning! Make sure to wear an apron or clothes you don’t mind getting a little red.  And know that your fingers WILL get red. Very red.
This step can be done ahead of time.  I roasted a whole tray of beets this way, then, once cooled and skins removed, put in the fridge and used throughout the week.

In a large bowl, whisk together all dressing ingredients. Taste and adjust seasoning as desired. 

Add remainder of the salad ingredients, toss together, serve and enjoy.

Wine Recommendation:  Highly recommend to serve a dry rosé sparkling wine with this salad.  It will surely balance the acidity of the dressing and highlight the sweet roasted flavor of the beets.  Plus it’s the perfect summer drink in my opinion.   A great example would be  the Argyle Brut Rosé, available for $45.  If that's a little too spendy, then opt for another summer favorite, the Lucien Albrecht Cremant d'Alsace Brut Rosé, widely available for around $18-$20.

Cheers

The Independent Champagne & Sparkling Wine Invitational: The highlights to a most amazing weekend in New Orleans

This past weekend I went to New Orleans for the first ever Independent Champagne & Sparkling Wine Invitational (ICSWI) thanks to this blog post which ended up winning me the Cork’d grand prize in their bubbles contest. The grand prize included tickets to all of the major events associated with ICSWI as well as hotel stays at the Astor Crowne Plaza right in the heart of the French Quarter.

I have to admit I am still a bit overwhelmed with the overall experience. So much so that I really don’t know where to start explaining my thoughts from this trip, nor describe the more than 100 champagnes I tasted, in one single blog post.  So, instead of writing 'till my hearts content, describing each amazing wine I tasted, the people I met, including many of the growers themselves who traveled all the way from France…  (all of this would take up hours of your reading pleasure, btw) I will instead start with some the highlights… told through photographs (okay, and maybe some words).

We started off the first day in a wine seminar called Making Sense of Champagne which started off with the engaging and well spoken Charles Curtis, MW and Head of North American Wine Sales for Christie’s auction house, discussing a brief history and facts about Champagne as a region.

He then turned over the stage to the growers that were there representing their wines to discuss different styles of champagne.

Flight 1:  Three Blanc de Blancs, wines made from all Chardonnay grapes.  My favorite of this flight was the Pierre Peters “Cuvée de Réserve” Brut NV

Flight 2:  Four brut blends to show the art behind assemblage (blending different grape varietals into one wine).

Flight 3:  Two different Blanc de Noirs, wines made from all Pinot Noir grapes. 

Flight 4:  Four vintage champagnes, covering 2000, 2003, and 2004, my two favorites were the Henri Goutorbe “Special Club” Brut 2002 and the Pierre Peters “Cuvée Spéciale” Les Chétillons Brut 2000

Flight 5:  Four Rosé wines showing the difference in Rosé de Saignée versus Rosé d’Assemblage, my favorite of the four being the René Geoffroy Rosé de Saignée Brut NV

This was an incredible treat to get to hear many of the growers themselves discussing their wines, styles, and techniques.  And for a few of them who could not speak English, Peter Liem was on hand to translate.

Next up was the grand tasting with, according to ICSWI, 250 different wines presented from 75 sparkling wine production houses, 72 Champagne growers, all in one room. Wow!  The unfortunate part of the whole experience was the public turnout which was very low (“very” being an understatement).  But the great part of that for me was that I got to meet and talk to most of the growers and representatives without ever feeling rushed or crowded or feeling like I wanted to elbow somebody in the backside of the head for being rude or pushy. 

Here are some of the highlights:

 

After the grand tasting it was off to an exclusive caviar wine reception then a wine dinner at Galatoire’s where they paired Rosé Champagnes with dinner proving that Champagne, even Rosé Champagnes can hold up to any kind of food.  Forgive me for not having any pictures of dinner; I didn’t want to be “that” person taking pictures of each course. I have only my memories, but you can Download Menu here. 

Day two I was able to sit in on another seminar with a panel led by Alice Feiring and Lisa Granik MW, called “Tour de Monde:  Sparkling wines of the world”.  Here they presented new and old world examples of different production methods, varieties, terroirs, of different bubbles from around the globe including examples from France, Spain, Argentina, Italy, Austria, and the US.  After tasting almost all Champagnes on day one the differences in these examples were incredibly distinct.  A very cool demonstration of different nuances in bubbles from all over the globe.  

Then back to the grand tasting.

 

I had many favorites of the event, but some of the standouts of the event included:

Didier Ducos Fills especially the Millesime Brut 2003!
Godmé Père et Fils
Le Brun Servenay, especially so after winemaker Patrick Le Brun described that he uses no malolactic fermentation and no barrels on any of the wines he presented.  He described that he likes to present the purity of the fruit and terroir, and that certainly showed in all of his wines. 
Thierry Massin
Vazart Coquart et Fills, especially the Brut Blanc de Blanc Special Club 2004 (this was a wine that gave me the chills… I even called it “magical” in my notes, so I guess that means I liked it... a lot)
A. Margaine
And of course Pierre Peters and the very likable and charming owner Rodolphe Peters.  I liked all the wines he presented especially the “Cuvée Spéciale” Les Chétillons Brut 2000 (mentioned above) and his "Rosé for Albane” Brut NV in which he named after his 9 year old daughter Albane.

 

(Winemaker Rodolphe Peters showing his wines)

For me the event was a priceless experience to learn so much more than I thought I knew about Champagne, and meet many of the growers I met, while tasting well over 100 different examples of some incredible Champagnes.  I sincerely hope they do this unique event again next year, because if they do I will do whatever I can to be a part of it!  

A million sincere thanks to Cork’d and ICSWI for sending me to New Orleans for this unforgettable experience. 

For additional photo highlights please check out my Vindulge fan page on Facebook. 

Wine & Sushi Pairing Event at the new Wine Down East, April 15th

As many of you know I am leaving today to go to New Orleans for the Independent Champagne and Sparkling Wine Invitational to immerse myself in all things bubbly for the next few days.   But if I wasn’t I would be going to the first of many events at the new Wine Down East on NE 22nd and Alberta in Portland!

Why? 
Well because Stuart Herold, former owner of Wine Down on 28th, is opening up this great new wine bar in one of my favorite Portland neighborhoods and yours truly will be helping him to create awesome regular wine events.  The first is co-hosted by Uncorked and will be featuring sushi and wine pairings.  YES, sushi!  You thought you could only pair beer and saké with sushi? Think again!

I spent the afternoon yesterday with one of our wine reps and we tested out the menu that will be featured this Thursday at the event and I am very excited about the pairings we came up with.  I don’t want to give too much away, but there will be some great wine pairings, including a Chilean Pinot Noir paired with Salmon Nigiri, an unoaked Chardonnay with a California Roll topped with Tuna and Avocado, and of course there will be a bubbles pairing, and more. 

The details:  

Thursday April 15th
6:00 - 8:30 pm

Wine Down East
2236 NE Alberta
Portland, OR

Price:  $20

This is a private event and limited to first 100 people.

The theme, as announced on the Uncorked website is:

“Rebel Without A Cask – daring food and wine pairings that will not only astound your palette, but challenge your ways of thinking about food and wine. It comes down to three trifect ingredients:  Fine wine, sinful sushi, and divine conversation, all for only $20. Meet the owners of Wine Down East, Stuart & Ken, taste the great sushi and wine pairings we came up with, and have a great time!”

Visit the Uncorked website to reserve your spot!

If you can’t make it (shame on you) keep your eyes out for the grand opening of Wine Down East within the next couple weeks. I am very excited about things to come. 

Wine Down East's website is not yet up but you can find information about the restaurant on their Facebook fan page.

Homemade Salsa Bar

As some of you may have read either here on this blog, facebook, or even twitter, I had an incredible week with my mom, sister, and 3 ½ year old niece while they were visiting.  It’s always sad, and even emotional to see family leave.  But whenever I miss my mom, I try to cook some of her famous recipes, and it always brings me back home. 

I promised you in my salsa post that I would try to get as many recipes out of my mom as possible to put on the blog, but I quickly realized that’s a lost cause.  The woman just doesn’t use recipes, she uses whatever ingredients are at hand, and it changes constantly! I found myself following her around with a notepad trying to take diligent notes, but the second I turned my head she changed things up on me.  So I gave up note taking and just enjoyed her company and simply tried to pay attention to her techniques instead. 

I did, however, find out one of her biggest cooking secrets and managed to get her to reveal two more salsa recipes that I am posting here.  The secret to, well, probably all of her recipes is simple… bouillon cubes! 
Yes, I am very serious.  The woman puts bouillon into almost everything (soups, meat rubs, boiling water, if she’s cooking, there’s likely bouillon in it)!  Admittedly I did not stock any bouillon in my house before she came to visit, and now I have over a years supply thanks to mom.  Yes, my mom wouldn’t leave until I was sufficiently supplied with enough bouillon to feed an army.  So now that you know her secret, now let’s move on to the salsas.

 

Yolanda’s Salsa Bar (why Yolanda? Well because that’s my mom’s name)

Our family’s standard salsa is posted here, but these other two are becoming regulars and are requested by friends anytime my mom visits. 

Revenge Salsa ... otherwise known as Chipotle Garlic Salsa
(this was cleverly named by my sister and by reading the ingredients it’s not hard to understand why)

Ingredients:

• The cloves of 1 entire garlic bulb (yes the entire thing), skin removed, smashed but dicing is not necessary
  
• 1 whole bunch of cilantro (or 1 large handful)
• ½ can Chipotle Peppers in Adobo Sauce (about 4 peppers), recommended brand Embasa, (7 oz can)*
• 1 (6oz) can tomato paste
• 1 ½ (15 oz) cans tomato sauce
• 1 bouillon cube
• Juice of ½ lime
• Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:  Place all ingredients into the blender and pulse until the salsa looks like a paste.  Pour into serving dish and eat at your own risk. 
*If you want the salsa more mild, use less chipotle peppers. If you are up for the challenge try using the whole can of chipotles.  We used 4 peppers in this recipe. 

My sister named the salsa revenge… well… you can pretty much figure it out.  I mean, look at how much garlic and chipotle are in the recipe!  The scary thing is that it is addictively good, and not as spicy as it looks. Plus, if you have leftovers it makes for an excellent marinade for chicken (and no the chicken does not come out spicy).

 

Tomatillo and Rosted Green Chile Salsa

Ingredients:

• 10 tomatillos
• ½ bouillon cube
• Juice of ½ a lime
• 1 handful of cilantro, roughly chopped
• 1 bunch of green onion (all of the white part and 1 inch of the green part), chopped
• 1 small handful roasted green chiles (about ½ cup)
• 4 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
• 1 teaspoon good sea salt or finishing salt
  
• Pepper to taste
• 1 avocado, chopped

Directions:   Boil the tomatillos in water with the bouillon cube for about 25 minutes, or until soft.  Let tomatillos cool enough to peel the husk/skin off, and discard the skin.  Add tomatillos to a blender along with remaining ingredients (except the avocado).  Pulse until blended together, but not pureed like a soup (you still want a few chunks).  Pour into serving dish and add the chunks of avocado and mix into the salsa.

There’s nothing spicy about this salsa so it is a nice cooling alternative to the revenge salsa.

There you have it.  My mom’s standard salsa bar.  My sisters and I joke that someday we will get enough recipes out of our mother to make a cookbook… but until then, these blog posts will have to do.  I love you mama!  

Mama, teaching me her cooking secrets

#WAMerlot: Merlot's Big Night

Last Thursday Josh Wade from the blog Drink Nectar, with the help of a few other bloggers and tweeters, organized a worldwide twitter tasting in honor of Washington Merlots titled #WAMerlot, further validating in the wine world the growing power of twitter.  The goal was simple, get a bottle (or many) of Washington Merlot, drink it, and tweet about it, either from home, a winery, wine shop, alone or with friends.

Since my mom and sister were still in town I thought I’d pop a few bottles of Washington Merlots and taste with the family.  And if you remember from my post last week these two are hard to please so I wanted to have a decent selection to chose from in hopes to finally find a wine that my mom would not add Sprite to (yes, she visited for 8 days, I sampled approximately 12 wines for her throughout the week, and she poured Sprite into the majority of them).    

As for the twitter event, I thought it would be fun for my mom and sis to witness my passion for wine met with my interest in the social media aspect.  I followed along with the #WAMerlot hashtag for about an hour, tasting the three Merlots I had brown bagged, along with my panel of four judges total (including the hubby).  After an hour I could barely keep up with the electronic portion of the tasting.  People were posting on twitter, it seemed, hundreds of tweets a minute.  Too fast for me.  I added my two cents and revealed my favorites of the evening, then it was back to QT with my mom, and finally closed my laptop.  I was, however, very fascinated by some of the results recently posted by Josh on his site.  Some of my favorites include:

• Wineries and businesses having events had anywhere from zero to more than 30 people in attendance. From preliminary returns average attendance ran about 10. If my 6th grade math serves me right, 100 locations x 10 people average is approximately 1000 people.
• Tweets were observed from Europe, Australia, Asia (China), and North America (Canada, Mexico, and USA) – 4 out of 5 continents.
• Web site www.wthashtag.com tracked almost 2000 tweets by nearly 500 tweeters.
• Potential bottle consumption of Washington Merlot for the night is between 2000-3000 bottles
• People had fun. People drank some effin’ Merlot!

Sounds like a complete success to me!  And he’s right, sounds like people drank lots of effin’ Merlot… simply because of this event!  Powerful thing, that twitter eh?   It is just one of the many examples that show how powerful word of mouth can be.  And that’s one of the powerful things about twitter, it is an electronic word of mouth and I urge folks (whether you are a business owner, employee, blogger, or other) to not discount what is possible through social media. 

As for the wines we drank here at my household, we brown bagged three wines. Two of them I had received as samples prior to the tasting, and one I purchased a few months ago while visiting the Woodinville wine area, outside of Seattle.  All three wines were from the same vintage, 2007, and we drank them while dining on my soon to be famous Spaghetti & Meatballs.  It was my night to cook for my mama, so I went for something I thought would pair nicely with the Merlots.  The Spaghetti received a thumbs up from all on our panel ;)  As for the wines….

2007 Hogue Columbia Valley Merlot

Hogue has three tiers in their wine making program with this wine being in their lower everyday value tier.  

The wine had bright light fruit flavors, finished dry, with medium tannins.  I found the wine a bit thin and one dimensional, and not quite as lush and rich as I tend to like them in a Washington Merlot.  My mom wasn’t a huge fan either, however it was one of my sisters favorites.  She thought it was easy drinking and “just fine”.  

Appellation:  Columbia Valley

Grapes:  99% Merlot, 1% Syrah
Retail:  Approx $10

Alcohol:  13.9%
Food Pairing of the evening:  Spaghetti and Meatballs

2007 Boomtown Merlot from Dusted Valley Vintners

Family owned and operated winery out of Walla Walla, WA.  Boomtown wines fall into Dusted Valley’s “entry level” wine category.

This wine has strong aromas of vanilla and bright cherry from the start and continued throughout.  Medium bodied, with strong acidity and spice on the finish, the wine continued to display vanilla tones from beginning to end.  Brighter fruit, and more complexity than the Hogue, but still light and lacking a rich and lush body.  To me it was nice, simple, and a pleasant everyday Merlot.  My mom started coming around with this wine but still didn’t love it.  My husband was a bigger fan and continued to drink this wine throughout the night.  

Appellation:  Columbia Valley

Grapes:  78.8% Merlot, 8.8% Malbec, 7.1% Syrah, 5.3% Cabernet Sauvignon
Retail:  Approx $15

Alcohol:  14.4%
Food Pairing of the evening:  Once again Spaghetti and Meatballs   

2007 Stevens Yakima Valley Merlot

My husband and I discovered this winery while visiting the Woodinville Washington wine area last December.  A very bizarre area to find wineries since it is surrounded by lots of warehouses, but incredibly close to Seattle and therefore close to millions of potential visitors.  

Husband and wife team, Tim and Paige Stevens, founded the winery in 2002 and started with just 100 cases of wine in their first vintage. They have now grown to over 2,500 cases and focus on a small assortment of solid, focused, and well structured wines (four reds and two white wines).

As for the Merlot, my first reaction was “that’s what I’m talking about! Rich, lush, deeper fruit and lots of spice.”  I could tell from the beginning that this would be a more full-bodied wine. Just how I like my Washington Merlots.  The nose was floral with dark berry and plum flavors. The wine had well integrated oak and mild vanilla flavors that didn’t compete with the rich dark fruit flavors. Rich, bold, yet refrained, and more balanced and complex than the other two with great lush fruit, spice, and pepper.

Thoughts from the family?
My husband liked the complexity, richer flavors, and that it wasn’t just about bright fruit flavors.  My sister liked the smell more than the taste.  She described it as having “jammy” fruit but didn’t want to drink on its own, but instead would prefer it with food.  My mom liked it! A lot! She said it reminded her of port, concentrated and rich, but there’s nothing she didn’t like.  Her only criticism of it was that she wished it was “sweeter”, but would still drink it without Sprite… which was a big deal for her considering she added Sprite to every wine I gave her to taste throughout the eight days she visited!  Finding my mom a wine that she wouldn’t add Sprite to was a sign of success to me, and because of that I think the Stevens was the big winner of the night!

Appellation:  Yakima Valley

Grapes:  100% Merlot
Retail:  $30

Alcohol:  14.2%
Production:  only 140 cases produced
Food Pairing: You guessed it, Spaghetti and Meatballs

Nice job to all who helped to make #WAMerlot a success.  I look forward to more twitter tastings… perhaps one representing the fine state of Oregon someday?!  Attention Oregon wineries and bloggers, I'm ready to help out on this one!!!