Tuesday, December 29, 2009

#17 - What Happens When You Drink Wine While Sick


Here's what happens when you try to force the issue.

If we were iced in and couldn't see family for Christmas Day, Mrs. Ney had ropa vieja planned as a back-up meal (a slowly-stewed short rib concoction consisting of tomatoes, capers and various spices).

Stupid roads weren't icey enough. So, three days later, it became a Monday night meal.

Instead of leaving the sauce/chutney/stew-like mixture that makes ropa vieja chunky, she puréed it, imparting a certain silky depth that came off magically delicious, a flavor that stuck in your cheek and never left. Not sticky, just gloriously subtle and deep.

Both of us were sick, or on the brighter side of sick - me more than Mrs. Ney as per usual. Both of our palates were...not good. Believing things were getting better and wine could be brought back into play, we opened a recommended zinfandel, rather happy that we could get back on the wine horse.

Nope. Not even close. In fact, it became an increasingly hilarious waste of time.

The list:

2006 Za Zin Old Vine Zinfandel Lodi - $20 WDC

A lighter Zinfandel without the pronounced jamminess that usually comes with zinfandel. More red fruit and a little less spice. Probably a nice change of pace but the ropa vieja and our colds killed it.

So...we cracked something else, taking our colds into account and tried to go bigger and cheaper, thinking this whole wine-food thing was doomed from the start. Just crack something cheap.

2006 Archeo Ruggero di Tasso Nero d'Avola - $5 Trader Joe's

Bleech! Too acidic with the food and our increasingly-cursed colds. Not at all what this bargain-basement and decent little wine typically is.

At this point, sane people would stop and just give up. Not us.

So...we went bigger and darker because the ropa vieja deserved the effort.

2006 Nashwauk Tempranillo McLaren Vale - $15 Binny's

Not a Spanish tempranillo at all. Less cherry and more earth and leather. We've loved this one in the past, knew it well and had high hopes.

Nothing but tannins.

Strike three, right? Nope.

2007 Antonio Caggiano Tarì Aglianico - $15 WDC

Aglianico had to work. It just had to. I knew Caggiano wines through my restaurant. He's one of the most respected names in southern Italy, always making wines of high quality at the price point.

Mostly though, as the process became funnier by the bottle, I figured let's go whole hog and ruin another bottle.

I'll revisit this one someday as I could actually taste something. Pretty floral background with bright dark fruit and almost a sparkling tinge to it.

Still didn't work with the ropa vieja.

Strike freakin' four!

Four bottles of wine worth $55, one good ropa vieja and it was a colossal wine-with-food failure.

A week earlier, after the effects of the first day of my cold seemed to subside and I felt like it could have been a 24-hour thing, we may have committed an even bigger error in our wine world.

Wine can chicken with a hoisin/orange glaze, baguette, butter and arugula was paired with one of our favorite winery's bottles:

2000 López de Heredia Bosconia Rioja - $30 Sam's (?)

Nothing! Nothing! We tasted nothing!

A great, lighter-bodied wine from a rainy year that has wonderful leafy, berry notes and a hint of orange peel. Should have paired beautifully.

Got! Nothin'!

Lesson: Don't! Drink! Wine! When you're sick!

Monday, December 21, 2009

#16 - Roulades With Nero And Zucchini Pie With Pouilly Fume


At some point, I hope to get to a Trader Joe's "Best Values" feature.

For now, here's two selections that will make the list that were served with quick, weeknight dinners over the last two weeks.

Trader Joe's does a solid job of getting representations of nearly every grape/sub-region at dirt cheap prices.

These two offerings offer that and a little more.

Meal #1 - Pasta Roulades And Meatballs With 2007 Archeo Ruggero Di Tasso Nero D'avola - $5 Trader Joe's

Okay. This Nero D'avola is softer than most, offering less spice and a somewhat mealy mishmash of berries usually found in Nero D'avola on its own.

But it's $5! And with tomato sauce and meat-type products, it's elevated to something much better than passable, especially for a quick, thrown-together dinner of Italian fare. And did I mention it's $5?

Pasta roulades came from Pasta Fresh on Harlem, still the most annoying errand run in Chicago but worth it if you toss it together with other annoying errands (putting it all under one annoying umbrella).

They were coupled with Trader Joe's Frozen Party Meatballs, an another passable packaged meat product when making dinner seems like a lot of work. The entire meal was gussied up with a homemade marinara sauce using Italian (not San Marzano) tomatoes.

The pairing is like an introductory course on why Italian food should be paired with Italian wine. No illusions here. This is cheapish food with cheap wine, but the result approaches that uniquely Italian wine and food combination that gets Italians' undies all in a bunch. Just simply approaching. Not entirely there, but good nonetheless.

For the effort and cost, it's a solid little weeknight meal.


Meal #2 - Zucchini Pie With 2008 Caves des Perrìeres Pouilly Fume - $12 TJ's

Zucchini pie is a staple Thursday night meal (our Monday) in the Ney house. Once or twice a month is pretty standard.

Trader Joe's Pouilly Fume is a satisfying little afternoon drinking wine, especially in the summer, offering simple, light lemon fruit, a hint of straw and plenty of minerality - a delicate wine on the rougher, more simple end of the spectrum - it's a base version of what Pouilly Fume does with the Sauvignon Blanc grape.

I love it by the gallon, second only to Trader Joe's $6 Muscadet (Château des Cleons Sur Lie).

It's usually reserved for drinking on its own or with pre-dinner snacks but we gave it a whirl with zucchini pie and it didn't really come close to working.

Zucchini pie is a combination of zucchini, onions, copious amounts of garlic, parsley, basil, grain mustard, mozzarella, parmesan and black pepper. Delicious. Every time.

Something killed the wine. Pepper? Garlic? Onions? Something. In retrospect, it should have been obvious that it was a gamble given the delicacy of the Pouilly Fume but it was worth a shot. Now we know.

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

#15 - Cassoulet, Mustard Asparagus & Oregon Sparkling Rosé


It's freaking cold!

And a cassoulet fit the mold.

We could have gone a multitude of wine directions with a cassoulet, mostly hanging around in the rich red arena. But there's some latitude here w/r/t the exact preparation of the cassoulet.

So we went in a different direction, thinking the yeasty, bubbly qualities of a sparkling would play nicely with the salt in a cassoulet and the rosé/pork match would fit well.

Food: Cassoulet with Dijon Mustard-Soaked Asparagus

Duck, pork, chicken thighs and veal sausage with white beans, bread crumbs and traditional French spicing.

Got the veal sausage from a new Lincoln Square addition called Gene's Sausage Shop, a revival of the traditional sausage shops long gone in the Lincoln Square neighborhood with a bit of a gourmet, niche shop feel to it. It's huge and has every kind of meat product you could imagine along with many other little products that are a tad hard to find. It's a scaled-down version of Fox & Obel that's right around the corner. Worth it.

The cassoulet, usually an intensely rich dish, came off much more medium-rich than expected. Not cassoulet-coma-inducing. Pretty great. Do you want some? Cuz we have some. In fact, we have it by the ton now.

Wine: 2007 Argyle Sparkling Rosé Dundee Hills - $40 Wine Discount Center

52% Pinot Meunier, 48% Pinot Noir

Pinot Meunier is a grape used in the making of champagne to bring a richness and body to the wine, something I didn't know until I just looked it up.

All strawberry with a little rose petal. Nice balance and finesse, alive, bubbly with a quality approaching elegant. If this was $25, it would be a steal. $40 makes us think twice but would consider it. Would probably be wonderful with a pre-dinner snack of ham charcuterie-type products.

Pairing: Useful, Pleasant But Not Resplendent

Things were merely slightly enhanced. A kick here, a kick there.

Maybe more importantly, nothing turned funky. In fact, with the mustard asparagus, something I expected to get a tad weird, it held up.

Overall, the rosé complimented the unexpected lightness of the meal. It was a meal that sat well and I don't think a Zinfandel, Shiraz or Rhone would have accomplished the same result.

Monday, December 14, 2009

#14 - Hanger Steak, Plantains, Tomato Salad and Rice With '06 Mas De Maha


Bad day to be an Angels fan.

In the span of three minutes, Lackey signed with the Red Sox and Halladay and Lee came off the market.

So it was with an open heart that a meal such as this took place.

Villa Creek's Mas de Maha opened us up to California wines. Before, we saw them as just too big, too forceful, too obvious without any subtlety.

Without any fun.

What was seen as not even an option, especially given our relative inexperience with some regions we loved and desire to explore those more, California, particularly Rhône blends, were suddenly on the table.

Food: Hanger Steak with Plantains, Tomato Salad and Rice

I was struck most with how Californian the meal felt. Something about nicely-charred, simple beef with simple rice and a Mediterranean tomato salad with acidity and fresh herbs that made it feel fresh, seasonal, clean and balanced.

And that's from a meal that should have felt mildly Cuban with the hanger and plantains.

Tomato salad made it. Cherry tomatoes, parsley, mint, red onion, pomegranate molasses, pomegranate seeds, thyme, lemon juice, peppers, paprika, garlic, salt and pepper - made and allowed to sit and marinate in itself. It's Turkish. Probably made the meal, at least for me.

Wine: 2006 Villa Creek Mas de Maha - $30 Binny's

Only inspired by Rhône blends, this one's 60% Tempranillo, 20% Grenache and 20% Mourvèdre from Paso Robles.

Fine by itself but flat-out ridiculous with food. Bring a little Latin flavors to the plate and it's sublime. Dark purple in the glass and a hint of wet tobacco on the nose, it displays tons of dark plum with a great contrast of blackberry. Concentrated fruit. Tannins are there but never pronounced, serving to properly separate flavors. Wild herbs play in the background with a little smoke. Easy drinking.

A seamlessness to the flavors keeps us coming back. Everything flows so well.

Pairing: Might be our Definition of Perfect

I was a bit shocked that the acidity so prevalent in the tomato salad didn't kill the wine. Just a little hollowness on the mid-palate. The Grenache peeked its head out as well, bringing some black pepper notes.

Overall, the Tempranillo does the bulk of the work with its characteristic plum and cherry notes with a hint of vanilla (Spanish Tempranillo usually has cherry first). What you get with food is a grape that doesn't try to get in the way. Always enough acidity and tannins to hold up just enough with flavors to compliment a wide range of cuisine. Double down on that with Latin-influenced food-type stuff. Explosive and quite memorable.

A slight gaminess brought on by, I assume, the Mourvèdre played well with the beef alone. But with the beef and plantains together, all the elements of the wine came together and became a perfect expression, in our world, of a great wine and food pairing. Everything was elevated.

Really. It's exactly what you want from a pairing, especially for a mere $30.

Thursday, December 10, 2009

#13 - Hanger Steak, Yuca & Miguel Torres Chilean Cabernet


If you're ever stuck in the wine store over what wine to get and want to keep the budget low, you can rarely go wrong with anything by Miguel Torres. And believe me, there will be 12,000 different choices from the guy.

Torres mostly makes approachable wines in the northeastern region of Spain but he has vines everywhere in Spain for the most part. He's also a huge name in Chile, accounting for 4 million bottles a year.

We don't drink Cabernet much. It's not our thing. And I can't remember the last time I drank a Chilean Cabernet.

This bottle was given as a gift and had to be drunk soon in order to avoid hurt feelings. We had no expectations really, but were quite surprised.

Food: Hanger Steak with Chimichirri and Yuca Fries over Arugula

Big fans of hanger and yuca here. Yuca and mayo never gets old. And never will. Best. Fries. Ever.

With the chimichurri, the entire meal are Argentinean-ish with the pan-Latin yuca goodness added on.

This meal used to be a staple in the Ney household. Great to revisit it. Always good stuff.

Wine: 2006 Miguel Torres Cabernet Sauvignon Curicó Valley Manso de Velasco Old Vines - $20 Costco

Instead of the usual fruit bomb New World Cabernet offers, this one's more subtle and balanced. Still big, just doesn't stand up and say, "Look at me! I'm Cabernet!" like most New World Cabs.

Tons of plum, a little chocolate and sage. The wine allows you to get to the mid-palate without it screaming to notice it. Smooth, seamless. Nice underlying notes of fig. Everything's well-integrated, letting you find new things with each sip. Low tannins. Round mouthfeel.

For people who don't like Cabernet, this is a good one. If it was a little more earthy, could have been a great bargain Bordeaux if tasted blind.

Pairing: Fully functional

Really kicked up with the hanger steak, leaving a wonderful, long finish, bringing out a little cinnamon, maybe. Really nice with the yuca and mayo. A bit oaky with yuca alone. Pleasant with the arugula by itself, a rare thing for many reds.

The wine made for a meal greater than the sum of its parts. Can't ask for more.

And it's from Costco!

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

#12 - Wine Can Chicken and Two Wines


So...another Wine Can Chicken.

It's important to note that each Wine Can Chicken has been decidedly different. The first one was intensely herbal. The second one really kicked up the hoisin angle and this one...

All apricot and dill.

Most importantly, I don't want chicken any other way after having WCC.

On another note, if you're going to have something outside of red meat, duck and some other odd bird/game/beefy goodness, WCC is the answer nine times out of ten.

Who needs another rendition of pork?

Food: Apricot/Dill Wine Can Chicken with Asparagus, Baguette and French Butter

Simple meal. Easy to make for Mrs. Ney after a dinner with the family the night before.

Chicken had the usual sublime flavor with the apricot fully infused into it and the dill working with the chicken skin, standard asparagus serving as a good green vegetable with Trader Joe's baguette, something that's become as good as a fresh-baked baguette in many ways (it's frozen, made to throw briefly in the oven).

Wine: 2007 Domaine Giachino Altesse & 2007 Turkey Flat Rosé

Two wines because I'm a boob and chilled the wrong Giachino three days ago.

Domaine Giachino is an interesting story. It's wine from the Savoie (all the history that comes with tales of Savoy), the French Alps mountainous area on the southeastern border, a region that feels it's quite autonomous from France proper and do things a bit differently. The Vin de Savoie wine usually doesn't make its way to the U.S. but recently, we've seen a few bottles here and there (Whole Foods even has one now).

I chilled the Altesse, which is made from the grape of the same name that's indigenous to the region. Nobody else in the world makes it. Descriptions mention peaches and almond. Maybe. I got pears with a hint of herbs and an ever-so-slight hint of oily dryness. Simple. Pleasant enough.

I meant to chill the Abymes, which is made from the Jacquere grape, also indigenous to the region and only grown there. It's aged in its lees for a bit and imparts an oiliness that so pronounced and so absolutely great, I really should buy a case. All. Oil. Totally new to us up until six months ago.

C'est la vie (look at me! I speak French!).

Well...the Altesse didn't do much with the food. So we opened the Turkey Flat Rosé. It's Mrs. Ney's favorite rosé and is definitely in my top three, probably because I'm still uncertain whether I like Grenache or not.

It's mostly Grenache with some Shiraz, Cabernet and Dolcetto. Bit of strawberry in this one with maybe some watermelon. Got some tannins initially but it went away. Definitely a tad floral. Pretty. Interesting. Changes. Goes down wonderfully.

Pairing: Solid with the rosé, not with the Giachino

Settled on the rosé and messed around with the Giachino.

Mrs. Ney brought some peri-peri sauce to the meal and it became a great example of what certain wine does with certain food. With the sauce, the rosé was perfect. Subtle and played at the perfect pitch in the background with the right level of fruit coming to the fore. Without the sauce, it was merely good. Nothing wrong with it at all, but just merely good. A very approachable wine overall. Great wine by itself and always fun. And great when it isn't so...Grenache-y (read: A bit gnarly).

Giachino bordered on a dull white. Bland in most every sense. Drinkable and technically a fine little wine, just not interesting with this food.

Monday, December 7, 2009

#11 - Brisket & '06 Amarone


I took off work Sunday because the vibe Saturday night did terrible things to my psyche. The trend was not my friend.

So Mrs. Ney whipped up a brisket using a mysterious sauce long ago put in the freezer unlabeled that tasted somewhat like homemade barbecue sauce.

Possible wine selections went all over the map. Shiraz, Zinfandel, Rhone?

One of her friends at work took a trip to Northern Italy recently. We gave her some money, asking for a bottle of cheap Amarone we probably couldn't get here.

What we got was an Italian supermarket Amarone.

Last year, for a work Christmas party at Piccolo Sogno, we had a stellar Amarone (2004 Poggio Amarone della Valpolicella) that showed us the wonders to be had from the style.

That wine, and Amarone in general, has such an unmatched density with a pronounced raisiny character and hints of vanilla. It's a wine like no other.

This, unfortunately, was not like that Amarone...or Amarone in general.

Food: Beef Brisket with rosemary potatoes and shaved Brussels sprouts with bacon

Braised in the mystery freezer sauce with five-spice and vanilla bean. Thick, syrupy and spicy. Good stuff. Potatoes with mayo for dipping and shaved Brussels sprouts done in butter, bacon and bacon fat. My new-found and inexplicable love for Brussels sprouts continues.

Wine: 2006 Conte di Bregonzo Amarone della Valpolicella

It was Italian supermarket wine. Get what you pay for.

So, instead of talking about the ordinariness of this wine (read: dull), just some facts about Amarone.

It's a dry, rich red wine made from dried grapes in the Veneto region of Italy. Using the Corvina, Rondinella and Molinara grapes (all indigenous to the region and rarely seen elsewhere), the grapes are harvested fully ripe and then dried in drying chambers (traditionally it was done on straw mats in the sun), intensifying the juices and creating a hugely rich, dry red with very little acid that's high in alcohol (14% minimum with many much higher).

I've only had a few Amarones but the fruit is usually all deep cherry with spice and the previously mentioned raisin and vanilla. 2004 was the vintage of a generation according to most and they usually aren't released until five years after the vintage (hence the bland Italian supermarket wine).

Valpolicella is the viticultural zone in the province of Verona that makes table wine by the tons and Amarone is the good stuff in the provincial pool. To be called Amarone della Valpolicella, the percentage of each grape in the blend has to be exact and is governed by the DOC Italian wine laws.

Amarone itself is a form of straw wine. I have little experience with it outside of Amarone and another great dessert wine called Passito de Pantelleria (picture left), a dessert wine made from the Muscat grape on the small island of Pantelleria in the southern Mediterranean.

It's a concentrated wine with flavors of figs, candied oranges, caramel and spices. Great stuff.

If you can find it, by all means, get one. You won't be disappointed.


Pairing: Nothing interesting to speak of

Only tasted like Amarone on occasion. When it didn't, it could have been anything. Mostly, it just tasted like table wine. Nothing too offensive outside of an oakiness here and there with some moderately nice tart cherry. Did nothing exciting with the food. The Amarone character came with the potatoes but nothing much with the brisket.

More Amarone will be drunk soon. Just not this one.

Thursday, December 3, 2009

#10 - Jerk Chicken and 2007 François Pinon Cuvée Tradition


Shorter one today.

Coming off the fat feast with the Clos Fourtet, a less fatty, more simple and less labor-intensive meal was in order.

Food: Jerk Chicken with Rice and Cuban Black Beans

Jerk has a prominent place in the Ney house. Allspice, peppers, cloves, cinnamon, scallions, nutmeg, thyme and garlic. What's not to like?

Chicken breast in a jerk rub (that's what she said!), Cuban beans done in onions, peppers and honey with a hefty pile of rice.

Wine: 2007 François Pinon Cuvée Tradition - $20-ish Wine Discount Center

We went with another Chenin Blanc, this time Vouvray, located just north of Montlouis-sur-Loire and more well-known.

All honey on the nose. It's a little lean with apple and pineapple, a bit of brioche (something I only recognized after reading the tasting notes) and mineral with touch of honey. Has a slight buttery creaminess that reminded us of oaked Chardonnay in an odd way. Just a bit and something we both don't particularly love.

It's balanced and a better wine than the recently drank François Chidane for various reasons. With a smidge more acid, I think the fruit would have made for a more satisfying experience. But with Chenin Blanc, you don't come for the fruit and stay for the mineral/honey/wax. It's usually the other way around with a nod to its delicate Frenchiness.

We're still trying to find out what we like when it comes to Loire wines and last night, we felt like we missed that yeasty, sur-lee quality that comes with Muscadets, something that usually is approximated with beeswaxy notes in Chenin Blancs. This one didn't have that in a pronounced way.

We've had better Vouvrays in our limited experience with such things but it wasn't bad in the least, just didn't pop. South African Chenin has a good reputation. We'll give one of those a try very soon.

Pairing: Fine enough, should have drank something different.

Most likely, we would have had a better pairing with something more simple and big. More sugar with a Riesling or bigger fruit with an Albariño.

The Cuvée Tradition is a wine culled from multiple vineyards to make sort of a typical example of Chenin Blanc that reflects the year instead of a particular vineyard. It was a fine enough wine but bringing something more basic, more raw (?), bigger, more acid and more fruit-forward would have been a better choice. We tried to force-fit a Chenin into the meal. No clash or weird aftertaste. Enjoyable enough, just didn't do much.

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

#9 - Dry-Aged New York Strip & 1962 Clos Fourtet


I've been waiting for this one for about two months.

After getting seriously cheap deal on a 47 year-old wine from one of my favorite vineyards, it was Christmas tree and '62 Clos Fourtet night here at the Ney house.

Clos Fourtet is probably why I like wine. Before going to Schwa a few years ago, we stopped at Wine Discount Center to pick up some wine for the BYO spot. We didn't really know French wine at all but a 375 ml of the 2003 Clos Fourtet came highly recommended by one of the clerks. We had no expectations at all.

While it was still too young, something we also didn't really know at the time, it was a bit of a revelation for me. For the first time, I got a glimpse into how good wine can become a memorable moment. There was a earthiness and spice with pure creamy fruit that tasted...exquisite, I guess. Or fancy. It had a complexity I never experienced up to that point.

While it has a solid and historical reputation, I'll never have any illusions that Clos Fourtet is some sort of paragon of great wine, but I'll always remember it for opening me up to good wine and, in a lot of ways, for allowing my brain to not being afraid of wine. It was at that meal where the cost of a wine hobby became worth it. Honestly, I still remember everything about that wine. And I'll always follow it.

So, for $90, I ordered a 1962 Clos Fourtet. It came from a retailer in California through a recent private collection sell-off with assurances that it was kept in a temperature-controlled environment. Also, it had a high shoulder fill which, for the age of the wine, is considered to be a good thing. Anything lower and it might not have been worth it. Still, there was a 50-50 chance the wine was undrinkable.

But hey, it's a wine made 10 years before I was born. Why not?

What food do you serve with such things? We didn't really know so we went with a typical Right Bank Bordeaux pairing: Simply-prepared beef with potatoes.

Food: Dry-Aged NY Strip with Gruyere Scalloped Potatoes on a bed of Raw Spinach

We're new the dry-aged beef world. Mrs. Ney heard that Fox & Obel did it right so we took a trip to the overpriced specialty of specialty stores to give it a try. Two quite beautifully marbled strips were cast-iron skilleted in bacon fat with salt, pepper and oil.

Outside of wagyu, it's the best beef I've ever had. The flavor is so distinctive it makes it difficult to describe. Extraordinarily tender, almost buttery with a taste both mellow and a bit intense.

Basically, it sits in its own juices for a period of time (this was 21 days) in a temperature and humidity-controlled cooler with air circulating around it. For me, it almost tastes like it's been sitting in salt for months yet it doesn't taste salty. Every natural beef flavor is drawn out.

Hats off as usual to Mrs. Ney for getting these babies a perfect medium-rare. They looked freakin' gorgeous.

Gruyere pairs with merlot by most cheese pairing charts so she did a gruyere scalloped potatoes as a side.

Wine: 1962 Clos Fourtet Saint-Emilion - $90 K&L Wine Merchants

In the bottle, it smelled like black olives.

Right after pouring, it was all faint cherry and a lot of dust on the nose. In the glass, I expected some orange around the edges for a wine this old but it wasn't there. Some fading red but it looked like a wine that had held up well over the years.

First sip brought a bit of a surprise with the amount of heat it showed. After that, all musty basement with tart cherry. That was the story for the first 30 minutes. Not unpleasant in the least. Just one-dimensional while we waited for the dust to blow off. After 30-40 minutes, the plummy characteristics of merlot began to open up with earth, a little cinnamon and maybe a bit of mushroom, making for a wine that tasted almost balanced. After 60-70 minutes, it became a bit thin and was done.

For the actual merlot time window, the plum/earth/cinnamon tasted faintly creamy, like the wine might have been really good 25 -30 years ago.

Mostly though, it was for the experience of drinking a wine that old. 1978 Heredia was the oldest wine we've had until this one. On pure taste, there were many comparisons to the Heredia. While the Heredia was better, held up longer and never seemed to stop changing, the Clos Fourtet showed many of the same flavors (cherry, mushroom, cinnamon, dust) even if its progress throughout the meal was a bit more predictable and much shorter.

Pairing: Nothing clashed but nothing was enhanced

And I think that's the best we could ask for given the age and the good, but not great vintage of the wine. Wine Spectator gave the vintage an 88 coming off a 1961 year that's considered by many to be one of the top three vintages of the century.

The dry-aged beef was the undisputed star of the meal.

As for the wine, I wouldn't buy this particular year again but another year...for under $100...heck yeah.

#8 - Scallops And Pâté With Chenin/Pinot/Sparkling


A name change happened last night. On Vino annoyed the hell out of me.

Food With Wine is oodles better because it's exactly what this is without using the word 'vino'.

Last night offered satisfying food with a mixed bag of wine. Sort of a small plates venture with both red and white cracked open to see what works with what.

Food: Scallops with Chestnut Sauce, Pâté, Mâche, Pomegranate Seeds, Baguette And French Butter

Four scallops per plate in a sauce made from butter, bacon, Cognac, chestnuts, butter and leeks with crisped sage on top.

Trader Joe's Pâté

Mâche with balsamic

Bowl of pomegranate seeds

Baguette with ridiculously overpriced-for-the-quality raw milk French butter (Irish butter is better for half the cost)

Great quality scallops from Whole Foods. Sauce turned out to be merely interesting with a fine flavor but lacked acid.

Wine: Three different ones

We wanted to go the simultaneous red and white route so we didn't have to commit to anything at one time. The food was a sort of "pick here, pick there" kind of spread.

2005 François Chidane Clos Habert Montlouis-sur-Loire - $20 Cleveland Cork And Beans (?)

François Chidane is a pretty well-known producer in the Montlouis-sur-Loire region that's located just below Vouvray. Clos Habert is his particular vineyard, one of eight different ones he works. Chidane makes wine the old-fashioned way, meaning he's certified organic because that's the way he and his father have always done it instead of trying to find an organic wine market niche and splash the fact all over the label and in the press.

Just like Vouvrays, this is 100% chenin blanc and it showed. The real question for me came with whether this wine was closing up or simply hadn't opened up yet. The chenin blanc characteristics were there with notes of wax, lanolin, honey and maybe a little ginger but the fruit didn't stand up and say, "hi." The structure felt a tad tenuous like it was about to fall apart with very little acid. Mrs. Ney hit it on the head, comparing it to a watered-down dessert wine.

With virtually no acid in the scallop sauce, we changed up with the white and went with...

NV Albero Sparking White - $4.99 Trader Joe's

And it worked! It was a Asian fruit explosion. This one's a very serviceable cheap Spanish sparkler from Trader Joe's that we usually always have on hand. Usually a tad yeasty with simple fruit, paired with the scallops and sauce, it was an Asian fruit meld of persimmon, star fruit and maybe lychee. I'll make up an Asian fruit. It was like a mixture of a slightly creamy white fruit with red flecks offering an exotic citrus. Pretty great and certainly made the Albero better than it ever has been.

2007 Edna Valley Pinot Noir - $18 Trader Joe's

Another Trader Joe's offering from San Luis Obispo, a place that we can't recall ever drinking a wine from before.

Simple, simple, simple pinot noir that is not without its merits. Very straight-forward that was workable with the pâté. Better on its own and oddly clashed with the pomegranate seeds, something that never seems to happen with Oregon pinots.

For $18, you can do better. We thought $14 was the most we would pay and that would be in a pinch. You hope for a wine to play above its price point and this one just doesn't.

That said, there was nothing offensive about it, even having some spikes of pleasantness with its cherry and plum fruits ending with a slight cinnamon finish. Became more simple as time passed.

Pairing: Mixed bag

Albero and its hefty $4.99 price tag was the star. We'll try another Chidane and drink it younger or hold it for a few years just to see. It might be one of those wines that close down for a bit only to open up later. Edna Valley would be a nice by-itself afternoon wine if not for the price.

But with "pick here, pick there" meals, it's fun to play around with different pairings, especially with a meal offering all the major flavor elements. But it was another example of how acid plays such an important part in pairings.


Friday, November 27, 2009

#7 - Clean Out The Fridge Chicken & '06 Neumayer GV

Pre-family Thanksgiving trip meal coupled with the third Austrian wine drank this month.

We don't usually drink this much Austrian wine. Or eat this much chicken, really.

Given the task of contributing to this year's family dinner, the vile concoction of seven-layer salad took up a lot of room in the refrigerator.

I had one bite of seven-layer salad. That was enough. But no Ney family gathering is apparently is complete without it. Mayo, cheese, bacon, peas, green pepper, iceberg and onion. Why?

So it was "clean out the fridge" day to make some room for said salad to let those flavor "marry" overnight. Ugh.

Food: Tarragon Mustard Chicken Breasts with Baby Potatoes, Leeks and Asparagus

A very French-inspired meal that is a bit of a spring/summer staple in the Ney house usually accompanied with something from the Loire.

Herby chicken crusted with Anton Kozlik tarragon mustard picked up in Toronto. It's an institution in Toronto from what we hear. Didn't know that when we bought it and five other flavors. I will say that they're quite good and worth trying (maple is ridiculously good with ham sandwiches) while being infinitely better than the hype surrounding Cleveland's Stadium mustard.

Baby potatoes with tarragon mayo for dipping, sautéed leeks and asparagus spears.

Wine: 2006 Neumayer Grüner Veltliner Zwirch - $15 Wine Discount Center

Pretty straightforward. Loads of green apple and a bit of lemon with food-friendly acidity.

If blindfolded, it would be tough to pin down as to location and varietal. Might be an odd Spanish but not enough lime. Might be a Sancerre but not Frenchy enough. I think I could have eventually gone to Grüner, but merely as a possibility but would have never been able to peg it.

Tasting notes on this one talk about chalk and mineral with tarragon and mint. Certainly some chalk and mineral, I guess, but as for the tarragon and mint, it's a wine that shows the overall profile of being able to display those herbs but never gets there. Could be me because only in very rare circumstances do I get things of that sort in a white.

After saying that, it's a fine little wine for $15. One of those wines that you wouldn't pay above $20 but, in my fairly limited Grüner experience, it's worth it.

Best way to describe it would possibly be a Spanish white aspiring for a French delicacy.

Pairing: Nothing wrong with that

It wasn't going to clash. It's chicken and a not overly dry white wine.

Some surprises showed up, though. The wine became more citrusy with the tarragon mustard and tarragon mayo. Nothing in the meal was over the top with huge, bold flavors. It was more nicely subtle as it was supposed to be. And the wine had a finesse. Maybe not elegant but definitely had finesse.

In other words, a pleasant, food-friendly white for $15 to go with a better than expected, clean-out-the-fridge chicken.



Other another note, in the effort to keep a thorough record, I need to mention another meal that was too long ago (five days) to get into details. Simply don't remember all the info.

But a green bean stir fry with pork pot stickers paired with the wine mentioned below was above all expectation.

2006 Spreitzer Riesling Kabinett Rheingau Oestricher Lenchen - $20-ish WDC

A tad more sweet than the Grüner Veltliner above but not a sweet German riesling. Apple again but great background tropical fruits and acidity with a wonderful balance.

We'll be buying more.

Like Austrian wine labels, German wine terms confuse me all to hell. So...

Terms:

Kabinett - light style, naturally semi-sweet, lowest level of ripeness, lower alcohol, refreshing
Rheingau - oldest wine region near the Rhine. Small area with many top producers
Oestricher Lenchen - vineyard name

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

#6 - Wine Can Duck & '06 Archery Summit Premier Cuvée

We'll get over the wine can fascination at some point but, for right now, it's quite delicious.

Little in this world is better than well-prepared, medium-rare duck. Along with PB & Js and watching the Cubs lose, it will never get old.

Well-done duck in any form, I can take or leave. But when Aldi has whole ducks for $12 and the wine can world so recently opened itself up to us, Mrs. Ney pounced on the occasion to give it a go.

With the possibility of this being a colossal failure, though, we had multiple back-up plans.

The alternatives were not needed. Wine can duck works.

Food: Wine Can Duck with Farro and Shaved Brussels Sprouts

Duck done with white wine and the usual herbal compliment.

Farro with chestnuts and shallots, nutmeg and thyme. Chestnuts to simulate the deliciousness that comes with farro and mushrooms without the mushrooms.

Shaved Brussels sprouts sautéed in bacon fat and mixed with bacon and Parmigiano-Reggiano.

Pomegranate seeds sprinkled over the entire plate.

Duck = great. If $12 Aldi duck presents itself again, it would be an option. Whole duck elsewhere is probably too expensive for what you would get, but the light glaze based in cherry jam made it taste greater than the sum of its parts. Avec had a shaved Brussels sprout small plate on the menu this summer that made us return to Brussels sprouts. But this preparation was the best I've ever had. Pomegranate seeds brought a brightness for me that elevated everything.

Overall, while Mrs. Ney was marginally pessimistic about the venture, it turned out to be a pretty great meal.

Wine: 2006 Archery Summit Premier Cuvée - $35 Binny's

Sourced from four different vineyards, the premier cuvée is essentially the house wine from one of Oregon's best producers, the cheaper non-single-vineyard wine from grapes that didn't make the single-vineyard cut.

We had this wine before, Mrs. Ney loved it and I was confused by it. I seem to remember this being a darker wine with spice, orange peel and earth flying around everywhere (probably melding it in my brain with Ken Wright Savoya, another one I came to understand later). Mrs. Ney remembered an elegance that came with soft cherry and nice acidity.

Mrs. Ney's recollection was right on. Lighter red in the glass, it had a soft purity of fruit that intermingled with a touch of spice and a graceful acidity. Had a spine that didn't demand attention. Burgundian might be a good descriptor but had a cleanness of New World pinot noir.

It evolved nicely with the food, going from the definition of a pleasant softness with lightly acidic cherry to some Asian (?) spice with more acidity to a tad tart toward the end over the course of an hour.

Alone, after the meal, a lot of forest floor. Nothing great.

Pairing: Well Above Average

Would certainly do it again. With the duck, everything was in line if not sublime. Played like pinot noir properly should with duck without offering any real surprises. Not a bad thing. Duck and pinot noir is the ultimate food and wine match in so many ways.

Oddly, the Brussels sprouts with bacon and parmesan made for the best pairing. The wine's fruit exploded followed by an acidity that made the wine's finish gone on much longer than any other food. Seemed like the pomegranate seeds brought out different red fruits outside of the usual cherry. Slightly sweet berry?

With roast duck, no red pairing is really out of bounds. Adding a touch of chocolate to the glaze would probably have made for a wonderful Bordeaux pairing. Herb it up a bit more and a Chateauneuf-Du-Pape might have been nice.

We went a tad traditional and it was entirely enjoyable.

Thursday, November 19, 2009

#5 - Wine Can Chicken & '96 Heredia White


If you haven't tried a R. López de Heredia wine, do so.

It's the benchmark for old-style Rioja. The winery only releases their wines when they think they're ready to drink so they typically don't hit the market until ten years after the vintage. Just three years ago, they finally released their 1981 Bosconia red. It's what they do.

Their reds are easily in the top three of our favorite wines and the whites aren't too far behind.

About a year ago, we got our hands on three of their '78 Heredia Bosconias at a ridiculously cheap price and I can still remember every sip. All dried cherry, liquid mushroom and dust that dramatically changed every 15 minutes. Great stuff.

Their whites are made from the Viura grape (Macabeo by another name) and are all honey and nuts with the fruit playing second fiddle (dried pear, dried apple?). Dry with medium to low acidity. Kinda like sherry. Reminiscent of a Savennières in a lot of ways in that both are unlike any other white wine you've ever had. They're both wonderfully perplexing in a pretty great way.

Food: Wine Can Chicken with Saffron Risotto

Our third wine can chicken in three weeks because it's delicious. Honey and Rosemary jam glaze served on mâche with saffron risotto.

The glaze was more subtle this time, which was probably a good thing with the wine. Best of the three WCCs so far.

Saffron risotto was an ideal match with the wine.

Wine: 1996 Robert López de Heredia Viña Gravonia - $23 Wine Discount Center

It's cheap, delicious and, if you haven't had it, unlike anything you've ever had.

Like I said, Heredia is what old-style Rioja is all about. As Spain gravitated toward bigger wines with more extracted fruit to satisfy the world market, Heredia held firm to its roots. They've been making the same style wine since its inception and the Spanish wine world is just now starting to come back to the Heredia style. Or at least to the point of understanding and respecting the virtues of it.

Eric Asimov of the New York Times Pour Blog can tell the story better than I can.

Some info:

The single vineyards:

Tondonia - predominantly red - in the Burgundy style, softer, lighter - some white in a tiny corner

Bosconia - red - tend to be a bit bigger, more fruit forward

The bottle shape was a mixup at the winery years ago, according to Asimov. They wanted Tondonia in Burgundy bottles and Bosconia in Bordeaux, someone screwed it up and they just stuck with it.

Gravonia - vineyard, white wine

Crianza - a wine that has spent one year in oak barrels

Reserva - a wine that has been aged for two years, one of which has to be in oak

Gran Reserva - a wine aged two years in oak and three years in the bottle

Pairing: Always good with Spanish-style white meat, spectacular with anything saffron

For the first time, it took a bit for the dust to blow off on this wine. Five minutes maybe. After it did, all the honey and nuts came through. Fruit was a little more dried than the last time we had this. As with most good Spanish wine, it pairs perfectly with any food Spanish-influenced.

The saffron risotto pairing was perfect, just sublime. The chicken was right behind it. Mrs. Ney found an explosive mulchy note that kicked up with the oil-cured black olives spread over the top and in the risotto.

It seems that, quite possibly, the '96 might be winding down. Something almost tobacco-y about it. Seemed to lose some of the structure it previously had and it was a tad hollow on its own. Still worth every minute and the changes were barely perceptible but it seemed to be closing up to me. Better than 95% of the white wine out there, though, in my world.

1999s are still out there at the same cheap price.

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

#4 - Lamb & '04 Bodegas Astrales + Something Else


Let me tell you about homemade Limoncello.

It's...a process.

In my brief foray into the homemade Limoncello field, it's always been better than store-bought Caravella brand, but, as I said, it's a process (is this the place I grossly and quite drunkenly misspell things? Me thinks so.).

Too much homemade Limoncello. I do not recommend it.

Onto the meal.

Food: Maple-coffee-soy marinated lamb with fingerling (?) potatoes, snap peas and the largest blackberries you ever saw

Whole Foods lamb which, honestly, was uncharacteristically a little fatty/expensive but good with Harvest Time gigantic blackberries and what I suspect was fingerling potatoes. I don't know. I didn't ask Mrs. Ney. Speaking of Mrs. Ney, she took the coffee-soy marinade, boiled it and whipped up a coffee-soy mayonnaise for potato dipping.

Delicious.

Wine: 2004 Bodegas Astrales Ribera Del Duero - $44 Wine Discount Center

Ribera wines tend to be a bit bigger than Spanish Rioja wines, more dark purple, emphasizing blacker fruits compared to Rioja with a tinge of wildness involved. Essentially, Ribera fits a well-crafted niche, crafting wines bursting with concentrated blackberry and darkish fruits with more coffee notes than most and an earthy background without ever approaching the French-style obvious earthiness.

We have a decent amount of experience with Ribera wines and what you get is typically a wild wine, something resembling a horse-bucking journey. They always stay rather firm with the food in front of you, never deviating from what it's supposed to be but it's the subtle changes, especially with the meat itself, that draw you in.

Put an aggressive crust and marinade on any red meat and Ribera will treat you well. It hits all the same notes that good Portuguese wines tend to (cigar, spice box, licorice) while holding firm to its black fruit roots.

We decanted the last Astrales we had and it could have used it. After 30 minutes, it started to display a beautiful character that made me lament the lack of this decanting.

Why no decanting? Well, we started with a 2006 Blue Eyed Boy Shiraz that was probably cooked. No nuance whatsoever. At least nowhere near the nuance we remember from this wine, which was huge, bright, juicy and wonderful black fruits which sailed on forever. Humongous finish, usually, reminiscent of homemade blackberry jam. Didn't happen this time. It was flat.

Astrales will always be a favorite. I would love to put one aside for a few years and see what happens. Better yet, I would love to try this wine as it leaps toward a graceful death.


Pairing: With time, it was wonderful.

Bodegas Astrales is what Ribera Del Duero wine is all about. At least given the scope of the ones we've had. There's always something enigmatic about it. You get/understand the primary flavors but...there's something there. Something earthy without screaming earth. Something like bush ("That's what she said!") and the briary elements you get from Rhone wines but not so...Rhone-ish...without a trace of red fruits to be found. ALL. BLACK.

In the end, it tasted wild/untamed but let the food play with it in spite of itself.

After the meal, with a little left in the glass, it was all licorice, a great finish to a nice meal.

Too bad I topped it off with homemade Limoncello. I'm already scheduling a headache for tomorrow.

#3 - Indie Café & '06 Gross Sauvignon Blanc Sulz


Monday night is our Friday night in the Ney household.

Quick and good Monday dinner options are sparse in the city but there's a few we like.

Kuma's is always on the table. We're fans of Semiramis. Avec always gets the seasonal visit and Blackbird, our favorite restaurant, is made that much better by being open on Monday.

But one of the best values in the city on any day is Indie Café on Broadway, just south of Granville: Criminally cheap, nice atmosphere, pleasant staff, fresh ingredients and clean, well-prepared food.

It's Japanese and Thai, something you think would suffer from trying to be all things to all people but never does. It's a universal North Side favorite.

Pairing wine with sushi can be mildly difficult, mostly because you never know which direction you're going to go in until you get there. But some basic rules apply.

At its most basic, white wine is the norm, but a nice case could be made for rosés and a fruity sparkling. You want something dry or off-dry with a nice crispness and something that brings acidity and nice, bright citrus fruits to the party.

Riesling and Grüner Veltliner are the typically recommended selections. An Albariño would be nice - though I've never tried it with sushi - and Italian whites, especially often-neglected Southern Italian varietals like Falanghina and Greco would probably be great (haven't tried those either with sushi). In the end, delicate whites are going to get gobbled up so bring something with a spine that's not Chardonnay. Don't even let red enter the discussion.

We went with an Austrian Sauvignon Blanc just for poops and cackles.


Food: Rangoon, Wonton, Tuna, Duck and Salmon

Crab Rangoon
Chicken Wonton Crisps
"Mexico City" Maki - Tuna, whitefish, cucumber, avocado, jalapeño, chili, tempura...
Hawaiian Duck Curry
Ginger Salmon with soy sauce and scallion

Usually, we go a bit more in the raw vegetable vein at Indie with more dishes ordered as well. Essentially, we ordered what we wanted to eat, pairing be damned.

I finished it off with green tea ice cream, of which I could eat a bucket. Just leave me alone in the corner with an entire bucket. Don't bother me. And I don't even really like green tea.


Wine: 2006 Gross Sauvignon Blanc Sulz - $11 Wine Discount Center

We never had an Austrian Sauvignon Blanc before and figured what the hell. They're a bit rare.

By itself, it has the typical grassy notes you get from a Sauvignon Blanc but with a little more delicacy found in a New World style. Kinda between a New Zealand and a Sancerre in weight and intensity but with a pleasant oily finish, a cross between olive oil and motor oil. Light herbs in the background with a fruit note that was probably honeydew and grapefruit (I don't know) with enough acidity. Nothing spectacular outside of a nice change of pace.

Pairing: Fair to middling, leaning towards bad

Interesting with the maki, oddly intriguing yet short with rice and curry. No on the duck and hell no with soy sauce. Fine with the crab rangoon and the best with the chicken wonton.

Bit of a mishmash but the unique oily quality was marginally worth the trip.

Wouldn't do it again.

Thursday, November 12, 2009

#2 - Church Cookbook Chicken Lasagna & '08 Castle Rock Pinot Noir


Now for our first installment of pairing terrible food with cheap wine.

Church Cookbook Weekly died a quick death over at the BRE but one recipe still had to be made.

Food: Chicken Lasagna

Barely lasagna as the only thing included that also is included in actual lasagna is lasagna noodles, it's basically a garbage casserole. Chicken, cheddar cheese, stuffing (?), a can of cream of chicken soup and paprika. Notice. Tomatoes in any form are not included.

Thursday is quick-and-easy food night. It's our Monday in the Ney household. But it was nice out and the Bears were on (it affects business, not because I wanted to watch the putrid performance) so I took the night off.

We wandered through a few pairing ideas (cheap Italian, value Burgundy) before coming to the time-honored understanding that you can't put lipstick on a pig. Food that we'll most likely regret after putting it in our mouths should be paired with wine in the same price realm.

So...

Wine: 2008 Castle Rock Pinot Noir Willamette Valley - $12 Trader Joe's

Castle Rock Winery makes basically every varietal wine all over the West Coast with Trader Joe's being one of their biggest retailers. They target the low-end price point, try to bring value and largely succeed in that. On Vino plans to a Trader Joe's value wine feature soon.

On the nose, I got pumpernickel. Never got that so obviously before in a wine. Fruit comes off as what you would expect from a lower-end Willamette Valley Pinot Noir - darker cherry and a bit of red raspberry with a little cinnamon and something approaching a floral note. No surprises.

But with this wine, it's in what you didn't get for the price. No odd greenish, stemmy quality, no medicinal note and no screwed-up tannins, fulfilling the basic definition of a value Oregon Pinot Noir. You could easily do worse.

Pairing: Meh

But it wasn't the wine's fault. Church Cookbook Chicken Lasagna has shut the door on our brief dalliance with canned soup for kitsch purposes. I feel like crap right now.

Essentially, we settled on Pinot Noir because of the stuffing, consulting an excellent basic pairing guide given by WineSense that details what wine grape pairs with things like herbs, meat, cheese, etc.. It's valuable as a nice starting point. Check it out. Sage with pinot noir? Stuffing? (?) No tomatoes? Sure, why not?

While we recognized the low acidity level in the lasagna from the recipe, the finished product offered no acid at all, making the pairing dead on arrival.

But there was some interplay. An herbal note kicked up in the wine from the stuffing and the food did negate a slight syrupy quality that we got from the wine on its own. Also, anything heavier would have been just awful.

Lesson: If you're going to have terrible food and are going to drink wine - be mindful of body, try to match herbs and for all that is holy, don't spend.

Better yet, just avoid terrible food.

#1 - Wine Can Chicken & '99 Prager


Food: Wine Can Chicken

Quickly making its way into our rotation, Wine Can Chicken is simple. Take a soda can (I think I've made the transition from 'pop' to 'soda.' Got sick of the looks.) and fill it 2/3 of the way with a decent, cheap white wine and fill the rest with whatever herbs you want/have within reach.

Mrs. Ney used herbs de Provence, more rosemary, lemongrass and orange blossom water if I recall correctly.

Stick the can up the chicken's rear, prop it upright so it looks like it might come alive and stick it in the oven.

The glaze for the chicken was Asian-ish since Riesling pairs so well with such things, comprised of a soy sauce, hoisin, ginger beer reduction with salt.

All of it was served on mâche with baguette and butter.

Wine: 1999 Prager Riesling Weissenkirchen Smaragd Steinreigl - $16 Wine Discount Center

Why so cheap for a '99 Austrian Riesling from a good house? Probably because most of the reviews for the bottle consider it to be past its drinking window.

Robert Parker of Wine Advocate:

The 1999 Riesling Smaragd Weißenkirchen Steinriegl has a mineral-dominated nose. This medium-bodied, silky-textured and tangy wine is redolent with lemony minerals,quinine, and flowers. This admirably balanced wine should be consumed the next 7-9 years.
Other places on these internets had it for upwards of $45 so we figured why not? We've had this 2005 before and loved it.

Here's what the terms on the bottle mean purely for the purpose of forcing me to learn this stuff:

Wachau: Highly-respected Austrian region known for its Rieslings and Grüners

Smaragd: Wachau-specific designation. Has to do with when the grapes can be picked, when the wine can be released and has the highest alcohol level (> 12.5%), low sugar level, typically the richest and driest (compared to Federspiel with an alcohol level between 11.5 & 12.5% and Steinfeder below that). Order = Steinfeder (light, racy), Federspiel (elegant, medium-bodied) and Smaragd (ripe, full-bodied)

Steinriegl: Particular vineyard/area

Weissenkirchen: City near Steinriegl

By golly, that seems excessively complicated. Here's a pretty good primer.

Pairing: It worked quite well

I don't have oodles of experience with being able to immediately recognize with complete authority whether a wine is past its prime, but the fruit was drying out, almost completely there.

But there was still a liveliness to this wine, especially when the salt came to the party, bringing out it's acidity. What I saw as hints of smoke and nuts, Mrs. Ney saw as a butterscotchy element (she has an infinitely better palate than me). Dried peaches and a little spice with a tiny floral note (?) as well.

Oddly, it paired best with the baguette and butter, making me think if it would be best drank as a pre-dinner aperitif kinda thingy with a lil snack.

In the end, though, the wine didn't conflict at all, stood up to everything and brought an pleasing element to the table. Reminded me of the Robert Lopez de Heredia whites not in its flavor profile but in what brings to a pairing - a dried element that is expressed first in its fruit and secondary flavors and it's style second. Wasn't bone-dry, rather something approaching off-dry (?) and everything was still rather focused. Deep yellow in the glass that resembled urine.

We just bought four more bottles to watch this one die a nice death.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

The Reason


No reason, really.

Mostly, we at the Ney household have tried a wine and food log probably five times. Never stuck. So this is an exercise attempting to catalogue things in an easily searchable format, something I can quickly whip out in the morning after waking up while last night's meal is still fresh in the melon.

I'm 37, bald as all get out, wait tables and really like wine.

I'm under no illusion that anybody else will care but, if you happen to, well, like the structure of the NBA playoffs, everyone's a winner!

Some background. I'm nowhere close to an expert. I've been around wine in the restaurant business, watching people chew, for 13 years now but I only became what would be considered seriously into it five years ago. Sure, I know my grapes, where they're from, what I like, what I tolerate and what I pretty much hate.

There's a saying in golf that applies. If you're a bogey golfer, you're better than 85% of the golfers out there. But that doesn't mean you're a good golfer. Everything's relative. When it comes to knowing wine, I would conservatively say that I merely have a pretty solid baseline.

This will be an attempt to actually track a gloriously wonderful process and joy: Food and wine. What worked. What didn't. What could have worked if.... And what had no chance in hell of working ever in the history of history.

I can't tell you my favorite wine. Probably depends on the food. Plus, I don't think I can say with any degree of certainty what that one bottle is. Still working on that.

Right now, overall, it trends toward French. Loire with a Chenin Blanc bent, Right Bank Bordeaux but...Spanish always, Portuguese Douro table wine (Quinta do Vale Meao, still chasing the 2007 Duorum Reserva), Oregon Pinot Noir (Ponzi, Ken Wright) and a new jag that we're only now discovering is quasi-cult California Syrah (Sanguis).

So...we'll see. Might be fun. Who knows? I can learn, pass it along, maybe you'll be compelled and you can teach me things.

In it's basic form, wine is good. And good wine is freakin' transcendent!

Why not write about it?

First up: Wine Can Chicken! with mâche and baguette with a 1999 Prager Smaragd Steinreigl Riesling.

Wine Can Chicken is quickly becoming a staple in the Ney household. Because it's delicious. All that gobbledygook after Prager I knew for about two weeks two years ago and promptly forgot the meanings behind it. All I remember is that it's an Austrian Riesling in the dry style and we got a great deal on it at Wine Discount Center on Elston for $15.99 a bottle.

First report tomorrow.