Pissaladière With 2007 Didier Dagueneau Silex

My favorite wine?

This.

I know you didn't ask.

It is, though.

Not necessarily this vintage, just this wine. It's magic. Pure magic.

2007 was the last vintage Didier Dagueneau took to the end. He died in a small plane crash in September of 2008. His son, Louis-Benjamin, took over and, at only 34 years old, the domaine seems to be in great hands for a long, long time. The 2009 was more magic at Etxebarri a couple of years ago.

Rustic French pissaladière and arugula-tomato salad to pair with the 2007, we felt, would have garnered a nod of approval from Didier. The result was stunning deliciousness overall and a wine that simply couldn't be summed up with a few descriptors.

Pissaladière of a bucket of onions cooked in Muscadet, garlic, olive oil, lemon thyme and white pepper, then mixed with anchovies and black olives and thrown on top of Syrian sesame bread. It's a house favorite and every time we've had it, we wonder why the hell we aren't eating this twice a month (and how the hell I never did a full write-up on it stumps me).

Silex is the benchmark of sauvignon blanc, yet it's unlike any sauvignon blanc on the planet. And the 2007 Didier Dagueneau Silex Pouilly-Fumé ($140 - Flickinger) is still pumping along, showing zero gray hairs, drinking so utterly sparkly and beautiful we could barely stand it. Some descriptors, I guess, though it won't tell the story: gooseberries, dark-dark-dark minerals (so much liquid rock it made my mouth sweat), garden notes (like sucking on tomato vines), creamy slate, more dark minerals, teeny-tiny citrus perk here and there, maybe asparagus, explosive but focused, never heavy but good heft, clean, beautifully meandering, gave about 12 different flavors with each sip, in different orders, each with such precision, purity and unique angles that, once again, it jettisoned itself to the top of the list of the best wines we've had this year, with the nod going to the 2004 Two Hands Beautiful Stranger for Mrs. Ney and this Silex for me.

It was a pairing we couldn't have been more happy with. Nothing diminished in the least in the glass or with the pissaladìere. Both the food and the wine remained themselves perfectly, with enough interweaving to bring a boatload of pairing enjoyment.

Hot damn! This is a stunning wine!

Silex, Mas de Maha and Arnot-Roberts Trousseau. Geesh! Good wine week.

We're not counting Monday's dinner of (weird) shrimp escabèche and (delicious) Peruvian potato salad with a grilled stone fruit and lavender liqueur sparkling sangria that tasted as strange as it sounds.

Ropa Without the Vieja And Elotes With 2008 Villa Creek Mas de Maha

We thought we wanted ropa vieja and yuca fries last week with one of our favorite wines, particularly with said Cuban-y food.

In the end, once we were eating it, we found out we really wanted Mexican street corn and Mas de Maha with a side of ropa vieja.

That result was mainly because, oddly, the spring corn was so good with the queso fresco-herb-spice slather. And because Mariano's hanger steak got its third and last chance. It's barely acceptable. Has no depth! No grizzle! No anima! It's limp, tired beef that has no place in our house no matter how close Mariano's is to our abode now.

With the cumin and oregano from the beef marinade and cinnamon-led red and green pepper-onion-tomato business below it, we got enough in the way of goodness to drive the wine right into its sweet spot, which was all we really wanted.

Because Villa Creek Mas de Maha Paso Robles ($35 - Winery) is love in a bottle. Last year, I mused, as I tend to do, that Mas de Maha might lead the category of "if I could only have one American red for the rest of my life, this might be it." I said that because it would have to be (1) a wine that was fairly cheap, (2) probably a blend to catch the wide range of flavors we typically eat, (3) possess a grace, freshness and lift, and (4) not shirk from its duty with food. Since $25-and-under in the U.S. is a big, bloated mess of 'meh' with some exceptions, the $25 to $35 range is the happy place in the U.S. Not cheap, but not ridiculous either. Mas de Maha fills that bill, with such perfect New World tempranillo freshness supported by grenache, mourvèdre and carignan to give it some guts.

Showed virtually the same as last year. "Fresh upfront, more dirty, darker, deep, licorice-y and olive-y in the middle, with a cinnamon finish that jazzes up all of that without becoming too ridiculous. It's a wine that tastes like it knows what it's doing. Smooth tannins, pop and pour, perfect in every respect for our liking." This isn't ripe or sweet in the least. It's a savory, delicious wonder that takes its time to reveal all its layers. And while it's not the best red wine I've ever had, it IS a red wine I could drink every couple of weeks for the rest of my life and I don't think I'd grow tired of it.

Nice with the corn, but it strutted beautifully with a cinnamon-heavy pepper-onion bite. This was an example of a meal that might have made us angry due to the meat blah-ness, but Mas de Maha and good corn only made us think about the good things happening on the plate and in the glass.

Wild Boar Rillettes, Pickled Mustard Seeds And Baguette With 2012 Arnot-Roberts Trousseau

Monday lunch involved taking rillettes out of the freezer, slicing a baguette, putting arugula on a plate, and going to town. Easy.

Homemade wild boar-pork belly rillettes, last had with the Andrea Calek Blonde, pretty much destroyed the wine with its freshly-made brawniness a few months ago. Here, the rillettes had some time to mellow out, allowing the fat to ooze into every crevice and tame some of its bigger boar notes. We liked both versions, but this version allowed the wine to play a bigger part in enjoying the meal.

Slice of baguette, topped with a lil rillettes, then topped with pickled mustard seeds. Eat and repeat.

Arugula salad with pomegranate seeds for a break between bites and to finish. Don't need much more for a Monday lunch.

I thought the 2012 Arnot-Roberts Trousseau North Coast ($38 - Zachy's) was stretching our limits of ethereal enjoyment with Indian lamb and carrot salad a few months ago. Mrs. Ney took down the spice level in the food that time to give the trousseau a chance. Ended up being fine enough but wasn't the best showcase for this wine. With more toned-down flavors here and a slight chill on the wine, the wine stretched its legs a bit and took its time, showing pleasant floral notes, pretty earth and light raspberry fruit, with a touch of grip at the right times and a delicate structure that held together right to the end.

It played with the food quite nicely, making for a breezy lunch with perfect weight across the board.

Happy.        

Deconstructed Provence Herb Goat With Cornelissen Susucaru & 2009 Sella E Mosca Cannonau

"GOAT DAY!" followed by The Wines of Portugal tasting. We were shocked, shocked I tell you, that Quinta do Vale Meão AND Quinta do Vallado was in attendance at our favorite tasting of the year. Old friends in the bottle, as they say. Wait. Nobody really says that. Good time though.

But "GOAT DAY!" the day before, made for a deconstructed Provence herb explosion of flavors, served with our biggest wine surprise of the year in Frank Cornelissen's Susucaru 5 Rosato Etna ($35 - Red & White), and a wine with a French sensibility wearing an Italian suit in the Sella E Mosca Riserva Cannonau di Sardegna ($15 - Binny's).

Deconstructed in the sense that each element had varying levels of Provence herb representation in it.

Like this:

Barbacoa Short Rib Tacos With Hibiscus Tea Sangria

Extremely subtle flavors to start last night that surprisingly turned into juicy, deep deliciousness after the short rib shred cooled down a bit.

A Food & Wine recipe, short ribs dusted with salt and cumin, put into a roasting pan over a mirepoix and dried chiles, roasted for 3 1/2 hours, then seared and shredded.

The mirepoix-ancho business, with all the marrow and silk from the meat slopped over all it from the roasting, puréed to become the sauce.

Salsa verde cruda, an add-on recipe from the above link, for some green tomatillo happiness.

Pickled onions, swapping out fennel/mustard seeds for cumin seeds, so it would link up with this food (Michael Symon master pickled onion recipe).

Heavily charred tortillas, because that's what's good. Sour cream, cilantro, lime. And start building!

This approached the deliciousness of mahi mahi tacos, serving as a solid - if a bit spendy - alternative (Whole Foods short ribs ain't cheap). By the third taco for both of us, this hit a street food sweet spot, turning all meldy and balanced. Sorta loved them.

Served with Bobby Flay hibiscus tea sangria, a fine enough, dry, and medium-deep quaffer that almost lived up to how pretty it was in the glass. [The best use of Picton Bay sauvignon blanc we've found, Ms Simmons.]

To start a May mini-vacation, a pretty big success here, particularly since we thought it was a bit boring after the first bite.

Asian Bison, Momofuku Ginger-Ramp Sauce & Barley-Basil Business With 2013 Arnot-Roberts & Julia's Dazzle Rosés

A rosé throw-down made with REALLY non-indigenous grapes (or with grapes most people wouldn't think even existed in these AVA's...well...the Portuguese grapes actually have a long and somewhat forgotten history in California so...and sangiovese seems to really be catching on...OH, HELL, you get my drift!)

Arnot-Roberts uses touriga nacional and tinta cão from the Luchsinger Vineyard in the Clear Lake AVA for this rosé. Portuguese grapes from California gets a big 'yes' in our house every time. Sousão from Silvaspoons? C'mon! Where do I get that?

Julia's Dazzle, a joint project between Long Shadows owner Allen Shoup and winemaker Gilles Nicault, is 98% pinot grigio and a 2% splash of sangiovese, all from Horse Heaven Hills in Washington.

Served with Asian flavors toned down, to make sure it didn't scare the bejesus out of the wines.

And it worked...mostly. We got food and wine with opinions, which is all we ever really want.

Food: Asian bison flat-iron with Momofuku ginger-ramp sauce, cold barley-basil salad, and Asian blend greens

Lamb & Ramp Flatbread & Zucchini Fries With 2009 Tampesta Finca de los Vientos

Prieto picudo.

It's a grape that demonstrates yet again that anybody who says Spanish wine all taste the same doesn't know what the hell they're talking about.

This is our third wine from Tampesta. The rosado, also 100% prieto picudo, is cheap and all sorts of delicious. The Maneki Blanco - 100% albarín - was unfortunately corked.

Located in southern Léon, Tampesta is a joint venture between Noelia de Paz and Raul Pérez. Noelia makes the wine, Raul consults. Local grapes. Fresh wine expressions. A blend of old-style winemaking and modern techniques.

We've dabbled in the lower end of the spectrum of Tampesta wines and it's only made us want to climb the ladder to see just how good it can get.

A dinner of lamb sausages, ramps and manchego on Syrian sesame flatbread with Trader Joe's zucchini fries and a tomato mayo for dipping. Simple, solid, good dinner.

The wine made it better. The 2009 Tampesta Finca de los Vientos ($17 - Binny's) came off like a Vaucluse and a Portuguese red had a baby. Dark red and black fruity fruits, yet dry. Medium-bodied, yet long. Figs, pepper, licorice, earthy, nutty, and slightly toasty at times - all that without ever giving too much of any one thing. In other words, a balanced wine that masquerades as a table wine, only to show you so much more as you work your way down the bottle. And it's still young. Happy, proper, grown-up acid all over the place that never got in the way. The best sip was the last sip.

Tons of concentrated guts here, but it was always light on its feet and kept getting better.

Big fan.