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.

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