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.