Sunday, February 28, 2010

#43 - Lamb, Soba & Pumpkin With '05 Two Hands Shiraz


Australian shiraz has been getting a bad rap in the last few years.

The U.S. and British markets, areas that fueled the explosion of Australian wines in the late 90s and early aughts, have bottomed out in the worst sense of the word since then.

Most have blamed Yellow Tail for debasing the reputation of Australian wines. Some have pointed to their tendency for making over-extracted fruit bombs chockablock with a syrup-like consistency and oodles of heat.

And much of it comes down to the fact that many Australian wineries seemed to rest of their laurels, content with sitting back, making the same styled wine and wait for Robert Parker to wet his pants over them.

They seem to even be a victim of their own success in other ways. Unlike Bordeaux, Australia has had consistently solid weather of late, leading to, in the least, good vintages over the last 10-15 years, lulling some producers into a state of complacency, never having to get creative when trying to pump out a distinctive wine. Other small, idiosyncratic producers that saw early success were swallowed up by corporate wine companies when they were offered a deal they couldn't refuse.

With the market flooded with a glut of Australian wines done in the same style and made without distinction, American and British consumers seemed to treat it like they went through a faze, liking it enough at the time and then happily moved on; sort of like disco of the millennium age.

Couple that with some top producers churning out wildly overpriced wines with self-consciously quirky labels (I'm looking squarely at you, Mollydooker) and it was a recipe for disaster.

With all that said, we still have a big place in our heart for good shiraz. And with that said, last night's wine played well below its price point.

Food: Lamb, soba & pumpkin with arugula in walnut oil

Pretty good little Sunday night meal. Ground lamb (scraps from the butcher counter at Whole Foods) mixed in with a sort of stewish-like concoction of puréed pumpkin, tomatoes, onion and oil and then tossed in soba noodles. Simple arugula salad drizzled with walnut oil and balsamic.

Not particularly lamby, just a reminder here and there that lamb was involved. Every ingredient mixed well, rising it up to something that came across as very Moroccan.

Walnut oil, while a tad expensive for its fairly limited use, was absolutely delicious on the arugula. Perfect compliment to the bitterness of arugula.

Good stuff all around.

Wine: 2005 Two Hands Lily's Garden ($40 - Binny's)

An impulse buy a few years ago. I got suckered in by the Wine Spectator review tag (94 points). Say "open texture, anise and long, long finish" and I'm in hook, line and sinker even as I've been burned by that so many times.

In the glass, deep purple in the center, reddening out on the edges. Bright blend of darkish fruit on the nose with an herb and licorice background. Touch of oak. Right out of the bottle, it was gorgeous. Kept dramatically changing as it went from the front to the mid to the back palate. Tons of licorice and some subtle, yet very present heat. Like watered-down sage-blackberry jam. At this point, we had big hopes for this one.

Then it turned rather ordinary. It lost that delineation in short order while the oak monster reared its head. The initial glory rested in its traveling from the mid to the back palate, extending its finish with great new flavors (herb and Ouzo). That was gone with a little air. And the bright, sparkly fruit turned into a stewish element. Still a decent little wine worth about $20, but $40 (and that was with a 15% Binny's coupon), meh.

The Two Hands Lily's was at the beginning of its drinking window with just enough tannin and acidity to help it age but we won't be following it.


Pairing: Initially good stuff and then...not so much

With Australian wines making so many big fruit bombs (a tired term but apt), it seems many people put them in a box when it comes to pairing it with food. Big grilled meats gradually become the only proper pairing in peoples' minds.

But if the wine is taken down a notch in its fruit-bombiness and over-extraction, they can be quite versatile. Our personal favorite is with ostrich, but any dish open to bringing a little fruit to the party works. Just takes a bit more planning.

We were perfectly happy with this food and wine pairing given the Sunday nightness of it all, just sad the wine's complexity faded so quickly. The shiraz and soba noodles played great together. Quite good with the arugula, surprisingly.

I cleared the palate of food, thinking the tomatoes might have had an effect but it still trended toward a bit flat.

Australian shiraz can have such a beautifully lush and luxurious openness to it with sparkling dark fruit and spectacular secondary flavors if reined in a bit. This one started out with that promise and then checked out early.

C'est la vie.

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

#42 - Wine Can Chicken With '99 Savennières & '07 Jaume Grand Veneur White


Nice little haul yesterday from an impromptu wine-buying trip.

Randolph Wine Cellars, if you're in the area, is worth the time. Solid efforts are being made by them to get some interesting selections and good values.

Cellar Rat on North seems to be hanging in there as well.

Ten bottles total. Another vintage of the Kiràlyudvar Hungarian white I've been blathering about was available at Cellar Rat. And apparently, we're back into Loire as half of the bottles bought were just that.

And this Tuesday, a sort of Muscadet tasting is on the docket, consisting of four different bottles, all under $15, to be served with lemon-dill scallops.

I had a jones.

Anyway.

Food: Wine can chicken with pesto-ish potatoes and mâche

Juicy, juicy, juicy!

A more simple preparation this time with a basic salt-pepper-butter glaze. But Mrs. Ney put dried chamomile leaves in the juice in the bottom of the pan to create an aromatic to the entire thing and to match with the wine. Pan juice was strained and put on the side for delicious dipping.

Not-really-pesto potatoes. More like herbs, almonds (?), garlic and oil blended up and slathered on the potatoes. Healthy enough amount so that it ran into the greens in a great way.

What is this, the tenth time we've had wine can chicken since November? We have it because it's freakin' delicious and makes for a good starting point to pair with so many different wines.


Wine: 1999 Clos des Perrières Savennières ($20 - Cellar Rat) and 2007 Domaine Grand Veneur Reserve White ($17 - WDC)

The '99 Savennières was past the drinking window according to Wine Spectator (by far) and that was probably right being that it was a cheap one to begin with. But we didn't care. For $20 and ten years old, it was worth a try.

This was probably our third or fourth Savennières we've ever had. If you want something completely different and off the beaten path, try one. Made from chenin blanc, it's more dry and bigger than a Vouvray and tends to show a distinct almond, nutty overtone mixed with dried honey, big dried floral notes and a very pleasant basement quality. Extremely concentrated with a solid acidity. First time we had it we thought it was so very weird. And then we warmed up to it quite fast.

This particular one might have been past its window but we didn't care. Good stuff. Still some quality lemon peel going on with a solid almond character and a Ricola note. Not disjointed overall. Maybe fading and losing some of that concentration but it held up admirably. A cheap one but intriguing enough.

We cracked a second bottle that needed to be drunk very soon.

The Domaine Grand Veneur Reserve white is 50% rousanne, 40% viognier and 10% clairette, made by the same guy (Alain Jaume) that bottles the "Les Champauvins" and the Lirac reds that we've had before. Both of those were fine enough Rhônes for their price point if not exactly great.

This white followed the same path. Had that white peach and minerality that comes with decent Rhône whites. I got cantaloupe right now. Nothing wrong with it overall, just nothing that popped or had that something extra. Might have been better on a hot summer day as it was still fresh and a tad zingy.


Pairing: Nice little improv dinner

When it came to the pairing, everything stayed in its lane. All the flavors added to the food were expressly done to compliment the Savennières.

That should always make for a good meal and a sound pairing. And it did. Very matchy-matchy.

But since we knew absolutely nothing about the Savennières and it was a cheaper one, that seemed prudent and made for maybe merely a good pairing, if not resplendent.

Nothing wrong with it at all, though.

#41 - Mado With '07 Pingus PSI & '05 Királyudvar


Third time's a charm, I guess.

We've set reservations for Mado twice since September and both times one of us was sick.

But we finally made it back last night.

The guy that owns this place was the chef of the group that took over the Pottery Barn of a restaurant that I used to work at in Lincoln Square and boy, can the guy cook.

It's farm-to-table, all local products, all made in-house and it's just plain delicious.

This was our fourth time (?) and it was par for the course.

Food: Mado

Appetizers:

Chartuterie plate of chicken liver paté, country paté and copa with bread, mustard and pickled fennel

Farm Fresh Egg Bruschetta

Braised fennel with saffron aioli

Brandade with grilled bread

Entrées:

Rainbow trout with arugula and pine nuts

Pig's head meatball stew with chickpeas and kale

Dessert (to-go):

Pistachio shortbreadish-type cake

Dark chocolate bark

$115 and we were both bursting at the seams. Always a great meal.


Food: 2007 Pingus PSI ($32 - Binny's) and 2005 Királyudvar Tokaji Sec ($20 - Berkeley Wine Co.)

Before with Mado, I think I recommended a lighter red. We did not follow such advice.

The Pingus PSI is the new, third-tier offering from Peter Sisseck, the guy that burst on the scene in 1995 with his cult Ribera del Duero offering, Pingus.

In 1996, Sisseck made 325 cases of Pingus at a release price of $200 a bottle. Parker went nuts over it, calling it "one of the greatest and most exciting wines I've ever tasted." A ship carrying 75 of the cases sank in the Atlantic right around the time Parker released his tasting notes and demand in conjunction with the ship-sinking story went through the roof.

For example, the 2006 was released at $750 a bottle.

It's pretty much the über-cult wine of the last decade or so.

But this is the third-tier wine at a very reasonable $32 while the 2007 is the first offering of this label. The second-tier label, Flor de Pingus, has been made since the beginning and usually runs about $75. We have the 2006 but it still needs some time.

Dark crimson in the glass, wild brush and fruit on the nose, this one got better with a little air pretty quick. All the hallmark flavors of Ribera were there. Sort of wild and bucking, tasted like buttered toast dizzled with blackberry juice and slathered in dirt and tree bark with a wee hint of a creamy vanilla (?) element. A bit tight. Even one year would make it more welcoming. For $32, we'll be buying it again just to see what happens.

The Királyudvar has been covered before here at Food With Wine. It's currently our favorite white wine. So many layers, so versatile with food.

Great floral and mineral background to support its exotic fruit profile, fruits that constantly change and are always in balance. Less lemon this time for me and more something like kiwi mixed with guava mixed with a dash of honey. Still some great orange overtones as well.

If you can find it, get it. Wine Discount Center doesn't have it anymore but Randolph Wine Cellars has it listed on their website.


Pairing: Not great but very good

With the chicken liver paté, the white tasted like a dirty gym sock. And the red wasn't much better.

Overall though, there were highlights. The Pingus PSI pairs almost flawlessly with the pig's head stew and the copa in a weirdly gnarly way. The Királyudvar helped the braised fennel and saffron aioli, the brandade and the trout, though it wasn't spectacular.

Oddly, the egg and bruschetta was quite good with the Pingus. Something about the heavy char on the bread made it work.

On the whole, we were happy, even if nothing made for an experience that was supremely greater than the sum of its parts.

And check that "lighter red" advice at the door. In the winter, the chef gets a bit more comfort foody and things will be fine if you bring it up a bit.

Except for an Australian shiraz. Maybe not that.

In fact, that would be terrible. Or would it?

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

#40 - Sunday Gravy With '05 Nero d'Avola


Sunday gravy is a sort of Italian/Italian-American hybrid.

The conventional story behind its creation is the combination of all the leftover meat from the week's meals thrown into a tomato sauce and stewed for a few hours.

It goes by 12,000 different names. In our house, it's called Sunday Gravy because two years ago, within the span of a few days, Mrs. Ney saw/read a chef talk about it and within a few days, Cook's Illustrated had a recipe for it, both calling it Sunday Gravy. It was one of those weird convergent moments when you hear about something you've never heard of/heard heard about for years and you hear it twice within the span of a few days. So we tried it. And it was delicious.

Like meat and meat with a side of meat.

Food: Sunday Gravy consisting of ribs, meatballs and spicy Italian sausage stewed in tomato sauce

In the meat competition, the baby back ribs won out. Succulent and well...meaty. I'm not a rib guy but these were some good ribs. Homemade meatballs that fell apart a bit but were still solid. Kinda served as the backbone of the meatfest, filling in the gaps here and there. The Whole Foods sausages were below average, having a sawdust quality (that's twice we've been burned by Whole Foods sausage - we live and you learn, people).

The recipe used was this one almost verbatim.

San Marzano tomatoes negates any use for tomato paste and has a tendency to ruin the brightness that comes from the best tomatoes on the planet.

With three hour stew time, the entire concoction, while a bit coma-inducing, is and was delicious.

Typically served over pasta, we opted for homemade garlic spread on Pugliese bread. It was a wise choice as the garlic bread was probably the best part of the meal, dipping it in the stew and sopping up the sauce. Great stuff. Just really great stuff.


Wine: 2005 Nerojbleo Nero d'Avola Gulfi ($18 Binny's ?)

This is the fourth time we've had this wine and it's been different each time.

A couple of years ago at Cellar Rat on North, we had a tasting of it. It was like drinking the juice of herbed and grilled meat. The finish stuck with me for hours. Just glorious.

We bought a bottle right after that, trying it a few weeks later and couldn't replicate the experience. In fact, it was pretty ordinary. Did it again a few months later with the same result.

Figuring the wine was probably open at Cellar Rat for a day or so, we tried a three-hour decant last night and it started to approach the first experience.

Dark red in the glass. Almost black in the center. Big basket of freshly-picked raspberries and cherries on the nose - stems, leaves, earth and all. Tar, black cherry, a hint of grilled meat with a nice herbs de Provence background on the palate. Medium finish, slightly bitter. Softer tannins.

A solid nero d'avola, better than the Cusumano/Regaleali/Colosi world but short of the reserve-level stuff I've had through work.

Plays perfectly for its price point and maybe a little above. A clean, slightly bitter wine right out of the bottle. A much more complex wine after three hours. I would be interested to see what a six-hour decant or even what two days open would do.

For $18, good stuff. I've always been a fan of the simplicity of the Cusumano, its versatility with food and its heft and spice you got from the $12 price point. But for $6 more, the Nerojbleo is infinitely more complex.

Nero d'Avola seems to be getting the respect it deserves recently. Almost dead just a couple of decades ago and then only almost exclusively used in blendings to give body to a wine, it's worth trying, is still inexpensive for the most part and pairs perfectly with grilled meats and/or more rustic Italian fare. Like a Shiraz without the flashy fruit.

Pairing: Yeah, that'll work

It was going to be a good pairing if the Nerojbleo started to wander out of its touch of bitterness and into the meaty quality we first experienced and it did.

I am the furtherest thing from an Italian freak, both food and wine. I think it tends to be overrated, a lot of bluster, chest-heaving and sound and fury in my world for the most part for food that just doesn't warrant that much hagiography.

But Italian food with Italian wine works for a reason. Like French wine and food, the Italian cuisine evolved in lockstep with the wine over hundreds of years. There's a harmony that can't be forced or manufactured.

Last night was no different. The food made the wine more supple and graceful while the wine brought out more meaty goodness from the meat extravaganza.

Thursday, February 18, 2010

#39 - Tuna Niçoise With '99 Prager


It was hard to follow what was probably the best meal of our lives two nights ago.

But we did just fine.

Last night's meal was a return to the wine from the very first post here at Food With Wine.

And tuna niçoise is a Ney family favorite that was long overdue.

The Prager came off a bit different this time. Less dying fruit, more relative zip.

Could have been the soy sauce in the wine can chicken glaze from the first meal. We've had some odd (read: awful) experiences with soy sauce and white wine in the past (mostly coming from playing around outside of a traditional Asian pairing with sauvignon blanc and Italian malvasia). Maybe it was the absence of it with this meal that brought a little more life to the Prager this time. Don't know. Possible, I guess.


Food: Tuna Niçoise

"Clean you out!"

Seared rare tuna with cherry tomatoes, black olives, capers, green beans, potatoes on arugula with olive oil drizzled everywhere and two hard-boiled eggs for me.

Just a big mountain of food that never gets old. Acid from tomatoes, bitterness from arugula, brininess and earthiness from the capers and olives, carb hit from the potatoes with great, fresh tuna and lots of it.

We have it six to twelve times a year. Kind of resets the food clock with its mountain of fresh goodness.


Wine: 1999 Prager Riesling Weissenkirchen Smaragd Steinriegl ($16 - WDC)

Not available on the webby webs anymore, which makes me lament the fact that we didn't buy more. Only three left.

On another note, while the Austrian (and German) wine labels can be a tad confusing to say the least, pronunciations can be doubly confusing. Forvo is doing a decent job of trying to rectify that. It helps a wee bit when you're able to at least pronounce the word when you're trying to find out what everything means.




With wine can chicken four months ago, dried fruits seemed to dominate the wine. It was great in that way. Dried peaches, a little spice and a butterscotchy element were the notes at the time. Mineral and flower. Still alive but there was a sense that it didn't have a long time left, even with our relative inexperience with such things.

Not really the case this time, which makes me think some of those predictions may have been influenced by the food. More vigor and zip this meal with the Prager. Tasted younger with peach and nectarine notes, more creamy spice upfront and a more balanced dry element than the last time. More elegance as well with a pleasing floral aspect and a lemon...ish...something.

Maybe we'll put one away for 5-10 years just to see what happens.


Pairing: Nothing Wrong With That

I can't think of anything else that would have been better. It's tuna niçoise. 12,000 things are going on with it so drinking something that simply tries to field everything while not trying to be flashy seems to be the most prudent way to go.

That's two baseball references in two days. Pitchers and catchers just reported. That's where my brain currently lies.

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

#38 - Dry-Aged Filet With 1964 López de Heredia Tondonia Gran Reserva



Last night, I had the most ethereal moment of my wine and food life.

So much so that I fear my words will become too precious for, well, words.

As you grow older, it becomes tougher to be surprised. Tougher to not take a moment or experience and not immediately categorize it. Immediately place it into a box and watch the sensation of the moment slowly wither. And slowly feel it fall into the scattered jumble of life's moments.

Last night's meal was akin to a seemingly meaningless moment I saw or felt when I was seven years old yet it never failed to exit my brain. The kind of experience that will most likely become one of those imprints.

It was a meal that felt like a lace curtain blowing in a hot, late summer breeze.

Precious enough for you?

Oh so precious but these were some of the thoughts rummaging around my head as we ate last night.


Food: 21 day dry-aged beef filet, roasted potatoes and pearl onions with mâche

Better than the antelope from Schwa

Better than the duck from French Laundry

Better than the wagyu from Blackbird

We're still new to the dry-aged beef world, having it only once before three months ago. Here I'll plagarize myself:

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.
With one change. We had New York strip then. Last night was filet. Both were from Fox & Obel.

Cut into 4 oz.-ish medallions and rubbed with salt, pepper and oil - seared then quickly roasted, they turned into something extraordinary. Better than the NY strip. While the strip sprinted directly for the beefy butter realm, the filet brought a perfect balance of meaty butter and beefy structural integrity.

I've eaten good beef. This isn't beef in the traditional sense. This is something else, something more, something...Other.

Mrs. Ney made a cherry-red wine reduction to accompany the meat and go with the wine. A gorgeous sauce that had the right hints of everything but we wouldn't let it touch the meat. Seemed wrong.

The medium heft of the potatoes, pearl onions and mâche worked perfectly with the beef.


Wine: 1964 López de Heredia Viña Tondonia Gran Reserva ($350 - K&L Wines)

This was a Christmas gift to Mrs. Ney (and me). K & L had it for $100 off, it's our favorite winery and the '64 is considered one of the top two wines ever made by Heredia (with the '47) so there wasn't really a question over the purchase price.

Virtually no loss of wine in the bottle (top shoulder fill). Great cork. Broke 3/4 of the way down but didn't crumble at all. Let out a wisp of air when opened, a sign of good things to come.

Now the good stuff. Since ordering it, I've read what seemed like 500 reviews of the wine, getting into how the wine shows in the glass to the evolution over the time opened. Everything about how to serve it came with oodles of uncertainty, wanting it to peak at the right time, most of my thoughts being informed by the 1962 Clos Fourtet experience and its small prime drinking window. Even knowing these were two entirely different wines from different vintages in different styles with different drinking windows, I eventually settled on opening it about 20 minutes before the meal. Kind of winged it.

None of the fuss was warranted.

In the glass, there wasn't one sign that this was a 46 year-old wine. No orangish hue on the edges, no thinning out in the least. Pure medium red from middle to edge with only the ever-so slight tinge at the very edge. If I wasn't looking for it, I wouldn't have even seen that. We got a great bottling with a spectacular cork.

On the nose: Cherry, some berry, a bit of plum and a hint of vanilla and cedar. Maybe a background truffle. Very little basement dust. Blew off extraordinarily quick.

On the palate. OH, on the palate. If I knew more about prime Burgundies at their prime drinking age, that's the only thing I would have guessed if I drank it blind. Such a beautiful, silky texture brought on by something resembling creamy plum. Seamless in the most pure way. Cherry notes - alive, vibrant cherry notes, not dried - with some cedar and vanilla playing on the mid palate. Not big. Not small. The definition of a perfect medium-body with an elegance and grace I've never experienced in a wine ever before.

And what made it was the liveliness of the acid, an acidity bringing about the perfect balance, awakening something so old in the most beautiful and odd way. I never expected even a scintilla of that. Tannins weren't fully resolved either. Almost gone but not yet (five more years?).

There were moments of basement funk on a couple of sips toward the end of the meal (about 1 1/2 hours) but the wine itself never stopped, never began to close, never changed dramatically. Just evolved with such a generous and open grace. Washed over us and stopped us in our tracks. Almost too pretty for us in our current wine world.

The finish at its peak lasted two minutes, hanging mostly at the upper part of the throat and gradually seeping down.

After reading so much about the wine, especially from reviews of Rioja verticals and horizontals, I almost pitied people that drank this wine up against so many others, thinking the beauty of this '64 would be lost in the crowd. Mrs. Ney put it perfectly. If you meet the Queen of England, that's pretty great. But if you meet her alongside the President of the United States, the Prime Minister of Japan, Elvis, etc., well, the Queen of England might draw a "meh."

There's just too much finesse and haunting, underlying tone to find in this one when there are 15 more glasses are in the queue.

We love the 1978 López de Heredia Viña Bosconia (Bordeaux style). All mushroom, truffle, basement and rustic cherry. The 1964 Tondonia (Burgundy style) is in a different stratosphere.  A bottle mix-up years ago led to the bigger Bosconias being put in the Burgundy-style bottles and vice versa.  They just stuck with it.

Best wine I've ever had and it's not even close.


Pairing: Best Ever

That's all I can say. I've never experienced anything like this. On the technical side, the unexpected acidity and the medium weight of the meal and wine helped everything along in the most perfect way. Mostly though, when you have the best beef you've ever had paired the best wine you've ever had, the result is most likely going to be the best ever pairing if the heft of everything matches and some acid is brought to the party.

This was that.

Recently, Mrs. Ney and I were talking about how we don't seem to really enjoy rich food. We like rustic food with hints of richness, but once it approaches the gates of rich, we're turned off a bit.

Mostly, I think we like foods that approximate richness in new and original ways. Like the butter quality of dry-aged beef without the butter. Or the subtle creaminess of Spanish wine that doesn't wander into a Shiraz-like fruit-cream bomb. We enjoy the creaminess of leeks and the subdued richness of a properly made reduction.

This meal was like a fastball of that placed right down the middle of the plate.

We're still learning, but last night was about the prettiest thing we have ever experienced.

Thursday, February 11, 2010

#37 - Wine Can Chicken, Tomato Salad & Arugula With '06 Mas De Maha


Couldn't have changed in just two months, right?

Couldn't have...?

We returned to Wine Can Chicken last night. With the Mediterranean feel of the meal, something Rhône-ish seemed fitting and we weren't in the mood for an actual Rhône.

Food: Wine can chicken with tomato salad/arugula and baguette with butter

No glaze this time. Chicken was rubbed in salt, pepper, copious amounts of cumin and baking soda, left in the refrigerator overnight. Glaze was put on the side in an attempt to see if the skin will crust up better.

Boy did it. Salty, crispy goodness. Best skin so far. Might have missed the molasses quality that comes with the glaze a wee bit, but that was made up for by the utter crispiness of the skin. I can see us switching back and forth between glaze and no glaze in the future.

Juicy, more simple roast chicken without the glaze.

We had the same tomato salad with this wine just two months ago. 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.

Exploding, bright, acidic salad without washing out your mouth with an acid bath. I could eat this concoction three times a week and never get sick of it.

Solid, solid meal.

Wine: 2006 Villa Creek Mas de Maha ($22 Binny's)

We're getting to the point here at Food With Wine where we can do real comparisons with wine and different food pairings. That's been the intent. Copious notes that don't rely on my brain. 100 pairings is the goal and then we'll reevaluate its utility.

Last time we drank the Mas de Maha, we had it with hanger steak, plantains and the same tomato salad and loved every second of it.

This is maybe the fifth time we've had the Mas de Maha and the consensus has been that it pairs perfectly with Cuban-influenced food. It seems unlikely that the Mas de Maha has changed in two months, but the price did mysteriously drop from $31 to $22 at Binny's. Did something change? The result last night makes me wonder.

What made this wine great was the tempranillo in the blend (60% tempranillo, 20% grenache, 20% mourvèdre). The cherry notes and the lifting quality of the grape brought a lightness and brightness to the wine while still retaining a nice heft. It could have been the food, but that seemed to fall last night.

Used to be a bit of tobacco and herb nose, with plum and cherry fruit on the palate. Never tannic, though. And that makes me think this might be changing rather quickly. Where the fruit was always concentrated, you could distinguish between the fruits and there was a lightness that seemed to defy what you were tasting. Last night was gobs of raspberry pie filling and some black pepper, like the grenache is starting to overtake the tempranillo, and it lost some of that lightness.

Still good stuff, just not what it used to be.

I never found a drinking window for this wine on the internet, usually meaning it's a drink early and often wine. But that big a difference in two months? I doubt this matters, but last night's came from the $22 batch while the one two months ago came from the $31 batch. Hmm.

With a few bottles left, we might relegate it to a meal we know works in an attempt to extend its pairing life - Cuban or Latin food.

Pairing: Perfectly good, just not what we were expecting

Even after saying all this, I liked the pairing.

Everything worked just fine, helping the chicken in small ways and standing up to the tomato salad.

We've had other offerings from Villa Creek and they came off a bit syrupy for my taste. The Mas de Maha never did. Last night, it kinda had that.

Mas de Maha = Cuban food, particularly with plantains and red meat fat from this point out.


Wednesday, February 10, 2010

#36 - Tri Tip & Soba Noodles With '05 Sanguis & '03 Pirramimma


Oh, to be so let down.

After having a shockingly delicious 2005 Sanguis "The Bossman" syrah at Blackbird last summer, I slowly started to get my undies in a bunch over California cult syrah.

I never really followed up on it outside of doing some Googling and getting some names. All the ones I might have wanted to buy fell outside my wallet's range and keeping the wine budget within reason has become a bigger concern lately.

But Binny's had the other 2005 offering from Sanguis, "The Optimist", just sitting there, taunting me for weeks until I finally gave in Monday.

Food: Five spice-marinated tri tip with blackberry-black olive-orange zest salsa, soba noodles with braised pistachios and mâche

Tough to say which aspect of the meal was my favorite. I alternated back and forth.

Tri tip is some lean beef, cooked perfectly, and paired with the salsa, the entire thing became rather rustic. Sucked up the five spice in a nice way, letting it come through without overwhelming it.

Braised pistachios and soba noodles = my new favorite starchy-type accompaniment. They're hearty and filling without being Hearty! and Filling!

This meal, from a food perspective, approached the realm of great.

The wine, however, didn't.

Wine: 2005 Sanguis "The Optimist" syrah ($70 - Binny's) & 2003 Pirramimma shiraz ($25 - 20/20 Wine Merchants)

I wasn't let down because of the price. I wasn't let down because of the pairing. I wasn't really let down at all. The Sanguis is fine wine, well crafted and almost delicious.

It just never popped. Decanted for almost two hours. Dark purple with a reddish tinge in the glass. Roasted meat and herbs on the nose right out of the bottle with a nice background of blue/blackberry fruit. Got a lot of anise upon first sip and for the first twenty minutes. Nice, just wasn't integrated.

Nothing wrong with it but I began to wonder about the name in relation to the wine. Seems to have all the elements I wanted from it, even anticipated from it, but it never really got there. Finish was a tad short. Had some nice heat but that seemed to be making up for the fact that the finish wasn't anything spectacular. Fruit seemed to want to become a silky deliciousness but never made it. In order to really like this one, I think I would have had to be in a particularly good mood...or have had another bottle before it, that place where everything in life seems to be a precious little gift. Six of one, really. I compare the Sanguis to this season of 30 Rock. Sure, I'm laughing enough I guess and it certainly fits the definition of an original sitcom not placating to the masses, but it's just not doing much for me.

If given blind, I might have thought it was a darn good wine. I wasn't, though. And if given a few more years, maybe it would open up and become more integrated. For $70, I'm probably not going to find out.

So we cracked a 2003 Pirramimma shiraz, the wine that taught us how wines change. Back in 2005, we were still drinking cheap wine because we were kinda poor, but we were just starting to get into wine ratings and the studying of wine before we bought them. $20 for a bottle of wine still seemed luxurious but Trader Joe's carried this Pirramimma so we gave it a go.

Mrs. Ney flipped over it. I liked it but didn't initially follow her enthusiasm. That changed somewhat quickly. The fruit in the 2003, drinking it in late 2005 and 2006 was just about the most vibrant fruit I've ever tasted. Had a sparkle to it. Just shined. We drank it by the crate for a year or so.

After what was probably only a six month break, we returned to it to find the fruit was started to die a glorious death. Started to dry and a leafy quality showed up. Having already known the ins and outs of this wine so thoroughly, it was a bit of a seminal moment for us. We now had intimate knowledge of how one particular wine changed over time. Even down to the most subtle nuances. Sure, we read about it, even saw it in some Spanish wine but nothing to this extent.

Since we haven't really drunk one recently and the Sanguis left us a bit wanting, we opened a Pirramimma to compare with the meal.

It changed again. Now a bloody consistency appeared with it turning almost port-like. Where the fruit before had shown to be drying, they now tasted macerated and reduced down to a syrup-like mouthfeel. Meaty as well. It's probably approaching death but we're loving every second of its kick toward the inevitable.

Pairing: Good, yeah, fine

Both wines were just fine with the food. Nothing could/would/should have been changed to accommodate the wine. The flavor profiles in the wine matched. Nothing went off the rails and nothing turned funky.

But comparing the two became the focus. Both of us were left with the feeling that, for $20, the Pirramimma, even in a throes of death, performed equally as well as the $70 Sanguis that might have been a wee bit young.

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

#35 - Indie Café With Loimer Riesling & Sparkling Italian Malvasia


I've proselytized from the highest mount about the wonders of Indie Café in Rogers Park before.

In fact, it was just two months ago, our third post here at Food With Wine. Best value in the city and it's not even close.

Last night was no different.

Food: Rangoon, Cucumber, Spicy Tuna, Spring Roll, Sweet Potato, Tilapia in Cashew and more Tuna

Crab Rangoon
Cucumber Salad
Spicy Tuna Appetizer
Vegetable Spring Roll
Sweet Potato Tempura
Tilapia Curry with Cashew Sauce
Spicy Tuna Entrée
Siracha Side
Ginger & Wasabi Side

I'm not going to describe the food and just say what I said last time: Criminally cheap and clean, well-prepared food. On the former, this is how criminally cheap: $60 for the entire meal.

Wine: 2004 Loimer Riesling Langenlois ($13 - WDC) & 2005 Colli Di Parma Sparkling Malvasia (Below $10 - Binny's)

We had no expectations with either wine going in.

Never had a sparkling Italian malvasia. Couldn't find any information on this particular one, probably due to the utter baseness of it all. The label had the producer written in small type but simply said "Malvasia" in big letters, never a particularly good sign; like a Burgundy simply writing "pinot noir" on the label. It's a sign that it was destined for the simplest of markets.

Bubbles were dying, fruit was subdued. A little peach maybe with a touch of apple. Found an old milk quality on its own. Initially hated it but I came around to "that's not terrible" fairly quick. Not good. Just not terrible. Hanging on for dear life but not terrible.

If I drank the 2004 Loimer Riesling blind, I would have swore it was a sauvignon blanc and would have fought you to the death over it. Shows what I know.

A lot of grass at first followed by citrus fruit resembling grapefruit and tangerine. Off-dry. Mrs. Ney nailed it. It tasted like a somewhat well-crafted sauvignon blanc from a region not known for sauvignon blanc. Like the malvasia, I was mildly put off at first and then came around to it.

Pairing: No thanks, but not awful

The malvasia was pretty useless with the food but fun to try. One funny thing did happened. With soy sauce, it tasted like baby diapers. Not like I make a habit of eating baby diapers but you know. Didn't finish the bottle, but I'm not less apt to try another, better sparkling malvasia in the future.

The Loimer, on the other hand, worked well enough. For rieslings and grüner veltliners, Loimer serves a purpose. They're just good enough and cheap enough to feel like you're getting your money's worth - a good entry-level label for both to see if you want to continue in that vein. Then go to Prager because they're magically delicious.

BYO & $60 = great little meal.

Indie's a place where you can try such things without feeling like the pairing ruined the experience.

The food's too good and too cheap to really care.

Monday, February 8, 2010

#34 - Super Bowl Cassoulet, Brussels Sprouts & '07 Loire Rosé


To start, this meal was much better than the bloated commercial extravaganza that yet again was the Super Bowl. I've never wanted Bud Light and Doritoes less in my life.

No Browns = Don't Care.

Food: Duck confit and veal sausage cassoulet with Brussels sprouts

Again, I can't overstate the loveliness of the Cook's Illustrated version of cassoulet. My experience with cassoulet in the past has always been one of fatty, oily mediocrity; my own fault for having bad cassoulets.

Veal sausage from Gene's, duck confit from Paulina Meat Market and whipped-up Brussels sprout goodness.

In mid-December, we had this same cassoulet (with more meat) and we're shocked by the unexpected lightness of it. Mrs. Ney halved the meat this time and it was even better. More herbal and probably more balanced with a less flurry of 87,000 different kinds of meat. The cannellini beans and herby bread became more of the experience.

Brussels sprouts mixed with a touch of parmigiano-reggiano and mustard. I've said it before and I'll say it again. Brussels sprouts, even with the gastrointestinal distress, are glorious, like cabbage without the cabbaginess. Wee hint of nuttiness from the cheese was perfect.

Wine: 2007 Domaine de la Petite Mairie Bourgueil Rosé ($15 WDC)

Had the Argyle Rosé with the last one and it was good stuff. Nothing great but fine enough.

Not chockablock with utter nuance, this Cabernet Franc-based rosé nonetheless has a suffficient complexity with mostly light strawberry and orange touches with a very subtle floral note always playing in the background. Mostly, I was struck by the fact that there was nothing to detract from its medium-bodied purity. No astringency. No alcoholic finish. Just a nice dry-ish rosé with enough acidity that went down smooth.

Pairing: Held up, didn't detract and served admirably

Went beautifully with Brussels sprouts! Never would have thought that.

As I said, it held its own in every facet. No funkiness, no "what the hell was that?" Pretty.

Sure, you want the wine to enhance the food, but there are times when just little enhancements are perfectly fine and even welcome.

For $15, this one's a keeper.

Thursday, February 4, 2010

#33 - Duck, Celery Root & Bok Choy With '07 JRE Tradition


Words aren't going to be sufficient to describe this one.

But let's dedicate 1000 or so to it anyway.

It was...a bit weird.

So much so during the preparation that Mrs. Ney laid down a warning that we might be having leftover Aldi Cordon Bleu and potato casserole.

By the end, though, we were quite happy with the strange result.

Food: Medium-rare duck with a blackberry-licorice sauce, roasted celery root, bok choy and star fruit

Mrs. Ney's premonition that leftovers may be in the offing came from the crust on the duck breast. Charred black due to the brown sugar on the crust already going through the caramelization process before searing, there was...a char smell wafting through the apartment.

Couple that with the celery root, crusted with salt and egg whites and roasted for what seemed like five freakin' hours, and it was not a happy cooking experience for the wife yesterday.

Star fruit was substituted for kumquats in the recipe. Bok choy was on the side.

The star of the entire meal was the sauce. A blackberry-licorice sauce that beautifully straddled the line between thick and light, it had such a pure, clean, deep taste that it went well with not only the duck, but was delicious with the celery root.

The skin was charred black but the meat was a good medium rare and, once it cooled off a tad and we were judicious in eating it, a nice, almost maple syrup flavor came out. We could also start to taste the dehydrated black olives in the crust as well. Really wasn't bad at all and didn't really detract from anything. Heck, as some of the crust rubbed off on the celery root, it served almost like a tasty exotic pepper spice.

The celery root was roasted with the salt and egg white to retain its juices. Guess what celery root tastes like. It tastes like celery if it was a root, like a concentrated form of celery with an almost woodsy, earthy taste. Retaining its juices with this form of cooking made it quite good, even if it isn't exactly something we'll crave or do again.

Substituting star fruit for the kumquat, though, allowed us to contrast it with the celery root. Both played in a similar taste range w/r/t texture, weightiness and intensity of juice. In the end, though kumquat and duck are spectacular together, I doubt it would have gone well with the wine. Who knows? Maybe. I wondered during the meal if riesling might have been a good pairing with the Asian flavors if the crust on the duck wasn't charred. With kumquat, maybe. With star fruit, I tend to doubt it. That subtle difference between the two (less acidity and sugar in the star fruit) may have been the tipping point back to red. But I digress.

Star fruit has comparatively little "popping" taste to other fruit. Tastes like really watered down grapefruit/orange juice. Much less acidic and more subtle in flavor compared to other citrus (which star fruit technically isn't). More pretty to look at than delicious to eat. Nice stuff just not something we're going to rush out and stock up on.

The entire meal, though, turned out to be not only edible, which Mrs. Ney was worried about, but delicious in more than a few spots and quite intriguing in many ways.

Clean as well, even with the char, something that came about due probably to the absence of any wheat. I'm not giving up bread in this lifetime but meals without gluten do make me feel quite good.

Wine: 2007 John Robert Eppler Tradition ($6-8 Binny's)

A blend of 49% Zinfandel, 38% Petite Syrah, 10% Tempranillo and 3% Syrah, this one was bought as well in the "Sam's was sold to Binny's!" raid.

Purple-dark red in the glass. Zinfandel characteristics dominate with dark berry and cinnamon, but as typical Zinfandels get to their jammy quality on the mid-palate, the other grapes in the blend begin to show up and it never gets to that jamminess, making it a solid, medium-bodied and very food-friendly and versatile wine. Almost comes off like a lighter California syrah or a more hefty pinot noir. Unique and well worth it for the price. An strange, appealing complexity for sure.

A tiny hint of wood on the finish that wasn't particularly well-integrated when sipped alone but overall, this one's a solid little well-crafted wine. If I bought it for $20, I'd be happy enough with the result but wouldn't do it again. For $6-8, it's a steal.

Pairing: Yep. Good. I'll Take It

I'm sure the sauce helped. The blackberry and licorice in the sauce matched up perfectly with the dominating Zinfandel in the blend. But nothing else clashed. Not the bok choy. Not the star fruit. And kinda great with the celery root and the sauce together. Hint of actual jam came out with the duck.

As I said, the wine is very food-friendly, made not to box itself into a corner or stay in a certain range. Don't know, after having it and knowing what to expect, if I found enough in it to want to come back again and again, but with a little of time away and if we were in a bind, I'd be more than happy to go it another go.

Not bad at all.

For Mrs. Ney, she's not waiting five hours for celery root again in this lifetime and I wholeheartedly support that.

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

#32 - Scallops With Rice Cakes & Kim Crawford/Spanish Viognier


Has the world gone topsy-turvy?

Last night's meal should have been a perfect pairing with one of our favorite value sauvignon blancs. It wasn't, but a cheap, close-out Spanish viognier, a wine I thought might have been bad upon first sip, turned out to be freaking sublime.

Food: Whole Foods sea scallops with bee pollen in a tomatillo-coconut milk sauce, rice cakes and pea shoots

Large, quality sea scallops rubbed in bee pollen and seared in butter, salt and pepper. Frontera tomatillo salsa mixed with coconut milk and lime zest. Trader Joe's rice cakes, pea shoot salad and pickled ginger and ponzu sauce on the side.

The progression of opinion of the meal from beginning to end: This is pretty good; this is actually very good; I think I love this meal; Crap, this is freakin' great!

And gloriously clean to boot.

The tomatillo-coconut milk sauce is an alteration of a recipe by Rick Bayless when he appeared on Simply Ming. The addition of bee pollen, something we'll be adding to more recipes in the future, offered a nice subtle earthiness to balance out the lime zest and acidity of the sauce.

Rice cakes doused with ponzu has become a new favorite after having them with Asian beef filet a week ago. The pea shoot salad at the end of the meal, mixing in the leftover sauce and drizzling some ponzu over the top made for a great cap to the meal. Stupid European influence. I used to get annoyed when people finished off a meal at the restaurant I work at because the pizza was already light and breezy while never being something you wanted to cleanse from your palate. I'm beginning to see the value after every kind of meal.

Wine: 2008 Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc ($15 WDC) & 2007 La Casa De La Ermita Viognier Jumilla ($10? - WDC)

Kim Crawford was covered here when we used it in purple corn sangria. It's a good value wine that everyone on the planet thought would sell like crazy but didn't. Now it's down in the $13 range everywhere. The last time we had this one it showed a more balanced fruit profile with grapefruit, lime and some passion fruit with the typical New World grassy sauvignon blanc notes and a bright zippiness. Still good this time but the fruit was a bit one-dimensional with mostly grapefruit, grapefruit and more grapefruit. The 2009s just came out. We'll give it a roll.

The 2007 La Casa De La Ermita Viognier comes from the Jumilla wine region in southeastern Spain and was bought in the early days of the great "Sam's was sold to Binny's" closeout sale down at the Lincoln Park location. $12.

An odd wine upon first sip. To me, it was either slightly bad or was attempting to replicate the oddness that comes with a Savennieres. First time we had that, it was weird as well, but after a few sips we got into it and came to love what it was doing. Different grapes, of course, but the same sort of musty strangeness right out of the gate. Savennieres typically comes off like a mineral, musty nuts (ha!), acid and dry adventure before getting to the understated fruit. Tough to describe, but that's the joy in it. They're elusive and coy.

This viognier is the same but it's different (a favorite saying of my 8th grade math teacher). Musty basement initially turns quickly to a fermented honey quality. Dried flowers and dry overall with subdued fruit and a balanced acidity. Fennel and a disinfectant note are in the description. Sure, why not? For $12, it's a huge bargain. NOT AT ALL what I expected from this wine.

Pairing: Each worked nearly perfectly with different aspects of the meal

The Kim Crawford should have matched up perfectly with so much of this meal. It fell short, mostly due to dominating grapefruit in the wine. Fine enough but nothing was particularly enhanced. With the pea shoot salad, though, it was perfect. Great top-off to the meal. The acidity in the wine lifted the salad and played with the ponzu in great ways.

The star, though, was the viognier. Its fermented honey quality played off the bee pollen while bringing everything in the sauce down a level, making it even more delicious and earthy than it already was. Compared to the Kim Crawford, the meal became something entirely different and kinda great.

For a meal that cost, all together, around $60, it was better than most anything we could have had at a restaurant last night.

Monday, February 1, 2010

#31 - Crock Pot Chicken & NV Demi-Sec Sparkling Vouvray


Quick one today.

Took work off last night, making it possible to have a sit-down meal instead of Aldi Cordon Bleu Sunday.

Food: Asian crock pot chicken with mâche and baguette with butter

Quick and easy crock pot chicken cooked with asian flavors of soy, ginger and scallion. Juice from the crock pot on the side for dipping.

For the quickness of the preparation, it turned into a solid little meal. The juice made it by giving everything something to mix and match with: Chicken with a dip, bread with a dip, chicken and bread with a dip, greens with generous amounts of dip splashed over it.

Good stuff.

Wine: Non-Vintage Domaine Vigneau Chevreau Demi-Sec Vouvray ($18 - WDC?)

Chenin blanc-based semi-dry sparkling, blended with grapes from different years (wrong picture to the right - only one I could find).

We liked this one in the past with jerk chicken. More very dry than off-dry with mostly green apple fruit. Notes say beeswax and honey. Yeah, a bit. Not much but it's in the background.

This one's on wine lists all over town, including Blackbird.

Pairing: Wouldn't do it again

Compared to when we had this sparkling Vouvray with jerk chicken, it fell kinda flat.

And that might be because the jerk chicken brought some heat. A little spice probably would have woken up this wine and brought the fruit to life along with a more honey sweetness.

Now we know.