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Archive for the ‘3.5 corks popped’ Category

Week 52: See the Results and the Recipe!

27 Aug

It’s been another crazy week around here, and, although I have, indeed, tasted all three of this week’s wines, I haven’t had a chance to post about each of them individually. Moreover, I’m headed up to Seattle this weekend to attend the International Food Bloggers’ Conference, which condensed the week even further. As such, this post is a 4-in-1 – reviews of the week’s three wines along with the recipe for this week’s CorkPopper Dinner. So, here we go!!

This week’s first California Cabernet Sauvignon was a 2006 Chateau Souverain from Sonoma County’s Alexander Valley, which offers warm days and cool nights tempered by the Russian River winding its way along the valley floor. This particular wine is huge, with a rich aroma of dark fruit and cedar and an enormous palate full of juicy black cherries, anise, and bitter chocolate. There’s a slightly odd aftertaste that threw me off a bit, though it mellowed out a bit with some time in the glass. You can find this wine at wine.com for $19.99/bottle.

3 corks popped!

Next, I tasted a 2006 Benziger Cabernet Sauvignon from Sonoma County, which lies between Napa County and the Pacific Ocean. Like the Chateau Souverain, this wine has a hefty aroma of dark berries, along with a nice earthy component, which I actually really enjoy. The palate is typical of a California Cabernet Sauvignon, with lots of dark cherry, blackberry, and tobacco, topped off with a touch of oakiness. The finish is smooth and long, making this a pretty decent sipper, especially at just $17.99/bottle from wine.com.

3.5 corks popped!

Finally, we have a 2006 Louis Martini Cabernet Sauvignon, which hails from the Napa Valley. Napa, being further from the Pacific Ocean or the San Francisco Bay, tends to be warmer than Sonoma County, and, as such, produces riper fruit with (in general) lower acid levels. True to form, the fruit is pretty huge in this wine. The aroma is, once again, dominated by ripe black cherries, though there are nice undertones of anise and dried tobacco to bring the fruit back down to earth. On the palate, there’s lots of intense cherry and plum, along with some baking spice and a bit of smoke. If you’d like to check this one out for yourself you can find it at wine.com for $19.99/bottle.

3.5 corks popped!

I was actually worried that none of this week’s wines would inspire a CorkPopper Dinner. You see, the CorkPopper Project is never just about the wine. Indeed, my favorite thing about wine is its intimate relationship with food – how pairing a particular wine with a particular food can elevate both far beyond their individual qualities. And while most people start with a food and try to figure out what kind of wine with which to pair it, I prefer to start from the opposite end, taking a wine and designing a meal around it. Some wines, of course, are easy to design recipes for. They have one or two really distinctive characteristics that instantly call a particular food or flavor to mind. Other wines require a bit more creativity but are still fundamentally food-friendly. Yet others are not really suitable for drinking with food at all, as they are either too big (or tannic) to really pair well with anything or are too light and simple and are really better suited for simply sipping on their own.

The Chateau Souverain, for me, fell in this final category. It was just so big and interesting on its own that I couldn’t really picture a food that it wouldn’t overpower. The Benziger was more mellow, yes, but didn’t really inspire me to rush into the kitchen. Luckily, the smoky notes in the Louis Martini finally lit a little spark of something for me, and I suddenly found myself craving…. wait for it…. Barbecue Beef Ribs! Strange? Maybe. Delicious? Absolutely!

Barbecue Beef Ribs with Spicy Red Wine Barbecue Sauce

Serves 2

Ingredients

  • 1 full rack of beef back ribs (8 individual ribs)
  • 2 medium carrots, coarsely chopped
  • 2 celery ribs, coarsely chopped
  • 2 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
  • 1 large brown onion, peeled and quartered
  • 2 bay leaves
  • About 12 whole black peppercorns
  • About 1.5 tablespoons salt
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 2 large garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 medium shallot, minced
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 1 teaspoon ground chipotle chile pepper powder*
  • 2/3 cup dry red wine (hello, California Cabernet Sauvignon!)
  • 1 cup ketchup
  • 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
  • 2 tablespoons reduced sodium soy sauce

Preparation

Cut the rib rack in half. Place the rib rack and the next seven ingredients in a large pot. Fill with enough water to cover the ribs entirely. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to medium and allow it to simmer until the meat is tender. (I cooked it for an hour and it still wasn’t quite tender enough, so be sure to give yourself PLENTY of time for this step. You can always do it the day before, if necessary. Just cool, cover, and refrigerate.)

Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a medium sauce pan over medium heat. Add the garlic and shallot and saute until translucent, about 3-4 minutes. Add the cumin and chile powder and stir for another minute or so. Add the red wine and stir another 2 minutes, allowing the alcohol to cook off. Add the ketchup, vinegar, and soy sauce. Turn the heat down to low and continue to simmer another 5 minutes or so. (Note: The sauce can also be made a day ahead. Just cool, cover and refrigerate.)

Preheat the grill to medium heat.

Once the meat is tender, remove them from the pot using a pair of tongs. Cut the rack into individual ribs and slather generously with sauce. (Be sure to save some sauce for the table!) Grill over medium heat, turning and basting occasionally until the ribs are nicely glazed. This shouldn’t take more than about 10 minutes or so.

Serve with grilled corn on the cob, some grilled red onion, and plenty of paper towels!

I’m giving this one 4 forks

And 4 corked forks!

Cheers!!

* You should be able to find this in the “ethnic” aisle of the grocery store.

NOTE: The recipe above was adapted from several recipes I found on Epicurious.

 
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Posted in 3 corks popped, 3.5 corks popped, 4 Corked Forks, 4 Forks, Benziger, Cabernet Sauvignon, California, Chateau Souverain, Louis Martini, recipes, red wine

 

2006 Artezin Dry Creek Zinfandel

19 Aug

This week’s second California Zinfandel, like the first, comes from the Dry Creek Valley AVA in northern Sonoma county.  According to the winery’s website, the 2006 Dry Creek Zinfandel is made from grapes sourced both from old vines on the hillside as well as younger vines on the valley floor near Dry Creek.  There is no legal definition of the “old vine” designation, of course, but as grape vines get older, they produce less and less fruit, allowing the sugars and flavor to concentrate in fewer berry clusters.  By blending wines made from old and new vines, then, the idea is that the winemaker can find the perfect balance between the tannic liveliness and structure of the younger grapes and the smooth depth of flavor of the older ones.

Here, those efforts have created a wine whose aroma and palate open with a big burst of blackberries and chewy raspberry jam (from the old vines!), and open up further to spicy notes of anise and black pepper.  Though a bit too jammy at the first sip, with some time in the glass, this wine mellowed out nicely and showed itself to be quite pleasant.

The 2006 Artezin Dry Creek Zinfandel is available at wine.com for $19.99/bottle.

Another 3.5 corks popped here!

Cheers!

 
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Posted in 3.5 corks popped, Artezin, California, Zinfandel, red wine

 

2006 Bradford Mountain Dry Creek Zinfandel

18 Aug

This week’s first California Zinfandel – a 2006 Bradford Mountain – hails from the Dry Creek Valley AVA in northern Sonoma County.  With its long, warm growing season and proximity to both Dry Creek (a Russian River tributary) and Lake Sonoma resevoir, this region is pretty much perfect for growing both Zinfandel and Sauvignon Blanc.  Indeed, Zinfandel has been grown in the Dry Creek Valley since the early 20th century, and it has, since the resurgence of the California wine industry in the 1970s, become one of the state’s premier Zinfandel (and Sauvignon Blanc!) regions.

The 2006 Bradford Mountain Dry Creek Zinfandel is quite typical of a Dry Creek Zinfandel, with lots of fresh red cherries, raspberries, and crisp red apple, along with a pleasant dash of baking spice, pepper and earthiness to accompany the smooth tannins.

I tasted this wine together with some fresh pasta topped with a new batch of tomato sauce made with more of LM’s heirloom tomatoes and some delightfully sweet Walla Walla onions.  Though not a perfect pairing, this wine is very forgiving and can be paired with any number of dishes.

Check it out for yourself.  It’s available at K&L Wine Merchants for $19.99/bottle.

3.5 corks popped!

Cheers!

 
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Posted in 3.5 corks popped, Bradford Mountain, California, Zinfandel, red wine

 

Week 46: View the Results and the Recipe! (UPDATED V 2.0!)

16 Aug

What a fun CorkPopper week this was! Because I received the wine so late in the week, I decided that J and I would do our own little tasting of all three of this week’s Oregon Pinot Gris and pair them with one of my favorite summertime pasta dishes, Penne with Spicy Sausage, Asparagus and Pesto. Not only did this give us the opportunity to compare the wines side by side, it was also an excellent example of just how the taste of wine can literally change when you pair it with food. So fun.

Now, to recap, this week’s wines were three 2008 Pinot Gris from Oregon’s Willamette Valley (a region that will also make an appearance in a couple of weeks when I do Oregon Pinot Noir). The Willamette Valley is an ideal climate for Pinot Gris, as it is on the cooler side of temperate bit still has a nice long growing season, allowing temperamental grapes like Pinot Gris and Pinot Noir to ripen slowly and maintain their acidity and minerality.

The first contender, the 2008 Adelsheim Pinot Gris, had almost non-existent aroma, with just faint notes of white pineapple, fuji apples and slate. On the palate, J and I both agreed that although it wasn’t the most interesting or complex wine of the three, it was nicely balanced and an easy sipper for a warm summer evening, with it’s tropical fruit and crisp mineral finish. Not surprisingly, perhaps, this wine was the least impressive when paired with the pasta, as it simply didn’t have a strong enough personality to stand up to the spicy sausage, asparagus and pesto. 3.5 corks popped and 2.5 corked forks! You can find the Adelsheim Pinot Gris at wine.com for $17.99/bottle.

The second wine, a 2008 Benton Lane Pinot Gris, was initially our least favorite wine of the three, as it had an odd musty aroma. With some time in the glass, however, the must dissipated, leaving a much better aroma of honeydew melon, limestone and herbs. On the palate, the melon persisted with a nice amount of lemon zest, and the finish was wonderfully acidic. Interestingly, this was the hands-down winner when it came to the food pairing, as the acidity was an excellent counterpoint to all the spice and richness of the dish. 3.5 corks popped and 4 corked forks! The Benton Lane Pinot Gris is available at wine.com for $16.99/bottle.

Finally, the third wine was a 2008 King Estate Signature Collection Pinot Gris. J wasn’t a fan of this wine, as it had a fairly strong floral aroma and slight sweetness that, as we’ve learned through our experiences with Torrontes and Riesling, is just not J’s preferred style of wine. I quite enjoyed the honeysuckle and ruby red grapefruit flavors, however, and found it to be an almost perfect pairing with our salad, which was dressed with a white wine and grapefruit vinaigrette. 3.5 corks popped and 3.5 corked forks! You can find the King Estate Signature Collection Pinot Gris at wine.com for $15.79/bottle.

Now for the recipe: Penne with Spicy Sausage, Asparagus and Pesto

Serves 4

Ingredients:

  • 1 package fresh penne (or a box of dried penne if you can’t find any fresh at the store)
  • 4 spicy Italian sausages, casings removed
  • 1 bunch asparagus, trimmed and cut into 2-inch pieces
  • 1 large sweet onion, thinly sliced
  • 3-4 garlic cloves, minced
  • Crushed red pepper
  • Sea salt and freshly ground pepper
  • Pesto sauce
  • Goat cheese (optional but delicious)

Preparation

Boil a large pot of salted water. Cook the pasta until just al dente. Drain and set aside, reserving about 1/4 cup pasta water for the sauce.

In a large skillet, brown the sausage, breaking it into small pieces as it cooks. Add the garlic and onion and a little olive oil. Stir, season with some salt, pepper and red pepper flakes. Cover and allow the onions to soften, stirring occasionally. When the onions are about soft, add the asparagus. Season with a bit more salt, pepper and red pepper flakes. Stir and cover and allow it to cook until the asparagus is just cooked but still crisp, about 6-7 minutes.

Add the pasta to the skillet. Stir to combine then add the pasta water and enough pesto to coat everything. Stir well.

Serve the pasta in large bowls. Sprinkle with some goat cheese before serving. Tell your guests to stir the goat cheese into the warm pasta so that it melts and makes the whole concoction perfectly smooth and creamy. Uh, yum.

4 forks!

Cheers!

FURTHER UPDATE!  Check out the appetizer J designed around the Benton Lane Pinot Gris!

Seared Scallops with Grilled Nectarine Sauce and Pancetta

Yummm!!!

 
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Posted in 2.5 Corked Forks, 3.5 Corked Forks, 3.5 corks popped, 4 Corked Forks, 4 Corks Popped, Adelsheim, Benton Lane, King Estate, pinot gris, recipes, white wine

 

2006 Bergevin Lane Calico Red

13 Aug

This week’s final Washington Red is the 2006 Bergevin Lane Calico Red.  Bergevin Lane was founded in 2001 by Annette Bergevin and Amber Lane (together with Gary Bergevin, Annette’s father).  According to their website, they ended up in the wine biz in Walla Walla, Washington after escaping the “rat race” in California.  Hmmmm……  I know nothing about rats or races……  Anyhoo, I digress……

Though the Bergevin Lane winery is located in Walla Walla, this blend is made from grapes throughout the Columbia Valley, hence the Columbia Valley AVA designation.  It is a blend of 36% Merlot, 30% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Syrah, and a bit of Zinfandel and Cabernet Franc to round out the remaining 9%.  It is dark, brilliant garnet in color with a big aroma of dark, juicy berries, cedar, vanilla, and a bit of earthy soil.  On the palate, it is medium-bodied and juicy, although it definitely needs a bit of time to breathe so that the various notes can balance out a bit.

A solid red blend to be sure, although not quite as stunning at $19.99/bottle as the Syncline Subduction Red.

3.5 corks popped!

Cheers!

 
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Posted in 3.5 corks popped, Bergevin Lane, Washington, red wine

 

2008 Chad Pinot Noir

05 Aug

This week’s second wine, a 2008 Chad Pinot Noir, hails from the Santa Lucia Highlands AVA, which lies along Monterey Bay in Northern California.  This area gets a significant amount of fog from the Monterey Bay (which is fantastic for Pinot Noir), though at just the right elevation for the fog to burn off in the afternoon and allow the grapes to ripen evenly and without significant spikes in alcohol levels.

The story behind this wine is actually fantastic, as it came about as a happy accident.  Chad Alexander had a winemaker friend who found himself with a glut of young bulk Pinot Noir wine in a depressed market.  The winemaker couldn’t sell wine of this quality at an acceptable price to the more well-known labels, so he sold it instead to his friend, Chad Alexander, who bottled it under his own label.  Because of this lucky sequence of events, this wine that would have easily cost more than $40/bottle became available to those of us on the Wine Access mailing list for just $18.99/bottle.  Lucky, indeed.

A lovely bright ruby in color, this wine both smells and tastes of ripe red cherries with faint notes of soil and dried flower petals.  The flavors are bright, with the cherries dominating.  Though not the most complex of wines, it is a truly solid bottle and an excellent example of a cool climate California Pinot Noir.

3.5 corks popped!

Cheers!

 
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Posted in 3.5 corks popped, California, Chad, Pinot Noir, red wine

 

2008 Sean Minor “Four Bears” Pinot Noir

03 Aug

The Minor family started Sean Minor Wines in 2005 with the goal of creating quality, affordable wines sourced from some of the area’s best vineyards.  This week’s first wine – the Four Bears Pinot Noir – is made from grapes hailing from Napa’s Carneros region, an excellent subclimate for the finicky Pinot Noir grape, as it gets plenty of cool air from the San Francisco Bay.

At just $13.99/bottle from K&L Wine Merchants, this wine is truly a steal.  Typical of the California-style of Pinot Noir, this wine has lots of blue and red fruit and just enough spice, earth and vanilla to balance it all out. The finish is long and smooth, and though this is certainly an easy sipper, it also has potential to be a solid food wine as well, whether with a juicy grilled steak or a lamb ragu.

In short, whether you’re a seasoned Pinot Noir drinker or a newbie to the varietal, this one’s definitely worth a shot.

3.5 corks popped!

Cheers!

 
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Posted in 3.5 corks popped, California, Pinot Noir, Sean Minor, red wine

 

2006 Roco Pinot Noir Willamette Valley

30 Jul

This week’s third wine, the 2006 Roco Pinot Noir Willamette Valley, would ordinarily not have made it into the CorkPopper Project solely by virtue of the fact that its regular retail price is $40/bottle, well above the CorkPopper budget of $25/bottle.  Lucky for us, however, I get inundated with “special deal” emails from pretty much every wine retailer in existence, and I just happened to have paid attention to one such email a few weeks ago from LA’s Wine House, wherein they were offering this wine at the pretty awesome price of just $19.99/bottle.  I, of course, couldn’t resist, as I was looking for a third wine to add to this week’s list.

This wine presents with a clear, bright garnet color and shows lots of really lovely black cherry, slate and spice on the nose.  Indeed, the more I sniffed this wine, the more black pepper I got, which is not at all unpleasant as an undertone to the otherwise earthy and fruity aroma.  On the palate, it is juicy, with more of those cherries and black pepper, along with a smooth finish of nicely balanced acid and tannin.

I thought this was, hands down, the best wine of the week, while J vascillated between this and the 2008 Erath.  When we had another glass the next day, however, I’m pretty sure we both agreed that the Roco was it, especially if you are able to find it at a discounted price.  That said, because it is ordinarily a $40 bottle of wine, I’m actually giving it the same score as the Erath….

3.5 corks popped!

Cheers!

 
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Posted in 3.5 corks popped, Oregon, Pinot Noir, Roco, red wine

 

2008 Erath Pinot Noir

29 Jul

This week’s second Oregon Pinot Noir is the 2008 Erath, which I believe is made from grapes grown entirely in the Willamette Valley, although neither the bottle nor the Erath Winery website specifically so states.  Erath Winery itself is an Oregon winemaking pioneer and is located in Dundee Hills, which is one of the Willamette Valley’s premiere Pinot Noir areas.

Even though this wine is, at just $17.99/bottle from K&L Wine Merchants, presumably Erath’s basic floor model Pinot Noir, it’s nothing at which to turn one’s nose.  It has a lovely bright ruby color with a somewhat delicate aroma of red cherries and tart plums and nice, soft flavors of red fruit, anise and a bit of smoke.  A solid wine at a solid price, no doubt.

3.5 corks popped!

Cheers!

 
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Posted in 3.5 corks popped, Erath, Oregon, Pinot Noir, red wine

 

2008 Clos Pegase Mitsuko’s Vineyard Chardonnay

22 Jul

This week’s second wine, a 2008 Clos Pegase Mitsuko’s Vineyard Chardonnay, hails from the Napa portion of the Carneros region, which actually straddles the Napa and Sonoma County line.  This is a distinctively cooler area of Napa, making it a perfect climate in which to grow the Burgundian varietals of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.  Clos Pegase, not surprisingly, produces its fair share of both.

Unlike the Foxglove Chardonnay, the Clos Pegase Mitsuko’s Vineyard Chardonnay was fermented in oak, at least a portion of which was new, lending a distinctive smoky, vanilla aroma and flavor that, to be honest, you either love or hate (my stepmom loves; J hates).  Accompanying those smoky sweet notes is a wonderfully intense flavor of sweet yellow peach, which, of course, makes me crave the grilled peaches I made for dessert the other night (recipe below).  Rounding out the deep flavors is just a touch of lemon zest, which perks up what could otherwise be a somewhat over-rich palate.

In short, although this certainly isn’t a wine for the ABC (“Anything But Chardonnay”) crowd, there are certainly those (my stepmom) who will love the long, buttery finish of this very respectable wine.  If you’re a buttery Chardonnay lover, you can find the 2008 Clos Pegase Mitsuko’s Vineyard Chardonnay at wine.com for $19.99/bottle.

3.5 corks popped!

Cheers!

Grilled Peaches

Serves 2

Ingredients

  • 2 slightly underripe yellow peaches, sliced in half and pitted
  • Brown sugar
  • Vanilla ice cream (optional)

Preparation

Pre-heat your grill to medium.  Sprinkle the cut side of your peaches with some brown sugar.  Place the peaches on the grill face down first.  Flip over after about 10 minutes and continue to cook, grill cover on, for another 10 minutes.  Flip over again and sprinkle with additional brown sugar and allow to melt.  Remove the peaches to bowls when they are just tender (but not mushy), topping with vanilla ice cream if desired.

 
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Posted in 3.5 corks popped, California, Chardonnay, Clos Pegase, recipes, white wine

 
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