CorkPopper

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.