If Café du Monde Had a Beer

As usual Whole Foods’ beer department does not disappoint, and neither does Dogfish Head brewery for that matter. Dogfish Head typically brews some of the best IPAs I’ve ever had but their seasonal brews are always intriguing. When I saw a six-pack of their Chicory Stout on the shelf I couldn’t NOT put it in my cart. Their description of it is better than anything I could say about it: “A dark beer made with a touch of roasted chicory, organic Mexican coffee, St. John’s Wort, and licorice root. Brewed with whole-leaf Cascade and Fuggles hops, the grains include pale, roasted & oatmeal.” If you like rich, dark, bitter, full-bodied beers this one will get your attention. Best pairing in my opinion would be a plate of beignets!

Another recommendation for December/January seasonal beers in this style is Brooklyn Brewery’s Black Chocolate Stout. The flavor of this one is blacker whereas the Dogfish Head Chicory Stout is browner. I have a black truffle Sottocenere cheese in the fridge downstairs I’d love to try this with!

As always, if you have a beer, wine or spirits recommendation please pass it along!

For the Horde!

This weekend some of our World of Warcraft friends came over to our place for a holiday party, the first gathering since the big June one in NYC — a great time was had by all. Some of the guys brought some outstanding beer as is the case when you have beer aficionado friends (one who brews at home and aspires to brew professionally), my new favorite being Dead Guy Ale. Also one of my friends reminded me about the PKNT Carménère she recommended. Must hunt that down! Remind me next time I have a party to get extra tequila! We only had enough for one batch of margaritas. There was plenty else to drink — I mulled some wine (unsweetened) with Williams Sonoma Mulling Spices and a Rosenblum Cellars Zinfandel (can’t recall which one specifically and the bottles are out to recycling), served warm in a punch bowl my mom handed down to me long ago. My only complaint about the Williams Sonoma mulling spices vs. others (or home-combined) is that there is too much star anise, which ended up compounding the anise flavor in the Zin for too much black licorice flavor than most people care for. Ah well, it was tasty and people liked it.

Toward the end of the evening we went out into the back yard to saber a bottle of Presto Brut Prosecco for a toast — I know everyone says this but I really do NOT recommend trying this at home. It is not about chopping off the top of a bottle; it is very VERY dangerous and you risk being riddled with glass shards if the bottle explodes. You could hurt a guest or damage property. I received a demonstration in school from a professional with a lot of experience but even I probably should have just opened it normally until I got adequate practice doing it alone. Either way we all bundled up and filed into the back yard where I stood about 20 feet away from the group and faced the bottle away from everyone to shoot the cork toward the fence about 50 feet away from me. Plenty of room! We ran into a snag: it was way too cold out and the bottle would just not pop. Finally my friend who has professional training with blades (and safety) tried it with a little more umph at the bottle neck on the last stroke and POW it worked perfectly. Not sure why no one took a picture of it but we at least got some shots of folks in the kitchen for the toast.

Obviously we did more than just drink — there was much catching up between old faces, introductions with new faces, many many turns at Rock Band, a hilarious group viewing of “The Princess Bride”, general silliness and tomfoolery, hugs and good cheer. And yes, inevitably someone talked about World of Warcraft.

Stuck in Lodi Again

Although Creedence Clearwater Revival sang about being down on one’s luck there, I’m a fan of Lodi, CA grapes. Doing my grocery shopping yesterday I was in the mood for a drink-at-the-computer red and noticed a 2006 Gnarly Head “Old Vine Zin” Lodi Zinfandel — Lodi being the “Zinfandel Capital of the World” particularly for old vines. Gnarly Head is a laid-back winery (hang 10, haoles!) based in Manteca, CA which lies directly between San Francisco and Yosemite National Park; the “Gnarly” refers as much to the old vines as the surfer theme. This was a hearty Zin that showcased what depth an old vine can offer in the right terroir. In the glass this opaque wine looks deep violet with a ruby rim, lots of slow, stained tears on the sides. With a couple swirls I smelled smoke, fresh asphalt, blackberries, currants, blueberries, dates, dried cherries and dark chocolate. On the palate I tasted blackberries, currants, blueberries, dark chocolate-covered cherries, prunes and black plums. Here we have a dry wine with medium+ acidity, medium+ alcohol (14.5%), medium+ body, medium+ intensity, medium tannins, medium oak, a medium+ finish, medium+ complexity and felt well-balanced. I’d say this wine and Ravenswood’s Lodi Zinfandel are great examples of this varietal & style. Best with burgers or barbeque — even better with smoked london broil — but you could drink these with a variety of meals, even pasta with a red sauce.

A German Pinot Noir

I haven’t come across too many Pinot Noirs from Germany so when I saw this one in the store I had to buy it. Basic notes:

2005 Kendermanns Pinot Noir
Pfalz, Germany
Appearance: Pale ruby, pale salmon rim to pink edge, clear, day bright.
Nose: Strawberry, cherry pie filling, cedar chips, barley, red raspberry, spiced apple.
Palate: Strawberry, cherry pie filling, spiced apple, rhubarb, cedar, toasted hazelnut. TASTY!
Structure: Dry, medium- acidity, medium+ alcohol (13%), medium+ body, medium+ intensity, medium tannins, low oak, medium finish, medium+ complexity, rather well-balanced.

Definitely liked! I was surprised how fruit-forward it was without the earthiness or minerality of Old World but in a Pinot Noir I can accept a lot.

A Gentle Whisper From France

Today’s wine is a 2004 Château de Maligny Chablis (Premier Cru). Under the light it’s clear, pale gold turning to pale straw to the edge, star bright, medium bodied. The nose offers lemon, apple, pear and chalk, mirrored in the palate with lemon, lemon zest & pith, butter, apple and chalk. This dry wine has high acidity, mild alcohol, no detectable oak or tannins, medium complexity and a medium finish. Exactly what a Chablis should present. If you’re looking for a sipping wine this may not be intense enough (unless you prefer mysterious wines) — food pairing is where this wine shines. I was happy to sip something quiet so I can’t tell you what it paired well with but as long as you’re going for a light-bodied dish this is would be a great accompaniment.

From the Library

In this case I mean from my own “library” as one would refer to a “library wine” as older and stored for aging. A long time ago in a lifetime far, far away I was on vacation in New Orleans and had a 1996 Mayacamas Chardonnay at Emeril Lagasse’s NOLA restaurant and nearly fell over it was so impressive. Once home from that trip I signed up for their semi-annual newsletter (that comes in the mailbox at the end of my driveway and is printed on thick fancy paper) and began my search for another bottle. Some years later I discovered a wine store in Red Bank that carried it and made the investment — this time in a 1999. Now, mind you at the time I was that-friend-that-everyone-hands-the-wine-list-to-at-restaurants but had no idea what the 1999 vintage was like for Napa Valley. And frankly I didn’t care. This wine was the closest thing to biting into a cool, liquid, fresh green apple infused with sunshine that you’re going to find. So there it lay in my cellar for a Special Occasion for many years — probably too many for a white but hey, they’re still selling their 2000 Chardonnay in their library section — and I decided today that a special enough occasion is wanting to drink it. At least I didn’t smuggle it into a burger joint and slurp it with fries. I could analyze why I never felt any other occasion was special enough for it — I’m sure there were many, many, many — but it’s more likely that either it wouldn’t pair well with whatever we were serving or I’d be the only one drinking it. And special occasions often call for champagne anyway.

So this ‘99 Chardonnay from the Napa side of the Mayacamas Mountains, that I finally exposed to the air 9 years since it last felt it, is a pale gold color, almost brassy, with a wide silver rim. There is slight flocculation (specks) throughout the wine but it is star bright and looks luminescent enough. On the nose I detect mild honey, lemon, straw, limestone, and a light jasmine note. In the palate the honey is stronger, followed by lemon, golden delicious apple, lemon pith, and unripe pineapple. So the personality seems to have matured from bright green, fresh & crisp to warmer, “yellower” flavors, but it still has the highly acidic edginess to it that keeps it standing upright. The wine is dry, medium bodied, the alcohol was well-integrated (13.75%), with medium- intensity, no tannins or oak, medium finish and medium complexity. I would pair this with herb chicken, oysters or any type of seafood for that matter, or that butternut squash soufflé I made once. Delicious.

My ONLY concern is that it seemed to have aged adequately in spite of my cellar environment, not in harmony with it. I think if it were a bit cooler down there (or at least if the temperature were more consistent) the wine would have had more to say. At the end of some of the sips there was a sad note that suggested a tiny bit of volatile acidity. Guess it’s time to get a real wine fridge . . .

Overall I really enjoyed the Chardonnay. I just wish I had been kinder to it over the years — or opened it sooner!

Ménage á Trois!

Just as you were victim of my catchy marketing ploy to compel you to read this, I was victim in the wine store of catchy marketing ploys on the label to compel me to look at a wine. Hey, sometimes when you are perusing the shelves and you have no idea what any of them are like, and there are no tasting tags, the label is all you’ve got. Ain’t no shame in it — otherwise all the labels would be plain. So today I saw two jaunty little figures dancing on the label of a Folie à Deux bottle of their 2006 Ménage à Trois Rosé from St. Helena, Napa Valley, and I thought “hmmm what’s this?” Merlot, Syrah and Gewürtztraminer?? Curiosity got the better of me and I grabbed it. It was a weeee bit sweeter than I expected but there was likely more Gewürtz in there than red — I’d call the end result off-dry. Great, simple, easy to drink rosé that I would have loved to have brought to the beach a couple months ago. It’s a pale ruby color with a pink variation out to the silver edge, clear and star bright. Strawberry, raspberry, pineapple, spiced apple, spiced pear and nutmeg delight the nose and are matched on the palate. Acidity is high, alcohol is medium+, medium- body, very mild oak, no tannins, medium intensity, medium complexity, long finish. Pretty good! I’ll have to try their Ménage à Trois red and white.

A Tasty Pinot for a Great Bargain

What? Stef? Drinking a Pinot Noir? Noooooooooo.

Had a craving for a Russian River Valley Pinot Noir so I grabbed one at the store. Definitely liked! The bonus was that it was a vintage close-out so it was on sale for a fraction of the original price. If you are ever just poking around in your local wine store sometimes there is a section (probably in the back) for vintage close-out discounts. Nothing wrong with these wines, they’re just the stragglers from the year before that the distributer is trying to unload quickly so they can make room on the shelves for this year’s wine. This wine in particular had a very limited distribution — 350 cases — and received 90 points from Wine Enthusiast. When else can you get a $40 wine for less than $20?

2005 Lost Canyon Pinot Noir, Saralee’s Vineyard, Russian River Valley, Sonoma, CA

This clear, star bright Pinot appears ruby to garnet with a pale pink rim. The nose is greeted with medium+ intensity, fruit-forward notes of strawberry, raspberry, followed by cinnamon, allspice, cinnamon candy, and cedar. Synchronous with the nose I tasted strawberry, raspberry and baking spices on the palate. I even tasted red Twizzlers on the front and black Twizzlers in the finish. Structural elements include medium+acidity, medium alcohol (14% but well-integrated), medium body, low residual sugar, soft tannins, medium oak, medium finish, medium complexity, VERY well balanced, and an overall likeable wine. This could pair with a long list of foods, from seared tuna to duck to pork to a number of nuts & cheeses. Great example of a New World Pinot Noir, particularly for Russian River Valley.

Champagne Brunch

Happy Slightly Belated National Coming Out Day!

Yesterday I met up with my friend with whom I went out tasting last month to have brunch with a group of mutual friends at an Irish pub on Orchard St. (but, ironically, not for National Coming Out Day — we’re all out already). The pub has an unbelievably affordable all-you-can-drink champagne brunch until late afternoon including an admirable selection of Irish breakfast dishes. So . . . we had some brunch with our champage. Word of advice: if you move on from brunch and mimosas and pick up at the bar where that left off you should probably have another meal in there somewhere. Several hours and 3 glasses of a 2005 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon later (which I guessed blindly, but did not recognize the winery) with no additional food I was sloppier than I like and VERY sick. Ugh, bad move. But somehow we all bid each other adieu and I got my friend to her Madonna concert on time and I got home on the train safely; no hangover today (drink lots of water before you go to bed!), and a lesson learned. Sometimes it’s not about what’s in the glass but the group around the glasses.

The Best Laid Plans of Mice and Men (and Wine Chicks)…

. . . often go astray. AH THE IRONY! I had been planning a little “wine tasting 101″ party for my wine tasting club for several weeks and the only weekend everyone was available was this weekend — the party would be half “how to taste wine” and half blind tasting & eating, everyone contributing a bottle to the flight. My mom came over from PA to cook an epic beef bourguignon and I had saved the precious 1993 Teldeschi Zinfandel hand-carried from CA to pour as an aged sample. I even typed up handouts! The ironic part: I have been sick as a dog with a sinus infection and though I was well enough to host last night, I COULDN’T TASTE OR SMELL A DAMN THING! Folks brought over some truly remarkable and unique wines from all over the world that I heard good things about from the group, but when I put my nose in each glass or took a sip the most honest thing I could come up with was, “Mmm, smells like . . . a glass!” and “Tastes . . . wet.” Terrible. I couldn’t even taste the beef bourguignon. Heard it was splendid. /mope. I can’t even find the list I made of what everyone brought. One wine made it through the fog — it was badly corked — though I used it as an educational opportunity before washing out all the glasses and moving on. Either way, the group had a great time, tried new things, learned new things, and next time we all go on a wine tasting excursion we’ll be all the more informed about what we like and don’t like and why.

But dammit! What crappy timing for a head cold.