Sunday Funday!
This was the most successful wine dinner yet! A few great
tasting wines paired wonderfully with equally scrumptious dishes. My roommate
Ned and I each cooked a dish to pair with a dish our friends David and Tim
made. Here’s the laydown:
Dishes:
o
Beef Tacos
o
Marrakesh Vegetable Curry
o
Baked Ziti with Sausage
o
Bourbon Peppercorn Chicken with Steamed Veggies
Wines:
o
Schmitt Sohne Riesling
o
2010 Torre Castillo Alegre
o
2010 Georges Duboeuf Beaujolais Nouveau
o
2010 Baron Philippe de Rothschild Mouton Cadet
Cooking the Dishes:
A) Beef Tacos
o
Dice onions and fry till they caramelize
o
Add beef, salt, pepper, seasoned salt, and cook
till tone
o
Season with taco seasoning, Sriracha sauce,
Texas Pete hot sauce, taco sauce
o
Sides: lettuce, cheese, limes, corn, tomatoes,
taco sauce
B) Marrakesh
Vegetable Curry
o
Cut up squash, zucchini (green and yellow),
green onions, red pepper, onions and garlic
o
Heat up oil and cook the vegetables and added
almonds and chickpeas
o
Add salt, pepper, turmeric, red pepper, cumin,
curry powder and cook till done
C) Baked Ziti with
Sausage
o
Cut and caramelize onions
o
Add garlic and Italian sausage and cook till
done
o
Combine cooked rigatoni, sausage, caramelized
onions, diced tomatoes and mozzarella cheese
o
When done baking, finish with a little Asiago
cheese on top
D) Bourbon Peppercorn
Chicken with Steamed Vegetables
o
Marinate cut-up chicken breasts in Jim Beam
bourbon, garlic, freshly crushed black pepper corn, added Bourbon Peppercorn
marinade, lemon juice and some added soy sauce
o
Then fry some diced onions and garlic and add to
the marinade
o
After three hours, bake till done
o
Steam veggies in a steamer and add salt and
pepper when done
Wines and such:
o
Varietal:
Riesling
o
Region: Mosel
o
Country:
Germany
o
Year:
NV
o
Price: $7.99
Winery Review:
“This fully ripened Riesling has highly extracted fruit
flavors of apricots and peaches coupled with enough acidity to give it a firm
and juicy mouth feel.”
Riesling Grape
Description:
Riesling
is a white grape variety which originated in the Rhine region of Germany.
Riesling is an aromatic grape variety displaying flowery,
almost perfumed, aromas as well as high acidity. It is used to make dry,
semi-sweet, sweet and sparkling white wines.
Riesling wines are usually varietally pure and are seldom oaked. As
of 2004, Riesling was estimated to be the world's 20th most grown variety at
48,700 hectares (120,000 acres) (with an increasing trend),[1] but
in terms of importance for quality wines, it is usually included in the
"top three" white wine varieties together with Chardonnay
and Sauvignon blanc. Riesling is a variety which is
highly "terroir-expressive",
meaning that the character of Riesling wines is clearly influenced by the
wine's place of origin.
My Review:
Two words: absolutely delicious. Wow. So far, I can count
the number of Rieslings I have tried on two hands and this one was phenomenal.
Very crispy and sweet. I got wafts of apple meets a peach fuzziness. The body
tasted like crisp apples and had great acidity. This is a pretty sweet wine
with good acidity. Wonderful to drink while laying outside and watching the
clouds roll by.
This wine was recommended as a pairing with beef tacos so we
decided to buy it when making beef tacos. Various online sites recommended
pairing spicy lime and beef tacos with a nice Riesling. It was a perfect palate
cleanser! This was wonderful after taking a bite of a light, crunchy taco.
Great mouth-feel to it and a great refresher. I feel that I am starting to
realize and distinguish how wine and food complement and bring out the
intricacies in each other.
o
2010 Torre Castillo Alegre
o
Varietal:
Monastrell
o
Region: Jumilla
o
Country:
Spain
o
Year:
2010
o
Price: $4.95
Winery Review:
“4 months in new American oak barrels. Bright ruby-red.
Dried cherry, pipe tobacco and rose aromas, with a hint of woodsmoke. Sweet and
fleshy on the palate, with blackberry and cherry flavors complimented by
licorice and a suggestion of dried herbs. The cherry and smoke notes repeat on
the finish.”
Monastrell
Description:
Mourvèdre (also
known as Mataró or Monastrell) is a red wine grape
variety that is grown in many regions around the world including the
Rhône and Provence
regions of France, the Valencia
and Jumilla
denominación de origens of Spain,
California and Washington State and the Australian regions of South Australia and New South Wales. In addition to making red
varietal
wines, Mourvèdre is a prominent component in "GSM" blends where it is
blended with Grenache
and Syrah.
The variety is also used to make rosé
and port-style
fortified
wines.[1]
Mourvèdre tends to produce tannic wines
that can be high in alcohol. The style of wine produced from the grapes varies
greatly according to where it is produced, but according to wine expert Jancis
Robinson Mourvèdre wines often have wild game and/or earthy notes to
them, with soft red fruit flavors.[2]
According to wine expert Oz Clarke, young Mourvèdre can come across as faulted
due to the reductive, sulfur notes and "farmyard-y" flavors that some
wines can exhibit before those flavors mellow with age.[3]
My Review:
The nose is a great ‘Old World’ nose. Tobacco, dark cherry,
oaky, grassy. The body is filled with a grassy meets diluted dark cherry taste.
This is a good wine for the price range but nothing too special. I thought it
was unbalanced and had many bold oaky and grassy hints.
This wine was meant to pair up with the heartiness of the
sausage. I picked making sausage since Monastrell is recommended as a pairing
with hearty meats such as sausage or beef. It was wonderful with the baked ziti
as it was complex enough to provide a nice backbone after a hefty bite. The
cherry shined through after each bite of baked ziti.
2010 Georges Duboeuf Beaujolais Nouveau
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Varietal:
Gamay
o
Region: Beaujolais
o
Country:
France
o
Year:
2012
o
Price: $3.95
Winery Review:
"Bright and tangy, offering a classic banana note on
the nose, with flavors of raspberry, wild strawberry and light spice.
Modest finish."
Gamay Description:
Gamay is a
purple-colored grape
variety used to make red wines, most notably grown in Beaujolais
and in the Loire
Valley around Tours.[1] Its full name is Gamay
Noir à Jus Blanc. It is a very old cultivar,
mentioned as long ago as the 15th century. It has been often cultivated because
it makes for abundant production; however, it can produce wines of distinction
when planted on acidic soils, which help to soften the grape's naturally high
acidity.[2]
My Review:
Pretty dang good for four bones. Wonderful and pungent nose
with huge wafts of cherry and banana coming through. Wow. The body was also
drowned in cherry and bananas with a slight hint of strawberries. Smooth going
down and very flavorful. Overall, soft
tannins, light wine and very smooth. Go try it!
This wine also went well! We wanted to pair it with the
light chicken and vegetable dish since online reviews and notes said it was
good with poultry. The cherries complemented the bourbon marinade and made for
a very tasteful palate. The lightness of the chicken and the intense flavor
profiles of the cherries worked perfectly. Another success!
o
2010 Baron Philippe de Rothschild Mouton Cadet
o
Varietal:
65% Merlot, 20% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 15% Cabernet Franc
o
Region: Bordeaux
o
Country:
France
o
Year:
2010
o
Price: $9.95
Winery Review:
Mouton Cadet Rouge is made from a blend of classic
varieties: Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Cabernet Franc. Merlot displays
roundness and ripe red fruit flavors, Cabernet Sauvignon adds a tannic
structure and touches of black berry fruit, while the Cabernet Franc provides elegance
and freshness.
Color: A scintillating, deep garnet red.
Nose: Highly expressive black fruit at first, with touches
of toast and fine spice followed by complex fresh fruit aromas that burst from
the glass.
Palate: Particularly supple and round on the entry,
displaying an attractive harmony between silky tannins and the freshness of the
fruit on the nose. A hedonistic wine, succulent and richly flavored, that ends
with a generous and pleasant, fruit-filled finish.
Merlot Description:
Merlot
is the most widely planted red grape in France’s Bordeaux region, although it
is eclipsed in stature by cabernet sauvignon, the grape with which it is
routinely blended. In recent years, Merlot has enjoyed a explosion in
popularity, especially in the United States, South America, Italy and
Australia. In California, plantings have risen from 4,000 acres in 1988 to over
50,000 today.
A
thin-skinned variety, merlot ripens earlier in the season then cabernet
sauvignon and is less hardy, prone to a variety of ailments from shatter (the
loss of potential fruit during flowering of the vine) to rot and mildew. It is
more adaptable to cool climates than cabernet sauvignon, but similarly prefers
a relatively warm growing environment.
Merlot’s
popularity is due to the fact that it is softer, fruitier, and earlier-maturing
than cabernet sauvignon, yet displays many of the same aromas and flavors –
black cherry, currant, cedar, and green olive – along with mint, tobacco and
tea-leaf tones. Although enjoyable as a varietal wine, it is probably most
successful when blended with cabernet sauvignon, which contributes the
structure, depth of flavor, and ageability merlot lacks.
My Review:
This wine was decanted at first since it had hard tannins (I
tried a glass!). After 3 hours, it opened up quite a bit. Wow. Old World nose
right away. Wafts of dark red fruit and spices on the nose. The body is fairly
tannic, and a little dark cherry and earthiness come through. Overall, it
finishes smooth, semi-dry, creamy and is well balanced. A pretty dang good
table wine!
We wanted to pair this Merlot with a vegetable dish
(Marrakesh) because online sites said it went great with roasted sweet
vegetables such as squash and red bell peppers. I thought the good structure of
the wine complemented the intriguing and pronounced spices in the vegetable
curry dish. This one was another success, but I felt this wine stands better by
itself or when paired with another dish that doesn’t have curry-esque spices,
Overall, this was the best wine dinner yet! We really paid attention to picking out wines that paired well with dishes we were thinking about making. I enjoyed all four wines and will drink them all again. One tidbit to know is that I would definitely decant the last wine, the merlot before serving, to mellow it out and loosen it up.
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