Church & Main – Burlington, VT

Trips back and forth to Montreal take us through the heart of Vermont, along the western border with New York and through Burlington before and after a short stretch to the Canadian Border.

We’ve taken to stopping in Burlington whether it be for gas, a place to sit for a while, or a meal; and Burlington seems to be one of those places to just be. This time as we drove down Main street we got a good glance up Church street and realized we had some new places to check out.

We picked Church and Main based on Margot’s recollections of it being featured on a New England focused restaurant show on one or another of the food channels. As we found a place to park I quickly looked up the establishment and menu. I was left with a sense of joy at finding what looked to be such an interesting place so easily. The menu is as locally focused as it can be, including a house IPA made by Rock Art, one of the preeminent craft brewers in Vermont. Their imbibing menu trends more toward wine and spirits, but if you are looking for beer in Burlington, don’t worry you’ll find it.

Margot ordered the Point Judith Calamari and I snagged the pizza which was newly changed to pesto, goat cheese, grilled corn and shrimp on their grilled pizza crust. You got it!

I also ordered the house IPA, which I was 120% happy with. The aromas were pungent and clean and the smooth texture of the beer was out of sight. The pairing with the pizza was one of the better pairings I have had in a long time. The herbs in the pesto and the hops in the beer were made into a creamy herb soup with the goat cheese. It really was pretty amazing. Margot’s calamari were very tasty, it was seasoned with a spicy and sweet chili sauce that had just the right balance of heat to sweet.

We sat outside and enjoyed our meal. The constant traffic and construction sounds make me sure that Burlington is lot different than it used to be, but for a simple traveler it offered a relaxing place to grab a bite and a beer before pushing on. That’s counts for something.

Cheers!

Jason

Kicking Off Summer of Riesling

I heard about the Summer of Riesling (#summerofriesling) after last’s year’s edition. The buzz about it being bigger from the prior year and with more wines from different regions peaked my interest.

This year I knew that I could write a number of posts about Riesling that included our friends, reviews, food pairings, stories and promotional events. Earlier in the summer I was busy with the Relay For Life (raised $10K again!) and the pre-conference networking for #WBC11. I had been accumulating bottles slowly the whole time and still have a few, primarily New England producers, to purchase. I have no idea what I am going to do when I feature Riesling for the rest of the summer, I am just going to get inspired to create something interesting each time.

To get things rolling I offer a dinner pairing of a Grilled Salmon (recipe below) and the Salmon Run Finger Lakes, NY 2010 Riesling. There are two things about this wine that prompted me to include it, first it is dry and I wanted to start with a wine that demonstrates the falsity of the sweet Riesling myth. Secondly, I had this wine with a particularly good meal at the Granite Restaurant in Concord, NH a few years back. The dinner was an anniversary celebration for my wife and I, and one not long after my cancer treatment, so one we enjoyed with a newfound appreciation of what we had for sure. I wouldn’t have considered the wine as closely then and I was curious what I would think now.

Salmon Run 2010 Riesling

Aromas of pear and melon. Flavors of pear and green apple. The acidity is intense and the resulting steely sensation is a great attribute. The finish is pretty long with citrus pulling up the caboose. The wine is currently on sale at the NH Liquor store for $11.99.

The pairing of the salmon and the dry Riesling was a really great call. I’ve used sweeter Rieslings for spicier grilled salmon, but here the dry wine saw its fruit extended by the fish, with the creamy texture of the fish melding with the acid in the wine perfectly. I’d serve this again for sure!

The rest of my list is as eclectic as it is a workable survey of widely available and affordable wines. The regional wines are more common at their local level, but some do sell beyond.

• Kendal-Jackson Vintners Reserve 2009
• Loosen Brothers Dr. L Qba 2007
• Inniskillin Riesling Ice Wine
• Ferrante Winery 2010
• Relax 2006
• LaBelle Winery 2009
• Koening Winery 2008
• Trimbach 2007
• Pacific Rim 2007 Vin de Glaciere
• Allenhofen 2007
• Chateau Ste. Michelle Dry 2009

I still have to buy these

• Australia – looking for something dry
• Vermont – already looking for suggestions
• Massachusetts - Westport Rivers
• Connecticut – Sharpe Hill
• Rhode Island – Newport Winery
• Maine – I am going to be in Maine in a few weeks and will pick one up

So with that lineup I have all of the New England states covered, with the states of California, Idaho, Ohio and Washington represented as well. For countries we have Australia, Canada (QC), France (1), Germany (3) and of course the United States. That is a pretty adventuresome list with vintages form 2006 to 2010, and from dry to sweet and dessert styles.

So a couple times a week now Riesling is going to make an appearance. Are you enjoying any of the Summer of Riesling on your own? There are bars and restaurants all over with event-specific menus and wines lists with more Rieslings to pick from than usual. Check it out, you won’t be disappointed!

Cheers!

Jason

Grilled Salmon Recipe

1/3 cup soy sauce

¼ cup water

¼ cup vegetable oil

1/3 cup (minus 1 tsp) brown sugar

Dash of Chili powder

1 large salmon steak

Meyer lemon sugar

Salt

Pepper

Mix the first 5 ingredients. Salt & pepper the fish. Marinate the fish for 2 hours. Grill or broil until cooked.

Tasting De Loach Pinot Noirs

On Thursday night I participated in the #earthdaywine Live Tasting Event with De Loach Vineyards, Bottle Notes and the KloutPerks team.

I hadn’t gotten my wine sampler kit (shown in the picture above) yet, but I watched live as Jean-Charles Boisset described the approach De Loach has taken, their success with organic and sustainable practices and his vision of where Pinot from vineyards in Sonoma county can become.

Alyssa Rapp from Bottle Notes hosted the tasting and had questions for Jean-Charles. They both otherwise helped folks taste through the 6 bottle sampler kit available for the event. During the live tasting folks were tweeting away about their wines and impressions of the tasting. I noted several things that if you watch the taped #earthdaywine video from the session you might also pickup. Here are some of my tweets and related story:

I saw confidence and passion on the part of Jean-Charles.

"he (Jean-Charles) is clearly passionate in his pursuits. never a bad thing. #earthdaywine (live at http://ustre.am/x7jc)"

Jean-Charles was talking about bring wine to market in small barrel like dispensing systems for the home and restaurants. I immediately thought of our recent trip to France.

"we saw 10L boxes in France. idea++! RT @mwangbickler: Love the idea of selling wines in barrel. #earthdaywine (live at http://ustre.am/x7jc)"

During the chat Jean-Charles mentioned “Little Burgundy”. He was referring to the sampler and how it allowed a taster to survey what Pinot from Sonoma can be. The term “Little Burgundy” is one he uses to describe it. I think this notion is a powerful one to consider. The wine can take you to a place, and not the one it is from, but one it evokes. Pretty heavy stuff!

Bottles Notes used their Daily Sip e-mail newsletter yesterday to recap the event. Check that out at http://www.bottlenotes.com/the-daily-sip/wine-tips/earth-day-live-tasting

With my wines coming in after the event, they arrived the next day, I was able to live taste several of them for myself. I have been playing with video blogs a bit. What I came up with is linked below. I am still working out the video production bit. I had a couple of stutters in there with pronunciation or at one point the tannins of one of the wines had my tongue twisting. I need better lighting, but I need a lot of other things too! Otherwise it was a fun way to recap the event and try some of the wines.



Here are my detailed tasting notes from all six of the wines. It really is a great example of breadth from one wine portfolio!

Le Roi

This wine definitely had the most tweets about it amongst all the wines. I found it dry and sleek with wonderful grilled fruit flavors. I picked up cherries easily and a hint of gameyness, something like the aromas of goat cheese perhaps. I could easily recommend this wine to folks of all stripes, including those who don’t drink a lot of red wine. The balance and middling tannins make it a great occasion wine and a food pairing wine with braises and meats cooked in wine!

Masut Valley

There is diversity in this flight and this wine is the proof. Much more spice and earth is found in this one from some of the others. I picked up some root essence within those spices, much like the skin of fresh peeled ginger. The mouth on this wine is full of dark cherries with a dried fruit twist. The tannins are also a little wilder in this wine. I also felt this was the darkest of the six wines.

Van Der Kamp

This is the one I found the wildest aromas and flavors in. It is balanced, a tad high in alcohol, but has fruit, earth, herbs, and some natural funk that is the foundation of many great wines. The tannins in this wine are a little bolder, but don’t overwhelm. Margot tasted this one and remarked at how smooth it was. It reminded both of us of some of the Pinots in Washington/Oregon last year.

Maraboshi
The wood aromas come through on this one. I got more tannins, and both wood and grape types during my first sip. It is dry and much more austere than the Van Der Kamp, but not as focused as the Le Roi. I picked up cherries again and something floral, although this time it smells more like wild flowers or greens. There is some pepper and just a hint of pine on the finish.

Sonoma Stage

This wine is one of the lighter ones with light red berries, some cherry and some earthiness expressed in leather. The tannins are again restrained, but present. The fruits also seem slightly cooked, rather than ripe and fresh. Excellent dinner wine and another one for those notorious non-red drinkers!

Green Valley

This is another selection I saw a lot folks talking about. I smelled raspberries and what came across like flowers, maybe rose. This wine has restrained tannins and would be a pairing partner with a wide range of dishes from lightly season steaks, to salmon and some game meats. The acidity in this wine does a good job of cleaning up. With the alcohol at the high end (14-15.5) all of these Pinots leave a little heat on the finish. I actually enjoyed it, much like a fine cognac or bourbon leaves the smolder behind as it exits.

The price point on these wines range from $40-60 per bottle. The performance (taste/price ratio) on these wines is only OK when you factor in the price. Getting the tasting kit gave me many ideas that I would specifically pick up a single bottle to pair with a meal made for it. It isn’t an everyday for me, with the winery in my basement!

I really enjoyed this opportunity and would recommend others check out the sample packs from TastingRoom.com and the events sponsored by BottleNotes.com. Travel the world, one bottle at a time!

Cheers!

Jason

{ I was given a free product or sample because I'm a Klout influencer. I was under no obligation to receive the sample or talk about this company. I get no additional benefits for talking about the product or company. http://klout.com/perks/disclosure. }

#malbecworldday extras

I revisited several of the Malbecs from Sunday last night. Here are my micro-reviews from that session.

Alamos Malbec 2009 for #WW #WineWednesday - Great utility with bold flavors, acidity and obvious tannins. Need age perhaps.

More Malbec for #WW #WineWednesday Gato Negro 2010. I can see what others were saying from Sunday. Pours light, acidic no fruit. #wine

Y+B 2008 Malbec TetraPak. Slight brown shift, not a good sign. Eco pack no good, or something ? Need to try a fresh one. @ybwines #wine #WW

That last Tweet got an early AM response from the company, and just the kind you like to see. I clearly want to enjoy a fresh pak of their wine to prove what I have already said about their wines, which is when I have had it, it was very good. I didn’t want to miss that just because of one bad one. I’d likely buy it like I have others, but in this case I will be getting a complimentary replacement for my bad pak. Par excellence!

I thoroughly enjoyed Malbec World Day. All of the wine lovers we hosted did as well and comments on the Meetup site went up within hours. Gotta love wine peeps!

Cheers!

Jason

Malbec World Day Ancient Fire Wine Style

( Our final lineup, 15 in total! )

When I saw that Wines of Argentina had organized a Malbec World Day to celebrate Malbec and its world-wide history I was overjoyed. Last year at this time a group of us with April birthdays got together with our wives and enjoyed a flight of Malbecs with a meal. The wine was my muse for my upcoming project to make a Malbec, which is coming along well, but the quality is yet to be determined. This time around would be a celebration taking into account multiple locations where Malbec-based wines are made.

The Manchester Area Wine Lovers Meetup.com Group is a fantastic bunch of wine loving, interesting, knowledgeable and enjoyable people who live near us. We invited them to our place last July to meet some of our winemaking friends. We had a blast then and this newest occasion proved to be even better.

We had eleven Malbecs on hand by the time everyone arrived. There were two duplicate bottles, a fact I found refreshing in an area that doesn’t always have the best regional wine selections! We enjoyed a range of vintages from 2007 to 2010 and producers in Argentina (9), California (1) and France (1) were represented. There was a range of styles from very dry and austere to juicier and fruiter, something that makes you think of more casual appreciation.

Margot and shared selections from Argentina, France and California, including one in a Tetra-Pak. I also included a bottle of my own Chilean Malbec from 2010. I found it to be too dry, but others disagreed. Deli sliced London Broil, Cajun Crab Dip and cheese & crackers rounded out our starting spread. Guests also provided some of our amazing food items to pair with the wines. We had risotto, curried lamb empanadas, quesadillas, deviled eggs, cured meats, kabobs, and multiple cheese spreads. People know how to party in this group! Margot and I went heavy on the meat in consideration of the classic Malbec pairings, and others seemed to do the same. Bravo!

( I think these had curried lamb in them! )

( Margot headed for this as soon as she saw it. Gabriel knows his stuff to be sure! )

( The marinade with citrusy and sweet. I ate the leftovers for lunch yesterday! )

Here are the Malbecs we enjoyed:

Clos La Coutale Cahors 2008 (FR)
El Malbec 2008 Richard Santos
Trapiche Oak Cask
Vintners Cellar Malbec (2009?)
Alamos Malbec 2008
Graffigna Centenario 2007
Gato Negro 2010
Ruta 22 2009
Red Rock 2009 (CA)
Y+B 2008 Malbec
Ancient Fire Chilean Malbec 2010

My absolute favorite was the Ruta 22. It had depth, powerful aromas and flavors that made me take notice of it. I found berries, earth, and a great balance of wood. It paired wonderfully with both the London Broil and the steak tips.

I think the Y+B might have been past its prime and my own Chilean version was underdeveloped, and maybe permanently so. The Gato Negro seemed young, and a bit acidic, to me as well. The feedback from the others on the Y+B and Gate Negro was similar.

The Clos Las Coutale from France was very interesting, one that Chris and I talked some about. I had heard the term rustic used to describe it and it made me think less about quality and more about the tradeoff between polish and power in the greatest artisanal products. This proved to be profoundly true. It was clean, great tasting and rich enough to appreciate, but not elegant in the wrong ways.

The Graffigna was polished and hefty, but it seemed to drift away too soon. Hints of charcoal made me think of exotic circumstances. The Trapiche and Alamos are familiar and performed as they typically do. Both are good values and great cooking wines too. I would drink them so I would cook with them as well. The Richard Santos Malbec was a good central spot with fruit and earth in a good balance, very dry and with a lengthy finish. The Vintners Cellar wine was an interesting one to review. It was quite good and actually contained the fruit that I felt mine lacked. It was equally earthy and woody, but it had just a little something more. Something to consider I guess.

One of the other notable pairings was the Red Rock with the dark chocolate fudge. The fruitiness in the wine was the asset with tart raspberries mixing with the chocolate.

I had some Malbec facts and trivia on hand which made for great fun at several points during the afternoon. I have often thought it would be fun to train to be a wine educator and I realized this week that I already am doing it. Here’s a link to a PDF, Malbec Facts, with the information I compiled. There was a lot learned and the conversations about wines found in travels near and far are always welcome. Everyone enjoyed themselves and I am sure more good times are in store for this group. I can’t wait to talk wine with them again soon.

A few hours into the party we took a tour of the “wine cellar” or our wine in the cellar as we say it. I asked if anyone wanted to try some more homemade wine and I got the expected answer, “hell yeah!”
I opened up Strawberry, Plum Riesling, Jalapeno and Dandelion. These are our signature dessert wines from the last couple of years and really reflect the area where we live. Gabriel had the most humbling words, and I knew this from a past conversation, that for someone who isn’t fond of dessert wines, that all of them reminded him of what he was told they were, they all tasted good; to the point of making him change his mind about the potential for these types of wines. I can’t be anything but so pleased to hear something like that.

We signed off with a group shot. What a great day!

Cheers!

Jason

#WBW72 - Helping Japan

When I saw the theme for #WBW72 that was posted I wasn’t sure what I was going to do. I don’t have a lot of experience with Japanese food and don’t feel that I have discovered any local restaurants that would be worthy. Trying something new was the obvious conclusion, and I do that best at home.

The events that have unfolded after the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear concerns in Japan are heart breaking. On the one had you want to think that we have come so far as a civilization that scenes like we saw shouldn’t have been so easy to create. Then you remember exactly how powerful nature is and how small we really are. Unfortunately the people of Japan have a long road back to a place close to where they were before all of this, and there is only so much any of us can do to speed that along. But we can help. And reaching out and lending a hand becomes of symbol of what we have in common and what we share no matter how much or how little our support changes the reality as it stands. At the bottom of this post is a link to the Red Cross donation site where you can lend support to those in need.

The plan I crafted was to make Miso Soup and Vegetable Tempura at home, neither of which I have done before. Sake would be a generally obvious choice for pairing, and with that in mind I decided I would do something else; two things actually. I decided to pair a homemade Belgian White beer with the soup and a Gruner Veltliner with the tempura.

I am lucky to work right on the edge of Boston’s Chinatown so picking up ingredients I don’t usually stock at home would be reasonably easy. Many of the packages in the C-Mart are labeled with a combination of Chinese ( I think) and English so finding certain ingredients can be a challenge. I did alright and found my seaweed, bouillon, tofu, tempura flour, miso paste and green tea during my lunch hour.

I made a pot of green tea for us to enjoy while we cooked our dinner. I find tea to be a really great way to drink water, and if you drink tea with no caffeine and minimal sugar there really isn’t any downside. On these cool in-between days of later winter and early spring a hot glass of tea can make a big difference!

Miso Soup
(makes 4 servings)
4 cups water
2 tsp chicken soup bouillon
1/2 cup miso paste
1 tablespoon dried Wakame seaweed, soaked in room temperature water
1/2 cup cubed tofu
3 chopped green onions

Bring the water to a boil. Dissolve the bouillon into the boiling water using a whisk. Turn the heat down to medium-low and add the cubed tofu.

Drain the seaweed and add to the pot. Simmer for several minutes. Turn off the heat and move the pot off the burner. Add the miso paste to the soup and whisk smooth.

Ladle into bowls and add the green onions. Serve immediately.

The soup was paired with a homemade Belgian White beer. I chose this pairing after seeing it pop up in a search for pairings with Japanese food. It caught my attention because it wasn’t something that was obvious to me, and I love to try new things. Believe me when I tell that this pairing worked beyond my imagination. The soup is salty and the creamy beer cut that salt incredibly well. The citrus and spices in the beer meshed in with the soup swimmingly and was a combination worth savoring.

When I crafted this plan I felt that by expanding my knowledge of Japanese cuisine and trying to some classic dishes at home I would be projecting a symbol of care and understanding in a small, but meaningful way. I hope this same bump in enlightenment is shared by all the folks involved in #WBW72. Who knows when roles will be reversed and we will be in need of the support of folks from afar.

The second part of our meal was vegetable tempura paired with the Durnberg 2008 Select Gruner Veltliner. First the wine review.

Durnberg Gruner Veltliner 2008

Light gold color, brilliant with a little sediment. Citrus & herbs showed up on the nose. I found citrus, green apple, minerality and a little spiciness in the mouth. Balanced acidity, with a clean medium length finish. I liked this Gruner but was surprised as the light amount of sediment in the glass. It didn’t affect my enjoyment of the wine, but I found it to be unusual. It presented itself as very food friendly with the balanced acidity that could go in different directions depending on the flavors in the food you paired with it.

For the vegetables we selected:
Asparagus
Avocado
Broccoli
Red Pepper
Sweet Potato

The choice of avocado was done very late in the game after I happened to see a tweet from someone who mentioned having avocado tempura and loving it some much. I’ll try that!

The tempura batter was 2 cups of the tempura flour and 1 & ½ cups of ice cold water. I read that the two keys to tempura are using cold, cold water in the batter to suppress the gluten development and making sure the surface of the items to batter and fry is dry before battering it. I put the water in the freezer 20 minutes before using it and laid all the cleaned and cut up vegetables on paper towels and patted them dry.

The cooking oil, I used a clear soy-based frying oil, should be about 360 degrees before you being to fry anything and once you begin you will need to turn up the heat a bit to maintain the temperature. The process of frying is a visual one, you are looking for a light golden color to the finished product. Laying the fried items out on paper to soak up the excess oil is another excellent step in the process.

We also made a simple dipping sauce for the tempura using Tamari soy sauce, rice vinegar, ginger and green onions. Just a little gives a nice zip to the fried vegetables.

Tempura is an art form and I am sure I didn’t get it as right as I will with more practice. What I can say is that it took longer than I thought to fry everything, but when it was done I was quite happy for the effort. The texture of the lightly breaded and fried avocado is pretty freakin’ amazing. That and the sweet potato paired with the wine were my favorites. The wine found solid matches with everything including the asparagus. Asparagus can be a tough wine pairing food, but I guess when you bread it, fry it and then pair it with a notoriously food-friendly wine you should expect to come up aces.

So it was with tempura in one hand and a well matched wine in the other that I sent kind thoughts of support to our friends struggling in Japan. To help them by supporting the mission of the Red Cross please use the link below to make a donation.

http://american.redcross.org/site/PageServer?pagename=ntld_main&s_src=RSG000000000&s_subsrc=RCO_BigRedButton

Cheers!

Jason

Vegetarian Red Beans & Rice

I’m not sure what prompted it but last week my wife said she wanted Red Beans & Rice. We’ve only eaten it a couple of times in 15 years so it was a pretty obscure request. No worries though, it sounds good and I can definitely pull that off.

I went looking for recipes to get some inspiration and quickly found a great vegetarian (eating lighter these days) red beans & recipe from the Sortachef blog. I adapted the recipe in three ways. I used chipotle and chili powder instead of straight up cayenne. Margot seems to be more sensitive to cayenne and I wanted her to be able to eat the dish at will. I added 1 tsp of liquid smoke to help offset the missing flavors that you would get in the traditional dish from sausage and/or other meats. I then added the juice of ½ of a lime. I am finding that a slight hit of acid in some dishes helps flavors express themselves.

Vegetarian Red Beans & Rice

2 cups dry Small Red Beans, soaked overnight
1 large yellow onion, chopped
4 sticks celery with leaves, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
4 Tbsp olive oil
6 cups water
3 teaspoons of salt (reserve 1 tsp)
½ tsp of freshly ground black pepper
1 ½ tsp of dry thyme
1 ½ tsp of oregano
½ tsp chipotle powder
½ tsp chili powder
1 tsp liquid smoke
Juice of ½ a lime
3 cloves garlic, pressed or finely chopped
8 ounces of tomato sauce
Cooked rice

Soak the beans overnight covered by 2 inches of water. Drain, rinse and pick out any stones, stems or rotted beans.

Heat the 4 Tbsp oil in a large dutch oven. Sauté the onion, celery and green pepper over medium-high, turning occasionally with a spatula. When the pepper has lightened in color and the onions are translucent remove the vegetables from the heat and drain off the excess oil. Wipe out the dutch oven and return the vegetables to it.

Add the beans and 6 cups of cold water to the sautéed veggies. Now add the salt (2 tsp), black pepper, oregano, thyme, chipotle, chili powder, liquid smoke, lime juice and garlic. Mix well.

Bake in the oven at 325°. Put bean pot on the center rack and bake for 2 ½ hours covered, stirring every half hour or so. After 2 ½ hours, add the tomato sauce and last 1 tsp of salt. Remove the lid from the bean pot. Increase the heat to 375° and cook for 2-3 hours, until beans are tender and the cooking liquid has thickened.

( All done and ready to eat! )

Make a pile of cooked rice. Place 2/3 to 1 cup of the red beans mixture on top of the rice. Enjoy with hot sauce if you like some heat!

( Slightly out of focus. Sorry. It was good nonetheless! )

We enjoyed this hearty, but lighter than the classic, dish with a homemade Belgian White beer and the newest episode of the FX cartoon series Archer. The beer has coriander and bitter orange peel in it. Those flavors together with the creamy wheat body of the beer really worked well with the beans and rice. The pairing with Archer is a different sort of pairing all together. Off-color jokes and sexual innuendo are always good for a laugh and made for great atmosphere to enjoy dinner and a beer to on a Friday night.

Cheers!

Jason