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

Sam Adams Stony Brook Red

The Boston Beer Company (brewer of Samuel Adams) is small by commercial beer standards. If you look just at craft, artisanal and other small batch brewers they aren’t as small in comparison, but their total output is still just a small amount of the total volume of beer brewed in the US each year. Somewhere along the way I have found that the beers in their regular collection don’t have the same pop for me as they used to. I’ll chock it up to expanded tastes as I taste more and more beers. That said, when I see something from the company that is new or limited production I often stop to take a look.

Enter the Barrel Room Collection. As the story is told on the bottle tag that hangs on each of the 3 Barrel Room Collection beers, the barrel room at the brewer is a place where special projects where oak aging play a part are done. Up until recently these beers were generally only enjoyed by lucky brewery visitors and didn’t last long. With the introduction of the oak aged Kriek, Stony Brook Red and the Tripel the Boston Beer Company is demonstrating awareness of the shifting tastes in beer by at least some oftheir customer base. All three of these beers are old world styles with considerable character and unique attributes in comparison to the normal Sam Adams lineup.

I took a Stony Brook Red with me on our last trip up to the VT house. The description of the beer is pretty straightforward, “Belgian Style with Tart Fruit and Toasted Oak Character.” An apt description, and easily surveyed with a sip.

It poured with a thick light brown head that stuck around. The color was red/brown and was bottle conditioned so some haze was visible. The aromas were big, with dried fruit, malt and wood all together. The tart fruit notes were easily detected, and reminded me of sour cherries. It is medium-body and seems sweet, but it isn’t. The finish is tart with citrus and a nice length that lets the flavors slowly melt away. At 9% alcohol it isn’t the kind of thing you would want sit around and drink several of (oh I am sure I could) but I could see this making for a great aperitif amongst friend and definitely a strong pairing tool with stews, braises and BBQ.

The beer has a story that comes with it, but the story of when I drank it will complete your appreciation of a well timed drink.

Spring comes to VT slowly, and often in fits and starts. A step forward one week can be made many steps back by a freak snow the next week. Catching a warm sunny day in April is luck, and being able to sit on the deck for a few hours and enjoy a really tasty beer is a joy. There is still considerable snowpack and the breeze still brings a coolness from time to time. This beer paired with both worlds, having the strength and flavors to provide winter warming but also the tartness and fruit to evoke thoughts of warm weather and backyard parties. I killed the whole bottle sitting in the sun and I couldn’t have been happier!

Cheers!

Jason

Making the Original Southern Comfort

The history of liquor is fascinating. I heard the legend of where Southern Comfort came from and it turned out to be an old time infusion by a tavern owner. Something you could so very much do at home! The story, including exactly from where I heard the legend, can be found in the history section of the Wikipedia entry on Southern Comfort.

I first tried it within a week of seeing a TV show about it in 2010 and it came out mighty fine. It took about 3-4 weeks total and it sipped great on the rocks for the short time it lasted.

Since then I have infused a bunch of other flavors in vodka and infused the itch to try it for herself into our friend Amy. She came back with a tray of different flavors for us to try. Nearly two dozen in all! This year is cooking up some kind of madness with gin and the party to celebrate it all is in June.

As a gift to thank her for all of the good drinks I created from her last share, I decided to make her a quart of homemade Ancient Fire Bourbon Comfort. And I couldn’t overlook sharing this recipe with you all, it is just too good!

Ancient Fire Bourbon Comfort

1.75 L Jim Beam White
Peel of 1 orange
Peel of 1 lemon
1 & ½ vanilla beans, sliced lengthwise
1 & ½ inches of cinnamon, broken into 3 pieces
5 whole cloves
8 cherries, canned in heavy syrup, sliced in half
Simple syrup to taste

Remove 3-4 ounces of the bourbon from the bottle. Add everything but the simple syrup. Top off with the reserved bourbon as needed. Drink the rest! Recap the bottle.

Shake the bottle once per day for 2-3 weeks. Flavors and aromas will develop and you should test it to see if you like the flavors along the way. When you do, use a sieve to filter out the solids. Combine the bourbon with sugar syrup, mixing well, to taste. Store in mason jars, wine bottles, etc in a cool dry place. Serve on the rocks.

Cheers!

Jason

p.s. I apologize for the picture. I made the limoncello and the comfort on the same night and the pictures came during the drinking phase. How delightfully trashy. That’s all for you Janis!

Photos from A Night of Learning and Eating In Rockport

Brian aptly captured the evening in words and pictures in his post A Night of Learning and Eating in Rockport. His kind words about my libations are a great honor. Knowing he enjoyed them by having been there is made better when you get share what other people bring! (in the street sense, “totally bringing it”)

Here are some food shots from the evening. I didn’t get everything and I hope nobody feels left out. We had fun!

( Peppe cutting his own handmade sausage! )

( I think this is the organ bits version. So good with some Italian red wine! )

( There's Brian's cheese. That's right, it's his I didn't have any. BS flag anyone? )

( Gotta have some good crusty bread! )

( I know we have bread, but this on top? Oh my! )

( We started with these, and the grenadine was truly optional. )

( Peppe made risotto look easy, as you would think he would! )

( Lindsay & Michael brough a calamri spring salad. Innovative! )

( Brian's beef cheek taco assembly line! )

( My beer soup sorbet being served by Heather. )

Much thanks to Heather for hosting. I suspect this group has some more events in store...

Cheers!

Jason

Spring Comes Alive at Dutton’s

Luck smiled on us last weekend while we were at the house in VT. Early spring weather can be iffy up there, but not on this visit! Saturday brought a warm sunny day, good enough for a leisurely walk and a visit to the local farmstand.

We’ve written about Dutton’s several times before. It is the go to place for fresh produce and fresh baked snacks on the way up or way home from VT. Once you get hooked on stopping at Dutton’s you find yourself planning to be there every time you are in the area.

This time of year is sugaring (maple syrup) season in northern New England. They were between batches at the Dutton’s sugar house, and with the cleaning going on I tried to stay out of the way. I did snap a few pictures that get you thinking in the right direction.

( Grade examples. I am a dark amber guy. )

( Read and waiting! )

( This is the tail end of the last batch, it gets filtered to remove the crystals before bottling. )

All the animals were showing the humans how smart they are by getting out and enjoying the sun. The geese were doing quite a bit of posturing since they had recently hatched goslings. They weren’t too jazzed about the tall guy with the camera. The goats on the other hand couldn’t have cared less that we were lurking about. They were sitting in the sun, cleaning and chewing their cuds. Nice life! The donkey was the star of the show for us though. She was reported to be very shy and didn’t typically let people pet her. I guess she sensed we were good, loving, animal people. She came right up the fence and loved it when Margot scratched her neck. She was so cute!

( Geese can be nasty so I didn't push it. There is a fence in front of me that was cropped out! )

( We all want this life! )

( I wish she could talk. I'm sure the conversation would have been fun! )

Inside we found legions of maple syrup jugs filled and ready to take home. We are almost out of real syrup so we picked up a quart. We also noticed something that we thought for sure was new, but we found out we just hadn’t ever paid close enough attention for. Imported olive oil and 12 year aged balsamic vinegar! The bottles available are refillable and after a taste of the vinegar we were sure we were going to take some of that home. It reminded me of the balsamic vinegars I tasted at Salumeria Italiana in Boston. So rich and thick! They were out of oil but told us to call ahead when we were in the area next and if they have some they will set it aside for us. Will do.

( Ariston's Refill & Save Program for small retailers. Pretty cool! )

One of the things I was on the hunt for was honey. I made mead one time back in 2008 and have been itching to try it again. Using a local honey makes sense for me for a couple of reasons. Generally the local small producers make a pure natural honey with minimal processing and filtering. That purity comes through in the artisanal products I make. Secondly the price is based on limited transportation and that limited transport lowers the environmental footprint. I was in luck to come across three 3 lb containers of pure honey from Young’s Bee Farm in Wardsboro, VT, only about 10-15 minutes from our house. That will be enough honey for me to make a 3 gallon batch of mead, which will be flavored with Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla beans and orange extract, a creamsicle of sorts.

( You will soon be mead for later summer drinking! )

Margot picked a blueberry muffin for a snack and we were on our way. I left with such happiness about spring having finally arrived. When we arrived back at the house we went for a walk and then sat out on the deck in the sun for a couple of hours!

Cheers!
 
Jason

Making Limoncello

( I took the picture at an angle because that is how things look if you drink too much of it! )

Limoncello was my first ever infusion. I only made it once back in 2009. In the two years since I have infused vodka with all sorts of things, made my own spin on Southern Comfort using the original recipe and inspired friends try it all themselves. It is fun, and if you haven’t tried it, you should.

Making Limoncello is really simple. The waiting in the hard part!

Ancient Fire Limoncello

16 lemons, carefully peeled to get mostly yellow skin and minimal white pith
2 – 1.75 liter containers of 100 proof vodka
1 gallon empty jug with a re-sealable top

Wash & peel the lemons. Put the peels in your empty container. Cover with the vodka. Shake every day for 2-3 weeks. The yellow color will develop within a few days and the depth of the flavor and aroma will continue to grow as you shake it.

After 2-3 weeks strain the vodka to remove the peels and any sediment. Sweeten the nearly finished Limoncello with simple syrup to taste. Just how much sweetness is really is a matter of taste. Because I have lots of empty wine bottles laying around, corks and a corker I fill bottles and seal them for safe storage. Because of the sugar in the drink you really don’t want to store your creation in a container that isn’t airtight. If you have to store it in one container, the refrigerator is a good bet to keep it from getting funky. I normally put a bottle in the freezer a few hours ahead of when I want to serve it, typically in the summer. It comes out super cold and makes for a great way to cap off a meal in the backyard.

Cheers!

Jason

Breakfast for Dinner

I love having what would normally be considered breakfast foods for dinner. I love how much easier those meals can be in comparison.

Last week I made a vegetable frittata that came out perfect. All the vegetables were cooked just right and the eggs for nice and puffy, but not to crispy on top.

Veggie Frittata

1 broccoli crown, cut down into half florets
½ bunch of asparagus, top 2/3 of each stalk cut into 2 pieces
½ large red pepper, sliced thin
½ large red onion, sliced thin
1 cup egg whites/egg substitute from a carton
½ cup shredded low fat cheddar cheese
1 tsp garlic paste
2 tsp olive oil
Salt & pepper to taste

Steam the broccoli and asparagus just until they were fork tender. Heat the oil in a cast iron skillet over medium heat. Set your broiler on high. Sauté the pepper & onion until tender in the hot oil. Add the garlic to an open spot in the center of the pan and quickly mix into the cooking vegetables. Add the asparagus and broccoli. Sprinkle the cheese over the vegetables and toss to mix. Add egg white to cover the vegetables evenly. Add salt & pepper if you like. Allow the eggs to cook just until they begin to bubble and you can see them have set underneath the liquid top layer. Move the pan to the broiler. Watch it carefully under the broiler until the eggs complete cook and puff up. It should be golden brown on top, but not too brown.

Allow it to cool for just a minute, cut and serve. One quarter of the dish clocked in at just about 3 Weight Watcher points for anyone who is considering how the dish fits into an active diet regimen.

And there you have breakfast for dinner!

Jason

Alley Cat Pizzeria - Manchester, NH

There are those places in every town that you always here buzz about. “Oh, you have to go.” or “I cannot believe you have never eaten at.” Alley Cat Pizzeria in Manchester NH is one of those places. This is the pizza place that many in the area say is a must go to. They have won Best of the Best in the local HippoPress for years. So, as someone who is searching out great pizza places to blog about in New England this one in my hometown seemed like a no brainer.

We purchased to large pizzas, one mushroom and one Stray Cat. I always like to try a simple topping along with a specialty when trying a new place in order to get a real feel for what they have to offer. We picked up the pizzas and headed home on our 15 minute drive. The Jeep smelled wonderful and Jay and I had a hard time waiting until we got it home to dig in.

Alley Cat is known for its super thin crust that is perfect for the NY fold in half technique. Our crust lived up to that super thin reputation. The crusts ends were nice and crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside and though thin it was not soggy. Both pizzas were light on the sauce, which for me is preferable when dealing with a thinner crust, less messy and not overpowering. The flavor of the sauce was somewhat unremarkable, beyond tomato there was not a lot of discernable flavors.

The cheese was the right amount, not skimpy, but not so thick that you could not bit through it. The Stray Cat specialty pizza had both mozzarella and ricotta. It was impressive that while the mozz was well cooked and slightly brown, the ricotta was not a dried out mess as can sometimes happen. The Stray Cat also included breaded eggplant, which was well cooked with perfectly toasted breading. The mushrooms on the other pizza were fresh and were a nice size. As for seasoning on either, Jay and I did something we have never done, we used salt to kick up the flavor a bit.

As we ate our pizza there was a bit of silence, though not the normal silence that accompanies the devouring of pizza. I think that Jay and I were both trying to find the words to describe our experience. The build up to the pizza at Alley Cat had been so strong and so big. Best pizza in the area, the pizza you would travel for, you have to try it! I am not sure if any pizza could have lived up to the hype, but was the hype causing our reaction? Maybe. When we finally spoke our conclusions were in agreement. Alley Cat Pizza is very good, unsophisticated, pizza. It is the pizza that you remember from those late nights in college. It is the pizza that you may have eaten on your first date in High School. I guess one could call it nostalgic pizza. If you are in the neighborhood looking for a quick slice I would definitely recommend it, as it will not be dissatisfying. My goal now is to find a place in Manchester, which may not be getting the hype but leaves a stronger impression.

Mangia!

Margot

Local Sips – April 2nd, 2011

The Drinkery in Londonderry lined up another batch of great wines to share with shop patrons and fans this week. Dessert wines specifically.

We started off with the Chocorazzle Delight from Grape Time Winery. Grape Time is a local vint-on-premises operation that uses kit wine products for both customer orders and retails sales. We are pretty sure this wine was made from the same Chocolate Raspberry Port kit we made some at home with last year. It is a good wine, but not something would live up to the Port namesake. My favorite was the Red Decadence from Washington State. It is dry for a dessert wine, well balanced, and projects incredible chocolate aromas and flavors. The Sweet Sunset, from California, is actually too sweet but it did have a winning aroma.

The last selection was an ice cider from Vermont. We have had it many times and enjoy it every chance we get. It was a bit of an oddball in this lineup, but solid nonetheless. On our way out we picked up a mixed pack of beers to have with pizza from a local join that got best of accolades in the Hippo Press. Margot’s review of the pizza will posted on Sunday.

On Saturday I was flying solo, Margot was gone overnight with her sisters, so what did I do? Went to a brewpub! I have had multiple tell me that the Portsmouth Brewery was a must do for a beer lover.

One of the things I love about brewpubs is the sampler. Portsmouth does it right and offers a 10 beer (2 oz each) sampler of all the beers they have on tap at any time. This night they were pouring 6 of their own beers and 4 from Smuttynose, another Portsmouth based brewery. I can’t recall if I have ever had any of the beers from Smuttynose so I am pretty sure all 10 beer s were new to me. Here is the lineup I ended up taking down:

Portsmouth Dirty Blond Ale
Portsmouth Grand Cru
Smuttynose Star Island
Smuttynose Finsest Kind IPA
Smuttynose Shoals Pale Ale
Portsmouth Imperial IPA
Smuttynose Old Brown Dog
Portsmouth ESB
Portsmouth Weizen Bock
Portsmouth Black Cat Stout

I found there to be a definite distinction between the Portsmouth and Smuttynose beers. The Portsmouth beers tasted smaller batch and like each ounce had gotten just a little bit more love and attention. I like beer with lots of character and the Portsmouth beers put on the charm!

The two I enjoyed the most were the Imperial IPA and the Grand Cru. The Grand Cru is traditional Belgian ale with distinct aromas and a nice clean finish. The Imperial IPA was exactly the amped up hop monster I was hoping for. I actually snagged a pint of this to enjoy up next to chicken tenders with mustard ale sauce and pastrami sandwich & fries. The food was also fantastic and even though it was restaurant week and a Saturday night, I could imagine this place would be busy all the time.

I grabbed a couple of 22oz'ers from the retail shop on the way out. They will also fill half gallon growlers to go at the bar. Love it!

The next time you are in Portsmouth and have time for a beer make sure and stop by the Portsmouth Brewery.
Cheers!

Jason

Boutari 2008 Santorini White

I had Greek wine for the first time last fall at the Second Glass Wine Riot. At that event Margot and I sampled both reds made from Agiorghitiko and whites made from Assyrtiko, the predominant grapes of each style in Greece. We also tried the Santorini Vin Santo made from indigenous grapes and quite similar to the classic Italian dessert wine. That isn’t much, and from small samples we didn’t gather much of a feel for the wines or the place they are from.

This week I opened a bottle of the Boutari 2008 white from the Greek island of Santorini. This dry table wine is made from the Assyrtiko grape. I found the nose to be much more fragrant than I recalled from the prior tastings. I picked up aromas of grapefruit, other citrus and savory herbs. The flavors are predominantly citrus based with some salinity and a minerality that presented itself like dry sandy soil. With generous acidity the wine stays fresh. The finish is clean and doesn’t linger. Growing conditions on Santorini are harsh, with intense heat and little rainfall, so a wine with this level of freshness and vibrancy is clearly a labor of love.

I captured my tasting and review on video as part of my “Interview with a Wine Nerd” series.



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

Light & Easy Pasta Bake

Very rarely do I make pasta at home. Margot is usually the one who does and that is maybe once per month. I never really developed an appreciation for it growing up and while I will order pasta when out at a good Italian restaurant, but I don’t often crave it and thus don’t make it at home. This makes Margot sad because she loves pasta, but she understands the issue; and there are many things she doesn’t regularly eat for exactly the same reason.

So it was with great surprise that I should want to make pasta and that I was going to scheme something up to use ingredients we had on hand to make something a little more than cooked pasta with sauce on top. My motivation was the open bottle of wine some new friends has left us.

What I ended up with contains most of what is in a typical lasagna but I used shells for the pasta. When everything was ready it was mixed together and spread into a baking pan and topped with parmesan cheese. It really was simple, and it turned out to be pretty light as well. Not a bad two-fer to get for a dish I don’t often make!

Jay’s Light & Easy Pasta Bake

1 lb ground turkey, browned & cooked through
1 box whole wheat shells, cooked according to package
1 white onion, chopped
1 red pepper, chopped
8 oz light Ricotta cheese
½ jar spaghetti sauce
¼ cup + 2 Tbsp parmesan cheese, seperate (fresh grated or jar style)
1 Tbsp garlic paste
2 tsp frozen fresh oregano
2 tsp frozen fresh basil
Salt & pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 375.

Mix everything but the pasta and the last 2 Tbsp of the parmesan cheese in a large bowl. Add the pasta and mix well. Pour into a baking dish and spread as one flat layer. Cover with the remaining parmesan cheese.

Bake until golden brown on top.

I served this dish with some olive bread sprayed lightly with white truffle oil and a very nicely crafted Dolcetto wine made by some of our new winemaking friends. It really was a fantastic pairing, and I found that Dolcetto lives up to its reputation similar to that of Chianti for being an easy drinking and very food friendly wine.

Newsflash! I made pasta for a second time in the same week. You can only imagine how excited Margot was. My friend Wayne mine broke his collar bone skiing the same day as I made the first dish, and we made something a little different on Wednesday to take over for a visit. I saw a recipe for “Greek Mac and Cheese” at Kate’s Kitchen and remembered I had a wine from Santorini hanging around, so Greek dinner it was! We all loved the pasta, and Wayne & Meredith really appreciated not having to prepare dinner for one night. Wayne is getting around good, but he needs to try and heal up so his activities as an outdoor adventurer and musician are not permanently derailed from this mishap. I am going to review the wine in a separate post but head on over to Kate’s Kitchen for the recipe for “Greek Mac and Cheese”.

Cheers!

Jason

Bottling the 2010 Dandelion Wine

Last May I set out to make dandelion wine again. I shared my initial experiment in 2009 and what I was doing in 2010 with my windfall of fresh VT dandelions in my post "For The Love of Dandelion Wine" early that month. This time I was making a full 6 gallon batch which would net me about 30 bottles. I knew from the first batch in 2009 that it would take some time to clear and patience was a virtue in letting it do so. So it is now almost 1 year later and it is as clear as it is going to be and ready to bottle.

Two weekends ago I cheated and took two bottles off the top of the resting carboy and served them at our charity wine tasting. It was a hit and something most of the guests had never had before.

If you have never had dandelion wine before, and it can be made in many variations, it is difficult to describe. It is part leafy greens and part citrus, and mine has just enough sweetness to blend the bitter elements into a light fruity and refreshing warm weather wine. In the glass it has a light straw color and a pungent aroma that you know must be some type of plant.

During this past week's #winechat I was given the link to a source of a video about dandelion wine. It is the story of a woman who lives off the grid in Wyoming and amongst other things she does to sustain herself, she makes dandelion wine. Her ingredients, process and passion are on display during the 7 minute video. Her process is not all that different than my own and it made me smile. I noticed she used raisins in her wine. I haven't done that in my dandelion wine, I have in other fruit wines, and I know exactly what that would do and must try it the next time. The additional body and grape wine characteristics would certainly take it up a notch. She also used ginger and a combination of orange and lemon, which again seems like a worthy experiment for this year.

We will be up at the house in VT several times again this spring and I sincerely hope I can bring home at least some dandelions to make another batch. I look forward to trying some recipe alterations and continue what is becoming an annual tradition in my little New England home winery.

Here is the video about Miss "V" and her dandelion wine.

It's Time for Dandelion Wine


This video came from the Wyoming 2011 Short Film competition. Make sure to check out the other entries and vote for your favortie at the contest web site.

Cheers!

Jason

Wine Stories for #winechat (recap)

I hosted my first successful Twitter chat. It came out of #foodchat a few weeks prior when the topic was wine. The interactivyt amongst the group on the topic of wine was compelling to me. Before the chat ended several folks said they were having so much fun that they wanted to chat wine again. Really? Will it be that easy?

Twitter chats can be difficult to pull off if you don’t get people on board ahead of time, and that means your network needs to be pretty good sized and/or you get help. I was lucky enough for both to smile on the first edition of the chat.

I picked “Wine Stories” for the first month’s topic. I was hoping it would allow people of all levels of wine appreciation share interesting wine anecdotes from their lives and lay a foundation for return Tweeters and growth potential. And I think it worked.

I had a series of questions prepare as do most well executed Twitter chats. I did get through all of them and the responses were a fun read.

1. What is your favorite wine and why?
2. Share something you didn’t know about wine but were shocked to find out when you did.
3. What is the most exotic location that you have enjoyed a bottle of wine in?
4. What is the farthest you’ve travelled to find a particular bottle of wine?
5. What is the most unusual wine you have ever had?
6. What is the best wine and food pairing you have ever experienced?
7. Who is your life is the best person to drink wine with?
8. What is the most useful piece of wine-related advice you have ever received?
9. Share a wine-related goal of yours. Try this wine, make wine, visit this region, etc.
10. In three words sum up “Wine Stories” on #winechat.

I did take a transcript of all the tweets leading up to and during the chat so I can give you some stats about the participation in the event.

• There were about 400 tweets during the two and a half hours the chat ran.
• 30 tweeps contributed those 400 tweets with a core group of about 10-12 that were very active during the entire chat.
• About half the group had a glass of wine in front of them and shared what they were drinking.

As with most chats with a Q&A format there will be notable answers that give the event great context and maximum enjoyment. Here is what I found.

• Question 1 generated mostly responses about red wines including, Napa Cab, Amarone and Chateauneuf-du-Pape.
• There most interesting response for Question 2 was from @alawine with “that there are more sulfites in orange juice than red wine.”
• The Question 3 & 4 responses came from all over. France, Sweden, Hungary, the corner store and whatever was around when feeling a bit lazy.
• Unusual wine? @tmvwinery got Question 5 rolling with “Garlic Wine in Iowa - even got a tour of it being made. After tasting it, I said I'm done & need a beer.”
• Question 6 generated all sorts of responses but @CowlickCottage threw out the following to make us all think of what we might be missing. “I'm surprised no one has mentioned the great relationship between chocolate and wine.”
• Question 7 has a few answers that come quicky to mind, but @kermode nailed it with “easiest question ever - my husband!”
• For Question 8 @deblovespinot shared this saged advice, “take your time,learn listen,taste,compare your palate will catch up”. I agree!
• The Question 9 answers had mostly to do with visiting wine regions in France.
• The best signoff from Question 10 was “Wine enhances discussion” from @happyhourmary.

Join us at the end of the month for #winechat. It will held on the last Tuesday of each month at 8PM EST. The topic for the April hasn’t yet been selected. If you are interested in hosting a future wine chat please let me know.

Cheers!

Jason