Month: November 2015

Thanksgiving is a great food and wine day. It provides us oenophiles a chance to share great wine with a great meal. It also is the official start of the holiday season.

There are a few precious weeks left in the year to spend time with friends and family. Let’s talk about three particularly great ways to end the year. First are holiday functions, second is gift giving opportunities and last is New Year’s Eve. Let me walk you towards 2016 with some advice for these year end wine milestones.

Everyone has been to the cliche holiday party with bad food, water downed eggnog and less than great wine. So the best way to avoid the failure of this type of party, think of four letters; B Y O B!

Bringing your own bottles is a great way to share your love of wine with friends and family. Offer to bring some “holiday cheer.” My recommendation for this event is to go with something sparkling. If you have the wallet for it, a French champagne is always a great choice. Pick a non vintage and you can spend $40 a bottle and get a good bottle and if you want to up the ante and spend $60 or more, buy a rosè champagne and impress the revelers. If your party and price tag don’t fit champagne, two good and more affordable alternatives are Spanish cava or Italian prosecco. Both of those fit in the $20-30 range for a very good sparkler.

If you want to give the gift of grapes, here are few options for you to pick from based on both price and the sophistication of the recipient. Here are three good options for you. If the person is newbie to the world of Bacchus, try taking one step up for them. If they like Chardonnay from California, try a French white burgundy, if they like entry level red wine, try a red French Bordeaux or a Barolo from Italy. Every person who loves wine has had that one transcendent wine experience, being the person that shared that bottle with a person is a gift for both parties.

If your desire is to give a great gift without taking out a second mortgage, try something from the wine service category. A cork screw made from old vine stock, a nice decanter or even a champagne bucket make great gifts for a person with a working knowledge of wine. These gifts tend to be anywhere from $25 and up depending on what you choose. My strong advice is to avoid glassware as gifts, unless you are willing to buy at least 6; that tends to be service minimum.

The third gift area is reserved for folks with a strong wine knowledge. I would put anyone on this list if you feel that they “know” more about wine than you. It may only be a perception, but it definitely pushes you to an anxious state to buy them wine, the best gift for that person is a wine experience. This can be as inexpensive as a tasting event at your local wine store (usually free) or a book on wine, $20 and up to a wine dinner at a local restaurant, generally $100 a person and up. I enjoy going to tastings as it gives you a chance to “rub elbows” with other wine geeks! It also lets you spend time with the person if you go the wine shop route.

So that leads us to New Year’s Eve and what are great ways to have wine help ring in the new year. A few tips if you are planning to host a party that night, go big early! By that I mean, if you buy a great champagne, serve it first. Everyone will be better able to enjoy the great gift you are sharing before midnight and you can really not go wrong. I would suggest any seafood starter (almost) will pair well here. Shrimp cocktails, oysters Rockefeller or even caviar, will make a memorable start to your soirée. My second piece of advice if you are planning a sit down meal, do as much cooking in advance as you can. Elegant New Year’s Eve parties require lots of planning, so try a menu of items you have made at least once before. My last piece of advice is to be a safe host. People tend to enjoy more wine on this evening than most any other all year, so plan a ride or a room for your guests. It is the best way to host a party and the guests will be grateful for your gesture. If you are the guests at one of these parties enjoy the food, drink and company and leave the driving to a sober person.

I would be honored to share some recipes and wine pairings to anyone who leaves a comment or message on Facebook. Happy holidays to all of you and here’s a toast to 2016!

As turkey day draws near, it is time to be thankful, and of course pair some great wine with your feast! It is said that more than 95% of us will have a turkey for thanksgiving, so for the other 5%, send me a note with your menu and I will do my best to help you pair a wine. For the turkey aficionados, here are the pairing suggestions.

There are more ways to cook turkey than probably any other protein. Deep fry, smoked, slow roast, high heat cooking, indirectly grilled and the list goes on. My view of the pairing option, is be mindful of the sides.

If you are going traditional with sage stuffing, mashed potatoes and green bean casserole, I offer you two options. First, and what will be on my table, an Oregon Pinot Noir. The sweet notes of the wine and the round mouth feel, hit all the high notes on your pallet. If you want a transcendent experience try a good Oregon Pinot Noir with a slice of dark meat. A good second option is a Chardonnay with the traditional meal. I prefer French Chardonnay because the oak is understated, but if you like the full buttery flavor, this meal holds up exceptionally well to an oaked Chardonnay. You should expect to spend $50 for a good Pinot and between $25 – $40 for a Chardonnay.

What about the fried or smoked turkey? This takes us two different places. A lot of these types of birds get a deep Cajun type spice rub. If your stuffing is jalapeño and chorizo laden, you need to get a reisling or Sauvignon Blanc to pair with that flavor profile. These wines offer more residual sugar and acid and will keep the spicy rubs from exhausting your tastebuds. These wines should be under $40 regardless of which varietal you choose.

If you are having a smoked turkey with a tradional hardwood or fruitwood smoking, the best options would be Zinfandel(red) or a sparkling white wine. The smoked birds tend to have a stronger smoked flavor, but not always. If you have a lighter smoked turkey, (white meat does NOT have a pinkish hue) go with the Oregon Pinot Noir or Chardonnay route. These wines will set you back $30 for the Zinfandel and $50 for a good sparkling wine.

A final consideration is do you have some sides that may play a staring role? Are you having a vegetarian holiday? I love fall vegetables like the many varieties of squash and brussel sprouts. Yes I said brussel sprouts! If these are the lead actors in Thursday’s play, then I am suggesting a Bordeaux wine of either red or white. White Bordeaux wines are a great values and pair amazingly well with foods like acorn squash and roasted brussel sprouts. Plan to spend $60 for the red and $30 for the white.

My last word is splurge. This is a day where someone has spent days, not just hours making a special meal, so if you are the guest, the host, or the spouse, buy a nice bottle of two. Enjoy the holiday, cherish the company you spend it with and be thankful for all you have. Lastly, save me a slice of pie, with ice cream of course!

Hope you all had a chance to enjoy my boeuf bourginon and if you have not made it, you will. So the next logical question, “What’s for dessert?” Fall opens up all the warm spice options, but nothing beats a great apple dessert. I would have to say, my clan loves them all; pie, turnovers, crisp and applesauce, to name the greatest hits. Before we get to a recipe and wine pairing, let’s probe the dessert area a bit further.

In many parts of the world, dessert is some fruit or a small biscuit or cookie. In most of Europe it follows a cheese course and is served with coffee or tea. The American pallet tends towards sweeter and richer desserts. I do subscribe to the theory that ice cream goes with everything, well almost everything! So what are the trends here in America?

Many of the fine dinning restaurants are using more savory items like herbs to flavor the final course. I can’t say that I am a fan of rosemary sorbet or basil gelato, but when mixed with vanilla bean or a ripe fruit, the herb partner seems to support an interesting twist to a dessert. I am more of a traditional dessert person, but do like to have my taste buds surprised.

A trend that I hope is coming to an end is deconstruction of dishes, especially desserts. If the chef thinks the items should be eaten mixed together, mix them please! I hope this fad is on the outs! What I do like are the familiar tastes and flavors that conjour up great memories of childhood or a great meal. Nothing does that as well as dessert.

So if you like a classic, nothing beats apple pie, except Apple pie a la mode. So I will give you my favorite pie filling recipe and wine pairing. I am purposely omitting a crust recipe as you either have one that works, or buy the refrigerated ones and it will work well.

For a 9″ pie, you will need 6-7 cups of thin (1/8″) apples. Toss the apples with a teaspoon of good ground cinnamon, 1/3 cup of granulated sugar, 1/2 teaspoon of ground nutmeg and 1/4 teaspoon of salt. After well coated, add 1/4 cup of all purpose flour and toss gently so you don’t break the apple slices. Add the apple mixture to a prepared pie crust in a 9″ pie plate. Then add 2 tablespoons of unsalted butter, cut in to little pieces and dot the apple mixture. Cover the apples with a second crust, but be careful to not push all the butter pieces off the top. Cut a few vents in your crust after crimping the crust. Bake in a 425 degree oven for 40-50 minutes. If you like a sweet crust, beat an egg with 1 teaspoon of water and brush the top crust. Then sprinkle sugar on the egg wash. When the top crust is golden brown, your pie is ready.

Once the pie is cooled, cut and add a generous scoop of vanilla ice cream. So what wine do I serve with my apple pie a la mode? There are 2 great choices. The first is a Moscato d’asti. It is a semi-sweet lightly sparkling white wine and it pulls the apple’s tartness out on your pallet in a pleasing way. My favorite is a Riesling from Germany. The choices are endless here, but in the $20 range you can find some great options from the Rhine region. If you have the desire to spend a little more, Austria has some great Riesling options, but they will be closer to $50.

So now you have dinner and dessert paired with great wine options, and before you know it, it will be thanksgiving. Enjoy the pie and cut me a big slice. Keep an eye out for my turkey day installment very soon!