Month: December 2015

As 2015 draws to a close, it is time to plan how to end the year and ring in the new one. As a lover of food and wine pairings, this is my Super Bowl and I am prepared to win the trophy with you! As my final installment for 2015 I will offer you a few thoughts and recipes to have that party that will make you the winner of the big game!

If you are planning a casual gathering with finger foods and beverages, here are a few choices. If you like a tray of cocktail shrimp, cheese and crackers and meatballs here are a few wines to pick from. Shrimp, or any seafood of that type go best with a wine of high acid. A New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc like Kim Crawford or Whitehaven are ideal options. As to the meatballs and cheese and crackers, go red. If you ever wonder why milk in tea makes it taste better, it’s because the calcium in dairy softens the tannins in tea. The same can be said about red wine and cheese. My suggestion here is a French red burgundy or an Oregon Pinot noir. I am not personally a big fan of most of the California Sonoma Coast Pinot noir’s, but they are some good ones in the bunch.

If you are going the route of a sit down dinner for your New Year’s Eve party, let me suggest a tasting menu approach. This is the one day for sure, that you can break the bank on food and wine.

My passion for trying to pair the right wine with the perfect “bite” grew out of a single transformative experience I had over a decade ago. I had read a number of articles about the “dinner as theater” that was taking place in an exclusive restaurant in Napa called The French Laundry. Thomas Keller was changing the landscape from a quick dinner before a play or movie, to a three hour plus affair with wines paired with each course. The food was small plates of food; generally a few bites with a list of ingredients and preparations that created the need for a staff, that caused Keller to charge $350 a person for the experience.

Tasting menus have become very common place now and I am not suggesting that the French Laundry created this concept, but they did take the idea to a new and inspired place that made the price tag a bit more tolerable. If you like the concept and challenge of creating a tasting menu party, I can offer you three tips.

The first tip is pick a theme. In the past, I have hosted New Year’s Eve parties with themes like steakhouse, French bistro or using one cookbook as the source for all the recipes of the meal. By having a theme, it will do several things for you. It will help the meal have a flow or progression. As a rule, start with a lighter choice of fare and build up to heavier or richer dishes. A theme will also help with selecting wines. That’s not to say that you cannot serve an Oregon Pinot Noir at your French bistro, but you probably won’t find pulled pork on the menu!

My second tip is choose your menu to fit your culinary skills. I have used “The Boulevard” cookbook from the famous San Francisco restaurant as a theme in the past, and the recipes are complex with a number of sauces and complimentary items on the plate. Several of the recipes require multiple days to prepare. If you lack the time, skill or confidence to undertake such a menu, pick some old standards, like prime rib, lobster Mac and Cheese or roasted duck as your main protein. These when done well, evoke a luxury and comfort food in the same bite. If you are up to more complex menu, my strong advice is to practice. My family enjoys the trial and error of making dishes for my New Year’s Eve party in September.

More than just pleasing my family, practice serves to help me get a feel for true cooking time, preperation complexity and do I like the dish. We have all had those dinners where the protein is not ready as your side dishes dry out and cool off. The practice often times helps me get a feel for what the dish tastes like and that helps me select a “perfect pairing” for that dish with a wine.

My third suggestion is make the tasting menu fun for your guests, make it interactive. No matter what menu you choose, preperation and plating of food will leave gaps of time where your guests are sitting at the table awaiting your return. You can’t be in two places at once, so I offer two options. Invite everyone in to the kitchen to watch you finish cooking and plating the next course or put the guests “to work.” The work can include clearing plates, assisting with cooking and plating, handling wine service or setting the table for the next course. My experience is the guests who enjoy the multiple course dinner party are very happy to help and it makes it everyone’s party!

Now that you have made a choice of the casual, sit down simple or complex party, we should spend a minute talking about the food. I would suggest you need to know your guests. I am not talking about the obvious attendee who is a vegan or allergic to nuts, I mean, where can you take the menu without scrapping plates of uneaten food in the trash. To that end, I am also not suggesting you “dumb” down the menu, but if you have dined with the guest before and they are not an adventurous eater, stay away from too many foods outside of the comfort zone. This may seem obvious, but I am never surprised by hosting failures based on trying to stretch the limits.

So here are three sample menus with wine pairings as well.

Casual Dinner

Shrimp with cocktail sauce and garlic aioli- sparkling wine

Meat and cheese board (don’t buy the pre made ones) with dried fruit, olives and crackers – Oregon Pinot Noir

Roasted chicken sliders- Chardonnay (French or California)

Crab and artichoke dip – French rosè

Brownie or cheese cake bites

Tasting Menu – less challenging

Oysters Rockefeller – sparkling wine

Wedge salad with homemade dressing – French rosè

Phyllo cups filled with diced roasted root vegetables- Chardonnay (French or California)

Chicken breast stuffed with cherry tomatoes, spinach and Gruyere cheese and a mushroom pan sauce – Pinot noir or French burgundy

Prime rib with potatoes and vegetables of your choice – California Cabernet or French Red Bordeaux

Cheese cake bars with fresh fruit

Tasting Menu – more advanced cook

Caviar on blinis – French champagne

Cauliflower purée soup with lobster – French rosè

Pear and butter lettuce salad with buttermilk dressing – Chablis or white Bordeaux

Pork belly with candied butter nut squash and mini potato pancakes – Oregon or French Pinot noir

Duck breast stuffed with brandied apples and roasted chestnuts- French red Bordeaux (choose one with a significant merlot content)

Mini filet of beef with individual lobster mac and cheese – California Cabernet

Apple gallettes with vanilla bean ice cream

I have made everything on all the menus, so if you would like a recipe, drop me a comment. Lastly, thank you for reading and responding to my blog. Enjoy New Year’s Eve, drink responsibly and plan a safe ride home. Cheers!

Wine is as old as man’s time on the planet. Archaeologists have found wine vessels dating back thousands of years. Wine was used for celebrating, religious ceremonies and generally quenching the thirst of humanity.

Wine and beer perpetuation grew out of not only of a desire to celebrate or religious ceremonies, but also for basic health reasons. The lack of good sanitation practices made water that hadn’t been boiled a dangerous choice. The brewing of beer and consumption of Meade and wine, were ways to avoid the issues of unclean water.

In 2015, clean water is readily available, so why drink wine now? A better question, is why not? Wine today is very much a part of religious ceremonies, celebrations and every day life. It also is big business. People buy and sell wine like other commodities and the international wine trade is vibrant as any point in modern history.

As a collector, I find myself in a state of conflict. Even if you only have a few bottles that you are aging, the question that challenges all of us is, “when should I drink that bottle.” Research has shown that only 2% of the wine purchased is consumed more than 48 hours after purchase. So I guess I am talking to the 2 percenters here!

The answer is a two part analysis of your situation. The first is a practical question; is the wine ready? The aging of wine has a lot to do with the storage conditions than almost anything else. If your wine is stored with the bottle on its side in a dark, cool and moderatly humid place, the bottle will age for a long time. The other factor is the wine itself. The questions you have to ask yourself make this a bit of science and luck. Was it a good vintage? Was it a good wine, that was meant to age? There are lots of wine rating websites that offer ranges of aging for wines by specific wines in specific vintages. These are good benchmarks, especially if you only have one bottle. If you have several bottles of an age worthy wine, I would suggest, a “sample” bottle should help you get a feel for how well the wine is holding in your cellar.

The second part of the decision process is much more complex; “do I need a special occasion to drink this?” In the late 1990’s a movement started called OTBN, short for open that bottle night. It was a random Saturday in January or February that was designated as the “special” night to open “that” bottle. It also became a night to get together with other oenophiles to share that special bottle. While a clever idea, and a cause I supported on multiple occasions, it still seemed to lack the ceremony of a truly special occasion.

My philosophy was tested by a friend who had a special bottle that they held. When it was finally opened, it was in such decline, the only emotion he felt was regret. Regret for not having enjoyed that wine at the peak. I think it would be a great tragedy to have that happen and certainly far worse than drinking that “special” bottle when it’s too young.

So, if you are thinking of starting to collect wine, or if you are already a collector of any size, I offer three pieces of advice to you.

First, wine still is a celebratory beverage for many people, but don’t set your expectations too high. A family meal and a great bottle of wine is as memorable as any function. So why not a Tuesday?

Second, frequent restaurants that allow you to bring your own wine. Corkage fees are a good thing to know in advance, but it has been my general experience that most restaurants, even the good ones, serve wines that are too young to be served. Bringing a bottle to dinner with friends or family makes it a special occasion.

Lastly, create a special event. Host a party with the sole purpose of sharing a special bottle of wine with people. Don’t invite people based on your perception of what they might think of the wine, but rather invite people who are fun to be with and “that bottle” might be the spark that makes them appreciate wine the way you do. I have been the person to do that a few times and unlike the cliché scene in “Sideways,” it is truly possible to have a transformative experience from a single bottle of wine. Is there a better gift than igniting a passion in another person that you enjoy being around?

So if you wonder if the wine you have qualifies as special, or aging worthy? I can help you with that. I can also offer a menu or recipe to pair with that wine. Leave me a comment here or on Facebook and I will reply.

If you are ready to leap in with both feet, I offer you this advice, pop those corks!