First Taste of Spring

It wasn't the food or the wine, it was the weather.  After a miserable and cold month of February that followed a similarly brutal January the temperature soared to a remarkable 64 degrees today.  This area is less than one inch shy of a record amount of snow for a season, but today was glorious.  The windows were thrown open for a couple of hours and winter's stale air exchanged for a houseful of freshness.

Of course another front is coming through at the moment courtesy of my Canadian friends to the north and we will be back below freezing by morning when the torrential rains and high winds end.

In celebration of fresh air there was a large pot of mussels for dinner.  Some shallots and butter were sauteed together until the shallots softened.  Lemongrass, garlic and ginger all went in the pot next until they began releasing their aromas.  A cup of white vermouth was added and when all that had mellowed for a few minute the pot was filled with mussels fresh from Cape Cop in Massachusetts.  Add in some toasted and crunchy ciabatta rolls and a small salad and a good time was had by all.

The wine was a 2011 Kinkead Ridge Ohio River Valley Revelation white wine.  It was full of grapefruit, lime, kiwi, peaches and limestone.  It was tart and zippy and just about perfect with the mussels and broth.  The wine is a mixture of a myriad of white grapes, chardonnay, albarino, sauvignon blanc, and a few others.  It's flavor profile seems to land somewhere between sancerre and muscadet.  Good stuff,

Kinkead Ridge white Revelation.  13.5% alcohol and $15.  86 cases produced.