Chicken Every Sunday and Chardonnay

There is a large pot of moss roses on the front step by the door and they are in full bloom. As I was growing up my mother always had moss roses on the front step, and it's a tradition that is easy to continue as witnessed the photo on the left.

We are back to the stormy season here in Ohio as we had a major storm roll through last evening and another came through this afternoon. Last night I was all set to grill some lamb rib chops when the storm began so they were done inside.

The chicken that was supposed to go on the grill went in the oven today because a storm rolled through just I was lighting the grill. The bird was brined, air dried and rubbed with rosemary, thyme, and lavender before going in a hot oven. There was some fresh pasta to go with some just made pesto and a little store bought corn salad. One of the two large pots of basil on the patio is producing a prodigious amount of leaves and while I wait on the local tomatoes to come to market in another month or so I'm using basil for just about everything. The second pot of basil is running a month behind the first so that it will produce when the tomatoes are ready.

The chicken was wonderful and with it we opened a wine just coming into the market place.
Meranda-Nixon is another Ohio winery that is helping revive the Ohio River Valley appellation for wine. I have tasted several of their wines but the 2007 chardonnay was new. They make a traminette that is very drinkable and they just released their first cabernet, a 2006, that shows some promise. The rest of their wines are on the sweet side and that doesn't appeal to me, though they seem well made for what they intend to be.

My initial reaction was that this was a mediocre wine. But with the chicken it was young, fresh, alive, and simple, tasting of tart white grapes and Granny Smith apples. There was a small sweet spot in the mid palate, but the finish was dry and crisp. This is a wine that's not trying to be anything but young and refreshing. Oak and butter? Not a hint. It was almost a chardonnay version of a German halb-trocken. By itself it was fine, but with food it came alive. A good, honest wine for $12.

The appellation on the wine is "American" meaning the grapes came from one or more of the 50 states. Let's hope they grow some or more chardonnay in their vineyard and continue to make this "summer" style wine in an estate version.

Simple Things

Thanks to the cool weather in May this year the strawberry season in Ohio was a little behind schedule. In the last week and a half, however, they have come to the market in full force.

For eleven months out of the year we are subjected to California strawberries, but what difference the month or near-month of local berries makes. Unlike their California cousins which are red on the outside and white and sometimes bitter on the inside, the Ohio berries are red to the center. They are totally ripe when they hit the markets, roadside stands and small produce barns. They are what a fresh strawberry should be, sweet and juicy.

The berries pictured here came from a small roadside stand on Saturday, having just come out of the fields and been washed. So far they have been sliced and served atop pancakes with warm maple syrup, dipped in plain yogurt and brown sugar, and tossed on top of some cereal for breakfast this morning. Tonight will be strawberry shortcake night.

For the rest of the year we will make do with, and appreciate the California berries, but for the next week or so we will over indulge in the local ones.

Copper River Salmon

Big day tomorrow. The U.S. is nearing the end of the Copper River Salmon season in Alaska, all 3 to 4 weeks of it. It is one of the two local food highlights in May and early June, the other being the Lobsterfest discussed previously here. I would be hard pressed to choose a favorite. The healthy fat content in Copper River King Salmon is as high as any fish and it makes for an almost decadent meal. At the price it is fetching this year it should be decadent. $40 a pound is quite a bit.

There's a good group getting together tomorrow and the above image is only part of what we will be eating.

Wines? I taking two wines and looking forward to drinking both. First is a 2003 Calera, Mt Harlan, Mills Vineyard Pinot Noir. The second is a 2004 Rochioli Estate Pinot from Sonoma. Both are highly rated (and not inexpensive) and I have been saving them for this meal. The Rochioli is a wine that I picked up at the winery during a visit in May of 2006. It will be interesting to see what wines the others bring to the event.

Details and photos later.

It Must Be Summer

The unofficial start of summer here in Ohio is Memorial Day, which was last Monday, but Saturday was definitely the start weather-wise. After an incredibly cool month of May the temperature soared to 85 degrees and the humidity rose in a like manner.

Warm , humid temperatures are meant for rose' wine with a slight chill to them. That's exactly what happened when I opened a 2006 Domaine Pierre Guindon - Saint Gereon Chateau D'Ancenis gamay rose from the Loire Valley in France. It had the requisite bright strawberries and cherries, a nice dose of acid, and a dry finish highlighted by a subtle taste of rhubarb. The dry finish was just wonderful, and was probably the best part of this wine. Not great, but for $10 it may appear on the table again.

I threw some Long Island Sound oysters on the grill for an appetizer. We are nearing the end of the season for oysters and these were plump, sweet, salty, and tangy. While we devoured the oysters a large rib steak took up residence on the grill and some garlic and rosemary potatoes roasted in the oven.

The wine was even better with the steak as the fruit really came to the fore and the acid did it's palate cleansing job, and there was enough fat in the steak that Scott and Ellie were thrilled to be on the receiving end. Good steak, good wine, great oysters.

The nice thing about this time of year is that it cools off once the sun sets so we ended the day watching the Stanley Cup hockey finals and sipping a glass of the world's best Scottish whisky, Lagavulin. Strange coincidence that it is Scott's registered name? No.

The storm door from the previous post? It was pounded back into submission with a rubber mallet and is at least usable. The new door will be here Monday or Tuesday.

Wineries & Leftovers

It was an almost perfect ending for a three day weekend, which could have only been surpassed by someone declaring it a four day weekend.

Today (Monday) was the day we ventured down to Ripley OH on the Ohio River to pick up the 2007 white wines from Kinkead Ridge. As I have mentioned before this is an Ohio winery making some outstanding wines, and this weekend was the release of their 2007 white varietals.

There was a terrible Easter frost in April 2007 and it basically decimated the white grapes in this area, along with apples and other tree fruits. As a result there was significantly less wine available this year so a trip to the winery was necessary to assure getting some of them. How little was available? The 2007 Riesling came in at 38 cases. They took all the other white varietals this year and blended them into a white wine they call Revelation. Mostly Roussanne, it also included some chardonnay, sauvignon blanc, semillon and pinot blanc. There were 48 cases of this wine.

The Riesling was tart and drier than last year's version. Very floral on the nose it also gave hints of peaches and just a touch of citrus. That all carried through on the taste and then finished with a limey minerality that was very refreshing. The wine had 1.2% residual sugar. I loved last year's vintage, and I very much like this year's.

The Revelation was very interesting. There was definitely some kiwi fruit along with some peaches and pears, and to me a hint of yellow plums. Wonderful acidity, a full body and a very lengthy finish made for a good effort from a terrible year.

They were also pouring their 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon and this was the first I had tasted since it was released last September. It has changed, evolved and come together in those months.

I brought home a mixed case of six Rieslings (the limit), four Revelations and added two Cabernet Sauvignons to fill out the case. The Cabs joined their four siblings in the cellar to make an even half dozen.

Later in the day I popped one of the Revelations in the refrigerator and began supper.

There was a leftover lobster from Saturday so the meat was removed and the shells steeped in some water and then reduced to a quick stock. I chopped a leek and sauteed it in olive oil and butter, and opened a Revelation and added half a cup of that. Once the wine reduced we added the lobster meat, a chopped tomato, a pinch of saffron, just enough red pepper flakes to give it some pizazz, a little lemon juice and some heavy cream. When the cream reduced and the lobster pieces warmed it was served over fresh tagliatelle with some parsley and basil tossed over the top.

It was tremendous with the Revelation and there were a few crusty rolls for mopping up the sauce. The wine was almost a perfect compliment to the pasta, and may have even been better with a chunk of bread soaked with the remaining sauce. Life is good.

Lobsterfest!

Saturday was the annual Lobsterfest. The local, upscale market flies in a huge amount of fresh lobsters (this year from Maine) and offers them at a great price, $12 each. They start selling at 9:00 AM and continue until they are gone, which is usually a little after noon.

The lines form early, but they are great lines to be in since they offer samples of cream cheese and bagels, small appetizers and a white wine or two while you are waiting. If you're going to stand in line at a market, you might as well be drinking a glass of wine.

This year we had twelve people so we picked up 13 lobsters. The friend who hosted the party this year brews his own beer, so he had an "industrial" natural gas burner and large tank normally used for his brewing. Saturday this equipment doubled as a great lobster cooker. We steamed them in two batches, took off the claws and tails and served them buffet style with lemon and thyme infused drawn butter, a twice baked potato, green beans, risotto cakes and four white wines. An outstanding meal.

The wines ranged from expensive to relatively cheap and the results were surprising. There were three serious wine drinkers in attendance and each of us tends to like something a little different in red wines. Today it was a unanimous verdict for the same white whine and it was the least expensive wine on the list, Burgans 2006 Albarino from Rias Baixas in Spain. Tart, citrusy, yet with good body and finish. It was a delightful wine at $13 and everyone was pleased with it. A simply great wine for lobster as it totally complimented the crustaceans, but then again, Albarinos are known for complimenting shellfish.

The second favorite was also unanimous, the Nigl Kremstal Gruner Veltliner 2005. Subdued fruit great acid and minerality and totally refreshing, this wine was a great contrast to the lobsters. $15 and will last for several more years.

In third place with 2 third place votes was the Rochiolli 2005 Chardonnay from California's Russian River Valley at $45 a bottle. It was over oaked and tasted more of hazelnuts and pineapple than anything else. It was way over the top and it was terrible with the lobster, and I suspect it would have been over kill for almost any food. What a disappointment this was, since this is one of my favorite California producers and previous vintages of this wine have been delicious. Throughout the course of the evening I re-sampled this wine several times and it never got any better. I had this wine in last place.

The last wine was the 2006 Naia, a Spanish Rueda wine made from the verdejo grape. Thin and herbaceous and almost totally lacking in fruit, it just did not match well with the lobsters. I thought it might be better with some spicy chicken. $16 per bottle.

All in all it was a great party and a wonderful way to start a three day holiday weekend, that will end with a visit to the local winery, Kinkead Ridge, on Monday.

Islay Again

Another pleasant, cool evening topped off by a small glass of Caol Isla 18 year old single malt scotch.

Dinner was a prime rib steak done over charcoal with a baked potato sprinkled with black truffle salt and butter. There was a modest little Cote du Rhone, La Ferme de Gicon 2005. The wine is a good summer red. There is nothing heavy about it, it takes a slight chill and it is mostly about soft fruit and acid. At $10 a bottle there may be more of it once the weather turns warmer.

The whisky? Light peat smoke, some herbs and a little bit of the seashore on the nose. The peat and grain are there in the taste, though I was expecting a little more iodine. Nice lengthy finish that ends in a touch of honey and caramel. A very nicely balanced effort from Caol Isla. I have had several bottles of the 12 year old, and this 18 year old is an elegant addition and a step above the 12 year version. The Islay whiskies are unique and just have that wonderful sense of place about them.

The two, resident Gordon Setters spent some time sniffing the bottle, so I will take that as a sign of their approval.

As for the photo, I have to admit that I like the fact that the camera kept focusing on the reflection of the building across the way instead of the whole glass. I also like the streaming of the last of the day's sunshine shining through the whisky. Another day ends well.

True Bargain

A quick stop at a different market last night resulted in a true bargain of a wine.

Realizing there was nothing in the house that wasn't frozen I stopped in the early evening and picked up a small pork tenderloin. Since I was there I naturally wandered over to the wine department. In the "reserve" room I noticed this bottle of Marchese Antinori Chianti Classico Riserva from the 2001 vintage. There were two bottles marked at $11.99.

Knowing the vintage and the producer I decided they were worth a try so I put one in the cart. Halfway to the checkout station I decided that this really was a decent price so I went back and picked up the other bottle.

The big surprise of the day was when the clerk rang up the wine and the bar code scanned not at $11.99 which I thought was a good bargain, but at $1.99. Now that is a bargain even if the wine was relatively poor. I mentioned this to the clerk and she re-scanned the bottles and they came up $1.99. I paid her and brought the bottles home.

We sliced the pork into medallions, pounded them lightly, dusted them in flour and Italian seasoning, sauteed them in a little olive oil, added some mushrooms and shallots, removed the medallions, added pork stock and balsamic vinegar, a half teaspoon of tomato paste and whisked and reduced the liquid. I added the medallions back in to rewarm.

The wine? Bright cherry fruit and Tuscan earth on the nose. Good, dark color and no signs of age. It had already surpassed my investment on just the nose and appearance. The cherries were in full force on the taste, along with some underlying currants. There was that wonderful Chianti acidity and the the earthiness that I love. It was more than sound, it was a very good wine. I would have been very happy with this wine at $20, but I was ecstatic at $2.00.

We served the pork medallions alongside some wide noodles, adding the sauce and mushrooms. A handful of flash cooked haricot vert with garlic completed the meal. The chianti was perfect with this meal.

Sipping the remainder of a glass after cleaning up I decided that the wine must have had more than sangiovese in it. The color was darker than I expected and there was that underlying flavor of currants. I suspect the wine had some cabernet sauvignon in it. Whatever it was it was very good and a nice mid-week treat.

Artichoke

There's a big weekend coming so we ate lightly tonight. The local market had a wonderful price on globe artichokes so we steamed one in the microwave, added a small salad and a slice of toasted rustic bread, popped a beer and called it a meal.

We pulled the leaves, dipped them in lemon butter, and ripped off the fleshy part of each. Definitely a taste of spring. Artichokes really destroy wine so we opted for a Dogfish Head 60 minute IPA instead. Good choice as the 'hoppiness' of the beer matched well with the artichoke.

A Rare Treat

It was a good meal.

The plane arrived earlier in the day from the northeast and some totally fresh day boat scallops were part of its cargo. They were only a day out of the water, and for the US Midwest it doesn't get any fresher than that. Something that good deserved a great wine so we went to the very top shelf.

If I could have only one chardonnay based wine there is no question that it would be a Chablis. There are some other great ones, but Chablis is simply my favorite. I purchased a couple bottles of the Domaine Laroche Chablis Grand Cru "Les Blanchots" 2000 several years ago. One was drunk almost immediately and this bottle was stashed away.

Greenish gold in color, the nose immediately had that flinty or mineral smell that I love about Chablis. Tart, but ripe apples, a bit of pineapple and some lemon zest were in full force on the taste. The wine was a tad understated and was "asking more questions than it answered" when sipped before the meal.

The scallops were pan seared in a little butter and olive oil and tossed at the very end with lemon juice and a scattering of chopped lemon thyme fresh from the herb garden. Every question the wine asked by itself was answered with the food. The deep ocean flavor of the scallops was perfect with the understated wine. They refreshed and totally complimented each other. A stronger wine would have over powered the scallops, and the understatement in the wine became an asset. The wine was perfectly mature and I don't think it will get much better with any more age. At the very end there was a small bit of oxidation that just reaffirmed that it was the perfect time to drink it.

The Chablis will get full consideration in in December for my wine of the year. The 1996 Staglin Cabernet and the 1998 Luciano Sandrone Barolo will give it some stiff competition. I love these three choices.

Swordfish Wednesday

We have gone from very early spring to full summer here in Ohio in the course of a few days. Today was 78 degrees and humid, more like late June than late April. Since it felt like summer there was no reason not to eat like summer.

I marinated a fresh swordfish steak in olive oil, garlic, fresh rosemary and lemon peel for half an hour and the tossed it on a hot grill. There was some Kaljira rice (very, very small grain) that cooks quickly and some steamed asparagus.

While the food was cooking there was tall gin and tonic made with Tanqueray Rangpur gin. G&T may be one of the best parts of summer. For a wine I chilled down a Burgans 2006 Albarino. It is almost perfect with seafood. Tart and sharp on the nose with lots of grapefruit and other citrus. There was great citrus flavor with some underlying flowerniess and a long wonderful finish. The wine is a tremendous bargain at $13.

The fish was cooked to the rare side of medium and the smoke from the grill combined with the rosemary, garlic and lemon for a wonderful flavor. A little white pepper and a dusting of Malden sea salt when it came off the grill made it a wonderful meal. The asparagus was steamed to medium and then drizzled with a tiny bit of olive oil.

The sun was just setting and the bees were gone and it is too early for flies so we ate outside on the patio. It was a nice treat to eat outside and enjoy the weather. All in all it was a wonderful evening, topped off with one scoop of dark chocolate and orange gelato made locally by our upscale market.

Rain is forecast for late tonight and a front will be here Friday night so the weekend will be damp and cooler, with highs in the 60's. It may be the last weekend of the season for a big red wine.

The Morning After

Tax Day has come and gone and the federal, state and city income tax returns are slowly crawling their way through the postal system in route to the correct locations. In years when money is owed I always wait until the last day to pay the pound of flesh, and though it wasn't a large amount I waited to the last day to 'render unto Caesar.'

Once the chore was complete it was time to celebrate so we went top shelf for the evening. There was a small rack of lamb that went on the grill after bathing in Dijon mustard, garlic and rosemary. There were some cut up redskin potatoes tossed in garlic, olive oil, rosemary and pepper and baked in the oven until crispy.

Finally, there was a 1996 Staglin Family Cabernet Sauvignon that had been resting in the cellar for some time. It was decanted while the lamb and potatoes cooked, though a bit found its way into my glass. Deep and dark color with a somewhat restrained nose at first. After some swirling there was fruit and earth and blackberries. The first sip was wonderful. The fruit was there, there was great acidity and very round tannins. The finish was remarkably long and in the very end left just a little acid and tannin to clear things for the next sip. The depth of the fruit was just amazing. There was a sweetness that came from perfectly ripe fruit and not fruit left to hang until the ultra ripe stage that seems so in vogue today. The wine was perfectly balanced. It was 13.8% alcohol.

When the lamb and potatoes were done I poured a generous glass from the decanter. The nose was now alive with dark cherries, blackberries and cassis. Another sip confirmed what the first sip had promised and expanded on it. The wine was ready for the lamb. The gaminess of the lamb was complimented by some gaminess in the wine and the tannins and acid in the wine cleared the palate between bites of lamb. The mouth-feel on this wine was just remarkable, full and rich.

The wine was perfectly mature and I can't see it getting much better, though it certainly should hold for a few more years. That is great because it has a "litter-mate" resting in my cellar. Over the course of the evening the wine remained constant. It took over three hours but at the end of the evening the wine was gone.

This wine reminded me of why my first love in wine was Napa Valley Cabernets. It was a 20 year romance that ended several years ago when the 15% "fruit bombs" became the fashion of the day. At one time the cellar was probably 80% Napa and Sonoma Cabernets. Now it holds less than 20% of those wines, and those that are there are 1997 or earlier. Sad what has happened for the sake of fashion.

So -- we now have nominee number two for the best wine of the year. The first wine to consider was the 1998 Luciano Sandrone Barolo La Vigne that we drank in January. It's nice to know that if I can't decide which is the best at the end of the year there is another bottle of each in the cellar. New Year's eve is looking very promising.

Scott and Ellie were also in a wonderful mood last night as they got to eat the trimmings from the lamb.

Ocean's Alive

It was a great weekend weather-wise, the first great weekend of spring so we went into total summer mode and made the first rule for the weekend - it had to have once been underwater. In other words, it was a seafood weekend and it was as good as the weather. The fishmonger outdid himself.

On Saturday we went to friends' house and took a huge slab of Alaskan halibut that was just off the airplane. We heated a cast iron skillet on the outdoor grill to something in excess of 500 degrees. We dusted the fish, cut into serving portions, with chipotle powder, added some grape seed oil to the skillet and tossed them in, flesh side down. The quickly browned and we turned them over, closed the lid on the grill and let them finish cooking while we stir fried some sugar snap peas. Along with a small salad it made for a great meal. The wine was a 2005 William Fevre Chablis Champs Royeaux. Tart and crisp with a good dose of that Chablis minerality. Not the best Chablis I've had, but it was perfect with the halibut.

Today was equally as good. There was a five pound bag of Cape Cod mussels that came in on a different plane. We sauteed some shallots in butter, along with some chopped fresh fennel, tomatoes, garlic, and Thai chili paste. Once the fennel and shallots were softened somewhat we added a cup and a half of Riesling and the mussels. They steamed in a pot with a tight lid just until they opened. The mussels were removed and we added a tablespoon of Dijon mustard and some heavy cream to the pan and cooked the sauce down for a minute or two. We dumped it over the mussels.A handful of parsley and some crusty bread and it made for the second great meal of the weekend. The Riesling assuaged my guilt about eating from both U.S. coasts in one weekend since it was a 2006 Kinkead Ridge Ohio River Valley wine. Kinkead Ridge is about 40 miles from home.

The Ohio River Valley was once regarded as the Rhineland of the U.S. Thanks to black rot and odium the wine production died in the late 1800's. It is now being revived and Kinkead ridge is in my opinion the premier winery in the region. Their Riesling is very Germanic in style. It checks in at only 10.5% alcohol and is very close to a Kabinett in style. There is the kerosene or petrol on the nose and the hint of sweetness on the finish, all balanced by great acidity. The sweetness tamed the fire in the chili paste and the acidity was just a perfect match for the richness of the mussels. Toss in a loaf of locally baked, crusty bread to mop up the juices and there was no need for anything else.

Life is good.

Odds and Ends

Yesterday's "bargain" at the market was some imported tomatoes that looked just great sitting in the display. Even though one would think 'south' at this time of year, the yellow on vine tomatoes were actually Canadian in origin, eh. The red Roma's were from Florida and the yellow grape tomatoes were Mexican so we covered most of the north American continent.

They wound up being peeled, seeded and chopped and tossed into a pan with some olive oil and crispy pancetta chunks, garlic and shallots. The only sad part was that there was no fresh basil. I mixed in some pecorino Romano cheese and tossed the whole thing with some fresh tagliatelle for a faux mid-summer feast.

I was auditioning a new wine for the 'house white.' The 2006 Mas Des Bressades from the Costieres de Nimes is a blend of Viognier and Roussanne. Bright, fresh and fruity and affordable at $8 a bottle. It might be just a touch low on acid, but it's QPR (quality price ratio) is good enough to get it some strong consideration.

We are down to the last two bottles of the 'house red." There is no more 2005 Vina Alarba Old Vines Grenache in the marketplace. It was a great little Spanish red for $7 a bottle, but the search is now on for a replacement. It is getting harder and harder to find a good wine in the under $10 price range.

I had a nice conversation with my neighbor this morning. He is the one who puts out the cracked corn for the squirrels which have become Scott's and Ellie's current raison d'etre. He was puzzled as to why the tree rodents weren't eating as much corn as they used to and why they weren't around as much. I replied that "it's spring so it must be breeding season." He seemed to accept that excuse and we left it at that. It's nice to see some green in the ground instead of brown and white.

There's a new, roaming cat in the neighborhood that's been spotted a couple of times so if the squirrels have finally abandoned the area the dogs can start to work scaring away the new feline.

Four Parts. No Harmony

There were guests coming for dinner last night so the day was spent shopping and cooking. The weather cooperated nicely since it was very cool in the morning to lend itself to braising. The afternoon was warm enough to fire up the grill.

The result was a chili rubbed, braised beef roast preceded by fresh Island Creek oysters warmed on the grill until they just popped open.

The beef got a rub of ancho and chipotle powders mixed with some salt and granulated garlic powder. Browned to a light crust on top of the stove it was braised for four hours with onions, garlic, celery, carrots, red wine and chicken stock. Heavenly smell.

The wines were supposed to be easy but it didn't work out that way. There was a 2005 Albarino to go with the oysters. I previously drank this wine with oysters and it was wonderful. This was the last bottle so it's time had come. We pulled the cork and poured a glass. Peaches and honey came from the nose and it just delighted everyone. It was different from bottles in the past. It had aged for an additional year and was not as fresh as it had been. It had mellowed and honey had become the dominant flavor. It was delicious by itself but paired with the brininess of the oysters it was now too rich and not a good match at all. The oysters were great and the wine was delicious, but they just weren't a happy match.

On to the beef. There were two bottles available and my friends chose a bottle of the 1999 Chapoutier La Bernardine Chateauneuf de Pape. The other choice was a Clos de los Siete 2005, a Malbec blend from Argentina. That would have been my choice but my freinds wanted to drink the older wine.

The beef was rich and hearty and the wine smooth an elegant, but again they didn't pair up well at all. Whereas the Albarino had been too big for the oysters, the Chateauneuf de Pape was not big enough for the hearty flavors in the beef. The wine was wonderful but it had aged to a point where it needed something milder to go with it.

I popped the cork on the Clos de los Siete and did a quick decant. Huge, dark wine full of fruit and flavor and after a couple of minutes in the glass it was perfect with the beef. The guests are generally not fan of big, red wines, and at 15% alcohol this was a big wine. We each drank a glass with the beef and then after dinner switched back to the Chateauneuf de Pape with some mild cheese, but there was no question that the big wine saved the main course.

I liked all three wines and the food was all good, but if I had to do it all over again the Albarino and the Chateauneuf de Pape would stay in the cellar - or I would do a 2006 Albarino which should be fresher and a better match.

Scott and Ellie were happy. They love a good party and guests and they got some of the skimmed fat from the beef over the dog food this morning. Life is good for the Gordons.

Why Not?

It is a shame that most everyone regards sparkling wine as something to drink only when there is a celebration or something to drink before a meal. Made correctly it has a great nose, wonderful acidity and that great carbonation to clear the mouth between bites of food. Matched correctly it's a great food wine and opening a bottle makes the meal a celebration in itself.

While Sunday's chicken (see below) was roasting I raided the cellar and we opened a Vicomte de Castellane brut Champagne. We poured a couple of glasses and then re-stoppered the bottle. There was nothing fancy about the chicken other than it was free range and produced locally (within 15 miles). It was seasoned with some herbs de Provence and salt, air dried for an hour and the roasted breast side down for half an hour. When I flipped the bird to breast side up for it's last 40 minutes I opened the Champagne.

Great toasty nose with a hint of lime. There was a lot of fruit mixed with some buttered bread in the palette and it finished tart and clean. For a brut I thought it was just a touch on the sweet side, but the tart finish was still there. Not a great wine, but for $28 a decent bargain. There is one more hiding in the cellar.

When the chicken was done we poured more of the wine and drank it through the meal. It matched well with the juicy chicken and actually seemed to accentuate the lavender in the herb mix. A better wine with the chicken than it was by itself - and that's good from my perspective.

Blueberries

After all the excessive snow and ice this week it was time for some summer food, just to remind myself that it really is coming. The local market helped out by having a great sale on Chilean blueberries. It must have been a bumper crop in Chile because the prices were good enough to afford the amount needed to make a blueberry cobbler.

Lemon juice, lemon zest, sugar, cinnamon and cornstarch in the fruit and a sweetened, buttermilk biscuit dough on top dusted with cinnamon sugar proved just the thing to throw in the oven while I sat in the front window watching things begin to melt.

The Gordons both had long, separate walks today. I went about two miles with Ellie and about three with Scott so that worked off enough calories that I won't feel too guilty about putting a scoop of ice cream on top of the rewarmed cobbler tonight. Scott managed to nearly snag an unsuspecting squirrel who was preoccupied with eating his cracked corn to the point where he got dog saliva on his tail before getting up a tree. He 'marked' the tree for future reference.

There's a locally produced chicken ready to go on the grill so that helps alleviate some of the carbon footprint of having blueberries flown in from Chile.

Interesting interview on the radio while I was driving to the river for Scott's walk, even though I still don't know who it was with. It was out of New York and the gentleman was suggesting that it is more carbon neutral for New Yorkers to drink French wine than California wine because the ships that bring in the wine from Europe are much "greener" than the trucks that bring in the wine from California. His equation works out even just west of Columbus, Ohio meaning that I have the best of both possible worlds here where the two sources reach the evening point. Another guilt trip I don't have to worry about!

Old Friend

The planets must have been aligned perfectly today for both wine and food.

A friend alerted me to an out-of-the-way small wine store that he claimed was loaded with off the wall "goodies." I made the trip late this morning and found what appeared to be just a run of the mill carry-out store. Still, I went inside since I was there and was taken aback by the selections and the good prices.

When I saw this wine on the shelf the "way-back" machine quickly took me back to 1979 or 1980 where I was sitting on a patio of a restaurant / wine shop in Cincinnati (Terwilligers) on a warm September afternoon. I was working for a re-insurance operation at the time. There was a colleague from our Bermuda office who had spent the summer in our Cincinnati office and he was preparing to go back to Bermuda. Three of us took him out to lunch and we sat there drinking more than several bottles of Trefethen chardonnay while eating and talking. We started a little after noon and before we realized it was close to 3:30 PM. This was way before cell phones so I borrowed the house phone and my boss laughed and said, "just make a day of it." No one was in condition to drive by that point in the day so we booked rooms at a hotel two blocks down the street,made the appropriate phone calls and took two more bottles of the wine with us to the hotel.

Trefethen was an early entry in the Napa surge that soon followed. The wines were well balanced, tart and refreshing. I drank them for several years before they basically disappeared from the local market. That was why it was such a surprise to find the wine sitting on the shelf . I occasionally see their Cabernet, but it has been fifteen years since I saw a bottle of their chardonnay in Ohio. Two bottles left the store with me, along with a very well priced 2001 Barolo.

I stopped at the market on the way home and the second old friend was sitting in the seafood case. Alaskan king crab legs were on a tremendous sale today. With a Trefethen chardonnay in the car the crab legs were singing to me to take them home as well.

A small salad and a Potato Anna cut into wedges and there were some happy faces in the house this evening.

As with a number of things the wine proved that sometimes memories are better than reality. I still have a label of a 1981 Trefethen chardonnay and it was listed as 12.5 percent alcohol. the current model goes at 14.1 percent and was a little too rich and over-oaked for my current taste. It was still a good wine for what it was trying to be, but it just isn't my style of white wine today.

Now if I could find a bottle of Trefethen's riesling that might have been the perfect match with the crab. From what I read they still make one of the best rieslings in California.

Rain

The weather he has turned into a brief spring pattern. It definitely won't last, but overnight the temperature stayed in the low 60 degree range. It's also rainy.

Some rain didn't stop me from firing up the grill last night. The local fishmonger came up with a great special on some Island Creek oysters so they were popped onto the grill just until the shells opened. They were silky and smooth and tasted like the ocean. There was a little Spanish white wine left so the oysters were washed down with that. There has been an abundance of oysters from good suppliers in this area lately, and that is something that I don't normally see with Ohio being 600 miles from the nearest ocean. Whatever the reason I'm thankful.

While the oysters were being enjoyed we threw a split chicken rubbed with some Italian spices on the grill.

A couple of months ago I had an opportunity to taste a range of Barolos from Enzo Boglietti. They were very good wines, and though a little pricey I purchased a few of them. In the past month or so some other Boglietti wines have hit the local market so I purchased one bottle each of Dolcetto D'Alba, Barbera D'Alba and a Nebbiolo Langhe.

When the chicken came off the grill we opened the Dolcetto. Deep purple with lots of black fruits in the nose. That's exactly what carried through to the taste along with a healthy dose of acid. Long, almost sweet finish, and true to Dolcetto almost no noticeable tannin. At $16 a bottle this is a very nice, food friendly wine. It's on the list for adding a few more bottles while it's still in the marketplace.

Scott and Ellie were happy as there were plenty of chicken scraps for a quick treat last night and to mix in with their dog kibble this morning. Happily wagging tails.

The Best Kind of Friends

It's nice to have good friends who share some good bottles of wine. That happened Saturday night when we drove down to some friends for a dinner of Beef Barolo, beef roast braised in Barolo wine.

There was a very poor, generic French sparkling wine to start, and it was quickly removed. We then opened the two Barolos, a Battisolo 2001 and a Luciano Sandrone LaVigne 1998. No question which was the better wine so the Batsiolo went into the braise. It was tight, tannic and a little pruney. The Sandrone had plums with red and dark fruit and showed much more promise. It was a little tannic, so it was pooured into a decanter.

Next up was a glass of the Koonowla Clare Valley Riesling 2006. Bright and limey with great acidity and a long finish. Highly drinkable.

Since we had three hours before the beef was finished we moved on to a 1994 Geyser Peak cabernet sauvignon from the Alexander Valley in Sonoma County. Big forward fruity wine with some definite cassis and a little vegetable up front. The tannins had mellowed and the acid was still there. It was in its prime and was definitely a nice match for some mushroom empanadas.

Finally the beef was ready, and after de-fatting the broth and reducing it to a sauce consistency it was time to try the Sandrone again.

To be honest - when the end of the year comes and it's time to choose the best wine consumed in 2008 this wine may very well be the top dog. The nose was now all about strawberries and red and black cherries. There was just a hint of plums and a little bit of refined leather. Just a sniff and the aroma lingered with you for a minute or two. It was a medium color in the glass, not as dark as I expected. One sip told the story. The tannins had receded to be in perfect balance with the fruit and the acid. The wine was just outright silky and a total pleasure to drink. The finish was long and smooth and left you wanting another sip. A wonderful wine.

The evening ended with my contribution to the meal, a half bottle of 1994 Smith Woodhouse vintage Port. Heavy body with nice sweetness and staying power. A perfect ending to a great meal.