California Rose'

One disadvantage of being in the 'flyover' territory of the U.S. is that most of the new, small boutique wineries that are creating a stir in the press are rarely available here.  Most of them are on allocation from the winery and available only via the winery's  mailing list. That said, I was surprised when one my local haunts called and said they had a couple of cases of a wine from Arnot-Roberts.  The wine was a 2013 Rose' of Touriga Nacional, Lushinger vineyard, Clear Lake.  I bought my allotment of two.

The first one was opened  with a dish of clams, shrimp and scallops done paella style, but substituting Israeli couscous for the rice for a quicker cooking time. It included white wine, shrimp stock and tomatoes, along with garlic, onions, and saffron.

The wine got a medium chill and the cork came out about twenty minutes before dinner was ready.  It was electric, neon pink in the glass and reminded me of a sunset.  There were definite aromas of cherries and strawberries and they were bold.  The first sip was bone dry and crisp and went almost entirely with watermelon flavors.  The cherries and strawberries were still hanging around but they were second fiddle in this wine.  A long crisp finish kicked up the strawberry a bit, but this wine was still about drinking a watermelon.    Fantastic with the seafood.  This is as good a bottle of California rose' as I've had.  Delicious.

2013 Arnot Roberts Rose' of Touriga Nacional, Lushinger vineyard, Clear Lake.  11% alcohol and $24.

Lamb Ribs

I don't often see lamb breast and ribs in the local market but last week there were two sections sitting toward the back of the case.  The price was very reasonable since this is not an often requested cut.  The times I used it before was generally to make lamb stock for a time consuming sauce for leg of lamb or rack of lamb.  This time I wanted to grill the lamb.

After a day of searching on the internet I combined two recipes and a method for cooking pork ribs.  The lamb was given a dry rub of salt, brown sugar, pepper, cinnamon, cumin and coriander.  They went on the grill over low, indirect heat and were turned and rotated every half hour for two hours.  After that they were wrapped in aluminum foil and placed in a brown paper bag for thirty minutes.

The low heat and long cooking time melted a significant part of the large quantities of fat in this cut of meat and tenderized the lean sections.  The outside was crisp and crunchy and the inside was warm an inviting.  There was an heirloom cherry tomato and mozzarella salad with basil and red wine vinegar to help fill out the plate, and olive oil and sea salt rubbed baguette slices toasted.

The wine was a 2013 Arnot Roberts Rose' from California discussed here.