Happy Saint Patrick's Day

Irish soda bread still warm from the oven. 

Shrimp and Pineapple

Along with the second half of the bottle of the 2006 Grosset Watervale Riesling pictured below there was this.

In the center is basmati rice cooked in coconut milk and a wee bit of lemongrass. The shrimp and pineapple were grill roasted after being brushed with peanut oil, salt and red pepper flakes.  And there was a Thai peanut sauce with peanut butter, coconut milk, soy sauce, lime juice, ginger, garlic, hot sauce and a few other things that came a long for the ride in the blender. 

Great match with the wine as both had sharp acid and sweet undertones. 

Down Under

Sharp and tart.  Crisp apples.  A bit of earth and mineral.  Refreshing.  Delicious.  Proper age and ready to drink.

2006 Grosset Watervale Riesling.  Australia.  12.5% alcohol and $20 a couple of years ago.

Yesterday

It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold: when it is summer in the the light and winter in the shade.

Charles Dickens, Great Expectations.

 A few words and some purchased, out of season flowers.

Austrian Riesling

Along with the pork roast a couple of posts below this one there had to be wine and we went in a slightly different direction for one.  We opened an Austrian riesling.    Normally I buy Gruner Veltliner when I buy Austrian wines, but there were several Rieslings aging in the cellar and 'it just seemed time to open one."

The wine was a Domane Wachau, Terrassen, Federspiel from the 2006 vintage.  Federspiel in this region is a wine between 11% and 12.5%.  When the pork came out of the oven it needed to rest for an hour and that was when I opened the wine.  That was a good choice because the wine needed that much time and more to really open up. There was a good bit of kerosene and sulfur at the start.  It took a fair bit of swirling to minimize those aromas in the glass so I decanted most of the rest of the bottle.

A medium golden color was a good indication of some age on this wine and there was great body in the glass.  After a few minutes it began to smell like Riesling,  The hint of kerosene was still there but so was an intense aroma of summer rain on dry limestone.  The fruit was mostly barely apples and peaches.  This was a firmly structured wine that played with going over the edge in both dryness and tartness but succeeded in only pushing the the boundaries. 

With the pork it was almost perfect.  There was a sweetness in the crust of the pork from the brown sugar rub and that really intensified the apple qualities in the wine.  There was a sauce for the pork that included cooked down frozen peach slices and that was an amazing match for those flavors.  All the way through the meal the wine stayed balanced and refreshing.  Great choice and a good wine.

2006 Domane Wachau Terrassen Federspiel Riesling.  12.5% alcohol and $17. 

Briefly

Today would have been the eleventh birthday for three very dear friends. Sadly dogs never live long enough.  There will be a toast with three small drams tonight, a Lagavulin, Knockando and a Te Bheag Nan Eilean to celebrate and remember.  (clockwise from the top) Scott, Doer and Ellie. 

Winter Food and House Warming

Nothing warms the house better in winter than a pork butt cooked slowly in a low oven. The one above cooked for five hours at 300 degrees after spending the previous twenty-four hours in a a rub of salt, brown sugar and pepper.  It's definitely winter food because it warms the house slowly and thoroughly and has the added benefit of perfuming the air in the house.  It also builds a huge appetite.

A too large portion was consumed for dinner with roasted carrots and a salad and a sauce of white wine, peaches, pork stock, vinegar and sugar all cooked down to a pourable thickness.  There are leftovers and pork will be on the menu for the next several days.