A wine geek moment

I don't normally feel like I know something about wine--I mean, I do, some, but I'm still learning the wine list at work and so usually I defer to the sommelier when someone has a wine question. However, I got to stump the sommelier this weekend.

When I got to Seattle, I got on the mailing list for Garagiste. They import small-batch wines, available to those on the email list. Typically I'll get 1-2 emails a day from them, with new wines for sale. I've bought a couple of things, here and there. The first of the orders arrived this weekend, so I made an appointment to go pick it up.

Oh. My. God.

The warehouse--which is utterly nondescript and in a weird part of town--also had a retail showroom. Meaning I could browse the shelves and buy more wine. And it was the most eclectic, most heart-warming wine collection I've seen in a while. Half the stuff on the shelves was stuff I recognized from the Craigie on Main wine list, stuff I thought I'd left behind forever because most of it doesn't get imported to the West Coast.

Naturally I had to buy some. I stopped myself at two bottles, because otherwise it could have gotten ridiculous, but I may have to go back next weekend and get some more.

One of the bottles I got was Susucaru 2. I won't go into the details, you can look that up for yourself if you're interested, but it's a funky, hard-to-find rose from Sicily. It's completely unfiltered, no sulfites or preservatives added, and it's incredibly lean. Super-acidic, lots of gunk floating it it, made from native Sicilian grapes no one's ever heard of.

I took it into work to crack open after service, and the sommelier and I had a good time geeking out over the bottle. It started off almost all acid, but the fruit opened up nicely after a few minutes and by the end of the bottle I found myself wanting more. The warehouse had more wines by that same producer (red wines); I want to go back and try those next week.

Red wine and bacon pinto beans

So far this month I've spent a little over $100 on food. Not bad when you consider that I spent way, way more than that last month (start-up pantry costs).

My stepson is coming to visit next week, and I know I'll need to get some groceries for his visit. I'm trying to put off that trip to the store until at least the weekend. My fridge is getting a little bare, but it's nothing I can't handle for a few more days.

So, yesterday's challenge: find something fun to do with that last bag of dried beans. In this case, pinto beans.

I got this recipe from the New York Times. Added bonus: it used up the rest of that bottle of terrible Rioja I had. Sometimes a wine is just so bad you have to save it for cooking, you know?

This isn't quite a stew. It's more like slightly wet beans.

1/2 pound smoky bacon, diced
1 large onion, peeled and diced
2 celery stalks, diced
2 medium carrots, peeled and diced
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 large sprigs rosemary
1 pound dried pinto beans, soaked overnight
1 tablespoon coarse kosher salt, more to taste
2 cups dry red wine
Extra-virgin olive oil, for serving (optional)
Coarsely grated Parmesan, for serving (optional)
Coarsely ground black pepper or red pepper flakes, for serving (optional)

In the bottom of a large pot over medium-high heat, brown bacon until golden, about 5 minutes. Stir in onion, celery, carrots, garlic and rosemary. Cook, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are tender, 5 to 7 minutes. Drain beans and add to pot along with 1 tablespoon salt. Pour in enough water to just cover the beans (about 7 to 8 cups). Bring liquid to a boil; reduce heat and simmer gently until beans are just tender, 45 minutes to 1 hour.

Meanwhile, in a small pot over medium heat, simmer wine until it is reduced to 2/3 cup, 20 to 30 minutes. Remove rosemary branches from bean pot and discard them. Pour wine into beans and bring to a simmer. Cook for 10 to 20 minutes longer to meld flavors and thicken broth to taste. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with Parmesan, if desired; add more salt and black or red pepper to taste.

Wine from my collection: Movia Lunar

Remember the undisgorged Puro? This is another wine by those same people.

It's orange. And cloudy. And delicious.

Eric Asimov of the New York Times said, "Movia’s 2005 Lunar is an experimental ribolla gialla wine, in which Ales Kristancic, an owner and the winemaker, tried to produce a wine basically without the touch of humans except at harvest. He put the grapes in specially designed barrels and then allowed them to ferment and age on their own for seven months, without pressing the grapes or adding any chemicals. They were then bottled without filtering."

Read about it here, here and here.

So there you go. Orange white wine, that has an almost chewy mouthfeel, that tastes like acidic orange blossoms and starfruit.

Best of all, I got a bottle for free, for breaking a record at work.

Wine from my collection: Montlouis-sur-Loire "Les Bournais,” François Chidaine 2008

Another bottle of wine chosen from my restaurant's wine list; at cost, $20, so around $40-45 in stores and $60 in restaurants.

My notes: Crazy acidity; really well-balanced, a first burst of fruit which is then wiped away by the acidity. A great food wine.

Notes from a fellow server:

"Like Scarlett O’Hara this wine is a demure little Southern belle with an undercurrent of determination and power. It is definitely feminine and it has a delicate honeysuckle bouquet. It starts with a touch of sweetness that bobs like a flower petal on a raging river of riveting acidity. It tastes of honey and peach skins with a tinge of bitterness like citrus pith and a dense stone minerality.

This wine is all about the subtle balance of opposites: it may be the perfect Chenin Blanc. It is an amazing wine at $63."

Wine from my collection: Puro Rose

Yes, that bottle is meant to be upside-down.


Movia Puro Rose is a sparking rose wine, made on the border of Slovenia and Italy. It's stored upside-down because its yeasts have never been disgorged.

This bottle, if you can find it, is a perfect conversation piece for a party.

See, when champagne/sparkling wine is made, the winemakers first make a still white wine. Then they put that still wine in bottles and add yeast and sugars. The yeast eats the sugar, creating carbon dioxide, which is trapped in the bottle--that's what creates the bubbles in champagne.

Normally, the bottles are then turned, slowly pulling all the yeast down into the neck of the bottle, into a plug that can be disgorged. The yeast plug shoots out, the winemaker tops off the bottle with a little more grape juice and sugar, and reseals it, leaving the bubbles intact.

But the Puro Rose was never disgorged. That yeast plug was still in there.

For last weekend's dinner party, I got a bottle. (Courtesy of my restaurant, which allows me to buy the wine off their list at cost. This bottle was not in fact on the wine list--it was brought in for a special occasion dinner a few weeks ago, and they graciously allowed me to purchase one of the leftover bottles. Trust me, this stuff is not easy to find.) It comes in a sleeve, which allows you to keep it upside down, keeping that yeast plug intact.

To open it, obviously you have to disgorge the yeast plug. There's a heavy metal clamp holding the cork in;  you'll need a screwdriver or something to pry it off. But be careful--the INSTANT that metal clamp is pried off, the cork will shoot out and you'll have a fountain of expensive sparkling rose all over your floor. Be sure to have enough presence of mind to pull the bottle upright immediately.

I got a fair amount all over my floor, but it was quite a show. The wine itself was lovely--deep, complex, faintly bready. Definitely the best sparkling anything I've ever had. (Which, granted, is not an especially wide category.)

And getting wine all over my living room was never so much fun.

Wine from my collection: Potel Aviron 2009 Cote de Brouilly

In many states (mine included), it is in fact perfectly legal to take home the remainder of a bottle of wine from a restaurant. (There are rules about how to do it--it has to be corked, sealed inside a bag with the receipt, and I think you have to put it in the trunk--but it's legal.) Lots of people don't know this. I always encourage people to get a bottle if there's more than one person drinking the same wine, because it's more economical, and because you can take the leftovers home.

But every once in a while, you get a person who buys a bottle and then leaves half of it behind.

You know what happens then, right? Your waiter drinks it.

I had a guy buy this bottle, and then leave half of it behind. It was the last table of the night, so I was happy to take that half-bottle with me and give it a good home.

Made from gamay, this Cote de Brouilly is from the Beaujolais section of France. Gamay grapes are a bit lighter and fruitier than pinot noir, but in many ways, this tastes similar to a pinot noir. Strong dried cherry flavors, jammy, with spice notes and a long finish. It will retail for $12-14 a bottle. A great wine with food.

Wine from my collection: 2008 Domaine Maume Bourgogne

I'm starting a new restaurant job soon; one that will be like working in the Harvard of restaurants. There is an intense training program, and I'll be expected to learn everything about the menu and the wines. I've already discovered that everything I thought I knew about restaurant service is wrong. Working at this place will be incredibly rewarding, but also incredibly challenging.

One of the good things about this new job is that I'll be able to purchase their wines at cost. That means I can work my way down the long wine list, and call it a tax-deductible business expense. First up: 2008 Domaine Maume Bourgogne.

I know a lot about New World wines (US, Argentina, New Zealand) but very little about Old World wines (anything in Europe), and this wine list is all Old World, primarily France and Italy. This wine was produced in the Burgundy region of France--the Bourgogne AOC part of Burgundy, specifically--and is made from pinot noir grapes.

So basically it's an Old World pinot noir, and a delicious one at that. Rock on. I paid $20 at cost, which means it would retail for probably $30, maybe a little less. It has a really bright cherry aroma, with warm notes of pepper, nutmeg, and jammy dried fruits on the tongue. Give it a few minutes after pouring to let it open up. An excellent wine to drink by itself, or to pair with dinner.

Wine from my collection: Marziano Abbona Bricco Barone Nebbiolo d'Alba

Another very drinkable Italian red, this one a nebbiolo. Nebbiolo d'Alba is made in a large area around the town of Alba, situated in the region of Piedmont in northwest Italy. This variety is considered the king of Italian red grapes, prolific in the Piedmont region and the backbone of the internationally renowned DOCG wines Barolo and Barbaresco. 


It's fruity, with strong spicy and peppery notes, and is a great entry-level nebbiolo.

Wine from my collection: Cantina Zaccagnini Montepulciano d'Abruzzo 2009

Don't let the name throw you--this is a really great montepulciano, inexpensive, and you don't even need to remember the name. Just look for the bottle with the stick on it.

Montepulciano is an Italian grape, and this wine is fruity (lots of blackberry and plum notes), well-balanced, and goes with damn near everything. It's one of the wines by the glass offered at my restaurant, and seriously, it goes with damn near everything. I sell it as the "staff favorite," (which, as I'm staff, and it's my favorite, is true), and I've yet to find anyone that didn't love it.

Plus, it retails for $12 - $15. It's a win all the way around.

Best wine with turkey: Papa Celso Dolcetto di Dogliani

Here's my vote for best holiday/turkey wine: Papa Celso dolcetto.

Dolcetto is a medium-body Italian red, fruitier than pinot noir but just as versatile. This one is especially lovely; open it an hour or so before you want to serve it, as it's a little tight right out of the bottle. It pairs exquisitely with turkey, potatoes, stuffing and gravy--in short, everything at the holiday table. Not too tannic, not too dry, lots of notes of dark cherry, cloves and pepper with a long, satisfying finish.

Retails for $24-30.

Grilled steak (or, Belated Birthday Dinner)

My belated birthday dinner consisted of grilled dry-aged steak, fried potatoes, and creamed spinach, capped off with the last bottle of Laughing Stock. There was also a sort-of bearnaise sauce, but it didn't come together the way I wanted it to, so we'll leave that out.

The steaks were dry-aged beef. I'll leave out the science of why dry aging beef makes it taste better (it does; you can Google it for more info), but these were tasty steaks. I brought them up to room temperature, seared them on my indoor grill for two minutes per side, and then let them rest.

The potatoes were fried in truffle oil and duck fat.

It was a true Peter Luger-style dinner, in my very own living room.

Wine from my collection: Canoe Ridge Riesling 2008

It's almost that not-white-wine-drinking time of year; the time of year when I'll switch to reds almost exclusively. Which is not to say that a nice white isn't enjoyable in winter--but not when it's overly chilled, as most of them are.

Anyway, the point is, I'm running through my white wine supply and not replenishing it.

Canoe Ridge Riesling is a lovely dry, acidic riesling from Washington, a great under-$20 bottle and a great food wine. I'm leery of rieslings, because most tend to be too sweet for my tastes, but this one is just right. Well-balanced, fruity, just a hint of sea spray.

Dinner party and a wine: Silver Lake 2008 Reserve Chardonnay

So, last weekend's dinner party recap: cream of celery soup; panzanella; crawfish etouffee; and apple pie with homemade vanilla ice cream for dessert.

I accidentally stumbled upon a very delicious wine pairing: this Silver Lake 2008 Reserve Chardonnay with the crawfish etouffee. My What to Drink with What You Eat told me that New World chardonnays would pair splendidly with crawfish, so I went to my wine shelf and selected this bottle, from Washington.

When I served the crawfish, we finished off the last of the sauvignon blanc we'd had with the first two courses, and I poured the chardonnay. A few bites into the etouffee, I took a sip.

Wow. When wines pair correctly, they really pair--both the food and the wine are suddenly more than they were. The sweetness in the wine brought out the taste of the crawfish, and the spices in the etouffee brought out the floral notes in the wine.

Not bad for an under-$20 bottle of wine.

Wine from my collection: Belle Glos Meiomi Pinot Noir 2009

I've had Belle Glos wines before, and they were all delicious (if expensive). So when I saw this, I jumped on it. You can find it for around $20 (maybe $22, depending on the market).

But oh, it's worth it. This may well be the yummiest $20 pinot I've put in my mouth in some time. Fruity, layered, well-balanced, and bright. Really spectacular. Goes amazingly with pizza. Definitely worth some effort to find!

Wine from my collection: ia Garnacha 2009

This is a ridiculously inexpensive grenache (under $10) from Spain. It's almost purple, but bright and zesty once it opens up, and would pair really well with a variety of foods. See here.

Grenache is not exactly a hard-to-find varietal, it's one of the most widely planted grapes in the world, but it is unusual to find it not blended with something else.

It's a great wine for the price, and was still tasty even after having been open on my counter for a week. That's high praise, in my book.

Wine from my collection: Durigutti Bonarda 2009

Bonarda is the most-planted grape in Argentina, despite being overshadowed in sales by malbec (in America, at least). When I was in Argentina, I didn't have one malbec that really rocked my world. Not one. But a wine distributor friend there told me that bonarda was going to be the next big thing.

So I've been keeping my eyes open for bonarda since then (though it has yet to become the next big thing). This bottle is very fruity, not terribly structured, and very drinkable for the price--also retailing under $15.

Wine from my collection: Tami Frappato 2009

Frappato is a harder-to-find Sicilian grape, kind of like a fruity cross between pinot noir and nebbiolo. I'm trying to expand my drinking into new varietals. I snapped this up when I found it, because it is somewhat hard to find, despite being under $15 retail.

It's a nice, light red wine, great for pairing with lighter pasta dishes (as you might imagine) but also good for general consumption.

Wine from my collection: Anthill Farms Tina Marie Pinot Noir 2009

I found this bottle at W.I.N.O., otherwise known as Wine Institute New Orleans. Waaaaaay back when, I attended a pinot noir dinner at Cru, in which I had like 20 different kinds of pinot noir, and Anthill Farms was one of them. Naturally, most of the stuff I had and liked is hard to find. So when I saw this bottle, even though it was $65, I had to try it.

My memory did not disappoint. Unfortunately it will be a while before I can afford more $65 bottles, but it was a lovely vacation splurge.

Although to be entirely honest, I couldn't taste much difference between a good $30 pinot and this $65 pinot. Wherein does the $30 difference lie, I wonder?

Wine from my collection: 2008 Vinum Africa Chenin Blanc

Another Barclay's Wine deal, and outstanding chenin blanc, retailing for $19.95.

I used to be an almost exclusively red wine drinker. Now that I'm back on the East Coast, and dealing with very humid, hot summers, I'm leaning more toward a seasonal split: red wine in the winter, white wine in the summer. (Especially as I live in an un-air-conditioned house.)

Wine from my collection: Granite Ridge Chenin Blanc

Thanks to the glory of Groupon, every once in a while I can get a deal on online wine. Most recently it was $25 for $75 worth of wine from Barclay's Wine. One of the bottles I got was this Granite Ridge Chenin Blanc, retailing for $12.95.

South African wine, like Argentinean wine, can be very very good or very very mediocre (with not much in between). I really liked this one--it was crisp and fruity and went down very easily, with no too-much-sugar-white-wine headache. I love a wine deal.