John and Dan's Picks, March 29th 2007

Every couple of weeks John and I can't find a distributor to sponsor our Flight Night, so we feature wines that we think are notable. For this weeks Flight Night we decided to feature wines from European Wine Imports, Heidelberg Distributors, and Vintner Select Distributors. As always, Chef Tim King and the kitchen downstairs put out an impressive spread of food that included a mixed cheese tray, pipette pasta with calamari tossed in a spicy arrabiatta sauce, chicken satay with peanut sauce, white vanilla bean cake, chocolate brownie cake, and chocolate covered lady fingers, marshmallows, and strawberries.

Its not uncommon for John and I to start our taste with a sparkling wine, however, lately I have found a obsessive fascination with crémant (for a definition on crémant see my Feb. 22nd 2007 entry). The Cave de Cleebourg "Clerostein" Crémant 'd Alsace Rose (retail $18) was not by any means exempt from my enthusiasm for this style of wine. This wine is actually made from a wine co-op out of Cleebourg in Alsace of which 5 villages and 190 different growers are associated. Made from 100% Pinot Noir this fruit is sourced from the Huettgasse de Steinseltz locality. With a nose full of strawberry and cream this fruity and crisp sparkler exhibits a nice yeasty or bisquity body and a smooth creamy finish. For a great summer treat try pairing this fantastic crémant with a dozen steamed littleneck clams with drawn butter and hot sauce. If you want to find out more about the co-op or view other wines they produce please check out www.cave-cleebourg.com

Next we moved to a wine that I hope to feature on the patio this summer. Kitfox Vineyards "Foxy" White Table Wine 2005 retails for $12 and is a blend of 63% Chenin Blanc, 12% Sauvignon Blanc, 7% Verdelho, 5% Orange Muscat, 5% Riesling, 5% Viognier, 5% Gewurztraminer. Light gold in color this wine exhibits a floral nose with watermelon, honey, apricot, tangerine, and light lime zest. This nice white table wine is fruity and off-dry in the mid palate leading to a complex finish of lemon zest and honeydew. As I mentioned earlier this is a refreshing option for hot summer day. Try this wine with apple and nut stuffed pork tenderloin with fingerling potatoes and steamed dandelion with fresh ground sea salt. For more information on Kitfox check out:www.kitfoxvineyards.com

Jumping from California we ended up with a Barbera d' Alba the Northwest region of Italy. Barbera is often referred to as the "people's wine" and accounts for over 40 percent of the grapes grown in Peidmont. While I know reading and understanding Italian wine bottles can be confusing at times, Barbera d' Alba simply indicates one of the three major terriors from which this Barbera is grown (just outside the town of Alba). Corino is a major player in the Peidmont reigion and is often sought after for their Barolo. However, the two brother winemakers, Renato and Giuliano, split the family vineyards with Guiliano keeping the original namesake. This is Renato's label and this dark crimson Barbera is a nicely priced (retailing for $20) introduction to the quality wine their family traditionally produces. The Renato Corino Barbera 'd Alba D.O.C. 2005 offers a nose of cherry, barn-fire smoke, and light chocolate. Spicy and full fruit upfront lead to an acidic peppery finish. This wine took quite a while to open up and is a bit young in the bottle. I would suggest cellaring this for another couple years or if you insist on drinking it right now decanting for at least one hour. Try this wine with a prosciutto wrapped chicken topped with a wedge of semi-hard ricotta and served atop fetuccine con spinachi tossed with sliced cherry tomatoes, virgin olive oil, and freshly grated Romano cheese.

Whenever I can I try to plug my favorite varietal in the Flight Nights. The Silver Peak Vineyard Zinfandel 2001 (retail $14) comes from the Zinfandel rich Lodi, California. One of the general wine rules to Zinfandel is that it should be drank very young, however, the 6 year bottle age clearly helped this wine rather than hindered it. Lodi fruit (especially Zinfandel) tends to be bold and deep and full-bodied to begin with and definitely needs a bit of bottle time to really pop. Cheap or not, try cellaring some Zinfandel to see what I mean. This wine exhibits cherry, vanilla, strawberry, and oddly a bit of petrol in the nose even though the alcohol content is relatively low for Lodi (13.5% ABV). Silver Peak Zinfandel offers deep full-bodied bold fruit with a slightly tangy yet smooth finish. Try drinking this wine with a chopped beef tenderloin sandwich with sauteed onions and mushrooms on toasted ciabbatta with melted provolone.

We finished the taste with what seemed to be the crowd favorite. Marquis Phillips 2005 Shiraz retails for $16 but drinks at twice that value. The label features a mythical creature called a Roogle half bald eagle and half Kangaroo to represent the partnership between its American importer and Australian winemaker. This dense and opaquely deep red is almost black in color indicating the huge blackberry and plum tones accompanied by, tar, leather, oak. Heavy full-bodied dark fruit flavors lead to a slightly spicy long rounded finish in this high octane (15.9% ABV)wine. Try this wine with chocolate zucchini cake sprinkled with powdered sugar.

Thanks again for staying with me through this blog and supporting the Thursday Night Flight Night. As always I would appreciate some feedback on what you thought about the wine or if there is something you want to see in one of my flight nights. I'll see you all next week and remember to keep an open eye and an open mind.