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.

French Taste, Feb. 22nd 2007

This week at the Thursday Night Flight Night, John and I tried something different. We focused strictly on French wine for our selections. John's real passion is French wine and over the past couple months he has given me a nice spectrum of knowlege on French wine and wine making processes. The wine we presented was all from European Wine Imports. The company is owned by a French man Franck Kakou whose old world connections allow him to import some very interesting wines (I've supplied the catalog on the link). For this taste Chef Tim King put out a mixed cheese platter and shrimp hush puppies.

We started this taste with a sparkler from the Loire, Guy Allion Cremant 2003 (retail $18). Cremant is a term used to describe quality spakling wine made outside of the Champagne appellation. Cremant is produced in the Alsace, Die, Burgundy, Loire, Limoux, and Bordeaux appellations. Because each appellation has different grape varietals and terrior Cremant takes on many different characteristics depending on where it comes from. In the Loire Chenin Blanc is the main grape used in Cremant. Guy Allion uses a blend of Chardonnay and Chenin Blanc to create a stable sense of finesse in his wine. Pale hay in color, this Cremant has heavy nutty and creamy tones in the nose with a hint of tropical fruit like banana. Creamy upfront with nice full fruit in the mid palate leading to a long crisp finish. Try pairing this wine with jumbo sea scallops and shrimp topped with a Gruyere sherry cream sauce and served with a potato pancake, sautéed spinach and sundried tomatoes.

Next we tried a wine from Burgundy, Domaine Hervé AZO 2005 Chablis (retail $18). Chablis is made from 100% Chardonnay grape. In the late 1970's, Hervé Azo took some time off from his job in the Parisian advertising business to pick grapes in Chablis during the vendanges. He never returned. In his vineyards he only grows Chardonnay near the village of Milly. The wines here are aged exclusively in stainless steel vats to retain the classic mineral qualities that the chardonnay grape attains in Chablis. This Chablis is light gold in color with a light creamy nose and floral tones. A fruit-forward full bodied wine lightly oaked with a sharp, crisp, slightly lemony finish. There is a nice amount of mineral and acidity in the unfiltered wine, which was evident in crystals on the cork. These crystals are actually tartrates deposited by wine's naturally high level of tartaric acid. As a note, we drank this wine extremely early. I wanted to represent a Chablis in the taste but couldn't find anything old enough that fit into my budget. Most people at the taste turned their noses at this wine and I feel as though it was my fault. Chablis traditionally won't even be released out of the vineyard without being three years bottle aged. This wine could sit down for another ten years before it is fully blossomed. Try pairing this wine with sliced, spiced pork tenderloin with a sweet mashed potato, caramelized onions, and an apple-raisin chutney.

Going back to the Alsace, our third wine was Domaine Georges Brunet Vouvray 2005 Demi-Sec (around $14). In essence Vouvray is Chenin Blanc and Chenin Blanc is Vouvray with George Brunet producing both a still and sparkling version of the appellation. Vouvray owes it sweetness to noble rot or botrytis which is a tricky white grape fungus that wine makers embrace to achieve fine sweet wines. For the most part, the high end Vouvray's are high in acidity and ultimately need to be bottle aged for anywhere up to thirty years before they are ready to drink. George Brunet however takes a more commercial approach with less bottle aging required for the wine. This wine is pale gold in color with light vanilla and floral tones in the nose. Light upfront and slightly off dry in the mid palate leading to a creamy finish with a hint of acidic citrus tang making this wine a nice, balanced, easy-drinker. As John mentioned in his notes, this wine is a great replacement for the cookie-cutter Chardonnays from California. Try matching this wine with a jumbo crab cake served with field greens, tomatoes, fried blue corn tortillas and finished with a Cajun corn aioli. Check out George Brunet's website at: www.vouvray-brunet.com

Moving on to red we started with Chateau Les Quatre Filles Cotes-du-Rhone Villages Cairanne 2005 (retail $15). This blend of Grenache and Syrah (the two main red grapes of this region) are from a vineyard near the village of Cairanne in the Southern Rhone. This small old (est. 1715) family-run winery which translates to Castle of the Four Girls prides itself in taking an organic approach to their vineyard management. The winery does not weed the vineyard or use pesticides, and only uses organic maures to promote growth in their vines. This wine is deep red, almost plum, in color with blackberry and cranberry tones leading to a light hint of strawberry and oak in the nose. Strong fruit-forward deep plum in the mid palate leading to a crisp long dry tannic tobacco finish. Try this wine with sautéed wild mushrooms, leeks, and spinach served over pasta and topped with a gorgonzola cream sauce. For those of you who speak French, or if you'd just like to check out photos of the winery check out:www.chateau-4filles.com/

We finished the taste off with Chateau Gonin 2004 Bordeaux (retail $14). If there is one French region every wine drinker has heard of it is Bordeaux. Bordeaux houses the much coveted wines of Chateau Lafite-Rothschild, Chateau Cheval Blanc, Chateau Margaux, and Chateau Latour to name a few. This 50% Cabernet Sauvignon 50% Merlot blend is one among many of the baby brothers to Chateau Laville. Chateau Gonin is ruby in color having a huge leather, smoke, light cherry, and a hint of petrol on the nose. A deep, balanced and gentle fruity start lead to a long, rounded finish. This is a classic representation of the Bordeaux style. Sit this wine down for ten years and marvel as it opens, becoming increasingly soft. Try this wine with a dry rubbed filet mignon served with goat cheese mashed potatoes and grilled asparagus.

I know that reading French labels and understanding their wine is overwhelming, but I hope this taste broke any misconceptions people have about French wine, and I hope this blog helped you understand French wine a bit more. I would be happy to respond to any questions or comments you post about French wine or wine in general. Thanks again for reading and until next time remember to keep an open eye and an open mind.