Fellow Swirlers,
I have been unfair in making this blog my personal canvas, when the intent was always to illuminate our group gatherings. Obviously, you know that this was an accident, but it happened nonetheless. So, what to do? After consulting with my beloved consort and consuela, my need to blather on about wine, food and untethered opinions will migrate to a "second label" if you will, and so Wine E the Elder is born. This is not to diminish the comings, goings, gatherings and errata of the SWIRL group. No, these will go on in this blog, as originally intended and I hope you will feel free to post ad nauseum accordingly. But my self-indulgent moods will find a new canvas, sparing you the taint by association.
Bright blessings on your day.
g
p.s. If you want to see the "Second Label" it can be found at wineytheelder.blogspot.com
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Swirling Loyalties
Well this is fine kettle of fish, as my grandmother would say: sitting here wolfing down a big Killer Burger, washing it down with the '03 Abeja's Beekeeper's Blend, all the while cheering the S.F. Giants on to a World Series victory. The Giants!? For christ's sake, what has become of me? I grew up a Dodger fan and the Giants, like the Yankees, are the ever-hated enemy!
But somehow, and I'll avoid the long diatribe on the yankeeization of the Dodgers by their upper management, the Giants - described as a rag-tag bunch of misfits - have developed a charm that is seducing. A starting pitcher with long hair, called the "Freak", assorted players that had been tossed to the curb by other teams, a relief pitcher who dies his beard black to look menacing (while sporting a baby pony-tail) amalgamating into an awesome team....a true "team" that is rare in professional sports. And I like them. They don't seem stuffy; one player described the dug-out as Halloween every day. It's a sport and they seem to be genuinely having a great time "playing", which is the goal, no? At any rate, SF is a great town and this team seems to be a good face for it: an amalgamation of parts that just wants to have fun. Let your Freak flag fly!
And so the wine, the Beekeepers Blend, an amalgamation of cab sauvignon, merlot and cab franc, a soft, round joyous unpretentious quaff that fit the food and the fete perfectly. Abeja's tendency to be "stuffy and pretentious" aside, this their 'commoners' blend is a solid expression of what underlies all the over oaked, over extracted, high alcohol wines that often roll out of the WWW world. This wine, then, is the Giants of Walla Walla: fun and easy going. Not the pedigree of Cayuse or Leonetti or even the Abeja high end wines - the Yankees of the wally wine world. Nope. Just wine for the masses to enjoy and not take so seriously. Sorry Mollie-tude: your prissy, haughty mien is no match for the bee's work. Perhaps you should drink more and die your beard black and find your inner freak. It's liberating, as this former Giant hater can attest.
But somehow, and I'll avoid the long diatribe on the yankeeization of the Dodgers by their upper management, the Giants - described as a rag-tag bunch of misfits - have developed a charm that is seducing. A starting pitcher with long hair, called the "Freak", assorted players that had been tossed to the curb by other teams, a relief pitcher who dies his beard black to look menacing (while sporting a baby pony-tail) amalgamating into an awesome team....a true "team" that is rare in professional sports. And I like them. They don't seem stuffy; one player described the dug-out as Halloween every day. It's a sport and they seem to be genuinely having a great time "playing", which is the goal, no? At any rate, SF is a great town and this team seems to be a good face for it: an amalgamation of parts that just wants to have fun. Let your Freak flag fly!
And so the wine, the Beekeepers Blend, an amalgamation of cab sauvignon, merlot and cab franc, a soft, round joyous unpretentious quaff that fit the food and the fete perfectly. Abeja's tendency to be "stuffy and pretentious" aside, this their 'commoners' blend is a solid expression of what underlies all the over oaked, over extracted, high alcohol wines that often roll out of the WWW world. This wine, then, is the Giants of Walla Walla: fun and easy going. Not the pedigree of Cayuse or Leonetti or even the Abeja high end wines - the Yankees of the wally wine world. Nope. Just wine for the masses to enjoy and not take so seriously. Sorry Mollie-tude: your prissy, haughty mien is no match for the bee's work. Perhaps you should drink more and die your beard black and find your inner freak. It's liberating, as this former Giant hater can attest.
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Perfection
Monday we had an outrageous meal. The parts themselves would have been excellent, but together they took us to an altogether new direction of good. I realize that I risk censure from those who are rightly repelled by hyperbole but they (whoever they are) weren't here to swoop and swoon over this extraordinary wine and food pairing.
First, the food: a wonderful saute of peppers, carrots, bok choy blended into an Indian Coconut Curry sauce that we picked up at Costco (include the "t", please). KT made it swim with goodness, layered over basmati rice. To this we added a 2001 Hirschi Austrian Riesling that was nothing short of ethereal. Crisp, laser acidity, after nine years, swirling around a circumferential butterscotch, caramel goodness that was not sweet or unctuous but going on and on and on with flavor. The sharp acidity spoke of citrus, clean and exquisite, softened by the edge of caramel richness. Unbelievably good in some many ways and so deep and with the food, it was perfect. This is not hyperbole. It was a match of heavenly proportions. A riesling that gave a hint of petroleum on the nose, but in the mouth...OMG...pure, lingering pleasure. But maybe, you had to be there?
First, the food: a wonderful saute of peppers, carrots, bok choy blended into an Indian Coconut Curry sauce that we picked up at Costco (include the "t", please). KT made it swim with goodness, layered over basmati rice. To this we added a 2001 Hirschi Austrian Riesling that was nothing short of ethereal. Crisp, laser acidity, after nine years, swirling around a circumferential butterscotch, caramel goodness that was not sweet or unctuous but going on and on and on with flavor. The sharp acidity spoke of citrus, clean and exquisite, softened by the edge of caramel richness. Unbelievably good in some many ways and so deep and with the food, it was perfect. This is not hyperbole. It was a match of heavenly proportions. A riesling that gave a hint of petroleum on the nose, but in the mouth...OMG...pure, lingering pleasure. But maybe, you had to be there?
Monday, October 25, 2010
So this is what the fuss is about!
Rainy Sunday dinner: braised short ribs in a succulent, spicy tomato sauce; white corn grits to place it on; ubiquitous broccoli. In a word: YUM!
Our vinous guest of the evening: 1996 Caprilli Brunello di Montalcino. I have stared at that bottle for a loooong time, wondering if it was foolish to let it lay, trusting those who attest to the longetivity of this wine. Finally, fourteen years seemed enough and I have a 1997 too, so I wanted to get a glimpse of what was going on in the bottle. We don't have huge temperature fluctuations in our basement, but you never know. The cork came out in one piece (a plus with older wines, in my experience - 10+ years of age is my benchmark for old, since we didn't start collecting until 1998) and the royal, regal dark purple robe poured silkily into the waiting glass. No brickish, brown rim hinting at age....just nobility. The nose so elegant and divine with no hint of pretense, just fruit and flowers, gamey, chocolate, coffee..all so subtle yet profound. And the taste: oh my! Full of flavor, impeccably smooth and elegant; fruit, coffee, leather in equal proportions and still some mild tannins to let you know that this pup could have lain a while longer. It was hauntingly beautiful....imagine a nobility that is generous and kind and loving, but make-no-mistake, it's a blue blood. It's like the pictures you see of Prince Phillip, such an openly human man for a monarch; royalty with grace. This wine was that. It didn't have gender characteristics; it could just as easily be compared to Grace Kelly. Prince Kelley? Just know that the wait was worth it and I'm encouraged to wait on others. I'm not often disappointed. I certainly wasn't tonight.
Our vinous guest of the evening: 1996 Caprilli Brunello di Montalcino. I have stared at that bottle for a loooong time, wondering if it was foolish to let it lay, trusting those who attest to the longetivity of this wine. Finally, fourteen years seemed enough and I have a 1997 too, so I wanted to get a glimpse of what was going on in the bottle. We don't have huge temperature fluctuations in our basement, but you never know. The cork came out in one piece (a plus with older wines, in my experience - 10+ years of age is my benchmark for old, since we didn't start collecting until 1998) and the royal, regal dark purple robe poured silkily into the waiting glass. No brickish, brown rim hinting at age....just nobility. The nose so elegant and divine with no hint of pretense, just fruit and flowers, gamey, chocolate, coffee..all so subtle yet profound. And the taste: oh my! Full of flavor, impeccably smooth and elegant; fruit, coffee, leather in equal proportions and still some mild tannins to let you know that this pup could have lain a while longer. It was hauntingly beautiful....imagine a nobility that is generous and kind and loving, but make-no-mistake, it's a blue blood. It's like the pictures you see of Prince Phillip, such an openly human man for a monarch; royalty with grace. This wine was that. It didn't have gender characteristics; it could just as easily be compared to Grace Kelly. Prince Kelley? Just know that the wait was worth it and I'm encouraged to wait on others. I'm not often disappointed. I certainly wasn't tonight.
Friday, October 22, 2010
Staying Power
On the 14th, I opened up a bottle of 2006 Reverdito Barolo that I picked up from Vinopolis. Selling for about $18 a bottle, I was highly skeptical that it could amount to much more than a pleasant nebbiolo (which is still a very good thing). Barolo "wine of kings" for less than $20? You can understand my pause. Ah, but good fortune is at hand: it is actually a very good wine. After the initial tasting - dark fruits and leather and gentle tannins - I continued to sample it daily, until KT and I finished it off on Tuesday....and it still tasted pleasant and showing no signs of turning. A case purchase can't be far behind1
Last night, we opened a 2001 Marcel Deiss Pinot Blanc, to pair with an apple-fennel hash, sausages and steamed small white potatoes. Amazingly, the wine still has life and vigor. Just the slightest hint of oxidation to me, but the full strength of the mouth-filling acidity and tart apple crispness never faltered.
Last night, we opened a 2001 Marcel Deiss Pinot Blanc, to pair with an apple-fennel hash, sausages and steamed small white potatoes. Amazingly, the wine still has life and vigor. Just the slightest hint of oxidation to me, but the full strength of the mouth-filling acidity and tart apple crispness never faltered.
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Taking the Gloves off with the Minkster
What a treat for a Monday night. KT made one of our favorite dishes, the now infamous green chile pork stew, coupled with mashed spuds, steamed-to-perfection broccoli and a lovely salad to follow. We were blessed with a visit from the just-back-from Italy Chanel, who regaled us with delightful stories of Rome and Naples and brought a delightful little bottle of Touraine Sauvignon Blanc from Domaine Vincent Ricard.
I hastily opened that chilled offering and was delighted to find a light bodied, herbal wine that danced daintily on the palette. I quickly sliced up some aged dutch goat cheese and soppresata salami and the wonders of the chalky hills of the Loire came swimming up in my mouth, calling back the fall of '09 when the AP and I spent a hall of fame afternoon in the hilltop town of Sancerre, sitting in an outdoor cafe bedazzled with assorted fresh goat cheese offerings and a pitcher of local sancerre blanc all the while surrounding by an expansive view of acres of soon to be harvested minerally, herbal gooseberry, grassy, cat pee, mown lawn grape goodness. One of the finest wine/food moments in my life.
Then on to dinner and I offered up a 2000 Produttori Barbaresco from the single vineyard of Moccagatta. This wine has enough tannins to go longer, if need be, but tasted just fine right now. Earthy and balanced with flavors of dark red berries and earth and plums and earth, it was not the best match for the spicy pork stew but it wasn't bad. I've read that the Moccagatta vineyard is one of the highest in Barbaresco and is known for its earthy power. Amen to that. And the good news: there's another bottle of it for another day!
I hastily opened that chilled offering and was delighted to find a light bodied, herbal wine that danced daintily on the palette. I quickly sliced up some aged dutch goat cheese and soppresata salami and the wonders of the chalky hills of the Loire came swimming up in my mouth, calling back the fall of '09 when the AP and I spent a hall of fame afternoon in the hilltop town of Sancerre, sitting in an outdoor cafe bedazzled with assorted fresh goat cheese offerings and a pitcher of local sancerre blanc all the while surrounding by an expansive view of acres of soon to be harvested minerally, herbal gooseberry, grassy, cat pee, mown lawn grape goodness. One of the finest wine/food moments in my life.
Then on to dinner and I offered up a 2000 Produttori Barbaresco from the single vineyard of Moccagatta. This wine has enough tannins to go longer, if need be, but tasted just fine right now. Earthy and balanced with flavors of dark red berries and earth and plums and earth, it was not the best match for the spicy pork stew but it wasn't bad. I've read that the Moccagatta vineyard is one of the highest in Barbaresco and is known for its earthy power. Amen to that. And the good news: there's another bottle of it for another day!
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Va bene!
Apologies to Suzie, if that's not how you say "Wow!" in Italian.
The highly anticipated Swirl occurred last night at Barry and Suzie's cucina, the pork roast holding center court. The usual suspects were on hand, save for that social butterfly Kay, who has created such a delightful oasis in Salem that her guest beds are seldom, if ever, empty. We soldiered on without her, hardy souls that we are :-D
My angst over the perfect wine for the cubano pork settled on a 2001 Mas Donis, Capcanes, from the montsant region of Spain, the area surrounding the more famous priorat. Made mostly from old vines (80+ years) garnacha, it seemed a good choice for a sumptuously roasted pig. Indeed it was, the earthiness complementing the moist, succulent pork to a "T"...at least in this taster's opinion.
Yes, we had more than pork (but it is the pork that still resonates most in my mind). Jewel blessed the proceedings with a kale/corn saute that was a divine choice. Ruth brought a potato dish (?kugel) that baked up yummy with mushrooms nestled within. KT freshened our palates with a splendid spinach, roasted red pepper salad, and Lee (with Rick doing the "flip") brought it all home with a dreamy, creamy pumpkin caramel creation.
The table also sported a lovely melange of wines: barbera d' alba from Vietti (!), very lively with lots of festive italian fruit; pirouette from WW Long Shadows, dark fruit candied goodness in it for the long haul; cabernet sauvignon from Bogle, a really approachable Cali cab - words I don't often utter; and another very drinkable cab from Cali with the moniker of "Cask"....so drinkable, in fact, that it was drained first!
These crisp beautiful autumnal days are off to a flying start. I love this "shoulder" wine season. Still time to revel in whites and roses (like there's an 'off' season for that!), yet the fare begins to resemble the dinner hour and the wine choices, growing darker by the day. This my friends is truly la dolce vita.
The highly anticipated Swirl occurred last night at Barry and Suzie's cucina, the pork roast holding center court. The usual suspects were on hand, save for that social butterfly Kay, who has created such a delightful oasis in Salem that her guest beds are seldom, if ever, empty. We soldiered on without her, hardy souls that we are :-D
My angst over the perfect wine for the cubano pork settled on a 2001 Mas Donis, Capcanes, from the montsant region of Spain, the area surrounding the more famous priorat. Made mostly from old vines (80+ years) garnacha, it seemed a good choice for a sumptuously roasted pig. Indeed it was, the earthiness complementing the moist, succulent pork to a "T"...at least in this taster's opinion.
Yes, we had more than pork (but it is the pork that still resonates most in my mind). Jewel blessed the proceedings with a kale/corn saute that was a divine choice. Ruth brought a potato dish (?kugel) that baked up yummy with mushrooms nestled within. KT freshened our palates with a splendid spinach, roasted red pepper salad, and Lee (with Rick doing the "flip") brought it all home with a dreamy, creamy pumpkin caramel creation.
The table also sported a lovely melange of wines: barbera d' alba from Vietti (!), very lively with lots of festive italian fruit; pirouette from WW Long Shadows, dark fruit candied goodness in it for the long haul; cabernet sauvignon from Bogle, a really approachable Cali cab - words I don't often utter; and another very drinkable cab from Cali with the moniker of "Cask"....so drinkable, in fact, that it was drained first!
These crisp beautiful autumnal days are off to a flying start. I love this "shoulder" wine season. Still time to revel in whites and roses (like there's an 'off' season for that!), yet the fare begins to resemble the dinner hour and the wine choices, growing darker by the day. This my friends is truly la dolce vita.
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