Archive for August, 2011

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My new diet: When I seafood, I drink wine.

August 7, 2011

Yesterday, Kara and I had a hankerin’ for some fish.

I thought it would be really neat to prepare it two ways, so I decided to make a Tilapia Ceviche and some Barbecued Shrimp.

Before heading out to get some groceries, I opened up Kevin Zraly’s wine book to get an idea for what types of wine go well with seafood.  After flipping through his chapter on the white wines of France, I left for the store with the intention of getting either a Loire Valley white (like Sancerre or Muscadet) or a white Burgundy (Chablis perhaps).

While at Trader Joe’s, I spotted this gem…

Chateau Des Cleons 2010 Muscadet Sevre Et Maine

The Muscadet region is on the Eastern end of the Loire Valley of France where the Loire River meets the Atlantic Ocean.  These wines are made from 100% Melon de Bourgogne grapes.  They should always be dry and light in style.  See how it says “Sur Lie” on the label?  That means that it was fermented on its skins (not really… see the comments below), so it should have a bit more body than a Muscadet that does not read as such.  The book says that Muscadet is good with shellfish and fishfish, so I was more than happy to pick this bad boy up for only $6.99.

I’ll get back to the wine in a bit.

But first…

The food!

Here’s how I make my Tilapia Ceviche…

Cube up about a pound of fresh Tilapia and throw it in a non-reactive bowl.

The key to Ceviche is to layer the flavors.

Here’s a fun game…

Take a sip of wine for each new layer.

Dice up half a large red onion and throw it on top of the fish.

Mince up one clove of garlic and throw it on the onion.

I added a small green bell pepper from my garden. Diced, of course.

Next I put in one quarter of a jumbo yellow bell pepper that Kara picked up from the farmers' market.

Here, I piled in a third of a large cucumber which was cut into little pizza wedges. So whimsical!

Add one small diced avocado. California love!

Open up a small can of diced chillies and dump it on top.

Chop up some cilantro. Add it in with some salt n' peppa. Stop to bust a move while humming the music to "Push it!".

The secret ingredient is carne asada seasoning. Shhhhhhhhh!!!!! Don't tell anybody.

Zest one lime over the top. Squeeze in the juice of three limes. The acid from the lime juice will "cook" the fish.

Stir, but do not mush it. Cover with plastic wrap and throw it in the fridge for a few hours.

While the Ceviche is marinating, we move on to the Shrimp…

These are large peeled shrimp from the seafood counter at Safeway. I marinated the pound of shrimp in a shallow glass dish with olive oil, salt n' peppa, fresh rosemary and thyme from the garden, and the juice of one lime for about 20 minutes.

While the shrimp is marinating in the fridge, preheat the grill with the burners on high.  After ten minutes, set to medium indirect heat.

Now…

Arrange the shrimp on pre-soaked bamboo skewers, making sure that all the shrimp are facing the same direction.

Grill the shrimp for 3 minutes a side on indirect heat with the lid closed.  Be sure to baste the shrimp in the marinade.

The only thing left is to serve,

But let’s get back to the wine…

Hip hop hurray... Muscadet!

Chateau Des Cleons 2010 Muscadet Sevre Et Maine:

Color: A nice straw yellow.  I was pleasantly surprised by a tiny bit of frizzante action.

Nose: Lemon/lime spritzer with a touch of grass and minerality.  Nice.

Taste: I see now why this wine is recommended for lighter fare.  It is dominated by its acidity, which pairs well with food.  There is a nice floral component, mouth cleansing lime, and a dancing minerality.  There is a nice touch of spice.  The skins give it a medium to light body.  Very cool.

Score: All I’m thinking about this wine is how clean it was.  It was fresh.  It was vibrant.  Every sip made me thirst for another.  This wine is a solid 88.  Way to go, Chateau Des Cleons!

Back to the food…

Duo of Seafood: Grilled Shrimp and Tilapia Ceviche a la Jeffrey w/ a light Spinach and Shallot Salad

The spinach and shallot salad was prepared by Kara.  A very clean, palate cleansing bite.

The ceviche was very fresh, with a perfect balance between the acidity of the lime and the fattiness of the tilapia.

But the shrimp…

The shrimp…

The SHRIMP was Tha BOMB!

Juicy.  Rich.  The flesh just pops when you bite into it.

Amazing!

And with the wine?

Hella Dope!

The clean flavors of the wine just rounded out the fatty richness of the seafood.

But wait!

There’s more!

Morgan Hill Cellars Blackberry Wine with a long-lost friend.

Kara and I have been sitting on this Blackberry Wine from Morgan Hill Cellars for about a year.

I’ve been dying for some vanilla ice cream for the last few weeks.

So…

Vanilla Ice Cream with Blackberry Wine... I got my just deserts.

De-Lish!

Stay Rad,

Jeff

PS – If you ever make ceviche, do yourself a favor…  After you serve the ceviche, save the leftover juice from the bowl you marinated the fish in.  Peruvians refer to it as Leche de Tigre, and it is known to be a cure for hangovers.  I just drink it ’cause it’s awesome!

Farewell indeed!

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Love/Hate or The proof is in the off-putting.

August 5, 2011

Wednesday was a free day for Kara and me… It was our last free day of the summer, so we decided to hit up a few local wineries.

You’ve got to know that we had an amazing day.

AMAZING!

The amazing 2007 Lila's Cuvee Rhone Blend paired with an amazing view at Clos La Chance.

I could tell you about how much fun we had at Clos La Chance…

2008 Biagini Vineyard Pinot Noir side-by-side with the 2008 Erwin Vineyard Pinot Noir at Clos La Chance. Both wines were hella RAD!

I could tell you about our awesome pre-dinner visit to Bubbles Wine Bar…

Bubbles?

Hella to the yeah, son!

The only thing better is bubbles and oysters. Dope!

I could even let you know about the Rad Mexican feast we had at Sinaloa Cafe…

Come for the margaritas. Stay for more margaritas.

So please forgive me if I don’t.

I’ve been dying to write about some wine that I hated…

I mean HATED.

HATED!

Please alow me to present Fortino Winery…

Fortino... unfortunately = (

Fortino is a neat looking venue on the corner of Watsonville Road and Hecker Pass in Gilroy.  We hit it up after Clos La Chance because it was one of the few wineries in the area that was open on a Wednesday afternoon.

Now, you should know that I’ve been to Fortino twice before.  Once was about two years back before I was as passionate about wine as I am today.  It was also well before I would take notes on wine.  The other time was after a long day of tasting during the Santa Clara Valley Passport Weekend, so my palate was shot.  You even read about me having their Almond Champagne at the Garlic Festival.  But this time… This time, I was gonna take it seriously (Not so fortunate for Fortino).

Here’s the breakdown…

Whites:

2009 Chardonnay ($16.95):  Nose of honey, pineapple, apple, and flowers.  Not bad.  The palate was a thick and sweet version of lemon/lime soda.  Not good.  Score it a 75 and trust me… You don’t want it.

2010 Black Muscat Blush ($16.95):  Tropical fruit (mango and guava) on the nose.  The taste was of ridiculously sweet flowers.  This wine is obnoxious.  I’m mad that they served it at the beginning of the tasting, because it’s basically a crappy version of a desert wine.  78.  Pass.

On to the Reds:

2008 Carignan ($18.95):  Here’s where I start to get angry.  Carignan, when done right, is one of my favorite varietals.  Fortino makes a big deal about their estate carignan coming from 80 year-old vines.  The only way you could mess this up is if you don’t know how to make wine, or don’t care how it turns out.  My guess is that Fortino falls into the latter category.  There was this nose of green bell pepper that gave me some hope, but it came with this over-the-top sweet red fruit that destroyed it.  The taste was sweet red cherries with just a little bit of tires and nice acidity.  The problem with this wine was there was no balance.  It was all sweetness.  If I want a sweet red wine, I’ll hit up 7 Eleven.  This is a 79.  In a better mood, maybe I’d give it an 80-.

Non-Vintage Maribella ($16.95):  The bar menu reads, “This off-dry blend named after Marie Fortino offers hints of cherry and raspberry.  Blended from Cabernet, Sangiovese & Carignan”.  Here’s what it should say, “We threw a bunch of leftover grapes from a bunch of different vintages together and came up with this nasty sweet red wine.  We named it after our grandma to guilt you into buying it.”  This wine smelled like sugarfied sweetness with tires and fruit.  It tasted like cherry syrup.  This wine, more so than the others, sucks ass.  58.

2008 Zinfandel ($22.00):  The bar menu reads, “Aged in vintage oak barrels for 20 months, these Santa Clara Valley grapes go great with chocolate”.  It should say, “We went to our local nursery, picked up a few wine barrel flower pots, superglued them together, and were all like, ‘We should put some Zin in here!’  So we did.  It doesn’t taste good, unless you have it with a brick of chocolate.”  The nose is big and chocolatey, with a bit of plum.  It showed some promise, but then I tasted it.  Imagine taking a jar of canned cranberry sauce and spreading it over a dirty ass chair that had been left outside for years.  Now wait for the hottest day of the year, and take a bite of that dirty cranberry covered chair.  Doesn’t sound good, does it?  The wine wasn’t good either.  60.

2008 Cabernet Sauvignon ($28.00):  Cured ham, blackberry and oak on the nose.  Blackberry, black olive, and oak on the palate.  I’m giving it an 81.  The good news is that it’s not horrible.  The bad news is that for $28, I could buy half a case of something better.  What a shame.

Sparkling Wine:

Non-Vintage Almond Champagne ($16.95):  You’ve heard me say it before.  The almond tastes very fake, but the wine is still nice and refreshing.  It’s made from 100% French Colombard.  In making conversation with our server (who was very nice), I asked her where the French Colombard was from.  Her response, “Well… I’m not sure.  There’s this other company that makes it for us.  We just put the label on it.”  That makes sense.  No wonder I’m giving it an 84.  This is worth trying.

Fruit Wine:

Apricot ($16.95):  How can you dis fruit wine?  It’s delicious.  It smells like a bag of dried apricots.  It tastes like apricots.  I would try it with some vanilla ice cream (I gots ta get me some of that).  But, at the end of the day, it’s fruit wine.  I have a physics teacher friend that makes stuff like this for fun.  Take some fruit.  Crush it.  Throw it in a vat.  Add some yeast.  Let it sit for a few weeks.  Bottle it.  83.

Here’s the thing that gets me mad.  There are tons of vineyards in this area.  Tons!  Please check the map.  The fruit, from one vineyard to the next is essentially the same.  And the fruit is good.  There are plenty of wineries in the Santa Clara Valley that are making great wine with their grapes.  The problem is that there are almost as many wineries in this area that just don’t care enough to make good wine.  They use cheap methods (like using “vintage” barrels), and have no problem pushing a crappy product on their customers.  That’s just what Fortino is doing… and it’s off-putting.

If you look at their website (which looks worse than this blog) or their Yelp Page, it becomes apparent that they are much more into pushing events and weddings than making good wine.  In fact, the only other people in the tasting room that day, were two different couples that were planning to have their weddings at Fortino.  I overheard one couple say, “We don’t normally like Cabernet, but this stuff is great.”  On the other end of the bar, the other couple was all, “This Maribella is great!”  Kara and I just shook our heads.  I could not imagine having to serve that kind of garbage at my wedding.

Now look…

Fortino has a loyal following.  Many more than I have.  If you’re a big fan of them, all the power to you.  You’ve got your own palate, and you should trust it.  I’m sure they put on great events.  I’m sure the weddings there are beautiful.  And hey… The Almond Champagne and Apricot Wine ain’t bad.

BUT…

I’ve got a message for Fortino…

I love wine.

You make bad wine.

I hate it.

You can do better.

Step it up.

Get Rad,

Jeff

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Dessert… and just deserts.

August 2, 2011

My folks LOVE dessert wine.  They LOVE it.

I’m kind of like, “Eh… I can take it or leave it.”

For me, dessert wines are more of a special occasion drink.

Last night was the finale of The Bachelorette.

I’ve been sitting on some icewine that my folks gave us last year.

With my worlds colliding last night, it was time to have my just deserts… for dessert.

Jackson-Triggs 2007 Vidal Icewine from the Niagara Peninsula, Canada.

The Jackson-Triggs 2007 Vidal Icewine is produced when the Vidal grape freezes and the ice crystals are removed.  This leaves the grapes much more concentrated, and very sweet.  The grapes are picked very late in the harvest season, so the grapes’ sugar content is at 40.1 Brix.  As sweet as they are, the alcohol content is a very low 10.5%.

Here’s the breakdown…

Color: Gold.  Caramel.  Brown.

Nose: Apple cider.  Syrup.  Pear.

Taste: It is tough to describe this wine other than the fact that it is sweet.  It has a very viscous mouthfeel.  The fruit is straight up apple.  Apple covered in maple syrup.

Score: The Jackson-Triggs is what it is.  Icewine.  It’s dessert.  For the second blog in a row, this wine made me want some vanilla ice cream with it.  I think the creaminess could give a good balance to the straight up sweet flavor.  Think of it like apple pie a la mode.  This wine is good, but… In the end it is one-dimensional.  Give it an 86.

Now…

Back to The Bachelorette.

SPOILER ALERT!

Here’s what happened…

Ashley really liked J.P…

Ashley and J.P. at lunch before the stuff went down.

But then Ashley’s older and foxier sister was all like, “I don’t think J.P. is right for you.”  So Ashley started crying and called her older sister the B word…

"You're a B word!"

Having caught wind of Ashley’s sister’s disapproval, Ben (the winemaker for Evolve Winery in Sonoma) thought he had it in the bag.  So he was all, “Will you marry me?”

"Will you like marry me... and stuff?"

But Ashley was all like, “No!  Get out of here!”

So Ben was all, “Fine!  Be that way!  You’re lame!”

Then Ashley cried some more.

Then J.P. was all, “Will you marry me, then?”

"How's about you marry me, then?"

And Ashley was all, “Let me see the ring first!”

So J.P. was all, “Check this rock out!”

That's pretty big, right?

So Ashley was all, “Heck yeah!  I ain’t no foo!”

But then Ashley’s sister was all, “I still don’t get what you see in him?”

So Ashley was all, “I picked J.P. to make you mad, you stupid B word!”

Looks like someone got their just deserts.

Stay Rad,

Jeff

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A fistful of wine. A mouthful of garlic.

August 1, 2011

This past Friday, Kara and I took a quick drive down to Gilroy to see what was going on at the Garlic Festival…

Apparently, a lot.  Check it out…

THE Gilroy Garlic on Fire!

A garlic calamari cooking demo w/ Angelo Sosa.

Up close and personal at Gourmet Alley.

Listening to okay music at an amazing amphitheater.

If you don’t know, Gilroy gets HOT in the summer.  Luckily, the Garlic Festival hosts a wine tent complete with water misters…

The wine tent. Don't mind if I do.

While chillin’ under the tent, I made sure to taste some of what the Santa Clara Valley has to offer.  Here’s the breakdown…

Sarah’s Vineyard 2008 Roussanne: Though with a bit more oak that I would have expected, the crisp acidity made this white the perfect starter to a hot day of wine tasting.

Creekview Vineyards 2008 VCR Merlot: A juicy cherry with wood.  Not bad, but not great.

Martin Ranch Winery 2006 JD Hurley Cabernet Sauvignon: Good red fruit with backbone.  A bit of black olive on the finish.  Very nice.

Satori Cellars 2007 Ha-Ha Petite Sirah: Inky red fruit and chocolate.  Okay.

Fortino Almond Champagne: This is the signature wine of the Santa Clara Valley.  There are quite a few wineries that make something like this.  Though artificial tasting, the almond flavor really rounds out this nice sparkling wine.

During the festival, I did take some time to enjoy the food… I mean… You’ve got to!

The garlic sausage sandwich was off the hook!  When they say garlic, they mean garlic.  Imagine a sausage just loaded with garlic inside of the meat.  Now let’s saute that sausage in a pan with garlic.  Put it on some garlic bread.  Now top it with 4 cloves of chopped and sautéed garlic.  Tasty, but man… My mouth was coated in garlicky goodness for the rest of the day.  Mmmmmmmmmmmmm.

When we got home, I opened up the wine fridge and pulled out this sucker…

Hess Collection 2005 19 Block Cuvee

Here’s the deal…

In 2008, Kara and I took a day trip up to Napa.  We used to make it a habit to stop by the Napa-Sonoma Wine Country Visitors Center just off of highway 29 coming into the Napa Valley.  It’s the perfect spot to stretch your legs just before you make your way to the wineries.  They have a small area for wine tasting, and will give you coupons and recommendations for some of the wineries in the area.

“Have you been to the Hess Collection?” the server asked us.

“Nope.”

“Well you MUST go!”

So we did.

Hess is just a bit off of the beaten path, at the top of Mount Veeder.  Once you get there, you’ll be glad you took the trip.

Not only does Hess specialize in making tasty Bordeaux-style wines, but the tasting room is also home to an amazing art gallery.  I will never forget the room that looks like it’s full of giant pieces of dog poop.  I would have taken a picture, but they wont let you… It’s an art gallery thing.

The tasting itself was very nice.  We were just about ready to leave, when our server said to us, “You cannot leave here without trying the 19 Block Cuvee.”

So we did.

And it was good.

So we bought a bottle.

I’m not sure how much we paid for it in 2008, but the current release lists for $36 on the Hess website… So we’ll assume that’s what we paid.  At the time, that was the most we had ever paid for a wine.

So we held onto it… until this last Friday.  That’s over 3 years, if you’re counting.

So let’s talk about it…

One of my fears was that the older cork would crumble if I used a regular screw pull, so I used the Ah So to open this bottle.

The cork in the Ah So.

Next I decanted the wine for a quick 20 minutes…

Decanting on the kitchen cart.

I noticed quite a bit of sediment left in the bottle…

See! If you trusted me, I wouldn't have to show you this.

And now…

The Hess Collection 2005 19 Block Cuvee!

Artsy, but not fartsy.

The 19 Block Cuvee is named after the 19 selected blocks of grapes at the Hess Mount Veeder estate which make up this wine.  It’s made from 74% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Syrah, 9% Malbec, 5% Merlot, 1% Cabernet Franc, and 1% Petit Vedot.

Color: Deep purple.  Inky.  Almost black.

Nose: Black cherry.  Anise.  Mint.  Wood.  Plum.

Taste: I’m really glad that we opened this wine up on a whim, because it tasted like this wine has reached its peak.  This wine is all about mouthfeel and subtlety.  It’s got these smoothed out tannins that I would not have gotten if I’d have opened it 3 years ago.  It is silky, with hints of lacquered wood.  The fruit has nearly dropped out completely from this wine, but there is a bit of dried cherry skin and chocolate on the finish.

Score: This was an interesting experience.  This wine was very refined.  I felt important while drinking it.  The one thing I felt the 19 Block missed was some sort of creaminess to round it out.  I’m giving it a 90+, but I’m sure it would have been amazing with some vanilla ice cream.

One does have to wonder…

Would my tasting notes be different if I hadn’t eaten a grip of garlic earlier that day?

The world may never know.

Stay Rad,

Jeff

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