Dry Creek Fume Blanc

Yesterday was Father’s Day. My two dogs are spoiled like kids, that counts, so I can celebrate too. It was sunny and in the mid 90’s. It’s not like I need an excuse, but even if I had to play the Father’s Day card, I would have. Nothing was going to keep me from the grill.

I’ve been on Mission: Clean Out The Freezer lately. Partially because the frozen food is already paid for and doesn’t require a current cash outlay with the wedding coming up, and secondarily because I have a deep sea fishing trip planned for early August. I plan to restock with tuna and dolphin. No, not Flipper. Mahi-mahi.

I found two boneless chicken breasts. Thawed them and gave them a good soak in fat free Italian dressing before grilling. When they were just shy of done, I topped them with a few slices of deli ham and Swiss cheese. They went onto grilled rolls with a fat free ranch dressing (70%) and spicy honey mustard (30%) sauce. Voila! Grilled chicken cordon bleu.

I’d saw I paired the sandwich, with my bestest roasted potatoes, with the Dry Creek Fume Blanc, but that would seemingly imply that there was some thought behind it. There wasn’t. I grabbed something near the Riesling section of my fridge, and this came out.

I remember buying this bottle for two reasons. First, it was about $10. Low risk. Secondly, perhaps more importantly, it had a picture of a sailboat on the front. And I want to but a sailboat. Both are totally rational.

The wine smelled sweeter than it tasted and finished clean. It had a pretty round flavor though the crispness of grapefruit came through. The back of the bottle says it was fermented in stainless steel, and it isn’t oak aged. The wine didn’t add to the food, nor did it take away. Which, considering the price point and the fact that I didn’t put too much thought to pairing, the ‘taking away’ was my main concern. Overall, I liked it.

Fish Eye Pinot Grigio

I was in the mood to cook tonight. Not to reheat leftovers, but actually put together a meal that I’d enjoy. Treasa was out at the mall with Miranda shopping for something that will be ‘crucial for the wedding.’ That line is like an impenetrable defense. No matter what my argument is, she wins.

But, despite the credit card flesh wound, I had the ability to cook for myself, irregardless of my any other taste recommendations. I decided on fish stew. I have tilapia filets in the freezer from Costco, so I Googled a few recipes. I sort of stole from most of the ones I viewed, so I won’t give any particular one credit, but if you search for ‘fish stew’ and find the one that errs towards Mediterranean, doesn’t use bacon and calls for Tabasco, well, you’ll get pretty close.

The recipe called for a bottle of dry white wine, pinot grigio in particular. I saw a bottle of Fish Eye pinot grigio for $6.99 at the corner store. Considering I was making fish stew, I thought it was a match made in heav—an enameled cast iron dutch oven.

To go along with the tilapia, I ordered a handful of shrimp and scallops from the grocery store. I got a fresh tomato and some tomato paste. A little bit if culinary magic, and holy schiznit, the recipe called for a 1/3 cup of white wine and I’ve drank the rest…

The wine exceeded all expectations, especially considering its price. It was palatable by itself and didn’t detract from the seafood party in my deep bowl of flavor. For something to cook with, or to enjoy without trying to impress yourself or guests, this won’t hurt your wallet. Unlike white designer flip flops at the mall.

Cooking note: I bought smaller scallops thinking they’d cook at the same pace as the thawed fish and the shrimp. Eh, slight miscalculation there. Give those buggers a head start before you add the rest of your seafood assortment. I’m not sure if it was a faux pas to add a little reduced fat parmesan cheese to the fish stew, but after a bottle wine minus what I used for cooking, it seemed like a good idea. And at my reduced cognitive ability, I’d still say it was.

Pat Me On The Back

So the handful of page viewers we’ve had so far are probably wondering, ‘What’s up with the Domaine Ste Michelle? It’s all over this corner of the internet.’ Well, you’re right. It is. And it is.

Here’s a little independent validation.

Results were compiled, analyzed and reviewed by a team that included statisticians, neuroscientists and economists.
Among the surprises: More than two-thirds of tasters preferred a $12 Domaine St. Michelle Brut, a Washington state sparkling wine, to a $150 Dom Pérignon Champagne.

And if our wine qualifications ever come into question, just look at the background of the picture in the previous post. Yep, that’s about it. We drink a lot of wine.

Francois Montand Extra Dry

Today marks ten days to our wedding. So I went to the liquor store to find something to celebrate with, partially due to Treasa’s suggestion and mostly because our champagne cache was null.

The knowledgeable, though overly eyeshadowed, woman at Toys R Us for grownups suggested a Francois Montand Blanc de Blancs champagne. Given that she also said that Prosecco was dry—which potentially conflicts with the first sentence of this paragraph—I went for the drier bottle: Francois Montand Extra Dry.

This bottle was a little less dry than the Domaine Ste Michelle, but carried a rounder presentation with a more flavorful finish. I can’t really say which one I prefer between the two, regardless of the extra dollar necessary to take home a little piece of Mr. Montand.

Domaine Ste Michelle Extra Brut

Yesterday was three weeks until the wedding. We celebrated with another bottle of Domaine Ste Michelle champagne. Being the romantic that I am, I put on The Bourne Identity and we stayed in for the night.

The champagne, as usual, was enjoyable. My picture of the bottle, on the other hand, was not.

Steel Creek White Riesling

Treasa and I went through the closet in the guest room tonight and sorted through clothes we haven’t worn in awhile, clothes that were given to us and clothes that just ended up there for some reason. There was a lot of trying on, mirroring, and refolding/rehanging or refolding and placing in the donation bag. Given how much fun I was having, I hinted that a bottle of anything might be a good idea. Treasa said ‘A bottle of white,’ and I descended the flight of stairs in .2 seconds and was in the wine fridge picking something out before she finished with, ‘might be nice.’

I decided on the Steel Creek White Riesling 2009, from Monterey County. The back of the bottle says:

The aromas of honeysuckle and hyacinth complemented by rich flavors of apples and peaches set Steel Creek Riesling apart. Try it before dinner with fruit and soft cheeses, or with light chicken and pork dishes.

Okay. Maybe I can see that, but the first sentence should read, ‘The aromas of honeysuckle and hyacinth complemented by rich flavors of apples, peaches and about a metric ton of Sweet and Low set Steel Creek Riesling apart from anything you would consider pleasant to drink.’

‘So, where was that pair of hand-me-down dress pants you thought I should try on again, sweetie?’

Little Black Dress Pinot Noir 2008

A week ago, when my parental units came to visit for Treasa’s bridal shower, they brought two frozen t-bones. By the way, our dining room has more boxes from Crate and Barrel than the Crate and Barrel warehouse. I did get in ‘trouble’ this morning for using my
Lodge grill press to make a whole wheat pita burger for breakfast. Apparently, you’re only supposed to use shower presents after you get married. But, eff those rules. My grandmother gave the grill press to Treasa for the shower because she knew that it was really a gift for me anyway…so therefore, no infraction took place. Well, today being Saturday, mid-80’s, sunny, on Memorial Day weekend, it seemed like a good time to thaw the steaks out and char them over the grill.

I put the meat cubes into a worchesterershireerier sauce, beer, salt and garlic power marinade to thaw out. A few hours later, when the roasted potatoes were almost finished on the grill, with jalapeno peppers as the new ingredient to the skillet, and the steaks were tossed to the propane fueled inferno.

We didn’t really have a good robust steak-ready wine on hand, so Treasa played Russian Roulette with the pinot noirs. She chose the Little Black Dress pinot noir. Shoot. Wrong link. She chose the Little Black Dress pinot noir. It was light on the palette and easy to drink and was great while the meat was finishing. We thought that it would pick up a little bit of flavor once the steak was served, but it didn’t. By no means did it turn like other wines do when you introduce (the wrong) food, instead it just remained happy to play a supporting role to the meal without calling attention to itself whatsoever. I’m going to tag it in the sub-$10 range, but it could have been a dollar or so more. I don’t quite remember.

If you notice the glasses in the picture, we tried non-breakable stemware we got from the local grocery store for $2.99 each. They’re not so bulbous to completely capture the aroma of a good red, but considering their durability and lack of dog foot impaling power should I happen to break one with a grilling utensil, they seemed like a good buy. No flavor imparted into the wine. Sold. We’ll reuse these often.

And Treasa recognized the sacrifice I made when plating meals. I gave her the t-bone with the larger serving of filet mignon. Her's was also closer to the heavenly medium rare while mine was mundane medium-plus. My grillmanship was rewarded with a few choice forkfuls of her steak and, well, we just won’t go into the others…

Oak Grove Voignier

We opened a bottle of 2007 Oak Grove Voignier tonight. Treasa wanted a bottle of white. She wanted something to cool her down, as I’ve yet to turn on the A/C. As shown in the picture, I had a Micholob Ultra with my Cajun seasoned catfish filets with sausage and cheese stuffed jalapeños. The wine, according to the back label, is

Rich and full bodied, this excellent white wine has the body and flavor to stand up to full flavored dishes. Pair with tortellini in a light cheese sauce for a memorable experience.

So, while it was a good bottle, I wasn’t about to pair it with my fish. I figured a light beer would be less risky. The beer worked well as did the wine by itself.

Ci Platino

Tonight’s adventure started with food, with wine as an after thought. I have these frozen salmon steaks from Costco and figured that tonight would be a good night to have one. I did a bit of searching before I left work for a recipe that wouldn’t make me stop at the grocery store before I went home. I found this recipe from Cooks for salmon. I didn’t have crackers but I figured panko crumbs would suffice. And those leftover limes from Mardi Gras are still good, right?

As expected, this blog as turned into an excuse to uncork a bottle. I’ll let the remaining Corona Light stragglers chill for a tad longer. But, being as I didn’t design the meal around wine, I wasn’t sure what I’d open.

I found a bottle of Ci Platnio from Pisano on my wine rack. It’s a 2007 bottle from Uruguay, a blend of 60% tannat and 40% merlot. I bought it at least six months ago from a Friday wine tasting at Deerfield Wines. I remember someone saying that the wine would be good with fish. Although, maybe the red fish on the bottle made me think that…? Either way, seemed like something good for tonight.

The wine is light bodied, yet flavorful. It almost reminds me of a sangiovese. And for this reason, it went great with the whole wheat pita bread pizza I made for Treasa’s dinner. With my salmon? Well, not so much. The lime juice in the meal reacted with the wine and made it sour. With that being said, I very much liked the wine. Just not with that meal. It’s handling itself very well as I’m finishing up with this entry. I think it was around $11 or so, but I won’t testify to it.

And about the cell phone pics again…Treasa left the camera in her desk drawer at work. I don’t even want to know how it ended up there in the first place.

Chilensis Reserva Chardonnay – 2008

Last Saturday, Treasa and I met our friends, Larz and Miranda, at the marina to spend the day on their boat. Larz’s mother and aunt were going to be there, and knowing that they were wine drinkers, I figured I’d pick up a bottle of white and put it in the cooler with the beer.

This wasn’t a premeditated plan per se, it was more so waiting in line to buy beer and seeing a Chardonnay with a handwritten, highlighted sign saying ‘$9.99’ that made me think to myself, ‘It’s probably not that good. But, it’s the thought that counts, and if his relatives don’t want to drink beer, so-so wine is better than no wine.’ And that’s how I found the Chilensis Reserva Chardonnay .

Well, they came stocked with wine. Apparently just enough so that they didn’t have to open my offering. So, tonight I grilled a romaine chicken caesar salad for dinner and figured what the heck, let’s try the chard.’

The dinner was good. The wine, not so much. Perhaps, caesar dressing doesn’t match with chardonnay, or perhaps the wine just isn’t good. Truth be told, I don’t usually drink chardonnay anyway, but regardless, the likelihood of another Chilensis Reserva Chardonnay posting here is slim at best. Well, unless I find a good recipe to cook with it…but I think that tells you all you need to know.

PS: So the camera is back in action, but this picture is worse than the PDX one I took with my BlackBerry. I would have done something to cut down on the reflections, but I was hungry and I decided eating was more important than uploading a crappy picture.