Fat Bastard Cabernet Sauvignon, Five Rivers Pinot Noir, Domaine Ste Michelle

This whole life thing keeps getting in the way of my ability to blog about our wine adventures. My boss got a new boss, which means that my job changed, which means that all the work that I’ve been working on is irrelevant, which means that I have a whole new laundry list to focus on, which means that I work later than normal, which means that, today for example, I estimate that I wrote about 4,000 lines of code. This will drive one to drink. It has.
Accordingly, Treasa’s new job, while going very well, takes up more than a few minutes of her day. Add in the hour each way commute, and I’m (still) left (sometimes) doing most of the household chores. Please note the half made bed in the background of the picture.

It was all I could to do prevent Treasa from throwing away these bottles before I could take a picture of them. Now, while my meatballs are marinating (Yes, I marinate my meatballs), I have the ability to finally blog. Ta, da!

Fat Bastard cabernet sauvignon: If I remember correctly, we had this with a good pair of steaks. Treasa and I fought over the last half glass. This obviously isn’t the best glass of wine ever, but for ~$10, it’s one that, like a Bob Seger album, should be experienced more than it is.

Five Rivers Winery California pinor noir: I liked this more than Treasa did. It was above average without food. We paired it with a hearty pasta dish which over matched it a bit.

Domaine Ste Michelle champagne: By this point, I wouldn’t be surprised if they sent us a holiday card. I had left over bratwurst, which was all sorts of amazing. Treasa thought to pair it with champagne. Somewhat weird. But that’s the story.

North Mountain Vineyard Tom’s Brook Red

Treasa and I went to Miranda and Larz’s house for dinner Friday night. They made the lasagna, I brought the garlic bread and, knowing me, a bottle of wine. The night was impromptu. The lasagna was Stouffers and the garlic bread was whatever was on sale in the frozen aisle of the grocery store. Factory processed marginally ok to eat consistency, but never a bad, inedible meal.

So for the wine, it wasn’t the focus of the night, so why open something I expected to be good? For the last few months, I’ve had this bottle of red hanging out in the wine rack. I knew nothing about it, other than it said ‘table red.’ It was part of a wine centric gift package from Treasa’s aunt for her bridal shower. Without stirring up much family dirt, I didn’t have high hopes for it (which is why it’s been sitting around for the last few months), so it found it’s way over into a lasagna pairing.

Actual text message to Miranda during the evening’s planning process:
Treasa’s aunt gave us a shitty bottle of red. I’ll share it with you guys. :-)

Well, the wine, which after finally reading the label ended up being a North Mountain Vineyard Tom’s Brook Red didn’t resemble fecal matter after all. In fact, it was pretty good. Here’s the website’s description:
A lightly sweet Cabernet Franc. Enjoy the fruitiness and full structure, along with a lightly sweet finish. Try with barbecued venison, or a honey glazed ham.

Good thing we opened it 30 minutes before the lasagna came out of the oven. It gave us a chance to enjoy it before we paired it with food, which, from the blurb above, just didn’t work well.

Moral of the story: You can’t judge a wine by it’s label, or more pertinent, you can’t judge a wine by the sanity of the person who gave it to you as a gift. Treasa and I are more of dry red type of folk, but if a good, slightly sweet finishing red is up your alley, I’d recommend buying Tom’s Brook Red.

7 Deadly Zins

Treasa started her new job yesterday, so we celebrated with some filet mignons topped with whole roasted garlic and my fantastic roasted potatoes. Perusing through our wine stock, I found various bottles of pinot noir and not much else. Yearning for something heartier to match the steak, I picked up a bottle of 7 Deadly Zins that we’ve had for probably, almost, must be, just about two years now.

For the first time out of the last several tries, I finished the meat at medium rare, and the garlic spread was as good as you can imagine. The new addition of diced jalapenos to the potatoes was great. The wine was very pleasant while the meal was cooking and was equally as good, if not more so, as an accompaniment. I’d definitely buy it again. Right after I knock off a few pinot noirs.

Running With Scissors Cabernet Sauvignon 2007

So Treasa had a pretty terrible day at work on eight-nine-ten day. Her boss has made a mistake, for each of the previous six quarters, that might cost her, and all of her coworkers, their employment. So what can I do? Steaks and wine, obviously.

I went to the grocery store and got two top loins and a zucchini. I’ve never grilled zucchini before, but after a soak in EVOO, Six Point Spice Blend and a little garlic powder, it came out ok. According to me. Not Treasa. I also over cooked the steaks to med-well. But, the cuts were decent enough to compensate for the temperature oops. That wasn’t the point though. After a bottle of 2007 Running With Scissors Cabernet Sauvignon, the job worries melted away to the periphery, and a mixed drink and a recorded episode of True Blood took the focal point of the evening. Which is why I’m upstairs writing this entry and she’s downstairs relaxing. So, I’d say I’ve earned an A++ on husbandry duties this evening.

Chiapperelli's in Baltimore

Treasa and I met her mother, aunt, uncle, cousins, boyfriend and cousin’s coworker at Chipparelli’s in Baltimore’s Little Italy Saturday night to celebrate the aunt’s and ‘baby cousin’s’ birthdays. From the menu, I ordered the Pescatore Christopher, with Shrimp, clams, mussels, & calamari, marinara, linguine for $25. Treasa had the Fettuccine Alfredo with chicken for $19. I’d tell you exactly what wines we had to accompany, but Chipparelli’s website doesn’t list their featured wines, and neither of us took notes. Our fault.

My taste in Italian food tends to incorporate a few spices, i.e. flavors into the food. Both of our meals did not feature much of either. Both of the wines were above average for the price, maybe. It should be noted that the Calamari Fritti appetizer, however, was pretty good. I added a little crushed red pepper to the marinara gravy, Treasa did not. The guys working the valet parking definitely deserved their gratuity.

Paradocx Touriga and Domaine Ste Michelle Champagne

Last night, July 26th, was our one month wedding anniversary, so we celebrated with a filet mignon, roasted potato, roasted sweet potato and corn dinner. And, obviously, a bottle wine. This celebration, mind you was different from the fourth Saturday of married life celebration we had two days prior we had with friends. I swear, if Treasa ever got a job at Hallmark, she’d make them a fortune with her ability to invent holidays that husbands are legally, at least by the law that counts, obligated to celebrate.

I did the usual burnt herb roasted potato side, but also got frisky and tried something with sweet potatoes too. To contrast the burnt, savory herb flavor of the former, I did the latter with more of a Persian flair with a hint of cinnamon sugar. Treasa nuked the frozen corn, added a stick of butter for each week of our marriage, the steaks came off the grill, and we sat down to eat.

We had a Paradocx Touriga left over from the wedding. Not only was this sentimental and thoughtful, but practical as the wine goes well with red meats. It also gave us an excuse to try our new Vinturi wine aerator, which was a wedding present from Treasa’s aunt and uncle. I’ll be honest, I really can’t tell you if it works because we didn’t aerate one glass and just uncork and pour the second one to have a taste test. (I’ll try to remember to do it next time though). However, the aerator is really easy to use, dishwasher safe and makes a really cool sound when you pour wine through it. So even if it is a gimmick, which I doubt, the sound effects are worth any incremental effort.

And partially because we still have most of a case left over from the wedding and because it’s really good for twelve-ish dollars, we relaxed after cleaning up the kitchen with a bottle of Domaine Ste Michelle.

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This post is a continuation from the previous, where we are about to head down for dinner at the Waterford Castle in Waterford, Ireland.

I can’t find my notes which captured our wine selections for the evening. I’m going to use their disappearance as an excuse for not updating here in a few days. So, if I find the page, on which I distinctly remember writing the wines down on a piece of paper separate from my trip journal, I’ll come back and update the following:

The chef provided a non menu special to get us started. I’m sure the official name was something tastily extravagant, but I remember a grilled pita chip, cheese and a spicy roasted pepper spread with fresh parsley. It was a fantastic one bite course.

Treasa had the lobster bisque for an appetizer while I enjoyed seared scallops in a bisque-esque sauce over a red onion salsa.

Treasa had a meat trifecta, not the Castle’s wording, for her entrée consisting of pork loin, pork shoulder and lamb. I had a filet mignon with a mushroom black peppercorn sauce. While mine was certainly good, her pork won the most attention. As a side note, this was the second time we had ordered a filet, both time medium rare, on the trip. Each piece was cooked to what I would consider just a hair past medium. Being as both places were definitely fine dining, I’m starting to wonder if there is a disparity between the US and Ireland meat temperature scale.

Huia Sauvignon Blanc & Ontanan Crianza Rioja

…continued from previous post…

After finishing the bottle of Henriot Souverain, taking pictures of the empty bottle, and ironing our fancy clothes, we headed down for dinner. The wine list was fairly extensive, and considering we were already lubed up with a few Guinni (plural for ‘Guinness’) and a bottle of bubbly, we decided to let the sommelier match wine to our food in half bottle increments.

Treasa selected a roast duck breast appetizer while I went with the Atlantic sea bass and tiger prawn. The sommelier, who was excellent though I didn’t note his name in our daily log, paired us with half a bottle of an ’08 Huia Sauvignon Blanc from Marlborough New Zealand for E26. We each really liked it. It was much fuller and rounder than a lot of the Sauv Blancs we typically drink in the $10-$14.99 range. While it wasn’t a perfect match to either of our dishes, it was very good with both.

Treasa went with lamb chops with a side of shepherd’s pie while I had a filet mignon with a sweet onion puree for entrees. We were paired with a E22 half bottle of Ontanon Crianza, which I absolutely fell in love with. It was very similar to one of my favorite wines, Bogle’s Phantom, in so far that it was bold and robust, yet it was also a smidge smoother and lighter.

After a fantastic day and a wonderful meal, we retreated to our suite to combat the forces of jet lag.

Paradocx Left Overs

Treasa and I just got back from our honeymoon in Ireland. I’ll be updating with posts about the wines we drank abroad, along with a daily recap of our doings, over the next few days.

This post refers to Sunday, June 27th, which was the day after our wedding. We had a few open bottles of wine left over from the reception, and considering they’d go sour while we were abroad, I decided to do a little wine tasting while I cooked dinner. Despite the caterer’s leftovers in the fridge, Treasa wanted spaghetti and meatballs for dinner. Combining the desire to cook and the motto, ‘If she ain’t happy, you ain’t happy,’ I made sauce from scratch to go along with beef-pork meatballs.

Paradocx packages some of their wine in paint cans, as shown in the picture. It’s pretty unique, and a pinch classier than a box. Of course, the incremental classyness aspect of it isn’t something I particularly care about much. If you like it, drink it. But, it’s touted to keep the wine fresh for 2-3 weeks, and, well, it’s pretty darn cool.

Wines I re-sampled were the Touriga, Leverage, Merlot and Barn Red. I’ve listed them in the order of my preference. I didn’t have any of the leftover whites. The opened bottles went to Miranda and the Whitewash paint can still resides in my refrigerator.

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…

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.

Paradocx Touriga

A nice added bonus to the wine tasting was that we were able to bring home a bottle of our choosing. Despite my inability to get mental images of mid sized imported SUV’s out of my head, the Paradocx Touriga surpassed every expectation I had for the wine. As such, a bottle found its way home with us.

The Paradocx wine description lists it as:
Intensely colored Touriga Nacional has lots of black cherry and raspberry flavors along with notes of chocolate, smoke and peppery spice, all of which are framed nicely by a refreshing acidity and supple tannins. It will make a great match for roasted game, a rare steak or rich mature cheeses.

Today, May 3rd, is the one year anniversary of when Treasa and I got engaged. Please note that ‘got engaged’ is slightly euphemistic for ‘she beat the ring out of me after she found out I had bought it but was waiting for the right time to propose.’ Either way, today marks three hundred sixty five and one quarter days since her left ring finger became significantly burdened with a beautiful assortment of platinum and neutral carbon.

Ironic note of the day: The word 'diamond' derives from Greek adamao, meaning 'I tame' or 'I subdue.'

Ironic note of the day’s curtain call: Understanding the chemistry of a diamond requires a basic knowledge of the element carbon. A neutral carbon atom has 6 protons and 6 neutrons in its nucleus, balanced by 6 electrons. And to think a wide variety of Christian religions consider the wedding band a symbol of a holy sacrament…

So, with one year down and T-8 weeks minus 2 days until marriage, we decided we’d heed the advice of the above referenced wine description and cook us some rare steak. Filet mignon, to be exact. Topped with grilled shrimp seasoned with sea salt and garlic powder. These were accompanied by a brand new recipe of mine: sliced potatoes, diced onion, garlic, bacon, jalapeno discs and horseradish infused sharp cheddar cheese, all baked together until it reached a state of yummy goodness. Add a few pieces of French bread, and the Touriga became even more enjoyable.

Paradocx Vineyard

Treasa and I are getting married at Paradocx Vineyard, in Landenberg, Pennsylvania.

Paradocx Vineyard is owned and operated by the Hoffman and Harris Families. The name of the winery is a play on words, as the four principles are practicing physicians (Pair of Docs).

Part of the contract was a complimentary, well, you know, besides the piles of money we’re paying to rent the site, wine tasting so we could decide what wines we wanted to feature at our event. This, if one was on the fence regarding future marriage plans, is certainly a reason to take the plunge. Certainly, I’m not in that category, as I’m looking forward to married life with or without a wine tasting, but if you view things in terms of: A) ‘it doesn’t kill you’ B) ‘it makes you stronger,’ feel free to check C) ‘all of the above’ as far as complimentary wine tastings are concerned.

Here’s the rundown of what we sampled (I’d relay my thoughts on each specific variety, though, for reasons you may be able to surmise, my retrospective recollection abilities have suddenly become slightly foggy), more so give, than take:

Whites:
Whitewash in a Chic Can
Yield – 2006
PDX Pinot Grigio – 2006
PDX Voignier – 2007
PDX Reserve Chardonnay – 2007
PDX Vidal Blanc – 2009
Old Stone Chardonnay

Reds:
Barn Red in a Chic Can
PDX Sangiovese – 2006
PDX Merlot – 2006
PDX Touriga – 2008
PDX Leverage – 2006
PDX Chambourcin – 2008
And a Port, of which the exact name escapes me.

We did make a final selection. We’ll be featuring a diverse spectrum bottles during our tasting, as well as a very nice offering of wines to compliment John Serock’s talents. For those readers who will be invited to the wedding, you’ll have to wait to see the menu. For those readers who will not be invited, feel free to send gifts/cash anyway.

#1: Canaletto pinot grigio #2: Trapiche malbec

Treasa and I had a friend of ours over last night to grill. She brought the pinot grigio for the appetizers: homemade guacamole and grilled roasted garlic artesian bread. The wine was decent. Fairly tart and refreshing, but I think it could have used a bit more body. It did match pretty well to the food though. The guac’ recipe needs some improvement. The grilled bread, as usual, was great.

For the entrée, I went with some skirt steak fajitas from Doc’s Meat Market in Hockessin. Not cheap, but it came out great with a little fresh cilantro and a dusting of my personal/proprietary/confidential/amazing/spectacular spice blend. Last, but not least, the Malbec. I liked it. I thought it was good by itself, and picked up a bit of spice when paired with the food. Everyone else, not so enthusiastic, if that’s a fair assessment from this comment, ‘It kind of tastes like lead poisoning.’

PS: sorry about the cell phone pictures. The digital camera is on the DL, but hopes to be back in the lineup soon.