Would You Like some Wine with that Cheese!

Tonight we are going to see how good our pairing skills are with Cheese! A wide variety of cheese with some hardy reds, now that’s not to say whites can’t go with cheese, it’s just that we are playing with wine and cheese to see what reds could go with some of these fabulous sinkers: Acuto Provelone, Taleggio ( my favourite), Piave vecchio, Appenzaller ; good old Swiss.

I believe that we will be trying some Californian and Italian wines with these cheeses. The goal tonight is to get the flavours and complement each element; cheese with wine and wine with cheese. If done right, this should be good. Stay tuned……

Well, the cheese selection was great and the Cabernet we had was much more appealing with the cheeses we had. The Barolo, on the other hand, was a little more unfriendly to the combination. the earthiness and sharpness clashed and didn’t really complement each other. I think that some white wines may have been a better choice with some of those wines , perhaps a Gewurztraminer, Riesling and or Chardonnay would have complimented rather than confronted the taste!

We will try this again, and look for other wines to compliment the flavors of other cheese. To the journey…..

Check your local cheese monger and wine merchant for some of these and have fun pairing them together

Cheers, For now!

Cabernet, What should I have with that Wine?

Going out for dinner with your friend, or planning a dinner party at home. You want your guesses to have a great time with you, you want the meal, the conversation and the WINE to be outstanding. Well, let’s think about this. Cabernet is very versatile wine, it has many great characteristics based on the terrior it comes from.

So , let’s look at pairing food with wine and understand that they should complement and enhance the flavors you are trying to have your palate experience. I am of the mind that wine is able to bend and blend with the food it is being served with. I like to use recipes that I have played with and had an experiment/ experience with. I will use great supporting ingredients that highlight notes and flavors. Sirloin Steak is a great place to start and with some added garlic and butter, the flavor of Cabernet tanin help work with the butter and meat to make a mouthful of taste, that you want to have another bite of.

This is just the beginning of the experience , the talk and stories will make the evening one that you won’t forget for a long time and at the heart of it was the great Cabernet you paired with that meal.

I’ll be back soon with some more chatter and pairing ideas!

 

Chardonnay , versatile and classy!

Crisp, Clean and a slight oaky taste, malolactic fermentation the way new wines are curbing oak and keeping the edge on flavours the palate loves . Pasta

What about wine buying?

If you are reading this you probably have a passion for wine. Over the next few week we would like to share with you a wine buying strategy that will allow you grow your cellar to have some wine on hand for special occasions and that dinner party you are about to throw.

Remember, wine is personal and your tastes differ from the next person. However, there are some general rules we should all be aware of , THAT is for another conversation much later. For now let’s  focus on wine and associating it with the social aspects that it was designed for; Dinner! Yes , food and wine are ment to go together. One to enhance the food and wine you are consuming, but secondly, to help the dinner entertainment and conversation lively and diverse!

Let’s look at food and wine from a complimentary perspective.

We will get back to this on our next post!

New Year’s Wine and Dine Experience

It’s been awhile, life gets busy and you lose track of your passions, food and wine! Although I have had some good wines over the past year, there seems to have become a real price gap from good wines to GOOOD WINES! Yes, we continue to hunt for the best $20 bottle of wine that we can drink on a regular basis, those unfortunately are few and far between. It seems that 40 is the new 20 and if you keep that in mind and buy a few bottles 6-12 then drinking them throughtout the next 2-4 years makes spending the money up front much more palatable.
So , tonight is a reclaimation of wines cellared and food pairings in mind when they were purchases, a few or more so years ago! Friends are coming over and we will be sharing this event with you and some of the thoughts about the wines, pairings and future suggestions of what you should be looking for when buying wines.
Preparing has been fun, everyone takes on tasks to make the meal a success. Tonight we are having :

Le Regence Oysters

Stuffed Mushroom Guac Poppers

Carpaccio Piemontese

Stufado with Pork Belly

Caramelized Pears with Tiramisu Cream

Along the way there is also a few cheeses that we have become aquainted with and enjoy regularly,they are Taleggio, Appenzeler & Chaumms. The stinker the better, I say!

It begins with

tenderloin

While preparing most of the sauces for the meal, the tasting of flavours like herbs and citrus notes are constant reminders of the wines that would go extremely well with the menu of food this evening.

tomato & Proscutto base

check back in a bit the day is just beginning…

guac poppers

mushroom poppers

The wines paired with this and the next course were a sauvignon blanc from New Zealand and a viognier from California, both with great structure, each different in complexity. However, the acids in both balanced out the flavours in the food.
They were both used with the dish below and wow, were they great with it. Lending to the overall flavour of the seafood and the sauce. We all agreed that the diversity went well with the one dish. Try this yourself some time:

oyster & scallop

Then we moved onto the Carpaccio and what a treat, we tried it with a few different wines of structure and age. The 2002 Darioush Cabernet was big and fruity, and the truffles from the carpaccio was perfect with this. The Spotteswoode (1998) was big and bold still, many French characteristics in the earthy tones , but still much life in the bottle. Once again, the greens and shallots from the dish really added to the character and complexity to the pairing, wonderful together!

Darioush

There was so much food and conversation that we didn`t get to the stufado, we will have it tomorrow. Yummy stew like soup that warms your heart and stomach.

So we ended the night with a pear tiramisu along with a Tawny Muscat from Australia.
They were so good together and put a wonderful cap on a truly gastronomic evening, full of great tastes and flavours.

Poached Pears with tiramisu

Valentine`s Day Date Wine

This wine is reasonably prices and oh so versatile. Drinking it with a meal, like risotto and mushrooms or a meat dish, this wine has the structure and balance to handle them all. If you choose to pass on the meal and have it with some chocolate, well this wine will do a fine job of bringing out all those good flavours in both items. Even more amazing is that if you wanted to just sit , talk and sip a glass of this wine, it is remarkable for the conversation you will engaged in. I can`t wait to try this wine again and experiment with it`s versatility! enjoy your weekend by buying a few bottles of this wine and planning for future occasions.

Winter Dinner

Saturday was a fruitful day in more ways than one. With a trip into the city and a number of Christmas purchases, we head home feeling good about the day.
We settle in and set up for dinner. Fresh Pasta and Sauce from “Gourmet Warehouse“ pasta panzenella; olive and tomato sauce based was incredible. Some fresh bread to dip in the extra virgin olive oil and black cherry balsamic vinegar from “Olives on Tap“ was a great accompaniment for the wine. 2009 Selene merlot

Wow, the fruit from the wine was balanced and the tannis firm enough to go with the variety of palate variables of the pasta and dipping oil. We really enjoyed this meal, with the rain pounding on the window and the fire place keeping us warm. You can not explain the feeling of a great meal in the comfort of your own home! My wife said’ “we need to do this again next week!“, and I agreed that was a really enjoyable meal that a good wine and great conversation made memorable! Salute!

Washington State Gem

Luck to taste a wine recently, called Red Diamond , fruit base is merlot and wow what a treat. I`m highly recommending this wine. It has layers of fruit and a balance of tannin and oak that makes it good to drink all by itself! We had it with a mushroom, leak and bacon galette that was fabulous. We continued on with a berry tart that worked well with the wine also.

Cedar Knoll

Saturday Night, is wine night in our house. Recently we had some friends over and wanted to share something a little different. Thus we opened a Cedar Knoll cabernet with our Porchetta stuffed roll.

This seared and slow roasted meat was not only mouth watering, but with the wine was so intense in flavours that our guests were prepared to go out and get the wine and recipe to share with other friends.

I highly recommend the Cedar Knoll cabernet, fruit forward with hints of figs, blueberries and oak make it a real California GEM!

Check in again for wine & food inspirations

2013 Harvest

See whats happening in Napa with the Harvest