Wich Wine To Pair With Venison…Bold Petite Sirah!

After I received some venison from some of my friends that like to hunt, I’ve been experimenting with how to cook it. A few failures has occurred, but three dishes stand out (to me, anyway). Meatballs, Chili and the best one is what we call “Finn-biff” in Norway (in Norway we make it with rain-deer).  This dish is made by slicing the meat thin, and cook it on low heat for several hours. I found out that my slow-cooker was perfect for this. We serve the meat with potatoes and the vegetable of your choice ( I like to use brussels sprouts), and lingonberry preserves. The slow cooking makes the meat so nice and tender, and the flavors really come out.

I had invited some of my friends over for dinner on Sunday, and we had Finn-biff. I was interested to see if they liked it as much as I do, because it has been one of my favorite things to eat when I go home to Norway. And from what I could tell (I did consume my share of wine that night), they all seemed to like it.

We paired our main course with a Petit Sirah from California, Cantiga Wineworks 2009 El Dorado. One of my friends had picked up this bottle while on vacation in California and Hawaii. A bold full-bodied wine with high alcohol (14.9), but still very smooth and pleasant. Aromas of spice and blackberries. Some of us tasted bacon at first, but that might have been the smokey flavor wich mixed with the dark berries, and gave in to a nice long finish. A very enjoyable wine.

We did uncork  a few more bottles that night. I had unscrewed the cork on a bottle of Cheap Bastard Basement Red, before my guests arrived. It was kind of an average bottle. Easy to drink and affordable. Soft tannins, medium bodied with flavors of plum and vanilla.

Next up, was a bottle one of my friends brought, a 2011 Kendall-Jackson Sonoma County Vintner’s Reserve Merlot. This was a great wine, and I’m starting to expect it when I open one from Kendall-Jackson. Nice smooth flavors of plum, spice and minerals.

From Merlot to Zinfandel, a 2010 7 Deadly Zins from Michael David. I have been looking forward to trying this wine, and it delivered. Nice full-bodied wine with soft tannins. Rich sweet raspberries with a little smokey flavor. I’m glad we had this bottle before the Petit Sirah, because I’m afraid that anything would have seemed flat after that wine.

The unlucky bottle that had to compare itself to the Petit Sirah, was a Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon from Dante Vineyard California, and it was a disappointment. I expected more from this wine, it came across flat and light, it did pick up a little on day two, but not enough for me. Black currant on the nose, medium bodied – almost a little light for a Cabernet. Medium to high acidity and medium tannins. I picked up flavors of raspberry and black currant.

We finished of the night with a Blueberry banana tart with whipped cream, wich was both gluten and dairy free. A fun time with friends, and I’m looking forward to doing it again. Cheers!

Halloween Wine!

I’m a little late with my Halloween celebration, but I have been struggling with jet lag all week, and it has been tough enough just getting to work every day. Finally back to normal this weekend, and it feels great.

Started out the weekend with another event over at Laurita Winery. This time it was “Food Trucks and Fire Pits”, and I was shocked by the crowd they drew for this event. They had to use one of the horse farms down the road for parking, and have shuttle busses take people back and forth. It must have been 15 food trucks serving anything from lobster, to cheese steak, and waffles. They were making s’mores over the fire pits. It was vendors selling antiques and crafts, live music and a great firework display. And lets not forget, all this takes place at a winery, so of course it’s lots of wine. We were sipping their Merlot, an earthy wine with dark cherries, black currant and vanilla. A quite enjoyable wine.

This evening I’m sipping my Halloween wine, a bottle of 2012 Vampire Cabernet Sauvignon, thought it fit the theme pretty good. Was a little worried that a $10 bottle would taste cheep and simple after being spoiled by my parents while on vacation, but this wine was excellent, and it proves again that you can get some very nice bottles for under $15. This is a full-bodied wine, that gives you a lot of fruit on the nose. On the palate, I get dark cherries and plum. A very smooth and enjoyable wine. It’s good to be home. Cheers!

Mondavi Zinfandel On Top This Week!

It hasn’t been a very exciting week, but got to taste some new wines. Some good, and some not so good.
Started out with another great one from Robert Mondavi Private Selection, a 2010 Zinfandel. This wine has gotten high rankings everywhere, and I agree. Very nice and smooth, with plum and spice. Lovely Zinfandel, and Robert Mondavi remains my favorite winemaker.

Next up was a totally new experience to me, a 2010 Borsao Garnacha. And it turned out to be a pretty good one. A Spanish deep red wine, with dark fruits, and thou it was quite bold, it was still round and smooth.

On Wednesday we went to a bar to watch the horse races, and I ordered a bottle of Mondavi Merlot, but the waitress didn’t know anything about wine, so after a big misunderstanding, I received a bottle of CK Mondavi Merlot. A California wine, but tasted more like a Jersey wine to me. It just felt young and acidic. A little disappointing since I was expecting more greatness from another Mondavi family.

Finishing of this week with a Red Blend from Beaulieu Vineyards Coastal Estates. This bottle was a 2009, and was a very enjoyable sipping wine. It was fruity with plum standing out on the palate.

Overall not a bad week. The next three weeks will be busy. There will still be plenty wine tasting, but don’t know how much time there will be to write about it. I’m picking up my parents at the airport tomorrow, they are flying in from Norway, to stay with me while on vacation. Looking forward to lots of great food and wine tastings while they are here. You know I inherited my fine-tuned taste buds from them. And I believe sushi is one of the first things on our list. Can’t wait. Cheers!

Celebrating Chardonnay Day With a Promisqous Red!

What a crime! But I’ll get over it. In my defense, it was a very nice red blend, and my roommate and I, got a good laugh over this wine. It’s pretty sad, but I must admit that, after almost twenty years, I still run into words that I’m not completely sure of the meaning of. Promiscuous, is one of those words. When I bought the wine, I had a slight idea what it ment, but I googled it to get the correct meaning, I busted out laughing. The blog title I had in mind was; “Promisqous Wine Wednesday!” Yeha, that would maybe gotten some more views on my blog, but not exactly the reputation I want to put out there lol. www.thefreedictionary.com/promiscuous “Having casual sexual relations frequently with different partners;…”

As to the wine; very smooth and easy to drink. In the name they refer to using different grapes, Zinfandel, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. A great buy at only $10, and will pair well with a lot of foods. I paired with Chicken Marsala, and it was quite good, thou I like to spice up my chicken with some red pepper flakes, and the spiciness might have crashed a little with the wine.

I’m going back to my Promisqous Chardonnay Day celebration, Cheers!

 

Visited an Old Friend!

Went to Unionville Vineyards this afternoon for an event they had; Vintage North Jersey’s Food & Wine Pairing. A beautiful Sunday here in New Jersey, mid 60’s and sunny, and I was looking forward to a great wine tasting, at a vineyard that I had been wanting to visit for a while now.

Huge dissapointment…I knew something was up when I pulled into the parking lot, and there was only 4 cars there. The food was non existing. There was some crumbles of cheese, and some pepperoni (or something) on a plate, and that was it…

For the wines; not great. Sorry Unionville, but you are not a favorite of mine. I did only taste 6 of their wines, but this was very sad, and I must say, very “New Jersey like”. The wines were very fruity and acidly. The ones I tasted was Pinot Grigio, Pinot Noir, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah. The Pinot Grigio came out on top, it was ok, and the Cabernet was a bit different. It was not great on the nose, but quite good on the palate. Black licorice stood out.

I didn’t spend a whole lot of time at the vineyard, and since I drove almost an hour to get here, I had to redeem my Sunday, and decided to go and visit an old friend of mine. He lives only about 20 minutes from where I was, so I just went and picked up some carrots real quick, ( he really likes that) and headed over to Southwind Farm, where he lives. His name is Muscle Hill, and he is a horse. I took care of him during his racing career, and we traveled all over. Now he is retired, and all he does is make babies. His first crop of babies will hit the racetrack this summer. He is, in my mind, the best trotter that ever lived, and I miss him. Can’t wait to see how his babies turn out.

   

Thinking that I had turned my day around, I picked up a bottle of French Pinot Noir (2009 Bourgogne Grand Ordinaire) on my way home. I might have messed up by pairing it with my salad with balsamic vinegarette, because I feel like I could have bought it at Unionville. That’s how bad it was. I was planning on having chicken later, so hopefully it will be better then. Not having a good day with wines. Oh well, it don’t happen to often. Cheers!

 

 

 

A Great Investment!

Picked up a bottle of Merlot the other day for $5.99, and didn’t really expect much of it, but I was cooking spaghetti with meat sauce, and needed a wine that I thought would compliment it. My experience is that a Chianti or Merlot pairs well with tomato sauce. It was a Nathanson Creek Merlot, and I really got my moneys worth out of this bottle. Probably not the best Merlot I’ve had, but decent enough, and paired well with my spaghetti dinner.

A couple of days later I came home late, and had picked up Pizza on my way home. My Nathanson Creek paired just as well with the pizza. Normally I would have finished that bottle with my pizza, but I was so tired that I went to bed early. Therefore, the next day, after visiting my favorite Mexican restaurant, I still had some wine left to go with my leftover chips and salsa. And I must say; not bad at all. Don’t think I would have thought of pairing Merlot with Mexican food, but I guess with the tomatoes in the salsa, it was perfect.

What a great investment. I’m enjoying finding, and trying budget wines, and it really is a lot of affordable good wines out there. Cheers!

 

Went Barefoot This Week!

Well, it’s not really warm enough to do that in New Jersey yet. Made it to the mid 50’s today, think we might make it to 65 tomorrow, so we are getting there. This time of the year you just can’t wait for the warm weather to get here, and it’s my favorite season without a doubt.

I went barefoot in a different way. Paired my pasta and meat sauce with Barefoot Merlot, paid $7.99 for this bottle, and excellent. They really make some enjoyable wines, for a very reasonable price.

Also picked up a bottle of their Impression Red Blend. A great wine to sip by itself or with food. Very nice and smooth. $ 5.99 can’t beat it! Love going Barefoot. Cheers!

Easter Wine Pairings!

Another holiday feast, with all kinds of treats. As usual I went over to my friend’s house for the holiday. (aka my favorite restaurant) They had a few people over, and lots of food. I was in charge of wines, but got a little help also. Main course was ham with a lot of sides; sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, green beans, cole slaw. For appetizers we had baked brie with raspberry jam, crab dip, hummus and some cheese and crackers. Everything was delicious as always.

I did some research, and decided to get a Riesling to go with the ham, and thought it would pair well with the appetizers as also. And I got a Pinot Noir as back up, in case someone wanted red wine. I already had a bottle of Pinot at home, but needed to pick up the Riesling. At the wine store I was staring at the bottles of Riesling, and had one of those moments where I couldn’t make a decision. It is so silly, but I was acting like it was a life changing decision I was about to make. And again, saved by a label…..

The little German on the label holding a sign saying: Pick Me! Pick Me! So that’s what I did. A crisp and fruity Schmitt Sohne Riesling. And again a great Riesling, that paired very well with our holiday meal.

We never got around to the Pinot, but instead uncorked a bottle of Rex-Goliath Merlot, that another friend brought. This wine had the same weird carbonated feeling when it hits your tong, as the Austrian wine Skeleton that I tried a while back. Other than that, not a bad wine, quite smooth for a Merlot.

A great evening again, and of course had to finish it of with some great deserts. There was pumpkin pie, fudge pie, home-made fudge treats, and my very favorite from Christmas, the slow cooker dish with bread, pecans, bananas and caramel sauce. OMG my diet is really suffering. Oh well, time to jump on the treadmill I guess. You know the saying “Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels”? So no true, they havent been to my “favorite restaurant”! Cheers!

 

Had To Take The Good With The Bad This Week!

Yea, this week had some ups and downs tasting wise. Starting out with St. Patrick’s Day, we had corned beef and cabbage paired with a 2009 Kendall-Jackson Riesling. The meal was outstanding, and so was the wine. It was the perfect pairing. This Riesling was nice and crisp, not dry or too sweet, just right.

I brought a bottle over that same night, just in case we needed something more to sip, and I just grabbed this bottle because it stood out (bottle is covered of burlap). A Chilean wine, 2009 Merlot from Vino De Eyzaguirre. But after tasting that perfect Riesling, this one did not hit the spot at all. Too dry and acidy.

      

Thursday we headed back to The Grape Escape for another Open House. What I didn’t realize, was that this time it was all Chilean wines. Last time we went, the wines were amazing, and there was a big crowd. That time we were tasting California wines. What a difference. Not at all the crowd like last time. The music was good, but they ran out of food way too early. And most important, the wines were no good. I found a couple that I could drink, the Malbec was ok, but nothing I would spend money on, and buy. I’ll be back for the California wines.

Then last night a friend gave me a bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon from Fetzer. She said she only paid 8.99 for it, but she really likes this wine herself. And, wow, very nice and smooth, perfect sipping wine.

So, that was my week in wines. Some ups and downs, but I like to forget the downs, and dwell upon the ups. Like right now I’m kind of dwelling over this glass of Fetzer Cabernet….. Cheers!

Wine Tasting at Crossing Vineyards!

For once I didn’t have to work on a Friday night, so I put my heels on, and went to a “singles wine tasting”! Almost every Friday they have this event at Crossing Vineyards in Washington Crossing, Pennsylvania. It’s about a 45 minute drive from my house, but I had been wanting to check it out for a while now, but I usually have to work Friday nights.

They charge you $10, and you get 6 tastings, and their bartender is very good. He kept everybody engaged talking about the wines, and telling jokes. It wasn’t a big crowd, only about 12 people, but still a nice experience. I got to meet some new people, and that is always fun.

As to the wines, it was good and bad. I guess I expected that. Chardonnay was dry, but quite good. Riesling, very sweet. Merlot I liked, it was dry, but nice. Merlot/Cabernet was my favorite for a while, until I got to try the Pinot Noir. Totally surprised me, Pennsylvania grown Pinot Noir! They don’t grow those grapes at the vineyard, but get them from somewhere in Pennsylvania. A great wine that was close to a French Burgundy in taste. My last tasting was the Cabernet Sauvignon, and it was, as the bartender warned me, too young. Not very pleasant.

I would definitely recommend the Pinot Noir, delicious. I didn’t meet the man of my dreams on Friday, but maybe next time! Cheers!