Oscar Party: movies, wagering, and wine!

We used last Sunday's Academy Awards as an excuse to throw a party that had a little something for everyone: movies, wagering, and wine. It was a fun time, and the company of good friends and the delicious wine more than made up for my poor showing in our Oscar pool.

Movies

Sally and I are huge movie fans and try to see all of the Best Picture nominees every year. Even for our friends who are more casual movie watchers or those that don't see movies at all (a.k.a. parents), the Academy Awards is a fun show to watch with other people. There's humor, entertainment, and plenty to talk about.

Wagering

We ran a simple pool where each person chipped in $5 to submit their picks for each award. Our pool is equally weighted, so a correct guess for Best Picture is worth the same as getting the Sound Editing category right. Second place gets their money back, first place takes the rest of the pot, and last place gets a bottle of cheap wine to serve as a reminder that they need to stick to the basics.

Wine

It's a gathering, so why not drink some wine?! We served four wines blind at pairing stations and had our friends vote for their favorite. All of them were favorites we'd discovered on our wine adventures that retailed for less than $20 and could easily be found in most local wine shops. (We got ours at BevMo.) Here are the wines, the pairings, and the rankings.

4th Place: 2010 Line 39 Petite Sirah
This is a very tasty wine, but despite the deep purple color its flavor is a little light for Petite Sirah. Our guests had trouble identifying this grape and wished for a bit more tannin. Nonetheless, it was still considered enjoyable.

Paired with aged cheddar, manchego, and mini tacos (chicken and pork)

3rd Place: 2009 Kendall-Jackson Vinter's Reserve Chardonnay
According to Kendall-Jackson's website, this is the #1 selling Chardonnay in America. It's a good Chardonnay for it's price point with some crisp acidity that pairs well with food, though our guests were a little biased against the varietal.

Paired with double cream gouda, Monterey jack, and roasted chicken purses

2nd Place: 2010 Cycles Gladiator Pinot Noir
This wine drew rave reviews and several guests announced their intentions to acquire a bottle or two. It's definitely a California-style Pinot Noir with a lot of fruit, but it is flavorful, smooth, and goes well with a variety of foods. It was also the winner of our 2010 HalloWine blind tasting, so we had to bring it back to defend it's crown. 

Paired with creamy Havarti, Harvarti with dill, and beef brisket sandwiches

1st Place: NV Roederer Estate Brut Sparkling White Wine
It must have been a champenoise kind of night, because the Roederer Estate edged out the Cycles Gladiator by just one vote. This wine was a crowd pleaser with a crisp taste and notes of pear to go with the bubbles.

Paired with cream cheese topped with pineapple and apricot preserves and mini chicken egg rolls

Somehow, we managed to have such a good time we forgot to take any pictures. Here's one quickly staged photo of the four wines:

Open That Bottle Night ~ time to share that special bottle!

In 2000, former Wall Street Journal wine columnists Dorothy J. Gaiter and John Brecher founded Open That Bottle Night.  The night is simply an excuse for people around the world to pop open a bottle they’ve been saving, but have never been able to find that “special occasion”.  Open That Bottle Night is celebrated on the last Saturday in February ~ today, 2/25/12.  So…go get that bottle you’ve wanted to open, and drink up!

A special bottle doesn't have to be an "aged" bottle

Don't worry about how "old" the wine is.  You want to drink it, open it!  Not all wine is meant for aging.  In fact, most wine is drunk “young” (12-18 months after it is produced).  NapaNow.com states that the average time that most Americans “lay down” wine is probably half an hour.  While some wines age quite nicely, most are ready to drink when sold.  With that said, a good Cabernet Sauvignon with heavy tannins will improve with age, and can be stored for as much as 10-15 years.  You’ll want to drink your whites within a couple of years. 

More than one special bottle on hand

Do you have a couple of bottles that are the same varietal, produced the same year, but are from different wineries?  Try a side-by-side tasting.  Tasting wines at the same time allow you to appreciate the subtle differences.  It is interesting to see how the different environments, processing, and winemaker’s touch can have on the finished product. 

Share your special bottle with friends

Invite a few friends over and throw a last minute gathering. Wine parties don’t have to be formal.  They are really just a reason to drink.  Whip up something easy, order take out, or make it potluck ~ the food is secondary to the bottle!  I recently read about a fun wine party idea.  Have each guest bring a bottle under $25.  When they leave, they grab a different bottle than what they came with ~ a great way to share wine with friends, and possibly discover a new favorite!

Cheers, and share with us what bottle you open tonight ~ we are still deciding!

Every bottle can't be a winner - even if it's wine you like

It’s always interesting to try a favorite wine a second time. Last weekend, Sally and I shared a bottle of 2008 Halter Ranch Cotes de Paso. The last time we drank this wine, we gave it rave reviews (“If you taste something good, don’t let it get away”) and I lamented not buying a second bottle after we enjoyed it at a restaurant. Sally later surprised me with another bottle as a present, but it was a bit of a mixed bag the second time around.

We drank the wine with a wonderful feast Sally made comprised of some of my favorites: French onion soup for starters, veal brisket with root vegetables for the main course, and tiramisu for dessert. The meal was incredible. The wine was very good, but it wasn’t on par with the first time bottle.

The first time, we gave the wine our coveted “ingredients to dessert” nod, meaning it was good enough to open while you were cooking and would still taste delicious by the time you got to dessert. Assuming you had some left, of course! The second time around, we felt it definitely wasn’t in this class. Even the tasting notes were a little different, with the flavor profile being pleasant, but a little less robust and refined than the first time.

It's even interesting to compare our flavor notes:

Bottle #1: cocoa, earthiness, and blackberry

Bottle #2: strawberry, apple, and raisin

I may now have to revise my earlier statement that if you discover an outstanding wine, you’ll need to buy two bottles. I now think you need three, just in case bottle #2 is a dud!

 

Heitz Ink Grade Port ~ add chocolate for a truly divine dessert!

We challenged our dear friend, and food blogger, AGirlInTheSouth, to create a perfect dessert for this Portuguese style port ~ and boy, did she deliver!

When it comes to ports, it is not often I find one that hits the mark for me.  I am not a fan of ports that are overly sweet, or have heavy brandy taste.  I prefer my port smooth and well balanced ~ one that can be enjoyed on its own as well as with a tasty dessert.  Heitz Ink Grade Port nails it. 

The first time we tasted the Heitz port was a few years ago while visiting the tasting room in Napa. I don’t know who was more surprised… me, because I actually liked it or Jeff, because I put a big smiley face on my tasting notes (our indicator that we want to buy). After just two sips I knew we weren’t leaving without at least a bottle. 

The Ink Grade Port is a traditional Portuguese style port.  They produce this wine from eight Portuguese varieties, which is unique in the Napa area as most produce dessert wines from the traditional dry red varieties (zin, cab, grenache). This is a rich, full bodied port with flavors of dark berry and hints of plum.  We also detected notes of caramel.  It has a perfect balance of flavors and a sweetness that never goes over the top.

We recently opened our bottle to share with Jeff’s parents.  We mistakenly paired this with a slice of apple pie.  It did not do the port (or the pie) any justice.  So… we turned to the expert.  I’ve known Terri, food blogger at AGirlInTheSouth, since I was 5.  As she has noted in her blog, I’ve got a lot of dirt on that girl…so I knew she had to steer us right.  This port needed a rich, gooey, chocolate dessert, and we challenged her to find that perfect pairing.  No worries of telling any childhood secrets, she more than delivered!

Now, I like to cook, but I have never really been a great baker ~ that measuring thing.  Not only did Terri find an excellent pairing, she found a recipe this novice baker could pull together quite easily.  The bread pudding and port created what Terri accurately called a “divine dessert”. 

The Ink Grade Port runs about $20 for a split, and is also available in 750ml for $35.  It is available to purchase directly through Heitz, and at various wine shops.  Pick up a bottle, and check out the recipe at AGirlInTheSouth ~ the pairing truly is divine! 

Getting educated with a bottle of Prosecco

Bottles we receive as gifts are marked with who its fromOur friend Terri gave us a bottle of La Marca Prosecco this past Christmas and told us it was one of her favorite sparkling white wines. Little did we know that this thoughtful gift would touch on virtually everything we love about wine.

Shared bottles are the best bottles
Wine always tastes better when it's shared, and sparkling wine is no different. We shared the bottle with Jeff's parents, Bob and Kathy, over breakfast last weekend. They both know Terri too, so we raised a glass in her honor. And, it was fun to experience a wine our friend enjoys. The verdict was in and she definitely has good taste. (Check out Terri's awesome cooking blog, A Girl in the South and you'll see what I mean.)

It's fun to taste and pair
Good relationships are all about chemistry and pairing wine with food is no different. Get it right and it's awesome. Get it wrong and both the food and wine suffer a little. Admittedly, this is where we screwed up a little by pairing the Prosecco with cranberry muffins, bacon, and fresh pineapple and blueberries. The Prosecco had crisp peach and apple flavors, but was too sweet for the muffins and bacon. A much better pairing would have been with a light, sweet cake such as coconut. It would also be terrific on its own.

New varietals are a chance to learn
We don't have a lot of experience with Prosecco, so the La Marca was a great chance to learn a few fun facts. Prosecco comes from a wine region in Northern Italy and is made from the Glera grape. It has some similarities to Champagne or Champagne-style sparkling wine, but there are also a few important differences:

• Prosecco is made using the Charmat method where the bubbles come from a secondary fermentation done in a tank rather than the Champagne method where this fermentation is done in the bottle.
• Prosecco is meant to be light and consumed young, so it doesn't age as well as a good Champagne.
• Prosecco is generally sweeter than Champagne-style sparkling wines.