Wine for your favorite cheese

Cheese is without a doubt my favorite pairing with wine.  Our friend at AGirlintheSouth is running a monthly, “You Asked…” column.  So, of course I took the bait and asked about her favorite cheese – on its own, and to cook with.  Here are recommended pairings to her responses, which happen to be some of my personal favorites as well! 

 “…my favorite cheese is Blue Cheese”

Blue cheese is wonderfully sharp and salty, and goes well with a fruitier cabernet, or even a merlot.  If you really want to be different, pair it with a port.  Slice into some Roquefort, and pour a glass of our favorite, Heitz Ink Grade Port.  It would make a great beginning, or end to your meal!

The port is currently available in limited supply at select Spec’s stores

“I cook with parmesan more than any other cheese…”

As you start to build your Italian feast, open a Sangiovese or Sangiovese blend (like a Super Tuscan).  Sangiovese typically has high acidity and moderate alcohol, which makes it a great match with tomato-based dishes.  We enjoy Cosentino Sangiovese, especially with pizza!

“I must admit to also loving to cook with feta”

I must admit, I love cooking with feta, too.  One of my favorite go-to apps is feta whipped with basil, lemon, and pepper.  Spread this on a baguette, and pour a glass of Simi Sonoma County Chardonnay.  It is well balanced, without too much oak or citrus, and would let the feta remain the star of the meal.    

What's your favorite cheese and wine pairing?

Does wine really get better with age?

There’s an old joke that the average American ages their wine for about 30 minutes. That’s the amount of time it takes to get it home from the store and open it up.

Even wine enthusiasts can find it difficult to keep good wine around too long. Our friends Sarah and Dave recently picked up a bottle of Grenache from Anglim Winery on their first trip to Paso Robles. We met for dinner a few nights later and they shared the bottle with us. It was delicious, but now it’s gone.

On a side note, this is exactly why we always buy at least two bottles of wine we really like.

Would the Anglim Grenache taste even better after a year or two of aging? It’s hard to tell. And, thanks to our friends’ generosity, we don’t get to find out.

Anglim Mourvedre + Terra's Bistro Burger = Awesome

What, in the name of science, can we do?

Fortunately, Sally and I have our own small collection of Anglim wine. We don’t have any Grenache, but we did purchase two bottles of their 2007 Hastings Ranch Vineyard Mourvedre when we visited the winery in 2011.

We consumed the first bottle in February 2012 while dining at Antica Trattoria. We liked it but didn’t feel it paired well with our meal. Our tasting notes included notes of white pepper on the nose with cherry, red plum, earthiness on the palate and a little bit of spice and tannin on the finish. You can read our review here. 

We consumed the second bottle two weeks ago while dining at Terra American Bistro. Our tasting notes were nearly identical to the first bottle. However, this time around it complimented our meal perfectly. Sally had Terra’s delicious bistro burger while I had their chipotle skirt steak.

It seems that this wine did improve slightly from about 16 months of aging. Could our differing impressions be due to our choice of food? Possibly. We didn’t record our meal at Antica Trattoria in the previous post, so it’s hard to know for sure. 

The unsatisfying end to this story is we can’t say with 100 percent certainty that wine improves with age. I guess we’ll just have to keep experimenting with good wine until we can obtain conclusive proof one way or another! 

Red, White, and Beer

Wondering what to serve while celebrating this weekend?  With the help of What to Drink with What you Eat, here are suggested pairings with traditional, and not so traditional July 4^th grub.  Because sharing a cold one is sometimes the way to go, we’ve added a few favorites to the list, creating our Red, White, and Beer recommendations ~ Happy 4^th!

You should find all of these at large beverage stores, such as BevMo, Specs, and TotalWine - all are under $20

Hot Dogs

RED: A to Z Pinot Noir

WHITE: Seghesio Pinot Grigio

BEER: Anchor Steam

Hamburgers

RED: Smith & Hook Cabernet Sauvignon (especially with cheeseburgers!)

WHITE: about as “white” as you may want to get is Rose – go with any Spanish one

BEER: Abita Amber

BBQ

Any meat with smoky and/or sweet sauce

RED: “The Franc” – Cosentino Cab Franc

WHITE: Chateau Ste. Michelle Columbia Valley Riesling

BEER: Blue Moon White Ale

Grilled Meatloaf

RED: Plungerhead Old Vine Zinfandel

WHITE: Ferrari-Carano Fume Blanc

BEER: Shiner Bock

Apple Pie

By this time, I’m sure you’ll just want a nice cup of coffee.  If not, a little sherry always goes nice with pie.

This Benessere Zin is P.F.G.

Sally and I have a little code system when we go wine tasting. A check mark on our note sheet means it's good, a check + means we'd buy it if the price was right, a smiley face means we want to buy some, and P.F.G. means...

Well, use your imagination.

Benessere's 2009 Black Glass Zinfandel is a P.F.G. wine. It's jammy without being overpowering, very smooth on the palate, and a little pepper on the finish. The beauty of a great wine like this is it can goes well with a wide variety of food or is perfectly fine all by itself.

We enjoyed a bottle at Del Mar's Poseidon restaurant last Saturday. Our patio table overlooked the beach, giving us views of the late afternoon surf and sand activities that gradually gave way to a spectacular sunset. Zinfandel is universal, but the winemaker's notes suggested steak, so that's what we did.

We first discovered Benessere when my friend Pat gave me a bottle of their 2008 Holystone-Collins Zinfandel. We profiled that wine in a post confirming that shared bottles are the best bottles. 

This initial impression of Benessere was so good that we added them to the itinerary on our trip to Napa last April. Wow. Wow. Wow. Their wine is good. 

The crazy good part about this is the Black Glass Zinfandel wasn't even our favorite wine among the ones we tasted at Benessere. The 2010 Holystone-Collins Zinfandel absolutely blew us away. We just might have to invent a new ultimate designation of wine greatness if the Holystone-Collins really does top the P.F.G. Black Glass when we uncork a bottle and pair it with a meal.

Saddleback Cellars – Viognier

Some of our best wine discoveries have been through recommendations, typically sharing bottles with friends.  We also make a point to ask wineries we enjoy what they recommend.  After all, if we like their stuff, chances are we’ll like what they drink, too!  

While on the road in California wine country earlier this year, we found ourselves with a little extra time between tasting appointments (oh, what to do…).  We were finishing a tasting at one of our favorite spots, Plumpjack, and decided to ask our hostess for a recommendation.  We were looking for a boutique winery, and off the beaten path.  She suggested nearby Saddleback Cellars.  It’s an appointment only winery, so she picked up the phone and made one for us ~ and what an awesome find!

Saddleback Cellars has everything ~ great outdoor seating next to the vines, welcoming hosts, wonderful wines, and one of the coolest wine dogs we’ve ever met – Chloe.  We had the opportunity to taste a variety of their wines, including the 2009 Merlot, 2009 Syrah, 2008 Cab, 2010 Zinfandel, 2010 Chardonnay, and our hands down favorite, 2010 Viognier.

The Viognier has great floral and fruitful aromas, with flavors of peach and nectarine.  It is not overly sweet, a very easy drinker with a long and flavorful finish.  It definitely is drinkable on its own, but pairs well with creamy cheese, and light meats like chicken and fish.  We enjoyed our (first) bottle with ricotta spinach lasagna.  Fortunately, we have more than one bottle, as it would also pair exceptionally well with one of my favorite appetizers, sliced pears topped with blue cheese and honey.  Hello patio!

It is a limited production wine ~ only 328 cases produced.  You can purchase it directly for $26/bottle (on sale until 7/5/13 for $23).  If you are in the Napa area, we definitely recommend a stop at Saddleback Cellars.  Enjoy the wine, and give Chloe a good belly-rub for us!