Champagne at a Dive Bar!

Well, it wasn't really champagne. I don't even know what it was. But sometimes when you're craving sparkling wine you gotta just go for it, regardless of the venue. After waiting in the sweaty cluster of people around the bar at Kelly's Tavern on Fillmore, I was definitely ready for a cold glass o' bubbly. But there was one important question (second only to "Do you have sparkling wine") I had to ask before committing: Do you have a chilled, fresh (ie. unopened) bottle? And the answer was yes. Well, actually he didn't answer me. He just went ahead and poured it. But that was just fine, because I would have ordered it anyway, it wasn't Korbel (which I'm sick of), and I liked it!

So, if you're craving something, just go for it! It doesn't matter if the setting seems appropriate or not. If you want a Gewurtztraminer at a steak house, do it! If you want a Port with your entree, do it! And if I want some unnamed sparkling wine at a sweaty dive bar, I'm going to!

Fess Parker Pinot Noir= no tart cherry, yes gardenia

The title of this post says it all. The Fess Parker 2007 Pinot Noir (a housewarming gift from "Shnick") was everything I love in a pinot, and nothing I hate (tart cherry). It was light-bodied, with a very smooth texture. The "bouquet" was a bouquet of gardenias, night jasmine, and orange blossom (it smelled wonderful!) lead to flavors of rich plum and boysenberry, with a succinct finish. 94 points!

Chandon Blanc de Noirs and Appetizers

I drink it all the time, but I've never actually "critiqued" it. I'm sipping on it right now, and I'd say it's dry, nutty, and slightly bitter. The aroma reminds me of my great aunts' perfumes at the holiday parties (maybe because we always drink champagne at family holiday parties): musky, dusty, and maybe some faint pear. But honestly, it's hard to pick out specific flavors sometimes when your palate is entertained by all those bubbles. 

Now I'm trying it with cheese: an Irish cheddar from Whole Foods. Not sure how (long) it was aged, but it also tastes nutty, and of course fatty and salty.  With the sparkling wine it pairs well. I'm not sure if it changed the wine really, but of course the fattiness of the cheese coating my palate cuts and "massages" any of the hard edges of the wine (if there were any). 

Now I'm going to try pepper jack cheese. This particular pepper jack is notably spicy. Wow, that actually pairs pretty well too! Instead of magnifying the spice (as some wines do, especially tart dry wines), this somehow rolls over my palate, and the spicy cheese actually calms the initial bitterness of the wine. 

Now I'm pairing it with classic pimiento-stuffed green olives which are, of course, salty, briny and bitter. This also works. My tongue is still tainted from the spicy pepper jack, but the olives make the wine a little less bitter and more nutty. 

Verdict: Chandon's Blanc de Noirs is really tasty. I like the level of dryness it is, and I like the price point ($13 at Costco).  Even though I only tried one wine with just cheese and olives, I think in general, sparkling wines pair really well with most/all appetizers. When I took the wine course at the Culinary Institute of America in Napa, we paired 6 sauces with 8 wines (one of which was a classic champagne). All the sauces (garlic aioli, pesto, olive tapenade, mole, romesco, and thai peanut) paired with the champagne. But then again, maybe it's because my palate is really quite fond of sparkling wines.

Prime at the Bellagio: everything's perfect except the wine list!

The Bellagio is my favorite hotel in Vegas. Well, I suppose I can only say that because I haven't checked out the Wynn/Encore, etc, only MGM/NyNy/Excalibur and other so-so hotel/casinos. But regardless, I love how the beautiful Chihuly glass ceiling greets you at the Bellagio when you enter, and I feel like everyone's classy there. Maybe that's how they get away with $20 martinis and $30 wines by the glass! I know many places in Vegas are pricey, and one should expect to fork over your only winnings to wine and dine there, but at least give us a few choices!



I'm referring to my most recent experience at Prime Steakhouse at the Bellagio. Everything was beautiful and perfect, the service was really superb, and I even feel like this place deserves at least 1 Michelin Star (of course, it's right next to the Bellagio's Picasso restaurant which is 3 Michelin Stars, so maybe that changes things). Anyhow, here's what transpired:

I came here with my immediate family and my aunt, uncle and cousin. We all ordered some type of steak or chicken. I got their 8 oz filet mignon at $40 a la carte, medium rare, with a side of steamed asparagus. It was delicious! And they served it with 5 different sauces. The sauces were all delicious, but I'm a fan of Ruth's Chris in the fact that the steak doesn't need any sauce, and the wine should be the sauce! This steak didn't really need sauce either, but of course I tried all of them and particularly enjoyed the miso mustard sauce.

ANYWAY, wine: No one really wanted a bottle to split, so 3 of us got wine by the glass. They had 3-4 wines that were under $20/glass (none of which were Cabs) and the rest were in their $30s, all the way up to $80's per glass!!! This was sad. My aunt ordered their $14 merlot, my uncle ordered a $14ish Zin, and i got their $16 Syrah. I really hate having to pick a wine based on price, but this place made me! I was already forking over $55 for the steak and asparagus (and $16 for the martini) but now I was expected to double my bill for a decent glass of wine??? Again, I guess that's what I should have expected, for a delicious steak dinner and a fabulous wine to pair with it. My syrah was ok...it didn't really pair well with the steak, but at least I had those five other sauces!

Kokkari and Cotes du Rhone

Last night after sampling the 13-year-old Burgundy, I went out to dinner at Kokkari on Jackson and Front St in the Financial District. Since it's a Greek restaurant, they start you off with homemade Greek olives which were really great but slightly bitter. As an appetizer, we had grilled octopus with lemon and olive oil. It was delicious! The texture was like nothing I've ever had before. The outside was soft and almost mushy, but the inside was slightly (and pleasantly) chewy but still tender. It was so good! For an entree I had oven roasted whole fish (it was a Mediterranean sea bass) in a tomato/olive sauce. They offered to de-bone it for me, but what would be the point of ordering whole fish? So I opted to navigate through the bones myself. It was so delicious! Moist, savory, just perfect.

I decided to pair the fish with a Clos Chanteduc, Cotes du Rhone '06 - $10/glass which was mostly grenache with a little syrah. It worked perfectly with the fish. It was medium bodied, smooth over the palate with balanced fruits and easy tannins. The rich darker fruit flavors stood up to the savory tomato sauce, but it's gentle tannins allowed the mild white fish to shine. For once this is a pairing I can say I really enjoyed!! What do you think of that, Shelbi?

13 year old white wine....i'm scared!

Right now I have a 1996 Bouchard Pere & Fils Meursault Genevriere chilling in the fridge (it's been in the wine fridge at 55 degrees but I want it just a touch cooler). My boss got it as a gift and doesn't care for whites so he gave it to me. My immediate reaction was: Thanks! Free wine! Then my reaction was: is this 13 year old white still drinkable? Because I thought that whites (besides champagne) don't really age well beyond a few years. 

I did some research on WineSpectator.com, and supposedly this wine was $66 back then, and earned 93 points! It also said, and perhaps most interestingly, that this wine is best AFTER 2003! So I should be excited, not nervous, right?

Ok, so it's been in the fridge for a little while now...I think I'm ready to uncork it!

Hmm. Disappointing! It's neither bad/rotten nor delicious and perfect after aging. It's a medium bodied wine with crisp acidity. Aromas of apple, melon, and musk lead to flavors of granny smith apple, unripe papaya, minerals, and almost negligible butter/vanilla. It has a long tart finish. It's just so-so if you ask me. It's actually pretty refreshing and clean, considering it's a chardonnay (I supposed French-style chards are always more subtle and less oaky), but I was really hoping for more excitement and complexity, not an easy-drinking summer white. Regardless, I wonder what this tasted like over a decade ago when Wine Spectator reviewed it. I guess this whole experience solidifies my theory that you can't hold onto a wine for too long...it may be anticlimactic. 

Bottle Aging: to drink or not to drink?

The first time I ever did the whole "drunken-limo-ride-to-wine-country-with-a-bunch-of-just-turned-21-year-olds" was spring of 2007 for my college friend/roommate's (you guessed it) 21st birthday. I went to UC Santa Barbara, so we went to Kalyra, Buttonwood, and Sunstone in the Solvang/San Ynez Valley region. Not really knowing what I was doing, I tried my hardest to concentrate on the flavors and pick a few great bottles to purchase and drink later....

Tonight I finally opened the first of the three bottles I brought home from that trip (over 2.5 years later. I can't believe I held out!).

So what was the occasion? Well, I've put a lot of thought into when a wine that's bottle aging is ready to be drunk. There are a few things to consider: a) what varietal is it and what's the appropriate aging range for that varietal, b) is there a special occasion, c) should we care?

So what led to my decision to open the 2003 Buttonwood Cabernet Franc ($30ish)? Well, I'm admittedly no expert on bottle aging, but I think 6 years is a good amount of time for a varietal that's not as tannic as Cab Sauv (Cab Franc's spawn with Sauvignon Blanc). Secondly, the occasion was a homemade steak dinner, and thirdly: no, I don't really care THAT much. Of course I care enough to consider the age, a possible food pairing, and sharing it with good company, but I'm not about to create a shrine for my Cab Franc. What if I open it and it's corked?

Tasting notes: It's a full bodied wine with smooth tannins but a solid, stable structure. Aromas of raisins, damp forest, musk, and very subtle heat lead to flavors of rich boysenberry, raisin/dried fruit, and chocolate-covered cherries with a substantial, slightly bitter, and long finish. 95 points! It was actually pretty complex and made me rethink my whole perception of Cab Franc.

Pairing: Wasn't perfect. The steak was marinated in a McCormick's steak rub which was savory and slightly salty. The deep raisin and boysenberry flavors of the wine were perhaps too fruity and not tannic enough, but you never really know until you try.

I really enjoyed the wine, and I feel really happy with my decision to open it tonight. The pairing wasn't perfect but one can't dwell on that sort of thing. That's perhaps the paradox of being a wine lover: you analyze the varietal/flavors/vintage and put real thought into it, but you can't hold it on a pedestal when you don't really know what it tastes like. At the end of the day you have to just let it go and drink it.

Cooking with wine: anyone know how?

I've only cooked with wine a few times, and it usually ends up being pretty successful. Most of the time I've used wines in stews and/or with sauteed veggies (green beans, spinach, etc). I just kinda throw it in there and see what happens. One aspect I really enjoy is the aroma once that average table wine hits the frying pan.

Yesterday, however, I used som Nobilo Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand (a little for me, a little for the chicken) and it didn't work out so well. I seared the chicken first, then poured in about 2/3 cup wine and simmered it for about 10 minutes, until fully cooked. It ended up being pretty dry and chewy (but the flavors were straight-forward and nice).

Does the alcohol (or some other component) in wine dry out protein? Should I have cooked the chicken fully first then added the wine at the last moment? Any advice?