The Corkdork - Wine and Food Musing

Freedom Sparklers! WBW#28 (Non-French Fizz) Announced

Wine Blogging Wednesday #28 announced - Sparklers! Seattle's Culinary Fool is hosting this --non-French Fizz topic. Drink something fizzy and between now and Dec. 13, blog about it,  and join the Fool for this fun topic. I promise to participate, though the last two have escaped me...

Incanto San Francisco

On Friday night, I finally got to Incanto, tucked way in the mostly residential neighborhood at Church and 27th Street in the City. Incanto is known for organic and local produce and as the home of salumis and offal. You can find calf brains and porcini bruschetta, beef tendons with beans and sage, and tripe with tomato and sizzled egg.

We weren't in the most adventurous of moods, so we settled for more comfortable starters. The Cicerchia bean soup with borage was a must, as we grow borage and up 'til now had no idea how to cook it. The soup was tasty, especially the soft wilted borage leaves. Borage cooks down like sorrel without the sourness. The beans, however, hadn't quite crossed the line between comfortable bite and actually being done. I would have preferred them a little softer. The Ripini salad with San Remo olives and white anchovy was a revelation though. Ripini is usually mature and bitter, great tossed in pasta, but this was incredibly tender and bright raw leaves with no hint of bitterness. The perfect white alici anchovies were served in little boneless wads, as if they were passed under a fillet knife to bone them out and give them a creamier texture. Entrees were superb, the handkerchief pasta with rustic pork ragu was made with silky homemade pasta and the pork ragu was made in the lightest of styles. The majestic tile-maker's stew "Il Peposo", with grilled bread and mint was also spectacular. This is a deeply browned beef stew with winter vegetables served in a bowl atop a big piece of bruschetta with fresh mint on top. I've never had beef and mint together, but the combination is a wonder. The heat of the stew makes the mint aroma waft up when it's delivered --very inviting.

The featured wines on the reverse of the menu are where you should start unless you have your heart set on a particular bottle on the main list. Here you'll find several inviting flights, tastes, full glasses, and 1/2 litre carafs of some great wines. They deliver all the wines by the glass with paper stemware slips with your chosen wine on it, which is a really nice touch. I found the Falkenstein Riesling 2003 to go with the soup and it was a delicious choice. Not much of a classic reisling nose to it, as it's young and Italian, but it was viscous and juicy with subtle apple/pear citrus notes. The Marisa Cuomo Ravello Bianco 2005  was fresh and lightly fruity --another full-bodied white that was very food friendly.

The highlight for me though, was the Cascina Morassino Barbaresco 2000 that we had in carafe. This Nebbiolo is like the refined daughter of a domineering mother. Despite her beauty and intoxicating perfume, she can't help being a little bit bossy herself. While modern wine-making techniques have begun to lessen the blow of the mighty tannins in Nebbiolo, it's a part of its heritage. Ten years ago, I wouldn't have been able to get past the grip on a six-year old Barbaresco. This one however revealed the layers of richness and dark pruny goodness but retained a brightness of youth. The tannins give this wine some firmness, but no pucker. I'm already plotting to buy some of this.

I'm going to do what I can to get back here soon, if only for the wine flights. The food, however is not to be missed.

2002 Scherrer Russian River Pinot Noir "Laguna"

This is the best Pinot I've opened in quite a while, and once again, it's from the Russian River. I find that more and more, I'm attracted to Sonoma pinot fruit. Fred Scherrer calls this "A synthesis of three sites in the view of the Laguna de Santa Rosa", and it's another testament to Fred's excellent blending abilities.  This has everything you want from a great Russian River Pinot without any of the over-extracted heat; it's a pure expression of fruit and soil. The nose is full of red currents, black berries and peppery spice.  'Could be the power of suggestion, but Fred says he can taste orange peel, and I get that too.

 

I was lucky to have a 375 ml bottle of this in my cellar, and I took my own advice and decanted it. First of all, the 375's mature a bit faster, and the decanting made it open up right away. Yum. It will hold for a few years, but I'm glad to know it's drinking fine now.

The "Laguna" bottling was made as a very limited release, only a couple barrels as I recall, but upon re-tasting this, I contacted the winery to see if I can get more. I hope they can spare a couple of bottles.

Air and Wine

I ask you. How are you supposed to evaluate a new release wine if it has just been opened? Over and over, I don't give a wine its due because it hasn't seen any air before I have to taste it and move on. The other day 3 of us were trying to evaluate some Oakville wines at my house, and due to time constraints, we had to open them and taste them right away. All of them got mediocre comments and we were less than impressed. All of us agreed, however that I should hold on to the wines and taste them the next day. Higher marks all around.

Young wines need air. The next time you have a young wine, Open it a few hours before you drink it, if you have the time. Your last sip needn't be the best one.

Note: Old wines, really old wines, dissipate very quickly and need very little air. Often old wines peak about an hour after you open them, so plan accordingly.

Cameron Hughes Goes Global

When last I saw Cameron Hughes, in July, he had hinted that the next step was to break out of California. Maybe even out of the U.S. to seek out serious wine-bin bargains. I just returned from a tasting with Cameron and my friend Jathan from Winexpression, and he unvieled the newest batch of his Costco and direct-mail distributed wines. This time including Lots 18 and 19 from South Africa. He now has buyers sniffing around all over the world for wines that can't be sold as super-premium bottlings, but can be released in the U.S. as small lot that have super quality to price ratios.

We were also flattered that he also let us opine on some bottles from other parts down-under that he has yet to decide upon for release.  A couple had potential, though, I'm not sure any of us were convinced. I'll keep you readers posted.

Not only has he gone global, but he has also entered the Cal-Fizz market with  yeasty Napa brew 8 years on the lees before disgorgement. This could be his most expensive bottle yet, at around $17, but this kind of older Napa sparkler typically fetches around $45. If you see this in the coming months, snatch it up instead of reaching for the big name Cal sparkler or Cava. There is an old yeast funk that quickly blows off to reveal a well layered, dense sparkler made from 50% Pinot and 50% Chardonnay. As far as I know, this doesn't have a lot number yet.

The new World wines are the Lot 18 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon ($9) that is 85% Stellenbosch and 15% Paarl from South Africa and the Lot 19 2004 Merlot ($11) that is 100% Stellenbosch. Cameron didn't specifically say, but they shared the same terroir, so I suspect they are from the same producer. Both had a smokey, tar-ry nose and a dark, meaty,  brooding mid-palate. I would serve this with something grilled and juicy, like a hanger or skirt steak.

The other really notable wine of the evening was the Lot 17 2004 Barbera from the Sierra Foothills. When I tasted this in July, I was not terribly impressed and now think the  bottle was just too young and maybe just a bit shocked. What a difference a few months make in the life of a wine. It has very bright cherry notes, a beautiful color, and an ultra-ripe, spicy, sensuous, pleasantly raisin-y nose.  This one is another to look for next time you're at Costco, or seek out his direct sales website.