The Corkdork - Wine and Food Musing

Indian Smashed Potatoes

Just a quick recipe I made a few weeks ago that is a great side dish. I served it with a simple grilled steak. 

1 tsp. Coriander Seed

1/2 tsp. Cumin Seed

1/2 tsp. Fennel Seed

1# Red or Yukon Gold New Potatoes

1/2 Tbsp. Butter

1/2 Tbsp. oil

1/4 cup chopped Cilantro

Salt

Pepper

1/4 tsp. Garam Masala

 

Steam potatoes for 20-25 min until soft enough to smash. Let rest while you make the Tadka (spice and oil mix)

 

Heat oil and add Coriander, Cumin, Fennel seeds and sauté until fragrant, about 15 seconds.

Add butter

 

With the palm of your hand, gently smash down the potatoes on a cutting board and place each in the pan carefully.

Toss gently with the spicy butter mixture

Cook one side until lightly browned

flip to other side and brown lightly

Toss with Cilantro and Garam Masala

Salt, pepper, to taste

Copia at CIA reopens!

I stumbled into the grand opening of the food and wine center, Copia yesterday, in Napa. The property was purchased by the Culinary Arts Institute and it promises to be a great center for wine tastings, food pairing classes, cooking, and food-museum visits. There will be 7 rotating wine tasting tables in the foyer for which you buy tokens, very inexpensively. I hope all my readers take some time to visit. Lots of great food and shopping to do for the foodie in your life next door at Oxbow Public Market as well!

Wine with Pumpkin Pie: 20 Year Tawny in the Sweet Spot

Here in America, it's time to start thinking about what wines to serve with all your favorite Thanksgiving desserts, like pumpkin pie and apple pie. My family usually has some lovely sweet wine accompaniment, and this year it is going to be 20 year Tawny Port. 20 year Tawny is the sweet-spot (pardon the pun) and when you taste with the producers in Porto, it's clear that each house compares itself to others with the quality of their 20. For holiday time, it's the perfect wine if you are looking for something that is sweet and seriously delicious. If you are serving anything that would benefit from a touch of caramel, look past the 10 year Tawnys on the shelf, and grab a 20. If you don't finish it, don't fret, as they last 3-4 weeks in the fridge so you can have a sip on the eve of your next big holiday.

Through the generosity of The Institute of Douro and Port Wines, The Association of Port Wine Companies, and many of their producers, I have tasted a lot of Port Wine in the last 2 months! When I was in Porto in September, it occurred to me that I should publish an overview of the 20s in time for holiday buying. Alas, some of these are very hard to find in the U.S., but may be easier for my European readers to look out for. My favorites are in RED. November 12, 2016 I invited several friends and wine colleagues to taste several of the wines easily available in the US. Top marks went to Dow's, Graham's, Smith-Woodhouse, and Churchill's. In my previous tastings, my favorites included Bulas, Kopke, Blackett, Poças Junior, Barros, Ramos PIntos, and Andresen.

Dow 20 year Tawny Port

Dense caramel, Powerful and aristocratic. Serious, clean, lifted caramel, lemon/orange, Great finish. Drier and more complex due to being fermented a bit longer. A tad hotter on the palate and more concentrated.

 

Graham's 20 year Tawny Port

Great blend between the mature style and sweet style, super clean finish, a group favorite. Lush and citrusy. Very elegant. Great scotch bottle for the high roller.

 

Churchill's 20 year Tawny Port

Very fruity. Little citrus. Light caramel. Fresh style and easy going. Classy.

 

Smith-Woodhouse 20 year Tawny Port

Beautiful amber/rose color, Has the power of Dow's but Elegant and smooth. A top pick and available in the US.  

 

Bulas Family Estate 20 year Tawny Port:

Long and quite syrupy. Sweet and unctuous.  Noted lots of fresh apricot scents on both recent tastings. Young feeling.

 

Kopke 20 year Tawny

Very fruity with hints or orange/citrus. One of my favorites.

 

Ramos Pintos Quinta do Bom Retiro 20 year Tawny Port

Unique in the world of Port, a single Quinta multi-vintage blend, from Quinta do Bom Retiro. Lots of molasses and a serious old nose to it, as lots of 1880 and 1890 vintages are in this 50-vintage blend. Elegant, long and big.  Joge Rosas, General Director of Ramos Pinto said to me “wine my great-great Grandfather is in that glass!” Because it’s a single Quinta blend, it really does have distinct aromas and flavors that stand out in a big tasting. Great.

 

Sandeman 20 year Tawny Port

A sweeter style, you can smell some older stock, much more caramel aromas. A little cloying. 

 

Quinta das Carvalhas 20 year Tawny Port

Rose petal, animal, very viscous, sweet style, dense herbal wood. 

  

Offley 20 year Tawny Port
Old style, thin body, very dense caramel, nice balance between sweet and dried fruits

  

Cockburn's 20 year Tawny Port

A bit hot. Quite sweet. Perfumy and flowery. Wood resin. Fruitcake fruits, 

 

 

Blackett 20-Year Tawny Port

Tons of old spirit in the glass. Blackett has quite a bit of older stock and it shows in their 20. Dried fruit and caramel. A bit of cigar-box maturity shows. 4.65 g/dm3 total sugar.

 

Poças Junior 20-Year Tawny Port

Very earthy style, not terribly sweet, more on the toasted caramel side. 

 

Reccua 20-Year Tawny

Very old spirit in this wine. Shows a bit of cigar box aromas and quite spicy, very distinctly honeyed.

 

Kopke 20 year Tawny Port

Quite woody on the nose. Leans much more toward the stone fruit side, dried apricots and peach. 

 

Barros 20 year Tawny Port

The Barros house style is velvety, round, and smooth. On the sweeter side with less acidity and tamed aggressive notes.

 

Sandeman 20-Year Tawny

Smooth and sweet, very balance and leans towards the young, fresh style. 

 

 

 

 

Andresen 20 year Tawny Port
Delicious and very worthwhile seeking out. Nice balance between old and new wines. 

 

 

Warre's Otima 20 year Tawny Port

Feminine,  elegant, floral. Picked later. Fresh herbs, delicate pear, apricot jam, more red wine freshness.

Kindred Wine Spirits at PRIMA

Just a quick post to thank my table neighbors last night at PRIMA in Walnut Creek who after ogling their tasting group spread, sent over a glass. Of what, you may ask? 

1982 Chateau Margaux
First of all, the wine was shockingly fresh and bright. The color had not an inkling of brown, cementing its place as a historically significant wine that will gracefully mature through the ages. I might even say the wine came through as not fully mature, stunning for a 34 year old wine. Insanely well balanced, with hints of menthol, smoke and cocoa --but hints, not hit-you-over-the-head aromas. Quite simply, the most finessed Margaux I have ever had. 

The rest of the story:

My family loves Prima, and feel it really is the best restaurant in Walnut Creek. I brought a nice 2008 Matthiasson Red Blend to go with our meal.
When the four guys sat next to us and pulled out 3 bottles of Margaux, 1982, 1983, and 1989 I quickly introduced myself! They also proceeded to pull out a 1989 Haut Brion after ordering a nice bottle of bubbly. After just a few pleasant back-and-forths, they sent over a glass of the '82. 

Thanks again, oh generous strangers! I'll be happy to join one of these evenings, guys! Sorry I didn't have one of my cards! Just ping my email!

 

 

 

Healthy Morning Glory Muffins

I've been tweaking this recipe I found in the SF Chronicle way back in 1994 and have adapted it to get rid of the white sugar and make it a bit healthier. They're great on a rainy Sunday morning, like today. Drop me a comment if you try them!

Healthy Morning Glory Muffins

Dry ingredients:
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup unrefined coconut sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. freshly ground nutmeg

Fruit:
2 granny smith apples, peeled and grated
1 cup shredded carrots (always use organic!)
1/2 cup raisins
1/4 cup chopped pitted dates (from whole dates)
1/2 cup shredded coconut (I use unsweetened organic)

Wet ingredients:
3 eggs
1/2 cup virgin coconut oil
1/2 cup corn oil
2 tsp. vanilla extract

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray 24 small or 18 large muffin cups with canola spray.
Sift together the dry ingredients. Add the fruit and stir very thoroughly, making sure there are no big clumps of fruit.
Beat the eggs until combined and add to it the rest of the wet ingredients, stir until well incorporated.
Add to the dry ingredients and stir until there are no visible dry spots.
Spoon into muffin cups. Bake 22-26 minutes until the muffins are brown and a tester comes out clean.
Let cool for 10 minutes in the cups before moving them to cooling rack.

Continuity and Change at Pine Ridge

Winemaker and General Manager, Michael Beaulac, invited a few lucky writers (myself included), out for dinner the other night to unveil his 2009 Cabs and the 2010 CBV (Chenin Blanc/Viognier). While it's unusual for me to attend winemaker dinners, I have a long history enjoying Pine Ridge wines and it seemed like an opportunity I shouldn't miss. I was right.

Michael took over the helm in April 2009 after a 25-year run by Stacy Clark who helped establish Pine Ridge as a major brand. With 200 acres to play with, and 13 vineyards in 5 appellations, there is plenty of room for Micheal to make a strong mark on the wines, from field to glass. For the wines we tasted at Saison, his touch shows a sharp focus on terroir and individuality for each bottling. After spending the evening talking about his philosophy, I got the impression he is about to leave a strong fingerprint on all the wines of Pine Ridge, while keeping people like me, who has been buying Pine Ridge wines since the 1980s, and their loyal wine club members, happy.

I'm not a score keeper or follower, but I'm sure he is also coming on board to raise what seem to be less-than-stunning scores in the major publications over the past several years. That is already paying off, because our group was the next to taste these wines after Parker and his scores were very good for the 2009s, especially for my 3 favorites of the night, the 2009 Rutherford Cabernet, the 2009 Stag's Leap Cabernet, and the 2009 Fortis. This follows good scores for the 2008s as well, so I'm sure he'll keep the momentum going. 

Dinner at Saison was a post in itself, but the main theme was pairing with a lot of big Cabernets. And what better than a huge slab of rare lamb (I think cooked sous vide) followed by a slice or rare 28-day beef (amazing, but needed better trimming). Starters to go with the 2009 Dijon Clones Chardonnay were a tasty radish concoction followed by a shot of foamy parsnip puree with a few pearls of salmon roe (really delicious). 

Tasting Notes:

We arrived to a glass of the 2010 CBV (Chenin Blanc/Viognier) from Clarksburg. This is a wine I'm very familar with, and I should say the change starts here. Michael had the Chenin Blanc brought in with very low brix (19) and the Viognier at normal brix which yields a wine of delightful crispness. Usually, this is a pretty fat wine, and just to jog my memory, I opened a 2009 yesterday to confirm. The 2010 blend still has the nice body that the viognier brings, but with a bright, food-friendly acid hit. 

2009 Pine Ridge Cabernets (all barrel samples)

2009 Pine Ridge Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon- For the technical: 76% Cab, 4% Petit Verdot, 6% Merlot, 4% Malbec (all from estate fruit). Most of the grapes are from Stag's Leap and Rutherford this year. This has some nice dense black fruit and a nice boysenberry overtone. Oak is still forward at this point. The blend makes this have a nice wildness to it, spicy and vigorous. In a couple of years this will be great with a nice steak.

2009 Pine Ridge Rutherford Cabernet Sauvignon - 75% Cabernet, 13% Malbec (!) 7% Petit Verdot, 4% Merlot, 1% Cab Franc. This is a bit more floral and light, depite the big dose of Malbec. It has a bit of cherry pie on it and very fine tannins. This was one of my favorites. Recommended

2009 Pine Ridge Oakville Cabernet Sauvignon- 96% Cabernet, 4% Petit Verdot. Pretty tannic at this stage, but ultimately very elegant. I think the blend here speaks for itself. The wine is full-on cabernet with a touch of nice minerals and herbs coming form the small amount of Petit Verdot. Delicious.

2009 Pine Ridge Stag's Leap Cabernet Sauvignon  100% Cabernet and it shows. This was my favorite of the barrel tastes. It's tight now, and full of licorice and spice but the tension will be released with age. Pine Ridge has made it's name with Stag's Leap fruit and  I feel Michael Beaulac is making a statement here that the wines of Pine Ridge are rooted in Stag's Leap and this wine should be as pure an expression of Stag's Leap fruit as it can be. Highly recommended. 

2009 Pine Ridge  Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon - 100% Cabernet. The spiciest and most tannic of the bunch, and in a lot of ways the most distinctive. It has a green pepper or herbaceousness to it that sets it apart from the others. Recommended.

2009 Pine Ridge Fortis - 100% Cabernet Sauvignon. This is solely made from Rutherford and Stag's Leap fruit this year (53% and 48% respectively). This is a massive wine, even at this early stage, dense and grand. This was my other favorite and it's highly recommended.

Dinner Wines: 

2008 Pine Ridge Chardonnay Dijon Clones - Tense and delicious. They have developed a method of non-invasive batonage where they spin the barrels with a machine so they don't aerate the wine. It makes for a delicious, unctuous wine that has a lovely freshness to it. Great with the parsnip puree.

2008 Pine Ridge Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvign0n - I loved this with the steak. It has super-fine tannins and a vital acid backbone that makes the flavor pop over something like an intensely flavored meat. 

2008 Pine Ridge Rutherford Cabernet Sauvignon - 95% Cabernet, 4% Petit Verdot, 1% Merlot. This is a pretty wine right now and I would serve this with something like a duck breast or pork chop. 

2008 Pine Ridge Fortis - 81% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Merlot, 7% Malbec, 2% Petit Verdot. The Cab for this is made up of 57% Rutherford, 26% Oakville, 9% Carneros and 8% Stag's Leap. This is a wine to linger over. At this point, it's showing oak and muscle and with a few years should show itself to be a real beauty. This was a great pairing with the 28-day beef. Highly recommended. 

 

Disclosure - This was an event sponsored by Pine Ridge's PR firm.

 

 

 

 

 

 

1991 Chave Ermitage Cuvée Cathelin Dinner at Chez Panisse Cafe

It's an excedingly rare opportunity to taste this wine and an even rarer treat to share a whole bottle with great friends in the best cafe in the world, Chez Panisse. Thanks to my frequent gastro-traveling companion "O", of Notes and Scones fame, there was a reunion of sorts with our friend Joe with whom we went to France in 2005 on the tasting trip of a lifetime.  

One of the highlights of that trip was to visit Gérard Chave in Mauves and taste through the 2003s in the component barrels as well as his stunning White Hermitages and the finished 2002 Hermitage out of the tank. As generous as M. Chave is, he wasn't about to break out the Cuvée Cathelin for us. He only makes 2500 bottles or so and as such, the prices have reached the heavens.

The Cuvée Cathelin is named for the artist who created the label, and M. Chave actually claims that it was the artist's idea first and Chave made the wine for the label! It's a different beast than J. L. Chave's regular Hermitage, more profound and influenced by new oak, which is usually eschewed by the domaine. I have read that M. Chave has mixed feelings about these wines as he generally eschews new oak. As we were tasting through the barrels in 2005 he said "I hate new oak! Here...let's try some!" Funny guy. I suspect this went into the Cathelin.

Here's a good link to a profile of Chave in Decanter.

Tasting notes:

2001 Jean-Louis Chave Ermitage "Cuvée Cathelin"

A great wine holds within it a sense of place. Because I'm lucky enough to have visited the cave where this wine was created, my memories of the scent of the place came rushing back to me with one whiff. This is a wildly exotic wine, filled with cocao dust, coffee, and earthy minerality, bifurcated by gushes of ripe fruit and mouth-watering acidity. Spiced notes of black pepper and 5-spice powder mix with a dense flavor of raspberries. The finish goes on for minutes. Probably the most perfect bottle of wine I have ever tasted. It has layers upon layers of complexity with nothing and everything popping out to the forefront. Stunning.

Dinner was delicious as usual at Chez P. We started with some amazing chicory salad with persimmens and pomegrate, then the beautiful nettle and ricotta salata pizza (which has become a cafe staple, like the goat cheese salad).

We had a mid-course treat from the kitchen --the featured dish was sausages with saurkraut and crispy potatoes. Since this would have been a wine-killer, the kitchen made us the sausages with chanterelles, celery root, and kale. Our friend, Jonathan, picked out a beauiful white for us from the Loire: 

2006Domaine de Bellivière "Les Rosiers" It's almost briny. I could smell the flinty soil it was grown in. Organic, small amount of new oak. 10 year old vines, fruits and flowers. 100% Chenin Blanc. A lovely and extremely complex wine. Recommended.

With the Chave, all three of us had a lovely chicken stew with peppers.

 

 

Two Great New SF Spots: Bar Agricole and Radius

I was excited to get an invite to the opening of a beautiful new bar and restaurant on 11th street, next door to the venerable Slim's, called Bar Agricole. The space has two components, a patio/terrace that surrounds the front entry that will soon be a small oasis of filled planter boxes, herbs, and flowers, as well as the restaurant itself. It was an opening, so we only got a sampling of the food to come, but what we had was tasty, modern, and artisan-crafted. Perfect gougeres, lamb chops with romanesco sauce, killer local melon with perfect prosciutto and drops of balsamic, home-made pickles...it all points to homey accompaniment to their superb cocktails.

We started with a small-batch whiskey cocktail with orange bitters, cane syrup in a glass with an enormous ice cube from a special super-cold icemaker was simply spectacular. Next was the grower-tequilla cocktail with grenadine, bitters, syrup, sour mix, and some home made thai bird's eye chili bitters. The chili tickles the back of the throat to make this an intriguing concoction.

I'm sure we could have stayed and filled up on the tasty bits they were passing around, but we also wanted to try another new restaurant, Radius, that opened up in the old Julie's Supper Club space on Folsom between 7th and 6th.

Julie's has been remodeled into a modern, clean, farm-house kind of vibe inside which fits the strict locavore theme to the new Radius. The restaurant is split in to two sections, with a main restaurant and a cafe that is also open for both  lunch  and dinner. The Chef trained at Alain Ducasse in NY, yet keeps it simple and elegant, not overly complicated and fussy.  

We started with the excellent Sweetbreads Meuniere with a ragout of swiss chard, tomatoes, and veal jus and the Homemade Gnocci with Maitake Mushrooms, both amazing. The sweetbreads were delicately prepared, braised-not-sauteed and the gnocci were pillows of potatoes with amazing maitakes. One test of a great chef is their chicken, which can be revelatory like the chicken at Radius. Here it's a roasted half chicken with carrots, spinach, hen-of-the-woods mushrooms, and lovage infused chicken sauce served in a cast iron skillet. The chicken is impossibly tender and perfectly cooked, crispy skin and sublime sauce. A must try when you go. The slow-roasted boneless short ribs in a red wine reduction served over local goat cheese polenta was also perfect and comforting. Word is that the chocolate and vanilla profiteroles with chocolate sauce and almonds is great as well, though I didn't taste it. (Stupid nut allergy!)

The wine list is all Napa and Sonoma, which for someone like me is a bit annoying, as this food cries out for French country wines and burgundies. That being said, the list is very well priced and it's easy to find a good bottle for a very good price --uncommon for such a fine restaurant. We had the 2008 Mary Elke Pinot Noir 
Donnelley Creek Vineyard, Anderson Valley. This is a good cold-clime pinot that is light and fruity, not super deep or complex, but delicious and a steal at $38.

Both Radius and Bar Agricole are highly recommended. At Radius, ask for Frederic, he's parfait!

Residual Sugar: New Wine Bar Worth Checking Out in Walnut Creek

The eagerly awaited Residual Sugar wine bar and retail space has finally opened in Walnut Creek and it's off to a good start. I went in tonight to see what the buzz is all about and left with the feeling that it has definitely has something special to offer the 925. I'm already plotting my next excuse for a visit.

Owner, Jim Telford,  grew up in the East Bay and has been honing his palate and getting ready to open his own place for many years. He's got a passion for the Old Country and hopes to share his passion with those in the area that maybe have cut their teeth on more California-centric fare. I think with the right wines and the right guidance from his staff, he'll have a hit on his hands. Walnut Creek has a pretty high end bar scene once the sun goes down, and it's going to be a learning experience figuring out a good balance between good New World wines that are very forward and bringing people into the Old World fold. I couldn't help but suggest to Jim to get some good educational programs going. How are you going to know to dive into the Burgundy if you haven't been exposed to it? (First of all, you need to build trust). On the wall and in his reserve cooler, he's got some great mature wines, but he needs to break these out and turn some newbies onto the good stuff. Lots of professionals work close by, so whetting those palates will pay off in terms of loyal customers.

I scanned the WBTG (wine by the glass) list and my eyes were drawn to a Pinot Grigio from Aldo Adige, full of minerals and the sea, but decidedly New World in its winemaking program. It was a weighty wine, and reminded me of the fine Pinot Grigios from Luna in Napa, always my first stop on the Silverado Trail. Like a good Gelato shop, you can ask for a taste of something new to you and they will oblige –they really do want you to like what you're getting a generous pour of. My lovely wife tried a few things before settling on the meaty Frank Family Chardonnay 2008, decidedly big California, but a well crafted wine.

If you live in the 925 or coming to one of the many excellent restaurants, plan to come an hour early and spend some time at Residual Sugar. I hope you do because we need more places passionate about wine to enjoy a glass after work.

Thanksgiving Wine of the Night: 2005 Scherrer Russian River Pinot Noir

As usual, our family and friends popped a lot of good bottles for Thanksgiving this year and Fred Scherrer's 2005 Russian River Pinot rose to the top of the list last night. I went to Fred's open house at the winery in Sebastapol near Graton last weekend and had Fred pick something that he liked and he found a magnum of this one. The way Fred put it, he liked the "place it was in right now", and I have to agree. It is showing really beautifully right now, bright and vivacious. This is a clean, balanced wine with all the best attributes of the Russian River Pinots. The nose is full of cherries with a touch of citrus peel, the perfect foil for a Thanksgiving feast. 

It was showing better than a couple other amazing Pinots, the 1997 Corton from Chateau Grancey and the 2003 St. Innocent Willamette Valley.

Dessert was an amazing array of pies and homemade ice creams so I opened a 2001 Chateau de Cosse Sauternes that was also in a good spot. The de Cosse is not the most complex of Sauternes, but it is also less heavily sulphured on the nose than a lot of other Sauternes.