The Netflix of wine

"Wine of the Month" clubs have never really appealed to me. Although the Forrest Gump "you never know what you are gonna get" factor may be exciting to some people, I prefer to know what bottles I'll be drinking. Add to that the fact that shipping often costs almost as much as the monthly fee, and it's no wonder that I would rather head to local wine shops.

Enter WineQ. This wine by mail club can pretty much be described as Netflix for wine lovers. You sign up (membership is $4.95) per month, and set up a queue of wines that you would like to order. If you spend $35 or more per order, shipping is free. The wines are mostly CA boutique wines, but there is a decent selection and price range. The site offers a free three month trial subscription, and soon there will be a "Friends" section, so (like Netflix) you can see what your friends are drinking, and what they think of each wine. This whole process is a very cool concept.

Of course, because of the silly interstate shipping laws when it comes to alcohol, not all wineries will ship to all states, and only certain states will allow shipments at all. You can find out all the info and more on the website's FAQ.

A new rose from one of my favorite producers...

I received a press release the other day from one of my favorite wineries, Washington's Chateau St. Michelle, that they are now have a new offering--a dry rose. The spring and summer months are the perfect time to enjoy this style of wine, which has the best of both worlds--the acidity of a crisp white, and the red berries and some of the weight of a red. It's just great to enjoy on the deck with a simple grilled dinner, or to take on a picnic.

The wine has started to ship to MD, but is not yet available in DC or VA. However, a rep for CSM told me that it should start popping up in stores where other CSM Columbia Valley wines are sold. I can't wait... In the meantime, here is some info from the press release to tempt your taste buds:

Pink is hot!
“Our Nellie’s Garden Dry Rose was a big hit when we offered it exclusively to our Vintage Reserve Club members last year and the Dry Rose category is experiencing tremendous growth right now,” says Jan Barnes, marketing director for Chateau Ste. Michelle.

The name, Nellie’s Garden, honors Nellie Stimson whose passion for gardening created the beautiful estate gardens at the Chateau in Woodinville. The wine is a unique collaboration between Chateau Ste. Michelle’s red winemaking team at Canoe Ridge Estate in eastern Washington and the white winemaking team at its Woodinville Chateau, located outside of Seattle.

“The winemaking staff is proud of this wine because it is a total team effort,” says Chateau Ste. Michelle head winemaker Bob Bertheau. “We receive the Syrah fruit at our Canoe Ridge Estate red wine facility where Joshua Maloney, our red winemaker, gives it just enough skin contact for the perfect color. Then we drain the juice off the skins and turn it over to our Woodinville white wine cellar, where we cold ferment most of the juice like a white to keep all those fresh fruit and floral aromas. The wine shows beautiful fruit aromas and flavors of strawberry, cherry, raspberry with subtle spice notes. It’s ideal for spring and summer barbecues. I like to call it the perfect “deck wine.”

Chateau Ste. Michelle executive chef Janet Hedstrom enjoys the food-friendly nature of new Dry Rose. “Some of our favorite dishes to pair with the Dry Rose include an apple fennel slaw with a Dijon dressing, pork tenderloin with cherry relish, and butternut squash and bacon pizza,” says Hedstrom. “Picnic foods are great with this wine as well, such as Dijon and thyme roasted chicken, and pasta salad and potato salad, as long as they have some acidity to them.” (Chef Hedstrom’s recipes available upon request)

Cold snap damages VA grape buds. Bad, or good?

The Daily Progress in Charlottesville has reported that the recent cold snap has damaged some crops in Central Virginia, including vineyards. Bad news? Depends on the crop...

Keep in mind what the article goes on to point out--the loss of some grapes is not often a bad thing. On the contrary, less yields can mean more concentrated fruit, which can lead to better tasting wine. Winemakers will often thin out their crops on purpose to attain the same goal--the remaining grapes have more concentrated and intense aromas and flavors.

It can affect the price per bottle, however. Winemakers have to make up for the loss somehow.

Let's hope that spring returns...for good...soon.

A mid-priced, versatile Bordeaux

I went out for dinner on Saturday night with my husband's family to celebrate his parents' 40th wedding anniversary (congratulations Pam and Jim!). We headed to The Manor House, a country French restaurant in Center Valley, Pennsylvania--one of their favorites.

Most of us ended up getting steak, everyone wanted to drink red, and, since the kids were footing the bill, we wanted to select wine that didn't break the bank... Although the wine list had lots of American selections, I wanted to stick with a French red to match the cuisine. We tried a 2001 Chateau Larose Trintaudon, and it proved to be an easy-drinking crowd pleaser.

Made with 60%/40% Cab/Merlot, it had approachable tannins that paired with our filet mignon as well as scallops and lobster. The fruit profile was very "Bordeaux-like": not all that fruit forward, but some subtle cherry aromas and flavors, as well as some licorice and vanilla notes. The Manor House sells it for $35 a bottle, but I checked it out online, and it goes for $15-$20. Not a bad price for an everyday Bordeaux.

A post-Easter recipe for all of those colored eggs (and what to drink with it...)

If you end up with a lot of extra colored eggs after Easter and are looking for a way to use them up, here's a recipe for a delicious alternative to the standard egg salad. My husband and I have made this for years and love it. I don't have amounts for anything because it's all pretty much "to taste":

Curried Egg Salad

Hard boiled eggs
Mayonnaise
Finely chopped red onion (or chopped green onion)
Chopped cilantro
Curry powder
Salt
Pepper

Shell the eggs. Cut them in half lengthwise, scoop out the yolks, and chop the whites. Put all into a medium-sized bowl. Add enough mayonnaise to hold the eggs together and keep the yolks from tasting too dry. Add the rest of the ingredients. Stir gently to mix.

This tastes delicious on toasted wheat bread, or on freshly baked Naan or pita bread. It's even good on crackers like Wheat Thins. You can garnish the sandwiches with thinly sliced cucumber, or with alfalfa sprouts.

Wash it all down with an off-dry Riesling from Chateau St. Michelle, Hogue or Dr. Konstantin Frank. Or enjoy it with Zardetto Prosecco.

Happy Easter!

Great Grapes

Those of you in the mid-Atlantic states looking for something to do outdoors may want to check out the upcoming Great Grapes festivals. Touted as "wine, arts and food" festivals, they give you the chance get a taste of some local wine, food and entertainment. Here are the dates for those in the DC area:

Reston, VA: Saturday, April 14
Cockeysville, MD: Saturday and Sunday, June 9 and 10
Annapolis, MD: Saturday and Sunday, July 28 and 29

**If you go to Cockeysville, check out the Crawdaddies and the Junkyard Saints for some great New Orleans/Zydeco music. I've seen both of these bands at other festivals and they are fun!

**And if you go to the Reston event, be sure to stop by Horton Vineyard's table--their current Viognier is fantastic. They also bottled a Pinotage this year--typically a grape that's only used in South Africa.

What's your Wine Style?

A welcome trend over the past several years has been making choosing wine less esoteric, and more approachable. Wine store chains like Best Cellars and Wine Styles have sprung up, where wines are grouped into categories like "bold", "oaky", and "crisp", rather than into varietals or regions of the world. As a result, wine lovers can use descriptive, everyday adjectives to figure out what they like in a wine, and find bottles that fit those profiles

Along those same lines is the book "Wine Style: Using Your Senses to Explore and Enjoy Wine", by Mary Ewing-Mulligan and Ed McCarthy. Ewing-Mulligan is the author of the "Wine for Dummies" series, and McCarthy is considered the leading U.S. expert on Champagne. Together, they take the reader through a journey of the senses, grouping white and red wines into 4 styles each, and rose and sparkling wines into 2 styles each, as they give a variety of examples and producers from which to choose. The writing style is as friendly as the wine categories they describe. And perhaps what's most important, the authors don't attempt to stereotype--they admit that exceptions to each style exist, and that wine styles are changing all over the world.

If you want to get a better handle on what you like, and why you like what you do, when it comes to wine, pick up a copy of Wine Style.

Sancerre and Pouilly Fume primer

Here is some info on 2 of my favorite white wine appellations: Sancerre and Pouilly Fume, in the Loire Valley, sent to me by the Loire Valley Wine Bureau. Although there are exceptions, wines from Pouilly Fume tend to be similar to Sauvignon Blanc's made in California, softer than those from Sancerre. Robert Mondavi was, after all, inspired to label his CA SBs "Fume Blanc" after he visited Pouilly Fume. Those from Sancerre are crisper, more acidic, "steely" and sometimes flinty/mineraly (depending on the soil), more like Sauvignon Blancs from New Zealand:

"The most famous of these appellations is Sancerre. Spread over 12 communes, the vineyards are planted to steep slopes that are sheltered from winds and receive favorable exposure. There are three unique soil types in Sancerre: Terres Blanches is compact chalk on top of kimmeridgean marl and produces somewhat bigger wines that allow longer aging; Les Caillottes is gravel and limestone and produces fragrant wines that are ready to drink when young; and flinty silex-clay soil produces wines with a strong mineral component that can suggest smoke. The vineyards cover 2,716 hectares, and the annual production of Sancerre Blanc is 130,800 hectoliters.

Just across the river from Sancerre is Pouilly Fumé, where Sauvignon Blanc is grown exclusively. The terroir of Pouilly Fumé is composed of limestone, silex, and clay soils. The latter component gives the wines a slightly rounder, creamier note than those from its neighbor, Sancerre. The vineyards cover 1,212 hectares and the annual production is about 74,000 hectoliters. The wines can age a year to eighteen months in bottle, and will continue to mature well after that. Fish, shellfish, and white meats are all excellent complements to the smoke and flint notes of Pouilly Fumé, whose structure and balance make it a good match for richer foods. "

Eggs-straordinary wines (sorry...)

I read with interest Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg's article in the Post Food section yesterday ("The Precarious Balance of Oak and Yolk"), which gave some great wine suggestions for egg dishes. One of their recommendations for "savory" egg dishes like omelets and frittatas is blanc de blancs Champagne. I wholeheartedly agree, and also would add Cava to that list--much more wallet-friendly for your Sunday brunch...

Another favorite wine of mine with eggs is Vouvray. This under-appreciated white from the Loire Valley is made with the Chenin Blanc grape. Flavors range from apple to peach, and styles from dry to dessert. My favorite style for egg dishes is off-dry, with a bit of prickle/fizz on the tongue. Delicate enough to match the lightness of things like scrambled eggs with smoked salmon, yet with enough body and flavors to to stand up to frittatas with ham and vegetables.

Vouvray is a winner for spring's bounty of produce, too.

Wine in the Sack

When I'm in the mood for a red wine, I rarely turn to Cabernet. It's not that I have anything against the grape, it's just that my taste tends to turn to other big reds, like Shiraz, Malbec or Zinfandel.

But a few weeks ago, I bought a bottle of Wine in the Sack 2003 Cabernet Sauvignon for 3 reasons: the wine clerk highly recommended it; the price was cheap enough ($10) to make me want to give it a shot; and the packaging and name were just too clever to pass up.

You see, the wine does come in a sack, (but of course you also can't overlook the double entendre...) Wine in the Sack is made in Chile's Colchagua Valley (value wine lovers, take note--there are great Merlots, Cabs and Carmeneres coming from here), and after glass bottles became the preferred vessel for wine back in the 1700's, winemakers starting wrapping bottles in burlap to protect against breakage. Today, it's a great marketing gimmick and conversation piece.

So how was the wine? Not bad for a Cab in that price range. Chewy but approachable tannins, dark cherry and plum flavors, and a bit of bitter chocolate on the finish. Great with a flank steak on the grill, or with perhaps the last beef stew of the season.

Spain's bright whites

Spain's reds from the Rioja region have long been popular in the U.S., and those from Priorat have been gaining ground as well. In terms of white wine from Spain, Albarino from the Rias Baixas region is finally getting its due, and the U.S. is now the number 1 importer of Albarino .

A bright, light white wine, Albarino is a great match for seafood, and is a suitable alternative to Pinot Grigio or an unoaked Chardonnay. It's typically unoaked to retain its zing, but sometimes it goes through malolactic fermentation to tame it a bit. And, like many light whites, it's best enjoyed within a year or two after bottling, before the attractive fruit and acidity fade.

Incidentally, Albarino is used in Portugal to make the light, sometimes fizzy but always fun Vinho Verde wine--a nice choice for warmer weather when you are looking for a wine with low alcohol.

My latest article on Wine Enthusiast's website

Here is an article I wrote about taking a day trip to Woodinville, WA, home of Chateau St. Michelle and Columbia wineries, Red Hook brewery and several eclectic restaurants.

Fashion for the wine lover?

I just caught this "offbeat" article on CNN.com:

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/03/15/australia.winedress.reut/index.html?eref=rss_offbeat

Gives new meaning to the term "organic fashion," doesn't it?

Pairing: Verdicchio and Fennel

I love cooking with fennel in the autumn and spring months. This fragrant ingredient is also called anise, and is full of the distinctive aroma and flavor of licorice. In autumn, I like to roast fennel and pair it with sauteed-yet-still-crisp haricots verts. In springtime, I saute fennel with pork loin chops, shallots, garlic and white wine. When you include it in recipes, remember to use only the white "bulb" part, not the stalks, as well as the fronds (good for garnishing.)

One wine that pairs really well with fennel-based dishes is Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi. Made in the Marche region of Italy from Verdicchio grapes, it's crisp and light, with lemon and fennel notes, a bit of "slatiness," and a slightly bitter finish. It goes especially well with the pork chop dish I like to make, and would pair equally well with a salad topped with thinly sliced raw fennel and a lemon vinaigrette, or with any light delicate white fish (I'm thinking cod or skate topped with capers and a lemon sauce...)

You'll recognize Verdicchio on the wine store shelf by its green amphora bottle. Look for producers Santa Barbara, Colonnara and Fazi Battaglia--all available at Total Wine stores.

Whole Foods Enoteca

Last week I checked out the new Whole Foods in Fair Lakes (a gorgeous store, by the way...complete with a gelato counter--so hard to find good gelato close to where I live.)

The store has a decent wine selection, but what's really cool is the upstairs wine loft's enoteca (reviewed in 3/7/07's Washington Post's food section). It's a small, intimate room surrounded by windows that has low lighting and dark wood tables. Purchase a debit card in any amount, insert it in a slot above the bottle of your choice, and then sample any of 80 wines--you can get a 1, 3 or 5 oz. pour. Many wine styles and price points are represented (including a $24 1 oz. sample of Chateau d'Yquem...). The wine stays fresh due to special tops that pump nitrogen into the bottles, preventing oxidation.

This is a great place to go with a small group of wine loving friends, or your wine club. You can sample wines that may be beyond your budget if you were to buy an entire bottle. You can also "try before you buy"--helpful if you are hosting a dinner party or special event and need to find that perfect wine. There are cards on the table that you can use to rate the wines you try, and you can also order some small nibbles to enjoy while you are tasting and evaluating.

A very cool idea.

Guinness or wine for St. Patrick's Day?

Being part Irish, I enjoy a pint or two of Guinness at any time of the year, not just around St. Patrick's Day. ("Guinness is a meal," after all.) But the demand for Guinness is slowing down in Ireland, while the demand for wine--at least with a meal--is increasing. People are starting to get specific, too, when requesting wine--asking for a varietal instead of just a "white wine," for example. Luckily for the makers of Guinness, sales aren't slowing down in other parts of the world, especially North America and parts of West Africa.

If you are making (or going out for...) corned beef and cabbage this weekend to celebrate St. Pat's day, what should you drink with this favored Irish dish? I like to boil mine with cabbage, carrots and lots of pickling spices, and then enjoy it with spicy mustard. If you are preparing it that way and want a red wine to drink with it, then I would recommend either a spicy red (Malbec or Shiraz), or a dry or off-dry Gewurztraminer. The bit of spiciness in those wines will pair with the pickling spices and mustard. You also can't go wrong with a fruity, young Rioja. Remember that corned beef is not as heavy or "beefy" as, say, a steak or pot roast, so a lighter red would be lovely.

Whatever you decide to drink, Happy St. Patrick's Day! Slainte!!!

A Reserve Syrah and a good luck dinner...

A few years ago when my brother (a flight surgeon in the Navy) was stationed in Bremerton, Washington, my husband and I took a trip out to see him. We spent lots of time in nearby Seattle, and took a day trip to Woodinville--site of Chateau St. Michelle and Columbia Crest wineries, as well as Red Hook brewery and brewpub and a host of trendy, eclectic restaurants.

We did the reserve tasting at Chateau St. Michelle, and brought back a few bottles. (Their grounds are gorgeous, by the way, and the winery is housed in an actual "chateau"--definitely worth a visit if you are in the area...or even if you aren't.) One of the wines we bought was the 2001 Columbia Valley Reserve Syrah.

My brother's stationed in Hawaii right now, but he's being deployed to Iraq next month to be the primary physician for the Marines he's been working with. He visited us this past week before leaving in April for 7 months, and I figured what better time to open the bottle of Reserve Syrah than the evening before he left. We enjoyed it with filet mignon with Demi-Glace, sauteed mushrooms and onions and grilled asparagus.

The wine was opulent and intense, with lots of dark berries, and a dark ruby color, and it finished with a bit of chocolate.

A votre sante, RJ. Here's to your health and safety. Be careful over there, and come home soon.

2006 Spy Valley Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc

I know it may seem like I am always waxing poetic about my love for New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc, but what can I say? I haven't met one that I don't like. It's my favorite white varietal right now--so food-friendly and refreshing. I love the grassy, herby and citrusy notes.

This past weekend, I tried the 2006 Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand winery Spy Valley. Last year, when I attended the NZ trade tasting in DC, I had the pleasure of attending a sit down tasting of NZ Pinots facilitated by Spy Valley winemaker Ant Mackenzie, and then chatting with him a bit afterwards after Spy Valley wines, and NZ wines in general.

Ant wasn't at the DC festival this past weekend, but a woman representing NZ wineries said that Ant thinks the 2006 Sauvignon Blanc is one of their best recent vintages. I couldn't agree more.--the wine stopped me dead in my tracks. There is a lot of passionfruit on the nose, followed by lime and some "flintiness" on the palate. The acidity is balanced by fruit and weight (due to ageing on the lees...), and it's just an overall damn fantastic wine.

If you enjoy NZ Sauvignon Blanc, run, do not walk, to your nearest wine store and grab a case of this gem.

A Standout Riesling from Down Under

One of the best whites I tried this past weekend at the DC Int'l Food and Wine Festival was a 2004 Tamar Ridge Riesling from Tasmania. It had a very indicative floral nose, along with apples, pears and minerals on the palate. The wine finished bone dry, and would be a perfect accompaniment to Easter ham, Thai curries, pork loin. And it would also be perfect on its own on the patio this spring or summer. Tasmania's cool climate keeps the wine's acidity high, resulting in an amazingly refreshing white.

This wine is imported by Robert Whale, and you can find it at Church Street Cellars in Vienna for $20.

Weekend of wine...

I went to the Grand Cru tasting at the DC Food and Wine Festival on Friday evening, as well as the trade portion of the tasting on Sunday afternoon. This week I'll be posting some reviews and vendor info from the show.

Stay tuned...