Archive for the ‘Wine’ Category

So you bought a bottle of wine you do not care for. It happens. It does not mean the wine is bad. It just means it is not to your taste. Sometimes, a New York Riesling, a California Riesling, and a German Riesling can be so very different as to be three completely different varietals even though they were made using the same grapes and the same methods.

In addition, yes, every so often you might find a bottle that really is not fit to drink for some reason. Maybe it was a bad year. Maybe it was a small batch made to certain specifications by a very small winery, and it did not turn out as expected. Regardless, you have a bottle on the shelf that you spent good money on, and it is a shame to let it go to waste. What do you do?

It depends on what kind of wine you have. If you have a red wine, the obvious choice is a cacciatore or a chasseur, otherwise known as Burgundy Beef.

Burgundy beef is relatively simple to make. It looks impressive, and only requires a few ingredients.

Burgundy Beef

What You Need:

• one pound of beef
• three cups red wine
• one pound button mushrooms
• one medium onion
• 2 cloves garlic
• butter for cooking cooked noodles

How to Make It:

Put the beef in the freezer until it is partially frozen. Slice it very thinly with a very sharp knife. It should be almost paper thin. Set the meat aside while you prepare the rest of the food.

Wipe [do not wash] the mushrooms and cut them into thick slices. Cut the onion into thin slices. Crush the garlic in a press. Put the onion and garlic in a heavy skillet with some butter. Stir constantly as it cooks, until the onion is transparent. Add the beef and cook quickly, until it is barely pink. Add the mushrooms and stir until they are beginning to cook.

Reduce the heat to low and add the wine. Allow to simmer, never boil, for at least half an hour. Taste. Correct the seasoning with some Creole seasoning, a bit of soy sauce, salt and pepper as desired. Cook until reduced at least by one half.

Serve over cooked egg noodles with crusty bread.

You can make a similar dish by substituting chicken or turkey and white wine. With either dish, make sure it never boils. An old German saying, “meat that boils is meat that spoils” is spot on when applied to this sort of dish.

Make sure the sauce simmers, just below the boil as it reduces, and thickens. If it does not thicken to your satisfaction, you can rely on a bit of cornstarch. Mix a bit of the wine with a heaping tablespoon of corn starch.

Add the corn starch and wine a few tablespoons at a time until it reaches the desired consistency. If you are forced to use cornstarch, it is best to increase the heat. However, if you do, spoon out the meat to a bowl, then turn the fire up.

California wines are a good choice for cooking, because they are reasonably priced. Use your California wine guide from your local supplier to choose a wine to pair in a dish.

Explore California Wine Country Through Its Food and Drink – CaliforniaWineGuide.org

Regardless of where a winery is located, whether in Napa, Sonoma, or Pittsburgh, they all have one thing in common: they are glad to have guests come to taste. Many of these tastings are free, others will charge a nominal fee, anywhere from ten dollars to thirty-five. The price differential is usually dependant on what food pairings they offer. So, how do you decide? What are your plans? Some of the wineries offer a bed and breakfast deal, where you can

go spend the night and not have to worry about just how much tasting you do. Most wineries do not pour a “taste,” but a full glass. Three or four tastes and the average driver is over the legal limit. It is not worth a suspended license for a few free glasses of wine, no matter how good they are. Unless you have a native willing to chauffeur you around, driving yourself may not be the best idea. Not only could you risk a DUI charge, you could wind up lost and wandering about strange back roads and having flashes of bad summer horror movies.

Check with the local chambers of commerce when you are planning your trip. Chambers can be a wealth of information about bus tours, and sometimes limo tours. They will be able to provide you with telephone numbers and possible schedules, as well as prices.

Consider your traveling companions when you plan your trip. Are you going tasting with a significant other? Then you may want to look at the wineries affiliated with a B&B. Or at least arrange for a room nearby in a nice hotel. Going with a more organized group? Then a bus tour would be great. The busses usually provide not only transportation but also special tours once you arrive, and discounts in the gift shops, and the prices are generally all inclusive.

If you are planning on touring several wineries with one or two good friends, or maybe a group for a “hen party” before a wedding, rent a limo. The driver will know the best places to visit, can sometimes get you private tours and private tastings, and the price is generally based on pre-quoted by the hour charges. The driver’s tip depends on how well he or she shows you around.

So, take your time planning your trip. A couple hours of planning can be the make or break of your day. Take the time to look at all the options, and choose which one is best for you. Do not just base your trip on the price. Consider the value for the money as well as the amount you will spend. You will not be sorry.

Napa Valley wine tours give you a good opportunity to not only to taste the area’s wines, but to sight-see. California wines can take you from Germany to France and Spain, without ever leaving the West Coast.

Explore California Wine Country Through Its Food and Drink – CaliforniaWineGuide.org

When you think of California wines, most people think of what amounts to soda pop wine: drinkable, not half bad, but not memorable. You could not be more wrong.

Oh sure, there are wines that are nondescript, slightly dry or slightly sweet, that are not too bad, but not too good either. For the same price, or a dollar or two more, you can find very good California wines, but you must be willing to explore.

Gallo Family Wines are a good example. Many of us remember the Gallo Brothers wine, advertised by a nice Italian man riding a white horse through a vineyard. In the best tradition of American wines after Prohibition, it came in red and white, and bore little resemblance to the Italian original. The family still makes the old standby, but they also have their own line of slightly higher priced, but still very reasonable, varietals, that have competed against their European counterparts and have taken multiple gold medals.

A lesser known winery, Crane Lake, has introduced some very nice wines, including German, Italian, and French varietals which cost far less than many of their California or even New York competitors. A glass of Crane Lake Moscato, when placed side by side with a glass of Italian Moscato, is equal to, if not better, than the imported bottle. Crane Lake’s Riesling is as good as any moderately priced German-produced drink. At five bucks a bottle, even if you use it for cooking, it is a wonderful buy.

One word about fine wines. Please do not judge the quality of the wine by the bottle. Yes, some vintners spend a lot of money on label and bottle design. The appearance of the label or the shape of the bottle will not tell you how good the wine inside is. Sometimes, the simple packaging can hold the biggest surprise. Perhaps these producers have decided to spend their money on putting the best product on the shelf, rather than in marketing.

Also, do not judge a wine by the manner in which the bottle is sealed. Some wineries, in an effort to be more green, have eschewed corks in favor of metal or plastic screw caps. It may not be as classy to undo a screw cap, as it is to demonstrate your deftness with a corkscrew. Then again, with a cap, you do not have to worry about picking bits of cork out of your glass, or finding the wine “corked,” when the wine takes on the flavor the cork. If you are afraid your guests may be offended by a screw cap, decant the wine in the kitchen. At least you can be secure in the fact that a tree did not have to go naked in order to seal up your bottle.

California fine wines need not be expensive or fancy looking. Some of the best California wines come in relatively plain bottles for a very reasonable price.

Explore California Wine Country Through Its Food and Drink – CaliforniaWineGuide.org

California Wine County is pretty much the entire state. There are vineyards from north of Sacramento to the Mexican border. Sure, some areas have a more active wine industry, and some regions, such as Napa and Lodi, are better known for the quality of their vines. That does not mean they cannot produce fine wines.

Santa Barbara not only has a booming wine industry, but there are at least two small family vineyards there that will provide especially labeled bottles for special events, such as weddings and birthdays. How memorable would it be to present guests at a 50th wedding anniversary party with a bottle of Chablis with “Bob and Carol’s Gold Label 50 Years Wine?” Alternatively, maybe “Ted and Alice Thank You For Celebrating Their Special Day” and the date of their nuptials. Not exactly cheap at $15 a bottle, but it would be a lovely gift for newlyweds to receive a case of their very own vintage to be enjoyed one a year for 12 years.

Lodi, home to Woodbridge and Robert Mondavi wineries, is home to many other wineries, many of which provide generic wines to be added to blended varietals by larger producers.

Further south, you will find the reds of the hotter climate found in Los Angeles and its environs. As in Europe, red wines are more traditionally found in Southern Italy and Spain are produced in and around Los Angeles. White wines, as in Germany and the Alsaçe region of France, are best from Northern California. That is not to say that these areas cannot produce fine wines of other varieties, but they are better known for the grapes best produced according to their climate.

When you decide to make a pilgrimage to the region of your choice, look at what is going on at the time. If you go in September or October, you could well be in time for The Crush, the time when the primary harvest occurs, and the grapes are brought in almost by the boxcar load. Some wineries offer a “stomp,” when, for a price, you can strip off your shoes and sox and go knee deep in grapes a la Lucille Ball in the grape stomping episode.

Never fear, the resulting juice is not put into wines for production. After all, they do not know where you feet have been. However, it could surely be fun to feel them squishing up between your toes. The wineries also have festivals, with live music, food, hay rides and sometimes pony and horseback riding. Sometimes there is a charge, but more often than not, it is free, and the tasting room is gratis as well.

California winemakers put out pamphlets for their tastings and special events. You can find regional maps online which will show you how to get there and what to do. Have a visit, have fun, have a taste, and buy a bottle if you are so disposed.

California wine country is a wonderful place to visit and to spend time. California wines not only taste good, but also they make excellent gifts and can be personalized for the recipients.

Explore California Wine Country Through Its Food and Drink – CaliforniaWineGuide.org

When one thinks of wine they often think of France, Spain, Germany, and in the last few years Australia and California, but curiously not Mexico. However, wine making in Mexico is not something that is new it has in fact been a staple industry of Mexico since not long after Hernan Cortes became its first Governor under the auspices of Spain. In fact Cortes ordered the growing of grapes for wines and in addition to planting European vines, which grew quite well in Mexico’s climate Cortes also discovered a native grapevine. The wine industry is currently flourishing in seven Mexican states.

When one needs to make a choice as to what kind of wine they are going to serve they first need to consider what the wine is going to be served with. This is true not only of Mexican wine, but of any wines no matter where they are from. As a general rule of thumb, red wines are served with pork occasionally as well as with beef, while white wines are usually served with fowl such as chicken, quail, and pheasant in addition to seafood. This rule is a good one to follow however; there are occasions where you can ignore this rule particularly if you are using the wine as a cooking ingredient.

Mexico has some well-known and very nice red wine labels that taste great that you should consider trying and maybe even serving to family or friends at your next meal or party. Monte Xanic produces a very nice 1994 Cabernet Frank that is very similar in structure to a Cabernet Sauvignon in structure, while having more softness and a lot less acidity than the Cabernet Sauvignon. The L.A. Cetto vineyard has a very nice 1994 Nebbiolo that has a great balance and body in addition to a very intense color. If you want something light and fresh, try the Chateau Camou 1996 Flor de Guadalupe Clarete.

When it comes to white wines the Monte Xanic vineyard does not disappoint here either. Both the Monte Xanic 1995 Chardonnay and their 1996 Chenin-Colombard are at the top of the food chain in the white wine category. The Chardonnay features pear, apple, honey, and butter in abundance in this flavorful wine, while the Chenin-Colombard has a nose that that reminds you of tropical fruits and sweet aromatic flowers. The fine folks at the Valmar winery have a very good and modestly priced Chenin-Blanc with a nice equilibrium and good acidity.

Here is a wonderful idea for a beverage if you are throwing a party try serving Sangria. Sangria is a relatively inexpensive wine punch that is unoaked, which means that this wine has spent no time in a cask. Usually this beverage is made with a red wine that is young, dry, light, and acidic, although it is sometimes made with a white wine such as a chardonnay and is known as Sangria Blanca. More often than not Sangria is served with fresh fruit pieces thinly sliced or cubed and allowed to sit in the wine for a bit before it is served with any remaining additions to the mix such as liqueur and ice.

When serving up tasty wines, make sure you have some great Mexican food to go with them. Look for wonderful Cinco de Mayo recipes that you can make and enjoy too.

MexicanDessertRecipes.net The Sweet Side of Mexican Food