Recently I attended "Counter Culture: Fizz-tivity," a wine and food pairing dinner at my local
Whole Foods Market. Every month these dinners are held at the Osteria, a free standing cafe within the specialty foods department which serves fresh prepared foods to customers at a long, curved counter - thus the event name. December was all about
sparkling wines getting everyone well prepared for the holidays.
Sparkling wine is an interesting segment of the wine world. Many of us think of sparkling wine as something only for special occasions - anniversaries and New Years Eve. Unfortunately that means that everyone only gets to enjoy it twice, maybe three times a year. Isn't that just utterly disappointing? Luckily there are many different styles and types of sparkling wines to suit any occasion and this dinner was a perfect opportunity to explore them.
We started with a cheese course consisting of
Robiola, a sheep and cow's milk soft cheese, served with dried currants, fresh raspberries, and almonds. Paired to this was a special beverage called
Deus Brut de Flandres Cuvée Prestige 2006. Surprisingly not a wine at all, this was a specialty Belgian Ale which is unique in that it follows the
Traditional method for making Champagne. This barley ale was a light straw color with aromas of ripened pear and honey. The pairing with the cheese board was great, and I can understand why they market this as "the
Dom Perignon of beer." Check out the brewer's lively website here:
Brewery BosteelsAfter our cheese and Belgian/French ale we transitioned to a more Mediterranean course with
Presto Prosecco Brut ($10.99) served with a zippy roasted tomato fondue.
Prosecco is an Italian white variety and is used to make really fun sparkling wines. The Presto was gold in color and had fresh aromas including citrus, yellow apple, and pear. A dry wine with similar flavors it offered nice crisp acidity which simultaneously paired very well with the acid from the tomatoes and cleansed the creaminess of the cheese from my palate. For the price this is a great wine to serve to friends. It's mild-mannered and easy to drink - definitely a great everyday bubbly to consider.
Next up on to French Champagne with
Nicolas Feuillatte Brut Extrem' ($39.99) paired with pan seared pierogies with spinach, fontal, and roasted pear. Sadly the first two bottles we opened were
corked but the third was in much better quality. Nothing you can do, right? I'd say create a synthetic Champagne cork but the French would never go for it. Golden in color with aromas of citrus, cooked apple, almond, and a soft yeastiness. The best match from our dish with this Chardonnay was the poached pear, making a perfect compliment to the lemon and citrus flavors. This makes for a great sparkling wine to pair with food.
An American-made rosé accompanied the next course,
Gruet Brut Rosé ($17.99) made by
Gruet Winery in New Mexico. Clear and with a soft salmony pink, this wine boasted mostly red fruit aromas like raspberry and cranberry with softer fragrances of apple and grapefruit. As expected from the nose I wasn't disappointed by the crisp acidity from this wine. More of the red fruits and a soft citrus made this Chardonnay and Pinot Noir blend very refreshing. The paired dish offered grilled swordfish, winter greens, root vegetables, and a blood orange reduction. Very, very cool! This was probably the best pairing of the entire dinner.
Our fifth wine was another French Champagne from Bouzy,
Jean Vesselle Oeil de Perdrix ($42.99). This was paired with chicken and boursin roulade, proscuitto, ratatouille crepe and reduced cream. The Oeil de Perdrix is a
blanc de noir (white from black) Champagne made entirely from Pinot Noir grapes, so it has a very pleasant peach color. Aromas were concentrated around tart stone fruit (peach, apricot), apple, citrus and raspberry. It also had a distinct minerality, offering a nice sense of
terroir. The rich ratatouille crepe and reduced cream stood up well to the crisp acidity, full body, and refreshing citrus on the palate. This was my second favorite pairing of the evening.
The final course of walnut encrusted lamb chops with green lentils, beet, and feta salad was paired by the intriguing Australian
Shingleback Black Bubbles Sparkling Shiraz ($24.99). Deep purple ruby with very small bubbles made for one of the more interesting sparkling wines I've seen. The aromas were reminiscent of any other big Aussie Shiraz - black cherry, plum, licorice, and spice. Plum also dominated the palate and was a great match to the lamb and lentils. More rich flavors of chocolate and coffee lingered on the finish. For being named after an animal also known as a
skink I always enjoy the wines Shingleback makes.
Completing our dinner we were served a decadent double chocolate cake with espresso mousse and cherry compote. What kind of sparkling wine would you possibly pair with this to make it better than it already is?
Cinzano Brachetto D'Aqui DOCG ($19.99), a sweet sparkling wine from northern Italy. Made from the
Brachetto grape - known also as Braquet in France - this wine is a bright pomegranate red in color and displayed aromas of cherry and strawberry, as well as honeyed and floral notes. All these followed through to the palate and made a remarkably good pairing with the chocolate, espresso, and cherry dessert.
This Counter Culture was a truly delightful experience and I was so pleased to be able to try so many different types of sparkling wines. In an unabashed plug for Whole Foods, if you're local and interested in coming to one of the dinners just call the store and ask for someone in the specialty department. Cost is usually about $45 and is entirely worth the amazing food and wine that is served - and is a great reason to have dinner cooked and served to you! A huge thank you to wine specialist Maggie Harrison and chef Eric Colby for making a great evening for all of us attending.
So when you go out to grab your bottle of bubbles to celebrate the beginning of 2009 check out some of the others sitting there on the shelf. Nothing needs to be expensive - just ask for a recommendation and you should be able to find some great sparkling wines for everyday enjoyment.
Cheers!
Last night was the launch of the Patz & Hall Winery page on Twitter Taste Live. They divided the country in two and had bloggers on both coasts do a tasting of two of their soon to be released wines. I was really pleased to see how seamlessly the upgraded TTL is working, and we had an enjoyable time tasting the wines.
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I might be slightly biased towards this wine, because I am absolutely head over heels in love with this winery. I have never picked up a bottle of CSM that I didn't adore. Both flavorful and aromatic wines, everything from their line that I have samples is very approachable. I immediately recommend their Gewurtz and Riesling to people who like fruit-driven but crisp whites. See previous review for a perfect summer wine. And a recent bottle of their Cabernet Sauvignon made my toes tingle with delight.
Today while picking up some lunch items at Trader Joe's, I decided to check out a couple of their current wine specials. The store, well-known for Two Buck Chuck - now faniced up under the Charles Shaw name and priced at $3.49 a bottle - commonly stocks new products at great prices which are only available for short periods. A current special are a couple wines from Blue Fin Winery, priced very reasonably at only $4.99 a bottle..jpg)
Quite a disappointment after enjoying the Chardonnay. The simplicity of this bottle makes it palatable, but I don't really care for it. My marker for American Pinot Noir is always the presence of intense fruit. European PN (Burgundy in particular) is more characeristic of vegetal, mushroom, and earthy tones. I enjoy both, mood depending, but the Blue Fin sadly fell short.
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