A Wine Guy's Blog

Reserve Bonarda ? Who knew

noreply@blogger.com (A Wine Guy) — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 19:44:00 +0000

We've talked about Bonarda before and I've drained many bottles of the wine recommended in that post since then but the other day I saw something that made my head turn, a Reserve Bonarda .

At first I thought Why in the world would anyone make a Reserve Bonarda ? Bonarda is an everyday grape making everyday wines, the stuff that is consumed daily in homes across Argentina I would imagine. Still this Reserva was only priced at $12.99 so I figured Why not? and grabbed a bottle.

I'm glad I did, the wine was delicious and excellent value, I guess the Reserve part is the oak aging, but regardless the wine is delicious and a lovely complement to grilled meats, burgers, bolognese or even pizza. The colour is deep red, bordering on purple and fruit flavours are all sweet and lush; cherries, blackberries and plums but there is a nice spicy, smoky core to the wine that evens out the fruit nicely. There is a reasonable seam of acidity and a touch of vanilla from the oak, in fact the wine was much bigger and richer than I had expected with a long finish and great mouth feel.

The wine in question is from the relatively new, 14 year old, winery Argento and has good distribution in the lower mainland stores and appears to have come down in price since last fall. Retailing currently at $12.99 I think the Argento Reserva Bonarda 2010 is a very good buy and would be a nice change from the Shiraz and Malbecs that seem to dominate the Sunday roast table .

In Praise of Quiche

noreply@blogger.com (A Wine Guy) — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 20:55:00 +0000

I've been making quiche on a fairly regular basis lately, it started out as a way to use up some leftover pastry and smoked salmon after Christmas and has evolved into a regular menu staple. I had forgotten what a lovely comfort food quiche can be and am now kicking myself for not making it more often in the past.

Quiche has been around for a long time, generally considered a French dish the earliest records for savoury custards are found in 14th Century England. The original quiche were savoury custards with the addition of bacon, cheese came along later and God only knows when the broccoli and asparagus started to show up. Quiche was so ubiquitous in the late '70s and early '80s that a tongue in cheek psycho babble book entitled Real men don't eat Quiche was a best seller in 1982-83, the premise being that quiche was wimpy and not masculine enough. Well I can tell you real men not only eat quiche, they make it.

Quiche is dead easy to make, and is a superb vessel for left over ham, chicken, shrimp, salmon whatever. You can either make a simple Pate' Brisee, or if you are lazy buy frozen deep dish pie shells from your grocer. Proof your crust by covering it with foil and weighting down the foil with dry beans, cook for 12 minutes in a 450 degree oven then remove and carefully take out the beans, they may be reused for the proofing process in the future. Reduce your oven to 325 degrees and prep the filling, I use 5 eggs, a cup and a half of warm milk, homo not skim, or even creamo. Beat the eggs and milk together with salt and pepper and add a cup or so of grated full flavoured cheese, gruyere, emmenthaler, aged cheddar are all good and whatever else you want, ham, bacon, shrimp, crab are all great, I usually add sauteed, not browned onions and something herbaceous like sage or dill depending on what else is in the mix, Place the pieshell on a baking sheet and fill it with the custard mix and then bake for 40 minutes, let it cool and serve warm or at room temperature with salad or roasted broccoli and dinner/lunch is served.

The beauty of quiche is that the egg, milk mix is the only constant, the other fillings are based on what you like and what you have on hand so it never gets boring and it's great for cleaning out the fridge. I'm surprised more restaurants don't feature a daily quiche at lunch, it's delicious and great for the food cost as the bits of whatever can be magically transformed into a saleable item, much like Seafood Pasta. Wine pairing is a snap as well, the rich custard cries out for fruit so a light red or white, something grenache or gamay for red and maybe a chenin blanc or unoaked chardonnay for white, but really anything that is softer and fruity will work.

So next time you're wondering what to do with that lefover chicken/ham/crab think about a quiche and I bet you'll be happy you did.

A Gertrude Stein wine

noreply@blogger.com (A Wine Guy) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 05:07:00 +0000

Gertrude Stein was an American writer, poet and art collector who is notable for the quote in Everybody's Autobiography, speaking about the city of Oakland, that "there is no there there". The quote has been much discussed over the years as to its' meaning but I think I found the basis for it the other night over dinner.

Sunday was a hectic day, I worked very late Saturday night and as a result wife and daughter attended the Sunday Soccer Mass (0-2 if you're keeping score) and with a hectic week on the horizon I did a mad dash around in the afternoon grabbing provisions, including wine for Sunday dinner. The meal was simple roast chicken so almost anything would suffice wine wise but at the Mothership I was persuaded to purchase a newly listed Spanish red Laya 2009 . The wine seemed to fit into my wheelhouse, I'm a fan of Garnacha and Monastrell, and at $14 wasn't going to break the bank, so I grabbed it and popped the cork just before serving dinner .

The wine was stunningly indifferent, it wasn't bad, it was just blah. It was a Parker wine with lots of fruit and soft, soft tannins and it certainly wasn't offensive but it was the equivalent of drinking puppies, I mean puppies are cute and all, but after awhile you want to be left alone and the damn puppies just won't let that happen. The Laya was soft and warm and inoffensive, there was red fruit and a touch of leather but there certainly wasn't any Spain, I mean close your eyes and the wine could've been Australian, Chilean, South African anywhere..........there was no there there.

Much is made in the wine business about terroir, that character of a wine that ties it to it's place and it is a vital part of what makes wine drinking enjoyable. This wine had no terroir, no sense of place no there. It was well made, it was pleasant and if I never had it again I'd be fine with that .

New Feature - Get my Blog in your email

noreply@blogger.com (A Wine Guy) — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 16:50:00 +0000

I finally figured out how to has a feature which allows you to "subscribe" to my blog via email.

On the right hand side of the blog, just below links and above followers, is a place for you to sign up to receive new posts from A Wine Guy's Blog.

Addresses are not shared, so if you want to stay current, or at least as current as I post, just sign up and you should receive new posts in your email.

The return of Pizza Red

noreply@blogger.com (A Wine Guy) — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 17:17:00 +0000

Well if nothing else the blast of Arctic air, and the accompanying snowfall, have given me pause to blog.

It's been awhile since I made pizza and tried a new pizza red but Monday night was such an occasion . It didn't start out that way as Mondays are usually a soccer practice night which means daughter eats large at 5:30ish and we eat light around 8pm but the snow forced closure of the practice facility so I rethought dinner and decided to make pizza. I even got ambitious enough to make the dough from scratch as opposed to frozen dough from Calabria Bakery . For those who have never tried, pizza dough may be the easiest dough to make, just flour, water, salt and yeast provide all you need, though I add cornmeal, olive oil and basil to mine. Anyway with pizza as the main dish the decision became: What pizza red to enjoy ?.

I had a bottle of Portuguese red on hand that I've enjoyed with the braise in the past and decided to put it to the Pizza test and I'm happy to report that the wine passed with flying colours. The wine in question is Porca de Murca, a blended red made from indigenous grapes in the Douro valley of Portugal, primarily Tinto Roriz. The Douro is most famous for producing the sweet fortified Port wines but produces lots of table wine as well, Real Velha produces about 100,000 cases of Porca de Murca red annually.

The wine has a very dark colour in the glass and the nose is a tad dusty with lots of sweet berry fruit, in the mouth there are notes of blueberry and sour cherry and a touch of black pepper and a nice level of acidity which helps greatly with the cheese/tomato/salami combo of the pizza .

Overall this wine is a solid addition to the Pizza Red collection, and is also a good partner to the winter braise, there is an inherent fruity component to the wine which would be difficult if the braise involved too much sweet overtones but if the braise is a robust one then this wine is a solid, and very inexpensive companion . The Porca de Murca is actually on sale this month, down a buck to $10.99, but that doesn't warrant any bulk buying in my mind . However the wine's flexibility, it would also go nice with tomato based pastas and roast chicken, make it worthwhile to have a couple of bottles put aside for wintery nights.

For those who don't speak Portuguese "Porca de Murca" literally means "pig, or sow, of Murca", there is a statue dating back to the Iron Age of a wild pig in the village square of Murca, thought to honour a Celtic like divinity. It looks a lot like a cartoon hippopotamus to me

In praise of Pork Tenderloin

noreply@blogger.com (A Wine Guy) — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 17:00:00 +0000

The other day I was at Michael Ruhlman's site, viewing a thread about staple meals . It's a great read in that it shows the diversity of what home cooks make daily, and how we define comfort food along with numerous other insights.

The post took me back to a conversation I'd had at work recently with our very own Homesick Texan floor manager about pork tenderloin and its' diversity. I love all thinks porky, chops, roasts, charcuterie etc. in all manners of preparation but pork tenderloin may well be one of my favourite cuts because it is so simple, so affordable yet can make such a grand entrance. In these times of rapidly spiraling grocery prices the noble pork tenderloin can still regularly be had for around $4.50 a pound, and since there is little or no waste in the tenderloin that means protein for four can hit the table for significantly less than $10 for a premium cut. Just try doing that with beef or fish and you will quickly come to appreciate the value of pork tenderloin.

Pork tenderloin is a boneless cut taken from the inside of the loin, the yellow area in the photo above, and as such is very lean and tender but it does need a bit of trimming. When you look at the tenderloin you will see bits of fat, which may or may not be trimmed depending on your preference, but also some areas covered in a shiny membrane, known as silverskin, which may at first glance look like fat but must be trimmed away. The silverskin is a ligament like membrane that is very tough when cooked and takes no time to remove, I use a boning knife, because it bends with the tenderloin, and just slide the tip under the silverskin and trim it away. As you get experienced with trimming the silverskin you can generally remove it with minimal loss of meat, maybe half an ounce in total.

Once it's trimmed of silverskin your tenderloin is ready for prep, so what to do ? There are many ways to deal with pork tenderloin, from marinades to dry rubs, and many ways to cook it, grilled, pan seared, roasted, sliced in medallions, whole ...... whatever. Many years ago I read a statement by Julia Child that you should treat pork tenderloin the same as beef tenderloin, simply and with high heat, and so that's what I generally do.

My "go to" pork tenderloin prep calls for a trimmed loin, I then use the tip of my knife to make a dozen or so small cuts in the loin into which I put slivers of raw garlic. I then rub the loin with a mix of coarse salt, black pepper, dry mustard powder and fresh sage and let it come to room temperature while I preheat an oven to 375. When oven, and pork, are at the correct temperature I heat a cast iron skillet over medium high heat and add olive oil and unsalted butter, once the butter froths I add the tenderloin and get a nice sear on all sides, about 3-4 minutes in total. When the tenderloin is seared I put the pan in the oven for about 15 minutes, I like my pork tenderloin with some pink in it so I generally check it around 13 minutes, we want the internal temperature between 135-140 degrees. Once the pork is done take it out and let it rest while you deglaze the pan over a medium high burner with white wine, or stock, then add a knob of butter to the pan jus stirring quickly and remove from the heat. Slice the pork diagonally into medallions, pour the "sauce" over and garnish with a bit more fresh sage and it's a pretty impressive plate that takes about 40 minutes from fridge to table.

Serve the tenderloin with any food friendly red with a reasonable fruit level, Rhone Valley wines or Spanish Garnachas or Tempranillos are nice, or even a dry style of Chenin Blanc and enjoy.

So there it is, my "go to" pork tenderloin recipe, use it, don't use it but there it is. Next time you're thinking about what you can put on the table in a hurry that will be delicious and impressive, think about pork tenderloin.

And so That was Christmas

noreply@blogger.com (A Wine Guy) — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 17:36:00 +0000

It's the 28th today and life is getting back to some degree of normalcy after the juggernaut that was Christmas. For us the whirlwind began blowing on the 22nd when "The Grands" arrived from Kelowna and concluded this morning when wife headed back to work. I have been off since the 23rd, we go dark for the 24th-26th, and will decide later today if I will go back tonight or delay my return by a day.

There is much that I love about Christmas but almost each positive seems to have a countering negative; I actually like to do the Christmas shopping but I hate wrapping presents for example. Overall though the chance to spend time with family and friends is a rare opportunity, we can't dodge it as easily during the holiday season so the visits actually take place.

We have a traditional Turkey dinner on the 24th, a throwback to the days when I worked on Christmas day, which is to me much less stressful than having to cook a big meal in between opening gifts and long distance phone calls. The bird this year was a 15 pound free range and it was excellent,wife stuffs the bird with a bread/sausage/mushroom/onion/celery/sage combo and I use a traditional 350 degree roasting oven , basting every half hour and it turned out perfect in 3 1/2 hours. Sides were stuffing, mashed spuds with cream cheese and sour cream, green beans and brussel sprouts sauteed with bread crumbs and romano cheese, dessert was Christmas baked goods and the wines were Joie Farms PTG 2009 for red and Gehringer Brothers Classic Auxerrois 2009 for white. Coffee with Bailey's for wife and 15 year old Glenfarclas for Granddad and I post meal.

Christmas Day we opened our stockings and had croissant before the Grands arrived at 10:30ish for the full scale gifting. All lovely, not over the top but lovely, gifts all around then a quick cleanup before our Christmas day open house, featuring copious Mimosas, smoked salmon, rich cheeses and charcuterie along with more of those Christmas baked goods. As an added wrinkle this year we headed over to the R's house for a prime rib feast and much more good company.

Boxing Day should be recovery and was, with leftovers for dinner and then on the 27th our niece arrived from Winnipeg, in town for a conference, so one more night of revelry ensued before hopefully everything gets back to normal today. I feel like I need a week of nothing but sleep, steamed veggies and water, but New Years Eve is just around the corner before, hopefully, life returns to more normal patterns in the New Year.

In closing I hope the Holidays were happy for all and that the Mayans were wrong about 2012.

A Christmas Case - Part two

noreply@blogger.com (A Wine Guy) — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 04:39:00 +0000

Part two of the Christmas case made for some really hard choices, there are probably easily 20-30 wines that I could have chosen to make up the seven bottles of red table wine,in fact when I looked at the wines that got left behind I immediately saw the need for another post.

When trimming the list down to the seven finalists I took into account varietal correctness, the ability to enhance food and tried to avoid duplicating styles and varietals as much as possible. I was not really surprised in the end that I had no wines from France, Italy or the United States as these regions rarely provide good value in the sub $20 range here in BC. So enough rationalization, on to the wines.

Beso de Vino - Seleccion 2009, Spain. I wrote about this wine in October and have gone back to it a couple of times since then with pizza, ribs and a braise. The wine is a blend of Syrah and Garnacha and is nice with food but soft enough to drink on its' own as well. I think it's a steal at $12.99 and it has good distribution.

Colonia Las Liebres, Bonarda, Argentina is a great little wine for any occasion, the hares on the label are racing as fast as this wine is with it's plump fruit flavours and earthy bouquet of chicory and fresh raspberries. Bonarda is the second most planted red grape in Argentina but is mostly used in blending to add colour and fruit but this stand alone varietal bottling is a great value at $12.99 with reasonable, though not great, distribution.

Jacob's Creek Reserve Shiraz, Barossa, Australia is an incredible value from one of Australia's most consistent producers . This is a deep red classic Australian shiraz, with plum and fruitcake on the nose and spice and pepper in the palate. This wine used to retail in the $20 range and was reasonable value then but at $14.99 it's an absolute steal, it's in reasonably wide distribution so seek it out and buy it.

Jean Bousquet Malbec, Organic, Argentina is a beautiful example of Malbec, Argentina's signature red varietal and one of the hot button wines of the past two years. You can get decent Malbec in the $10-13 range but for the holidays step up and buy this wine with lots of spicebox, coffee and black fruits in the nose and a warm full mouth filling flavour mix of plums, cherry and white pepper, plus it's 100% Organic. This wine has good distribution and retails for $15.99 .

The People's Pinot Noir, Central Otago, New Zealand is another wine I recently posted about, I just tried it last month and it's already in regular use in the house. This wine is amazing value for Central Otago Pinot Noir. The nose has a nice sweet aroma of cherries, licorice and a bit of pepper and the taste is bright and clean, with more cherry, a bit of chocolate and coffee and little of the candied strawberry that tends to define inexpensive Pinot Noir. The mouth feel is creamy and the finish long and most importantly obviously, unequivocally, Pinot Noir. It's on sale for $15.99 with good distribution .

Bodegas Montecillo Rioja Crianza, Spain is a perfect example of classic entry level Rioja, made with Spain's greatest varietal Tempranillo. The nose is full of malted chocolate and cherries along with the classic chalky cut hay aroma typical of tempranillo, In the mouth it has notes of sour cherry with leather, tobacco and slightly rough edged tannins. This is old world Rioja without the fruit bomb but with rich flavours, nice tannins and a long rich finish. Maybe not for everyone but I really like it and at $16.99 it's a fair value.

Graham Beck The Game Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon, South Africa is simply a great bottle of Cab. I used to drink more Cabernet Sauvignon than any other red varietal but of late was often disappointed with the dumbing down of this majestic grape, but not with this bottle. This Cabernet features all the dark berry, cedar, spicy notes the wine should possess and it's not shy in the mouth either with full bodied tannins and gobs of black fruit, plums and spice with a huge finish. I reviewed it in January of last year when it was on sale and at $19.99 it's still great value with reasonable supply though maybe not on the shelf at your corner boozer. If you are one of the Prime Rib for Christmas Dinner crowd this is the wine for you.

So that's it, the Christmas case is complete and under budget. The total cost of the thirteen bottles, with deposit, is $194.13 which leaves about six bucks left to search out a 650ml of Dead Frog's Christmas Beeracle, but be quick the 2010 production sold out in less than three weeks.

Does anyone answer "Yes" to this question?

noreply@blogger.com (A Wine Guy) — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 20:30:00 +0000

It's the Holiday season which means increased police presence on the streets in the form of the police roadblocks to check for impaired drivers.

As I have to cross a bridge to get home from work I generally run into these roadblocks a few times over the Christmas period. So far I've only encountered one, this past Thursday on the Cambie Bridge, and since I never drink before leaving work it simply means I'm delayed a minute or two in line waiting to be questioned. The procedure is pretty standard, or it was before this last stop, an officer will ask where you're coming from and whether you've consumed any alcohol and then decide whether or not you need to be tested further.

On Thursday after being asked where I was coming from, "On my home from work", and whether or not I'd consumed any alcohol, "Not yet", I was then surprised by the next question:

"Do you have any illegal drugs or firearms in the vehicle with you ?.

I paused a second, then answered "No, it's Thursday" which got a small chuckle from the officer and a wave to go on home.

The rest of the way home all I could think was: Does anyone ever answer "Yes" to that question?. I mean seriously, if I've got a kilo of weed and an RPG in the trunk is it likely I'm going to say "Damn, I was hoping you wouldn't ask but yeah I guess you've got me now" ?

A Christmas Case - Part one

noreply@blogger.com (A Wine Guy) — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 21:24:00 +0000

So rather than go through a litany of all the wines I liked this year I thought what I would do is send myself on a virtual trip to the BCLDB and pick up a case of wine for the holiday season. My goal was to grab a dozen bottles for Christmas dinner, Christmas morning and everyday holiday drinking, I gave myself a budget of $200 and was surprised at how easy it was to come in under budget. I was actually able to grab thirteen bottles, a baker's dozen, and still end up with change in my pocket.

The case consists of three white wines, a bottle of bubble, two bottles of "stickies" and seven bottles of red so you can easily mix and match if you drink more white by doubling up on one of the whites and dropping a red, or sticky. Without further ado here is the Christmas Case 2011 Part One - Bubble, Whites and Stickies

Veuve de Vernay Blancs de Blanc, Brut, France is a great everyday bubble, nice balance, good clean flavours and works well on its' own or with OJ on Christmas morning, as it is consumed in my house. It is widely available and retails for $13.99.

Big House White, California is an homage to the fragrant light bodied white wines of the Friuli region in Italy, but better value than the wines it imitates. This wine is a blend of Malvasia Bianco, Muscat Canelli, Viognier and Gruner Vetliner and thus has an inherent fruitiness and floral quality to it, it pairs well with spicy foods, like my crab dip, and is sort of like Cunundrum Light for those of you familiar with the Godfather of Californian fragrant white blends. It's in good supply and a steal at $11.99.

Frisk, Prickly Riesling, Australia is another slightly off dry white, perfect for rich or spicy holiday bites. From the cool climate Alpine valleys of the Victoria region this wine tastes like $14 German Rieslings used to taste but now to get this quality out of the "Old World" will cost you $20. The wine has lots of floral notes and great citrus flavours with the great bracing acidity you want from Riesling and just a touch of tingle, the frisky part, on the tongue. Excellent value at $13.99 and in good supply.

Spier Chenin Blanc, Signature, South Africa after Riesling Chenin Blanc is certainly my favourite white wine grape and like Riesling it can be made in many manners. In South Africa Chenin Blanc, or Steen as it is referred to, is the "worker bee" white grape. This example from Stellenbosch region is classic South African Chenin Blanc, tons of fruit in the nose and pale green/gold in colour the wine has crisp acidity, notes of peach and kiwi and a touch of vanilla on the finish. This would work nicely with the Christmas turkey, it's only $12.95 but supply is spotty.

Vina Errazuriz, Late Harvest Sauvignon Blanc, Chile the first of our "stickies" is an old favourite from Chile, a late harvest wine made primarily from Sauvignon Blanc grapes that have experienced "noble rot" and late picked Gewurztraminer.The incredible heat before the rot sets in produces very high sugar levels so the wine was able to achieve over 11.5% alcohol while still remaining sweet. The nose is fragrant with honey, apricot and candied lemon and the mouthfeel is big and rich with apricot tart flavours. The wine is not at all cloying but is rich in mouth feel with a long finish, perfect with creme brulee or the holiday baked goods, it's a tremendous value at $13.99 for a 375ml bottle and has reasonable distribution.

Taylor-Fladgate Late Bottled Vintage Port2003/04, Portugal this is for the cheese plate, or if you are lucky enough to have real Christmas pudding with dinner. Originally conceived as an alternative to vintage port for the restaurateur, LBV offers a wine with more complexity and concentration than the younger Reserve ports and Taylor-Fladgate were the first port house to label their wines with the Late Bottled Vintage designation . The wine has a deep purple colour and an aroma of raisins, bitter chocolate and spice box, the flavours are rich with plums,dried cherry , more chocolate and vanilla the tannins are still in force so a half hour to breathe is a good idea . Good value at $15.99 and well distributed in the lower mainland.

Drink a decent Bottle, help the Food Bank

noreply@blogger.com (A Wine Guy) — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 21:21:00 +0000

The other day while cruising the aisles of my local government outlet I noticed bottle toppers on some decent Chilean red, Casillero del Diablo Carmenere stating that $1 from the sale of each bottle would be donated to the Vancouver Food Bank.

On the back of the tag was a listing of the various wines to which this applied, seventeen in total, all represented by Select Wines an old established importer in the BC market. I think this is an excellent form of philanthropy, and while I wish Select Wines would apply the donation to their entire portfolio they are to be commended for their actions. December is a busy month for wine sales so even the limited exposure should get $2-5,000 into the food bank coffers.

I'm not familiar with all the wines Select are donating from but some I know and can recommend are the aforementioned Carmenere, as well as the same brand's Merlot, additionally I can stand behind the Little Yering Pinot Noir, the St. Hallett Poacher's Blend and, for a bit more, St. Hallett Faith Shiraz .

Stop the Presses ! I found good inexpensive Pinot Noir

noreply@blogger.com (A Wine Guy) — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 00:04:00 +0000

I was all set to post about another pizza red but last night for wife's birthday dinner we had pan roasted pork chops with lemon risotto and I chose a bottle of New Zealand Pinot Noir to accompany dinner.

The chops had an herbal, garlicky component to them and along with the richness of risotto I wanted something lighter to drink. I actually went to the store intending to grab a Cru Beaujolais but the selection and pricing didn't suit me so I wandered over to the New Zealand section and noticed that there was a Central Otago Pinot Noir on sale for $15.99. This was surprising to me because Otago Pinot Noirs are scarce in the BC market and I've never seen one below $20 before but since I had backup at home in the form of a nice Chianti Classico I thought "Why not give it a shot ?".

Just before plating I cracked the screw cap and poured, the colour was deeper than I would have thought, a good sign, and the nose had a nice sweet aroma of cherries, licorice and a bit of pepper. The taste was bright and clean, with more cherry, a bit of chocolate and coffee and little of the candied strawberry that tends to define inexpensive Pinot Noir.The mouth feel was creamy and the finish was long and most importantly it was obviously, unequivocally, Pinot Noir.

The search for inexpensive Pinot Noir is almost Holy Grail-like, time consuming, wrought with failure and can be obsessive to the point of institutionalization, the whole Sideways thing. People ask me why do we seek inexpensive Pinot Noir and the simple answer is because Pinot Noir, properly made, is so delicious that we deserve to drink it more often .

Anyway, the wine is called The People's Pinot Noir, it's a boutique project of Constellation brands, the world's largest wine company and owners of a number of wineries and vineyards in New Zealand. Constellation's sheer size means the cost of production is lower so that's why, even at it's regular price of $17.99 this wine is excellent value. The wine has good distribution but there isn't a ton of stock currently available so I would recommend grabbing a few bottles to have on hand for the holiday season, that is if you can avoid drinking it before the holidays arrive.

Porridge

noreply@blogger.com (A Wine Guy) — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 20:51:00 +0000

I made myself porridge for breakfast this morning, a sure sign of winter, and it was marvelous. These days most people refer to the hot cooked cereal as "oatmeal" but it was always porridge in my house and it'll always be porridge to me. I grew up in semi Northern Ontario where the winters are cold and porridge was a staple for breakfast, often three or four times a week, but never on Sunday. My mother is of Scots heritage so her porridge was thick and salted and that's still the way I like mine. As a child porridge was always served with warmed milk and brown sugar but these days I prefer mine with honey and fruit, or apple sauce.

Instant oatmeal is not a substitute for porridge, I'm sure it's a fine product but it's not porridge and it's not going to be on my breakfast table. Porridge requires a time commitment and if you aren't willing to make that commitment then just toast a bagel and be done with it.

There are dozens of varieties of cereal grains out there that can be turned into porridge but my preference is for steel cut oats, rolled oats tend to make a porridge that is lacking in texture. Steel cut oats are easy to find, the ones from Quaker are fine but I prefer those from Bob's Red Mill, they are available at IGA Marketplace and, I believe, Whole Foods.

I earlier alluded to the time commitment porridge requires, set aside half an hour to do it right, so if you're dashing off in the morning then porridge isn't for you. The cooking of porridge is simple and requires little attention, here goes. Bring water to a boil, you'll need two parts water for one part oats and I need 3/4 of a cup of oats for my breakfast, once the water is boiling add the oats and bring down to a simmer, stirring occasionally . After about five minutes add a three finger pinch of salt and stir well to incorporate it into the mash, mean while set half a cup of milk on to warm at low heat.

Porridge texture is very much a personal thing but it will take at least fifteen minutes for the porridge to be fully cooked, I cook mine exactly eighteen minutes, but once it reaches the desired texture remove it from the heat and cover it. Leave the porridge, covered off the heat, for three to five minutes then ladle into a shallow bowl, warmed in the oven is a nice touch, and top with brown sugar or honey before pouring the warm milk around the outside of the porridge. You may add fresh, or canned, fruit or my personal fave, home made applesauce and breakfast is served.

Please note you should not drink coffee if you are having porridge for breakfast, it's just wrong, make a pot of tea and linger after the porridge is finished. After all, if you are having porridge for breakfast it's not like you are in a hurry.

As a side note it is extremely frustrating for me to post these days as wife decided a couple of weeks ago that my keyboard needed cleaning and as a result I have a wonderfully clean keyboard with a space bar that routinely sticks. This is, apparently, my fault .

Ribs Tonight

noreply@blogger.com (A Wine Guy) — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 01:26:00 +0000

It's like a holiday in my house tonight, the sun was out all day, daughter broke out of her scoring slump on the soccer pitch today and back ribs are on sale at IGA Marketplace.

Ribs are hands down daughter's number one thing to eat, she even changes into old clothes so as not to have the experience lessened in any manner by having to worry about barbecue sauce ending up on a favourite shirt, and it's easily in the top ten for wife and I. My druthers are for sideribs that have had the tips removed, the so called St. Louis cut, but they are hard to find and most commercial cuts of siderib are full of cartilage from the tips. Windsor Meats on the North Shore have the most consistent sideribs and I just learned they have an outlet in Vancouver now so maybe my siderib luck will change.

For now though I'm reduced to Costco or the vagaries of on sale backribs, which is how this whole post started. Marketplace IGA's weekly flyer advertised Chilean baby backs on sale for a ridiculous $2.99 a pound so I dashed down just before kickoff and was pleasantly surprised to find that the ribs were in abundance and Canadian. There is a tinge of nationalism involved here but mostly my joy was that Canadian ribs are longer and generally meatier than the Chilean racks. Ribs were bought and bundled home before soccer and are now just waiting to be eaten.

Ribs need a touch of work before cooking, the membrane on the bone side should be removed for added tenderness, just put a sharp knife under the membrane near the narrow end of the rack and force up enough so that you can grab the membrane with your fingers, the membrane can be slippery so paper towels or a kitchen towel may help, then just pull the membrane off. Now comes the wonder of ribs, so much taste so little work, I just rub them with a mixture of coarse salt, fresh ground black pepper, dry mustard powder and smoked paprika and roast them in a 300 degree oven for 2-2 1/2 hours until the bones wobble or use a smoker at 250 degrees for 3-3 1/2 hours. Drain off the fat, baste with whatever tomatoey, spicy sauce you wish to create and roast again at high heat, 450+, for 5 or so minutes to glaze the sauce and then dig in, if it's grilling weather you can finish them off on the grill which is even better but the oven is fine.

I allow at least a pound per person, serve with plain white rice or boiled spuds smashed with butter and Italian parsley and coleslaw or simple green veg and some full throttle red with big fruit, or cold pilsner, and you are good to go.

Yet Another Pizza Red

noreply@blogger.com (A Wine Guy) — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 00:14:00 +0000

Well I wasn't supposed to be writing about Pizza Red this weekend because Pizza wasn't on the menu but life took a turn and we ended up with Pizza for dinner on Saturday night.

Daughter began feeling ill on Thursday night and by Saturday was full blown miserable, so much so that she willingly gave up a sleepover at BFF's, while wife was beginning to show signs of coming down with something so when the opportunity to take Saturday night off work, long weekend Saturdays being spotty at the best of times, was presented to me at 2ish I said: Sure, I'll take the night off.

My first thought was to dash out and grab a ham for a pre-Thanksgiving dinner but miserable daughter reminded me that I had said she and wife could order pizza for dinner so I changed plans. Instead of Ham and ???? we would order pizza, I'd make a salad and we'd watch a movie. Earlier in the week I'd grabbed a bottle of inexpensive Spanish red and so I cracked the Stelvin and poured it with the pizza.

Before I get into the wine though I have a question: What's with all the Pizza Nazis out there ?

I mean you can't go to any food sight without reading these tomes about how bad the pizza is in Vancouver, or those where foodies wax on and on about whichever new authentic Neapolitan pizzeria has opened in some depressed area of the city . I mean seriously folks, it's Pizza, at it's best it's very good and at it's worst it's awful but really do we need to make such a big deal about it ? The best thing I've ever eaten out of a pizza oven in Naples was bacon and eggs, but that's another story, and while I've had great pizza in Italy I've also had mediocre pizza in Italy, just as I have had in Vancouver . There is no need for the gnashing and moaning, find a reasonable pizza place near where you live, or make your own but stop whining about it.

Our "Go To" pizza outlet is The Firewood Cafe, conveniently located on Cambie at 14th within easy driving distance for while I don't mind occasionally ordering pizza I hate waiting for delivery and having the pie arrive in less than optimal condition. Despite what some people say in their blogs about Firewood I've always found the pizza to be consistently high quality, they have a real wood burning brick oven so the thin crust is nicely crisped and the toppings are of a good quality. If you live anywhere near them I recommend them for your takeout Pizza needs, though they are not a "late night" spot.

Back on point, the wine I served was a Syrah/Garnacha blend from the Carenena region just outside Zaragosa in Northeastern Spain. This is one of the oldest Denominacion de Origen's in Spain and has been producing wine since the middle ages but it is not at the top end of Spanish wine production. The region is best known for early drinking reds made primarily with Garnacha Tinto, a spicy fruity red grape that tends to be low in acidity but high in flavour. The wine we had on Saturday was Beso de Vino a 2009 blend of Garnacha (15%) and Syrah (85%). The label and name are a little cutesy but hey, they've gotta do something to make the punters try it so I'll cut them some slack.

The name means Kiss of Wine and there's a picture of a cartoon bull kissing a glass on the label but what's inside isn't to be made fun of . The wine is very deep coloured, dark and opaque and the nose is full of cherry and blueberry while the taste adds a bit of cocoa, spice and coffee. The tannins are soft but they are present and the acidity shows up at the finish to allow the wine to work well with the tomato/cheese/pepperoni combo .

At $12.99 with wide distribution this cartoonish steer, his name is Antonio, may well end up pairing with a braise or two as the winter goes on. I can easily recommend this wine for everyday drinking, and that's no bull.

Pizza Red - Part Three is a bust

noreply@blogger.com (A Wine Guy) — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 19:00:00 +0000

Once again I must qualify this post as we didn't actually have pizza, but we might as well have.

Tuesday night is Choir night for daughter and now that she's been accepted in the uber choir it is a lengthy session, 90 minutes, that doesn't get us home until 7:30 . On nights that wife is able to pickup that means I can make dinner and plate just as the girls come in the door so we still have time to eat before Glee at 8:00 pm, Glee is must watch TV for daughter. Last night, however, wife was unable to do pickup but would be home so I prepped fauxsagna for dinner to be reheated for dinner just past 7:30.

Fauxsagna is made by preparing a bolognese sause and cooking whatever noodle you wish, last night I used rotini but shells or tortiglione or penne are all acceptable. Toss the cooked noodles with sauce then put a layer of sauce in a baking dish followed by half the noodles, more sauce, a layer of cheese (I use a blend of Mozzarella and Romano), the other half of the noodles, more sauce and more cheese. Bake this in a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes and serve with salad or green vegetable. Fauxsagna has virtually the same ingredients as pizza so the wine should be a Pizza Red.

Last night's wine was a Primitivo from the Puglia region. Puglia is the boot of Italy on the map and is the largest wine producing region in the country, for years most Puglian wines were cheap, simple and of poor quality but in the past decade or so more care has been put into the wines, particularly with the Primitivo grape. Primitivo should produce rich fruity wines that are ready early. The wine I chose for last night was one I had not tried before, and won't again, it was featured in a Vino Italia promo at the front of the store and was reasonably priced but it just didn't deliver. The wine was Primitivo 2009 OGIO $12.99 with wide distribution. Primitivo should be lush and full with mouth filling red/black fruit flavours and a spicy backnote but this wine was dull, overly dry and lacking in any finish.

I have to give a thumbs down to this week's Pizza Red effort, maybe next week I'll actually make pizza .

Redefining "Epic Fail" and a Haiku

noreply@blogger.com (A Wine Guy) — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 20:00:00 +0000

The term Epic Fail is a part of our culture and often gets tossed around too freely. much like the terms love and hate but that's another topic. Yesterday, however, the Boston RedSox redefined the term with the greatest choke in the history of major league baseball.

That's right the Red Sox, the team with a Nation of followers, (you can actually spend $10 and become an official member of Red Sox Nation) did something that had never before been accomplished in the 140 year history of the major leagues, they blew a nine game lead in the month of September. This year's edition of the Atlanta Braves had a nearly Epic Fail September as well but the Red Sox failure was better, or worse, and really the Atlanta Braves failing just isn't very interesting. To put things in perspective, the 2011 Red Sox winning percentage in the month of September, you know crunch time, when the tough get going all those other cliches, was worse than the team who are synonymous with futility, the 1962 New York Mets .

This, my friends, is Epic Fail on so many levels I can't begin to cover them all. From the winter signing of Carl Crawford, the trade for Adrian Gonzalez, the emergence of Jacoby Ellsbury as a superstar this was the Red Sox year ...... and yet they failed. I tried to console my Red Sox friends today with the fact that they did achieve something historic but it didn't seem to offer much solace.

My disdain for Red Sox fans, and all fans of the New England area teams is previously documented here but I thought I'd add a little variation on Japanese poetry to sum up yesterday's events.

Haiku is a form of poetry in Japan that has been converted to English, in the English version Haiku consists of three line poems which follow a format of 5 syllables in line one, seven in line two and five again in line three. As an homage to Japan and the Red Sox, I present my first (self) published Haiku entitled:

A Nation Mourns

Red Sox fail again
this should not be surprising
but is to Massholes

Pizza Red - Part Two (sort of)

noreply@blogger.com (A Wine Guy) — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 19:22:00 +0000

OK I'm cheating a bit here because I didn't actually have this wine with pizza, but while I was drinking it all I could think was Wow, this would be great with Pizza so I'm putting it in the Pizza Red category.

The wine is produced by the Dao Sul group, a partnership of four wineries that was formed in 1989 to make wines from the prime Dao producing area. The partnership went well and expanded into, among other areas, the Estremedura region near the capital of Lisbon. The wines of this area had never been noted for quality, more vast production, but some new producers, such as Dao Sul, are taking advantage of the warmer weather and moderating coastal climates to produce excellent everyday value wines.

This wine Cortello Touriga Nacional is produced from Touriga Nacional grapes, the backbone grape of most Port, but the warm climate in the Estremedura region allows the grape to ripen and take away the harsh acidity that marks the grape in the Northern Douro area. The coastal cool nights keep the fruit in check and the result is a big, rich, full flavoured red without the brooding character of many hot climate reds.

There is lots of dark fruits (blueberry, plum, blackberry) in the initial taste along with oak and green herbs and the nose displays the classic floral, violet aromas of Touriga Nacional . Given time in the glass the wine develops earthy, mineral and spice box character and a nice chalky acidity that makes it much more interesting. It has a long finish and while it may be not right for those who want fruit bombs I enjoyed it a great deal with pan seared beef, sweet peppers and noodles and it would be a lovely pizza red.

The wine has limited distribution at the BCLDB yet had a "New Listing" tag on it at the Mothership so I'm not sure whether it is newly arrived and waiting further shipping or is a one time buy. If you see it I would suggest you grab a couple for pizza night or any slow cooked red meats or ragouts, at $11.99 it is very good value.

Searching for Pizza Red, an Ongoing Saga

noreply@blogger.com (A Wine Guy) — Sat, 17 Sep 2011 18:05:00 +0000

So it appears that fall has truly come to us quickly, clouds and rain, highs in the teens and chill over night. Without the clouds and rain it would be perfect, as I prefer my temperatures in the teens, but I do hope the sun will keep shining until at least November.

With the fall comes a change in menu at our house, the summer season is grill and saute', salads and steaks and all that stuff but with the cooling temperatures it's time for the oven and the slow cooker. It's also time for home made pizza, which is among daughter's favourite things and one of the more versatile dishes known to man.

I occasionally make the dough from scratch but more often than not I employ the frozen dough from Calabria Bakery, the bakery is located on Victoria just south of 33rd avenue and well worth the trip (try the sfogliatelle stuffed with nutella if you go) but most often I buy the dough at Stong's Market in Kerrisdale.

Take the dough out of the freezer the night before you want to have pizza and leave in the fridge overnight. On the morning of Pizza Day I take the dough ball out of the fridge and coat with a bit of olive oil then place it in a bowl, cover with a towel and put the bowl in our laundry closet while I do two or three loads of laundry. The heat and humidity created in the small laundry space helps the dough rise and by 3 o'clock or so it's ready to punch down and roll.

I use rectangular bake pans rather than the stone because I'm lazy and can cook two pies at once that way, dough is stretched to fit the pans and topped with simple tomato basil sauce . I generally cook down a combo of good quality canned diced tomatoes with some basil, oregano, shallot, salt, pepper and whole garlic over low heat. After 15 minutes or so I remove the garlic and discard then give a quick puree with a hand blender and add some Passata to get the texture I want. Sauce the crusts, sprinkle with chiffonade basil, add cheese and whatever else you want and bake at 500 degrees for 15-20 minutes, I like my crusts crispy, and serve with a salad of mixed greens and dinner is done. I generally make enough so that there is leftover pizza for daughter's lunch the next day and an after work meal for me .

Pizza requires wine as a partner, burgers and Asian food can get by with beer but pizza needs fruity red to bring out all its' glory . The wine must be dry, but must have fruit to counter the acid in the tomato sauce, but the wine also needs acidity on its' own to work with the cheese so really simple reds aren't likely to be enough.

We generally have pizza 2-3 times a month over the fall and winter season so this year I'm going to chronicle, as often as I remember, the wines I buy to go with the pizza and how they fare. It should be noted that our House Special Pizza is topped with meat (pepperoni for daughter/wife, prosciutto for me), cheese (generally a blend of mozzarella, fontina and romano), roasted cremini mushrooms and sauteed spinach (the veggies are cooked ahead of time to release the water in them that would otherwise make for soggy pizza).

This week's pizza red was a Rioja from Bodegas Antano the Rioja Crianza 2008, which retails at a very reasonable $12.99 at the BCLDB and has wide distribution. The BCL site waxes long and eloquent about the profile of this wine, I found it fruity with a nice balance, some spice, cocoa and dried cherry on the nose, as with most wines made primarily from Tempranillo there is a bit of a dusty character and a hints of tobacco leaf/leather and coffee in the palate. The wine finishes long and was a very good match to this week's pizza .

Feel free to ignore this as well

noreply@blogger.com (A Wine Guy) — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 16:09:00 +0000

I'm just posting here as a test of the feed to Google Reader which I've set up .

Please feel free to ignore this, although it's interesting that the RedSox have chosen to play in September much the same as they played in April. Maybe MLB should go to a four month season in best interest of The Nation - that's RedSox Nation of course.

Happy that's it's Fall

noreply@blogger.com (A Wine Guy) — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 21:46:00 +0000

I know that most will not share my feelings on this but I am happy that we seem to be done with our September heatwave.

I know it's been great for the farmers and G-man may actually not finish the summer of 2011 in the red but when you work at a restaurant with a huge patio and most of your summer staff have returned to school a long, hot, dry September is a major pain. I've been working extra shifts all month and, quite frankly, am too old for this stuff.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not praying for rain but a little cloudy and 20 degrees will be just fine for a week or two. Plus I'd really like the feeling of a blanket over me while I'm sleeping instead of a crumpled ball of sheets around my ankles.

There is also the fact that I'm getting tired of grilled and am hankering for braised, roasted and slow cooked with all the rustic flavours those preparations entail. In anticipation of the Fall hearty food season I bought a bottle of a newly listed Chilean red on the weekend:Junta Reserva Syrah-Carmenere 2010, this is new world wine with some lead in its' pencil but really it's more suited for the grill/roast rather than the braise.

The wine is deep reddish purple with a ripe fresh nose, on the palate there are tones of leather, smoke and spice to mingle with dried cherry and black fruits. The fruit dominates but there's enough tannin to carry burgers or simple roasted meat, At $14.97 it's not a great buy but it is a good bottle at a reasonable price and worth a try, the wine has wide spread distribution so should be easy enough to find.

I do question the naming of the winery however, while the back label assures me that Junta is a Spanish word meaning to gather for a purpose, or collaborate, I just can't get the image of intellectuals being marched into soccer stadiums at gunpoint out of my head .

A small tracking device

noreply@blogger.com (A Wine Guy) — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 00:23:00 +0000

In order to try and make it easier for my loyal follower's to access the blog I'm doing some work with Technorati, ignore this post unless you find U68QM2V8JKBE to be interesting.

A little, literally, Wine Note

noreply@blogger.com (A Wine Guy) — Sat, 10 Sep 2011 17:17:00 +0000

The other night I got off work earlier and stopped in at the newish BCLDB Signature store at Alberni and Bute street. I was looking to pick up some beer and did, though the selection is poor, but while standing in line I saw a cut-case display of 250ml bottles of Cabernet-Syrah Vins de Pays D'oc from JP Chenet for $4.49 so I grabbed one just for curiosty sake.

Now for some background, JP Chenet is the export label of the massive French producer Grands Chais de France a bottler and exporter of wine in France. Grands Chais de France do not make wine, they buy it in bulk and ship it to one of their huge bottling facilities in France, filter and then bottle the wine, this is industrial wine but that doesn't mean it is without merit. The JP Chenet line produces good quality, varietally true, if not exciting, wines but to me the quality/price ratio has never been enough to encourage me to buy or recommend the wines.

Last night i sampled the Cabernet-Syrah and my feelings are still mixed. The wine is fine, it has no flaws and presents some decent cherry, black fruit, spicebox flavours. The tannins are very subtle, it's a new world style, but it was fine with pizza and would be a decent partner to most red meats or chicken. At a prorated 750ml price of $13.47 I wouldn't buy it again but the beauty of this product is its' size.

At 250ml this is a perfect "big glass" of wine, enough to carry dinner and I know that many people can't finish a bottle of wine at dinner so this provides a low cost alternative. The bottle is also a great size for packing on a hike, or going to a picnic and the "no waste" factor means that for these occasions it represents good value. Back in the dark ages when I was a wine importer the BCLDB would not approve listing for 250ml, or 500ml, bottles because they weren't a standard package unit but it appears they have loosened their stance and that is a good idea in my mind.

Really Bad Tagline in Infiniti Ad

noreply@blogger.com (A Wine Guy) — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 23:07:00 +0000

There is currently an ad campaign running for Infiniti that wants you to challenge the status quo .

The ad opens with a shot from space of a sunrise over planet Earth and the opening line is, I kid you not, "If no one ever challenged the status quo the Earth would still be flat.

Um, no it wouldn't because the Earth was actually never flat so it could never still be flat .

This ad was produced by TBWA\Chiat\Day Los Angeles, who should be ashamed of themselves, plus didn't anyone at Nissan/Infiniti hear that line and go : "Wait a minute"

You can watch the bad ad here

Beer Economics 101, save the Tree

noreply@blogger.com (A Wine Guy) — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 18:55:00 +0000

In a previous post I lamented the fact that we live in a region that produces wine and yet that wine is less affordable than imported products. Today I'm going to delve into the Economics of Beer and how the same situation occurs, with the exception of one enlightened Okanagan producer .

I am a beer drinker, first and foremost, I am the son of a beer drinker and beer was a way of life growing up. It is still the first beverage I have when I come home from work and generally my companion while preparing food. When I was younger and often drank just for the sake of doing so I even had a "beer number system", it went like this:

A beer, or one beer, was two beer

A couple was 3-4

A few was 5-7

More than 7 was "a bunch", as in "I don't feel great today, I had a bunch of beers last night".

I realize that the plural of beer is beer but within the common lexicon the use of beers is perfectly acceptable, and anyone who says otherwise is probably suspect and definitely not a beer drinker

I no longer drink for sport and now when I say I had one beer that's exactly what I mean, but there is the issue of portion size and that's where the economics come in. The Canadian industry standard for beer is 355ml, this is because in the pre-metric days a standard unit was 12 ounces, but 355ml is a sham. No self respecting beer drinker is satisfied with 355ml of beer, it's just not enough so what happens is that two beer are needed. The least expensive Canadian beer in the marketplace is currently regularly retailing at $7.55 per six pack, or $1.26 per unit but since 2 units are required for satisfaction the real beer drinker is paying $2.52 per ABCU or "appropriate beer consumption unit".

Now outside of North America, and even in some enlightened areas within it, it is generally accepted that an ABCU is 500ml, roughly 16 ounces. In British Columbia the consumer has a vast selection of imported beer that retails in 500ml packages for much less than the $2.52 required to make up a domestic APCU so once again we are faced with the necessity of drinking imported product.

But all is not lost, up in Kelowna there exists a very good local brewery that has seen the folly of the 355ml package and now produces three very good distinctive beer in 500ml cans and all for lass than $2.52. These visionaries are Tree Brewing and they deserve our support.

Tree produces three products in 500ml cans, a Pilsner, an Amber Ale and an absolutely outstanding Pale Ale all of which have excellent distribution and all better than the mass produced beer from Molson/Labatt/Pacific Western whatever. So do yourself, and your wallet and your local economy, a favour and seek out the fine family of 500ml Tree Brewing products.

You'll be glad you did.