Although there are a lot of very good reasons to drink wine, my favorite reason is as a compliment to a meal. Actually that is my second favorite reason. My first reason would be any time I get to enjoy the companionship of the Single Guy Chef (SGC). Since it is so seldom, it is always a cause for celebrating and therefore wine.
Speaking of the Chef, the other day he asked me for some recommendations for everyday white house wines. Among those recommendations was German Riesling. I love German wines. I enjoy them when they are sweet (Spatelese/Auslese) or dry (Kabinett). But above all my friends, they are wonderful with most any food. Ok, maybe the spicier the better; but take the SGC’s last carrot soup recipe. That pesto he puts in there would pair perfectly with a Riesling. Oh yeah!
So, how about a 2006 Schlink Haus Riesling that is currently widely available. Pale yellow in color, the light nose is a grand opening to wonderful fruits and light honey. The finish is very, very long. Is it a great wine? No. Is it a very good wine? Yes, yes yes! And are you ready for the price? How about less than ten bucks? I’ve seen it as low as $6.50. Much too cheap for serious winos, but not for me and I can’t think of a better wine to start off the spring of 2008 – with or without food. Let us raise our glasses to the daffodils
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Let’s start out by saying that drinking a five year-old chardonnay from California is always chancy. These wines, along with Zinfandels, are best drunk young; in their first 2 or 3 birthdays. Rutherford Hill’s 2002 Chardonnay breaks this rule. In fact this wine is good for at least another two years; I don’t care what anyone says. Very light, with a tint of green in color, this wine has a very nice chardonnay-like nose (sniff, sniff). It does not come on strong, but at mid-palate it says, “Hello, how are you?” This is a very smooth (but not too) wine with excellent citrus tones. Overall this is an excellent California chardonnay. The guys and gals at Rutherford Hill should stand proud.
We had this with cod (we’ve been on a fish kick lately) with a dill/cucumber/Greek (is there any other kind) yogurt sauce. It went especially well with a garden and herb salad topped with garlic/apple-cider vinaigrette. A more creamy sauce would over-power this wine. Be careful; but not too careful.
The singleGuyChef would say this is a perfect aperitif. I wouldn’t since I don’t use words with four syllables (except vinaigrette). Enjoy.
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Light straw in color, the 2005 Pinot Grigio from Luna Vineyards of Napa Valley is a mouthful. Although the nose is quite light, a sip brings forth some great lemon flavors highlighted by a good amount of acid (think ‘crisp’). It is the finish - that last essence of taste – that becomes exciting. All of the fruit comes forward; it is almost sweet.
Think summer fish; we enjoyed this white with salmon stuffed with crab, sided with green beans mixed with fresh mint leaves (a simple Friday evening dinner). The singleGuyChef could also pair this with one of his tasty creamy sauces. Yeah, a nice pasts dish would suit this wine well.
Luna is a small winery known for picking their grapes at night, hence the name. But do we really care? We are just thankful that they fermented these grapes in French Oak barrels for seven months which lends it a complexity from start to finish.
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ah….. what goes with grilled oysters - SGC (singleguychef) put together two eclectic, widely different recipes - one zesty mango, one asian vinaigrette salsa - how could any wine taste right with these two concoctions - well, lets taste them - my first thought was muscadet … dry, crystal-clean white from france - but, mais non, i thought maybe a touch of clean fruit would marry with the spicy hints, where pure muscadet might prove too simple - well, it worked …. magnifique - really the french sauvignon blanc brought us right into the purity of the oyster, and the light, silvery hint of semillion/muscadelle sweetness married flawlessly with both of the sauces - it really is a simple, and perfect food-wine experience that doesn’t take a genius or wine nerd to appreciate
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