It was a beautiful fall morning in San Francisco, warm enough to enjoy an iced coffee at an outdoor table in Union Square. I was taking in the sights and sipping my coffee when I heard a woman ask, “Do you mind if we share this table?” I looked up and replied, “Not at all, please do!”
These days, Carmenere is a varietal wine most closely associated with Chile. But, that is a relatively recent development — within the last 20 years. Lucky for those of us who enjoy Carmenere, viticulturists brought cuttings to Chile from France before the phylloxera epidemic of the 1860s all but destroyed the variety in its native Bordeaux region. Because Carmenere can be difficult to grow and fully ripen in Bordeaux, after the phylloxera epidemic it was not widely replanted. As a result, Chile is home to the vast majority of Carmenere plantings world wide.
Wines from Portugal? Yes, please! With more than 200 indigenous grape varieties and a wide variety of growing conditions, Portugal has plenty to offer the adventurous wine drinker. We recently had the opportunity to sample four wines from the Tejo (pronounced te-zhoo) wine region of Portugal. Until 2009 this region was know as Ribatejo.
The monthly call for bloggers to participate in Wine Pairing Weekend for November came from David, who blogs at Cooking Chat. David is the founder and major organizer of the monthly food and wine pairing event. This month, our task was to come up with Creative Thanksgiving Pairings.
Lodi “Outside the Box” Thanksgiving is the title of a recent online tasting hosted by LoCA, the Lodi Winegrape Commission. We were invited to participate in the tasting and in addition to sending us four wines as tasting samples, LoCA also sent along recipes to accompany each wine. The recipes were created by Chef Tony Lawrence, who is a sommelier and certified wine and food pairing specialist (among many other talents.)
As with many Italian families, wine is an important part of Scotto family life. For at least five generations, Scotto family members have been making and selling wine, first in their native Italy, then in New York after the first family members immigrated to the U.S. in 1883.
Even before leaving Brooklyn for California, the family purchased grapes from Lodi, California growers to make their table wine. That connection between the Scotto family and Lodi growers continued after they moved to California in 1963.
Pair white wine with fish and chicken, red wine with red meat. Sound advice, even if it is a bit general. Some would add: drink white wine when the weather is hot, red wine when the weather is cool. This statement I too mostly agree with, except that I really enjoy drinking white wine any time of year. So, as the weather begins to cool, I’m not yet ready to make the switch to mostly red wines.
For six weeks in September and October of every year, Jordan Vineyard celebrates the year’s harvest and the bounty of their gardens by preparing delicious Harvest Lunches. Jordan Russian River Valley Chardonnay and Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon accompany the buffet, which changes depending on what is fresh in their gardens.
There is nothing like a glass of sparkling wine to make any occasion a bit more special, even (or maybe especially) a weeknight evening. On a recent Friday evening we enjoyed a bottle of Salton Intenso Sparkling Brut that we received as a tasting sample.
It’s always a happy day when we are fortunate enough to receive wine samples for tasting. It presents so many new possibilities. Most times the wines are ones we have not tasted before. We may or may not be familiar with the grape varieties, but even if we are, every winemaker’s interpretation of a variety is unique.
We enjoy wine, food and travel. Pull That Cork is a chronicle of our wine adventures, the food and wine pairings we create and our travels which are increasingly organized around wine.