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Crushed Grape ChroniclesCrushed Grape Chronicles
Adventures in Wine Exploration
the stories behind the vines
  • CGC Home
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    • The Scenic Route, Wine tour
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      • Hunter Valley
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      • Southern Highlands
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    • Central Coast Wine Country
    • CA Wine Makers
      • Los Olivos
        • Carhartt Vineyard
        • Qupe, Verdad
        • Saarloos and Sons
      • Santa Barbara
        • Ballard Canyon AVA
          • Beckmen Vineyards
          • Larner Vineyard
        • Happy Canyon AVA
        • Santa Maria Valley
          • Riverbench Vineyard
        • Sta. Rita Hills AVA
          • Clos Pepe Winery
          • Hilliard Bruce
        • Santa Ynez Valley AVA
      • Paso Robles
      • Napa Valley
      • Sonoma Valley
      • Temecula Valley
    • France, the wine regions
      • Côtes de Bordeaux
      • the wines of Alsace, France
      • the wines of Bordeaux, France
      • the wines of Champagne France
      • the wines of Languedoc Roussillion
    • Oregon Wine Country
      • Willamette Valley, Oregon Wine Country
        • Fossil & Fawn- the wines
        • Illahe Vineyards
        • Leah Jørgensen Cellars
        • Montinore Vineyards
        • Uncommon Wine Festival at Vista Hills Vineyard 2018
    • Yakima Valley Wine
      • Red Willow Vineyard
    • Wine Bar’s Las Vegas
      • Due Forni- Las Vegas
      • Julian Serrano
      • View Wine Bar
      • Wine 5 Cafe
  • the philosophies
    • Biodynamics in Wine Production
    • Champagne & Sparkling Wine
    • Gravity Flow Wineries
    • Wine Barrels 101
  • from dirt to glass
    • Crushed Grapes & Open Minds
    • Food & Wine Pairing, Recipes
    • 12 Days of Wine, holiday wine List
    • 12 Days of Wine, a Holiday list
    • Wine Basics
      • the grapes
      • the grape vines
      • the seasons
      • the Wine harvest
      • the winemakers
      • Wine Composition and Chemistry
      • Wine Faults
      • Wine Education Series
  • Videos
    • Crushed Grape Chronicles Video Gallery
    • Santa Barbara Videos
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  • About us
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    • Work with Us, CGC Our Wine Media kit
  • 12 Days of Wine, 2020
LaZarre 2017 Central Coast Pinot Noir and black bean lentil burgers
21 Dec
0

LaZarre 2017 Central Coast Pinot Noir – Day 9 of the 12 Days of Wine 2020

Posted by Robin Renken 12 Days of Wine Holiday Edition, Recipes and Wine Pairings No Comments

Adam and Angie LaZarre have a bit of a “Rockstar” vibe.  We met them during Merlot Month when we sampled their 2017 Paso Robles Merlot. We wrote about that in our piece Merlot from Elegant to Badass.

When they sent us that sample, they included a bottle of their 2017 Central Coast Pinot Noir.

*We received this wine as a sample. No other compensation was received.  All opinions are our own.*

Angie and Adam LaZarre of LaZarre Wines - Photo courtesy LaZarre Wines

Adam & Angie LaZarre

 

Adam and Angie source fruit from the Central Coast Region from Monterrey to Santa Barbara, Paso Robles, and the Edna Valley. These are small-lot wines in varieties like Albarino, Chardonnay, Merlot, and Sav Blanc, but they started this project focused on Pinot Noir.

LaZarre 2017 Central Coast Pinot Noir

This Pinot Noir is made from Edna Valley Fruit from the Jespersen Ranch Vineyard. This vineyard sits just a few miles from the ocean, south of San Luis Obispo. This vineyard gives the Pinot long hang times developing concentrated flavors.

This is 100% Pinot Noir with 15% stem inclusion in the crush.  Adam says this stem inclusion gives a slightly gamey note to the wine that will become more complex as it ages.

It does 16 months in oak (40% new), and they made just 273 cases.

My notes

Ruby in color with medium intensity in the glass.

Pronounced nose with baked fruits, brown sugar, spice, dried fig, raisin, and tobacco.

Dry with medium tannins and acidity

This has big flavors of black fruit, tart berries, licorice, cola, spice, and vanilla with a long finish.

100% Pinot Noir  14.7% abv  SRP $42

LaZarre 2017 Central Coast Pinot Noir

Black bean lentil burgers

This was a Sun Basket lunch.  It blew out of the water, my perception of black bean burgers.  This had lots of mushroom in it, giving it great umami, and, well, mushrooms with the LaZarre Pinot Noir are a match made in heaven.  It had tons of flavor to match the wine.  The wine is definitely NOT a salmon Pinot, it needs something bolder to stand up to it and this burger did just that.

LaZarre 2017 Central Coast Pinot Noir and a black bean lentil burger
LaZarre 2017 Central Coast Pinot Noir and a black bean lentil burger
Black Bean Lentil Burger full of mushrooms and umami
Black Bean Lentil Burger full of mushrooms and umami

Strawberry Mousse Macarons

This was not my idea.  I’ve tackled a bunch of new things recently, but tackling macarons was not on my list.  Michael however, was ready to do this. (Perhaps  bingeing 2 seasons of “Zumbo’s Just Desserts” did it.)  So we did.  They did fall a bit when they came out of the oven, but they tasted amazing!

Here is a link to the recipe.

The LaZarre Pinot was gorgeous with these.  I think my note was “Yep, with this wine, any day of the week!”

We also paired with those blackberry goat cheese chocolate bombs and the Pinot Noir worked well with the dark chocolate and blackberry as well as the tang of the goat cheese.

Strawberry mousse filled macarons (and a blackberry goat cheese chocolate bomb)

Sources and Resources

  • https://lazarrewines.com/
  • https://discovercaliforniawines.com/discover-california/central-coast/

More from Crushed Grape Chronicles on LaZarre Wines

  • Merlot from Elegant to Badass

As always be sure to follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and sign up for our monthly newsletter to keep up to date on all of our posts.

Robin Bell Renken I have always loved people’s stories. I spent a career in Theatre helping to tell stories, as a Stage Manager. Daily enabling artists to freely and safely tell stories through their art. Then I fell in love with wine. There are so many details, so many nuances, not just in the glass, but in the vineyard, the region and the people. As I met winemakers and vineyard owners and even the people in the tasting room excited to pour me a glass and tell me the story of this wine, I knew these were stories I wanted to share. I completed my study and became a Certified Specialist of Wine and continue learning daily as I meet and interview people in this industry.

Robin Renken is a wine writer and Certified Specialist of Wine. She and her husband Michael travel to wine regions interviewing vineyard owners and winemakers and learning the stories behind the glass.

When not traveling they indulge in cooking and pairing wines with food at home in Las Vegas.

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Strawberry mousse filled macarons (and a blackberry goat cheese chocolate bomb)
20 Dec
0

Strawberry Macarons

Posted by Robin Renken 12 Days of Wine Holiday Edition, Recipes and Wine Pairings No Comments

Strawberry Mousse filled Macarons

I will admit, I was not ready for this.  Pandemic food show bingeing had Michael ready to make macarons.  I was not so sure.  I’d seen how skeptical Zumbo was when someone tried to make them.  Michael, though, was determined.  So we set forth to make macarons.

I would love to give credit to the recipe we referenced, but I cannot find it.  Suffice to say, I did not just come up with this on my own!

Time: 1 hour 10 Minutes

Yield: 6 people

Strawberry mousse filled macarons (and a blackberry goat cheese chocolate bomb)
Strawberry mousse filled macarons (and a blackberry goat cheese chocolate bomb)

Ingredients

1 ¾ cups powdered sugar

1 cup of almond flour

1 tsp salt

3 egg whites (at room temperature)

¼ cup granulated sugar

½ tsp vanilla

2 drops of pink gel food coloring (okay…we didn’t have that so we used red, they came out a little pinkish/salmon)

Directions

  1. In a food processor combine the powdered sugar, almond flour and ½ tsp of the salt on low speed. You want this to be extra fine.
  2. Sift the mixture through a fine sieve into a large bowl.
  3. In your stand mixer, beat the eggs whites and the remaining salt until soft peaks form.
  4. Gradually add the granulated sugar, mixing until it is incorporated.
  5. Turn the speed up to medium high and beat until stiff peaks form
  6. Add the vanilla
  7. Beat until incorporated.
  8. Add the food coloring and mix just until it is combined.
  9. Take the bowl off the mixer.
  10. Add 1/3 of the sifted flour mixture at a time carefully folding this in.
  11. Continue to carefully fold until the you can make a figure 8 in the batter by dripping the mixture from the spatula, without it breaking.
  12. Put the mixture in a piping bag with a round tip.
  13. We have a silpat cover with circles for macarons, but if you don’t, use parchment on your sheet pan. You can use a small dollop of the mixture in each corner under the paper to hold it down.
  14. Pipe out 1 ½ inch circles (from straight above). Space them an inch apart.
  15. When the sheet is piped, tap the baking sheet on a flat surface 5 times. This releases any air bubbles in the mixture.
  16. Now let them sit for a half hour to an hour. They should feel dry to the touch.
  17. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit
  18. Bake the macarons for 17 minutes. The feet (that little part at the base) will be well-risen and the macarons will not stick to the paper.
  19. Transfer to a wire rack to cool

Strawberry mousse filling

Ingredients

½ lb of strawberries

1/3 cup of granulated sugar

2 cups of whipping crème

Directions

  1. Remove the stems and slice the strawberries roughly
  2. Put the sugar and the strawberries in a food processor to puree.
  3. Whip the cream in your stand mixer until it forms stiff peaks
  4. Fold in the strawberry puree
  5. Put in a piping bag with a round tip

Assembling the Macarons

  1. Turn one macaron cookie on its head
  2. Pipe a dollop of the mousse
  3. Finish with the other half of the macaron
  4. Et Voila!

Watch our quick video for the highlights.

LaZarre 2017 Central Coast Pinot Noir

LaZarre 2017 Central Coast Pinot Noir

This Pinot Noir is made from Edna Valley Fruit from the Jespersen Ranch Vineyard. This vineyard sits just a few miles from the ocean, south of San Luis Obispo. This vineyard gives the Pinot long hang times developing concentrated flavors.

This is 100% Pinot Noir with 15% stem inclusion in the crush.  Adam says this stem inclusion gives a slightly gamey note to the wine that will become more complex as it ages.

It does 16 months in oak (40% new), and they made just 273 cases.

We paired these with a LaZarre 2017 Central Coast Pinot Noir.  I was skeptical.  I thought the cookies might be too light in flavor with the wine or too sweet.  Nope, I really enjoyed this.  The wine made the strawberry pop!

Read More

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LaZarre 2017 Central Coast Pinot Noir – Day 9 of the 12 Days of Wine 2020

Adam and Angie LaZarre have a bit of a “Rockstar” vibe.  We met them during Merlot Month when we sampled their 2017 Paso Robles Merlot. We wrote about that in our piece Merlot from Elegant to Badass. When they sent us that sample, they included a bottle of their 2017 Central Coast Pinot Noir. *We [...]

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Robin Bell Renken I have always loved people’s stories. I spent a career in Theatre helping to tell stories, as a Stage Manager. Daily enabling artists to freely and safely tell stories through their art. Then I fell in love with wine. There are so many details, so many nuances, not just in the glass, but in the vineyard, the region and the people. As I met winemakers and vineyard owners and even the people in the tasting room excited to pour me a glass and tell me the story of this wine, I knew these were stories I wanted to share. I completed my study and became a Certified Specialist of Wine and continue learning daily as I meet and interview people in this industry.

Robin Renken is a wine writer and Certified Specialist of Wine. She and her husband Michael travel to wine regions interviewing vineyard owners and winemakers and learning the stories behind the glass.

When not traveling they indulge in cooking and pairing wines with food at home in Las Vegas.

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Meinklang Hárslevelü with Hungarian Nut Cake and Apricot Mousse
20 Dec
0

Hungarian Nut Cake with Apricot

Posted by Robin Renken 12 Days of Wine Holiday Edition, Recipes and Wine Pairings No Comments

Hungarian Nut Cake was my mother’s favorite cake, as her hand-typed recipe below attests. I remember having it often at home growing up and it was her favorite to make for friends birthdays, potlucks, or other gatherings.  I have a vision of her carrying this cake out to the picnic table in the yard for a gathering of the enlisted men’s wives when we living in California.

Mom's typed recipe for her favorite Hungarian Nut Cake. She loved to share this recipe.
Mom’s typed recipe for her favorite Hungarian Nut Cake. She loved to share this recipe.
Photo of the Enlisted Wives Club in the Yard in California
A gathering of the Enlisted Wives club in the yard. I am sure there was Hungarian Nut Cake served this day.

She loved hosting.  She was not fussy, but warm and welcoming.  She wanted everyone to feel at ease and at home and part of a community. Being a Navy wife, with kids while your husband was deployed for 8 months was no easy task.  She felt duty-bound to look out for the other families in the squadron.

I made some changes to her recipe to make this dish, but it is an homage to my sweet Mother.  I cut the recipe to 1/3.  Her original made 3 8-inch Hungarian Nut Cakes to layer.  I just needed a small bit for my plating, and my plating was just for 2, so even then I had cake left over.

Hungarian Nut Cake

Ingredients

  • 1/3 cup butter
  • 1/3 cup of lt. brown sugar
  • 1/3 cup sugar
  • 2 egg yolks
  • 2/3 cup walnuts
  • 1/3 cup bread crumbs
  • ½ cup sifted flour
  • 2/3 tsp baking powder
  • 1/3 tsp vanilla
  • 1/3 cup milk
  • 2 egg whites

Recipe

  1. Crème the butter, lt. brown sugar and sugar together
  2. Add the egg yolks one at a time and mix completely
  3. Grind the walnuts in a food processor until they are fine.
  4. In a separate bowl sift together the bread crumbs, flour, and baking powder
  5. Add to the butter mixture
  6. Add in the vanilla and milk
  7. Beat the egg yolks in a separate bowl until they have stiff peaks
  8. Fold these into the mixture.
  9. Cover a sheet pan with a silicone pad or parchment.
  10. Spread the mixture out thinly on the pan and bake for 10 to 15 minutes at 325.
  11. Let cool slightly and then cut into 3-inch circles.
Ingredients for Hungarian Nut CakeIngredients for Hungarian Nut Cake

Apricot Mousse

Ingredients

1 cup of Apricot puree (recipe below)

1 cup of whipping cream

¼ cup of powdered sugar

1 tsp of vanilla

1 tsp of lemon juice

Recipe

  1. Mix the apricot puree, powdered sugar, and lemon juice
  2. Put the mixture through a sieve
  3. Add the whipping cream
  4. Pour into the siphon
  5. Shake 14 times
  6. Add where needed!

Apricot Puree

Ingredients

6 apricots

3 tbs sugar

½ cup of water

Recipe

  1. Cook the apricots with the sugar and water for 20 minutes.
  2. Blend with an immersion blender.
  3. Cool to room temperature

Assembling

  1. Start with a darker colored plate so that you can see the design
  2. Set your pattern (I had a wooden snowflake ornament) in the corner of the dish
  3. Carefully sift a bit of your dusting mixture over the snowflake
  4. Gently remove the snowflake
  5. In the top corner place a round of the Hungarian Nut cake
  6. Top this with the mouse from the siphon
  7. Add a schmear of the coffee butter cream frosting on the side, finish with some crumbled meringue for crunch and carefully place some whole walnuts and the small slices of dried apricot.

e.

My Mom's ceramic Christmas Tree and Hungarian Nut Cake with Apricot Mousse

What about a Wine Pairing?

This paired wonderfully with the Hungarian wine we had.  This was a Meinklang h17 Hárslevelü.  The wine melded with the butter cream and pulling out the apricot in the dish.

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As always be sure to follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and sign up for our monthly newsletter to keep up to date on all of our posts.

Robin Bell Renken I have always loved people’s stories. I spent a career in Theatre helping to tell stories, as a Stage Manager. Daily enabling artists to freely and safely tell stories through their art. Then I fell in love with wine. There are so many details, so many nuances, not just in the glass, but in the vineyard, the region and the people. As I met winemakers and vineyard owners and even the people in the tasting room excited to pour me a glass and tell me the story of this wine, I knew these were stories I wanted to share. I completed my study and became a Certified Specialist of Wine and continue learning daily as I meet and interview people in this industry.

Robin Renken is a wine writer and Certified Specialist of Wine. She and her husband Michael travel to wine regions interviewing vineyard owners and winemakers and learning the stories behind the glass.

When not traveling they indulge in cooking and pairing wines with food at home in Las Vegas.

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Meinklang Hárslevelü with Hungarian Nut Cake and Apricot Mousse
20 Dec
0

Meinklang h17 – Day 8 of the 12 Days of wine 2020

Posted by Robin Renken 12 Days of Wine Holiday Edition, Recipes and Wine Pairings No Comments

Today we dive into Meinklang a wine from Hungary.  I went to pick up a wine a while back at GaragisteLV and decided to add a bottle while I was there. “What do you have that is interesting,” I asked Eric.  He immediately suggested this wine.  It wasn’t until I got home that I realized it was from Hungary.

My mother was Hungarian.  I guess that makes me ½ Hungarian.  My grandparents both immigrated from Budapest.  My mother grew up with Hungarian recipes around her, and I remember my Grandmother speaking Hungarian in her final days, returning to her native tongue.  So the fact that Eric suggested this wine was a bit of kismet.

It’s the holidays, and while Mom is no longer with us, today I would honor her and my Hungarian heritage.  We enjoyed this wine with two of my mother’s favorite Hungarian recipes, Chicken Paprikas and Hungarian Nut Cake.

Meinklang

More than a vineyard or a winery, Meinklang is a family-run mixed farm.  In addition to grapes, they grow ancient grains like spelt and farro and have fruit orchards, vegetable gardens, and “meadows of wild herbs and flowers”.  They are Demeter Certified Biodynamic.

The 3000-hectare farm is located within the World Heritage Site the National Park Neusiedlersee.  They sit to the East of the Neusiedlersee Lake.  The vineyard is in Somló southeast of the farm and on the foothills of an extinct volcano, so their soils are basalt and loess and are mineral-rich.

In the map below you can see them as #5 in the light blue of the Balaton Region The Nagy-Somlói region is broken up into 3 small sections that add up to just 533 hectares.  The section that is the furthest east is where the vineyard is located.

Map of Hungarian Wine Regions courtesy of Hungarian Wines

Map of Hungarian Wine Regions courtesy of Hungarian Wines

Meinklang h17

This wine is from the grape Hárslevelü (harsh-level-oo). It is a white grape whose name means “linden leaf”.  This is an aromatic grape although less so when from the tiny Somló region where it has mineral qualities.

This wine is made in an orange style with 2 days of skin contact.  It is fermented with wild yeasts, and bottled unfiltered and unfined with no sulfites added.

My notes:

Hazy with no sediment the nose first hits you with honeysuckle.  Perhaps that is the linden blossom they speak of.  Savory spices and mineral notes follow and then tart yellow apple.  As it opens I get richer, riper yellow fruit.

In my mouth, it’s zestier than I anticipated, with bright acid and almost an effervescent feel.  I start to notice nutty notes, cider, and perhaps fresh-cut wood. This is the perfect white wine to enjoy by the fire.

Meinklang h17 2017 Hárslevelü from Somló Hungary
Chicken Paprikas

Chicken Paprikas

I loved it when my mother would make Chicken Paprikas when I was a child.  The kitchen smelled delicious as it simmered away and I loved the dumplings.  I  made these by the spoonful, but if you want you can make them smaller like the traditional Nokedli.  I remember my Mom standing over the pot of boiling salted water with the dough on a cutting board, cutting away pieces and letting them drop into the pot.

This recipe I made with chicken thighs and it cooks in a dutch oven.  The dumplings are made on the side and then stirred into the sauce and served with the chicken.

You can see the full recipe here.

This pairing was just comforting.  I think Mom would have been proud.

Hungarian Nut Cake, apricot mousse, and crumbled meringue

Okay if you have been following our 12 Days of Wine, you are saying, “Wait, that was Day 1”!  Well, you are right.  Here’s the deal.  I tasted out of order and when I got to that Prosecco I still had Hungarian Nut Cake left that I didn’t want to go to waste, so…

This is a fancy plating of my Mom’s favorite cake.  I tried to make a small bit of her coffee buttercream frosting and that was kind of a fail. Oh well.  I created an apricot mousse to go with this did a schmear of the failed coffee buttercream, dusted the plate with a combination of powdered sugar, cocoa powder, and espresso powder, and garnished with walnuts, crumbled meringue, and sliced dried apricot.

The dessert was a win with the wine, melding with the buttercream, and pulling out the apricot in the dish.

You will find the recipe here.

Hungarian Nut Cake with Apricot Mousse

Okay, I’m warm, fuzzy and nostalgic.  I’ll leave you with a shot of my Mother’s ceramic Christmas tree, ‘cause it makes me happy.

My Mom's ceramic Christmas Tree and Hungarian Nut Cake with Apricot Mousse

My Mom’s ceramic Christmas Tree and Hungarian Nut Cake with Apricot Mousse

Happy Holidays!

Sources & Resources

  • https://meinklang.at/en/
  • https://hungarianwines.eu/
  • https://tastehungary.com/journal/harslevelu-a-wine-doomed-to-eternally-play-a-supporting-role/

As always be sure to follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and sign up for our monthly newsletter to keep up to date on all of our posts.

Robin Bell Renken I have always loved people’s stories. I spent a career in Theatre helping to tell stories, as a Stage Manager. Daily enabling artists to freely and safely tell stories through their art. Then I fell in love with wine. There are so many details, so many nuances, not just in the glass, but in the vineyard, the region and the people. As I met winemakers and vineyard owners and even the people in the tasting room excited to pour me a glass and tell me the story of this wine, I knew these were stories I wanted to share. I completed my study and became a Certified Specialist of Wine and continue learning daily as I meet and interview people in this industry.

Robin Renken is a wine writer and Certified Specialist of Wine. She and her husband Michael travel to wine regions interviewing vineyard owners and winemakers and learning the stories behind the glass.

When not traveling they indulge in cooking and pairing wines with food at home in Las Vegas.

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2018 Rowlee Nebbiolo from Orange NSW Australia
19 Dec
0

Rowlee 2018 Single Vineyard Nebbiolo – Day 7 of the 12 Days of Wine

Posted by Robin Renken 12 Days of Wine Holiday Edition, Australia, Nebbiolo, Orange, Recipes and Wine Pairings 2 Comments

We visited Rowlee a little over a year ago with a group from the Wine Media Conference  This was a post-conference excursion to Orange Australia sponsored by Orange 360.  We joined Nicole and James at their cellar door on the vineyard. We gathered on the porch to look out on the vineyard as the sun began to set, tasting through their Pinot Gris, Riesling, and rosé.

Rowlee is in the Orange Region of Australia which is a high altitude region.  This 8-hectare vineyard sits at 950 meters above sea level. That’s over 3000 feet.  They sit at the foot of Mount Canobolas with ancient volcanic soils.

As we gathered at Rowlee, we sipped wines and enjoyed snacks before a tour of the property. Orange NSW Australia
As we gathered at Rowlee, we sipped wines and enjoyed snacks before a tour of the property.
Pinot Gris, Riesling, and Rose from Rowlee Orange NSW Australia
Our evening began with Pinot Gris, Riesling and Rose from Rowlee
The cellar door at Rowlee is elegant and understated with a patio overlooking the vineyard Orange NSW Australia
The cellar door at Rowlee is elegant and understated with a patio overlooking the vineyard
Pinot Gris in the spring at Rowlee Orange NSW Australia
October and spring in Australia, the Pinot Gris at Rowlee was just leafing.
Nicole and James had a delicious dinner prepared for us in the tasting room, which paired with their beautiful wines. Rowlee Orange NSW Australia
Nicole and James had a delicious dinner prepared for us in the tasting room, which paired with their beautiful wines.

We had a tour of the property, and James shared with us some of the fascinating studies and technological advances they have been working on. We then gathered around the table to feast and taste their wines.

2018 Rowlee Single Vineyard Nebbiolo

 

One of the standouts from our tasting and a bottle of wine that we left with, was their 2018 Rowlee Single Vineyard Nebbiolo.

They have 2 clones of Nebbiolo and they only make it in the best years.  James says they know the Nebbiolo is right when it tastes like a piece of licorice when they taste it on the vine.

2017 was not a great year and it did not have those notes, so they decided to drop the fruit and mulch it back into the soil.  They did save a little of the fruit and turned it into Grappa. The 2018 vintage, on the other hand, was spectacular.

My notes

The 2018 Rowlee Nebbiolo has notes of black fruit, red fruit, cocoa powder, sweet tobacco, licorice, and a lovely floral note in the back, like crushed rose petals.

It has great acid and flavors of bramble fruit and red cherry with a long finish.

14% abv 100% Nebbiolo $60 AU SRP

2018 Rowlee Nebbiolo

Bleu Cheese Burger with bacon and tomato marmalade

 

To pair with this beautiful wine, we made burgers with some toppings to tie in the flavors in the wine.

For a while, I have made my burgers by the Bobby Flay method.

First, your meat should be 80% lean.  Then you make a ¾ inch patty and make a deep thumbprint in the middle of each patty. This will keep them cooking evenly.  Season with salt and pepper and cook in a cast-iron skillet with a bit of canola oil.  3 minutes for the first side then flip and cook 3 minutes on the other side.  Then add your cheese, put a lid on it and cook for 1 more minute.  The burgers come out medium rare and juicy.

For this burger, we cooked the 2nd side for 4 minutes and added bacon and bleu cheese. After that, I drizzled with a little balsamic reduction.  We also topped it with spinach and a bit of tomato marmalade.  This recipe we made a couple of years ago and I still have a jar left.  It’s soo good.  Maybe I’ll dig that recipe up to share with you later.

Blue Cheese bacon burger with tomato marmalade and the 2018 Rowlee Nebbiolo from NSW Australia
Blue Cheese bacon burger with tomato marmalade and the 2018 Rowlee Nebbiolo from NSW Australia
Burger with bacon, blue cheese, balsamic reduction, spinach and tomato marmalade, & fries
Burger with bacon, blue cheese, balsamic reduction, spinach and tomato marmalade, & fries

The wine with this burger was lovely.  Usually eating a burger is a bit messy and drippy, oozing with umami and we pair it with a Syrah or a Cab Franc.  This burger was delicious, but the wine made it behave. The wine was elegant, popping the bleu cheese notes and bringing out the tomato in the marmalade.  It tamed the bacon, which always wants to be the star of the show.  It made this burger ever so civilized.  I almost felt like I should be eating it with a knife and fork.

Blackberry Goat Cheese Chocolate Bombs

 

To tie in the black fruit and cocoa notes in the wine, we made these fancy-schmancy blackberry goat cheese chocolate bombs.  While we could have just hand-dipped them, we just bought silicone dome molds and I was dying to use them.  So, I learned to temper chocolate (only afterward finding an easier way) and created these delights.  We made them in 2 sizes and I kinda prefer the smaller ones that you can pop in your mouth in one bite, even though the larger size looks prettier.

Check out the recipe for all the details!

  • Ingredients for the blackberry goat cheese chocolate bombs
  • mini blackberry goat cheese chocolate bombs with Rowlee Nebbiolo
  • mini blackberry goat cheese chocolate bombs

Sources and Resources

  • https://www.rowleewines.com.au/
  • https://www.orange360.com.au/

More from Crushed Grape Chronicles on Orange Australia

  • 2 days in Orange? Too little time for this beautiful Australian Region

As always be sure to follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and sign up for our monthly newsletter to keep up to date on all of our posts.

Robin Bell Renken I have always loved people’s stories. I spent a career in Theatre helping to tell stories, as a Stage Manager. Daily enabling artists to freely and safely tell stories through their art. Then I fell in love with wine. There are so many details, so many nuances, not just in the glass, but in the vineyard, the region and the people. As I met winemakers and vineyard owners and even the people in the tasting room excited to pour me a glass and tell me the story of this wine, I knew these were stories I wanted to share. I completed my study and became a Certified Specialist of Wine and continue learning daily as I meet and interview people in this industry.

Robin Renken is a wine writer and Certified Specialist of Wine. She and her husband Michael travel to wine regions interviewing vineyard owners and winemakers and learning the stories behind the glass.

When not traveling they indulge in cooking and pairing wines with food at home in Las Vegas.

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Résonance – Découverte Vineyard 2017 Pinot Noir with a dinner of salmon coating in a honey-harissa glaze.
18 Dec
0

Découverte! Pinot Noir from Oregon’s Dundee Hills and Mediterranean Salmon #Winophiles

Posted by Robin Renken Pinot Noir, Oregon Wines, Vineyard's and Winery's, Willamette Valley 19 Comments

Découverte!  Discovering the Dundee Hills Vineyard for Maison Louis Jadot’s Oregon winery Résonance.

The French #Winophiles for December are diving into Oregon + Bourgogne Tied Houses.  We are led by L.M. Archer and Lynn of Savor the Harvest

For this journey, many of the #Winophiles will be featuring wines from Domaine Drouhin Oregon, and Résonance Wine.

If you are reading this in time you can join us on Saturday morning December 19th at 11 am EST or bright and early at 8 am PST for a great Q&A discussion on Twitter.  Just follow and use the hashtag #Winophiles to join the conversation.

I was lucky enough to receive this bottle of Résonance Découvert Vineyard Pinot Noir 2017 thanks to Jennica at Kobrand Wine & Spirits

*I received this bottle as a media sample.  No other compensation was received.  All opinions are my own.*

Maison Louis Jadot

Label and logo of Maison Louis Jadot

Label and logo of Maison Louis Jadot

If you have tasted a French wine in the US, you have likely tasted a wine by Maison Louis Jadot. It is one of the most beloved French wine brands in the United States.  You know the logo.  You have seen it on countless wines from Bourgogne (Burgundy) and Beaujolais.

Maison Louis Jadot originated in Beaune France and produces wines from over 150 appellations in Bourgogne with 110 hectares in the Côte d’Or.

This renowned house was founded in 1859, which, coincidentally is the year that Oregon became a state.  Of course, Oregon and Bourgogne share a latitude of 45 degrees.

Résonance

In 2013 Maison Louis Jadot took their first steps outside of Bourgogne purchasing the Résonance Vineyard in the Yamhill-Carlton AVA in Oregon’s Willamette Valley.  Jacque Lardière the longtime Maison Louis Jadot winemaker, had recently retired and he and Thibault Gagney, whose family operates Maison Louis Jadot were off to find a bold new project.  The vineyard already had a French name!  Well, they did add the accent mark, but it was Kismet.

If you click the map to make it larger, you will find the Résonance vineyard.  It is on the bottom half of the map near the center.

Yamhill-Carlton AVA Map

The Résonance vineyard had been planted in 1981 and it was own-rooted, which is rare.  It is one of the oldest dry-farmed vineyards in the Willamette Valley, sitting between 262 and 492 feet in elevation.  Their custom-built winery opened its doors in May of 2019.  Our friends at AdVINEtures visited them a bit ago meeting with winemaker Guillaume Large.

But our story takes us beyond the Résonance Vineyard.

Dundee Hills AVA

Découverte – Discovery in the Dundee Hills

The Dundee Hills are the historical heart of winemaking in the Willamette Valley.  It was here that David Lett, Dick Erath, and the Sokol Blosser’s came to plant their vineyards.

David Lett’s Eyrie Pinot Noir caught the attention of the French in 1979 when it placed in the Top 3 in the Gault-Millau French Wine Olympiads.  Domaine Drouhin took enough note to open their winery here in 1987.

In 2014 Maison Louis Jadot treaded into these red hills purchasing 18 acres with 8 acres of vineyard planted.  This is the Découverte Vineyard. It sits at a much higher elevation than the Yamhill-Carlton property.  The 15 acres now under vine sit between 600 and 690 feet above sea level.  Most of this (12.5 acres) is planted to Pinot Noir, with the remaining to Chardonnay.

You will find them on the map on the right side 6th up from the bottom.

They call these the Red Hills because of the rich, red volcanic Jory soil.  This soil comes from ancient volcanic basalt. It is iron-rich, not very fertile, and well-draining.

Résonance – Découverte Vineyard 2017 Pinot Noir

This Pinot Noir is from the second Résonance Estate Vineyard, Découverte.  Découverte means “Discovery” in French.

The 2017 Vintage saw late flowering due to a cold wet winter and spring.  The summer, on the other hand, set a new record high in August.  This vineyard is organically farmed.

This wine saw 17 months in French Oak barrels, 30% of which was new.

My notes:

Medium ruby in color with a fuchsia rim.

The nose hits you first with rich warm spices, followed by red fruit.  Notes of earth, integrated black fruits, cherry, and notes of mint.

Dry with medium tannins the mouth was rounded and savory on the first sip. Rich but elegant, bright tart cherry notes emerge, and medium tannins that unevenly coat your teeth.

The mineral finish is the give-away here that this is a Dundee Hills wine.  Those red Jory soils shining through.

Keep in mind that this wine is young.  This is a wine that will age and it will continue to evolve and grow more complex.

100% Pinot Noir – 13.5% abv – $65 SRP

Résonance – Découverte Vineyard 2017 Pinot Noir

A Classic Pairing – Oregon Pinot Noir and Salmon

We paired this with a classic Oregon Pinot pairing, salmon.  We did have a Mediterranean twist adding a honey-harissa glaze.  We added sides of slaw with cabbage and apple and pan-roasted summer squash.

Résonance – Découverte Vineyard 2017 Pinot Noir with honey-harissa glazed salmon

Résonance – Découverte Vineyard 2017 Pinot Noir with honey-harissa glazed salmon

I was a little skeptical of the harissa glaze. Harissa is a Tunisian spice blend, usually made in a paste from dried chili peppers, spices, olive oil, and garlic.  The peppers range from smoky to hot and the spices are often toasted.  Our harissa was powdered rather than in paste form and it had a smokiness from roasted peppers and spices.  While there was a little heat on when tasted on its own, we were mixing it with honey to glaze the salmon, which I hoped would tone down the heat and elevate the smoky notes.

Would it work with the wine?  It did.  The harissa and honey pulled out the spice notes in the wine and the wine did not elevate the heat in the harissa.  Our other dishes, the apple and cabbage slaw, and the pan-roasted summer squash played background to the salmon but blended seamlessly with the wine.

Is it crazy to think that the color of the harissa brings to mind the color of the dirt in the Dundee Hills.  Is that why it connects so well with this Découverte Vineyard  Pinot Noir?

#Winophiles

I am looking forward to reading all the pieces by my fellow writers in the French #Winophiles!  There is so much knowledge and a diversity of viewpoints within this group so I am anxious to hear their thoughts!  Dive in and give these a read!

Participating #Winophile Food & Wine Pairings:

Wendy at A Day in  the Life on the Farm tells of “Countries United Through Food and Wine”

Camilla from Culinary Adventures with Camilla shares “Galette au Chou + 2017 Résonance Pinot Noir”

Terri at Our Good Life tells us about “Resonance Pinot Noir and Roasted Pork Loin”

Lynn from Savor the Harvest shares “Oregon Pinot Noir With a Burgundian Heart – Domaine Drouhin Laurène”

Jennifer at Vino Travels cooks up “BBQ Brisket with Domaine Drouhin Pinot Noir”

Linda at My Full Wine Glass shares “Oregon PN for a PNW holiday meal”

David from Cooking Chat “Braised Moroccan Chicken Thighs with Oregon Pinot #Winophiles

Jane from Always Ravenous has an “Oregon Pinot Noir Paired with Braised Chicken Thighs, Blackberries, and Fennel Purée”

Melanie from Wining With Mel tells us “New World meets Old World: Oregon’s Résonance pinot noir paired with beef bourguignon”

Liz from What’s In That Bottle shares a “Taste of the 45th Parallel”

Jeff from Food Wine Click! tells us about “Louis Jadot on Both Sides of the Pond”

Payal from Keep the Peas shares “Burgundy via Oregon”

Gwendolyn from Wine Predator shares “From France’s Bourgogne and Oregon’s Willamette Valley: Domaine Drouhin Does Pinot Noir #Winophiles

Nicole at SommsTable has a “Burgundy vs Oregon Showdown with Drouhin Wines”

Jill at L’Occasion covers “Bourgogne’s Western Vineyards: Crafting Pinot Noir in Oregon”

L.M. Archer shares life “À Table with Domaine Drouhin Oregon and Résonance Wines”

And Michelle, of Rockin Red Blog, shared a post on Forbes for this topic: Best Of Both Worlds: Burgundy Producers Craft High-Quality Wine In Willamette Valley.

The Oregon Wine Board and the Oregon Wine Symposium 2021

I have to give a shout out to the Oregon Wine Board.  Their site is full of great information on Oregon, its soils, vineyards, and wines.  It really is my go-to place for information on Oregon when I am doing research.

The Oregon Wine Symposium is a wine education and trade show that they produce annually for the Northwest Wine Industry.  In 2021 it will be virtual, held online from February 16 to 19th.

Visit their site for information.

Oregon Wine Symposium Feb 16-19 2021 wine and food industry events

Sources and Resources

  • https://resonancewines.com/best-oregon-vineyards/#decouverte
  • https://resonancewines.com/
  • https://www.thedrinksbusiness.com/2016/04/louis-jadot-launches-pinot-noir-from-oregon/
  • https://lovejadot.com/meet-jadot/
  • https://www.oregonwinepress.com/resonance-est-arrive
  • https://dundeehills.org/
  • https://willamettewines.com/
  • https://www.oregonwinepress.com/perle-of-the-willamette
  • https://trade.oregonwine.org/resources/dundee-hills/
  • https://www.kobrandwineandspirits.com/

More on the Willamette Valley from Crushed Grape Chronicles

  • Oregon’s Willamette Valley a Primer
  • Organic Wine & Biodynamics with Troon and Winderlea
  • The Scenic Route Day 9 – Johan
  • Beckham Estate Vineyard – the Story
Crushed Grape Chronicles 12 Days of Wine 2020

Crushed Grape Chronicles 12 Days of Wine 2020

We are in the midst of our 12 Days of Wine 2020 celebration at Crushed Grape Chronicles! We invite you to join us as we taste and pair a wine each day leading up to Christmas.  Great wines from around the world with the stories behind them, plus recipes and pairings including Dessert!

You can visit the page to catch up on what you have missed!   Crushed Grape Chronicles 12 Days of Wine 2020

As always be sure to follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and sign up for our monthly newsletter to keep up to date on all of our posts.

Robin Bell Renken I have always loved people’s stories. I spent a career in Theatre helping to tell stories, as a Stage Manager. Daily enabling artists to freely and safely tell stories through their art. Then I fell in love with wine. There are so many details, so many nuances, not just in the glass, but in the vineyard, the region and the people. As I met winemakers and vineyard owners and even the people in the tasting room excited to pour me a glass and tell me the story of this wine, I knew these were stories I wanted to share. I completed my study and became a Certified Specialist of Wine and continue learning daily as I meet and interview people in this industry.

Robin Renken is a wine writer and Certified Specialist of Wine. She and her husband Michael travel to wine regions interviewing vineyard owners and winemakers and learning the stories behind the glass.

When not traveling they indulge in cooking and pairing wines with food at home in Las Vegas.

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Tablas Creek 2019 Bourboulenc with Coquilles St. Jacque and a pineapple, cucumber, avocado salad
18 Dec
0

Tablas Creek 2019 Bourboulenc – Day 6 of the 12 Days of Wine 2020

Posted by Robin Renken 12 Days of Wine Holiday Edition, Bourboulenc, Paso Robles Winery's, Recipes and Wine Pairings, Vineyard's and Winery's No Comments

Bourboulenc.  You may not have heard of this grape.  It quite honestly doesn’t get out much.  This is an ancient white grape found in Southern France in Provençe and the Southern Rhône. We find the first mention of this grape in literature from the early 16th century.

It is perhaps most well known in Languedoc where it is blended into white wines in La Clape. In this marine region, the grape is delicate with finesse and elegance, they note garrigue flowers and mineral notes on the nose.

Hmm…so different from the wine I tasted.

Tablas Creek Vineyard

Tablas Creek Vineyard is located in the Adelaida District of Paso Robles.  Tucked in off in the North-Western corner of Paso Robles, this vineyard was a venture between Robert Haas of Vineyard Brands and the Perrin Family of Cháteau du Beaucastel in France’s Rhône Valley.

Together they found this property with limestone soils.  It sits at an average of 1,500 feet and the soils are similar to those at Beaucastel.  Jason Haas, son of Robert Haas is now the General Manager.  If you have seen anything on Tablas Creek, you likely know his face.  He is generous with his time and information, and with the Perrins leads Tablas Creek as it continues to move forward always improving their sustainability and continuing to make delicious wines many of which are VERY age-worthy.

Jason Haas at Tablas Creek Vineyard from an Interview we did with him in 2015.
Jason Haas at Tablas Creek Vineyard from an Interview we did with him in 2015.
Tablas Creek Winery
Tablas Creek Winery in the Adelaida AVA in Paso Robles
Tablas Creek Soil
Tablas Creek Soil
Biodynamics & Regenerative Agriculture in Wine Production, Tablas Creek Vineyards, Paso Robles, Central Coast Wine Country
Tablas Creek Vineyards, Adelaida District, Paso Robles

Tablas Creek 2019 Bourboulenc

The bourboulenc we tasted was from the first vintage of this variety at Tablas Creek Vineyard.  I was lucky to get my hands on a bottle of this (or 2, I can’t wait to see how it ages).

Tablas Creek has been working to import all of the Chateauneuf du Pape varieties.  This variety is the 4th most planted white grape in CdP.  They imported the cuttings of bourboulenc back in 2003.

It was not released to them until 2014, as field cuttings straight out of the vineyard can have viruses that have to be cleaned up before the cuttings can be released.  So they start with 3 years in quarantine and then each clean up adds another 3 years. The team at UC Davis had their work cut out for them with the bourboulenc.

100% Bourboulenc 12.8% abv SRP $30

My tasting notes on the Tablas Creek 2019 Bourboulenc

This wine was medium gold in color with a pronounced nose of baked fruit, chalk, lime zest, nutmeg, nectarine, yellow apple, and pineapple.

Dry with good acid.  In my mouth, I got Meyer lemon, so a little less sharp, nutmeg, and roasted pineapple.  Jason had mentioned the texture and I got that.  It weighed heavier in my mouth, reminding me of an aged Roussanne.

Tablas Creek 2019 Bourboulenc

I spoke with Jason Haas earlier this year for a piece on Regenerative Agriculture and snuck in a question about the at that time, newly released Bourboulenc.  Here is a bit of what he had to say.

“It’s really a wine that we are working without much of a roadmap because it’s not like at Beaucastel they ever bottled it on its own.  Usually, they don’t even have enough to ferment it on its own.

I don’t believe that I’ve ever tasted a 100% Bourboulenc from France. So when we were picking it, we were like, what numbers should we pick it at?  I don’t know?  What should we do in the cellar?  I don’t know, let’s try to do something fairly neutral so that we’re letting it show what it thinks it wants.  We ended up with it coming in, and we don’t know if this is because it was the 3rd leaf, first harvest and there wasn’t a lot of canopy or whether it was something about the way that we trained it, but we’d obviously exposed the clusters to a lot of sun and it came in very golden, so when it came out of the press it was almost orange.  We were like “oh, that’s weird”.  Sometimes Roussanne is like that and we’re used to not being freaked out about it when it’s Roussanne, but bourboulenc, we hadn’t read in the literature anywhere, that this was potentially something that happened.  So “well, let’s see happens as it ferments” and a lot of that color did drop out, but it’s still a deeper gold than we were expecting it to be. And there’s this textural component that feels to me almost like a skin-fermented white.  It’s got a richer texture and almost an almondy character to it. But bright acids it’s like citrus and almonds and pretty rich texture.  I think it’s really cool. But we don’t know if it’s representative of what’s it’s going to be like moving forward or whether it was a function of the vintage. “

Jason Haas, September 2020

 

Tablas Creek Vineyard planted the bourboulenc in 2016 and 2019 was the first year they were able to harvest it.  They picked 2.15 tons and, as Jason said, the juice came out a very orange color. (click through to see their photo of the juice)

Golden yellow color of the 2019 Tablas Creek Bourboulenc

The golden yellow color of the 2019 Tablas Creek Bourboulenc

While much of this orange color dropped out during fermentation, this wine was still a rich golden color when I poured it.  It reminded me of an aged Roussanne in color.

This was picked on a night pick and then fermented in Stainless Steel and went into neutral barrels to do its malolactic fermentation.

This wine was popular! They made just 145 cases and set 80 aside for the wine club. They sold the other 65 cases within 6 weeks.

Pairings for Bourboulenc

Baked Coquilles St. Jacques

I looked to the Tablas site for a recommendation for what to pair.  I mean this is kind of a new animal.  They suggested Baked Coquilles St. Jacques or Mussels Marinière.  Hmmm…I went to look up what Coquilles were.  They are scallops!  Their recipe called for small bay scallops.  I only had larger scallops, so we made do.  I adjusted the recipe slightly as I just needed enough for Michael and me.  Small ramekins each held 3 of my medium to large scallops, they were covered with bread crumbs mixed with parsley and drizzled with melted butter then baked until bubbly.

Ingredients for Baked Coquilles St. Jacque
Ingredients for Baked Coquilles St. Jacque
Baked Coquilles St. Jacque in individual ramekin
Baked Coquilles St. Jacque

Pineapple, Cucumber, Avocado Salad

The Tablas Creek tasting notes mentioned pineapple notes with a little mintiness, so I put together a salad of pineapple, cucumber, avocado & mint salad.  I thought this acid on the side would be great with the richness of the scallops and might tie in the pineapple, which it did.

Pineapple, cucumber avocado salad

Roasted Pineapple with honey and pistachios, pineapple curd filled meringue cups with toasted coconut

I went a little nuts with dessert.  Too many cooking shows I guess.  Today, I thought, is the day I will learn how to make Meringues!  Hmmm…  Then I will tackle a fancy plating!  Hmmm… Well, it came out delicious if not photogenic.

We made meringue cups with our new silicone molds, then, oh yeah I made pineapple curd.  (1st time making a curd too!).  Spears of pineapple were roasted in a sauce of pineapple juice, dark brown sugar, and honey.

To plate it, the roasted pineapple got a drizzle of yogurt, a sprinkle of chopped pistachios, and a bit of fresh mint.  The meringue cups sat tilted on a bed of toasted coconut and were filled with the pineapple curd spilling out.

This dessert pulled up all the Pineapple notes in the wine.

See more on this recipe

Roasted pineapple with honey and pistachios, meringue cups filled with pineapple curd.

Want some?

As I mentioned, this wine went fast and is indeed sold out.  But…they will be releasing a 2020 Bourboulenc, so get ready to jump on that!

Visit the Tablas Creek site for great information on all the Rhône grape varieties as well as great wines. They also have a pretty fascinating blog.

Sources & Resources

  • https://tablascreek.com/
  • https://www.languedoc-wines.com/en
  • https://tablascreek.com/wines/2019_bourboulenc
  • https://tablascreek.typepad.com/tablas/2020/10/grapes-of-the-rhone-valley-bourboulenc.html

More from Crushed Grape Chronicles on Tablas Creek

  • Regenenerative Agriculture at Tablas Creek – a meaningful way to farm
  • A Grenache Vertical from Tablas Creek
  • Tablas Creek Vineyard – The Rhones, the new Adelaida AVA, natural fermentation, and the use of foudres
  • Tablas Creek Vineyard, Paso Robles, Biodynamics, and more
  • A Conversation with Jason Haas of Tablas Creek Vineyard, Paso Robles, the drought and Dry farming

As always be sure to follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and sign up for our monthly newsletter to keep up to date on all of our posts.

Robin Bell Renken I have always loved people’s stories. I spent a career in Theatre helping to tell stories, as a Stage Manager. Daily enabling artists to freely and safely tell stories through their art. Then I fell in love with wine. There are so many details, so many nuances, not just in the glass, but in the vineyard, the region and the people. As I met winemakers and vineyard owners and even the people in the tasting room excited to pour me a glass and tell me the story of this wine, I knew these were stories I wanted to share. I completed my study and became a Certified Specialist of Wine and continue learning daily as I meet and interview people in this industry.

Robin Renken is a wine writer and Certified Specialist of Wine. She and her husband Michael travel to wine regions interviewing vineyard owners and winemakers and learning the stories behind the glass.

When not traveling they indulge in cooking and pairing wines with food at home in Las Vegas.

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Apricot mousse and berry pavlova
17 Dec
0

Pavlova with Apricot crème and berries

Posted by Robin Renken 12 Days of Wine Holiday Edition, Recipes and Wine Pairings No Comments

Pavlova with Apricot crème and berries

Ah, Pavlova….they are so pretty.  Deliciousness floating on clouds!  I was bound and determined to pair one with wine for our 12Days of Wine 2020 Celebration.  I fell in love with one on Gather & Feast  but this massive, stunning pavlova would be 2 hours in the making and needed to rest overnight in the oven. It was also made to feed 6 and there were just 2 of us.  So…I opted for a smaller option, that I found on Enjoying Life Everyday

I used this recipe for my base Pavlovas and then made up my filling

Time: 2 Hours 50 Minutes

Yield: 3 people

Pavlova with apricot creme and berries
Pavlova with apricot creme and berries

6-inch Pavlovas

Ingredients

4 egg whites

1 cup of granulated sugar

½ tsp corn starch

1 tsp vanilla

Directions

  1. Preheat the oven to 230 degrees Fahrenheit
  2. Draw 3 6 inch circles on parchment paper cut to fit your baking sheet.
  3. Turn the paper over (so you can see the ink, but it won’t touch your pavlova)
  4. Beat the egg whites with your stand mixer on high for 1 minute
  5. Keep the mixer on and slowly add the sugar, tablespoon by tablespoon.
  6. Beat for another 8 minutes (it should form stiff peaks)
  7. Take the bowl off of your stand mixer and fold in the cornstarch and vanilla.
  8. Spoon 1/3 of the mixture into each of the 3 circles
  9. With a spoon, make a bowl-shaped dent in the middle.
  10. Bake for 1 hour and 20 minutes.
  11. Turn off the oven (DO NOT OPEN THE DOOR!)
  12. Let this cool in the oven for at least 1 hour.

Apricot crème

Ingredients

1 cup of Apricot puree (recipe below)

1 cup of whipping cream

¼ cup of powdered sugar

1 tsp of vanilla

1 tsp of lemon juice

For garnish

Strawberries

Blackberries

Fresh mint

Sliced dried apricot

Directions

  1. Mix the apricot puree, powdered sugar, and lemon juice
  2. Put the mixture through a sieve
  3. Whip the whipping crème in a stand mixer until it forms stiff peaks
  4. Fold in the apricot puree

Assembling

  1. In the center of each pavlova, spread the Apricot crème
  2. Garnish with sliced strawberries, blackberries, mint leaves, and sliced dried apricot.

Watch our quick video for the highlights.

Bonny Doon 2018 Riesling to Live 4

We paired this glorious specimen with a 2018 Riesling to Live from Bonny Doon vineyards.  It is made in the method champenoise with Riesling from Wirz Vineyard in California’s Cienega Valley.  I think sparkling wine with a pavlova is a must!  There is something in the presentation of this dessert that demands bubbles!

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As always be sure to follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and sign up for our monthly newsletter to keep up to date on all of our posts.

Robin Bell Renken I have always loved people’s stories. I spent a career in Theatre helping to tell stories, as a Stage Manager. Daily enabling artists to freely and safely tell stories through their art. Then I fell in love with wine. There are so many details, so many nuances, not just in the glass, but in the vineyard, the region and the people. As I met winemakers and vineyard owners and even the people in the tasting room excited to pour me a glass and tell me the story of this wine, I knew these were stories I wanted to share. I completed my study and became a Certified Specialist of Wine and continue learning daily as I meet and interview people in this industry.

Robin Renken is a wine writer and Certified Specialist of Wine. She and her husband Michael travel to wine regions interviewing vineyard owners and winemakers and learning the stories behind the glass.

When not traveling they indulge in cooking and pairing wines with food at home in Las Vegas.

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Chicken Paprikas with Meinklang Hárslevelü
17 Dec
0

Chicken Paprikas paired with Meinklang H17

Posted by Robin Renken 12 Days of Wine Holiday Edition, Recipes and Wine Pairings, Wine and Food Pairings, Wine and Wine Pairings, Wine Tasting No Comments

Chicken Paprikas

This recipe is based on my Mother’s.  She made her dumplings to drop by the spoonful, although many prefer the smaller Nokedli.

What to Pair?

 

Meinklang h17

This wine is from the grape Hárslevelü (harsh-level-oo). It is a white grape whose name means “linden leaf”.  This is an aromatic grape although less so when from the tiny Somló region where it has mineral qualities.

This wine is made in an orange style with 2 days of skin contact.  It is fermented with wild yeasts, and bottled unfiltered and unfined with no sulfites added.

Time: 1 hour

Yield: 4 people

Chicken Paprikas
Chicken Paprikas

Chicken Paprikas

Ingredients

1 onion chopped

4 tbs butter +  1 tbs olive oil

1 tbs paprika

¼ tsp pepper (I used ground white pepper)

2 tbs salt

4 chicken thighs

1 ½ cups of chicken stock

½ pint of sour crème

Directions

  1. Melt the butter in a dutch oven with the olive oil (I add the olive oil to keep the butter from burning)
  2. Cook the onion in the butter, until soft
  3. Pull the pot off of the heat and add the seasoning (paprika, pepper, salt). This is done off the heat to prevent the paprika heating too quickly which gives it a bitter taste.
  4. Add the add the chicken and put this back on the heat to cook for 10 minutes to brown the chicken.
  5. Add the chicken stock (this should almost cover the chicken)
  6. Cover and simmer for 40 minutes over low heat
  7. While that is simmering, make the dumplings

Ingredients for the dumplings

2 eggs

2 cups of flour

1 tsp salt

1/3 cup of water

Directions

  1. Mix the eggs and flour together with a pinch of salt.
  2. Add water to get to the correct consistency.
  3. Drop by spoonfuls into boiling salted water. Cook 10 minutes and drain.

*alternatively, you can put the dough on a cutting board and cut it into thinner slices to drop right into the pot. (I find this much easier than using a grater)

Assembling

  1. Remove the chicken from the pot
  2. Add the sour creme to the sauce in the pot and whisk. (If it needs additional thickening you can add sifted flour, just be sure to cook it through)
  3. Add the dumplings and toss them to coat.
  4. You can choose how to plate this. I put it into individual gratin dishes with the chicken on the bottom, then covered it with my sauce and dumpling mixture.
  5. Finish it off with a sprinkle of paprika.

Watch our quick video for the highlights.

Meinklang h17 2017 Hárslevelü

Hungarian Chicken Paprikas and the Meinklang h17 Wine

We paired this dish with a Hungarian wine of Hárslevelü from Somló, Hungary.  From the Meinklang farm, this was wine in the Orange style (white wine that is left on the skins like a red wine).

The wine was rich and delicious and paired well with this dish.  The spices elevated by the wine.

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Syncline 2017 Subduction Red with bacon, brie, raspberry phyllo bites

Bacon Brie Raspberry Bites inspired pairing with 2017 Syncline Subduction Red

Bacon Brie Raspberry Bites Yep, more raspberry and bacon!  We munched these for dessert but they would be great for an appetizer too. What to Pair? Syncline 2017 Subduction Red – Columbia Valley A blend of 49% Syrah, 26% Grenache, 12% Carignan, 7% Cinsault, 6% Mourvedre, this is their version of a Côtes du Rhône [...]

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As always be sure to follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and sign up for our monthly newsletter to keep up to date on all of our posts.

Robin Bell Renken I have always loved people’s stories. I spent a career in Theatre helping to tell stories, as a Stage Manager. Daily enabling artists to freely and safely tell stories through their art. Then I fell in love with wine. There are so many details, so many nuances, not just in the glass, but in the vineyard, the region and the people. As I met winemakers and vineyard owners and even the people in the tasting room excited to pour me a glass and tell me the story of this wine, I knew these were stories I wanted to share. I completed my study and became a Certified Specialist of Wine and continue learning daily as I meet and interview people in this industry.

Robin Renken is a wine writer and Certified Specialist of Wine. She and her husband Michael travel to wine regions interviewing vineyard owners and winemakers and learning the stories behind the glass.

When not traveling they indulge in cooking and pairing wines with food at home in Las Vegas.

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Blackberry Goat Cheese Chocolate Bombs
17 Dec
0

Blackberry Goat Cheese Chocolate Bombs

Posted by Robin Renken 12 Days of Wine Holiday Edition, Australia, Nebbiolo, Orange, Recipes and Wine Pairings No Comments

Blackberry Goat Cheese Chocolate Bombs

 

Whew!  That’s a mouthful, isn’t it?

I was looking to pair with an Australian Nebbiolo and Goat Cheese and Blackberry…well that with chocolate would just do the trick.

I found this recipe on Pinterest and tracked it down to Crumb Top Baking

https://www.crumbtopbaking.com/frozen-blackberry-goat-cheese-chocolate-bombs/

Of course, I needed to adjust from metric and then, we just bought these great silicon molds, so rather than dip these, I wanted to temper chocolate and make domes! (What was I thinking!)  I will admit to learning along the way with these and I will share some of my mistakes and what I would do differently as we go along.  Keep in mind, if you don’t have silicone molds, you can follow Leanne’s instructions in the link above to dip these!

Time: 1 Hour 45 Minutes

Yield: 8 Servings

mini blackberry goat cheese chocolate bombs
In the mini chocolate bombs, you can see the filling

What to Pair?

2018 Rowlee Single Vineyard Nebbiolo

We visited Rowlee Vineyard in the Orange Wine Region of NSW Australia in October of 2019.  One of the standouts and a wine that we left with, was their 2018 Nebbiolo. They have 2 clones of Nebbiolo and they only make it in the best years.  James says they know the Nebbiolo is right when it tastes like a piece of licorice when they taste it on the vine.

The 2018 vintage has notes of black fruit, red fruit, cocoa powder, sweet tobacco, licorice, and florals.  It has great acid and flavors of bramble fruit and red cherry with a long finish.

14% abv 100% Nebbiolo $60 AU SRP

Tempered Chocolate

Ingredients

1 ½ cup of chocolate chips (be sure this is not composite chocolate there should be no fats or oils other than cocoa butter)

There are several methods for tempering chocolate, which if you are a cooking show junkie like me, you are probably aware of at least 2 of them.  Tempering chocolate is a method of heating and cooling the chocolate to get the cocoa butter crystals to align themselves so that when the chocolate sets it is smooth, shiny, and crisp.

There are 3 methods I found:

  • Seed Method
  • Tablier Method
  • Microwave Method

The Tablier method is that one you see at the Chocolatiers, where they have a large piece of marble and a putty knife and they spread and scrape the chocolate.

The Microwave Method felt shady to Michael and we didn’t (think) we have a silicone bowl.

So the Seeding Method was what we were going with.

Directions

  1. Melt 1 cup in a double boiler, (I use a glass bowl over a pot of water) stirring constantly until it reaches 115 degrees (55 C). Be careful that steam and water don’t get into your chocolate.
  2. Remove the bowl of melted chocolate from the double boiler (sit it on a towel on the counter) and add the remaining chips. Stir the chocolate to melt and continue stirring until the temperature drops to 83 degrees (you can, and probably should, move the chocolate to a second bowl after you stir in and melt the chocolate.  This will speed up the cooling process.  I did not and it took FOREVER!)
  3. Now put this back on the double boiler and get it back up to 88 to 90 degrees which is where you want it to be when you are working with it.

*Plan B – use the microwave method! (see below)*

  1. Now, you can make your domes
  2. Using a spoon the appropriate size for your dome, drop a dollop of chocolate in the mold and then paint it up the sides using the back of a spoon. Here is a video that I followed https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgSeH5nNB_w
  3. These go in the freezer to set up for 15 minutes.
  4. While they are setting, make the filling.

*Plan B – Microwave method of Tempering Chocolate*

Two days later I realized I did have a silicon dish!  So here’s how you would do this in the microwave!

  1. Place the chocolate in your silicon dish, microwave for 30 seconds on high, then stir (use your instant read thermometer) don’t let the temperature go over 90 degrees.
  2. If the chocolate is not completely melted return for 30 seconds, then 15 seconds, then 10 seconds, stirring each time and checking the temperature. When the chocolate is melted, you are good to go.

This is sooo much easier than the seeding method.  I will never go back! (I used this for another recipe that will be coming up!)

Here is a great resource for tempering chocolate.  https://sugargeekshow.com/recipe/tempering-chocolate/

Filling

Ingredients

10 ounce log of goat cheese

3 tbs honey

2 tsp vanilla

½ cup unsweetened coconut

1 cup of chopped fresh blackberries

Directions

  1. In your stand mixer, mix the goat cheese, honey and vanilla
  2. Beat on high for 2 minutes
  3. Add the coconut and mix another 20 seconds
  4. Take the bowl out of the stand mixer and fold in the blackberries by hand

Assembling

  1. Pull the set domes out of the freezer and fill (but not completely) with the filling.
  2. You will need a bit more chocolate to finish these, coating the filling and forming a bottom.
  3. Put these back in the freezer 15 minutes to set.

Watch our quick video for the highlights.

2018 Rowlee Nebbiolo

Blackberry Goat Cheese Chocolate Bombs with a Rowlee 2018 Nebbiolo

To tie in the black fruit and cocoa notes in the wine, we made these fancy-schmancy blackberry goat cheese chocolate bombs.  While we could have just hand-dipped them, we just bought silicone dome molds and I was dying to use them.  So, I learned to temper chocolate (only afterward finding an easier way) and created these delights.  We made them in 2 sizes and I kinda prefer the smaller ones that you can pop in your mouth in one bite, even though the larger size looks prettier.

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Blackberry Goat Cheese Chocolate Bombs

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As always be sure to follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and sign up for our monthly newsletter to keep up to date on all of our posts.

Robin Bell Renken I have always loved people’s stories. I spent a career in Theatre helping to tell stories, as a Stage Manager. Daily enabling artists to freely and safely tell stories through their art. Then I fell in love with wine. There are so many details, so many nuances, not just in the glass, but in the vineyard, the region and the people. As I met winemakers and vineyard owners and even the people in the tasting room excited to pour me a glass and tell me the story of this wine, I knew these were stories I wanted to share. I completed my study and became a Certified Specialist of Wine and continue learning daily as I meet and interview people in this industry.

Robin Renken is a wine writer and Certified Specialist of Wine. She and her husband Michael travel to wine regions interviewing vineyard owners and winemakers and learning the stories behind the glass.

When not traveling they indulge in cooking and pairing wines with food at home in Las Vegas.

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finished Cannolis with lemon curd creme
17 Dec
0

Cannolis with Lemon Curd

Posted by Robin Renken 12 Days of Wine Holiday Edition, Recipes and Wine Pairings, Washington State No Comments

Lemon mousse cannolis

So Amazon Prime day caused our kitchen to fill with new gadgets.  One of the things that Michael ordered was cannoli molds, and he was ready to use them.  We used Alex Guarnaschelli’s recipe https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alexandra-guarnaschelli/homemade-cannoli-recipe-2042720 from the Food Network for the Cannoli shells.

For the filling, well, we made that up.  It’s more lemon curd and whipped crème.  A bit unorthodox but still tasty.

Time: 1 Hour 25 Minutes

Yield: 6 people

finished Cannolis with lemon curd creme
finished Cannolis with lemon curd creme

Cannolis

Ingredients

2 cups of flour

1 tbs granulated sugar

¼ tsp salt

1 tbs + 2 tsp unsalted butter (cut into small pieces)

1 egg yolk

½ cup dry white wine

Plus+

1 quart of canola oil

Flour for rolling

1 egg lightly beaten (egg wash)

Directions

  1. Sift the flour, sugar, and salt together in a medium bowl.
  2. Add the butter, smushing between your fingers until the mixture is sandy.
  3. Add the egg yolk and wine and mix until the dough is smooth.
  4. Wrap this in plastic wrap, squishing out any extra air.
  5. Rest in the fridge for 5-10 minutes
  6. Heat enough canola oil in a heavy bottom pot to be able to submerge the cannoli. Heat the oil to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
  7. Sift a layer of flour onto your counter and flour a rolling pin
  8. Roll the dough out to 1/8 inch thick
  9. Cut the dough into 4-inch rounds. (Alex says you should end up with about 24, hmm…I think I got a dozen, maybe mine were thicker?)
  10. Wrap each circle around a cannoli mold, using a little of the egg wash on the ends to seal it shut so it won’t fall off the mold
  11. Flare the edges out from the mold so that the oil can get in to cook them.
  12. Use a pair of tongs to hold the edge of the mold to lower it in the oil.
  13. Cook until crispy for 2 to 3 minutes. *Here I insert a helpful tip.  Keep your instant-read thermometer nearby if you don’t have a fryer, it is very easy for the temperature to continue to increase and overcook your cannoli.  Likewise, it’s easy to turn the heat down a little too far or for just the process of cooking the cannoli to lower the oil temperature.  We had some casualty cannolis as a result.*
  14. Remove the cannoli carefully from the oil.
  15. Holding the mold in one hand with the tongs double a dish towel and grip the cannoli shell with the other and carefully slide it off the mold.
  16. Repeat until you are done!

Lemon curd crème filling

I cheated on this, it was a cup of crème whipped then I folded in some lemon curd I had in the fridge.  This went into a piping bag with a star tip and I piped it in before serving.

Watch our quick video for the highlights.

Bailey Family Wines 2017 Chardonnay

Bailey Family 2017 Chardonnay

The Aspen block was planted with Pinot Grill in 2006.  In 2014 they grafted over ½ of the black to Chardonnay Clones 75, 76, 95, and 548.  The block is on Marine sediment and sits at between 500 and 600 feet.

The 2017 vintage was warm with an early bud break and a dry growing season. Then cooler temperatures gave great acidity and mineral notes as well as rich deep fruit at harvest.

This wine was aged for 8 months in neutral oak and they made just 229 cases, which are sold by allocation only.

100% Chardonnay 12.5% abv SRP $85

We paired this with a beautiful Chardonnay from Bailey Family Wines in Oregon’s Willamette Valley. This wine was bright but full and complex.  With the lemon curd filling, it was delicious and we did use a bit of it in the cannoli dough.

Read More

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12 Days of Wine – Day 3 – Valdemar Estates

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Robin Bell Renken I have always loved people’s stories. I spent a career in Theatre helping to tell stories, as a Stage Manager. Daily enabling artists to freely and safely tell stories through their art. Then I fell in love with wine. There are so many details, so many nuances, not just in the glass, but in the vineyard, the region and the people. As I met winemakers and vineyard owners and even the people in the tasting room excited to pour me a glass and tell me the story of this wine, I knew these were stories I wanted to share. I completed my study and became a Certified Specialist of Wine and continue learning daily as I meet and interview people in this industry.

Robin Renken is a wine writer and Certified Specialist of Wine. She and her husband Michael travel to wine regions interviewing vineyard owners and winemakers and learning the stories behind the glass.

When not traveling they indulge in cooking and pairing wines with food at home in Las Vegas.

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Co Dinn 2015 Roskamp Block 2 Syrah with a Black Cherry Ice Cream Sandwich
17 Dec
0

Co Dinn 2015 Syrah Roskamp Vineyard Block 2 – Day 5 of the 12 Days of Wine 2020

Posted by Robin Renken 12 Days of Wine Holiday Edition, Co Dinn Cellars, Recipes and Wine Pairings, Syrah, Washington State, Wine and Food Pairings, Yakima Valley No Comments

We got lost on the way to the Roskamp Vineyard to meet Co Dinn.  In Washington’s Yakima Valley, GPS service here can be sketchy, and even when you look it up ahead of time, sometimes roads have gates and you find the maps program tried to take you in a locked back door.  So after a bit of driving for us and Co talking us in through landmarks we were unfamiliar with, we finally connected and headed up to the Roskamp Vineyard in the Snipes Mountain AVA.  Co sources grapes here, for his Syrah and Chardonnay and it is a great vantage point to see the Yakima Valley.

Co Dinn is an expert on the soils and topography of the region.  As we walked the vineyard he pointed out the large rocks that had been tumbled through with the Missoula floods.  This is “ancestral Columbia River gravel soils, uplifted atop a sharp south-facing ridge top”.  You can feel the difference in the wind from this block, to the Chardonnay block on the south side.  Block 2 is on an edge at 1150 feet and the block is very exposed to wind.  These low vigor vines in these conditions give small berries so you get more structure.

Syrah with a view. Co Dinn's block at Roskamp Vineyard on Snipes Mountain in Washington's Yakima Valley
Syrah with a view!
Roskamp Vineyard In Washington State, Snipes Moutain AVA with Co Dinne
Co Dinn of Co Dinn Cellars
Roskamp Vineyard In Washington State, Snipes Moutain AVA with Co Dinn
Roskamp Vineyard In Washington State, Snipes Moutain AVA with Co Dinn looking toward the Rattlesnake Hills AVA
Roskamp Vineyard View on Snipes Mountain Yakima Valley Washington
Roskamp Vineyard View on Snipes Mountain Yakima Valley Washington
Roskamp view looking to Painted Hills
Roskamp view looking to Painted Hills

As we stood there in the wind we could look across to Painted Hills and Horse Heaven Hills on one side and Elephant Mountain and the Rattlesnake Hills AVA on the other.  The views are really spectacular and listening to Co explain how this land was transformed by the Missoula floods I could picture the floods and the land moving and shifting.

While we had to run off that day to another appointment, we were able to return a few days later to meet Co in his tasting room in Sunnyside.  It is a restored historic building that was the city waterworks.

Co dinn Cellars Tasting Room
Co Dinn Cellars Tasting Room Sunnyside WA
Co Dinn Cellars Tasting Room in the restored historic water works
Co Dinn Cellars Tasting Room in the restored historic waterworks
Co Dinn in Co Dinn Cellars
Co Dinn in the Winery at Co Dinn Cellars

Co showed us the winery and we tasted through a series of his wines. We left with a Chardonnay and with this Syrah.

Co Dinn 2015 Roskamp Vineyard Block 2 Syrah

This Co Dinn Roskamp Vineyard Syrah is fermented in one-ton bins.  He presses when he feels the tannins are structured by not too grippy.  The wine does secondary fermentation in neutral French oak.

100% Syrah.  14.6% abv SRP $45

My notes:

This wine is a burgundy purple color and it is glass staining.

It has an intense nose of dark fruit with red notes.  Red currant, cocoa powder, espresso, baking spice, anise, and brown sugar come to mind.  Kinda sounds like dessert right? (We’ll get to that later).

In your mouth, it is intense again and warms and coats your teeth and gums.  Flavors of dark tart black cherry, and blackberry with notes of anise.

We did a full meal to go with this!  I was inspired.

Co Dinn 2015 Roskamp Syrah

BBQ chicken, grilled eggplant with chimichurri sauce, and smoked gouda mac and cheese with Co Dinn Roskamp Vineyard Syrah

We made BBQ chicken thighs with my special blend BBQ sauce.  I played to the wine with my flavors, including black cherry preserves, and spices, a bit of espresso and cocoa, along with my usual mix of tomato paste, ketchup (yes, or catsup if you prefer), Worcestershire sauce, soy, honey, cider vinegar, balsamic, paprika, nutmeg, and assorted other spices.  We did these in the slow cooker.  If I do them again I will skin the chicken.  Alright, I like fat and the flavor it imparts, but in this case, my sauce didn’t get to permeate the meat as well as I would have liked.

We also did grilled eggplant.  In his tasting notes, Co mentions the wine will pair well with eggplant dishes.

Lastly, I made a smoked gouda mac and cheese.  This made the whole thing feel like a Southern picnic to me and well, there is a little bit of pandemic virtual travel to be had in that!

Co Dinn 2015 Roskamp Vineyard Block 2 Syrah with BBQ chicken, grilled eggplant with chimichurri and smoke gouda mac and cheese
Co Dinn 2015 Roskamp Vineyard Block 2 Syrah with BBQ chicken, grilled eggplant with chimichurri and smoked gouda mac and cheese
Slow Cooked BBQ Chicken
Slow-Cooked BBQ Chicken
Smoked Gouda Mac & Cheese
Smoked Gouda Mac & Cheese
Grilled Eggplant with Chimichurri Sauce
Grilled Eggplant with Chimichurri Sauce

All the dishes paired beautifully with Co’s Roskamp Vineyard Syrah, but the smoked gouda mac & cheese was my favorite.

You can check out the recipes here.

Black Cherry Ice Cream Sandwiches

To complete our Southern picnic theme, I made black cherry ice cream sandwiches.  Okay, I made the cookies for them and bought black cherry ice cream which I thought would pair well with the wine.  The cookies though included cocoa and espresso powder which I hoped would pair well with this Roskamp Vineyard Syrah.

Indeed they did!  It was delicious!  You know, those moments when you take a bite and a sip and close your eyes and groan with pleasure just a bit. Yeah, that kind of good!

Find the recipe here.

Black Cherry Ice Cream Sandwiches
Co dinn Cellars Tasting Room in Sunnyside Washington

Finding Co Dinn Wines

 

Co Dinn’s wines are wines that you should search out.  These are made in small quantities so they are rare finds.  When you can visit his beautiful tasting room at 501 Grant Ave in Sunnyside WA.

In the meantime, you can head to his site and order this Roskamp Vineyard Block 2 Syrah as well as his current releases.

Sources and Resources

  • https://www.codinncellars.com/
  • https://wineyakimavalley.org/

More by Crushed Grape Chronicle on the Yakima Valley and Co Dinn

  • Chardonnay: Nuances in Expressing Site – An Example from the Yakima Valley
  • The Scenic Route Flash Tour 2019 Part 5 – One Day 3 Washington AVAs
  • Elephant Mountain Vineyard in Yakima Valley’s Rattlesnake Hills
  • Yakima Valley Seminar

As always be sure to follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and sign up for our monthly newsletter to keep up to date on all of our posts.

Robin Bell Renken I have always loved people’s stories. I spent a career in Theatre helping to tell stories, as a Stage Manager. Daily enabling artists to freely and safely tell stories through their art. Then I fell in love with wine. There are so many details, so many nuances, not just in the glass, but in the vineyard, the region and the people. As I met winemakers and vineyard owners and even the people in the tasting room excited to pour me a glass and tell me the story of this wine, I knew these were stories I wanted to share. I completed my study and became a Certified Specialist of Wine and continue learning daily as I meet and interview people in this industry.

Robin Renken is a wine writer and Certified Specialist of Wine. She and her husband Michael travel to wine regions interviewing vineyard owners and winemakers and learning the stories behind the glass.

When not traveling they indulge in cooking and pairing wines with food at home in Las Vegas.

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12 Days of Wine 2020 Day 2 Dessert pairing!  ❄❄❄❄❄  Crepes are so versatile.  We did a mascarpone filling with fresh strawberries then mixed up a trio of strawberry sauces try with the AD Beckham Amphora Pinot Gris with basil, tarragon and cardamom.  Look at how the color of the wine matches the strawberry sauce!  🍓🍷🍓🍷🍓  Watch for the recipe video coming up soon!  #12DaysofWine2020
#StrawberryCrepes
#Rollyourcrepestomakethemfancy
#wineanddessertpairing
It’s Day 2 of the 12 Days of Wine 2020 with Crus It’s Day 2 of the 12 Days of Wine 2020 with Crushed Grape Chronicles!  ❄🍷❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄❄
Today’s wine comes to us from Oregon. More specifically from the Willamette Valley.
_____  AD Beckham is a label that the Beckham Estate Winery uses for their wines made in Amphorae. 
_____  Andrew Beckham is a ceramics artist in addition to being a winemaker and 
makes his own clay vessels for fermenting and aging wine, called NOVUM.
_____  The AD Beckham MMXVI Amphora Pinot Gris is made from fruit sourced from Antiquum Farm Vineyard. 
_____  70% of this wine did a 40 day skin ferment in amphorae then aged in 
acacia wood barrels. The other 30% fermented and aged on the skins in amphorae. 
_____  This wine is unfined and unfiltered
100% Pinot Noir at 13.7% abv 
______  We paired it with an Afghan butternut squash stew with yogurt.  🍓🍓🍓🍓🍓
DESSERT!
Strawberry Mascarpone Crepes
Crepes filled with mascarpone crème, orange zest, and strawberries, served with a trio of sauces with basil, cardamom, and tarragon, to see which went best with the wine. 
_____  This was a winery we visited a few years ago and were able to meet Annedria and Andrew Beckham and see their beautiful vineyard and see Andrew at work on the NOVUM Amphorae.
______  Check out all their wines at @beckhamestate  #12DaysofWine2020 
#amphorawine
#orangewine 
#youcansipwithus 
#willamettevalleywine 
#oregonwine
Hungarian Nut Cake was my Mother’s favorite cake Hungarian Nut Cake was my Mother’s favorite cake.  I did a mini version, then topped it with caramelized apples and drizzled it in a crème anglaise and we paired it with this #sample from @terredibacco 
.
This was the perfect way to kick of the 12 Days of Wine 2020 here at Crushed Grape Chronicles!  You can never go wrong with bubbles and Mom’s favorite cake!  Watch for the recipe video coming up soon!  ❄❄❄❄❄  #12DaysofWine2020
#HungarianNutCake
#Foodsthatmakeyounostalgic
#proseccowithdessert 
#wineanddessertpairing
It’s here! The 12 Day of Wine 2020! Today we ki It’s here! The 12 Day of Wine 2020!
Today we kick our celebration off with bubbles! What better way right?  This #sample from Terre di Bacco is a Prosecco from Treviso Italy.
Terre di Bacco means “land of Bacchus” and the label is inspired by the Roman God of Wine.  🥂🍷🍷🍷🍷🍷🍷🍷🍷🍷🍷🥂  Pale lemon in color with aromas of citrus, pith, lemon and apple it is lively and dry.  Made of Glera at 11% abv SRP $13.99  We paired it with Chinese Long-Life noodles with stir fried vegetables. Starting our celebration off with this symbol of longevity that is always found on Chinese tables at celebrations!  DESSERT!
Hungarian Nut Cake with caramelized apples and crème anglaise
This was my mother’s favorite cake. I did a mini version, then topped it with caramelized apples and drizzled it in a crème anglaise (that I actually made myself!)  There is a bit of a story with today. As we begin or 12 Days of Wine celebration I share a story of endings and beginnings. I hope you enjoy.  @terredibacco #endingsandbeginnings
#12DaysofWine2020
#Prosecco
#bubblesmakemehappy 
#youcansipwithus
Remember those two Cab Francs I mentioned last wee Remember those two Cab Francs I mentioned last week?  Well the post is up!  We paired it with an epic cheese platter!
______  Tomorrow morning the #WinePW group will gather on Twitter to discuss the Cab Francs we tasted from all around the world. (The @quirkycork even tasted one from Turkey!).
_____  You can join us, just follow and use the hashtag #WinePW at 8am PST (11am EST) and add to the conversation!
_____  @leahjorgensencellars 
#CabFrancRocks
#wineandcheesemakemehappy
#youcansipwithus
#tastierthesecondday
These 3 beautiful bottles arrived the other day fr These 3 beautiful bottles arrived the other day from @proseccocv .  While these #samples did not arrive in time for our Prosecco piece this morning, I can't wait to do some beautiful pairings with them! (Don't worry, we will share our pairings with you!)
_____  We received a @biancavigna_prosecco Sui Lieviti Spumante Brut Nature.  It is 100% Glera.  The second fermentation takes place in the bottle and it is not disgorged so it arrived a little cloudy.
_____  The @mongarda.valdobbiadeneprosecco is a Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore DOCG Brut.  All the fruit comes from the San Gallo Vineyard and is Glera and "old indigenous grapes". 
_____  The @valdo_spumanti is their Cuvée 1926". This blend of 90% Glera and 10% Chardonnay comes from the oldest winery of Prosecco founded in 1926.  While made in the Martinotti Method it ages 150 days in Stainless Steel reaching 5 atmospheres of pressure (most Proseccos are 3 to 4).
____  I can't wait to share our tastings and pairing with you!  #proseccodocg 
#bubblesmakemehappy 
#youcansipwithus 
#sparklingitalianwines 
#ItalianFWT
New on Crushed Grape Chronicles today! We open th New on Crushed Grape Chronicles today!  We open this #sample of @valdocaprosecco
_____  This is a simple and delicious Prosecco that is affordable enough to keep on hand for everyday enjoyment...or perhaps to buy and gift to spread the holiday spirit!
_____  We will be chatting with the #ItalianFWT group tomorrow morning on Twitter at 8 am PST.  Follow and use our hashtag to join in the fun!
It's Cab Franc Day! We have two Cab Francs to cel It's Cab Franc Day!  We have two Cab Francs to celebrate with.
______  The first is from the Loire in Sauer Champigny.  It is the 2017 Reserve des Vignerons.  Founded in 1956 this co-op now has 160 growers with vineyards around Saumur. (Thanks @spitbucketblog for that detail!)  It is indeed 100% Can Franc
______  The second is from Leah Jorgensen Cellars.  This 2016 comes from Southern Oregon. 
_____  We spent some time with Leah at a festival a few years ago and are big fans of her and her wines.  She has a soft spot for the Loire.
______  Are you celebrating #CabFrancDay?  What's in your glass?  #cabernetfrancday
#cabernetfranc
@leahjorgensencellars 
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Yep, we have a newsletter.  It's a once a month w Yep, we have a newsletter.  It's a once a month way to catch up on any of the pieces you might have missed or find a recipe and pairing we did, quickly.  Just head to our bio and click through to CrushedGrapeChronicles.com.  About halfway down the homepage you will find the form.  It's quick and easy and we promise not to clutter your email box.   Once a month is a promise.  Sign up now to get the last edition for 2020!  It's time to say farewell to this year soon, but we have great recommendations to get you through this final month.  Thanks in advance for your support!  Robin