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Mom's Pork Roast with carrot, onion and potato, paired up with a 2009 Mastro Scheidt library wine, another shelter in place dinner.
One pot meals are about as easy as it gets, with an extra step, brown your pork roast. After that, just add your carrots, onions, garlic, potato and chicken stock. Put the top on the enameled cast iron and shove it in the oven on 350 degrees for about an hour.
Done.
I just ate 10 steaks in one hour!
Recently, I was asked to evaluate 10 different cuts of steak from two different beef suppliers for an upcoming restaurant opening. All of the beef was Certified Angus or Prime and all the steaks were prepared the same way (salt and pepper over a flame grill) by chef Tommy Chavez. I paired each steak with three of my wines, 2014 Cab Franc, 2014 Superstrada (Sangiovese/Cab Sav) and 2015 RWSC (Bordeaux Blend).
First, that I consumed about 3 pounds of beef! More importantly, not all steaks are created equally and no two steaks paired equally well with the same wine. All the steaks were delicious, as it’s difficult to go wrong with prime steaks expertly cooked, but there were differences in texture, density, ‘meaty’ flavor, chew, tenderness, and fat content.
The most dramatic difference in flavor, texture and wine pairing was a prime bone-in New York strip (Club steak) versus the prime boneless NY strip.
My 2014 Cabernet Franc and 2014 Superstrada paired nicely with the boneless NY strip. Complimentary flavors, the steak was lean and well textured, my wines integrated well with this classic restaurant cut.
Change gears to a longer cooked bone-in NY strip a.k.a. Club steak and suddenly the integration of the wine with the steak changed. The bone itself was flat and nearly 2 inches wide and covered the length of the strip, which effected cooking time. Whatever the bone and cooking time did to change the flavor profile of the steak was dramatic enough to favor a more tannic and heavy-weight wine. The Cab Franc didn’t have enough heft or tannin to hold up to the Club steak. Superstrada was good, but showed better with other steaks.
The 2015 RWSC is my 50% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Merlot and 25% Cabernet Franc from Dry Creek and Alexander Valley, with a 50% new Minnesota 36 month medium toast water bent oak and 50% neutral oak profile. Yes, I’m being very specific about my oak. Simply calling it “American oak” is an inadequate generalization.
While the 15 RWSC paired well with nearly every steak in the line-up (except perhaps the filet mignon where the wine overwhelmed the lean cut), it shined with the Club steak. This is where some combination of alchemy, meat sweats, and badly needing a plate of fries might be affecting my palate, but it was an enlightening moment in the tasting. How could one wine and one steak pair so well together? Why is this pairing so outstanding? This isn’t just me bragging about my wine. I’m sure other wines would have paired wonderfully, but in that moment, with those selections, the RWSC shined bright.
Next time I’m asked to evaluate steaks, I’m bringing more wine.
I've been to a lot of wine tastings over the years but none have compared to tasting the Top 100 wines of 2017, as rated by Wine Spectator. It's true, all 100 wines were available to taste over a 4 hour period. Special thanks to my friend (since grammar school!) Joe and his friend Janet for asking me to join them.
The end of the Wine Spectator Top 100 Tasting
Our host, Brander Winery, starts guests off with opening the white wine section first, then, an hour later, opens up the red wine area. Many of the participants tasted in numerical order, from highest to lowest rated whites (without regard to varietal) then immediately moving to the highest to lowest rated red wines, again, without regard to varietal.
I took a different approach, sampling the wines by varietal, lightest to heaviest, regardless of score, starting with lighter bodied white wine, such as Albarino and finishing with heavier, oak-laden, malolactic Chardonnay. Same process for the reds, starting with Pinot and graduating to things like Tannat near the end of the journey.
It's tougher with reds on a progression from light to heavy bodied structures. Fully developed Zinfandel with a solid punch of oak can be a palate wrecker just as easily as Touriga Nacional late in the game.
The #1 Wine ranked in the Wine Spectator Top 100 listing for 2017
Everything I want in a dessert wine and more. Liquid French pastry in a glass. One of my favorite wines the entire day and the absolute best finish with some almond pastry.
Beautiful, elegant, graceful Bordeaux. Whomever said Merlot was not worthy is an idiot. This wine sings.
I've had Altesino a couple times and knew the minute I had a sip, I loved it. Tasted twice on another occasion with consistent notes.
Why is Brunello beautiful? Because of wines like this one. I learn the potential for Sangiovese when I drink wines like Casanova di Neri
Lovely structure and grace for a wine this young and lean
#8 is Textbook modern style Napa Cabernet
#59 - A sleeper of a wine for great value. Developed tannins and forward fruit
#74 - Probably the best white wine I had all day. Real depth
This was a monster of Modor Darkness! Clocked in at #93 on the list, it thumped every other Cab around it with its power and richness.
#77 This was one of the best values of the entire tasting. Great tasting and in my humble opinion, better than the #1 Merlot that day.
#75 - I sense a long life in this wine with beautiful structure early giving way to subtle elegance in the next 5 years
#12 - Gotta give respect for any Zinfandel that makes it into the Top 25 much less near the Top 10. And a California appellation! It's a good drinker for sure.
#14 and 98 Points. Probably the toughest wine for me to judge as it hit my nose with crazy tart fruit and hints of spicy complexity (or VA). It's what the mouthfeel did to sell me on it. It was just crazy complex, bold, subtle, confusing. Everything in a glass, poetry, theater, action. I knew nothing of this wine prior to trying it.
For many, simply tasting the Top 10 wines was the most important duty. I tried the Number 1 wine, Duckhorn Merlot. It's $50 retail per bottle. There was another merlot in the group from Oberon in the Top 100. Between the two, I favored the Oberon, ranked 77 with a retail price of $23. These lists really come down to a matter of taste.
It's also not a good idea to drink French Bordeaux side-by-side with California Cabernet. Sure, Bordeaux/Napa wines are based on Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc or Merlot but they are vastly different in terms of style and construction. Take for instance the #7 wine, Château Canon-La Gaffelière St.-Emilion which is Merlot dominant at 55% versus the #8 wine, Meyer Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley which is generally Cabernet Sauvignon dominant. Both the Château Canon-La Gaffelière and the Meyer rated 95 points, so there is no loser.
I loved the Château Canon-La Gaffelière and tasted it twice, both early and late in the tasting to check on my palate fatigue. It was one of my favorite wines of the day. It's classic, layered, elegant and young for a wine. The Meyer was a rich, opulent Napa style from the warmer climate (same warm climate my grapes come from) It's easy to reconcile, sweet fruit tastes good young, and Meyer delivers.
While sharing common varietals, Bordeaux and Napa Cab/Merlot based wines are grown on different continents. They might as well grow on different planets. One should enjoy each of these regional wines, but not compare them. Too often, toe-to-toe comparisons happen with ratings. I purposely picked two Bordeaux varietal wines at similar price points and exactly the same rating to make the point. You can like them both equally for very different reasons.
There are notes on several of my favorite wines from the tasting in the gallery of pictures. Incredibly educational, it was a privilege to participate in the event.