Wine Rant

Valentine's Gifts for Wine Lovers

So the story of Laurie Kennedy and I goes all the way back to a stolen kiss behind the Harbor High gymnasium in Santa Cruz, Ca.  It was like the greatest kiss of my life, you know the kind that always leaves you wondering what if...

Fact of the matter is being the marrying type she is happily married and living the American Dream. We have kept in touch over the years, I'm the uncle her kids never wanted.  So on one of my semi annual visits Laurie and I started talking about her setting up an online business.  We definitely share a mutual love for wine, so it was a natural match to combine this with her outstanding ability with people and come up with an online wine gift boutique.  She named it Vinamor.com and she never looked back.  Who would have thought there was so much change in wine gifts?

She tells me that it isn't the products as much as it is the customer service.  When someone orders something for themselves online and it gets screwed up it's one thing, but when you order a gift online... well that is something completely different.  The recipient may be a really important client or an "I'm just waiting for you to screw up so I can have a reason to never forgive you" mother-in-law. So I can understand what Laurie is trying to accomplish.

Anyway I told her once it was up and running and looking pretty good I would give her a plug... so I'm plugging.  So check out her great selection of Valentine's Day Gifts and if you want to find out what I'm recommending then read on my friends:

Coq Au Vin Recipe

This Coq au Vin recipe is one of my favorite snowy winter night comfort foods.  One has to try hard to think of anything better than a bubbly dish of Coq au Vin, steamy peasant bread slathered with butter and a healthy glass of Pinot to wash it all down.  If it gets any better than that I want to know about it.  This recipe was passed down to me from Chef Bill at the Fay Club, a private social club in Fitchburg, Mass.   He wrote a post a while back on Seasoning Food Simply.

Coq au Vin was traditionally made from a 12 month old rooster, preferably one who has become a pain in the butt with his mistimed crowing at all hours of the night and morning. The red wine was needed to tenderize the meat. Since 12 month old roosters are hard to come by down at the local Safeway store one might prefer to hunt down a local organic free-ranged chicken.  They get pretty firm after running around all day. I don't know about you but I'm ready for some Coq au Vin.

Spinich and Cheese Strata

My good friend Sarah came over for a late champagne brunch a couple of weeks ago to introduce me to her friend Mike. They brought a marvolous Spinach and Egg Strata. Sarah knows I love Strata, but she generally make them too spicy for Champagne. This time however she brought one made specifically to work with the Domaine Ste. Michelle Blanc de Blanc.

Strata is easy to make and hard to mess up.  Its name refers to its many layers and truly once you put the eggs and bread together just about anything hanging in the fridge can be thrown into the dish.  Now you might notice how Sarah worked my love for Reggiano, we do think fondly of each other. She also knows the house rules and handed over the recipe for publication on Wine Rant once I expressed my eternal love for her and her Strata.  I'm not sure what Mike thought about all of this, but considering he's Sarah's boyfriend of the month it doesn't matter too much cuz by the time he figures it out well... no more Strata for Mike.

The Art of Seasoning Food Simply

Ya know, one would think that with all of the cooking shows, cooking schools, and celebrity chefs around, that there would be more people in the restaurant industry who could cook.  I have seen the industry changed to the point where it is now almost romanticized. 

But wait, I’m getting ahead of myself here.   I’m Chef Bill and contrary to what you may have read in the book “Kitchen Confidential”, I’m not a drug crazed, sex starved, and megalomaniac.  Instead I’m just someone who has raised his family by pursuing what he loves working in restaurants for 20 years.  I've created food in small restaurants, gourmet catering companies, convention style hotels (room service, restaurants, banquets etc…), and currently I’m Executive Chef for the Fay Club, a private social club in Fitchburg, Mass. 

Perhaps I am an exception to the rule, but I am relatively low key, and laid back.  However, I do have my pet peeves, and they usually come up when I go out to eat. So sue me... I think food should have some taste, maybe make a statement, or god forbid take one on an adventure.  If I wanted flavorless, institutional food, I would eat at the local hospital cafeteria. 

Fonterutoli 2002 Chianti Classico

The Fonterutoli 2002 Chianti Classicois another regular Chianti that benefited from better grapes destined for Fonterutoi's top cuvee that wasn’t made in ’02 because of the poor vintage. A friend turned me onto the Fonterutoli 2002 Chianti Classico and it was a real surprise. This just unscores my belief there are always bargins to be found no matter how ugly the vintage.

Another bonus is Wine.com has Fonterutoli 2002 Chianti Classico for around $16.00 marked down from $29.00. What a great deal for a chianti of quality. Although it is drinking well right now the Fonterutoli 2002 Chianti Classico has the tannins to make it stand up for a few more years. This is not a multiple case everyday wine, so I would suggest 6 or so bottles for the cellar.

Orecchiette with Lentils

I was flipping through an old Gourmet and saw this recipe for Orecchiette with Lentils and had to give it a try. Orecchiette means ear in Italian and this pasta definitely resembles a small ear. They're about 3/4 of an inch across, slightly domed, and their centers are thinner than their rims. This characteristic that gives them an interestingly variable texture; soft in the middle and somewhat chewier outside. They also act as a little bowl to hold any sauce you might want to serve.

I buy my Orecchiette at iGourmet.com who I found carries a brand La Pasta de Marquisate which uses flour milled from wheat grown on the Marquisate of Crotone which has been growing superior wheat with handcrafted workmanship since at least the time of Pythagoras who origins are part of the areas legend.

I am matching Orecchiette with Lentils to Fonterutoli 2002 Chianti Classico. The 2002 vintage was not a one of the greats, but this wine was the recipient of grapes destined for a top Cuvee' that wasn't made due to the poor vintage. This wine has lots of character to help step up some of the blandness of this dish, and it's big tannins are a great match for the Parmigano Reggiano.

Swimming in Wine?

So this is nuts, but I wish I knew about it before my current girlfriend Kako left for her native Japan. So in the land of the outrageously trendy in general and Kanagawa in particular they have decided to open an amusement park of hot spring fed spas, including, no shit a spa filled with wine. Now that is cool.  I've shared a couple of bathtubs filled with Champagne with a couple of honeys now and again but a freaking swimming pool? Wow, great thinking.  Read more about this at our friends from Jaunted:

Wine Travel: Soaking in Vino in Japan

Better Wine through Biodynamics

The #1 wine, Joseph Phelps Insignia, of Wine Spectator's Top 100 wines in 2005 was grown biodynamically, and everyone started asking what is this biodynamic thing.  Part common sense, part cosmic new age froo froo there are now some 40 biodynamic wineries in the United States,and growing.  Obviously with a serious winery like Joseph Phelps in the play there must be something to the whole concept.  Mother Jones magazine has an interesting article on biodynamics below and I'll be posting more on the whole concept as time goes by.  Enjoy!

The Yield of Magical Thinking: Better Agriculture Through Cosmic Rituals

Vietnam is holding a Wine Challenge.

Wine expert Robert Joseph, acclaimed author and chairperson of the Viet Nam International Wine Challenge 2007, speaks with Caitlin Worsham to discuss food and wine in Viet Nam and what this unique charity event has to offer:

Wine chairman Robert Joseph spills all.

Dry Farming Wine a Better Way?

Once again viticulturists are proving using sustainable methods i.e. saving water produces a better product.  It's interesting that this article states that the wine that helped put Napa Valley on the world map was dry farmed.  Here are a couple of articles put out by our friends at Wines and Vines touting the restriction of water in growing fine wine:

Off-Dry Farming

Dry, Dry Again