Tasting note: Knappstein Three 2008, Clare Valley, South Australia
This Clare Valley wine, a blend of Gewürztramminer, Riesling and Pinot Gris, was a wonderful find!
It's been sitting patiently on my wine rack (under my bathroom sink), waiting for the right meal and occasion. Riesling has always been one of my favourite white varietals, and Gewürtzraminer has such a distinctive nose, so I was keen to find out what the Aussies have been producing using these traditional "Alsatian" grapes - especially Clare Valley which is known for it's Rieslings.
The nose released fresh lemony, lychee and aromatic notes (from the dominant Gerwürtztraminer - it said 'rose petals' on the back label) and we were rewarded with a smooth, very slightly off-dry citrus and well-balanced wine that was a pleasure to drink. Perfect with the curry I had prepared for dinner, in celebration of Diwali, a Hindu festival of lights which honours Lakshimi, the goddess of wealth, to pray for a successful year:
From Vivek Singh's 'Curry: Classic and Contemporary Curry Recipes' (of Cinnamon Club and Cinnamon Kitchen) I attempted, with great results, the lamb and beetroot curry. I marinated the diced and deboned shoulder of lamb overnight in ginger, garlic, red chilli and yoghurt. Once cooked, you add the garam masala and pureed and whole beetroot, which gives your dish this wonderfully deep and shiny look. I served it with another of Vivek's recipes, a sweet and sour basmati rice, which incorporates star anise, curry leaves and coconut milk. Truly delicious! Additional side dishes included saag aloo (spiced potato and spinach), a curried chickpea and tomato mix, and a pomegranate raita, which was a lovely chilled yoghurt-based dish to compliment the spiciness of the meal.
What I did enjoy was the blend and depth of flavours, without the chilli heat, which can kill those subtle ingredients that create complexity and round your meal.
Serve with a good Indian beer, or the Knappstein Three, make a toast to a successful year ahead, and enjoy the end of a rather enjoyable October month.
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Monday, October 24, 2011
Sharing is caring
Fashion is not only a clothing thing.
We come across it in almost all aspects of life. Wine trends change… in whites we went from Australian Chardonnay, to Italian Pinot Grigio, to New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc, and this summer everyone shifted to sipping Rosé. In food, we’ve witnessed the rise of the gastro pub, of my starters, mains and desserts all turned into a frothy mousse or purée (enter stage left Tom Atkins), and today it’s all about sharing our meals. Whoever told me as a child that “sharing is caring” should be shot! But, when it comes to food - I actually love the idea – you get to sample everyone else’s meal without being rude!
I believe this trend of sharing plates has been the influence of Asian and Spanish cuisine in the UK. I can think of a few restaurants in London that cater perfectly to this concept:
Yauatcha and Hakkasan – both serving innovative dim sum and Chinese meals
Tendido Cuatro and Casa Brindisa – present delicious Spanish tapas
There are many many more restaurants I can happily list, but today I’d like to tell you of a recent visit to Tendido Cuatro, which you can find along New Kings Road.
My friend and I were seriously thirsty after a long day and week. So that Tuesday, after a brief debate, we hot-footed it to Tendido Cuatro. I can’t say I’ve ever ordered wrong off their menu selection of 10 cold tapas and 20 hot tapas. We narrowed it down to croquetas (Serrano ham & béchamel croquettes with tomato and thyme sauce), grilled baby lamb chops with pardron peppers, griddled king prawns a “la plancha”, and aubergine chips with rosemary honey. Now if that list doesn’t turn you on, then go speak to your doctor!
The hot, crispy aubergine is sticky and sweet in its honey-coating, such an unusual, but obvious combination. The lamb chops are succulent and pink and the blistered pardron peppers, tossed in sea salt were so delicious that I had to make them for our post rugby world cup final Sunday brunch! (Oh yes, good work New Zealand, but reviewing the New Zealand rugby team requires some dedicated thought and focus and a separate entry entirely!)
The croquettes. Oh, those little mouthfuls of smooth cheesy heaven. Sigh.
I mustn’t forget the wines as they are worth a mention.
I started with a glass of La Goya Manzanilla. It’s a dry, fino style sherry with a slightly briny nose and an almond finish on the palate. You can feel the cooling effect of the alcohol. I would recommend this with food, maybe seafood and olives.
For wine we had a lovely Nerola White (2009) from the Torres family. This award-winning organic wine from Catalunya, Spain, was the perfect complement to our tapas. The Torres website says this wine is a blend of Xarel.lo and Garnacha Blanca varieties, styles I’m not hugely familiar with. It had a lovely citrus freshness, with apples, and the oak aging gave it its roundness and long finish. I will definitely have this again when I next visit.
Finally, because it was a Tuesday night, we finished with a plate of the lovely, nutty Manchego cheese with quince fruit marmalade and a glass of Licor 43. I had never come across this liqueur before. They say it’s made up of 43 different Mediterranean fruits and herbs – move over Bombay Saffhire (which uses 10 botanicals)! – and was a deep golden colour and syrupy. It was thick and silky and tasted of toffee-apples, vanilla and butter-scotch.
Dinner for 2 at Tendido Cuatro was £90.
http://www.cambiodetercio.co.uk
Recipe: Padron peppers
Heat 2 table spoons of olive oil in a frying pan and heat. Add Padron peppers (£2.49 for 150g from Waitrose) and fry on a medium heat for about 4-5 minutes until the skins have blistered and softened. Toss in a good sprinkling of course sea salt, such as Maldon and serve.
We come across it in almost all aspects of life. Wine trends change… in whites we went from Australian Chardonnay, to Italian Pinot Grigio, to New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc, and this summer everyone shifted to sipping Rosé. In food, we’ve witnessed the rise of the gastro pub, of my starters, mains and desserts all turned into a frothy mousse or purée (enter stage left Tom Atkins), and today it’s all about sharing our meals. Whoever told me as a child that “sharing is caring” should be shot! But, when it comes to food - I actually love the idea – you get to sample everyone else’s meal without being rude!
I believe this trend of sharing plates has been the influence of Asian and Spanish cuisine in the UK. I can think of a few restaurants in London that cater perfectly to this concept:
Yauatcha and Hakkasan – both serving innovative dim sum and Chinese meals
Tendido Cuatro and Casa Brindisa – present delicious Spanish tapas
There are many many more restaurants I can happily list, but today I’d like to tell you of a recent visit to Tendido Cuatro, which you can find along New Kings Road.
My friend and I were seriously thirsty after a long day and week. So that Tuesday, after a brief debate, we hot-footed it to Tendido Cuatro. I can’t say I’ve ever ordered wrong off their menu selection of 10 cold tapas and 20 hot tapas. We narrowed it down to croquetas (Serrano ham & béchamel croquettes with tomato and thyme sauce), grilled baby lamb chops with pardron peppers, griddled king prawns a “la plancha”, and aubergine chips with rosemary honey. Now if that list doesn’t turn you on, then go speak to your doctor!
The hot, crispy aubergine is sticky and sweet in its honey-coating, such an unusual, but obvious combination. The lamb chops are succulent and pink and the blistered pardron peppers, tossed in sea salt were so delicious that I had to make them for our post rugby world cup final Sunday brunch! (Oh yes, good work New Zealand, but reviewing the New Zealand rugby team requires some dedicated thought and focus and a separate entry entirely!)
The croquettes. Oh, those little mouthfuls of smooth cheesy heaven. Sigh.
I mustn’t forget the wines as they are worth a mention.
I started with a glass of La Goya Manzanilla. It’s a dry, fino style sherry with a slightly briny nose and an almond finish on the palate. You can feel the cooling effect of the alcohol. I would recommend this with food, maybe seafood and olives.
For wine we had a lovely Nerola White (2009) from the Torres family. This award-winning organic wine from Catalunya, Spain, was the perfect complement to our tapas. The Torres website says this wine is a blend of Xarel.lo and Garnacha Blanca varieties, styles I’m not hugely familiar with. It had a lovely citrus freshness, with apples, and the oak aging gave it its roundness and long finish. I will definitely have this again when I next visit.
Finally, because it was a Tuesday night, we finished with a plate of the lovely, nutty Manchego cheese with quince fruit marmalade and a glass of Licor 43. I had never come across this liqueur before. They say it’s made up of 43 different Mediterranean fruits and herbs – move over Bombay Saffhire (which uses 10 botanicals)! – and was a deep golden colour and syrupy. It was thick and silky and tasted of toffee-apples, vanilla and butter-scotch.
Dinner for 2 at Tendido Cuatro was £90.
http://www.cambiodetercio.co.uk
Recipe: Padron peppers
Heat 2 table spoons of olive oil in a frying pan and heat. Add Padron peppers (£2.49 for 150g from Waitrose) and fry on a medium heat for about 4-5 minutes until the skins have blistered and softened. Toss in a good sprinkling of course sea salt, such as Maldon and serve.
Gluttony [gluht-n-ee]: noun
Slowly, over days, weeks, months and years… if you’re not paying careful attention and enjoying living too good a life, this happy life will suddenly turn on you and bite back! You will wake up one morning and realise that you just can’t do up that button, no matter how hard you suck and bend and twist. Yes, you’ve slowly eaten and drunk yourself to bursting point.
In our first-world western lives, gluttony is no longer seen as one of the seven deadly sins. The desire for wealth and the finest foods and wines have become part of our everyday lives and ambitions. Are we part of the successes and excesses of capitalist living, or are we just greedy piglets with a hunger for more, more, more?
I'm afraid I don’t have the answers and I’d cry like a baby if someone took away all the treats I’ve become accustomed to. Following the principle of “everything in moderation” will perhaps give us a more balanced approach to life, and I get this. Totally. But in the words of Oscar Wilde, “Moderation is a fatal thing. Nothing succeeds like excess.”
In our first-world western lives, gluttony is no longer seen as one of the seven deadly sins. The desire for wealth and the finest foods and wines have become part of our everyday lives and ambitions. Are we part of the successes and excesses of capitalist living, or are we just greedy piglets with a hunger for more, more, more?
I'm afraid I don’t have the answers and I’d cry like a baby if someone took away all the treats I’ve become accustomed to. Following the principle of “everything in moderation” will perhaps give us a more balanced approach to life, and I get this. Totally. But in the words of Oscar Wilde, “Moderation is a fatal thing. Nothing succeeds like excess.”
 |
| Our friend Oscar Wilde |
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Connoisseur or piss-cat
It’s a fine line between being a wine connoisseur and piss-cat. I don’t think I’d be far wrong saying a wine enthusiast is a bit of both! Wine may not be my profession, but as it’s my passion I have been to my fair share of tasting events and at the end of these events you see enough exhausted and slightly frazzled professionals starry-eyed and red-eyed after all the tasting, talking and entertaining that comes as part of the show.
I have been known, on the odd occasion, to blur the lines between a good night out and a passing out, but as I grow up I like to think I’m getting to know my personal limits. But, like any good thing in life, one is constantly challenged as such limits are tested. And tested again. And again.
It’s a terrible thing to have a £90 sample of a big busty inky red in your hand knowing that you really should swirl, sniff, sip, and… spit. It goes against the very nature of things. Standing amongst the professionals, it is a true testing of limits. It just wouldn’t be cool to glug down this liquid deliciousness, says the connoisseur in me. But as I don’t have to remember anything about the wine, do I really care? says the piss-cat in me.
I have been known, on the odd occasion, to blur the lines between a good night out and a passing out, but as I grow up I like to think I’m getting to know my personal limits. But, like any good thing in life, one is constantly challenged as such limits are tested. And tested again. And again.
It’s a terrible thing to have a £90 sample of a big busty inky red in your hand knowing that you really should swirl, sniff, sip, and… spit. It goes against the very nature of things. Standing amongst the professionals, it is a true testing of limits. It just wouldn’t be cool to glug down this liquid deliciousness, says the connoisseur in me. But as I don’t have to remember anything about the wine, do I really care? says the piss-cat in me.
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Cabbage and Monbazillac
I really must look up the medical condition for having the craving for CABBAGE! It's also been bothering me that I have a half empty bottle of Monbazillac in my fridge. I lugged this sweet, honeysuckle wine all the way from my holiday in Bergerac last year, so there is no way it's going to waste. Not on my watch!
So I thought I would try out a mix of pork chops, caramalized red apples and fresh 'fried' sage on a bed of steamed savoy cabbage. Serve with a little Maille mustard on the side and... a large glass of the remaining Chateau de Sanxet Monbazillac and... dinner for winechick is served. Bottoms up kiddies!
 |
| Loin pork steak, red chief apple and fried sage on a bed of savoy cabbage |
Tasting note: Château de Sanxet Millenium Monbazillac 2007
During my October 2010 holiday around Bergerac, we came across Château de Sanxet. We were looking for the Musée Automobile du Château de Sanxet near the town of Pomport, but it was closed. As a result we turned our attention to their wine.
Monbazillac is a sweet wine AOC and only grapes affected by noble rot can be labelled under this name. We tried both the 2005 and 2007 wines. To the eye you could immediately tell, just by the deeper, richer gold, that the 2005 was a bigger and bolder sibling to the 2007 vintage. The Château de Sanxet wines are made up of a blend of Semillon, Muscadelle, and Sauvignon Blanc and around 50% is aged in new oak for 18 months.
During my October 2010 holiday around Bergerac, we came across Château de Sanxet. We were looking for the Musée Automobile du Château de Sanxet near the town of Pomport, but it was closed. As a result we turned our attention to their wine.
Monbazillac is a sweet wine AOC and only grapes affected by noble rot can be labelled under this name. We tried both the 2005 and 2007 wines. To the eye you could immediately tell, just by the deeper, richer gold, that the 2005 was a bigger and bolder sibling to the 2007 vintage. The Château de Sanxet wines are made up of a blend of Semillon, Muscadelle, and Sauvignon Blanc and around 50% is aged in new oak for 18 months.
 |
| Château de Sanxet |
On opening the 2007 wine you get a good whiff of honeysuckle, typical of Monbazillac - the hint of vanilla is a subtle clue to the barrel aging. On the palate the silky honey comes through, thick and viscous as it envelopes your mouth, balanced with the sharper, apricot flavours and a touch of vanilla and spice from the barrel aging. I know it’s not typical to serve a sweet wine with something like pork, but with the simple clean flavours and fresh produce, and balanced acidity in the wine, I thought it worked a treat.
Prices (at cellar door, October 2010): 2007 = 7.50 euros; 2005 = 9.50 euros
Prices (at cellar door, October 2010): 2007 = 7.50 euros; 2005 = 9.50 euros
Today's the day!
Standing in front of shelves stacked with wines from around the world brings a smile to my face and a shudder to my credit card. Stroking the cool cellar walls in Burgundy, Napa, or Stellenbosch - and peering into the darkness that protects the forthcoming vintages fills me with wonder. Not to mention the the excitement in tasting local foods and meeting and getting to know the many wonderful and passionate people you bump into along the way. So... today is the day to start sharing my little adventures in the world of food and wine...
 |
| The vines of Chateau de Pommard, Burgundy - September 2011 |
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)