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Winey Wednesday

JT Chateau De Nages
2009
Costieres De Nimes
Red Rhone Style Wine
95% Syrah, 5% Mourvedre
91 
Price: $17.99 at Total Wine 
Rating: 8.45/10 for wines between $15-25

Appearance:  Purple tinted garnet
Legs: takes longer to set which indicated a fuller wine - I was surprised by this, given it's a Syrah
Smell:  one word.  Intense.  Smoke and intense spice with notes of cassis (black licorice) and plum
Taste:  Intense introduction of plum and dark raspberry with sight hints of strawberry and cherry.  Followed by earthy, leather, dirt and a hint of toast ending with slight nutty/chocolate.  Subtle tannins that linger into a medium finish with a dry mouth feel.
Mouth:  Intense, fully bodied coating the mouth.


I was surprised by this wine.  For several reasons.  First, given the intense spicey smell, I was shocked by the fruit forward introduction.  It's startling at first, but after several sips, it grew on me more and more.  Second, considering this is predominantly a Syrah, I was taken back by how intense the wine is.  In my experience, Syrah's are usually full of bright berry flavors that have a sharp mouth feel and medium body.  This wine could, and does, hold up to the bigger, bolder Cabs that I enjoy. 


On a different note, I am very excited for a wine party we are planning.  We attended a wine tasting at a local shop a little while ago, and the idea was proposed to have a wine tasting class at our house.  The boyfriend is busy squirreling away ideas, but since most of our friends are in the beginning level of wine tasting he is planning on doing an introduction to wine class.  3 reds and 3 whites - the traditional types, with cups of ransom spices/flavors......very excited.

I love cooking with wine.......sometimes I even add it to the food.

Today I didn't have court, so I decided....what the hell, I'll take a swing at making the French classic Beef Bourguignon for dinner tonight.  Of course, I didn't decide this until about 330pm, which is a little late - as I found it takes roughly 4.5 hours from start to table.  I looked at several different recipes and complied my own recipe from it.  If you are a Julia Child purest, you may not appreciate, but ...here goes.

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 8 ounces (roughly 4 pieces) dry cured center cut applewood smoked bacon, diced (more on this later)
  
• 2 pounds chuck beef cut into 1-inch cubes
• salt
• black pepper
• 1 pound carrots, (roughly 6 good sized carrots) sliced diagonally into 1-inch chunks
• 1 yellow onion, sliced (when you slice onions = after removing the skin, imagine the top and bottom of the onion as the north and south poles.  You cut downward - from top to bottom.  Cutting the onions like this will allow for smooth cooking.)  

• 5 cloves garlic minced - or bottled minced garlic
• 1/2 cup Cognac

• 1 bottle good dry red wine such as Cote du Rhone
• 2 cups beef broth - low sodium
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 4 fresh thyme sprigs
• 1 bay leaf
• several parsley leaves
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 pound pearl onions
• 2 tablespoons mushroom powder, or 1/2 pound mushrooms with stems removed
• Fresh bread for serving

1.   Preheat over to 250 degrees.  Cut bread into large pieces and let out to harden.

2.   Heat olive oil in a dutch oven - or large pot that is NOT non stick.

3.   Add bacon to pot over medium heat for 10 minutes, until slightly browned.  Remove bacon with slotted spoon onto a large plate or bowl, leaving the bacon grease in pot 

4.  Dry beef cubes with paper towels.  You want to make sure the beef is dry to allow for better searing.  I dried each piece of beef separately to make sure.  Once all beef is dry, place into bowl and sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper.

5.  Turn up heat to medium high.  Place beef in pot in a single layer.  Do not move beef for at least 1 minute, allowing the beef to sear.  Once you have a good sear on one side, turn beef over in pot so that other side can sear. This will take roughly 2-3 minutes per batch of beef.  Once beef has nice sear all over, remove beef onto plate/bowl with bacon - again, leaving grease in pot.  

6.  Toss carrots and onions with roughly 2 teaspoons each salt and pepper.  Lower heat back to medium and cook the carrots and onions for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until onions are slightly browned.  Add 2 cloves of garlic and cook for 1 minute - stirring constantly.

7.  Add Cognac, stand back and drop lit match into pot.  This will burn off the alcohol, leaving behind the taste of the Cognac.  The flame will go out by itself, but have the lid handy, just in case.

8.  Place bacon and beef back into pot.

9.  Add bottle of wine (I kept out 1/3 of the bottle to have with dinner)  Add beef broth until it almost covers the beef.  Add tomato paste and stir.

10.  Place bay leaf, thyme and parsley leaves into a bouquet garni bag (cheese cloth) add to pot.

11.  Bring to simmer - cover with tight fitting lid and place in oven.

12.  Cook in over for at least 1.5 hours.  The longer the better - up to 3 hours.

13.  Pull pot out of oven and place on stove.

14.  In another pot start boiling water.  While waiting for water to boil, cut the very tip of the top and bottom of the pearl onions off.  Do not peel by hand - we are blanching the onions which makes peeling the skin very easy.  Grab a large bowl and fill with cold water and place ice cubes in it.

15.  In small pan, melt 2 tablespoons of butter.  Once melted, with heat on LOW, add 3 tablespoons of flour, one tablespoon at a time.  Whisk after adding each tablespoon.  Keep whisking - once flour is absorbed into the butter, add the next tablespoon.  

While continuing to whisk, slowly add juice from large pot with beef in it.  As soon as you add this juice, the roux will bubble and clump, keep whisking until incorporated, then add some more juice.  Keep doing this and whisking until smooth.  Once smooth, add to the large pot with beef.  Turn heat onto medium high.

16.  By now the pot of water should be boiling - drop the pearl onions into the water and boil for 2 minutes.  

Using a spider, remove the onions and place into ice water.  Once onions are cool to the touch remove the skins by grabbing the "butt" of the onion and squeezing.  Once skin is removed, plop into the pot with beef.

17.  Original recipes call for actual mushrooms.  I do not like the feel of mushrooms, so I use powder.  If you want to use actual mushrooms, melt 2 tablespoons of butter, add the mushrooms and saute for 10 minutes then add to the pot with beef.  If you, like me, use powder, add the powder to the pot with beef. 

18.  Bring the pot with beef to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes.  If after that time it is too liquidy for you - in a small bowl mix 1 tablespoon of cornstarch and cold water then drizzle into pot slowly, stir.  Only add a little bit at a time - stir, wait 5 minutes for it to thicken.  If you want it thicker, add more of the cornstarch mixture.

19.  In small bowl, but 2 tablespoons of butter in bottom of bowl, add two cloves of minced garlic on top.  Put in microwave and defrost, yes defrost, the butter for 1 minute.  Stir.  Brush melted butter with garlic onto one side of the bread.  Broil bread for a minute or two - watching to make sure it doesn't brown.

20.  To plate - put bread on plate and spoon beef mixture on top of bread.  Place leaves of parsley on top.  And enjoy with the wine you reserved for dinner.  

So, with the bacon - when I tasted the finished product, I was happy with the flavor, but wanted more bacon flavor.  I would suggest instead of buying slices of bacon, I would suggest buying block bacon or fatback.  Fatback comes in blocks - find one that is lean which has slivers of meat in it.  Slice this and use instead of bacon - it has a more intense flavor.

Winey Wednesday

I love Total Wine.  Obsessively so.  Is it bad that when I walk in there they know my name?  It's my own private Cheers.  I'm not an alcoholic.......shut up.  Anyway, make way for the Wine Tasting: 

Poggio alla Sala  (http://www.poggioallasala.it/vinonobile.en.php)
Vineyard: Famiglia Gattavecchi (which is actually a Resort and Spa in Firenze Italy http://www.resortpoggioallasala.com/site/en/food-a-beverage/wine-nobile-disciplinary.html)  
Style: Vino Nobile Di Montepulciano
Reserva 2006
100% Prognola Gentile Sangiovese
Price: $29  (which is more than I wanted to spend, but Christopher, the wine manager, was very excited about this wine)

Appearance: Ruby/Garnet
Legs: (I still giggle at this) sits on the edge of the glass and descends slowly, indicating a big wine
Smell: Tobacco, red cherry, bark, hint of carraway
Taste:  Moderate intense opening with chalky, dry tannins throughout with a hint of white grape sweetness which quickly gives way to leather, plum, tobacco flavors. For a bold red, it doesn't have the strong finish of a Bordeaux, but it is bold for the area which is known for Chianti.  
Overall impression:  Not an overly complex wine, but not a simple grocery store wine either.  I enjoyed the smell of the wine more than the flavor.  The smell was much more intense than the flavor, which was a slight disappointment.
Rating (for wines between $25-$50): 5.9