I decided it was time we did a blind tasting to really test ourselves. It turned out to be a fun night and a great lesson!
We tasted all Pinot Noirs. But before I get to all that, let's talk specifics of Old World and New World.
Old World is Europe -- France, Italy, Germany, Austria, Spain Portugal.
A very basic summary is that Old World wines tend to be more subtle in flavor.
An Old World Pinot Noir is typically earthy with subtle fruit. Light-bodied and complex. Old world also goes well with food.
Typical descriptions:
Mushrooms
Smoke
Tea
Perfume, incense, sandalwood
Flowers
Tart red fruit like cranberry
New World wines come from everywhere else -- North America, South America, South Africa, New Zealand, Australia...etc
A New World Pinot Noir is typically fuller-bodied and fruit driven. To quote directly from a webpage: "This wine gives the illusion of being sweet on the nose, with juicy, ripe fruit aromas that jump out of the glass."
Typical descriptions:
juicy red fruits - strawberry, cherry, raspberry
meat - bacon
floral
earth
toast
And now to the wine we tasted. We started with two wines that weren't covered so that we could warm up to the idea. Heron $17.00
2008 Sonoma, CA
black licorice, dark fruit- cherries, tobacco smoke, medium body, nice, juicy wet mouth feel.
Domaine de Bachellery #10.95
French red table wine
not much of a nose, rubbery nose, sour cherries, tart fruit, short finish, lack of earthiness, falls flat, cranberry, sour cherry.
**We covered the next four wines and tasted them blind. Most of the women got it right -- I was very impressed!!**
MacMurray $17.00
2007 Sonoma
dark ruby color, vanilla, spice, medium finish, black pepper, sage, "reminds Diella of peach fuzz mouth feel", smoke, buttered toast, caramel, sour, sweet peppers, cranberries, herbs.
Marc Cellars $14.50
2005 France
cedar, evergreen, peppermint, leather, full-bodied, acidic, low on fruit, young, tart, crsip, bacon, strawberry. Delicious with the food.
Hanging Vine $14.00
2008 California
tobacco, earthy, jammy, raspberry, raisins, blueberries, sawdust nose, white chocolate, vanilla, fuller-bodied more unctuous.
Touraine $18.00
2008 France
pencil shavings, violets, musty, horse barn, sulfur, mushroom gills, bile, vinegar, "tongue sweater wine", flower - lily, "headache in a glass" color looks cloudy. we wondered if this turned. (update: it hadn't turned -- the wine guy that loved it so much).
And OF COURSE we ranked them - here are our top three:
1. MacMurray
2. Marc and Hanging Vine tied
3. Heron
October 2009's wine night focused on wines from the Languedoc region.
Some basic facts about Languedoc:
*Spans the Mediterranean coastline from the French border with Spain to the region of Provence.
*Languedoc-Roussillon is the world’s largest wine-producing region.
* Grape varietals white: chardonnay, sauvignon blanc, chenin blanc, mauzac as well as muscat. red: grenache, syrah, merlot, cabernet, cinsault and mourvedre.
rosé: commonly cinsault and grenache.
Brandi was a fantastic hostess and Chef Chris Holden spoiled us rotten with yet another incredible meal. (Eileen, I need your pictures because I missed most of the courses). This dinner we focused on food and wine pairing with each course and because of that I didn't take many notes. Each wine was delicious.
Spanish Style Mussels
roasted garlic and shallots in white wine w/ pesto, shrimp stock, bouillabaisse stock, basil served with a roasted garlic, honey aoli with bread. no picture- sorry!
Chateau La Rouge $18.00
2006 Coteaux du Languedoc
white grenache & vermentino. floral nose, peaches, honeysuckle, lemon. short finish. want it to be bigger.____________________________________________________________Grilled Rack of Lamb Salad
with green tomato, radish, lemon emulsion (all local Long Island vegetables) Chef Chris suggested the lightest wine with this because of the acidity in the green tomatoes.
L’Alycastre from Domaine de la Courtade $14.002008 Cotes du Provence
delicious rosé of grenache, mourvèdre and tibouren
strawberry, raspberry, almond. light, easy to drink all day long. Or as the NY Times says "An archetype rosé — chill, pour, drink and enjoy".
Broadbent Vihno Verde $10.00 From Portugal.
Pops with the lamb dish because of the acidity of the dish and the wine. A perfect aperitif.
Sweet side note: the label was painted by Alice, the niece, of Bartholomew Broadbent, when she was four. "mmm that's good hootch" --jeremy slutskin
Alaskan Halibutcelery root and granny smith apple puree, chestnut jus, roasted spaghetti squash, brussel sprouts
Domaine de la Patience $13.00
2008 Chardonnay
short mouth, acidic, floral, citrussy, granny smith apple. Kind of falls flat.
Domaine de Blanes $15.002008 Muscat sec
works with halibut, full bodied. lychee, floral nose. tastes like roses. forward, front of mouth taste. such a floral nose! candied violets, Hawaiian lei, plumeria. fun note: Only early morning, hand-harvesting is done here to maintain the highest level of aromatics.
Pan roasted veal tenderloin
chanterelle risotto, onion marmalade, veal jus
no picture - sorry! Domaine Rimbert $20.002005 "Le Mas au Schiste" Saint Chinian 40% carignan, 30% syrah and 30% grenache
mint mouth, silky on the tongue, blackberry, honey nose. medium finish, earthy. random note: "Jean-Marie Rimbert is a native of Provence who has forearms reminiscent of Popeye’s – must be the vine-pruning".
Grass fed venison
fire roasted butternut squash, market greens, blackberry jus
Chateau St Martin de la Garrigue $13.002006 coteaux du Languedoc blend of grenache, syrah, mourvedrejammy. (yes, that's the only note i have on this).
note: Garrigue is the different herbs and brush that grow all over the region along with the vines
Braised short ribs
tomato gastrique, organic paperdelle, bordelaise sauce no picture of this either (sheesh!)
Luc Pirlet $10.95
2006 Syrah and mourvedre
heavy, jammy zin-like with the spice of syrah. delicious! random note: luc pirlet has a fan page on facebook
Homemade apple pie
Thank you so much for the delicious meal and for the wonderful wine!!
We didn't need to rank anything this month because each wine was different and each wine was really good. Well done, ladies! As always, it's my favorite night of the month!!
A good wine pairing is like a good relationship.
In the beginning, each person puts their best front forward and brushes their defects to the back.
Then the defects come to the forefront and there is conflict, and each person bends and changes for the other person if the bond is true, passionate and strong.
Years later the relationship may change and turn into companionship, friendship - but the individuals themselves have changed, too.
Through the conflict, the bond, they are not who they were - they are better.
Good pairings are like that.
The wine makes the food taste better and the food makes the wine taste better with each taste.
They can only reach their full potential together. -- Michael Chapoutier
as told by Kelly.
Holy moly what a weekend! The wine night ladies invaded the North Fork of Long Island.
A few of us went early for a fabulous dinner at North Fork Table & Inn. The next day more women joined us for a day of wine tasting including a wonderful luncheon at Croteaux Vineyard.
The North Fork Table & InnThanks again to B for getting us the reservation. What a night of food & wine! Here's a blurb from the restaurant's website:The restaurant's menu focus is seasonally inspired featuring locally grown biodynamic and organic produce, the freshest seafood from the pristine Peconic Bay and Long Island Sound and award winning North Fork artisanal cheese. Increasingly distinguished and awarded Long Island wines are highlighted on the wine list, as well as their national and international counterparts.We were overwhelmed with our choices. So we decided that each of us would order something different, take a bite and pass our plates to the left. Every plate was delicious. Were stuffed to the gills and still full the next morning. It was totally indulgent and totally worth it! The Next Day We met up with the rest of the girls for a day of wine tasting. Our first stop was a luncheon at Croteaux Vineyards.
They spoiled us rotten! What a beautiful place! They had such a great set up for us and by the time we finished the tour of the grounds and their home, their daughter Ivy playing the piano for us, we were all ready to move in!
As for the wine - Croteaux does roses. Beautiful, light French style roses in bottles designed by Michael the owner and winemaker. We tasted all three of their merlot roses, a 2007 bottle of their #3, a sparkling rose and their homemade sangria. Delicious! As you can see by the pictures, i LOVED every inch of their property. I'm not sure how any vineyard would be able to follow that. So we went to the Tasting Room where we could taste wines from a few vineyards at once. i also wanted Schneider Vineyards wine since they don't have a tasting room.
We didn't love any of the wines we tasted on the menu and frankly the lady behind the counter was odd and kind of rude so we weren't very excited to buy (i did grab myself a bottle of Potato Barn). BUT we did meet the Anderson family from Onabay Vineyards who were tasting their wines. They were a great family and sent us all off with bottles of their 2007 Chardonnay. Thank you!!
After that we went to Lieb Cellars. Nice to see the contrast of a bigger winery and more public tasting. The wines were good, a nice Chardonnay if i remember correctly. (ladies, feel free to correct me!)
And finally off we went to Shinn Estate Vineyards. We happened to arrive at the perfect time and ended up in our own little private tasting room. I had previously tried and enjoyed the Wild Boar Doe from here and was excited to try more. Especially after we started our meal at North Fork Table & Inn the night before with Shinn's Coalescence (an odd blend of sauvignon blanc, chardonnay, viognier and merlot blanc) and finished our meal with Nemesis, a pinot noir. Lots of other good wines to choose from here including a nice Chardonnay.
To end the lovely weekend we ate dinner at A Mano an italian restaurant nearby and ate far too much but had a nice Lenz merlot to finish us off!
Thanks ladies for such a great time. It was definitely a special weekend!!!
Ok so i've been dragging my feet about writing this because i don't want to sully my dreams of what Outstanding in the Field should be! But the truth is, this year was a let down. First of all, i should tell you that we went last year in Manhattan and it was pouring down rain - we held umbrellas and sipped bubbly, or had people hold them for us as we ate the passed appetizers. The table itself obviously couldn't be set up so they bought a gigantic tarp and squished the tables under it. WHO CARES! the food was delicious!! We were a part of an experience, a rare and pricey one at that! We had a great time. So i was counting down the days until we got to go this year. We chose to go to the Queens Farm w/ Chef Ryan Skeen of Allen & Delancey night. We'd never been to Queens Farm, thought it would be a nice adventure. Well part of it was! It was a beautiful place, i'm so glad that we went to this location. As you'll see in the pictures, it's beautiful. Just outside the city and so unexpected! The Queens County Farm Museum is 47 Acres of land that dates back 300 years. It used to be a Dutch farm then the parks department bought it who didn't do much with it until they hired Michael, the farmer who has turned it into an organic farm w/ hens, sheep, goats, pigs, bees... they sell produce at the farmer's market in Union Square. Eventually he wants to start a dairy - so keep your eyes open for it! But the farm was only a small part of why we were there. We were there for the feast, for the local food, to hear from the farmers, the cheese makers, and the bread makers. There were no passed appetizers like they told us there would be. So we got to the beautiful table and sat down excited and hungry! Grilled Prawns w/ bouillabaisse, tapioca & ratatouilleGood pieces of shrimp and the tapioca was an interesting spin. It had some nice flavor.
Grilled salt & pepper pigs tails
This was definitely a first for me! i was a bit nervous because of the shape and size but it was really tasty. Fatty and salty and tender.
Grilled lamb belly with green tomato, watermelon salad, mint & goat cheese
Ok this was delicious. HOWEVER, it was supposed to feed the 8 people at our table. By the time it got to me, there was one tiny piece of lamb on the dish w/ tomatoes and watermelon. Looking around at the plates of my fellow diners, no one took a ton of food. everyone was very polite with portions and someone was kind enough to give me a piece of their lamb. (one of the three on their plate!). But the flavors were very nice, the watermelon especially.
A man from Fossil Farms came around and talked to the table. Basically they're creating a local distribution network for local farms so that consumers like restaurants can source locally grown meat. They're helping farmers get access to the local market and in turn helping the market get local options. A farmer is too busy to do that for himself so this man is basically his agent. And this is where our pig came from!
Slow roasted baby pig & morcilla w/ chanterelles
sweet corn bread pudding
Ok the corn bread was delicious and the chanterelles were beautiful. The morcilla (or blood sausage)- a first for me- was really good and spicy. But the pig itself was less than stellar. i mean, it was pork so it was good but it was just simple pork and we're not sure it was cooked all the way through. my dad cooks a great pork tenderloin on the grill - i think his is better than the chef's. Korean coleslaw with spice roasted cashews
and
summer squash salad w/ pesto and baby heirloom tomatoesThese salads were served on the side w/ the pork and they were good. Nice flavors in both of them and especially w/ the squash salad, it tasted like summer. (i didn't get a picture of it, sorry!)Then we noticed that the tables around us got a dish and when i asked the woman who was serving us (an organizer for Outstanding) she had no idea what the dish was. So if anyone is reading this who had it -- can you tell me what the diced tomato looking dish was? We never got it! At this point a woman sitting next to me goes "I'd like a little bread or something" which is when i remember all of the farmers who talked to us last year about every element that went into the meal. Including a bread maker. So either Chef Skeen decided not to include those elements in the meal... or i don't know what. And finally there was dessert. Now, it was listed in black and white on the menu. In my head it was going to be a fun spin on a classic; we'd all giggle to ourselves and enjoy all of the flavors that the chef has entertained us with. NOPE.
it was a Pork Rind Rice Krispy Treat. And that was it. A rice krispy treat - granted the pork rind added a little more crunch but that was it. Nothing that couldn't be done by a three year old under supervision! I thought to myself "ok you're being too harsh. You have high expectations. you should just enjoy this". when my boyfriend leans in and says "What!? Not even a chocolate drizzle!?" Yep, that was it. That was dessert. A friggin' rice krispy treat. And no i didn't get a picture of it because you all know what it looks like and i couldn't believe that's how they were letting this event end!!!!!! It was a let down. This night had such potential. Maybe the chef had never cooked for an event like this before and got in over his head early in the day. All in all, it was still special. i'm so glad we found the Queens Farm, i'm glad we got to sit at a real table this year, and that we had great weather.
Overall:
Location A+
Food B- (for the price we paid it might be a C)
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