The Wine Evangelist

I intended to post this sooner but washing the wine glasses from our Christmas Eve dinner took a whole lot longer than I anticipated. In fact, the whole dinner and festivities took a lot longer than I anticipated.

John and I come from different backgrounds. John is an Irish Catholic who attended parochial school in Massachusetts. I’m Jewish with my grandparents coming from several Eastern European countries. I grew up in Chicago and attended public schools. I went to synagogue. My family was traditional without being religious.

When we married, John and I decided to celebrate all of the Christian and Jewish holidays, honoring both of our backgrounds and enjoying the traditions that each of us shared when we were growing up. We have certainly embraced the celebrations!

This was our first Christmas in eleven years without any of our grandkids. We really missed them; the holiday is sooo…. about kids. So when it came to Xmas eve, we planned a very grown-up dinner.

The evening featured lots of great good food, wonderful wine, rockin’ music, laughter, and love.

Shedding all of our past family traditions, we scripted a sophisticated Italian feast. We invited our best friends, Pam and Harvey, their newly engaged son, Nick, and his beautiful fiancée, Lisa. With John and my mom, there were seven of us. In my traditional fashion, I prepared food for 18. (I always have leftovers).

Glasses of Pinnacle Ridge 2006 Methode Champenoise Blanc de Noir Sparkling wine were poured as we exchanged hugs. We toasted Nick and Lisa on their upcoming marriage.

They’re getting married on 10/10/10 here in Northern California and then onto to Taipei for a feast celebrating their marriage with Lisa’s family and friends in Taiwan.

We continued to enjoy more Pinnacle Ridge Blanc de Noir as we indulged in the Antipasto Platter consisting of chunks of aged Parmigiano Reggiano and Pecorino Romano, Roasted Olives, Spinach & Ricotta Torte with Marina Sauce, Beef Carpaccio with Spinach and Roquefort Butter, and a wonderful assortment of bread from Wild Flour Bread, the bakery in Freestone just down the road from us here on the Extreme Sonoma Coast. We also enjoyed a fabulous Fig and Gorgonzola Terrine with Port Syrup and Sausage-Stuffed Mushrooms (a recipe from The Barefoot Contessa) with quiet Christmas carols playing in the background. We continued to let the Sparkling wine flow.

Then it was time to turn up the volume. Thanks to John and TiVo we were able to enjoy THE 25TH ANNIVERSARY ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME CONCERT while we worked in the kitchen, dancing, loving the music, and marveling at the talented group of musician. We paused the concert and finally sat down to our first course around 8:30.

John and I decided to serve an array of courses for dinner ~ small plates with different wines so we could dine slowly and enjoy.

First Course: Honeydew Melon Wrapped in Prosciutto. The melon was not as ripe as I would have liked (that’s what happens when you buy fruit out of season), so I sliced it earlier in the day, removed the rind, then put the melon back in a Ziploc bag. I sprinkled the melon with sugar and poured 1/4 cup of Elderton 2007 Botrytis Semillon that I had left over from a meal we had shared with friends last weekend. We drained the melon and wrapped it in prosciutto. With the melon, we enjoyed a bottle of Hans Herzog 2008 Viognier from Marlborough, New Zealand. Pam and Harvey visited Hans Herzog in October and brought back this great bottle of wine to share. The floral aspects of the wine complimented the melon and the saltiness of the prosciutto was outstanding with the wine.

Second Course: Tomato, Blue Cheese & Grilled Bread Salad. For the grilled bread, I chose a combination of garlic rosemary bread and a sour dough round from Wild Flour. 

Third Course: Breaded Zucchini & Eggplant with Chunky Marinara and Emmental Cheese
Wine: Sonoma Coast Vineyards 2006 Balistreri Vineyard Pinot Noir, Sonoma Coast.

Fourth Course: Lemon Risotto with Lobster Medallions
Wine: Sonoma Coast Vineyards 2007 Chardonnay, Sonoma Coast.

Dessert: Chocolate Ravioli and Ricotta Pound Cake Topped with Sautéed Strawberries and Marscapone Cream
Wine: Duff Gordon Pedro Ximenz Viejo, Sherry, Jerez, Spain

We finished up dinner around 11 o’clock. We cleared the table and put away the leftovers. We loaded the dishwasher and left the rest of the dishes for morning as we watched the rest of the concert. It was long after midnight when we said “Merry Christmas.” When we walked outside, the night was cool and crisp. The moon was shining brightly. I think I saw a shadow cross the moon that looked an awful lot like a man in a sleigh.

*Although my camera was on the counter in the kitchen, I was having way too much fun and I neglected to take any photos of our fabulous food. As I make each dish in the future, I will add images to this posting and the recipes.

The 8th Pinot Noir Shootout is wrestling with the answer to where the best Pinot Noir comes from and who makes the best of the best.

The Pinot Noir Shootout panel has received Pinot Noirs from all over the world representing 50 different appellations including Canada, Chile, France, Italy, Australia, and New Zealand. Stateside, California and Oregon dominate the wine submissions; however, Pinots also came in from Michigan, and New Jersey, New York, and Washington State.

We take the tasting these wines very seriously and believe that we utilize a process that is fair to the wines and represent true and verifiable opinions of our judges.

Unique Aspects of the Pinot Noir Shootout:
• The most comprehensive and focused tasting of Pinot Noir in the US, utilizing an incredibly diverse panel of experts.
• Just 32 wines are tasted by the experts per day (four flights of eight wines each), allowing the judges to be completely immersed, focused and fair to the wines.
• There’s no palate fatigue as a factor.
• The wines are tasted completely blindwithout reference to appellation, vintage or price.
• Each of the wines is tasted twice during the preliminary tastings on different days and in a different flight and position than in the previous tastings.
• Scores and copious notes are provided by each person on the judging panel. They observations are collated and entered into our data base for review by our Competition Director, Mike Potasknik, Publisher of the International Wine Review and Pinot Noir Shootout Founder, Barbara Drady, Chief Wine Evangelist at Affairs of the Vine.

Your opinion counts. Join us for the 8th Annual Pinot Noir Summit. Taste the top 40 wines from the Shootout blind and vote for your favorites. Pit your palate against the panel. Register now to attend the Pinot Noir Summit ~ February 27, 2010 in San Rafael, California – just north of the Golden Gate Bridge.

Tasting and talking about wine are favorite hobbies of mine.  When I was invited to write about my experiences with Italian wines for the Wine Evangelist, I excitedly jumped off my chair exclaiming in Italian, “Si, Si”, which means “Yes, Yes”! 

Of course, I need to make a good impression… Hemming and hawing I consider which wine to review – a very expensive exclusive vintage? Local table wine? A favorite of the local Roman restaurant I frequent??  I tell myself, “Stop trying to imitate a college professor or sommelier” and simply challenge myself to buy a bottle of wine from “il supermercato,” the supermarket.  The challenge is to get it done quickly, before I leave on a month long trip, and also that I absolutely won’t know what I will find in selection or quality and would not have a specialist to help me – I would be all on my own.  Ahh, I like this challenge!

Along the wine wall of the ‘supermercato’ I see a dusty bottle, lonely on the shelf.  “Oddero Barbaresco” for $22 euro ($27 USD)… about double or triple the other bottles thus expensive in comparison.  But it is a 1996.  I assume it’s fully 100% Barbera grapes, but the label doesn’t give me details.  I’m excited anyway! A 13 yr old bottle of Barbaresco – excellent!

That dusty bottle cleans up nicely.  I have a little trouble with the cork, having to go in twice.  It is a soft cork, not too dry nor too wet, maybe a little dry.  Pouring the first glass I inhale that ‘just out of the bottle’ bouquet – strong, meaty and boisterous with life.  The color is a brown garnet, semi-sheer.  I am unsure but hopeful of what it will taste like, letting it breathe in the glass while I prepare my salad with artichoke, roasted peppers, some bread and sweet blue cheese.  I swirl the glass, watching the wine rise to the rim, then swirl back down, leaving many legs. 

My first taste is virginal, before food.  It’s a bit dry, limited body, very strong and for me, an overpowering peppery finish.  My heart sinks a little.  I must have made a mistake.  Perhaps Barbaresco cannot last 13 years?  I eat a few bites of salad and a bit of bread and cheese.  I swirl my glass again, embarrassed to realize I have to write about my terrible luck with this choice.  I swirl my glass again, lingering a look at it up high, so that the ceiling light shines through it.  It is dark red, perhaps garnet, although sheer, with touches of brown at the edge, and at the final edge, clear.  That clear edge is supposedly an indication of higher alcohol and in fact this bottle is labeled at 13.5%.  Well, perhaps that will make up for any lack of flavor!  Another sip.  Hmmm, better.  The pepper seems to be calmer and the fruit seems to be bolder.  Another bite of cheese on bread  – I’m striking a balance… I’m finding a nice pairing… More food, another taste of Barbaresco – it’s yummy!

I finish my meal along with my first glass, both ending with satisfaction.  Initial fear turns to a humble reminder of letting the wine breathe.  I realize it’s been a while since I tried an older wine.  I decide that a second glass is in order.  The ‘after meal’ glass.  This time I examine my experience even closer… the bouquet is much quieter now, no longer the cacophony… I’m a little sad about that.  But what I’m not sad about is the flavor… much better.  It needed air sooooo badly!  Its rich sweetness has tripled or quadrupled.  I taste chocolate, a better sense of body, albeit still a tad thin.  I’m always more pleased with a medium to heavier bodied red, but that’s my personal penchant and I’ve been taught by that certain red grapes just don’t turn out that way in look, which can be deceiving of the flavor.  This second glass is much smoother and much more active in the mouth, on the tongue.  I let it linger in my mouth, savoring the flavor that softly resonates with its blossoming fruit and earthy chocolate flavors now presenting themselves. The peppery finish is barely there, but provides that feeling of ‘cymbals’ at the end of the symphony as I swallow.  I am happy.

Notes:  I was never able to determine the grapes making my wine, but this winery has another younger Barbaresco that is 100% nebbiolo.  Probably mine was too.  The Oddero winery is from Northern italy, near the city Torino.  If you like Italian wines, you can learn more about this production and the Oddero winery my going to their website and also about the particular bottle “Albeisa.”  Oddero uses the historical ‘Albeisa’ bottle which was initiated in the 1700’s, replaced and then reinstated in 1973.

As Chief Wine Evangelist at Affairs of the Vine, my mission is to convert people to wine. In that quest, I invite other wine lovers to share their passion about wine and life lessons they learn along the way.

I am delighted to introduce you to our newest Wine Evangelist, Rebecca Michaels.

Rebecca Haugh Michaels is a voice actress currently residing between Rome, Italy and San Francisco, California. Her roots also include Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Hollywood, California. Rebecca has credits in acting as well as voice over, video production, advertising, sales & marketing. She has also enjoyed learning the nuances of all types of wines for many years, has wine tasting listed as one of her acting ’special skills’, and looks forward to a thorough exploration of Italian wineries. Now an independent contractor, she uses her voice and her pen for projects all around the world! She is excited to write about wine, one of her favorite subjects, for Affairs of the Vine.

Learn more about Rebecca at www.LoveThatRebecca.com and follow her on Twitter http://twitter.com/RebeccaMichaels

Three Wine Evangelists, three different palates, three unique perspectives on three continents. Stay tuned for Rebecca’s first blog posting.