Sunday, March 27, 2011

Casar de Burbia and paella tutorial...in the snow

The 2006 Casar de Burbia, Bierzo was quite a treat tonight with a eaty paella cooked over an open flame. The nose is dense with rustic notes of brier, bramble and wild berry with hints of roasted coffee and licorice. The wine is made from 100% Mencia grapes and according to the website it is aged in American (Missouri) oak barrels for 8 months. Oddly, the bottle says the wine is aged in a combination of American, Hungarian and French oak. Regardless, the American oak becomes more prominent with food, but it never ventures into that nasty dilly arena. The Bourbon aromas and flavors are definitely there, but the wine has more than enough weight to carry them well. The palate is thick and tannic with chunky, chewy cocoa and dark berry flavors and nice, balancing acidity. Just a wonderful texture. Finishes with chalky tannins and a slightly saline flavor reminiscent of a good Albarino from the neighboring Rias Baxias region. A grape and a region worth paying attention to. About $30.

Dinner tonight was paella that I cooked outside over charcoal. I knew we were in for another dose of old man winter, but sometimes you just have to man up do what needs to be done. So I braved the flurries and managed to make one hell of a good paella before the white stuff started to accumulate in earnest. For those of you who are interested, I present this brief tutorial on how to make a paella without any fresh tomatoes or *gasp!* saffron!

The raw ingredients:

What you see here, clockwise from left, is a whole chicken cut into bite size pieces (made fresh chicken stock from the carcass), a few links of Spanish chorizo (Andouille will suffice in a pinch), strips of bell pepper, a few diced sun-dried tomatoes, half an onion, a few cloves of garlic, and some fresh chopped parsley. I would normally have fresh, chopped tomatoes, but I was woefully unprepared for dinner tonight and it's a 20 minute drive each way to the nearest grocery store. I'm also, sadly, fresh out of saffron so I had to make do without. The chicken has been marinated in olive oil, salt, pepper and smoked Spanish paprika.



The technique:

The first step is to brown the chicken well in olive oil over a hot flame. Just get a nice sear on it for some color and so the chicken fat lends some flavor to the pan. When it is cooked about halfway, remove the chicken to a bowl and add the onion, garlic, tomatoes and sausage to the pan. Cook this until the tomatoes start to break down and you have a thick paste. This is what the Spanish refer to as a sofrito:



With your sofrito still in the pan, you'll want to add your rice. Bomba rice from Valencia is the real stuff, but if you can't find it, arborio (risotto rice) is a pretty decent substitute. For this recipe, I added 12 ounces of arborio. You may or may not want to add a bit more olive oil to your pan:



When the rice is coated in olive oil and slightly toasted, return your chicken to the pan and add 2-3 cups of chicken stock; preferably home made. Stirring frequently, let the rice absorb the majority of the stock. Then add another 2-3 cups and your strips of pepper:



Cover the grill (If you're cooking indoors, you could cover your paella pan with foil now and shove it in a 400 degree oven) and let it cook for about half an hour or until the rice is tender, yet still has a nice texture. It should look something like this:



Now take the top off of your grill for maximum air flow and get the heat up as high as you can for a few minutes. This will add some color to your dish and help form a crispy crust of rice (the socarrat) across the bottom of the pan. And here's the finished product garnished with a bit of fresh chopped parsley:



You'll notice there's no shrimp or seafood in my basic paella. There are a number of reasons for this:

1) Meat and shrimp is not a traditional Spanish paella. According to noted Spanish cookbook author Penelope Cassas, chicken, sausage and shrimp is a very Americanized version of the classic dish.

2) I think most attempts at pairing red wine and shrimp are disastrous. The iodine in shrimp and most other shellfish will make a full-bodied red wine taste metallic. If you insist on adding shrimp to your mixed paella, you might want to stick with white wine or bump up to a rose.

3) I'm allergic to shellfish so even if 1 and 2 weren't true, I still wouldn't have any shrimp (or squid or snails) in my paella!

Saturday, March 26, 2011

2006 Boroli Quattro Fratelli Barbera

Opened a 2006 Boroli Quattro Fratelli Barbera d'Alba tonight with dinner. I've had this wine many times (usually at a work function) yet for some reason this is the first time I've bothered to mention it on this site. It's been pretty hit-or-miss and unfortunately tonight's bottle was a miss. Medium ruby color. The nose is a terrific compote of cooked raspberry and blackberry with a good whiff of vanilla. Although the wine is aged in oak casks for 6 months, there's no hint of it on the nose or palate. Unfortunately, the palate doesn't live up to the promise of the nose as it is marked with shrill acidity just a modicum of tart fruit. Shocking lack of ripeness.

Even more shocking was how poorly it fared with tonight's dinner of ricotta-stuffed shells in tomato sauce. One would think the acidity would pair nicely with the tomato sauce. But it was quite the train wreck as the wine somehow came across as being even more acidic with the food. Poor showing. But at least now that dinner is over, it's starting to perk up again.....

Saturday, March 19, 2011

2007 Conn Creek Herrick Red



Thoroughly enjoyed the 2007 Conn Creek Herrick Red, Napa Valley tonight with seared tuna steaks with an Asian spice rub. Although drastically different than the last time we tried this wine, it was a stunning pairing with the food. In fact, I decided on doing an Asian rub on the tuna after smelling the wine after pulling the cork. The nose is rather dilly (something I don't really care for) upfront, but it quickly blows away and reveals all these wonderful aromas reminiscent of Chinese five spice powder: star anise, clove, fennel. After a half hour or so, warm mulberry and brier notes start to emerge. The palate is loaded with thick, luscious red and black fruit with a hint of cinnamon and other brown spices. Moderate tannins and nice acidity round out the package. Drink now or hold for a few years.

I'm not sure where the mocha/carob/coffee flavors went from 4 months ago, but this was still a hell of a delicious wine tonight and, as I mentioned, a perfect pairing with the rare tuna.

Friday, March 11, 2011

2007 Hess "Allomi" Cabernet + others

Wanted to catch up on a few wines from last weekend plus tonight's offerings:

Opened the 2009 Valminor Albarino, Rias Baixas as an aperitif over the weekend. Shows a medium golden color and lots of mineral in the nose. Mineral shows up again on the palate supported by bitter orange/tangerine pith. Bitter, acidic, pithy finish. No fruit. We tried this with a variety of cheeses (including a delicious Manchego) and this wasn't a good pairing with any of them.

The 1998 Seventy-Five Wine Company "The Sum" red blend, California was opened to accompany a selection of home made pizzas. Beautiful deep purple color. Smoke, espresso, oak, black fruit, hint of licorice on the nose. Quite complex for a $20 bottle of wine. Considerable tannins on the full-bodied palate. Chalky, dusty, dry cocoa finish. A touch stemmy, but that isn't too much of a distraction. Packs a punch. An undisclosed, Cabernet-dominated blend.

After "The Sum" was drained, we reached for the 2009 Montebuena Cosecha, Rioja - The nose and palate of this Tempranillo were marked by tart raspberry fruit. Over the past year or so, this has been an odd, hit-or-miss wine that fluctuates between delicious and not very good. Unfortunately, this (my last bottle) was not very good. Not worth $15.

Tonight, we enjoyed the 2007 Hess Allomi Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley - with grilled, grass-fed K.C. strip steaks from our local C.S.A. Saturated color. Caramel, dill and charred oak dominate the nose. Quite tarry and tannic on the palate with mouth-watering acidity that just compels you take another sip. Somewhat astringent on the finish. This wine doesn't really offer any of the aromas or flavors that I enjoy in Napa Cabernet, but the acidity really rescues it and makes it a nice pairing with dinner. About $25.

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

2008 Raptor Ridge Pinot Noir

2008 Raptor Ridge Pinot Noir, Willamette Valley - Dark garnet color. Darker than most entry level Pinot Noirs. Nose starts off with loads of black cherry, black pepper, licorice and a bit of hickory/oak. Smells more like a light-bodied Syrah than a Pinot Noir. The palate is medium-bodied with earthy, Pinot-like flavors of truffle and sage with the aforementioned black cherry always lurking in the background. Nice acidity and just enough tannin to provide balance. This is a powerful Pinot Noir for $20 and will probably reward a couple of years in the cellar.

Dinner was a play on the traditional Thanksgiving meal with roasted chicken (rubbed down with Penzey's Bavarian seasoning and kosher salt), cornbread dressing (spiked with corn and sausage) and a green salad. A lovely meal to accompany a lovely Oregon Pinot Noir.

Thursday, March 3, 2011

2006 Le Clos du Caillou Cotes du Rhone

Thoroughly enjoyed the 2006 le Clos du Caillou Cuvee Unique Cotes du Rhone tonight with skewers of marinated cubes of lamb leg and pieces of red pepper and purple onion. Might be the very best lamb I've ever gotten from Homespun Hill Farm; our local CSA. Well done, Farmer Debbie! The wine is basically declassified Chateauneuf-du-Pape. In layman's terms this means the wine meets the local governing body's qualifications to carry a higher designation (and a price tag in the $50-60 range). But since they don't want to release too much Chateauneuf, they sell this at a lower price. And for $26 you get a monster nose of sweet cherry/raspberry fruit, black pepper the lovely lavender and rosemary-scented underbrush that the French affectionately refer to as garrigue. Initially rather medium-bodied, it takes on a lot of weight as it opens up in the glass. By the hour mark it's it quite full-bodied. Spectacular with the Mediterranean-inspired kebabs, but the last glass sans food is dominated by really smoky, hickory flavors and acidity that's a touch out of whack. Enjoy this exceptional value with food now or any time over the next 5-10 years.