Pancakes and a Halfling

The day has arrived in the annual calendar where when we are succumbed (again) by social convention and actively induce sugar comas; test our susceptibility to heart disease and other dietary conditions. Yes today is Pancake Day or Shrove Tuesday, as it should be referred. Yet we only really peruse this day for the Pancake.

There will be a ‘nut’ out there who is reading this and saying to them selves, “ah, yes but you could have savoury pancakes with a nutritious and healthy filling”.  I say, get real pancake nut. I’m going to give myself a sugar head ache and sore teeth because that’s the kind of crazy fool I am.

My better half requested that I provide lemon and sugar only for the topping of her pancake but seeing as though we are having pancakes for our main meal of the day I decided on something verging on nutritious.

For her: Hazelnut, Sultana and grated lemon peel with a toffee and Kahlua sauce.

For me: Blueberry and cherry with cream.

And there we have it, two tasty toppings to please all. But hang on! Isn’t this a wine blog?

Enter our half bottle of Premieres Cotes de Bordeaux by Sainsbury’s. Widely available and a widely affordable treat at £3.49. (half bottle)

This slither of the Bordeaux department runs down the western edge of the massive Entre-Deux-Mers (land between two seas) and sits on the bank of the river Garonne. The noble grapes Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon Blanc and Muscadelle are affected by Botrytis Cinerea a fungal disease that causes the grapes to shrivel and loose water content, heightening sugar content. In short a sweet luscious wine is made with citrus grapefruit and marmalade fruits with a light backdrop of orange and bergamot spice. What really impresses about this wine and its combination with the pancakes is that it doesn’t appear sweet alongside the toffee sauce and sweet fruit. The wine appears elegant with rich texture and comparable fruity flavours. A harmonious coupling of two. I couldn’t recommend this wine enough for pure value for money and a genuine snap shot of what Bordeaux sweet wines are all about.      

Verget caught up in a gaff.....

Above you can view the outrageous tale of events that happened at the Macconais winery Verget in 2010. It's quite unbelievable really but delivered in a sensitive and at times humerus way. Great cinematography and wine pic's to boot. 

Another one for your christmas table........

Otra Vida Malbec-Mendoza-Argentina.

I've tried this wine a lot over the years and always though it to be, mmm....ok I suppose. I've recently tried the 2010 vintage and can tell you that at £6.49 it's an absolute must. As you will know £6 is not a lot to pay for a bottle of wine these days but finding one that you feel offers value ain't that easy. This wine is packed with complexity and showing signs of development that come with a carefully handled and matured wine. A punchy nose that comes across quite meaty (roast beef, leather, almost bretty) and powerful but allows bright red berry fruits of plum, red currant to shine through, as well as high notes of violet, a dead give away to this variety. Developing notes of warn leather, medicinal spice indicate some form of oak treatment weather barrel or staves  but either way impressive for a bottle at this price.

Unlike some new world Malbec, this one remains quite bright and fruity without being too dense and chewy. That's not to say it's thin in any way. It will pair perfectly to roast beef or a nice bit of steak, you could also venture a little more towards game. Venison, rabbit, pheasant, would be a just match! I may even suggest it wouldn't be too heavy for your turkey if that's what you prefer.

Widely available, you might try Tesco if you are struggling to track it down.

David

Moueix anyone?

Moueix anyone?

The Monday night Tesco shop was a blast tonight, I had plenty of time on my hands so I plugged in some quality tunes to my eardrums (Big L, not for the faint of heart I might add) took my sweet time and wandered the aisles. No surprise that when I fell upon the BWS aisle I slowed right down to a crawl in order to see what delights they had in stock pre-Christmas. Lots to choose from this year. Montes Alpha Cabernet Sauvignon making a return appearance, always a winner. Roda Rioja, Legaris Ribera del Duero, both top rival wines from Spain. Tesco Finest Hermitage at £20 looks like a Billy bargain and on closer inspection revealed it was made by cooperative la Tain, a winery worth visiting just on the outskirts of the Tain l’Hermitage where you look straight from the tasting room window up on to the cascading terrace of vines that is the hill of hermitage (l’hermite). And so I wandered and wondered at these impressive wines until I found a fine wine section (fine wine section in tesco?). Impressive stuff too, not least tonight’s tipple that I was tempted by. A 2004 Saint Emilion Grand Cru not a ’08 or ’07, no. Something with a bit of age on it. Impressive! I was struck by the bold italics MOUEIX front and centre on the bottle. Surely not the same Moueix that in 1946 acquired the legendary Chateau Petrus and went on to promote it to the world renowned status and pedigree it is today. (You can by a bottle in Vesuvio Wine Bar, Darlington for £1400, and that’s cheep) The wine? Fauzinat l’Hermitage (no relation to the afore mentioned) absolutely stunning. I’m sat here tasting while I write this blog and can not believe how good it is. As soon as I pulled the cork I could smell those brambles and plums, I didn’t let it breathe at all. It didn’t seem to need it, it is after all 8 years of age. Complexity is there too, leather, cocoa, cigar box, pencil lead all coming through. Really the best thing about it though……. £14.99. I’d get down to Tesco if I were you.

It's been a long time.........

So , July was my last post, eek.......

I'm back now though after a few months of pursuing other interests, it seems that bicycles are quite big at the moment. Check out my new blog www.recycle-a-bicycle.com if you are in to that kind of thing.

Back to the topic of wine though, my new site is up and running and with it comes a new business venture for myself. www.grapeupnorth.co.uk. Go check it out. The new site hosts my newly formed Wine Academy and I'm hoping it's going to be a huge success in 2012.

The Academy will provide both informal tutored wine courses and professional courses. The option to come for one night events or over a course of weeks is available. Courses will be hosted at Darlington Arts Centre in the Garden Bar and I am looking forward to meeting budding wine cadets and talking to you all about wine.

The title page of grapeupnorth.co.uk will also be used as a notice board for associated ventures and events. The aim of this to promote oenology in the northeast.

I'll be back soon with some more info and an update of whats going on.

Until then, enjoy another glass of wine. (responsibly)

David :  )

Mont Tauch

Mont Tauch.

Earlier I promised you all a note on Mont Tauch. In my opinion a symbol of cooperative wine making buried deep in the south of France at the town of Tuchan within Fitou. The wines of Mont Tauch are widely available and very accessible drinking wines. Recently I tried Les Douze, A big bold statement of what this winery is about where each year twelve of the coop’s members competes to have their grapes contribute to the finished blend. A kind of quirky idea when most people assume the wines they drink are either run off in some gigantic factory or made on minute scale by toe treading peasant. But there is an in-between and this is part of it. The wine making on this scale and in this part of the world, like many other European regions is almost insignificant. It doesn’t matter weather grand cellar, garage, converted air hanger or indeed factory because that is not where these wines are made. It is the Vineyard! For without the determination of the farmer/grower to produce the best quality grapes he or she can, the winery and the final bottling is insignificant.

Anyway, I digress. My consumption hasn’t been at all seasonal or well paired lately. So, this next recipe of my own wasn’t originally consumed with the fore mentioned Fitou. Instead I drank a very nice Aglianico which was a bit to fruity and lacking in structure and I  thought to my self, “that Les Douze, Fitou would have been the ‘bees-bollocks’ with this dish”.

Best Beef Stew

Ingredients:

1*large onion

2*chunky garlic cloves

1* bay leaf

Olive oil

100g butter

200g black pudding

500g diced beef

Half a bottle of red wine

500ml of best quality beef stock (organic, reduced salt stock cube)

1*carrot

1*parsnip

A big bunch of parsley

           

Start reducing beef stock and red wine. It may take up to one hour to reach correct consistency. It will reduce by half.

Dice and soften onion in a large pan (lid on) with two table spoons of olive oil before adding crushed garlic, bay leaf, pepper corns, small knob of butter and black pudding. After half an hour this should be melting and oozing in texture.

Season your rested beef (should be room temperature before you start cooking it) and brown off in a frying pan and add to pan of onions.

Peel and roughly chop your parsnips and carrots and add to the cooking pot.

Finally pour over your wine and stock reduction, cover with a lid and allow the combined ingredients to cook on a low heat for 2 hours. Stir, taste and season accordingly.

Finally. Your stew should have reached a thick glossy consistency and the beef should be melting. The meal will by its very nature be heavy and heart warming so what we will do is add a bunch of chopped parsley to the stew just to lighten the texture and lift some of those heavy flavours.

Serve with Yorkshire pudding and if you are brave a ring of black pudding. Oh, and don’t forget that Mont Tauch-Fitou-Les Douze. (Available at Majestic)

Laters Taters.

Salsa Verde

Salsa Verde!

Continuing the thread from Tuesday’s blog I thought I’d give you a recipe for this uber versatile dressing! Have it on Steak, Fish, Salad, Antipasto, or a topping for Crostini. The provenance of Salsa Verde is to be found in the Piemonte region of North West Italy where it too takes on the form of a multi serving condiment where it may lighten the hearty meat stews of the mountainous region or just as easily play a part in pepping up a light zuppe!

Here goes, I welcome all amendments and complaints from the Italian community on the correct assemblage of this recipe. But, this is my interpretation and I think it’s fairly legit.

You will need:

            Bread crumbs, half a stale old bread roll minced up in a food processor

            White wine Vinegar, Good quality! To add flavour not pickle your dish

            Caper berries, Big’ns with the stalks still on in good white wine vinegar, 20

            1 Garlic clove

            Black Pepper,

            4 Anchovy fillets

            A bunch of Parsley, from your herb garden perhaps

            Olive oil

Soak two table spoons of bread crumbs in one table spoon of white wine vinegar and set to one side. Chop up Caper berries in to rough slices, removing their stalks. Do the same for Anchovies and Garlic.

Next, Grind up a tea spoon of Black Pepper corns in to a pestle and mortar (If you don’t have one just use a mixing bowl and pepper grinder. (do not blend or food process) Add capers, Garlic and Anchovies and mush it all up a little leaving a little texture. Then add three to four table spoons of white wine vinegar and your bread crumbs, add these in slowly, if it looks like it’s getting a bit busy and dry in there you’ve over done it! The crumbs are merely to thicken a little. Give it a little mix and then you can add a bunch of finely chopped Parsley. Finally add three to four table spoons of olive oil and stir in well, the mixture should emulsify.

Your final Salsa should be a loose, glossy consistency (a bit like our mint sauce) ready to brighten up many a dish.

And now for the liquid element.

Being true to Piemonte you might try a Gavi, a fruity and aromatic white wine from the region, the best displaying mineral notes and tangy citrus finish. Or, Roero Arneis, again a scented dry white wine justly matched to such a style of cuisine.

Alternatively, let’s go for something else with the word Verde in it. Yes that’s right Vhino Verde! A classic, especially if you’re planning on sea food with your Salsa. Portuguese and found south of the Minho river which forms the frontier to neighbouring Spain. This wine is light with bright acidity to dual it out with your Salsa, the best are made from Alvarinho (Albarino) and if we were to skip across this Minho river border we would find our self in Galicia Spain. More precisely the wine producing region of Rias Baixas. And what do they do best in this neck of the woods? Albarino, more weighty and fleshy then your Vhino Verde and with riper fruit but just as good a match as any of the above.

If you’re off on a shopping spree this weekend, pop in to Waitrose and pick up these little beauties. There is a 25% off 6 deal at the moment so all you need to do is choose yourself two more on top of my four hot recommendations.

Malvira- Roero Arneis                                £10.99           

Arelia Prima-Provence Rose                    £7.99             

Quinta de Azevedo-Vhino Verde              £7.29             

Gavi Araldica                                               £5.99             

A well as these, look out for Mont Tauch Fitou. (More on this next time!)

For the Northern Contingency, your local Waitrose is at Eldon Square, below the entrance to John Lewis from the Northumberland Street entrance.

Happy wining and dining

David