sybaritesauvage   Uncorking a Mind Twisted by Wine, Food, Love & Remembrance

Goodnight, Irene

As the Tempest, Irene, rages outdoors, lashing us with wind and water, I sit here clearing the fog in my head with a hot teapot of English B this Sunday morning, hoping that my electricity and therefore my internet access will not abate.  It also brings to mind the relationship between water and wine. 

From the events described by St. John at the Wedding at Canaan, to the actual mixing at table of wine and water as Thomas Jefferson seems to have done with what he described as vin ordinaire (say it ain’t so, T-Jef!), to the bigger no-no of putting ice cubes in wine, I didn’t think there was much more to say about this subject. 

Till this hit my radar– forget about putting water in wine, how about putting wine in (salt) water.  This is exactly what Piero Lugano, a wine merchant and producer, in Chiavari, Italy (in northwestern Italy near Genova), has done.  Having no room to bottle ferment his sparkling wines somehow received permission from Italian bureaucrats to store them under water off the coast– a modern day miracle if you ask me.  According to a New York Times report, the gentle currents in these waters actually keep the lees moving continuously through the wine and results is a beautiful spumante, by the looks of it on the videos.  Apparently the water temperature is also perfect for this task.  And when the wines emerge from the sea, the bottles, not surprisingly, are covered with sea creatures:   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZIopxqznXU

The Bisson “Abissi” 2009 vintage was pulled from the depths in July and hopefully might be available in the US sometime this fall.  Maybe this is just a gimmick to sell wine, but count me in. 

Though their saber cut technique leaves a lot to be desired, if you want to see how Italian Fancy Boys enjoy their Abissi check out this short clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eyNEvQ6ZO0c

 The original NYT article can be found here: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/24/dining/underwater-sparkling-wine.html?_r=1&sq=abissi&st=cse&scp=1&pagewanted=print

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Some days you simply need to blow off a little steam.  Today was one of those days.  I awoke early this morning with a headache and a dread for a task I had to deal with first thing.  By the time I got to work, I was spent. 

What to do on an otherwise magical day with ethereal blue skies with patches of O’Keeffean clouds?  Simple: I am blessed with two buddies that love wine and hijinks almost as much as I do.   We decided to take an extra long lunch to have a meal with a special Syrah that we jointly acquired some months ago.  Of course, one bottle could not do on such a beautiful day and before we knew it– oops!– a second one had been opened.

The meal itself, served al fresco on my deck, was a simple fare from a local Italian restaurant– pizza, penne ala vodka, garlic knots– yes, we had the starches covered– but there was even a touch of salad.  We spent a couple of agreeable hours in each others’ company laughing at ourselves, discussing religion, life and work.  And of course, there was some eating and drinking to accompany the repartee.  

These two wines brought to mind the great battles between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier.  The latter, a little slower but with frightening power and coming at you from the moment the first round bell sounds.  The former, with speed, agility and enough power to make you think twice before getting too close.  Not that this ever stopped Joe Frazier.

Sequel Cellars Syrah 2005.  From Washington state, this wine is 96% Syrah and 4% Cabernet Sauvignon, aged for 16 months in mostly French oak and had 14.7% alcohol.   Almost black, this wine was– I was expecting to be blown away by an overly extracted wine.  Blown away, yes, but by its finesse as well as its power.  This Old World style wine was initially a little tight, but 10 minutes in the decanter changed that.  It alternated amongst scents and flavors of tea, herbs, dark fruit including blackberry and black cherry, underbrush, bacon and vanilla.  As it opened up, it reminded me of velvet robe sliding off a bare shoulder and onto the floor– all in slow motion– revealing unspoiled flesh… and perhaps a tramp stamp.  It finished with an enveloping sensuality balanced by soft tannins and acidity.  If it had a fault, and here I am being very picky, it is that I wished the finish were just a tad longer.   But this is a minor quibble.  Rated *** 1/2 

Adelaida Glenrose Vineyard Reserve Syrah 2007.  From Paso Robles, CA, this one had simply gorgeous ripe fruit.  Right out of the bottle, this wine whispered, “Drink me, I’m here just for you.”  Yes, I really want to believe that.  I’m here for you too.  Although sweeter than the Sequel, this wine had a enough acidity and tannin to balance the dark fruit core.  However, at 15.5% it lacked the finesse that I would have liked.  Yes, it carries a big punch, but without the agility and complexity of the Sequel.  Still, I’m here for you.  Although my buddies both preferred this to the Sequel, all I could see was poor Joe Frazier losing another one.  That sort of disagreement is part of the beauty of drinking good wine with great friends.  Great friends or no, this isn’t a democracy around here and so, I get to issue the final rating.  Rated ***

The wild-caught Sockeye Salmon looks very good in the markets at this time.  Last night I prepared it as a late al fresco supper for ourselves.  The preparation is relatively simple: seasoned with salt and pepper and pan-seared over high heat in a touch of peanut oil.  Once seared I poured a simple teriyaki sauce over the salmon and cooked it a while longer till the sauce glazed the salmon.  I served the salmon over a bed of sautéed vegetables found in my refrigerator: haricot vert and thinly sliced fennel and green onion. 

By the time dinner made it outside, Ms. R had lit up the deck with all manner of tealights and candelabra.  We sat there to the envy of the neighborhood.  Explain to me why I should ever go out to eat again.  It gets harder and harder to justify.

The fennel worked in counterpoint to the salmon in a very complementary manner.

Kokomo Peter’s Vineyard Pinot Noir 2008.  What else could we drink with this salmon dish?  Translucent red juice with gorgeous red fruits– raspberry, cranberry and a little something more.  Acidity to offset the sweetness of the teriyaki glaze on the sockeye.  All of it wrapping my tongue in a silky red robe.  Joy in a bottle.  Rated ***

Pan-Seared Teriyaki-Glazed Salmon

Ingredients:

For the Teriyaki Glaze:

• 1 tsp. peanut oil
• 1 garlic clove minced and mashed with the side of a knife into a paste
• 1 tsp. freshly grated ginger
• 1/4 cup Ponzu (citrus flavored soy sauce)
• 1/8 cup rice vinegar
• 1/4 cup Mirin (sweetened sake)
• 2 tbsps. honey

For the Salmon:

• 1 lb. of fresh sockeye salmon cut into 1/2 lb. pieces
• 2 tsps. of peanut oil
• salt and pepper to taste

Steps:

1. In a saucepan, heat up 1 tsp. of peanut oil and saute the garlic and ginger without out burning
2. Add the Ponzu, Rice Vinegar and Mirin and bring to a boil– reduce heat to a low simmer.  Add Honey and stir to dissolve.
3. Taste and adjust the sweetness/acidity to your liking by adding more of one of the 4 ingredients in step 2
4. Reduce the sauce by about one-quarter
5. While the sauce is reducing, saute the salmon skin side up in the remaining 2 tsps. of peanut oil.  After the salmon has browned (about 3-5 minutes), turn it over carefully with a spatula so as not to break it apart.  Cook for another 3 minutes.
6. Turn down the heat to low and pour the hot teriyaki sauce over the salmon shaking the frying pan to prevent the sauce from burning which it will do if you’re not careful.  At this point, you want the sauce to turn into a glaze so do not turn you back on the stove as you will go from glaze to burned dinner in an instant.
7. After the sauce reduces further into a glaze, plate the salmon over the vegetables

Serves 2.

© Sybarite Sauvage

Sautéed Fennel, Green Onion and Haricot Vert

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsps. of peanut oil
• 2 cups haricot vert (French green beans) 
• 1 fennel bulb thinly sliced
• 4 green onions (scallions) thinly sliced diagonally

Steps:

1. Heat up the oil in a hot wok
2. Add Fennel and Green Onion and stir fry for one minute
3. Add the haricot vert and season with salt and pepper
4. Continue stir frying until done
5. Remove to serving platter/dinner plates

Serves 2.

© Sybarite Sauvage

"I wasn't always this sober."

A buddy of mine came across a video which has a blind tasting of the best that Bordeaux had to offer coming out of the 2001 vintage.  Although the video could benefit from a little more editing, it is worth watching to the end.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1leRdKluE7I

With that as inspiration and not having such deep pockets to afford the ridiculously priced better known clarets, we decided to try this little wine.

 Château de Reignac Bordeaux Superieur 2005.  Jump forward to the terrific 2005 vintage and here we have a typical blend of 75% merlot and 25% Cabernet Sauvignon.  Straight out of the bottle, the room filled with the perfume rising from this darkly purple elixir.  When that happens, that’s very exciting.  This little baby offered hints of smoke and pepper on the nose.  On the palate those notes were carried forward in a savoriness that was irresistible.  Initially grippy tannins loosened up as the bottle relaxed.  The finish was very long.  You want to see what terroir is about?  Buy this.  At $30 a bottle it does not come cheap, but with the price of high-end bordeaux busting through the stratosphere, just think of how many bottles of this you could buy instead of a single bottle of Petrus.  The wine benefits from input from superstar wine consultant Michel Rolland.  According to the back label, the grape clusters were hand harvested and sorted twice to remove any undesirable fruit.  That kind of care, simple yet expensive, has yielded a fine wine.  Parker and Suckling each gave this 90 points.  I think they are being niggardly with those ratings.  Rated ***

Drinking this wine with my buddy and two other Fellow Sybarites, and laughing, chuckling and filled with mirth, I was reminded of a passage from a letter written by George Washington to a French fellow in arms, the Marquis de Chastellux who was a major-general of the French Army who spent three years as the personal interpreter for Washington.  Shortly after the battle of Yorktown in 1781, and knowing that Washington was loath to accept any gifts of any kind, Chastellux marshalled all of his powers of persuasion to get Washington to accept a gift of a “barril” of claret:

“Dear General – Your excellency knows very well that it is an old precept to offer tithes of all earthly goods to the ministers of God.  I think in my opinion that the true ministers of God are those who at the risk of their life employ their virtues and abilities to promote the happiness of mankind, which consists for the greatest part of freedom and liberty.  Accordingly, I believe I am bound in duty to present your excellency with one of ten barrils of claret that I have just been received.  

If you was, dear general, unkind enough not to accept of it, I should be apt to think that you want to prevent the blessing of heaven to fall upon me, or…that you are an enemy to French produce and have a little of the tory in your composition.  

Whatsoever be the high opinion that I entertain of your excellency, I wish to judge by that criterion and to guess by it your dispositions for the French troops and myself.”

Which brings us to Washington’s response:

“You have taken a most effectual method of obliging me to accept your Cask of Claret, as I find by your ingenious manner of stating the case that I shall, by a refusal, bring my patriotism into question, and incur a suspicion of want of attachment to the French Nation, and of regard to you.  

In short, my dear sir, my only scruple arises from a fear of depriving you of an Article that you cannot conveniently replace in this Country.  You can only relieve me by promising to partake very often of that hilarity which a Glass of good Claret seldom fails to produce.”

Extracted from John Hailman’s book, Thomas Jefferson On Wine. 

Translation: “You’ve got 9 barrils left over– drink up!– you know I’ll be doing the same.” 

Hilarity?– G. Wash?  Apparently, a glass (and indeed many glasses) of claret reduced the father of our country into a chortling chucklehead.  Just like the Sybarites of today.  Makes me proud to be an American!

There are some weeks when the universe just does not cooperate.  This was one of those.  At the start of the week I caught some bug that left me bed ridden for two days.  And even after that it took till today to feel as energized as I normally do.  So today being a breakout day we celebrated with a little home-made shrimp, carmelized onion, turkey bacon and avocado pizza and today’s wonderful little wine.  Do we need reasons to celebrate?  No, mostly the mere fact that we can celebrate is cause enough for celebration.  Translation: we need very little encouragement.

When I was in Paso Robles last year, it was getting toward the end of my second day there and I asked around for a couple of recommendations for artisanal wineries to check out.  This led me to the tasting room that Kenneth Volk and Lone Madrone share with each other.  If you love to try different unblended varietals (as I do) Kenneth Volk is the place for you.  His web site offers little hint of the number of varietals on offer in the tasting room. 

Unfortunately, I didn’t get a chance to meet Mr. Volk, who used to be the founder and winemaker at Wild Horse before he sold out to corporate America in 2003.  But that was a long time ago.  What he is doing today is– aw heck, I can’t do a better job than he does at describing who he is and what he does:

“Don’t let the calligraphy scare you away, it’s still me, the artist previously known with the horse label.  It’s a rare opportunity to reinvent oneself in the wine industry, but that’s what I’m doing. My previous industry job left me with a silver spoon in my mouth, which I’ve melted down and have been spending my time fixing up my new winery and launching my family namesake brand, smaller, better and slower.”

Artist… smaller… better… slower….  He’s got all the buzz words that I, as a wine consumer, look for.  And he’s putting his name on the bottles. 

Kenneth Volk Vineyards Mourvedre Enz Vineyard 2007.  The Enz Vineyard is located in the Lime Kiln Valley AVA in San Benito County.  So, strictly speaking, this is not a Paso wine.  According to Wikipedia, the soil in the region is composed of foundations of limestone and dolomite with sandy, gravelly loam above.  As of 2008, the only vineyards in the Lime Kiln Valley AVA are owned by the Enz Family.  There are 40 acres of vineyards, including a 15 acre parcel of head-trained Mourvedre that was originally planted in 1922. 

As for the wine itself: Hints of cedar and herbs on the nose.  Silky on the palate with a sour cherry component.  Distinctively feminine and distinctively terroir driven.  Why did I only buy one of these?  Why?  Rated **1/2