Meandering Wine Entry!

The best birthday present ever I received from Elyse last year. It is a wine-of-the-month subscription from KLwines. Every month we receive a red and a white for $20 + shipping. The gift is especially good for a wine-beginner who wants to expand their (my apologies for pluralizing the gift recipient - unless you are gifting the Siamese - but I cringe even more when I read "his or her") repertoire. Although they send a few Bordeaux's and Chardonnays - which you would probably buy on your own anyway - in just the last 6 months we have also received a Côtes du Roussillon, Coteaux du Languedoc, Semillon, Garnacha Blanca, and one of my favorite whites, an Entre-Deux-Mers. Also, they send you a description of the wine which can help you develop your wine palate. Are those citrus flavors? Mocha? Is it a tannic wine? How many rhetorical questions can I ask?

Although the bottles we get aren't (usually) complex, they are reliably good. Last night we opened a 2005 "Line Shack" Cabernet Sauvignon from Monterey which had nice smooth tannins, cherry flavors, and ended with a tiny bit of spiciness that I really, really liked. Not bad for $10! (yes, I know that $10! = $3,628,800 but I don't know how to express an abrupt utterance of delight in print involving money without using the factorial symbol) KLWines prides itself on sending very good bottles for the price. That sounds a little silly, who doesn't pride themselves on stocking very good products? Wait, I know who, American grocery stores stock foods that sell, not foods that taste good (or are healthy). Stores in our country are often all about maximizing profits, so they don't take pride in selling quality things. (not to totally knock that business model, but it is often pushed too far with food)


If you happen to walk into a store you will find my personal wine-buying rules to be useful:
1) Don't buy from a store which does not have a knowledgeable wine-person.
2) Don't buy major-label wine. Major label wines are like chain restaurants, reliably mediocre. You will never love a wine from one of these places. So buy from a little guy.
3) If the label has words like "rat bastard wine", "big blue trucker wine", "friendly bitches wine" just stay away. If you don't believe me, just imagine someone who is excited by these labels. Yuck!
4) Don't spend more than $15 (unless you know what you're doing.) There are a lot of great wines under this price, especially if you stick with the small guys.
5) Don't spend under $7 unless you want to get a headache.
6) Don't buy Merlot, especially if you are following the $15 rule. The name Merlot sells the wine, it doesn't have to be good, I don't know why this is. (Some Merlots are quite good, but you'll have to drink a lot of bad ones to find the good ones, again, especially under $15)

Finally, I generally like to buy wines that are named by the place they come from as opposed to the name of the grape. The locations are more specific. Each region has its own climate, soil structure, and farming methods. These are the types of things that take a chardonnay, for example, and rises it up to the level of a Chablis. I usually look the name of the wine in my handy-dandy little wine encyclopedia. You could also use the wiki, or the wine dictionary at epicurious.

Readers, do you have a favorite wine? What do you remember about the best bottle you've ever had?

A Quickie

I really wanted to start this blog off with a really flashy meal but let’s face it- on a Monday night sometimes you just want to make something quick and dirty. These days I’m really trying to build my “weeknight meal” repertoire- you know what I mean- the type of food where you get maximum bang from minimal effort. My trick lately is to choose a recipe like this one, where a simply prepared meat is served with an easy sauce made from a few zingy ingredients (GINGER! JALAPENO!) simmered in an effortless base (Crushed tomatoes! Coconut milk!
We come in cans!). The original recipe calls for grilled chicken but this would also be delicious with fish or tofu (SEE? My cooking blog is totally inclusive). This is also a great little dish to whip up when you live in a freaky part of the country where it’s been in the low 50s and constantly drizzling despite the fact that it’s mid June. I felt like I was in sunny Brazil for a few seconds. I have a great imagination. (the unappetizing looking pile of brown glop on the plate is refried beans. Shuttup- I love things that come in cans.)

I also wanted to quickly mention the wine that we had with this meal: L'Ecuyer de Couronneau 2005 Bordeaux Supérieur (the one with the horsey head guy on the front). This has been a recent favorite of ours since Wade picked up a bottle ($13) at Market Time several months ago- it was so peppery and delightful that we bought 3 more bottles, even though we knew that they all had moldy corks. Yeccchh. (EDIT: Wade wants me to let you guys know that the outside of the cork was moldy- not the inside. Never drink moldy wine, kids!!!!).But seriously- if you like spicy earthy reds without too much fruit this is the wine for you. Also it's organic so now I feel like a big fat jerk for announcing at the lunch table in my office that there are no good organic wines (that's what I get for parroting everything that Wade reads to me). And if you know what Bordeaux Supérieur means, let me know.