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Posted in Coffee & Tea, Drink | Tags Assam, review, Singlijan, tasting, tea | No Comments »

Three Wines for Thanksgiving Dinner

Tuesday, November 25th, 2008

Thanksgiving is a hard meal to plan for. Logistically, it’s a nightmare – lots of separate dishes, all having to come together at once. There’s a huge bird to roast that takes hours to prep and cook properly. A vast array of sweet and savory flavors lie in wait to sate the palate, and put us all into a postprandial coma.

All of which presents a dilemma. I want to have a good glass of wine with dinner. But the quantity of food and the flavors makes choosing an appropriate drink a bit of a challenge. With candied sweet potatoes, oyster stuffing, and turkey legs waiting to send you into carbo-overload and tryptophan nappy-time, this is not an opportunity to whip out the best vintages. That being said, Thanksgiving is a “special occasion” with friends and family gathered around the holiday table, and cheap plonk just doesn’t seem right.

So, what’s called for are decent wines that won’t get lost or be squandered competing with the bounty of the rest of the table. They also need to be assertive enough to hold their own against a fair amount of heavy eating without adding too much of their own weight. To this end, I would suggest serving three wines, scaled in quantity to serve all of your guests at least one glass of each.

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Posted in Drink, Eating In, Wine | Tags Alsace, Beaujolais, nimes, pinot noir, rose, thanksgiving, Wine | No Comments »

Big Bang for your Vino Dollar: The two “R”s

Thursday, October 23rd, 2008

Chateau de Nages 2006 Reserve Red Rhone Wine So, the Euro-to-Dollar conversion is kicking our ass, and the cost of good California wines is climbing ever higher as wine collectors realize the potential of premium vintages. The economy is swirling the bowl, and you’re just an average Joe, plumber or not, trying to find a decent bottle of juice to quaff with Friday night dinner. You’re no power exec, surfing the company expense account while buying vintage Bordeaux’s and “cult” Californian Cabernets. You want something red, something solid, something that isn’t going to put your kids’ college fund in the crapper.

Fortunately, there are still quality wines to be found that won’t send you into sticker shock. When an entry-level Burgundy or Bordeaux starts at $30 a bottle retail, it’s good to know that by shopping from the neighbors of great wine districts, or by choosing younger wines from the same pedigree, you can get the quality and character without the price tag. By shopping wisely, you can keep yourself in good vin rouge for $10 a bottle, with a splurge up to $14-15 for those relaxing weekend evenings.

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Posted in Drink, Wine | Tags Costieres de Nimes, French, Rhone, Rioja, Spanish, Wine | No Comments »

Tea Tales: Assam Teas, Part II

Saturday, October 18th, 2008

A week and a half ago, I posted the first part of my Assam tea reviews. While I haven’t found a new favorite, there was an interesting variety that I might add to my regular rotation. The second round of tastings is complete, and I’m not sure we’ve made any improvements.

Koilamari Estate TGFOP1

Dry Aroma: fruit/citrus
Brewed Aroma: malty, citrus
Color: deep reddish-brown
Flavor: malty, slightly cooked-fruity, good body and solid tannins, with a leathery and floral finish
Sweetened: maltier and leather notes more pronounced

The tannins in this tea are assertive when brewed for 4 ½ minutes. The citrus in the aroma doesn’t carry through into the palate. The tannins tended to overwhelm the other flavors, so perhaps a shorter brewing time is called for. However, the body was just about right at this length, so shortening brewing to attenuate the tannins may leave the liquor thin. Showed promise, but ultimately disappointed. 3 ½ out of 5.

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Posted in Coffee & Tea, Drink | Tags Assam, Banaspaty, Harmutty, Koilamari, review, tasting, tea, Zaloni | 1 Comment »

Beaulieu Vineyards 2004 Napa Valley Zinfandel

Friday, October 10th, 2008

Beaulieu Vineyards Napa Valley Zinfandel, taken by Rob Novak I’ve always had a soft spot for Zinfandel. It’s a vividly dark purple grape that unfortunately sees most of its utility in pedestrian, sweet “white” Zins of miscellaneous and anonymous vintage. White zin made from this dark grape, but the juice is not fermented with the skins. It is the quintessential non-wine-drinker’s wine, the base for summer spritzers and the refuge of someone who’d rather be drinking an alcopop. When treated well, however, the Zinfandel grape produces big, burly, fruit-driven wines with flavors of black fruit, spice, and licorice. Zinfandel is genetically identical to the varietal that Italians call Primitivo.

BV Napa Valley Zinfandel is an affordable wine: $13-14 most days. Beaulieu wines are generally solid, but not necessarily outstanding in their field. Zins are usually pretty big with lots of tannin structure, so before tasting this I poured it into a decanter, to sit for a little under two hours prior to sampling.

Details:

Name: Beaulieu Vineyards 2004 Zinfandel, Napa Valley
Type: Red
Country: California
Region: Napa
Grapes: 100% Zinfandel
Price: $14

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Posted in Drink, Wine | Tags beaulieu, California, napa, review, Wine, zinfandel | No Comments »

Tea Tales: Assam Teas, Part I

Wednesday, October 8th, 2008

The summer heat is going the way of the summer sun, which to me always signals a transition to drinking more tea as opposed to coffee. I drink coffee all year ’round, but more so when it’s warmer. Tea is a calming fall and winter ritual – dried leaves invoking those scattered about by autumn winds, the boiling of water in the kettle and the aromatic brew in the pot. Tea invokes comfort. While summer’s activity goes well with coffee’s rush, longer nights and slower paces require a more gentle touch. So, with this in mind, I ordered up a whole box full of tea samples in preparation for placing my winter orders.

The first set I’m going to look at consists of eight teas from the Assam region of India, which I’ll be dividing into two tastings. Assam teas are made from a variety of Camelia sinensis native to the area (var. assamica), and are characterized by their dark color, rich body, and round malty flavors. Also, unlike many other teas, Assams are typically grown at or near sea level instead of on elevated hillsides. This contributes to their deep flavors and assertive character. My current gold standard for Assam is the currently unavailable TGFOP leaf from the Singlijan tea estate – rich, smooth, malty, and complex, with fruit, cocoa, and citrus notes. If it doesn’t become available again, I’ll be very sad when I’m out. So, I’m looking for its replacement in my tea chest.

My tasting method: Tea is measured out at 2.5g to each 6 oz. of water. Black teas are brewed with water at a full boil, oolongs at 185-190°F, green teas at 170-180°F, and white teas no hotter than 160°F. Brewing times are slightly shorter than those recommended by the vendor in most cases, as the tea is brewed in a 12-ounce iron tetsubin-style pot that allows for a much more thorough extraction than an infuser or tea ball. The liquor is initially tasted plain, then sweetened with white table sugar in the case of Indian black teas. I don’t normally take milk in my tea, so I don’t sample it that way.

Borpatra Estate STGFOP1S

Dry Aroma: herbal/floral
Brewed Aroma: green herbal, leathery, malt husk
Flavor: bright, slightly tannic, lightly floral (chrysanthemum/daisy)
Sweetened: enhances floral components
Body: smooth, medium weight
Color: dark amber / copper

Pleasant enough, but to my palate lacks the body and depth characteristic of Assam teas. Brewed with water off the boil for 4.5 minutes. Brewing longer would enhance the tannic astringency that’s starting to show here, perhaps this needs a slightly lower temp along with longer extraction. Rating: 3½ out of 5.

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