What wine tonight?

So... what wine? What are you drinking? What food are you trying to match with wine?

Wine only in this thread please

I'll start - I'd love a wine that will match all the dishes I am making tonight, but it probably doesn't exist I've got a tomato tarte tatin in the oven, that's my appetizer, and will be grilling steaks. Along with the steaks we'll probably just have green beans. So my usual go to for the tomato tarte would be a Rose', and something red with the steaks, depending on what we're feeling.

I might try a spanish Grenache...I haven't tried mine yet but one of the Aug. wine of the month's from the wine shop I frequent, Que Syrah, has the following tasting notes which I think might be an option for your meal:

Camino de Navaherreros Grenache
Aromas: rose petals, strawberry, raspberry and hints of asian spice
Taste: Wonderful flavors of ripe raspberry and red plum with hints of darker fruite, soft supple mouthfeel and tannins, long pure red berry finish.

I find good Aug. tomatoes to have a tangy fruitiness that reminds me of nectarine, raspberries, etc. It might work or it might not. You could also open a crisp white (gruner veltliner or something similar) for the tarte as an app. and then open a more traditional red for the steak. Just plan another dinner for tomorrow that matches up with your leftovers

I like this thread idea!! Thanks Leek.

Leek,
For your tomato tarte I would suggest a Haut Sarthes Bergerac Rosé 2009 or a Domaine de Gournier, Grenache noir, Vin de Pays des Cévennes Rosé 2009. Both at Binny`s under 10 dollars. They are both dry but with a delicate fruit finish. And very well made, the 1st one from Bordeaux Grapes, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc. The 2nd one from 100% Grenache noir.
For your steak treat yourself to a Chateau Beauchêne 2007, a very luscious Côtes du Rhône Villages with the perfect balance of body and structure for red meat. Around 10 dollars at Binny`s
Bon appétit

P.S Speaking of Côtes du Rhône here is what I posted on Sept. 3 on the '' What are you drinking'' thread:
This Labor day week-end I will be drinking lots of good Côtes du Rhône and Rhone Valley wines red and rosé. They are very good companions to grilled or barbecued meats, sausages, summer vegetables, and even chicken spiced-up with garlic powder, cayenne peper or Dijon mustard.
Besides we can now find a very wide panel of very good CDR in wine stores all over Chicagoland, including Binny's and Whole Foods. I tried about 25 of them over the last 3 months. Not a single one disappointed me.
You can find a list of some of my favorites on my blog ''French Virtual Cafe''. Most of them are priced between 13 and 20 dollars.

Well, we did the frugal thing, and drank from two bottles already open

We had some New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc with the tarte - Wild Rock
and with the grilled steak, which I had put some spicy BBQ rub onto, we had a Portugese red, a Dão Sul Cabriz.

We had hoped to have a Sancerre Rose, but something must have happened to the lot of wine. We have now opened something like 6 of these (this one is our last) and each one was either bad or awful!!

Last night I had a 2007 Domaine Wachau Gruner Veltliner Achleiten. This was a seriously good bottle and could accompany almost anything you were eating (unless the food is incendiary). I'd even try it with a steak, although it may not be my first choice. The winery was formerly know as Freie Weingartner Wachau and is a cooperative of grape growers in the Wachau. Achleiten and Kellerberg are their best sites for gruner. It may not be as concentrated as a Prager Achleiten or an FX Pichler Kellerberg but it was pretty darn tasty. I'm glad I have a few more bottles as this will be good for some time to come.

Tonight I am having a 1998 Barbaresco Bric Ronchi and 1999 Barbaresco Vigneto Loreto from Albino Rocca with an Italian dinner. I meant to grab a 1999 Bric Ronchi but I guess I didn't read the label. I've had these wines on numerous occasions over the past few years and they are really starting to show well with plenty of life ahead of them.

Woot Cellars Albino Rhino 2009 Albariño...nothing spectacular, but quite tasty for the price. Perfectly adequate for finishing off the Labor Day leftovers, hot dogs and potato salad.

Had a couple of glasses of the Grenache i posted about up thread and it was everything promised. Don't know the cost but assume it's around $15 as most of the WOM selections from Que Syrah are. Also used it in a fig reduction sauce that accompanied the pheasant that I finally cooked up before it succumbed to freezer burn. Delish!

Laurent Miquel Cinsault Syrah, a delicious rosé recommended by my favorite wine shop. Went well with grilled burgers on Monday and was just as good today.

Tonight we had a lovely Provence Red (because it felt like fall)
Les Baux de Provence, Mas de Gourgonnier

Very food friendly, it's not a wine you drink by itself, or I wouldn't. Good fruit, but balanced by nice acids and tannins.

Last night we had 2004 barbera from Clerico (Trevigne), Corregia amd Albino Rocca (Gepin). They were all at least very good and the Rocca is outstanding. There's probably no better match for pizza than a good barbera.

Bandol Rose' with Thai takeout

tonight we're going to Kendall College's Monday night dining series, which is Italy this time. We're bringing Prosecco and a bottle of Poggio Antico's 1997 "altero" - it's their way of getting around the Brunello rules - it's made like Brunello, but aged differently.

leek wrote:Bandol Rose' with Thai takeout

Very jealous. (About the Bandol Rosé, not the Thai takeout. )

Yeah, the Thai takeout was not good - we went with something we knew would deliver vs arguing with Sticky Rice to remind them that they DO deliver to us, they just charge us an extra $1. Never again.

With Grilled Chicken:

Domaine Vincent Girardin
1999
Santenay 1er Cru "La Maladiere"

Not bad...

leek wrote:Tonight we had a lovely Provence Red (because it felt like fall)
Les Baux de Provence, Mas de Gourgonnier

Very food friendly, it's not a wine you drink by itself, or I wouldn't. Good fruit, but balanced by nice acids and tannins.

What vintage?
Same squat bottle?
is the 2007 in the stores or the 2008?

IIRC Todd Hess of H2O vino is the importer now for the Chicago market..
I've like this wine since the 1995 vintage and visited the site in 1999
but, lots of brett in the wine and my wife is put off by it so I have to drink it on my own (not a problem)

Yes, funny bottle. I don't remember the year though...

Last night we started with a Pierre Peters 2000 Les Chetillons Cuvee Speciale. I decided a few months ago to abandon commercial champagne and buy a bunch of grower fizz from the Terry Theise portfolio. I'm glad I did. They give new meaning to the old adage "friends do not let friends drink Veuve Clicquot". This 100% Chardonnay bottle was very special, but somewhat expensive. If you like champagne, a current favorite is Lallement, which I have found at Wine Discount recently. The current entry level green label bottling is 80% pinot noir and 20% chardonnay. 80% of the wine is '06 and 20% is '07. That being said, it is 100% delicious.

As I had made spaghetti and meatballs for dinner, we decided to drink Italian wine. We consumed a 2001 Sandrone Le Vigne which was very good but needs at least 5 years to really shine and then a trio of 1990s. The Clerico Ciabot Mentin Ginestra got us off to a good start but the Corino Giachini and the Sandrone Cannubi Boschis were outstanding. They looked like they were five years old in the glass and the nose was remarkable. My friends told me they would be happy to replicate the experience the next time I made spaghetti but as the tomatoes are fading I may have to wait another year. Plus, I was kind of tired at dinner after making love to the tomato sauce all day.

As the wines have a reasonably high alcohol level, I think I'll take tonight off.

For dinner I made pork chops with apples and onions and it DID NOT WORK with the wine we had, so we just drank the wine on its own after dinner

2001
Williams Selyem
Rochioli Riverblock
Russian River Valley

three very different wines at dinner tonight and much discussion
as well... all in all lots of fun but politically somewhat of a challenge!

Chave 1985 to 2004 with many holes in between.

Wine of the night was the 1991
but I took home the leftover 1989 and finished it late last night YUM!

That is most impressive. I was going to say something about the 1996-1999 Albino Rocca Barbaresco Bric Ronchi, 1998 Aldo Conterno Barolo Bussia Soprano and 1985 Gaja Barbaresco that I had last night with spaghetti and meatballs but it somehow seems insignificant now. I would have been very interested to see how the 1990 would have fared in your lineup. It was the best young(ish) Hermitage I've ever had the pleasure of tasting. Outside of the Chapoutier single vineyard wines and La Chapelle in a great year, Chave is the king of Hermitage. I'm available the next time you do that (and I can bring a bottle of 1990).

deesher wrote:That is most impressive. I was going to say something about the 1996-1999 Albino Rocca Barbaresco Bric Ronchi, 1998 Aldo Conterno Barolo Bussia Soprano and 1985 Gaja Barbaresco that I had last night with spaghetti and meatballs but it somehow seems insignificant now. I would have been very interested to see how the 1990 would have fared in your lineup. It was the best young(ish) Hermitage I've ever had the pleasure of tasting. Outside of the Chapoutier single vineyard wines and La Chapelle in a great year, Chave is the king of Hermitage. I'm available the next time you do that (and I can bring a bottle of 1990).

I've only had the 90 once and it was beyond great... This OL was put together on a wine board much like LTH but I'm not sure if it kosher to post links to other boards here...

De Castellane Rosé Champagne NV, one of several bottles picked up on our trip to Reims this spring. I have a soft spot for sparkling rosé as I tend to consume a ton of spicy Asian food. Tonight it was rice noodles with beef and a multitude of veggies, smothered in sambal oelek.

I attend an informal tasting with Abe Schoener of http://www.scholiumwines.com and wow were the wine interesting!
I really liked all of the whites and one of the reds (syrah)

I'm drinking 1991 Hermitage La Chapelle in honor of my daughter's 19th birthday.

deesher wrote:I'm drinking 1991 Hermitage La Chapelle in honor of my daughter's 19th birthday.

You must love that 1991 was an underrated year in the N. Rhône!

I have nine bottles left and I fear that they won't live quite long enough. Tonight's bottle was quite nice but getting a bit long in the tooth. I also have some 1991 Faiveley Charmes Chambertin and Storybook 1991 Zinfandel, as well as a few bottles of Rousseau Gevrey Chambertin Clos St. Jacques. A very generous friend gave me his 1991's in honor of my daughter's birth year.

I signed up for the Scholium mailing list in order to try some orange wines based on your post. I love Gravner, not so hot on Movia. I think I might avoid the reds. I had a bad experience with Frank Cornelissen red aged in amphorae that I am still trying to forget.

Deesher,
Speaking of wines that sometimes we have some concerns that they might not live forever.
A few days ago I drank, with a lot of reluctance since I was tempted to keep it for another milestone, a bottle of 1985 Chateau Lafite-Rothschild that my brother gave me for my 70th birthday.
This bottle was kept in his 18th century old cellar dug in a mix of chalk and limestone under his house in the middle of the Champagne vineyards since he bought it in 1987. As you know 1985 was a very charming and seductive vintage in the Medoc but never reached the heights of the 1982 or the 1986.
Since the wine level, the label, the cap which was perfectly dry, and the cork were in perfect shape, I expected to go through an orgasmic moment. I decanted it and there was very little sediment at the bottom. But when I poured I immediately supected judging by the shade of its color and its slightly brownish orange hue, that this wine was perhaps past its prime time.
But the nose was still spectacular.
It turned out to be very elegant and refined the way a Lafite should be, but the body had lost part of its strength and obviously it would have been a big mistake to delay its "degustation" any longer. Buk I do not have, like you, 9 more bottles to check out the real longevity of that type of wine.
I was much more impressed with the Petrus 94 I drank the week before in Paris. It was a pure moment of intensity and joy. But perhaps, in this case, 5 more years in the bottle would have made it the experience of a life time.

Alain,

I recently had a somewhat similar experience with a bottle of 1985 Lynch Bages. I've had the wine on at least 5 or 6 occasions and it was always (with Cos) one of my favorite 1985's. A recent bottle was a over the hill and the least attractive wine on the table. I don't think that many 1985's are built to last but at any rate, after 25 years I think that bottle variation is a very significant factor regardless of storage quality.

Congratulations on making it to 70. Please let me know when we can toast this important occasion.