Tag Archives: wine

Hey, Breaux!

Posted on October 5, 2012 by AnnieRie

Or, should I say Hey, Bro?

We needed to go to Harper’s Ferry today to get the last piece of my husband’s tower sections. With it, he will have all the necessary parts to put up his radio tower. He just needs the antenna(s) now. Pieces and parts all over the place. But, getting closer to pouring concrete.

I went along for the ride only on the condition I could stop at Breaux and pick up our cellar club allocations. The last time we were there, was in March. I blogged about how pretty the winery is, and how we took local cheese to have lunch there. The scenery is still wonderful. Definitely early for fall foliage, as the Blue Ridge mountains are still very blue.

view of the mountains from the terrace at Breaux

And, wouldn’t you know it? They sell ajvar. Never heard of it a year ago. Now, I am finding it everywhere. This version is garlicky and goes very well with the Rose.

The nice thing about Breaux is the fact that they are open every day. Not just weekends. For us, that is a benefit. Go there during the week and there are no limos, crowds, lines. They sell baguettes, cheeses, olives, spreads and cured meats like salami and prosciutto.

If you want something else to do this month (as if there isn’t enough going on around here), they have a harvest celebration next weekend (13th) and a farm tour the following weekend, the 20th and 21st. Trick or Treat the last weekend of October. They are only 50 miles west of Columbia, just south of Harper’s Ferry.

The red grapes are being harvested right now. It is perfect weather to sit out and enjoy the scenery.

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Posted in Day Trips, Food, Wine and tagged day trips, fall foliage, Food, wine. Bookmark the permalink.

Foodie, Meet Locavore

Posted on October 4, 2012 by AnnieRie

I have written before about how my two different “worlds” collide. The locavore in me who eats as much fresh local items as I can, and that inquisitive foodie that loves ethnic foods from all around the world, and searches for exotic spices, fruits and veggies.

Last night’s dinner reflected that conflict. It turned out to be extremely tasty. Italian whole grain flatbread with ajvar, pesto, chicken and parmesan on it.

I used the last of my pesto and the ajvar I made a week ago. We had been noshing on it and there was just enough left to spread over the flatbread. I had leftover roast chicken from a visit to Bistro Blanc Tuesday night, which I shredded and added on top.

pesto and ajvar

A little Parmesan from Roots. Some herbs, salt and white pepper. Simple, served with a side salad of arugula, grapes and almonds. And, we opened a very nice Verdejo from Paso a Paso. We found a number of inexpensive bottles of Spanish and Portuguese wines at Pine Orchards a few weeks back.

Thanks to my locavore friends in our food challenge, I discovered ajvar. I also found jars of it at Roots. VaVa Ajvar, and they also sell something called Lutenica. I bought one of the ajvar to compare to my homemade version. My husband agreed. My version is better. We will have to try the Lutenica though. To see how it is made.

According to the tag, this is a Macedonian version of the spread. My original recipe was Serbian. My recipe used vinegar and garlic. This one is milder due to the lack of those ingredients.

As for the flatbread, bought at Roots, I really like this quick and easy way to make dinner. There will be many more dinners made using my frozen pestos and ovendried tomatoes spread over flatbread.

hocofood@@@

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Posted in Food, Local Businesses, Locavore, Real Food, SSFC, Wine and tagged cooking, Food, foodie, local businesses, Locavore, real food, wine. Bookmark the permalink.

1991 Linden Cabernet

Posted on September 24, 2012 by AnnieRie

Twenty one years old. Still dark, rich and a lovely wine. Who says Virginia can’t produce stellar red wine?

1991 Linden Cabernet

We bought Linden wine for the first time in 1992 at the Virginia Wine Festival. It was then we met Jim and Peggy Law, who were producing their first vintages on their farm off I-66 east of Front Royal and just below the Appalachian Trail. We bought a couple bottles of 1989 back then, because what we tasted held great promise. The 1989 and 1990 vintages are gone from our cellar, but one lonely 1991 bought at one of the earliest visits to the winery was still down there.

the label on the Linden 1991

What is amazing is that 21 years after production, it still tastes like the description. This wine probably cost us $15 back then. Not cheap for a Virginia wine then, but I have California wines that never reached the complexity this Virginia wine has. We paired it with our monthly filet splurge. Sunday night dinner, then football. The dinner.

Filet, baked potato and salad Caprese

Mostly local with steaks from Boarman’s. The potatoes from the CSA. The tomatoes are mine, as is the basil. The mozzarella, not local, bought at David’s Natural Market.

This meal, our next to last summer challenge meal, was so satisfying because the wine stood up to the steak. No brown edges. No off odors. Really an amazingly complex, flavorful wine. The dried fruit aroma was still intense although the other descriptors were a bit faded and hard to find. The taste was still there, though. A long finishing wine. The tannins has definitely softened , yet there was still structure there.

I keep saying Linden makes wines that would command twice the price if they were from Bordeaux or California. Having the luxury of the cellar allows us to be patient and enjoy the wine’s development over time. Glad we opened this one last night. Too bad it is the last of that vintage. I had brought up a bottle of ’99 in case the ’91 wasn’t still good. Looks like the ’99 will get put on the shelf for a while longer.

Now, the oldest Linden wines we still have are the 1997 reserve. Three left. This winter we will have to try one to see how they are doing.

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Posted in Food, Locavore, SSFC, Wine and tagged Food, foodie, heirloom tomatoes, Linden Vineyards, Locavore, real food, tomatoes, wine. Bookmark the permalink.

Sometimes You Forget Pictures

Posted on September 5, 2012 by AnnieRie

Yeah, I forgot to get the camera to record the awesome skirt steak salad I made for dinner tonight. I did go get it to take a picture of the lovely 11 year old Virginia wine that went with it.

2001 Naked Mountain Raptor Red

Old wines are definitely different. Not as fruit forward. This one, from a stellar year in VA, was still hanging in there nicely. What is interesting about older wines is how they change rapidly as the meal progresses. Upon opening, they can be strange, until they settle out and soften. This one would linger after you swallowed it. Love older wines.

The skirt steak came out of the freezer. A JW Treuth steak from last spring’s CSA. Late last March, so six months in the freezer. My limit for keeping meats. Still very nice. Pan fried in balsamic, olive oil and garlic. Served over a salad.

I was busy today. I processed another boatload of basil to make two ice cube trays full of pesto.

Basil before becoming pesto

Even though I forgot to take pictures of dinner, I do have one great recommendation. While peaches are still in season, get some. Cut them in half. Put them cut side down in a pan with balsamic. Cook them until they soften. We had peaches I picked up outside Kendall Hardware this morning. I put one in the pan after removing the steak. It is amazing how intense the peach flavor is.

hocofood@@@

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Posted in CSA, Food, Local Businesses, Locavore, Real Food, Wine and tagged cooking, CSA, Food, foodie, Locavore, wine. Bookmark the permalink.

Not Crazy About Cardoons

Posted on September 3, 2012 by AnnieRie

Lots of work. Really woody tasting. Don’t know if it was my method or the cardoons themselves. Oh well, at least the wine was excellent. And, so was the sausage with my tomato sauce.

2010 Boxwood Trellis

The wine was a blend of Malbec, Merlot and Petit Verdot. These grapes generally don’t star in Bordeaux blends, with Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc being chosen as more dominant grapes. I like the fruit forward aspect of this wine, easy to drink while it is young. It went very well with Italian sausages baked with my chunky tomato sauce.

Sausages with sauce, and cardoons

The cardoons. Who knows? I may not have simmered them long enough, but they were in the pot for an hour and were “fork tender”. I baked them for 45 minutes, with the bechamel sauce, cheese and bread crumbs on top.

Classic cardoons in bechamel

They looked good. And the sauce was good to eat. The cardoons were definitely chewy. Not something I will make again. This is one item that will go into the swap box if I ever get it again from the CSA.

Sometimes you win with the CSA. And sometimes you don’t. Like last year, when I discovered how great salsify was.

Still waiting for the horned melon to ripen. That is another new exciting item in last week’s basket. It is sitting on the windowsill getting yellow in places. CSA baskets can be intimidating or interesting. It is all about how you approach things.

African horned melon, not yet ripe

hocofood@@@

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Posted in CSA, Food, Locavore, Real Food, Wine and tagged cooking, CSA, foodie, Locavore, real food, tomatoes, wine. Bookmark the permalink.

Make Mine #vawine

Posted on August 30, 2012 by AnnieRie

Hashtags. Trending. Tweetups. Lots of new jargon to learn. When I started blogging and tweeting, I learned quite a bit about using social media. Today is Cabernet Day in the twitter world. So, people are tweeting about drinking Cabernet Sauvignon.

2005 Linden Avenius Red

83% Cabernet. One of the higher percentages of cabernet in a Linden Red. Only 47 cases produced. A massive wine. With mouth filling flavors, predominantly of cherries.

Dark, rich and not even ready to drink after seven years. Cabernet Sauvignon done right will last at least a decade. The best, two or three decades. We paired this wine with a beef dish.

Take Linden wines and add food. It is nirvana on a plate and in a glass. It is why we chose to collect local wines and cellar them. Sometimes they just amaze us.

hocofood@@@

“The Chew” Inspired Dinner

Posted on August 28, 2012 by AnnieRie

OK, now that I am retired, I tend to watch the noon news. A while back, I started watching The Chew, or at least I had the TV on while I was doing other things. It is The Chew that inspired this dinner.

Green Tomato Pasta and Prosciutto and Melon with Arugula

Pasta based on a Mario Batali recipe, as well as the melon salad, based on an MB carpacchio. Oh, let’s not forget the cocktail. A Michael Symon inspired Meyer Lemon Basil Fizz.

A few days ago I made the green tomato spaghetti. I still have lots of greens, and quite a few tomatoes that fall off the vines before they are fully ripe. They ended up in this dish. I did substitute some organic basil and cheese ravioli tonight, and my pesto is one of those mutt varieties. All sorts of greens. Leftovers, so to speak.

This pesto was made with carrot tops, radish greens, mint, basil, parsley, pistachios, pine nuts, parmesan and garlic. Olive oil drizzled in. I didn’t measure anything. It was all done by taste. Sometimes winging it gives you awesome food.

Then, I took those tomatoes that fell off the vines in the storms Sunday night. Sauteed them in olive oil with scallions. Added only salt and pepper.

The pasta was from David’s. A basil based organic ravioli. The salad. Made with arugula, melon and prosciutto. Mario Batali had a melon carpacchio the other day. I don’t have salami around, but had prosciutto. Clean and fresh. You can build layers of flavors using four simple ingredients. Cantaloupe. Prosciutto. Arugula. Pepper.

Melon prosciutto salad

The wine. One of our favorite New Zealand style Sauvignon Blancs from Glen Manor in Virginia. Cuts through that richness of the pesto. I had enough pesto left to keep for another meal. There will be more green tomatoes.

hocofood@@@

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Posted in Food, Gardening, Locavore, Real Food, Retirement, Wine and tagged cooking, Food, foodie, gardening, GGSAC, heirloom tomatoes, hoco loco, Locavore, real food, tomatoes, wine. Bookmark the permalink.

Eating Locally In Style: RdV Volt Dinner

Posted on August 27, 2012 by AnnieRie

OK, I had to drive over 100 miles round trip to eat food from Frederick. It was so worth it. My foodie and locavore worlds collided, as well as my VA wine addiction. For our anniversary this month, we treated ourselves to dinner at RdV, in Delaplane, prepared by Bryan Voltaggio of VOLT in Frederick. The food and the wines did not disappoint.

RdV

We first met Rutger de Vink when he was an apprentice at our favorite VA winery, Linden. In 2002, he was pouring wine at the barrel tasting of the wonderful 2001 vintage. We lost touch with what he was doing, only finding out that he found his place on a hillside in Delaplane where he planted grapes and started his own winery. Rutger’s mission was to use terroir to the extreme. Granite deep into the ground.

The granite in the cave walls

His first vintage, 2008, sold out quickly to the Ambassadors, his wine club members who took the tour and drank wonderful reds from three year old vines. His 2009 wines, a good year in VA, are stellar. Big, in your face, yet balanced reds. Two of them. Getting there is hard. Make a reservation for a tour. Taste the wines. Buy in. Be guaranteed to buy every year. These wines aren’t available in stores. Only a few restaurants sell them. They are, simply, awesome reds.

2009 Rendezvous, the red we drank last night

The winery holds chef dinners periodically. We were lucky, as two of the 40 people in attendance to have a celebration of local foods with Bryan Voltaggio, paired with wines whose grapes shared that same granite terroir. We had a Loire white, an Alsatian white, a Morgon Gamay and 2009 Rendezvous, with appetizers and dinner. The menu for dinner.

dinner menu, RdV and Volt

The appetizers were served in the upper level of the winery, below that lovely silo. Trout roe with pork skins and arugula cream, clams casino, an incredible sausage on a delicate cracker, all paired with a Muscadet Sevre et Maine sur lie. Then, we descended into the fermentation cellar to be seated and treated to an amazing dinner prepared by the chef. I only have good pictures of the lamb and the dessert. Here are the stars of the dinner.

Lamb, head to hoof

Berries and cream, vanilla shortbread and goat cheese ricotta

Bryan and Rutger enjoying the appreciation after the meal.

So how was the Rendezvous? Exquisite. A baby. Deep, rich, a perfect match for the lamb. This is a wine with the ability to last for years. RdV is certainly raising the bar when it comes to making big reds in Virginia. He learned quite a bit from Jim Law. It will be fun in October to see them go head to head at L’Auberge Provencale. Think of it. Hardscrabble versus Lost Mountain. Terroir squared. I am happy to see Virginia winemakers pushing to elevate their reds to that level of excellence found in Bordeaux. Last night was a magical evening. As we left late in the night, the silhouette of the winery framed the skyline.

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Posted in Adventures, Food, Locavore, Restaurants, SSFC, Wine and tagged commentary, Food, foodie, Linden Vineyards, Locavore, real food, wine. Bookmark the permalink.

The Ultimate Fifteen Minute Gourmet Dinner …

Posted on August 17, 2012 by AnnieRie

… courtesy of Wegmans and my garden. Scallops. I love them and Wegmans has great day boat scallops.

Pan searing sea scallops

Add to that my tomatoes and basil, and my green beans mixed with some romano beans from the CSA, you too could have a killer dinner in 15 minutes.

Fifteen minute local based dinner

The potatoes were microwaved. They came from my CSA. The beans were steamed, then finished in the pan with butter and the scallops. The mozzarella came from Roots. The chocolate stripes tomatoes were from my garden, as was the blue basil.

The wine, Linden, of course. Local, and beyond words. 2009 was a banner year in the area. Hot, dry, and conditions were perfect to make big wines. This Boisseau Chardonnay had the characteristics of a good California chardonnay. Big, bold, a perfect match to the creaminess of the scallops. From start to finish, this dinner was fifteen minutes to make.

Linden VA chardonnay from a great vintage

Dinner cost less than $45, including wine. $25 for wine. $12 for scallops. A few dollars for vegetables, olive oil, marinade and butter. Why go out for dinner when a few minutes with a frying pan will reward you with a dinner this good?

hocofood@@@

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Posted in CSA, Food, Gardening, Local Businesses, Locavore, Real Food, Wine and tagged cooking, CSA, Food, foodie, heirloom tomatoes, hoco loco, Linden Vineyards, Locavore, real food, tomatoes, wegman's, wine. Bookmark the permalink.

Patience is a Virtue

Posted on August 10, 2012 by AnnieRie

Have patience and be rewarded with great old wines, like this one.

100% Hardscrabble blend of Cab Franc, CS, Petit Verdot and Merlot

A blend of 44% Cabernet Franc, 23% Cabernet Sauvignon, 22% Petit Verdot and 11% Merlot. Cellared for at least ten years. Opened for our anniversary last night. We like opening old wines for anniversary dinners. Being patient enough to leave them alone until they have reached that stage of softness, yet lush enough to make you understand why you buy good wine to cellar.

Perfect with lamb chops.

Anniversary dinner

I pan fried the loin and rib chops with garlic, onion, salt pepper and rosemary. Parboiled some CSA potatoes. Made a Jamie Oliver mothership tomato salad with my tomatoes and basil from the garden.

Mixed heirloom salad with African blue basil

I picked up a six pack of Smith Island Cake Pops to savor with the last of the wine. Red wine and dark chocolate is a perfect match.

I enjoy making a fairly simple dinner for anniversaries and opening an old wine from the cellar. This wine did not disappoint. It was hardly showing its age. No brown edges. No off scents on the nose. Deep, rich, complementing the lamb. What is so interesting about these wines, even with the predominance of franc in them, is the absence of bell pepper usually found in VA francs. This wine has cherry and smoky scents, and a long lingering finish.

I am not sure what went best with it. The lamb or the chocolate. Very interesting experience. Glad I still have two bottles in the cellar, to see how they change. If you have never considered cellaring wine, you might.

It is a hobby that gives so much pleasure with less expense than dining out and paying large markups for wine with dinner. Our strategy was to invest in a case from winery visits over the years. Most of the case would be inexpensive whites to drink in the near term, and a few bottles of good wine to cellar. We would put away the good ones and keep them for anniversaries and birthdays. You have to have patience to do this. We didn’t build a fancy cellar with wooden racks. We made them with kits from Conran.