foodwineclick

Say that three times fast!

We usually try to match the wine with the food pretty carefully, but sometimes “Eat what you like with what you like to drink” is what happens.  On this particular Sunday afternoon, I was knee-deep in my Mourvèdre investigation, and we decided we wanted to try a couple of recipes from Everyday Pasta by Giada di Laurentiis.  Mourvèdre wouldn’t have been my first wine pairing choice, but it really was just fine; no harm done.

Rich chicken pasta with Mourvedre/Bandol

We tasted the Rotie Cellars Dre with the last bit of the Domaine Tempier and Chateau de Pibarnon Bandol wines.  Of the three American Mourvèdres we tried, the Dre seemed the closest to it’s European counterparts in style.

Rotie Cellars Dre 2010 ($60)
Very nice, restrained and smooth, even with the high alcohol level (15%).
Eye: Dark bluish red in the center, opaque.  Translucent only at the edges.
Nose: Restrained.  Dark fruit.
Mouth: Very smooth, really nice.  Still a lively mouthfeel, with some tannins, but so smooth. Rich without being overly ripe.
Still nice on day 2.  Julie commented on how smooth it is.  She prefers it to the Chateau de Pibarnon.

Rotie Cellars Dre

Roman Style Chicken with Fettucine
Giada’s recipe is available here, we pretty much followed it as is.  We also made homemade fettucine noodles.

Homemade fettucine chicken

Asparagus with Vin Santo Vinaigrette
Asparagus is Julie’s favorite vegetable, but I have disliked it since childhood.   Recently, I decided I really should give it a chance, and this recipe brought me a long way towards becoming an asparagus fan.  Also from Giada’s Everyday Pasta book, the recipe is available online here.  We made one substitution, we used an inexpensive late harvest (sweet) Riesling from Hogue that we had downstairs.  Wine shops are closed on Sunday in Minnesota, so there was no chance of acquiring some Vin Santo!  Surrounding the asaparagus with eggs, chopped almonds and a lovely sweet vinaigrette made this a surefire success, even for a confirmed asparagus avoider.

Amazing Asparagus

What you like to eat with what you like to drink