foodwineclick

Wine Pairing Weekend and OTBN16
This year, our Wine Pairing Weekend group is getting together to share our individual experiences with #OTBN 2016. Please take a look further down in this post to jump to links for all our posts!

Quiet Start to OTBN 2016
Are you familiar with “Open That Bottle Night“? OTBN is an annual celebration on the last Saturday in February wherein you pick a bottle that you otherwise wouldn’t open, and celebrate by doing so, with loved ones, friends, or even by yourself. In addition, people tweet their experiences at #OTBN on twitter. We had an inauspicious start to our #OTBN 2016, since we were on an airplane.  No tears for us, we were returning from a fun skiing/snowboarding vacation in Park City, Utah!

Our sad offering on the actual night of #OTBN 2016, courtesy of Delta Airlines in-flight selections.

A Day Late
We celebrated OTBN 2016 just a day late, on Sunday Feb. 29. I haven’t been putting wine away for aging long enough to own some old gems, so I took a different approach.  Instead, I went looking for wines I have repeatedly examined and said “not tonight” for one or another reason.  I quickly settled on two which seemed like they might be a good fit with the pork dish I had in mind for dinner.

Gem #1 iOTA Cellars Rosé of Pinot Noir “Phyllis” 2011

Gem #1 iOTA Cellars Rosé “Phyllis”
You might rightfully ask how I could possibly choose an “old” 2011 rosé as a gem. Truth be told, I had been avoiding it. iOTA Cellars is owned by our dear friends, the Pelos and the Sandbergs. I had tasted this wine at the winery before release and had remembered not being initially impressed.  My usual preference in rosé is bright, tart acidity, and this wine impressed me at the time as a quieter, deeper interpretation of rosé. Indeed, the wine spent 8 months in old, neutral barrels, very unusual for rosé.  Don and Johanna had said this was a rosé that would benefit from a bit of age, but 5 years?  OK, no time like the present.

Not your everyday rosé, worth a little respect!

iOTA Cellars Rosé “Phyllis” 2011 ($18 from the winery)
Surprise! Either time was a friend to this wine, or my memory is totally off (more likely!). Even at 5 years old, it was 100% fresh and lively, full of fruit and nice, balanced acidity.
Eye: Clear., deep salmon color, tartrate crystals in the bottom of the bottle (this is a good thing!)
Nose: Clean, fresh strawberries including an element of sweetness,  herbs – tarragon.
Mouth: Rich mouthfeel, crisp acidity but not tart. Rich ripe strawberry fruit, gives an impression of sweetness without being sweet.

Now I have a new conundrum, this year’s “Phyllis” is scheduled to arrive this week.  Do I drink it this year, or do I wait?

Gem#2 Conterno Barbera d’Alba 2006

Gem #2 Giacomo Conterno Barbera d’Alba DOC 2006 ($40 at Sunfish Cellars, several years ago, now $99-140 online)
I love Barbera, but I rarely spend more than $20-25 on a bottle. Consequently, every time I looked at this bottle by Giacomo Conterno, I thought it wasn’t a special enough occasion.  OK, here we have a more typical OTBN choice, and it should pair well with the milk braised pork.

A beautiful color in the glass, 100% ready to drink!

Giacomo Conterno Barbera d’Alba DOC 2006 ($40 at Sunfish Cellars several years ago, now $99-140 online)
Eye: Clear, medium ruby color, purple rim
Nose: Clean, nice Barbera nose. Deep blue fruit (blackberries) a touch of smoke. Nice fruit, even at 10 years.
Mouth: Dark blue fruit, surprisingly high level of tannins (at medium +). Lively acidity.

Wine Pairing Results
Both wines were lovely to be sure; well executed with the grace that a few years of bottle aging can bring. Both were just fine with the meal, but I don’t think either one was the best choice I could have made. The rosé showed just a bit too much bright red fruit to go with the savory elements in the dish.  The Barbera was better in that its fruit was a bit more subdued.  In hindsight, I would have been better off finding a bigger bodied white, an Etna Bianco might have been very nice.  Oh well, there’s always next year!

iOTA Cellars “Phyllis” rosé was a lovely wine, but the bright strawberry fruit was a bit of a miss (my fault, not the wine!)

A lovely Barbera, the Giacomo Conterno was a good choice, but…. I really should have found a big-bodied white wine.

Wine Pairing Weekend goes to OTBN 2016
Did you participate in Open That Bottle Night (OTBN) too? Come join the conversation about your experience as we hold our monthly #winePW Twitter chat. As always, that chat is the 2nd Saturday of the month–March 12 in this case–11 a.m. Eastern Time, using the #winePW hashtag.

Open That Bottle Night Wine Pairings for #winePW 22

Culinary Adventure with Camilla will post “Dracaena’s Cabernet Franc with Steak au Poivre et Thé”

Curious Cuisiniere is pairing “Teriyaki Salmon and Pinot Noir”

Dracaena Wines will share “When Will Some Day Be? Open That Bottle Now”

Tasting Pour is posting “Steak Diane and Bell Cab Sauvignon”

Rockin Red Blog is sharing “Open That Bottle Night with a Beautiful Italian”

Pull That Cork will blog about “Wine, Friends and Food: Our OTBN and #winePW Evening”

L’Occasion will share “Wines of Les Baux-de-Provence to Enjoy with Steak Frites”

foodwineclick will post “Are You Kidding Me? Rosé for OTBN?”

The Armchair Sommelier will share “OTBN:  A Pipe, a Port, and a Pudding”

ENOFYLZ Wine Blog will be bringing us An Italian-Theme #OTBN

Cooking Chat will be posting “Pork Tenderloin with Mushroom Sauce and a Burgundy”

Try this garlicy, gravy topped preparation the next time you think about a pork roast.

After giving it a bit of thought, I realized I already know the perfect food for “Phyllis”. With all that bright red fruit showing in the wine, a red fruit integrated into the main dish like this one will be perfect.  Maybe I’ll try one this summer, and another at #OTBN 2021!

Future food pairing for iOTA Cellars “Phyllis”