Fish in Parchment: Viognier or Sancerre?
Our final Viognier test will be with a light dish: fish in parchment. Medium bodied Viognier or light bodied Sancerre; which will pair the best? We’ve tried Viognier with heartier fare and spicy foods, now we’ll challenge it on the opposite side. Matello Deux Vert Viognier 2010 ($28 from the Winery) Eye: Nice rich yellow … Continue reading
Holiday Oysters & Champagne
Do you have a Christmas Day tradition? After all the pre-Christmas family events, our usual Christmas day is easy and unstructured. During a visit to the Walrus and the Carpenter in Seattle over Thanksgiving, we found our young adult children both liked oysters on the half shell. A new Christmas tradition is born: Oysters and … Continue reading
Shrimp Masala & Viognier
Viognier with Spicy Indian Food After some early success in this Viognier series with spicy foods, I decided to take the spice level up a notch. Today, we’ll try a couple of nice Viogniers with Shrimp Masala. Whenever I’m looking for an Indian recipe, my first stop is My Fancy Pantry. Shari is a food … Continue reading
Roast Chicken Pairing: Viognier or Pinot Noir?
Viognier Exploration #3: Wine Pairing with Roast Chicken Our next Viognier experiment will test two very nice wines with a locally sourced roast chicken dinner. For roast chicken, I would often pick out a nice Pinot Noir. If I’m really open, would a Viognier be a better match? Going Local in Late Fall All summer … Continue reading
Viognier & Spicy Food? – Shrimp Tacos
Viognier pairs with a number of interesting foods: Indian cuisine, curries, pork, chicken, anything in a cream sauce, moderately spicy foods. Today we’re testing Viognier with spicy foods. We’re also trying inexpensive examples from California and France. Let’s go! Our spicy food test dish is shrimp tacos. Our basic tacos are barbecue-rub spicy, which is … Continue reading
Viognier Exploration: Curry Chicken, Sweet Potato & Cauliflower
Getting to Know Viognier It’s time to explore a varietal that is surprisingly easy to find, but a little less known: Viognier. Wines made from the Viognier grape tend to have a bigger body: perfect for colder weather. I purchased wines from a variety of different places: California, Washington, Oregon, Australia and France. The samples I … Continue reading
#ChampagneDay 2013
We have fun celebrating these internet based theme days for various wines. One of our favorites is #ChampagneDay because it’s a great excuse to make the day an occasion. It appears that #ChampagneDay is the last Friday in October, because it was also on a Friday last year. Wow, just like Thanksgiving and Easter! Anyway, … Continue reading
Oops!
Make Sure You Have Plenty of OOPS! OK, you spill an expensive bottle of wine, you break glasses. Those “oops” moments are no fun at all. The OOPS moments I’m talking about are failures, but they show you are still trying new things, experimenting, learning. FoodBeerClick Chili (original post here) I wanted to modify a … Continue reading
Paris: Eiffel Tower Food Tour
Take Away Message: Go to Paris. Stay in the 7th Arrondissement. Take the Eiffel Tower Food Tour early in your trip and eat well for the rest of your stay. Thank us later. Julie and I were planning a long awaited trip to Europe this summer. Julie had not been to Paris since 1977 (!) … Continue reading
CSA Box + August Garden Panic = Meatless Monday
Meatless Monday is your friend when your garden is producing volumes of tomatoes and your CSA box is full. Can you pair a meatless meal with an intense, tannic red wine? Yes! Beet Green “Pesto” First: my sincerest apologies to all speakers of the French and Italian languages. My nickname for this “pesto” is Beet … Continue reading
