Did you know? . . . about Burgundy Wine

The Burgundy wine region ("Bourgogne" in French) only grows two grapes: Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.

This knowledge is useful when you are staring at an extensive wine menu, or picking out a bottle of wine for a gift and want to impress with something that sounds good. If you like either of those grapes, chances are you won't go wrong if you select a bottle of Burgundy. The wine will, however, have specific traits having been grown in that specific region in France, but most of us wouldn't notice the difference, anyway...and that's OK. If you don't like those grapes, you know chances are you won't like wines from Burgundy. That's OK, too.

Next time you're choosing wine, keep an eye out for the word "Burgundy" or "Bourgogne" on the wine menu, or on the labels. Remind yourself, "that's just Chardonnay!" or "that's just Pinot Noir!" Makes the whole wine experience less intimidating, right?

Quick Review: Vinum Cellar Pinot Noir 2012

US, CA, Vinum Cellars Pinot Noir 2012
+ // Smooth // Dried Cherries, Cola, // Cherry, Leather, Clove // Med

Mushroom salad w/ blue cheese: this wine brings out the earthy notes and adds a sweetness.

Noticing Trends: Pinot Noir

We've been at this a few years now, so we can look back at our notes and see what we think about different wines.

In our experience, Pinot Noir seems to be described as:

Description: Earthy

Nose and Flavor: Cherry

Body: Medium

Quick Review: Outer Limits Pinot Noir 2012

Chile, Aconcagua Valley, Outer Limits Pinot Noir 2012
+ // Earthy // Perfect strawberry, Forrest leaves // Tart cherry, Cola, Tobacco, Leather, Graphite // Medium

Wine With Caribbean Food

Friday nights are our casual nights: dinner ordered in, a fun movie, and a bottle of wine.  In our neighborhood, the trick is finding a wine to go with Caribbean food. We always get a great meal, but the Caribbean lacks the wine culture to match. With hearty meat or seafood dishes with a heavy influence of Indian spices, this unique food is hard to match to wine.

We do eat a lot of Indian food on our Friday nights at home, and we feel like we have found good pairings to match. Most of those dishes seem to rely on their spices, rather than the protein, for flavor (whether fish, goat, or chick peas). We usually pick a rich white wine to counteract the heat between bites. In contrast, the Caribbean food we have tried seems to use a lot of those same spices, but with a heavier hand on the meat: resulting in a much more earthier palate while retaining the spice. A white wine can get lost when matched with goat or ox-tails, so we have been seeking a red wine that can match the full flavors yet deal with the spice.

Pinot Noir seems to be pretty versatile among red wines. It's lighter and fruitier than many other varietals and can still bring some other interesting flavors. Most red meats can benefit from a little bit of sweet fruit flavors, but many Pinot's have an earthiness that matches the iron rich protein. With curried goat, you are looking at a lot of savory, even gamey flavors that need that bit of earthiness from a red wine, so we pulled down a bottle of Outer Limits Pinot Noir. We've never had a Chilean Pinot Noir, but it did what we expected, bringing a balance of sweet flavors to the spicy and savory curry. With rich side dishes like creamed spinach and macaroni pie, the wine helped round out the greasy mouth-feel left from the fat in the food.

We like to use a nice bottle of wine to transform a casual night in on Friday into a special evening. Finding the right wine for take-out food isn't always intuitive, but it's fun to keep searching for the perfect match.

Quick Review: Special Delivery Rose de Pinot Noir

France, Alsace, Special Delivery Rose de Pinot Noir 2011
++ // Smooth // Plum, Petrol // Apple, Strawberry, Grapefruit, Floral, Mineral // Light

Complex, balanced flavor.

Quick Review: Heart and Hands Pinot Noir 2011

US, NY, Finger Lakes, Heart & Hands, Pinot Noir 2011
+ // Smooth // Earth, Cedar, Cherry // Cherry, Cinnamon, Stone // Med

A Hard Pairing: Beets and Wine

It's harvest time again. The fall brings the last of the great produce for the year. We love restaurants that focus on fresh, seasonal ingredients, but we also love to cook those same ingredients at home. If you are looking to use up a lot of fresh vegetables, you have to be creative in your recipes, and even more creative with you wine pairings.

Of all the difficult ingredients, there may not be many more complicated than beets. Earthy, almost dirt flavored, but with a strong sweetness as well, there aren't many flavors like it. Shredded and mixed with a few other ingredients, like radishes, carrots and basil, beets can be used as a substitute for ground beef in things like meatballs. Served up with some beans and lettuce in a tortilla, and you have a hearty vegetarian burrito.

In this case, we really only had one option to drink with dinner. Searching for something "like for like" (the recommended way to pair wine with food), we needed something earthy, with a hint of fruitiness. So we went with a cold climate Pinot Noir that had a balance of ripe cherries and deep stone and earth flavors, with enough body to match the big flavors of the fresh vegetables. A perfect time for one of our favorites from the Finger Lakes. And it just emphasizes how you can create perfect pairings to match fresh, local produce with local wine.

Flavors of Pinot Noir

Quick Review: Red Tail Ridge Pinot Noir 2009

US, NY, Finger Lakes, Red Tail Ridge Pinot Noir 2009
+ // Fruity (tart) // Inky, Grass // Ink, Berry, Cranberry // Medium - Full

Quick Review: Heron Hill Single Vineyard Pinot Noir 2009

US, NY, Finger Lakes, Heron Hill Single Vineyard Pinot Noir 2009
++ // Earthy // Forrest floor, Blueberry, Leather // Mushroom, Slate, Cherry cola, Cinnamon // Medium

Knowing Your Pinot

One of the benefits of knowing details about a wine is that it makes it so much easier to figure out the perfect meal to pair it with. Pinot Noir comes in a wide range of styles, so knowing a bit about it beforehand can let you craft a dinner to really showcase the flavors in the bottle. The wines of Burgundy tend to be both rich in ripe fruit and earthy flavors, while the Pinot Noirs of California tend toward bright, red fruit, while the ones coming out of Oregon tend toward more subdued berries.

Knowing we had a bottle of Heron Hill Pinot Noir from the Finger Lakes, I had a good idea of what to look forward to. While we haven't had the chance to try the newest vintage, we enjoyed the release last year, so I had agood idea that we would find a heart, earthy wine, with hints of tart fruit. With this in mind, I headed to the local farmers market to buy the ingredients for a simple, tasty Saturday dinner.

Its still early for some of the best produce, but knowing the market helps. Some greens, just coming into season for some freshness with just a hint of bitterness to match the stone flavors. Sometomatoes from the first harvest fromthe hothouses of New Jersey, sweet and firm, almost like the fruit flavors of the wine. To serve as the base of the meal, some mushrooms to match the earthiness so typical of the best new New York Pinots. With the addition of some black beans cooked in honey and molasses and the aid of some time in the backyard with my grill, some sweet and smokey notes were added to an easy dinner of veggie burritos, and we had an excellent complement to our excellent wine. I only wish I had a second bottle, that I could have enjoyed by itself as I sat in the summer sun preparing dinner.

Quick Review: Dr Konstantin Frank Pinot Noir Dry Rose 2011

US, New York, Finger Lakes, Dr. Konstantin Frank, Pinot Noir Dry Rose, 2011
+ // Earthy // Cherry // Dark cherry, mineral // Light

Quick Review: Millbrook Pinot Noir 2009

US, NY, Hudson Valley, Millbrook Winery, Pinot Noir 2009
+ // Earthy // Fruit, Hay, Earth // Cranberry, Bing Cherry, Hay, Chocolate, Earth, Tanins // Light

The wine was full of flavor, but light in body, which we have come to expect from New York Pinot Noir.

Wine and a Movie: Sideways

Besides meals, there are other things to "pair" with wine. I came late to the world of wine, so I had never seen the movie Sideways when it first came out. So with a free Friday, we decided to sit down with a movie and a bottle of wine. Of course, in this case the pairing was simple: a Pinot Noir to match the one thing I knew about the movie--the obsession with the red wine.

For me, it was probably good to put off the viewing of this movie until I had a chance to explore wine myself. The story focuses on the horrible stereotypes of wine drinkers. Pretentious, and disdainful of those who don't share his views, Miles  epitomizes the exact opposite of everything we enjoy about wine. But thankfully, the story never asks us to try to like our male characters, fully embracing and acknowledging we are watching bad men drinking wine.

One scene came close to what our ideal of sharing a bottle of wine, as Maya uses the language of wine as a metaphor to share details of herself with Miles, but even here our "hero" fails to embrace the true joy of sharing with someone.

In theory, we should have aimed for a weak, pale Pinot Noir to match the wine swilling heroes of our movie, but that would be taking things a bit  too far. Instead, we kept true to our own wine roots and opened a bottle produced in New York. No pretention here, just a love of the story of wine.

Quick Review: Heart and Hands Pinot Noir

US, New York, Finger Lakes, Heart & Hands, Pinot Noir, 2010
++ // Earthy // Earth, fruit (raspberry) // Pepper, cherry, wood // Medium bodied

Produced from hand-sorted, 100% whole cluster grapes.

Quick Reviews: Wines at Terrior Tribeca

France, Loire, Christian Venier, Les Hauts de Madon Cheverny Rouge 2010
++ // Fruity // Cranberry // Fruit, Rose, Bitter Herbs // Medium
Very complex, like a red muscat. Made from Pinot Noir and Gamay, while most red wines from Loire are usually Cabernet Franc.


Austria, Carnutum, Artner, Blauer Zweiglet "Klassik" 2010
++ // Spicy // Leather, Cherry, Currant, Cardamon // Black Pepper, Berry, Slate // Full
Fruit forward, long spicy finish. The earthy slate notes were very prominent with the pork.

Quick Review: Brotherhood Winery Pinot Noir 2010

US, NY, Hudson Valley, Brotherhood Winery, Pinot Noir 2010
++ // Spicy // Fresh Cherry, Earth, Petrol // Pepper, Earth, Old Strawberry // Light - Med

Quick Review: Cellar No. 8 Pinot Noir 2010

US, CA, North Coast, Cellar No. 8 Pinot Noir 2010

+ // Fruity // Raspberry, Earth // Berry, Orange // Medium
Fruity, smooth, lush

Quick Review: Heart and Hands Polarity 2011

US, New York, Finger Lakes, Heart & Hands, Polarity, 2011
++ // Crisp - Funky // Lemon, butter // Earthy, grapefruit / Medium bodied

This is unique is that it's a White Pinot Noir. Meaning, pinot noir is the grape, but they did not use any skins, which make the fermenting juice turn red for red wine. So, is it a red wine that is white? or a white wine that is red? You decide.