A Nice Wine With A Guest

I just have to show you my guest from last evening! He appeared on the door ledge just after dark and stayed there for over an hour! I turned all the lights on in the room hoping to attract a few stray bugs for him, but not sure there were any takers. So he left...hopefully not too hungry!

The other night when I had my cold and everything was tasting pretty much like cardboard, I did have a wine I told you that I was sipping, but the taste buds were not quite up to speed. Luckily they are slowly coming back and last night I popped open the other bottle of Chateau Chauvet that I had chilled, but had not reviewed a few nights ago. I picked up this bottle of 2005 Chateau Chauvet at the grocery store for $6.99! Sometimes I am skeptical when a wine is priced that low, but was pleasantly surprised with this one. I enjoy French White Bordeaux wines very much, but they have become so pricey lately that I only purchase them for special occasions. The winery is located in the tiny mid-West town of St. Hilaire due Bois which is situated between the Dordogne and Loire rivers and not too far from the coast. Chateau Chauvet is a nice, not heavy, but citrus flavored wine with a good balance in the acidity department. I also enjoyed a crisp note towards the end! Not a long finish, but enough flavor that sent my glass back for seconds! For dinner I had a baked sweet potato, sauteed broccoli and the most handsome salmon on the grill! The wine was excellent with dinner!

No better way to start the end of your day but with a glass of wine and a guest!

Cheers!

Nice Wine and Fun Grapes!

Had a nice wine last night that I want to share with you. And no, it did not taste like plums even though you see them in the photo. The plums were just hanging around wanting their photo taken so I let them pop in the picture. I enjoyed a 2005 Maison Louis Latour Ardeche Chardonnay. Vin de Pays Des Coteau De L'Ardeche. A lovely inexpensive French Chardonnay! The good ones are hard to find these days. The Ardeche Chardonnay is from the vineyards of Louis Latour that are located in the Ardeche region of France that is situated to the West of the Rhone Valley. This was a nice crisp, apple fresh flavored wine with a pleasing smooth finish. I sipped it for awhile and then enjoyed it with a simple creamy pasta dish that I whipped up with mushrooms, shallots and a few other goodies. I was so relaxed with my dinner that I did not take any photos! So I will remake my pasta dish sometime this week and post it for you. It is so simple and pairs well with white wine.

Now I must tell you about a little charmer of a fruit that I found the other day in the produce section of the supermarket, Champagne Grapes. I have never seen them before, but they were so cute that I just had to buy them! WOW, what a wonderful sweet tiny treat! They are just so small to have that much flavor in them is what surprised me. Here is the description of them that I found on Recipetips.com

A variety of grape that is grown in clusters that produce very small diameter grapes. It is a seedless grape that provides a very sweet flavor for salads, appetizers or as a snack with cheese. The stem, which is also very tiny and tender, is often consumed with the grape rather than attempting to detach the small connector from the main stem. Champagne grapes that are dried are referred to as currants, a named derived from this variety also being called the Zante Currant grape. Although it may be confused with common black, red or white currants that grow on bushes, it is similar only in shape and size, but is not the same type of fruit. The dried grape that becomes a currant is often used like raisins as an ingredient when baking cookies and sweets. In addition to Zante Currant, this grape may all be known as a Black Corinth grape.

I have been eating these little gems just by themselves as a snack, but this morning I picked a few off of the stem and added them to some plain Greek yogurt with a splash of agave nectar for a cool fresh breakfast treat. Just to show you how small they really are, this photo has a muscadine grape sitting next to the champagne grape!

Well, as you can see, it does not take much to make me a "happy camper"! Grapes to eat and then to drink!

Cheers!

Wine, Fish, Back In Key West

It is always a nice thing to come home again after being away for a lengthy stay. On the drive home, all the familiar sights and colors seem new again. Brings a tinge of excitement into your tummy. Then all of your neighbors and friends are happy to see you and "catch you up" on all the neighborhood news. But one of the best things about coming home to Key West is the fresh fish. I could not wait to head to our local fish market and pick up some of their "catch of the day" which was Mutton Snapper. Our son Chris, who is a chef, is still in Key West and while sharing a few bottles of wine with us last night, he whipped up a great feast for us using the Mutton Snapper.

I found a new French Chardonnay at the wine shop! I picked up a 2005 Petit Bistro Chardonnay from the Languedoc Region of France. It is bottled by Laboure ROI who gets their grapes from the Central Massif to the Mediterranean Sea area. This was a nice French Chardonnay with a lovely touch of melony fruit and a hint of pineapple on the nose. The taste was fresh and clean with no heavy oak but lots of long citrus flavors. The alcohol volume was 13% and the price was under $10.00. It was a perfect match for the mutton snapper Chris prepared.

Chris seared the snapper on both sides over high heat and then finished it in the oven to keep the moisture in. He laid this fish over a serving of collard greens sauteed with bacon, shallots and garlic. On top of the fish he served a warm tomato sauce that he constructed from olive oil, shallots, fresh oregano, freshly chopped tomatoes, fresh chopped garlic and finished off with a touch of butter. We also had wild rice and freshly sliced Italian Country bread with a fruity olive oil to accompany the fish. It was a great meal!

Here are a few of my favorite sights driving down the Keys!

This photo was taken on the longest bridge that you must cross to get to Key West. It is called the 7 Mile Bridge. The first bridge, which you see here, was constructed by Henry Flagler and was just a little over 1 lane wide! That bridge is not in use now as they built a new bridge to handle the traffic. I always find this bridge amusing as I have watched this tree grow over the years on that old bridge with no dirt!

Another stop we always make on the way in is Baby's Coffee. Mike is the coffee drinker of the family and this place ships their coffee all over the world! Baby's is the southernmost coffee roaster in the U.S. They roast several different types of coffee and we buy it as a whole bean. It's great to grind up those beans for a fresh cup every morning. The aroma is awesome!

This is a photo of a house that is about half way down the Keys. It is hard to see the house due to the palm trees, but it looks like it would be a really nice place to live!

The trip up north was wonderful and I especially loved the Farmers Market. I already miss Lucy and Eugene from Boulder Belt Eco Farm's array of fresh organic veggies, especially those "Fairytale" eggplants that I showed you last week. But, Hey it's good to be back home again! (Wasn't that a line in a song by John Denver!)

Cheers!

WBW #36 "Naked"! - Unoaked Chardonnay Wine!

Congrats are in order for Lenndavours on this 3rd Anniversary of Wine Blogging Wednesday! And now with the new team and new site for WBW it will be a one stop place to hang out for the day. I must say I really enjoy WBW, as all the wine bloggers I visit get together for a wine adventure with the same theme. It’s one heck of a blogging party!

First of all in this month's adventure, to be honest with you, I am not a big fan of U.S. Chardonnays. But French Chardonnay’s are another story. I truly enjoy them. What is the difference? Oak. Personally, I do not like the heavy oak taste that so many U.S. Chardonnays contain. Without oak, Chardonnay generally produces a soft wine, often with lots of fruity flavors. So searching out an “Unoaked” Chardonnay, a French unoaked Chardonnay, was an a real trip especially by just checking out the labels. The French do not put “unoaked” on their labels. In fact, I think they could use some help in the “information on label” department. So I went to the all informative wine shop clerk and he led me straight to what I was looking for.



The choice I brought home was a 2005 Louis Pierre Et Fils Chardonnay Vin de Pays d’Oc. This Languedoc region wine is produced in the South of France and made from 100% Chardonnay grapes. The region is blessed with a fine sunny climate overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. This sunshine was bottled in this lovely wine that had loads of refreshing aromas of citrus on the nose which then transferred to the palate. Lemons and hints of melon were dancing on my palate with a nice balance of acidity ready for pairing with my favorite light summer fare. The wine had a 12.5% alcohol volume to it which made the wine not so overpowering. At a price of under $13.00, I found it to be an “Unoaked” Chardonnay that I would pick up again.


On leaving the wine shop, I just had to swing through the Australian aisle. On glancing at one of my favorite wines produced by Villa Maria, I noticed that they had an “Unoaked Chardonnay”. Cool! I’ll just have to try this one as I really enjoy their Sauvignon Blanc. Unfortunately, my excitement ended when I opened this wine. The 2005 Villa Maria Unoaked Chardonnay is produced in the Hawke’s Bay area of New Zealand. This wine had an alcohol volume of 14% and that was the problem.


On unscrewing the cap, which I totally enjoyed due to the descriptive label informing me about the value of the screw cap, a heavy alcohol aroma was the first thing to hit my nose. After that cleared, I did start pulling out the fruit aromas. OK, over that, now for the taste. The alcohol was very prominent on the palate which gave the wine a somewhat bitter taste to me at first. All was not lost though, I did pull out ripe peach flavors on this full bodied, intense wine and it had a long finish. Part of the reason for the long finish was due to the alcohol warmth I felt as the wine went down my throat. The price of this wine was under $15.00, but I will not pick this one up again. That is too bad, as I really enjoy their Sauvignon Blanc:(

I must say I surely enjoyed my journey searching and tasting these "naked" Unoaked Chardonnays on WBW #36. Thanks Gang!
Cheers!

French Wine From Vaucluse & Mesh Restaurant

France. Ah, I love that country and have enjoyed their wines for many years. I discovered this little gem in the bin at the wine store with a sale tag of $8.99! I am speaking about the Verget Du Sud 2004 Vin De Pays De Vaucluse. Vaucluse is a department of France in the region of Provence-Alpes-Cote d’ Azur. Valcluse is bordered by the Rhone to the west and River Durance to the south. The blend of Marsanne, Roussanne, Viognier and Chardonnay grapes in this wine make for a lovely, fresh and delicate wine with flavors of apple, pear, and a hint of citrus on the palate. It is a bright simple wine even though there is a 13% alcohol volume. Nice clean fresh fruit acidity danced on my palate and continued on the finish. Ah, those French folks can make some very pleasing wines to sip on a sultry summer evening.

Dined last evening with my friend Lee at a new restaurant in West Chester, Ohio. Mesh , is owned by Paul and Pam Sturkey and is the place we choose for a girls night out and oh!, what a wonderful treat! As we opened the wine list and were reading each and every one of their offerings, I noticed on the wine by the glass page for white wines was a wine that I reviewed yesterday (look below this post)! The Sherwood Estate Sauvignon Blanc was listed and recommended. I felt pretty confident, at "that moment", that my palate education, after years of tasting, was finally coming to fruition. I must say I was thrilled!

We started our evening with a bottle of 2006 Eola Hills Pinot Gris from Oregon that paired very well with our Marinated Beet Salad. The salad was a mix of very finely chopped greens, goat cheese, spiced pecans, little tiny pieces of orange, red and yellow roasted beets served with an orange truffle vinaigrette. Lee had the Pepper-Crusted Ahi Tuna served with quinoa risotto, wasabi peas and a gingered pinot noir demiglace. I had the Pan Roasted Veal Tenderloin with artichoke ratatouille, crisp polenta and reggiano spinach. We finished with Pam Sturkey's award winning Chocolate Bailey's Cheesecake Cake served with a vanilla buttercream sauce and "slices" of chocolate! Oh my gosh! I was full but surely happy! Thanks Lee for a fun girls night out!

Cheers!