Cheers To You

Mary writes:

From the Alps to the Adriatic Sea, this wine region in northeastern Italy borders Austria and Slovenia. And because of the three distinct cultures and geography, this region puts out wines that are very unique to Italy.

In Friuli you can find crisp, fruity mostly white wines made from the grapes Tocai Friulano, Ribolla, Malvalsia, Verduzzo, Picolit, Refrosco, and Pignolo.

But wait there’s more! French varietals Pinot Bianco, Pinot Grigio, Chardonnay, Cabernet, Merlot, and Pinot Nero were introduced in the 19th Century.

The region produces a modest amount of wine by Italian standards but on the plus side, the percentage of DOC wines produced is one of Italy’s highest.

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By now the 12th Man has probably cried all he’s going to cry into his beer — or in our case wine — over the Seahawks heartbreaking loss to Atlanta two weeks ago.

Still, watching the Super Bowl will be rough in light of how close the Hawks came, and knowing their full potential wasn’t reached. So, yes, we plan to do a little drowning of our sorrows as we watch San Franscico take the field Sunday.

We also plan to do our fair share of eating Super Bowl goodies like Ann Vogel’s Pizza Balls.

Filled with cheese and pepperoni, and of course marinara sauce for dipping, this finger food is a petite Italian meal. That’s why we think an Italian Chianti is the best wine to wash it down.

Chianti is a great go-to wine when looking for a red wine that can stand up to tomato-heavy dishes. It also does great withe meat, which is why it’s a perfect match for these pepperoni-stuffed treats.

To be labeled Chianti, the grapes used to make the wine must be entirely sourced from any of the eight subregions of Chianti, a denominazione di origine controllata, or DOCG. The wine must also be made of at least 75 percent Sangiovese.

The beautiful thing about Chianti is you don’t have to spend a small fortune to get a good bottle locally. In fact most every store in our area carries multiple labels, many from Itlay.

For this recipe we recommend Da Vinci’s Chianti.

This Italian winery uses grapes from the Chianti region, fusing experience and modern winemaking techniques to produce a fruit-forward wine that is soft across the palate. The winery’s goal is to highlight the Sangioveses characteristics, while minimizing acidity to keep bitter and astringent flavors often found in traditional Chiantis out of the wine.

The wine has aromas of cherries and red fruit balanced by soft, round tannins. The winemaking techniques to produce a round mouth feel are evident. One sip and its smooth finish leaves you wanting more.

The winery produces three Chiantis: Chianit, Chianti Classico and Chianti Riserva.

The Chianti, likely the cheapest of the three, starts around $11.

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By now you’ve probably secured your New Year’s Eve plans, but have you finalized what you’ll be drinking?

If you’re like most Americans, Champagne — sparkling wine if it’s made in America, Prosecco if it’s from Italy, or cava if from Spain — is not something you drink every day.

Instead it’s reserved for special occasions, like New Year’s Eve. (Incidentally, in Italy and Spain people drink their sparklers on a daily basis, much like most Seattleites drink coffee every day).

Seeing as we’re not in Italy or Spain, chances are you don’t drink Champagne (or sparkling wine, Prosecco, cava, et al.) except for once or twice a year. If that’s the case, the thought of selecting a bottle, or two, or three, to ring in the New Year may not top your list of favorite things to do.

That’s where we come in. We called David LeClaire, founder and general manager of Wine World and Spirits, located just off Interstate-5 in Seattle’s Wallingford neighborhood. LeClaire is also a certified sommelier from the Court of Master Sommeliers.

Needless to say, he knows wine.

So what does LeClaire recommend for this year’s celebration? That depends on what you’re looking for, he said.

If you’re planning a party for a number of guests (read: wide range of palates and likes and dislikes), LeClaire recommends serving Italy’s Prosecco.

“Prosecco, to me, is one of the best toasting Champagnes you can get,” he said.

The price is nice too — typically a Prosecco in the $9 to $10 range is going to be good. And it’s widely available.

This wine is favorable for large groups because it has a touch more sweetness to it, without being too sweet. Usually it’s liked by everyone.

If dry wine is more your style, consider cava over France’s Champagne. It’s cheaper, while still a quality wine.

General rule of thumb: look for wines in the $10 range, LeClaire said. Anything below $10 may cause you to regret your purchase, especially if you overindulge this year. That’s because sparkling wines in the $6 range have likely been injected with carbon dioxide, which produces the bubbles and often the headache.

“The saying is: The bigger the bubbles, the bigger the headache,’” LeClaire said.

The smaller the bubbles, the better the wine. During fermentation wine produces carbon dioxide as a byproduct of yeast eating sugar in the grape juice. For non-sparkling wine gas is allowed to escape; to make it tingle on your tongue, the gas is kept in the bottle, producing the bubbles.

If you’re looking for bubbly from France, but don’t want to pay the markup on a wine from Champagne, consider one from the Alsace region that straddles France and Germany.

These wines are available in the $15 price range and are very elegant, LeClaire said. Unlike Champagne, which is made from chardonnay and Pinot Noir grapes, Alsatian sparklers are made with Pinot Gris and Pinot Blanc, producing a softer wine. One brand to look for is Lucien Albrecht, which retails between $15 to $20.

A handful of Washington and Oregon wineries also have jumped into the sparkling pool. That includes Yakima’s Treveri Cellars, which was featured in 2011 at the White House for its State Department holiday receptions and was served earlier this year at the James Beard Foundation dinner. Treveri specializes in sparkling wines, offering Pinot Gris, riesling, Gewürztraminer, chardonnay and even Syrah. You can find most of its wines between $14 and $19.

If all this talk about bubbles has your head spinning — and you haven’t even had a sip yet! — don’t stress. Go to your local wine shop or grocery store and ask the wine steward for help. If you’re in Seattle, stop by Wine World, they’ve got wines you won’t find anywhere else, and staff eager to help.

Tell the steward how much you want to spend, what you typically drink and let them do the work. As LeClaire pointed out, most people who ask for advice will walk away with a better wine than what they would have selected on their own.

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Mary writes:

One of the best ways to try new wines is to have a wine tasting party. The Thursday night Tasters is a group that I’ve been meeting with off and on for almost 10 years. Everyone brings a bottle and dish to share and then the wine tasting begins.

A recent get together was Italian themed. We had spaghetti with meatballs and Bracioli (stuffed round steak). And some excellent wines. The first three wines listed below are readily available. The last two came out of my cellar.

Epicuro Beneventano Aglianico IGT 2010

Aglianico is an Italian grape variety from central Italy’s Campania and Basilicata regions around the city of Naples. It buds early, and ripens late. And the grapes are naturally high in acidity, making it a perfect food wine and a likely candidate for the cellar.

This wine was a blackish-purple color with an intense blackberry and cherry nose with hints of the spice rack. The great full-bodied flavors echoed the nose and it was jammy, clean with a lingering finish. A favorite.

Found at Trader Joe’s, this wine costs less than $7.

Caminetto Beneventano Aglianico 2011 12.5

Another Aglianico from the Campania Region. This was not planned but a great introduction to this grape and wine region. The nose was tight and closed. This one was plummier, spicier, drier and a bit angular.

Given that it was a year younger, we ventured that this could taste as lovely as the previous wine with a year’s worth of age.

Found at Grocery Outlet for less than $6.

Wind Rose Cellars 2009 Nebbiolo Wahluke Slope 24K Vineyard

Wind Rose Cellars is the husband and wife team of David Volmut and Jennifer States. They began with the 2009 harvest and their specialty is Italian varieties. As you can guess, many Italian varieties are not readily available in Washington, so what is produced is very small — around 100 cases per lot — with total production around 900 cases. In fact, they use another winery for part of the production. It says so on the label: “Bottled by Yakima Valley Vintners, Grandview.”

This wine is such a blend of Nebbiolo and 15 percent Barbera. These are grapes from the Italian region of Piedmont, in the northwest corner of the boot. The color is ruby and the aromas of lush cherry and plum with a sprinkling of tobacco follow through on the palate. The Barbera adds color and acidity. It is a beautiful wine that could age well for several years or decant for a few hours.

From the winery for $24.

Castello di Gabbiano Chianti Classico Riserva 2005 13.5

This top-of-the-line Chianti receives special treatment. The best Sangiovese grapes from the castle vineyards are harvested by hand, pressed and de-stemmed, and then fermentation begins with daily pump overs and malolactic fermentation. Then it’s aged for a year and a half in new French oak barriques.

With all this care, this is a wine that rewards patience. The nose is of black fruits and hints of anise and black pepper. The flavors have depth and complexity with black fruit, anise and black pepper and perfect balance of fruit, oak and spice. The tannins are soft and velvety.

Allegrini Amarone della Valpolicella Classico 2004 DOC

Amarone is a style of wine from the Valpolicella (translated it means valley of many cellars) region of northeast Italy. There are five different styles of DOC Valpolicella and around 57 varieties of IGTs in the area. This one is made from the typical blend of 75 percent Corvina, with the balance in Rondinella and Molinara grapes.

This style of Valpolicella is made will dried grapes. After drying for several months, the grapes are macerated for about a month, fermented and aged in new French oak barriques for an Additional two years and then for good measure another year in bottle. What comes out of the bottle is deep purple liquid with a bouquet of dried fruit, with hints of baking spices.

The flavors are rich, round, with lots of black fruit predominantly black currants. It has wonderful structure in a full body and a long silky finish of fruit, spice and mineral.

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Now that the rains have returned, so have our salmon. We are pretty fortunate to be able to watch the phenomenal life cycle of Pacific Northwest salmon in our backyards.

This return, and our growling tummies, got us thinking about how now would be the perfect time to offer some salmon recipes and wines to go with them. Coincidentally we’ve also had coverage in the paper and online this week about salmon, so we’re sticking with a fishy theme.

If you haven’t checked it out yet, go see the interactive map of some of the best viewing areas in Kitsap to see the returning salmon. Reporters Chris Dunagan and Amy Phan spent a lot of time updating the map and producing the videos.

Looking ahead, there will be a story in the Kitsap Sun Sunday Life Section by reporter Chris Henry about the tiny fishing village of Sekiu, where fishermen come together during salmon season to max out their limits.

This time of year, when salmon spawn, is a good time to dig up recipes that call for wood-smoked salmon (we’ll save the poached salmon recipes for the spring).

So what wine do we pair with salmon? It depends, dear reader, on the big picture. Think about the texture, weight and other prominent features of the entire dish.

Salmon is dense and fatty (all the good fats, mind you) and that component makes it a versatile fish. Depending on the texture and weight of the sauce, salmon can easily pair with a white, rosé or red wine.

So we look to the sauce to make the best match. A broiled fresh salmon served with a little lemon and butter is easy. Lemon and butter are lighter and crisper than say a Gorgonzola cream sauce. If you’re going to keep it simple and broil the salmon with lemon and butter, choose a wine that is lighter and crisper such as a Pinot Grigio or an Arneis.

If you want to add some weight and prepare a side dish with Gorgonzola cream sauce (see the recipe below), we suggest looking to a country where all but one wine region touches the sea.

Tortellini, Gorgonzola and Montepulciano d’Abruzzo are staples in Italy. From the Abruzzi wine region, located in the calf area of the Italian boot, this wine is made from the Montepulciano grape — the second most produced wine in Italy behind Sangiovese. The medium-bodied weight, bright acidity and aromas and flavors of herbs and cherries make this the perfect wine for this rich dish. Most are under $10. Look for our favorite, Masciarelli 2009 Montepulciano d’Abruzzo.

Tortellini with Smoked Salmon, Walnuts with Gorgonzola Cream Sauce

• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 Tbs. butter
• 1/2 cup crumbled Gorgonzola cheese
• 2 Tbs. minced garlic
• 1 tsp. dried basil
• 1 tsp. dried thyme
• 1 tsp. dried oregano
• 1/2 cup toasted walnuts
• 3/4 cup smoked salmon
• 8 oz. cheese tortellini (cooked)
• Shredded Parmesan cheese for garnish

Cook cheese tortellini. In a large sauté pan, toast the walnuts on medium-high until golden. Reserve. Add the heavy cream and butter to the pan and bring to a gentile boil. Add Gorgonzola, garlic, basil, thyme, oregano and simmer until thickened. Continue to reduce for 2 to 4 minutes, and then add the smoked salmon. Then add the cooked tortellini. Toss until pasta is hot. Plate and garnish with Parmesan and toasted walnuts.

Planked Salmon

Another common way to cook salmon in the Northwest is using an alder plank. Native people of the Pacific Northwest first devised the method of cooking salmon on hardwood over an open fire. Today, however, we’re going for the quick and easy route of oven-baked using a piece of wood.

There are different planks that can be used. While we prefer the traditional alder plank, you can also consider other non-resinous hardwoods such as cedar, hickory, maple or oak. Naturally, the plank should be clean, at least an inch thick and large enough to accommodate the salmon.

Ordinary slabs of alder from a lumber mill are inexpensive, but they generally have to be replaced after the third or fourth time. You can also purchase an alder plank from a kitchen store. These are meant to be reused time and time again in the oven. With these planks you brush them with olive oil, then stick them in the oven for 30 minutes while it warms up. Once you remove the plank, turn the oven up to 350 degrees, throw the salmon on the plank, skin side down, and pop it back in the oven. (Remember when you take the salmon out to remove the skin, and the gray matter below it before serving).

If you choose a plank that isn’t designed for repeated reuse, make sure you soak it a minimum of four hours, or if you can overnight, before popping it in the oven or you may end up with blackened plank (and one heck of a mess in your oven).

So what “sauce” should you use when planking a salmon? Naturally you want something that will enhance those subtle smokey wood flavors.

One quick and easy answer is to slather the fish in a flavored butter. Or if you’re trying to kick a dependence on butter, consider substituting olive oil. Here’s one such recipe:

Flavored Butter

• 1/2 cup butter
• 2 tablespoons finely minced flat leaf parsley, oregano, chives
• 1/2 teaspoon lemon zest

Soften the butter. Using a fork mash together the herbs with lemon zest until thoroughly combined, then add to the softened butter. Add the butter to the salmon while it’s still warm so it can spread while melting.

Also consider basting the salmon with an olive oil and a Herbs de Provence mixture. Brynn usually eyeballs the mix, but combine a couple tablespoons of olive oil with a tablespoon of the herbs (traditionally a combination of savory, fennel, basil, thyme and lavender), then spread evenly across the fillet.

Wine Pairing

Not only does a wood plank add delicious flavor and aroma to the fish, with complementary side dishes of simple boiled potatoes, caramelized onions and maybe a few decorative sprigs of herbs, it blossoms into a feast for the eyes, nose and growing appetite.

A perfectly cooked planked salmon with herb-seasoning and tiny potatoes is a marriage made in heaven.

The delectable fragrance of the fleshy textured salmon mingled with the aroma of the heated alder and herbed sauce will pair beautifully with an Argyle Willamette Valley Pinot Noir.(Trust us, we’ve tried and tested this pairing, more than once.)

Argyle is well established in Oregon’s Dundee region. And they have plenty of experience producing wines with the Pinot Noir grape, including some of the best sparkling wines.

This wine match works wonderfully with the planked salmon because of the bountiful flavors and aromas of ripe black cherry and hints of herb. It also sports a smooth cherry finish.

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Mary writes:

Here’s a delightful wine to enjoy with this wonderful sunny weather we’re enjoying. Maculan is one of Breganze’s wine producers and one of the world’s exceptional white wine makers. Fausto Maculan uses the ancient grape varieties of the region to produce wines of outstanding quality. The village of Breganze is in the hills north of Venice.

The mountains surrounding the area protect the vineyards from the cold and everyone knows that mountain-grown makes for great grapes.

The Pino & Toi is classified as an IGT, which is typical of a region without using the DOC grapes or method. This one is a blend of Pinot Bianco, Pinot Grigio, Tocai and Chardonnay from various vineyards. It’s fermented in stainless steel and sees little oak.

The nose is intense with crisp apples and citrus fruit. The flavors are balanced with loads of fresh peaches and pears. The finish is crisp and refreshing.

It sells for just under $12.

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With summer fast upon us and tomato-growing season already in full swing, Ann Vogel’s recipe for Tomato Tart a la Margherita is quite timely.

The tomatoes take center stage here, leaving us to look for just the right wine to match the red juicy fruit, while also taking into consideration the richness of the pastry crust. Don’t worry, it didn’t take us long to come up with our pairing.

With roots in Italy, it’s no surprise the best wine match for this dish (and other tomato-dominated dishes) is Barbera. The two really do have an affinity for each other.

Crafted in the new or old world style, Barbera has a gorgeous, juicy, red fruit flavor. The wine is on the fence when it comes to determining whether it’s sweet or dry, but it has a bright, zingy acidity that makes it an easy pairing for tomatoes.

Barbera was started in Italy’s Piedmont region, in the northwest portion of the country. As Italians immigrated to the United States and eventually California, so too did the Barbera vines — along with other Italian wine varieties. While not every vine made it, Barbera turned out to be one of the more successful varietals. Today more than 8,000 acres of Barbera are planted in California alone. Most of these vines are in the Central Coast area, but there are also plantings in Mendocino and Contra Costa counties as well.

Washington is also home to Barbera, which is planted in the Red Mountain, Walla Walla and Columbia Valley AVAs.

For our recommendation with this dish we’re going to stick to a a California winery that has ties to Italy: Jacuzzi Family Vineyards.

The vineyard where the Barbera is grown includes rocky soil, warm days and cool evening breezes. This combination offers ideal growing conditions to produce good fruit concentration and crisp acidity in the wine.

Jacuzzi’s Barbera is handpicked and de-stemmed before it is crushed. This means the bitter elements of the stems never make it into the wine. The grapes are fermented in stainless steel and tasted daily until the proper level of tannin is reached, according to the winery’s website. Once the correct balance is met, the grapes are pressed.

The end result is a juicy, weighty wine that is crisp and bursting with raspberry and cherry flavors — the perfect match for the tomato tart.
Jacuzzi Family Vineyards is part of Cline Cellars in Sonoma, as such the wine is made in small batches. Their 2010 Barbera is available now on their website; or ask your wine steward for help.

Other Barberas to look for are Vietti Barbera d’Asti, Giacomo Conterno Barbera d’Alba, or Michele Chiarlo Barbera d’Asti.

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We all know eating vegetables is good for us, and research has shown having a glass of red wine regularly also has positive health benefits. And so, in the interest of keeping everyone healthy, we think a glass of red wine would enhance Ann Vogel’s healthy, hearty minestrone soup.

The soup’s Italian roots make us want to reach for a wine that also has a long history that began in Italy. Sangiovese is a wine steeped in Italian history. Its name is from the Latin “sanguis Jovis”, or “the blood of Jove.” Sangiovese is definitely the blood of Italian wines.

It is the most widely used red grape in Italy. You’ll find it in Chianti, Carmignano, Vino Nobile di Montepulciano and Morellino di Scansano, Brunello di Montalcino, Rosso di Montalcino, Sangiovese di Romagna, and Super Tuscan blends. Each a different region with different styles.

When Italians moved to the new world, they brought their beloved vines with them. So for this dish, we introduce you to Latah Creek Wine Cellars’ 2009 Sangiovese.

This family owned Washington winery was established in 1982 in Spokane. Winemaker and owners Mike and Ellena Conway produce about 40,000 cases annually of 12 different wines including an award winning merlot, sangiovese, chardonnay and a couple of rare wines: May Wine and Muscat Canelli.

The Sangiovese is more fruit-forward than its Italian cousins with bright berry and cherry fruits and a touch of herbs. There’s a lot of finesse on the palate with light tannins and acidity will contrast nicely with this hearty soup.

It retails for around $11.

Salute’

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Mary writes:

Here’s a category of wine that we all have probably had a number of times. Easy to drink, but harder to pronounce: Indicazione Geografica Tipica. For that reason, it is simply called IGT.

IGT wines in the land of a million winemakers, means that the wines are, according to Italian law created in 1992, designed to include a myriad of wines that are of higher quality than the everyday Vino da Tavola.

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If your home life is anything like ours, you can relate to the recurring scene that plays out each night in our kitchens as we try to come up with dinner ideas that don’t require hours spent slaving over the stove.

The stack of “15 minute meals” cookbooks continues to grow as we try to keep our taste buds happy with meals that can be prepared quickly.

When it comes time to serve the gourmet meals, we don’t want to slow things down by weighing our wine pairing options.

To meet your quick preparation schedule we’re suggesting various wine selections for Ann Vogel’s “one dish wonders”.

Her Red Pepper Spiced Chicken Rigatoni recipe was tricky to find a perfect wine match in part because of the red pepper flakes, which add a kick to the dish, and also because it combines marinara and alfredo sauces.

But after reviewing our trusty “What to Drink With What You Eat” book by Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page, we think we’ve got a couple options that could work.

If you opt to lay on thick the red pepper flakes, we recommend selecting a dry Riesling or gewürztraminer, both white wines. The slight sweetness of these wines will balance the heat of the red pepper flakes, while complimenting the rich creaminess of the alfredo sauce.

There are a number of affordable options available at the grocery store for each of these varietals, thanks largely to Riesling being a widely planted grape in Washington.

Look to Pacific Rim, a Washington winery focused on making various styles of Riesling, or Chateau Ste. Michelle for affordable gewürztraminer options. And remember to buy dry, not sweet.

If you’re not into heat and you’d rather drink a red wine with the marinara dominated sauce, consider a barbera. This Italian wine has low tannins, making it a great pair for tomato-based sauces, and high acidity, which again will compliment the richness of the alfredo sauce.

For Vogel’s Quick Couscous Paella, because the ingredients are shellfish and chicken based, we recommend a white Rioja.

This Spanish wine is a perfect summer sipper, and seeing it’s from Spain — where Paella is served regularly — it’s only natural that it would be the perfect accompaniment. Look for Marques de Caceres Rioja Blanco at the grocery store. It’s usually priced between $8 and $10, making it a great deal.

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