Thursday, February 19, 2009

Old World Napa

I had an excellent experience the other day when a good friend of mine unexpectedly brought a bottle of 1997 Chateau Montelena over my father's house. As a lover of Bordeaux, I tend to find Cali wines to be quite boorish and over the top. That being said, I often find good ones to be quite delicious even while posessing the aforementioned qualities. For some reason though, I tend not to take them that seriously and when I want to open a really great bottle for someone, it very rarely comes from outside Europe.

My father had smoked a shoulder of pork over hickory for most of the day and I showed up with a lovely Barolo (which I'll probably post about later). The pairing was supurb.

On to the Montelena...

I was completely blown away by this wine. If I had simply been given a glass of it and been told it was Margaux, I would not have disputed this in the slightest. It seemed perfectly mature and had a lovely, supple texture. There were some nice rusty colours around the rim of the wine, but still plenty of depth of colour. The aromas were captivating and alongside the typical fruits you would expect with such a wine, I detected that delicious gamey aroma that you get when cleaning out a pheasant. If you don't know what that smells like, buy a bottle of this wine and you'll find out. What it didn't have was that confected, OTT kool-aid-y stuff you can get from expensive California bottles. Really, really classy.

The wine was absolutely supurb and really made me wonder why more wineries in California can't seem to put efforts like this together. Given the expense and apparent rarity of this particular wine, I doubt I will ever be in a position to have this wine again, but I am definately thankful for having it on that occasion. I would have to rate this as the best wine I've yet to taste from California.

Monday, February 9, 2009

First NIght @ The Oak

After 23 hours of travel to get home to Riverview, Michigan, I strode wearily into my "home bar," the Oak Cafe at around 11pm. I had been eagerly anticipating this visit as it had been quite a long while since I'd been able to drink some delicious Michigan Beers. Given the lateness of the hour (4am Irish time) and my fatigued state, any inaccuracies in my recollections are forgiven by me.

My first selection was what is probably my favourite stout of all time the Founder's Breakfast Stout. This stout, clocking in at 8.3% ABV, was a fantastic welcome home from the limpid 4-5% beers that dominate the Irish beer market. It is perfectly-crafted and the additions of the coffee and chocolate are perfectly balanced and are not overdone in any way. The flaked oats give the beer a delicious, weighty mouthfeel compounded by the alcohol. Overall, I cannot imagine a more perfect beer.

After a 22oz. glass of this, I switched to a small 16oz serving for my first ever taste of the Founder's Double Trouble IPA. This beer was delicious indeed. As it is an Imperial IPA, it is 9.4%ABV. This beer had a beautiful, light gold colour and strong hop aroma. On the palate the hops really shone through with an acidity that did a great job of balancing out the sweet-tasting alcohol. I detected a pronounced fruitiness on the palate that had a kind of apricot/peach component. I don't like giving beers and wine scores, but if I did, it would definately warrant a high one.

Although I was really beginning to fade at about 1am, I couldn't bring myself to leave without having a glass of the delicious Bell's Hopslam, another Imperial IPA, this one at 10%ABV. Although the Founders Double Trouble was quite delicious, it was trumped in the end by the Hopslam. I won't write any tasting note for this beer as I was so tired that I couldn't really focus on it. I'll just have to have some more before going back to Ireland! I will say that it made a delicious pairing with the Spicy Black Bean Deep-Fried Quesadillas!

I must also mention that all of these beers were in draught form, a first for me in every case. In all, it was a fantastic way to cap off what was an extremely long day.

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

I love coffee, but...

I love coffee and usually have 2 to 3 cups a day. Yesterday, while collecting my boss at Shannon Airport, I stopped by a gas station to get some coffee. I was surprised that the brand of coffee they sold was Tim Hortons. Yes, in Ireland there are apparently branded Tim Horton's coffee cencessions at gas stations.

Later that morning, when we arrived to work, we got some more coffee from Puccino's. The franchise in Ennis is run by some lovely girls who serve some of the very best coffee in town. It must be said, that even though I have an affinity for Tim Horton's because of the proximity of my hometown to Canada, Puccino's is far superior in every way.

Then came dinner time. My wife and I had prepared some venison lasagne. Before this, we had some white wine and then some red with our meal. The reason I don't mention exactly which wines we had was because I couldn't taste either of them. Why, you ask??

Because I burned my damn tongue with all the F-ing coffee!! AAaagggh!

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Soup

Here is the link for the aromatic carrot soup my wife made the other day. I think she used chicken stock (home made of course) instead of veg stock and added a couple of chilies as recipes are usually written for people who can't handle spicy food.

I also had a delicious bottle of the late Didier Dagueneau's Blanc Fume de Pouilly 2004 that I purchased at Lavinia in Paris in 2007. We drank it over 2 days and found it absolutely beautiful.