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A little wine help please


Hankk
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I knows that one of us in here is a wine eggspurt of the highest magnitude. I forgot who it is. :doah: Anyway, I need to bring a wine to a dinner. The course is:

 

sauteed salmon with onion-strewn grits and portobello mushroom red-wine sauce.

 

It has been suggested that I bring an "earthy, aromatic" red burgundy.

 

Some of the people at this dinner really know wine, so I like to bring something pretty substantial.

 

All advice (and most wisecracks) appreciated.

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Red Burgundy or its American relative, the pinot noir, is a popular match to salmon. The nice thing about the Pinot is the fact that it is a fairly light wine for a red. When attending a dinner, a pinot is usually a safe choice because many people are not wine drinkers or typically only drink whites.

 

However, in this case, you mention that there will be wine used in the sauce. Do you know what type of wine will be used? If Pinot / Burgundy, you have a no-brainer decision. If not, you can still choose a pinot or try to match the wine used in the sauce (hopefully, they are not using cooking wine).

 

If you go with a Burgundy / Pinot, I'd suggest a Pinot from the Willamette Valley (Oregon). I tend to drink a Willamette Pinot almost every night and will continue to do so until I leave the NW. They are incredible wines, you will definitely find the earthy qualities in many. My favorite is the Arcus Estate Pinot from Archery Summit. I have only had a very few bad Oregon Pinots, however so you can feel fairly confident when choosing.

 

The common difference between a U.S. Pinot Noir and a French Burgundy is the typical hit of tannins when first drinking. A french burgundy seems very tannic and when blind tasting, my main weakness is confusing a french burgundy with a U.S. Pinot that has been opened to early. For most U.S. wines, we tend to let our wines sit until the tannins soften which allows more of the flavors to come through IMO. The French burgundies are often quite tannic and thus, a bigger wine. It's almost like comparing a Washington Cab with a California Cab (California Cabs are typically "smaller" wines while Washington Cabs are tannic, full, and very "big).

 

Flame away.

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I'd agree with the Williamette Valley pinot suggestions. Lots of good pinots for reasonable prices.

 

If you are looking for a little more expensive bottle ($50-70), let me suggest trying a real Burgundy.

 

Burgundy red wines (all pinot noir) are labeled by the villiage they are produced in, and there are different classes of vineyards.

 

The ranking of Burgundy wines is based on where the grapes used to make the wine are from and goes like so (from best to worst):

Grand Cru (specific vineyard - highest quality)

Premier Cru (specific vineyard - great quality)

Village Wine (any vineyard or mix a vineyards from the village)

Burgundy Wine (mix a grapes from any village in the region)

 

I'd look for some of these villages which are known for reds:

Nuits-Saint-Georges

Aloxe-Corton

Vougeot

Pernand-Vergelesses

Pommard

Volnay

 

You can get a great wine from Nuits-Saint-Georges or Vougeot, but they can start to get pricey. Pommard and Volnay are probably a little more reasonable in price (relatively), and a Premier Cru from one of those villages should be cheaper than a premier Cru from Nuits-Saint-Georges or Vougeot (sometimes even cheaper than a village wine from those places).

 

1999 was a great vintage and would be perfect drinking now, and 2002 was nice also and really is just starting to open up nicely as well, generally speaking.

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you might find this link useful if you want to stay domestic:

 

http://www.northwest-wine.com/Best-Deal-pi...r-under-20.html

 

by the way "It has been suggested that I bring an "earthy, aromatic" red burgundy" is code for -- bring wine that smells like Athena. literally. So maybe they really do want you to bring a French burgundy that emphasizes this earthiness. Both the 2002 and 2003 vintages were great for red burgundies.

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you might find this link useful if you want to stay domestic:

 

http://www.northwest-wine.com/Best-Deal-pi...r-under-20.html

 

 

1151566[/snapback]

 

 

 

 

Thanks wiegie. Those are great for me to buy and drink. But I need to spend a little bit with this crew.

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Thanks wiegie.  Those are great for me to buy and drink.  But I need to spend a little bit with this crew.

 

1151592[/snapback]

 

 

 

well, in that case, I just pulled out my March 31, 2002 issue of Wine Spectator and found that the top scoring 1999 Burgundies were:

 

Meo-Camuzet Vosne-Romanee Au Cros Parantoux Score: 95 Price: $190

Meo-Camuzet Vosne-Romanee Au Brulees Score: 94 Price: $190

Bernard Dugat-Py Charmes-Chambertin Score: 93 Price: $190

Gros Frere & Souer Richebourg Score: 93 Price: $165

Meo-Camuzet Vosne-Romanee Les Chaumes Score: 93 Price: $85

Denis Mortet Gevrey-Chambertin Les Champeaux Score: 93 Price: $81

Tollot-Beaut Corton-Bressandes Score: 93 Price: $67

Comte Georges De Vogue Musigny Cuvee Score: 93 Price: $260

 

The Tollot-Beaut was described as "Rich, ripe and full-bodied, also velvety, with wet earth, black fruit, ripe tannins, smoke and mineral complexity."

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well, in that case, I just pulled out my March 31, 2002 issue of Wine Spectator and found that the top scoring 1999 Burgundies were:

 

Meo-Camuzet  Vosne-Romanee Au Cros Parantoux Score: 95 Price: $190

Meo-Camuzet Vosne-Romanee Au Brulees Score: 94 Price: $190

Bernard Dugat-Py Charmes-Chambertin Score: 93 Price: $190

Gros Frere & Souer Richebourg Score: 93 Price: $165

Meo-Camuzet  Vosne-Romanee Les Chaumes Score: 93 Price: $85

Denis Mortet Gevrey-Chambertin Les Champeaux Score: 93 Price: $81

Tollot-Beaut Corton-Bressandes Score: 93 Price: $67

Comte Georges De Vogue Musigny Cuvee Score: 93 Price: $260

 

The Tollot-Beaut was described as "Rich, ripe and full-bodied, also velvety, with wet earth, black fruit, ripe tannins, smoke and mineral complexity."

 

1151641[/snapback]

 

 

 

 

 

Now you're talking.

 

But if those are 2002 prices . . . :D

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Red Burgundy or its American relative, the pinot noir, is a popular match to salmon.  The nice thing about the Pinot is the fact that it is a fairly light wine for a red.  When attending a dinner, a pinot is usually a safe choice because many people are not wine drinkers or typically only drink whites.

 

However, in this case, you mention that there will be wine used in the sauce.  Do you know what type of wine will be used?  If Pinot / Burgundy, you have a no-brainer decision.  If not, you can still choose a pinot or try to match the wine used in the sauce (hopefully, they are not using cooking wine).

 

If you go with a Burgundy / Pinot, I'd suggest a Pinot from the Willamette Valley (Oregon).  I tend to drink a Willamette Pinot almost every night and will continue to do so until I leave the NW.  They are incredible wines, you will definitely find the earthy qualities in many.  My favorite is the Arcus Estate Pinot from Archery Summit.  I have only had a very few bad Oregon Pinots, however so you can feel fairly confident when choosing.

 

The common difference between a U.S. Pinot Noir and a French Burgundy is the typical hit of tannins when first drinking.  A french burgundy seems very tannic and when blind tasting, my main weakness is confusing a french burgundy with a U.S. Pinot that has been opened to early.  For most U.S. wines, we tend to let our wines sit until the tannins soften which allows more of the flavors to come through IMO.  The French burgundies are often quite tannic and thus, a bigger wine.  It's almost like comparing a Washington Cab with a California Cab (California Cabs are typically "smaller" wines while Washington Cabs are tannic, full, and very "big).

 

Flame away.

 

1151491[/snapback]

 

 

 

Very good info here. Hmmmm, I'd have to take a very educated guess that you frequent Willamette quite often. I agree, if it's "earthy" you're looking for then an Oregon Pinot is your best bet mainly because of the availabilty. If I were having this dish I would go with a Domaine Serene - Evanstead Reserve.

 

Arcus Estates is also an excellent choice, I would also look into Domaine Drouhin, Panther Creek, or Archery Summit if you can find them. Pricewise and if available, Raptor Ridge is a very affordable Pinot that is surprisingly complex. All of the wines listed above will run you between $30 -$65.

 

A Burgandy, Dolcetto, Cotes du Rhone or Rioja will pair well with this dish as well but you'll probably have to go to a wine store to pick them up. If you PM me a price range I'll be able to give you a little more insight on these wines.

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I was thinking about spending a buck-fitty or so, but I'll spend a bit more if needed. 

 

Only need one bottle.

 

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A buck-fitty on a bottle of pinot noir would take some searching...but then again I don't have the level of knowledge that some others seem to have.

 

You'll find bottles upwards of $75 here.

 

This is a nice wine. Upwards of $50

 

Again, not the price range you need, but a good bottle.

 

Perhaps you want to bring a lesser bottle and make a nice port part of your contribution as well?

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