Wine Club 51: French Wines, Low Country Grill

 
Date: August 10th, 2013
Host: Christine
Served: Brie and baguette, Low Country Grill, sugar-bomb donut
Bonus bottles (from the host's personal inventory): Tequila! And Parallel 44 Frozen Tundra

Georges Dubœuf Mâcon-Villages 2009 (Burgundy, France) 13% alcohol, $7.50 at Woodman's

Christine says (16): Light gold color. Smelled yeasty, and of bread dough. Mineral taste, peaches, medium body. Very good with the meal.

Kim says (16): At first smelled like raw bread dough but then (sadly) went away; then the aroma of green apples. Thought this wine would be fantastic with the brie but was just average (however, better than the rosé).

Andrea says (16): A nice golden yellow color. I smelled the bread dough too. I could also smell oak and minerals but not very fruity. The body was smooth and full. Nice tartness and acidity. I thought it was tangy and good with the brie and the meal.






Michel Chapoutier Vin de Pays d'Oc Les Vignes de Bila-Haut Rosé 2012 (Languedoc-Roussillon, France) Grenache + Cinsault, 13.5% alcohol, $9.50 at Woodman's


Christine says (17): Beautiful salmon pink color! Smelled and tasted like watermelon, floral and cotton candy, with strawberry hints. I loved it. While both wines were awesome with the meal, this one got a slight edge for being good with the sausage (and so darn pretty). Good summer drinker!

Kim says (14): Smelled exactly like it looks! Like strawberry Starburst, and somehow smelled juicy. Appearance was a beautiful, whimsical color but disappointed with the flavor. If this wine were a person, I would categorize her as beautiful but dumb.

Andrea says (18): This wine was a cute, watermelon pink. Smelled very sweet! Strawberry, floral, and bubble gum. Smooth, good body, and a little tart. Very good with the meal!

 

Kim says: while Christine's repertoire does include professional pastry chef, she is also a crackerjack on the grill! This meal was absolutely incredible... by far, the best grilled corn on the cob I've ever had, and one of my favorite Wine Club meals so far!

Was that a giant piece of mint floating atop Andrea's cantaloupe margarita? Nope: it was a little green bug! She carefully put him on the ground and he seemed OK, if a little drunk. He walked it off. We loved the cute Froot Loop donut, cherry-tasting Frozen Tundra (Green Bay-area) wine, and playing with the calico cat and her purple ribbon.

Wine Club 43: Hahn GSM 2011 & Caesar Salad Toast

Date: April 26th, 2013
Host: Kim
Served: Shredded Caesar Salad on Toasts, Hungarian Goulash

Domaine Robert Chevillon 2008 (Bourgogne Passetoutgrain, France), Pinot Noir + Gamay + other grapes, 12.5% alcohol, $13 on sale at Waterford

Kim says (14): Festive color and fairly translucent. Smelled like grape juice... mmm! But swirl at your own risk! I don't mind the "wet leaves in autumn" rot but swirling this wine brought out horrible decay and death rot smells. Very thin body and very high acid but overall impression of fruit. Appeal? I liked it.

Andrea says (13.5): Brick red in color, transparent edges but opaque in the center. My first smells I could pick up raspberry, jam, brown sugar, it smelled rich and smooth and I didn't smell alcohol. After giving the glass a good swirl I could smell the earthy stink that Kim was talking about. To me it smelled like bad breath, gingivitis. Definitely better before I swirled it...  The taste was tart and fruity like cranberry and pomegranate with kind of a minty, or chemical note? I thought it was thin in body and high in tannins. It went ok with the goulash, clashed with the salad.
 
Christine says (13): Reddish, somewhat murky appearance (thick-looking, like the Marginal we recently had, but not as thick. The Marginal looked like blood). It smelled rich, with red fruit, vanilla, peppercorns and earthy, slightly sweet beets. It was surprisingly tart! Thin body. Bracing for a Burgundy. Andrea picked up on pomegranate, and I agreed. Going back after tasting the other wine and enjoying some dinner, I also picked up on green pepper. Note: I didn't realize until later that Passetoutgrains is actually a blend of Pinot Noir, Gamay and other grapes...so of course it wasn't the elegant, graceful Burgundy I was expecting!


Hahn Winery GSM 2011 (Central Coast, CA, USA) 59% Grenache + 37% Syrah + 4% Mouvèdre, 14.5% alcohol, $10 at Discount Liquor

Kim says (15): Even more festive color, deeper and less translucent. Smelled like strawberry flavoring... strawberry Runts? Nice silky body and tannins were pleasantly strong. This went amazingly well with the shredded Caesar salad and Andrea's right... this seems like a very versatile wine. So while it may have suffered a bit in the technical categories, it shined in the subjective categories. I would definitely buy and serve this Hahn again!

Andrea says (18): Another Hahn wine I really liked, mark it as a win! A berry, fushia color, dark and opaque. I had the crazy glass this night that always make the wine smell different than it does in any other glass. Before swirling I really smelled licorice, somehow both red and black licorice, and some berry smell. After swirling it smelled a little like chemicals and plastic, smokey, but still kind of fruity. Tasted very smokey and earthy, sweet and strawberry. Well balanced, good body, nice tannins. Really good with the salad! I preferred this one with the goulash too.

Christine says (16): Intense deep berry magenta color. Smelled like Windex and crayons! After swirling, I could also smell "strawberries" ... as in strawberry roll-ups or strawberry flavoring. The wine was pretty tannic, but the tannins were nice. Good body. Smoky taste. Would be versatile with a lot of foods. Incredible amount of sediment (see the photo, left). Sugary sediment that dissolves between the fingers. Is it due to the wine's high sugar content? Because even though it's super-high in alcohol, the wine was still very fruity. Definitely a buy-again at $10. It was amazing with the garlicky Caesar salad appetizers. I think this was my favorite pairing so far!

I thoroughly enjoyed the Shredded Caesar Salad on Toasts although I might go a little light on the lemon juice next time... a definite keeper! On the other hand, the recipe for the goulash was promptly tossed in the recycle bin. If I wanted to serve an anti-climactic beef stew tonight, that's what I would have made.

♥ Wine Club 39: One Honey of a Wine

Date: March 21st, 2013
Host: Christine

Served: taco meat loaf, mashed potatoes, green beans, chocolate creme pie

♥ Honey Badger Sweet Red 2011 (South Africa), 95% Shiraz + 5% Pinotage, 12.5% alcohol, $9.99 at Discount Liquor in Manitowoc

     ♥ Love love love ♥ : This wine scored 18 or higher with each of us.

Christine says (19): Pretty raspberry color with fuchsia. Smelled of red berries (mostly raspberries, but strawberries, too) and jam, plus a hint of sweet, edible tangerine peel and tobacco. For taste, my first thought was "Wow!" It was very much like brown sugar, plus tangerines. Lively and jumping off of the palate. Sweet and good. I would love this with cheese! Or other picnic foods. The wine was good with a chill on it...warmed up at room temp for 1/2 hour out of the frig seemed perfect to me. I loved it.

Andrea says (19): This would be a great wine for people who say that they don't like red wines. Sweet and fruity. Smelled like strawberry, blackberry, citrus-maybe tangerine and jam. My first taste was of honey and strawberry, next I could taste tangerine and grape. A delicious light, bright red. Highly recommended, great with dessert (thanks for the suggestion T.B.).

Kim says (19): Holy grapes, Batman! Throw the words "honey" and "sweet" around and I am already inclined to dislike it but that was not the case with this lovely find! A very pretty color... vibrant and warm. Smelled wonderfully of berries (red), kiwi and bananas. Tasted like fruit and brown sugar. Even served below room temperature, this wine had a nice, long finish... like I had just finished a mouthful of deliciously ripe berries. Note to self... try with Andrea's dreamy apricot baked brie!

Terre des Chardons Marginal 2009 (Costières de Nîmes, France), Grenache + Syrah, 13.5% alcohol, $9.99 on sale at Waterford

Christine says (11): We've often snickered over the previous months, wondering if this wine would live up to its marginal name. In that regard, it did not disappoint! It looked very thick in the glass, with an intense deep blood-red color. It smelled like Dwight Schrute's farm: barnyard and beets. By beets, I mean earthy, sweet and fresh. A hint of the spices I put into pickled beets (cloves, allspice, peppercorns, bay leaves). It was a chewy wine. I didn't like how much I had to think about it. I'd be disappointed, too, if I were that customer who dropped $27 apiece for a case of this stuff. I was starting to feel like an 11 score was generous as I struggled to finish my glass. Though I've never had a Costières de Nîmes, I felt like this example had a lot of terroir. I'd try the region again.

Andrea says (11.5): This was an interesting wine that I was eager yet nervous to try. I had purchased it at Waterford for $9.99 marked down from $27.00. A discount like that made me curious. An employee told us that customers had been put off by the scent. It had a dark maroon color, almost bloody, and very thick, you couldn't see through it. The first smell was pretty awful,  burnt rubber and asphalt.With some heavy swirling I could smell berry, licorice, sweetness, apples, and something earthy. The taste was berry but mixed with chemicals and rubber. It was interesting and very complex. It actually went well with the meal, but I certainly didn't give it a $27.00 score....

Kim says (14.5): You know how you look too hard at something and then it kind of shifts right in front of you? Yep, that's what Marginal did. This wine was deep burgundy in color and so dark that it made me think of thick, velvet drapes. The up side- no hint of brown. The down side- the instant and overwhelming smell of barnyard funk and asphalt. Also (on about the 30th inhale in my stubborn attempt to find something redeeming about this wine), the oh-so-faint and barely discernable tease of carmelized onons and wet cardboard (in that order). Unfortunately, it also tasted exactly what it smelled like... sharp, burnt, acrid, chemical. But when I took a significant mouth full (again, stare long enough and you might see something different), I could pick up on the hidden spice and something vaguely sweet. Would I buy this for myself? Perhaps. Would I serve it to someone else? Heck no. But it did pair very well with Christine's delicious taco meatloaf!

My maiden voyage with the Taco Meat Loaf recipe was a success! I baked it at 350 degrees instead of using the slow cooker (glazed after baking for 50 minutes).  I used 1/2 pack each of taco and fajita seasoning instead of 1 pack of taco, because it was what I had on hand. I added 1/3 tsp. chili powder. This was a delicious make-again. I added sour cream and paprika to the mashed potatoes. I bought a chocolate pie, anticipating that Andrea would bring red wine. : )