Holiday Wine Pairing #4 and WBW #52

recently consumed

wines: Veo Grande Cabernet Sauvignon 2006 and M Lawrence Fizz

tasting notes

I thought I’d do a two-for-one deal blog post this evening. First, it’s Wine Blog Wednesday. Second, we had our annual food and wine pairing party over the weekend.

It’s the #52 WBW hosted by Tim over at Cheap Wine Ratings. The challenge for this month was for a wine from Chile under $20, which isn’t really much of a challenge. I almost always keep a wine from South America and Spain/Portugal for under $15 or even $10 on me at all times. These are the ultimate value regions of the world, with great reds for great prices. My favorite at the moment is still Portugal, but I might be bias because we are planning to visit in April.

Veo Grande Cabernet Sauvignon 2006
It’s from the Rapel Valley. It smells of steel, like a cold table with some light smoke and dried fruit. The flavor is very similar… chewy but slight metal. It’s rustic and dry, not much to remember to be honest. For only $7, a bargain find with a long finish. We got “mongo-to-go” and I was delighted to find that for the holiday season they had added duck to their meat selection. With some sweet and salty duck stir-fry, the wine was great. With dark chocolate, two thumbs down.

Now onto our holiday party… which included all the usual happenings:

Way too many people try to cram in our tiny kitchen, as some try to finish their dishes, and others just seem to flock to the room with the brightest light. “They are like moths”, Gwen told me, “Go turn on a brighter light in another room and they will follow.” I tend to agree, but would replace “light” with “food”… people like food.

Everyone comes dressed in holiday garb. Wil the Wizard always comes in his homemade Victorian Santa suit. Never try and outdress Wil the Wizard or you will feel the wrath. But nonetheless, you see a lot of red and green, dark colors, sweaters, people can’t help but dress for Christmas times.

And finally, GOOD FOOD. The key ingredient in my wine and food pairing party is of course the wine, but mostly the food. 4 years in and not everyone has got the hang of the pairing element, but everyone knows that the way to win the prize is to deliver good food.

Tom and I had two pairings this year. One was a deconstructed reuben (pastrami wrapped on a breadstick) with a 15 year Anniversary Unibroue Belgium Ale. The other was a butternut squash soup with toppings of baked apples, fried sage, nuts, and bacon. To pair with the soup, I tasted a French Rosé and an Australian Viognier before deciding on M Lawrence Fizz.

Other notable dishes and pairings from my wonderful guests:

• Fried Mung Beans with Bell’s Winter White (Russ, co-worker at Organic)
• Homemade Gumbo with Merlot (Tom & Sandy)
• Pomegranate Cheesecake with Rimon Pomegranate Port (Loretta)
• Homemade Chocolate Cake with Cabernet (Tom & Sarah)
• Chicken Satay with Spanish Rosé (Gordon and Amy)
• Zingerman’s Cheese and Michigan Cherry Wine (Wil the Wizard)
• Portobello Mushroom Soup with Pinot Noir (Nick & Carrie)
• Cheesy Spinach Pies with Lebanese White & Red (Gwen & Dan)

I was hoping for more cocktails or non-alcoholic pairings since we opened it up this year, but it turns out that people just like wine. And I certainly do not have a problem with that!!