My Website

I’ve been writing monthly articles with recipes for a “$30 Dinner Party” over at LifeStylerMag.com, and this month’s dinner party article includes wine pairings… BUT for the sake of parralellism and length,  I included a different wine pairing for every dish. Really though I would have paired the same wine for the appetizer, main course, and dessert: Nutty, crunchy, unctuous Arneis grapes from northern Italy.

“But there’s RED MEAT ON THE MENU!” you say? I say in the reply that the reason for the “red with meat and white with fish” rule only works if you’re assuming that the red you’re buying actually tastes like red wine, i.e., has some acidity and tannin (i.e., sharpness, grittiness, or - in the GQ/Vogue vernacular - balls). Of course, most of the red wine consumed in the US has no acidity or tannin.. and most assuredly has far fewer of these qualities than almost any northern Italian Arneis. This makes Arneis a gutsy, old world white wine like Arneis more of a natural choice for red meat than the watery, plum-scented Malbec that most people would automatically go for when presented with a beef dish.

Arneis, Italy, Old World, White Wine Rocks, Wine Pairings | No Comments

Ok, so it’s only halfway through January, but nonetheless Mocali’s Brunello di Montalcino might is the best wine I’ve had all year. I split it with three friends, and that makes it $10 a piece with the discount I give myself… for a full price bottle, it would be $11 a glass for someone else to do the same.

Why are we paying  $10, $12, and $15 for a glass of “pretty good” wine at restaurants all over town, when you can split a bottle of UNBELIEVABLY GOOD wine with a couple friends for the same price at home…Why do people not do this more often? Is it that our apartments are too tiny to fit four people in them? Is it that we just love the 2am train ride home? Is it that we just love ordering waitstaff/bartenders around being served?

The last Chianti I had in a restaurant was $10 for glass, and it tasted like sour cherries and cedar. Mocali’s Brunello though (Brunello is basically Chianti on steroids), tastes like sour cherries, strawberry sherbert, wet cedar, cinnamon, peppercorns, and a stick you caught on fire in a fireplace but just ran under cold water and is still steaming.

Next time when you’re meeting people at a bar suggest that you just pick up a $40 bottle of wine and head to the nearest living room available… you’ll have the same conversation, taste amazing wine together, and save $100.

Brunello di Montalcino, Italy, Old World, Sangiovese, Wine Reviews | No Comments

White wine that tastes like smoke!

Actually, you’re breaking my palate lately…so, please, excuse what I’m about to say in this next wine tasting…

… it’s all true, and it’s shockingly ridiculous:

Di Giovanna Grecanico 2006, Sicily… $15… Freshly fired buckshot and dragon fruit preserves on the nose, burnt grapefruits and rotten green apples on the palate, and the sandy suction cups of uncooked octopus tentacles covered in fresh lemon juice on the finish.

I’m usually a reductionist when it comes to white wine… usually to me there’s only crisp or buttery, but Di Giovanna’s Grecanico has an entirely different feeling altogether- instead of tasting like any particular fruit, it tastes like it’s enveloping your mouth with smoke made from that fruit- almost like drinking incense sticks. So wonderfully odd!

I will research this more, but my assumption is that this wine tastes like this because it was grown on some really volcanic soil (it’s not unheard of for Mt. Etna to have a strong influence on Sicilian wine aromas). I’m excited for people to try this.

Grecanico, Gushing about Wine, Italy, Sicily, Wine Reviews | No Comments

Watch the new video!

What’s an old Austrian grape jumping down to Italy and hanging out in France? Watch a video about a great grape that even wine geeks forget about, Sylvaner! Wine tasted: Kofererhof Sylvaner 2007 (click to watch)!

Kofererhof Sylvaner makes me smile!

Alto Adige, Italy, Old World, Sylvaner, T.B. Ackerson Wines, Wine Videos | No Comments

This was grown in Italy, but in a part of Italy so far north that almost EVERYONE SPEAKS GERMAN as their main language. Somehow in this map, this is northeastern Italy and yet all the green space represents German speakers.

2007

Green = German-speaking

The flavors and aromas are green, white, and yellow… think green bananas, kiwi, and white flowers… along with perhaps a hint of pear juice. The yummy part for me is the wet, metallic, and stony smoke flavor that runs under everything- it smells a little bit like climbing into a cab in the financial district of new york just as it is starting to rain.

I had it with dish of chicken, apples, & summer squash smothered in…. yes, smothered (Burgundy-style!)…. in a dijon, basil, and rosemary sauce. It was quite a delicious pairing, too. Never underestimate a lighter, unoaked chardonnay as your secret weapon for food pairings. Also, cold weather Chardonnay is also often lighter and steelier than its beach-side California counterpart so stay open when your wine guy suggests a $20 bottle of Chard!

Chardonnay, Italy, Old World, T.B. Ackerson Wines, Wine Reviews | No Comments