July 21,
2014 Lunch - Vinaigrette, Dinner - Grilled Steak with Pasta with pesto and snow
peas
I was doing
some legal work for Davida today and she wanted a salad so we went to lunch at
Vinaigrette, which is in the neighborhood.
She ordered the Cobb Salad and I ordered the French Frisee.
The waiter
was wonderful. I had indicated concern
about the crispness of the lardons used in the salad because I have had greasy
undercooked lardons before and they are not appetizing, so he brought me a
lardon on a small plate to show me the consistency of the lardons and it was crisp
and meaty, so I thanks him and confirmed that I wanted the French Frisee salad. When the salad was served the poached egg was
covered with ground black pepper and I told the waiter that I do not eat raw
black pepper. He said, “I can get you
another poached egg without the pepper.”
I said, “Thank
you; that would be great.”
I gave peppered
egg to Davida and in few minutes he brought me a poach egg in a small plate on
a bed of organic greens. And I thanked him.
I loved the salad
with the crisp lardons (basically bulk bacon that had been cut into squared julienned
strips and sautéed until cooked just short of overly crisp and definitely not
burned like some bacon that is sautéed to crisp.
I had talked
to Suzette in the morning and we had decided to use the PPI pasta from last
night and fix a simple meal of grilled rib eye steak and pasta. I had picked four snow peas in the garden yesterday,
Sunday, and today when I returned to the garden I found four more snow peas
that were large enough to eat and picked five sage leaves.
While I de-stemmed
the snow peas and cut them in half and sliced the five age leaves into strips and
chopped about six or seven anchovy filets I found in small container in the
fridge. Suzette put about 1 Tbsp. of
olive oil into a large skillet and put the PPI penne pasta cooked in a tomato/pesto
sauce into the skillet and sautéed that. I then put the snow peas, anchovies and sage
slices into the skillet, in which Suzette was sautéing the PPI penne pasta in a
tomato/pesto sauce.
I fetched a
bottle of 2006 Londer Vineyards Corby Vineyards Anderson Valley Pinot Noir from
the basement that seems to be leaking a bit and opened it to air out and put a
5 in 1 stopper/aerator on it and put it into the fridge and took the PPI Béarnaise
sauce out of the fridge to warm to room temperature, which is about 80˚ tonight.
In about twenty
minutes the steak was grilled and the pasta and snow peas heated thoroughly.
Suzette
plated the pasta and I sliced the steak into ½ inch thick slices and we each
took the section of the steak we preferred.
I took the medium section and Suzette took the medium rare section. I garnished my steak with dollops of béarnaise
sauce and Suzette poured the wine into glasses and we sat and watched the
Antiques Roadshow as we ate a simple, lovely dinner.
I could tell
a very long story about the wine but instead I will give you the shorter version,
which is simply an impression of how things change and yet don’t change in the
wine industry.
I first met Larry
Londer when he was pouring one of his first vintages at the NMSO wine auction
tasting about ten years ago. I liked his
wine a lot. He told me he had lived in
Albuquerque, but had recently moved to Anderson Valley in California and bought
a vineyard and was making wine. I loved
his Anderson Valley Pinot Noir and that became the beginning of our love affair
with Anderson Valley pinot noirs, which continues to today. I think they are the best pinot noirs in the world. They seem to express the happy combination of
an ideal climate and terroir that results itself in a fruitiness and elegance. Anderson Valley is about twenty to thirty
miles long, located in the coastal redwood country of northern California
between Ukiah and the Russian River Valley over the hills to the east in the
Navarro creek watershed that flows out to the Pacific Ocean at Mendocino on its
western terminus. Most of the redwoods
have been cleared to make room for crops, vineyards and development but there
are still large groves of redwoods along Navarro Creek at Philo and the valley just
the north is still filled with a thick growth of coastal redwoods.
Here is what
Wine Searcher says about Anderson Valley wines:
Anderson
Valley Wine
The valley runs south-east to north-west between Boonville and Navarro, a distance of roughly 16 miles (25km). Its northern half follows the course of the Navarro river, which begins on the southern side of Philo township, at the confluence of Rancheria and Anderson creeks. Its southern half follows Anderson Creek between Boonville and Philo. On a relief map, the Anderson Valley appears to be a natural continuation of Alexander Valley, which starts at the meeting point of the Sonoma and Napa valleys. From the air, the northern Californian wine valleys form an elongated 'x' shape, of which Anderson Valley forms the north-western leg.
A vineyard in Anderson Valley
© Wikimedia/Ethan Prater
The lower
(north-eastern) end of the Anderson valley is located ten miles (16km) from the
Pacific Ocean. Narrow and low lying, the valley is perfectly positioned and
shaped to funnel ocean breezes and fog in from the Pacific coast. Rain is also
plentiful, making this one of the coolest regions of California – though there
is significant temperature variation along the valley's length.© Wikimedia/Ethan Prater
The south-eastern end of the valley is around 20 miles (32km) from the coast, and is consequently up to 10 degrees warmer than the north-western end, allowing such varieties as Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and even Zinfandel to ripen towards the end of the long growing season. There are a small number of Zinfandel vines in Anderson Valley vineyards which are more than 100 years old – some of the oldest in the US, in fact. These still produce outstanding concentrated wines today, but in a lighter, finer style than is traditionally associated with this robust red variety. Although measurably warmer, the south-eastern section of the valley is still subject to the cooling effects of fog and wind: this is detectable in the balanced acidity and relatively light body of the finished wines.
Mostly cool-climate varieties are grown in the north-western end of the valley, where proximity to the Pacific Ocean lowers the temperature. Sparkling wines produced here are of exceptional quality, prompting the French Champagne house Louis Roederer to set up a local winery, Roederer Estate. Anderson Valley's Pinot Noir has a sweet, uncomplicated, unique style, and Chardonnay does especially well. Excellent examples of Riesling and Gewurztraminer are also produced, leading to the establishment of the International Alsace Varietals Festival.
Boonville plays host each year to the aforementioned Alsatian varietals festival (in February) and a Pinot Noir festival (in early summer), demonstrating the importance of wine to the local culture and economy. Each of the varieties successful in Alsace (Riesling, Pinot Gris and Gewurztraminer) is considered a cool-climate variety, as is Pinot Noir. The prevalence of these cool-climate varieties in Anderson is significant, and is in sharp contrast to the preference for warmer-climate varieties (Cabernet Sauvignon, Zinfandel, Syrah and Petite Sirah) favored in the warmer climes to the south-east, such as the lower Sonoma Valley.
Londer
Vineyards is situated on 16 acres of both low ground near Navarro creek and
high ground on the top of a small hill.
Here
is a good summary from Pinotfile:
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Londer Vineyards
Larry and Shirlee Londer left Albuquerque, New Mexico in
1999 and settled in the Anderson Valley to start a winery. A small 16-acre
estate vineyard was planted (15 acres of Pinot Noir, 1 acre of
Gewürztraminer), and the Londers set about sourcing grapes to produce
Chardonnay, Gewürztraminer and Pinot Noir. Winemaker Greg La Follette got
them started with their first releases in 2001, and Richard Davis, who worked
with LaFollette for many years, has since taken over the winemaking duties.
The wines have received considerable accolades. The Pinot
Noir lineup has varied but usually includes Anderson Valley, Corby Vineyard,
Paraboll (a reserve), Ferrington Vineyard and Estate Grown.
In 2011, founders Larry and Shirlee Londer sold their home
and estate vineyard in Anderson Valley, but continue to manage the winery
from their home in Colorado, and still source fruit from their former estate
vineyard.
The wines are sold primarily through a mailing list with
some online and retail sales. In August 2009, Londer Vineyards opened their
first tasting room in downtown Boonville. Total production is 6,500 cases,
half of which is from estate grown fruit. The Ritchie Vineyard Chardonnay is
also recommended.
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Larry and Shirlee moved to Denver for family
reasons, but in 2006 they were growing grapes and buying grapes and working with
a great winemaker named Rick Davis who also makes his own wines and sells them under
the Calstar Vineyards label (http://www.calstarcellars.com/about-us.html).
Rick worked with the Londers from 2005 to 2011, when the sold the vineyard.
Their first great success thanks in large measure to Rick was Paraboll.
Rick described what they did as follows: “We
had two different lots of pinot, one with a huge, jammy fruit flavor on the front but
no finish and the other with no front fruit but with a long elegant, subdued pinot
finish. Both of them failed as a complete wine, but when we combined them we
obtained a great complete wine.” Londer named the wine resulting from that
combination Paraboll. People loved Paraboll
and it consistently received ratings of over 90 points and put Londer on the California
wine world map. Here a few ratings to
give you an idea.
Londer Vineyards Paraboll
Anderson Valley Pinot Noir 2007
Pinot Noir from North
Coast, California
Price:
Save $9.01 (17%)
Sold Out
Alcohol By Volume: 14.1%
Winemaker's
Notes
Paraboll
is bright ruby color with alluring aromas of black raspberry, cola,
potpourri, star anise and minerals. Silky, pliant and sweet, with
concentrated, expressive flavors of red and dark berries, floral pastilles
and mocha. Offers palate-staining depth with no excess weight thanks to tangy
acidity and pronounced spiciness. Tannins come on late, adding shape to the
sappy, long finish. This should age well but it drinks nicely now.
Critical Acclaim
"Medium-deep
ruby color; deep, lush cherry aromas with some vanilla and spice; rich, ripe,
lush cherry flavors with lots of spice and herbal notes, silky texture, sweet
oak; good structure and balance; long finish. Lush and deep Pinot with layers
of flavor."
94 Points PinotReport
"A
rich, supple, full-bodied Pinot, showing layers of fleshy plum, black cherry
and berry, with hints of spice and sage. Full-bodied and sharply focused,
with a long, lingering finish. Drink now through 2013."
93 Points Wine Spectator
"Long
on concentrated, well-ripened fruit and fit with a good bit of rich oak, this
weighty Pinot Noir is nicely balanced and surprisingly vital for the big wine
that it is. It shows the substance and depth to make us believers in its
future, and it is destined for very good things as its opens and expands when
allowed some three to five years of bottle aging."
91 Points Connoisseurs' Guide |
Around
2006 we started going to Anderson Valley and visiting the Londers and attended
several of the Anderson Valley Pinot Festivals held in May each year, which if
you like pinot noir are a must. In the mid 00’s Anderson Valley had a bucolic
rural feel to it and there were still lots of farmers who still raised grapes
for sale and did not make wine. Corby was
one of them and Londer bought both Pinot and Chardonnay from them.
I really
liked the 2006 and was pleased when Larry called and offered me a case at a
slight discount. I count it among one of our best wines. The 2006 Corby does
not have the huge jammy front but has lots of the pinot finish. To get
to the changes and finish the story, the Londers have moved to Denver and Duckhorn
made a deal with Corby to buy his whole production of pinot grapes, so now to
get the same wine you need to buy Duckhorn.
The reason
why I selected this bottle was because I had noted that its metal cap that covers
the cork was puffed out and there was a mold like white substance that had
grown on the side of the bottle that indicated to me leakage, so I was not sure
if the wine was still good and decided it needed to be drunk as soon as
possible. Although the bottle looked
terrible the wine was still delicious and a real treat with a well grilled
steak and the pasta dish. The addition of anchovies and sage gave the pasta dish a more smoky flavor that I liked a lot also.
After dinner
I ate a bowl of European yogurt with fig compote.
Bon Appétit
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