February 8, 2013 Dinner – Greek Roasted Chicken and Champagne Tasting at Greenhouse Bistro and Bakery

February 8, 2013 Dinner – Greek Roasted Chicken and Champagne Tasting at Greenhouse Bistro and Bakery

The Bistro at Suzette’s Center for Ageless Living is now offering wine and beer tastings every other Friday evening and this evening’s tasting was champagne, so when Suzette invited me to the tasting I readily agreed, especially since I was able to go a little early for a facial treatment at the Garden Gate Day Spa at 4:00 p.m. and because I had not yet tried the Bistro’s new quarterly special menu of Greek dishes

At 5:15 p.m. after my treatment, I walked over to the Bistro with Suzette and was greeted by the staff and an open bucket draped with napkins and filled with ice and four bottles of champagne, a French Champagne Henriot Souverain Brut from Reims, France, a New Mexico Gruet Brut and  a Gruet Rosé, and an Oregon Argyle Brut.

Here are some tasting notes from the makers:

Founded in Reims in 1808, Champagne Henriot has remained a family-owned Champagne house for over 200 years. The grapes contained in the Brut Souverain come from some of the very best areas in Champagne, a selection of Premiers Crus and Grands Crus vineyards.

This blend of 50% Chardonnay from the Côte des Blancs and 50% Pinot Noir from Montagne de Reims is aged in the quiet darkness of Champagne Henriot's Gallo-Roman crayeres. These dramatic cellars, unique to the Champagne region, are carved out of chalk 60 feet underground and provide optimal aging conditions. Upon release, the Brut Souverain has been aged to perfection. Its rich, elegant style is lovely as an aperitif or as an accompaniment to variety of dishes from hors d’oeuvres straight through to a fruit-based dessert.

2009 Argyle Brut

59% Oregon Pinot Noir, 41% Oregon Chardonnay, Sparkling Wine

Knudsen Vineyards, Lone Star Vineyard

Willamette Valley AVA, Willamette Valley, Oregon

2009 Argyle Brut Tasting Notes

This Oregon sparkling wine truly brings zest to life! The nose of lemon curd, raw honey, and almond biscotti harkens to the uplifting and refreshing palate to follow. With a fine mousse that buoys one up and flavors of Comice pear, custard, and marzipan that dance across your tongue, one cannot resist a grin as the effervescence slowly fades to a clean, minerally, citrus-toned finish. With the second sip, you’re guaranteed to be in an elevated state. Brut makes you better!

Gruet Brut

The Brut offers a crisp, and full-bodied sparkling wine, which has developed rich complexity and fine mousse. The allure of toasty finish from twenty-four months on tirage, is a complement to the sophisticated apple and citrus flavor. Winemaker's Note: Brilliant with ultra fine bubbles. A wonderful fine bouquet dominated by green apple and grapefruit flavors. A truly classic house style!

Gruet Brut $14.99

Gruet Rose

This nearly garnet Rose, like all our non-vintage sparkling wines, is aged 24 months en tirage. It has a lovely, bright floral bouquet with hints of strawberry, raspberry, and cherry. On the palate, it is rich and fruity in a dry, Brut style. The flavor of berries continues on the palate, revealing more strawberry, raspberry, cherry. This sparkler is lots of fun and very festive, but production is limited to 5000 cases per year, so don’t miss out!

Gruet Rose $16.99

Suzette and I sat down and started tasting wine.  Soon Kat brought out a small plate filled with homemade pita bread wedges and a small cup of tzatziki (a Greek yogurt and olive oil and garlic sauce).

All the champagnes were delicious in slightly different ways; from the slightly buttery malalactic chardonnay tasting Gruet Brut to the fruity pink pinot noir cast of the Gruet Rosé to the light zippy Argyle to the elegantly refined Henriot Souverain with its intense plumes of tiny bubbles and absence of taste.

While we were sipping the champagnes, Ann Sesler, the Executive Chef came by the table to say hello.  Ann told me how much she liked the preparation of the Greek Chicken, marinating it in olive oil, garlic and oregano, which tempted me.  Soon the waitress, Kat, came by and asked us if we wanted to order and we said, “Yes.”  Suzette ordered the a Greek special menu dish, “Pastitsio” (Pastitsio (Greek: παστίτσιο, pastítsio; [paˈstitsio]), sometimes spelled pastichio, is a Greek and Mediterranean baked pasta dish including ground beef and béchamel sauce in its best-known form. Pastitsio is a version of the Italian dish pasticcio di pasta. Wikipedia) and I ordered the Greek roasted Chicken. Suzette’s plate contained a bowl with a square of baked pasta filled with ground lamb and beef and that had been smothered with Béchamel sauce and a small Greek salad and a dolma.  I received the prix fixe dinner with a quarter of roasted chicken served on a plate with a small Greek salad including slices of red onion, kalamata live cucumbers and feta cheese and a pile of home cut fried potatoes and a small cup of aioli (garlic flavored mayonnaise) and a dolma.  I guess everyone loves dipping hot fried potatoes into aioli with its creamy garlicy flavor as much as I do.

After dinner Kat asked if we wanted dessert and I said I wanted to try the special dessert made for the Greek menu, Galatacourikio , which is a Greek dessert made by alternating layers of custard between layers of phyllo dough and a drizzle of  a syrup. The Bistro’s prep of the dish included candied orange slices in the syrup, which added a candied and orange flavor to the syrup and dish. I loved it.

Then I looked at the menu and saw one other item on the Greek menu I had failed to try, Avgolemono Soup, so I ordered a small bowl of it.  It was creamy and lemony with lots of rice and chunks of chicken.  One of the best I have ever tasted because the lemon flavor was fully integrated into the creamy texture of the soup.  I was amazed and pleased with how well the Bistro did Greek Cuisine.  It is further proof that good chefs, such as those at the Bistro, can cook anything well.

Bon Appétit

February 7, 2013 Lunch – Café Trang and Ta Lin, Dinner- Sushi

February 7, 2013 Lunch – Café Trang and Ta Lin, Dinner- Sushi

I met my investment group partner, Nizar Kassam, for lunch at Café Trang to discuss the re-financing of a property we own in California.  He had chicken soup with a large round noodle and I had No. 21, which is Pho (beef soup) with thinly sliced, raw beef and beef meatballs.  We both loved the newly introduced addition to the soups, which is a scattering of finely chopped fresh cilantro and green onions on the surface of each prepared bowl of soup.  Amazing how one small change or addition to a presentation or preparation can make such a large difference in flavor.  We both agreed that the soups had a decidedly fresher flavor.

I had talked to Willy about going to eat sushi before lunch so when Nizar called I still had a hankering for some sushi.  Willy could not go because he received a skype call from one of his ex-roommates from Vancouver, Danny, and stayed home to talk.

So after lunch I drove across the parking lot to Ta Lin to see whether they had fresh sushi grade fish and they did (Thursdays are good days for fresh fish), I bought about a ½ lb. piece red yellowfin tuna, (maguro at $21.88/lb.), about 1/3 lb. of fresh cooked octopus ($15.88/lb.) and a 1 lb. piece of Atlantic farm raised salmon about 2 inches wide ($5.75/lb. if you take a  piece from the whole fish).

After I had selected the fish, I went back to the sushi bar area and selected prepared pickled seaweed salad ($2.99) and squid salad ($3.99), each pre-packed in their own small covered plastic trays and then to the Japanese refrigerated area and selected a 6 oz. plastic container of Wel-Pac pickled ginger (Sushi Yo Shoga for $2.15) and a nearby end cap I found a bottle of Sho Chiku Bai Classic Junmai naturally brewed Sake ($4.88). Then I went to the fresh vegetable area and found a broken three inch long piece of white daikon.

After buying a 500gram loaf of German whole grains bread with muesili and a couple of Chinese eggplants and a bag of Chinese broccoli, I checked out.  The total of all purchases was just over $47.00.

Suzette worked late and I worked until after 5:00, so around 6:00 I began preparing the meal.  I started by boiling 1 ½ cups of basmati rice with a few flakes of seshe dried seaweed for 30 minutes.  Then I began slicing the daikon by peeling the outer skin and slicing it in half lengthwise and then into thin semi-circular slices.  When that was completed I covered the slices with saran and put them into the fridge.  Then I did the same with the tuna and octopus cutting them into thin approximately 1 inch wide slices.  I filleted the salmon and cut each semi-circular filet into two 1 inch wide pieces and then sliced each filet into thin pieces.  I then filled a small aluminum pot half full of water and turned the heat to low and poured a small pitcher full of sake and placed the pitcher in the pot of water to heat and thinly sliced a few cornichons to have pickles.

When the rice was cooked and still hot I added the last half of my 75 gram bag of JC International instant sushi flavoring (Tamamoi Sushinoko) to the hot rice and stirred it in.  Instead of turning off the rice I left it on low heat until Willy noticed that the heat was still on.  It had hardened on the bottom of the pan but it was still quite warm when Suzette came home at around 7:00p.m.

Since I had laid all the fish in their plastic trays and covered them with plastic, we decided to simply lay the trays with their rows of fish slices out on the table.  I put the daikon and pickles in Japanese boxes and used our new set of color coordinated chop stick holders, rice cups and dipping sauce bowls on the table, then Willy made green tea with Chinese gunpowder tea and fetched chop sticks and small plates to match the colors of the bowl set and I fetched our S and B prepared wasabi in a tube and Suzette fetched the Japanese soy sauce and we started eating fish and drinking warm sake and hot tea.  After a fun hour of eating as much fresh seafood as we could, there were still left overs of everything.  So we wrapped them in plastic and put them in the fridge for a future snack or PPI.    

I ate some chocolate fudge brownie ice cream with chocaolate sauce and cognac later in the evening for dessert.

Bon Appétit.

February 6, 2013 Marinara Sauce and Manchego cheese on Cornbread Tapas and Black Bean Stew

Willy usually eats around 5:00 p.m. and today he heated up the PPI black bean stew pot for a bowl of stew.

I had to go to meditate and when Suzette arrived home she was hungry at around 5:30 p.m. so she said, “Let me fix a tapa.”  I said, “We can eat it with a bowl of black bean stew”.  So I poured a glass of red wine and Suzette cut the PPI cornbread made by Susan for Sunday’s Super Bowl party and poured the clam and shrimp flavored marinara sauce Cynthia had brought us as a gift Tuesday night over the cornbread and I sliced slices of Manchego cheese and Suzette laid the cheese on the marinara sauce and heated the tapas in the microwave until the cheese melted.  So we had a lovely light meal of seafood marinara and melted cheese topped cornbread and a bowl of black bean stew and a glass of wine. 

I slept all the way through the night, which I attribute to the light, early meal.

Bon Appétit 

February 5, 2013 Dinner Party with Cynthia, Ricardo and Mike

February 5, 2013  Dinner Party with Cynthia, Ricardo and Mike

We had planned to get together for a simple dinner for over one week.   Suzette and I offered to serve our PPI Black Bean Stew and bread and Cynthia and Ricardo then said they would bring an appetizer and dessert and Mike offered to bring wine.

So at 5:00 p.m. I took the PPI black bean stew out of the fridge and started heating it.  We added the rest of the bag of squash from our garden and I diced up and added an additional two carrots and Suzette added an additional 11/2 cups of chicken stock and ½ cup of the tomatillo sauce to loosen up the stew and a bit more ground coriander.  Suzette had brought home a bag of four fresh Hoggie rolls from the Greenhouse Bistro and Bakery, so we were set.

At 7:00 Cynthia and Ricardo arrived with a plate of canapés and a box of chocolate chip cookies and two pints of ice cream.  Shortly thereafter Mike arrived with a wine box filled with 6 bottles of Spanish wine.

I noticed that Mike had brought a bottle of Campo Viejo 2007 Tempranillo Reserva from Logrono, the heart of the Malvesa (middle) region of the Rioja wine region along the Erbo River in Spain with 85% Tempranillo, 10% Graciano, and 5% Muzuelo grapes, so I opened that bottle to allow it to open up a bit. 

Cynthia’s colorful and delicious appetizer made from things found in our neighborhood; canapé wedges of Bosque Bakery potato and leek bread topped with slices of smoked salmon and a dollop of lumpfish caviar from Lowe’s Market garnished with finely sliced chives.  The bread had a creamy texture, the salmon slices were thin and smoked rather than salt cured and they were firm in texture, so very different than gravad lax and a bright reddish orange, the caviar was black and soft and creamy, so the canapés included a wonderful combination of colors (reddish orange fish, black caviar and green chives on light brown bread), textures and fishy tastes.  A real hit; especially with the chilled vodka they brought to accompany their appetizer.  

Next we served soup bowls of bean stew garnished with diced avocado and a basket of heated hoagie rolls.  The PPI stew was a little more stewy and tasted even better than it had two nights before.   The hoagie rolls were wonderful fresh, warmed through in the oven, and flavored with flecks of cheese on top.  We poured the reserve tempranillo.  It was smooth and yet full bodied just the way you would expect a reserva tempranillo to taste.

We talked and nibbled bread and sipped wine and soup contentedly.  When we finished the Campo Viejo, I opened the bottle of Marqués de Cáceres 2008 Crianza, a combination of tempranillo, Grenache and graciano grapes grown in the Rioja Alta region at Cenicero and aged in French and American oak.  Here are the requirements for labeling wine from Spanish vineyards according to Wikipedia:

For the vintage year (vendimia or cosecha) to appear on the label, a minimum of 85% of the grapes must be from that year's harvest. The three most common aging designations on Spanish wine labels are Crianza, Reserva and Gran Reserva.^[5]

• Crianza red wines are aged for 2 years with at least 6 months in oak. Crianza whites and rosés must be aged for at least 1 year with at least 6 months in oak.^[5]
• Reserva red wines are aged for at least 3 years with at least 1 year in oak. Reserva whites and rosés must be aged for at least 2 years with at least 6 months in oak.^[5]
• Gran Reserva wines typically appear in above average vintages with the red wines requiring at least 5 years aging, 18 months of which in oak and a minimum of 36 months in the bottle. Gran Reserva whites and rosés must be aged for at least 4 years with at least 6 months in oak.^[5]

The Camp Viejo Reserva met the requirement to be labeled Tempranillo because it contained at least 85% tempranillo and it met the reserve requirement because it was aged in oak for 18 months and 18 months in the bottle. The crianza label did not say how long it had been aged in French and American oak casks, but one can assume that it met the six month requirement with at least another six months in the bottle.   Both wines’ labels contained the word Cosecha and a year, which I believe means that all the grapes were harvested from the identified year.  Cosecha means harvest.

So as the conversation spun on after we finished our bowls of stew, I saw that there was bread and wine left, so I went to the fridge and fetched the wedge of Kirtland blue cheese and sliced slices of it and put it on pieces of bread and Ricardo and Mike accepted them. 

Then we removed the bowls and I fetched dessert plates and the containers of Haagen Daz Dulce de Leche and Vanilla ice cream Cynthia and Ricardo had brought (Lowe’s again, I assume) and we ate cookies and ice cream with the last of the crianza and then I poured small glasses of Harvest Gold white wine from Camino Real and then a glass of Mirabelle plum brandy.  A discussion of vodkas and brandies ensued so I poured glasses of chilled Aalborg Jubeliums Danish Aquavit so all could taste its thick cumin and caramel flavor and finally Austrian Monopole 100% potato vodka for those still tasting.

At 10:30 p.m. eyes started drooping and we all decided we had to go to bed.

Bon Appétit

February 4, 2013 Dinner – Steak, Potatoes Savoyard, and Sugar Snap Peas

February 4, 2013 Dinner – Steak, Potatoes Savoyard, and Sugar Snap Peas

I did not know what to do for dinner, so at around 2:00 p.m. I took a rib eye steak out of the freezer and thawed it.

Suzette came home tired from lack of sleep last night at around 4:00.   I asked her if she wanted to go out to dinner for Chinese New Year and she said she wanted to lie down, so I rode my bike for 45 minutes and came home at 5:00.  When Suzette woke up she said she did not want to go out, so I said we have steak and she said, “Let’s do some mushrooms.”  And I said, “We have some raclette cheese and new potatoes, so let’s do potatoes a gratin Savoyard and sugar snap peas.”  So we had a simple menu.

I sliced eight baby portabella mushrooms, two shallots, and went to the cellar and fetched the bag of dried thyme picked in our garden last Fall and pulled about one Tbsp. of leaves off the stalks.

I then snapped the threads off about 1 cup of sugar snap peas.  Suzette shredded about 1 cup of raclette and some asadero cheese and sliced the 6 red medium potatoes in the Cuisinart.  She then layered the potatoes and cheese in a baking dish with bit of flour and salt, while I made 2 cups of beef stock from a bouillon cube and water and we poured it into the baking dish with the potatoes and placed the dish in a pre-heated 400˚ oven to cook for 1 hour. 

After about 45 minutes we checked the potatoes and the sauce was watery and the new potatoes still waxy and firm, so we decided to stop the other prep and cook the potatoes for another 30 minutes.  I went to the basement and selected a bottle of 2007 Wellington Petit Verdot and opened it so it could open up.

With fifteen minutes to go, we restarted the prep.  We turned on the heat under the steamer with the sugar snap peas and I heated about 1 Tbsp. of butter and about 1 Tbsp. of olive oil and ½ tsp. of Suzette’s paprika flavored salt into a non-stick pan and threw in the mushrooms, the shallots and ½ Tbsp. of the thyme.  I threw the other ½ Tbsp. of thyme into the iron skillet in which Suzette was going to sauté the steak and she added some butter and olive oil and started sautéing the steak.  After about 8 minutes I turned off the heat under the sugar snap peas and poured about ¼ cup of amontillado sherry into the mushrooms and stewed them for a couple of minutes.  When the steak was cooked to medium rare, Suzette took it off the heat and I poured off the cooking grease and poured the mushroom mixture into the cast iron skillet.  The mushrooms sizzled and I could immediately see the pan drippings releasing from the skillet, but there was not enough liquid to make a sauce, so I added about another ¼ cup of Petit Verdot and the mushrooms and shallots wilted into a sauce like consistency.  Suzette sliced the steak into strips and we served ourselves and poured the wine and sat down to one of the best steak dinners I have had in a long time.  The steak was so flavorful and the mushrooms flavored with the steak dripping and wine blended with the steak for a more intense steak and wine flavor. What a treat, we both agreed.

We had a Florentine cookie (Whole Foods) with the last of our glass of wine after the meal for dessert.

Bon Appétit

February 3, 2013 Dinner – Tomatillo, Squash, Pork and Black bean stew

February 3, 2013 Dinner – Tomatillo, Squash, Pork and Black bean stew

Today’s meal started during my trip to Pro’s Ranch market on Thursday to buy limes (2 lbs./$.99) to replenish our larder.  I saw the nicest tomatillos I have ever seen for 3 lbs./ $.99); large, fully matured and bursting out of their husks.   Pork chops were also on sale for $.98/lb., so I bought 6 lbs. of them.

On our drive back from Taos on Saturday we discussed making a meal with tomatillos and pork.  I had made a Rick Bayless Mexican Kitchen recipe last Fall with chayote, tomatillos, epazote and squash, so I was familiar with the concept and Suzette and I have made a tomatillo sauce before.  In fact we made one for the enchiladas last week.  So we decided to make another tomatillo sauce and to add it to a squash, black bean and pork stew. 

So Sunday morning I began by mincing three small onions, 4 or five cloves of garlic, and about 3 lbs. of tomatillos, which Suzette sautéed in a large enameled pot with a generous dash of salt, while I diced six or seven Mexican squashes, about three lbs. of pork chops, a medium sweet potato, 1 poblano chili, ½ red bell pepper and Suzette diced up about four carrots.  Suzette then browned the pork with another dash of salt and cooked the pork bones, and squash and carrot trimmings again with a dash of salt in water to make a broth.  Then she added some of the pork broth to the tomatillo/onion/garlic mixture in the enameled pot and she used the new immersion blender to puree the tomatillo mixture into the most delicious tomatillo sauce I have ever tasted (a great example of how wonderful ingredients cooked simply can create a great result.  The sauce was a newly discovered taste, a fresh radiantly flavorful sauce made with the most basic of ingredients.  Mexican Cuisine at its best).  In fact we took a break at around 10:00 a.m. to make breakfast -  a PPI piece of enchilada with a fried egg over easy smothered with the tomatillo sauce.

After breakfast at around 10:30 Suzette started making the stew.  She poured some pork stock into a large bean pot and added the diced Mexican squash, pork, three 14 ½ oz. cans of black beans, about 1 lb. of frozen yellow squash from our garden picked last Fall, the carrots, red bell pepper, poblano chili and minced sweet potato.  We then added 2 cups of tomatillo sauce and topped off the mixture in the bean pot that covered the ingredients with more pork stock.  We turned up the heat until mixture in the bean pot began to simmer and then lowered the heat to a simmer and cooked the stew for about 3 ½ hours until the squashes were soft.    

While the stew was simmering I made guacamole with eight avocados, about 2 Tbsp. of onion, three cloves of garlic, the juice of 3 small Mexican limes, about ten drops of Cholulu Hot Sauce and about 3 Tbsp. of chopped cilantro.

At around 3:00 p.m. we tasted the stew and decided it needed something so I added about 1 Tbsp. of ground coriander and 1 Tbsp. of dried Epazote and a dash more salt.  That addition seemed to fill out the flavor profile sufficiently to make it taste like a stew.   At 4:00 we ladled a pot full of stew and put the guacamole into a bowl and went to the Palmers for the Super Bowl. 

Susan had made fresh corn bread, brownies, and a lovely chopped fresh salad with butter lettuce from Costco, radicchio, yellow tomatoes and cucumbers with a vinaigrette dressing made by their daughter, Lisa, and her boyfriend.  Susan also had bought BBQ brisket and BBQ sauce at Costco and made a pot of pinto beans and had laid out an impressive array of snacks, like sour cream dip, potato chips, corn chip, cheese sticks, salted pecans, chopped fresh vegetables.  Charlie had recorded the game beginning from the Pre-kickoff show and so Charlie was able to Tivo the TV to the beginning of the Pre-kickoff show and we watched the entire game with breaks as we snacked, drank beer and a gin and tonic.  During half time we ate and fast forwarded through some of the festivities and the 35 minute interruption when the lights went out in the Superdome.

We loved the game because it was very competitive and was not decided until the last four or five minutes.  Toward the end of the game, Susan served pomegranate tea and the brownies.

At 8:45 p.m. when the game ended we went home with a few extra pieces of corn bread and our empty pot in a good mood and ready to watch Downton Abbey.

Bon Appétit

January 31, 2013 Winter Wine Festival and Tesuque Market

January 31, 2013 Taos Winter Wine Festival and Tesuque Village Market

We gassed up and left Albuquerque around 1:15 p.m. By the time we reached Santa Fe we had decided that we wanted to get a light snack to hold us until 5:00, when the Wine Festival Reserve Tasting began in Taos. We planned to trade drivers at Espanola, but we settled on stopping at Tesuque Village Market because neither of us had been there in the last 15 years and we heard it had been mentioned in Bon Appetit Magazine. So we took the Tesuque exit and arrived at the Market at the bottom of the hill. The Market has added an enclosed outdoor seating area in the last 15 years. Inside the main store there are only liquors on the shelves and a deli counter which makes soups, salads and sandwiches, a full service bar, and in the back of the store behind the deli, the old kitchen that probably opened for evening meals.

I selected a Ceasar Salad ($11.00) with extra anchovies ($3.00) and Suzette chose the the market's “World Famous” Tortilla Soup ($10.00).  I was pleasantly surprised when my salad arrived. It was served in a shallow oblong dish and lightly dressed with ceasar dressing, tossed with ground Parmesan cheese and garnished with about 10-12 anchovy filets. Suzette did not like her soup at all. It was a thick acidic reddish-brown gruel garnished with a few pieces of chopped tomato, fried threads of tortilla and cheese floating on the top. The words “World Famous” should have been the warning not to order that dish. My experience has taught me that if a dish at a restaurant is truly world famous, there is no need to tell guests that it is world famous because they will be visiting the restaurant because the dish is world famous.  Furthermore, if they are foodies they willing to pay the usually elevate price of the dish and know to ask if that dish is the one that is famous. The Tortilla Soup was so highly picante that it was beyond flavorful to my taste, sort of a combination of chili blend and highly acidic tomato paste.  So Suzette ordered a side of sour cream to compensate for those two excesses, bit her tongue and downed most of the soup. I asked for and was served two toasted pieces of bread, one sourdough that Suzette ate and the other sprouted wheat that I enjoyed with the salad. Then it was on to Taos.

We arrived at the Old Taos Guesthouse at 4:00 p.m. and were shown to our room by the proprietress, Leslie Reeves. After a short nap we drove to El Monte Sagrado for the Reserve Tasting.

Like last year, the tasting filled two large meeting rooms. There was a mix of new participants and old favorites in both the wine and food categories. Gruet was there serving its top of the line Gilbert vintage champagne; this year's was the recently disgorged 2008 vintage (Disgorgement: A step in producing sparkling wines by means of the méthode champenoise to remove traces of yeast left over from the secondary fermentation.)  Several of Majestic Wines offerings surprised such as an Archery Summit Reserve Pinot Noir and a Boroli 2007 Barolo from high in the Piedmont.
One of the Old powerhouse wineries, HeitzCellars was pouring another year's stellar Martha's Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon ($175-200/per bottle).  The greatest producer of  Burgundy wines Drouhin was pouring its Pouilly-Fuissé. Among the new producers were a French rose champagne and Castello Banfi's organic super Tuscan,"Cum Laude", made from Sangiovese (Banfi Clonal Selection)/Cabernet Sauvignon/Merlot/Syrah grapes.  The gentleman pouring Banfi's "Cum Laude" described it as the oldest organically produced wine in Italy. It is good to know although satisfyingly predictable that one of the oldest wineries in the world is also one of the most progressive.  So there are almost as many interesting stories in the room as there are wines to taste and I was able to only capture a few. 

Among the food items, there were many tempting offerings for lots of reasons, Among the most attractive and delicious were fresh cherry stone clams on the half shell lying on a bed of salmon caviar and garnished with basil oil and minced tomatoes offered by Mondo Italiano along with homemade cannoli and cream puffs and a cheese and cream mousse on toast points. We ran from one room to the other fetching glasses of champagne and then running back to Mondo Italiano's table for another clam several times until we were embarrassed and promised to visit their restaurant and effusively complimented their food offerings.

Zippy, the Executive Chef at Doc Martins, did one of the most clever dishes I had. He laid a boiled s;ice of red beet on a slice of bread and garnished it with a dab of blue cheese creamed with mayonnaise. Simple, yet a perfect compliment for the multitude of great red wines being offered (Blue cheese and beet, what a simple, yet creative and delicious combination). Several restaurants offered lamb and duck dishes. El Meze offered both; a lamb and pork meatball in a pastry shell cup on a bed of creamy tomato coulis and a shredded duck on bread. The most wonderful vegetarian offering was by The Dragonfly Bakery and restaurant; an eggplant caponata with raisins, capers, garlic and carmelized onions on a slice of the most delicious French bread I ate at the Tasting. Worth a visit if only to buy their bread.

There were many other great red wines offered. Of course Josh Jensen of Calera was in attendance with a table full of his 2009 Jensen Pinot Noir grown on its 13.8 acre Jensen vineyard on Mt. Harlan high in the Monterrey Valley about 25 miles from the Pacific Ocean ($81.00). As Josh describes the Jensen Pinot Noir in his website,

"The 2009 Pinot Noir Jensen Vineyard is the biggest and richest of the 2009s.  It boasts stunning depth in its dark fruit, licorice, spices and sweet balsamic notes.  Layers of fruit totally saturate the palate as this utterly majestic Pinot opens up in the glass.  The sheer depth and nuance of the Jensen is simply breathtaking.  Readers will have to be patient, as the Jensen is very much built for the cellar.  It is an American classic to savor and enjoy to age 20 and perhaps beyond.  Anticipated maturity:  2014-2029." - Antonio Galloni, The Wine Advocate, 97 points

Wine Specs

Vintage 2009

Varietal Pinot Noir

Appellation Mt. Harlan

Robert Parker 97

The standouts wines this year's Reserve tasting were the high end reds. Besides Calera's Jensen, we drank one of my new old favorites, the powerful deeply focused Archery Summit Pinot Noir (Robet Parker's Wine Spectator 92 points) that I tasted for the first time last May in our first visit to the Dundee Hills in Oregon's Willamette Valley, we tasted the 2009 Beaux Frères Vineyard's Pinot Noir from Oregon's Yamhill District at Newburg at the northern end of the Willamette Valley ($90.00) and a 2009 Sineann "Resonance Vineyard" Willamette Valley Pinot Noir. 94 points Wine Spectator and #30 in Top 100 Wines of 2011 ($42.00). Last year we only tasted as far north as the Dundee Hills. so I think I have decided we must go back to Oregon to try the more northerly vineyards in the Newburg area and the Yamhill District. Alas, so many wines so little time.

Toward the end of the evening, Suzette discovered the best complement; Xocoatl, the Chocolate Cartel's raspberry truffles eaten with a sip of Jaffur Winery's Syrah, a new favorite combination. After about two hours of constant eating and drinking we had sampled all of the wine and food offerings we wished and decided to go to the main hotel to see the art. As Suzette so diplomatically stated, “You can eat a lot of food when you are eating a small bite of food with each new wine and tasting lots of wines.” We ended up in the mezzanine Library where here was a lovely orange felt covered old Brunswick pool table, so we spent an hour or so playing pool.

Around 8:30 p.m. we returned to the Old Taos Guesthouse and soaked in its wonderful hot tub with its clean 102 degree water for about ½ hour. After the hot jets of water released all the tensions from our bodies we crawled into bed for a pleasant night's sleep.

Bon Appetit