BeckySueEpstein.com » wine + spirits

What to Serve this Summer — with Fortified Wines

Becky Sue — Thu, 03 May 2012 18:41:15 +0000

With all the excellent Sherries and Ports at the BFT (Big Fortified Tasting) in London this week, it’s all the more surprising that people were talking about the Madeiras and Marsalas we sampled there. These wines were about as far away from anything you grew up with as you can imagine. Comparing today’s Marsala and Madeira wines to the cheap stuff you cooked with is like comparing the taste of fine, just-brewed Sumatra coffee with instant powdered coffee, stirred into warm water. I think I’ve made my point here.

Also, the number of well-made Rutherglen topaques and other fortified wines was a treat for an American; we don’t see much of those in the US at all.

Latest wine-and-food pairing: Chambers Rutherglen Muscat with gazpachao – apparently the acidity of the tomatoes does something wonderful in your mouth. Must try this at home!

Root beer vodka: most fun drink this summer. Really.

Three Clubs, Two Oceans and a Wine Challenge

Becky Sue — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 21:05:29 +0000

After a couple days judging at the International Wine Challenge, I wound down by linking up with South Africa’s Two Oceans Wines roving ambassador Liam Kelly, at London’s Frontline Club for journalists. Liam’s is a Cape Town native, about halfway through a year-long backpacking world tour which includes working in the US, teaching in Thailand, and adventure-touring through South America and Europe.
Two Oceans tries to have their Sauvignon Blanc and Cabernet Sauvignon wines delivered to various stops along the way. He didn’t have any with him, but after spending an hour over coffee, I am curious to try the wines – probably because we did not really talk about them. All I know is they’re sold in about 50 countries, and they’re made at the point where the Atlantic and the Indian Oceans meet.
Veteran photo-journalist Vaugan Smith created the Frontline Club, some years ago. The ground floor is a lovely, open restaurant with fresh produce brought in from his farm. Upstairs is a haven for journalists, where members can sit and write in the casual coffee/bar area – with some rooms for overnight stays on the next floor up. It’s minutes from Paddington Station.
Frontline also has amazing line-up of events, with people from every corner of the globe coming in to share stories about the truth of political and human rights events unfolding around them.
Later, we went on to two more London clubs, these two more conventional, the type you might read about in literature about London in the last century. We had a drink at the Naval Club, where men sat in the bar in quiet, earnest conversations. Then on to the National Liberal Club, an extremely grand atmosphere where the food tends toward comfort-food (school food, to the Brits).

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Grown-up chocolate milk with the help of Patrón

Becky Sue — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:42:29 +0000

Growing up, I loved chocolate milk, and when I find a similar taste in an “adult beverage” I’m generally pretty appreciative. So I was right on it, when these cute little bottles of Patrón XO Café Dark Cocoa Coffee Liqueur arrive the other morning. The sun must have been over the yardarm somewhere.
This tequila-based cocoa and coffee liqueur varied in aromas, first one dominating, then another: coffee then cocoa, then tequila. The same on the palate.
Then I read all the stuff that came with the bottles. Patrón Silver, Criollo chocolate from the Tabasco region of Mexico, coffee from Veracruz and Chiapas. There were also a lot of recipes of the type I’d like to sip late at night in a hotel bar, when I didn’t have to drive home. But now I was at home, so what did I do? I added ice, then poured in the milk. Yum.

Drink Port on Friday

Becky Sue — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 17:43:49 +0000

PORT PORT PORT. Friday January 27, 2012 is International Port Day. Have a bottle somewhere in the cellar? Always wanted to try port? Here’s your big opportunity. Sip and tweet #PortDay
And yes, you CAN have it with chocolate.

Clear, Non-fat Chocolate Dessert

Stay Away. Now Come Back. Chateau La Nerthe

Becky Sue — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 23:28:40 +0000

Stay Away: that was the first message I got from Chateau La Nerthe in the Southern Rhone area of France — in Chateauneuf du Pape, to be precise. On a wine trip there some years ago, it was clearly painful for them to have a few journalists admitted to this prestige domaine.

We were supposed to look around quietly, listen to a few words about the ancient vineyards we had traveled through, have a couple quick tastes and leave quickly and unobtrusively. Which we did. And I never thought much about the wines since that uncomfortable time. Or if I did, I mentally shrugged, remembering the wines as “not for the likes of us peons.”

So I was pretty surprised when I was recently invited to a luncheon in Boston featuring Chateau la Nerthe. I happened to be free, so I went over. And wow! The climate had really changed. New management? New attitude? Or was it that I was in the company of more salespeople today?

But as soon as I tasted the red wines, I didn’t care. Rich, luscious, balanced, powerful but at the same time elegantly crafted. The wines are blends of the traditional grapes of the area — grenache, syrah, mourvedre and cinsault – and they’ve been organic since 1998.

I looked up the pricing just now, and the average price for a bottle has been in the $40s for the past year or so, and I say: well worth it! On balance, drink vintages that are 3-8 years old to find them at their peak.

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Drink Armagnac, Live Longer

Becky Sue — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 03:23:19 +0000

Seriously beautiful countryside in Armagnac. This is the little alembic room at Chateau de Bordeneuve, tucked right up next to the vineyards. Spent the last week in the Armagnac region of France – in the Southwest region of Gascony, home of the swashbuckling Musketeers. It’s also home to all things duck, like foie gras – which is very mild here – and hearty beef and pork dishes, too. All of which I ate for lunch and dinner every day.
At the end of my visit, I was astonished to find that I hadn’t gained weight. They call this the Gascony Paradox. Drink Armagnac’s brandies every day along with the local foods, and live five years longer, too!
LISTEN to my snapshot of Armagnac info on iwineradio.com

Beer Wars movie LIVE

The Hospices de Beaune is coming up in a week or so, in Burgundy. But I was in Boston.

Becky Sue — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 21:48:33 +0000

Hospices de Beaune at dusk

Venerable Hospices de Beaune is the oldest charitable auction in the world, founded in 1859 – though the hospital it benefits dates from 1443. The event is also important because the auction prices are said to set market levels for the new vintage of top-tier Burgundy wines, each year.

I do love the walled, old city of Beaune. It’s brisk and medieval-feeling in the early dusk of November day when the Great Auction has just finished. Market stalls are bustling, lively entertainers sing and dance, and the lanes are filled with European tourists snapping up local artisanal foods: rich parsleyed hams, ultra-fresh crunchy-crusted breads, spiced honey-cakes. Alas, not for me, this year.

So I was pleasantly surprised when I received an invitation to taste some of the Hospice de Beaune wines from earlier years, as Christie’s (which took over the auction a few years ago) toured several US cities this fall. In Boston, we tasted at the First Republic Bank, so you can imagine it was a pretty haute crowd. Maybe next year I’ll get back to Beaune…

There were about 20 wines, mainly from 2009 and 2005, but with a few intermediate vintages too. My favorite reds were two of the 2005s: the Beaune 1er Cru, Cuvée Nicolas Rolin, and the Pommard 1er Cru, Cuvée Dames de la Charité. The whites were wonderful, notably the easy-drinking (are you allowed to say that about Burgundy?) 2007 Pouilly-Fuissé, Cuvée Françoise Poisard, and the beautifully balanced 2009 Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru, Cuvée François de Salins.

Was this my last lunch with Bernard?

Becky Sue — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 03:29:20 +0000

If I was a Bordeaux chateau owner, I’d probably do the same thing: concentrate on China right now. Still, it’s a bit unnerving when you see it happening right in front of you. Like at the recent Chateau Palmer lunch, with the Commanderie de Bordeaux in Boston. Charming Palmer marketing manager Bernard de Laage played it down, but he was essentially handing us over to a second-in-command, while he does the Asia route. Second in command in this case is the equally charming longtime friend of Palmer Jean-Louis Carbonnier, whose French accent is even more charming, but still…

It was, however, a wonderful lunch: BYOB Palmer at Upstairs on the Square in Cambridge, Mass. Not being a Palmer collector, I was allowed to bring the apéritif champagne: Cuvée Louise 1996, which went over pretty well. OK, yeah, it was a wine-snob lunch, and we all enjoyed every minute of it.

The wines: Palmer’s delightful 2003, 1990, 1989, then finishing with a very young and fresh 1983. In the middle, the 1979 was corked, alas, but someone rallied with a 1990 Léoville Las Cases, very herby by comparison with the lush Palmers. The menu: Potage of Native Celery Root with black truffle dumpling; Szechuan-Peppered Duck Breast with vanilla mascarpone potatoes, red wine roasted figs, turnips and their greens.

With the cheese we had Alter Ego’s second vintage, the merlot-based 1999, alongside the Palmer 1999. Both were terrific, and the Palmer got to show off its refinement.

Chocolate? Convince me!

Becky Sue — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 22:22:42 +0000

Chocolate, chocolate, I’ll try anything chocolate. Sometimes I’m surprised. Like with Van Gogh Vodka’s new Rich Dark Chocolate. I’ve tried quite a few of their flavors before, and I’m not always convinced. This one was very convincing. First of all, it actually is a dark chocolate flavor. If you were expecting creamy sweetness, this was confusing. If you were expecting a flavoring agent, this was also confusing. Because it is, after all, vodka.

Van Gogh Vodka Rich Dark Chocolate

At 70 proof and with a strong chocolate taste, you’re not going to drown this by adding flavoring elements, you have to blend pretty carefully. A safe route would be to make your own version of a Black Russian or Kahlua-and-cream type drink. A bolder version is to add citrus, but lemon and lime flavors (not orange) which are recommended in Van Gogh’s “S’More” cocktail recipe: 2 ounces Rich Dark Chocolate Vodka, ½ ounce agave nectar, 3 ounces lemon-lime soda. The whole recipe includes graham cracker rimmers and other finesses I didn’t happen to have on hand, so I just went with the three main ingredients, which worked surprisingly well.
We also had fresh oranges, so we tried adding some of the juice and a slice of orange and that worked too – though I would recommend either the lemon-lime OR the orange, not both. Or try your own combinations. There’s plenty of vodka in that bottle.

Silence Improves Jacob’s Creek Wines?

Becky Sue — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 02:07:36 +0000

Actually, it was a relaxing Jacob’s Creek webinar the other day — once I calmed down and realized there was nothing I could do to get the sound to work on this laptop I took on vacation with me.
It’s been a while since I tried Jacob’s Creek wines, and I was favorably impressed with several of them.
So I tasted along happily with the quiet slides, making my notes and enjoying the silence.

Jacob’s Creek Chief Winemaker Bernard Hickin

Tasting notes on the Jacob’s Creek Reserve Wines:
1. Barossa Dry Riesling 2010: mineral and limestone, a touch floral. Acidity around the edges of a longish finish. Crowd-pleaser in the house, after the tasting.
2. Adelaide Hills Chardonnay 2009: Peaches in the nose, but not too much vanilla. Good acidity. Mix of Old- and New-World styles. Lushness with positive citric qualities. Surprisingly pleasant discovery for me.
3. Adelaide Hills Pinot Noir 2009: floral and jam aroma, along with a saline quality. Jam with the barest touch of earth and a sweet finish. Very New World fruitiness.
4. Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon 2009: plenty of leafiness, black current in aroma and flavor, some minerality and heat in finish. A soft wine.
5. Barossa Shiraz 2008. Earth and butter, in a medium-light style. Very ripe fruit, as well. New World, easy to sip.