Different but classically winter dish from Epicurious

Spiced Carrot-Apple Soup With Fresh Mint

Bon Appétit | December 2010

by Selma Brown Morrow

Yield: Makes 6 servings

Active Time: 50 minutes Total Time: 50 minutes 2 tablespoons chicken fat or olive oil 1 1/2 cups chopped white onion 1 1/4 pounds carrots, peeled, diced, plus 1 carrot, peeled, halved lengthwise 3 3/4 cups low-salt chicken broth 3/4 cup diced peeled fuji apple plus 1/2 cup finely diced (for garnish) 2 teaspoons chopped fresh ginger 4 1/2 tablespoons frozen apple juice concentrate, thawed 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice Coarse kosher salt Chopped fresh mint Heat chicken fat in large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onion; sauté 2 minutes. Add all carrots, broth, 3/4 cup apple, and ginger; bring to boil. Cover. Reduce heat; simmer until carrots are tender, about 20 minutes. Remove carrot halves; dice finely. Puree soup in batches in blender; return to pan. Mix in apple juice and spices. Season with coarse salt and pepper. Ladle soup into bowls. Top with finely diced carrot, finely diced apple, and mint.

I love the Epicurious website for cool ideas

Beet and Tangerine Salad with Cranberry Dressing

Bon Appétit | December 2010

by The Bon Appétit Test Kitchen

(photo by: José Picayo) For this colorful and festive starter, be sure to grate the peel from the tangerines before cutting off the rind and slicing them into rounds. Yield: Makes 6 servings Active Time: 25 minutes Total Time: 25 minutes 3 2 1/2-inch-diameter red beets, tops trimmed 3 large tangerines (such as Murcott) 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil 3 tablespoons frozen cranberry juice cocktail concentrate, thawed 1 tablespoon raspberry vinegar or red wine vinegar 1/3 cup paper-thin slices red onion 1 large bunch watercress, thick stems trimmed Place beets in deep large microwave-safe bowl. Add enough water to reach depth of 1 inch. Cover with plastic wrap and microwave on high until beets are tender, about 15 minutes. Meanwhile, finely grate enough peel from tangerines to measure 2 teaspoons. Cut top and bottom off each tangerine. Cut off all peel and white pith, following contour of fruit. Cut each tangerine horizontally into 1/3-inch-thick rounds, removing any seeds. Whisk oil, cranberry juice concentrate, vinegar, and reserved tangerine peel in small bowl to blend. Season dressing to taste with salt and pepper. Mix in onion. Hold 1 beet under cold running water and rub off skin. Repeat with remaining 2 beets. Cut beets horizontally into 1/4- to 1/3-inch-thick rounds. Sprinkle beets with salt and pepper. Arrange watercress sprigs on large platter to cover. Arrange beet rounds and tangerine rounds atop watercress. Using fork, lift onion slices from dressing and arrange over salad. Drizzle with dressing. Per serving: 134 calories, 7 g fat, 3 g  fiber Nutritional analysis provided by Bon Appétit

Kermit Lynch: Importer of the Month

Kermit Lynch:

38 years of Fighting the Good Fight

We are lucky to be in New York City as wine lovers. Solely because of the choices we have at our fingertips. When I first started tasting professionally the wines that stood out as having something special about them had a common thread linking them. They weren’t mass-produced. All of them were smaller production wines. I soon started to get to know importers of small production wines and found that a good deal of them only brought in wines to major markets like New York City. They’re all very different companies with different focuses. Some smaller than others, but they were all fighting the good fight.

What is the good fight? It is easy to see as a wine professional. As a consumer it might get fuzzy so here it goes: It is hard to make well-made, unique wine. It is impossible to mass-produce well-made, unique wine. You can make a lot of money by importing a lot of wine and selling it all over the country. It just won’t be well-made and unique. By going to the Old World, driving back roads to find small producers of great wine that you can only import a small amount of is the “good fight”. They don’t make Yellow Tail money but they are bringing real culture and insight to our shores. This, to me, demands respect and admiration.

Kermit Lynch is touted as one of the first people to do this. And has influenced the business plan of many importers today. He started a wine shop in Berkley, California in 1972 and soon after started importing. He is one of the only people with the reputation of a terroir-influenced importer that is distributed nationally. Which is a feat in itself. Kermit has won many awards, honors from the French government, authored two books and an extensive blog, which you can find here. He also produces wine as well from a historic vineyard in Gigondas. What a great guy, right?

Kermit represents about 100 producers and by 2005 only imported around 15000 cases per year. That is less then a lot of producers total production. Thank god we have so many of them here in the store because who knows how long the wines will be around?

That is the one draw back to small production wines: there isn’t a lot of it. This seems to go without saying, but trust me; it needs to be said. In this country we are brand-oriented consumers. We find comfort in seeing a familiar name or picture on the label. The key to finding wine that isn’t advertised or famous is talking to your wine people. We specialize in small production wines here at Vestry. We hand pick wines from the many importers of small production wine. For me, Kermit Lynch is one of the most reliable names I can think of when it comes to quality and uniqueness -especially if I don’t recognize the winemaker's name.

My Home Wine Bar

My Home Wine Bar or A Note On Wine Accessories

I was looking through a wine magazine and was astounded by the amount of accessories I would never buy for my home wine bar. I’m a wine professional and have been for several years. If there were a necessity or a cool device I would know all about it. I am not anti-accessory. There are plenty accessories I do have in my home wine bar.

The first thing I want to touch on is wine glasses. There are advantages in owning stemware (wine glasses with stems). The reason that tablecloths are white in restaurants is to help you observe wine. The stem helps keep the glass clean. The main reason for stems is to preserve the temperature of the wine. Temperature is very important and can heavily affect the taste of the wine. If the white is too cold you can miss out on its subtle complexities. If a red is too warm it’s gross. All of the glasses I own have stems. Now Go-Vino is a different story. Go-Vino cups are plastic, $2.99, the correct shape and have no odor making it a picnic must have. Just don’t put them in the dishwasher.

Aerator: Useful or full of hot air? The answer is: useful. Air is good for wine. It softens tannins and reveals fruit though earthiness. We have all been in the situation where a wine is so delicious that we consume it quickly. However, without proper aeration we might be missing out on what that wine might transform into with a little air. The best wines need this aeration and only get better with air. That’s what decanters do. They spread out the wine to expose a large surface area to the air thus aerating it. I don’t know about you but I don’t carry around my decanter with me. Even if I’m at home I might not want to pour the whole bottle out just to aerate the wine. Decanters are more thorough but aerators are more convenient.

Oxygen is good for the wine… until it starts to turn wine into vinegar. My grandparents would fill water bottles all the way to the top and cap it. This stopped all oxygenation but left the wine with a plastic flavor. For this the proper device is a vacuum system. It pumps the air out of the bottle thus extending the life of the wine. This is perfect for the person who only has one glass of wine with dinner. On average I drink wine up to 4 days after I open it (in most cases).

Corkscrews, here’s the deal. I own a waiters corkscrew with a double hinge and a hollow Teflon screw. Unless you are unable to put forth the effort needed to open a bottle of wine, you shouldn’t own anything else.

Thanks again for reading. Please write and tell me about your accessory rip offs and failures.

Turkey and Pinot Noir

Gobble Up That Pinot Noir

by Jason Hatfield

The traditional Thanksgiving meal is the perfect thing to pair with Pinot Noir, the main red grape of Burgundy. Thanksgiving in my past was family oriented, meaning thousands of children running wild. I didn't think of the traditional meal as a wine meal until just a few years ago. The fact is a Thanksgiving meal can be extremely enhanced by the right wine. Now I am kicking myself for all of those beer and football themed holidays (just kidding, I had fun).

In my house the turkey is the centerpiece of the Thanksgiving meal. I don't want a heavy wine that will fill my mouth with grippy tannins. It will overpower the delicate flavors of the bird. Beaujolais is also a classic pairing with this meal, but I find I prefer an earthy Burgundy to the forward fruitiness of Beaujolais. Some American Pinot Noir's are known to be fruity but we have discovered that some aren't. Actually they can be pretty serious wines and pair great with this meal. Also if you use strong herbs in your bird this really jives with Pinot. This is only a preference; don't feel bad about loving Beaujolais and fruity Pinot.

For a lover of Burgundy, this is a great excuse to try some of those "special occasion" wines you've been coveting. They do disserve a grand meal, don't they? If your just getting into Burgundy the most classy and outrageously tasty ones are meant to be had with food. Younger and less expensive Burgundian wines seem to need food to balance that great acidic structure.

Have fun!

Be sure to write and tell me what you're planning.

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