Whine # 24 - February, 2011

WHINE # 24

To Flute or not to Flute: A few of you will remember my complaining way back in Whine # 7 about old Hollywood movies where Champagne was being drunk from a sherbet glass instead of a flute. Well, the complaint still holds. The other night someone in my house (surely it couldn't have been me with such poor taste in the film arts) was watching the 1998 Meg Ryan movie "Addicted to Love". There she was drinking some sort of sparkling wine from what appeared to be a small bird bath with a glass stem. The wine must have gone flat in less than 20 seconds.

However, some experts now suggest that the flute (a very tall, narrow glass) may not be the ideal vessel for enjoying one's favorite Champagne or Cava. The argument (thanks to Marie-Claude Gleize for bringing a recent Le Monde article to my attention) is that the flute is too narrow. Supposedly the escaping effervescence goes up one's nose and blocks the aroma of the wine itself.

So if the sherbet dish has too wide a surface area making the wine lose all its bubbles in a few seconds and the flute holds the effervescence but brings on a series of robust sneezes, are you reduced to drinking straight from the bottle? The recommended solution is a tulip-shaped glass that is relatively narrow at the top. One expert suggests that the glass should look a bit like a rugby ball standing upright on a tee but with the top end expunged.

No doubt it will be awhile before this new generation of Champagne glasses reaches the shelves of your local WalMart. In the meantime, hold your nose and continue drinking from your favorite flute.

Scallops and Chardonnay: Yes, I'm pushing Chardonnay again (Chablis if you can afford the French version). Although some of you find Chardonnay overly rich and prefer a more crisp, citrus-flavoured wine, perhaps you haven't matched Chardonnay with a perfectly complementary food. First of all, Chardonnay goes with butter; in fact to quote Ron Crooks "Chardonnay loves Butter".

As you know Chardonnay can be either oaked or unoaked (and there should be an indication on the label), the oaked version sometimes having an overly rich flavour that has frequently resulted in the "ABC" request ("Anything But Chardonnay").

Here are two recipes that I've stolen from Ron Crooks, who, by the way, is the manager of Halifax's Port of Wines and who is one of the region's most wine-knowledgeable persons. Mr. Crook's suggests that scallops make an ideal match for Chardonnay. The first recipe is quite simple and is suggested as a match with the less rich unoaked wine. The second recipe takes a little more effort to make but when paired with a richly flavoured oaked Chardonnay will result in the kind of contentment that red wine lovers feel following a rare prime rib matched with a well-aged Cabernet.

Recipe # 1 (with the unoaked wine)

Sear some scallops in a pan with a little butter and oil, then saute some mushrooms and shallots. Combine the scallops, mushrooms and shallots and sprinkle some buttery bread crumbs (melt a couple of tbsp. of butter and toss with 1/4 cup crumbs) over the top and crisp up in the oven for 10 minutes or so.

Recipe # 2 (Coquille St. Jacques with oaked Chardonnay

Bechamel Sauce: 2 tbsp. butter
1 1/2 tbsp. flour
1 cup milk
Salt and Pepper
Juice from 1/4 lemon (optional)
Pinch nutmeg (optional)

Melt butter over medium heat, stir in flour. DO NOT LET MIXTURE BROWN. Slowly add milk, stirring constantly. Add remaining ingredients. Stir until thickened. Set aside.

Scallops: 1 lb. Digby scallops (rinsed and patted dry with paper towel)
1 cup dry white wine
1 shallot, finely chopped
1/4 cup Gruyere cheese, grated
1/8 cup Parmesan cheese, grated

Bring wine and scallops to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer one minute. Remove scallops with slotted spoon and set aside. Add shallots to the wine. Cook over medium heat until wine is reduced by half.

Preheat broiler, then slowly stir the wine/shallots mixture into the Bechamel Sauce. Stir in cheeses, heat until cheese is melted. Add scallops and remove from heat. Turn mixture into buttered oven-proof dish or individual scallop shells. Broil 2-3 minutes until bubbly and lightly browned.

Montepulciano d'Abruzzo: Arguably the best bargain in Italian wine can be a bottle of Montepulciano d'Abruzzo. Montepulciano is the reigning grape of Abruzzo. This grape makes a dark, fragrant, tannic, and sturdy red wine with naturally low acidity (unlike other inexpensive Italian wines) that's capable of some aging. Montepulciano is the fifth most planted grape in Italy, after Sangiovese, Barbera, Merlot, and Negroamaro. However, Montepuliano is also the name of a town in Tuscany. However, the wine of this Tuscan town is called Vino Nobile and bears no relation to Montepulciano. Confused? Don't worry, the Vino Nobile is rarely available in Canada and if you could find it you wouldn't pay the price anyway.

Opimian Offering 200: Once a year Opimian offers great wines from South America. How can one resist ordering everything in the catalogue? To make matters worse there are also some decent Rhone wines in the same catalogue. In fact, every year Betty complains that I didn't order enough from this particular offering, while ordering too many wines from other places. So my advice to you is to say "the hell with my melting Visa card" and place your order.

With great difficulty I have narrowed my recommendations to the following:

5956: Chateau de Montmirail Gigondas. A little less expensive than Chateauneuf-du-Pape this wine, although not exactly a bargain, will please. I have ordered from this winery several times in the past.

5963: Domaine Gilles Flacher, Saint Joseph. This is a great Syrah from the Northern Rhone. In fact, it made my list of top ten wines of 2010 in last month's Whine.

5972: Tematico Reserva Malbec. I have not tried this one but I'm going to trust the quote in the catalogue "if you only ever try one Malbec try this"

5986 and 5987: These two reserve wines from Villard should be great buys in the under $20. category. I've had Villard Expresion Reserve Pinot on several occasions and think it is one of the best Pinots from anywhere. Hopefully the Merlots and Cabernets are equally good.

6005 and 6006: I am a great fan of Cornellana Barrel Reserves. In fact I've paired these wines on several occasions and had dinner guest prefer them to more expensive wines.