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21

Apr

Back to Buffalo

Jacob Gaffney  in White Wines, Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon, Viognier , , , ,

Did you try Friday’s buffalo wing recipe? Well, I did, but without the benefit of the suggested wine. Simply put, InterWined’s recipe inspired me to experiment.
In this case, the gamble was with the widespread 2006 Jacob’s Creek ‘Three Vines’ white, £7 from Costcutter. The Three Vines offerings by Jacob’s Creek are nothing short of the […]

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18

Apr

Homemade Buffalo Wings with Lemon Parsely Dip

Sean Sellers  in Sparkling Wines, Pinot Noir Chardonnay, Blow the Bank, Meat & Poultry , , , , , ,

InterWined Food
Each Friday, InterWined.com pairs one great wine with one great meal and publishes the results along with the recipe in a little feature it likes to call ‘Blow the Bank’.

This week, ‘Blow the Bank’ continues InterWined’s All American, a month-long celebration of some of American cuisine’s greatest dishes from classic comfort foods to the unsung greats of American soulfood, with InterWined’s Own Homemade Buffalo Wings with Lemon Parsley Dip.

Homemade Buffalo WingsLemon & ParsleyLemon, Parsley & Pepper Dipping SauceBreaded and Floured for Fans of Each

You could write a book about Buffalo Wings…and, indeed, someone has. Two someones, if fact — Aaron Reynolds and Paulette Bogan. They are a children’s author and an illustrator, respectively, and the book is called — surprise, surprise — Buffalo Wings. It’s the story of a rooster and quest and a recipe by woman named Bellissimo and made famous by a guy named Frank at a place called the Anchor Bar in Buffalo, New York.

And, if a story about what must surely be a cannibal rooster hungry for some chicken wings doused in a sauce created by a woman named beautiful in a bar in Buffalo doesn’t mark out a recipe as an American classic, nothing will. Let’s be honest, shall we?

Now, controversial tales of cannibalising roosters aside, the story of Buffalo Wings still finds itself in the midst of a minor controversy. To bread or not to bread…

Breaded wings are able to absorb more of the sauce into the breading and maintain the fiery kick of the peppers; they are a little more civilised and only slightly messy to eat, the breading coming free on the tips of one’s fingers and easily picked away. Un-breaded wings somewhat prevent the sauce from fully absorbing into the meat of the wing; sauce drips from wings and stains the fingers and lips a bright orange. Given our rooster friend’s rather shocking predilections, this is surely his preferred method of feasting, feathers ruffled and orange stains everywhere.

Now, whatever your choice in all things chicken wings, InterWined is here to help. (I was going to write “swings both ways”, but was worried what kind of spam comments those words might generate. But, since I just wrote that I wasn’t going to write it, I’ll guess I’ll find out soon enough.)

Regardless of how you take your wings and which way InterWined swings, the Brown Brothers Non-Vintage Pinot Noir Chardonnay & Pinot Meunier (13%), £9-10 from Waitrose, is a treat. It’s not a sophisticated as a sparkling white wine could be; it’s not a dazzler to save for a special occasion — even if it did recently win the 2007 Yarden Trophy at International Wine and Spirits Competition in London. It’s a non-vintage, after all. It’s a sparkler to enjoy any day at any time for any occasion that I discovered in 2004, while looking for a bottle of wine to take to BYOB Vietnamese in Newtown, Sydney Australia. There’s a light, green-apple tinge perfectly in keeping with its pale yellow-green colour. It’s light and unfussy without being forgettable, fruity for a dry wine, and marked with a creamy sweetness to it. The creamy fruit flavour makes for an excellent balance to the spicy, hot zing of the Buffalo Wing sauce and the citrus and herb flavour of the lemon parsley dip. A winning wine for a winning recipe: 9.5.

InterWined’s Own Recipe in Full

Homemade Buffalo Wings with Lemon Parsley Dip

Click on the post to view and download the recipe

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10

Apr

A Tempting Tempranillo…the Olympic Torch…and the best current wine web offer

Jacob Gaffney  in Red Wines, Tempranillo, Nerello Mascalese , , , , , , , , , , ,

Watch the Olympic torch make its way around the world, and one is filled with images that just don’t go together. The journey of the flame is proving more of a divider, not a uniter. Blue-suited Chinese paramilitary, without any seeming executive powers, roughing up interlopers that are oddly obsessed with extinguishing the fire. The […]

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24

Jan

Petit Verdot Down Under

Jacob Gaffney  in Red Wines, Petit Verdot , , ,

When this site started around two years ago, Petit Verdot (the little guy in the Bordeaux grape blend) was making some inroads as a single varietal wine. In areas of Spain, it was going great; in other areas, such as Australia, it was kinda ho-hum.
Now, that the crazy Aussies are more distracted by blending Viognier […]

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14

Jan

The Guessing Game

Jacob Gaffney  in Red Wines, Grenache , , , ,

The 2004 Bethany Grenache Barossa from Schrapel Family Vineyards: Co-Op, £7. Heavy aroma of raspberry, with an undercurrent of wet earth. There is a touch of violet in this one, but it tastes mainly like grape-flavored tootsie-roll pop.

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11

Jan

Apple & Cinnamon Sweet Potato Muffins

Sean Sellers  in Dessert Wine, Semillon, Blow the Bank, Desserts , , , , ,

InterWined Food
Each Friday, InterWined.com pairs one great wine with one great meal and publishes the results along with the recipe in a little feature it likes to call ‘Blow the Bank’.

This week ‘Blow the Bank’ returns to Beatrice Peltre, La Tartine Gourmande, and her Versatility in a Spinach and Sweet Potato Cake to bring you Mostly InterWined’s Own Apple & Cinnamon Sweet Potato Muffins.

Apple & Cinnamon Sweet Potato Muffins

For many eaters, muffins are synonymous with one meal — breakfast. But, long before the humble blueberry muffin appeared in a powder from Betty Crocker or its low fat oat cranberry cousin went on sale at Starbucks, the muffin was a tea cake and before that a bread.

So while Mostly InterWined’s Own Apple & Cinnamon Sweet Potato Muffin makes an excellent breakfast muffin — and it does to be sure — it also makes a superb dessert cake and, even, a superior alternative to the more common apple sauce and potato found served alongside a nice pork loin or chop. (Don’t believe me, try it and you’ll see.)

On this occasion, InterWined chose to serve it as a dessert or pudding, as some people might prefer.

The 2006 Peter Lehmann Botrytis Semillon (12.5%), £7.99 from Oddbins for a half bottle and widely available in the US for approximately $18-$20, made for an almost perfect match. Why almost perfect? The wine is just a tad too sugary sweet. Peter Lehmann’s chief winemaker confidently proclaims the 2006 vintage its finest ever produced, and InterWined is hard pressed to disagree. This wine is fresh and, mostly, easy-to-drink. The colour is a honeyed gold, with the slight sense of honey continuing on the nose before really hitting the palate with a burst of honeyed fruit. This is wine made from bees, if ever there was one.

But, for InterWined, it all comes back to the sensation that there is just a tad too much sweetness in the wine. Normally, if one finds a dessert wine too sweet it would indicate an imbalance. Yet, in all honesty, I don’t think that there is one. The slightness of it all could equally suggest that my complaint is simply one of personal preference. (Maybe I just don’t like wine made of noble rot, as much as I thought I did.)

In terms of the pairing, what might have made this a more prefect match and probably helped to overcome any nagging sense of sweetness would have been to increase the amount of sweet potato and cheese by a few millimetres and sprinkle into the mixture a few more twists of pepper mill. But be careful when doing so, too much grated potato or cheese and the muffin will loose its very appealing lightness and become quite stodgy.

In the end, Mostly InterWined’s Own Apple & Cinnamon Sweet Potato Muffin with Peter Lehmann’s Botrytis Semillon: 8.something rather impressive but equally probably rather meaningless, something Robert Parker Scale-esque like 86/100. Whatever that means.

Mostly InterWined’s Own Recipe In Full

Apple & Cinnamon Sweet Potato Muffin
(Makes six muffins)

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25

Dec

The 7th Wine of Christmas: 2005 Katnook Founder’s Block

Jacob Gaffney  in Red Wines, Cabernet Sauvignon , , ,

The 2005 Katnook Founder’s Block Cabernet Sauvignon (12.5%) is straight Aussie Cab Sav with flavours of raspberries and violets.

What’s more fun, however, is the taste of powdered hot cocoa mix.

We know it’s Christmas, but don’t add marshmallows; it will clash with the oak: 8.4 alone; 8.7 in discounted mixed case.

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21

Dec

The 3rdWine of Christmas: 2005 Finn ‘Off the Leash’

Jacob Gaffney  in White Wines, Chardonnay , ,

Who knows what’s in this white wine blend? But who cares really as The 2005 Finn ‘Off the Leash’ (13%) is a great wine to start the festivities. It’s crisp and somewhat crassy, so there is some Chardonnay lurking (60% — ed.).
Medium-bodied and fresh, it pair well with appetizers. But, as with most table wines, it suffers under the weight of its own basic structure: 8.4 alone and as a mixed case.

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28

Nov

In the Moody’s

Jacob Gaffney  in Red Wines, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot , , , , , ,

The christmas press party at Moody’s Investors Service was held last night in the upper walkways of Tower Bridge, high above the Thames. PR guy Daniel told InterWined that the place gave the ratings agency a good deal on the evening’s rental, £15,000 for three hours.
You think the Tower could serve decent food for that […]

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14

Oct

Haloumi on Aduki Bean & Spinach Bed

Sean Sellers  in Red Wines, Cabernet Sauvignon, Petit Verdot, News, Blow the Bank, Vegetarian , , , ,

InterWined Food
Every Friday, InterWined.com pairs one great wine that exceeds its normal £10 ($20) threshold with one great meal, prepared following the instructions of some the Internet’s best food blogs.

This week’s ‘Blow the Bank’ comes in the form of Sunday lunch and its own recipe for Haloumi on Aduki Bean & Spinach Bed.

Haloumi on Aduki Bean & Spinach BedHaloumi

In recent weeks, it seems that every supermarket has unveiled its own version this week’s ‘Blow the Bank’, call it serendipity or coincidence. Just don’t call it a controversy. Leave that to the wine.

The 2006 Red Heart Cabernet Sauvignon Petit Verdot from South Australia, £5 from Sainsbury’s, is shrouded in controversy. Bottled in Northamptonshire for Buckingham Vintners, yet allegedly produced in South Australia’s Riverland. But, as Kim Wheatley and Paul Kent of Adelaide Now reported in December 2006, “Sainsbury’s says the wine comes from Kingston on Murray in the Riverland, but declined to elaborate on the vineyard that produces it. The Sunday Mail has contacted the main growers in the region, including Kingston Estate, Banrock Station and Salena Estate. All said they knew nothing of Red Heart.”

All very mysterious…

But wait; there’s more. Red Heart advertises itself as the Britain’s healthiest wine, containing 32% more antioxidants than average. Indeed the back of the bottle reads more like a press release for the health page of woman’s magazine than it does the traditional tasting notes and “excellent with cheese” malarkey more commonly found on the back of wine bottles these days.

According to Wheatley and Kent’s report, the wine’s health allegations put it in breach of wine export regulations. The two quote Australian Wine and Brandy Corporation corporate affairs manager Eric Wisgard as saying, “It’s almost promoting wine as a health drink and that’s something that’s not permitted. Because of these reciprocal agreements between all the wine trading nations, it effectively would be an international breach.”

Regardless of the controversy, InterWined’s ‘Blow the Bank’ is first and foremost interested in pairing foods and wine and the Red Heart makes an interesting and satisfying match to the haloumi salad.

A red wine most often paired with grilled meats and grassy steaks, the Cabernet Sauvignon Petit Verdot blend here nicely compliments the grilled and chewy texture of the haloumi cheese, helping to give it a meatier quality and smooth its often salty flavour. The Red Heart’s juicy, blackcurrant taste and pepper/chocolate nose also support the subtle flavours of the peppered aduki bean and spinach bed. And, while the controversy surrounding the wine might not matter much to the average drinker, it matters to InterWined: 7.9. A good match, soured by controversy.

InterWined’s Own Recipe In Full

Haloumi on Aduki Bean and Spinach Bed

Click on the post to view and download the recipe

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