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14

Apr

Bonarda Tries its Best

Jacob Gaffney  in Red Wines, White Wines, Bonarda, Verdelho , , , , ,

At a recent lunch with colleagues in London’s financial fun zone, Canary Wharf, InterWined.com decided to put a single varietal bottle of Bonarda to the test. The way we saw it, Argentina’s popular wine should pair well with a sampling of Argentina’s popular steaks.
So we settled in to a table at Gaucho Grill, an Argentina-themed […]

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14

Sep

Pancetta & Banana Pizza

Sean Sellers  in White Wines, Blow the Bank, Meat & Poultry, Vinho Verde , , , ,

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’ takes a slight departure from the norm and comes courtesy of a meal rather than a recipe.

Pancetta & Banana PizzaVinho Verde

As any chef will attest, cooking from a recipe and cooking from memory are not the same. It’s the difference between visiting a new place with a travel guide and street map and arriving in a town you visited once with the name of a café you vaguely remember and five quid for cab. You hope the fiver is enough to get you to the restaurant and that both it and the city are as good as your memory tell you they are.

Well, this week’s ‘Blow the Bank’ is the culinary equivalent of that cab ride down memory lane. On 4 August, InterWined wrote with relish of the discovery of Banana and Bacon Pizza. Since then, several readers have asked about this somewhat unorthodox combination in comments and e-mails and encouraged InterWined to grab a few bob and head down to memory café.

From memory, the Banana and Bacon Pizza was sauceless, sweet, and salty; and, as its name suggested, was topped with slices of banana and bacon.

The wine on the occasion, a Hungarian Pinto Grigio, was ordered more for curiosity’s sake than flavours, but paired incredibly well. It was mildly citric and subdued and cut the through the fat and saltiness (always tough to pair with wine) of the smoky bacon.

This week, InterWined chose a different wine with a different signature than that of the Pinot Grigio: a 2006 Quinta de Simaens Vinho Verde, for £4.17 from Waitrose.

Vinho Verde, or Green Wine, is a Portuguese table wine; but that’s not written as an insult. Rather, it’s indication of the wine’s purpose. The Vinho Verde isn’t made for cellaring; it’s made for today and enjoying with a meal tonight.

The 2006 Quinta de Simaens is ripe and tropical in colour and bouquet with slight acidity that mellows after the first sip. An excellent companion for the hot, soft banana and woody pancetta. Like most white table wines, the bottle says serve as an aperitif or with white fish; InterWined says be more adventurous and serve with Pancetta & Banana Pizza sprinkled with black pepper and ripped basil leaves.

For those unable to source the Quinta de Simaens, InterWined highly recommends the 2007 Gazela Vinho Verde, retailing for $4.99 from Astor Wines.com. The 2007 is lighter than the Quinta de Simaens with a slight sparkle and gentle acidity.

InterWined’s Recipe in Full

Pancetta & Banana Pizza

Click on the post to view and download the recipe

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7

Aug

This White is a Cretan

Jacob Gaffney  in White Wines, Fernão Pires, Arinto, Vilana , , , , ,

Oddbins is offering an amazing white wine from Greece for around £6: the 2006 Xerolithia, from the hills of Peza, using the Vilana grape (that’s one more variety done!), indigenous to Crete. This zippy, nicely acidic wine is sadly pulled down by an almost-too-heavy body. The wine is widely complex for a white in this price range and can be consumed only a few degrees below room temperature: 8.8.

Another Oddbins offering, this time from Portugal, needs to be served very cold for the greatest enjoyment. The 2006 Portal da Águia Branco, from wine producer Quinta da Alorna, is from Ribatejo, smack dab in the centre of the country. This wine is zippy and perfect for warm and hot days (throw over some ice, drink with a straw). Lemon zest and some pineapple. Light, airy and very simple. Clear as straw, so it’s overfiltered, and the stainless steel fermentation is a bit too overpowering, but that’s just being picky, for wine that’s costs 5 quid. The wine is a blend of Fernão Pires and Arinto grapes (that’s two more!). These grapes are native to Portugal and flourish in the arrid environment. It’s is becoming more and more popular for the Portuguese to stick to their own. InterWined loves that pluck: 8.5.

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5

Mar

Planet Organic

Jacob Gaffney  in Red Wines, Organic, Cabernet Sauvignon, Shiraz/Syrah, Merlot, Touriga Nacional , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

A £6 bottle of Organic Rouge describes itself as ’supple, warming Mediterranean wine.’ From Cotes de Thongue in the South of France, this non-vintage wine is full of red berry, but should have a more robust flavour profile. The wine was more stretched thin than supple, and more hot than warming. Not really the ’sun in the cup’ the label made it seem. The next day, it was oxidized, left with about four-fifths still in the bottle. Undrinkable. If a wine can’t last longer than a day, then what is it worth? For my blog, always under 8 points: 7.7.

The 2004 Quinta do Coa, a Vinho Tinto from the Douro river valley in Portugal, known as Duero in Spain. Wines from the Duero are just sooo good. But this is the first Organic Douro to hit these lips. At £9.25, it’s getting a bit pricey, and while the wine should pack more of a punch, the elegance of the blackberry and hints of bitter chocolate satisfy the mouth, if not the wallet: 8.4.

At nearly £12, the 2004 L’Orangerie de Haut-Nouchet from Pessac-Leognan is easily the best, but that’s expected to go with the price tag. The terroir and elegance were there, but the most important aspect was the harmony. The wine is not too tannic, nor is it too thin. It’s well-balanced and ready-to-drink…with almost anything. But it is 28% too expensive: 8.5.

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30

Jan

Yeah, Yeah, A Day Late

Jacob Gaffney  in Red Wines, Shiraz/Syrah, Carignan, Touriga Nacional , , , , , , , ,

2003 Sanguinhal Estremadura: Ripe and bold, with black fruit and moist tobacco. Smooth tannin and a solid structure. Finish non-existent, giving the wine one, big great flaw. Other than that, feeling turned around on Portugal: 8.7.

2004 Lusitano Alentejo: Plumy and bubble-gummy, black cherry aroma, with a tad too much oak. Real old world style and surprisingly daring and rich; also, died in the aftertaste department: 8.8.

Decided to try the Bonny Doon, ‘Ancient Vine,’ Carignan, 2004. This wine brings with it a reputation larger than its label. Compared to the Portuguese wines, it was thin. Not unpleasant, but lacked the minerality and earth of the other two (just remembered the two Portuguese wines had that). That’s what you get when you stick ancient vines in fertile earth, though. No true identity; just another California wine. Drank the rest of the bottle the next evening with no apparent oxygen evolution: 8.5.

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11

Sep

On the Serious Tip

Jacob Gaffney  in Red Wines, Shiraz/Syrah, Castelão , , , , , ,

The 2004 Portal de Aquia contained four grapes: Tinta Roriz, Castelao, Syrah and Alicante Bouschet. The wine was thin, rusty, musty, and seemed like it was reclining in the shade, instead of working in the field. Lazy bugger: 8.0.

On the other hand, the 2004 Quinta Vista – Castelao, Tinta Miuda, Camarate – was around the same price, £5. But it was a different wine altogether. Juicy, pleasant with hints of overcooked caramel. And guess what? It tastes like wine! No identity problems here. Straight shooter: 8.6.

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