Chronicles Of Consumption

Tasting Notes Link - Almost Here

Everyone knows that the anticipation of a great event is almost more exciting than the event itself... Patience Nahthern you churlish milk-livered malt-worm, all good things come to those who wait... Probably tomorrow in fact.

Tasting notes link

The world is waiting with baited breath - come on Fatboy et al

Amazing Gruner Veltliner - Hiedler, 'Maximum', 2007; And The Sunshine Cafe, Andersonville

This is about as good a Gruner Veltliner as I have tasted in a long while, and seeing as though it is supposed to be a 'fashionable' wine at the moment, I thought I'd mention it.  Here's a quick tasting note:

This is a splendidly rich and pretty full bodied wine; it is medium gold in colour and has strong floral aromatics with plenty of melon, peach and apricot, a hint of pepper and a wet rock minerality, giving the impression of a lush, full wine - in fact you can almost smell the body and texture! This is confirmed on the palate with very intense flavours, a creamy texture and very well-balanced acidity, with a long finish. This is about as big a GV as I have tasted. It will also probably keep for 10 years or more with structure and flavour intensity like that. Outstanding. I want more like this - luckily I have several more bottles, which I'll keep for a while I think, I want to see how they evolve.

We took this to a small, no-frills, family-run Japanese place called the Sunshine Cafe in Andersonville. We've walked past it a number of times in the few months that we've lived around here and it's almost always packed full of Japanese folk - clearly a very good sign. After some slightly indifferent starters, we had a couple of excellent mains: cold udon noodles with spring onions and seaweed, with a savoury soy and dashi-based dipping sauce, and katsudon pork over rice - breaded pork tenderloin, fried and served with spring onions and egg and a sweet but savoury sauce (dashi, sugar, soy sauce, mirin) over rice. And the grand total for our meal? $31 for both of us. It's pretty much the ideal neighbourhood restaurant, and it makes a pleasant and refreshing change from all the sushi-orientated Japanese restaurants around here - I'll just have different starters next time. More please!

Fine Wine At 14% - Is It Possible?

An interesting little debate in Decanter magazine:

http://www.decanter.com/news/295809.html?aff=rss&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

Another good reason to subscribe.

Thoughts welcome...

Antinori, Tenuta Guado al Tasso, Il Bruciato, Bolgheri, 2006 + Strip Steak

Ok campers, so the Super Tuscan wasn't that exciting unfortunately, it was OK without being great, and it didn't have too many qualities to make it stand out. Bollocks. Here is my quick review:

Dark ruby colour, dark fruit (cherry, blackcurrant), violets and oak on the nose; lots of dark fruit, some vanilla and a hint of minerality on the palate.  Medium+ body, medium finish, balanced acidity and silky tannins. Improved with time in decanter. Bold fruit gives impression of an international style, but subtle oak and minerality keep it in balance in an old world style. Needs food (strip steak). Ok - nothing to distinguish it from the crowd.

A bend of 50% Cab Sav, 30% Merlot and 20% Syrah, unfortunately it is pretty average. I always wonder how a very large wine company, such as Antinori, that produces so many wines is able to put a consistently high level of effort into producing each one, and I think this wine goes to highlight my doubts unfortunately.

On the upside, though, my medium-rare, prime strip steak (again purchased at Costco) was splendiferous. At least I have that.

Tasting Notes Section

We will have an all-new, very exciting tasting notes section coming very soon!! Now that will get your hearts pumping...

Rack of Lamb; Domaine Heresztyn, Gevrey Chambertin Vieilles Vignes 2001

Last night I had a strong urge to drink red Burgundy. Which I duly indulged. 

The wine was in very good condition, pleasant nose of red and blue fruit and a little spice, medium intensity palate of fruit with some earthy undergrowth, balanced acidity and soft tannins. Medium finish and soft texture. It started to fade after being open for 2.5hrs. An excellent example of a 'Villages", very enjoyable. At peak, drink now. I have noticed recently, having drunk various 2001 red Burgundies, that they share similar characteristics. They are not the most intensely flavoured wines, but they are well balanced, and seem to be drinking very well right now, from Villages right up to 1er Cru, though obviously you can probably keep the 1er Cru wines for a bit longer than lesser wines. (I would not recommend hanging on to this one for too much longer though, it is definitely at its peak.) It just goes to show that all vintages show well at some stage in their development, even lesser-acclaimed ones like 2001.

I served the wine with a very nice rack of lamb (from Costco, the best value place to get it, very good quality too), cooked simply with garlic and herbs, with asparagus, and curly kale with a touch of balsamic vinegar. Possibly not the best food pairing, but it's the mildest cut of lamb, and it was a very basic preparation.

A Super Tuscan tonight...

Foxen Chenin Blanc - Update

A quick update on what I thought was a splendid American interpretation of a Chenin Blanc - I opened another bottle of this 2007 Foxen on Thursday (a flower day too) and there was none of the crisp acidity on the palate or finish that the previous bottle had, the second one was pretty flabby actually given the body and flavour intensity of the first one.  Bottle variation? Certainly, but which bottle was the truer reflection of this wine? I'll have to open another one some other time to find out. More to follow...

The Half Shell, Chicago - Review

Ah, the Half Shell, I love this place - one of first places I ever went to in Chicago on my first visit. It's a dark, dingy hole-in-the-wall joint that serves the best king crab legs ever. They give you 6-7 huge limbs/claws, steamed to perfection, on a bed of frites, with a garlic-butter sauce into which to dip the rich, sweet flesh of the beast that has sacrificed itself so that I might be sated - and trust me, after all that meat one truly is sated. It costs around $27 for this ethereal experience, but it is worth every penny. The service is excellent too, our man was great - you order a drink and he shouts at the bar and you have your drink in 20 seconds. The only downside of the place is the abysmal oysters they have, absolutely tasteless and very rubbery, but I'm not going to dwell on that, I'm just not going to order them again. They also only have a few wines by the glass, but it doesn't matter either, it's really not the kind of place that should have a big list - not least because the servers wouldn't be interested in selling them to you, they're too casual and too 'Chicago' for that! In the summer they put tables outside on the pavement (sidewalk) too for the full-on Chicago dining experience. Fortunately, also, it's the kind of place that, unless you live in Chicago and you know about it, you would never go into, which is fine by me as it would be busier than it already is. Highly recommended.

Slow-Roasted Lamb Shoulder

Hmmmm.... Slow-roasted lamb shoulder, seasoned, then cooked (covered) at 325F/170C for around 4 - 4 1/2 hrs on a bed of rosemary sprigs, unpeeled garlic cloves and peeled, halved shallots, covered with more rosemary sprigs and unpeeled garlic cloves, then rested for 45 mins, and served on bed of mashed, mixed vegetables (Yukon Gold potatoes, carrots and turnips) and sauteed red kale, topped with a little jus made in the meat pan from whatever is left in the pan - the meat juices, garlic, shallots (rosemary stems removed) - plus a little stock and a touch of red wine, reduced for a little bit and spooned over each plate - not too much though as the meat and veg are already extremely moist. Incredibly easy to prepare, very little work, and it tastes absolutely phenomenal. Yum.

Served, rather tragically, with a crap Aussie Shiraz, the name of which escapes me - probably due to its complete crapness and total inability to form any kind of lasting impression in my mind.