Spanish Simplicity

Scott dropped by for tea late Friday afternoon, and later we turned to something a bit stronger: the 2008 Abrazo del Toro Tinto (80 percent garnacha and 20 percent tempranillo). It was overly bright at first, with a strong aroma of cherries; it definitely tasted young but not in an unpleasant way.
This was a bottle left behind by Laura, who said she stocked up at Trader Joe's, during last week's marathon of assembling wedding invitations. I think she said she paid $5.99 for it -- a great price for a nice, versatile wine. I haven't worked up the nerve to venture into the TJ's in Union Square because I've heard the crowds are epic. Also, everywhere else the store sells its famous Two Buck Chuck, which here is naturally Three Buck Chuck. As Cindy Adams says, "Only in New York."

A Pair of Reds

Monday was Taco Night at the Armstrongs' and naturally I wanted something with a little spice. (I know "Mexican wine" exists although I have not had it -- yet; the phrase always makes me think of the great Fountains of Wayne song. Anyway, it seems to me that most of Mexico would be too hot to produce good wine.) The 2007 Faustino VII Rioja was a delicious match for our vegetarian tacos, and it is such a great deal at $10 from Union Square Wines & Spirits. A cozy winter night at home with our visitors, Jude and Betsy, and the Olympics and the Westminster Dog Show to flip between...

And on Wednesday, I met up with friends for dinner at one of my favorite Ninth Avenue spots, the Market Cafe. (The photo above is from their Web site.) The sea scallop appetizer is still a must-have for me, and I decided to keep it relatively light with a Caesar salad and a shared side of their addictive spiced fries. The wine list was a little funky -- they did not have several of their selections, and after I ordered a pinot noir (bottles are all $29), it was not the one on the menu. The 2008 Casa del Sole from Puglia had a mossy aroma, and was smooth and light on the palate (13 percent alcohol). I've always had good luck at the Market, but I wish they'd sort out the confusion in the wine department.

Inheritance

The dead of winter and my thoughts turn toward a warming measure of port. We inherited a case of it after Bobby's Uncle Jimmy died almost eight years ago, and we still have a few bottles left. It's the 1985 Smith Woodhouse Vintage Port, and I have loved every drop over the years. It's definitely the most expensive wine I drink on a regular basis (it retails for about $90 a bottle).
This wine wasn't exactly stored properly before we received it -- the corks must basically be shredded to get inside -- and then there is the straining and decanting. Every bottle has had a few tablespoons of sediment. But it's been delicious anyway, despite the abuse.
Here's one review of the wine from around the time I first tasted it:
Wine International, October 2003
Gold Medal – International Wine Challenge 2003
“At nearly 20 years old, this Smith Woodhouse’85 still has plenty of life in it. It still has masses of ripe berries and ‘fruits confits,’ as a French judge put it, as well as maturing caramel and burnt sugar flavors. It is stunningly complex and has huge length.”
I think it's only improved since then.

Red Bubbles

Wow, we're only about an hour from ringing in 2010. I have tasted a lot of interesting wines this year, and my last one for 2009 was the 2008 Paringa Sparkling Shiraz. I am a fan of Australian shiraz but I had never tried the bubbly version.
This one had a pleasing tartness and pretty mellow tannins for such a young red, but it didn't seem to hold its effervescence for long. At $11.99, a great deal for any decent sparkling wine in my book, it was an amiable match with tonight's dinner of homemade caramelized onion pizza with parmigiano reggiano.
Here's to a new year of adventures and delicious wine!

Two Italians

Our friend Krista, on her way from London, made it through the terrible storm in the Northeast and landed in New York last weekend. She was stopping by for a drink before dinner, and alas, the only red wine in the house was the 2004 Antinori Chianti Classico Riserva we've been saving (a gift from my sister, who got it directly from one of the Antinori daughters, who is a neighbor of hers). It retails for around $28. Well, it was time to pop that cork. I had sampled another vintage of this wine in class last spring and had a similar verdict on this one: It had a very intense red fruit aroma, and was slightly tight and tannic at the start. But it softened after about 20 minutes. As Kevin Zraly said, "This wine cries out for food," so we dived into some parmigiano reggiano with crackers. (Cue contented sigh.)
We set out for Taboon, a Hell's Kitchen restaurant we love at 10th Avenue and 52nd. It's a pan-Mediterranean menu, and they have an adventurous wine list, with several bottles from Israel, Lebanon and Greece. I decided to order an Italian wine I was unfamiliar with: the 2005 Mandrolisai Bovale - Cannonau (Sardinia), at $44. As far as I can recall, the bovale and cannonau grapes were entirely new to me. The wine had notes of spice and leather and was bright and zingy in the glass -- very different from the wine we started out with.
So glad to make a new friend! The wine paired comfortably with the tzaziki and bread (one of most scrumptious loaves in New York City, made in the taboon, or clay oven), fig and pear salad, falafel and chocolate lava cake. What would the holiday season be without a little -- or a lot of -- indulgence?

Photo of the taboon from New York magazine

A Wallflower

Lately I have been loving The Manganaro Italian Family Cookbook, which I picked up last year at their old-school market here in Hell's Kitchen. (They make the best fresh mozz.)
So on Thursday, a bitter, howling-wind kind of night, we dreamed of Italy with garlic scallops with sun-dried tomatoes and capers, and asparagus with pine nuts and garlic. That's right, at least a dozen cloves of garlic in this dinner; vampires beware. Also, this meal served to satisfy my burgeoning pine nut addiction.
Italian food deserves Italian wine, right? So I picked up the 2006 La Carraia Sangiovese from Umbria ($12.99 at Grace Wine & Spirits on Tenth Avenue). While the wine had a slightly musty-in-a-pleasant-way aroma, it otherwise just did not make much of an impression on me. Sangiovese has high acidity and usually a bit of spice, which I thought would stand up nicely against all the strong flavors, but this one was rather flat and bland.
Can't win 'em all.

Tivo and a Tipple

After a rough day at the office -- and I've had a few of those lately -- a little decompressing time is in order. My new favorite time-waster on TV is "Clean House" on the Style network, and last night my show went famously with a glass of 2006 Jean-Luc Colombo Les Abeilles Côtes du Rhône ($11). This wine had an aroma that reminded me of rain (the fresh, country kind, not the kind that washes the stench off Eighth Avenue), and while it was slightly bright and tannic at the start, it opened up nicely.
On "Clean House," a home makeover show, the hosts pry clutter away from various nutty families (some of them are literally living in a landfill with a roof), and then redecorate. I realized why this show has struck a chord with me: It's editing -- on a certain level, a lot like what I do all day. There is something comforting about trying to impose order on chaos. Even better with a little Côtes du Rhône.