Tasting the wines of Golden Cluster by Jeff Vejr at Les Caves Wine Bar in  Portland Oregon left my mind bent and my palate absolutely delighted. Here we take a closer look at three of the may wines we tasted, paired with grilled cheese sandwiches!

I love wine tasting. That’s pretty obvious by now. Very rarely, however, does a tasting experience leave my mind bent, flipped, completely turned inside out, and absolutely delighted. That’s how I felt after tasting with Jeff Vejr and his Golden Cluster family of wine brands. 

It was mere happenstance that I ended up on this tasting journey. Greg and I just returned from a road trip around Oregon and Washington. By coincidence, we overlapped for one day with my friend Ron and his girlfriend Amy in Portland. Ron is hands-down my very wine-geekiest friend, and I think that says a lot coming from me, a proud wine geek. He looks at things in very out-of-the-box ways and goes deep into research. (You can read an article he wrote about intersections between Beethoven and wine here.)  We always have a lot of fun drinking and eating together, and I always learn a ton. Such was the case on this particular evening. Ron had made an appointment to taste with Jeff Vejr at Les Caves, the wine bar he co-owns in the Alberta Arts District of Portland. When we realized we’d be overlapping, he arranged for us to join in the fun. And it was A LOT of fun. 

Note: Our tastings were comped, but no other compensation was received and all opinions are my own.

Les Caves Wine Bar

Let’s begin by setting the scene. Les Caves is a cozy little spot located in what was originally the boiler room of the Victoria Theater (1910 -1965). After the theater closed, the building went on to be used by a series of churches of various denominations up through the mid-2000s. Nowadays, if you make your way around back and down a couple of flights of stairs, you’ll find this tiny, elegant, rustic wine bar. 

We were there the weekend before it was due to reopen after Covid, and they’d used the downtime to renovate the space and add a new outdoor area as well, one flight up from the original bar area. 

A Guided Tasting of Golden Cluster Wines Paired with Grilled Cheese Sandwiches

Jeff guided us through an extensive tasting of his wines. We enjoyed the first few wines in the original bar space and then moved up to the new outdoor area for the rest. We got to enjoy them alongside a selection of tasty grilled cheese sandwiches Les Caves has on offer. 

We tried three grilled cheese sandwiches:  - The Alsatian with Muenster, smoked uncured ham, and mustard powder. - The Georgian with mozzarella, adjika paste, and paprika. - The Italian with Provolone, organic roast beef, and Italian seasoning. (Currently, their menu shows a variation of this one called the Bologna with mortadella.)

Every single wine was interesting and enjoyable. It also became clear very quickly that Jeff has an extremely curious mind and each wine was an exploration of grape, clone, historical vineyard site, or experimental technique, and sometimes multiple explorations were all going on at once in a bottle. (It made total sense why Ron was attracted to this spot.) 

Jeff started Golden Cluster in 2013, after visiting David Hill Vineyard & Winery in Forest Grove, where he encountered Semillon vines that were over 48 years old at the time. Semillon was one of his first grape loves, and while he’d been in the process of starting other wine projects, he decided to change tracks to work with those grapes. The name is an homage to the grape, which is known as the “golden” grape and makes “golden” wines in Sauternes. (The name also pays homage to Charles Coury who planted the vineyard in question, but that's a longer story.)

Previously, he’d spent time working at wineries in Europe dealing specifically with old vines. During our visit, he described himself several times as a history buff, and that love of old vines fits right in. He also worked or assisted at various wineries in Oregon and Washington while preparing to start his own project.  In an interview on Les Caves de Pyrene, Jeff gave further background on himself:

I am a 3rd generation American, who was raised in the fiercely independent state of New Hampshire. Growing up on a self-sustaining farm taught me the value of taste, hard work, the beauty of seasons, and an appreciation for the history all around me. These lessons and experiences have culminated in my wine project called Golden Cluster here in Oregon.

Golden Cluster is now actually a group of brands, some with only one or two wines in the line. In a way, each represents a theme of exploration. Those other lines include Coury, Dionystic, Müller?, Olmo, On Wine Hill, Ordeaux, Oregon Brand, Syrahcha, The First Row, and Vinous Obscura. 

Over the course of the evening, we tried about thirteen, and each one was its own special unicorn. There were wines made from rare grapes, some I’d never heard of,  and some made in ways I wouldn’t have thought possible. Jeff mentioned that he takes a lot of inspiration in coming up with new techniques for handling wine from chef friends and techniques they use in the kitchen. A lot of the techniques he described ran in the face of everything I’ve been taught about wine. 

He sometimes finds ways to use grapes that anyone else would consider to be irrevocably flawed . .  . and yet the wines worked. This really spoke to me, as I’m the type of person that finds all kinds of bizarre ways to use things that would typically be considered trash in the kitchen to make new things. (Most people would probably consider my freezer a trash heap from all the bags of random scraps waiting for reincarnation.) He finds a way to make delicious wines with grapes that would be trash or compost and pays the growers that would’ve likely lost income. 

It would be overwhelming for both you and me to spotlight all of those wines and what makes them all bizarre and interesting in one post, so I’m going to limit myself to three wines here. 

Golden Cluster 'COURY' Old Vine Semillon Willamette Valley 2018 

Price:  $28 ABV: 14.24%     Grapes: 100% Semillon

Tasting Notes: Lots of stone fruits, dried flowers, and powdered honey on the nose. The wine was super complex and layered on the palate with more stone fruits some, dried, along with some tropical fruits, ginger, curry powder, and hints of deeper citrus tones like Meyer lemon and orange skin. Despite the nose and honeyed notes, this is a dry wine. In many ways, it reminded me of Savennières, wines from the Loire Valley made from botrytized Chenin Blanc grapes that are vinified to dry. 

Mind-bending Properties:  Grapes that make you go EEEWWW!? 

The grapes come from a historical vineyard with own-rooted vines. Sadly, this particular vintage had a lot of issues. This wine was affected by botrytis late in the season, but that’s not weird for Semillon. In Sauternes and the other sweet wine regions of Bordeaux,  Semillon is prized for its susceptibility to botrytis, or noble rot, which under the right conditions, dries out the grapes and concentrates the flavors and makes them more complex. Noble rot is one thing, but powdery mildew is another thing completely – this is one fungus that is never prized. And yet the grapes for this wine were heavily infected. The lead-in for this wine on the Golden Cluster’s website describes it this way:

A wine that shouldn’t exist, but does.  This 2018 Semillon is an anomaly. It will probably never be repeated.  It is one of my proudest moments as a winemaker, because I did not give up on it. 

Jeff painted a picture of these grapes as they fermented which made them sound like complete sludge. We’re always told that great wines are made in the vineyard and this does not sound like an auspicious start. So what do you do if you have grapes like these but you’re determined to make a wine from them? Wash the lees. I’d never heard of lees washing before, and I believe Jeff told us that he basically made up the name, so I don’t think this technique has spread far beyond Golden Cluster’s doorstep. Basically, he added the lees from completed, clean Muller-Thurgau and Pinot Gris fermentations to the wine and dumped the Semillon lees out, repeating the process twice. He told us that that process changes the porcini mushrooms flavors you would get from the powdery mildew infected grapes and converts them to dried fruit notes. The website also notes that the process “works wonders to damaged fruit without having to result in using any of the 'chemical' solutions often used as a last resort.”  Whatever he did, it worked. This was a beautiful and fascinating wine. 

It was also completely different from the 2019 version of the wine, which did not suffer the same problems. That vintage was more in line with a dry Hunter Valley style Semillion from Australia and was much brighter and lighter on the palate, with stone fruit notes that tended more towards white peach, and the mixed citrus notes had tart hints of grapefruit mixed in.

You can read more about this wine and how it was made here.

Grilled Cheese Pairing: This wine worked with all of the grilled cheese options, but I think the Alsatian was my favorite. 

Vinous Obscura Grand Bazzar Willamette Valley 2019

Price: $25 ABV: 12%    Grapes: 14 unique varieties 

Tasting Notes: Orange skin, honey, honeysuckle, candied grapefruit, and tangerine on the nose. These all continued on the palate, along with dried golden flowers, sumac, turmeric, and hints of game. 

Mind-bending Properties: It's a mysterious, beautiful mess. 

It’s an orange wine made from 14 different grapes (unspecified) all coming from the same vineyard (redacted), some botrytized, made in a dual fermentation. There’s a lot to wrap your head around there. This is another wine that supposedly looked terrible during fermentation, but he didn’t want to quit on it. He decided to handle the aromatic and non-aromatic grapes differently. The aromatic grapes in the mix were left in contact with their skins for 14 days. The non-aromatic grapes did not see skin contact. He compared this to his version of an Arnold Palmer, each half contributing a different aspect to the whole. I do love an Arnold Palmer.

You can read more about this wine and how it was made here.

Grilled Cheese Pairing:  I thought this was absolute magic with the Georgian grilled cheese. 

Vinous Obscura Paint, Dye, or Give Color Saperavi Columbia Gorge 2020

Price: $28 ABV: 13.5%    Grapes:  100% Saperavi

Tasting Notes: This wine was quite aromatic on the nose with hints of orange skin and cinnamon, mixing with fruit notes of grapes and berries, game, pepper, and purple flowers. All of these continued on the palate, with even more spice notes mixing in. Earthy notes of stones and clay hit on the finish. Despite the intensity of aromas and flavors, this was not a heavy wine. It still had plenty of freshness. 

Mind-bending Properties: There’s Saperavi in the US? Oh, and it’s matured in Oregon-made Amphorae. 

I learned a lot about this grape during our conversation. Saperavi is best known as one of the premier grapes of the country of Georgia. Jeff specified that the vineyard these come from (redacted) has the only Saperavi currently planted west of the Mississippi River. I’ve never seen a bottling from the US, period. The vineyard also has all five clones of the grape that are available in the US, four are included in this bottling, as the vines of the fifth are still young, but will be included in the future. 

Jeff mentioned that it is one of the oldest domesticated wine grapes and that it’s only one or two generations removed from the wild. I wasn’t able to confirm this but as Georgia has a claim to one of the oldest winemaking traditions in the world, so it seems like it tracks.

The wine’s name takes inspiration from the grape itself as Saperavi means “dye.” It’s a teinturier grape, which means that it is one of the few red grape varieties that has colored flesh, not just colored skins. As such, it produces deeply colored juice. 

In Georgia, wines are traditionally fermented and matured in qvevri, earthenware vessels shaped kind of like an egg with the narrow side pointed downwards that are intended to be buried in the ground. (Cement eggs are another style of fermentation vessel that has the narrow end pointed upwards. Jeff pointed out that they’re essentially opposites and distribute the lees – as well as grapes skins, stems, and seeds if left in – differently, creating different textures in the wines.) 

The material of the vessel also plays a major role. Clay and cement vessels have a different effect on wine than wood or stainless steel. Among other things, clay is porous so it allows for a small amount of oxygen transfer, unlike stainless steel, but it doesn’t add any overt flavor to the wine the way wood does. 

This American version of Saperavi is fermented in amphorae, which have a shape somewhat similar to qvevri, but with a flat bottom so they can sit on the ground. (Originally, they also all had handles so they could be used for transport.) These amphorae are made in the US, specifically in Oregon, by Andrew Beckham’s Novum Ceramics the first commercial producer of terra cotta Amphorae for winemaking and brewing in North America. These amphorae add an extra layer of terroir, since the vessel comes from the same region as the wine.

You can read more about this wine and how it was made here.

Grilled Cheese Pairing: This was the last wine we had that night, so I only got to have a nibble of it with the Georgian grilled cheese, but in my mind, it would’ve been great with the Italian as well. 

This was such a memorable evening. We arrived at around 7 PM and pulled ourselves out of there after 1 AM, and we could’ve kept on talking and sipping except that it had gotten so late. I highly recommend a stop at Les Caves. While the wine bar has many wines on offer, you’ll typically find at least a couple from the Golden Cluster Lines. 

• A Clay-Made Dinner: Ceramic Grill and Amphora Wine by Food Wine Click!
• A Surprising Find: Amphora Wines in Temecula, California by Our Good Life
• Hundred Suns Wine's Amphora-Aged Gamay Noir, Flame-Grilled Foods, and Our First Post-Pandemic Dinner Party by Culinary Adventures with Camilla
• Küp Calm & Pair on: Turkish Amphora Wines by The Quirky Cork
• Made in Clay From Near and Far, Wine and Food by Wine Predator...Gwendolyn Alley
• Memories of My First Amphora Aged Wine from Josko Gravner by Avvinare
• Tasting and Pairing Amphora Wines by Cooking Chat
• Tomato and Eggplant Tian paired with Two Amphora Wines from Portugal by A Day in the Life on the Farm

Today we’re getting back to my roots via wine and food! And really, what better way is there to go?!

My background is made up of a crazy mix of components – I’m quite proud of this. My mother’s father was Lebanese, and I think I  undoubtedly look the most like this part of my lineage. I think my genes show up in my food preferences too. If I could have a bottomless bowl of hummus next to me at all times, I’d be a very happy girl. I never met my grandfather –– he died when my mom was still a kid –– but we would visit my great aunt and great uncle every time we’d travel to Venezuela, where my grandfather and his family had immigrated to, when I was a kid. 

Even when she was very old and could no longer hear well or move with ease, my great aunt would always have a big spread of Lebanese mezze ready and waiting when we’d come for a visit including kibbeh, falafel, hummus, baba ganoush, tabouli, stuffed grape leaves, stuffed cabbage leaves, tzatziki, pita bread, feta, and on and on. The flavors burrowed down into my blood and soul. Fun facts, my great aunt can also be credited with giving me my first sip of Champagne and, reportedly, for teaching me to cheat at cards. I no longer cheat at cards (or do I?), but the Champagne habit stuck. While she’s no longer with us, I think she’d be happy to know she left her mark. (Actually, she once accidentally cut me with her diamond ring, so she also literally left a mark – hah!)

Since one doesn’t immediately associate middle eastern countries with fine wine production, I was really excited when I was first introduced to Chateau Musar, the first Lebanese wine I ever tried. It helped me discover that were still continuing wine traditions in this part of the world I have ties to, even if I've never been there. Chances are that if you’ve heard of one Lebanese winery – or any middle eastern winery – it’s probably Chateau Musar. It’s not Lebanon’s oldest winery, and there are increasingly new players on the Lebanese wine scene, but for now, Chateau Musar remains the most famous Lebanese winery internationally.

A BRIEF HISTORY OF WINE IN LEBANON

Even if we don’t immediately associate wine with middle eastern countries today,  Lebanon has a claim to being one of the earliest locations for wine production, dating back to about 7,000 BCE. The land of Canaan, and then Phoenicia, which followed it, were located in and around modern Lebanon. The Phoenicians were well-known for their viniculture, as well as for being traders, and the spread the doctrine of the vine far and wide, but modern Lebanon was really the heartland. At the end of last year, a 2,600-year-old Phoenician wine press was unearthed at Tell el-Burak that is particularly well preserved. 

The Bekaa Valley is a pretty ideal spot for growing grapes, and it continues to be where the grand majority of Lebanon’s wine grapes come from today. Elevation has a major role to play here, and without it, conditions would likely be far too hot for quality grapes. Bekaa Valley is actually more of a plateau than a valley, with an average altitude of 1000 m above sea level. The surrounding mountains are key as they provide protection from deserts to the east and rains blowing in off the oceans to the west. Mount Lebanon creates a rain shadow and helps to keep the area dry and sunny, averaging 300 days of sunshine a year. These conditions make it pretty easy to farm via organic, sustainable methods. Without disease pressures, there’s no real need for chemicals. With such idyllic conditions, it’s really no wonder that the Romans decided to erect a temple to Bacchus right here in the Bekaa valley. It’s still well-preserved – yet another reason for me to want to visit someday!

Image courtesy of Wikipedia, Link.

Despite their long history of winemaking, Ottoman rule pretty much brought it to a halt, just as it occurred in so many other countries in the region. Winemaking was allowed for religious purposes, so a few Lebanese Christian orders were permitted to continue to make wine. In 1857, Jesuit missionaries at Chateau Ksara planted Cinsault vines they brought in from French-governed Algeria. Other French wine grapes soon followed, along with newer production methods, starting the first flickers of the modern Lebanese wine industry. 

This allowed Lebanon’s Christians, mainly Maronites and Greek and Armenian Orthodox, to produce wine and in 1857 the Jesuit missionaries of Ksara introduced new vine varieties and production methods from French-governed Algeria, laying the foundations of the modern Lebanese wine industry. Several more wineries began to pop up shortly afterward.

The Lebanese wine industry benefited from French connections again in the 20th century. The French governed Lebanon in between the World Wars after the fall of the Ottoman Empire, and this French presence created a huge demand for wine and brought further know-how for how to make it. The French withdrew their forces in 1946, but after World War II, Lebanon, in particular Beiruit, continued to be known and a cosmopolitan center of business in the region. The new wine culture thrived against this backdrop, and it continued until civil war broke out in 1975. 

Interestingly, Chateau Musar was the only winery that managed to continue to thrive during this period, however, the rest of the wine industry began to flourish again when the fighting ended again in the 1990s. The French once again played a role as major French wine families took an interest in developing wineries in the Bekaa Valley. The industry has been developing quickly with the number of wineries growing from 40 to nearly 80 in the years between 1996 to 2020, despite numerous hurdles arising over the years. 

The wine industry there has been facing another difficult moment, though –– 2020 was particularly rough in Lebanon. The country was already facing an economic crisis, protests, and revolution. Then on August 4th of last year, a major explosion in the Port of Beirut caused at least 207 deaths, 7,500 injuries, and left an estimated 300,000 people homeless. All the while, the COVID-19 Pandemic was raging, putting more strain on an already extremely strained medical system and economy. 

The wine industry is a small ray of hope in the midst of a lot of turmoil.

For more on the current state of the Lebanese wine industry, see these articles from Wine Enthusiast and Bloomberg. A new documentary called Wine & War exploring the history of wine in the Middle East in general and in Lebanon in particular, premiered at the Sonoma International Film festival this year. I haven’t seen it yet, but I certainly, hope to soon.

CHATEAU MUSAR

Gaston Hochar founded Chateau Musar in 1930 when he was just 20 years old. He was inspired by his travels through Bordeaux, as well as Lebanon’s own ancient winemaking history. He set up his family’s 18th-century castle in Ghazir overlooking the Mediterranean, about 20km north of Beirut. (I mean, what else are you going to do with a spare castle on the coast?!) The majority of their vineyards are located in the Bekaa valley, about an hour away.   

His wines impressed the Frenchies that were stationed in Lebanon in between the wars, and he became good friends with Major Ronald Barton, whose family owned (and still does) Châteaux Léoville-Barton and Langoa-Barton, creating further ties with Bordeaux.

Gaston set things off to a good start, but the next generation really put the winery on the map. Gaston encouraged his sons to participate in the winery from a very early age. Serge Hochar, Gaston’s eldest son would become the winery’s winemaker, and his brother Ronald would go on to take over the financial and commercial side of things. As Ronald put it (per the winery’s website), “My brother looked after the liquid, I look after the liquidity,” and each would play a crucial role in the winery’s longevity. 

Serge Hochar trained as a civil engineer, then decided to study oenology at the University of Oenology in Bordeaux. He became the winemaker in 1959 after declaring to his father, “I want to make the wine my way, I want it to be known world-wide – and I want you to quit!” Gaston gave way and Serge created the house’s unique style. He spent 18 years perfecting the formula for Chateau Musar’s Red.  He was charismatic, celebrated, and something of a philosopher winemaker, and he was mourned around the world when he passed away in 2014.

For his part, Ronald Hochar gets a lot of the credit for the winery’s business success, making savvy decisions during difficult times. He kept Musar’s trucks running during the war against all the odds, while Serge kept the wine production going. To say that harvesting the grapes was difficult during this time is a huge understatement – at times they could only be harvested during pauses between shellings. Getting the grapes to the winery was a whole other ordeal.   

The family also had the foresight to develop foreign markets, another key reason Chateau Musar continued to do comparatively well during these difficult war years when no other Lebanese winery could really get a leg up. Ronald’s son Ralph worked with the on-trade sector in the United Kingdom until early 2017 and is now focusing on South East Asia from Chateau Musar’s UK office. His daughter Elsa produced a documentary film about the winery.

The style Serge created for Chateau Musar is extremely unique. They were making natural wines far before the term existed, and in many ways, they embody the good, the bad, and the ugly of the term. The wines intentionally show wide vintage variation, at times showing great elegance and depth, and a wild, feral, funkiness at others. I've experienced both ends of the spectrum, so it can be a bit of a gamble. That said, when they're good, they can be super good, very complex, and interesting. 

They use native yeast fermentations and a bare minimum of sulfur. The wines are all unfined and unfiltered. They were also the first Lebanese producer to have their vineyards certified organic in 2006, and are also vegan. 

They make three tiers of wines plus an Arack, an anise-flavored spirit made from grape alcohol. The top-tier Chateau Musar line is notable for the aging regime. Both the red (blends of Cab Sauv, Cinsault, and Carignan) and white wines (made with native grapes Obaideh and Merwah) are aged for a total of seven years before release, while the rosés (also predominantly Obaideh and Merwah, with a splash of Cinsault) are released three years after harvest. The wines develop interesting, savory flavors in the aging process with oxidative notes in the whites and rosés. This line is known for continuing to age well across all colors, and they greatly benefit from decanting. They’ve become coveted cult wines, and usually, run in the $50-$60 range at release. 

The next tier is the Hochar Père et Fils Red is a single-vineyard blend (Cinsault, Grenache, and Cabernet Sauvignon) that is aged for 4 years and is typically in the mid the low to mid $30s. The Jeune line is their entry-level hovering around $20ish, and are unoaked, fruity wines, made from their younger vines, and the wines are intended for earlier drinking. I’m taking a look at the red in this line.

BRINGING THE FEAST & THE WINE TOGETHER

It occurred to me that I had never actually had a Lebanese wine with Lebanese food. As I mentioned, the Lebanese spread is one of my very favorite meals. When my mom asks me what I’d like her to make me when I go home to visit, it’s always either this or Venezuelan Pabellón. (Both over the course of the stay if possible.) I also buy myself middle eastern food pretty regularly, and I can make a pretty decent spread of mezze myself. I’ve also had the opportunity to have wines from Chateau Musar’s various tiers a fair number of times over the years. Still, the wine and the food had never met at my table. I figured it was about time to change that.

I opened a bottle of the Musar Jeune Bekaa Valley 2016 (click the link for additional details, average price: $21 13.5% abv), a blend of 50% Cinsault, 30% Syrah, and Cabernet Sauvignon 20%. This is from the entry-level line and intended for early drinking, and the winery's website suggested that it can be enjoyed right out of the bottle. Nonetheless, I decided to decant it anyways and I do think it helped the wine open up. I was greeted by aromas of warm raspberries, plums, and black cherries, warm earth, light herbs, and white pepper. Similar notes appeared on the palate, with dusty, candied raspberries, ripe red plums, as well as some dried fruit notes along the lines of strawberry leather. The generous fruit notes were mixed with savory hints of black olives, thyme, pencil lead, white pepper, and allspice (which had to be coming from the fruit, as this wine sees no oak aging). The wine was medium + to full in body, showed medium acidity, and medium + tannins that were smooth and supple. I found this bottle to be really delightful and excellent at the price point. As much as I've enjoyed Musar's high-end wines, this is definitely a much more accessible bottle that seems to be about direct pleasure, whereas I see the higher-end Musar wines as "thinky" wines.

Just to illustrate the point of the vintage variation with these wines, the last time I have a relatively clear memory of trying this wine was a bottle of the 2013, and that one left me with the impression of being rustic, earthy, with grippy tannins, and had mostly black fruits (in my memory anyways). This one gave an overall feeling of warmth with generous spiced fruits falling mostly into the red camp. 

Coming back to the present, I treated myself to a Lebanese feast. I decided to make about half the spread to pair with this wine and purchased the rest to have a feast for two at home. I made kibbeh, spiced meat croquettes, made in this case with a combo of beef and lamb, along with hummus, and buckwheat tabouli. I’m not allowed to share my mom’s kibbeh and hummus recipes, however, so I used this one from The Mediterranean Dish for the kibbeh. I make the hummus to taste at the point, using a lot of garlic and lemon, but Ina Garten’s recipe is pretty close to my mom's (although we make it without the hot sauce). I first made this Buckwheat Tabouli when my MIL came for a visit while she was avoiding gluten a while back, but I find I like the toothsome texture or the buckwheat and its nutty flavor, so I opted to make it this way, rather than using the usual bulgur wheat. I purchased tzatziki and baba ganoush, as well feta and pita bread. 

Normally, when I’m making a mezze spread for company, I divide the work out over a few days. It had been a while since I’d tried to make everything (although this was only a partial spread) on the same day. I’d forgotten how much work it is when you do it all at once! Most of this isn’t difficult, but many things involve quite a few steps. If making a spread like this for friends, I'd recommend distributing the work across a few days, as it makes it much more manageable. It might look something like this:

• 2 to 3 days before – Make hummus and/or baba ganoush
• 1 day before – Prep and form kibbeh and/or falafel. You can also spread the work of making kibbeh over 2 to 3 days as well by splitting the work into 3 phases: making/prepping the meat components, forming the kibbeh, and frying the kibbeh. 
• Day of – Make tabouli and/or tzatziki, and fry kibbeh or falafel. 

Of course, you can also buy some or all of the components as well! 

The wine was soooooo good with the kibbeh. The allspice notes in the food and the wine really sang together. The baba ganoush I bought turned out to be mediocre at best, but it got a lot better with the wine, as the smoky note in this dip really resonated with the wine as well. Everything else worked ok, but having either the kibbeh or baba ganoush involved in a bite really helped tie things together.

*****

To read more about wines from places with ancient wine traditions that are now reemerging, check out these posts:

• Cooking to the Wine: Recanati Marawi with Black Cod and Papaya-Cucumber Salad, Part 1
  
• Cooking to the Wine: Recanati Marawi with Black Cod and Papaya-Cucumber Salad, Part 2
  
• An Armenian Feast with Friends Paired with Armenian Wines: Modern Wines from an Ancient Place
  
• You're Invited to Sip the Wines of the Ancient World
  
• A Sneak Peek at the Wines of the Ancient World with the #WinePW Crew
  
• Memories of Golan Heights Winery with a Side of Meatball Shakshuka Part 1
  
• Memories of Golan Heights Winery with a Side of Meatball Shakshuka Part 2
  
• Tasty Moldovan Food & Wine Explorations
  
• Celebrating Moldova National Wine Day with More Food and Wine Explorations
  
• An Ode to Godforsaken Grapes
  
• Stranger Grapes with Eric Danch of Danch & Granger Selections
  

*****

The rest of the Wine Pairing Weekend blogging group (#WinePW) is exploring Middle Eastern Wine and Food Pairings this month, hosted by Wendy of A Day in the Life on the Farm. 

• Robin of Crushed Grape Chronicles is Celebrating Sauvignon Blanc Day at the table with St. Supéry and easy Middle Eastern Dishes 
• Pinny of Chinese Food and Wine Pairing is Drinking Serious Wine from Israel's Domaine du Castel and Eating Causal Israeli Food
• Nicole of Somm’s Table is "Indulging My Lebanese Cravings with Chateau Musar Jeune Rouge" 
• Susannah of Avvinare shares Israeli Wine From the Judean Hills and Tabbouleh Salad
• Terri of Our Good Life talks about Kofte Kebabs and Ben Ami Cabernet Sauvignon: a BBQer’s Bliss. 
• Andrea of The Quirky Cork visits Lebanon and Syria, a Crossroads of Wines and Flavors 
• Cam of Culinary Adventures with Camilla is sharing Man'oushe + Château Musar Lebanon Jeune Red 2017 
• Wendy of A Day in the Life on the Farm made up a  Mezze Platter with Middle Eastern Wines
• Jane of Always Ravenous is "Pairing Middle Eastern Flavors with Wine" 
• David of Cooking Chat is serving Sesame Free Hummus with Wine from the Middle East 
• Gwendolyn of Wine Predator shares So Africa’s Organic Reyneke Syrah and Chenin Blanc with Instant Pot

Additional sources used for this post and extra reading:

• Broadbent: Chateau Musar
• Vinepair.com: Why Wine Insiders Are Obsessed with Lebanon’s Château Musar
  
• The Oxford Companion via Jancisrobinson.com
  
• Wine of Lebanon
  
• Wine-searcher.com
  
• The Business Year: Chateau Musar
  
• Eater: We Should All Be Drinking More Lebanese Wine
  
• Whetstone Magazine: Wild Yeast and Native Grapes in Lebanon
  
• The World Atlas of Wine
  
• The Wine Bible
  

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One of the beautiful things about working in wine is getting to hear all the amazing stories behind the bottles you’re selling/repping/sharing/drinking on a daily basis. When you get to hear about those wines from a really great wine storyteller, it, in turn, makes you excited to want to try that new bottle and learn more about it.

Eric Danch is one of those great wine storytellers in my book. When I was working at Bay Grape, I always knew that there’d be something delicious to try with an awesome story to go with it whenever he’d stop by to share the wines he was repping. I’ve heard him talk on panels and poured next to him during wine events at the store, and always walk away feeling like I’ve learned something new and pumped about it. It’s easy to tell that he’s very passionate about the wines he imports and that enthusiasm is infectious. 

He’s co-founder of Danch & Granger Selections, an import company that largely focuses on wines from Central and Eastern Europe. He and his business partner Catherine Granger started their company in 2019 as the “independent offspring of Blue Danube Wine Company, a pioneering importer of wines” from these regions. Basically, when Blue Danube's owner retired, Eric and Catherine created the new company which continues to rep many of the same wine, along with new additions.

I’ve mentioned in the past that wines from these regions and grapes have become increasingly grabbing my attention in the last few years. I find a lot of really food-friendly, interesting, and affordable selections from these areas, so I reach for them on a regular basis. Blue Danube, and now Danch & Granger are responsible for importing quite a few of the wines that have opened up my eye to these regions. They’re one of those importers I look for on the back of a label, and in fact, I mentioned them as one to keep an eye out for in An Ode to Godforsaken Grapes. You’ll find quite a few of their wines pictured throughout that post as well, and two others are featured in this post.

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(Aside: This post takes its name from one of Danch & Granger’s promotional T-shirts - as a fan of both the wines and Stranger Things, I got a huge kick out of seeing them.) 

This month the members of the Wine Pairing Weekend Blogging Group (#WinePW) are exploring  “Under the Radar European Wine Regions.” I can’t think of a better advocate for these regions, so I reached out to Eric and asked him to join me for a virtual Q & A. I’m also sharing a pairing for one of the many delicious wines they import at the end of this post, but first, here’s our conversation. 

Your company Danch & Granger Selections imports fascinating wines from many regions of Eastern and Central Europe (as well as a few New World wines) that might not be well known to many U.S. drinkers, often from grapes that are probably completely new to many people here. How did you come to fall in love with these wines and what inspires you to want to share them?

When I was a kid I would harass my parents by poorly retelling the punch lines from Saturday Night Live, In Living Color, and so on. If I had heard something amazing that they hadn’t it needed to be corrected. When I first started visiting these places, meeting the families, eating the food, and drinking the wines I felt the same urge. These are largely untold stories in the wine world and I feel lucky to be able to attempt to share them. Exploration and context make everything taste better. Hopefully, my recitation has improved over the years. 

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Hah! As a former theater kid who also loved SNL, I can totally relate to this. But more importantly, I fully agree that there are so many amazing wine stories out there that need to be shared, and there's so much to be explored beyond the handful of grapes and places everyone knows. Choosing wines to bring in must be both exciting and stressful. What are you looking for in the wines that you import? What motivates you to want to add a wine to the portfolio? 

It’s a bit like speed dating at first. It’s not purely transactional because they have wines I like.  I’m looking for long-term relationships. While there is a certain amount of vetting that’s done before a visit (farming and cellar practices etc…), it’s really a matter of is this someone I’m excited to see and grow with as a company.  Having been fortunate enough to travel to many of these regions for nearly a decade, I also follow the recommendations of those I’ve already established this trust with. Winemakers who are confident in what they do aren’t afraid of the competition and actually want to be a part of a larger community of like-minded people.  When all of this culminates with the wines being delicious it’s only a matter of if we can afford it or not.

I think a lot of people get a little intimidated by grapes and regions they don’t know. Do you have any recommendations on where to begin for wine drinkers who might want to expand their drinking horizons a bit but feel a bit cautious? What are some grapes or regions you might recommend as starting-off points?

While I empathize with the feeling of intimidation, part of what makes the wine world worth investing time, energy, and money into is never getting to the bottom of it. I’m humbled on the regular for regions I’m supposedly an expert in. Wines can also be an excuse to armchair travel someplace new, cook something outside your comfort zone, and listen to some music all centered on where the wine comes from. Mixing up food and wine routines is something we can more easily do especially when travel is difficult, expensive, or there’s some sort of global pandemic going on. 

 All that being said, there are some major native grapes that can be a nice jumping-off point.  Many of these grapes cross borders under different names and of course, this is far from an exhaustive list:  Malvazija Istriana, Teran, Plavac Mali, Graševina, Refošk, and Pošip from Croatia. Vranac and Žilavka from Bosnia & Herzegovina. Furmint, Hárslevelű, Olaszrizling, Juhfark, Kadarka, and Kékfrankos from Hungary. Vitovska, Rebula, Pinela and Teran from Slovenia. Kövidinka, Tamjanika, Mézes Fehér from Serbia. And finally, Fetească Regală, Fetească Albă, Mustoasa de Măderat, and Grünspitz from Romania. Most wine shops worth their salt would be thrilled if you came in, gave them a price point, a country or a grape, and had them put something together for you.

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We have definitely been using wine and food as a way to armchair travel this past year. I love the idea of looking up the music of the region as well, or maybe art or movies, for a fully immersive experience. I’m going to have to work that in. And I completely agree with your recommendation as to how to approach a wine store. I always loved when people came in with that kind of approach. 

Now, what recommendations do you have for those of us who already like to drink adventurously? What’s exciting to you right now? 

We recently started working with a winery in Transylvania called Edgar Brutler.  It’s the first time in a while where I had to look everything up. The history, culture, language, and even some of the grapes (Grünpitz!) were 100% new to me. Tasting them for the first time was akin to those first few classes of learning a new language. You’re trying to make sense of something uniquely foreign while it inspires you to travel to wherever this is happening. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to get that much on the first shipment so it’s a bit hard to find. Thankfully there’s a lot more in the works coming this fall.

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I will absolutely be on the lookout for that!

Speaking of travel though, you always have amazing stories about your wines and the places they come from. What are some wine travel destinations you’d recommend that might not be on people’s radar? Are there any spots that you particularly loved or surprised you?

A few quickly come to mind. Definitely go to the Pelješac Peninsula in Croatia, gorge yourself on squid ink risotto and oysters while drinking a tannic high acid red like Plavac Mali. The coastline, local olive oil, local salt, and red wine seafood combo is special.  You could then head up to Istria (northern Croatia) and bathe yourself in olive oil and truffles for a screaming deal when compared to anywhere else I’m aware of.

One of my favorite winter things in central Europe, although most notably in Hungary per my experiences is szalonna sütés. This is basically sticking a large chunk of scored pig fat onto the end of a stick (s’mores style) over an open fire. You then place pieces of bread around the fire, drip the fat until the bread is saturated, then top with onion, peppers and sprinkle with paprika.  Heaven.

Lake Balaton in Hungary is another place where you can encounter homemade/homegrown everything alongside beautiful scenery.  One of our producers likes to use a Tárcsa (a large shallow Wok like thing with legs over an open fire) and cook all manner of meat, fish, wild game, and foul with ample amounts of fat, fresh herbs, and served alongside bright volcanic whites wines like Kéknyelű.

Halászlé (Fisherman’s soup) is something you can find along the Danube and Tisza rivers in Hungary.  While there is much debate on which river and corresponding style is superior, it’s basically river fish, onion, water, and a comic amount of fresh Paprika. Bring ample amounts of Kadarka (light aromatic red), go for a swim or kayak, and let the paprika take over. 

There’s a style of cooking in Croatia called Peka. Take a protein like lamb or octopus, surround it with potatoes, peppers, covered in herbs, and then bathe it in olive oil and salt.  The Peka is a large cast-iron dome that you place over this mound of food, then cover and surround it with hot coals. It cooks, smokes, and steams everything together. If you don’t like it you have a character flaw.

These all sound amazing! I’m suddenly feeling very hungry and thirsty. We were starting to plan a trip to some of these countries when the world shut down. I’m hoping we'll still have the chance to go in the After Times and I'm happy to have the recs.

All of this talk about food is a perfect segue to discuss pairings. What suggestions would you give to people for how to approach a bottle from a region or grape they’ve never had before and best enjoy it at their table?

A little research can go a long way. There is something to ‘what grows together goes together.’  This doesn’t necessarily mean replicating an exact “traditional” dish, but perhaps highlighting an ingredient that sticks out and going from there. I also like looking at other cuisines along the same latitude/climate, and then seeing what makes the best seasonal sense. Overall, most things work and you’ll enjoy yourself no matter what. If you’re lucky you’ll find something that stops the conversation.

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I love those moments! Do you have any favorite pairings or surprise combinations you loved for the wines in your book?

The overwhelming red line that runs through most of the wines of Central and Eastern Europe is high acidity, aromatics, and low alcohol. I look for a good fat foundation rounded out by spices and smoke. I’ve found that most cuisines along the spice route go really well across the board.  Turkish and Indian in particular.

Any favorite food and wine memories from your travels?

There are some old-timey nomadic goat shepherds in Tokaj (northeastern Hungary).  We were lucky enough to meet one, help her slaughter a goat, and then drink Furmint and Hárslevelű for hours while it roasted until falling off the bone.

That sounds like such an amazing experience! Talk of goats also has me immediately thinking of goat cheese, and I’d bet that would work well with Furmint as well.

Today, I’m sharing a pairing for the Heimann & Fiai Kadarka Szekszárd 2019 - tell me a little bit about this wine. 

Kadarka is perhaps my favorite red grape in the portfolio and can be found all over Central and Eastern Europe. It’s mostly found in Hungary today, but you can find amazing examples in Slovakia, Romania, Serbia, Croatia, and Bulgaria too. The Heimann family has been influential in bringing this grape back from near extinction during the Communist era. 

Zoltán Jr. Heimann of Heimann and Fiai (Heimann and Sons). Picture borrowed from DanchandGranger.com.

Any favorite pairings for this wine in particular?

Duck, beet puree, wild mushrooms, and anything with paprika. It’s a light red with high acidity, zero reduction, floral without being perfumed, and it’s got some spice. Think Gamay with tons of pepper, Lacrima like aromatics, and still some tannic grip. Not glou glou. The Heimann is a great introduction to this grape, but this is a grape that shows incredible fidelity to place and there are massive clonal variations and climates where it’s found a home. It can be ink black, made like an Aszú, sparkling, and super age-worthy for instance.

Tell the people how to find your wines. 

We don’t sell direct, so our wines are only found in retail and restaurants. Feel free to reach out via Instagram/Facebook if looking for something in particular. 

With maybe 1-2 exceptions, there isn’t a dedicated section in a wine shop or on a wine list for these regions. That said, we have decent exposure in most small privately-owned wine shops in the Bay Area. Most are happy to special order and make it happen. Anytime you ask for wines like this it only helps make my case when I come in trying to sell them.

For additional info on this wine, I invite you to check out the details here on Danch & Granger’s website, which always has a treasure trove of information on their wines. 

Heimann & Fiai Szekszárd Kadarka 2019 & Smoky Sheet Pan Chicken

I picked up a bottle of the Heimann & Fiai Szekszárd Kadarka 2019 (purchased for $23) and on the day we opened the bottle I was greeted by aromas of cranberries and bright cherries on the nose, along with black pepper, red licorice, terracotta pot, as well touches of floral notes and dried leaves. All of the notes continued on the palate with a more pronounced hit of black pepper, along with hints of tobacco, and blood orange. The fruit quality on the palate was really crunchy and bright. This was a lighter-bodied red wine, but it definitely has tannic grip, just as Eric described.

I bought the bottle at Minimo in Oakland’s Jack London Square, and I took the opportunity to ask Erin, one of the owners, how she likes to serve the wine. She noted that she likes it with a light chill. Given the wine’s light body, this seemed like a good idea, so I took the recommendation and put the wine in the fridge for thirty minutes before drinking. At this point, it wasn’t super cold, just cool and it drank very nicely that way. Erin also mentioned that in addition to more traditional pairings, she also really enjoys the wine with lighter fare like vegetable-based dishes. I could absolutely see it going with a lot of seafood dishes as well, particularly with meatier fish or shellfish, and seafood dishes that include a lot of tomatoes given they’re sure to work well with all the acidity in the wine.

There’s been a lot of paprika in the conversation today though, and I felt a pull to run with that as a flavor base. Paprika – particularly smoked paprika – is one of my favorite flavors, so it was really a “gee, twist my arm” scenario. I thought about just making chicken paprikash since that is a delicious traditional Hungarian dish that makes good use of paprika. However, given that this wine is fairly light and very fresh, even with its tannic grip, I decided I wanted a pairing that felt a little lighter as well. 

I took flavor inspiration from chicken paprikash, but used it in a sheet pan chicken dish with a mix of brightly colored peppers, onions, and sweet potatoes. The resulting dish is flavorful, very easy to prepare, and leaves you with easy clean-up to boot!  

This was a very easy wine to like and Greg and I both really enjoyed it. It worked easily with the chicken and vegetables. The wine’s bright red fruit notes were as refreshing as one might hope with the food, and the combo particularly brought out the wine’s peppery notes. That said, I think this wine is likely to work well with a wide variety of foods and that chillable quality will make it a good one to reach for as the weather begins to warm up through spring and summer.

sheet pan, one pot, chicken

dinner

Servings: 6 to 8

By: Nicole Ruiz Hudson

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Smoky Sheet Pan Chicken and Vegetables

Prep Time: 15 MinCooking Time: 45 Mininactive time: 30 MinTotal Time: 1 H & 30 M

Ingredients

• 6 to 8 chicken thighs
• 1 lemon, zested and juiced
• 1 ½ teaspoon smoked paprika, or as needed
• 1 sweet potato, diced
• 3 bell peppers, sliced into strips (choose colors of your choice)
• 1 onion, thinly sliced
• 4 to 6 garlic cloves, sliced
• Olive oil, as needed
• Salt, to taste
• Pepper, to taste

Instructions

1. Season the chicken thighs generously with salt, pepper, 1 teaspoon of the smoked paprika, the lemon zest, and toss with the lemon juice and a generous pour of olive oil. Allow it to marinate for at least 20 minutes.
2. Preheat the oven to 425°F.
3. Spread the sweet potatoes, bell peppers, and onions on a greased sheet pan and toss with salt, pepper, the rest of the smoked paprika, and a drizzle of olive oil. Nestle the chicken thighs with some of the marinade among the vegetables. Place in the oven and roast for 20 minutes, then toss the vegetables and rotate the chicken thighs. Roast for another 20 to 25 minutes, or until they reach an internal temperature of at least 165°F. If you’d like the skin to be a little more crispy and browned, place under the broiler for a minute or two.
4. Remove the chicken from the oven and serve with the vegetables and spoonfuls of the chicken juices.

https://www.sommstable.com/2021/04/stranger-grapes-with-eric-danch.html

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This month Andrea of The Quirky Cork is hosting this month's Wine Pairing Weekend (#WinePW) exploration of Under the Radar European Wine Regions. Check out her preview post here and be sure to check out the rest of the group's discoveries as well: 

• Camilla from Culinary Adventures with Camilla posts From the Same Latitude as Other Pinot Noir Powerhouses: The 2017 Macedon Pinot Noir Matches Two Meaty Dinners
• Jeff at Food, Wine, Click! looks at Under the Radar in Croatia with Franc Arman Teran
• Gwendolyn from Wine Predator looks at 3 Wines from Sicily’s Etna Volcano Paired with Pork Sugo #WinePW
• Kat from The Corkscrew Concierge takes us Beyond Wine - Kosovo’s Stone Castle Vineyards Provides Pride, Hope & Jobs
• Linda at My Full Wine Glass features Dry or dryish, Hungarian Furmint is having a moment
• Susannah from Avvinare shares Slovenia Wines from Brda, Not to Be Missed
• Terri from Our Good Life looks at Ancient Gamza in 2021: Best Wine with Burgers from Eastern Europe
• Wendy of A Day in the Life on the Farm has Georgia On My Mind
• Andrea from the Quirky Cork takes a Deep Dive into Hungarian Wine