Somm's Table

Heart Shaped Chip at Commonwealth Restaurant

A heart shaped chip & bubbly to kick off our romantic dinner.

One of my New Year’s resolutions was to open more of “the good bottles.” Like a lot of people, I often tend to be too precious with many of my bottles–I store them away like little jewels. However, unlike jewels wine does not keep forever; and how sad it is when you open a bottle to find it has missed its prime. Open That Bottle Night (#OTBN) provides a perfect reason to seize the day and follow through with this resolution. Wall Street Journal Writers Dorothy Gaiter and John Brecher came up with the idea to inspire people to crack open a bottle that been languishing in the cellar for far too long (see more info here). The Wine Pairing Weekend crew, lead by David at Cooking Chat, celebrated by opening bottles on February 24th, and is sharing their finds this weekend (scroll down to see more).

As happy as I would have been an excuse to open a bottle anyways, I actually had even greater reason to celebrate a week earlier when Greg and I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary! This was definitely a reason to break out the good stuff if ever there was one, so I thought I'd combine the two events. We decided to open not just one, but two Splurge wines–a Pommard and a vintage Champagne. There were also a few other delicious sips along the way.

Us now, right before our dinner.

Us on our honeymoon in Cartagena–10 years ago!!!

To celebrate this evening we made early reservations at Commonwealth in the SF Mission. They really made it a special night! They brought us a lovely glass of Domaine Gérard Villet Vin Mousseux de Qualité Extra Brut to start the evening on a celebratory note. (I could not find this wine on the producer’s site, but did find it in this WSJ article for further description.) I have recently been enjoying some beautiful bubblies from the Jura–I highly encourage you explore these wines when looking for alternatives to Champagne. Greg and I also ordered a glass each of Káli Kövek Rezeda Welschriesling 2015 out of Hungary (here is the 2016 info) and Tatomer Meeresboden Gruner Veltliner Santa Barbara County 2016. Each paired well with the earlier dishes in our dinner–the Welschriesling was light but had a lovely roundness and pretty aromatics, while the Gruner had hints of sea minerals that gave it clean finish.

Domaine Lejeune Pommard Les Trois Follots 2013

Photo credit: Greg Hudson

We also brought a bottle of Domaine Lejeune Pommard Les Trois Follots 2013 to accompany the later courses in our dinner. We often like to bring a special bottle with us to go with a special dinner out. Of course there is usually a corkage fee and it’s always good to check on this in advance. (I believe the corkage fee at Commonwealth is $20, but it’s not 100% clear in my memory.) While we’d perused the menu online, we weren’t set on what we’d be ordering and a red Burgundy is always good choice for these moments, as they tend to pair well with a wide variety of foods. We sadly don’t have as many of them as we’d like in our “cellar,” so opening one up seemed particularly celebratory.

This domaine traces its history back as far as 1783. The buildings originally were owned by the Church, but were sold in 1793 after the French Revolution brought about the secularization of the region. For five generations after this, the domaine was passed from aunt to niece, although their site does not explain the reason for such an interesting succession. The domaine ultimately took its name from Maxime Lejeune who passed away in 1864. It now belongs to the family of François Jullien de Pommerol, a former oenology professor, who is in charge of the vineyards and the winemaking. They strive make wines in a traditional style, while taking advantage of modern current technology. Their wines are unfined and unfiltered. (This and further information can be found on their website.)

This was a sleek version with plenty of fresh acidity and fine tannins. It had notes of lightly spiced cherries and berries. It had a savory finish inflected with herbs, flowers, black tea, cedar, and a hint of earthy mushroom. It was light but with a firm core. This wine was still quite young and even with decanting it remained a little tight. We probably opened it slightly early, however, 2013 was a bit of a difficult vintage, so that closed off quality could have been the vintage showing itself. In any case, the assumption is that this vintage won’t age all that well and it is definitely better to open something a little too early than too late. Moreover, even if it was a touch young it paired beautifully with many of the dishes we had that evening, just as we’d hoped!

(Note: Since posting this, the producer left a comment on the Instagram that they believe that this will continue to develop until 2020.)

Here are some of the beautiful dishes we had that evening:

Shrimp mousse, sweetbreads cooked in beeswax at Commonwealth Restaurant

Shrimp mousse, sweetbreads cooked in beeswax, popcorn purée, yuzu kosho milk, pea tendrils. This was the drop the mic dish in our book.

Roasted carrots, smoked tofu, black garlic, sunflower seed butter, lime, dill, sumac.

Sea urchin, squid noodles, egg yolk jam, squash, squid ink tuile, nori, yuzu, shiso. How gorgeous is that?!


Young hen, parsnip, vanilla, sprouted rye porridge, celery, parsley, truffle emulsion. So complex and deliciously composed.

To finish things off we had a glass of Demeter Zoltán Late Harvest Tokaji 2016. I love Tokaji–it’s among my favorite dessert wines–and it was a perfect end to the feast! Thanks so much to the staff at Commonwealth for making it such a lovely meal.

J.L. Vergnon Brut Nature Blanc de Blancs Champagne Confidence 2008

Photo credit: Greg Hudson

Since our dinner was quite early, we continued our celebration into the evening. And let’s be honest, such a big milestone definitely deserves Champagne! I happened to have stored away a bottle of J.L. Vergnon Brut Nature Blanc de Blancs Champagne Confidence 2008–our wedding year!

J.L. Vergnon is based in Le Mesnil-sur-Oger in the sub-region of the Côte des Blancs, which is famous for its particularly chalky soils. The chalk helps to retain acidity in the grapes, producing wines of renowned elegance. This estate has been in the family for five generations, and Jean-Louis Vergnon inherited it from his mother in 1950. He first sold fruit to local cooperatives, then began making his own Champagne in1985. His son and grandson, Didier and Clement, now head the estate.

Jean-Louis saw the quality of his fruit when he began bottling his own wine, and began pushing harvest dates pack in order to get as ripe and balanced grapes as he could–aiming for 11 degrees of natural potential alcohol or more. This in turn has allowed them to completely eliminate chaptalization and block malolactic fermentation while still making balanced wines. In 2002, they brought on Christophe Constant as winemaker, and under his tenure the house really began to gain recognition. Enologist Julian Goût recently took over as winemaker this past November. While young, Julian has already had stints working working with Anselme Selosse and at Taittinger, among others. The house farms sustainably, avoiding pesticides. Most of the wines are vinified in stainless steel and they keep to a generally light dosage throughout their range. Their wines are aged for a minimum of 36 months on the lees, but most are aged for much longer before release.

I could not find a tech sheet for the 2008 Confidence specifically, however, 2008 was quite a good vintage in Champagne. The Chardonnay grapes for this wine come from the domaine's oldest and best parcel in Le Mesnil, Les Hautes Mottes. They rely on indigenous yeasts for primary fermentation on this cuvée and it is barrel fermented and aged (only 10% new on the 2010). The wine ages for at least 3 years before being disgorged (the 2010 vintage spent 6 years on the lees) and is finished without dosage. (In addition to the J.L. Vergnon and Skurnik websites, I found additional information in But First, Champagne: A Modern Guide to the World’s Favorite Wine by David White.)

I found this wine to be a particularly savory Champagne, like bread baked with herbs and topped with salted butter. There were also notes of preserved lemons and lemon curd, almonds, with a sharp minerality at the core that leads me think that this wine definitely could age for much longer.

(Quick aside–I recently had occasion to try the 2009 version of this wine at a Skurnik trade tasting and my notes read as follows: Round nose–rounder on the nose than on the palate. Deep gold apples, a little toasty, savory pastry on palate. It was more forward than my recollection of the 2008, which would be consistent with the difference in the vintages as 2009 was warmer. See more on recent vintages here.)

We enjoyed this Baller Wine cuddled up watching a movie later that night. However, I’m sure it would be delicious with any number of dishes, particularly chicken or seafood and an herbed butter sauce would match the notes flawlessly.

It was a wonderful 10th anniversary and we’ve been continuing the celebration since with more yet to come! Stay tuned.

I’m also happy to say that we had occasion to open more delicious bottles on OTBN weekend with friends–some ours, some theirs. You can see my Instagram post of that night on Nibbling Gypsy here.

*****

Be sure to check out how the rest of the Wine Pairing Weekend group celebrated #OTBN:

Martin from ENOFYLZ Wine Blog will post A Journey To Iberia And Beyond for Open That Bottle Night #WinePW

Lori from Dracaena Wines shares Emotion, Not Money or Age for this #OTBN #WinePW

Wendy at A Day in the Life on the Farm posted Instant Pot Irish Stew with a White Cheddar Crust #EattheWorld #winePW #OTBN

Jane from Always Ravenous served Chicken Breasts in a Tart Cherry Pinot Noir Sauce #winePW #OTBN

Camilla at Culinary Adventures with Camilla paired Brisket over Butter-Braised Leeks + Hundred Suns’ Ciel du Cheval 2015

Gwendolyn at Wine Predator will blog about OTBN: Ranchita Canyon Vertical Paired with Lasagna for #WinePW

David from Cooking Chat posted Roasted Lamb Chops with Blackberry Sauce for #OTBN #winePW

Don't have a blog post about #OTBN to share? No problem! Join the conversation about #OTBN and special wine and food pairings by joining our live Twitter chat. Tune into the #winePW hashtag on Saturday, March 10, 11 am ET / 8 am PT to join the conversation. You can also check out past and future #winePW topics on the Wine Pairing Weekend page. Get ready for the April #winePW which will be on Exploring the Wines of Navarra Spain, hosted by Gwendolyn at Wine Predator. For background on #OTBN, visit our Open That Bottle Night Invite post. For background on #OTBN, visit our Open That Bottle Night Invite post.

At the end of October I tagged along with my friend Kristin on a tour and tasting of Covenant Wines, an urban winery in Berkeley, California. It turned out to be such a great visit!

Covenant also happens to be kosher. If the thought of kosher wine leads you straight to thoughts of Manischewitz, get those images right out of your head. These wines have nothing to do the sweet, syrupiness of Manischewitz. These are beautiful, classically made wines; they’re just also kosher.

Shots of Covenant's 7,000 square foot facility in Berkeley, California.

I’m not Jewish, so the kosher aspect wasn’t the draw for me. I’d heard really good things about their wines from a couple of friends. We also sell a couple of their wines at Bay Grape and they’re lovely. I was really just interested in checking out their wines and operation.

Kristin noses a barrel sample.

Now while the kosher aspect wasn’t the draw, I did find their way of handling the kosher requirements (specifically the mevushal requirements) interesting. Before we get there though, let’s take a quick look at what ‘kosher wine’ means. There are a few levels on the kosher scale. Here’s a quick recap, in case you’re a Gentile like me and you're unfamiliar or you're Jewish and just need a refresher:

•    Kosher: First up, to be kosher wine must be made up of all kosher ingredients. There really aren’t any non-kosher items among the list of required ingredients for wine, so that isn’t typically a big problem. (There are a few things that can be used as clarifying agents and such that would potentially fall into this category, but they’re pretty easily avoided.) The bigger factor according to kashrut law (Jewish dietary law) concerns who handles the wine. Only Sabbath-observant Jews can handle the wine–from crushing to bottling.

•    Kosher for Passover: Now if you keep kosher and want to have a glass of wine with your Passover Seder dinner, the wine needs to go one step up. Wines that are kosher for Passover must have been kept free from contact with chametz – a product that is made from one of five types of grain and has become leavened. This would include grain, bread, and dough.

•    Mevushal: This literally means “cooked.” According traditional Jewish law, if a wine is served by a non-Jewish server, it is no longer kosher. Therefore, if you want to have kosher wine in a mixed company setting–restaurants, weddings, parties, etc–you need to go up another level. Mevushal wines have been heated to a point that allows them to keep their kosher status, no matter who has handled them. (If you’re interested in knowing more about the tradition and the ‘why’s’ of it all, l found this engaging article on MyJewishLearning.com) The downside to this, of course, is that cooking a wine is a really good way to make taste pretty awful. Nowadays, there are ways around this. Most typically, the wine will be flash pasteurized, which heats the wine very quickly for 15 to 30 seconds.

Covenant uses a technique called flash détente (which literally translates ‘instant relaxation’) to make their mevushal wines, a process that was developed to improve color extraction. In this process fully ripe, crushed, and destemmed grapes are rapidly heated to 160°F-200°F (achieving pasteurization) for a minute or less and then immediately put under vacuum. In the vacuum, the grape skins rupture and the structure of the grapes’ skin cells are broken down, thereby releasing color components (anthocyanins), as well as aroma compounds.

The technique was originally developed to extract flavors out of fruits, however, France’s INRA (Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique) then applied the technology to wine in the early 1990’s. The use of the vacuum differentiates it from other forms of flash pasteurization or thermovinification.

The process wasn’t developed for the purposes of making kosher wine, but it accomplishes the goal quite nicely. Flash détente has other benefits as well. It doesn’t over-extract harsh tannins, as some other methods of extracting color from grapes have a tendency to do. It also turns out to reduce pyrazines, compounds which contribute to green, bell pepper flavors and aromas in certain grapes like Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, and Sauvignon Blanc (they’re all related). Also, by killing off microbes in the wine, you reduce the possibility of off flavors.

To their knowledge, they’re the only ones making wines from 100% grapes that have gone through flash détente–typically it’s used for a portion of a blend. According to the crew at Covenant the only real downside is that they have found that their mevushal wines don’t age quite as well as the rest of their wines. Therefore, they’re intended to be drunk young.

(Ok, I realize that this is all pretty geeky. However, if you want to geek out even more, check out this article on WinesandVines.com and this product sell sheet I found describing the technology. I found the “flash water” section on the WineandVines.com article particularly interesting.)

The full line of Covenant Wines.

Covenant makes both mevushal and non-mevushal wines and there are really beautiful wines among all the offerings. And again, it was such a fun visit. I turned out to have a lot in common with co-owner Jeff Morgan–he also worked at Wine Spectator and is also very interested in food and wine pairing. He and his wife Jodie (who is also a co-owner) have written eight cookbooks together!

I really want to thank Jeff, general manager Sagie Kleinlerer, and winemaker Jonathan Hadju for a wonderful visit, as well as Kristin for letting me tag along. (Be sure to check out Kristin's site Nourish.)

Kristin and I with Covenant Wines Co-Owner Jeff Morgan.

THE PAIRING

Photo credit on all of the food and wine shots: Greg Hudson. The bottle of Neshama was provided as a sample.

And now it’s time for a little soul. (That’ll make sense in a sec.)

Today’s wine is Covenant’s Neshama Sonoma County 2014. It’s a blend of Petit Verdot, Malbec, and Syrah (60/30/10). Neshama means “soul” or “spirit” in Hebrew and it’s made by selecting the winery’s favorite barrels out of Sonoma (from grapes other than Cab) to create a wine that reflects the “soul” of the vintage.

I loved this wine and brought it home from the visit to the winery. (Full disclosure, it was given to me as a sample at the winery. Please note, however, that all opinions are my own.) I sat down with Greg to taste it again and to plan a dish to pair with it that same evening. The wine had a mix of red and black fruits–berries, dark plum sauce, and black cherries. There were hints of spice along with smoked paprika, and mix red pepper and green peppercorns. Light herbals notes of bramble and tomato leaf added interest, along with a smoky meaty quality. There were substantial tannins, but they were supple, and while it’s a big wine it had enough acidity to back it up. It was velvety with a long finish.

Given that this wine was quite bold, we thought it would be perfect for a really meaty dish. It was a chilly night and something warm and cozy seemed in order. Plus, something “soulful” seemed right in line with the wine. Greg had been craving goulash (Hungarian beef stew seasoned with paprika and other spices) for a while and that actually seemed like a perfect match for the deep, smoky flavors in the wine.

I looked at several recipes in creating this goulash for reference, including this one from SeriousEats.com, among others. I decided to play the smoky qualities up further by combining some smoked paprika with the usual sweet paprika. A smattering of herbs brought out those hints in the wine. We also found that adding a little cocoa rounded out and deepened all the flavors.

When making a stew, most recipes will have you put mirepoix veggies in a stew at the beginning, strain them out, then add new ones in the final phase of cooking, once the first batch has become mushy. This is also the method I was taught in culinary school. Honestly, I get not wanting to have the mushy vegetables, but at the same time it’s such a pain in the butt to strain them out. It also seems a little wasteful to me.

I developed a little technique of my own to skip this step. I pull out the chunks of meat–they tend to be bigger and are much easier to fish out than all the veg–then I use an immersion blender to smooth out the veggies. This helps create a thicker consistency without making a roux out of extra butter or flour. I then just add the meat back in with the new veggies and keep on cooking. I find it a whole lot easier and nothing goes to waste. One more shortcut–I often use baby carrots in stews when I don’t feel like chopping as much. Obviously, cutting up whole carrots work as well.

The wine and the goulash danced together. It was seamless pairing. The wine really picked up the paprika and herbs in the sauce and brought those qualities out further. The wine even seemed more structured with the stew; in particular, an extra level of brightness came out in the wine.

A hearty, thick piece of bread to soak up all the sauce is the perfect final accessory to the meal.

YUM!

GEEKY DETAILS

The grapes for this wine are sourced from various vineyards in Sonoma County. The winery has long-standing relationships with growers in Bennett Valley, Sonoma Mountain, Dry Creek Valley, and Sonoma Valley, as well as in Napa and Lodi for their other wines.

Production notes taken from the tech sheet:

•    All native yeast fermentation.
•    Native malolactic fermentation
•    Unfined and unfiltered
•    Aged for 18 months in 100% French Oak (30%new)
•    169 cases produced

This wine is Kosher for Passover.

MONEY TALK  

The SRP on the Neshama is $72, which is definitely a Splurge. However, it drinks beautifully and I would say this is still competitive with other top tier wines from Sonoma and Napa.

That said the winery makes quite a few other wines at less expensive price points. I highly recommend The Tribe Chardonnay. It’s wonderfully balanced and elegant Chard and has an SRP of $32.

OTHER POSSIBILITIES

This is a big, bold stew and can handle a big, bold wine–bring out the big guns. I think the spice factor that tends to come from oak treatment in the New World reds works well here. (Within reason, that is–-I don’t care for wines that are over-oaked to the point you feel like you’re tasting a piece of wood.) It can also handle substantial tannins, but ideally the tannins are ripe and sweet. Warmer Old World reds from areas like Ribera del Duero or the Douro should also work well.

Let me know if you find another pairing you love with this!
   