Extra time in the kitchen this past year has allowed me time to conduct several informal pairing studies of how wines pair with different versions of a few everyday favorite foods. With Memorial Day coming up this weekend, it seems like the perfect time to share my very scientific findings on pairing the first of these: Burgers!

Studies were conducted with homemade burgers, burgers ordered in from restaurants, and burgers made during cookouts with our quarantine pod at the Culinary Cabin. Towards the end of last year, I had the chance to participate in a virtual event that greatly accelerated my research, so today we’ll focus on this experiment, and I’ll share further conclusions in my next post.

Washington State Wines via O'Donnell Lane PR invited me to join a tasting with Devison Vintners and Canvasback Winery. The extra fun component of this tasting was that all of the participants were sent two burgers to enjoy alongside the wines – a bistro-style burger and a good fast-food burger. (I fully believe there are tiers in the world of fast-food burgers.) I received a bacon burger from The Cook and Her Farmer in Swan’s Market here in Oakland, and a classic Five Guys cheeseburger.  

Each winery sent two wines as samples to experiment with and the results were not always exactly what one would expect. Let’s take a look at the wines and how they paired with the burgers. 

Map courtesy of WineFolly.com.

Note: While the wines were provided as media samples along with the burgers, all opinions are my own and no other compensation was received. Click the wine's name for more technical details on a specific bottle.

Devison Vintners

Peter and Kelsey Devison are the husband and wife team behind Devison Vintners in Walla Walla. Both have had long careers in wine, and between the two of them, they’ve touched most areas of the industry. Peter, who joined the virtual event, had already long been a head winemaker in Washington state for many years when he and Kelsey decided to start their own winery. For her part, Kelsey Malm Devison had spent her time on the sales, marketing, and import side of things. Devison makes small-lot, minimal intervention wines aimed at showcasing Washington’s terroir. They source fruit from growers throughout Washington as well as Oregon with whom they have longstanding relationships.

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Devison Vintners Rosé Boushey Vineyard Yakima Valley 2019

Blend: 75% Mourvèdre; 25% Grenache   | Price: $24 (for the current release 2020 bottling)

The grapes in this wine come from the same vineyard as Above the Flood, which we’ll take a look at next. It’s inspired by the Provençal style, but definitely shows Washington character with riper fruit notes. The wine is made via native fermentation in concrete and neutral French oak. It’s then aged on the lees for 5 months and bottled unfined. 

Tasting Notes: Bright strawberries, cherries, and peaches draw you in on the nose and continue on the palate where they gained a tangy quality as they mixed with the lightly creamy mouthfeel created by the lees. 

Pairing: This wine was the surprise MVP of the day. It matched solidly well with both the bacon burger and the cheeseburger. More cherry notes in wine came out when sipped alongside the Five Guys cheeseburger. I don’t think I’d ever really considered rosé as an ideal pairing option for burgers, but it does feed into my evolving belief that rosés are among the most versatile food-pairing wines. This version’s round fruit character helped it to play nicely with tricky elements like ketchup, which can throw off some wines because of its sweetness. 

Greg and I later enjoyed the rest of this bottle with fish poached in a savory Japanese-inspired broth with enoki mushrooms and greens, and it worked beautifully in that combination as well.

Devison Vintners Above the Flood Boushey Vineyard Yakima Valley  2018

Blend: 55% Grenache; 37% Syrah; 8% Mourvèdre | Price: $49 

The grapes for both of these Devison wines come from Boushey Vineyards, which are located in Yakima Valley on the southern slopes of the Rattlesnake Mountains. The vineyards are planted on several sites within a two-mile radius but are generally south-facing slopes at elevations varying between 700 to 1200 feet. The oldest vines were planted in 1980 and the youngest were planted in 2003. The wine is made via native fermentation and is bottled unfined and unfiltered. 

Tasting Notes: Sweet raspberry candy notes hit on the nose, along with hints of spice, cocoa, and vanilla. Berries in all colors – red, black, and blue were all here – continued on the palate along with smoke, spice, singed herbs, with a light hit of pepper on the finish. I’m a sucker for a GSM blend, so it’s not a big surprise that this was my favorite wine on its own.

Pairings: This wine worked solidly well with the Five Guys burgers, but it just sang with the bistro burger from The Cook and Her Farmer. This wine absolutely loved the bacon! The smoky notes in both curled around each other like the coils in a plume of smoke. Magical.

Despite the ripe fruit quality of the wine, you might not want to have it with any super spicy or sweet sauces. We later tried the rest of this bottle with pork belly in gochujang. In that case, the sauce diminished the wine’s fruit character and resulted in a pairing that was just okay.

Canvasback Winery

Canvasback is part of the Duckhorn family of wines, and their first winery outside of California. (We’ve explored wines from Duckhorn several times on this blog, but specifically in a burger pairing here.) Inspired by the quality and character of Cabernet Sauvignon from Washington State, and particularly from Red Mountain, the winery specializes in Cabs with a structured style, although they do make wines from a few other grapes. Canvasback’s winemaker Brian Rudin, who is a Washington native with years of experience working at some of the state’s most esteemed wineries, joined us for the virtual event.

Like most of the Duckhorn family of wines, Canvasback’s name is inspired by the birds. In this case, the waterfowl in question is the Canvasback duck, which is native to the Pacific Flyway and is pictured on the labels. 

Canvasback Cabernet Sauvignon Red Mountain 2017

Blend: 84% Cabernet Sauvignon, 11% Merlot, 2% Mourvedre, 2% Petit Verdot, 1% Syrah | Price: $42 

Red Mountain  is still a fairly young appellation, having gained its AVA status in 2001, nonetheless, it has earned itself a reputation for quality and is particularly renowned for Cabernet Sauvignon. It’s the easternmost subsection of Yakima Valley and is graced with ideal southwest-facing slopes that give the grapes lots of time in the sun. Big swings between the day and nighttime temperature swings provide the conditions for steady ripening that allow the grapes to maintain acidity while developing intense flavors. Canvasback sources their grapes from growers with whom they maintain close relationships. 

Tasting Notes: Friendly black cherry and red plum notes greeted me on the nose. More red fruit notes jumped in on the palate, along with clove, cocoa, vanilla, and a sprinkle of thyme on the finish. The fruit was rich and concentrated while maintaining bright acidity and the tannins were smooth. 

Pairing: This was my favorite wine with the Five Guys burger. The fruit was ripe enough to stand up against the sweetness in the ketchup and it matched the richness of the burger nicely, while the acidity in the wine kept everything lifted so that my palate wasn’t being dragged down by the weight of the food and the big red wine. We finished this bottle that evening with the rest of the burgers after the event, so I don’t have additional pairings for you on this one. 

Canvasback Grand Passage Cabernet Sauvignon Red Mountain 2017

Blend: 98% Cabernet Sauvignon, 2% Merlot | Price: $84

The grapes for this wine are sourced from selected blocks in Quintessence Vineyard, a site with loamy soils that sits at an elevation of 661-1,106 feet. This wine sees about twice as much new oak in comparison to the Red Mountain, which speaks to this wine’s more intense structure. 

Tasting Notes: Red berries, rose petals, and light pepper draw you in on the nose, but then the fruit becomes more dark and intense on the palate with black cherries and plums joining the party. Baking spices, chocolate, and vanilla accent the fruit, while licorice, bay leaves, and pencil lead add complexity. This is a much more structured wine than the Red Mountain, and while the tannins were already fairly supple, the wine would benefit from further aging.

Pairing: The wine worked solidly well with both burgers. I thought the sweetness of the ketchup in the Five Guys burger would challenge the wine, the fruit held up better than expected, although it did narrow the fruit a bit. On the other hand, the fruit came out more with the bacon in the burger from A Girl and her Farmers in a nice way. It was fun to try this high-low combo, but I think the wine’s structure hurt it a bit since the more intense tannic grip seemed to want something more full-on meaty to tame it. Both burgers made for good pairings with the wine, but I think there is a higher calling for this elegant and structured wine. I still have the rest of the bottle since I used my Coravin to pour myself the taste for the event, so will explore further pairings and report back.

This was such a fun virtual tasting and really furthered my very scientific research on burger pairings. I will be back soon with more analysis into the field of burger and wine pairings. Thanks so much to Washington State Wine and O'Donnell Lane for the invitation! 

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I recently shared an exploration of Big, Beautiful Reds from Yakima Valley and Tasty, Meaty Fare, where we took a look at three different bottles to get to know the Yakima Valley. We loved all the pairings, but as I couldn’t fit all the recipes in one post, I promised to follow up. Today I’m doing just that and sharing the recipe for the Instant Pot Lamb Shanks we paired with the JB Neufeld Ciel du Cheval Cabernet Sauvignon Red Mountain 2018 ($43).

Note: This bottle was provided as a media sample. No other compensation was received and all opinions are my own.

As a recap, JB Neufeld is a project by husband and wife team Justin and Brooke Neufeld. Cab lovers, this one is for you. They’re all about it! They currently make four different bottlings, all with fruit from within the Yakima Valley AVA, but each from completely unique sites.

As the goal is to showcase the diversity of terroirs found in the region, they always aim to put the fruit first. So while Justin, as the winemaker, finds oak to be an important component in the winemaking to help build the structure of the wines, it has to be used carefully. He prefers barrels with a lighter toast so as to not mask the fruit’s aromas, but that just help provide a tannic spine to the wine. (Their website goes into depth about some of the types of barrels they use, so if you like to geek out about oak, click here.)

I tried the first vintage of their Ciel du Cheval bottling. The fruit for this wine comes from the Red Mountain subregion of Yakima Valley, the smallest appellation in Washington State. It’s located on a southwest-facing slope in south-central Washington. The grapes here get tons of sunlight! Thanks to the particular placement of the vineyards, it’s the warmest region in the state and they get almost two hours more sun a day than Napa. Things cool down at night though, thanks in part to the proximity to the Yakima River which moderates temperatures and ensure continuous airflow, helping to slow down the ripening process and maintain acidity. This combination is particularly ideal for red wines (although some white grapes are planted here too) which are able to achieve bold flavors and powerful structure. Red Mountain wines are also known for having a distinct minerality.

The JB Neufeld site describes the particular characteristics of the Ciel du Cheval Vineyard: 

First planted in 1975 on Red Mountain in the Yakima Valley AVA. When the great Spokane Flood formed the Red Mountain region, the Scooteney Channel backed up leaving deposits of gravel and huge stones. The Ciel du Cheval soil is composed of loam on gravel beds that extend 12 feet or more. Our fruit comes from Clone 337.

Straying away from the geeky details for a moment, the name of the vineyard reminds me of the discussion in Notting Hill of Chagall’s La Mariée during which Julia Robert’s character, Anna Scott, says, “Yes, happiness isn't happiness without a violin-playing goat!”

Image borrowed from Wikipedia

I emailed a bit with Brooke Hamilton-Neufeld in advance of my Yakima Valley post, and she was nice enough to get back to me with thoughtful answers to my questions.

Is there a particular terroir signature you associate with the Yakima Valley? 

I love this question and it is tricky because the Yakima Valley is such a big AVA. We both always get a chalky tannin on wines from the Yakima Valley and good acid (in both reds and whites). As far as Cabernets are concerned, I feel like those primary cherry notes are quintessential Yakima Valley across the entire region and across most producers.

What do you think is special or unique about how Cab expresses itself in the region?  

Our winery focuses only on Cabernet Sauvignon and one of the reasons we did that is because Cabernet is such a good communicator of terrior and it is very resilient to winemaker interruptions. The Cabs from across the Yakima Valley are well structured (from our long growing days), have good acidity (thanks to diurnal shift- extremely hot days and very cold nights), delicious bright cherry notes, and chalky tannins (from our soil composition-because of the Missoula Floods). Also, most of the Yakima Valley's Cabs are young tasting. In comparison to California and obviously France, the Yakima Valley is still a relatively young growing region and our Cabs are young and full of potential and it will fun to see what happens when they age.

THE PAIRING

I also asked Brooke about favorite pairings for this bottle and she had lots of good thoughts.  

We just released our Ciel du Cheval Vineyard Designate Cab Sauv so have had fun trying different food pairings this winter. Hearty meals are so perfect for layered Cabs, the timing is awesome. Sadly, I'm not much of a cook and we have three young boys so I pretty much fall back on meals that I can cook entirely in my dutch oven without much effort. I find any braised meat, like lamb shanks, really enhances the earthy parts of the wine and lets the cherry notes sing. I am working on a meal to pair with the Ciel for my dad when he comes to visit next weekend. My dad loves Cabs but he is also vegan so I am planning on making a vegan cassoulet-something with white beans and crusty garlic bread. I think that would be a good compliment to the Ciel without falling back on meat. The wine is very classic Red Mountain – it has some fun graphite and crushed rock notes and the fruit is a strong cherry and bright red fruits. It is a young wine so the tannins are pronounced that is why I think it does well with meals that have some fat!

Image borrowed from soilairselection.com.

I really appreciated the realness of her response and I think we can all relate to the need for dishes that don’t demand that much attention. As much as I love to cook, I often get caught off guard by time (time and I are not the best of friends), so my problem is often realizing I don’t have enough time to make the thing I’d intended to make. My Instant Pot often saves me in these cases. When I do plan ahead, I also love braising things in the oven for much the same reason that Brooke mentioned – you can just put things in there and not think about it. I find it’s helpful to know how to switch between the two methods, that way you can fairly easily roll with the punches time might throw at you.

I loved the idea of lamb shanks with this wine and decided to prepare them in the Instant Pot in this case, however, you can easily adapt this recipe for braising in the oven. It’s pretty much just a matter of the amount of liquid and time – you’ll need more of both to cook in the oven. You can pretty much follow all the steps in the same way. After searing the lamb and then sweating the vegetables on the stovetop, return the lamb shanks to the pot, then add enough stock and/or wine to come up about ⅔ to ¾ up the way of the lamb shanks. Cover the pot then place in a 350°F oven and cook for about 3 hours, or until the meat is fall-off-the-bone tender, checking periodically to make sure there is still enough liquid in the pot. 

One large shank is about right for two people, but it's definitely worth making more than you need. After the first evening, I shredded the rest of the remaining meat into the sauce to make a ragu and it goes even further this way. Use it however you'd use a meaty sauce.

I used pretty classic ingredients for this braise but just tweaked the herbs and spices a little bit to match the notes I got from the wine. You can see my more detailed tasting notes below, but I got lots of herbal notes, as well as a little licorice and white pepper from this wine, so I tried to work in seasonings that would reflect and complement those flavors.

Trying to stick to the idea of keeping things simple, I took advantage of a pre-packaged mix of grains that were supposed to cook in 10 minutes according to the package instructions. I found they took a while longer to be ready than indicated, and they ended up with a texture similar to risotto, which I didn’t mind at all. A little Parmesan on top was the final flourish. 

This pairing was SOOOOOOOOOO good. The wine became extra plush and velvety when sipped alongside the food. We gave the combo an A/A+ as we were both MMMMMM-ing for quite a while.


Tasting Notes: When we first poured the wine, it was all about the red fruit notes: red plums, strawberry, currants, plus a little black cherry – totally backing up Brooke’s notes about bright cherries and red fruits. There were also notes of red flower petals and spice on the nose. Herbal notes showed up on the palate – Greg was tasting more mint, while I was getting more rosemary – along with white pepper and a hint of licorice. Darker fruits emerged over the course evening, and the wine began to show a more plush texture, but it always retained its juicy acidity. It was a really bright Cab with medium + acidity, body, and tannins.

lamb, braise, instant pot, pressure cooker

dinner,

French, American

Servings: 4 to 6

By: Nicole Ruiz Hudson

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Instant Pot Braised Lamb Shanks

Prep Time: 15 MinCooking Time: 90 MinTotal Time: 1 H & 45 M

This is a pretty classic lamb briase adapted for the Instant Pot. Knowing full well how time can often catch up with us, I've included a few different options for when you find yourself in a rush. Ideally, allow the lamb to cook for the full time, allow the pressure to release naturally, and then allow the sauce to reduce, but if you need to speed things up, use the cheats to speed things up.

Ingredients

• 2 large lamb shanks
• Flour, for dredging
• 1 large onion, diced
• 2 carrots, sliced
• 2 celery stalk, finely diced
• 2 to 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 cup chicken stock, plus more for deglazing (about 1½ cups to 2 cups total)
• 1 cup red wine
• 2 bay leaves
• ⅛ tsp fennel seeds
• Pinch of celery seeds
• 1 to 2 Tbsp, Wondra flour or cornstarch, Optional
• Olive oil, as needed
• Salt, as needed
• White pepper, as needed

Instructions

1. Set the Instant Pot to the sauté setting.
2. While the Instant Pot is heating up, season lamb with salt and white pepper and coat with flour. Once the Instant Pot is heated up, add a generous pour of olive oil (about 2-3 tablespoons). Sear the lamb on all sides. Transfer the lamb to a plate and set aside.
3. Deglaze the pan with a little bit of the chicken stock (extra wine will also work well), making sure to scrape up any browned bits. Add the onions, carrots, and celery, season with salt and white pepper, and sauté until the vegetables are starting to become tender and onions are starting to turn translucent – about 10 minutes.
4. Add the lamb shanks back into the pot, followed by a cup of chicken stock, wine, and the rest of the herbs and spice.
5. Cover the Instant Pot with the lid and set to high pressure. Cook for 30 to 45 minutes. (Note: The meat is tender and delicious after 30 minutes, so if you’re in a rush, it’s absolutely ready to eat at this point. Leaving the shanks in a little longer though will help to break down some of the additional connective tissue.)
6. Once cook time is complete, allow pressure to release naturally, if possible. (If you’re in a rush allow it to release naturally for 10 to 15 minutes, then release manually.) Open the lid, remove the shanks and set aside.
7. Switch Instant Pot back to sauté setting and simmer until sauce is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Adjust seasoning as needed. Optional: To reduce the amount of time waiting for the sauce to thicken, feel free to use Wondra flour or cornstarch mixed with water to form a slurry according to package instructions.
8. Return the lamb shanks to the pot and keep warm in the sauce until ready to serve. Serve with grains, potatoes, polenta, or pasta.

Notes:

This recipe can easily be adapted for braising in the oven. You can pretty much follow all the steps in the same way. After searing the lamb and then sweating the vegetables on the stovetop, return the lamb shanks to the pot, then add enough stock and/or wine to come up about ⅔ to ¾ up the way of the lamb shanks. Cover the pot then place in a 350°F oven and cook for about 3 hours, or until the meat is fall-off-the-bone tender, checking periodically to make sure there is still enough liquid in the pot.

https://www.sommstable.com/2021/03/JB-Neufeld-Ciel-du-Cheval-Cabernet-Sauvignon-with-Instant-Pot-Lamb-Shanks.html

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Additional sources used for this post:

• Red Mountaina AVA
• Wine Yakima Valley 
• Washington Wine 
• Wine-searcher.com 
  

This post contains affiliate links, including these Amazon Associate links, from which I might receive a commission at no cost to you.

We're getting to know Yakima Valley via three big, bold, delicious red wines from Pollard, JB Neufeld, and Sparkman Cellars paired with meaty pork, lamb, and beef dishes.

Note: The wines in this post were sent as samples. No other compensation was received and all opinions are my own.

During the winter months – even in comparatively mild California  – my cravings drift to meaty dishes and big reds. They’re kind of like the cozy-core of the food and wine and wine world. These combos just make me feel warm and snuggly inside, even though the dishes and wines might simultaneously be quite elegant.

Lately, I’ve been enjoying quite a few big reds from Washington in general. (While today’s wines are all samples, this stretches to my wine purchases as well.) For me, the wines strike a nice balance between the fruit-forward character of California’s wines and the earthiness of Old World wines. (Check out this post for comparisons at one table.) The wines tend to show lovely fruit along with brightness, elegance, and minerality. Also, I don’t mean to snub the state I call home and love dearly, but on the whole, I think Washington has us beat when it comes to value, at least when it comes to well-known red grapes like Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. It’s not to say that you can’t find good values from California, or that Washington wines are always inexpensive, but when it comes to these more famous grapes I think overall you tend to get a little more bang for the buck from the Washington versions.

Today we’re going to take a look at three wines and pairings from a specific subregion of Washington State, the Yakima Valley . . . and they all hit the spot dead on.

Yakima Valley

The Yakima Valley AVA is located in south-central Washington State, within the larger Columbia Valley. Yakima in turn includes the sub-appellations of Red Mountain, Snipes Mountain, and Rattlesnake Hills. The region follows the Yakima River for 60 miles from the Union Gap just south of the city of Yakima until the river joins up with the larger Columbia River. The Cascade Mountains run along the western side of the mountains.

Map borrowed from WineFolly.com.

These mountains have an important role to play since they block clouds, creating a rain shadow for this side of the mountains, which as a result is MUCH drier than the other side, which is where you’ll find Seattle. Thanks to the rain shadow effect this area gets around 300 days of sunshine per year. The region only sees 7 to 8 inches of precipitation each year, which qualifies it as a desert, since by definition anything less than 10 falls into this category.

This region is a latitude 46°N which means it has long days during the growing season, resulting in even more sunshine hours. Of course, given that northern latitude also means that it get cool here, and temperatures drop at night, which helps to preserve acidity in the grapes. The result is a beautiful balance of fruit and freshness.  

Map borrowed from Yakima Valley Wine Tourism.

The soils in the region are also fascinating and important to the character of the wine. The landscape here was carved out by a combination of ancient volcanoes and floods. Volcanoes from both the east and west covered the region in a mixture of ash, basalt, and other volcanic sediments. The volcanic matter also rained down and mixed with the area’s rivers and lakes creating a unique alluvial-volcanic mixture which is called the Ellensburg Formation

On top of this, the Missoula floods swept through the area at the end of the last Ice Age, which mixed up the soil profile even more, bringing in elements from surrounding areas. As a result of all of these factors, the area’s soils are extremely complex and include granite and quartz stones, as well as silt, sand, quartz, and micas. Water drains through all of this very easily, so vines have to tap down pretty deep to reach water. As well, there isn’t much organic matter at all in the soils, which relieves a lot of disease pressure from the vines. They don’t see many of the pests that are common to vines all around the world, and even when they do, they’re much more manageable. As a result, vines here can be left to grow ungrafted, which is pretty special in the wine world. You can also probably imagine that this mix of elements also lends lots of minerality to the finished wines.

A wide variety of grapes, as well as other produce, are grown in the area. I received samples (all opinions are my own and no other compensation was received) to join my fellow Wine Pairing Weekend Bloggers (#WinePW) in exploring the region during Washington Wine Month. I then found I had recently tried another giving me a slate of three different red grapes from three producers. I can’t claim to have had enough wines from the region to generalize on the terroir signature too much, however, I seemed to pick up on some commonalities between the wines explored. I noticed more red fruit character than usual for the Cab and Syrah in today’s set of wines, as well as fennel-like or licorice notes throughout all the wines, and lots of minerality and acidity. Each of these wines also unfolded beautifully in the glass, evolving quite a bit over the course of the evening.

For the pairings, I asked the winemakers /owners from two of the wineries, JB Neufeld and Pollard, to share their favorite matches for their wines and experimented with those suggestions. We’d enjoyed the Syrah from Sparkman Cellars with a particularly good leftover makeover for a recipe I’ll be sharing on NibblingGypsy.com. Now let’s get to know the wines.

JB Neufeld Ciel du Cheval Cabernet Sauvignon Red Mountain 2018 and Instant Pot Lamb Shanks

Price:  $43    |    Alcohol: 14.3%

JB Neufeld was created by husband and wife team Justin and Brooke Neufeld. They focus exclusively on Cabernet Sauvignon within the Yakima Valley AVA to showcase the diversity of the terroir found in the valley and the uniqueness of the place through their wines.  They make Cabs from several different sites and I tried their Ciel du Cheval Cabernet Sauvignon Red Mountain 2018, their first vintage from this site.

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Sparkman Cellars Darkness Syrah Yakima Valley 2017 with Steak, Mushroom, and Potato Casseroles

Price: $65    | Alcohol: 14.5%   

Our next wine, Sparkman Cellars Darkness Syrah Yakima Valley 2017, comes from another husband and wife team – Kelly and Chris Sparkman. They started their winery in 2004, and while their family (they have two girls, Stella Mae and Ruby Leigh) and winery have grown quite a bit since their beginnings, they’ve remained family-owned and operated. The couple were the founding winemakers, however, they’ve since been joined by General Manager Bryan Keay and  Winemaker Linn Scott.

Both Kelly and Chris grew up in Tennessee, have lived and traveled around the world, and have backgrounds tied to the environment. Kelly has a degree in Wildlife Biology and worked with various wildlife preservation programs and as a veterinarian technician. Chris has a Master’s Degree in International Environmental Policy from the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in Monterey and worked with marine wildlife in various capacities, as well as having served in the Peace Corps as an agroforester. As if that wasn’t enough, he also worked in hospitality for nearly 30 years working at some very impressive spot including in Todd English’s Olives in Washington D.C., Michael’s in Santa Monica, and Commander’s Palace in New Orleans. (I’m not sure how one even fits all of that into one lifetime!) They continue to try to support their community and causes that strike a chord with their family

The winery’s tagline is “Family. Good Livin’. Damn Fine Wine.” Good goals.

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Tasting Notes: Aromas of bright blackberries, coffee, black licorice, smoke, and bramble all arose on the nose. Those blackberries returned on the palate, coming across as tart but ripe. Dark plums, white pepper, mocha, bacon drippings, star anise joined the flavor party. The wine showed smooth tannins, full body, medium + acidity.

Pairings: Their website recommends having this wine with goat cheese polenta with morel sherry vinaigrette or cassoulet with lots of duck and sausage. They also recommend pouring it while watching The Shining. Totally get that. We paired with individual Steak, Mushroom, and Potato Casseroles, which felt deliciously decadent. This was also a leftover makeover, and if I do say so, a particularly good one. MMM! You can find details on how to prepare this on NibblingGypsy.com.

Pollard Merlot Yakima Valley 2017 with a Pork Showdown

Price: $26    | Alcohol: 14.1%

My final wine of the day is the Pollard Merlot Yakima Valley 2017. The wine comes from Robin Pollard, who once served as the executive director of the Washington State Wine Commission. She became a local coffee roaster (and Pollard still sells coffee)), but then returned to the wine industry with Pollard. She teamed up with her life partner, Chris Camarda of Andrew Will Cellars to create Pollard with fruit from Robin’s 10-acre estate vineyard located in the Upper Yakima Valley, purchased in 2014. The vineyard sits at an elevation of 1150 feet on a southwest-facing slope composed of silt-loam soils. It’s planted to half Cabernet Franc and one quarter each of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot grapes. The first wine from this project was the Pollard Vineyard Cabernet Franc 2015. 

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Tasting Notes: When we first opened it, like the JB Neufeld Cab, the wine was showing all red fruit notes – red cherry, red plum, strawberries – along with rhubarb, fennel, and herbs. Once again, the dark fruit notes showed up with air, moving toward dark plums and Luxardo Maraschino cherries, along with dark chocolate, espresso, black licorice, and pencil lead, and a pinch of herbs and flower petals. The fruit became more velvety with air but always retained its brightness. The wine had a medium+ body, medium tannins, and medium + acid.

I have to say this wine wines the value award of the day. It’s a beautiful, complex, and tasty wine for the money. This is also the pairing recipe I’ll be sharing here today.

Pairings: I reached out to Robin Pollard for her pairing recommendations, and she shared the following thoughts:

I raise Berkshire pigs, treasured for their richly marbled meat.  A favorite dish of mine to pair with the Merlot is braised pork shoulder seasoned with kitchen herbs such as thyme and rosemary.  Throw some Yakima Valley apples into the pot and you have a delicious dinner for any occasion

Both pork shoulders began the same way and then got their different flavorings and preparations halfway through. All of the meat was dry-brined the day before according to a version of the technique used in David Chang’s Bo Ssam recipe and cooked low and slow for six hours. Greg added “hats” of onion and mandarin to his, then basted on the gochujang sauce toward the end of cooking, and then broiled it to give more caramelization at the finish. He also brushed the pork with more gochujang once it was sliced/torn apart. He also made a rather complex but tasty green onion sauce to have alongside. I’ll drop his recipe for that at the end.

 

Both dishes were very tasty, but mine was definitely the better match with the wine. The gochujang was a little sweeter than my dish, and while it didn’t make a bad match, it did shut the fruit down a little bit. The fruit and other lighty sweet elements in my dish didn't give the wine much trouble and the fruit quality remained bright and plush.

Pork, braise

dinner

American

Servings: 6 to 8

By: Nicole Ruiz Hudson

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Braised Pork with Herbs, Apples, and Root Vegetables

Prep Time: 20 MinCooking Time: 6 HourTotal Time: 6 H & 20 M, Plus brining time

Ingredients

• 3 to 5 pounds of pork
• Pork brine
• 2 medium onions, sliced
• 1 celery stalk, minced
• 3 carrots, sliced
• 2 apples, cubed (I didn’t bother peeling them, but feel to if you prefer)
• 3 to 4 garlic cloves
• 3 to 4 rosemary sprigs
• 3 to 4 thyme sprigs
• 2 cups chicken stock, or as needed
• 1 cup red wine
• 4 Tbsp balsamic vinegar, divided
• 3 to 4 Tbsp ketchup
• Salt, as needed,
• Pepper, as needed

For the Brine:

• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 cup salt (kosher salt is recommended in the Bo Ssam recipe. I used a combo of sea salt and regular table salt.)
• 7 tablespoons brown sugar

Instructions

1. Place the pork in a large, shallow bowl. Mix the sugars and 1 cup of the salt together in another bowl, then rub the mixture all over the meat. (Note: I don’t use the full amount on the pork. I make sure to coat it well and rub it in, and save the rest for another use.) Cover it with foil or plastic wrap and place it in the refrigerator for at least 6 hours, or overnight.
2. When you're ready to cook, pre-heat the oven to 300°F. Remove the pork from the refrigerator and brush any excess sugar mixture off the fat cap and discard any juices. Place the pork in a roasting pan (I used a 3-quart braising dish here) and set it in the oven and cook for approximately 3 hours.
3. Halfway through cooking, add the vegetables, garlic, herbs, chicken stock, wine, 2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar, plus a generous pinch of salt and pepper. Return the pan to the oven and continue to cook for another 2 and a half hours, periodically checking to make sure there is still liquid left in the pan, and add more chicken stock, wine, or water if necessary.
4. Mix the remaining 2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar, ketchup, balsamic vinegar, and a pinch of salt and pepper. Taste and adjust seasoning as needed. When the pork has about 30 minutes left to cook, remove it from the oven and brush on the ketchup mixture. Take the opportunity to taste and adjust the seasoning for the vegetables and the sauce. Return the pork to the oven and continue to cook for another 30 minutes.
5. Remove the pork from the oven. Test the vegetables to make sure they are tender. If they need to cook longer, or if the liquid needs to reduce, move the pork to a platter or cutting board and trend loosely, then move the vegetables to the stove-top and continue to cook at medium-high heat until they’re tender.
6. Slice pork or shred pork and serve with the vegetables.

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The rest of the Wine Pairing Weekend (#WinePW) blogging group is also exploring the Yakima Valley this month, hosted by Robin of Crushed Grape Chronicles – check out here invitation post here. Be sure to check out the rest of the group's posts as well:

 Additional sources used for this post:

• Wine Yakima Valley
• Yakima Valley Wine Country 
• Discover Washington Wine 
• Yakima Valley Wine Tourism
• Washington Wine 
• Wine-searcher.com 
• Bowler Wine 
• Soil Air Selection
  

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