Time for a little summer decadence! Straddling the lines of wanting something a little bit indulgent, but that’s not too crazy heavy on a warm day can be a little tricky, but a cheesy Leek and Bacon Tart with a simple green salad strike all the right notes, and a Pinot Blanc from Alsace made the perfect accompaniment.

ALSACE

Alsace is my favorite French region for white wines, and we’ve covered it a few times before. I love the texture, minerality, and aromatics of their wines, as well as their food pairing versatility. The region is tucked up in  France’s northeastern corner, right up on the border with Germany. This is one of France’s sunniest and driest regions thanks to the Vosges Mountains that block rain and harsh weather from reaching the area. As a result, Alsace enjoys a rather mild climate.

Image provided by Teuwen Communications.

This wonderful climate gives the region a leg up when it comes to sustainability. Warm, sunny days and cool nights without a lot of rain create an environment that’s essentially paradise for grapes. They can ripen slowly and steadily to develop flavor while maintaining acidity. Without a ton of rain, there is not a lot of disease pressure on the vines either, so Alsace’s location gives it an excellent starting point for sustainable farming practices. One-third of Alsace’s vineyards are organic or in the process of conversion, numbers that are continuing to climb as that represents a 33% increase from 2019. Alsace also is the number two wine region in France for biodynamic certifications, with 4.5% of producers having been certified and climbing.  

For a deeper dive into the region, please see this post. 

PINOT BLANC . . . AND AUXERROIS TOO

Alsace has four “noble grapes”:  Riesling, Gewurztraminer, Muscat, and Pinot Gris. But today, I thought I’d take a look at one of its underdogs – Pinot Blanc. Poor Pinot Blanc is pretty much the underdog in every situation, always a hard worker, but never the star. While each of its more glamorous Pinot siblings gets its time to shine in turn, Pinot Blanc is the dutiful child that diligently does the chores at home with a pleasant attitude, but gets overlooked in the process. Alsace is its spiritual home (having been first noted in Burgundy), but as mentioned, here too it’s shown up by the region’s more aromatic residents.

We’ve previously explored Pinot Blanc from Trentino-Alto Adige in this post.

Pinot Blanc’s identity is also often mixed up. Throughout its history, Pinot Blanc has often been confused with other grapes like Chardonnay and Auxerrois, a grape that was born of Pinot and Gouais Blanc. In Alsace its identity is still wrapped up with Auxerrois’, so much so that in a bit of a peculiarity for European labeling laws, wines from Alsace that are labeled Pinot Blanc can be a 100% Pinot Blanc or a blend of Pinot Blanc and Auxerrois. (Today’s wine is an example of this.)

🤷🏻‍♀️ 

Pinot Blanc is a very friendly grape though and can be a great everyday wine since it’s often reasonably priced. It tends to have moderate acidity, although on average it has more than Pinot Gris. While it tends to be lighter in body, it also often has a rounded mouthfeel that can feel lightly creamy, giving it a bit of opulence, a factor that I often contend makes it a good alternative to Chardonnay for those who maintain the ABC (Anything But Chardonnay) credo. In general, you’ll find apple, stone fruit, and citrus notes, which can be accompanied by light minerality. In examples from Alsace, you might also find light notes of fresh white flowers accompanying those peach and apple notes. It opens up readily and has that balanced structure that makes it an easy match for many foods. It’s just a generally easygoing wine.

Pinot Blanc is pretty obliging in the vineyard and cellar as well. It’s more productive and easier to grow than its fussy, diva sibling Pinot Noir. Much like Chardonnay, it’s a bit of a “winemaker’s grape” that will take easily to many treatments and techniques, so you’ll find many different versions and styles, oaked and unoaked. In Alsace, it’s also often used in the region’s Cremants.

Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.

It is blended in today’s bottle with Auxerrois. Besides having been often confused with each other, the two grapes do also complement each other well. Pinot Blanc is crisper, while Auxerrois tend to be a little fuller, adding body, and shows more complex aromatics. It shows a lot of citrus flavors, along with rich aromas that can become honeyed and nutty over time in good, aged versions. To add more confusion to Auxerrois’ identity, it should be noted that the name gets used in various forms for other grapes, most notably in Cahors where it is a synonym for Malbec.

THE WINE 

This wine was received as a sample, but as always, all opinions are my own. No other compensation was received.

Our Pinot Blanc today is by Domaine Zind-Humbrecht, one of Alsace’s most iconic wineries with a history dating back to 1620. (We’ve explored one of their wines before here.) It emerged in its current form when Leonard Humbrecht married Genevieve Zind, joining the families’ vineyards and wineries, which had previously operated under their separate names. 

Olivier Humbrecht manages the winery today. He’s one of the few winemakers in the world to achieve MW status. He’s also a major advocate for biodynamic farming and has served as President of the Syndicat International des Vignerons en Culture Bio-Dynamique/ Biodyvin (SIVCBD) since 2002.

Image borrowed from the Kobrand website.

Zind-Humbrecht has been certified organic since 1998, and certified biodynamic since 2002. As such, the Domaine practice low-impact farming with a holistic view of the vineyard, using natural treatments and homeopathic herbs to tend to any issues in the vineyard, instead of commercial fertilizer, weed killer, and pesticides. Animals are used to work the land instead of machinery, to avoid compacting the soil. Vines are tended by hand, organic compost is used in the vineyard, and the yields are restricted to maintain quality. In the winery, they use minimal sulfites and native yeast fermentations. (For more on Olivier Humbrecht's take on biodynamic, see here.)

The 2019 Pinot Blanc is a blend of Pinot Blanc and Auxerrois, and Auxerrois is dominant here with 65% of the blend. On the day we opened in I picked up lemon cream, gold apples, and few white flowers on the nose. These notes were joined on the palate with stone fruits and hints of nutmeg and ginger. The wine’s texture was silky and round with hints of minerality on the finish.

THE PAIRING

Pinot Blanc in general kind of gives me the impression of everyday luxury, like a cozy blanket you spend a little extra on because you know you’re going to curl up with it every day. It’s not a pricey or fancy wine, but that extra hint of texture brings in a touch of decadence to the mouthfeel. I’ve also had this wine in previous vintages, so had an idea of what to expect, and knew this is a version likely to be on the more elegant end of the spectrum for the grape(s).

I wanted to pair it with a dish that straddled similar lines as the wine, something familiar but with a bit of decadence to it, that was also appropriate for summertime. A classic leek tart topped with bacon and Gruyère seemed perfect, as I shared at the beginning. The combination seems to me just like something you might enjoy at a French bistro. 

It worked out beautifully. The cream tart filling and flaky pastry crust brought out the rounder side of the wine, with the stone fruit flavors emerging more in the pairing. The nutmeg in the dish brought out the same note in the wine. I also thought the weight of the food and wine matched each other nicely.

I definitely felt like I created a bistro at home for an evening!

OTHER POSSIBILITIES 

Pinot Blanc pairs easily with a lot of food, but it does particularly well with creamy textures so it’s ideal with cream sauces, soft cheeses, and egg dishes. I also think it’s a great pairing for roast chicken.

THE GEEKY DETAILS

Taken from the Zind-Humbrecht website which shares a lot of information on its wines, so see here for additional details. 

Vineyards: These grapes are grown on the Rotenberg vineyard in Wintzenheim and Herrenweg area in Turckheim. The earlier ripening gravelly soil of Herrenweg will bring power and aromatic intensity, while the cooler limestone in Rotenberg will bring structure and more aging capacity. The 2019 shows an ideal ripeness and balance and fermented dry.

Rotenberg vineyard. Photo courtesy of Zind-Humbrecht website.

MONEY TALK 

The average price of this wine is $24, which I think is a Solide Value, particularly given the quality level of the house. However, I also often see it on sale, and then it’s very worth grabbing. This would also be an interesting wine to experience over time, buying a few bottles to see how it develops over several years. 

tart, leeks, bacon

appetizer, tarts

French

Servings: Serves 6 to 8. Six light meal portions, or eight appetizer portions

By: Nicole Ruiz Hudson

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Leek Tart with Bacon and Gruyère

Prep Time: 15 MinCooking Time: 60 MinTotal Time: 1 H & 15 M

Ingredients

• 10½ store-bought pastry crust (thawed according to package instructions), or Pâte Brisée shell
• 2 lbs young slim leeks, light green and white parts only, thinly sliced into rounds (Or about 2 cups previously sautéd sliced leeks.)
• 4 slices of thick-cut bacon, sliced into ¼ inch pieces
• 3 Tbsp butter
• 3 Tbsp olive oil
• 2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
• 3 large eggs
• ½ cup heavy cream of crème fraiche
• ¼ cup whole-milk ricotta or fromage blanc
• 1 ¼ tsp salt, or as needed
• ½ tsp ground white pepper
• ¼ tsp ground black pepper, or as needed
• ¼ tsp ground nutmeg
• ¼ to ½ cup shredded Gruyère cheese

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400°F.
2. Prepare the pastry crust in a pie dish or tart ring. Keep the dough cold in the fridge while you prepare the rest.
3. Soak the leeks in cold water to remove the sand and grit. Drain well.
4. Place the bacon on a large baking sheet or oven-safe pan and place it in the oven. Cook for 10 to 15 minutes in the oven until the pieces are lightly golden brown and starting to crisp, stirring occasionally. Remove from the oven, scoop the bacon pieces onto a plate lined with paper towels, and set aside.
5. Cook the leeks while the bacon is in the oven. Combine the butter and olive oil in a large skillet and warm over low to medium-low heat until the butter melts. Stir in the leeks, season with a pinch of salt and pepper, cover, and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until the leeks are tender – about 15 minutes. If the leeks begin to brown before they’re cooked through, add a bit of water to the pan to slow down the browning. Once tender, stir in the flour and stir well to combine. (You can also do this step a couple of days in advance, and stir in the flour when you’re ready to use.)
6. Whisk together the eggs, heavy cream or crème fraîche, the ricotta or fromage blanc in a medium bowl until smooth. Stir in the salt, peppers, and nutmeg. Add in the leeks and mix well. Remove the prepared pastry crust from the fridge and pour the filling into the pastry shell. Sprinkle the bacon pieces over the top of the tart, pressing lightly into the filling, followed by the shredded Gruyère.
7. Bake the tart in the oven for 35 to 40 minutes, or until the top of the tart is puffed and lightly golden browned, and lightly set, and the pastry is golden. Remove the tart from the oven and let it cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes before serving.

Notes:

Adapted from the recipe for Tarte aux Poireaux in French Tarts: 50 Savory and Sweet Recipes by Linda Dannenberg.

https://www.sommstable.com/2021/07/Zind-Humbrecht-Pinot-Blanc-with-Leek-Bacon-Tart.html

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• And Alsace Rocks With Paul Blanck Rosenbourg Riesling and Summer Shrimp by Syrah Queen.

I admit to a certain amount of skepticism and snobbishness in the past when it comes to wine regions that lay outside the usual boundaries and expected areas, particularly in the US. Over time, however, I’ve happily had my expectations overturned in positive ways enough times to now be much more open, or at least I flatter myself that this is the case. Now I welcome the explorations! 

My expectations in the past were that wines outside the major wine-producing states (California, Oregon, Washington, and to some extent, New York) were going to be either foxy with lots of wild notes, saccharine and syrupy, or huge and overblown. Don’t get me wrong, I still encounter a lot of these wines, and there are also lots of vanity projects where the focus for the winery isn’t on the winemaking, but that’s true anywhere you go. Luckily, over time I’ve been able to taste examples through trade tastings, samples, and friends who’ve made “other US” wine regions their focus and have shared their findings with me, which started to change my mind. (See this post for one such example from Texas.) Let’s also not forget that it really wasn’t all that long ago that Califonia’s wines were given the side-eye. Now, I know there are good wines being made all over the country. Sometimes you just have to look more closely and dig a little deeper to find the gems, so I try as best I can to check my expectations at the door. 

Wines made by a rock star in Arizona would’ve definitely caused me to cock an eyebrow . . . ok, it still might. “Arizona wine” would’ve made me think “overripe and extracted;” the rock star component would’ve made me think “vanity project.” Nonetheless, I’ve had some very good Arizona wines. I’d also heard good things about Caduceus Cellars and Merkin Vineyards, from more than one corner. So, when we stopped in Sedona on a road trip last year, we took the opportunity one day to explore a couple of nearby wineries, and we made Caduceus Cellars one of those stops.

Coffee Pot Rock in Sedona.

Caduceus Cellars and Merkin Vineyards are the projects of Maynard James Keenan, vocalist for the bands Tool, A Perfect Circle, and Puscifer. I don’t listen to that much hard rock, so I didn’t really know that much about Keenan, but I was interested to discover that in addition to his involvement in various avante-garde rock bands, he’d also spent time in the army, went to art college, and had been pursuing a career in interior design and set construction in LA when Tool was formed. To me that suggests an overflowing amount of creativity, as well as discipline, all of which Keenan has brought to his winery projects.

Keenan did his homework when establishing his wineries. During our tasting, we were told that he fell in love with wine while touring, tasting wines from all over the world in the process. When it came time to make his own, he researched which varieties would be best suited for conditions in Arizona and New Mexico. As a result, the winery focuses primarily on Spanish, Italian, and Rhône varieties.

A Sedona sunset from Sugarloaf summit, just because it's pretty.

The vineyards and wineries are in high desert areas, which is key. The climate in most of Arizona is too hot and dry for grapes and results in a growing season that is too short to attain the needed level of ripeness. This runs counter to my expectation, but it also makes sense as grapes do shut down during extreme conditions like these. In these desert conditions, the grapes end up unbalanced, with high levels of sugar, but low acidity. However, there are areas of Arizona with high elevations where grapes can get lots of sunshine, but where cooler temperatures and increased diurnal shifts create conditions where grapes can ripen properly. (The best vineyards in Arizona sit at 5000ft/1525m). If you look around the world to see what grapes are growing under similar conditions, the selection of grapes starts to make a lot of sense. Tempranillo from Ribera del Duero comes to mind, as well as the Northern Rhône, as does most of Italy which is hot and hilly. Climbing the steep hillsides as we drove to the Caduceus tasting room in Jerome, Arizona did in fact remind me a bit of driving to wineries on hilltop towns in Italy and Spain.

You might also be surprised to know that it’s Keenan himself behind the wines. A lot of celebrity winemakers/owners either work with consultants or really hire others to run the winery (I’m in no way knocking this, it’s probably what I would do in their position), but in this case, Keenan is the one making all the wine. In an interview on The DailyMeal.com in 2018 he discusses his early years in the winery:  “It was pretty much me and my wife in the cellar for years. She got pregnant, we now have a three-and-a-half-year-old, going on four. I recruited my friend Tim White, so it’s just he and I in the cellar generally.”

Brief aside: It should be noted that his wife, Lei Li, is the lab manager for Caduceus, and like her husband, she seems to like to have her hand in many different pots. She also appears to share his preference to remain a bit reclusive, as it’s difficult to find out much about her, but her staff bio on the Caduecus website paints a brief but fabulous image of rock’n’roll woman of mystery. I’m penning a comic book in my mind with her as the heroine. 

I very much get the sense that he does not suffer fools. The page for each wine on their website bears the following warning: “REMINDER! Please be around to accept your package. WE DO NOT CONDONE VINOCIDE AND WE REFUSE TO REWARD INCOMPETENCE!”

He now has two labels, Caduceus Cellars and Merkin Vineyards, with 110 estate acres under vine around the state, several different tasting rooms, an Osteria, and a Pizza Truck, and is also the founder of a wine co-op called Four Eight Wine Works. In the same article, Keenan describes the difference between the two labels and how they’ve been evolving: 

It used to be that Merkin Vineyards wines were more affordable, but same cellar, same treatment, same process, easier access, easier to find. Now it’s kind of progressed to where the majority of the Merkin wines are from southern Arizona, and the majority of the Caduceus Wine Cellars wines are from northern Arizona.

I would love to visit the Osterial which is aiming “to deliver a 100% Arizona experience,” and has a delicious-looking menu. (“Lasagna cupcakes?” Yes, please!) However, on our trip in November 2020, we stopped into the tasting room in Jerome. 

The tasting room has a slightly gothic rock ‘n’ roll vibe, crossed with the look of a curio cabinet, all of which might sound like it should be a little out of place in a small town, but it really kind of fits. Jerome was a copper mining town and very much still has that feel. Caduceus' website has a great description of the town: 

Located high on top of Cleopatra Hill (5,200 feet) between Prescott and Flagstaff is the historic copper mining town of Jerome, Arizona, founded in 1876. Once known as the wickedest town in the west, Jerome sits above what was the largest copper mine in Arizona and produced an astonishing 3 million pounds of copper per month. Men and women from all over the world made their way to Arizona to find work and maybe a new way of life. Today the mines are silent, and Jerome has become the largest ghost town in America, averaging a population of approximately 353 residents since the 1960s.

Jerome also very much feels like a ghost town in the literal sense, as in you wouldn’t be surprised to run into a few specters as you’re walking down the street. We were only there for a couple of hours to visit the tasting room, but I definitely got that vibe, and I later saw several signs advertising haunted ghost tours, as if in confirmation. 

Greg and I waiting outside the Caduceus tasting room as snow flurries fell around us. I was very thankful we'd packed a few cold-weather essentials last minute for our desert road trip.

Since this was during the zombie apocalypse, the tasting room had protective, social distancing measures in place (far stricter than we saw elsewhere in Arizona, to their credit) and they were limiting entrance. It started snowing lightly as we waited outside, so we were quite happy once it was our turn to step inside. Once in, it was nice to have the directed attention that the limited seatings afforded. 

Caduceus makes very limited production wines (one article notes their production at approximately 2500 cases a year), so wines sell out and their wine club has a waiting list. When we came in, the server who guided our tasting was slightly surprised to know that I’d heard of the winery first (I first tried them when I was working at Wine Spectator), well before knowing who the owner was, so I suspect that many people still seek out the tasting room because they’re fans of Keenan’s music. Nonetheless, I think this is a great stop for oenophiles, particularly those with a slightly rebellious streak. I found the wines, in general, to be quite pretty, light-handed, balanced, and tended to have nice aromatics with herbal touches. They tended to be medium-bodied with moderate alcohol and seemed like they generally would be good food wines. However, if you prefer bigger, bolder wines, these might not be for you. 

The Wine & Pairing

We brought home a bottle of their 2016 Primer Paso, a Syrah dominant blend with a little Grenache, Petite Sirah, and a splash of Malvasia Blanca. This is Caduceus’ interpretation of Côte Rôtie from the Northern Rhône, which traditionally blends in a little Viognier in with Syrah to add aromatics and color. In this case, they’re swapping in Malvasia Bianca, another aromatic Mediterranean white grape. It’s perhaps not surprising that this was my favorite from the line-up since Côte Rôtie is one of my very favorite wines. 

The is a lighter expression of Syrah, as it’s medium-bodied and feels quite lifted. When I opened the bottle this time around, I picked up notes of black cherries, juicy blackberries, orange rind, dried herbs, and dried flowers on the nose. On the palate, I tasted similar notes, plus white pepper, dusty earth, orange pith, more flowers and herbs, as well as a little sun-dried tomato I didn’t pick up last time. Dusty tannins blend with the pepper and earth notes on the finish. The bottle might have been showing a little VA, but I’m not super sensitive to this so it read as high-toned and generally attractive. 

I wanted to create a dish for this wine that played to the fact this is a lighter expression of Syrah with lots of herb and floral notes. I opted for pork chops, rather than something like beef, although I also think it would be nice with a lighter lamb preparation and could work easily with lots of vegetarian dishes as well. I kept my flavorings pretty simple – just lots of herbs, with orange juice and zest, and butter – and cooked the chops sous vide with a sear at the end. I almost always cook pork chops, tenderloin, and loin in this way, since I think it’s the easiest way to ensure the meat stays tender and juicy. I also prepared some farro while the pork chops cooked, which added a little depth and nutty flavor to the dish. 

The combination worked really beautifully. The fennel pollen and oregano, I used to season the pork really brought out the floral and herbal aromatics in the wine, and orange zest spoke to the same note in the wine. I think another dish might’ve brought out more of the fruit notes in the wine, but this spoke to the wine’s more delicate attributes, which I think felt just right in the summertime. 

Geeky Details

Price: $50     Alcohol: 13.4%

There isn’t much on the website about the winemaking for this wine, but there is information on the back of the bottle. 

There is lots of information on the vineyard on the website site - Buhl Memorial Vineyard, Wilcox AZ:

The Al Buhl Memorial Vineyard lies at the eastern edge of Sulfur Springs Valley (alongside the Willcox Playa) in what is known as the Kansas Settlement. The vineyard site is 80 acres with 60 acres planted. The soils are relatively deep loams and clay-loams interspersed with cobbles. The vineyard sits at 4300 feet and experiences up to 50 degree fluctuations in temperature during the growing season. Harvest usually starts in August and can run into early October. From here we source Syrah & Garnacha for PRIMER PASO, Tempranillo and Garnacha for SANCHA, Sangiovese Grosso for KITSUNÉ, and occasional VSC offerings. The oldest 20 acres of the vineyard were planted in 1982 so some of the oldest vines here are at least 29 years in age.

Find even more information on the vineyard here.

*****

pork chops, sous vide,

dinner

Servings: 2 to 4

By: Nicole Ruiz Hudson

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Sous Vide Pork Chops with Herby-Orange-Butter Pan Sauce

Prep Time: 10 MinCooking Time: 1 H & 5 MTotal Time: 1 H & 15 M

Ingredients

• 4 bone-in pork chops
• 4 Tbsp butter, or as needed
• 1 tsp fennel pollen, or as needed
• 1 orange, juice and zest divided
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 6 sprigs of thyme, or as needed
• 6 springs of oregano, or as needed
• Olive Oil
• Salt
• Pepper

Instructions

1. Set up sous vide immersion circulator and preheat water to desired final cooking temperature. (In this case, I set it to 135°F for a finish between medium-rare and medium. Searing the pork chops at the final stage brought it closer to the medium by the end.)
2. Prepare the pork. Season pork with fennel pollen, salt, pepper, and orange zest. Place the chops in a heavy-duty, food-grade zipper bag. Add any remaining fennel pollen and orange zest to the bag, along with half the orange juice, 1 to 2 Tbsp of butter, garlic, and the thyme and oregano sprigs. Seal the bag using a vacuum sealer or via the water displacement method (see note). Cook for 1 hour.
3. After the chops have cooked for 1 hour, remove the bag from the water bath. Remove the chop and dry them on paper towels. Reserve the liquid aside.
4. Heat a generous pour of olive oil (about 2 Tbsp) in a large pan until the olive is shimmering. Add the chops and sear until golden brown, then flip and repeat on the second side. Transfer the chops to a separate platter and season again with salt and pepper.
5. Reduce the heat on the stove to medium-low. If the brown bits in the pan look good and not too black and charred, add the remaining butter to the pan to melt. (If the bits in the pan do look too blackened, scrape them out before continuing.) Once the butter is melted, deglaze the pan by adding in the remaining orange juice and scraping up the browned bits. Pour in the pork juices from the bag (use a strainer if you prefer a clearer sauce) and stir to combine.
6. Serve the pork chops over the farro (or another preferred side) with the buttery pan sauce spooned on top.

Notes:

Note: To use the water displacement method, zip up the majority of the bag leaving just an inch or open at the end. Lower the bag into the water–as you do so, the water on the outside of the bag will push out the remaining air in the bag. Once the bag is lowered the majority of the way into the water, zip up the remainder of the bag.

https://www.sommstable.com/2021/07/rockn-wines-in-arizonas-high-desert-caduceus-primer-paso-with-herby-orange-pork-chops.html

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