Pan con l’Uva (Bread with Grapes)

I came across this while browsing around on some of my favorite foodie blogs for Thanksgiving recipes/ideas. Just the pictures alone had me very nearly drooling...all oozing with rich grapiness atop a tender, lightly sweet & yeasty baked dough. (sigh)

Bread and grapes...I have a marked weakness for both. They are comfort foods, whispering of autumn and warmth. While my own grapes will not be ready to harvest for a couple of years, I believe Wegman's had some beautiful wine grapes in about this time last year - you can bet I will be checking. This could be a delicious alternative to traditional pumpkin pie.

I think this will be superb with a New World-style red blend from Tuscany, such as the Perazetta Erio Rosso.

Thanksgiving Pick # 2 & Pairing

You Are So Fine Vouvray 2007

21.99 / 18.69 solid case

A real standout. This unfiltered, organic and naturally-made 100% Chenin
Blanc from Vouvray is a richer version of the style due low yields and aging in 5 year old barrels.

Vouvray is the French region of the Loire Valley located in the Tourraine district just east of the city of Tours in the commune of Vouvray. The Appellation d'origine contrôlée (AOC) is dedicated almost exclusively to Chenin Blanc.

It is a bone dry, fuller-bodied wine with notes of tropical fruits, honeycomb and a little nuttiness. Fermented in a style with a little fizz left in to keep it lively.

Unusual and so fantastic, this may be the most memorable wine of the day.

Pair it with this Cheesy Potato Spoonbread recipe.

2010 Thanksgiving Picks

It's just about time for some turkey and we have five recommendations for a perfect Thanksgiving Day. Your favorite locally-owned retailer has once more scoured the globe for the best wines we can find, here's the list:

Oveja Negra Sauvignon Blanc/Carmenere 9.99 / 8.49 solid case
This neat Chilean white is a blend of of a white wine grape (Sauvignon Blanc) and red wine grape (Carmenére). It stays a white wine by using only the pulp of the Carmenére which gives the otherwise tart Sauvignon Blanc a softer finish. The result is a zippy white with flavors of lime and ripe fruits.

Bugey Cerdon NV 18.99 / 16.14 solid case
This delicious sparkler is a crowd pleasing wine with loads of wild berry, tart apple flavors and a hint of spice . Made from 95% Gamay and 5% Poulsard in a refreshing, rosé style. Use it to pair with cheese plates and hor d'eauvres or as an after dinner quaffer for your Turkey Day celebration.

Donkey and Goat Syrah ‘El Dorado‘ 2008 25.99 / 22.09 solid case
If you are looking for a rich red wine that will still pair well with the meal this little gem is sure to fit the bill. Featured in the New York Times as one of the few winemakers in the US to produce natural, organic wines and with very minimal added sulfites. This Syrah is a concentrated red with notes of dark berry liqueur, black raspberry and a pronounced spiciness. Worth the splurge!

You Are So Fine Vouvray 2007 21.99 / 18.69 solid case
A real standout. This unfiltered, organic and naturally-made 100% Chenin Blanc from Vouvray (France) is a richer version of the style due low yields and aging in 5 year old barrels. It is a bone dry, fuller-bodied wine with notes of tropical fruits, honeycomb and a little nuttiness. Fermented in a style with a little fizz left in to keep it lively. Unusual and so fantastic, this may be the most memorable wine of the day.

Bielsa Garnacha 2009 10.99 / 9.34 solid case
Old vine and unfiltered, this juicy Spanish red is sourced from 50 year-old Grenache vines that are dry farmed and then fermented in stainless steel at a cooler temperature. Fresh and fruity, with notes of black fruit, spice and dry earth.
The Bielsa is one of the best values at kybecca now.

retail pricing shown, view all our picks online at kybecca.com

Thanksgiving Pick #1

Every year we start looking for great Thanksgiving wines about mid-summer. By then we are sick of the heat and dreaming about fall, Turkey and cozy dinners in. For Matt and I Thanksgiving is our favorite holiday of the year, truly a great American Holiday. No buying gifts or frenetic shopping, just one beautiful day to spend with friends and family to cook, eat and enjoy each other. I love it.
Needless to say the planning starts early with menus, ordering the Turkey (this year we reserved a Heritage turkey at Olde Towne Butcher) wine pairings, what cocktail to make and of course making sure the whole family will be together. Can you tell how much I love it?
Even at the shop I enjoy thinking about what other people's Thanksgivings will include and figuring just the right wine. My criteria is a wine that pairs well with a wide variety of foods, is a great value and is something different than the usual.
Enter the Donkey and Goat Syrah 'El Dorado' 2008.
If you are looking for a rich, red wine that will still pair well with the meal this little gem is sure to fit the bill. Featured in the New York Times as one of the few winemakers in the US to produce natural, organic wines and with very minimal added sulfites. This Syrah is a concentrated red with notes of dark berry liqueur, black raspberry and a pronounced spiciness.
Worth the splurge at $25.99 (retail)!

Going Rogue With Wine

It's true. This year we threw up our hands and decided we weren't going to try and figure out what people wanted but what we wanted to sell. Our Thanksgiving Picks are a bit reckless but we have a solid defense, they are all fabulous food wines that will play nice with your Thanksgiving meal. In fact we went so far as to not include a Pinot Noir. Scandalous! What we have are wines we love, want to drink and feel really good about selling because they come from real winemakers who still produce from their land and hands. No big box store (or fancy grocery store) can say the same.

In fact Northern Virginia Magazine came calling to see what we were doing and ended up writing about it, check it out here.

Come Taste Our Thanksgiving Picks All Friday and Saturday

At both stores Friday and Saturday we'll be tasting out all five of our Thanksgiving picks. Click here to see a description of them.

Just about every place that sells wine has Thanksgiving picks. What makes ours special is our selection criteria. Most places will just push some stuff they want to sell for whatever reason and call it a pick. We took the time to find the most food-friendly wines we could at different price points. Not only have we tasted all these wines, we've brought them home to drink so that we could vouch for their quality. Plus, these are all hand crafted wines made by people who really care about wine instead of making a buck. If there was such a thing as a Farmer's Market for wines these would be the sort of wines that would be for sale.

We Can't Make it Any Easier

Kung Fu Girl - Sneak Peak at Our Thanksgiving Picks

Every Thanksgiving table deserves a good Riesling. They appeal to novice and expert wine drinkers, pair well with just about any dish and are reasonably priced. We found a stellar one for Thanksgiving. Food & Wine Magazine says "Washington-state winemaker Charles Smith earned his reputation with some formidable (and fairly expensive) Syrahs, but lately, he’s been focusing on a line of quirkily named, inexpensive wines. This floral, slightly off-dry Riesling is one of the best.."

Eric Asimov from the NY Times calls the 2008 Kung Fu Girl riesling “fresh, juicy and exuberant” and “perfumed, with lively flavors of citrus, flowers and minerals.” Perhaps more importantly, he urges you to try riesling, a very versatile grape.

89 points Wine Enthusiast: "This 2008 is the third vintage for this extraordinarily popular Riesling, again showing bright, vivid, punch citrus fruit and juicy acids. Residual sugar is about 1.5% and once again it is sourced from the Evergreen vineyard. With production climbing to 20,000 cases, this should be easy to find at least until fall." (08/09)
Single bottle $13.99/ solid case $11.89 per bottle (15% case discount on solid cases)

What Did We Have With Thanksgiving?

Several people asked me over the last week or so what wine I would be having with my Thanksgiving meal. My answer at the time was I don't know because I hadn't had time to think about it. It wasn't until Wednesday that a wine was recommended to me by one of the owners of Williams Corner Wine, an importer and distributor based in Charlottesville. The wine was the Pineau d'Aunis from Thierry Puzelat, a winemaker based in Touraine in the Loire Valley region of France. I already knew about Puzelat because we sell his Cot, the local name in Touraine for Malbec. It's a wine we love not only because it's so tasty but because it's original. Puzelat believes in natural wine making, which means organic production and no additives in the wine. He doesn't even add sulfites to the wines.

Pineau d'Aunis is a grape little known outside France (and not well known there either, for that matter) that I had never had before. Rebecca, Kyle, and I all loved it. The wine had wonderful brambly fruit flavors of raspberry and wild berries, plus lots of baking spice flavor, especially cinnamon. It was light in color which was deceptive because the body is not nearly as light as it appears. It paired wonderfully with the roast goose we enjoyed for our Thanksgiving dinner. We loved this wine so much you can expect to see if for sale in both stores very soon.

A Glass of Wine -- The No Fail Timer

This little gem is from an article in today's New York Times, suggesting that you allow 9 hours for the making of your Thanksgiving gravy. It sounds a little crazy -- who has that kind of time? But I am tempted to use the recipe next week. Just to try out the timer.

"I cook my roux for a full hour," said Tina Meche, a cook in St. Mary Parish, in Louisiana, who says she counts the time in glasses of red wine consumed (one every 20 minutes). "I think a pale gravy looks undercooked and kind of raw, but that's just how I was raised."

Raised right, I think!

Thinking Thanksgiving

There's a funny article in today's New York Times about selecting wines for the Thanksgiving meal. Well, that's not really what the piece is about -- it's really about trying to please all the guests all the time, and whether or not that's a worthwhile approach. The article actually recommends poking fun at friends who disagree with you about the sauvignon blanc or syrah, which does sound more entertaining than apologizing. The trick is to have a variety on hand.

kybecca has chosen its annual Thanksgiving picks (tasting notes and bottles in shop now). Sparkling wine from Greece, an Alsace riesling, French chardonnay, an organic red blend from Portugal, and Italian Barbera. Something for everyone!