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.

Lobster Rolls & Champagne

This is how it's done!

For Matt's 33rd birthday he requested I make lobster rolls from Thomas Keller's (of Bouchon & French Laundry fame) lobster rolls from the Ad Hoc cookbook. I was a little leery at first because while I admire Keller's precision and formidable skills his recipes seem a bit unnecessarily complicated. Turns out it was no big deal. The work is all in the prep (hello picking 5 lobsters) and then assembly. Plus you end up with tons of shells to make stock for a winter fish stew.

Matt brought a gorgeous Champagne that has a great balance between dry and citrusy and bready, toasty notes. Larmandier-Bernier 'Terre de Vertus' NV is a naturally made, grower Champagne that retails for $78.99. It is a Brut Nature Blanc de Blanc which means no sugar was added during fermentation (also called dosage this is a common practice for many Champagnes, some more than others) and it was made from all Chardonnay grapes. The result is a superb wine that reminded me why Champagne is so special.

Quite simply, it all rocked.

Sylvaner & Pasta ( A Wine-Food Pairing That Blew Us Away)

It's no secret we are avid home cooks. In fact after all this time it is still our favorite thing to do and even better when we take home a wine that really sings with our dish.

Last week I made a creamy seafood pasta with American scallops and Alaskan wild-caught Salmon fish roe from Vital Choice (a seafood website I highly recommend), you can see the result to the left. I am the pasta queen. Having cooked for 5 to 7 people for years now, I have made lots of pasta, some fancy some some not. This one was made with fettuccine cooked just under al dente and then mixed into cream, grated sheep's milk cheese (I used Hirtenkase from our shop), lemon juice, white wine, lemon zest, pink flake salt (also from our shop) and scallops. Top with salmon caviar and you have perfection. The trick with this kind of pasta is timing. Don't let the pasta sit dry while you work on the sauce, and serve immediately once the consistency is correct (creamy, not too thin or thick).

The pairing with the Pierre Frick Sylvaner is what knocked our socks off. This Alsatian wine is another gem from distributor and importer Williams Corner wines. Pierre Frick is a pioneer of biodynamic farming in Alsace, starting the practice in 1981. All wines are certified biodynamic and fermented naturally with wild yeasts and spontaneous fermentation. Minimal sulfites are used - 15 parts per million where the maximum allowed in Alsace is 200 parts per million. Unlike some other Alsatian producers the Pierre Frick wines aim for low alcohol and terroir-driven wines, so while each wine shows its varietal character they all have an underlying signature that speaks of their terroir. This dry white showed lovely ripe apple, mineral and soft citrus flavors that made our dish really come to life.

We will be sampling this wine at our William street store December 11 from 4-8p and the Pierre Frick Muscat at our Plank Road store (same time).

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.

Tasting the Raspay Tomorrow

Just a word to let you know we'll be tasting out the Primitivo Quiles Raspay Monastrell at our Plank Road store Friday night from 4-8pm. I talk about it a few posts down. It's also currently in our enomatic machines at the wine bar. Other great stuff will be tasted out as well at both stores. Click here to see the tasting line up.

What Is Natural Wine?

We've made a big deal about natural wine here at kybecca. You may have heard us raving about the wines of Thierry Puzelat, one of our favorite natural wine makers. Here is an article in the LA Times explaining what natural wine is. This is important because I have found that when peopel ask me for organic wine what they are really asking for is natural wine. Organic wine is easy to find, natural wine is what you come to wine shops like us for.

A great example of natural wine is the Clos du Tue-Boeuf Cheverny from the Puzelat brothers, which is a blend of Pinot Noir and Gamay (See Rebecca's post a few down).

Oh My Goodness This Is Good Wine

Continuing on the theme of Rebecca's post about wines we really love, I just tasted this wine for the first time about 30 minutes ago and wanted to tell everybody about it because it's so unusual and so good. This is a Monastrell from Alicante, a region in southeastern Spain. You've probably had Monastrell before, the Juan Gil and Castano are well known examples. This one is on a different level. It's from Primitivo Quiles, the oldes Bodega (winery) in Alicante. They make their wines old school style - this is Spanish wine for Spain, not Americanized. You can tell even by the label that they are traditional. It is slightly oxidized which gives it a sort of dried fruit flavor - it reminded me of prunes and dried blackberries with a woodsy and nutty quality as well.

We'll have this in stock starting Friday and it will sell for $19.99. The impression I got of this wine is that it would be fantastic with food and I can't wait to take one home and have it with some lamb. If you decide to try this wine do not expect a fruity, California style wine. But you can expect a true hand crafted wine in the old world style. Wines like this are why I love being in the wine business.

I Love, Love, Love This Wine

Friday I decided to hang out at the wine bar after work and socialize a bit with some friends and patrons. The place was buzzing and I got the luxury of getting off work a little early, hooray! Even better I was invited to make a wine selection for the group. As I was perusing our racks trying to figure out what everyone would like, a light bulb went on and I thought, how about picking something I like? While I enjoy making pairings for customers and matching wines to their preferences it is a rare treat for me to be invited to pick a wine purely based on my desire to drink it. My preferences tend toward food-friendly (good acidity), low alcohol, subtle, elegant wines that don't coat your mouth with huge fruit, and preferably naturally made.

I happen to be a huge fan of Gamay. Not the Beaujolais Nouveau sort (we carry the best of the lot, but even the best Bojo Nouveau is not great), but the kind made by Loire, Burgundy and Beaujolais producer who coax this grape into aromatic, beautiful wines. Looking through our racks I settled on the the 2008 Clos du Tue-Boeuf Cheverny Rouge. Absolute heaven, I nearly cried I love this wine so much. It instantly made me think about driving through the Loire with Kyle so many years ago. We ate, we drank, we had a ball and the wines were reminiscent of the earth, flowers and berries. They taste like they came from a place, and this little Cheverny Rouge is just such a wine. It is a mixture of Pinot Noir and Gamay made by the super talented Puzelat brothers (they are rock stars in the natural wine world and you can read about them here) who are pushing the boundaries of how wine is made, bringing back forgotten varietals and making one kick-ass wine after another.

This Cheverny is light to medium bodied (but unfiltered so it has a wonderful cloudy appearance) and very lively with flavors of raspberry, cherries, and wild fruits. It also has herbal aromas that carry over on the palate as well as earthy notes. Excellent on its own, this wine will pair much better with food than most reds. Chill this wine a little bit before serving.