Monthly Archives: January 2009
Vegetarian Stew and Baron Herzog Merlot
This Friday night was a quiet one for us and I wanted to make a recipe that actually hit the spot. I was in the mood for stew and my wife was not in the mood for a meat dish, so we agreed upon Vegetarian Stew. Readers of this blog will know that I am a fan of many of Mollie Katzen’s recipes, from her original vegetarian cookbook, which is getting harder and harder to find. The recipe calls for a nice mix of starch and mirepoix vegetables, along with mushrooms chopped up – to mimic the meat texture and flavor. We changed the recipe a bit to meet my interests this week, which was deep stew flavors and thick comfort food. I think I was successful, the stew smelled and tasted great, but the texture was what worked for me. The stew was thick yet sccopable.
I chose a wine to pair with the stew that was not about the wine. Also, I was wined out, and so, I chose a simple wine that is ok, but not one I would drink again, unless there was nothing else. I opened a Baron Herzog Merlot 2004 – which is a plain Merlot. It was OK, the same old same old. The interesting thing was that the more air it got, the nicer the nose became, but the more cooked the wine tasted – funny thing how Mevushal wine acts. It’s real fault is its plain mouth and body, lack of acidity, tannins, life. It has a quick but fleeting feeling in the front of the mouth and nothing more. That is what you get for a kosher 9 dollar bottle of wine. Just more stuff to talk about on Daniel’s other thread about wine prices.
Baron Herzog Merlot 2004 – Score: B-
A fine wine to drink but nothing exceptional. The wine starts off with a mild nose of blueberry, cranberry, oak, and plum. The nose does get better as it gets more air. The mouth of medium bodied wine starts with plum and red berries. The mid palate is more fruit. There is no acidity, no bracing tannins, this wine has been smoothed or fined to meet the quaffing needs of the public. The finish is short and has no carry effect to speak of.
International Food & Wine Festival at Herzog Wine Cellars 2009
In the words of our illustrious Governator - “I’ll be back” and here, the “I” is the International Food & Wine Festival at Herzog Wine Cellars that I covered in person last year. This year the winery is once again throwing the biggest kosher wine party of the year, and it is once again bicoastal, as it is occurring in Oxnard, CA and than in NY – a week apart.
The press release from Herzog Winery follows below:
Following the success of last year’s festival, Herzog Wine Cellars will once again be hosting some of the finest names in kosher wine today. On Wednesday, February 18, Herzog invites you to celebrate the kosher renaissance of fine drinking and dining at their state-of-the-art facility in Oxnard, California. The wineries hail from France, Spain, Italy, Israel, New Zealand, Argentina, of course, California, and others. They include such renowned wineries as Chateau Valendraud, Chateau Leoville Poyferré, Chateau Giscours, Chateau Pontet Canet, Chateau Yon Figeac, Chateau Giraud, and Barons “Edmund Benjamin” de Rothschild (from France); Capçanes Flor de Primavera (Spain); Domaine du Castel, Yatir, Barkan, and Binyamina (Israel); and Herzog and Covenant (California). This second annual event will offer attendees a most extensive and exclusive array of high-end kosher wines as well as the opportunity to meet winemakers who rarely find time to come to California. And with Passover just around the corner, it’s the perfect opportunity to stay abreast of what’s happening in this dynamic market.
In addition to the impressive line-up of wines, attendees will be treated to a mouth-watering selection of gourmet delicacies prepared by Chef Todd Aarons of Tierra Sur restaurant, located inside Herzog Wine Cellars. Tierra Sur has been highly praised by Los Angeles Times restaurant critic S. Irene Virbila, who dubbed Tierra Sur “one of the best restaurants in Ventura County.” This year, Chef Aarons will continue to dazzle diners with his Mediterranean-influenced cooking, which will be on display for all to eat throughout the festival.
This year we are excited to host special guest Daniel Rogov, Israel’s renowned wine critic. Mr. Rogov will be available for a book signing of his latest 2009 edition of Rogov’s Guide to Israeli Wines.
At the spacious, contemporary Herzog Wine Cellars, guests will not only be able to taste wines and enjoy dishes prepared by Chef Aarons and his staff, but they will also be able to view the winemaking facility, located about one hour north of downtown Los Angeles, a mile off Route 101 at the southern edge of Oxnard. For directions, please visit our website or contact me directly by phone or e-mail (see below).
Doors will open to the public at 7:00 p.m. For more information or to R.S.V.P., please call the Tasting Room at (805) 983-1560.
The International Food & Wine Festival at a glance:
Date: Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Location: Herzog Wine Cellars
3201 Camino Del Sol
Oxnard, CA 93030
Time: Doors open at 7:00 pm
Tickets:
$100 per person
$85 per person (for 2 or more tickets)
Herzog Wine Club members – $75 per person
Special Offer: For each pair of tickets purchased before January 30th, receive a complimentary copy of Daniel Rogov’s book.
Please call the tasting room at 805-983-1560 to purchase tickets.
Roasted Chicken and Barkan Chardonnay
This past week we had a quiet meal with some nice lemon/pepper/herb roasted chicken. We matched the chicken with white rice and a quick mushroom/onion/zucchini sauté’. The chicken was dynamite, but the sauté’ was a bit weird to me. My wife liked it, so that is enough for me 
The dinner was nice and I had a simple yet nice Chardonnay to pair with it. I must say about this particular wine, that it is one of the few wine labels that do not over speak the qualities of their wine, and one that is actually quite accurate. I always love looking at wine labels to see what the marketing department of these wineries, or some marketing consultants, can come up with. That said the Barkan Chardonnay 2007 is a simple and nice quaffer, whose label correctly depicts the wine.
The wine notes follow below:
Barkan Chardonnay 2007 – Score: B
One of the most pleasant things about this wine other than its nose is its label. The label on this wine actually depicts the bottle that it wraps, which is different from other bottles, where you drink the wine and read its label, and wonder if you have been dropped into an episode of the Twilight Zone. The nose on this straw colored wine is filled with guava, lemon, pear and a quick whiff of blueberries. The mouth on this medium bodied wine starts off with fruit of lemon, pear, apricot and fresh apples. The mid palate is just acid and the finish is long with more acidity. The wine lacks balance – which can occur when a wine like this does not have enough fruit to counteract the massive amount of acidity that it has. Some wineries would oak this wine, which would fill out this wine and maybe balance out the acidity, but that would add cost, space, and time which this wine would not really be worth. The acidity of this wine gets so clawing after a bit of air, that it crosses that line between spice and acidity. There is no spice in this wine, but man, it can throw off enough mouth puckering characteristics to make me think twice.
Lasagna, Cotes Du’ Rhone, Segal Dishon Cabernet Sauvignon, and Psagot Cabernet Sauvignon
This past week we had a table full of friends and family that went late into the night. It was a grand time for sure, and the table was graced by a few bottles of yet unreleased wines, along with some enjoyable wines that are readily available as well. The evening started with my now signature olive soup, that I modified from Mollie Katzen original vegetarian cookbook, which is getting harder and harder to find. The soup is so nice because of the Kalamata olives that are used in the recipe. We tried to cook this soup once without Kalamata olives – and in the end, you could have just eaten the olives, it would have been a better use of them. The soup loses all reasons to exist, without the Kalamata olives. The lima beans that are in there as well complete the flavor and texture profile of the soup.
We followed the Olive soup with a meat only version of Lasagna. We have made the meat lasagna many times, and its only real fault is that it is not as gooey as cheese lasagna. The cheese adds the glue that is needed to keep the whole package together. In its place the meat only lasagna, has no real glue, but the texture is still nice and the flavors are really well accentuated. The recipe comes from a cookbook I have, but its main idea is browned ground meat, sautéed onion, peppers, mushrooms, zucchini, and mostly herbs – with a few spices. Place the andante lasagna noodles on a layer of sauce at the bottom of a 9×13 pan. Then place meat sauce on top of the bottom layer, followed by another layer of lasagna noodles, and then another layer of meat sauce, and then the final layer of lasagna noodles, followed by a light layer of meat sauce, to keep the top moist.
The 2007 Le Mourre de L’Isle Côtes du Rhône excites me because of its A.O.C., more than its score. There are not that many Côtes du Rhône kosher wines around, and it gives us a chance to taste this interesting wine. It is made with 60% Black Grenache – 40% Mourvedre, which are not very common kosher wine varietals.
We paired the lasagna with bold red wines and I think they paired well. The wines notes follow below:
Psagot Cabernet Sauvignon 2004 – Score: B+
The nose on this garnet colored wine is another nice Israeli Cabernet. It is packed with chocolate, raspberry, blackberry, and serious amount of oak. The nose is not hot and is enveloping with heavy oak and chocolate. The mouth of this full bodied wine is soft and almost mouth coating. This wine required a long time to open up, and the patient wine connoisseur will be rewarded. The soft mouth melds well with raspberry, blackberry, and cassis. The mid palate is balanced with bright acidity, large amounts of oak, integrated tannins, and chocolate. The finish is long with more chocolate, leather, and a final dollop of oak. Another nice Israeli Cabernet that shows like a California Cabernet.
Segal Cabernet Sauvignon Single Vineyard Kosher Kerem Dishon 2005 – Score: A-
The nose on this red garnet wine is screaming with oak, cassis, blackberry, raspberry, and tons of dark chocolate. This nose on this wine is really quite special, and in many ways its nicest feature. This full bodied wine coats your mouth with oak first and foremost, almost reminiscent of a California Cabernet. The mouth follows with blackberry and cassis. The mid palate is packed with acidity, more oak and softening tannins. The medium long finish is flush with oak, coffee, and chocolate. This is a fun wine and one well worth the cost.
Le Mourre de L’Isle Côtes du Rhône 2007 – Score: B+
The nose on this purple colored wine is filled with blackberry, cranberry, cloves, coffee, and initially hot. After it has enough air, about 1 to two hours, the nose cleans up, and a bit of oak is noticeable, along with black cherry and more cloves. The mouth on this dense and interesting, yet not so complex wine starts with layers of black cherry, followed by hints of blackberry and a sensation that can only be described as chicken cherry cola. The dense flavors roll into a soft and oaky mid palate. The finish is medium long with a trail of oak, pepper and coffee.
Lamb Tajine and Four Gates Pinot Noir, Ella Valley Pinot Noir, and Others
This weekend saw us enjoying a lamb tajine/tagine. We have spoken about the recipe before, but this time we modified it a bit more, by making the meat secondary and making the vegetables more primary. We started off by marinating the meat overnight, in a bag with almost all of the Tajine’s core spices. This intensified the flavor of the middle eastern spices, while also marinating the meat and tenderizing it to boot. We also threw in more vegetables when cooking the tajine, the extra vegetables, included butternut squash and more potatoes and onions, than called for. This lowered the meat’s flavor profile, but the spice profile, as screaming. The cinnamon, cumin, and cloves permeated the dish and added to the overall success of the dish.
To match the tajine, we opened a few bottles of Pinot Noir. The Pinots that were not DOA, were able to hold their own and were enjoyable. There were unfortunately a few DOA Pinot Noirs. I had two, and two friends each brought a dud. The good news was that were more bottles to be had and they were enjoyed by all. The wine notes follow below:
Ella Valley Pinot Noir 2005 – Score: A-
This wine was a real winner and highly enjoyed. The nose on this dark ruby colored wine is crazy alive out of the gate, and grows more and more as the wine sits in the glass. The nose is packed with cherry, oak, hot out of the gate, and vegetal notes. The mouth of this medium to full bodied wine, starts off red and heavy with tannins and continues to grow darker as the wine opens up. The mouth starts with cherry, raspberry, and vegetal almost earthy flavors. As the wine opens, the wine moves from a red wine to a bit darker flavored wine, that shows cassis and more black cherry flavor. The mid palate shows not yet integrated tannins, oak, acidity, and coffee. The finish is super long, with more acidity, tannins, and oak. This wine is really nice, and is not yet at its peak, and a wine that will smooth out in a year or two.
Four Gates Pinot Noir 2000 – Score: B+
This wine has moved just over its peak and is time to drink up. The nose on this ruby red colored wine, is hot (out of the gate) with cherry, raspberry, currants, and oak. The mouth of this now medium bodied wine, has integrated tannins that are not as velvety as they used to be, along with cherry, currants, and acidity that bleeds into the mouth. The mid palate is acidic at its core, with light oak and now integrated tannins. The mouth is not as soft as we would guess, because of the acidic core. The finish is medium long with acidity, light tannins, and hints of oak.
Yarden Pinot Noir 2003 – Score: N/A
Unfortunately, this bottle was dead on arrival.
Galil Pinot Noir 2005 – Score: N/A
Again, this was dead as well.
