Well after a having meat for almost every meal over the holidays, it was a unanimous agreement to go with something lighter.  I love making parve meat sauce.  It is really quite simple, you start with a ton of onions sliced thinly and sauté them over medium heat.  Once they are nice and golden you deglaze with some acidic red wine and then add in tomato sauce, sugar, basil, oregano, and salt and pepper to taste.  Once the sauce is built, drop in the Yves or LightLife soy meat and you are good to go.  Throw it on top of some whole wheat spaghetti, and you have a winner.

To go with this fun and easy dish I had a couple of bottles of wine as we had some friends over and I thought it would be fun to try these out.

The wine notes follow below:

Yarden Pinot Noir 2004 – Score: A-
In putting this wine into light against a white surface, you will see that the color is warm garnet, with a slight tinge of orange.  The wine has a fair amount of viscosity, which makes sense given its 14.5% alcohol.  The nose on this wine is redolent with raspberry, cherry, earthy notes, and figs.  The interesting thing is that there is no heat (the term used to denote a slight flaw that is based upon alcohol) in the nose at all – which is really nice!  The mouth on this medium to full bodied wine starts with figs and red cherry.  The mid palate is a complex and wonderful mixture of soft integrated tannins, spice, and anise.  The finish is long, with fresh figs and smoked wood.  We really liked this Pinot, and see it having a place in our cellars in the future as well.

Ramon Cardova Rioja 2005 – Score: B
This wine is one a bit young yet, a lively wine, looking for a story to tell. The nose on this bright-colored ruby red wine is filled with cranberry, cloves, coffee, and wood. The nose starts off hot, but blows off over time. The mouth of this medium bodied wine is soft and starts with fresh raspberry and cherry. The middle is spicy, with integrated tannins and wood. The finish is long with wood, coffee, and vanilla accompaniment.