With the festival of Passover hot on our heals (Monday Night), and the fact that our kitchen is still not kosher for passover, we needed a small but still enjoyable meal, as we wanted ZERO leftovers.  So, to the freezer we went, as our quest to empty it is almost complete.  There we found a Kielbasa that was ripe for the taking, my wife then said, do NOT make the stew too large, and as always, she was correct, so she recommended a simple and delicious recipe.  One Kielbasa cut into one inch chunks, then browned on each side.  After that remove the Kielbasa, and throw in 4 onions that have been sliced into thin half-moon slivers.  After they are browned throw in the mushrooms, and watch over them.  Once the package has released most of its liquid, throw the Kielbasa back in and let them get happy together on low heat for some 20 to 30 minutes.

We paired this with some lovely whole grain Brown Basmati Rice and a fresh green salad.  To pair with this food, I went looking for a simple round red wine, and pulled out the 2007 Ben Ami Cabernet Sauvignon.  The Ben Ami Winery is not a real winery, it is a second label for value priced wines from the Barkan/Segal winery, which is the second largest winery of Israel, behind Carmel.  I believe this is an export only bottle, as it is Mevushal.

The wine paired well for the first 30 minutes, after that it went fat and cooked.  You see, this is a Mevushal wine, and it was clear and obvious after some 30 minutes.  It was OK, but it took the wine down a rung or so.  The wine notes follow below:

2007 Ben Ami Cabernet Sauvignon – Score: B to B+
This wine has two lives, before it goes cooked and after it goes cooked.  I recommend not opening this wine till you want to drink it.  The wine starts off quite lovely and red, with rich mineral, cherry, cranberry, ripe plum, floral notes, chocolate, and a nice nose with oak at the end.  The mouth of this medium bodied wine follows the nose with plum, cherry, and raspberry.  The mid palate is acidic with nice tannins.  The finish is long with oak, cherry, plum, chocolate, and spice with soft tannins.  A nice red Cabernet that is fun to enjoy.

In its second life, the wine starts to taste cooked (from the Mevushal process), and turns black with blackberry and black plum.  The rest of the notes hold for the most part, but the wine, is too cooked and not that fun. I recommend drinking up what you have.