Marinara wine pairs

It's time to break out of your Chianti rut.

If you reach for that trusty Tuscan every time pasta and red sauce hit the table, you're missing out on a world of great pairings, says Gary Vaynerchuk, the energetic host of the Web program Wine Library TV.

When it comes to mating wine with marinara, Vaynerchuk advocates breaking with tradition.

"This will surprise many, but I often drink WHITE wine with marinara sauce," he said via e-mail.

"No, I'm not talking California chardonnay, and I don't want a lot of oak. A white wine that is rich yet crisp works tremendously."

It works because high-acid whites can complement the acidity of the tomatoes, says Vaynerchuk, author of the forthcoming "Gary Vaynerchuk's 101 Wines Guaranteed to Inspire, Delight and Bring Thunder to Your World."

Among his suggestions - the Domaine Baubiac Viognier 2004 ($17), which he calls "a terrific food wine with back end acidity that would complement a lighter sauce very well."

Particularly bold marinaras, including those loaded with garlic, may need a hearty red.


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Grape and Company to close

Grape and Company, a retail wine, cheese, gourmet food and gift basket retail store located in the Sauk Point Square shopping center at the corner of High Point Road and Old Sauk Road, will close its doors on Wednesday.

The business, owned by Jack and Linda Korpi, also operated a small restaurant and catering business and offered cooking and wine tasting classes. The store was known for elegant and unusual cheese platters.

"I think what we enjoyed most about the business is meeting all kinds of nice people," Jack Korpi said today in a phone interview. He said that he and his wife wanted to pursue other interests. None involves food, he said.

Grape and Company opened at the end of 2004.

4/28/2008 7:12 pm

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Chicken in red wine

MY son and his wife bring me a couple of bottles of red wine each time they visit me from overseas. Could you please suggest a recipe using red wine? � Mdm Ong Su See

This is an interesting dish for you to try.

Wine Chicken

1.5-2kg chicken, chopped

Seasoning

1 tsp salt � tsp pepper 2 tbsp corn oil 1 tbsp butter 1 tbsp minced garlic 10 shallots, peeled and kept whole 2 bay leaves 1 tbsp Italian mixed herbs 1 onion, quartered 1 can button mushrooms, halved 200g carrots, cut into wedges 5 red dates, seeded 2 slices of ham, chopped 1 leek (use white portion only), sliced 70g sweet snow peas � bottle red wine � cup fresh chicken stock

Roux

1� tbsp plain flour 1� tbsp corn oil

Lightly marinate chicken with salt and pepper.


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‘Stoic’ new Grange for $550

Peter Gago feels more pressure each year when making Australia's most famous wine, Penfolds' Grange.

But he is supremely confident about the 2003 Grange to be released today with a price tag of around $550 a bottle.

“It's right up there with the strong ones," Mr Gago said yesterday.

“From our perspective it's very solid. I have used the word stoic Grange — it's the real thing.

“The '03 has got all of those layers of complexity that will take it 30, 40, 50 years."

The 2003 Grange feature primarily Barossa Valley shiraz, with smaller amounts of shiraz from McLaren Vale, south of Adelaide, and Penfolds' Magill Estate vineyard in metropolitan Adelaide.


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Champagne, Switzerland, Gets No Kick from Its Name

CHAMPAGNE, Switzerland: Makers of sparkling wine in the United States, Russia and Ukraine can appropriate the Champagne name for their products, but an innocent baking company in this tiny Swiss town is out of luck.Marc-Andre Cornu was salmon fishing in Norway when he got word. His secretary was on the line, saying that lawyers for the Swiss distributors of French Champagne had written to say he could no longer use the brand name his family had used since the 1930s. Three generations, beginning with his grandfather, had labeled their breadsticks and cookies "de Champagne," after their Swiss village, nestled among the vineyards that creep north from the shores of Lake Neuchtel.The lawyers' letters were only the first twist in a legal tangle as intricate as the gnarled and knotty grape vines hereabouts.In 1998, Switzerland reached an accord with the European Union that allowed its former national airline, Swissair, to make stopovers in European Union cities.


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Grange winemaker feels the pressure

Peter Gago feels more pressure each year when making Australia's most famous wine, Penfolds' Grange.

But he's supremely confident about the 2003 Grange to be released tomorrow with a price tag around $550 a bottle.

“It's right up there with the strong ones," Gago said today.

“We have had a number of reviews so far and the points given to it vary from 94 to 98 (out of 100) around the world from the few journalists who have seen it.

“From our perspective it's very solid, I have used the word stoic Grange – it's the real thing.

“Grange has never been the most alcoholic, or the most oaky, or highest extract, or most concentrated wine in Australia, it doesn't want to be.

“But the 03 has got all of those layers of complexity that will take it 30, 40, 50 years."

As chief winemaker at Penfolds, Gago acknowledges the pressure of making a wine officially declared a heritage icon by the National Trust of South Australia.


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Wine Review | 2005 Domaine de la Royere Cotes du Luberon

This is an amazing price for any wine with several years of aging, and still more amazing considering the quality of this southern Rhone red.

It has more elegant syrah notes than a wine of this price and appellation should, along with balance and accessibility.

A must-try for lovers of Rhone reds, it's in stock at Gentile's, Hausfrau Haven, Simplified Wine, Twisted Vine, Vincenzo's and Wine Vault.

-- Jon Christensen Dispatch wine reviewer jac@iwaynet.net

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