Search Results for: sancerre

Brilliant Sancerre boosts saffron & roasted-squash pizza

Brilliant Sancerre boosts saffron & roasted-squash pizza

We have to admit that we prefer good Sancerre to the New World versions of Sauvignon Blanc—even the highly touted wines from New Zealand. The French take on the grape drinks well with cold-weather dishes. So when we pondered a pizza pairing for one of our favorite Sancerres, we remembered a hearty risotto. We often make a risotto with saffron and onion broth that is studded with bits of bacon, roasted butternut squash, and grated Parmigiano-Reggiano. It's perfect with a zingy Sauvignon Blanc. Surely those flavors could be adapted to a pizza. The Wine: Domaine de la Perrière Sancerre 2016 The pairing was perfect. This Sancerre is fermented cold with wild yeasts and ages on the lees about three months. The yeast notes from the...Read More

As spring blooms, Sancerre launches season for whites

Pat has fond memories of traipsing through the Loire Valley one summer. As much as the rolling green land and the amazing fairy-tale châteaux, she remembers the food-friendly local wines. Then this winter we encountered some Cabernet Franc that reminded us how good Loire Valley reds can be with fish and lighter summer fare. The valley is home base to some of the greatest French wine grapes not called Cabernet Sauvignon or Chardonnay. With summer on the horizon, we realized it was time to rectify our lack of attention to Loire Valley wines—some of which are the quintessential sips at the end of long, warm day. We got a respite from our chilly, damp spring last week in time for the forsythia to burst into...Read More
Summer’s ‘la vie en rose’ begins by Public Garden

Summer’s ‘la vie en rose’ begins by Public Garden

The summer solstice may be a few weeks away, but balmy temperatures, bright sun, and unusually vigorous rose blooms have us thinking summer already. Our penchant for white wines fits the summer well, but we also tend to keep a bottle or two of rosé in the vegetable drawer. Pink wine is the perfect foil for summer food. Sommelier Andrew Thompson of Bistro du Midi (272 Boylston Street, Boston; 617-279-8000; bistrodumidi.com) agrees. In fact, the French bistro overlooking the Public Garden is going all out with rosés this summer in a reprise of the popular Tour de Rosé promotion. Two wines are featured each month along with some signature menu items from executive chef/partner Robert Sisca. For June, it's the Grenache/Cinsault Château Sainte-Marguerite from the...Read More
Made by hand: One Woman Wines & Vineyards

Made by hand: One Woman Wines & Vineyards

As a farm girl in Calabria, Italy, Claudia Purita learned how to tend a vineyard and how to make wine while her older siblings cared for the family livestock. When the clan relocated to Long Island, she spent the next few decades in the restaurant trade—until 2002, when she bought a potato farm and decided to plant a vineyard in honor of her late father. One thing led to another, and by 2004 she was cultivating 16 acres of vines. By 2007 she was bottling her first vintage. Now the vineyards have expanded to 35 acres. One Woman Wines and Vineyards (5195 Old North Road, Southold; 631-765-1200; onewomanwines.com) is really two women—Claudia and her daughter Gabriella—and a few hired hands. The mother-daughter team do most...Read More
McCall Wines reflect a clean and lean approach

McCall Wines reflect a clean and lean approach

Russell McCall has been growing wine grapes on his family farm—and the adjacent Peconic Land Trust property—since the 1990s. But he didn't release a wine under the family name until 2007. Everything about McCall Wines (22600 Main Road, Cutchogue, NY; 631.734.5764; mccallwines.com) suggests patience and long-term planning. The sandy soils of the south end of the original vineyard are planted with four clones of Pinot Noir. At 11 acres, it's one of the largest such vineyards on the east coast. McCall planted Merlot in the dense, clay-rich soils of the other 10 acres of the family vineyard. In 2011, he acquired and rehabilitated the adjacent North Ridge vineyard that had been planted in 1983 with Chardonnay, Cabernet Franc, and Cabernet Sauvignon—providing the winery with true...Read More
Lenz Winery’s finesse whites still set North Fork standard

Lenz Winery’s finesse whites still set North Fork standard

A British friend once told us that Americans have too many choices. He was referring to ice cream, but it's equally true of Long Island wineries. More than 40 producers welcome the public for tastings so it can be difficult to narrow the field to fit a couple of days. We knew, however, that we wanted to start with Lenz Winery (lenzwine.com). For years, we've been telling people that Lenz makes some of the best Burgundy-style Chardonnay on the East Coast. We certainly hoped that was still true. In a word, yes. Lenz was one of the North Fork pioneers. Its first vineyards date from 1978, which makes the promise of the “Old Vines” series much more than a hollow boast. (Wines in the series...Read More
Realizing a 150-year dream: Ravine Vineyard Estate

Realizing a 150-year dream: Ravine Vineyard Estate

Norma Jean Lowery Harber's family has farmed the 34 acres of Ravine Vineyard Estate (ravinevineyard.com) in St. Davids since 1867. Indeed, her great-grandfather planted the Niagara region's first commercial vineyard here in 1869 and the land was in orchards for many decades. Norma Jean and her husband Blair Harber bought the farm from the rest of the family in 2004. They set about creating organic vineyards and an organic winery. Norma Jean's father had grown wine grapes, and the couple replanted vineyards to focus on the three classic Bordeaux reds (Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Cabernet Franc) along with Chardonnay, Riesling, and small amounts of Gewürtztraminer. The wines are reason enough reason to visit Ravine. As luck had it, we missed the tasting room hours. But...Read More
Tasting Mondavi whites with New England seafood

Tasting Mondavi whites with New England seafood

In our next lives we want to come back as Mondavis. Every American branch of the clan seems to have a purple thumb ever since Cesare and his sons Robert and Peter took over the Charles Krug winery in 1943. As one of two winemakers at the Michael Mondavi Family Estate (michaelmondavifamilyestate.com), Rob Mondavi Jr. has developed quite a reputation for his quality Napa Cabernets. So we wondered: What about the whites? In New England, where we live, summer means seafood. While we might sip a red with bluefish, we really need white wines for the kings of ocean: oysters and lobster. So we tossed a bottle each of 2015 Emblem Chardonnay Carneros and 2015 Animo Napa Valley Heritage Sauvignon Blanc into a cooler, placed...Read More
Pouilly-Fumé complements asparagus-prosciutto risotto

Pouilly-Fumé complements asparagus-prosciutto risotto

We sang the praises of Sancerre a few weeks ago, lauding its round fruit combined with tart minerality. We are continuing to welcome the spring and summer seasons with other Loire Valley wines. Sancerre's sister Sauvignon Blanc wine, Pouilly-Fumé, certainly has a strong family resemblance. With a bit flintier taste than Sancerre and a haunting smokiness, Pouilly-Fumé pairs wonderfully with asparagus. We had a couple of bottles of Saget La Perrière 2013 on hand when we acquired up a nice bundle of just-picked asparagus from the Connecticut River farms in Hadley, Massachusetts. We immediately thought of our favorite risotto treatment for the vegetable. That recipe was created for Pinot Grigio, so it uses San Daniele prosciutto and Grana Padana cheese. It's easy to adapt the...Read More

Friuli has the right wine for asparagus

Asparagus is notoriously difficult to pair with wine because sulfur-bearing compounds in the stalks produce a chemical bouquet that clashes mightily with the tannins in red wine or in whites aged in oak. Eat asparagus and drink your average pinot noir or barrel-aged chardonnay and the wine will literally taste like garbage. The French solve the problem by pairing asparagus with Loire Valley whites or white Sancerre-wines based on Sauvignon Blanc that never see a whiff of oak. But just as Friuli grows some of the best asparagus in Europe (see If it's asparagus it must be Friuli), the northeast corner of Italy also produces the best wine to pair with it. Since 2008 it's been on the market as Friulano, though in Friuli some...Read More