Over the course of a week, my wife and I drink a bunch o’wine – almost always with food. Since I’ve always been fascinated by wine at the table with food, I thought it would be fun to recap not only the wines we’ve been drinking, but also how they pair (or don’t pair) with the foods at our table. Here are my Wine of the Week; and Food and Wine Pairing of the Week for February 22, 2015.
We were in NOLA for Mardi Gras the better part of the week. Since we weren’t sure about the quality of wine we’d see in NOLA we decided to bring a few bottles along. The first three wines are wines we brought along with us.
2013 Caduceus Cellars Merkin Vineyards Shinola – Retail – $25
This is a bottle of wine we picked up when we visited AZ back in November. The winery located in Jerome, AZ and is owned by Maynard James Keenan of Tool. The wine is a deep purple color with black and dark red fruit, leather, and subtle spice aromas. On the palate, it’s medium-bodied, easy, and delicious with wonderful acidity, youthful grippy tannins and blackberry, black cherry, and a bit of mineral flavors. Medium finish. Blend of Sangiovese, Refosco, Primitivo, Dolcetto sourced from Luna County, New Mexico fruit We paired this with fried chicken one night and it paired surprisingly well. Not a great pairing mind you – but peaceful co-existence was achieved. Very good; 86-88 pts
2011 Carlisle The Derivative White – Retail – $28
We’ve been drinking more whites lately. And wines like this are why (along with a conscious shift toward more seafood, and chicken) It’s a pretty lemon yellow color with intriguing pear, lychee, lemon oil, grapefruit pith, and a subtle bergamot leaf aromas. On the palate, it’s medium bodied, and wonderfully textured with very good acidity and charming apricot, orange,and grapefruit and mineral flavors. It’s an interesting blend of 66% Semillon, 24% Muscadelle, and 10% Golden Chaselas (aka Palomino – sourced from 118 year-old vines interplanted amongst the Zinfandel at Saitone Ranch in the Russian River Valley). 13.7% alcohol. Outstanding; 92-95 pts
2010 Bedrock Wine Co. Cuvée Karatas – Retail – $28
Bright pale yellow color with promising lime, melon honeysuckle, and spice aromas. On the palate medium-full bodied, and dense with lively acidity and a supple texture with pear, melon, lime cream flavors and a bit of minerality. Long finish. It’s a blend of 53% 120-yr-old Semillon from Monte Rosso Vineyard, and 47% Sauvginon Blanc Musque clone from Kick Ranch; No MLF on the Sauv Blanc; fermented in 85% new French oak barrels from Bordeaux. 14.4% alcohol. Outstanding; 92-95 pts. The wine was fabulous with our dinner of Oysters on the half-shell; Deep-fried Alligator, and Crawfish Étouffée our last night in town that makes it our Food and Wine Pairing of the Week.
N.V. Deligeroy Crémant de Loire Rosé Brut – Retail – $13
This wine was recommended by Jeff over at The Drunken Cyclist. It’s a pale salmon color with persistent stream of bubbles and appealing strawberry, peach, and a bit of floral aromas. On the palate shows a moderately creamy mousse, crisp acidity, and a surprising depth at this price point with strawberry, cherry, peach and blood orange flavors accented with a hint of herbaceousness (from Cab Franc I suspect). Fantastic QPR at $13! The fruit comes from 20- to 30-year-old vines. 12.5% alcohol Will buy more! Very good; 86-88 pts
Wine of the Week 
It was definitely an interesting week for wine. It turned out that we made some very good choices on bottles to bring though. Both of the whites had Semillon which you don’t see often in California wines, but both Morgan Twain-Peterson and Mike Officer of Bedrock, and Carlisle respectively are fans of old-vine field blends. It’s also not everyday you get to enjoy a wine made with Italian grape varieties sourced from New Mexico, and made in Arizona. But Caduceaus/Merkin was our favorite of the five or so wineries we visited when we were in Arizona late last year. If you’re ever in Arizona, I recommend checking them out! My Wine of the Week was the Carlisle Derivative. It’s a modern-day version of Hock, a white blend that was popular in the late 1800s and early 1900s. It’s opulent wine that well supported by a very good acidity. It too paired well a seafood dinner we enjoyed while in NOLA. It would also pair well with Thai cuisine, grilled salmon or swordfish. It would also make a nice wine at your Thanksgiving table!
What was your Wine of the Week? Any killer Food and Wine pairings?
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Martin Redmond is a Financial Executive by day, and a certified wine geek with latent foodie tendencies the rest of the time. In addition to the wine lifestyle and food he enjoys family, fitness and traveling. He likes to get thoughts of wine off his mind by sharing experiences on his ENOFYLZ Wine blog, which features wine reviews, wine country travel, and wine and food pairings.
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