From pot to boat to pound to pot, Glah-sta Lahb-sta

I visited Argyle Winery’s tasting room when I went on my trip to the Willamette Valley last November. Argyle is famous for their sparkling wines. I don’t really care for sparkling wines, however, theirs were very good. What I did enjoy was their Riesling so I procured a bottle "for future reference". This Riesling was planted in the Lone Star Vineyard in a high density on devigorated rootstock.

Riesling
Argyle Winery
Willamette Valley
Vintage: 2006
Alcohol: 13.0%
Residual Sugar: 1%
Cases Produced: 635

Color: Yellow
Intensity: Pale
Aromas: Melon, honeysuckle, stone, cedar
Flavors: Grapefruit, melon, pear, lemon, mineral, a little wood flavor.
Body: Medium Bodied
Acidity: Moderate
Sweetness: Semi dry
Finish: Moderate

Summary: This is a clean, refreshing Riesling. I liked the acid and semi-dry balance in this wine. It has some nice mineral characteristics with a teeny-tiny bit of vanilla. It also left a nice, low grade glycerin feel in the mouth. The citrus is very refreshing.


This is a good wine for sitting down with a meal of chicken picante, fish (haddock, red snapper, whitefish, sole, or cod). Shrimp and lobster would go great with this. In fact, I think we will enjoy our Argyle 2006 Riesling with lobster! Read on!

Glah-sta Lahb-sta
I had a hankering today. I really wanted to have some lobster, and why not. We live in a fishing port in Massachusetts, all’s I have to do is go see my fellow Blogger, Joey at Captain Joe and Sons and pick up a couple of "frisky ones". Joey is a dedicated Blogger and family man who runs Good Morning Gloucester. Good Morning Gloucester is a very well read Blog about life in Gloucester and I owe much of the local popularity of SMU to Joey. [Meet Joey on SMU!]

This time of year, the lobsters are headed out to deeper waters, out of Gloucester Harbor. We have fewer lobster pots in the water. Fishermen bring them in for storage. Here are some pots coming in to Captain Joe’s for winter storage.

We are lucky. The lobsters that B and I buy go from the pot to the boat to the pound to the pot in one day.

Tips on buying lobsters
Just because you live in Kansas doesn't mean you can't get lobster. Gloucester sends them to markets all over. When you buy a lobster, make sure that they are frisky. The tails should curl up. Ask your fishmonger to pull the tail out and see if it pulls back. If it is limp, pass; the lobster is not really in good condition. Your fishmonger should boil this and put it on display for some of the uniformed to buy. Our lobsters were flipping and pissed off to be picked up from behind. Real “frisky ones” as I call them.

When you get them home, put them in the refrigerator. Don’t put them in the sink or bathtub with water, they will drown. They will be fine in the fridge in a bag for a while. Me, being spitting distance from the nearest lobster pound, I pick them up at 1:00 and put them into the pot at 5:00. (Sorry for throwing salt into the wound, not everyone can live on the Atlantic coast.)

When I cook lobsters, I get a big stock pot boiling with water. I cut the claw bands off and drop them head first into the water and set the timer for 10 minutes. (We ask for 1.5 to 2.0 pound lobsters. For 2 pounders, maybe 11 minutes.) While this is going on, slice up some lemon, melt some butter, pop open the Riesling and get the glasses ready. After the lobsters are done, pull out and drain and eat. (In the summer time, I’ll throw some ears of corn in the water about three minutes before the lobster is done.)

The Argyle Riesling was absolutely perfect with this lobster. It was citrusy enough to hold up to the lemon in the butter and sweet enough to not seem sour against the lobster meet. B made a great green salad with chipotle lime dressing with shredded cabbage, fresh cilantro and corn kernels.

This is without a doubt the best lobster meal I have ever had. Pairing this Willamette Valley Rielsing with Lobster was just a fabulous treat.

WBW #48 - Going Back to my Roots.

Taster B usually handles the WBW, but I couldn’t resist doing one of my own. In the wine store, we were trying to decide what to buy. California Chardonnay seemed to be a common ground, but I cut my teeth before the influence of oak. Taster B was reaching for something buttery.

My thoughts were that going back to my wine roots may be like being like going back to high school. I've moved on to bigger and better things. Besides, the only time I go back to my high school is in a bad dream where I usually find myself in math class unprepared for the final exam and I’ve blown off all semester. But going back to my wine roots may be philosophically easier than going back to high school.

In my wine youth, I wasn’t married to a particular style of wine. It just had to be affordable for a graduate student living on a few hundred per month. I didn’t like cheap wine, but I did have a jug of Carlo Rossi Chablis in the fridge at all times. This was mainly for cooking chicken, white pasta sauces and worked well as a marinade with ginger.

I liked good wine and became a master scrounge with an eye for good wine at good prices. So, I could have chosen Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Rosé de Anjou, Chardonnay, Chablis, Chianti (in fiascos of course). What to choose? We have lots of Cabs and Merlots already. I did find a Chianti in a fiasco, but I wasn't about to pay $14.00 for bad chianti.

I really had my heart set on going to the basic foundation of my wine experience; Catawba from New York State. But that is like finding a needle in a hay stack. I did find a wine that is close to one of my early wine experiences when my mother and I shared a half bottle of Rosé de Anjou at a restaurant some 25 years ago.



We sourced this wine from Ceres Street Wind Merchants, a store famous for carrying wines that are true to type.

Terrasses
Château Pesquié

Vintage: 2007
Blend: 50% Cinsault, 40% Grenache, 10% Syrah
AVA: Rhone Valley
Alcohol: 13%
Price: $14.99

Color: Scarlet
Intensity: Pale
Aromas: Strawberry, cranberry, kiwi, wet stone, lavender, rose
Flavors: Strawberry, cranberry, pomegranate, citrus zest
Body: light
Acidity: Moderately crisp
Sweetness: Dry
Finish: Moderate

Summary: This is a summertime wine. The back of the bottle says Tasting 45 deg F, Aged 2 years. This has me a little confused as the labeled vintage is 2007. This is a nice dry Rosé that is bright. As the wine warmed up in the glass, there were hints of floral and zest notes. Not overly complex, but definitely refreshing fruit qualities. It stood up well to sun dried tomato and gorgonzola ravioli with red sauce. I thought that it would get lost, but it held its own.

After the glass was emptied and sat for a while, I decided to give it a sniff; rose, unmistakable rose.


The great thing about Rosé is that it will stand up to spicier dishes and be gentle enough for poultry. In the summer, I would serve this with shrimp, pork, brie, lentil salad, salmon, smoked oysters, clams, lobster, crab, anything vegetarian, baked haddock sandwich, squid, rack of lamb…I could go on and on.

Summer Riesling Kabinett

Kreuznacher Kronenberg

Grape: Riesling
Growing Region: Nahe
Vintage: 2006
Price: $9.99
Alcohol: 10%
Aromas: Butter, cantaloupe, honeydew
Flavors: Honeydew, lime, ginger

Summary: Interesting flavors and a great wine for a hot day when you in the mood for refreshments like Thai iced tea. Yeah, it’s on the sweeter side but sometimes you want fruity/fresh on a summer day. Uncomplicated and refreshing, this Riesling is great paired with seafood.

This bottle was supposed to be for fish tacos but all we had laying around was lobster--you make do with what you got...

A Good Dry Riesling & Seafood Pairing

We went out for dinner Saturday night and not only did we both decide on seafood entrees, but we both selected entrees where lobster featured prominently. What luck--a perfect opportunity to order up a bottle of Riesling! The luck didn’t end there: The restaurant offered a 2004 Domaines Schlumberger Riesling Les Princes Abbés for $24 for a 750 ml bottle which is scarcely more than 50% above retail.

The wine had nice tropical fruit notes on the nose, with mild green apple and pear on the palate, and a floral and mineral finish. It was very pleasant wine and we both enjoyed it. It continued to give up different nuances in reaction to different shellfish delights: Cherry stones brought out a ‘dusky’ character, tropical fruit sparkled after a bite of shrimp, but of course, the star of the evening was the lobster.

I had the lobster crêpe: A pillowy crêpe stuffed with tender chunks of sweet lobster, fresh mozzarella, and braised leeks and topped with a tomato cream sauce drizzled with crème fraîche. The sauce had a slightly caramel flavor and I ate every drop. The Riesling went perfectly with this dish: It was a total yum-fest.

We brought the unfinished bottle home and drank the remainder the following day with a snack of finn crisp with herbed cheese and smoked salmon. As long as I keep some dry Alsace Riesling such as the Domaines Schlumberger on hand to have with shellfish, and a less dry Riesling to pair with spicy dishes, I’ll be pretty much set for summer.