Category Sweet Wines

Entries 9 Total

Wine Miracles in Alaska: Number 3: This one just because it’s nice

May 10, 12 12:51 PM

Sharing Wine with Family

Sharing wine with people that appreciate it similarly to you is awful nice, isn’t it? To share with my parents a brief window into how I spend my time I brought two (new to me) bottles with me to taste.

Baker Lane 2009 Sonoma Coast Cuvee Syrah

All three of us enjoyed the Baker Lane’s Sonoma Coast Cuvee Syrah. It offers a nose of smoked meat, red cherry and berry, clove, and hints of vanilla, with the palate following. This is an approachable medium bodied syrah that is well-balanced, and juicy in the mouth. It has the structure appropriate to food while not demanding it.

My mom was impressed by its medium-long finish, and my dad liked how clean the flavors were. The Sonoma Coast Syrah is a nice choice for its approachability, hitting the interests of three fairly different palates here.

Interestingly, our views overlapped on the Pinot Noir as well with none of us appreciating it as much. On the 2008 vintage the flavors present as chunky and disjointed with the structure also generally out of balance.

Wine for Smoked Salmon

One of my birthday wines this last year was the 2008 Brewer-Clifton Santa Rita Hills Chardonnay. I love its steely floral citrus combination of flavors. The acidity on this wine is beautiful and perfect for pairing with a richer flavored food. My brother in law home packs salmon from the family’s commercial fishing venture every year and then smokes some of it in a soft-smoke style. The flavors on the fish carry the distinctness of king salmon alongside pleasing buttery smoke notes all with a rich, soft texture. The Brewer-Clifton offers palate cleansing acidity and an utterly clean presentation to complement the fish. Oh! Alaska, how well you treat me on these visits!

It’s nice to see the Brewer-Clifton for sale in Anchorage. I shared the bottle with my mom and sister Paula and they both enjoyed it. Paula’s preference is to drink crisp whites and to steer clear of any buttery/oaky chardonnay’s because of their rounder mouth feel and richer flavors. The Brewer-Clifton showed her a chardonnay that can be done differently.

Angel Joy Tears

Years ago my friend Kate and I accidentally discovered Tokaji Aszu at a restaurant in Montreal named Aszu. We’d ordered a plate of Quebecoise cheeses and asked the Sommelier to take a risk and bring us something wonderful to pair and not tell us till afterwards what it was. He complied beautifully bringing us a glass each of the 2000 5 Puttonyos Oremus Tokaji Aszu. Later when I told our friend Luis about the wine he urgently demanded to know WHERE in Montreal they were pouring that wine because he’d been wanting to taste Tokaji Aszu for a couple of years (it’s harder to find in Brazil, where he’s from, apparently). He and I went back later that same week and worked our way through an utterly extravagant multi-course meal with the Sommelier selecting perfect wine pairings for each course. By the end of the night we were admittedly drunk, and so happy, sipping the Oremus. I announced that it was like drinking Angel Joy Tears, one couldn’t help but feel blessed. Later that month Luis and I plus two friends went to a performance of Shakespeare in the park alongside the pond in Parc Lafontaine near my old Montreal flat. At the end of the show Luis’s friend stood in front of me smiling hugely with a little bag. When I opened it it turned out to be a bottle of Tokaji Aszu they’d actually found at the SAQ (the Quebec Liquor Board Shop) and purchased for me as a gift. I was so happy I stood speechless and smiling with my hand at my heart for a very long time.Though I’d intended to hold that bottle as a special gift from friends, the next morning while eating avocado I realized the Oremus would pair perfectly with avocado. Then perfectly with maple butter toast. Then perfectly with citrus salad… I sipped through the bottle tasting it alongside everything I ate through the remainder of that day, and decided it paired perfectly with anything. The experience was wonderful.

In case it isn’t obvious already, Tokaji Aszu is a sentimental favorite for me. I associate it with absolute joy and gratefulness, with friendship and appreciation. I can’t help but be happy when I drink it (slowly and with great pleasure). Several years ago I introduced my parents to Tokaji Aszu and though my dad doesn’t go for sweet wines generally they both loved it. On my recent visit back home my dad kept commenting, “oh, I wish we could drink Tokaji with you!” On the third day, my mom jumped up saying she’d be right back. After running back from upstairs she showed us this bottle of Oremus 2000 5 puttonyos Tokaji Aszu that she’d pulled from her treasure closet. I’d given it to them as a gift several years ago and she’d saved it.

The 2000 is wonderfully balanced. It’s drinking perfectly right now. The sweet elements are balanced with a rich texture and excellent acidity. The dried apricot and pear fruit flavors dance alongside herbal notes–touches of dried beach grass and sage. The slight tartness couples with mouth watering that keeps the sweetness from ever being cloying. What a treat!

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We’re back in Arizona again now. By this stage of my life I’ve learned to better integrate the qualities of where I’m from with the everyday life of elsewhere. For decades though the contrast I felt between my Alaskan life and my life ‘outside’, as we say in Alaska, was a challenge for me. It felt like I needed different persona almost to operate in Alaska versus anywhere elsewhere. The upside of having worked through such difference is that I believe that I do well with traveling, and I’ve developed a deep openness to seeing what is unique and valued in any particular place.

Still, it’s a funny contrast to go quickly to the quiet of Alaska and now be back to the quiet of my otherwise empty house. Outside pollen puffs from the Alpine Birch in my yard are floating up past the window, getting lit up by sun. The small leaves of the birch are dancing in the wind, their tops flashing as they hit the direct light of sun then dance out of it again.

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Thank you to Baker Lane for the sample bottles. It was a pleasure to share the wine with my parents, and we all enjoyed the approachability of the Syrah.

Thank you to my mom for sharing her treasure. What a treat!

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Tasting from the Top of Ramandolo: The History of the Grape and the Place

Apr 16, 12 1:54 PM

Sandro Vizzutti, Azienda Agricola Vizzutti Sandro e Marco

“We’re in Ramandolo. Every vineyard here follows the contours of the mountain. The people that live here respect the shape of the mountain. This is one of the few places where the name of the place is also the name of the wine. It is also the northern most part of the region, and of the appellation Colli Orientali del Friuli. We say here we are a border appellation and also a frontier appellation. It is a very challenging viticulture, and everything has to be worked by hand.

“The first historical mention of this wine was in 1408 or 1409, the beginning of the 15th century, being served to Pope Gregory. With the wine being documented in the early 15th century, it must have been produced much earlier.

“The wine is very small production, only 15-16 hectares. It is all very labor intensive [because of the grape type, and also the landscape. These vineyards climb up mountain sides.], and all the technical knowledge has been passed verbally from father to son, father to son.

“A Verduzzo grape ripens very very late with harvest starting in November. Then, a light drying of grapes is done. Historically, after vinification took place, in almost every case fermentation was stopped by cold weather so that in spring wines had lower alcohol levels, and a nice level of residual sugar. This is how we make the wine.

“Now, to make a technical point, even though I am not a fan of technical information. Ramandolo is made from a white but very tannic grape, Verduzzo. At the University of Udine, Professor Testoline did genetic mapping of these vines and its relatives, has sorted out how these vines have traveled. As a result, we know that the closest genetically linked grapes to Verduzzo, which is used to make Ramandolo, are all red grapes. So, it is believed that at some point there was a spontaneous mutation that turned a red grape into the white Verduzzo.

“Any old producer will tell you that the best wine in the world is Ramandolo. Now, I can’t say that. I haven’t tasted every wine in the world.

“Ramandolo is a wine that more than any other reflects the character and personality of the Friulian people. Imagine any where you are in the world there on the side is a bottle of Ramandolo. Then you walk by. Maybe you notice the bottle. Maybe you don’t. Eventually, you see the light reflect through the color of the bottle.

“This is just what it is like, the Friulian people. We do not try to stand out. But, people keep walking by, and eventually notice us, see the color and light of the bottle, and we get to know each other. We open the bottle. The wine, just like the Friulano, at first does not tell you much. it has a delicate, more subtle aroma. It is an aroma intended for noses that want to get to the bottom of what it is. To get to know what it is, you pour it into the glass, and then the wine becomes more intriguing. You have the courage to take a sip. Only in this sip do you realize a friendship has been made, and you learn more with every sip. It is a taste of generations–of parents, of grandparents, of ancestors.”

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Pictures Looking Back: A 7-day Tour of Colli Orientali del Friuli: Final Pictures

Apr 15, 12 5:35 PM

Thank you to the Consortium of Wine Makers of Colli Orientali del Friuli, and of Ramandolo

Copyright 2012 all rights reserved. When sharing or forwarding, please attribute to WakawakaWineReviews.com

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Lunch and Tasting with Ronchi di Cialla: Review Comics of Ciallabianco, Schioppettino, Refosco, Verduzzo

Apr 10, 12 3:54 PM

The History of Ronchi di Cialla

Beginning their winery in 1970, Paolo and Dina Rapuzzi dedicated their work to indigenous vines. Doing so was no easy task, however, as at that time many of the vines had been lost due to the introduction of Bordeaux varieties following the phylloxera epidemic. The Rapuzzis pursued their passion anyway and succeeded in not only establishing an indigenous variety-only winery, but also in saving some of the local grape types for the region.

As their son Ivan explains, Friuli is one of the places in Europe with the greatest biodiversity as it sits where the Alps intersect the Balkans and the Mediterranean via the Adriatic. As a result, the Eastern side of Friuli offers a blend of a Mediterranean and alpine climate. One grape in particular, Schioppettino does very well under such conditions, showing in its character the wild fruit of the mountains with the freshness of the sea. The Rapuzzis played a crucial role in establishing Schioppettino’s current strength in Friuli–the only area of the world where it has a foothold.

When the Rapuzzis established Ronchi di Cialla in 1970 Schioppettino was almost entirely gone from the region. Paolo and Dina responded by hunting through the surrounding hillsides for feral vines of indigenous grapes. They succeeded in locating about 60 such vines of Schioppettino from many different areas. They took cuttings and with those made many more plants.

According to Paolo, scientists have studied the genetic makeup of Schioppettino and found that there are so many clones within their one subzone that it would seem to originate there in Friuli within the Prepotto area.

We were lucky enough to taste a lot of Schioppettino during our visit to Colli Orientali, including those of the producers of the Schioppettino di Prepotto–an association dedicated to establishing and maintaining the quality of Schioppettino within the valley of Prepotto.

During our lunch with the Rapuzzis at Ronchi di Cialla we were also able to taste their famous white blend–Ciallabianco, made of the indigenous grapes Ribolla Gialla, Verduzzo friulano, and Picolit; their Refosco; and finally their dessert wine Verduzzo. What a wonderful treat!

Thank you to the Rapuzzi family for hosting us during a wonderful lunch!

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To read more on Schioppettino and even see a video of how to properly pronounce the grape name, check out @dobianchi‘s post on the variety here: http://dobianchi.com/2012/04/10/schioppettino-the-next-big-thing-history-of-its-revival-and-fortune/

For comparisons to other Schioppettino, see my review of a vertical tasting of the varietal from Ronco del Gnemiz follow this link: http://wakawakawinereviews.com/2012/04/06/ronco-del-gnemiz-schioppettino-vertical-1988-1989-1994-1996-1999-2006-2009-2010/

Photos of our lunch with the Rapuzzis can be seen here: http://wakawakawinereviews.com/2012/04/09/pictures-looking-back-a-7-day-tour-of-colli-orientali-del-friuli-days-1-3/

More on how Paolo and Dina began their winery can be read here: http://wakawakawinereviews.com/2012/04/02/lunch-at-ronchi-di-cialla-meeting-the-man-with-whom-it-began/

Copyright 2012 all rights reserved. When sharing or forwarding, please attribute to WakawakaWineReviews.com

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Day Dreaming from Minneapolis Back to Ramandolo: Il Roncat

Apr 7, 12 9:49 PM

Giovanni Dri, Il Roncat

“My grandfather, and my father, both made wine. But they were also soldiers in the war. My father told me not to make wine. It was too much work everyday all the time. But, unfortunately, he died young, and so he could not influence me. Now my daughter has decided also to make wine, so that is four generations.

“I was born on a farm just over this hillside. The elementary school was up at the top of the village on the mountain [where we ate lunch yesterday, the view in the first photo of yesterday's post]. In one of the rooms of the school there were the five elementary school classes all in one room with one teacher. So they were not spending as much money on school as they do now. Now they have buses that drive you. But I would have to walk all the way there up the mountain. It would take me 30 minutes to get there. I would walk through the vineyards. In the middle of winter when I was coming home from school, and I was hungry, I would stop in the vineyards and pick the grape bunches they had forgotten.

“But why would I be talking about December? Because the snow would start to fall and I would eat these grape bunches that were left behind, and they would be cold, sweet raisins and juice. And recently I started to think, why can’t we make wine out of these bunches? And so I named one of my wines, Uve Decemberine Ramandolo (The grapes of December). The fruit all comes from Verduzzo in the first week of December.”

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I arrive back in Arizona later tonight. We saw so many things in Colli Orientali, there will be more posts on our trip still to come.

Be safe! Cheers!

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Visiting and Tasting Ramandolo

Apr 6, 12 11:58 PM

The View From the Top, Ramandolo

A set of 9 out of 20 Ramandolo producers wines

View from in the Village at Il Roncat

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We fly back first thing this morning. The flight will arrive again in Arizona in the middle of the night. Me? Exhausted, happy.

More on Friuli to come!

In the meantime, check out this lovely post of pics of our group by Whitney over at her site Brunellos Have More Fun, and all the posts at our group site: http://cof2012.com/

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Lunch and Wine Tasting at Agriturismo Solder: Friulano, Cabernet, and D’Oro

Apr 1, 12 8:03 PM

Agriturismo Solder

The region of Friuli-Venezia Guiliana has a tradition of developing Alloggio Agrituristico where visitors can sleep on site, eat on the grounds, and celebrate only that food and view offered by the property itself. Agriturismo Solder is one such facility hosting a range of foods made in the farm house kitchen from the farm’s own ingredients, to eat alongside the wines also made by Solder Vini.

At Agriturismo Solder the benefits of such a facility are compounded by the beautiful countryside view over looking the Solder vineyards, and also the fastidious service by wine maker Fabrizio Solder.

Wine maker and owner Fabrizio Solder

Wines from Solder Vini

Within the DOC Colli Orientali del Friuli region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Solder’s eastern estate rests close to the Slovenian border in the foothills of the Alps. It is on this property that the Solder facility hosts their restaurant of foods all local to their facility. The foods include meats and cheeses made on site, and a host of warm plates ranging from bitter sauteed greens, to gnocchi in duck breast, and rich pasta wrapped in prosciutto. Better still, the wines and food are meant to pair. We let Fabrizio select both our foods and wines for us.

Solder Friulano 2010

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The Friulano grape is famous for its quality found in the Friuli area. In this region the wine showcases a crisp, floral nose, developing nutty and herbal qualities in the bottle over time. It is considered local to the area, and is one of the more well known white wine products of the larger Friuli region.

Solder Vini offers a dry, full bodied version of Friulano consistently showing bright acidity that holds up to the rich meats offered on site. The 2010 bottling is drinking lively now with citrus notes of lime zest, and meyer lemon zest, pith and juice alongside faint hints of melon as the wine opens, white pepper, and dried herbs. The finish here is pleasantly elongated, again doing well with food.

Solder Cabernet 2010

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In the Friuli area asking for a “Cabernet” means asking for a red wine that is most likely either a full varietal of Cabernet Franc, or a blend of the same grape with Cabernet Sauvignon. Here the later held true. The wine showed bright red fruit on the nose that opened to carry more of the grounded earth elements of Cabernet Franc with time. There were light yeast touches here as well, alongside dried herbal qualities, and mouth gripping tannin. The 2010 is drinking well for food now, and will also clearly deepen over time.

Solder D’Oro

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While Colli Orientali del Friuli has more recently begun to grow international varieties, the DOC celebrates its indigenous grapes with commitment. Solder’s D’Oro presents a dry, honeyed rich wine made of two local varieties–Picolit and Verduzzo.

While it can be common to see Picolit produced as a typically sweet dessert wine, either through late harvest or drying the grapes after selection, Solder has chosen to switch up their approach to cultivate a drier rendition of the wine. To do so, the winery picks a portion of their Picolit batch at ripeness, and then also selects another collection of grapes to dry. However, instead of picking the clusters and drying them in the sun or a drying room, Solder instead ties off the stem as the cluster still hangs on the vine, essentially putting a turnequet on the plant. In doing so he dramatically reduces the nutrients available to the fruit, while retaining the grounding of the plant and the air flow of the vineyard. The fruit then goes through a slightly accelerated drying process without developing a late harvest style noble rot. The juice from the ripe fruit pressing, and that from the vine-dried fruit are then blended to create the proper balance.

The D’Oro (I apologize–I missed writing down both the alcohol level and the vintage) we tasted carried both ripened peach and pear with touches of almond and obvious honey notes, all showing alongside hints of wet tobacco. Together these notes offered a rich, honeyed wine, but with an intense tannin mouth-drying texture that created a surprising grip to balance the rich body. I thought the D’Oro was both tasty and interesting. It also paired well with the traditional Friulian fig and pastry cookies we closed the meal with.

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Thank you so much to Fabrizio Solder for hosting us this afternoon!

Copyright 2012 all rights reserved. When sharing or forwarding, please attribute to WakawakaWineReviews.com

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Girl Scout Cookie Season Has Descended; Let Us Find Their Perfect Wine Pairings!, for Katherine

Feb 27, 12 10:50 PM

Girl Scout Cookies

Girl Scout Cookie season has hit the United States. Did you know there is even a free iphone app to help you locate where the cookies are available for sale?

I got a request to do tasting note comics for Girl Scout Cookies. On my other comics blog I’ve done that from time to time–draw up tasting notes for random foods. What was desired here was a comic representation of the sentimental favorites’ flavors and general qualities so as to be able to keep celebrating the phenomenon even in their off season.

The truth is, I don’t really eat Girl Scout Cookies. It isn’t that I WOULDN’T. It’s just that I don’t. But the idea of drawing tasting notes for them cracked me up, and the idea of drawing cookie notes alongside wine notes down right made me laugh. So, clearly the way to make the request work was to draw up tasting notes for the cookies alongside their perfect wine pairing.

The goal of any wine and food pairing is to bring together the right elements such that both the food and the wine are improved, so that they become something together they simply weren’t before the combination. It can be nice to have wine and food beside each other even when they don’t improve each other so thoroughly, but it’s a magical experience when the perfect pairing is found.

So, when I announced I was going to take the Girl Scout Cookie Wine Challenge, Katherine offered to bring over cookies in each of the flavors available in our area. Before she showed up I ran to the wine shop where I bumped into James, the head chef of Cuvee 928, and he offered input on my wine pairing ideas. Thank you for his suggestion of the Blanc Pescador and the Oloroso Sherry. And then along the way when a couple of surprise cookies I hadn’t anticipated appeared, @DecantChicago gave a push to go ahead and try a bottle of Demi-Sec Champagne I’d already been considering. Wonderfully by the end of the night we really had hit the perfect pairing for each cookie.

Enjoy!

Thank you to Katherine, James, and Cara Patricia–Decant Chicago–for your help!

Tasting notes appear in recommended tasting order as well.

Trefoils and Blanc Pescador

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Girl Scout’s most classic cookie is their Trefoil Shortbread. The cookie is crisp and buttery with very faint sweetness, and the crunch of a proper biscuit. Honestly one can also taste preservative notes along side the buttery flavor so any good wine pairing would hopefully moderate that lightly bitter element.

The Blanc Pescador is a wonderfully crisp, lightly effervescent Cataluyna table white wine perfect for Mediterranean style seafood dishes. I’ve had it along side fish soup with wonderful results. It even did well as the wine base for Risotto.

It’s made from the same grapes as those allowed for Spanish Cava–50-60% Macabeo, 20-25% Parellada, 20-25% Xarel-lo–but instead of making a full sparkling wine, the winemaker chose to make an effervescent (half-sparkling, basically) style instead.

It’s a perfect pairing for Girl Scout Trefoil Shortbread cookies. The wine increases the buttery flavor of the cookies, while also cutting the preservatives bite, and the cookie ups the mineral quality, and lemon flavor of the wine. Yum!

Savannah Smiles and 2005 Dr. Loosen Erdener Pralat Riesling Auslese

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The Savannah Smiles is a lemon flavored shortbread style cookie rolled in powdered sugar and new to the Girl Scouts this year.

This Riesling Auslese is a beautifully balanced sweet wine. It carries a nice mix of rich fruit and light floral qualities alongside pleasing minerals. This style is often thought of as a dessert wine and with its sweeter quality many people drink it only at the end of a meal. But, it’s worth tasting this with a range of other types of food though from spicy thai food, to blue cheese.

The Erdener Pralat vineyards are a mere 4 acres in the Mosel Valley, but are thought to generate some of the finest wines of the region. This is a wine that does well for decades in the bottle. If you have some it’s well worth holding onto but is also drinking nicely now. It’ll simply gain a deepened complexity over time.

Dr. Loosen’s Erdener Pralat Riesling Auslese is also a perfect pairing for Girl Scout’s new-this-year lemon shortbread style cookie rolled in powdered sugar, their Savannah Smiles. When put along side the sharp tang of the lemon cookie the heavier elements of the wine come into even better balance. The wine mellows the cookie tang, while the cookie lightens syrupy elements of the wine.

Do-Si-Dos and Demi-Sec A. Margaine Premier Cru Champagne

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The Do-Si-Dos were an unexpected addition to our tasting evening. I had thought we had five cookies to review, and didn’t know in advance of this one. The Do-Si-Do is a slightly salty, crisp oatmeal cookie with a thin layer of creamy peanut butter inside. With the combination the cookie carries toasted oatmeal, the creaminess of the peanut butter with a slightly salty, faintly sweet palate.

To balance the dryness and saltiness of the cookie it would need something soft in the mouth and slightly sweet. Not as heavy as the Auslese, nor as thick as the upcoming Banyuls.

We turned to the Demi-Sec A. Margaine Premier Cru Champagne, and the combination was perfect. The demi-sec style offers a softer body for the champagne while also giving just a touch of sweetness. The balance of herbal notes with a light brie funk on the nose and touches of yeast and toast bread beside minerals give a range of flavors avoiding the cloying problem. This is an elegant, delicate, and balanced champagne.

The Margaine is a special champagne in that Arnuad Margaine fully produces this champagne himself. Grower’s champagne is a less common version of the wonderful drink, and one that offers a difference in quality from the more mass produced types that dominate the wine type. A grower’s champagne is simply one in which the person that makes the champagne has also grown his own grapes. Margaine does just that making less than 5000 cases a year.

The wonderful thing about this wine really is found in how widely it could be paired. I’d love to drink it with dim-sum, as suggested by Michael Skurnik, or with spicy thai food. Oh… yum.

Alongside the Do-Si-Dos the yeast of the champagne is highlighted in a pleasing way, while the wine makes the peanut butter of the cookie both smoother and creamier tasting. The wine also eases the crunch of the cookie just slightly in a way that makes it work better.

Samoas and Lustau Almacenista Oloroso Sherry

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The Samoas cookie from the Girl Scout combines a crisp cookie center covered in caramel, toasted coconut and touched with chocolate. So it offers a combination of chew with crunch, and some sweetness.There are also lightly buttery elements to be tasted here.

To pair, a dry, full flavored companion is found in Oloroso Sherry, a dry style sherry showing lots of nut, hints of caramel, and touches of rich fruit. The high alcohol content work against the sweetness of the coconut making it more balanced, while the cookie brings out more fruit notes in the sherry uncovering flavors of dried cherry and more raisin. So, while the cookie became less sweet, the wine turned more complex. A pleasing complement.

The truth is a lot of people I know don’t like coconut, and so this cookie comes as the least favorite for them. I don’t mind the fruit-seed but also am not much into sweet cookies. It was a nice moment to see how this wine and the cookie worked together. As Katherine, one who does not like coconut, put it, “the cookie became worth eating” without hiding the coconut altogether.

At this point in the evening the wine and cookie match up was going so well Katherine extended me the following compliment. Thank you! “I salute your ability to pair Girl Scout Cookies with wine. It’s an important life skill.” Katherine, there is no one better to work on such a project with.

Tagalong Peanut Butter Pattie with 2003 Domaine La Tour Vieille Banyuls

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The Tagalong is a cookie topped in creamy peanut butter and covered in chocolate. The flavors here are rich, full, and very buttery and creamy.

The Banyuls is a full bodied, full flavored dessert wine that showcases nut, caramel, dried herbal, and spice notes. The acidity here is medium high helping to balance the sweetness of the wine and the alcohol level at 15.5% gives just enough heat to counter the richness.

When paired with the peanut butter pattie the cookie becomes more creamy and buttery, while the wine becomes less sweet, and a hint cooler. The buttery-ness of the peanut butter works well here against the alcohol heat. The salt of the peanut butter too fights the sweetness of the wine so as to lessen such effects when drinking it, making both the cookie and the wine smoother.

The classic pairing for Banyuls is chocolate, and with this cookie I agree while adding a couple more demands alongside.

Thin Mints and Rihaku Nigori Sake Dreamy Clouds

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The big challenge of the night came in trying to pair Thin Mints. Mint and chocolate are a hard set to make work with a wine. The classic pairing for Thin Mints is, after all, coffee. But I was determined that a wine could be found, and realized that the fumy quality of sake, rice wine, resembles slightly the fumy nature of mint flavor, while the very slight sweetness of Nigori style sake would likely work with the sweetness of a cookie. All my friends were skeptical.

Thin Mints are as they sound, a thin cookie with a thin layer of mint dipped in chocolate. They do well being frozen and then eaten after an overnight in the cold state.

Nigori Sake is left slightly cloudy in comparison to other types of sake, which are, by contrast, filtered. Nigori holds some rice sediment still, which keeps a slight haze in the cup, and works to help generate what is thought of as the sweetest of sakes, though still only slightly sweet. Due to the rice and yeast used, the Rihaku sake is also quite fragrant with dried plum, hints of banana, and a rice tang.This style is also meant to be finished once the bottle is open as oxidation will quickly change the flavors. Rihaku Dreamy Clouds is a super clean, pleasant sake.

I’ll admit the sake and cookie were a surprising flavor combination. I hadn’t had Nigori sake in a while and after a steady stream of grape wine tastings up till this point it was a significant contrast. Still, once the sake and cookie were tasted together the combination worked. The sake made the mint even more palatable, also cutting the waxiness of the chocolate, while the cookie erased the banana elements of the sake.

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Thanks again to Katherine, James, and Cara for your enthusiasm and suggestions! Thanks too to Katherine for providing the cookies. :)

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Have a wine focus you’d like to see explored here through comics and write up? Please feel free to email me at lilyelainehawkwakawaka (at) gmail (dot) com . I enjoy the challenge, and hearing from you too!

Copyright 2012 all rights reserved. When sharing or forwarding, please attribute to WakawakaWineReviews.com

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Wine Review Comic: Royal Tokaji Aszu’ 5 puttonyos 2006–For Luis, Kate, and Bryan

Nov 7, 11 6:51 PM

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Got to taste this Tokaji at Cru’ Denver.

Copyright 2011 all rights reserved. When sharing or forwarding, please attribute to WakawakaWineReviews.com

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