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Wines featured in today’s show:

• Domaine Franck Millet Sancerre   (~$19)
• Warre’s Otima 10-Year Old Tawny Porto  (~$23)
• Avinyó Cava Reserva  (~$15)

Recommended cheese pairings from The Som:

Wine and cheese parties can be a lot of fun, but I might caution you to keep it simple.  Too many types of wine and/or cheese will get confusing and your palate will not be able retain half of it.  Three or four different styles of cheese and a few whites and maybe 2 reds should do it.  Do your research beforehand.  Make sure that you have a some classic pairings available to taste.  They are classics for a reason.   Tasting perfect partnerships and being able to explain what makes them so is more fun than guessing at pairings and having the cheese make the wine taste like aspirin.

Here are a few classic pairings:

• Goats cheese with Sauvignon Blanc
• Roquefort and Sauternes
• Stilton with vintage or aged tawny Porto or port style
• Burgundy and Epoisse
• Creamy cheeses and Champagne

Also, here’s one of my favorite summer appetizer recipe that plays off one of these classic pairings:

1. Take thickly sliced heirloom tomatoes
2. Place a couple dollops of goat cheese on top of that
3. Add a few cranks of fresh black pepper

Enjoy this with a restrained Marlborough, New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc (ask your wine guy).

Thank me later.  Or thank Andrea Immer who actually recommends a “bone dry Alsace Riesling” with it.  Try them both and let me know!

When discussing wines like Bordeaux, Burgundy or Cahors, you must remember that these are the names of distinct wine regions whose boundaries have been delimited by French law.  There is a town called Cahors in Southwest France and the surrounding wine growing areas get to be labeled as “Cahors” on the wine label if they stick to the proper grapes and in the proper percentages, the proper minimum alcohol level, grape yields permitted by law, etc.   This applies to all French wine regions.

Outside the wines we featured in the show, there are many that have well know grapes hidden inside.  If you are enjoying a wine from the northern Spain region of Rioja you are drinking the grapes of Tempranillo, probably some Garnacha  and a couple of other varieties blended in.  Do you love white Burgundy?  Know what you’re drinking?  Chardonnay.   How about red Burgundy?  It’s Pinot Noir.   Man, I do love a glass of Chablis with my oysters.  Chablis is the region in France but the grape they use is Chardonnay (usually unoaked).   I know many of you adore a nice Chianti, especially when accompanied with a nice juicy T-bone or perhaps some fava beans.  Well, the primary grape in Chianti is Sangiovese.

Featured in today’s show:

• 2006 Château de Parenchère Bordeaux Blanc Sec from France
• 2003 Château Lalande Listrac-Medoc from France
• 2004 Château Eugénie Cahors from France

Recommended food pairings from the Som:

• Crack open the oysters ’cause Château de Parenchère is coming to town.  Oysters are briny, salty, viscous and the most fun thing you can put in your mouth (insert joke here.)  The acidity, slight citrus kick (like squirting lemon on your seafood) and “minerally” edge of the wine would be a nice match with your oysters on a warm afternoon on the deck with friends.  I’m jealous already.

• A juicy steak, perfectly prepared, will rock the house when paired with the Château Eugénie from Cahors.  I will now give you my easy but preposterously nummy steak recipe:

• Take the steak cut of your choice; be it a top sirloin, New York strip, rib-eye…doesn’t matter
• Liberally salt and pepper the steak on both sides
• Sprinkle both sides lightly with red pepper flakes
• Sprinkle both sides heavier with sugar
• Drizzle with Extra Virgin Olive Oil on both sides
• Turn the steak over and rub one side in all the oily, sugary, peppery goodness on the plate, thenturn it over and do the same
• Cover and let stand at room temp for half an hour
• Preheat oven to 375 degrees
• On the stove top, heat oil in an oven proof frying pan.  Carefully put the steak in the pan, let  it sear on one side until red juices begin to appear on the top on the steak.  Flip the steak over and let it sear for about 1 minute.  Put the pan with the steak in the oven and let it cook for about 10-15 minutes.  Remove from oven and let the steak rest for at least 5 minutes before cutting into it.  Serve with a juicy, earthy Malbec based wine.   Hey…how about a wine from the Cahors region of France?  Great idea!

Featured in today’s show:

• 2007 Angeline Pinot Noir from the Russian River Valley of Sonoma, California
• 2004 Pape Johannou Pinot Noir from Greece (more about Greek wine)
• 2006 Meinklang Pinot Noir from Bergenland, Austria

Recommended food pairings:

• For the Angeline, a very simple but elegant salmon with dill sauce recipe that would work beautifully with the light fruitiness, combined with the herbiness (the dill)and the higher acidity of the Angeline Pinot Noir to cut the fattiness of the salmon. Combine this recipe with a spinach, cherry tomato, goat cheese, or light vinaigrette salad.
• For the Meinklang, or actually ANY Burgundy (Pinot Noir) wine, here’s a classic French recipe. Coq-au-Vin is a dish born of necessity and convenience. There is a long tradition of these types of “one pot meals” in agricultural communities. They are dinners that are usually prepared and brought in one pot to the table (back in the day, they took them directly to the farm hands and workers in the field to eat). In Southwest France, they call them a cassoulet. Here in the U.S, think “casserole.” If you want to make it at home, it will cost you a day and a half of work. If you order it at a restaurant it will cost you at least $20. Enjoy!