The Iron Chevsky Wine Blog

I thought I'd never say this... but sometimes, wine just doesn't seem to make sense. Or perhaps my wine courage has found its limit, 'cause I just don't know what wine would stand up to this food. In the middle of mostly Vietnamese area in San Jose is a hole-in-the-wall most awesome seafood joint, called The Boiling Crab . Combining Asian with Cajun sure makes for one hell of a blissful and unbridled foodie experience. Well, apparently this is no secret for the crowds standing in line for hours to get in. Even at 2pm on a Sunday, we had to wait for well over an hour. Oh, but the smell that hits you when you just open the door is so deliciously haunting! Their shrimp/corn/sausage combo delivered in a giant plastic bag packed in a "rajun cajun" hot, tangy, garlicky sauce is shockingly strong and flavorful, awakening the farthest, most dormant zones of your taste buds that you didn't even know existed! Taking part in the zesty symphony are the most succulent...

Last time I posited that a light-bodied high-acidity fruity red wine paired well with seafood. Continuing with the theme on unexpected food-and-wine pairings, this time I evolved this concept by pairing a medium body Italian red wine with seafood pasta in light red sauce. While normally I would think more toward a Sangiovese-based Chianti or Umbrian red , or perhaps a Piedmonte's native Barbera or Dolcetto, this time I went to a lighter bodied wine, made of Nerello Mascalese, an indigenous grape varietal of Sicily with a Burgundian character, less cherry-like though, with a hint of pepper and volcano-ash-like, which worked wonderfully with the heartier, chewier flavors of the red sauce and calamari / shellfish / mollusk mix. Paired with Etna Rosso, Graci 2007 (available at Vineyard Gate ). Officially designated as Etna DOC, the vines are planted between 1800 and 2100 feet above sea level in the hills surrounding Mount Etna in Sicily, the second largest active volcano in Europe.

In the last post , I posed a food-and-wine challenge, to which I will now supply my answer. Food-and-wine pairing challenge. Which of the three wines displayed on this photo was the best match for the Bobby Flay's pan-fried tilapia fillet, topped with lemon-butter and green olive tapenade, with a side of roasted butternut squash with vinaigrette dressing? 1. Vosne-Romanée "Vieilles Vignes", Alex Gambal 2007 ($60.00). 2. Pouilly-Fuisse "Les Ménéstrières", Domaine J.A. Ferret 2005 ($50.00). 3. Pouilly-Fuisse "Les Vernays", Domaine J.A. Ferret 2005 ($27.00). Analysis When I think seafood and butter, naturally I think white Burgundy. Especially 1er cru or grand cru with creamy richness that typically comes from a combination of ripe grapes and oak barrel aging. But also, I look for acidity to cut through and contrast the butter. Here I had two white Burgundies that I knew from tasting the day before were rich. I also knew that the "Les Vernays" ...

While my week-day job is in high-tech, on week-ends I come to my favorite wine shop, pour wines for customers, get their feedback, and then occasionally take a few bottles home for deeper reflection and study. I believe that wine is made to be enjoyed in the company of friends. Nevertheless, I find that giving a worthy wine my undivided attention "mano-a-mano", with a plate of food on one side and a wine reference and laptop on the other, is the best way for me to truly relish and understand it. Two days ago, I had an opportunity to taste red Burgundies by Alex Gambal - an American ex-real-estate operator who moved to France in the 1990's and has now made a name for himself in Burgundy, and white Burgundies by the top domaine from Pouilly-Fuissé appelation in Mâconnais - J.A. Ferret - whose wines are distinguished by richness, creaminess, depth of flavor, and age-worthiness seen only in the very best white Burgundies. I picked three of the wines I really enjoyed at the t...

Last Sunday I was invited to a tomato taste-off, hosted by an avid gardener and friend A.C. Her passion for tomatoes is perhaps equaled only by my passion for wine. There we were tasting 30-40 different kinds, scoring them with all the seriousness of Robert Parker. I like tomatoes, especially heirlooms, especially fresh from the garden. However, as I started going around the tasting table, to my surprise I was not impressed. Until I got to cherry tomatoes: green grape and black pearl - those stood out - tart, sweet, intense. "Ooh, I like those" I exclaimed. As I continued, while many seemed bland or one-dimensional, a few others stood out as flavorful, complete with requisite tartness and sweetness, and interesting in some way - one tasting more like a lemon, another more meaty. It seemed really obvious which few were the stand-outs. As a tomato novice, I declared my opinion to A.C., considering myself done with the taste-off, and moving on to other activities (such as comma...

Seems unexpected: soy sauce in Pinot Noir? Standard red Burgundy descriptions of cherry and earth that are present in most red Burgundy tasting notes are nothing to write home about. What's always remarkable and inspiring to me are the out-of-place tastes I occasionally discern in wine, especially when it's paired with the right food. The secret to my pork ribs is gentle boiling with asian spices for 1-1.5 hours, and then quickly baking / broiling while applying several layers of the secret sauce, soy sauce being one major ingredient. The amazing thing is how well this 2005 Domaine Rene Lecrerc Gevrey Chambertin "Les Champeaux" Burgundy complemented the ribs, bringing out the darker "soy sauce meets cola" flavors of the wine. I had already observed that Pinot Noir and Gamay pair well with Cantonese food. Slowly a hypothesis crystallized - I started figuring out that it may be due to the common use of soy-sauce in Cantonese cooking. Last night was the second...

From the excellent 2007 Chateauneuf-du-Pape Saturday tasting lineup @Vineyard Gate, I took several bottles to test in a couple of different settings. Results confirmed the high quality of these wines and the importance of *appropriate* food-and-wine pairing -- one was heaven, another - hell! Watch IronC yap. These were the wines - if you love CdP, you'll love these!: 1. CdP Rouge, Moulin-Tacussel 2007 $40.00 2. CdP Rouge, Grand Veneur 2007 $44.00 3. CdP Rouge "Hommage a Henry Tacussel", Moulin-Tacussel 2007 $60.00 4. CdP Rouge "Les Origines", Grand Veneur 2007 $58.00 5. CdP Rouge "Vieilles Vignes", Grand Veneur 2007 $98.00 Btw, don't you just love the CdP bottles - they are so regal!

Buy a huge live Maine lobster dirt cheap in Ranch 99 Asian supermarket. Grab the monster carefully from the back. Watch out for the razor sharp tail. Stick a chopstick under its tail all the way to its head, Cantonese style. That makes it pee, which cleanses the meat and relaxes the muscles. Steam or boil it just until it gets red. Melt butter. Corn optional. Don't forget tools to break the hard shells. Vitally important : get a bottle of a nicely aged, well balanced White Burgundy, a 1er or Grand Cru, combining butteriness and acidity. Wear an apron and/or a bib (optional). Oh, and the most important thing... Go for it!!! Enjoy!

Ahhhh, those blissful food and wine pairings... A dinner at a friend and avid gardener's gave me renewed faith in mankind! - especially the portions of mankind who grow their own edible gardens in the SF South Bay and those that make wine in Chateauneuf-du-Pape (in the Southern Rhone region of France). They are co-conspirators in one of world's great pleasures, and are indeed a match made in heaven, of which yours truly was the benefactor last night. The day before, I had been tasting 2007 Chateauneuf-du-Pape's at Vineyard Gate - they clearly had lots of food-friendly qualities, which at the same time made them hard to enjoy on their own - a lot of spice, pepper, exotic dry flowers, berries and herbs, a touch of sweetness, and refreshing acid - all those great things we've come to expect from Chateauneuf. Tasting those wines had transported me to the South of France where this past December I visited many of the area's great wine domaines, and predictably made me t...