A raspberry of a rosé

When drinking rosé, what's the fruit that initially comes to mind? For me it's always been strawberry. I would almost venture to say that strawberry is the sin quo non of rosé. But what of raspberry? That's what the label on the Charles & Charles 2010 Columbia Valley Rosé says, and when I tasted it, I had to agree. This rosé has a delightful crisp raspberry flavor that is really interesting. This makes it a tad sweeter than other rosés, but not too sweet. It finishes dry like a delicious rosé should.

This wine is a blend of Syrah, Morvèdre, Cinsault, and Grenache, very much a Rhône style, not unlike the whites from that region. It holds up with bolder and spicier dishes too. I had it with my "famous" Balinese pork dish, which is both sweet and spicy. See the recipe below.

This has been a great year for rosé and I have found many wonderful wines for $12 and less. And this one comes right up to that $12 price point. I have seen it for more, but seriously, if you shop around, you'll find it for $12.

Wine Spectator scores this an 88. I give it an 8.5 using my scale at the left.

Balinese pork recipe

I find the best pork to use is boneless rib meat. But the meat from boneless pork chops works also (not as tender though IMO).

Partially freeze the meat so it's firm and easy to slice, but not so hard you can't slice it.

Slice the pork thinly and lay out on a plate, sprinkle with salt and pepper; use a lot of black pepper.

Depending on how much pork you use, you can make layers, salt and peppering each layer. Let the pork sit for a while with the salt and pepper.

Prepare/ready the following:

One small or half a medium onion, thinly sliced (use either white or red)

2-3 whole cloves of garlic, or use about a teaspoon of minced garlic

2 teaspoons of ground ginger

150 ml of hot water (hot from the tap is fine)

5 tablespoons of sweet soy sauce (the thick kind, Indonesian style)

1/2 teaspoon of sambal olek (more if you like it really spicy)

Stir the sweet soy sauce into the hot water so it's all mixed.

Heat oil in a wok (I used bacon grease for added flavor, but sesame oil is good too, or just regular corn oil).

Stir in all the pork at once, stir around.

Add the garlic, stir until pork is cooked.

Add sliced onion and ground ginger, stir quickly (the ginger will start to coat the wok).

Add sambal olek, stir so that the chili is distributed evenly.

Add the water and sweet soy mixture, stir and scrape the wok so the ginger that stuck to the wok gets mixed in too.

Bring mixture to a boil, then turn down heat to simmer and cover.

While the pork is simmering, start your rice.

Check the pork occasionally and stir.

When the rice is done (or after about 20 minutes), remove the cover from the pork and let it bubble for a while so the liquid evaporates slightly and thickens.

Serve with the rice.

This also goes well with a Riesling or Gewürztraminer.

Washington Hills Gewürztraminer

Normally a Gewürztraminer can be a good pairing with spicy food, particularly Asian food. But this grape can come off too sweet, even bubble-gummy. The 2007 Washington Hills almost hits that too-sweet level, and what I had hoped to be a good pairing with spicy pork tenderloin didn’t pair so well after all.

This wine had a subtle melon nose when first opened, and when tasted, it might have been a little too cold. It had a nice, bright acidity with a smooth finish with pear and maybe even some banana. There was definite melon as well, which made the wine a tad too sweet for my pallet. And despite the spiciness of the pork, it didn’t mesh well. Oddly, it did go well with the vegetable medley I prepared: a simple preparation of zucchini and summer squash sautéed with red, yellow and orange bell pepper, seasoned with some chili flakes, oregano and cilantro.

The pork was quite good. I used a chipotle rub mix with dark beer, fresh lime juice, olive oil, garlic and some cayenne. I marinated the pork overnight, then baked in a moderate oven until almost done, letting it rest and finish cooking before serving. I think a drier Gewürztraminer would have worked really well with this.

I rate this wine with a 7 using my scale at the left.

Like canned peaches

It can be difficult to find a decent Riesling with just the right amount of sweetness that it isn’t cloying, as these wines are excellent pairings with spicy food. But American Riesling tends to be too sweet for me, and I ran into one recently that was disappointing.

Another wine suitable for pairing with spicy food is Gewürztraminer.

Granted, there may be those who will like the 2009 Chateau Ste. Michelle Riesling from Columbia Valley, but I won’t be among them. And adding to my disappointment is the fact that I had some very nice wines from Chateau Ste. Michelle in the past.

This wine was paired with pork tenderloin that had been in a spicy Korean marinade for several hours before cooking. When opened, the wine already gave itself away with a heavy nose full of the “ripe peach and juicy” pear described on the label. Upon taste, I kid not, I was reminded of the juice that canned fruit is packed in. Curiously, the sweetness indicator on the bottle placed this wine right in the middle between medium sweet and medium dry.

But you have to remember that my preference is for dry to off-dry whites. I don’t mind a sweet wine occasionally, but the flavors need balance, and this was a bit heavy. Even when eating the spicy pork tenderloin, the wine was still too syrupy. Oddly though, it did pair well with the butternut squash that was seasoned with nutmeg.

I’ll give this one a 4 using my rating scale at the left. But remember, if you like this type of wine, you may like this one.

Washington Cabernets bring it on

While there’s no doubt that there are outstanding California Cabernets out there, you will pay a premium for them. And sometimes that premium is not well deserved. On the other hand, Washington had made tremendous strides with both Cabernet and Pinot Noir, and one that is easily found right now is worth the couple extra bucks it will cost you.

The Dusted Valley Vintners 2007 vintage Boomtown Cabernet Sauvignon can be had for about $13 and is a delicious find for the price. It is smooth, velvety, with enough fruit to make it interesting, but with a firm finish that is delightful to quaff. I’ve had this one twice, once with a steak and the other with pasta, and both times it was delicious.

Wine Spectator scores it with an 88, while Wine Advocate is more generous with a 91. I peg it with a 9 using my scale at the left. Definitely worth picking up.

An outstanding bargain in stores now

There is nothing more exciting than finding an extraordinary wine for a really cheap price. And friends, there’s an outstanding bargain out there right now on the store shelves. If you ever see any bottles of Vineyard 10 Red Wine 2007, a Two Vines blend from Columbia Crest, grab them. In a Jewell near where I live, I found this gem on the bottom shelf selling for $5.99. I grabbed a bunch. So should you.

Wine Spectator rates this blend with an 88 score, but it drinks better than that to me. Made with Syrah, Cabernet Franc, Sangiovese, Grenache and Mourvedre, it’s not a big wine, but it’s smooth and very drinkable. It has a nose like a much higher priced wine, and a silky finish with soft tannins. The blend is very similar to French Rhones, which are my favorites. This is probably why I like this blend so much. It’s fruit-forward, but it’s not like opening a jar of jam.

Normal retail is suggested at $8, so to find this at $6 was great. As the label suggest, it goes well with pasta. But this is easy to drink I think it would go with many things, and is just fine to sip on its own. Do yourself a favor and look for this one. This may be a bottom-shelf wine, but it tastes more like a mid-shelf wine.

On a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being the absolute best, I give this one an 8.5.