Chateau de Macard

Hello Wine Lovers!
Fall is here! Football every week, cool nights, leaves changing colors and starting to fall, and of course, hearty stews and slow cooked meats, hearty pastas with rich red sauces. And wine changes with the season too! Now we drink big reds with tannins to keep us warm at night. What comes to mind are Syrah, Bordeaux, Cabernet and of course the occasional Cabernet Franc! Which leads me to today's wine entry... Chateau de Macard Bordeaux Superieur. For about $8 at Binny's you won't believe this little beauty! This wine is a blend of 50% Caberent Franc, 20% Cabernet and 30% Merlot which leads to a mouthful of fruit with cassis and blackberries and a little tobacco notes as well. This wine is aged for 18 months with half in oak barrels and half in stainless steel tanks. This wine is just what the doctor ordered for this time of year! Speaking of which... I also included one of my favorite dishes for you to give a look see and this wine will match nicely! Enjoy!

Cheers!
J

Ingredients
1 sprig fresh rosemary
1 sprig fresh thyme
1 dry bay leaf
2 whole cloves
Cheesecloth
Kitchen twine, for bouquet garni and tying the veal shanks
3 whole veal shanks (about 1 pound per shank), trimmed
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
All purpose flour, for dredging
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 small onion, diced into 1/2-inch cubes
1 small carrot, diced into 1/2-inch cubes
1 stalk celery, diced into 1/2 inch cubes
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 cup dry white wine
3 cups chicken stock
3 tablespoons fresh flat-leaf Italian parsley, chopped
1 tablespoon lemon zest
Directions
Place the rosemary, thyme, bay leaf and cloves into cheesecloth and secure with twine. This will be your bouquet garni.

For the veal shanks, pat dry with paper towels to remove any excess moisture. Veal shanks will brown better when they are dry. Secure the meat to the bone with the kitchen twine. Season each shank with salt and freshly ground pepper. Dredge the shanks in flour, shaking off excess.

In a large Dutch oven pot, heat vegetable oil until smoking. Add tied veal shanks to the hot pan and brown all sides, about 3 minutes per side. Remove browned shanks and reserve.

In the same pot, add the onion, carrot and celery. Season with salt at this point to help draw out the moisture from the vegetables. Saute until soft and translucent, about 8 minutes. Add the tomato paste and mix well. Return browned shanks to the pan and add the white wine and reduce liquid by half, about 5 minutes. Add the bouquet garni and 2 cups of the chicken stock and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover pan and simmer for about 1 1/2 hours or until the meat is falling off the bone. Check every 15 minutes, turning shanks and adding more chicken stock as necessary. The level of cooking liquid should always be about 3/4 the way up the shank.

Carefully remove the cooked shanks from the pot and place in decorative serving platter. Cut off the kitchen twine and discard.

Remove and discard bouquet garni from the pot.

Pour all the juices and sauce from the pot over the shanks. Garnish with chopped parsley and lemon zest.

Santa Ema Merlot

Hello Wine Lovers!
Sorry for the 2 week delay in my entry, things have been a little crazy! Because of all the craziness in my world right now it made me think it is very easy for all of us to get caught up in our every day lives to slow down and "smell the coffee" as they say. In today's world we are connected 24 hours a day! Smart phones, laptops, I-Pads, text, e-mail, Facebook, Twitter... etc etc! Slow down! It is not life or death! Relax, have a glass of wine, sit in your favorite chair, get your dog to curl up with you and read one of these books on wine!

1. Wine for Dummies.
Another entry in a long line of books and this one is helpful for beginners!
2. Wine & War
A book about WW II and what the Nazi's did to France, a good read.
3. Great Wine Made Simple
Do I need to say anything?
4. 1001 Wines You Must Taste Before You Die
Fun and interesting prospectives on wines of the world
5. Judgement of Paris
A must read! About the 1976 Paris wine tasting that launched American wines into the forefront of the wine world! (My dear friend was at this tasting and is mentioned in the book)
You can find all of these books used on Amazon for ridiculously low prices and I think you will find them not only interesting but educational as well.
Now for the wine review! Santa Ema Reserve Merlot from the Maipo Valley in Chile. This wine will blow your socks off for the money! About $8 at Wine Discount Center and Binny's. I am not usually impressed by Merlot at this price range, but I gotta tell ya... this one changed my mind! You will find it to be a dark violet color with a very fruity nose of plums, blackberries, and black currant, accompanied by intense notes of caramel, chocolate, and vanilla. On the palate soft, ripe tannins which lead to structure and balance. I don't think you will be disappointed with this wine!
Good Reading!

Cheers!
J

Malbec

Hello Wine Lovers!
As I am sitting on my porch writing this entry today I can't believe summer is over already! It seems just like yesterday it started, and now with Labor Day and the leaves are already starting to fall in my yard, (that's a real sign of fall) I have no other choice than to accept it. All of this leads me to my topic... preserving that open bottle of wine. (I would like to preserve summer and open it up on those really cold days in February)
Let's get one thing perfectly clear before I get started, finish the bottle when you open it! That is the best way to keep it fresh and vibrant, but if for some strange reason you do not, here are some options. The enemy to wine is oxygen, the more you can keep it away from the wine, the longer the wine will taste fresh and the integrity of the wine will remain. There are a number of devices on the market today that claim to keep your bottle fresh. Probably the most common and least expensive is the "VacuVin" pump. The idea is to replace the cork with a rubber stopper and then you place the pump on top of the stopper and pump the air (which of course has oxygen) out of the bottle. It is this guy's opinion that it helps the wine remain somewhat fresh up to 48 hours. Much after that reduce it for a sauce or use it to make a stock. The next market item is called "Private Reserve". This is a mix of gasses (Nitrogen, Carbon Dioxide, and Argon) that you spray into the bottle. These gasses displace the oxygen in the bottle and create a protective blanket over the wine. After displacing the air immediately place the cork back in and store the bottle upright. The gas mixture has no aroma of its own, so it does not corrupt the wine. I have found this to also be helpful and as the VacuVin, is available at most wine shops for around $10. I also suggest you store the open bottle in the fridge to slow down the oxidation. (Remember the 20 / 20 rule I wrote about a few blogs ago) Another option is called "WineTap System" and is available at some wine shops and on line for around $100. This system uses a nitrogen cannister with a nozzle you place in the bottle and then hook up the canister. When you hook up the canister it displaces the air and then allows you to dispense the wine from the bottle using the handle. This also works for up to 24 -48 hours. The bottom line is this... for the money buy the "VacuVin" and pump your wine, place it in the fridge and drink it tomorrow!
Today's wine is the Diseno Old Vine Malbec from Argentina (Where else?) You will find this wine to have a nose of wild dark berries with a touch of chocolate and coffee. When you taste the wine you will find earth tones, dark fruit, coffee and cocoa with substantial tannins. It is a perfect wine to pair with grilled meats and hearty red sauces. It can easily over power some food so be wise. For about $9 at Binny's you can't go wrong. I Served it with the recipe below and it was a perfect match! The recipe is simple and packs a lot of flavor... enjoy!

Cheers!
J
Argentinian Chimichurri Sauce:
• 1 cup lightly packed chopped parsley (ideally, flat leaf "Italian" parsley)
• 3 to 5 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon chili pepper flakes
• 2 tablespoons fresh oregano leaves (optional)
• 2 tablespoons shallot or onion, minced
• 3/4 cup vegetable or olive oil
• 3 tablespoons sherry wine vinegar, or red wine vinegar
• 3 tablespoons lemon juice

Directions
Preheat a grill.
Place all chimichurri sauce ingredients in a blender or food processor and pulse until well chopped, but not pureed. Reserve.
Place the steak directly over a hot grill, and cook to medium rare. Remove the steak from the grill, let rest 5 minutes and top with the chimichuri.