Oregon vs. Burgundy BY DAVE MCEVERS

Wine & Food Tonight

Coming Tonight (Friday), A @MisterNoodle Twitter special. Bacon wrapped scallops and California Chardonnay. I can’t wait!

5/28/2009 (Thursday)

Beef Bourguignon

2005 Horseplay Rollicking Red

California Red Blend

Cabernet Sauvignon 44%, Merlot 39%, Syrah 17%

This wine is right up my alley. A California Red Blend with fruit from all over (Sonoma & Central Valley) The Syrah (instead of Cab Franc in a traditional California Meritage) really captures the California Spirit. Winemaker Melissa Bates even describes her creation as “a wild beast.” The word “wild” is one of my favorite wine words. So this wine is a winner in my book, both on quality (high 80’s) and price (under $12). The winery suggested this recipe with the wine, so I tried it, and it was perfect. A must try.

½ lb. coarsely chopped bacon

3 lbs. stewing beef, cut into 1 ½ “ cubes

to taste salt and freshly ground pepper

1/3 C. all purpose fl our

1 ¼ lbs. boiling onions, peeled

¾ lb. large carrots, peeled and cut into 1” pieces

12 each large garlic cloves, peeled (left whole)

3 C. beef broth

½ C. Cognac or brandy

2 (750 ml) bottles Horse Play Rollicking Red

1 ¼ lbs. mushrooms

1/3 C. chopped fresh thyme

1 Tbsp. dark brown sugar

1 Tbsp. tomato paste

Preheat oven to 325°F (160°C). Sauté bacon in large Dutch oven over mediumhigh heat until crisp; transfer bacon to paper towels. Drain bacon drippings from pot, except for about 2 to 3 tablespoons. Season beef generously with salt and pepper; coat with 1/3 cup fl our. Working in 3 batches, brown beef in same pot over medium-high heat, add bacon drippings, as needed. Transfer meat to large bowl. Add onions and carrots to same pot and sauté until golden brown. Add garlic and sauté 1 minute. Transfer vegetables to bowl with beef. Add 1 cup broth and Cognac to pot; boil until reduced to glaze, scraping up browned bits, about 8 minutes. Return meat, vegetables and their juices to pot. Add wine, mushrooms, thyme, sugar, tomato paste and 2 cups broth. Bring to boil, stirring occasionally. Cover pot and place in oven. Cook, about 1 1/2 hours, until meat is fork tender, removing cover last 30 minutes of cooking. Serves 6 people.

5/27/2009

Oregano and Sage BBQ Spare Ribs

2006 Yangarra Shiraz McClaren Vale.

Oh how I love my wild yeast fermented wines (lower sulfites, unpredictable results). Such is the case with the 2006 Yangarra Shiraz McClaren Vale. This is a wild wine with spicy notes that make me think about summer. This wine goes perfect with my Oregano & Sage BBQ Spare Ribs. I like to use spare ribs. Baby Back Ribs look pretty, but they have very little fat. Fat is flavor, so all you are tasting in a baby back is the sauce. Rub the spare ribs often with oregano and sage before you baste them with your favorite sauce. This is a wine and food match made in Heaven.

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Article

Oregon Vs. Burgundy

By Dave McEvers

May 22, 2009

If you are a Wine Purest or a Snotty Pinot Noir Head[(Sidewayshead) (I am neither)], you might take the position that Pinot Noir is uniquely French, and derives from the French words for “pine” and “black,” and therefore is the best. You would trace the origin of Pinot Noir to France, and specifically Burgundy (the French Wine Region, not the color, which, incidentally, is named for the region and its famous wines), and that by nature of being the first, it is therefore the best place to cultivate and vinify the most delicate grape.

I do not take that position.

Pinots from Burgundy and Oregon are often compared to one another. This makes sense. They share a latitude position, climate cycle, and soil structure, and the same adjectives are used by wine experts worldwide to describe wines from each region. In other words, I will stipulate to the Oregon people that they put out some of the best Pinot Noir in the world, better than Burgundy in some years. I draw distinct differences between the two and explain why I think Burgundy is better; no offense to the rugged Oregonians, of course.

It is necessary to briefly discuss French wine classifications, as “label fear” is a real issue for English-Only wine consumers. Specifically in Burgundy, there are only a few terms you need to know in order to purchase a good Pinot Noir.

It is not called Pinot Noir in Burgundy. Pinot Noir is the grape, but the finished wine is called Vin Rouge de Bourgogne (vin rouge day boar GOAN - Red Wine of Burgundy) or Bourgogne Rouge. Pinot Noir joins Chardonnay as the predominant and generally recognized grapes of Burgundy (they are also widely used in the production of Champagne), thus, look for these terms on a French label.

Bourgogne Blanc = Chardonnay - White

Bourgogne Rouge = Pinot Noir - Red.

In other words, when you see “Bourgogne Rouge” or something similar, you can be certain that it is Pinot Noir from Burgundy.

All of the other terminology on the label does not matter when you are first diving in to French Pinot. You will get used to the Cotes, Les Domaines, and Chateaus pretty quick.

When starting out, walk into a good wine store or outlet like Binny’s in Chicago or Friar Tuck, UFS, Corkscrew, or Wine Country Downstate. Go to the French section and find the Burgundy sub-section and there you go.

Following Burgundian and other French wine traditions, the producers focus on the place (Cotes, Domaines, or Villages) rather than the producer (Chateau), so you may have to look close at the label to find Bourgogne Rouge. You can read more about the strict wine classification rules in Burgundy . Once you find a Cotes or Domaines you like, you won’t forget it anyway.

Generally speaking, there are Four AOC Classifications in descending order of supposed quality.

Grand Cru [top pick (of grapes)],

Premier Cru [first pick) (supposed to be pronounced preem YAY but it is perfectly acceptable to say it as the English word “premier” in the US. Sounds like pre meer crew)],

Village (pronounce vil LAJH),

Regional.

The bottom line is this: Grand Crus, Premier Crus, and Villages make up about 35% of the total wine produced in Burgundy, so you are looking for Grand Cru (unlikely as it makes up only 1% of total production and is usually expensive), Premier Cru (about 11%), or Village (23%) on the label coupled with some form of Bourgogne Rouge for under $15. These are hard to find but not impossible.

For our purposes we are looking for Pinot Noir specifically, so avoid words like Buezeron (buze air OAN), St.-Bris (saint BREE), and Beaujolais (boo jzo LAY). These are all good wines to explore, but are not produced from the traditional Chardonnay or Pinot Noir grapes. Search Binny’s website at http://www.binnys.com to see the difference in pricing between Grand Cru, Premier Cru, and Villages.

I know it can be confusing at first. Believe me, understanding French wine and all of its labeling, inheritance, property ownership, production, exporting, and classification laws is a full time job. Even if you do not know a word of French, and don’t intend to learn, 15 minutes of reading can open your collection to the best Pinot Noir in the world. While the innovative and edgy producers in Oregon also produce some of the best, Burgundy’s tradition, history, and refined, old world style make it the most desirable.

There are too many references to note the similarities between Pinots from Oregon and Burgundy. We use words like earthy, nutty, complex, and well-structured to describe both. Comparing the two regions is more a question of style rather than quality. The French word Terrior (tear WAH) does not directly translate to English, but can best be described as the all encompassing and overall environment in which the grapes are grown and made into wine. This includes microclimates, soil structures, elevation, grade, and even intangible things such as human behavior and interaction with the grapes.

Winemakers throughout the years have done some pretty wacky things to try and enhance the intangible piece of their vineyards’ Terrior. One winemaker runs naked through his vines at the beginning of each season, and another provides music for his grapes 24 hours a day. Generally, wines from Oregon and Burgundy reflect each region’s specific Terrior. Oregon wines remind me of a rugged frontiersman or a lumberjack after an Elk hunt, while Burgundy wines reflect a more historic and refined style, more like a guy who might use a little product in his hair and trim his nose and ear hair. Neither is better than the other, just different, but I prefer the Burgundy style and its centuries of tradition upon which to build.

Others will tell you that Oregon is the way to go. It is not restricted by centuries of antiquated wine rules, and represents many fine qualities of the American Spirit. He’s going to tell you that there are better bargains from Oregon, which is not true. Each region has outrageously high priced wines, along with really good affordable selections. I would argue that Burgundy has more values in the $10-$15 Pinot Noir sector, but this topic is an ongoing debate. Again, do a quick search on Binny’s website and you can see bottles up to $500 apiece. I do not disagree with any point about Oregon Pinot Noir, only to say that I prefer a refined, old world style rather than the rugged, unrestricted style.

One of my favorite producers in Burgundy is Jacques Girardin (jzock jerr a DEEN). You can get the Bourgogne Blanc or Bourgogne Rouge for around $20 if you look hard enough, and they are great wines. While you are searching, please keep our group updated about your discoveries.