I received an E mail from Anne Little looking for volunteers to help out with a canal clean up on Saturday June 27th at 8 AM. They already have committments from 4 folks and have three canoes involved. They are looking for four more people and at lea…

[I was asked to prepare comments for a reflection on Fathers’ Day to be shared with the congregation at the Saturday evening mass at the Saint Francis of Assisi parish on Saturday, June 20, 2009. The following blog generally reflects my comments from t…

Side dishes annoy me. I like them, but when I’m cooking a meal I find them an inconvenience because all my attention is on the main course. Side dishes like this recipe, for fingerling potatoes cooked in bacon, are great because they’re fairly easy and delicious. I often cook potatoes in bacon fat because they absorb the flavor so well. And my guess is that your father/husband probably likes bacon.

Last Monday I was one of the judges of the VA State Fair wine competition, the second year I have participated. The fair is not until autumn, but the competition takes place in advance and then the gold medal winners get to show their wines at the fair.

I am happy to report that I found the overall quality of wines to be better this year than last. There weren’t very many that I rated below a 75 (out of 100), the score that basically says the wine is not fit for human consumption. The bad news is that there also weren’t very many wines that I thought were excellent or outstanding – most were either good or pretty good. There are something like 154 wineries in Virginia now producing many different wines – we need more outstanding ones or Virginia wine will not get the national recognition that other states, like Washington, have.

There were 214 wines entered in the competition, of which I tasted about half. It’s pretty grueling, actually. By the end you just want a beer. It also becomes harder to tell the reds apart towards the end, which is disadvantage if your wine happens to land there. Still, it was an interesting experience and it’s always fun to have an influence on a wine’s future.

Summer coming on brings daydreams of grilling, entertaining, cold beer and refreshing white wine. But after a few too many beer commercials, it’s kind of stuck in our heads that all beer must be served “ice cold” — and the same popular wisdom comes into play for our wines — whites served cold, reds served at room temperature.

Today The Pour, a NY Times blog, tries to set the record straight:

“My point, simply put, is that too often we drink white wine far too cold, which deprives us of tasting the nuanced aromas and flavors in a good bottle. A bad bottle benefits from being highly chilled. The cold masks imbalances and flabbiness. But a good bottle? The cold can hide all the qualities that make it a good bottle . . .

But with white wine – good white wine — I really believe that the experience can be entirely different at a warmer serving temperature. By good white wine, I don’t mean expensive white wine. It can be a $13 bottle of Muscadet, for example. Try it for yourself. This will work best if you have two bottles of the same wine.

Chill two bottles in the refrigerator – let’s say over the course of a day. That evening, remove one bottle. Allow it to sit at room temperature for 45 minutes. Then take out the remaining bottle from the fridge. Open both and sample side-by-side. I think you’ll see that the warmer one will offer far more complexity than the colder one.

While my column focuses on white wine, the reverse is true of red wine. We routinely drink it too warm, thinking that reds are meant to be served at room temperature. Yes, they are, when the temperature of the room peaks around 65 degrees. So while you’re taking those whites out of the fridge for half an hour before serving, try putting reds into the fridge for 20 minutes or so before popping the cork.”

Drinking some big reds at room temperature just results in that feeling of alcohol burn, masking the real flavors of the wine. It’s disappointing to order a great glass of red at a restaurant — only to find the bottle has warmed up from being stored incorrectly. This is one of the great things about the Enomatics at kybecca, and every glass of wine served here at table — temperature controlled every time.

Proper serving temperatures vary depending on the type of beer — don’t hesitate to ask us. Buying wine at the last minute? Don’t forget the quick wine chillers at both kybecca shops!

Here’s a great post on the blog of Eric Asimov regarding bronco wines, the people who make “Two Buck Chuck”, the nickname for the Charles Shaw wines sold at Trader Joe’s. Here’s a taste:

“Two-Buck Chuck fits in with this tradition. No, it’s not flawed. Very little wine is flawed in this day and age, now that we understand the science of winemaking and the importance of hygiene and temperature control in the mass-production of wines. But it is insipid. Wine-lovers today don’t need to fear flawed wines so much as dull, uninteresting wines.”

I would be harder on the owner, Fred Franzia, than Mr. Asimov is. He and his kind have managed to convince huge numbers of people that wine is a simple commodity, like milk or garbage bags, and that price is the main consideration. His claim that no wine should cost more than $10 is not only absurd, I don’t think even he believes that. That would be like telling me that because McDonald’s sells burgers that are palatable for a couple of bucks, you should never spend more than that on a burger. Or because Wal-Mart sells dresses for cheaper than Nieman Marcus, you should always shop at Wal-Mart. These observations are no less ridiculous when applied to wine.

It’s not that you can’t find great wines under $10 – we sell many in that price range and stand by their quality. But they don’t come from huge wine companies, they come from real winemakers who care about quality. And Mr. Asimov is also right that when you’re willing to go between $10-$20, quality goes up quite a bit. I think the best value in our whole collection is the Puzelat Le Telquel, for $13.99. Best under $15 wine I’ve ever tasted. It wasn’t made by some big, faceless wine company with revenues in the millions, it was made by one guy in Touraine, France.

You can now get good beer. Alabama recently repealed their absurd law that beer that exceeded 6% alcohol could not be sold. This rules out many, if not most, of the best beers in the world. This is a good example of alcohol regulation that does more harm than good – by treating beer as a harmful beverage, Alabamans could not get exposed to beer that is more about the taste than the alcohol, further promoting the idea that beer is only for getting buzzed. It looks like the Alabama legislature finally wised up to the idea that if you treat alcohol as a dangerous beverage then people will behave irresponsibly with it.

Here’s a post from the Wall Street Journal’s wine guide about headaches and wine and possible causes. Spoiler Alert: Sulfites have nothing to do with it.

I also recommend looking at their entire wine guide.

Although I prefer wine with food in general, there are certain times that I turn to beer instead. One of those is with spicy food, especially Asian. I have tried many different beers with spicy food and the style I have found that consistently pairs well is Belgian Blond Ale. I often hear people recommending hoppy beers, like India Pale Ales, with spicy food. That’s never worked for me. I find that strong hops flavors tend to dominate whatever you pair them with. In contrast the malty sweetness of Belgian ales in general is a great balance to the spicy and often salty flavors of various Asian cuisines.

Beyond that, I have narrowed it down to two in particular that I like the best. One is the Maredsous Blonde, an Abbey ale (meaning monks oversee the brewing process). Slightly darker than most blondes, it is an almost amber color. It has great complexity of flavor with notes of fruits, grains, bread and yeast, and floral aromas. Better in my opinion than the more popular Delirium Tremens ale.

The second is the blonde ale from Achel. Achel is an abbey ale brewed by one of the Trappist monasteries, an order of Benedictine monks. You may have heard of the more famous Chimay Trappist Ale, or possibly Westmalle. Achel tends to be harder to find as they don’t brew as much. Their blonde is on the pricey side but really outstanding. You will be surprised by how strongly flavored this beer is for its light color. I had this last night with a noodle stir fry I made and it was delicious.

Just in case you don’t follow the goings-on in the country/continent, South Australia is in the middle of a serious drought. Things seem to keep getting worse, and if it keeps up something is going to have to give. The good news is that it is unlikely that grape vines would be the first to be asked to make a sacrifice. For starters, it’s good for tourism. More importantly, grapes need less water than many other crops. This article gives a description about what exactly is going on.

The bad news is not that the quality of Australian wine will diminish. That’s not how winemaking works. What’s happening is that winemakers are having to dispose of more grapes because they don’t make the cut. They can still select the very best grapes to make their wines, there’s just fewer of them. That could mean higher prices. I doubt very much we would see a dramatic rise in price – the Australian government would probably subsidize the winemakers if things got too bad. Hopefully the rains will come soon and we can continue to enjoy that rich, fruity Shiraz.