Wine Blogging Wednesday #23 is here, hosted by Joel from Vivi’s Wine Journal. The theme is BBQ wines and many of you will be surprised that I'm not writing about a New York wine today, though I did drink a couple during the dinner party in quesiton.
Everyone knows Ravenswood -- probably for their zinfandels. And, despite my affection for Long Island's balanced, nuanced wines, I love good California zinfandel.
So, when Nena and I were in Sonoma, we made our final winery stop at Ravenswood. When we walked in, my heart sank a little. Looking at the tasting sheet, they were only pouring two zinfandels -- both of which I can get here in New York. What fun is that? I wanted to get my mouth on something interesting.
Luckily, they had a bottle of 2002 Monte Rosso open and let us taste it. Of course, it worked out for the winery as well -- if they hadn't poured that wine for us, we wouldn't have bought anything there.
Every wine lover has an opinion as to what wine you should drink with BBQ or grilled fare. Some always go for a rose. Others think simple, but spicy reds are best (Cotes du Rhone maybe). I've even heard riesling as an option.
In my opinion, there is no such thing as the "ultimate" BBQ wine.
Think about it, BBQ/grilling is a style of cooking -- not the end result. And yes, I know that barbeque in the traditional sense is an end result, but even in that vein you have beef brisket, pork shoulder, whole chicken, leg of lamb...
My point is that rather than focus on the cooking method, think about what you're cooking and how the cooking method will affect its flavor.
Monday night, we had a couple friends come over for a pre-holiday dinner party. It was a bit impromptu, so I didn't have a lot of time to plan a menu. So, on my lunch break, I went to the only farm stand nearby, bought some stuff that looked good and went from there.
Then Nena went to a farmstand out east and got some fresh corn and I picked up some sirloin that I cut into kebabs. A two-course menu was born.
We started with tomato carpaccio salad with baby arugala, grilled sweet corn, pistachios, grated grana padano and a dressing made with Champagne vinegar and Stonehouse olive oil we picked up in San Francisco. Sorry, no pictures this time around, but it was mighty tasty. I served two local roses with this course, both from Channing Daughters Winery: 2005 Rosati di Cabernet Franc Croteau Farm Vineyard and 2005 Rosati di Merlot McCall Vineyard. They are two of the three vineyard- and variety-specific roses CDW produced this year. Both were quite nice, but I think I prefered the cabernet franc with the salads. It was lighter, crisper and played well with the tomatoes. Our guests prefered the merlot however.
Our main course was steak kebabs marinated in garlic, lemon and Thompson Field rosemary, oregano and basil. Yes, Thompson Field is my little herb garden in the back yard, but it deserves a name, don't you think? Along side I grilled some polenta rounds and made a quick fire roasted tomato, onion sauce.
I really love to serve zinfandel with grilled beef, especially full-flavored, well-seasoned steaks or kebabs. So, drinking Ravenswood's 2002 Monte Rosso Zinfandel was a no brainer choice. And it was a great combination.
Teeth stainingly dark in the glass, this wine has impressive aromatics that jump right out of the glass -- sweet red berry (rasberry and cherry), vanilla, sweet and savory spice. Nena and Tara both commented that they could just smell this wine all night, without even drinking it. I couldn't concur there, but the nose was enchanting.
As with most zin, this isn't a low alcohol bottling coming in at 15.4% ABV, but it wasn't "hot" at all. Full, round, mouth-filling flavors and body balace the alcohol extremely well. Bold but smooth this wine is all about cherries and chocolate and spice. I'm glad that I bought a few bottles because the Monte Rosso vineyard is owned by Gallo now, so Ravenswood won't be making this wine anymore.
Would I drink it again? Yes...in fact, I will. And, even at $32, I think this is a great value.
Think about it, BBQ/grilling is a style of cooking -- not the end result.
I saw that you would be doing BBQ, and this statement here makes me think that it could have been confusing for the participants (possibly), as there are many many different definitions of BBQ. I'm in North Carolina, and when you say BBQ, we think pit-cooked pulled pork with tomato- or vinegar based sauce (depending on the area). In that case, someone might make a different choice and say "There is and ultimate wine for BBQ."
For example, and this is just regional dialect coming in to play, I would say what you did was not BBQ, but you cooked out steak.
Regardless of definitions, dialects, nuances, or anything else, it sounds delicious, and as I have only had the Ravenswood VR Zin (which I love), I may have to go out and hunt down a bottle of the Monte Rosso.
The food sounds delicious, too!
Posted by: Rob Cole | July 05, 2006 at 04:42 PM
Rob, you're right...there is definitely room for intepretation...but I think that was part of the point...leaving it open to whatever style you wanted to do.
I would have loved to have done something in my smoker...but I just didn't have the time this time around. Next time for sure...with something from the southern Rhone.
Posted by: Lenn | July 05, 2006 at 04:46 PM
Lenn - I wish we had known you guys were stopping at Ravenswood. We would have met you up there so you could use our Zinfomania membership.
In the designates room, they pour 6 or 7 different single-vineyard zins. We are most partial to Dickerson, which has a very sad finale - the husband and wife who own the property were victims of the Tsunami two years ago.
That said, BRAVO on the choice of wine. We like Monte Rosso quite a lot.
Posted by: Fatemeh | July 07, 2006 at 01:27 PM
Fatemeh,
Damn!
Actually I wasn't planning on going there because I didn't want visit any wineries that I see on local shelves back here in NY.
But after being underwhelmed by the one-dimentional, no-nuance wines at our previous stops, I said "let's just go get some ZIN"...
That is awful about the Dickerson Vineyard owners...but i have heard that that is the wine I want to get my hands on...will have to find some online.
Posted by: Lenn | July 07, 2006 at 01:33 PM
Lenn,
I'm not a huge fan of zins, becuase many I've tried have had a sort of candied yam type sweetness to them. The best I've had (out of admittedly few tasting) is the 2002 Biale, Napa Valley Ranches. Any chance a big zin guy like yourself would recommend some similar zins for me to taste?
Thanks
Posted by: Whit Stevens | July 07, 2006 at 06:01 PM
I was fortunate enough to go to Ravenswood Winery in September. It was a beautiful, warm day and I got a tour of the vineyards as well as doing the blending lab, barrel tasting and vineyard designate tasting. I couldn't decide between the 2002 Monte Rosso and the 2002 Dickerson. In the end, I bought the Monte Rosso with no regrets whatsoever. I also got to try the Old Hill, which was fabulous! My friends joined the wine club so if I ever want to buy more of these, we can get them at 30% off which is unheard of. These are awesome Zins!! The winery is cool, especially that tombstone that says, "To err is human, to Zin is D'vine--Here lies the last wimpy wine R.I.P." What a hoot! If you love Zins, don't forget the Rosenblum Cellars tasting room on the square in Healdsburg. You gotta go! You can taste an amazing amount of wine for $5! The guy never stopped pouring. Their Zins all have between 15 and 17% alcohol! They are amazing!
Posted by: Grace | November 02, 2006 at 11:11 PM
I will definitely make a note of this one. It's always nice to find a wine that can stand up to true BBQ.
Posted by: bradley original smoker | March 31, 2010 at 07:23 PM