Corks Crew October '12 - Wine & Ceviche Pairing

What does one do when a friend starts up a ceviche catering business? Especially when said friend asks for recommendations about wines that would pair well with his ceviches? Why - of course - you'd have a party and invite your wine nerd friends over to take on that challenge.

Radio Ceviche makes some very unique and delicious food. We tried three different creations - tangy (ginger, hibiscus), spicy (chile de arbol), and herbal (spearmint, basil). Folks were randomly assigned find wines to pair with the unique ceviches. No wine was supposed to be over $20.

The three wines that were paired with the "Flor de Fuego" tangy ceviche:
'10 Matua Valley Sauvignon Blanc - Paretai Estate
'11 Dashwood Sauvignon Blanc
'11 Angarano Vespaiolo Breganze
Immediately we were all quite impressed by how well the Matua paired with the food. It wasn't over flavored so it allowed the ceviche to shine, but it also had gentle and fun flavors. The Dashwood was also nice, but not as impressive as the Matua. The Vespaiolo was very interesting. Not all that well matched for such a flavorful food, but it had good qualities to be appreciated on its own.

There was a bit of a switcheroo for the second ceviche. Folks were expecting the "El Diablo" spicy ceviche, but since we had mentioned an interest in a new vegan ceviche, that one replaced the spicy one. The vegan ceviche was awesome, but didn't have the features of the spicy ceviche. So the wines that were brought to pair were not necessarily on the mark.
Here are the three wines that were matched with the vegan ceviche:
'11 Selbach "Incline" Riesling
'10 Christian Salmon Sancerre Vieilles Vignes
'10 Crognaleto Trebbiano d'Abruzzo
 The Riesling was fine as a stand-alone, but definitely was a wacky match for the tangy-ness of the ceviche. The Sancerre (a Sauvignon Blanc), was quite understated and unremarkable with the food. The Trebianno was widely panned by folks. Not good with the food, not good by itself. 

The final ceviche, the herbal "Yerba Buena" is epic. It's a clever marriage of herbs and consistency. Here are the paired wines:
'10 Tenuta dell Ugolino Verdiccio
'10 Seagrape Chardonnay - Zotovich Vineyard
'09 Mount Nelson Sauvignon Blanc
The Verdiccio was a solid pairing, though it didn't have quite enough acid to stand up to the ceviche. The person that brought the Seagrape Chardonnay admitted that she paid more than the $20 limit that we had set, and that she didn't care if it paried well with the ceviche that she'd been assigned. She brought it because she loved it and she wanted us to try it. In her defense, it was an awesome drink, and paired pretty well with the food as well. The Mount Nelson was quite good as well - though not as spectacular as previous Sauv pairings.

After all the wines were tried and the ceviche was gone - everyone agreed that the very first wine that we tried, the Matua Sauvignon Blanc, was the best matched wine with it's assigned ceviche. The other star of the day was the Seagrape Chardonnay. It wasn't necessarily all that well paired, it was a wicked delicious wine though. It was interesting that so many Sauvignon Blancs - especially ones from New Zealand - stood up so well to the variety of ceviches. Conventional wisdom on wine and food pairings is to choose wines that are from the same regions as the food.
Since ceviche is a South American and Central American creation, there's no traditional wine to use to pair. In addition to the wines that were tested during our gathering, I've thought that perhaps an Albariño or a Grüner Veltliner would hold up well to the ceviches.
At the end of the evening we decided that the next gathering's theme would be: Favorite Holiday Dinner Side Dishes and Paired Wines. It's not a catchy title - but should be fun.

Corks Crew September '12 - Pinot Piñata Party

At the first wine party, we decided that subsequent Corks Crew themes should be chosen at the end of each event, when we are especially imbibed. The August Corks Crew theme: "Spherical Spearable Bubbly Brunch" very well highlights our ability to come up with confusing and fantastic themes. That theme was so fantastic, that I forgot to take pictures or notes. The synopsis of that event - bubbly wines taste good, and so does breakfast food. Domaine Chandon Brut Classic was the favorite wine of the afternoon.
At the end of that event, we came up with the theme for September: "Pinot Piñata Party." Simple theme, bring a red Pinot, and take a whack at the piñata. This time around we were a bit more wine-focused. Everyone sat inside with the AC (too damn hot that day), drank each one together, discussed their thoughts, and rated the wines on a 100 point scale. Nine people participated in the ratings. Here are the results, in order of the most to least liked, with some of my tasting notes:

'10 Laetitia Estate Pinot Noir - avg. score - 90.6 (high 98, low 85)
Good balance and variety, not amazing but very solid.
'09 Cold Heaven "Nevertell" Pinot Noir - 88.8 (high 91, low 80)
Bright and fun, shifting flavor intensities, sweet and friendly. 
'08 Ampelos "Rho" Pinot Noir - 86.6 (high 93, low 82)
 Exuberant, a bit silly/rowdy, quality notes, monochromatic finish.
'11 Hahn "Nicky Hahn" Pinot Noir - 85.9 (high 96, low 75)
Silky with kick, not that well-built, moderate quality.
'10 Castle Rock Pinot Noir - Mendocino County - 85.7 (high 89, low 80)
Big and upfront, lots of nice acid kick.
'10 Cave Des Onze Communes Pinot Noir Valle d'Aoste - 84.4 (high 91, low 78)
Crazy petrol nose, big sweetness tempered by earth and mush, watery back.
'07 Attilio Ghisolfi Langhe Pinay - 81.6 (high 88, low 70)
Mature darkness, fun tartness, moderate lengthy finish, a bit bland.

Some very interesting takeaways. Big ups to Laetitia - that was a solid wine. I'm familiar with Cold Heaven, but only knew about their viogniers - which are very good. A large number of the wines were from California Laetitia, Cold Heaven and Ampelos are all from the Santa Barbara area, Castle Rock from Mendocino, and Hahn is a California designate. With all those young fruity wines, the two Italian wines were rather panned by the tasters - but it would be curious to see what people would think if those wines stood on their own. It was a hell of a party, people dug the opportunity to do side-by-side comparisons.
Next month's theme: Wine and Ceviche Pairing

Corks Crew July '12 - BBQ Wines

A true pleasure of becoming a wine geek is being able to share and compare wine with friends. Over the past two years, we've come to realize that a handful of our close friends are also stoked on wine. It's a great pleasure to explore the world of wine with our friends, so we decided that it would be fun to create a monthly wine club to get together to chat about wine.
We had our first wine get together, with the theme of "Summer BBQ Wines."


The lineup of wines was pretty mixed, with a tendency toward Central Coast wines.
10 Star Lane Sauvignon Blanc - Santa Barbara
10 Rideau Roussanne - Santa Barbara
09 Tablas Creek Roussanne - Paso Robles
07 Ampelos Grenache - Santa Barbara
08 Domaine de la Pertruisane Le Naine Violet (Grenache) - Languedoc
09 Masút Pinot Noir - Mendocino
09 Tenlsey Syrah - Santa Barbara
09 Inama Carménere Piu - Veneto

N.V. Caprari Lambrusco - Emelia-Romagna 
N.V. Rosa Regale Brachetto d'Acqui - Piedmont

The big whiff of the night was the Grenache. It was way too sticky and sweet. A bad mix of overt flavors and high heat. 

The Tablas Creek Roussanne was very well received. It's an awesome wine - subtle, well built, and refreshing. 

We all enjoyed the Masút Pinot Noir - earthy, and nicely balanced.

The standout of the group was the Caprari Lambrusco. That was a crazy tasty wine. Just the right amount of sweetness, an interesting hint of sage. We were all huge fans. 

Drinking wine with friends is a great way to spend an evening. Our first venture into the "Corks Crew Wine Club" was quite a success. People were able to share good wine, eat good food, and enjoy each other's company. It was fun to discuss what qualities we found in the wines, and what we really enjoyed. We had such a great time, we even planned our next wine club theme - perhaps somewhat inspired by our inebriated state: "Spherical Spear-able Bubbly Brunch." It'll be fun to see what sparkling wines folks will try to pair with a Sunday brunch.