Shrimp Boil and Wines to Match

For our tasting today at the store we presented all Alsatian and German whites. A mix of Riesling, Gewurztraminer, Muscat, and Pinot Gris; all were wonderfully refreshing and lively and ran from dry to quite sweet. To accompany, we did a spicy shrimp boil - New Orleans style. First we boiled the spice pouch mix, a lemon, and a head of garlic. Toss in the potatoes for 10 min., corn for 6 min, and then the shrimp to sit for 6 min. with the burner off. The best batch was the third one after the water had turned to stock and reduced down a bit. I thought it was great with only a hint of spice that you felt on your lips though pretty much everyone in the tasting thought that it was too spicy - almost too much. That didn't stop them from stuffing their faces. Maybe I just have a high tolerance, or maybe people just like to complain.

Mom also came to this one and it turns out that it was her first wine tasting! I had not realized that for all the tastings we have had here, she had not made it to a single one. She was blown away by the sheer amount of wine to taste but seemed to really enjoy it and loved the shrimp. Really it is a lot to drink as we pour 1 ounce tastes and at 12 wines that is half a bottle if you only taste each one once. Many people come back for seconds. She also brought my camera so that I could snap some pictures.

Here are first the ingredients and then the finished product: Delicious.





The wines were amazing. The Alsatian whites had all their richness and complexity and were nice enough but the German Rieslings blew me away. Ranging from off-dry to syrupy sweet, each and every one had super bright acidity that was lively and refreshing. Most surprising of all, though, was that they all had tannin. It was really fine and you could only really feel it along the tip and sides of your tongue but it was definitely there and then washed away in the finish. All being really young, only a few had that characteristic rubber or petrol nose and even then it was quite faint. The last, a dessert Riesling by the name of Schloss Johannisberger Auslese, was incredible in that it was quite syrupy and had a distinct honey tasted but was, at the same time, very refreshing and again with the acidity, finished very cleanly - not cloying at all.

Here are Rachel with the Alsatians and Jonathan with (of course) his German Rieslings:





Alsace:
Ostertag Fronholz Muscat 2004
Kuentz-Bas Pinot Gris 2005
Bott-Geyl Riesling 2001
Kuentz-Bas Gewurztraminer 2005
Ostertag Gewurztraminer 2005

Germany:
JJ Prum Wehlener Sonnenuhur Kabinett 2004
SA Prum Graacher Himmelreich Riesling Spatlese 2003
Deidesheim Forster Jesuitengarten Riesling Spatlese 2004
Dr. Fischer Ockfener Bockstein Riesling Auslese 2003
Dr. Loosen Wehlener Sonnenuhr Auslese 2003
JJ Prum Wehlener Sonnenuhr Auslese 2003
Schloss Johannisberger Riesling Auslese 2003

As for the boil, the leftover stock turned really tasty with a hint of shrimpyness and very salty. I am going to save it as a brine for some kind of meat. Think deep fried turkey....

An interesting phenomenon also happened at the end of the tasting: Rachel developed the infamous "wine headache". This brings back into discussion the topic of sulfites and even though I dislike beating dead horses, customers still torment me with the comment of "Wine gives me headaches because of the sulfites". A bit of research a few weeks ago along with my experience in NZ gave me some more evidence to throw at these people. Most wines have sulfite levels that hover around 20ppm with sweeter whites around 30ppm. The sweetest wines will be at most 60ppm. Salsa, as in chips and salsa, contains round 1500ppm along with dried fruit at about 1800ppm. Never hear of people blaming salsa on their headaches do you? I also noticed in the ingredients label on a jar of sauerkraut in my fridge: potassium metabisulfite, or PMS, the same preservative used in wine. And so to hazard a guess at the source of the headache: Sugar. All the wines we had in the tasting had very high levels of residual sugar and I guess that this with alcohol creates the perfect cocktail for headaches.

Monkeying around with Jared.

Also, big news: this Monday I bought $250 each of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. They are at rock bottom and our blessed government is willing to bail them out if it gets worse. Buy low...Sell high....
I am very excited to see how this turns out as this is my first real action in the stock market where I saw an opportunity, did the research, and made the plunge. Hope it pans out.

After climbing in Tampa, I picked up mom from the airport. Its really good to see her and she'll be here for a week helping me pack up the house and wrap up some stuff with her properties in Tampa. I am out of here in 9 days!

Flight of wine

Went out last night to Fleming's. About three weeks or so ago, a guy came into the store looking for a basic, good Cab so I showed him around a bit and eventually suggested the Calamity 2005, a killer Cab for the price. As luck would have it, we had a bottle open from the tasting the night before and I gave him a sample which he loved. As he is tasting, we get into conversation and it turns out that he is the regional manager guy for Fleming's Steakhouse or "Joint Venture Partner S.E." as his card reads. He asks me how often I go and, feeling somewhat guilty for some reason, reply that I had never been. I immediately explain that he should not feel bad and that I am sure that it is a fine restaurant but that I am just not a good representative of their customer base. "I never go out to eat, I cook all my own food" I quickly tell him. But a good sales man all the same, he shoots back that it is all OK and that he needs to get Jonathan and I into the place. So he gives me the card above which is fantastic. Two free wine flights and a charcuterie for appetizer.

Between our schedules we didn't make it to the restaurant until last night but it really worked out and we decided to do it up nice, since we were getting free stuff and all. I got there early and started with a gin/tonic at the bar. Normally I would go with Hendricks but this time I decided to try something new, Bombay (regular, not sapphire). After Jono got there, we moved to the table and ordered the wine flights: any three wines from their extensive wine by the glass menu and you get an ounce of each, kind of a neat idea for trying new things. As for their wine list: Boooring. The vast majority was American and everything was stuff you can find anywhere. Clearly it is a corporate list where they can guarantee a consistent supply (meaning no small production stuff) and a have the same list throughout their restaurants. For what they did have, a lot was quite good though, not to be too critical.

For my flight:
Condes de Albarei Albarino 2005
Seghesio Zinfandel 2006
Hall Cabernet 2004

Jono's Flight:
Cakebread Sauvigion Blanc
some Barbera d'Asti
Robert Sinskey Merlot ('04?)

All were excellent though the Cakebread confirmed my suspicion that it is over priced. The Albarino was delicious and slightly off-dry. The best by far was the Sinskey merlot which was surprisingly bordeau-esk in its tannin, acidity, and overall character. The Berbera was the most surprising with a distinct aroma of cloves. Hall cab was quite tight but by the time the food arrived was much better, it must have only just been opened. The Zin was rich and creamy as always.



Charcuterie, as it turns out, means (In french) platter of cured meats and cheese - chefs choice. Very tasty. I got the 16oz New York strip, house salad, and we split the creamed spinach. Amazing steak (medium-rare for me, just shy of bloody for Jono) and way more than I could eat in a night along with everything else on the table which is just fine as I love leftovers anyway. The creamed spinach tasted decidedly creamy with a lil spinach flavor and plenty of calories, scrumptious. A nice scotch ended a fine meal, Glenfiddich 18 year old - neat with a few ice cubes. All-in-all a great evening. Thank you John for the free goods, it definitely got us into the place (even though we ended up spending $90 each, at least we weren't buying wine and you have to treat yourself every once in a while... every once in a great while.)