Welcome to our newest
feature! Picks & Nibbles is our
catchall, grab bag, random thoughts
column where we will offer brief comment
on wines, foods, restaurants -- whatever
-- that get our attention. Enjoy!
April
29 -- The ($60) is a great
choice for a romantic dinner for two.
It is absolutely lovely, with concentrated
blackberry and black cherry fruit on
a smooth frame, with sweet, smoky tobacco
notes, as well as licorice and dusty
chocolate. Long, fleshy, seductive finish.
Tempting now and should age nicely for
the next five or six years. Locate
this wine online or in your area.
April 26 -- With
so many cheese options crowding the
shelves these days (a good thing, to
be sure), sometimes it's nice to have
a few "go to" options. Sure
things that you know you like, that
you're pretty sure most people will
enjoy, and that are versatile enough
to work at just about any moment.
One of those cheeses for
us is Grafton
Village Cheese Company's Classic
Reserve Cheddar. This is the Vermont
dairy's signature cheddar -- aged for
two years and then sealed in black wax.
It's flavorful without being overwhelming,
with a texture that's more creamy than
crumbly, and it's affordable. It's delicious
on it's own, as a pre-dinner nibble
alongside some spiced nuts and a cold
rosé, white wine or beer, and
as part of any cheese course. It also
makes a damn good grilled cheese --
use sourdough bread, just a dab of onion
marmalade, and fry it up with butter
in an iron skillet. Delish.
April
25 -- Came across a "forgotten"
bottle of ($24 at release) the other
evening -- one of those bottles that
probably had been hanging around longer
than planned. (Oh, if only there was
a plan...) What a lovely surprise it
turned out to be! With plenty of pretty
fruit still present and bright. Smooth,
silky, with integrated spices that lingered
on the finish. Note to self: buy more
Rex Hill -- some for now and some for
later. Much later. Locate
this wine online or in your area.
April 24 -- The
sight of a deeply pink California rosé
usually makes me nervous -- it just
looks like a headache in a bottle --
sweet and flabby compared to the bone
dry, mineral-laced, sharp rosés
of Europe that I tend to love. So I
was oh so pleasantly surprised by the
($14). Offering crisp,
fresh, aromatic berry flavors that stay
on the dry side through the fruity finish,
it fit the bill perfectly one recent
warm evening on the patio. Ready to
drink now. Locate
this wine online or in your area.
April
23 -- Tasted a new wine from a new
winery -- the ($18). Loved
it! Dry and crisp and flavorful, with
clean, fresh flavors of complex citrus,
mineral and tropical melon. Stays focused
through the finish. Ready to drink now.
They say they're trying to make a Graves-style
Sauvignon Blanc -- and it shows! Locate
this wine online or in your area.
April 22 -- It's
been a good week for Italian reds around
here! In addition to the Montepulciano,
below, we also enjoyed every drop of
the ($15). A
heck of a deal, this Super Tuscan blend
of Sangiovese, Merlot and Cabernet Franc
offers smooth, vibrant blackberry flavors
from start to lush finish, with toast,
light spices and a subtle earthiness
that linger nicely. Ready to drink now
and over the next three or four years.
Locate
this wine online or in your area.
April
19 -- Hard to beat the price and
quality that we found in the
($13). With concentrated currant and
plum fruit laced with smoke, anise and
a touch of chocolate, it folds into
a medium-bodied, fruity, tasty finish.
So food friendly, it would probably
work with just about anything. We enjoyed
it with an antipasti platter featuring
an assortment of salami, olives, marinated
mushrooms and tomato-topped bruschetta.
Ready to drink now. Locate
this wine online or in your area.
April 16 -- VOICE,
the new restaurant in Houston's hip
Hotel
Icon debuted in the last couple
of weeks. The room is gorgeous -- all
light and sleek and comfortable. (The
website photos have not yet been updated,
by the way -- the red velvet goth-meets-finance
look is a thing of the past.)
Executive
Chef Michael Kramer is at the helm,
and although a couple of recent menu
samplings have had some ups and downs
as the opening kinks are worked out
-- there were enough ups to make us
think that more good things are in store
at VOICE.
The truffle parmesan
fries that come alongside the bar
menu sliders are worth ordering -- a
cone of crisp, addictive, tangy/salty
crunch that would work with whatever
you're drinking. They're actually better
than the sliders, which seemed too bready.
Also at the bar, the "tiny plate
of olives" is not at all tiny
-- an assortment of different types
of garlicky, herb-spiked olives that
were all good.
The mushroom soup "Cappuccino"
is heavenly, with a rich base of crimini
bisque topped with what the menu describes
as truffle foam, but seems entirely
more creamy than foam, and a dusting
of porcini powder. It's served in a
pretty white coffee cup (all the tableware
is lovely, by the way) and is a delicious,
aromatic study in contrasts between
earthy and rich, hot and creamy-cool.
Dreamy.
Desserts include a cold,
creamy peanut butter custard topped
with buttery hazelnut crunch and caramelized
bananas. It's comfort food taken
to fine dining standards -- the kind
of thing you kind of wish you could
balance on your chest and eat with a
big spoon while watching a great movie
in bed. Seriously.
The wine list is great
fun to explore, with some really interesting,
offbeat choices that make experimenting
easy. A $25 varietal Macabeo
from Spain's Catalunya region was delicious
-- concentrated fruit, vibrant acidity,
dry and refreshing, and very Spanish.
Oh, and do try the Scarlett
Jo cocktail -- a potent, but deceptively
easy to drink combination of Southern
Comfort, muddled fresh berries and a
splash of citrus.
The downs? Well, the "crispy"
blue crab cakes weren't, particularly.
Though the crunch of the topping of
a paper thin fennel salad saved the
day, and the flavor was good. The Southwest
chicken Cobb salad felt like a hotel
room service order, with less than perfect
avocado. And the bread needs work --
from the basket of dry rolls on the
tables, to the spongy toasts that ruined
an otherwise appealing warmed goat cheese
with black currants and Texas honey
from the bar menu.
But all in all, VOICE
deserves further exploration. And we
deserve another mushroom cappuccino!
Hotel Icon
220 Main Houston, Texas 77002
tel: 832.667.4470
April
11 -- If you're ever wondering what
all the "Super Tuscan" fuss
is about, track down a bottle of the
($35).
For a reasonable price -- particularly
compared to some of the Toscana (aka
Super Tuscans) wines out there, it is
a wonderful value. Offering full-bodied,
ripe, mouthwatering aromas and flavors
of cassis, black cherry, violet, roasted
coffee bean, toasty vanilla and a touch
of rich chocolate on the smooth, long
finish -- it is delish to the last drop.
Ready to drink now and over the next
four or five years. Locate
this wine online or in your area.
April 8 -- It was
carnivore night recently, with an intense
craving for red meat and red wine. A
bone-in ribeye did the trick (typically
does), and we popped the cork on the
($75) -- which,
frankly, typically does the trick as
well! This vintage is concentrated,
deeply colored and intense, with aromatic
red cherry and plum fruit that finds
a nice balance between tangy and smooth.
Long finish picks up rich coffee, cedar
and spices along the way. Very nice
now and over the next five-plus years.
Locate
this wine online or in your area.
April 5 -- Tasted
two very different, but equally delicious
wines from Buena
Vista Carneros. The ($25) is concentrated
and flavorful, offering intense blueberry
and black currant fruit laced with smoky
spices, licorice and a touch of sweet
earthy notes that all come together
on the fruity finish. Ready to drink
now and over the next three or four
years. Locate
this wine online or in your area.
The
($25)
is elegant and restrained, with light-
to medium-bodied red berry aromas and
flavors that pick up delicate accents
of mushroom and clove on the way to
a lingering finish. Not a California
fruit bomb Pinot, thankfully. Quite
food friendly. Ready to drink now and
over the next two or three years. Locate
this wine online or in your area.
April 2 -- Paso
Robles just keeps making strides in
the wine world, and the
($40) is quite a nice example! Supple
black cherry and plum fruit aromas and
flavors are laced with dusty cocoa,
a light touch of cedar and baking spices.
Nice length maintains richness. Ready
to drink now and over the next two or
three years. Locate
this wine online or in your area.
March 30 -- The
($20) offers pretty peach and citrus
notes that follow through on the medium-bodied
palate, along with fig and creamy pear.
Bright finish lingers nicely. Ready
to drink now. Locate
this wine online or in your area.
We liked it for Sunday brunch alongside
toasted bagels, smoked salmon, cream
cheese and snipped chives. Delish!
March
27 -- One of the best cheeses we've
had lately (and we eat a lot of cheese
around here!) had to be the Camembert
from Maine's Silvery
Moon Creamery. Cheesemaker and
co-owner Jennifer Betancourt has managed
to create a cheese that is subtly complex,
rich and impossibly creamy -- a fantastic
reminder of just how delicious Camembert
can be! Betancourt's cheesemaking career
began in her kitchen, and even though
she has "graduated" to a milk-bottling
plant on a dairy farm, she still hand-stirs
and forms all of the 400 or so pounds
of cheese she produces each week.
Silvery Moon's other offerings
(all cow's milk) include Rosemary's
Waltz, a feta-like cheese with a covering
of aromatic rosemary and juniper berries.
Tally Ho is a creamy, smooth, firm cheese
-- somewhere between Havarti and a mild
Cheddar, and is available "plain,"
or studded with peppercorns or dill.
(But honestly, it's the Camembert that
we dream about!)
March 24 -- For
my sister's birthday, we all enjoyed
a
($N/A). The fruit was still bright and
pretty, with plenty of the aged complexity
one would expect from a twenty-year-old
wine. Impressive! And a nice reminder
of just how good Grgich's wine can be.
Cheers!
March
23 -- We always look forward to
the new releases of Beringer's Knights
Valley wines -- there's a Cabernet,
a white Bordeaux blend and a red Bordeaux
blend. The two blends, particularly,
seem to always offer an interesting
balance between California and French
sensibilities, with ripe fruit on the
one hand, but some definite terroir-ish
depth on the other.
We recently tasted the
red blend -- the
($30) -- and were not disappointed.
With layers of rich black cherry and
chocolate balanced agains dried black
tea, smoke and toasted, nutty oak, it
lingers nicely through a restrained
but complex finish. A blend of Merlot
(74%), Cabernet Sauvignon (23%), Malbec
and Cabernet Franc. Ready to drink now
and over the next two or three years.
March
15 -- Gnarly Head is one of the
DFV brands,
and it's packaged to be a fun, inexpensive,
plunge-in kind of wine. The line includes
Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot,
but Zinfandel was the thing that apparently
launched the brand. The fruit is from
Lodi, which probably has soil that is
simply too rich and fertile to make
really great wines, but is known for
being a good source for ripe, value-priced
Zins that are easy to drink if not overly
complex. And actually, the
($12) is better than that. It offers
some surprising balance at this price
point, with concentrated wild blackberry
and black cherry flavors and aromas
laced with warm spices and a dash of
chocolate that lingers on the finish.
Ready to drink now. It was a tasty choice
alongside a barbecued chicken slathered
with smoky sauce! Locate
this wine online or in your area.
March
11 -- Recently tasted the latest
vintage of an always-good California
red Meritage. The ($50)
is nearly 50/50 Merlot and Cabernet
Sauvignon, with just a tiny dash of
Cabernet Franc. It's delicious, frankly,
full of rich blackberry and black cherry
fruit and offering up intriguing accents
of smoky chocolate, baking spices, toast
and vanilla on the long, long finish.
Tempting now, it should age beautifully
over the next five or six years. Locate
this wine online or in your area.
March 5 -- It was
a rainy red wine kinda night, and the
($30) fit the bill in elegant style,
offering supple blackberry and black
cherry flavors that picked up pretty
toasty notes, baking spices and just
a touch of chocolate. Flavors stayed
polished through the long, smooth finish.
Ready to drink now and over the next
three or four years. A nice match for
simply grilled steaks topped with crumbled
gorgonzola! Locate
this wine online or in your area.
February 22 --
A memorable dinner this week at Houston's
Pico's
Mexican Restaurant included
the full line of Siete
Leguas Tequilas -- from straight
sips of the Silver, Reposado and Anejo
Tequilas, to a variety of cocktails
made with one or more of them. The tequilas
were delicious -- particularly if you
like to sip the stuff. The Silver is
clean and fresh, with tangy aromas and
flavors. The Reposado strikes a nice
balance between oak influence and power
on the one hand, and smoothness on the
other. And the Anejo is distinctly aged,
with nicely integrated flavors and a
supple finish.
Chef/Owner Arnaldo Richards
pulled out all the stops on the menu,
offering poblano-stuffed, bacon-wrapped
grilled shrimp alongside an array of
empanadas to get things going, then
moving on to veal sweetbreads served
"fajita-style," and more.
But the highlight had to be the broiled
Chilean Sea Bass, perfectly cooked,
and served in a savory seafood broth
that included clams, mussels and shrimp.
The broth itself was so tasty, and the
fish so perfectly seared and moist within
that we couldn't be bothered with the
shellfish or the rice that was offered
alongside.
Word has it that Pico's
currently has fresh, whole baby Gulf
red snapper -- something that happens
just a few months each year -- and that
Richards is serving them three ways:
a la Veracruzana (with olive
oil, onions, garlic and peppers), a
Tikin Xik (seasoned with achiote
and charcoal-broiled in banana leaves),
and al mojo de ajo (sautéed
in garlic oil and sprinkled with garlic
chips). We may have to try all three!
Just to be thorough...
February 6 -- The
($28) is quite distinctive,
with its aromatic cassis, licorice and
dark chocolate notes that introduce
sleek, concentrated blackberry and black
currant fruit that stays elegant and
focused through the finish. Opened up
after some time in the glass. Ready
to drink now and over the next four
or five years. Locate
this wine online or in your area.
We paired it with a tangle
of mixed lettuces and herbs topped with
roasted chicken thighs, toasted pecans
and a drizzle of olive oil. The wine's
deep, nearly tangy black fruit profile
worked really well here -- this is a
versatile, food-friendly Cabernet!
January
28 -- Opened the ($40) the other evening.
It offers sleek, tightly wound blackberry
and blueberry fruit flavors with touches
of cedar, cinnamon and other brown spice
notes that linger on the concentrated,
smooth finish. It benefited from some
time in the glass -- smoothing out even
more. Drink now and over the next four
to six years. We paired it with an array
of breads and cheeses and olives for
a simple winter meal. Locate
this wine online or in your area.
January 10 -- While
in the throws of a post-holiday chocolate
frenzy (Denise's fudge, milk chocolate
stars wrapped in red foil, handfuls
of chocolate-covered marcona almonds...),
we pulled the cork on a bottle of
($22). Until now, we weren't entirely
sure where this Port fit for us in the
food-matching scheme of things. It's
too light for a blue cheese moment.
And it doesn't have the complexity that
more sophisticated desserts demand.
But for an assortment of sugary chocolates?
It was perfect. Just a chocolate-covered
cherry in a glass, really. Pick up a
bottle now to go along with that box
of Valentine's Day truffles that's just
around the corner! Ready to drink now.
Locate
this wine online or in your area.
January 9 -- Enjoyed
a spectacularly good wine last night,
the
($33). With gorgeous, lush apricot and
peach aromas and flavors laced with
mineral and tangerine, and mouthwatering
acidity that lingered through the long
finish, we savored every sip. Ready
to drink now and over the next two or
three years. We paired it with a romaine
salad topped with smoky bacon, blue
cheese and a sunny side up egg -- kind
of a variation on the frisee, lardons,
poached egg classic -- with delicious
results. Locate
this wine online or in your area.
December
20 -- We recently tasted a bottle
of ($42). This Paso
Robles winery makes small amounts of
Rhone-style blends, including this wine
Grenache, Mourvedre, Syrah, Counoise
and Cinsault blend. With concentrated
red currant aromas and flavors that
pick up dashes of tobacco, licorice,
baking spices and black pepper on the
way to the bright, lingering finish.
Ready to drink now and over the next
three or four years. Locate
this wine online or in your area.
December
19 -- A delicious bottle of
($24) was a lovely break from the bold
reds that are the norm this time of
year. With aromatic, fleshy apricot
laced with floral, mineral, fig and
bright mango notes and a full, lush
finish. Ready to drink now. Wonderful
with a smoked salmon and herbed cream
cheese canape. Locate
this wine online or in your area.
