Trecini 2005 Vicini Vineyard Russian River Valley Sonoma County Merlot

It is not very often that I buy a Merlot but when I saw the Trecini 2005 Vicini Vineyard Russian River Valley Merlot as a half bottle I had to give it a try.

Trecini Cellars was founded in 1999 by John and Cathy Vicini and their son David. Originally from Tuscany, Italy, John comes from a long tradition of wine, actually around 150 years. In 1994 the family started growing grapes in Russian River Valley and after that it was only a natural step for them to start their own winery. They are offering five varietals at this point, Sauvignon Blanc, Merlot, Merlot Rose, Zinfandel, and Syrah.

This Merlot shows an intense ruby red color in the glass.
The nose offers ripe red fruit, herbal notes and rather heavy vanilla with creme brulee character.
On the palate, bright fruit with slight tartness, black cherry, boysenberry, plum, and vanilla. The long finish has plentiful fruit, decent acidity, and round, soft tannins with an ever so light green edge at the finish.

I was pleasantly surprised by this Merlot considering the price point ($14 for a 375 ml bottle). Many times I find Merlot to be gray and boring, but this has nice fruitiness, with enough structure to back it up and make it interesting. I would say this wine has a potential to be a crowd-pleaser at any gathering. Try it out and see how pleased you are?!

Find it at SophiesCellars.com for $24.99 or visit the wineries website where it's sold for $28.


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Chateau St Jean 1996 Sonoma County Reserve Merlot

Today I am doing a quick review of a wine we had a couple of nights ago with good friends. We bought this bottle at the winery as a library wine, I would guess about 5 years ago. This was our only bottle, and this is the first time we have tasted this wine (they did not pour it at the winery when we purchased it). 400 cases was made.

Chateau St Jean 1996 Sonoma County Reserve Merlot has a dark ruby red/brick color in the glass. The nose displays surprisingly concentrated fruit with dark cherry, plum, slight notes of raisin, and soft vanilla. On the palate, plum, cherry, and dark raspberry with an earthy note. The tannins are moderate and silky, but still with an edge, in this medium to fullbodied wine.

My impression of this wine is close to what I had expected. With a little bit more fruit/berries then I thought would still remain (which is a good thing), this was certainly a very good, but not a great wine.

For the price you can find better wine but I would not rule this one out if you prefer older vintages. It can be found at Wine-Searcher.com for $100 at this point.


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Pied Violet 2002 Central Coast Merlot

Pied Violet literally means "purple foot" in French and refers to the old tradition on stomping grapes for the crush.

This 2002 Central Coast Merlot shows a dark red/purple color in the glass. On the nose dark cherry and plum with a whiff of spicy oak leaves an impression. Taking my first sip red and dark cherries with plum, spice and a touch of cranberry, hits me. Moderate acidity and soft, smooth tannins makes this wine extremely accessible and drinkable. Great on its own or pair it with some summer BBQ, like a pork tenderloin, not to spicy sausage, or a flank steak.

We received this wine as a gift (thanks Mindy!) and there is only one site online where I could find it available, WineShopAtHome.com. You can find it there for $15.50. When taking price into account I think this is a great soft/smooth, easy-to-drink, summer red, no greater complexity to it but not in any way to thin, that will prove to be a great crowd pleaser at any event.

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Video: Authentic Swedish Meatballs

Today I've taken a new turn with my video blogging. I am showing you how to make my grandma Elsa's, authentic Swedish Meatballs. I've taken a few steps to make them a little bit more healthy without sacrificing to much taste. These are the meatballs I grew up with and that I am now making for all of my friends, and everybody loves them (or so they tell me...). Check it out, cook up a batch of your own, and serve them with the traditional Swedish sides.


Episode 8: Cooking Swedish Meatballs


Swedish Meatball Recipe

Mix together in a bowl:
1/2 lb ground beef
1/2 lb ground pork
Half a yellow onion, finely chopped
1 egg
5 tbs plain bread crumbs
1 tbs water
salt and white pepper to taste

Work mixture together with hands. Form and roll into round, small, balls. Place on plate, cover with plastic, and refrigerate for 30 min. Remove from fridge and pan fry with butter in skillet on medium/high until nice, dark brown on all sides. Transfer to bowl and cover with foil to keep warm.
Pour water or milk into skillet, scrape bottom to release brown bits. Bring to a boil. Mix 2-3 tbs of flour with water and pour into skillet while stirring. Stir until mixture comes to a boil. If the gravy is to thick add water/milk, if it's to thin add more flour+water mixture. Season with salt and white pepper.
Return meatballs to skillet and simmer in gravy for 15 minutes. The gravy will get great color and flavor from the meatballs.
Taste and season with salt and white pepper to taste.
Serve with the traditional sides of mashed potatoes, vegetable trio of green beans, carrots and green peas, and don't forget the lingonberries!

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The Gourmet Wine Cellar event

What an event! We had a wonderful night last night at the Ferry Building in San Francisco. Gourmet Magazine had their Wine Cellar event featuring local top restaurants, wine and wineries, cocktails, Wine Lab, demonstrations and great speakers. There was a lot of tasting, talking to wine and food professionals and more tasting. The event only lasted for 3 hours and I think another hour would have been great with so much to do and see.
We started of with champagne tasting at Moet & Chandon. They had four champagnes to taste and this was a great start to the evening. Next to them The Dining Room at Ritz Carlton served a wonderful Nantucket Bay Scallop with Sunchoke Puree, paired with Domaine Ste. Michelle Blanc de Blancs. So a lot of sparkling wine to start with.
Further down Bloomingdale's served a Sachimi Style Bay Scallop with Micro Greens and a Spicy Sauce, and an out-of-this-world Wild Mushroom Soup with Truffle Oil. This was my favorite dish during the night, and trust me everything at the event was delicious!
"Wines of Spain" poured a wide variety of wines and I tried a handful of them. Not usually a drinker of Spanish wines this was a great opportunity for me to try different varieties and styles.
Across from that Sara Moulton did a cooking demonstration. We caught the end of it and got her cook book that she signed.
The restaurant Scott Howard served up another fantastic soup next door, a Carrot Soup with Chervil Sabayon Truffle Oil and they did a cocktail pairing with this, Finlandia Spicy. The soup had a wonderful intense carrot flavor with beautiful creamy texture. A great fall soup. I did not try the cocktail. There was more wine to be had...
Next we attended the tasting lead by Michael Green, Goumet's Wine and Spirit Consultant. Named "Varietals from the Islands: Sardinia and Sicily" Tony Parise VP for Winebow, Inc. co-hosted with four wines. He started of with Argiolas Costamolino Vermentino di Sardegna 2005, a wine made from 100% Vermentino. Straw yellow in the glass, intense on the nose but more delicate on the palate. Moving on to Tasca d'Almerita Regaleali Bianco 2005, made out of three Sicilian native varieties, Inzolia, Cataratto and Grecanico, this had apple on the nose and some tropical fruit on the palate. Red was up next with the Argiolas Perdera 2004 from Sardinia with 90% Monica, 5% Carignano and 5% Bovale Sardo. A very good, rustic wine with red fruit and berries. Last tasting was the Tasca d'Almerita Regaleali Nero d'Avola 2004 with a little fuller body than the previous wine. Dark berries and cherry with a long finish. This was a very exciting tasting with a lot of new grapes I had not heard of or tasted before. I will definitely start to look for and buy some wines from these two Mediterranean islands.


After that the Wine Lab started, with Stephane Lacroix (Director of wine at The Ritz-Carlton) and Rajat Parr (Wine Director at the Michael Mina Group) as speakers. This was a sit down tasting featuring four wines as well. Moet & Chandon Rose Imperial started the tasting. Very nice Champagne with ripe strawberries on the nose. I just love Rose Champagnes! Next was Gallo Family Vineyards Pinot Gris, Sonoma Reserve, 2005. A very fresh and clean wine with apple on the palate. Would pair great with delicate seafood like scallop or lobster. After that they repeated the red wines from Sardinia and ended with the Chateau Ste. Michelle Cold Creek Cabernet Sauvignon 2003. This was a cool climate style Cab. with nice acidity, rich dark fruit and good complexity to it. Great tasting with a lot of thoughts and comments from the speakers. Hungry for more food we headed out to that section again and had a Maple Thyme-Cured Duck Breast Canape with Chive Cream cheese from Maple Leaf Farms. They offered a beer pairing with this. But again, no beer for me, still more wine that had to be tasted. On to Town Hall that served a Herb Biscuit with Shrimp Etoufee. Wonderful fluffy biscuit with tender shrimp.
A 16 paired a Lamb Polpettini with Tomato Ragu and Pecorino, bursting with flavor, pairing it with the Gloria Ferrer Jose S. Ferrer 2002 Pinot Noir. A great pairing. The wine really stood up to the very flavorful lamb.
Now it was time for dessert. Americano served up Mini Chocolate Cupcakes and Homemade Gelato in Mini Sugar Cones with Toppings and paired this with a very interesting wine from Italy. The Ca dei Mandorli Brachetto d'Acqui 2005 is a ruby red sparkling wine with sweet berries and raspberry on the nose. Looking at the wine in your glass you expect a super sweet wine and is pleasantly surprised with a not to sweet, crisp wine with ripe raspberries and strawberries on the palate. Rated 90 by Wine and Spirit, you have to try this sparkling wine for only $13.99 at http://www.wine-searcher.com/. It will surprise you.
The Gloria Ferrer station poured three wines, I tried their 2003 Carneros Merlot which I had not tried before. It had currant on the nose and dark fruit and cherry on the palate with a nice long finish.
At this point I was getting really full but decided to head over to Bix that served Crab Rolls in Brioche served with Chance Creek 2005 Sauvignon Blanc. Do I need to spell out that it was delicious? The crisp, full Sauvignon Blanc with tropical fruit and tiny hint of grass complemented the lobster very nicely.
At this point I almost cried realizing there was little time left and no room left in my stomach and so many more restaurants to taste from. But I just could not do it. I had had enough rich, amazing food, and I would have to survive without tasting everything that was offered. It had been a wonderful night with so many great opportunity to educate ourselves further in the world of food, wine and pairings. Happy and content we left the event and decided to come back next year again.