Busy Busy Busy

First of all. I have to apologize to my readers/followers for my neglect of the markuncorked wine blog. What I thought was a stroke of genius turned out to be an enormous amount of work that has consumed all of my spare time for the last month. I decided in my infinite wisdom that I could easily handle 2 sommelier courses in a single semester while trying to do my regular job. After all, the vinification course was only 4 Saturdays in November. That was only a small commitment while I tackled the Grape Varieties course over the full semester. What I didn't realize was that the vinification course is a condensed version of a full course which required me to study and write an exam on each Saturday. Going to work, studying at night for vinification and preparing for the Grape varieties class meant that something had to give and unfortunately it was this blog. I have now finished (hopefully passed) the vinification course and am winding down to the final exam on Grape Varieties. I feel like life is back to a controlled and manageable chaos.
  So enough of my whining and let's talk wine. I recently attended a presentation by a representative from the AOC of the Cotes du Rhone region in France. Her presentation was excellent and I learned a lot about the various levels within the AOC, the grapes, wine making, soil types and climate of the northern and southern sections of the Rhone. During the presentation, we sampled various wines from the region and each of us gave an appraisal of the wine with a suggested food pairing. This where it gets interesting. While I'm sampling a wine, studying it's colour and aromas, my mind is running through a series of recipes that would compliment the Syrah. I'm thinking to myself, this is a full bodied dark fruit wine, rich, peppery with some smoke. This would go great with a nice hearty beef stew with some fresh homemade bread. I'm about to state my pairing when the guy next to me offers his suggestion of sliced glazed duck breast served inside a crepe with fresh cranberry chutney covered in a red wine reduction sauce. Wow ! That sounds fantastic and delicious but how many people eat that type of meal outside of a restaurant? How many of us would attempt cooking a meal like that in our own kitchens? We all have busy schedules these days and the household budget is certainly a factor. What point am I trying to make here you ask ? I'm glad you asked. There's always two sides to the wine pairing "coin". Always keep an open mind when pairing wines with meals. Think of the wine paired with a Sunday night dinner at home, or maybe a BBQ with friends, or how about some cheeses or that ultimate chef prepared feast you'd love to try some time at your favorite bistro.

Cheers !

Here's this weeks picks

Wolf Blass EagleHawk - 2009 - Shiraz

A dark ruby red Shiraz with an aroma of raspberry, pepper, blackberry and some menthol. It has a long cherry finish with chocolate and licorice. Tannins are moderate.
Price - $13.00 (LCBO)
I like this wine because of it's long smooth cherry and chocolate finish that doesn't have the heavy alcohol aroma of some Shiraz's. It could be paired nicely with spicy Italian BBQ sausages.

No99 Wayne Gretzky Estates - 2008 - Riesling

 A pale yellow Riesling with peaches, apples and citrus on the nose. Flavours of apple, honey and citrus really standout. It has a nice balance of fruit and acidity with a fresh crispness when chilled.
Price - under $15.00 (LCBO)
I like this wine paired with chicken or Asian dishes as it has a long tart citrus finish.