New Year’s Eve at El Ideas

Barely a month after we were there, we returned to El Ideas again, this time for a quiet ring in of the new year. The chefs change the menu on a weekly basis, but we could still recognize enough of the main ingredients after the 3-week metamorphosis. It was actually very interesting to see how they’ve reworked the dishes.

We brought two bottles of wine, fully intending to drink maybe half of the champagne, before having half of the red for the rest of the courses. But the wines were so delicious that we’d polished off both before we realized it. Heh. (We were supposed to stop by a friend’s after our early dinner which ended at 9pm, but had to go home to crash instead).

The champagne was the Vilmart Grand Cellier Brut Premier Cru. Focused bubbles, soft and yeasty nose – not quite the usual French barnyard stink but instead a nose evocative of freshly baked bread in the oven. Well rounded body, with some hints of blood orange with toast. Absolutely delightful! The red was a bottle of 2007 Brennan Pinot Noir that we’d lugged back from New Zealand a year ago. We’d tried it in a tasting room in Queenstown, and had been blown away by how gorgeous the fruit was. Once again, the wine worked its magic. I can’t remember the last time I’ve had a wine with such an elegantly soft perfume of rose, strawberries, and lychee in the nose, and which carried through all the way to the finish without being cloyingly sweet. It was so smooth, so, so perfect!

El menu

Vilmart Grand Cellier Brut Premier Cru

Crab / Roe / Citrus

Tuna / Beans / Anchovy / Saffron

Octopus / Blood Orange / Chilli / Poppy Seed

Chokes / Lobster / Brendade / Bee Pollen

Lamb / Merguez / Couscous / Harrisa

Jidori Chicken / Sweetbread / Celeriac / Raisins

Scallop / Black Garlic / Cauliflower / Radish

Hare / Chestnut / Prosciutto / Cocoa

Parsnip / Pork / Royal Trumpet / Thyme

Venison / Sassafras / Date / Pecan

Rum / Egg / Vanilla / Sweet Spice

Chocolate / Forbidden Rose / Espresso / Fraboisine

Happy 2012!

Pre-Thanksgiving Dinner with Turkey and Wine

Initially, the plan was to hold a tasting with Eric. But he never responded to the e-mail chains on where we would host it, and oddly no one else wanted to nudge him for answers. Finally, we decided to just have L+M over for wine and a simple home-cooked meal. On the spur of the moment, we asked the Rs over too, when we saw them over scotch on Thursday evening. Moments after, Eric finally responded, apologizing for the radio silence and asking if we could go over to his place instead, because he didn’t want to find a baby sitter. But since we had already invited the Rs, we had to take a raincheck with Eric. Then, at literally the last minute, L+M had to bow out.

But given all the scheduling confusion, the evening turned out beautifully. We decided on impulse to roast some turkey breast and stuffing to go with the wines, and the Rs made a lovely butternut squash soup to complement the Thanksgiving-like meal. For dessert, I baked apple crumble, and Aaron had picked out a generous selection of stinky cheeses and sausages. We spent the evening comfortably sprawled in front of the dining table, drinking a 2009 Capiaux Russian River Valley Pinot Noir, 2008 B.R. Cohn North Coast Silver Label Cabernet Sauvignon, 2003 Bussolla Amaraone Della Valpolicella Classico (which was sweet and smooth but seemed lacking in backbone), and 2009 Dusted Valley Tall Tales Syrah.

Pinot Days Chicago

I learnt today that the best way to pick someone up at a wine tasting event is to show up with a clipboard that is also a wine glass holder. I must have had as many people come up to me to exclaim about my clipboard as the number of wines I tasted – 50.

The wines at Pinot Days were predominantly from the California, which is to be expected I guess because the event is run by the Bay Area Wine Project. They did have representation from Burgundy, by Fine Wines, which was the first table we stopped at. Alas, I didn’t like any of the wines. There were all too tannic and too tart in the finish. Jon suggested that those might be food wines, but I couldn’t see myself enjoying them even with a big juicy steak. Bleah.

There were some fine Californian wines that we liked, but overall, these wines were big and brash; some tasted more like a lush Shiraz or Cabernet Sauvingnon… I found myself more drawn to the Oregon Pinots. Indeed, my favorite was the 2009 Cornerstone Cellars Oregon Pinot Noir. Its floral and spicy nose was like a breath of fresh air. It was unbelievable.

Mostly, we wandered around from booth to booth at random. We found some gems that way – tiny producers with less than 1000 cases in production.

Some favorites:

August West
Their 2010 Russian River Valley was really tasty. And I appreciated that they brought a vertical tasting of the Rosella Vineyards (Santa Lucia) Pinot Noir for us to taste. We tasted the 2006 through 2010. The 2010 was still young, but had lots of potential, judging from how nicely the 2006-7 came out.

Belle Glos Wines
All their bottles are hand dipped in wax, which makes for a very distinctive appearance. I tried the 2009 Clark and Telephone, the 2009 Alturas (favorite of the lot), and the 2009 Taylor (only 1000 cases; not distributed in Chicago).

Goldeneye Winery
This is owned by Duckhorn, which also makes Paraduxx and Decoy. We stopped by the booth before 430pm (the tasting ended at 5pm), and was just in time for the last pour of the 2007 Andeson Valley. Pretty tasty… the price point is between the lower end Decoy and Duckhorn.

Gypsy Canyon Winery
This was a treat. The owner makes only 300 cases of the Santa Rita Pinot Noir, which was silky and had a beautiful long finish. She also gave us a small pour of the 2010 Angelica Ancient Vine, a dessert wine made from Mission grapes. It was delicious – like liquid creme brulee. She makes only a barrel a year of this (50 cases).

Native 9 Wine
The winery is so named because the winemaker/owner is a 9th generation Californian. They are small producers (less than 300 cases for 2 of their pinots). We tried the 2009 Altra Maria, the 2008 and 2009 Santa Barbara. Loved the 2008 Santa Barbara.

Sanford
Smallish producer. We tried 3 wines from them, and I loved the 2007 Sanford & Benedict.

Cab is king

I was just checking out the cool Google Ngram Viewer, and played with it for a bit. Here’s a cut of the data:

Cabernet is still a much more popular grape than Pinot Noir – at least in books… though around 1980, Pinot Noir for some reason became quite popular…

But then, if you added in the Bordeaux and Burgundy cut, you get the opposite answer.

Haha what would you get from that?

Wines Galore

Just had the Decoy Zinfandel this week while watching the Met’s streaming of Don Pasquale at AMC.

We’ve a total of 50 bottles in our wine fridges and barrel now, with some doubles, like Bella’s Garden.

Of hot tea, some wine, and comedy

The week started off strongly – the 2nd last lesson of Trapeze I, followed by an evening out with some coworkers to The Tasting Room, where we managed several platefuls of nibbles and three bottles of wine between four people. We sipped a bottle of the Maurice Veselle, which, at a retail of roughly $40, is a most excellent steal. Fresh notes of green apple and hints of nutmeg; paired beautifully with the warm cranberry brie. Next, we tried a bottle of the Raptor Ridge Pinot Noir. Dark for a pinot noir, it was robust but smooth. Utterly delicious, such that I have to hunt down more bottles to store. We capped the evening off with a bottle of Super Tuscan, Le Volte, which was pretty damn good too. I’m not usually a fan of Super Tuscans, given the strong tannins, but this one had a much softer, palatable finish.

But the cold I’d been trying to fight off won over on Wednesday, and I succumbed to a mild fever. I can’t remember the last time I’ve broken out into alternating chills and sweats; it was pretty frustrating trying to sleep. So on Thursday, I called in sick, and spent the rest of the day snuggled in bed/throwing off the covers in a fit… and watching several episodes of ABC TV on the iPad.

Regretfully, the throat’s still a bitch this Friday, so I had to pull out of my company’s Southern Rhone Wine Tasting. After too much sleep the day before though, a full evening at home seemed too interminably long, so we bundled up and walked the couple blocks to watch iO’s Improvised Shakespeare.

Goodness! My throat was hurting even worse by the end of the play, but I couldn’t stop laughing! It’s been too long since I’ve seen improvised comedy, and the title play this evening, “The Salamander’s Revenge”, got me all excited about improv again. It won’t be too long till the next time we watch another play, we can be sure of that (especially with the groupon offers).

Things to do on a cold and blustery fall day

1. Go biking. Nevermind the winds are average of 30 knots an hour, with gusts up to 40 knots, nevermind that the temperature is a low 50 degrees, nevermind that it’s drizzly. Well, we minded, but Eug persuaded us to go nonetheless. Come on guys, he pleaded, I put on my biking shorts the moment I leapt out of bed, and it’s sunny where I am. It wasn’t, when we showed up at the trail head, but we did have fun anyway. Put in a good two hours on the bike; we rode up to the Botanical Gardens, and admired the changing color of the leaves.

2. Watch the El Circo Cheapo act at my trapeze school. We crowded into the loft, sitting on foldable chairs, an old battered couch, and mats around the intimate performance space to watch the various circus acts – trapeze, ropes, silks, hoola hoops, juggling etc. It was a blast! The aerial artists were a marvel to watch, and an inspiration to follow. I can’t wait for the next performance, and the next time, we will go for the later show, where the artists go no holds barred with their bawdy jokes (there were two kids in our audience).

3. Buy turnip cake, rice dough with shrimp, and almond pudding from a Chinese bakery to eat at home, along with a bottle of Decoy Pinot Noir. Sooooo good. And cheap too!

A New Home (To Be)

Well, the sellers called last night while we were out at dinner. Yes, they’d accept our final offer. *Beams*

Dinner was at Bonsoiree for their “underground dining event” with the Rs. A six course, BYOB dinner with:

1. Poke Ahi Tuna, Spring Herb Salad, Lotus Root, Ume Boshi Vinaigrette.
2. Premium Wagyu Beef Basted with Fat of Foie Gras served with
Shin’s Special Sauce.
3. Parmesan & Roasted Garlic Soup, Candied Japanese Eggplant,
Caramelized Sweet Onions, Truffled Breadstick.
4. Grilled Lamb Chop from Mint Creek Farms, Spring Peas, Morels,
Sparkling Tomato.
5. Rhubarb Sorbet, Burton’s Farm Maple, Artichoke Bacon Crisp.
6. Matcha Rice Pudding, Kinako Strawberries, Apricot Fritter

We wolfed down every bite, savored the myriad play of flavors as they danced across our tongues, while trying to pace ourselves with the three bottles of wine that we brought: a Yalumba Chardonnay, a Dobbes Viognier (that the Rs brought back from Oregon), and a bottle of Greysands Pinot Noir 2007 that J brought back from Tasmania. There was plenty to celebrate and toast about: the house purchase, A’s new start up gig and his getting funding.

All too soon, we polished off our dinner, and the wine. But no matter, we adjourned back to our place, where D joined us, and where we popped open two more bottles: a Capaiux Pinot Noir, and a Rioja. A little too much wine perhaps, but eh, it was a Saturday night.

Here are some pics of the potential new place (still gotta send in the final contract, have the house inspection, obtain mortgages and all that good stuff):

The building

Living and dining room

Kitchen (comes with a mini built-in wine fridge)

Master bedroom with a walk-in closet

Master bathroom with steam shower and jacuzzi tub

Second bedroom (try to imagine it as a study, sans crib)

Guest bathroom

Deck off the bedroom

Tilapia with pinot noir

We’ve been meaning to cook at least once a week, but our schedule has not really permitted it – after all the climbing on the week nights, we just want to get to the food pronto, and not waste time knocking about the kitchen.

But since we had to stay in tonight to await the delivery of the spanking new 35-bottle silent wine fridge, it was a good time as any to cook some breaded tilapia marinated in some OJ and leftover Gewurtz. And it was a perfect occasion to break out the bottle of Tantara Santa Maria Pinot Noir Napa Valley 2004 that my ex-boss had given me a couple years ago. I’d have kept it longer, but my old wine fridge had broken down – by the time we discovered the sorry state of affairs, temperatures within was 77 degrees and rising. Bleah.

But, the tilapia was delicious. The orange juice was an awesome touch, given that it was an afterthought because we were too lazy to go to the store to grab some lemons. And it went beautifully with the Pinot Noir, which was light and smooth but stood up well to the peppers we rubbed into the fish. Can’t wait to have it again tomorrow night.

DGS: Tasmanian Wine Night

On Friday night, after a few rounds of endlessly debating what to do with the evening, a group of five of us found ourselves in my living room, too lazy to join the crowds milling around downtown. It had been raining the entire day, so the toads in my ponds were happily frolicking in the fresh water, and loudly mating. So it seemed fitting to pop open the bottle of Barking Frog Pinot Noir that Jeff brought for me from Oregon, particularly also because I was curious to see how it matched up with the Tasmanian Pinot Noirs were we going to try at DGS the following night. Well, I loved the glass cork – super fun! Other than that, I must admit being a little disappointed with the wine. To be sure, it was very smooth, with just the thinnest layer of tannins coating my tongue. The color was a nice, light red. But there wasn’t much of a nose, and it tasted a little watery without a kick at the end. Still, it was a nice enough wine to drink and we spent a pleasant evening chatting and laughing about movies.

With the taste of Oregon still fresh in my mind, I was excited to re-try the Tasmanian wines we had lugged back. DGS was a cozy affair – about a dozen people, just enough to squeeze around the dining table. For food, we prepared cheese and chocolate fondue, along with chicken and steak, tons of fruits, bread, and mum-made walnut brownies. Very nice (and affordable) spread, if I say so myself.

We kicked off the evening with the bright and refreshing Riesling from Stefano Lubiana, the Stefano Lubiana Alfresco Riesling 2008. Everyone really enjoyed the slight tinge of sweetness and the fizz on their tongues. Wonderful way to get the taste buds alive.

We opened the Bay of Fires Chardonnay 2008 next. In comparison to the Riesling, this was heavy, but with enough acidity to make it lively and not dumb. Now this is a nicely balanced Chardonnay – just a touch of butter and lemon.

We moved on to the Moorilla Estate Praxis Pinot Noir 2008 from Hobart next, and I was struck by the stark contrast with the Barking Frog. Now this one had a lovely nose – fruity, with some earth, just the way I like my Pinots. It had a thicker body too, more solid, but just as smooth.

Our next wine, the Pipers Brook Tamar 2004, elicited mixed responses. Everyone fervently agreed that it did smell like ketchup, but some, like RX, was not a fan. Where’s the fries, she asked.

We then went back to Stefano Lubiana, for the Stefano Lubiana Merlot 2006. Now, I remember that it wasn’t my favorite wine from the trip; we just felt like we had to buy at least two bottles from that winery, since we were getting Lubiana to help us ship a case of wine back to Singapore. Nonetheless, it was a solid wine, and RX expressed her enthusiasm for it.

At this point, people were starting to flag a little from the hearty food and wine. So I broke out the Delamere Blanc de Blanc 2004, a beautifully made sparkling that had just the right touch of yeast, bubbles, and sweetness. Loved it!

We sat around chatting and laughing for a while more, about all things irreverent, and then I decided to open another bottle, the Frogmore Creek Ruby Pinot Noir Port NV. I loved this port. The Frogmore Creek tasting was our last winery tasting, and I had resolved not to buy any more. However, the port was so delicious I couldn’t help it. So it was a delight to drink it again, and a bonus when RX decided she had had enough and gave me the rest of her glass.

Fun times, great wines. I didn’t check, but I do hope that everyone went away with similarly favorable impressions of Tasmanian wines.