World Series Wine Pairings

With the wine country team (San Francisco Giants) competing for the World Series this week (and next week they’ll play some Japanese teams so the term “world champions” is more meaningful…), it only makes sense to drink wine rather than beer for this year’s version of the fall classic. Here are my pairings for each game, assuming it goes to 7 games.

Game 1 – Matchup: Lincecum vs Lee

This one should be interesting, and considering that I’m watching it as I’m writing this, it already is. The two aces face each other in the city by the bay, and given that Cliff Lee hasn’t given up a run in about 3,132 post season innings (until right at this moment!), it could be a tough go for the G-men. For that reason I’m going with a nice high alcohol California Zinfandel. The only issue is I don’t have any of these in the house and I’m not about to miss an inning to go get one, especially when Lincecum himself is up to bat. Prediction: Rangers 4 Giants 2 (considering it’s now 2-2 this is not looking likely, but I stand by my original guess)

Game 2 – Matchup: Cain vs Wilson

It just so happens that October 28 is international Champagne day, and it also happens that this will be the first of four Giants victories in this series – oh that dude was just beamed though. To celebrate the complete game shutout pitched by Matt Cain I’d recommend a Blanc de Blancs Champagne – 100% Chardonnay to celebrate California’s best white grape but from France to celebrate that one guy with the French name on the team. Prediction: Giants 3 Rangers 0

Game 3 – Matchup: Sanchez vs Lewis

Of all the games in this series this one is most likely to have a bench-clearing brawl. It’s a Saturday night and the Rangers will be angry after Sanchez throws at some dude’s head. An Australian Shiraz will accompany this occasion, and it’s un-natural tartaric acid should meld nicely with some baby back ribs, Texas Rangers style… too bad they’re going to lose. Prediction: Giants 6 Rangers 2

Game 4 – Matchup: Bumgarner vs Hunter

Considering I don’t know anything about these pitchers nor the city of Arlington, Texas, this is a tough one. It’s a Sunday night in Texas, which I think probably means drinking alcohol is illegal. This will pair well with a nice White Zinfandel, considering it’s not really wine, but Kool-aid. Shish kabobs are an ideal pairing, especially vegan kabobs, but I think that’s also illegal in Texas. Prediction: Rangers 7 Giants 4

Game 5

At this point ESPN stops guessing the matchups, which is upsetting. It’s also upsetting they couldn’t put this game on Tuesday so we could still enjoy Monday Night Football featuring the 49ers losing again. I’m going to assume it’s Lee vs Lincecum again, and this one will be low scoring. Since it’s the last game in the Lone Star state, a nice Texas Semillon should be paired since it could be another 4 decades until the state sees the World Series again. Since Texas Semillon isn’t easy to find here, I’m going with wine from Tim Lincecum’s home state: Washington. A nice Merlot will hit the spot, because Washington can make it well – sorry, California, but you’re out matched in this one, wine wise. Prediction: Giants 1 Rangers 0 in 11 innings

Game 6

The series will find itself back in San Francisco with the Giants needing but one win to win it… not clinch it. That word is overused. It’s likely that this game will feature some sort of Steve Bartman-esque moment in left field, and it will last over 5 hours with rain delays. Knowing this, I’d recommend a 2005 Barolo so that by the time the game is over the tannins may have softened enough to make the wine drinkable. Make sure to decant the wine and don’t bother starting the risotto with osso bucco until well into the 5th inning. Prediction: Rangers 12 Giants 10

Game 7

This game will be so hyped that my neighbors who normally would be watching GLEE at this hour will switch to the World Series during commercial breaks. The Giants will finally prevail after a long season, and then go on to miss the playoffs in 2011. However, during this moment the only viable option for wine is more Champagne. A magnum might be appropriate, since it’s about as big of a moment as having a baby. Pair with orange and black cupcakes and deviled eggs. Prediction: Giants 7 Rangers 3

Corliss Estates: I’ve got a Golden Ticket.

Long have I driven by Corliss Estates winery in downtown Walla Walla and equated it to Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory; you never see anyone go in or come out. Today I and my fellow Terroirists and wine students got a tour of the Area-51-like winery, and I must say it was what one might expect from a place surrounded by such mystery. The insides are somewhat cramped and for me it seems like moving barrels around would be a lot like that parking lot game. All of that aside the winery is incredibly beautiful and I was honored with the chance to finally see inside. The winery use to be a bakery a long time ago, but you won’t find any traces of yeasty bread-like aromas left.

We got to try a few of their wines from tank. One of them was a syrah that had real jammy aromas, this wine will be a hit when its released. Another wine (technically a Tranche wine) was a blended wine named “Slice of Pape” which is a homage to the famous Chateauneuf-du-Pape wines of France. This wine interested me, and I am very eager to try it when it is released — it had a sharp taste with crisp acids. I found the attack very pleasing but the mid palate a little jumbled, only to be brought together in the end almost like a Guy Ritchie movie. All of of the Corliss Estates wines are fermented in oak. They do, however, have one of those crazy concrete “egg” fermenters that they plan to use for chardonnay in the future. The wines are not hurried to be released; they sit in the library in the basement until they are ready to go. Because of this they have a special section of their bottling line that is just for cleaning the bottles before they are labeled to remove any dust that has caked itself over the extended bottle aging period. It was pretty much a rocking time.

I would tell you to visit them at some point, but as I said before this is pretty much an off-limits winery; they don’t have tasting room hours, and as far as I know are limited when it comes to hosting special events. If, however, for some reason you have the opportunity to tour the facility and try their wines, drop everything and do it!

For more on Corliss Estates one might read Steve’s article A Dinner Which Did Not Suck

Dinner and a Dehydration

As this weekend comes to a close it is time to reflect on the events of the past two days. From slightly inebriated valet parkers to overdoses of Riesling, Walla Walla has delivered yet another wine-filled, 72-hour journey.

Overlooking the Blues

April 10, 2010 will forever be written down in history as the day on which the third La Porte Brune dinner was held. This month’s feast took place high above the Walla Walla Valley in the home of Walla Faces. The five course meal included thrills, a few spills, and some risotto.

La Porte Brune #3

The wines were all delicious as expected, including the super-yeasty Crement du Jura and the somewhat-bretty Brunello. The Pouilly-Fuisse was fantastic and so was the Alaskan Halibut, but combined they were the weakest pairing of the night. We agreed the dish needed a more acidic wine, as the combination caused the Chardonnay to come across as flabby (which is absolutely never true). That said, it was still a better pairing than anything I’ve come up with in the comfort of my own kitchen. The best pairing of the night went to the Walla Faces Syrah with the Lamb Ragout, however, this may be due to the fact that we had significantly more of the Syrah available than the other wines and therefore had much larger pours.

The Nightcap

Chef Andrae Bopp tossed out stellar dish after stellar fish and ended on a high note with a delicious canolli paired with a pink Moscato d’Asti. As far as I know the 40 people attending the meal and the staff are the only souls to have tried a pink MdA. It had something going on; something which is beyond the level that typed words on a screen can describe. Actually, I’m just lazy.

For the nightcap hosts Rick and Debbie Johnson donated six bottles of a 2003 Brunello. It was not a bad way to end the night, and as far as I know the valet parkers successfully delivered all of the cars as well.

The Terroirists Show: Old World Winery tasting part 2

Sonoma Spring Break: Part 3 – Scribe

Overlooking the Vineyard

Not often in a young man’s life does one have the opportunity to accidentally eat a caterpillar. This happened to me at Scribe, and I loved every minute of it. Scribe is a new Sonoma winery which was featured in this month’s Food and Wine magazine. My experience at Scribe is something that wine bloggers and politicians alike could only conceive under the most powerful of hallucinogenics.

The experience started out well with greens freshly picked from the organic garden to accompany amazing olive oil and Cow Girl Creamery triple cream cheese with bread from Petaluma. This lunch was great on its own, but combined with the view of the vineyard and surrounding mountains it took on stellar proportions.

Chardonnay and Salad

This land is believed to be the first in the United States to be planted to Riesling back in 1858 – and in recognition of this the Scribe crew have planted Riesling and Sylvaner as a homage to Alsace. Currently 40 acres are planted and being farmed organically, and at sometime between 1858 and now the land was host to large chicken coupes. (or maybe turkey – I forget)

The rest of the land is planted to Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, but the first crop is still over a year in the future. These guys might be young, but winemaker Andrew Mariani knows what he is doing. Not only is his Chard top notch, but his Pinot could win Eric over. The Syrah isn’t too shabby either, and their Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon is exactly what a California cab should be – herbaceous, fruity, and full of goodness.

The Hacienda

After tasting through the wines and saving the life of a caterpillar, Andrew showed me the grounds. There exists a 100 year old house which is pretty much completely empty, but would be and is currently a killer location for awesome wine parties. I now realize that my next Sonoma trip will have to coincide with a Scribe party, and if anyone gives them a visit they would likely say the same thing. I can live with a caterpillar in my salad, but I can’t live without Scribe.