Motley Cru

Since my last post, I’ve had approximately 107 bottles of wine from my own cellar (not to mention wine from other people), and approximately 500 meals.  Surprising that I haven’t been able to find anything to write about any of that.  Actually, that isn’t true, but life always seems to get in the way of writing about life.  And with Twitter and Facebook, it’s much easier to write a quick blurb (especially when it’s automatically generated like with CellarTracker!) than to sit down, log in, and blather on.

This summer has been great.  We got home from London with the intent to spend most if not all of the summer here, and we have done so (except for a couple trips back that I’ve made for business).  We upgraded a bunch of stuff in the kitchen–new pans, new dishes, new silverware, new appliances–and I’ve been using all of it a lot (again, I’d rather use it all than write about simply having it).  I have been really impacted by Michael Pollan’s books “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” and “In Defense of Food”.  Our main goals have been to read labels and make decisions based on what is in the food (we haven’t completely cut out processed food, which would be nearly impossible to do in this day and age).  High Fructose Corn Syrup is verboten, and partially hydrogenated oils are avoided as well.  With a little bit of poking around, it isn’t that hard to find acceptable foods without these ingredients.  In addition, we have been making more from scratch–mayonnaise, bread, desserts–and it has been a lot of fun and quite tasty.

My hope is to make this a bit more of a regular update, sharing the stuff we’re working on food-wise, as well as the tools that make things much easier!

This should probably be titled “Joel Robuchon mashed potatoes and kick-ass sirloin steak” but the wine was a revelation for me.  At nearly 10 years of age, this is absolutely fantastic and, I should add, is probably 3-5 years away from its peak.  Loads of fruit with touches of secondary flavors, this is quite complex and has enough structure to keep improving.  

The sirloins were cooked with a new recipe (season both sides of the steaks with coarse sea salt, heat an oven-proof pan as hot as it’ll get, add some grapeseed oil [high smoke point], sear on each side for 1-2 minutes, then throw the whole thing in a 450 degree oven for approximately 6 minutes, or until the temperature is 125 [for medium rare], then let stand 5 minutes before serving) which worked great, especially considering the meat was only “okay” in terms of quality.  We also made the amazing Joel Robuchon mashed potatoes, and a beet salad recipe courtesy of Steve Williams.  Totally great dinner and wonderful combination with the wine.

Peter Andrade sent the following email this morning and I enjoyed reading it.  I try to be very disciplined with my inventory, between CellarTracker and barcodes, but still occasionally forget that the process requires my continued intervention or else it falls apart.  I can’t remember the specific wines I last lost or found, but I know I’ve had similar experiences (although I don’t remember finding quite the quality of wines Peter did!).

Happy New Year’s to you all.  I hope you all had a chance to drink some good stuff on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day.  I would love to know what everyone did.  Mary and I, as is our custom, made a fabulous dinner and drank a 2001 Insignia. 

Over the last two days, I have spent nearly 5 hours restacking and cataloguing my entire wine collection.  Though I certainly do not have the biggest or best collection, nor the best tracking system, I thought I might share with you some interesting findings.  I am not sure how often the rest of you inventory your entire collection.  I do it every time I move or about once every five years.  The last full inventory was six years ago.  It is always a revelation and this time was no different.   

Lost Wine 
About a case – I thought I had them and knew where or I thought I had them and just could not place them, but alas, they are gone.  One that hurt – a 1985 Graham’s Port.  I must have drunk it with Walter. 

Wine I knew I had, but had misplaced 
About a case – I thought I had them, but did not know where, AND – I found them.  Much happiness. 

Found Wine 
No idea I had them, but am really excited.  It is almost inexplicable that I did not know I had the following bottles and “found them” in my cellar: 

1993 Beringer Private Reserve Cabernet – I drank it tonight.  It was awesome.  Steve, aging the CA Cabernets, I believe, will pay off; 
1997 Arrowood Cabernet Reserve Speciale – bought from Steve about 8 years ago.  I can’t believe I have one left; 
1997 Insignia – no idea I had one left; 
1998 Tenuta dell Ornellaia  Bologheri – 2001 Wine Spectator Wine of the Year – got to be kidding.  I can’t believe I lost this one; 
1999 Opus One; 
1999 Araujo Cabernet Eisele Vineyard; 
1999 Whitehall Lane Reserve Cabernet; 
2003 Mondavi Reserve Cabernet; 
2004 Conn Valley Right Bank; 
and six other Shiraz’s, Pinots, and Zins – all grateful finds. 

I share this with all of you, believing, in some sense, that we all must have some “lost and hidden” gems.  If we would only look harder, or take a disciplined inventory, we would find them. 

I hope my little note encourages all of you to do a little searching and maybe you will find some things you think you might have lost forever, but are just out of sight.

Happy New Year and a votre sante.