Valentine Day Week

No one wants to take Valentine's Day too seriously. We don't like being manipulated. However one ignors it at one's peril so I decided to be creative without going crazy with dinner for Valentine's day. First bought a bottle of 2009 St Amour, a cru beaujolais. The is a real place and is a very good wine. The label even has a heart on it. We drank it on Sunday, the day before Valentine's Day because I wanted a white wine to go with the VD dinner. The St Amour was everything a beaujolais should be and we enjoyed it.

For the big day I made a salad from baby arugula aka rocket. Got a bag of it at Trader Joes. Added fresh avocado and fresh grapefruit slices. Dressed the salad with olive oil and tossed with some salt. Simple and good.

Next I steamed open some oysters and topped them with bread crumbs,  I used panko, parsley and olive oil mixture and some prosciutto. Baked the oysters. We enjoyed them.

Next we had had scallops. I am very picky about scallops. These were from Whole Foods and they looked and smelled great. Seared them with some olive oil and placed them on potato and onion pancakes that I had made with olive oil.

The wine was Chateau Chasseloir Muscadet Sevre et Maine sur lie 2009. This a French wine and is great with shellfish. It was $9.

Dessert was chocolates from Diane Pindar and her company Donna and Company. She is a local NJ woman who makes excellent chocolates. Her chocolate can compete with the world's best.http://dianepinder.shopdonna.com/

Last weekend tasted some wine at my friend's house. He happens to be the chef at an excellent NYC restaurant.http://www.gracestrattoria.net/home The restaurant is located at 201 E 71st St in Manhattan. The wine a Ferrari -Carano cabernet sauvignon and syrah blend called Prevail West Face 2005 was fruity with some complexity. I intend to have some more when I have a chance.I am interested in seeing how it goes with food.

Cabernet Sauvignon

A friend asked me to recommend some good reasonably price cabernets. 2007 was a great year in California for cabs. Also Chile, Argentina and Washington can produce some very good value cabs. Here are some Cabernet Sauvignons to look for in your local store. Most should be widely distributed.

Note: It can be tricky to find the right wine. Check the year and other fine print such as the area ( Rutherford) or the designation (Reserva) etc. Also beware of wine ratings. Ads and retailers are using anybody's 90 point rating in ads for wines. I would stick with Wine Spectator or Wine Advocate ratings. I read each of these publications and have been able to confirm many of their ratings. However they do not always agree with each other which is why I always advise to drink a wine first before buying more than 1 bottle. Everyone's taste is different.

The Show 2007 California $12 I like the 2007 but have been advised that 2008 is not as good.

Beaulieu BV Napa Rutherford 2006 and 2007. They make several Napa cabs. Look for the Rutherford. $20. This is a classic Napa cab.

Louis Martini 2007 Napa $20. I have not tried this one but it is getting raves.

Chateau Smith 2007 Washington. $15. This is a lighter style wine that I really
like.

Catena 2008 $14 Argentina

Vina Cobos Felino  2008  $18 Argentina I have not had this wine.

Santa Ema 2008 Reserva $18 Chile I have not had this wine.

Cousino-Macul  2007 or 2008 Antiguas Reserva $12 to $18 I have not had this wine.

Wines of the Week

Last week was a week of Wine Spectator top 100 wines. The Castello D'Albola Chianti Classico 2007 is a very good wine. Light, fruity with that chianti taste. I bought it for about $13. #47 in the 2010 top 100.

# 48 is the Mumm Napa sparkling wine NV. Dry, balanced, lots of bubbles. Enjoyed it alot with my classic lobster dinner. Paid about $17 for the bottle.

Rondel cava NV. Nice, fruity cava. Enjoyed with ravioli. I have a sweet spot for any cava from St Sadurni D'Anoia, a small town near Barcelona where a great deal of cava is made. We visited there a few years ago and had a great day. We visited the Codorniu winery and had a fabulous tour.

Bodegas Ondarre 2004 rioja reserva. #58. I love riojas and this bottle is light and fruity.