End of summer; my garden; Tablas Creek

My garden in the middle of August

My garden has had mixed results. Tomatoes are doing well, eggplant is great, peppers not too good and basil very good. String beans have been very good as well.

We have huge sunflowers.

 Tomatoes and basil.

wineries of the moment

Tablas Creek in Paso Robles, California. http://www.tablascreek.com/  They make a number of Rhone style wines. They are owned by Chateau Beaucastel in France. We had the 2013 Esprit de Tablas. This is their flagship wine and it retails around $55. The wine is great and the alcohol is is around 13.8%.
They make the Patelin de Tablas Blanc which is great and around $18 at Costco. It is a full bodied white wine. I had the 2015. It is a blend of several grapes.

Municipal Winemakers http://www.municipalwinemakers.com/ I think that I have mentioned them in the past. check out their wines and they make good stuff. Santa Barbara based. they make a variety of blends and some great Pinot Noirs. They just ran a special on a red and white wine with shipping included. Life is sweet. Have not received the wines yet but every wine that I have tried ha been real good. Vinous has already discovered.

The NJ farmers' markets (Montclair and Summit) are loaded with great produce. Yellow watermelon, great corn, broccoli, white nectarines, fish- mahi mahi, black bass, oysters, canary melon and the list goes on.

This time of year remember the NY Times plum torte. I made my first one of the season with the first Italian prune plums in the farmers' market. https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/3783-original-plum-torte?login=email The recipe is easy, delicious and a classic.

Baked oysters that I made with NJ oysters.

Rack of lamb  from my oven with eggplant and string beans from my garden.

 Wine of the moment

Ulysse Collin Extra Brut Blanc de Blanc Les Maillon $75, disgorged Feb 2016. Amazing golden color with great flavor and good bubbles. Loved it. A special treat. Disgorgement dates  are very important. How else do you know which non vintage champagne batch that you are buying and drinking. Think about it. Be wary of Champagne reviews that do not specify which disgorgement date wine they are reviewing. Do not drink non vintage Champagnes with out the disgorgement date. They are printed on the back label.

2015 Jean Perrier et Fils Vin de Savoie Apremont - A light white wine from France that was $10. dry, minerally with some fruit. We enjoyed it. found it a the Wine Library.

We still love Atlantic City and the beach at Brigantine. Check it out.

Enjoy.