Saint Peter: It looks like you
died penniless and destitute.
What happened?
OTWN: I started taking Barbaresco
baths and then the money ran out.
SP: What about the lovely white
wines we afforded you.
OWTN: They didn’t get me clean
and I didn’t smell as good after bathing.
SP: I would tell you to go stand
in the corner but I’m afraid that
you would scare everybody.
YOU’RE PURPLE!
Other that the fact that this
wine is “perfect”, one observation
is that there is the SLIGHTEST
honeycomb flavor in it.
Or maybe it’s extra virgin olive
oil.
Or tropical fruit.
Or citrus.
So clean and crisp.
What’s that “green” thing
I’m tasting?
Like that.
Perfect.
This wine was consumed
with the Thanksgiving leftovers.
This wine is OK, but I
suspect that an ordinary,
honest-to-god Barbaresco
would quickly extinguish
its wax fueled flame.
Nevertheless, as far as
a close-but-no-cigar Neb
might go, I can’t find a
fault with this one.
Maybe it’s like the
homecoming queen’s twin sister.
She just doesn’t have the
personality.
Let’s focus on something
less precocious.
Like braised pork.
The pork was cubed shoulder
from Omaha Steak which my wife
rescued from the I-don’t-like-this-crap
corner of my sister-in-law’s freezer.
I SLOW sauteed it in some
olive oil with a wee bit of
freshly ground pepper, scraping
the skillet constantly to keep
all those caramelizing bits of
gustatorial heaven from sticking,
and adding six whole cloves of
garlic as this process neared
its conclusion.
Added chicken broth to cover,
two sprigs of fresh thyme,
and simmered covered
for maybe thirty minutes until
the broth was mostly gone.
Free food never tasted so good.
And then to have it with
this wine.
Life is tough for the old
folks that trade stock options
in retirement.
Eat free food and contemplate
the relative merits of a
SPECIFIC type of wine whose
grapes were grown in a
SPECIFIC location.
But, but, but, what about
THIS wine?
If you like Barolo and
Barbaresco, but can’t afford
them for every day drinking,
then this wine will
motivate you to get a better
job or enter riskier stock
option trades.
I’m old, so I just have
to pace myself.
And look forward to enjoying
this one again, sooner
rather than later.
Perhaps a wee bit more “fruit forward”
than I might otherwise prefer.
Lunch today (first course) is Boar’s Head
turkey and cheese (Muenster) on Farm to Market
wheat bread, dolled up with Koops’ honey mustard.
I saute the bread slices separately in
Smart Balance on only one side, construct
the (very thin) sandwich, place the sandwich on a plate
back on top of the cast iron skillet (heat off)
and cover with a cat hair free dish towel for a
few minutes.
(I love cat hair. I just like to eat it separately.)
The result is warm bread on the outside, buttery
crunch and “cool cuts” on the inside.
From now on I will think of Dolcetto whenever I
have a deli sandwich.
The wine is “easy drinking” despite the presumed tannins.
What is one supposed to eat with this luscious stuff?
I’m imagining sausage ravioli in a slightly sweet
(Sicilian) tomato sauce.
Second course will be a bit of Andre’s pork paprika, a
reasonable stand-in.
I hope the wine lasts.
I’m having a tough time finding “complexity”.
This seems like the kind of wine that just konks
you over the head. Hello, I’m Dolcetto.
It’s wonderful, but it’s Dolcetto. Like that.
I wouldn’t mind having one around just in case I’m
It looks like I got lucky. The bottle description
says white meats and cheeses.
I DID pick this one out knowing what I was having
for lunch, BEFORE I started my “studies”.
I’m going to declare this to be the perfect “picnic wine”.
We should all be fortunate enough to have a picnic
every day. Or to just spend two hours eating
lunch and drinking fine wine.
Course Two…
Don’t let
Keep a stash of Dolcetto. How easy is that?
Any minute now…
Oh my goodness.
I put about a cup of “stuff” (pork finely diced and
fungi removed) in the 9″ skillet, drowned it with
low sodium chicken broth, put several
spoonfuls of cooked brown? rice around the sides, and
put the buttered heel of the FtM bread on top (during last
5 minutes), buttered side up. Simmered for 15 minutes
or so until most of the broth cooked away.
I’ll have the upside down, pork paprika, open face,
lift-and-eat-fast-lest-it-fall-through-the-crust sandwich
with the wild rice au jus.
Maybe an Abruzzo or Barbera would have been a better match
but the Dolcetto was just fine.
Lunch is over.
Day Two…
I’m totally distracted today so maybe it’s a good
thing that I have Dolcetto to keep me company.
I wouldn’t mind participating in an experiment/contest in
which wine lovers were subjected to Dolcetto on
a daily basis to see how long they could go before
begging for a different type of wine.
The two final contestants would be fat, dumb, and happy.
The winner would get free wine of their choice for life.
Option Trader's Wine Notes 