Wine of the Week (actually two wines)
Greetings! A couple years ago, our kids got my husband and I a great gift from Williams Sonoma: a cookbook written by Joshua Wesson entitled Wine and Food, A New Look at Flavor. It continues to be a great gift, full of wonderful recipes and suggestions for pairing. In fact, we did a wine tasting dinner for friends a few years ago... but that's another story.
This weekend, we decided to try another one of the recipes - Braised Chicken with Porcini Mushrooms and Tomatoes. Sounded great, tasted even better, particularly with the addition of pancetta, a bit of brandy, and spices like marjoram, tarragon and thyme. The pairing suggestion was an Oregon pinot noir. That was easy - a very good friend of ours had given us a bottle of Patricia Green Cellars Bonshaw Ribbon Ridge Pinot Noir from 2007. In fact, our friend is good pals with the Patricia Green Cellars owners and winemakers, so we have had several different bottles from them. The Old World pairing suggestion was a mid-range pinot noir from Burgundy. So we thought, why not try both the Old World and New World suggestions with the one dinner? Therefore, we chose as the second bottle a Domaine Faiveley Nuits-Saint-Georges 2009.
Patricia Green Cellars Bonshaw Ribbon Ridge Pinot Noir 2007 - The wine's appearance was clear, with a gorgeous deep garnet red color. The wine had a scent of very definite Asian spices (for some reason, Chinese Five Spice came to mind), cherry, and a slight musk. The taste was dark cherry, spice (definitely cloves), and there was an interesting tangy note of mineral in the back of the mouth. The finish was very nice, carrying through on red berries. The wine definitely needed some time to open. As time went on, the fruit definitely was front and center but the complexity evolved, which was lovely to taste.
Domaine Faiveley Nuits-Saint-Georges 2009 - The wine appearance was clear, again with a similar deep garnet red color. The nose had more of the earthy or peaty scent, mixed with cherries and baking spices. The taste was lovely fruit (cherries and some raspberry), spice, and delightfully silky tannins; very complex. The finish was also lovely, containing more of the earthy notes. As we lingered over dinner and our wine, the scent lost the stronger peaty notes while the taste became more complex, layered, and delightful.
Both wines were fantastic with the braised chicken. The earthy porcini and the pancetta were great compliments to the Domaine Faiveley. In contrast, the fruitiness and the tangy mineral of the Patricia Green made a statement, but it went with the dish (particularly the spices) really well. We were very happy with both wines, and we would most definitely try this again.
And is there a "winner" between the two? I could take the easy way out and say that my husband and I were the winners with such a fabulous dinner and two wines! Being a bit more tuned to the Old World wines, we would perhaps edge slightly for the French wine. However, we'll drink the Patricia Green any time.