A pinot noir weekend

[shewhomust]

For dinner on Saturday we had pheasant breasts stuffed with pâté (no recipe - I buy them ready made from the cheese stall at the market). Looking for a bottle of wine to go with them, I found a Chilean pinot noir - Morandé Pionero) with a pretty label. It worked very well: the wine was smooth and fruity, but felt quite elegant (it was only when I stood up that I realised it has a ridiculously high alcohol level (the label says 14.5%). I'd buy it again, if only I could remember where it came from - I'd assumed Majestic, but it isn't on their current list.

Which reminded me that once in a while, with certain foods, pinot noir is exactly what I want. And last night, to accompany the mushroom risotto, I served the second of the two bottles with no label we had bought as bin ends from Tescos. I'm not completely crazy: they had no label, but they did have a sticker showing price and bar-code, and durham_ramber made us of the technology to read the bar-code and identify them as Marlborough pinot noir. This was also good - leaner than the Chilean, but with the same silky elegance.

So now we're down to one last bottle of pinot (the one from Coiffy-le-Haut). I must buy some more.

Comments

[sbisson.livejournal.com]

We opened a rather nice Willamette Valley pinot noir at the weekend - a rather excellent Dobbes (http://www.dobbesfamilyestate.com/). Highly recommended.

[weegoddess.livejournal.com]

As little as I know about wines, I still sighed with longing and nostalgia when you mentioned the cheese stall at the Indoor Market. Those guys are so wonderful; I haven't found anything here to compare, though actually there's a good chance I will eventually, being that there are lots of local farms and dairies around here.

Still, they had a good keenes cheddar for a really decent price. Next time I'm back in Durham, I'm buying a huge chunk. ;-D

[shewhomust.livejournal.com]

I'll look out for it! I love the way pinot flourishes in marginal wine areas.

[shewhomust.livejournal.com]

I look forward to your researches into the artisan cheeses of the US...

[weegoddess.livejournal.com]

Actually, sunspiral is the one for artisan cheeses. I am, sadly, quite inhibited by the anti-biotics/conventional US milk regulations issue. Ergo, I don't eat much cheese in the US yet. I prefer soft cheeses rather than hard and it's tough to get soft imported cheeses that don't cost a fortune.

(the keene's cheedar was for sunspiral, who is a huge fan)

[shewhomust.livejournal.com]

Oh, I see. I knew you had issues over antibiotics in dairy produce; I was hoping, from what you wrote, that buying from small local producers was a way round this...

[weegoddess.livejournal.com]

Ah, I see what you meant now. The jury is still out on what (if any) suitable cheeses I can find locally. But I had the idea of looking into making my own fresh mozerella...I'd eat it daily if I had my whey...

::ducks the flying objects hurled in my direction::