Epicurean comfort food...Zen!

Its nice and warm inside...

No matter were you live or travel during this time of the year, we, who live above the 38th parallel of the northern hemisphere, can all agree that you can't beat the warmth of hearty comfort foods.

As a true Scotsman, I must admit, I get my hungry man's hankering every once in a while for a good scoff of luxurious meatloaf on a cold winters evening.

I am pleased to offer up this rather tuned up version of a classic comfort food menu, created by one of my many executive chef colleagues, Sam Robertson.

Here is what I am enjoying tonight.

Manorun Farms Beet and Barley Salad with Ewenity Raw Feta paired with...

A.G. Private Cellar Selection

HENRI BOURGEOIS
PETIT BOURGEOIS SAUVIGNON 2009

VINTAGES 672345 | 750 mL bottle

Price: $ 14.95
Wine, White Wine
12.5% Alcohol/Vol.

Sugar Content : XD

Made in: Loire, France
By: Henri Bourgeois

Pairing Success Tip# 01
Cut through richness and heighten your flavors.
Beets and Goat cheese are synonymous with Sancerre. The earthen qualities and higher acidity work well to compliment the beets while cutting through the richness of the goat cheese. This lively version of Petit Bourgeois Sauvignon from Henry Bourgeois, is a must table-side when indulging a tantalizingly rich insalata such as this.

Sann Barr Texas Longhorn Meatloaf with Tomato and Chili sauce paired with...

A.G. Private Cellar Selection

CHATEAU ST. JEAN MERLOT 2008

VINTAGES 25304 | 750 mL bottle

Price: $ 19.95
Wine, Red Wine
13.8% Alcohol/Vol.

Sugar Content : D

Made in: California, USA
By: Treasury Wine Estates

Pairing Success Tip #02
Remember to balance the wine's structure and compliment the flavours.
The flavours of sweet chilli sauce and Ontario fresh tomato work marvelously well with this luxurious merlot while the full flavor of the meatloaf creates measurable balance with the structure of this robust red wine. Truly a match made for the masses to enjoy.



Maple & Walnut Brioche Bread Pudding paired with...

A.G. Private Cellar Selection

WILLIAMS & HUMBERT WALNUT BROWN RARE OLD BROWN OLOROSO
VINTAGES 437467 | 750 mL bottle

Price: $ 11.95
Wine, Fortified, Sherry
17.5% Alcohol/Vol.

Sugar Content : S

Made in: Region Not Specified, Spain
By: Williams & Humbert Int. Limited


Pairing Success Tip #03
Match the sweetness and compliment the flavors and richness.
William & Humbert's Walnut Brown Rare Old Brown Oloroso sherry is a wine choked full of fig, raisin, caramel and sweetness, and compliment the maple and walnut extremely well here. You are sure to hit a home run with your fans when paired up with this dessert.

...all h' Ale St.Peter's

When you are chilled to the bone by Ol' Man Winter, we at Anything Goes have found the perfect solution. Why not try our traditional pairing of Steak & Kidney Pie with this equally warm and inviting Ale.

700 years of tradition lay in waiting to embrace your taste buds here. A very dark ruby color is just the tip of the spectrum here, with a superb balance of hops and malt culminate in an impressive sweet and bitter finish.

St. Peter's Ale is crafted with time honored tradition and expert brew master quality in one on the UK's finest and most innovative breweries. Located inside a medival hall in remote Suffolk England were they utilize waters from a pure spring for the crafting of this magnificent brew as it has been done for centuries.

The oval flask styled bottle is a replica of the original design beer bottle which was created by Thomas Gerrard of Gibbstown P.A. back in 1770.

Here's to Keeping tradition alive. Cheers!

In your local LCBO now...

St. Peter's Winter Ale
ST PETER'S WINTER ALE
LCBO 890079 | 500 mL bottle

Price: $ 3.90
Beer, Ale
5.0% Alcohol/Vol.

Sugar Content : 11

Made in: England, United Kingdom
By: St. Peter'S Brewery Co. Ltd.

When prestige trumps optimal enjoyment

January 3, 2012.

A.G. Wine Review


While I agree that the 1982 is stellar for a majority of 1st, 2nd, and even some 3rd through 5th growth Bordeaux wines of this year, we should not lose sight of the fact that, this vintage, or any vintage, not all dry red wines have what it takes to be stellar after 30 years in the bottle. In fact, some have expired past their prime and should be considered as artwork and left on display or sent to auction. I recently had the opportunity to sample just such a bottle of wine on New Year's Day 2012.

Chateau Mouton Baronne De Phillipe en homage a Pauline Baronne Phillipe de Rothschild from the Paulliac, Medoc region of Bordeaux France.

The interesting thing about wine reviews, are, we will all agree to disagree and that the rating of wine is a very subjective matter and upon my research on this vintage nothing could be closer to the truth. Evidence suggests that there are some, willing to wax away excitedly about this vintage till the end of time, but truth be told reviewers comments range from the vintage being, in balanced to, over ripe, to having the ability to cellar for another decade.

Here are my insights on this wine from the 1982 Bordeaux vintage.


The wine has an opaque appearance in the glass. The color spectrum on the other hand is evident of a wine showing its age in the bottle with colors of medium to light brick red core working its way outward to an increasingly lighter orange edge and watery rim.

The nose is immediately overwhelmed with a sense of alcohol which upon aeration quickly focuses to equal amounts of under and overripe fruits, herbaceous and earthy qualities. Working through the initial sensations I discovered a wine full of cassis and black cherry, tar, and tobacco.

The palate exposes the wine’s complexity in its development with under ripe sour cherry to over ripe black cherry, cassis, spice box, and tobacco leaf with an undertone of mature oak presence and a damp earthen quality. The wine structure has become unbalanced with an overcharged sense of higher acid taking over the characteristics from first sip to final finish in the mouth. The wine’s structure also indicates a medium alcoholic sensation, medium fine tannins and a, even drying sensation culminating into a medium long finish on the palate. The wine has a sensation of being hot, overtly herbaceous and overly acidic suggesting under ripe harvesting which supports the 11.5% alcohol labeling and overtly herbaceous sensation in the wine and a higher acidic structure left in the bottle at this point.

My conclusion of this wine has left the impression that, for all its complexity, the wine is showing its full maturity within the bottle and is now 5-10 years past its end point for optimal enjoyment. I compare this to my notes on the 1982 Chateaux Kirwan Cru Classe that I experienced last year, which indicates better quality, and balance, demonstrating inconsistency within the 1982 vintage at this point and that the "1982 Stellar Vintage status" should be based solely on, the producer, their estate terroir, the vineyard management of the vintage, and conditions at time of harvest.

Ultimately, wine collectors and connoisseurs, will agree to disagree here, but the facts of structured analysis should remain, and be your first and last tools in making informed decisions on vintage wine investments, to bottle aging and determining maximum enjoyment end points with a cellar collection, without getting caught up in the hype and emotional stigma that a "stellar vintage" is ageless and has the ability to cellar well or drink well, even when a wine indicates it is well beyond its point of optimal enjoyment.

If you are fortunate to have the 1982 Bordeaux vintage within your private cellar, I professionally recommend you consider inspecting these wines now and decide on whether to enjoy your investment throughout the remainder of 2012 or consider utilizing them for cellar display purposes only or auction them off as necessary to enjoy the profits of cellar investing.

If you are interested in further synopsis of the 1982 Vintage from Bordeaux France follow this link:

http://www.thewinedoctor.com/tastingsformal/twentyyearson1982.shtml

Wishing you,
...optimal drinking enjoyment.
Cheers! A.G.