A wine, a recipe and an album holiday edition

well, two wines, two recipes and two albums ;)

For this special holiday edition of a wine, a recipe and an album I bring you 2 wines, 2 recipes and 2 albums. This time the recipes actually pair with the wines. I figured I would change it up for this festive month, plus my dear friend Hannah made up these pairings for us to go with these wines for a special zoom (very belated) birthday tasting. So, I cannot take credit for the recipes, but I can share them with you. I did pick the topic of salads and made sure they were paired with Portuguese wines (shocker), outside of that, Hannah took the reigns.

The first wine, recipe and album

The first wine is from a producer in Portugal, Niepoort, that many people will have heard about already due to their history in Port wine. The family has been in the business since the mid-1800’s. They now not only produce their own Port wines, but they also make some amazing still wines thanks to the current generation bringing the company into new markets and where they see the future of Portuguese wine.

Drink Me Nat Cool 2021 is a still red wine made from the Baga grape in the Bairrada region in Portugal. Baga is a native grape to Portugal so don’t worry if you have never heard of it.¹ A few things make this wine unique for me. For starters, the vines for this wine are between 40 and 100 years old. The grapes had to be picked at just the right ripening time because whole bunches were used with crushed fruit and if the stems or stalks of the grapes were not fully ripened the wine would be bitter. Since Nat Cool is all about cool and funky wines, they also matured the wine in stainless steel for six months, which is unique for this grape as most of the time it spends at least 6 months in oak. Because of all the care that went into this wine and the commitment to making it light, elegant and accessible, the wine truly stands out. This may be the lightest bodied complex red wine I have ever tasted. It sounds weird to even say it was complex when it truly was so light bodied, but it was. Red fruit aromas and flavors dominated, but forest floor, dried leaves, candied violets and even hints of an incense-like spice made it stand out.

The Nat Cool wine was paired with the above salad truly is simple to prepare. I know it is deconstructed in the photo, I tend to do this and taste things individually with the wine before mixing it all together, you can just mix it!

Ingredients

• 1 fennel bulb, thinly sliced

• thinly sliced beef or duck sausage (as much or little as you want)

• handful of organic raspberries

• handful of pomegranate seeds

• salt and pepper to taste

• 1/4 cup orange juice (fresh squeezed is always preferable)

• 2 tablespoons olive oil

• 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar

Mix the first four ingredients together in a bowl and set aside. In a separate bowl whisk together olive oil, white wine vinegar, orange juice and salt and pepper. The dressing needs to be kept simple for the pairing to work right.

When the wine and salad are paired together I hope you find it as I did, to be extremely harmonious. The wine finish is extended with this pairing and it brings out cacao flavors as well as the orange in the dressing being greatly intensified and also making the red fruit a little tart and even more fresh feeling. The salami cuts through the acid level and smooths the wine out completely. I think this is one of those pairings that you could get someone to want to start pairing wine with salad even more.

So here we go, straight onto the album for this wine and food pairing. Since this wine is served cool, light bodied and a lil bit funky, I went back to my college days for this one… when I like to think I was cool and a lil bit funky (but I probably was just an average art student). Gimme Fiction by Spoon is the album of choice here, I think it goes super well with this chilled light bodied red wine.

The second wine, recipe and album

The next wine I want to tell you about is Quinta das Carvalhas Tawny 10 year Port. They are one of the oldest Quintas in the Douro Valley. I have had this wine for three different occasions this holiday season and I cannot tell you enough how enjoyable it is.

The grapes in this port come from their property in the Douro region, located near Pinhão, which is in the Cima Corgo sub-region. The grapes in this Port are Touriga Nacional, Tinta Roriz, and Touriga Franca. The 10 year Port isn’t actually aged for 10 years. It is a blend from younger and older years, it all has to do with it tasting like a 10 year Port and having the quality expected of that age. I know this doesn’t completely make sense, but there is actually a tasting panel that decides if the wine has the normal characteristics of a 10 year Port. This Port is made to drink now, it can age, but it is released ready to drink. Once you open this wine, you can drink it for about 8 weeks. The aromas and flavors are amazing, caramel, dates, coffee, toffee, walnuts and fig jam. It is high in acidity, super smooth with hints of butterscotch and cloves coming towards the end of a long finish. I do believe even a Port sceptic can enjoy this wine, especially paired with the salad below.

Ingredients

• olive oil

• honey

• 1 pear, sliced (Bosc, Bartlett, Seckel or Comice)

• blue cheese, crumbled (to taste)

• 1 handful raw walnuts

• 2 cups arugula

Slice the pear and then place the arugula, walnuts, blue cheese in a bowl then drizzle honey and olive oil and toss. Super simple, super delicious.

This salad paired with the Tawny Port enhanced the coffee and butterscotch notes but adds hints of chocolate to the flavor and that acidity is completely smoothed out. It was my favorite pairing of 2023, a year in which I had a lot of great pairings!

The album I decided to pair with this was The Dave Brubeck Quartet’s Time Out album, which happens to be my all time favorite jazz album. Since the wine is aged, complex and moody I went for an album that hits that same vibe for me. Paired together it is truly wonderful. And hey, I won’t judge if you sit down by a fire, pour yourself the Port and just enjoy this album without the salad!

I just wanted to say that your subscription means the world to me. This year my posting has been sporadic due to some health issues that have been happening, however, next year I am on track to make sure I have consistency in a posting schedule for you. I love feedback though, so if there is anything you’d like me to touch on in 2024, please leave a comment. If you are a paid subscriber, head over to chat or notes and send me messages. Thanks again and Happy New Year!

A big thanks to Dave from Wine and Comics for being a big supporter this year and helping me look at comics differently- with wine.

I have really enjoyed being a paid subscriber to Joe Fattorini’s substack. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in how to market in the wine industry, but also just to anyone interested in the wine industry.

Finally a substack not related to wine that I have found extremely valuable and hope to implement much of what I learned from Claire of Sparkle. She has loads of knowledge about Substack.

1. I started putting together wine infographics for Portuguese grapes. Make sure to be on the lookout later in 2024 when Baga lands in your inboxes. Until then, if you would like to know more about this unique grape just send me a comment below!