Tavola Rosso » Wine

The White Bean!

Elizabeth O'Connor — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 21:43:15 +0000

I love the white bean, known to most as cannellini. It is buttery and subtle, very versatile, and a delicious addition in soups, pasta or salad. Another plus, cannellini are a good source of protein and cheap if you buy in bulk. A few months ago I came across an old recipe that my mom made when I was young, and gave it a try. I was hooked. More recently, I served the dish at my husband’s birthday celebration and it was a big hit.

Tonno e Fagioli

2 – 14 oz. cans of cannellini (white kidney beans) rinse and drained

1 cup olive oil

½ cup fresh lemon juice

4 garlic cloves, finely chopped

¼ cup chopped fresh parsley

1 teaspoon salt

1 – 6 oz. can of tuna in oil drained

½ cup green onions, chopped

In a large skillet, combine the beans, olive oil, lemon juice, and parsley: cook until the beans are warm. Add the cooked pasta, and then break the tuna on top in coarse chunks. salt to taste, and garnish with green onions, plenty of black pepper or red pepper flakes.

Bon appétit!

Quintessential Provence

Sean O'Connor — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 20:12:50 +0000

Alexandria Nicole

Sean O'Connor — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 18:16:34 +0000

The weekend provided us with another opportunity to head out east to Woodinville and get to know a couple more places just a little bit better. Alexandria Nicole was definitely a highlight, and I particularly enjoyed their white wines. Both the Shephered’s Mark and Sauvignon Blanc were excellent.

Free Run Pinot

Sean O'Connor — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 19:05:19 +0000

Sonoma

Sean O'Connor — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 17:13:58 +0000

Over the long labor day weekend we found our way to Sonoma for our very first visit. Here are the highlights:
1. Landmark Vineyards. Amazing hospitality, gorgeous grounds, and some Syrah!
2. Joseph Swan. Harvest was well underway as we approached the tasting room. We enjoyed speaking with Karen and becoming the 8th in line for a spot on their wine club.
3. Healdsburg. We enjoyed a tasty lunch at the Healdsburg Bar and Grill and loved the quaintness of this wine country getaway.
4. Unti. Seemingly off the beaten path of dry creek valley these were the best wines of our visit. I particularly enjoyed the brandy fortified Grenache!
5. Pavo. Anytime you get to spend an hour with a winemaker in a custom crush facility and get to talk fermentation strategies while tasting small lot single vineyard syrah… You are having a great day. Jordan is up to good things.

Syrah Style: Syncline

Sean O'Connor — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 15:46:33 +0000

“For the columbia valley syrah I shoot for a wine that is respective of washington state, while still employing some traditional old world techniques. We have a very generous climate in washington, that can yield very fruity, powerful wines.
Syrah ripens early and can be particularly representative of the columbia valley’s generosity. I look to combine warmer sites from the wahluke and horse heaven, with a cooler site in the horse heaven. This can produce a wine with Washington’s characteristic fruit, dark color, and ripe flavors, with some cooler site attributes of pepper, olive, acidity, and violets.
By using no new barrels we are able to maintain these flavors and aromas without muddying them in oak flavors.
I use a combination of some whole clusters and destemmed whole berry fermentations, cooler fermentation temperatures, and some native yeast fermentations to scale back extraction levels in order to craft some finesse into the wines.”

Poppie and James Mantone

Syncline
111 Balch Rd
Lyle, WA 98635
509.365.4361
info@synclinewine.com

Czech Wine Adventures

Sean O'Connor — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 04:17:45 +0000

Wine is a global phenomenon. It’s not just about Napa and Bordeaux or South Africa and Argentina… grapevines are the largest fruit producing plant known to man, and occupy a place in the heart of many farmers.

Did you know that Turkey has twice as many acres dedicated to wine production as does the United States? It’s hard to believe, but very true.

Did you know that China produces roughly the same amount of wine grapes by total volume? they also have a few more mouths to feed.

Our recent trip to the Czech Republic was, for me, a further illustration of how wide reaching the wine world spans. Blessed with a wine growing region Moravia, with just the right elevation, climate, sunshine, and soil, the Czech’s have been making wine for centuries. They grow the usual suspects (Cab, Chardonnay) in addition to some obscure varietals that sounded native to the area.

One of my favorite memories from our trip was in the little resort town of Celadna. On a rainy afternoon, I wondered into a storefront that sported a small vinoteca sign on the curb in front. Greeted by a communal table in the middle of the room, wine shelves on the right, and a bar on the left, I stepped in a little unsure of myself. After browsing the selection for awhile, the local owner approached me and we quickly communicated that we had no common language in order to effectively communicate.
He invited me over to the bar, through a combination of waving and drinking motions, and began to pour me wine out of taps. I gave him a smile and nod for the wines i liked and a frown and concerned disappointed look for the wines I found un less than delicious.

The vinoteca owner quickly learned my palate through this exercise and made some recommendations, which were excellent. After stumbling through pronunciation of the wines, I walked out with two plastic litre bottles of wine – one red and one white. I think the white was a Gruner… but I had no label to really know for sure.
The experience made me realize the single thing that I love most about foreign travel: discovery.

Taste Washington Pairings!

Sean O'Connor — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 23:41:00 +0000

Back in early April, I attended the Taste of Washington seminar, Food & Wine Magazine’s Best New Chefs’ Best New Washington Wines. This was easily one of the best seminar, convention style class settings that I have ever partaken in.

Listening to Food and Wine Magazines Ray Isle, moderate the session featuring which featured the local food star lineup of Nelson Daquip of Canlis,
Chef Johnathan Sundstrom of Lark, Chef Jason Wilson or Crush, Chef Ethan Stowell of How to Cook a Wolf, Tavolata, Anchovies and Olives, and Union was captivating.

Each chef had prepared a food and wine pairing which we dove into at 10 am.

The NW wines they paired their food with were:

2007 Mark Ryan Viognier, Red Mountain
2006 a’Maurice Malbec, Columbia Valley
2007 O’Shea Scarborough “Klipsun Vineyard” Semillon, Red Mountain
2005 Pursued by Bear Cabernet Sauvignon, Columba Valley
2006 Sheridan Vineyard Cabernet Franc, Yakima Valley
2006 Vin du Lac “LEHM” Dry Riesling, Columbia Valley

There were many highlights from the session, but I walked away with inspiration to cook a little more seasonally and locally and to experiment with wine pairings.

Any true wine journey is a love story…

Sean O'Connor — Thu, 07 May 2009 23:44:56 +0000

I know I’ve quoted Dottie and John from the WSJ multiple times, but thier latest article (Rails, Romance, and Really Good Wine) is easily one of their best yet.

This paragraph in particular speaks to the wine lover and what I like most about the wine experience.

“Any true wine journey is a love story and don’t let anyone tell you different. Maybe it’s love of a region, of the soil, of tastes, of the people who surround wine. Sometimes it’s just plain love, between two people. That’s what happened to us. We were 21 when we met. We had in common a passion for journalism… and in short order, wine. Wine wasn’t just a nice beverage. It was a place. It was a place because of where it came from. When we bought a bottle, we’d take it home and excitedly look in books to see where it was made and imagine ourselves there someday. And it was a place because it put us in a place, just the two of us, where no one else really lived.”

Pizza, pizza

Elizabeth O'Connor — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 01:24:28 +0000

Another tasty meal at the O’Connor household. Sean crafted pizza with Alfredo sauce topped with spicey andouille sausage and mozzerella and parm.