The Alchemy of Hunt Country Vineyards Paired with Braised Beef Short Ribs

Breaking outside the rules a little today and not featuring an Italian wine. I'm part of the Wine Pairing Weekend food and wine bloggers group and this month we feature American or French food and wine pairings. Coming out of the 4^th of July celebration festivities for the first time at our new vacation home in the mountains of northern NH I had a great pairing I shared with everyone, Hunt Country Vineyards Alchemy and braised beef short ribs. It doesn't get any more American than that with a Finger Lakes wine from upstate NY and ribs always remind me of summer time festivities with friends and family.

Hunt Country Vineyards

I chose the Hunt Country Vineyard Alchemy wine that I brought back from my last trip to the Finger Lakes, one of my favorite regions in the US, although I have to say I have yet to visit the west coast. The Finger Lakes wine region is about a 6 hour drive from the Boston area and I usually take an annual trip to tour the wineries of the Seneca, Cayuga and Keuka lakes. Hunt Country Vineyards is located on the smallest of the three glacially formed lakes, Keuka lake, with about 16 wineries. They are also located on Italy Hill Rd, so I guess something is Italian about this blog today ; )  Keuka lake is celebrating it's 30th anniversary.   

Owners, Art and Joyce Hunt, met years ago in high school. In 1973 they relocated to Art's grandfather's land where they used 50 acres of that land to start grape growing where they sold off the grapes that they grew. When the Coca-Cola Company bought the Taylor Wine Company that devastated the area and damaged many of the winegrowers businesses, the Hunts in 1981 began their own winery, Finger Lakes Wine Cellars, that six years later became Hunt Country Vineyards that stands today, six generations in the family later.  The Hunt's are one of the founding members of the Keuka Lake Wine Trail.

Having a little fun at Hunt Country Vineyards

The Hunt Country Vineyards Alchemy wine is a blend of grapes from a variety of wineries in the Finger Lakes with 53% cabernet franc (Hunt Country Vineyards grapes and Green Acres Farm), 28% lemberger (Fox Run Vineyards one of my favs), 17% merlot (White Springs Winery) and 2% cabernet sauvignon (Swedish Hill Winery). This wine was fermented in stainless steel, but aged in about 85% French oak and 15% American oak. On the palate is ripe black cherry, with some slight notes of oak/vanilla and a little pepper. This wine has been Hunt Country Vineyards best seller since 2012. Retails $15.

I actually wanted to do ribs for this wine pairing event prior to selecting the wine and upon browsing through Hunt Country Vineyards web page came across a variety of wine pairings they suggested with their wines. Come to find out that they recommended for one of the food pairings with the Alchemy wine, braised beef short ribs. I'm always one for trying new recipes and I actually have yet to ever prepare a beef short ribs recipe so I thought it was perfect to try their own. Check out their recipe along with some of their other wines and suggestions as they have many. The sauce the beef short ribs were braised in was rather delicious and was a nice complement to the wine. The food and wine blended together well and neither were overpowered by one another. The herbs of the dish went nicely with the hint of spice and fruit profile of the Alchemy wine.

In addition to the braised beef short ribs I've also been exploring the vegetables in my farmshare that I'm participating in this year.  With this dish I decided to saute some swiss chard and beet greens and I also prepared the beets themselves in balsamic vinegar with a little salt.  

Beef short ribs

Beet greens and swiss chard saute

Braising beef short ribs

Braised Beef Short ribs with beets, beet greens and swiss chard paired with Hunt Country Vineyards Alchemy

We're also coming up to the Wine Bloggers Conference to take place in the Finger Lakes August 13-16^th. If you've never been to this region you must seek it out. Do we have any readers that will be attending or that have visited this region and have favorites?

A Day in the Life on the Farm: “An American Feast for #WinePW”

A Pug in the Kitchen: Classic Nicoise:An American/French Pairing

Confessions of a Culinary Diva: “Provence Style Pan Roasted Chicken with Rose"

Cooking Chat: "Gruyere Cheeseburgers with a Bordeaux"

Culinary Adventures with Camilla: “Tapenade-Topped Sablefish + Cave de Saint-Roch-les-Vignes Côtes de Provence Rosé”

Curious Cuisiniere: “Cherry Clafoutis paired with a Cremant Rosé”

Dracaena Wines: “Discovering the Truth About Bastille Day with #WinePW”

ENOFYLZ Wine Blog: “Independence Day at Ridge Vineyards Zins and Blends #winePW”

Food Wine Click: “All American Menu: Farmer & Winery Friends”

Grape Experiences: “Wine and Dine: Les Vignes de Bila-Haut Blanc Cotes du Roussillon and Salade Niçoise”

Pull That Cork: “Domaine de Bila-Haut and Cobb Salad for #winePW”

Rockin Red Blog: “Celebrating America & France with July #WinePW”

Tasting Pour: “Steak with Mushroom Cognac Sauce, Patriotic Potatoes, and Bell Wine Cellars Cab Sauv #winepw”

Please join us this morning at 11 am EST on Twitter for a fun and lively discussion on our American and French food and wine pairings at #WinePW. Also, join us Saturday, August 15 as we explore Portugal, a land of delicious food and outstanding wines!

Source: Hunt Country Vineyards

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Food & Wine Pairing of Lazio: Saltimboca alla Romana w/Casale del Giglio Petit Verdot

Welcome to our 9^th Italian Food, Wine & Travel (#ItalianFWT) event where we feature the food, wine and travel of a different region every month. This month our group focuses on the Lazio region located in central Italy. Earlier this week I shared some highlights and a preview of Lazio.

Map of Lazio ~ Copyright of Federdoc

I always love to explore the wine and cuisine of each region and tie in my travels if I can. Mostly all my explorations of the Lazio region have been multiple times to Rome so I figured I have so much more to offer on the cuisine and wine of Lazio with my featured pairing: Chicken Saltimbocca alla Romana with a 2009 Casale del Giglio Petit Verdot.

Trevi Fountain ~ Rome

Wine Pairing - Casale del Giglio Petit Verdot

The founding father of Casale delGiglio, Berardino, was a wine merchant. The three sons (Antonio, Isidoro and Emidio) began their partnership Berardino Santerelli & Figli in 1914. The business grew to include 11 wine and olive stores, “vini + olii”. In 1955 Emidio's son, Dino, founded Santarelli S.P.A where they sold wines of Lazio. In 1967 is when Casale del Giglio was established at Le Fernere, a hamlet in the provicne of Latina which is about 30 miles south of Rome located in the Agro Pontino Valley. Talking about generation after generation keeping it within the family, in the early 90's Dino's son, Antonio, then took over and with winemaker, Paolo Tiefenthale, from Trentino began producing wines under the Casale del Giglio brand.

The area where Casale del Giglio resides has much unchartered land where there weren't generations or years of what works and what doesn't when it comes to winemaking. In 1985 Casale del Giglio began a project where they partnered with other researchers and professors experimenting to figure out what would grow the best. They worked with 60 different vines and today the winery consists of about 160 hectacres where they mostly work with Bordeaux grapes.

The 2009 Casale del Giglio petit verdot is purely made from petit verdot where part of the fermentation is in stainless and wood. It's aged 8-12 months in barrique with an additional 6 months in the bottle.  It's a full bodied wine with intense red berries and cherry.  Silky tannins with a little bit of pepper.

Food Pairing - Chicken Saltimbocca alla Romana
I paired up this month with a fellow columnist in the Boston Italian magazine that we write for called the Bostoniano. Francesca Bruzzese is a fellow american from Rhode Island whom is living in Rome and writes a food blog, Pancakes and Biscotti. Francesca and I discussed the best potential pairing with her expertise on Roman cuisine and came up with her Saltimbocca alla Romana recipe to be paired with my selection of the Casale del Giglio petit verdot pairing. I imitated her saltimbocca recipe, but made some substitutions. I'm not a huge fan of veal so I actually substituted her choice of veal with chicken. I also am a big fan of mushrooms and sun-dried tomatoes so I added that to the sauce I made along with some garlic scapes from the local farmshare that I joined this year.

The petit verdot was a nice pairing with this particular dish and complemented the flavors well.  Casale del Giglio also recommends another typical Roman dish known as costolette di abbacchio al forno, which is an oven-roasted lamb cutlet.  

Wait......there's more! Join my fellow bloggers with their feature on Lazio:

Italophilia – Visit Ariccia with Buona Sera Mrs. Campbell

Orna O'Reilly – A Foodie Easter in Rome

Cooking Chat - Orzo, Salmon and Pesto Paired with a Frascati
Food Wine Click - They'll Drink Anything in Rome
Rockin Red Blog - Live Like Caesar
Enofylz Wine Blog - A Taste of Lazio
Christy's Palate - Living La Vita Lazio
The Palladian Traveler - Civita di Bagnoregio: The Dying Town
Adventures of a Carry On - When in Rome Eat Like a Roman: Bucatini all'Amatriciana
Girls Gotta Drink - Eat Like a Roman (With a Roman): Unusual Things to do in Rome

If you're seeing this early enough make sure to join us live on twitter at 11am EST at #ItalianFWT. Tell us your food, wine or travel stories of Lazio. We look forward to chatting with you then. Next month on Saturday August 1^st we'll feature the island of Sardegna in Italy. Feel free to reach out to me and join us! Ciao ciao!

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Preview of our Italian Food, Wine & Travel to Lazio

Entering into our 9^th Italian Food, Wine & Travel (#ItalianFWT) event where we feature the food, wine and travel of a different region every month. This month we focus on the Lazio region in Italy located in central Italy, also known as Latium in Latin. Surrounded by the regions of Tuscany, Umbria and Marche to the north as well Abruzzo and Molise to the east, Lazio borders the Tyrhennian Sea.

Colosseum ~ Rome, Italy

When everyone thinks of Lazio they immediately think of the capital of not only Rome, but Italy itself. Of course within Rome itself you have the Colosseum, Vatican City with St. Peters Basilica and the Vatican Museum, Palatine Hill and the Roman Forum, the Pantheon and Piazza Navona. Although no one can take away the rich history of Rome and the Romans, with every region though, if you break outside the typical norm of tourist attractions each region has much more to offer if you let yourself immerse within the region of Italy that you're in.

Bucatini all'Amatriciana by Stu_Spivack

The Lazio region may not be one of the top regions in Italy when it comes to wine except for some of its well known whites including frascati and Est! Est! Est!, but its archeaological treasures and the Roman cuisine are what attract folks from around the world to this region. The landscape of Lazio is full of flatland and hills with lakes and ancient thermal spas still in use today, one of the most popular being Tivoli that also contains two UNESCO World Heritage sites, Villa d'Este and Villa Adriana.

Don't forget the Lazio soccer team for all you sports fanatics!

Villa d'Este in Tivoli by M. Maselli

Here is a preview of what is to come for our Italian Food, Wine & Travel of Lazio Saturday:

Vino Travels – Food & Wine Pairing of Lazio: Saltimboca alla Romana with Casale del Giglio Petit Verdot

Italophilia – Visit Ariccia with Buona Sera Mrs. Campbell

Orna O'Reilly – A Foodie Easter in Rome
Cooking Chat - Orzo, Salmon and Pesto Paired with a Frascati
Food Wine Click - They'll Drink Anything in Rome
Rockin Red Blog - Live Like Caesar
Enofylz Wine Blog - A Taste of Lazio
Christy's Palate - Living La Vita Lazio
The Palladian Traveler - Civita di Bagnoregio: The Dying Town
Adventures of a Carry On - When in Rome Eat Like a Roman: Bucatini all'Amatriciana
Girls Gotta Drink - Eat Like a Roman (With a Roman): Unusual Things to do in Rome

We will be featuring all of our Lazio articles on the food, wine and travel to this region on Saturday July 4th so make sure to check back here. Also, join us live on Twitter at 11am EST Saturday July 4^th at #ItalianFWT and share your experiences and knowledge on Lazio, Italy. There is still time to join us as well and we always love new perspectives and expertise. Email me at vinotravels at hotmail dot com. Ciao ciao for now!

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