March Wine Dinner at Biaggi's

Biaggi’s appears to be trying to do one wine dinner a month now. We missed the February one because I was traveling for work but had the opportunity to participate in the March one. One thing that management had not considered was that the timing of the meal was right in the middle of basketball playoffs and as it turned out Carolina was playing at the same time as the dinner. As a result the dinner had the lowest attendance of any we have been to.

The deal was the same as always: six courses, seven wines, $65 all inclusive. They did go back to starting at 6:30 PM and actually served the first wine at 6:45 so the wait was much less significant that what we experienced at the January dinner. Of course everyone was there and seated except for one table of three that came racing in around that time and once they were seated the program officially began. This confirms that they do hold off on the food and discussion till nearly all reservations are seated.

a pyramid of wine glasses

Antipasto Caldo - Casseroula Gallurese with Zonin Prosecco, Italy

“A rich combination of bread, cheese, and more cheese snugly resting in a bath of warm, rich beef broth.” This was like a deconstructed or inverted French onion soup where they made a cheese sandwich and topped it with just a small amount of broth. The broth had that nice rich beef flavor and the bread and cheese mimicked the topping of an onion soup. It was very tasty but mine was served before the rest of the table and most of my broth absorbed into the cheese sandwich before I could really enjoy it. The Prosecco was very nice, crisp, and not too sweet and was great by itself. The table agreed that it did not pair well with the dish as the flavors in the food brought out a tartness in the wine that was not appealing.

Insalata - Roasted Artichoke Hearts with Loimer Riesling, Austria

“Roasted artichoke hearts with fresh mozzarella and basil pesto coulis.” One comment I will make is that they seem to repeatedly want to challenge themselves at these dinners by trying to pair artichoke and asparagus with wines. That is fine every now and then but in general these foods do not pair well and we have begun deconstructing the dish to avoid bits of those foods when tasting the wine. The dish itself was nice but essentially was insalata caprese (tomato, mozzarella, basil) with roasted artichokes. The wine was clean tasting with just a mild tartness that went very well with just the combination of tomato, cheese, basil but did not pair well when adding in the artichoke.

Primo - Grilled Vegetable and Ricotta Cannelloni with First Press Chardonnay, Napa

“Grilled vegetable and ricotta cannelloni with a charred tomato-caper sauce.” This dish was the best of the three thus far and something I would enjoy ordering again. Brad correctly guessed that the vegetable in the cannelloni was eggplant. It was well blended like a traditional meat stuffing and the charred tomato sauce was absolutely wonderful. Brad was very interested in what appeared to be a cross between extremely large capers and olives. They were actually caper berries: about the size and shape of a grape, they are the fruits of the caper bush and are somewhat starchy, have a less-intense flavor than capers and have been brined. The wine was not a favorite at the table. Alone it was very tart and almost so sour that I questioned whether the wine had gone bad. We were picking up on the very strong lemon flavor within the wine. It was much better with the food but still not something I actually really enjoyed.

Pesce - Seared Halibut with Kenwood Pinot Noir, Russian River

“Seared halibut with wild mushroom-herb wine sauce.” AMAZING! Hands down this was the best dish of the night. The fish was cooked perfectly and the mushroom wine sauce was the kind of yummy that makes you want to lick the plate. The wine was quite enjoyable, mellow and was good alone but paired extremely well with the intense flavors in the dish.

Secondo - Honey Balsamic Marinated Beef with Gotham Shiraz, Australia and Querciabelle Mongrana Maremma, Tuscany

“Marinated beef tenderloin skewers with grilled asparagus and Sicilian almond cous cous.” This dish was a letdown compared to the previous course. The steak was tender and it was interesting how it was skewered on rosemary stems which seem to give the meat a bit of lamb-like flavor to me. The cous cous was nothing special and maybe a tad tart in flavor due to use of tomato. The Shiraz was a big bold wine, lots of berry flavor, very rich, silky mouth feel. I did not care for it alone but it was better when paired with the food. The Mongrana is what is known as a Super Tuscan wine. Super Tuscan wines came from groups that wanted to make use of Sangiovese in Chianti style wines but wanted to add in other grapes to build up the flavor. A wine cannot be called Chianti if it contains those other grapes so they came up with the name of Super Tuscan. I preferred this of the two red wines. It was well balanced, had flavors of currant and plum, and nice tannins. Brad did not like this wine. We did agree that neither of these wines, nor many before, were as good as the Prosecco at the start of the meal.

Dolce - Flourless Chocolate Truffle Cake with Cockburn’s Ruby Port

“Flourless chocolate truffle cake with orange compote and rosewater whipped cream.” The dessert was incredible with very dark, rich chocolate with strong flavors of orange. It was the hit of the night for many at the table. The Port was very sweet, very syrupy and nothing special to me but I do not care for Port wines.

Vineyards of Swan Creek Area: Part 2

Part 2 picks up at our third stop of the outing Laurel Gray in Hamptonville, NC. This is an excellent location for stopping for lunch during your journey. They have beautiful grounds with a covered patio overlooking a pond and green fields. Their tasting fee is $5 for everything but their two reserves or $6 total to include the reserves. We tasted all which meant eight this visit since they were sold out of one wine. This location also makes and sells a variety of sauces (vinaigrette, bbq sauce, chocolate Cabernet sauce, etc.) and they sell bread and cheeses made by the local Amish in the area. So we ended up buying some really good bread and cheese and had them open one of the bottles we purchased so we could have our “meal” on their property and enjoy the views.

• Pinot Gris – very light, mild tartness, melon flavors
• Viognier – very light, nice tart, mild
• Chardonnay (oak) – citrus and pear flavors, very light for an oak Chardonnay
• Cabernet Sauvignon – a bit light for a Cabernet, maybe a tad empty
• Sultry (Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon) – considered to be a reserve wine, has a nice bite, would pair well with meats, very good
• Estate Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon – full bodied, truly lovely wine, 2007 was considered to be their best year to date
• Scarlet Mountain (Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah) – very pleasant, they suggest chilling it
• Nectar (Niagara) – good dessert wine

Laurel Gray

Laural Gray view from under covered porch

Stop number four was Dobbins Creek also in Hamptonville. Another new, beautifully built log cabin served as the tasting room with a nice porch for sitting and sipping. The building is actually made from 100 year old wild cherry wood harvested from the property. I recall that we really enjoyed this stop. The hostess was very personable and chatty. The views were wonderful. But sadly we have lost our tasting sheet so I cannot report our wine impressions as our visit was nearly a year ago so the memory is not fresh. They do have Riesling, Chardonnay (oak and stainless), Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Sweet Riesling, and their Hermic Mountain Red (Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon) and Hermic Mountain Blush.

And finally Raffaldini, located in Ronda, NC, was the last stop on the adventure. WOW. Talk about a nice looking place. They have pathways of roses and flowers from the parking area to the large Tuscan style tasting and event “Villa”. And the upper back deck overlooking the vineyard is just amazing. They promote themselves by the tagline “Chianti of the Carolinas” and that aptly describes the whole Italian feel of the place from the villa to the names of the wines and the flavors behind them. Their tasting fee is only $5 or taste for free if you decide to buy a case of wine. And their tasting sheet is one of the better ones in NC with not only good descriptions of the wines, but also pronunciations of the wine names and also very specific food pairing recommendations. We tasted all seven offerings.

• Fiori (Orange Moscato, Pinot Grigio, Viognier, Chardonnay) – nice minerality, crisp, light, not too tart
• Pinot Grigio – dry, good tartness
• Vermentino – white varietal native to Sardinia, citrus, mineral
• Sangiovese – a favorite of mine, light tannins, medium body, very nice wine
• Bella Misto (Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot) – this one has a little bite to it, substantial character
• Oenotria (Malbec, Tannat) – definitely like a Malbec but wasn’t my favorite
• Chiara (Orange Moscato, Vermentino, Traminette, Cabernet Franc, Chardonnay) – rose’, rather tart

Raffaldini

Raffaldini

Vineyards of Swan Creek Area: Part 1

There are officially five vineyards along the Swan Creek Wine Trail located within the Yadkin Valley area. The groups website is really nice and they recommend particular routes for visiting all the locations depending on the direction you are coming from. We selected a different order for our purposes as we were traveling through the area to another destination.

Swan Creek is the second official AVA or American Viticultural Area in NC (Yadkin Valley was the first). An AVA is a federally-recognized growing region based on geographic locations that have the same climate, soil, and elevation and similar properties that give the wine certain characteristics.  Napa Valley is an AVA so think of Yadkin Valley and Swan Creek  in similar terms of how you know Napa Valley wines tend to have similar characteristics based on the growing environment.

Our first stop was Shadow Springs in Hamptonville, NC. This place has a massive tasting room that looks brand new. You can taste seven wines for $5 or fourteen for $9. We opted for the choice of seven considering the number of vineyards we intended to visit during this one day adventure. But as always we did not necessarily pick the same seven wines and shared tastes when we had different selections in hand. Between the two of us we tasted the following wines:

• Chardonnay (oak) – crisp, minor oak flavor
• Viognier – mineral, bright, fruit of peach and apricot, good wine
• Cabernet Franc – medium body, pleasant tartness, very nice
• Cabernet Sauvignon – mild, light tannin, did not pick up on the black olive, very nice
• Merlot – fruity, just okay
• Meritage (Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Petit Verdot) - nice bold wine, very Bordeaux like
• Crimson Sunset (Merlot, Cabernet Franc) – light, fruity, okay
• Shortcake – Strawberry wine, light, very good
• Dark Shadow (Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Seyval Blanc, Dark Chocolate) – chocolate cherry, too much like a port wine

Shadow Springs

Next we visited Buck Shoals also in Hamptonville, which has a nice little log cabin style tasting room. The tasting fee was only $4 and it covered all ten of their standard offerings. One very unusual offering at this winery is that they make mead and brandy blends, yes; they are a legal distillery as well as winery. Beware of tasting such strong offerings especially since they are all very pleasing. We did purchase two of them and consider them to be rare occasion dessert sips.

• Viognier – very nicely balanced, not tart
• Chardonnay (oak) – a little on tart side
• Buck Shot Red (Sangiovese, Barbera, Cabernet Sauvignon) – decent body, very nice
• Family Reserve (Petit Verdot, Cabernet Sauvignon) – very nice blend, excellent mouth feel
• Chambourcin – very mild, not as clovey as others
• La Gloria (Traminette Brandy, White Grape Juice) – very nice, very unique
• Shoals Creek Blue – pure blueberry mead, very sweet/tart, very pleasant
• Blackberry Cobbler – blackberry mead, strong but good, like eating blackberry cobbler
• Midnight Royal (Chambourcin, Petit Verdot) – fortified with their brandy, very port like, heavy mouth feel
• Cherry Smash (Red Wine, Cherry Juices) – very sweet/tart, like cherry pie

Buck Shoals

Stayed tuned for Part 2 where we cover the last three vineyards in this AVA.

Stonefield Cellars

Stonefield Cellars

This winery is located in Stokesdale, NC near Brad’s hometown of Madison. It is a pretty sight with a really nice store and tasting bar. We had the pleasure of being the only two people in the place late one Saturday morning as we were in route to visit Brad’s family.

Upon our arrival we were greeted by the prettiest cat I have ever seen. We later learned his name is Noah, he is a Bengal, and they have a Merlot in his honor. Noah actually did a nice job of escorting us around the property so that we found the tasting room. Robert, the wine maker who is from California and has a Wine Chemistry degree, did our tasting. Let me go on record now saying that when I first learned 10 years back that there was such a thing as wine chemistry degrees I almost made a significant career change. Time will tell if I was wise to stay the course of my current direction.

Noah says no pictures please!

Their tasting fee is $10 and I failed to note how many that allows you to taste. Once again we were permitted to taste more than the fee limit. I noted that they had in their store collections of three bottles of wine labeled as Sangria kits so I had to ask about that (bottle each of Peach, Strawberry, and Merlot). Ask and ye shall receive. After being told about the Sangria, Brad (what a wing man) comments about how much I love to make Sangria. And I was then presented with a large glass of a batch that had been made up for that evening’s event. It was incredibly good but I resisted the urge to buy the Sangria Kit. Instead we purchased the following wines:

• Viognier – nice crisp, fruit flavors of apple
• Gato Merlot – it is described as smooth and approachable like Noah the cat, very nice
• Barrel X (Syrah, Barbera, Mourvedre) – nice bold wine
• Malbec – good big wine, full bodied
• Beneficence (Syrah, Merlot and Cabernet Franc) – I am becoming a fan of blends with Cabernet Franc
• Cabernet Sauvignon – very rich, good wine
• Strawberry – 100% strawberry juice, like eating a nice ripe strawberry and one of the three wines in the Sangria.

A Couple of Winston-Salem Fine Dining Spots

While doing a four day trip to the Yadkin Valley area to taste NC wines we also managed to enjoy a couple of nice meals along the way. I have eaten at these two places at least three times thanks to a management workshop that we have each year in Winston-Salem but it was Brad’s first visit. Both restaurants have evolving menus based on seasonally available ingredients. Both restaurants also have very modern and unique offerings and fall into the fine dining category in terms of quality and price. However, neither location is stuffy nor stogy, in fact the Meridian in particular is very stylish, possibly trendy.

1703

This is a small place near the Reynolda Village area of Winston. When I have been here for management meetings we have the entire restaurant reserved for our group. On each of those occasions we have watched numerous potential diners arrive hoping to have dinner only to be turned away. This has always given me the impression that it is a consistent dining spot for many locals. The offerings on our limited menus during our management dinners have always covered a nice range of options and every meal has always been wonderfully done.

On the night that Brad and I went the place was virtually empty when we arrived but was full when we left. We opted to share the special appetizer: sausage and cranberry risotto dish for starters and they served it in separate bowls for us. I am a picky risotto eater and prefer mine creamier and less al dente than what was served; however, the sausage in it was wonderful. Brad, who will eat more al dente risotto, agreed that this could have been creamier. For entrees I had the meat pasta special: linguini with sausage, mushrooms, tomatoes all in parmesan cream sauce and Brad had the rack of lamb: roasted rack of lamb with mashed potatoes, wilted spinach and a Spanish Sofrito sauce. Both were absolutely wonderful. For me the pasta dish is the ultimate type of comfort food and I was not disappointed. Brad loves lamb and too often it is presented overcooked but not this time. The wine we selected for our meal was Diseno Old Vine Malbec, from Mendoza, Argentina. It went perfectly with Brad’s lamb but is definitely a wine meant for food because tastes of it prior to eating were a bit disappointing.

Meridian

Meridian is near Old Salem, just south of downtown Winston-Salem. It is a larger restaurant than 1703 and has a pleasing décor and layout. Again, on the occasions when I have been there for management dinners the menu has had nice selections and the food has always been wonderful. The Duck Three Ways seems to consistently be on their menu and I have seen fellow coworkers enjoy it year after year.

For starters Brad had the nicoise salad: rare tuna with eggs, green beans, and tomato-sherry vinaigrette and I had the soup of the day: vegetable minestrone. Both were very good. For entrée’s Brad had Duck Three Ways: three sections prepared in different ways (I think it was seared breast, a confit, and maybe a pate) served with caramelized root vegetable and an apricot sauce. I had the scallop risotto: seared scallop risotto with asparagus, mushrooms, fennel and mascarpone cheese. Again both were wonderful dishes and I was very pleased with the consistency of the risotto, creamy. To finish we shared the chocolate cake dessert. The wine we selected for the evening was Soter Pinot Noir from Oregon, which paired nicely with our food.