Explosions of dark chocolate, currant liqueur and blackberries on the nose with giant dark fruit on the pallet, this sleek stealth bomber will make you grin with purple teeth at each round and voluptuous mouthful of supremely rich freshly ground espresso bean and chicory. Watch out Cab. Sauv., make way for Petit Verdot.
This unique and sophisticated European style Merlot has a big nose of bay leaf and mint that carries over red cherry cola and dark cassis. Beautiful hints of black licorice and leather on the back end. Its mouth feel is round and voluptuous, full of red fruits and soft, firm tannins.
Dried sage and toasty oak nose with hints of dark fruit and blackberry preserve over dark baking chocolate and currants. Its structure is complete with an earthy complexity and a long finish. A pleasant reminder of why Napa Cab is king.
This wine is not available in stores. Only 10 cases remaining. Exclusively available for residents of California, Illinois, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas, or a California based wine locker.
This fabulous limited release, single vineyard estate wine is a well-balanced and versatile accompaniment to a wide range of foods. An impressive opener for our many chef catered wine pairings. It presents itself well with fruit and cheeses, seafood, and other light fare for all seasons. Created in the classic Napa style, this crisp refreshing favorite is a relaxing, yet vibrant tropical breeze with hints of citrus and stone fruits. Enjoy!
Blend:
100% Sauvignon Blanc (20% Barrel fermented and Barrel aged)
Aging:
8 Months in 100% French Oak, 25% New Barrels
Vineyard:
Las Cerezas;
Appelation: Yountville, Napa Valley
TA: 0.58 ; PH: 3.38 ; Alc: 14.2% ; RS: 0.2g/100ml ; MAL: 0.02g/100ml (dry)
This bold and meaty Malbec is rich with blackberries and currants. Overflowing with chocolate notes and bursting with dark fruits that fill the mouth, this opulent and balanced wine has a long lingering finish.
Blend:
100% Malbec
Aging:
18 Months in 100% French Oak, 60% New Barrels
TA: 0.56 ; PH: 3.72 ; Alc: 14.5% ; RS: 0.2g/100ml ; MAL: 0.25g/100ml
Vineyard:
Las Cerezas;
Appelation:
Yountville, Napa Valley
Welcome to Qorkz Kitchen! This week we are making one of our favorite Winter dishes. This gnocchi is light and pillowy, and the addition of cinnamon to the sauce makes gives it a sweet start and the chili flake brings a spicy finish. It is the perfect dish to keep you warm on a cold night. We hope you enjoy!
2 Cans Roma Tomatoes
1 Tube Tomato Paste
1 Bulb Garlic
1 Bunch Basil
1/2 Cup Red Wine
1/4 Cup Balsamic Vinegar
1 Tablespoon Dried Basil
1 Tablespoon Dried Thyme
1 Tablespoon Dried Rosemary
1 Tablespoon Black Pepper
1 Tablespoon Red Chili Flakes
1 Tablespoon Cinnamon
1 Tablespoon Salt
1/4 Cup Olive Oil
Slice all the cloves of garlic and set aside. Fill a deep bottom pot with the olive oil and set on a burner set to medium. Place the basil in the pot and sauté for five minutes to infuse the oil with basil flavor.
Remove the basil from the oil and insert the garlic. Sauté the garlic in the oil for five minutes.
Add the tomato paste and fry in the oil for three to five minutes or until it starts to brown the bottom of the pan. Move the paste to the sides of the pan and pour in the red wine to deglaze the bottom. Stir the mixture together and add the balsamic vinegar. Stir for five minutes to fully combine and to keep the mixture from burning.
Pour the tomatoes into a blender and pulse four times to break up the tomatoes. You don't want to purée it into a thin sauce as the sauce should be thick and chunky.
Add the tomatoes to the sauce and stir to combine.
Add the salt, cinnamon, basil, thyme, rosemary, black pepper, and (optional) red chili flakes to the sauce and stir to combine.
Simmer the sauce together for an hour prior to serving.
For a sweet and spicy red sauce, you can't go wrong with Merlot, and for this dish, we recommend the Chateau Lane Merlot $50. It has a nose of cola and mint and a bright fruit flavor that is sure to please.
3 Pounds Russet Potatoes
2 Cups All-Purpose Flour
1 Egg
1 Tablespoon Salt
1 Tablespoon Nutmeg
1/4 Cup Olive Oil (For Use Only If Storing Gnocchi For Later Use)
Using a sharp knife, cut slits in the middle of the potatoes prior to baking. Place them in an oven set to 400 degrees F. Bake for one and a half hours or until a knife can be inserted cleanly.
Remove the skins from the potatoes and discard. Using a food mill or a ricer, process the potatoes into fine strands.
Place the potatoes onto a workspace and make a well in the middle. Sprinkle the flour over the potato mixture. Sprinkle the salt over the mixture and place an egg into the center of the well.
Using a pastry scraper, fold the mixture together to form a rough dough.
Grate one tablespoon of nutmeg over the top of the dough. Kneed the dough for five minutes to incorporate the nutmeg. When the dough becomes dry to the touch it is done.
Place more flour on your work surface and cut the dough into four equal size pieces.
Roll each piece of the dough into a long roll 3/4 of an inch in diameter.
Cut the dough into one inch sections and set aside.
Using a gnocchi board or a fork, roll grooves into each piece of gnocchi and set aside.
Set a pot of salted water to boil on a stovetop. Place all the gnocchi into the pot and cook until it floats to the surface.
Place the cooked gnocchi into the sauce and cook together on low heat for ten minutes to combine.
Place the gnocchi and sauce in a bowl. Grate some parmesan cheese over the top and sprinkle with fresh cut basil prior to serving.
Welcome to Qorkz Kitchen! This week we are making one of our favorites of all time, soup dumplings! It might be our proximity to Chinatown in San Francisco that gives these meat and soup filled dumplings their cult like following, but people around here will go far out of their way to find the best ones. While there are many types of Shanghai dumplings, our favorites are Xiao Long Bao which are filled with pork, shrimp, and a smokey pork and chicken soup. We tried our hand at the recipe created by Steamy Kitchen and we found it to be a huge success!
Try Humanitas Sauvignon Blanc. It's delicious, it pairs great with Xiao Long Bao, and the proceeds go to charity, making it okay to open that second bottle. $30 on Qorkz.com
2 Quarts of Water
2 Pounds Chicken Wings
1.5 Pounds of Smoked Virginia Country Ham Bone In
10 oz of Salt Pork
1 Inch Piece of Ginger, Sliced Into 4-5 Ginger "Coins"
2 Green Onions, Cut Into 3" Pieces
2 Garlic Cloves, Smashed With Side of Your Knife
2 Teaspoons of Chinese Rice Wine
1 Tablespoon Powdered Agar Agar
400 Grams of All-Purpose Flour
3/4 Cups Boiling Hot Water
1/4 Cup Cold Water
1 lb Ground Pork
1/4 lb Shrimp, Shelled, Deveined and Minced Finely
3 Stalks Green Onion, Finely Minced
2 Teaspoons Sugar
2 Tablespoons Soy Sauce
1 Teaspoon Kosher Salt
1/4 Teaspoon White Pepper
1/2 Teaspoon Grated Fresh Ginger
1 Teaspoon Chinese Rice Wine
1/4 Teaspoon Sesame Oil
Fair warning in advance, it takes awhile to make this broth. You have to steep the ingredients and then let the gelatin set up for at least 5 hours after adding the Agar powder. I made this the day before I made the soup dumplings and I had a well steeped and firm gelatin.
Start by cutting your chives in half, smashing your garlic cloves, and cutting your 1 inch piece of ginger into medallions. Add them along with your water to a deep stock pot. Then cut the salt pork and smoked Virginia ham away from the bone. Add the chicken necks, wings, salt pork and Virginia ham to the broth.
Bring the stock to a boil on high heat. Once the stock starts to boil, turn the heat to medium and a gentle simmer. If any foam rises to the surface, be sure to scoop that out and discard.
Simmer the stock for 1 and a half to 2 hours or until the remaining meat falls off the ham bone.
Remove the solids from the broth and discard. Strain the broth through a fine strainer and return the stock to the pot.
Return the stock to the heat and bring back to a boil. Once boiling, turn the heat off and stir in the 1 tablespoon of powdered Agar Agar and whisk for two minutes.
Once the stock has come to room temperature, pour the stock into a 9x11 baking dish. Place the stock into the fridge to cool for at least 5 hours. (I let mine sit overnight).
When you're ready to make your dumplings remove the jello tray from the fridge and cut it into small cubes in preparation for adding to the dumplings.
To make the filling you first need to devein your shrimp. If you have never done this before, it can look intimidating but can be done in a few short steps. Peel the shell off the back of the shrimp and remove the legs. Then cut down the back of the shrimp and remove the shrimps digestive tract and then rinse. That's it!
Next cut the shrimp into a fine dice and place into the work bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment.
Next, cut your scallions into a fine dice
Remove the outer-skin of the ginger. Using a grater or microplane, grate the ginger and set aside.
Combine the shrimp, pork, scallions, ginger, sugar, salt, rice wine, sesame oil, and soy sauce to the work bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment.
Mix the ingredients together in the stand mixer until blended, usually about 30 seconds on medium. Next, add about half of your broth jello cubes to the mix and blend for another 30 seconds. Refrigerate until you are ready to use.
Try the Chateau Lane Sauvignon Blanc. Crisp and refreshing with a hint of citrus, it is a terrific pairing for the hot soup dumplings. $28 on Qorkz.com
This dough is made of just hot water and and flour with a touch of cold water added at the end. I made this in a food processor with the dough blade but it could easily be made in a stand mixer. Place the 400 grams by weight of all-purpose flour in a work bowl and turn on the food processor. Pour the hot water into the bowl in a slow and steady stream.
Once you have added the hot water and the dough becomes crumbly, add the cold water in a slow and steady stream. Process for another 20 seconds or until the dough comes away from the sides of the bowl.
Remove the dough and form it into a ball. Place the dough in a ziplock bag and set aside to hydrate for at least 30 minutes. Since the dough is hot, the the bag will fill with steam.
After 30 minutes, take the dough out of the bag and place it on a floured surface. Cut the dough into quarters. Working with one quarter at a time, roll the dough into a log about 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Using a knife or pastry scraper, cut the dough into 1 inch sections. Using a dowel or small rolling pin, roll the each section flat.
Using a a pastry cutter, cut 3 inch circles out of the dough. Repeat until all the dough is rolled out and cut.
We like our dumplings with extra soup, so we place a jello cube of broth in the bottom of the dumpling underneath the filling. You don't have to do this step however. Using a spoon, place one ounce of filling inside of the dough circle on top of the jello cube. Place the filled dough in your hand and begin to pleat the outside. Make small folds all the way around to seal the dumplings. This does not need to look perfect for the home cook, but it does need a proper seal or the soup will evaporate during the cooking process.
For this you will need a bamboo steamer. If you don't have one, you should be able to find one at your local cooking store. I found them for sale cheaply at the Wok Shop in Chinatown. You can also find them on Amazon here.
Use Napa Cabbage to line the bottom of your steamer basket, then set the steamer over a pot of boiling water. Let the steam pass through the steamer for for 15 minutes before adding the dumplings.
Add the dumplings one at a time over the both layers of your bamboo steamer. Be careful not to overcrowd the steamer and be sure to double check the seals on the dumplings so the soup does not evaporate.
Steam the dumplings with the lid on the steamer for 12 minutes. The steam will melt the jello cubes into soup during the cooking process. After 12 minutes take the dumplings off the heat and eat immediately.
What good is a dumpling without a dipping sauce? Mix together 1 tablespoon of sambal (hot chili & garlic sauce), 1/4 cup black vinegar, 1/4 cup soy sauce, 1 teaspoon sesame oil, and a 2-inch piece of fresh ginger cut in a fine dice.
Either serve the dumplings inside the steamer basket or plate with the sauce to serve. These are best when enjoyed immediately out of the steamer and piping hot.
Looking for more wine pairings? Sparkling White, Fume Blanc, Riesling, and Grüner Veltliner all pair well with Xiao Long Bao.
One of the six Bordeaux grapes, Petit Verdot is generally considered a blending grape due to its late harvest and low yield. Many California winemakers have begun creating Petit Verdot as its own variety, and it is starting to gain esteem as much more than a blending wine. Petit Verdot prefers to be cultivated in a cooler environment than the rest of the Bordeaux grapes and requires a very well draining soil. It has a naturally very high acid and medium sugar to the grape. Petit Verdot has thick skins and high tannin structure that will soften with aging. Petit Verdot has very small berry clusters, and unless the conditions are correct, the fruit will not ripen. Due to the small production yields, aging time, and difficulty growing, Petit Verdot can be very expensive as a stand alone varietal.
Petit Verdot has the aromas of blueberries, violet flowers, tobacco, leather, and green olives, with the flavor of blackberries, plums, herbal nettles, vanilla, and oak. A young Petit Verdot will have a high tannin structure that will soften with barrel aging or in the bottle over time.
Petit Verdot’s high tannin structure makes it an excellent pairing for steak, veal, sausages, grilled meats, lamb, and game.
$ 90.00
Explosions of dark chocolate, currant liqueur and blackberries on the nose with giant dark fruit on the pallet, this sleek stealth bomber will make you grin with purple teeth at each round and voluptuous mouthful of supremely rich freshly ground espresso bean and chicory. Watch out Cab. Sauv., make way for Petit Verdot.
Having a Friday night in? We recommend a movie, a bottle of wine, and some popcorn. What type of movie? One about wine of course! There are many movies about wine out there to choose from and on Fridays we will share one with you that we have seen and enjoyed. You get the popcorn and let Qorkz send you the wine!
For over three centuries, Bordeaux has commanded an almost mythical status in the world of wine as a symbol of wealth, power, and influence. But recently, prices for the prestige red wines have been skyrocketing. Something unprecedented is happening to the Bordeaux fine wine market and that something is China.
Red Obsession sets out to explore the Bordeaux phenomenon. Just how good can really good wine be? What compels a cashed up industrialist to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars for a single bottle? Is it taste, prestige, or investment that is driving the demand for the wines of Bordeaux? Or is it simply the need to own something ethereal, unworldly and limited?
Red Obsession is a story of aspiration for greatness. It is also a study of power and passion in high places and the economic power shift from West to East. - Red-Obsession.com
The Chinese economy has grown exponentially in recent years and has trapped the wine industry in its tremendous wake. While this film focuses on the Chinese obsession for Bordeaux wines, the effect of the new Chinese wine fever has most certainly reached the United States as well. With the prices of Napa Cabernet Sauvignon inching towards averages of $250 - $300 a bottle, we can see how these wines are slowly becoming beyond the reach of the average wine consumer. When will the ever escalating prices of these wines slow down? If Red Obsession is any indication, we might not discover that answer for a long, long time.
Are you the nouveau riche and want to have the absolute very best of something? Is money not really an object for you in getting what you want? No? Me neither. But if you want to be, then this movie is your guilty pleasure. From transplanting whole wineries brick by brick, to astronomically high bidding wars for single bottles of wine, this movie shows how the other half lives when they want something done right. For most of us wine drinkers, being able to drink any bottle you want, whenever you want is the pinnacle of being an oenophile and that's exactly the life being depicted here. We love the film because it makes us jealous, terrified, and leaves us in awe, all at the same time.
This movie calls for Cabernet, and not just any Cabernet, really really good Cabernet. Try any of these selections and you won't be sorry.
Anthem 2010 Beckstoffer Cabernet. Looking for a Cabernet that makes you lean back in your chair and go "WOW! That's incredible" Then this one's for you.
2011 Sabina Cabernet Sauvignon. Grace, elegance, and class, are just a few words to describe this highly sought after Cabernet. It's everything a Napa Cabernet is supposed to be.
2011 Chateau Lane Cabernet Sauvignon. Big, bold, and completely unafraid, this Cabernet is deep and complex with assertive fruit and lingering spice. When you taste it you reminder why Cabernet is king.
Having a Friday night in? We recommend a movie, a bottle of wine, and some popcorn. What type of movie? One about wine of course! There are many movies about wine out there to choose from and on Fridays we will share one with you that we have seen and enjoyed. You get the popcorn and let Qorkz send you the wine!
What lies within the rhythm of a year?
The vines bud and grow leaves and tendrils, and are trained, cared for. They make grapes, and a small, diligent army of hands comes to carry them away. The stripped vines die back, dry and brown, and turn to brush. The brush is burned, going into the wind as a curl of smoke and into the ground as ash. This is a year in Burgundy.
Experience the year with French wine importer Martine Saunier as your guide. The film is in four season-sections, and plays out against that backdrop: spring showers, drought, heat wave, hail and storms, harvest moons and the damp cold of winter. Each vintage is a time capsule, a bottled piece of history of a very specific year, with its particular weather pattern, its crises and its triumphs. It all goes in, whether you want it to or not, and 2011 was full of drama.
In the film, we get to know our half-dozen wine-makers: they are artists, whose personalities shape the flavor and style of the wines they lovingly craft. There is joy, fear, anxiety, triumph, and laughter in their experiences. With the Morey-Coffinets, we meet three generations of wine-makers, and little two-year-old Celeste, the first of the fourth generation.
In Lalou Bize-Leroy, we meet the uncrowned Queen of Burgundy – now in her eighties, still involved in every detail of her winemaking, creator of some of the best-renowned and most famous wines on earth.
We get a sense of the deep history involved. Though they use many of the latest equipment and techniques, the secrets of winemaking in Burgundy and the discovery of the best terroirs (and how to exploit them) have been developed since Roman times. Indeed, the Cistercian monks kept the art alive during the Dark Ages (500-1000) and developed a whole industry in the Middle Ages: their central wine-making HQ, Clos de Vougeot, still exists, and is the location for one of the central scenes of the film: a great mid-summer banquet.
Burgundy is exquisitely beautiful. Even if it had no vines, it would be a favorite destination. Its ancient villages, its gentle hillsides, valleys and streams give the impression of a fairy-tale land. Yet it's here that we find what is arguably the most valuable agricultural land on earth: tiny vineyards no bigger than many people's backyards produce wine that sells for thousands of dollars a bottle...
This is a year that went into the bottle and onto film. This is our capsule. The grapes grow. The grapes die away. What is left always in the frame is a way of life. - A Year In Burgundy Official Website.
Right away you get a sense of how incredibly important wine is in Burgundy. While you get to meet many winemakers and important members of the Burgundy wine community, the wine remains the star. Watching this film you get to experience all the essential elements of winemaking as they take us on a journey from vine to bottle. You also get an understanding of how fiercely protective the different winemakers and vineyard managers are over their craft and their style of growing the vines. To trim or not to trim? Pick before or after the rain? Hand sort or machine sort? Make a mistake in any one of these decisions and the vintage might not meet the lofty standards of Burgundian wine.
Part travel film and documentary, A Year In Burgundy lets you visit the French countryside without ever leaving the comfort of your living room while giving you a behind the scenes tour of one of the world's best wine producing regions. We love the science behind winemaking and how it's used to combat all the challenges that nature brings to each vintage. We can greedily overindulge in this film on the battle against Botrytis, the rush to beat the rain at harvest, and what kind of effect (both good and bad) that stems, leaves, and other green tannins can have on a wine. Oh, and did I mention all the romance and picturesque setting of the French countryside? We love this film, and we're certain you'll love it too.
You think Burgundy and you think Pinot Noir. This Sabina Pinot Noir is crafted in the traditional Burgundian style making it the perfect partner to this film.
What else does Burgundy do really well? Chardonnay. Think cold, minerals, stone fruit, with good acid. This Stella Chardonnay brings you all of those elements with a touch of honeysuckle to balance that acidity.
This fabulous limited release, single vineyard estate wine is a well-balanced and versatile accompaniment to a wide range of foods. An impressive opener for our many chef catered wine pairings. It presents itself well with fruit and cheeses, seafood, and other light fare for all seasons. Created in the classic Napa style, this crisp refreshing favorite is a relaxing, yet vibrant tropical breeze with hints of citrus and stone fruits. Enjoy!
Blend:
100% Sauvignon Blanc (20% Barrel fermented and Barrel aged)
Aging:
8 Months in 100% French Oak, 25% New Barrels
Vineyard:
Las Cerezas;
Appelation: Yountville, Napa Valley
TA: 0.58 ; PH: 3.38 ; Alc: 14.2% ; RS: 0.2g/100ml ; MAL: 0.02g/100ml (dry)
Welcome to Qorkz Kitchen! Today we are doing one of our own recipes and making fresh semolina Bucatini pasta from scratch. We are then finishing the pasta in our homemade red sauce. This dish is hearty with just a little kick of spice and is perfect for a cold fall day. We hope you enjoy it!
115 grams of Semolina flour
225 grams of Duram flour
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoons water
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon fine ground black pepper
3 eggs
Flour measurements are by weight. We like this kitchen scale for our measurements because of its weight zeroing function allowing us to weigh everything in one bowl.
Mix the semolina, durum, salt, and pepper in the bowl of a stand mixer to incorporate them together. Then slowly add one egg at a time, then the oil, and let the dough start to come together. Depending on the humidity in the kitchen you're working in, the dough may be finished at this point or still may need some water to help smooth it out. Add the water one tablespoon at a time until the dough forms a ball and comes away cleanly from the sides of the mixing bowl. Because this dough is destined for a pasta extruder, it can't be too dry or the pasta will crack and fall apart as it's being extruded.
The dough coming away from the sides of the bowl cleanly.
Once the dough comes away cleanly, form it in a ball on the counter and then wrap it in saran wrap to rest for 30 - 40 minutes.
For this next part, we use a Kitchen Aid pasta extruder to create our Bucatini pasta. Available Here. If you don't have a pasta extruder, this dough could be rolled out into sheets and hand cut into the noodles of your choosing.
Take 1/4 cup of the semolina flour and coat the counter of your workspace. Then roll the dough out gently until you have a disk about twelve inches in diameter. Next, cut the dough into smaller sections roughly equal in size. Once you have your pieces cut, roll each one into its own smaller dough ball to go into the pasta extruder.
To form the noodles, attach the extruder to your Kitchen Aid with the Bucatini plate inserted. Turn the power on to full. Take the dough balls one at a time and insert them into the top of the extruder. They will work their way down the screw inside slowly, so be cautious of that and don't overload the machine. The pasta will come out the bottom fully formed and you cut it off at your desired length.
Air dry the noodles on a pasta drying rack for 30 minutes prior to cooking. This step makes a big difference in the integrity of the noodles as wet noodles are more likely to stick and clump together during cooking. We like this pasta drying rack for its easy storage.
Boil the pasta in salted water for 9 minutes or until mostly cooked through. The noodles will cook for additional time in the red sauce prior to serving so you don't want to overcook the noodles, but because there was raw egg used in the dough, be certain to cook the noodles thoroughly. We did not add any oil to our water as that would coat the outside of the noodles and make it harder for our red sauce to stick.
This red sauce is our go-to for hearty pasta dishes when we don't want to have a big meaty sauce. It is rich and fragrant with just a touch of spice.
28 oz can whole peeled Roma tomatoes
1 bunch basil
8 cloves of garlic sliced
1 tube/can tomato paste
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1 cup red wine
1 tablespoon red chili flake
1 tablespoon dried basil
1 table spoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 tablespoon salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
5 bay leaves.
Using a heavy bottomed pot, add the olive oil, garlic, and 10 fresh basil leaves and cook over medium low for ten minutes to bring out the garlic and basil flavor to the oil. Once the garlic and basil have cooked through, remove the basil from the oil leaving the garlic behind. increase the heat to medium and add the tomato paste. Cook the tomato paste for five minutes or until it starts to brown on the bottom of the pan. Add the balsamic vinegar and stir for another two minutes. Move the paste to the sides of the dish and add the red wine directly to the center of the pan to deglaze any parts of the tomato paste that have stuck to the bottom and then stir the whole mixture together and cook for another 1 -2 minutes.
Pour the tomatoes into a blender or food processor and pulse 4-5 times until the tomatoes are chunky but not smooth. Add the tomato mixture into the pot slowly so as not to splatter the hot tomato paste.
Next add all the spices along with ten fresh basil leaves and give the whole sauce a stir. Reduce the heat to medium low and simmer for one hour stirring occasionally. If the sauce reduces too much, add another 1/4 cup of wine or 1/4 cup of water to thin it back out. Remove bay leaves prior to serving.
Remove the pasta from the pasta water but do not rinse. Bucatini is a pasta that is hollow inside so it is going to retain some of the pasta water inside of the noodles, which will help add some salt and starch to the sauce. Pour the Bucatini directly into the sauce and stir to coat. Simmer the pasta on low for about five minutes to bring the dish together. To serve, use thongs to twist the pasta into a bowl and grate some Parmigiano Reggiano over the top and ad one basil leaf for presentation.
“Pasta and red sauce and Merlot. Is there anything more perfect? This Merlot has big cherry flavor with hints of leather and tobacco with soft tannins. Grab a glass and taste why this partnership will always be timeless. ”
“I love a good Rhone GSM blend anytime but especially with spicy pasta. The spice of the Grenache, lavender fragrance and perfumed berries of the Mourvedre and the dense, tannic fruit of the Syrah lend themselves perfectly to this flavorful and hearty bowl of pasta. ”
One of the six Bordeaux grapes, Merlot is a dark skinned grape and one of the most popular red wine varietals. While most famous for its production in Bordeaux, Merlot is also widely grown in California, specifically Napa Valley, Sonoma, and the Central Coast, along with South America. Merlot grows in loose clusters of larger berries and has a medium tannin structure. Merlot has a naturally high sugar content and low acidity. Merlot grapes need to struggle to maintain their acidity and grow best in well-draining clay soil. Because of its thin skins, Merlot is susceptible to mildew, rot, and frost.
The flavor of Merlot depends greatly on where it was grown and the preference and style of the winemaker. When planted in a cold climate, Merlot has flavors of strawberry, and plum with hints of tobacco. When grown in a moderate climate, Merlot has bold flavors of blackberry, black cherry, and plum. When cultivated in a hot climate, flavors of dried fruit, chocolate and plum are more prominent.
When the fruit is harvested early, the wines have more acid and are produced with a more moderate alcohol level. The wine will have lighter fruit flavors such as raspberries and strawberries with a sometimes herbal characteristic. When the fruit is harvested late, the wine will be higher in alcohol content and very full bodied with deep rich flavors of blackberries, plums, and cherries.
Because if its deep flavor and medium tannin structure, Merlot pairs well with Italian sausage, meatballs, hamburgers, chicken, tomato sauce, charcuterie, earthy flavors such as lamb or mushroom, pork chops, roast turkey, and ham. The higher alcohol of Merlot can bring out the capsaicin in spicy foods and is not a good match. When pairing with cheese, aged Gouda, Camembert, Toussaint, and Pecorino Toscano are good pairings.
One of the best and worst parts of Qorkz is the exclusivity of the wine. Every wine sold in the Qorkz Marketplace is small production, very hard to find, and highly sought after. As a result, sometimes the wine sells out quickly. We'll let you know when a wine sells out and remind you that if you've had your eye on a wine don't wait until it's too late!
One of our favorite red blends and the Qorkzcru product of the day on October 2, has officially sold out. Check out the rest of the Chateau Lane line on Qorkz.com.
Coombsville received its designation as an AVA in 2011. Situated on 11,000 acres, Coombsville is a sub-appellation of the Napa Valley AVA. Coombsville ranges in elevation from near sea level at the Napa River on the west to 1,900 feet at the ridge of the Vaca Mountain Range. The Coombsville soils consist of rock, gravel and, some areas are layered with volcanic ash generated from the slow erosion of nearby Mount George. Proximity to San Pablo Bay contributes cooling effects of marine air and fog occurring almost daily during the growing season, maintaining a constant cool temperature to offset the warm daily sun. This allows for a longer growing season than other Napa Valley growing regions and allows the fruit the time on the vine required to develop a strong balance of tannin and acidity. Like most of Napa Valley, the region is dominated by the production of Cabernet Sauvignon, but also produces Chardonnay, Syrah, and Pinot Noir.
Here at Qorkz we like wine, food, and sharing our experiences with other wine lovers. We are thrilled to offer our new blog Qorkscru to share the joy of wine culture, along with the great stories and products of our wineries and winemakers. Cheers from our wineries the whole Qorkz team and we hope you enjoy Qorkscru!
