Tender Twosomes: Newsome-Harlow "The Dash" and Frozen Sabayon -- Wine Blogging Wednesday #66

A lot of people do like to skip dessert---I'm not one of them.  And sad to say am not evolved enough to be europeanally happy with a nice piece of cheese, which would make pairing relatively easy.  However with a little luck and ingenuity, pairing desserts with wine can be easy and fun.  One of my favorite pairs is the Aglianico and Chocolate Budino at A16 in San Francisco, which I described in rapturous detail previously. 
When I have people over, I love making home made ice cream for the simple reason that it is easy to make it in advance and then it's one less thing I have to think of, without resorting to swathing a Trader Joe commercial offering in whipped cream.  Plus, if you make the ice cream yourself, you can present more exotic options like rose petal, St. Supery peach (thank you Lesley Keffer-Russell), dried cherry-port, the list goes on.

My go-to base takes two days to make, what with the custard cooling, etc, so I have been experimenting with a quicker recipe that lets me go from cravings to savorings in under an hour.  So for this Wine Blogging Wednesday, I knew exactly what I wanted to try.  Newsome Harlow puts out a dessert wine called "The Dash".  Labelled a Sweet Dessert wine, I think it is made from Late harvest Muscat Canelli and it is delicious all on its own.  With a peachy, gingerey flavor and silky rolling mouthfeel ,capped off by a sweetly spicy finish, it is very tasty.  Since it reminded me of Sauterne, I thought it would be perfect to incorporate into the sabayon base for my gelato. 

Frozen Sabayon
6 egg yolks
6 tablespoons sugar separated into 2 tbs and 4 tbs
1/4 cup plus 2 tbsp (separated) The Dash or other sweet white dessert wine
1 tbsp tawny port (you could also use Grand Marnier if you want to bring up orange notes.  I used Penfold's Grandfathers)
1 tsp finely chopped orange zest
1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream

Over a double boiler, with water on a low simmer, beat 6 eggs yolks with 2 tbs sugar with an electric mixer until the mixture is pale yellow and very thick...about 4-5 minutes. Be careful not to overheat as yolks will cook. Reduce heat.  Whisking vigorously with a wire whisk, add the 1/4 cup of wine  into the egg yolk. Then add, the orange zest and the remaining wine as well as the port.  Add the liquor slowly while whisking continuously.  When the mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon it is done.

In separate bowl, whip cream into soft peaks. Add remaining sugar and continue beating until well mixed but stop before the cream gets too stiff or turns to butter. Once sugar is mixed in, fold in sabayon. Once the two mixtures are loosely incorporated, pour into ice cream maker and process according to manufacturers direction. I usually take it out of the ice cream maker at a soft stage and place it in a freezer container to set.

Paired with The Dash, you get the complementary textures of the opulent, silky wine together with the meltingly silky ice cream.  Talk about Tender Twosomes! Delicious!

Newsome Harlow is located in Murphys, California.

BIODYNAMIC and the story of Liza, the Wine Cougar

Well, it's not exactly what you think, but more on that later.  First, I got to attend the "Taste of Place" event put on by the Demeter Trade association, a group of passionate, talented individuals working collectively to raise the awareness, help educate and actively encourage the use of Biodynamic practices in agriculture and commerce.  Coming out of the work of Rudolf Stein as early as the '20s, Biodynamic practices are coming even more to the forefront as we all move toward more sustainable practices in our daily lives.  What I learned is that there is a whole lot I do not know about Biodynamic, including "why the horn?" 

However, the produce was delicious and the amazing cheese (Devil's Gulch, Tatanaise and Sonoma Gold) a bonus. 

 I did learn that the "practice of Biodynamic agriculture includes:

• Managing the whole farm as a living organism
• Maintenance of a healthy and diverse ecosytem: an expectation that the farmer supports a broad ecological perspective, which includes not only the earth, but as well the cosmic influences and rhythms of which the earth is a part.
• Nutrient self sufficiency and soil husbandry; use of Biodynamic preparations to build soil health through enlivened compost and to stimulate plant health
• Integration of livestock with a requirement that 80% of the livestock feed comes from the farm(some horticultural operations may be excused from this, but Tortilla, the Quivira Grenache goat thinks it is a fine, fine notion)
• Since 1992 Demeter has prohibited the use of genetcially engineered plant materials and organisms"

I also tried some very nice Biodynamic wine:

Quivira Grenache: Dark, lovely wine that tasted like Summer

Benzinger Tribute: Young, strapping Cabernet Sauvignon and other red variety blend

Deep Red: Barrel Samples of '07 vs. '06

Radio Coteau: Delectable Pinot Noir of surpassing delight

Bonny Doon: Finally I tracked down the Albarino

Peak Spirits: Biodynamic Grappa that packed a punch of Chardonnay

Oh and the cougar part?  So, Michelle and I were having a "discussion"  about some of the younger wines, with me perceiving them as drinkable now, while she preferred/yearned for/was set on waiting for them to get beyond mature to well, kinda old.  I like young wine.  So I told her if that makes me a Wine Cougar, rowwwr.  And I changed her name to Anna Nicole.  But we both agreed on this: It was wonderful to see and hear the stories and the dedication of the wine makers to this interesting discipline.

Olson Ogden Stagecoach Syrah

Adventures in wine ARE all around!  Recently I was lucky enough to be invited along by Luscious Lush Thea to the Wine and Wishes event on Treasure Island.  How did I not know about this?  It is a fabulous event put on by the Make-A-Wish people to benefit the programs that fulfill wishes for sick children.  Not that I need a good cause to drink up, but when it's for the kids,...well.  Not only was a veritable gauntlet of tony noshes and bites... too many to mention.  And we got to see (and by see, I mean taste)  many of our favorites from all over Nor Cal.  But the real adventures came when the Tipsy Twins started to hit the Silent Auction.  With a ton of wonderful offerings, temptation struck and we bid on like 6 things.  Thankfully for Mr. Visa, we were outbid on everything.  But one thing we were committed to, we won ( I will be silent on whether my pit boss-like stance and hockey-goalie-esque demeanor had anything to do with our winning bid). 

It was our good fortune to come away with the '07 Olson Ogden Syrah, Stagecoach Vineyard, Napa, California.  I opened a bottle this weekend and I was even more delighted.  Dark in the glass, the aromas evoked blackberries and spice.  With pleasant tannins that tickled the top of my mouth, and flavors of black cherry, cigar box, anise, it evolved over time to even tastier dark fruits and spice.  Yum!  At $52 dollars, it may sound a little pricey, but for a small production single vineyard Syrah from Napa, it actually seems like a very good deal. And for us?  It was all for the kids!