Put the "sun" in your Sunday supper with Assyrtiko

Cold weather is here and I love to start the week with a slow-cooked Sunday crock-pot dish. And of course, I pair it with a great bottle of wine. To warm up my chilly Sunday I adapted a recipe for Chicken thighs Avgolemno. Avgolemono is a traditional Greek sauce of egg (avgo) and lemon (lemono). What inspired me to make it was a lovely bottle of Assyrtiko chilling in my fridge just waiting to be drunk. 

Assyrtiko is a grape hailing from the island of Santorini which is made into a dry white wine. The bottle I used was the 2011 Atlantis from Argyros Estate. It is a blend of three white grape varieties: 90% Assyrtiko, 5% Aidani and 5% Athiri which are all indigenous to Santorini. I describe the wine as light, lemony and lively with hints of minerality on the nose and palate. Crisp with good acidity. It is a magical pairing with the flavor profile of the succulent chicken stew which has fresh dill, lemon juice, feta cheese and artichoke hearts.

I found this recipe on the Eating Well website and tweaked it a bit. I used a 6 qt. slow cooker which was just the right size. Sprinkling it with Feta cheese at the end adds a tangy note.

INGREDIENTS
1 pound carrots, cut into 1 1/4-inch pieces, or 3 cups baby carrots
1 pound (3-4 medium) yellow-fleshed potatoes, such as Yukon Gold, peeled and cut lengthwise into 1 1/4-inch-wide wedges
2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs, trimmed
1 14-ounce can reduced-sodium chicken broth
1/3 cup Assyrtiko or any other dry white wine
4 cloves garlic, minced
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 15-ounce can artichoke hearts, rinsed and quartered if large
1 large egg
2 large egg yolks
1/3 cup lemon juice
1/3 cup chopped fresh dill
Freshly ground pepper to taste
Feta cheese

PREPARATION
Spread carrots and potatoes over the bottom and up the sides of a 4-quart or larger slow cooker. Arrange chicken on top of the vegetables. Bring broth, wine, garlic and salt to a simmer in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Pour over the chicken and vegetables. Cover and cook until the chicken is cooked through and vegetables are tender, 2 1/2 to 3 hours on high or 4 to 4 1/2 hours on low.
Add artichokes to the slow cooker, cover and cook on high for 5 minutes. Meanwhile, whisk egg, egg yolks and lemon juice in a medium bowl.
Transfer the chicken and vegetables to a serving bowl using a slotted spoon. Cover and keep warm. Ladle about 1/2 cup of the cooking liquid into the egg mixture. Whisk until smooth. Whisk the egg mixture into the remaining cooking liquid in the slow cooker. Cover and cook, whisking 2 or 3 times, until slightly thickened and sauce reaches 160°F on an instant-read thermometer, 15 to 20 minutes. Stir in dill and pepper. Pour the sauce over the chicken and vegetables sprinkle the feta and serve.
NUTRITION
Per serving: 355 calories; 11 g fat ( 3 g sat , 4 g mono ); 199 mg cholesterol; 27 g carbohydrates; 34 g protein; 4 g fiber; 629 mg sodium; 531 mg potassium.


I can find this wine in the Bay Area at Du Vin Fine Wines of Alameda and at K&L Wine Merchants. I'm sure your local wine merchant can order this wine just for you. Happy Eating and Happy Drinking!

Quarters - The Wine Show: South African Pinotage

Last month's Quarters the Wine Show, focused on Pinotage, a wine as often misunderstood as it is delicious.  I nearly developed a phobia for the variety after getting a particularly bad clunker in the WBC Speed Tasting round. Mud.  Trucker brakes.  Ick.  I never sought it out after that.  Then turns out, it caught up with me after I won a raffle to attend the Wines of South Africa's wonderful event in London.  I gleefully swilled Chenin Blanc, Chardonnay, Syrah, Bordeaux blends, but gingerly avoided the Pinotage table.  Lucky for me, I met up with a dynamic gentleman who not only advocated strongly for Pinotage but guided me around the crowded room to try example after example of delicious Pinotages.  Cherry. Chocolate. Coffee.  A white Pinotage (it tasted like a Condrieu) even a delightful sparkling Pinotage.  Tasting all those wonderful wines changed my mind and made me begin to seek out Pinotages.  Not an easy task in Northern California.

For last month's episode, I opened a wonderful sample I had received from Silkbush Vineyards in the South African Western Cape's Breede River Valley region.  The growers experimented for several years finding the best conditions under the dramatic vistas of the towering Silkbush Mountain to plant the vines.  Wines made from their fruit began to collect awards.  Now the fruit is produced and sold in the US under the label, Lion's Drift.  , I found this to be a delicious example, with aromas of lush vanilla and red fruit.  These were echoed in the flavors, with red fruit and baking spice that wove into elements of blackberry and a touch of cocoa.  Nice acidity and color too.  It made me want to locate Oaxacan food, rich with spice but not heat, to pair.  At under $20, a bottle, this reminded me of a Beaujolais more than anything else.  Ripe, fresh, and an easy pairing, easy on the budget wine. In looking for a source to buy more, Alana Gentry also turned me on to a great resource for South African wine: Cape Ardor Wines passionate importers who cull their lists to present great examples of South African wine to make your shopping easy.

An speaking of resources, I later found out my London wine guide was the notable Peter May, whose excellent book: PINOTAGE: Behind the Legends of South Africa’s Own Wine
provides a 360 degree look at the past , present and future of Pinotage along Peter's interesting journey to discover the variety in South Africa and beyond. A lively read that illuminates.  If you are interested in the history of Pinotage as well as a great armchair travel adventure, this book is a great venue.

South Africa is an exotic location for wine, where vines grow on windswept plains and baking heat, but where winemakers with a sense of history and their eyes on the future are producing wonderful wines.

Next week, our upcoming episode will focus on blends.  I can't wait to discover more!

Last Days of Summer: ’09 Tercero Larner Vineyard Grenache, #GrenacheDay

                A friend and I celebrated #GrenacheDay with one of my favorite Grenaches tasted in the last year—’09 Tercero Larner Vineyard Grenache (14.5% ABV, $30/winery).  In a recent message, winemaker Larry Schaffer wrote, “The ‘09 Larner Vineyard Grenache is 100% Grenache, clone 362, from this special vineyard that sits in the Ballard Canyon area of the Santa Ynez Valley, the area that will become its own AVA shortly. The vineyard is different than the others in the area in that it is 100% sand - and it sits lower than the others in the area and stays much cooler due to this, allowing for later ripening without sugar spikes and retaining great acidity.  The’ 09 is 75% whole cluster [fermentation] and was aged in 3-5 year old French oak barrels for 30 months prior to bottling in April 2012. I only made 100 cases of this wine and really dig it!”

                I really dig it too. At this time of year, it tastes like the end of summer and the beginning of fall in a bottle—bright and dark all at once.  A medium-bodied wine with soft, integrated tannins, this Grenache is dominated by classic black pepper flavors with ripe strawberry, black cherry, and plum with cranberry on the finish.  My friend and I also noticed wonderful green herbal notes and dustiness—maybe cumin—balancing the red fruit and pepper.  When Schaffer pours his wines at tastings, he decants them in beakers, and so we decanted the Larner Grenache for about an hour and a half before drinking it with a truffled pecorino, chicken stew, and simple green salad with French vinaigrette.

                Tercero’s entire lineup is terrific—including a Rhone-style Grenache blend (“Cuvee Christie”), the Watch Hill Grenache, Mourvedre, Viognier, and “The Outlier” Gewurztraminer.  A few weeks ago, I also enjoyed the ’12 Camp 4 Vineyard Grenache Blanc—deliciously salty, bone dry, and refreshing with orange peel flavors.  To top off his great wines, Schaffer’s easiness and personal attention to education about his wines, Rhone varietals, and Santa Barbara County vineyards are inviting and engaging.  This summer, Brix Chicks Xandria and Michele visited Santa Ynez Valley and raved about the Tercero tasting room in Los Olivos.  I’m looking forward to drinking much more Tercero wine in the future and visiting soon.