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Lamb is one of my favorite things to eat. As wonderful as racks and chops are they?re a little pricey, so I pretty much stick to making butterflied boneless legs. Here?s my usual method.
Ingredients: 1 boneless leg of lamb, 4-5 lbs. extra-virgin olive oil salt (Kosher, sea salt, or equivalent) freshly-ground black pepper ground cumin seed fresh garlic, chopped fine dried oregano (preferably Turkish)
Method: Start by taking the net off of the boneless leg. Place a large cutting board on a sturdy surface, and roll the meat out as flat as possible on it. With a large hammer (I use an Estwing three-pound sledge), wham the lamb relentlessly until it is of a more or less uniform thickness, about 1.5" - 2".
Using a sharp knife, cut the meat into two similarly-sized pieces. Trim off as much fat and silvery membrane as possible.
Massage olive oil into both sides of the meat, then season both sides to taste with high-quality salt and fresh-ground pepper, then liberally with the powdered cumin.
Chop a big handful of fresh garlic cloves (or alternatively, buy a jar of minced garlic), then evenly distribute the chopped garlic in little plops on the meat.
Massage it in well, then repeat the process on the other side. When the garlic and spices are well rubbed in and the meat is a consistent color, sprinkle both sides with plenty of dried oregano (you DO buy your spice in bulk, don?t you?).
Tightly wrap in plastic wrap, and set aside in a refrigerator for at least four hours, preferably longer. [At this point, I usually put half of the meat in a freezer bag and freeze for later.]
When you?re ready to cook your lamb, let it come up to room temperature while your grill preheats. When the grill is ready, cook the lamb over direct high heat for five minutes per side, turning once. Remove meat from grill and let rest for 5-10 minutes before slicing it into serving strips, much as you would a flank steak.
This dish pairs well with many sides ? rice, potatoes, green beans, and various Indian dishes among them. As for wine, try a Grenache, Malbec or, of course, a nice big Cab.
Sad sign of the times: collectors are resorting to selling their precious wine in order to raise capital. Lisa Baertlein (reuters.com) writes:
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Wine cellars have been taking a hit from the global credit crisis and it isn't because the owners of rare bottles are drinking more -- it's because they have been selling to raise cash.
The selling started with mortgage brokers and has moved to Wall Street as owners turn their collections of coveted vintages into liquid assets.
"People need money. Even richer people need money sometimes," Vinfolio.com founder and Chief Executive Stephen Bachmann told Reuters on Monday.
In the last few weeks, private collectors submitted offers to sell $10 million worth of wine to Vinfolio, a San Francisco-based company that buys and sells wine online. Normally the company has about $6 million offered to it.
Time to clear a few things up here at Catavino.net. This past week, we have received some emails that need to be addressed, and we think the only place to do it is here on our site. Lately, we’ve been receiving some odd emails. Evidently, there is a rumor circulating that Catavino is a winery/bodega. You see, this week I’ve received at least 5 emails from different countries, including the USA, asking to represent our wines in restaurants, export markets and country wide in the case of Canada. Being a couple of wine writers without a winery, nor with any connection to the wine making process, I’m not sure where this idea has come from. I have to say we’re quite flattered, though a bit befuddled. Is there something on our site that leads people to think we make wine? Do other wine bloggers find themselves being solicited in such a way? Inquiring minds want to know!
Trust us, we would love to make a wine. In fact, we tried to once, but with mixed results. We will try again, and if you are a winery who wants to help us in this project, we’re all ears. We’d love to put out a Catavino Garnacha Blanca, or Catavino Touriga Nacional, but sadly, they don’t exist. However, we’ll be sure to scream it from the rooftops if we and when we do create a Catavino wine.
What we do do is work with wineries to use the internet more effectively. Currently, we have 4 clients, and we are interested in helping a few more, but we are getting picky. If you are, or you know, a winery that understands how the wine world is changing and that old ideas might not apply, give us a ring. My number is: +34 656 433 063, call me, llamame, liga-me, or send us an email: cvm@catavino.net, we’re listening!
So Now For Some Wine…But Let’s Not Talk About Iberia For A Moment
A completely biased and non-professional review is coming up. Why? Amy Lillard, and her blog, have been in my feed reader for almost as long as I’ve known what a feed is. Tom Wark has lauded them as one of the top winery blogs, and I have to agree with his approval. The level of frankness and honesty on this site is mind blowing and if you are a winery who wants to start a blog, you would not be doing poorly if you copied Amy’s model and style. Because of her writing, I felt like a close friend even before I had the chance to meet her at the EWBC 2008. The only element that was missing from our relationship was her wine. I wanted to try the wine but with its lack of distribution in Spain, I just had to wait. The winery and the blog’s name are La Gramiere.
Fortunately, the harvest did not keep Amy from visiting us in Logrono at the EWBC2008, giving me the chance to finally taste the wine behind the blog. Thus, this critique is tainted by the relationship I have with both her and her writing. Having followed the ups and downs for so long on her blog, I feel connected to what she is doing, and I feel like I hold a small stake in her adventure. This is proof as to why wineries should blog!
How is the wine? In one word, great! We miss French wine, seeing that Spain has none for sale, or at least very little. This is a wine after my own heart, a Rhone wine that is not from the Rhone (see full story here). It is full of the spice and terroir that I love, but with a lighter, less obvious way about it. After my first taste, where I was grateful that it didn’t suck (a fear I had considering my high expectations), I was quickly told that the wine was around 15%; something that both turned me off and at the same time surprised me. Similar to my notes on Monday, discussing how 100% new oak shouldn’t always be associated as a bad trait, you cannot say that high alcohol is always bad either. This wine is balanced and pleasant, and has a long life ahead of itself. I have to recommend it: number one, if you trust me and my palate, and number two, if you like to look at wine from new perspectives. This is a winner, not to mention organic. And if you ask Amy her thoughts on organic wine…well, let’s just say that you might want to pour a tall glass and grab a seat, because it will be awhile before she finishes.
Sorry that I can’t be more objective, but I feel that as I become closer to wineries who blog, the less I can allow myself not to be their cheerleaders. On the other hand if I try to separate myself from my love for this wine and look at it completely objectively, I still have to say I think it is a very well made, interesting wine. La Gramiere is making great wine, and they are telling the story as they do it. For me this is what wine should be about, good juice, good people, and lot’s of stories!
This weekend, we built a wine rack. When we first moved to Terrassa almost 3 years ago, we were regularly lacking in wine as a result of less income, less samples and less travel. Consequently, we never had a formal wine rack. But when you change any one of these factors, you end up with a lot more wine. Now imagine if you changed all three like we have?! We not only needed to figure out where to store it all, but also how to inventory it. I still have most of my cellar in Cellartracker, though I quit putting in my tasting notes. I like Snooth and Adegga as well, but they both need better cellar management for me to move to them exclusively. Since this past weekend we created the wine rack, maybe next weekend we’ll inventory the wine. Let’s see what happens.
As for building the wine rack, it actually turned out to be much easier than we expected. Odd note though: untreated, uncut, plain wood costs more than planed, beveled whole sheets of wood here in Terrassa. So instead of needing to sand and polish it, we simply bought nice sheets of solid, shelving wood and then cut it to fit. Yet, we still need another. So later today, I’m off to buy some more wood for wine rack number two!
Enough about housing. Next Monday, we’re off to judge wine blogs! It feels a bit odd to mention, after we realized at the EWBC that judging a wine blog is quite subjective once you get past the aggregators and plagiarizers. Once into the meat of the blogging world, where the hard work and effort is being spent, judging wine blogs is a bit of a silly endeavor. What’s good for you is not always what’s good for me. But none the less, we’ve been asked to judge Spanish and Catalan wine blogs this coming week in Reus, Spain, a short train ride from where we live. The grand prize is 3,000 euros, which seems a bit excessive and makes me wonder if we’ll see a lot of blogs that were “recently” launched. Oh well, anything to promote more social media in the Spanish wine world can’t be all that bad. We’ll keep you informed. DO Catalunya is hosting it, and while their website is a nightmare to look at, let’s hope this initiative leads to some good ideas.
In other news, we still want to talk to you about the wines we tasted at the EWBC2008; however, it may take some time. At the end of this month, we’ll be retasting several of the wines with an American Importer who will be staying with us for a few days. But remember, for our Keynote tasting, our intention was to select wines that we had either tasted before or that we respected. And on the night of the event, I tasted through the wines a few times; and while they all showed well, I didn’t take the time to write notes or analyze the wines. So this past Friday, I did analyze one of these wines, and I’m sad to say, it just pissed me off more than anything else. Dominio DosTares Leione 2005 - Prieto Picudo, is a wine that I have loved in the past. Now, maybe it’s as a result of the vintage, or maybe I’m drinking this too young since it does still have some stuffing to it, but I’m sorry, Oak is not a Fruit! This wine has so much going for it with the funky fruit notes and exotic touches of spice, but over it all sits a river of vanilla, syrup and sweet oak. I have a few bottles left to celler and taste again in the future, but even after 3 days being open, the wine is still bugging me. Note to Spain(rather wine makers everywhere): OAK is NOT a FRUIT. Just to be clear here are the aging and oak stats from the Dostares website (a well done website, that deserves mention!):
Pre-fermentation maceration: 3 days at 12ºC Alcoholic Fermentation: Duration: 12 days Temperature: 27ºC Malolactic Fermentation: in French, American and Hungarian oak
Ageing process in barrel: Capacity: 225 litres Age of barrel: New & second-fill. Type of oak: French, Hungarian and American Toasting level: Medium and medium+ Ageing time: 9 months
What stuns me is that I assumed this wine saw 100% new oak, and as you can see it is not. Now for contrast, we were just in Miguel Merino’s winery, who is using 100% new oak, (mixed barrels, American Staves, and French tops and bottoms). That is a lot of new wood, and a lot of American wood influence and yet his wines are perfumey, full of terroir and complex fruit, without the sickening vanilla oak sheen.
Too many factors go into winemaking to pinpoint anything specific as the problem, but in the end, 100% new oak is not always a bad thing, despite the bad reputation people give it. If you hear anyone ever say 100% new oak is evil, well tell ‘em to shove off, or at least explain what wine they are talking about. Sometimes they are right, sometimes their not, Almond Joy’s gots nutz, Mounds don’t…sorry…
Other than that, the weather here is starting to chill down a bit, which is nice and sad at the same time. I unfortunately, have not had enough sherry this year. Too busy? Not sure why that is an excuse, but it is somewhat true. Therefore, I’m making up for it with a steady intake of Osborne’s Fino Quinta and a new cheap Manzanilla I picked up a couple of days ago that is quite nice, Bodegas Barbadillo’s Muyfina. Full of honey notes, and light nuttiness, I really have to say this is a treat, and pairs great with a late afternoon siesta!
Domaine Richaud ? Cotes du Rhone ?Terres d? Aigues? (2005)
If you?re in the mood for wonderful floral aromas followed by mind altering weirdness on the palate ? try this.
Dried herbs, strong garrigue notes and liquorice on the nose, full bodied initially, becoming seriously fat in the glass with some tobacco and grilled meat flavours which seem to fade but kick in again accompanied by a seriously weird sweaty iodine and dare I say it ? Sauerkraut fizzpop explosion which stopped me dead in my tracks between the kitchen and the lounge.
Top marks for creating something really interesting here, I just wonder if the flavours work for me. After two glasses it left me in a dizzy sweat.
Domaine Richaud produce top quality wines and I look forward to returning to the Cairanne or perhaps the Les Garrigues?decisions, decisions.
For some people, the storage and acquisition of wine is more than just a hobby, it is an art.
Wine connoisseurs all know that the proper storage of wine is important to its final flavor. Once it is already bottled, wine will still mature and gain body and flavor. Proper care should be taken when handling wine, or else its potential for greatness will go to waste. To keep their wine well preserved, the discriminating connoisseur will choose a proper wine rack.
How to Buy a Wine Rack
The Build Wine racks can be made of so many different materials and styles. You should consider which material and style fits your need and preference. You could have wood, glass, alloy, or metal racks. Some people try to choose materials that match their living rooms. There are a variety of styles of wine racks, find one that if convenient for you. The popular styles include counter top racks, diamond bins, cabinets and others.
The Essential Elements A good wine rack will ensure that the following elements are strictly controlled. Light, humidity, temperature, stability. If you want to keep your wine well preserved and ready for ambush party, you need to make sure they are not exposed to light, moisture, extreme temperatures and shaking or vibration.
Cabinet wine racks are good at keeping wine bottles safe. They can emulate the conditions at a wine cellar best. These condition include moderate humidity, cool temperatures, and little light
We try to control the humidity so we can avoid getting the wine cork from accumulating moisture. This will lessen the chances that the wine will get contaminated or oxidized. Keeping the correct humidity or appropriately moist environment will keep the wine cork damp, reducing the chances of contamination and/or oxidization. Warm conditions will accelerate wine aging. You have to keep this in mind when you consider which wine rack to choose.
Things to Remember Don’t place wine cellars above or near refrigerators. Refrigerators generate heat and this heat could ruin you wine collection. Buying and installing a good wine rack would be useless if that happened.
Your rack has to be smooth enough that when the wine bottles are put and taken, they will not get scratched and damaged. Bottles and labels are also important parts of the overall value of wine.
A wine cellar is great but not necessary to store your wine in the correct environment. But since not everyone can afford a wine cellar or has space enough for one, you could opt for a wine rack instead. Wine racks function a lot like wine cellars, but they are smaller and are more accessible. They are also a lot cheaper and easier to install.
Believe it or not, ultraviolet light can affect and ruin wine. That’s the reason wine cellars are so dark and that’s why you have to keep your wine in a dark safe place. When you store your wine bottles, make sure they are stored sideways; this ensures that the wine is always in contact with the cork to keep it moist.
Once again we cannot express how important it is to maintain the right conditions for your wine to mature nicely. Your wine rack system has to maintain the right amount of humidity and temperature to keep your collection going. Bear in mind that wine is something you keep for a long time. Keep your wine racks pumping a temperature range of 55-60° F. Also make sure the humidity is in the 50% to 75% range. Adjust these settings according to the needs of your wine.
Start Planning for Your Wine Rack Now! Well, now you have pretty much gotten everything in order. When a party comes crashing through, you can whip out the grade A wine and celebrate to your hearts content. Pour out the good times to the tune of the compliments and admiration your friends will throw your way all because of your fine wine rack.
About the author: For more great wine rack info and advice check out: http://www.rack-hq.com
I found a really great site for custom wine racks. I found wineracks.com and I absolutely cannot decide which design I like best. They have a selection of smaller capacity wine racks that can store three to forty eight bottles of wine.
Wineracks.com has wine racks in both wood and metal. I?ve found several that suit my current needs and several that I wish my needs would suit! Some of the different styles are just simple stackable racks that assemble without tools. There are other wine racks that are elegant, solid oak racks with tabletop and stemware storage.
The twelve bottle modular wine racks are made of pine and can be configured in many different ways. There are kits available to add and expand these wine racks. Wineracks.com has this item listed for $22.50.
The Cha Cha Wine Racks sold by wineracks.com are made of colored plastic. They snap together with clips and come in four colors. The colors that the components for these wine racks come in are orange, light blue, green and white. Each color is sold separately for $22.50.
I was particularly taken with the Lisbon wall wine racks. They are black wooden wine racks that hold both bottles and stemware. Wineracks.com has the Lisbon wall wine racks listed for $69.00.
I am pretty sure that I do not want the Accordia wine racks that wineracks.com have for sale. My mother had one that looked like this when I was growing up and I always thought that it was ugly. I much prefer any other style.
The Bali fifteen bottle wine racks were inspired by contemporary Indonesian style. I like the wavy look of these wine racks. The price for the Bali wine racks is $96.00. These come in a natural color. There are also twelve bottle Bali wine racks that are $72.00 in either crimson color or black.
I do believe that my favorite wine racks have to be the cellar cubes. Wineracks.com has the cellar cubes in both unfinished Pine and Mahogany. The Mahogany cellar cubes sell for $59.95 and the Pine cellar cubes sell for $34.95. These wine racks require simple assembly and the holes are pre-drilled and the hardware is provided.
If you?re interested in designing your own custom wine cellar there are a number of options available to you. The best news is that there are wine cellar designs for everyone from the avid do-it-yourselfer to the complete woodworking novice.
There are modular wine racks that are available in different grains and finishes, with the least expensive generally being a wood such as pine. Most modular wine rack dealers will offer other materials such as red cedar or finished wood as well. Of course you can always save some money and finish the wood yourself if you desire a particular type of finish or color for your wine cellar racks.
There are many wine racking companies that offer crown molding and skirting pieces so that you can easily combine different styles of wine cellar racking materials and types. This approach can yield some very unique custom wine cellar designs.
There are built in glass racks that are made to fit snugly within a rack system. A good place for one of these individual units would be above the table top piece mentioned above. This would add to the ambience as well as functionality of your custom modular wine racking system.
If you want something a little different than the traditional wood wine cellar racks, there are attractive metal trellis rack pieces that are very economical, yet stylish. These tend to look classier than the wood modular wine racking pieces, especially for placement in bar areas that will be viewed by visitors.
If you would like to add a table area to your wine cellar while increasing the storage capacity of your cellar at the same time, a wine bin table may be the best addition to your modular racking system. There are taller, wine tasting tables that hold just over 100 bottles or about 180 bottles of wine, and there are shorter wine rack tables that hold more than 200 wine bottles in case bins.
There are many online dealers and manufacturers of wine cellar racking pieces that also offer custom computer design services to help you achieve the exact wine cellar layout that you have in mine. With many of these professional services you can then have the plans sent to you and decide if you will build them yourself or have someone else build them for you.
With all of the wine cellar design options available to you, there are many ways to accomplish the perfect wine cellar design for you and your situation. There are many wine enthusiasts online communities and the like where you can find others interested in the same things that you are and maybe gain some other ideas about wine cellars and the design aspect of creating your own wine cellar.
[08/23/2006, 02:01]
Report of the Argentina
Is this an overview report on the export situation of the Argentine vitiviniculture within the First Semester of 2006. This report tracks and reflects the performance of the main variables of Argentine vitiviniculture in foreign markets.
This works is elaborated per Caucacia Wine Thinking a company focused and devoted exclusively to provide information services to the wine industry, mainly in what respects to foreign markets.
At present, the leading wineries in Argentina, as well as the main industry-related organizations (Bodegas de Argentina AC, Wines of Argentina) make use this services.
Hot on the heels of the sensational success of the 'World's Greatest Book Of Useless Information', the Official Useless Information Society bring you another essential compendium of everything you never needed but always wanted to know., Reference ; Curiosities & Wonders, The Best Book of Useless Information Ever
As Seen on Ellens 12 Days of Giveaways & Good Morning America The pocket-size electronic talking Wine Master offers a sleek and slim design easy control panel and over 10 000 wine and spirits reviews ratings and suggested retail prices at your fingertips. The newest version of the Wine Master is the most essential wine tool you can own. Bring along with you to wine shops and restaurants and never make another wine buying mistake again. Requires 2-AAA batteries (not included). Over 10 000 wine and spirits reviews ratings (100 pt. scale) and suggested retail prices from Wine Enthusiast Magazine Food and wine pairing guide Digital display screen with back-light and compressed text functions Talking navigation with on/off Type Varietal Winery or Vintage search option Handsome non-zipper black case Wine Master is a mighty wizard that gives you mastery over the most serious wine shop clerks and sommeliers. Brushed aluminum with chrome accents. The Wine Enthusiast 2008 Wine Buying Guide is also available. Size: 4-3/4'H x 3'W NOTE: The information included in the Wine Master is based on the reviews and ratings conducted by The Wine Enthusiast Magazine. For the 2008 edition we added 10 425 reviews. Therefore if you look at a review of a 2002 Caymus in 2007 and in 2008 the review will be the same. Since we cannot review all the wines produced in a year some wines may not appear with a newer year review which does not mean that the wine is discontinued but just that particular vintage (year) was not reviewed.
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Aerates wine faster with an extra-wide base. The Riedel Ultra Wine Decanter offers a modern design in crystal while creating maximum breathing room for your wine. Made of 24% lead crystal the wine decanter has a broad base that allows the wine to aerate and release flavors and aromas which enhance the attributes of your wine. Decanting wines (particularly old wines) just before serving ensures clarity and true color while preventing any sediments from interfering with the wine-drinking experience. Decanting young wines gives it a chance to open up and tame overpowering tannins and fruit flavors. Pair the Riedel Ultra Wine Decanter with our large wine decanter glass stopper. Size: 8-3/8'H 45-3/8 oz.
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