This weeks wines

This week we had 2 bottles of red & one one of white & tonight I think we may open a bottle of Bubbly for a Champagne Vanilla Sauce to put on Seared Scallops....recipe via Food Network (even though I hate Emerill. BAM! Kick Ya in da nuts!.....sorry). The first bottle was a Cotes du Rohne. We made a midweek trip to the wine shop with a <$13 budget & this is what we brought home. Lately, I have been sticking with bargain wines from France. Other than being infatuated with the country, culture & food & with us being fairly new to wine, or at least enjoying good wine to the fullest, I figured France was a great place to start sampling wines from. I really liked this... a lot & will consider this to be a staple of the house now. It was soft, fruity & spicy, not in that particular order, more like fruity, soft & spicy. I polished the bottle off the second night after opening it & it tasted a little more subtle the second day, I guess from being aerated 24 hours. I had the last half of the bottle with a pan seared Porter House that was rubbed with olive oil, S&P then cooked 3 minutes on each side in 50/50 olive oil & butter. After the steak was done I put it on a plate & threw some sliced creminis, shallots & a cup of the wine in the pan & let it simmer until it reduced by almost half, I then poured it on the steak & ate it with some sugar snap peas, La sauteed & some mashed potatoes. BEST MIDWEEK DINNER EVER!

Next was our Weekend bottle. A Trapiche 2003 Malbec. I really liked this wine & it was great but it was too oaky for what i wanted. I have come to expect big, robust, plummy, jammy tastes from Malbecs, which are all varietal characteristics of the grape, but this one was very toasty & woodsy. I am not saying this is bad thing & it is even on the label, so I guess I should have expected it. It really shined though when I had a couple of glasses with a BBQ sammich with hot sauce from Central BBQ. The oaky flavor went awesome with the sweet heat of the sauce & fatty meat. BBQ & WINE! Only in Memphis!

We also restocked our house wine. La Vieille Ferme A magnum of white & red. I love magnums. :)