Pairing wine with vegetables
September 18th, 2008
Stumbled across this great article on pairing vegetables and wine on the NPR website today. It also includes some tasty-looking recipes that I’ll be preparing sometime soon.
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Koru Pinot Noir 2005
July 29th, 2008
I picked up this exceptional Pinot for around 50% off the list price at Enoteca’s online store. (They have a clearance page which changes often and offers some great deals on good wines.)
Many medium- to high-end New Zealand Pinots offer an astonishing balance of acid, fruit and alcohol, and this one is no exception. Light purple-ruby in color with notes of strawberry and plum in the nose, the Koru Pinot is silky smooth on the palate with a level of finesse hard to find in similar offerings from warmer Oregon and on par with a good Cote de Nuits. The length was quite long, and this wine will probably hit its peak in another 1-2 years.
Pinot Noir is the red grape variety best suited to New Zealand’s cool, wet climate, and along with Sauvignon Blanc helped finally put them on the map wine-wise. Drink a wine like this Koru to make you understand why.
Conclusion: Not one to miss, especially if you like the Cloudy Bay Pinot Noir.
DWR: 93 Points
Our wine site is online!
July 19th, 2008
It’s been more months in the works than I want to think about, but we’ve finally launched our online wine shop. We partnered with local wine importer and restaurant operator Le Petit Tonneau (”the little barrel”) to launch this new web shop for their range of French wines hailing mostly from the South of France, particularly the Languedoc-Roussillon region.
Southern France offers incredible diversity in terroir and wine styles, and in my opinion wines from that region are as good or better than any of the low- to mid-priced wines coming out of Bordeaux, Burgundy or the Rhone Valley. If you’re a fan of Spanish wine then you’ll love the offerings from Northern Catalan near the Franco-Spanish border, which have the same rustic, spicy character.
For red grapes think Grenache, Cinsault, Mourvedre, and Carignan in addition to more familiar varieties such as Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. The majot white grape is Chardonnay, with Sauvignon Blanc, Chenin Blanc and Viognier figuring prominently as well.
The site is fully bi-lingual, of course, and we offer free shipping anywhere in Japan for orders over 15,000 yen. If you want to jump right in and see what’s happening wine-wise down South I recommend the Summer Tasting Set, six carefully selected wines that I’m sure you’ll love, including two of my absolute favorites, this Vacqueyras from the Rhone Valley and the always lovely Fitou Cuvee Privilege. Order yours now!
You’ll probably notice some of the English on the site is a bit dodgy. We’re still refining it, and much of what you see there comes straight from the translator with little or no polishing. One step at a time…
Anyway, have a look. We hope you like it! If you do, help us spread the word…
すずらん (Suzuran)
July 3rd, 2008
This Shibuya noodle shop is a favorite of locals and cross-town lunch commuters alike. You show up any time between 11:30 and 13:30 and you’d better be ready to wait in line, and today was no different for us. However, these つけ麺 (tsukemen, a type of ramen) noodles are worth the wait. Hand-pounded right on site and served with a deliciously tasty dipping sauce, they’re as good as anything you can find in Shibuya.
On this day I ordered medium-thick noodles and 角煮 (kakuni) marinated pork. The noodles were just the right firmness and the pork melt-in-your-mouth tender. Probably a bit on the high end calorie-wise but, hey, it ain’t every day, right? Co-worker J, a fan of massive portions and anything noodly, had chashuu instead and gave it a big thumbs up. I’m sure we’ll be headed back sometime soon…
What’s the opposite of “appetizing”, again?
June 14th, 2008
Uoki sushi in Ark Hills (Akasaka) has long been one of my favorite kaiten sushi restaurants. Consistantly fresh, the portions are large and the quality exceptional. Not too expensive, either, when you consider the building it’s in. (You can’t swing a stick in the place without hitting a French investment banker…) I have a client nearby, and whenever I visit them I make it a point to stop by Uoki for lunch or an afternoon snack.
I noticed on a recent visit that they redid their counter-top menu, apparently going to great pains to make it accessible to the local foreign population as well. Too bad they did so without the involvement of a native English speaker. So, who’s hungry?
