I Heart Cline

There are some benefits to writing a food blog. You have an excuse to collect all your favorite recipes somewhere that you go back and find easily and cook from again and again (the fella keeps laughing at me every time he finds me cooking off my own blog.) People share their favorite recipes with you. Your significant other wont argue as much when you keep asking him to do ridiculous amounts of dishes. And sometimes your favorite winery sends you wine in the mail.

I wrote about how much I love the Cline Mourvedre a couple months ago and had a holy-crap-people-other-than-my-mom-read-this-thing moment when Cline contacted me to say how much they liked my quote about them. Their thank you was to send me a couple bottles of their wine, the Cashmere blend and a bottle of Mourvedre. To which I have to say a huge thank you back to them because their wine is freaking fantastic but I think we all know wine that comes to your door on a Friday afternoon is somehow just a little bit better.

The fella and I opened the Cashmere right that second (well after I stopped jumping up and down and cooing over it.) Ive kept meaning to buy a bottle as I remember loving it in years past but never got around to it. My memories of past vintages are so fond however that I suggest the Cashmere to a lot of people who come into the wine store looking for a nice un-scary red for under $15. So I was excited to try the 2007.

Its delicious. Seeing as its a blend of Mouredre, Syrah, and Grenache its a pleasant surprise that the wine tastes like the best aspects of each varietal. The fruity complexity of Mourvedre, the huge chocolatey tannins of Syrah, and the interesting spice of Grenache. It very much lives up to its name as it somehow combines these huge powerful grapes and makes a very smooth drinkable wine. Ill be buying another bottle soon.

The Mourvedre Im saving for the next evening I come home after a long day and need something I can count on to make my mouth very happy. And speaking of things that are happy making I will leave you with a picture of the fella smelling flowers at Cline during our trip there last year. And since Im not leaving you with a recipe let me at least share with you yet another reason I dont respect Gary Vs taste in wine though he is a fascinating character. Here is what he has to say about Cline. To which I can only say bah! He needs to spend more time drinking and less time wasting all that wine in the dump bucket.

I cant believe him. "It reminds me of a diner...a little too candy, candy, candyland..." say what? More Cline for me I guess, you can have the snobby wines Gary.

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Riesling Chicken

The idea for this meal came out of knowing our friend Iris likes Rieslings and I love an excuse to buy a wine I dont usually drink much of, she would be happy and wed all get to drink. Everyone wins. At about the same time I invited her and her fella Will over for a meal I stumbled across a recipe in the French cookbook of scary pictures for something called Riesling Chicken. It sounded good and since it had the name of the wine I wanted to serve in the title of the recipe it would save me a lot of trouble trying to figure out a main dish that went with the wine.

For something with Riesling in the name I was a little disappointed in how little Riesling flavor was actually in this dish however. It wasnt that it was a bad recipe it was just a little blah. Ultimately its baked chicken with a cream mushroom sauce which was fine, everyone liked it just fine. It would probably be improved a bit if I had cooked with bone in chicken pieces rather than breasts which I used to save all of us the trouble of trying to politely de-bone greasy bits of chicken.

Problem is I had obsessively shopped for the perfect Rieslings the week before cooking this. I ended up buying three different bottles trying to find a semi dry Riesling that wasnt expensive. Thats more difficult that one might imagine. The dry Rieslings were plentiful but started at the $30 range. I like my friends but knew wed rather have a couple decent bottles I knew nothing about in order to try them out than nursing one snobby bottle we might not even like. So I decided to trust the advice of San Fransisco Chronicle in their article about $10 Rieslings that werent sugar monsters. I bought the Relax and the Mosel River Rieslings that they suggested and the Bex Riesling that I remember liking from a tasting.

The fella and I opened them all to see which one was dry enough to cook with and not overwhelm the chicken and leeks, both of required wine to cook in. They were all pretty sweet so I used a little of each in the food and hoped for the best, figuring the chicken wouldnt care if I mixed wines. While dinner finished up we drank the Mosel River and moved onto the Bex as we ate. Both are from the Urzig region and so where pretty similar. The Mosel River being slightly sweeter with a heavy pear syrup flavor and a slight effervescence. Where as the Bex had a tartness that made my mouth water while still being Riesling sweet. Both were easy to drink and would be perfect for summer drinking. There was a nice limestone minerality to them that added a bit of character to the fruit.

The Relax was a bit of a shock after the other two wines. It was tight in a way only red wines usually are. I dont usually open a bottle of white and think about it needing to get a bit of air before drinking but this was apparently the exception. It was sweet but it held back its sweetness until the finish. This would be a great Riesling for someone who likes sweet but doesnt like the cloying fruitiness of many white wines. They were all great choices for the meal, they didnt overwhelm the chicken or roasted vegetables. All in all I was happy with all the wines. And we were all pretty happy with dinner. Or at least everyone made enough believable yummy noises that I assumed they were pleased.

We finished off the evening with a puppy walk and a silly card game that got even more silly when I opened a bottle of red. Its no secret that Im in love with Cline wines but their Moudevre is out of this world. Light bodied with very little tannin. It was as if the perfect California coast Pinot Noir and a fruit bomb Zinfindel had a super smooth love child. This is one of those times where the wine was so good I have no words for it.

My new food fantasy is to disappear for a day with a bottle of Cline Moudevre and a beet torte. Ive found my new favorite wine. Sorry Conquista Malbec youve been replaced.

Other recipes from the Riesling Feast:
Almond Soup
Saras Braised Leeks
Roasted Cauliflower and Fennel
Beet Torte

Riesling Chicken

4 pounds whole chicken or chicken parts
2 tablespoon oil
3 tablespoons butter
1/2 pound mushrooms, chopped
1 small white onion, chopped
2 shallots, chopped finely
1/2 cup Riesling
1/2 cup heavy cream

Preheat oven to 325.

Cut chicken into servings size pieces or purchase pre-cut pieces of legs, thighs, and breasts (this works just fine with all chicken breasts but will end up on the dry side.) Rub chicken pieces with salt and pepper.

In a large oven safe skillet over medium heat, warm the oil and butter. Brown the chicken pieces on all sides, adding more oil if needed. Add mushroom and onion to pan, cover and place in oven for 30 to 40 minutes or until chicken is tender and cooked through.

While the chicken bakes, in a small pan cook shallots in a small amount of oil, about 2 minutes until tender but not browned. Add wine and simmer until reduced to half. Stir in cream and cook without boiling until sauce thickens. Pour over chicken when serving.

Original recipe from Modern French Culinary Art.

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