2004 White Rose Nekaia Pinot Noir

We opened up this pinot noir (another from our trip to Oregon's Dundee Hills and Willamette Valley a few years ago) to go with some lamb chops I made on Sunday. White Rose has an unusual tasting room at its vineyards that sits atop a hill and looks almost like a medieval great hall in miniature. But don't let this nod to the sci-fi/fantasy convention set fool you. The wine is very good. The 2004 Nekaia has bright rhubarb and cherry notes and just enough tannins to let you know the wine is there. It is a wine meant for food, particularly some mild game (yes, I know that's almost an oxymoron) or lamb. The wine is tart but not thin and has a medium finish.

The Macallan 1851 "Inspiration"

Jim Murray called this whisky "flat and uninspirational." Macallan has made a cottage industry out of producing replica whiskies -- bottles that are of more recent production but that supposedly replicate the flavor of the Macallan produced at a given time. A few years ago they came out with a set to replicate the Macallan from the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s, with appropriate artwork to evoke the images of the time (trains, open-top cars, but no tanks or spitfires for the 1940s). Then they came up with the 1851 Inspiration for the duty free market. It comes in a squat bottle similar to the 19th century type (think Aberlour A'bunadh) with a wax seal on the top. I bought my bottle in the Seoul duty free about a year ago and had thought when I read more about it that I wouldn't like it. I was worried it would be a fiery or overly sherried malt.

Imagine my surprise, then, when I opened up this bottle finally and poured out a light golden liquid. It had a lighter, sugar (but not caramel) smell and betrayed very little sherry influence. According to the Grain Mash, it was partly aged in ex-bourbon American oak casks, which raises a few eye-brows I suppose at the genuineness of the flavor profile, but I am more likely to be charitable given that Macallan is trying to recreate a flavor, not the method per se. Anyway, the nose continues with sweet flowers, bubble gum and Big Red gum (the spicy cinnamon kind). This is a very unexpected flavor and aroma from Macallan, at least for me. There is a lot of high sweetness and it is sharp and brisk on the tongue, but not in a harsh or rough way. With water it settles down. It really reminds me of a young Bowmore at this point, though with a little less plastic. In fact, if you had given this to me blind, I would never have guessed Macallan and would have sworn this was closer to the Bowmore Legend. Quite an enjoyable whisky and certainly not, in my view, flat and uninspirational.

GMO or Organics?

I have heard many people touting genetically-modified foods as the only means to feed a growing planet. This blog post at the Atlantic's food section is the first place I have seen the thesis posited that organic farming can be as productive as conventional. Worth exploring further. I had thought that organic is difficult to do (particularly poly-cultural farming) on the scale that conventional farming is done, but it may just be more labor intensive.

Talisker Cask Strength (2007 edition)

If you recall from almost a year ago, I visited the Talisker distillery and picked up a bottle of the 2007 edition of the cask strength, exclusively available at the distillery. It is bottled at 53.9% ABV and has a pale gold color. The nose has the typical sea salt, but also some sweet licorice and biscuit, fresh pasta dough, rubber and thick plastic. With some water added I get a little chocolate biscuit as well. The whisky is nice and spicy on the tongue and has a very long finish. It's not oily at all. I really enjoy this whisky; it is one to savor for a long time over the course of an evening.

Great Pizza in Bethesda

We had lunch today at Mia's Pizza in Bethesda and were very impressed by the pizzas on offer. The menu includes two specialty pizzas of the day and a regular line-up of more than a dozen. The crusts are thin but not crunchy, and the sauces are just enough to highlight the toppings. I liked the spice the pepper flakes added to my salsiccia pizza, which made the pepperoni and mushrooms seem brighter.

Fish Ethics

Mark Bittman has a good piece in today's New York Times about the complicated issues involved in trying to eat fish sustainably given the confusing array of problems facing global fish stocks and terminology.

Port Wine

Port wine is supposedly less attractive to wine drinkers these days -- it's naturally hard to conceive that it will ever hold the cache and reputation it once held for 19th century high society, but it is a shame that more people don't partake of this great drink. One of our favorites at the affordable end of the scale is Dow's 2003 Late Bottled Vintage port, which can be found for about $25 a bottle most places. And now the major houses are starting to sell their 2007 vintage ports, which is apparently quite a good vintage. Jancis Robinson was recently singing the vintage's praises in the pages of the FT. Given the reasonable prices for some of these, it might be worth putting a few bottles in your basement. I made some chocolate mousse this past weekend that pairs very well with port and I am glad I had a spare bottle around to enjoy with it.