Wine Down Wednesdays with a Dish and a Wine Pairing from Broadbent Selections

Dairy Free, Egg Free, Gluten Free, Lighter Fare, Soy Free, Vegan, Vegetarian Add comments

Mar 142012

Welcome to Wine Down Wednesday where I will feature some lovely wine pairings with a vegan dish. This all came about a few weeks ago when my friend Gregg and fellow yogi (who also happens, lucky for me, to be the VP – Director of Sales for Broadbent Selections) approached me with a suggestion to do a wine pairing

Here he is with Adi, the wine maker of the Chenin Blanc.
Gregg is the one in the white.

I was excited about this prospect as I rarely see wine pairing suggestions with anything other than meats or seafood -what a unique opportunity to offer an alternative!

Going into a wine shop can be overwhelming because of the numerous wine regions and the multitude of grape varietals. While I’m no expert, I’m thrilled to learn more about wine. It will be nice to take this in small bites of two at-a-time learning about the background of each wine to give it more depth in my mind. This informal section will post several Wednesdays a month.

Thanks Gregg!

The selection suggestions for this dish are as follows:
BADENHORST ‘Secateurs’ Chenin Blanc 2011,
(Swartland, South Afria)
The proprietors, Hein and Adi Badenhorst, make the wine as naturally and biologically as possible. The vines are un-irrigated and are grown from vines planted in the early 60′s.

and, CHATEAU MUSAR Jeune Rouge 2009, (Bekaa Valley, Lebanon). In Lebanon, this wine is known as Cuvee Rouge and it is a blend of grapes; Cinsaut, Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah. It’s all organic and has only a tiny trace of sulphites.

The Categories

Category #1 – How well my dish turned out.

Category #2 – How well I (and fellow tasters) like the wine.

Category #3 – Pairing notes – How well each wine pairs with the dish.

Official Wine Rating Scale

Bleck -This wine is pretty bad.

Ho Hum- I would drink it if I was at a football game and there was nothing else in the cooler.

Nice -Good table wine. I would keep this in the wine cooler if it was a good value.

Yum – This is good, I would pay a fair bit more and have it for a special occasion.

Damn that’s Good – Self explanatory.
** We will use the same terminology for how the dish turned out and how well it paired.

Category #1 – The dish
Balsamic Garlic Mushrooms over Pasta
Rating of Damn that’s Good. If I do say so myself.

This dish couldn’t have turned out better and is going under “favorites”. It had a great balance of flavor – tart, salty, sweet and aromatic. I preferred the mixed mushrooms as they had a bit more bite than the portabellas I tried this with first. The key is definitely the little dash of honey. You don’t really know it’s there but it brings out the sweetness of the balsamic.

Category #2 – The wines

BADENHORST ‘Secateurs’ Chenin Blanc 2011, ( Swartland, South Africa)

Rating of YUM.

It was light and refreshing. It reminded me of peaches and sweetness but without the sweetness, if that makes any sense. It was nice and dry – just like I like it!

The Chateau Musar Jeune Rouge

Also Rating of YUM; however, two of the others that tried this gave it a Damn that’s Good.
Possibly because it was red I was thinking berries more than peach. It had a bit more body than the white without being heavy. Interestingly this wine is similar to the chenin as far as being a dry wine with the perception of sweetness.

Category #3 – The pairing notes

The rating for the pairing on both wines gets a Damn that’s Good. It was interesting how the two wines paired with this dish. I loved the meatiness of the mushrooms with the Jeune Rouge and the sweet/tart balsamic with the Chenin Blanc. Lip smakin’ good.

Since half the group really loved the red I would probably serve this dish with the Jeune Rouge but if it was just me I would go with the Chenin Blanc. I prefer dry to semi dry white wine because it seems to just go with the warmer weather in Florida.

Where to buy

All the wines will be for sale locally at the Grotto in San Marco. You can contact Mitch Woodlief, grottomitch@aol.com with questions and pricing and anyone outside the Greater Jacksonville area can contact E-MAIL: info@broadbent.com PHONE: US +1 415-931-1725.

Garlic Balsamic Mushroom Pasta

Inspired by Mushroom Stroganoff, E2 Diet

Serves 2-4

Vegan, Gluten Free, Dairy Free

Printable Recipe

Ingredients

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

1 small onion, diced

1 large clove garlic, minced

10 oz mixed mushrooms, I used Woodstock Farms Organic Frozen (or any mushrooms you like)

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

1 1/2 tsp agave

Coarse sea salt and fresh ground pepper, to taste

4oz Fettuccini, I used Tinkyada Brown Rice

Chives for garnish, optional

Directions

1. Heat olive oil over medium high heat. Add onions and cook about 5 minutes, lower heat, add garlic and cook an additional 2 minutes; add mushrooms, vinegar, honey, salt and pepper. Simmer about 20 minutes or until balsamic vinegar has cooked down to a sauce.

2. Meanwhile cook pasta to package directions.

3. Divide pasta and mushroom mixture over four bowls, garnish with chives. Serve with BADENHORST ‘Secateurs’ Chenin Blanc 2011, (Swartland, South Africa) or CHATEAU MUSAR Jeune Rouge 2009, (Bekaa Valley, Lebanon).

Nutrition Facts
4 Servings

Amount Per Serving

Calories 263.7
Total Fat 13.8 g
Saturated Fat 2.1 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 1.2 g
Monounsaturated Fat 10.0 g
Cholesterol 0.0 mg
Sodium 54.9 mg
Potassium 304.8 mg
Total Carbohydrate 29.7 g
Dietary Fiber 2.2 g
Sugars 3.5 g
Protein 4.5 g

Vitamin B-12 0.5 %
Vitamin B-6 5.6 %
Vitamin C 5.1 %
Vitamin D 13.5 %
Vitamin E 8.9 %
Calcium 0.7 %
Copper 12.0 %
Folate 3.7 %
Iron 4.7 %
Magnesium 2.1 %
Manganese 3.6 %
Niacin 21.4 %
Pantothenic Acid 11.0 %
Phosphorus 6.8 %
Riboflavin 17.7 %
Selenium 9.4 %
Thiamin 12.4 %
Zinc 2.8 %