Hello and Welcome,
A FLOG communication
(Farming bLOG) by Dena & Ernie from Amalie Robert Estate. Oregon Willamette
Valley Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. Have a look and see what we see on Instagram @AmalieRobert Estate.
Well, some of those acts of Valentine were also known to Claudius the Cruel of
Rome. Sometime around the year 270 AD, Claudius the Cruel was in the conquering
business and to be successful, he needed a strong army. However, he was having
a difficult time finding volunteers for his campaigns. He reasoned that the
young men of Rome were unwilling to join his army due to the strong attachment
to their loved ones. A reasonable conclusion to be sure.
Claudius chose to rectify this problem by banning all marriages and engagements
in Rome. While somewhat of a non sequitur, still that did not send the young
men of Rome flocking to join with him. After some time, Claudius discovered he
had a priest undermining his efforts. It was in fact true that the soon to be
martyred St. Valentine was continuing to perform marriages.
Certainly not an indecisive man, Claudius ordered Valentine arrested and put to
death. But not before being beaten with clubs, stoned (in the historical sense)
and then decapitated. This last step was most likely meant to send a strong
message that further activity of this nature would be frowned upon.
While awaiting his fate, Valentine is rumored to have written a farewell note.
The note was to the jailer’s daughter which had looked after him during his
brief incarceration. Kind of a pre-Stockholm Syndrome sort of relationship it
would seem. He signed the note “From Your Valentine.” That phrase is in common
use today and now you know where it may have originated.
Valentine was put to death on February 14th in the year 270 AD. But
it seems Claudius could not let him go, as is evidenced by him keeping
Valentine’s head. Eventually, St. Valentine's remains were deposited in St
Anton's Church, Madrid, where they have lain since the late 1700’s. They were a
present from the Pope to King Carlos IV and have been displayed publicly since
1984. Please let this bit of history inform your gift giving choices this
Valentine’s Day.
Being Sunday and all, your feast of St. Valentine’s Day begins with brunch!
Brunch is that luxurious word that means so many things that are just
inherently understood. Leisure on display with a late alarm, deliciously sweet
and savory pastries, fresh fruits, eggs extraordinaire and perhaps a glass of
Champagne to greet the afternoon. And most of all, a little gift tucked into
the mid-morning rapture. Choose wisely.
Somewhere along the way, Ernie picked up a set of heart shaped ramekins. These
are the perfect vessels to deliver a bouffant “egg extraordinaire.” This will
take a little forethought and some advance preparation. As this is an annual
event, you will have time. Since there is no such thing as left-over hash
browns, roast a couple extra “creamer” red potatoes the night before and
retrieve them while they are still a bit firm.
Here we go. In a medium skillet, add a dollop of duck fat, butter or olive oil.
(Note: Lipitor is now widely available in generic form with little or no
co-pay.) Cube the potatoes in ¼ inch squares and add them to the pan over
medium heat. Add your intended’s choice of preferred omelet vegetables diced
small, such as peppers, onions and mushrooms. Add a dash of smoked HOT paprika
for color and heat. Turn, flip or mix to cook evenly, but not overly so. Is
that a Champagne pop I heard? No? Why not?
While this mixture is heating, grab a mason jar with a sealing ring and lid.
Crack 2 eggs, sans shell, and add a dollop of sour cream. Ernie likes to add
some broccoli bits at this stage, but YOU certainly do not have to. Attach the
sealing apparatus and pretend you are making an evening martini. Any more than
30 seconds though and the show gets kinda boring.
Remove the ramekins from the preheated oven. Split the potato and vegetable
mixture evenly between the two ramekins, paying special attention that the are
only about 75% full. The reason for this will become important soon. But don’t
worry if they are too full, that is what’s known as a self-correcting
situation.
Give your mason jar a final shake and then pour the contents all over the first
ramekin. Crack another pair of eggs, shake and repeat. Top with a little
freshly cracked black pepper and a dusting of paprika for color. Return to the
oven and bake at 325 until you have achieved maximum bouffant! When they are
bouff’d to your satisfaction, set them on a cooling rack for about 10 minutes
before separating. This will take a total of about 30-45 minutes or so.
Everyone has moved on from the orange juice, so now would be a good time to
sample the Champagne and prepare your desired breakfast animals (in whatever
form they may take.) Fresh local fruits may be hard to find, so adopt a
tropical locale with mangos, pineapple, strawberries and whatever else you can
fit into a Champagne flute. Remember, fresh fruit is good for you and Champagne
is the perfect delivery beverage.
And now the moment of truth - A card and a small gift. If executed properly,
now might be the right time for a “nap” before dinner…
A Valentine’s Feast with the Hers and His Reserves – Amalie’s Cuvée and Estate
Selection.
After having skillfully delivered brunch and engaging in a leisurely afternoon
activity, thoughts turn to the Valentine’s Day dinner. Our suggestion for this
menu is to stick with the tried-and-true cool climate varietals of Chardonnay
and Pinot Noir.
The Hers course is stuffed quail. There are all manner of combinations to
choose from here, but there are three key components to any good stuffing. The
first is the enticement and we like chanterelle or morel mushrooms for this.
The next is the bitter green such as spinach or anything along those lines,
maybe even kale. And we need a binder to hold this all together such as quinoa
or polenta. A little manchego in the mix helps hold it all together and can
dual as a snacking cheese. Munge all of that together with an optional egg, and
you are ready to stuff the birds. Treat them to an olive oil spritz and a
dusting of paprika on the way to the oven.
Amalie’s Cuvée is a
natural pairing for this dish. You can trust that we have run repeated and
replicated trials. Each and every vintage we put to the test comes through with
flying colors. Amalie’s Cuvée is Dena’s barrel selection from our 35 acre
estate vineyard that she helped plant back at the turn of the century. That
should tell you two things. First thing is she has met the farming challenge
head-on, and second, she knows where the Pommard is planted.
Yep, she is a Pommard girl – and you could be too! Every vintage we taste the
wines in barrel to sort out who gets what. Each day that we taste, we focus on
one of the three main clones we grow: Dijon clones, Pommard clone or Wadenswil
clone. When it is all said and done, Pommard is the dominate clone in her blend
with a little Dijon clone for texture and some Wadenswil clone to bring out her
wild side. And its personal, Amalie is her middle name.
The His course is Steak Diane (from the
Goddess of the hunt of Roman mythology.) While the preparation remains mostly
the same, the protein can vary widely from beef to venison or buffalo. Since
Ernie grew up in Montana where the buffalo roam, we are going to go with
buffalo.
The advance ingredient preparation for Steak Diane allows for a table side
implementation. A bit of strut, pomp and circumstance if you will. That being
said, open flame in a confined space can have immediate and long-lasting
consequences. Marriage proposals get delivered this way. Diana was also goddess of the moon.
Recognize and respect that this is pretty powerful stuff we are offering up
here.
This is going to take a little more than a little effort, so you may want to
get started right away. The easy pairing is a blue cheese such as Stilton, or
our preference Shropshire. But there is so much more that this wine has to
offer.
Think goat cheese. Now think patisserie. Now put that together and start
imagining goat cheese cheesecake with seared pineapple topping. Or a goat
cheese flan on a cinnamon graham crust topped with Seville orange marmalade.
People eat with their eyes first so your presentation and delivery, along with
that very romantic card that you didn’t forget, are paramount.
While making this wine, Ernie implored the help of Dick Erath. The 2013 vintage
provided the naturally occurring environmental factors to make an ethereal late
harvest wine. Never before, and hopefully never again, will those growing
conditions be repeated. With Dick as his conspiring winemaker, Ernie forged
ahead with harvesting desiccated Chardonnay berries from the vines in November.
Once in the press, it was a tough shlog, as raisins don’t put out a lot of
juice. Undaunted he continued, as fools press on where angels fear to tread.
The juice was 44 Brix, for those who keep track. Ernie had experienced some out
of this world Trockenbeerenauslese wines and they typically run in the 10%
alcohol range. That was good enough for him and he arrested the fermentation
with dry ice. Yeast don’t really care for that and they kinda packed it in
right then and there. All went pretty well and soon it was time to bottle.
So Dick made the trek back to the winery with his girlfriend to see how Ernie’s
effort had turned out. The look and smell of the wine passed muster and then
everyone took a sip. Dick appeared pleasantly surprised and his girlfriend was
complimentary. Ernie was beaming as his conspiring winemaker and early mentor
had given him the nod for an effort that was far from guaranteed to succeed.
Dick then tilted his head and with a twinkle in his eye, looked at Ernie, then
his girlfriend and said, “You know, this is the kind of wine that can be
applied topically and removed orally.” And so, it is. Good luck Mr. and Mrs. Gorsky.
Kindest Regards,
Dena & Ernie
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