The Regal One: Pinotage

Pinotage is to South Africa what Zinfandel is to California, meaning the wine region of South Africa has the right to say “Pinotage is ours, we do it best, and no other wine region in the world can touch us”.  Well, this is partially true (Zinfandel is actually the Italian Primitivo grape, but California does it best) To the best of my wine knowledge the Pinotage grape is only grown in South Africa.  If fact, Pinotage is a manufactured grape with lineage tied to its parent grapes Pinot Noir and Cinsault.  They made the perfect pair and produced offspring wines with tastes and aromas described as; concentrated deep black and red berries with a hint of herbs and vanilla…tannic mouth feel for days with length in the mouth to match.  Pinotage is a full-bodied wine that pairs with a full-bodied dish.  I had this Zonnebloem 2008 Pinotage with sautéed thinly sliced skirt steak and scallions with a hint of soy sauce.  No sides necessary:)

enjoy

Butter Cake and Chardonnay :)

 

Over the week-end I was leafing through one of my vintage Gourmet magazines (March 2008 French Bistro issue) and came across a page of recipes devoted to butter.  You know, that was the beauty of  Gourmet Magazine, never being afraid to lay it all on the table…..butter is good, proving again and again that creamy buttery anything is one of life greatest pleasures.   On this page there’s a short recipe for butter cake.  I decided to make it.  And why not it’s simple, classically French, and butter was involved…… I needed an excuse to indulge.  You know the French are masters at making delicious cakes out of few and simple ingredients, and this butter cake from Gourmet Magazine represents that simplicity very nicely.  Speaking of butter, chardonnay wine has been known to have the butter descriptor attached to it, and to get just a little technical on you, the butter, in aroma and flavor in chardonnay wine, is a byproduct of fermentation from a compound called diacetyl.   Anyway, I paired my elegant butter cake with a buttery chardonnay,  Louis Latour’s 2009 Pouilly-Fuisse, to be exact. 

Butter met butter and I must say they liked each other very much!  Indulge for yourself!

enjoy

 

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