When planning a dinner party, the first thing to ask yourself is, “How many people will there be at the table and do they all like wine?” Not everybody enjoys wine with their dinner, so it’s a good idea to have some sparkling water, fruit juice and soft drinks on hand, just in case.
Assuming everybody likes wine, how many bottles will be needed for a dinner party of six? For planning purposes, one bottle of wine will fill six wine glasses sufficiently, so that everybody gets a decent amount. Since most wine glasses hold 10 to 12 ounces, that means the glasses will be about 2/5ths to a third full, which is about right for a single glass of wine to really enjoy the wine’s bouquet. But there won’t be enough wine for second helpings, so you might want to have two bottles on hand (or serve two different wines side-by-side, which really adds another dimension of interest to your meal!). Two bottles for six people is about right, especially if everybody has a glass of water at their place setting as well, which health conscious people nowadays think is de rigueur for any dinner table setting.
You can stretch out one bottle to eight glasses, but there won’t be much in each glass when you have finished pouring. A regular bottle of wine holds 750 milliliters, which is about 25 ounces. So, eight glasses will only have about three ounces of wine in each, which is not very much - unless you are serving two different wines side-by-side or have an extra bottle of the same wine on hand to take care of refills. If you are not serving two different dinner wines, two bottles for eight almost requires that you have a third (unopened) bottle on hand, just in case.
If you are serving wine before dinner with appetizers and plan on spending some time socializing, you should buy three bottles for six to eight people (but don’t open the third until you need to), because the first wine of the evening usually gets the heaviest demand placed upon it.
In summary then, for a dinner party preceded by a social hour wherein hors d’oeurves are served, you should end up buying a total of five bottles for your dinner party for six and five or six bottles for your dinner party for eight (depending on how many wines will be served for dinner). If you do this, you are not likely to run out of wine, and may even have an unopened bottle left over to enjoy with a future meal.
And, from an alcohol moderation point of view, I have found it a good practice to serve at least one bottle less than the number of people who are being served over the entire evening - Jay Roelof – www.suburbanwines.com
Monday, March 9, 2009
Friday, February 13, 2009
On the misconceptions of cooking with wine
The following is one man’s opinion on cooking with wine. And considering that I don’t often cook, this opinion might not hold much water. The idea to post this gibberish owes its genesis to 8 years of collective inquiries from my customers at Suburban about how to choose a wine to cook with.
My favorite requests to fill involve wines for cooking specific dishes. The true “foodies” amongst you are adventurous and often take my advice on wine type and style, even when the selection costs a few bucks more than you had expected. This brings to mind the deeper issue…….just how much should one spend on a cooking wine? My answer is almost always “not a lot”. But then again, you should not spend too little, either. The following should guide you in making the distinction for your self:
-First, stay away from any wine or wine section labeled “cooking wine”. This is your first indication that the quality of the juice is substandard, and not worthy of your discerning palates.
-Second, aside from including the right type of wine in your dish, you should always cook with wine that you would also consider for drinking. When trying to decide how much that should cost, consider the price and quality of the other ingredients in the dish. I doubt that any of you would be using poor, stale or tainted ingredients in your cooking, and the wine you include should be no exception. Spending as little as $5 or $6 on a bottle may be a mistake, as would be spending as much as $100.
-Finally, the better quality the wine, the potentially tastier your dish. But like everything else, this has its limits. I recall an article in Decanter Magazine a few years back wherein a columnist wrote about her experiment with using high-end wine in her cooking. She prepared several different dishes using mature first-growth Bordeaux. She concluded that her coq au vin was indeed the best she had ever prepared, but only by a subjective margin of 10%. So, does that justify spending 2,000% more on the wine? The lesson is: be sensible with your cooking wine choices, but avoid being chintzy.
Most of the wines I end up recommending for cooking cost between $15 and $25/bottle, with some exceptions in either direction. Essentially, what you’ll want is a wine that will match with, as well as enhance the flavors in your dish, rather than one that competes with your dish or stands out as an obvious component. For specific recommendations, I welcome your inquiries anytime, either in person, or by email at michael@suburbanwines.com.
As a footnote, after you have picked your poison, treat is as you would any other ingredient. What I’m getting at specifically is that you should always smell and taste a wine before cooking with it. You all have had that unpleasant experience of discovering your drinking wine is corked, oxidized or otherwise flawed. Your cooking wine may be one of those, and you wouldn’t want to ruin your beautiful dish by inadvertently pouring spoiled wine into it. –Michael Koehler- www.suburbanwines.com
My favorite requests to fill involve wines for cooking specific dishes. The true “foodies” amongst you are adventurous and often take my advice on wine type and style, even when the selection costs a few bucks more than you had expected. This brings to mind the deeper issue…….just how much should one spend on a cooking wine? My answer is almost always “not a lot”. But then again, you should not spend too little, either. The following should guide you in making the distinction for your self:
-First, stay away from any wine or wine section labeled “cooking wine”. This is your first indication that the quality of the juice is substandard, and not worthy of your discerning palates.
-Second, aside from including the right type of wine in your dish, you should always cook with wine that you would also consider for drinking. When trying to decide how much that should cost, consider the price and quality of the other ingredients in the dish. I doubt that any of you would be using poor, stale or tainted ingredients in your cooking, and the wine you include should be no exception. Spending as little as $5 or $6 on a bottle may be a mistake, as would be spending as much as $100.
-Finally, the better quality the wine, the potentially tastier your dish. But like everything else, this has its limits. I recall an article in Decanter Magazine a few years back wherein a columnist wrote about her experiment with using high-end wine in her cooking. She prepared several different dishes using mature first-growth Bordeaux. She concluded that her coq au vin was indeed the best she had ever prepared, but only by a subjective margin of 10%. So, does that justify spending 2,000% more on the wine? The lesson is: be sensible with your cooking wine choices, but avoid being chintzy.
Most of the wines I end up recommending for cooking cost between $15 and $25/bottle, with some exceptions in either direction. Essentially, what you’ll want is a wine that will match with, as well as enhance the flavors in your dish, rather than one that competes with your dish or stands out as an obvious component. For specific recommendations, I welcome your inquiries anytime, either in person, or by email at michael@suburbanwines.com.
As a footnote, after you have picked your poison, treat is as you would any other ingredient. What I’m getting at specifically is that you should always smell and taste a wine before cooking with it. You all have had that unpleasant experience of discovering your drinking wine is corked, oxidized or otherwise flawed. Your cooking wine may be one of those, and you wouldn’t want to ruin your beautiful dish by inadvertently pouring spoiled wine into it. –Michael Koehler- www.suburbanwines.com
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Well, here we are right smack in the middle of February. Things sure have changed over the last year or so! Everyone has been affected by the economy. Last year it seemed like the “perfect storm”…downturn in the economy, weak dollar abroad…wholesalers (the people we buy wine from) and wineries raising prices across the board. It was tough for everyone. As a store, it makes us work even harder to find the value that is out there. We held the line and did not raise many prices, absorbing the increases.
But from the customer standpoint, there seems to be alight at the end of this tunnel! The dollar is getting stronger, and the wholesalers have lots of unsold wine that we are making great deals on. About a week or so, I sat down and decided to put into writing some of the things that makes Suburban different from some of the other stores out there. What you may not see behind the scene here is that we literally taste hundreds of wines each week…constantly looking for value. Our team is scouring every possible buying option finding those hidden gems that are out there. We work hard, and I hope that it shows.
I would also like to thank each end every one of you for your continued patronage. Without all of you, there is no Suburban, and we are eternally grateful.
What makes Suburban different?
· We taste hundreds of wines per week, selecting new items based on delivering more value for your dollar.
· NO NEW ITEM graces our shelves unless we have tasted it and approved of it first.
· We host large-scale tasting events at least twice per month. AND, we open wine for you to taste every Saturday!
· Membership in our wine club allows you to get up to 30% or more off the items you purchase from us. Are you a member yet?
· We are always happy to special-order any item that we do not already carry.
· Need wine help or advice? We have a team of “wine geeks” ready to help with whatever you may need.
· Many times we find that big “name brands” simply do not deliver quality based upon their cost. Remember… their advertising budget comes from your pocket! We specialize in finding small-production wines from people who put their heart and soul into the bottle, offering a product that costs less than it should!
But from the customer standpoint, there seems to be alight at the end of this tunnel! The dollar is getting stronger, and the wholesalers have lots of unsold wine that we are making great deals on. About a week or so, I sat down and decided to put into writing some of the things that makes Suburban different from some of the other stores out there. What you may not see behind the scene here is that we literally taste hundreds of wines each week…constantly looking for value. Our team is scouring every possible buying option finding those hidden gems that are out there. We work hard, and I hope that it shows.
I would also like to thank each end every one of you for your continued patronage. Without all of you, there is no Suburban, and we are eternally grateful.
What makes Suburban different?
· We taste hundreds of wines per week, selecting new items based on delivering more value for your dollar.
· NO NEW ITEM graces our shelves unless we have tasted it and approved of it first.
· We host large-scale tasting events at least twice per month. AND, we open wine for you to taste every Saturday!
· Membership in our wine club allows you to get up to 30% or more off the items you purchase from us. Are you a member yet?
· We are always happy to special-order any item that we do not already carry.
· Need wine help or advice? We have a team of “wine geeks” ready to help with whatever you may need.
· Many times we find that big “name brands” simply do not deliver quality based upon their cost. Remember… their advertising budget comes from your pocket! We specialize in finding small-production wines from people who put their heart and soul into the bottle, offering a product that costs less than it should!
Thursday, January 29, 2009
WINE WITH DINNER – The Missing Ingredient
So here we are right in the middle of the coldest part of the winter and what would be more natural than an article about some great wines to go with hefty winter soups and stews? ………But, when I got to thinking about it, I wondered how many of you know what goes into the making a really great soup or stew? Of course, the answer to that question is a great stock. Basic Soup Cooking Rule No. 1 - It is really hard to make a bad soup (or stew) out of a great soup stock.
So, I’m one step away from where I started. Hmmm, but how many of you know what the missing ingredient is in most stocks? It’s not anything that you cut up and drop into the pot. It’s not even the water that you use (although fresh well water is better than chlorinated water). In fact you don’t even start with water! You start with a base vegetable stock.
So, now I’m two steps away from where I started. Well, it’s too late now. Let’s talk about base vegetable stock and how easy it is to make. All you need is a little freezer space, a large plastic Ziploc bag and a little discipline. It’s really quite simple. Just don’t throw away your eggshells, vegetable trimming and peelings, onion skins, carrot and celery scrapings, etc. and tired veggies that you sometimes find in the bottom of the vegetable bin. They all go into the zip lock bag instead. The only veggies or veggie parts that don’t go into the bag are anything from the cabbage family. You’ll be surprised at how fast the bag will fill up.
When the bag is full, pour it into the top of a double boiler, cover well with water, add a little salt, a quarter cup of white vinegar and slowly bring it to a boil. Then let it simmer for an hour or so and turn off the heat. When the liquid cools down, remove the upper part of the double boiler and throw out the contents. Now pour what’s left in the bottom of the double boiler throw a fine strainer and into large freezer containers. Cool them in the refrigerator over night and the next morning put them (labeled) into your freezer.
Now you’ve got hearty vegetable stock ready to go whenever you want to make a hefty soup or stew. I never use water when I cook; I even make rice using base vegetable stock! But, alas, I’m out of space and still two steps away from where I started. Oh well, maybe next time I’ll get into making great soups and stews. Jay Roelof – www.suburbanwines.com
So, I’m one step away from where I started. Hmmm, but how many of you know what the missing ingredient is in most stocks? It’s not anything that you cut up and drop into the pot. It’s not even the water that you use (although fresh well water is better than chlorinated water). In fact you don’t even start with water! You start with a base vegetable stock.
So, now I’m two steps away from where I started. Well, it’s too late now. Let’s talk about base vegetable stock and how easy it is to make. All you need is a little freezer space, a large plastic Ziploc bag and a little discipline. It’s really quite simple. Just don’t throw away your eggshells, vegetable trimming and peelings, onion skins, carrot and celery scrapings, etc. and tired veggies that you sometimes find in the bottom of the vegetable bin. They all go into the zip lock bag instead. The only veggies or veggie parts that don’t go into the bag are anything from the cabbage family. You’ll be surprised at how fast the bag will fill up.
When the bag is full, pour it into the top of a double boiler, cover well with water, add a little salt, a quarter cup of white vinegar and slowly bring it to a boil. Then let it simmer for an hour or so and turn off the heat. When the liquid cools down, remove the upper part of the double boiler and throw out the contents. Now pour what’s left in the bottom of the double boiler throw a fine strainer and into large freezer containers. Cool them in the refrigerator over night and the next morning put them (labeled) into your freezer.
Now you’ve got hearty vegetable stock ready to go whenever you want to make a hefty soup or stew. I never use water when I cook; I even make rice using base vegetable stock! But, alas, I’m out of space and still two steps away from where I started. Oh well, maybe next time I’ll get into making great soups and stews. Jay Roelof – www.suburbanwines.com
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Suburban’s Staff Unwinds
The holidays are busy times for wine retail, so our staff tradition is to wait until early January before collectively kicking back with some food, wine and celebration, Suburban style. This year, Lance set us up at Peter Pratt’s for the festivities. A private room awaited us, as usual, and an empty table provided us with the space for the numerous bottles we brought. As the corks flew, that table quickly became a sampling space, wherein each of us tried to taste as many of the 2-dozen wines as possible before settling on our favorites to drag with us to the dinner table. Hors d’oeuvres came, and opinions filled the room about whose contributions faired the best. It was difficult to really choose a winner, since most of the wines were “heavyweights”. But in the end, we broke it down this way:
The purists or “traditionalists” among us agreed that George W’s contribution of an organically-farmed 2001 Lirac by Domaine de la Mordoree was the king, with its high tones, striking minerality and beautiful delineation of classic Rhone flavors, while the new-world hounds preferred Jason F’s 2002 Sherwin Family Napa Cabernet, an assertive wine with an aromatic attack of blackcurrants, charcoal, pen ink, and toasty American oak, finishing with outrageous chewy tannins. Both of these made fine complements for the ensuing carnivorous feast which included sirloin steaks, pork shanks, braised duck breasts and waygu beef burgers.
Other wine highlights included Kevin’s controversial yet delightfully-mature ’86 Chateauneuf-du-Pape from a negociant none of us had heard of before, a peppery and Cornas-like ’98 Brokenwood Shiraz Graveyard Vineyard, the white pepper and eucalyptus-laden ’96 Jim Barry Shiraz Armagh, an elegant, floral and pretty 2000 single-vineyard old vines Carignane from Porter Creek of Russian River Valley, a slightly past-peak but intriguing and licorice-laced ’89 Chateau Montelena Cabernet in magnum, a buttery, textured and extremely rare ’06 Gratis Chardonnay from Sea Smoke, the wine that started it all off…..a rich and precise ’98 Champagne Egerie de Pannier, and the wine that ended it all…..the dazzling, absolutely stunning 2000 Tokaji Ezencia by Dereszla, which is a dessert wine made from free-run juice that blew our minds with its dead-ringer apricot and green tea aromatics, and never-ending finish.
Kudos to Pratt’s for the amazing meal and the vino-friendly atmosphere. And thanks to Lance for the generosity. Here’s to a prosperous 2009! -Michael Koehler- www.suburbanines.com
The purists or “traditionalists” among us agreed that George W’s contribution of an organically-farmed 2001 Lirac by Domaine de la Mordoree was the king, with its high tones, striking minerality and beautiful delineation of classic Rhone flavors, while the new-world hounds preferred Jason F’s 2002 Sherwin Family Napa Cabernet, an assertive wine with an aromatic attack of blackcurrants, charcoal, pen ink, and toasty American oak, finishing with outrageous chewy tannins. Both of these made fine complements for the ensuing carnivorous feast which included sirloin steaks, pork shanks, braised duck breasts and waygu beef burgers.
Other wine highlights included Kevin’s controversial yet delightfully-mature ’86 Chateauneuf-du-Pape from a negociant none of us had heard of before, a peppery and Cornas-like ’98 Brokenwood Shiraz Graveyard Vineyard, the white pepper and eucalyptus-laden ’96 Jim Barry Shiraz Armagh, an elegant, floral and pretty 2000 single-vineyard old vines Carignane from Porter Creek of Russian River Valley, a slightly past-peak but intriguing and licorice-laced ’89 Chateau Montelena Cabernet in magnum, a buttery, textured and extremely rare ’06 Gratis Chardonnay from Sea Smoke, the wine that started it all off…..a rich and precise ’98 Champagne Egerie de Pannier, and the wine that ended it all…..the dazzling, absolutely stunning 2000 Tokaji Ezencia by Dereszla, which is a dessert wine made from free-run juice that blew our minds with its dead-ringer apricot and green tea aromatics, and never-ending finish.
Kudos to Pratt’s for the amazing meal and the vino-friendly atmosphere. And thanks to Lance for the generosity. Here’s to a prosperous 2009! -Michael Koehler- www.suburbanines.com
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
EDUCATION IN A CASE
In many ways, the magic of wine is part and parcel of the process of discovery and assessment. When you’re starting out with wine, you are discovering that you like to drink wine. Along the way you discover new varietals, regions and blends that you enjoy or loathe. Eventually, you will have tasted enough wine that new wines are assessed against your previous favorites in various peer groups. New favorites appear, your standards shift, your wine instincts are sharpened.
As someone in the trade, I have always considered that to be an essential skill. I know when I taste it, for example, if that Haut-Medoc is in the top 10% of all the Haut-Medocs I have tried and committed to the storeroom of my mind. If it is not a real standout, it will not really register and be largely forgotten.
If you really want to delve into wine, I genuinely feel that you can give yourself an education from every case of wine you buy – and here’s a great for instance – here’s one man’s ultimate Sauvignon Blanc sampler of the moment. At the end of this case of wine is an education. You should have some strong opinions.
2006 Delille Cellars Chaleur Estate Blanc (includes 21% Semillon) $42.99 Washington State
2006 Six Sigma Sauvignon Blanc Lake County Rooster Vyd $21.99 California
2007 Cliff Lede Sauvignon Blanc Napa $26.99 California
2007 Mulderbosch Sauvignon Blanc, Stellenbosch $21.99 South Africa
2007 Vina Leyda Sauvignon Blanc Classic , Leyda Valley $11.99 Chile
2006 Abbazia di Novacella Sauvignon, Alto Adige $17.99 Italy
2007 Eradus Sauvignon Blanc, Marlborough $18.99 New Zealand
2006 Chateau Doisy Daene Bordeaux Blanc $22.99 Bordeaux
2007 Chateau Laures Entre-deux-Mers (includes Semillon) $12.99 Bordeaux
2007 Domaine Mardon Quincy $17.99 Loire Valley
2006 Langoux Pouilly Fume $19.99 Loire Valley
2006 Leon Vatan Sancerre Les Moulins Artes $24.99 Loire Valley
-George Feaver - www.suburbanwines.com
As someone in the trade, I have always considered that to be an essential skill. I know when I taste it, for example, if that Haut-Medoc is in the top 10% of all the Haut-Medocs I have tried and committed to the storeroom of my mind. If it is not a real standout, it will not really register and be largely forgotten.
If you really want to delve into wine, I genuinely feel that you can give yourself an education from every case of wine you buy – and here’s a great for instance – here’s one man’s ultimate Sauvignon Blanc sampler of the moment. At the end of this case of wine is an education. You should have some strong opinions.
2006 Delille Cellars Chaleur Estate Blanc (includes 21% Semillon) $42.99 Washington State
2006 Six Sigma Sauvignon Blanc Lake County Rooster Vyd $21.99 California
2007 Cliff Lede Sauvignon Blanc Napa $26.99 California
2007 Mulderbosch Sauvignon Blanc, Stellenbosch $21.99 South Africa
2007 Vina Leyda Sauvignon Blanc Classic , Leyda Valley $11.99 Chile
2006 Abbazia di Novacella Sauvignon, Alto Adige $17.99 Italy
2007 Eradus Sauvignon Blanc, Marlborough $18.99 New Zealand
2006 Chateau Doisy Daene Bordeaux Blanc $22.99 Bordeaux
2007 Chateau Laures Entre-deux-Mers (includes Semillon) $12.99 Bordeaux
2007 Domaine Mardon Quincy $17.99 Loire Valley
2006 Langoux Pouilly Fume $19.99 Loire Valley
2006 Leon Vatan Sancerre Les Moulins Artes $24.99 Loire Valley
-George Feaver - www.suburbanwines.com
Saturday, December 27, 2008
WINE WITH DINNER – A less expensive alternative to Veuve Cliquot Yellow Label
Choosing a good quality French Champagne, as opposed to a domestic sparkling wine, for that special Happy New Year’s Eve toast does not have to be all that expensive. Of course, you do have to accept the fact that finding the real thing (i.e., a good quality Champagne made in the Champagne district of France) for under $30 a bottle is close to impossible in today’s market.
Because Non-Vintage (NV) Veuve Cliquot Brut “yellow label” Champagne is so well known and because it is often discounted well below its $45 to $50 price, many people think that it is a “good buy” and don’t look any further. Certainly you can easily find stores that sell it for less than $40 and at Suburban we always have it on sale for $38.97 or less. But is it a good buy from a quality perspective even at that price? In the basic wine classes that I teach, we often address this question by comparing NV Veuve Cliquot Yellow Label with NV Brut Grower Champagnes, whose undiscounted retail price is lower than the Veuve Cliquot discounted price and the Grower Champagnes always win!
For those of you who are not familiar with the term “Grower Champagne,” these are sparkling wines made by individual(s) who actually own their own vineyards in the Champagne district of France, grow their own grapes there for the base cuveé, and then produce and age the resulting sparkling wine in facilities on their own Champagne estate. To learn more about Grower Champagne, you can find all the basics you will need on http://www.interactiveheet.com/bottledup/2007/12/Grower-champagne.html and once there, you will also find several excellent additional links on the subject.
So far, in our less expensive Grower vs. Veuve Cliquot NV Brut Champagne tastings held at Suburban Wine & Spirits, my classes each time have unanimously selected Christian Etienne Tradition and Charles Ellner Cuvee de Reserve as clear winners. They both are available at our store for $31.99 and $35.99 respectively. – Jay Roelof – www.suburbanwines.com
Because Non-Vintage (NV) Veuve Cliquot Brut “yellow label” Champagne is so well known and because it is often discounted well below its $45 to $50 price, many people think that it is a “good buy” and don’t look any further. Certainly you can easily find stores that sell it for less than $40 and at Suburban we always have it on sale for $38.97 or less. But is it a good buy from a quality perspective even at that price? In the basic wine classes that I teach, we often address this question by comparing NV Veuve Cliquot Yellow Label with NV Brut Grower Champagnes, whose undiscounted retail price is lower than the Veuve Cliquot discounted price and the Grower Champagnes always win!
For those of you who are not familiar with the term “Grower Champagne,” these are sparkling wines made by individual(s) who actually own their own vineyards in the Champagne district of France, grow their own grapes there for the base cuveé, and then produce and age the resulting sparkling wine in facilities on their own Champagne estate. To learn more about Grower Champagne, you can find all the basics you will need on http://www.interactiveheet.com/bottledup/2007/12/Grower-champagne.html and once there, you will also find several excellent additional links on the subject.
So far, in our less expensive Grower vs. Veuve Cliquot NV Brut Champagne tastings held at Suburban Wine & Spirits, my classes each time have unanimously selected Christian Etienne Tradition and Charles Ellner Cuvee de Reserve as clear winners. They both are available at our store for $31.99 and $35.99 respectively. – Jay Roelof – www.suburbanwines.com
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