A Simple Meal While Watching the 49’er Game with a Refreshing White Wine
Background
While wanting to watch the first football game of year, with our “home team” the San Francisco 49’ers, we had an early and simple dinner with a lovely and refreshing wine, 2023 Lavender Ridge Vineyard Côtes du Calaveras Blanc
The Wine – “Wine is bottled Poetry” – Robert Louis Stevenson
Photo ©Michael Kelly
First on the eyes, this wine is a light and enticing soft golden color with a medium-heavy viscosity. On the nose aromas of honeydew, strong floral notes and cantaloup waft gently in the senses. On the palate a symphony of each of the four varieties used in the wine are noted. First Lavender Ridge’s excellent Marsanne with its creaminess and brioche, Grenache Blanc providing minerality, wet stone and crispness, Roussanne bringing more rounded acidity, elegance and aromatic complexities to the blend with a mouth feel of fullness and 12% Viognier with oily, round and lovely fruit expression. These four are weaved together seamlessly. The finish is mouth filling, round and with so many nuances of flavor. An excellent wine representing Southern Rhone blend.
The wine currently sells for $26/bottle. It comes in at a high alcohol level of 14.3% yet seemingly tasted more like 12%. Made in 100% stainless steel tanks. The next release will feature a French oak version which will only add more body to the wine. Rumor has it that it will be out for holiday season.
A fine wine that will make my 2026 annual list of Best Wines tasted during the year. This list comes out each December.
The Food and Wine Pairing – “Food without wine is a corpse; wine without food is a ghost. United and well matched, they are as body and soul: living partners” – Andre Simon
Photo ©Michael Kelly
A quick pan fried pounded seasoned chicken breast served with roasted Yukon Gold potato slices. Accompanied by a warm spinach salad with purple onion, sliced hard boiled eggs, bacon and a scrumptious dressing of red wine vinegar, bacon drippings, mustard and sugar.
The wine was perfect with chicken and potato slices. As with any “vinegar based” dressings, we had to wash out the taste of the great salad dressing before finishing the wine. We did enjoy the balance of the wine while watching the 49’ers trounce the Rams!
The Winery
Picture from Lavender Ridge Vineyard Facebook
Lavender Ridge Vineyard tasting room is in the town of Murphys in the lower Sierra Nevada foothills. Lavender Ridge specializes in Rhone varietal wines. They include Cotes du Calaveras Blanc, Viognier, Roussanne, Rolle, Grenache Blanc, Grenache Rose, Grenache, Cotes du Calaveras, Mourvedre, Syrah, Petite Sirah, Alicante Bouschet, Vin Doux and Anniversaire Blanc. They also feature an artisan cheese selection that is unique and has something for just about everyone.
To read more about Lavender Ridge, see three previous articles:
Sláinte,
Michael Kelly
https://californiawinesandwineries.com