Tag Archives: pizza

Seriously? A 1987 Lindemans Shiraz with pizza tonight?

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I have so many topics queued up to blog about.  I love talking about (and drinking) wine.  Today I was discussing a very interesting new wine education concept with a friend and he called me wine-centric.  I kind of liked that!  And it fit in well with the wine educational concept he is promoting.  The guy I was talking with is Ben Hughes, who has a lifetime of experience in the wine industry as a seller, maker and educator.  Deanna and I have taken a wine tasting class from him previously which was great fun and very educational.  Ben is now starting his new and improved venture The Australian Wine and Beer School (AWBS).  It looks like a great way to teach a wide variety of people on Australian wine and beer.  Most importantly, it takes the mystique and intimidation out of learning about wine and makes it downright fun!

Perfect Cork

Because Ben was coming over and because I knew he would appreciate it, I opened my last bottle of the 1987 Lindemans Shiraz which I happened to come across when checking out the temperature in my Vintec.  Plus I knew I needed to drink it soon as with each passing year, it was at risk of becoming more past due.

I had taken a bottle of this to the Hunter Valley last year, but had about five winter months when it was not stored in optimal conditions.  That was a mistake for a 25 year old (and) fragile wine.  I was excited to have that bottle one day at Bistro Molines, but upon opening and decanting it, I found it was not in great condition and had to pour it down the drain – a real shame!  But the bottle I opened today to drink with Ben was much better.  The cork was perfect (except it was dry on the top and did crumble when trying to open it), and the wine much better preserved and drinkable than the bottle I took to the Hunter and was stored outside of proper cellaring conditions.

Since the cork crumbled into the bottle, I had to filter it to ensure no cork fragments made their way into the wine.  However, I was careful not to aerate it as it would have further harmed an already fragile (but still pretty good) structure. Opening any wine this old requires special care as I discussed in a previous post.  This wine was not brownish (brownish being a sure sign of too much oxidation in the bottle) and clearly lasted better than the bottle I opened last year.  While not having lively fruit flavors, it was still a remarkable wine, perfectly integrated and balanced, and your typical Hunter Shiraz.

Sharing a ‘last bottle’ bestows a great honor for all involved.  As I get down to my remaining few bottles of a particular wine and vintage, I think carefully about who I want to drink that wine with.  And knowing Ben would appreciate it and with a lifetime in the wine industry, he would enjoy this bottle of wine.  That makes it a delight to share with others.  When you have that special bottle and that last bottle, put some thought into who you want to share it with.

And notice the Temperature gauge on the bottle!  This was a birthday present from a friend after reading that I do not use a temperature gauge when checking the temperature of bottles before serving.  More on this in a future post!

And since Ben was driving, we have some wine left over to go with the pizza I am making tonight.  And I am able to share that tonight with the most important person in my life, my wife and soul mate, Deanna, writer of DAZ in the Kitchen.  This will be the most notable wine we have ever had with pizza.  Usually a Chianti or Cabernet Sauvignon does the trick, but tonight it will be a 1987 Lindemans Shiraz!  The spicy, peppery flavors should match up well with the chili and garlic I load onto the pizza.  And if you want the recipe for the pizza, check out DAZ in the Kitchen blog post for our pizza recipe.

I hope the food and wine you have tonight will be as enjoyable as what we are doing!  Enjoy!

1996 St George makes great pizza even better

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I love making a good pizza and drinking a great wine to go with it.  My lovely bride asks me if we aren’t over-doing the wine we sometimes have with pizza and I tell her simply, “no!”  We often drink a Chianti or a Cabernet Sauvignon with pizza.  And tonight, the Cabernet Sauvignon was the 1996 Lindeman’s St George, one of my all-time favorites!

I remember tasting a bottle of this in 2000 and then securing four dozen bottles.  This was one of my all-time great buys and the wine has improved and served me well over its lifetime.  I was running down to my last few bottles several years ago and topped off my holdings by buying four more and six of the 1998 St George (an even slightly better vintage).  We also have a couple dozen of the 1997 St George which is a great wine, if not quite as complex as the 1996 or 1998.

This wine has large berry flavors, most closely to raspberry or sweet (over-ripe) blackberry.  It is beautifully balanced.  However, this wine is starting to show its age and should be drank in the next year or two.  I think I have about three or four bottles left, so this should not be a problem.  The fruit is not as lively as it was three or four years ago.

I have always liked the St George Cabernet Sauvignon as one of my go-to Cab Savs.  An even better one (but with more variability vintage to vintage) is the Wynn’s John Riddoch.  The Wynn’s John Riddoch also tends to cost about 50% more per bottle, but for great vintages, can be worth it.  But my love affair with the Lindeman’s St George has served me well year-to-year and I have bought so much volume that I am always able to get quite good prices for it.  In totality, I have had the 1989, 1991, 1992, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2003 (only available as a clean skin), 2004, 2005, 2008, and 2009 vintages.

Is this too good a wine to drink with pizza?  I don’t think so.  “Yes,” I could have a decent and much cheaper Chianto to go with pizza, or a cheaper Cab Sav, but why should I when I have a bottle of the 1996 St George staring me in the face when I open the Vintec?  If it needs to be drunk in the next several years, there is no time like the present!  And I can guarantee that it makes a great pizza even better!

Chianti perfect with pizza

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The Chianti, a 2006 Gabbiano Classico Riserva was a perfect match for the pizza.  It was soft, but with enough complexity to mix beautifully with the various pizza flavors.

We were thinking of also trying a 2001 Rosemount Traditional, but after tasting the Chianti, realized that the Chianti was perfect and decided to save the Rosemount to go with corn beef.  (A separate blog on that will follow.)

As with all Italian Chiantis, the Gabbiano was made from the Sangiovese grape.  While Sangiovese is considered a secondary grape, it has real stature in Italy and is popular globally. There are a number of Australian makers of Sangiovese now and one of the very best is Tintilla, in the Hunter Valley.  The do a great Sangiovese and a Sangiovese / Merlot blend and some of the older vintages are nicely smoky and a bit rustic in tasting.

If you really want to have a good time, check out the Tintilla website and write them about their annual Sangiovese tasting.  I believe it just passed for this year, but there is always next year.

The Gabbiano comes in a Classico and a Classico Riserva, which is a better wine, using a more select collection of premium grapes.  The Riserva has a DOCG appellation in the Tuscany region which means it is ‘top of the line’ Sangiovese. If you like Chianti, but you are not aware of the different brands and which one is best, you can usually be safe in picking up a very good quality Chianti by choosing one with the “Rooster” label (picture to right) which ensures it is of DOCG quality (unless of course, it is a counterfeit.)

I was originally debating between a Shiraz and the Chianti, but decided the Chianti was a better choice and I was right.  Pizza crust goes better with Chianti than a Shiraz for starters.  Additionally, we had a pizza with salami, green capsicum, Spanish onion, mushrooms, garlic, chili and cheese.  The salami on its own would have fought a bit with the Shiraz, whereas it worked beautifully with the Chianti.  And it worked great with our guests, Ric and Cris, as Ric is Italian (Cris is Venezuelan) and the maker of the fine salami we used on the pizza.  Since having started to use Ric’s salami as a topping, it has been impossible to use other salamis or pepperoni.  Ric’s family made another 140 kilograms of salami today and we will be joining them in two weeks to help with the next batch.

My friend Jeff, who lives in California, suggested that a Red Zinfandel would also be a great match for pizza and he is correct.  I tend to forget about what a great wine Zinfandel is for many occasions, and pizza would be one of them.  We do not see much Zinfandel in Australia, but Cape Mentelle makes a great one.  I had a  2008 Cape Mentelle Zinfandel at Bistro Molines in the Hunter Valley several months ago and it was the first Zinfandel I had had in 15 years (since moving to Australia).  I also had a 2009 Cape Mentelle Zinfandel at The Cut Bar & Grill a little while ago with their slow cooked prime rib.  Cape Mentelle is in the Margaret River region which makes truly outstanding wines.  And if you are looking for the finest steak house in Sydney, you need look no further than The Cut Bar & Grill.  And the sommelier at the Cut, Gustavo Kroneis, is the finest around and has been outstanding at recommending great wines to go with our steaks.

It is easy to just break open a few beers when you are having pizza, but if you want to wine to go with pizza, try a Chianti or Red Zindfandel.

And BTW, here is a picture of one of the pizzas we made tonight.  Deanna will be posting a blog entry in DAZ in the Kitchen with the recipe if you want to try it.

What wine with Pizza?

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This is always a tough question since there are so many different ingredients that can go into pizza.  We have gone from buying pizza to making our own, which is quite easy and allows us to create exactly the taste we want.  It also means we have a healthier pizza.  Some times we make the base and other times we buy it, but that choice has no effect on our choice of wine.

We alway use a tomato sauce / paste to cover the base, and almost always a spicier sausage such as pepperoni or the spicy home-made Italian sausage our great friend, Ric and his family make annually (so glad to have a private stash of that sausage – it is magnificent for a pizza topping!).  We also tend to put a lot of garlic and chili on our pizza.  Therefore, a Hunter Valley (spicy, pepper flavored) Shiraz is always a good choice.  However, something a little lighter such as a Cabernet Sauvignon or a Italian Chianti (made from the Sangiovese grape) is always a safe choice to bring out the flavors of the pizza.

Interestingly enough, some white wines will also go well with pizza, since a number of white wines match well with the various cheeses used.  And if you are using chicken, pineapple, or something similar for toppings, a white becomes even a better choice.  I would recommend a crisp (2 or 3 years in the bottle, before it smooths in taste and texture) Semillon to match up well with cheese, but overall believe a Gewürztraminer, or Riesling would be best.  If it is plainer tasting pizza, a Pinot Grigio would be good.  A Gewürztraminer works well with a lot of different spices such as with Indian food or Thai food, so it will work well with a well seasoned pizza also!

It is rare that I would recommend seven different types of grapes as being a good match for a food, but that says a lot about the diversity of pizza!  Then there is always Merlot, but I rarely drink Merlot if given almost any other choice.

And if this is all too difficult, then grab a beer or two!  But overall, it is usually a Shiraz or a Chianti for me.  The only question is – “which one”?

BTW, I am making the pizza tonight and Deanna, who writes the blog, DAZ in the Kitchen, will be creating a post soon with the pizza recipe we use.