I spent a long weekend at my farm and started the weekend with a
small corn and wine tasting. We're just past the peak of sweet corn
season in Ohio but plenty of corn is still available thanks to my
neighbors. I chose three varieties of corn; "Silver Queen" (white),
"Bodacious" (yellow) and "Cream and Sugar" (bi-color). I blanched
them in boiling salted water for about three minutes and brushed them
with a little salted butter. I chose a number of wines to taste with
the corn and the winner was:
2002 Shafer Red Shoulder Ranch Chardonnay-The texture and richness of
the corn was a good match with the Shafer. The acidity of the wine
balanced the richness of the corn yet the wine had a depth of flavor
(no malo) that made the corn taste like...corn. Other contenders were
2002 Henri Boillot Meursault, 2003 Rombauer Chardonnay, 2004 Kerpen
Wehlener Sonnenuhr Auslese Riesling, 2001 Trimbach Riesling Alsace.
On Sunday I smoked a beef brisket for 12 hours and served a 2004
Markham Petite Syrah. The wine was tight on opening so I decanted it
for an hour while the brisket rested in foil. After and hour the wine
was much smoother with blueberry and black coffee notes on the nose.
There was plenty of smoked meat notes in the wine and a bit of ripe
black fruit all within a fairly tannic structure. It was excellent
with the brisket. "B+"