Food-Pairing Friday: Roasted Brussels Sprouts w/ Sriracha & Mint

It's been more than four years since I wrote my first ode to Brussels sprouts, the cute, grassy green little cabbages about the size of a golf ball. And I'm still amazed that despite New York Magazine declaring that "Vegetables are the New Meat," their reputation hasn't improved much more than rosé wine in some circles. (See this summer's post, No Way Rosé.) But Brussels sprouts are deliciously sweet with nutty overtones when they're cooked properly. And you can do almost anything you want to them--though I often default to a quick sauté and dressing them up in the salty goodness of Fra-Mani pancetta--as long as you don't boil them. They're even amenable to a little kick, like in this simple recipe for Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Sriracha and Mint from our friends the White on Rice Couple.

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Wine Wednesday: Hop in the Dark

Cascade hops at Deschutes Brewery in Bend, Oregon. Photo by Leah Greenstein.

Sure it's "Wine" Wednesday, but it's raining and I spent most of the night dreaming about beer. Beer from the Deschutes Brewery in Bend, Oregon, to be specific. Deschutes has been brewing craft beers since 1988, back when Bend was just a small Central Oregon town in the high desert foothills of Mount Bachelor and the term "craft beer" hadn't been invented yet. They started out with three beers: Black Butte Porter, Bachelor Bitter and Cascade Golden Ale. It's that first beer, the Black Butte Porter, that got me interested in beer, with its incredibly balanced but rich profile full of espresso, cocoa and a hint of hoppy bitterness. It quickly replaced Guinness as my beer of choice.

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Winery to Watch: Amalie Robert

"Luck is when an opportunity meets a prepared mind."

This is the guiding principle of Ernie Pink and Dena Drews. It’s what led them to buy a cherry orchard 15 miles south of Salem, Oregon in the Willamette Valley, convert it to a vineyard and start making wine. It’s what led our domestic buyer Bryan Brick—on a never-ending quest to fine great Pinot—to find them, and we’re sure it’s part of what will get you to take a chance on their wine.

Still, it wasn’t all luck for the Amalie Robert estate. It took passion, diligence and an attention to detail to get started. Like a lot of people in the domestic wine business, Ernie and Dena weren’t raised in the wine life; they were Pacific Northwest computer nerds first. Trading in keyboards and operating systems for shovels and dirt, they planted grapes: Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier, Chardonnay and Viognier to silty Bellpine soils. Their first harvest was in 2002. They sold their dry-farmed fruit to a who’s who of Oregon wineries—Elk Cove, Erath, Cristom and Beaux Frères—and made a little wine on the side, always true to the soil and expressions of the vintage, but never enough to make a dent in the marketplace. In 2006, the couple completed construction of a winery as well as their first estate crush, the results of which have just arrived at K&L.

The Amalie Robert wines are only available in a handful of states and have only recently become available here in California. We’re thrilled to be among the first retailers to discover them. These Pinots are elegant, feminine and built to last, whisking the Pinot-lovers on our staff away to their happy place. The 2006 Amalie Robert “Amalie’s Cuvée” Willamette Valley Pinot Noir ($54.99) has a sexy sous bois/musk note to complement the lighter, more ethereal strawberry chiffon, cotton candy and talc aromas that comprise its bouquet. It the mouth it is bright and lovely, with pretty, resonating acidity on the attack. Tart cherry, raspberry and red currant fruit fill the palate like Red Riding Hood’s basket with a lingering finish redolent of lavender and wisteria. This is a very special wine showing much more balance than typical for the vintage.

The 2006 Amalie Robert “Dijon Clones” Willamette Valley Pinot Noir ($42.99) is dominated by clone 777, with smaller proportions of 667, 114, 113 and 115, and each selection adds something to the blend. Spicier on the nose than the Amalie’s Cuvée, the Dijon Clones wakes your senses with prickly notes of clove and nutmeg. There’s a nice tension as the wine opens up between the spice and pure red cherry fruit and an alluring fried mushroom umami quality. The wine expresses the vintage by being very ripe, but does it well with spot on flavors and nice drive. It is tangy and fresh with plum, cassis and currant fruit on the pretty, refined finish.

Leah Greenstein