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Posts Tagged ‘Robert Mondavi’

The 2011 Philadelphia Food & Wine Festival at the Valley Forge Convention Center in King of Prussia will be taking place on October 21-23.  A highlight of the festival will be the Robert Mondavi Discover Wine Tour with special guest Ted Allen.  To share their excitement about the tour, Robert Mondavi Winery is offering a prize pack giveaway for one lucky WineLife365 reader.   The only thing you need to do to win the prize pack is make a guess on the total number of natural (i.e., cork) wine closures that I’ve got stashed in my WineLife365 “Estimation Station” (shown below) and like the Robert Mondavi Winery FaceBook Page.  That’s it!  The first person to guess the number of closures (without going over) wins the prize pack.

To Enter: 

• The contest starts now and is open to anyone!
• Place your guess in the Comment area of this post or the WineLife365 Facebook Page.  Please limit to 2 guesses.
• Like the Robert Mondavi Winery FaceBook Page.
• This contest will close at 12am ET on Saturday, October 22^nd, 2012.

I will announce the correct number and the lucky winner shortly after the contest closes. 

PRIZE PACK GIVEAWAY OPPORTUNITY:
Pack includes a Robert Mondavi chef’s apron, Sigg Steel water bottle, keychain, and a copy of Ted Allen’s The Food You Want to Eat cookbook. 

Press Release:

Now in its sixth year, the Robert Mondavi Discover Wine Tour is an interactive, educational, and fun event that brings the Napa Valley wine country experience to wine-lovers across the US at various food and wine festivals.  The Philadelphia Food & Wine Festival will feature cooking demonstrations and tips by Food Network Chopped host Ted Allen, a Robert Mondovi Private Selection Food & Wine Ambassador, who continues to engage with consumers and solve – and simplify – the food and wine pairing mystery.  Along with Ted at the Robert Mondavi Winery’s Napa-inspired tasting pavilion will be educational seminars and other interactive events all communicating Robert Mondavi’s message that wine is for everyone, not just connoisseurs and sommeliers.

Robert Mondavi Discover Wine Tour highlights include:

• Educational Seminar – a Wine 101 class to help learn the basics on what to look for (and taste) in every bottle
• Wine & Cooking Stage – get the taste buds going with demonstrations and tastings by local chefs and wine experts
• Essence Station – put your senses to the test and learn how to appreciate wines subtle aromas
• Interactive iPad – email recipes and wine pairings, see photos, sign up for Winery news, and view tasting notes all at the touch of a button
• Mondavi Theater – watch a short documentary film showcasing how Robert Mondavi revolutionized the American wine industry 

Robert Mondavi Official Site
Mondavi on Twitter
Philadelphia Food & Wine Festival

…but not of the risky kind with the 2008 Robert Mondavi Fumé Blanc.  Right out of the gate, one gets a sense of seriousness from this 2008 Sauvignon Blanc – pardon me – this 2008 Fumé Blanc from one of Napa Valley’s most respected wineries – the Robert Mondavi Winery.

For those that may not know, Fumé Blanc is actually a pseudonym for Sauvignon Blanc.  The person responsible for this brilliant and innovative marketing name change is Robert Mondavi.  Prior to the 1970s, Sauvignon Blanc was typically produced in a way that gave it an overly sweet taste, hence giving it a poor reputation in California.  In 1968, the Robert Mondavi Winery was offered a large and particularly good crop of Sauvignon Blanc grapes.  Mondavi then decided to embrace this as an opportunity to differentiate his Sauvignon Blanc from the others with barrel aging and eventually released a new style of California Sauvignon Blanc under the name Fumé Blanc, and the rest is history.

While tasting the 2008 Robert Mondavi Fumé Blanc, it certainly didn’t take long for my taste buds to get the sense that the boss was somehow still calling the shots, and the winemakers at Mondavi are following through spectacularly.

Dream sequence…

Boss:  As you know, we here at the Mondavi Winery created Fumé Blanc, but over the years, stiff competition from other terrific Sauvignon Blanc producers sure has made it tough for us to sell our Fumé Blanc.  I need all of you to pitch in and give me your best efforts!

For starters, we’ve got to tame that unruly Sauvignon Blanc with some barrel aging, but we can’t have people scream “Yuck!” because the oak is completely overpowering the wine. 

Winemakers:  CHECK!  We hear you boss.   We’ve got that beast Sauvignon Blanc and the oak under control!

Boss:  What about the fruit flavors?  It has to be great and keep people coming back for more! 

Winemakers:  We’ve got it boss!  Our wine will possess great tropical fruit flavors, along with a special added bonus that will enhance the consumer’s enjoyment of our wine:  with our tried and true barrel aging process, our Fumé Blanc will be as creamy and decadent as a fine Chardonnay – just like the French stuff.

Boss:  One last thing:  we need to make this the best damn wine for less than $20 (US). 

Winemakers:  A hush fell across the room, but after only a momentary hesitation, the winemakers said, “Done!”

Boss:  OK THEN – Let’s go out there and show the wine drinking public what we’re made of!

4 Stars out of 4.  Mission accomplished.  The Robert Mondavi Winery has been making Fumé Blanc for a mighty long time, and years of hands on experience really shows in their 2008 offering.  Try pairing it with a crab cake and Caesar salad.

($20 MSRP, Sample)

There’s a little saying in my kitchen:  “If you’ve got some leftovers, you’ve got tonight’s dinner.”  On this occasion, I had a piece of leftover grilled steak and one grilled pork chop that was going to get up close and personal with my frying pan!  So, with my two delightful pieces of leftover BBQ meats from day 1, here’s what else I used to make this “stick to your ribs” day 2 meal for 2:

• A big skillet
• 1 grilled Pork chop
• 1 grilled Steak
• Salted Butter
• Olive Oil
• 2 large Idaho Potatoes
• ½ yellow onion
• 1 green pepper 
• Salt-n-Pepper
• Rosemary – can’t beat the fresh stuff, but dried will do
• Sweet basil – preferably the fresh leaf kind
• Ground coriander seed
• About ½ bag or bunch of fresh arugula
• 1 lemon or a bit of bottled lemon juice 

Start by first poking a few holes into the potatoes and nuke them in the microwave for about 2-1/2 minutes just to soften them up a bit.  Dice up the potatoes, the leftover pork chop and onion and put them aside for now.

Warm up your large skillet and coat it with some olive oil.  Infuse the olive oil with the rosemary and sweet basil.  Add the chopped up potatoes, pork, pepper, and onion.  Season with a little bit of ground coriander seed, salt, pepper, and a tad of salted butter and flip it around until nice and golden brown.

Warm up the leftover steak in the microwave just long enough to make it hot (a minute to 1.5 minutes should suffice). Slice it in half into two portions.

Finally, take a small mixing bowl and toss together fresh arugula with salt, pepper, and lemon juice.

To plate it up, put a little bit of the arugula mixture onto the center of each plate.  Dish out the warm skillet mixture and spread over each portion of arugula.  Finally, place a piece of steak on the top.

Complete this meat–n-potatoes makeover with a bottle of 2007 Robert Mondavi Private Selection Meritage.  It’s a blend of 79% Cabernet Sauvignon, 12% Merlot, 4% Petit Verdot, 3% Malbec, and 2% Cabernet Franc.  It’s also easy on the wallet at a price of less than $12 a bottle.

Bon appetit!

 “All cowboys ain’t dumb. Some of ‘em got smarts real good, like me.” – Urban Cowboy  

Addendum:

In case you’re interested, here is how my leftover steak and pork chops came to be…

The day before, I marinated a few steaks and pork chops and fired them up on the grill.  For the steaks, I used a little butcher’s secret known as filet mignon “tips”.   Not a recipe tip, but rather the end portions of the slab of filet mignon.  Butchers can’t sell these “butts” at the normal nosebleed price because they’re not the perfect cuts that you and I know and love.  These filet tips are usually priced at about half the cost per pound of what a “perfect” cut of filet mignon costs.  It’s still filet mignon people – they just don’t look as pretty or cost you a car payment.

So, the next time you see the butcher, ask him where he keeps his filet mignon tips.

Onto to seasoning these steak ends.  I rubbed a little olive oil on them and sprinkled some garlic salt, salt, pepper, ground coriander seed, ground fennel seed, and then karate chopped them with some dried ginger powder and teriyaki sauce.

The seasoning for the pork chops included: olive oil, salt, pepper, a squeeze of lemon juice and the very reliable McCormick Grill Mates Pork Rub.

Can you believe it’s July already?  It seems like just yesterday that our sons finished up their last day of the school year and now summer camp is in full swing.  Our boys are having a blast doing the usual camp stuff like swimming and sports.  But they’re also enjoying learning the words to wacky camp songs like “I’ve Got a Pair of Combination Underwear”.  But the big hit is GaGa - all of the kids at camp have gone GaGa for GaGa.

Not this GaGa:

But rather this GaGa:

GaGa is also known as Israeli dodgeball, and before this summer began I sure as heck hadn’t seen or heard of this camp game before.  But my kids have become addicted to GaGa and I’ve gotta say, after playing a few rounds with them, I can see why they love it!  So after learning the lyrics to the underwear song and getting the hang of GaGa, it was nice to sit down at the dinner table with the entire family and enjoy a plate of spaghetti and meatballs and hear more about summer adventures at camp.

We had two reds from California which I’d like to share with you.  Our first red wine from California was “Red Truck”.  This red was born in 2007 and contains a number of different grapes, including Syrah, Petite Syrah, Cabernet Franc, and Merlot.  I was really hoping that the 2007 Red Truck would deliver the goods in the flavor department based on the interesting blend that compelled me to purchase it.  Sadly, the 2007 Red Truck pulled up a little short on our taste scale.  It was ok, but a little too fruity and it did nothing in the way of really revving up our taste buds with a plate of spaghetti and meatballs.  If you’re looking for a not-so serious bottle of red wine for less than $10, then I’d say give it a try.  But, if you’re looking for a red wine that can really put it in gear, then keep reading because our second wine of the evening did not come up short.  

Our second California red wine on this Fancy Dinner Friday was from Robert Mondavi.  It was the 2007 Robert Mondavi “Private Selection” Meritage.  Like the 2007 Red Truck, this Cali red is also an interesting blend of several different grapes.  The 2007 Mondavi Meritage is a blend of 79% Cabernet Sauvignon, 12% Merlot, 4% Petit Verdot, 3% Malbec and 2% Cabernet Franc.  However, unlike the easy-drinking blended Red Truck, this Meritage delivered the goods!  It packed a delicious punch of fruit and oak that is integrated to near perfection.  It was very good with our Friday night spaghetti and meatballs and had our taste buds looking for more.  In my opinion, the 2007 Robert Mondavi Private Selection Meritage is one of the tastiest value reds in the marketplace right now.

Our verdict for the evening’s wine:

The 2007 Red Truck was ok.  It was just a little too fruity and one dimensional (simple) to us.  At $10, there are some better choices if you’re looking for something a little more serious.  I give it 2 Stars.

Conversely, the 2007 Robert Mondavi Private Selection Meritage is no joke.  This wine definitely commands your attention and tastes much more expensive than it actually is.  It’s a killer value red wine in the “under $10″ price category.  On a side note, I’ve been drinking and enjoying both the 2006 and 2007 vintages.  Both are equally good.  I give it 3 Stars out of 4.