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August 26, 2006
Wine and Indy cars
As most of you know, I also cover auto racing for the newspaper. This particular weekend I happen to be in Sonoma for the Indy Racing League event at Infineon Raceway.
The Friday night before the race, the IRL held a Media Appreciation Party at the Roche Carneros Estate Winery.
There was lots of wine, meats on sticks, olive pates, shrimp cocktails and bacon-wrapped grapes.
Now I am a fan of anything wrapped in bacon. I believe every great sandwich ends with bacon. The BLT has to be one of the greatest sandwich inventions ever. It's simplicity alone garners praise. Toasted bread, crispy lettuce, juicy tomatoes, and of course sizzling bacon. Some people insist on putting mayonaise on their BLTs, which is of course a major flaw in the sandwich design.
While I am all in favor of a condiment that consists of eggs and oil beaten and whipped into a near-liquid state, it has no place on a BLT. The bacon grease alone should provide enough moisture to give any toasted bread the proper squishiness to make a sandwich enjoyable. Adding mayonaise to the mix can over-moisturize the bread, not to mention distract from the taste of the bacon.
The BLT ranks second among my favorite sandwiches. The fried egg sandwich, perhaps the most underrated sandwich, ranks at the top, of course with bacon.
But back to the bacon-wrapped grapes...
I know nothing about wine. But I do know I like bacon. This particular bacon was one of those Italian-style eat-it-raw bacons, prosciutta perhaps. I'm not even sure. But I picked some bacon-wrapped grapes, went over to the wine counter and asked what they recommend. The lady working the wine counter looked at what I picked out to eat and suggested I try a 2003 pinot noir. Apparently the wine she picked goes well with food. I had no idea that this was a requirement when choosing a wine. I know enough that red wine goes with red meat and white wine goes with white meat. Now I know that bacon-wrapped grapes go with a pinot noir, apparently from 2003, although I had a 2005 that seemed to blend well with my food, too.
As for the wine, and I am not an expert in wine at all, I was pleasantly surprised. It wasn't too strong. A little on the fruity and sweet side. I must say it was a nice compliment to the bacon-wrapped grapes, which were inherently a unique blend of sweet and salty to begin with.
Still, after eating my share of bacon-wrapped grapes and drinking pinoit noir, I was still hungry after the party. I stopped for a pepperoni pizza on the way back to the hotel I was staying at. Being in wine country, I discovered that wine is also a preferred beverage at pizza parlors. Where I come from, beer is usually the preferred beverage. But not here. As I am still a novice in the wine area, I had no idea what kind of wine goes with pepperoni pizza, so I played it safe and had a Diet Coke.
Posted by Tim Haddock at August 26, 2006 8:28 AM