Saina Nieminen
Saina Nieminen
A mostly Turkish theme tonight with some lamb pilaf with a cheap Kavaklıdere kzgz Sade d'Elzığ 2009 from the Elzığ Province (in Eastern Turkey on the Anatolian Plateau just north of the Taurus Mountains) which is the native area for not only kzgz but for Boğazkere also.
For a cheap wine, only 8,05 in Alko, this delivered great pleasure. Some cherry tartness in the aroma, but ripe and sweet, too. Good concentration and ripeness but good acidity and some proper tannic crunch. No oak. And screwcapped, too! I think I have to buy more.
The we tried making baklava for the first time. At first I thought we did OK, though we did have a bit of trouble getting our sugar into a syrupy consistency (any tips? less water, I guess). And we used too much lemon juice, though maybe that wasn't a bad thing as baklava often could use a bit of something acidic to lighten it a bit...
Still a bit warm from the oven the texture was right: very rich despite "syrup" having been the consistency of water. Unfortunately the next day it was a failure: cooling made it super-sticky. We finally got the taste right, but how should I be making the syrup so that the texture will be right, too?
And of course we had some Port since my Port-loving friend was over, Graham's Crusted bottled 2001, which was very nice. Dark fruit tones rather than the more red, strawberry like aromas of Graham's VP. Still very primary, it doesn't seem to have budged since I last tasted this two years ago. Very sweet as the house style tends to be. Nice stuff, but I would give it more age.
After the richness of baklava and Port, something palate-cleansing was called for, so it was a Chreau-Carr Comte Leloup du Chteau de Chasseloir Cuve des Ceps Centenaires Muscadet Svre & Maine 2005. Nice drop, though not a producer that gets much notice on the interwebz; and pleasantly refreshing despite a hot year. Rich and deep, leesy aromas, pleasantly citric and mineral, no sign of the over-ripeness I saw with the few other Muscadets of this year that I managed to try up here in the north. Fairly racy but doesn't have that lovely grip the '04 had. But it is still a joyful wine and we all received great pleasure from it.
For a cheap wine, only 8,05 in Alko, this delivered great pleasure. Some cherry tartness in the aroma, but ripe and sweet, too. Good concentration and ripeness but good acidity and some proper tannic crunch. No oak. And screwcapped, too! I think I have to buy more.
The we tried making baklava for the first time. At first I thought we did OK, though we did have a bit of trouble getting our sugar into a syrupy consistency (any tips? less water, I guess). And we used too much lemon juice, though maybe that wasn't a bad thing as baklava often could use a bit of something acidic to lighten it a bit...
And of course we had some Port since my Port-loving friend was over, Graham's Crusted bottled 2001, which was very nice. Dark fruit tones rather than the more red, strawberry like aromas of Graham's VP. Still very primary, it doesn't seem to have budged since I last tasted this two years ago. Very sweet as the house style tends to be. Nice stuff, but I would give it more age.
After the richness of baklava and Port, something palate-cleansing was called for, so it was a Chreau-Carr Comte Leloup du Chteau de Chasseloir Cuve des Ceps Centenaires Muscadet Svre & Maine 2005. Nice drop, though not a producer that gets much notice on the interwebz; and pleasantly refreshing despite a hot year. Rich and deep, leesy aromas, pleasantly citric and mineral, no sign of the over-ripeness I saw with the few other Muscadets of this year that I managed to try up here in the north. Fairly racy but doesn't have that lovely grip the '04 had. But it is still a joyful wine and we all received great pleasure from it.