The Food Maven Diary
[Archives]

[Previous Entry] [Diary Home] [Next Entry]

10/21/1999 Archived Entry: "Wine Buys: A Calabrian Red and California Dry Riesling"

I am truly shocked at the overwhelming response to Carol Berman’s Wednesday Wine Buy of the Week. Food Talk has never had such an enthusiastic response to wine segments. I just wish that all of you would be prepared with pencil and paper so you would not send me e-mails to repeat it all.

Anyway, for those of you who missed it, last week’s wine was Cirò, a full-bodied, fruity, easy-drinking red wine from Calabria. The one we recommended was the 1997 Cirò from Librandi (that’s the producer). It is widely available. A listener reported (on air) that she found it for $6.99 at Sherry-Lehman, the wine merchant at 679 Madison Ave., at 61st St., but most stores sell it for $7.99 to $9.99.

This week, the wine buy was Bonnie Doon Pacific Rim Dry Riesling 1998. It is widely available and should cost under $10, as all of Carol’s selections will be. It has a big, fruity bouquet with the scents of apricots and pears. Very refreshing, I thought, as an aperitif wine, meaning it drinks very well without accompanying food. But it would also be a good choice, says Carol, to go with Asian food, even sushi or spicy Thai food. Sushi is, indeed, pictured on the unusual bottle that sports decals of sushi on the back, a decal of a reclining woman on the front. At home, I would open it just to drink like this, or to go with, say, a pork roast cooked with sweet seasonings, like dried fruits or cider – not garlic and rosemary as I usually make a pork roast. I would think it also goes well with sweet seafood dishes, such as shrimp or lobster cooked simply, not necessarily with a rich sauce and certainly not with a tomato sauce.