After this food and wine experience all I can say is … life is good! Hello, everybody, and welcome to Cèpage et Cuisine, Mary’s and Brian’s wine and food blog.
Everything about this dinner is a special treat. One of Mary’s specialties is braised beef short ribs. She is a terrific chef, as you know from reading our blog (Brian talking here…Mary is a little embarrassed that I rave about her cooking so much), but what she does with this dish takes food and wine and a shared dinner with loved ones and good friends to special heights. We’ve had some cold, wet, wintry weather here in central Mississippi in the last few days and a hearty, rich dish like this with an outstanding Cabernet is perfect for the season.
First of all, braising is about cooking with both dry and wet heat. The meat is seared in an oven proof pan and then cooked with liquid in the oven for a long time. Pot roast is often cooked the same way. Roasting, on the other hand, refers to cooking with dry heat. Meat cooked by this method is considered a roast, in contrast to pot roast, which may be a braise. Confused? Me, too! Anyway, the short ribs are braised, cooked in combination with vegetables, and give the entire house that wonderful aroma of meat cooking slowly when it’s cold outside. Put the whole thing over a bed of garlic mashed potatoes and you have that special treat. And don’t forget some crusty bread for sopping!
Here’s Mary to talk us about how she prepared the dinner, then I’ll be back to talk about the wine.
Ingredients are boneless beef short ribs, olive oil, onions, leeks, carrots, tomatoes, garlic, bay leaves, thyme, parsley, red wine, beef stock, and our own idea of adding green olives. The ribs are dry roasted in the oven, fat side down.
I sautéed the onions in olive oil in a Dutch oven for a few minutes then added the leeks (mostly the white part) and carrots and cooked a little while longer.
I added the tomatoes, garlic and spices. Cook a little while the ribs are roasting.
The photos above show the ribs in the oven, roasted about halfway. I turned them over for the second half. Here they are ready to go on top of the vegetables in the Dutch oven.
The ribs are placed on top of the veggies. Red wine and hot beef stock are added to almost cover the ribs. About the cooking wine, use wine that you would drink. Don’t buy grocery store “cooking wine.” It doesn’t need to be expensive. We love to use La Vielle Ferme, which is perfectly good as a dinner wine, but inexpensive enough to use in recipes. For about $10, one bottle is enough for 2 or possibly 3 recipes. As we have said before, homemade stock makes such a difference, compared to store-bought broth.
The whole dish is cooked in the oven for about 3 hours. I added the green olives during the last hour of cooking so they wouldn’t fall apart. Seeing this picture makes me hungry all over again!
Here is our delicious, hot, savory, cold-weather braised short ribs and vegetables served over a bed of garlic mashed potatoes. I melted butter in a small skillet, added freshly-chopped garlic, cooked for a minute over medium heat, then took it off the heat and let the flavors infuse. The garlic butter was then added to the mashed potatoes along with some buttermilk. Here’s Brian again to talk about the wine.
Many well structured, hearty red wines would pair well with braised short ribs. Cabernet Sauvignon is my go-to varietal for a dinner like this (or pot roast, or gilled ribeye, Lord have mercy), but Syrah, a Grenache-based blend, or a Nebbiolo from the Piedmont region of northern Italy would all be excellent choices. If you enjoy bold, fruity New World-style wines, a Shiraz from Australia, Zinfandel or Petite Sirah from California, many of the red blends from southeastern Spain, and hearty reds from southern Italy would be fine. It’s hard to go wrong, but I probably would not recommend a delicate Pinot Noir from Burgundy.
I chose a California classic for this dinner, Heitz Cellar Napa Valley Martha’s Vineyard 1991. A bit of a play on the more famous Martha’s Vineyard of Massachusetts, this vineyard was purchased in the 1960s by Tom May and his wife, you guessed it, Martha. Their friendship with Joe Heitz evolved into an agreement to supply fruit for a vineyard-designated wine, Heitz Martha’s Vineyard, that has become one of the most famous and prestigious of all Napa Valley wines.
The vineyard is on the west side of Napa Valley, near Oakville, in what might be called Cabernet heaven in California. It is in the shadow of the Mayacamas range, so the vines get the morning and midday sun but are sheltered in the late afternoon by the mountains to the west. The property is bordered by enormous Eucalyptus trees, which are suggested to convey the distinctive minty characteristic often associated with Martha’s Vineyard. Whether the mint character is inherent to the vineyard site or Eucalyptus oil blows from the trees onto the vines to convey its influence is a matter of some debate, but the wine is certainly distinctive, which increases its appeal among an ocean of otherwise similar wines.
There are great wines, wines that we enjoy very much and we say, “That was a great wine.” Then there are great wines, as in great wines of the world, not unlike the great works of art or literature of the world. Heitz Martha’s Vineyard is one of those, one of the world’s great wines, worthy of comparison to the great Bordeaux and other prized California Cabernets. Other California wines I personally (based on my limited experience) would place in this select group are the mature Cabernets of Mayacamas Vineyards, Stags Leap Wine Cellars, and although a bit under the radar sometimes, the wines made by the fine folks at Wing Canyon and Random Ridge. Drinking a bottle of Martha’s is a special occasion because this wine makes it a special occasion, a wine that demands something of you as a consumer. Sorry for sounding a little like a wine snob here, but when you drink a bottle of this wine, give it your attention. Don’t make it just another background beverage with a red meat dinner while you talk about the events of the day. Think about it. Take your time. Consider its aroma and flavor profile, its complexity, how it evolves in the glass over a long, lingering dinner with someone you love, how it enhances the food and how the food enhances the wine. It is an expensive wine and it is worth it. Here are my notes on this bottle. In the photo to the left, notice how the vintage date and bottling date are indicated separately and the bottle is numbered, like a numbered print of a fine painting.
Heitz Cellar Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley Martha’s Vineyard 1991. This is a great wine, great in the classic sense, a world class wine, more than just tastes great, it sets a standard to which other winemakers and grape growers can aspire. It is rare in its quality, balance, and complexity, expensive but worth more than we paid for it. At almost 20 years, it must be at the zenith of its drinking window. It is dark garnet in color, still almost ruby despite its age. It was intensely aromatic of minty eucalyptus, currant, black cherry, cedar and leather. The palate was silky in texture with resolved tannins, medium acidity, and medium body. The balance was just perfect, well structured, all elements in harmony. The intense flavor profile was the minty, chocolaty, red cherry and currant character that is classic for Martha's Vineyard. Complex, balanced, long in the finish, it was exquisite. We loved it so much we were sad to see the bottle empty and just sat there talking about it. If only I could find more of this wonderful wine at a price I could afford. 13.5% alcohol. We picked up this wine a few years ago for $80 and feel like we stole it.
Here's the dinner on the plate with a glass of Martha's again. That's our post for today. The food and the wine provided a memorable experience. We hope you enjoyed reading about it. Keep coming back for more food and wine adventures at Cèpage et Cuisine.
Cheers!
Mary♥Brian
