Domaine Zind-Humbrecht Clos Saint Urbain Rangen de Thann

Domaine Zind-Humbrecht Clos Saint Urbain Rangen de Thann Grand Cru Pinot Gris 2002

I bought this wine more than 10 years ago.
Back then, I didn't know anything about Alsatian wine and couldn't say that I had a high regard for them, but one day I was introduced to wines from this Domaine and I've been a big fan of Alsatian wine since then.

Domaine Zind-Humbrecht was created in 1959, but Humbrecht family has been cultivating vines in Alsace since 17th century.
Their wines are made with high standard and they've been practicing biodynamic wine making since 1997.

We had the wine with chicken

This wine had honeysuckle, stewed stone fruit, brown butter, coffee beans and walnut skin.
Complex wine. 15 years old and still some freshness.
Definitely a great wine but maybe even better if we opened a couple of years ago.

We'd been debating when would be the best time to open this, and couldn't make up our mind until now.

When Olivier Humbrecht, the owner of Domaine Zind-Humbrecht and the first Frenchman to become Master of Wine, visited San Francisco last year, JC had a chance to meet him.
JC explained our agony of not being able to decide when to open, half as a funny story and half to ask for his advice.
Mr. Humbrecht enjoyed listening to it, and as he was leaving, he gave this bottle to JC saying "Open the 2002 and keep this in you cellar instead."

What a generous gesture!
He did this because he is a kind person, of course, but I also believe that he was genuinely happy to know that we were trying really hard to drink his wine at the best condition.
This tells me how serious and sincere a winemaker he is.            

We'd been admirers of his wine, and now are admirers of Mr. Humbrecht himself, it took us another year to finally make up our minds to open the 2002.

Now we have Domaine Zind-Humbrecht Clos Saint Urbain Rangen de Thann Grand Cru Riesling 2014, gifted by Mr. Olivier Humbrecht.
I don't think I can ever open this...

Occasional White Burgundy

Domaine Dujac Morey-Saint Denis 2014

Morey-St-Denis is an appellation in Cote de Nuits, Burgundy.
Majority of wines from this appellation is red, but we got to try white this day.

Sweet aromas of gardenia, pear and fresh melon.
Mineral of iron. Oak is strong but it gives fresh ceder-like aroma and does not disturb fruit.
High acid like yogurt and creamy texture.
Really good wine.

Wine tasted still great 2nd day, started to taste alcoholic 3rd day.

Cocktail at 54 Mint

54 Mint is an Italian restaurant in San Francisco.
Chef is Italian. Servers are Italian. Guests are Italian. Conversation is in Italian (of course they speak in English if you are not Italian).

It's very Italian restaurant which means that their food is great.
However, this day, we came here to have cocktail.

Both of them were their original.
Mine was called Love Affair: brandy, ginger beer, chartreuse, pineapple juice.
Herb and sweetness with a kick of ginger. Great cocktail!
I liked the presentation, too.
Serving white color cocktail in a black cup... cocktail doesn't need to be served in a glass.

JC ordered whiskey-base cocktail.
I had a sip and it was delicious cocktail with a depth of flavor.

Potato chips were home-made.
Crispy and with real potato flavor.
Delicious!

This is a good Italian restaurant, but great place to visit for cocktail, too!

Domaines Lupier

Domaines Lupier El Terroir 2010

A wine of Garnacha from Navarra.

Navarra is in Northern Spain, next to Rioja.
Garnacha from this region is known to be made into rose wine, but this is an intense red wine made from old vine Garnacha.

Ripe black fruit and purple flower. Herbs.
Coffee from oak and sweetness from ripe fruit.
Soft, powdery tannin gives nice texture.

The way they integrate together might not live up to the level of each components, but still good wine.

We had this with Ginger flavored Pork. It was good pairing.

Additional note: wine tasted even better the day after!

Bourbon Watermelon Smash

It's a season of watermelon.

We sprinkle a pinch of salt on a slice of watermelon in Japan. This way, watermelon tastes sweeter, but this must sound weird to people outside Japan.
JC was so surprised when he saw me eating watermelon with salt, then he tried too and admitted that the pinch of salt enhanced the sweetness, but he never tried again.

Although salt makes watermelon sweet,  if it is too green, even a pinch of salt can't save it.
When this happens, JC makes cocktail.

Bourbon Watermelon Smash

Ingredients are:
Watermelon syrup (juice and sugar ratio 50:50)
Bourbon
Lemon
Mint

He didn't want to have cooked flavor, so made watermelon syrup uncooked.

Summer cocktail, flavor-wise and visual-wise.
This is a simple cocktail so the balance is the key.

Fukuju Green label

Fukuju Junmai Mikagego Green Label

Refreshing green and tropical fruit, and subtle umami flavor.
It wasn't as sharp as Ginjo, of course, but had clean finish.

This would be a good food sake, so had to have with otsumami.

Teriyaki Daikon
Cut daikon into thick slices and boil them.
Pan fry and flavor with soy sauce and mirin.
It tasted a little bland so JC made a topping with mayonnaise and tonkatsu sauce.

Daikon mochi
Grate daikon. Squeeze a little and save water.
Add dried shrimp, chopped green onion, pinch of salt and mix.
Add flour and starch. Mix well.
Make them into round shape.
Add water saved from daikon, or a little dashi if there is not enough liquid.
Pan fry until they become brown on both sides.
Eat with ponzu (soy sauce flavored vinegar).

The out of season daikon was a little bitter so I used mayonnaise instead of ponzu.
It worked and soften the bitterness; however, mayonnaise and Fukuju wasn't a perfect combination.

Summer Dress

Summer sewing.
I made a summer dress using a pattern of not summer dress.

Tina

The original pattern is Tina from Annee-Patterns.
The design is simple but I like the silhouette.

To make this dress to summer version, I took off the collar and sleeves.
The pattern came with the alternative round neck design, so I used it.
For the sleeves, I simply eliminated them and finished the sleeve line with facing.

To make long sleeves to sleeveless, you have to change the sleeve line on the pattern, but I found several people on the net who made this dress sleeveless without changing the pattern, so I followed them.

The result was success!

The dark color of the fabric emphasizes the cute design, in my opinion.

Encounter with Wine Makers

We usually like to drink wine at home.
This way, we can try to pair with different foods and watch winemaker's interview on YouTube.

However, life needs occasional change, so we went to nearby wine bar.
Luckily JC found wines he'd wanted to try and ordered three glasses of wine.

Pascal Clement Les Evocelles Gevrey Chambertin 2012
Dried plum, anise and sandalwood.
Soft tannin and delicate texture. Lovely wine!

Barroul Lynch La Pierrelle Hermitage 2014
This wine is the collaboration between Louis Barroul and Kermit Lynch.
Strawberry, coffee beans, smoke.
Not very complex, but very good wine.

Domaine Joseph Roty Cote de Nuits Villages 2014
Fresh tart fruit, dried meat, leather.
Decent wine with gentle tannin.

There were two gentlemen on the same counter.
They make their own wine so we talked about making wine at home (although their wine making method was much more sophisticated than my kitchen wine).
As they left the shop, they gave us their wine!

Red Shed Wine Dunnigan Hills AVA Petit Syrah 2015
Vibrant fruits were balanced with oak. Good wine!

There lies huge difference between hobby kitchen wine and hobby serious wine... my kitchen wine tasted more like cider than wine...
I wish I could make wine like this.

Mourad in SF

Sawanoi Kuramori Junmai Ginjo

Aged sake (Koshu) from Tokyo.
This sake was made in 2000.
We bought this in 2013 when we visited the brewery and had been waiting for a good timing to open this since.

Aged sake has distinct aromas and flavors such as nuts, caramel and mushrooms.
It has deep flavor of umami, and unlike Ginjo-style sake, usually goes good with strong flavored food.

We brought this Koshu for dinner with friends at  Mourad in San Francisco.

This restaurant offers Morocco - meets - California cuisine.
Their dishes are beautiful, innovative and delicious.
Inside is spacious and has retro/exotic feel.

We had the Koshu with appetizers.

Caviar on top of pomegranate molasses, potato  and poached egg yolk.
This combination was like a dream!

Eggplant in three ways: grilled, pureed and marmalade.

Octopus was poached in olive oil then grilled.
The cream color line was pureed cauliflower. Good flavor accent.

Foie Gras wrapped in plum jelly.
At first I thought they brought cherry tomatoes.
This idea was genius and tasted impeccable!

Appetizers were like little jewelries, and the pairing with Koshu was successful.
One of the friends wasn't a big fan of  sake but she loved this.

Then we moved to the main course.

Lamb Loin with lentil and pickled Matsutake.

Roasted Snapper stuffed with mushroom and onion.
Visually dynamic, but pure flavor of the fish stood out among the dramatic setting.

Wine for the main dished was chosen by the sommelier.

Domaine Anne et Herve Sigaut Chambolle-Musigny 2009

Red wine from Burgundy.
A lot of flower and elegance.

Great wine by itself, but it played good supporting role here.





Dessert was Almond Merengue Cookies.

All the plates are made by an artist from Seattle, Akiko's Pottery, which were chosen by the chef.
They installed a special dish washer which cleans and sanitizes dishes without soap to protect the handmade plates.
The restaurant goes that far to provide a perfect setting for the dining experience.

Green Tea Rickey

Cold Mugicha (barley tea) is a summer staple in Japan.
I don't know anybody in Japan who doesn't drink this in summer.
I, of course, keep a pot of mugicha in a fridge every summer.

The other day, I run out of Mugicha and made a pot of cold green tea instead (add green tea leaves in a pot of water, let it sit over night, drain and keep it in a fridge).

JC was somehow inspired by it and made a cocktail from it.

Green Tea Rickey

Ingredients are:
green tea
gin
lime
sugar
green tea powder as garnish

The combination of the bitterness and the slight sweetness made this cocktail refreshing and addictive!