Slow Roasted Chicken

Ever since he came back from a trip to northern Italy, JC's been into slow roasted meat.

He stayed at the Meroi Estate in Friuli-Venezia Giulia.
The restaurant adjacent to the winery offers great local food, even chefs from Michelin Star restaurant come dine at the restaurant to get inspired.
He can't forget the food he had there, especially the simple yet flavourful slow roasted meat.

This is JC's recreation.
No sauce, no brine. Simply roast chicken with low heat for one hour.
Tender, juicy and delicious!

Wine is Starlite Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon 2009 (Meroi wine is sleeping in the cellar).
Ripe fruit, dried fruit, smokiness of oak and freshness of herb.
Kept its pleasant quality even several days after we opened it. Great wine.

Gevrey-Chambertin tasting

Gevrey-Chambertin is red wine producing village in Cote de Nuits, Burgundy. Their wine is made exclusively with Pinot Noir.

The village of Gevrey-Chambertin used to be called just Gevrey. The prestageous vineyard "Le Champertin" was added to the village name. This set the trend and other villages followed (Puligny and Chassagne Montrachet, Vosne-Romanee, etc.).
Wines from this village are generally full-bodied with good structure and ageing potential.

There was a tasting event for this beautiful red wine.

Domaine Marc Roy Gevrey-Chambertin Clos Prieur 2016
Pronounced aromas of violet, raspberry, red cherry and plum, cedar.
Soft texture.

Domaine des Beaumony Gevrey-Chambertin Premier Cru Les Cherbaudes 2015
Raspberry, cherry, plum, herb, incense, with silky texture.
This producer is moving towards organic.

Nuiton-Beaunoy Gevrey-Chambertin Premier Cru Clos du Chapitre 2015
Raspberry, plum, cherry, strawberry, coffee, mushroom.
Silky texture and long finish.

Domaine Harmand-Geoffroy Gevrey-Chambertin Premier Cru Lavaux St-Jacques 2016
Apple skin, strawberry, plum, spice like clove or cinnamon, cedar, charred wood.
Good wine, would be even better with tamed tannin after further bottle ageing.

Domaine Henri Magnien Gevrey-Chambertin Premier Cru Les Champeaux 2016
Pronounced aromas of strawberry, raspberry, ripe cherry, liquorice candy, sandalwood.
Fine-grained velvety tannin.
Fluid-like texture with long finish.

Domaine Henri Magnien Gevrey-Chambertin Premier Cru Les Cazetiers 2016
Aromas of coffee candy, fresh coffee beans and cedar first, then fresh and ripe fruit of strawberry and cherry.
Tannin is high but not aggressive.
Rich wine with concentration and long, pleasant finish.

There are 9 Grands Crus in this village and some of Premier cru sites are said to match Grands crus with its quality, and this Lez Cazertiers is one of them.
It was indeed a great wine with complexity and depth. Definitely my favorite of the day.
However, other people had other favorites. They all were beautiful wines.

Christmas sewing

This time of the year I somehow feel the creative impulse.
What works for me is that it's Christmas time!
I made men's shirts x 2 as Christmas gift.

Fabric I chose is NANIIRO, double gauze from Japan.
Double gauze is hard to work with because it's soft and frays easily. However, NANIIRO's double gauze is relatively easy to sew so I use this fabric for garment making often.

I use books or magazine as a weight to fix a pattern on fabric as I cut them. It is heavy and wide enough to keep the pattern in place.

The pattern is from a book "Otoko no Shirts no Hon (Men's Shirts Book)" by Ryuichiro Shimazaki.
I made maybe more than twenty shirts from this book and always get praised. I highly recommend this book!

Freeman Vineyard and Winery

Freeman Vineyard and Winery is a winery in Sonoma.

They specialize in Pinot Noir: in fact, to start the winery, they traveled and searched for a land which could produce their ideal Pinot Noir. They found this area and Ken and Akiko Freeman established this winery in 2001.

The winery is in mountains but only 30 minutes or so scenic drive from Sebastopol.

They showed us the small but beautiful and functional winery.

Inside the fermentation vessel. Dry ice is used to control the temperature.

This is pneumatic press.
A bag inside is inflated and presses grapes against the wall of the cylinder.
Grapes can be pressed gently with this machine.

Then we got to taste wines in the cellar.

The wines were beautiful. They were big but elegant.
Concentrated fruit, herb and spice, with gentle and reliable structure.

JC's favorite was Yu-ki Estate.
My favorite was Akiko's Cuvee.
Yu-ki Estate was tender and Akiko's Cuvee was more complex.

Akiko studied art history but became winemaker to support her husband.
It is sweet of her, but tasting her great wines, I think she was destined to become a winemaker anyway.