Happy Holidays!

Last Minute Gifts at Joe Canal's!

With only TWO SHOPPING DAYS LEFT until Christmas, everyone is in frantic holiday mode! Did you remember a gift for mom? What about your best friend? Oh my goodness... did you forget Uncle Frank?

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Don't get stressed! Last minute shopping is easy at Joe Canal's. Stop in and see us today!

Free at Last!

Tuesdays on the BottleBlog, we'll focus on interesting or exciting industry news from here in New Jersey, to the valleys of California, to the vineyards of New Zealand.

Free at Last! Free at Last!
You should get a divorce from the marriage of food and wine
by: Matt Kramer

Now that the Thanksgiving feast is finally digested, it's a good moment to bring up the miserable matter of marrying food and wine. "Marrying," the preferred term, is itself full of Freudian undercurrents, not the least of which is the subtext of the formulaic "till death do us part."

Few aspects of what might be called the "wine life" are more burdensome and less fulfilling than this business of pairing the just-right wine with the just-so dish. What's more, never in the millennia-old history of wine has the idea of such gustatory calibration been more inappropriate, indeed more futile, than today. Allow me to explain.

This whole fussy issue of choosing the "right" wine for a certain dish came from the French. So if you're looking for someone to blame, they're it. Now, it's not as if the French, in some dastardly fashion, somehow calculated to make the life of the table an unending tribulation wherein the treachery of choosing the "wrong" wine could upset everyone's equilibrium, to say nothing of embarrassing the host or causing prospective business partners to question your powers of judgment.

Instead, the idea came from the extreme fractionalization of France's vast local-food differences allied with—let's be honest here—a certain French exactitude in ritual matters, of which the table is famously their altar.

Keep in mind that for centuries, the French drank only their local wines and ate only their local dishes (and still do, in large part). Knowing this, it doesn't take a lot of imagination to see how, over a lifetime spent eating, say, boeuf bourguignon and washing it down with your local Burgundy wine, you're going to become pretty choosy about which red Burgundy goes best with grand-mère's boeuf bourguignon, especially given the French penchant for delineating and codifying differences. (You didn’t think that the elaborate structure of appellation contrôlée came out of a slapdash culture, did you?)

Inevitably, these considerations about which local wine went best with which local dish congealed into a prescribed absolutism, never mind that folks in Provence wouldn’t have chosen a red Burgundy with their local daube de boeuf on a bet, while the Burgundians probably didn’t even know of the existence of, say, a Bandol, let alone thought to pair one with their version of beef stew.

Fast-forward to the late 20th century. We Americans especially (but by no means exclusively) looked to our culinary betters for guidance and insight in matters of the table. That clearly did not mean the British. And, regrettably, until very recently, it didn’t mean the Italians either, much less any of the great Asian food cultures. It was France, front and center.

That is how we all found ourselves entrapped—that's the only word—in the matchmaking madness of marrying the right wine with the right dish. Let's face it: It worked when you had, say, 25 dishes and a comparably limited number of wines, both of which evolved from an isolated regional culture with an equally isolated and narrowly defined palate.

"Good wines can take care of themselves if seated next to a food partner that's the least bit sociable."

This explains the oft-cited suggestion that you can never go wrong with choosing the local wines for a local dish, e.g., a high-acid Barbera or Nebbiolo with one of Piedmont’s magnificently rich dishes, which welcome those wines' palate-refreshing acidity to knife through their richness.

The haute cuisine level, for its part, was little different, with a small number of "prescribed" great wines (Bordeaux, Burgundy, Champagne, Sauternes, a few select German Rieslings) orbiting around a group of equally luxurious dishes.

So what's a 21st-century wine lover to do? What I'm about to propose may sound radical, even philistine, but I assure you that a) I’m serious and b) what I’m proposing—if you’ll forgive the expression—works.

Here it is (suitable for framing): Good wines can work wonderfully with any food that is remotely plausible for the wine.

That's it. Obviously you don'’t want to serve some massive Napa Valley Cabernet with your Dover sole. But you already knew that. The reality of food and wine today is that there are far too many good wines—I emphasize that because it's critically important—and far too many dishes from too many cuisines to fuss about a just-right pairing.

Good wines can take care of themselves if seated next to a food partner that'’s the least bit sociable. Want proof? Think of the classic pairing in Alsace of that region’s delicious dry Riesling or Pinot Gris with choucroute garnie—sauerkraut with chunks of sausages, pork and potatoes. Now, would you have had the guts to do that pairing yourself? Well, would you? Enough said. It works because the wines are so damned good.

All universal laws—"Good wines can work wonderfully with any food that is remotely plausible for the wine"—admit a corollary. In this case it's that the more extreme the dish or the wine, the less sociable it is.

Gewürztraminer, for example, is a wonderful white, but like a fascinating but oddball dinner guest, you can’t seat it next to just any dish (onions, by the way, tame the wine wonderfully). Sauternes is another example. Famously, it goes well with foie gras, which itself is pretty extreme stuff. So, yes, there are some "marriages" that call for prearranged matchmaking. But sometimes no amount of matchmaking is worthwhile. Sardines, anyone?

And what about all those writers and sommeliers who devise elaborate pairings and rationales, you ask? I'm not unsympathetic. Everybody's got to make a living. Besides, if they can convince you that such precision is essential, well, they're golden, aren’t they? That way you need them. Your insecurity is their meal ticket.

In today's 21st-century food-and-wine free-for-all do you think that all these oh-so-particular pairings are anything other than entertainment? Is this Grüner Veltliner really the "ideal" partner to that hamachi with horseradish velouté? Does it really make a difference? Or is it all just a much of a muchness? You tell me.

This article originally appeared on winespectator.com on December 7, 2010.

Fork and Gobble It: Adapting Julia - Beef Bourguignonne, hurried up a bit!

Fridays on the BottleBlog will feature a food-related article, wine pairing, or travelogue. Today, Wine Manager Mark Ricca channels the ghost of Julia Child.

I see recipes in two categories: those that I read, and those that I actually cook. Some recipes just entertain better than they actually motivate me to prepare them. A lot of it has to do with how complicated something seems as I'm reading through it. I say to myself "yeah, this sounds great, but do I really want to attack that?" Once in a while though, the attraction is irresistible and I have to dive in. That was the case this Sunday as I was discussing what to make for that evening's dinner with my significant other. We both agreed something special was in order. Without knowing why, I went and got my copy of Mastering the Art of French Cooking Volume 1 by Julia Child, Louisette Bertholle and Simone Beck. The recent memory of the movie Julie and Julia, and a craving for beef stew pointed me to the recipe for Beouf Bourguignonne. With a serious cold front approaching and a bottle of Meo-Camuzet Chambolle-Musigny that I've been wanting to drink in the cellar, it was game on.

As we shopped, I began to take liberties with the recipe such as substituting Cippoline onions for Pearl onions.

Shopping/Ingredients List:
-6 oz. Slab bacon cut into lardon
-Olive oil
-3 lb. Beef chuck cubed 1”
-1 lb. Cippoline onions
-3 medium carrots (approx. 1 lb.) peeled and diced large
-2 stalks celery diced large
-Salt (fine sea salt or Kosher)
-Black pepper
-2 1/2 cups full bodied dry red wine
-2-3 cups beef stock
-1 Tablespoon tomato paste
-2 cloves garlic peeled and smashed
-1 Tablespoon fresh thyme leaves
-2 bay leaves
-1 lb. White mushrooms quartered

Cut the slab bacon into lardons or sticks and in an 8 qt. or larger dutch oven, saute them in a couple tablespoons of olive oil.

Cook them slowly, giving them a chance to render out all their fat and become crisp, then remove them from the pan with a slotted spoon and reserve them. While this is going on, heat your oven to 400F. Toss the Cippoline, skins on, in olive oil and Kosher salt. Spread the onions out on a baking sheet and put them into the oven for about 10 – 15 minutes. The onions should just be slightly roasted in order to caramelize them and make them easy to peel. Once they reach this stage remove them from the oven and allow them to cool. This is a definite departure from the recipe. I did this in order make the Cippoline onions easier to peel and start to develop their flavor. When cooled, remove the roasted skin and put the peeled onions aside.

Once the bacon is out of the pan, turn the heat up to medium high and just before it begins to smoke, add enough of the beef to sparsely cover the bottom of the pan. Do not crowd the pan or the meat will not brown, but instead throw its liquid and simply boil. When the meat is well browned on all sides, remove it to a bowl and repeat with the rest of the beef.

The next departure from the Mastering the Art of French Cooking recipe came here. Julia sautes her mushroom separately and near the end of the recipe. As I did with the onions, I push the mushrooms into the middle of the recipe to get the dish finished before midnight and not use every pan in my kitchen. I added the mushroom quarters to the pan after the beef came out. Saute the mushrooms briskly over medium heat until they color slightly and remove them. Add the carrots and celery and cook them in the same manner as the mushrooms.

Now I return to the pan the beef, bacon, mushrooms, along with the vegetables already in there, and saute everything a little more while dusting the contents of the pan with about a Tablespoon and a half of flour. Cook the flour onto the meat and vegetables for a minute and repeat with another 1 ½ Tablespoons of flour. Cook that in and repeat the procedure two more times. Season with salt and pepper. Add the tomato paste and continue to saute for a minute. Add the crushed garlic, thyme leaves, bay leaves and red wine. Bring the wine to a boil, and allow it to boil for about a minute. Add the stock. Add in the peeled onions. Bring the pot to a boil and lower it to a simmer. This is where it will remain for approximately the next two and a half hours.

By this point the sauce will have begun to thicken and the meat will have become very tender. I put up a small pot of water to boil some egg noodles and when they were cooked I tossed them with a little bit of butter and fresh parsley.

Red Burgundy was the obvious choice for wine here, and as I mentioned above I had a bottle of Meo-Camuzet Chambolle-Musigny 2004 all lined up to drink. Alas, it was not to be! The wine was corked and so badly that it was obvious upon opening it. We stuck with red Burgundy as the backup selecting a Frederick Magnien Bourgogne Rouge 2007. Similar flavors were the guidelines here. Earthiness, bright acidity, and subtle fruit in both the sauce and the wine played very well together. The “stew” itself was superb and well worth the effort. I believe the result would have even earned me a special dispensation from Julia herself for the corners that I cut.

Gift Sets Aplenty!

Thursdays the BottleBlog will feature an update on various exciting things going on at Joe Canal's: Reports of our travels, special event coverage, and more!

We now have four value-priced wine gift sets available for those last-minute gifts! Conveniently pre-packaged in attractive gift boxes, these sets are perfect to pick up for Christmas dinner or to give to the wine lover in your life.

Three-bottle gift set contains:

Acacia Carneros Pinot Noir 2007
Ridgeline Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2005
Chronos Chardonnay 2008
Regular: $89.99/BottleClub: $59.99



* * *
Two-bottle gift set contains:

Albola Pinot Grigio 2009
La Maialina Chianti Classico
Regular: $29.99/BottleClub: $25.99







* * *
Two-bottle gift set contains:

Nobilo Sauvignon Blanc 2009
Bleasdale Broadside Shiraz/Cabernet 2006
Regular: $29.99/BottleClub: $25.99







* * *
Two-bottle gift set contains:

Cuvaison Napa Chardonnay 2008
Maxwell Creek Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 2008
Regular: $45.99/BottleClub: $34.99







Also stop by and check out our wide selection of spirits and beer gift sets! We have something for all the adults on your list!

Eat Dessert First: Part 2, Sherry

Wednesdays on the BottleBlog will feature an education session on wine, beer or spirits. Today Shannon Spare presents the second in a series of blogs about dessert wines.

While I'm including Sherry in my dessert wine series, it's actually a versatile wine. It can be enjoyed as an aperitif, and it's also a common cooking wine. Like Oporto and Port, and Champagne and... well, Champagne, true European Sherry comes from a region in southwestern Spain that has a unique winegrowing climate. It's a hot, dry region with cooling sea breezes, perfect for growing Palomino grapes, Sherry's main variety.

There are two main types of Sherry: Light and dry, or fino, and Full and dry, or oloroso. After the wines are fermented, they are examined by the winemaker for aroma, color and flavor to decide which of the two sherry styles the wine is to become. For a fino, the wine is fortified to about 15% alcohol. For oloroso, it's fortified to 18%.

The wines are then placed into casks, and a special yeast grows on the fino wines. This yeast protects the wine from oxidation, and contributes an aroma and flavor, and makes it thinner and more delicate. Because the wine doesn't oxidize here, it's susceptible to oxidation rapidly when you open the bottle, so you should consume fino Sherries within a day or two of opening them. This yeast doesn't grow on the oloroso Sherries, so it's unprotected from oxidation. In the dry climate of Spain, this causes some of the water in the olorosos to evaporate, creating a higher alcohol content, sometimes as high as 24%.

Sherry is aged in a really cool way called solera. What happens is that there is a series of casks full of wines of varying ages. When the young wines are ready for aging, some (no more than a third) wine is taken out of the then-youngest cask and moved to the next-youngest. Some of each age of wine is moved into the next, so that by the last, "oldest" cask, the wine is a blend of many, many years of Sherries. As each generation of wine is mingled with the next, and the next, and so on, the qualities are also intermingled so that the Sherries are always consistent in quality and style.

When a fino or oloroso is sweetened (often by adding the juice from other grape varieties), it becomes a sweet Sherry. The very popular Cream Sherry is a Sweet Sherry, which, contrary to its name, is not "creamy" at all, but very rich and are delicious on their own or paired with any dessert you are serving.

Truth be told, I haven't tried my first sip of Sherry yet, but I'm going to pick some up very soon. Are you a Sherry drinker? What would you recommend I try, and pair it with? Leave me a comment below!

Scientists Learn Why Alcohol Can Be Good For You

Tuesdays on the BottleBlog, we'll focus on interesting or exciting industry news from here in New Jersey, to the valleys of California, to the vineyards of New Zealand. Today we share an article about the health benefits of moderate alcohol consumption.

Scientists Learn Why Alcohol Can Be Good For You
Published November 23, 2010 | LiveScience

When you raise a glass to toast with some wine or champagne this Thanksgiving, you are doing your heart a favor, according to a new study.

The results of the study revealed how moderate alcohol consumption can help to prevent heart disease by blocking the signals of molecules linked to plaque build-up in arteries.

The molecules, called "Notch" proteins, are vital to embryonic development, and in adults, they help control the tiny, involuntary muscles that regulate blood flow though arteries. When Notch molecules are stimulated — by high levels of cholesterol, smoking or changes in blood flow — they spur these smooth muscle cells to multiply, which can lead to development of arterial plaques, said study researcher Eileen Redmond, an associate professor in the department of surgery at the University of Rochester Medical Center.

But when these smooth muscle cells are exposed to alcohol, the Notch signaling is blocked, and the cells in the arterial wall don't grow and thicken, Redmond said.

Drinking "small amounts, regularly, is how to get the best effect," she told MyHealthNewsDaily. "It's the people who drink one to two drinks a day who have the best protection" from heart disease.

However, large amounts of alcohol and binge drinking can be harmful to the heart and can lead to stroke, according to the American Heart Association.

The study was published Nov. 18 in the journal Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology.

Testing the theory

Researchers grew cells from human coronary arteries in dishes, and exposed them to alcohol.

They found that alcohol stopped growth of the arterial cells by putting the brakes on the signaling abilities of Notch, Redmond said.

Then, the researchers tested the effects of alcohol in mice. They gave one group of mice the equivalent of two alcohol drinks a day, and another group no alcohol. Mice given the alcohol had less Notch signaling, and their blood vessels walls were thinner than the mice that didn't drink, according to the study.

The finding demonstrates how alcohol works to benefit the heart — and paves the way for future research for a drug that can mimic alcohol, Redmond said.

"If we can understand the mechanisms mediating the beneficial effects of moderate alcohol consumption, we can develop therapy that can mimic good effects without the intoxicating and deleterious effects of alcohol," she said.

Real-life applications

The finding supports evidence from other studies that modest alcohol consumption is good for heart health. A study presented at an American Heart Association meeting this month found that male heart bypass patients who drank lightly or moderately were less likely to need another heart procedure or suffer a heart attack or stroke than patients who didn't drink.

But what counts as a "healthy" dose of alcohol? The Mayo Clinic recommends healthy women drink no more than three drinks on one occasion, or seven drinks a week, and healthy men ages 65 and younger drink no more than four drinks per occasion, or 14 drinks a week. Healthy men ages 65 and older should drink no more than three drinks per occasion, or seven drinks a week.

A 12-ounce beer, 5-ounce glass of wine or 1.5 ounces of distilled spirits counts as one drink, according to the Mayo Clinic.

This article originally Published November 23, 2010 | LiveScience