2008 Boisique and Fantastico!

Couldn't wait to try the new wines! I wanted to get a quick read on them before they shut-down and go into bottle shock. 

 

We opened up a bottle of the 2008 Boisique last night and had it with steak-burgers. It was decanted for an hour and drank great!  Certainly the biggest & darkest Boisique we've done. The body and legs were HUGE!  I didn't take an alcohol reading but I would guess it's close to 15%.

 

We opened up a bottle of the 2008 Fantastico! Super Tuscan earlier in the week and put it to the test against some ravioli with a maranara sauce. It handled the acidity of the sauce very well--a key test of a Super Tuscan wine!  Cheryl was particularly pleased with the Fantastico! and asked to open another bottle the next night! (That tells you something right there! :)

 

I've given a bottle of the Super Tuscan to 2 people at work that drink a lot of Italian Wine and asked them to try it this weekend and tell us what they think. So watch for a blog entry from them.  I also shared a bottle of the new Boisique with a new senior firmware architect at work who hasn't ever had our wine. He was very interested to hear about our operation as he has friends in Napa Valley who are semi-professional wine makers. He said he would share a bottle of their wine with us.

2007 Magnafique Tasting Notes

Hi Everyone,

 

My family and I had the pleasure of drinking a bottle of your 2007 Magnafique Bordeaux blend on Saturday night.  At the recommendation of Troy, I had purchased a decanter for the occasion.  Before everyone arrived, I started the decanting process which lasted two full hours.  It was well worth the wait as all six of us were thrilled with the wine.  As a blend should be, it was incredibly smooth and everyone was amazed it was made from a wine co-op and not a commercial vineyard.  We did not feel that there were any overpowering flavors to point out in smell nor taste, but perhaps our pallets are not refined enough to be able to pull out flavors such as oak, raspberry or charcoal.   We paired it with both Asian Beef Skewers (recipe below) and also dark chocolate and the beef especially was a superb match to the wine.  We were honored to taste your wine and would gladly do so again in the future. J 

 

Asian Beef Skewers

3 Tbsp. hoisin sauce                                               2 cloves garlic, minced

3 Tbsp. sherry (or other booze)                           1 Tbsp. minced fresh ginger (or 1 tsp. candied ginger)

¼ c. low-sodium soy sauce                                  1 ½ lbs. flank steak

1 tsp. bbq sauce                                                     1/2 Tbsp. red chili garlic paste, or to taste

 

In a small bowl, mix together hoisin sauce, sherry, soy sauce, bbq sauce, green onions, garlic, and ginger.  Cut flank steak across grain on a diagonal into ¼“ slices. Place slices in a 1 gallon ziploc bag.  Pour marinade over slices, and mix well.  Refrigerate 2 hours, or overnight.

Preheat an outdoor grill for high heat. Discard marinade, and thread steak onto skewers.  Oil the grill grate. Grill skewers 3 minutes per side, or to desired doneness.  Makes 3 servings.

 

Thanks for the fantastic wine!

Alecia Hoobing

 

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Alecia Hoobing 

R&D Project Manager  |  Enterprise Core Firmware

Hewlett-Packard Company  |  Boise, Idaho, USA

 alecia@hp.com   |   (208) 396.4435 

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I just LOVE Riverwoods Wines!

 

Troy Pearse