This past week we had a repeat performance as we love risotto and heck, a chunk of meat is always appreciated.  The risotto was unfortunately a bit off kilter because I threw in too many eggplant and sweet potato.  To start I sautéed onions, mushrooms, sweet potatoes, and a single eggplant.  The vegetable sauté took a fair amount of time to come together, but once it did I placed it to the side.  I then cleaned the large pan, placed a bit of oil in it, and then coated two cups of Arborio rice in the oil.  Coating the rice is such an important step in making proper risotto, and is sometimes overlooked.  So, I then followed the many stages of risotto mixing, and at the last stage I made the error of adding in so many sautéed vegetables that the rice could not coagulate together in a proper manner.  The kernels were cooked well and they let down their starch walls, but I had too many vegetables between the kernels and their starch, that the risotto was not as creamy as I would have wanted.

Good news – the meat did work well!  We used flanken once again and braised it long and low in a pool of alcohol, brown sugar, a bit of honey, and a bit of water.  The cut of beef was quite enjoyable with the risotto, and a large fresh green salad.  I had heard a bit about this wine, and wanted to try it.  It stood up to the meat and risotto just fine.  The wine region is not well known, but even less known about this wine is the fact that the grapes are sourced from the winery’s bio-dynamic vineyards, find out more here.

The wine went very well with the risotto and meat.  The wine note follows below:

2008 Domaine Cazes Le Chalet – Score: B+

The nose on this dark garnet colored wine is rich in mineral, Kirsch cherry, cranberry, and smoke.  As time passes the wine turns to cassis and blackberry, on a condensed cherry gum drop background.  The mouth on this light to medium bodied wine is spicy with cherry, cranberry, and plum, and turns blacker as time passes.  The mid palate is mineral, with nice integrated tannins, and acid.  The finish is medium long with bright acidity, more tannins, red fruit, and tart cherries.  Clearly a wine that gets blacker as time passes, and one that goes nicely with meat or light cheeses.