Can't think of a better way to get started. How about, Hello All!
I don't know about you, but I've decided there is a need for this blog in Knoxville, Tennessee. There are quite a number of people in our little college town that are interested in drinking good wine and eating good food. Of course, there are groups available here such as the Wine Society of East Tennessee (a stuffy name, but actually some very nice people, not that I have met many of them). There are also various little informal local groups that get together to share wine and food. There are tastings and dinners held locally and sponsored by various liquor stores and restaurants. In short, Knoxville has more going on than an outsider might expect. But what about the voice of someone local who drinks wine, has a somewhat limited budget, and has no associations with the wine or food business? How about a format for sharing ideas on wines that are available locally? I read some of the national publications on food and wine, notably "Wine Spectator" and "Food and Wine". The complaint I hear from other Knoxvillians is that they read about a wine in one of these publications and then they go to their local liquor store and it's not available. Then they're discouraged. Same problem with those little wine buying guides. They probably work great if you live in New York city, but in Knoxville, you're going to have to do some hunting to find wines listed that are available here. Things have gotten a little easier since our state legislature made shipping wine to individuals legal in the state of Tennessee. But many of the on-line wine shippers still do not ship to Tennessee. Maybe they think the market here is too small to justify dealing with our state regs? I don't know. But I do know that many places will not ship to Tennessee. So, what we need is a way to share information on wines that we CAN get.
Vinho Verde
Metro Pulse just started a wine column. It's to appear monthly, and the first article contained some very good general information on Portuguese vinho verde (green wines). Green meaning young and relatively un-aged. I happened to have one of these wines last night. Husband, Al, and I had chicken piccata with a lemon-pepper flavored pasta and a side salad of fresh greens and tomato. It was delicious, if I do say so myself. The chicken piccata had lovely little capers and bits of pancetta and the lemony sauce coated everything wonderfully. We had never had this particular wine before (or any vinho verde that I recall). It was Quinta da Aveleda, 2008 vinho verde white wine from Portugal. I picked it up at Ashe's (for about $10) on a whim. It was very nice, crisp, semi-dry, mildly effervescent, citric, but with notes of melon and tropical fruit. It had a very nice citric, fruity nose and a nice level of acidity (for me). I thought it was fairly complex for a $10 wine and it had a pleasant lingering finish (for a white). It was very good with the chicken piccata and I think it would pair well with summer salads, fish, or any lemony chicken dish.
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