Drinking with Pete DAC Holiday Wine Tasting

It was a winter night, the full moon was shining down, and a sold-out crowd was ready to hear about Pete’s Holiday Faves from Marczyk Fine Wines. Pete brought 10 wines to taste, and by the end of the night there were some obvious winners.

We started with the Gruet Blanc de Noir sparkling, a sexy grape, and a deal at under $20.

Then on to the X white. Both X wines are big blend fruit bombs from northern CA. “I could drink this every day” was the comment. Under $15 you actually could…

Daisy Hill Sauv Blanc was super light, super fresh.

Secateurs Chenin Blanc, well here’s what one guest had to say:

By now people were chatting, Pete was shouting, but he powered through. It’s hard not to want to catch up with friends at a festive event!

Moving on to the Sottimano Dolcetto d’Alba, a great conversation started about rating wine. Pete hates it. We hate it. Why?

Let’s say you visit a small town in Italy, and they serve you their local wine. And it’s great. Actually, you love it! But if that same wine ended up being rated by Mr. Parker, it would most likely get a low rating, even though it perfectly represents the vernacular “which uses locally available resources and traditions to address local needs”. And if that makes it special to you, then the hell with ratings.

An exciting Colorado wine that we all love love love is the Alfred Eames Syrah. “I would put this up against any other Syrah” Colorado vintners are making huge strides planting grapes that love the high and dry climate, and turning them into wines that can go grape to grape with any other American wine.

The X red blend: “these guys blend this shit right.” ‘Nuff said.

And to close the evening, a very special Madeira from Blandy’s. Maderia is a fortified wine from Portugal. They can be tooth-achingly sweet, or rich and complex, like this one. It is a beautiful way to end an evening.

Many thanks to the DAC for such a fun event! It’s a beautiful club!

My favorite new cocktail!

Went to a party the other night called 50 Top Denver. It is a groups of Denver chefs that get together every 4 months or so, whip up an elegant, beautiful, mind blowing meal, then are gone like ghosts in the night. 50 Top refers to the number of guests. The locations change with the season (last night we were in Union Station), but one thing is always the same: there’s a cocktail to begin the evening. Last night we enjoyed, and I mean enjoyed, a Sazerac cocktail, thanks to Steuben’s mixoligist Sean Kenyon. The Sazerac is reknown as the first American cocktail, which was in keeping with last night’s “Golden Age of Dining” theme.

2oz Rye Whiskey
1/4oz Absinthe, Leopold Bros are now making this in Denver!
2 sugar cubes
4 dashes of Peychaud’s Bitters

Fill one glass with ice to chill.
In a mixing glass muddle the sugar cubes, the bitters and a couple of drops of water. Pour in the Rye and stir.
Dump the ice out of the chilled glass, pour in the absinthe, roll the glass to coat and dump out the excess (I recommend drinking it).
Strain the contents of the mixing glass into the Absinthe rinsed glass. Cut a wide swath of lemon peel, twist it over the cocktail to express the oils, rub the peel around the rim of the glass and drop it into the cocktail.

If that seems like too much work at home…join Sean at Steuben’s for a drink!

Take a look here at the Drinking with Pete 50 Top video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odkHwJ9mzpM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CkhzLiWbNqQ