The Iron Chevsky Wine Blog

My gourmand friend Dan, whose creations I have featured on this blog in the past, has come up with another one that left me speechless and reaching for the virtual pen. Mango-Shiso Sorbet Shiso is a Japanese plant whose aromatic leaves you may have seen as decoration in sushi. Aroma reminiscent of a hypothetical cross of green guava, citrus, cilantro and basil, and strong tasting, it's not something you can easily find, except for Japanese markets. Of course, us Silicon Valley urban farmers grow them conveniently in shady spots in our backyards :)! As a substitute in this recipe, you can try other aromatic greens like mint or kafir lime leaves. 1. Make simple syrup - half cup water, half cup sugar, bring to boil. 2. Steep shiso leaves in the syrup (like tea), refrigerate for a few hours. 3. Take pulp of 3 ripe mangoes. 4. Discard the used up shiso leaves, combine simple syrup with mango, and squeeze one lime all into a blender. 5. Add a small handful of washed shiso leaves into ...

Well, I guess when you put ground pork belly inside a thick-skinned ravioli, and then drop a generous helping of crispy guanciale (pork cheek bacon), deep-fried sage, and cheese on top, and serve the whole thing in a bath of brown-sugar and butter sauce, the health freaks will have a heart attack just hearing about it. So I suppose the only way to survive the overdose is by washing it all down with Oddero 2000 Barolo "Vigna Rionda" from the sexy 2000 vintage - a wine so intense, so layered, so "gamey jerky meets iodiney seaweed" but in a good way with so much character amid the most voluptuous Barolo texture, that it's hard to really tell ahead what will disappear first - the bottle of the Barolo or the bowl of the ravioli. One of the most perfect food and wine matches to ever cross my palate - if that's not worth dying for... Hell yeah! - this is the ultimate "gourmet comfort" sin food. Live well die happy, my friends!

The other day I had dinner with Mariacristina Oddero - the owner of the Oddero winery, one of the top producers of Barolo, well respected for their dependable quality, and notable for being run by a female in traditionally a male-dominated business. Mariacristina took over from her father Giacomo Oddero in the mid 1990's, making subtle improvements upon his methods, and according to her, coaxing more complexity from the grapes. Now at 82, Giacomo cannot deny her success, but back then he was not at all supportive. They've been making wine for 6 generations. The first ever Oddero Barolo was bottled in 1878. A traditionalist , maintaining age-old techniques as exemplified in the modest use of oak (big Slavonian oak barrels) and long maceration times, combined with modern-day equipment and cleanliness, Oddero's perfume and fruit manage to shine through strong tannic structure at a relatively young age (5 years+). At the dinner hosted at Donato Enoteca , we sampled an array in...