The Desert WIne Guy - Maryland Crab Cakes With Old Bay Tartar Sauce

Maryland Crab Cakes With Old Bay Tartar Sauce

 

Pair with a white Languedoc-Roussillon blend, such as Hecht & Bannier Languedoc White 2013

Total time: 30 minutes
Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 15 minutes
Approximate food cost: $35

• 1 pound jumbo lump crabmeat, drained and shell remnants removed
• 2 teaspoons crab boil seasoning, such as Old Bay Seasoning
• 2 eggs
• 2 tablespoons regular or light mayonnaise
• 1 tablespoon mustard
• 1 tablespoon melted butter
• 1 tablespoon fresh chopped parsley
• 1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice and lemon wedges for serving
• Cooking oil
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Tartar sauce (optional)
• Arugula (optional)

1. In a medium bowl, combine eggs, mayonnaise, mustard, melted butter, lemon juice and crab boil seasoning. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, combine crabmeat, parsley, panko and a pinch of freshly ground pepper. Fold, rather than mix, the ingredients to keep large lumps of crabmeat intact.
3. Carefully fold wet ingredients into crabmeat mixture. Once combined, shape into four large patties.
4. Heat a large frying pan to medium heat, then add oil. Place patties into pan and cook 6 minutes on each side, until golden brown.
5. If desired, combine 1/3 cup tartar sauce with 1 teaspoon Old Bay in a small bowl. Serve alongside arugula and lemon wedges. Serves 4.


*** DISCLAIMER*** - This recipe was originally taken from Wine Spectator Magazine http://www.winespectator.com/wineratings and is not my own. 


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The Desert WIne Guy - 2012 Courtney Benham Merlot

   Today it is my pleasure to review the 2012 Courtney Benham (https://www.martinraywinery.com/) Merlot. A very simple, definitely not "in your face" but never the less awesome Merlot that I know you will enjoy. Lets look a little further into this wine now.
   Courtney Benham is part of Martin Rey Winery and appears to be one of their lesser priced labels judging by descriptions on their website such "leaving room for both attention and experimentation" or  "these adventuresome blends" but you would not know that nor care for that matter when you tasted their 2012 Merlot. When I first went to learn something about the winery I couldn't find anything about it. I know it exists I have the bottle in my hand I thought to myself. There was a very simple Website for it which, by the way I understand from Mrs. Zolli is going to upgraded in the near future. I finally was able to find an e-mail for the already  mentioned  Tiffany Zolli who is the Director of Sales & Marketing at Martin Ray Winery and inquired what she could tell me about the wine. A couple of days later I got a warm e-mail reply back from her telling me everything I wanted to know about the wine.  From what I am understanding the two head winemakers, Bill Batchelor and Lindsey Haughton created the label of Courtney Benham as a sort of "let's see what we can do" project. I could be wrong but that is the way it appears to me. The 2012 Merlot is made up of 80% Merlot and 20% Cabernet Sauvignon. and is aged in American Oak for 12 months. The grapes for the 2012 Merlot came from various Vineyards all of which are located in the Napa Valley. So who is Courtney Benham? Mr. Benham is actually the owner of Martin Ray Winery and it is very nice to meet Mr. Benham in the form of his product as you will soon see.

Martin Ray Winery

   On the pour and in the glass the wine is a medium Burgundy in color, simple in appearance. It is very appealing to the eye and seems to sparkle in my Crystal glass which I have reserved for wine tasting only. The wine hits your pallet very smoothly and with dark notes such as modest but definitely not overdone American Oak and deep dark Cherry. There are ever so slight Tannins and a deep plum that all combine to work very nicely. The wine opens up after about an hour to add a little sugar but again, like everything else in this wine there is nothing overdone or one flavor that steps or overpowers another. There is also no taste of Pepper or anything that takes away from the fact that this appears to be a very simple but very thoroughly enjoyable and a delightful, very nice wine. That is it, sounds simple doesn't it? That's because it is.

Garlic-Crusted Roast Rack of Lamb

   I can see a nice Lamb with red potatoes and Carrots or you choice of vegetables being served with this wine. Since the wine does not have any pepper the addition of some Black Pepper on that Lamb would set this wine off perfectly. I have included a nice Lamb Dinner recipe that I had with this wine and let me tell you it was to die for.
   Here is the simple finish to this article. When a reviewer or writer says something appears "simple" you might think that means that the product being reviewed is not worthy of attention and while that might be the case in most instances that is not in this one. My recommendation is for you to go out right now and spend the $18 a bottle and buy two bottles of the 2012 Courtney Benham Merlot. Drink one bottle tonight and put the other away for a nice rainy evening when the kids are at a relatives house and you and the wife  are home alone. You will not regret it.

1. 1 head of garlic, cloves peeled
2. 1/4 cup rosemary leaves
3. 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
4. 2 racks of lamb, frenched (2 pounds each)
5. Salt and freshly ground pepper

1. In a mini food processor, combine the garlic, rosemary and olive oil and process until the garlic is finely chopped. Season the lamb racks with salt and pepper and rub the garlic-rosemary oil all over them. Set the racks fat side up on a large rimmed baking sheet and let stand for 1 hour.
2. Preheat the oven to 450°. Roast the lamb in the upper third of the oven for 15 minutes. Turn the racks and roast for 10 minutes longer for medium-rare meat. Transfer the racks to a carving board, stand them upright and let rest for 10 minutes.
3. Carve the racks in between the rib bones and transfer to plates. Serve right away.

Serve With Mushroom risotto. 

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The Desert Wine Guy - 2012 Columbia Crest Grand Estates Cabarnet Sauvignon

                         What are your thoughts on the state of Washington when it comes to Cabernet Sauvignon? Would you believe that the state of Washington produces not only makes great Riesling such as Chateau Ste Michelle (https://www.ste-michelle.com/) but some great Cabernet Sauvignon as well, such as the Columbia Crest (https://www.columbiacrest.com/) Cabernet Sauvignon, Grand Estates . While Napa and California in general are still one of the most renowned regions for wine  that there is in the world, a new state is coming up quickly on the horizon. Washington state is now coming on strong in the world of Cabernet Sauvignon. As a side note, California actually produces 89% of American wine by volume whereas Washington state produces currently 4%.

                                               
The Washington State winery in particular, as well as the one we will be talking about in this review is Columbia Crest. While it turns out that Columbia Crest has been making award winning Cabernet for a few years now, to me it was never really an area that I took too seriously for that particular varietal. I now see that I will have to start looking a little deeper in the future. The Columbia Crest label by the way happens to be owned by Chateau Ste Michelle the maker of the above referenced Riesling and are both part of the Ste. Michelle Wine Estates collective. It seems that Columbia Crest has been making big news lately with their other 2012 Cabernet Sauvignon, the H3 Horse Heaven Hills. With a rating of 92 points by Wine Spectator magazine http://www.winespectator.com/newsandfeatures) and with the common availability at your local supermarket as well. Oh did I also mention that the Columbia Crest H3 retails for $11? I didn't think I did. As I have already told you this wine seems to be on the tip of everyone's tongue and is supposed to be wonderful. I myself have not tasted it yet although I do have two bottles on hand. As you can imagine I am looking forward to doing just that shortly after this which will of course follow shortly. There is however another 2012 Columbia Crest Cabernet Sauvignon that is going seemingly unnoticed and almost sort of under the radar simply because it is currently being overshadowed at the moment by the H3 and that wine is the the 2012 Cabernet Sauvignon Grand Estates which also retails for $11. I am actually reviewing this wine prior to the H3 because I wanted to review a wine from the same producer as the H3 that wasn't making any noise. Do you think it's possible that I can expose a "hidden gem" to you guys? Well folks, the Grand Estates is not the wine you are hearing so much about and so here we are to hopefully start a fuss and discussion about it.  Today I will share with you just how great this wine truly is and expose to you that "hidden gem".
   From the beginning of my review the wine gave me a hint of what it had in store for me. To begin with, the Bouquet of the Columbia Crest Cabernet Sauvignon Grand Estates is that of a full bodied, fruit forward and yet at the same time complex wine. The wine is complex in as far as the fact that there were so many different notes that hit the nose at once. I remember when I very first did a pour of the wine and I was walking back to my chair. I was still able to smell it's bouquet and this was at a distance of about waist high. The Bouquet simply would not stop. I remember thinking that I couldn't wait to get back to my chair and actually bring the glass to my nose to really appreciate it. When I did make it to the chair I brought the glass to my nose with the anticipation of a full bouquet of fruit and Oak.
                               I was NOT to be disappointed. There was this amazing sense of Plum that immediately jumps out at you. A ripe, rich plum that reminds you of walking past a fruit market on the side of a road while traveling to Northern California in route to Napa or even an organic supermarket where all the fruit available was picked because it is ripe and not just to simply get it to market. As I have already said, there was some Oak that was also present in the bouquet, a warm toasted Oak. You can almost imagine being there as they cut the wood to make the barrel with your nose smelling the fresh oak being cut, or imagine sitting out by the Barbeque with your friends and smelling a nice steak sizzling on the barbeque with wood chips. Well anyway, Joined into the many different aromas of the bouquet was  nice bouquet of Current to add to the amazing sense of depth of the wine. There were also the minor notes of Cherry and Cocoa which are present and while certainly not dominating they very much did have their impact on the bouquet. I love it when you can smell something in a wine that puts a picture in your mind of that particular fruit or almost develops a taste in your mouth that conjures up the sense of that particular fruit. I believe that this sense actually adds a mental effect that highlights the bouquet as well as the taste. This is a very complex bouquet and you can just sense what you, the drinker have in store for you when this wonderful wine finally gets to your palette.  Once again this wine needs to be given the chance to breath before enjoying it, I recommend around two (2) hours. Once this wine had about two (2) hours to open up it became a full bodied, but not what I would consider "heavy" Cabernet Sauvignon, it was more on the deeper side that lighter side but still certainly not overdone. Prior to letting it breath it was a very jammy tasting wine and not approachable at all. Once given the opportunity to open the wine exposed some light, clean and well refined Tannins and that wonderful Plum which was now in moderate and tasty amounts. The wine jumped from a wine that I would have rated at an 86 point wine to one that I would put at a cellar worthy 91 points. The Green Pepper present in the mouth along with the Currant combined for an immediate one two flavor note knockout. There were mineral notes and a deep Black cherry as well. The wine was consistent and the notes never dropped off throughout the bottle. There was no aftertaste, good or bad and the wine was consistently very good throughout. This wine drinks incredibly smoothly and went down just begging for you to take another sip immediately. I had actually invited a friend over to help with this particular tasting (like I needed it) and we both agreed when the bottle was finished we were ready for and needed another. From the first sip to the last it was pure Heaven.

   UPDATE!!! -  Since I wrote this article I have had the opportunity to do a serious tasting of the 2012 Columbia Crest Cabernet Sauvignon H3 and while I do want you to come back and read that review I will go as far as to tell you that it was not a great wine at all. The 2012 Columbia Crest Grand Estates BLOWS the H3 away. I don't want to ruin my review on the H3 for you but I can tell you that I don't know what Wine Spectator Magazine was thinking when they reviewed the wine. The wine was full of Blackberry and over the top at that. Check back in a week or so for my full review.
END OF UPDATE!!!    

The Desert Wine Guy - A Review Of Target Stores "Wine Cube"

  Box Wine, Wine Cube, Jug Wine, Cask Wine. There are probably more names placed on wine in a paper or plastic container than you can shake a stick at. To begin this article we will start with a short history of the Cask Wine (as box wine was originally named) industry.  The inventor of wine in a paper container is an Australian named Thomas Angove. The idea was issued a patent on April 20, 1965. The wine was sealed in a polyethylene bladder and than placed in corrugated boxes. The idea was then taken by Charles Malpas who patented a plastic, air tight tap welded to a metallised bladder. Than in 2003 Central Coast AVA based Black Box Wines started to place what they considered to be premium wines in a box which was supposed to change the stereotype that box wines were the same junk wine as "Jug Wines". This also worked out well with the environmental crowd who saw less glass and more recyclable paper as a benefit to the environment. Now that we have shared a little bit about the origin of the box wine industry let's move on to what I think about the actual wine placed in these boxes, in particular the "Wine Cube"
  Today I am going to review one of those wines in a paper box known as "Wine Cube". The wine I am going to review was bought for me at Target stores and is what they have branded "Wine Cube" with the varietal of Cabernet Sauvignon. Here is how I came to try the "Wine Cube". My Wife and Daughter came home from shopping at Target one day and had "a surprise" for me. The "surprise" was the Target stores "Wine Cube". Well after putting on a fake smile and telling them how I appreciated their thoughtfulness I considered exactly what if anything I had done wrong to make them mad. They said they thought it would be fun for me to review the wine inside and let my readers know what I thought about it. I wasn't exactly pleased considering the wine was in a paper carton like Coconut water (see the photo) but agreed to give it a try and do a review. Well folks, here is that review.

Desert Wine Girl Jr. with Coconut Water and Cube Wine

  Looking at the "Wine Cube" which sells for $2.49 I noticed that there is no Vintage (the year the grapes were harvested) listed. There is no winery listed prominently on the cube or even the name of the Vineyard. If you want to see the winery the wine came from which in this case is Trinchero (http://www.trincheronapavalley.com/) you have to go to the back of the "Wine Cube" and look at the bottom of the container. Basically you are told what varietal the wine is and the state the wine is from, that is it.
  Let's proceed to the pouring and tasting part of this wine. I was immediately impressed at the color of the wine, there was actually some real depth to the wine. A nice deep Burgundy color wine was now sitting in my glass. There was no light or pale Red color that I half expected to see. As far as I could tell the wine appeared as if it had come from a bottle. On the nose the wine was Oakey and mixed with a deep Blackberry.  There was a sense of ever so slight bitterness on the finish but nothing to scare me away. There was a nice Black Cherry. Here was a big surprise, there were even surprisingly some Tannin's present that added a sense of seriousness to the wine. The wine also had a nice mouth feel to it that at times was a nicer mouth feel than some wines I have tasted that cost a lot more money and came in a glass bottle. The wine was balanced and smooth. There were hints of Oak that I tasted as well as smelled.   I opened the carton of wine and here is what I discovered. The "Wine Cube" opens by twisting a small, round , plastic cap. No there is no pull foil or puncture hole for a straw. When twisting the cap a seal is broken on the cap and will allow you to know whether the wine was opened or not prior to buying it. The second safety seal is just inside the mouth of the cube and is a a foil type material. The first thing I noticed when I opened the wine is that the foil which is supposed to keep the wine from becoming spoiled was ripped and torn away. I had initially thought that this was a bad thing and was debating as to whether I should throw the wine out or not. I thought better of that idea when I realize I remembered the the safety on the cap had been intact. I figured even if the wine was spoiled it probably wouldn't change the taste of the wine in this cube. It took a while but after reviewing the entire package I noticed that the plastic cap had little legs that actually rip the foil as it turns, a nice idea I thought. I poured a small amount into my good wine glass and this is what I discovered.

"Cube Wine" cover with legs

   Now for the bottom line here. I really enjoyed the wine. If you poured the wine into a glass for company without letting them see the container it came from I am sure the wine would be loved. It of course would be up to you to decide whether to keep it a secret exactly where it came from. I would like to write here that the wine was terrible and that I did not enjoy it but that would not be true. I thought the wine was pretty good. The big question I think here is WILL I buy the Cube? I can honestly tell you and this may or may not come as a shock that I will NOT buy the wine in a cube or a box or anything other than a glass bottle. The only exception I see is if I am somewhere that glass is not allowed. While I do write this article based on the average persons wine world which is why I even tasted this wine in the first place, I still want SOME type of tradition or etiquette for my wine. As I have stated before in other articles, I still prefer Corks to Screw Caps and I will go on record stating now that I prefer glass to paper. My overall feeling about this wine is that it was probably wine that was either left over or made in excess that wasn't bottled by Trinchero in the typical manner for whatever reason. Target probably approached the winery with the idea to bottle some of their left over wine into the "Wine Cube". Trinchero in turn probably looked at this as a great way to earn money for a wine that was going to go to waste. Let's be clear here. None of this means that the wine is bad wine, it could be great wine that might sell for a lot of money if put into a glass bottle and had a fancy label slapped on it. I do think that this was a smart decision on the part of Trinchero. The weird thing here and I believe the problem that I see is that they actually put their name on the package. To me I think that is a bad idea since the idea of wine in a box (or bottle) usually carries a bad connotation and the belief  that the wine is simply junk and not drinkable. I would think that would bring down customers opinion about the Winery and cause "real" wine drinkers to stay away from the Winery which would (or could) start to become associated with cheap wine. Most wine brokers (Costco) who by the way sold $3.7 billion (yes a B) in alcohol last year will buy good wine from Vineyards and charge half of what the winery would normally charge but keep the Winery or Vineyard secret so that that bad connotation is not made. This works out for the consumer pretty well as the Winery. By the way I have heard that their own wine label which is Kirkland is awesome and made from top notch winery's look for a review on their own branded wine in the future. In finishing up here I thought the wine was worth the money and was good for areas where glass might not be allowed but at the same time you want some decent wine.
  On The Desert Wine Guy Rating Scale I give this wine 87 points. 

                                                                                                                  The Desert Wine Guy

　
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The Desert Wine Guy - Will Las Vegas Soon Be The New Napa Valley

Dennis Eckmeyer, left, and Daniel Hopper work at pruning grape vines at the University of Nevada vineyard. There is a group pushing to make it legal to make wine and sell it in Washoe and Clark Counties.  (Photo: Marilyn Newton/RGJ )

  Welcome back to The Desert Wine Guys wine blog everyone. Today I am going to write an article on the future of Winery's & Vineyards in the Las Vegas area. I feel it is necessary to first dispel some myths when it comes to growing grapes. Before I move into the body of this article I want to remind everyone of one thing and that thing is that the grape is only a means for the vine to reproduce, that is all. It just so happens we as man as found other uses for the grape but when it comes down to it it is only a means for reproduction of the species. Now let's go ahead and learn about growing wine grapes in Las Vegas.
  There are three myths that I would like to dispel when it comes to growing wine grapes in Las Vegas. While I never set out to dispel these three myths it did come as a shock to me when I discovered that they were just that, myths and had no basis in reality. As a matter of fact as I went on with my garden of Tomatoes, Peppers and Watermelon (that's right) in general before growing wine grapes I quickly became amazed that Las Vegas doesn't have a large agriculture industry. With this being said let's go ahead and move to the main part of the article. 
  The first myth I would like to discuss is the one that says that grapes require a lot of water to grow correctly.
  We have all eaten grapes and tasted all the juice and sugar in them. Would it surprise you to know that grapevines do not require or even like a lot of water? I know that prior to learning and developing two small Vineyards I also believed the water myth so don't feel bad. The first thing to know about the water myth concerning grapes is that rain is NOT good for the grapes themselves. Rain can actually ruin grapes by seeping into the grape and diluting the sugar as well as the acid level. Rain during flowering time can actually knock the flowers off thereby meaning no buds and therefore no grapes. If you notice any time you visit Vineyards there are no sprinklers? If you continue to pay attention you will see a drip system with individual drip spouts that are offset from the base of each individual vine by about six (6) inches. Even though there is a drip system, too much water from any means is not a good thing when it comes to grapes. If a vine gets too much water there will be an overgrowth of vegetation (leaves) which will mean small clusters due to the plants energy being used not only for the grapes but the vegetation as well. One other issue with too much water is the fact that the water hitting the soil will eventually spread out across the top of the soil and the roots will follow and therefore stay just underneath the soil level. If the temperature in Las Vegas is 110 degrees than it stands to reason that the top of the soil is pretty hot, that is not where we want the roots to be. The vines will do better if the water goes deep and the roots follow it there. Having just touched on the second myth of grape growing let's go right on ahead and discuss that second myth.  
  The second myth I would like to discuss in relation to Las Vegas is heat. Isn't it way to hot in Las Vegas for any type of fruit or Vegetable to grow?
  I have heard it said to me many times "what about the heat, isn't it too hot in the Desert"? What does heat do to wine grapes? The answer to this depends upon the varietal of grape grown. There are grapes that actually prefer cold or cool weather climates such as the Pinot Noir or Riesling varietals and grapes that prefer the hot or warm weather climates such as the Cabernet Sauvignon or Sauvignon Blanc varietals. Remember that in hot weather climates the only thing protecting the grapes from the heat is the leaves of the vine.  This is one reason why roper pruning is very important.  There are various other reasons for pruning such as prevention of disease but for this article we will simply stick to the fact that proper pruning works to protect the grapes themselves. If you prune the leaves too much than the grapes are exposed to the direct Sunlight and will dry up and die quickly. On the other hand if you don't prune enough the grapes don't get enough sun and that is not good either. Heat however does result in an early harvest of wine grapes There are many areas of this country that grow (successfully) wine grapes and have identical weather to Las Vegas with one area being Arizona. The grapes that prefer one type of weather over the other will sometimes grow outside their preferred areas but the wine they make will not GENERALLY be as good as if they are growing in their preferred area.  

Pinot Noir grapes

  The third and final myth I would like to discuss is the soil the grapes are grown in. I am sure we have all heard of "Rutherford Dust".
  "Rutherford Dust" is supposed to come from only the AVA of Rutherford California and refers to the combination of the terroir (soil) or as Mike Smith form the McGah Family Cellars says gives the wine a powdery "fine dusty tannin". There is even "The Rutherford Dust Society" (http://rutherforddust.org/) which is a winery association dedicated to promoting Napa’s Rutherford appellation (a subset of the larger Napa Valley AVA).  Is "Rutherford Dust" marketing hype or is it real? That's up to you to decide for yourself. I am not going to tell you that soil is not important to growing grapes because it is......to an extent. There are however different characteristics in soils that help or hinder the growing of grapes. There are generally 4 different types of soil. These types are Sandy, Clay based, Silty and Loam. The soil I have come across here in my Vineyards in Las Vegas are a combination of Sandy and Clay soils. My personal experience digging the soil to plant my vines is that there is an initial top level of  medium size Boulders followed by Sandy soil that is loose and ready for roots to grow easily. To see exactly what the makeup of my soil is  here (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=INrR9qsyNrM) is my YouTube video showing the different layers of soil I had to dig thru in order to plant my vines. As I have said, once thru the first two feet of soil the remainder was sandy and very workable. The thing about the soil in Las Vegas is that when it gets wet it becomes a sort of Clay and therefore holds water very well and yet is not tough enough to discourage the vines from growing. Since the Roots of our Grape Vines are supposed to be trained to grow deep into the ground rather than spread across the soil this is good for them. While I have never had my soil tested I can only tell you what I have personally experienced and what I have personally experienced is successfully growing wine grapes.

Riesling Grapes

  Let's now take a look at the current state of wine grape industry in Las Vegas. It is very early in the development stage of wine industry here in Las Vegas but headway is being made to create a one. In May of  2015 Assembly Bill 4 was passed and signed by the Governor allowing Winery's in county's that have populations of more than 100,000 people in it. Prior to this the law being passed the law said that county's with a population of more that 100,000 people such as Clark County (Las Vegas) could not have a Winery. While there were some Wineries in Nevada already in the areas of Reno which is 8 hours out of the Las Vegas area and Pahrump which is 2 hours out of the Las Vegas area there were never any in Las Vegas. The Las Vegas area has now become fertile ground for Napa Valley style Winery's. The bill had a protectionist parts to it such as the fact that 25% of the grapes for the winery's in Nevada had to come from Nevada after the first 1,000 cases of wine each year  the existing winery's in Reno and Pahrump will not have to meet those requirements for 10 years. While some see this as a negative I believe it can only help Las Vegas and the state of Nevada as a whole.      
  It appears that things are looking up for the very real possibility of a wine industry here in the Golden State. At this time however there is nothing more to report on that future wine industry here in Las Vegas at this time. As far as I know there are no Napa winery's or any other state Winery's that have shown any interest in expanding to Nevada or Las Vegas. From what I understand the only Winery's that helped the bill pass were those in this state. 
  So in closing there you have it folks, a little overview of the up and coming state of wine grapes in the Las Vegas area. With Assembly Bill 4 the door has been opened for the wine industry in Las Vegas to excel past that of Arizona which itself does $30 million a year. I will go further based on information that I have from some wine industry insiders in Arizona.  With the water problems in California that ARE affecting the wine industry there I predict that Arizona will see an increase in their revenue and Las Vegas will start a new boom and that boom will be a reputable wine industry probably backed by the Casino industry.  Keep in mind that this will not happen over night since grape vines take a minimum of 3 years to prepare to even support grapes. I say give Las Vegas a minimum of 5-6 years and the Napa Valley will be shaking in it's boots.

                                                                                                                   The Desert Wine Guy

　
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