Monday Betsy made leg of lamb, with a basil-anchovy sauce; accompanied by chard
with pinenuts and boiled potatoes. The sauce is surprisingly wine friendly; in
this case I decided to go for a Rhone. The 2001 Chave "Offerus" St. Joseph was
exceedingly tight upon opening, just tannin and barely perceptible fruit. An
hour in the decanter presented a more agreeable wine. Blackberry and
blackcurrant fruit with an edge of peppery Rhone spice, good finish. Still
tannic, but the meat helps out. We drank half the bottle,had the rest next
night with a puttanesca sauce. Not really a recommended combo, but the wine had
enough acidity to do ok. On day 2 the fruit had more of a red raspberry/cherry
flavor, with a herby nose. Good wine, needs time. If negociant wine is this
good, would love to try the estate. B++

Wednesday Betsy made Eric Ripert's version of Keller's butter poached lobster,
with a Champagne/tarragon sauce. She didn't actually use Champagne, but a
bottle of 2000 Windsor North Coast "Champagne" (my italics) Brut (this was a
gift from a non-drinking neighbor, his company was giving out these with their
own holiday label). Ok for the recipe, but not easy to drink. Sharp green apple
fruit, somewhat coarse mousse, slightly off (herby?) smell, short finish. C

I pulled out the first white I saw in fridge, the 2001 Strub Niersteiner
Bruckchen Kabinett. Seemed a little bigger than last bottle tried, though
still on the lighter side. Nice balance of acid and sugar, not closed at all.
Peach and cherry fruit, lengthy chalky finish, nice wine. B+

So Thursday Betsy tells me that friends are coming to dinner, and she is making
Nigela Lawson's duck with blueberry sauce, from Wednesday's NYT. Duck with
fruit sauce actually isn't my favorite, especially as a wine match. But I never
stand in the way of Betsy wanting to try a new recipe. I polled cyberspace for
opinions, and got suggestions of Rhone, Burgundy, RRV PN or Syrah, Petite
Syrah, Zinfandel, and more. So I went with a few options based on what I had
handy:
'01 Claude Dugat bourgogne (rebottled in 375, refrigerated earlier in week)
'01 Strub Kabinett (because it was open)
2001 Charvin Cotes du Rhone
2003 3 Thieves Zinfanfel (because my guests love Zin, and are always looking
for budget ones)

the results:
well, first of all the match wasn't as bad as I feared. Betsy said
"duck in blueberry sauce", and I had visions of purple duck (a
blueberry version of duck l'orange). But what she actually served was
roast duck with a blueberry sauce (made with fresh blueberries, not
extraordinarily sweet)on the side. I sampled each wine with just duck, a quick
dip of the sauce, and with mucho sauce.
With just duck, my favorites (in order) we Burg, CdR,Zin, Riesling.
With duck and a touch of sauce: CdR, Burg, Riesling, Zin.
The couple of experimental bites heavy on sauce: Riesling, CdR, Zin,
Burg (with only the Riesling being even a halfway good match).

As to the wines, the 2001 Charvin Cotes du Rhone really showed well.
Medium-bodied, ripe but not flabby, bright raspberry and cherry liqueur fruit.
Some smoke and herb, clear clean if not especially lengthy finish. Baby CdP,
indeed. Buy more at $15. B+/A-

The 2003 3 Thieves Zinfandel ($9 for a liter retro jug) is a pleasant easy to
drink Zin on the red fruit end of the Zin spectrum, with bright raspberry fruit
and a hint of white pepper. Fun easy wine, nothing complicated, good QPR. B

Grade disclaimer: I'm a very easy grader, basically A is an excellent wine, B a
good wine, C mediocre. Anything below C means I wouldn't drink at a party where
it was only choice. Furthermore, I offer no promises of objectivity, accuracy,
and certainly not of consistency
Dale

Dale Williams
Drop "damnspam" to reply

"Ian Hoare" in ...
>> [Ken Blake wrote]
>> "Battery" chicken? "Battery" is a word I don't know
>> in this context, Ian. Can you elucidate?
>
> ...
> In the UK they talk about "Battery Farms". These are huge
> scale production facilities ...

Hi gentlemen. In the US this has been sometimes called a "chicken factory"
and was the subject of the cover story in the magazine _Scientific American_
circa 1966, which helped to widen familiarity with the practice, though
sharp criticism came later. The birds were shown as fed and watered
automatically, and they've also been described as constantly stumbling on
the wire-mesh floors which causes wing-flapping reflex and therefore
develops saleable Parts. They are also called battery chickens in the US
(analogously to more traditional batteries of cannon, voltaic cells,
experts, etc.) That term for them does seem to be more standard in the
English of the world outside the US.

This method of raising poultry is illegal in parts of the US including, I
understand, mine. (Spohn will surely assert that it is more so in his part
of Canada ...) Independent of that, I have always noticed than animals that
lived well tasted the best. Yet further, free-range or even "foraging"
chickens are much more expensive to raise and are easiest for people to
prefer, who have the means to do so. (As so often, there are trade-offs.)
Of course, as you all know, animals as food are "protein factories in
reverse" (Frances Moore Lappé); among land animals the smaller are least
inefficient, chickens requiring (if I recall) only three times the weight in
vegetable protein that they provide in animal protein. Rabbits are more
efficient still.

--M.

Better yet - Soldier of Fortune.
"Dale Williams" > wrote in message
...
> Monday Betsy made leg of lamb, with a basil-anchovy sauce; accompanied by
> chard
> with pinenuts and boiled potatoes. The sauce is surprisingly wine
> friendly; in
> this case I decided to go for a Rhone. The 2001 Chave "Offerus" St. Joseph
> was
> exceedingly tight upon opening, just tannin and barely perceptible fruit.
> An
> hour in the decanter presented a more agreeable wine. Blackberry and
> blackcurrant fruit with an edge of peppery Rhone spice, good finish. Still
> tannic, but the meat helps out. We drank half the bottle,had the rest next
> night with a puttanesca sauce. Not really a recommended combo, but the
> wine had
> enough acidity to do ok. On day 2 the fruit had more of a red
> raspberry/cherry
> flavor, with a herby nose. Good wine, needs time. If negociant wine is
> this
> good, would love to try the estate. B++
>
> Wednesday Betsy made Eric Ripert's version of Keller's butter poached
> lobster,
> with a Champagne/tarragon sauce. She didn't actually use Champagne, but a
> bottle of 2000 Windsor North Coast "Champagne" (my italics) Brut (this was
> a
> gift from a non-drinking neighbor, his company was giving out these with
> their
> own holiday label). Ok for the recipe, but not easy to drink. Sharp green
> apple
> fruit, somewhat coarse mousse, slightly off (herby?) smell, short finish.
> C
>
> I pulled out the first white I saw in fridge, the 2001 Strub Niersteiner
> Bruckchen Kabinett. Seemed a little bigger than last bottle tried, though
> still on the lighter side. Nice balance of acid and sugar, not closed at
> all.
> Peach and cherry fruit, lengthy chalky finish, nice wine. B+
>
> So Thursday Betsy tells me that friends are coming to dinner, and she is
> making
> Nigela Lawson's duck with blueberry sauce, from Wednesday's NYT. Duck with
> fruit sauce actually isn't my favorite, especially as a wine match. But I
> never
> stand in the way of Betsy wanting to try a new recipe. I polled cyberspace
> for
> opinions, and got suggestions of Rhone, Burgundy, RRV PN or Syrah, Petite
> Syrah, Zinfandel, and more. So I went with a few options based on what I
> had
> handy:
> '01 Claude Dugat bourgogne (rebottled in 375, refrigerated earlier in
> week)
> '01 Strub Kabinett (because it was open)
> 2001 Charvin Cotes du Rhone
> 2003 3 Thieves Zinfanfel (because my guests love Zin, and are always
> looking
> for budget ones)
>
> the results:
> well, first of all the match wasn't as bad as I feared. Betsy said
> "duck in blueberry sauce", and I had visions of purple duck (a
> blueberry version of duck l'orange). But what she actually served was
> roast duck with a blueberry sauce (made with fresh blueberries, not
> extraordinarily sweet)on the side. I sampled each wine with just duck, a
> quick
> dip of the sauce, and with mucho sauce.
> With just duck, my favorites (in order) we Burg, CdR,Zin, Riesling.
> With duck and a touch of sauce: CdR, Burg, Riesling, Zin.
> The couple of experimental bites heavy on sauce: Riesling, CdR, Zin,
> Burg (with only the Riesling being even a halfway good match).
>
> As to the wines, the 2001 Charvin Cotes du Rhone really showed well.
> Medium-bodied, ripe but not flabby, bright raspberry and cherry liqueur
> fruit.
> Some smoke and herb, clear clean if not especially lengthy finish. Baby
> CdP,
> indeed. Buy more at $15. B+/A-
>
> The 2003 3 Thieves Zinfandel ($9 for a liter retro jug) is a pleasant easy
> to
> drink Zin on the red fruit end of the Zin spectrum, with bright raspberry
> fruit
> and a hint of white pepper. Fun easy wine, nothing complicated, good QPR.
> B
>
> Grade disclaimer: I'm a very easy grader, basically A is an excellent
> wine, B a
> good wine, C mediocre. Anything below C means I wouldn't drink at a party
> where
> it was only choice. Furthermore, I offer no promises of objectivity,
> accuracy,
> and certainly not of consistency
> Dale
>
> Dale Williams
> Drop "damnspam" to reply

Better yet - Soldier of Fortune.
"Dale Williams" > wrote in message
...
> Monday Betsy made leg of lamb, with a basil-anchovy sauce; accompanied by
> chard
> with pinenuts and boiled potatoes. The sauce is surprisingly wine
> friendly; in
> this case I decided to go for a Rhone. The 2001 Chave "Offerus" St. Joseph
> was
> exceedingly tight upon opening, just tannin and barely perceptible fruit.
> An
> hour in the decanter presented a more agreeable wine. Blackberry and
> blackcurrant fruit with an edge of peppery Rhone spice, good finish. Still
> tannic, but the meat helps out. We drank half the bottle,had the rest next
> night with a puttanesca sauce. Not really a recommended combo, but the
> wine had
> enough acidity to do ok. On day 2 the fruit had more of a red
> raspberry/cherry
> flavor, with a herby nose. Good wine, needs time. If negociant wine is
> this
> good, would love to try the estate. B++
>
> Wednesday Betsy made Eric Ripert's version of Keller's butter poached
> lobster,
> with a Champagne/tarragon sauce. She didn't actually use Champagne, but a
> bottle of 2000 Windsor North Coast "Champagne" (my italics) Brut (this was
> a
> gift from a non-drinking neighbor, his company was giving out these with
> their
> own holiday label). Ok for the recipe, but not easy to drink. Sharp green
> apple
> fruit, somewhat coarse mousse, slightly off (herby?) smell, short finish.
> C
>
> I pulled out the first white I saw in fridge, the 2001 Strub Niersteiner
> Bruckchen Kabinett. Seemed a little bigger than last bottle tried, though
> still on the lighter side. Nice balance of acid and sugar, not closed at
> all.
> Peach and cherry fruit, lengthy chalky finish, nice wine. B+
>
> So Thursday Betsy tells me that friends are coming to dinner, and she is
> making
> Nigela Lawson's duck with blueberry sauce, from Wednesday's NYT. Duck with
> fruit sauce actually isn't my favorite, especially as a wine match. But I
> never
> stand in the way of Betsy wanting to try a new recipe. I polled cyberspace
> for
> opinions, and got suggestions of Rhone, Burgundy, RRV PN or Syrah, Petite
> Syrah, Zinfandel, and more. So I went with a few options based on what I
> had
> handy:
> '01 Claude Dugat bourgogne (rebottled in 375, refrigerated earlier in
> week)
> '01 Strub Kabinett (because it was open)
> 2001 Charvin Cotes du Rhone
> 2003 3 Thieves Zinfanfel (because my guests love Zin, and are always
> looking
> for budget ones)
>
> the results:
> well, first of all the match wasn't as bad as I feared. Betsy said
> "duck in blueberry sauce", and I had visions of purple duck (a
> blueberry version of duck l'orange). But what she actually served was
> roast duck with a blueberry sauce (made with fresh blueberries, not
> extraordinarily sweet)on the side. I sampled each wine with just duck, a
> quick
> dip of the sauce, and with mucho sauce.
> With just duck, my favorites (in order) we Burg, CdR,Zin, Riesling.
> With duck and a touch of sauce: CdR, Burg, Riesling, Zin.
> The couple of experimental bites heavy on sauce: Riesling, CdR, Zin,
> Burg (with only the Riesling being even a halfway good match).
>
> As to the wines, the 2001 Charvin Cotes du Rhone really showed well.
> Medium-bodied, ripe but not flabby, bright raspberry and cherry liqueur
> fruit.
> Some smoke and herb, clear clean if not especially lengthy finish. Baby
> CdP,
> indeed. Buy more at $15. B+/A-
>
> The 2003 3 Thieves Zinfandel ($9 for a liter retro jug) is a pleasant easy
> to
> drink Zin on the red fruit end of the Zin spectrum, with bright raspberry
> fruit
> and a hint of white pepper. Fun easy wine, nothing complicated, good QPR.
> B
>
> Grade disclaimer: I'm a very easy grader, basically A is an excellent
> wine, B a
> good wine, C mediocre. Anything below C means I wouldn't drink at a party
> where
> it was only choice. Furthermore, I offer no promises of objectivity,
> accuracy,
> and certainly not of consistency
> Dale
>
> Dale Williams
> Drop "damnspam" to reply