New Spirited Gourmet Store

The Spirited Gourmet wine store in Winchester is one of my recommended wine stores. This fall, they are going to expand and open a second store in the Cushing Square section of Belmont.

Their announcement included the following: "Previously a "dry" town, Belmont approved retail licenses after Elena presented our store concept to the town at their town meeting last Fall. On Monday evening we pitched our store against three other applicants and were granted an all liquor license by unanimous vote. We greatly appreciate everyone who wrote to Belmont in support of our application as well as our incredible customer base that has allowed us to present an award-winning store."

So, this is good news for Belmont and anyone in that area.

Amphora-Fermented Wines

Wines & Vines has a fascinating article concerning a California winery, Del Dotto Vineyards, that has started to use terra cotta-lined amphorae to ferment some of their wines. This is a practice that stems back to the ancient days of winemaking. But, there may only be one other wine maker in the world that uses such clay vessels, Friuli's Josko Gravner.

The first release, possibly in September, will be a 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon which will also be bottled in clay magnums. It should retail for around $100.

Supposedly wines fermented in this manner have an earthier taste, something very different from what many are used to in their wines.

This certainly sounds very interesting and I am curious how the wines would taste. It reminds me somewhat of Sean Thackrey who uses many medieval winemaking methods at his own winery. And I very much enjoy his wines.

But, Del Dotto Vineyards, at least based on this article, seems a bit more concerned with making money. He talks about how this is a great marketing opportunity. I would rather see a man passionate about winemaking, who is experimenting, rather than someone simply seeking a new gimmick.

Maybe this will lead to other wineries trying clay vessel fermentation. I will have to look more into the wines of Josko Gravner.

2005 Turchi Syrah

The Core Wine Co. is located in Santa Barbara County in the Cayuma Valley. Their Alta Mesa Vineyards are about 3200 meters in elevation and are planted primarily with Mourvedre, Grenache and Syrah. They make several different wines including Hard Core, Core and Turchi Syrah. The wines are small production wines and have been receiving many positive reviews. I recently purchased a few of their wines and have begun tasting them.

I have started with their 2005 Turchi Syrah ($20), their lowest end wine. Their goal with this wine was to make a reasonably priced wine that would pair well with many different foods. The wine is a blend of 83% Syrah, 9% Cabernet Sauvignon and 8% Malbec. It is supposed to be inspired by northern Rhone wines. Only 1800 cases were made.

This is a dark colored wine with a fruity aroma. On the palate, you get the full flavor of blackberries and blueberries with a touch of spice. It is a smooth wine with mild tannins. It has a medium length finish with some pepper on the end. It has some complexity though is not overly so. It is more of an everyday drinking wine. The wine paired well with a bacon cheeseburger calzone. I did like this wine and felt it was different from the typical Australian Shiraz. It was a nice change and I would recommend this as a Drink & Buy.

I look forward to trying the Core and Hardcore.

I should note as well that Core Wine Co. considers wine bloggers to have a lot of positive impact on their sales, behind only the impact of Robert Parker.

Stoneham Summer Festival

Starting today, and extending through July 21, the Stoneham Summer Festival is being held at the Redstone shopping center. Fiesta Shows is hosting this event and you can find coupons online. This carnival will have various rides and games.

I will likely stop by the carnival but not for the rides or games. I will be seeking out food, especially candied applies. All the usual carnival foods should be available, from fried dough to cotton candy, from sno-cones to corndogs. But my favorite are the red candied apples, covered with shredded coconut. I like the hard candy shell better than the soft caramel covered apples. They are a guilty pleasure that I have only rarely as they are not easy to find any longer.

So, what about you? Going to the carnival for any guilty pleasures?

The Danish Pastry House: Part 2

The Brioche Braid. Soft, flaky and buttery pastry covered with sweet cinnamon and almond slivers. $2 for this large pastry. Very delicious and even better when heated. This is one of the reasons why I wanted to visit the Danish Pastry House in Medford.

They have a cafe and bakery at their Medford location. They sell salads ($5.25-$5.50), sandwiches ($5-$6), soups ($3-$6), paninis ($6.75) and crepes ($5.50-$8.50). I find tried to get a crepe but they stated it was not the day for crepes. They must have certain staff who make the crepes and it is not every day. I settled on a Prosciutto Passion sandwich ($6) which contained prosciutto, fresh mozzarella, cherry tomatoes, basil, extra virgin olive oil and oregano. It was on a fresh, soft sub roll. I thought it was a very good sandwich. I also had a ham & cheese croissant and they heated it for me, though they left it in the oven a bit too long and it was slightly burnt. It still tasted very good. My mother ordered a Glorified Grilled Cheese Panini which contained Granny Smith apples, Vermont Cheddar and Caramelized Onions. She enjoyed her sandwich very much.

There is a diversity of lunch choices and prices are reasonable. The freshness of their ingredients is quite evident.

They also have many different drinks available, including various coffees and teas. They have fresh brewed iced tea which was very good and their hot green tea was excellent as well.

Besides the lunch entrees, they have tons of baked goods and pastries, as well as ice cream. The ice cream can be topped with maybe two dozen different candies, nuts and foods. My nephew enjoyed a dish of cookie dough ice cream topped with rainbow jimmies, M&Ms and bubble gum.

The baked goods looked quite enticing. We have a couple of warm Brioche Braids while we were there and then bought some pastries to take home. It appears that they did not have all of their pastries in stock as I did not see any of the cookies I had seen at the South End Market. I also did not see some of the items listed on their menu. They do carry various breads and bagels though there were few available when I was there. Besides the individual pastries, they do have larger cakes, cheesecakes, tortes and pies. All of them are visually appealing and certainly would impress guests if you served them.

Pastry prices start at about $1.75. This seems in line with the higher end bakeries. Generally, with the large size of many of the pastries, prices are reasonable. For example, the Brioche Braid is a good buy. A couple of the pastries though seem a bit pricey. There was a peach almond cake slice that cost $3.75 which seemed high as it was not really large. Though it did look tasty.

I definitely will return here to try more of their foods and baked goods. It is a good place to grab lunch. Stop by and give it a try.

Danish Pastry House
330 Boston Ave.
Medford, MA
Phone: (781) 396-8999