Wednesday, Jun. 25, 2008

Summertime bursts with flavor

By Braiden Rex-Johnson

Summertime in the Northwest and the livin' is easy. Nature beckons with sunny skies, and as our lives literally "lighten" up, so do our food and wine choices. Come summer, cassoulet and cabernet make way for Montrachet and viognier.

Our summer aperitif wine bears the lyrical name Shakespeare's Love and comes from Ashland Vineyards in Oregon's Rogue Valley. Like the Bard himself, this 1999 white wine ($9) is a bit of a mystery, a proprietary blend whose origins winemaker Phil Kodak prefers to keep under wraps. I'm guessing it's composed of Müller-Thurgau, riesling and pinot gris, but suffice to say that Shakespeare's Love is a bit effervescent when first opened, semi-sweet on the palate and well balanced and crisp in acidity, with aromas of ripe tropical fruit.

Many experts warn against pairing wine with foods such as asparagus and artichokes, but Shakespeare's Love pairs perfectly with Glazed Asparagus, a recipe found in Inside the Pike Place Market. To make it yourself, preheat your broiler, then arrange a pound of asparagus spears (woody stems removed) on a lightly oiled baking sheet. For the glaze, mix one tablespoon of canola or vegetable oil, soy sauce, brown sugar and Dijon mustard with half a tablespoon (1 1/2 teaspoons) of prepared horseradish. Brush the glaze on the spears and cook three minutes. Remove the spears from the oven, turn them, then brush with more glaze. Continue this process every three minutes until the asparagus is tender. Shakespeare's Love paired with hot, salty-sweet asparagus spears ... the Bard himself would applaud.

Another supposedly difficult pairing occurs with wine and salads — specifically the vinegar in salad dressings. But our first course wine, Sawtooth Winery's 1998 sémillon from Idaho ($12), puts that myth to rest when served with everybody's summertime favorite — Bread Salad.

Take a pound of good-quality, crusty, day-old bread (no Wonder Bread, please!) and cut it into bite-sized chunks. Make a simple red wine vinaigrette, measure out 3/4 cup, and stir in a couple of cloves of minced garlic and a tablespoon or two of balsamic vinegar.

Chop up a bell pepper and four or five seeded ripe tomatoes, thinly slice a small Walla Walla sweet onion, and tear a cup of fresh basil leaves into bite-sized pieces. Toss the bread with the vegetables, add two-thirds of the dressing, toss again (gently), then let the salad sit at room temperature for 20 minutes. Add more dressing if needed and add salt and freshly cracked black pepper to taste.

Now take a bite and see if the clean, citrusy components in the wine aren't a powerful complement to the lush flavors and textures of the salad's basil, balsamic, fruity olive oil and yeasty bread. Note the way the herbaceous undertones in the wine mirror the earthy flavors of the vegetables. Pure summer romance!

Many people pooh-pooh rosé because of its association with simple blush wines, but with its lighter nose and taste, inexpensive price tag and pale-pink color, rosé may be summer's most food-friendly wine choice. Clay Mackey, co-owner with wife Kay Simon of Chinook Winery in the Yakima Valley, explains how they make their high-quality cabernet franc rosé ($15).

"We crush cabernet franc grapes, then give them a limited amount of skin contact — about 48 hours. We treat the juice like a white wine, with two months in neutral barrels to soften but not flavor it."

The 1999 vintage of Chinook's salmon-colored, bone dry wine smells like sweet local strawberries dipped in cotton candy but turns deceptively dry when sipped, with just a hint of that luscious strawberry on the palate. Clay and Kay like to serve their rosé with a whole chicken that has been stuffed with a pierced Meyer lemon, fresh rosemary sprigs and lemon thyme before roasting. Tamara Murphy, chef and co-owner of Seattle's popular Brasa restaurant, pairs the wine with Lamb Burgers, Curried Mussels or Moroccan Steak Sandwiches. I like it with just about anything hot off the grill brushed with a spicy-sweet barbecue sauce. Just remember: Rosés are best served slightly chilled with the summer sunset as a backdrop.

A rich dessert wine makes a luscious finale to our relaxed summer meal — the 1997 botrytised riesling ice wine from Claar Cellars in Washington's Columbia Valley ($30). Floral on the nose and velvety in the mouth, the wine at first bowls you over with the sweet flavor of honey, then mellows to a peach-rich finish with a good acid-to-sugar balance.

To keep things easy, simply grill or broil some pitted, tree-ripened peaches and serve the hot, caramelized fruit over butter-pecan ice cream. If you feel like baking, try the Blueberry-Peach Cobbler from the Pike Place Market Cookbook. In this magical recipe, a soft dough is spooned onto the bottom of a baking dish, then four cups of sweetened, sliced peaches and blueberries are placed over the dough. During the baking process, the dough travels to the top of the baking dish to form a golden crust. Bubbly hot peaches and blueberries, buttery crust and a glass of ice wine ... must be summertime in the Northwest.

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