Stephen Vincent
Chardonnay
Cabernet
Merlot
Only $9.99 a bottle! –
Chardonnay
Refreshingly tropical with hints of melon and Hawaiian pineapple fruit.Pairs with seafood, poultry and soft cheeses.
Cabernet
Fine varietal character, with rich cassis and cherry aromas, and plenty of body and depth along with a touch of toasty oak. Great value!
Merlot
Sourced from the better growing regions of California, this wine doesn't let up on fruit, boldness or flavor. Packed with cassis and intense flavor coupled with hints of cedar, this is the wine we've been looking for for sometime.
Welcome to the September edition of The Little Rooster newsletter. As always, we recognize that we are guests in your email inbox and with that in mind, we want to bring you something you will appreciate. This month's newsletter contains information about specials at the store, a couple of recipes and a discussion about our featured beer and wine. Stop by and say hello, and let us know if there's anything we can do to serve you better.
One of our special choices you might be interested in is our wine of the month from Stephen Vincent
Also take a look at our special recipes. "Pan-Seared Tilapia With Chile Lime Butter".
As always, in this newsletter you will find need-to-know information regarding our September wine tasting as well as a host of related tidbits. Through our website you will be able to access our archived newsletters, recipes, check our wine of the month, research wines and beers, learn about our tastings and other specials. We will aim to educate and inform and hope that you will come back to visit us online often. Give it a look and see what people are excited about. Visit us at Littleroosterliquors.com and enjoy!
The Guest of the Month is a highlight in our newsletter where we feature knowledgeable people in the wine, beer and food industries to help educate us with their expertise. This month I am pleased to announce that Amy Williamson from Winery Concepts will be our guest writer. I thoroughly enjoyed his very informative article about “What do you know about Sake ? ”. I hope you do the same!
A big thanks goes out to all who have written to me with comments and suggestions about new wines, spirits and beer. Keep those thoughts and concerns coming. Remember, you, the customer, drive what we do here. This month, our Beer of the Month is Pride of Milford Special Ale Please check out our article by resident beer expert, Scott Brinckerhoff, for more details and a tasty recipe to go with this brew.
•
Fri. 9/3 4:30-7:30 pm – Wine of the Month! –
Stephen Vincent Chardonnay, Cabernet & Merlot
• Fri. 9/10 4:30-7:30 pm –
Zenato’s selection
• Fri. 9/17 4:30-7:30 pm – Donna Cristina ’s
Merlot
• Fri. 8/27 4:30-7:30 pm –
Bourdoux & Chateau Des Tulleries red & Chateau Les Tulleries white
White Wines - Steel vs. Oak
During the winemaking process white wines are fermented in steel tanks, French oak or American oak barrels.
By the mere selection of what type of tank or barrel to use the winemaker can impart the
particular flavor from that source into the wine. If you are a person who enjoys Pinot Grigios or Sauvignon Blancs,
it is the crispness that excites your palette with flavors that include citrus and tropical fruit ending with a
clean, sometimes tart finish. People will refer to this crispness as a "steely finish" due
to its fermentation in steel tanks. On the other hand, Chardonnays are fermented using a variety of methods.
Some winemakers use steel, especially when making French Chablis which is 100% Chardonnay grape.
Other producers will use oak (French or American) in their fermentation process or steel tank with oak aging.
This process is achieved by fermenting as regular in steel then aging it in oak barrels from 6 months to a year.
This additional aging enhances the flavor of the wine with a rich, woody taste. It may also impart a vanilla and
smoky flavor leaving it with a rich, full finish.
It well known in the industry that the use of new oak barrels gives
off a richer oak taste than older oak. Smaller casks produce more
richness than larger barrels. All these processes give the winemaker
freedom to develop their own unique structure and taste of a particular
wine.
If your looking for a dry crisp wine to go with hors d'oeuvres or
a broiled fish dinner, pick up a Sauvignon Blanc or Pinot Grigio.
On the other hand, if your dinner or mood requires something richer,
then a Chardonnay aged in oak is your choice.
I hope this has given you a better insight into white wine and their
particular fermentation processes. If you have any questions regarding
this article or have a specific topic you would like me to inform you on, please feel free to e-mail me or stop by the store.
Check out our Roosterwear.
What
do you know about Sake?
By
Amy Williamson, Winery Concepts
You might think sake is just
wine made from rice but it really is an intricate process. Sake is made
from but a few ingredients: Rice, Water, Yeast, and a mold known as Koji-kin.
But it is really the brew masters that make the most difference, for a
fraction of a degree in temperature can throw off a whole batch. It is
a very delicate process.
Five crucial elements are involved. More than anything sake is the result
of a brewing process that uses rice and lots of water. In fact, water
comprises as much as 80% of the final product. But beyond all of that,
the skill to pull it off lies with the toji (brew master) and the yeast
they use.
On the surface, the following explanation of the process may seem simple
but is actually very delicate. First the rice is washed and polished,
a method by which the kernels of rice are tumbled against each other to
remove the outer layers. The more layers that are removed from the kernel
of rice, the smoother the final product will be. The polished rice is
then mixed with yeast and koji (rice cultivated with a mold technically
known as aspergillus oryzae). The whole mix is then allowed to ferment
with more rice koji and water added at three intervals over a 4 day period.
This fermentation, which occurs in a large tank, is called shikomi. The
quality of the rice, the degree to which the koji mold has propagated,
temperature variations and other factors are different for each batch.
The mash (moromi) is allowed to sit for 18-32 days, after which it is
pressed (joso), filtered (roka), pasteurized and blended, although there
are types known as draft sakes, these arte not pasteurized.
So now you might be asking yourself: How do I serve sake? Warm or cold?
Most good sakes should be served chilled. How chilled? Like wine or any
other premium beverage, each sake will be different at even slightly different
temperatures. The best temperature to enjoy sake is the one you, personally,
prefer. Many sake breweries will offer serving suggestions as to the best
temperature to enjoy their sakes, but it truly is a matter of preference.
The more familiar you become with different kinds of sakes, the better
you will become at choosing the right temperature for you.
There are many variations of serving sake other than just warm or cold.
Did you know that sake can be mixed into cocktails just like a gin or
vodka? Did you know there are also flavored sakes available? Why not check
out Hakusan Plum or Hakusan Raspberry sakes. You can log onto www.Hakusan.com
for cocktail recipes. KAM-PAI (CHEERS)!
As baseball playoffs approach, a beer from Cooperstown is a good choice
Mushrooms: always versatile, sometimes free
Mushrooms a la Julia
2 tablespoons butter
Did you know?
Scott Brinckerhoff
of Haddam is a freelance writer specializing in business communications.
He also brews beer, keeps bees and cooks "seriously." Each issue,
he'll provide offbeat comments on our monthly beer, long with a recipe.
Pride of Milford Special Ale, this month's Beer of the Month at The Little Rooster, is an English
strong ale brewed by Cooperstown Brewing Company in Milford, NY.
It's a mahogany-colored brew with a minimal head that disappears quickly, leaving
behind a sweet malt aroma and just a whiff of fruit.
In fact, before you sip, check out the aroma - it hints at something special in that
upcoming first taste, and it delivers.
This is a serious beer that speaks well of a small brewery not far from the National
Baseball Hall of Fame. Like most English style ales,
it is best served a bit warmer than pilsners, for example, although we Americans find this suggestion
hard to accept.
Pride of Milford is 7.7 percent alcohol by volume, making it a beer of which to beware.
That said, it is a wonderfully smooth brew that goes down easily and retains its full flavor right to the
bottom of the glass. I have tried it by itself with food (pizza, that is) and mixed half and half with a
Coors Light, a beer I enjoy in very warm weather.
In keeping with this beer's home town, the label features a photo from many decades ago of a young fellow
waiting to field a baseball hit his way. Just think, for only a bit more than the price of a single beer
at a major league ball park, you can buy a whole six-pack at The Little Rooster, where surprises like
Pride of Milford are sure worth crowing about.
It probably was about 30 years ago that I first became interested in cooking in more than a
casual way. I checked out James Beard, Craig Claiborne, Julia Child and then began
sampling ethnic cuisines. Anyway, Julia probably was the first one to introduce me
to such ingredients as shallots, mushrooms and saffron. So today, a word about mushrooms.
A week or so ago after one of our frequent rains, I walked around the periphery of the property
and found all manner of mushrooms had popped up. I gathered a dozen or so in two varieties and sat down
at the kitchen table with my mushroom handbook and tried very carefully to match my harvest up with
edible varieties. I also compared them, even more carefully, with the much smaller number of poisonous
varieties.
Satisfied that they would not comprise my last meal, I set out to prepare them as Julia Child might:
1 tablespoon olive oil
˝ lb. fresh mushrooms, rinsed dried and quartered
2 tablespoons minced shallots
1 clove crushed garlic
3 tablespoons minced parsley
Salt and pepper
In a 10 inch nonstick skillet on high heat, add the butter and olive oil.
As the butter foams, add the mushrooms. Shake the pan frequently.
As the mushrooms begin to brown, add the garlic and shallots. If you like, add a
splash of wine or sherry. Toss for a moment more and remove from heat. Let them sit while
the rest of your dinner is pulled together; then reheat, add salt and pepper and
sprinkle with parsley. They're a treat by themselves or served with warm French
bread or over a little pasta or risotto.
I'm not an expert on wild mushrooms. If you're inclined to try them,
I suggest at a minimum getting a handbook with plenty of color illustrations,
or hooking up with someone who is an expert. From what I've read, most mushrooms are
edible but "edible" doesn't necessarily mean they taste good. A handbook can tell you which ones do
taste good and let you identify with confidence which ones are actually poisonous. In any case,
use mushrooms within a day of when you acquire them - they deteriorate quickly.
Mushroom lovers are called mycophiles and they often organize into clubs and take walks in
the woods or meadows to collect edible mushrooms with delightful names like gypsy nightcap.
There are some 100,000 species of fungi that come in all shapes and sizes and colors.
Many are delicious, a few are dangerous and some have medicinal qualities.
Active time: 25 min Start to finish: 25 min
Ingredients:
For chile lime butter
1/2 stick (1/4 cup) unsalted butter, softened
1 tablespoon finely chopped shallot
1 teaspoon finely grated fresh lime zest
2 teaspoons fresh lime juice
1 teaspoon minced fresh Thai or serrano chile (preferably red), including seeds
1/2 teaspoon salt
For fish
6 (5- to 6-oz) pieces skinless tilapia fillet or farm-raised
striped bass fillets with skin
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
Prepare fish
If using striped bass, score skin in 3 or 4 places with a thin sharp knife to
prevent fish from curling (do not cut through flesh). Pat fish dry and sprinkle with salt.
Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a 12-inch nonstick skillet over moderately high heat until just smoking,
then sauté 3 pieces of fish, turning over once with a spatula, until golden and just cooked
through, 4 to 5 minutes, and transfer to a plate.
Sauté remaining fish in remaining tablespoon oil
in same manner.
Serve each piece of fish with a dollop of chile lime butter.
Cooks' note:
Chile lime butter can be made 1 day ahead and chilled, covered. Bring to room temperature before using.
Makes 6 servings.