As part of the Wine Bloggers’ Conference, we have a “Speed Blogging” session, in which we’re to sample a bunch o’ wine and blog about it as we’re tasting. I’ve never tried such a thing, but since some of these wines are most definitely unusual, I think it’s worth a try:

2010 Keswick Vineyards Verdejo: Light, sprightly, acidic, with green aromas. Melon, green apples and grassy flavors. Still experimenting, Keswick Vineyards grows only an acre of this varietal, which is much more likely to be found in Spain than Virginia. $18 retail. Not a bad deal for what’s sure to be a conversation starter.

2009 Tarara Winery “Nevaeh”: Set on the Potomac in the far north of Virginia, this winery focuses on “low yields and terrior.” This wine is  a blend of 70% Viognier (a varietal noted as doing well in Virginia) and 30% Chardonnay. Tight, bright aromas, with ample oak but enough balancing acids to make it food-friendly. Buttery and minerally, it’s not as floral as I expected. $30 retail. Expensive, but pretty darn tasty.

2009 Williamsburg Winery Chardonnay: “If you want a Burgundian-style Chardonnay but don’t want to pay for it, this wine is for you,” according to the sales rep. Rich bouquet, with some flinty stone. Nicely balanced, with some of the wine aged in steel and some in oak. Nice and light, with butter offset by food-friendly acids — ideal for fish, cheese… And a great buy for $14 retail.

2010 Cornerstone Cellars “Stepping Stone” Rosé: A light, charming pink, this rosé is 100% Syrah from Oak Knoll in the Napa Valley. Some bubblegum on the nose, I enjoyed its creamy texture and watermelon flavors. The $18 price tag seems a bit of a stretch, but there’s no denying it’s good.

2009 Emma Pearl Central Coast Chardonnay: I really liked this Chardonnay (blended with 10% Viognier); it felt lush and rich, with just enough acids to make me want to pair it with a schnitzel or some saltimbocca. Or maybe I’m just in desperate need of food after six hours of wine tasting. A fine deal at $18 retail. (My neighbor, incidentally, exclaimed “Schnitzel?! F**k yeah!”

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We spent half our first day in Door County preparing Julia Child’s Boeuf Bourguignon, a deeply flavored beef stew we adore but rarely have time to make. The simple ingredients – beef, pearl onions, carrots, bacon, wine – belie the rich satisfaction this recipe provides.

To accompany the boeuf, I made Hefeknöpfle, a yeasted dumpling I found in a German cookbook. You essentially make a bread dough, but instead of baking it, you quarter the dough and boil it. Using a wire, you cut the resulting brain-like dumplings into thick slices, and voilà! Light but sturdy Hefeknöpfle. 

A side dish of barely bitter black kale sautéed in olive oil with garlic and peperoncino flakes contrasted the boeuf and brain dumplings perfectly.

I brought along a couple of unusual wines to sample with the boeuf, notably Slovenian and Istrian Terans, but I must now admit a moment of weakness. I betrayed my “unusual and obscure” principles  for our first boeuf dinner, selecting a 2007 Los Alisos Syrah from Santa Barbara County. A Central Coast Syrah surely cannot qualify as unusual, but even I could not resist Whole Foods’ sale on this wine: $13 instead of the usual $23. It called out to be drunk with the boeuf. The Terans could wait.

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It’s been a goodly long time since I’ve purchased wine in Jewel-Osco. Many giant chain stores stock an ample supply of wine, but their selection belies their motives: Appeal to the lowest common denominator while charging as high a price as possible.

But plenty of people surely purchase wine at Jewel-Osco, which led me to wonder: Is it possible to find anything remotely unusual or obscure in such a setting?

I started working my way down the wine aisle from left to right. Here were the inexpensive (and yet overpriced) jug wines, the coterie of cutesy-named Cabernets, the machine-made Merlots, the marsupial Shirazes, the greasy ocean of butterball Chardonnays, the run-of-the-mill Sauvignon Blancs and Rieslings, and finally, the insipid, shameless Pinot Grigios.

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