OWFS Podcast 7

Stepping outside of the box can be really rewarding.  It used to be that when I thought of fruit wines, it brought to mind my parents’ disastrous flirtation with winemaking when I was a child.  They decided that they would make a batch of cherry wine.  The memory that lingers is the smell and as a result, I resisted venturing into fruit wine territory.  Thanks to wineries like Forbidden Fruit and Rustic Roots in recent years, those traumatic memories have been replaced by much more pleasant sensory experiences.

Luke and I tasted the 2010 Rustic Roots Peach Nectarine table wine together.  Oh the places this wine could go!  I love it when I taste a wine and the culinary possibilities that leap to mind are not limited to one culture or food group.  It was so hard to figure out what I was going to make to go along with this one, simply because I can’t choose.  The nose on this wine is divine; all sunshiny and golden.  ( I realize that those descriptors are not officially smells, but that’s the only way I can really express how it made me feel and after all, wine is an evocative sensory experience!)  The palate was packed with honey and a very distinctly ripe apricot flavor.  It wasn’t sweet though, which is what makes this such a divine wealth of dining options!

After much thought and consideration, I realized that the simplest answer is probably the best.

Our recipe for this delightful wine is a baked brie with a twist.  Since summer is now upon us, we’re going to bake our brie on the bbq!  The list of ingredients is as follows:

• 1 Wheel of Brie (you might want a big one)
• A handful of dried apricots
• Honey
• Chili flakes
• Walnut pieces
• Salt
• Pepper
• Prosciutto
• A knob of butter
• An open bottle of the Rustic Roots Peach Nectarine

In a small saucepan, melt the butter.  Add the chopped apricots, honey, chili flakes (we’re going for a bite here, not a searing heat), walnut pieces, salt & pepper.  Cook slowly, creating a candied, chunky, awesome smelling flavor combination.  As you’re cooking, add a little wine from time to time to keep the consistency like that of loose relish.  Once the nuts have toasted a bit, the apricots have absorbed some of the moisture and the wine has reduced a tad, remove the mixture from the heat and pile it on your wheel of brie.

I bet you were wondering what we were going to do with the prosciutto.  All will be revealed!  Separate your slices of prosciutto and use them to wrap your topped brie up like a tasty and exciting present.  Your bbq should be preheated, but make sure it’s not too hot.  We want the prosciutto to be crisp, not burned.  Place your cheesy package on the grill away from direct heat.  Grill until the prosciutto achieves the aforementioned crispness and the cheese has reached that magical temperature of runny goodness.  Remove it before the rind of the cheese bursts though, because it’s a sad thing when the cheese escapes into the bbq burners.

Serve with a selection of crackers & crusty bread and another bottle of the 2010 Peach Nectarine and enjoy thoroughly.  Don’t think about the fat when you’re eating this.  Think about all the calcium you’re getting.