My family does the same for Thanksgiving and Christmas. My mom’s family always has prime rib at our Christmas Eve celebration, and my mom and dad cook beef tenderloin for our Christmas dinner when we get together to hang out and open presents.
About 10 years ago, my brother-in-law started frying turkeys for Thanksgiving, so that’s now what we do every year. He and my father manage it together outside in my parents’ driveway. One turkey gets injected with an Italian dressing type marinade and the other gets injected with a cajun marinade. I’m looking forward to eating at least one fried turkey leg tomorrow.
Interesting, in all of my years of doing field research on this very important topic, I’ve found that it is unpossible to get drunk during the day. Once the sun goes, crazy how suddenly you’re intoxicated.
Pinot blanc (bianco) is a white mutation of Pinot noir. It’s an entirely different cultivar than Chardonnay.
Spot on, though, that Pinot gris and Pinot grigio are merely synonyms for the same grape. It’s also a mutation of Pinot noir whose skin is a light rose color at Harvest. So, stylistically, you can make anything from crisp clear whites as in Italy to almost rosé like wines that you’ll find in Alsace and California.
Not your imagination at all. The major growing regions Oregon have very different, often cooler climates than California. Most of the Pinot grigio grown here is in the Central Valley which is, well, fucking hot, so the wines tend to be in lighter, porch pounding style.
Thanks for the correction. I knew I was leaving out Pinot Blanc. Looking at some old notes and I either missed something then or there is an inconsistency in German nomenclature. I think Weißburgunder (“White Burgundy”) refers to both the Pinot Blanc and the Chardonnay grape, neither of which is grown in Germany (per my possibly faulty notes).
Believe Chardonnay goes by the same name in Germany, although the Austrians (really, the Diet Coke of Germany) refer to it as Feinburgunder.
20-30 years ago, there wasn’t much of either Chardonnay or Pinot blanc planted in Germany. Now, especially in warmer regions like Baden and Rheinhessen, it’s pretty widely planted and cultivated. There are some excellent wines being made now from those grapes (and Pinot noir).
I’ve been enjoying a picpoul de pinet while prepping this afternoon, a varietal with which I was unfamiliar. How does that fit into the geographic/botanical mix?
I love Picpoul. Super high acid variety from the Southwest of France, colloquially referred to as “the lip stinger.” Think it would do rather well in Texas.
My age is showing. I did not think there was Chardonnay there when I lived in Germany (72-77). And more recently in Austria I liked the whites from Wachau and reds — mostly Zweigelt & Blaufränkisch (Cabernet Franc) — from Burgenland. I had not heard of Feinburgunder, but it certainly makes sense.
Not at all. Chard and Pinot were planted in Germany back then (I’ve had wines from vineyards planted in that era), but not too frequently. My understanding is that the commonly held belief was that Germany was too cold to ripen Burgundian varieties, so most folks planted something else. Of course, the French might have been the ones telling everyone that idea.
Blaufrankisch is different from Cabernet franc. The former is native to Central Europe with Austria and Hungary (where it’s known as Kekfrankos) leading the way. For the record, I fucking love Blaufrankisch but there are a lot of rather mediocre examples.
Cab franc is from the Loire Valley of France and another wine I adore, although it too suffers from quite a few subpar examples. Fun fact, along with Sauvignon blanc it’s also one of the parents Cabernet sauvignon.