Holiday hiatus.

The holidays are upon us and as you may have noticed, I haven't been blogging much. This is not to say that I haven't been tasting some lovely wines or expanding my knowledge to someday share with you, dear reader.

No, my day job has been taking up a great portion of my time, combined with extended time at the restaurant amongst other obligations, has left little extra time to blog. So, I'm making it official: I'm announcing a temporary hiatus, but not before tossing in this link on the Dry Creek Valley and a short rebuttal to a friend--with great taste in shoes--about why anyone would ever want to use Twitter, which is where the hat tip goes out to (HT: WineTwit).

Karen MacNeil's The Wine Bible identifies Dry Creek Valley as home to the Ridge's Lytton Springs Zinfandel, one of my favorites alongside their Geyserville bottling (Anderson Valley) and York Creek (Spring Mountain). Although, I must say I'm also quite the fan of Grgich Hills, but that's not from the Dry Creek Valley. Everyday, more affordable Dry Creek Zinfandels come from Mauritson, Four Vines' The Sophisticate, and Alderbrook owned by Terlato, owners of Episode, the yummy meritage showing the classic cocoa flavors people associate with the "Rutherford Dust"; and Chimney Rock in the Stags Leap District). All of these wines have a nice fruity, jammy flavor profile--some are fruit bombs, loaded with alcohol--perfect for those soon-to-arrive summer nights around a fully loaded grill with a cool breeze blowing through your hair. For the winter: think, warm fire, steaks, and great company, followed by some chocolate.

Speaking of food, here's a recipe from Alderbrook, found in the linked article:

BRAISED POT ROAST RAGOUT WITH POLENTA (serves 8)

6 pounds chuck roast

5 carrots, diced

5 parsnips, diced

2 small yellow onions, small diced

6 stalks celery, small diced

8 cloves garlic, minced

3 tablespoons picked thyme

1 pound button mushrooms

2 tablespoons tomato paste

2 pounds hickory smoked bacon, cut into 1-inch pieces

3 cups zinfandel

10 cups veal stock (beef will do if necessary)

3 tablespoons olive oil

2 bay leafs

1/3 cup slurry (potato or corn starch and water mixture, mix into a thin paste)

Cut chuck roast into 1-inch pieces. Brown all pieces in a large stockpot with olive oil. Deglaze pan with zinfandel and reduce by half, set aside. In the same pan sauté the vegetables -- onions, carrots, celery, parsnips, and garlic for about five minutes, add thyme, and then set aside. In a separate pan render the bacon. After cooking, strain the bacon fat. Use a small amount of fat to sauté the button mushrooms and add to the vegetable mixture. In the large stock pot add the tomato paste and veal stock and bring to a boil for five minutes, then add the beef and wine mixture. Cover with lid and simmer for one hour. Then add vegetables, bay leaves, bacon and mushroom mix. Slowly simmer covered for 45 minutes or until meat is falling apart. Add slurry to thicken the stew and simmer for about five minutes.

For the polenta:

4 cups chicken stock

4 cups whole milk

2 cups corn meal

½ cup butter

1 cup parmesan cheese

Bring chicken stock and milk to a simmer. Add corn meal slowly and stir every five minutes to prevent from sticking. Continue to stir until mixture has thickened to a smooth consistency. Add butter and parmesan cheese.

Serve the ragout over the polenta.