Inside Sonoma

Picture this scene, a post-new year’s day dinner for one: I had some blue cheese that was getting bluer by the day, a bag of shiitake mushrooms barely salvaged from a broiler vent-meltdown the night before, a single serving of grass-fed ribeye and someone on my mind. Times like these call for a big bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon, no? Nope—barrel-fermented Chardonnay. Now that it’s 2010 and we’re finally in the future–pause for gently sardonic laughter–we can stop wringing our hands over tired wine pairing rules. Of course, I’m sure that’s been said many a new years’ past, and exactly what you can count on being said in future times: but at least consider shedding the more timeworn and simplistic dictates…

C. Donatiello’s 2006 Russian River Valley Chardonnay ($24) is pale green-tinged gold, with aromas of fresh cut lemon and Golden Delicious apple wedges. Clean, toasted wood notes meet a bit of caramel and crème brûlée for an ensemble that is classic for this region: fresh, rich, but tasteful; not overburdened in what I call the lumber and dairy departments. The limpid wine slips over the palate like satin, sweet-bodied but dry oak provides structure like a bowl to hold the cream and baked apples, pineapple and pear cocktail fruit.

I poured a glass to have with the following “recipe,” an improvisation, really, and a good way to start the year: mix old ingredients in new ways, making it up as we go along. The pairing was seamless and I was soon lost in a triad of Chardonnay, rumination and ruminant, medium-well.
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Grass-fed Steak with Miso/Blue Cheese Gravy

2 rib eye, or top sirloin 5 oz. steaks
half cup shiitake mushrooms
one medium shallot
two cloves garlic
2 tbsp. fresh red miso
1/4 cup blue cheese crumbles
salt, pepper

Sauté garlic and shallot with olive oil on medium heat, add sliced mushrooms. Turn heat to low, add miso and about 1/4 cup water–enough to dissolve into a soupy consistency. Add blue cheese and stir until melted.

Serve over steak, cooked to desired taste, with a side of tender, halved brussels sprouts in butter and blue cheese, and mashed potatoes.