pistou throughout

grilled chicken rubbed with pistou. pasta florets with sauteed peppers, onions, tomatoes, and pistou. fresh herb salad from the garden with minced garlic and cheese dressed with balsamic.

garlic is the theme of this meal- pistou is garlic, basil, pine nuts, a hard cheese, and olive oil. i make mine quite strong and keep a stock frozen in ice cube trays. i used one cube to rub the chicken and three in the pasta sauce. there is more basil and garlic with the herbs in the salad. what will go with this combination and not overwhelm the flavors or be deadened by the balsamic?

i chose a bottle of wine from california brought by a guest at a recent dinner fete and left with us. the need was for a fresh and fruity forward red wine which was not overly tannic, but which could blend with the varied intense flavors of the meal. as the bottle was a 2007, i chose to decant it and give it a brief time to open.

the wine was dark purple. the aromas were of red strawberries and raspberries. the taste was slightly spicy, with red cherries, blackberries, and pepper. the tannin softened dramatically when tasted after decanting. the finish was smooth and well rounded.

this wine is fetzer 2007 valley oaks shiraz. it is entirely shiraz (syrah) and seems to have seen no oak.

this is a very nice and quite affordable example of this varietal as it shows itself when grown in california. it is readily available. fetzer and its parent company are committed to sustainable and environmentally friendly wine growing which does improve the quality of the grapes and wine. syrah is an amazingly flexible varietal and produces wonderful wines from diverse geographical regions. this is not a wine to cellar but certainly is one that is a safe bet to pick up at the wine shop. i do think it was improved by decanting. my only negative criticism is the flat bottomed bottle, this is a nice wine which i think deserves a fitting bottle.

www.fetzer.com