Behind the Vines

Tweaking a Recipe For Zinfandel

by Farley on December 20th, 2007

Armida Winery began as the dream of a young boy relishing in the cooking of his grandmother (whom he named the winery after) and the winemaking skills of his grandfather. But he only fulfilled that dream for about four years before passing it along. Now two Cousins brothers have taken the reigns of this operation in Healdsburg. It seems that everyone in charge has to rotate many hats as one of the brothers also works with Freemark Abbey, the other is opening a tasting room in Capitola, and the winemaker has his own label as well as consulting for others. I didn’t take any notes when I visited in October, but I do remember being least impressed by their most widely known wine: Poizin. Instead, I left with a bottle of 2005 Armida Maple Vineyard Zinfandel. Priced at $36, it was one of my favorites I tasted there. When I opened it last week, I found cherry, figs, cooked plums, pepper, cinnamon, raisin, and woody notes of chestnut. It was definitely big and a little hot at first (15.5% abv).

 I already knew I was going to make pork tenderloin, but I decided to make the flavors fit those of the wine. Therefore, I sprinkled salt, pepper, and cinnamon over the pork, then seared it on each side then baked it in the oven for about 20 minutes. While letting it rest, I poured some Rosenblum Syrah Port into the pan, reducing by half. With the addition of chicken stock, chopped red cherries, and more cinnamon, the sauce was ready. The pairing was quite tasty, what with the matching flavors of cherry, cinnamon, and the port picking up on the raisiny quality of the wine.

Overall, it was a good meal and good to catch up with my friend Lorraine. I’m really enjoying working on my pairing skills, and it’s always nice to have guinea pigs to sample my experiments.

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POSTED IN: Zinfandel, wine friends