Tag Archives: Banfi

Wine and food pairings 16: Couscous mushroom sort of risotto

mushroom risotto
This is what mushroom risotto looks like with arborio rice. Churro, the blog’s associate editor, forgot to take the picture for the post.

The Wine Curmudgeon pairs wine with some of his favorite recipes in this occasional feature. This edition: three wines with a mushroom risotto, but made with pearl couscous

The Wine Curmudgeon loves couscous. It’s cheap, it’s easy to make, it’s versatile, and it tastes good. I like it so much, in fact, that a friend who comes to dinner once asked: “What’s wrong? We’re not having couscous?”

I don’t do as much with the larger, pearl or Israeli-style couscous. For one thing, it’s not always easy to find in Dallas. For another, it’s not as versatile. But I did notice that, after it’s cooked, the larger couscous resembles short-grain and arborio rice. So why not try something risotto-like? (And not actual risotto, since that can only be made with arborio rice).

Hence, this recipe. I used button mushrooms, but adding dried mushrooms (and their soaking liquid) would work, too. It takes about one-quarter of the time of traditional risotto, and there isn’t any stock spooning or continual stirring. It’s not as creamy as the real thing, but it’s creamy in its own way.

Click here to download or print a copy of the recipe. What wines to pair? Pasta-friendly reds, of course, since the mushrooms make this almost beefy:

• Frescobaldi Rèmole Toscana 2019 ($10, purchased, 12.5%): Classic cheap Italian Chianti-style wine — lots of sour cherry fruit, tannins pushed to the back, and an almost interesting finish. Needs food like the couscous. Imported by Shaw-Ross International

• CVNE Cune Crianza 2017 ($12, purchased, 14.5%): This Spanish tempranillo isn’t as well rounded as some others, but still professional, varietally correct, and a fine value. It’s a little oaky and the cherry fruit is more ripe, but neither is a problem. Imported by Arano LLC

• Banfi Col di Sasso 2019 ($10, purchased, 13.5%): Softer and fruitier (red berries and cherries), with more relaxed tannins than Banfi’s Centine, but still a fine value and still very Italian. Imported by Banfi Vintners

Blog associate editor Churro contributed to this post.

More about wine and food pairings:
• Wine and food pairings 15: Southwestern-style stew with guacamole and pico de gallo
• Wine and food pairings 14: Mom’s chicken parmigiana
• Wine and food pairings 13: Crawfish etouffee

Slider photo: “Rome Elite Event: wine, food and nice people” by Yelp.com is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Wine of the week: Banfi Centine Red 2019

banfi centine
Banfi Centine 2019/$9-$14

Banfi’s red Centine, an Italian Super Tuscan blend, is one of the world’s great $10 wines

Banfi’s $10 Centine Italian wines have always gotten a lot of attention on the blog, often making the $10 Hall of Fame. But I never seem to give them as much credit as I do those from Falesco, another Italian producer; Tariquet, the Gascon white; or the French Chateau Bonnet red and white. In fact, I haven’t reviewed the red Centine wine in three years.

So consider this the Wine Curmudgeon’s ode to Banfi and its Centine wines. Because they deserve it.

This vintage of the red ($10, purchased, 13.5%) is not as soft as the 2017, the last one I reviewed. Instead, the Super Tuscan blend is almost herbal and earthy, with dark fruit, spot on tannins, and that wonderful acidity that is such a key to balance in Italian red wine. It’s not exactly a big wine or especially rustic; rather, there’s just some very pleasing heft to it.

In all, it’s much more than $10 worth of wine. That’s something the Centine wines (there’s also a white and rose) deliver almost every time. The other thing to appreciate? That they’re food wines – made to go with dinner, be with sausage or red sauce or the mushroom and asparagus risotto I had it with.

Highly recommended, and certain to return to the Hall of Fame next month. And don’t be surprised if it makes the short list for the 2022 Cheap Wine of the Year.

Imported by Banfi Vintners

 

Wine of the week: Banfi Col di Sasso 2017

Banfi Col di SassoThe Banfi Col di Sasso is another in the produer’s long line of quality $10 wines

Banfi’s $10 wines, even in these uncertain times, are a hallmark of consistency and quality. We’ve waxed poetic about the Hall of Fame Centine wines, and the Col di Sasso is of the same type.

The Banfi Col di Sasso 2017 ($10, purchased, 12.5%) is an Italian red blend made in the Super Tuscan style; that is, it uses sangiovese combined with international grapes liker cabernet sauvignon and merlot. The 2017 has just sangiovese and cabernet, and though the proportion isn’t listed, it’s probably more of the former than the latter.

That’s because Banfi’s red wines are typically softer than the normal $10 Italian – less tart and with rounder tannins. This isn’t a bad thing, but a house style that the company has refined over the years and that it puts to good advantage.

Look for a bit of spice, full black cherry fruit, and a clean finish. Again, this is not Chianti, with its trademark bright acidity, or a high-end Super Tuscan, plush and California-like. Rather, it’s the kind of wine for a midwinter dinner – spaghetti and meatballs, perhaps?

What better use is for a quality $10 wine these days?

Wine of the week: Banfi Principessa Gavia 2018

Principessa GaviaThe Principessa Gavia is a white Italian wine that’s just the thing for Thanksgiving

Big Wine doesn’t always fare well on the blog, and neither does Italy’s cortese grape. The latter shows up in lots and lots of equally lackluster white wine from the Gavi region, which is why a Gavi has been the wine of the week just three times in 12 years. And the former makes lots and lots of lackluster wine to sell on supermarket shelves

Neither of which is the case with Banfi’s Principessa Gavia ($15, purchased, 12.5%). Banfi isn’t quite as big as it used to be, but it has always delivered top-notch Italian wine at a more than fair price, whether $10 or $50. And this Gavi puts most others at this price to shame.

First and foremost, it’s Italian in style, and not wine made to please American wine drinkers. In this, it shows off the cortese grape without dumbing it down. That means stone fruit, floral aromas, and an almost fruity yet clean finish. That combination is not easy to pull off. Perhaps most impressive, it has an almost hidden acidity – you notice it, but then it’s gone, and doesn’t cover up the rest of the wine.

Highly recommended, and just the thing for Thanksgiving.

Imported by Banfi Vintners

Wine of the week: Banfi Centine Toscana 2017

centine toscanoBanfi’s Centine Toscana remains a Hall of Fame quality $10 red wine

The Centine Toscana ($10, purchased, 13.5%) is Big Wine done right – a varietally correct Italian red made with sangiovese made by Banfi, a $70 million company that sells wine in 85 countries. So it should be no surprise that it’s a $10 Hall of Fame quality wine (as is the white version).

The 2017 Centine Toscana is even a little more Italian, so less ripe fruit than the previous vintage and more earthiness. As always, it’s terroir driven, with slightly tart cherry fruit, a pleasant, chalky finish, and appropriately soft tannins. In other words, it tastes like sangiovese from the Tuscan region of Italy, and not a winemaking-driven product from a marketing company focus group trying to figure out how to make a sort of sweet and very smooth Italian wine.

Pair this with summer barbecue – sausages, of course, but also smoked chicken and burgers. And maybe even pizza on the grill for the adventurous. And if the weather allows it, this is a delicious wine with any red sauce.

Wine of the week: Banfi Centine Bianco 2016

Centine BiancoBanfi’s Centine Bianco is the Hall of Fame quality white wine that complements the producer’s top-notch cheap reds

Banfi’s red Italian sangiovese blend has been a member of the $10 Hall of Fame for a couple of years, but I didn’t know there was a similar white, the Centine Bianco. It’s a good thing for those of us who love quality cheap wine that I found it.

The Centine Bianco ($10, sample, 13%) is a blend of pinot grigio, chardonnay, and sauvignon blanc; that the last two are hardly Italian doesn’t hurt the wine at all. This speaks to Banfi’s skill at creating inexpensive wine, that it can make them taste Italian even when the grapes aren’t especially so. Would that more big producers made the effort.

The Centine Bianco is crisp and refreshing, but without the off-putting acidity of badly-made Italian cheap wine. In this, it has tropical fruit flavors instead of the sour lemon candy that passes for fruit in mass-produced pinot grigio.

Highly recommended, and almost certain to return to the $10 Hall of Fame in 12 months.

Imported by Banfi Vintners

Mini-reviews 48: Banfi, Paso a Paso, Ferrari, Friulano

Reviews of wines that don ?t need their own post, but are worth noting for one reason or another. Look for it on the final Friday of each month.

? Castello Banfi Centine 2011 ($11. sample, 14%): Consistent, professionally-made Super Tuscan-style red blend that combines traditional Italian flavors with New World fruit. Won’t win any awards, but won’t disappoint, either.

? Paso a Paso Verdejo 2011 ($8, purchased, 13.5%): Still decent $8 white wine from Spain with sour lemon fruit, but not as nicely done as the 2010. It’s not as fresh, and is a little thinner, especially in the middle.

? Ferrari Brut NV ($25, sample, 12.5%): Italian sparkler made with Methode Champenoise ? tight bubbles, quality apple and lemon fruit, and a clean finish. But it inhabits that middle ground between cava and cremant and Champagne, so not the value of the former and not the quality of the latter.

? Livio Felluga Friulano 2011 ($30, sample, 13.5%): Very nicely done Italian white made with the little-known friulano grape, with subtle flavors of lime and green apple and a nutty finish. Still young, but price is problematic.