Bentley’s Wine Steward, Brian Kemmerle regularly offers his insight and experience to help select the perfect wine to accompany Chef Derek Ridgway’s dishes. This week, Brian recommends trying something new: Sake!
This week’s featured pairing is for the Tempura Shrimp on the Small Plates section of our menu. Gulf shrimp are coated with a wasabi infused tempura batter and then fried. Cucumber salad, sweet plum sauce and hot mustard accompany the shrimp. You could of course pair this with an off-dry to fairly sweet white wine but what would be the fun in that.
How about sake? How about a local sake? You bet! We are very lucky to have a sake brewery right here in Oregon, SakeOne. They have hand crafted a line of Junmai Ginjo sake in the Japanese tradition and named them Momokawa. We offer four sake in the line for pairing with this dish, the Silver the driest, the Diamond which is off-dry, the Ruby which is slightly sweet and the Pearl which is unfiltered, so it is cloudy and very sweet. Each is served chilled, in our special 4 ounce sake cup. Cheers! -Brian Kemmerle
Come downtown for this Friday’s Willamette Valley Wine Walk and you may become a star!
That’s right, on this month’s wine walk, they will be shooting a segment for Explore the Northwest, a locally-produced syndicated television show with hostess Dawn Holmstrom. This will be their first Salem show!
After attending all of the other fun events downtown come by Bentley’s Grill at 10:00 for complimentary wine tastings and delicious appetizer specials.
This week’s featured pairing is with a new Sea Scallop entrée on the “Specials” menu. Six “dry” scallops are pan seared, drizzled with basil oil and served with black olive tapenade, herbed risotto and grilled asparagus. We have some delicately flavored and tender scallops with a herbal note, which would require a delicate white wine. Salty and strongly flavored tapenade, so we need something to refresh your palate. We would need a wine to cut through rich and full flavored starch like the risotto and a vegetable with a strong green flavor and some char, which requires a wine with low or no tannins and no additional green flavors. My pick is the Chehalem 2007 Stoller Vineyard Pinot Blanc. This wine shows aromas of white flowers, mostly jasmine and barely ripe nectarine. On the palate with wine shows some richness and flavors of lemon zest, licorice and white pepper with some refreshing acidity.
Weekly Wine Notes From Our Wine Steward, Brian Kemmerle
Bentley’s Wine Steward, Brian Kemmerle regularly offers his insight and experience to help select the perfect wine to accompany Chef Derek Ridgway’sdishes. Visit our site to see the most current Food and Wine Menus….
The most exciting pairing on the menu this week is for the Pizzetta. Our pizza dough, made fresh daily, is topped with our house made marinara sauce, ricotta salata, country olive mix and fresh spinach. I wanted a wine to mesh nicely with the acidity of the tomatoes, refresh your palate from the saltiness of the olives and the ricotta salata and not get overtly astringent with the green flavors of the spinach. The result … the 2008 Firesteed Dry Rose. Cheers!
This week’s “Featured Pinot Noir” is the Westrey 2008 Dundee Hills Oracle Vineyard. An estate vineyard planted with a combinations of 31 year old Pommard clone and some newer 9 year old plantings of Pinot Noir on predominantly Jory soil with a streak of Nekia. This week, some most agreeable tasting notes from the winery:
“The nose invites one to taste through aromas of raspberry fruit, red currents, violets and mineral-earth notes. The entry shows bursting berry fruit, with good weight and a balanced acid structure.”
The earth notes come across as pine needles and the fruit description is spot on. Cheers!
Bentley’s Wine Steward, Brian Kemmerle regularly offers his insight and experience to help select the perfect wine to accompany Chef Derek Ridgway’s dishes.
Wine Notes from Brian
This week’s most interesting food and wine pairing comes from the “Small Plates” portion of our specials menu. The chef has smoked a Pekin duck breast with apple wood and is serving it with seasonal fresh raspberries, pomegranate molasses and “scarlet” quinoa.
I’ve matched this week’s “Featured Pinot Noir”, the 2007 St. Innocent Winery Momtazi Vineyard, with the dish. The wines plush raspberry notes mirror those in the raspberry garnish and the molasses, the refreshing acidity cuts the richness of the duck breast and the smoked flavor brings out some nice spice notes in the wine. The “scarlet” quality of the quinoa comes from the addition of red beets which also mirror the fruit of the wine and accentuate a pleasant earthiness. Cheers!
Valentines Day is a weekend long celebration this year in Salem Oregon. A special St. Valentines Wine dinner coupled with a overnight package at The Grand Hotel in Salem Oregon that includes flowers, champagne and other romantic perks- will sweep your sweetheart off of their feet.
Our Wine Steward, Brian Kemmerle, has selected some very special wines to compliment the Prix FixeMenu (see menu below) created by Chef Derek Ridgway and his culinary team. Add a lovely romantic and cozy dinner atmosphere into the mix- and you have all the elements of a Valentines Day to remember.
Reservations are filling fast- Contact the restaurant at: 503-779-1660
The hours for Valentines Day weekend dinner are Friday and Saturday 5-11pm and Sunday 4-10pm (extended hours for that Sunday only). Here is a preview of our Prix Fixe menu; other special Valentines Day Menu selections are also available.
Bentley’s Grill Valentine’s Day Weekend Prix Fixe Menu
Fallen Crab and Boursin Souffle with
Fennel Salad, Creamy Mustard Sauce and Chive Oil
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Portabella Mushroom Ravioli with Rogue Creamery Blue Cheese Sauce and
Wild Arugula in Sherry Walnut Vinaigrette
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Braised Short Rib with Celeryroot Mashed Potatoes,
Oregon Truffle Demi Glace and Lacinato Kale
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Chestnut Crepe with Sautéed Pears and
Hazelnut Chocolate Caramel
39.95 per person
Special Wine Parings Tier One
Friexenet Cordon Negro
Willamette Valley Vineyards Riesling
Tre Nova Sangiovese
Pacific Rim Vin de Glaciere Selenium Vineyard Late Harvest Riesling
Living in the heart of Oregon wine country gives Wine Steward Brian Kemmerle a unique perspective on some of the world’s best wines. His knowledge and passion for wine that began in culinary school have inspired and pleased our guests on numerous occasions. He has a talent of choosing the perfect wine (usually local) to match any of our Chef’s dishes. He regularly shares his insights with guests and hopes you will enjoy his new “by the glass” menu:
December Wine Notes From Bentley’s Grill Wine Steward:
With forty wines to choose from and a combination of vintage changes, out of stocks and seasonal preferences the “by-the-glass” menu starts to look a little tired about five or six times a year. This revision features some subtle and drastic changes to the selection.
First, what’s gone and why:
Lemelson’s 2008 “Tikka’s Run” Pinot Gris – already sold out. One of Oregon’s best Pinot Gris each year and becoming harder to get because of it.
Moet “White Star” is now Moet “Brut Imperial”. Moet has finally depleted the special American cuvee “White Star” and will now be shipping to us what they ship to the rest of the world the “Brut Imperial”. Merci!
In the “so many good wines and not enough time” category the Adelsheim Pinot Blanc and the L’Ecole Semillon have been exchanged for two new exciting wines.
The Erath Oregon Pinot Noir and the Witness Tree “Chainsaw Vineyard” Pinot Noir have been “dueling” for a couple of months now and the winner, by a substantial margin” is still on the list.
As good as the Boedecker 2006 “Athena” Pinot Noir was, it did not command enough commercial success on the menu as it did as the “Featured Pinot Noir”. It will remain on the bottle list and may return at a later date as the “FPN”.
Fortunately some of you got to try the Waterbrook 2006 Reserve Cabernet. It made a nationally publicized wine magazines “Top 100 wines of the year” list and promptly sold out. The replacement is not too shabby either.
At 188 cases of total production it was no surprise to me that the Three Angels Avery Vineyard Zinfandel had sold out. We had already seen the 188 cases of the Les Collines Vineyard come and go away. The last couple of bottles will be available on the main wine list.
Onto the new!
The ultra-rich Four Graces Pinot Blanc replaces the crisp and lively Adelsheim. The winery writes: White peach, honey and butterscotch combine on the nose with lightly toasted hazelnuts. An invitingly fresh zest of lime flavor is followed by Asian pear, jicama and grapefruit. This is a full bodied wine with a long finish.
Also new to the list is a newcomer to the local wine scene J. Scott Cellars, a boutique winery, out of Eugene, Oregon. The 2008 Viognier was made from purchased Rogue Valley fruit and has lovely floral aromatics and a touch of residual sugar to balance out the nice acidity. I’ll look to match this wine with the Chefs many forays into Asian cuisine.
To prove that good wine doesn’t have to cost a lot of money I have added the 2008 Jovino Pinot Gris to the menu. At $6.00 a glass it delivers plenty of Oregon Pinot Gris goodness for very little cash. This wine should be very popular with the “Happy Hour” crowd.
Cherry Hill winery has finally released their 2006 “Estate” Pinot Noir. It met with rousing success as the “Featured Pinot Noir” and hopefully that success with continue now that you can have it anytime you want. This wine, in combination with St. Innocent, Witness Tree, Willamette Valley Vineyards, Mystic and Bethel Heights means that you can now support six local, Salem area, wineries with your wine buying dollars.
Usually when a wine changes vintage I remove it from the menu however in this case the Seven Hills 2007 Merlot is just as good as the 2006. So it stays. Enjoy.
The replacement for the Waterbrook ended up being the 2006 Kestrel Cabernet Sauvignon. Kestrel Vintners have a vast and somewhat confusing selection of wines and they are usually a couple of nickels more expensive that their nearest competition however this wine stood out during my weekly tastings. Pretty black fruits, floral notes and a bit of structure to this wine will appeal to classic Cabernet drinkers and match well with our various steaks.
Apparently I was on a bit of a Northwest Italian varietal kick lately. I re-tasted a new vintage of Nebbiolo. Scored a Sangiovese blend at a unbelievable price and added two Barbera to the menu. To pour by the glass I picked the 2006 Waving Tree Barbera out of Washington has striking dried black cherry notes and a lift of acidity to match nicely with the chefs new Pork Tenderloin special and mushroom ravioli dish with braised boar ragout.
The last item on the menu is a returning special. The 2006 Andrew Rich Coup d’Etat is a Rhone-style blend with Grenache, Mourvedre, Syrah and usually a touch of Counoise. I poured the 2005 until it ran out and when I tasted this 2006 it was a bit rough around the edges. Well, today is has softened up nicely and should pair nicely with Lamb dishes and other richly flavored red meat entrees, especially ones cooked on the grill with a bit of char on them.
Well as we exit summer and move swiftly into the crisp fall weather, I find my taste changing and looking forward to those slow cooked meats, rich game dishes and roasted vegetables. Don’t get me wrong the tomatoes came and went too soon for me, after 25 yrs in San Diego summer is really short! Our menu is evolving through our specials sheet to reflect this change of season.
The Alaskan Halibut season ends on Nov 15th so we will again be saying good bye to a favorite for the winter, Salmon continues to open and close so we should see some fish for a while yet. Our local Sole is getting scarce for the winter, and the fishermen are not anxious to go out for a light catch. As we transition into winter, we will be looking at some sustainable seafood alternatives, such as Steelhead and Trout form the NW and Barramundi, an Aussie native now being produced on the east coast.
Our local foragers have been providing us with nice chanterelles and just a bit of truffles which we are featuring on our menu. On the down side our local growers are “wintering in”. This said we are still getting some really nice Lacinato Kale and Fingerling Potatoes from Allen and Jessie at Coastal Valley Growers.
Our October Game Fest has been a great success and we will continue to feature many of these items on our special sheet. Our best seller has been the Wild Boar Saltimbocca !
With the approach of the fall season our menu will feature several game dishes, some returning specials from last year and hopefully some new favorites.
First to return was the smoked duck salad. Normally you would match the color of the meat with the color of the wine and go with a nice soft fruity red, however in this case we have two other factors to deal with. First a smoked quality and second a vinaigrette to dress the salad. Both of which lead me to suggest an off dry white wine like a northwest Riesling or Gewurztraminer.
Second was the quail. The chef is roasting it with a honey-cumin sauce and serving it with a date and pine nut couscous. The last two wines suggested both off dry whites, would match nicely with this dish but if you’re feeling edgy, try it with a super-ripe fruity red like Zinfandel or our northwest Sangiovese.
The buffalo hanger steak has come and gone, maybe to return later. The chef grilled it and served it with blue cheese butter and French fries. A classic dish and I couldn’t resist suggesting “Claret”, a northwest version of a classic French Bordeaux, with Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc. The ripe fruit and softer tannins of the wine matched well with the leaner cut of meat and the assertive flavor of the blue cheese butter.
Tonight we re-introduced the duck “cakes”, imagine a crab cake made instead with duck. Served with stone ground mustard, caramelized onions, mashed potatoes and topped with a Rouille, a saffron infused mayonnaise. A rich, flavorful Chardonnay is an easy choice however if your feeling brave try it with a northwest Semillon. It’s a grape more commonly found in France and Australia but a few producers in Washington give it a go and the better ones are rich, floral and have almost an oily texture.
I hope you stop by the restaurant and try a few of these dishes while they last and if you come up with a wine and game pairing you like better than these. Please let me know.
Valentines Day is a weekend long celebration this year in Salem Oregon. A special St. Valentines Wine dinner coupled with a overnight 
Living in the heart of Oregon wine country gives 
