Food: Mom’s Lamb Shanks & Spaghetti paired with Clos de los Siete

This was one of my mother’s very favorite dishes, long-simmered in her cast aluminum stew pot, the delightful smells of cooking lamb permeating the kitchen. Two or three lamb shanks are browned in a large pan, then simmered with tomato juice, sauteed green pepper and onion, and seasoned with chili powder, salt and pepper. Two or three hours should be long enough for the meat to just fall off the bones. Thicken the sauce if needed, add the deboned meat, and serve over spaghetti. Delicious!

Wine: 2009 Michel Rolland Clos de los Siete. The Clos de los Siete is a wonderful, rich, blended wine from the Mendoza region of Argentina. The grape varieties that comprise this blend are some of the signature varieties that bring fame to this wine-producing region. The composition of the wine is

57% Malbec, 15% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Merlot, 10% Syrah, and 3% Petit Verdot

Any one of these varieties taken by itself can be a lovely match for lamb. Taken together, you get a heavenly combination particularly for this dish. The leftover wine will pair nicely with our Fore Street pizza, made with blue cheese, leeks and chantrelles.

Tasting Notes: On the nose, one gets a palette of mixed berries with blackberry shining as the most prominent. One can also catch a pleasant hint of cigar box in the aroma. The wine has a round and unified taste that, like good French food, is difficult to discern any particular flavors, but taken together tastes wonderful. Blackberry, cedar and hints of spice are recognizable when enjoying it with the lamb.

Read More: www.closdelossiete.com

A Source: www.wine.com