Wine Blogging Wednesday #53 – Vino with Eggs and Bacon

This WBW topic, hosted by El Jefe at El Bloggo Torcido, the blog for Twisted Oak Winery, is Wines for Breakfast.

The Rules:

-Must be dry still wine.
-Nothing Sparkling
-No Rosé
-No dessert wines
-No mixers (mimosa)

This was my first real jump into the wine blogging world. I mean sure, I’ve been blogging for a few months now, but I thought that I could really stretch and see what I could do with this one. Boy, did I bite off more than I could chew.

What I did was this; I asked the PR pool what they thought. Not only did I ask, but I asked on December 23, hoping that I wouldn’t get a billion responses, since I’ve heard the gripe plenty of times from reporters that they always get tons of inquiries about things they don’t care about.

The response was great! I had about 10-12 people send me suggestions, fact sheets, prices, winemaker notes, the works! A source of good information at my finger tips. Not one to rely on, since some of them promised me more than they could deliver, but enough of a source that I feel comfortable going to it again.

So, what did I learn? EVERY WINE GOES WELL WITH BREAKFAST! Or so the masses of PR people would have me believe. Mostly I received white wine suggestions, but I still had plenty of people tell me that Pinot Noir, Barbera, even Malbec were good pairing choices. I probably could have asked some buddies of mine and they would have said they would be more than willing to test out any wine before 9am…

My favorite response was from Sharon Hobson, Wine Director at Damariscotta River Grill in Damariscotta, Maine:

"Breakfast and wine sounds like a naughty luxury only hedonists would encourage. Hogwash! You've got to drink something.”

Sharon then went on to give me several suggestions, one that I was thinking myself.

Riesling!

I happened to have a bottle of Essence Riesling 2007, made by S.A. Prüm. The wine comes from the Mosel region of Germany and is 100% Riesling. The bottle says 11% alcohol, so it probably has a slight amount of residual sugar. The winery claims: “S.A Prüm is a family-owned wine estate nestled on the banks of Germany’s serene Mosel River, at the heart of the country’s celebrated Mosel-Saar-Ruwer growing region. Here, the Prüm family has cultivated vines for over 200 years. The estate has been in the hands of Raimund Prüm, owner and winemaker, since 1971 when he assumed full management. Under his leadership, the property has become one of the region’s most successful wineries, boasting an international reputation for the production of exquisite Rieslings.”

The wine was nice, slightly spritzy with a bouquet of green apples and flower petals. The taste was very racy, with pineapple, green apple, and apricot in the forefront. Really nice freshness with some citrus, a good OJ substitute. Overall, a good wine, not amazing but something I would have enjoyed drinking as an aperitif.

For the breakfast meal (which I ate at dinnertime by the way), I made some French toast with syrup, eggs, bacon, and a chocolate pop-tart. A lot of sweet, a bit of salt, some pepper on the eggs and I’m in business. Your (reasonably) average breakfast.

I liked the sparkly combination with the salty bacon. The citrus cut through the syrup and left it refreshing but undemanding in my mouth. The pepper on the eggs somewhat overwhelmed the wine. Ah well. Overall it was nice. Pleasant. But I would have loved a Bloody Mary instead.