This yellow-gold Central Coast wine has loads of peaches, apricots, and honeysuckle on the nose with traces of oak. Plenty of peach on the palate, accompanied by flavors of ripe pear, lychee nut, white flowers and crushed stone. The intense fruitiness of the wine links to the sweet raisin flavors in Greg’s chicken dish, and the wine’s full body stands up to the richness of braised thighs. Yet, like all food-friendly wines, the Calera viognier exhibits a backbone of acidity which mimics the tanginess of the green olives and braised pearl onions, while refreshing your palate.
Because Viognier is a difficult grape to grow, very little viognier wine is produced internationally, when compared to the likes of chardonnay, riesling and even gewurztraminer. Yet, in my opinion, viognier combines the best qualities of those other varietals in a single wine, and is perhaps the most food-friendly white wine I can think of. Native to France’s Northern Rhone Valley, the viognier grape stars in the highly-sought-after, but difficult to find (and afford) wines from Condrieu and Chateau Grillet. However, excellent viogniers are being produced in California, Australia, and other parts of France. GRANT
Pairs With Braised Chicken Thighs: Cheap Chic!
Price $16
Also pairs well with butter and cream sauces, roasted chicken, curries, fish, fruit-based sauces, nuts, pork. cool spices.
- Category White Wine
- Varietal Viognier
- Region Central Coast CA
Never heard of cowpeas before and found this fascinating. This is right up my alley and something I would definitely make. Did you serve a cow pie for dessert? : )
I love the look of this stew and I’ll be keeping my eyes out for some of these beans next time I go to the market.
I just read your about you page and it was so fun to read. I could read a list like that 10 times as long.
Congrats on getting to the next round!
I really enjoy your articles like this Greg because I learn a lot about a food I already love. I never knew the origin, health benefits, or other names of one of my favorite side dishes — field peas with snaps. Your pictures are stunning as usual.
Hi Greg!!
Whew, finally made it over here and as always it was so worth it!! I really enjoyed reading your brief history of cowpeas. Of their various names, I think I like “Rouge et Noir” the best!!! I can almost taste this soup and I bet your house smelled fabulous as this was cooking!!!
You are right that beans are nutritious — the pairing with cornbread, rice or even tortillas provides the additional amino acids required for a “complete” protein. Best part is that you don’t have to eat them at the same meal to get the benefits — just within about 12 hours. The human body is truly an amazing thing!!!
This really interested me. I am going to have to give it a try sometime.
That looks so delicious. Love all the spice combination. Yummmm.
Wow Greg, you really did the research here. Very interesting. And I really like it as a soup, and the spices in it sound perfect.
LL
This is a great dish for a cold Fall evening with the spices and the kale. I also enjoyed the history lesson. It’s great to know these facts about our food.
I have to track these down! I love these kind of rustic meals.
Hey! Just stopping by to let you know we’re giving away a signed Sandra Lee cookbook with 1,001 recipes over at Chew on That! We’d love for you to enter! The giveaway ends on Halloween, so hurry over! 🙂 http://www.chewonthatblog.com/2010/10/20/sanda-lee-cookbook-giveaway/
I’ve never heard of these but the dish you made with them sounds so good!
Please tell me you made enough for me! Obviously the weather has turned in LA…I’m making soup as I write this. But it doesn’t have quite the historical pedigree as yours.
You don’t see black eyed peas around a lot here in LA, love the idea of combining them with Moroccan spices. I bet your house smelled fabulous as they were cooking, great for this yucky weather we are having.
Have a great week,
Louise
My husband tells me that I don’t serve beans at home enough and I think it’s because of the bland factor you mentioned. However, I do like all the spices you added to the cowpeas. And since I’ve just “discovered” my local Latin market, I’ll have to see if they carry them, too. Maybe I’ll surprise hubby with this dish one of these days!
Love the name Cowpeas. I want some just to say I have eaten them. Moroccan seasonings are wonderful & this recipe looks great Greg. xo
George sure didn’t know what he was missing did he?? This looks and sounds delicious. I appreciate your effort in coming up with this and I really enjoyed hearing the history of the cowpea! I would like to make this over the weekend so my family and I can enjoy this too. Thank you for the suggestion to keep an eye on those cowpeas. I tend to assume all beans take a few to cook and I am looking forward to the tender, meaty texture of these!