Flanagan Wine Tasting

Vines at Flanagan Winery

So… I was tailgating at a Jets game and I noticed that the guys next to me had brought a bottle of wine and were raving about it.  As I listened in to these guys go on and on about the wine and the winery, I could tell these were some serious wine and food lovers.  I felt compelled to interject myself in their conversation and tell them about the Four Coursemen and what we do.  I managed to talk them into sharing what they were drinking and I was blown away by what I tried.  A mere 2 days later as I was riding the rain into NYC I got a phone call from Eric Flanagan the owner of Flanagan Vineyards whose wine I had at the Jets game!  Eric is a very interesting person and as we got to talking we discovered that our views of wine business were right in line.  We agreed that there are way too many big wineries and not enough small ones and the average wine drinker might like to know a little more about who is growing the grapes and making their favorite wines.  We also had a hearty conversation about the importance and undeniable awesomeness of the combination of food, wine, and friends.  Eric sent along his 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon and his 2007 Syrah and I sat down with Matt, Patrick, and Damien at Farm 255 (where Matt runs the kitchen) to try them a few days ago.  We had a blast and are all excited to find a great winery with a great owner making truly great wines!

Here’s what we thought:

Flanagan Cabernet Sauvignon 2006

The first thing we noticed is that the color is gorgeous.  The nose was big and full of very dense fruit and wood smells exemplified by Patrick asking “Who rubbed the all the prune juice and brown sugar on my mom’s cedar chest?”  We also noticed some earthiness and some baking spice flavors in the wine.  It was well balanced and the consensus was that it was just as complex as a great French Cabernet (which is saying a lot as far as I’m concerned) but with the volume turned up all around.  It is an extravagant and wonderful wine.
As far as food pairing goes, this wine would go great with a traditional pairing of braised beef or a well-seasoned steak. We did consider however, that is might be a really interesting pairing with one of Eddie’s savory-ish desserts.  We’re thinking dusty dark chocolate with stewed red or purple fruits and some rosemary or thyme…or maybe some kind of blue cheese-based dessert.  I think it could be very interesting and we may be onto something here!

Flanagan Syrah 2007

This wine was as equally complex as the Cabernet, but in different way.  Matt noticed some of the smells of the wine reminded him of some of the cured meats and sausages that he’s been working on.  On top of those smells I noticed some black pepper and Patrick and Damien noted plum and black cherry as the major fruit presences.  The Syrah was a tiny bit lighter and brighter than the Cabernet, but it was still a hugely flavored and exuberant wine. It has a wonderful depth and meatiness and is a wonderful example of California Syrah.
For our food pairing idea, Patrick insisted that Georgia-style red sauce pork barbeque would be a great pairing and the rest of us were hard pressed to disagree.  One thing we did notice is that our perfect pairing for both wines wasn’t a red meat, so let that be a lesson…break the wine pairing rules you know!

Check out Eric Flanagan’s website at http://flanaganwines.com/ . Support  a small winery and you’ll reap the benefits in good wine and good karma!