Vermentino Revisited

This hopefully won't happen too often, but I now feel that I gave short shrift to Duchman Family Winery's 2009 Vermentino.  Pris cooked up an amazing meal of her PMSpecial chicken with the Vermentino, and we had the remainder with the meal.  I'd try to sum it up in one word, but delectable, delicious, and amazing all come to mind.

The PMSpecial chicken is an amalgam of some of Pris' favorite foods.  Tonight's was chicken breast and thighs simmered in a white wine butter sauce with capers, garlic, feta cheese, and fresh oregano, thyme, and basil.  The chicken was served over a bed of rice with a toasted almond garnish on top.  The wine used in the sauce was the aforementioned Vermentino.  Of course, the best way to cook with wine is by imbibing as one goes along.  I learned this years ago from the Cajun Chef on PBS.

Duchman's 2009 Vermentino boasted a perfect combination of rich fruit and acidity with a fine dry finish.  The sharpness of the feta and caper sauce was a perfect counterpoint to the softness of the wine.  It may have helped that the wine Pris cooked with was also served with the meal, but then the wine may have stood all on its own. 

While the Vermentino may not have been a crowd favorite, its definitely one of ours now.  I'm sure we'll be looking to stock up for the long summer months on our next trip north.