Wine Review of Carl Reh Riesling with Recipe for Balsalmic Pasta with Asparagus Tips and Pickled Beets

The next selection of the "virtual wine tour club" was Carl Reh Riesling.  To my disappointment, my local wine store did not have any of the top selections from the Riesling chapter of the book "Unquenchable", so I went with one of the "notable mentions".  (Note to blog readers from out of state:  It is illegal in Pennsylvania to import wine; we must buy from the state wine store.)

Fresh off my delectable experience drinking the Shiraz Cabernet, I went into the Riesling experience with very high expectations.  Riesling is one of my favorite types of wine to drink because it is very adaptable to contemporary American cuisine.  My expectations should have been adjusted for drinking a "notable mention" instead of a true recommended wine brand from the book.  The Carl Reh didn't live up to the hype.  It was uncomfortably dry and a shade too sour for Riesling.  It tasted like a cousin of pinot grigio.  Perhaps it was too old.  It was a 2009 and we are in 2012.  I definitely did not enjoy drinking a glass of the Carl Reh Riesling by itself.  I became frustrated because the riesling did not pair with the usual foods that I would serve with it.  Glaring at a 3/4 full bottle, I was determined to find at least one food to match the wine's flavor.  This mission was fully accomplished by making a cold pasta salad served as a side dish to pork chops.  Rest assured, when you make this salad it will take the sour edge off of the Carl Reh wine.

Recipe:  Balsalmic Pasta with Asparagus Tips and Pickled Beets


A sweet and sour pasta salad balances flavors on top of vegetables.



Ingredients: 

• Balsalmic viniagrette (can be store-bought or homemade; mine is homemade)
• Asparagus, cleaned, cut into tips
• Rapini (also known as Broccoli Raab or Broccoli Rabe), stripped of leaves, 1:4 ratio with asparagus
• Jar of pickled beets, drained
• 2-3 small yellow or heirloom tomatoes, sliced and de-seeded.
• Pasta of choice (I used "wagon wheels") 
• Bread crumbs
• Gorgonzola cheese crumbles

Cooking directions:

1. Blanch asparagus and rapini; set aside to cool; top with lemon juice.
2. Cook pasta al dente; set aside to cool.
3. Prepare a viniagrette. Add bread crumbs, salt, pepper, herbs, and cheese crumbles.
4. Stir in viniagrette mixture to pasta.  Combine with asparagus and rapini.   Be careful with the rapini.  Too much will make the dish sour.
5. Add tomatoes and combine.  Do a taste test. Add a sprinkle of fine white granulated sugar if sweetness needed.
6. Add pickled beets last, carefully combining so as not to make the entire dish turn purple.  Serve immediately.  
7. The leftovers can be placed in refrigerator. The purple may run but the salad is still edible.