Why doesn’t anyone talk about what wine to have with breakfast anymore? Excuse me, but isn’t this the most important meal of the day? Well I’m not going to have my most important meal of the day without my wine, thank you very much. The other more noteworthy meals always get the attention when it comes to wine pairing and because of that they have been done, and over done a million times.

Every conceivable food and wine pairing has been done over the last hundred years. There is nothing that is new or original with any combo nowadays. It has all been done before. Thousands of restaurants are just doing it again and again every night, with different patrons. So we need to focus on something new; breakfast.

If you feel like waiting for the weekend for your breakfast wine, that’s fine. If you want to do it only on the days you plan on yard work followed by a nap in the hammock, cool. The other damn good wine guys and me usually like our wine breakfasts on Monday, and sometimes we enjoy it enough to include Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday mornings.
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Saumon en Papillote, Essence de l’Aneth, Rattes
Salmon baked in Parchment, Essence of Fennel, and Fingerling Potatoes

Ingredients:

• Serves 4
• 20 oz. Salmon fillet, cut in darne
• 1 fennel bulb
• 4 shallots
• 1 leek
• 6 mushrooms
• 1 celery root
• 1 pint white wine
• Tarragon, fresh
• Parsley
• 8 oz butter, room temp
• 2 oz Pernod
• Salt, pepper to taste
• Sel de Guerand
• Clarified butter or grapeseed oil
• 4-6 Fingerling Potatoes

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2000 Chateau Ste. Michelle
Columbia Valley Gewurztraminer
Some nice full peach flavors, spiciness and a bit of sweetness make this a nice match to the fillets.
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Bob has been fishing the Quabbin Reservoir for most of his life and has become so familiar with the 25,000-acre body of water, that it seems he can navigate it blindfolded. When I have had the pleasure to go out fishing on the glassy waters with him, we have motored from one favorite spot to the next in a quest for Smallmouth Bass or Salmon. The Salmon have been stocked about 6 to 8 years and can run from 7 to 10 pounds. The Smallmouth Bass are famous for their hard fighting style, and often jump and leap out of the water during the fight. Always an exciting catch.

Of course we haven’t had much luck on our few outings. It may be due to the fact that every time I cast my line, my pole flies out of my hand and into the water and Bob has to pull it out and re-bait it. Or maybe I need to concentrate a bit more on the pole instead of my drink and the scenery. What ever it is, I guess I’ll leave it up to Bob to catch the fish, and I’ll do my best in helping eat the “Slow Simmered Spicy Fillets”.
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Now here’s a great chicken dish from a local California friend. What’s so good about it? Well first of all it calls for Cognac and Champagne… Need I say more? Food and drink all in one! Don’t be intimidated by the Dutch oven required…be creative, find a deep skillet or something else if you don’t have one, but watch out for the flames – they’ll singe your eyebrows if you’re not careful.

For this dish we recommend matching it with some Champagne – the old standard of drinking the same wine as used in the cooking process. You probably won’t use Veuve Cliquot to cook with because of the price but we highly recommend you drink it with the meal if you’ve got some left over from your New Year’s celebration. We also recommend Chardonnay with this meal. It would most definitely work with the chicken and would work nicely with the heavy cream, Champagne, butter, and Cognac used in the recipe. We recommend Thomas Fogarty and McIlroy Cellars. Other varietals that would work nicely are Viognier from producers like Kunde, Qupe or R.H. Phillips and Pinot Gris from Oregan greats like Chehalem, King Estate, or Ponzi Vineyards.
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