Kust Angerer Kies Grüner Veltliner 2013

Wine Name: Kies Grüner Veltliner 2013

Wine: Grüner Vertliner
Country: Austria	Region:  Kamtal
Rating:  Good	Price: $18
Recommendation: Recommended with hard to match vegetable dishes and spicy meals.

Firstly, let me apologize for not publishing anything last week, a combination of workload and sickness conspired against me. This week we have a very interesting combination, the food is one of my all-time favorites for cold winter nights, Pumpkin Soup. The challenge for a dish like this is to find a wine that compliments it well. For cold winter nights I like a nice mellow red but that may be too much for the soup. After several recommendations, I have gone with a wine that I have never tried before, a Grüner Veltliner from Austria, of all places!

Pumpkin soup is a longtime favorite of mine, it is not as well known in America or the UK but is relatively common in Australia. It is more of an appetizer than a main meal, but seeing it is such a favorite of mine, we are dedicating the entire blog to it. For me, it evokes thoughts of warm soup on cold winter nights with your choice of warm bread rolls. One of my favorite memories is a cold winter’s night in a restaurant in rural Tasmania, where I unexpectedly found a great example of the soup. Tasmania is also one of my favorite places to visit. It has lots of unique scenery and wildlife. It is however, situated at the bottom of Australia in the southern latitudes in the “Roaring Forties” with nothing between it and Antarctica, where the winds can whip in off the southern ocean. Temperatures can be hot in the summer and on the cold side during the winter months, a perfect environment for a homemade Pumpkin Soup. I plan to do a wine, or wines, from Tasmania at some stage and in the interim, the following web site will give you some inkling into the magic of Tasmania.

http://www.discovertasmania.com.au/

 The wine was recommended by several reliable sources as a good match for unusual foods including vegetables that are hard to pair with wine such as Asparagus.

The wine comes from the Kamtal region in Austria, the name coming from the river Kamp that runs directly through the region. It is one of the largest wine producing region in Austria, typically producing Rieslings and Grüner Veltliners. The vines mostly grow in steep south facing terraces which provide protection from the North winds, yet providing cooling winds from the mountains on hot summer evenings.

The Kurt Angerer winery is a family business with a wine making tradition dating back 150 years. It is said to produce some of the best wines in the region, due to a lack of compromise, and a commitment to quality.  

The wine has a fresh fruity bouquet with hints of lemon. It is sweet but not overly so, it has overtures of tropical fruit and paired well with the pumpkin soup. It would go well with many vegetable dishes and the sweetness would accompany spicy foods as well.

The soup recipe is relatively simple but takes some time to make, with several periods of long inactivity while the pumpkin cooks. It can also be quite messy as the pumpkin, when prepared correctly, literally falls apart, and the bright orange color can create a distinct contrast on many cooking surfaces.

The aromas, while cooking, are a nice result especially in the cooler months. I purposely waited to introduce this recipe until the Northern hemisphere fall (Autumn) period. We made double the quantity listed below, so we can freeze some for the winter. Although, I did make some calculation errors that resulted in the soup being much too light, which was soon corrected with the addition of the second pumpkin. We used Jarrahdale pumpkins, I prefer to use the Queensland Blue, but they  can be hard to find in Houston. The Jarrahdales are relatively easy to find here at this time of year. We also did this as a vegetarian dish, substituting the chicken stock with vegetable stock

Savory Pumpkin SoupMakes around 2 quartsIngredients:

3-3/4 pounds pumpkin or butternut squash

1 acorn squash (about 1-3/4 pounds)

6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter

1 white onion (about 4 ounces), peeled, trimmed, and finely diced

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/8 teaspoon freshly ground white pepper

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

1/8 teaspoon ground cardamom

4 cups chicken stock or vegetable stock

1 cup heavy cream

1 sprig of fresh rosemary

Garnish (We did not use the garnish)

1 recipe cranberry relish

1 recipe cardamom cream

1/2 recipe spiced caramelized pecans

4 tablespoons pumpkin seed oil

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Halve the Pumpkins/squash, discard the seeds.

Brush cut sides with 2 tablespoons of melted butter

Season with salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Arrange the squash, cut side down, on a rack placed in a baking tray and bake until tender, about 1-2/3 hours.

Cool, scoop out the insides of the squash, and puree the flesh in a food processor. Reserve (You should have about 4 cups of puree)

In a medium stockpot, melt the remaining 4 tablespoons of butter.

Over a low heat, sweat the onion, do not allow it to brown.

 Add the pureed squash and cook over very low heat until heated through, stirring occasionally.

Do not allow it to bubble up.

Season with salt pepper, ginger and cardamom.

Pour in the stock and bring to the boil, still over a low heat, stirring often cook about 20 minutes.

In a small saucepan, heat the cream with the rosemary sprig.

Remove the rosemary and pour the cream into the soup.

Transfer to a blender or food processor and process, in batches for 2 or 3 minutes.

Adjust the seasoning to taste.

To serve, ladle the soup into heated bowls.

Place a tablespoon of cranberry relish in the center, top with a dollop of cardamom cream, then sprinkle with chopped pecans.

Drizzle pumpkin oil over soup (we did not do this).