As part of their community outreach program, FoodBuzz likes to periodically buy our affections (on a strictly first come/first served basis, mind you) by giving us free stuff. This time around they reached generous new heights and sent us a box ‘o wine.

Now, before you get all judgmental and high-horsey you should know that this is actually good wine and not that nasty White Zinfandel that you started your hazy, queasy, headachy, wine-drinking career with (you know who you are). Black Box Wines has simply recognized that a bottle may not actually be the best wine delivery system ever invented and that the box – and it’s nifty internal bladder/bag thingy – just might be a vast improvement. Sure, a bottle’s got panache and all that but once it’s opened you’re pretty much committed (besides, we’ve heard that White Zin is available in a bottle too)…

A careful evaluation...

According to Black Box Wines they’ve packaged the wine this way to protect it from the detrimental affects of light and air. Which, of course, implies a few things about potential drinkers of their wine – most notably that: A) the drinker is a connoisseur of sorts who savors and enjoys wine and is loathe to let it oxidize, and B) is likely to not be the sort to finish a whole bottle of wine in one sitting. This then, of course, begs this question: why does Black Box wine come in a 3 liter container?

To the less arithmetically inclined among you we should mention that 3 liters is equal to 4(!) regular bottles of wine. So, while we can appreciate that the box can deliver a more consistent product, it also delivers it in gargantuan quantities. Can it be? Quality and quantity? Bravo, Black Box…bravo!

All ranting aside, we found that this particular Sauvignon Blanc was of the sort we normally go for and we’ve really enjoyed it so far. It’s very bright and citrusy and a great compliment to rich cheeses, olives, etc. Here’s their take on it:

The Sauvignon Blanc is a fresh and zesty wine featuring aromas of herbs and tropical fruit. This wine blends crisp acidity and a rich, fruit sweetness on the palate with a clean, dry finish. This refreshing and lively wine pairs well with most foods especially white meat and seafood dishes

We sampled it for the first time with a cobbled together plate of Salami, Brie, Prosciutto, Grilled Crostini, Fresh Fruit, and some awesome new Olive called Castel Vetrano that we got from the olive bar at Roth’s (which you must go try – they have them at LifeSource Natural Foods, too). They are big, fat, & green and have a wonderful fruity/butter flavor. By far our new favorite Olives.

Dad approves of the wine

Brie, Kiwi, Prosciutto, Grilled Crostini, Salami, and Castel Vetrano Olives

At the very least this dish proves that you can put just about anything you have on hand in Pasta Salad and wind up with a winner…even if it does sound vaguely like something MacGyver would make out of old snowblower parts.

Anyhoo, in this particular case we’d had quite a few odds ‘n ends lying around that we really wanted to eat – Sweet Chicken Apple Sausage, Farfalle, Radishes, etc. – but, though they sounded great individually, they didn’t really seem like they went together all that well until we struck upon the whole Pasta Salad idea.

We wound up with what is truly a greater-than-the-sum-of-its-parts dish with a deep well of flavors that pleases on many levels. There’s body and a satisfying bite provided by the mini Farfalle pasta. The Sausage adds sweetness and meatiness, and the radishes are crunchy and spicy. Add a sprinkle of diced Green Onions, a little chopped fresh Parsley and a zesty Lemon dressing and you’ve got a fabulous and unorthodox Pasta Salad recipe. Go figure…

Everything but the kitchen sink:

• 1 package (12 oz) Mini Farfalle, cooked Al Dente in salted water, rinsed in cool water and drained.
• 4 Sweet Chicken Apple Sausage, sliced thin and sauteéd over medium-high heat until slightly browned. Allow to cool.
• 8 oz Mushrooms, sliced (we used a package of the presliced jobbies).
• 2-3 Green Onions (Scallions to the hoity toity among you), diced.
• 4 or 5 Radishes, thinly sliced.
• A handful of Fresh Italian Parsley, finely chopped.
• Juice of one Lemon.
• 1/4 cup Olive Oil.
• Salt & Pepper.
• Parmesan Cheese for sprinkling.

Der Instrukshuns:

• For the Lemon Dressing whisk the Lemon Juice and Olive Oil together and season it to taste with Salt & Pepper.
• In a largish bowl toss the the Pasta, Sausage, Mushrooms, Radishes, Lemon Dressing, and the Chopped Parsley. Garnish with the Green Onion and the Parmesan Cheese. Eat eat eat.

Thoughts (yes, we have them from time to time):
Though the Chicken & Apple Sausages can be a little pricey (ours were about $5 for a package of 4) the rest of the ingredients are very affordable and more than offset their high price. We feel that this is a case where sacrificing the budget a bit on one of the ingredients pays off with big flavor rewards.

Also, the Lemon Dressing can be a little tart depending on your lemons. For most of our batches of this salad the Chicken & Apple Sausages were sweet enough to add balance to the flavors. But if you need a touch more sweetness in your dressing you could add a little honey or sugar or even substitute Seasoned Rice Vinegar. Just be sure to adjust your Lemon Juice and Salt accordingly.

Because we’re cheap and miserly er, budget-conscious we normally won’t spring for a $13 bottle of wine ‘just cuz’. But, if it’s a Cab and it scores 87 points at Wine Spectator then we figure it’s probably worth a gander.

So when we found this Santa Julia Organica (Hey! It’s organic!) Cabernet Sauvignon at LifeSource Natural Foods we decided to give it a whirl. Argentina is producing wines that are popping up all over the place on ‘Best Buy’ and ‘Top 100′ lists and this wine is from the Mendoza region (trés popular) so we felt like it was a pretty safe bet.

We tend not to lean in a non-Californian direction very often when we go-a-shopping for Cabernet because, honestly, we’re suckers for big, jammy California wines and international varietals just don’t do it for us. Blame it on all those ‘tobacco’ and ‘mineral’ flavors if you want. Or, we could just all agree that we here at The Haute Kitchen have palates made of dusty sun-baked shoe leather, whatever.

The point we’re trying to make here is that we were branching out when we bought this wine and we deserve to be recognized and heartily praised for it. We were living dangerously. Throwing caution to the wind, if you will. Letting fly with our culinary devil-may-care attitudes come heck or high water…

Turns out that this wine isn’t all that foreign-tasting after all. It’s intensely colored and has lots of bright fruit flavors. Though it doesn’t have a ton of residual sugar to give it that ‘jammy’ quality it is nicely balanced and very drinkable (not at all tobacco-y or mineral-y). Here’s what Wine Enthusiast had to say about it:

“A really nice and lighter-styled Cabernet with bright fruit and spicy oak crawling on the bouquet. The palate is full of friendly raspberry, strawberry and plum, while the finish is round and chocolaty. For the money, this is an extremely complete little wine that offers just right balance throughout.”

We probably won’t be rushing out to buy this one again since there’s lots of less expensive wines that we liked just as well. But if you happen across it during the course of your wine travels and you’re in the mood for a little south-’o-the-border, give it a go and let us know what you think (but try to be nice to us – we haven’t been practicing wine-snobbery for very long).