Has it really been a month since I was last a Bunco Bachelor? The calendar says, “no”, but Mrs. Second Leaf says, “*%#&@! yes!”  Tough… well, really not even an option… to argue with that!

Seeing as how I surely committed some sort of wine blogging faux pas last month by mentioning one winery but actually opening a wine from another, I was determined to make amends this time around. So the question at hand building up to this month’s dad vs. kids throw-down was how to get my hands on some of that “*%#&@!” Twisted Oak wine? Sure, I could have ordered directly from the winery but how much fun is that? Since El Jefe, the Grand Poobah of TOW (or maybe it’s the Sgt. Hulka of TOW?), slyly pointed out that WineQ was now featuring wines from Twisted Oak, I knew right where to go to get my *%#&@! fix.

WineQ is a new web 2.0 company trying to do for wine what Netflix has done for DVD rentals.  Setting up my Q on WineQ was a breeze and, before I knew it, the UPS man was handing me a box with a green WineQ sticker on it. A box of three Twisted wines: the 2005 *%#&@! red Rhône blend I tasted tonight, the 2005 %@#$! white Rhône blend, and the 2005 Viognier.

Now that I had the wine nailed down, I needed a menu to go with it. And not just any menu… a menu that would match the wine and be something my 3 daughters would actually eat. Let me tell you, the Iron Chefs never had it this difficult. My younger 2 daughters, 8 and 5 years old, are easy enough to cajole into trying new things but my 11 year old is convinced that anything other than chicken fingers must be straight out of the kitchens of Fear Factor. I needed a slam dunk.

My girls have always been good salad eaters so a green salad was a no-brainer. And all kids seem to like potatoes of some sort… so how about mashed potatoes? Finally, the centerpiece. We’ve had good luck with various pork tenderloin recipes in the past so how about a grilled pork tenderloin? There you have it. I had my culinary plan of attack mapped out for the evening.

  • Balsamic Herb Crusted Grilled Pork Tenderloin with *%#&@! reduction sauce
  • Mashed Potatoes with Smoked Gruyere, Chives, and Crispy Bacon
  • Green salad with Avocado & Sweet Bell Peppers
  • 2005 Twisted Oak *%#&@! Red Rhone Blend

(Quite a step up from last month’s Dora the Explorer soup & grilled cheese, don’t you think?)

Recruits! That’s what I needed to get the job done. My younger two chipped right in and helped peel potatoes and stir things but the eldest had nothing to do with us. Dad was a whirling dervish… chop’n… taste’n… stir’n… taste’n… grill’n… taste’n… you get the idea. Finally, it was time to sit down for dinner. Ahhh!

The *%#&@! paired beautifully and all of the flavors played off of each other nicely. The *%#&@! reduction sauce was a huge hit. However, the pièce de résistance was that all three of my daughters ate everything on their plates! Iron Chef Dad had prevailed! 

More about the wine…

The 2005 Twisted Oak Calaveras County *%#&@! ($28) is a blend of 51% Mourvedre, 33% Syrah, and 16% Grenache-a classic Rhône blend. On this night the wine was medium garnet in color and had flavors of bright red fruits including raspberries and blueberries, sweet oak, and a touch of cedar & spice. Initially velvety soft and round, it finished dry with well-integrated tannins. A fantastic effort!

So there you have it. Another successful Bunco Bachelor evening. I’m already looking forward to next month… but don’t tell Mrs. Second Leaf.