Look for this Hungry Hoosier Seal of Approval at Indiana restaurants and other food-related businesses
You may recall that I did a TV show recently for WNIT in South Bend Indiana. You can click here for the video clip. I made an Crostini with Indiana Chevre, Black Fig Marmalade, and Caramelized Onions and paired it with a wine from Madison Vineyards in Madison, Indiana. You can get the recipe here and more information about the wine here. The cheese was from Capriole Farms in Rockville, Indiana. A special thanks to Larry Parman for digitizing the video for me.
No, I've not joined the cast of the Sopranos. Ba-Da Bing is the name of a wine I picked up today. The producer of the Public Television segment I'm preparing for asked me to pair the dish I am making with an Indiana wine. An Indiana wine, you asking? Yep! This fruity red comes from the Madison Vineyards in Madison, Indiana which is located in the southern part of the state on the Ohio River. I picked up two bottles yesterday at Kahn's Wines and it was described as having "dark cherry, raspberry, and rustic earthy flavors." I opened a bottle last night to see how I thought it will work with the recipe I am preparing (Crostini with Chevre, Caramelized Onions, and Mission Fig Marmalade).
I don't have all the components of the crostini ready to go but I did have a little bit of the goat cheese with a glass of the Ba-Da Bing - nice combo. The wine is light on tannins and fruity, as advertised, and the earthiness of both the wine and the cheese are very complimentary of one another. This may be due to the close proximity of where the grapes are grown and where Capriole Farms is located. After all, the goats are eating grass grown in the same southern Indiana soils as the grapes.
Indiana wines have come a long way in the ten years I've been in Indiana. The Ba-Da Bing is just one of an increasing number of quality wines grown here in the heartland. Some may be surprised to learn that all 50 of the United States produce wine. Charlie Palmer Steaks, in Washington, DC has a wine list that includes wines from every state in the union. I'm not sure if Madison Vineyard's Ba-Da Bing is on their list or not, but it should be!
