Black Brut and BBQ Brisket – Brilliant!

Posted on March 20, 2012

This Black Brut recipe was submitted by Texan Argyle fan, Tom Hendricks. Thanks, Tom!

Recipe:
1 – large packer trimmed beef brisket
1 – 16 oz. bottle of Claude’s Barbeque Brisket Sauce (substitute at your own risk)
2 or 3 large onions
6 cloves garlic (more if you want)
1 – Reynolds Turkey size cooking bag
1 - cup flour for gravy

Get a full sized brisket, not a trimmed one. They’ve all got a lot of fat on them; the “softer” ones generally have less fat. Trim the excess fat off the brisket before you marinade it. Leave some, but you don’t need to leave much.

Place brisket in bag. Add the bottle of Claude’s. Marinade for at least 12 hours in the refrigerator, 18-24 hours is best. Squeeze as much of the air out of the bag as you can, so the marinade contacts as much of the meat as possible. I usually turn the brisket over in the marinade about half way through.

Take it out of the frig a few hours before you start cooking it, so it can begin warming to room temperature.

Preheat the oven to 225 degrees.

Peel and crush garlic cloves. Place in bag with brisket and marinade. Position the quartered onion slices under the brisket in the bag. Position the brisket in bag, fat side up, so that when the brisket is in the oven it isn’t completely submerged in the marinade. Place brisket & bag in a roasting pan, tie the bag, pierce a couple of holes in the top of the bag. Place in oven and wait.

The rule of thumb for this is one hour per pound of brisket, so plan accordingly. If you’ve got a thermometer that you can leave in the oven, insert it in the thickest part of the brisket before you put it in the oven. Otherwise just use an instant read one. Check the meat temperature about ¾ of the way through the estimated cooking time to see how it’s going (and mainly to see how accurate your oven temp is). If it’s below about 160 degrees, turn your oven up 10 degrees. If it’s above 170 degrees, turn it down 5 degrees.

When the meat temp is 190 degrees, it’s done. Take it out of the oven and let it rest for 15 or 20 minutes. Meanwhile drain the liquid out of the bag and make a gravy/sauce.

To make the gravy, skim as much of the fat off the drippings as you can – the gravy doesn’t need much, and neither do we. Either chop (or blend, if you’ve got an immersion blender) the onions and garlic in the liquid. Bring to a boil and reduce about 25%. Meanwhile dissolve 1 cup flour in 1 cup cold water. Slowly add the flour/water to the boiling liquid while stirring, until you get the desired thickness (might not need it all). Bring back to a boil and cook for about 10 minutes, stirring to keep it from sticking or burning. Season to taste – though it probably doesn’t need salt, as the Claude’s appears to have plenty.

Alternately, make a “bbq sauce” instead of the gravy. Use your imagination here, but one option is to add a can of tomato sauce, about ½ cup of sugar, and a few healthy squirts of Louisiana Hot Sauce. You might want to use corn starch instead of flour to thicken this, to keep from having the “gravy” flavor.

This is all about “low and slow”; your patience will be rewarded with a hunk of really good meat. Needless to say big pieces of it keep well in the freezer, so you can go back in a couple of weeks and enjoy it again.

The Black Brut was made for this!

Argyle Brut in the wild!

Posted on October 8, 2010

Argyle fan, Dianne, sent this awesome picture of Argyle Brut out in the wild – the perfect lunch companion when hiking in the beautiful Napa area.

Thanks Dianne!!

2007 Argyle Black Brut

Posted on May 3, 2010

Great news! The 2007 Black Brut has just been released!

100% Oregon Pinot Noir, Sparkling Wine
Knudsen Vineyards
Willamette Valley AVA, Willamette Valley, Oregon

The 2007 Black Brut is a powerful blast of rich berry flavors lightly floating on a delicate cloud of bubbles. Currants and blackberry dance a lively waltz with notes of vanilla and rose petal on the palate as the finish goes on and on. The generous fruity body of this bubbly makes this a joy on its own, but its crisp acidity and supple texture beg to be enjoyed with a full-flavored meal.

Recent Wine Scores & Reviews

Posted on November 3, 2009

Hello Argylers! We posted new and/or updated tasting notes and wine scores/reviews for several wines. The newest batch is listed & linked below. Each of these PDF files is also available on the individual wine page on the Argyle website.

2007 Reserve Pinot Noir Tasting Notes

1999 Extended Tirage Brut Wine Score & Review
2006 Argyle Brut Wine Score & Review
2007 Nuthouse Chardonnay Wine Score & Review
2006 Nuthouse Pinot Noir Wine Score & Review
2006 Spirithouse Chardonnay Wine Score & Review
2007 Argyle Brut Rosé Wine Score & Review
2007 Reserve Pinot Noir Wine Score & Review
2007 Willamette Valley Pinot Noir Wine Score & Review

We’ll have more posted soon. Cheers!

Argyle’s Extended Tirage Brut scores 95 points… again!

Posted on October 27, 2009

Great news! We just found out that our 10-year-aged 1999 Extended Tirage Brut has been given a Wine Spectator score of 95!

This is the third year in a row that the Extended Tirage Brut has topped the charts for highest rated sparkling wine ever produced in the United States!

Wine Spectator says:
“Elegant, with very fine bubbles and complex spice, coffee, pear and toast aromas and flavors that are poised against lacy acidity and refined structure, letting the flavors sail on and on with finesse. Drink now.” – Harvey Steiman

1999 Extended Tirage Brut Tasting Notes
Welcome back to the New Millennium! Here’s your chance to get it right (or better) a second time! I bet we all remember what we were up to in 1999. This is a late harvested beauty of a sparkling wine. The aromas are complex, yet fresh and leap out of the flute. Look for fresh and baked pear, juicy red apple, and hints of bright citrus fruit like Meyer lemon and grapefruit. Ten years of aging has imparted aromas of freshly roasted hazelnut, citrus peel, lovely vanilla blossom and honey spice. Rounding out these scents are touches of yeasty goodness from Pain de campagne and fresh-baked biscuit. The flavor is especially rich and creamy with lemon/grapefruit citrus, Anjou pear and Cameo apple fruit. Melon and vanilla spice lay upon a stony mineral structure. The finish is fresh baguette and caramelized sugar creaminess that is long, vibrant, and shows the added persistence that late harvested (October/November) Chardonnay and Pinot Noir can bring.

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