What to do with a mess of 'meh' Pinot Noir?

[francie]

To try and pare down a convoluted explanation of why I have 2 1/2 cases of mediocre wine (which needs to remain unnamed out of respect for the local vineyard from which it came) in my office closet, I will resort to point form:

-this was a gift. If I had paid for it, I probably would have contemplated returning it, although it hasn't "turned" or anything like that. (ahem, please excuse the wine newbie lingo ).

- it smells and tastes thin. As BF pointed out: "tastes like good wine, but with some vodka thrown in".

- it has some sediment.

- it did make a-ok sangria.

I have probably horrified some of you with this request, but it seems a shame to waste it. Or, perhaps there is another forum I could try?

[Carolyn Tillie]

Vinegar...

[petite tête de chou]

Jelly

Sorbet

Mulled wine

Wine and spice cookies

Edited October 11, 2005 by petite tête de chou (log)

[jamiemaw]

Braise an ox.

[M.X.Hassett]

Braise an ox.

←

Or by a few hundred more cases and modify this recipe so that it is a braised dish

Stuffed Camel

1 whole camel, medium size

1 whole lamb, large size

20 whole chickens, medium size

60 eggs

12 kilos rice

http://www.snopes.com/food/prepare/camel.asp

[Daniel Rogov]

1. Make glogg or, if you prefer it by its alias, Chanukah Punch

2. Use it in preparing coq au vin

3. Weak and watery Pinot Noir is excellent for braising and adding a marvelous touch to frozen salmon steaks or fillets.....be sure to add juniper berries and bay leaves

Consider as well, should you come across one, wooly mammoth. (That was actually done in Russia in the 1960's when three wooly mammoths were uncovered from the same glacier. The result was abysmal but who cares.....after all, how many times do you get to eat a wooly mammoth?)

[jackal10]

Take it to parties.

Not that I would do that, but somehow the wine that people bring when I give a party seems to belong to a special class of "wine for trading, not drinking".

[carswell]

What they all said.

If storage space is a problem, boil it down — in the approximate ratio of one bottle to one cup and with a bit of minced shallot softened in butter if you like — for use as a wine-reduction sauce for red meat and flavourful fish like salmon. The reduction can be frozen in ice-cube trays and the cubes stored in a plastic bag in the freezer.

[LOS]

I second the coq au vin suggestion. Also, now's the perfect time to poach some fish in red wine, and to make some burgundy beef and oeufs en meurette.

[francie]

Thanks all for the suggestions!

And carswell, I love the idea of reducing it. My freezer does have minimally more room than my office closet

Now to the thread on braising....

This should be fun.

PS I would bring bottles of it to gatherings, but I can't seem to keep my big mouth shut and all of my friends have heard the woesome tale of the weak and watery Pinot. They don't want it.