Wine of the week

Wine of the week

Name: : 2010 Jack Hammer Pinot Noir

Region: Central Coast

Price: $13 to $15

Style: Rich and round

What it goes with: vegetable dishes, grilled salmon, duck, and Moroccan and Middle Eastern food.

This is the first vintage for Jack Hammer Wine Co., and they’ve come out with a terrific Pinot Noir for the price. The grapes come from all three Central Coast counties — Monterey, San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara — and the juice sees some aging in old French oak barriques.

The result is a delightful Pinot Noir with bright fruit flavors, gentle spice and round, smooth tannins. It goes down very easy and marries with all sorts of dishes.

Drink it with hors d’oeuvres and vegetable dishes, with grilled salmon or duck breast. It should be beautiful with Moroccan or Middle Eastern food too.

Healthy sides

This is a sides story, a quick one about quinoa (KEEN-wah) paired with brown rice and seasoned by Near East Foods.

After 15 minutes stove-top time, we enjoyed the rosemary-olive oil version; there’s also red pepper-basil.

Tasty on its own or amped up with veggies or meats, its suggested retail price: $2.99.

For a store locater or to buy online, go to neareast.com

Good gluten-free

Some gluten-free breads are dense.

Some don’t hold up in sandwiches.

But a trio of heat-and-serve gluten-free breads by Schar — baguette, ciabatta and sub rolls — worked well for sandwiches, garlic bread and stuffing.

They take a short warm in a 400-degree oven first and pleased tasters who avoid gluten as well as those who don’t.

Suggested retail prices: $4.99-$7.49.

For a store locater or to buy, go to schar.com.

Combined dispatches