Hooray for Riesling

I have been a longtime fan of Riesling. Many people turn their noses up at Riesling because they’ve never had a good one. Their concept of Riesling is that syrupy sweet concoction that, outside of a late harvest dessert wine, should never be drunk IMO.

While I’m on the topic, I always chuckle to myself when people say, Oh, I don’t drink white wine. Now, sometimes, people have a medical reason. But generally, they’re just trying to be wine snobs. My point of view on this is that if you like wine, you like all kinds of wine and you love to discover. I’m always much happier discovering new wineries and varietals I’ve never tasted than sticking with the same old same old.

This week’s New York Times Wines of the Times column focuses on Riesling, specifically American Riesling. Riesling is making a strong comeback in the U.S. though it may be premature to call it the new sauvignon blanc. Three of their top 10 wines were from Washington, which now has the largest Riesling acreage of any state in the U.S. One Oregon Riesling, Belle Pente’s 2005, made the top 10 at No. 7.  Here’s what they had to say about it:

The 2005 Belle Pente from the Willamette Valley was the only Oregon riesling in our top 10, at No. 7. It was also the oldest bottle in the tasting, and it already showed a touch of kerosene, a pleasant sign of age in a riesling, but one you might wait another 10 years to find in European rieslings, which age far more slowly. Not that it’s fading fast — the wine was quite enjoyable.

I’ve not tried it, but am familiar with Belle Pente and have always been a fan of their Pinot Noir, which we always found to be a great value.

The NYT’ gave their top spot to Chateau Ste. Michelle’s Eroica. It is made in partnership with Ernst Loosen, the well known German Riesling producer from the Mosel region. I have tried Eroica and it’s good though didn’t blow me away.

I’ve also been a big fan of Lemelson’s Rieseling. They make a small quantity every year from a vineyard near their Carlton winery. I’ve found it to be crisp, minerally and very lemony. It’s quite thirst quenching and sometimes reminds me of lemonade. I would also recommend Chehalem’s Riesling. Harry Nedry, the winemaker there, has long believed in the importance of Riesling and contends that if you can’t make a good Riesling, you may struggle with the rest of your wines.

Tips For Adulthood: Five Ways To Feel Beautiful

Every Wednesday I offer tips for adulthood.

This week’s topic is drawn from a recent spread in RealSimple magazine’s August issue, which featured six famous women writers talking about what makes them feel beautiful. I’m not usually much of one for women’s magazines (probably that inner-14 year old who still feels woefully un-stylish), but a friend describes RealSimple as “a women’s magazine for grown ups.” And she’s right:  it’s a bit more serious, a bit more thoughtful and a bit less girl-y.

This article is a case in point. When asked about what makes them feel beautiful, all six writers responded in non-appearance related ways. Here is my summary of their answers (You can read the original here):

1. Feel loved. Anne Roiphe’s answer boiled down to her late husband telling her – 10 days before he unexpectedly died-  that she’d made him a very happy man. Now, whenever she wants to feel beautiful, she reminds herself of the joy that comes from “the union with another being.” Not all of us are in happy partnerships, of course. But most of us know that someone – a sibling, a parent, a friend, a child – loves us unconditionally. Remind yourself of that.

2. Be active. OK, this sounds like a body-is-beautiful sort of tip. But the way that Winifred Gallagher frames it is all about the way in which staying active as we age makes us feel lively on the inside. That could come from the calm induced by yoga or the way in which Michelle-like biceps become a symbol of endurance and vitality. Either way, liveliness=internal beauty.

3. Invest in your work and your kids. No, this is not a cheesy throw-away line about work/life balance. Rather, I’m combining the thoughts of Asha Bandele and Kathryn Harrison. Bandele notes that work – especially writing – can be a way to simultaneously touch other people and discover more about yourself. Children do the same. They also, as Harrison puts it, enable you to “redeem an unhappy past.” Of course, some of us only focus on one or the other of these two goals, whether by choice, life-stage or circumstance. But both offer a deep satisfaction, especially – as these writers argue – for women.

4. Drink A Glass Of Wine. I can’t say enough about Lori Leibovich’s post. Her own personal anecdote to her “scheduled-by-the-minute existence” is to drink some wine (just a glass!) each night after her kids go to bed. For her, it’s the equivalent of taking a long, deep inhalation at the end of a hectic day. Wine also allows her to connect – with strangers if she’s at a cocktail party, with her husband if she’s at home – and reflect on where she’s been and where she’s going. In short, wine=freedom.

5. Embrace Your Quirks. This is probably my favorite post of all. It’s written by Jennifer 8. Lee, who talks about her ugly feet. While she used to feel embarrassed by them, she now sees them as a source of individuality, character and…yes, imperfection. Love it.

*****

If you’re interested, head on over to PoliticsDaily.com where I posted yesterday on Gordon Brown’s painkiller “problem.”

Image: Friday feet 1 by JiJi via Flickr under a Creative Commons License.

Surviving Vegas

I went to Vegas for the first time in 2006. I hated it. If I had my way, I would have never gone back, but, of course, circumstances arose and it was pretty much required. I learned, on my second time there, that Vegas is survivable even if you don’t love it.

For the record, the real problem is me. I needed to change my expectations. I wanted, this time, to make Vegas highbrow. And though I packed Sagan’s Bonjour Tristesse and Morrison’s The Bluest Eye and would have welcomed a discussion on health care or human rights in Zimbabwe with anyone, everyone else was too busy having a good time. A screaming drunk good time. I did manage, however, to enjoy a few things about Vegas.

First, the restaurants: Vegas has a dense concentration of restaurants from some of the best restauranteurs in the world. Robuchon? Boulud? Colicchio? All here. My suggestion? Keep eating and do not stop. During my trip, I went to Shibuya in the MGM Grand, Aureole in Mandalay Bay, and Daniel Boulud Brasserie in the Wynn. All were delicious. Our very attentive sake sommelier at Shibuya quickly became our friend after recommending a bottle, and threatened to give some of the best service I have ever had in a restaurant. When the computerized wine list at Aureole featuring over 3,000 bottles almost confused us, we enjoyed watching the “suspended wine getter” fetch bottles from their glass cellar. I treated a friend who had taken care of me all weekend (getting us on guest lists, picking me up from the airport, taking me to In-N-Out Burger and introducing me to their “vegetarian” options) to Boulud Brasserie, where she had the DB burger (typically served at DB Bistro Moderne), the famous sirloin burger stuffed with foie gras and black truffles. I may not have liked Vegas, but I LOVED the restaurants there.

Also, the shopping: Vegas is a shopping mecca, of course. Because if you win at the casinos, you’re going to need to spend that money somewhere.  I found the Palazzo and Fashion Square Mall to be relatively quiet, relaxing shopping centers. Barney’s New York was nearly empty. With only three potential customers, the sales personnel outnumbered us. I’m sure everyone else was busy picking which of the multiple Louis Vuitton “flagships” should be the center of their window shopping…

…Or they were at the pool: If someone told me there were one hundred pools on The Strip alone, I’d believe them. The MGM Grand itself has six swimming pools, one of which is Wet Republic, where they host pool parties complete with a DJ, drinks, and a velvet rope at the entrance. Pools are the new clubs, in Vegas. You’ll need to be on a guest list or have a reduced admission card to avoid paying $20 or more at the “door.” But this does not a relaxing afternoon make. The other pools around catch the run off of people who don’t want to pay a cover to swim, so the surrounding pools were just as rowdy and filled with people ready to party. An experience that has its place, but it wasn’t what I was looking for.

Lucky me, I was given VIP pool passes to the Wynn. At the time, I had no idea what that meant so I found my way to the Tower Suites, the portion of the hotel that was independently evaluated and granted the first five-star rating in Vegas, to pick up my pass from the concierge and subsequently passed easily by the doorman to find:

It was so beautiful, I had to hold back my excitement when I got to the pool. I reconciled my feelings by saying to myself “Obviously, this was modeled off of Hotel du Cap in Antibes. That’s why I like it so much.” So, I spent the rest of my day reading Bonjour Tristesse in an oversized hat, smiling…until a drunk hotel guest came around threatening to throw a lifeguard chair into the pool. By I decided it was time to enjoy dinner by Boulud.

xo

J. Justine

Shibuya, MGM Grand, 3799 South Las Vegas Boulevard, Las Vegas 89109

Aureole, Mandalay Bay, 3950 South Las Vegas Boulevard, Las Vegas 89119

Daniel Boulud Brasserie, Wynn Las Vegas, 3131 South Las Vegas Boulevard, Las Vegas 89109

In-N-Out Burger, 2900 W. Sahara Avenue, Las Vegas 89102

DB Bistro Moderne, 55 West 44th Street, New York City 10036

The Shoppes at the Palazzo, 3325 South Las Vegas Boulevard, Las Vegas 89109

Fashion Square Mall, 3200 South Las Vegas Boulevard, Las Vegas 89109

Barney’s New York, The Shoppes at the Palazzo, 3325 South Las Vegas Boulevard, Las Vegas 89109

Louis Vuitton, 3200 and 3500 South Las Vegas Boulevard, Las Vegas 89109

MGM Grand, 3799 South Las Vegas Boulevard, Las Vegas 89109

Wet Republic, MGM Grand, 3799 South Las Vegas Boulevard, Las Vegas 89109

Wynn Las Vegas, 3131 South Las Vegas Boulevard, Las Vegas 89109

Hotel du Cap, Blvd JF Kennedy, Cap-d’Antibes 06160

Is There Such a Thing as a Feminine Style Wine?

I was in a restaurant the other day and the sommelier recommended what turned out to be a glorious Chateauneuf du Pape. La Crau de Ma Mere 2004. The sommelier said it was a feminine style wine because the winemaker was a woman. I was eager to see what that type of wine would be. I still don’t know.

The wine was rich, deep dark fruit, smoke and lavender. It actually tasted very much a New World style. Yet I wonder whether there is such a thing as a “feminine” wine. Yes, some wines are more elegant and lighter than others, and some are dark and brooding, but I wouldn’t call one feminine and the other masculine.

I also thought it was odd that the wine would be considered feminine just because the winemaker was female.

So my question is this: Is there such a thing as a “feminine” style wine? And if so, is it synonymous with light and delicate? And if not, what would it be?

The restaurant, by the way, was Chez Papa Resto in San Francisco which has some of the best food in the City.

Portobello and White Asparagus Pasta with a White Wine Cream Sauce

Picture is a little fuzzy and doesn’t do it justice. I love serving stuff family style! It’s amazing what is possible when you get a chance to watch other Italian Chefs make pasta.

Equipment:

• Stock pot filled with boiling salty water
• Medium Sauce pan

Ingredients:

• 3 Portobello mushrooms, thinly sliced
• White asparagus, blanched
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 2 tbsp. toasted pine nuts
• Parsley, Thyme, Oregano………..fresh and minced
• Parmesan Cheese
• White Wine
• Olive oil
• Heavy Cream
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• Pasta, cooked al dente

Procedure:

1. Place a little olive oil in saute pan then place the garlic in and lightly toast it
2. Add asparagus and mushroom and cook until mushrooms start to slightly wilt
3. Add herbs, salt, pepper, and white wine then cook until alcohol smell is gone
4. Remove from heat and add cheese, pine nuts, and heavy cream
5. Fold sauce into pasta then let rest for a few minutes
6. Garnish with herbs and more cheese then serve

Enjoy,

Eric

Seattle

Our wine will be featured at the October 15th Seattle Area Chapter of Women For WineSense (www.womenforwinesense.org), which, as you might know, is a national wine education organization founded in 1990, based in the Napa area. Our Seattle Chapter holds monthly wine programs – from winemaker dinners to looking at specific wine producing countries, regions or varietals. This October 15th we will be focusing on Pinot Noir, with “The Pleasures of Pinot Noir”. We will be examining wines produced in Washington, Oregon, and California for this event. The wine educator leading this program for us each year is David LeClaire, of Wine Events and Promotions (www.vinolover.com). David is a Certified Sommelier and has worked with many wine organizations, including bringing ZAP back to Seattle in July for the first time in 12 years. He has taken some of the ZAP wineries on the road in 2006 and 2007. In 2005 he did the same for Paso Robles wineries for the Paso Robles Grand Tastings 2005, which visited 4 cities between March and June. David has worked with wineries all over the country in promoting regional tastings, local wine education events, and private functions. He also is involved in numerous charity wine events, including Children’s Hospital fundraisers, Sip For A Cure benefiting breast cancer research, and Bags & Bottles, a fundraiser for Gilda’s Club. He also holds annual trade and consumer tasting such as The Best of the West and Rose Revival.

Sale Meat Special: Rosemary Garlic London Broil

Oh, what you can do with a good sale and some free stuff!  Times are still tough, and I constantly find myself in need of a healthy, delicious, and satisfying meal on the cheap, the real cheap.  But, I honestly have a hard time sacrificing quality for price.  I struggle with it throughout nearly every visit to the market.  So when I find something like gorgeous, lean, slabs of london broil (in reality it’s a preparation, not a cut, but we all know it as the latter), for less than three dollars per pound, I get excited, I can’t help it.  The promise of an awesome steak dinner that’s not only easy, but affordable, and quick, just lights my fire.  Not only that, a few weeks ago, my buddies over at FoodBuzz sent me an unbelievably generous package of Emeril Brand goodies, for free!  I was siked to be able to use his Steak Rub on a blogworthy dish and I was definitely not disappointed in the product.  Now to the sharing:

Ingredients

Fresh Rosemary (dried would actually work too)

Fresh Garlic

Butter, softened

London Broil Roast (any cut with this label will do)

Steak Seasoning (again, I used Emeril’s Steak Rub)

Kosher Salt

Freshly Ground Black Pepper

Red Wine (as long as it’s not “cooking wine” you’re in good shape)

Process

Okay, the first thing you want to do is gather the ingredients for the Rosemary Garlic Butter.  You’ll need the garlic, rosemary, and of course, the butter (make sure you take this out in advance, or you will have to nuke it like I did, and risk getting it a little too soft, like I also did:)).

Now, finely chop the rosemary and use a Microplane or finely mince the garlic.  Toss them both in the bowl with the softened butter.

Now, get crazy with a fork or a rubber spatula and mash it, smash it, and mix it all around.

If like mine, your butter got a little melted, you want to pop it in the fridge now.  It should be a spreadable consistency.  Now, for the MEAT!  Grab your roast and use a paper towel to pat off any excess moisture.

Then, liberally (and I mean liberally, the beef needs it) season the roast with salt, pepper, and steak seasoning.  Remember to do both sides, we don’t want meat with flavor on one side, it’s just not right.

Now it’s time to turn your broiler on.  I use mine on high, which is about 500 degrees.  Before it gets hot though, grab the pan out of it.  If yours doesn’t have a pan, find a flat baking dish that will fit in the broiler.  This next step is kind of messy, so if you’re squeamish about this kind of thing you can put gloves on, but for me, they really just get in the way.  Reserve a couple tablespoons of the butter, then put half of what remains onto the top side of your roast.

Dig your hands in and rub the butter into the meat.  The surface should be completely covered in the butter mixture.

Transfer the meat to your broiler pan (or baking dish), buttered side down, then butter the rest of the steak.

Now, pop the whole pan into the heated broiler.  For a roast about this thick, it will take about seven to eight minutes on each side to cook to medium.  While the meat cooks, you can make a nice red wine reduction sauce.  Grab a small sauce pan and add about a cup of wine (if you are serving more than 2-3 people you will need more).

Bring the wine to a boil, over high heat.  When it has reduced by half, add your reserved butter.

Stir in the butter, lower the heat, and continue to cook until butter is melted in.  Then, remove from heat.  When the steak is cooked to your liking, remove it from the oven and allow to rest.  This is very, very important or your meat will be dry.  I usually give london broil about 10 minutes, but the bigger it is, the longer it needs.

To serve, slice thinly, against the grain.

Can you say delicious?  Especially when served up with brown rice and a tomato, mozzarella, and kalamata salad…  HMM, HMM Good.  ENJOY!

Pesto, focaccia and vino, oh my!

This was not the pesto meal, it was soup for lunch. But the sky looks exactly like today.

I woke up this morning to an overcast, chilly day… and it got me thinking about my time spent in Cinque Terre, Italy around this time of year almost four years ago. It was my honeymoon, and Cinque Terre was only one of the stops among many in Italy and France, but it was certainly most memorable for me.

What an amazing place. I won’t describe to you all of the wonderful things about this collection of five tiny villages along the coast, but just know, aside from its delectable food, it has so many more celebrated attributes. I WILL tell you about the food, though, and one exceptional meal in particular.

My husband and I stayed in Monterosso, the village with the most ‘nightlife’… and when I say nightlife, I mean a few folks enjoying their DOC wine al fresco. One evening, after hiking between all five villages and returning to Monterosso, we felt very deserving of a delicious pasta meal. (We would have felt deserving even if we hadn’t hiked, but…) We snuggled onto a charming restaurant patio overlooking the sea, and ordered up a carafe of the dry, white wine that so perfectly complements the fresh seafood and pesto the area is known for. You see, pesto and focaccia originated in the Ligurian region, and being steps away from the water, seafood is a staple in the cuisine. This is a sublime place for me because I could honestly live on those three food items alone.

So we ordered fettuccine with pesto, sat back and breathed in the misty, sea air. When our meal arrived, we were immediately overwhelmed with the aroma of garlic, toasted pine nuts and basil. The pasta was swirled into this beautiful, glistening nest — each noodle coated from end to end with bright, green flecks of basil and Parmesan cheese, gorgeous clumps of olive-oily, nutty, cheesy, noodley goodness… oh my, I could hardly wait to take a bite! And I did. I prefer using the spoon and fork method when eating long noodley pasta so I swirled a big gob of fettuccine onto my fork, big enough to fill your entire mouth, and took a bite of the best pesto and fresh, handmade pasta I’ve ever eaten. A sip of wine finished the moment and I sat there, smiling, sucking it all in so I could always remember. I’m glad I did because I swear when I close my eyes even now, I can still taste that first bite, so much so that it makes me want to go make some pesto right now. Maybe I will…

We ate our meal and chatted and had a wonderful, film-like evening. With the moon rising above the water, I soon noticed we had a guest at our table. This little kitty cat came up and sat down beside me, patiently waiting for a scrap of food. Apparently, the area is littered with wild cats which became very obvious during the remaining days we had in CT. Anyway, I felt so sorry for the little guy, that I tossed him a bite of our pasta and wondered if it tasted as good to him as it did to us. Suddenly the spaghetti scene from Lady and the Tramp came to mind, and I finished my wine to the sound of that pudgy Italian man singing Bella Notte. It truly was.

Meow

Installare Picasa 3.5 su Ubuntu

Picasa 3.5 su Ubuntu

Picasa è un software creato da Google per gestire ed organizzare al meglio le nostre foto. Per installarlo su Ubuntu non sarà molto difficile ma per usufruire della versione 3.5 dobbiamo installare sul nostro sistema Wine ( se non lo tenete installato, seguite questa guida ).

Dobbiamo prima scaricare la versione 3.0 e per farlo possiamo usare due metodi: tramite deb ufficiale o repository.

Metodo con file deb

Scaricate il file deb relativo alla vostra architettura:

• deb, for Debian/Ubuntu i386:
  http://dl.google.com/linux/deb/pool/non-free/p/picasa/picasa_3.0-current_i386.deb
• deb, for Debian/Ubuntu amd64:
  http://dl.google.com/linux/deb/pool/non-free/p/picasa/picasa_3.0-current_amd64.deb

ed installatelo

sudo dpkg -i *.deb

oppure semplicemente doppioclickando sul pacchetto appena scaricato ^^

Metodo repository

Aprite il sources.list

sudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list

ed aggiungete a fine file

deb http://dl.google.com/linux/deb/ testing non-free

Salvate ed uscite. Adesso aggiornate il sistema con

sudo apt-get update

Ed installiamo picasa

sudo apt-get install picasa

Adesso dobbiamo scaricare il file .exe da questo indirizzo che è relativo alla versione 3.5 per Windows!! Fate click con il tasto destro sul file appena scaricato e selezionate l’opzione “Apri con Wine Carica Programmi Windows“.

Installate Picasa e al termine dell’installazione aprite il terminale e digitate:

su cp -r /home/NOMEUTENTE/.wine/drive_c/Program Files/Google/Picasa3
/opt/google/picasa/3.0/wine/drive_c/Program Files/Google/Picasa3

e naturalmente al posto di NOMEUTENTE dovete metterci quello vostro

Adesso troverete Picasa bello ed aggiornato in Applicazioni -> Grafica -> Picasa

E’ tutto

Vuoi aumentare la velocità dei tuoi download,dello streaming e migliorare la qualità del video?? Scarica Speed Downloading, un programma gratuito di cui non ti pentirai.

Vuoi caricare il tuo cellulare in modo gratuito veloce e legale? Vinciricarica e Vinciricariche possono aiutarti!

Upcoming Events!

September. 17, 2009

Get Our New Calendar!

Youngberg News and Tips

Water Color Society of Oregon
Saturday – October 3rd from 9-noon
Water color Society of Oregon will be bringing a group of 18 painters by from 9-noon to paint our view outside. Come taste the wine and savor the views with them. For more details about painting or purchasing any art please contact Chris Stubbs at crstubbs@onlinenw.com

Cooking with Pinot Noir
When was the last time you made a sauce with wine?  If it’s been a while try this easy sauce; One bottle of Pinot Noir with 1C sugar reduced to 3/4 cup of syrup for waffles, French toast, or ice cream. Yum!

Plan your Holiday Party with us!
It’s not too early to start making plans. Call us for details.

Learn how to utilize several tools on Google in order to get information for your newsletter.

Learn how to utilize several tools on Google in order to get information for your newsletter.

Philosophy

Our philosophy of making wine at Youngberg Hill is to let the fruit make the wine.  We focus our attention on producing the highest quality of fruit possible, and then managing the fruit through the fermentation process for it to produce the finest wine it has to offer. By limiting yields and restrained barrel treatment, we are able to give the purest expression of our vineyard in producing our wines.

Youngberghill on the Web:

Join us for Harvest @ Youngberg Hill!

Harvest is an exciting time at Youngberg Hill. This year we will have four harvesting days.  We typically have a 48 hour lead time for harvest with a 7am start time. If you would like to be informed of our harvesting schedule please email us at wine@youngberghill.com and indicate whether you would like to work harvest side by side with us or just come to watch.

October 10 Harvest Celebration Winemaker Dinner @ Youngberg Hill

Join us for a fun and relaxing 3 course dinner at Youngberg Hill.  We will share our harvest stories and toast to another great vintage!

Salmon and Dill Soup, Pinot Flank Steak with Ratatouille Polenta, & Amaretto Apples & Cinnamon Pinot Ice Cream

6:30pm $55/person.  Advanced reservations required at wine@youngberghill.com or 503.472.2727

Oct. 24th – Youngberg Hill’s 20th Anniversary

Celebrate 20 years of Youngberg Hill with this once in a lifetime dinner.  We look forward to seeing you for our special celebration.  This 5 course dinner will include:

- Dungeness Crab Salad with Tomato Sorbet and Caviar
- Cream of Seasonal Mushroom Soup
- Roasted Bones with Bruschetta and Asparagus Spears
- Roasted Loin of Bison with Spud Strings with Wild Mushroom
- Reduction and Tuscan Chard
- Yamhill County Hazelnut Tart

Nov. 7th Wine Club Pre Release Party (Wine Club members Only)

11-5:30pm pickup 2007 new releases and barrel taste the 2008 while enjoying the best views in the valley.  Stay for our 6:30 pm 5 course wine dinner ($125/person) and stay for the night too.
11-5:30pm pickup 2007 new releases and barrel taste the 2008 while enjoying the best views in the valley.  Stay for our 6:30 pm 5 course wine dinner ($125/person) and stay for the night too.  Advanced reservations required for dinner or rooms at wine@youngberghill.com or 503.472.2727

Winemaker11/27-29th Thanksgiving Weekend Open House

We will be open Thanksgiving weekend from 11-5pm Friday – Sunday. Come taste our 2007s, and barrel tasting of our 2008s. Enjoy food pairings and music along with the best views in the valley. If you can’t leave, stay for the night. Tasting fee $5/person, Join the Youngberg Hill Wine Club and enjoy a complimentary tasting and added discounts.

Dec. 12th – Holiday Winemaker Dinner @ Youngberg Hill

Take some time for yourself this holiday by celebrating at Youngberg Hill.  Our Holiday 3 course dinner is the perfect way to relax, kick back, and be pampered.  More details to come.

Jan 9th Cellar Crawl & Winemaker Dinner

3pm @ Youngberg Hill Vineyards & Inn
For those serious about Pinot Noir this is one event you can’t miss.  Flight taste 25 bottlings from 5 winemakers from 5 vineyards.  Judge for yourself the variances of wines from 5 vineyards made by the same winemaker.  At the same time taste the interpretation of 5 different winemakers to the same vineyard fruit.  Discuss all the variances with the winemakers themselves.  $200/person  More details to come.

Woodinville Releases

Whoops – I’ve had this sitting in a draft folder – thought I’d published it.  Please note that it’s about 2 weeks old at this point.

Another great release weekend in Woodinville!  We hit as many as we could and here are some of the highlights:

Chatter Creek - A Cotes du Rhone in Woodinville?  Really?  Yes – really!  Gordy made one and it is wonderful!  Light, fruity, approachable – everything you would hope and expect it to be.   The other new release that had all of us drooling was the new Cab Franc.  He always does a nice job with this one and the new release does not disappoint.  Honestly, none of his wines disappoint.  In addition to releasing new wines, he also had a screaming deal on his Cellar Cat Red – a case for $100, an additional 10 bucks off that if you’re a wine club member!  I love a good deal on a great wine!  Cellar Cat is his “not-enough-to-make-a-varietal” red blend.  I believe it’s his first time making it but hope it isn’t the last.

Gorman Winery- Chris Gorman doesn’t have ‘regular’ tasting hours and is usually only open when he has new wines to show off.  Boy were his new wines worthy of showing off!  His release party featured four new releases: Big Sissy (Chardonnay), Zachary’s Ladder (Red Blend), The Pixie (Syrah) and The Evil Twin (Cab/Syrah Blend) – all were really great, as always.  The Zack’s Ladder was tasting really well, like it was ready to be opened and enjoyed now.  The Pixie and The Evil Twin were both fantastic and will probably be even better after a little age.  That being said, I am not the best at aging wines anymore, with the exception of my beloved Cabernets.  Everything else is fair game and these would be no exception.  It would be very hard for me to try and hold on to The Evil Twin for long.

Alexandria Nicole Cellars - We had to stop here because – well we love it, plain and simple.  There were no new releases here today but everything we had was great.  I particularly liked the latest Quarry Butte and (as usual) the Cabernet. I was lucky enough to get a quick taste of the already-sold-out Lemberger and really liked that as well.  If you aren’t a member of this wine club, you should think about joining.  Not only do you get access to the secret tasting room behind the bookshelf door, but you also get to enjoy some of these small production wines, like the Lemberger.  Really, this winery has something for everyone – great red and white wines, great tasting room staff (Kathy rocks!) and a nice range of prices to fit anyone’s wine budget.

Red Sky- Carol Parsons is such a wonderful winemaker!  The new Cab (only enough made for wine club members) is so good and the new Merlot is out of this world!  We were lucky enough to enjoy a vertical Merlot tasting.  The 03 (only available in 1/2 bottle size) and the latest one, the 06, were the stand outs.  I expect both will sell out before too long.  We tasted some of the other wines too and, as usual, all were very good but I was in love with the 06 Sunrise.  This is such a nice blend.  I recently brought a bottle on a camping trip and insisted that several people try it, even people that don’t drink a lot of wine.  All loved it.  The Sunrise, 03 Merlot and 06 Merlot should not be missed.

Page Cellars – I hate to admit it, but I haven’t been into this winery in years.  It’s one that I’ve always liked but didn’t go into because I didn’t realize they had more than just a couple wines.  I was so wrong and I will not wait years to go back.  I believe this release party was for  The Red Zeppelin (Cab Franc) and for The Norseman (Merlot).  Both were delicious, as was the Preface, a Cab dominant blend and the wine that I always think of when I think of Page Cellars.  We were lucky enough to spend some time at the bar with the winemaker, Jim Page.  It’s only fitting that he have a “Red Zeppelin” wine, isn’t it?  This was one of my favorite wines of the day – a tasty 100% Cab Franc and a $20 price point.  That is a winning combo in my book.  I started out asking for one bottle, then a second and then finally a third.  Can’t have too much of a good thing, right?  I know, I know – I don’t need to buy anymore wine.  But this one just may sell out in a hurry and I’d kick myself if I didn’t get a few when I had the chance.

William Church-  New releases were the 07 Syrah and the 07 ”2 Spires” which is a Cab/Syrah blend.  Both were outstanding!  Also tasting really well was the Bishop’s Blend.  Although this is not a new release it is still a home-run in my book.  I’d never been to a release at William Church; they put on a very nice event.  The tables were well spaced, the food was good and the check out was a breeze.  If you’ve been to a lot of releases in Woodinville you know that sometimes it is really difficult to actually buy a bottle of wine at the end of the tasting.  More places could (and should) take notes from William Church.

Cuillin Hills- No matter how many or how few people are in here, it always feels like a party.  Derek is just down right nuts, and I mean that in the best possible way.  He’s funny, talkative and the farthest thing from a wine snob.  Oh, and his wines are sensational!  Our favorites this trip were the Dungeon Syrah, The Shackled (56% Syrah and 44% Mourvedre) and the Claret, a well balanced Bordeaux blend.  It’s hard not to come here every single time we’re in the warehouse district.

Sparkman Cellars – I was excited to see their new winery space.  It’s right across the parking lot from their former location so it’s really easy to find.  The space is more open and has a nice feel to it so far.  And as always, the wines were very good.  The Wilderness is always one of my favorites – but the Ruby Leigh – wow is that great!  The only thing missing from this visit was the winemaker and his family.  My guess is that crush has them all pretty busy.

Guardian Cellars- They moved as well…right next to Sparkman!  I will admit, I was initially sad to hear that they were moving because I loved the former location.  Yes, it was small and yes, it could get too crowded .  Still, it was cozy.  The new location is much bigger and really quite nice.  They’d only been open a week so things weren’t completely done but I could tell this tasting room was going to be nice too.  And the wines…so good, all of them.  My favorite here was (and usually is) the Gun Metal.  Here too, the only thing missing was the crazy winemaker, Jerry.  His girlfriend, Jennifer, took good care of us though and seemed to have things running smoothly.

Challenger Ridge-  This was a new stop for me.  It’s a neat little tasting room; actually it’s more like a little house.  They had about 4-6 wines to taste, the most interesting being a Pinot Noir made out of grapes from Concrete Washington!  Not only is it noteworthy to have a Pinot from Washington…but Concrete?  For those of you not familiar with the area, it isn’t a typical wine growing region.  The wines were nice although because they were done in a lighter style, we probably shouldn’t have made this our 10th stop.  I’m pretty sure I was suffering from pallet fatigue at that point.  Still, it was a nice place and I will be back – earlier in the day next time.  If you happen to visit them, be sure to check out the cute

Super Portfolio Extravaganza and Check out Wine Making From Home!

Friday is a time for relaxation and fun, unless you are knee deep in Internet Marketing. While having an online work from home business frees up valuable time by eliminating the ever hated commute, you still need to be persistent in updating keywords, creating ads, and stat checking.

There is always something new to learn. This evening I will be expanding my portfolios on StumbleUpon, Delicious, and the Warrior Forum. I need to expand my web presence asap. ——  Are you memebers of these sites? Do you like them?——

Stumbleupon looks fun and scary…you review and rate websites (super fun for the opinionated at heart). What if people don’t like my website though? I guess you need to take what you give. In the end, after the ego repairs, it will probably help in perfecting my website. J

I’m still a bit confused on how to backlink?????? I’m taking my concerns to the warrior forum to see if the confusion will settle. I understand what it is and why I need it, But I’m concerned about the how to get them part.

I’m scared I’m going to screw it up and prolong my success. I only have until 04/10 before I will have to return to the dreaded day job. Going back there stresses me out more than anything. I just want to be a mildly successful work from home mother, able to provide financially and emotionally to my family. That is what Gen X’ers have the opportunity to accomplish with the internet. I NEED THIS TO WORK!

Well, I’m getting back to work.

Until Next Time,

Kitty S.

P.S. I found a wonderful kit that walks you through how to make wine at home. The best parties to go to are where people have homemade beer…but homemade wine…I’m so excited to get started…HERE’S THE HOW TO MAKE WINE AT HOME LINK>>>CHECK IT OUT!

Lemon Pledge in my Glass

*Disclaimer: I received this wine as a sample from Bin Ends Wine in order to participate in Twitter Taste Live.

As I mentioned yesterday, you’ll be seeing lots of Argentinian wines around yee old wine blog for the next few weeks. I think I have around 20 to write up at this point after participating in 4 Argentina Twitter Taste Lives. I love Twitter Taste Live, it’s so much fun to taste along with many of my favorite wine bloggers and compare notes instantly! One of the first Torrontes we tasted was the 2008 Bodega Colomé Torrontes.  It weighed in at 13% alcohol by volume and had a plastic cork closure.

On the nose I got pineapple, white flowers, honeysuckle, orange zest, fresh pear, and white pepper. In the mouth I found jasmine, lemon, tropical fruit, honeysuckle, and grapefruit.  Oh yes, and the lemon Pledge…or what I would imagine lemon Pledge would taste like if I were so inclined to drink it.  The wine seemed very perfumey in the mouth and while it had tart aspects, I mostly found it oily.

Venerable Value Trove or Flash in the Pan?

US consumers just might develop whiplash keeping up with declarations of new regional sources for quality wine values.  Rewind the last ten years and value arrows have stopped on Spain, Argentina, Australia, Germany, Languedoc, Beaujolais, Chile, Loire, and more.  And, there appears to be no let-up.

Each new pronouncement of dominance in the global value segment seems to neatly categorize itself into one of these buckets:

1) Older viticultural areas benefitting from investment combining with improved winemaking techniques suiting global market style and demand like France’s Languedoc and its tighter appelations including Minervois and Corbières; or parts of Spain like Bierzo where the Mencia grape is gaining in popularity

2) Traditionally strong and venerable winemaking regions mistakenly overlooked by the broader market, with bursts of interest around exceptional vintages that produce higher than normal quality sans accompanying inflation, i.e. the Mosel Riesling vintage of 2001 or the white wines of the Loire in 2002

3) Expanding investment and advancing winemaking skills in the new world; i.e., Australia, Chile, Argentina

Unfortunately,  most of these buckets spring leaks over time as consumers shift alliances in waves. 

Its been unclear to me whether consumer tastes run ahead of the market or if market dynamics (oversupply, rising prices, new regional entries) serve to shift preference.  Or, is it that US consumers sometimes fail to learn about nuances in geography and terroir across alien winemaking regions to develop enough appreciation for lasting allegiance?

In the category of New World wonders, you don’t have to look too far beyond the rise and fall of Australia as the wine value poster child.  This all came back to me this week as I hosted a dinner in Little Rock where we drank several bottles of the 2007 D’arenberg Laughing Magpie while half my senses surrendered to the peppery, violet toned, licoriced tinged glass of blackberry jam while my remaining senses begged for more austerity, varietal delineation, and less alcoholic heat. 

After Australia unleashed a barrage of alcoholic, ripe Syrah on the US market at reasonable prices compared to skyrocketing Northern Rhone and small production US Syrahs, their tide rose and fell quickly as the wines, which were never unanimously favored by aficionados, lost lustre as interest declined.  In July the New York Times covered Australia’s sliding fortunes:

Just a few years ago, Australia was being hailed as the great international success story of the wine business, challenging the dominance of France, Italy and Spain. From 1999 to 2007, foreign sales grew more than threefold, making Australia the world’s fourth-largest exporter….But even as its star appeared to be rising, the Australian wine industry was sliding, selling a greater volume of wine at increasingly lower prices….The industry is also facing increased competition from lower-cost rivals and changing consumer tastes. Last year, exports fell 9 percent by volume, the first such drop in a decade. Many vintners are hanging by a thread

Beaujolais experienced historic quality vintages in 2003 and 2005, pushing the mistakenly out-of-favor and inexpensive Gamay grape into the value limelight.  As vintage quality resumed a more normal pattern,  Beaujolais appears to have slipped quietly from the stage again and wines that offer great expression and terroir go overlooked. 

Similarly, the Brooklyn Wine Guy references a story he heard about a top Burgundy producer favoring the Loire’s Muscadets over others:

Frédéric Mugnier makes some of the finest red wine in the world: he was asked what he drinks when he drinks white wine. Without hesitation he said “Muscadet.” It tickles me that this guy whose wines sell for hundreds of dollars a bottle, drinks $15 Muscadet.

There are many people who say that Muscadet is the world’s finest value in white wine. I am definitely one of those people. And Marc Ollivier at Domaine de la Pépière makes what I think is the finest value within Muscadet, his Clos des Briords.

Howard Hewitt who writes a newspaper column and blogs about wines at Grape Sense recently wrote in a Palate Press guest post entitled “Portugal’s Table Wines Emerge as Value Buy”:

When wine drinkers think of Portugal, it’s usually Port or cork. Touriga Nacional and Roupeiro don’t roll off the tongue like Merlot or Chardonnay. But the coastal European country is riding a surge of attention for its previously dismissed table wines…..The red and white selections are exploding in wine shops everywhere. Easy to find at price points under $15, Portugal’s bottlings deliver big flavors that surpass the “bang for the buck” value standard so many consumers are seeking.

For me the question remains whether Portugal’s, or for that matter any of the New World regions’, momentum will evaporate or whether it can cement itself in the class of France’s Southwest, Loire, and Beaujolais regions where quality, terroir, and value seem to be on lasting display.  That’s a tall order.

Weston Grape Press

The Weston Grape Press is a great press for making home made grape juice and wines. There is an adaptable Weston Fruit Grinder as well, if you are interested in pressing  apples. The Weston Wine Press will not crush and press whole apples, a grinder is needed if that is your intention. There are many varieties of grapes you can press depending on what you are trying to accomplish. For fresh grape juice you may want to cook the grapes before pressing. If you are making your own home made wine, then you can press the fresh grapes straight from the vine.

On Paso Wines

The Paso Robles (CA) wine region is known for its red wines – especially red blends. Although it’s not online (at least not yet), the October ’09 Wine Enthusiast issue has an excellent article about this region, its wines, and some ratings.

With 150+ wineries in the area, I did my share of online research to develop a trip strategy – plus I had suggestions from Caitlin Pianetta (Pianetta Winery, who we met in Cincinnati earlier this year), and from the Adelaide Inn staff (where we stayed) – so we had plenty to keep us busy during a 3-day stay. Unfortunately, I discovered the Daily Wine Dispatch after returning home.

Since Paso wineries specialize in red wines, expect to see many more reds than whites. Most wineries will have viognier, chardonnay, muscat, or white blends. Paso whites are generally unoaked andrefreshing with possibly a note of crispness, thus easy to drink.

Paso reds are allover the map with zinfandel, cabernet sauvignon, syrah, and petite syrah leading the way – although cabernet franc, tempranillo, sangiovese, petite verdot, and others are abound. Given the number of red varietals grown in this area, no wonder Paso winemakers excel with blends, including Meritage, Rhone, and Bordeaux styles.

As with any wine region, tasters will encounter wineries they may not know plus wines from known wineries that are only sold at the winery – thus one reason to do your pre-trip homework and be aware of what is available in your home stores.

Future posts will feature east side, west side, and downtown Paso Robles winery notes.

Others Posts about this Trip
On a Paso Vacation

2002 Herzog Selection Gewurztraminer Verbau and Baked Gefilte Fish Loaf, Cholent, Roasted Chicken

This past Saturday day we enjoyed a simple lunch between the two of us that consisting of our patented Gefilte Fish Loaf, some roasted chicken, a nice cholent, and a bottle of 2002 Herzog Selection Gewurztraminer Verbau.  The fish was bang up as usual, the roasted chicken and the cholent were quite nice as well.  The fish was nicely herbed, the cholent was spicy, and the roasted chicken was peppery enough to make the wine quite enjoyable.  The semi-sweet, oily, rich wine was a perfect match for all the spicy food.

The wine note follow below:

2002 Herzog Selection Gewurztraminer Verbau – Score: B+ – A-
This was a really fun wine, and one that works great with spicy food or as a wonderful aperitif, though not as a dessert wine, as it is not a “sweet” wine, but one with enough sugars to ward off sharp flavors like stinky cheese and Asian or Thai dishes. It is throwing off tartrate crystals – but do not be worried, they are harmless. Also, do not let the blue bottle throw you, this is not a simple Bartenura Moscato like wine (the famous kosher blue bottle wine), but rather a real player. The nose on this light gold to gold colored wine is rich and honeyed with sweet and ethereal honey, peach, caramel, almonds, violets, and rich fruit aromas. The mouth on this semi-sweet and semi-complex medium to full bodied wine carries the nose’s fruit and stance, with more rich honey suspended in an oily and almost glycerol mouth coating presentation, which is accompanied by rich honey, caramel, a slight hints of citrus. The mid palate is bright and balances the mouths semi-sweet fruit. The finish is concentrated but only medium long (which is a shame), with more bright acid, ripe fruit, and more oily rich honey flavors that round out the wine. Quite a nice presentation, and really only lacking in its shortish finish.

RE: ZagatDay '09: SF Edition Released; Danko Back on Top

 

Zagat San Francisco is out. Hurray. That is a good day. Zagat does a good job of packaging the stuff and they are fun to read. The scores are interesting also though every year they become more and more dubious. Zagat’s system has been compromised and they know it also. It is very possible to make a marketing campaign that helps score. Heck, they have always been helping restaurants do that with their rush to get reviews in. They still do a very good job and also run a good business which makes it okay to be compromised. They are not setting the absolute standards for restaurant guide review and the surprises are understandable. In the name of profitable business practices, they are forgiven. Zagat says a lot of good things about people and does it in the right way. That is the secret of practical success. The scoring system is not the strength of Zagat but the little commentaries which actually do say a lot. It is possible to manufacture those Zagat comments to make for a nice review. Zagats are a lot of fun to read. Enjoy.

—————————————————————————————————

The 2010 Bay Area edition of the annual Zagat Survey was released this morning, complete with the seemingly-arbitrary numbers that everyone has come to know and love. After getting the boot from the top spot last year for the first time in six years, Gary Danko reclaimed the Top Food Rating mantle from the French Laundry, though both restaurants (and Cyrus) garnered near-perfect scores of 29.

Read the Post http://sf.eater.com/archives/2009/09/23/zagatday_09_sf_edition_released_danko_back_on_top.php

Another Grand Tasting

On the second day of the Wine Blogger Conference, we attended a few sessions at various wineries including the one I told you about at Cuvaison. Mid-afternoon we headed to Quintessa for the Napa Grand Tasting. This event happened in the tank room at Quintessa, with wineries lining up between each row of tanks. I barely made it through the first row…I like to actually talk to people about the wines rather than a quick sip and spit and moved on.  I heard I missed lots of other good wines, but that’s ok, I enjoyed the ones I did taste and I liked talking to the people from the various wineries. I also didn’t really get any pictures….it was crowded and I already had a notebook, pen, informational materials, and my glass in my hands. I only have 4 hands at times it seems!

2007 Quintessa Illumination:nutty, lemon, melon, citrus, tart, herbs, grass, little green pepper, white pepper.

2006 Elizabeth Spencer Napa Cabernet Sauvignon: Black cherry, black plum, black berries, pepper, flowers, spice, tannins, vanilla, licorice.

2006 Ehlers Estate 1886 Cabernet Sauvignon: Black cherry tart, spice, leather, pepper, meaty, vanilla cream, black plums, blackberry, spice.

2006 Duckhorn Napa Merlot: Spicy, black pepper, black plums, tart cherry fruit, acidity, nice fruit.

2006 Cornerstone Cabernet Sauvignon: Black fruit, earth, tight, leather, vanilla, spice, tart fruit.

1996 Cornerstone Cabernet Sauvignon: Brick red. Dirt, earth, spicy, anise, pepper, peppers, red fruit, raspberries, still nice structure with some tannins left.

2005 Conn Creek Anthology: Cabernet Sauvignon heavy blend with Merlot, Malbec, Petite Verdot, and Cabernet Franc rounding it out. Spicy black fruit, peppery, lots of pepper, peppers, chocolate, nice smooth integrated fruit, blackberry, black plum.

2005 Clark Claudon Estate Cabernet Sauvignon: Nice creamy black nose, black cherries, blackberries, spice, roses, flowers, licorice, really nice fruit.

2006 Charnu Cabernet Sauvignon: Spicy, coffee, blackberry, fruit, anise, dusty milk chocolate, herbs, really smooth and well integrated, chewy tannins on the finish with a hint of red berries.

2006 Diamond Terrace Cabernet Sauvignon: Lots of milk chocolate, black cherry, blackberries, espresso, black licorice, black currants, pepper, nice fruit.

2006 Gargiulo Cabernet Sauvignon: Pepper, dark chocolate, black fruit, violets, spice, tart, long finish, tight, brigh blackberry, red fruit on the finish, anise, herbs.

2006 Grigich Hills Chardonnay: Pear peach, stone fruit, spice, vanilla, spice, peach, tart fruit, nice finish.

2006 Quintessa Cabernet Blend Napa Valley Red Wine: spicy, red fruit, plum, red berries, tannins, smooth finish.

All in all, a nice tasting….I just needed another hour or two to even make a dent in the wines available. Ah well, just an excuse for me to go back to Napa and taste around a bit more. I only managed to get two tables into the second row of wineries, though I did get through the whole first row. Some folks seemed to jump around the room but it seemed less efficient to me to do that than to just move up and down the rows. Thanks to the Napa Valley Vintners for hosting us! It looked like there were some nice food displats too, but who has time to eat when there’s wine to be tasted?

Tidmumz Chicken Brestz wif Wine Sawse

Tidmum says: September 22, 2009 at 6:43 am

…an I is maykin chikkin breasts wiv wine and stilton sawse on a bed ov pasketti. Later.When I get arountuit.If i feel lyke it.Maybee….
Got a seryuss case ov teh CBF’s.
…ah heck! Juss have teh wine.That’ll do me.
They can feed demseffs tewnite.
STN

TheLovecat says: September 22, 2009 at 6:46 am

enjoi yur wien! Butt (!) dose chikin brests sownd NOM! Hau yu maeks de sawse??

Tidmum says: September 22, 2009 at 6:53 am

ohai TLc
Pleesed to meetcha!!
Sawse is eezee…
..panfry chikkin or pork fillet or steak in a little butter with pepper and crushed garlic.
When cooked,remove from pan and add a large glass of wine.
Bring to boil,reduce slightly,then add some cream or creme fraiche.Then crumble in as much Stilton or other blue cheese as you like.keep stirring til cheese is melted and pour over a bed of spaghetti/tagliatelle or rice,on to which the meat has been placed.
ENJOI!!

Really, God, you think just because this is the second time I was washing a wineglass and it broke and cut my fingers to pieces that I'll stop drinking?

Well, you’ll have to do a little better than that.  [snort]  I mean, really, you think I can’t drink with only one hand?  What kind of imbecile do you take me for?  Maybe, just maybe, if you sent a dragon down from heaven (what?  it’s got wings!  and a heart!  and a soul!) with a machete in one paw, er, claw, and a machine gun in the other paw, er, claw and it breathed fire all over my face, causing the wine glass that was inching towards my lips to break, I might stop, well, no…. cuz there ain’t no law saying you can’t drink wine out of a plastic cup, is there?!  HA ha!  Yeah, that’s what I thought, God.

Colpetrone, A Sagrantino Vineyard, Montefalco, Umbria

Colpetrone – A Visit To A Sagrantino di Montefalco Producer

Today I went to visit Colpetrone, a producer of Montefalco Rosso and Sagrantino di Montefalco wines. The Colpetrone winery is located in the heart of the Sagrantino producing area, not far from the arrestingly named town of Bastardo, Umbria.

Colpetrone Vineyard, Near Montefalco, Umbria

The winery was holding an open day where wines where several areas of wine production were discussed. Due to the winery’s rural location we were a little late arriving and so we only caught the talks on barrel aging wines and cork technology.

Barrique cross section showing toasted wood

During the talks there were a couple of glasses of wine in front of us, a Montefalco Rosso and the vineyard’s top wine, a Sagrantino di Montefalco called Gold, made from selected grapes and intended for long aging. While the talks were going on, I couldn’t resist sampling the glasses in front of me. The Montefalco Rosso had  a good bouquet of red fruit and spice and was very pleasant to drink but the Sagrantino was instantly recognisable. It had an intense chocolate / spice bouquet and a robust structure in the mouth, the substantial tannin made the wine feel almost solid but finished with a beautiful mouth watering acidity.

Colpetrone Sagrantino Gold, 2005

On heading downstairs to the shop I was told that the price of the Sagrantino Gold cost €50 a bottle! It was also listed as no. 4 out of 100 top Italian wines in a magazine article.

Colpetrone Gold, Sagrantino di Montefalco

 We drank a glass of “ordinary” Sagrantino di Montefalco (€25 a bottle) with some superb cheese and cured meats and then wandered over to try the passito version of the wine.

Colpetrone Winery, Sagrantino di Montefalco Producer

Most Sagrantino wineries make a sweet version of the wine made from air dried grapes (passito).

Colpetrone Sagrantino Passito

This was superb; intense cherry aromas on the nose and the strange sensation of tannins and sweet cherry flavours in the mouth. Again, this wasn’t cheap, the price tag of €28 a half bottle makes this one for special occasions. I came away with an “ordinary” bottle of 2005 Sagrantino di Montefalco, expect to read my tasting notes soon!

To contact Colpetrone, telephone 0039 340 1384700 or email colpetrone@saiagricola

See the Location of Colpetrone Winery, Umbria (Opens Google Maps)

 

Tuscany Villas, Tuscany Agritourism, Tuscany Farmhouses

 

You can visit Colpetrone and try their Sagrantino di Montefalco when you holiday on the Tuscany Umbria border. Gorgacce Rentals have a selection of self catering holiday accommodation in this beautiful part of central Italy, visit their web site http://www.tuscanyumbria.com/ for Large Tuscany Villas, Small Tuscany Villas, Tuscany Farmhouses, Tuscany Agritourism and Tuscany Bed and Breakfast apartments, all with swimming pools. Also, look at our Cortona Apartment, Tuscany and Spello Apartments, Umbria. Whether you are looking for a Luxury Tuscany Villa or budget Tuscany Agritourism Apartments you will find suitable accommodation for your vacation in Tuscany and Umbria.

Gorgacce Rentals:

Tuscany Villas, Tuscany Agritourism, Tuscany Farmhouse Accommodation 

WINE TASTING BASICS PART II - KNOW THY WINE

Picking up where we left off last time- you’re on a date and have averted embarrassment, confirmed that the selected wine is sound and perhaps even impressed your companion with a theatrical display of swirling and sipping. But how do you know if you are treating your sweetheart to a magical bottle that transforms itself with every sip or if you just paid $60 for bottle that is on sale for $9.99 at your corner gas station?

In a lot of ways, wine tasting is a very personal experience and ultimately your opinion is the only one that matters. That being said, there are widely accepted guidelines for what constitutes a good bottle of wine and understanding these guidelines can make your imbibing that much more rewarding.

There are four basic ways of analyzing a wine: by its visual appearance, the aromas it gives off, the way it tastes in your mouth, and the sensations it causes in your mouth. Really, you can break this down further into three simple components:

Appearance
Nose
Palate

Last time we covered the visual and olfactory sides of tasting but didn’t delve that deeply into what happens on the palate. There are 4 primary tastes that we encounter when tasting wine and one of them is almost entirely exclusive to fino sherry (saltiness).  The other three are sweetness, sourness (or acidity) and bitterness (astringency).  The sensations that wine can cause include mouthfeel (smooth, coarse, oily, sticky, etc), weight (body), temperature and the drying sensation caused by tannin.

None of these necessarily make one wine better than another, rather the collective taste mixed of the with the visual and aromatic components of the wine tell us whether this is a Jackson Pollock or just an over-excited toddler hurling paint at a canvas.  Again, wine tasting isn’t an exact science, but here are some factors that help inform you of a wine’s quality:

BALANCE: Do the aromatic, taste and sensation pieces meld together seamlessly?  Are the wine’s fruit-flavors in balance with its tannin and acidity?  Is this Riesling’s sugar well balanced with its acidity or does it taste flabby?  Does the oak character in the wine blend into the other flavor components or does it awkwardly stand out?

INTENSITY: Can you easily smell the wine or does it seem tight and closed?  Is it excessively obvious or is it wonderfully and mysteriously subtle?

COMPLEXITY: Does this Chianti taste like you just chomped on a big sour cherry and nothing else or does it have awesome layers of leather, violets, clay and oak as well?

DURATION: How long does the taste of the wine linger after you swallow? One minute? Three? Five? What do you taste?

VARIETAL CHARACTER: Does this wine taste like what you expect from this varietal(s) or a wine from this region?  If not, is this lack of varietal character to its detriment or advantage?

X FACTOR: Also known as the “Wow” factor, the excitement factor or distinctiveness.  This is what makes a good wine great or pushes you over the edge from like to love.

Here’s my challenge to you!  If you have two hours and $50 to spend on wine (if not, try halving the wine list), go out and find following wines and then taste them side by side. For an extra challenge, have a friend pour them for you and write down which is which.  If you both would like to taste, line up 4 glasses for each person and number them 1 to 4. One person pours the wines, the other person switches the glasses. Both record what they did and neither should know which is which until they compare notes.

2008 Nobilo Regional Collection Sauvignon Blanc (New Zealand) $10.99
2006 A to Z Riesling (Oregon) $12.00
2007 Angeline Pinot Noir (California) $13.99
2007 Columbia Crest H3 Cabernet Sauvignon (Washington State) $13.99

Taste through these wines organizing your thoughts by accessing the appearance, nose and palate. Then rate wines based upon the metrics above. Which wine do you think is of the highest quality?  Which do you like the most?  Finally, if you are tasting “blind,” reveal the wines’ true identities. Any surprises?

I find tasting wines next to each other a lot of fun and a great way to highlight differences. I hope you do too!  Below are my impressions of wines [see: Anders' Wine Rating Scale]. Until next time… Sante!

2008 Nobilo Regional Collection Sauvignon Blanc (New Zealand) $10.99
Notice the rampant acidity- when you hold the wine on your tongue and then start to move it around in your mouth it makes your cheeks squeeze in.  I really like this wine.  New Zealand sauvignon blanc is always an easy wine to pick out of a multi-varietal blind tasting because they are typically quite fruity. This Nobilo delivers on this promise of fruit with juicy flavors of grapefruit, lime and passionfruit. I also got a little bit of cream on the nose and healthy bit of minerality on the finish. Made me think of licking wet rocks in my mouth as a kid. A classic example of New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc and stellar for the price.  I think it would be delicious with French bread and chevre.

Anders’ Rating:  Top Notch

2006 A to Z Riesling $12.00
Exotic spice, candy note, bosque pear, golden raisin and musk on the nose.  Distinct honey and citrus flavors on the palate- slightly sweet (off dry) with a voracious acidity.  I chose this one to demonstrate sugar in a wine but its generous acidity actual reduces the perception of the sugar quite well. Think about the sweetness when it hits the tip of your tongue. Really quite different from the Rieslings I am used to.  This probably will not appeal to everyone but I found it quite fun. Slightly fuller bodied than the Sauv Blanc, quite complex.

My Rating: Class for the Coin

2007 Angeline Pinot Noir $13.99
It has an unctuous mouthfeel, tastes slightly bitter and displays sweet aromatics of cooked fruit and vegetables (beets especially) eucalyptus and herbs. I think it is made from overripe and overpressed grapes.  It is not as acidic as Pinots can be and shows its alcohol on the nose. Not bad for a Pinot at this price point, but what does that say?

My Rating: Maybe Next Year

2007 Columbia Crest H3 Cabernet Sauvignon $13.99
Amazingly soft for a 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon.  Herbal aromatic notes, maybe a little thyme.  Some dairy notes on the nose as well. Shows its oak, but the wood doesn’t drown out the fruit. Lush berry flavors on the palate hang on through a finish that is impressively lengthy. Well balanced and a steal for $14 greenbacks. It is a wine that I think is easy to like and would appeal to a large group of drinkers.

My Rating: Class for the Coin

On Boeuf Bourguignon, Docs, Pinot Noir, and Nirvana

For folks that allocate non trivial sums of their waking hours tasting fine wine and devouring information in appreciative support of things vinuous, the ultimate reward occurs when the collage of food, wine, and human connection intersect with seamless harmony in one pinnacle vignette.  My experience with this form of cerebral tickling generally takes hold during a meal around a table, with a single companion or small group of special people; often with surprisingly large dollops of intimacy and serendipity.  I suspect it is a similar sensation experienced by golfers delivering that magical round at eight strokes below handicap or musicians performing at peak levels of fluidity, energy, and crispness on a night where everything flows as natural extensions of mind and persona.

Last weekend I slipped into this nirvana-like space as guest at a dinner party hosted by a cardiologist colleague, and his ex-New Yorker-endearingly frank and bright-New Hampshire legislator wife, of my soul mate-wiser than most-wife-the endocrinologist.  I awkwardly tag everyone with these professional and personal distinctions for reasons of color and admiration, but without prejudice or intention to generalize. Like so many physicians I have met as husband to a doc for 25 years, on this second social engagement with my new medically professional friend I made a mental note that he too displayed that familiar aptitude to explore topical knowledge at depths that prevent making mistakes…ever.  That is what physicians are trained for and why they endure inhumane rigors of medical school, internship, residency, fellowship, specialty and sub specialty testing, board certification, and on-call duty pinned to beepers that wake the deepest slumber.  I have lived half my life in awe of this level of immense dedication and brain power.

In turn, they sacrifice their youthful twenties and early thirties studying one or two things to perfection. The innocent social exploration and discovery that their non medical peers wade through during this early life era is unavailable to the medically inclined until later, creating a paradox of experience and life stage.   Preparing for a medical career is akin to military boot camp and basic training. Running through your career provides military-like privileges of rank, but never the permission to sidestep perfection.  Each new patient in the batch of thousands is as wholly dependent on your decision making and action as the ones you treated 30 years ago. 

On this very special evening our host also invited his practice partner and wife along with their Yankee/Giant/Ranger/Knick fan Bostonian (possibly the only other one in the State of Massachusetts besides my immediate family of four) malpractice attorney to revel in a “Julie and Julia” inspired meal that he spent parts of one whole week prepping for; boeuf bourguignon Julia Child’s way.  I never had boeuf bourguignon before.  The thought of it always reminded me of the bland braised pot roasts and stews my mother used to make back in Brooklyn which she ladled on top of over-boiled, limp kosher noodles (sorry Mom, everything else was DELICIOUS!). 

Full time physicians don’t have lots of spare hours for hobbies and trivial entertainment.  The class of physicians in their fifties and sixties seem to pick a fun thing or two that they can accomplish with limited and focused personal time supported by the deployment of some available cash.  I am convinced this is why I have come across so many docs that get into wine in a serious and thoughtful way.  They commit themselves to an intensity of learning and achievement that mimics competency levels reached in medicine and the satisfaction they garnered knowing few people could perform better around their one single discipline.  They chase new knowledge with an amusingly youthful curiosity and zeal (which is a most endearing quality to experience as it peeks through their structured medical rank and posture) and turn into sponges around sources of information that contribute to their pursuit of total achievement. 

This evening’s host had chosen cooking and cross country skiing as extensions of his professional life, moving around the world to cooking schools and challenging terrain in his limited personal time.  He has spent hours and days on treadmills with loaded backpacks draped over his shoulders to prepare for cross country treks at high altitudes where only few have ever ventured.

If anyone could craft classically styled boeuf bourguignon to its intended state of perfection, my money was on my new cardiologist/chef/skier friend.  Hoping for the best, I carried along a couple of bottles of Pinot Noir, 1996 Talley Rosemary Vineyard and 2005 Radio-Coteau La Neblina, that had been resting quietly in my cellar.   The boeuf bourguignon not only surpassed the pot roast/wet noodle imagery that served as the root cause of my newly discovered lifetime deprivation, it was magically delicious!  The rich Cotes du Rhone, butter, and bacon enhanced sauce supported by meticulously prepared home made stock coated the beef and noodles in silky hedonism that provided a perfect stage for the most ultimate seared beef smokiness that enveloped my senses.  Four minutes of this and ten minutes of that, and then 3 minutes of something else were in his litany of prep and cooking stages that disqualified me from ever trying it myself on the grounds of “too many details”.  But, holy cow, was it satisfying!

My wines were now safely in excellent company and ended up as the perfect pairing, as well as the second critical ingredient to our ultimate evening.  The Talley Rosemary’s, with a dozen years of bottle age, showed advanced flavors and a nose comprised of earthiness, mushroom, oregano, and fennel that knitted with the seared smokiness of the beef to bring wine and food together in one amazing sensation. The mild flavors of black cherry were unleashed with a silky mouth feel and enough acidity to provide good balance to the wine.  It was drinking perfectly. 

I first met Brian Talley in the mid nineties when he outlined his bold plans to  launch his interpretation of the best use of central California coast land that previous Talley generations chose to farm vegetables on.  Mushroom fanatic Ken Ottoboni, then proprietor of foodie heaven 231 Ellsworth in San Mateo where I hung my hat during a dozen years of Silicon Valley visits and where Madame de Lencquesaing of Pichon Lalande hinted at two Michelin star quality, suggested I meet Brian since he was succeeding at creating Central California Pinot Noir in true Burgundian style.  Brian’s estate Chardonnay and Pinot Noir and single vineyard Rosemary and Rincon programs in full swing, he fulfilled a wine making vision and made me a fan forever.  This evening brought together the expertise of cardiologist and winemaker in that region’s wine and food roots.

The second wine, the 05 Radio-Coteau, was excellent but did not have the advanced and earthy flavors to create the unison we experienced with the beef and Rosemary’s.  The nose consisted of flowers, eucalyptus, caraway, and very black fruit.  The finish was long and rich and the wine will continue to benefit from bottle age that should one day provide the perfect foil for boeuf bourguignon made by someone other than me. 

The final piece to this night of perfect harmony was our company.  Unfortunately, our host’s partner was on call and was paged way from our dinner for an hour and a half to perform some kind of electrical shock treatment on a very sick heart, requiring his years of experience and expertise and not to be passed off to hospital staff or covering physicians.  He left without thought or hesitation, as a warrior woken in the middle of night to join his battalion would.  Like the warrior, he returned and suppressed the intensity of his garden variety life and death experience in the field well enough to reconnect with the flow of the meal around him.  The sincerity of everyone around the table combined with mature but playful explorations of newly perfected food and wine passions to provide a pathway around everyone’s serious-as-a-heart attack professional identities.  We smiled at each other, all experiencing this pinpoint balance of wine/food/human connection, and promised another attempt to recreate this level of reward after respective returns from upcoming northern California, Beaune France, and Bristol England wine and food pilgrimages.

With the final touches of a finely sauced fennel accompaniment, artisan breads, tarte tatin, and home made limoncello, I floated into an ethereal comfort zone and was thankful for 10 years of patience with Brian Talley’s work, affording me the opportunity to play a part in the evening’s perfect symphony.

Would you like some fruit with that wine?

Inspired by a recipe at Orangette, I made this delightfully simple dish. Perfect for when you have some fruit, some spare (?!) wine, and a warm summer day.

Ingredients

Fruit

Some wine

Sugar

Directions

Slice up some fruit and put it in a shallow bowl. Add sugar, to taste (original recipe has 4 tbsp/8 peaches). Add some wine so that the fruit lies in a nice big pool of it. Put it all in the fridge for at least a few hours, or optimally a few days. That’s it!

Find a farmer's market at Edible Vancouver

It’s harvest time in the Lower Mainland and there’s no better time to get your 100-Mile Diet on. Trouble is, where do you find the fresh fixin’s you need for tonight’s dinner?

Look no further than Edible Vancouver’s handy calendar listing of local markets: just locate today’s date on the grid and you’ll find a listing of all current neighbourhood farmer’s markets, complete with addresses and maps. There’s sure to be one nearby, whether you’re in New West or the West End.

And when it comes to the appropriate wine pairing, you still won’t have to leave your own backyard: visit WineBC for a handy round-up of Lower Mainland wine shops selling VQA wines.

Day 6 Post 6! Result - 10 Stone One and a Half

Yippee … the weight is finally on the move … 10 stone 1  and a half.   That half a pound makes all the difference!  Last night I crumbled, no not over a biscuit, but stuffed myself with two glasses of wine, a sausage roll, a packet of crisps and a prawn sandwich having been ‘good’ all week, and knowing full well it was weigh in today … I just lost it, and felt so annoyed when I woke up this morning and realised how I had fallen off the biscuit barrel.

But … I cycled to work again, and it helped because I was 10 stone 4 last week, and am now 10 stone one and a half, I really think I can do this!! 

Part 2 this week will be swimming, Iwill try and build up tomorrow to 30 lengths although it might be a bit too much.  If I get too tired I will try 25.

I really need to keep on track, keep focused and keep going.  I know I need to have the odd treat, but I really really have got to try my hardest.  It feels I guess like an alcoholic trying to give up alcohol.  The withdrawal symptoms are horrible.

• Thinking what I would eat if I could
• Thinking about how much I would eat  if I could
• Thinking about that lovely feeling of eating a Yorkie bar
• Thinking about that lovely sweet taste when dunking a digestive biscuit in a cup of tea.
• Thinking how yummy it is to dunk a twix in a cup of tea and suck up the hole in the middle whilst drinking (like a straw!)

It’s hard dieting … if you don’t diet or have never had to or felt the urge to then you are very lucky.  But … I am going to do this, and prove to myself that I can.  I have proved to several that I am a light weight lately, so now is the time to prove them wrong!

Medical Alert!

The Center for Disease Control has issued a medical alert about a highly contagious, potentially dangerous virus that is transmitted orally, by hand, and even electronically.  This virus is called Weekly Overload Recreational Killer (WORK).  If you receive WORK from your boss, any of your colleagues or anyone else via any means whatsoever - DO NOT TOUCH IT!!! This virus will wipe out your private life entirely.  If you should come into contact with WORK you should immediately leave the premises.

Take two good friends to the nearest liquor store and purchase one or both of the antidotes - Work Isolating Neutralizer Extract (WINE) and Bothersome Employer Elimination Rebooter (BEER).  Take the antidote repeatedly until WORK has been completely eliminated from your system.

You should immediately alert your friends about this deadly virus .  If you do not have  friends, you have already been infected and WORK is controlling your life.

So many pictures it's like you're living in my eyes!

It’s been sort of rainy in Florence, but I don’t mind because a) I have puddle-resistant and hip Converse, which all Italians covet greatly, b) it’s made it cooler, and c) I am the proud owner of one of these:

All classy Florentines wish they had one.

Yes, that IS the Duomo. Cheesy? Duh. Brilliant? Clearly.

Rain I can handle.  It would take a hurricane, or probably just a strong gust of wind, to crush my Duomo and take me off the streets.  But earthquakes? Those I cannot handle, as I learned during my first one last night.  It was so subtle that many people, including my roommate, didn’t even notice it.  I did notice it, and not it in a calm or collected manner.  You know how I react to stray hairs on me or in a shower? Multiply that by 100.

But I’m trying not to let a crippling fear of the earth splitting apart beneath me get in the way of real life, so here’s some other stuff I’ve (bravely) been up to:

Cooking class where we made gnocchi (from scratch!), veal sauce, and tiramisu (tough)! YUM

Hunting for Florence's best gelato- Vivoli and Gelateria de' Medici are tied

How I spend my lunch breaks during school. How pretty is my bruschetta??

I intentionally picked all food pictures because those will make you guys most jealous, but mostly because pictures of us in class or walking all the time and earning our feasts aren’t as cute.

During those gaps of time between meals called real life, I’m trying really hard to learn Italian so I can chat up hot Italian men feel a little less helpless doing things like grocery shopping or, well, anything.  Unfortunately, our class in school is moving at a positively glacial pace — I’ve learned more from those language tapes they play in restaurant bathrooms than I have from this stupid class!  Today I decided to take matters into my own hands with two moves to improve my Italian, one uncharacteristically intrepid and the other exactly the sort of stupid shenanigans you’d expect from me:

• Bold- I’m volunteering with Florence’s Festa della Creativita to translate/edit the plaques next to the visual exhibits into English.  I’m really excited about this! It’s supposed to be one of the coolest things that happens in Florence and everyone I’ve met around there is really nice and welcoming.
• Typical- As a little kid, I learned to read by working my way through Calvin and Hobbes anthologies.  Today I saw a book of Peanuts cartoons in Italian in a bookstore and decided to see if the trick would work a few years later with Italian… at the very least it will make me adopt a more adorably cynical and practical joke-prone tone.

Fun weekend coming up! Going to Elba for some Napoleon history and Mediterranean beauty, Pisa for shoddy tower engineering, and Chianti for a wine festival!

Wine, Mountains, and Snow

Mendoza is the wine capital of Argentina. One of the cool things about this country is that drinking is not frowned upon… in fact, it’s promoted! So, if you happen to be there during the summer (December to March), you’ll be lucky to be part of the biggest wine festivals ever. The biggest events to go to during this festival include:

• Vendimia Parade: Usually happens in February, on a Friday/Saturday night and includes gauchos and local department beauties (in the run to become the Vendimia Queen) going around the city on massive floats giving out grapes or walnuts from their department (or county).
• Election of the Queen and After-Show: This is a beauty-pageant like competition; one of the queen “contenders” is elected to be queen (usually happens in mid-February) and a very impressive show of fireworks and choreographed music wraps up the celebration.

There are tons of wineries and wine museums in the city and since it’s so close to the Andes, trips to the mountains or outdoor adventures are actually pretty fun!

The first days, we visited a few vineyards and wineries, unfortunately I wasn’t allowed to even sample any wines but the ones I did have were very good, although some were actually very rough.

This place (above) was half winery, half art museum. I was lucky enough to even snap this shot because security there was so strict, I thought they belonged in the military. In other words, wine is almost sacred here.

Crushing some grapes to make wine. Talk about a tough job!

___________________________________________________________________________________

Mountains and Snow

I have to admit, the cold weather in Argentina was not fun; however, spending a whole day in the snowy mountains was one of the best experiences, ever.

On our last days, we decided to rent some ski boards and head to the mountains on a tour bus. We visited more historical sites, including Puente del Inca. Towards the 19th century, crossing from the city of Mendoza to Chile was a mission, especially during the winter because people would literally freeze to death. To prevent this, Puente del Inca was built; it served as refuge to the mail men who traveled back and forth between both countries.

Puente del Inca Remains

This is where we stayed, Penitentes, a ski resort located right on the border between Chile and Argentina. There are about 25 runs of different lengths where you can ski, snowboard, ride snow sleds, etc. The good thing was that there were so many runs and they were all so big that we almost had it all to ourselves. So….  we didn’t run into anybody when we were attempting to ski and felled miserably.

…. like my mom, who was skiing the wrong way

She tried, though.

And my sister and cousin who decided it would be a good idea to share this tiny snow sled.

Food and drinks were very expensive here…. so, when we got thirsty, we just grabbed a snowball and ate it.

Towards the end of the day, our hands were so numb that we only managed to make this tiny snowman

Elderberry Wine 2009, The Harvest

September can be a busy month for the amateur winemaker. It’s at this time of year that the Elderberries start to ripen. Elder trees grow pretty abundantly in the Irish countryside and hedgerows and I am lucky enough to have a few growing in my back garden.

Elderberries, or ‘Englishman’s Grapes’, as they are affectionately known, have been used to make wine for hundreds, possibly thousands of years and have also been used as an additive to many fruit, berry and even grape wines to add colour, body, tannin and flavour complexity. However, by themselves and in the right quantity, elderberries can make a rich, flavoursome wine full of body and character.

Composition

Elderberries contain roughly 8% sugars (sucrose, glucose and fructose), are rich in Vitamin C and contain lots of anthocyanins, which are antioxidants. They are also a good source of vitamins B1, B2 and B6 and contain anti-inflammatory agents. The main acid is Citric acid and they contain about 3% tannin.

Harvesting

Elderberries grow in umbrella shaped clumps. As the fruit begins to mature the clump starts to droop. When the clump has inverted the berries are absolutely ready to be picked however, to prevent soiling by birds, you may want to pick them slightly earlier.

For me, harvesting is a two stage process, that I call the ‘Pick and Flick’. In the ‘Pick’, the ripe berries and stems are plucked from the trees. My mate Morco helped and over the course of a couple of days (some berries were ripe while others weren’t) we had picked roughly eleven kilos of berries and stems. 

TheMerryWino 'Flicking' Elderberries

The most arduous and time consuming part of the harvesting is the ‘Flick’, where the berries (and only the berries) are ‘flicked’ very carefully from the stems using the back of a fork. Perfectly ripe berries should just fall off the stem without too much effort whereas slightly underripe ones may break off part of the stem with them. These stems will have to be fully removed before making the must.

After many hours of ‘Flicking’, the help from Coll was very much appreciated, and after a couple of glasses of  young Elderflower and Rasin wine I had made in June, we managed to get eight and a half kilos of berries (just enough to make 5 (6 US) Gallons of wine) which we weighed into one kilo bags and put in the freezer. Freezing the elderberries helps break down the cell structure of the berries and allows juice to be released more easily, which will give the wine better colour and flavour.

With the harvest complete, it was time to relax and open a bottle of red. This week’s red was Faustino I 1994 Gran Reserva. Mmmmmmm fruity!

Grape-Stomping on Pennsylvania Avenue, French Wine, Food and Music Enliven the Willard's Vendanges Outdoor Wine Festival

Technorati Tags: wine,travel,hotels Technorati Tags: wine,hotels

The Willard InterContinental and Café du Parc celebrates its second annual Vendanges, the autumnal wine harvest festival as enjoyed throughout France.   Locals and visitors will fill the colorful Willard courtyard venue on Thursday, October 1, from 5:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. to enjoy the offerings of French regional wine purveyors featuring some 40 different styles of French wine and beers. Cafe du Parc’s Chef de Cuisine, Christophe Marque, presents authentic French festival dishes with music provided by

The Gypsy Strings, bringing the music of Europe, the Mediterranean and the Middle East to the Vendanges celebration.  There will be dancing, grape-stomping.   Guests can purchase tickets at the event, starting at $20, for four items to be redeemed at food and wine stations set up throughout the courtyard.

                Chef Marque’s offerings will include country charcuterie

and cheeses, French barbeque including Toulouse Sausages, and beef, lamb and Monkfish brochette, savory and sweet crepes, to be savored on long, family-style communal tables.

The featured wines will display the quality and value of the small producers of French wines who are themselves the wine makers.  Participants will enjoy this festival that brings the opportunity to taste French wines made in limited quantities, complimented by the French artisan, regional food being offered on this festive occasion.

                          

Café du Parc, the popular French bistro located next to the Willard InterContinental, opened in April 2007. Serving breakfast, lunch, dinner, afternoon petit plats, takeout lunch items and house specialty French pastries, Café du Parc embraces true classic bistro cuisine with accompanying French wines. Chef Christophe Marque leads Café du Parc’s culinary brigade under the guidance consultancy of celebrated Michelin-starred French chef, Antoine Westermann. Call Cafe du Parc at: 202-942-7000, or visit our Website at www.cafeduparc.com.

An American institution and leader in Sustainable Hospitality, the Willard InterContinental is located in the heart of the nation’s capital on Pennsylvania Avenue, near the White House, the Smithsonian museums and the downtown business and theatre districts.   The Willard is the Washington D.C. hotel of choice for heads of state and leaders of the world’s business, cultural, social and political elite.  The hotel’s 332 well appointed large guestrooms include 40 elegant suites.  Dining options include Café du Parc, the popular French bistro with seasonal outdoor seating and traditional Afternoon Tea in Peacock Alley.  The luxurious Red Door Spa offers a wide array of pampering treatments.  The classic Willard InterContinental combines heritage and luxury with contemporary comfort and the latest technology. Tel. 202-628-9100, or Web site:  www.washington.intercontinental.com.  Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/Willardhotel  and Facebook:  http://bit.ly/13jjy7.  Visit www.willarddc.com/sd, a comprehensive guide to the hotel’s sustainability efforts.

———————————————————————–

Back in the SLH

*Disclaimer: I received this wine as a sample from Hahn Winery.

The Santa Lucia Highlands that is.  Last year at the Wine Blogger Conference I met Lisa from Hahn Winery and got to take home a couple bottles of Hahn wine, including a Pinot Gris from the SLH series that I really enjoyed.  Lisa was in attendance again this year, bearing even more wines from the Hahn family of wineries, and I grabbed a bottle of the 2007 SLH Estate Hahn Syrah on the recommendation of Thea (I’m trying to be better about the linking thing, I’ve noticed a marked decrease of cross linking around the wine blog world recently) and she’s never steered me wrong, so into my case it went. It clocked in at 14.7% alcohol by volume, had a real cork closure, and retails for around $24.

On the nose the Syrah seemed pretty peppery at first, but it wasn’t overwhelming and it integrated quickly. The rest of the nose revealed chocolate, rich black plums, meat, sweet oak, blackberry, and dark fruit. It just smelled fresh.  In the mouth, this is one heck of a spicy Syrah, so if you like that kind of thing, this is for you.  I got pepper, earth, blackberry, black plum, black cherry,  anise, and violets.  The wine had a long finish, great structure, and nice acidity.  I found the fruit to be velvety and smooth.  I really wanted lamb with the SLH Syrah!

Mushroom/Squash/Sweet Potato Risotto, and 2005 Ella Valley Chardonnay

After two weeks of French food it was time to return to my roots – Italy and its fresh herbal flavors.  There is no dish and flavor that epitomizes Italy more than Risotto, and after some richer French food, we went with some creamy delight that was highlighted by herbs and Farmer’s Market vegetables.  We started with four stalks of cleaned leeks, and two pounds of Shiitake that were sautéed until browned.  I then removed the onions and mushrooms and used the same pot to soften the sweet potato and yellow crookneck squash.  We then removed the soften vegetables; added back the onions and mushrooms (yeah would have been far easier to cook in a second pot – lesson learned – maybe next time I will just roast them).  I added back a bit of olive oil, and two cups of Arborio rice, and made sure that the grains were well coated with the oil.

An aside, there is a HUGE difference between sweet potato and yams.  Many think they are the same, and I cannot but stress how foolish this line of thinking is.  The Sweet Potato nomenclature is really broken!  Sweet Potato is a firm potato that cooks and stays firm.  Yams are a soft potato that cooks soft and is better used in sweet potato pie.  So the next time you go to the supermarket and want to add some sweet flavor to your dish, figure out ahead of time, if you are looking for a firm or soft sweet flavor.  Yams are going to go soft after some time, while the “sweet potato” will stay firm like a red or yellow potato.  OK – back to risotto.

Wait – one more aside, in case you are wondering why we want two starches – Arborio rice – the king of starchy rice and sweet potato, the answer is because we wanted to   Simply put, we had a sweet tooth and we wanted risotto, so sweet potato it was.  OK – this time, no more tangents.

OK, after the rice, leek, and mushrooms were properly coated, we started the risotto dance.  Yep, it is a dance that requires you to lead most of the time, but still give the partner a chance to shine.  You place a cup of hot water/broth in and then let the rice soak in the liquid.  Back and forth you go, until the rice starts to become slightly mushy and creamy.  It is truly imperative that you have a pot of just boiling chicken broth hot on the stove.  This allows for the rice to not be cooled down and then heated up (if you were to ad in cold soup).  The ironic aspect is that you start with a cup of wine, and that is NOT boiling, but it is room temperature, and the pot is boiling hot and the rice is well coated, so that is why the first wet liquid in a risotto recipe is commonly white wine.  After the wine is soaked up, we ladled in a cup of broth, waited for the rice to soak it up, and then to start the process again.  The interesting and complicated part of the recipe is when to throw in the additives.  You see the onions and/or leeks are an imperative part of any risotto recipe and are the base of all risotto recipes that I have seen.  We threw in mushrooms because we like them, and they do not get in the way of the rice cooking/creaming process.  But, the real question is when do you throw in additives – like our sweet potatoes and squash?  Some have it going in early – but that is a disaster because it does not give the rice a chance to set up.  Some have them added after the third cup, but we added it at the very end, right when folks would add Parmesan cheese – which is not my style.  I was really happy with the outcome, though one more aside (yes I lied); it is hard to make risotto for Friday Night dinner.  Since the risotto needs to be reheated for Friday Night, it is hard to remake the perfect creaminess you get when it is just made.  We did a solid job, but would love to find a way to perfect it.

4 stalks of leeks halved and sliced up thinly

2lb of mushrooms sliced

Salt to wilt leeks and mushrooms

2 yellow sweet potato

12 small yellow crookneck squash

Thyme

Basil

Rosemary

2 cups of Arborio rice

1 cup of wine

4 or more cups of broth

Once we finished the risotto, I looked around for a wine to match, and settled on a 2005 Ella Valley Chardonnay.  The wine was oaked and as it opened, it felt overoaked – almost Californian, but without the weight or sugar to hold it up.  The wine turned green as it opened, the oak and green flavors overpower the mouth, but still a nice Chardonnay.  This is definitely a wine that should be drunk soon and enjoyed with a nice fat fish, creamy sauce linguine (thinking Italian!), or light cheeses.  By the way, this wine may not be a huge winner, but its better siblings – the Ella Valley Vineyard Choice Chardonnay (both Oaked and UnOaked) are huge winners.

The wine note follows below:

2005 Ella Valley Chardonnay – Score: B+

The nose on this light gold to gold colored wine starts off with sweet oak, lemon, green apple, almond, vanilla, and eucalyptus.  The mouth on this medium to full bodied wine is more bright than rich, glycerol and oily, with apple, pear, and slight bitterness.  The mid palate is bright with bracing acidity, a bit unbalanced with green notes.  The finish is long with mint, summer fruit, tart lemon, with toast and vanilla.  As the wine open more, the fruit fades a bit, the heavy oak comes to the top, and the acidity and bitterness are a bit off.

Rum-Soaked Independence Day

 

Not the torch for the Special Oympics

 It kinda looks like it could be: the town is full, the bands are tuning up and if the rains don’t dampen things, the pipe mortars will start soon. I finally saw the contraption the other day….a 2 ft section of what appeared to be 4 inch metal pipe on a stand. The fireworks dude drops in the charge, which has a five foot fuse and then waits for the signal to light it off. …crack-a-boom, a  blaze of initial powder ignition and the sucker goes straight up for three hundred foot and blows up: a sizeable cloud of dirty grey/brown smoke, a very loud BANG and that’s it, folks….its not about the beauty or the art: its all about the BANG.  I’m starting to get it about how things work here. If only I could figure out the women.

There may be news of a minor miracle on the wine front:  I stumbled across a ‘97 Merlot out of Haywood Vineyards in Sonoma for ten bucks….hmm…WTF?  The semi-bad news is that the cork was on the verge of disintegrating. I drank most of it and consigned the remainder to the spaghetti that’s on the stove. For the sake of science, my fund of knowledge and never-ending quest for truth, justice and a decent bottle of red, I”ll have to go back and sample another bottle. Film at eleven…

 

I’m a bit early with this, since the actual day isn’t until Tuesday, the 15th: Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Costa Rica all share the same date of liberation from the evil clutches of Spain…after a few centuries of the Inquisition, slave labor and bad wine, who could blame them? Oddly enough…maybe not all that odd, is that Mexico celebrates a day later: manana in action, a day late and a few pesos short.

There is the possibility, probably slim, that a new type of motorized passenger conveyance may be seen on the streets of Antigua….

The Beast from India

Its a bit ugly and bigger than the standard tuk-tuk: rather than a little motorcycle engine, its got a liliputian one-cylinder diesel huffer and puffer…the mayor has been heard to say that he wants to get rid of the tuk-tuks…screw…what happens to us on the streets who get caught in the rain or have too much stuff in the bag to take home?  When’s the next election?

[Via http://paladin123.wordpress.com]