New Year's Eve at Michael's Santa Monica

 Just got this message from  Michael’s Santa Monica, one of my favorite places for super delicious and romantic dinners.  The perfect, candle-lit spot for couples to ring in the New York–or to give her a ring….

Come celebrate New Year’s Eve 2009 with an awesome party at Michael’s Santa Monica. The joint will be jumping, looking more beautiful than ever. The drinks will be flowing, with Champagne included with your meal.

And the kitchen, led by executive chef Mikey Stern, will be humming, producing special menus featuring our renowned fresh, seasonal, regional California cuisine. General manager Mike Nicol and sommelier Andrew Turner will provide great service and wine advice about our award-winning wine list.

Take your pick of two separate seatings:

First Seating (reservations available between 5:30 pm and 7:30 pm): 5 courses, $95 per person
(exclusive of tax and gratuity), including one glass of Champagne. (Click Here To View Menu)

Second Seating (reservations available starting at 8 pm): 6 courses, $175 per person
(exclusive of tax and gratuity), including free-flowing Champagne and dancing past
midnight to music from renowned jazz musician Don Allen and his band. (Click Here To View Menu)

For reservations, please phone Michael’s Santa Monica at 310-451-0843.
Or make your reservations through .

Tables are limited, so please book quickly.

We hope to see you here for a great New Year’s Eve Party!

 

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Michael’s Santa Monica | 1147 3rd Street | santa Monica | CA | 9043

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The New Wine Map 2010 - By John Szabo

John Szabo

Every new vintage changes the world’s winescape. Winners and losers are fashioned by weather, wine trends and market whims. New regions distinguish themselves, classics are re-established or plummet in popularity. What was new becomes old and what was unknown becomes hot. It’s my job to track those changes, and here’s a short list of next year’s countries, regions and wines to watch.

Canada

Loyal readers are already tuned in to great Canadian wine, but this year saw some major upheavals that will change things for the better still. First there was the CIC debacle. In case you missed it, the ball got rolling when the story was broken that Vincor, our largest wine company and official sponsor for the Vancouver Olympics, would be passing off non-Canadian wine to unsuspecting consumers using the perfectly legal but devilishly misleading “Cellared in Canada” designation for their Olympic wine, Esprit. These wines can contain up to 70% foreign grapes and still qualify as “Cellared in Canada”, which appears to all but the seriously pedantic as “Canadian” wine. Major embarrassment for Vincor, Olympic organizers, and Canada. They’ve since agreed to put only VQA (100% local) wine into Esprit.

But the PR fiasco, along with irreconcilable differences with 100% VQA producers, have led Vincor and the 6 other major companies dependent on CIC revenues to withdraw from the Wine Council of Ontario, the industry’s promotional organization. With them goes 20% of the WCO’s promotional budget. But the WCO may finally be cured of its split personality disorder, the mutually exclusive agendas of satisfying both the gods of CIC (more powerful) and VQA (only demi-gods, financially). Now the WCO can get down to promoting local juice exclusively. Labeling and signage in provincial monopoly stores will also be tidied up (a clear separation between VQA and ‘international blends’), and consumers will finally no longer (we hope) be duped.  Now we can focus on our great Canadian wines; check out wineaccess.ca for the results of the 2009 Canadian Wine Awards.

South Africa

FIFA World Cup fever hits South Africa next June, when the world’s attention will be squarely focused on the Cape. Local wine producers know that this is their 15 minutes, so expect dozens of over-delivering values from the bottom to the top shelf. If you’re traveling to see the Cup, you can have wines matched up with the Big 5 game animals. Yes, that’s right. Wines of South Africa has undertaken to train 2010 front line servers by 2010 to deliver the message of SA wine to football fans, a tall order, considering that few locals have any wine knowledge. But WOSA has devised a clever training program in which the major grapes are compared with African animals to make wine more accessible, a way of teaching that makes sense to the African wine un-educated. Doesn’t cabernet sauvignon remind you of elephants? Huge, thick hide, lives for a long-time, long backbone, king of animals… Or Shiraz, the rhino of the wine world, the feisty, spicy one with the horn…

South Africa is already known as a source of hot values, from the traditional areas of Stellenbosch and Franshhoek to more cutting edge regions like the Hemel-en-Aarde Valley, Elgin, and the dry-farmed vineyards of Swartland. I’m betting on crisp sauvignon blanc, characterful chenin Blanc and innovative Rhône-style red and white blends to win the crowds over.

Portugal

Dog stranglers, fly droppings, little rats, sheep’s tails and bastards are just a few of the over 350 evocatively-named grapes from this sliver of the Iberian Peninsula to try out. Remember that Portugal pretty much checked out of the 20th century politically speaking, and thus thankfully avoided the industrialization and globalization that took place in the rest of post-war Europe. Chard, cab and co. are thankfully just footnotes in vineyard registers here, and indigenous grapes have pride of place. Some of the vineyards in traditional areas like the Douro Valley and Dão look as though they haven’t changed in a century. Maybe that’s because they haven’t. Ancient vines in mixed plantations, the way grandpa used to do it, means that distinctive, uniquely flavoured and densely concentrated wines are commonplace, and sold at no-name (or at least, what-the-hell-is-that?) pricing. Look to Vinho Verde for vibrant, sashimi and ceviche-friendly whites, Dão for finely etched, elegant reds, The Douro Valley for massively concentrated beauties (and of course port), and Alentejo and the Sétubal Peninsula for pocket-friendly, internationally appealing red and whites. And stop worrying about which bloody grapes and their precise percentages are in each blend. Many producers don’t know, and don’t care. All I care about is whether it tastes good and if it’s worth the money (yes is the answer to both generally).

John’s Essential Vintages Essentials:

2007 Hillebrand Trius Red, Niagara Peninsula, $21.95

2007 Malivoire Chardonnay Estate, Beamsville Bench, $19.95

2006 Cave Spring Indian Summer Select Late Harvest Riesling, Niagara Peninsula, $24.95/375ml

2007 Goats do Roam Red, Costal Region, South Africa, $12.95

2008 Crasto Vinho Tinto, Douro Valley, Portugal $14.95

2006 Quinta dos Carvalhais Duque de Viseu Dão Tinto, Portugal, $13.95

2006 Esporão Tinto Reserva, Alentejo, Portugal, $24.95

[Via http://blog.winealign.com]

Spiced Pears and Persimmons Amity Style

Valerie Came home from Christmas Eve Dinner  at Bistro Maison in McMinnville,smelling like Duck Confit and spiced pears.  I’m looking forward to a taste of the duck but I love when the house continues to smell Christmassy.  And what is better than cloves, ginger and  cinnamon filling the air.  Today she tried her version of pears poached in Amity Vineyards pinot blanc.  She also added some Fuyu persimmons.

Here’s her recipe:

3 ripe pears

2 fuyu persimmons (the hard apple type)

1 lemon

3/4 cup sugar

5 slices of ginger root

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon cloves

Slice three pieces of rind off lemon. Fill a bowl with cold water and squeeze some lemon juice into the water. Slice pears and persimmons and put into water.

Pour wine into a large heavy frying pan, add sugar, lemon rind and spices.  Heat on medium until sugar dissolves. Add fruit and gentle simmer until pears and persimmons are tender and translucent, about 15 to 30 minutes. Remove fruit and reduce syrup in half, pour over fruit and refrigerate.

The Chef at Le Bistro Maison used his pears in a cranberry goat cheese and toasted walnut salad with roasted shallot dressing, but they’re good as dessert with some vanilla ice cream, or on top of breakfast cereal.

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

A day in the Hunter Valley

Hi friends .

It’s been a long but lovely day of driving today. Adam had never been to the Hunter Valley wine country so we headed off from Forster around 10am this morning for a little wine adventure. The day started with a simple breakfast of Vogels, a cup of Rooibos, a spoonful of Maranatha and a coffee from the BP servo once on the road (surprisingly good!).

It took us roughly 2.5 hours to get into the wineries, Adam drove there, luckily because I felt so sleepy the whole way and would have had trouble keeping my eyes open. We each snacked on a muesli bar too around 11am.

Once there we called and booked in at Muse cafe at Hungerford Hill winery for lunch at 2.30pm. But first we stopped at Peppertree, Tempus Two, the Smelly Cheese Shop, Tulloch and Brokenwood. My favourites are Peppertree and now Tulloch.

Here we are at Peppertree having a tasting.

It’s such a beautiful winery. The grounds are gorgeous with rose bushes everywhere. Unfortunately it poured with rain the whole time .

With our purchases in the pretty gazebo!!!

We got a couple of reds and whites and some verscato for Martin from Tulloch (he loves it). Then it was off to Muse for lunch!

To start we had warm olives in balsamic vinegar and bread as we were starving.

The bread was warm ciabatta and came with olive oil, Margaret River pink salt (home!), and garlic confit (delish).

I had a heap of olives and 2 pieces of bread. I was HUNGRY! Plus I had probably had about a glass of wines worth of tasting sips (despite only taking a sip and pouring out the rest of my tastes) and wanted to cleanse the palate. The tasting pours are huge in the Hunter! I was designated driver so after those tastes called it a day.

So Adam and I committed a cardinal sin of food blogging and ordered the same thing for lunch . Except that there was the option to have the scallops wrapped in prosciutto so he took that up and I didn’t. This was home made fettuccine, cherry tomatoes, scallops, anchovies, spinach and purple basil in a white wine sauce (not creamy).

Adam’s and mine below.

It was absolutely fresh and delicious! I am usually a bit scared of anchovies but these were incredible. Not super fishy and the saltiness really made the meal!

Once I drove the 2.5 hours back to Forster, cheeses and snacks were ready and waiting.

Albeit half demolished . I picked up some Mary’s crackers from the Smelly Cheese shop and some wasabi peas (love them) and some balsamic peanuts (just cause they sounded strange and interesting). 

The star of the show was this yoghurt cheese that is like Persian feta. It’s incredible.

So I had a bit of everything except the brie. Probably 6 Mary’s crackers with Labna, a handful of wasabi peas and a couple of peanuts (not so great).

Dinner tonight was another BBQ. I skipped out of the chicken, sausages and burgers and went with a little smoked salmon with green salad (no dressing) and some baked sweet potato. I ended up having 3 pieces not just the 1 piece pictured as it was delish. With dinner I had 2 small glasses of Watershed Cabernet Merlot, mmmmmmmmmmm.

Dessert was a tiny piece of pineapple, some unpictured green grapes, a couple of cherries, a spoonful of Maranatha and a cup of tea. Full and full.

I’m headed back to the Forster gym tomorrow morning with Martin for another long workout. I had a rest day today and I’m craving a workout after sitting in the car for 5 hours. Then later we are driving back to Sydney for another few days before our holiday comes to an end on Friday and we head back home to Perth. I’m looking forward to seeing Little! I’ve never been a month without seeing her .

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

3 Dog Whinery Zin-Lot 2006

3 Dog Whinery Zin-Lot 2006
Originally uploaded by e_gilman

This wine can’t be picked up in any store, but it’s still one of my sentimental favorites, so I had to include it. My grandparents live in Napa Valley, and every year the employees of the architectural firm where my step-grandmother works gather together, along with spouses and friends, to make wine. The blend varies from year to year, and they trade architectural work for oak barrels, bottles, and related ephemera. In 2006, the wine happened to be a blend of zinfandel and merlot. This suits me fine, because even though it’s somewhat out of style at the moment, I still have a soft spot for dry, tannic merlot taken in moderation (at some point, there develops an inverse relationship between the dryness and the tannins and how much of it I’m willing to down in a sitting). This wine is a decent balance of the merlot and the zinfandel. Both grapes are independently detectable: when you first imbibe, you’re hit with the merlot, giving way to a slightly spicy zinfandel finish. At some point after the first impression, the alcohol also hits you. Given the wine’s provenance, the exact alcohol content is unavailable (the bottle’s given ABV: “You’ll find out!”) but my impression after having sampled several bottles is: high. When you first uncork the bottle, the initial aroma is comparable to a bottle of aged ruby port: strong notes of oak and dark red fruit. The oak note fades in the glass, and after a few minutes is mostly dissipated, although it can still be detected to the taste. Personally, I love this wine with pasta with zesty red sauce, and I’m clinging in a miserly fashion to the bottles I have left.

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

Sleepover with Leyla: Part 1 of 5

No trip back to long island would be complete without a sleepover with my best boohbah leyla!

so much goodness  always happens when we hangout and the first thing i have to report on is the ghetto deluxe wine that she was drinking like it was water. Out of a scotch glass too for effect.

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

The Happiest Place on Earth Right Now.

I was just in Wallyworld (Walmart).  I’ve been to funerals that were more uplifting.  At least the woman in front of me, a senior citizen, was friendly. We managed to agree that you can’t walk into Walmart for just one thing.

I dropped my parcels off at my car, which is parked in Osh Kosh Wisconsin, and walked to the state regulated liquor store (freezing my ass off in the process-what we do for “fun”). What an atmosphere change! Everyone was laughing, and helpful, and smiling! That because either A) everyone was piss drunk already and was back for resupply, or B) everyone was looking forward to getting piss drunk.  The cashier commented on how much she liked my hair. A man even let me get in line in front of him!

More people should spend more time in liquor stores. Even if you’re not getting anything.

[Via http://rioko861.wordpress.com]

A New Nephew - and More Wine Tastings at SoMar!

What an eventful week it has been! This morning, my gorgeous new nephew was born – Liam Archer, at 10:06, 7 lb, 15 oz. I may be biased, but he’s a beauty. So please pardon that the attached photo has nothing to do with wine. But after I unhappily left my sis in the hospital, I headed to work to sample some more delicious wines. On tap today were some excellent whites AND reds. The Loredona 2008 Riesling from Monterey was just right; it wasn’t too sweet and had just the right amount of subtle tartness. I also enjoyed the Giesen 2008 Sauvignon Blanc from Marlborough – nothing out of the box, but a great NZ wine. I’m also partial to Viogniers thanks to my time at Chrysalis, and the d’Arenberg Adelaide 2008 “The Hermit Crab” is delightful – a peach/strawberry nose with a fuller-bodied fruit and nut flavor. The reds were equally good. The Emilio Moro Resalso 2007 – 100% Tinto Fino (local clone of Tempranillo) – had hints of oak, smoke, and fruit while remaining a pleasant, medium-bodied wine. I’m loving Pinot Noir more and more, and this Manzoni 2007 from Santa Lucia did the trick with its rich cherry aromas and light body with tart fruit. Finally, although some Shiraz an be too overwhelming for me, I enjoyed this Jim Barry The Lodge Hill 2007 – it had a light oak nose with a smooth flavor.

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

Guest Post: Holiday Food and Wine Pairing in Arkansas

I was recently asked by the editors of At Home in Arkansas magazine (full disclosure: I have a business and financial relationship with the magazine) to participate in their guest blog holiday series by providing this guest post on wine and the holidays.  The magazine is the leading home design and lifestyle magazine in the region, and while it is based in Little Rock it is recognized as the premier state-wide magazine brand.

The strategy of inviting guest bloggers has turned out to be a strong business move.  First, they chose some of the best followed design bloggers to participate.  Second, they promoted the series heavily through their Facebook fan page which has just about 4,000 fans as well as to their growing Twitter following.   The blog, hosted as a sub domain of the website, has seen dramatic traffic flow and increased search results on the heels of each guest post.  Guest bloggers, like me, bring their audiences and the increased rate of fresh, new content has also contributed.

It has been another strong example of the secret powers of social media to turbo charge internet marketing programs for businesses reliant on web traffic.  The guest blogger series was devised by the magazine’s Chief Editor Diane Carroll, one of most talented and classiest design editors in the entire industry, along with her social media savvy colleague Paulette Pearson.  Here is what Diane had to say today:

The post is a great complement to this series that Paulette has done such a good job putting together. It’s been a huge success—our website hits are up higher than ever, a 13% increase in the last month, and FB fans are nearing 4,000.

This comes on the heels of the magazine growing their web traffic 50% over the summer after instituting an aggressive social identity recruitment and content sharing workplan that you can read about here in Viralhousingfix. 

On a related but separate note, I researched the Arkansas state wholesale catalogue and the limited availability is a reflection of the continued restrictions that state legislators, antiquated distribution systems, and other limiting forces are placing on even and fair access to wine as a legal products.  It baffles me, especially as a Massachusetts resident living behind the bars of a State Wine Penitentiary where we have to sneak wine across the border, how we have failed to let supply and demand and market forces dictate where any wine can be bought or sold.  We can’t do enough to support the Specialty Wine Retailers Association on their Wine Without Borders mission.

Still, there are plenty of excellent wines to drink in Arkansas, and Massachusetts, and it was fun to add my two cents for local wine and food enthusiasts with my guest post.  Even more, it was an honor to be part of this strong line up of guest design bloggers and to see the amazing results and engagement it all created for At Home in Arkansas.

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

Last Minute News: Free Wine-Tasting Tonight at MAX's

The Black Door (I’m thinking the HauteLook/GiltGroupe/ideeli/ruelala of wine) brings you a delicious free wine tasting TONIGHT!



Head to MAX’s Underground (the cool basement of Max’s) for a very special tasting of wines featured in The Black Door’s 
unbeatable retail wine deals.

Today, Monday, 5-7pm

Incredible deals on amazing wines, taste and purchase:

Dollium Reserve Malbec
Gaja Camarcanda
Dellamotte Champagne 1999
Two Hands Bella’s Garden
Sterling Three Palms Merlot
Mer Soliel Chardonnay
Provenance Sauvignon Blanc
Etoille Rose
Orogeny Pinot Noir
Morey Blanc Mersault

Food
 like fried chicken drummettes
, crab cakes, swordfish and black bean nachos, salmon tartare, and 
MAX’s famous Sliders (yum, check ‘em out here)accompanies the wine. Last minute holiday gifts!

207 San Jacinto at 3rd St.,
512.914.0111
, www.maxswinedive.com

[Via http://thisislifeinaustin.com]

Sunday Date Night

Adam and I had a fun little spontaneous date night tonight. We both needed it for sure!

Before I get to that, let’s back up to lunch.

I had some leftover salad tossed with some Annie’s Goddess dressing. I also had one mini-whole wheat pita with some roasted red pepper hummus. I love Sabra’s roasted red pepper hummus!

I also had a couple cookies that I brought home from the cookie extravaganza yesterday.

I ate a lemon & ricotta cookie and a coconut macaroon. Yumm!

We hung out at home and then headed out for our date night!

First stop: The Wine Room at Park Avenue.

First you buy a card, and then add money to it as you want. They have over 150 wines to taste and you can choose the size of your tasting as you go. It’s self-serve and it’s really fun to just go around and try what you want! We already had a card so we added some money and went for some tastings. Then we headed to Urban Flats.

We split a salad of caramelized onions, walnuts, blue cheese and a balsamic vinaigrette(on the side). Yum! At first they forgot the pears but they made the salad for me, glad I asked for some.

We ordered three flat breads to share. Well, I shared two he was on his own with the steak & portobello.

To the right is the roasted vegetable flat bread.
This is the FIG and prosciutto flat bread with blue cheese and mozzarella. SO amazingly good! Sweet, savory. Delicious!!

This is Adam’s steak and portobello pizza!

I ate this plate..

..plus another slice of roasted veggie and the fig and prosciutto.

When we got home, I ate some cookies. Excuse the paper towel, I just wanted my sweets fast!

I only ate one of the lemon ricotta cookies and the coconut-meringue-macaroon cookie. Yummy!

I had a great night with Adam, and I am SO ready for bed now!!

Goodnight!

Katy

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New World Takes on a Whole New Meaning

I am totally in awe of Crushpad. It’s brand-y new boutique DIY winemaking awesomeness. They say they are democratizing the wine industry. I say f*ck yeah!

In their own words:

Who is Crushpad anyway? Well, we’re a combination of wine industry veterans and technology industry refugees who want to liberate winemaking from the stereotype of the 5th generation wine family living on the chateau with the Golden Retriever. By bringing winemaking to the city, augmenting it with education and support, and taking care of the time-consuming parts, we want to enable anyone with a serious interest in wine to participate in the magic of winemaking.

Basically, you get to design and make your own wine online in collaboration with experts and advisors online. Monitor the growth in the vineyards online, participate in the harvest if you want, choose your barrels, your fermentation techniques, everything. Here’s the very clear easy “how does it work” page. Explains it better than I can.

And what’s even better? I learned about them through a joint twitter and charity initiative. For every bottle you buy of their 2009 “Fledgling” wine, pictured above, they donate $5 to Room to Read, a literacy program that brings books to extremely impoverished children around the world and whose motto is, “world change starts with educated children.” Here’s a link to a video on how this all works.

So, as I’m starting to “get” twitter more and more every day, I am awed at its ability to take on projects like this one. Humanity. The more things change…

There you go. I bought two Fledgling bottles for my parents. So should you!

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

Wine anyone?

My entire family gets together in California once and year and goes ‘Wine Tasting’.

What’s so great about that you might ask…?

Well, those who have tried it once, will tell you without hesitation – that you don’t need to know your ‘wines’ to enjoy a wine tasting event. You don’t even particularly need to like wine.

The whole affair is entertaining and wine tasting becomes a side activity!

First there’s all the hype about all the different wines that exist, how long they’ve existed for (there’s severe competition here people) and the bottles they come in.

Then there’s the pouring, swirling, tasting…. and not to mention … the ooohhhing and aahhhing!!!

Believe me, people are so serious about the entire process, it’s entertaining just to see them in action. Sniffing at their wine and claming to know just how good  or mature it is … all la-de-da and pretentious.

I for one – LOVE every moment of wine tasting.

So, I was thrilled to get invited to one such event close to Mumbai, at LAVASA  – where a prestigious Hospitality Management Institute – Ecole Hoteliere Lavasa – was organizing an exclusive wine tasting event.

And, since I don’t drink and tell….(wink wink)…. I’ll just leave you with a pic of the event…..

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