Vajra Straight-Up

my own residual heat

2011-07-07T10:16:00.000-07:00

A restaurant that makes its own bread is automatically and respectfully elevated in my mind. A laborious task that even as consumers get to know "real bread" and come to expect something other that an 80's dinner roll, few operators can manage the heaving physicalities or the resultant labor costs. Making bread in a restaurant to be used as the "house bread" is something that like the range of appetizers or small plates an establishment has to offer, remains one of the elements that I critique and evaluate when deciding if I do or do not love the place.

Years ago, I helped open and develop an Artisan bread concept in Colorado. At the time it was the first of its kind and we did great work! The spirit of working with bread is hard to articulate. Its so alive and with each day that you make bread and work through this process, getting to know the ingredients, the starters and various living leveners, your senses of temperature, impending storms, air pressure, humidity and light are all heightened. You find yourself discovering the beauty of culinary preparations that are based in this glorious bread that you raise to loft and little miniature snacks and happenstance combinations of mis en place laying around when combined with the bread become examples of delightful culinary creations.

Yeah, ..im an employee of Fifth Group here in Atlanta and we do make a good bit of bread company wide. While at least in my mind there aren’t a ton of good bread bakeries in this city,.. my love affair and affinity for good, hand shaped freshly baked bread remains an significant undercurrent of foodstuff appreciation. In the morning, if you are lucky enough to find yourself walking down cypress ave between peachtee and west peachtree oh,..say around 10:00, you wont need to try hard or even break your stride to catch a whaft of the nutty, warm ,..toasty,..honey scented aromas of Ecco’s naturally leavened bread that’s carefully and lovingly baked like clockwork each day.

I love the expressiveness that emerges from simple combinations of ingredients but at or just near the top of my list is this sinfully epic combination of Valhrona and warm Ecco levain. Something about a chocolate sandwich that melts its chocolate by itself. Not pressed or grilled, but actually taking a just out of the oven loaf, ripping the end off, spreading its crumb,.. pressing a couple disc shaped nuggets of dark chocolate into the center …and closing the Kermit the frog like edges ..and just waiting,..the bread gods take the helm and have rewarded me time and time again with a residual heat treat that may be one of the best breakfast snacks of all time. Don’t try this at home…instead,..call me or email me and we can arrange a time to meet in the alley and do this together.

cold pockets in a warm climate or warm pockets in a cold climate?

2010-09-21T12:01:00.000-07:00

What makes Chile the world’s most suitable natural environment for growing wine grapes, how it benefited from its natural barriers and a benevolent Mediterranean climate, and why such a large proportion of Chilean wine reaching us today is crafted utilizing bio-dynamic or low input practices without the producer having to lift a finger.

In most parts of the world, the organic production of wine can be quite labour intensive and there’s a lot of thought that goes into making a vineyard bio-dynamic or organic, and the final product organic for that matter. For some areas, it’s simply not viable to omit the use of industrial pesticides, such is the nature of the environment. So what makes Chile so different?

Climate
Chile’s climate is highly influenced by the cooling effect of the Pacific Ocean and the Humboldt Current that begins in the icy waters near Antarctica and flows up the western coast of South America. When the effect of the Humboldt’s cold current hits Chile’s northern coastline it produces clouds and fog, but little or no precipitation, which then contributes to making the Atacama Desert the driest on Earth. Important to note is that there is as much climactic diversity west to east as there is from North to South.

Geography
The cool sea air is partially blocked by the Coastal Mountains, although it finds its way inland by following the course of the transversal river valleys. During the day, sea breezes carried by the cold Humboldt Current penetrate inland, and each night, cold air descends from the snow covered peaks of the Andes. The coastal mountains of Chile look like the large Sonoma Coast appellation. While traveling through this coastal area, it’s hard to believe that there aren’t more vineyards in such an apparently ideal locale.

Chile’s geographic barriers - the Atacama Desert to the north, the Andes Mountains to the east, the Patagonian ice fields to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the west - make it a veritable agricultural island. Together they help maintain healthy conditions and protect vineyards against pests and disease. Not much if any mildew, no glassy winged sharpshooters, no Phylloxera, cool and dry in general… it’s a winemaker’s paradise.

Soil & Terroir With so much geographic variety, the Chilean landscape also offers a vast mosaic of terroirs and soil types. Soils are healthy, well-drained, and have a variety of origins (alluvial, colluvial, fluvial, etc.) and textures (loam, clay, sand, silt). Despite the relatively dry atmospheric conditions, abundant water for irrigation flows from the ice caps of the Andes Mountains that tower all along Chile’s eastern border.

Altitude -In recent years, more and more vineyards creep closer and higher to the peaks, where the sun is slow to appear over the eastern peaks and makes up for its late arrival with the intensity that comes with altitude. Currents of wind climb and descend over the course of the day to create a daily pendulum of temperatures that swings broadly between daytime highs and night time lows. This is just what rich red grapes, such as Cabernet Sauvignon, thrive on.

Not long, but wide -Curiously, it’s not the distance from the equator that plays the dominant role in the diversity of Chile’s grape growing exploits, but rather the proximity to the Pacific Ocean or the Andes Mountains. Again,..Chile has much greater diversity in soils and climates from east to west than from north to south.

All of this may seem a bit over rated or simply irrelevant to what most of us know and feel about Chilean wines. We’ve come to understand that the country has for years produced a majority of their wines for export and have despite the totally unique and endless viticultural wonderland clearly focused on quantity and not so much quality. Sadly for the looking back but fortunately, as I have recently discovered that the historical presentation and position Chilean wine has taken will likely be the launching pad/ spring board for what I believe is the next greatest and promising global wine producing region. As recently as 7 years ago, a visible paradigm shift in the mentality of the entire industry has spawned an amazing spirit of rejuvenation. We are today witness to export directors, young second and third generation winemakers taking the helm, driving market share, setting new standards of excellence and producing wonderfully crafted, interesting wines that are a pleasure to enjoy, to collect and to ponder. Get in on the map people! Viva Chile! Raise your cup with me and toast to what I promise one day soon will be regarded as the most exciting and rapidly evolving wine production areas in history.

cheese and wine opinions

2010-09-10T07:15:00.000-07:00

The other day, Katie Bell, a friend who also happens to be an accomplished food and wine columnist and freelance writer asked me to make some wine pairing recommendations for an article she was working on. I wrote my reply at lightning speed late at night and was in fact a bit tipsy but upon review this morning, while sitting down to make a blog entry, I decided that I should just share the rant with you all. I haven’t had many of the cheeses but I think im familiar enough to take a crack at it...anyway,. here is the letter and reply to her query.

Katie,
As always, I am flattered that you have asked me to participate and make contribution to your story. It’s a genuine pleasure sharing a perspective on a part of life that I truly love. Thanks again for the opportunity. I find it oddly paradoxical that noshing grubb or what I think of as historically casual nibbling foods have become a cerebral exercise in the wine and food world. For me, in the same way that we drank unpasteurized raw cow’s milk, farmed all our own veggies and drank crystal clear well water, growing up amid a house full of traditionalist foodies took really amazing classical cheeses and meats and made them and the eating ritual common. For years, cured meats and cheeses were always just simply there and available. No hype, no big deal,…it was just the way it was. Wines were had a similar application. Water, juice or wine with your hunk of Wabash cannonball? I dunno,…in any case, my point of all this is that, so many years later…like so many things in the gastro world, we have found a way to bring complexity and exactness to a food and or occasion driven by food that really has always been staple, standard and sort of ordinary. I’ll give it my best crack now that ive had some years to pay attention and have since formed an opinion. Thanks again!

Chapel Hill Creamery's Carolina Moon, a buttery, rich camembert, quite luxurious with a slather of blueberry compote.- for me camembert, especially domestic camembert with fruit always screams late sunny morning October breakfast barefoot on the patio . I immediately want a warm Parisian loaf like the generic kind you might find in any random corner grocer in Paris. Bromated flour, plenty of commercial yeast, yet still warm enough to get over the generic-ness of it all. If I had to pair wine I might move the setting to après dinner and with the blueberry angle,….well,….id say let’s stick with bubbles and go with a bottle of the NV Langlois- chateau, Cremant De Loire Rosé, Saumur, Loire Valley, France . This and other Loire sparkling rosé have both a textural elegance and serious earthiness balanced by great spicy fruits. Cabernet Franc in this form is a favorite bloomy cheese pairing.

Sequatchie Cove's exquisite Cumberland Cheese modeled after a French Tome de savoie has a melt-in the-mouth smoothness finished with an earthy punch.- TDS is one of my all time favourites! I haven’t seen a domestic version that quite captures that nutty smoothness and deep grassy flavour but it sounds like this might be the one? When I think TDS, I think of white not red. Assuming that this is not as assertive as the Rhone version, id go with a bottle of the 2007 Marcel Deiss, Beblenheim, Riesling, Alsace, France. Alsatian to the core, this friendly wine is loaded with zesty lemon and great minerality that both serves the grassy spirit of the tomme and contrasts the nuttiness to drive the cheeses mouth feel and round comforting character.

Spinning Spider's Stack House is an elegant, soft creamy and luscious young goats milk cheese has an ash coating that imparts a unique minerally flavor.- when I think of ashed goats milk cheeses, I normally think about selles sur cher, or judy Shadd and her Wabash cannonball. I also have been a mega-uber fan of Jeremy and jessicas Lumiere at sweetgrass back when that stuff was around…wow! What happened to that stuff eh? So, while I drink sauvignon as often as anything else with goats milk cheeses, I think the ash sometimes enjoys a white with a bit more oxidative, creamy, almost clotted cream like character with ample levels of minerality to underscore the charred veggies. For this cheese, im going with the Domaine Laurent Chatenay, “Les Maisonnettes”, Montlouis Sur Loire, Chenin Blanc, Sec. Yum!

The bodacious Sweetgrass Dairy's Asher Blue Cheese makes a statement. Its robust personality marry's well with walnuts and fresh, sliced Arkansas Black apples.- I have a serious problem with pairing most reds with blue cheese. I find that disharmony comes to an apex when the molds from the cheese clash with the tannins of a firm red. It’s possible that some late harvest Spanish reds have worked late night with a chunk of cabrales but that stuff needs and deserves a good beating. For something domestic and a bit more tame, as far as the world of blues is concerned, I’m almost always looking for smooth, silky, rich and decidedly sweet. One of my very favourite stickies these days is a little wine from Ken Forrester in Stellenbosch SA. He makes this lovely sauternes rendition called Ken Forrester “T” Stellenbosch from Chenin Blanc. Lush, melons, pineapple and zingy, bright acidity to balance the heft of residual sugar begs for a nip of smelly salt and spoiled cream.

Andouille- like marinara, this stuff can be so many different things. I keep links of the old chef K Paul version in my freezer so ill use that one for this pairing. I also think it’s fair to note that for me drinking wine with Andioullie would be an abnormality. Typically when I find myself eating Creole or Cajun foods, im not in a wine mode. This is not to say it’s never happened but just for the record..im just sayin….In any case,..for this,.. I would pair a thick, oily rich white with this spicy sausage. Immediately, the glorious and often overlooked Rhone blends come to mind. Rousanne , Marsanne, Grenache blanc and viognier all lumped together act more like a pack of wolves in sheeps clothing than they do wine varietals. I’d go with a new Rhone selection from Betts & Scholl,..the 2006 Hermitage Blanc, France

Rabbit Brandy Boudin- I remember eating boudin off a foil wrapped stick purchased from a roadside vendor just over the bridge from Lake Ponchatrain. It was the Wednesday after fat Tuesday, I was 16 years old, driving a Puegeot stationwagon and we had spent the last 200 interstate miles shooting roman candles out of the car window as we drove through the night. The boudin was laced with rice and as such, felt more like encased pilaf than it did sausage. I have loved this stuff ever since. With the added gaminess of bunny and the sweet brandy, im going with the Jorge Ordonez value anomaly du jour,..the 2008 Paso a Paso, “old Vine” Verdelho, La Mancha, Spain. This wine has exotic richness, oodles of plump glyceral fruits, and a good citrus oil backbeat that would provide some reprieve from the certain intensity of the meat and brandy combo while holding its own in terms of intensity and richness.

Petit Sec and Figatelli---salami style pork 'snacks' cobbled together with pork liver, red wine, garlic and fresh herbs, they are air-dried.- this kind of thing just begs for tradition to me. Like I mentioned above, I think a lot of different wines, accoutrement, breads and cheeses work well with this sort of food stuff but in the end, if I must choose, id go with something Italian. Let’s use the wine from the often misunderstood, regionally confused, biodynamic producers, Avignonesi. They plant their vineyards on concentric circles and I think I love this family. This wine and all of their other wines for me are more like elixirs than wine. For this,…lets go with the 2007Avignonesi, Vino Nobile di Montepulciano, Tuscany, Italy. Exceedingly “old world” in its bowels, the wine is fruity, laden with hippie smoke shop like aromas, and normally has a nip of my favorite barrel infection Brettanomyces, affectionately known throughout the wine world as “brett”. This controversial wild yeast, imparts a gamey quality that just adores cured pork product and also drives a hint of sweetness to the very front of the palate which keeps you coming back for more as the salts and fat from the sausage makes its mark. For me, Sangiovese and salami are timeless and rightfully so.

My Cadillac and my pinky ring,..they restoreth me in thee.

2010-09-04T12:09:00.001-07:00

One of the great pleasures of wine enjoyment is the methodical ritual of wine cellaring or conscious maturation. This getting to know a wine can be a long relationship or something equivalent to a spontaneous one night stand. Thinking about the wine like one might a person, the bottle, depending on how many bottles of that specific wine you own, could be more like a day spent aimlessly strolling the streets of an urban metropolis , like a weekend retreat with a new lover or if you are lucky, like a lifelong relationship that continues to unfold. The bottle itself is all about memory and all at once about a building upon experiences that ultimately create an overall conclusive impression. In the end, whether it be a one time deal or something that carries on and evolves, that single bottle is just a sampling of the much bigger picture. Sadly, in most instances, wine is unlike a fifty year marriage, and we as consumers never actually get the chance to have it “all”. So, speaking to memory and building of relationships, it is, regardless of how many bottles you actually own of any particular wine, always quite interesting to me to watch the evolution and see what happens from day to day or week, month to month or year to year.
Earlier this week, I shared my 5th bottle of Marcel Deiss, Mambourg, Alsace Grand Cru with a good friend. Like an annual secret rendezvous with an old high school sweetheart in a distant and land, this wine has sprouted a few gray hairs but is sexier than ever.

Marcel Deiss is one of my all time favorite Alsatian producers. Many of his vineyards are planted with a mixture of Riesling, Pinot Gris, Gewurztraminer and more. This is not that unusual in Alsace – many Grand Cru sites include a number of different varieties. What is unusual, however, is to treat than as a field blend, with all grapes going into the final wine. Blends are not new to Alsace, of course; there are many Edelzwicker blends available, of which some are delicious. But these are usually sourced from AC rather than Grand Cru vineyards, and often feature Pinot Blanc, Pinot Gris and Gewurztraminer, not the region’s most noble grape, Riesling. But here Deiss has another controversy; many of these wines are named for the vineyard, rather than by the grape varieties, which would be standard practice in this region of France. Labeling Alsace Grand Cru without varietal information - as has been the practice chez Deiss - was, until 2005, operating outside the INAO regulations. A change in the law, however, means that such labeling is now permitted, thereby bringing Deiss into the fold.

2002 Marcel Deiss, Mambourg, Alsace: 08-31-2010
The wine is always warm, exceedingly rich and tropical. The riper than ripe yet somehow magically fresh, open nose shows lots of tropical fruit notes minerality, lanolin, honeycomb. The palate is ripe and open knit now- more so than 1 year ago showing more minerality, lanolin and honeycomb bound by surreal unctuousness. Quite sweet though balanced with lovely fruitiness and astounding textural appeal. The explosive palate finishes smoky with richness and power: lots of mineral extract, high relative acidity - finishes off-dry.

Our father
Which art on Wall Street
Honored be thy buck
Thy kingdom came
This be thy year
From sea to shining sea
Thou givest me false pride
Funked down by the riverside
From every head and ass, may dollars flow
Give us this pay
Our daily bread
Forgive us our goofs
As we rob from each other
He maketh me to sell dope to small children
For thou art evil
And we adore thee
Thy destruction and thy power
They comfort me
My Cadillac and my pinky ring
They restoreth me in thee
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of poverty
I must feel their envy
For I am loaded, high and all those other goodies
That go along with the good god big buck
To your horse
A ? grows there
Ahead in time, the unexpected soul-searching beam of the strobe
But now, the stairway looms
And as I rise
The cries of kittens, gray, make way
For there, now near
Here now, gone, alone
I feel my wrist, it flicks the switch
No lights reveal the room or me
She sees, then panics, grabs a light
I scream, silent comforts that are not heard
I panic, for I have not said a word
Hysteria hold the room in sway
I run, I back away, to hide
From what?
From fear?
The truth, the light?
Is truth the light?

Brazilian waxes, 7.50 cent beer and a chastity belt

2010-06-19T10:54:00.000-07:00

Today I feel like my dorm mates must have years ago when for whatever reason their bodies were more sensitive to diet and particularly salt than mine. I don’t need a blood pressure meter today that’s for sure. I can feel my wedding band taught around my third finger, even my eyes feel a little pressurized as if they were bulging from their sockets a bit. Maybe this is a good thing that just now at 37 years old ive gained or developed sensitivity to this sort of thing im calling “next day bodily duress”, or on the other hand, because I know ive partook in my share of various and sundry systemic abuse, perhaps its an indicator of just how out of touch ive been for all these years?...hmmm,…any way, .. a night at the 755 club at turner field with my middle son of 8 years instigated several rounds of heavily processed chicken wings, beer, mini cheese burgers and plenty of sickeningly oily, salty, french fry like fried potato sticks. For all of this immediate caligulian joy, today I feel like a spent piece of something very disposable.

On our way to our soopa doopa rock star seats right behind home plate, we toured the upper rotunda at the stadium. I suppose Its one of those opportunities to witness a genuine social demographic crossection …kind of like going to a “B” rated amusement park like Six flags or even Kings Island, its at sporting events and especially in the exclusive clubs within arenas and stadiums that you can actually get a sense of who the people are that live in your city and your neighborhoods. My son, even before I, took notice and went on to mention the number of extremely overweight , tattooed people all of whom were engaged in some form of concerted consumption and then in the leather recliner to the right and left, a picture perfect generic well-to-do suburban country club family decked out in the latest nautica and Ralph Lauren garb daintily licking cotton candy ice cream cones and chatting about their most recent shopping excursion to Miami’s Bal harbor. Its really a sight.

One thought on beer in a Southern stadium environment. Temperature versus blindly taking it easy. sure bud light and similar beers are refreshing but just ask yourself what it is that really makes them this way. Seriously, id put money down if you could tell me that when a Bud is warm its still as refreshing and revitalizing at it is when its 34 degrees. So in this way, as most of us would agree that there are many other options with much more character that still when guzzled at sub 40 degree temperatures bring measureable refreshment. So why then do so many of us choose insipid dry lackluster beers for summertime gulping? I say its more about the chill than the actual profile of the beer. Just try it,..go buy a sixer of something medium bodied instead of your usual domestic light, chill it down to 35 degrees and take it to the neck! Which would you prefer, a 81’ rusty Nova with good AC or a Maserati wth the convertible top down?

After taking our seats, it must have been the bottom of the third inning when a group of attractive sparingly clothed girls strolled into our section and took seats in the row in front of us. All of 18 years old, they were all wearing excessive amounts of perfume, and looked as if they had just bought new Atlanta braves ¾ length baseball jerseys just for the game. With pink blackberries in hand they slowly settled in and after about 10 minutes calmed down enough to manage the expectation of an 8th row sports fan.
My son and I went on about our business, watching, munching on cracker jacks, drinking beer and strawberry smoothies and enjoying what was a picture perfect summer baseball event. As is the case with most arena seating, the rows are stacked atop eachother. So, leaning forward in my seat game me a unique vantage point to the row of girls. They were chatting about, not watching the game for more Than a minute at a time but rather spent the majority of the game texting and instant messaging friends that weren’t at the game. I looked down at one point read the outgoing text . There appeared to be a boy at the other end f the thread. She had sent over a dozen messages when my curiosity came over me …I couldnt help looking and the text she wrote said .. Girl,..“yeah, were at the game…and you’re right,…its really *%^$^$# hot here”. Boy,.. “what are you drinking?...we still have beers over here” Girl,..“ the beer selection is bad” Boy,..” What do you mean?..its your fault for drinking 10$ beers..ha ha” Girl, ..”Were not drinking them,..the ID was rejected” Boy, ..”bummer” ,…Girl, “ they aren’t 10$ anyway…they are 7.50$” Boy, …”what did you do yesterday?” Girl,..”do you really want to know?” Boy, “yes!!” Girl,.. “ well, I went and got another Brazilian Wax then went to Victoria’s Secret and bought some Lingerie” Boy,.. “ Nice! …god I cant wait for you to be my wife!” Girl, “ only a couple more years till im 25!” Boy, “ do you want to come by here tomorrow night and help me finish this keg of Sweetater?” Girl, “ mmmm,I like that beer,..its better than 7.50$ bud light!” , …Boy, “ yeah for sure” ..Girl,.. “ id love to come by and you know my parents are out of town this weekend right? ..Boy, "yeah,..dont remind me. Girl,…"we can do other things but we just have to just wait…yeah ill skip mass on Sunday and stay over at your place…ok?” Boy, “ now your talking,!”

make me sweat purple

2010-06-05T10:50:00.000-07:00

Another iconic evening spent last night at Chastain amphitheatre. triple blind couples date, perfect low humidity air, barn swallows diving above wildly, candlelit tables, foodie inspired European street foods and yeah, you guessed it, despite the 85+ degree air, there were two bottles of monster domestic red that just had to be had. Lets talk –

2001 Peter Michael, Les Pavots, California Meritage
This wine emits darkness, ( is that possible) rich purple-red in the glass showing youth and a good long stint in a cold cellar without agitation.. It lifts out with aromas of black cherry, anise, and dark loamy earth. On the tongue it is bright and lifted with berry flavors, and then a lush and round blanket of super ripe black cherry, blueberry, tobacco and smoke peak through in the mid-palate with thick velvety tannins that are very Bordeaux, finishing long and smooth with a hint of vanilla and sweet oak. Very good show from a very good vintage.

1997 Silverado , Limited Reserve, Cabernet Sauvignon, California
This wine's moderately concentrated, properly ripened cassis-like fruit is constant and controlled, and its complement of oak enriches the mix without threatening to dominate. It is a fairly deep, a bit spicy, neatly tailored wine that takes few chances but succeeds nicely in the style that it claims. And, while we find its price more ambitious than its achievement warrants, it is nonetheless a well-made Cabernet. didn’t find this wine too exciting, especially along side the PM mentioned above. A good wine ? – yes, but I felt as though I needed to put some Drakkar on with a blue pinstripe suit and take a seat at a table in a Midwestern steakhouse. Needless to say, neither this or the PM are the style of wines I seek out or actually ever really drink for pleasure. Nevertheless, the wine shows the classic side of Napa Cabernet .

Syrah spells GOOD!

2010-05-24T14:16:00.001-07:00

I think by now its safe to exclaim that Washington State produces some of the finest wines in North America. Last night while meandering through a list of random house chores I scampered down stairs to ye ole wine cooler to fetch a bottle of something shiny and delicious. A recent addition to the mix, Gregg Harrington’s Gramercy Cellars, Walla Walla Syrah made it back up the stairs and into the decanter. What a thrill.

If you are like me and have grown tired of all the overblown, super manipulated flesh- blanket style Syrah that have dominated the marketplace, Id recommend you working your way through the Syrah pack of Washington state. Not to say that every one out there is an iconic singular expression but more often than not, for whatever reason, this varietal shows its slender lanky side with a measure of finesse and elegance when born of Washington soils. This “lift” and brightened framing so to speak is for me a component that seems to be necessary to really unveil all that exotic floral and spice components that Syrah really does have.

So often, Syrah from Paso or any number of California AVA’s ends up buried in layers of overly toasted oak, syrupy elixir like jammyness or worse yet, tarry, black medicinal fruit that just manhandles the womanly core. It goes without saying,…this is an ill-fated but all to common story. So, whether from this perception or as a raw back lashing effect (what ive been affectionately referring to as the Australian slingshot) . Syrah has had a really bad rap for the past many years. I want you all to rediscover this grape and do it right so,...here is a start.

Gramercy Cellars, Syrah, Walla Walla, Washington 9/10
Closed at first, though I store my reds a bit colder than most. Beautiful texture with intense fruit presence on the attack that bounded and expanded throughout the mid-palate and finish.( especially as it warmed) Notable freshness with vibrant acidity that arrives early in the palate ultimately giving way to the wines spicy core that remind me of what the juice inside a suede canteen might smell and or taste like if it were stuffed with over ripe huckleberries and then slung over the shoulder of a dream-like Athenian goddess as she rode bareback through meadows of clover and spring iris. Firm and sincere, the frame was relentless and while its length and symmetry were admirable, this was too a sniffer paradise ( again, especially after 2 hours). Reminded me of that rare Crozes Hermitage nose you sometimes get Think: Gilles Robin where after a good whip in the glass, you approach the glass high off the rim and this wafting focused purity of tiny weenie purple fruits sing for just a split second then retreat back to the heavens. go find some of this! Props to Greg and his crew! www.gramercycellars.com

how do we manage it all?

2010-05-23T10:48:00.000-07:00

An architect of sorts was under pressure to complete a set of drawings on time to meet a deadline. He was forced to devote four successive Sundays to the completion of this work. He had to isolate himself from the rest of his family which includes his wife and three children. His wife managed well for the first three weeks but on this fourth Sunday was in a fretful and irritable mood. He remained closeted in his room for the entire day. He was vaguely aware of his wife's feelings and from time to time would hear her lose her temper at the children. He fell asleep for a short time and had the following dream:

"I was calling the weather bureau to ask if the hurricane was expected to hit the city that afternoon. As I was asking the question I began to feel embarrassed and guilty. I awoke as I was trying to terminate the call."

He awoke with the dream in mind. He had a growing feeling of uneasiness with regard to the burden he was placing upon his wife, but felt that it was necessary and unavoidable. He associated the metaphor of the hurricane to the recurrent blasts of his wife's temper, particularly in view of the fact that if another hurricane were in reality to occur its name would have begun with the same initial as that of his wife's name. The incidental event precipitating the dream was the occasional sounds of his wife's quarrels with the children which reached his ears while he was intensely preoccupied with the work he was doing. The contradiction which was deepened and brought closer to full awareness was one arising from the discrepancy between the actual nature of his activity on the one hand - the arbitrary and absolute way in which he cut himself off from his family when under pressure - and the way in which this activity was reflected in consciousness - that this was simply a necessary but transitory interlude in his family life which the others owed it to him to countenance.

Owed or gifted? Managed or disabled? Where is the line and where is the beam? The more we try to do the right thing, the more we execute ourselves with criticism. This is when the flowers and the blue sky begin to have real meaning. Simplicity, escape, and purity. He will take some of that at some point.

from the bathtub at birth to the bathtub at death

2010-05-17T20:33:00.000-07:00

John F. Kennedy said," There are risks and costs to a program of action. But they are far less than the long-range risks and costs of comfortable inaction." No modern cultural figure could have said this with more ultimate clairvoyance than JFK indeed! With each day we battle the legacy of complacency and routine, do what is necessary to remain in connection with dreams and the finished vision of possibility. I have a close friend that even with nearly twice my years has honored and held tight to this sort of mantra. Interestingly enough, "out of the box" open-mindedness is what keeps us young not just physical activity...its more,..its the joint value of thinking about whatever it is, creating the finished, complete image, and looking back upon completion as a cycle. Oddly, most of the people I know in my life that harness the beauty of "now" to move ahead are not my immediate professional peers. For this regrettable reality, I will do my part to make a change and to be a member -if only amongst a small group of people dedicated to believing in the endless opportunities of an open mind and heart. I keep saying and keep hearing myself say just how amazing it is that with each passing measured week of life, every other day really does feel more like another Wednesday. I can only imagine how this time space acceleration must manifest to a man 30 years my senior. I like the flurry of a frenetic scale but i long for the space between the notes. From the bathtub at birth to the bathtub at death. Shake your money maker!!

dirty gifts, dirty pleasures and a grip of Heineken

2009-12-02T18:18:00.000-08:00

Near the small northwestern Colombian town of Puerto Triunfo, Pablo Escobar once built himself a vacation getaway befitting a man of his stature. Hacienda Napoles was just shy of paradise, spread across almost 5,000 acres (7.7 sq-mi.) and featured everything from pools to a bullring to an exotic zoo with hippos, giraffes, elephants, and more. Stories of enormous drug-fueled sex parties at Hacienda Napoles with some of Colombia's most powerful and most beautiful in attendance continue to circulate, contributing to the legend of Escobar. opulence at its height, this drug laced I want it,..i get it lifestyle makes what we lust for now further out of reach but somehow Spartan in comparison. however, pity our hearts and ceramic minds, our insatiable need to be involved with all celebs and to stay tuned to all the drama,…all the glitz and all the naughtiness …well, its almost like we all secretly want to be… modern day Escobars.

Today, however that paradise is in ruins and the days of spelling your name in cursive with a 24 inch line of pink flake have come and gone. Even at the PE palace, everything that could be gutted has been gutted by people looking for rumored stashes of coke or cash. Its only residents are families of refugees from the country's war against guerrilla fighters and about 20 hippos which roam the area with the same kind of impunity that Pablo enjoyed decades ago. I began Thinking about ole PE this morning as I recalled my 2009 thanksgiving après party 5hat went down gracefully in the basement of a friends home in a rural outskirt of Atlanta Georgia. An geographic eternity away from Colombia but little did I know how just how close to the legend,…the man,…the myth himself I actually stood.

After a brutal ending to a sixth or maybe it was the seventh game of billiards, a dozen and a half bottles of an famous green glassed eastern European lager, the sundry aromas crept down the flight of stairs and apparently took hold on my countenance. Initially, I was just one of the gang. ..one of four dudes hanging out working off the mysterious potions, hops, vinous libation and 20K plus calories when one member of the opponents team began wondering if I was actually who I said I was. Totally unprovoked and bizarre …this situation is, even as I write this days later, remains difficult to articulate. im not sure ive ever been in a situation where introductions were made, conversation was had, laughs were shared and then,..suddenly, all at once like the de-guising after a masquerade ball, you are instantaneously viewed as if you were …well, ..in this case, standing next to Pablos true cousin,… I was most certainly a Colombian secret intelligence agent camouflaged as a balding middle aged man with three kids and a bronze colored SUV. I suppose most of us have no real understanding of what it must be like to have relations of this nature and to be a literal living remnant of the PE empire. Like fleeing from an accidental childhood murder or a really bad lie, I guess the family of PE remains on high alert defcon 24-7 sleeping with an eye open looking to the rustling tree tops and an ear to the words of the street. On this night though, my curious nature and whimsy almost put me on the wrong side of the fence..or up in a tree, or in an unmarked Colombian police car..sheesh,…I dunno.

Strange things happening in a not so strange place makes for even stranger memories. lets just say that sharing a case of Heineken and copping a good buzz with a family member of an ex south American drug lord brings no measure of security to the situation. I think it could have been the beer actually. Simply that I never drink the stuff and then, suddenly, there I was guzzling the brew became my little wrinkle in time. an anomaly of astronomic proportions that invited a freakish injection into my personal time space continuum. this time round,…a denim clad Colombian expatriate. who,…what? …why??

Heineken lager
My first taste of Heineken occurred quite a few years ago. I had seen the advertisements, and I was under the impression that Heineken was a far superior product to any pathetic beer that the U.S. brewed. if you or any of your friends actually feel this way today, you should purchase a tongue scraper from a nearby health food store, go see an ENT and get your taste buds evaluated.

If I were to give a short description of Heineken's flavor, I would label it crisp and generically German-tasting. Heineken reminds me a lot of many characterless crappy German lagers I've sampled, such as Beck's and St. Pauli Girl. I don't know what gives the beer that distinctive nipping bitter metallic flavor, but it is unlike any domestic lager I've tasted, and I think that it's a good thing. well,..thank god anyway ! this beer does have a pretty good hop character for a lager and I suppose Heineken is a “refreshing” beer. It does have a light mouthfeel and a slight bitterness from the hops that I guess could be perceived as thirst quenching. I should also point out that Heineken has really sweet undertones, almost reminiscent of honey. There is not honey in this beer to my knowledge, but the sweet taste makes this stuff really noticeably sweet... almost to the point of oddity. I always say sugar rules in America. that’s goes for wine, desserts and I suppose some really popular beer too. so, next time you find yourself in the basement playing pool with a soft spoken south American that wears the bill of him cap low on his lobe, show him photos of you eating a cheeseburger at Disney world .

why the culinary smackdown?

2009-11-03T19:34:00.001-08:00

I remember very well when I was first taking wine courses and developing my earliest sensibilities about which wines I liked and which ones I didn’t. I also recall quite clearly how many times in that same 2 to 3 year period that I came across or overheard a discussion where the so-called “pairing” of the night or pairing of the course came under fire. There are always two distinct angles that these wine pros of the time seemed to routinely thrash out – the first angle was the prickly, often nonsensical assessment that tore into the relatively insignificant, totally subjective nuances of the wine and the cuisine itself.

This angle was and still is built upon the opinion that for the given pairing, all of the micro aroma, flavour traits and characteristics of the wine are somehow misaligned with all of the dynamic savoury flavours on the plate. The commentary would rant on about shale-like black minerality or shistous slate aromas dominating the attack which prevented the herbaceous-ness on the middle palate to properly delineate the pithy, citrus characteristic of the Buddha’s hand crème fraiche foam that crowned the abalone custard..or whatever.. -it all seemed a bit over the top to me …I recall being impressed in a way at the time but also so utterly intimidated that I often felt as if id never understand all of this magical insight and that id never be one of the guys that really got it and could really make a wine and food pairing sing.

The other angle, which was based in a far less dogmatic and overly complex soliloquy seemed not so artificially ramped up, less fervent and probably a little bit more down to earth. It was all about the overall size of the wine and how, simply put, its sheer size and density just clobbered the food. It was very straight forward almost to the point of oversimplification however it was also often presented in a way that seemed as informed and academic as the other more spiteful, overly critical angle but without all the effusive jargon. This latter opinion or angle was based in the fact that most cuisine simply does not pair well, size for size, ounce for ounce with what was then the new breed of super extracted, massive, lavishly textured wines. The wines were just getting too darn big fer there britches…

The same folks that spoke in these terms were also the same folks that always talked about the raw enjoyment of wine and emphasized the fact that the best moments of a wine experience were made over the table and amid friends and family dining (eating) together. The wine in this classic scenario, without over thinking it, had to be a wine that honoured a wide variety of foods and all at once displayed proper taste of place, varietal distinction and technical correctness. If you rewind the tape a couple hundred years or just go out into the French countryside north of Marseille, you’ll never find a family sitting round the table drinking anything that even resembles the visual look of what is being poured a million times a night all across the world right alongside foods that don’t even try to fight back. I guess, after all these years, just like those old timers claimed and professed years ago when my tastes were tuned to the obvious and overt, I have come 180 degrees. These days, more often than not, I have a really hard time finding wines, especially reds that actually support balance with a plate of food. So,…in turn, I do what ever I can to foster my revelation and keep the youngsters off the lists as much a possible and try to source wines that are even handed and aren’t just gobstoppers. Unless im serving blue cheese, chocolate, charred beef, or BBQ, I want wines with underpinnings of refinement, elegance and finesse. A big young tannic Cabernet?...sure, all alone or with something equally monochromatic, but not with a sauced roast, or anything more complex than a grilled steak.

Critics have driven this problem of wines becoming bigger than big and as a result, most of us young connoisseurs have learned to accept and expect this style. In restaurants, it’s become the norm. So im here to do my best to be one of the new generation of calm collected wine lovers that worship distinction and fruit purity in a wine but want it to relate to what else in on the table. I feel like the selection of wines that do this is narrowing so it’s my/our responsibility to ask about back vintages, order Grenache with your steak instead of a young cabernet and petition our critics to evaluate on balance and innate spirit rather than extract and manipulation. Just like fresh lettuces and farmers markets all across the America, now is the time to fall back to the realm of temperance and moderation. And remember,..the culinary smackdown is a choice not an absolute.

making it come alive

2009-10-31T11:53:00.000-07:00

If you’re passionate about wine, you’re bound to be passionate about food. Right?

The primary and overriding rule is flavor and enjoyment. If you want to find true wine and food harmony and that’s the goal, the journey will be about balancing the flavors of both the food and the wine so that you may taste them both equally. Above and beyond everything else that could be said about a pairing there is one golden standard. A qualifier of sorts. If the wine is either too delicate or too bold in comparison to a particular food, then it will do little to support the food and will either overpower or undermine the food’s character. The white wine with white meats and red wine with red meats philosophy has its place; yet a contrast can be attractive and quite complementary in its own way. For example, Salmon is oily and fatty and a Riesling is crisp with citrusy flavors and would provide a suitable contrast to the fish. A Chardonnay, however, may not complement the Salmon, as it might (style depending) add an unnecessary dollop of fattiness to the fish yielding a mush of richness without flavor delineation. The bottom line is trial and error, see what combinations appeal to your palate and go from there.

A matter of personal preference: If you enjoy both red and white wines you may find that lighter foods like poached or grilled fish, soups and vegetables actually do work better with white wines and that the more robust nature of red wines compliment red meats and dishes with heartier sauces and accoutrement. But if your preference is just red, and you always choose a red, some lighter reds do in fact pair well with fish, like salmon and Tuna, or even a simple roasted chicken. Remember, there will always be someone that just loves the idea of a full bodied red wine even when paired with the most delicate scallop! Regardless what any magazine or critic or wine store buyer says, the most important thing to remember is that you really enjoy the wine and food all at once. The experience isn’t necessarily about an intellectual adventure. It’s about enjoyment!
Remember, follow your own tastes and don’t be afraid to experiment.

Intensity for Intensity: if you find yourself strolling the grocery aisles pondering a really classic or proper pairing, I would say that the most important contemplation to make would be to consider the “body” or intensity of the preparation your planning to create or wine you crave and then once either the wine or the cuisine is determined, pair it with a partner of comparable intensity. This comparative can go both ways …a big full bodied structured white wine with richness, high acidity and complexity may just as well pair with something you might normally pair with a lighter red say,.. a pasta preparation with mushrooms, chicken & rosemary. In this example, what matters more than the color of the wine in relationship to the preparation is their relative intensity of flavor.
Another example of a situation where you could default to this rule would be while shaping a pairing for a white fleshed fish like swordfish. Typically, most people think white wine with Swordfish but wait!,…what happens when the swordfish is prepared with oven roasted garlicky chick peas and spicy Spanish chorizo? Suddenly, the default white wine (color) pairing becomes an option rather than an absolute. Another thing to remember, moreso than the fish or center of plate itself, the sauce, or componentry of the preparation is often the focus and element that’s intensity is considered when choosing the wine. This idea of matching intensity is what is meant when a wine is said to “stand up to” and balance a culinary preparation. So, remember, ask yourself how big the flavors are for both the wine and the food, then make the choice. You’ll find it’ll end up being less about region, or varietal and more about intensity for intensity!

Supporting or Contrasting: without question, there are some wines that really work well with “specific” elements of a given preparation because the wine either supports or contrasts the preparation. This is a slightly more cerebral approach than the “intensity for intensity” model though with a little extra thought and some experimentation getting this technique down will put you on the fast track to being a wine pairing pro. So here goes,. It is possible to “support” an existing flavor element or profile of a culinary preparation using a wine just as simply as it is possible to find harmony through “contrasting” and “opposing” that same element. For instance, a cream sauce with a richly roasted feathered game could be “supported” by a rich, buttery oak-aged chardonnay and could also benefit from a wine with a more refreshing profile and higher acidity. Using a leaner, brighter, drier white, the dryness of the wine synergizes with the salts, and the acidity cuts through the cream sauce, in this instance, a unique and refreshing balance can be found through “contrasting” the richness. Look for peppery notes in food to match or support the pepperyness in a wine, look for plumy round plush fruit flavors in a wine to counter the spiciness of a tomato barbeque sauce on grilled pork ribs. Use bright acidic whites to support acidic pickles, and vinaigrette on a salad. Use minerality in a wine to support the chalky minerality of a freshly shucked oyster.

Begin your journey to understanding wine and food with an open mind, eschew absolutes and choose pairings based on flavor rather than varietal or region. Remember first and foremost to keep it simple and focus on enjoyment and the raw pleasures of flavor. Keep in mind that contentment and its catalysts are subjective and that while there is science and there are the classic rules of engagement, in the end it’ll be up to you and you alone. After all.. it is not wine that commands your attention but rather rewards it!”

the hermano of overfished

2009-10-29T20:51:00.000-07:00

Sitting with the east coast editor of the Tasting panel magazine the other day in the wine caves beneath the historical Santa Carolina winery just on the outskirts of Santiago, a number of curious conversations sparked. The varied and unpredictable results of high velocity verbal banter like this convo are what I like to call “fountainheads”. These are in essence, ideas, which normally arise amid a flurry of decentralized topics and thoughts that as you would expect, can only become logged and immortalized if I have a pen nearby. Not that I was ever a heavy drug user or that I should have some obvious explanation for why I need a pad nearby but normally I do. So anyhow, on and on we went discussing the nature of young Chilean wines and in one of the many rants this notion of crop rotation, then endangered seafood, then millions of people drinking immature red wines all coagulated and became one. Someone from the winery had moments before asked the entire table how everyone was enjoying what was a typically young, menacingly spry, fruit crammed Chilean Carmenere and most importantly, with a prideful grin on his face, the question was posed as it related to a giant, cheese filled ravioli slathered with a béchamel esque sauce , spiked with tidbits of cured pork and herbs. Rich? Ya think? Sure, …but not the rich that supports a massive deep purple hued young fruity red. Not in my book anyway. So after a quick gasp and deliberate refocus, this notion of crop rotation came about. Like a multinational seafood corporation that crashes an entire population of fish and just as the species is at the brink of extinction, they pull the plug, shift marketing gears and start selling the next largest dorsal demographic.

Similarly, where an Illinois parcel is soy one year and corn another, for the sake of diversity, not so much…for the sake of real sustainability yes! So, like the corn, and soy swaparoo, and the tilapia for sea bass, a part of the answer to resurrecting the impression of Chilean wine as a whole and mostly for the sake of food pairing, I think wineries in Chile need to start thinking about what they can produce that behaves like Yellow tail now that they’ve figured out how to make wines with finesse, balance and the structure to actually evolve. In other words, that same Carmenere, while inappropriate today, and perhaps forever for the above mentioned ravioli, will, in my opinion eventually lose some of its baby fat and become more about the earth and sophistication enabling a myriad of pairings thereby changing the impression of the varietal, as a category and maybe if they are lucky, Chile as a place of origin. The fact that someone thinks to pair a wine like that with a preparation as I mentioned is a whole separate issue but nevertheless, we learn not to shun but moreso to accept and more about what is and what will always be.

In the meantime, those of us with patience and the faith in the future of what can be, we ask for that crop rotation, we ask that this new breed of long(er) lived wines with the structure to develop personality are allowed to do so. Perhaps it’ll take a winery with the assets to do it first but the risk is really off the table. The proof is in juice. Hold those fruity ladies back a few vintages and turn something else loose in the meantime. I don’t eat tilapia unless I must but I sure am excited about my corn pudding and my seared sea bass.

did you say hydroponic wine ?

2009-10-27T15:07:00.000-07:00

When I was a youngster I remember that my dad used to be pals with this guy that was alleged to be the founder of those glow sticks that they sell now just before Halloween and in home Depot check out lanes. He told me at the time that he had invented this really cool thing and that one day they would be used all over the world. I was enamored with the idea of that strange substance confined to a translucent tube, thrilled with the way you were supposed to bend it till it cracked and ultimately enthused about how once it cracked and it was shaken about, it began to glow like alien juice or something you might expect that Nasa would use on a remote space station. Well, this guy with his Cylum light stick invention was also an alfalfa sprout farmer. I’m not sure that he wasn’t actually farming something else also, but for the sake of legality so to not indirectly incriminate my own father, let’s just say that his house was essentially a massive metal walled garage with aisles of knee level hydroponic beds bubbling away. Each bed had several lights above it and the whole room smelled of fertilizer and something green,…very green. I suppose my dad liked sprouts.

Anyhow, so as the theory goes, if vine roots attached to the vines that produce the best fruit for the best wines in the world are said to have their tentacle like subterranean feelers on a constant quest for nutrients and water, than its fair to say that when we begin to grow grapes like they Cylum guy did his Alfalfa sprouts we mustn’t be surprised when the wines are no good. Right?

Grape vines don’t mind being hydroponically fed , in fact, like all other plants and animals for that matter, the thought that everything you need for ultimate happiness and prosperity is within arms reach at any time…like an “on demand” convenience is probably pretty appealing. Alright, so here is the problem, if conventional agriculture has its way, we destroy soils through a myriad of chemical applications, and a regime that eventually renders the soils and the vineyard helpless and entirely reliant upon anti-fungals, herbicides, pesticides and of course fertilizers that replace all that was once there.

Through this methodology, the soils behave much like the bubbling laboratory tray like beds the guy was using to grow alfalfa way back when. The nutrients are sprayed or added to irrigation and the roots, like someone you know, just sit back, watch another episode on Tivo and keep that bag of king sized lays barbeque chips within reach. In this instance you get fat, and become a disconnected, sleepwalking tort slob and the vines, well, the vines just begin the robotic cycle of production. Walking to the kitchen to eat instead of sitting on the couch, or better yet, going outside with a gun, shooting a small animal, cooking it and eating it will make you look younger, keep you spry , improve your sex life, add glow to your smile and so on and so on …

So, the next time you go to the merchant to buy a bottle of wine, ask the salesperson,
… “were the grapes used to make this wine farmed organically? “ if the answer is no, well then, id suggest you go and get your gun.

foundation,motivation and innovation

2009-10-23T23:06:00.000-07:00

For years, like Australia in many ways,. Chilean wines have been another timely stepping stone that’s assisted the masses in their appreciation for wine en general & helped to grow awareness and connoisseurship. In this moment, few are aware of what im firsthand witness to, which is, this new and exciting wave of wines from this country that have yet to be fully acknowledged and recognized. The wines are certainly of quality and for the first time uniqueness, individuality, and most importantly, taste of place have taken the front burner as this new generation of grandsons and daughters take the helm and make the decisions not only about the physicality of the agricultural and vinification processes but moreover, these young men and women represent a sliver of what is emerging as a new worldwide renaissance in winemaking and farming where what matters are the people in the process and the attentiveness of their midwifery. Manipulation as it relates to wine is working its way out of Chile and is finally being replaced by the new world order of experimentation and adaptation to the rhythms of the earth, the season, the heat, the wind and the rain. Sharing of ideas and best practices are beginning to bridge and unite the valleys and interior meso-regions and alongside this evolution of philosophical and ideological framework, the finished wines are more about stability, complexity and finesse.

A good example and reference point to this thinking is clearly illustrated in the cellars of the collectors nationwide. If today you were to raid the cellars of 20 thousand wine aficionados across North America, I will bet you that you could count the single bottles of Chilean wines laying vertical on your hands and toes. Relative to the legends, the Bordeaux, the Burgundy, the Alsace and the the Napa’s that would comprise the majority, in my guttural estimation you would be hard pressed to find Chilean wines being honored in this way. The question arises as to why yet while I don’t claim to have the ultimate insight, considering my experience both in tasting over the years and in conversation with other connoisseurs and devotees Chilean wines, as ive said before have been mass appeal wines and with only a few exceptions, have been fashioned to yield wines geared toward early consumption. Wines that are generally speaking front loaded with opulent and overt fruit aromas and flavors, often lacking finesse but engineered to rest on the laurels of richness, and the to target the timeless sensory appeal of mouth coating, almost syrupy, cranny filling, and swaths of sweet fruit. For the novice and for the sleepwalking wine consumer this approach has raised Chile from tree top night marauder to a visible bleep on the radar but since its arrival and modern presence in the north American wine scene, little has been done or has changed to impact or alter the impression these wines made in their early years. That is of course until now.

As an uphill battle is seen as an opportunity for few which paradoxiclly in turn eventually and ultimately benefit the masses of the unknowing and non believers, im telling you that now is the time to begin considering Chile as a viable force in the worldwide wine scene. Carignan and other never seen before alternative varietals are born with a new face that bridges the southern hemispheres rightous values and virtues of luscious ripe fruit power and elegance along with up an coming coastal areas just north of glacial ice fields that experience lunar-like diurnal temperature variances illustrate just two examples among many that represent this new breed of wines, and most importantly a new mentality of what is and what can be created from this vitis wonderland.

If you are interested you are good. If you are not and you are a lover of the grape, you might want to reconsider my angle. Despite what has been your experience, which may require some undoing on your own part, believe me when I say that there are brilliant, world class, distinctive wines being born of Chilean soils and souls that are not only prepared to deliver spontaneous pleasure but also will, if allowed and given the opportunity, provide you and your loved ones with a new musical scale of flavor packed notes to explore and a un paralled value that brings pure pleasure into focus. Now is the time to break moulds, now is the time to be open minded and be a part of the revolution. This time around…it will not be televised…there are no cables, no antennae, and no mysteries. Its pure, its true and its there for the taking.

Age worthy and a few (New Breed) wines of note:
Santa Rita,Sauvignon Blanc, “Floresta” Leyda, Chile 2008
Ocio, Pinot Noir, Bio Bio Valley, Chile 2007
Matetic, Syrah, “Corralillo” San Antonio, Chile 2007
Loma Larga, “Rapsodia” Proprietary Blend, Casablanca Valley, Chile 2007
J.bouchon, “Mingre” Proprietary Blend, Maule Valley, Chile 2007
D. Martino, “Las Cruces”, Cachapol,Chile 2008
Valdeviso, Malbec, Lontue Valley, Chile 2007

dont punch me in the eye again man ...please.

2009-10-21T21:45:00.000-07:00

driving through the central valley of Chile today at a steady clip ...i cannot ever recall driving for hours , falling asleep for 40 minutes and waking to an almost identical backdrop of mountains encircling 360degrees. honestly, I thought the atlas and the rockies were intense..the Andes...yeah ,..the Andes...no joke people. Bigness in a really big way. A few things to consider.

the very recent science driven discovery in the summer of 1994 once and for all proclaimed the true genetic difference between the lost bordelaise varietal ( Carmenere) and the well known Merlot, since then, the wine world and the whole of Chile and its agricultural legions/ viticultural peeps have been working to better understand the varietal and its nature. From the perspective and ultimate response to (carmenere) as a single varietal wine in its bottled form the Chileans have come full circle. from both a qualatitaive and evlutionary standpoint, Carmenere for the longest time(again,..thought to be Merlot in most vineyards and bottled and sold as such ) was ravishingly green and showed both aromatic and palate characteristics not unlike its sister Bordeaux brethren but in a way that was just a bit more intense and recognizably green and vegetal.all it really took was a few wine critics to utter the word "green" yet some show, suddeny the just were in the minds of the masses. Ultimately so much that the masses torched it with faint praise and ultimately, not long after, dubbed it an inferior varietal like, say,…Pinotage. So, for the immediate years after the discovery and realization that the vineyards were actually planted to all Carmenere, or a mix of Carmenere and Merlot, the Chileans did what they could to find ways to diminish this “greeness” and stewed veggie like profile. In the end, regardless of efforts to circumvent the will of the grape, the critics and consumers found the wines made from Carmenere noteably offensive or minimally odd and polarized to the extent that the wines applicability as an everyday table wine was undermined and its reputation was a tad bit tarnished.

During this time of trials and tribulation with this so called "lost varietal" ( Carmenere), the wine growers here in Chile tried everything from relocating and replanting vineyards in different regions, to/in different soils, and a myriad of other efforts to find some way to make use of this grape vine that was so heavily cultivated. Initially, or I should say the first round of recognizable adjustment that was made to the whole of Carmenere country wide was one that could be characterized as over ripe, reductive, sun dried or just overly extracted with gobs of dark monochromatic brooding fruit.

Now, looking back over just a few short years, (and I should say today’s comparative tasting of top flight Carmenere made this more than clear) the disposition of the varietal and the generalized understanding about how to best manage it viticulturally and during vinification has come full circle. Whilst Carmenere remains a gob stopping, densely packed, fine grained, suave, fruit driven varietal, it is only in recent vintages,..say, the last 5 years or so that this varietal has been caressed and understood enough to produce wines that have real mid term maturation potential, secondary flavors, world class balance and flavor complexity. With great value at the top of the lsit of attributes, Carmenere is seriously, (and im not just saying this because im typing this in my hotel room in Chile) a new force to reckon with. so if you gots a few dollaz,..Get down on your knees people, do a couple rounds of down dog and take a breath cuzz there’s a new kid in town and the black eye has healed. Don’t be afraid,…he forgave you a long time ago. Now its your turn….

Some highly recommended Carmenere listed below:

Concha Y Toro – “Terrunyo”
Montes – “Purple Angel”
Ventisquero- “Grey”
La Rosa – “ La Capitana”
La Rosa – “ Don Reca”

eight hours, two ambien and a full row juss para mi

2009-10-20T06:36:00.000-07:00

I’m sure glad I didn’t pay for a business class upgrade that’s for sure. Late last night at the Hartsfield gate I inquired as to the fullness of the plane..to my surprise, it had really filled up since I had last checked just one day prior. I was dreading the idea of some smelly tort slob eating kippered snacks sitting next to me so once aboard I did what I could to pull the ole jedi mind trick on one of the unknowing Chilean flight attendants. She behaved just like a storm trooper and basically said that she had blocked out a few rows to store her headphones etc..and that I could have my pick. NICE!! So a couple grainy sips on the rocks, two little delicious ambiens and a stack of pillows, made for a nearly dream like flight. No disruptions, no issues and hey,…as much as I thought I might,…I didn’t even pee my pants.

Smooth transition through what appeared to be an extremely defensive and vigilant immigration and customs program . Many folks were crying and tossing wildly about as there Diamond brand smoked almonds and pecan brittle they had purchased at some roadside stand outside Gatlinburg TN were scoffed away and chucked into the enormous bio-hazard like red barrel already brimming with various and sundry items dubbed as no pinche bueno para Chile. Any how, on board the Mercedes tour van, a 30 min trip from the airport to the brand new “W” hotel was quite a scene. If you think it’s a damn warzone in south Atlanta, you ought ta try south Santiago. As we drove along, a large viaduct or canal paralleled the road for most of the ride. Flanked by classic barrios made of scrap wood and jagged torn and rusty pieces of galvanized steel, these makeshift dwellings at times, went on for many many blocks deep and wide. The canal had dump sites about every 50 or so feet that looked as if they were the standard dumping zone for everything and anything. Some burned, some clothes, and lots and lots of trash. Hmmmmm, fresh water from the Andes eh?

In any case , I have nothing to bitch about from where im sitting right now …im 25 minutes away from my first seminar sitting in front of a floor to ceiling window in my 10th floor room, listening to vintage Rastafarian music overlooking the much different, ripened , groomed and muy metropolitan downtown area. Stunning backdrop of the Andes with only a few foothills makes for a dramatic and totally awe inspiring view. More later ~

what about low yields?

2009-09-08T20:40:00.000-07:00

The relationship between wine quality and grape yield is the stuff of which wine legend is made. It is derived from the fact that all the great wines of the world are made from low or lowish yielding vines. It is simply impossible to make concentrated rich Napa Cabernet or those equally intense and beautifully structured Grand Cru Burgundy if the vines are cropped too heavily. However, it is not true that simply having low yields will ensure wine quality. What is of equal importance is the circumstances under which those low yields were obtained. It’s true that the notions of “low yields” are congruent with the best wines and that most of the best wines ive ever tasted ironically come from vineyards that have very specific canopy management regimes and dormant season planning of activities and objectives.
Let's put things in perspective first. Yields can range from 3 to over 40 tons per hectare. (1ha=2.47 acres) What is an appropriate yield depends on a number of factors, but the most important are the style of wine that the winemaker wants to make and the grape variety itself. If a winemaker wants to make a medium bodied wine with moderate levels of concentration for early consumption, then it makes no commercial sense to crop at the lower end of the scale. The reason why consumers have such a great choice of good (but not great) wines at below $15 is because most wine producers crop their vineyards at the middle or 'middle plus' end of the yield spectrum. Some grape varieties are also very yield sensitive, producing very ordinary wines even when only slightly overcropped. Examples include Pinot Noir, and the classic Italian varieties Sangiovese and Nebbiolo.
But why do higher cropping vines produce wines of less concentration and character? The answer lies not in the fruit itself, but in the leaves of the vine. As the grape ripens, it draws its reserves from the leaves. The leaves collect sunlight, and use its energy to produce carbohydrates. These are translocated into the grape during ripening, and result in an accumulation of sugars, flavor compounds and tannins. The less fruit the vine has per unit amount of leaf area, the more flavor, color and tannin it will gather during it ripening. An analogy is to think of the vine canopy as a solar panel, and each grape as a small light bulb that is connected to the panel. If you have two vines with the same amount of leaf area (i.e. same area of solar panel), but one vine has three times the number of grape berries (i.e. light bulbs), you would expect that the light coming from each of these light bulbs would be much dimmer.
Let’s emphasize the word “functioning” because some leaves may actually produce very few carbohydrates. Leaves that are shaded by other leaves (as occurs in dense canopies) or leaves that are diseased are not effective in producing the stuff that drives character in grapes. Viticulturists have two options as to how to maximize the amount of effective leaf area per unit weight of grapes. The first is to decrease the weight of grapes. This can be achieved by adjusting how hard the vines are pruned in the previous year, or by simply cutting off the bunches when they have just formed. 'Bunch thinning', is a radical approach as much of the vignerons potential yield simply ends up on the vineyard deck. However it is almost a “must do” approach when making good wines from yield sensitive varieties such as Pinot Noir. Other approaches involve manipulating the position of the vines' shoots to allow better interception of sunlight by the leaves. This is done by trellising the canopy in such a way that it is split it into various layers, or more commonly by lifting the shoots up off the natural drooping position, into an erect upright position using wires attached to the vine trellis. This almost Viagra-like approach is called 'vertical shoot positioning', (VSP) and is perhaps the most common method used to improve light interception by leaves. The underlying philosophy here is not having less fruit per leaf area, but more leaf area per amount of fruit. The commercial implications are obvious. If you do things right, you can have higher yields with no reduction in quality. However, this only works to a point as there is only so much that can be done to improve leaf efficiency by a vine.
So next time you hear that a difficult vintage will produce great wine because of lower yields, think again. If the conditions that caused the lower yield also caused a loss of working capacity on part of the leaves, which is very common, then it probably bologna. But then again, every vintage is better than the last right?

Be a Wolf!

2009-09-08T20:08:00.000-07:00

If Colombard is the guy in the cheap suit,
Sauvignon Blanc is the prizefighter, who is over after the third round,
Chardonnay is the snob in the cravat,
Sémillon the man in the Velcro shoes,
Viognier the guy with the good-looking sister,
Chenin Blanc the fella you never care to remember,
then Riesling is most definitely the wolf in sheep's clothing.
Drink Riesling and do yourself a favor.

the truth in my wine

2009-09-05T13:57:00.000-07:00

I clearly remember a night, years ago, when a tall, gangly, French expatriate approached me after his meal in the restaurant where I was employed as an assistant sommelier. In a snide tone, he conveyed his annoyance with the bottle he had just consumed, insisting that he and his girlfriend had enjoyed the very same bottle just days before in a café in Paris and it had been sublime. He was insistent that the bottle was identical and went on to explain that we as Americans needed to stop doing whatever we were doing to the wines we imported from abroad.
What the Frenchman observed at the Parisian café was a bottle of wine with a label – what he failed to take into account were his feelings for the café, for his girlfriend, the flatware, the china, the squeaking murmur of the traffic or the smell of the wet streets; though looking back, it was all of these factors, and likely hundreds more that contributed to his perspective of the wine.
Although it may be impossible to recreate a guests’ previous taste experience, over time I’ve learned the value in gathering as much information as possible about each guest prior to beginning the process of navigating the list and selecting a wine. As stewards, sommeliers, and servers, we should take full advantage of all the elements we control between the walls of our own restaurants. For example, we should consider the weather, the guest, their disposition, their clothing, even their hairstyles and ask some social questions before beginning to discuss the preferences of origin and or varietal.
Ultimately, all the sommelier really needs to be is the navigator. Our job is to insure that each component of our interaction with a guest is geared toward illuminating the path to sensory enjoyment and contentment.
Someone once wrote “wine is a means to achieve an inward transformation,” and as students of wine we know that since ancient times wine has been allotted a sacred introspective function. Wine harnesses memory, it tells stories and it aids in the creation of new ones. To me, the truth in wine, despite all that we over-think and deliberate during evaluation and academic exercise is more about opening ourselves and acknowledging where it is that we physically exist, who we are, and the bounty of life in our immediate environment. It encourages our recognition and appreciation of food, recognition and appreciation of the earth – in fact, of the world.

Motivational characteristics of the Qi thirsty man..

2009-08-30T14:40:00.001-07:00

Amongst the Chinese, Qi is considered to be the "lifebreath" that animates living beings. As we all fall apart, oxidize, perpetually and magically build our arsenal of fee radicals and dysfunctional bodily utillity, those of us that are inclined or willing to be aware then voluntarily educate ourselves about what can be done to slow this inevitable process of deterioration either fight the hard battle or give it up. I suppose im somewhere in the middle, I don’t work out all the time, I eat what I want until the day comes that im not confident in my kelly green speedo yet, when given the opportunity, I revel in the concept and physical pleasures found in whole foods and gastronomic creations that spawned from clear thinking, organic ingredients and thoughtful creative streams.

These days, the awareness of freshness has of course risen beyond the generic meaning of the word and now, unlike 15 years ago has relevance to seafood as it does micro greens, or fruit. Say… “when was this fish in the water ?...) now with top seafood purveyors, in the hospitality biz, you can actually see a caught stamp on the side of the package…its not a red lobster commercial with slow motion montage after montage with glistening droplets of butter atop a grilled shrimp skewer and a slow and low voiceover that touts some connectivity to a guy that looks like the guy from the Gordons fish stick campaign …it’s a new breed of freshness with levels or freshness that’s often connected to an origin or the hunter, farmer, or gatherer him/herself. WholeFoods, Farmers markets, community gardens all across the country are booming and im thrilled.

So, consider the idea of all things edible in their raw(est) and truly freshest form. This is when the edible isn’t cooked, manipulated in any way. Think Japan or the rural north coast of Crete and you’ll get the picture. Foods that are both at the highest level of that “freshness” scale and that are not tweaked by an overly zealous chef or cook are just really special. There is something totally intangible about the experience and subsequent feeling I get from eating raw fish, oysters, and just picked vegetables and fruits. Like an internal hummmmmm that just makes sense. No need to quench with water, no bloating, no weird GI trac processing issues etc… So what is that “hummmmmm”? If you ask me,..id say it’s that life force the easterners call “qi” and here is what ive discovered. The longer that edible is from its last breath or from its branch or vine or soil, the more this qi dispels. I’m not saying that the old freshness scale doesn’t have value im saying that the new scale should, like that box of fish, be considered fresh as if it were measured like a stopwatch measures a stride at a 100m Olympic sprint. Does this make sense? Ok so ,…you might argue that a raspberry picked at 4 am then brought to youre local farmers market by 7 and in your mouth by 9 couldn’t possible taste any better than one picked and eaten within minutes at the farm but Im asking you to think in terms of minutes not hours. Sure they both taste great but if you jump on this wagon,..one clearly has more qi than the other. Can you taste it?...yeah, sometimes but not always. Is it all about taste? Mostly but not always. Sometimes its about that “hummmmm” which in my experience can only be had when your knee deep in a 39 degree Alaskan river gnashing into the side of a king salmon while it frantically flips to and fro, at the local oyster bar sucking down a dozen Totten inlet , at your favourite sushi den, or like me on my hands and knees in the tall grass along side a 100 foot row or red raspberries in southern Indiana carefully using my brow and head to push my way through the briar enough to get a clearing so my tongue and lips can pull the fruit from its bud base. This is my recent fresh discovery and remains one of the most prominent motivational characteristics of this Qi thirsty man..

take time to make time and make time to be there ...

2009-08-17T13:39:00.000-07:00

Just when you might be feeling a little under appreciated and under recognized for all that you do and for all the conscious efforts you make, like a rented pack mule on a dusty trail over a high desert plateau,..its on the eighth day when you told yourself you wouldn’t make it past the fourth that you discover that the faithful burro really wants to be lead, and really wants to be a help and beyond the obvious ,..secretly appreciates the weight of your duffel.

For 5 consecutive years, the Chilean government has sponsored a tour hosted by the Wines of Chile which is an organization committed to promoting the quality and image of Chilean wine throughout the world. It has offices in Santiago, London, and New York, as well as representatives in Canada, Ireland, and Denmark, and also works closely with ProChile to develop and offer promotional and educational programs in Asia, Latin America and Europe. Wines of Chile’s 76 member wineries belong to Vinos de Chile and represent 85% of Chile’s bottled wine exports. This year, just 9 sommeliers from North America were chosen to attend a 10 day tour of viticultural areas and associated wineries. The tour will span wine regions from north to south and culminate with a marketing symposium designed to provide an arena to harvest feedback and input from the attendees on both U.S market perception and areas of opportunity for exporters, wineries and marketeers.

When the opportunity was presented, I was and remain flattered. I am the only representative from the entire southeastern US of A ! WOW! Check the head right?

Anyhow, South America hosts several wine regions that ive always wanted to explore. So,…stay tuned for more info, this trip is a ways off but for those of you inclined and interested, the WOC website http://www.winesofchile.org is an excellent resource for all your Chilean wine curio. For those of you with blackberry’s or alike, go ahead and plug the calendar right now!....You’ll be able to get down with your personal wine ambassador to Chile starting October 19th; ill be updating this blog regularly with bits and pieces of what is what and images to make it all make sense.

lands of sinking sand

2009-08-11T08:36:00.000-07:00

Downpresson like a bail of hay or a load of bricks? You know,.. I hear every week from friends that tell me about their trips around the country. In the past three months more so, but in generally speaking,… the updates are hauntingly similar. Apart from the large metropolitan areas that successfully mask the core nature of this economic wallow, life esta dias appears to be the beginning of what I might call the lands of the sinking sand. I say, straighten up...stand firm friends, gaze across the horizon, ..find a rock and respect it like a buoy. Now, above the frey, refreshed and refurbished ..you are effortlessly floating..take a second to look around before you bend over and willingly submit to the idea that forced sacrifices in personal pleasures are a way of life. Allow the break ,…and look to the light. If this is on a platter, it’s a food that id like to get to know better. It’s like the "tastes of value" people... and im here to throw you the rope.

This week’s standout flotation devices.

Bodegas Borsao, “Monte Oton”, Garnacha, Campo de Borja, Spain
Spry, very forward and richly aromatic. Like a wooden crate full of a mix of almost too ripe black bush fruits on its way to a pyrex and some dough. Purity, pleasing and balanced with naught a splinter nor faulter..this lil gem harks back to the days of my Spanish revelation caravan circa 1995. Another round cometh! New labels, distinctive blend of New World plushness and Spainsh terroir , and damn straight delicious…
Spain is still hitting hard in a way like that creature in the Incredibles cartoon- In this case, it, (Spain) has learned exactly what we want. Despite that im feeling bit like a lab rat. I recommend this stuff highly.
Poured BTG at a few locations in and around Metro Atlanta…Places like Ecco and South City Kitchen, both located in Midtown to name a couple…Swing by, have a sip before you order/buy your first case at the local wine merchant.

Paso a Paso, Verdejo, La Mancha, Spain
As its penetrated this market a bit over the last 4 years or so, …sometimes from Australia , but more often from the Spanish D.O of Rueda, this Verdejo varietal is taking a deliberate and seemingly effective stab at yet another appendage of the long lived Sauvignon Blanc category. In this instance, a slightly different wine than is typical, and an unexpected region to boot. Richer with more concentration overall but also a bit slipperier and mouth coating….hmmm….the vintage?, the warmer more arid continental climate of La Mancha?,…old vines?...im not 100% sure but I can tell you that wherever this little dollop of proper fatness is coming from it’s a welcomed in my casa. .. All the bright high toned character you’ve come to know and love but with this added swath of yellow stone fruits, and silky slightly creamy (not butyric) mouthful the wine and varietal before us is both more diverse as a food partner and in its own complexity. A “bridge wine” in my book is one that helps folks that are snagged helplessly on a spire of chardonnay to free themselves with minimal pain and suffering. Good for us in the hospitality industry and maybe even more important for you and your guests. Can you say “ ok..ill be buying a case of this” ? Really. !!!

Homeopathic Coyote

2009-06-18T15:57:00.000-07:00

When I think about house pets and domestic animals in general I think about how I felt as a child growing up around cats, and dogs …I think about how mean I was to cats and how after witnessing the frustration and anger that crappy, seemingly un-trainable cats and kittens brought upon my parents and then eventually to my entire household, It makes sense to me that as a young adult I really had no affinity, affection or appreciation for the little furry critters. Over the years, regardless of my disdain and overall antipathy with them, I somehow managed to acquire them as packages or baggage-like amendments to live-in girlfriends and roommates and over the years, if I really relly think about it and try to isolate the good memories of cats or scenarios where cats brought some version of joy into my life there are more than I expected but certainly not enough to flip the coin.
Since I’ve been married and have had children, my remote appreciation and acceptance has grown – largely due to the fact that my children love them but also because in early 1998, I allowed my lovely wife to convince me that we needed one. Sure, I was hesitant but also willing to give it a try. To make a very long prelude a bit shorter, this newest cat (Tia) was like a pivotal benchmark in my life on many levels. I consciously chose to let go of the irritability and hateful attitude toward cats in general and took on a wholly new perspective as this cat became closer and closer to me and my wife. She (Tia) behaved more like a Hollywood dog than any cat if id ever known. I spoke to her in what I like to believe was a good mix between what you might expect to hear if Elmo was speaking Arabic to small orphan children and how my the entire hygienist staff of the my kids pediatric dentist office speak when preaching the importance of brushing your gums.

In any case this cat was amazing. She never had a litter box – which had been a major factor in the “no cats allowed” position I took for years. She would squawk at the door until one of us got up and let her outside to do her thing. Even when we lived in Colorado, in the dead of the winter, she would dutifully, pounce across the drifts of snow out into the dark night to find her little zone. Never in the house which meant the obvious and also that meant that every walk-able surface of my house wasn’t covered with invisible fecal bacteria etc..etc… So after, witnessing the births of my 3 kids, almost 11 years later , four different states, and an amazing track record of just being the best damn cat around, …she disappeared one day. We had just moved into a new home 3 weeks earlier and after the typical “keep the cats indoors for a few days to adjust” régime, we let them out into the new yard to explore and do what they love to do. Everything was cool for about 2 weeks then one night she just didn’t come home. As her disappearance set in and the posters we didn’t take down were fluttering in the wind from the telephone poles around our neighborhood, for the first time in my life I felt really distraught and saddened about a pet. A neighbor was chatting with my wife weeks later and the topic of her disappearance arose. She exclaimed that the neighborhood was riddled with Coyote and that no one in the hood ever left their cats out all night anymore and that if you did, you would basically be inviting the Coyotes to an easy low cost buffet. It goes without saying that I was as disturbed with this news as my wife and have since been thinking of what a royal meal with coyote as the center of plate protein might look like. Who eats coyote anyway? Eating canine has a certain nauseating twitch to it but nevertheless im sure that at some point, the little shysters have taken some lead and wound up on a kebab right? So, if my theory stands tall and true, here is the plan. I take a seat in the corner of my backyard, dressed in military camo (which I don’t own), with laser guided rifle ( which I don’t own), some vintage night vision goggles, ( I may have these) and I sit and wait,….just sit and wait till one emerges from the woods and begins sniffing around for the t-bone bait. With an unobstructed sightline and a clean shot, ill come out blastin like Yosemite sam take the beast down, field dress it a la minute, and butcher it into roastables, grindables and such. From this wild coyote, ill prepare a lovely braise, rich with wine, and herbs. The idea is to prepare some ravioli, and using the braised Coyote as filling, ill make enough to invite 40 or 50 friends from the neighborhood to a Decatur meets Italy dinner party. Unknowingly, a good percentage of folks that live within 2000 feet of my house will ingest my very special coyote creation and by doing so - much like how homeopathy works, the collective spreading out of the coyote will ward them ( the Coyotes not my guests) off and magically send them to another hood where they are not part of the active food web. While this may sound obscene to most, I assure you that as a “primi” course, the raviolis will be flanked by fabulous courses, great wines and the best ingredients I can commandeer. All this for my long lost little “tia” you say?...”Well, yes”…I Reply. “Yes” RSVP ASAP

2009-05-15T07:31:00.001-07:00

It’s been a while right ….whew!... needless to say even for me it feels like an eternity since I’ve made a post and for that im very sorry and a bit embarrassed. So,…here we go ….

Over the course of the past year or so, I’ve been looking to discover all that I could about the biodynamic principles and how might those ideas and overall concept be intermingled with wine as a finished product. We know that biodynamics propose a direct correlation between the earth, sun and moon and how exactly the natural elements on our earth responds to gravitational forces, atmospheric and barometric pressures. Biodynamics as its relevant to agriculture and viticulture suggests that the vines and the bloodlines or fluids in the vines, the ground waters and subterranean water table are predisposed and effected by these forces. So, in very simple terms a farmer following these and other cyclic processes dictated by the biodynamic calendar looks to each day to determine whether that day is one of four options. A “root” day, a “leaf” day, a “fruit” day or a “flower” day. Which each assignment correlative to the lunar and solar cycles ive begun to understand more clearly some of the what’s and why’s about how this calendar applies to the farming aspect but at the same time I’ve begun to wonder about how this calendar then might impact liquids,…say ,…finished liquids like wine. Right? So here you have a wine, made up of phenolic compounds, esters and volatile aromatics that are essentially held in by the liquid itself. We swirl our glasses to aerate and artificially fill the wine with oxygen. That O2 does what it can to become part of the air again and in this instance, dragging some of the aromas out with it. Right? Say you tasted a wine one day,….its a favorite and you know its profile. You pop the cork, you sniff the wine and you proclaim its lackluster bouquet. You’re surprised and can’t figure out why just two days before that same bottle was so expressive. You call it a bad bottle or worse yet ,,,,label it as bottle variation and eventually let it go… Right? So,…say that the first bottle was opened on a “flower” day and the second on a “root” day. The “flower” and “fruit” days representing days that support the rapid effortless escape of the aromatic and flavor compounds of the wine and the “root” or “leaf” day that hosted your second bottle represents atmospheric chaos and actually dampens the wines natural ability to release its aromatic flair. So, while deliberating this somewhat indefinable topic, I ran into a colleague that had much to say about this and reaffirmed that a few folks around the globe were really beginning to take this biodynamic calendar into the bedroom- so to speak, and consider how it might be applied to organaleptic evaluation of wine.

This is just an emerging idea. Here is a response from a California winemaker that’s been exploring biodynamic viticulture and has over the years developed a position on how this ideology may in fact be an intrinsic part of our wine enjoyment as consumers. Check what he had to say…..chew it up and then let me know what cha think

“Barometric pressure is connected to weather systems, as it changes from Low pressure to High pressure, the volatility of various components change (becoming more volatile at low pressure, less so at higher pressure). One effect that we have to compensate for because of this is testing alcohol levels, at lower pressure water (and alcohol) boil at a lower temperature, so it can significantly skew results if not compensated for. From a wine appreciation perspective, analogous, but less well understood processes occur with the aromatics, volatile acids and other components of a wine, as well as the receptors (nose and taste buds) in a human body; causing many wines to taste different depending upon the weather, with low pressure systems being associated with the wines tasting “dumb”. Why this happened isn’t well understood, but may have to do with our body taking more time to adjust to barometric changes than a wine does so our senses end up not being as sensitive to the aromatics.

Lunar cycles are a very complex system of interaction between, moon, sun and earth. As simple as I can put it, a vector of force (in this case what we call gravity) is being pulled by each of two bodies (with the moon’s force being significantly greater than the sun’s). On any given day the vector of force being pulled by an individual body changes, due to the rotation of the earth, so that it essentially negates any individual work (force over time) done on the earth. Due to the change in position between the sun and the moon; in relation to the earth though, there is predictable variability in the nature of those forces, as depending upon the time of the month, the sun and moon will pull from the same vector or from opposite vectors. During a New moon the sun and moon are pulling from the same vector, and so you have the greatest amount of force pulling away from the earth (or depending on the time of day and your location towards the earth). During a Full moon the sun and moon are pulling along opposite vectors, causing less pull in a given direction, but more work (again force over time) over a given day. When the moon is in transition between those points, there is less work over all being done on the earth. The best way to understand this is to look at a tidal chart for a given area, the flood tide minus the ebb tide shows the relative amount of work being done, with the greatest tidal differences occurring during new moons and full moons. What does this mean to wine and vines? Well during the times of more “work” i.e. full moon and new moon, there’s more disruption occurring within an otherwise isolated system (a sealed barrel of wine), therefore the best racking for clarity will occur during the intermediate points, for racking with solids you’d look to do so when you had the greatest flood tide (usually a new moon). For vines the new moon and full moon both have a stronger vector force (pull) than intermediate phases, so more sap will flow in a given direction at a particular point in time… For a glass a wine the theory would hold then that during a full moon or new moon, with the greater force being exerted, you’d have greater disruption of volatiles (aromatics and alcohol) and therefore a wine that’s not in harmony with its own constituent parts.”

Its Raining Burgundy - Springtime in Atlanta

2009-03-26T05:44:00.000-07:00

I recall seeing a film recently where the main character meets a guy that sparks up a convo about space time continuum, quantum physics and man’s awareness of the difference between actions taken in consciousness verses those occurring in a dream state. In the scene he ultimately explained that for those that have recurring lucid dreams, the only real way to check to see if indeed you're dreaming is to reach over to the nearest light switch and flip it. If it affects a nearby lamp or bulb you can rest assured that you are indeed awake. Conversely, if you flip it and nothing happens, you can be confident that you are actually dreaming.
So last night, while closing one of our units ..like something one might dream about, under truly unusual circumstances a group of 15 likeminded folks arrived, ordered some food and over the course of three hours opened upwards of 20 bottles of world class wines. (Mostly Burgundy). The dreamlike state came on as Don Cornutt walked through the door Just as the group was departing. It was nearly 10:00, the restaurant was about to close and I had had a long day. My eyes were sore and it felt later than it actually was- but there was Don,…smiling and jolly proclaiming his apologies for being tardy. He had an insulated 8 bottle shoulder bag packed full of wine and literally blocked his friends from exiting the front doors of the restaurant. Without a trace of superiority, or pretense, this group casually managed an about face and walked through the restaurant toward a large farmhouse table in the center of the dining room. We stood making introductions and watched as Don unveiled another round of vinous treasures. For the next 45 minutes, carefree, almost “love child”, sort of dialogue ensued among the group. “ Yeah man …you shoudda been there man”….”yeah, that stuff was really supreme”..no worries,..”its all good”. As we tasted a sense of openness, generosity, warmth and general “easy going” spirit seemed to hover over the table. It’s not too often that I meet truly down to earth adults that are educated, professional, passionate about wine-tasting, sharing and learning. Especially not over a table of obscure, Burgundian rarities after hours in an Atlanta restaurant. It was sort of like my own little harmonic convergence. I walked across the room at one point, flipped the lights and ..

udder delights in West midtown

2009-03-22T13:49:00.001-07:00

These days ive been helping out over at Ecco in midtown and my hours of professional service have been drastically altered. The one most tangible and impactful social repercussion of this change is a result of modification to my daily commute. No longer do I pass Octane coffee lounge two, three or even four times a day. If im lucky, ..and if I have the time, ill stop by on Friday morning or deliberately plan and hold one of my meetings for the week there as a way to improve my chances of getting what I believe to be one of the best if not “the” best coffee experience anywhere in metro Atlanta.

This past Friday I swung in for a meeting with a wine importer. Arriving early for a meeting at Octane ive found enables the opp for a solid but brief convo with any number of folks..whether employee or patron…im convinced that if there were some sort of gigantic roof mounted digital potentiometer that counted the combined IQ points of all the folks in the shop at any given time, passers by would soon realize that there is some really speedy synapse firing going down , righteous convo ,promising plans and brilliant intentions forming at an above average pace. I think it’s a good space to hang out if you actually have time to hang…right…surround yourself with this sort of scene and some of it just might rub off right? ..or that’s my plan anyways..so,.. Danielle was at the counter as the espresso mistress… sending her typical rippling shockwaves of good vibes and buoyant spirit throughout the joint. I asked her to make a cappuccino ( I normally just drink regular coffee). Apart from the physical beauty of the drink, I noticed that the froth had a certain density enough to prompt me to spend some moments prior to tasting just, carefully dipping, prodding and mushing the creamy head around with the back side of my demitasse spoon. The foam/froth clung to my spoon, the aromatics equally shared by the intense toastyness and sweet nutty fresh fragrance from the perfectly warmed milk prompted a convo about the milk itself. After a sip, my sense that the milk was special was justly confirmed as something about its taste,…something richer but not just In a raw fatty way,…something deeper but not in a creamy way, something more complex but not in a herbaceous way,…shone through and sent my memory recoil back to the days of yore where my hippie parents would routinely barter with the local BMW mechanic/ Jersey Cow Farmer/ College Professor for what if my memory serves me was a rinsed out restaurant sized Hellmann’s mayonnaise jar brimming with fresh, totally raw, totally unprocessed, cows milk. The flavor was like that stuff …even though it was homogenized and pasteurized and didn’t have that layer of crème floating on the surface, it was noticeably better than what I have at home now or what I can recall drinking or tasting as of late. So, ..my mount Zion of warm beverage for the week…..A cappuccino made by Danielle,….at Octane Coffee Lounge,
using …….Sparkmans Milk http://www.sparkmanscreamvalley.com/about-us/why-youll-love-sparkmans

Holla

everything is transient...everything is falling apart,..thoughts on Oxidation

2009-03-20T09:44:00.000-07:00

I began to think about how I have, until recently gone about developing a wine by the glass program/list. After years in the biz, its clear to me that most of what differentiates one finalized list from another is more about the front side of the development process. The buyers palate, the buyers likes and dislikes, the service and restaurant concept, the price points, varietal mix, old world vrs new world, layout and formatting etc.. If rightfully thoughtful, there is also some consideration given to the interplay of the culinary offerings likely to rendezvous with the juice and if really buttoned up, there is, amid all of this artsy guttural, creative gurgling some prioritization given to the idea of profitability. All of this and more depending upon who you ask are elements intrinsic to the process indeed however, not until my last bout with btg assemblage for all of our units did the idea of how the wine evolves while sitting open behind the bar really become a part of my judgment. As I mentioned in earlier posts, this all began when I tasted through 50 or so cases of potential btg wine placements for our 2009 core btg program. The basic idea was intended to illuminate those wines that didn’t hang on with extended airtime. Ones that after opening quickly gave way to brown flavors and or were adversely dominated by a flaw or alike unfriendly flavor or aroma. During this protracted tasting exercise the idea was massively helpful and above all showed me that most wines in the market today…yes, even wines that have single digit retail price tags are more often than not better with 4-10 hours of air than they are as I like to say,… “straight from the neck”. So,…after all was said and done I was a believer in decanting for aeration more than ever before and also became firm believer in the choices I had made as they were the wines from each respective category that really held up and actually became more interesting, more giving, more approachable and ultimately more likeable to more guests. Once complete though, the staff at a few of the units took some convincing. I took a bottle that had been offered by the glass for nearly 2 years, decanted it hours before the tasting and left it to sit. That afternoon I proposed a blind tasting of that very wine. The staff, had been staunch advocates of the wine and in fact used it liberally almost to the point of “crutch” status …like it was the end all be all for a wide variety of applications. As I suspected the wines character was met with sharp criticism, and judgment. They commented on its lackluster aromas, it’s non descript fruit and overall disjointed personality. I then asked one of the servers to pull a bottle of that very wine from the cellar. Without unveiling the disguised wine in the decanter, we tasted the fresh bottle along side the other. As expected, the staff compared it to the other ..pronouncing and exclaiming its glorious aromas, balance and charm. This was a classic example of a mal-allocated btg placement!! One that was allowed to slip beneath the radar..one that then stayed comfortable beneath the radar for months and months and months. The wine,…a Ripasso from the Veneto showed great charismatic, ripe, almost sweet dark bush fruit aromas, assertive mid palate presence and finish had totally changed but in this instance,…for the worse. In fact, all that was enticing and alluring about the wine had really dissipated and “fallen out” or “blown off”. This wine, a great wine for a btb offering but not btg breathed life into the idea and consideration of btg placements there forward. We tasted a few others without disguise but with similar purpose. A mid level red Burgundy with a touch of brett straight from the bottle showed fabulous but then after 8 hours stunk like stagnant water used to scrub the hocks of a quarter horse after a long gallop through a medieval countryside. With just a few hours of air ….again, another good btb wine but btg?? Not so much.
What I find most interesting about all of this is that while there are a number of wines that would by virtue of the varietal, youth and or quality escape this sort of evaluation, there are just as many that are placed as btg and added to lists straight from a bottle shown with little or no airtime. Often 3 or 4 hours just inst enough right? Imagine worst case scenario ... you open a bottle for one of your last guests at 9 pm on a slow night ,,…the bottle then sits essentially open until its poured again at 7 the next night…right? The wine is one of those that’s really great in its first 4 hours but after that….hey,…that’s what im talking about but how would you know???? Im not suggesting that every by the glass placement is evaluated like this. Clearly there are plenty of wines that one can evaluate immediately after pulling the cork. Sometimes you can just tell if its bullet proof or not…but not always and especially not when it comes to wines that are about refinement and nuance. Big lesson pour moi ….just thought id share…

liquid york peppermint patties with Rob Mondavi

2009-03-11T06:30:00.000-07:00

Spent the better portion of the evening dining with friends at a newly opened establishment in the fourth ward of Atlanta's east side last night. Rob, soon to be joining hands with Jason Woodbridge of Hundred Acre to collaborate on an Aussie project made his annual pass through playing his rightful part as front man for the Folio Partners portfolio and his personal projects, Spellbound and Medusa.
For this occasion, I brought what I thought would be an appropriate sending off bottle of the highly esteemed 2002 Noon Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon. A rare find in the domestic market as the Grateful palate (importers) have either not been able to commandeer an allocation or chosen to distribute the wine only to a few states or both. In any case, while the newest release of the Spellbound Reserve Petite Sirah was remarkable, the Noon showed like a mid century carnival freak. When i think about peppermint patties, I think of old breakfast joints that my dad used to take me, or Andes mints, After Eight sandwich cookies or Baskin Robbins …….not expensive cabernet.
Sadly, the noon was nothing like I expected. Without a glimpse of varietal character it was Brooding and sappy on the attack, lifted though with surprising acidity and grace for its size but the fruit profile was utterly dominated by camphor, mint, pine sap, resin, juniper creosote...etc...Call it what you want but if I want mint ill pull an old bottle of Heitz, Marthas Vineyard..right? After some vigorous aeration in a magnum decanter, the mint let go a bit a turned to patchouli, sandalwood and alike almost offensive aromas that remind me of the passing by waft that you might get while walking through the doorway of a Haight Ashbury half surf, half smoke shoppe on a hot autumn afternoon. The kind of wine that would be best to show blind to a bunch of geeks but not a good one for anything but perhaps a well grilled rack of pork ribs with candied rosemary ? what? I dunno, but let me just say that there is a reason that I don’t buy or drink much of this kind of wine anymore. Give me moderation or give me water.

Consistency and legacy is where its at ..

2009-03-07T11:19:00.000-08:00

In the face of this so called economic adversity, im amazed at the number of super premium bottlings that still manage to be unveiled and marketed to the masses. What I find most astounding about this is not the fact that many of these high end producers are still producing their wares, still doing what they do and still maintaining their said course objectives and business plans but moreso that so many of these blockbuster, cult-a-riffic wines are nubies and fresh outta da box. They are more often than not born straight from hype and glitz than from anything that resembles what we as collectors and historians of the wine culture have ever understood and accepted as legacy or pedigree. That’s to say, those wines that come from the distinct geologically profound growing sites, parcels or vineyards or those that have been driven by the genius of a family or a certain individuals relentless, uncompromising pursuit of singularity and excellence. I can completely relate to why a J.L Chave Hermitage costs what it does or a wine from Jean-François Coche or M. Chapoutier... these wines have been around. They have survived through rough and tumble, through root louse, through violent countryside religious battles and so on. The wines have organically developed their rightful pedigree and resultant consumer affinity over many years. Folks who consume or purchase these wines regularly are paying for the fact that the producer has shown over and over again that they can bang out some epic wine right?? So, my point of contention lies with this seemingly ever-increasing list of wines you and I have never heard of that are demanding prices that of the aforementioned legends. I just don’t get it. Creating a wine just to have a blockbuster in your line up, artificially inflating a wine that is dubbed with cult status as soon as its released on its maiden voyage to the consumer seems like good marketing but also feels crass, plastic…lacking soul, purpose or any of what is the ethereal, often intangible essence of pure-bred bottles of grape juice. Is this is like the emulsion verses digital skirmish in photography or the analog verses Mp3 in audio…I dunno. What say you?

Let me hang, make me hot, spin me round, bring me water..let me rest, toast and marmalade for breakfast …thanks

2009-02-26T18:41:00.000-08:00

One of the tasks associated with my job that just about no one that I know can relate to has come to close. As a part of a new corporate wine purchasing program, in late December I submitted requests to a number of suppliers and distributors soliciting submissions from their portfolios or individual wineries. I provided parameters to each of them, specifying a number of varietals, something called “other whites” and “other reds” and then up to 3 price/ cost tiers for each. The result was a monstrosity of wine that covered most of the floor space in my home garage. Then, over the next 10 weeks or so, after the laborious task of separating and classifying the samples, I tasted through each of the tiers, in heaps that sometimes approached 30 wines per tier. Because the majority of the wine sampled were prospective btg placements All wines were evaluated initially straight from the bottle then, without gassing or any means of artificial preservation, I tasted them ( the reds) again at 2 days and some even as far out as 72 hours after pulling the cork. I cannot in this short space, begin to express to you the number of ways that so many of the wines resembled each other. Sure, they were all presumably made from fermented grapes, but oh my,…as much as you might expect that there are vast differences between say a 13 dollar Sonoma County Merlot and a Malbec heavy blend from Mendocino, all that really separates the two is one,.. maybe two elements that are even so, difficult use use as distinguishing elements. This was true in almost every category not just in varietal reds but also in sauvignon blanc and chardonnay. Here’s where it became interesting, ….after tasting approximately 2 oz from each bottle, I plopped them back into a case and sent my devoted wife of 11 years out into the wintery chill, delivering the wines to neighborly neighbors. She did this for weeks and weeks. What I heard back from folks was where the bad news begins and ends. The wines that proved to be the most manipulated, the most extracted, the most jacked full of candied fruit, the toastiest, the roundest, the most acidified and adjusted, the most uninteresting, the most stripped of anything that I like to call distinction were the favourites 6 to 1. Just about anything with minerality, anything that was sleek, racey, and not just nightstick- in- the- back- of- the head clobbering, crammed full and oozing of syrupy fruit, was dismissed as too bitter, or too sharp, too funky, dirty, dusty, gravely and the list goes on and on. Sadly, after what I thought and hoped for so long would be a renaissance in the art of domestic winemaking, a renaissance whereby winegrowers and winery owners alike would turn a blind eye to the appeal of a 90+ score and do whatever it took to make a more natural wine, a wine that really and truly gained its distinction from its naturalness, a wine that speaks place over process and earth over mind came to a frighteningly abrupt halt as the census or consensus of the masses spoke,..
My aspirations for a day where the craft joined arms with nature and the finished wine,.. would stand erect and proud in all its nuance and irregularity. Unfortunately, winemaking like high fashion and plastic surgery seems to be firmly rooted in the spirit of augmentation. So if you are like me, you’ll be happy with the nose you have, or the boobs you don’t have and you’ll find calm, peace and tranquility in all that you are without changing a dang thing. No spinning, no extra hanging, no need for water, ill take the marmalade but you keep the toast.

the test

2009-02-15T18:50:00.000-08:00

While the list below is lengthily, peculiar and bordering on morbid, it represents some activities and occurrences that we once thought to have had direct relationship with tidal forces/ lunar phases. After years of observation and such,….we now know that there is no correlation. I do however find myself pondering the relationship between lunar and other celestial forces and the sensory evaluation of wine. So,…here is the test. Go buy two bottles of your favorite wine, and taste one on the next new moon and the other on the next full. Holla!

-the homicide rate
-behavioral outbursts of psychologically challenged rural adults
-traffic accidents
-crisis calls to police or fire stations
-domestic violence
-births of babies
-suicide
-major disasters
-casino payout rates
-assassinations
-kidnappings
-aggression by professional hockey players
-violence in prisons
-psychiatric admissions [one study found admissions were lowest during a full moon]
-agitated behavior by nursing home residents
-assaults
-gunshot wounds
-stabbings
-emergency room admissions [but see]
-lycanthropy
-vampirism
-alcoholism
-sleep walking
-epilepsy

"Here...smell this!...."

2009-02-05T11:47:00.000-08:00

Last evening I spent a few hours in a local eatery that’s recently opened in Atlanta's historic fourth ward. Modeled after all that is good about "comfort food", with an added splash of finesse and sensibility, the evening was full of tasty treats and rock solid conversation with a broker and the owner of a small Italian wine import company. Surrounded by epic selections, the range of character and personality was staggering. Three wines of mention all come with top recommendations if you are able to find either of the latter ,..go ahead and pat yourself on the back and fasten your belt.

2007 Torbreck, Semillion- geeze...what a wine! All that richness and suave fleshiness of a Marsanne or Rousanne or even some chardonnays but oh so light on her feet. Scrumptious aromas of tropical flowers, lemon oil, and nut skin pave the way for a seamless palate jammed effortlessly with a mountainscape of fine grained textural loveliness reminiscent of aged Alsatian PG or PB. acid just like i like it,...early in stride and naturally long and elongating!! Razor precision, impressive complexity and about as food friendly as it gets! holy smokes...and that’s the truth Ruth!

2001 Varaldo,“ Fantasia 420” =supa doopa, Piedmontese blend – when drinking a bottle like this you begin to realize and even appreciate what wine maturation is all about. This little mister, perhaps at its pinnacle and optimal window, week, or even night of consumption was simply sublime. While the history of crafty, outside the box winemaking in Piedmonte is relatively new compared to most Italian wine regions, the idea of blending a pissy, somewhat aggressive varietal like Nebbiolo with a few more giving, spry and perhaps welcoming counterparts makes as much sense and maybe even more in Piedmonte than it does anywhere else. Soaring aromatics remind me of the mud room of a hippie family that I visited as a small child. Wet earth still clinging to the bottom of a row of hiking boots, an old warped walnut floor made from reclaimed lumber, and the off gassing of the walls that have endured years of kitchen kettle steam, roasted meats, and countless packaged of nag champa, sandalwood, and patchouli incense all together find harmony amid a core of lush, and yes,..plush, plummy merlot-cab fruit. Tertiary and evolved, this wine was a sniffers paradise! Not to discount the palate and body which too was in above average shape thanks to well managed stationary cellaring by the one and only Ed Travis! Thanks to Vinlandia imports and Ed for this magical taste.

2004 Pax, Kobler RRV, Syrah – well, when someone talks about balance this one should be somehow wrapped into the sentence. Another stunning bottling from Pax Mahle ( former winemaker and founder of Pax wine cellars). This little beauty, from a biodynamic vineyard near the green valley ava of Sonoma county, was the closest thing to Crozes hermitage ive ever tasted from a domestic production. Clearly Syrah, but oh so lifted and integrated! WOW! Co- fermented with 10% Viognier, the aromatics, while extremely focused and narrow at the moment revealed acrobatic almost dreamlike levels of purple flower, white pepper, and iodine. Imagine harvesting 200 lbs of lilac, hyacinth, and violets, pureeing them in a two story Vita Mix and then passing the liquid through a chinios ( fine sieve)…yeah, sounds crazy eh??? Well its just like that…hints of beefiness, some plowed soil, manure, and tar emerged after about 45 min but the floral thing just kepton coming …amazing density and power with no suggestion of oak nor manipulation of any kind …truly a blessed wine …another sniffer….stunning yes…elixir of power and elegance. Sho nuff ! goodness! Go find some ….

The Perception Amplification

2009-01-09T07:47:00.000-08:00

Could it be that wines age differently if they are left to mature where they were created?
This notion landed yesterday afternoon while I was retelling a story about three fairly recent incidences (wine enjoyment sessions) where the very mature wine at hand showed remarkably well. So much that I took notice several times while sipping. Is it possible that unlike human life that’s enriched by the virtues of travel experiences, wine prefers to be left close to home? In an earlier post I mentioned that 99’ Cayuse that showed like a champion. Literally textbook maturation without flaw or any sense that anything that should have been was absent. This wine lived at Beresan winery just down the road from the Cayuse bottling line.

The 1998 Beaucastel CDP that Marc Perrin sent directly from the family cellar….WOW !
I had had that vintage before and I know for sure the ones from the nest were unmistakably different. More intact, more of everything, more freshness amid the tertiary elements….more goodness…

This may be some sort of cosmic harmonic convergence. Similar to that story that we wine folk have heard a gazillion times about the guest that insists that the wine at the table is flawed because it tastes nothing like it did two weeks prior while sitting at the winery, in Bordeaux, on the veranda, on a sunny day, with an esteemed companion, overlooking the countryside…. And so on….

You might ask yourself if it’s just the richness of the experience at the place and the environment that makes the wine better…as if its because you are in that moment of splendour and immersion that your palate and all other sensory receptors and emotions are open minded to the glory of the flavors in a way that cannot be replicated…or is that the perception amplification is partly due to something even less tangible like this astral connectivity with the earth and sky? Is it possible that wines and cheeses, meats, truffles, and chocolates or whatever geographically-specific proprietary artisan products have this resonation that only happens on the home turf? Its like an extra layer of goodness that’s just there and can’t even really be described. It’s real enough for folks to mention it and im beginning to think that it’s a reality that’s only remained a mystery because its not really been researched. In any case, perception is everything and where you stand is right where you are.

Blessed are they who see beautiful things in humble places where other people see nothing.” Camille Pissarro

We are a call to all, pay head the squall and turn your sail toward home!

2008-12-30T19:11:00.000-08:00

"The bell has been raised from it's watery grave...Do you hear it's sepulchral tone? We are a call to all, pay head the squall and turn your sail toward home!
Yo, ho, haul together, hoist the colors high.

A recent public session of vinous splurging and edible delights invoked some old spirits and kindred souls. A gifted bottle of a of a lesser known production from Jadot, the illustrious, affordable and easy to love.. 1996 Coucheraux showed the firmness and confidence of the vintage but alas we missed the target by a few years and while attractive and rousing only lasted about 40 minutes once she hit the air. A number of oddball Germanic and Loire whites from 92’ forward, an awe inspiring 1999 Cayuse that brought the whole circle of “understanding Walla Walla” into light. Being the first vintage in production at Cayuse and my first ever face to face with a back vintage, my blind optimism exceeded what I truly thought would be the more-than-likely scenario and profile. Pleasantly surprised, the wine was in glorious shape. Donated by a winemaker just down the road from Cayuse, the stuff felt like a ruffian in some ways but I could sense that the hibernation was basted in vivid dreams and flannel sheets. Still and 51 degrees is a good thing eh?
An old pal, the 2001 Clarendon Hills, Piggot Range, Syrah Clarendon, South Australia. Massive with sheer lift and even handedness. The Piggott Range vineyard vines are 25-30 years old, and are planted in rock and shale, with only 10-13 mm top soil. The vine roots work hard to establish themselves and force their way downwards between cracks in the rock and shale to find water. The yields are extremely low at .75 tons per acre. This is uber-exotic and over the top in every sense but it has an electric spine like a downed transformer in a neighborhood swimming pool. Mint and camphor surrounded my a meat locker with freshly cured Braesola and tobacco it shared similar extra terrestrial traits to the 2001 Sean Thackrey Orion which now holds rank as one of my three top domestic wines tasted in 2008. Stuffed like a sock monkey, this jugo was equally as thrilling as it was painful to know it was my last bottle and naught another in sight. 2 more years may have broken the curse.

living dangerously means being here now....

2008-12-12T07:53:00.000-08:00

I think after being physically thrown out of a non English speaking kitchen this past week im a little better suited to take on the impending, unjust and erratic nature of what is surely on all of our social horizons. Just because something feels like an okay thing to do or to say doesn’t mean that folks around you will have the same degree of clemency and acceptance. Stress and fear manifest in strange ways you know. Get ready yawl,...not everyone likes mushrooms right? not everyone likes oakey red wines,but most do. its that "oakey bite" that Charles Mara talks about...oak chips, oak vats, new wood,...old wood, longevity verses character and so on.

Think back to someone you knew long ago that was not only really wound up and tight most of the time but also waterlogged with paranoia of the unknown and uncertain. Nervous energy, fear and the sense of helplessness are the ingredients that go into the crock pot of despair and grief. Take a sip from the spoon and you’re just like the rest of em …consumed, demoralized and laden with endorphins that’ll surely make you react and behave in a way that you may later regret. I say stop it man! Stop the traction, get out your best tube of lube, put away the cook books and free yourself from the collective and collecting gloom and anxiety,…get a small shovel, find a bare patch of soil, jab, poke and prod the surface enough to build texture and then plant some seeds. Nourish them with focus and intensity and let go of the rope that you’ve been holding. Let go because its end is already down the vortex. Let go because you create your own destiny . Rope is the little piggy that stayed home. YOU be the little piggy that either goes to Rome or to the Market and remember,….Sir Winston once said “Kites rise highest against the wind-not with it.”

the feeling of "it"

2008-12-04T10:31:00.001-08:00

In the world of food fanatics, hospitality doers, foodies, chefs and restaurateurs that pay attention, there is an undeniable and inescapable thread that connects nearly all conversation when it comes to doing “it”,… “ the right way”. The “it” part can be anything from a milkshake where you might talk about the ice-cream, the dairy industry, puss in commercial products, lactose, texture, eggyness or lack thereof, what exact ratio of ice cream to liquid makes the right final product, which vitamix is best, pulsing, remember the old school “frappe” option?.. think…then when to add the ice cream and how slowly, malt, no malt, balboa style con huevo or im too scared of the imaginary salmonella pandemic, …and really,..this goes on and on. You might not believe that these sort of minutia and micro exfoliative exercises really do go down all the time in my world. Potatoes, mushrooms, you name it ,,,you know,..…a chef pal of mine recently told me about a technique he had learned where the traditional barding and larding was replaced by a modernized world war 2 enemies version (razor sharp like a long blade of forged steel and finnikey –creased like the pants of a guard in a gulag ) where that same cut of meat or soon to be braised hunk of whatever was poked and essentially laced with knitting needled shaped dowels of frozen fat. Much like what you might do with a garlic clove while prepping a leg of lamb for the hearth, the idea of barding and larding or using caul fat is just not enough ….you’ve gotta go nuts …you’ve gotta think it through to the point where something creative is gestated, and burped out wielding half good idea and half egocentric brain flatulence , you find yourself telling yourself that this really cool idea will somehow, some way make that too often dry roast or braised hunk of whatever that much better. Right? Or not? Hmmmmmmm? Go ahead and sit and spin on that one.

So whether a milkshake or a braised stuffed veal breast, I cant help but wonder how it is that there are folks out there that never have those “ creatively charged” progressive conversations about how to do what has historically been fine just a little bit better. Don’t take this the wrong way,…im not suggesting that progress is dead or that we’ve reached the pinnacle or that we even should be tearing it down and rebuilding or not…im saying,…what about that little old bonnet wearing 89 year old Greek lady that somehow manages to make this insanely beautiful, memorable, full flavored, juicy leg of lamb without the studs of garlic or the great aunt of the local cabbage grower in Alsace that has roasted the most amazing roast every Sunday for 45 years and people rave ..and rave on …

Or what about that crappy little soda fountain at the Kansas city airport where behind the counter for 15 years straight…65 hours per week you’ll find Jerome knocking out some of the most epic milkshakes ever without a bit of worry, or contrived anything. He alike the Greek gradma and the cabbage farmer just do it. Yeah, they just “do it” the “it” is that same thing as the “it” in the prep kitchen of a foo foo chic bistro in Manhattan but how they get there is a whole different story.

So today I fond myself asking if all of it is really worth it? Look where haute cuisine got us …look at the beevises that are still rutted in the shenanigans of vertical food that tastes like cardboard…wow, really cool eh? Food that’s sooo darn pretty but tastes like doo-doo.
Maybe its innate, some peeps got it, don’t know it, and just know how to do it.? Or maybe it’s that whole attachment thing Buddhists preach about. Think too much about how the roast will cook and you block the cosmic flow of goodness that would have otherwise taken its correct culinary technique and ramped it to the surreal and legendary? Or maybe it’s just about soul. The only thing I do know for sure is that this magic isn’t something concept-able. Its not something that even if you get “it” and you recognize the difference you can replicate. It’s not something that can be trained, it’s not something that can be cybered for in its chaos and unpredictable nature lies the secret to its magnificence and insight. I say spend more time on Buford highway, in the barrios of your local urban ghetto and in the countryside dining rooms of people you hardly know, in countries you’ve never visited before. Its all about the bass…how low can you go?

never get swell headed

2008-11-19T06:38:00.000-08:00

A lyric that has over the years become a mantra like backbone for the Rastafarian community and culture …this double edged sword of modesty and righteousness drives the spirit of maximum awareness and self preservation though preparedness for whatever injustice comes and for whatever opportunity there may lie ahead.

This morning, on my passage to west midtown, through the bustle of the sudden cold snap, the fragility of life was underscored again. Noticing all the trees that have already shed their leaves for the winter months, as I drove through an atypically picturesque corner on the edge of my neighborhood, a tall Ginkgo with its bows outstretched across the left side of the road was dropping its leaves in what appeared to be an almost rhythmic predetermined sequential order. As one of the last remaining colors in the canopy, its nearly iridescent brightness stands out against the saturated blue sky and reminded me of similar mornings in the mountains of Colorado where the Aspen with their blonde bark, erect posture and deeply hued yellow leaves show the amazing splendour of nature and mark the contrast of the season ahead.

The single event that drove these leaves to fall was without question on of those things that we all talk about but don’t really have any impact on. 45 degrees on Monday night then a sudden unannounced unpredicted change just 24 hours later as the skies clear and the temp falls well below freezing- this was all it took for the connective tissue or tree glue or what ever its called to thin, or otherwise relax enough to release its grasp and allow the leaves to fall. The last standing, full of pride and glory but without choice and without option. To ride against the current of the universal flow,…to accept, to adapt and then to release all that is inevitable is a lesson featured by nature and one that I feel strongly should be a part of our lives both professionally and personally. A favourite poet once said “Now I realize that the trees blossom in Spring and bear fruit in Summer without seeking praise, and they drop their leaves in Autumn and become naked in winter without fearing shame”

Contrary to the doctrines of today, I don't believe that absolute acceptance of ourselves and others is the key to happiness and peace. I believe acceptance is absolutely a significant piece of the process, but it is too simplistic to assume it is the only piece. It is also a bit too passive for my way of being. I believe more in acceptance with accountability. Accepting and understanding where each of us is right now without judgment and having the courage to ask for what we need and want and being willing to find a middle ground when that inevitably doesn't match up with what others need and want. It is this process that I believe builds trust and intimacy and depth in our relationships. When we are willing to influence and be influenced by those around us. When we believe in the power of love and our innate ability to change and grow. Of course, some people, for whatever reasons, simply cannot meet us at this level. Then we have many more choices to make, and many more levels of acceptance and asking to navigate.

To suggest that true enlightenment comes from letting go of expectations and simply accepting others and our world exactly as it is just doesn’t ring true for me. It implies a sense of not needing or wanting anything from others. It implies that all is well and exactly as it should be in the universe. I disagree. I think that in order to co-exist we absolutely need others and need from others. That many things in our world are not at all the way they could be. And that it is each of our responsibility to step up and speak up about the changes that we desire. I think being truly enlightened means being willing to be vulnerable and ask for what we need and want, and then being willing to wade through the plethora of feelings that that process of engaging and negotiating with others brings. It is not a neat and tidy process. It is often not a peaceful process either. It is damn hard work.

maybe it is rocket science afterall ?....

2008-11-12T10:25:00.001-08:00

Last night I enjoyed a meal at Bacchanalia in the historic Westside of Atlanta. Touted as the best of the best fine dining destinations in the city, I am as I have remained since my first visit to the “star provision biosphere”, (SPB) captivated with all that the place says it is and succeeds at delivering. Epic retail merchandising acts like Campari and soda as you make your way through toward the dining room. In a way that makes most efforts pale comparatively, with a sense of extraterrestrial style and panache, Annie Quatrano has created a l’il world of splendour where the imagination is satiated and surreal richness is founded in the beauty of the details…layers, upon layers, upon yet more layers of details…its truly astounding!

I won’t get into the food here but I will say that you don’t eat at Bacchanalia you “dine”.
With such an emphasis on the precision and exactness of everything that hits the table, there is an unavoidable reality that tears us comfort food eaters out of our shells and forces us to heed the artistic prowess and laser-focused, minutia-minded approach.
Every thing I tasted was superb however, its supreme quality is discovered through a balance of the raw pleasures of flavor and the expressive and totally contrived energy that is clearly a part of every gesture in shape, texture, color and so on … I think id say that the food was absolutely enjoyable but in the case of the desserts and even some of the savoury, in order to reach that 100% righteous mark in my mind, I had to build total points by counting both the art and the tangible tactile technical aspects together. If I wouldn’t have, i don’t think id say the gelee atop the jasmine granita was as fabulous as it was unless it was presented as it was. Very thoughtful almost to the point of science ... last night, as obscure as it may sound, my oblongatta got a workout along with my belly.

The wines:

2004 Schloss Gobelsburg, Gruner Veltliner, Austria
“Stunning aromatics, slender in the mouth, fast like a green rat snake in the tall reeds”
2003 Fincal Sandoval, Manchuela, Spain
“ schistous, smoky, and compelled to tip toe, cranberry soup meets, boysenberry pie”
2002 Alios Hills, Syrah, Santa Barbara County, California
“ lifted and like a honeymoon night, ..excited to be had..shockingly prepared and all that”
2001 Stonestreet,”Black Cougar Ridge” Cabernet Sauvignon, Alexander Valley, CA
“showing the remarkable 2001 vintage, classic and staining. Polished and powerful”

wine with popcorn

2008-11-10T07:21:00.000-08:00

My wine pairing belief: The most sublime matches are the result of simply taking great pleasure in whatever you are drinking, whatever you are eating, and whoever you are with. Its sort of like the 50 50 rule of wine scoring …which suggests that you cant really judge a wine alone…you must give a max of 50 points to the wine and the other 50 belong to the environment, to your conversation, to the lighting in the room, to the conversation, to the pairing, and so on …
I normally start with the same basic premise as I would any night of the week when I decide what’s on the menu. I take a look at the wines and think about what I’d enjoy eating with those wines, and from there I start to envision the recipe and what might work. Go with it …

When Hardy offered up this great idea to get folks engaged in some local restaurants though the food and wine pairing boulevard, i thought to make my contribution as simple as can be …simpler and more like what the non wine geeks and non industry peeps might do naturally or latch onto naturally. So, …take La Tavola, the affectionate little Pacific Heights esque, shotgun Trattoria in Virginia highlands..plop it into a crisp autumn evening …imagine you and a good friend nestled in a cozy booth, …soft light, bustling dining room, …here comes the pasta and here comes the wine …. Its just that easy if you want it to be …for all the fellas and the young lay-dees …so use your mind and set yourself free …

To learn more, visit Hardy's "Dirty South Wine" blog here.

Restaurant :La Tavola
Chef : Craig Richards
Preparation: Orcchiette with house mage sausage and rapini
Wine: Enzo di Sette Rue, Primitivo, Puglia, IT 2006

four score and seven years ago ....

2008-11-04T10:45:00.000-08:00

I remember writing about fetching Aryan princesses slithering into a debreeding tank filled with whirlpooling Russian vodka, something about jimmy Carter throwing barrels of peanuts at his television and eschar long before I ever really considered what it all meant. I thought in terms of things and how they related to other things that I may or may not have had full knowledge of. Things like celebration and sorrow, things like hope verses fear, madness verses sanity, and change verses complacency.
Now-a-days, I think about happiness as a general objective. The idea that life is really and truly short and fragile has become a driver and catalyst to seek out all things that feel good and bring joy…all things that feel nice and just right. Celebrating just about anything is a good way to raise the roof of doldrum and the stale. More fun might be a symposium in the ancient Greek style. This is really like a cerebral stag night: a bunch of blokes stay up late drinking, preferably entertained by musicians and naked hostesses. However, instead of watching a DVD of Die Even Harder This Time, they talk food and wine then drink and eat it all the while talking about how it feels to eat and drink it …
Perhaps on reflection, the best thing to do would be to curl up with a good bowl of chocolate pudding and a triple stout. The case is, as ever, inconclusive. But in a world where dogmatism is increasingly the greatest threat, perhaps the tentative nature of personal joy is precisely what we should be celebrating.

coming, coming ...coming around

2008-09-28T11:22:00.000-07:00

I remember standing patiently in a checkout lane at my neighborhood grocery, looking over the headlines on some of the more exciting periodicals, Ebony, the Sun, the Enquirer, and the Star,… and oh,..of course the Readers Digest. Every once in a while when the Godzilla meets Al Sharpton in Guantanamo, or the alleged union between Fidel and Obama cease to take the limelight, a little gastronomic trend ensues and finds its way into the mix. It’s like,…”garlic..the new weight loss revolution”..or something like “Leading M.D says …Eat raw garlic and live to be 200+” or “oils from the liver of dangerous Great White sharks saves ailing Philippino boy” or,… “bioflavonoid compound from Florida oranges used to repel giant mosquito with 17ft wingspan” …or something like that. What I like and appreciate is that it takes something like monster mosquitoes to get flavanoids into the minds of the mainstream ..and for me that’s cool …I know that a small percentage of folks will take something from the mention of the food element and perhaps, once the Godzilla part wears off, he or she might be more inclined to dig a bit deeper and discover what the benefits of bioflavonoid really are. So while there are some of us have known about flavanoids for whatever reason, or those of us as children that were made to eat meals prepared with garlic,..we we might already know so reading this news as if this very simple ingredient is suddenly ok or approved and is getting some attention is both thrilling and odd at the same time. It’s a coming full circle.
In a similar way, all things prepared like chipotle mayonnaise or even brands like Paul Newman are suddenly appearing in very main stream restaurants and fast food institutions. Recently I stopped by a late night breakfast place off the 285 loop highway that surrounds Atlanta. It was very late, a friend and I walked in to find the expected local color. Folks who looked as if they had recently been set free from prison, ladies giggling their cosmopolitan buzz off in the corner over a steaming bowl of biscuits and gravy and the man in the corner dipping his white buttered toast into the yolk of his sunny side up combo platter. We sat down, looked over the menu in awe,..then decided savoury over sweet. The burgers looked good and as I scanned down the list of various toppings and accoutrement, I came across a feature like box within the burger section itself. There before me was that very “coming full circle” food thing but this time may have been the most impactful, most substantial of any experience ive ever had…hold on peeps …im talking about the Ciabatta Burger! That’s right…the bread that most of us cannot pronounce, alongside espresso with an “x” and Panini as plural not a single pressed sandwich ..i mean ,..“Panino” this menu actually listed this classic Italian bread as the ideal hamburger partner.
I cannot say enough about this burger…it was fabulous end of story
Look for the yellow sign,..mention no names, tear up your receipt, bring some quarters for the juke box and keep the tums in the back pocket

Aardvarks are my friends.

2008-09-19T18:36:00.000-07:00

Walla Walla, yeah, so great, or,. peaceful, ...or,... so beautiful or,... hip or laid back or transitional ...Its one of the most unique slivers of wine country ive ever visited. Desolate like a high desert plateau, in a way, it reminds me of the front range of Colorado or even the western slope of Colorado where the density of sudden fruit -seed agriculture emerges like a castle spotted fairy tale. Textbook and trough like, the groove of green-ness and life seems to be there for the taking. Surprisingly arid as a whole, the areas this time of year that boasted vegetation were all well irrigated. Realizing this for me squelched any real notion of dry farming viticultural practices.

The message is simple really. For those of us that are truly interested in wine regions and geology as much as we are wine itself, Walla Walla, over the Columbia river valley or Washington as a larger AVA, has more promise and more potential wine diversity than any emerging region i have ever witnessed. As difficult as it is to reach, I encourage all of you to harness up and hunker down for the extended ride… and next time you’re thinking about a wine country experience, go the distance,. hop on the darn puddle jumper, sleep on less than a 5000 thread count sheet, and head to WW. More to come ...details on wines and specific wineries next week

Photo: taken from blackberry.
Cayuse Vineyards, just across the border of Oregon on the far end of the Walla Walla AVA.. Biodynamic farming practices since 2002.
Varietal: Syrah 5th Leaf
Soils: Alluvial, Cobble-loam-silt of floodplains and terraces of WW River and tributaries: Well-drained, and low organics- permits good control of grape vigor by management of water and nutrients
This site is magic and so are the wines!

the garden of good and righteous

2008-08-27T07:14:00.001-07:00

Exclusivity is something that most people are turned on by right? So, in the spirit of “turn-on’s”, and in this instance, double good “turn-on’s”, I thought that developing a series of consumer friendly wine tastings featuring exclusive, near exclusive or lesser known, new wines to the ATL market would be both fun and alluring. The idea came a few weeks back while visiting my friends at Hawkes winery in the Alexander Valley. Although the brand Hawkes has been in the market for months, its one among many other labels that just doesn’t get the recognition it deserves. So, the first in this series will be the wines of Hawkes. Fortunately, we will have Mr. Jake Hawkes in the flesh so this thing will be all the more real and right! Micah Willix and the BOH of Ecco will do a few rounds of what’s sure to be delectable canapé and nibbles to go along with the wines. This 15$ tasting will be well worth investment. I encourage you to come join us!

Build me a woman 10 feet tall

2008-08-15T20:05:00.000-07:00

What is it about finger foods? ….From bbq potato chips to sushi, and from burritos to chicken wings- im sure all of you would agree, there is something undeniably appealing about eating with your hands. Im not sure what it is..perhaps some sort of primordial impulse or may be it’s a subconscious control trip?? Im truly and honestly not sure but I can tell you that for me, eating with my hands typically means monstrous, otherworldly pleasure sessions. Far outnumbering the opportunities for a similar food high, straws, mugs and flatware feel like a hurdle as often as not. Sheeesh, now that im writing this,.. the list of hand worthy edibles is growing and growing by the second,…corn dogs, cookies, chocolate bars, peanut butter, jelly and banana sandwiches,…pop corn, hand cut big eye tuna belly handroll with apple, jalapeno flesh, caviar and egg yolk,.. a chunk of cheese, …..an apple for Christ’s sake!,..a wedge of watermelon, a fig,….. a popsicle, ..an ice cream cone,…not a cup, a fritter of any kind,… a boiled egg, ..cant forget grapes,… and way up on the list, …for many years running, ..there’s been a thinning at the heights, a clearing and yielding to the two best of the best faves. One I crave but cant do much of anything about. The other is “working”,…I mean working like a sauce,.. in a pan,… on a cramped line, on a really busy night. It’s something I can fashion,..something that has an end within range, something expanding, and standing on jah solid rock!

like what…? tacos, fajitas, guacamole, tasty masa, tostadas, radishes, sprouts, seeds, cold beer and tequila

the cesarean is not official but will go down at some point shortly after the 15th of October …The Original EL Taco will be all that and more. While Ecco and La Tavola are without questions boys,..This one is all girl..

What do you mean ..."Yolk and Tang"

2008-08-10T11:51:00.000-07:00

There is the obvious and then there is Riesling. A grape varietal with its feet in in the tertiary and mind in the celestial

There’s so much to say in so little time so id suggest you start down the path of understanding and join me and the fabulous staff of Ecco restaurant this coming Aug 19th at 6:30 for the first ever Riesling wine dinner. Alike most Ecco wine functions the idea is that you effortlessly attend. To procure this objective we’ve taken the hit so you don’t. 50$ ++ gets you an evening full of righteous flav’a and an amazing introduction to some of the most accessible and brilliant Rieslings available in the Atlanta market. Truly great is this opportunity if you want to better your relationship with the king of the blanc!

originally billed as “ yolk and tang” ( later thought to be too esoteric) the menu still rides the glistening rails of the sleek, blade like mineral backbone and offers up a gastronomic tribe of egg focused preparations sure to do what they’re supposed to. And that’s the truth ruth !

here is a bit of history to perk your curiosity….

The Riesling vine can be traced back to Germany and the year 1435. The first documented evidence comes from the cellar log of Count Katzenelnbogen at Ruesselsheim on 13th March 1435, when Klaus Kleinfish purchased six Riesling vines for the sum of 22 solidi. There are other supposed 'first plantings' but without the documented evidence: Wachau in Austria in 1232, Westhofen in Rheinhessen in 1402 and Alsace in 1348. An undocumented tale of Riesling from the 14th century has the Cistercian Monks at Eberbach disappointed in their light Rheingau reds compared to the French reds. Their instruction to their growers to remove all plantings other than the white vines ensured the spread of the Riesling vine. In 1464 the St Jacob Hospice in Trier purchased 1,200 'Ruesseling' vines. 1490 sees another reference to 'Ruessling hinder Kirssgarten' (Riesling behind the cherry orchard) and a 'Rissling wingart' at Pfeddersheim in 1511 shows that Riesling was starting to spread.

The name Riesling seems a bit harder to clarify. 'Russ' means dark wood and this along with the grooved bark gives the resultant root word 'rissig'. Another likely reference relates to Rieslings poor flowering in cold weather which is described by the German words 'verrieseln' or 'durchrieseln'. Hieronymus Bock refers to Riesling in 1552 and also in a later version of his book on herbs in 1577 he mentions Riesling growing in 'the Mosel, the Rhein and the environs or Worms'. In 1716 the Prince-Abbey of Fulda purchased the rundown Benedictine Abbey in Johannisberg in the Rheingau. 294,000 Riesling vines from Ruedesheim, Eberbach, and Floersheim were planted during 1720 to 1721 to replace the neglected plantings. Clemens Wenzeslaus, Elector of Trier, on 8th May 1787 proclaimed at all inferior vines be dug up and replanted with noble (Riesling) varieties.

By the end of the 19th century Riesling was the dominant variety and had established a reputation for its versatility and developed regional harvesting regime and vinification standards which were used later to develop the ripeness classification system use today. Misunderstood but never misguided, Riesling for me is one of the most inspiring wines in the world. Breakfast, chocolate, rare beef and brined fruits, Riesling has the ability to be the counterpart and brilliant pairing partner.

Stalling propellers and the stewardesses émigré

2008-08-10T10:52:00.000-07:00

If you’ve ever been headed to wine country and just wanted to get there , skipping SFO or Oakland might be something you’ll want to consider. As much as the idea of a connection is a mental drag, so too is the often jammed crammed SFO ,…not to mention its car rental program that feels like its 25miles from baggage claim. So, on the way out to Sonoma Friday I took the latter option which put me in the Seattle airport for a 1 hour layover, ( just enough time to get a great bowl of noodles and a spicy tuna hand roll). From there the service moves to a small 45 person prop plane operated by Horizion Air. My seat, probably the most noisy was however located directly across the wing mounted propeller and engine which made for an interesting ride. Most noteworthy apart from the unbelievable views and crash course in birds eye northern California topography, was the crew aboard the plane. Until the cabin door shut and we began the taxi to the runway all seemed normal, once we approached the tarmac, the fun began! Its difficult to describe how bizarre all of this was but let’s just say that if you can imagine being hijacked by a couple wild, super witty art students from Tisch or RISDE that have had a few too many cocktails then you can imagine what it was like to ride on this plane. A few moments came and when I actually had to turn around in my seat just to see if I was the only one that thought the demeanor of the stewardess was as out of control as it seemed to me. Granted many of the folk on this little commuter plane probably have been tempered by previous rides, there were quite a few folks rubber necking like I was just to get a reality check. During announcements they were humming college fight songs, bantering with the folks seated next to the single restroom, encouraging reckless consumption of an unnamed Sonoma chardonnay and local Portland micro brew, playing trivia, mocking ignorant passengers and offering up free bottles of booze to the person with the oldest coin in his or her purse. wallet… crazy eh?

Apart from the time I took a flight in Russia and was asked to stand holding a subway like wrist noose from take off through landing, this was without question once of the single most most entertaining plane rides iver ever taken. It might be worth the layover with hopes to get the crew I did. Unexpected, unruly, spontaneous, …yeah,…all words normally not associated with commercial air passage. So, while drinking my third free glass of beer, I opted to shoot the images above. One of the loony stewardess and the other of the beer itself. Take special note of the propeller. It looks like it was slowing down to a grind doesn’t it? Well, it didn’t but it sure did add to the totally surreal experience. Horizion Air if full effect. Crazy crew, free beer and wine, stalling propellers that don’t effect your altitude, and carnival games??? Modern day Twilight Zone John Lithgow would appreciate.

Black steel and the hour of chaos .....

2008-08-04T11:17:00.000-07:00

“Straight up - word'em up on the level The reasons are several, most of them federal
Here is my plan anyway and I say I got gusto, but only some I can trust – yo….”

Back in the day,…(I like saying that more than you know) I had this almost perverted affinity for chuck D and the rap band Public Enemy. Not once though did I ever think id end up in Atlanta Ga, and if I had, I would have saved my entire collection of what must have been 15 or 20 different baseball caps with the letter “P” on the front. It could have been anything, from an unknown minor league in Cincinnati, to a vintage Phillies in flaming red to the classic die hard “p-ist” of them all Roberto Clemente Pittsburg Pirates in yellow with the black “P”,….it really didn’t matter. What did though was that while no one else would ever know or understand, I thought that chuck D and his troop were some of the sweetest dudes around. In all my whiteness I fancied their politically charged musical weaving and most of all, just shortly after the solid droning beats, I loved that every time you saw a clip of chuck in an interview or music video he was wearing the “P”.

So late last night after a long day with the kids and an evening full of various house duties, I turned on some ole PE. I grabbed a bottle of Portuguese table wine called Quinta do Portal Reserva (notice the double “P” factor) made from Touriga Nacional, Touriga Franca, Tinta Roriz. Last year in the subterranean labyrinth of Bones restaurant in Buckhead I tasted some older vintages and then a sneak preview of these 2003 bottlings. I had since that day proclaimed their value and last night confirmed the snippet. A wine ideal for the new world Zin meets Petite Sirah, meets Malbec drinker, this stuff is crammed full of spicy, dark fruit from start to finish. Brooding In that oh so Portuguese way, there’s no mistaking the Port varietals however, the combination of an ideal growing season and what appears to be a decision to lighten the alcoholic load, and make an international wine ,…well,..this stuff is officially on my best 10 wines in the world for under 10$ list-o-rama! Evenhanded, powerful, perfumed, and pleasant. Unlike Public Enemy, this stuff may be different in its next vintage so do the double whammy today, go get yo self a bottle, jump on I-tunes and download an album or two, put that “p” cap on sideways and relive the 80’s Atlanta style!

Bitches brew, and Julie Andrews at Octane Coffee Lounge

2008-07-28T05:56:00.000-07:00

As I write this im sipping on my first ever 10$ cup, yeah,..cup of coffee. Inspired by the OTC pep rally and the whimsical brass blasts from Mr. Davis, this stuff is like Grand Cru Burgundy. Perhaps the personification of power and elegance this stuff is oozing layers of flavours that I can detect but am having a hard time pinning. If you were in a studio with the headphones on and you were given the task of mixing an orchestral piece but couldn’t turn the volume up past 3 more than twice,…well,…its something like that. You know there is an English horn in there somewhere and there surely is a Euphonium but just as you struggle to identify its majesty, a harmonic convergence erupts, and the breadth is revealed. Yes, I say…YES! It’s Hacienda Esmeralda!! Get up on this bus yawl !!

To learn more about the coffee that’s said to be one of the three best in the world go to http://www.haciendaesmeralda.com.
If you want to know where to get a bag of beans ( good idea) and to get a freshly pressed cup and a bag of beans ( better idea) head on down to the best coffee shop in Georgia on Brady and Marietta. You know the game, Octane is the name. Ssserioussly!

Leaving some clothes on is sometimes better than not ….

2008-07-27T21:30:00.001-07:00

This year, a small collective of winemakers, educators and wine growers all get together to host a 4 day symposium that’s designed to give a select group of 20 hand picked sommeliers an up-close and very personal Washington wine perspective. The goal is to illuminate some of the more dorkey aspects of viticulture, geology and and vinification. Barrel grading, lending a hand during crush, master classes, and a multitude of sessions geared to demonstrate the little known virtuosity of a good number of wines and terroirs wines from the wine heartland in Walla Walla.

I really feel honored to attend. Unlike may other wine trips or education based events one might participate in throughout the year, I have the gut feeling that this journey will be well worth the dehydration of another 10hour delta air tour.

So, in preparation for this pilgrimage, ive decided to dig around my own pile of wines, buy up a few others from local merchants and spend the next few weeks tasting though some of the gems of the pacific NW. Along the way, leading up to the event in early sept, ill be sure to keep you posted on anything I run across that’s a must try but ive gotta say that even while ive known this and had this building perspective for some time, its becoming more and more evident to me that Washington wines in general may be my favourite. If I were to pick a domestic growing region that really “did it for me”, it would be ole WA. Seriously, its like this twinkled sex appeal of fleeting flirtation with a beautiful woman in a bathing suit verses the same flirtation with the same woman at a nude beach. California in general,… and again, allow me to reemphasize “en general”,…. is the naked version and Washington is the scantly clothed. It’s like going to a well made suspense thrilled verses a Van Damme shoot em up. Or maybe like going to the circus verses camping at Denali nation park during the salmon run…you get the picture right? Im not saying that I don’t have love affairs with certain Cali offerings but I am saying that when it comes to the challenge, to the mystique, to colorful curiosity to the crescendo and decrescendo, to the apex and then to the finale, time and time again, there is something in the middle, something paranormal and enduring about a 50$ cabernet from Washington when tasted alongside a California carbon copy. Aromatically, Cali tells you what she is up to, Washington is wearing a hat and you can see her lovely smile but cant see her eyes. No makeup,…well, ok …maybe less, but for sure she has a huskier voice that says ive cooked whisky beans round a campfire, been cliff diving in the Mediterranean and she’s going to tell you everything about where she was born. Turn to miss Cali on the chair beside you and she just wants you to notice he red curly locks before going on. She wants you to tell her that she’s one of the rare reds that even though her skin is fair and her freckles numerous, that she was raised on sheets made with high thread count Egyptian cotton and that’s the hook, line and sinker. Sometimes yes, and sometimes not. Ive kept my suit on lately and heres whats been on tap.

Mark Ryan 2004 Dead Horse Ciel du Cheval Vineyard
First tasted these wines at the cellar door in an industrial park in Woodinville, just outside Seattle. A blend with sincerity and rightful austerity, this wine alike so many other WA betties loves the table more than the casual sip.
Bordelaise in texture ( high acid lift) with loads of dark bush fruit, and exotic spices. Got a good wallop of anise and some stoney black minerality that after four hours subsided and Paved the way for a mid palate and finish full of ripe fruit framed nicely by the sturdy tannins and zippy acidity. Cool stuff …hold for another year?

Basel Cellars 2004 Syrah
A friend and Atlanta native Trey Busch makes, ooops, I should say made this stuff. He is now in his second or third vintage of his very own label called “Sleight of Hand” which is sure to please when it finally becomes more widely available. The 2004 Syrah is a tertiary wonder! Chocked full of juicy opulent fruit but all that fruit is sitting in a carriage full of minerals, olives, salty brine and 60 day house cured meats. A real syrah lovers wine, this stuff is truly old world in its flavor profile …nicely balanced…really like this wine…too bad its me last btl.

K Vintners 2005 “ The Boy” Grenache is the name of the game. It reminds me of a really young Rayas. Spicy and a bit coarsely textured, this stuff was also tell tale WA state with its decidedly forward minerality, dark and lvely but never too easy to get to fruitiness and a slamming acid backbone that keeps the whole monster floating on rails. Id say this thing needs a few more months ,…oh,….say 8-15 …and or a good day open before consuming but it is really some special stuff. Holla!

Summertime and the livin' is easy...

2008-07-16T08:24:00.000-07:00

Observe, digest and prop up…. is it 360 sensibillities or the Kentucky Derby….

2008-07-01T08:40:00.000-07:00

Most of the time, when I eat with chefs and cooks it’s either a bashing session or just plain ole ego -driven persnickety irreverence. I eat with food critics and everything is ponderous and overly cerebral, I eat with my food TV network watching, Iron chef wanna-be, neighbor that just installed an industrial six burner Vulcan and he pretends to be a critic and a chef all at once. Bottom line,.. the true enjoyment of food, eating and dining is normally better when its not all about the critique. So why must we… and who has the real 360 degree perspective ?
I think im burned out on all of this slamming, and printed appraisal because typically the folks making the comments don’t have a real solution and that’s just not okay with me. “Fine”,..id say “then what?” So you say this doesn’t work, or that pairing stinks or whatever the case may be, I just want some real, concrete suggestions. I’m almost to the point that I don’t want to hear other food or restaurant evaluations unless they are accompanied by some obvious sense of experiential wisdom.
So great,.. you are a food critic, I say,.. if you blast a new restaurant, be prepared to deliver a follow up column with suggestions toward improvement. It’s not about crushing people’s efforts or verbally slaying new establishments …it’s about bettering our local dining opportunities, improving food awareness, and illustrating the value of the details! Am I off base here people? What about the environments or service commentary? Clearly, if this sort of 360degree critique were to exist, it would be necessary for that critic / writer person to have intimate understanding and expertise in all areas of hospitality operations. Seriously, folks,..why is it that in the world of food people are allowed to blurt their views and reviews without a suggestion toward advancement or the quest for wholesome perfection?

These are often peoples lives were messing with here … I say if you’re going to share your critical views and opinions about a restaurant or dining exp, be prepared to back it up! Why are there not more chefs and real restaurateurs writing about their experiences? Fine,.. choose an icon chef or a Danny Meyer type. , Just give me someone with credibility. Someone who has been there and done that! Someone committed to industry-wide progress and enrichment. What say you?

Love is the poor mans food ....

2008-06-19T07:30:00.000-07:00

Those of you that haven’t gone through a phase of compassionate, empathetic emotional revelation and appreciation for West Indian music and its rootsy culture are perhaps missing out on what could be a viable and consecrated option to Sunday mass. Balanced between the wholesome loving and mystical traditions of east African customs and 400 years of servitude, racial discrimination , massacre , exploitation and strife, the musically charged side of Island music, like the phoenix rising up to the sky somehow emerges with a message sodden with optimism and promise for a brighter tomorrow. Lyrics of sincere and humble truths are woven into mesmerizing trance like “riddems”. Letting go, the droning bass line invokes your most guttural sense of time and the message, equally powerful reminds us of how good weave actually got it, what it means to persevere in and about everything we do , and how united we begin to understand the true meaning of life’s bounty and purpose that is clearly and simply to love.

Last Saturday, I made my way over to the Variety Playhouse here in Atlanta. Along with some industry devotees, and a shockingly small crowd of less than 200 people, Israel Vibration took stage and delivered their message of hope, contentment and triumph over the oppressive and predisposed. The music was magical..the band was as good as ever! The swooning sweet sensation created by a crowd full of smiling people capped this off just right,…just as it was meant to be.

An award winning local brewery, Sweetwater offers up a variety of their best bottlings at the Playhouse. On this night, the choice was simple,..420 indeed! A crystal clear, brilliant, aromatic, medium dry ale with floral aromas and a decidedly hoppy herbaceous finish. While the sheer meatiness of this beer took the place of what I normally might select..it was the sounds and the spirit in the room that reminded me that Love is the poor mans food….

The farther you go,..the less you know

2008-06-12T08:36:00.000-07:00

On the eve of our last night in Sonoma a rather unexpected convergence took place. After two days of clock defined tours, tastings and gastronomic lenience we rolled up to the Hawkes tasting room. Located in the flats of Alexander Valley not far from Healdsburg, the modest roadside structure felt as if it took the place of an old western saloon or auto service station. The narrow parking lot separated the one room tasting gallery from a typical “old school”, original Sonoma County farmhouse. Rickety and somewhat disjointed, the windows and sills of the house were filled with potted succulents, kids toys, and everything in between. The yard was also bejeweled with a variety of tools that looked as if the various gardening projects once started had suddenly stopped in their tracks. Raised beds full of leggy herbs, charcoal grills and an overwhelming sense of calm and genuine unassuming comfort was made obvious just from the exterior.

We approached the steps of the home to find Jake bouncing about with his typical high toned self. The wood floors of the kitchen, painted with a fire engine red lacquer reminded me of Mexico. I felt instantly like I wanted to be a part of this place. I wanted to take my shoes off, and drink some coffee, maybe even plop down in a rocking chair, drink some really strong black coffee and read an old fairy tale.

The group piled back into our chariot (Toyota sienna with automatic dual sliding doors) and I alone joined Jake, riding shotgun in his flat bed farm truck. We grabbed some glassware, a couple bottles of chardonnay and a 2 quart silver mixing bowl filled with hand turned baby artichoke hearts, salted and oiled with EVOO. While clearly not the ideal pairing for chardonnay or any wine for that matter, the fact that Jake had grown them and prepared them totally trumped the classically avoided combo.

We headed through one of his family vineyards in the flats just behind the tasting room. While most of the Hawkes family acreage lies in the Chalk Hill AVA,this block or two spanned the basin of the valley and gently upward toward the belly of the ridge. We arrived at the back side of the vineyard, looking across the breadth of the valley from our perch; Jake had built a nice wooden deck and some chairs in a perfectly shaded grove of oaks. As the evening breeze gathered itself into noticeable pockets of pillowy soft freshness, we gazed across the valley and discussed the Hawkes vision, girls, polarized overly cerebral winemakers, gasoline prices, wine flaws and agriculture in the early days of the valley.

40 or so minutes and 2 bottles later, we piled back into the cars and headed to dinner. Jakes parents, ( both quite active in the family business) had graciously signed on to prepare our dinner at their home. While I had no idea what to expect, my guess, steeped in the most righteous optimism didn’t even approach the level what made up the next three hours.

We headed back across the valley and into the On the way to the dinner Jake took us on a mini adventure through the property and on up to the high point of their highest elevation vineyard. We walked from our cars up a steep embankment 40 or so degrees, across shale, compressed chalk and glistening nuggets of shiny back obsidian. The views were magical from the apex of the hill. If you’ve not had the opportunity to visit this growing area, it is without a doubt one of the most topographically endowed in all of California wine country. Dramatic slopes, one after another, some vineyards terraced, some not , dappled with that classic Sonoma scrubb and drainages clearly defined by dense groves of trees and tall grasses. Truly amazing!

After a brief stop and a few photos, we speedily drove to meet mom and dad. Approaching the home, I could smell the bbq char,…we crossed the river on an old wooden bridge, and after a quarter mile or so , we arrived at the house. Perfectly nestled in a grove of redwoods the house and the grounds felt again, …like a fairy tale. Greeted by Jakes wife & 2 month old daughter in the yard, the combination of the outbuildings, the gardens that looked like they had been tended for a century and the cast of the evening light, I stuttered in sheer admiration. Enormous heirloom rose bushes, foxglove, fruit trees and a nearly “feed me Seymour” sized Wisteria vine that had all but taken over the pergola above the patio. This place was really special. Really, really, really special.

We all marched up the stairs to the patio that overlooked the gardens surrounding the house. The area was set with a number of the family wines in a number of vintages.
Jakes dad did the flank steak, perfectly marinated and grilled with just the right amount of char. Mom did the corn pudding which as many time as ive had something like that, Id never had one that was so rich with the flavor of masa. Each bit, fluffy as a soufflé with the occasional pop and juicy rush from a fresh kernel. Black beans in an iron crock, and crispy, limey cole slaw with fresh celery and maybe some apple. So, there it is, sun setting, candles flickering, 33 LP’s playing slithery jazz standards, glassware shimmering, wafting aromas of jasmine and roses, a crying baby, Wisteria dangling its tentacles overhead, steak, corn, beans, slaw, limes, fresh red onion, hot sauce, great wines and good friends. Holey smokes. Can you say lifelong memory? Needless to say, I fell in love with the place and the people.

We finished our epic visit with the Hawkes family after a moonlit walk through the vineyards adjacent to the house. The air had cooled and the enclosed portion of the vineyard made for perfect stargazing. Like being in the Desert or on a boat far out in the ocean, the night was a brilliant as one could be.

Returning to the porch for a final gastro finale, freshly made bourbon and buttermilk ice-cream and last years peaches in a ceramic bowl. Sheeesh! Its just kept coming. Unreal. Then,..just as we thought it couldn’t get any better, Jake declared his homage to the south and firmly planted a “handle” of Evan Williams in the center of the table. Whisky anyone? Yeah,…that’s what I said….no joke people. The wines are all delicious I encourage you all to seek them out ! Here in Atlanta, they are distributed by Empire. Before mid July, you’ll be able to find them at Ecco and both South City Kitchen locations.

So, what to make of all this, hmmmm…well, I can say a few things for certain, firstly, joy can be found everywhere, secondly, ..the more you accept that you don’t know anything, the better off you’ll be, and lastly, (this sort of goes along the first two), the farther you go the less you know.

Lost in a romance

2008-06-10T07:25:00.000-07:00

Smack dab in the middle of what’s considered to be the heartland of the Sonoma County wine scene rests the Sonoma Cutrer winery. A decidedly European styled house, SC strives to produce a selection of bottlings that do the fruit justice and allow for the "terroir" or taste of place to illuminate its path of purpose. An iconic estate with a helluva croquet set up. Flanked by heirloom rose bushes and gardens, the courts, conjure up images of British royalty, white pressed linen, white sun hats, and yes,..white gloves.
We enjoyed a most hospitable and generous tour of the property, some wine and wrapped our session on the courts. Splitting our group of 7 into 2, it was a face off of epic proportions. So,…on this glorious day, without any white clothing, we added a bit of bohemian sassiness to this dignified occasion. A gentle breeze with the customary crispy, low humidity and bright sun graced our feeble attempt at the game. We all did better than expected. The wines were delicious and im certain that at one point during the afternoon, each of us had our own little moment of …. “wow,..its really great to be here” .
Lost in a romance, where me myself and I had every opportunity to hold the moment close, and lock it down in the bank of recollections.

The blue bus is callin us...driver,...where you taki'n us?

2008-06-05T07:40:00.000-07:00

Ride the Kings highway west. The West is the best! So they say or so he said. Tomorrow, tres early in the morning, I will embark on yet another wine clad journey to the western edge of the world where way back in the days when the grass was still green and the pond was still wet and the clouds were still clean, and the song of the Swomee-Swans rang out in space... one morning, I came to this glorious place. And I first saw the trees! The Truffula Trees! The bright-colored tufts of the Truffula Trees! Mile after mile in the fresh morning breeze. Octane coffee in hand, the walks will commence. Over the till and over the grasses, we will toddle along through the rows of rubble and promise until we gain a better understanding of all the whys and a touch of the how.

Joining me will be our team of apt and able beverage managers. Once from each restaurant, the brigade, standing at attention will be, Mark Wilson(aka Marcus Garvey the man of Judah) , Chris Dean, the young Mike Hill, Ben Elstein and the mysterious Sy Ali. The fish stories are sure to be in full effect and im looking forward to telling you all about it.

Just like LL Cool J minus the 6 pack and the gold

2008-05-30T07:09:00.000-07:00

Last week, I traveled to California to begin what im now calling a proxy winemaking project. We have decided to give a go at creating a series our own private label wines to be served exclusively at fifth group restaurants. Former Bonny Doon winemaker Alison Crowe, her assistant and I spent some time deliberating over samples of various finished wines and tank samples and have come up with some pretty cool stuff. As the Atlanta police department says “BOLOY” which for those of you who don’t know police parlance and or justice system acronyms, means “ be on the look out yawl” I throw the “ yawl” part in just to make certain we are regionally correct so,…go ahead, dig out that old cassette, find a player and pop in the track cuz, “we going back to cali, cali , cali …weze going back to cali, cali, cali” more details coming soon!

The true face of enjoyment

2008-05-28T12:50:00.000-07:00

It’s always refreshing to enjoy a drink in that old fashioned sense of the act. Someone might say, “Let's go and grab a drink!” or “Shall we swing by for cocktails?” In every instance, whether for a cold beer, a glass of wine or a great french pressed pot of joe, the convivial spirit of sipping, guzzling and slurping is one of my most treasured gustatory rituals.

What happens as soon as we start paying attention to what we drink is one thing, and once we build preference, then comes another. What has happened to me, and to many others in the beverage industry, is like any other manifestation of super saturated-ness. It’s beyond the liquid....now it’s about the ice, the glass it’s served in, the garnish, the diameter of the straw and so on. It becomes so over-intellectualized that in the end, for those of us that can for a moment escape the self serving vortex of “the need for the best of the best,” we become oddly polarized. We become attracted to the minimalism of what is so often forgotten and, essentially, what is really the norm for most folks.

The other day, I received a text from a colleague, Eric Crane. He, too, shares a passion for “all things liquid” and, like myself, can be frequently found stewing over a crystal rim or a frosty Belgian brew. What I found most compelling about this text was the photo that accompanied the message. It was a photo of him holding a bottle of wine - a bottle that I would not normally consider to be the kind of bottle that one takes a photo of but, nevertheless, he did. And, in doing so, the message contained an automatic proclamation of its triumphant display of organaleptic attributes. My immediate thought came from me, "the beverage industry guy" and my second came from the guy that just wants a delicious drink and is inspired by those that, no matter what the beverage, can and do find the good before the bad and the enjoyment before the analysis.

So, today, I thank Mr. Crane for reminding me about the true face of enjoyment. Corn dogs and grape soda, iced tea on a balcony, hot mint tea on a really hot day, it all has its place right?

You’re gunna run to the rock for rescue and there will be …

2008-04-30T06:46:00.000-07:00

Regardless of all that some don’t really want to acknowledge..the comet destined to impact the earths surface in 26 years, China's destruction of the earths atmosphere and waterways, perennial clubbing of baby arctic seals, or any other horrific more- than-likely dooms day scenario, now is the time to go ahead and get over it! Choose your poison, choose your personalized self-induced, mental sentencing from the lengthening list of apocalyptic, fear-based models then …work through it, …and begin to raise the roof on the NOW!

I’ve come to realize that as an almost 36 year old right here, right now, im sitting on the veritable cusp, the pointed, sharpened glistening apex of a tip of what was once a round gently sloping hill surrounded by the trough of promise and wish. Like an audition to be the barnum and baileys tightrope walker, I use my fiery torches for balance and recognize that even if I do fall, ….and even though that safety net was manufactured in Shanghi, itll probably soften the the concrete. Id like to think that ill make it across the rope. Id like to go forward and believe that the net was supposed to be imported and id like to trust in the joys more than the worries. I want now,…more than ever to be here now. Sheesh, im not even old enough to remember the last time this phrase was spouting common jargon but Id venture to say that it has just as much if not more meaning now than it did in the late 60’s.

Drinking the last bottle of perfectly aged Austrian Riesling over a lunchtime table top covered with handsome pork reillette, perfectly toasted bread, smoky eggplant caviar and peeled baby hyrdroponic tomatoes helps this “ now” thing along. So, in this spirit of surrounding yourself with all things good and joyous, take a walk on the wild side,..go find a “time capsulated” bottle of your favorite varietal, stir up something to gnash on, think some good thoughts and begin chanting .. "We are the ones we’ve been waiting for."

Like aurora borealis…straight up to the cosmic heights

2008-04-15T09:33:00.000-07:00

Last week I did my part to “represent." I did so in a way that many folk from Atlanta wouldn’t and, in fact, consciously choose to not. Making the pilgrimage this time meant that I would be the only one in attendance at Martine’s regional wine tasting in Chicago. Martine’s, unlike a few other European wine importers, has managed to maintain a brilliant core group of wine producers that somehow – at least in this market, seem to totally escape the radar of the masses and or tractor beams of many the persnickety, cherry pick’n, wine buyers.

I can recall only a few times over the years when an opportunity arose like this one. Scene after scene, from hotel lobby to tour bus, and onto a nearby brassiere, the tone of conversation (mostly in French) was steeped in humility as the winemakers - many for the first time - made their way through the bustling streets of Americas heartland metropolis. I was sure that this trip would be worth it, I envisioned what it might be, I wished for it to be all that and more and, sho'nuff - woooop - there it is!

We shared an extended meal on the first evening in a quaint Alsatian restaurant just blocks from the hotel. My round table was brimming with conversation. Again, mostly in French. I understood about 25% of what was being said and if it weren’t for the men on my right and left, I could have just as well drawn a picture of my surroundings. Claude Chevalier, winemaker and proprietor of Domaine Chevalier, on my left and Dirk Niepoort of the Douro house, Niepoort (perhaps one of the finest winemakers in the entire Iberian peninsula) on my right.

Topics ranged throughout the evening but what really caught my attention concerned the idea of interplanting grape varietals. I vaguely recall discussing this topic with winemakers in the past and have since done a bit of reading about this viticultural practice. While not in attendance that evening, I think the most prevalent example of this technique or wine growing ideology can be found at Domaine Marcel Deiss.

The Domaine oenologist, Marie Helène Cristofaro, sums it up best: "Old vines are like an alphabet to express the vineyard," she explains. “The idea is to have vineyards planted with mixed varieties, which are then made into wines known by the name of the place, like any other French region." Christofaro claims that in order to express the characteristics of a vineyard, a range of different varieties does best. "We think the clones we have now in Alsace are too simple to express the complexity of each vineyard."

For years the practice of growing different varietals together in a specific macro climate or macro terroir has been routine. What sets Jean Michel and Cristofaro apart is this firm dedication to the taste of place. To a winemaking purpose that trumps any labeling law, traditional standard or status quo. If the goal is clearly to show the place, to transform the terroir into the juice, to insure that every bottle of wine, regardless of its cepage represents (there’s that word again) the true taste of place, then according to Domaine Marcel Deiss and many folks at my table, interplanting is the answer.

Here in America and in many other viticultural regions, this practice would never have a fighting chance. Why you ask? I say, simply because it’s just not the same objective. The world has become brand and varietal driven. Less and less it’s about the agricultural product or a showing of what wine can be from a particular area. Initially, while considering the concept of interplanting vineyards, one Pinot Gris vine, followed by a Riesling, followed by a Pinot Blanc, followed by a Muscat and so on - folks around the world really pushed back. I think that blocks of one varietal next to another block was one thing but for the sake of harvesting and general vineyard management, this idea of interplanting was considered bunkum. Here is where it gets cool.

So you’ve gone against the grain – aka Domaine Marcel Deiss; you’ve been dubbed a freak, you’ve been told, “Hey, dummy. Don’t you know Gewürztraminer and Pinot Gris don’t ripen at the same time?” You’ve been shunned and told that only an idiot would interplant, but you remain sure that in order to really captivate that vineyard and the specific nuance of that micro terroir, you’re doing the right thing.

The summer months pass, harvest approaches and then like medieval herbal witchcraft, meets southern gospel, meets aurora borealis on a cool November night in the upper peninsula of Michigan, you stand in the middle of your vineyard, you look at the clusters of berries: to your right, to your left, then behind you and some two over and one across. You glance up at the heavens, arms outstretched and shoes off with your feet firmly planted in the dirt you realize that the closeness of the vines you’ve planted and the unlikely even ripeness of all the grapes is your reward and personal thanks from the vines. A cosmic and celestial gathering! Like a lost child reunited with a parent at Disney world, the vines thank you, they revel in their nearness and familiarity; they love each other, recognize each other, understand each other, and have deeply missed each other. At last and all together the vines show you what it really means to have a unified relationship with Mother Earth. They have intermingled their tentacles beneath your feet and have become one.. in this way, the bottlings that come from vineyards like this are like extraterrestrial elixir. If you aren’t feeling grounded or just need a dose of something legal your doctor can’t prescribe. Well, you know.

This practice is being contemplated and acted upon as you read this. Get ready - and don’t say I didn’t tell you so.

My Mississippi Prison Break

2008-03-28T08:49:00.000-07:00

Pulled and drank a bottle of the Qunita Sardonia 2004 last night while doing some late night comp work. I’ve gotta tell you, if you haven’t had that stuff lately, you should - the QS2004 is a wine style that embodies all that is an automatic RP 95+ pointer.

It’s hard to believe that wines like Henry's Drive, Blue Eyed Boy, Drew Noon’s Shiraz, Numanthia and alike, score so high, so damn young. The interesting factoid for me, however, remains that these wines are built with a seemingly atypical purpose. That’s to say that the wines of this nature and ilk all share this insane degree of ”flashiness” that almost warrants a separate category of fermented beverage.

There is very little resemblance among the aforementioned, and any other similarly fashioned wines, to what I consider to be classically styled, cellar worthy, world class bottlings. I wonder what will really become of them - no really, I taste them over and over again and I say silently, “sheesh, how the heck did they do this?” I think about what it's like to drink Pavie, Mouton or a single vineyard Hermitage from the barrel. I think about what a really prodigious, world-class wine is made of in its infancy and try my best to find parallels. But, so often, as I did last night, I find it difficult to really honestly make the parallels match up. Sure, that 2004 Numanthia and Qunita Sardonia will be better in a year or four, but how and in what way? I just have a hard time believing that all that sickeningly brooding darkness will ever step down to allow for the blissful, fluttery, ariel freshness to unveil.

From this I go back to a place it seems I'm forced to go more often than I like "OK, sure, I'm ready to order; I'll have the Cabrales and a chunk of 68%.” Tell me who has that on the dinner menu?

2004 Quinta Sardonia - Dark on sight with totally unevolved creosote meets aboriginal shamen’s medicine bag aromas. Some spice and discernable fruit but from an aromatic standpoint, the wine feels either totally closed or just plain old overwhelmingly black and monochromatic. What surprised me most about this wine was the palate entry and texture. Not texture in that otherworldly sense of texture you experience with a La Folette Pinot or with an aged GC Humbrecht, but rather a syrupy, almost fortified fatness that hits broad on the nose and builds to an almost intolerable crescendo of ripeness that approaches, yes, you guessed it, Tempranilio port. Very low acid and almost void of tannic structure, as much as I want to wait around for the wine to mature, I can’t see that it’ll hold together over time without the fundamental “T & A” backbone. Wide and girthy throughout, sure the alcohol is concealed for the most part, but so is any sense of nuance and finesse. The palate dissolves 40 or so seconds later but, again, in a way that doesn’t suggest what we normally associate with “great length” but moreover in a way like a Mississippi prison break.

Imagine it - you’ve been locked up for years but tonight, you’ve escaped, and now its 3AM and you’re running barefooted at top speed through the trough of a three mile long cement irrigation gully with the shackles of sugar and reduced brown gravy. You make your way, running in a panic, not looking back as the flashing lights of the cells and rotating spotlights scan the nearby bogs and roads. You meet the end of the ravine and trod up the muddy talus to discover the quiet interstate highway still radiating heat from the midday sun. You slow your frantic pace to a long stride step, find a thicket of bramble and berry that’s obscured from the lights of oncoming traffic and sleep till the morn. This wine was rated 96 points!

Manipulation of Vision and the Vision to Manipulate

2008-03-13T05:54:00.000-07:00

For the longest time, I thought that natural wines – wines without much man-handling or supervision - were the best. I thought it was all about the natural action of fermentation and letting that process be as it should be - as natural as possible. Over time, I’ve come to understand that while unmodified wines can be lovely and, more often than not, the mentality that supports this winemaking style garners my fancy they, too, like super-contrived, uber-processed wines can end up spiritless and absent of that almost ethereal core that makes the bottle truly special. I began to think about the power of the wish and how wishes backed by passion turn to vision and how clear visions with conviction are the core and qualification of the dream manifested. This combination is the essential spirit of expression. What you believe and love can become your goals. Seeing the finished product is the key. The spirit is what both drives this to completion and in the end saturates the expression with all that was envisioned.

Sometimes that Ansel Adams/Edward Weston mentality yields way for the Henri Cartier Bresson hip-side tactics. The first two guys would tell you they knew what the print looked like long before the paper hit the developing tray and perhaps before sapping the shutter. They may even tell you they could envision the frame that would eventually surround the photo and maybe even the color of the wall where the image would hang. On the flip side, at first glance Henri managed to gather a sense of the unexpected in a way that suggests whimsy. He shot candid images that stood out as magical, fleeting and momentary. Perhaps more natural and endearing via relativity, perhaps not. In this comparative, the sharp contrast of the subject matter implies that while one is absolute, contemplated and evolved, the other, is based in all that is circumstantial and carefree happenstance. Either way, I think the sense of imagery and foresight of that imagery as personal expression is the key. Alike wine, regardless of origin, varietal or approach, what makes the juice come alive is the same energy that makes an orchid bloom or gives a photo universal meaning.

I'd like to say that pure expression is a one shot deal. That regardless of topic, medium or means to the end, the most honorable are created with a certainty and resolve to the finished product long before the product actually exists. Sort of like the “build it and they will come” bit from that Costner movie, humble poise in tandem with focus and passion creates great things. In this way, the winemaking process is no more or less technical, no more or less scientific than photography. The differentiating factor arrives when you meet the winemakers and you either get the sense or you don’t set the sense that he or she knows what the final product tastes like standing in the vineyard in late august. Get down on your hands and knees, I say! Eat one of the berries, take a breath and create the vision. Whether you have the vision to manipulate or the sense to know when and how to manipulate the vision. In my mind, the best things come from the ability to see it done and know what it’s like before you do it.

So go ahead, drink what you like, but if you ever find a wine that somehow, someway, just talks to you, or just seems special, hop in the car or get on the phone. Call the winemaker see for yourself.

Cobra kai dojo and the lighter side of ego

2008-03-05T13:51:00.000-08:00

“Just sweep the leg, Johnny..SWEEP THE LEG!! The classic scene from the 80’s cult classic, The Karate Kid, became the unavoidable mantra after the this year's Oscars of Wine event. Jokingly, for sure, because honestly, as much as I could shake my fists in the air touting a triumphant, nearly landslide victory, in reality, my instinct and immediate reaction is one of modesty and awkwardness over the turnout.

It's one of those times like when your watching your kid's basketball team just crush their opponents. You're happy your kid is 13 inches taller than any of the other players and is repeatedly scoring from mid-court, but you also don’t stick around after the game to revel in the glory and talk shop with the other feisty parents. It’s all good in the end, but you know - and worse, can detect - that a few of the parents just want to knock your teeth out. In any case, like last year, I was honored to be invited to this event and really enjoyed every aspect from the preparation to the set up and having the opportunity to meet so many fervent and emphatic wine connoisseurs.

If you are wondering, all but the 1998 Beaucastel are available in the market. Additionally, a few of these will become part of the listed offerings at one or more Fifth Group restaurants after our next scheduled wine list change set for the 20th of April.

Thanks to all the attendees and for all the support! Here are the winning wines:

Best Actor Oscar – "Big, Bold and Racy"
Cims de Porrera, "Classis," Priorato, Spain 2001

Best Actress Oscar – "Soft Yet Assertive" (a tie between Stratigos and Michael McNeil)
Vajra Stratigos: Vinoptima, Gewurtztraminer, "Reserve," Ormond, NZ 2003
Michael McNeil: Soave Superiore, 'Salvarenza,' Gini Veneto

Best Foreign Oscar – "Anything Not From the U.S."
Chateau Beaucastel, Chateauneuf du Pape, France 1998

Best Newcomer Oscar – "The Latest Greatest Thing"
Xtant, Napa Valley, California 2002

Best Director Oscar – "Winemaking at its Best"
Mara Zinfandel, "Dolinsek Ranch," Russian River Valley 2005

Best Indie Oscar – "Hand-Crafted, Less Than 1000 Cases, Priced Under $40"
Los Astrales "Astrales," Ribera del Duero, Castilla Leon, Spain 2003

I'm off to the after parties now - cheers!

Something About Stimulant and The Details of Daybreak

2008-03-03T06:45:00.000-08:00

Waxy, round, toasty and full of Earth. That’s the way I like my mornings. I say take me to the south islands where the brown can stand up to the cream. With a cup of this kinda stuff, it's okay to cry over spilled milk. Ahhh, the details of daybreak: it's not just the vinous aroma; it's not just how you’ve gotta make sure the seam in the paper cup is at 12 o’clock, not 6; it's not that being surrounded with intellectual beatnik transplants from up north makes all the difference; just some of it. Some of the sensory folly could be the excruciatingly protracted wait at the counter, the lack of parking, the back counter littered with press pots and digital timers or, even the more, than gnarly golf ball sized star shaped implants in the baristas forearm. It all comes together, almost all at once, almost every weekday morning. What is all of this you ask? It’s my AM raison d’être and i'ts all about the intangibles and how they flank the core truths of flavor. It’s what has become a nearly spiritual rite, a fixed path, a locked-in target, a milky manifesto, a pilgrimage to pleasure. Octane coffee lounge is the place, see you there..8:32 sharp.

The men who knew too much?

2008-02-22T13:16:00.000-08:00

An impromptu lunch with Michael Ferguson and Scott Levy

Believe it or not, as much wine as I have the opportunity to taste, drink, consume etc., I don’t really do it in a way that most probably imagine. So often I hear “Wow - what a cool job!” or, with a decidedly Beavis and Butthead-like tone, “Gee, I wish I had a job like yours. You must just sit around a taste wine all day long...huh..huh.”

Well, my friends, for those of you who think for a minute that tasting insurmountable heaps of wine and spirits over and over is all pleasure, think again. In fact, the reality is even if I could, I wouldn’t. Most importantly, as much as tasting a hundred or so wines a week sounds glam, when you couple the idea with all else that must go on and all else that I do my best to manage, there really isn’t much left over for gallivanting from place to place whimsically tasting and bobbing in and out of inebriation.

On occasion (and I've gotta stress on occasion), if the stars, workload, invitation, tasting line-up, etc. are all doing it together, I just may scramble out of the office or a meeting at one of our restaurants to join in on the tasting ritual. Remember, the taster's code of ethics and you'll be able to pridefully proclaim "I don’t swallow..I spit.”

Earlier this week, the one and only Mr. Michael Ferguson - a man I’ve affectionately dubbed "sales person anomaly of all sales people anomalies" in Georgia, or perhaps even the entire North American wine scene, called and asked me to join him, along with the ever-so-attentive Mr. Scott Levy, to a quick luncheon. New releases of Jim Clendenon’s ABC were on tap. The moon was approaching its apex of fullness and the pressure in the sky invoked pleasant memories of Colorado mountain living where the wind blows with a purpose and the endless horizons encourage the daydream. This fleeting inspirational moment gave rise to my enthusiasm and lent meaning to the idea of tasting a bunch of ABC all at once.”

2005 Au Bon Climat Pinot Gris / Pinot Blanc
Bright and refreshing aromatics suggesting red and green apples with a compelling leesy character reminiscent of some top northern Italian producers. Mouthwatering from the initial attack through the palate, where the signature Clendenon acid arrives earlier than expected, adding a lift and vibrancy to the fruit, accentuating the slight stony minerality and literally raising the roof - and, if you will, the palate - ceiling height, enabling a myriad of complexity to fill in where the typical domestic PG/PB’s fall short. A brilliant effort that shares those uncommon elements of satiating richness and overall palate brightness and “light footedness” that beckons you to buy up a case in preparation for the coming warm season and the seafood fiesta you’ll be having in your backyard.

Undeniably fantastic, straight down the middle, good for the SB and Chardonnay drinkers all at once. An epic value! Highly recommended!

2003 Au Bon Climat “ Hildegard”
Jim's rendition and homage to the the ancient or undocumented traditional, more than likely, blend of Pinot Gris, Pinot Blanc and Aligote. When I first tasted this two or so years back, it hadn’t evolved and, while it was impressive from a stylistic standpoint, it was a bit overbearing; waxy, single dimensional and dumb. On this day, however, with two additional years of bottle age, let me say again, the stars were aligned and the wine showed brilliantly! Despite the heat of the vintage and what appears to be some additional barrel ageing aimed at countering that massive fruit, the key elements have evolved nicely. Utterly attention-grabbing aromatics of almost schistous, wet black rocky minerality, more leeseyness, and a good smearing of sweet oak that led into a striking mouthfeel that reminded me of how great wines of this caliber are with proper maturation. How rare it is to find domestic whites that can, and do, actually hang on for the haul! Finishing strong with graceful acidity and a tinge of oxidative nuttyness, the wine is ready to drink. While the 2003 Hildegard is a thinking wine for those of us that enjoy the pastime, it would just as well serve the progressive and or moderately adventurous chardonnay drinkers that appreciate distinction in that oh so Clendenon way.

2006 Au Bon Climat Santa Barbara County, Chardonnay
With the typical ABC distinction, this young chard might be the best food chardonnay I've ever tasted at this price point. Showing like a Macon village wine from a hot vintage, this little betty does all that you could possibly want from a $15 chard - and more. Enticing aromatics of lemon oil and apricot kernel are flanked by that aromatic nippiness that suggests the bright acidity to come. Round in an atypically round way, again, the acid arrives quickly about two beats into the mid-palate, repeats some of the oily stone fruit and citrus, flashes you with a smidge of what feels like 2nd year barrel oakyness and then darts out of the room like Roadrunner. You say, "Wow, how delish, how satisfying and how good would it be to have another sip!” I wish more chards were built like this. Highly recommended. Buy a case of this one too!

2005 Au Bon Climat, Pinot Noir “La Bauge au Dessus”
This wine is sooo fresh, soooo bright and soooo ultra delicious! Noticeable on sight, in this vintage, Jim opted to include fruit from a new parcel which imparts a decidedly more masculine, unctuousness and streak of flesh to what has historically been a bottling all about finesse. Probably a good marketing decision, the wine showed very well and, again, as much as I despise the overuse and over contrasting of domestic wines to the likeness of European counterparts, this wine really hits hard in the best way. Emulating all that is wondrous about a good Bourgogne rouge from a good producer in a good vintage, this wine is that plus a splash of ripeness which is in my mind the one element that makes this vintage domestic. Trapeze artist would be proud to serve this at the carnival! Bounding aromas of sweet red cherry and raspberry are joined at the hip each waving a sachet of cinnamon and dried huckleberry and conifer briar. The palate, although noticeably rounder than in previous vintages, still shows elegance amid the darker fruit profile. The wine finished with a refreshing slap and a lingering suggestion of thanks giving baking spice. A graceful medium bodied La Bauge that will age nicely and provide immediate pleasure for those in need of a good schnootz.

More Like A Stroke Than A Toot

2008-02-13T13:22:00.000-08:00

In a few short days, I'll be standing behind a table pouring wine for any and all of you that want to join in on the carousing. This time the revolution will not be televised, but for those interested die-hard wine event-goers, this year's Oscars of Wine event will be an adventure you don’t want to hear about at the water cooler.

Last year, my selections took the Oscar for "People's Choice" and in the last few weeks, like a late night promotion for a WWF title match, I've had a few prank calls and anonymous promises to dethrone me and seize my glistening, ruby-studded belt. So, more than I'm suggesting you come just to offset these ridiculous attempts to intimidate, I'm suggesting you come because the wines I'm pouring are absolutely rock star.

In this case, as before, YOU taste and be the judge as to which wine is deserving of the Oscar. Celebrity judges Jane Garvey, Todd Rushing, Doug Strickland, Hervé Pennequin and Doug Bryant will choose the "Judges Choice" in each category. We can join hands and unify our Jedi forces; stare into my eyes, taste the wine and repeat after me: "These aren’t the droids you're looking for...move along.”

Limited to 150 guests and sells out quickly, so call today. Oh, BTW, the event will be held on Sunday, February the 24th at TROIS in Midtown. For See you there - 1180 Peachtree Street, Atlanta, GA 30309; 404 815 3337.

The Haute South

2008-02-13T08:53:00.001-08:00

Chilly one day, then balmy bluster the next – that’s what I’ve come to expect out of early spring here in good ole GA. While this back and forth flip flopping of air temp challenges wardrobe decisiveness, it presents a somewhat unique opportunity for those of us that really enjoy a wide variety of beverages. Many times, I begin my day with the trusty Braun grinder, a French press and some good shiny southeastern Asian beans. I work my way through the obligatory “gots to cuz I live in the ATL” Coca-Cola, on through the mid-day “gots to cuz I live in the ATL” ice tea, and then back to the java in order to build the necessary foundation for the après sun festivities.

And the sun did go down last week on the not-so-suburban township of Decatur. Like a number of other micro-locales inside 285, I think of Decatur as an “inburb” and really in a league of its own: a true-to-itself, small- town hot spot that uniquely provides a “walking neighborhood” and an in-town shopping district all in one. Decatur-proper boasts a real limestone courthouse with pigeons, coffee shops, homeless people that you’ll come to know by name and a slew of gift stores that flank the oddly Midwestern structure on all but one side. Around the square, the adjacent streets are littered with similar retail storefronts and eateries that are both inviting and full of charm.

On this eve, the warmth stuck around so we opted to leave the coats in the car. It was Super Tuesday 2008; feeling rebellious and a bit pudgy, I felt as though I needed something to restore confidence to my sense of masculinity. I opted for a “schnnotz” of bourbon, silently toasted my candidate-of-choice and asked for some Blanton’s. Blanton’s, while not commonly available, can be found at a few of the better liquor merchants and full-service restaurants. They have has a fantastic website with one of the most creative uses of Flash I’ve seen in a while. Take a look – www.blantonsbourbon.com.

In any case, Blanton’s was the first American single-barrel bourbon. This essentially means that, yes, they did it first, but more importantly, there is no blending. For those of you that know about barrels and their relationship to wine, you know you can take the same juice from the same parcel and pump it into three barrels from the same cooper all resting in the same corner of the cellar. In the end, you get a reasonably different result from each. For this reason and others, after barrel grading, winemakers craft a final blend from a variety of barrels each lending its own subtly distinctive personality to the finished wine. In the case of single-barrel bourbon like Blanton’s, the goal is singularity and distinction rather than “distillery-style,” as is the case with many scotch houses and blended whiskeys. Blanton’s is packaged in a super cool soccer ball shaped bottle with barrel number, ageing information and a hand written signature that imparts a good artisan appeal. Here is a good example of a righteous package and even more righteous juice. That’s 360-degree crafting in my book – inside and out! Home runs on both are something that most producers, whether wine or spirit, don’t always get.

An enduring bouquet offering melted sweet scents of buttered popcorn, light toffee, maple and lanolin. The grain-like palate entry is balanced by a sappy flavor; at midpalate, it’s focused, sweet, oaky, full of maple and sultry seamlessness. The finish is my favorite and feels less sweet with strong vanillin oakyness and more lingering sappy resin.

A good bottom weighted hunk of crystal, an oversized cube or two and a glugging pour of Blanton’s is just what the doctor ordered. You get what cha pay for, as they say.

FAT doesn’t always mean PHAT

2008-01-30T08:02:00.001-08:00

You are the die-hard, gotta-learn-all-there-is-to-know type, convinced you must take advantage of every tasting opportunity there is. Cancel some appointments, shuffle your day around, drive 45 in a 25 and still, despite all of this, you arrive just as the seminar begins. You look around the room, a dozen or so of the 40 in attendance rubberneck to see who has arrived late, walking through the narrow isle, you see the only remaining spot.

Unfortunately, that one seat plants you between two dudes that look like WWF wrestlers and smell like an 80’s hair salon: think Drakkar, hairy chests, velour gym suits and the iconic 1/8” herringbone 14 karat chain. It's all there - the protruding jaw, the Cro-Magnon brow that screams steroids, and this time, a sense of totally disparity sets in. You didn’t realize that people wore cologne to professional wine tastings; you didn’t think that disciples of Hulk Hogan drank wine, and you’re thinking it may be a good time to make like a tree (and leave - bad pun, I know, but hard to resist).

The tasting begins and you are in the verbal crossfire between Joey and Joey: boisterous, obnoxious, brazen and overt, you can hardly take it. The last wine to taste is poured and Joey #1 says ”Woooah..this one is PHAT!” Confusing, indeed, coming from this stinking thuglet. Do you dare ask him to elaborate? Does he mean “phat” like his Sean John trousers, or “fat” like the edge of a rib eye? Hmmmm?

Fat in wine for me has direct correlation to the overall temperature range the vines endure during the growing season (particularly steady high or higher-than-normal temperatures). Rarely used in fact, the term “fat” as it relates to wine is more commonly verbalized as uber-ripeness, roundness, glycerol, thick, syrupy, flabby, viscous, etc.

Typically a challenge to traditional winemakers, a “fat” finished wine normally means that physiological maturity was reached and probably pushed just beyond the ideal - beyond to a place where ripeness overcomes balance, where alcohol plays a leading role, where acidity is diminished and opulence rules over finesse. Many folks, thanks to guys like Ehren Jordan and John Wetlaufer, have become accustomed to this profile trait. For me unfortunately wines that have this low acid “fatness” are not normally so great at the dinner table and more suitable as stand alone quaffers.

So, just say "no" to blotter, cologne, gold mining, synthetic fibers, and yes to acid!

“Just tell 'em LARGE MARGE sentcha!“

2008-01-23T13:23:00.000-08:00

2 unnamed baddies and the 2003 Chateau Saint Cosme Gigondas

A colleague and friend of 10+ years recently swung through town on his way to warmer breezes. We toured some of the local foodie hotspots and drinking establishments, caught up on overdue convo, reminisced steep runs swathed with fresh powder and a time long ago when sleeping in on Tuesday was an okay thing to do.

We began our evening properly with a social outing followed by drop n’ hop snacks and a couple Campari and sodas at a favorite neighborhood eatery.

Our session of overindulgence began and didn’t stop for nearly four hours. Allow me to clarify from the beginning that I rarely have the opportunity to dine alongside someone that truly shares a passion for both food and the quality of the environment that together embody the "dining experience." Someone who really gets it...someone that understands the gamut of quality and style, yet appreciates that on the right day, in the right place, with the right company, Manwich on a steamy-soft white bun and an icy Mr.Pibb can bring about some real pleasure.

The advantage of this dining counterpart is perspective. For me, something I crave in a dining experience. Good respectful feedback in broad strokes. On the restaurant, menu design, content, price points, et al. The things that make up, all in all, an excellent meal.

The first two bottles of wines (no need to mention names) were both delish but lacked any sense of finesse or elegance. We tasted them side by side. Each exuding commendable power, concentration and so on. Lack of ripeness was not definitely the issue. In fact, the overall unruly intensity took me a bit off guard (this happens to me nearly every time three or four days pass without a sip of American juice). In any case, considering maturity and style, both of these domestic bottlings - 40-55$ retail - are probably big movers in local wine merchants. Yeah, that means everyday folks you probably know are buying and drinking young $50 wines!

I looked across the table for a reaction and was pleased to see that it mirrored my own. Wow, I thought, what a coupl’a monsters both thinking "who drinks this stuff with food and, if someone does, with what food?" I handed both the nearly full decanters off to the server and suggested that he share them with his fellow servers post shift. He leaned down as if to hear my next comment and I whispered ”Just tell em Large Marge sentcha.” I'm sure he wasn’t old enough to remember Marge but a nice add on to his tip, eh?

While the wines were high scoring, from pedigree vineyard sites, and carried the accreditation of accomplished winemakers, neither wine was acceptable with any of 13 courses we enjoyed. Ouch! I asked for a wine list.

Strolling through the list, we happened upon the 2003 Chateau Saint Cosme Gigondas. Knowing that the 2003 vintage was a bit more flamboyant, ripe and over the top than is typical; I opted for this wine based on the diversity of the courses to come. While many Gigondas producers have flailed and produced increasingly insipid wines over the last 15 or so years, this producer is clearly committed to quality over abundance.

A winner nearly every vintage, this wine epitomizes the glory of the Rhone with its enticing sweet, focused, floral cherry aromas, and an undeniably versatile luscious palate chock-full of black bush fruits provencal herbs and pepper. Integrated in every way and not as alcoholic as I expected, with more acid that I'd anticipated. Sinful balance, ideally symmetric...oooh la la...the wine was absolutely brilliant! No shortage of power, no missing components in the flavor profile - all zipped up and all smiles! Bigger in this instance is certainly not better. Why so big I ask...why so much? Because Manwich is OK at the right moment, at the right time, but certainly not all the time.

Fu-get-about-it! Tales of the Big “R”

2008-01-17T11:54:00.001-08:00

Becker, 2005 Riesling Medium-Dry, Laissez Fair, Pfalz, Germany

When you hear the word “sear,” you might think of just about anything being singed, quickly fried, browned or maybe even a wicked sunburn you once had that, no matter how many times you turned the pillow, felt like your face had been cooked. I think that “sear” is a really cool word. I especially like its correlation to cooking, to transformation, to the idea that once something is seared, you can normally enjoy both its freshness and its caramelized edge all at once. Anyway, you get it. So, searing is cool or, you might say, it's cool to sear. Lets move on.

Until recently, I hadn’t ever really thought of searing in terms of anything other than the culinary action itself. I do however think of a few white wines as having really intense acidity in conjunction with decadent richness. Not too often are these components adjoined. In really rare circumstances (honestly, only a few I can recall) do they show it in this way that makes me stand up on my chair and holler about palate presence. “Wow!” I'd say, “This wine is seriously huge!” What is huge, you ask? Remember, in this case, it's not about the wood, the roundness or the opulence of the fruit but, moreover, about that rare one-two combo, uppercut, left hook (it’s an election year), that is the acid and the ripeness that come like a boomerang with a mind of its own. Silently approaching, suddenly the weight shows itself, the attack is blunt nosed, broad and covered with thorns. Yes, you are taken by storm. In this unique scenario the acid doesn’t hold off, and this is a key factor and contributor to the “hugeness." Just as the fruit emerges mid-palate, so too does this bounty of polished zing; my eyes light up, I leap to my chair and call an old friend to proclaim the searing power of this breathtaking mouthful. Yeah it’s Riesling.

This producer makes micro, micro amounts of his wines and these are well worth seeking out! Interestingly enough, the Becker vineyards are half in the Pfalz and half in Alsace. This bottling is a Spatlese Halbtrocken technically, but is only labeled as Halbtrocken. Graceful with admirable power, this wine is jammed with red apple and minerality that doesn’t quit. Amazing symmetry and a glorious olfactory recoil that sends you to Yearnsville, asking for another bottle.

I'm thinking about a rich creamy coconut red curry broth studded with freshly shucked oysters, and a salad of bockchoy, bean sprouts, green onion, cilantro, and snap peas with crispy lotus root and ginger alongside a seared filet of black cod.

Importer: Rudi Wiest Selections

Car-ry Me Car-a-van, Take Me A-way, Take Me to Por-tu-gal, Take Me to Spain

2008-01-15T10:09:00.000-08:00

Borsao, Tres Picos, Garnacha, Campo de Borja, Spain '06

This time round, our long lost buddy Jim Morrison gets the headline - it's another round, another vintage, another chance for you to knock boots with a bottle or three of Tres Picos Garnacha. The epic Spanish elixir that you crave incessantly all year long - awaiting its return like the blooms on the heirloom tea rose bush outside the kitchen window. When it hits, its all about abundance, and giving it up just like a flower should - no holding back. The color you say? Like Moroccan fabric dye. The aromas? Well, like that tea rose bush. As for what really counts, I say on the raw sensory pleasure scale (RSPS) which spans 1-50, I'm giving this jugo a solid 42! Again, this vintage is a contender for red wine value of the year! $11.99 retail...sheesh!

Not unlike its blended sibling, the 2006 Tres Picos Garnacha is shockingly lavish, deep and crammed with sweet toasty fruit. In the nose, there is a boundless, let me say that again - boundless - bouquet of mature red fruits with traces of flowers that are typical of the best Garnachas. In the mouth, it is rich and well-structured all together conveying flavors of blackberries, strawberries and tones of leather, charred oak, vanilla and plums.

I’m thinking slow roasted chicken stuffed with lemon, butter, coarse salt, thyme and marjoram. Some woodfire grilled fennel sausages, a salad of frisee, blood orange, and oil-cured olives and a nice hunk of Manchego to go along with a good baguette. Hey batt’a, batt’a, batt’a, batt’a - hey, batt’a, batt’a - shhwwingg!

Importer: Jorge Ordonez, Dedham, MA