Thursday, October 13, 2011

You're The Tops

I can't believe that is has been well over a month, and a strange one at that, since my last post. I have attended some very interesting events, including the Sonoma Harvest Fair award winner tasting and a survey of Argentinian wines. Both were interesting, but paled to last nights Wine & Spirits Magazine's Top 100 Tasting.

Having gone to the event for the past 6 years, I was counting down the days till its arrival. Since there were 100 wineries pouring their wares, I decided to concentrate on Rieslings and wines that I haven't had a recent opportunity to sample.

After starting with the spectacular Roederer Crystal, it was on to German and Austrian Rieslings. The highlights were Joh. Hos. Purm, who were pouring Trockens, Spatlese, Auslese and Beerenauslese. They just got better as you went up the ladder. The trocken was crisp like a granny smith apple, and then added honey and spice the richer the wines got. The Beerenauslese was spectacular and worth seeking out. And these wines were not terribly expensive on a value per dollar ratio.

From Austria we tasted Schloss Gobelsburg and they were also quite nice. Gruner Veitliner was crisp and rich and the Riesling showed great acid and richness with a touch of sweetness. The Riesling was an excellent example of what Germans would call Kabinett.

Most interesting were the two Finger Lake producers who were pouring rieslings as well. They packed more value than anything else at the event. Hermann Wiemar's 09 Finger Lakes Late Harvest Riesling was a dead ringer for a Rheingau Spatlese. It was an intense, rich and unctuous wine that had hints of honey, tart apple and baking spice with a finish that lingered forever. At $24 per bottle, if I had access to a case, I would have bought in on the spot.

Red Newt, and other Finger Lakes producer poured 2 wines, a dry 2010 Riesling that was refreshing and a 09 that was vinted in the German Kabinett style. Both were very interesting, and at $16 per bottle,worth purchasing.

We then went to the Penfold's table. To our great surprise, they were not only pouring the listed 07 St. Henri and the 08 RWT Shiraz, they had a bottle of 06 Grange open. These three wines could have been the events best of show. We sampled the wines in order of oak. First the St. Henri which is fermented and aged in large oak fermenters, it is all fruit with a very nice tannic structure balancing it. A great wine to drink now, and a great value at around $50 per bottle. The RWT is fermented and aged in 100% new French oak and is all suppleness. The fruit is tempered by some exquisite tannins, spice and smoke. Give it five years.

Then there was the 06 Grange. This is perhaps one of Australia's and perhaps the world's, iconic wines. 100% Barossa Shiraz and aged in 100% new American oak, the tannins are still front and center. After sitting in my glass for a few minutes, the fruit began to emerge, along with the flavors of roasted meats and a sleek toastiness and sandalwood. This wine will be a great one. Of course a pricey one as well weighting in at $500 for the bottle.

We then ambled over to Andrew Will, one of the iconic Washington producers. Pouring two wonderful cab blends, they were sleek and fruit forward, yet will be even better in about 5 years. After that, it was over to Leonetti, another iconic Washington winery. Their Walla Walla Merlot was outstanding.

We then said hello to the Seps family, as they were pouring their Storybook Mountain Mayacamas Zin and  Seps Estate Cab. The cab was interesting, but stick with the zins, they are among the most interesting and consistent ones made in California. We mostly chatted about the harvest and difficult it was. In case you are not aware, two days of forecasted sprinkles have turned into several days of real rain. This on top of a long and very difficult growing season. Dr. Seps felt that there will be a harvest and had his fingers crossed.

Next to Storybook was another favorite, Ravenswood. The 08 Old Hill zin was a blend of 75% zin and 25% mixed black woods. Those who know me, know how much I love mixed black woods, and this blend was no exception, it was great.

After that, we sampled some very nice Barolos, some more Aussie shriaz, and some excellent Sonoma Coast Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs from Flowers. All this excellence ended with two outstanding sweet wines, 2007 Quinta do Noval vintage port and Chambers Grand Muscat from Rutherglen in Victoria Australia. Drinking this young port was almost like infanticide. This is a great port, and will only get better in 10 years. The Chambers Muscat was a revelation. It is a blend of aged fortified wines with an average age of 50 years. It was very special.

All in all, an interesting evening. Next week is a walk around tasting of Italian wines, I won't miss that!

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

International Cabernet Day Celebration

As many, including myself, did not know, September 1 is International Cabernet Day so I decided to celebrate at the Cabernet Day Napa HQ Seminar held at the Napa Marriott. As it happens, it turned out to be one helluva event, with some very serious flights of cabernet poured for our evaluation. The whole event was covered live on Twitter and Toutesuit which is a new video blogging site.

First, hats off the the Napa Marriott for volunteering to host this event, and to JJ Buckley in Oakland for sourcing these incredible reds. And a serious hats off to Deborah Parker Wong and Andrea Immerman Robinson for providing the commentary at this event.

The event itself was divided into 5 flights, each one dedicated to a single Cabernet topic. So we had Cabernet Franc from the Loire Valley, Washington State Cabernets, Library Cabernets over 10 years old, Australia Cabernets and the final flight was an overview of Bordeaux. Between each segment we had some surprises, such as Cabernet Franc from Colorado and a two Cabernet Sauvignons from Baja Mexico. Unfortunately I had to leave after the Library segment and missed Bordeaux and Australia. Judging from the quality of wines that I did taste as well as my familiarity with several of the wines from Australia, I'm sure that the last two flights were outstanding as well.

So lets get to the wines. The first flight were Cabernet Francs from the Loire. I found these interesting, but not to the point that I would rush right out and purchase them. The three selections all had herbaceous noises, some tight fruit and a very good acidic structure. The 2009 Chinon, poured last, was my favorite. Again, I would not run out and buy any of these, probably due to my new world pallet.
In between flights, we sampled a 2008 Cabernet Franc from Colorado. I wish I wrote the name down. This wine was definitely new world in style with big fruit, pronounced tannins, leather and spice. It surprised me a great deal, until I thought about a recent Daily Grape from Gary Vaynerchuk. He tasted a Cab Franc from Colorado and raved about it. I wonder if it was this wine. Whatever, at $25 per bottle it packed a lot of power, great fruit, texture and tannic structure.

Next up were cabs from Washington State. These were a revelation. Washington State has 15 plus hours of sun during its growing season, yet it has a shorter and cooler growing season than Napa or Sonoma. The result are ripe wines that do not have the explosion of fruit upfront on the nose. Yet this fruit showed itself with certainty on the pallat. The two standouts were L'Ecole 41 Columbia Valley cab, their single vineyard cab and Gilbert Cellars Wahluke Slope. All had tremendous finesse and subtle fruit. I would have loved to taste these side by side with the Bordeaux that were poured later in the evening.

We then tasted the Library Release cabs. I always enjoy old wines because you cannot predict how one will evolve, you have to leave it to chance. First up was the Vilafonte Series M from South Africa. This Cab Sauv-Cab Franc blend was downright delicious. Still showing some very nice fruit, it had some serious weight on the mid pallet and a great finish.

Next was L'Ecole 41 2001 Walla Walla Washington. This wine was at its peak. Leather, cinnamon, cedar, vanilla with at nice touch of fruit peaking through on the pallet, it was spectacular. The Jordan 2000 Alexander Valley cab proved to be the most surprising wine of the flight' at 11 years old, it was still very youthful. I have always found Jordan wines to be very lush on release and rarely have I tasted one that was over 7-8 years old that had any life left on it. This one was still young, my guess is that it would still need another 3-5 years to resolve itself and smooth out the tannins as it still was a fruit driven wine. Yet all the elements of a great aged wine were there, the leather, spice, tobacco and cedar were just waiting for an excuse to peak out through the fruit. This wine should be great.

The biggest disappointment, yet not really disappointing was the Chateau Montelena 1998 Napa Valley cab. 1998 was an awful year in Northern California. For those who need a reminder, it started raining late in January and did not stop until mid June. They were still picking grapes in November. Back then I was catering and one of my largest clients, Rosenblum Cellars was loosing banquet business because they could not hold eventsin the winery because were still fermenting their wines in December. The year was a mess of vegetalness and under ripeness. Chateau Montelena is a great winery with great vineyards, however this wine was over the hill. No disrespect to them, as I've had their most recent releases and they all are outstanding, this was just a bad vintage.

With this I had to leave for other commitments. Great event, and great show.

Later this month I will be tasting wines from Argentina, going to a Calistoga tasting, and a grand tasting of the SF Wine Competition winners. I hope you will read my comments on them.

Monday, August 29, 2011

Food Fight!

There is a real knock down, drag out, heavy wieght fight brewing in the food world, Anthony Boudain vs. the food intellegensia.

First some background; for the past decade, Tony Bourdain has been the bad boy of the food world. He has smashed some icons, bowed down to others and has wrecked havoc through the gastronmic world with wit and charm. He started with what is now a considered a culinary classic "Kitchen Confidential." In his own words, Bourdain wrote that book for those who work in kitchens and never expected it to become the bestseller that it did.

He now hosts the highly successful, and very entertaining, TV show No Reservations where he travels the world in search of culinary edification. Sometimes he finds it, and sometimes not. His show from war ravaged Beruit during th 2006 world is about the most unusal culinary TV show that you will ever watch. Also his show where he worked the line with Eric Ripert at Les Halles was the only time I have ever seen the energy and fear that fuels the cooking lines at restaurants in a way that civilians can appreciate what it is all about.

I, and all of my colleagues, read Kitchen Confidential cover to cover with footnotes at least once. It was one of the only books that illustrated exactly what life is like in the kitchen. It was funny, profane and all of it absultely true and unvarnished. In fact, several of the chefs that I worked with in New York were among the skewered. Three of his points rang very true with me, first those anything ordered well done gets absolutely the worst cuts of meat. Boy that hit home as we did exactly that in every kitchen I worked in. The second point was that you should never order fish on Sundays as the last fish delivery was on Friday morning. It used to drive my owners crazy when we ran out of fish at the end of Saturday nights, until they looked at waste and food cost.

The last point is the most telling and relevant to the food fight brewing over his latest comments, he basically said that there were two types of kitchens, the churn and burn kitchens and the high art kitchens. I have worked in both. I learned more in the high end kitchens, but had much more fun in the churn and burn ones where we turned 500 covers (customers) per night.

And that brings us to Bourdain's lastet tome "Medium Raw." It is a very readable, very profane and very enjoyable book, but it can't escape the conflict of Tony the rebel vs. Tony now one of the culinary guys. In Kitchen Confidential, he was a rebel, skewering the Haute Cuisine world and all of it pretensions. He had some very choice words for Alain Ducasse and many others. He told us how it was to work the line, to turn out hundreds of dishes each night and how to run a kitchen.

In this book he starts up with a confession. He admits that none of his friends would ever hire him as a cook to work in any of their kitchens. What he does not say, but most culinarians know, is that these new friends were not his friends from his KC time, these are his new friends, friends of Tony the Culinary celebrity. And that conflict comes out in both guises throughout his book. His chapter on Alice Waters had to be written. He savages her elitism, and elitism that drips off everything she does. His comments on what Alice Waters says that Middle Amercia should eat during the winter are almost worth the price of this book alone.

However, when he speaks about some of the other so called celebrity chefs, Paula Dean, Rachel Ray et all, he is just as savage, and he should not be. After telling us how lucky he was, a recovered addict who was a journeyman cook/shef that lucked out into a successful new life, he really has a lot of gaul to put these other cooks down.

And that conflict arises time and time again. He writes about how fine dining needs to be redone, then goes to great lengths about how sad the closing of El Buili in Spain will be. How David Chang is rewriting culinary rules, and how he can't cook.

Adding fuel to the fire is an interview that Bourdain recently sat down for in TV Guide. While he did not say anything new, he attracted missles from Frank Bruni, the food critic at the NY Times. I don't know if Mr. Bruni read the book, but he proceedes to call Bourdain an elitist who has no conception about how the masses eat.

I guess Mr. Bruni did not read Broudain's chapters on how his travels around the world, experiencing scarcity among the many places he visited, made him more cognizant of how blessed we as a country are. Who is going to man the small farms growing local produce. It is an interesting conflict.

And Tony comes down on the sides of an elistist as well. He himself will not feed his kid anything but organic foods. Of course, that's his choice and he admits being a world traveling food personality pays very well.

Interesting stuff making Medium Raw a very interesting read for anyone who is interested in the current culinary world.

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Some Random Thoughts

The Crystal Symphony was a seriously intensive food and wine exploration. It was so serious that I have been on detox since I came home so I have not had much to share with you. However, there are some thoughts that crossed my mind.

1. Several weeks ago I attended an interesting trade event at Sterling Vineyards where attendees had the opportunity to sample almost all of Diageo's California wines. They had Acacia covering Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, Sterling with its moderately priced and widely available portfolio; Bealieu with its Napa Valley product line and Provenance with its Single Vineyard wines. To cap it off, Rosenblum provided zins and syrahs.

It is apparent that Diageo is attempting to cover all bases from simple varietal wines to sophisticated single vineyard reserves. The wines themselves ran from OK to something potentially special. I really liked the BV 07 Georges de LaTour Cab, as well as the Provenance 07 cab reserve. Another interesting point was that Acacia's two wines were made from Winery Lake Vineyard, formerly Sterling's pride and joy cool climate estate in the Carneros. Interesting.

2. Yesterday my Williams Selyem fall offering arrived in the mail. Having many wines in our house, including a lot from WS, I will only be ordering 6 bottles. The  return of the Olivet Lane vineyard to the WS lineup is the highlight of this offering. Up until 1995, this was one of their top vineyards, and then they lost the contract. At WS pick up weekend last fall, I tasted a barrel sample last year and I can't wait to taste it in the bottle.

3. In the WS newsletter, there is a discussion about how long to age the wine. Interesting as the Wine Spectator had an opinion piece from Matt Kramer on exactly that topic. I agree with Matt Kramer that most California wines peak at around 10 years. As for WS, I recently had the 99 Russian River Pinot Noir and it was spectacular with great cherry fruit, baking spices and some smokey funkiness that I just loved.

4. Speaking of Pinot Noirs, tomorrow I am attending the Pinot Noir shootout being held at Allen Farms and Vineyards. I have no idea what this is about, but hey I'm game.

5. My lull in events to attend ends tomorrow with the aforementioned Pinot Noir Shootout. This weekend Russian River Valley Winegrowers Hog In the Fog BBQ makes its annual appearence and Monday is Family Winemakers in San Francisco. Tough slog ahead, but someone has got to do it. And if that's not enough on August 29 I will be attending a Tempernillo Day Cookout.

Thanks for checking in, and if you can think of anything to add, please feel free to get in touch with me.

Saturday, July 30, 2011

British Columbia Wine Country?

Yesterday was Vancouver, today was Victoria. I love both cities and we had cooperative weather as well. If in Vancouver and one is truly interested in Food, a trip to Granville Market is a must. The produce from the Okenagan Valley is really beautiful. We also saw some extremely great produce at the Victoria Farmer's Market as well.

But what really was interesting were the wines of the Okenagan Valley. Last night after dinner and the show, Jessica and I took a taxi to the UVA Wine Bar on Seymour Street in Downtown Vancouver. It's downtown, but at least a 20 minute walk from the pier. Add into the navigation of the rabbit warren that makes up Canada Place and you need to figure in at least 40 minutes to get back to the ship. Take a taxi, it's easier.

But I digress, back to UVA. In 2005, we could not find any local wines anywhere we looked. Not the case this time through. At UVA, the manager (I did not get his name) gave us a brief guided tour through several of the wines. Generally speaking, the whites  were far superior to the reds. The first wine I tasted was a Laughing Stock 2010 Pinot Gris. The nose had citrus, honey and pear. As the wine warmed I found some surprising notes of toast and vanilla, this wine had some new oak! On the pallat there was refreshing acidity, notes of grapefruit pith, a rich mid pallet and a creamy long finish. I really liked this wine.

Next was a Rollingdale Pinot Noir. Very up front cherry nose, with a slight touch of smoke. However that smoke was not present on the pallet at all. There was nice acidity, but a hollow mid pallet. Some tannins and a mid minus finish. OK wine, but I would not purchase it.

The 2010 Desert Hills Gamay had a really funky nose. As this wine did not go through the traditional carbonic fermentation, it did not have the trademark gamay grapiness. I would pass on this one as well.

We finished our tour of the Okenagan wines with the Desert Hills Cactus Red, a Bordeaux blend. It had a dusty nose with hints of olives, green peppers and cassis. There was dark fruit on the pallet, but hardly any tannins. It was obvious that this wine did not see any new oak. It would have been much better if it did.

The final wine of the night was not from Canada, but from Sardinia, and it was a knock out. Montessu Winery is owned by the same parent company that makes the legendary Sassicaia from Tuscany. This Sardinia Sassicaia (that's what is on the bottle) has the same blend and winemaker only from Sardinia, not Tuscany. The nose had pine smoke, dark fruit, black cherry, some jolly ranchers snacks. The pallet had some surprising acidity with a richness and full body that had smooth tannins and a very long finish. It was spectacular!

Today, in Victoria, we visited the Mission Hills Winery Tasting Room. Most of the wines were totally dismissible. However, the Riesling Ice Wine was definitely world class. Uncious and rich with essence of melons and honey and a bright acidity under the tongue, I'd put this wine against almost any sweet wine from anywhere. It was that good.

My final feeling is that while the Okenagan wines are nice and interesting, they are really in their infancy. My gut tells me that they have not yet figured out what grows where, kind of like where California was 35 years ago. However, as the Mission Hills Ice Wine shows, they are capable of  producing a world class wine. Let's see where they are in 5 years, about the time for me to go back to Alaska again.

Thanks for reading and please feel free to comment.

Friday, July 29, 2011

You Can Always Tell When There's a European Chef Behind a Dish

Yesterday was Neptune's Dinner, a dinner that features various seafood dishes. I found one that was particularly interesting for all the wrong reasons, and a rare slip up for a Crystal kitchen. In culinary school we had a saying that French Cuisine can be summed up in one sentence; Saute a hunk of protein, deglaze the pan and finish with butter or cream. Of course, the cuisine is more than that, but probably 75% of the dishes are a variation of that formula. I have worked for several European chefs, and all of them had a hard time incorporating ethnic trends into their cooking.

This was not the case with American chefs. We have been eating cuisines from around the world since we were kids. By the time I really got serious about cooking, I was on familiar terms with Chinese, Indian, Mexican, Med-Eastern and Japanese food. Stretching my cooking to incorporate these cuisines was not a hard stretch of my imagination. European trained chefs start at 16 working in kitchens, and may not experience these foods until well after they've learned their culinary chops.

Last night's dinner showed what can happen when a European chef gets loose and tries Asian fusion. We had a wonder Ahi tuna fillet, served with bok choy and Basmati rice. So far so good, but where does red onion confit fit into this flavor pattern, or for that matter green apple vinaigrette. The sweetness of these accompaniments did not work, and only could come out of a European tradition. Teriyaki glazed something, roasted veggies, even grilled veggies with a soy marinade would have worked. To me, it was a bad conception, however, I was the only one who noticed this. By the way, the tuna was great and cooked to perfection. We enjoyed an August Kessler Riesling from the Rheingau that was spectacular.

Well, tonight is another night. I forgive Crystal for the Red Onion Confit, which by itself was very nice, just not put on the right dish.

Tomorrow, Victoria and then melancholy as we head home. Thanks for reading.

Thursday, July 28, 2011

Prego, Now That's Italian 2

On all our past cruises, we have had dinner only 1 time in each specialty restaurant. As we received and invitation from our Travel Agent to join him and his wife in Prego last night, we were able to have dinner a second time in this wonderful Italian outlet.

This time, I had their signature Mushroom Soup, Beef Carpacio, and a half order of the Lasagna. The soup is sublime. I've made mushroom soups in the past, but have never come close to this one. I will have to google the recipe so I can once again give it a shot. My guess is that they saute a variety of mushrooms, then deglaze them with cognac, cooking this liquid down to a paste, then add mushroom stock. Mushroom stock is made by simmering mushroom stems in vegetable stock for a considerable time. It is the type of thing you can do in a restaurant, but difficult to do at home. The added stock is then reduced, probably by half. At that point reduced cream is added to the brew. My guess is that the cream is reduced with mushroom stems, which are then strained out before it is added to the soup. This soup is then served in a freshly baked focaccia bowl. Heaven on Earth, and the best part is eating the mushroom soup soaked bread at the end of the course.

The Carpacio was also quite good. In short this is an Italian version of beef tartare, except the raw beef is dry cured and aged, then frozen and sliced paper thin before arranging it on a plate. The product is then dressed by the waiter with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and parm. A very nice version indeed.

My main course was the Lasagna, and it was spectacular. They use layers of bechemal, mushrooms, ground beef and tomato sauce all wrapped in house made pasta. One of the best I've ever had!

As we just survived the Vintage Room, I decided to go by the glass on my wine selections. My first glass was a Brunello from Casteli Banfi. Very nice, aromas of berries, nice balance tannins and a delicious acidity that went well with the soup and the carpacio.

My second glass was a Chianti Classico Riserva from the same producer who makes Tiganello. This was a fantastic, food friendly wine, It was funny, but I had three different wines at Prego, all sangiovese based, all very different, all very good to great.

Dessert was simple, more cannolis, and these were the best I've had since Venerio's on First Ave in NYC. I could probably eaten a plate of them for dinner.

Tonight, it's back to the dining room. Oh well, foie gras and caviar instead. Tough choices, but someone has to make them.

I ask forgiveness for my spelling and gramatical errors. These will get better when I get back to land and have the time to really work on them. Thanks for reading.

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

A Truly Vintage Day!

What can I say, the Vintage Room on Symphony is an experience every wine and food enthusiast should be able to experience. 8 Courses matched with 8 great wines.

But before I deal with that, a word about Silk Road, Symphony's Asian Fusion restaurant. I only have four words, Miso Marinated Black Cod. It is one of the best dishes I have ever had, at land or at sea. Black cod is really sable fish, and for those of you who are from the NYC area, it is a staple smoked fish that is enjoyed on a bagel with cream cheese. Here it was marinated in miso and mirin wine and the quickly grilled on high heat which creates a carmalization of the skin and fish that is oh so good. If you google the recipe, please be aware that cod is not as good as sable fish.

Back to our amazing day today. We started with a walking tour of Haines, the town that Northern Exposure's Cicily is based on. In fact, we ate lunch in a restaurant called the Bamboo Lounge which could have been the prototype for the Brick. The Halibut Fish and Chips were probably the best fish and chips I've ever had anywhere, including England. Fresh halibut with a delicate beer batter is expertly fried to an exquisite crispness that can't be beat. I'd go back in a heartbeat. Unfortunately, I don't know the next time I will be in Haines.

After getting back on board we were invited to attend a reception in the Captain's quarters. You can't say no to beluga caviar and Mumm's Champagne!

Which brings me to the Vintage Room. This room holds only 12 diners and serves a wine and food pairing based dinner. We were greeted with Billecart-Salmon Brut Reserve Champagne. I've had their rose on several occasions, but truly enjoyed this wine. It was slightly off dry, with crisp acidity.

We then sat down to a Georg Breuer Riesling Nonnenberg from the Rheingau. This is a single vineyard non-predikat wine that was slightly off dry with pink grapefruit, great minerality, and a hint of petrol on the nose. On the palate the fruit comes to the front with a great acidic finish. A truly wonderful wine. It was served with  Mini Cannelloni filled with King Crab meat. Great pairing, the acidity matched the richness of the crab.

Next was a Caners Chardonnay from Shafer Vineyards. What can I say, buttery, toast, caramel, creme brule and butterscotch on the nose with some nice apples and pears on the pallet. It was paired with Lobster Thermador served on a spinach puree. It was magical.

We then moved on to the most interesting wine of the night, Passopisciaro, Andrea Franchetti from Sicily. What can I say, it had a color between a Nebbiola and a pinot noir, with great acidity, red fruit and the slight aroma of balsamic vinegar that marks most Italian reds. Matched with a Pink roasted duck breast served with pumpkin gnocchi and dried cranberries, the fruit of the wine was a great match with the fruitiness of the duck.

Our main course was a delightful Gorgonzola crusted filet Mignon. The wine was wonderful, a 2000 Chateau Smith Haut Lafitte from Graves. As I am not the greatest fan of Bordeaux as I have a new world pallet, this wine was spectacular. A very vegetal nose with hints of olives, broccoli, pine and eucalyptus, the dark fruit snuck up on you on as you drank it. The tannins were long and smooth and the finish bound up with the richness of the meat creating a combination that was truly memorable.

We had a cheese strudel with the Kracher TBA. Suffice to say the wine was as great as it was in previous encounters, and the strudel was just delicious.

Next was a 1994 Vintage Port from Dow's served with a trio of chocolate desserts. Port and chocolate, not match there... just kidding. I loved it.

A great evening, and tomorrow is a return engagement with Prego. Too much good stuff!

Monday, July 25, 2011

Swimming Through Juneau

It was hard to believe that yesterday was July 24, with how much it rained, I could have sworn it was January 24 and I was in Northern CA. But, being on vacation we got out and slogged our way through Juneau to the Mendenhall Glacier and then took the tram up to the top of Mt. Roberts.

However, the real treat of the day was Tracy's King Crab Shack. This hole in the wall is literally a trailer with some tented seating, and it was packed. We shared a small order of their superior Crab Bisque and then dug into a bucket of King Crab Legs. They were perfectly cooked and served with a delicious Cole slaw and garlic rolls. Yum, yum.

At dinner, Jessica and I shared a bottle of Roederer L'ermitage Brut Rose with our table that we brought with us from home. It is one of my favorite sparkling wines and we both had something called a Crab and Ahi Tuna Sandwich on Pineapple Carpacio. This dish turned out to be a two slices of tuna surrounding a king crab salad with the whole assembly perched on top of a micro thin slice of pineapple. Great stuff and it went extraordinarily well with the sparkling wine.

It was also Bananas Foster night, and Crystal does not know the meaning of small dessert portions. I asked for a half order and it only seemed slightly smaller than our dining companions full orders. I found it in me to eat the whole thing. To be perfectly honest, it was good, but I've had better, namely my own version when I've made it. Just a really small quibble.

Tonight is the cutting edge fusion cuisine of Nobu Masashita (please forgive my spelling) at Silk Road. Our last encounter was truly memorable. All you have to know there is Miso Marinated Black Cod. And by the way, Black Cod is not cod, it is sable fish. I learned that yesterday at the Alaskan Chef's Table Excursion.

Tuesday is the Vintage Room and Wednesday finds us back at Prego. And last night we had a really big surprise waiting for us in our cabin, an invitation to cocktails with the Captain in his quarters. First we are at an officer's hosted table, next an invitation from the Captain, we must really be moving up in the Crystal universe.

Thanks for reading.

Sunday, July 24, 2011

Prego, Now That's Italian

One of the true joys of traveling on the Symphony are the alternative dining areas. Friday we had the Asian Pool Buffet and then we dined at Prego for dinner.

A few quick thoughts on the buffet. The food, like the roast duck and the braised pork belly, was dynamite. I preferred the old set up with service stations around the pool. However, as a hospitality professional, I understand why Crystal moved the buffet inside. The food is served in smaller batches, resulting in hotter food that is refreshed at a much quicker pace. Things change.

Now to Prego. While this is not cutting edge Italian food, it is about the most competently and best prepared examples of the cuisine that you find almost anywhere. In fact, it is better than almost any Italian restaurant that I've eaten in outside of NYC. We started simply with an absolutely great Caesar salad. Lots of garlic, anchovies and acid. Garnished with a long, house made crouton, this was what a Caesar should be all about.

Moving to our next course, Jessica had the house signature Mushroom Soup in a Foccacia bowl and I had the Spaghetti Pescatore. The pasta had a wonderful array of seafood in a zippy tomato based sauce. The Mushroom Soup was an example of where change can be a good thing, as they cut the portion down by about half. The after having this dish the last time, I was so filled up I could barely eat anything else, and it was an appetizer! By cutting the portion size down you had a few ounces of soup, a little bread and on to the next course.

My Veal Parmigiana was the best version I have ever had of this dish. The veal was lightly breaded and quickly sauteed, then finished with a delightful marinara sauce and melted cheese. Served over an airy cappelini pasta, all the nuances of the sauce and the veal were preserved and allowed to show for themselves.

Jessica had the Gnocchi over Pumpkin Puree. This was also spectacular. Finished with a quatro formagio sauce, they were quickly browned under a salamander, a type of oven used in commercial kitchens to finish foods. The gnocchi were light and fluffy and quite delicious.

Dessert was the sampler of Panna Cotta (very light and airy), Tiramasu (well done in a chocolate cup) and about the best cannoli I've had since Venerio's on First Avenue in NYC. A crispy, cookie like cup filled with ricotta based cream. It was like I died and went to heaven.

Which is what I did while drinking our wine. Since taking the wines of Italy during my wine immersion program, I've been waiting for an excuse to have Tiganello again. Prego was the excuse. Aromas of cocoa, leather, dark fruit with exotic spices that had a texture of pure velvet going down. There was excellent structure on the pallet with great acidity and smooth tannins. The finish went from here right back to San Francisco. It truly is one of the great red wines of the world.

Some quick notes on other venues. We went on an Alaskan Chef's Table excursion yesterday, and it was quite fun. Some of the dishes were very good, some ok, but the company that hosted the event were very nice and I recommend this excursion to anyone.

Last night's dining room dinner. I started with another great Caesar salad, then had an exquisite Quail Consume with a single feathery quennelle. It was outstanding. My main course was a half order of the Roast Capon, which was well prepared and served with some excellent sour kraut. I have learned a lesson this week, half orders are a good thing, something that I will be doing with greater frequency!

Tomorrow is Silk Road, and that is the cutting edge cuisine of Nobu Masushita (I hope I spelled that one correctly). Tuesday is the Vintage Room and Wednesday finds us back in Prego as guests of our travel agent. And now its up to the gym for my daily work out!

Friday, July 22, 2011

Symphony's Sommelier

Upon getting back to our stateroom, there was an urgent message to get in touch with the Head Sommelier about our Vintage Room reservation. Let me first explain, the Vintage Room is a multi course wine and food pairing extravaganza featuring rare wines and food specifically created to match those wines. Indeed this was an urgent message. I also enjoyed having an excuse to sit down and meet the Head Sommelier.

As it turned out, I totally enjoyed having the opportunity to meet Brigitta Fureder and  spend several minutes discussing what she does aboard the Symphony. Currently stocking between 30,000 and 50,000 bottles, they are kept in a temperature controlled room below decks. According to Brigitta, the room is so crowded, only the smallest of her staff can get to some of the cases.

As I already suspected, the selection of wines is brand driven, they cannot afford to schlep wines around the world that will not move. So we can forget about finding great Rieslings from the NY's Finger Lakes Region or Italian varietals from Amador County. With that being said, the selection is truly amazing. If you can afford it, there are verticals from all the First Growth Bordeaux, as well as from most of the the DRC estates of Burgundy. In addition, all the cult wines of California are on the list.

But there are plenty of delicious, and well priced selections in the $50-$100 range. Yesterdays Dr. Loosens Riesling was an example. Others are Beringer Private Reserve Chardonnay as well as many US pinot noirs and some very nice Zinfandels.

Did I mention the by the glass program, it is stunning. The above mentioned Beringer is on it, as well as the Dr. Loosens, several pinot noirs, Chateau Montelena Estate Cabernet, and the Kracher TBA that I had yesterday. Also found on the dessert by the glass selection are six 10 & 20 year old Tawny Ports as well as Chateau Rieusac (I'm sure my spelling is way off) by the glass. Again, brand names, and no off the beaten path discoveries.

Finally, I asked Brigitta how she goes about order, and as someone who has  dealt with overseas logistics before, I found it very interesting. She orders once every 3 months, and by the container. This has to do with maximizing Crystal's wine spend to make for the best pricing possible. And the pricing to the guest is also quite reasonable.

So what did we have for dinner last night. It was the Captain's welcome dinner, and as a first for us, we were seated at a table hosted by the Assistant Engineering Officer. He was delightful company, and all the wine was his treat. These were the Crystal House Brand Reserve Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. Nice wines from the Central Coast of California, nice fruit and toast. Simple and drinkable.

I ordered the caviar, which was out of this world. Not a fishy as some, and with an extremely creamy texture. For dinner I opted for the Quail stuffed with Porcini Mushrooms with a Madeira sauce. Perfectly roasted and perfect with the pinot noir.

Tonight is Prego, and I am looking forward to Tiganello with dinner.

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Crystal Symphony Day 1

Coming back to the Symphony is almost like coming home. It's a great ship, and has a wonderful crew. And what makes the crew's service so wonderful is its attention to the little things that most guest would not notice.

Like how orders are taken in the Main Dining Room. The waitress (in our case) takes orders from female guest oldest to youngest, then gentlemen in the same order. The food is then presented in the same order. This is classic European service at its finest, the way they taught it to us in culinary school. I've never seen it done as well anywhere else, on any continent or sea.

So what was for dinner? As I will be here for 12 days, I really have to pace myself. So my strategy is one drop dead dish at each meal. At lunch, that meant I had the cold seafood plate. Perfectly cooked and seasoned marinated shrimp, tender mussels, and a fantastic Alaskan King Crab salad, all accompanied by a delicious Champagne. I'm sorry, but they were pouring it so quick, I did not catch the producer.

The crab and brie soup that I started dinner with was sublime. An extremely flavorful crab stock swimming with large pieces of crab and thickened with brie, as opposed to the traditional cream. It was brilliant, the astringency of the cheese perfectly offset the sweetness of the crab meat.

 Keeping with my strategy, my entree was a simple perfectly broiled rock fish. Accompanied by sauteed spinach and perfectly roasted potatoes. I would not like to be on the prep staff of this kitchen as they must have to turn God knows how many vegetables.

Dinner wines were all Rieslings. Dr. Loosen's Kabinett from Mosel was the white wine with dinner. Great acidity balanced the slight off dry character of the wine. Delicious fruit. With dessert (a fruit plate) we had one of the greatest sweet wine of the world, Kracher TBA Riesling. It was the nectar of the gods. Honey and melons, refined acidity and a finish that just went on forever.

Tonight is the Captain's welcome dinner, and I have no idea what I will have. Tomorrow Prego. I will check back in after Prego.

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Here's To Paso Robles

In my 17 years living out here on the West Coast, I have been through Paso Robles several times Until last Sunday' Grand Tasting, I never had the opportunity to really explore the wines from this region. Outside of zinfandel, some cab based blends and some massive syrah based wines from Cypher Vineyards (previously 4 Vines) I really had no idea what was going on in this area.

Well, it just so happens that a lot is going on, like GSM (Grenache, Syrah, Mouvedre blends) and many other variations of Rhone Grapes. As Paso is a very warm region, even in the cooler climate of Paso's West Side sub region, you are not getting the sleek wines of Cote Rotie or Hermitage. But you certainly are getting some very interesting wines with non Bordeaux or Burgundy varietals. In fact, there were few chardonnays, few pinot noir, and very few cab blends to be found.

Ancient Peaks, our first step in this Grand Tasting set us up nicely for this adventure. Their Renegade blend of Syrah, Malbec and Petit Verdot was very interesting. Malbec predominates both the nose and the pallet,but being blended with these other two varietal, the strength and boldness of Malbec toned down, the fruit of the Grenache come up making the wine delicious andvery interesting.

Which brings me to the best white wine that I tasted, a Muscato from Bianchi Winery. Redolent of orange blossoms and kumquats with a spritz of honey added to the mix, this wine was magnificent. Their zin was jammy with lots of toasted wood. Good stuff all around.

Cypher Winery, formerly know as 4 Vines, is known for their off beat blends as well as their single vineyard syrahs and zinfandels. Being game, we bellied up to the bar and we dug right in. All of their wines showed exceptional balance, richness and excellent acidity, which means they will go great with lusty and full bodied foods. I really enjoyed The Peasant a GSM style blend of Grenache, syrah, mouvedre, tannat, counoise. It had a very pretty nose with strawberry, cedar, and smoke that had a tremendously long finish. Also enjoyed their 100% Grenache, and loved the Louis Cypher. The latter is a blend of the traditional Portuguese red varietals. This is a winery to watch.

Justin was one of two wineries having outstanding Cabernet based wines. Isosceles, their Bordeaux style red blend has always been one of my favorites. Dark and dense with hints of green peppers and olives, there was great depth of fruit with smooth tannins leading to a long finish. Justification, their right bank Bordeaux blend (cabernet franc and merlot), had nice dark fruit, scents of pine forest, and was full bodied with a long finish.

L'Aventure is the other winery producing primarily cabernet based wines. Their 07 cab was very nice. It had great fruit, bracing acidity and a very long finish. Their Cote a Cote, a GSM blend, was very nice as well with grenache dominating the wine. The question here is value with each wine is costing over $80 at retail. While he wines were very well made, and really quite delicious, I have questions as to the value they present.

Tablas Creek is another interesting winery. One of the first Paso wineries to plant Southern Rhone varietals, I find their production to be a mixed blessing. Their top GSM blend, Esprit De Beaucastel, was excellent. Great fruit, acidity, smooth tannins and a very long finish. This is a top drawer product and worth seeking out, frequently available at Costco. The rest of the line is mixed. The whites are interesting, but not interesting enough to seek out, the reds are kind of nice, but again, not worth seeking out.

Which brings me to my final winery Peach Canyon, an excellent producer of value priced wines, none priced over $20. I stumbled over this winery 15 years ago when our local market had their Incredible Red on sale. Then it was a non vintage zinfandel based wine is nowvintage dated and still a great value. Great jammy fruit with essence of prunes and berries, great acid and at $11.99 a great value. Their 08 Westside zinfandel was briary, tannic and deep. It needs a year to settle down and should be absolutely fantastic.

Several last thoughts on Paso. First, it is a region that needs to be more fully explored. Second, their Rhone based wines are very interesting, and very different. From a marketing perspective it is brilliant, from a wine drinking perspective it is very exciting. I look forward to traveling back to this region so I can explore it much greater detail.

Tomorrow we're off to Alaska on the Crystal Symphony. With specialty restaurants by Nobu and Valentino of Santa Monica, it is a foodie's dream come true. I hope to blog about my meals, and my wines, on board.

Thanks for reading, and please feel free to leave a comment.

Friday, July 15, 2011

My Credo

Once before I blogged about what was on my mind concerning the wine world. This stopped after two entries. However, my interest in wine has continued to deepen. Combined with my knowledge of food, I have decided to look at the topic from what I hope is my own angle, and God knows what that is.

I hope to enter my thoughts on a fairly regular basis, covering events that I attend, wines that I have enjoyed, thoughts about the industry and so on. I hope that my observations are on target and hopefully thought provoking, as my views on wine are certainly changing all the time.

I'm going to finish this post with several of my favorite sites for wine news.

1. The Daily Grape. I find Gary Vaynerchuk to be erally obnoxious at times, but he has one hell of a pallet.
2. Natalie Mclean. Always thoughtful, always upbeat.
3. Wine Spectator.com. I find that I disagree as much as I agree.
4. Robert Parker. Interesting, but you have to be familiar with his pallet.

My next post . . . My CIA Wine Immersion Program experience.

Sonoma in the City Version 2011

Rarely have I attended such a well thought out event as the Sonoma in the City Grand Tasting. Someone spent a lot of time figuring out how to best promote the wines of this county by not presenting Sonoma as a monolithic region, a la Napa County, but as a sum of many different and unique regions. This made for a very informative as well as exciting event.
How was this accomplished? By making it easy to taste the various climates and appellations by themselve.As you entered the event there was an anteroom where could individually explore the various climates of Sonoma County. So at the cool climate table, there were chardonnays and other wines that were produced with fruit from this region. From the warm area, zinfandels. You get the idea, by tasting individual samples from each cliemat.you developed an appreciation for the wide range of growing regions that Sonoma offers. Cleverly,  these tables were manned by growers from these climates leading to some very informative discussions their wines as well as the wines from their neighbors. In many cases a grower had wines made by several different wineries. Here you were able to find out which grower where produced where.

Then there was the main tasting. Most walk around tastings have the wineries in alphabetical order. Not here, they were organized by AVAs and growing regions. So there were tables for Alexander Valley, Sonoma Valley, Dry Creek Valley, Russian River Valley and several new and exiting areas such as West Side (Sonoma Coast), Petaluma Gap (Believe it or not also Sonoma Coast), and Rockpile. While there were some confusing elements as some wineries produce wines from multiple AVAs, for the most part it worked very well as you were able to understand the particular subtle differences between appellations.

Being that  Sonoma County Vintners has embraced the concept of being a sum of all AVAs, each region had a regional table that highlighted the wines from that region. That allowed you to sample the regions and then go to the wineries that interested you. A great way to prioritize your tasting.

So how were the wines, as always some great, some very good, and some not so good.

The area I was most excited by was the West Sonoma Coast Winery area. Flowers, Freeman, Peay and Martinelli (they were at the RRV area) were all pouring some outstanding pinot noirs and chardonnays. They all will be participating in the West of the West event being held in Occidental August 5-7. Mark your calendars.

Other standouts included Arrowood's Syrah which had great structure with some interesting acidity, bright cherry and a smooth finish with a touch of oak. Beringer was pouring a Meritage and Cabernet from Knight's Valley. Knights Valley cab has always been one of my go to wines and it was the same here. A great wine for current drinking while waiting for the Private Reserve to come around. Great dark fruit, a subtle undertone of forest floor and firm tannins that allowed the finish to flow smoothly through you pallat.

Buena Vista Carneros is a consistantly underrated producer of Carneros Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs, and this tasting re-enforced my opinion. The Ramal Vineyard Chardonnay and Pinot Noir were very typical Carneros wines with great acidity and wonderful fruit.  Right at the next table, Chateau St. Jean was pouring their signature Cinq Cepages Cabernet blend It was delicious, dark fruit, casis, an earthy undertone and a very long and smooth finish.

Cloud's Rest 2006 Limited Release Sonoma Coast was without a doubt the best pinot noir I tasted  The are going to pour at the West of the West event. Another reason to get tickets. Freeman, another WOW winery, was pouring an absolutely wonder chardonnay from Ryo-fu vineyard in the Russian River. It had great acidity, with pear and green apple with vanilla and toast. Great stuff, and their 09 Pinots were great as well. I liked the Russian River Valley bottling the best as it had an refreshing minerality and acidity.

Hartford Family, one of the wineries that had wines from several appellations had their wonderful Russian River Valley zin on display. Great briary, brambly, pruney and jammy. In other words get out the BBQ.

My favorite wine of the event was poured by Hook & Ladder. Founded by the DeLoach after they sold that namesake brand, their Station 10, a field blend of mixed black woods, was a revelation. Deep and inky, it showed tremendous dark fruit, some refreshing acidity and silky tannins. And at $17 a bottle, a steal. Go to the web site and get some.

Some other hightlights  inclulded Ravenswood which was pouring their 08 Old Hill Zin. Great stuff. The Sbragia Family Vineyards was pouring a Monte Rosso Cabernet. For those who do not know, Monte Rosso is one of Sonoma County's great vineyards with outstanding zin and cab. This wonderful cab in the hands of Ed Sbragia made for a memorable wine, the best cab at the tasting. Priced at $50 a bottle, it packed a lot flavor at a semi reasonable price.

Last but not least was Seghesio's Omaggio, their version of a Super Tuscan. It had many of the great characteristics of these wines, but is a touch on the pricey side at $60 per bottle. However, the wine tasty and delicious, but there are many quality Super Tuscans avaiable at half that price. The Seghesio zins are always worth seeking out, and they showed well.

That was a lot of wine for an afternoon, But someone had to taste it!!!!!!!

This weekend it the Paso Robles grand tasting in San Francisco, and it looks like a great one. And after that my family is taking a cruise to Alaska on the Crystal Symphony. With restaurants by Nobu ( NYC and LA fame) and Valentino (of Santa Monico and Las Vegas) and a great wine list administered by a Master Sommelier and service done by certified soms, it will be some trip. I will be blogging from the ship on the food and wine aspects of the voyage. I am especcially looking forward to a wine and food pairing dinner in their Vintage Room.

Thanks for reading my blog, and please feel free to send me your comments.

Friday, July 8, 2011

Hurray For Mixed Black Woods

Back when Italian immigrant families were planting vineyards in Northern California, they instinctively knew that they needed a variety of vines to ensure that odds were on their side to get a crop each year. These "Dago" Red field blends usually included, among others, Zinfandel, Allicante Buchet, Mouvedre, petit Sirah, Carignane, Grenache, and whatever else they could mix in. As single varietal and single vineyard plantings gained in favor, a lot of these heirloom vineyards were pulled and planted over to more profitable grapes, such as cabinet and Merlot.

What a pity. If you have ever drank a wine from one of these heirloom vineyards you are in for a treat. They are usually dark as night, smokey, fruity and headonistally full of flavor and umpth. These were the wines that the Italian immigrants made for themselves. Many of these vineyards were in the Sierra Foothills and Mendocino, and we almost lost them.

Then as an unintended consequence to a totally commercial development, White Zinfandel. As this wine gained in popularity, vineyards yielding Zinfandel had to be saved to feed the nation's craving for this product. Along with these Zin vineyards were many mixed black vineyards as well.

The first major producer  to make use of these gems was Ridge. They developed a whole range of Zinfandel based wines that were field blends. In the 80's they even took Zinfandel off the label and only identified the wine by where it was from, Geyserville, Litton Station, Paso Robles, etc. These wines showed amazing depth and terroir and were immediate sensations. I remember participating in a vertical tasting of the Geyserville wine and a question came up about something or another. As it was 7:30 New York City time, we called the Ridge winery in Cupertino to speak with Paul Draper, their winemaker. He took the call and then participated long distance with us for the rest of the tasting. Getting his comments on what he was trying to do with each wine was priceless.

Recently I had the rare opportunity to sample Rudd Winery's Edge Hill Mixed Blacks. Edge Hill Vineyard is a small block located off Highway 29 in St. Helena, it contains all the varietals you expect to find in Mixed Blacks. It was a revelation, showing just how unique and wonderful these field blends really are. Edge Hill Mixed Blacks received a 96 from Parker, is very rare (under 100 cases), and very expensive ($100). And it is very worth seeking out.

Ravenswood, a Zinfandel that brags about making No Wimpy Wines (you can get bumper stickers and buttons with this slogan in a myriad of languages from the winery) has their own field blend called Icon Mixed Blacks.Dense with black fruit and black pepper, and with firm tannins, this wine is also worth seeking out. At 1000 cases and only $75, it is probably available from fine wine dealers in numerous places.

And that finally brings me to last Wednesday. While attending a tasting at the Meritage Hotel in Napa, I stumbled upon Trintas Winery's Old Vine Cuvee. It was a stunning mixed black blend from Mendocino County. At $20 per bottle it was the steal of the year. While not as dense as the Edge Hill or Icon, it packed plenty of power and all that brambly fruit that these blends are designed to deliver. Look for this and buy it by the case, values like this are hard to find and must be acted upon immediately.

All of these wines are part of the California wine heritage and should be treasured. We as serious wine drinkers cannot let these wines disappear.

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Industrial Strength Wine Touring

In the summer of 2004, my family decided to spend a summer week vacationing in Pismo Beach. As part of our vacation, we planned to spend a day tasting the wines of Edna Valley. One of my customers suggested that I visit his brother who owned Stephen Ross Wine Cellars. So as part of my vacation planning, I emailed Stephen Dooley and set up an appointment.

When the day of our visit came, we headed out of Pismo to the warmer Edna Valley. After cruising up and down the valley's main highway, we could not find the winery. I called Mr. Dooley and he described where he was. We pulled up and the winery was in the middle of a large industrial park. This was not the romantic vision of wine country that is served up by the Chamber of Commerce.

Come to think of it, why do you need the fancy shell to house the components of a winery. All you need are is an area for your tanks, temperature controlled room for barrels, a lab and a bottling line. And the bottling line can be rented.

As I've continued in my immersion in the wine world, I have come across more and more of these industrial facilities, or as Elliot Stern put it, making wine out of large tanks. These facilities are sprinkled throughout wine country, in American Canyon and the southern reaches of Napa, 8th Street in Sonoma, the northwestern reaches of Santa Rosa and along Highway 116 north of Sebastopol. It is here that aspiring winemakers can start brands with (relatively) little money up front. These facilities provide everything needed to start production.

And these facilities are home to some of the most exciting wines being produced in Wine Country. I have personally tasted brands from Calstar in Sonoma, Covenant in Napa and most recently Sonoman in Santa Rosa, all produced in these wine factories.

Recently, several of the Santa Rosa industrial wineries have banded together to form the Santa Rosa Wine Trail. This trail is not for tourists who are looking for vine shaded picnic areas and roads that wind through picturesque vineyards. This wine road is for serious tasters who are looking for exceptional wines. Included in this trail is Carol Shelton, one of California's most idiosyncratic zinfandel producers and Siduri/Novy Winery, maker of some of California's best pinot noirs and syrahs.

Which brings me to the recently opened Vinoteca Cooperative tasting room located in the heart of the Coffey Lane Industrial Park. Vinify Wine Services, which operates this tasting room, is a cooperative that houses 8 small wineries. Earlier this week, they held an open house for the wine trade and it was eye popping, I tasted some of the most exciting wines that I have tasted in years. Ogdon Olsen, who's pinot noirs are very good, was pouring a syrah that was magnificent. Smokey, fruity, meaty with a solid acidity and smooth tannins, it screamed for us to get out the Barby and cook up some animal protein.

Then there was the Great Sonoman. They poured a 2006 Sonoma Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon that was in the same league as many Napa cabs that I've recently tasted. Smooth with very integrated tannins, this wine was redolent with bright floral notes, chocolate dust, cedar and cigar smoke and deep dark fruit flavors. It had a finish that went on for what seemed to be weeks. This was an exquisite wine. And it sells on their web site for under $40. A steal in any language.

You can find great wine in many offbeat places, including industrial parks.

In 19 days I will leave for Alaska on the Crystal Symphony. The Symphony has restaurants by Nobu and Valentino and a wine list that has all of Bordeaux's great growths as well as Tiganello and many other great wines. I will be blogging about the food and wine of this trip as I go along.

Thanks for reading.

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Burgundy To Bordeaux, I Mean Sonoma Coast to Calistoga, in One Day

Sunday was the type of day that can only happen in Northern California. Warm and sunny in Marin where I live, cold and sunny in San Francisco, and hot (I mean very hot) and sunny in Calistoga. What does that have to do with anything? Well on Sunday I attended Pinot Days in San Francisco and Celebrate Summer Calistoga Style in Calistoga. It was the equivalent of Burgundy to Bordeaux in the space of one afternoon!

Pinot Days itself is kind of an unusual celebration in that the sponsoring organization is a for profit entity. This practise is contrary to all the other varietal/appellation events that are held in San Francisco during the year. ZAP, Family Winemakers of California, Rhone Rangers, Passport to California Cabernet,Grape to Glass in Russian River, Napa Stomp are all sponsored by promotional/marketing organizations with any proceeds dedicated to promoting the wines of the members. As a result, several of the big hitters were not at Pinot Days. Among the missing were Williams Seylem, Kistler, Hartford Court, Marcassin and others.

That does not mean that the wines were lacking. There were plenty of wines to sink you pallets into! Some of the highlights were Peter Paul Wines, made by my friend Jeff Morgan and his partner Daniel Moore. Nice fruit and an outstanding structure with good acid makes this a fine wine for food. Another standout was Gundlach Bundschu, which I found surprising. Featuring a funky, smokey nose and sneaky fruit, this structured wine was downright delicious.

Two other standouts were established Pinot stars Kosta Browne and Landmark Vineyards. Kosta Browne, now part of the VinCraft Group, produces extremely fruit based wines that can bludgeon you in ripeness. These wines showed a lot of finesse, something that I did not expect. Landmark's Kanzler Vineyard Pinot Noir was the standout of the event. This wine had a perfect balance of fruit, smoke, acid with some unexpected tannins sneaking through the pallate. This was an immensely enjoyable wine.

It was into the car for a trip north to Calistoga. As the thermometer started to climb from the low 60s in SF, the mid 70s in Marin, high 70s in Carneros, mid 80s in St. Helena, all the way up to the mid 90s in Calistoga, I reflected on what the wines from this appellation would show. With this heat, all I wanted to drink was Savignon Blanc, and I was not disappointed. I found myself continuing returning to Kelly Flemming and Larkmead for the SBs. As the sun set, and the temperature took a 30 degree dive, I found myself exploring the cabernets.

All I can say is wow. These were big chewy wines, loaded with tannins, that had a surprising finesse. I especially enjoyed the cabs from Larkmead, Bennett Lane, Kelly Fleming, and just about everyone else.

And what can you say about a dining experience in the vineyards at Sterling. It was gorgeous, I expected to see a photographer from either Food & Wine or Bon Appetite pop out from the vines and start clicking away. In fact Napa Valley Grape growers were taking pictures and they are posted on their Facebook page.

All in all, a wonderful day spent with some of the best of California. I am starting to see a distinct California personality in wines, what it is I have not yet determined, but it is there. Thanks for reading.

Friday, June 17, 2011

Some Random Wine Thoughts

Random thought 1: Sunday is the Pinot Days Grand Tasting, one of the four public events that allow any wine lover to sample almost every winery and wine produced in California. The others are the ZAP grand tasting, Family Winemakers of California, and Rhone Rangers. To quote a Chevron commercial "Too much good stuff!"

Random Thought 2: AT&T Park has a great wine by the glass selection. There is a wine bar on the view level of this ball park that offers 20, yes 20 wines by the glass. My only gripe is that at these prices, they can afford to offer those wonderful one time disposable wine glasses. Maybe the head of their concession company reads this blog.

Random Thought 3: Attended Taste of Mendocino last week. This event was interesting, but from a marketing, not wine perspective. Outside of established standouts Londer and Roederer Estate, the wines were average. But the event effectively showed off Mendocino as a wine and food travel destination. Let's face it, you can't just buzz up to the Anderson or Redwood Valleys from the Bay Area, as it is at least a 3 hour trip each way. They had a lot inns, attractions and restaurants showing off their stuff along with the wineries. Great concept and great execution by the organizing committee.

Random Thought 4: Sampled the wines of Navarro Spain last night at Oxbow Wine Merchants. The 2010s were simple and tasted very grapey, similar to my experience with the La Mancha wines. However, the modern wines, blends with Tempernillo, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Graciano were very tasty. And the price points were better still, all were under $20 per bottle. I really have to drink more Spanish wines are there are some tremendous values.

Random Thought 5: I am also attending the Celebrate Calistoga Style event on Saturday. BBQ and Cab, great combination!

Thanks for reading, I will be discussing the Pinot Days Grand Tasting in my next blog.

Sunday, June 12, 2011

Sean Thackrey is the Alex Chilton or the Wine World

To quote the Replacements "What's that song?"

For those who don't know who Alex Chilton (he died a little over a year ago), he was a legendary singer/songwriter for the Boxtops (classic soul knock off called the Letter) and then as a recluse recorded several albums as Big Star. These albums were favorites at my college radio station, yet were commercial failures. Alex Chilton was forgotten until The Replacements sang about him in their 1987 song celebrating this reclusive, yet very influential artist.

What does this have to do with wine? For many years I have heard about Sean Thackrey. Robert Parker has written "One of California's most iconic and mystical winemakers, Sean Thackrey has logged in 20 or more vintages of consistently stunning wines that perhaps say it all with the simple quote on his label Sean Thackrey, Bolinas, CA." Every one of his wines is rated 90+ and above. The Wine Spectator wrote that his winery is as far from the glamour of Napa as is humanly possible, yet still in California. Above all, he has no tasting room, and no one sells his wines. In short, after 25 years of traveling in most of California's wine regions, he remained an enigma.

So when the Marin Winegrower's Association and the Marin Agricultural Land Trust sponsored a wine event focusing on Marin County wine grapes, in small print, along with the other producers, was the name Sean Thackrey. I had to go.

Now I hear the skeptics, Marin is a suburb of San Francisco. This is true only as far as it goes. Over 60% of the county is agricultural, rural, and extremely remote. All I have to do is make a right on to Lucas Valley Road, travel about 3 miles and I am definitely in rural America. I also pass George Lucas's Skywalker Ranch, where some of the grapes from yesterday's event were sourced. The other areas are Devil's Gulch, which is near Nicasio (Check out Rancho Nicasio, one of the great bars in Marin, and top of the line musical talent plays there as well), and the northernmost area in Marin, Chileno Valley. They are all extreme wine growing areas with more in common with the Sonoma Coast than the warm areas of Napa or Sonoma. And some of the wines were really delicious, and proved to be serious values as well.

Some of the standouts were Pey Marin who poured a very nice Trois Filles blend Pinot Noir that had a wonderful structure, showed great acid, and nice fruit. Their star was their Riesling, which was dry, but extremely fruity. I loved it, as it compares with a good German Spatlesse. This wine begged the question, why not more Riesling in Marin. The answer is economics, if your getting $50 a bottle for Pinot, why grow a graped where you only can get $25. It's a pity that Riesling is not appreciated by most Americans.

Dutton Goldfield was pouring several vintages from Devil's Gulch. Again, great acid and structure and some very nice fruit. A fine effort. Another large winery, DeLoach was pouring a Pinot from Skywalker Ranch, as well as 2 pinots from elsewhere. The Marin County blend was a standout, with bright acidity and fruit, nice tannins and great structure.

Then we got to the reason I went to this event, to finally try wines from the wine enigma Sean Thackrey. OMG, the 2008 Andromeda was a great, not good, but great wine. This was a wine with personality as well as a sense of place. There was a funkiness that I've really come to love, as well as fruit, great acid, light and elegant tannins. There is no other place in the world where this wine could have come from but a climate challenged area. This was a wine for the ages, and it should be spectacular in 10 years, if I can lay off drinking it before then.

Yes there are some really interesting wines from Marin County. The common element is that they are very well structured with great bright acidity, which means they will go great with all types of food.

And I was invited by Sean Thackrey to visit him at his winery so I can taste his whole portfolio. I can't wait.

Saturday, June 11, 2011

Spanish Eyes are Smiling

Rare is the occasion to sample varietals from both California and their native environs in the same week. This week I attended the TAPAS tasting of Iberian varietals from California and then attended a tasting of wines from the Spanish DO of LaMancha. It was a fascinating study in contrasts.

First off, many of these wines were 2010s, all very fresh and some were extremely grapey, similar in structure to a Beaujolais Nouveau. I did not care for most of these. However, the 2010s from Parra Jimenez Bodegas were fantastic. They made fresh Grenacha, Termpernillo and Syrah that were downright delicious. Fresh and fruity with a lively acidity that makes them a great match for grilled food.

I also found that the wines made in what one winery owner called the new style were also quite good. New style means that they are predominantly Tempernillo based, but have other grapes added to the blend. Most of these were Crianzas or Reserva. The aforementioned Parra Jimenez Reserva was great. Hints of tobacco, cherries and leather, aged in a combination of new French and America oak. It was delicious.

Other wineries to watch for, and most do not have extensive distribution, are Bodegas Romero De Avila's Testivo blend. It had an alluring nose of chocolate powder mixed with dark cherries. It was my favorite of the event.

The most amazing thing about these wines were their values. All of the whites and most of the 2010s were around $10 per bottle, the reservas topped out at about $30. Now the comparisons to the California grown versions, they don't compare, at least not yet. The Spanish wines were for the most part a better value, and packed more flavor into each bottle.

Monday is Mendocino, Thursday finds me tasting the wines the Navarro region of Spain, and Sunday is a double header, Pinot Days in the morning and sampling the wines of the Calistoga AVA in the evening. Too much great wine!

Thank you for reading my blog, and please tell me what you think.

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

California Terroir?

Have you ever walked through a farmer's market here in California. In Marin County, where I live, we have one of the largest and oldest markets in the state. What is truly amazing about these markets are the wide range of produce that's available. There's Chinese broccoli, lnng beans, chayote squash, jicama, berries of all types, apples, pears, oranges, just about anything but tropical fruits grow here in this state.

Last weekend's TAPAS (Tempernillo Alliance of Producers and Amigos) of wines produced from Iberian Peninsula wine grapes got me thinking about that when it came to wine grapes. We seem to be able grow anything here. Nebbiolas and Barbaras from Italy; Syrah, Grenache and Viognier from the Rhone; Gewurztraminer and Pinot Gris from Alsace; Riesling from Germany, Cabernet, chardonnay and Pinot Noir from Burgundy and Bordeaux; and now Tempernillo, Graczinano, and verdehlo from Iberia.

The question is, when grown in California, do these varietals make good wine, and do they bring a sense of place to those wines. I remember Cal-Italia, where the wine growers were celebrating Italian varietals. Guess what, most of the wines were totally dismissible, and the event never happened again. Until recently, I have not found a lot of Italian varietal based wine that was worth drinking. However, even that has started to change. Vina Nocetro (I don't have the correct spelling) from Amador County is doing some very interesting things with their Nebbiola and Sangiovese based wines.

And just last week, I was invited to taste Hart's Desires wines from Somona County and I was surprised two times. First was a Sangiovese that had a small amount of Zinfandel in the blend. It was juicy, fragrant, nice tannins and acid structure. In short, it had many of the attributes one finds in a well made Chianti Classico, and it was a bargain. The second was a rose made from Sangiovese. This could have been one of the best California roses I've had in quite a while.

Then there is the issue of the Rhone Rangers. I'm still not sold on this. I have had excellent CA syrahs from Novy, Rosenblum, Fess Parker, Failla, and others. But most of them are in the California style, big ripe fruit, and very rich. I liked them, but they are not the food friendly wines of the northern Rhone. As for the GSM blends (Chateauneuf de Pape), Tablas Creek does make a very fine version of this style. Others making interesting wines are L'aventura (who I think is extremely overpriced), Four Vines/Cypher Vineyards, Andrew Murray, etc. I remember tasting the Andrew Murray wine blind and having a Texas native tell us that is had the nose of a huge BBQ joint. Talk about roasted meat aromas.

I think the whites are more interesting and successful, yet not quite as well known. Viognier from Fess Parker is one of my go to white wines over the summer. Great for sipping, fish, chicken or lightly seasoned pork on the grill. Marsanne Roussane blends are downright intriguing, it made well. Their acidity and fruitiness are perfect with warm weather fare.

Which brings me to what are called the rest of the Aromatic Whites, Gewurztraminer , Riesling, and Muscat. All of these have very floral and aromatic noses, and grow very well in various regions of Europe. Many are made off dry, which means slightly lower alcohol levels. I think Riesling in the US is a work in progress, I am not a big fan. As you can get really great German or Alsace Riesling at very good prices, why bother. (A side note, I am looking forward to cruising on the Crystal Symphony where the house pour dessert wine is a TBA Riesling from Kracher, one of the worlds great sweet wine producers. My mouth waters thinking about it.) Dr. Loosen has a joint venture in Washington state the is only partially successful. Skip the Washington State and stay with his German product.

If you are looking for domestic Riesling, go to New York's Finger Lakes region where it has it in spades. Because this region has similar conditions to the Rhine and the Moselle, the wines have a very similar structure, great acidity, low alcohol and are very food friendly. Look for Keuka Springs, Dr. Konstantine Frank and Widmer. Keuka Springs also has a dynamite Gwurtz as well, winning Best of Show White Wine at a recent SF Chronicle Wince Competition.

In California, Navarro is the Gwurtz go to winery. They've been doing it for years, and they do it well. It is Alsatian in character, well structure, slightly off dry and totally delicious.

Which brings me back to the TAPAS tasting this weekend. Ir was very interesting. I generally found the wines to be well made, and the whites to be generally more interesting than the reds. It was a red that really stood out, E2 from Bodega de Edgar Winery in San Luis Obispo. This was a wine that I would buy in a second. It was a blend of Graziano and Tempernillo, had great structure, very well integrated tannins and went well with the Paella that was served at the event. Finding that wine was enough to make the trip worthwhile. I will go again next year and see how they are progressing.

Back to my central questions, if we can grow anything here in California, is it worth growing and drinking. That's in the eye of the beholder. One of the strengths, and some would say weaknesses of our system is that unlike Europe with its myriad of restrictions on what can be grown where, we leave it up to the grower. If he or she feels they can make a commercially viable product, or one that they enjoy drinking, why not. While I like to pontificate on wines attributes, wine is really a very personal thing. It's what you like, and that's what counts.

Over the next two weeks I am going to a whole batch of very interesting wine events, ranging from Pinot Days (a personal favorite), tasting Calistoga AVA wines, to tastings of wines from two of Spain's lesser know appellations. I should find something to write about. Thanks for visiting, and please feel free to send my your comments and thought.

Tuesday, May 31, 2011

An Ode to The Golden State

Originally, I was going to write about a Champagne event that I attended last week. However, after driving back from the Klamath River via Eureka and the 101, I have finally been to all four corners of this remarkable state. And that in itself is quite a statement, for in California, we are overtaxed and over governed by a dysfunctional political elite. Yet, after having been to all four corners, Eureka and Yreka in the north, San Diego and the desert regions around Indio, across the mid section to Lake Tahoe and beyond, this is remarkable place with some truly remarkable attributes. I just thought I might list them here.

1. Redwood trees. If you are not moved by the sight of these magnificent trees, nothing on Earth can do it. They look down at you and say, we've seen things you only read about, and will be here after you're gone. It's no wonder that clumps of Redwoods are referred to as cathedrals, for there is something truly spiritual about being among them. Driving back from Eureka, we drove through the Humbolt Redwoods State Park where there are just mile after mile of these trees. They are giants even when passing them at 70 MPH on the freeway.

2. The Pacific Coast Highway, frequently referred to as the PCH. Highway 1 runs along the coast from Santa Monica to just south of Eureka and anyone part of boasts spectacular scenery like none you have ever seen anywhere. You really fell as if you are at the edge of the world. You pass the movie colony of Malibu, the funky beach towns of Pismo Beach and Morro Bay, Hearst Castle, Big Sur, the Monterrey Coast, Pebble Beach, Santa Cruz Boardwalk, the stunning coast along the SF Peninsula, the Marin Headlands, the Russian River Headlands, Fort Ross, Mendocino Headlands, and the fishing village of Fort Bragg. As I have traveled almost all of it, I have only scratched the surface here. It is as great a road as exists anywhere in the world. The only thing close is Victoria's coast road in Southern Australia.

3. Produce, produce, produce. California produces almost 60% of this countries produce, and over 70% of its lettuce. On the surface, driving through the Central Valley can be one of the world's most boring trips. Look below the surface and you see the wide variety of fruits and vegetables that grow here. Did you know that most of our rice and cotton are grown in the Central Valley. Travel during Orange season and you see oranges abounding. When traveling through growing areas, we love to stop at produce stands to pick up freshly picked local products. I am addicted to strawberries fresh off the fields. And don't get me started on cherries.

4. Cooking in California. During my culinary training and my first jobs in NYC, I dreamed about cooking with the wonderful raw products that are available in California. When I wanted to cook something special for friends and family, I always had to call my friend and produce purveyor Carmine to get all the product I needed for my menus. I nearly fainted when I first walked into a local Safeway and saw all those special fruits and veggies on display. Wherever I travel, I always go to local markets and I am constantly amazed at the wide range of produce that is produced here in California. Getting back to cooking, California Cuisine is a lot of hype, but it is a truly indigenous cuisine deeply affected by Asian and Mexican immigrants.

5. The weather. No winters. I repeat, no winters. I visit the snow and then go home. While my blood has thinned and I consider any temperature below 50 to be freezing, I love the short winters. In the summer, we get 90's during the day and 50's at night. Come to think about it, those temps are some of what makes this a great wine region!

While I will always consider myself a transplanted New Yorker, I will probably never return. For all the reasons above, I love it here. Now if only our state government can get it's act together....

Next, 38 Champagne producers all under one roof. Yummy.

Thursday, May 26, 2011

Some Thoughts on the High Price of Great Cabernet Sauvignon

I love Napa cabernets. They are big, powerful wines full of fruit, tannins, exotic spice, and when aged, leather and tobacco. They are great with steaks, chops and roasts. In other words, they are like California, and in that bigness may be the sense of place that makes these wines truly world class.

The only drawback to these beauties are their price, with many of the top producers charging well over $100 per bottle, sometimes reaching to $150 and over $200. Last March, I had the pleasure of attending a vertical tasting of Shafer Hillside Select cabernets. The 1996 was spectacular, one of the best red wines I ever tasted. Suggested retail: $216. The Rudd Estate wine $150. Perhaps you care for something a little less expensive, but grown near this great company, try the Oakville East Exposures and that's $100. All are really excellent wines, all are over $100. You can go up and down the valley and it's the same thing.

And that is the problem, I love great Cabernet, but I can't afford it. What are the solutions to this challenge. First is to try the second bottlings of the great producers. You will find some relief here, but no bargains. You can try other varietals. Great, first growth quality Zinfandel is available fro $25-$50 per bottle. Excellent pinot noir is $50-$75 per bottle. These are great wines, but they are not cabs.

Maybe the best solution is to look outside of the Napa Valley for everyday cabs. In a roundabout way, the first stop on this exploration was Washington State. Last year, I attended a warehouse sale conducted by the wine giant Diageo in Sonoma CA. There I picked up a case of Canoe Ridge Horse Heaven Hills 2005 Cabernet for about $4.50 per bottle. Was it Napa cab, no, was it great wine for everyday drinking? You bet it was.

The next place I looked was Sonoma Valley. There are two Cabernet producers of great interest, Arrowood and Chateau St. Jean. Arrowood makes a Sonoma County bottling, and several reserve lines. The last time I was there we tasted a Monte Rosso Vineyard bottling from 2006 that just knocked my socks off. At $70 per bottle, it was approaching Napa Valley pricing. But at $35 the Sonoma Valley cab offered plenty of drinking pleasure at a reasonable price. And a search of the Internet may find that bottle at a lower price.

Chateau St. Jean produces Cinq Cepages, a wine that in a good year approaches Napa in power and finses. And even in those years it still has a suggested retail price of only $75. And sometimes it is available at Costco for considerably less.

Which brings me to last weekend. Jessica and I attended the Taste of the Valley in Alexander Valley, an area known for Cabernet Sauvignon. In past years, I have not been very impressed with cabs from this AVA. Whenever I tasted them, I always felt "that's nice, but they are not Napa." Well, nothing is further from the truth, we tasted some truly spectacular wines from this area. Stonestreet (a KJ property), Soda Rock winery (a property of the expanding Wilson Family of Wines) and Robert Young.

Soda Rock and Stonestreet had spectacular offerings at $30 per bottle. Robert Young and Silver Oak's were at $50 plus. All of them had power, finese with great fruit, tannins and well, all those things that make California Cab California Cab. Were they as good as Napa cabs? A fair question, but the only way to answer it was a side by side tasting we did at Silver Oak, an Alexander Valley cab vs. their Napa cab. The Alexander Valley cab was well made and had all the elements I love in cabs. They Napa Valley cab had all that and more. It had an acidity that just made me want to drink more and more of it.

And that's the bottom line, Napa cabs are just from another planet. And to go to that planet you just have to swallow, and pay up.

Thanks for stopping by. Yesterday I had the pleasure of tasting Champagnes from 38 houses. And do you believe that I was spitting these out!

Sunday, May 15, 2011

Wine Clubs, Allocations and Pinot Noir

Last weekend was Williams Seylem's Spring 2011 pick up weekend. They are perhaps California's original cult wine. Started in the 1980s by two friends in a garage in the Russian River area,they fast gained a reputation for making one of California's first truly world class pinot noirs. They also produced a kick ass zin from the Martinelli Jackass Hill vineyard.

My wife and I were first introduced to this winery in the late 80s while dining with my sister and her then boyfriend (now husband) at Bibba in Boston. Our waiter told us that at the staff pre-service meeting, they tasted what he thought was one of the best wines the restaurant ever carried. We took the bait, ordered the bottle and were truly amazed. The wine was Williams Seylems Summa Vineyard Pinot Noir, regrettably a wine they do not make anymore.

Upon returning to New York, we visited our local wine shop and inquired about the wine. Michael, our friendly shop owner told us that he tasted the wine and that it was almost never available at retail, only through the mailing list. Several weeks later, he obtain several bottles, that were gone as quickly as he could stock the shelves.

Jump to 1990. We were going on one of our pilgrimages to CA wine country. We called Williams Seylem and arranged an appointment. Unfortunately, 2 or 3 days before the appointment we got a call telling us that they had to cancel as the staff would be away for a trade show. They then offered to put us on the mailing list. At that time the wait to get on the mailing list was years, not months, so we agreed. Our first allocation was one bottle of Allen Vineyard Chardonnay. For the next 2 or 3 years we were allocated an occasional bottle, a zin or a chard, but almost never a pinot. We were also lucky that shipping laws were not enforced as the bottle were shipped to us in Brooklyn, NY.

As we jump ahead to the mid 90's. our allocations grew until the current day when as customer 1955 we can purchase 5 to 6 cases per offering. We only can afford 6-8 bottles. Many friends have suggested that we purchase our entire allocation so we can trade or sell the extra bottles. That requires capital that we do not have, or wish to commit to this undertaking.

Earlier this month we got an email from Williams Seylem inviting us to a pig roast at the winery. This got me thinking that there must be something going on in the rare allocation world. I have heard rumors that there are many cult wineries that are having trouble selling their wines at anything near the pace they were just five years ago. Maybe Williams Seylem's move was to forestall the move towards this trend of loosing allocation customers. Anecdotal evidence from several friends who have recently joined their mailing list have only waited weeks, not years, to become members. Yet, when I asked the Williams Seylem marketing and sales director, he told me it took 6-12 months to become members.

What is happening is that the winery is adding benefits to being a member of their mailing list, moving it to being more like a wine club. They have private tastings at the winery, special events and special wine offerings. They are being proactive in realizing that it is easier to retain a current customer than it is to attract a new one.

Wine clubs, one of the hottest marketing moves in wine country over the past several years, have been exploring how to keep a current customer happy, while moving cases out the door. We belong to only one club ourselves, Cypher Winery (formerly Four Vines) located in the Paso Robles region of the Central Coast. We joined because they had some truly unique zins and Rhone based blends. Big wines that go great with BBQ and smoked meats.

The problem with all these clubs, and lists, are that my collection is heavily slanted towards these two wineries. We have been drinking all our old Williams Seylems (2001 Russian River Valley was fantastic, mush better than I thought it would be) and grilling lots of food to go with the old Four Vines stuff. I understand why wine clubs are important to the winery, but when you are shipping 12-24 bottles a year, your customers tend to have some very lopsided collections. One thing about wine drinkers, they like variety. And that could be the reason that the turnover in wine club membership is so high, customers get tired of all that wine.

I believe that a new approach to customer loyalty must be found, and the keys to that approach could be found in one of the more fascinating videos that I streamed last week. Gary Vaynerchuk is a very controversial figure in the wine industry. Like him or hate him, he is on the cutting edge of marketing. Follow this link to view his key note address to the Nomacorc Wine Marketing Symposium, it will blow your mind, http://www.nomacorc.com/marketing-to-the-next-generation-of-wine.php . There is much to be said about what he's speaking about.

Back to the Williams Seylem spring 2011 releases. The pinots and zins were of this house's ;usual high quality. The real stand out, and without a doubt the most interesting wine was the 2009 Limestone Ridge Chenin Blanc. A dry wine in the style of Savennières, it was one of the most unique wines that I have tasted from this winery, if not from a California winery. Great minerality, great fruit, with just a touch of neutral oak to give it some bite, this could have been the best chenin I've had from California.

Thanks for reading my blog and I hope you will join me next week after I've through the Alexander Valley, tasting wine along the way.

Friday, May 6, 2011

Life Is A Cabernet!

Monday May 2 was the annual Passport To Cabernet tasting sponsored by the California Cabernet Society. This event is one of the five major trade tastings, along with Pinot Days, Rhone Rangers, ZAP and Family Winemakers of California, that allow you to taste almost every wine produced in this state. That's an whole lot of wine, in a whole lot of wine styles.

This event has actually had several incarnations. I first encountered this event when it was a road show that toured all the major US markets. In 1994 my wife was out here in California and I remained back in NYC to arrange our move out here to the Golden State, I attended the event with my good friend and fellow racquetball enthusiast Ed. Being held in the NY Hilton main ballroom, there was a dazzling array of wineries pouring both their current releases and barrel samples.

After tasting many wines, we ended up at the Diamond Creek table and had a very extended conversation with the legendary winemaker of the estate, the late Al Brounstein. It was an amazing conversation about how the estate was founded, planting the vines, and the difficulties of selling what was at the time an extraordinarily high priced product ($80). We were mesmerized. At the end of the event, around 11 PM, we were tapped on our shoulders and there was Al telling us to take all the opened bottles he had left. It did not take us longer than 1 second to thank him and agree.

Ed and I then had a problem, we had to drink the wines pronto. So after an interesting ride back to Brooklyn Heights via the A Train, we ended up knocking on the door of our favorite local restaurant Henry's End. This establishment is a true neighborhood restaurant. The owner Mark Lahm is a local celebrity. His restaurant's annual game festival is now known all over the city as a truly unique eating event. To this day, 17 years after we moved out of the neighborhood, whenever we are in NYC, we always go back to eat here. They have an amazing all American wine list.

But I digress. Mark comes to the door questioning our sanity for being there so late. We show him the 3 open bottles and explain our conundrum of having to drink them. Mark replied "well, I suppose I can find something to pair with this." We were there for several hours drinking the wine and eating leftovers from Henry's End's service.

After the CIA opened their Greystone facility, the Passport to Cabernet event was a yearly fixture at this Napa Valley venue. The atmosphere overlooking Cabernet vineyards made for an exquisite event location. However, this location proved difficult for many trade people to attend, so it was moved to the Bentley Reserve in San Francisco. While not a bad location, it lacks the dramatic scenery of traveling through the vineyards to attend this event.

This year's event lacked many of the Cabernet superstars that have poured in previous years. Mondavi, Beringer, Paul Hobbs, Stags Leap among others were not there. That's a pity, as I have been able to tasted some cult cabs, like Screaming Eagle, at previous events.

This also could be a swan song as well. For those who don't know, Robert Parker no longer reviews CA wines. His replacement at Wine Advocate has a much more European pallat. This could mean that the extremely extracted, fruit forward, powerful wines that have dominated Cabernet over the past 10-15 years may be receding.

This begs the questions, is there a sense of place to these wines? Are the characteristics that make these wines uniquely Californian or from the Napa Valley.

I am pleased to report that there were several wines that had very unique personalities, ones that differentiated them from the others. The first was Rocca Vineyard Coombsville 2006. The nose was so earthy, with bright fruit seeping through, I loved it. It was so different then the standard cedar, pencil shavings, smoke, ash and dark fruit noses that dominated this group. Not that I did not enjoy all these wines, but I found them all the same.

The other unique wine was from Frias Family. Again, big time earth on the nose, followed by California's signature bright fruit. This wine finished with very long and very integrated tannins. A really interesting wine.

Which brings me back to Robert Parker. I just view a video of Gary Vaynerchuk speaking to wine marketing people. It was fascinating and should be watched by any marketing person. I linked to it on my Linkedin page. Watch it.

Sunday, May 1, 2011

Biking in Dry Creek

The Dry Creek Valley is my pick as the world's most beautiful wine region. With it's rugged hills on both the east and west sides, the earthen dam that holds back Lake Sonoma on the north, it is an ideal region for an interesting day of bike riding and wine tasting. As this weekend was the annual Passport to Dry Creek, off we went on the circle route around the valley.

The first thing I noticed was that there were a ton of people at this event, the tasting rooms and wineries were packed. This might have been a good thing for the people of the valley, but it made for some uncomfortable wine tasting experiences. Without going into specifics, many wineries need to rethink their festival set ups to take these large crowds into account.

Enough with the crowds, how were the wines. They were a mixed bag. Why anyone makes anything other than Zinfandel here is a real wonder. Lets get to the specifics.

Our first stop was Talty winery. Talty makes 3 wines, a Sryah from Russian River, a Zin from Napa and another Zin from Dry Creek. The Dry Creek zin was outstanding, the other wines less so. After that it was up to Frick where a good friend and fellow wine immersion alum is working. They specialize in Rhone varietals. The blends were nice, however, the food was even better. Frick takes the prize for some really thoughtful food and wine parings.

After leaving Frick, it was time to saddle up and ride the valley. First stop was David Cofaro which featured baseball themed food. The food, various sausages and sliders, were paired with red wines. Again the zins were nice, the cabs forgettable. Interesting fact about the Dry Creek Valley, Cabernet is the most widely planted grape.

A very crowded Dutcher Crossing was next. Remember Maple Vineyard and you will have found a great zin from a great zin vineyard. Again, it was so crowded we had to leave. It was across the Yoakim Bridge with a stop at Zichichi Winery. There zins were decent, the cab was again forgettable. So it was on to Gopfrich.

Gopfrich is a very interesting winery. They produce under 1000 cases of interesting cab, delicious and low alcohol cabs and some unique blends. This stop did not disappoint. What made this stop memorable is that the Gopfriches have German relatives that make wines in the Rheingau. Well, they were the best white wines of the day. An Auslesse vinted dry, a delicious Spatslesse, a Spatslesse made from the Sylvainer grape and a Beerenauslesse. Yum, yum, yum. And at $18-21 per bottle they were the deals of the day.

From there the next stop was A. Rafanelli. They make only two wines, a cabernet sauvignon, and a zin. I learned a long time ago to never pass up the opportunity to sample these beautys. They also had the best spread, a Tuscan style antipasti buffet followed by a chocoholics view of heaven, a buffet of some delicious chocolates.

Our last stop was Pappaietro-Perry, which is really not part of the Dry Creek Valley. However, they make some of the best Russian River and Sonoma Coast pinot noirs around. My pallete was shot after this stop.

Some random notes. Again, why anyone makes anything but zin from this region is a mystery. At every stop, the zins were the stars at the wineries, the cabs were not worth drinking. The sole exeption was Rafanelli, the cab there is world class. Which brings me to my second point. Most California wines lack a sense of place. This is probably due to the newness of wine here as well as our individualistic culture where we are encouraged to follow our own muse. Dry Creek zins are an exception, and I wish that the wineries here would concentrate more on this wine. It is unique and it is of a place and it wears its terroir well.

Thanks for reading my blog. Tomorrow is the California Cabernet Society's annual tasting in San Francisco. I am really looking forward to that one.