Nancy on Wine

Dinner party featuring Champagne, Burgundy, Pinot Noir & Riesling brings happy faces

2011-05-01T10:28:00.001-07:00

Had the privilege of having some people over last evening that enjoy the intersection of fine wine, homemade food, and good-natured Saturday-night comraderie.

The evening began at sunset, around a fire pit and a platter of salmon rillettes, a recipe I was given for combining smoked salmon with fresh salmon poached in wine, stirred together with creamy mayonnaise and garnished with finely chopped green onion. I was told this is served as an amuse bouche at the famous fish restaurant in New York City, Le Bernardin. I hope to find out some day in person!

With the salmon rillettes, we drank two blanc de blancs Champagnes: non-vintage Agrapart et Fils 7 Cru Blanc de Blancs from Avize, a house favorite at our place, and non-vintage Moncuit Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru from Le Mesnil-sur-Oger. Both wines were spectacular and had that delicious crispness one finds in Champagne and in particular in blanc de blancs Champagnes..... the Agrapart was terrific to start, with fine structure and clean fruit that immediately points the palate to a place of finesse and beauty, while the Moncuit was richer, more dense and compact, with gorgeous crystalline fruit and balance caressing the palate.

Next came the wines to drink along with the duck. The first opened as a gorgeous 1999 Lucien Boillot et Fils Gevrey-Chambertin which in spite of its 12 years, was fresh and rich in red fruits, dense on the palate (much more so that I would excpect a red Burgundy), enticing and enchanting on the nose, perfect. This Burgundy was imported by Kermit Lynch, and tasting this makes one respect the importer that much more...

Onwards to a much older Burgundy, the 1985 Joseph Drouhin Griotte-Chambertin a wine from a region I have never heard of, but as I understand it, is adjacent to or near Gevry-Chambertin. This wine showed much more age and development, lightness in body, smoky characteristics, with fruit falling off at this point but still present in cranberry and cherry notes.

After the 2 Burgundies, it was on to California Pinot Noir, one of our favorites being 2007 Clos Pepe Pinot Noir. We have tasted this wine on various occasions and always liked this wine and this vintage and this is our last bottle, so we hope that there is more to purchase from the winery, which we'll be visiting next week! Rich body of red fruits and spice, celery salt, balanced, not jammy nor oaky, this is a California Pinot Noir that is easy to love.

Finally, we finished with a 2004 Von Buhl Forster Ungeheuer Riesling Auslese that I had open in the fridge for about 4 days.... but as many know about Riesling, these wines only get better after several days being open. This is an Auslese with a good amount of botrytis, definitely noticeable on the nose, with honey and dried apricot aromas, while on the palate, the wine is lighter than the nose would suggest, which may be attributable to the vintage (2004 a colder vintage than 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009). The wine is not Beerenauslese on the palate, and is actually light on its feet and a perfect ending to a perfect Saturday evening @ 8.5% alcohol.

Canadian red wine with rack of lamb - not bad for a Monday

2011-04-04T19:30:00.000-07:00

The last time I was in my hometown of Vancouver, I saw my cousin Marion, who gave me a bottle of red wine from one of her favored British Columbian producers. I saved it to open tonight since rack of lamb is in the oven. The wine is 2008 Laughing Stock Vineyards, Portfolio from the Okanagan. More specifically, the winery is in Penticton, a gorgeous town in the Okanagan valley. I have fond memories of Penticton, though I was there prior to the fairly recent boom in the wine industry. The winery is owned by Edmonton-born David Enns who made his first wine here in 2001. Before being a winemaker, he was in the financial industry in Vancouver, which may account for why his whimsical labels look like ticker tapes and the winery and wine names make reference to the stock market. They have 2.2 hectares (5.4 acres) of vines on Naramata Road in Penticton, a very small production family owned winery. 2008 Portfolio is a Bordeaux-style blend made from 53% Merlot, 24% Cabernet Sauvignon, 12% Cabernet Franc, 12% Malbec, and 2% Petit Verdot. It spends 19 months in barrel 50% new and 50 second use, 100% French oak. I have to say that I very much like the wine! It has a pretty nose of blackberries, blueberries, and creamy vanilla, not oak, and on the palate, the wine is juicy, round, pleasant, with nice weight, without being too jammy or oaky. The wine is going perfectly with my lamb right now, and I'm finding myself curious about making a journey to go visit the winery. Thank you Marion for a great bottle of wine and look forward to seeing you soon!

Pouring Salwey reds and Hooked Riesling @ El Vino Wine Shop for Venice Beach's "First Friday"

2011-04-02T13:42:00.000-07:00

The first Friday of every month brings a festive block party to Abbott Kinney Boulevard in Venice Beach, California, a party featuring art galleries displaying their lastest holdings, bars and restaurants opening late, and a wine shop called El Vino that hosts a special wine tasting. This month, on April 1, I was invited by El Vino owner Bart Miali to pour three wines from the Rudi Wiest portfolio for First Friday, when he expected to have between 100 to 150 people come and taste wine! The small, modern, ecclectic shop was buzzing all evening with happy revelers looking to kick off the first warm weekend in spring. People from all over, but mostly locals from around Venice, Marina del Rey, Playa Vista, and Palms came by and bellied up to the bar to taste three wines for $10.

The first of the wines we served was the 2008 Salwey Estate Pinot Noir from the Kaiserstuhl, Baden, which is a terrific little Pinot Noir with forest floor and bright cherry and spice notes. While definitely light bodied, like most German Pinot Noirs when compared with California Pinot Noirs to which most palates here are accustomed, the wine is rich in flavor, and I would say that more people last evening who tasted the wine got it than didn't. Those that liked it praised the wine for its complexity, acidity and overall delicious bright flavor; those who didn't like it felt the cherry flavors in it were unripe (I would describe it more as bright and maybe sour cherry than unripe). This wine is terrific with roast duck breast, duck confit, roast chicken, and cured meats. The second of the wines was also from Salwey - 2008 Salwey "16 Degrees" Red Wine - a blend of Pinot Noir and St. Laurent, named 16 Degrees as the winemaker felt this wine should be served at 16 degrees Celsius - a clever point that most tasters accept but have a tougher time knowing what it really means - it actually translates to about 61 degrees Farenheit... basically it means just a tad below room temp, and as the temperature in the tasting room and shop as a whole went up due to there being so many people in it, we began putting bottles of this wine into the ice bucket, which nicely chilled it down. The 16 Degrees has a richer color in the glass than does the Pinot Noir, the St. Laurent grape giving the wine more juicy, ripe fruit character, a rounder palate, but also a bit less complexity - a bit more of a fun red wine blend, with a little more stuffing so it can go well with a burger or a steak, even. Finally, the third wine in the flight was the 2008 Hooked! Riesling from the Nahe region, a Rudi Wiest negotiant wine, where Rudi sourced the grapes and found a winemaker to produce the wine, and he also used an artist he likes out of Berlin to create the label. The Hooked Riesling showed beautifully - it's medium-dry palate was a perfect crispness and fruitiness - like biting into fresh green grapes and apples - that appealed widely to the crowd last evening. It's the perfect Riesling to serve to a varied crowd on a Friday evening, and the price was even better - only $10.99. By the end of the evening, around 10:30 pm, we had indeed served about 100 or more tasters, gone through at least a case of each wine, and sold even more. A good time was had by all, and the wine merchant of Venice, El Vino, enjoyed a successful night.

Showing the wines of Schloss Schonborn

2011-03-28T19:42:00.001-07:00

The first time I tasted the wines of the Schloss Schonborn estate, it was on January 18 of this year - I had literally just gotten off the plane that Tuesday morning in Frankfurt, was driven to the Franz Kunstler estate in the Rheingau, where we walked the vineyard for a bit then had some delicious homemade chili for lunch, then had my first taste of the very exciting 2010 vintage Rieslings, along with Gunter Kunstler's vivid descriptions of how the volcanic eruptions of the spring of 2010 may have caused weather disruptions that disturbed the normal flowering of the grapevines. Right after that, we were whisked to the Schloss Schonborn Estate, a new Rheingau estate in our portfolio. My mind was muddled, but I remember whipping out my camera when our car pulled up as the winter sun was shining on the river and the grass between the naked vines were a vibrant light green, glistening from a recent rain. We were high up on a hillside and the vines went all the way down to the street below, where cars wizzed by, threatening to decimate anyone who might lose their step on the precariously steep vineyard. Established in 1349, this estate was making wine before glass bottles were popularized, before the Americas were discovered, before a lot of things, in other words. Their first wines were stored and served from wood barrels, until 1725 when they bottled their own wines. The estate has been owned by a line of counts, known as the the Grafs of Schonborn. The current Graf owns the estate here in the Rheingau, as well as an estate in the Franken region known as Schloss Hallburg. I would have no recollection on how I found the wines that day back in January when I had just gone 24 hours without sleep, having finished an entire novel on my new Kindle on my flight over to Germany, but fortunately, I took notes on the wines I tasted that day and put stars next to the wines I particularly found delicious. Fast forward three months to last week, when I had the opportunity to work with Schloss Schonborn's winery rep Marc Ramershoven, who flew in to the west coast to work with us in California before he was headed up to Vancouver, B.C. to pour at the International Wine Festival that takes place there every spring (I have never been). Marc brought with him 8 samples of wine from both the Rheingau and Franken estates of Schonborn, and I had a chance not only to revisit these wines again, but to show them to a select group of my customers. I have to say that of the wines he showed, the most impressive for me were his three dry Rieslings from the Rheingau. He showed a 2010 Schloss Schonborn Estate Riesling trocken, 2009 Schloss Schonborn Winkeler Hasensprung Riesling Spatlese trocken, and 2009 Schloss Schonborn Erbacher Marcobrunn Erstes Gewachs Riesling trocken. All three of them were so uniquely different. The 2010 Estate trocken was so crisp and refreshing and light and fresh on the palate. Great nose, perfect for that plate of oysters or just sipping by itself to get your appetite going. What a great little dry Riesling, terrific fruit, while staying dry, but not austere or excessively lean. Love this wine, will sell lots of it, I am certain. The second one, the 2009 Hasensprung Riesling Spatlese trocken - superb - infinitely different from the 2010 Estate dry - this Spatlese trocken is noble, rich, lengthy on the palate, with stone fruits, delicate mineral, a serious dry Riesling with terrific fruit yet again, but richer without being overly alcoholic. Finally, the 2009 Erstes Gewachs from the famous Marcobrunn vineyard - this is a terrific and delicious wine and shows the beauty of the first growth Rheingau wines. Peaches, limestone, powerful yet crystalline in its purity, mouthfilling, yet not overpoweringly so. This is a wine that can hold up to meat dishes or just drink it by itself and enjoy. Interestingly enough, I looked back in my notebook to that day back in January at the estate and it looks like among the 24 wines we tasted there, I put stars next to 09 Hasensprung Spatlese trocken and 09 Marcobrunn EG. I guess I liked them then and there and I like them here and now. The rest of the collection we showed were also terrific and top-notch - an interesting Pinot Gris "3 Star" from Franken which is a Pinot Gris harvested at Spatlese to Auslese level and fermented dry and put into a Burgundy bottle to likely communicate that this is a wine more like a white Burgundy in style than any Pinot Gris we tend to think of. This is not a crisp light white, more of a rich, full-bodied white, minus the oakiness one might find with Chardonnay. There were two Roses we showed, one from the Rheingau estate made exclusively of Pinot Noir, called 2010 Schloss Schonborn "PINK", and one from the Franken estate made from a blend of red local varieties, mostly hybrids of Dornfelder... there was also a Silvaner from Franken and a 2003 Schloss Schonborn Pfaffenberg Riesling Kabinett in a fruity style from a single vineyard, a monopole vineyard called Pfaffenberg, in the Rheingau. The 03 showed pretty well, not showing its 8 years at all, and maintaining a very decent acid profile, good balance overall. A wine that would be a terrific fruity Riesling by the glass. In all, I'm very happy we have this new to us estate Schloss Schonborn to work with. Everywhere we went during this work-with, wine folks seemed to have a very good impression of the estate, and loved the quality of the wines. I'm looking forward to having these wines in stock; they arrive to our warehouses in May.

Mystery of the Rebholz Pinot Noir solved

2011-03-04T21:16:00.000-08:00

When I was in Germany earlier this year with my coworkers and management of Rudi Wiest Selections, tasting the new releases from the estates we represent, we were all floored and surprised at how delicious the 2008 Rebholz Pinot Noir (Spatburgunder) Tradition was. In fact, I think I even heard Rudi Wiest himself say that this was the best vintage of Rebholz Pinot Noir Tradition he had ever tasted. The Rebholz Pinot Noir Tradition is their entry level Pinot Noir - "Tradition" simply means their "basic" wine here - this is not single vineyard, it is essentially their "Estate" offering. But this very basic Pinot Noir is not so basic in its price point; it wholesales for over $30 a bottle and retails for about $45 and is on wine lists for about $70-$80, so because of this, it doesn't get as much play as less expensive Pinot Noirs in our portfolio.

Well, the 2008 vintage of this Pinot Noir was so good, that I decided right then and there in Hansjorg Rebholz's tasting room that when I returned to the U.S., I would pull some samples of the 2007 we had in stock (2008 would be coming in several months) and show off the beautiful wine.

Finally, two days ago, I opened a bottle and poured it for several of my restaurant and retail accounts. The reaction was interesting - not what I expected. The wine was rich in color and body, which normally appeals well to many a North American palate - but my audience felt the wine showed too much oak on the nose and on the palate. As though the wine was disjointed both in its aroma and in its flavor profile, with too much new oak and cedar showing through. It was surprising to everyone - people have come to expect German Pinot Noirs to be elegant and ethereal and light on their feet, never showing excessive oak like their New World counterparts.... but here they found it in the 2007 Rebholz Pinot Noir (Spatburgunder) Tradition. I was also confused by this.

Day 2, I continued to show the wine, after letting the bottle rest in my fridge overnight. Again, I got the same reaction with the wine. After a second day of lack of success in converting any of my accounts to this wine, I gave up. I left what was left of the wine on my counter.

Day 3 - It's Friday night. My husband inquires about half bottle of red wine sitting on the counter. I answered "I don't think it will be any good. It's day 3. It's a Pinot Noir. It's probably no good anymore. Plus, I didn't get very good reactions to the wine when I showed it." I was not really enthusiastic about the wine, as you can tell about my comments.

We tasted it anyway. And lo and behold, it was fantastic! Even before I tasted it, actually. I stuck my nose into the glass and the aroma already told the whole story. There wasn't that aggressive oak that everyone was complaining about when I opened it for my customers. Instead, there was a beautiful bouquet of red roses intermingling with black cherries and vanilla bean. Absolutely nothing that reminded me of oak. Nothing! On the palate, the wine is bold while being silky, with some grippy tannins, but very balanced acidity and fruit and structure. Completely perfect in its richness - a terrific Pinot Noir for those who don't like their Pinots too delicate, because this one is not.

While I thought this wine on day 3 would be oxidized and unpleasant, it was perfect, absolutely perfect, and this is what I should have been showing my customers all along, this specimen of beauty and strength instead of that tight, angular, unbalanced wine that obviously did not get enough air and breathing room in the last 2 days.

I am still at this time enjoying a sip of the beautiful 2007 Rebholz Pinot Noir Tradition, wishing that this is how it showed when I was dragging it from place to place. If only I had known to open it two days earlier, sat it on the counter, letting it breath a bit around a loosely replaced cork.... if only I knew, it would be on a few more wine lists and in a few more wine shops.

Alas I have another sample and I can do just that with it.

A terrific day tasting the wines of Von Buhl Estate with Christoph Graf

2011-03-02T11:02:00.000-08:00

Christoph Graf of Von Buhl Estate in the Pfalz, Germany, was down this week in the Los Angeles area showing a terrific line-up of Von Buhl wines. We ended up driving almost 200 miles that day, tasting with wine directors, sommeliers, buyers and restaurant and retail store owners in such diverse establishments as Inn of the Seventh Ray (pictured above) in Topanga Canyon, Spago and Cut and Whole Foods in Beverly Hills, Pourtal Wine Bar in Santa Monica, the Wine House in West Los Angeles, and the Starling Diner and The Wine Country in Long Beach. Yes, we were all over the map, but it was worth it because so many people got to taste Christoph's lovely wines.

We had 10 wines in our wine carrier. Christoph started the tasting with two sparkling wines, called Sekt in German - there was the 2008 Riesling Sekt, made from 100% Riesling grapes harvested in the Pfalz region, and made in the Champagne method - methode traditionelle - that means bottle fermentation, riddling, disgourging the yeast, the whole bit! This is a very complex and delicious sparkling Riesling with tons of flavor for an easy to swallow price. Very impressive.

Next came the 2008 Spatburgunder Rose Sekt - a sparkling wine made again in the Champagne method, but this time with 100% Pinot Noir. This is a very pale colored rose - so pale that many in the American market would not recognize it as a rose. It was more of a pale Champagne color one might say. Some suggested that perhaps this could be called a Blanc de Noirs, but actually von Buhl has a Blanc de Noirs that is much paler than this. The explanation for the pale color is actually that Germans don't really like that really pink color in their Rose sparklings because it means that a lot of red wine was added to make that color - ie. it is kind of articially created instead of more naturally focused to taste. Anyway, the wine is of course delicious, deep in flavor, rich and serious.

After that, we tasted the 2010 Pinot Noir Rose - this is a still Rose that is definitely a pretty pink in color and juicy and very elegant - a beautiful little summer Rose - I sold tons of this one with Christoph! 100% Pinot Noir - and it shows its purity.

Next up was something different - 2010 Sauvignon Blanc. This wine stole the show. First because many people we visited had never tasted German Sauvignon Blanc, and didn't even know that Germany produced Sauvignon Blanc. But Christoph quickly informed us that actually there are 600 hectares of Sauvignon Blanc being grown in Germany, and the German market loves the wine, so it has been doing very well in the restaurant scene. The 2010 Von Buhl Sauvignon Blanc combines the best of the new world and old world styles by having a lively New Zealand nose, followed by a very European palate - more stone, minerality, and clean zesty fruit like one would find in Sancerre. A very pretty wine and modest price tag which makes this wine a shoo-in for restaurant by-the-glass programs.

There were 6 more wines after these ones. I'll review that in the next post.

A successful 2010 preview tasting

2011-02-03T15:46:00.001-08:00

Just returned from a very successful preview showing the of the barrel samples we hauled back from Germany last week. We brought 24 wines from 22 different estates, everything from dry Gewurztraminer, Pinot Blanc, Pinot Gris, Scheurebe, and Pinot Noir, to Rieslings from dry to Kabinett to Spatlese. Needless to say, the wines were stunning and our guests, restauranteurs and quality wine merchants, sommeliers and Master Sommeliers alike were all very impressed with the 2010 white wines and roses and the 2009 and 2008 Pinot Noirs.

Rudi Wiest presided over the tasting, having just flown in that morning from New York City, where he had done this same preview tasting on Monday. He had been up since 3 am EST, or 12 midnight PST, and yet he was full of energy, as usual, discussing the wines he loves.

A special thank you to our host Randi at our venue, Bottle Rock in Culver City. Beautiful glassware that did our wines justice, a terrific lunch that hit the spot, and everything about the tasting was well timed, which is just so very important.

Not sure which wines people loved the most, but from what I heard, these were some wines that got oohs and ahhhs:

2010 Dr. F. Weins-Prum Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Spatlese

2008 Rebholz Pinot Noir tradition

2009 Furst Pinot Noir tradition

2010 Von Buhl Pinot Noir Rose

2010 Pfeffingen Scheurebe trocken (dry)

2010 Pfeffingen Gewurztraminer trocken (dry)

2010 Zilliken Saarburger Rausch Riesling Kabinett

2010 German wine vintage report - a review from 11 days in Germany

2011-01-30T15:59:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone, freshly back from Germany following an approximately 2-week long trip through the wine regions of Franken, Wurttemburg, Baden, Pfalz, Rheingau, Rheinhessen, Mosel, and Ahr. Here are my impressions of the 2010 vintage.

My reaction was that the wines were surprisingly good. There were murmurs prior to going on this trip that the 2010 vintage was a difficult one, compared to the perfect 2009 vintage, given how cold the weather was in 2010. My taste buds braced for an assault. Instead, they were treated to a happy surprise.

So how come the wines were so shockingly good in a vintage some described as cold and difficult?

The truth was that the vintage was different. Completely different from the one before it, 2009, and different from many other vintages too. Wilhelm Haag from the estate Fritz Haag in the Mosel, who is now retired in his 70s and has passed his estate onto his son Oliver Haag, but is still involved in the family business for which he was a winemaker for 50 years (from the age of 20 to 70), said he has never in his 50 years making wine seen a vintage like this one: high must weights (meaning very good ripeness levels) AND high acidity. Typically, one sees acidity and must weights working in opposite directions - if you have high acidity in your grapes, it means there is inadequate ripeness, and conversely, if you have a great deal of ripeness, the acidity in the grapes is low. But this year was unique. Both acidity and ripeness (measured as must weight, or density, and in Germany, in units of Oeschle; in the U.S., measured in units of Brix) were high in this vintage. So what resulted were wines of a great intensity of flavor.

How did this come about? Well, we heard that good wine was not made at all estates in Germany, but it did seem to occur at all the estates we visited, in other words, top estates. Lesser estates did not always achieve this unique balance of high ripeness and acidity - if they picked too early, fearing the loss of crop to frosts and other naturally occurring problems, they ended up with grapes not quite ripe and full of tons of acidity. The estates in our portfolio tended to pick late. They tended to do a pre-harvest in early to mid-October, clipping off rotting grapes so they would not affect the healthy grapes, then doing a tedious, laborious harvest with two or three passes through the vineyard, picking only ripe, healthy grapes sometime in the end of October to the beginning of November. While they worried about their diminishing yields, they ultimately chose quality over quantity. This focus resulted in the pay-off - sensational wines with very good ripeness levels and very high levels of acidity as well.

Speaking of the low yields and high acidity - how did this come about this vintage? It started well before harvest... to the beginning, when flowering took place. Very likely due to the effect of the volcanic eruption in Iceland, which shut down flights all over Europe in the spring of 2010, the climactic pattern had changed and affected the normal flowering of grape vines. What resulted was a very poor flowering, followed by both a much decreased number of berries produced and small size of berries. This stage of the development of the grapes resulted in yields at the estates were visited to be decreased by 30% to 50%. Very signficant.

After flowering, the small number of small berries then enjoyed a cool summer in virtually all the regions. Development and ripening occured at a very slow pace. The fortunate factor in most regions was that in the fall, during the normal harvesting season, a high pressure weather front arrived and ripened the small clusters. As the berries were small, ripening seemed to take place rather quickly once some warm weather arrived. This saved the situation for the winemakers who waited long enough to let some of the acidity go down and some more physiologic ripening to take place.

So then, in summary, 2010 was a different vintage, but an excellent one for our estates. Yields were miniscule - decreased by 30% to 50% from 2009 (and 2009 wasn't even a high yield vintage, per se). Labor costs increased both in the vineyard and in the cellar (so costs went up while final product went down). Winemakers needed skill and experience to deal with this vintage, so wines at top estates were exceptional, but not everywhere. But when the wines were good, they were top notch, explosive with flavor. But there is not much of it!

Here are some scenes from our trip and some highlights. Above is the view from the Rudolf Furst Estate's new tasting room, a gorgeous modern structure with a breathtaking view of their vineyards and the town of Burgstadt below. Furst is in the Franken region and makes some of the prettiest Pinot Noirs I have tasted.

This is a romantic candle-lit cellar in Von Buhl in Deidesheim, in the Pfalz. We arrived here for a tasting at about 7pm one evening, and started, ritualistically, tasting sparkling wine in their cellar. Though we were tired, we cannot turn down great sparkling wine in a candle-lit cellar, can we?

Even though I have taken tons of pictures of the Monchhof Estate, I still cannot resist taking more. This time, the resident swans that are usually floating on the Mosel River were in front on the lawn having breakfast, so I snapped a pic of them doing so in front of the iconic winery.

We unfortunately had some sad news during the trip. We lost one of our winemakers to a tragic car accident just days after we tasted with him at his estate. Wolf Dietrich Salwey of Weingut Salwey in Oberrotweil in Baden was taken at age 69. Sad. We were happy to have spent some time with him and his terrific wines, which he made with his son Konrad Salwey.

Finally, here's a picture of Team California, enjoying a much needed beer from Eisgrub Brau in Mainz on the final evening of the tour. We made it! 27 estates in 11 days. 7 different hotels, about 23 hours of total flying time...... but it was all worthwhile because we got a first glimpse of a most interesting and delicious vintage.

Champagne, Caviar, and Old Red Wines, Oh My!

2011-01-12T20:41:00.000-08:00

Last month, during the holiday season, I had the good fortune to be a part of a our wine tasting group's annual Champagne and Caviar party, which is indulgence at its best. Every couple brings a bottle of Champagne and a red wine, and the host supplies the caviar (which we chip in for), and we all bring an appetizer or side dish to add to the festivities.

I bought one of my favorite Champagnes 2002 Camille Saves Grand Cru which is always good - I'm sure I have had it a couple of times before - and while there were many terrific Champagnes poured on this evening, I think I still held this one as my favorite. Rich yet crisp with tons of good acidity and minerality and flavor that goes on and on... wow, I miss it already.

We had those fine Champagnes with heaps of caviar served on buttery crisp toast points. I don't think I've ever had caviar on toast points (had it with blinis and crackers), and I found that I really enjoyed the light and crisp toast points. The caviar was fantastically salty and fatty like nice tuna belly, but in black eggs form. Very nice with the Champagnes!

The table of appetizers and side dishes were fantastic and a feast for the eyes and the stomach.

Then we moved on to some exciting red wines. This 1982 Chateau Gruaud Larose, a Bordeaux from Saint-Julien, was Johan's red wine of the night, and had all the characteristics one desires from a mature Bordeaux - silky tannins, earthiness, some red fruits after all those years.

This 1987 La Jota Vineyard Napa Valley Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon tasted also a bit like a Bordeaux to me though I don't recall exactly the specific tasting notes...

The 2008 Burrowing Owl Pinot Noir was plummy and rich, with some oaky notes, a nice little young Pinot Noir.

A lot of folks like this 1992 Dunn Vineyards Napa Valley Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon, which also drank like a rich, fruit-forward aged Bordeaux. I quite liked it as well, though for me it was a toss-up between it and the Larose (real Bordeaux).

Finally, there was this 1990 Robert Chevillon Nuits-Saint-Georges (Burgundy) which was very good, smoky, still with a lot of fruit.... some others in the group were not so fond of it, but I was!All in all, a very exciting night for wine and caviar lovers!

Young Bordeaux

2011-01-09T14:45:00.000-08:00

Among the wines consumed over the Christmas and New Years holiday season was this one: 2001 Calon-Segur from Saint-Estephe, Bordeaux, France. I acquired this fun wine from my friend Adam Zuckert who represents the portfolio The Old and Rare Wine Co., which has some interesting wines such as this Bordeaux and many others.

This 9 year old wine was fresh and youthful, silky and medium-bodied, without too much age or development on the palate. It seemed like it was ready to easily age another 20 years and would likely taste more interesting and better after maybe another 10 years. The wine did not show excessive tannin or green pepper aspects, which for some reason I was concerned that it might - it might be that I have tasted another vintage of Calon-Segur before in the past and experienced grippy tannins or over-the-top green pepper flavors. But not in this 2001. It was well balanced and very easy to drink.

We enjoyed this with a roast leg of lamb and it was very enjoyable. I would buy this wine again, cellar it longer, and open it among good friends or family.

I'll post some more wine notes of some other wines enjoyed over the holidays shortly!

Hope you all had some delicious wines over the holidays.

2010 Wine Year in Review

2010-12-16T11:25:00.001-08:00

It's that time of year to reflect on the year that will soon be in the history books. Not only that, it feels like a decade has just gone by, in the snap of a finger and a thumb, awfully quickly.

In an effort to recap, I'll review some of the top 10 moments (or situations) in wine that I have experienced this year:

1. Tasting a series of German Rieslings that were all over 50 years old, the oldest of which were from the vintage 1921. It was amazing to be in a room full of wine tasters, among them people whose names I had heard before but finally met for the first time - Bruce Sanderson, Bipin Desai, Claude Kolm, among others - and none of us were as old as many of the wines passing our lips. Wines made before either of the World Wars. Tasting through time. Tasting from the great estates, who are still making wine today, having passed their estates onto the next generations. Very amazing.

2. Tasting 1971 wines (my vintage) both on my birthday while I was in Germany, at JJ Prum - tasting a 1971 JJ Prum Goldkapsel, with the Prums, the Wiests, and my good friends and coworkers; and subsequently back in Los Angeles with my husband and friends, who brought a 1971 Cheval Blanc to open at a birthday dinner - outstanding. Thank you.

3. Taking part in hosting Rudipalooza with 6 German winemakers, driving them all over Los Angeles and Orange Counties, San Francisco, and even Napa. Crazy stuff. Overdid it. Overworked everyone. An exhausting 6 days with multiple tastings, wine dinners, one-on-one account visits. Completely amazing to work with Bert Selbach, Hanno Zilliken, Karina Stuhler, Jan Eymael, and Johannes Haart.

4. Bert Selbach giving me a bottle of 1998 Eiswein, personally, and Gunter Kunster giving me a bottle of his 08 Kirchenstuck dry Riesling. Wow!

5. Being in Germany while the Vancouver Olympics were going on, therefore not being able to go, but sporting the red Canada hoodie in support of team Canada, and sometimes even the red mitts. Watching some of the Olympic coverage on TV, especially the one night in this awesome small hotel in Fellbach where I got the best suite in the whole place - replete with living room, kitchen, and loft bedroom - I did not want to leave this hotel! Watching the Olympics late into the night then reading my novel - yes, that made me late for the next morning's meeting with Schnaitmann..... woops. Hate being late!

6. Working the Northern California market. This was a highlight of my working for Rudi Wiest this year. Being able to go up to Northern California once a month and share our wines with knowledgeable Bay Area wine lovers. Working in San Francisco, Berkeley, Oakland, Walnut Creek and the Napa Valley was a pleasure beyond compare. The entire spirit of this area is very attractive to me - people are pleasant, happy, healthy, knowledgeable and embrace the world of wine. My stint up there has ended, but I have come away with a great appreciation of this part of California.

7. Amazing dinner at Mille Fleurs in Rancho Santa Fe. This was part of the weekend extravaganza that was the "50 Years and Older Riesling TBA Tasting" hosted by Rudi Wiest, featuring the wines from 1921 on up to 1959. This is one of the best dinners I have experienced, with wine pairs that were almost exclusively German - and dry German wines at that, with the most memorable being Pinot Noirs from Becker and Furst, and dry white wines from Rebholz and Salwey. I wish all naysayers of dry German wines could have been at that dinner because there would be no naysayers after that. Also very fun was socializing with Fritz Becker and Hansjorg Rebholz at that dinner, along with Bruce Sanderson and other fun people (who is not fun when belly is full of top-notch food and awesome wines?).

8. Santa Barbara Wine Country Half Marathon, which actually took place in Santa Ynez. This happens every year the weekend of Mother's Day in May - not on Mother's Day, but on the Saturday, the day before. A great many of us from our running club, AREC, headed up on this particular weekend to run a half marathon from Santa Ynez to Solvang, through some of the most beautiful countryside in the world. One feels like someone doing the Tour de France - well, at least I did. The entire weekend was a cornucopia of friends, the countryside backdrop, local wines, cute restaurants, wine tasting, and relaxing. For me, there is nothing as soothing as visiting a wine region. This particular weekend in May had all the best. Oh, and I got to meet Peter Cargassachi on this trip too!

9. Champagne and caviar dinner at Petrossian. In July, I celebrated with my husband one of my best sales months to date. I offered to take us to Petrossian, the caviar place in West Hollywood. And with us we brought a delicious bottle of Champagne. That was awesome. Since that first time, we have gone again, the second time with an out-of-town friend, who also agreed it was a great way to enjoy life.

10. Surviving yet another year in the wine business. This year marks Year 5. I started officially Dec 13, 2005. 2010 was a fun, interesting and intense year, year 2 of working for German wine importer Rudi Wiest. It feels good that many of my customers are friends now, and they seem to like me. I look forward to what comes in 2011!

Amazing Multi-Course Dinner at Matt & Cheryl's House - w/German Riesling & an Italian mystery red

2010-12-11T21:10:00.000-08:00

About a month ago, Johan and I accepted an invitation to a dinner in the home of Matt and Cheryl.

We met Matt and Cheryl just recently, when they invited us to their wine tasting group, where we tasted Bordeaux wines and Bordeaux-style wines from the new world. It was an interesting wine tasting group - all wines were tasted blind, but with food - food that was constantly pouring out of Matt's kitchen - exotic foods like veal meatballs, gravlax, roasted bone marrow, and various other rich meaty dishes that went so well with the wines... the food coming out of the kitchen was amazing and endless, it seemed, and Matt was chef orchestrating these delights.

Naturally, there was not so much spitting of wines being tasted, when tender morsels of inspired food were being eaten with the sips.

After this wine tasting, where we became acquainted with many members of this wine tasting group, we got a nice invitation to a private dinner, and so we went.

Little did we know it would be a multi-multi-multi course dinner that was utterly amazing! I didn't even get to take pictures of every course being served - there were so many - and the creativity of the dishes was beyond compare! Starting with a delicious chicken liver spread on crostini, then going to rice/bacon/egg/preserved vegetable dish that was intensely savory, then to two pasta dishes...

The above is just one of two pasta dishes serves - delicious thick homemade noodles in a rich meat sauce - might have been veal if I recall. The other pasta dish, which I didn't catch a picture of was the ear-shaped pasta with sausage and broccoli-rabe.

Above here is the pork shoulder roast with a cherry sauce, and a side of curried cabbage.

Below is a homemade custard with a fruit paste that I believe was passionfruit.

Not just one dessert but two - below is the chocolate covered pop-corn on a spicy homemade ice cream.

As someone who occasional hosts a dinner party - I am stressed to served an appetizer, a main, and a purchased dessert. Sometimes others will bring an appetizer, so I'll only be responsible for the main, with a starch and a vegetable. Sometimes I'll screw that up. But nevermind, I'm pretty okay with the main dish and I tend to serve decent wines, so I get away with it. But 8 course dinners? How does Matt pull it off? I just don't know how he does it!

For this dinner, we had 3 wines. Two are pictured above - we started with the 2001 Zilliken Saarburger Rausch Riesling Kabinett which was delicate and pretty and a great wine to start with and pair with many of the dishes. Then we moved on to a surprise red wine from Italy - I did not guess it was from Italy by the way - a 2004 Bressan - I'm totally not familiar with this wine, but I enjoyed its earthy goodness. Finally we ended with a 2008 Schloss Lieser Niederberg Helden Riesling Auslese, which was quite sweet, rich, balanced and enjoyable.

All in all, an amazing meal - and by amazing, I mean I could not have pulled it off myself, and don't know how Matt does it - but I imagine he can do it because he practises and cooks for others and enjoys it all. It certainly is inspiring to someone like myself, who struggles to put out one or two courses for guests!

I'll have to strive higher.

The holidays, from the wine distribution side

2010-12-10T11:48:00.000-08:00

The holiday season, from the wine retail side, is one hectic long unending month of working from morning till night filling orders. One feels like one of Santa's elves. Everyone needs to shop and gifts need to sent out via UPS and they need to be picked up and packaged and everyone would like it all to be done today, yesterday if possible. So if you work in wine retail, and I imagine anything retail, the month of December means a great deal of time on your feet, a lot of problem solving for customers, and not a lot of time off.

On the wholesale distribution side, I'm finding it means a lot of conflicting things and trying to make two sides agree on things. It's being the middle man and finding a way to get things done in an expedient way. What I mean is that some of my customers are waiting for wine and wish they could get it yesterday, but I can't get it to them till next week, and that's a just a bit too late for comfort. Meanwhile, other customers would rather not take things that we have ready for them to take. It's a balancing act, and it isn't easy. There's a lot of urgency and pressure because of the holiday season. It would be nice if things were all flowing easily and quickly and I hope for it to do so, but so far, it is a test of juggling supply and demand and hoping that one meets the other. But I guess in economics and in life, it is rarely that. That which is in high supply is rarely in high demand, and vice versa. I suppose that's why some lament that people often want what they can't have, and don't want what they can. This seems particularly heightened during the so-called holiday season.

So here I am. I'll attempt another day of trying to balance supply and demand and get people to take the supply we have and wait for the supply we don't!

Happy holidays!

It's time for Christmas Beers

2010-12-04T16:11:00.000-08:00

December is here, and it's time for Christmas beers, if you like gently spiced Belgian ales with that nice roundness in the mouth, richness on the palate, and a hint of Christmassy spice that makes you think you are in a jolly, dark pub somewhere in Europe, with the snow falling heavily outside, and you inside fortifying yourself with something as satisfying and appropriate as a glass of rich red wine.

On the eve of December (Nov 30), we headed out to our local Irish pub which features "pint night" every Tuesday, wherein a beer is chosen as a special, and you get to keep the glass. This night was dedicated to Delerium Noel, from the fine folks in Belgium who make Delerium Tremens (a golden ale) and Delerium Nocturnum (a dark brown ale). As we are fans of this brewery, and their glasses adorned with pink elephants, we looked forward to trying their Christmas ale.... and it was good! Not heavily spiced, just a hint of spice, but mostly a golden ale with a rich body, something that you feel good about drinking even when it is cold outside, not some summery beer that makes you feel cold when you don't want to be.

Another one we tried this week was the Christmas ale from Achouffe, which is another Belgian brewery whose beers are best recognized by the labels that sport the red-hatted gnomes. I believe the brewery is in the Ardenne forest somewhere, which separates the French-speaking part of Belgium from the Champagne region of France. This was also a rich, full-bodied golden ale with a gentle hint of spice, and maybe a refreshing citrus note as well. Also delicious.

As places adopt more specialty beers on their lists, it gets more fun to try these specialties, and I think it contributes much more to the holiday spirits than fighting at the malls for electronic toys and gadgets. Buy your gifts online, or shop on a Tuesday morning, avoid the crowds, and enjoy a Christmas ale this season.

Enjoy your Noel!

Showing my German roots

2010-11-30T12:33:00.000-08:00

Either I don't have a good memory of cold weather in Southern California, or this has been one of the coldest Novembers I have experienced here. Cold weather with sunshine - not a bad combination - the days are bright and beautiful, but short and sweet, and crisp and cold too. I've always liked to call cold wintery weather good eatin' weather, calling for more hearty dishes and desserts. So it seemed natural that my own cravings led me to the Authentic German store Alpine Village in Torrance, where the butcher shop makes its own sausages and smokes its own hams, and sells the best ham hocks for making split pea soup that I know of.

I've made this soup a number of times, and it is always in a slow-cooker that works wonderfully - the recipe is easy, and the olive-green split pea soup turns out rich and thick and full of ham flavor - all because of that very good smoked ham hock.

While I didn't grow up as a child eating pea soup, it was available, and when it was, it was known more as a French Canadian staple that you could get out of a can. But I did grow up in a place that surrounded me somewhat with German foods. How did that come about? I'll tell you all about it.

Yes, to look at me, you'd think I'd be more suited, appearance-wise, to selling Sake than Riesling. True, I'm not blond and blue-eyed, and would look a bit weird hoisting liter-sized beer mugs full of wheat beer while wearing a low-cut dress. Fortunately, I'm not asked to - ever. But yes, I grew up exposed to more Black Forest hams and wurst than sushi and sashimi. Though I like them all just as much, now.

For example, did you know that my father studied German as a foreign language when he was in university? It's true. It wasn't French or Spanish. Maybe German was what was offered, or it was the popular second foreign language to study during his time, but yep, my dad gave me tips on how to say "Guten Morgen," "Auf Wiedersehen," (I say Auveederzen) and "Das ist sehr gut!" (das is zer gute!)

Anyhoo, when my family moved to Canada, we moved to an area where immigrants seemed to gravitate toward. Lo and behold, the immigrant wave who was there before us seemed to be Germans. We lived closed to a German bakery that baked the most wonderful cakes, that it seemed natural that they were named "Wonder Bakery." We would get Swiss rolls there, which were giant jelly-roll type cakes, except they weren't jelly rolls, but they were rolls of chocolate cake with the most irresistable chocolate frosting. I have yet to find Swiss rolls anywhere else since. There were also the most luscious binge-inducing layer cakes, for $4.99 - the most beautiful and full-bodied chocolate cake with a layer of custard through the middle and frosted all over with chocolate icing. Not to mention all the apple turnovers, pies, cookies, rum balls, and all sorts of breads and things that the place cranked out.

Of course, the bakery no longer exists, except in memory.

I remember when I was a kid and went to that bakery and loved it, and heard rumors about the kid who was the kid of the owner of the bakery and that he was really obese and life was hard for him.... I felt bad for the kid.

Nearby, there was a Konditorei. I never knew what this word meant, but now I know it means pastry shop. This was a fancier establishment, with a European-inspired window with lots of fancy pastries and cookies. But I never liked the baked goods as much as I did from the more humble, more pedestrian, and I think busier Wonder Bakery.

Next to the Konditorei was the Delicatessen. My father was a particular fan of this authentic German deli. They had the best bread and made sandwiches from their wide assortment of sausages and other meats. My dad always recommended requesting the "Kaiser buns" on which to get your sandwiches made - I was not a fan of buns usually, but these buns were on another level - bread that was so crisp and delicate on the outside, and so soft and chewy on the inside, like a cloud, but not a wet, mushy cloud in your mouth, a flavorful, slightly salty dough that was something special contributing to a sandwich, not just a wrapper for your meats. Then there were the fillings - your choice of thinly shaved Black Forest ham, or various wurst, or meatballs. Again, these meatballs were no regular meatballs, but super flavorful ones.

I don't remember the name of this deli, but I do remember how authentically German it was, how homemade everything tasted, and how I naturally took to it.

Of course, this deli and the next door konditorei are now both long gone.

Like immigrants in many places, perhaps they retired, their kids got good educations and went into various professions, and the shop served its purpose. And with the shop went all those delicious goodies from a place far away.

Fortunately for me, my taste memories have led me seek out foods from all sources. And when I learned of Alpine Village in Torrance, home of an annual big Oktoberfest celebration in the fall, I went there to seek out some of the familiar flavors of my past. While I haven't really found Kaiser buns, I have found weiners which are the best "hot dogs" in the world. I cannot eat hot dogs in the packages found in the supermarket or at the Staples Center when I'm there for a hockey game - they are incredibly salty and lack any meat taste. But weiners which you can purchase from Alpine Village Market remind me of those exact ones I had when I was a kid, and my parents bought them from the deli, and at that time I recall they were called European weiners. They have that "skin snap" you get when you bite into them, and they taste a world different then the weiners or frankfurters or hot dogs you get in the supermarket. Try them sometime.

So, the weather has been turning me on to this type of food. And maybe subconsciously I am getting my mind and body in gear to head to Germany in less than 2 months. I need to build myself up for the severe weather conditions. I have also watched a couple of German movies over the past couple of weeks (I didn't choose them, but I enjoyed them). I'm starting to pick up the language. It's starting to be like French, where at least I can pick up a few words in a conversation, and I know when they are saying "danke," "Und?" "tschus," "nicht," "spater," and.... I guess that's it.

So that's it! I'm off to go warm myself up with some of that pea soup I made. If you're in the Southland and want some good wurst, and other Deutsches goodies that are sehr gut, visit:

Alpine Village Market
833 Torrance Blvd (the Torrance exit off the 110 Freeway)
Torrance, CA

German wines aren't sticky, the notions are

2010-11-18T12:37:00.000-08:00

"German wines really haven't taken off in the United States," an elderly gentleman firmly announced at the last social wine tasting I attended in Orange County. He was a man with solid beliefs, beliefs he shared openly, such as the government being too big, and Meg Whitman being the better candidate for Governor. I told him that German wines take off well enough for me to make a good living at it. "Well," he scoffed, "you make a good living at selling them, but I still don't think they have taken off here. They might make good wines in Germany, but there are a lot of good wines, and I just won't pay to drink German wines."

The fact that one old-school gentleman doesn't want to spend his hard-earned cash on German wines is fine with me and doesn't warrant much more than shrug of the shoulders, but the generalizing is what turns me off and has me shaking my head. YOU don't want to pay money to drink German wines, therefore, all of American probably don't want to.... is this a logical conclusion?

Fast forward to yesterday, I am in a German owned restaurant in a very nice city, hilly, full of trees, quiet. It is close to lunchtime, and I have brought 4 dry German white wines for the owner to taste, as he has already made it clear to me that dry German wines are where it is at, and the sweet Mosel stuff, in his opinion, is just not as good as the dry wines of Baden (where he is from), Wurttemburg, Franken, and Rheingau. So I brought him a Riesling Spatlese trocken from Robert Weil, a Silvaner from Hans Wirsching, a Pinot Blanc from Salwey, and a Pinot Gris from Heger. He likes the wines, appreciates that I even carry German wines that are not the typical array found in my competitors' wine bags. Appreciates that I know where Baden is, where Franken is, where Wurttemberg is, etc. because I've been there, more than once, soon to be 4 times. Anyway, he's happy with the wines, but he laments that his customers don't get it and don't want quality and aren't willing to pay for it. I nod sympathetically.

Several of his wine-loving customers start streaming in the door; they are carrying bottles of wine and heading for a large table set for 12. Noon is approaching, and it becomes clear that they have convened to share a lunch and a wine tasting. Owner waves a few patrons over to join in the tasting of my wines, which I happily oblige, because the more people that taste Rudi Wiest Selections wines, the better, because then more people become educated about them.

Three people sit down to taste, and 2 of them love the wines, expound how fresh and zippy the 2009 Hans Wirsching Silvaner is, how tasty the 2006 Robert Weil Estate Riesling Spatlese trocken is..... then the loudest of the customers announces, "I just don't like German wines, because they are always sweet!"

Owner says to him, these are not sweet wines, they are bone dry. I don't even have to speak; my customer is doing my job for me.

Well, his customer, mind already made up, says the wine on his palate, because it is German, is sweet.

Then, same customer says, "But I'll tell you what. If you bring me an Eiswein, then I will taste that! There's NOTHING in the world better than a German Eiswein."

My customer, the owner of the restaurant, turns to me, and says, "You see, these guys.... they want Eiswein, they don't get how rare that is, how expensive that is. They want me to break open an Eiswein for them, then yeah, they'll taste it and get excited. But will he buy a bottle off the list?"

He may not. His bizarre evaluations, such as saying the dry wine in front of him is sweet, but at the same breath asks for an Eiswein, may make him not a great candidate for making rational decisions. But yes, there are customers who will buy an Eiswein off a restaurant list. And there are customers who will order a dry German wine off a list, too. And all variations of wines in between.

Shocking, but yes. But we do need to get over some hurdles. Hurdles in people's brains.

Each day is a teaching opportunity, every inhale through the nostrils and every sip folks take of these wines, whether dry or fruity/sweet is valuable. It's a chance for the thinking person to evaluate something for what it is, instead of rejecting reality. That's the alternative to pulling out an old file from the mind that tells one to just spew out what's already in there.

Germany Version 4.0 - coming soon

2010-11-09T18:43:00.001-08:00

So the annual Rudi Wiest corporate trip has been booked for January 2011, a mere 2 months away. 10 days in Germany, plus two days of flying, during which I will unfortunately miss my husband's birthday, but we'll celebrate early, in style.

I've named it Version 4.0 as it will be my fourth Germany trip, my 4th Rudi Wiest trip, and my 4th trip to these estates nestled in the valleys of the Rhein, Mosel, Nahe, and Main rivers. These estates that I've come to know so very well, better than I thought I would imagine knowing. I remember my first trip back in the fall of 2007, when I was so elated to put names of vineyards I learned on bottles to actual hillsides, and met the people behind the wines. Now, more than 3 years later, the winemakers, while still on pedestals, are more like friends than strangers. Such is the environment created by my importer boss that makes this business so intimate. No longer are names and people a mystery, but are instead the meat and potatoes of the business. And so it becomes less like a wine business than a people business. And in the end, that is what really counts.

This year, we'll be flying out in January instead of February, so expect more cold, more snow than last year, more yeast in still unfiltered wine, more untamed acidity, more wild flavors of fermentation. We're adding a new Rheingau estate, so I look forward to visiting a new property. And I look forward to seeing familar faces, those friendly rosy faces of those families that pass their craft on from generation to generation.

In particular, I look forward to tasting the Pinot Noirs of Friedrich Becker Estate and Rudolf Furst Estate. Both estates make hauntingly delicious Pinot Noirs that remind me of what I love in red Burgundy (though they are not exactly like red Burgundy, but just as complex and compelling). I also look forward to the Mosel Rieslings from Dr. F. Weins-Prum, Rheinhold Haart, Fritz Haag, and Monchhof. And it is always a treat to taste in the Pfalz estates of Von Buhl and Rebholz, estates known for their terrific dry wines.

I'm already beginning to get excited about going to Germany again. On the negative side, it will be cold and it will be work. But on the plus side, it will be a good time to hunker down with the team, exchange ideas, taste the new 2010 vintage, and see our favorite winemakers again. Oh, and eat some delicious German food - always a treat.

Happy Friday

2010-11-05T21:11:00.000-07:00

It was a long week with a lot going on, but it ended up being a good, productive one. So what better way to celebrate than to make a great meal at home? And open some decent wines to wash the food down with?

The week included finally getting over the illness that had me totally flattened - I guess we all take our turns getting sick, and this time, it was my turn. My mom actually pointed out something astute about why I might have succumbed to illness this time, as usually my immune system isn't too bad - last month, I lost a territory - Northern California - a very beautiful place that I enjoyed working in very much... but it was meant to be a temporary gig, so I had it coming - at any rate, losing the territory meant not only not being able to go to San Francisco for work anymore, but also losing a rich source of income. In other words, a little stressful for little Miss Commission Earner. Anyway, perhaps that fueled my desire to work the Southern California market just a little bit harder, working days a little bit longer, doing a few more tastings well into the evening, until I caught a bug and got laid up for a couple weeks.

Now I'm fine, recovered. And this week, I even bought a new car! Yay, got wheels again. A good thing, after experiencing several car-less days. No, it is not easy to get around in Southern California on the transit system. It is about as efficient as walking, and that's not so efficient.

But I digress. The week was a good one, a productive one, and I'm glad we're into the weekend. Time for some R&R, some getting back into running so my slightly atrophied muscles can get back in the game.

To kick that off, a little Friday dinner starting off with an aperatif of 2007 Von Hovel Estate Riesling - tasting pretty good right now, not super sweet, but definitely refreshing. It's got a new slick and classy black label - do you like it?

Then onto a red wine from Piedmont, Italy - a Barbera d'Alba from 2008 vintage - I still don't know what the real name of the wine is, since the label is old school and promotes the region more than it promotes the name of the winery. But you see the label above. I like this wine a lot. It seems a bit new world style to me - like a rich, fruit-forward Californian wine without the high alcohol to boot - but I like it. It's not as high acid or high earthiness as some other Italian wines.... but I like it. At $15.99 from The Wine County, the wine is a steal and a deal. Get some! Whatever it's name is.

And for food, I picked up a couple of steaks from How's Market in Torrance. They have the best U.S.D.A. Prime beef that I've seen in a while, and the prices can't be beat. Friend Bennett introduced me to this place, and I'm not sure I've bought steaks anywhere else since. They are that good, like an old fashioned butcher place, even though they do package some of their steaks. My favorite is the rib eye because I'm not afraid of a little fat - I mean, that's the best part! I'm not a fan of ingesting a whole lot of animal fat all the time, but when I get my one steak a month, I want some marbling! But if you're not a fan of fat, they have some great filet mignons and other leaner cuts, as well as lamb, pork and other butcher specialties.

So I turned those steaks into the following two plates:

My initial idea was to barbecue the steaks, since during the day we hit the 90s for temperatures outside - it looked like the middle of July. But come dinner time, it was pitch dark outside, and I didn't feel like firing up the barbie - I broiled the steaks and they turned out quite nice. Did some potatoes in the oven (oven roasted potatoes) and steamed some broccoli and cauliflower (because they are tasty and very good for you).

Above is hubby's plate, below is mine, which is a bit messier, due to me trying to pile on more of those healthy veggies.

A very satisfying meal all in all. The steaks were juicy and tender. The potatoes were crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside. The veggies were done soft enough, and offered the perfect non-rich side to the rich meaty main event. The Barbera went well with the food, and it all went pretty well with Duck's hockey on TV. That's a team in the NHL that belongs to Orange County. We are supportive even though many LA Kings fans hate the ducks. But we're okay with Orange County. They have a lot of nice restaurants there, and we have some friends that live down there too.

Have a great weekend, everyone! I hope you're eating and drinking well, and making merriment with your loved ones. Cheers.

Goodbye, car; hello, holiday season

2010-10-31T13:52:00.000-07:00

One thing doesn't have anything to do with another, except that both happened this weekend. I had to say goodbye to my loyal car of more than 10 years, the car that has gotten me to many a place and has been my office for the last 2 plus years while I have been doing outside sales. But even before that, it got me to jobs, runs, some near-by vacation spots, and much, much more. Here it is being towed away by the charity it has been donated to. Sigh. Goodbye, beloved car.

Okay, onto Christmas. Yes, it's Halloween today, and that means - last day of October. Meaning, tomorrow is November, one more full month before December madness. This weekend, to numb the pain of giving away my car, I stocked up on wines for Christmas at The Wine Country.

I have now 4 special wines planned for sharing with family at Christmas - this year, they will be all European in origin. Sometimes I do a few California wines, but most often, it is special wines from Germany, Austria, Champagne and other parts of France and Italy that tend to be shared.

This year, I'll have 2 wines from Germany, and 2 wines from France.

They will be:

Both German wines were given to me by hand, in person, from the winemaker who made them. How sweet is that? The memory of receiving these gifts is still strong. Both were given to me this year by German winemakers who had travelled here to the U.S. to promote their wines. The first was Gunter Kunstler, winemaker and owner of Franz Kunstler in the Rheingau - he gave me a bottle of his top notch dry wine 2007 Kunstler Kirchenstuck Riesling trocken. If this is not a GG (Grosses Gewachs, or Grand Cru) wine, then it is damned close! Gunter had specific instructions for a food pairing for this wine - he said make a roasted veal chop and top it with a cream sauce and shaved black truffles. Yum yum! I'll see if I can do the wine justice this Christmas season. I think a nice white meat like veal would be perfect with this rich yet elegant Rheingau dry Riesling.

The second hand-given wine was from Bert Selbach of Dr. F. Weins-Prum. He is one of my favorite Mosel people. The first few times I met him, I found him to be quiet and withdrawn. Later, when he got to know me better, I found him to be one of the warmest people ever. Bert Selbach is the sole owner and winemaker at the wine estate and his wines are always so focused and pure and classically Mosel, in my opinion. Not too fat, not too rich, not too anything - just clean, crisp, bright acid with crystalline fruit. Very delicious wines, and so well priced. He was here in June for Rudipalooza and gave me a bottle of his very unique 1998 Dr. F. Weins-Prum Bernkasteler Johannisbrunnchen Riesling Eiswein. This is a 750 ml bottle of Eiswein. I am very excited to share this with others. I did taste it when Bert opened a couple of bottles at an event in June and of course it is unbelieveable - Mosel Eiswein from 12 years ago in a perfect Eiswein vintage...... it cannot be less than perfect.

Okay, then there are 2 French wines, and I picked these up at The Wine Country today. I'll first talk about 2007 Domaine de Montille Beaune Premier Cru "Les Sizies" which was featured yesterday in a tasting with the winemaker and owner Etienne de Montille and importer Michael Sullivan, owner of Beaune Imports out of Berkeley, California. I didn't make the tasting, but I have had these wines before and they are consistently lovely to the point of out of this world. Admittedly, I have not had much Burgundy lately........ haven't bought any and have been out of the loop of tasting them. Today, Sunday, I went in to The Wine Country and there were the leftovers of yesterday's tasting. There was not only the 2007 Les Sizies, but also de Montille's Nuits St. Georges...... I got a taste but more importantly the aromas of both wines...... out of this world! There's just something about great Burgundy! Spring for these premier cru wines, they are worth it. I was actually shocked that the Les Sizies was under $50 a bottle as I could swear that a few years ago, the wine was elected wine of the year by the staff and the wine was at that time at least $65. Perhaps that was at the height of the Euro vs the American dollar. At any rate, the wine is gorgeous and a steal and I'm happy to have picked up a bottle for the Christmas stash.

Finally, there is a bottle of 2001 Calon Segur which is a Bordeaux wine that I special ordered. The reason I chose Calon Segur, while I don't personally have any history with the wine..... my in-laws drank this wine when they got married more than 50 years ago. Can you believe it? Now that's history! A wine well regarded over 50 years ago is still fetching the dollars today. Now that's a classic. I hope to surprise them with this wine this Christmas season, though if they are following this blog, they will not be too surprised, but that's okay...

So there's 4 wines. If I don't get into them earlier... for example, that Sizies is calling my name..... if I can hold on to them till the holidays, then this is my set for the Christmas season. Not too shabby eh?

The lovely thing I adore about wine is that it is for sharing. I love that I have the memory of winemakers sharing their craft with me, and I love that I in turn can share these wines with others. And at the end of the day, I like to see what I do for a living as sharing great wines with many people. And why not. It's a little bit of peace and happiness to all, even in times of loss and letting go.

Okay, I know, it's just a car! I'll get over it!

Where I don't see going to have a glass of wine

2010-10-28T18:50:00.000-07:00

So funny thing... this week, as I started to feel better, my car died. My trusty little green Honda Civic finally decided to quit. On a Tuesday. Were there any signs? Only 30 minutes before it died did it give me any indication. It's normally fantastic air conditioning - I mean, literally, the car can be 110 degrees inside and once I start it up and turn on the AC, it cools right down to a comfortable 65 in mere minutes. Not bad for a little economy car.

So, on Tuesday, as I was headed back home from 3 very good account visits in Santa Monica and Venice, the air conditioning started to not work as terrifically as it usually does. It was spitting out lukewarm air instead of ice cold. Weird, but I didn't think it was terminal. A bit later, as I was coasting down the freeway, the "check engine" light came on. Not good. But again, didn't think it was terminal. And, the AC started picking up again... yay! Did I specifically check the temperature gauge of the car? No, not specifically. My eyes didn't wander to that part of the dash... but in retrospect, that would have been a good idea. But there was no smoke coming out of my car, and I decided to continue driving toward home till there was a safe place I could pull over.

Well, I pulled into my local post office, went in to stock up on Bart Simpson stamps.... found out they had some new cool ones called Sunday Funnies - got some of those too - came out, thought, well maybe my car got over it, maybe the check engine light won't go on after I start it.

The car started, but it wasn't making pretty noises. Something was definitely amiss. The check engine light remained on. The car sputtered a bit. I drove toward the exit of the PO parking lot. Then the car stalled, right at the exit.

I managed to turn the engine and maneuver the car over to a parking space. I managed to call AAA (what an awesome service - yay AAA!) The rest is history - car towed, the diagnosis - major overheating leading to major internal organ damage, and what they said could not have happened quickly (meaning what?? that I've been driving with a messed up car for ages and I missed all this? my fault, I guess).

Anyway, short story long, today, I'm on my feet, walking if I need to get anywhere. I needed to go to the ATM machine, so I walked a little over a mile toward downtown in my village to go to the ATM.

On my way, I checked out a new wine bar. It was closed, but I pressed my nose to the window to check it out. I had heard that it had opened. I wonder how it does. My impression is that I'm not impressed. I'll tell you why.

I likely won't go drinking there. It's the location. It's located at the base of a tower of a nursing home. This nursing home is in a historic building in the downtown of my village. It has a high-end restaurant at the top, on the 13th floor or something like that. I have been there. It's nice. The food is average. I'm not a huge fan of the location, though, because it's in a nursing home. And now they have a wine bar on the first floor, a tiny place. And I'm wondering, who wants to go to a wine bar on the first floor of a nursing home?

My issue is that wine is more than a beverage. It's an aura. A fantasy. A romantic escape. It's not that the aura is unreal or not realistic, but it is a delicious fantasy and it doesn't jive mentally with the image of your heirs putting you in an institution when you're 90 because your mental faculties have left you and you're demented and can't swallow and you're prescribed a pureed diet with thickened liquids and you are not allowed to drink any alcohol because you're on 10 different medications. Wine has nothing to do with the sad end that befalls people when they are institutionalized and demoralized and need to walk with a walker and need caregivers to wipe their butts and give them baths and cut up their food. When people are drinking wine, they are thinking romantic wonderful good-life thoughts, sitting in a chateau overlooking gorgeous vineyards, sunny day, birds in the air, your lover looking into your eyes, conversation flowing, the food coming out of the kitchen the best and freshest you've ever tasted, the restaurant staff loving you for appreciating the finer things in life, you're laughing, enjoying, feeling like this will go on for all eternity, and it will because you'll always have fine wine, you'll always have your terrific cellar full of gems, you'll always have your neighborhood restaurant where they love you and you are always welcome, and you'll always have your lover, your friends, your beautiful family members all around you, laughing and loving and being and enjoying the best that life has to offer.

This is why people drink wine. It is all these things. All the good things in life.

And that's why I don't think wine bars belong in nursing homes, hospitals, another places where those delicious thoughts clash in our brains and make us frown.

Wine is about the good life and the never ending good time.

Sante!

Prohibition

2010-10-27T17:59:00.000-07:00

I'm on a 10-day course of antibiotics, and have taken myself off all alcohol. And prior to starting the antibiotic, I had not been feeling great (little did I know I had pneumonia). So there were several days of self-imposed non-drinking even before the prohibition of the antibiotic treatment. At this point, I'm about 5 days from finishing my course of drugs, and starting to feel better (GREAT compared to before), so wine looking really good. I even had to go to a wine dinner (of which I was one of the hosts) and not drink (much). Today I had a taste of a really good Spanish tempranillo put in front of me - I had to taste - the wine had a terrific, enticing nose, like a really good red wine should, and the palate was nice and meaty, smoked meat.... great. What I would have given to have a glass of that. But sigh..... I want to get completely better, so had to do without.

What I'm learning in my temporary prohibition is that life is sweeter with wine. A glass of Riesling here after work, a glass of rich red wine there later with dinner, it's not a bad thing. And I've got a great bottle of one of my favorite Champagnes sitting in the closet waiting for me (non-vintage Billiot.... yum) - this was supposed to be our celebratory Champagne after running a half marathon, but since I bailed on that (sick), I couldn't celebrate either (would have been a waste).

Well, when I finish this course of antibiotics, I think that Champagne's getting opened!

Oh, the wine dinner the other night - yes, a wild game dinner paired with German reds, and some German Rieslings thrown in for good measure. I was under the weather so enjoyed the evening somewhat but not to the full extent that it should have been enjoyed. Others told me it was terrific, so that was good! My favorite items at dinner were the boar sausage (so flavorful - really, we should eat more boar) and the sitka deer medallions from Japan. I have never heard of Sitka Deer - it sounds like something from Alaska. But it was tender and delicious. We even had venison liver which was quite interesting....

What showed well: 2007 Schnaitmann Samtrot, 2007 Schnaitmann Lemberger, and 2007 Heger Pinot Noir. I also liked the dessert wine which was paired with a hunk of Cambozola blue cheese: 1999 Bert Simon Wurtzberg Riesling Gold Cap. Fresh and zippy after 11 years.

Vegas then, Vegas Now

2010-10-23T20:10:00.000-07:00

About a month ago, my husband and I went to Vegas for a weekend to meet friends and partake in a hockey tradition called Frozen Fury. It's a pre-season game between the Los Angeles Kings and the Colorado Avalanche - a group gets together and converges there and make a mini-group-vacation out of the weekend.

I looked forward to going, not so much for the hockey, though I don't mind hockey at all, but because I have always loved the excitement of Vegas. The adult Disneyland, the forbidden fruit of gambling, the neon of the strip, the old school charm of downtown, intermingling with my own childhood memories of our first family trip to California when we made a side trip to Vegas, with our parents and grandparents. I even remember my grandmother loving the lights when we drove up the driveway to our hotel, and how we got upgraded from our reserved rooms (which which given away by mistake) to suites, and how that made us feel like VIPs. That was back when I was 11 or so and living in Vancouver.

Yes, that was the first time I went to Vegas - when I was only 11 or so, my siblings even younger, the adults taking turns to go on the casino floor to gamble, or to go to shows, while the kids got to go to Circus Circus and win armfuls of stuffed animals - really good ones - better than the ones at the local PNE (Vancouver's annual summer fair). Later times I went to Vegas including one time when I was already living in Los Angeles, and my grandmother came down with my two sisters and met me there - that was a whole lot of fun also, but it was also when I realized my grandmother wasn't doing that well - she took a lot of time to walk from one casino to another, and finally just felt too worn out and took to the bed one evening. But on a positive note, I do remember on that trip I played a lot of blackjack and won.

Another time I went to Vegas was after I graduated from my MBA program in 2001, and my dad and sister came down for my grad, and the day after we hopped into my car and drove out to Vegas and spent the night, again, terrific fun. I remember being so pooped after arriving there that night, but my sister had the energy to go out for a late night stroll on the strip.

Other positive memory was around the year 2006 or so when I worked for The Wine Country and bought wine for a couple of different departments - Germany/Austria and Southern Hemisphere. That meant that I had to taste wine from different vendors to choose what to stock in those departments and build departments that were attractive and made sense. There was a tasting presented by a group of Australian producers who were in the U.S. mostly to make a presentation to Robert Parker for the Wine Advocate - they had been on the east coast, and the importer was trying to schedule them to fly to LA for a tasting, but in the end could only arrange a tasting in Las Vegas. I was invited to the tasting with an offer to pay for the plane ticket if I chose to attend. I chose to attend! Booked the flight - a same day flight - flew to Vegas in the morning and flew back in the evening, as my husband opted not to come with, I opted not to stay the night, so it ended up being a single day event.

It was in the middle of August. It was 80 degrees in Los Angeles at the time, 100 or more in Vegas. I flew there without luggage, just my purse and a notebook I think, boarded a shuttle, surprised the shuttle driver with no luggage and tipped him anyway, got to Cesar's Palace, found the restaurant where the tasting was held, and found my way to the tasting room. Was faced with about 15 winemakers from Australia, all showing about 9 red wines each and 1 white wine. In August in Las Vegas. Everyone was dying for cold, crisp white wine, but there was about 8 of the those among 100 high alcohol robust Shiraz, Cabs, and Grenaches.

The tasting was good and a good deal of fun anyway. The people were terrific and I was happy and excited to be there, and still high from being flown over to Vegas for the day to attend a tasting. "This is my job!" I thought to myself, and the glamor of it extended to how I felt about Vegas.

After the tasting, even after spitting each wine, I was under the influence. There was a couple of hours to kill before catching my flight back to LA, so I headed to onto the strip to one of my favorite places to gamble, O'Shea's. There, I played $5 blackjack for an hour or so, winning money, and enjoying myself as I did so. Then I grabbed a shuttle to the airport, flew home, and closed another great visit to Vegas. My only regret is that I didn't push hubby to go with me and spend the night there.

Then in 2008, I went to Vegas with hubby for Frozen Fury for the first time. Drove with a friend at night and got there around 2 am as though we were characters in a movie. Had a great time again playing blackjack everywhere and I won money everywhere. Went to Lotus of Siam for the first time and bought everyone dinner along with a bottle of 07 Gunderloch Jean-Baptiste and one of their bottles of single vineyard Donnhoff Spatlese after picking up my jaw looking at Bank's awesome wine list (about 10 pages of German wines, maybe even more, on Sommelier Bank's amazing list - a must-see if you haven't seen it). Terrific wines, delicious food, fantastic pairing.... and my friends liked it too... Great times, even though this was the fall of 2008 and Vegas already showed that look about it that it was falling into recessionary times. The bon temps were not rolling so much; tables were only half open and the dealers were looking a little more glum than usual.

Fast forward to October 2010 - Frozen Fury 2010 - first off, the friends and company and hockey were terrific. I wouldn't have changed a thing here. But the town, it has gone to hell. Or, I my tastes have changed. Or both. Maybe gambling doesn't excite me as much now that I'm in full time sales where every day my work is a gamble, and mostly, I win, whereas in a Vegas casino, forget about it. I could swear that in the old days it was so much easier to win in Vegas - it was like they wanted you to win there, so you would love being there and come back - but now, they want you to lose it now, lose it large, lose it fast, and don't let the door hit you on the ass on your way out.

The gambling is what is supposed to be "the thing" in Vegas - it is now horrible. Minimums are high. Dealers are unenthused. They are obviously not making much money, that tells me. When dealers are making money, they are happy, they are chatty, they make the whole experience fun, and then they get tipped more. This must not be what is going on. The whole gambling experience there is now very dreary and depressing. At least that was my experience.

The skank factor is way up. Dancing girls in skivvies are the biggest asset now in Vegas, not good solid entertain or fun gambling, but young girls in stripper costumes pretending to strip or pole dance everywhere - in gambling pits, on tables in restaurants, you name it. Perhaps I'm old or a prude, but it's not my cup of tea.

Service - the absence of this in a tourist town is striking. The staff are clueless, not interested in helping, give you the feeling of trying to rip you off, and do not make you feel like you're on vacation. Pass. I can go to Santa Ynez or Paso Robles and feel like queen for a weekend in a small inn, dine in small cozy restaurants and go wine tasting, and feel like I'm on a real vacation instead of constantly battling with employees who are clearly hurting and being screwed over by an overzealous, awful management company in a town that's going to pot.

I could go on. I looked at condos in this town because of the idea of investment property. You can buy a beautiful almost new condo in this town for less than $200,000 (unheard of in LA) but it is in a virtually empty building where no one else hardly lives, and the management fee for month is close to $900/mo. Pass.

The soul and all that was good to me about Vegas has been sucked out of the place, and replaced with a skeleton. A blogger that I read and enjoy called Vegas Rex, who has that dark sense of humor I enjoy in writing, said something like Vegas used to be the spoiled girl who had daddy's platinum credit card; now she is some troubled girl who ran away from home and is turning tricks behind the truck stop. Distrurbing reference, but totally agree. Las Vegas used to give me an image and idea of fun, partying, gambling, short-term excess; now it has left me wanting to avoid it for the forseeable future.

Give me San Francisco, Vancouver, Napa, Santa Ynez, Paso Robles, any of these places for a weekend instead.

P.S. I did go to a Van Morrison concert and that was fun. Van Morrison singing Brown Eyed Girl - I didn't think I would get to see that in my lifetime, but I did!

Experience

2010-10-15T12:40:00.001-07:00

In recent weeks and maybe even months, it has occurred to me that I suddenly have come to be regarded as having experience, in the wine business, that is.

How did that happen? In a blink of an eye, I have 5 years experience in the wine biz, 2 years in sales on the "street," with 3 years in retail.

Just last evening, I was working an event at a terrific wine bar in Santa Monica called Pourtal, and I met fellow wine people also pouring for Oktoberfest - a terrific line-up of German and Austrian red wines, including Blaufrankish, Zweigelt, St. Laurent, Portugeser, Spatburgunder, Samtrot and more. Fantastic, eclectic bunch of sales reps all selling some of the most interesting wines in the world. I met a new gal who recently started her own business importing and distributing wines after years in the business, and she asked how long I had been working for Rudi Wiest, and I said, "A little over 2 years." She replied, "Oh you've been doing it for a while then." Is two years a while? It seemed like yesterday that I started.

I'm glad that the time I have spent in the business has been successful so far, and has made me appear experienced beyond the years. I'm grateful for that! I don't think 2 years doing outside sales is much time at all - I spent over a decade working in health care as a dietitian and I still don't consider myself very experienced in that, just moderately experienced. But in all, I'm happy to give people the confidence that I seem to know what I'm doing and seem to know a little about the products I sell.

By the way, last night at the Oktoberfest tasting, the 2007 Schnaitmann Samtrot rocked, if I may say so. Great velvety texture, nice integrated acidity along with a smooth rich red fruit body. This is a red wine variety that is a regional clone of Pinot Noir. It tastes like Pinot Noir, but also not like Pinot Noir. We're going to have this wine at the Fora Restaurant Wild Game and German Wine Dinner next week on Sunday Oct 24 and it will be terrific with the wild boar sausages!

I also got to taste my cohort's Spatburgunders (Weinhof Scheu, from Schweigen, same village Friedrich Becker is from!), Pinot Noir from Austria (Juris), Zweigelt and Blaufrankisch, all very delicious red wines... more people should drink these. I'm glad there are other wine folks other there promoting the good word about these wines. And I love working an event with them - they are so much fun! Good seeing you Adam, Stetson, and Amy!

End of summer impromptu wine & steak night at friend's house

2010-10-09T10:02:00.000-07:00

Is there anything better than dinner & wine at a friend's house? If there is, it's hard to remember what it could be when you are there. It really is the essence of fun and the good life.

A couple of weekends ago, good friends Linda & Bennett had us over for what started as an initial idea of watching the Swedish movie "Girl with the Dragon Tattoo," since we have been obsessed with the Stieg Larsson trilogy, read most of the three books, and heard that the movie was graphic and worth watching. Of course, mostly we heard it was worth watching from folks that had not read the book, so we didn't hear much "the book was better," which I'm sure is what most people say most of the time about good books..... but anyway, movie night on Sunday night turned into dinner, with Bennett firing up the grill and putting on delicious Chateaubriande slabs onto the hot grill along with autumn squash. But first, before that, we tucked into a delicious bottle of Rose that our friend Derek had left us, from a producer in Washington State we had never heard of.

As it happened that it was a rare hot day in this summer, we downed this puppy pretty quickly, the 2009 Barnard Griffin Rose of Sangiovese. It was juicy, round, fruity, not too alcoholic, and fit perfectly with the weather and the home-grown tomatoes, savory dry salami, and addictive cured olives we were munching on.

Next up, we opened the red wine we brought, the 2007 Burrowning Owl Meritage that my sister and her hubby painstakingly brought back for us from the winery in Oliver, British Columbia (that's in Canada, just north of Washington State!) This is a region I have not visited, but plan to do so in the near future. In fact, my plan is to do a driving trip through the Washington State wine regions (Walla Walla, and others) then drive up to Oosoyos (hottest town in Canada) and Oliver and do all that area. I think that would be quite rugged and fun. Especially now with all the wineries there (I'm sure the area was considerably more rugged back in the day when the winery craze had not yet hit).

The Burrowing Owl Meritage (Bordeaux-style blend, which, if I recall correctly, had all 5 of the Bordeaux grapes in it: Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot, and Malbec. Admission: I didn't remember exactly, and I wasn't sure if Petit Verdot was a masculine ou feminine, so I cheated and went to the Burrowing Owl website, and man, are those pictures of the winery stunning. I mean, if you like that sort of thing - nestled in the mountains, gently sloping vineyard, pristine interior of B.C. type scenery... if I learned anything in my recent weekend in Las Vegas, it is that appreciate more and more the look and feel of nature (I even admired the mountainous backdrop of Las Vegas more than I admired the neon and the gambling - new for me).

Anyhoo, I do plan to go there sometime. A driving trip sounds like a nice adventure, especially combining it with a jaunt down to Washington State, whose vineyards I have yet to visit as well.

Oh, the wine: I found it oaky; perhaps it needed more time in the bottle to integrate its oak, but the fruit was fantastic, and it went terrifically with the steaks that had some terrific char on the outside and juicy middles. I have had Osoyoos Larose, another somewhat well-known B.C. wine from this general area, and I also found it to be on the oaky side - again perhaps I need to age these wines a bit longer before I will like them. But I do think definitely that these wines from B.C. see more new oak than French wines that I like, but perhaps they are as oaky as Napa wines? Perhaps that is more the model? I don't know. I haven't tasted too many Napa cabs as of late, but maybe I will soon...

(From the website's tasting note, it indicates that this wine is aged 22 months in a mixture of French, American, and Russian oak, of which 25% is new. Perhaps what I taste is American oak, which I find stronger.)

Next time, perhaps I will lay a bottle of Burrowing Owl down for a few years, or who am I kidding? Maybe I will try to source an older bottle that someone else has had the patience to lay down for a few years! :)

After the Burrowing Owl, we moved on to something from Bennett's cellar - he stayed with the Pacific Northwest theme and pulled out a wine I have never seen before: 2000 Cayuse "Camaspello." This is a Bordeaux-style blend with three Bordeaux varieties: Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Cabernet Franc.

I really liked this wine, perhaps because it was a 10-year old.... not only am I starting to like nature more, I'm starting to like older wines more. It seemed complex and layered (those are things that come with age in good wine)....aside from that I don't have any more accurate tasting notes. I felt that it was old world in style, but my host thought it was quite a big wine, so perhaps I wasn't really tasting at that point, just enjoying.

Later, Bennett told me he is selling this wine - he had a couple of bottles - if I was interested, and I was - in fact, we're going to a wine tasting at someone's house tonight and the theme is new world Bordeaux varieties (and I think we are tasting some 2000 Bordeaux too), so I thought this 2000 Cayuse would be kind of fun to open. So I got one from Bennett!

I don' have any more Burrowing Owl Meritage at this time (I have a Pinot Noir left) but if I did, I would bring that too.

Wine - what fun. I look forward to an exciting tasting tonight as well, and I'll try to take some good notes and pics.

93 points Wine Spectator on 2 of our most popular wines

2010-09-22T17:28:00.000-07:00

It's been some time since I've blogged on German wines. Maybe it is because it has been summer and I was feeling the vacation mode and wanted to blog more about other wines or restaurant experiences I had, instead of about my job. Well, now it is back to school, back to work, back to the fall season. Today I decided to put in a note here just to tout that 2 of our most popular wines just got written up on the Wine Spectator Insider and both got 93 points.

Those two wines are 2009 Monchhof Mosel Slate Riesling Spatlese and 2009 Monchhof Urzig Wurzgarten Riesling Spatlese. Two terrific wines from the Mosel estate owned by Robert Eymael. Both - 93 points each! Unheard of, to me. These wines have always been popular but have gotten 90 or 92 points, which are already super impressive, but this 93..... very impressive.

To me, this says one thing - that the 2009 vintage German wines are here to impress, and they will be getting the high scores. Just wait. This is just the beginning of the points about to roll out from the Wine Spectator and many other wine publications. We thought so back when we were freezing in Germany tasting the new wines out of tank and barrel, which were already quite good back then in February - we knew this vintage would turn out to be a crowd pleaser and here we are 7 months later feeling the love from the media.

So if you love Riesling, I say get your hands on those 2009s that are coming out, because as the points and scores start rolling out, the wines are gonna get scarce right quick. That already happened to me today when I wanted to roll out 6 cases of pre-ordered (reserved!) 2009 Monchhof Mosel Slate Riesling Spatlese out to a good customer, only to be told our local Los Angeles warehouse just got depleted of the wine and I'll have to wait till next week till a new transfer comes in. Made me cringe! But that's how it works - a wine you love gets the points, and it is a mixed blessing - GREAT because the wine will end up in the hands of many new folks who are now made aware of it, not so great because the demand just went up and your secret is out!

So while Monchhof gets the love today in the September 22 issue of the Wine Spectator Insider, grab a bottle today, and also stock up on Dr. F. Weins-Prum, Schloss Lieser, Fritz Haag, and Reinhold Haart - 2009s from all of these Mosel properties will be knocking your socks off!

A month ago at West

2010-09-17T17:32:00.000-07:00

A month has passed since we were in Vancouver and in between enjoying time with family, we took a night out to ourselves to pre-celebrate our anniversary at an upscale restaurant in the South Granville neighborhood, called West.

Originally, West was christened "Ouest" - the French word for west... but they changed their spelling to the English form, as customers couldn't locate them in the phone book. ("How do you spell that *!?&*$ restaurant? Oh, forget it, let's go to Red Robin, at least we can spell that!")

That was 10 years ago. So West isn't so much a new restaurant, as much as new to me.

The decor is beautiful. Simple, but not stark. One walks in and feels that it is a special place, well adorned, modern, bright, with an open kitchen. We were seated near the front of the house.

We started off with glasses of Canadian sparkling wine - what it was, I don't recall - but it was refreshing and a little sweet - reminded me somewhat of California sparkling wine, a bit fruity, not at all like the crisp dry stuff one gets out of Champagne. But anything bubbly, just a glass, is a nice way to start off a fancy dinner, I say.

Then came an amuse bouche, which was an heirloom tomato of some sort. It was not really memorable, but it is always amusing to have an amuse bouche.

We ordered our appetizers - hubby had Smoked Tongue and Roasted Sweetbreads, which is pictured below. It was really nicely done. We had never before tasted smoked tongue - and this was terrific - flavorful and firm in texture. The sweetbreads were tender and flavorful and additctive. The dish on the whole was well put together and unique. We quickly discovered that West presents food very uniquely, and the cooking is expertly done.

I ordered the foie gras, and that was pretty terrific, as to be expected. It was a torchon de foie gras encircled by a layer of goat cheese and I finely chopped truffle. Very nice. Again, unique as I've never paired foie gras with goat cheese before.

Next, our main dishes. I had the rabbit, one of their signature dishes. The rabbit was done 2 ways. The leg was confit'd and the saddle were made in these circles that looked like I was eating bone marrow! But it wasn't bone marrow - it was artfully presented loin of rabbit, wrapped in bacon.

Hubby got the Fraser Valley Lamb (pictured at top) which was also done up in these tight circles. The tight circles were actually half lamb loin and half house-made lamb sausage or what they described as Provencal sausage.... delicious. And there was a succulent piece of roast shoulder as well

For wine, we wanted to enjoy a local B.C. wine, and we ended up choosing a red blend from Therapy Vineyards called Super Ego. I believe the vintage was 2006. The winery is in the Naramata Bench, a part of the Okanagan I have yet to visit but would like to in the future. It's a hotter region that can ripen those Cabernet and Merlot and Shiraz grapes that go into this wine. I enjoyed the wine - not on the level of some aromatic and seductive red Burgundy, but on the level of my enjoyment of some California reds that I have liked. Our server suggested it, and then decanted the big wine into a super-impressive Riedel decanter, pictured above... upon seeing this, I began thinking about how I'd like to have such a decanter, and how I'd like to have a cupboard to put it in and display it, and how I'd like to have a house in which to house such a cupboard to display such a decanter!

Since we still had some wine left after finishing our mains, we ordered a cheese plate to share, instead of dessert. Pretty:

In all, the meal was excellent. Very unique presentations and preparations, high quality local ingredients. The service was professional and upscale and made you feel you were in a classy joint. I like that! I was happy with the experience overall, thought the atmosphere was very conducive to romance and conversation, and I would gladly return to West in the future.

An "Exceeds Expectations" German wine dinner

2010-08-31T09:46:00.000-07:00

The room was dimly lit, and my camera's flash was misbehaving, so I didn't get any good pictures of food or wine that night, but I would be remiss if I did not mention what a fantastic wine dinner I had the opportunity to co-host last Friday evening.

The dinner took place at a restaurant in Long Beach, a terrific owner-operated place with class and elegance, Delius Restaurant. Owners Dave and Louise are among the most generous and fun hosts I have ever met. They were turned on to German wine years ago by my former boss, Randy Kemner of The Wine Country. They became fans of the Rudi Wiest portfolio ever since.

And, for the past 5 years, or maybe more, they've hosting a German wine dinner once a year in their elegant "prix-fixe" dining room, matching some of the most luscious German wines with their eclectic and well-executed cuisine.

And, very importantly to me, the setting is so perfect. Dave and Louise already feature prix-fixe dinners every evening, with special themes that change weekly, featuring seasonally fresh ingredients, and taking diners through 5 or more courses of delightful, exciting fare.

So what did we have that was so wonderful? We started off with some refreshing and minerally 2009 Wirsching Iphofer Kronsberg Silvaner trocken from the traditional Franken bocksbeutel, which was paired with a pickled trout done in-house and served delicately upon a slice of cold Yukon gold potato that had been roasted to al dente, and topped with some creme fraiche. Perfect. An appetizing dish, not a hint of grease, a fun and stimulating way to start the meal.

The second course was a sauteed sweetbreads served with cauliflower and salsify - as if the sweetbreads themselves were not interesting enough, I thought the menu tacticians were taking great care to serve interesting vegetables as sides, too, like salsify - which was very salsifying! The sweetbreads were meaty and nicely done to a golden brown, and the entire dish went nicely with 2008 Pfeffingen Estate Riesling Kabinett (a.k.a "Pfeffo") which is a medium-dry style Riesling with nice body and weight, owing to the fact that it is from the Pfalz, a warmer growing region than say, the Mosel, and also owing to its vinification style, which is toward the drier side vs. a fruity Kabinett. I thought the pairing was nice - it was the wine recommended by my boss Rudi Wiest - though Randy mentioned that he wouldn't mind something with a bit more residual sugar (read: sweeter) with the dish. I could see his point. For someone who doesn't mind a well-made German Riesling with residual sugar - or someone like me who likes a fruity Spatlese with dinner - a fruity Kabinett or Spatlese would have been fine, even delicious, with the meal.

The next two courses were paired with German red wines. People were pretty excited to hear that, I'll tell you what! And I was pretty excited too. First, we had the 2008 Becker Estate Pinot Noir paired with the duck course. Now, Pinot Noir & duck is a natural perfect pairing, so this was a no-brainer in the planning department. But little did I know how AWESOME this was until I tasted it. Seriously, I'm not just pumping up the wine right now to sell it - it was terrific and showed beautifully that night - I'm not sure if the Becker is just at a really perfect stage right now, or if the duck dish brought out all its wonderful cherry fruitiness. Wow. The duck was no ordinary duck, but it was a Muscovy duck breast, thick, tender, rich, cooked just perfectly, ie. medium-rare, and served with black beans (the menu said "black bean and pear chutney") and it was supposed to be cinnamon scented. I didn't notice the cinnamon accent when I ate the dish, but then I was pretty distracted by the lovely wine. Wow.

The final savory course, after that generous slab of duck breast, was a pan roasted veal loin paired with 2007 Schnaitmann Lemberger from the Wurttemberg. Now, I won't lie to you - I have trouble selling this wine. One restaurant buyer summed it up most succintly in this way: "Look, I can't sell a wine with three words on it that no one knows what they mean: Schnaitmann, Lemberger, and Wurttemberg." So there you have it - no one knows what Lemberger is, and if they had a guess, it would be a stinky cheese. Well, it isn't "limberger" - the stinky cheese, but instead, it is the same variety as Blaufrankisch, the name the Austrians give to this grape. But in Germany, the wine is called Lemberger. As soon as this wine was poured into the glass, its aromas made themselves known to our noses. Yum! Enticing blackberrry and blueberry lept from the glass, but on the palate, we didn't get gloopy Shiraz, but instead, elegant, structured, fruit-forward yet not jammy Lemberger, a delicious and satisfyingly rich red that is unlike anything else I represent. Oh it was tasty, and it was so fun to introduce it to a roomful of people who had never tasted Lemberger. This wine would fly off the shelves if only it didn't say Lemberger!

Finally, we came to dessert. There was no dessert wine, just coffee with it - a chocolate mascarpone cheesecake baked to perfection, light as a cloud and not super sweet - very nice, with a side of blackberry gelee. No dessert wine to compete with that lovely ending.

In all, I was super impressed with the caliber of the Delius kitchen, the fantastic culinary adventure, the way the wines performed, and the mood of the entire dining room. Everyone was pleased. And I got requests to do another wine dinner this fall at another local restaurant that I've done a wine dinner at before - Fora in Naples... two years ago we did a hunter's wild game dinner with German red wines. We've been asked for an encore, and that's now in the works. Stay tuned...

A Week without Wine (almost!)

2010-08-26T17:16:00.001-07:00

Wine has its place, and can add so much to an experience. But there are also times when it is not much missed. Last week, when I was on vacation in Vancouver, B.C., that was one of those times, a non-wine-focused holiday.

Not to say that British Columbia doesn't have some great wines. It does. In fact, my sister brought me back a couple of bottles from her trip out to Burrowing Owl, and I do look forward to tasting those (Pinot Noir & Meritage). It is just that I prefer to drink wine when it is a wee bit cooler outside.

The weather, was for the most part, sweltering hot. I was happy guzzling my B.C. tap, some bubble tea, and some good beer.

But most of all, it was a time to spend with family. And re-acquainting myself with the city. The city in its summer self, when lawns were yellowy-brown and parched, unaccustomed to being so starved for water in a city known for its plentiful rains.

The days were so hot at one point, that I thought I was visiting my family in Vegas or something - I couldn't sleep at night, and complained that it was so much hotter than in L.A. Then one evening, before sunset, I declared that it was enough, I had to get out of the house, so my sister took me and my husband down to the beach. English Bay. And it was gorgeous.

We had front row seats for the sunset. Literally, a great park bench that no one else had claimed. The sun took its sweet time descending from the sky to tuck in behind the mountains. I even heard myself complaining that it was taking too long to descend. "Why isn't it going down already??" I am cranky when hot and the sun is in my eyes. But then I learned that the farther one is away from the equator, the longer it takes for the sun to set. In the Caribbean, it would dive down in a minute, I was told.

During the week, we even went to a concert - Michael Buble - a veritable Vancouver boy - 34-3/4 years old, crooning the oldies. He was opened by this group, Naturally 7, who did "voice play" - a version of a capella, except not only do they use their voices to sing, they used them to simulate instruments. Sometimes, they even became their instrument. They were cool. One group member reminded me of Barack Obama. He was the double bass, I think.

Then came Buble. He sang for a solid 2 hours. By himself. No back-up singers. No duets. Just himself. He sang lots of oldies. I enjoyed it but didn't go crazy over it. Being at this concert at Rogers Arena (formerly GM Place & Canada Hockey Place) made me feel nostalgic for a George Michael concert I attended maybe 20 years ago, when I really went nuts for all the songs.

Memories...

Now, for my next post, I'll share with you the one wine-inclusive evening that I did have in Vancouver...

A tale of Oliver Haag in Two Cities

2010-08-09T09:15:00.000-07:00

When I first learned about German Rieslings, then later about the subcategory of Mosel Rieslings, I began to learn from Randy, owner of The Wine Country, about how special the Rieslings of Fritz Haag Estate were. These Rieslings always seemed the most pure, the most classic, the most full of stuffing while still delicate on their feet... full of mouth-filling flavor and crystalline beauty. In a quest to find out more about these beautiful wines, I learned that they were made from a site called Brauneberg, a wine village dating back to Roman times, when it was called the Latin name Dusemonde or "sweet mountain." It was later named a more Germanic sounding Brauneberg, or "brown mountain," which, while being less poetic, was an accurate description of this site which, unlike other hills covered with vineyards, Brauneberg was not topped with a rich forest of trees which served as a sponge for rain water, but instead was topped by an almost bare hilltop, with little to no water reserve. This hillside vineyard is therefore dry and brown.

Aside from the legend of the wine village and hillside vineyards Juffer and Juffer Sonnenuhr was the legend of the man, the winemaker Wilhelm Haag, whom I met the first time I attended a Rudipalooza tasting with Randy, back in 2006. Wilhelm Haag is a legend because he has worked his family's winery from the age of 20 to the age of 70, 50 years of winemaking, while being, I believe, the head of the VDP at some points..... the details of which I am unclear about, but I do know he was a major advocate of quality wines in the Mosel region. I also know that as a person, he is very kind, generous, open, and hilariously funny. In my various meetings that I have had with him since that first time at that tasting in 2006, he has told some funny jokes with great delivery - charm, I think it is called - for example, he said of his wines from the vineyard Juffer ("virgin" in German), "it is the only virgin that gets better with age." Guffaw guffaw...

Anyhoo... approximately 5 years ago, Wilhelm Haag did retire and pass on his estate to his son, Oliver Haag. Oliver Haag worked for years for the Wegeler estates, and finally, he had returned to run the family estate and carry on the strong tradition on great winemaking in the Mosel. I had met Oliver Haag on several occasions going to taste in Germany, but I didn't really get to know him as a person until in July this year when he came to work with us in California, and I got to work with him in both San Francisco and Los Angeles.

And here's what I found out about Oliver Haag - he is a terrific person, super smart and knowledgeable, generous and great to work with. In San Francisco, we dashed from one restaurant to another - Slanted Door, RN74, Vanessa's Bistro & from one wine store to another - Wine House, Wine Club, and many others...

In Los Angeles, similarly we hopped from account to account - starting with a breakfast meeting at 9:30 am at Starling Diner in Long Beach (pictured above with owners Ed and Joan), then to The Wine Country to see Randy (top), then up to picturesque Santa Monica, and ending the evening with a wine dinner at 3 Square Restaurant in Venice, where chef/owner Wolfgang Gussmack orchestrated a 4-course meal replete with savory dishes that went beautifully with the Fritz Haag wines.

Working those long days in SF and LA with Oliver were hard and tiring - I won't lie to you! - but he made it worthwhile by being a wonderful person to work with, confirming to everyone, me included, that behind the delicious Mosel Rieslings of Fritz Haag Estate is now yet another terrific and genuine Haag leader and winemaker.

It was like being in the Mediterranean...

2010-07-19T12:51:00.000-07:00

Though I have never been in that area known as the Mediterranean, I do have thoughts about it, what it would be like.... what it would feel like to be in Provence, or southern Italy, or Greece, or Lebanon, or Spain, or any of these warm to hot weather places where produce flourishes, where the fat of choice is always olive oil and the red meat of choice is always lamb, where the breeze smells of lavendar and the salty sea, and the sun brings out the bounty of ripe melons, tomatoes, fresh herbs, and wine grapes.

The people spend their time outside; they walk, they farm, they tend to their animals and their homes; they know each other and they live in a town that doesn't think about the stock market or the big corporations, but instead are interested in the goings on in the local area.

On Friday, when I took out my leg of lamb that I scored earlier in the week, and marinated it a paste of minced garlic, olive oil, fresh oregano and basil and rosemary, sea salt, black pepper, and Dijon mustard, I felt like I was doing what was done in the mediterranean - preparing a leg of beast so that it would not dry up and become tasteless on a hot outdoor grill.

Saturday came, and the weather turned up even hotter than Friday, and the idea to cook this piece of meat outdoors made even more logical sense. Who would heat up an already hot house by turning on the oven? We fired up the barbecue, then turned off the left burners and put the marinated leg on the "cool" side of the barbecue.

The barbecue lit up in flames (don't think it was supposed to do that). Perhaps I had been a bit liberal on the olive oil in my marinade - fat dripping onto even a turned off grill can fire up. We took the meat off, let the grill cool down a tad.

Finally, it was figured out, and the meat thermometer went into the meat, with the goal of taking it out when the temp hit 140 degrees for rare. Three hours later, the 8 pound leg looked completely awesome, but since I was hosting the dinner party and had other things to tend to (opening rose wines 2009 Chateau La Canorge from Luberon and 2009 Domaine Dragon from Provence, and the less glamorous but necessary task of getting people parking spaces), I neglected to take a picture of the whole leg when it was done.

Here was my dinner plate though:

On the upper left corner we have the bright yellow aioli, made and brought by our friends; going clockwise, the delicious beans, also brought by friends, then we have the luscious lamb; followed by purple potato & some tiny golden potatoes (done in foil also on the barbecue); grilled qucchini and yellow squash, brought by same friends who brought aioli, and some fresh salsa. Yum, and a great community meal, if I ever saw one!

Wines were also brought by above friends:

The always rare and super-special 2009 Domaine Tempier Rose, the amazing older wines of the southern and northern Rhone, cellared for just about 25 years: 1985 Vieux Telegraph Chateauneuf du Pape and 1985 Chave Hermitage. All terrific wines, especially the Chave Hermitage.... yum yum..... what other tasting notes do you really need? Prestige wines, all meeting & exceeding expectations.

A great evening of socializing was had by all. And that was the best part, getting people together, enjoying good food and wine. This is why I think the Mediterranean so-call "diet" works. Not omega-3 fatty acids or lycopenes in a pill, but the human's natural desire for socializing and destressing among fellow humans fulfilling the soul and the heart. And we achieved that one blistering Saturday evening in Southern California.

Heat Wave

2010-07-16T16:50:00.000-07:00

Not much time to post today, but I wanted to make a quick comment about the recent arrival of summer to Southern California. This year has been one of the mildest ever, and the weather has been absolutely wonderful and kind in an unusual way in that June gloom lasted well into July. Cool, overcast weather is perfect for a gal like me who burns easily (even though I'm not a red-head or anything), who runs (running in heat is no fun), and drives wine around in a car (hot car = not nice for wine).

It has been such a cool summer that last week I even complained about being too cold when walking on the west side of LA, of needing a sweater in the middle of the day, and when I did a wine tasting outside on the evening of July 7, which, as I look on the calendar right now, I can see was only last Wednesday, I was absolutely freezing (between 7pm and 9pm).

But in the middle of the week this week, the marine layer lifted, and disappeared. Hot, hot weather made itself known, along with it the bright sunshine for which southern California is known. Many cheered the arrival of summer.

Though I'm not a fan of 90 degree temps, I have nothing to complain about. I have gotten off easy this year, so my running has benefitted. And, the hot weather arriving just this week is just in time for my fun dinner party tomorrow night, whose theme is southern Provencal type grilled whole leg of lamb with aioli, grilled vegetables, beans, Rose wine, and some red Rhone wines.

I'll be attempting my first leg of lamb, and it will be on a grill outside, and after posting this, I'll be going off to marinate it, smothering it with garlic, herbs, pepper, salt, olive oil, and maybe a touch of Dijon mustard.

Can't say I'm not excited........

One more month till vacation...

2010-07-12T10:02:00.000-07:00

...and I cannot tell a lie - I'm looking forward to it! :)

Summer - it just makes you think vacation, doesn't it? Skool taught us that.

Dinner at Petrossian

2010-07-09T08:56:00.000-07:00

In celebration for a great work month in June 2010, where Rudipalooza was a roaring success, and I sold more German wine than I've ever sold in my life (which is a very nice feeling, I have to share!), we decided to go to Petrossian in Beverly Hills (or is it West Hollywood), a caviar purveyor that has in the past few years opened a restaurant. I read about this restaurant with interest in the blog Gastronomnom, where the pictures of the food are spectacular, and the cuisine seemed very interesting, so armed with a bottle of champagne that I bought from Manhattan Fine Wines, the 1999 Gosset, we went. (Normally I get my Champagne from The Wine Country, but I was at Manhattan Fine Wines last week and spotted this, so gave in to the temptation).

The surprising thing about the restaurant was that it was close to empty - on a Saturday night. 7:30 reservation - no problem. 3 tables total, including ours. The room was downright stark. Okay, it was the night before the 4th of July, which would make sense as a slow night, but still, it was a little surprising.

The room is beautiful, with clean lines, done in black and white, with splashes of color from the art on the walls. Very modern looking with fine details, like the tabletop done in a black with a texture of beads like caviar, which matches the menu covers.

We started off with the blinis topped with three types of fish eggs. Very tasty amuse-bouche type pre-appetizer, perfect for the Champagne:

I followed with foie gras salad, with was a very creamy, rich, and flavorful piece of cold foie gras sitting on a bed of diced crunchy haricots verts in a light creamy dressing with tons of truffles, so much that their flavor was too strong in the absence of the foie gras, overpowering the green beans.... but if you put on your fork some beans, truffles and foie, it was a terrific balance.

Johan had the steak tartare with a layer of caviar through the middle and on top, which was a delicious generous portion with tons of caviar. The meat was also very fresh and had great texture and flavor that balanced the salty richness of the fish eggs. I had this same dish as my main course after the foie gras salad.

Johan's main course was a specially ordered sweetbreads dish, which was rich and nicely done, served on a wild mushroom pasta. The portions at Petrossian were so generous that he couldn't even finish this pasta!

Overall we had a delicious meal, attentive service, and enjoyed relaxing ambiance. I liked the restaurant very much, and I liked bringing my own Champagne to the meal. All the food was well made and generous. We both agreed that we would come back.

We noticed the folks at the other two tables didn't order as many menu items as we did - they mostly ordered mounds of caviar to share! I liked what we got and thought the steak tartare with caviar was most unique, but Johan thought we might come back to indulge in caviar only some day. And if the mood struck, I'm sure this is the right place to come for that.

In all, it was a terrific way to celebrate the end of a great month and the beginning of a new one. Highly recommend!

Thoughts on Umami

2010-06-27T12:02:00.001-07:00

Utterly delicious red spaetzle with gorgonzola cheese sauce I had on my birthday at J.J. Prum Estate

As I sit down to a lunch after 10 miles of running this morning (another endorphin-driven post here), I am contemplating the 5th taste: umami.

This is a Japanese term for a certain taste that falls outside of the classic 4 tastes: sweet, salty, sour, bitter... it's a taste that I would definte as savory, and I've also had it described to me as a protein taste, a taste that humans have craved since prehistory - a natural affinity we have had through the ages that aided our survival - by going for particularly protein-rich foods, we were able to survive better and longer. It has been surmised by some scientists that the taste umami comes from a couple of amino acids (which make up protein), and in particular, the amino acid glutamine or glutamic acid (depending on what form it is in), which is found in the food additive MSG (monosodium glutamate).

So as I chow down my instant noodles (full of MSG I'm sure), I'm thinking of other foods that I like very much that have umami:

* mushrooms

* soy sauce

* aged cheeses

* cured meats (think dry salami)

My personal theory is that fermentation and aging creates and concentrates amino acids, including glutamine, and increase the taste sensation of umami in foods. Fermented foods include soy sauce (fermented soy), miso soup (miso is fermented soy), cheese, beer, wine, bread like sourdough bread. Further aging, like with cheeses, seem to concentrate this taste and make those who like the food go nuts for it.... crave it and pay high prices for it.

Now, the above theory may not be original, but the following, I'm not sure if anyone else has thought of this, but I'm thinking maybe the aging of fine wines also increases the umami in them.

Aromas definitely become more pronounced and interesting in fine wine that is well aged, but isn't there a certain je ne sais quoi in the flavor of aged wines that makes the wine lover go crazy? Could that be the concentrated glutamine amino acid responsible for umami? If I recall correctly from my nutrition book learnin's, fruit is a very poor source of protein, but perhaps there are trace amounts of protein in grapes? Just like there are small amount of antioxidants in grape skins, which become concentrated in winemaking, perhaps the tiny bits of protein in grapes also become concentrated in wine, and then further concentrated with aging?

Things that make you go hmmmmmm.

And mmmm. Ummmmammmi.

Dream Job

2010-06-26T11:40:00.000-07:00

Eberhart von Kunow of von Hovel Estate in the Saar & me, Feb 2010

Please keep in mind as I'm writing this post, I'm feeling a bit euphoric after a long run this morning (9 miles) with the running group to which I belong... It was a particularly terrific run, cool weather, nice June gloom, great people out there - I did half the run on my own in a meditative early morning state, very head-clearing, followed by the second half where I ran into a friend in the group I hadn't run with in ages with whom the miles just passed by unnoticed after we got into a multi-topic conversation... very enjoyable.

***

So in this post-run part of the midday, as hubby is watching the World Cup, I have an opportunity to relax in the computer room reading some fun blogs... some of my favorites now are the ones of folks from either the U.S. or England who have moved to France and are writing about life in France. How fun (thank you Sara Louise for introducing me to them, and thank you Samantha for introducing me to Sara Louise!)

***

So I was reading a blog and there were some questions for the bloggers out there to answer, kind of like a 10 questions kind of game, and one of the questions was: What would have been your dream job?

I thought this was a great question because I thought to myself, I am doing my dream job!

Back some years ago when I was a dietitian, working in hospitals, I felt stuck and asked myself what I would want to do if I could do anything. And I said to myself, I want to work for a European wine importer, so I can go to Europe all the time for business, and do something that relates to the esthetics of wine and cuisine. I even found examples of who I wanted to be like and said, yes, I want to be like her and work for an importer!

So now I do that. So I'm doing my dream job!

And after running through my town this morning, I felt like I was living in my dream city.

Ahhhh.... the power of endorphins. And a day off... even from a dream job... is needed.

In conclusion, and this is mostly me talking to me: if you have a dream, make it a goal, and you will get there. It's the way of the mind.

Charity Event Season

2010-06-25T12:18:00.001-07:00

The approach of summer means a few things to wine representatives in Southern California. One of them is the call of the Charity Event.

Summer is a terrific time to hold charity events - and wine and food tastings are a favorite pre-dinner activity at these things - tasting wine under a blue sky as the sun sets over the horizon - you in your nice outfit schmoozing at the country club or museum venue.... who wouldn't like that?

For the wine vendor, it's a unique opportunity to get a bunch of people exposed to our wines. At the last event I was at, the Manhattan Wine Auction, tons of folks got to try their first German Pinot Noir, the 2007 Becker Pinot Noir, which I'm now sold out of.... we are now onto the 2008 vintage of this nifty cool climate red... people love the aroma and flavor of this very true Pinot Noir, its elegant and serious style at a very affordable price.

We also served 2008 Hooked! Riesling, a medium-dry Riesling from the Nahe, and 2008 Fritz's Riesling from the Rheinhessen, which is also medium-dry but a little more fruity and fuller bodied than the Hooked. There was also very good response for both of these wines as they were Rieslings that were not too sweet, and as the sun was baking down on us pretty good, both Rieslings were the perfect thing - refreshing, crisp, flavorful, and quenching.

The next event and Rudi Wiest Selections wines and I will be at will be for the Library Foundation in Long Beach at the Museum of Latin American Art (MOLAA), a cool modern-looking museum. I plan to be pouring 2008 Hooked! Pinot Noir, 2003 Von Buhl Riesling Brut Sekt (a sparkling dry Riesling), 2008 Zilliken Butterfly, and 2008 Von Buhl Armand Riesling. All of these wines can be purchased at The Wine Country, and in fact, Randy Kemner of The Wine Country will be there as the speaker about the wines.

I hope to see you there!

Rudipalooza California 2010 a great success!

2010-06-21T14:32:00.000-07:00

What to say about last week? It was, in a few words, wildly successful, a great showing of just how many people really love and appreciate these wines, which is more than we usually think. Over the course of a week, we packed in 9 events, both for the trade and for the consumer, and each was well attended. From Monday till Saturday, the growers from Pfeffingen, Dr. F. Weins-Prum, Zilliken, Schloss Lieser, Wirsching, and Reinhold Haart worked tirelessly showing their beautiful wines, accompanying them with genuine stories about where the wines come from and how they are made.

Pictured above are the 6 German winemakers we had with us across two California regions (north and south), 3 airports, multiple counties, and even wine regions Napa and Sonoma vallies. From left, Jan Eymael, owner and winemaker of Pfeffingen Estate in the Pfalz, who is a big World Cup fan (I hope Germany wins on Wednesday!); Philip Vesar, winemaker along with Thomas Haag at Schloss Lieser in the Mosel, and who is a runner, we discovered, and joined us for our Long Beach running group run of 8 miles on Saturday morning; Bert Selbach, owner and winemaker of Dr. F. Weins-Prum in the Mosel, who shared with us a hauntingly delicious 1998 Dr. F. Weins-Prum Bernkasteler Johannisbrunnchen Riesling Eiswein; Johannes Haart, son of Theo Haart, owner and winemaker of Reinhold Haart, the best Piesport producer in the Mosel, who was so enthusiastically presenting his family's mouthwatering wines at every event; Karina Stuhler of Hans Wirsching Estate in the Franken, who used to work for Robert Weil, but now is with this awesome Franken estate showing some of the best Silvaners I have ever tasted, not to mention dry Scheurebe and Riesling; and last but not least, the famous Hanno Zilliken of Zilliken Estate in the Saar, maker of crisp, refreshing Saar Rieslings, and seriously, how many people can pick up a wine from 1992, put a sip in the mouth and call that refreshing? Not many, but that 1992 Zilliken Saarburger Rausch Riesling Spatlese, of which we only have 30 cases left and will sell out by the end of the week, was just that - refreshing, bright, youthful, and terrific with a certain grilled eel on risotto that we enjoyed at the wine dinner at Ame at the St. Regis in San Francisco.

Things were really exciting this week. So many delicious wines, and so many people appreciating them. The only things I wished were different were that I wish I was less stressed (next time I promise, I will be less stressed), and that the growers had more time to visit the beach or go shopping or enjoy more of what we love about California...... but instead their schedules were pretty packed and we visited so many customers. As I said, even in Napa and Sonoma. They were surprised as I was how many sommeliers and wine directors in Napa and Sonoma want German wines. Hey, they know what good wine is up there, and they're not only going to limit themselves to what the neighbors produce!

What we tasted:

The new 2009 vintage. People were impressed. The vintage has been compared with 2005. Others compare it to a combination of 2007 and 2008. The growing season was cool, not hot, but the wines turned out to be clean, aromatic, and physiologically ripe with great acidity. Something for everyone there, and let's put it this way, I didn't hear anyone in the tastings commenting that the wines were just "meh."

We also tasted some 2008s such as Grosses Gewachs (Great Growth or Grand Cru) wines that are not shown before this time - these wines actually show better in a few years because they need time. There were also other 2008s that we have sold out of that people can order on a presale basis as there is a bit more of it in Germany. The 2008s are showing great now with that slightly crisper style, especially if you are an acid freak. Which is not to say they don't have tons of great fruit because they do!

And finally, there were some mature wines shown in the tastings, which was fun - lovely to see how well these wines age.

I'm glad the growers got to visit the beautiful seaside city of Long Beach! They liked the Yard House as much as Johan and I do. And visiting both The Wine Country and Delius in Signal Hill (a city completely surrounded by Long Beach) were great.

Much thanks to everyone who made this week so special. You know who you are! Thank you for hosting our winemakers and sharing their works of art in your place of business with your customers. Thank you, winemakers, for the hard work in the vineyard, the cellar, and also, in your American market! We love you!

And finally, thank you to Rudi, without whom none of this would be happening. Thank you for bringing the best German wines to the United States for over 30 years.

Rudi & me at the Houdini House in Hollywood

Why planning a wedding is a piece of cake

2010-06-13T15:39:00.001-07:00

About 4 years ago, we planned our wedding, and as the bride, I took the traditional role of taking the helm and taking care of all the details. It was easy. Choosing a venue, booking a photographer, ordering flowers from the florist, choosing the menu, buying a dress, altering said dress, altering said dress again with new dressmaker for further corrections, buying matching shoes, choosing the wines, getting a hairdresser and make-up artist, ordering the invites, sending them out, getting the RSVPs.... you get the picture.

It was a piece of cake.

A year later, I hosted my first wine dinner - this was when I was still working at The Wine Country. The dinner was at my favorite Long Beach sushi restaurant, Yen in Belmont Shore, and the wines were from Rudi Wiest. Rudi and my then rep, Allie, were present at the dinner, and I was so nervous, that I felt like it was more nerve-wracking than our wedding.

The wedding was a piece of cake, easy peasy. It felt like me spending money in my budget and having to please no one really... it was throwing a big party with no agenda.

The wine dinner, on the other hand, needed to be a success for the restaurant, The Wine Country, and Rudi Wiest Selections. Oh yes, and the guests, the participants of the wine dinner.

And, it was a success. I was relieved. Everything turned out great and everyone was happy with the food and the wine, and wine was sold, so the industry side was happy too.

Since then, I've done a bunch of wine dinners, and now I'm much less nervous about them. But they are still a production.

Just like wine tastings - they can be a big production.

And there is no bigger production than Rudipalooza, the annual German wine tasting event that Rudi Wiest Selections puts on as their new vintage tasting, an extravaganza of events meant to entice those in the trade to the charms and beauties of German wine.

But this year, the extravaganza has gotten a face lift. Instead of just doing trade tastings through the big cities, the winemakers, who have flown in from Germany today (today Sunday - the day Germany got 4 points vs Australia in the World Cup - I hope the winemakers got to catch some of the game, but I suspect, many had to miss it due to the flight), will spend an entire week in California, doing not only tastings for the trade, but also for consumers.

The idea is that the consumer, the end users of these lovely wines, want a chance to meet the rock stars they have heard the trade ramble on about... the legendary Hanno Zilliken of the Saar - what does he look like anyway? Is he nice? Our wineloving public will find out for themselves, not just hear me ramble about what a cool guy he is, how he makes some of the most pristine and gorgeous Rieslings I've ever had the pleasure of drinking, but is so down-to-earth and friendly and speaks perfect English to boot. Our wineloving public will see just how tall is Jan Eymael, nephew of Robert Eymael and winemaker and owner (along with his mother Doris Eymael) and how friendly is his smile, a smile of modesty even as his Grosses Gewachs (Grand Cru) wines make media splashes and most recently, 2 of them got 95 points in Wine Spectator (the Weilberg GG and the Herrenberg "M" GG)....and how the charming Karina Stuhler of Wurzberg in the Franken region has transitioned so smoothly from the Robert Weil Estate in the Rheingau to her current post as export manager at Hans Wirsching.

All this past month I was in a nervous tizzy.... planning this event-filled week which is more difficult even to plan than a wedding, in my mind - juggling where each event will be and who will be there - can we get people there? what wines? when? what food? how to get everyone there? will they order the wines? will people attend the wine dinner? how many will show up at the tasting? But today, Sunday, as I sit here catching up with last minute things, I'm actually not so stressed as I am excited - for the week of fun, wine-filled events is why I'm in this business, and those delicious 2009s.... I can't wait to revisit them and see if I love them as much as I did in Germany this February.

Hope to see you at the events (if you are in California!)

Back from Canada, Soon to Launch into Rudipalooza

2010-06-09T19:10:00.001-07:00

So I'm taking a little breath, a moment away from the things I should be doing, instead to write a short blog post and take a sip of one of the wines I was showing today, the 2007 Wegeler Rudesheimer Berg Rottland Riesling Spatlese from the Rheingau, a wine that my very newest customer liked but didn't like as much as some other younger Rieslings, because it had a taste and smell she couldn't quite place, until I asked her "is it petrol?" and she lit up and said, "YES!" and I did my little explanation that this is what happens to Riesling when it ages a bit.

Funny thing, I don't even notice petrol in my Rieslings anymore.... especially not a young pup like a 2007 Spatlese... so I'm enjoying this little number while I update this here blog.

Last week was spent in the slightly waterlogged city of Winnipeg in Canada, visiting relatives, relaxing, taking in the sights, drinking wine, eating, running, that sort of thing. The town has been getting quite a bit of rain, and the main river, the Red River, which runs north from the United States, has been swelling up, the water high on the banks, threatening homes with basements and farmer's plots whose young plants can't take the suffocation.

Meanwhile, we took the weather in stride, running when we could, taking in the sights of new summer Farmer's markets opening, pretty homes along the river, discovering new neighborhoods, checking out wild bunny rabbits happily dashing through people's lawns. The evenings were spent enjoying an assortment of wines, including 2007 Clos Pepe Pinot Noir, 2005 Clos Pepe Pinot Noir, 2006 Andrew Murray Esperance Rhone-style Blend, 2004 Halter Ranch Ancestor, and, maybe my favorite of the bunch, non-vintage H. Billiot Fils Champagne from Abonnay.

I think the most fun part of the Champagne was the fact that we bought it in Winnipeg - it wasn't one of the wines we brought, but it was actually found in one of the better wine stores, a wine store that is likely my favorite in Winnipeg, called Banville & Jones. They seem to specialize in French wines, and they are located in one of the French parts of the city of Winnipeg, St. Vital. The other big French-speaking part of Winnipeg is St. Boniface, which hosts a number of good French restaurants.

With our Champagne, we cooked up a seafood dinner, which incorporated King crab legs steamed in Stella Artois, seared scallops, which didn't look as good as they do in restaurants but darn they were tasty and moist, peas, potatoes, and a really yummy mango salsa, which whenever I hear that I can feel Randy of The Wine Country bristling, because mango salsa is a wine killer, but it was actually tasty, and while I didn't purposely have it with gulps of delicious Champagne, it didn't hurt the robust Billiot.

So that was Winnipeg in a nutshell - me trying to chill and not work on the Blackberry, and us enjoying vacation and family time, with some nice wines and food.

Now we're back and of course it is full on work-mode, like it is for almost everyone after being away. The added pressure is that I'm back on the road next week for Rudipalooza California!

Rudipalooza East Coast is already in full swing this week, with founder Rudi Wiest and newest Rudi Wiest Selections member Laura Williamson, M.S. having been in Chicago & New York City this week with German winemakers wooing everyone with the 2009 vintage.

Next week, it will be our turn. The wooing begins in Los Angeles Monday June 14 at Lawry's Prime Rib, where the chef Walter, who is German, puts on the best German spread this side of the Atlantic. Seriously. I will likely take pics of the food (again) this year and post here. I'm sure I have posted pics of past years' delights.

After that, more festivities then up to San Francisco for a few events, a terrific wine dinner at Ame at the St. Regis on Wednesday June 16, then consumer events at Solano Cellars in Albany (just north of Berkeley), then back to Long Beach for a tasting event at The Wine Country (5 pm to 8 pm on Friday June 18), then at the Wine House in Los Angeles the next evening (7 pm to 9 pm on Saturday June 19) then finally, we let the winemakers go.

Back from an evening of Eiswein, Beerenauslese & Trockenbeerenauslese

2010-05-26T23:05:00.000-07:00

Just came back from an evening of tasting Wegeler wines at The Wine Country.

My conclusions:

1. Damn, these wines are good!

2. Yes, there's a reason why Eiswein, Beerenauslese & Trockenbeerenauslese Rieslings are considered the top end of white wines. And Randy is right when he says many people go through life without tasting these wines, and here we were tasting them, just 22 wine lovers in one place appreciating these noble wines.

3. It's nice to live within 5 miles of a great wine shop.

4. There ARE people that appreciate these great wines.

5. Bernkasteler Doctor - lovely, as always.

It was great to see The Wine Country's proprietor and German wine director Randy conduct a class for wines he loves, and it was fun to be tasting with German Riesling lovers in Long Beach.

Good night!

Dinner Parties

2010-05-23T16:58:00.000-07:00

Being in the wine business has put me in touch with so many cool people that are food and wine people. The wonderful thing about that is that not only are there cool, fun people to go to fine restaurants with, there are cool, fun people to cook with. Yep, that means dinner parties.

Tonight I'm getting ready for a small dinner party. To get me in the mood, I'm sharing the pictures from the last dinner party, which was about a month ago.

The focus of this event was Pinot Noir & duck, a classic wine and food combination. The idea came about when friend R said she had a number of great Pinot Noirs in the cellar, with few opportunities to drink them with fine food - I suggested we roast up some ducks to pair with her wines. :)

So 6 of us convened on a Saturday evening in April and made appetizers, sides, mains and desserts, and drink lovely things such as Champagne and red and white wine.

Our first course was a lovely fennel salad from Alice Waters' Chez Panisse cookbook, made lovingly by friend K:

And this salad was plated with a stunning Belgian leek and goat cheese tart, made by G & R. These we had with some dry Riesling.

Then out came 4 Pinot Noirs in anticipation of the duck. Two were from California and two were from Oregon. I preferred the Oregon Pinot Noirs.

The 2 ducks came out of the oven, while the port garlic sauce and the side dish or mashed celery root was being prepared.

The plate lacked something green because in all the excitement of making the celery root and and port sauce, I forgot to prepare the asparagus - that stayed in the fridge...

The sauce was kick ass! It had port, reduced stock from cooking the duck innards and neck, garlic, and butter.... yum. The celery root was supposed to be a puree, but I don't have a food processor so it ended up being mashed by hand - very tasty though. A huge step up from mashed potatoes.

R made the ramekins of espresso chocolate mousse, which was enjoyed by all.

I'll likely take some pictures from tonight's dinner party and share those with you later. On the menu - tuna tartare with mango, served with a Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Spatlese; rack of lamb, roasted potatoes, roasted mini Farmer's Market vegetables; Belgian chocolate mousse cake (store-bought).

Part VII: Saturday evening dinner at Mille Fleurs April 17

2010-05-17T06:42:00.000-07:00

It's a full month after this dinner, and I'm finally forcing myself to get away from e-mails and other business to finish this blog post that I intended to write weeks ago.

It was a superb dinner well worth memorializing here, and while I do have a copy of the keepsake menu along with wine pairings in my possession, I would like also to have a blog post that reflects how the wines and food made me feel, and my reflections on the dinner in its entirety.

First off, let me set the stage. Earlier in the day, I had driven from my home to the small quaint town of Rancho Santa Fe in north county San Diego, arrived to a sun-dappled courtyard where the Mille Fleurs restaurant sits, a bit late to join a group that had followed chef Martin Woesle to Chino Farm. I later joined the group for a bit at the farm, ate some wild strawberries, then returned back for a brief reception, milling about meeting new people before sitting down to a superb vegetarian meal made from vegetables just purchased at Chino Farm. Though the meal was vegetarian, it was substantial enough to line our stomachs for the Riesling trockenbeerenausleses to come - from approximately 1pm to 5pm, we tasted TBAs from 1921 to 1949, an astounding collection. By 5pm, we were spinning a bit, not from alcohol, because these gems are surprisingly low in alcohol. No, it was possibly the sugar high, mixed in with the mental geekdom of having tasted so many wines older than we were, surely many of us reminiscing about our grandparents who were born in those eras.

By the end of Part I of this tasting, I heard the sweetest word of all: "break." This is a luxury not typically known to us in the wine business - often, a long tasting is followed by another long tasting, which is followed by a dinner, often with more tasting. There is usually no personal time, but this particular Saturday offered us a two-hour break for ourselves, with dinner planned at 8pm. Very civilized. I went to check into my hotel with the delicious thought of slipping in a short run in the town of Encinitas.

And run I did, which felt great, all those sugars getting stuck in various parts of my person came unglued while I explored the area (surprisingly hilly) by foot, feeling the warm air change to cool as dusk set in. I was on a TBA high, and running was the perfect cure.

Shower, then dressing for dinner, a windy drive back to Mille Fleurs, and the courtyard that was previously sun-bathed was now filled with darkness and laughter as I approached. Then I realized why - Champagne reception! Or, rather, methode Champenoise tete de cuvee 2002 Raumland Triumvirat reception, a selection of course made by our host Rudi.... a delicious, complex, crisp, focused, slightly yeasty, and did I mention delicious sparkling wine made from the three classical Champagne varieties Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and Pinot Meunier. I enjoyed my flute very much, chatting with the well-dressed group that filled the pretty, leafy courtyard. And in that moment, I knew that I would never leave the wine business.

But there was more. Dinner was to be served soon, and we found our seats. The group that convened for dinner was much larger than the group that tasted the TBAs in the afternoon - spouses had joined in for the jovial feast and celebration. As mine was not present, I found a seat close to new friends I made who hailed from Minneapolis. We soon found on our plate the Amuse Bouche - smoked eel on a bed of thinly sliced roasted gold and red beets. Delicious. Went well with what was left of my Triumvirat too.

Four courses followed. First, there were the seared Maine scallops sitting on a bed of cauliflower puree, and dotted with deep fried Jerusalem artichokes and garnished with blood orange butter. I always love tender scallops, and cauliflower is just such a delicious vegetable. This course was served with two German Rieslings - 2001 Rebholz Riesling, Kastanienbusch Grosses Gewachs from the double magnum (3 L bottle), and 2007 Karthauserhof Riesling Auslese, Karthauserhofberg trocken "S." Both wines were terrific, but the clear winner for me and many others was the 2001 Rebholz Kastanienbusch. There was just something about this 9 year old wine - such richness in texture and just a core of pretty fruit, that, while the wine was dry, it wasn't austere and held up to the juicy slightly sweet sea scallops. And the wine is delicious by itself without food. Hansjorg Rebholz, the winemaker and owner of this estate, who was present at the dinner, said that this wine is still too young to drink, that if it were out of the regular 750 ml bottle, it would be perfect, but out of this 3L, it still needed some more years to show everything that it had.

Here's the thing about Rebholz wines: they are hard to understand, they are bone dry, they are expensive. This makes them.... difficult to sell. I believe I already covered this in the previous Sidebar Rant post. Anyway, the problem is that very few people get to taste the wine in this context. Let's put it this way - there was nothing else in the world I wanted to drink than this 2001 Kastanienbusch at that time with those scallops, or even without them. The wine was that good. Now, I'm not saying that there aren't other cheaper wines one could drink with this course, I'm just saying nothing else would have been better. Nothing!

Onward. The next course was black olive crusted striped bass, braised fennel, and mussels in a dill-saffron sauce. Delicious! And a generous course - not just a two-bite deal here. The fennel was wonderful and had that farm-fresh, in season quality. The fish - perfectly cooked, crispy on the outside with a uniquely flavored crust, while juicy and tender inside. The wines: 2007 Paul Furst Chardonnay, Karthauser and 2007 Salwey Pinot Gris, Henkenberg Grosses Gewachs. My new friends at the table loved this Chardonnay, proclaiming it as good as any top end white Burgundy. I agreed. I'm not typically a Chardonnay lover, but when a good one comes along, I know it. This was very, very nice. Another pricey wine though, so likely very difficult to sell in California, otherwise known as Chardonnay-land. And the Salwey Pinot Gris is a wine that I have tasted before and even blogged about maybe a year ago - an ethereal take on Pinot Gris - let's just say this is not your typical light, thin, barely there Pinot Gris - this is a Pinot Gris with a velvety, rich texture, not from oak but I believe from the wine being so concentrated and made with such select grapes and care....... an awesome Pinot Gris, maybe my favorite in the world.

Next course: perhaps my favorite: oven-roasted breast of squab, vegetable roulade, wild rice and porcini-jus. This was a very nice dark-meat bird that was flavorful and a bit gamey - I thoroughly enjoyed it though some people at various tables didn't..... so it was a dish that was love or hate. I thought it was like duck that wasn't fatty, so very nice. The wines were two German Pinot Noirs: 2005 Friedrich Becker Pinot Noir, Kammerberg Grosses Gewachs from magnum (1.5 L) and 2004 Paul Furst Pinot Noir, Hunsruck Grosses Gewachs from double magnum (3.0 L). I enjoyed the Furst Pinot Noir more as I found it more delicate and feminine, while the Becker had more wood on it (oak).

The final course was well thought out - for a group tasting TBAs all day, and the next day too, we were probably not the best candidates for a dessert. Which is my preference usually anyway. We had instead a beautiful course of various blue cheeses, with the pairing of a 1970 Graham Vintage Porto out of a 2.25 L bottle (which was decanted). Lovely. I enjoyed the cheese more and would have loved a Gold Cap Auslese, but I actually had my blue cheese with what was left of my Pinot Noirs from the previous course.

This dinner and evening had me up till very late, but I was not complaining. It was an outstanding experience, not only of top notch cuisine, but of German wines not typically enjoyed by people in the United States. And of course, the company. People from all over the world who could geek out on the wines at their leisure over some of the best food available in the world. Again, I thought to myself, would I actually leave a profession like this?

True, most days in the wine business are not like this. But I don't need them to be. Just sometimes, which is often enough for me.

Sidebar Rant: how great German dry wines are

2010-04-27T19:41:00.001-07:00

So, I have been thinking about my next blog post, which should be Part VII about the fabulous dinner that followed the first part of the TBA tasting on Saturday April 17. The dinner took place at Mille Fleurs in Rancho Santa Fe, where the tasting took place. I'll talk about the wonderful dishes we had at this dinner in the next post, but I'll take a sidebar here to rant a little about the wonderful wines we had with our meal.

All the wines at our dinner were German dry wines. This is a curious concept to many, because German wines are known to be sweet. This is across the board, whether you ask novice wine drinkers, or even non-wine drinkers, or if you ask people who have been drinking, collecting and/or cellaring wine for decades, or people who work in various parts of the wine business. Across the board, people think that German wines are, by definition, sweet.

Which makes presenting dry German wines quite difficult.

Which makes people ask, why bother presenting German dry wines? Why doesn't Germany just make sweet wines? Why do something no one expects it to do?

These sound like bizarre questions, kind of like asking someone why they aren't doing what the whole world expects him or her to do, instead of what they want to do, or what they excel at doing. Would you ask someone to do what the world expects, instead of letting him or her do what he or she wants to do? Especially if he or she is really good at it?

Ranting aside, let me just say that Germany makes some kick-ass dry German wines. Yes, Germany makes TBAs and all sorts of noble sweet wines, but they are more curiosities, while the fruity Kabinetts and Spatlese are good stuff, the dry wines are solid top-notch specimens, as good as any made in any top region of the world. I'm not just saying that because I sell them; I know it. These wines are difficult to understand and only show themselves after the following two conditions are met (in my opinion):

1. They have a few years of age on them

2. You have them with fine European-style cuisine

When you meet above conditions 1 and 2, then you see these wines shine.

As pictured above, here is Hansjorg Rebholz, owner and grapegrower and winemaker for Rebholz Estate in the Pfalz region of Germany. He is holding on to a 3 Liter bottle of his 2001 Rebholz Kastanienbusch Riesling Grosses Gewachs, an absolutely gorgeous single vineyard dry Riesling that will blow your mind. It was paired at the dinner with the seared Maine scallops on a bed of cauliflower puree, and it was utterly awesome, as it was by itself when I went for a second glass later on in the evening. The wine, 9 years old, was subtly aged, but not nearly at its peak; its creator said that if this were out of a 750 ml bottle, it would be at its peak right now, but out of the double magnum, still an infant.

When you taste these wines, and I hope you will get to some day, you will understand how I feel about these wines, which is sad that they don't get the attention they deserve because people don't expect this type of wine out of Germany and they think it is too expensive and they don't think they will sell, all the while, French wines and California wines of this price point of the same or lesser quality get shelf space and wine list space.

Well, enough ranting, it is my job to get these wines out there and market them and create a market for them and show how terrific they are, and worthy they are, and how deserving they are to exist in the form that they do. These wines need respect. They are excellent, and people should know. I hope, soon, that I am in your neighborhood pouring you a fine example of one or more of these top-notch wines, be they dry Riesling, Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris, Pinot Blanc, Silvaner, or Scheurebe.

Photo Gallery - Rudi Wiest collection: German Riesling TBAs 1921 to 1959

2010-04-26T20:13:00.000-07:00

Part VI: Saturday April 17: Day 1 of Rudi Wiest's historic TBA tasting

2010-04-26T18:17:00.000-07:00

Bruce Sanderson of the Wine Spectator has just written and published a very professional, eloquent, and well-researched account of this tasting I'm about to share here, which you can find on the Wine Spectator website. Here is my humble perspective.

Saturday afternoon, after that wonderful lunch of local vegetables and bit of mingling, we launched immediately into Rudi Wiest's tasting of his private collection of German Riesling Trockenbeerenausleses ("TBAs" as they are affectionately called) - get this - 50 years and older. Actually, they are all older than 50 years - the youngest of the wines in this tasting were from the heralded German Riesling vintage of 1959... this being 2010, the young-uns at this tasting were 51 years of age. Now, the oldest Riesling I have tasted to date, I believe, is 1959, and that was at the Wegeler Rheingau estate when I was there in September of 2007, my first trip to Germany. I had also previously hosted an older vintage Riesling tasting which was the cellared wines of Dr. Cary Feibleman back a few years ago when I worked at The Wine Country - I did post about that tasting, and I'll have to go re-read what I wrote to see if I had on that evening experienced something older than 1959.

But this tasting went all the way back to a time I know little about - 1921. Imagine that. My paternal grandmother (with whom I was close) was not yet born; my paternal grandfather was 10 years old. World War I was over but World War II was not yet close to being conceived. 1921 - there were 6 wines from this vintage that we tasted and they were older than anyone in the room.

To my surprise, we started with the oldest wines first, these ancient 1921s. Bruce Sanderson, sitting to my left, said this was often the case in these vertical old wine tastings, that the oldest, being the most delicate, were tasted first. Though sometimes it would happen the opposite way. I thought we would start with the young-uns and work our way back to the most mysterious of the wines. But instead, we plunged into the oldest ones.

Those 6 viscous, dark-coffee colored wines, darkened by almost a century in the bottle, were:

1921 Schloss Vollrad Riesling TBA (Rheingau)
Complex beautiful nose of caramel and cinnamon; palate chewy, dense, with chocolate, fig, medicinal herb.

1921 Reichsrat von Buhl Deidesheimer Leinhohle Riesling TBA (Pfalz)
Nose of light, fresh mint; palate rich with caramel candy, mint, quince, orange rind; clean and elegant. My favorite of the first flight of 3.

1921 Schloss Schonborn Marcobrunner Riesling TBA(Rheingau)
Nose is muted while palate is high acid, bright, with a slightly chalky texture, cranberry. Some said this is typicaly Marcobrunner style; others said this bottle was slightly corked, or not showing well.

1921 Dr. Thanisch Bernkasteler Doctor Riesling TBA (Mosel)
Best wine of this second flight of 3. Nose is very beautiful, aromatic, elegant, captivating, full of fresh figs and dates; palate is savory, lush, sweet, bright, balanced. Shows the beauty of this vineyard.

1921 Maximin Grunhauser Herrenberg (Ruwer)
Nose had a hint of TCA (cork), otherwise muted; palate dry-ish, high acid, lighter body.

1921 Staatsdomane Serriger Vogelsang Riesling TBA (Saar)
Nose of spiced raisins, some oxidation; palate very concentrated, rich, dense, brown sugar and coffee, Christmas spice, some bright acidity, long finish.

We went on to taste wines from 1927, 1934, 1935, 1937, 1938, 1942 (WWII!), 1945 (WWII just ending!), 1949. Then we left the 1950s to day 2. I won't post tasting notes on every wine I tasted, but I will say that the following wines had stars next to them, and the 1949 Joh. Jos. Prum Wehlener-Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Riesling TBA (Mosel) had double stars!

The best of the bunch:

1938 Dr. Thanisch Bernkasteler Doctor Riesling TBA (Mosel)
What is it with these Bernkasteler Doctors proving how great they are? While Bernkasteler Doctor is a terrific vineyard and shows its beauty in youthful wines, it really stands out after these wines age like 60 or 70 years, it seems! Then we see what everyone is made of. This wine had a very light coffee color, a nose of sea salt caramels, very interesting and savory; the palate bright, elegant, delicate and balanced like a Mosel wine should be. Fresh and so far from oxidation, even at 72 years old. Gramps looks good and is running faster than you are...

1935 Bassermann-Jordan Deidesheimer Hohenmorgen Riesling TBA (Pfalz)
Nose of caramelized sugar and mint; palate bright, succulent, hint of prune

1945 Franz Karl Schmitt Niersteiner Kehr-Flachenhahl Riesling TBA (Rheinhessen)
Viscous, color of dark honey (not brown, but honey gold); nose of sweet unctuous brown sugar; palate richly sweet but well balanced. Notably, Bipin Desai, physicist and avid French wine collector and host of many big (impressive) vertical tastings, sitting nearby said that this wine most reminded him of a '45 Chateau d'Yquem (sweet white wine called Sauternes from Bordeaux, France). With that comment, I did note that this wine would be quite terrific with a generous portion of seared foie gras.

1949 Joh. Jos. Prum Wehlener-Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Riesling TBA (Mosel)
For many in the tasting, this might have been the wine of the day. It was really able to show why J.J. Prum has been reigning in the Mosel for so long, and why the wines at this estate are revered and regarded as cellar gems, why they command the prices twice as much as their neighbors making wines from some of the same vineyards. This wine, a young-un, only 61 years old, was orange gold in color, with a nose of sugared orange slices and dates. The palate was exciting, rich and delicate at the same time, with orange cream and fresh herbs, tons of complexity while remaining clean. Perfect.

As for the source, this is harvested not as a single vineyard, but as a blended selection of 2 vineyards: Wehlener Sonnenuhr and Zeltinger Sonnenuhr (the Wehlen Sundial and the Zeltingen Sundial, no doubt the best suntrap vineyards in both of those wine villages). Prior to the 1971 Wine Law in Germany, this was allowed. Since 1971, this type of labelling is forbidden; it is single vineyard, or estate wine, nothing in between.

It was an afternoon of curiosities. A great 4-hour long tasting, after which we were overwhelmed with strong feelings and newfound knowledge. The oldest of Rudi's collection had been opened, revelled in, consumed, pondered over, discussed. We would then break for a couple hours before dinner. And then be in for another gastronomic treat.

Part V: Day 6: Saturday morning: Do you know the way to Rancho Santa Fe?

2010-04-22T17:11:00.000-07:00

Saturday morning: Rudi calls: "Are you coming with us to the farm?"

"Um, no, I thought you said I didn't have to go to the farm, I could just come for lunch at 11."

"Well, you don't have to, but we are meeting at the restaurant, and if you want to come to the farm, get here by 10 or 10:15."

So, I packed my bags as quickly as I could, and found my way to quaint, upscale Rancho Santa Fe, to the meeting place, which was the restaurant Mille Fleurs.

I got there too late, about 10:30. Luckily, when I called Rudi, he said that chef Martin of Mille Fleurs was returning from the farm with his vegetables, and I could follow him back if I wanted to see the farm.

So I did - met Chef Martin of Mille Fleurs, who was super nice, and because he had to drive people back to the restaurant, I followed him in my car to Chino Farm, just about a 5 minute drive from his restaurant, along some pretty country roads.

Chino Farm, a place I only learned about this past weekend, is apparently a well known high end local farm situated in Rancho Santa Fe in San Diego county, and supplies high end restaurants, but ships to none of them except for Alice Water's restaurant Chez Panisse in Berkeley. All other restaurants have to shop there personally and pick up the veggies and fruits, like Chef Martin does every day. Which I thought was pretty cool.

The farm seems to specialize in miniature organically grown vegetables - everything from mini radishes (some purple, some red), beets, fennel, leeks, zucchinis, other squashes, cauliflowers and asparagus. They also have French strawberries, those wild ones, which are red all the way to their core. Rudi bought some of those to share with the group, and they were very good. It is open to the public, and seemed to have a bit of a following, and the oddity was that no prices were posted - all the service seemed personalized, with the owner behind the counter filled with veggies and fruits.

***

Back at the restaurant, a group of 25 or so people mingled for a bit with 2009 Schnaitmann Evoe Rose from the Wurttemburg region, a rose blend from 60% Pinot Noir, 20% Pinot Meunier, and 20% Trollinger. When we sat down for lunch, we got a taste of those farm fresh veggies right away with an exclusively vegetarian meal. A gorgeous green soup, a plate of grilled assorted baby vegetables, and after that, a homemade veggie ravioli topped with cave aged gruyere - rich and heavy that would help our group prepare our tummies for the wines about to be poured: a tasting of trockenbeerenauslese Rieslings all over 50 years old, Rudi's private collection (supplemented by a few recent purchases and contributions) that created this incredible, seriously once-in-a-lifetime tasting.

Part IV: Day 5: Friday: Hosting the SCGGG Wine Tasting Group - Tuscan Reds

2010-04-21T19:06:00.000-07:00

On Friday, I left behind all that was German, and found myself in the sunny hills of Tuscany.

Well, not really. I have never been to Italy, so what I know of it is a figment of my imagination, a combination of words and images put there by others who have been there. Just like I have an image of New York City, Chicago, Spain, Argentina. It will be interesting to go to these places for real someday and be surprised at how much each place is or is not like how I imagined them.

But my palate did go to Italy on Friday, because it was our turn to host, at our home, a blind tasting of Tuscan red wines. We belong to a tasting group with a long history, but we are recent members. We were invited by good friends about a year ago, and with some false starts, we are attending the monthly meetings a little more regularly this year.

SCGGG stands for Southern California Grape and Gripe Group. The format of this group is once a month meetings where blind tasting is done. Yep - brown bagging. While this is, to some, the most objective way to taste wine, I have had a difficult time grasping this. When I ask myself why, I first think that it is my upbringing. Not my upbringing during childhood by my parents, but my upbringing in wine. I was brought up in the wine business very recently (so I am a baby really, maybe a toddler, or a kindergartener) by the kind folks at The Wine Country. At The Wine Country, blind tasting is not so much revered. I believe the theory is that wine is not something to be tasted blind, like some object, but something to be felt, studied not in isolation, but in context. That 10 or 20 wines shouldn't be subjected to a line-up like some criminals in a Law and Order episode, but appreciated on its own merits and peculiarities. That wine, at least fine wine, be regarded as works of art and not mathematical puzzles.

Or like, I believe Kermit Lynch or someone once said, blind tasting is to wine appreciation what strip poker is to making love........ or something like that (I should really google this one).

The point here is, from the folks that taught me 80% of what I know about wine: they don't like blind tasting, they don't like putting wines in a line-up, and they don't feel that wines show well in this way.

So I had my resistance about blind tasting. So initially, I didn't attend many of these tastings.

But I've come around a bit. I've shed some of my resistance about this form of tasting, and accepted it for what it is, without allowing this exercise to mean more than it can mean. Blind tasting is simply one way of tasting wine, to see what one prefers when one cannot see the label. Blind tasting challenges one to think about what aromas and smells one is getting from the wine, without the help of the label.

I must add, though, that SCGGG is a group of wine lovers, not wine industry folks, so the blind tasting takes place to choose what wines one subjectively prefers; the tasting is not designed to be a challenge to guess what a wine is, which is another game wine people play.

So anyway, it was our turn to host this month, and it happened to land on my busiest week ever, so Tasting #4 of the week was of Tuscan reds. Everyone brought one and we were 9. We ended up with 5 Chianti Classico, and 4 other Tuscan reds, none of which were Brunello, but 1 was a Rosso of Montalcino (baby Brunello), 1 was a Vino Nobile de Montepulciano, and 2 were super-Tuscans.

Interestingly, the top three favorites chosen by the group at large were all Chianti Classico. I actually chose as my favorite a Super-Tuscan - 2006 Il Sasso Carmignano by Mauro Vannucci but the wine came in 7th place (out of 9) overall. The overall top three winners were, in the this order 2006 Querciabella Chianti Classico, 2006 San Giusto a Rentennano Chianti Classico, and 2006 Castello dei Rampolla Chianti Classico. I did agree that the Chiantis were very nice wines indeed, especially with the sliced Italian salamis that I served alongside.

I like to draw conclusions from these blind tastings, and my conclusions were: (1) maybe Chianti Classico shows well in a line-up against other Tuscan reds, (2) maybe if you are going to buy a red wine from Tuscany to have with some delicious Italian food, choosing a Chianti Classico would not be a terrible choice in most circumstances, and (3) lighter wines, like the 2006 Dei Vino Nobile de Montepulciano will never fare as well in such tastings with more heavyweights like Chiantis, though they are lovely, elegant wines on their own.

In all, the wines were enjoyable. They were all in the $20 to $35 range, so nothing too grandiose like a $70 Brunello or anything. Which I would find a waste of money to put in a blind tasting personally anyway - I like to save those wines to go with a great meal or just by themselves, without too many peers.

So that was Friday evening! Great fun was had by all. I enjoyed it. Except that I looked tired. Because I was, and I knew I had to get up early the next morning, pack my stuff, and head out of town for tasting #5.

Part III: Day 4: Thursday April 15 - Dry Wine Tour in LA, Fritz Haag Tasting at The Wine Country

2010-04-20T21:18:00.000-07:00

It was a wonderful, sunny day in Beverly Hills, California on Thursday April 15, and all the winemakers were ready to do their last show for the week at Lawry's Prime Rib, our restaurant of choice to host events in Southern California.

Pictured above are Rainer Schnaitmann (left) and Fritz Becker Jr (right) sitting outside Lawry's getting ready for the noon tasting.

All was prepared. All we needed were the guests.

Sadly, many of them didn't show up.

Well, that might be an exaggeration - we did have some turn out, but much fewer than we had hoped. The turnout was not even as good as in San Francisco. We would have liked to have packed the room with wine buyers from all over, clamoring to taste these beautiful wines and to hear how they were made and the history of these fine estates from the winemakers and estate owners themselves. However, many I had hoped would attend did not.

It is the sad state of affairs these days - most restaurants and wine stores are on tight staffing, and spending 2 hours at a tasting is a luxury few can afford.

Anyhoo, we still had fun, as you can tell above, and we still had many cool people from both restaurants and retail who showed up and spent the time to taste the wines, which were terrific. I even tasted and learned a few things. For example, the Hans Wirsching wines, how they all have this salty minerality - Uwe Matthius from the winery explained this as a component of the soil - the high lime content - which increases the pH of the soil, and of the wines made from grapes grown in this terroir - which gives the wines that salty minerality which balances the acidity in the wine. So that's where it comes from!

I learned from listening to Fritz Becker about his family's estate that his father had established the winery in its present day form, back in 1973. But he was from a long line of winemakers. It was just that the winery had an unpleasant interruption between 1940 and 1972, when the town had been leveled during the war. There was even a 10-year period where the vineyards, through which the border of France and Germany was drawn, made it so that Fritz's grandfather could not cross the border into France to farm his own vineyards, so they lay neglected for a decade. After this time, a treaty did come about where the French in Alsace could have access to the German town's water supply, and in exchange, the winemakers could have some of their land back, and Fritz's grandfather at that time went back to farm the vineyards and sell to the cooperative, as there wasn't the option to make his own wine at the time. It was not until 1973 did Fritz's father begin making the family's own wine. Now, they are very successful making top end Pinot Noir and white wines from the family's vineyards, of which 70% are across the border on French soil (now there is no problem at all crossing the border!)

***

After this very educational tasting, I had to leave - to drive to The Wine Country to host my second tasting of the day (third tasting of the week) - the Fritz Haag commuter tasting. This is a fun event, last about 2 hours, located only 5 miles from my home, so no big deal. The only issue was that this tasting was not so well attended, The Wine Country being located just across the street from the big central post office, the street being blocked by last minute tax return filers who opted not to send electronically...

We had about 15 attendees (low compared to a more desirable 30 or 35); the wines showed well, in particular the 2008 Fritz Haag Brauneberger Juffer Riesling Spatlese, which was elegant, crisp, and full of delicious ripe fruit, and more open for business than its more expensive big brother, the 2008 Fritz Haag Brauneberger Juffer Sonnenuhr Riesling Spatlese, which was also good, but a little more closed, begging for just a little more time in the bottle before it would show all its hidden charms.

***

After these two tastings, I headed home, ready to tackle Friday, which itself had its own tasting to contend with...

Part II: Days 2 & 3: How Far Calistoga really is, and the Dry Wine Tour seminar

2010-04-20T20:51:00.000-07:00

Tuesday was a bit of a blur. What I remember is that after that really nice dinner at Gary Danko Monday evening, I had a restful sleep back at the hotel, and began to feel more human. That meant, I wanted to get right to work. So I got up early and began working - I had 8 customer accounts to see - and I didn't get back to my hotel room till 11:00 pm that night. Nope, there was no fine dining for me that night - dinner was a plate of Mexican food from Via Corona in St. Helena in the Napa Valley, a place that I went to once before, and that dinner lasted from about 9:00 pm to 9:20, when I had to hit the road to return to my hotel in San Francisco. At that point in the evening, I had to wonder why I didn't book a place to stay in the Napa Valley instead of driving all the way back into the city, 1.5 hours away from my last appointment.

But that would have involved perfect planning.

Instead, I had a day where I used up a tank of gas getting to appointments all over the East Bay, from Walnut Creek to Danville to Napa to Calistoga. (Yes, I had to go to the Napa valley again on Tuesday - because there are buyers that work Monday but don't work Tuesday, and buyers that don't work Monday and work Tuesday.) And that's when I found out that Calistoga is a looooong way from Napa, even though it in the Napa Valley. Who knew it was like 30 or more miles from the "bottom" of the valley?

The account I saw in Calistoga was Solage, a beautiful resort nestled in the mountains, a spa retreat, with a beautiful restaurant. Here I met with two managers who were super nice, and made my long drive worth it. They loved the wines and promised to bring them in. That helped my mood that evening.

That appointment was at 8 pm at night, and it made me remember why I don't like to work that late - it does not feel good... I was out of there close to 9, and that's when I headed down the 29 highway to the restaurant where I had dinner in record speed.

Wednesday morning I woke up and had to see 1 account before heading to the Dry Wine Tasting. The account turned out to be a tiny market in a neighborhood. It was so small I missed it several times driving by. It is so interesting to me, these little neighborhood markets all over San Francisco - so different from Los Angeles, where there aren't so many of these since no one here walks. In a more walking-focused town, these independent markets seem to thrive, and their customers have a strong loyalty to their local place where they can walk to.

Next was the Dry Wine Tasting. I got there a little later than I had hoped, found parking, and arrived at the front door just when Rudi Wiest, the 6 growers, and Laura Williamson, the newest member of the Rudi Wiest team showed up with all their luggage. They had arrived from their Tuesday tasting in Chicago, which followed their Monday tasting in New York City. So they probably weren't going to be very sympathetic to how tired I was feeling! Their Tuesday, I heard, was brutally long and hard, with a flight in the morning from NYC to Chicago, a tasting in Chicago, followed a flight from Chicago to San Francisco.

I was nervous before the tasting - all these winemakers were there, and Rudi, and others, and we had to fill the room with good customers ready to taste the top dry wines of Germany. Getting buyers to attend the tasting was a challenge because most are too busy to get away for several hours to attend a tasting. But in the end, many good customers did attend, and enjoyed the tasting. Whew!

At the end of the day, I was exhausted. I returned my rental car (after getting lost a bit finding the rental car place again), barely got on my flight back home on time, then took the hour long flight home, only to find that my checked luggage didn't make it. Fortunately, Johan picked me up and we went for dinner, got a call from the airport folks, and were able to return to the airport to pick up the luggage shortly after 9pm, which had made it on the very next flight. So all was not lost. And the bottle of wine that Gunter Kunstler gave me after the tasting, which I had carefully wrapped in a bunch of clothes, stayed intact, which was good, because it was a nice bottle, a 2007 Franz Kunstler Kirchenstuck Riesling, an elegant dry Riesling that Gunter recommended to go with a nice piece of "white beef" (which I translated to mean veal) in a mushroom & cream sauce, on noodles, "topped with those expensive things from Italy" he said, while making a motion with his hands that looked like grating cheese, to which I asked, "cheese?" and he said, "no, no, not cheese," and I guessed, "Oh, truffles!" and he said yes.

So when the occasion, strikes, I will make a veal chop with a mushroom cream sauce on a bed of homemade noodles, and buy some nice Italian truffles and grate them on top and serve his lovely dry Riesling with it.

Intense Week Part I: Day 1: Arrival to Northern California

2010-04-15T21:48:00.000-07:00

The past 7 days have been a concentration of some of the most excitement I have experienced in a while - too much excitement - lots of ups and downs, of the type I would never have experienced in my previous profession in the health care biz.... the week was quintessential exciting wine biz stuff, for sure. We're talking tastings, winemakers, travel, dinners at high-end restaurants, schmoozing with known entities, the whole bit, all the things I wanted to experience back when I was trudging my way into the hospital day after day, putting on my white lab coat, and thinking, hey, I'd rather be working for a European wine importer.

Well, where there's a will, there's a way. And what I wished for and made changes toward, here I am.

Let me start with the period Monday April 12 to Wednesday April 14. Just three little days, and I put on some serious miles. The plan was to be up in San Francisco for the first two days to work the market, then be there for the Dry Wine Tour tasting with our 6 winemakers on Wednesday.

The Dry Wine Tour is a tasting tour that goes across America, with Rudi Wiest at the helm, and 6 growers who specialize in dry German wines. This year, we had Rainer Schnaitmann of Schnaitmann Estate in Wurttemburg, Fritz Becker of Friedrich Becker Estate in the Pfalz, Hansjorg Rebholz of Rebholz Estate in the Pfalz, Gunter Kunstler of Franz Kunstler Estate in Rheingau, Marcus from Heger Estate in Baden, and Uwe Mathius from Hans Wirsching in Franken.

Monday morning I was up at 5 am, and was driven to the airport by Johan. I flew into SFO from Long Beach Airport via JetBlue, my favorite airline right now. JetBlue flies out of Long Beach and previously only flew to Oakland and Sacramento, but now has recently added San Francisco. Super convenient, this airline has been great for me, and they serve delicious Terra Blues chips on the flight with bottled water.... lovely - a perfect distraction for a flight that takes about an hour.

It was my first time flying to SFO, and it was my first time using a small carry-on sized cheapie piece of luggage. It took a ton of time getting out of this very huge airport (it felt much bigger than OAK), but after I finally maneuvred myself to where the shuttle was that would take me to my cheapie car rental place (Ace Rent-a-Car), and after I finally got my cheapie rental car (Hyundai - no power door locks, no power windows), I unzipped my checked luggage to find that my trustie GPS device was BROKEN.

This was very traumatic. I was at an airport I had not flown into before in recent memory, I had no idea how I was going to get to my appointments all over the Bay Area and beyond, and my security blanket was gone. And no, I had no back-up, no maps...

I dragged my cheapie car to the Shell station to buy a map of SF..... and improvised the rest of the day until the next day when I found myself an AAA to pick up more than 7 different maps for all the different areas I was going to...

Long story short, over Monday and Tuesday, I managed to make it to all of my appointments except one; I was late to some, but managed, and I succeeded in navigating myself using MAPS! I patted myself on the back. I got myself from San Francisco to Napa and back more than once (sometimes not using the most efficient route, but I did it)... I got to places I had never been before, such as the Blackhawk neighborhood of the city of Danville... overall, I was happy with my success in the navigation department!

There's a nice feeling of accomplishment that I get when the going gets tough, like when I'm in a foreign town, and the weather is not all good, and I don't know where I'm going, and there's pressure because I'm running late, and there's pressure because 6 winemakers are coming and I had better make sure there are clients that will be at the tasting. Little feats I accomplish feel extraordinary at the time.

Monday evening, after a stressful day, I had dinner plans with my coworker, and, after finding out that several restaurants (Zuni Cafe, Bar Crudo) we wished to go to were closed on Monday, we ended up at the famed Gary Danko Restaurant. This is a place that I wanted to check out from the bar, because I wanted to go here with my husband. So we went there with the full intention of sitting at the bar, having a drink and some food... we ended up a with a table in the intimate dining room, and had an amazing dining experience. Pampered was a good word for it - the service, the wine, and the food were exceptional.

I neglected to take pictures of the food, but everything was artistically plated and delicious, from the lobster salad and the seared scallops to the cheese plate to end the meal. Extra special was the glass of Amarone they recommended with the cheese plate; we expected a recommendation of a white sweet wine with the cheese, but instead got this full-bodied, deliciously balanced red instead, which was indeed a great end to a satisfying experience. So Monday had the big lows of dealing with landing in SF with no GPS and driving to Napa and back in the rain, contrasting with the highs of having an exceptional dinner experience and catching up with friend and coworker, and enjoying the enlightening experience of Amarone paired with cheese at the end of a meal, a pairing I have heard of and agreed with in theory, but never experienced in practice. Now I have a story to go with that etched in my mind.

Passions

2010-04-03T18:02:00.000-07:00

Just home after a Saturday tasting at The Wine Country, where 40 or 50 people came by in the afternoon to taste through 10 Mosel-Saar-Ruwer Rieslings from the 2008 vintage. The wines showed well, everything from the medium-dry Qualitatsweins 2008 Zilliken Butterfly and 2008 Dr. F. Weins-Prum Estate Riesling, up to the 2008 Wegeler Bernkasteler Doctor Riesling Spatlese and the 2008 Fritz Haag Brauneberger Juffer Riesling Auslese. It is always a pleasure to see so many people who love Riesling from Germany.

Now, back at the home ranch, just pondering it all - and realizing that much of what I do is work related. Whether it is visiting a California wine region, like I'm planning to do in May (Santa Ynez - where we will also throw in a little half-marathon while we're there), or helping to host a tasting or seminar (Dry Wine Tour is happening in April, and I'll be at the San Francisco one April 14 and the LA one April 15), much of what I am doing is work related. Maybe that's true with most people. Maybe we are all work animals, and work consumes us.

My recently retired dad pointed this out to me recently - he loves retirement, and says often that he can't believe he lived the life of a working man for so many years of his life, and how time consuming that was. If one wasn't working, one was getting ready to go to work, or recovering from working, or trying to get a solid night's sleep so one could be in his or her best condition to work a solid 8-hour day.

And why not? Work is one of the most fulfilling activities around - it fills our bank accounts (at least long enough for us to write the checks to pay the bills), it fills our emotional needs for praise and accomplishment, and it forces us to be in a social environment that eventually results in us making friends with whom we work. And if you don't work, there is so much pressure from everyone asking you why you don't work, and when you are going to stop this nonsense and start working.

That said, I've been happy for the last 4 or 5 years because I've been in an industry that I like, yes, the wine industry. I like wine. But more so, I like the industry. I like being in the lifestyle or luxury industry. I came from the health care industry. I prefer to deal with restaurants and stores that exist to make people happy. In fact, you might say I have a passion for it.

I'd like to have some passions outside of work too. It used to be running. I still run, but I'm not sure I have a passion for it. I enjoy it. I enjoy being outside in beautiful scenery (running through a wine region is my absolute favorite; I can run through rolling hilly vineyards very well; hence I am looking forward to the Santa Ynez Half Marathon). But is running something I can obsess about? Not so much anymore.

In the future, I'd like to embrace some passions outside of work. I'd like to be with my family more often. I'd like to buy a home. I'd like to have a dog. I'd like to travel to some places I've never been (Italy, Spain, parts of China). And I'd like to write about these places, and of course, take many pictures.

Yes, writing about that feels good.

Robert Eymael is coming to town

2010-03-25T18:00:00.000-07:00

The man behind the Monchhof label is coming back to Southern California in May, I just heard last evening.

He'll be bringing the spirit of his steep, slate-covered vineyards perhaps to a store or restaurant near you. Stay tuned...

Church on Sunday

2010-03-22T22:21:00.001-07:00

Yes, more gratuitous food & wine pics!

So, dinner was at Church & State on Sunday evening with good friends.... Sunday is a prix fixe menu only at Church & State, and no access to their normal menu, so that was a bit rigid. But we tried not to let this affect our evening, and with the exciting wines and fun people that were present, it really didn't.

First off, the 2007 Burrowing Owl Chardonnay was opened and it was a beauty. Bright fruit, with very good acidity coupled with some oakiness which did increase as the wine opened up - still, it was very well balanced - yes, a bit more oaky than I normally prefer, but still very well done given the style. Not super buttery. More like crisp apple and pear-type fruits with good concentration and some new oak. Very easy to drink and good with our amuse bouche and appetizers.

Our other wine was what friend Bennett chose from his cellar - 1971 Cheval Blanc, a Bordeaux from St. Emilion on the right bank, a wine made from Merlot and Cabernet Franc.

Movie afficianados will recognize Cheval Blanc as the wine that Miles was hoarding in Sideways, and ended up drinking by himself out of a styrofoam cup after his friend's wedding ceremony. Bennett reminded me that was the 1961 Cheval Blanc that Miles was drinking, and the wine geeky irony was that while Miles ranted that he would not drink Merlot, his favorite Bordeaux wine is actually primarily made from the grape variety Merlot (along with Cabernet Franc).

The 71 Cheval Blanc was pretty spectacular - did not taste a day over 20 - it was not old-tasting, instead it was spicy, rich and flavorful, in a French wine sort of way, not a California wine sort of way, but it still had plenty of fruit, plenty of bright purply red color in the glass, and delicious nuance. Drinking this 39 year old wine made me understand why Bordeaux is collected and revered. It holds up! That was an awesome treat.

***

Onto the food pics.

***

The amuse bouche was a cheesy ham tarte, like something you might enjoy in Alsace (though I have never been to Alsace, people just tell me that Alsacians like this sort of thing):

We ordered an extra a la carte appetizer to share, this tarte flambe, which was also could have been from Alsace. Delicious cheesy goodness, went really well with the Chardonnay, actually:

The fixed menu had these two appetizers for the table to share, a Thon (tuna) Bourgignon (with a beef jus sauce):

And a salad, which was quite simple but nicely fresh:

There was a choice of main dishes; hubby and I both chose the veal tenderloin filet topped with forest mushrooms, fresh peas, and carrots:

It was a nice piece of veal, very rare, though most of the flavor was in the mushrooms on top - the veal could have been made more flavorful, just my opinion, but it was very tender and good.

Finally, there was a dessert platter to share - some basic things on there, like a orange sorbet-type thing, a creme brule, and some dried fruits and brandy on a crisp.

In all, the food was rustic, nicely flavored, very rich, with plenty of cheese and cream (especially the potatoes au gratin, which I have not photographed, but they accompanied the main course - they were super creamy, cheesy and salty). What we had was definitely enjoyable and tasty, however, not as refined as say the mysterious birthday dinner I wrote about a couple of posts ago. Church & State has a regular menu that we would like to check out sometime, which has some more daring items like crispy pig ears, pieds de cochon (pigs feet) and other interesting delicacies, and its casual, hip-bistro-like atmosphere does have its draw if you are in the area (and don't mind driving through skid row to arrive to its slightly gentrified block).

To conclude, Church & State is a cool place, and I had a great time. They don't mind if you bring your own wine, and they know how to take a cork out of an old bottle without breaking it into bits. And that'll bring me to Church on Sunday, no problem.

A Domestic Wine, if you're in Canada....

2010-03-20T21:58:00.000-07:00

When I was in Canada last, I rummaged around my newly married sister's place, and found that she and new hubby had started a bit of a wine collection.

Most of the wines in their wine racks were not really recognizable to me, except the wines from this winery - Burrowing Owl - a winery in Oliver, British Columbia. Oliver is a very small place in the interior of B.C., far away from Vancouver, and is north of what I believe is the hottest place in Canada, Osoyoos. This is a part of B.C. which I believe has the climate you would find in the Washington State wineries which are located inland.

I have never been to this winery, or to the town of Oliver, for that matter, but I had heard of the winery, read about it, and knew of its reputation. So I enquired about the wine, and my sister informed me that these are limited release wines, which was information consistent with what I had read. I asked her to let me know the next time there is a release, so I may purchase some, both their reds and their whites.

Long story short, she gave me a bottle of their Chardonnay, and I brought it back to California, and I have been looking for the opportunity to open it.

I took a picture of it tonight before I popped it into the fridge. No, I didn't have it tonight, but I will have it tomorrow evening when we bring it to downtown LA French hip bistro Church & State, where we will share it with folks who are into that sort of thing - wines from different places in the world, including B.C!

I'm looking forward to the experience on a few different levels. First, I'd like to know what I think of the wine, and if it is to my taste. This will interest me because I'm not a big "domestic Chardonnay" drinker. Which is funny because last evening at a wine tasting, someone asked the dreaded question which it feels like I am asked often by people not in the wine business (and this is probably asked of wine business people), "What is your favorite wine?" and I ended up answering that I like Champagne.... and then someone said "Blanc de Blancs - and that's Chardonnay!" which is to suggest that my favorite wine is Chardonnay - and I had to think, is my favorite grape Chardonnay?? Champagne is so different from how still Chardonnay usually tastes..... but it is still the Chardonnay grape...

It won't be Champagne, but here's what I hope this 2007 Burrowing Owl Estate Chardonnay will be like:

* not oaky

* not pineapply

* not sweet

* balanced

* flavorful

* rich but not too much so

* like apples and pears

* having some structure and acidity

In other words, I want it to taste like a good Burgundy, but not an oaky one. One aged in old barrels okay fine, but not bristling with toothpicks and splinters of new oak.

Ahhhh....yes. I might get it too, you never know. On the other hand, it might be horrible, who knows. I don't. I have only been to B.C. wine country once since it has become wine country - that's the Okanagan. I have been there far more times before it became wine country, back when we were kids and it was peach land.

So I'm very curious about how highly regarded B.C. wine tastes. We don't get any down here in California. Except when sisters give them to you.

Report to follow.

Memorable orange colored delicacies in Germany

2010-03-16T15:06:00.000-07:00

Once in a while, when in Germany, I have a memorable time at the food and wine table. One of those times in February was when we had lunch at the Hans Wirsching Estate in Iphofen, in the region of Franken.

After an extensive tasting of gorgeous dry Franken Silvaners, Scheurebes, Rieslings and Rose, we were treated to a simple but very satisfying lunch at the winery.

It all started off with one of the best soups I've ever had: pumpkin soup - with an intensity of flavor and balance of spices that was pretty awesome:

Followed by a platter of assorted meats:

And a platter of assorted cheeses, along with delicious dark breads:

All washed down with some tasty Franken wines, even very old ones, like this 1969 Hans Wirsching Iphofer Julius-Echter-Berg Silvaner Trockenbeerenauslese - rich and long in mouthfeel, with brown sugar, caramel, orange rind, cinnamon, dates, almond marzipan, apple cider flavors all intermingling in that way that only a 41-year old TBA can. 120 grams residual sugar, 13.5% alcohol. Yum.

Who knew that Germany was known for their delicious homemade pumpkin soup? And Silvaner TBA in a bocksbeutel?

Birthday dinner with hubby & a great Merlot! Who wuddah thunk it?

2010-03-13T17:30:00.000-08:00

So, after I returned from Germany, I looked forward to my birthday dinner with my husband, and I got to choose the restaurant. I decided not to name the restaurant here, this time (I usually do, but this time, I'll just review and leave the name out, even though I really enjoyed it).

The restaurant is one that I have read good things about in websites about fine dining. It is very beautiful, with muted tones, mostly shades of brown. We were seated in a very comfortable booth, and the maitre d' took our coats, which was a very nice touch.

Soon after, we were presented with menus and wine lists. The menu featured a truffle tasting menu with 5 courses that each had truffles. Then there was a choose-your-own 4 or 5 course menu. The truffle menu looked intriguing, but I wasn't sure I would enjoy 5 courses with truffles - I worried I would have truffle overload. So, I opted with the 4 course menu, which had an appetizer, an in-between course, a main, and a dessert. I was disappointed that they did not have a cheese cart (I love cheese carts), but one of the dessert choices was a cheese plate, so that was good.

As for the wine list, I found the prices to be exorbitant. There were tons of Burgundies and Bordeaux wines, California Cabernets and Pinot Noirs, all in the up-market direction. Hubby asked me for my wine suggestions, and they were: Merlot. I saw a couple of Merlots that I felt were undervalued, a Trefethen Merlot and a Paradigm Merlot, both looked intriguing, like stocks that took a dive for no reason other than general unpopularity among the lemmings. We have always liked the Napa winery Trefethen, but we didn't remember what their Merlot tasted like. When we asked the server what he recommended, he seemed to like the Paradigm, so we went with it - the 2006 Paradigm Napa Valley Merlot.

I admit, I also have not drunk a Merlot for ages; in fact, I do not remember the last one I have had, though I have had plenty of Pinot Noir the last few years, so I, too, am a lemming, drinking what everyone else has been drinking. So this evening was an eye opening one for me, in that I asked myself, why wasn't I acting the contrarian that I claim to be?

I thought that even more when I tasted the wine and it was delicious. Bright raspberry-like fruit, brilliant and vibrant, not heavy nor oaky, it was my kind of wine. It had backbone but not too much of one; it didn't try to claim its seriousness with too much tannin, oak, acid or any of those things - it was simply charming and fruity without being sweet. It was the wine I was looking for to sip ahead of the meal and with the dishes we chose. I was really happy with it!

On with the food - we had three courses, followed by dessert or cheese. For my first course, I chose the beef carpaccio. It was wonderful - flavorful and the texture was melt-in-your-mouth:

Hubby opted for the seared foie gras, which also melted in the mouth:

My next course was a monkfish with a rice pilaf under a red pepper:

See how when you break open the red pepper, the rice is beneath. I wasn't aware from the menu description that the fish would be fried. I prefer a roasted or pan sauteed fish, and I probably wouldn't have ordered it if I knew it would be tempura battered and fried:

Hubby ordered the quail, which I tried, and it was awesome, very flavorful - I should have gotten that!

For my main course, I had the duck breast, which was very nicely done. Though it was not imaginative, it was enjoyable, and went very well with the Merlot.

Hubby had the buffalo steak with a terrine of buffalo pot roast, which I thought was quite unique and nicely done.

Dessert, for me, was a cheese course - funny, but I used to love dessert; now I love cheese. I had an Epoisse, a Roquefort, and a Tome de Savoie. Everything was super ripe and rich and absolutely delicious. I love cheese!

Hubby's dessert was a combination of milk and dark chocolate mousses with some orange sorbet and candied mandarine orange slices.

All in all, a superb dinner with great company, terrific wine, and 4 courses that one could get used to having........ the service was perfect. Can't wait till the next time we have an excuse to celebrate!

Geburtstag! at the Joh. Jos. Prum Estate in Wehlen

2010-03-13T16:13:00.000-08:00

So this year, I had to work on my birthday, even though it was a Sunday... but I spent it with folks I enjoy working with, and best of all, I had dinner in a foreign country where I was treated like family at an estate many wine enthusiasts have heard of, the estate of Joh. Jos. Prum in the town of Wehlen in the Middle Mosel.

Not only was Manfred Prum there, but also his wife Amee, and his daughter Katharina, and Manfred's eldest brother Echart, who was in from Frankfurt.

I've had the pleasure of tasting wine and dining here in the J.J. Prum dining room two times before, and always, one is treated like honored guests, and that's really a lot of fun.

First off, we tasted the 2009 vintage wines from the vineyards of Wehlener Sonnenuhr, Bernkasteler Badstube, Graacher Himmelreich, and Zeltingen Sonnenuhr. I won't go through the individual tasting notes of all these Rieslings, but I will say instead that the 2009 wines were very easy to taste, as the wines were very open and expressive, crystalline pure and succulent. Balanced and not too acidic nor sulfury. Great wines that Manfred compared to the 2005 vintage.

After that, a beautiful home-prepared 3-course dinner that showcased how delicious German cuisine can be, and how well German Rieslings pair with such dishes.

The first course was a foie gras served on a slice of sauteed apple with a side of toasted brioche. This was paired with a Goldkapsel Auslese from J.J. Prum, though the exact vintage and vineyard I did not note (too busy taking the night off and enjoying).

The second course was a smoked local fish purchased nearby... the name of the fish I was not certain, but I was sure that this was very delicious, as was the mustard sauce that accompanied it. This course was paired with a drier J.J. Prum wine, not bone dry, but drier than the previous Goldkapsel (proof that you can start with a wine with more residual sugar, then go on to a drier wine, especially when food is involved).

The final main course was most intriguing. First off, when it was being served, we weren't sure what it was. Bright red in color, with a creamy sauce underneath, it could have been steak tartare - we didn't know. But soon we learned that it was Red Spatzle with a Gorgonzola Sauce. The red spatzle was made with beets in the dough, giving it a delicious naturally sweet flavor and that vibrant, striking color. Along with the blue cheese sauce and diced tomatoes on top, the dish was amazing, savory, with explosive flavors, the sweetness of the beets playing off well against the intense flavors of the blue cheese. And needless to say, the dish was perfect with another one of the J.J. Prum Rieslings.

After a meal like this one, it would be so difficult to deny the draw to German cuisine. It is just too much of a shame that this type of German food doesn't often make it to our neck of the woods. If only there were fine German restaurants here serving such homemade delicacies instead of the too often touted sausages and schnitzel.

There is, though, one restaurant I know of in Los Angeles that does have some menu items such as these and that would be 3 Square in Venice. I've had spatzle there with morels that was quite spectacular. I'll have to go back there sometime soon.

But I digress. After our dinner, we tasted more wines from older vintages, with much guessing of the vintages and the vineyards, a game I didn't do too well at this year. We did, however, end on a very special wine, a 1971 J.J. Prum Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese Goldkapsel, brought by Manfred's eldest brother Echardt (how special is that?) and enjoyed by us all. What a lovely treat! And Manfred's wife saved me the label, which I kept and brought back with me as a souvenir.

In summary, I had a very pleasant birthday in Germany in the middle Mosel. My coworkers and bosses were awesome, I got a German birthday card signed by all, and the food and wine experience was one of a kind. Life is good!

Spontaneous Fermentation

2010-03-02T19:46:00.001-08:00

It was my third trip to the German wine regions, and it was a personal challenge for me to figure out something new I could learn on this particular trip.

As it turned out, I learned quite a lot. I learned that I could order fish and salad at most German restaurants and get a really good meal without a lot of heavy, rich meats and sauces. I learned that I could go for a run through the vineyards in the Rheinhessen and run along the Mosel river, even in February. And I learned that I can tell when a wine has been fermented with naturally occuring wild yeasts, a process also called spontaneous fermentation, and I learned that I actually like these wines.

First, some definitions (from a non-winemaker, essential lay-person):

Spontaneous fermentation, a.k.a. wild yeast fermentation or natural fermentation is method of wine production which does not use the addition of yeast to start and control fermentation of the grape juice. Instead, grapes are crushed and allowed to ferment on their own. Grapes have yeasts living naturally on their skins. These yeasts can begin to go to work on the grape juice when the conditions are right, ie. they have a nice warm temperature, plenty of food, that sort of thing. They stop working when the alcohol (which they produce from the sugar in the juice) eventually kills them, or the temperatures get so they can't live or reproduce very well (when it gets too cold).

Cultured yeast fermentation is the usual, conventional way of making wine now, which is where you add some purchased yeast and add it to your grape juice after crushing the grapes. This reminds me of making bread. When you open that package of Fleischmann's yeast and add it to warm water and sugar, and those dried yeast guys suddenly liven up and start eating the sugar in the water and make bubbles.

In the Rudi Wiest portfolio, there are several producers that are known for using wild yeast fermentation on their Rieslings, as opposed to cultured yeast fermentation. They are: Joh. Jos. Prum in the Mosel, Schloss Lieser also in the Mosel, and Schafer-Frohlich in the Nahe.

In the past, before this most recent trip, I admit that I actually did not like Rieslings made with wild yeast - I found their aromas to be muted, slightly beer-y and sometime sulfury, instead of what I expect Rieslings to smell like - fruity, floral, and everything nice and clean and bright.

However, this time, in tasting the 2009s - and this may have been because the 2009s were so expressive - I found that I really enjoyed the Rieslings fermented with wild yeasts.

The reason for using wild yeast fermentation is to show the terroir of the vineyard in the wines not only by using all that is in the grape - the juice, the skins, the seeds, but also using the organisms living on the grapes - the yeasts - to do the work of making the wine, instead of adding cultured yeasts to do the job. The idea is that the wild yeasts are different in each location, and they taste different, whereas cultured yeast give you good, clean, predictable results, leading to the assimilation of wine - ie. your wine ends up tasting like your neighbor's wine and everyone else's that uses that yeast. With natural yeast, you get more variation between wines.

And with it, you get more yeasty aromas - aromas of beer, bread, sometimes reminiscent of sulfur too. But this year, when I smelled and tasted the wines made through spontaneous fermentation, I found depth, intrigue, delight. Instead of polished clean, fruity clear Rieslings, I found Rieslings with soul and depth, interest, and character. Like a person who has not a perfectly symmetrical face and a 36-24-36 body and perfectly straight teeth and flawless skin, but a person you don't think is beautiful initially until you get to know her, then you see how different she is from the others. You get a sense of where she comes from, what she's done, what she's been through, and how she got there - the hard way, the patient way, the right way, on her own, without guarantees of success, with more danger and risk. That's a Riesling fermented spontaneously.

The wines from Joh. Jos. Prum, Schloss Lieser, and Schafer-Frohlich were among my favorites this year, and that is a first. I admit to not having given enough credit to these wines because they aren't obvious supermodels evident to everyone at first - they take time to appreciate. I've been working around these wines for 3 or 4 years and it is only now that I would reach for one of these instead of their simpler, cleaner cousins.

Who knows what will happen next year? Perhaps next year I'll prefer the more minerally ones..... wonders never cease when learning about wine.

Back from Deutschland - a mini vintage report on 2009 German wines

2010-02-27T16:45:00.000-08:00

Hi folks, I'm back from Germany... tasting the wonderful 2009 vintage.

The 2009 vintage was pretty fun to taste - very expressive at this early stage... more "ready-to-drink" at this early point than the 2008s were last year this time.

2009 in Germany differs from 2008 - 2008 was a high acid vintage, while 2009, the wines are more ripe and powerful, with high must weights and good physiological ripeness. The vintage has been compared to 2005 for Germany.

Those who liked Germany's 2005 and 2007 vintages will like the 2009s a lot. There's good balance in a wines, plus good stuffing in the middle. Both dry and fruity wines are good, with lots of healthy (non-botrytised) grapes harvested through a dry harvest season.

My favorite collections this year were:

Zilliken - for outstandingly bright and focused Saar Rieslings

Schafer-Frohlich - for spontaneous yeast-fermented laser-beam precision Nahe Rieslings

Von Hovel - for simply delicious and juicy and minerally Saar Rieslings

Dr. F. Weins-Prum - for classic middle Mosel Rieslings

Schloss Lieser - for terroir-driven spontaneous-yeast fermented Mosel Rieslings

Friedrich Becker - for outstanding Pinot Noir from the Pfalz that gets better ever year

Joh. Jos. Prum - the 2009s were incredibly easy to taste, given that these wines usually take a lot of time to come out - all spontaneous yeast-fermented

But truly, all the estates we visited had terrific wines from the 2009 collection - there wasn't a bad one in the bunch, just differences in style..

New this year: it seems a lot of estates are moving to the three tiered classification for their wines: First group is their Estate Riesling, or Gutsriesling; Second tier is the Village wines (like French village wines); and the Highest tier is the Grosses Gewachs or Grand Cru or First Growth level.

So for instance, Zilliken makes an Estate Riesling, their basic Riesling, then they make a Saarburger Riesling, made from fruit harvested in several vineyards in the Saarburg area, then finally, they make a Grosses Gewachs wine from their top vineyard, the Saarburger Rausch. Other estates are doing this also - for example, Fritz Haag will do a Fritz Haag Estate Riesling, a Brauneberg Riesling Kabinett, and their Brauneberger Juffer Sonnenuhr wines will all be their Grosses Gewachs wine.

Nancy's weekend to celebrate the Olympics in Canada, Chinese New Year, and sweet, sweet love

2010-02-13T21:28:00.000-08:00

A lot to pack into this weekend, as I make room in my mind to get ready to leave the continent to a much, much colder, snowier place. But to be honest, the weekend has been great, and I've enjoyed all the festivities.

The first thing was the Olympics, which are held in my hometown of Vancouver, BC. Since I couldn't be there, Johan and I watched all three hours of the opening ceremony on television. It's a first for me - I've never watched the Olympics opening ceremony in its entirety before. I would have liked to have watched the Beijing opening ceremonies from a couple of years ago, but I only caught the tail end of it when one of the athletes lit the torch while performing the gymnastic feat of simulated running while suspended in mid-air. I recall that being pretty cool. Perhaps one of these days, I'll get a copy of that Olympics opening ceremony and watch it in full.

But I did watch the Vancouver one from beginning to end, and it was pretty great. I enjoyed how the First Nations were featured as important people in Canada, and in particular, in the west coast where Vancouver is now situated. It reminds me of when I went to school, and learned all about Canada's aboriginal people, their culture, and its importance in the history of Canada. The dances and speeches put on by several of the First Nations were impressive, showing their elaborate hand-made ceremonial dress.

I also enjoyed the following shows put on by many Canadian celebrities, in particular, K.D. Lang, who sang so beautifully and eloquently, it was haunting. It was also good to see a couple other singers I admire, Bryan Adams and Sara McLaughlin.

Speaking of celebrities, one of the Olympic flag-bearers, I believe, was Nancy Greene, a Canadian skier, and her appearance put a smile to my lips, as I always remember that my father told me I was named after her.

All in all, a great show, one that made me proud to be a Canadian, and of course, a little sad that I am not there (though I am not far away).

Fast forward to today - Chinese New Year's Eve. Growing up, this is a huge holiday with tons of unique foods and dishes especially to ring out the old year and ring in the new. Both my grandmother and my mother would cook about 20 dishes each, and start a week or two in advance preparing things for the celebration which would be an eating festival spanning several days. Besides eating, there is of course the gathering of family, the visiting of relatives, the giving and receiving of red envelopes stuffed with fresh, crisp notes newly issued from the bank.

Again, a bit of sadness as I'm not with my family celebrating, but I did manage to prepare something Chinese to dine on with the hubby as he watched a hockey game (seems like the Kings are winning this one, so that's good). I prepared a chicken dish that is like Coq au Vin, but without the vin, and instead is slightly braised with soy sauce and cooked together with Chinese mushrooms and other wonderful, flavorsome things which I will refer to as Chinese truffles, because that's how earthy and delicious I think these things are. I butchered a whole chicken from scratch for this recipe, and it was pretty awesome.

Tomorrow: Valentine's Day. On the menu: Champagne - oh yes - 2000 Camille Saves from Bouzy (better not be corked!!! I mean it!) and Thomas Keller's butter poached lobster recipe - 2 lobsters will meet a hot water bath that will turn them red, but they won't be boiled, just slightly warmed enough to let me unbutton their jackets and take them out of their shells... then the meat will be poached in a butter sauce made from warm water and butter, heated ever so gently, not fried, but gently poached..... and that will be dinner for two. Wonderful.

I'll end with this: May you all have the Valentines Day of your dreams...... and GO CANADA!!!!! MAY GOLD BE YOUR COLOUR, BAYBEE! (The "u" in colour added for emphasis)

How I'll be spending my birthday this year

2010-02-08T17:58:00.000-08:00

I've got my Germany trip itinerary now, and it looks like I'll be spending my birthday in the Mosel. Four estates in one day (a Sunday, no less!), starting out at Schloss Lieser, then visiting Monchhof, then the double whammie of Dr. F. Weins-Prum and Joh. Jos. Prum. Ending off with dinner at Manfred Prum's house, where I have dined two times before.

I let Rudi know that it will be my birthday that day. I hope to taste my birth year vintage of a Riesling or two. I know that back in 2007, my first trip, I did get to taste a '71 Reinhold Haart from Theo Haart and it was pretty amazing.

I also look forward to celebrating with my husband and friends after I return from the Cold Place.

And here's today's Haiku:

9 wins in a row
Can the Kings make it 10 t'night?
Winning is fun, eh?

Haiku #4

2010-02-07T15:47:00.000-08:00

ATM Machine
Wished me a happy birthday
Quirky, but not bad!

Haiku #3

2010-02-06T13:10:00.001-08:00

Day after the rains
Gulls bathe in lakes formed in sand
I run in cool breeze

German wine notes - mostly 2008s

2010-02-06T12:37:00.000-08:00

So last evening, I had the pleasure of being a part of Randy's Intro to German wines class at The Wine Country. He opened some pretty terrific wines, and they showed beautifully. And did I mention that each and every wine was a Rudi Wiest import? Randy is SUPER loyal to the Rudi wines, even more than I am, so of course I had to be there!

Randy had a really great line-up of wines, starting off with 5 varieties that were not Riesling, followed by an 08 Kabinett, Spatlese and Auslese from the same producer, same vineyard, the famous J.J. Prum Wehlener Sonnenuhr, and finally three flights, the first, 2 Kabinetts, the second, 2 Spatleses, and the third, 2 Ausleses.

Here is their story:

2007 Becker Pinot Noir - Great. This wine showed very, very well this evening. No wondering I've been selling it like hotcakes to restaurants, wine bars, and stores. Aromatic on the nose, expressive black cherry; on the palate, rich while still being clean. Not heavy but plenty of Pinot flavor.

2008 Wirsching Estate Silvaner - Great. Refreshing, bright, dry, and crisp, this flavorful white wine was very appealing and made you want to drink a glass or two.

2006 Heger Pinot Gris - Good. Much richer wine next to the Silvaner - darker in color, more concentrated, a more Chardonnay-type of wine, has a barrel-fermented quality to it, was likely fermented/aged in old oak barrels.

2007 Gunderloch Gewurztraminer - Good. Floral on the nose, lots of flower petals. On the palate, just off-dry, spicy, like a Gewurz should be.

2008 Pfeffingen Scheurebe - Outstanding. Crisp and sweet, full of guava and pink grapefruit, nice acidity balancing the residual sugar. Very tasty and addictive wine. I liked it much more than the Gewurz. Thank you Dr. Scheu!

2008 Joh. Jos. Prum Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Kabinett - Good. I was surprised that Randy wanted to open three 2008 JJ Prums, as these wines usually don't show well in youth, but Randy was interested in tasted them. As expected, this Kabinett was stinky on the nose, but it didn't smell like sulfur so much as blue cheese and yeast. On the palate, dry-ish, high acid, fresh.

2008 Joh. Jos. Prum Wehlener Sonneuhr Riesling Spatlese - Good. Superior to the Kabinett in quality - more weight, more fruit, less stinkiness on the nose. Very clean on the palate, great balance.

2008 Joh. Jos. Prum Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese - Stunning. Outstanding. Gorgeous, clean fruit nose, no stink at all. On the palate, you take a sip and you cannot stop. This wine was shockingly delicious, with full, expressive clean non-boytritized fruit, crystalline and pure, weighty without being overly sweet. This is an Auslese for true Riesling lovers. Not shockingly, this wine was sold out in the stores and sold out at the importers, though I will try to bring in a case for Randy if he wants it in a couple of months!

2008 Von Buhl "Armand" Riesling Kabinett - Good. It was hard for me to come back to earth after the most excellent JJ Prum Auslese. But here we were back to a flight of Kabinetts. The Armand showed well, with good acidity and bright fruit. A very good wine for that price point (under $20 retail)

2008 Kunstler Reichstal Riesling Kabinett - Good. I was still struggling with coming down from that Auslese. This single vineyard Kunstler Kabinett is always a winner, with its fleshy, generous core, its majestic Rheingau stature. This wine next to the Armand seemed to show less acidity, but I think this is just the Kunstler style - drinks like a Spatlese.

2008 Von Hovel Scharzhofberger Riesling Spatlese - Great. I love Spatlese. This one was no exeption, but it wasn't one's usual Spatlese - this was definitely full of minerality and acidity. Pronounced slate and rocky flavors, along with sharp acidity put this wine in this renowned Saar vineyard. Made it a more serious Spatlese than many others. A wine geek's wine.

2008 Fritz Haag Brauneberger Juffer Riesling Spatlese - Great. When does Fritz Haag estate not make a great wine? This wine contrasted with the Von Hovel, showing its charming, softer Mosel qualities. More sweet fruit, acidity that is more rounded, fruit that is brilliantly peachy.

2008 Wegeler Geisenheimer Rothenberg Riesling Auslese - Stunning and outstanding! Wow. I didn't expect this, as I don't drink Wegeler that much. This Auslese was pure, crystal clear, free of botrytis, and absolutely pure pleasure to drink. Concentrated without being too much so, this was I believe my wine of the night. Well, it is a toss-up between the JJ Prum Auslese and this Wegeler Auslese. Perhaps I was also very surprised that these two Ausleses were so enjoyable to me - I thought myself more of a Spatlese person, believing that Auslese can be too sweet for regular drinking. But these two weren't. Maybe because they are from 2008 and have such great acidity; and maybe previous vintages, 2007, 2006 and 2006, the Spatleses were Auslese in disguise. Don't know. Just know that this 08 Wegeler Auslese from the Rheingau was terrific.

2008 Von Buhl Forster Ungeheuer Riesling Auslese - Good. I'm sure the wine was great, but after the Wegeler, I couldn't appreciate it on its own merits. The Ungeheuer was a monster, as its name suggests. Full of boytritis, rich, concentrated, unctuous, palate-coating. If I was just having this on its own with a plate of 2 or 3 different blue cheeses, I'd be happy happy. This wine comes in 375 ml (half bottles) which is perfect, because it packs quite the punch (flavor-wise, not alcohol).

So there it was! Some great German wines.... people loved them.... as did I. Thank you Randy!

Today's Haiku

2010-02-05T22:51:00.000-08:00

Rain, weather I love

Great German wine class today

At The Wine Country

Daily Haiku

2010-02-04T20:21:00.001-08:00

I'm going to try to write a Haiku poem each day, reflecting my day. When I am out of town, I will write them in my notebook, and come back here to the blog and share them, along with the date they were originally written.

Here's today's:

Spent time with sister
Who was in from out of town
Gave her bottle Heitz

My January Barometer

2010-01-30T12:18:00.001-08:00

It's already the day before the last day of January 2010, a month that has flown by the way this year is sure to fly by. But I'm happy to report that it has been a great month for me, full of fun and good things, and with that, if I am to predict how this year will go based on how this first month has gone, I would have to say, it's gonna be a great year.

January was a busy month for me, but it didn't have any of the hectic feeling of an overwhelming month. It was full of good things, well timed, and well executed. Among them:

1. Our friends' wedding. As pictured above, aren't they a gorgeous, happy couple? To protect their identity, I won't mention names, but they were married this month in our city, and it was a beautiful affair.

2. Work trip to Northern California. As I mentioned in the previous post, that was a highlight for me this month. While it was unfortunate that it was rainy, I felt good that I was unstoppable, and still made the most of it. That gave me some of the good feelings I used to have when I was super adventurous, like when I drove to Los Angeles from Vancouver back in the old days (the late 90s) and had to endure rain and all sorts of precipitation, especially though the wetter states of Washington and Oregon (they aren't green for no reason).

3. Johan's birthday. We celebrated on the Saturday evening after his birthday at a restaurant somewhat new to us - Bistro LQ. We had been to the French restaurant that used to be at this location, and I'm not sure but I think that the owners are actually the same, but the concept changed. Bistro LQ is still French, but more modern and adventurous. We loved our meal there. In particular, we were impressed by my main dish, the Lamb Composition. First off, what a great name. Second, it was basically lamb in all its glory - a lamb chop, lamb tongue, lamb sweetbreads, lamb kidneys, and some braised lamb. Yum! All done expertly in a delicious brown sauce (not heavy), served with a side of fennel or some vegetable - what fun. My appetizer was almost equally impressive - foie gras three ways - seared, on a French toast; and two cold preparations, one with truffles, the other, a terrine. Johan had for his appetizer venison tartar, and for his main dish, veal sweetbreads and kidneys - I had a taste of the kidney and it was good - a nice crunch in the texture and a delicate flavor.

If you are an adventurous foodie and love French cuisine, you have to try Bistro LQ!

4. We also celebrated the evening before that dinner on Friday - the plan was Champagne but unfortunately our bottle was corked - we ended up having 2006 Clos Pepe Pinot Noir which was more terrific than I remembered it, as well as 2006 Deux Montille Pouilly-Fuisse which of course was also delicious, along with some dried salami I brought back from Sacramento, and some cheeses Johan bought and some pate..... we stayed up late and watched Julie and Julia, and it was a great deal of fun.

5. Work has been good. I predict good economic recovery this year. Much better than 2009. Based on what I have seen so far in 2010.

All in all, good things. I hope you all have been having a good to great January as well.

Wet Week in Northern California

2010-01-25T17:51:00.000-08:00

So I was up in the Bay area last week, and when I was there, I could not help but to think that I picked a helluva week to start working up here - it was as timely as when I started working commission-only as a wine rep back in September 2008 - when the market fell off a cliff, the economy took a nose-dive, and all hell broke loose as people started mimicking the media's choice of words, such as "bail-out," "the Great Recession," and "my 401K is now a 201K." Yep, that's what it felt like last week up in San Francisco, where I am sure it nippy in the winter typically, but I'm not sure it is usually the deluge that it was.

On the plus side, I was not missing much in the weather department down in my home area of Southern California. Both Northern and Southern California were being brutally hit with repeated storms, wind and rain of the variety to which Los Angelenos are not accustomed.

But my week was fully booked, and I was determined to see every customer that was expecting me. After a bumpy ride on my JetBlue flight up to Oakland, I found my way to the car rental office, and soaked myself running to my pale blue Ford Focus - my car of the week.

The plan was the first two days in the city of San Francisco, followed by two days on the east bay, with some detours up to the Napa Valley, followed by Friday in Sacramento and Davis. And a nice, easy drop off of the car at Sacramento airport, followed by a smooth flight home from there.

I'm happy to say I was successful in implementing this plan! Even in torrential rains, with high winds blowing while I drove across tall bridges, I got to all my appointments, even the ones in the countryside (Napa Valley), and met some of the most wonderful people. Well, at least 90-95% of the people I met were super terrific, and that's a high percentage. In total, I would say that the wine people I met, in restaurants and wine stores, were knowledgeable, friendly, enthusiastic, and intelligent, and they were genuinely interested in wine from all over the world, and they were not defensive about wine, ie. they were not strictly all about California wine, though of course they were very knowledgeable about it. In fact, I would almost say that those far away from California's most prestigious wine region (Napa Valley) are most defensive about California wines, preferring this style to the exclusion of other styles, while the Bay area and its neighboring wine country is actually very open minded and not at all exclusive in their taste for quality wine around the world. Go figure.

Some of my favorite appointments included Ame at the St. Regis, a restaurant I want to dine at the moment my hubby will join me in SF; The Boulevard, Waterbar, and the Slanted Door, all restaurants in the Embarcadero area of San Francisco. This is an area that has a great view of the Bay Bridge, a majestic structure that lights up at night and is so quintessentially SF.

In the Napa Valley, I particularly enjoyed visiting Auberge du Soleil, a little inn and restaurant tucked into a hill in Rutherford, off the Silverado Trail, a place I had never been; Ad Hoc, a restaurant next to and related to the French Laundry, which is very nice and modern and chic; and Carneros Inn, a group of brightly painted farm houses off Highway 12 that have been gutted inside and have modern innards that feel beautiful and make me want to make dinner reservations there very soon.

There were many, many other positive, fun experiences.... some were as simple as walking for a bit between rain showers in that clean, fresh air.... or having dinner by myself after a long day of work, listening to the couple at the next table argue loudly..... driving and learning how the streets go in the city and out on the east bay.... having split pea soup in my car while parked in Berkeley, feeling like a drowned rat..... missing my appointment by 30 minutes, and being able to make it up the very next day..... sitting with a new customer for 30 minutes while he slowly leafed through the catalog, me, wishing I didn't have to sit there... until he placed a $1000 order..... ah, the joys... I felt a lot like the Ratatouille rat Remy when he had to go through a wet yucky sewer, with that icky water dripping on his head, but when he got through it, the town was ..... Paris .... and it was beautiful.

Germany Part III, Here I Come!

2010-01-16T13:58:00.000-08:00

It is confirmed - in February, I will be going to Germany with the company to taste the 2009 vintage in barrel/tank. It is the first preview of the new vintage, and we'll be there for 12 days to visit all the estates represented by Rudi Wiest Selections.

It will be my third time visiting this part of Germany, my second time there in the winter, and also my second time as a Rudi Wiest employee. It will be interesting. Interesting not in the way it would be if I were headed next month to a wine region I had never been to, such as Burgundy, Bordeaux, Loire, or Tuscany, but interesting to see what else I can learn about German wine culture on a third visit. Last year, I learned how different a feel it is to go there in the winter. Being in the countryside gives me a definite feeling that these are the months Persephone spent with Hades in the underground. The ground is red-brown, the vines are brown sticks in the ground devoid of fruit and leaf, the air is frigid in that cold way that doesn't feel like the coldest I have ever experienced (no, that would be Edmonton, Alberta in Canada), but in a dormant, coolish way that means this is not the best time to visit the Mosel and the Rhein, unless you were doing the important work of finding out first hand how the vintage was.

It will be indeed interesting to find out what I can learn now that I will be going the second time in a row in the winter. I will know what to expect weather-wise and landscape wise; I won't be so shocked that the plump, gorgeous green vines with their heavy, juicy fruit will be mere shells of themselves, the river and the sky grey. The locals will be huddled in their homes and wineries with thick clothing and a layer of heavy cloth covering the doorway to block the draft, instead of outside inviting you for a walk or a climb through the vineyard.

I will keep my eyes, ears and mind open to the German vineyard and cellar in the wintertime. I look forward to good photos, great wines, and lively discourse.

San Francisco, here I come

2010-01-07T19:31:00.000-08:00

Thank you for all the positive comments on my last rather ho-hum blog post. The comments were encouraging to read, especially the good wishes for my territory, San Francisco. Well, I wanted to give updates on that - and the update is - it is looking really great! I am headed up there soon, and so far I have many appointments booked already. People sound very positive and happy to see me and taste the Rudi Wiest wines, which is all very good news. I'm looking forward to being up there.

San Francisco is an interesting place. Last month, I did a short visit up there with my bosses, Rudi Wiest and his wife Erna, and during that trip, the city reminded me of other times I had been there, and gave me new inspiration. We actually started out east of the city and worked our way into the city, and on the east bay, I visited some towns that I had never really been to - Walnut Creek, Alameda, and Berkeley, just to name a few. I was a little surprised that I had never been to those places, but I guess I didn't have much reason to go. It did surprise me how scenic and beautiful some of these places were. There was a back-drop of mountains, and at the time, they were covered with new fallen snow. In Berkeley, we visited a small town within called Kensington, and driving there, we were treated to gorgeous views of ocean as we ascended to some older neighborhood that was perched on some heights. I was impressed with the views, to say the least.

Driving over the Bay Bridge into the city gave me the feeling of going into a big city... like New York or something (a place I have never been but have many impressions of in the mind). When we were in the Ferry Building meeting with the buyer at the Slanted Door, I felt like I was in Vancouver... the cold weather that day helped with the image, but it was more the view of the water from the restaurant's huge windows that reminded me of being in a similar restaurant in Coal Harbour in Vancouver's downtown.

Later, at a chic seafood restaurant in the Embarcadero called Waterbar, I was stunned by the magnificent view of the Bay Bridge by night, its glistening lights showcasing the stunning structure, all visible through huge floor-to-ceiling windows.

About 4 years ago, I came to San Francisco to meet my mom, my aunt and my uncle, who had flown in from Vancouver to attend their friends' father's 100th birthday celebration. Unfortunately, it happened to be in June, right after a Rudi Wiest Rudipalooza tasting which I thoroughly enjoyed and stayed too late at....when I arrived at LAX, I discovered that I had missed my flight. I had to catch a later flight to San Francisco, which would arrive that evening, but I totally missed the dinner celebration that my mom and aunt were at. In the airport, I bought a book called the Yes! Attitude, because I was so pissed about missing my flight!

I finally did arrive there, though, and we were staying at my aunt's friends' house. Her friend's husband, Sam, came to pick me up at the airport and drove me to their home in a suburb of San Francisco. I remember there house was way, way up on a hill, but I don't remember the name of the town. We spent the weekend out and about, mostly shopping (all the ladies wanted to shop, mostly at some great mall in Stanford) and we also visited a relative in San Jose. We also ate once in Chinatown, and when I stepped our of the restaurant at night, the scene was like it was from a movie - it looked like movieland's Chinatown, with its old buildings with restaurants and storefronts on the street level and apartments above, and the hilly streets and the lights. It was just a weekend trip, but it was a fun one for me, one of those trips I got to share with my mom, her sister, and also her brother, who was there for part of the trip.

This was not the only time I went to SF with my mom - I was there another time when my mom came to visit me in LA - and we drove up to SF to see her childhood friend. We drove all the way up there and even went to Marin County to visit Mill Valley on one of my coworker's recommendation. Mill Valley was a quaint cute place, very out of the way, and it took a bit to get there, so I'm not sure I'll ever go back. But it was fun to go, and we had a nice walk around the downtown square, and this is another nor cal memory I won't forget.

Thirteen years ago, back in 1997, I drove down from Vancouver in search of work in California, and before I applied for anything in Los Angeles, I first looked in the Bay area. There was an institute that I applied at in Sausilito - it was a heart institute - Dean Ornish - that proposed a very strict low-fat diet for the treatment of heart disease. I had spoken with the woman on the phone before showing up there, and when I did walk in to meet her that day in Sausilito, I remembered that she gave me a hug. No handshake, just a warm, friendly hug. It was nice; and it was different, and that made it memorable. It didn't turn into a job, but it was a fun day in Sausilito, and yes, they do have great views of the city across the water!

I poked around at the time for other jobs, but there weren't any in my field, so I continued down to SoCal, where I had much better luck, and that's why I'm still here today. My luck brought me down here, and keeps me down here, so I go with it.

This new thing with going up to NorCal to work a week out of the month also fell into my lap and I decided to say yes to the opportunity, and so far it feels right. I'll keep you posted on the fun adventures. Though at this point, I'm kind of wishing I had a lap-top, because I won't really have computer access when I'm up there...

Ringing in 2010

2010-01-03T10:18:00.000-08:00

January 3 now, and it is 75 degrees in southern California, and after a short run along the oceanfront, I am sitting down to ponder the switching over from 2009 to 2010.

Much hope and optimism has been swirling around this change from the last year to this new one - and I share this also. 2009 had good times - I got to go to Vancouver multiple times, got to go to Winnipeg and meet my parents there also, went to Seattle and met up with an old friend there, went up to Santa Barbara and Santa Ynez a few times, went to Reno and even ran a half marathon there, ran a marathon in Long Beach, saw my sister get married, and spent time with my other sister here in L.A. 2010 should bring some really great, interesting times as well.

Though while I brought in the new year among friends, wine-loving friends that share their great wines (a Moncuit blanc de blancs Champagne stood out for me, as well as an aged Spanish Rueda white), I am reluctant to blog about wine.

Seems there are many other things that occupy my mind at this present time. I am thinking about dogs (volunteering at a shelter walking dogs, learning about dog behavior, adopting a dog in the future), family (enjoying the company of family), working in a new territory starting this month (San Francisco), and plans I am making with Johan in this new year - things we wish to do and places we wish to go.

Wine is still very much a part of my life, though it doesn't play as focused a role. It is there, it is my livelihood, but so many other things play a more central role.

As such, not much to write about wine currently.

This may change in February or March after my possible/probable trip to Germany with Rudi Wiest and company - I might have notes on the 2009 vintage in Germany. Until then, this blog may have very little of interest to those interested in wine.

Sorry!

And happy new year, may yours (and mine) be filled with accomplishment, happiness, love, laughter, joy, health, and wealth.

A Rudi Wiest Selections Christmas Party - or How Well German Riesling Pairs with Rack of Lamb

2009-12-12T21:32:00.000-08:00

T'was the Thursday two weeks before Christmas that the Rudi Wiest Selections company hosted its annual party for the team down in Carlsbad. This is the second year that I have attended, and was greeted with very good wine and very good food.

I started off with a 2007 Gunderloch Nackenheim Rothenberg First Growth Riesling - a rich dry Riesling that tasted terrific, weighty, full-flavored - a great wine to start with that had body and depth, without being too high in acidity for the first wine of the night.

Then came a stream of hors d'oeuvres including some duck on spoons, seared foie gras on toasted brioche, lobster mac & cheese, Kobe beef sliders, and some other wonderful munchies that took the edge off the hunger, and went great with the wines.

Two sparkling wines got opened, the 2004 Raumland Marie-Luise Brut, a 100% Pinot Noir blanc de noirs Champagne-method sparkling wine that was light in body and refreshing, and a 2000 Von Buhl Pechstein Brut, another Champagne method 100% Pinot Noir sparkler that was more earthy and richer in flavor, darker in color, reflecting the soil of the area (colored sandstone) and the older vintage.

Rudi then opened a new wine, which I believe I tasted before in Germany earlier this year, the 2007 Furst Chardonnay - this is a Chardonnay vinified and aged in new oak, which has a bold flavor that Chardonnay and even white Burgundy lovers would love - the wine is very focused and bright, with good acidity showing through the toasty oak. This is a pricey Chardonnay but would be worth the money for true Chardonnay aficianados, and who knows? There may be a market for German Chardonnay.

But after this, I went back to Riesling once again, and found one I might have enjoyed the most of the evening - well, of the dry Rieslings anyway - 2005 Karthauserhof Eitelsbacher Karthauserhofberg Riesling Auslese Trocken - a terrific, minerally, juicy, succulent dry Riesling with a special je-ne-sais-quoi that isn't found in most other Rieslings - a finesse and deliciousness found at this estate.

We had some delicious fare that was served without a knife, because the meats were so fork tender..... some filet of beef wrapped in proscuitto atop creamy polenta, along with a goat cheese-stuffed zucchini blossom - very fancy! Not a dish I can easily replicate at home... but would like to - especially that super creamy, super flavorful polenta! Way to make cornmeal grits taste good!

With the delicious savory beef, there were several fantastic German Pinot Noirs to choose from. My favorite was this 2003 Rebholz Spatburgunder Spatlese Trocken which was rich, bold, and beautiful. Much richer than the 2004 of this same wine, which is much lighter and earthier... this 2003 had a great deal of concentration and fruit and I really enjoyed it!

Other great Pinot Noirs that were opened included the 2005 Becker Kammerberg Spatburgunder Grosses Gewachs, a top-end Pinot Noir from the Kammerberg vineyard ("Chamber Hill") that goes for over $100.... this was Johan's favorite of the Pinot Noirs, I think. I liked it too, but of course I knew I would, so while I liked it, I wasn't surprised at all by its greatness.

I believe the 2005 Kunstler Pinot Noir from the Rheingau pictured below was also opened, but I didn't taste it on this occasioin, though on other occasions I have enjoyed it. I did taste the 2004 Rebholz Muschelkalk Spatburgunder, which was concentrated in a different way from the 2003 Rebholz Spatburgunder Spatlese Trocken, perhaps less fruity and more concentrated in other ways..... it was more savory, perhaps.

Another Pinot Noir that got opened and tasted was the 2007 Schnaitmann Junge Reben ("young vines") Spatburgunder which was very young and bright (plenty of acidity), with great structure, perfect for pairing with rich food (duck would have been perfect) but since it was being passed around with the 2005 Becker Kammerberg, most people seemed to go with the richer, beefier, heftier Becker wine.... but I did like the Schnaitmann.

All the Pinot Noirs went well with the filet, giving me plenty of proof that German Pinot Noirs are not too light for beef!

Our next course was rack of lamb, one of my favorite meats of all! The lamb was done perfectly, not too well done, but not too rare either. And it was served with crispy fresh fries, nicely salted. On the side, there were some carmelized red onion, and also a dollup of honey, which Johan wondered why it was there. I didn't wonder, though I didn't really eat it either...

I did, however, enjoy this lamb dish with 1989 Zilliken Saarburger Rausch Riesling Spatlese. How terrific was that, drinking a 20 year old Zilliken Spatlese with lamb? I don't know why I went for this initially - perhaps I wanted something to refresh my palate after trying 4 or 5 Spatburgunder, and when I put the wine in my mouth, I couldn't go back to the reds quite yet - and when I paired it with the lamb, it just worked. Perhaps that's what the chef was going for with putting the honey beside the lamb chops - instead of taking the honey, I had the old Riesling, and the two were very complementary. The Zilliken was beautiful - fresh, youthful in a slightly aged way, like someone you would know who is not young and silly but youthful and smart. Yes, that's how this 1989 Zilliken was!

Finally, we had a very cute red velvet cupcake with a gingerbread man on top, and that was a nice ending to a very fantastic meal. With it, I did try the 2005 Schafer-Frohlich Bockenauer Felseneck Riesling Auslese, which was clean, pure, and deliciously sweet without being overly so.

All in all, a good time, a great wine and food party, and a great affirmation that I work for a top-notch importer whose wines I still do love after all.

Jalama Vineyards - Mark Cargasacchi's Wines

2009-11-30T17:25:00.000-08:00

Maybe 2 years ago or more, I had met winemaker Mark Cargasacchi at a wine dinner "offline" as they call it on the erobertparker.com boards ("e-bob") - Mark was down in Long Beach selling the very wines he makes from his winery Jalama, and there happened to be a South African wine off-line going on at Springbok, a South African bar and grill right in one of the harbors in Long Beach, a pretty setting but with disappointing food - but nevertheless, we enjoyed an array of great South African wines that evening, more than 20 if I recall correctly, and I recall tasting Mark's El Capitan Red wine that evening and talking to the winemaker about what it was like to be making wine in Santa Barbara County, and I recall him saying it was great. He shared that it was fantastic that the region was being recognized for its wines, and that he had grown up in the region before it was wine country, and his parents had a farm and it was mostly about having cattle and growing fava beans, and he thought when he was younger that that would be his future too, cattle and fava beans, until he became a winemaker.

This I remembered about Mark, and fortunately I kept his business card all this time, and when it came time to head up to Santa Ynez and toward Santa Rita Hills, I saw that his address was Lompoc, and so was our appointment with Clos Pepe, so why not hit both wineries in the same morning? I called Mark up and he invited us right away.

To be honest, it was not that easy finding the place. Mark's place is more his home than an actual winery, though there are vines on the property. Mark makes wine in the Lompoc Wine Ghetto, which sounds to me like a winery facility where a number of winemakers make there wine, and it is located in downtown Lompoc behind the Home Depot. We didn't make it over there to do a tasting, but I believe you can go to the Wine Ghetto (love the name) to taste some wines, and we heard that until recently, Sea Smoke was made there. I had just tasted what I believe was my first Sea Smoke Pinot Noir from the Southing vineyard a couple weeks ago when we hosted a movie night to re-watch Sideways, and the Sea Smoke was quite good I must say! Quite tasty and almost worth the price tag (probably $80), though of course I would hesitate a bit. But I did enjoy it. At any rate, we did get a bit lost trying to find where we were going on Jalama Road, a windy country road that goes up a crest then goes down toward the ocean from the 1 Hwy. After calling Mark when we were lost and getting assistance, we did end up finding their beautiful property surrounded by happy, happy cows, several excitable dogs, and a gorgeous rooster who kept cock-a-doodle dooing.

It was in this charming countryside setting that we were invited into Mark's house to taste his wines in the kitchen. Out came platters of cheese and meats and olives and bread and crackers and hummus, in case we were getting hungry, which I found to be so nice and inviting. We met Clinton also, who joined us for the tasting. Clinton is responsible for the new, classy labels on the Jalama wines, which replace the former more psychedelic labels, but the new label captures the same blue-green color scheme from the old label which is nice.

There were 6 wines to taste, and unlike the tasting we just came from at Clos Pepe, there were all different grape varieties to sample, from all different vineyards where Mark sourced the fruit. Now, I wish I took notes at the time, but I didn't, so I am going by memory alone...

2007 Jalama "Giallo" - this is a white wine, and Giallo is the proprietary name for it, and though the wine is a 100% Pinot Gris, nowhere does it say this on the front or back label - the reason? It is not what one would expect a Pinot Gris to taste like or look like - it is a barrel fermented, barrel aged Pinot Gris that goes toward Chardonnay in its look and feel, though I think it is more like what one would think of a Fume Blanc (Sauvignon Blanc that is done in barrel instead of in stainless steel) - it is a clean and lovely wine, and I would love to enjoy this one with some seared sea scallops and rich buttery potatoes.

2007 Jalama Pinot Noir - this is a different clone of Pinot Noir from what we tasted at Clos Pepe, I believe Mark said Clone 114, while more commonly is used Clone 115 which is more fruity.... Clone 114 is less fruity, and this is where I found the Pinot Noir to be more savory than what we tasted at Clos Pepe - and I liked it. Though I like fruitiness in wines quite a lot, I enjoyed the savory aspect of this wine, a touch of black olive and mushroom though not quite that earthy since this is still a pretty young wine. An interesting and very good Pinot Noir after all the other good Pinots we just experienced down the road, this Jalama Pinot Noir again reflects the good, long and even growing season of 2007, though I believe I heard Mark say 2008 was good too, even though it was less even and had a few more heat spikes.

2007 Jalama Mourvedre, Camp 4 - This was my favorite wine of the bunch, this Mourvedre. I like Mourvedre, I do believe, and this one is a clone from Tablas Creek, and I like Tablas Creek so this all makes sense. The wine is so nicely balanced, again with the savory qualities I found in the Pinot Noir but here even more so. The wine is interesting and like no other variety. I believe the Camp 4 vineyard is part of the Fess Parker holdings, and gives me an idea that Fess Parker bought and owned a lot of land up in these parts back in the day. Who knew he had Mourvedre vines?

2006 Syrah, Paradise Road - This is the first of 2 Syrahs we are about to try and they are over 15% alcohol, which I am looking at at this point in the tasting because I can feel it. I reach for a couple of slices of cold meats which taste good and help take the edge off. This Syrah is a solid number, with some dark red brooding fruits on the palate, but still some of that savory quality that seems to be something that Mark likes in his wines. I like it too but I worry that high alcohol wines will put me over the edge so I pour out my taste and move on to the next Syrah.

2006 Syrah, La Presa - this feels like Mark's favorite, and my husband Johan seemed to like this one also a lot - Mark talked about this La Presa vineyards which is a steep hillside vineyard where all the work is done by hand because you can't get a machine up there.... this is what I'm more used to dealing with when it comes to German wines - all hand done! This Syrah is a bit more grippy and powerful but not more alcoholic, just the flavor components are more balanced and richer somehow and less fruity than the Paradise Road Syrah.

2006 Jalama "El Capitan" - this is the signature red wine, terrific with olives, I found, just a solid great blend with some Syrah, some Cab, and some other components... bring on more olives and maybe a juicy rib eye steak.

So that was the line-up. An amazing experience and some really nice people, gorgeous countryside and an adventure just to find it. We left there happy and hungry, heading for the Hitching Post for some pre-dinner grub.... a pricy but very classy happy hour.

Clos Pepe in Sta. Rita Hills - A California Pinot Noir Estate

2009-11-30T14:23:00.001-08:00

I was in The Wine Country one afternoon recently, and what I know is that it was a Friday, because two winemakers were getting ready to do a wine tasting class with wine specialist Bennett, who had set up the event. As I was milling about, Bennett introduced me to Wes Hagen, at which time I said to him as I shook his hand, "You sound familiar....." and Bennett told me, "That's because he is the winemaker at Clos Pepe!" and then Clos Pepe began to sound familiar to me, and then I found myself at a loss, because I had never tried the wines, didn't know anything about the estate, and all I knew was it sounded like a producer that Bennett was a huge fan of.

It could have stopped there, but it didn't. It could have been just another of many winemakers to come through the doors of The Wine Country, it could have been another interesting person here selling his wines, but it wasn't - Wes soon launched into a quick summary of his winemaking philosophy, which was neither organic nor conventional, but it wasn't biodynamic either, and it got me hooked, because I am personally not a huge fan of organic this and organic that, which doesn't make me a huge fan of ingesting a large amount of chemicals either, but I am very suspicious of certified organic, and I am much more impressed when a winemaker does not follow one narrow-minded doctrine that allows him to market his wine as organic..... and indeed Wes seemed to engender that philosophy, followed by a very open and welcome invite to Clos Pepe if I was ever in the area.

Well, after also talking about how I sell German wine, and how he is a huge fan of German wines and how he admires German white wines, well, I had to say, "Actually, I am going to be in your neck of the woods the day after Thanksgiving - are you there that weekend?"

And as luck would have it, he said yes, we are doing a tour on the Saturday after Thanksgiving and if you want to be a part of it, then you must send me an email! Cards were exchanged, and a couple of weeks later, we found ourselves on the estate of Clos Pepe, located on Route 246 toward the town of Lompoc, just west of Buellton.

Needless to say, the sprawling estate is gorgeous, hilly, expansive, sunkissed, showing the best of Autumn's colors ranging from curry yellow to burgundy. While the grapes have long been collected, the fall leaves still cling to the brown vines, coloring the landscape. Round rolly-polly sheep munch the ground cover between vines, offering a natural weed control that requires no chemicals, just a well-trained sheep dog that round up the sheep when you need them to move where they don't want to go.

The tour starts outside among the vines and the sheep and a full historical background of the area dating back several hundred thousand years when this region, the Santa Rita Hills AVA, established only in 2001, was deep under sea water in the Pacific Ocean before the plates bumped into each other and created mountains and hills on which we can stand on and plant on today. Diatomaceous earth covers the soil now, a result of small shelled organisms who used to live in this area when it was sea, their fossilized bodies now contributing to the soil that contributes to very good Pinot Noir.

Wes Hagen's history lesson also includes a personal story, with dots of humor, about how he happened to be in the right place at the right time, leaving a lucrative profession with the department of education (teaching kids!) to becoming a winemaker... though he did leave out how he was able to make that jump.

Politically speaking, he is interesting to listen to - he talks about how Greenpeace hurts people in developing countries by insisting that people who are on the brink of starvation reject genetically modified foods that may actually save the lives of many people - he talks about how conventional farming has its place because it feeds the masses and feeds them well, and that if all farming switched to organic tomorrow, then 2 billion people would die. The way Wes speaks, he is not afraid of offending, and at the same time, he does not offend (at least not me!) because he speaks what he knows.

After some philosophizing, we are all in the mood to taste some of his wonderful wine, wine which he says he makes in not a big heavy Parker style. The estate produces Pinot Noir grapes and sells some to other producers, some of which, Wes says, make bolder Pinots than he does, but he does not believe in muscular Pinot Noir. I like the sound of that.

The tasting consisted of a vertical of his estate Pinot Noir, from his 2008, which is not quite ready yet to be released, to his 2005 vintage, which is sold out. Here are my tasting notes from these 4 wines:

2008 Clos Pepe Pinot Noir - beautiful floral and fruit-scented nose, bright on the palate, reminicent of cranberry and raspberry, zippy acidity, too young at this time, but shows the potential for a lovely Pinot Noir that is not oaky or heavy.

2007 Clos Pepe Pinot Noir - gorgeous nose, richer in aroma and very enticing and inviting. On the palate, perfect, with lots of fruit, weight, density but not oak or extract or tannin. Shows its long perfect growing season. Delicious and my favorite of the bunch.

2006 Clos Pepe Pinot Noir - deeper and earthier nose. Developed palate showing more "French" characters, deep, black cherry and losing some baby fat and fruit, would be great with some lamb or game meat. But clunckier and not as focused to me as the 2007.

2005 Clos Pepe Pinot Noir - Wes claimed this rivaled French Burgundies with much higher price tags (Grand Crus) but said he could talk smack because he was sold out of this wine... indeed it has this French aspect to the wine, maturing well, would be interested to taste this blind.... I think I would still guess this to be Californian but made with a French style to it because it still seems fuller and fruitier than a Burgundy, but very nice and way more serious than the other Pinot Noirs. A great, noble wine for drinking with dinner, something to be savored and enjoyed slowly. We were very, very lucky to get a bottle of this sold-out number - thank you Wes!

2008 Axis Mundi Syrah, Sleepy Hollow Vineyard - This last wine is Clos Pepe's second label, Axis Mundi, which is labeled in a modern look with a screw cap to indicate "drink me young" and is more of an everyday wine, a more extracted Syrah. Honestly, a bit of a difficult wine to taste after those much more elegant, ethereal, pretty wines which are the Clos Pepe Pinot Noirs, but then again, one probably wouldn't want to taste them before the Pinots either, so one is stuck with tasting a more clunky, basic every day red after the Pinot Noirs which are twice the price and more than twice as nice. Since we got a bottle to take home, we look forward to tasting this wine by itself where it will have a chance to be very enjoyable, we are sure. But at the time of tasting this Syrah, I wasn't really wooed by it. I'll be sure to post a tasting note again in the future when we open it!

Here we are posing with Wes - he was a gracious host, serving us water and cheeses and bread and coffee afterwards. If you get a chance to go up to this area, I seriously recommend visiting this estate and getting the full tour! They don't have a drop-in tasting room, everything is by appointment, so call first!

Thanksgiving Week - A Gourmet experience

2009-11-30T13:45:00.001-08:00

Hi Everyone - I hope all had a terrific Thanksgiving! I did, and it was a gourmet experience all the way. In fact, all week was a big giant lovely fest of wine and food and people that love wine and food, so things were very good indeed.

I took lots of pictures from things done this week, and want to post them and write about them, and will do so in a separate post, but in this one, I will focus on what we actually did on Thanksgiving day.

Thanksgiving day was spent at our friends' house in Irvine, self-proclaimed "foodie friends" who love a good time and an 8-hour enjoyment of food and wine without excessive wine talk, more talk about food, so it was very wonderful and nice. This year's celebration also involved toasting a recent wedding, so there were more bubbles being poured than usual. There was a Gloria Ferrer California sparkling wine that was particularly refreshing in a fruity sense, and perfect for the 2pm start time, followed by a Cremant de Limoux poured from a giant magnum - it had a darker color and richer, almost more oaky feel about it - followed by one of the greats - 1999 vintage Billiot, a Champagne that never lets anyone down. The wine is full of richness and succulent fruit and a certain je-ne-sais-quoi that makes it oh so elegant and full in the mouth that it demands love.

All the sparklers were perfectly paired with an assortment of caviars and roes, which were such a pleasant and fun afternoon snack, especially with the well prepared roasted, cooled and sliced red potatoes on which we placed the little eggs.

Later on came the onslaught of appetizers that would precede the turkey dinner - one of the participants who is an excellent chef and used to own a restaurant in Hawaii made a terrific swordfish dish, which I did not take a picture of (I must have been too busy wolfing it down - it was really delicious). This was paired with 2007 Byron Pinot Noir, which I thought was only okay in my book.... not really my style of Pinot Noir. It had a heaviness to it that reminds me of California Pinot Noirs that I do not like (I will be posting later on about California Pinot Noirs I do like, so stay tuned!)

And just like last year, there was a special turkey bread made from sourdough that graced our table. I didn't partake though, since I didn't want to fill up on bread.... pretty though.

I did, however, partake in these delicious, hot-from-the-oven corn muffins with a bit of cheddar on top. The fresh corn in the muffins went really well with the fresh corn in the corn chowder.

My contribution in terms of wine were my favorite 2007 Cotes du Rhone, La Cabotte, and 2008 Monchhof Urzig Wurzgarten Riesling Kabinett.

Both of these wines were for the turkey course, and they went really well! Of course! I would choose those two wines again in a heart beat. Everyone waxed poetically about how good the Riesling was. I'm glad I brought that because there was no still white wine besides it at the dinner.

And this is how that course looked like. Here, first, is the homemade chutney, which replaced cranberry sauce.

And the turkey course was beautiful, replete with spiral-cut ham, fluffy mashed potatoes, tasty gravy, stuffing, and green beans. Classic.

Following this parade of food were a few desserts, one which I made that could have turned out better than it did, but oh well!

It was a wonderful setting. 80 degree weather and everyone wearing their summer best for the first few hours of the party, followed by people bring out their hats and jackets and blankets when the sun went down around 4:30 pm. That's southern California folks.

Conversation topics ranged from the silly economy, work, Gary Danko (a restaurant I really want to go to in San Francisco), relationships, Christmas holiday plans and other things I don't remember.

We were ready to go by about 9:30 pm, which was good because the next day, we were headed up to the beautiful Santa Rita Hills wine country.

Recession Menus

2009-11-23T16:39:00.000-08:00

It's a phenomenon I've noticed this past year, maybe year and a half since this recession began - recession menu items, and its rampant, a sign of the times, a sign that this is what we can afford to eat now, what restaurants can afford to stock in their pantries and not be left holding the bag if customers don't come in... they don't end up with a bunch of fresh lobsters on their hands, or wild game, like elk tenderloins and buffalo rib eye steaks. All they will have is some hamburger meat and dinner rolls and some other cheap cuts of meat that people never saw on menus before, but now... now it is everywhere.

First, let me list what I am talking about - you see these menu items EVERYWHERE!

Sliders - ubiquitous. There's not a menu in a restaurant or restaurant bar that won't feature these little mini-hamburgers done with cute buns and a tiny patty. And most people like them because they are a fan of burgers, and this is a way they can eat burgers in a bar instead of in their car after going through the drive-through.

Braised pork belly - no one ate this fatty cut of meat before, but now, it is a staple on almost every menu - everyone puts this puppy in a crock pot, fills it with a braising liquid and leaves it there for several hours, and voila - braised pork belly, nice and lush and rich and never dry.

Braised short ribs - the other day, I heard a radio ad for a big high end steak house chain inviting folks to come in for their value menu which features this new addition - would you want to go to Ruths Chris and eat braised short rib?

Braised lamb shank - you see the pattern here - braised meats. Cheap cuts cooked long and slow, just like your momma used to make 'em!

Truffle mac n cheese (or 4 cheese mac n cheese) - this is Kraft dinner all grown up, in other words, macaroni or other short pasta in a casserole with cheese sauce and grated cheese, with a light drizzle of truffle oil.

Okay, that's all I can think of at the moment, but you get the idea. It isn't that I don't like these foods, it is that these menu items seem to crop up everywhere these days, even when it doesn't really fit the restaurant. But it is what restaurants must to these days to keep up with the demand for inexpensive menu choices - so I don't blame them. It just makes me want to throw up my arms when I see sliders, pork belly, short ribs, and mac n cheese on pretty much every menu I see these days!

Let's hope for better days in the near future so our menus can show a little more diversity again. Thank you!

The Choklit Shoppe - Chocolatt from Belgium - in West Los Angeles

2009-11-18T16:56:00.000-08:00

Been a while since I have been inspired to post anything, as you can probably tell. Today, I decided, I might have something, not about wine, but about something else almost as delectable.

I'm speaking about Chocolate, real Chocolate, the good kind, the fresh kind, the artisan kind. Belgian chocolate, called pralines, filled with a variety of goodies including ganache, all sorts of liquor such as Poire William (an eau de vie), Kirsch (cherry)... dark chocolates, milk chocolates, and even some white.

You can find these authentic Belgian chocolates at a very unique store on the west side of Los Angeles called Chocolatt from Belgium - 12008 Wilshire Blvd, near Bundy, in Los Angeles, 90025. It is hard to resist the goodies in this store when you enter - you will find yourself ordering a cup of their unique hot chocolate, which tastes literally like melted slabs of chocolate... they have some baked goods that are directly in from Europe - I believe the owner buys the frozen dough from France and bakes them in house... and then you can choose the chocolates for gifts and have it hand wrapped in front of you.

The owner is Tarcis - he is Flemish and from the town of Kortrijk (pronounced Kor-trek) in Belgium and he knows quality chocolate... one taste of his selections and you will too.

So if you are like me and enjoy good unique artisan products, and original gifts, and like supporting small businesses, check out this store on Wilshire Blvd and let me know what you think. They've been in busines for 7 years and are still going strong because their product is excellent and the service - very European and a pleasure.

I nailed it!

2009-10-21T21:01:00.000-07:00

Veal is not a meat I really grew up eating - the closest thing I had to it was pork... but it happened that I married someone who is quite fond of the veal chop. He orders it when he sees it on menus, and though I don't tend to order it, I have looked upon it fondly and wondered, could I make a nice veal chop at home?

I believe I have tried to do this before, and found I had myself an overprice dry pork-chop-like piece of meat. But tonight, the result was different.

I had purchased a couple of nice veal chops from Bristol Farms in Long Beach, and instead of seasoning them dry, I seasoned them with salt, pepper, and garlic powder, and coated them with a generous amount of vegetable oil. I would have used olive oil if I had it on hand, but canola oil was what I had, and that's what I used. The reason for this coating is that my last experience with a veal chop produced an excessively dry chop, and I had heard that a Tuscan style of grilling meat involved a generous marinade of olive oil. Hence the oil. And there was a smidge of Dijon mustard added for flavor.

The result was good. The chops were broiled in the oven, just a few minutes on each side, then left in the oven after the broiler was turned off so the insides could cook a bit after both sides had browned. The chops were nicely golden brown and crisp-appearing on the outside, and on the inside, just a hint of pink but not too rare - they were beige/pink on the inside. Perfectly moist, delicious, flavorful, a tad gamey but not excessively - I basically nailed the recipe and was very happy with the turnout. I would definitely make these again, in this manner!

I served it with steamed baby bok choy, because it was what I had.... any greens would have been a good accompliament.

Finally, the wine. We did have some with the chops - something perfect, in fact: 2004 Paulo Scavino Barolo - delicious, aromatic on the nose, silky on the palate, with just the right amount of fruit (ie not too much goopy fruit), a tiny bit of grip but not too much, not too acidic - a soft wine, really, but perfect with the delicate flavors of the veal - this is a wine that didn't need a steak or heavy game meat - it was delicious with the veal and by itself, and it only made me think I really don't drink enough Italian wine - I really need to get myself down to The Wine Country and stock up on maybe a 6-pack of an assortment of delicious Barolo. That would be serious fun.

So there you go - barolo and veal rib chop - if you haven't tried it before, do experience it, because it is a whole lot of goodness!