The Mystery of Mustard, or "Where does Dijon Mustard REALLY come from???"

Okay, so I haven't been blogging lately, because I have been visiting family in Canada. More specifically, in Saskatchewan. This is a province in Canada in a region called the Prairies, located somewhere in the middle, between the provinces of Alberta and Manitoba. Saskatchewan is a bread basket province, where grain and other foodstuffs grow in abundance, producing the raw materials that feed the city's supermarkets. From what I have heard from the locals, this vast land is home to the largest producer of canola (which makes canola oil, one of the healthiest oils after olive oil) and mustard seed in the WORLD. In fact, I heard these factoids from my sister-in-law.

Now, as a former nutritionist, I was somewhat already aware that canola is one of Canada's major food products, and I think even bottles of canola oil on supermarket shelves bears the words "Product of Canada" on them. But how about mustard?

What my sister-in-law Pat told me is that mustard seed is shipped as a raw product to various places in the world, including to France, specifically to Dijon, where they are legally allowed to make Dijon mustard. Apparently not anyone can make Dijon mustard, only Dijon can. I suppose it is an appellation controllee issue, or something akin to it.

I'm all for regulations that protect locals from making products with their own place names and people not stealing place names. For example, I am happy that tequila only comes from Mexico and Champagne only comes from Champagne. But does Dijon mustard come from Dijon? Even if they make the mustard? If 100% of the mustard seed or even if 50% of the mustard seed comes from Canada? I'm not questioning the quality of the product - I'm happy to consume Canadian products and feel they are top-notch, but are consumers a little tricked when they read "Product of France" on a bottle of Dijon mustard when really the processing and the bottling is done in France?

This opens (for me) a wider subject and that is the source of agricultural products that go into our labeled products. I know in the case of wine that when I visited Germany and went to the Friedrich Becker estate that 50% of their vineyards were in France (300 meters from their winery) but they were making German wine. That was a little strange but not too upsetting since their vineyard was literally walking distance across the border from their winery. But what about these little rumors I have heard that sometimes juice is shipped from one country to another to make wine in that second country, to have it only labeled as made in the second country?

In the case of spirits, when I was in Austria we tasted some of the eau de vies made by a great spirits distiller who took all sorts of fruit and veggies and fermented them and distilled them into fantastic and fun eau de vies. He did classic ones like pear, apple, apricots and berries, as well as very different ones such as carrot and ginger. He owned a ton of hectares of orchards where he tried to produce most of his own fruit for fermenting and distilling, but he also sourced quality fruit for some of his brews. For instance, his ginger (the young, tender ginger) was from China. But here's the thing: his eau de vies are all "Product of Austria."

Of course this is all legal, but my issue is, if the consumer begins to love a particular product, the way I think we love Dijon mustard, aren't we being somewhat fooled into thinking the mustard seed is grown in beautiful yellow fields in Burgundy? Why can't we handle the truth of it being from the fertile fields of Saskatchewan? And why must we ship loads of seed all the way over to France to turn into little pots of mustards when surely we can process that sort of thing here?

Austria Part IV: A ton of pictures of Tuesday - Kamptal & Krems Day

We had spent Monday night in the Parkhotel in the small town of Krems. Tuesday morning, we headed to the estate of Johannes Hirsch, where we tasted the wines of Hirsch, Brundlmayer, Hiedler, and Schloss Gobelsberg.

Above is Michi Moosbrugger, winemaker at Schloss Gobelsberg. We are inside the tasting room here, which has bright natural sunlight coming in from the large windows that look out onto two important single vineyard sites, two mountains, one called Heiligenstein and the other called Gaisberg. These vineyard names are found in high end Rieslings and Gruner Veltliner bottlings from Kamptal producers.


Above shows the mountain Heiligenstein, which is composed of primary rock. Mostly Riesling grows there, as it does very well on a rocky soil. Below is another shot through another window of the Heiligenstein.

Below here is the Gaisberg. Mainly loess soil, so mostly there is a terroir for Gruner Veltliner.

After extensive tasting with the 4 producers, we had a great lunch in a vineyard. Below is one of our dishes - sweetbreads served with potatoes.

After the lunch, we got to go on a vineyard walk on the vineyard Kaferberg with Willi Brundlmayer. There were many terraced vineyards.

When we got to the top, we were surprised by a tasting of the Brundlmayer Brut Rose and Brut sparkling wines! Delicious. I tried to take artistic pics of this.

There was this nice structure built up there on top of the hill right in the vineyard where such tastings and maybe picnics could take place. Quite fancy!

Here is Willi Brundlmayer showing us the lyre training of the vines, the "V" shaped trellissing which allows for maximal sunlight exposure and also allowing the wind to blow through and dry the grapes after rains.

After all that we went to visit Salomon. We had to stay under cover as it was raining significantly. When the rain stopped, he opened his garage door and there was his vineyard right behind, rising up right in the town of Krems.

Here he is outside, after the rains have stopped.

After the tasting at Salomon, we walked in the old town part of Krems. This town has been around for over 1,000 years.

Below is me posing with our rep, Adam Zuckert from WineWise (distributor of Terry Theise portfolio in California).

We walked to this old Austria restaurant called Jell ("yell") and had ourselves a delicious pork filled dinner.

Below is the appetizer - homemade bacon/ham and a scoop of liver pate.

And our main course was roast pork with the cracklins, and then dumplings filled also with pork! There was also wild mushrooms and saurkraut.

These paired exeedingly well with the Rieslings and Gruner Veltliners that the winemakers brought, including some delicious 2002s and older vintages!

A Tale of Two Reds (and a White)

Yesterday was Saturday, and every Saturday at the store, we put on a big tasting with a theme. Yesterday's theme was barbecue wines, and we had 12 of them out to taste - 2 whites, 1 rose, and 9 reds. Two of these wines were my picks, a white: 2006 Hirsch Gruner Veltliner which has a cartoon of a deer with a bottle on its head and a wine glass upside down on each antler. Too funny. The wine is delicious, very fresh and bright with great acidity - very indicative of the Kamptal region where it is from. Didn't sell too many bottles of this wine - could have been price point ($16.99) or more likely, I don't think Gruner Veltliner shows well in tastings. Even I wasn't that impressed with most Gruners I tasted in Austria - it's like tasting one light, someone lean citrusy green wine after another... I think Gruners really show their stuff when there's food, at the dinner table, or even with munchies outside and sipping a Gruner. On a tasting, it just comes off as "just there." Though some folks did appreciate its zippiness.

Onto the reds. My one red contribution was an odd Australian wine: 2003 Paiko Cabernet Sauvignon Petit Verdot Red Blend (55% Cabernet Sauvignon and 45% Petit Verdot). I believe it comes from Western Australia. Not only is the blend interesting, the price tag is also - $5.99 a bottle. This one ended up being sold out - 40 bottles sold yesterday. People seemed to like it. I think it is an okay wine, not bad. Not the best, but I guess no one expects a $6 wine to be the best thing they ever tasting, just something good for the price. I think it is. Hopefully we can get more of this wine.

Compare that to the wine I had for dinner last evening with rack of lamb - we decided to open something we have been saving since it was Saturday night and to be honest, I don't have a temperature-controlled wine fridge, so some of these wines are sitting in a dark cupboard. I feel the need to drink them before the summer is done. The wine was 2004 Clos des Papes Chateauneuf du Pape. Admittedly, I bought this wine from the store last year in the wintertime when the Wine Spectator named the 2005 Clos des Pape their Wine of the Year. Since we didn't have the 2005, I thought, the 2004 will do, especially since I heard this was a good producer overall.

The wine was very dense, with tons of red fruit, had significant barnyard/animal on the palate, and tons of spice. I enjoyed it, but not as much as I thought I would. It didn't seem to have depth or complexity, or anything that blew me away. Perhaps my expectations were too high? Or perhaps we opened this too young? Would it have been much better if we decanted? Or perhaps I don't really like Chateauneuf du Pape (anymore)? I don't know! I do recall this bottle was in the $80 range (like $87.99 thereabouts), so in conclusion, both Johan and I drinking this felt we probably wouldn't buy it again (we can't anyway - sold out - but just as an exercise we often wonder if we would buy again).

We did manage to finish the bottle though. So it was certainly a better wine than the $6 wine.

Hmm. Maybe we should have decanted...

Austria, Part III: Monday - a morning tasting and heading out of Vienna to the countryside

Monday morning, 4 days after my arrival to Vienna, I managed to make some time to go for a run through the city. This was my second and last run through Vienna, and I enjoyed seeing the city that way very much.

Afterwards, I joined a small group of others to attend the Women and Wine tasting, hosted by the female winemaker's group called 11 Frauen und Ihre Weine - "11 Women and Their Wine." What a friendly and beautiful group. The winemakers were charming and their wines were excellent. The tasting was held in a gorgeous old glass building in a park setting - it was like being in a solarium, and they hired a small band to play during the tasting. It was heavenly.

After that enjoyable tasting, it was time to return to the hotel, pack up, and board a bus to go visit the countryside. We were headed out toward the town of Krems, where we would be staying the evening, but first, we would visit a winery in the Wagram region and taste from three different producers.

This was a very modern winery and tasting room, nestled in the green rolling hills of the countryside.

After this tasting, we had some time to check into our hotel and take a short break. After that, we were scheduled to attend a party at Schloss Gobelsburg, an old monastery and winery that is about 2000 years old. The winemakers that are part of the Terry Theise portfolio in Austria banded together to make this wonderful party happen.

But first, a tour of the old monastery was in order:

They set up a party for us on the lawn - I felt like I was at a garden-style wedding reception. Indeed, this estate does host many weddings. They really out-did themselves here, making us feel really welcomed and pampered. There were wines galore, including some older vintages, and the food was amazing. It was a great way for us to get to know the winemakers and each other.

The following is a picture of the church which is just adjacent to the estate - it has this gorgeous steeple.

I didn't capture a picture of all the food, but I got this shot of the cheese plate. Everything was wonderful and exquisite. I had a really good time chatting with folks and enjoying the party. The day became more about the experience than the wine, and I was starting to learn how gracious and fun the Austrian people are. I also see them as who really appreciate beauty and the good things in life.

That was my Monday in Austria, and I have to say, it was a great Monday!

Back from the Terry Theise Tasting

So I'm back from the Terry Theise tasting. Terry Theise is the German and Austrian expert who works with Skurnik wines, who import these wines and who also sent me to Austria a couple of weeks ago.

I was very happy tasting the Austrian portfolio, and I have to say, I enjoyed myself so much that I felt my objectivity was lacking. My favorite wines and my favorite producers from Austria took me back to that place. Putting those wines in my mouth literally transported me there. They took on a fantastic new dimension, and there is no going back. No longer are these Austrian wines simply an opening act for the Germans!

The German wines in the Terry Theise portfolio did not interest me as much. Exceptions were the offerings from two Mosel producers, Reuscher-Haart from Piesport and Martin Kerpen from Bernkastel/Wehlen. These portfolios I liked and I will be buying from the pre-offer. But aside from these, I liked the Rudi Wiest portfolio across the board more.

So back to Austria - I feel confident in bringing in Nikolaihof, Hirsch, Solomon, Prier, and maybe Sattler. So exciting. I feel my Austrian sales rising, this whole department growing. This next year will bring much to the Austrian department - I can feel it!

Dinner with Austrian wine - Gruner starting to seriously grow on me!

So last evening, Saturday, Johan and I joined friends Natasha and Peter at Wilshire, a restaurant on Wilshire Blvd in Santa Monica, to which both Natasha & Peter have been to, but we have not. They also said they enjoyed this great white Austrian wine from the wine list, which I guessed to be Gruner Veltliner, so of course I was looking forward to tasting this and seeing how it was.

We arrived to the restaurant before sundown, and entered a very dark, well-appointed room with a well-stocked bar and a dining area with cozy booths and tables. We got a corner booth, squeezed in, and Peter took out the bottle of red he had brought: 2003 Sattler Zweigelt.

We ordered the only Gruner Veltliner that was on the wine list - 2006 Salomon Hochterrassen Gruner Veltliner - they first brought vintage 2004 but I rejected it (hee hee) and they did produce a bottle of unchilled 2006. After a quick pop off with the screw cap and a satisfactory taste, it went in the ice bucket.

So we had red and white wine almost simultaneously, for sipping between courses and with our appetizers and mains. I had mussels in a curry broth for my appetizer while Johan had the steak tartare; for our mains, I had the braised short ribs served on mashed Yukon gold potatoes, while Johan had a seared duck breast. Natasha had the miso marinated black cod while Peter had hamachi (yellow tail) and a very fresh-looking salad. I enjoyed the Gruner Veltliner a lot. This is the second Gruner Veltliner I have had with dinner since I returned from Austria and I think I'm getting hooked! Who would have thunk it? It truly went with all my foods and was a great sipper in between. Sure, I switched over to some red while having the short ribs, but only briefly. I thought the acidity and fruit in the Gruner Veltliner was fantastic.

So I have to repeat, who would have thunk it? I didn't even really fall for Gruner when I was in Austria. I thought even on the last evening - ho hum, Austrian wine, yawn, give me some German Riesling please. But after returning home, something clicked. I missed my Gruner and started drinking it with meals.

Now I am starting to see why some people on the trip told me that they go through more Austrian wine than German.

This is how I see it: German Riesling - there is nothing nobler. Riesling is a noble grape variety, and there's no question about this, even from the Austrians - it's a grape that grows on vines that cling to the rocky hillsides like nothing else, and it can be cropped to low yields that provides some serious, serious stuff. Gruner, on the other hand, cannot be cropped to super low yields - it has to grow on some looser soil (in Austria, it is mostly found on this fine stuff called loess) while holds water and allows the Gruner to not get too water-stressed. (When it gets cropped to too low yields, the wine gets too concentrated, too high in alcohol and develops too many weird flavors, I have been told).

So Gruner is something simpler, you might say, than Riesling. It is something simple but damn good. Maybe it is like Sauvignon Blanc or Chenin Blanc - while not the mighty Chardonnay (which does damn great things in places like Champagne and Burgundy, and some might argue, other places), Sauvignon Blanc and Chenin Blanc can make for some pretty terrific, pretty tasty wines.

I think that's where Gruner Veltliner belongs. Up there with tasty terroir-driven, hand-crafted Loire-style Sauvignon Blanc and Chenin Blanc. Gruner from its native Austria. Try some today.

2007 Germany - Rudipalooza Style!

Just got back from L.A.'s Rudipalooza - that's Rudi Wiest's tasting. This is the start of their vintage tour. They just got in from Germany yesterday, tomorrow they go up to San Francisco, then Friday down to San Diego then whirlwind across the country after that.

A lot of great producers down here this year, and I managed, after tasting 100 wines, to take pics with a few of them. Here is Dorothee Zilliken from Forstmeister Geltz-Zilliken from the Saar region:

Dorothee is super sweet and also a very intelligent woman and I love her whole attitude. She is lovely to be around. I met her about a month ago when she did a tasting for us in the store. Wonderful person.

Here is the hottie: Mr. Tim Frohlich of Schafer-Frohlich. Sorry to be disrespectful by referring to his appearance, but I am still in the ether as I just left the tasting a couple of hours ago. Tim Frohlich makes some sensational lazer-beam awesome wines from the Nahe, and he rivals Donnhoff in the Nahe region. Here he is, Mr. Top Gun:

Here is the winemaker Michael, I forgot his last name, from Wegeler Rheingau:

Great tasting. Shown in this pic in the foreground is Felix Buerklin from Kunstler. The wines there showed excellent. I enjoyed in particular the 2007 Spatburgunder which I think I want to possess now. The one next to his is Johannes, the new rep from Robert Weil now that Karina Stuhler is staying home more with her new son. Next to him is Dorothee Zilliken, then next to him is Mr. Tyrell, who is the brother of the owner of the estate Karthauserhof. I can't see who is next after him but other stars that were present were Bert Selbach from Dr. F. Weins-Prum and of course Robert Eymael from Monchhof.

All in all, a great tasting of the highly lauded 2007 wines, which were all delicious and perfect in structure, although, for me, I also liked the 2006 and 2005 wines, so 2007 while fantastic, is not the end all and be all. I love the 2007s and will probably buy a ton nevertheless. right now the 2007s are being compared to the 1971s in that their clean fruit is tops - that is fantastic since ageability of these wines is so important.

Oh, I also got to taste a 1997 Gunderloch Nackenheimer rothenberg riesling Auslese that was really a pleasure. Always great to taste an older riesling!