2010 Wine Year in Review

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

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

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

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

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

"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

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.