Greetings,
We're NOT meeting tonight.
Not sure what/where we're doing/going next week.
It won't be Shiraz/Syrah.
Cheers,
Jim
----- Forwarded message from "Jim L. Ellingson" <jellings(a)me.umn.edu> -----
Date: Thu, 27 Jul 2006 12:53:09 -0500
From: "Jim L. Ellingson" <jellings(a)me.umn.edu>
To: wine(a)thebarn.com
Subject: [wine] May not be meeting tonight.
Greetings,
Seems to be some confusion about our meeting tonight.
Some folks are doing the Wine street Brdx tasting.
I have just 3 for Auriga, and in this heat, I could pass too.
Betsy
Russ
Jim
I'm stuck in a meeting until 3.
WE need to call Bob if we want a reservation.
My vote is to postpone the Shiraz at Auriga until next week.
I will update when I know more.
Cheers,
Jim
--
------------------------------ *
* Dr. James Lee Ellingson, Adjunct Professor jellings(a)me.umn.edu *
* University of Minnesota, tel: 651/645-0753 fax 651 XXX XXXX *
* Great Lakes Brewing News, 1569 Laurel Ave., St. Paul, MN 55104 *
----- End forwarded message -----
--
------------------------------ *
* Dr. James Lee Ellingson, Adjunct Professor jellings(a)me.umn.edu *
* University of Minnesota, tel: 651/645-0753 fax 651 XXX XXXX *
* Great Lakes Brewing News, 1569 Laurel Ave., St. Paul, MN 55104 *
Greetings,
Seems to be some confusion about our meeting tonight.
Some folks are doing the Wine street Brdx tasting.
I have just 3 for Auriga, and in this heat, I could pass too.
Betsy
Russ
Jim
I'm stuck in a meeting until 3.
WE need to call Bob if we want a reservation.
My vote is to postpone the Shiraz at Auriga until next week.
I will update when I know more.
Cheers,
Jim
--
------------------------------ *
* Dr. James Lee Ellingson, Adjunct Professor jellings(a)me.umn.edu *
* University of Minnesota, tel: 651/645-0753 fax 651 XXX XXXX *
* Great Lakes Brewing News, 1569 Laurel Ave., St. Paul, MN 55104 *
----- Forwarded message from "Jim L. Ellingson" <jellings(a)me.umn.edu> -----
Date: Wed, 26 Jul 2006 10:45:56 -0500
From: "Jim L. Ellingson" <jellings(a)me.umn.edu>
To: wine(a)thebarn.com
Subject: [wine] Shiraz/Syrah at Auriga
Fantastic fun at Bob's last week. Thanks to all who came, cooked,
and un-corked.
Date: Wed, 28 Jun 2006 13:23:12 -0500
From: "Jim L. Ellingson" <jellings(a)me.umn.edu>
To: wine(a)thebarn.com
----- Forwarded message from "Jim L. Ellingson" <jellings(a)me.umn.edu> -----
From: "Jim L. Ellingson" <jellings(a)me.umn.edu>
To: wine(a)thebarn.com
Greetings,
This week, Shiraz and Syrah wines at Auriga.
Sparkling/white/ringer/dessert wines always welcome.
Auriga Rest.
1930 Hennepin Ave, Mpls, 55403
612-871 -0777
Who: (mostly guesses)
Wine Pro Lori
Wine Pro Emeritas Bob
Betsy
Ruth
Bill
Nicolai
Karin
Jim
Russ
Give Bob a call. 612-672-0607
Cheers,
Jim
July 26, 2006
Creamy, Healthier Ice Cream? What.s the Catch?
By JULIA MOSKIN
IN its quest to create ice cream as voluptuous as butter and as virtuous as broccoli, the ice cream industry has probed the depths of the Arctic Ocean, studied the intimate structures of algae and foisted numerous failures on the American public.
.I have tried them all as they came down the pike: dairy-free, fat-free, sugar-free; with tofu, yogurt, rice, whatever,. said Linda Calhoun, a teacher who lives near Flagstaff, Ariz., cataloguing the disappointments she has tasted over the years. .They always make me sad..
For Americans who spend each summer wrestling with temptation, there is fresh hope in the freezer case. New industrial processes, including one that involves a protein cloned from the blood of an Arctic Ocean fish, have allowed manufacturers to produce very creamy, dense, reduced-fat ice creams with fewer additives. The new products appeal to those who have acquired a taste for superpremium high-fat ice cream but cannot stomach its fat content.
Edy.s (branded as Dreyer.s west of the Rockies) has tripled sales in its reduced-fat line since replacing its Grand Light with Slow Churned in 2004. Breyers introduced Double Churned flavors last year and has nearly doubled its product line. More than just marketing-speak, slow-churned and double-churned each refers to a process called low-temperature extrusion, which significantly reduces the size of the fat globules and ice crystals in ice cream.
Banking on the creamy mouth-feel of these new formulations, even H�agen-Dazs launched a line of Light ice creams last year to complement its butterfat-rich line. .We waited years and years for this technology,. said Gulbin Hoeberechts, a marketing manager for the company. .Before, our only choices would have been adding air, water or ingredients that don.t belong in ice cream..
Almost all commercial ice creams contain industrial ingredients that mimic the luxurious effects of butterfat and egg yolks: some are natural, like carrageenan, extracted from algae plentiful in the Irish Sea; others are synthetic, like mono- and diglycerides.
But using new technologies can be risky for manufacturers. The other new method for making supercreamy ice cream was caught up last month in the global debate over genetically modified foods. In June, Unilever, the Anglo-Dutch conglomerate, applied to Britain.s Food Standards Agency for permission to use a new ingredient in its frozen desserts . a protein cloned from the blood of an eel-like Arctic Ocean fish, the ocean pout.
Instead of extracting the protein from the fish, which Unilever describes as .not sustainable or economically feasible. in its application, the company developed a process for making it, by altering the genetic structure of a strain of baker.s yeast so that it produces the protein during fermentation.
This ingredient, called an ice-structuring protein, has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration and is used by Unilever to make some products in the United States, like some Popsicles and a new line of Breyers Light Double Churned ice cream bars.
.Ice-structuring proteins protect the fish, which would otherwise die in freezing temperatures,. said H. Douglas Goff, professor of dairy sciences at the University of Guelph in Ontario. .They also make ice cream creamier, by preventing ice crystals from growing..
In Britain, where Unilever.s Cornetto cone is as iconic as the Fudgsicle is in the United States, the news media have leapt in with headlines about .vaneela. ice cream. Britain, like the rest of the European Union, requires labeling for any food that has contact with genetically altered material, even if that substance is not present in the finished product. In its application Unilever stressed that no DNA or other .material from fish. is used in the process. But genetically modified foods have yet to gain wide acceptance from the European public, and Unilever has found itself the unwilling center of attention.
.It.s unfortunate that this happened to come out during our so-called summer when people are interested in ice cream,. said Trevor Gorin, head of media relations for Unilever in the United Kingdom. .I can.t tell you how many times I.ve had to explain that no, the Cornetto will not taste fishy..
The United States has no regulations requiring the labeling of genetically modified food, which has become increasingly common at every point in the food chain. Until recently, its practical applications were mostly in developing strains of crops, like soybeans and corn, that are more resistant to stresses like disease, weather and insects.
But research by people like Professor Goff is beginning to bear fruit for the processed-food industry: proteins like the ones found in the ocean pout are an example.
For consumers, the benefit is that ice-structuring proteins and low-temperature extrusion have raised the .creaminess. bar for the ice cream industry.
.The ice creams produced with the new methods are simply better than any ice creams have ever been,. Professor Goff said. .Quite definitely better in texture, and much better tasting..
A tasting by the staff of the Dining section found the Breyers Light Double Churned chocolate ice cream bar with the ice-structuring protein very creamy, even dense. It was the favorite of five ice cream bars tasted. The H�agen-Dazs Light and the Breyers Light chocolate ice cream, using low-temperature extrusion, were also very creamy and did not seem to be low-fat. But tasters found that the new ice creams still lagged behind full-fat versions in flavor.
.The quest has always been for the taste and texture of full-fat ice cream,. said Tyler Johnston of Edy.s. .Since the 1980.s it.s been about adding ingredients,. he said, referring to the gels and gums that commercial producers churn into reduced-fat ice cream to improve and stabilize its texture. .Now we have a complicated process, but the recipe can be simplified,. he added, referring to the industrial freezers that reduce the ice cream from minus 5 to minus 25 degrees Celsius for low-temperature extrusion.
The public seems persuaded. Shelf space for Dreyer.s/Edy.s Slow Churned, Breyers Light Double Churned and H�agen-Dazs Light has consistently expanded since they appeared. The category to which they belong, reduced fat, is the only part of the ice cream market that has been increasing in sales. As defined by the F.D.A., light or reduced-fat products can contain up to half the fat grams and two-thirds the calories of the original. (For a product like H�agen-Dazs dulce de leche ice cream, this means a reduction from 18 fat grams to 7 in the Light line; a low-fat product can have no more than three fat grams per serving.)
While full-fat ice cream still makes up more than 65 percent of the total market, the International Dairy Foods Association says that sales in the category have been flat for three years and that sales of low-fat and nonfat ice cream have gone down in the same period.
Professor Goff said that outside the United States the significance of the new technologies would be noted not on the palate but on the pallet. .American companies are getting ready to export ice cream to China, India, the Philippines,. he said. .These are places that have very real cold-chain issues,. he said, referring to the challenge of keeping ice cream consistently frozen throughout the shipping process.
Products produced with the new technologies are less affected by partial thawing than traditional ice creams, which become dry, sticky and hard in fluctuating temperatures. (This is why letting a container of ice cream thaw on the counter before scooping it is a bad idea.)
.Ice crystals are everyone.s enemy in ice cream,. said Arnold Carbone, the head of the Ben and Jerry.s research lab in South Burlington, Vt. (Ben and Jerry.s, now also owned by Unilever, does not use either new process.) .Ice cream is an emulsion of air, fat and water, and emulsions are always fragile because the elements want to separate..
Every time ice cream thaws slightly, the emulsion is compromised and the ice crystals combine into larger, jagged crystals that destroy the ice cream.s texture. .This is the drama of the cold chain,. he said. .Every minute that ice cream sits on a loading dock, it suffers incredible abuse..
Professor Goff, whose lab is working on a process of extracting ice structuring proteins from winter wheat, has a low-tech solution for those trying to avoid crystallization. .It.s simple,. he said. .Never leave a container of ice cream unfinished..
Tipping Point
Bad service? Whatever your peeve, don't get mad, get management.
by Dara Moskowitz
Dear Dara,
In the past, you have run letters from diners frustrated at the poor quality of service at local restaurants. I am writing from a different point of view: that of the server. I work at a very busy local restaurant that has been characterized by some as an institution. I recently calculated that in the past few years, I have waited on as many as 10,000 people.
Naturally, it's expected that I take care of the guest. But it seems a great many of the dining public don't understand that monetary compensation is expected in return for quality service. I have worked long enough in this industry to be able to safely conclude that there is absolutely no relationship between the level of service I provide and the tip I receive, and I have accepted this. Nonetheless, I always do my best to deliver the highest quality service.
I hope you would be willing to enlighten the local dining public on a few points:
1. Some people feel entitled to treat their servers with as little respect as they like, but these same individuals want us to treat them kindly and respectfully. Servers are not slaves, nor are they punching bags.
2. The standard tip is 20 percent. If you cannot afford to tip your server, you cannot afford to eat in a restaurant that offers table service. The reasons servers deserve 20 percent are the very demanding physical nature of the job and the constant disrespect and degradation we endure with a smile on a daily basis, as well as the knowledge of food and drink that we provide.
3. I, like most servers, am required to tip the bar staff and my assistant, which totals 30 percent of my tips at the end of the night, another thing most customers don't seem to appreciate or have any awareness of at all.
4. There is a reason why your mother always said to keep your elbows off the table. It is difficult to set a table with flatware, and to serve drinks and food when your elbows are occupying the surface in front of you.
5. The bar is for drinks and tables are for food. If you are only getting drinks during dinner hours, it is recommended that you do so at the bar instead of taking up valuable table space.
6. Please and thank you: use them.
It might seem like I am simply venting, but I guess I'm actually searching for a reason why some people find 10 and 15 percent tips acceptable when I have done everything I can to offer them good service. Last night, for example, a couple left me $10 on a $150 tab. I couldn't think of a reason in the world why people who can afford a $75 bottle of wine cannot afford to leave a decent tip.especially when I assisted them with selecting the bottle. Clearly, they're the kind of people who don't feel obligated to tip on wine. But they didn't even leave me a decent tip on the meal that I served them to the best of my ability on a busy Saturday night. I can't quite figure out what these sort of people expect from me. A lap dance?
In the end, I would like all of them (bad tippers and rude customers) to know that the one thing I've concluded in my years of service is that the tip reflects more on the guest than it does on me.
.Andrea, Sick of Crappy Treatment
Dear ASOCT,
Are people really not tipping out there? I almost can't believe it. Let me tell you about the worst service I ever had. It was in a small Italian restaurant in south Minneapolis, and Dude was coked out of his gourd. After describing dishes so quickly I couldn't keep up, and after working a glorious up-sell of a wine that the restaurant ultimately didn't even have, Dude proceeded to hallucinate imaginary objects beneath my table, dove down after them, and passed out. Acting as if this happened every day, which it well might have, the rest of the staff gathered round and carried Dude off, one server at each shoulder, and the server's assistant, who might better have been called the server's enabler, carrying his feet. The server's enabler then brought the dessert tray, and, soon enough, the check. I tipped, in a flummoxed, giggly sort of way, 20 percent.though why was not entirely clear. For the widows and Hazelden, I suppose. I just kind of assumed everyone was as goofy as I. No?
To find out, I called up managers at one of the Minneapolis restaurants regarded as having some of the most flawless service in town.Zelo, the downtown Rick Webb-owned restaurant that is sister to suburban Bacio and Ciao Bella (Zelo; 831 Nicollet Mall, Minneapolis; 612.333.7000). What exactly is it that they do at Zelo that they don't do at other restaurants? I spoke to both the general manager Jason Gillquist and manager Scott Schoenig, and they both emphasized that what sets Zelo apart is not the training and the excellent staff, though they do have lots of training and an excellent staff, it's the management support for both server and guest.
"The smallest of the smallest goes to management here," explained Schoenig. "Any time we do a pre-shift [meeting] we convey to our staff the importance of keeping in mind that situations can go awry very quickly, and we don't want our staff to be putting out the fires, we'd much rather have that in our hands. It's the name of the restaurant on the line, and we'd much rather have a salaried employee making those decisions for us than an hourly employee."
What is the smallest of the smallest? "If someone says, 'My Diet Coke tastes like Coke,' it would be easy enough to simply go to another bar gun and get a different Diet Coke," says Gillquist. "But even in that instance we want the server to get a manager, because it might be that something bigger is messed up, and we need to know." Likewise, if there's a beggar annoying guests on the patio, if a guest reports a steak was delicious but a hair overdone, if a loudmouth at table 43 is obviously making guests at table 42 uncomfortable, the Zelo managers want to know.
"The 'get a manager' philosophy is preached on a shift-by-shift basis," explains Gillquist. "From our perspective we don't want a server to be distracted by a problem, we want them to be working at the best of their ability for all the rest of their tables, and for the guest, a free dessert to cure a problem is never nearly as satisfying as knowing that the person who has the power to really hear the problem and solve the situation is right here in front of me."
To that end, Zelo typically has three.count 'em, three.managers "floating" the floor on a busy night. Three managers: that's a lot of money to spend on salaries for people who are neither preparing, carrying, nor cleaning plates of food. "This stems from Rick Webb's philosophy," explains Gillquist. "We have more management coverage than most restaurants, because of his belief in the importance of management in the guest's experience." I actually hadn't ever heard it put that way, but when Gillquist said it, it does seem to me that the difference between restaurants with good service and bad service is in fact the owner's philosophy.
One part of Zelo's management philosophy has to do with "server sequence," the way a server brings the drinks in the first go-round, the entrees in a later one, and so on. "One-timing" a server throws off his or her sequence. For instance, let's say the first delivery of drinks consists of four glasses of water and a beer. When those hit the table a second guest decides yeah, he'd like a beer too. And when the second beer is delivered, the third guest decides, yeah, he'd like a beer also. At this point the server has made three trips for one drink order, her sequence is off, and her other tables are having less time devoted to them than is ideal.
"This should be something that management is in tune with," says Gillquist. "Here, management does our best to maintain server sequence, and we will leap in to help if things get off track." And how exactly does management keep in tune with that level of detail? By staying in visual contact with all servers and guests, throughout every meal.
Because of all this, Zelo is able to make most guests very happy, even through disastrous acts of God that would trip up other restaurants. For instance, last summer one of Zelo's light-control boards blew up, plunging the dining rooms into total darkness in the middle of dinner. "We offered to find other [restaurant's tables] for everyone, but almost all decided not to go anywhere," Gillquist recalls. "We ended up having a full night, with candles on all the tables. It was essentially a party atmosphere."
That said, Gillquist estimates that 75 percent of Zelo servers get an across-the-board 20 percent on the whole bill, including tax.no small thing downtown, where all the Convention Center taxes hit, and food tax is 10 percent, and liquor 12 percent. Most of the remaining diners, he says, typically don't tip on either wine or tax, and then there are the jerks.
"We're very aware of the level of talent we have in this building," says Gillquist. "Our servers truly care about the guest experience top to bottom, but of course we're human and we do stumble occasionally, and we do whatever we can in those instances to make things right. That said, it's frustrating for a server when they're being treated by the guests as if they don't care, as if they're just a money-hungry vulture waiting for the tip. There are people who think it's okay to be rude because servers don't do real jobs, and so they're subhuman, and it's okay to scream or swear at them."
Egad! Is that common? "I wouldn't call it common," Gillquist notes dryly. "But I wouldn't call it uncommon."
But back to the issue of tipping. Gillquist told me another thing I hadn't realized about tipping, namely, how the IRS approaches it these days. The IRS considers an 18 to 20 percent tip standard, and also assumes the server will be tipping a third of that to server's assistants, sushi chefs, the bar, and such, and so taxes, as income, 13 percent of any server's net sales. Net sales include wine. So, when Zelo and other big restaurants cut their servers' checks they factor that 13 percent into their withholding, and cut them not checks, but accountings of what they owe to various governments. This means that if you stiff your server on a $1,000 bill, he or she is still going to have to pay income tax on the $130 the government assumes you paid them. They're not just stiffed, they're out an additional $30 or more.
"Stiffing somebody? That's the biggest insult in the world..." This time I called up Tim Niver, a co-owner of new hipster hotspot Town Talk, the diner with fine-dining accents. I wanted to get his perspective on service, as he was once general manager of the Minneapolis Aquavit, and now can be seen many nights in a server's black jacket on the floor of his bustling diner-with-benefits. "It's just classless," he concluded eventually, and I could tell he was sifting his words carefully, trying not to curse. "Honestly. I would never suggest not tipping. If you're not going to tip you just shouldn't pay the bill, it's that bad."
So what should diners do if they're not happy, if the much-repeated solution of not tipping is not acceptable? Above all, ask for a manager, say both Gillquist and Niver. "When I get a letter or a phone call a day later, that's frustrating to me," says Gillquist. "We spend so much time trying to see problems before they get out of control, but if we miss something you have to speak up, because we are willing to take care of any problem immediately, and if you leave angry you didn't give us the opportunity to fix things. When I ask people [in those instances of delayed complaints] why they didn't say something [before leaving the restaurant] they usually say, 'I didn't want to make a stink in front of everyone,' or, 'We were pressed for time and just wanted to go.' But my advice is you'll feel better, because you won't be pissed off, and we would rather hear it right away. In fact, we will thank you for the opportunity to right a wrong."
Niver concurs: "Don't leave angry. Don't get in your car and tell 30,000 people your experience was bad. Call over a manager immediately. If you leave pissed off, how effective is it for me to improve my business, or fire that stupid server?" In fact, says Niver, if you're having a problem at your table and the server hasn't already told his or her management, that itself is a bad sign. If there isn't any management, that's the worst one. "It's a circus without a ringleader!" says Niver. "There are no final answers or satisfying resolutions to any problems."
It makes me think that if you really want to assure good service, you should call ahead to make sure there's a manager in the house when you are. I thought I'd end this story in a sneaky, insider-y way, calling up some of the restaurants I've gotten the most complaints about, and asking to speak with their managers, to find out their management philosophy. I reached the worst offender before lunch on a Thursday, and learned there wouldn't be any management onsite until dinner Friday. Now I've got a new mantra: There's no such thing as bad service, just bad management.
� � Vol 27 � Issue 1338 � PUBLISHED 7/26/2006
URL: www.citypages.com/databank/27/1338/article14560.asp
HOME: www.citypages.com
City Pages is the Online News and Arts Weekly of the Twin Cities
--
------------------------------ *
* Dr. James Lee Ellingson, Adjunct Professor jellings(a)me.umn.edu *
* University of Minnesota, tel: 651/645-0753 fax 651 XXX XXXX *
* Great Lakes Brewing News, 1569 Laurel Ave., St. Paul, MN 55104 *
Fantastic fun at Bob's last week. Thanks to all who came, cooked,
and un-corked.
Date: Wed, 28 Jun 2006 13:23:12 -0500
From: "Jim L. Ellingson" <jellings(a)me.umn.edu>
To: wine(a)thebarn.com
----- Forwarded message from "Jim L. Ellingson" <jellings(a)me.umn.edu> -----
From: "Jim L. Ellingson" <jellings(a)me.umn.edu>
To: wine(a)thebarn.com
Greetings,
This week, Shiraz and Syrah wines at Auriga.
Sparkling/white/ringer/dessert wines always welcome.
Auriga Rest.
1930 Hennepin Ave, Mpls, 55403
612-871 -0777
Who: (mostly guesses)
Wine Pro Lori
Wine Pro Emeritas Bob
Betsy
Annette S.
Ruth
Bill
Nicolai
Karin
Jim
Russ
Give Bob a call. 612-672-0607
Cheers,
Jim
Syrah, at home on the coast
By Corie Brown
Times Staff Writer
July 19, 2006
RON MELVILLE and his son, Chad, can't both be right about Santa Rita Hills Syrah.
It's too cold here to grow Syrah, according to the elder Melville, who used his stock-market fortune to build the family winery just north of Santa Barbara in the mid-1990s. The Santa Rita Hills region should focus on Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, he says. It's smart marketing to limit the varietals produced here.
The younger Melville looks down at his lap as his father talks about tearing out three acres of Syrah grapevines last year to expand Melville Vineyard and Winery's Pinot Noir plantings. Chad lost that battle. Melville's vineyard manager, Chad is also an aspiring winemaker who's bet his future on Santa Rita Hills Syrah. To succeed, he has to prove his father wrong.
Chad, 35, may feel like an outcast in his family, but he is far from alone in his passion for Santa Rita Hills Syrahs. Two of the Central Coast's most celebrated vintners . Manfred Krankl, owner of Sine Qua Non, and Adam Tolmach, owner of the Ojai Vineyard . are shifting from making Syrah from grapes grown in warmer regions to focus on Santa Rita Hills fruit. Cool-climate Syrahs, they say, are among California's most exciting emerging wines. These sophisticated wines offer connoisseurs complex aromas and flavors. Yet the wines have California's signature sun-powered bravura, setting them apart from the Syrahs produced in France's Rh�ne Valley.
Syrah may be difficult to grow this close to the cold Pacific Ocean, Chad says later on a walk through Melville Vineyards' few remaining Syrah acres. But the spicy, aromatic wines are worth the risk. He's buying Syrah grapes from a new grower in the region, Ampelos Cellars and Vineyards, to be able to make enough wine to support his fledgling Samsara label. It's a project he works on in a rented garage he shares with two other winemakers in the region.
The region's Syrah supporters include other emerging winemakers too. A core group of Santa Barbara County's young "garagista" winemakers are bypassing the area's mainstay, Pinot Noir, to champion cool-climate Syrah, scouring the Santa Rita Hills for the best fruit and hoping to prove their winemaking prowess with these challenging wines. A handful of new vineyard owners have planted new Syrah vineyards.
"When grapes are grown on the edge of where they will ripen, you are in the right place," Tolmach says. With Syrah, that's where the grapes produce wines with enough acids and tannins for firm structure to support inky, white pepper, lilac, lavender, and wild game flavors. "Any warmer, and you lose the exotic qualities."
In this family feud, "Chad's got it right," says Tolmach, who has a long-term contract for Syrah from Melville vineyards. "Dad's a businessman."
Choosing varieties
RON MELVILLE has done the math. Demand for Pinot Noir is skyrocketing and Syrah, he says, has become a costly distraction. He and other members of the Santa Rita Hills Winegrowers Alliance voted in 2002 to exclude from membership anyone who didn't focus on Pinot Noir or Chardonnay. Catholic monks spent centuries experimenting with vineyards in Burgundy before they declared Pinot and Chardonnay to be God's chosen wines for the region. A calculator and a few quick meetings were all the group needed to come to a similar conclusion.
That means Krankl won't be allowed to join their group. After 12 years of buying Syrah from vineyards throughout California's Central Coast region, Krankl is now homing in on cool-climate Syrah and is pouring his energies into developing his own Syrah vineyards in Santa Rita Hills.
"I wouldn't have joined their group anyway," Krankl says. As a winemaker, he's never had much interest in conventional wisdom. Working in a converted chicken shack in Ojai, Krankl has mailing-list customers eager to buy every wine he makes. He switches fruit sources whenever he finds grapes he prefers, never making exactly the same wine twice. "People buy Sine Qua Non. They don't seem to give a toot where it's from," he says.
Working with so many vineyards over so many years, says Krankl, "has allowed me to see what fruit does in different climates. I'm drawn to the cooler areas. I like the way the fruit expresses itself." In general, cool-climate fruit is more acidic and tannic, he says. Syrah from warmer regions is fruitier and less complex.
Santa Rita Hills Syrah ripens very slowly. "We are always at the end of October or into November when we pick fruit," he says. In a cold year, fruit may not ripen until December. Though the chances of mold and mildew increase with the late date, Krankl says he's willing to make the trade-off for the distinctive white pepper and floral aromatics and flavors.
Krankl planted here in 2000 and, gradually, as the vineyards mature, he says, he's using the fruit in his Syrah blends, dropping his grape contracts with other vineyards. Papa Syrah, his latest release, includes 28% Santa Rita Hills fruit.
This unannounced shift to Santa Rita Hills has gone largely unnoticed by his new neighbors, most of whom don't know that Krankl has planted 10 acres of Syrah, seven acres of Grenache, three acres of Roussanne and one acre of Viognier in the southeastern corner of the region, near the original Sanford & Benedict Vineyard. It's not a secret, he says. "I'm just not on the circuit with the other winemakers."
Equally out of sync with mainstream thinking, Tolmach makes a wide variety of single-vineyard Syrahs with fruit he buys from vineyards throughout the Central Coast. One of the warmest regions from which he's bought grapes is Happy Canyon near Lake Cachuma in the eastern part of Santa Barbara County. Moving west from there, the temperature drops a degree every mile or so for the 20 miles to the western edge of Santa Rita Hills. Along that continuum, the resulting Syrahs transform from big, juicy fruit bombs to tight, tannic wines with firm acids and spicy aromas that, in some wines, you can discern at arm's length.
Syrahs in the middle range . complex but still fruity . are the signature of Ballard Canyon, halfway between Happy Canyon and Santa Rita Hills. And "cool climate" doesn't just refer to Santa Rita Hills. In the hills west of Ballard Canyon, Bien Nacido, Alisos, Thompson and Whitehawk vineyards produce cool-climate Syrah. Bob Lindquist makes his well-regarded Qup� Syrah with Bien Nacido Vineyard fruit.
It's just that Santa Rita Hills is chillier than those other vineyards, Tolmach says. "And that makes those wines just so much more interesting."
In his quest to find the edge of where Syrah will grow, Tolmach is making a new Ojai Vineyard Syrah from fruit grown at Presidio Vineyard & Winery, west of Santa Rita Hills, closer to the Pacific Ocean and a few degrees cooler. In barrel now, the wine is showing signs that this further extreme climate may produce an even more exotic wine, he says. (Presidio Winery's Syrah produced by vineyard owner Douglas Braun was the favorite wine in a Times tasting. See box.)
That doesn't mean cool-climate Syrahs are always crowd pleasers, Tolmach says. "Syrahs from cool climates can be pretty wacky in their youth. They show a lot better after some time in the bottle," he says.
Time in the bottle
DEPENDING on the vintage, that need for extra time in the bottle can be dramatic. At lunch recently, Tolmach opened one of his Melville Vineyard Syrahs from the 2000 vintage, a year when he delayed harvest until well into November waiting for the grapes to ripen.
The wine delivered heady aromas but, on the palate, was tight and tannic . seriously in need, he said, of another year or two in the cellar. He then opened a 2003 Melville Syrah, a warmer year when harvest was finished in October. The wine was generous and fruity while still exotically spicy.
"Syrah is the grape variety in California that Merlot was supposed to be," Tolmach says. "It makes dramatically different wines depending on the climate."
Easy to cultivate in a wide variety of places, Syrah started out as a warm-climate grape in California, and consumers familiar with Australia's jammy Shiraz wines could easily relate to the early California Syrahs.
But few wine lovers are familiar yet with the more complex cool-climate Syrahs, says Bruce McGuire, winemaker at Lafond Winery and Vineyards, a Santa Rita Hills winery specializing in Syrah since 1992. He thinks that, once educated, consumers will embrace the cool-climate versions. Lafond is expanding its Santa Rita Hills Syrah vineyards.
That's a relief, says garagista Mark Horvath, who already buys fruit from Lafond and would like to buy more. He and his partner in Kenneth-Crawford Wines, Kenneth Gummere, make 1,500 cases of Syrah in a rented storage space in Buellton. Half of the wines are from the Santa Rita Hills. The other half are from Ballard Canyon.
"Pinot Noir is king in Santa Rita Hills," Horvath says. Almost all of the 1,400 vineyard acres in the region are planted to Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. The acreage devoted to those grape varieties is expected to double in the next couple of years. Syrah is planted on a mere 50 acres. There isn't the critical mass of Syrah fruit in the region necessary to steal even a little of the limelight.
That will change, says winemaker Craig Jaffurs, who lost a supply of cool-climate Syrah for his Jaffurs Wine Cellars when Ron Melville pulled those vines to plant more Pinot Noir. He has a contract for Ampelos fruit now. More newcomers to the region are going to be willing to plant Syrah.
"There's still a lot of land left to develop into vineyards in Santa Rita Hills," he says.
Ampelos Cellars, owned by Peter Work and his wife Rebecca, has a new 25-acre vineyard at the eastern edge of Santa Rita Hills, that is a third planted to Syrah and has enthusiasts hopeful that more newcomers to the region will give Syrah a chance. "Peter likes Pinot and I like Syrah," says Rebecca Work. "We found a site that can grow both."
Syrah and Pinot existing side by side? Perhaps there's a compromise in the future for Chad Melville and his dad as well.
*
(INFOBOX BELOW)
10 that stand out:
THE Times tasting panel met recently for a blind tasting of Syrahs made with grapes grown in or near the Santa Rita Hills region of Santa Barbara County. These limited-production wines are not widely available; contact wineries to purchase. Joining me on the panel were Times columnist Russ Parsons, Times restaurant critic S. Irene Virbila and wine retailer George Cossette, co-owner of Silverlake Wine in Los Angeles.
The panel was impressed with the integrity of the 10 wines tasted. These muscular, highly structured wines were graceful and balanced. White pepper aromas and spicy, gamey flavors with plenty of acidity . signatures of cool-climate Syrah . were evident in most of the wines. Pairing them with foods other than grilled meats could be a challenge, however.
Our favorite wine was the 2004 Presidio Syrah, $39. Prices start at $32, with Sine Qua Non's Papa Syrah priced at a whopping $207. Unfortunately, the Sine Qua Non bottle was corked. (We tasted another later and were delighted by the wine's silky texture, flavors of tart berries and gamey meats and bracing finish.) Wines are listed in order of the panel's preference.
Corie Brown
*
2004 Presidio Syrah, Presidio Vineyard, Santa Ynez Valley. Inviting white pepper aromas with blackberry flavors. A complex, light-bodied wine with nice texture, firm acids and a long finish. At http://www.presidiowinery.com , $39; and Silverlake Wine, (323) 662-9024, $39.
2003 Ojai Vineyard Syrah, Melville Vineyard, Santa Rita Hills. Gamey, smoky aromas with a slight barnyard funk. Red meat and leather flavors in an intense, well-knit, delicate wine with a subtle finish. At http://www.ojaivineyard.com , $56.
2003 Kenneth-Crawford Syrah, Evans Ranch, Santa Rita Hills. Soft, light, white pepper nose with a touch of funkiness. Silky tannins, flavors of citrus and spice. At http://www.kennethcrawford.com , $32.
2004 Jaffurs Syrah, Ampelos Cellars, Santa Rita Hills. A rich, tannic wine; slight menthol aroma with a whiff of dark chocolate on the nose. At http://www.jaffurswine.com , $42; and at Wine Cask in Santa Barbara, (805) 966-9463, $39.
2004 Ampelos Syrah, Ampelos Cellars, Santa Rita Hills. Christmas mulling-spice aromas; black licorice and jammy fruit flavors. A long, syrupy finish. At http://www.ampeloscellars.com , $38.
2004 Melville Syrah, Donna's Vineyard, Santa Rita Hills. Smoky aromas with a touch of sour barnyard give way to wild game flavors laced with flowers and white pepper on the palate. At http://www.melvillewinery.com , $36.
2003 Lafond Syrah, Lafond Winery and Vineyards, Santa Rita Hills. A complex nose of menthol, cedar and a hint of white pepper. Chocolate and black cherry flavors; a very rich wine. At http://www.lafondwinery.com , $38.
2004 Samsara Syrah, Melville Vineyard, Santa Rita Hills. An alluring perfume of black and white pepper with sweet cherry and caramel flavors. At http://www.samsarawine.com , $40.
2003 Jaffurs Syrah, Melville Vineyard, Santa Rita Hills. Allspice, bay leaf and smoked cedar aromas in a wine with sweet blueberry and raspberry flavors and a spicy finish. At http://www.jaffurswine.com , $38; and at Wally's Wine in Los Angeles, (310) 475-0606, about $40.
2003 Sine Qua Non Papa Syrah. (Corked.) At Silverlake Wine in Los Angeles, (323) 662-9024, $207.
I think this is the article Brian was discussing last night.
Brian: What is the name of the shop near Washington and Broadway
that has the BBQ supplies?
Cheers,
Jim
July 19, 2006
The Pour
Too Sweet to Be Invited to Dinner
By ERIC ASIMOV
IT.S happened so many times that I.ve lost count. I.m having dinner with another person, trying to choose a wine that will complement the odd combination of dishes that we.ve ordered . meat, fowl, fish or whatever.
Back in the old days, 10 years or so ago, California pinot noir was one of my go-to wines. Its reputation was poor, and critics lambasted American pinot noir as a pale imitation of Burgundy, but I found it a great food wine, light-bodied enough to go with fish, yet intense enough to match up with meat. Not unlike Burgundy, in fact, but a lot cheaper.
Not anymore. California pinot noir has shot up in stature. Its popularity has skyrocketed, and the critics now love it. But on the dinner table? I rarely look at pinot noir nowadays. Not only because it.s gotten so expensive, but because many modern pinot noirs have lost the dry, lithe character that made the wine so fine a partner with food.
Why is this? Far too often now, pinot noir tastes sweet and has a heavy, almost syrupy character. And while pinot noir is the most glaring example, it.s often true, too, of many other high-end, supposedly dry red American wines like cabernet sauvignon and zinfandel.
Now sweetness itself is not intrinsically a problem. Some of the greatest, most versatile food wines in the world are sweet, like German rieslings and demi-sec chenin blancs from the Loire. But those wines have more than sweetness going for them: they have balance. The sugar is balanced by acidity, which provides structure and liveliness, allowing the wine to be both sweet and refreshing.
The American red wines, on the other hand, are meant to be dry, like their French forebears Burgundy and Bordeaux, which are dry by definition.
Burly zinfandels have always flirted with a tinge of sweetness, but nowadays they too taste sweeter and sweeter. I.ve particularly noticed this problem in pinot noirs from the Santa Lucia Highlands and Santa Barbara County on the central coast of California, in Napa Valley cabernets and in zinfandels from all over.
I.m not the only one bothered by this. Dan Berger, a critic who publishes Dan Berger.s Vintage Experiences, a weekly newsletter, called the rising sense of sweetness in American red wines .a sad and pernicious trend..
.They.re impressive wines, but the word impressive is not always a positive word,. he said in a telephone interview. .There.s lots to them, but maybe more flavor is less good. What you want is a harmony of flavors..
Dry wines that are not really dry are an American tradition. As the old saw in the wine industry has it, .Americans talk dry but drink sweet,. and the history of American wine consumption bears that out.
Popular mass-market wines from California, like white zinfandel and Kendall-Jackson Vintner.s Reserve chardonnay, have always had more than a subversive touch of sweetness, while the best-selling Champagne in the United States by far is Mo�t & Chandon.s White Star, a cuv�e made especially for the American market that is a step sweeter than the typical brut Champagne.
The rationale has always been that the American palate is shaped by the sugary soft drinks, ketchup and breakfast cereals of the childhood pantry.
Modestly sweet wines therefore help a wine-wary population make the transition to more classically dry wines, especially if that population believes it is drinking dry wines.
Sweet wines were associated with low-status fortified wines, like Thunderbird, or the sort of syrupy Concord grape wines that appear on many kosher tables.
But now, apparently, the sensation of sweetness has triumphed over the belief that fine red wines were dry bordering on tart and even somewhat austere. The changing character of the wines may even change the way people think of drinking wine. Justin Smith of Saxum Vineyards, a small but acclaimed producer in Paso Robles, Calif., calls them .social wines..
.These wines aren.t meant to go with food,. he said. .They.re for when you get home from work: you open a bottle, pour a glass and sit with it out on the deck..
In other words, they.re to be consumed like cocktails, which they resemble in another way, too. Most of these wines are high in alcohol, at least 14.5 percent and often above 15, which contributes to the impression of sweetness even if they are not actually sugary.
California red wines are made in a fruitier style than they used to be, which also contributes to an impression of sweetness, said Dr. Susan E. Ebeler, a flavor chemist in viticulture and oenology at the University of California, Davis. Grapes nowadays are allowed to ripen on the vine much longer than 10 or 15 years ago, resulting in much higher concentrations of sugar at harvest.
More sugar requires longer fermentation, which produces more alcohol and more glycerol. Dr. Ebeler said glycerol, whose name is derived from the Greek word for sweet, also contributes to a perception of sweetness.
Let.s see: fruitiness, high alcohol and higher glycerol. Add it up and what do you have? .It could be the sum of the parts,. Dr. Ebeler said.
While wines made in this style may try to appeal to the American sweet tooth, they may also reflect the wine business.s dependency on high ratings from critics who taste dozens of wines at a time.
.I think it.s a real, conscious effort on the part of some winemakers to make the wine taste supple and soft and hedonistic,. Mr. Berger said. .I think this style of wine is designed to be a home run. You don.t see very many people bunting. I think the more flashy, expressive style tends to be the style that catches people.s eye..
Of course, not all California red wines fall into this sweet category, not by a long shot. I.ve enjoyed many excellent reds in the last year, including, just last weekend, Etude.s 2003 Heirloom Carneros pinot noir, which was full of complex sweet fruit aromas and flavors, held together by a firm structure.
But the Etude was in marked contrast to two sweet pinot noirs that I could not drink with dinner. One was the Loring Wine Company.s 2004 Rosella.s Vineyard in the Santa Lucia Highlands. The other was an .04 Cuyama River in the Santa Maria Valley from Taz Vineyards.
Whatever else wine is, ultimately it must be at home on the dinner table. Obviously Americans enjoy sweet beverages with food, whether Coca-Cola, white zinfandel or this year.s top-ranked pinot noir or cabernet.
But for the long term, red wine that seems sweet runs the risk of becoming a marginalized beverage, served on the deck before dinner, yes, or maybe afterward with cheese or chocolate, like port. Then it will be time to stop and praise the winemaker.s impressive achievement, and reach for something else to drink.
--
------------------------------ *
* Dr. James Lee Ellingson, Adjunct Professor jellings(a)me.umn.edu *
* University of Minnesota, tel: 651/645-0753 fax 651 XXX XXXX *
* Great Lakes Brewing News, 1569 Laurel Ave., St. Paul, MN 55104 *
Greetings,
Mostly an update: and "Hot" wines form the SFGC.
It's that time of year again...
----- Forwarded message from "Jim L. Ellingson" <jellings(a)me.umn.edu> -----
Date: Tue, 19 Jul 2005 13:23:58 -0500
From: "Jim L. Ellingson" <jellings(a)me.umn.edu>
To: wine(a)thebarn.com
Subject: Zins at Bob's on Thursday
User-Agent: Mutt/1.5.4i
Greetings,
Bob's Extra-Vin-Zin-ganza, Ertravigan-zin, Whatever!
Zins and Ribs at Bobs
Thursday, 20 July 2005
6:30
Primitivo Bob Kyllingstad's Party Room and 14th Story Wine Cellar
Closer to Heaven, Further from the Street.
121 Washington Ave
612-672-0607
Party room is 315
Security/Dial code is 018.
Ribfest has moved to St. Paul, so we'll be doing our own thing.
Some brave souls will prepare their own ribs, salads,
desserts to share/pass.
Looks to be a relativley large group (say 15).
So mangnums or pairing up to bring 2 bottls of same label/vintage
would be a nice touch.
Corn on the cob and water mellon are always good additions!
Bob
Betsy Pork
Dave K?
Dave T
Lori
Ted/Carman Ted's Classic Ribs
Brian Malley Bold and Meaty Ribs
Ruth Greggory
Bill S German Potato Salad
Annette
Jim/Louise Orzo Salad, Bread (3x)
Nicolai
Karin
Gloria (later)
Regrets from Mark, Sue/Russ and Fredd.
Any feed back from the Rose' things? Here's a bit
form the LATimes.
Cheers,
Jim
2005 Domaine Tempier Bandol ros�
S. Irene Virbila
July 19, 2006
If you're intent on winning over your ros�-phobic friends, better make it the best: a Bandol from Domaine Tempier. Chez Panisse in Berkeley has been pouring the Bandol ros� by the glass for practically forever, with good reason.
Tempier ros� is tremendously food friendly. The color is a lovely coppery rose. It's scented with rose petals and wild strawberries, and yet when you take a sip, it's bone dry and perfectly gorgeous. The vintage in current release . 2005 . is a splendid year for ros�s in southern France, and Domaine Tempier has produced what may be its best ever.
ADVERTISEMENT
It makes a fine aperitif and can go straight to the table to accompany crudit�s, tapenade, salade ni�oise, grilled fish, light pasta dishes, etc. The Peyraud family who owns Domaine Tempier pours it lavishly with Lulu Peyraud's justly famous bouillabaisse.
An absolutely beautiful wine.
. S. Irene Virbila
*
Quick swirl
Region: Provence
Price: About $26
Style: Dry and fragrant
Food it goes with: Crudit�s, tapenade, salade ni�oise, grilled fish, pasta dishes, bouillabaisse.
Where you find it: Available at fine wine retailers.
Hot and sexy wines cool summer's heat
- Leslie Sbrocco, Special to The Chronicle
Thursday, July 20, 2006
Click to View
Hot, hot, hot. Not just the temperature outside, but the wide range of sexy sippers on store shelves. From barely pink blush wines to voluptuous reds, this week's roundup of bargains is all about drinking pleasure.
San Francisco-based winemaker Laely Heron, owner of the affordable Heron Wines line, has launched a new project in Spain dubbed Sexto. Meaning "sixth" in Spanish, the stylish red is a blend of six varieties including Grenache, Carignane, Tempranillo, Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah and the obscure Lledoner Pelut. Heron's debut bottling of the 2004 Sexto Terra Alta Red Wine ($13) scores with its spicy freshness and earthy elegance.
Another California vintner to watch is Cameron Hughes. Acting as what the French call a "negociant," he buys up surplus wine from top producers and releases it under the Cameron Hughes label. This technique allows him to invest not in vineyards, but in bottling complex wine at appealingly low prices. Most are sold through his Web site and at Costco. Two wines that pack a serious quality punch are the 2003 Cameron Hughes Lot 11 Paso Robles Petite Sirah and the 2003 Cameron Hughes Lot 12 Sonoma Mountain Syrah (both $11). You would expect to pay at least twice as much for wines from specific appellations, but Hughes negotiates savvy deals. The Petite Sirah is anything but petite. Rich, chewy, with notes of blackberry and licorice, it's a definite burger wine. The full-bodied Lot 12 Syrah sports deep, dark-fruit flavors and intense smoky notes.
If Syrah is what you seek, pick up another California version that overdelivers -- the 2004 Cycles Gladiator Central Coast Syrah ($10). It falls more on the elegant side of the Syrah scale with white peppery notes and boysenberry brightness. The eye-catching label is adorned with a century-old vintage poster that celebrates the golden age of cycling.
Syrah, also called Shiraz, is the signature grape variety of Australia. Down Under it generally produces hearty, in-your-face reds when bottled alone, but is the ideal partner when blended with other Rhone grape varieties. The 2004 Rosemount Estate Diamond Label South Eastern Australia Shiraz/Grenache ($12) shows the successful partnership. Almost equal parts of the two varieties, it's fleshy and fruity but tempered with an underlying earthy, brown spice quality.
If you're looking for beauty and the beef, head to Argentina where meat and Malbec are a match made in heaven. The 2005 Valentin Bianchi Single Vineyard Elsa Mendoza Malbec ($9) is a standout performer every vintage and is one of the top bargain wines on the market. It maintains a sense of vibrancy without sacrificing power and a plush texture.
Malbec is part of the traditional mix in France's Bordeaux region, where it shines when blended with Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc. The blend works elsewhere in the world, too, as evidenced by the 2004 Inca Calchaqui Valley Cabernet/Malbec ($9). The wine is made up of mostly Cabernet Sauvignon with a splash of Malbec; the grapes are grown in the Salta region of Argentina. It tops the list for highest-altitude vineyards in the world -- 6,000 feet above sea level. With warm days and extremely cold nights, the grapes develop complexity and rich flavor while maintaining acidity. This wine showcases hints of dark-berry fruit, herbal notes and brightness, making it an ideal dinner companion.
During barbecue season, it's easy to automatically reach for red wine when the platter of ribs appears. Pink wines, however, which are primarily made from red grapes, are also ideal.
Two blush-style wines that fall on the lightly sweet side are the NV Barefoot California White Zinfandel ($6) and the 2005 Folie a Deux Menage a Trois California Ros� ($12). If you're shaking your head at the thought of sipping a White Zin, you might want to grab the Barefoot anyway. At only $6 a bottle, there's really nothing to lose. The salmon-hued wine has melony aromas and peachy flavors that are delicate and balanced. The Folie a Deux Menage a Trois California Ros� is a blend of Merlot, Syrah and, interestingly enough, Gewurztraminer, which adds floral notes to the final wine. Serve both wines well chilled with chicken or ribs covered in tangy barbecue sauce.
A drier style of ros� is found back in Argentina with the 2005 Los Cardos Lujan de Cuyo Malbec Ros� ($10). Crafted by quickly draining the pink juice from the red skins of Malbec grapes after crushing, this ros� is full and overtly fruity. Even if you don't drink pink, you might want to try this one when the weather is hot.
Shopping List
Pink
NV Barefoot California White Zinfandel ($6)
2005 Folie a Deux Menage a Trois California Ros� ($12)
2005 Los Cardos Lujan de Cuyo Malbec Ros� ($10)
Red
2003 Cameron Hughes Lot 11 Paso Robles Petite Sirah ($11)
2003 Cameron Hughes Lot 12 Sonoma Mountain Syrah ($11)
2004 Cycles Gladiator Central Coast Syrah ($10)
2004 Inca Calchaqui Valley Cabernet/Malbec ($9)
2004 Rosemount Estate Diamond Label South Eastern Australia Shiraz/Grenache ($12)
2004 Sexto Terra Alta Red Wine ($13)
2005 Valentin Bianchi Single Vineyard Elsa Mendoza Malbec ($9)
Leslie Sbrocco is the author of "Wine for Women: A Guide to Buying, Pairing and Sharing Wine" (William Morrow, 2004). E-mail her at wine(a)sfchronicle.com.
Page F - 5
URL: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/07/20/WIGBOK1EPO1.DTL
It's that time of year again...
----- Forwarded message from "Jim L. Ellingson" <jellings(a)me.umn.edu> -----
Date: Tue, 19 Jul 2005 13:23:58 -0500
From: "Jim L. Ellingson" <jellings(a)me.umn.edu>
To: wine(a)thebarn.com
Subject: Zins at Bob's on Thursday
User-Agent: Mutt/1.5.4i
Greetings,
Bob's Extra-Vin-Zin-ganza, Ertravigan-zin, Whatever!
Zins and Ribs at Bobs
Thursday, 20 July 2005
6:30
Primitivo Bob Kyllingstad's Party Room and 14th Story Wine Cellar
Closer to Heaven, Further from the Street.
121 Washington Ave
612-672-0607
Party room is 315
Security/Dial code is 018.
Ribfest has moved to St. Paul, so we'll be doing our own thing.
Some brave souls will prepare their own ribs, salads,
desserts to share/pass.
Looks to be a relativley large group (say 15).
So mangnums or pairing up to bring 2 bottls of same label/vintage
would be a nice touch.
Corn on the cob and Water Mellon are always good additions!
Bob
Betsy Pork
Dave K?
Dave T
Lori
Ted/Carman Ted's Classic Ribs
Brian Malley Bold and Meaty Ribs
Ruth Greggory
Bill S
Annette
Jim/Louise Orzo Salad, Bread
Nicolai
Karin
Cheers,
Jim
Any feed back from the Rose' things? Here's a bit
form the LATimes.
2005 Domaine Tempier Bandol ros�
S. Irene Virbila
July 19, 2006
If you're intent on winning over your ros�-phobic friends, better make it the best: a Bandol from Domaine Tempier. Chez Panisse in Berkeley has been pouring the Bandol ros� by the glass for practically forever, with good reason.
Tempier ros� is tremendously food friendly. The color is a lovely coppery rose. It's scented with rose petals and wild strawberries, and yet when you take a sip, it's bone dry and perfectly gorgeous. The vintage in current release . 2005 . is a splendid year for ros�s in southern France, and Domaine Tempier has produced what may be its best ever.
ADVERTISEMENT
<A TARGET="_blank" HREF="http://ad.doubleclick.net/click%3Bh=v7/3427/3/0/%2a/v%3B35213875%3B0-0%3B0%…"><IMG SRC="http://m1.2mdn.net/1236711/slidingDoor.gif" BORDER=0></A>
It makes a fine aperitif and can go straight to the table to accompany crudit�s, tapenade, salade ni�oise, grilled fish, light pasta dishes, etc. The Peyraud family who owns Domaine Tempier pours it lavishly with Lulu Peyraud's justly famous bouillabaisse.
An absolutely beautiful wine.
. S. Irene Virbila
*
Quick swirl
Region: Provence
Price: About $26
Style: Dry and fragrant
Food it goes with: Crudit�s, tapenade, salade ni�oise, grilled fish, pasta dishes, bouillabaisse.
Where you find it: Available at fine wine retailers.
Here are the Zin notes from a year ago.
Zinfandel
2001 91-93 Should be memorable
(mid 90's on the "100" point scale. 100 point scale my flask.
When was the last time anyone saw a 50, 60 or even 70 point rating?).
2000 84 mixed quality Drink
1999 89 solid, rich, ripe, high EtOH.
1998 83 "challenging" Difficult, etc.
1997 90
1996 86
1995 95
1994 96
1999 Better than 98. Quality varies with some
wines showing "late harvest" effects such as
residual sweetness, dried fruit flavors, etc.
Also be aware that some of the 99 CA Zin's are
quite high in EtOH. (jle)
Rating California Zinfandel Vintages 1980-1998
VINTAGE SCORE DRINKABILITY
2001 91-93 Should be memorable
2000 84 mixed quality Drink
1999 89 solid, rich, ripe, high EtOH.
1998 83
1998 83 Tough, cool year; mostly lean, simple wines -- Drink
1997 90 Best were ripe and potent, though quality varied -- Drink or hold
1996 87 Variable quality; best are well-balanced -- Drink or hold
1995 95 Brilliant fruit; ripe, complex, intense, balanced -- Drink or hold
1994 96 Dark, rich, intense, complex; classy -- Drink or hold
1993 88 Fruity, complex, fine balance-- Drink or hold
1992 93 Very ripe, opulent and complex -- Drink or hold
1991 92 Ripe, elegant, complex -- Drink or hold
1990 93 Rich, complex and concentrated-- Drink or hold
1989 82 Huge crop; uneven quality, tannic -- Drink
1988 84 Uneven crop; forward-balanced wines-- Drink
1987 92 Bright, rich and complex --Drink
1986 91 Firm, intense, tannic yet age-worthy -- Drink
1985 93 Wonderful balance and harmony -- Drink
1984 88 Ripe, opulent and complex -- Drink
1983 79 Uneven quality, tannic, average -- Drink
1982 82 Tight and firm, but uneven quality -- Drink
1981 85 Ripe, fruity, early-drinking -- Drink
1980 82 Hot harvest; uneven quality -- Drink
Vintage Ratings: 95-100, classic; 90-94, outstanding; 80-89,
good to very good; 70-79, average; 60-69, below average;
50-59, poor.
Drinkability: "Drink" means most of the wines of the vintage
are ready to drink; "hold" means most of the age-worthy wines
have not fully matured.
Zinfandel
http://www.winespectator.com/Wine/Spectator/Faqs/VarietalsFAQ.html
ZINFANDEL (Red) [ZIHN-fan-dell]
The origins of this tremendously versatile and popular grape
are not known for certain, although it is thought to have come
from Southern Italy as a cousin of Primitivo. It is the most
widely planted red grape in California (though Australia has
also played around with the grape). Much of it is vinified
into white Zinfandel, a blush-colored, slightly sweet wine.
Real Zinfandel, the red wine, is the quintessential California
wine. It has been used for blending with other grapes,
including Cabernet Sauvignon and Petite Sirah. It has been
made in a claret style, with berry and cherry flavors, mild
tannins and pretty oak shadings. It has been made into a
full-bodied, ultraripe, intensely flavored and firmly tannic
wine designed to age. And it has been made into late-harvest
and Port-style wines that feature very ripe, raisiny flavors,
alcohol above 15 percent and chewy tannins.
Zinfandel's popularity among consumers fluctuates. In the
1990s Zinfandel is enjoying another groundswell of popularity,
as winemakers took renewed interest, focusing on
higher-quality vineyards in areas well suited to Zinfandel.
Styles aimed more for the mainstream and less for extremes,
emphasizing the grape's zesty, spicy pepper, raspberry,
cherry, wild berry and plum flavors, and its complex range of
tar, earth and leather notes. Zinfandel lends itself to
blending.
Zinfandel is a challenging grape to grow: its berry size
varies significantly within a bunch, which leads to uneven
ripening. Because of that, Zinfandel often needs to hang on
the vine longer to ripen as many berries as possible. Closer
attention to viticulture and an appreciation for older vines,
which tend to produce smaller crops of uniformly higher
quality, account for better balanced wines.
--Excerpted from James Laube's book "California Wine," with
some additions by James Molesworth
--
------------------------------ *
* Dr. James Lee Ellingson, Adjunct Professor jellings(a)me.umn.edu *
* University of Minnesota, tel: 651/645-0753 fax 651 XXX XXXX *
* Great Lakes Brewing News, 1569 Laurel Ave., St. Paul, MN 55104 *
----- End forwarded message -----
--
------------------------------ *
* Dr. James Lee Ellingson, Adjunct Professor jellings(a)me.umn.edu *
* University of Minnesota, tel: 651/645-0753 fax 651 XXX XXXX *
* Great Lakes Brewing News, 1569 Laurel Ave., St. Paul, MN 55104 *
I wanted to clarify a bit here.
Alicia's deal tomorrow is a BYORose' . Bring a bottle of
your favorite pink/blush wine to share.
Cost will be limited to the food you buy plus your
usual generous gratuity.
Best,
Jim
Can someone print this out UC Davis article on how
seldom wine and cheese go together for Bob?
----- Forwarded message from "Jim L. Ellingson" <jellings(a)me.umn.edu> -----
Date: Thu, 16 Jun 2005 15:41:47 -0500
From: "Jim L. Ellingson" <jellings(a)me.umn.edu>
To: wine(a)thebarn.com
Subject: [wine] Wining about Cheese
UC Davis study challenges classic wine-cheese pairings
- Janet Fletcher, Chronicle Staff Writer
Thursday, June 16, 2005
Click to View
For many people, a bottle of red wine and a platter of good cheese virtually guarantee pleasure ahead. But according to new research conducted at the University of California at Davis, that time-tested marriage may be on the skids.
Graduate student Berenice Madrigal has spent the past year investigating what sound like the makings of a great party: eight red wines, eight cheeses and what happens when you serve them together.
Thinking of purchasing a nice chunk of cheddar to show off a favorite red wine from your cellar? Madrigal's study, undertaken for her master's degree in viticulture and enology, suggests that you might want to reconsider that plan.
"Our definition of a good pairing was that the two enhance each other," says Hildegarde Heymann, professor of sensory science in Davis' viticulture and enology department and Madrigal's adviser. "Our work shows this is probably not true very often."
Madrigal, a petite, soft-spoken 27-year-old from Mexico City, has a degree in food chemistry from the National Autonomous University of Mexico and a fondness for cow's-milk Mimolette. But it was Heymann who steered Madrigal to cheese as a thesis topic, a continuation of the professor's research into the sensory analysis of wine with food. Cheese made a suitable subject for exploration because the department has no kitchen.
To Heymann's surprise, few sensory scientists had analyzed the presumed affinity of wine and cheese. A review of the literature turned up almost nothing. A Swedish scientist, Tobias Nygren, had looked at white wine with blue cheese -- the cheese mutes white wine flavors, he found -- but no one apparently had looked methodically at the intersection of red wine and cheese.
Madrigal's first task was to assemble and train a tasting panel, volunteers -- mostly fellow students -- who would be taught to recognize various attributes in wine and to use identical language in describing them. For two weeks, the tasters met every day to master the sensory meaning of 20 common wine descriptors from bell pepper and berry to astringent and bitter.
Next they evaluated, tasting blind, the eight wines Madrigal had selected: two bottles each of Pinot Noir, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Syrah. In an effort to get wines of differing styles, Madrigal had chosen a low-priced and high-priced wine for each varietal pair. Tasters rated each sample on a 1-to- 10 scale for every attribute. Then Madrigal juggled the sample order and repeated the tasting twice to verify her tasters' consistency.
Following an intensive day of research at Corti Brothers, the Sacramento fine-foods store, Madrigal settled on eight types: two hard cheeses (Emmental and Gruyere), two cheddars (from Vermont and New York), two soft cheeses (mozzarella and Teleme) and two blues (Gorgonzola and Stilton). Heymann had suggested limiting the samples to cow's milk cheeses so the analysis didn't get even more complicated.
Over sessions that lasted three months, the same trained team of panelists -- six men and five women -- tasted each wine with each cheese, then scored the wines on the same 20 attributes they had evaluated before. Then Madrigal switched the tasting order, and the panelists repeated the task twice.
Months of analysis later, Madrigal and Heymann had their results, captured in a flurry of colorful spider graphs and multidimensional plots that the average wine lover would be hard-pressed to decipher. But to cut to the chase, their conclusions may not sit well with wine and cheese fans.
In virtually every case, cheese diminished everything the wine had to say. It muted both desirable traits like berry character and less desirable traits like astringency and bell pepper. It was an equal-opportunity silencer, exhibiting largely the same effect on each varietal, pricey and not.
From mild Teleme to pungent Gorgonzola, the cheeses made every wine taste less oaky, less berry-like, less sour. The two blues had slightly more impact on the wines than the two soft cheeses, but the differences were insignificant for almost every trait.
"The popular press tells us it should have gone the other way," says Heymann, meaning that cheese would enhance the wines. "We would have assumed that for at least one cheese and one wine, we would have a hit."
The one attribute that cheese seemed to accentuate in red wine was butteriness, a quality more often associated with malolactic Chardonnays than with reds. But with every other wine trait, cheese of every sort activated the mute button, a result Heymann can't easily explain.
"The decrease of astringency makes sense because you have a coating of the palate (with cheese)," says the professor. "All you need is a coating between the mucous membranes and astringent compounds and you diminish astringency. That is the one effect I would say is a real effect."
The other outcomes -- that cheese diminished fruitiness, oakiness or spiciness -- may be what Heymann call a cognitive effect. In other words, it's in our heads. We expect that result, so we find that result. Although she hasn't devised a way to tease apart the impact of cognition, or expectation, she suspects it's at the root of many vaunted wine-and-cheese marriages.
"My 'take home' is, you shouldn't worry about which wine you have with which cheese," says Heymann. "Have the wine you love with the cheese you love. " If most cheeses affect most red wines in a similar way, by turning down the volume, it may be pointless to keep looking for a match that soars.
Daniel Baron, winemaker at Silver Oak Wine Cellars in Oakville, says his extensive if informal research doesn't support the UC Davis team's conclusions. A cheese enthusiast, Baron says he has invested a lot of time hunting for cheeses that would complement his famed Cabernet Sauvignons.
"It's been a long journey," says the winemaker, "but in my experience, the old rules of wine and cheese pairing hold true."
For him, that means no blue cheese ("It really brings out the bitterness in a red wine"), no triple-cream cheeses ("iffy") and a distinct preference for well-aged cow's and sheep's milk cheeses such as aged Gouda, Vella Dry Jack and Manchego -- cheeses that he finds not just tolerable with his wine but flattering.
Other tasters who, like Baron, have experienced a ghastly clash between dry red wine and pungent blue cheese may suspect that something physiological is to blame. As for the utter rightness on the tongue of Vella Dry Jack and Silver Oak Cabernet -- how does Heymann explain that?
"There's that saying, 'Perception is reality,' " says the professor. "If you perceive that the wine is better with the cheese, then it is. What's happening in your head is no less real than what's happening on your palate, but it's probably different."
E-mail Janet Fletcher at jfletcher(a)sfchronicle.com.
Page F - 2
URL: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/06/16/WIGFFD8IBQ1.DTL
�2005 San Francisco Chronicle
--
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* Dr. James Lee Ellingson, Adjunct Professor jellings(a)me.umn.edu *
* University of Minnesota, tel: 651/645-0753 fax 651 XXX XXXX *
* Great Lakes Brewing News, 1569 Laurel Ave., St. Paul, MN 55104 *
----- End forwarded message -----
--
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* Dr. James Lee Ellingson, Adjunct Professor jellings(a)me.umn.edu *
* University of Minnesota, tel: 651/645-0753 fax 651 XXX XXXX *
* Great Lakes Brewing News, 1569 Laurel Ave., St. Paul, MN 55104 *
Greetings,
Alicia Anderson from France 44 has organized a Rose' tasting
this Saturday, 8:00 p.m.
Cafe Barbette is at 1400 W. Lake, just west of Hennepin. 612-827-5710
Cheers,
Jim
Not sure who's going:
Alicia
Bob
Betsy
Ruth
Christopher
Have fun.
http://www.latimes.com/features/food/la-fo-calcook10aug10,0,1398361,full.st…
THE CALIFORNIA COOK
Shades of summer
Ros�s may be pale and pretty, but with the season's vivid flavors they're bold and beautiful.
Russ Parsons; Leslie Brenner
Times Staff Writers
August 10, 2005
PINK is such a pretty color . so frilly, so delicate. It's the color of fragile flowers and fading sunsets. You probably don't think of it as the color of wine to serve with robust foods, but you should. Sometimes it takes a pale wine to stand up to strong flavors . which is why ros�s are a mainstay of my summer meals.
Here are a few of the big summer dishes I've served with ros� wines over the last couple of weeks: quick-cured green olives with oregano and lemon peel; thinly sliced spicy salame; almonds dusted with red chile powder; bruschetta topped with confited tomatoes and garlic; a smoked salmon salad made with mayonnaise and capers; kale and wild greens braised with potatoes and topped with shards of Parmigiano-Reggiano; even smoked tri-tip alongside a fiercely garlicky green bean and potato salad.
The ros�s I was drinking . a broad geographical sampling from the outstanding 2004 vintage . didn't just stand up to all of those dishes, they positively danced around them.
For those who love ros�s (and our numbers are steadily increasing), this will come as no surprise. Look at where they come from, for goodness' sake. The cuisines of Provence, Portugal and Spain aren't exactly made for shrinking violets.
A good ros� has fresh fruit . think strawberries, raspberries and cherries . with just a rumor of sweetness. It has crisp acidity that leaves your palate ready for more. Floating above it all, there are layers of herbaceousness, spice and minerality that would do credit to any red wine.
In fact, I think of ros�s as having the best characteristics of both reds and whites . the juicy complexity of the former and the refreshing, palate-cleansing qualities of the latter.
Because of this, there is probably no friendlier food wine on the planet. And given the kinds of deeply flavored dishes we eat during the summer, that effect is squared. With its sweet fruit, ros� pairs naturally with dishes that are sharp, salty or spicy. Tart green olives, capers, cornichons, dried red chiles . nothing fazes it. The crisp backbone cuts straight through smoke and fat. Ros�s go great with tomatoes, which turn most wines thin and acrid. And they love garlic almost as much as I do. Is there a summer ingredient I haven't mentioned?
Center of attention
MOST people seem to regard ros�s as hot-weather aperitif wines. Granted, there is nothing wrong with serving a glass of chilled ros� alongside a plate of almonds and olives to get a meal started. But limiting yourself to that is selling the wine short. Instead, make an entire menu based on ros�s, ranging from appetizers to dessert.
I suppose you could even pair specific courses with specific wines, but to tell you the truth, the idea kind of gives me the creeps. It seems to me to be missing the entire point of ros�s, which is uncomplicated pleasure rather than analytical examination. Instead, find a couple of wines you really like, then fill an ice bucket with them. Your only consideration should be when to open more.
Start out with crostini topped with a rich, smoky eggplant pur�e that you've spiked with tart diced tomatoes and fresh rosemary. Roast the eggplant whole as you would for baba ghanouj, and then chop it and stir it into a rough paste with a wooden spoon. Pur�eing it in the blender makes it thin and soupy.
Follow that dish with stuffed zucchini and tomatoes, a classic summertime dish that is too often neglected these days. But have you noticed all the billiard ball-sized tomatoes and round zucchini at the farmers markets? To me, they beg stuffing and baking. Because this is going to be an appetizer and not an entr�e, keep the filling light . nothing more than bread crumbs crushed with basil and garlic. Bake the vegetables until they're melting in a tart tomato sauce studded with capers.
For the main course, grill swordfish steaks and top them with a salsa pungent with green olives and pickled red peppers, perfumed with crushed fennel seed. Swordfish is one fish I prefer to have cooked thoroughly through. Cut the steaks thin and grill them over high heat . they'll be done in minutes. For the salsa, just chop the olives and peppers and season them with garlic and fennel seeds you've crushed in a mortar.
If you want to continue the theme, finish the meal with sliced peaches or nectarines and a plate of lightly sweetened fresh ricotta dusted with ground cinnamon. Try dipping the fruit in the wine left in your glass (for fastidious guests, bring out little bowls of fruit they can pour the wine over).
Though ros�s may not be overly serious, they are seriously fun. Most wines I buy by the bottle; ros� I buy by the case. Some wines are meant to be sipped and savored; ros� is a wine to revel in.
Rather than dabbling in different ros�s through the summer, I tend to find one I like and then buy a bunch. I mark my summers by which ros� I was drinking. The first wine I remember buying this way was Paso Robles vintner Gary Eberle's Ros� of Counoise, a wonderfully spicy wine from a little-known Rh�ne grape. It was my summer wine and I drank it for years until he stopped making it in 2000 . apparently nobody was buying it but me and even though I gave it my best effort, it wasn't quite enough to keep an entire winery running. (Eberle now makes a very nice ros� from Syrah.)
There followed a couple of summers of Swanson Rosato from the Napa Valley . a lovely strawberry-scented ros� made from Sangiovese. Then a couple of years ago it lost its Southern California distribution (you can still order it from the winery, but at $18 a bottle, it's getting pretty dear), so I moved overseas. My summer dinner guests and I have been enjoying Morgues du Gr�s, a crisp, herbaceous ros� from the Costi�res de N�mes in the Rh�ne in recent years.
This year's spring and early summer were unusually cool, and I put off choosing a successor. So, when the hot weather suddenly came, I was ros�-less and on the first blistering weekend, I had to run out and pick up half a dozen or so different bottles to audition for a dinner party . all of them under $15.
It was an interesting experiment. In the first place, the current 2004 vintage seems to be uniformly strong for ros�s, particularly those from Europe. When ros� falls down it is most often due to a lack of acidity, which can leave the wine flat and simple. Every 2004 we tasted was fresh and crisp.
A palette of pinks
ALTHOUGH ros�s are generically referred to as "pink," that's not really an accurate description. The colors of the wines I tasted ranged from a delicate pale salmon to a pronounced plum red. And though it is tempting to relate color and flavor intensity, there is no connection. A pale color does not necessarily equate to delicate taste and neither does robust color mean hearty flavor.
Neither style is inherently superior to the other. The Commanderie de Peyrassol and the Ch�teau de Pampelonne from Provence were subtle and detailed (at least for a ros�), with notes of slate and crushed herbs. The Garnacha-based Muga from Rioja and the Guappo from Puglia (mainly something called "Uva di Troia," Sangiovese and a dash of Primitivo) were as big and juicy as biting into a ripe plum.
Perhaps the biggest surprise was Robert Sinskey Vineyards' Vin Gris of Pinot Noir from the Carneros, a wine I have enjoyed many times in the past. But the 2004 is something else. A salmon so pale it is almost clear in the glass, it nonetheless packs an astonishing amount of fruit. If you were to taste this wine blindfolded, you would swear it was a well-crafted regular Pinot.
The hard work done, it was time to eat. We gathered around platters of spicy, salty, smoky, joyful summer food at a picnic table under an arbor of blazing bougainvillea and drank in the ros�s and the sweet, cooling evening breeze in roughly equal proportions.
*
(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)
With this vintage of ros�s from France, you can't go wrong
As long as winemakers have been bleeding the skin of red grapes to make pink wines, France has been producing many of the best ros�s in the world. Today, delicious ones come from Provence (where Bandol is queen, producing marvelous ros�s from Grenache and Cinsault) and the Rh�ne Valley, but the Loire Valley also turns out lovely examples . crisp and dry and delicious enough to make us forget the sweet and insipid Tavels of yore. The 2004 was superb; grab just about any French ros� you see from that vintage and you won't go wrong. Here are a few standouts:
2004 Ch�teau de L'Escarelle Coteaux Varois ros�. From a sub-region of C�tes de Provence comes this clear, coral-colored wine with generous red berry aromas. Silky, well-balanced, light and delicious, with gentle fruit and a little complexity. At Du Vin in West Hollywood, (310) 855-1161; Malibu Village Wines in Malibu, (310) 456-2924; and Wine House in West Hollywood, (310) 479-3731, about $11.
2004 Domaine Tempier Bandol. Tempier is the Mercedes-Benz of ros�s . well-made, well-known, racy, delicious and expensive. A lovely clear salmon-color, with apricot and strawberry aromas. Well-balanced; crisp yet luscious, with an almond finish. Available at fine wine stores, about $28.
2004 Verget C�tes du Luberon. A clear coral-pink wine from an appellation within Provence. Simple and delicious, with intense ripe cherry and apricot blossom aromas; perfectly balanced. The screw-top makes it a great picnic wine. At Colorado Wine Co. in Eagle Rock, (323) 478-1985; Liquid Wine & Spirits in Chatsworth, (818) 709-5019; Wine Country in Signal Hill, (562) 597-8303; and the Wine House, about $10.
2004 Ch�teau Revelette Coteaux d'Aix en Provence. Pale salmon-pink with a pretty raspberry nose. Crisp, delicious and refreshing. At Liquid Wine & Spirits; Twenty-twenty Wine Merchants in West Los Angeles, (310) 447-2020; and the Wine House, about $14.
2004 Domaine Sylvain Bailly "La Lou�e" La Croix Saint Ursin Sancerre ros�. A very pale salmon-colored wine with bright citrus and strawberry aromas. Silky and crisp, terrific Sancerre acidity and a lovely finish. At the Cheese Store of Silver Lake (323) 644-7511; Mission Wines in South Pasadena, (626) 403-9463; Wine Country; and Woodland Hills Wine Company, (818) 222-1111, about $18.
2004 Parall�le "45" C�tes du Rh�ne ros�. A clear ruby-pink ros� that's more serious than its price would suggest: It has perfect balance, restrained but delicious fruit, some complexity, and a long, berry finish. At Liquid Wine & Spirits; Wine House; Malibu Village Wines; and the Wine Room in Irvine, (866) 585-9463, about $10.
2004 Domaine de Fondr�che C�tes du Ventoux "L'Instant" ros�. From the southern Rh�ne, a salmon-pink wine with a straight-on strawberry nose. Juicy and delicious, bone-dry and crisp with happy fruit and a pleasant finish. At Liquid Wine & Spirits; the Wine Exchange in Orange, (714) 974-1454; and Wine House, about $12.
2004 Ch�teau Grande Cassagne ros�, Costi�res de N�mes. This deep, clear, watermelon-pink wine comes from an appellation in the Languedoc. Round, fruity and juicy, with good acid and sweet plum aromas, it's drinkable and fun. At Duke of Bourbon in Canoga Park, (818) 341-1234; John & Pete's Fine Wines & Spirits in West Hollywood, (310) 657-3080; Mission Wines; and Woodland Hills Wine Company, about $9.
WINE OF THE WEEK
2004 Ch�teau La Canorgue C�tes du Luberon
S. Irene Virbila
August 10, 2005
Before Peter Mayle wrote "A Year in Provence," the Luberon was a relatively sleepy place, treasured for its wildly beautiful landscape of hill towns and ochre cliffs, vineyards and lavender fields. Part of the scene since the 17th century, Ch�teau La Canorgue produces one of the summer's best ros�s. Dedicated to the idea of producing wines naturally, the Margan family farms their terraced vineyards organically and biodynamically. The vines aren't young, so the production is naturally low. The result is a lovely, coppery ros� lightly perfumed with strawberries and flowers. Dry and fruity, it goes down very easy, leaving behind an impression of fruit and earth.
It's a wonderful food wine, easily bridging the gap from aperitif to the table. Serve it with olives and salame, with soupe au pistou, pissaladi�re and salads, even roast chicken and bouillabaisse.
*
Quick swirl
Region: Provence
Price: About $13
Style: Dry and fruity
Food it goes with: Olives, soupe au pistou, salads, bouillabaisse
Where you find it: Mel & Rose Liquor & Deli in West Hollywood, (323) 655-5557; Wine Country in Long Beach, (562) 597-8303; and the Wine House in Los Angeles, (310) 479-3731.
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Garlic and herb-stuffed tomatoes and zucchini
Total time: 1 hour, 15 minutes
Servings: 6
Note: Salted anchovies are available at Nicole's in South Pasadena, Bay Cities in Santa Monica, Market Gourmet in Venice and Surfas in Culver City. Canned anchovies in oil may be substituted.
2 tablespoons olive oil, plus extra for drizzling (optional)
1 onion, minced (about 1 cup)
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes
1/2 cup white wine
3 tablespoons capers
Salt
1/2 pound baguette
1/4 cup loosely packed, coarsely chopped basil leaves
2 cloves garlic, chopped
4 salted anchovy fillets, rinsed, bones removed and chopped
1/3 cup toasted pine nuts
3 (8-inch) zucchini
12 small round tomatoes (about 1 1/2 pounds)
1. Heat the oven to 400 degrees. Cook the olive oil and the onion in a large skillet over medium heat until the onion softens, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic; cook until fragrant, about 3 minutes. Add the crushed tomatoes, wine, capers and one-half teaspoon salt. Simmer until the sauce thickens, about 20 minutes.
2. Trim the crusts and cut the bread into cubes. Place in a food processor or a blender with the basil and garlic and grind to fine crumbs. Pour into a bowl and stir in the anchovies and pine nuts. Set aside.
3. Cut each zucchini in half lengthwise and use a melonballer to carefully remove some of the flesh from the center to make a "canoe." Leave about one-fourth inch at the sides and ends and a little more at the bottom. Season the inside with one teaspoon salt, and steam over rapidly boiling salted water until just tender, about 10 to 15 minutes.
4. Cut a slice from the top of each tomato. With the melonballer, gently remove most of the pulp. Season insides with one-fourth teaspoon salt.
5. Pour the tomato sauce into a lightly oiled 5-quart gratin dish or substitute two smaller gratin dishes. Spoon the breadcrumb mixture into the zucchini and tomatoes, mounding slightly on top. It will take 1 to 2 tablespoons for each zucchini and 2 to 3 teaspoons for each tomato. Do not press the breadcrumbs or they will become pasty when cooked. Arrange the zucchini and tomatoes in the gratin dish. Drizzle with olive oil if desired.
6. Bake until the vegetables have softened and the tops of the breadcrumbs have browned, about 30 minutes. (Time will vary for the smaller dishes, so start checking after 15 to 20 minutes.) Serve hot or at room temperature.
Each serving: 308 calories; 10 grams protein; 42 grams carbohydrates; 7 grams fiber; 12 grams fat; 1 gram saturated fat; 2 mg.cholesterol; 648 mg. sodium.
*
Eggplant bruschetta
Total time: 1 hour, 20 minutes
Servings: 6 to 8
2 (1-pound) eggplants
2 teaspoons minced garlic
1 teaspoon minced rosemary
1 tablespoon fruity olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 tomato, diced (about 1/2 cup)
1 baguette
1 oz. Pecorino Romano cheese
1. Heat the oven to 400 degrees. Pierce the eggplants in 2 or 3 places with a sharp knife and place them on a jelly roll pan or in a baking dish. Bake until the flesh is soft and the eggplants have collapsed, about 1 hour. Remove from the oven and cool.
2. When the eggplant is cool enough to handle, peel away the skin and coarsely chop the flesh. Put the eggplant in a bowl with the garlic, rosemary and olive oil and stir briskly with a wooden spoon so that the eggplant shreds and breaks apart into chunks but does not become a smooth pur�e. Stir in the salt, vinegar and lemon juice; taste and adjust seasoning. Gently stir in the diced tomato.
3. Cut the baguette into one-half-inch thick slices. Toast in a broiler or on the grill until browned on both sides. Spoon on some of the eggplant mixture and use a vegetable peeler to shave a small slice of Pecorino Romano on top. Serve at room temperature.
________________________________________
Each of 8 servings: 152 calories; 6 grams protein; 24 grams carbohydrates; 4 grams fiber; 4 grams fat; 1 grams saturated fat; 4 mg. cholesterol; 561 mg. sodium.
*
Swordfish with green olive salsa
Total time: 30 minutes
Servings: 6
1/2 pound green olives
5 tablespoons chopped roasted and peeled red bell pepper
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 clove garlic
Salt
1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds
Olive oil
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1/2 cup chopped parsley
2 pounds swordfish, in 2 or 3 pieces
Freshly ground pepper
1. Start a fire in a grill or preheat the broiler.
2. To pit the olives, place them on a cutting board and crush them with the side of a chef's knife. Pull them apart and discard the pits. Gather the olive meat in a pile and chop it coarsely. You should have about three-fourths cup.
3. In a mixing bowl, combine the olives, chopped red bell pepper and crushed red pepper flakes. Place the garlic clove in a large mortar with about one-fourth teaspoon salt and the fennel seeds. Crush into a paste. Slowly add two-thirds cup olive oil, stirring constantly with the pestle.
4. Pour the olive oil mixture over the olives and add the vinegar. Stir several times to turn the mixture into a rough, loose paste. Taste and adjust seasoning, adding more vinegar or salt if necessary. Stir in the chopped parsley and set aside.
5. Pat the swordfish dry with paper towels and season with salt and pepper. Rub both sides lightly with a little olive oil. Moisten a paper towel with olive oil and lightly moisten the surface of the grill or broiler pan. Immediately place the swordfish on the grill and cook just until lightly browned, 3 to 4 minutes per side. Swordfish should be cooked through, but don't let it dry out.
6. Place the swordfish on a platter. Stir the salsa one more time and spoon it over the fish. Serve immediately, passing any leftover salsa on the side.
________________________________________
Each serving: 457 calories; 30 grams protein; 4 grams carbohydrates; 1 grams fiber; 36 grams fat; 6 grams saturated fat; 55 mg. cholesterol; 837 mg. sodium.
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------------------------------ *
* Dr. James Lee Ellingson, Adjunct Professor jellings(a)me.umn.edu *
* University of Minnesota, tel: 651/645-0753 fax 651 XXX XXXX *
* Great Lakes Brewing News, 1569 Laurel Ave., St. Paul, MN 55104 *
