Date: Wed, 7 Jun 2006 11:00:22 -0500
From: "Jim L. Ellingson" <jellings(a)me.umn.edu>
To: wine(a)thebarn.com
Greetings,
PLEASE let someone know that you're planning on attending.
Call Bob (612-672-0607), e-mail the list (wine(a)thebarn.com) or
reply to me. A big thanks to those of us who made their intentions known.
This week, we're doing Sparkling/Champagne and/or Red And Ready
wines at JP's Bistro on Thursday, 6:30.
Joyce
Russ/Sue
Bob
Ruth
Jim
Bill
Nicolai
Karen
JP's American Bistro
2937 S. Lyndale 55408
(612) 824-9300
Cheers,
Jim
*Please note, the sender's email address has not been verified.
You have received the following link from Betsy.Kremser(a)co.anoka.mn.us
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Greetings,
Hears from Bob, Betsy, Bill and Annette S.
All yes for Tratoria de Vincie. Italy from Tuscany south.
Have fun.
Cheers,
Jim
----- Forwarded message from The 30 Second Wine Advisor <wine(a)wineloverspage.com> -----
Date: Wed, 9 Aug 2006 12:00:54 -0400 (EDT)
To: jellings(a)me.umn.edu
Subject: 30SecWineAdvisor: Tomato time!
From: The 30 Second Wine Advisor <wine(a)wineloverspage.com>
THE 30 SECOND WINE ADVISOR, Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2006
________________________________________________________________________
TODAY'S SPONSOR
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IN THIS ISSUE
* NO FRIDAY EDITION The Wine Advisor takes a one-day break.
* TOMATO TIME! 'tis the season for summer's favorite bounty ... but what
wine goes best with a fresh, ripe tomato?
* FATTORIA DI PANCOLE 2004 CHIANTI COLLI SENESI ($12.99) Black cherries
and spice, just about a perfect model of fresh, straightforward Chianti.
* WINEBUYS.COM Top New Arrivals - Up to 55% off!
* ADMINISTRIVIA Change E-mail address, frequency, format or unsubscribe.
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NO FRIDAY EDITION
We're taking a long weekend to visit family in Florida, so the Wine
Advisor takes a day off on Friday. We'll be back Monday.
________________________________________________________________________
TOMATO TIME!
Here's a question to ponder on a steamy summer morning: Is a tomato a
vegetable, or is it a fruit? Contrary to what seems obvious to most of
us, pedants insist that the tomato is a fruit because, botanically
speaking, it develops from the ovary at the base of its flower and
contains the seeds of the plant. "Vegetables" are other edible parts of
plants such as leaves, stalks or tubers ... or so the botanists say.
But cooks - and most everybody else - know that the tomato is a
vegetable because, well, we eat it in salads and savory dishes, not ...
usually ... for dessert.
Most of us, actually, don't worry much about this definition. We simply
enjoy the luscious tomato, and never more than at this time of year, the
peak of summer in the Northern Hemisphere, when just about everybody can
get their hands on a ripe, juicy and tart-sweet specimen at the peak of
seasonal perfection.
Picked straight from the plant, still warm from the garden, it's hard to
beat a fresh tomato au naturel, maybe with just a sprinkle of salt to
perfect it. When you're eating a tomato out of hand like an apple,
there's not much call for a glass of wine.
But bring it to the dinner table, and the obvious question arises: When
the tomato is the star of the bill of fare, or at least a strong
supporting player, what's the best wine to serve?
At the risk of sounding like a clich�, it's hard to beat Chianti (and
other Sangiovese-based wines) for cooked tomato dishes, not excepting
the classic spaghetti and meatballs or pepperoni pizza. Chianti, after
all, became the default choice with these Italian-style dishes for a
reason: Its combination of relatively subtle fruit flavors with crisp,
snappy acidity makes a natural partner with the similar flavor profile
of fresh tomatoes. I told you it was a fruit!
Although the Chianti rule of thumb relates to tomato-based sauces, long-
simmered and sweet, I find that the same principles apply with fresh
tomato dishes as well, and none better than caprese, the summery Italian
salad of thick-sliced fresh tomatoes, fresh leaves of basil and rounds
of fresh mozzarella. This works particularly well, in my opinion,
because the fresh herb scents of the basil pick up similar
characteristics in the Chianti, and the creamy mozzarella rounds out the
dish in wine-friendly fashion.
Indeed, fresh tomatoes and simple Chianti are natural pals in almost any
combination. Alternatively, although the grapes are completely
different, a similar equation works with the warm Provencal flavors of
Cotes-du-Rhone reds (like the fine example featured as today's
Winebuys.com offer, below) and other Grenache, Syrah or Mourvedre wines
and blends from the Southern Rhone and Provence.
For today, though, I'm sticking with Italy, and better still, in honor
of a Tuscan wine-judging trip I'll be taking to Siena in October, a fine
young Chianti Colli Senesi ("Chianti from the Siena hills"). Enjoy it
with caprese or enjoy it with red-sauced spaghetti; it's a fine
introduction to the loving affinity between these wines and this fruit.
Or vegetable.
________________________________________________________________________
FATTORIA DI PANCOLE 2004 CHIANTI COLLI SENESI ($12.99)
Clear, very dark garnet. Black cherries and subtle spice on the nose,
juicy fruit and snappy acidity in the flavor; fresh-fruit acidity and
soft tannins in a long finish. Just about a perfect model of fresh,
straightforward Chianti. U.S. importer: Five Star Fine Imports Ltd.,
Plainview, N.Y. (July 25, 2006)
FOOD MATCH: Characteristic Chianti, made for red meat; its fresh acidity
and fruit makes it a natural with snappy, tomato-based pasta dishes or,
as noted, a caprese salad or just about anything made with fresh summer
tomatoes and basil.
VALUE: Reasonably priced by current standards, but shop carefully, as
it's available in some regions for $10 or so.
WHEN TO DRINK: It's made for immediate enjoyment, but won't fade
appreciably for a year or two on the wine rack.
PRONUNCIATION:
Chianti Colli Senesi = "Kee-AHN-tee Coh-lee Seh-nay-zee"
WEB LINK:
The Fattoria di Pancole Website offers a choice of Italian or English,
with some pages also in German. It provides brief information about the
company's wines, grappa, olive oil and accommodations at the winery.
http://www.fattoriadipancole.it
FIND THIS WINE ONLINE:
Look up prices and locate sources for Fattoria di Pancole Chianti on
Wine-Searcher.com:
http://www.wine-searcher.com/find/Pancole%2bChianti/-/-/USD/A?referring_sit…
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TALK ABOUT WINE ONLINE:
To read and comment on today's column in our non-commercial WineLovers
Discussion Group, you can click directly to it at
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We're also featuring the tomato - discussing recipes, wine matches,
gardening and lore - as Ingredient of the Month in our FoodLovers
Discussion Group. To participate in these discussions, visit
http://www.wineloverspage.com/forum/village/viewtopic.php?t=2572
Today's article is cross-posted in our Netscape WineLovers Community,
where we also welcome comments and questions.
http://community.netscape.com/winelovers?nav=messages&tsn=1&tid=4685
To contact me by E-mail, write wine(a)wineloverspage.com. I'll respond
personally to the extent that time and volume permit.
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PRINT OUT TODAY'S ARTICLE
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printed out for your scrapbook or file or downloaded to your PDA or
other wireless device.
http://www.wineloverspage.com/wineadvisor1/print060809.html
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All the wine-tasting reports posted here are
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I purchase all the wines I rate at my own expense in retail stores and accept no samples, gifts or other gratuities from the wine industry.
Wednesday, August 9, 2006
Copyright 2006 by Robin Garr. All rights reserved.
----- 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 *
----- Forwarded message from "Jim L. Ellingson" <jellings(a)me.umn.edu> -----
Date: Tue, 4 Apr 2006 17:17:35 -0500
From: "Jim L. Ellingson" <jellings(a)me.umn.edu>
To: wine(a)thebarn.com
Subject: Tuscan Wines at Tratoria Da Vinci
User-Agent: Mutt/1.5.4i
Back on Thursday 8/10/06 at 6:30.
Italian Wines from Tuscany and anywhere S. of Tuscany.
Next week (8/17) we'll do Champagne and "red and ready" at JP's.
Trattoria da Vinci
400 Sibley St., St. P,
55101 222-4050
It's in the "far end" of down town St. Paul, near the Farmer's
Market. If you're traveling on I94, take the 7th St. Exit.
Who?
Betsy
Bob
Lori
Bill
Janet
Ruth yes Warren ??
Russ yes Sue ??
Dave?
Nicolai?
Karin?
Annette?
I'm off line after 4:00 or so today, back on Monday.
Cheers,
Jim
----- End forwarded message -----
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
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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 *
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.
