Home > Wine Openers
Old Burgundy on review
ASPEN - There are many reasons to attend the Food & Wine Magazine Classic in Aspen, just as there are many reasons to partake of good wine and great food beyond the simple pleasures of enjoyment.
I won’t belabor the point that some people unfairly diss the Classic for its air of apparently unbridled consumption, an argument that falls apart when you realize how much control (both personal and legal) is manifest by the attendees and those running the Classic. And a general softening of the “It’s my money, I’ll spend it any way I like” was particularly noticeable this year after many Food & Wine Classic regulars were stung hard by the financial contretemps of one Bernie Madoff.
The latter point in some way might have played into my favor, something I realized after finding myself sitting in a seminar on vintage Burgundies from the house of Remoissenet Pere & Fils. In “normal times” (whatever those might be) these Reserve Tastings would be played to full houses but this year an opening unexpectedly appeared and I sat down as fast as possible.
The tasting was led by the knowledgeable and very low-key Bartholomew Broadbent, a man who’s credentials and lineage are as impeccable as that of Remoissenet itself. The tasting featured a fascinating vertical of Remoissenet’s Clos Vougeot (“reverent wines,” Broadbent described them), including a 1952 that came from Broadbent’s personal cellar.
Apparently Broadbent, with his Oxford diction and wind-swept shock of light brown hair, is a bit of a pack rat, or maybe cellar rat is more appropriate. He said he’s fond of burying newly purchased cases of wine under older purchases, an attempt to hide the new wines until they are ready to drink.
Unfortunately, what sometimes occurs is he loses track of some cases, as happened with the 1952 Clo Vougeot. “I had completely forgotten about it and found it when I moved,” he told the audience. “I might have found it too late.”
While still quite pleasant and drinkable, the wine was starting to show its age, wearing a bit more of the brickish color one sometimes expects from older Burgundies. Panelist Robert Simpson said the wine still showed “oriental spice and soy sauce” aromas while David Schofield admired the “layers of fleeting aromas” including a faint whiff of vanilla but said the wine finished “a bit short.”
Other wines in the Clos Vougeot tasting included a 1955 (very pale in color with hints of violets); 1957, from a generally poor vintage but this wine was terrific, with scent of roses and maple; 1959, at 40 years old a marvelous, no-tannin wine from what Simpson described as “one of the greatest vintages ever,”; 1964, earthy, dark cherry and plum nose, flavors of dried strawberries and plenty of tannin and acidity; and a 1969, a gorgeous wine at its peak from another great vintage.
We also sipped from a 1978, 1985, 1997 and a 2007 Clos Vougeot. It was a lifetime of education and experience crammed into 90 minutes by Broadbent and his panel, which also included Pierre-Antoine Rovani, the former “Wine Advocate” writer who now works for Remoissenet.
Rovani summed up the tasting when he said, “When learning about Burgundies, take everything you know about wines and throw it out.” Don’t be afraid, he implicity was saying, to start over with a clean slate. It reminded me of a recent writing by Italian Wine Guy Anthony Cevola on his blog, “On the Wine Trail in Italy.”
Cevola is one of the most-thoughtful and provoking (in a grand and fascinating way) bloggers writing about wine and life, and recently he wrote: “Just once, try and approach a wine you think you know really well and imagine you have lost your memory of it. Maybe that is the essence of blind tasting. But instead of trying to find markers, imagine this is the first time any wine has ever passed your lips. Learn to forget.”
You can read the entire blog here.
But the point is terribly valid whatever you’re tasting at the moment. I read somewhere that a good wine critic is one who can appreciate a well-made wine even if it’s not a wine the critic particularly likes. Leave the old prejudices (pro and con) at home, you might be surprised at what you find.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment |
Day 3 - Aspen redux
ASPEN - I forgot to add yesterday when talking about Michael Chiarello’s presentation on sustainability that he also talked a great deal about cooking, which makes sense since most people know him from his cookbooks, appearances on the Food Network and his St. Helena, Cal., restaurant, Tra Vigne (which, if what little Italian I know holds up, means “between the vines” or “between the vineyards”).
One of his points, among many, was there’s a big difference between taste and flavor, a thought he was getting to ready to expand before he was sidetracked by something else. It was a curious and thought-provoking statement, reflective of his well-known quote (it’s on his NapaStyle Web site here) that “It’s not about the taste but the experience.”
Could we say the same thing about wines, particularly wines with a story (tradition, family, memories) behind them? I think of all the indigenous varietals I tasted at VinItaly, many of which never make it to the U.S. but which have rich histories accompanying them, as well as some of the small-production winemakers trying to make something special, hanging on to the past while making wines for today?
It’s a marvelous topic for future posts but for now, back to Aspen. It’s always a struggle to decide which of the events to attend during the Food & Wine Classic. I sat in on Jacque and Claudine Pepin’s “Fast Food Our Way” and came away (again) impressed with their message that good food and fast food can be the same thing, as long as a bit of care, ingenuity and love go into the making.
“My food is usually easy and fast to prepare, but it is not processed food,” Pepin said. He emphasizes using fresh ingredients, organic when possible. There was the usual bantering and good-natured rivalry between le pere et lal fille plus more of Jacque’s impeccable knife skiils. Claudine once referred to her father as “the human food processor” and if you’ve seen him wield a knife you know what she means.
Then it was off to watch Ming Tsai of Blue Ginger demonstrate some of his Asian fusion (my description in lieu of anything else) techniques.
During his presentation, he chatted as if we were sitting across his kitchen work table, which we were, although there were a couple hundred of us hanging on to his words. Among the gems were: — Potstickers were actually a mistake that came about when a Chinese chef forgot and left some dumplings cooking too long; — Judaism predates the Chinese culture by 300 years, which left Ming to wonder, “Where did all the Jews eat for 300 years?” — and his recommendation to use box wines for cooking since it doesn’t oxydize like bottled wines.
I didn’t try any boxed wines during the weekend but gave the bottled varietals a good go. I’ll tell you about some of them next time.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment |
Day 2 — Spheres of influence at Aspen Food & Wine Classic
ASPEN — The rains returned late Friday night but quit sometime before dawn, a fact I only learned this morning from a giddy couple still heading home after a night on the town. They both were soaked, although more from something in their Reidel glassware rather than anything falling out of the sky.
The main focus this weekend for many attendees of the Food & Wine Classic does seem to the be near-endless list of parties being hosted from Starwood to the top of Aspen Mountain. It’s a grand life but it does get in the way of actually attending one of the dozens of seminars and demonstrations featuring many of the top names in food and wine.
If you’re determined, however, you can have it both ways, as renowned Napa chef and winemaker Michael Chiarello demonstrated during his seminar on sustainability titled “The Farm-to-Fork Connection: Creating a Sustainable World at Your Table.”
“Is anybody else suffering a red-wine hangover this morning,” asked Chiarello, an opening line that brought a murmur of agreement from the crowd. “But we’re pros, right? We can do this.”
Chiarello and organic gardener Peter Jacobsen, whose Jacobsen Orchards near Yountville in the Napa Valley supplies greens and other veggies to the French Laundry restaurant, emphasized the “spheres of influence” we each have in making choices on where and what we eat, decisions completely personal but with immense impacts on the world around us.
“Eating is an agricultural act,” said Jacobsen, quoting poet and farmer Wendell Berry. “And (author) Michael Pollan called it ‘voting with your fork.’”
He urged everyone to become a farmer. “Plant some basil, get involved in the agricultural process,” he said, “Commit creative acts of gardening. Take one small step for farming.”
We each had a glass of Chiarello’s zinfandel at our seat and he asked us to pick up the glass, swirl, sniff and sip. “You can smell the soil inside this wine,” he said. But Chiarello, who organically farms 20 acres in the Central Valley, said the switch to better food production (better being my term, meaning fewer pesticides and chemicals) won’t be easy. “It took me seven to nine years” to change-over his farm to organic although “after five years we were seeing everything come to life. “Once the soil came alive, I was getting the same yield” as the non-organic producers, he said.
But it’s not enough to say you’re sustainable simply because you’re organic, Chiarello warned. “Sustainable is not just organics; part of sustainability is reducing your reliance on other things,” Chiarello said.
Like, umm, tequila maybe. During an earlier panel discussion on vintage Burgundies, Canadian wine merchant Robert Simpson blamed “a night of tequila” on his foggy manner although he rallied like a trooper during the 90-minute seminar.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment |
Day 1 — Aspen Food & Wine Classic
ASPEN - It’s Day One and the rains that turned Colorado’s high country into a wildflower paradise took Friday off, just in time for the first day of the three-day 27th annual Food & Wine Magazine Classic in Aspen.
You live in the mountains long enough and you expect the unexpected, whether it’s 50-degree weather in March or snow showers in July.
But even the glitterati of Glamour Gulch found the incessant series of toad-stranglers a bit depressing, as one local remarked while waiting for a cup of coffee, “It’s been 40 days of rain and Noah’s building a boat in my alley.”
The week leading to the Classic ended on brilliant sunshine, a perfect high-country welcome to the much-anticipated weekend of seminars, parties, demonstrations, more parties and high-profile star-gazing.
It’s a world, just like that of big-time sports and politics, where everyone who is anyone is known by his or her first name. Walk down an Aspen street or linger in a cafe and you’re bound to encounter (or at least gawk over) Mario or Bobby or Michael or Jacques and Claudine in the food end of things as well as just about every wine writer and blogger you might imagine.
And like the other celebrities that often appear without public fanfare in this private town, not much is made of their day-to-day wanderings.
You can get plenty of gossip and star-worship at the parties but while those gatherings certainly are the hottest topics for local chatter and a sort of spirited competition to see how many you can crash, they really aren’t the reason for attending.
Each year I’m amazed me at how much knowledge and passion for wine and its many mysteries and attractions is gathered in one small venue. The most difficult decision is which seminar or demonstration to attend.
Do I hear about Italian wines or Spanish? Washington reds, Napa cabernet, great value Burgundies or spicy Rieslings? Do you watch Jacques and Claudine Pepin prepare “Fast Food Our Way” or listen to Michael Chiarello and organic farmer Peter Jacobsen talk about sustainability and the “Farm-to-Fork Connection”?
On that opening morning, bereft of direction on a sea of temptations, a stroke of luck found me in a seminar on vintage champagnes sponsored by the Champagne house Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin of Reims, France. Founded as Clicquot in 1772 by wine merchant Phillipe Clicquot, by 1775 Clicquot became the first Champagne house to ship a rosé Champagne.
Sparkling flutes with vintage Champagne from Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin
But in 1805 his son Francoise, then head of the company, died prematurely and left the company to his widow, Barbe Nicole Ponsardin, who became the “veuve” (widow) of Veuve Clicquot. Madame Clicquot decided to stay at the company’s reins and in 1810 changed the name of the company to Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin and that same year produced the company’s first vintage Champagne.
She was known not only as a good business person but also an innovator. She invented the technique of riddling, hanging bottles upside down and occasionally turning them so the sediments can be removed, leaving a wine that’s clear and sparkling.
Among the selections were two Rare Vintage releases, a 1985 and 1988 rosé (to compare with a recent non-vintage rosé and a 2002 rosé) along with a stunning 1978 rosé.
The seminar was led by renowned wine importer Bartholomew Broadbent, who in 1997 was named one of the 50 “most influential in the wine world.”
Broadbent reminded the audience that older Champagnes, just like older Burgundies and other fine wines, change constantly in the glass and cautioned us that no one knew what to expect, particularly from the 31-year old Champagne.
We weren’t disappointed. The 1985, from a very small vintage due to exceptionally cold weather that killed or damaged many vines, still had fine bubbles and flavors of red fruit, earth and spice.
The 1988 (both wines were disgorged in 2002 after the company decided to sell part of its vast library of wines) carries a nose of dried fruits, flowers and what only can be described as terroir.
And even the 1978, darkened by age to the color of sherry, was rich and earthy, with a hint of what panelist David Schofield described as the land in which the wine was grown.
“Only Champagne can smell like this,” said Schofield, holding the glass deeply to his nose. “You can smell the chalk the vines were rooted in.”
More next time on the Food & Wine Classic and my time with Grand Junction grape growers (and soon to be winemakers) Neil and Diane Guard.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment |
Taking a chardonnay break
I’ve been drinking a lot of sauvignon blancs the last couple of months. The weather started out in March and April warmer than usual, which makes me crave chilled white wines instead of the deep reds of winter and fall. But a couple of weeks ago everything changed back to spring instead of the high-desert summer and I went looking for something a bit more substantial.
About then, I found in my mail a bottle of the J 2006 Chardonnay from Sam Dependahl at J Vineyards and Winery in Healdsburg, Cal. That year was the first year for their new winemaker, George Bursick, and the 2006 vintage clearly has Bursick’s talents all over it. Bursick, who also carries the title Vice President of Winemaking, is well-known in the wine industry with his 30-plus years of experience in winemaking, winery design, vineyard management, just about anything an industrious and inquisitive winemaker might delve into.
I was fortunate to meet Bursick in early 2007 shortly after he came over to Judy Jordan’s Russian River Valley operation and have to admit I wasn’t sure what to make of him. I was aware of his reputation as a talented winemaker but what I didn’t expect was to find someone so approachable and friendly, willing to share as much information as I had the knowledge to ask about, which admittedly wasn’t much.
No state secrets changed hands, that’s for sure, but he gave a handful of writers an extended tour of some new vineyards and explained his goals for the future of J wines. We were looking at a Pinot Noir vineyard when someone asked Bursick about the challenges the moody grape offers. Well, he said slowly, it’s true no one owns Pinot Noir. “If you want to do it right, you can’t cut corners and you can’t lower your standards,” he said. That was his modus operandi, he said: Get the details right and everything will work out.
Without daring to speak for Bursick, I’d say the future nearly is here. I was earlier impressed with his Pinot Noir and now the 2006 Chardonnay proves to be lively and fresh, without any of the over-bearing oak flavors too many California chards fell into in the last decade or so. Just enough oak to act as a subtle condiment, enhancing rather than overpowering the flavors of green apples, citrus and hints of caramel in the wine.
It’s a bit pricey, $35 or so, and in these times that price point isn’t moving quickly off the shelves. But as investor Warren Buffett often has said, quoting economist Ben Graham, “Price is what you pay; value is what you get.”
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment |
The wine and bison dinner
It’s not often you get the opportunity to eat something that’s still on the hoof. You’d have to be a real carnivore (and likely awfully hungry) to get that close to your meal but there we were, eating bison (it was cooked) while some of the meal’s relatives were watching us balefully through a double-wire fence.
It was the second annual “Wine and Buffalo” dinner at Dave and Sue Whittlesey’s High Wire Ranch on Rogers Mesa about 35 miles southeast of Grand Junction.
The Whittlesey’s have been raising grass-fed bison since 1981 and elk ranching since 1987, so they are two of the more-experienced “alternate livestock” raisers in western Colorado. Incidentally, even though their Web site (and nearly everyone else) refers to the big, furry animals wandering the pastures as “buffalo,” both Dave and Sue will tell you the temperamental critters really are bison.
The difference? While both bison and buffalo belong to the same family (Bovidae, for those interested), true “buffalo” are native only to Africa and Asia.
Chef and winemake Yvon Gros serves some of his bison dishes at the “Wine and Buffalo” dinner held recently at High Wire Bison Ranch near Hotchkiss.
The bison diner was paired with wines from Yvon and Joanna Gros’ Leroux Creek Vineyards, located about a mile down the road from the ranch. Yvon, a classically trained French chef-turned-winemaker and innkeeper, lured several of his chef friends up from Denver to participate in the weekend events.
There were appetizers and entrees featuring various buffalo (oops, bison) dishes and Yvon’s distinctive wines, particularly his unique hybrids, the French-bred Chambourcin (red) and Cayuga (white), both grown organically at his vineyard.
It was a fascinating meal, if for no other reason than how often do you get to sample bison skirt steak roulade, a brochetté of bison medallions and grilled bison sirloin steaks? This certainly wasn’t the meal for vegans, although the local produce (from North Fork Valley farmers including TLC Greenhouse in Paonia) provided a fine balance for those who eat less meat.
The chocolate desserts were provided by chef and chocolatier Johannes Busch, a long-time fiend of Yvon and the pastry and confection instructor at Johnson & Wales University in Denver. Later that evening, accompanied by yet another glass of Yvon’s wine, Johannes gave a few of us late-night lingerers an insight into the fervors shared by true chocolate devotees.
“You savor chocolate, you don’t just eat it,” commanded Johannes, sharing with us tiny pinches from a prized bar of dark chocolate he had recently “smuggled” into the country after a visit to Europe. And the next morning, during breakfast at the Leroux Creek Inn, bakery chef Ron Levallee, also from Johnson & Wales, talked of baking at high altitude and shared some his pastry tricks.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment |
Spring brings barrel tasting
The Hostess and I spent the weekend at what seemed a virtual sprint but an enjoyable one, nonetheless. The schedule began Saturday with us chugging around the valley for the second weekend of the “Barrel Into Spring” tasting event sponsored by the Grand Valley Winery Association, a fun annual event that this year seemed more-crowded than ever.
Officially limited at 190 people per weekend (it originally was a one-weekend event but demand grew to where another weekend recently was added), this year there were enough winelovers partaking in the hospitality that another weekend might be added soon.
At least that’s what we were told by one winemaker, but until the announcement is official It’s best I not say who said it. We tasting some interesting wines, some not-so-interesting wines and some wines best forgotten. That’s to be expected no matter where you go in the wine world, and the Grand Valley is no different in that respect from Napa, New Zealand or Europe.
Winemaking remains mostly art with a bit of science (it seems chemists make pretty good winemakers) thrown in to balance the left/right sides of the brain.
But one thing you find everywhere is the passion to make great wines, even if you know the path ahead of you is fraught (that’s a Jeremy Parzen-sounding word, isn’t it?) with peril.
This year’s Barrel Tasting was the usual mix of education and delicious food. Jenne Baldwin-Eaton, winemaker at Plum Creek Winery, arranged a well-conceived and well-executed display of wine glasses each holding a different scent to give guests a better idea of what aromas they might find in wine.
And Parker Carlson of Carlson Vineyards, had the incomparable food of Grand Junction’s Il Bistro Italiano to accompany his wines. His Tyranosaurus Red is made from Lemberger, a medium-boded red wine that paired well with the lamb Ron Hall was cooking.
Parker and Mary weren’t present this year but instead were in Wisconsin on their annual business/fishing trip. It seems last year Mary caught the bigger pike on the trip, something she was quick to share with us on their return.
Speaking of Dr. P, he, Alfonso and Susannah have written some lovely words about Abruzzo, recalling the terremoto (earthquake) of six weeks ago and the resilience of the Abbruzzesi people.
I’ll touch on that a bit later.
And oh, yes, there was this wine dinner at a bison ranch. More on that, too. I’m off on another assignment.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment |
Terremoto at VinItaly
On the road, northern Italy - It’s early on April 6 and the voice, not the words, of the radio announcer on Italy’s Radio Uno that alerts me something is changing. My Italian is limited, mostly to wine-related topics and that mostly to when the speaker takes it easy on me.
But the news of the earthquake in Abruzzo isn’t easily hidden even by a language barrier, and it’s not long before I’ve pulled off the road to listen. “Terremoto, megnetudo 5.8,” says the voice and the latest results say 287 dead, including 20 children.
This sign, almost a premonition, was seen in a booth at VinItaly
The news shocked the final day of VinItaly 2009 and some friends still at the show said winemakers from the Abruzzi region hurriedly left for home, casting long looks at the road ahead, both literally and figuratively.
The spirit of VinItaly, while certainly one of intense deal-making and bargaining for the future, also is one of high-spirited fun, with the enjoyment of wine at the center of life. It’s also a reflection of the Italian love for the good things in life, including their love of their families and the sanctity of personal spirit. Much of that spirit was subdued with a simply shrug of the Earth’s shoulders.
We can’t do much but offer our meager condolences and best wishes to our many friends and acquaintances made during VinItaly and wine trips through central Italy. And our prayers for the people who feel the pain of loss.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment |
Day 4, Vinitaly
Tramin, Italy - This town lies smack in the Alto Adige region of northern Italy, the home, at least the historic home, of Gerwurtztraminer, the spicy white grape and wine that gives so much delight at so little cost. It’s late and I’ve arrived after spending most of the day purposefully wandering the aisles of VinItaly with Susannah Gold, author of the delightful blog avvinare.
Was it the weather or the economy that kept crowds down at VinItaly?
VinItaly seemed a bit less crowded this year, although less crowded is a relative term when it comes to Italy’s largest wine fair. Still, the Sunday morning rush never seemed to start until late in the day, and even then it wasn’t as big as expected. “It’s early, Sunday morning is always slow,” Susanna Crociani of Azienda Agricole Crociana advised on our first stop.
Susanna Crociana of Montepulciano and her delightful wines
Susanna Crociani’s winery and agriturismo is in Montepulciano, that southeastern region of Tuscany about where the “knee” of the Italian boot might be found, if you look with an imagination. Among the eight wines she makes are an elegant Vino Nobile di Montepulciano DOCG and Rosso di Montepulciano DOC, both blends of 90 percent Prugnolo Gentile, (a clone of the Sangiovese grape that dates back at least to the 18th century), 15 percent Canaiolo Nero and 10 percent Mammolo, the differences being the respective aging times demanded by the DOCG and DOC regulations.
She’s carrying on a family winemaking tradition that began with her great-grandfather and over the generations was handed to her grandfather, her father and her brother. But life is not without its mysteries, and only a couple of years after her father Arnaldo died, last year Susanna’s brother Giorgio died unexpectedly and she took the winery and the business.
“I’m a one-woman show,” she said with a sweet laugh, one not without a bit of sadness.”I used to write a blog, too, but now I’m just too busy for that.” She said Montepulciano “is one of the oldest wines in Italy you can find reference to in books. We’re right in the middle (of famous wine-making regions), with Chianti on one side and Brunello on the other.”
She also blends Rosso d’Arnaldo, named for her father, that include 70 percent Sangiovese, 10 percent Canaiolo Nero, 10 percent Mammolo, and 5 percent each of Malvasia and Colorino. And then there’s her “il Segreto di Giorgio,” this wine based on a “secret” barrel she discovered last year in the family cellar.
“I asked Giorgio what was in it and he said it was a secret,” she recalled. “Then, two weeks later he died. I was looking at the barrel and decided to make Giorgio’s wine. He never told me what was in the barrel so I called it ‘The Secret of Giorgio.’”
She eventually discerned what the barrel contained and each year will make another batch of Giorgio’s secret wine. It’s a delightful red with round tannins and the bright fruit of Sangiovese (hey, this is Tuscany, remember?) but don’t ask the exact blend.
“I can’t share Giorgio’s secret,” Susanna steadfastly maintains.
And she’s looking for a U.S. importer, if anyone wants to take the chance on some delightfully satisfying wines made with the tradition of Montepulciano and a lot of family love.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment |
Day Two, Vinitaly
VERONA, Italy— April 3. The rains returned today to this city of Romeo and Juliet and a walk around the Coliseum was washed out along with some of the expected crowds at VinItaly, the largest wine fair in Italy and possibly the world.
There are 3,500 or so exhibitors here this year, a mere smidgen of the estimated 27,000 commercial wine producers in Italy. And that does not come close to including the millions of Italians who grow a row or three of grapes for their home winemaking.
The schedule here is full of meeting wine makers preserving their tradition in small batches, less than 25,000 bottles a year. Of course, here, too, are also are the Mionettos of the Italian wine world, a giant Prosecco maker who bottles more than 8 million a year. Gallo of California produces 1 million 12-bottle cases a week, in contrast.
I will have more as the week goes on, the fair ends Monday but on that day I have a meeting in Magrè, a villagio in northern Italy, where the food and language is German more often as Italian and the wine predominately is white. I am off to met winemaker Barbara TAmburini, who at 34 is one the hottest winemakers in the country, twice voted Winemaker of the Year, something nearly unheard of in a country of male winemakers..
I also will try to figure out this European key board, which does not seem to include an apostrophe……
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment |
Day 5: Italy 2009
CARPESICA, Italy - Some early thoughts during this year’s trip to Il Bel Paese…
“Welcome to sunny Italy,” said winemaker Santé Toffoli with a rueful laugh Tuesday as we watched the rain splash onto the rolling hills of his already soaked vineyard in Refrontolo, Italy. It’s been raining in northern Italy for four or five days, just about since I walked off the plane Friday in Milan. Just a coincidence, that’s all. Honest.
This small village (at the risk of being redundant, yes, but it IS small) at the foot of the Alps is on the Strada del Prosecco that snakes through the hilly north-eastern part of Italy roughly from Conegliano on the east to Valdobbiadene on the west. Prosecco DOC as its known, a name that will change sometime this year when DOC turns to the more-restrictive DOCG, a change eagerly awaited by Prosecco makers here.
I’m here for VinItaly, or at least waiting for VinItaly (which starts Thursday in Verona, about 90 minutes away) while I visit friends made in January at the VINO 2009 show in New York City. Santé is one and I’m staying for a couple days at the B&B owned by Cinzia Canzian and Umberto Cosmo, who also own Alice (Cinzia’s) and Bellenda (Umberto’s) wineries. They, too, produce Prosecco and quite lovely it is.
The rain, for me being a desert boy, is nice change although the winemakers, being farmers at heart, are ready for some sun to push their grapes into action. Two years ago I was here about this time and there already were buds forming, an early spring that Santé called as “mad, mad.”
“Everyone here said they’d never seen anything like it,” he recalled as we sipped his 2008 Prosecco Extra Brut, one of only two or three extra brut Proseccos made (umm, since it’s more than one that means it’s Prosecci in l’Italiano), since Santé pointed out most people prefer the dry or extra dry. “Traditionally we harvest Prosecco in mid-October, that year we were done by end of August.”
Much talk around here of President Obama and Obama campaign buttons are often seen, as if the election hasn’t ended. When people discover I’m American they all want to share their thoughts on the future of America. So far it’s all positive and they’re hopeful America can carry out a recovery that includes Italy.
It was sunny for a few hours this morning and you could see fresh snow on the mountains but by nightfall the clouds were low, the wind chimes were ringing and drops fell against the windows. The weather can’t make up its mind, swinging back and forth as the Earth turns toward summer.
There’s much to explore, and lacking a GPS on my rental car (a Fiat about the size of a small refrigerator) I’ve seen a lot of Italy I didn’t initially plan to see. But it’s all fun and I learned several years ago to smile and stumble through my rough Italian. As one woman told me in Asti, while she practiced her English, “don’t be afraid to make a mistake. People don’t expect you to be perfect.”
Or as one of my yoga instructors reminds us every class, “it’s about progress, not perfection.” Now, if only I could successfully navigate the photo downloads on this laptop… The church bells in the tower 100 yards away just clanged 10 p.m. More from sunny and not-so-sunny Italy soon… Ciao for now.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment |
A wine with a taste of spring
It’s springtime in the Rockies, no matter what the calendar says. Ski season began in December with a blast of snow across the state but the rest of this winter never lived up to the promise of last year when most ski resorts were reporting record snow falls.
We spent Thursday skiing Telluride, where the weather was decidedly undecided on whether it was winter or spring. A little snow, a little sun, a little wind, more snow, more sun, more wind, etc.. The temperature never got warm enough to soften the snow but the coverage was great and the skiing equally so.
All that means is the Ides of March have brought more snow to the mountains while white blossoms already have appeared on my apricot tree, which also means those blossoms are likely to be wiped out by a late frost. I’ll be picking apricots from someone else’s tree again this summer.
That early advent of spring weather has us thinking of spring and summer wines and particularly Sauvignon Blancs. These easy to like whites wines have caught our late-winter fancy and when the Hostess and I stopped for dinner at Cazwella’s in Montrose (the Web site is www.cazwellas.com but I can’t get the link to work) on the way home from Telluride, we chose a Plum Creek Winery 2005 Colorado Sauvignon Blanc, with its bright citrus and hints of lemon, fig and melon and reasonably priced at $23 (about $11 retail).
We’ve been sampling Sauvignon Blancs for a couple of weeks, starting with a 2008 Kim Crawford Marlborough Sauvingon Blanc the Hostess snapped up ($12.99) on a whim and a great whim it proved to be. This is a lush Sauvignon Blanc, with lots of citrus (mostly grapefruit with lemon and lime and what New Zealanders call gooseberry), high acidity and what I consider a pure version of a New Zealand-type Sauvignon Blanc.
As a comparison, we opened a Casillero del Diablo 2008 Sauvignon Blanc from the Chilean winery Concha y Toro and imported by Banfi Vintners. The interesting story behind the name Casillero del Diablo, which means Cellar of the Devil, is explained on the Concha y Toro Web site.
Their Sauvignon Blanc, however, needs little introduction. Crisp and clean, lots of lemon grass, melon and a bit of white peach, this affordable ($9) wine from Chile’s Central Valley (the historic farming area south of Santiago between the Andes and the Coastal Range) was a delight to drink with a light dinner. Somehow Gracie Slick the black cat managed to hold still long enough to pose next to the bottle.
There are some delightful Sauvignon Blancs coming out of California, where the wine sometimes is known as Fumé Blanc, a term invented in 1968 by Robert Mondavi when he introduced a dry version (dry for California, anyway) of Sauvignon Blanc. As the story goes, Mondavi’s company borrowed Fumé Blanc from the French Loire wine Pouilly-Fumé (say pwee foo-may) which at the time was enjoying some success in the U.S.
Mondavi never patented or copyrighted the name so it became an accepted identifier for American-made Sauvignon Blancs. We’ll talk more about some French and California Sauvignon Blancs next time. More information on Sauvignon Blanc wines may be found here.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment |
To be Fresh and Wyld
The Hostess and I spent Friday skiing the steep but not-so-deep of Telluride, a lovely day of confused weather (blowing snow and cold, cold wind alternating with spring-warm, sunny skies) and then hied off to Paonia for dinner at Dava Parr’s wonderful farmhouse inn, gardens and bed-and-breakfast called Fresh and Wyld.
Dava’s an extremely talented and down-to-earth chef, having earned her burns serving some of Aspen’s high rollers for more than two decades before deciding to move to Paonia and start her own business.
Dava Parr at the breakfast stove, her smile bright as ever
This cozy burg along the North Fork of the Gunnison River has a strong organic, local foods movement and Dava builds her frequent dinners with a fervent desire to serve fresh, local good-tasting foods in a family atmosphere.
Friday’s dinner was one of the regular Friday night meals. The meals are severely underpriced ($15 adults, children under 4 feet eat for $8) for the quality and variety they offer and they are served early so the locals can go out to the local watering holes or the theater after.
A recent kitchen menu (not this week) at Dava Parr’s.
I said dinner was at 6 p.m. but we didn’t arrive until about 6:30 after the drive from Telluride. A bit late but our excuse (no, it was our reason) was we stopped after skiing for a drink at the old Sheridan Bar, a regular feature of the Telluride post-ski routine.
Meals at Fresh and Wyld are served community style and you can bring your own wine, which makes it seem truly a family meal. We enjoyed Bill Muscnung’s Bethlehem Cellars 2006 Syrah (a blend of 60-percent Syrah and 40-percent Cabernet Sauvignon) with our meals.This week’s menu consisted of High Wire Ranch buffalo lasagna, Thistle Whistle Farm salad with a vegetarian option of lasagna with butternut squash, mushrooms and spinach. The lasagna was home-made and we tried both versions. Dessert was an apple crisp and house-made gelato.
The High Wire Ranch buffalo lasagne and Thistle Whistle Farm salad served as part of Friday night’s communal dinner at Fresh and Wyld Farmhouse Inn.
Dava makes her own pasta, mozzarella and buffalo sausage (among so many other delicious items). I’m not sure if the salad really had thistle in it but it was pretty tasty, especially after a cold day of skiing. Summer dinners are held outside, weather permitting, and if there’s not a wedding set up in the garden.
There also is an active local Slow Food group in the North Fork Valley and you frequently see members of the group attending Dava’s diners. Her philosophy about food and eating are closely aligned with Slow Food and are topics for later blogs.
It’s almost spring in the North Fork Valley, and all the snow I shuffled through on my visit last month (did I mention Fresh and Wyld is a regular part of the schedule?) is long gone, with hints of green grass taking its place.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment |
Insights on technology
I’d be the last to claim being an expert in all the tricks of the winemaking trade. There are others who have more insight than I, and lots of others who share more passion about their insights.
I thought of this last night, with the Hostess out of town, while reading Alice Feiring’s always fascinating wine blog and a couple of recent entries that had me intrigued at the level of knowledge wine blogs can dredge up with little notice.
In the first entry, Feiring explores and deplores the increasing use of gum arabic in winemaking and in the second she and several winemakers tackle the role irrigation has in determining a grape grower’s crop and the final product in the bottle.
Those of us in western Colorado are quite familiar with the importance of irrigation, from growing lawns to peaches to prize-winning wines. That sense of importance isn’t always shared, as you will see by reading Feiring’s blog. The link will take you to the main page and then click on “Jell-O” (gum arabic) and also “Explaining what a Terroir Song Sounds Like” (irrigation). Happy reading.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment |
The Grand Tasting and old varietals
The Big Boys came out to play on the final night of VINO 2009, which featured the Grand Tasting with more than 300 Italian produttori showing off the best of their best. It was noisy, crowded, a hubbub of different languages all trying to be heard over the crazy din.
In other words, a typical mass-market wine tasting but with a wonderful Italian twist, although Terry Hughes evidently wasn’t as pleased. Ensconced among the long tables groaning with wine bottles were a handful of producers from the Consorzio (trade association) del Vino Brunello di Montalcino offering tastes of their mysterious (in a good way) wine.
There were plenty of Brunellos to sample at VINO 2009, and big buckets to spit in.
Brunello is a delicious wine but it’s a hard sell in this economy with its $40 and up price tag. What’s Italy to do? Wine writer (and renowned opera aficionado) Fred Plotkin lamented that “People still don’t know enough about Italian wine,” a backhanded slap of sorts about all those nights spent slurping spaghetti and swilling Chianti out of a squat fiasco while paying no attention at all to what was in your glass.
And later David Pinzolo of Winebow Imports wondered aloud how the U.S. could possibly absorb any more Italian wines, given that Italy has about 32 percent of the U.S. import market valued at close to $80 million, according to the Italian Ministry of Agricultural Food and Forestry Policies.
Pinzolo’s solution? “Sensitize and educate the consumer, especially with lesser-known varietals.” This echoes a sentiment expressed by blogger Susannah Gold on her site “avvinare.” Gold is a certified Italian wine sommelier and recently returned to the U.S. after 15 years in Italy. She says, “After the Brunello scandals of 2008, I was cheered by the discussion to see that people are thinking about different varietals, regions and areas without rejecting what is currently in favor.”
That urges importers to stay with the current round of popular offerings but don’t wear blinders, look to some of the traditional wines that rarely make it out of Italy. Last spring in Friulia, Rino Russolo offered me a sample of a Raboso di Piave, round tannins and good acidity, great with food and aged for two years in wood, including one in oak and one in massive chestnut botti. It’s never been in the U.S., I believe he told me.
Rabosos, pignolettos, verdicchios and marzeminos, the list goes on. Little-known and less understood grapes that can open new horizons for wine lovers and new markets for Italian winemakers.
Italy is in a good spot since it has plenty of good, affordable ($25 and down) wines. Those Brunellos sipped during the seminars were delicious but too pricey (think $45 and up, way up) although we didn’t learn that until after the tasting since whoever supplied the wines forgot to supply prices, too. But the opportunities are there, waiting for someone to open the door.
Permalink | Comments (3) | Post your comment |
The not-so-Au-Bon-Pain
I survived New York City but I couldn’t duck the chicken. On the way through La Guardia I snagged a sammy for the flight home, since airlines are flying mean and lean (I don’t mind lean but the mean part sometimes is too much) and munched the chicken-on-olive-loaf while flying high over a snow-covered Midwest.
As we lifted over the Hudson River, the pilot assured us we weren’t “going goose hunting, if you know what I mean,” but his joke came back on me the next day when I came down with food poisoning. Bloated, nauseous, sick, sick, sick. Then, after some interesting Exorcist-like upheavals, I was back. Tough way to diet but it sure is effective. Oh, one more thing. I picked up the sandwich at a shop called “Au Bon Pain.” It translates to the Good Bread. The visual pun is priceless.
But back to Vino 2009, the real reason for the trip. The Italian Trade Commission spent a lot of money to gain a week of exposure for the 270 or so produttori offering samples of their wine, most of whom (or maybe all) were hoping to snag a piece of the U.S. market. Two days in Boston, three in NYC and a day in Miami.
The Grand Tasting at Vino 2009
How much? Aniello Musella, the Italian Trade Commissioner, played coy to a reporter’s question, saying what amounted to “you add it up.” But he and Patrizio Cencioni, Capanna winery owner and president of the Consorzio del Vino Brunello di Montalcino (Brunello producers association), were quick to talk up the 2004 vintage of Brunello di Montalcino, which just became available Jan. 1.
The harvest, Cencioni noted, was “exceptional” and said it earned the top rank of five stars, perhaps eventually reaching the same stature as the highly regarded vintages of 1995 and 1997. There was a lot of techno-talk about polyphenols, structure and color, but the audience was equally interested in what Cencioni, Masella and others present had to say about the Brunello dust-up of early last year.
There were many wines to taste at a special Brunello seminar
That was when some major Brunello producers were accused of making more wine than their officially measured Brunello vineyards could produce, which of course was a round-about way of accusing the winemakers of using grape varietals other than Sangiovese. Cencioni said there really wasn’t anything new to report and the case, at least for him was closed. He did say the “authorities” were still investigating. You can read a well-written and detailed report by Susannah Gold on the blog Vinowire here.
At its meeting in October, the Conzorsio voted to re-affirm only Sangiovese would be used in Brunello, although there was some post-vote chatter that not all the producers, specifically those pushing to add merlot and cabernet sauvignon to the approved list, were happy with this.
For the Conzorsio, it’s a matter to keeping with tradition, something very important to European winemakers whose grape-stomping genealogies go back as far as the Romans or more. Back in June, Cencioni issued a statement that said, in part, “One of my first goals is (reaffirming) the notoriety and reputation that our famous wine has achieved in recent decades.”
And it’s something most Americans, with our limited self-history and reputation for being a melting pot of diversity and all that, definitely don’t understand. But we also don’t understand the wines. Brunello, especially, can be deep, dark and brooding (think analog), a lineage most Americans (the digital side) avoid, since when it comes to wines, they aren’t looking for Mr. Right but Mr. Right Now.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment |
Vino 2009 and good friends
New York City never ceases to amaze. Just when you think you’ll never go back, you do, and it’s like you never left, both good and bad.
I just returned from 3 days in the Big Apple and just seeing the sea of yellow taxis reminded me why a friend once called it “the city where every cab in the world goes to die.” It’s also a place where new friends pop out of the woodwork, or in the case of the 360-degree observation deck (Top of the Rock) on the 65th floor of the Rockefeller Center, out of the glass.
It was Vino 2009, and there was no way to taste all the wares offered by some 270 Italian wine produttori although some of us gave it a good show, at least until our palates called “time!” and requested a trip to the emergency room. We have lots of great wines to talk about, and at least a few interesting stories from the scads of fascinating people.
Photos, too, as soon as I can figure out what’s happening with my Photoshop app. And speaking of Photoshop, check out Alfonso Cevola’s blog site “On the Wine Trail In Italy” here for some fascinating examples of what a self-professed “Photoshop junkie” can do. He’s one blogger I frequently turn to for insights, and his latest comments on wine and the people involved in the wine world certainly are worth reading.
And Susannah Gold also posted a blog about her experience at Vino 2009 here. She spent 15 years in Italy and apparently didn’t waste a second of that time, so her background on Italian wines is stronger than most of the bloggers out there.
I’ll be back soon with more on Vino 2009…
Permalink | Comments (2) | Post your comment |
The Big Apple and Vino 2009
It’s Sunday night and I’m packed for a quick trip Monday to New York City and Vino 2009, the mid-stop of a three-city whirlwind Italian wine tour. I’m not making the three-city tour; that’s for a couple hundred Italian winemakers and their representatives. The first stop was in Boston this weekend, with New York Monday to Wednesday and Miami next weekend.
It’s a tough venue on the people making the journey but the Italian Trade Commission figures it’s necessary. The economics and the competition from low-wage countries such as Chile and Argentina make it imperative more markets are found (or made) for Italian wine, and a couple sleepless nights might mean a spot in the lucrative U.S. market.
I’m looking forward to the conference, with its fascinating people with equally fascinating stories and intriguing wines. Much will be made of the 2008 vintage, there will be repercussions and discussions of the Brunello “affair,” and three days of seminars on such widely diverse topics as organic wine making and wines from Abruzzo (mid-southern Italy east of Rome), Calabria (the toe of the Italian “boot”), Veneto and those luscious Lombardian Nebbiolos, among others.
This is will be a warm up for Vinitaly, the immense (think a couple thousand producers and nearly 200,000 attendees over a four-day span) show-and-sip that happens the first weekend of April in Verona, Italy. That event gets the headlines but there are a couple other equally interesting seminars at the same time, including Vini Veri, a satellite fair (as described by Jeremy Parzens of the widely entertaining and educational blog Do Bianchi) in Isola della Scala that focuses on the natural wine movement.
You can read Jeremy’s take on last year’s Vini Veri gathering here. Vino 2009 will have many of these same producers, so it will be a good time to make contacts for later this spring. And on the subject of finding markets for Italian wines, Barack Obama drank Prosecco DOC (from Conegliano-Valdobiaddene) at his inauguration dinner. That’s good news for Veneto, not so good for the sparkling wines from Franciacorta.
If I can find a computer that’s free, I’ll blog and send a photo or two.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment |
The time might be right for Italian wines
Next week, Vino 2009 comes to America and there’s been an interesting dialogue on whether it’s a good time to hit these shores or perhaps a time to hold back.
Vino 2009 also is known as Italian Wine Week, an industry mega-convention hitting Boston, New York and Miami, bringing hundreds of importers, buyers and key wine professionals together with more than 300 Italian wine producers, many of whom are seeking an in with the American wine market.
Which isn’t curious, considering how many wine producers I’ve met in Italy who, on first meeting and learning I’m from the U.S., immediately ask, “Sono un importatore?” (Are you an importer?) At first, they seem somewhat disappointed when I answer, “No, sono un scrittore,” but soon they are talking and telling me of their hopes to find a niche in the U.S.
Most of them are eager to get a piece of the American pie, even though many can relate a tale or two of being burned by a U.S. importer who took their money or the wine or both and simply disappeared.
Vino 2009 is an opportunity for at least some of them to find that opening, if you follow the findings of the Wine Market Council, which conducts an annual survey of wine drinkers. In its latest poll, the Council found 2007 marked the 14th straight year wine sales grew in the U.S. and that same year “an all-time record 269 million cases of table wine (are) estimated to have been consumed in the U.S., and adult per capita consumption (is) estimated at a new record of 3.02 gallons.”
That increase, said the Council, is due in part to the aging of the Millennial Generation, an estimated 70 million strong, the oldest of which turned 30 in 2007. “Their taste and lifestyle choices will drive the beverage alcohol market for many years to come,” the Council figured.
However, the other side of the argument says the pie is smaller, or at least cut into more pieces, which means less for all of us.
Anthony Cevola, writing for his marvelously insightful blog “On the Wine Trail in Italy,” cautions wine makers and importers looking for the Golden Fleece that “This is not going to be a year to get uppity or impatient. And as much as the world wants to help everyone to what they are entitled to, the pie must be sliced a bit thinner this year.”
However, even with the lower returns one should expect, Cevola is optimistic (generally speaking) about Italian wines.
“The Italian market is in a bit of a sweet spot because the folks, who in the past would spring for a bottle of wine, say at $40-50 retail, are now looking to the $20-30 range,” Cevola opines. “And there Italy has a great range of viable products. Not Brunello or Barolo maybe, but certainly a better than average Chianti Classico, an Aglianico, Barbera, plenty of options. And Italian culture is just hitting its stride here in America. What used to be a phenomenon on the coasts now is becoming more integrated in the developing cultural life of America and how she eats and drinks.”
Still, he warns all importers and would-be giants that there’s too much future and not enough vision. Don’t walk out on that limb without a parachute, he warns. For the Italians coming next week to New York, it’s not enough simply to hope there will be sufficient giddiness lingering from the inauguration to fill an order book or two.
“New York might be the center of the world for most Italian importers, but the center has some shrinkage,” Cevola notes.
Maybe, for once, being a “scrittore” rather than an “importatore” is the best place to be.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment |
Sometimes the right wine finds you
Finding an intriguing wine often is a matter of luck. Sometimes I’ve followed friends’ advice and been disappointed and sometimes I’ve bought a bottle on a whim and struck gold.
That leads me to a couple wines I’ve had this oh-so-short New Year that surprised me, perhaps because I wasn’t expecting much (admittedly had the bar pretty low) or maybe I wasn’t quite ready for the impact these wines were going to make.
Neither is very old in terms of vintage or aging, nothing at all like the old cobwebby bottle I stumbled on last spring while perusing the walls of Alessandro Locatelli’s Rocche Costamagna winery in La Morra, Italy.
The first of this year’s wines is Kelley Creek Winery’s 2005 Flow Dry Creek Valley. A Bordeaux-type blend of 7 percent cabernet franc, 26 percent cabernet sauvignon and 67 percent merlot, this is a luscious wine that took me a while to really enjoy. Perhaps it only needed to breathe a bit, judging by the way the wine seemed to improve the longer the bottle sat open.
I didn’t decant it, even though all the hints were telling us that decanting would have helped, but out of the four bottles I had, there’s only one remaining, so evidently not decanting wasn’t such a bad move. Lots of cherry, plum and black fruit with roundish tannins, the wine retails for around $25-$28. That’s a bit pricey in these days of “Honey, I’ve Shrunk the Budget” but it’s worth the special-occasion splurge. Only 1,000 cases made, according to the Kelley Creek Web site.
The other “well, shut my mouth” (as Aunt Gladys might have said) wine was the Bellingham Dragon’s Lair 2005. This South African wine started out massive and almost too much but soon softened to merely intense. But a good intense, with a pretty decent 14.5-percent alcohol. The blend is interesting: 88 percent shiraz, 10 percent mourvedre and 2 percent viognier.
A friend once scoffed at winemakers who added 2 percent of this or that, saying no one can discern a 2 or 3 or 5 percent addition, but the viognier in the Dragon’s Lair lends a softness and roundness to the spicy shiraz and deep, dark mourvedre. The winery’s tasting notes describe the Dragon’s Lair ($26) as assertive yet approachable.
The name comes from the legend of St. George defeating the dragon, a fight that legend also says took place in the same valley where Bellingham wines now are made. The Dragon’s Lair is the red counterpart to Bellingham’s Fair Maiden, an intriguing blend of chardonnay, chenin blanc, viognier, rousanne, grenache blanc and verdelho.
And speaking of ridding the countryside of unwanted dragons, my house is getting ready for the inauguration and we’re wondering what might be suitable for marking what’s being celebrated as a new beginning (aren’t all beginnings new?) in American politics.
Something old? Something new? Maybe something local (i.e., Colorado) to celebrate our uniqueness or maybe something from California, Oregon, Virginia, New York or elsewhere to mark our oneness as a nation. Decisions, decisions. Let me know what you’re drinking the day Barack Obama takes the oath of office.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment |
Looking for New Year’s bubbles
It’s Jan. 2 and bit late to partake in my friend Jeremy’s “What they Drank for Christmas, The Mini-Series” but you can go here to see what interesting wines some interesting people opened during the holiday.
On Dec. 31, I was planning to pop some Champagne when I read Alice Feiring’s blog about “Remedial Bubble Assistance” and realized I didn’t really want to drink a bit of Moet et Chandon if there was something more interesting to drink, so I set about searching for, well, something more interesting. During my search, I discovered “Moet” is pronounced “Mo-wett.” Although Claude Moet was born in France in 1683, his name is Dutch, not French.
My search around town didn’t show much promise. Most stores carry the same boring (and safe) line-up: A lot of Moet et Chandon, Veuve Clicquot (certainly a fine champagne but not quite what I was looking for), some Gruet (New Mexico and a great wine for the $15 or so price tag) and, of course, a bottle or two of Dom Perignon. Nice history but the price (like, $179 or so) isn’t.
After examining and putting back a few others that didn’t ring the right bells, I backtracked a bit and found this Lanson Brut Rosé Champagne and bought it right away. I really like rosé sparkling wines and particularly rosé Champagnes. The Lanson, however, surprised me with its reddish-gold color, not at all the pale salmon so often seen in rosé sparklers.
This was terrific wine, with a faint hint of dusty roses on the nose and a bit of flowers, mushroom and steel on the palate. The nonvintage Rose Label Champagne is part of the Lanson Cornerstone Range, which I guess means their entry level wines. This isn’t a Champagne town, so most stores in Grand Junction stock only the most-recognizable brands and don’t venture stocking a wine that might be a challenge to sell.
That’s understandable from the economics side, but it does little to educate wine drinkers and nothing at all to raise the level of what’s on our tables. I found the Lanson at Fisher’s Liquor Barn for $31.99. So, what did YOU drink on New Year’s Eve?
Latest comments
Dave, Sounds grand. I enjoyed reading this post and was interested in Chiarello’s views on Organics and sustainable practices. What a murky subject. I would like one clear cut definition of organic, sustainable and biodynamic. Enjoy Aspen. Imagine
... read the full comment by Avvinare | Comment on Day 2 -- Spheres of influence at Aspen Food & Wine Classic Read Day 2 -- Spheres of influence at Aspen Food & Wine Classic
Hey Dave, Interesting meal. Not too many vegetarians ot there? What was the wine really like? I have never had a Chambourcin. What is it similar to? Thanks, AVVINARE
Hey, Susannah: Chambourcin is an interesting hybrid in that it has plenty of tannins
... read the full comment by susannah gold | Comment on The wine and bison dinner Read The wine and bison dinner
Dave, who is the Hostess? And will you be in Paonia again soon? Jill
Jill; I’ll be in Paonia next week, June 5 I think, for a dinner at Dava Parr’s Fresh and Wyld Farmhouse Inn and to meet with some winemaker friends and visit the local
... read the full comment by Jill | Comment on Spring brings barrel tasting Read Spring brings barrel tasting
Do you know who distributes the Douglas Hill Label in Arizona?
Cody: Douglass Hill is a brand of the Bronco Wine Company which controls its own distribution company, Classic Wines of California. I don’t know if they also distribute into Arizona.
... read the full comment by Cody | Comment on Something new at holiday show Read Something new at holiday show