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Training Diageo Chile sponsors a program to train waiters and waitresses
This initiative, which comes from Diageo ? one of the most important multinationals in the elaboration and distribution of alcoholic drinks ? will take place in Santiago de Chile. It aims at unemployed young people with limited economic resources, who are trained for free in order to place them in the job market and prepare them for a profession linked to the field of gastronomy
In the year 2007, 17 youths were trained, who are already working in bars, hotels and pubs.
"We take care of finding places for our graduates to practice, and we also work with them. This year 30 people have already registered for the training program. We are focused on professionalizing the Bartender Career so that our graduates have an extra tool to acquire work proficiency in the tourism and entertainment industry. The challenge for the coming years is to get younger people to participate in this initiative, and that it be considered a social program supported by the state,? says Chistophe Beau, commercial manager of Diageo Chile.
The training program, which starts on July 14 and lasts 4 months, enables students to study English and learn about cocktails preparation and serving, customer service and conflict handling, hygiene and food manipulation; and they are specially instructed in the responsible intake of alcohol.
Unlike last year, INCAP Training has prepared a curricular mesh so that students can take courses on enology, drinks preparation and presentation, and techniques on how to handle bottles in a bar. Another difference with respect to last year is that the exigency level in English was raised. The requisites to have access to this training program include: being an unemployed young adult with limited economic resources and have the fourth secondary school year completed.
"This initiative give students the opportunity to improve their quality of life and have better opportunities in the job market,? says Hernán Larraín, commercial manager of INACAP Training.
INACAP, the Technological University of Chile, is a well-known Technical Training Organism (OTEC) that uses the benefits offered by the Chilean State to promote formation programs, with funds that come from 1% deductible from company taxes.
The Chilean Republic has become a main protagonist in the generation of social changes. This is achieved through encouraging the development and acquisition of new knowledge, in order to improve the quality of life.
I wanted to let you all know that my Pinot Gris website (PinotGris.Biz) is up for sale. It is full of great, original wine content written by me. It also currently ranks highly with the major search engines:
#3 overall on Yahoo for Pinot Gris (search) #4 overall on MSN for Pinot Gris (search) Page Rank = 1 (Google)
I am asking $250 for the site, perhaps less to someone who just wanted the domain name. If I don't sell right away, I will continue to promote it.
Siam Winery is no tiny concern. With 1.2 million liters of tank capacity for fine wine, and twice that for the profitable wine cooler venture, they are the big boys in the region. Their 72 acres of grapes are spread over several locations, including one parcel that is actually planted among canals.
The image of a boat paddling through the Floating Vineyards is only slightly upstaged by the shot of the elephants in the vineyards at Hua Hin Hills. This is certainly not any wine country most of us are used to. Don't be fooled by the tourist friendly visage, this is a serious wine concern, making serious wine.
Kathrin Puff is the winemaker, and an incredibly capable one at that. Hailing from Germany she spent years in Italy before coming to take the reins here in Thailand. Her approach is to take the best of technology without going overboard, and the best of the organic approach, without being limited.
The Floating Vineyards are the source of the local vinifera varieties Mlaga Blanc and Red Pokdum. Their Chenin Blanc, Colombard and Syrah are sourced from the slopes of the Hua Hin Hills Vineyards, which is ever expanding.
Hua Hin Hills has issues with high water tables due to their proximity to the jungle covered mountains, so they have had to dig down 15 meters and place water barriers and add shale and other stones for drainage. This huge effort has been well rewarded by decent quality fruit from surprisingly young vines. The quality can only go up as the average age of the vines increases.
Housed in an industrial facility the winery is not at all impressive from the outside, but the interior more than makes up for that. The barrel room is well maintained and there are plans in the works to double its size.
Kathrin is a fan of micro-oxigynation so the lower level wines are not penalized by failing to get a chance to develop secondary aromas through barrel aging. The Monsoon Valley wines show the care and crafting you would expect from a small hands on winery, so the sight of the sprawling tank rooms might catch you off guard.
The scale of the fine wine production is nothing in comparison to the wine cooler facility. Here bottles whip by at blinding speed, 24/7 being filled, labeled and packed for the never ending demand for these "starter" wines. The commercial success of the coolers ensures that there is the needed capital for expanding and improving the fine wine division.
This fiscal planning is not only evident in their diversification, but also through their distribution. Not only is Monsoon Valley one of the most prominent Thai wines in stores and restaurants, they have their own retail outlet here in the high end resort of Hua Hin. This tiny shop in an upscale mall allows visitors to taste and buy the wines in the comfort of a beach town, without having to trek into the countryside or halfway to Bangkok.
But if treking is your thing the Hua Hin Hills facility will welcome you with their modern tasting room and dining facilities and tours are even available for the main winery. More information can be found at http://www.monsoonvalleywine.com/.
2003 Lignier-Michelot, Morey St.Denis Vieilles Vignes Medium-plus colour. The nose is forward, maybe a hint porty and certainly very ripe but generally the fruit talks of pinot. Ripe, plenty of concentration and very well mannered tannin. The understated acidity provides good balance and just enough freshness. It’s riper than I prefer, [...]
The 2004 vintage of this wine received a bronze medal at the Decanter World Wine Awards last year (2006). I’ve only been able to find the 2005 vintage in Belgrade wine shops. It has an intensive and complex aroma with hints of flowers. Dominant tastes are those of melon and slightly of apricots. However, I wasn’t impressed, perhaps I expected more due to all the hype. Or perhaps there’s a significant difference in the two vintages. We should note that this winery has a good reputation. The Simcic Sivi Pinot 1990 was awarded the Cordon d’Excellence; their Chardonnay has won two gold medals at the Ljubljana Wine Fair and the 1994 vintage was declared Champion by the Knights of the Burgerland-Pannonian Order.
Ringing in at 13.5% alcohol by volume, this cheap wine was an equal match to the FishEye Merlot. From Ripon, California, this wine lets the fruit speak for itself. Along with the dark plum taste, I also experienced a little pepper in the nose.
At only 8 dollars a bottle, I found this to be a great wine. I had mine with Spicy Montreal seasoning. Try it! Rating: 7/10 Price: 7.99 Place of purchase: L&L Grocery Vineyard Info: FishEye Winery Ripon, CA www.fisheyewines.com
Leelanau Cellars markets this unique spiced wine as Witches’ Brew around Halloween, but let me assure you that it is a great wine to have on hand throughout the winter. This wine has two labels, the Halloween one (Witches Brew) and the label for the rest of the year, simply named Leelanau Cellars Spiced Wine.
If you’re looking for something fun and unique to bring to a holiday party this year, this is your wine! This wine is best served heated! Simmer in a pot over low heat until it is warm (the temperature of a witches’ tongue, if you’re celebrating Halloween). This spiced wine should not be served with dinner, but rather as dessert, with some good, dark chocolate. I suppose it could also be good before dinner, while folks are still arriving to the party. It would make a great ice-breaker!
Witches Brew is obviously a sweet wine, with aromas of cinnamon and cloves. It has very different characteristics when heated vs. room temperature. Try both!
Rating: 9/10 — Truly unique! Price: $5.99 Where can I get it? Many places in Michigan carry this wine, especially around the holidays. I found it at Meijer. You could always visit the Leelanau Cellars north of Traverse City to stock up!
Medium ruby hue with nice tart pie cherry bouquet, earthy, pipe tobacco and some structure.
Palate--sour cherry with steely mid palate, black pepper and light sour cherry flavors--needs to breathe!
With 45 minutes of air, cocoa predominates over the sour cherry. It is still a bit out of balance with respect to its tartness but steely light fruit is okay drinking. You'll pay around $15 for this wine and a different year would probably prove to be more rewarding. Raise a glass!
I happened to finish two things about the same time last week. The first Wine Bloggers Conference and a book, The Billionaire’s Vinegar. This was perhaps a coincidence as I did not find time to read a word at the conference. Drinking trumped reading in Santa Rosa that weekend, but I finished the book a few days later. It’s hard to think of a greater contrast between the event I attended and the events and people in the book.
The Wine Bloggers Conference was defined by an almost innocent enthusiasm and love for wine, while The Billionaire’s Vinegar represents The Dark Side of wine. You cannot be help but be stuck by the ugly greed, arrogance and ignorance of the wealthy posers chasing “great wine” in this book. It’s one of those plots were there is no protagonist, they’re all bad guys. I highly recommend this book as it’s a great story based around the excesses and greed of big time collectors who were sold faked old wines and were just too greedy and had such massive egos they couldn’t taste the obvious.
One thing this book proves is that we are all too human in our abilities and no one can escape the trap of letting labels affect our perceptions. I’ll be the first to admit if someone told me I was getting a glass of 1787 Lafite purchased by Thomas Jefferson my esthetic distance would be right out the window. The trouble with the arrogant bastards in this book is that they thought that their palates were so great they could rise above human frailty. I can only guess they got stupid after they made their money, not before. The tacky glitz, excess and greed surrounding the elaborate tasting events described in the book cannot be overstated. What is perhaps most disconcerting is the attendance at these events of those that consider themselves wine “journalists” Certainly, attending such extravagant events gratis would not be acceptable under even the loosest code of journalistic ethics. It was clear to these writers that they would not be invited back if they offered even a hint of criticism in their reports. Rave reviews were the price of next year’s admission and they were always invited back. It’s hard to be critical after enough foie gras and caviar.
The recent first ever Wine Bloggers Conference in America (there was one a few months before in Europe) painted a very different picture. The jaded arrogance that blinds so many established wine writers these days was replaced by the refreshing enthusiasm of the wine bloggers that descended on the Flamenco Hotel in Santa Rosa. Surrounded by the beauty and wonderful wines of Sonoma over 150 new media wine writers gathered to explore their emerging genre. The energy brought to my mind Gracie Slick and the Jefferson Airplane welcoming the dawn at Woodstock, “It’s a new dawn…” said Gracie before the band roared into that hippie political anthem, Volunteers.
Every blogger that attended was there on their own dime as no one is make a living from wine blogging yet. Everyone was there because of their passion for wine. They are truly volunteers and the generous spirit of this group stuck out starkly to the outrageously expensive, competitive and ego driven wine world documented in The Billionaire’s Vinegar.
While there are many wonderful examples of wine bloggers making a difference I can’t help to pick out Deb Harkness, better known as Dr. Debs, who has created a blog called Good Wines Under $20. For what I hope are obvious reasons I won’t describe what Deb’s blog is about. Deb’s day job is as a college professor, but by night she’s a consumer activist seeking out great wines at great prices for her readers. Yet what is even more impressive about her is her deep commitment to a personal standard of ethics. While most mainstream wine writers are mostly concerned about what others will think of them when it comes to ethics, Dr. Debs, and many bloggers like her are concerned what they think of themselves. Their ethics are in their hearts. Their not in it for the money or glamour tastings, but out of a sincere love of food and wine. At the end of the day only self respect and personal pride can make ethics a reality. Deb and many bloggers like her are setting a new standard.
I’m well aware that I was one of the old guys at the Wine Bloggers Conference and most of my compatriots there were well under forty, but the energy and spirit there reminded me of an earlier time, before when some of them were born, when we thought we could change the world. The conference gave me hope that maybe, just maybe, that the pointy world of wine writing today can be brought down. Power to the bloggers.
It’s a new dawn for wine writing. Good morning people.
clouds came into my life, no longer to carry rain or usher storms, but to add colour to my sunset sky - rabindranath tagore indian playwright, poet and essayist.
You can read a little more about me if you visit Rosella in Italy. She interviewed me about my foodies travel experiences.
The Prosecco DOC? di Conegliano-Valdobbiadene Consorzio? has applied to the Italian government for promotion to the higher DOCG? status.
At the same time, the basic IGT? (Indicazione Geografica Tipica?) level Prosecco grown in the lower plains will also have to go though stricter quality control, the DOC says.
Some IGTs will be elevated to to DOC (Denominazione di Origine Controllata?) while others will be demoted, losing the right to put 'Prosecco' on the label.
DOCG (Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita?), established in 1963, is the highest legal category of Italian wines.
The Prosecco Consorzio has applied to the Ministry of Agriculture to allow promotion of the best Proseccos in 2009.
Speaking at the Consorzio tasting in London on Monday, Consorzio director Giancarlo Vettorello told decanter.com it was time 'to push ahead with our UK promotion as sales in UK are on the rise and Prosecco seems to be all the rage.'
There were 37 producers at this year's tasting, 12 more than last year.
Today the Prosecco DOC produces some 57m bottles of which 15m are exported worldwide. The currently imports 6% of total exports, the equivalent of 1m bottles exported in 2007.
Kopaonik is the largest Serbian ski resort. It is a popular place for domestic skiers and is becoming increasingly popular with foreign visitors. Although “Kopaonik” is actually a large mountain, the term usually refers to the area around the “Grand” hotel and the apartment complex “Sun?ani Vrhovi”. The area is small but contains quite a few hotels and private houses. It’s self contained, with shops, banks, a post office, etc. Apart from the restaurants in hotels, there are a few good restaurants around. In this article I’ll write about the restaurants I’ve visited this year, it might help you make the right choice (I didn’t have any tips at all…).
Etno club “Sunce”
This restaurant is located at the end of a quiet cool-de-sac, in the woods, a 5 minute walk from the Grand hotel. It looks very small from the outside, but it’s quite a spacious place. The atmosphere is great, fairly traditional, with two open fire places, a mixture of smaller and larger tables, a nice blend of loudness and privacy. The music wasn’t great, but that’s the easiest thing to change . The food was excellent and so was the service. They offer mainly Serbian dishes, if you’re not sure what to choose from the menu, the waiters will help you with their recommendations, you can trust them. The wine list includes wines from some of the better Serbian cellars, such as Radovanovi? and Aleksandrovi? (Topola). Go for Aleksandrovi?’s red or white Triumph, they are some of the best wines Serbia has to offer. Overall, it’s a great place, I’ll be back.
Food quality 5/5 Atmosphere 5/5 Service: 5/5 Price 3/5 (moderate, but excellent value) Wine list 3/5 (Radovanovi?, Aleksandrovi?)
Na?a ku?a
This place reminds me of modern pubs-restaurants in Ireland. It has a large bar area in the center, with large tables around, a couple of two seater tables in the corner for some extra privacy and a cosy open fire in the front. Both the interior of the restaurant and the furniture are made of light coloured wood, and there are stripes of small red lights throughout. There’s also a big video beam that mainly shows snow scenes during the day. It is a place frequented by the younger crowd and is open quite late into the nigth (until 3am). They have a small but well-chosen menu (which is also extremely well designed) and it’s obvious they put a lot of effort to make it a bit different from other restaurants in the vicinty. The chef is excellent, and the food is great, so give “Na?a Ku?a” a try if you get tired from the Serbian cousine and are looking for some European tastes. It is one of the more expensive restaurants, with a full dinner for two with a bottle of wine and a dessert producing a bill of around 50 euros. The wine choice is not great, but they do have a few wines apart from the regular choice, we recommend the wines from the Terra Lazarica range.
Food quality 5/5 Atmosphere 4/5 (nice mix of modern and traditional, younger crowd) Service: 4/5 Price 2/5 (expensive) Wine list 2/5
Etno ku?a Studenica
If you’re on a lower budget looking for good quality Serbian food you should visit the etno restaurant Studenica. Pick one of the two tables on the far left to avoid looking at the interior of the kitchen and to avoid the local crowd on the right side. The place is clean, the food was great and the waiter was top-notch, but the problem with this place is that it has too much light, it is visited by the local crowd and generally the level of privacy is quite low.
Food quality 4/5 Atmosphere 2/5 Service: 4/5 Price 4/5 (relatively cheap, good value) Wine list 1/5
Zvrk
This is a very popular restaurant located at the center of ski activities (the “baby slope”, ski lifts Karaman Greben and Pan?i?ev Vrh), just besides the Grand hotel. The restaurant has two levels, the upper one being more packed and colorful, the lower one containing a large center-located open fire place. This fire creates a very tempting smell outside the restaurant, which is the main reason you probably won’t resist getting into it. In general, it’s not a bad place, but there are much better choices around…
Food quality: 2/5 Atmosphere: 4/5 Service: 3/5 Price: 3/5 Wine list: 1/5 (just the very basic Serbian wines)
This wine is characterized by a yellow-green colour, a fresh citrusy aroma with hints of honey and a complex flowery aftertaste. It’s a semi-dry riesling, dryer than the Slovenian rieslings (such as Laski Riesling for example), but sweeter than those found in Serbia. It is a nice wine to accompany a lighter meal.
This is one of the wines available in Belgrade restaurants in 0.2l bottles, so if you’re a driver among non-wine drinkers (meaning you can’t order a whole bottle of some fine wine) it’s a good chance you’ll be in a position to try it. Do so.
It doesn?t seem like eight years has passed since we entered the new millennium in 2001, but it has. It was the beginning of a very difficult time; my wife Liz passed away in Feb 2001, the political process started to change and the world changed with it. September 11 showed up on the world?s doorstep, and many of us have been taking it one day at a time, hoping for better days to come.
As I was jogging this evening by the high school, a speaker announced over the stadium address system, that there were refreshments in the concession stand. He described the available items: candy, popcorn, hotdogs, and then he said three little words, ?for your pleasure.? It sounded like a throwback in time when things were so much simpler and in its uncomplicated message I thought back over the last 40 years and what some of our cinematic dreamers and Italian wine visionaries thought the world would be like in 2001. And while it sure wasn?t all that they projected in the movie, 2001: A Space Odyssey, it sure has been a heck of a trip. So, at this time I?d like to jump into the WABAC machine, back to 2001 and see what wines I would have predicted for the past, here in the safety of the future. Of course the wines are from the Italian trail, and beyond.
Ever since the time I attempted to simultaneously sell a Tuscan Novello and a Vernaccia di Serrapatrona, that would have been about this time in 1984, I have wondered why Italian wines chose me. Not just me, but for some of the hard stuff, I sure have had my share of those assignments. Driving around with a delivery van full of baby Sangiovese alongside a quirky, dry, foamy red wine made by a madman in the hills of the Marche. What was I thinking then? Even now it sounds bizarre. Don Quixote, only this time we weren?t looking for windmills. We were looking for space stations for these special travelers. And in honor of those two wines, in the 2001 of our little story here, we have an homage: Novello Di Ascoli, a modern wine about reincarbonation.
Chianti: 2001 was a little project that went beyond Chianti 2000. I?m not sure if people realize the first Italian in space was Sangiovese. A little known experiment resulted in growing and harvesting the grapes aboard the International space station. Limited release, only about 20 cases, hydroponically grown. It was intended to test the ideas of extra-terroirestrial winegrowing. It is an amazing red wine, without the pull of gravity and ratings. No, only the influence of the astro-agronomist-winemaker, an American of Italian descent. It challenges the limitations of the Italian wine trail that we terrestrials put on it. Buckminster Fuller said, ?Whatever nature lets you do is natural.? I wish all of you could have tried it with me. But alas, a quick trip to Washington D.C., some time ago, was the only opportunity any of us will have. But there will be more. Watch for a sparkling wine to come, made in zero gravity, called Zero-Zero. No dirt on their space-boots, but lots of ardent advances orbiting above us.
Down in the Cilento National Park, there is a colony of Italians who speak Esperanto. They escaped the area around Vesuvius many years ago and decided to leave behind their dialect. But they took their grapes with them and started making a red wine for the new millennium, to coalesce their past with their future. It is a cult wine on the islands around Naples and further south. I have only seen and had it once, from a private cellar in Panarea. The wine reminded me of the reds made by Galardi. I have heard people say they have traded two bottles of Le Pin for one bottle of ?Vulkano? Campania Ruga. I have tried both wines. I would say two bottles of Le Pin for one from the Esperantani?s is a fair deal.
About 11 years ago, in a place near Colfiorito, there was a terrible earthquake. When they got to digging out some of the buildings, rescue workers found a lab book from a vineyardist, describing a project code-named ?Il Grifi?. The project, like its name, had as its goal to combine three grapes to make a new wine. Here the vineyardist had been researching, via recombinant DNA, the creation of a wine that had as its parents, Sangiovese, Sagrantino and Montepulciano. And yes, for many years in Umbria and the Marche, winemakers have blended these grapes together to make various wines. William Sylvester, who starred in the Stanley Kubrick film, had made a film in Italy and was fascinated with this area and with wine. So he funded this little known experimentalist. Italy loves to resuscitate ancient things: statues, grapes, legends. In this case, as we headed back to 2001, we discovered that the wine had finally been made, in minute quantities. An amazing wine, combining the ephemeral verve of Sangiovese, the tannic and alcoholic power of the Sagrantino and the lubriciousness of the Montepulciano. Joy upon joy, an almost perfect wine in time for the new age. But alas, only one year was made and only 1113 bottles. They were mostly served at an autumn Sagra in Colfiorito for the special red potato named after the area, which makes the most wonderful base for the local gnocchi. The wine disappeared into memory, along with the best gnocchi I had ever had. The wine? Sangrapulciano.
Two wines, Navicella and Passeggiata, were ?good soul? efforts to make right the promise to reach the moon before the end of the decade. In the Italian?s efforts, though, it managed to arrive about 30 years later. End of decade, end of century, end of millennium, hey it?s only time, no?
Navicella was the wine intended for the first course, something from the aquaculture tanks. Passeggiata was created for the second stage, more experimental than the first wine. It was a sci-fi way of twinning tradition (Navicella) with innovation (Passeggiata) and for those who experienced the wine, I've been told it was a magical. Again, this was eight years ago when the Italians were embracing the next big thing. Now we are earthbound again, arguing this time over tradition vs. innovation. There are a few of these wines available on the auction circuits. A large enological school in Northeastern Italy was in incubating site for these wines. The Lega Nord, and a then unknown party operative, put an end to it. That little known operative would someday, in the future, join with Berlusconi and attempt to influence events in a larger and more important wine producing region, with near cataclysmic results.
Out last find caused a little flap among the retro-futurists in the room. Paraspruzzi was proposed to bridge the workers in the fields, those who tromp through the primal slime in their waders, with the elevated shapers of fashion. Originally the marketers wanted to call it ?Chiaccerone?. Another on the board wanted to name it ?Lo Scroccone?. But it was felt that normal wine lovers wouldn?t know how to pronounce it. Not that Paraspruzzi is that easy, but it sounded like the celebrity photographers who were known to frequent all the ?in? places looking for those same nine beautiful people to snap up.
This was actually one of the most successful of the wines; it had a run of three vintages. Later as it was being packaged to sell to one of the large Euro-spirit-lux corporations, there were a string of lawsuits. As it turned out, everyone spent more on lawyers than the plan could ever return in ten years, so the project was jettisoned. A real shame, because the wine had a bona fide grip on the cognoscenti of the Italian wine industry. The bloggers never found out about it, this was buried deep in Puglia under the cover of an ancient Masseria. The remaining wine fetches a pretty Euro.
There lies my time and space odyssey of 2001, following the wines of the future back to the past. Submitted for your pleasure.
A box of rose pink turkish delight had me thinking about posting a few things pink in support of Breast Cancer Awareness month. All our desserts this month have had a pink tinge.
TURKISH DELIGHT ICE CREAM WITH RASPBERRIES
Vanilla Ice Cream and a few drops of rose pink food colouring
Turkish Delight chopped into small squares
Raspberries and raspberry jam
Sweet shortcrust pastry, cut into desired shape and cook in oven. Cool.
To Make
Soften vanilla icecream a little, blend in food colouring and add half chopped turkish delight. Work quickly so ice cream doesn't melt completely. Place into moulds lined with plastic wrap or muslin. Return to freezer to harden.
Heat raspberries and jam in a small saucepan. Push through a sieve to remove seeds. Cool.
To Serve
Remove ice cream from freezer and upend onto plate. Decorate with raspberry sauce, remaining turkish delight and pastry shapes.
Variations - You could use any flavoured icecream in place of the coloured vanilla. I did it this way as I wanted the rose pink colour but with a vanilla taste.
Amounts will depend on how many you are serving.
TURKISH DELIGHT TRUFFLES(makes 10 truffles)
100 grams dark chocolate, chopped into bite size pieces 130 ml pure cream 75 grams turkish delight, chopped into small squares cocoa powder and icing sugar for rolling truffles in.
Place cream into a small saucepan and heat.
Pour cream over chocolate and stir until it melts.
Cool and then stir in turkish delight.
Place in fridge and allow mixture to thicken.
Using a teaspoon scoop out small balls of mixture and drop into cocoa/icing sugar mix.
Using hands roll into a smooth ball and place in serving cases.
If not serving immediately, store in fridge. Roll in cocoa/icing sugar mix again before serving.
Adapted from Saha by Greg and Lucy Malouf
FLORENTINES WITH TURKISH DELIGHT
David Lebovitz is responsible for several major purchases I've made recently. He mentioned Thermomix and I now have one, he mentioned the Ottolenghi cookbook and I now have one. It is a beautiful book and this is the first recipe I've made from it. Because I'm reduced to typing with one hand this week I'll refer you to David's blog for the original recipe.
The addition of the turkish delight is an idea I found in another Greg and Lucy Malouf book. I added the turkish delight to the Florentines in the last minute of baking.
And apparently, Yulia is the Upset Queen. She's adept at bringing $7 bottles that end up winning blind tastings. Either that or we all have cheap tastes... not quite sure.
So last night was the Mourvedre/Monastrell showdown. And honestly, it was pretty disappointing. We blind tasted 5 wines and none of them were particularly stellar. As per my normal accuracy, I guessed 3 out of 5. I knew we had 2 cheap Spanish, 1 pricier Spanish, Cline's Ancient Vines, and Thomas Coyne. I did not know the vintage of any of them.
Wine #1: Blackberry/blueberry nose, with a touch of herbs. A bit of funk wafting through. Tight tannins. Thin fruit, but very ripe. Smoke on the finish. I guessed it was a cheap Spanish from 05. I gave it 2.5 out of 4 stars.
Wine #2: Smells exactly like sweet boysenberry pancake syrup from IHOP. Blast of fruit on the opening palate and then... nothing. Kind of gross, really. I guessed another cheap Spanish from 05. I gave it 1 star.
Wine #3: Much lighter in color (the previous two were densely purple-red). White chocolate and sweet cinnamon on the nose with blackberry/raspberry fruit. Same fruit on palate with spicy-herbal finish (sage, thyme, cinnamon). Lingering cocoa. I guessed a CA from 05, and I figured it was Cline. I gave it 2.75 stars.
Wine #4: Ripe blackberry, some astrigency on the nose - kinda like band-aids. Also lighter in color than the first two, more red than purply. Cassis fruit, smoke and lots of herbs. Lingering tea. I guessed a CA from 03 or 04 based on color and herbality. I guessed it as Thomas Coyne and gave it 3.25 stars.
Wine #5: Smelled just like... dish soap? Seriously. Or cheap rose perfume. Sweet raspberry also present. On the palate, pretty tasty mulberry fruit with mint and thyme. I guessed it as the pricier Spanish and placed it as an 05. I gave it 3 stars.
So, it turned out that:
#1- Cambra's 03 Uno! Shit, we all got that one wrong. And quite frankly, it is NOT worth the price.
#2- Chonchelo 06 - Cheap Spanish, indeed. We just poured this straight down the sink.
#3- Cline 05 Ancient Vines Mourvedre - Got it right, but it's not as good as I recall. Much lighter and much leaner on herbs.
#4- Thomas Coyne 04 Mourvedre - Pretty good stuff. I'd feel ok about recommending this.
#5- Finca Luzon Verde 06 Monastrell- And with that, Yulia's cheap Spanish trumps us all. This is a great bargain.
Tecnorati
The 2004 vintage of this wine received a bronze medal at the Decanter World Wine Awards last year (2006). I’ve only been able to find the 2005 vintage in Belgrade wine shops. It has an intensive and complex aroma with hints of flowers. Dominant tastes are those of melon and slightly of apricots. However, I wasn’t impressed, perhaps I expected more due to all the hype. Or perhaps there’s a significant difference in the two vintages.
. The food was excellent and so was the service. They offer mainly Serbian dishes, if you’re not sure what to choose from the menu, the waiters will help you with their recommendations, you can trust them. The wine list includes wines from some of the better Serbian cellars, such as Radovanovi? and Aleksandrovi? (Topola). Go for Aleksandrovi?’s red or white Triumph, they are some of the best wines Serbia has to offer. Overall, it’s a great place, I’ll be back.
This wine is characterized by a yellow-green colour, a fresh citrusy aroma with hints of honey and a complex flowery aftertaste. It’s a semi-dry riesling, dryer than the Slovenian rieslings (such as Laski Riesling for example), but sweeter than those found in Serbia. It is a nice wine to accompany a lighter meal. 
It doesn?t seem like eight years has passed since we entered the new millennium in 2001, but it has. It was the beginning of a very difficult time; my wife Liz passed away in Feb 2001, the political process started to change and the world changed with it. September 11 showed up on the world?s doorstep, and many of us have been taking it one day at a time, hoping for better days to come.
Ever since the time I attempted to simultaneously sell a Tuscan Novello and a Vernaccia di Serrapatrona, that would have been about this time in 1984, I have wondered why Italian wines chose me. Not just me, but for some of the hard stuff, I sure have had my share of those assignments. Driving around with a delivery van full of baby Sangiovese alongside a quirky, dry, foamy red wine made by a madman in the hills of the Marche. What was I thinking then? Even now it sounds bizarre. Don Quixote, only this time we weren?t looking for windmills. We were looking for space stations for these special travelers. And in honor of those two wines, in the 2001 of our little story here, we have an homage: Novello Di Ascoli, a modern wine about 
Chianti: 2001 was a little project that went beyond Chianti 2000. I?m not sure if people realize the first Italian in space was Sangiovese. A little known experiment resulted in growing and harvesting the grapes aboard the International space station. Limited release, only about 20 cases, hydroponically grown. It was intended to test the ideas of extra-terroirestrial winegrowing. It is an amazing red wine, without the pull of gravity and ratings. No, only the influence of the astro-agronomist-winemaker, an American of Italian descent. It challenges the limitations of the Italian wine trail that we terrestrials put on it. Buckminster Fuller said, ?Whatever nature lets you do is natural.? I wish all of you could have tried it with me. But alas, a quick trip to Washington D.C., some time ago, was the only opportunity any of us will have. But there will be more. Watch for a sparkling wine to come, made in zero gravity, called Zero-Zero. No dirt on their space-boots, but lots of ardent advances orbiting above us.
Down in the Cilento National Park, there is a colony of Italians who speak Esperanto. They escaped the area around Vesuvius many years ago and decided to leave behind their dialect. But they took their grapes with them and started making a red wine for the new millennium, to coalesce their past with their future. It is a cult wine on the islands around Naples and further south. I have only seen and had it once, from a private cellar in Panarea. The wine reminded me of the reds made by Galardi. I have heard people say they have traded two bottles of Le Pin for one bottle of ?Vulkano? Campania Ruga. I have tried both wines. I would say two bottles of Le Pin for one from the Esperantani?s is a fair deal.
About 11 years ago, in a place near Colfiorito, there was a terrible earthquake. When they got to digging out some of the buildings, rescue workers found a lab book from a vineyardist, describing a project code-named ?Il Grifi?. The project, like its name, had as its goal to combine three grapes to make a new wine. Here the vineyardist had been researching, via recombinant DNA, the creation of a wine that had as its parents, Sangiovese, Sagrantino and Montepulciano. And yes, for many years in Umbria and the Marche, winemakers have blended these grapes together to make various wines. William Sylvester, who starred in the Stanley Kubrick film, had made a film in Italy and was fascinated with this area and with wine. So he funded this little known experimentalist. Italy loves to resuscitate ancient things: statues, grapes, legends. In this case, as we headed back to 2001, we discovered that the wine had finally been made, in minute quantities. An amazing wine, combining the ephemeral verve of Sangiovese, the tannic and alcoholic power of the Sagrantino and the lubriciousness of the Montepulciano. Joy upon joy, an almost perfect wine in time for the new age. But alas, only one year was made and only 1113 bottles. They were mostly served at an autumn Sagra in Colfiorito for the special red potato named after the area, which makes the most wonderful base for the local gnocchi. The wine disappeared into memory, along with the best gnocchi I had ever had. The wine? Sangrapulciano.
Two wines, Navicella and Passeggiata, were ?good soul? efforts to make right the promise to reach the moon before the end of the decade. In the Italian?s efforts, though, it managed to arrive about 30 years later. End of decade, end of century, end of millennium, hey it?s only time, no?
Navicella was the wine intended for the first course, something from the aquaculture tanks. Passeggiata was created for the second stage, more experimental than the first wine. It was a sci-fi way of twinning tradition (Navicella) with innovation (Passeggiata) and for those who experienced the wine, I've been told it was a magical. Again, this was eight years ago when the Italians were embracing the next big thing. Now we are earthbound again, arguing this time over tradition vs. innovation. There are a few of these wines available on the auction circuits. A large enological school in Northeastern Italy was in incubating site for these wines. The Lega Nord, and a then unknown party operative, put an end to it. That little known operative would someday, in the future, join with Berlusconi and attempt to influence events in a larger and more important wine producing region, with near cataclysmic results.
Out last find caused a little flap among the retro-futurists in the room. Paraspruzzi was proposed to bridge the workers in the fields, those who tromp through the primal slime in their waders, with the elevated shapers of fashion. Originally the marketers wanted to call it ?Chiaccerone?. Another on the board wanted to name it ?Lo Scroccone?. But it was felt that normal wine lovers wouldn?t know how to pronounce it. Not that Paraspruzzi is that easy, but it sounded like the celebrity photographers who were known to frequent all the ?in? places looking for those same nine beautiful people to snap up.