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The best kinds of cheap wines are the kinds that have a rich story behind them. Well, The Tillerman White wine brought to you by the Hook & Ladder Winery certainly fits the bill. At first glance this wine label made no sense to me… Hook & Ladder? The Tillerman? After doing some research, I feel enlightened knowing the origins of this fine cheap wine, so I’ll share:
The owner of the family-run Hook & Ladder, Cecil De Loach used to be a firefighter! “Hook and Ladder” is just another name for a firetruck. And The Tillerman is guy who drives the back end of a firetruck. A firefighter and a wine-maker! What a life!
I sampled several bottles of The Tillerman White, and I am glad I did. Not being a fan of white blends with a lot of oak, I enjoyed everything about this wine. The peach/apricot aroma was the most prominent feature of this wine as it approached my nose. The wine was very dry, tasty, had an awesome finish. Just a perfect all-around table wine. For about 16 bucks or less, this Sonoma County wine is a steal. If you see it in your supermarket, snatch it up! I look forward to trying some of their many other varietals. This same vineyard, the Russian River Valley produces Chardonay, Gewurztraminer, White Zin, Pinot Noir, Zinfandel, Cabernet Sauvignon, and the “Third Alarm” Reserve Chardonnay. Oh, how I would love to visit the vineyard one day. Rating: 9/10 - Excellent! The only reason I’m not giving it 10 is because I promised my readers “cheap wines less than 15 dollars” and this wine retails for 16. Look around though, I’m sure you can find a good deal! Even if you can’t, it is worth the extra dollar.
Extra Info:Hook & Ladder - Founded in 2004 2027 Olivet Road Santa Rosa, CA 95401 phone: 707-546-5712
I held out much hope for the Mount Pleasant Rosehill Shiraz 2004 after the overripe and tarry number from the previous year. Sadly I cannot help but feel that once again, you would be better off with a $12 Philip Shiraz instead.
Inviting aromas of cherries, blackcurrant, nutmeg and clove. The robust palate is filled with rich dark fruits and berries, chocolate, pepper and cedar oak. Definitely full bodied, not overly “huntery” and a touch warm on the finish.
This is a wine that belies the vintage, since most Hunter Shiraz from 2004 is far leaner and “classically hunter” in style. Although better than the previous year, I am left yearning for the Rosehill wines of 2000 and 2001.
Score: 88/100 Price: $30 Closure: Cork Alcohol: 15% Would I buy this wine again? No, pick up some OP&OH Shiraz from 2003 instead
The is another of the Wynns ’special’ releases, a policy that I’m all in favour of. This one though is for the restaurant trade only. You need a subscription to The Wine Front to see this part of the post
Just after Christmas Gemma and I inexplicably found ourselves at the Boutique Wine Center inquiring after any new releases. Although there was nothing released in the previous two months, we were lucky enough to taste some unreleased 2007 reds from Meerea Park (all of which look superb), including the Meerea Park Shiraz Viognier 2007 which is available as of today.
Showing perfumed aromas of cherry and clove, there is an intense and fruity front palate followed by some spices that lead to a tangy and savoury finish. The fine/approachable tannins and pure fruit make this an excellent drink-now proposition, or you can wait a few years for some further complexity to develop.
This is the best Shiraz Viognier Meerea Park have produced to date, though my score is the same as the 2005 vintage since I am marking a little harder these days…
Score: 91/100 Price: $20 Closure: Screwcap Alcohol: 14% Would I buy this wine? Yes, you should be able to find it for around $17-18
Social media is creating quite a long tail of industries - lots of software companies, consultants, new modes of public relations, etc, etc. Some of them focused on getting you into using social media, which is great, and many of them aspiring to help you “use” social media for your business. The latter point is what I find interesting.
I’ve spoken on the topic of social media before (with assistance from the self-proclaimed “Bonafide Marketing Genius” Marta Kagan - FYI, I’m glad she has the confidence in herself to tag herself that way b/c she’s one of the few I would actually agree with) and I think the biggest point from my talk and others that I’ve seen (like Marta’s deck) is that this all is an excercise in sociology. There are so many technologies that one could use, so many things that you could do, but in the end what is happening to the web is just another means of connecting, interacting, and getting to know people; not unlike joining a social club (like a sports team, a cultural center, or whatever). In fact, just as you have “different circles of friends” offline (work friends, drinking buddies, sports friends), you’ll develop the same thing online and your community will drive you to the tools.
That’s where the idea “use social media” sticks in my craw a little bit.
I’ve had this blog since 2004 and I’ve interacted with many many people thanks to it. It’s mainly an outlet for my thoughts, creativity, and passion (wine, technology, and marketing) and I’ve made a serious number of friends in the wine industry because of it. My goal was to do exactly that, get to know people in the wine industry. One of the major things its taught me though is that the only way to truly understand what this “social media” thing is all about is to get out and do it. BUT - do it with a genuine desire and understand that its a means to reach out to a community (blog in particular). Its not a sales tool and its not a PR tool for social media any more then going to a conference is a PR tool for you. What I mean is you can go to a conference, chat with people, network, find people that you can stay connected with. If you contribute to the conference (effectively contributing to the ‘community’ that the conference is bringing together) then you can get noticed and in that sense you get some good word-of-mouth publicity.
But here is how to think of “use social media” (Ugh!). Its a sociological, human based filter. Its not a broadcast engine like the “information super highway” or the “series of tubes”. Doesn’t matter what tool/site you use, first and foremost your community has to be on that site and/or using that tool. There is always a “critical mass” that needs to be achieved before the tool gets useful. Kind of like a party, its not really fun until there are a bunch of people you know there.
Once your community is there, interacting, chatting, whatever then the dynamics of what happens is facinating. Things start to get “useful” and the human filter is formed. It becomes a situation where the community is as close as a bunch of office mates even though they are all over the world. I literally consider the community I interact with on Twitter my “virtual office mates” and I genuinely like interacting with them. The reason is that you can contribute (chat, answer questions, and otherwise participate) just like you would any other office. In the case of Twitter, it becomes just like a hallway conversation in an office. You can ignore it for a while, pop your head in with a little bit of nothing to say, put out some information or useful tool to the community, or you can put out a serious question to the group and get some solid answers. Pretty much how you would for any office with cubilcles and hallways.
The best part of all this is that when the community reaches critical mass of people in a certain technology/tool who genuinely like to talk about a particular topic, forming an open community, thats when the best things come out. If you contribute something to that community that is truly useful, it will get passed on to everyone very quickly. People will decide if what you said is interesting, show their friends and, if its applicable, their friends may pass on the information to their other “open communities”. The network effect takes over and your information has just become “viral” (i.e. it will spread not only in the current ‘circle of friends’ but to other ‘circles of friends’). More importantly, the human filter took over and since that useful piece of information you generated is actually VERY useful, it will get passed on for a while (or very funny, or very interesting in some other way - the latest on Twitter was a streaming video of puppies, not useful, just very Zen).
So if you find an open community or want to know where there is critical mass already for a community you want to learn about (for instance - the wine community is embracing Twitter and Social Networks) on one of these tools the best way to “use social media” (I hate the term because it makes me feel like “use your friends”, but I guess there isn’t a better way to say it) is to contribute in significant ways. Add to the community but more importantly be YOURSELF. If people like you, they like you. If they don’t, guess what…they don’t. There isn’t alot of advice that can be given there that your parents should’ve taught you before Kindergarten. Thats the funny truth of this “social media” craze. The fundamental sociological point is that this is making friends. Because even if you contribute something that spreads from network to network like wildfire, when those people check you out and “follow you” on Twitter, or Facebook, or whatever, then they start to get to know you in a more personal way then anyone over 25 ever thought possible. If you’re obviously contributing to promote your business it will come across. If you genuinely approach this medium (regardless of technology) as “getting to know people” in the way you’ve always done then you’ll not only have that “viral hit” you won’t be an online “one hit wonder”, you’ll have friends who can help you when you’re down, connect you to others, help you build business, get emotionally invested in your brand…. i.e. you’ll be a part of a community and how you do that is something your Mom and Dad shoulda taught you.
FYI - if you’re doing it for a business/brand it doesn’t matter - if people don’t like your personality, they won’t like your brand. These things have a way of piercing the corporate PR veil. Want an example? Supposedly Cisco “gets” blogging. Read their blogs and you tell me what you think….
I've consumed a handful of cheaper wines this weekend, and whilst the 2005 Wyndam Bin 555 Shiraz was quite good, this puts them all to shame.
Charles Sturt University (home to Australia's leading wine school) sounds like a progressive and interesting place to study. This incredibly cheap but delightful chardonnay is compellingly direct and brisk. Pale with a flash of green, this is pert and laden with stonefruit and crisp acidity.
Andrea Fassone decided to start an Italian wine import business in the last quarter of 2008. Timing is everything. But unlike General Motors, he didn?t take 3 years and numerous trips to Italy to get rolling. He knew what he was looking for before he even got to America. The timing aspect has been a bit of a surprise, but in this short, end-of-year interview, I think you can feel Andrea?s sense of entrepreneurship and willingness to go boldly through the fog. Anyway, here he is in less than three months, up-and-running with his new baby, Enotria Imports. I caught up with him by phone as he was delivering wine through the holiday season. He sounded like he could use a little help, sales are brisk.
Read this interview; support this start-up (for now, selling in NY-Metro market) and remember : You heard it here, first.
Andrea came to NYC Aug'01-photo taken Oct '01 in front of the WTC site
Q. When and how did you get into the wine business? A. I started in August 2001 here in the USA; before it was just a passion I inherited from my father. Then I had the opportunity to move here and work in the wine selling business thank to Sam Levitas and Eugenio Spinozzi, back then, partner-owners of Tricana imports.
Andrea with Eugenio Spinozzi and Fosco Amoroso
Q. When did you decide to start your own company? A. I started to think about it in June and I decided in September. I wanted to be partner in Tricana but it wasn't possible, so I started to talk to a friend in Italy who called me several times with the will to start a new business with me.
Q. How did you manage to start your own company and get the wines in so soon? A. The person I was in touch with has been in the business since ever and already had his contacts. We added some of mine and we started to get serious. I don't have to tell you if you want to achieve something you have to go and grab it.... Of course my partner?s experience (and my little experience) played a big role.
Q. Any particular surprises about starting a business in these economic times? A. Not surprises, but often the same: Are you sure you want to start a business in this bad economy? Anyway, people are still drinking wine, maybe less expensive, but still buying wine. So I focused on good wines at good prices to put together my portfolio.
Q. Do you have any wine regions or wines that you are particularly fond of or are focusing on? A. Being from Piemonte and growing up with wines from that area I'm more for lean dry wines than big fruity wines. If you look at my portfolio you will see 3 Nebbiolo producers, from Roero, from Valtellina and Barolo area. (would you say I'm fond of Nebbiolo...?) .But the idea is to have wines from all over Italy able to represent the grape and the land where they are from.
Q. In your recent travels in Italy and America, what are some areas that really seem to have a lot of energy and excitement for you? A. In Italy I really fell in love with wineries/vineyards in some extreme places. After a trip in Valle d'Aosta, Liguria, Valtellina and Alto Adige, I understood how wine has been part of the local culture, a need, a tradition, or it would not make sense to plant grapevines in such difficult-to-work areas. That is one reality I would like to show to the American people (I know I'm not the first...). On the other hand I see here in the States a growing attention to those realities. Italy is not only Chianti and Pinot Grigio and people are starting to appreciate the "culture" I mentioned above. This is a phenomenon that in NYC has been going on for years and spread through the country.
Energy in the USA? I like what I see in Austin and in Atlanta toward Italian wines.
Q. How do you feel about the oncoming New Year (2009)? A. I think is going to be the survival of the fittest. Hard workers and passionate people will be fine and everybody else...we'll see.
Andrea Fassone Enotria Imports 598 Hancock St. Brooklyn (that would be in Bed-Stuy), NY 11215 917-226-5146 andrefass@aol.com
Last post for 2008 - Next post Sunday Jan 4, 2009 - Happy New Year! Felice Anno Nuovo!
If you're not a subscriber to The Wine Front you don't get to see the reviews that are added to the site on most days. In the past seven days the following wines have been reviewed in the Subscriber Only section of this website.
All Saints Estate Chardonnay Viognier 2006 All Saints Estate Family Cellar Marsanne 2006 All Saints Estate Sangiovese Cabernet 2006 All Saints Estate Shiraz 2006 All Saints Estate Durif 2006 All Saints Estate Family Cellar Durif 2006 Aradon Rioja 2006 Casa Santos Lima Quinta Das Setencostas 2005 d'Arenberg Galvo Garage Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot Petit Verdot 2006 Dog Point Vineyard Marlborough Chardonnay 2006 Dog Point Vineyard Marlborough pinot Noir 2006 Dog Point Vineyard Marlborough Section 94 2006 Grapes of RossBarossaValley Black Rose Shiraz 2006 Grapes of Ross Barossa Valley Old Bush Vine Grenache 2006 Henry Pelle Menetou Salon 2006 Les Nuages Organic Touraine Sauvignon Blanc 2006 LethbridgeGeelong Shiraz 2005 Longview Adelaide Hills Devils Elbow Cabernet Sauvignon 2006 Maison Champy Bourgogne Pinot Noir 2005 MountHorrocksClareValley Shiraz 2005 Piana del Sole Salento Negroamaro 2004 Postcode 2320 Reserve Shiraz 2004 Postcode 2587 Cabernet Sauvignon 2005 Punt Road Yarra Valley Shiraz 2005 Punt Road Yarra Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2005 Rymill Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon 2005 Scorpiiion Barossa Valley Grenache Shiraz Mataro 2006 Scorpiiion Barossa Valley Shiraz 2006 Scorpiiion Barossa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2006 The Berrio Sauvignon Blanc 2006 Torbreck Barossa The Struie Shiraz 2006 Torbreck Run Rig Shiraz 1995 Torbreck Run Rig Shiraz 1996 Torbreck Run Rig Shiraz 1997 Torbreck Run Rig Shiraz 1999 Torbreck Run Rig Shiraz 1998 Torbreck Run Rig Shiraz 2001 Torbreck Run Rig Shiraz 2002 Torbreck Run Rig Shiraz 2003 Torbreck Run Rig Shiraz 2004 Torbreck Run Rig Shiraz 2005 Tramin Alto Adige Pinot Grigio 2006 Villa terlina Gradale Barbera d’Asti 2004 ($35) VoyagerEstateMargaretRiver Cabernet Merlot 2004
Women Wine Writers on the Web has an interesting library of links to women's wine newsletters, blogs, books and more. Definitely a recommended stop. To find wines you're reading about at a shop near you, try WineSearcher. This free service will show you which stores have your target wine in stock, along with the price and ordering options. (A paid upgrade provides even more information.) Don't have the time to read wine blogs? But you'd like to stay on top of the hottest wine news? Wine Life Today features the hottest wine blog posts on the internet. Most of the referrals come from other wine bloggers, so when they toast an article, you know it's good stuff, and worth reading. Interestingly, it's always the oddball stuff that wine bloggers enjoy . . . so don't expect to find the usual wine reviews and commentary. Looking to upgrade your wine notes from lined school paper to something a little more . . . elegant and efficient? We recommend CellarTracker. This free online site lets you store your wine purchases, tasting notes, and more. Additional features let you see fellow members' tasting notes. And creator/owner Eric White is very open to feedback and suggestions.
It's that time of year again. I know of no other event that seems to bring out the inner wine lover in so many San Franciscans more than the annual ZAP (Zinfandel Advocates and Producers) Festival. It never ceases to amaze me how many people turn out with such enthusiasm for this single varietal festival. Don't get me wrong. I love Zinfandel -- unabashedly so. But I tend to forget how many other people do too. Especially those that live in San Francisco.
Of course it's not just San Franciscans that turn out for this one-of-a-kind weekend. People come from all over. The Zinfreaks crawl out of the woodwork, so to speak, and march their way into San Francisco to celebrate their grape of choice, along with the rest of us who sometimes wonder where the rest of these folks hide themselves the rest of the year.
But come one, come all, there's plenty of Zin to go around.
The annual ZAP festival is comprised of several events. The week begins on Wednesday January 28th with a series of seminars that allow attendees to taste flights of wines in a guided fashion with commentary from winemakers, as well as an exclusive walk-around tasting of so called "rare" Zinfandels that will not be poured at the public tastings.
On Thursday the education takes a back seat to hedonism, in the form of the Good Eats and Zinfandel Pairing, a walk around event that features dishes prepared by chefs from all over the U.S. specifically designed to match Zinfandel wines. Attendees can wander from station to station with glass and plate in hand trying different combinations of food and wine until they find their favorites (or until they topple over like plump rabbits in a food coma).
On Friday the event gets a little more swanky for an evening with the winemakers. This event features a live auction for charity, a pre-dinner tasting, and a sit-down dinner with winemakers. You can buy some great wine while giving to charity, and then you can have a great meal while a winemaker pours a selection of their wines and answers all the questions you ever might have about making Zinfandel.
And finally on Saturday, the ultimate San Francisco wine tasting begins. Starting at 2:00 PM, the floodgates open and hundreds of Zinfandel wines are available to the public for tasting. There is simply no other opportunity like this to educate your palate about Zinfandel as a wine, and no other chance to so easily discover new Zins for yourself.
The event tends to get a little crazy as the afternoon progresses, both in terms of the size of the crowd and its level of inebriation, but don't let that stop you from showing up early, enjoying yourself, and then making your exit before the sloshing and stumbling begin.
Last year I had the flu, and couldn't make it, so I'm very much looking forward to this year again. And you should be too. Especially because you might get to go to one of the events for free. I've got five pairs of tickets to give away to the Good Eats and Zinfandel Pairing on Thursday January 29th. All you have to do in order to get yourself a pair of tickets is be one of the first five people to compose a haiku about Zinfandel in the comments section of this blog (and leave me your full name and e-mail address in the fields provided).
That's it!
ZAP Zinfandel Advocates and Producers Festival Grand Tasting: Saturday January 31, 2009 Doors open to the public at 2:00 PM (members can get in an hour earlier) Herbst and Festival Pavilions Marina Boulevard San Francisco, CA 94123 (map)
Tickets for the Grand Tasting are $59 if purchased in advance (which you should do most assuredly). If any tickets are left they will be $69 at the door. Tickets for other events range from $95 to $210 depending on the event. ZAP members receive discounts on all tickets. For more information about the event and to purchase tickets, please see the ZAP event web site.
SPECIAL NOTES: I don't recommend parking anywhere near Fort Mason on the day of the event. Take public transportation or park a long way off and walk. Also I especially recommend wearing dark clothes that you won't mind getting a drop or two of red wine on when someone accidentally jostles your glass (or theirs). Finally, I recommend showing up with a full stomach, drinking lots of water as you go, and spitting instead of swallowing. You ain't got any taste buds in your throat, and if you want to learn anything you need to stay sober. Otherwise you'll be one of the drunken fools that everyone makes fun of at 4:30 PM on Saturday.
In between the last sips of the last glass of this bottle of Bogle Phantom 2005, I pick up my blue guitar and strum a few measures of that old hymn and wonder what it means. What circle? The reason this tune is on my mind has to do with the seemingly imminent passing of an uncle. He's about to leave a gap in the circle here, and I suppose he will join the circle of those who left before. This is a favorite song of his and he is on my mind.
Whenever I play my guitar, there are phantoms in my head. One tends to play tunes written or performed by those who have already left the room. I first picked up a guitar as a point of entry into the head of one such person. You can learn a lot from those who pass before.
Bogle Phantom turns out to be a lush wine, offering up lots of fruit preserves flavors and aromas, wrapped in sweet spicy oak overtones. Plummy, cherry and currant fruit abounds. The spice is a bit along the lines of a Moroccan blend, and there's a touch of vanilla in there as well.
The blend is 55% Petite Sirah, 42% Zinfandel, with the balance being Mourvedre (Monastrell). The spicy notes are brought out through the time spent lying in American oak barrels. Bogle is known for giving a lot of wine for the money, and Phantom always sells out quickly. I guess that's why they call it Phantom - it's elusive - hard to get a hold of, so to speak.
Earlier in the evening, we paired Phantom with some barbecue beef, of the sweet tomato variety. Anything of that hearty stick-to-your-ribs sort of food will pair well. Now that the last sip is gone, I put down my guitar and let go of the day.
Price: $19 (Nashville). Closure: real cork. Alcohol content: 14.5%
Wine lovers in Beantown, listen up. It won't be long now before some of you may be asking yourselves what on Earth you're doing freezing your keisters off in the depths of winter. But there is at least one reason for sticking around through January besides the New England Patriots, and that, my friends is the Boston Wine Expo.
There are very few reasons that I'd venture out to Boston in the middle of winter, but let me tell you, the Boston Wine Expo is almost enough of a reason for me to jet on out there from San Francisco. Almost, but not quite. However, if I lived anywhere within 100 miles of the Boston, I would be at the Seaport World Trade center on January 24th and 25th of 2009.
The Boston Wine Expo claims to be the largest public wine tasting event in the entire country, and looking at the partial list of folks who are planning on showing up to pour their wines, it's not hard to believe. On offer will be 450 international and domestic wineries from 13 countries pouring over 1,800 different wines. Yowza.
There are so many different options for what you can do (seminars, guided tastings, food pairings, dinners, concerts, you name it) and what sort of tickets you can buy to do them (reasonable to super expensive), I'm not even going to try to summarize what's on offer. Go check out their web site and figure it out for yourself. What I would be most interested in personally are the grand tastings where you get to taste a lot of wine, and their special Grand Cru Wine Lounge where you pay more to taste a lot of even better wine.
If you enjoy wine there's very little excuse not to go have a looksee at what is certainly the best opportunity to educate your palate that you'll get all year, let alone in the dead of winter.
The 18th Annual Boston Wine Expo Saturday January 24 and Sunday January 25, 2009 1:00 PM to 5:00 PM Seaport World Trade Center 200 Seaport Blvd. Boston, MA, 02210 (map)
Tickets range in price from $85 for a day of tasting to $195 for a full pass, and they get more expensive after January 17th. Buy them online in advance to save money and avoid standing on lines when you get there.
And remember my tips for making the most of these large public tastings: get a good night's sleep before hand; show up with a full stomach; wear dark clothes; drink lots of water; and for heaven's sake, SPIT !
‘Twas the night before Conference, when all through the house Not a creature was stirring, not even a computer mouse;
The nametags were hung by their lanyards with care, In hopes they’d be worn when they bloggers arrived there;
Each and every wine geek were nestled all snug in their beds, While visions of black-cherries and licorice danced in their sweet heads;
While I sat panicking over every tiny detail, Ryan smiled proudly regarding the conference’s grand scale;…
Yeah, not going to happen! Our creative juices are completely dehydrated. The conference is now on cruise control, and barring any strange twists, we should be enjoying a fine Participant tasting on Friday night. Still a bit nervous? Of course! Seeing that this is our conference, or rather, this is the first international wine bloggers conference ever, we just hope all the wine bloggers behave themselves!
So for now a few pointers too things we think you should look at.
Another winery sent to the sidebar
This time it’s Port wine, and damn fine port wine at that, Quevedo. A few months ago, we started working with this small winery and we’re proud of the results. Located in the Douro Valley, right next to some of the most historic wineries in the region, this is a young winery with old roots. We’re holding back a bit on the details, because they’ve done a superb job telling their story at this point. So, please check them out and say hello from us!
Thank you Sponsors
We don’t do advertising on Catavino, but we did need sponsors to help us put together the EWBC conference. Therefore, we’d like to offer a sincere thank you for their generous support. It’s companies like these that support new technologies at the early stages that will continue to succeed. Thank you: Dinastia Vivanco, La Rioja Tourismo, Raimat, Casa de la Ermita, Heredade Esporao, Amorim and all of the wineries who donated wines for our various tastings!
Wine Recommendation
In an effort to catch up on some sample tastings, we had an impromptu BBQ party on the roof this past Sunday afternoon. Seriously fun time with lots of friends, who as a result of summer schedules, have been strangers to us for what seems like months. Our brined, bone in pork loin was the main attraction, which continually amazes us as to how juicy pork can be on the grill when brined correctly. Grilled vegetables, couscous, Ryan’s famous black beans and a couple of melons rounded out the meal. As for wine, we offered a bunch of tasters, some better than others. I will say though a Cava from Utiel-Requena winery Sybarus. This little wine is a knock out, with great toasted notes, intense honey and lot’s of lemon notes.
So Gabriella and I just want to say sorry for the short post. We’ll be around, and trying to get an update up on Friday or Saturday though we make no promises.
After weeks of fiddling around with game, organ meats and arguing in Spanish about whether or not the package contains gizzards and hearts, I felt like taking things back to basics. Roasted chicken with creamed spinach, cornbread, and macaroni and cheese, the sides coming from Fresh Market.
I used the "Stretch's Chicken" recipe from the latest issue of Saveur, which involves putting a hard cheese/herb paste on a cut-up chicken and browning the parts in a cast-iron skillet before roasting it all at high temperature in the oven. For simplicity and because it's my favorite for this kind of cooking, I just used a pack of leg/thigh quarters. Defat the pan and deglaze with red wine vinegar and you've got a tangy sauce to go with the chicken. It's ridiculously simple but really flavorful.
For the wine I took a gamble with the 2002 Botromagno Gravina from the bootheel of Italy in Puglia. $15, 12% abv, 60% Greco, 40% Malvasia. I'm not sure how long this wine was supposed to age, but it's become amazing over the years. There are rich aromas of dates and golden raisins as well as violets. Flavors of dried apricots with a foundation of lemony acidity round out the package, and it's got a beautiful amber hue to it.
Looking at this plate, you could easily find the ingredients in a TV dinner or cafeteria lunch menu. Just put a little love and attention in the preparation and find the right wine to make it special. And, of course, eat it at the table surrounded by friends.
In 1964 the Beatles released Meet the Beatles in the United States, the first Ford Mustang was produced, Lyndon Johnson defeated Barry Goldwater for President and the grapes for the 1964 Gran Reserva Rioja of FaustinoI were harvested. They made 219,500 bottles and I drank one last night. I can?t help but be struck by history when I taste older wines. By the way, I just turned nine a month before they picked these grapes, which means I?m becoming part of history too.
To experience these wines is to touch a piece of history as no one makes wines in the same way anymore. Too much science has entered both the winery and vineyard and that?s a good thing. The great thing about an old
Tecnorati
I held out much hope for the Mount Pleasant Rosehill Shiraz 2004 after the overripe and tarry number from the previous year. Sadly I cannot help but feel that once again, you would be better off with a $12 Philip Shiraz instead.
Just after Christmas Gemma and I inexplicably found ourselves at the Boutique Wine Center inquiring after any new releases. Although there was nothing released in the previous two months, we were lucky enough to taste some unreleased 2007 reds from Meerea Park (all of which look superb), including the Meerea Park Shiraz Viognier 2007 which is available as of today.
Andrea Fassone decided to start an Italian wine import business in the last quarter of 2008. Timing is everything. But unlike General Motors, he didn?t take 3 years and numerous trips to Italy to get rolling. He knew what he was looking for before he even got to America. The timing aspect has been a bit of a surprise, but in this short, end-of-year interview, I think you can feel Andrea?s sense of entrepreneurship and willingness to go boldly through the fog. Anyway, here he is in less than three months, up-and-running with his new baby, Enotria Imports. I caught up with him by phone as he was delivering wine through the holiday season. He sounded like he could use a little help, sales are brisk.
Q. How did you manage to start your own company and get the wines in so soon?
Q. Any particular surprises about starting a business in these economic times?
Energy in the USA? I like what I see in Austin and in Atlanta toward Italian wines.
