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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
Over two million Canadians have diabetes. For thirty-two years I?ve been a card-carrying member of the no-sugar-tonight club. The thing that always surprises people when they find out I?m diabetic is the significant part that food and wine play in...
Following the theme of my last post about Americans? increasing awareness of the quality wines that many artisan producers of Argentina are exporting, I?m pleased to post the first installment of my interview with Ed Lehrman of Vine Connections. Along with his business partner, Nick Ramkowsky, they formed a company that not only imports the wines of artisan Mendoza producers, but selectively forges meaningful, long term relationships with them. As Ed Lehrman explains in the interview, this type of involvement encompasses much more than shipping and distribution, extending into representation, consulting, label design and many other crucial aspects which in the end, bring American consumers the types of genuine artisan wines that multinationals couldn?t even conceive of delivering.
Based out of Sausalito, CA, Vine Connections has been at the forefront of the changing of the guard, in terms of tastes, that I described in my last post. Their portfolio includes excellent California, New Zealand and Japanese Saké producers, alongside the wines of star Mendoza winemakers Susana Balbo and Pedro Marchevsky, along with others to look out for, such as Mapema, Tikal and La Posta del Viñatero. If you really want to know what Argentines really like to have at the table and moreover, the breadth that Argentine wines are capable of achieving, I encourage you to explore the types of artisan producers that Vine Connections represents and whose work, over the coming years, will ultimately triumph over the characterless, corporate-backed South American wines saturating our shelves.
I would like to thank Ed Lehrman for taking the time to provide his in-depth responses concerning Vine Connections, its vision and inspiration. Our conversation unfolded over e-mail:
*What is the vision behind your company and what were some of the key experiences that led you and your business partner to get started?
- My partner, Nick Ramkowsky, and I have both been in the wine business since 1986 (we started very young), and we could have done any number of things together. Nick was a small California distributor at the time, and I had just sold my direct-to-consumer wine business where he had been one of my suppliers. A fateful trip together in May of 1999 launched us into the importing/national sale & marketing business. We spent about a week in Mendoza on that trip tasting wines from bottle, barrel, tanks?you name it?and we met some incredible winery owners and winemakers. By the end of the week, we were looking at each other and asking, ?How does the 5th largest wine producer in the world hide incredible wines like these from the US?? It seemed like this must be the opportunity of a lifetime for wine guys like us to lead the charge in introducing Argentine wine to the US, and in a way that they would be fully appreciated for their quality and authenticity, and not just their price. As an aside, of the first 12 wines we imported from Argentina, the LEAST EXPENSIVE wine was $22 retail! So in fact, Vine Connections was originally formed in order to be an Argentine wine importer. *Compared to other importers, what is the depth of Vine Connection's involvement with the producers its represents? (in terms of consulting, marketing, other assistance, etc.)
- It is hard to speak about other importers, since some do quite a lot and some just taste and buy. As for us, we take the approach that we are the winery?s own sales & marketing department and they can use us for as little or as much as they need. That may mean writing back label copy, helping with label design, or determining whether a new blended wine is even a good idea to add to their portfolio.
For all of our wineries, we do the copywriting for all printed materials since we can communicate their stories in English more effectively, and along the same lines, we handle most press relations since we are here and readily available. And I guess the most valuable thing we do would be called ?consulting? since we offer our advice on many topics based on our 40 years of working in the U.S. wine biz. *How does your company forge relationships with producers? In this vein, what is the process like for you when considering an addition to your portfolio? Do the producers come towards you in the way of trade events, do you travel to areas to scout, so to speak, or some combination thereof?
- We are very careful in this regard since our objective as an importer is to build brands and not just sell wine. That requires long-term relationships, so besides tasting backwards and forwards through a winery?s production, we spend as much as time as we can with the owners and the winemakers to see whether there is a good fit for working closely together. When we meet people who already think they know it all about winemaking, marketing, etc., we politely walk away no matter the wine quality. Our initial screen is the wines?they have to be particularly good since that is what we are known for importing. Then we start talking about their philosophies, their dreams, their business objectives, and where we should all eat dinner together (a meal with a potential supplier is always a good way to gain more insight).
This process means that while we have run into some wines that we like, we have sometimes been unwilling to take the winery on. The most common stumbling block for us seems to be that the winery lacks a strong winemaking philosophy, and often because they have abdicated this cornerstone to a consulting winemaker (and most often to foreign winemakers). As time has passed, we have pretty much settled into the idea of only representing wineries owned by Argentines and with Argentine winemakers since the winemaking vision is usually clearer and more grounded in expressing what makes Mendoza so special compared to other regions.
From the first moment that we meet a winery team, it usually takes about 18 months before we come to an agreement, do the ground work, and then start selling the wines in the U.S. It seems to work--we have never lost an Argentine winery and every brand that we represent has achieved a significant level of success.
I wish I could say that finding these producers followed a particular recipe, but in truth, all of our brands have come to us via different sources. The key is to have your radar on all the time so that the best ones don?t slip by accidentally.
*You represent Susana Balbo and Pedro Marchevsky's Dominio del Plata Winery?how did that relationship come about and how far back do you go?
- Well, if it weren?t for the ?dynamic duo? of Mendoza, we may never have been Argentine wine importers. We met them on our first trip to Mendoza in 1999, and they were so obviously talented and knowledgeable that they got us thinking a lot about the possibilities. We also formed a trusting relationship so quickly that it became obvious that we would work together, and together push forward a common vision of making Argentine wine part of the daily American fine wine conversation. That seems like an ominous task looking back now?we had no company yet and they were renting a very small winery at the time?but at the time it just seemed like destiny.
by Martin Field ?How did you become a wine writer?? It?s perhaps the most frequent question I?ve had from wine drinkers over the years. What they really mean is ?How could I go about becoming a wine writer?? In other words, they too would like a job they assume involves nothing more than the consumption of an endless round of free lunches and gratis wine samples. My life is nothing like that, I tell them. (I can lie like a politician when necessary.) The process My ticket on the gravy train was easy enough to obtain. The process really was as simple as follows and the dialogue is as accurate as memory will allow.
Leave it to a baby boomer to latch onto this millennial wine label concept. Forgive me; the label goes with the new table we just bought from Pier 1 Imports, that place where the millennial generation now shops. The proverbial "we" refers to the writer, namely me, and my civil union partner of nearly 20 years, or whatever is allowed to be said given we do not fall into the category of "one man and one woman".
Geode is a wine concept. It is a design. It is targeted marketing. This is its first vintage. It over-delivers. That's a good thing. Quick, before they sell it off to a larger company keen on watering it down and milking the label as a cash cow, buy it and drink up.
If they are going to wing these concepts out at us, then we need to know when to buy and when to pass. We need to be as fickle about our preferences as they are about their focus group results. My experience is this type of concept is best when it starts out. They can evolve into something even better, but rarely. Again I say, buy now and drink up. Just don't get married to it. Play the field. Be gay with California wine - don't get married.
White Rocket Wine Company has done a great job with Geode Santa Barbara Chardonnay 2006. Chardonnay is the proverbial "dead horse" in many ways these days, so it takes a strong concept, product and price to make hay. True to form as a Santa Barbara County Chardonnay, this newbie takes on hints of Puligny-Montrachet, a remarkable feat for a sub-$15 wine, Geode is packed with oodles of honeyed botrytis overtones and delicious tropical fruit flavors. The honey is in the head space and the pineapple, mango and lemon-lime grace the palate in a sophisticated way. The performance is very well rounded, creamy on the palate, yet the finish is crisp dry.
Veteran wine maker Melissa Bates is credited with this stellar value laden effort. She reportedly gave this wine an average of 8 months in oak, 3/4 French, 1/4 new.
Price: $14 (Nashville). Closure: real cork. Alcohol content: 13.5%.
They maybe should start calling Napa Chardonnay simply, "a glass of white Napa". Chardonnay seems so generic, especially in the days of now, when "mom-and-pop" wineries are a romantic thing of the almost-past. Last year William Hill Estate changed hands, leaving the portfolio of Jim Beam's peeps and joining the ranks of E&J Gallo's decendents' peeps. But this is Napa juice, so I say, call it "a glass of white Napa". It sounds more distinguished than, say, a glass of Gallo's William Hill Napa Chardonnay.
By the way, do you know how to tell right away if that winery you're researching is owned by one of the large "wine umbrella portfolio management groups", without googling it? Here's a hint: If they ask you when you're born, before you check out their homepage, tell them you're born on January 1st 1901. And rest assured, you're under a big umbrella.
Okay, now that we've established that Gallo bought a Napa property with lots of history and genuine character, let's give them credit for injecting the house with efficiency without sacrificing quality. Under Gallo's umbrella, William Hill can compete better in the reality known as wine 2.0, the modern wine marketing landscape. As part of an entire "aisle" of offerings, this label can wield more muscle than it could stand-alone. We get better deals as a result. When they don't water it down, we stand to benefit by such an arrangement.
Reportedly, the fruit for William Hill Napa Chardonnay 2005 is from Carneros and Atlas Peak. Malolactic fermentation and oak aging inject the wine with richness, layered atop the lean acidic structure begotten from the cool climate vineyards. The oak influence is noticeable, reinforcing the tropical mango and perfumed lemon aromas and flavors. Here is a successful baby Chassagne-Montrachet, if you dare call it that. I call it a darn good glass of "white Napa".
Price: $13 (Nashville, on sale). Closure: Real cork. Alcohol content: 13.9%.
Beautifully conceptual these wines, both of them. This is what Chardonnay is all about, and it's amazing how affordable they are.
Peel Sessions; Culled from 2 John Peel sessions and a Radio One Rick Show session recorded between 2002-2004. Featuring the line up that record the first 2 classic Nebula albums "To the Center" & "Charged" , these recordings demonstrate why Nebula were regarded as pioneers of the late90's/00's stoner rock scene. Los Angeles based trio **'Nebula'** , comprised of Eddie Glass (Guitar/Vocals), English geezer Tom Davies (Bass/Vocals) & Rob Oswald (Drums). ........It all started when Eddie Glass & Neil Blender were making weird 4 track music ,,Alien Workshops' first video.... Eddie then went on to drum for **'Olivelawn'** ........ later Eddie played lead guitar with **'Fu Manchu'** , writing some of the songs and playing lead guitar on the first three albums.^....... **In 1997 Eddie Glass and Ruben Romano started** Nebula**.......... Guitars, Drums, Moogs, Sitars, psychedelics electric guitars,shredding drums... ***Nebula.*** Tom Davies crossed the Atlantic in the summer of 2004 to join the Nebula ranks.>> ^ the recent addition in early 2007 consists of Rob Oswald, (Karma To Burn/Mondo Generator), Nebula are re-igniting the fires started in '97. Five albums later - one on 'Relapse', two on 'Sub Pop', a couple of EP's on 'Meteor City' and now the long gone 'Mans Ruin' and a long list of records with 'Cargo Sweet Nothing', featured regularly in soundtracks to movies, TV shows. After appearances at ;Sunset Junction' Festivals and numerous tours in Europe, Australia, Japan, South America and many North American tours with the likes of Mudhoney, J Mascis & The Fog and The Hellacopters, Nebula have recently returned from a month long festival tour in Europe and will continue to tour as long as god & man is willing.
Best Deal Magazines is currently offering "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Wine" as a downloadable version for free. The guide is currently off of print in bound form, but is loaded with good advice on how to select, taste, and collect wine. Although aimed at the beginning wine lover, there's sure to be something of interest to the experienced sipper also.
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OK, so there’s alot of hub-bub about that the Wine Spectator expose that happened by blogger Robin Goldstein. And first let me say a couple things. Bloggers are extraordinarily important to the world and this is just the latest example of some good citizen journalism. Bravo to Robin for the work on setting up this sting. Nice, ethical, and well executed.
As a marketing professional for a decade and a half I’ll say this though - what did you think the award was? Wine Spectator is a “for profit” private entity that has what, 100 employees? I’ve dealt with many many awards for the rediculous number of products and companies I’ve launched and I’ll tell you this, whenever there is a for-profit entity involved then you’re going to pay-to-play. And if you pay-to-play then you’re probably getting an award! There are several technology related firms that have pay for entry, then I win the award, then they call me back and pitch me Ad space, and then tell me to be involved in the award ceremony I have the great opportunity to present my product/company at a high profile industry show…for yet another fee.
update: On side note for the history books. In the late 1990s, what I call “Bubble Days” of tech, pay-to-play got ridiculous. There were analyst firms that would take EQUITY in a startup and then write a positive report. Subsequently, these firms would go public and thanks to the Tech Bubble some people got very rich for their “award” or “positive outlook”…nuts…
This Wine Spectator debacle is nothing new or unexpected. They’re leveraging their brand, which has the power today to make a $20 wine into a $100 wine overnight, to make more money. What is unexpected is the fact that they were complete IDIOTS about it and obviously do zero vetting not a very thorough job vetting applicants. Dumb dumb dumb. But I’m not surprised the award is the way it is. Not at all actually. Maybe thats part of the marketer’s secret code or something but thats how these things go. If this didn’t happen (the dumb non-vetting move being exposed), who wouldn’t pay $250 for this “Excellence” award, hence “profit” opportunity. Look, even now, if you have a real restaurant whats to stop you from fudging the wine list? The sting was a totally fake place, but what stops you from doing this again? Pay-to-play, thats how it works. Its a revenue generator for the company, thats all.
Now, I do want to point out something in stark contrast. The “American Wine Blogger Awards“. Whenever they come around everyone gets in Tom Wark’s grill about “who are you to judge me” and “what makes you think this award is valid at all”, and so on. I mean he gets HEAVY criticism. Well guess what - its decided on by people submitting nominations, then the finalists are chosen by a panel and voted on by the people again. Oh yeah, and it FREE. In fact, when I offered to sponsor the AWBAs Tom turned that down. So even though its not perfect I view it kind of like how I view the American Democracy - its not perfect and sometimes its not fair (just look at my tax bill every f’in year), but its about the best you’re gonna get!
Négociant Cameron Hughes has made a name for himself selecting and sometimes blending wines that drink like twice or sometimes three times their asking price. Using direct to consumer marketing on his website and distribution through warehouse retailers like Costco and Sam’s Club, Hughes effectively disintermediates the 3-tier wine distribution system here in the U.S. This means he can make money selling $10-20 wines that he sources from some of the top producers around the world.
This past Saturday I presented three of his wines as part of Twitter Taste Live 5. All the wines were provided by Cameron Hughes as samples but I was very impressed with each wine which I will review over the next few weeks here. But the most impressive wine was a new release today, Lot 93, a 2004 Tempranillo from Spain’s Rioja region.
When I opened this wine Saturday, the brand on the cork indicated the producer is Bodegas Covila. On my visit to the region last year, I was struck by how every winery seemed to age their wines as “shiners” or unlabeled, selling the wine when it was “ready to drink.” This old school philosophy makes many wines from Spain tremendous values and provides stock for folks like Cameron Hughes to buy and label for his customers. The result is one of the best values I’ve ever seen as this could easily sell for $50-60 a bottle.
Tasting notes:
Cameron Hughes, “Lot 93″, Tempranillo, Rioja 2004 ($21/sample) - Dark ruby in color with black cherry, cassis, fennel, cocoa and vanilla aromas. Sleek and concentrated black cherry & dark currant fruit with some black pepper and a touch of earth finishing long with firm, but surprisingly well integrated, tannins. A well structured wine that will age for another 5-8 years. The most extreme value I’ve tasted yet from this négociant. Highly recommended.
13.5% ABV Natural cork closure Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
An over excited spectator at the final day of the Indy . The track ran right past our building. I do have photos of him running back to collect his clothes.
Love is in the air this month. For those of you looking for a way to dress up your Valentine?s Day, consider the object of your affection ?the one with the sparkling personality? as your inspiration.
Accordingly, pop open the sparkling wines and celebrate.
If Valentine?s Day is not your thing, there are plenty of other reasons to celebrate with bubbly this month, from Presidents? Day to any other day of the week, which ends in ?y.? Why? Because sparkling wines add a touch of festivity to any occasion and they taste too good to wait for a special event. And, even though you may not have a fondness for this Hallmark holiday, you always have your love of wines to keep you warm.
Sparkling wines, of which Champagne is most well-known, capitalize on harnessing the CO2 created during the fermentation process to provide the fizz we all know and love. This capture takes place during a secondary fermentation, which is coupled with allowing the spent yeasts to remain in the bottle throughout the ageing period. The yeasts impart the bready/toasty aromas and flavors that are characteristic of sparkling wines.
There are several ways to make a wine sparkle, the simplest, cheapest and short-lived being the injection method (aka pompe bicyclette), which injects CO2 into the wine. These man-made bubbles tend to be large and coarse on the palate.
Conversely, the traditional method, based upon Methode Champagnoise, provides a longer-lasting, smaller bead, which has more finesse in its mouthfeel. These traits stem from the labor-intensive process which includes an initial blending of still wines (assemblage) that is then bottled and capped, along with a yeast and sugar mixture (tirage), to facilitate a secondary fermentation. The wines are then left to age on the spent yeasts for a period of time as set by the appellation (in Champagne, this is a minimum of 15 months for non-vintage wines, while Cavas are generally aged for 9 months).
The sediment left behind must then be carefully shifted from the base of the bottle to the neck in a process known as riddling. The bottles are gently tilted and turned throughout a period of several weeks, forcing the sediment down into the mouth of the bottle. The necks are then immersed into a cold, briny solution, thereby freezing the sediment. The caps are removed and the frozen sediment is thrust out of the bottle and discarded (disgorgement). The remaining wine is topped off with a blend of wine and sugar/must (liqueur d?expedition), which impacts the resulting dryness or sweetness of the finished sparkling wine. The final step is the insertion of the cork, which is much denser that those used for still wines given that sparkling wines can be under up to 6 atmospheres of pressure (be careful where you point that thing).
A similar process is used in the transfer method whereby the steps above remain the same with the exception that the sediment is removed in bulk and the wine is then filtered and bottled. Such wines will note that they have been fermented in the bottle, whereas the wines in the previous method are labeled as having been fermented in this bottle. An additional method involves the use of a tank in which the entire secondary fermentation, ageing and disgorgement takes place. While this is of course a much less expensive process than the other two, it is frequently used to produce wines that have a distinct freshness to them such as Astis from the Piedmont region in Italy.
The Champagne region in France has done a good job in marketing itself as a luxury product and this joined with increasing demand, limited supply and expensive processes has pushed up the price on these wines. Vintage sparklers (those produced entirely from grapes grown in a particularly great year) and prestige marquees (i.e. Crystal, Dom Perignon) command even higher prices. However, many sparkling wines from other regions in France (such as Burgundy and the Loire Valley) as well as well-made American, Italian (Asti and Prosecco), Germany (Sekt) and Spain (Cava) can offer the consumer a wonderful experience without the hefty price tag.
There's still plenty of fire left in the belly of old gnarly Grenache vines in Calatayud, Spain. These old vines manifest their destiny in Garnacha de Fuego 2007, imported by Jorge Ordoñez, and sold here in Tennessee for well under $10, and in some areas of the country nearer to $5.
This is one of those outstanding inexpensive red wines that make you wonder why some wines cost so much. Unencumbered by wood aging, it's so very pure and drinkable, yet unlike similarly priced junk wine, the wine equivalent to junk food, it's genuine. There isn't a hint of manipulation evident.
True to form for a fresh Grenache, you get a plethora of raspberry character, perhaps even some "Now-Or-Later" cherry mixed in. There's also some white pepper spice to be sure, and a mouth full of rocks. The body is light-to-medium, and the combination of youth (wine) and age (vine) come through in the somewhat rustic, lasting finish.
The vines harvested for this wine go back to the days when Franco took power and when Picasso painted Guernica. On a political hiatus for decades, these sage vines are now just coming into their own. Therefore I'm raising a glass, to remember those people who suffered before, and to be enlightened with the wisdom to help alleviate future suffering. The planting of these vines was a bit before my time, but not really that long ago in the evolutionary big picture. History is changing fast, and as was said, "those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it." Garnacha de Fuego kindles the mind, makes you think, doesn't cost a lot, and it even goes great with fried green tomatoes.
According to the company, the ‘podcasks’ provide the latest updates on wine news, en primeur releases and wine events as well as featuring exclusive interviews with some of the biggest names in the world of fine wine.
This is another dry red wine from the sunny ?emovsko valley near Podgorica, Montenegro. We’ve covered a few wines from the Planta?e winery in the past and this is probably the poorest of their wines, without much character. Enjoyable only with a meal.
The difference in perception of this wine and the Dulka Cabernet we just covered is quite huge - the wine makers from Fru?ka Gora do seem to know how to add some magic to their wines and add a special touch to it (OK, it costs twice as much, but is well worth it!).
Score: 5/10 Price: 240 RSD (?3) Retailer: Widely available in Serbia and Montenegro
Every year TigullioVino.it, Italy?s foremost wine portal, organizes a wine Meeting, a table-top event bringing together over one hundred winemakers hand picked from Italy and Europe. This year?s edition, with some influence from yours truly, is called Terroir Vino, and was held at the magnificent Palazzo Ducale in Genova. The Palazzo Ducale, photo by Luca Risso Terroir Vino is the brainchild of my friend, web entrepreneur Fil Ronco. Participants are invited after selection in a blind tasting by TigullioVino teams, and so you get a wide spectrum of styles and sizes of winery, from the ?all natural? vigneron with less than 4 hectares, to large quality producers like Lungarotti. Half the day is reserved for wine professionals (press, restaurant owners, importers), and starting mid-afternoon the event is open to the public for a nominal fee. The setting under the gold leaf carved ceilings of the doge?s palace, the perfect organization and the friendly atmosphere made this Terroir Vino day a big success. It was good to see lots of blogging and newsgroup friends, including Joan Gómez Pallarès, Terry Hughes, Luca Risso, Giampiero Nadali, Schigi, Filippo Cintolesi, Franco Solari, Fiorenzo Sartore, Mirco Mariotti, Gianpaolo Paglia, even Slow Food friends Enrico Sala and Maurizio Fava. All in all 1500 people attended.
To wrap up Halloween Week, here's a dinner so terrifying my roommate left the house for the entire evening. Enjoy!
After the post on the literary James Bond's Vesper cocktail versus the vodka martini of the movies, I decided to tackle a similar movie/book/beverage change. In the film version of The Silence of the Lambs, Hannibal Lecter memorably said, "A census taker once tried to test me. I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice Chianti."
In the book, it was a "big Amarone". As I thought about this, I realized that some well-prepared liver, fava beans, and a nice Italian wine would be a pretty good dinner, if in somewhat questionable taste. Let's just go ahead and get this straight: this is a normal cow's liver from the grocery store. Benito's Wine Reviews does not endorse cannibalism practiced upon census personnel or anyone else for that matter.
Despite the disclaimers, it still freaked out The Roommate, as this movie gave her nightmares for years afterwards and one of the house rules is that I don't do my Lecter voice around her. More liver for me!
Liver and onions is a pretty common pairing, and I looked at a few different recipes. A big contender was Mario Batali's fegato alla veneziana, but I settled on Anthony Bourdain's foie de veau lyonnaise. At the end of the recipe, he suggests several variations, including adding apples and pork to the onions. I sliced up some of those Ozark Gold apples and a bit of prosciutto to go along with the onions, and the liver was just lightly fried on each side. The best parts of the liver were the least cooked, sort of a medium rare pink. It's difficult to achieve this using the thin slices commonly available; I'd like to get a full liver and cook one-inch cubes in the future.
The fava beans were prepared with onion, bell pepper, and tomato paste, amongst other spices and seasonings. I started with dried beans (I've never seen fresh ones around here), and by the time the dish was done the beans had fallen apart into a chunky mush. This did not affect the flavor of the dish, which was rich and savory. While there are many substitutes for Italian classics like fava and cannelini beans, somehow the real thing is always best.
And what about the wine? The 2003 Bolla Amarone della Valpolicella was a real treat. $46, 15% abv, made from a proprietary blend of partially-dried Corvina, Rondinella, and Molinara grapes. It had gorgeous aromas of fig, fennel, and cedar, with flavors of pomegranate and currant. I allowed it to decant for about two hours before the meal and it went along very well with the meal. This bottle, and other Amarones topping $100, would fall under the "special occasion" wines for most folks I know, but I felt it was well worth it here. It helped elevate the dish far above the sad, overcooked liver and onions that rest under heat lamps at diners and dives throughout the country.
All in all an unforgettable meal. While I won't be replicating it precisely anytime soon, I do want to experiment further with liver, and I think that fava beans could be a great addition to the Thanksgiving table.
2005 Ponzi Pinot Noir The 2005 Pinot Noir Willamette Valley offers toasty cherry and strawberry aromas leading to a medium-bodied, structured wine with spicy flavors and a slightly tannic finish. Drink this tasty Pinot Noir over the next 4-6 years. Ponzi Vineyards began in 1974 making them one of Oregon?s pioneers. Dick and Nancy Ponzi, the founders, remain very much involved although winemaking duties were turned over to daughter Luisa in 1993. In addition to remaining a reference point for Oregon Pinot Noir, the winery fashions excellent wines from Italian varietals including Arneis and Dolcetto in honor of their heritage. Not yet released. Tel. (503) 628-1227; www.ponziwines.com Rating: 89 Estimated Cost: $29-$40
In honor of Election Day, here's a historic campaign cocktail to enjoy, but please do so after voting.
I was charmed by this recipe over at Serious Eats for the Ward Eight Cocktail, hailing from 19th century Boston when candidates' victory parties took place before Election Day. This is a gussied-up Whiskey Sour, and I followed the footnote to the recipe by using fresh pomegranate juice and sugar rather than an old bottle of grenadine syrup.
This cocktail manages to be spicy and tangy and would work well as a punch for a party. The rye and fresh juices keep it sophisticated, and you'll get plenty of vitamin C here. You really wouldn't want to make this with Bourbon or Scotch, though a white or gold rum would probably be an acceptable substitute.
The Pride of New York Harvest Festival at the Desomond Hotel in Albany, New York was a wonderufl success. Many celebs of the New York wine world were seen walking the floor, including Hunt Country's Art Hunt, Fox Run's Scott Osborn, Matt Spacarelli of Benmarl, Chris Reno of Lafayette Reaneau, and many other winery owners and winemakers, as well as scurrying sales staffs.
Its been a good year for many wineries, and this event was a great mixture of New York gourmet foods and New York wine.
Tecnorati
This past Saturday I presented three of his wines as part of 
This is another dry red wine from the sunny ?emovsko valley near Podgorica, Montenegro. We’ve covered a few wines from the Planta?e winery in the past and this is probably the poorest of their wines, without much character. Enjoyable only with a meal.
