Learn How To Easily Find Wines Of $50 Quality For $10 Or Less. Impress Friends With Your Expanded Wine Knowledge. Eliminate Your Dependence On Wine Salespeople. And Take The Hassle Out Of Buying Wine.
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California Wine Club Save Up to 70% Now! Wine, Wine Gifts and Gift Baskets Save Up To 70% Right Now Plus - A Free Offer For The California Wine Club - Plus Great Offers On Wine, Gifts and Wine Gift Baskets. Discounts In Progress The California Wine Club: What would the holiday season of 2008 be without the best wines, wine gifts, wine gift baskets and gifts of wine club membership to the very best wine club of all, The California Wine Club. Basic Membership Upper Level Club Membership Don?t worry about California Wine Clu
Screwpull Pocket Model Corkscrew, Black KitchenASIN: B0001UZOF0Manufacturer: ScrewpullAverage Customer Review: (From 26 total reviews)List Price: $15.00Amazon Price: $10.00 (4 new 1 used available)You save: $5 (33.33%)Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours (Eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping) Price is accurate as of the date/time indicated. Prices and product availability are subject to change. Any price displayed on [...]
The Wine Messenger New Coupons - Up to 10% Off and Free Shipping Wine Messenger?s mission is to offer our customers a broad selection of high quality wines. These wines are individually selected from small growers around the world and delivered right to your door. We are lovers of the product as well as lovers of our site, and we firmly believe that you will be too. Just a brief tid bit on one of the reasons that we love wine so much is for over 7,000 years, wine has benefited the human race. It has quenched thirst, and warded off disease, it has acted
For those looking for an unusual sweet treat, I highly recommend looking for a bottle of Serbian Bermet. Ok, chances are you won't find it in the US, but if you do stumble across it, or there is a trip to Belgrade in your future, you have to give it a try.
This is an infused wine. It has spices and herbs added to it. Technically you could call it a Vermouth, but the style is not similar to traditional Vermouths. However as with Vermouth it also comes in red or white versions.
No two producers make exactly the same wine, so I can't give you a definitive idea of what it taste like, but the red I tried was heavily spiced with cinnamon and cloves and tasted almost like cherry pie. It was served at room temperature to us, but it would probably make a nice hot wine as well.
The white version was similar but with a noticeable vanilla character. This one I would stick with serving chilled, but who knows? Perhaps reduced it could make the basis for a great sauce.
This is no wimpy wine. The strong spice flavors and abundant alcohol (16% is common) help make a little Bermet go a long way. Still, we had no problem finishing one of the red versions off while watching the strollers pass by in the heat of the noon day sun.
I am not known for espousing the virtues of flavored wines, but variety is part of wines charm, and this one is definitely different. A charming change of pace, although I don't know that I would make it a regular part of my routine.
Anselme Selosse believes the magic of Champagne takes place deep underneath the region?s chalky soil, where the vines take hold of what he calls the essence of the earth.
2006 Muga Roija Blanco $12.99 Wine label said: Nothing much… it’s barrel fermented and imported by Jorge Ordonez. Whoopdeedoo. Vineyard66 says: As I am still researching Spanish wines, I’ve noticed that my good friend Bill from California has been spouting off about Muga Roija. Of course, he was speaking about the red wines the area is famous for. I [...]
by Martin Field Crown Ambassador Reserve Lager 2008 ? around $55 * * * * * A limited 5000 bottle release beer, in individually numbered 750ml bottles, each with a wax seal and a presentation box. The lager is bottle-conditioned, so look for the yeast sediment when pouring. At 9.2 percent alcohol, it is twice as strong as some regular beers. I tasted bottle number 2465: Dark amber in colour, with a nose of malt and toffee along with hoppy high notes. In the mouth, the high alcohol contributes to a thick, velvety, creamy mouthfeel. The long-lasting, complex flavours of malt, hops and a hint of mocha made me wonder where I could get another bottle. They reckon this lager will cellar for ten years or so and I wouldn?t be surprised. A scrumptious drop, which, despite the price tag, will be snapped up by collectors. Chandon Vintage Brut 2005 ? under $39 - * * * A blend of chardonnay, pinot noir, pinot meunier, two years on yeast lees. Very pale, tinged with green, persistent bead. Bouquet shows brioche and lime blossoms and praline. The palate is lip-smackingly crisp and dry showing flavours of baked bread, hazel nuts and a zesty Granny Smith apple finish. A first class aperitif style.
Yesterday afternoon I felt a large disturbance in the wine blogging force, as if millions of keyboards were clacking away, then were silenced. Fortunately all is not doom and gloom since I was soon notified by Gary Walsh of Winorama fame that he had teamed up with Campbell Mattison of The Wine Front to form what is likely to be the most frequently updated wine review site in Australia.
While it is sad to see what was a brilliant free resource in Winorama being placed on the back burner, no doubt the $40 per annum subscription fee to The Wine Front is now even better value.
Good luck GW as you join the dark side of professional reviewers!
In the spirit of the upcoming Presidential election, one Washington DC restaurant, OYA Restaurant and Lounge, is pitting Arizona wines (from Senator McCain's home state) against those from Illinois (Senator Obama's home state). Neither state is well known for its wine industry, but according to the restaurant's Director of Wine Marketing & Sommelier, Andrew Stover, "Illinois has over 70 wineries and has been producing wine since the late 1700s. Arizona's wine industry is on a much smaller scale with close to 30 wineries."
According to Stover, the Lynfred Seyval Blanc has slightly outsold the Arizona wines during the summer, but fall could usher in a preference for the red wines of Arizona. The promotion will continue through the election in November.
Oya Restaurant and Lounge is located in Washington's Penn Quarter neighborhood. They serve an innovative menu that combines Asian ingredients with French technique.
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Big News! Okay, I was trying to keep this one under wraps but it seems a few people have already found out and, well what better place to announce it than here right?
As of August 7th I will be back at the Wine Warehouse full time drinking for my living. I am very excited and can't wait to get back in the game.
Also My friend Andi got a new job at the O'Henry Hotel and I wish her mucho success in all of her endeavors. I will miss her.
During a two-day visit to the Mendocino coast we visited Café Beaujolais (Mendocino), Le Rendezvous (Ft. Bragg) and the Mosswood Cafe (Boonville). We particularly enjoyed Café Beaujolais.
I got to try a new grape variety today, Misket Varnenski. One of the down sides of traveling is that I have limited research resources with me. As far as I can tell this is a recent crossing of the widely planted white Bulgarian grape Dimiat and the ever popular Riesling.
The name certainly evokes Muscat, and the Varnenski either suggests or literally means "From Varna" (one of the famous beach towns of Bulgaria) but the wine I tried had nothing in common with the venerable Muscat grape. In fact it had nothing in common with Riesling for that matter. Perhaps it takes after Dimiat, I will have to search out a few examples and see for myself.
The wine I tried was from one of my favorite producers, so while there may well be better examples, I had high hopes. There was nothing wrong with the wine, there just was nothing special about it either.
I have an expression I use when I am speaking into my tape recording at wine tastings. It is designed to keep the winemakers or representatives from knowing exactly what I am saying. The term is NVNV and it stands for "no vice, no virtue."
That sums up this wine, and likely the grape from which it hails, perfectly.
It is not a bad little wine, it just has no real character. It tastes exactly like white wine, and save for a hint of dust in the nose and aftertaste has almost no specific flavors that I can find.
Why would a wine industry embrace such a grape? The usual, it grows well, it makes consistent wines, and it is probably cost efficient.
At least one technical report I found on the wine referred to its pleasant muscat like quality. I think the name fooled them into finding something that isn't there, or they had a far different example than the one I tried.
Am I bashing the grape? Not at all, it really is pleasant and that is saying more than a lot of other varieties can boast.
I have also read references to a red variety of Misket, I will keep my eyes open for it. Muscat also can be found in dark varieties, although as I said Muscat doesn't seem to be related to this grape variety (unless Dimiat is related to Muscat). They may well just be using the similar sounding name for marketing purposes.
If anyone has more information on this variety or Dimiat for that matter, please drop me a note or leave a comment.
New Year?s and bubbles always seem to go together perfectly, and this season was no exception. So with a lazy Saturday between Christmas and New Year Eve, it was hardly a surprise to find sparkling wines featured at every in-house tasting on our re-stocking the liquor cabinet route. How could we refuse?
We?re both fans of Spanish Cavas for their ability to combine great taste with solid pricing, and the Lavit Brut Rosado we sampled first was no exception. Light strawberry in colour, this sparkler was summer in a glass ? raspberries, strawberries, and just a hint of peach. Even though it was slightly over chilled for this tasting we instantly agreed it would be one to that would help solve the ?what actually goes with turkey dinner? dilemma. Good for pre-dinner sipping too.
The Sigura ViudasBrut Reserva that was next up is pretty much one of our standard stocker for its flexible nature and crisp taste. It?s also, according to Ian Farmiloe, the International Cellars rep pouring, BC?s largest selling Cava. Good for parties ? especially potluck where anything is likely to show up. ?So, is this one, like ? you know ? real champagne?? To his credit, Ian managed to keep a semi-serious expression on his face as he explained the intricacies of the Champagne region to the rather portly lady wearing a combination of tartan plaid, plenty of zestful holiday bling, and sturdy black walking boots. We weren?t quite so diplomatic and had to suddenly develop an interest in the Italian wine section several rows over.
However, we did pop back for the Reserva Heredad. Perfect for when we want a bit more of a treat for less than $35, this Grand Reserve Cava has plenty of lemon-lime acidity and always makes a reliable, refreshing pour.
For a complete change of pace, we also checked out two offerings from Gray Monk?s Odyssey series. Even our Scottish wanna-be would probably have hesitated to inquire about the authenticity of this ?Champagne.? Neither of us got the yeasty nose that we would have expected after being left for 16 months on the yeast, although there was plenty of big time buttery texture from the Chardonnay. We settled for this one as an aperitif. The Rosé Brut had pleasing strawberry notes but didn?t hit either one of us as a ?rush out and buy? item. At $27 each, we took a pass on both these BC wines and headed back for a few more of the Cavas? with just a short detour through Champagne for some of ?the real stuff.?
I just had a little jaunt across the border into Greece. I got to taste a very nice Greek wine, and I had a not particularly Greek dinner at a very elegant Greek restaurant in Thessaloniki. While I do not often post restaurant reviews, I do have a few words to say on the subject.
For many of us the thought of Greek wine brings up recollections of pine needles and disinfectant. There is a world of Greek wine beyond just Retsina, and while my most recent foray was limited to a wine list it bears pointing out that there is a modern and thriving wine industry in Greece.
The wine list was full of the usual and all to ubiquitous Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlots that you would expect to find anywhere, except these were all of Greek origin. I didn't explore these transplants to the Hellenic wine scene, opting instead for a more traditional bottle of Asyrtiko .
Speaking of Cabernet Sauvignon's recent emergence in Greece, a recent book by Miles Lambert-Gocs "Desert Island Wines" suggests that Cab may just be tracing back its roots to its ancestral origins in Greece.
I won't do my usual song and dance about how Cab, Merlot and Chard are eroding the once varied landscape of international wines, honest. Suffice it to say that I have yet to go anywhere in my travels that these revered grape varieties, once relegated to France and California, have not been prominent on every wine list.
The Asyrtiko I had was a fun and different white wine indeed. It is hard to even find the descriptors for this wine, since the flavor is above all else, unusual for one used to the classic French varietals. This made the wine that much more interesting to try and to recommend you discover. It may well be that any examples of this grape you find in the US have suffered from the long boat ride, so if your impressions don't jive with mine, consider it an excuse to visit sunny Greece.
The restaurant we ate at was a delightful tourist trap perched high on the top floor of the Electra Palace Hotel. We went for the view, and were well rewarded for our efforts. The view and the wine were our favorite parts of the meal, but we knew this going in, and so were well prepared.
The view and wine were Greek, the food was closer to French than not. It was an ambitious menu, especially for an outdoor venue where night time temperatures never fell below 80. A lighter, more elegant approach would have been more to our taste than the heavy handed dishes we ended up with.
We started with a Crab Napoleon and a "Lobster," Shrimp and Scallop dish in a Parmesan Cream Sauce. The quotes are because it was of course a langoustine and lobster was probably just a translation.
The napoleon was fun, with a rich cream sauce in with the crab and pastry, but there was also a slightly sour cream sauce around the sides of the plate that went well with the roe it was decorated with, but clashed with the main sauce. The pastry itself was a bit soggy and even a touch musty tasting. The downside of being a few feet away from the sea. Had the pastry been made fresh it would have been more impressive.
The langoustine et al. was really flavorful, in a heavy tarragon cream sauce, but it became a chore in that heat to eat more than a few bites. The presentation was delightful, albeit hard to eat, with heads and shells intact.
We chose our main courses to accompany the wine, and ended up with Swordfish with Tomatoes and Capers, and an Escallop of Pork in a Mint cream sauce.
The swordfish was terribly overcooked and more reminiscent of tuna from a can than a fresh steak should be. But then it isn't like they pulled the swordfish from the bay we were overlooking. It was disappointing and dry.
The Pork to was cooked to death, but this may be due to the reflex to over cook pork that many restaurants have. It turned this potentially lovely dish into shoe leather. Missing too was the mint flavor. There seemed to be flakes of a dried herb in the sauce, but the mint flavo, if any was subtle even for my usually discering palate.
We paid dearly for the view, but honestly, it was what we were after. Our expectations were met right down to the server that forgot about us for over an hour, but it just gave us that much more time to drink in the view, and the lovely white wine.
I had in the back of my head finding a perfect little out of the way spot for a bit of moussaka and a few dolmas, to see how they compared to my own cooking, but Thessaloniki is a cosmopolitan city catering to tourists and our experience was probably more indicative of the flavor of the city itself.
For more on Thessaloniki and a look at the views, pop on over to our travel blog .
Last month at the Illuminati estate in Abruzzo, I had lunch with my people. No, they weren?t Sicilian or Calabrese cousins. They weren?t my co-workers or clients meeting me in Italy. It was much more visceral than that, almost tribal in the connection. I was invited to have lunch with a wine sales team, guys who sell to wine shops and restaurants in Rome.
Over the years I've had many meals at Illuminati. In the early days we had meals on the second floor of the old house, sometimes outside. If it was cold we?d invade the dining room. As the winery grew and the Illuminati family redesigned the old stable on the main floor, we settled into the space they called the Luperia, a space with a kitchen and an open hearth. And a larger dining room. Many great memories exist in this room, but I had never sat down to eat with my own regiment. And during those years, friend and cellar master, Agostino, has opened many a bottle for us to enjoy. We?ve grown into the job together.
I was really excited about this meal. I was prepared to pick the brains of rookie and veteran alike. Who would know better the travails of selling wine than a salesman from Rome? What kind of kickbacks did the Roman restaurateur demand? How did one go about getting control of the wine list or selling a wine from Abruzzo to a Sardegnan? I was hoping for all mysteries to be revealed.
Dino Illuminati, the patriarch of the estate, motioned for me to sit next to him. Lunch is serious business for Dino and he didn?t want anyone to get too near him with idle chat. He wants to eat and drink first. I know the drill. When Dino and I sit down we both go after food and wine pretty well much in the same way. Except Dino has a capacity that I will never be able to match.
One of the older veterans sat across from me. He reminded me of one of the salesmen back home. This gent had a peaceful air about him, he was the elder statesman; he grew up in Amatrice in northern Lazio.
I asked him how his route was. Was it competitive? Cutthroat? Was it hard to collect money? Did you get resistance with all the new wines coming out? What about the prejudices of owners from one region against the wines of another region (i.e. Piedmont vs. Tuscan). I was surprised to be reminded that they don?t go around tasting wine, sampling as we call it. Now they just carry their list, with maybe some Gambero Rosso review (very big in Rome) and the price list. Pretty cut and dry. Rome was a city that was prepared for all comers, and has been this way for hundreds if not thousands of years. Anything goes.
I was looking for their ?hook?. How did they catch the big fish? Figuring Rome would be like NY or LA or Houston, there was always the particular technique that worked for the peculiarity of the particular city.
He was a thoughtful guy. And we were starting to drink pretty well by then. The big slurpy purple stuff they make in Abruzzo that they call ?Montepulciano in purezza.? All the while the young salesmen would come over to him and bear hug him or jostle him around. You could tell these guys liked working with each other; there was camaraderie among them.
?Alfonso, what really works best is the rapport we build with our customers. Trust, time and relationship.? Ah, the ?R? word. So the secret was, there is no secret; daily treading, pressing the flesh, and being reliable. Showing up. Building trust. Just like almost everywhere else.
Look at these people. They?re having fun. They?re enjoying their lives. They?re enjoying each other.
I told some stupid story, trying to be funny, about a sales experience here in The States, but I don?t think the experience translated so well to their frame of reference. No matter, platters of grilled lamb, sausage and pork were pulling up to the table and we soon were diverted to the main course.
Dino, me and Spinelli, back in 1985
The Luperia is a wellspring for me. I come back here to re-connect with those souls who are manifestations of the timeless energy that travels through the vine. Daniele Spinelli was one of the early winemakers I came to admire. I loved hanging out with him. When we would sit down to eat, as the night progressed, and as we went into red wine, the stuff he made, his head, shaped appropriately like a grape, would turn redder and redder. My Italian would get better and he would bestow his bodhisattva-blessing on me as a way to replenish me for another year. And send me back out to the outer regions to spread the word. It worked. And we came back every year or so, like pilgrims.
Luigi, me, Stefano and Claudio
Now, Dino isn?t so hands on. Spinelli passed away in 1992. But the next generation is upon us and there are more of them. As it is in the streets of Rome, so it is in the vineyards of Abruzzo. This is something that has been happening for hundreds of years and will continue, hopefully, for many hundreds more.
After lunch we went outside for espresso and cigars and fresh air, what a combo, eh? The sales crew had to get back to Rome. It was only three hours we?d had to sit down and break bread, but in that time I felt like a huge gift had been dropped in my lap; An afternoon with my selling tribe; with the young ones, the veterans, the crazy ones, the calm ones. Its not a closed brotherhood but it is a deep connection, to capture what is growing right out there in the land and transform it to wine and take it to Rome and NY and Austin and try and share with all those folks in those places these amazing miracles in bottles. Not just wine, but the lives, of Spinelli and Spinozzi and Illuminati and you and me and anyone that wants in on this.
This is the joy of selling. This is why I am on the wine trail in Italy and anywhere else the road takes me.
Thumbs up from a couple of Romans? I'll take that as a good sign.
Ripe and forward, with dark licorice, fig, currant preserve and chocolate notes riding along round, rich tannins. Rock-solid finish. Drink now through 2010. 2,000 cases made.
My faith has been restored. In Texas. In Italian Wine. In Italian wine in Texas. In Restaurants in Texas. And in the whole chasing after windmill exercise that we do when we attempt to bring the Word of Wine to the outer edges of civilization. I finally got my groove on, and in Marfa, Texas, no less. Word to Sancho: Flyover country has been secured and made safe.
There?s something about the simplicity of the desert that cuts right to the essential. Maybe it?s the access to ingredients. Or perhaps it is just that once you strip it down to what you really need, you really don?t need all that much. When you?re staring at yourself in the mirage and you are forced to look at whatever you can manage to make from your memory and your imagination, then one is compelled to stare down the demons and make sense of it. Here in Marfa, they call it A.R.T.
My background in the arts didn?t have me getting all wiggly and wobbly as we spent some free time strolling among the buildings at the Chinati Foundation. There is something about the way an artist can challenge you to look at your own doodlings in life and ask you if what you have been doing these past 20 years has any more relevance than what he has put up on these walls.
In that sense, the art on those walls forced me to think about these things. And with the unsolicited quiet of the desert, the lack of distraction, this created an unavoidable encounter with my ?inner? Marfa Lights.
Cochineal (no web site, don?t Google it, you wont find one) was a perfect launching into the future of food in Texas. Not cutting edge, no not-that-in-your-face. More like simple ingredients without towers, truffle oil or turpitude. Take it or leave it.
We met Chef Paul Peterson, of the Gage Hotel in Marathon, at Cochineal. He and his wife had managed to get a night off and left offspring with family in Alpine, half way between Marfa and Marathon. Paul is one of those chefs that, if you dropped him in Austin or Park Slope, would easily transition toward the top of the scene. Easy going and mellow, with an edge. Kind of like a Chianti from Querciabella. In fact, we opened a few bottles that night, thanks to Cochineal owners Tom Rapp and Toshi Sakihara. Eventually they sat down with us as we worked late into the night. Among other things, we had a Carbonara that anyone, anywhere, would be proud of.
Walking out into an early autumn night in the desert, stars are jamming the skies; rush hour in Rome is light by comparison.
Maybe we should start a Chianti Foundation. Because of the interest in Italian wine in this little west Texas town. It would fit right-tight into the matrix of Marfa.
A new day, and we find ourselves in front of Chef Maiya Keck of Maiya?s. While we were talking about wine, I was thinking, ?She really likes Italians.? The restaurant is Italian inspired and along with a perfectly delicious looking high ceiling dining room straight out of the WPA, I couldn?t wait to come back in the evening.
In the meantime she sent us across the street to the Food Shark, a mobile food stand at the farmers market. It seemed everyone in town was heading for the Food Shark, as scads of young people were working their way through the interesting menu.
As I was cogitating what I would order, a woman stepped up to get her to go order. When I heard her voice I said to myself, ?That is the voice of Isabella Rossellini.? I then looked to her and made eye contact. Were those the eyes of Isabella Rossellini? It wouldn?t be out of the question that someone like her would be here, seeing as this was the week for the Marfa annual Open House. I looked her over and she seemed to resemble Isabella from one of the scenes of Blue Velvet. I would encounter her later in the day, when perhaps that little mystery would be solved.
The falafel at the Food Shark was one hellatiously good lunch choice. It reminded me of DoBi?s endless search for Fish Tacos, though the Falafel Forage might be a little more difficult in these parts.
A block away was the Pizza Foundation, Maiya?s sister, Saarin, runs it. Thin pizza, not over worked. I asked Ronnie the pizzaiolo how it was to make pizza at this elevation (appx 4800) and he explained that he had gotten the recipe down to deal with the elevation, the heat and the dry conditions. He did.
That evening we had a wine tasting/ reception at the old bus station , home of Shelly and Harry Hudson. Shelly?s son, Jules, runs a neat little place in Dallas, Nonna. The family has the good taste gene in spades.
We set up the wines, Italian and otherwise. As the folks rambled into the tasting we were able to talk to folks a little more in depth. Isabella came up to me and we had a little talk about opera. She was from Germany: not Isabella. Or was she in some kind of character for the evening. I?ve seen too many David Lynch films.
One lady, Virginia Lebermann, who has all kinds of things going on in Marfa, was in the process of building a new venue for art and music with a lounge attached. ?How would you like to curate the wine selection?? she asked. We set a time to visit the next day. Curate a wine list, they never asked me to do that in Dallas or Houston.
That evening, after the reception, we headed over to Maiya?s to meet a client for dinner. We walked into a warm room with enormous ceilings; the place was inviting and hopping. Plenty of the young folks from the arts foundations were settling in at the bar, just like NY, LA or Firenze. In this little old west Texas desert town. All very Rod Serling-like.
Maiya sent out plates of food; grilled radicchio, tartlettes, frisée, plates of pasta, profiteroles, and dense chocolate tortes. And we brought out wine after wine to taste with the client and Maiya. They liked us, they really liked us. I wasn?t in New Orleans or Napa, where I do get treated like I actually know something about Italian wine. I wasn?t in Dallas or Houston, where I have to often deal with a lowest common denominator routine. We were in Marfa, Texas, and they got it, from Kerner to Taurasi to Brachetto.
Next morning we met up with Virginia Lebermann to look over the new Thunderbird Lounge. Fire pits and adobe, tongue-and-groove and sharp, clean lines. They want me to curate the wine selection here? Let?s give it to them, see just how far we can push the envelope with Vermentino.
After all, we don?t come here looking for some worn out windmills. We came out to see what was in store for us in the future, here in flyover country. In a bright, stark, clear-cut way, we were shown what might be in store for us. If we keep our eyes, and our minds, open.
In the words of Bobby Z, "You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wine blows."
I don’t often buy wines from Maison Latour, and whilst I’ve had so-so bottles from them, it has more been due to lack of local availability than quality reasons. Now I’ve found a relatively close merchant, so two or three bottles might appear over the next days. 2005 Louis Latour, Gevrey-Chambertin Medium-plus colour. The [...]
Sad sign of the times: collectors are resorting to selling their precious wine in order to raise capital. Lisa Baertlein (reuters.com) writes:
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Wine cellars have been taking a hit from the global credit crisis and it isn't because the owners of rare bottles are drinking more -- it's because they have been selling to raise cash.
The selling started with mortgage brokers and has moved to Wall Street as owners turn their collections of coveted vintages into liquid assets.
"People need money. Even richer people need money sometimes," Vinfolio.com founder and Chief Executive Stephen Bachmann told Reuters on Monday.
In the last few weeks, private collectors submitted offers to sell $10 million worth of wine to Vinfolio, a San Francisco-based company that buys and sells wine online. Normally the company has about $6 million offered to it.
It's a pretty sweet idea, and I never turn down dessert, so here goes:
1. Carne cruda. Preferably Piedmontese beef. Preferably eaten in Barolo. Preferably with shaved truffles on top. But what is it? Literally, it's finely chopped raw beef dressed in lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper. Principally, it's heaven.
2. Portillo's all-beef hot dog with everything (mustard, relish, onions, sliced tomato, kosher pickle and celery salt on a poppy seed bun). Mmmm. Sweet home, Chicago.
3. Rabbit rillette from Bouchon in Napa. Rillette is meat that's slow-cooked in fat until it's creamy and rich. It's served cold, often from a ramekin, and Bouchon pairs it with crostini and fig paste.
4. My husband's butternut-squash bisque. He gives the recipe out freely because he knows once someone takes a look at the list of ingredients, they'll never try it on their own. It's smooth and satisfying. A few crumbles of blue cheese on top cut the sweetness. My ultimate comfort food.
5. Kifli, the triangle-shaped cookies my mom makes about once every five years at Christmas if I beg. They're labor intensive, so I don't blame her for being so stingy, but the flaky crispness and almond-paste inside say holidays to me.
Tecnorati
Last month at the Illuminati estate in Abruzzo, I had lunch with my people. No, they weren?t Sicilian or Calabrese cousins. They weren?t my co-workers or clients meeting me in Italy. It was much more visceral than that, almost tribal in the connection. I was invited to have lunch with a wine sales team, guys who sell to wine shops and restaurants in Rome.
Over the years I've had many meals at Illuminati. In the early days we had meals on the second floor of the old house, sometimes outside. If it was cold we?d invade the dining room. As the winery grew and the Illuminati family redesigned the old stable on the main floor, we settled into the space they called the Luperia, a space with a kitchen and an open hearth. And a larger dining room. Many great memories exist in this room, but I had never sat down to eat with my own regiment. And during those years, friend and cellar master, Agostino, has opened many a bottle for us to enjoy. We?ve grown into the job together.
I was really excited about this meal. I was prepared to pick the brains of rookie and veteran alike. Who would know better the travails of selling wine than a salesman from Rome? What kind of kickbacks did the Roman restaurateur demand? How did one go about getting control of the wine list or selling a wine from Abruzzo to a Sardegnan? I was hoping for all mysteries to be revealed.
Dino Illuminati, the patriarch of the estate, motioned for me to sit next to him. Lunch is serious business for Dino and he didn?t want anyone to get too near him with idle chat. He wants to eat and drink first. I know the drill. When Dino and I sit down we both go after food and wine pretty well much in the same way. Except Dino has a capacity that I will never be able to match.
One of the older veterans sat across from me. He reminded me of one of the salesmen back home. This gent had a peaceful air about him, he was the elder statesman; he grew up in Amatrice in northern Lazio.
I asked him how his route was. Was it competitive? Cutthroat? Was it hard to collect money? Did you get resistance with all the new wines coming out? What about the prejudices of owners from one region against the wines of another region (i.e. Piedmont vs. Tuscan). I was surprised to be reminded that they don?t go around tasting wine, sampling as we call it. Now they just carry their list, with maybe some Gambero Rosso review (very big in Rome) and the price list. Pretty cut and dry. Rome was a city that was prepared for all comers, and has been this way for hundreds if not thousands of years. Anything goes.
He was a thoughtful guy. And we were starting to drink pretty well by then. The big slurpy purple stuff they make in Abruzzo that they call ?Montepulciano in purezza.? All the while the young salesmen would come over to him and bear hug him or jostle him around. You could tell these guys liked working with each other; there was camaraderie among them.
?Alfonso, what really works best is the rapport we build with our customers. Trust, time and relationship.? Ah, the ?R? word. So the secret was, there is no secret; daily treading, pressing the flesh, and being reliable. Showing up. Building trust. Just like almost everywhere else.
Look at these people. They?re having fun. They?re enjoying their lives. They?re enjoying each other.
I told some stupid story, trying to be funny, about a sales experience here in The States, but I don?t think the experience translated so well to their frame of reference. No matter, platters of grilled lamb, sausage and pork were pulling up to the table and we soon were diverted to the main course.
After lunch we went outside for espresso and cigars and fresh air, what a combo, eh? The sales crew had to get back to Rome. It was only three hours we?d had to sit down and break bread, but in that time I felt like a huge gift had been dropped in my lap; An afternoon with my selling tribe; with the young ones, the veterans, the crazy ones, the calm ones. Its not a closed brotherhood but it is a deep connection, to capture what is growing right out there in the land and transform it to wine and take it to Rome and NY and Austin and try and share with all those folks in those places these amazing miracles in bottles. Not just wine, but the lives, of Spinelli and Spinozzi and Illuminati and you and me and anyone that wants in on this.
My faith has been restored. In Texas. In Italian Wine. In Italian wine in Texas. In Restaurants in Texas. And in the whole chasing after windmill exercise that we do when we attempt to bring the Word of Wine to the outer edges of civilization. I finally got my groove on, and in Marfa, Texas, no less. Word to Sancho: Flyover country has been secured and made safe.
My background in the arts didn?t have me getting all wiggly and wobbly as we spent some free time strolling among the buildings at the 
Cochineal 
We met 
A new day, and we find ourselves in front of Chef Maiya Keck of 
As I was cogitating what I would order, a woman stepped up to get her to go order. When I heard her voice I said to myself, ?That is the voice of Isabella Rossellini.? I then looked to her and made eye contact. Were those the eyes of Isabella Rossellini? It wouldn?t be out of the question that someone like her would be here, seeing as this was the week for the Marfa annual Open House. I looked her over and she seemed to resemble Isabella from one of the scenes of Blue Velvet. I would encounter her later in the day, when perhaps that little mystery would be solved.
The falafel at the Food Shark was one hellatiously good lunch choice. It reminded me of 
A block away was the 
We set up the wines, Italian and otherwise. As the folks rambled into the tasting we were able to talk to folks a little more in depth. Isabella came up to me and we had a little talk about opera. She was from Germany: not Isabella. Or was she in some kind of character for the evening. I?ve seen too many David Lynch films.
One lady, Virginia Lebermann, who has 
Next morning we met up with Virginia Lebermann to look over the new 
After all, we don?t come here looking for some worn out windmills. We came out to see what was in store for us in the future, here in flyover country. In a bright, stark, clear-cut way, we were shown what might be in store for us. If we keep our eyes, and our minds, open.
