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The Valley is Super-charged – Wine Auction 2012 has begun!

Nearly 2,000 visitors and Napa Valley residents bumped hips Friday at Jarvis Winery, kicking off Auction Napa Valley 2012.

 

Under several Big Tops…. 2,000 guests nibbled hand-held appetizers, presented by 40 of the valley’s top chefs and caterers, then paired the food selections with hundreds of offered wines. 

This is Day One of Napa Valley Vintners’ annual community fundraiser, the most celebrated charity wine auction in the world. Over many years, the annual event has raised -- and then donated -- more than $100 million to health, youth and affordable housing non-profit programs in the valley.

Essentially, Auction Napa Valley is a restrained three-day mosh pit for wine lovers who don’t like mud.

Founded in 1981, thanks to the vision of Robert and Margrit Mondavi, this annual wine event showcases the best of Napa Valley’s wine and food. 

Napaman rarely shows up in photos but I could not resist posing with two of the great ladies of Napa Valley – Cindy Pawlcyn, chef/owner of Mustard’s Grill and Margrit Mondavi.

Locals are given a chance to participate at Friday’s Barrel Auction and Marketplace; for a $350 attendance fee, they get to sample more than 100 wines offered in an online barrel auction and feast on foods prepared by more than 40 local chefs and caterers.

In this respect, Friday is a day of sophisticated indulgence.

Observation about the event

Owing to the way the winery and food kiosks were randomly placed next to one another, Napaman found many deep, dark, brooding Cabernets being poured next to stations serving uncomplimentary dishes like shrimp, or seafood.

Suggestion to organizers: Next year have a series of red wine stations under one tent paired with food purveyors serving ribs, and meaty dishes, and have wineries serving whites and roses in a second tent, served with foods that complement such wines.

Sean Knight and Patrick Kellaher of Mustard’s Grill dispense some mighty tasty hoisin-marinated St. Louis-style ribs. In Cindy Pawlcyn’s cookbook, the marinade is called Mongolian Marinade.

Greg Cole, chef/owner of Celadon and Cole’s Chop House, in Napa, served a delicious shrimp appetizer.

Sarah Mitchell Hansen and her mom, Karen Mitchell, of Model Bakery fame, with storefronts in St. Helena and Napa town, serve biscuits with macerated strawberries.

Marc Cohen, proprietor of Howell at the Moon, pours a Cabernet that won’t be released until this fall.

Kara Haspel Lind is the founder and driving force behind six Bay-area outlets of Kara’s Cupcakes. Today she served several of her 80 different varieties of cupcakes.

I’ve always respected – and liked – the wines made by Joe Cafaro from his vineyards in Stag’s Leap District.

Masaharu Morimoto, who has eight eponymous restaurants serving his edgy Japanese fare, presented what I thought was the single best hand-held food item at the Friday food festival – sensational Hamachi tacos, made from a recipe Morimoto created for his restaurant in Mexico City.

Morimoto’s Hamachi tacos were so good, I went back for seconds.

Neno Giovani, the smiling GM at Bistro Don Giovanni, serves one of Scott Warner’s focaccia breads, which has been filled with Gorgonzola dolce, arugula and apricot. I have eaten at Bistro Don Giovanni more than 300 times since moving to Napa Valley and have never had a disappointing meal here.

After the midday food festival ….

Guests start to move into the underground barrel room of Jarvis Winery to take part in the colorful barrel auction. 

 

Jarvis Winery, located north and east of the town of Napa, is built entirely underground. As a consequence, the food festival, known as Marketplace, was presented on a grassy patch leading into the sunken winery; the wines-in-barrel being auctioned were on view in the underground bunker.

According to Napa Valley Register reporter Pierce Carson, the Jarvis barrel chai, where the barrel tasting was held “is the one of the largest underground man-made chambers in the world.” (Chai, pronounced SHAY, is the French term for the room where wines are aged.)

I’ve never seen a carpeted underground wine facility, but the first 100, or so, feet of the Jarvis cellar is carpeted. This leads into a series of chambers, and if you are on the right path to the wine auction, you pass a gurgling waterfall… continue on the yellow brick road until you reach… the chai!

Guests tasted barrel samples from more than 100 Cabs (mostly from 2010), which were poured, by their producers. Guests bid for full cases of the wine.

When I left the din of the dungeon, guests had bid up a single case of 2010 Shafer Hillside Select (Stag’s Leap District) to $7700 a case.

The underground scene was chaotic, noisy and claustrophobic; too many people in such a tight space; guests had to yell to be heard when standing next to each other. Hey! Wait a minute – sounds like just about every restaurant at which I dined last week in New York City!

Favorite line overheard at the Friday Barrel Auction:

Don Weaver, Estate Director at Harlan Estate, known for high-scoring, price-soaring, highly collectable, Cabernets:

 “I’m going to try and show some personal growth today… and have a glass of white wine…”

How Can a Wine Be This Good 13 TIMES???

The only wine in my life of which I have drunk an entire case and rated every single bottle of the case a perfect wine was the 1990 Le Vieux Donjon, from Chateauneuf-du-Pape.

I LOVED THAT CASE. And every bottle in it.

I was apparently justified in thinking so highly of the 1990 Le Vieux Donjon; in Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate several years ago, he quoted sommelier Doug Mohr of Vidalia restaurant, in Washington D.C., who marveled that “the greatest wine he had ever tasted was the 1990 Vieux Donjon Chateauneuf-du-Pape.”

Gentlemen of the jury, I rest my case.

As perfect as 1990 was, other vintages of this wine have also produced giddiness when served with great food.

Several years ago, I paired a 2001 Vieux Donjon with my wife Carol’s homemade pappardelle tossed with a sensational veal ragout (a variation of a Mario Batali recipe, only Carol makes it better!). The wine offered a near-duplicate experience of the 1990 vintage.

Here was a wine of exceptional length and extraordinary quality. Another perfect wine. Brilliant, elegant, rich, balanced. A 100-pointer, for sure.

There was nothing missing in this wine, no flaws, only gemstone brilliance, bright mature fruit, terroir, minerality, and a finish that Burgundian producers would kill to duplicate.

So imagine my extreme pleasure to have received an email two weeks ago from Stefan Blicker at BPWine, in St. Helena, offering to collectors a single bottle of 1990 Vieux Donjon, which he had acquired with the purchase of a large private cellar. He was asking $150 for the bottle.

I called Stefan, from whom I have bought many fabulous Chateauneufs-du-Pape over the years, and made an offer he couldn’t refuse:

“Take that bottle of Donjon off the shelf and bring it to lunch. I will write an encomium to the wine, which is the best press coverage you – and the wine – will ever have, “ I pledged to Stefan, knowing full well that he didn’t know what an encomium is.

He agreed. Which just shows that wine retailers aren’t any smarter than winewriters.

Hey! Before we get to details of our lunch, let me give a brief overview of Vieux Donjon, pirated from the superb book The Chateauneuf-du-Pape Wine Book, by Harry Karis.

If you missed my earlier review of this book, you’ll find it here:

http://www.napaman.com/napamancom/2011/02/the-best-wine-tasting-of-2011-and-its-only-february.html

The winery

Le Vieux Donjon was founded in 1962 by Marcel Michel.

The winery is named for the view of the original Chateauneuf chateau, which Marcel’s home over looks.

Today, a third generation of Michels runs the winery; it’s in the hands of Marcel’s granddaughter Claire Michel, who interned at -- of all places! -- Harlan, here in Napa Valley.

VD (as we affectionately call it) has nearly 35 acres of red grapes and 2.5 acres of white varieties.

Unlike neighbors, who make several cuvees – a luxury selection and a lesser cuvee – VD only makes 1 cuvee, producing the single best wine it can make from its grapes. And man, they hit the ball out of the park many times each decade. But particularly in 1990 and in 2001, two of my favorite-ever years for Vieux Donjon.

The traditional blend is 75% Grenache, 10% Syrah, 10% Mourvedre, 5% Cinsault.

All varieties are vinified together, with the exception of Mourvedre, which is vinified separately and then blended with the others to be matured in wood.

The Michels age their Chateauneuf-du-Pape for 18 months in large wooden foudres.

Not terribly impressive for its “world headquarters,” but Le Vieux Donjon’s wines, produced here, are among the tops in Chateauneuf-du-Pape.

To Lunch We Go…

And now, ladies and gentlemen… to the luncheon with Stefan, who, last seen, was clutching the 1990 Vieux Donjon as though it were a bar of gold. I think he feared that I wouldn’t have anything to write about if he dropped it.

Stefan Blicker, of BPWine.com

We dine at one of my favorite Napa Valley restaurants, Market, on Main St., in St. Helena.

Upon being opened, the wine exhibited scents of cedar, wood, rich white truffles, anise, garrigue, licorice, herbes de provence, and kirsch.

The wine is opened by waitperson exceptionelle, Lacey McDaniel

“1990 was one of the ripest Donjons ever made,” says Stefan, who loves the Grenache grape almost as much as I do. Stefan, 44, owns and operates BPWine with partners Brent Pierce and Cory Wagner.

BPWine is one of Napa Valley’s larger wine retailers. I asked Stefan what’s the oldest, rarest wine he’s ever sold.

“We secured an 1865 Lafite (Bordeaux) from a private cellar and a collector bought the bottle from us for $10,000. The customer then consumed it at The French Laundry as part of an exceptional dinner.” 

The 1990 Donjon may not be in this same league, but for us humble folks who remember our roots, and who can stretch to pay $150 for a wine of this stature, there is still a ton of pleasure here.

The Donjon is elegant, focused and shows improvement with each ten minutes of passing time, putting on weight and adding complexity. 

After 30 minutes, the wine is humming along, exhibiting raspberries, lots of garrigue, truffles, and fresh herbs, just cut from an organic garden. Sure doesn’t taste or smell like a 22-year-old wine.

Lacey asked if she could shoot the two diners wasting her time  -- I think she meant with a .45 caliber pistol, but she settled for my camera when I handed it to her to take this shot. That’s me on the left, Stefan on the right.

The wine is also special – and one of the year’s best – for what’s NOT present. There is NO:

+ Bottle funk

+ Bottle stink

+ Brett

+ Off-flavors

+ Advanced Age

+ Storage issues

In sum, the wine is a perfect 100 – in both provenance and pleasure.

I LOVE the chopped salad at Market

We paired the wine with two of my favorite dishes at Market; the appetizer chopped salad has many delicious ingredients. It has crunch, richness, complexity, and sensational taste.

The small plate pepper-crusted filet medallions, served with Napa Valley’s best truffled, shoestring fries, is a natural, totally complementary dish to the wine, which itself boasts truffle-y flavors. I LOVE THIS DISH and have had it at Market a half-a-dozen times in the past two months. Congratulations to chef Eduardo Martinez for duplicating this perfect dish time after time.

And thanks to the Michel family for making yet one more perfect bottle of 1990 Donjon, my 13^th perfect experience of this wine.

Best Wine of the Year so Far!

Six years ago, I visited one of my favorite wine producers, Domaine Roger Sabon, in Chateauneuf-du-Pape, on a visit to the southern Rhone.

The consulting winemaker to this property, Alain Benquet, is a good, longtime friend and he secured a tasting appointment for me with the owner, Jean Jacques Sabon. 

Backgrounder about this wine

Robert Parker has scored the 2001 vintage of Roger Sabon’s top cuvee, called Le Secret des Sabon, a perfect 100 points on every occasion he has tasted it.

I have been fortunate to experience this wine on several occasions.

In 2004, at a business dinner, I ordered this wine at the French Laundry, in Yountville, and rated it 100 points. It was a perfect wine.

In 2006, I had it again, this time with Jean Jacques and Alain at the winery and rated it 100 again. 

And now, six years later, last night, I opened my only cellared bottle (which I purchased at the winery) and it is just as impressive, easily a 100-point wine. Maybe more.

The wine exhibits a core of very ripe black fruit, predominantly black cherry and backberries. There is a backfill of grilled steak flavors and a faint echo of white birch sap. (Trust me - it's there.)

There is more than wine in this bottle; upon pouring, one senses an essence, a spirit, of wine, which is more than just juice.

Thrilling, complex, complete, this is, without question, our best wine of the year so far.

GIII – It could stand for Gorgeous Grape Growing!

These uncommonly good wines come from grapes commonly grown in one of the most historically important vineyards in Napa Valley.

GIII (G3) sounds like a hot new sports car, or maybe a reference to a summit meeting of finance ministers from the industrialized nations. 

But it's actually shorthand wine-speak for one of the most revered vineyards in Napa Valley.

GIII, as it became known, was the third vineyard, which legendary winemaker Georges de Latour bought, in 1928, for his winery, Beaulieu Vineyards.

Latour’s three Beaulieu wine blocks, all in the tiny hamlet of Rutherford, are reputed to produce some of the best Cabernet in America. They certainly produce some of the most historically important, and critically acclaimed, wine in the country.

Georges de Latour, a chemist from Perigord, France, came to Napa Valley in 1883, in search of tartaric acid (cream of tartar), required to make baking powder. (One of the byproducts of winemaking is tartaric acid.)

Like so many of us today, Monsieur de Latour got hooked by the wine bug and began to buy more than just tartaric acid – he started to buy land and bought a winery.

Latour, in many ways the granddaddy of grape growers here, called his winery Beaulieu (“Pretty Site”). By 1913, his Rutherford winery could produce 126,000 cases of wine annually, mostly Cabernet, Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon.

The original blocks of land, which de Latour bought, are designated:

BV 1 (his first acquisition), on the west side of Highway 29, across from today’s BV winery. The block stretches west to the foothills of the Mayacamas Mountains.

Today the 79-acre block is planted with all five classic Bordeaux varietals, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petit Verdot.

BV 2, the second purchased property, is adjacent and south of BV 1. These 125 acres are today planted to Cabernet Sauvignon and a small amount of Merlot.

de Latour’s GIII block, shot last week, before bud-break

BV3, when sold by Beaulieu became… GIII Aha! We finally get to the hero of today’s story and tasting. This 300-acre parcel, adjacent to what is Caymus Winery today, runs between Conn Creek Road and the Silverado Trail.

(Relax, this history portion of the story is nearly done! And besides it’s not on the final exam.)

The GIII block

Georges de Latour made many innovations in California’s wine industry. Most notably, turning to his French roots, he advocated using small oak barrels to age different varietals. This gave his wines a complexity and depth not seen before in American wines.

The best wine produced at BV has always been the Georges deLatour Private Reserve, first produced in 1936. At one point, running into quality issues, de Latour hired wine wizard Andre Tchelistcheff to modernize production. This was a brilliant move as Tchelistcheff elevated the wines – and the brand – to superstar status.

The GIII block, today owned by Andy Beckstoffer

In 1988, Andy Beckstoffer, Napa Valley’s largest independent grape grower, bought GIII. Recognizing the historical importance of the vineyard, and knowing what great fruit it produces, Andy replanted with five updated Cabernet Sauvignon clones, changed the direction of the rows, imposed tighter vine spacing and opted for advanced trellising to improve quality and tonnage.

How we got to where we are today – the GIII tasting

David Stoneberg, St. Helena Star, and Andy Beckstoffer at the 750 Wines tasting

One day in January, David Stoneberg, who is both editor and wine editor of the St. Helena Star, suggested to Andy Beckstoffer that he bring together a number of the winemakers who purchase his GIII grapes and conduct a blind tasting to celebrate the bounty of this historic vineyard.

Good thinking, David! Good work, Andy!

David and Monica Stevens, owners of 750 Wines, in St. Helena, amenable as ever, agreed to host the tasting. Only the winemakers and several members of the press were invited, napaman included.

Today, the fruit, which Andy Beckstoffer manicures and matures on the 300-acre GIII parcel, is sold to no fewer than 30 different producers who forge their own style of wine. The purpose of today’s tasting was to see if a common elegance, or thread of DNA, might be evident in the resultant wines.

The wines, tasted blind, were split into two flights and scored; 2008 wines, and then 2009 wines (with one 2010 barrel sample included as a ringer). 

2008s

2008 Myriad, GIII Vineyard

Among the 2008 wines, napaman and the group shared a common opinion. We ranked the Myriad Cabernet as our favorite expression of GIII fruit. I noted that the wine had a lovely balance and elegance, and a syrupy texture bordering on silky.

On the Internet, this wine is $65.

2008 12 C GIII Vineyard

Napaman and the group were also of the same mindset about a wine called 12 C, which we ranked our second favorite of the 2008s. The wine exhibited plum and blackcurrant aromas and flavors and had an aromatic complexity suggesting that it may not be all Cab.

You can find this wine on the Internet for between $60 and $75.

2009s

2009 Fairchild Estate, GIII Vineyard

In the 2009 flight, my first choice, tasted blind, was the Fairchild Estate Cabernet. A gorgeous wine. The group, whose scores were added up and divided to get a group average, ranked this wine its second favorite.

I thought the wine had a sensual element, exhibiting soft ripe, as well as dried, fruit flavors.

At the winery, the wine is $145.

2009 Sojourn, GIII Vineyard 

I ranked Sojourn Cellars my second favorite of the 2009 wines, while the group ranked it tops. The wine is made in Santa Rosa, Sonoma County.

At the winery, the wine is $95.

At the end of the tasting session, the winemakers were asked if they could detect a common thread in the wines, all made with GIII grapes.

Roy Piper, a Napa Valley winemaker and winewriter, voiced the opinion that there was noticeable acid (a good thing) in the wines and good loamy (soil) characteristics.

“These GIII wines are not uber-big, like the wines from Ta-Kalon vineyard (in Oakville) – they’re more restrained, exhibiting red fruit flavors rather than darker fruit flavors,” Roy noted.

Most of the winemakers agreed with Roy, as did I.

In the end: Could I isolate a GIII wine in a blind tasting of wines from many different Napa Valley vineyards? Absolutely NOT.

But what we learned from the tasting is that GIII grapes, under the tutelage of talented winemakers, can sure make one tasty beverage.

Waiter, Hail Me a Cab…

In fact, get me four Cabs - two from France and two from Napa Valley. 

Our Boys Night out For Burgers started earlier yesterday when I read winewriter Richard Jenning’s column on 2001 Napa Valley Cabs.

Richard is my favorite, new, go-to voice for judicious juice commentary, This guy knows his wines and has a great palate. He lives in the Bay-area and we were fortunate to have dinner together a month ago.

Go here to see Richard’s thorough overview of the 2001 vintage of Napa Valley Cabs:

http://www.rjonwine.com/cabernet-sauvignon/2001-napa-retrospective/

Richard’s observations are that some big-name 2001 Napa Valley Cabs have lost their balance, fruit, and charm, and many are just quirky and flawed.

This made me run to my cellar to pull out some 2001 Napa Valley Cabs for dinner to see if my wines were experiencing this bottle breakdown.

A good Rutherford winemaker friend pulled out some 2000 French Bordeaux for comparison and we headed to Market, in St. Helena, for what is possibly the valley’s best burger.

Yes, I know, it’s hard, if not impossible, to judge Bordeaux and Napa Valley Cabs at the same time; California wines, with their higher alcohol, and elevated fruit extraction, usually clobber the bejesus out of French wines at such pairings. Not because the Napa Valley Cabs are better, but because they’re just more in-your-face bombastic.

Surprisingly, the four wines we chose from our respective cellars were flawless, delicious and one Bordeaux, the 2000 Chateau Pape Clement, was so filled with fruit and ripe blackcurrant flavors, that it was my “wine of the night.”

The two Napa Valley Cabs, thankfully, showed well.

 

2000 Chateau Brane-Cantenac (Margaux)

 Perfectly mature at 12 years, showing soft, rose petal scents and tasting more of ripe red fruit than anything dark or plum-like. Medium-weight. 91 points.

2000 Chateau Pape Clement (Pessac-Leognan)

A remarkable beverage, reminding me of dark purple, blackcurrant pastilles. Wine of the night. 94 points. 

 

2001 Turnbull, Weitz Vineyard, Oakville

Of the two Napa Valley Cabs, this one was the more puissant, the more fruit-forward. Perhaps a bit of residual sugar here, or is the perceived sweetness simply from an abundance of fruit? A delicious wine showing balance and remarkable grace, given its forward fruit. 93 points. 

2001 Beringer Private Reserve

Upon release, I thought that this might become one of Beringer’s best-ever wines. I have followed its evolution since the day it was bottled (I was there) and must remark that no single bottle I have tasted since (and I bought a case) has yet to deliver what I expected from this wine.

Tonight’s bottle is the best I’ve yet tasted, so perhaps the wine is just now coming into a stage of maturity?

Lots of licorice, anise and salt on the palate; an hour into the bottle, the wine was starting to show angular features and tasting a bit hot. 91 points.

Eduardo Martinez, executive chef/owner, Market Restaurant

2012 Hamburger, Market Restaurant, St. Helena

To paraphrase Elizabeth Barrett Browning:

Oh how do I love thee? Let me count the ways. 

I love thy fresh, juicy, warm center, of delicious Niman Ranch beef;

I love thy egg-y bun, almost sweet, never spongy, a superb carrier;

I love thy toppings, rich Fiscalini Cheddar, and sweet grilled onions;

I love thy bountiful fries, perfectly cooked and salted.

Market Restaurant is at 1347 Main St., St. Helena. Tel: 707-963-3799.

 

 

Here Comes the (Tuscan) Sun!

Get out your Crayola crayon and circle NOON, Sunday, April 1 on your calendar.

This is when the Cameo Cinema, in St. Helena, will host a premiere showing of Under the Tuscan Sun.

This is the movie adaptation of Frances Mayes’ bestselling tale of the same name. And guess who will be on hand to answer questions and sign copies of her new tome, The Tuscan Sun Cookbook?

Frances Mayes, that’s who.

In addition, my close friend, Steven Rothfeld, a St. Helena resident, will be present; Steven, one of the most gifted photographers I have ever known, took all the photos for Frances’ new cookbook. And like everything Steven shoots, they’re stunning.

Kale, white bean & Sausage Soup

About the Cookbook:

La dolce vita. For real. A typical al fresco table.

The Tuscan Sun Cookbook is a collection of 150 recipes inspired by 20 years of cooking at Bramasole, Frances and Ed Mayes’ home in Cortona, Italy.

Napaman received a review copy of the cookbook, but too late to prepare any of the mouthwatering dishes for this column; but  the dishes look stupendous, don’t appear to be challenging, and if you like “food porn,” you’ll want this volume for your collection just for  Steven’s images.

But more about the movie, starring Diane Lane:

We asked Cathy Buck, who owns the Cameo Cinema, for details about the premiere screening:

“We like to think of this as an afternoon in Italy! Frances Mayes will be our guest for the screening, which will be followed by a Q&A and book signing of her cookbook.”

Frances in her garden, in Cortona, Italy

“Italian bites from St Helena’s Knickerbocker’s Catering will be paired with wine from Benessere Winery. Guests will also be served gelato from Sogni Del Dolce and a taste of homemade limoncello,” adds Cathy.

Ed and Frances in their Tuscan kitchen – source of all the recipes in her new cookbook

Tickets are $50 each. Cathy will have copies of Frances Mayes’ new cookbook, which Frances will sign, for sale. Book tickets online on the Cameo web site – www.cameocinema.com – or at the box office.

The doors open at 11.30 am Sunday, April 1.

See you at the movies!

PS: All the photos in this story courtesy of Steven Rothfeld. Way to go, Steven!

Don’t miss this sensational winemaker dinner, April 19!

Hola! If you live in the Bay-area within the sound of my voice, circle April 19 on your calendar and immediately call Tra Vigne restaurant, in St. Helena, to reserve a seat, or two.

Charter Oak, homegrown here in Napa Valley, and EIEIO, from the Willamette Valley, OR, are co-hosting a sensational dinner to:

1. Show off their respective wines (six will be poured at dinner) and
2. Celebrate the cooking of one of my favorite Napa Valley chefs, Nash Cognetti.

The seasonal Italian dinner will be served in the restaurant’s private dining salon, Cantinetta, and there will only be 36 seats for this rare event. (We prefer our winemaker events as we prefer our steaks – rare.)

EIEIO is a fun label, but a serious wine, produced by a colleague and friend, Jay McDonald, who actually lives on a farm in the Willamette Valley.

Jay borrowed from the childhood nursery rhyme, figuring that since he lives on a farm, where he grows grapes, he might as well name his wines on this basis: “Old McDonald had a farm, EIEIO.”

Jay also owns and operates one of Oregon’s foremost retail wine stores, a sweet, small, focused operation called The Tasting Room in Carlton.

Jay Mcdonald, right, walks through his Yates-Conwill Vineyard with Shannon, a harvest helper.

Essentially, Jay took over what used to be the community bank, converting it into a wine store. The treasured wines are kept in what used to be the bank’s vault. 

If you’d like some background on Jay and The Tasting Room in Carlton, check out an earlier story I wrote:

http://www.napaman.com/napamancom/2008/05/oregon-pinot-noir----proof-that-the-best-things-in-life-are-not-free.html

EIEIO vineyards, source of the Chardonnay and Pinot Noir dinner wines

The dinner and wines 

For the dual winemaker dinner at Tra Vigne, Jay will be on hand to pour three wines:

2009 EIEIO Chardonnay Yates-Conwill Vineyard. Produced from Dijon 76+96 Clones, aged in predominately neutral French Oak. $25.

2008 EIEIO Cuvee E Pinot noir Willamette Valley. $35.

2009 EIEIO Cuvee I Pinot noir Willamette Valley. Predominately old Pommard vines planted in 1974. $45.

And from Charter Oak….

Rob (on right) and me, kibbutzing at Charter Oak.

Rob Fanucci

Rob Fanucci, Charter Oak winemaker, who asked me to become his winery partner four years ago, and I will be on hand to pour three of our favorite wines:

2009 Charter Oak David Fulton Vineyard, Old-Vine Petite Sirah, from 80-year-old vines planted in St. Helena. $48.

2007 Charter Oak Mt. Veeder Hillside Cabernet, from a vineyard high above Napa Valley. $75.

2009 Charter Oak Monte Rosso Zinfandel, from the oldest block of Zinfandel planted in the United States – 128 year-old vines in Sonoma County. $48.

If you like what you taste, you can order any of the six wines from the respective producers at dinner.

Charter Oak Zinfandel on the vine.

Rob and his family, in the cellar of Charter Oak

At Charter Oak, we hand press the fermented juice in Rob’s grandfather’s wooden basket press.

The price of a meal ticket is $100, subsidized by the winemakers in order to keep the cost down. The price includes a four-course meal, six wines, taxes, and even gratuities!

In the fall, I help Rob punch down fermenting grapes.

Here’s the full menu:

                EIEIO & Charter Oak Winemaker Dinner

                    Tra Vigne, Thursday April 19

 

                                            Primo

    Olive Oil Poached Santa Barbara White Seabass ‑ spring pea

                and watercress puree, shellfish nage

         2009 EIEIO Chardonnay, Yates Conwill Vineyard

 

                                            Pasta

    Hand-made Maccheroni alla Chitarra ‑ slow cooked sonoma duck

                        with wild mushroom sugo

                 2008 EIEIO Cuvee E Pinot Noir, Willamette Valley

                                            and

               2009 EIEIO Cuvee I Pinot Noir, Willamette Valley

 

                                            Entrée

          Bistecca alla Fiorentina ‑ garlic spinach, rosemary roasted potatoes

              2009 Charter Oak David Fulton Vineyard, Old-Vine Petite Sirah,

                                                and

                 2007 Charter Oak Mt. Veeder Hillside Cabernet Sauvignon

 

                                        Formaggi

            Cave-Aged Fiscalini Farmstead Cheddar ‑ Modesto California

            Black Market Colston Basset Baby Stilton ‑ Nottingham, England

           2009 Charter Oak Monte Rosso Vineyard, Zinfandel, Sonoma County

If you like what you see, call 707-963-4444 and ask the Tra Vigne receptionist to reserve a seat, or two. Seats will be held with a credit card. Reservations can be cancelled by phone up to one week in advance of the event.

See you there!

I’m In a New York State of Mind

Just back from a week in New York and my head is dancing with images of some of the most intense, and pleasurable, foods I have tasted in two years.

Rather than get into hyper-specific detail and a micro-review of whole meals, I will offer a review from 15,000 feet up – highlights. Think of them as potential leads, if New York is on your radar screen. 

Espresso at Ninth Street Coffee, in Chelsea Market

While the entire Chelsea Market is worth a two-hour visit, the must-try is the profoundly rich, exceptionally complex, espresso and cappuccino served at the Ninth Street espresso bar. Their Alphabet City espresso blend is custom-roasted by Chicago-based Intelligentsia, whose coffee I also adore.

Even though Carol, my wife, is an espresso Zen master, roasting her own espresso beans at home daily, she insisted we purchase a 1-pound bag of Alphabet City beans to see if we could replicate the flavor of their espresso at home. The good news: We can. We did. We do.

Ninth Street Espresso in the Chelsea Market, 75 9^th Av., between 9^th and 10^th Streets. 212-228-2930.

  

The Beast Master Pizza at Roberta’s in Brooklyn

Our son, Jason, who lives in New York and who is a culture vulture (he actually just started a cool New York Real Estate  web called blockhawk. Check it out here.), cocktail connoisseur and accredited foodie, compiled a list of must-try restaurants before we got to New York. One of the top spots on his list was this quirky, hipster-style boite in Brooklyn. In a crazy neighborhood, hidden behind an unmarked door, Roberta’s serves up some mighty fine fare, including some of New York’s best pizzas. 

We asked our server what she thought was the best of the best, and she suggested that we order a former house specialty, which at present is not on the printed menu. We acceded and ordered the Beast Master, a rich, satisfying, delicious pie combining mozzarella and Gorgonzola cheeses with a tangy tomato sauce. Great crust. Great pie. One of the best I have had in two years anywhere, our trips to Italy included.

Roberta’s, 261 Moore St., Bushwick, Brooklyn. 718-417-1118.

 

The $29 prixe-fixe lunch at Del Posto

Want to live like a king for a day? Dine at this regal 1-star Michelin restaurant, owned by Mario Batali. The setting is stunning; calm, royal, hushed. The food is of the caliber of that coming out of a 3-star Michelin kitchen. The service is refined, thoughtful, precise; so polished, in fact, that you’d swear you are in Europe.

With add-on prices for specific appetizers, unctuous sea meats and extravagant wines ordered from a magnificent list of Italian wines, our $29 per head luncheon with tax and tip wound up costing more than $100 per head. Never mind, it was so good that we made an effort to return two days later to repeat the indulgence.

If I were scoring the meal out of 100, I would have ascribed 105 points.

But when we returned the next day to rebook a second lunch, we were snubbed by two men at the maitre d’ station who were cold and disdainful. You might expect their demeanor at a mortuary, but not at a restaurant where one comes to celebrate life, not bury it. Their posturing was such a turn-off, in fact, that we canceled our return visit.

Top marks to Mary Grace who oversaw our thrilling dining experience and to Josh Eisenhauer, a tremendous sommelier, who hand-picked several brilliant wines to pair with our fare.

 

The desserts? I can’t recall having better confections in Italy. Superb.

 

 

 

Without question, our best meal of the week, by a city mile.

Del Posto, 85 10^th Ave., New York. 212-497-8090. 

 

Eataly

Chef Mario Batali and his wine sidekick Joe Bastianich teamed up with Oscar Farinetti, the creator of Eataly, a Turin-based, Italian food hall, to open New York’s Eataly last year. 

There are stories on the street that in its first year of operation, the New York food hall will gross nearly $90 million. That’s a success even if industry guessers are off by $10 or $20 million.

Eataly is New York’s new, must-visit food emporium, replacing Dean & DeLuca, Balducci’s, and Macy’s basement as the city’s “in” food destination. 

There’s something like 35,000 square-feet of food hall here, encompassing multiple eating areas (each featuring different fare – beef, fish, pasta, salads, wine, etc.) with multiple espresso bars, a gelato grazing station, shelves of Italian packaged goods, kitchen equipment, wine and beer.

I ate twice at the Le Verdure station, which features delicious salads. On my first visit, the grilled salad of bitter greens (Scarola alla griglia), tossed with pine nuts and sweet currants, was finished with a generous snowfall of Parmigiano Reggiano and a splash of a tremendous aged Balsamic vinegar (so good, that we bought a bottle to take home). We returned later in the week attempting to repeat the pleasure, but alas, a different cook, with a heavier hand, turned out a salad that was oily, dull, not delicate, and only memorable in that we would not order it again.

Eataly, 200 Fifth Ave., New York. 646-398-5100.

 

Parm

Katelyn, our counter server.

Our son Jason and several NY chefs insisted we visit this new lunch diner, a sister eatery to Torrisi next door, operated by two talented chefs, Rich Torrisi and Mario Carbone, who have worked with Mario Batali and Wylie Dufresne.

Baked ziti at Parm.

Only hours before our visit, the New York Times published a food story raving about the meatball sandwich here. Our counter server, Katie, kept her cool, despite the crush of patrons clamoring to get in to the small diner to order the sandwich. Call it meatball madness; at one point, the kitchen actually called a 30-minute time-out to catch up with a backlog of orders. 

Parm’s version of mile-high pie, a three-tiered, Neapolitan ice cream confection.

We opted to order the Parm chicken Parmigiana, served on a soft roll; delicioso. We also loved the ultra-moist, sliced turkey breast sandwich. 

Parm, 248 Mulberry Street, at Prince Street. 212-993-7189. 

 

The Breslin, in the Hotel Ace

Guests literally pigging out – on suckling pig.

Everyone raves about the lamb burger at The Breslin, which has two entrances, one on 29^th Street and one off the lobby of the Ace Hotel.

At 5 pm, the hotel lobby becomes a riot of young people, swarming to hook up with members of the same, or opposite, sex, and who are drinking some of the most exotic cocktails I’ve ever seen, or tasted. The din at 5 pm is so loud, it’s easier on the ears to go outside for a conversation; Broadway is like a hushed library compared to the decibel level in the hotel lobby.

But about the lamb burger: Juicy, moist, served with the best French fries I had all week in New York. And if one can make such a declarative statement – this is quite simply the best lamb burger I have ever had. Served on a soft, tasty bun, oozing taste.

Many wonderful and unusual cocktails served here, too. Don’t miss ’em.

The Breslin, 16 W. 29^th St., New York, 212-679-1939.

 

Il Buco

Il Buco, the original location.

So successful was the first Il Buco, that there are now two locations.  We visited both but ate at the recently opened one, where there is also a take-out, deli counter offering a selection of fine Italian meats and cheeses. Before dinner here, I noshed on the tastiest taralli (circular, pretzel-like breadsticks) I have ever had, and sampled delicious culatello, a refined version of prosciutto, reputedly made from heavier pigs.

Melissa, the bartender at Il Bucio II, works fast, making some of the tastiest cocktails I had in New York.

Dinner was sensational, a stampede of dishes brought to our table, one after another. The next day, we reviewed our printed receipt and observed that we had been brought small plates that we hadn’t ordered or paid for, and had been charged for dishes we ordered and never received. But the food and service, cocktails and wine, were so good that we didn’t feel gypped in the least. In fact, we can’t wait to return to sit at a community table again and try the many other dishes, which we didn’t have room to contemplate.

Il Buco II , 53 Great Jones, New York. 212-837-2622.

And finally, some additional food-related, and non-food-related, photos from our week in New York:

Look! Up in the Sky! It's a Bird! It's a Plane! NO, It's Yowayowa!

For half-a-year, I have been enjoying a most original, deliciously visual site called Levitation.

A young Japanese photographer, Yowayowa, captures her own image in various stages of "flight," though what she is actually doing is jumping at the instant her image is captured.

I signed up for Yowayowa's RSS feed -- so whenever she posts online, I get an email with her latest photo. Yowayowa's are some of my most eagerly awaited emails and they ALWAYS bring a smile to my face, even sitting at my computer alone... her shots are original and whimsical.

Check out the site and sign up to receive Yowayowa's emails (she doesn't post too often... maybe once every two weeks; since last May, there have only been 16 emails).  

Go to:

http://yowayowacamera.com/

and have some laughs!

If you are interested to learn how "levitation" photos are often made, I discovered a useful backgrounder at: http://www.picturecorrect.com/tips/levitation-photography-tutorial/

Best Wines of the Year

Ready, gang?

Here’s my annual summary of the year’s best wine experiences. Not just wines, but best wine experiences. 

Often we open great wines, which score high marks for what’s in the bottle; but a great wine experience has as much to do with the person with whom you are enjoying the wine, or the setting, as the wine itself. 

My Best Wine Experiences, in chronological order for the year:

The first wine experience of the year to grab me by the lapels occurred upon opening a 1970 Unfiltered Robert Mondavi Winery Cabernet. The wine was made in Bob Mondavi’s forth year of production and it was the first year in which estate grapes were crushed.

My old friend Harry Grant, from Los Angeles, brought the wine to Napa Valley to celebrate our 41^st anniversary – of having met at the Thorn Tree restaurant in Nairobi, Kenya. The year we met was 1970 – the same vintage as this Mondavi Cab. Harry and I bonded as youthful travelers in search of the inconsequential, and we spent a year on extended safari, traveling all through southern Africa.

From left to right; Harry Grant, from LA, who gave me the ’70 Mondavi Cab, and Rob Fanucci, my winery partner at Charter Oak, with whom we drank the wine. Not seen: Ken Miller, another friend, also present at the dinner.

I took the Mondavi Cab to dinner for a winemaker’s night out; we invited Rob Fanucci, my partner and winemaker at Charter Oak winery and another good friend, Ken Miller. We dined at Cindy’s Backstreet Kitchen, in St. Helena, enjoying some of the best burgers of the year, which perfectly complemented the rich and elegant ‘70 Mondavi Cab.

The wine was pleasing and sweet upon pouring, not what I expected from a 41-year-old wine. As the wine rested in the glass, it gained body, weight and a silken texture; 20 minutes later, the wine was better than it had been upon pouring. 

Initial flavors: cedar, tea, soy and ripe, older red fruit. Everything became more accentuated as the wine sat in the glass. A remarkable dowager wine, still strutting its stuff. 93 points.

Best Wine Night of the Year 

This has never happened to me in 35+ years of drinking and rating wines; the serendipity of opening four bottles of wine – two whites and two reds – and finding each of them a perfect 100-point wine experience. That’s a 400-point night!

The setting: Rutherford friends Liz and Dave Berry came for dinner on a beautiful August night; Among the gems we pulled from our respective cellars were two sublime white Burgundies and two exquisite, perfect and perfectly aged Chateauneufs-du-Pape.

What we drank.

2005 Patrick Javillier Corton-Charlemagne, Grand Cru.

2006 Marius Delarche Corton-Charlemagne Reserve

White Burgundies don’t get better than this. The peculiar thing is that I have opened many bottles of these two wines and due to bottle variation, have never had what I would call an “Aha!” moment. How strange then (and how wonderful!), to open BOTH these wines and find them exhibiting 100-point perfection. Extremely elegant, beautifully textured, sublimely pleasing.

1998 Domaine de la Mordoree Chateauneuf-du-Pape

Wowie. Over time, I have opened bottles of this wine, to which I ascribed 98 and even 99 points, but not ever 100. This particular bottle, however, commands a perfect score. Close your eyes and it could be a sublime Vosne Romanee; it has balance, finesse, elegance, hints of garrigue, and a plush, lingering finish.

2000 Domaine de la Vieille Julienne

My last bottle of this exceptional wine. A perfect bottle, showing saddle sweat, leather, earth, and a myriad of ripe fruit flavors. The wine ends with a long, delicious finish. If I thought eternity were this sweet and alluring, I might consider signing up for the package.

Even after several hours in a decanter, this wine had tons of life left in it – behaving like a well-trained ultra-marathoner who dances into the 50-mile marker, with tons of reserve to get to the finish line at mile marker 130.

Let’s Not Forget the Italians!

It was a great year for whites. We found this extremely delicious, extremely rare white from Jermann while traveling in Capri in September. Very little of this wine is exported to the US, but I recently found it on the menu in our ‘hood – and even by the glass! – at Alex’s Italian Restaurant, in Rutherford, here in Napa Valley.

I knew Silvio Jermann when I lived in Toronto, Canada. In the late 70s, he said he was moving to Fruili, Italy, to start producing wines. We patted him on the back and wished him well.

Don’t think we needed to wish Silvio luck; the guy’s super-talented and makes some of the very best whites in all of Italy. Today, his family farms close to 250 acres of grapes.

There isn’t anything Jermann makes that I wouldn’t score in the mid-90s, including his sensational Ribolla Gialla, which he labels “Vinnae.”

This wine is filled with fresh, tropical flavors, hints of mango skin and sports lush tropical scents. Fully dry and fully delicious, too. A 93-pointer for sure. Hints of Riesling and Tocai Friulano in the blend add to the richness and character.

I loved this wine so much that before leaving Capri, where we discovered it, I hunted down the last three retail bottles on the island and schlepped them home.

May your New Year be filled with fun, good health, and many wonderful wine experiences.