Mise en Place

Category: Uncategorized (Page 2 of 19)

Jesse Katz at work in the Aperture Cellars winery. (Courtesy Aperture Cellars)

What I’m Drinking This Week: A Loire Favorite, British Bubbles, a Carmignano Riserva, and More

July 29, 2021 / / 0 Comments

Tasting wines on a daily basis brings abundant opportunity for assessment, reassessment, discovery, and reinforcement (“that wine is as good as I thought it was,” or, “I did not notice such stark acidity in my previous tasting of this Riesling”). It is an illuminating process.

The other day I opened a bottle of Domaine Guion Bourgueil “Cuvée Prestige” — 2018 vintage — with comparison as the goal … that, and enjoying a glass of something that I liked immensely back in April of 2020. I wanted to see how the ’18 had changed in the bottle between tastings. Little, was my answer; it was still one of my favorite wines of the year, and I look forward to drinking more of this wine come 2022 (and beyond).

Stéphane Guion knows how to make fine Cabernet Franc. (Courtesy Domaine Guion)

Stéphane Guion is the man behind this bottle — the fruit comes from vines averaging 50 to 70 years of age planted on a domaine that’s been certified organic since the 1960s — and works from his base in Bourgueil, in the Loire Valley. I first tasted wines from this producer back in the 1990s, at a dinner in New York, and recall that they were inexpensive and delicious.

Cabernet Franc is one of my favorite things to drink, and this one is among my top picks. Low alcohol, lovely acidity — cellar this one for a decade and thank me when you open it in 2031 — with wonderfully ripe, soft tannins. You’ll appreciate violet and strawberry aromas, plus some spice and tobacco. In the mouth, dark fruit and subtle black pepper. Pair this with everything from grilled asparagus to lamb, sausage, and seafood stew. You can find this wine for around $17 at select outlets, including Chambers Street Wines.

Buy as much of this as you can.

The lesson — or one lesson — to be had from the act of daily tasting is, aside from the pleasure of it, development of the palate. While taste is subjective, objectivity is vital to individuals engaged with wine. Taste, taste, then taste some more.

Another wine I sampled recently: the 2018 Aperture Cabernet Sauvignon. Jesse Katz, the young winemaker behind this bottle, has for a good while been the recipient of accolades for his approach, one that he began working on (if originally through osmosis) while traveling as a young boy with his father, photographer Andy Katz, in Bordeaux, Burgundy, and other wine-growing regions. The younger Katz was the first winemaker to be included in the “Forbes 30 Under 30” list, and Wine Spectator named him a “Rising Star.” He made wine for Justin Timberlake. And if all of that does not impress, his wines, including his Devil Proof Malbecs, will.

Jesse Katz made this.

First, know that the 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon from Aperture Cellars is drinking well now. If you were to open a bottle of it this evening and pair it with a grilled ribeye you would have no regrets. However, this wine will also reward patience. Drink a bottle now, and put one (or a case) away for eight years or so.

The Alexander Valley AVA is the source of this wine, which is 86 percent Cabernet Sauvignon, 7 percent Malbec, 5 percent Merlot, and 2 percent Petit Verdot. It retails for $70. The Cabernet here is sourced from four volcanic-soil sites on hillside slopes, and the wine is unfiltered, unfined, and un-acidified.

By the way, if you can get your hands on some of Katz’s Malbec, do so.

Do give this bottle some time to breathe … decant it for a few hours. The cassis, tobacco, and coffee notes will please your olfactory senses, and the dark fruit and slight spice and vanilla will linger in the mouth.

A sparkling wine with a British accent. (Courtesy Nyetimber)

Let’s turn to some sparkling wine from England — West Sussex and Hampshire to be exact. It’s from Nyetimber, and it’s a multi-vintage cuvée (Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Pinot Meunier) that retails for $55. I consider this one of my go-to sparkling wines at that price level, and like to keep one chilled at all times.

The Nyetimber Classic Cuvée is aged for an average of three years, and its toasty quotient is remarkable. Brioche, frangipane, a slight nuttiness … all of that is there, plus fine bubbles and an elegance that makes this wine more than ideal for celebrations, anniversaries, and brunch. Would I pair it with oysters or salmon? Yes, and if toro and ebi were served to me I’d be happy drinking this wine with them as well.

Nyetimber as a producer has put a lot of money and thought into reducing its carbon footprint, and I like that. Thirty percent of its estate holdings is comprised of “nonproductive” hedgerows, sheep from a nearby farm graze the grass and other ground vegetation in vineyard plots — their waste supplies nutrients to the soil, and their eating habits reduce the use of tractors and lower carbon emissions. I am a firm believer in the adage that every little effort counts, and these types of practices at Nyetimber (and at many other producers) add up.

The Contini Bonacossi family has been making wine for a long time.

Finally this week, a red wine from Italy that spoke to me with confidence and promise. It’s from Tenuta di Capezzana, an estate whose founding dates back to 804 A.D. It’s situated 12 miles west of Florence, and is a leading name in the Carmignano region, the history of which is fascinating.

In 1716, the Grand Duke of Tuscany, Cosimo III de’Medici, granted the region official and legal status; today, Carmignano DOCG regulations stipulate that Sangiovese must be at least 50 percent of the blend, and allow 10 to 20 percent of Cabernet Sauvignon or Cabernet Franc, as much as 20 percent Canaiolo Nero and 5 percent Mammolo and Colorino, and up to 10 percent white grape varieties, such as Trebbiano or Malvasia.

To the wine: It’s the 2015 Trefiano Carmignano Riserva DOCG, and it has a suggested retail price of $59. It’s bottled during the best vintages only, “best” as deemed by the winemaker, and it’s aged for 18 months in French oak (10 percent new oak) and an additional year in bottle.

The 2015 is 80 percent Sangiovese, 10 percent Cabernet Sauvignon, and 10 percent Canaiolo, a blend put together well by Benedetta Contini Bonacossi (Capezzana is owned by the Contini Bonacossi family). For those of you who are interested in names, Trefiano refers to the 15th-century villa purchased in the 1920s by the Contini Bonacossi clan. Five hectares of vineyards that surround the villa are the source of the grapes used to make this wine.

Deep ruby in color, the Trefiano greets the nose with dark cherry and cedar. This is a wine with serious intent, and I loved it with lamb. Steaks, wild boar, and sausages would be other great pairings. Ripe tannins never jar the drinker, and the tobacco notes on the palate are delightful. I’m looking forward to revisiting this vintage in five years.

I also sampled three other offerings from Capezzana, bottles at different price points; each is worth consideration.

I began with the 2018 Barco Reale di Carmignano DOC, at $18 a great value. It’s 75 percent Sangiovese, 15 percent Cabernet Sauvignon, 5 percent Canaiolo, and 5 percent Cabernet Franc, and is fermented in stainless steel and aged in Slavonian oak. Drink now.

Next, the 2016 Villa di Capezzana Carmignano DOC ($30). It’s considered the flagship wine of the estate; 80 percent Sangiovese and 20 percent Cabernet Sauvignon, fermented in French oak and aged for a year in the barrel. Drink now-2026.

Finally, the 2013 Ghiaie della Furba Toscana IGT ($51). As with the Trefiano, this wine is made in the best vintages only. “Ghiaie” refers to the gravelly soils near the Furba, a stream on the estate. It’s 40 percent Cabernet Sauvignon, 35 percent Syrah, and 25 percent Merlot. Delicious now, and is still full of aging potential.

Next week, I’ll be sitting down with, among other selections, some California Zinfandel, a Prosecco, and a Malbec from the Temecula Valley AVA.

Want more wine? Read on.

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Dan Petroski on Soil and J. Alfred Prufrock
A Canadian Makes Good in Mendocino
Bouchaine’s Chris Kajani Tackles the Challenges of a Pandemic
A Bosnian Winemaker Finds a Home in the Sta. Rita Hills AVA
From a Michigan Backyard Vineyard to Sonoma
Paul Hobbs Knew She Had Talent
Ian Cauble: From ‘Somm’ to SommSelect
Eric Sigmund is High on Texas Wine
Jeff Cole, Sullivan Estate’s Winemaker
Jon McPherson Talks Tokay and His Mentor Father
Two Reds From Chile
An Italian Chardonnay From the Cesare Stable
Mi Sueño’s 2016 Napa Valley Syrah
Joshua Maloney on Riesling and Manfred Krankl
Brothers in Wine
Two Bottles From Priest Ranch
A Derby Day Cocktail
Nate Klostermann is Making Some Great Sparkling Wines in Oregon
Matt Dees and the Electric Acidity of Sta. Rita Hills Chardonnay
Baudelaire, Pinot Noir, and Rosé: Kathleen Inman’s Passions
Colombia, France, and California: This Winemaker is a Complex Woman
Michael Kennedy Talks Sailing and Zinfandel
Spain Opened the World of Wine for Spottswoode’s Aron Weinkauf
Alta Colina’s Molly Lonborg Wants a Bottle of Château Rayas
Mumm Napa’s Tami Lotz Talks Wine and Oysters
James MacPhail on Pinot Noir, White Burgundy, and Russell Crowe
A Very Proper Sparkling Wine
Talking With David Ramey
A Merlot That Your Snob Friend Will Love
French Couple Make a Sauvignon Blanc in California
A Perfect Afternoon Chardonnay
Terry Theise Talks Reisling
A New Wine Wonderland
Paris Wine Goddess Tells All
Rice Village Wine Bar Has a Cleveland Touch
A Texas White Blend for Your Table
A Pinot Noir Full of Flavor
This Pinot Gris From Oregon Pairs Well With Cheese
Willamette, Dammit!
A Value Rioja
Drink Pink!
Underbelly Veteran Goes for Grenache
A Man of Letters and Wine
Ms. Champagne Wants a Nebuchadnezzar
The Wine Artist Goes for Chardonnay
This American Loves Spain and Its Wines
Houston’s Wine Whisperer Has a Soft Touch
Blackberry Farm’s Somm Pours in Splendor
Mr. Pinot Noir: Donald Patz of Patz & Hall
A Cork Dork Wants to Spend More Time in Tuscany
Sommelier Turned Restaurateur Daringly Goes Greek
Texas Master Sommelier Debunks Wine Geeks
A Bottle From Gigondas Changed This Houston Man’s Life
Oil Man Falls in Love, and the Rest is Good-Taste History
Ryan Cooper of Camerata is a Riesling Man
Mixing It Up With Jeremy Parzen, an Ambassador of Italy
Sommelier at One of Houston’s Top Wine Bars Loves Underdogs

Stage’s Pushkar Marathe Cooks With His Travels in Mind

July 15, 2021 / / 0 Comments

I am in Jupiter, Florida, near Palm Beach, visiting my parents and my sister and her family. I’m cooking a lot — this morning I made some cornbread, and a pot of pinto beans is simmering on the stove. Those two items, with a glass of buttermilk and perhaps a tomato slice on the side, make up one of my father’s favorite meals, something he’s been eating since his childhood. I’ve always had an appetite for fermented food — sauerkraut, kimchi, kefir, and buttermilk included — and imagine that it was passed down to me from my father’s ancestors.

On a recent evening, Angela and I made a reservation at Stage Kitchen, a restaurant whose chef, Pushkar Marathe, is from India. Nagpur, to be exact, which is in the state of Maharashtra. He attended culinary school in Switzerland, and worked under Dean Max, as well as in restaurants in the Middle East, the Caribbean, and the United States.

We are here to help my family navigate a stage of life that often comes with growing older, one that involves moving my father into a care facility and assisting my mother as she prepares for hip replacement. The only constant is change, and that is a verity made very real when a parent begin showing signs of cognitive dysfunction. So I am cooking for my parents and carrying out other errands and chores.

The way I see stage is like it’s a big tree. The branches are my travels all over the world, but the roots are deep in Inda

Pushkar Marathe

When I am not cooking, I make a reservation at a restaurant, to get a sense of the area’s food. A friend had mentioned Stage when I asked her about places to try in the Palm Beach region, and I trust her palate, so we added it to the list.

Pushkar Marathe, second from right, and his business partner and general manager, Andy Dugard. (Courtesy Stage)

“Fusion” is not a word I use freely, and I was glad to see that Marathe has no use for it either on the restaurant’s website. Instead, he speaks of travel and diverse experiences and global culinary traditions. I never fail to sense when food I’m eating was made by someone possessing a broad and open palate and mind. It’s more alive, honest. It carries no hint of trendiness. This is Marathe’s food at Stage.

Naan done Pushkar Marathe’s way

He serves a naan filled with spicy cheese, and while it is unlike most naan I have eaten, it is a bread I would order every time I dine at Stage. Crisp exterior (two naans, one placed over the other), dense interior filled with a peppery cheese whose piquancy lasts. Marathe’s naan is served fresh from the tandoor, and you’ll see that it is not dissimilar to a grilled cheese sandwich. But it’s much better than the average grilled cheese. (We took some home with us, and it was just as good reheated at lunch. No stale fat or butter taste, nothing but satisfaction.) Marathe also makes garlic naan and a black truffle naan.

The garlic naan at Stage (Courtesy Stage)

We began with oysters, a half dozen Malpeques, from Prince Edward Island, served with turmeric and a truffle-yuzu mignonette. Our selections had the characteristic combination of brininess and sweetness that rewards one when Malpeques are on the table, and the mignonette was tangy and rich, with a touch of spice. The 2019 Butterfield Station Chardonnay from Sebastiani Vineyards we were drinking was good with the shellfish.

Oysters on the half shell (Courtesy stage)

The restaurant, which opened in 2019 and was then forced to close by COVID-19, is located in a mixed-use development off of a busy street in Palm Beach Gardens, a community between Jupiter and West Palm Beach. Its open kitchen is a focal point, as is the bar, situated at the right rear of the spacious interior. A long, high communal table that seats 16 or so diners is directly in front of the pass, and behind that table, toward the front of the interior, is a wall of tables that also offer primes seats for all the cooking action. Booths and outdoor seating are in the mix at the large restaurant, which was mostly full on the evening we were there.

Color, texture, and well-designed seating: Stage has that. (Courtesy Stage)

Masala Dosa. You know what that is. Marathe’s version would not surprise anyone, at least not in a bad way. It looks good, crispy and shiny — though my dining companion did say that it had been slightly overcooked and was dry in some spots, a verdict with which I agreed after several bites of it — and it was filled with potatoes, peas, and cauliflower, all cooked well, neither too soft nor too hard. A creamy, piquant tomato sauce, specked with fried cumin and mustard seeds, rounded out the dish.

Marathe’s Masala Dosa is not far from the traditional. (Courtesy Stage)

Angela wanted to try the White Truffle Mushroom Karanji, and that was the next item to come to the table. A karanji (also known as gujia, gujiya, pedakiya, and gughara) is a sweet deep-fried dumpling made with either semolina or all-purpose flour and filled with milk solids and dried fruit. It’s fried in ghee. Marathe’s version eschews sweetness and goes for savory, with mushrooms and truffle. The sauce is thin enough to run slowly when you cut into the crisp empanada-like shell, but thick enough to hold all of the ingredients together, meaning each bite of the dish is equally satisfying.

Umami-rich: Savory and imminently shareable, Stage’s truffle and mushroom karanji is a fun twist on the traditional Indian dessert. (Courtesy Stage)

Lamb is one of my favorite proteins, and the kebab at Stage is definitely one for lovers of the meat. The mixture Marathe uses is light and tender in the mouth, and the masala combination sings. At one minute cumin leads, then ginger, followed by coriander. I love ground lamb prepared in this manner, and Marathe’s is one of the best I’ve had this year. The pickled red onion and mint cilantro chutney served with the dish complete it well.

Lamb kebab done with a deft and assured touch. (Courtesy Stage)

When deciding what to order next, Angela and I knew we wanted to share something, and narrowed the choices to peri peri chicken and local grouper. The chicken won out, mainly because shrimp and mussels had featured in some of our recent home-cooked meals.

Peri Peri sauce is a good way to go with chicken, and this rendition left nothing undone. The skin of the bird (half a chicken) was blackened well by the flames, and the meat, both dark and white, was moist and full of smoke and peri peri flavor. Patatas Bravas and a mixture of scallions, cashews, and black sesame seeds nestled alongside the main course.

Peri Peri Chicken, with color and verve. (Courtesy Stage)

We arrived at Stage at 6:30 that evening, and an hour or so later the place was completely full, and lively. Some might find it noisy — high ceilings can wreak sonic havoc — but the flavors of the food should pull your senses away from the sounds.

Dessert was all that remained, and it was Garam Masala Cheesecake. I wanted more spice, but the peach compote was a revelation. Bracing, acutely acidic, and intriguingly approaching sweet, our final course, while making us remember Thanksgivings past, was a fine close to the evening.

The wine list at Stage is small, but includes a few solid bottles, such as Son of a Butcher, from Y. Rousseau, and Diatom, from Brewer-Clifton. Corkage is $25.

Marathe has plans to open a traditional Indian restaurant in the area, and based on the flavors he’s creating at Stage, it should be embraced by the area’s diners. Until then, they’ll have to settle for his current body of work.

This man is all about the Sta. Rita Hills. (Photo courtesy Brewer-Clifton)

A Philosophical Winemaker on Ego, Envy, and Baudelaire

June 10, 2021 / / 0 Comments

I love to talk about wine with people who share my passion for it. We open bottles, we trade stories about travel and soil types, terroir and residual sugar, and we talk of taste and food and restaurants. We recommend wines to one another, we drink, and we learn a lot.

In Wine Talk, I introduce you to friends, acquaintances, and people I meet as I make my way around the world, individuals who love wine as much as I do, who live to taste, who farm and make wine. You’ll appreciate their insight, and I hope you’ll learn something from them as well. 

The tasting was scheduled for 10 in the morning, on a Saturday, so the drive to Los Olivos from Los Angeles began a little after 7. At that time of the day traffic is usually light — weekend bonus — and the journey was relaxed and pleasurable. I never tire of driving along the Pacific, seeing the sun rise from the waves and the rolling hills glide by.

I was headed north to meet with Greg Brewer, of Brewer-Clifton, diatom, and Ex Post Facto, at his label’s tasting room in Los Olivos. I was familiar with his Brewer-Clifton wines, and appreciated their purity, but had never sampled diatom or Ex Post Facto, so was looking forward to the encounter.

Brewer, who was named Winemaker of the Year in 2020 by Wine Enthusiast magazine (one of the categories in the publication’s Wine Star Awards), is a product of the Sta. Rita Hills AVA. When one discusses wine with him, the soils and vineyards and geography of the appellation come to life, and tasting with the Los Angeles-born former French instructor (UC Santa Barbara) is a sensuous and intellectual tour of the region.

“The winemaker of the year award is much more about the Sta. Rita Hills than it is about me,” he told my tasting companion and me as we tasted the 2018 Brewer-Clifton Chardonnay. “The people here, the land and the environment, those are the stars.”

The Sta. Rita Hills AVA is the source of some lively, vibrant Chardonnay.

Brewer founded Brewer-Clifton with Steve Clifton in 1996, and diatom, focused on “starkly raised” Chardonnay, was born in 2005. Ex Post Facto, dedicated to cold-climate Syrah, followed in 2016. In addition, beginning in 1999 and continuing through the 2015 harvest, Brewer co-founded and served as winemaker at Melville Winery.

Brewer, whose labels became part of Jackson Family Wines in 2017, began his career in wine at Santa Barbara Winery, in 1991. He worked in the tasting room, and soon discovered a passion for production, a passion that continues today.

Greg Brewer and James Brock post-tasting in the Brewer-Clifton tasting room, located in Los Olivos, California. (Photo by The Brockhaus)

Conversing with Brewer was a refreshing experience, one that took me back to my Eastern philosophy classes and seminars. Ego; the self; humility; chop wood, carry water; process; the razor’s edge: those words and phrases came to mind on that Saturday morning as we talked about the appellation and its attributes and Brewer’s approach to winemaking (and life). He’s someone I would gladly sit with over a three-hour meal.

A Chardonnay of intense purity.

In addition to the Sta. Rita Hills Chardonnay, the tasting lineup included the 2017 Sta. Rita Hills Pinot Noir, the 2016 diatom Machado, the 2017 Machado Pinot Noir, the 2018 Ex Post Facto Syrah, and the 2009 Brewer-Clifton Mount Carmel Chardonnay. All show sense of place in a remarkable manner, and demonstrate Brewer’s method, which, though highly personal, has been honed to ensure integrity and longevity no matter what life brings.

“I could be hit by a bus, and our wines would live on,” Brewer told me, referring to the way he has trained others on his team to make these wines.

Here’s Brewer in Wine Talk:

James Brock: How has COVID-19 changed your work and life?

Greg Brewer: The pandemic has, as with many, caused me to become quite nostalgic and increasingly sentimental. I have embraced this opportunity to reignite direct correspondence with our community as a means of intimate connection during times of quarantine and lack of social interaction. While I hope that the outreach from me has been welcomed by them to remain engaged, I have also benefited greatly, as the exercise has been very nourishing and restorative for me.  

While initially resistant to virtual events, I quickly dove into that platform, which proved to be very rewarding. My initial hesitancy was rooted in a fear of not connecting as well as in person, yet I quickly realized it was far from inferior and simply different. There can be tremendous intimacy and comfort when interacting in this manner, particularly when all participants are as focused and vulnerable as possible.

As I find ultimate identity through my work, there is really no differentiation for me on any level between personal and professional. For the mere attempt to segregate the two would lessen my core devotion to the craft and industry. 

“Gentle hands and pure intent … “

JB: Tell us about three wines you think are drinking well at the moment. What makes them worthwhile? How about a food pairing for each one? 

GB: Everything is appropriate, worthwhile and timely. I gravitate towards wines raised by gentle hands and pure intent, and am particularly inspired when one has the confidence to explore an aesthetic which is singular and relevant. Brander Au Naturel Sauvignon Blanc and Captûre Tradition Sauvignon Blanc are excellent examples of that ethos for different reasons. Larmandier-Bernier Champagne is another reference point that comes to mind. All three are singular while maintaining a very specific point of view and not alienating others. Unique and inclusive. Deliberate and still very aware of surroundings.

If a certain wine and dish are pleasurable, they will always make a good pairing. Composure and pleasure eclipse the stress that can frequently accompany a pursuit to replicate expected and almost cliché pairings. The alignment of dynamics can be great, as can be exploring contrast. It closely resembles any other personal relationship. As soon as one embraces the risk and fear of an atypical rapport, the world opens up to myriad possibilities that may have otherwise been overlooked. Gender, race, sexual orientation, careers, hobbies, favorite colors and zodiac signs. If one is confined to a cage, there is never a chance to engage with the other animals.

Brewer: My hope and goal throughout my entire career has been to help others feel more comfortable with wine.

JB: If cost was no consideration, tell us the one bottle you would add to your personal collection, and why.

GB: While I ultimately love all wines, there is really nothing I envy. There is a time and place for everything, and I fear that seeking something out would lessen the relationship I would have with the object. Who am I to have something in my keeping when it might offer more pleasure to someone else? Many of the wines that I have possessed have been very valuable to me and their subsequent consumption has been the best way to honor them. Such would include last vintages from inspirational mentors who have since passed away or last vintages from colleagues whose families have asked me to finish their work upon their sudden passing.

JB: What is your favorite grape variety, and why?

GB: I don’t subscribe to the notion of favorites, but were I to work with only one grape, it would unequivocally be Chardonnay. I cherish its purity, nobility, and its capacity to convey place. 

This wine reveals itself in a patient manner.

JB:How about one bottle that our readers should buy now to cellar for 10 years, to celebrate a birth, anniversary, or other red-letter day? 

GB: From our collection of wines, I would suggest diatom Chardonnay. It is not only something that wouldn’t be expected, it is by far and away the longest-lived wine that we steward. As it is raised in a virtual vacuum, it is very slow to unveil what lies beneath, and as such would hopefully be compelling for someone at year 10, 20 or 30.

JB: Where is your go-to place when you want to have a glass or bottle (outside of your home and workplace)?

GB: My wife and I both work long hours every day, and a “go to place” outside of those two venues is somewhat foreign. My ideal scenario would be for us to stand in our home together with nice glassware and sexy deep house trance music — preferably with female vocals.

Greg Brewer is a philosophical creature of the Sta. Rita Hills AVA. (Photo courtesy Brewer-Clifton)

JB: If there was one thing you wish everyone would keep in mind when buying and drinking wine, what is it?

GB: My hope and goal throughout my entire career has been to help others feel more comfortable with wine. There is a tremendous level of fear, apology and permission that accompanies many individuals’ relationship with wine. It makes me sad and I always turn myself inside out to try to assuage that insecurity in others. 

The word “should” has been imbedded in millions of questions posed to me about wine, which is tragic, really. When should I drink this?  What should I drink it out of?  What temperature should I, etc.? The fear abridges the ultimate understanding and pleasure that wine can offer. It is an extremely primitive and elementary beverage that has essentially been around as long as water and fire. People can quickly recognize they know WAY more about it than they realize it as soon as they link the fundamentally simple elements of it to other areas of life with which they have more confidence. Music, fashion, art, design, gravity, a teeter totter …  It’s all virtually the same once you allow it.

JB: What is your “wine eureka moment,” the incident/taste/encounter that put you and wine on an intimate plane forever?

GB: There are two that stand out that both occurred quite early in my career, which I suppose is obviously inherent based on the question! Sorry!! ;). One was tasting a 1987 Williams-Selyem Rochioli Pinot Noir for the first time, and the other was 1987 Calera Jensen Pinot Noir. In addition to the monumental nature of both wines, the setting and company elevated the experience to a different level.  Both were beautiful lessons that the environment in which something is experienced plays such a vital role to every aspect of the experience. No matter how coveted the object or experience, the enjoyment will prove meaningless if one feels uncomfortable, distracted, or under duress.

JB: What has been the strangest moment or incident involving wine that you have experienced in your career thus far?

GB: I don’t think anything has been that strange, ultimately. Fun coincidences, synergies, and surprises, but nothing that seems too far outside of this realm.

Baudelaire had a special relationship with wine.

JB: Your favorite wine reference in a work of literature?

GB: The poem, “Enivrez-vous” by Charles Baudelaire. I love the notion of arresting time through wine, poetry, or virtue. I love how those elements can suspend time, which is not only something we all possess in equal measure, but the one thing that is the most fleeting …

Enivrez-vous (Paris Spleen, 1864)

Il faut être toujours ivre. Tout est là: c’est l’unique question. Pour ne pas sentir l’horrible fardeau du Temps qui brise vos épaules et vous penche vers la terre, il faut vous enivrer sans trêve. 
   Mais de quoi? De vin, de poésie ou de vertu, à votre guise. Mais enivrez-vous. 
   Et si quelquefois, sur les marches d’un palais, sur l’herbe verte d’un fossé, dans la solitude morne de votre chambre, vous vous réveillez, l’ivresse déjà diminuée ou disparue, demandez au vent, à la vague, à l’étoile, à l’oiseau, à l’horloge, à tout ce qui fuit, à tout ce qui gémit, à tout ce qui roule, à tout ce qui chante, à tout ce qui parle, demandez quelle heure il est et le vent, la vague, l’étoile, l’oiseau, l’horloge, vous répondront: “Il est l’heure de s’enivrer! Pour n’être pas les esclaves martyrisés du Temps, enivrez-vous; enivrez-vous sans cesse! De vin, de poésie ou de vertu, à votre guise.”

Be always drunken. Nothing else matters: that is the only question. If you would not feel the horrible burden of Time weighing on your shoulders and crushing you to the earth, be drunken continually.
  Drunken with what? With wine, with poetry, or with virtue, as you will. But be drunken.
And if sometimes, on the stairs of a palace, or on the green side of a ditch, or in the dreary solitude of your own room, you should awaken and the drunkenness be half or wholly slipped away from you, ask of the wind, or of the wave, or of the star, or of the bird, or of the clock, of whatever flies, or sighs, or rocks, or sings, or speaks, ask what hour it is; and the wind, wave, star, bird, clock, will answer you: “It is the hour to be drunken! Be drunken, if you would not be martyred slaves of Time; be drunken continually! With wine, with poetry, or with virtue, as you will.”

Arthur Symons (1865-1945) translation, as quoted by Eugene O’Neill in Long Day’s Journey into Night

Want more wine? Read on:

Caitlin Cutler Really Likes Malvasia
Dan Petroski on Soil and J. Alfred Prufrock
A Canadian Makes Good in Mendocino
Bouchaine’s Chris Kajani Tackles the Challenges of a Pandemic
A Bosnian Winemaker Finds a Home in the Sta. Rita Hills AVA
From a Michigan Backyard Vineyard to Sonoma
Paul Hobbs Knew She Had Talent
Ian Cauble: From ‘Somm’ to SommSelect
Eric Sigmund is High on Texas Wine
Jeff Cole, Sullivan Estate’s Winemaker
Jon McPherson Talks Tokay and His Mentor Father
Two Reds From Chile
An Italian Chardonnay From the Cesare Stable
Mi Sueño’s 2016 Napa Valley Syrah
Joshua Maloney on Riesling and Manfred Krankl
Brothers in Wine
Two Bottles From Priest Ranch
A Derby Day Cocktail
Nate Klostermann is Making Some Great Sparkling Wines in Oregon
Matt Dees and the Electric Acidity of Sta. Rita Hills Chardonnay
Baudelaire, Pinot Noir, and Rosé: Kathleen Inman’s Passions
Colombia, France, and California: This Winemaker is a Complex Woman
Michael Kennedy Talks Sailing and Zinfandel
Spain Opened the World of Wine for Spottswoode’s Aron Weinkauf
Alta Colina’s Molly Lonborg Wants a Bottle of Château Rayas
Mumm Napa’s Tami Lotz Talks Wine and Oysters
James MacPhail on Pinot Noir, White Burgundy, and Russell Crowe
A Very Proper Sparkling Wine
Talking With David Ramey
A Merlot That Your Snob Friend Will Love
French Couple Make a Sauvignon Blanc in California
A Perfect Afternoon Chardonnay
Terry Theise Talks Reisling
A New Wine Wonderland
Paris Wine Goddess Tells All
Rice Village Wine Bar Has a Cleveland Touch
A Texas White Blend for Your Table
A Pinot Noir Full of Flavor
This Pinot Gris From Oregon Pairs Well With Cheese
Willamette, Dammit!
A Value Rioja
Drink Pink!
Underbelly Veteran Goes for Grenache
A Man of Letters and Wine
Ms. Champagne Wants a Nebuchadnezzar
The Wine Artist Goes for Chardonnay
This American Loves Spain and Its Wines
Houston’s Wine Whisperer Has a Soft Touch
Blackberry Farm’s Somm Pours in Splendor
Mr. Pinot Noir: Donald Patz of Patz & Hall
A Cork Dork Wants to Spend More Time in Tuscany
Sommelier Turned Restaurateur Daringly Goes Greek
Texas Master Sommelier Debunks Wine Geeks
A Bottle From Gigondas Changed This Houston Man’s Life
Oil Man Falls in Love, and the Rest is Good-Taste History
Ryan Cooper of Camerata is a Riesling Man
Mixing It Up With Jeremy Parzen, an Ambassador of Italy
Sommelier at One of Houston’s Top Wine Bars Loves Underdogs

Pork and beef, plus a mix from New Jersey and chopped onions

Meatballs Made With a Mix

June 6, 2021 / / 1 Comment

Meatballs are among my favorite foods … to make and to eat. I often use a recipe based on one I found years ago, from Michael White. He uses lamb, and I do, too, at times. I also use pork and beef, and I’ve used veal, as well. I’ve ground my own beef and lamb, and added bacon when I want something smokier.

Last night I made meatballs with a mixture of 80 percent ground pork and 20 percent beef. And this time I used something new to me: a meatball mix, called Melly’s Homemade Meatball Mix. It was sent to me by a PR agency, and though I don’t normally cook with mixes, I gave it a go.

A meatball mix from Basking Ridge, New Jersey

I added chopped onion and some oregano to the powder — ingredients include Pecorino Romano, flour, salt, sugar, and a long list of other things, such as guar gum and oat fiber. I also had some panko bread crumbs I had toasted with olive oil a few nights before, so put those in the bowl with the meats and the rest of the ingredients: 1/4 cup chicken broth, 3 large eggs, about 1.75 pounds of meat, and the onions and oregano. I also microplaned some Parmigiano-Reggiano into the meat.

The mixture as a whole seemed a bit dry, drier than my usual method of making meatballs, so I added a touch of water, perhaps 1/4 cup. It looked and felt better, so I rolled the meat into balls and let them sit in the refrigerator for 30 minutes or so.

The meatballs are ready for the olive oil in which they would be fried.

When I was ready to cook the meatballs I poured about 1/2 a cup of olive oil in a skillet — you can use a nonstick pan if you prefer; I used a Belgique skillet I’ve had since 1994, likely the pan I’ve used most often over the years.

The Melly’s Homemade people advise one to cook the meatballs on medium heat, until they reach an internal temperature of 160F. That’s fine — you can also bake them. I, however, was making a tomato sauce, so merely browned the meatballs; they would fully cook in the sauce.

Sardinian tomatoes

For the sauce, I used a can of Posardi peeled tomatoes, grown on the island of Sardinia. They were slightly sweet, and wonderfully acidic. I chopped a small white onion, cut three garlic cloves into slivers, and heated 1/4 cup or so of olive oil in a small pan. Sauté for five minutes, until the vegetable soften, then add 1/4 cup of red wine and let cook for 5 minutes more. Next, salt and dried oregano (to taste).

Onions and sliced garlic

It’s time to add the tomatoes to the sauce; the ones I used were whole, so I gently mashed them with a wooden spoon, stirred, and let the mixture simmer for 10 minutes. I then added eight meatballs — the remainder I put into the refrigerator for another meal— covered the pan, and let them simmer for 40 minutes or so.

The tomatoes and wine joined the mix.
The meatballs bathed in the sauce for 40 minutes.

I like adding some color (other than red) to my meatball dishes, and the addition of fresh spinach is a great way to go. A few minutes before you are ready to serve, toss a handful of spinach into the pan and cover again. The heat and moisture wilt the greens, and you’re done.

Add some spinach if you wish.

How you plate the meatballs is up to you. I ate mine over farfalle, Angela enjoyed hers without the pasta. Both ways are good.

I added toasted walnuts …

I paired the meal with a 2018 red blend from Aperture Cellars (39 percent Cabernet Sauvignon, 33 percent Merlot, 22 percent Malbec, 3 percent Cabernet Franc, and 3 percent Petit Verdot).

A Sonoma red blend for the meatballs

Verdict on the Melly’s Homemade mix? I would use it again if severely pressed for time. It is in no way bad, though I found the seasoning a bit bland. It’s convenient, however, and if that appeals to you, give the product a try.

Caitlin Cutler, co-owner of Ronan, is very fond of Malvasia. (Photo by Liam Brown)

Ronan’s Caitlin Cutler on Malvasia, Skin-Contact Sauvignon Blanc, and Country Music

June 4, 2021 / / 0 Comments

I love to talk about wine with people who share my passion for it. We open bottles, we trade stories about travel and soil types, terroir and residual sugar, and we talk of taste and food and restaurants. We recommend wines to one another, we drink, and we learn a lot.

In Wine Talk, I introduce you to friends, acquaintances, and people I meet as I make my way around the world, individuals who love wine as much as I do, who live to taste, who farm and make wine. You’ll appreciate their insight, and I hope you’ll learn something from them as well. 

From the moment I perused the wine list I knew I wanted to feature its creator in Wine Talk. It (and they) had me at the Claus Preisinger Zweigelt and the Martha Stouman Nero d’Avola, not to mention the Alfredo Maestro “Amanda.” This small, concise list was put together by someone who cares about what her guests drink with their food.

This was in May, and it was my first visit to Ronan, a restaurant in Los Angeles that is now high on my “Brockhaus Approved” list. The meal was something to write home about — read the review here — and I’ve been back once more since then, and plan to be a frequent guest.

Asking around, I was told that Caitlin Cutler was the woman behind Ronan’s wine program. She also co-owns the restaurant with Daniel Cutler, her husband and Ronan’s chef. They have a good thing going on Melrose Avenue.

Caitlin runs the front of the house, and her presence is one of calm and confidence. She’s a welcoming person. Her past work experience includes stints in the corporate finance and real estate development worlds, and then she entered the restaurant industry, serving as general manager at two Los Angeles Italian restaurants: Sotto (now closed, it’s where the couple met and fell in love) and Alimento, Zach Pollack’s Italian restaurant in Silver Lake.

The pair opened Ronan in September 2018. During the first year of Ronan’s existence Caitlin was pregnant — they now have two children — and the couple faced the challenges familiar to all mom-and-pop restaurant owners. Reviews were favorable; Bill Addison, of the Los Angeles Times, loved the French Dip-inspired calzone, and Eric Wareheim’s endorsement of the pies brought scores of people in asking for the “Instagram pizza.”

The inevitable dip in traffic came, as the “see and be seen” crowd came and went, but the restaurant’s team labored on and word about the food at Ronan spread. Then came COVID-19. (Jenn Harris has written a wonderful piece on Caitlin and Daniel’s life the day after Los Angeles ordered all restaurants to cease service; you can read it here — LA Times subscription required.)

It’s been, needless to say, a rough, harrowing time, the days and nights since March 31, 2020, for restaurants and the rest of the world. The National Restaurant Association, in a study published in September 2020, reported that nearly one in six restaurants (representing nearly 100,000 establishments in the United States) “is either closed permanently or long-term,” resulting in the unemployment of nearly 3 million individuals. It added that the industry “is on track to lose $240 billion in sales by the end of the year.”

Some meatballs: Ronan’s pork polpettini are things of beauty. (Photo by The Brockhaus)

Ronan survived, about which I am glad, and if you’ve never been to the restaurant, I urge you to book a table. Order the focaccia and the burrata. If you go on Wednesday, all wines made by women are offered at 30 percent off. Try the meatballs, and if the calzone is on the menu, go for it.

Meanwhile, here’s Caitlin Cutler in Wine Talk.

James Brock: How has COVID-19 changed your work and life?

Caitlin Cutler: I am able to spend a lot more time at home with my kids. My husband and I co-own Ronan, and prior to COVID, we both worked five to six nights a week. When safer-at-home orders came out, we had to alternate who would come into work, because one of us had to stay home with the kids (no childcare!). It really gave me the personal and professional balance that I was craving, but couldn’t quite allow myself to have, and now I work at the restaurant three nights a week. 

Caitlin Cutler and her husband, Daniel Cutler, are the couple behind Ronan, a great restaurant in Los Angeles. (Photo by Liam Brown)

JB: Tell us about three wines you think are drinking well at the moment. What makes them worthwhile? How about a food pairing for each one? 

CC: “Bon Jus” Sauvignon Blanc is our skin contact BTG right now, and it just slaps for summertime. I had never had a skin-contact Sauvignon Blanc before this wine, and I’m not particularly partial to the grape in general, but leave it on the skins for 15 days and we’re in business. The wine is unfiltered, no additives, and you can almost taste the coastal Santa Barbara laidback vibes in the glass. Pairing: Sea bass Zarandeado at Ronan.

The “chilled red” is really having a moment, and I am fully behind it. We have three chilled options on the list at Ronan right now, but the one that has my heart is “Soul Love” from Tessier Winery out of Healdsburg. It’s a blend of Riesling (50 percent), Trousseau (20 percent) and Mourvedre (30 percent), and it just sparkles behind its psychedelic label. Don’t let the playful nature of the label fool you, this is a fantastic, nuanced bottle. Tessier is run by a husband-and-wife team, and is 30 percent off on “Women in Wine Wednesdays” at Ronan. Pair with the classic Margherita pizza, do or don’t add anchovies (do).

From Austria, courtesy Claus Preisinger. (Image courtesy Midfield Wine Bar)

I just have to close out this list with the “Puszta Libre!,” a biodynamic Zweigelt from Austrian wine producer Claus Preisinger. This wine never sells unless I suggest it to a table, and it is such a missed opportunity for so many guests who want a bold red, but don’t know how to get out of their comfort zone. I promise you all there are sophisticated reds outside of France, Spain and Italy! Pairing: The pork meatballs at Ronan with a side of some thick focaccia piping hot and dripping in good Sicilian olive oil over the toasted rosemary garnish. 

JB: If cost was no consideration, tell us the one bottle you would add to your personal collection, and why.

CC: I like collecting wines from significant years. My husband and I were both born in 1985, and for our wedding we got two magnums of Emidio Pepe 1985 Montepulciano d’Abruzzo. I would probably get two more from my daughters birth years (2015 and 2019) now, while I can still afford them.  

JB: What is your favorite grape variety, and why?

CC: Hands down, Malvasia. This was the first grape that taught me how much depth there was to discovering wine. I have had bottles that are light and floral, I have had bottles that are earthy and, dare I say, masculine. I have had it still and I have had it sparkling. I have loved it every which way and I can’t wait to try many more iterations. 

JB: How about one bottle that our readers should buy now to cellar for 10 years, to celebrate a birth, anniversary, or other red-letter day? 

CC: I wish I had a good suggestion for this, but I tend to focus on lower cost, newer production on my list. I would say find something sentimental to you and cellar that. Maybe a bottle you had on your first date, or a producer you love from a significant year. Nostalgia can add a lot to your experience years down the road. 

JB: Where is your go-to place when you want to have a glass or bottle (outside of your home and workplace)?

CC: I adore Esters Wine Bar in Santa Monica. The service, the vibe — it’s all so welcoming and yet special at the same time, and you can find really fabulous wines by the glass that you don’t see everywhere else around town.  

JB: If there was one thing you wish everyone would keep in mind when buying and drinking wine, what is it?

CC: It’s not about what the restaurant wants you to drink or what will impress the table next to you.  It’s about you. This is your experience, and we are just here to facilitate it. Talk to your server or the person who does the wine list, ask questions and they will lead you to the hidden gems that fit your needs, but make sure you listen to your gut and drink what you want to drink that night. Sometimes it’s what they suggest, but sometimes it’s a dirty martini or your go-to bottle of Chianti, and that’s A-OK too. 

This bottle makes a wonderful gift.

JB: What is your “wine eureka moment,” the incident/taste/encounter that put you and wine on an intimate plane forever?

CC: In 2014, it was my boss’s birthday and I went to Silver Lake Wine to buy him a bottle of wine. He was a chef with many years of wine knowledge under his belt, and I was a novice restaurant worker just beginning to scratch the service of my wine studies. I went into Silver Lake Wine and bought him a bottle of Rojac “Royaz” sparkling Refošk. He opened it for us to share and it knocked his socks off. He put it on the opening list of his trendy new restaurant in Silver Lake and I had never been prouder. 

Ronan’s dining room features communal tables, booths, and bar seating. (Photo Courtesy Ronan)

JB: What has been the strangest moment or incident involving wine that you have experienced in your career thus far?

CC: I had a friend of a friend (who I didn’t know and had never even met briefly) email me multiple times and repeatedly ask me to waive corkage for his upcoming reservation for a party of six. Ronan was three months old at the time, and we were still paying off our contractors from the years of construction leading up to our recent opening, never mind tackling paying back our investors. I was so insulted that a stranger thought it was appropriate to bring their own wine in and not expect to pay a fee (mind you, our corkage is VERY reasonable). I am so happy that the pandemic brought to light how hard the financials are from a restaurant perspective, and moments like that seem to be a distant memory. 

JB: Your favorite wine reference in a work of literature?

CC: Country music is my guilty pleasure, and any time a female musician talks about drinking red wine and plotting revenge on an ex, I can’t help but smile. 

Want more wine? Read on:

Dan Petroski on Soil and J. Alfred Prufrock
A Canadian Makes Good in Mendocino
Bouchaine’s Chris Kajani Tackles the Challenges of a Pandemic
A Bosnian Winemaker Finds a Home in the Sta. Rita Hills AVA
From a Michigan Backyard Vineyard to Sonoma
Paul Hobbs Knew She Had Talent
Ian Cauble: From ‘Somm’ to SommSelect
Eric Sigmund is High on Texas Wine
Jeff Cole, Sullivan Estate’s Winemaker
Jon McPherson Talks Tokay and His Mentor Father
Two Reds From Chile
An Italian Chardonnay From the Cesare Stable
Mi Sueño’s 2016 Napa Valley Syrah
Joshua Maloney on Riesling and Manfred Krankl
Brothers in Wine
Two Bottles From Priest Ranch
A Derby Day Cocktail
Nate Klostermann is Making Some Great Sparkling Wines in Oregon
Matt Dees and the Electric Acidity of Sta. Rita Hills Chardonnay
Baudelaire, Pinot Noir, and Rosé: Kathleen Inman’s Passions
Colombia, France, and California: This Winemaker is a Complex Woman
Michael Kennedy Talks Sailing and Zinfandel
Spain Opened the World of Wine for Spottswoode’s Aron Weinkauf
Alta Colina’s Molly Lonborg Wants a Bottle of Château Rayas
Mumm Napa’s Tami Lotz Talks Wine and Oysters
James MacPhail on Pinot Noir, White Burgundy, and Russell Crowe
A Very Proper Sparkling Wine
Talking With David Ramey
A Merlot That Your Snob Friend Will Love
French Couple Make a Sauvignon Blanc in California
A Perfect Afternoon Chardonnay
Terry Theise Talks Reisling
A New Wine Wonderland
Paris Wine Goddess Tells All
Rice Village Wine Bar Has a Cleveland Touch
A Texas White Blend for Your Table
A Pinot Noir Full of Flavor
This Pinot Gris From Oregon Pairs Well With Cheese
Willamette, Dammit!
A Value Rioja
Drink Pink!
Underbelly Veteran Goes for Grenache
A Man of Letters and Wine
Ms. Champagne Wants a Nebuchadnezzar
The Wine Artist Goes for Chardonnay
This American Loves Spain and Its Wines
Houston’s Wine Whisperer Has a Soft Touch
Blackberry Farm’s Somm Pours in Splendor
Mr. Pinot Noir: Donald Patz of Patz & Hall
A Cork Dork Wants to Spend More Time in Tuscany
Sommelier Turned Restaurateur Daringly Goes Greek
Texas Master Sommelier Debunks Wine Geeks
A Bottle From Gigondas Changed This Houston Man’s Life
Oil Man Falls in Love, and the Rest is Good-Taste History
Ryan Cooper of Camerata is a Riesling Man
Mixing It Up With Jeremy Parzen, an Ambassador of Italy
Sommelier at One of Houston’s Top Wine Bars Loves Underdogs

Dan Petroski, whose Massican wines have a loyal following, also makes wine for Larkmead Vineyards.

Dan Petroski Talks Soil, T.S. Eliot, and Making Wine in Napa Valley

May 28, 2021 / / 0 Comments

I love to talk about wine with people who share my passion for it. We open bottles, we trade stories about travel and soil types, terroir and residual sugar, and we talk of taste and food and restaurants. We recommend wines to one another, we drink, and we learn a lot.

In Wine Talk, I introduce you to friends, acquaintances, and people I meet as I make my way around the world, individuals who love wine as much as I do, who live to taste, who farm and make wine. You’ll appreciate their insight, and I hope you’ll learn something from them as well. 

Dan Petroski is the man behind some of my favorite white wines made in California. His Massican flagship Annia is on my always-have-around list — it’s a blend of Tocai Friulano, Ribolla Gialla and Chardonnay, and I love its versatility with food and its fetching minerality. If you’ve never experienced a bottle of it, find one today.

Dan Petroski named this expressive wine after his mother. (Courtesy Massican)

Petroski is also in charge of the winemaking at Larkmead Vineyards, and I recently had the pleasure of participating in a virtual session with him and others that took a deep dive into the soils at Larkmead and their effect on the estate’s Cabernet Sauvignon. We tasted three barrel samples and examined some of the estate’s soils. Petroski — who graduated from Columbia University with a degree in history (minor in ancient Greek and Roman history) and played football at the school — spoke eloquently and with authority about the topic.

Any semi-serious wine drinker knows that what a vine (or its rootstock) grows in has (or should have) profound effect on what it produces. But listening to Petroski and Brenna J. Quigley, a geologist who is working with Larkmead (among other clients), talk about that relationship was a valuable way to spend an hour.

The Larkmead Estate: Though it is a valley-floor property, its diversity of soils are more typical of hillside parcels.

Petroski has stated that “Larkmead is blessed with a diverse estate that based on soil profile alone is a snapshot of the entire Napa Valley” and he and Quigley conveyed that in an illuminating manner during the online session. The estate comprises 110 acres planted to vines (69.4 acres of Cabernet Sauvignon, 12.4 acres of Sauvignon Blanc, 11.5 acres of Merlot, 8 acres of Cabernet Franc, 6.6 acres of Petit Verdot, 1.2 acres of Malbec, and 1.1 acres of Tocai Friulano), and the soil profiles include Pleasanton loam, Cortina gravelly loam, Bale clay loam, Bale loam, Clear Lake clay and Cole Silt loam. (If geology turns you on, I recommend John McPhee’s Annals of the Former World. It’s a fascinating masterpiece, written by a master.)

There’s treasure in these soils.

Larkmead was founded in 1895, making it one of the oldest family-owned estates in Napa Valley. While the original owners did make wine for a period of time after its founding, during the second half of the 20th century Larkmead grew grapes for other wineries and winemakers only. Beginning in 1997 that changed, and wine was once again being made under the Larkmead name. (Larkmead still sells 50 percent of its fruit to other entities).

Petroski joined the team as winemaker in 2007 — current owners Cam and Kate Solari Baker know talent when they see it — and in 2020 the estate established and planted a research block (I’ll have more on that in a later article).

Petroski’s style is enthusiastic, thoughtful and engaging. I’m glad he left his career in publishing at Time Inc. to pursue his passion, because he’s making wines I admire and look forward to drinking and sharing.

Let’s get to Dan Petroski in his own words.

James Brock: How has COVID-19 changed your work and life?

Dan Petroski: The shelter-in-place conditions during the COVID-19 pandemic slowed my life down for sure, but it also opened a world of virtual meet-ups and cocktail hours to get to know some of our direct customers a little better.

As wine professionals, historically our relationship building has been with our trade partners — wholesale, restaurant and retail buyers — but 2020 turned that upside down a bit and put us directly, virtually in front of the people who drink our wine. That was special.

JB: Tell us about three wines you think are drinking well at the moment. What makes them worthwhile? How about a food pairing for each one? 

DP: I really love drinking our wines young in fine wine terms — the current release vintages of Larkmead have such great vibrancy that the wines are a joy to drink. I am talking about the 2018, 2016, 2014, 2013 and 2010 vintages specifically for red wines at Larkmead. On a white wine side, I really appreciate our Sauvignon Blanc style, which is a little weightier than a classic table-friendly Sancerre.

A Sauvignon Blanc that “acts like a Chardonnay.”

If I had to host a Larkmead dinner tonight, I would choose our 2018 Lillie Sauvignon Blanc paired with anchovies in butter with crusty bread and maybe a fennel salad. A 2013 Larkmead Cabernet Sauvignon paired with a Zuni-style roasted chicken. And a 2010 Larkmead Solari Cabernet Sauvignon with a selection of hard and soft cheeses to finish the night.

Cortina and Pleasanton soils drive this wine.

JB: If cost was no consideration, tell us the one bottle you would add to your personal collection, and why.

DP: I never drink wine alone, so there is no cost (high or low) that I wouldn’t pay to share a glass of wine with someone. And we all know that a glass of Champagne brings the most joy, so I would love to add as many bottles of my favorite Champagne, Philipponnat Clos des Goisses to my cellar.

JB: What is your favorite grape variety, and why?

DP: Chardonnay in all its forms is one of my favorite grapes. I will go to my grave extolling the beauty of Sauvignon Blanc, and Tocai Friulano is my favorite wine grape that makes the most versatile food-pairing wine. But Cabernet and its sibling Merlot will always haunt me. My top bottles consumed all-time remain Bordeaux blends.

JB: How about one bottle that our readers should buy now to cellar for 10 years, to celebrate a birth, anniversary, or other red-letter day? 

DP: Larkmead or any Napa Valley Cabernet from 2013 or 2016.

Dan Petroski at work in the Larkmead research block. (Photo by Bob McClenahan)

JB: Where is your go-to place when you want to have a glass or bottle (outside of your home and workplace)?

DP: When in Napa, it is great to sit at a bar at all my neighborhood haunts — DM me for a list. When traveling to my hometown, NYC, I love spending time at the bar at all of Danny Meyer’s restaurants, whether Gramercy Tavern, Maialino or more.

JB: If there was one thing you wish everyone would keep in mind when buying and drinking wine, what is it?

DP: Drink what makes you feel good — the story, the deliciousness, the price point, the moment. . . whatever makes you enjoy it the most.

JB: What is your “wine eureka moment,” the incident/taste/encounter that put you and wine on an intimate plane forever?

DP: Probably the story I was told of Sean Thackrey and his wines when sitting at Le Bernardin in 1999. To hear the story of a former art gallery owner who moved out to the far Sonoma Coast and studied the history of wine growing back to ancient Greek and Rome. Sean went on to name his flagship wine after the constellation Pleiades because his blend was of seven grape varieties. This was the story that made me change my life five or six years later and pursue a career in wine.

JB: What has been the strangest moment or incident involving wine that you have experienced in your career thus far?

DP: Strangest would probably be when I taste a wine that I made and say, “Wow, did I make that?” I am very hard on myself and my winemaking. I always say, the best is yet to come, and I hope you come for the ride with me.

JB: Your favorite wine reference in a work of literature?

DP: When T.S. Eliot wrote in The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, “Of restless nights in one-night cheap hotels, And sawdust restaurants with oyster-shells.”

Eliot didn’t mention wine in those lines, but I want a cigarette and a glass of Chablis every time I read them.

Want more wine? Read on:

Bouchaine’s Chris Kajani Tackles the Challenges of a Pandemic
A Bosnian Winemaker Finds a Home in the Sta. Rita Hills AVA
From a Michigan Backyard Vineyard to Sonoma
Paul Hobbs Knew She Had Talent
Ian Cauble: From ‘Somm’ to SommSelect
Eric Sigmund is High on Texas Wine
Jeff Cole, Sullivan Estate’s Winemaker
Jon McPherson Talks Tokay and His Mentor Father
Two Reds From Chile
An Italian Chardonnay From the Cesare Stable
Mi Sueño’s 2016 Napa Valley Syrah
Joshua Maloney on Riesling and Manfred Krankl
Brothers in Wine
Two Bottles From Priest Ranch
A Derby Day Cocktail
Nate Klostermann is Making Some Great Sparkling Wines in Oregon
Matt Dees and the Electric Acidity of Sta. Rita Hills Chardonnay
Baudelaire, Pinot Noir, and Rosé: Kathleen Inman’s Passions
Colombia, France, and California: This Winemaker is a Complex Woman
Michael Kennedy Talks Sailing and Zinfandel
Spain Opened the World of Wine for Spottswoode’s Aron Weinkauf
Alta Colina’s Molly Lonborg Wants a Bottle of Château Rayas
Mumm Napa’s Tami Lotz Talks Wine and Oysters
James MacPhail on Pinot Noir, White Burgundy, and Russell Crowe
A Very Proper Sparkling Wine
Talking With David Ramey
A Merlot That Your Snob Friend Will Love
French Couple Make a Sauvignon Blanc in California
A Perfect Afternoon Chardonnay
Terry Theise Talks Reisling
A New Wine Wonderland
Paris Wine Goddess Tells All
Rice Village Wine Bar Has a Cleveland Touch
A Texas White Blend for Your Table
A Pinot Noir Full of Flavor
This Pinot Gris From Oregon Pairs Well With Cheese
Willamette, Dammit!
A Value Rioja
Drink Pink!
Underbelly Veteran Goes for Grenache
A Man of Letters and Wine
Ms. Champagne Wants a Nebuchadnezzar
The Wine Artist Goes for Chardonnay
This American Loves Spain and Its Wines
Houston’s Wine Whisperer Has a Soft Touch
Blackberry Farm’s Somm Pours in Splendor
Mr. Pinot Noir: Donald Patz of Patz & Hall
A Cork Dork Wants to Spend More Time in Tuscany
Sommelier Turned Restaurateur Daringly Goes Greek
Texas Master Sommelier Debunks Wine Geeks
A Bottle From Gigondas Changed This Houston Man’s Life
Oil Man Falls in Love, and the Rest is Good-Taste History
Ryan Cooper of Camerata is a Riesling Man
Mixing It Up With Jeremy Parzen, an Ambassador of Italy
Sommelier at One of Houston’s Top Wine Bars Loves Underdogs

Alex MacGregor, a former bartender, is the head winemaker at Saracina Vineyards. No, his actual skin tone does not veer toward magenta.

Alex MacGregor and Saracina: An Unfinished Novel of Craft and Passion

May 10, 2021 / / 0 Comments

I love to talk about wine with people who share my passion for it. We open bottles, we trade stories about travel and soil types, terroir and residual sugar, and we talk of taste and food and restaurants. We recommend wines to one another, we drink, and we learn a lot.

In Wine Talk, I introduce you to friends, acquaintances, and people I meet as I make my way around the world, individuals who love wine as much as I do, who live to taste, who farm and make wine. You’ll appreciate their insight, and I hope you’ll learn something from them as well. 

It was a good virtual tasting, the one with Saracina Vineyards in which I participated back in early April. We opened a few bottles, including a 2019 unoaked Chardonnay that I liked very much, and the conversation was witty and engaging.

Alex MacGregor, the winemaker at the Mendocino County-based estate, a man I had never met before the tasting, is now someone with whom I want to share a table, a table reserved for a long meal, because the conversation would, I am confident, be a wide-ranging, eclectic, gratifying adventure. And the wines we open would be just as moving.

MacGregor is a fine conversationalist, an individual who knows how to convey a lot without relying on the feeble crutch of logorrhea. (In addition, David Ramey had a hand in teaching him winemaking, so there’s that.)

He’s a Canadian, and he fell into wine while working at a restaurant in Toronto, one with a stellar list. (His career in the Canadian city included stints at Olivier’s Bistro and Le Select Bistro; he also worked under Héctor Vergara, Canada’s only Master of Wine at the time.) And though he hails from Canada, Mendocino is his home, the land in which he thrives. He made his way to California in 1989 and took a job as an enologist in the Dry Creek Valley. In 2001, John Fetzer and Patty Rock founded Saracina Vineyards, and MacGregor was hired as the first winemaker there (Ramey was consulting with Saracina at the time).

The entrance to Saracina Ranch, in Mendocino County, is a welcoming sight.

MacGregor’s enthusiasm and passion for old vines and family-owned estates is palpable, and there was definitely no reason for Marc Taub (of Palm Bay International and Taub Family Selections), who purchased Saracina from Fetzer and Rock in 2018, to make any changes to the winemaking personnel at the 250-acre property, which, by the way, is Certified California Sustainable. MacGregor is in charge, and I imagine he will be for a long time.

Let’s see what he has to say in Wine Talk.

James Brock: How has COVID-19 changed your work and life?

Alex MacGregor: It’s been unpleasant and stressful on both counts. I’m hopeful we will have learned from this. 

JB: Tell us about three wines you think are drinking well at the moment. What makes them worthwhile? How about a food pairing for each one? 

AM: I’m going local value here. Skylark 2019 Pinot Blanc Orsi Vineyard, Mendocino County ($20). Streamlined, austere in all the right ways. Shellfish city. It’s in limited distribution and direct from their website. 

McGregor recommends Skylark.

Saracina 2019 Unoaked Chardonnay, Mendocino County ($20). Cleansing, pure, unadulterated Chard, stone fruits. Great value if I do say so myself. Pair with anything you want (maybe your significant other), though BBQ might be a stretch. It’s in distribution and available on our website and at the winery.

Boonville Road 2018 Mourvedre Alder Springs, Mendocino County, around $30? Super cool, nervy, slightly green, delicious. I’ve had a few bottles paired with owner Ed Donovan’s smoked brisket (his smoker has a license plate, that’s how serious it is). Amazing pairing. Available direct from the website. 

JB: If cost was no consideration, tell us the one bottle you would add to your personal collection, and why.

AM: 1998 Domaine Jean-Louis Chave Ermitage Cuvée Cathelin. It’s transcendent, beyond wine. I was speechless. 

Not much of this is made. If you can afford a bottle, and find one available, do not hesitate.

JB: What is your favorite grape variety, and why?

AM: Old-vine field blends, like Casa Verde in Mendocino County; Grenache, Carignane, a mystery red and French Colombard, head pruned, 76-year-old dry-farmed vines grown organically. Sum is greater than the parts, crunchy wines. (Plus no trellis or wires so I can walk in any direction I please,which suits me)

JB: How about one bottle that our readers should buy now to cellar for 10 years, to celebrate a birth, anniversary, or other red-letter day? 

AM: The 2019 Saracina Sauvignon Blanc Lolonis Vineyard will be neat in 10 years. Oldest Sauvignon Blanc in the country, planted in ’42. Tons of depth with acid and length. Our older SBs from this vineyard go to a great place with age.

A 2019, and at least one individual recommends that you cellar this until 2029. Give it a go.

JB: Where is your go-to place when you want to have a glass or bottle (outside of your home and workplace)?

AM: With my good friends John Lancaster (wine director at Boulevard) and Robert Perkins (artist, Skylark Wine Co.) in either of their dining rooms. They are both generous, knowledgeable and charming (most of the time). Raveneau, Leflaive, Chave, Huet, Alban, Sine Qua Non, Le Pergole Torte, Quintarelli, always great bottles.

JB: If there was one thing you wish everyone would keep in mind when buying and drinking wine, what is it?

AM: Buy more?

JB: What is your “wine eureka moment,” the incident/taste/encounter that put you and wine on an intimate plane forever?

AM: Sailing (floating?) down the Guadiana between Spain and Portugal, 1986. We would get our flagon filled at the local bodega after throwing anchor, mostly great fino, buy some fresh fish, good to go. Lovely, simple food and wine experience nightly. I remember it like it was yesterday.  

Allen Ginsberg took this photo, in 1996, in North Beach San Francisco.

JB: Your favorite wine reference in a work of literature?

AM: Cliché: War, “Spill the Wine”
Cooler: Lawrence Ferlinghetti, “Drinking French Wine in Middle America”

Bought a bottle of Vouvray
and poured out its bouquet
of the French countryside
on the plains of Middle America
and that fragrance
floods over me
wafts me back
to that rainy hillside
by the banks of the Loire
Vouvray tiny village
where I sat with rucksack
twenty-eight years old
seafarer student
uncorking the local bottle
with its captured scent of spring
fresh wet flowers
in first spring rain
falling lightly now
upon me-

Where gone that lonesome hiker
fugace fugitive
blindfold romantic
wanderer traumatic
in some Rimbaud illusionation-

The spring rain falls
upon the hillside flowers
lavande and coquelicots
the grey light upon them
in time’s pearly gloaming-
Where gone now
and to what homing-
Beardless ghost come back again!

How to Paint Sunlight: Lyric Poems and Others (New Directions).

Want more wine? Read on:

Bouchaine’s Chris Kajani Tackles the Challenges of a Pandemic
A Bosnian Winemaker Finds a Home in the Sta. Rita Hills AVA
From a Michigan Backyard Vineyard to Sonoma
Paul Hobbs Knew She Had Talent
Ian Cauble: From ‘Somm’ to SommSelect
Eric Sigmund is High on Texas Wine
Jeff Cole, Sullivan Estate’s Winemaker
Jon McPherson Talks Tokay and His Mentor Father
Two Reds From Chile
An Italian Chardonnay From the Cesare Stable
Mi Sueño’s 2016 Napa Valley Syrah
Joshua Maloney on Riesling and Manfred Krankl
Brothers in Wine
Two Bottles From Priest Ranch
A Derby Day Cocktail
Nate Klostermann is Making Some Great Sparkling Wines in Oregon
Matt Dees and the Electric Acidity of Sta. Rita Hills Chardonnay
Baudelaire, Pinot Noir, and Rosé: Kathleen Inman’s Passions
Colombia, France, and California: This Winemaker is a Complex Woman
Michael Kennedy Talks Sailing and Zinfandel
Spain Opened the World of Wine for Spottswoode’s Aron Weinkauf
Alta Colina’s Molly Lonborg Wants a Bottle of Château Rayas
Mumm Napa’s Tami Lotz Talks Wine and Oysters
James MacPhail on Pinot Noir, White Burgundy, and Russell Crowe
A Very Proper Sparkling Wine
Talking With David Ramey
A Merlot That Your Snob Friend Will Love
French Couple Make a Sauvignon Blanc in California
A Perfect Afternoon Chardonnay
Terry Theise Talks Reisling
A New Wine Wonderland
Paris Wine Goddess Tells All
Rice Village Wine Bar Has a Cleveland Touch
A Texas White Blend for Your Table
A Pinot Noir Full of Flavor
This Pinot Gris From Oregon Pairs Well With Cheese
Willamette, Dammit!
A Value Rioja
Drink Pink!
Underbelly Veteran Goes for Grenache
A Man of Letters and Wine
Ms. Champagne Wants a Nebuchadnezzar
The Wine Artist Goes for Chardonnay
This American Loves Spain and Its Wines
Houston’s Wine Whisperer Has a Soft Touch
Blackberry Farm’s Somm Pours in Splendor
Mr. Pinot Noir: Donald Patz of Patz & Hall
A Cork Dork Wants to Spend More Time in Tuscany
Sommelier Turned Restaurateur Daringly Goes Greek
Texas Master Sommelier Debunks Wine Geeks
A Bottle From Gigondas Changed This Houston Man’s Life
Oil Man Falls in Love, and the Rest is Good-Taste History
Ryan Cooper of Camerata is a Riesling Man
Mixing It Up With Jeremy Parzen, an Ambassador of Italy
Sommelier at One of Houston’s Top Wine Bars Loves Underdogs

Chris Kajani took over at Bouchaine Vineyards in 2015. (Photo by Bob McClenehan)

Pandemic Pivot: Chris Kajani Has Bouchaine Vineyards in Fine Form

May 3, 2021 / / 0 Comments

I love to talk about wine with people who share my passion for it. We open bottles, we trade stories about travel and soil types, terroir and residual sugar, and we talk of taste and food and restaurants. We recommend wines to one another, we drink, and we learn a lot.

In Wine Talk, I introduce you to friends, acquaintances, and people I meet as I make my way around the world, individuals who love wine as much as I do, who live to taste, who farm and make wine. You’ll appreciate their insight, and I hope you’ll learn something from them as well. 

I was already planning to visit Bouchaine Vineyards this year (as soon as possible) when I heard about the falcons.

It was during a recent Zoom tasting with Chris Kajani, the estate’s winemaker and general manager, and the images of the raptors — I am a hopeless and indefatigable admirer of birds — transported me.

We tasted some delicious Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Pinot Meunier with Kajani that day, who was stationed in Bouchaine’s well-appointed kitchen, and I was impressed with the wines and Kajani’s stories of her father’s wine collection, as well as the way she and rest of the Bouchaine team responded to the demands and challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic.

This kitchen is usually full of activity.

Bouchine took the now-universal Zoom tastings to new heights, and featured chefs and cooking classes and dining, as well as live music and falconry demonstrations, all paired with Bouchaine wines, of course. (These programs continue today, and have proved popular with individuals, groups, and corporations.)

A Bouchaine initiative I find especially appealing is called B-Together, a collection of recipes and videos featuring chefs including Martin Slavin, Scott Warner, and Joey Altman (along with tours of the estate’s vineyards and some musical performances). You’ll find recipes for, among other dishes, Mongolian lamb, Serbian sun bread, Dan Dan noodles, and Shangai-style pork belly sliders.

And those falcons. In addition to scaring away pesky birds, the raptors, overseen by Kate Marden, owner of West Coast Falconry, star in demonstrations that visitors to the estate can experience.

“Falconry helps us maintain our commitment to sustainable farming, but it’s also just an amazing thing to witness,“ says Kajani.

Kajani has a background in biotech, the field in which her career began, but journeys to Europe worked their way on her already strong passion for wine — which had been kindled and nurtured by her Napa upbringing — and she enrolled at UC Davis and earned a master’s degree in viticulture and enology.

She began working at Saintsbury in 2006 as associate winemaker, and in 2013 became the winemaker there. In 2015, she moved to Bouchaine, accepting the position that she holds today.

This Carneros AVA estate was founded in 1981 by Tatiana and Gerret Copeland.

Bouchaine is one of the oldest continuously operating family-run properties in the Carneros AVA. Of the estate’s 87 planted acres, 46 are dedicated to Pinot Noir and 31 to Chardonnay; the remaining 10 acres grow Riesling, Gewürztraminer, Pinot Meunier, and Syrah.

Let’s talk to Kajani, and hear what she has to say about, among other things, sneaking a bottle of Riesling into a movie theater.

James Brock: How has COVID-19 changed your work and life?

Chris Kajani: Professionally, it was incredibly lonely. No guests at the winery, no travel to enjoy winemaker dinners with fans or at events, and a constant anxiety over the health of our team, our families, our community, and our industry. Personally, I was strengthened by family and community bonds. I drew, and continue to draw, a deep satisfaction from working with a team that is world class in the wine business. 

Our team pivoted with grace and seized a moment to cultivate a robust virtual tasting program that has propelled our business forward. Bouchaine was one of the first wineries to introduce virtual tastings that offer guests a variety of different experiences, from a tasting of Pinot Noir blends versus single clones, to wine and chocolate or cheese pairings, and even virtual falconry demonstrations. Upcoming — wine and bourbon tastings, and also pairing Bouchaine wines with music selections from the Philadelphia Orchestra. Because of our team’s hard work we are hosting corporate and group virtual tastings multiple times a day, which has allowed Bouchaine to thrive throughout a challenging time.

JB: Tell us about three wines you think are drinking well at the moment. What makes them worthwhile? How about a food pairing for each one?

CK: 2020 Bouchaine Vin Gris of Pinot Noir ($29): Just released and bursting with guava, watermelon, and nectarine flavors. The bright acidity and tangy mouthfeel work with a multitude of dishes but sings with anything off the grill (scallops, chicken, salmon). It can be purchased on our website.

A beautiful shade of Pinot Noir.

2018 Bouchaine Pommard Clone Pinot Noir, Estate Selection ($65):  All blue fruit (plum, blueberry) with hints of mocha and cigar tobacco. The Pommard clone showcases a lush creamier palate, a huge crowd-pleaser. Try with lamb chops, or cocoa/espresso-rubbed hangar steak.

The 2013 Domaine Carneros Le Reve Blanc de Blancs ($120): A favorite of Team Bouchaine. Their winemaker, Zak Miller, was one of my interns when I was making wine at Saintsbury, and he is gifted in the magic of crafting sparkling wine. We love the nutty character, texture, and play on beautiful fruit layers and ginger spice.  

This one is worthy of cellaring until 2035, at least.

JB: If cost was no consideration, tell us the one bottle you would add to your personal collection, and why.

CK: I need a bottle of the 170-year-old Champagne that was discovered in the shipwreck off the coast of Finland in 2015. As a Champagne junkie, that would be the ultimate wine experience.

JB: What is your favorite grape variety, and why?

CK: Pinot Noir is my first love; I like the yin/yang of its character. It’s a shapeshifter — so intoxicating, yet fickle. Pinot Noir showcases layers of depth and intrigue, but it’s also thin-skinned. It grows more succulent over time and also has a legitimate reputation for being difficult. There is no shortage of personality in great Pinot Noir.  

Chris Kajani working in a Bouchaine vineyard. (Photo by Bob McClenehan)

JB: How about one bottle that our readers should buy now to cellar for 10 years, to celebrate a birth, anniversary, or other red-letter day? 

CK: Pick a cooler vintage full of tension, texture, and bright acidity. The 2008, 2009, and 2010 Pinot Noirs from Carneros are gorgeous right now. For more current releases, try the 2018 Bouchaine Swan Clone Pinot Noir, Estate Selection, which is bright and graceful, but with an underlying current of strength and ageability.

JB: Where is your go-to place when you want to have a glass or bottle (outside of your home and workplace)?

CK: I love the Carneros Resort and Spa and spend as much time as I can on the lovely patio outside of FARM restaurant. FARM has an amazing wine list (thanks to the über talented Zion Curiel) and delectable food (Chef Aaron Meneghelli rocks) I am also devoted to Bistro Don Giovanni (Chef Scott Warner’s pastas and salmon!).

Bouchaine Vineyards, where the views are things of beauty.

JB: If there was one thing you wish everyone would keep in mind when buying and drinking wine, what is it?

CK: Drink what you like. Then find a local wine shop and link up with someone who can recommend wines based on what you enjoy. This opens up another exciting dimension of wine when you can taste what is happening across the wine world.  And travel! Visiting wine regions brings not only the wine, but the culture, people, and history into your muscle memory when you open those bottles. Every bottle of wine tells a story; the more you know about where it comes from or who made it, the greater the enjoyment.

JB: What is your “wine eureka moment,” the incident/taste/encounter that put you and wine on an intimate plane forever?

CK: My dad’s wine cellar, circa 1990. Napa Valley showing off beautiful wines from the 1970s and 1980s.

JB: What has been the strangest moment or incident involving wine that you have experienced in your career?

CK: We snuck a bottle of Riesling into a movie once and during one of those quiet emotional scenes we knocked it over — with the entire theater listening to it roll down many rows (screw top, thankfully). The people that caught it handed it back to us and the entire theater cheered.

Unoaked and ready for a new season in the EPL.

JB: Your favorite wine reference in a work of literature?

CK: “In victory, you deserve Champagne. In defeat you need it.”

― Napoleon Bonaparte

Or when our 2018 Bouchaine Unoaked Estate Chardonnay was compared to Ted Lasso by R.H. Drexel – I fell on the floor laughing.  So perfect.

Want more wine? Read on:

A Bosnian Winemaker Finds a Home in the Sta. Rita Hills AVA
From a Michigan Backyard Vineyard to Sonoma
Paul Hobbs Knew She Had Talent
Ian Cauble: From ‘Somm’ to SommSelect
Eric Sigmund is High on Texas Wine
Jeff Cole, Sullivan Estate’s Winemaker
Jon McPherson Talks Tokay and His Mentor Father
Two Reds From Chile
An Italian Chardonnay From the Cesare Stable
Mi Sueño’s 2016 Napa Valley Syrah
Joshua Maloney on Riesling and Manfred Krankl
Brothers in Wine
Two Bottles From Priest Ranch
A Derby Day Cocktail
Nate Klostermann is Making Some Great Sparkling Wines in Oregon
Matt Dees and the Electric Acidity of Sta. Rita Hills Chardonnay
Baudelaire, Pinot Noir, and Rosé: Kathleen Inman’s Passions
Colombia, France, and California: This Winemaker is a Complex Woman
Michael Kennedy Talks Sailing and Zinfandel
Spain Opened the World of Wine for Spottswoode’s Aron Weinkauf
Alta Colina’s Molly Lonborg Wants a Bottle of Château Rayas
Mumm Napa’s Tami Lotz Talks Wine and Oysters
James MacPhail on Pinot Noir, White Burgundy, and Russell Crowe
A Very Proper Sparkling Wine
Talking With David Ramey
A Merlot That Your Snob Friend Will Love
French Couple Make a Sauvignon Blanc in California
A Perfect Afternoon Chardonnay
Terry Theise Talks Reisling
A New Wine Wonderland
Paris Wine Goddess Tells All
Rice Village Wine Bar Has a Cleveland Touch
A Texas White Blend for Your Table
A Pinot Noir Full of Flavor
This Pinot Gris From Oregon Pairs Well With Cheese
Willamette, Dammit!
A Value Rioja
Drink Pink!
Underbelly Veteran Goes for Grenache
A Man of Letters and Wine
Ms. Champagne Wants a Nebuchadnezzar
The Wine Artist Goes for Chardonnay
This American Loves Spain and Its Wines
Houston’s Wine Whisperer Has a Soft Touch
Blackberry Farm’s Somm Pours in Splendor
Mr. Pinot Noir: Donald Patz of Patz & Hall
A Cork Dork Wants to Spend More Time in Tuscany
Sommelier Turned Restaurateur Daringly Goes Greek
Texas Master Sommelier Debunks Wine Geeks
A Bottle From Gigondas Changed This Houston Man’s Life
Oil Man Falls in Love, and the Rest is Good-Taste History
Ryan Cooper of Camerata is a Riesling Man
Mixing It Up With Jeremy Parzen, an Ambassador of Italy
Sommelier at One of Houston’s Top Wine Bars Loves Underdogs

Yxta Cocina Mexicana makes good things. (Courtesy Yxta)

What James Is Eating: Three Fine Tacos From Yxta Cocina Mexicana

April 9, 2021 / / 0 Comments

Dining out of doors is always a good idea, especially during a viral pandemic, of course. I do miss sitting at a table and soaking in the ambiance and environment of a well-designed space, but I’ll survive. Indoor dining will resume for me …

Last night a patio in the Arts District, in downtown Los Angeles, was the venue, and the happy hour menu at Yxta Cocina Mexicana was the occasion. It was our first time there, and it’s been added to our recommend list, because the food was excellent.

Guacamole with toasted pumpkin seeds, tortilla chips warm and salty and fresh, and six well-made tacos, starting with Lela’s Ground Beef and continuing with Tacos de Carnitas, the latter featuring blue-corn tortillas.

Moist, succulent pork and a perfect tortilla

The pork had been cooked with care, and it was flavorful and moist, and crisp in all the right places. The cilantro, onions, and guacamole completed the plate.

Ground beef, tomatoes, potatoes, jack cheese, and a fried tortilla

My mother often made tacos and filled them with seasoned ground beef, and we — my father and sisters and I — loved them. I have in my heart a soft spot for such tacos, so when we saw a version on the menu at Yxta we didn’t hesitate. And the decision paid off.

I love the way the ground beef tacos were sat on chipotle mashed potatoes, so they would stand upright and allow one to handle them neatly. The potatoes, here, had a dual purpose, because we ate them all, with relish. Spicy, rich, comforting they were, and if you dine at Yxta do not leave them on the plate.

The tortillas were fried in oil, an oil that we could not taste, because the cook knew what he or she was doing with temperature and time. They were crisp and hot and melted in the mouth, combining with the meat and salsa and cheese and lettuce in a beautiful way.

I ordered a final plate during our meal, Tacos de Papa. I thought I could eat them, but I was wrong. I put them in a box, and had them for lunch today. The chipotle mashed potatoes star in this taco, pairing with tangy cabbage, queso fresco, and salsa brava. I warmed them gently in a convection oven, and lunch was good.

Samra Morris, who became the head winemaker at Alma Rosa Winery in 2019, hails from Bosnia.

Bosnia’s Loss is California’s Gain: Samra Morris Takes the Lead at Alma Rosa

April 7, 2021 / / 0 Comments

I love to talk about wine with people who share my passion for it. We open bottles, we trade stories about travel and soil types, terroir and residual sugar, and we talk of taste and food and restaurants. We recommend wines to one another, we drink, and we learn a lot.

In Wine Talk, I introduce you to friends, acquaintances, and people I meet as I make my way around the world, individuals who love wine as much as I do, who live to taste, who farm and make wine. You’ll appreciate their insight, and I hope you’ll learn something from them as well. 

The world of wine never fails to provide me with pleasure. Opening a bottle, walking through a vineyard, tasting a barrel sample, meeting a fellow traveler in l’univers du vin … the discovery and exploration never end.

The journey continued last month on a beautiful expanse of land in Santa Barbara County, a property that played a major role in the formation of the Sta. Rita Hills AVA. (If you don’t know the name Richard Sanford, go ahead and learn about him, because he is truly the “Godfather of Central Coast Pinot Noir.”)

Samra Morris: “I think that would be my guidance: Drink what you love.” (Courtesy Alma Rosa Winery)

We had driven up from Los Angeles, and Buellton was my destination, specifically the Alma Rosa Winery tasting room. I was there to meet Samra Morris, Alma Rosa’s winemaker since 2019, for a tasting and a tour of the estate. (Note: For those who may not know this, the small complex in which the tasting room is housed is a must-visit when/if you do visit the town. One of my favorite restaurants in California — Industrial Eats — is also located there, and its food alone is worth the trip, especially the beef tongue pastrami reuben and the white shrimp wrapped in pancetta.)

A beef tongue pastrami sandwich extraordinaire …
White shrimp, pancetta, garlic, butter …

We sampled a bit of Alma Rosa sparkling at the tasting room; it was a warm afternoon, and the wine was good. What followed was a 10-minute drive to the estate along a quiet, nearly traffic-free road, and then, beauty.

Alma Rosa’s 628 acres (38 acres planted to vines) spread from the valley floor to the top of the Santa Rosa Hills. The estate vineyard, El Jabali, originally planted by Richard Sanford in 1983, has been joined by four non-contiguous plots of Pinot Noir (55 percent), Chardonnay (30 percent), and Syrah and Grenache (15 percent), all farmed using sustainable practices.

Sanford and his wife, Thekla, sold the estate to Bob and Barb Zorich in 2014. Zorich is a businessman in the oil industry who now resides in Houston, Texas, but he and his wife both attended school at the University of California Santa Barbara and have a home in the coastal city. They were introduced to the Sanfords in 2013, and, upon discovering that the property was for sale, took a leap into the world of winery ownership.

A ride through Alma Rosa Winery is a feast for the senses.

When we arrived at Alma Rosa, Morris took us on a quick ATV ride to a vineyard planted with Syrah — no bud break yet. Along the way we spied a few turkeys. Bobcats, deer, and mountain lions are also denizens of the property, the latter rarely seen.

Vines and hills …

Back at the ranch house on the valley floor we tasted with Morris and Debra Eagle, Alma Rosa’s general manager. Both women are engaging, passionate about wine and the estate, and great ambassadors for the brand.

Morris was born and raised in Bosnia, and attended the University of Sarajevo, where she studied agriculture and food sciences, receiving bachelor’s and master’s degrees. She met an American in the U.S. Air Force who was stationed overseas, and they moved to California when his duty took him back to the states.

She interned at St. Supéry in 2014, and worked three harvests with Thomas Rivers Brown as a cellar intern at Mending Wall. In 2017, Morris began working as a lab assistant at Free Flow Wines, and by 2019 was a quality control manager there. She became Alma Rosa’s winemaker later that year.

Here is Morris in her own words.

James Brock: How has COVID-19 changed your work and life?

Samra Morris: I think Covid-19 has affected me more personally than professionally. As a winemaker, I have been fortunate to be able to go to work every day and enjoy my cellar duties. It was a good escape from reality and what is happening in the world. It gave me a sense of peace that I needed. 

Personally, it affected me in that I didn’t have the opportunity to go home to see my family in Bosnia and enjoy my time with them. I had already been missing them a lot, so I was very disappointed when my flight was canceled. I’ve been very homesick recently, so I hope that by the end of this year we all get vaccinated and I have an opportunity to see my family next summer. 

JB: Tell us about three wines you think are drinking well at the moment. What makes them worthwhile? How about a food pairing for each one?

SM: I will start with Alma Rosa’s 2018 El Jabali Pinot Noir ($68). It is a gorgeous Pinot Noir that represents our beautiful Sta. Rita Hills in the glass. You can purchase this wine through our website or at our tasting room in Buellton. I would pair this wine with red meats. 

An estate Pinot Noir

The second wine is Alma Rosa’s 2020 Grenache Rosé ($30) from our Sta. Rita Hills estate vineyard. This rosé is beautiful, and salty strawberry notes and bright acidity make this gorgeous wine perfect to drink in the summertime. Growing up in Bosnia, we often took summer vacations on the Croatian coast. The salinity and acidity in this wine reminds me of the Old World Adriatic wines I loved from home. I would pair this wine with a light shrimp salad.

The third bottle would be the 2017 Foxy Bubbles ($55) by Blair Fox Cellars, located in Los Olivos. This is a delicious sparkling wine, and I don’t need an excuse — an occasion or food — to enjoy a bottle of it. 

JB: If cost was no consideration, tell us the one bottle you would add to your personal collection, and why.

SM: If cost were not an issue, I would choose a bottle — or a few cases — of the 2014 Maybach “Materium” Cabernet Sauvignon.

I call it a perfect glass of wine. Also, this was the first bottle I had the opportunity to share with my family when I went home for the first time after moving to California, and while sharing this bottle with them we also shared laughs and good conversation that we needed to catch up after so many years apart.

JB: What is your favorite grape, and why?

SM: As a winemaker and as a wine drinker, my favorite grape to work with is definitely Pinot Noir. Due to its thin skin, tight clusters and late ripening, Pinot Noir can be a fragile variety that always challenges me as a winemaker. As a wine drinker I just love the aromas and perfume notes.

JB: How about one bottle that our readers should buy now to cellar for 10 years, to celebrate a birth, anniversary, or other red-letter day? 

SM: The one bottle I’d buy to cellar for the next 10 years is Saxum’s 2018 Paderewski Vineyard. This wine is spectacular, and it’s worth opening for your next major celebration. 

JB: Where is your go-to place when you want to have a glass or bottle (outside of your home and workplace)?

SM: It would be somewhere I get to look at the ocean. We have so many beautiful places in Santa Barbara County where I can experience that. The ocean is so powerful, and looking at it while sipping wine is so relaxing for me. 

JB: If there was one thing you wish everyone would keep in mind when buying and drinking wine, what is it?

There are so many times when people ask me what my favorite wine is that they should buy, and I always reply by asking them about their favorite wine and what they like to taste when drinking wine. 

I think that would be my guidance: Drink what you love to taste.

JB: What is your “wine eureka moment,” the incident/taste/encounter that put you and wine on an intimate plane forever?

SM: I think when I made wines for the first time as a winemaker. It created a different relationship between me and wines, it became much more personal. I became more passionate and think of my wines in cellar as my babies. Having the wine that I made in a bottle and sharing it with friends, family, and our customers makes me so happy. I know that all of my hard work has paid off when I see smiles on their faces. 

JB: What has been the strangest moment or incident involving wine that you have experienced in your career?

SM: The strangest moment involving wine that I have experienced in my career is my relationship with forklifts. When I first became a winemaker, I thought I would never be able to drive a forklift like a professional. One of the skills of being a winemaker, besides producing wines, is needing to be extremely handy in the cellar. At first it was a very daunting task, but every time I was on the forklift I became more familiar.

Now, I am so proud of my forklift skills and my forever connection to them! At Alma Rosa we use forklifts throughout the year, moving barrels and pallets of wine around the cellar and dumping bins of grapes into the press during harvest. When visiting the winery, you can often find me on the forklift. 

JB: Your favorite wine reference in a work of literature?

SM: In Vino Veritas. It’s a phrase I learned while studying about wine at college.

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