Rioja means a lot to me. I’ve spent time in the beautiful region on several occasions, with Angela and friends, and we always dined and drank well.
This wine is a must-buy.
Tempranillo is the key word there, and here, because the wine I want to tell you about today is 100 percent Tempranillo, a Crianza from Viña Pomal.
As you’ll read, I paired it with lamb chops, and everything about the combination was just right. You can find this bottle for around $16, and I’d buy it by the case if I were you.
It’s going to be amazing …
For anyone in Los Angeles on March 10, I have a recommendation for you, and it can be conveyed in three words: Heitz, Mayacamas, and Corison. You’ll need a reservation at the NoMad Hotel, an appetite, and the capacity to deal with wines from three spectacular producers.
EVENING MENU
CANAPES Cauliflower Hummus Tartlet Chicken Burger with Truffle Mayo, Frisee & Pickled Shallots Hanger Steak Skewer with Salsa Verde
Paired with Billecart-Salmon, Selection NoMad, Extra Brut, Mareuil-Sur-Ay
FIRST COURSE Kanpachi Ceviche Radish, Onion, and Lettuces
Paired with 2018 Heitz, Chardonnay, Quartz Creek Vineyard 2018 Corazon, Gewurztraminer, Anderson Valley 2002 Mayacamas, Chardonnay, Mt Veeder
SECOND COURSE Cavatelli Winter Mushrooms, Swiss Chard & Parmesan
Paired with 2014 Heitz, Cabernet Sauvignon, Trailside Vineyard 2015 Corison, Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley 2015 Mayacamas, Cabernet Sauvignon, Mt. Veeder
THIRD COURSE NoMad Roasted Chicken Breast Black Truffle-Parmesan Stuffing with Roasted Sweet Potatoes & Chicken Jus
Paired with 2000 Heitz, Cabernet Sauvignon, Trailside Vineyard 2005 Corison, Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley 2005 Mayacamas, Cabernet Sauvignon, Mt. Veeder
The tariffs will remain at 25 percent, stated the Office of the United States Trade Representative last week, and that’s a good thing for the wine and spirits industry. However, it is far too soon for cries of joy.
The U.S. was mulling slapping tariffs at a much higher level — perhaps as high as 100 percent — but decided to maintain the status quo.
Airbus is the entity the U.S. government is upset with, and that dispute is the cause for the current tariffs that are imposed on European wines, cheeses, and other items. The USTR’s office, in its Feb. 14 statement, added that the tariffs on Airbus will increase to 15 percent from the current 10 percent, effective March 18.
According to the Wine & Spirits Wholesalers of America (WSWA), referring to data from economists at John Dunham and Associates, under current tariff levels, the U.S. beverage alcohol industry could lose as many as 36,000 jobs, and awards of $1.6 billion in wages, which could cost the U.S. economy more than $5.3 billion in 2020.
“Our industry provides consumers with the most diverse selection of products in the world and supports hundreds of thousands of jobs across the country in an array of related industries,” said Michelle Korsmo WSWA president and CEO. “Our members offer products for every taste, budget and occasion and are already being negatively impacted by the imposition of retaliatory tariffs by China and the European Union on U.S-origin distilled spirits and wines – these tariffs will only increase that burden.”
The 25 percent tariff in place now apply to still wine with an alcohol content below 14 percent produced in France, Germany, Spain, and the United Kingdom. Wine from Italy, as well as all sparkling wine, is spared. The tariffs also effect single-malt Scotch whisky, whiskey from Northern Ireland, and cordials and liqueurs hailing from Germany, Ireland, Italy, Spain, and the U.K.
Stay tuned, because this trade dispute is far from over.
The year past (2019) held many high notes regarding wine, including the opportunity — made possible by a generous friend — to taste a 1964 Private Reserve Beaulieu Vineyard Georges de Latour. Capped by a wedding in Texas Hill Country, a honeymoon in Napa and Sonoma, and a move to Los Angeles, it was a vintage year.
Domaine Anderson is an Anderson Valley AVA winery whose Pinot Noirs and Chardonnays you should know.
As 2020 begins, I’m thinking of the final bottle I opened in 2019, and looking forward to all the pours the new year promises. That last bottle of the past year was a 2015 Pinot Noir from Domaine Anderson, a wine I paired with burgers (and would gladly drink with lamb chops or a steak). Here are my thoughts on the wine, which first appeared in PaperCity.
Those bottles to come? First up will be something hailing from Italy …
The sun itself was still obscured by the mountains visible from my living room window early this morning when I raised the shade, but its light was close to glorious, awesome in the true meaning of the word. One could even have called it holy.
Last night, for some reason, I was thinking of “The Year of Magical Thinking” — not the book, but the play. I attended a performance in 2007, in March of that year, at the Booth, and have not forgotten it. The words of Joan Didion, the stage presence and feelings of Vanessa Redgrave, and loss. Loss so stunning and final that the mind is sheared flat by the force of it.
This morning, when I walked out to the living room, I saw that light. I stood at the wall of windows for a few minutes, not wanting to let it go. It was blue and orange and gold and pink, and it was waking up downtown Los Angeles, where I now live.
Several minutes later, while drinking a coffee, I came across an email that told me this: Today is Joan Didion’s birthday. After reading that, I walked back over to the windows and watched the sun rise above Los Angeles, a city whose stories Didion told well. I then thought of this quote of hers:
Life changes fast. Life changes in the instant. You sit down to dinner and life as you know it ends.
As you know it.
Joan Didion in Hollywood, 1968 (Photo by Julian Wasser)
I have read most of Didion’s work, but I will soon begin reading it again, in my new city.
Happy Birthday, Ms. Didion. I hope you celebrated well.
I have celebrated Thanksgiving in many places and at many tables. In Savannah, New York, Germany, Paris, Abu Dhabi and Dubai, New York, Clemson, South Carolina … and, today, in Los Angeles, our new home.
Thanksgiving in the 10th, Paris.Scott’s Thanksgiving table in Paris …
Angela and I arrived in California on November 1, and set up a temporary home in a building 31 floors downtown above Olive Street. This morning she’s helping pack foodstuffs for homeless people who have made their home on Skid Row, and I’m putting the final touches on our Thanksgiving dinner contributions. And thinking of dishes from the past. Of roasting peppers for a dressing, and mixing cranberries with horseradish and onion and cream.
Mama Stamberg’s cranberry relish
It’s raining and overcast, and I hope that helps the firefighters in Santa Barbara. Our smoked turkey (not from those fires; this turkey was smoked in Tyler, Texas) is ready, I made sweet potato pies, and Julia Child’s mashed potatoes are under way.
We are dining with friends of a friend — a couple who live in West Hollywood asked us to share their table with them and their 18-year-old son home from college and their 8-year-old daughter.
At that table today, I will think of my mother, whose crescent rolls and pecans pies I’ll remember when I am old and dimming. My mind will glimpse my grandmother Ida, and my aunt, Shelby, whose cooking pleases me still and produces in me a longing that often approaches the painful — those biscuits and fried chicken, the Low Country boils, with their blue crab and shrimp and sausage and corn, and the divinity. A certain Thanksgiving spent in Clemson in a small apartment full of laughter and literature and beer and wine will float around me.
James and Sandra Brock, my parentsIda, on the beach. My aunt Shelby (on left)
I hope you feast well today, in the company of good and gracious people. They will not be near you forever.
It is a top day for me, Thanksgiving. It brings families and friends together, and the focus is on the table. I try to make Mama Stamberg’s cranberry relish every year for the occasion (thank you, Craig Claiborne, you did well), and I either brine a small turkey or order a smoked bird from Greenberg — they are good. Angela makes a pie or two, and I make Scooter’s Southwestern Dressing.
And we serve wine, of course. We usually kick things off with a sparkling wine — perhaps Champagne or Sekt — and I always look forward to seeing what guests bring to share.
A bottle from Ramey Wine Cellars will be on our Thanksgiving table.
Angela and I will celebrate Thanksgiving in Los Angeles this year, and a Greenberg bird will be the main course. What are going to drink? I can with certainty say that everything we open will be poured with gratitude. There’s a Lambrusco, a Chardonnay or two — one made by David Ramey, whose 2016 Hyde Vineyard Chardonnay is #7 on Wine Spectator’s 2019 list of the world’s top 100 wines — and a Pinot Noir, not to mention a Champagne from a storied house. We also have a great dessert wine from California.
Without further ado, my totally biased 2019 Thanksgiving Wine Selections, as first seen in PaperCity. Drink well, cook with love, and have a wonderful Thanksgiving.
Want more wine? Take a look at theses stories and profiles:
I have been drinking wines from Ehlers Estate for a good number of years, and this week was finally able to visit the winery, which is located in St. Helena on an historic property that was developed by Bernard Ehlers in the 1800s.
Cabernet Franc, Sauvignon Blanc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Rosé comprise the bulk of the estate’s offerings, and based on some tank tasting, I am excited about what Ehlers’ new winemaker has under way.
Her name is Laura Díaz Muñoz; she took over as winemaker and general manager of Ehlers in 2018 … and her touch and style are evident everywhere. There’s a concrete egg in the winery’s tank room (a first at Ehlers), and Muñoz has long-term plans for some of the estate’s established vines — she is confident that they have much more (quality) life in them.
Laura Díaz Muñoz pulls a sample in the Ehlers Estate tank room.
Muñoz is from Spain, and studied enology at the Polytechnic University of Madrid.
“I was sitting with my father in northern Spain at a restaurant during a family vacation, and he ordered percebes and a local wine,” she told me when I asked her about her introduction to the world of wine. “I sipped the wine, and tasted the seafood and smelled the sea air, and from that moment knew that I somehow wanted to live and work with wine.”
After graduation, Muñoz worked at several wineries in Spain, then took her skills to New Zealand and Chile. California was her next stop, and she has been in the Napa Valley for more than a decade, making wine for Cardinale, Galerie, La Jota, and, since last year, Ehlers.
Muñoz checks Cabernet Sauvignon in one of Ehlers’ vineyards.Ehlers has a new addition in its tank room.Muñoz walks a different section of Ehlers’ 42-acres of vines every morning.
I am not one to visit a restaurant before it has had time to iron out the details, before back of the house and front of the house teams have gone through a good number of services.
I made an exception last week in Houston. Rosie Cannonball is the name, and I trust the executive chef there. His name is Felipe Riccio, and his approach to cooking appeals to me. (The other principals at the restaurant — David Keck, Ryan Cooper, June Rodil, and Adam Garcia — also made it easy for me to join the early-days crowd.)
Angela and I arrived for our 9 p.m. reservation, and the next two hours passed in a wonderful and delicious way. We began with burrata and charred tomatoes, which, we eventually decided, was the best dish of the evening. The tomatoes were juicy and rich, the burrata — partly melted, partly solid — was substantial and authentic, and the bread accompanying it was among the best I’ve had in Houston, the crust crisp and charred, the interior moist, hot, and almost chewy.
Charred leeks were next, and though not as satisfying as the first course — my palate was a bit confused by the flavors here, as a lemony/citrus note seemed to battle back and forth with an anchovy/briny undertone, never achieving unity, and the thickest parts of the leeks were a bit too mushy — the crisper and charred portions of the vegetable were memorable. I like the application of flame to vegetables, and this dish is something I want to try one more time.
Charred leeks, salsa verde, toasted bread crumbs, and leek powder, at Rosie Cannonball
Pizza was next; we went for simple cheese pie, because I love the source of the cheeses used here. Lira Rossa is a creamery based in Texas, run by an Italian, and everything I’ve tried from the place has been authentic and good.
As with the burrata, the dough part of this pie was superb, as was the tomato sauce, but … we needed more cheese. Simply put, the amounts of mozzarella, latteria, and caciotta were deficient (in our opinions). We did not mention this to Maggie, the woman who was taking our orders and delivering our food and wine (as I told you, Rosie Cannonball is a new restaurant, and we did not expect perfection), but when the check arrived, we were told the chef had been unhappy with the pie so was not going to charge us.
This is not your everyday mint chocolate chip ice cream, and that’s a good thing. Rosie Cannonball’s version should be on your agenda.
Desserts? We debated this decision for a few minutes, then decided on the Good Thyme Farm Mint Gelato and the Torrijas. Angela has had a long and satisfying relationship with mint chocolate chip ice cream, and she gave this version of the flavor a hearty “yes” … it was creamy and rich and made with care.
My brioche was over the top, in the best way. I have been scaling back my consumption of desserts, but was glad I made an exception here. I was served a brioche that was dense and crisp, roasted in the embers of Rosie Cannonball’s wood-burning oven, accompanied by a fine ice cream swirled with dulce de leche. It was all a success, a dish whose individual components sang together with grace
Seriously decadent: This brioche French toast with dulce de leche and milk ice cream will make you very happy.
I am in the process of dining at my favorite restaurants in Houston, an exercise designed to “bid farewell for now” to some people and places I’ll miss when Angela and I move to Los Angeles (in November), and I have saved an evening for one more visit to Rosie Cannonball. Focaccia di Recco, you will be mine.
You might expect bold flavors, but this is something even more profound and satisfying. Texas wagyu brisket, red chili, baby corn, tiny eggplant, stalks of green peppercorn, and coconut cream — it’s called Jungle Curry.
It’s a dish on the menu at Sway, in West Lake Hills, near Austin, Texas. The dining room here is captivating; large communal tables and dark tile, a busy open kitchen, a rooftop bar with views of Austin’s skyline.
And flavors in abundance. Beginning with that beautiful brisket in the Jungle Curry.
Joto Daiginjo’s 72 Clocks sake pairs well here.Kamille and Angela at Sway
Jeremy Parzen brought Flavio Geretto to Houston this week, and the two gentlemen poured some great wines, wines from Villa Sandi. They opened a Pinot Grigio and some Prosecco.
“Soon, Prosecco Rosé will be everywhere,” Parzen says, and I don’t see why it won’t.
Geretto, who’s with Villa Sandi, and Parzen, who works with the concern (social media, web design), were speaking to a small group of people assembled at Vinology, one of Houston’s better wine bars.
“I know a lot about Italian wine,” Parzen said, “but I’m learning things from Flavio every day.” And Geretto knows from his Prosecco. He’s enthusiastic, and the bottles he had with him are worthy of your attention. They are fresh, balanced wines, and I’d be happy pouring any of them to my guests.
Flavio Geretto, of Villa Sandi, takes Prosecco seriously. (Photo by The Brockhaus)
Here’s what we tasted: Il Fresco Prosecco; Valdobbiadene Prosecco Superiore; Rosato Il Fresco (brut); and a Pinot Grigio delle Venezie. (We were also treated to a wine that I cannot discuss, because I don’t want to make anyone envious.)
Here’s Geretto talking about Prosecco.
What do you know about Prosecco? Here’s what Jancis Robinson wrote about it, on her superb site, back in 2017
For years champagne ran the most sophisticated and effective public relations machine in the world of wine. Consumers were convinced that champagne and only champagne was the socially acceptable lubricant for celebrations and smart dinner parties.
But all that has changed. A vast army of enthusiastic wine buyers regard Prosecco as their drink of choice rather than second best – even though it is made by a much more industrial process than champagne or any of the other wines made sparkling inside individual bottles rather than in big tanks. I have to admit that Prosecco seems to disagree with me. I find too many of them too sweet for my taste, and for reasons I don’t understand, a mouthful or two of Prosecco often seems to precipitate a headache. But it’s obviously not genetic; my daughters adore the stuff.
Fake news has hardly impinged on the world of wine but I honestly thought it had last January when I read that Prosecco producers were applying for UNESCO world heritage status for their growing area, 35,000 acres (14,154 ha) of vineyards in virtually the whole of north east Italy. It was doubled overnight in 2009 when they cunningly renamed the eponymous grape responsible for their wine Glera and registered Prosecco as a protected geographical indication instead. (It hasn’t stopped the odd Australian using the P word, so popular has the wine style become.)
Yes, UNESCO recently added the Prosecco region to its World Heritage list, and that’s not Fake News. And, you should drink Prosecco … just pay attention to the residual sugar.
Parzen did a great thing for Prosecco by organizing the seminar. (For your reading pleasure, the Wine Talk featuring Parzen.) And if you haven’t already, add Do Bianchi to your reading list.
I’m undertaking a historical and literary study of Prosecco, and you can read my findings on Mise en Place as they are published. Meanwhile, drink well, and with people you love.
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