Pourtal.. it's a date!

What a month for celebrations! For Americans, July has the 233rd year of Independence and France her 220th. The “People” arose July 14th 1789 and stormed the 450 odd year old Bastille prison, number 232 Rue Saint-Antoine of Paris. Her revolution was internal and justice was swift. So swift, necessity being the mother of invention, a guillotine was the outcome for most of the royals.   

 

From Wikipedia I quote: “In the early afternoon of around 1:00, the crowd broke into the undefended outer courtyard and the chains on the drawbridge to the inner courtyard were cut. A spasmodic exchange of gunfire began; in mid-afternoon the crowd was reinforced by mutinous Gardes Françaises of the Royal Army and two cannons. De Launay (the prisons Governor) ordered a ceasefire; despite his surrender demands being refused, he capitulated and the vainqueurs swept in to liberate the fortress at around 5:30. When the rioters had entered the Bastille, they collected cartridges and gunpowder for their weapons and then freed the seven prisoners (which they had to do by breaking down the doors, since the keys had already been taken off and paraded through the streets). Later, the governor and some of the guards of the Bastille were killed under chaotic circumstances, despite having surrendered under a flag of truce, and their heads paraded on pikes.” 

 

Join the beautiful and talented Cara Bertone and the owner of Veritas John Winthrop (Los Angeles’ based direct wine importer of supreme French wines) at Pourtal on Tuesday, July 14th when we will feature wines for the “People” (hold the pikes). 

 

They will both be there to share the storied wealth of these fantastic French country wines: Olivier Merlin’s Macon "La Roche Vineuse" 2006 (the secret choicest table wine of the Big Dog French winemakers) or the Jo Pithon Anjou "Les Pepenieres" 2005, an absolutely mind-bogglingly, stunning Chenin Blanc. Rounding out the red Burgundy contingent with Roland Thevenin’s Monthelie 2005 or Camille Giroud’s "Le Croix Moines" Maranges 1er Cru 2006 (an extraordinary “sleeper” wine for lover’s of les vrais Pinot Noir). Plus, who could not have the ultimate red summer sipper, Michel Lafarge’s deliriously guzzleable Bourgogne Passe-tout-grain "L'Exception" 2006, a Gamay & Pinot Noir tout de suite tradition or the sturdy Michel Guignier Morgon "Cuvee A L'ancienne" 2005. All told, we will have 18 wines to celebrate with AND one of the descendents of the Bastilles Governor De Launay, a Touraine Rose of such discretion and delicacy, capitulation is de riguer! 

 

To those who joins us on the 14th, a complimentary Kir will be served to all who recite the serment du jeu de paume (the Tennis Court Oath). 

 

“We swear never to separate ourselves from the National Assembly, and to reassemble wherever circumstances require, until the constitution of the realm is drawn up and fixed upon solid foundations.” 

 

In the immortal words of Phineas Beck, “These French people know how to LIVE!” Salute! 

  

 

 

 

Whole lot of crap.

Sorry for the terrible photos, but there were taken surreptitiously with my iPhone. 

All I have to say about the Ed Hardy rose is.... seriously????

Is this where the world of wine is going? Or worse yet is this where Whole Foods - our "local" "organic" "specialty produce" store is going? 

There's a reason I stopped buying wine at Whole Foods. Where there are many reasons, but this is definitely one of them. I hold Whole Foods in a higher position in my mind than Vons, Pavilions, Albertsons - at least the lighting is better and its cleaner - and then I see this. Increasingly they stock these sort of commodity wines that really have nothing to do with wine at all. I expect this at Ralph's and Vons, and I know there's a market for "wine as beverage" but this is far worse than that. It's "wine as novelty", it might as well be for sale at Spencer Gifts in the mall.  

What's most amusing about this wine is the description, "Hot pink color with violet highlights". And its from France? How many hot pink roses do you see from France? No variety, no region listed as far as I can see... (Please correct me if I'm wrong) Put Ed Hardy on it and the people will buy it? In my heart of hearts I truly don't think people are that dumb. Let's see if Ed Hardy is still in style next year and if the brand can evolve into something more authentic. Let's see if our neighborhood Whole Foods at 3rd and Fairfax can get back to walking the "local" walk and not just talking the "local" talk. I know many small importers and wineries (and I'm not talking about my own!) that have had no luck with the wine people at WF and now I see why - they support the big guys.  

Independent thoughts...

I thought THIS was a very interesting article on South African wines in the New York Times this week, and I am prompted to comment based on a tasting the Peter and I did at El Vino last night. 

Two friends of ours came to the tasting. It was early. We weren't busy. So we got to talking about a recent trip they recently took to Stellenbosch. They loved the wines, actually there are very few consumers that I talk to who don't LOVE South African wine. However, I am not one of them! I kind of agree with the article, and while I know there are other regions which have the same problems as South Africa, in SA it seems to be a bit of an epidemic. 

The burnt rubber aromas that the article sites, from an article written by Jane MacQuitty, MW, of The Times in London, have been omnipresent in most the SA wines I've tasted in recent memory. And no, I can't name producers because I tend not to remember wines that don't appeal to me. And I hate to make sweeping generalizations... but even in the MW program we are taught that the rubbery aromas are often indicative of South Africa, although we are encouraged to refer to it as "iodine" aromas, as burnt rubber appears derogatory. On the red wine paper this year, the only wine I got right - out of 12! - was the South African Cabernet. It had the tell-tale aromatics of burnt rubber... ooops... I mean iodine that made it a real "banker" for me. 

A few months ago, in prep for the exam, I was deep into listening to wine podcasts to fill every moment with wine. I listened to a great podcast on the UK Wine Show with wine faults expert Sam Harrop, also an MW. And I found his explanation of this phenomenon entirely satisfactory, as he knows far more than I do about these things. 

Many soils in South Africa are nitrogen deficient. Therefore musts are nitrogen deficient. Yeasts use nitrogen as a nutrient source. A lack of yeast available nitrogen (YAN) during fermentation, means that yeasts use the amino acid cysteine as a nitrogen source, a metabolic process that produces hydrogen sulfide (H2S). H2S smells like rotten eggs. If left untreated, hydrogen sulfide is then reduced to disulfides, which in turn can be reduced to mercaptans, producing rubber, garlic and onion aromas. Super yuck. H2S can be treated by adding copper sulfate or giving the wine a good vigorous racking to introduce oxygen to the must which will help breakup these complex sulfur bonds. However, most disulfides and mercaptans cannot be treated and once formed are there for good. Yikes!

The point being, healthy fermentations require a little work and maybe even the addition of nitrogen (usually in the form of DAP - diammonium phosphate), though some believe this is just yeast junk food and shouldn't be used at all. Who knows? It all depends when you add it - as it can cause its own problems if added too late in the fermentation process. All I know is I'd rather have a drinkable wine with DAP added then one that smelled of burnt rubber. 

Anyway, some technical thoughts for the day...  

Tavern is terrific! Part 2.

No, I know you think I'm biased, but I'm not. This morning after Bootcamp Peter and I were trying to think of where to have breakfast and we thought about all the BAD places there are in town, I won't name them, but you know what they are. I have yet to have a breakfast that blew me away. Wait, I take that back, brunch at Ammo is totally fab. But other than Ammo, the usual suspects suck. 

So we drove to Tavern - all the way to Brentwood - in our workout clothes. And half way there as we were sitting in traffic on the 10 I thought, we should have just eaten at home, this is too much trouble, etc. etc. 

BUT after we sat down and ordered and I had tea and Peter had coffee and Suzanne came out to say Hi, we were so very glad to be there and then the almond croissant came out and we were in heaven. We ordered the smoked fish plate and the oatmeal with cherry compote and all I can say is that there really is no reason to have breakfast anywhere else in the city. It's totally reasonably priced and well worth the drive. Here's a peak at the breakfast menu. As a bonus the dining room is gorgeous and they welcome you in whatever attire you are wearing! 

Next time I am ordering the butter crumbed eggs, which reminds me of a glorious brunch I had at Prune in NY last summer...

breakfast menu

Soft-scrambled eggs with fontina and crème fraîche 
Butter-crumbed eggs with arugula and soft polenta 
Chorizo and eggs with fried potatoes 
Priests pancakes with Vermont maple syrup 
French toast with bananas foster and hazelnuts 
Smoked fish with toasted rye & redwood hill cream cheese 
scottish oatmeal with dried fruit and steamed milk 
Housemade granola with milk or yogurt + berries 
Seasonal fruit / berries 
Fried potatoes 
Vande rose bacon or ham 
Country pork sausage patties 
Toast basket with butter and jam 

From the larder 

Croissant 
Almond croissant 
Pain au chocolat 
Walnut bundle 
Monkey bread 
Pecan sticky bun 
Caramelized apple turnover 
Cornmeal blackberry shortcake 
dried cherry and almond scone

One good thing about the recession.

Elio Grasso, Vigna Martina, Barbera d'Alba, 2005. 

Well finally, after 13 years I paid off my last student loan from Vanderbilt, and this was our celebratory wine!

While I would have preferred Krug, I have to say I was very very satisfied with this little beauty. I just love love Elio Grasso. It's traditional and restrained, but not dirty or oxidized. It's all done in neutral barrel, which gives a spicy complexity to the wine, while, of course, not imparting any over the top vanilla flavors. 

With only 2.2 hectares of this under vine, we usually only buy a few bottles of this a year as it seems to disappear shortly after its released. Thanks to the recession I've seen it around a little more than usual. See the recession isn't ALL bad, right??

Wine House $27.99. 

Passetoutgrain?!

Robert Chevillon, Passetoutgrain, 2006. 

Ah! My new fav, goodbye Cru Beaujolais, hello Passetoutgrain. This is a very interesting wine from Burgundy where Gamay is blended with Pinot Noir, a minimum of 30% Pinot, but some of the best are 50/50 Gamay and PN. Unlike Beaujolais, there is usually not a lot of carbonic maceration, the best producers preferring to vinify the PN and the Gamay the same way. 

While I'm not sure on the exact blend of this wine, it's much different than 2 of my absolute favorite Passetoutgrains, Michel Lafarge and Francois Mikulski (both 50/50). This leads me to believe that its a higher percentage of Gamay, as it was more candied cherry than black cherry and very very light in style, high acid which made it very refreshing. It did take a little while to open up. I went from "I hate this wine!" to "wow! This ain't bad."

Peter bought this at Mission Wines in South Pasadena for $23. 

Another sale item.

Domaine Belle, Crozes-Hermitage, Les Pierrelles, 2005. 

I got this wine as a gift from a friend, but I recently saw it on sale at K&L for $24.99 and think it's a great bargain!

I love Crozes because the flavors are so reminiscent of framboise and I like framboise, but not the sweetness of it and so this is a perfect compromise. Raspberry, black cherry and black pepper - perfect for summer BBQ for all you beef eaters out there. As for me, I think I will drink this with some grilled asparagus. Charred and yummy!!!