Israel Food and Wine Experiences: Kimmel Restaurant–Wow!
I don’t know how does it work, but every time I come to Israel (which happens about once a year), the food here is getting better and better – every time. This year my friend took me to the Kimmel restaurant, located very close to the Neve Tzedek district in Tel-Aviv.
I can describe my experience at this restaurant with a single word (is that officially a word?) – WOW! Starting from décor, going to service, and then wines and food, everything was just impeccable (am I exaggerating? I don’t think so – it was seriously a “wow” experience).
Starting with the décor (which I don’t have the pictures of, unfortunately), the place has an ambiance of the French countryside tavern – very rustic, dark aged wood paneling, old bottles ( and some new) are everywhere, dimmed lighting.
For appetizer we had a beets salad with fried goat cheese, pistachio and baby greens (very good):
And then mushrooms with Foie Gras ( outstanding!) – perfect sauce and overall combination of mushrooms and foie gras ( not your every day appetizer):
Of course we had wine. I had being a big fan of Israeli wines for a while – the quality of the wine I tried was improving every year – and there are more and more Israeli wines which are simply a world-class. We selected 2009 Tzora Vineyards Judean Hills wine, which was a blend Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Syrah – soft, balanced, with good amount of dark fruit, but not overpowering the food. This wine paired very well with our choice of appetizers, and of course it was gone before the main course arrived.
For the main course I choose the boulibaise, and it was impeccable. Balance of acidity and spiciness, perfectly cooked, succulent mussels, shrimp and crab claws. And for the great touch – an addition of a shot of anise liquor, which put the whole dish on the next level – perfect!
And then desert… Absolutely on par with all the excellent dishes. First, cappuccino:
Then creme brulee four different styles – probably one of the absolute best I ever had, as in a lot of cases creme brulee is simply reminiscent of the sweet omelette – this one was light, creamy and delicious, without any egg taste showing up:
And for the last highlight of the meal – chocolate lady fingers ( that was the name of the dish). I don’t want to sound as judges at Iron Chef or Chopped, but this was one of the rare experiences where the texture was really a key in the dish – perfect balance of creaminess of the chocolate with the crunch of the cookie – totally different from anything I had before – nothing cloying, nothing sticking – just perfect.
All in all, if you are planning your visit Tel-Aviv, put Kimmel restaurant on your “must” list – and you can thank me later. Cheers!
Wine and Time at Franklin Street Works (and some Hyper-Decanting too)
Yesterday we got together at Franklin Street Works in Stamford, CT to talk about wine, time and the relationship between the two (some thoughts on the subject had being posted to this blog before). As you can imagine, we not only talked, we also tried some wines, and even conducted some [not necessarily scientific] experiments.
Here are the wines which were presented in the tasting:
- 2010 von Hövel Riesling Kabinett Scharzhofberg
- 2004 von Hövel Riesling Kabinett Scharzhofberg
- 1998 Azienda Agricola Sant’Elena Ros di Rol Merlot, Friuli
- 2009 Falesco Merlot, Umbria
- 2008 Beringer Cabernet Sauvignon Knights Valley
- 2008 Beringer Cabernet Sauvignon Knights Valley (hyper-decanted!)
First, by pairing together 2010 and 2004 Riesling, we wanted to see the direct effect of aging in the same wine. Despite being called Kabinett, 2010 was rather on a sweet side (I would probably define it as Spatlese) – it was nice and round, and good acidity helped to show up quite fresh. 2010 was people’s favorite, as you might imagine – however, I really liked 2004. One reason is a contrast between the nose and the palate. On the nose it was literally “what the … is this” sensation – probably spoiled cabbage comes to mind first. But then the palate was very balanced, nicely dry and mature, with still a good showing of fruit and excellent acidity.
The Italian wines were good, but not necessarily what I wanted – 1998 Ros di Rol was closed up, dry and somewhat tannic, and 2009 Falesco was bright and fruity, but overall they didn’t play together at all (should look for different comparison tasting pairing).
The last part – Hyper-Decanting – worked out very interestingly (Hyper-Decanting is not my term – please see the origin of Hyper-Decanting here).
The 2008 Beringer Cabernet by itself showed up in a very classic way – some black currant jammed fruit on the nose, nice bite and nice green notes on the palate. After hyper-decanting ( about 1 minute in the blender), the wine changed dramatically, losing all its sharp edges and becoming soft and mellow.
Would I recommend hyper-decanting as new way of fast-aging the wines? Probably not. Would I treat a classic Bordeaux this way? Most likely not, unless this is the last bottle left to entertain a party. Is this something you should try for yourself at home? Yes. It is simple, safe and easy, and you probably own the blender anyway, so there is no expense on your part. Will I try it again – yes, but again only as an experiment.
If anyone of the people reading this post attended the event – please comment, I want to know your opinion! And for everybody else – find the time to open the oldest bottle in your cellar soon, to honor 8000 years of wine and time relationship. Cheers!
Inventions We Can Live Without?
I spotted today a new wine glass design through a Twitter conversation – it is called “Revolution Glass”. You can see an image here (scroll down to see all of them):
http://www.designboom.com/weblog/cat/30/view/18079/martin-jakobsen-revolution.html
I never held it in my hands, but just looking at the pictures of the glass itself and then people using it, my first reaction is to call it an invention we can live without.
Assuming that this is a traditionalist talking in me and even accepting that I don’t understand modern form and design (don’t think so, but will accept it) – what do you say? Would you like to use a wine glass like that?
Ten Wine Blogs I’m Reading
In the world of wine, reading is second most important thing next to actually drinking the wines. Yes, of course, you can say that no, visiting vineyards and talking to the winemakers is a lot more important – and I would agree with you, however, it is reading that you can do at any time and a lot more often than actually visiting the wineries – at least for someone like me, where wine is a passion but not a profession.
When it comes to reading, books and magazines and indispensable – and there are hundreds and hundreds of them to read, starting from encyclopedias such as The World Atlas Of Wine by Hugh Johnson and Jancis Robinson, great day-to-day books such as Kevin Zraly’s Complete Wine Course to the Wine Spectator magazine which reviews thousands of wines in every issue.
Then there are wine blogs, like the one you are reading right now. Wine blogs deliver information in much timelier fashion than any books or magazines, and they also express a lot more of the author’s personality in a much more direct way than any book or magazine article – which makes them a great fun to read. I like reading blogs when I get a chance, and generally I come across many different blogs as lots of them are referring to each other (very common practice in blogging world). However, while my blog reading is often sporadic, simply based on available time, there are some blogs which I’m making an effort to at least skim through on the regular basis (using Google Reader) – and this is the list which I would like to share with you. The list below has no prioritization whatsoever, and I add few of my thoughts as to what kind of content you can find in the respective blog.
- 1WineDude – IT-convert Joe Roberts provides great insight into the world of wines. Lots of wines are reviewed using the A to F ratings ( no, I didn’t see a single F yet) as opposed to the popular 100 points scale.
- Fermentation – very interesting blog, covering a lot from the world of law, consumer rights, politics and more – of course all centered around wine.
- Serious About Wine – wants to see lots of new cool label designs? Flip through this blog’s pages, its worth it.
- The Feiring Line – Alice Feiring is a book writer and a blogger with “unique and different” point of view. Love her wine descriptions written directly on the bottle’s label.
- Dr. Vino – one of the best wine blogs overall, lots of interesting information tidbits from the wine world.
- The Wine Economist – Great source of information about wine, lots of stats of all kinds – merlot versus pinot noir consumption in the numbers, most requested wine of the past year and so on.
- The Gray Report – W. Blake Gray writes one of the most insightful and controversial wine blogs – I always love reading his posts. You should judge for yourself, though.
- Vinography – Superblog of wine blogs – lots of information plus a comprehensive list of wine blogs on the Internet
- Steve Heimoff Wine Blog – exactly as it says, a wine blog by Steve Heimoff, a wine writer and Wine Enthusiast magazine’s West Coast Editor. Lots of interesting information, especially as it comes to California wines.
- Paul Gregutt Unfined&Unfiltered – Paul Gregutt is a wine writer and a Northwest Editor for Wine Enthusiast magazine. He writes about wines of Pacific Northwest.
That’s all, folks for my list of ten blogs I’m reading – if you like wine, check them out for yourself. Cheers!
Wine and Time
Of course time had being here forever, always moving, and always in one direction (someone, please prove me wrong!). Wine had being around for about 8,000 years, first appearing in the ancient Georgia (no, not the one down south, but the one from the Caucus region, on another continent). Wine is one of the few products literally not changed for such a long time in its form and its production methods – sans reverse osmosis machines, electrical presses and micro-oxygenation boxes. Considering such a long history, you can imagine that relationship between wine and time is very complex, and you would be right.
First, time is a necessary part and an attribute of the wine making process. For the vast majority of wines, if you read winery’s description of the wine, you will see something like “aged for so many month in …”. Sometimes the wine is aged in stainless steel tanks. Sometimes the wine is aged in clay vessels (very popular in Georgia now, the vessels are called Kvevri and produce very distinct wines). Lots of red wines are aged in oak barrels – American oak, French oak, Hungarian Oak, new oak, old oak – variations are endless. For many wines, duration and the type of the aging is a sole decision of winemaker (no pressure, but this decision will greatly affect quality and the taste of wine, and will define success and failure for it). For some of the wines, aging in a specific type of barrels is mandatory before the wine can be released – Rioja Gran Reserva should be aged for a minimum of 2 years in oak barrel and 3 years in the bottle to be officially designated as Rioja Gran Reserva. Barolo must be aged for 3 years, at least two of them in the oak barrel, and Barolo Riserva should be aged at least for 5 years. During the aging process, the wine is changing. Oak imparts very specific flavor, which we, humans, tend to like. Oak aging also acts as a preservative and helps wines to live long life.
Once all the aging is complete (in the tanks, barrels and bottles – whatever the aging was), wine is released – and this is when the second phase of the wine and time relationship kicks in.
This second phase is as tricky, if not trickier, as the first. Have you heard the phrase “needs time” in relation to the particular bottle of wine? If you will look at the wine reviews in Wine Spectator or any other publication which provides wine reviews, you would often see one of the phrases “Drink now”, “Best 2014-2020”, “Best after 2013” – these are the suggestions for how long the wine should be kept in the cellar before it should be consumed.
Why is that? What with all this aging? Why not open the bottle right away and just drink the wine? What was discovered at some point (don’t ask me when, but it was long time ago) is that wine actually changes its taste as it spends time in the bottle (the aging). And it doesn’t just change the taste arbitrarily, it tastes better. Young wines are often sharp, or somewhat single-toned in their taste – you might get pronounced acidity, or only sweetness, or lots of white apples – but only white apples. During aging, trace amounts of air are making its way into he bottle, and they lead to the wine changing its taste, improving to the better in majority of the cases – it becomes complex, bite softens up, bright and diverse fruit tones compensate for the pronounced acidity and the wine brings a lot more pleasure compare to the young wines. Mature wines deliver more pleasure – this is the whole philosophy behind wine aging.
Simple and easy, right? Well, this is were everything becomes complicated and confusing – as not all the wines should be aged (do not try to age Beaujolais Noveau, please) and also it is very tricky to make sure you would drink the wine at its peak – as whatever comes up, goes down in mother nature. This is where time transforms from the friend to the foe – and as a foe, it is merciless. After reaching maturity and staying there for a while, the wines are typically starting their decline in the taste (wine loses fruit, become very acidic, may be oxidized – and it stops delivering pleasure). Different wines made in the different styles will have different peak times and different lifespans. Some of the Jerez, Madeira and similar wines can go on literally for the hundreds of years. Good Rioja, Barolo or Bordeaux can be perfectly aged for 50 years or longer. Simple Cote du Rhone might only last for 3-5 years, same would be true for many of the Chardonnay wines. There is not crystal ball telling you precisely how long the wine will last and when will it taste the best – human trial and error is the best way to find that out. Of course there are many factors which might help you to decide whether to age the wine and if yes, for how long – the winery, the winemaker, the region’s wine style, success of the vintage and many others – but in the end of the day you would need to do the work (err, I meant the wine drinking) as the wine ages to find out when it tastes best to you.
So, does it worth to age wines if you don’t know what will happen to them in the end? For anyone who is into wines, and who had an opportunity to try a mature wine, the wine which reached its optimum taste, I’m sure this is a no-brainer question – yes, of course, and please, please give me more.
How one can experience aged wines? You got a few options. First, you can age it in your own cellar. Second, you can buy aged wines, either in a good wine store, such as Cost Less Wines in Stamford or Benchmark Wine Company. Note that you have to buy aged wines only from the trusted source – not aging the wines in the right conditions will simply ruin them, so you have to trust your source. Third option is to attend a wine tasting, such as PJ Wine Grand Tasting, where you can taste really amazing wines. However, you don’t have to wait of the Grand tasting, which takes place only once a year. If you live in a close proximity to Stamford, CT, you can attend a wine tasting at the Franklin Street Works gallery on Thursday, January 19th at 5:30 pm (here is the link for RSVP). The event is free and open to all. Here are the wines which will be presented in the tasting (the list might change at any time):
2003 Riesling, Mosel Saar River, Germany
1998 Merlot, Italy
2009 Stag’s Leap Hands of Time, Napa Valley
2009 Stag’s Leap Hands of Time, hyper-decanted using Nathan Myhrvold’s methodology.
So you should come and experience the relationship between time and wine for yourself – there is a good chance that you will even enjoy it! Cheers!
Five Essential Traits of the Oenophile
Do you think all the wine lovers have something in common? Let’s take a look at some of the qualities which I believe, any oenophile possesses.
- Patience: I think this is single most important quality of the oenophile – one have to be able to wait. Mostly we are buying young wines, when they are released. If you want to truly enjoy the wine, you want to drink it when it is at its peak – which in turn means that you have to put that wine aside and wait for it to reach its best form. For example, it is considered that California Cabernets need about 13 years to reach their peak of maturity – can I rest my case? Patience has another virtue. Before you can start waiting for the wine to reach its peak, you have to get that wine. Have you heard of the mailing lists? This is how you get many great wines – Cayuse, Alban, Harlan, Bryant Family and many hundreds of others – are available only through the mailing lists. What’s a big deal about the mailing list (sounds so routine, right?) -not much, just keep in mind, that there is a list to get onto the mailing list…
- Passion: Have you ever talked to oenophile about the wine? The eyes would lit up, and information will be flowing – grapes, growing season, winemaker, the rain and the heat, the taste, the emotion, the experience. Wine is a form of art – and the same way as poetry, music, paintings, photography, architecture – it solicits emotion and passion.
- Quick decision-making: when opportunity presents itself, oenophile have to be able to decide on the fly. Is this the wine I want? Is that a good year? Is that a good price? Sometimes, all this information should be processed within split seconds – if you ever tried to get a great true bargain at WTSO.com, you would understand. Spend a bit longer figuring out if that was a good vintage – and it is not relevant anymore, as the wine is gone.
- Good memory: In the simplest form, it supports previous quality – quick decision making. You need to remember good years and bad years (for instance, Bordeaux 2000 and 2005 were amazing, and 2002 is better be avoided), you have to remember the exact name of the wine (Peter Michael makes four Chardonnay wines designated as “Estate Vineyard, Knights Valley, Sonoma County” and distinguished only by name like “Belle Côte” or “Ma Belle-Fille” – you better remember which one did you liked more yesterday at the party). But good memory goes further than remembering only simple words or numbers – how about remembering the taste of your favorite wines? I believe oenophiles will be able to describe the taste of the wine they had 10 or 20 years ago – if it was memorable enough.
- Desire to share: We want to share our joy, we want to share our experiences, we want to share our best wines – with the people who will appreciate it. I don’t mean to sound snobby – but oenophiles often start from trying to convince the whole world that this particular wine is a pure joy – and the beer drinking part of the world might not see it like that (love the beer myself – there is nothing here against beer drinkers, they just prefer different beverage). Then oenophiles start to understand that they better share their experiences with like-minded people. But – once you strike the cord, everything is open and available. Soliciting “wow” from someone who just had a sip of what you deem one of the best wines on Earth (or at least in your cellar) – priceless.
How far off do you think I am? If you acclaim yourself as a wine lover (aficionado, connoisseur) – do you associate with any of these traits?
Please comment, and – Cheers!
As One Year Is Winding Down, Another Year Begins
Year 2011 is ending very shortly – how was it?
I’m very happy with t he wines I had an opportunity to experience in 2011 (please forgive me, but the term “wine” is used here in all-inclusive way – it also includes Scotch and other tasty alcohol) . There were lots of great wines – I already gave you my “top dozen“, but there were probably another 30-40 wines equally qualified to be included in the “top” list – like these gems from Margaux, great Spanish wines and many others.
Am I happy with the content of the blog? I think some of it was good, and some was just okay (honestly, don’t know if I did something bad – you tell me). I really want you, my readers, to be the judge of it. Was here anything which you really liked? Can you share that with me?
What I’m not happy with is the level of interaction. I know many of you actually read the posts, can you also tell me what do you think? “Great, Cool, Crap, BS, nonsense” – I would gladly take feedback, and consequently, dialog, in any form. Pleeeease?
I also wanted to give you a summary in the numbers ( posts, readers and so on) – but you know what – let’s forget the numbers, not so important. Ahh, only one quick update – on the grape count. Over the past few weeks, I added another 5, so the total count now stands at 360. Here are the new grapes:
Saint George – 2009 Skouras Red saint George Cabernet sauvignon, Peloponese, Greece
Savagnin – 2008 Benedicte & Stephane Tissot Selection Arbois, Jura, France
Noah – Renault Noah, New Jersey
Mouhtaro – 2009 Muses Estates Mouhtaro, Thivakos, Greece
Pais – 2009 Cuvee Del Maule, Chile
And now let’s spin our crystal ball – what is ahead of us, in 2012? One thing for sure – there will be lots of great wines. Wines are becoming better all over the world, and they are becoming more interesting. There will be more amazing natural wines, wines which don’t taste like anything else you tasted before. There will be more sparkling wines, there will be more rose wines, even in the winter.
As for anything else – I will continue to write about my experiences with wine, food and life. And if I can have one New Year wish, only one – I would love to see more comments.
That’s all, folks, for 2011. Make sure your favorite bubbly is chilled, your favorite food is on the table, and your friends are surrounding you. I wish you lots of luck, lots of love, lots of happiness, lots of health, and lots of amazing experiences. Happy 2012! Cheers!
What Is In The Bubbles? – 2011 Version
Yesterday I shared with you my perspective on sparkling wine from 5 years ago. What happened in the past 5 years in the world of bubbly? Champagne is still a Champagne, as invented hundreds years ago, right? I would like to summarize the differences in two words: diversity and abundance.
Of course nobody invented Cava, Prosecco, Sekt or Cremant in the past five years – those sparkling wines had been around for hundreds of years. But never before were sparkling wines so abundantly available in United States – lots of them of a great quality and finesse, rivaling Champagne in taste and even more certainly, in price (average price of Champagne increased by about $5-$10 per bottle, depending on the brand and the actual wine store).
Diversity is another phenomenon in the world of sparkling wines – each and every category of the sparkling wines, including Champagne, has a lot more brands and styles widely available in many wine stores. Talking about Champagne, have you heard of Growers Champagne five years ago? I’m sure you did, if you are in the wine trade, but very unlikely if you are not. As we discussed before, majority of the Champagnes is produced by few big Champagne houses. For the most cases, those Champagne houses are not growing their own grapes, they are buying them from the growers. Some of the growers are also started making Champagne, which can be very distinctive and of a very good quality – I mentioned my experiences with Growers Champagnes a number of times before (you can find old posts here and here). Also increasingly available French sparkling wines made outside of Champagne appellation – they are often called Cremant and you can easily find Cremant de Alsace, Cremant de Bordeaux, Cremant de Bourgogne, Cremant de Jura, Cremant de Loire in many wine stores around you.
Going outside of France, more and more sparkling wines are made all over the world. While Italy, Spain, Germany and US where always on the bubbly’s map, during the last couple of years I was able to taste sparkling wines from Argentina, Australia, Georgia (Georgian Sparkling wine, called Bagrationi, was our favorite wine during blind tasting, beating out classic Champagne and many other – you can read about it here), South Africa, Switzerland and Uruguay. Next to this geographic diversity is number of grapes used nowadays for production of the sparkling wines. Traditional Champagne, as well as many of the Cremant wines and sparkling wines made in US and Italy, are made out of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier – however, in addition to this short list I tried sparkling wines made out of Chasselas, Chinebuli, Gamay, Malbec, Shiraz and Vidal (here is the post). A number of sparkling wines were also made using natural and biodynamic methods – I had a number of outstanding French sparkling wines made from Gamay (here is the post). If you are interested in this particular category ( natural Sparkling wines), I would highly recommend checking PJ Wine web site, which boasts excellent selection.
No matter what you are celebrating, there is always a special bottle of sparkling wine waiting for you. There is also nothing wrong with celebrating just another day. But considering that tomorrow is a New Year, make sure you have a good supply of the bubbly – no matter where it is from or what grape it is made out of, it is guaranteed to make your moment special. Happy New Year! Cheers!
What Is In The Bubbles? – 2006 version
In the past, I wrote a few wine articles for one of the local newspapers here in Stamford – Stamford Times. As right now it is a champagne times all over the place, I thought this post about bubbly, written in 2006, still make sense. So here it is in its entirety, and I will give you 2011 perspective in the next post. Happy reading!
What is in the bubbles?
What is one type of wine a lot of people will be reaching for very shortly? If you said “champagne” – you are right. If you said “sparkling wine” – you are right too. As New Year rapidly approaching, one of the traditions of celebration is having a glass of “bubbly” with the toast to the health and happiness in the arriving year. Where this tradition is coming from is hard to tell, as ever since champagne was invented, it very quickly became a symbol of celebration – a new ship, a new house, a wedding and all other significant events all call for champagne on the table.
Let’s take a look at the history – what is champagne and where did it come from? As many other prominent discoveries of the past, the discovery of champagne is largely a result of an accident. Champagne as we know it came from France, and as majority of other French wines, the name of the region where the wine is produced became the name of the wine. Champagne region is located in the northern part of France. One of the characteristics of that region is cool weather – the mean annual temperature is only slightly above 50°F, just a minimum necessary to allow grapes to ripen.
At the same time, the advantage of the cooler climate is that it allows grapes to ripen slowly, thus gaining more flavor and adding complexity. When grape juice is becoming a wine through the process called fermentation (by adding yeast to the grape juice), constant temperature is very important for the overall success. If the temperature drops too low, the fermentation would stop. Once the temperature rises, if there is any residual yeast left, fermentation will start again. If the wine is already bottled, this so called secondary fermentation will take place inside the bottle. Those wonderful refreshing bubbles, which we adore so much in our champagne, is nothing but carbon dioxide, which is a normal byproduct of fermentation process. If takes place during first fermentation, all carbon dioxide will go out in the air. At the same time, when secondary fermentation takes place in the closed bottle, the carbon dioxide has nowhere to go, thus it stays in the bottle and becomes a wonderful fizz we all enjoy. Thus thanks to the Champagne’s weather helping to “spoil” bottled wine, and someone’s imagination, we received a gift of great taste called champagne. Who was that “someone”?
History often calls a French monk, Dom Perignon, an inventor of the champagne. In the late 17th century, Dom Perignon was a cellarer at the abbey of Hautvillers, near Epernay in Champagne. Dom Perignon also was a great winemaker, who mastered making practically a white wine from the black grape ( Pinot Noir). He also advanced the art of blending ( mixing wines from different vineyards and/or vintages) to produce wine of consistent qualities. Blending is one of the cornerstone processes in making of the champagne. Interestingly enough, Dom Perignon worked hard to prevent the fizz in wine, which was at a time considered a sign of the poor winemaking. Nevertheless, the name Dom Perignon literally became a synonym of the great champagne. It is also suggested that there is a famous phrase which belongs to him – “Come quickly! I am tasting stars! – he said at the first sip of champagne.
Let’s talk about some of the characteristics of the champagne. First, there are 3 types of grapes used in champagne’s production – chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier. Next, there are 2 main categories of champagne – non-vintage (usually the letters NV are added to the name) – blend of wines from the different vintages, and vintage, when only wine of single vintage is used. There are usually only few vintage years in a decade, so the majority of the champagne consumed is a non-vintage ( NV) variety. One more classification is based on the types of grape used in the blend – most of the champagne are a blend of different grapes, but if only Chardonnay grapes had being used, the champagne will be called Blanc de Blancs, and if only Pinot Noir is used, the champagne is called Blanc de Noir. Lastly, there are different levels of sweetness found in champagne, which is also put on the label: if the label says “Brut”, it is very dry, Extra Dry – less dry, Sec – sweeter, Demi Sec – medium sweet, Doux – sweet. Interestingly enough, most of the champagne produced before 1850 was sweet. Majority of champagne produced today falls into brut or extra dry categories.
Similar to the other wines from France, there are thousands producers making champagne. At the same time there are currently 26 Champagne Houses, known as Grand Marques – they are making most of well known champagne in the world. Some of the most popular names from that group include Bollinger, Charles Heidsieck, Krug, Moet & Chandon, Mumm, Perrier-Jouet, Salon, Tattinger and Veuve Clicqout. Is there champagne made outside of France? Of course, but it is not called champagne. In majority of the cases, only the wines produced in the Champagne region in France are called champagne. Sparkling wines, which are produced using the same winemaking techniques, are made in the different parts of the world – Cava in Spain, Sekt in Germany, Spumante in Italy, Sparkling wines in California. Some of the well known sparkling wines producers in California include Korbel, Schramsberg, Iron Horse, Mumm Cuvee Napa.
How champagne is served? It is served cold, best temperature being in the range of 43°F – 48°F. Most appropriate glasses for champagne are flute- or tulip-shaped. Do not serve champagne in the wide open glasses – this only leads to champagne going flat in no time, losing all of it’s refreshing fizz.
What is champagne served with? First, champagne makes great aperitif – great way to start an evening with friends. When it comes to food, similar rules apply as for matching any other wine and food. Champagne represents light and refreshing wine, thus it would be best paired with similar type of food, meaning being light. Shellfish, oysters, seafood, poached salmon all would do great. Also sushi is definitely not to be forgotten. And, yes, of course, the classic combination – Champagne and Caviar.
As John Maynard Keynes said, “my only regret in life is that I did not drink more Champagne” – let’s not make this mistake! Get the friends together, open the bottle of bubbly, and celebrate – New Year, new child, a new beginning! Happy New Year! Cheers!
Top Dozen Wines of 2011
I’m not sure I fully believe it, but time has come to sum up another year. Same as last year, I’m going to present you with a dozen of most exciting wines of 2011. I keep mentioning that quality of the wines available from all over the world is getting better and better, and it was very hard to decide on only 12 wines out of many hundreds of great wines I had an opportunity to experience throughout the year. This list is unequivocally subjective, and to make it even more subjective my criteria was the “wow” moment experienced when I tasted the wines – this is always dangerous, as depending on the circumstances of the “wow” tasting, the same wine might not be as exciting the next time. Nevertheless, without further ado, here are my twelve best wines of 2011.
12. 2005 Maisuradze Wines Mukuzani ($NA) – power and more power. This wine is a monster powerhouse, and you are hypnotized by that power and don’t want to put your glass aside. Tremendous tannins, complemented by acidity and good fruit. Very big wine. Will be very interesting to lay it down for 10-15 years. Transformation should be remarkable, if you can wait, of course.
11. Bodegas Hidalgo Pedro Ximenez Viejo Triana ($24) – first, there is an element of awe when you drink this wine, as it is 250 years old ( at least in the trace amount, thanks to the Solera method when the new wine is added to the barrel which was never emptied completely for the last 250 years). Then the taste is spectacular – liquified fig jam, but very light and balanced with nice acidity.
10. 2009 Montalbera Laccento Ruche di Castagnole Monferrato ($30) – the wine opened up with a nice earthy smell, with fresh unadulterated grapey taste on the palate, somewhat similar to Beaujolais Noveau, but then quickly evolved to deliver the power punch of big voluptuous wine. This wine needs lots of time, but in the end, it will be glorious, multi-layered beauty. If you can find it, put a few bottles to rest and experience later for yourself (ability to wait is required).
9. 2009 Bodegas Shaya Habis Rueda DO ($28) – this wine is made out of old vines Verdejo (100+ years old vines). This is one of the most unanticipated wines I ever had, as while you are expecting Verdejo wines to be somewhat simple and easy, this wine delivers complexity of a top-class Chardonnay, with toasted apple, vanilla and hint of butter on the palate, all with the great balance.
8. 1982 Chateau Prieure-Lichine Margaux ($130) – This was a 1982 Bordeaux! Do I need to say anything else? A Bordeaux from Grand Cru producer from legendary year – it doesn’t get much better than that. The wine was beautiful, fresh, with great fruit and great balance of tannins and acidity. I rest my case.
7. 1993 Lopez de Heredia Vino Tondonia Rioja Blanco ($33) - it is rather expected that 1976 Vina Tondonia Rioja Gran Reserva would be good, but 18 years old white Rioja? Hmmm, I couldn’t imagine that – but then came 1993 Vina Tondonia Rioja Blanco, and it was beautiful, fresh and acidic, coming through as a very youthful wine, with lots of fresh fruit. You can still get it at PJ Wine, and I believe it’s worth every penny.
6. 2009 Wente Vineyards Small Lot Grenache Livermore Valley ($35) – opens up with a nose of ripe plums, continuing into plush, soft, round wine with velvety mouthfeel, very balanced. Very similar to great Spanish Grenache wines, like Alto Moncayo Aquilon, only coming from California. This wine is available only at the winery, but definitely worth a trip if you are in the area.
5. 1991 Justin Cabernet Franc, San Luis Obispo County – ($25) – this was a gorgeous wine, great structure, ripe fruit, balance and finesse – without showing any sign of age. The only problem was that I got only one bottle from the Benchmark Wine Company…
4. 2009 Peter Michael “Belle Cote” Estate Chardonnay – ($80) – this Chardonnay was a beautiful song, or may be rather a dance of impeccable synchronicity. Absolutely stunning in its balance of fruit, acidity and minerality, with the hint of white peaches and golden delicious apples on the palate, but just a hint – not a single element taking over and pushing others aside. From the moment I tasted this wine, it became my golden standard for what Chardonnay should be – you can even see it throughout my posts.
3. 2007 Inniskillin Cabernet Franc Icewine ($130) - This was definitely the best Icewine I ever tried. Light and effervescent (not your usual descriptors for the icewine), with perfect acidity complementing beautiful fruit. True masterpiece.
2. 2001 Masi Mazzano Amarone della Valpolicella ($130) – this was an Amarone I’m constantly looking for and can’t find. Stunning nose of the raisined fruit, a dried fruit extravaganza – with powerful, structured and balanced body – not a glimpse of overripe fruit which is so common in the nowadays Amarone. Truly beautiful wine for the special moments.
1. 2010 Fiction Red Wine Paso Robles by Field Recordings ($20) – First and foremost, it is a smell which doesn’t lets you put the glass down. Fresh flowers, meadows, herbs, fresh summer air – it is all captured in the smell of this wine. On the palate, this wine shows bright red fruit, like raspberries and cherries, all perfectly balanced with a great finesse. Any time you want to experience beautiful summer day, reach out to that wine.
For what it worth, these are my favorite wines of 2011. I’m sure 2012 will bring many more exciting discoveries – it is great to be an oenophile today! What were your favorites of 2011? Please share it here! Cheers!
