Wine Beneath The Palms

Changes at Cefalo's in the Grove

     OK, let’s get this straight.  The sign on the door at Cefalo’s in the Grove that says “Under new management” applies only to half of the establishment. 
     Let’s take it from the start. In early 2007, former Miami Dolphin Jimmy Cefalo made big news when he reopened the old Taurus Lounge, a longtime Grove icon, at 3540 Main Highway, as Cefalo’s in the Grove.
    From the beginning, there were two separate businesses. Jimmy and some partners owned the old Taurus building, and turned it into a wine bar, wine shop with fancy enomatic machines dispensing wines by the glass, plus an actual wine cave dug 18 feet into the ground for parties.
     In the ground floor of the new condo building behind the old Taurus was a separate business, Marcanio’s Italian Deli and Caffee. The caffee extended into the open courtyard between the two buildings.
     Last August, businessman Sam Chiarella bought out Marcanio’s and, to avoid confusion, ran it under the Cefalo name (so much for avoiding confusion). Well, the restaurant got some negative reviews.
     So Chiarella closed it and, as of last Friday, reopened it as Sammy C’s Restaurant & Lounge. With a wood-burning oven and a new menu. The old deli is now a 24-stool bar with additional high-top tables, lounge area and eight plasma TVs. The restaurant seats 100, and there are tables outside for 50 more.
     “It’s an Italian-American menu – pizza, pasta, fresh seafood, steaks, salads,” says Chiarella. Call him at 305-441-9737.
     Next door, Jimmy Cefalo is still there. Call him at 305-971-2400.
     “We’re business as usual,” he says. “We have some big wine tastings coming up.”

Meet Dolphins, sip wine at Cefalo's

     Hey, Fins Fans, here’s a deal you can’t beat. Sip a couple of glasses of free wine, munch on some free snacks and rub elbows with former Miami Dolphins Jimmy Cefalo and Nat Moore, team president Bryan Wiedmeier and a couple of Fins cheerleaders. As a bonus, meet T.D., the Fins mascot.

     It’s 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Wed., Sept. 3, 2008 at Cefalo’s Wine Cellar in the Grove, 3540 Main Highway. They’re just trying to kick up some interest in this year’s season in this end of town. And we know how football fans love wine.

Reader reminisces about Australian wine country

Hi Fred.

     I enjoyed your article today about Australian wines.  My husband has an office in Adelaide and when there we have spent a lot of weekends visiting wineries in Adelaide Hills, Barossa and McLaren Vale.

     It is just beautiful (if you have not been there), really reminds us of Tuscany.  But with the Gulf of St. Vincent in the background in McLaren Vale. 

     There is such diversity in the wineries, large, small, the type of town they are in, the food selection available (from none to a cheese platter to a full gourmet lunch or dinner), and whether or not the winery even has a cellar door. 

     One thing is similar - if they do have a cellar door they usually have you taste at least five wines, and we've never been to a winery that charges for the tasting.  One of our favorite wines, a Shiraz from Barossa, is First Drop's 'Mother's Milk'.  Now there's a name!  Thanks for a nice reminder of Adelaide! 

Susan Groden
Plantation, Florida

Hi Susan,

    Sounds like a great trip. I haven't been there yet, but it's next on my list.

     One thing I've learned from your letter and some other reading I've just done is that Aussie wineries usually have tasting rooms -- and they call them cellar doors.  Very colorful.

Fred Tasker

Potent pisco to be poured; watch out

Now, you have to be careful with pisco, the grape brandy distilled in Peru and Chile. It tastes deceptively mild, with flavors of vanilla and minerals. It’s particularly smooth when made into the iconic drink, the Pisco Sour.

But it’s 40 percent alcohol, just like bourbon or scotch, and it’ll getcha if you don’t watch out.

Pisco’s history is disputed between Peru and Chile, even though there’s a town called Pisco in southern Peru. But it seems that Spanish conquistadores in the 1550s planted grapes in southern Peru. The best grapes went into export wine. The lesser grapes were given to local growers, who fermented them, then distilled the result into pisco.

Nothing wrong with that. The equally potent grape-based liquor called grappa in Italy and marc in France is fermented and distilled from from the stems and skins left over when the grapes are pressed.

Anyway, from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Hollywood Vine, 2035 Harrison St in Hollywood, two piscos will be poured at a free tasting that’s part of this month’s Artwalk. Herble Loebl, owner of Montesierpe, one of Peru’s oldest Piscos, will pour his own pisco as well as the pisco from Viña de Oro.

The oil paintings of Rodrigo Picado are also on display.

Call 954-922-2910 or see hvine.com

Some wine fans vow to resist screw-top bottles

Yesterday I asked readers' reactions (see item below) to news that even French winemakers may be turning to screw-top bottles -- even on their best wines -- to avoid the problem of cork taint that is ruining so many wines. Here’s a response:

Dear Fred,

I will never buy an expensive red wine in a screw-top bottle. Part of the enjoyment of wine is when the sommelier comes to your table and ceremoniously cuts away the capsule and, with that little pop, pulls the cork. If I’m going to pay those big restaurant markups, I want something for it.

Jane Brow, Hallandale

Dear Jane,

I feel your pain. I’ve heard that some sommeliers have been working on how to elegantly open screw-top bottles. It seems that, if you position your wrist and hand around the bottle just right, you can twist the bottle open so the click is heard and the bottle label is precisely facing the customer. And just before doing that, the sommelier tells the customer, “Now, just listen for the click of quality.”
Think you’d ever buy into that?
Fred

Question: Does anybody have suggestions for how to cope if screw-tops ever become ubiquitous? If so, click on the “comments” Icon below and tell us.

Happy wine trails across the country

     If you're traveling on vacation this summer, here are some wine attractions to check out:

     California: When I spent a year in the 1960s studying in Bologna, Italy, one of the great traditions I found was to take a big, glass jug to a wine shop and fill it with fruity lambrusco from a giant wood barrel. A liter of wine was 100 lire, the equivalent of 48 cents. For a starving student, this was heaven. Now some California wineries, including Preston of Dry Creek, are reviving that idea. Good reason to go visit.

          Iowa: If you pass through Iowa, be sure to check out the Iowa Wine Trail. Wineries like Eagles’ Landing. Wines like Penitentiary Red. There’s a winery 10 miles outside Dubuque where you can get married.

          Colorado: And if you’re in the Rocky Mountain State, you’ll be happy to know they’ve just repealed the law banning wine and liquor sales on Sunday.

Tastings resume at Jimmy Cefalo's in the Grove

    Fans of ex-Miami Dolphin, current sports broadcaster and wine fan Jimmy Cefalo will remember that when his wine shop was located near The Falls shopping center, he held regular wine tastings with some pretty unusual, top-flight wines. Now he’s restarting those tastings at his new Cefalo’s Wine Cellar in Coconut Grove, which opened about a year ago.

     The first is 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Fri., June 20, at 3540 Main Highway.

     For $30 fans get a $20 card to use the Enomatic tasting machine plus free pours of Italian wines hosted by Julie Mushett of Vinifera Imports.

    These are some unusual wines, including the 2006 Prosecco “Millesimato” Soligo; 2006 Fiano d’Avellino, Roca de Principe; 2006 Morrelino d’Scansano, Castello Romitorio; 2005 Nero d’Avola “Chiaramonte” Firriato; 205 Primitivo Rosa del Golfo; 2004 Chianto Classico Fontodi and 2003 Barbaresco “Nubiola” Pellissero.

     Tasters may take home the Zafferano glass they use at the tasting.

     Oh, and Jimmy will be there talking football and wine.

    Call 305-971-2400, e-mail Brenda@Cefaloswine.com.

Road woes close Stefani’s wine shop, but not her restaurant

                                                                           

Unending road construction has taken another toll on wine in the area around Biscayne Boulevard. After 1 ½ years of construction on NE Second Ave. in Miami Shores, Sandra Stefani is closing her wine shop and gourmet store, pictured here, at 9840 on that street.

“They just had me surrounded for too long,” she said.

Stefani’s popular restaurant, Casa Toscana, at 7001 Biscayne Blvd., remains open, and she will continue to hold cooking classes there, as well as wine dinners and educational wine classes. So she’s still very much in business.

And long-time customers who were buying favorite wines from her wine shop can still get them by calling her so she can get them from her distributor.

“I have customers who had been buying certain wines for years,” she says. “I’ll still take care of them.”