Wine Beneath The Palms

Book tells story behind Veuve Clicquot Champagne

     How serendipitous is this? Just as Hilary Swank buys the rights to the French Women Don’t Get Fat book (see item above), written by a female exec of the Champagne house Veuve Clicquot, here comes a book about the founder of that company.

       It’s called The Widow Clicquot: The History of a Champagne Empire and the Woman Who Ruled it. The book stars Barbe–Nicole Clicquot Ponsardin (1777–1866) as the “veuve,” which is French for widow.

     After the death of her husband, whatshisname, she took over the winery and made it a success. He gets no credit at all.

 

A do-it-yourself California Bottle Shock tour

      If you’ve seen the new movie Bottle Shock, a Hollywood film about the famous Paris Wine Tasting of 1976 that put California on the world wine map, here’s a way to tour the locations where it was filmed.

     The California Travel and Tourism Commission has put together a Website with a self-guided tour of such locations as Chateau Montelena, where the winning wine was made, the real restaurant that played the role of the Aqua Vira in the movie, even balloon rides and massages.

     It’s a guide, not a tour. You have to make all the reservations yourself, including the almost-impossible-to-get-into restaurant French Laundry.
If you go, let me know how you make out.

Will electronic tongue replace us wine writers?

     I knew I was getting obsolete, but this is ridiculous.
     A Barcelona microelectronics expert has invented an electronic “tongue” that can identify a ’74 pinot noir from Burgundy. It measures acid levels and phenolics and such and identifies the wine.
     So what are we wine writers for now?
     You could see it coming. Ten years ago Japanese scientists “reverse-engineered” a fine Bordeaux – breaking it into its chemical components, then rebuilding it into a Bordeaux again. The good thing about that experiment is that it failed -- miserably.
     And I’ll bet there’s one thing they can’t get a machine to do.
      Enjoy wine.
     I guess that can be our solace.
     What do you think, wine fans? Click on the “comments” icon below and tell me.

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

It's like American Idol, only with grapes

You’re sick of Big Brother. You cringe at Hell’s Kitchen. Now there’s a reality TV show that might actually be worth watching. Or maybe I’m just biased.
Come September, Doc City Productions will be in Miami holding auditions for a new PBS TV series called The Wine Makers. They’ll pick 12 contestants from around the country to spend a few weeks in California’s Napa and Sonoma Counties competing in grape picking, fermenting, blending, bottling, choosing labels, devising marketing schemes and so on.
As the season goes on, contestants taste each others’ wines, evaluate their techniques and vote each week on whom to eliminate.
The winner gets a contract to produce 1,000 cases of wine, a five-city tasting tour including New York, San Francisco and maybe Miami and help with retail sales contracts.
“We mean for this to be a life-changing experience,” says spokesman Kevin Whelan.
This is actually season two. Season one is in the can, shot last year in Paso Robles, in California’s Central Coast wine region. It awaits viewing on PBS in January, after the national elections. This season will be shot this fall, aired in fall of 2009.
Here’s how to check it out:
· www.youtube.com/winemakerstv to see clips from season one.
· www.winemakerstv.net to sign up for the Miami auditions.

PS: If you decide to audition, please let me know at ftasker@MiamiHerald.com I’d like to follow your progress.

Can you narrow down your peak wine experience?

      Question of the week:  I was going to ask you to relate the No. 1 wine experience of your life. Then I realized that if you asked me that, I couldn’t narrow it to fewer than 50. How do you compare a delicate old Burgundy to a muscular Super Tuscan? A sunset  picnic on a hillside in Sonoma to sipping and spitting on the floor in a frigid, dripping cave in Beaujolais?

     So let’s do this: Please tell me ONE of your top wine experiences.

     One of mine was in 1979. I was driving around Spain visiting wineries with my best wine-drinking buddy, Fred Barger. When we arrived at Bodegas Torres, outside Barcelona, we were thrilled to be greeted by Miguel Torres, Sr., himself –- the dean of Spanish wine. We walked into the vineyards to a rustic shack for a wine tasting. We spoke of wine and women and, I suppose, philosophy. We sipped, and leaned back in our wooden chairs to spit out the open door.

     As we drove away after effusive thanks, we looked at each other and simultaneously, if ironically, recited a beer slogan: “It don’t get no better than this.”

     Wine friends, tell me ONE of your peak wine experiences.

Most underappreciated grapes? Readers reply.

    I asked my valued blogsters to give me their lists of the most underappreciated wines in the market.

     Florent Blanchet replied: “Two wines always underappreciated, on wine lists & on wine shelves: Chinon, Loire Valley, France and Cahors, Southwest France. While the first one offers truly unique, benchmark expression for cabernet franc, the second one is almost unknown (true, the production is small & the needs to export, promote & market this appelation are close to none).

     "While the consumption of Argentinean malbecs (pictured here in a KRT photo by Diego Guidice) explodes in the states, few seem to recognize the origin of this grape (Bordeaux) and the only French appellation made with at least 70% of malbec, Cahors.

     “A good Cahors can offer a complexity of aromas, ranging from lead pencil to licorice to black currant, rarely found in any Argentinean wines. I hope some of you will disagree so we can argue a little.”

     Gee, Florent. The only disagreement I can voice is that those French malbecs can be hard as nails sometimes. And so dark that, if you spill them on a table cloth, you’ll never get them out.

     Wine fans: Feeling disagreeable? Got some other choices? Let us know. Click on the “comments” icon below.

 

How to make friends with the sommelier

     A faithful reader has an idea for taming the wild sommelier. She writes:

Dear Fred,

     “One of my fellow gourmands and I have had recent experiences with sommeliers that were memorably good. In one, the sommelier at The Palm in Coral Gables came over to talk to us, as we'd brought a bottle of Turley to dinner there. She came over to chat about it and was incredibly cordial.

     "The entire restaurant seemed to treat us with a lot of respect and affection that night b/c of that one bottle of wine that set us apart. (We're not regulars and are not well known, so it wasn't personal.)”

Hilda Mitrani

Dear Hilda,

     Good idea. It’s true that bringing a really top bottle of wine to a restaurant can buy you some respect.  Turley Wine Cellars of California is noted for turning out cult wines –- particularly their zinfandels. And a lot of them are in the $25 to $35 range.
     But readers who want to try this should call ahead to be sure the restaurant allows patrons to bring their own wine by paying a corkage fee.

Fred Tasker

Paula & Neil's excellent New Zealand adventure

     I’ve been asking loyal blog readers to keep journals of their wine travels and report here when they return. So the rest of us can live vicariously through their eyes.

     Here’s a missive from Paula and Neil Linden, triggered when I wrote about New Zealand wines in my Thursday column (which is still posted at MiamiHerald.com/wine).

Dear Fred,
    We were in NZ last year at the end of April for 3 weeks and spent several days in the Marlborough region  (we stayed at Old St. Mary's Convent--now a B&B--in the honeymoon suite--formerly the nunnery--you figure that out!). 

     For my 60th birthday (says Neil), we had dinner in the only 5 star restaurant in NZ, at the Hans Herzog Vineyard.  We visited several of the vineyards you featured.  We were somewhat surprised you did not mention Cloudy Bay for their Sauvignon Blanc (admittedly we are somewhat partial as our daughter-in-law works for LVMH, which owns the brand).  We had a private tour of their vineyard which was delightful.  They are actively marketing a Pinot Noir as well.

     You list Mt. Difficulty pinot noir---this is a great wine and it lives up to its name because we can't find it anywhere!  Do you have a source?  Also, it was quite pricey there, over $100 in restaurants.  Wine shops in NZ complained they couldn't get enough product.

     Finally, we spent an incredible day on Waiheke Island, off Auckland, and had lunch at the Mudbrick Vineyard, pictured above.  Their 2006 Reserve Chardonnay was delicious.

     Thanks for bringing back very fond memories of three of the best weeks we've spent!

Paula & Neil

Dear Paula and Neil,

     Sounds like a great time. I haven’t been to New Zealand yet, but it’s on my list. And I’m definitely a fan of Cloudy Bay’s wines.

     A number of readers have said they can’t find Mt. Difficulty wines. I’m checking with the distributor, and I will let everybody know the answer. Or, if anybody knows, message me.

  Cheers, Fred

Las Olas Wine and Food Festival draws 2,000

 

   

      Nearly 2,000 hedonists walked up and down Las Olas Boulevard on Thursday evening sampling wines and spirits and tasting appetizers supplied by local restaurants at the Las Olas Wine and Food Festival. The annual event benefits the American Lung Asslciation of Florida – South Area.

      “I like this festival because it isn’t so crowded,” said Saul Larson, of Hollywood

.

     Here’s who’s in the photos, in order from the top:

     1. Wine rep pours a kir royale, Korbel sparkling wine and Raspberry Chambord liqueur, for Linda Ritchie of Lauderdale by the Sea.

     2. Jamie Kahns, left, and Carol Palacios, members of St. Petersburg American Lung Association, sip vodka and Sprite. “We’re here to learn about this festival to maybe start one in St. Petersburg or Sarasota,” Kahns said.

     3. Kennon Hetlage of Fort Lauderdale samples sushi, scallops wrapped in bacon.

     4. From left, Erika Pager, Laura Mogilewski and Cynthia Kounaris of Fort Lauderdale load up on ribs, cole slaw.