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July 2006
Last week’s Uncorked post on Wine Spectator called a ‘piece of tripe’
Great Googly Moogly! If you thought the Uncorked entry on Wine Spectator dining awards generated a robust debate with its two dozen comments, check out this thread on Mark Squires’ Bulletin Board on erobrtparker.com on the controversy, with its 100-plus comments, some of which are positively incendiary.
Most of the debate focuses on how meaningful the Spectator’s dining guide is, though some folks engage in some pretty intense Marvin Shanken-bashing.
I do not escape the wrath. Quite the contrary. One gentleman from Napa declares my article a “piece of tripe,” and says, “If that is an example of all Mr. Fisher has to offer, wine journalism in Dayton is dismal, indeed.”
Another reader says, “the original article by Fisher was kind of snarky, to be honest.”
Snarky? Me?
But one Los Angeles reader summed the brouhaha up this way:
I am somewhat amazed that quite a few of you are not bothered by the fact that a Dining Award is given to restaurants that were not visited. Simply paying the fee and sending the menu and wine list is sufficient. I think it is quite amazing. Certainly pretty clever from a strict business perspective; you pay, you write down a menu and wine list as you see fit, send it to the WS and you get an Award. The Award is then published in the WS for which the subscribers pay and the restaurateur proudly displays his Award in the restaurant, thus enhancing his restaurants image and drawing attention to the WS, which in turn might make for more subscribers. A beautiful business cycle. Only one problem: it has no meaning, since nobody verified what the restaurant sent. I have a new, great business idea that could wonderfully enhance his profits. Instead of actually tasting the wines (which takes expensive employees, and maybe cost of the wines – all of which is money), why not just have the wineries send a note describing the wine and the WS people can then give it a score. Much cheaper, faster, more efficient and thus more profitable for Mr. Shanken. Just an idea…
Wine Spectator itself is soliciting feedback on its dining guide at James Molesworth’s blog.
And that’s no tripe.
For another perspective on the debate, also check out the San Francisco-baed wine blog Vinography. The ‘net sure shrinks the world, doesn’t it?
Cheers!
Mark Fisher
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Got wine?
Why, yes we do! But first, if you’re looking for the Wine Spectator Awards/Marvin Shanken entry, click here. And welcome!
The following wine tastings and events list comes to Uncorked courtesy of a local wine listserve, for which I am both thankful and blessed. One click on the “Continue Reading” link unlocks a world of wonder sure to tease and tantalize your tastebuds. So click. Then taste.
Cheers!
Mark Fisher
Jay’s Kitchen Door Friday, July 28, 2006 4-8 pm 1999 Moet Chandon Rose 1999 Calera Mill’s Vineyard Pinot 2003 Chateau Mont-Perat 2001 Cantine Antonio Caggiano Taurasi 2002 Schug Cabernet
Saturday, July 29, 2006 1-6 pm NV Chandon Etude Rose 2003 Concannon Syrah 2001 Beringer Alluvium Red 2001 Chateau Pavie Decesse
Call 222-2892 for reservation for the August 12 Crab Luncheon with Rick Cole of Icon Estates (Franciscan, Simi, Estancia and Ruffino Wineries!) Menu: Trio of Crab Asian Style – Crab Rangoon, Crab Spring Roll, and Asian Crab Cake with Creamy Ginger-Lemon Grass Sauce, Crab and Roasted Bell Pepper Bisque Garnished with Crab Puff, Crispy Soft Shell Crabs with Roasted Vegetable Cous Cous and Lemon-Crab Butter Sauce, Lemon Pudding Cake with Blackberry Sauce
Jay’s LobsterFest is September 9th with Fess Parker wines. Menu: Tropical Lobster-Avocado Salad with Champagne-Citrus Vinaigrette, House made Lobster Raviolis in a Lobster Consommé with Fresh Poached Seafood and Vegetables, Broiled Lobster with Asparagus Risotto and Saffron Beurre Blanc and Basil-Tomato Oil, Caramel Custard with Carrot Cake Soufflé with Fresh Berries
Arrow Wine & Spirits – Kettering Saturday, July 29, 2006 11-4 pm Ceja Sauvignon Blanc Ceja 2005 Vino de Casa White Ceja 2003 Vino de Casa Red Kit Fox 2003 Foxy Red Twenty Rows 2003 The Grapper Larkmead 2002 Merlot
Arrow Centerville 615 Lyons Rd Saturday, July 29, 2006 11am-5pm 2004 Simi Sauvignon Blanc… 2004 Toasted Head Chardonnay… 2003 Cortenova Maruggia… 2001 Sebastiani Merlot… 2002 Sirius Red Bordeaux
Dorothy Lane Market (DLM) Oakwood
Friday, July 28, 2006 5-8pm Gazela Vinho Verde 2005 Selbach Riesling Kabinet 2004 Francios Raquillet Mercury “Les Veleys� 2004 Petraia Nero D’Avola 2004 Dare Cabernet Franc 2003 Brown Bag!
Saturday, July 29, 2006 1-6pm Casteller Cava Rose NV Christian Moreau Chablis 2004 Chorey Les Beanne Rd Burgundy 2003 Rosenblum Carlas Vineyard Zinfandel 2003 Blasson D’Issan Margaux 2001 Barnett Rattlesnake Hill Cabernet 2003 Bonus Bottles!
Beer: Barrel House Hocking Hills Hefeweizen Avery Thirteen Weizen Doppelbock
DLM Washington Square Thursday, July 27, 2006 5-8pm ’03 Kruger- Rumpf Munsterer Rheinberg Riesling Kabinett ’05 Adam’s Road Vasse Felix Chardonnay ’03 Omrah Shiraz ’04 Vale Le Pena Malbec ’00 Tomassi Amarone
Saturday, July 29, 2006 12-5pm ’05 Caposaldo Pinot Grigio ’05 Leitz Dragonstone ’03 La Pialade Cotes du Rhone ’01 Lan Rioja Crianza’02 Robert Pecota “Kara’s Vineyard� Cabernet Sauvignon
DLM Springboro Friday, July 28, 2006 3-7pm 2004 St. Supery Sauvignon Blanc 2004 Goisont Bourgogne-Aligote 2002 Penfolds RWT 2002 Cloud View Cabernet
Saturday, July 29, 2006 12-5pm 2004 Sequoia Grove Chardonnay 2003 Barnett Sleepy Hollow Pinot Noir 2002 Penfolds 707 2000 Barnett Peacock Cabernet
Cuvee Wine Bar and Cellar, 4457 State Route 725 Bellbrook Tuesday – Thursday 11:30 – 7 pm Friday and Saturday 11:30 – 8 pm www.cuveewinebar.net Wines beginning Friday, July 28, 2006 Juno 2005 Sauvignon Blanc Foris 2005 Pinot Gris Cheeky Chick 2004 Pecker’s Blend White Trevor Jones Virgin 2004 Unoaked Chardonnay Il Gufo 2002 Barbera MacKenzie 2004 Cabernet Bucklin 2002 Old Hill Ranch Zinfandel And Cynthia will be choosing other bottles!
Beer: Kronenbourg 1664, and when it’s gone - Harpoon UFO Food: Duck Rillettes, Mousse Truffee, Venison & Wild Boar Pate
Market Wine Imports 2nd Street Public Market Saturday 10-3 PM 2002 Lake Breeze Bernoota Cabernet Sauvignon/Shiraz blend 2005 Aromas de Turis Sangria 2005 Aromas de Turis White Sangria
B. R. Scotese Wednesday, August 2, 2006 4:30 pm Wines of Edna Valley Vineyards Pinot Gris Chardonnay Pinot Noir Syah The restaurant is no smoking on Wednesdays!
DiSalvo’s Deli and Italian Store Wine Tasting – every third Wednesday of the month in conjunction with their Meal of the Month! www.disalvosdeli.com. The Deli’s Feature Wines: Ecco Domani Merlot, Chianti, Pinot Grigio, Sangiovese
Little Sonoma, 6078 West Chester Road, West Chester, OH 45069. 513-942-9463. Located two blocks north of Union Centre Blvd. at the corner of Muhlhauser and West Chester Roads www.LittleSonomaWines.com Friday Tasting, July 28th, 7 pm ~ The Wines of Michael & David Phillips. They anticipate a crowd, so please be sure to make reservations early.
Saturday Tasting, July 29th, 4-6 pm ~ Stellar Second Labels The stellar secondary labels of Stag’s Leap Vineyards and Markham Vineyards. No reservations needed.
Trader Joe’s - Town & Country Shopping Center, Kettering Schmitt-Sohne Riesling (2004): QbA Piesporter-Michelsberg, Germany Bonny Doon Ca del Sol Big House Red (2003): California Abrazo del Toro Tinto (2004): DO Carinena, Spain
l’Auberge No tastings for the next two Tuesdays due to Restaurant Week! (only one !) These are organized seated tastings costing $20. There is a 20% discount if you choose to stay for dinner.
Kinkead Ridge Winery Open on Saturdays to Labor Day, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. in Ripley at 904 Hamburg Street, (937) 392-6077. July 4th hours are 11 a.m.-6 p.m Labor Day weekend (September 1 and 3) the 2004 red wines will be released. No restrooms at the vineyard.
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Revvin’ up for Restaurant Week
If you’re looking for the Wine Spectator Awards/Marvin Shanken entry, click here.. And welcome!
But for now, we move on.
At last count, 34 Dayton-area restaurants are poised to participate in Summer Restaurant Week, the promotion that invites patrons to dine on a three-course meal for $20.06 while also helping out a local charity. (For every Restaurant Week meal served, each restaurant will donate $1 to the Children’s Medical Center of Dayton.)
This summer’s event starts Sunday, July 30th and extends through Friday, Aug. 4 — but make sure you call ahead for reservations. Not all restaurants … (please click on “continue reading”)
…are open on Sunday and Monday, and it might be a good idea to double-check that the Restaurant Week specials are available on the night you have in mind, to ensure there’s no disappointment.
Restaurant Week has been gaining momentum: The February version of the twice-a-year promotion was a resounding success, with 6,183 dinners sold in participating restaurants. That was up from 4,372 last summer and 5,014 during the first Restaurant Week in winter 2005.
The Miami Valley Restaurant Association has posted menus for some of the participating restaurants. Here’s a small sampling of the main-course choices being offered as part of the three-course meals, but don’t look at just these — click on the word “menu” in the preceding sentence to view a more complete list: (And restaurants, send your menus to the MVRA so we can view them!)
Meadowlark: Seared Mahimahi on a plate of summer vegetables au pistou with lemon mayonnaise or Grilled Porkchops with sage, local tomatoes, cornbread pudding and fried corn
Jay’s: Seared sea scallops w/ purple potato puree, grilled veggies-tomato confit and lemon oil or Stuffed sole w/ champagne dill sauce and summer veggies.
Cafe Boulevard: Cumin-scented pork chops tossed w/ a spicy tomato salsa on a bed of black bean sauce and served w/ starch and vegetable du jour or oriential poached salmonw/ asian vegetables and served w/starch du jour.
El Meson: Filete al chipotle con queso de cabra borracha ( Grilled tender medallions toped w/ a zest chipotle pepper sauce and drunken goat cheese served with yellow rice and black beans or Camarones al ajillo (Garlic Shrimp served over white rice with pisto manchego) or Grilled tilapia with shitake mushroom and mandarian orange sauceor Flame broiled chicken (1/2 chicken marinated in herbs and spices then prepared on the spit served with yellow rice and black beans.
C’est Tout: Sauteed tilapia w/ basmati rice and vegetables soy sweet vinaigrette or Roasted pork loin w/ coucous and vegetables spicy plum sauce.
Barnsider: Grilled Chicken Breast, Penne Alfredo with Broccoli, Broiled Center Cut Pork Chop, Breaded Port Tenderloin, Fried Gulf Shrimp, Fresh Atlantic Salmon, Cherry Snapper or Penne Pasta Marinara.
It’s a one-week gig only, at least until February, so … see you out in the restaurants!
Mark Fisher
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Wine Spectator restaurant ‘awards’ have little meaning; Marvin Shanken begs to differ
Note: Usually, I write an entry and readers respond to it. In this case, I shared an entry I’d written with Wine Spectator Publisher Marvin Shanken prior to posting it, and he responded. So here’s what I wrote — and what Mr. Shanken had to say in response.
Well, at least Wine Spectator magazine has become a little more transparent about what its restaurant wine list awards mean — or rather, what they don’t.
The most important paragraph in the magazine’s 2006 Dining Guide issue that just hit my mailbox can be found on page 119, under a subhead that should read, “Why this guide has little meaning,” but instead says “Cuisine Type and Menu Prices”:
It’s important to note that our awards evaluate wine lists, not restaurants as a whole. While we assume that the level of food and service will be commensurate with the wine lists entered by award winners, this unfortunately is not always true.
Allow me to translate: “We know our dining guide means little, but we’re laughing all the way to the bank.”
Now, again, the Spectator:
We cannot visit every award-winning restaurant (although all Grand Award winners and many others are inspected by Wine Spectator editors), so we encourage our readers to alert us to discrepancies and disappointments.
Allow me, again, to translate:
“You do our jobs for us, but we’ll keep the $250 entry fee that every restaurant must pay just to be considered for a restaurant award. Deal?”
The magazine says it receives more than 4,000 applications. Let’s see, 4,000 times $250 … wait, there’s smoke pouring out of my calculator … Can’t see the screen … oh, there it is: a million bucks. $1 million.
And for the majority of restaurants that apply, the magazine does little or no independent evaluation of any kind, other than to review the submitted cover letter, menu and wine list to check for misspellings and other perceived shortcomings.
The magazine boasts, however, that of this year’s 847 entries from restaurants that had never applied before, 234 did not win an award — the second-highest failure rate in the last six years. The rejected lists were uninspiring or simply listed several bottlings from only a handful of producers, the Spectator said.
Do you think any of those restaurants got their $250 entry fee back? Nah, me either.
Again, though, at least the Spectator owns up to the guide’s shortcomings, and is transparent about it. For that, we raise a glass and give credit where credit is due.
Cheers! Mark Fisher
Now here is Shanken’s response, via email: (please click on “continue reading)
I won’t belabor the fact that 26(?) years ago we started the awards program to both encourage and recognize those restaurateurs that were willing to make wine an important, in fact integral part of the total dining experience. NO ONE ELSE WAS DOING THIS!!!!!!!!!!! We underwrote all the costs for the first 20 years at considerable expense to us. The program became so successful, with thousands of entries, that we were going under water with it. Staffing, processing, travel, etc. One of our editors suggested that it was quite legitimate to charge for the service as the restaurant was getting the benefit — and attracting many more patrons. So we started charging and the rest is history. It keeps growing because it continues to be a great service to the dining and wine worlds. To personally inspect the 4,000 entries from around the world would cost an additional $40 million. We talked about it, then decided it was just a little more then we wanted to spend this year. Maybe next year though. Have a good summer, Marvin P.S: Our editors have traveled around the world many times to inspect candidates for the Grand Award. Half the time they don’t pass the inspection. Should I send the bills to the Dayton Daily News? Please advise.
So there you have Marvin Shanken’s point of view.
I’m still waiting to hear from the Dayton Daily News accountants about those restaurant reimbursements.
What do YOU think of the Spectator’s dining-guide awards? Do you use them? How? And did you know that Carvers Steaks & Chops in Dayton received an award for the first time this year, joining Jay’s, l’Auberge and the Pine Club as Wine Spectator award winners?
And if the Wine Spectator doesn’t evaulate dining, why does the magazine call it a “dining guide,” anyway?
Questions, questions. But my thanks to Marvin Shanken for shedding some light into the Spectator’s wine awards.
Cheers!
Mark Fisher
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Carvers joins Jay’s, l’Auberge and Pine Club on Wine Spectator awards list
Carvers Steaks & Chops general manager Ron Taylor is getting into wine with the same level of enthusiasm as many of his customers — and that may help explain why the Washington Twp. restaurant now boasts an Award of Excellence from Wine Spectator magazine.
Carvers joins Jay’s, l’Auberge and the Pine Club, which were renewed as Award of Excellence winners in the magazine’s 2006 dining guide, dated Aug. 31 and hitting newsstands this week.
Taylor’s growing interest in wine prompted him to enroll in a Court of Master Sommeliers course last year. In his cover letter to the restaurant, Taylor noted that Carvers trains staff members on wine, offers wines by the glass at half price on Sundays and stores wine in temperature-controlled rooms, 66 degrees for reds and 48 degrees for whites.
Wine Spectator does not screen the food offerings or visit the restaurants that receive its Awards of Excellence. The magazine accepts restaurants based on its evaluation of wine lists and food menus submitted by the restaurants, which pay a $250 annual application fee.
Taylor said Carvers’ focus on wine and his own growing interest prompted him to submit an application this year.
The magazine included 3,772 restaurants on its awards list this year, about 3,000 of which received the Award of Excellence. About 700 received the more prestigious Best of Award of Excellence, and 77 worldwide were given the Grand Award of Excellence, the magazine’s top wine-list ranking.
Jay’s Restaurant has earned recognition from the magazine for more than a decade, while the Pine Club and l’Auberge have been honored the last two years.
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Wine, meet tastebuds. Tastebuds, wine.
Yet more delicious opportunities to explore the world of wine without leaving the comfy confines of the Miami Valley await you with the click of a “continue reading” button. This compilation of wine tastings, dinners and special events comes to Uncorked from a local wine listserve that compiles the information, and for that we are exTREMEly grateful. Can anyone spot the wine shop new to the list this week? There’s a big ole’ hint at the bottom of the tasting list….
Cheers!
Mark Fisher
Jay’s Kitchen Door Friday, July 21, 2006 4-8 pm NV Jordan Rose 2003 Brokenwood Shiraz 2001 Vinas Paisajesi 2002 Chateau Faugeres 2002 Paul Hobbs Cabernet
Saturday, July 22, 2006 1-6 pm 2005 Jordan Pinot Gris 2002 Columbia Crest Reserve Cabernet 2001 Elyse Howell Mountain Zinfandel
Call 222-2892 for the August 12 Crab Luncheon reservations! Entrée is soft-shell crab! More later…
Jay’s LobsterFest is September 9th and Joe is taking reservations.
Arrow – Kettering Saturday, July 22, 2006 11-4 pm 2005 Santa Ema Sauvignon Blanc 2003 Asara Chardonnay Reserve 2003 Penley Estate Cabernet Sauvignon 2004 Carmel Road Pinot Noir 2002 B.V.Tapestry
Arrow Centerville 615 Lyons Rd Saturday, July 22, 2006 1am-5pm 2003 Bighorn Cellars Chardonnay… 2003 Dancing Coyote Chenin Blanc 2003 Paringa Cabernet Sauvignon… 2003 Marques de Casa Concha Merlot… 2003 Marques de Casa Concha Cabernet Sauvignon… 2002 Beaulieu Vineyards Tapestry Reserve
Dorothy Lane Market (DLM) Oakwood Friday, July 21, 2006 5-8pm Auratus Alvarinho 2004 Dancing Coyote Pinot Grigio 2004 Porta Reserve Pinot Noir 2003 Porta Reserve Cabernet 2004 Chateau St. Michelle Indian Wells Cabernet 2003 Brown Bag!
Saturday, July 22, 2006 1-6pm Domaine Aubert La Chapelle Coteaux du Loir Rose 2005 Mommy’s Time Out Pinot Grigio 2005 Argyle Reserve Pinot Noir 2004 Chateau Reynella Shiraz 2003 BV Tapestry Reeserve 2002 Stags Leap The Leap Cabernet 2001 Bonus Bottle!
Beer: Barrel House Red Legg Ale Allagash Speciale Reserve Ale
DLM Washington Square Thursday, July 20, 2006 5-8pm The Biltmore Estates Wine Tasting Biltmore Estate Riesling, Reserve Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Cabernet Franc and the Cardinal Crest Red Table Wine
Saturday, July 22, 2006 12-5pm La Tour de France Tasting 2005 Aubert La Chappelle Coteaux du Loir Rose 2004 Pascal Jolivet Sancerre 2004 Racquillet Mercurey 1er Cru 2003 Domaine La Boussiere Vacqueyras Duval Leroy “Paris� Mystery Bottle!
DLM Springboro Friday, July 21, 2006 3-7pm Murrieta’s Well White Meritage Work Sauvignon Blanc Dare Cab Franc Kay Brothers Hillside Shiraz
Saturday, July 22, 2006 12-5pm Cakebread Sauvignon Blanc Henry Chardonnay Caneros Creek Poinot Noir Cardinale Cabernet
Cuvee Wine Bar and Cellar, 4457 State Route 725 Bellbrook Tuesday – Thursday 11:30 – 7 pm Friday and Saturday 11:30 – 8 pm www.cuveewinebar.net Wines beginning Friday, July 21, 2006 Juno 2005 Sauvignon Blanc Foris 2005 Pinot Gris Cheeky Chick 2004 Pecker’s Blend White Trevor Jones Virgin 2004 Unoaked Chardonnay Il Gufo 2002 Barbera MacKenzie 2004 Cabernet Bucklin 2002 Old Hill Ranch Zinfandel BV 2002 Reserve Tapestry
Beer: Kronenbourg 1664 Food: Roast Beef Tenderloin (Cuban Style)-Mojito Black Beans and Corn and Brown Basmati Rice with Cuban Inspired Veal Glace, Meatball Sub, Creole BBQ Oysters
Market Wine Imports 2nd Street Public Market Saturday 10-3 PM
B. R. Scotese Wednesday, July 26, 2006 4:30 pm This Wednesday we are featuring the wines from martin & Weyrich, Paso Robles Winery. They specialize in California Italian Varietals. 2005 Pinot Grigio 2003 Chardonnay Edna Valley 2001 Sangiovese “Il Palio” 2004 Zinfandel “La Primativa” 2001 Cabernet Sauvignon “Etrusco” 1999 Nebbiolo “Il Vecchio” The restaurant is no smoking on Wednesdays!
DiSalvo’s Deli and Italian Store Wine Tasting – every third Wednesday of the month in conjunction with their Meal of the Month! www.disalvosdeli.com. The July dinner will feature cold water fish entrée. The Deli’s Feature Wines: Ecco Domani Merlot, Chianti, Pinot Grigio, Sangiovese
Little Sonoma, 6078 West Chester Road, West Chester, OH 45069. 513-942-9463. Located two blocks north of Union Centre Blvd. at the corner of Muhlhauser and West Chester Roads www.LittleSonomaWines.com
Friday, July 21, 2006 at 7 pm Award-winning Wines From Around the World 2003 Cousino-Macul Chardonnay ~ Chile 2004 Zenato Lugana San Benedetto ~ Italy 2004 2 Brothers Big Tattoo White ~ Germany 2004 Falesco Vitiano Rosso ~ Italy 2003 Barahonda Bellum Providencia ~ Spain 2002 Peter Lehmann Cabernet Sauvignon ~ Australia
Saturday. July 22, 4-6 pm No Public Tasting is scheduled for Saturday, July 22nd due to a previously scheduled Private Tasting. Little Sonoma will be open for retail business during regular hours of 10-7 on Saturday.
Trader Joe’s - Town & Country Shopping Center, Kettering Please note the time changes this week: Sunday 6 to 8:30, Tuesday 6:30 to 8:30 Il Valore Orvieto Classico (2004): DOC Orvieto Classico, Italy Archaeo Nero d’Avola (2003): IGT Sicilia, Italy Falcon Ridge Lodi Zinfandel (2004): AVA Lodi, California
L’Auberge Tuesday, July 25, 2006 @ 7PM — Case Silva Carmenere, 2002 Bodegas Salentein Malbec, 2003 Bodegas Salentein Cabernet, 2001 Casa Silva Quinta Generacion, 2002 These are organized seated tastings costing $20. There is a 20% discount if you choose to stay for dinner.
The Emporium 233 Xenia Ave. Yellow Springs will be tasting the following Friday 6:30- 8-30 p.m.
Vills Ile Dolcetto De Alba Bighorn Cellars Chardonnay Formega Vinho Verde Morande carmenere Milton Park Shiraz Milton park Riesling Rosso del Salento Huges Beauvignac
Grapes of Ruth
Kinkead Ridge Winery Open on Saturdays to Labor Day, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. in Ripley at 904 Hamburg Street, (937) 392-6077. July 4th hours are 11 a.m.-6 p.m Labor Day weekend (September 1 and 3) the 2004 red wines will be released. No restrooms at the vineyard.
The Winery at Versailles WINE TASTING - July 21st, 7 to 9 p.m. The wine tasting in itihe vineyard will include a Vineyard Walk, to visit the new vines. Reservations are required.
Did you find the newly listed wine shop? Here’s a hint: We wrote about the shop’s ownership change back in October in this entry.
Cheers!
Mark
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Biltmore Estates wine tasting
The Dayton-based wine listserve that compiles the wine tastings, dinners and other events that are published on Fridays on Uncorked has alerted us to a special tasting tonight at Dorothy Lane Market’s Washington Square store — the wines of Biltmore Estates, with national sales manager Jim Varnado.
I had a chance to sample several Biltmore Estates wines about 15 years ago and recall being quite impressed, especially with some of the sparkling wines being produced at “America’s largest home”. It is a bit confusing, however, to keep track of which wines are made from North Carolina-grown grapes and which are made from grapes/juice from elsewhere. In any event, this should be fun and enlightening. From 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Here is the full alert sent out by the listserve: (please click on “continue reading”)
Special Biltmore Estate Tasting Dorothy Lane Market Washington Square, on Thursday, July 20 from 5-8 p.m. will host a special tasting with Jim Varnado, National Sales Manager from Biltmore Estates. They will be tasting several wines including the Biltmore Estate Riesling, Reserve Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Cabernet Franc and the Cardinal Crest Red Table Wine. Biltmore has been winning awards all over the country for their wines and has long had a reputation for being one of the best resorts in North Carolina. Many of the grapes that go into their award-winning wines are handpicked from their own lakeside vineyards and carried to a state-of-the-art winery. Under the watchful eye of Biltmore’s French winemaker, great wine is becoming a new Biltmore tradition. So come join them for good wine and good company at the DLM wine bar. No reservations required. Nominal fee applies for tasting.
Cheers!
Mark Fisher
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When the honeymoon is over, will Kroger still be courting wine lovers?
Does anyone else remember all the hoopla that accompanied the opening of the Kroger store on East Stroop Road in Kettering, just east of the Town & Country shopping center? (I’m thinking it was the late 1980s, but someone correct me if I’m wrong.) The store’s wine shop, especially, generated quite a bit of initial buzz, since the number of selections made it probably the largest retail wine shop in the Miami Valley at the time.
I was reminded of it when I was assigned yesterday to cover the preview day for the new Kroger Marketplace in Liberty Twp. in Butler County. In the store’s wine shop, workers were still in the process of pricing the bottles and stocking the shelves. So it’s still a work in progress, too early to make final judgments.
But division president Geoff Covert, in his opening remarks to media and community guests yesterday, singled out the wine shop as a drawing card, saying it will include 2,300 wines. (Later, Covert expressed a fondness for big Italian reds, and mentioned that he cellars some Brunellos. He shares that fondness for Italian wines with Kroger CEO Dave Dillon, who in a separate conversation later, said he is a fan of Amarone.)
From early indications, though, the shop will be heavy into California (the 2001 Joseph Phelps Insignia is already on the shelf for $144, joined by the Far Niente Oakville Cab for $118, for example), while the European selection may need a little help. The German section is heavy on Schmitt Sohne and Weber, along with the obligatory Blue Nun. The French section has limited selections from negociants such as Louis Jadot and Louis Latour.
Maybe more variety is on the way. Covert acknowledged that Kroger “could do a much better job of bringing in boutique wines,” and judging from what’s on the shelves at the moment, he is certainly correct. Covert said the store will have a full-time wine steward who, one presumes, could expand the variety — and the varietals.
But I recall what happened after the initial stocking of the Kettering store’s shelves. The quality and variety gradually waned. In 1994, I wrote the following in the Taste of Wine column in the Dayton Daily News:
The dumbing-down of one of the Miami Valley’s largest wine retail shops continues. The Kroger store on Stroop Road in Kettering is now offering dozens of wine remnants for 30 percent off their regular retail price. The wines are tossed in grocery carts near the front of the store. The closeout bins contain more bizarre oddities than bargains. Even at $ 4.61, I’d stay away from the 1986 Columbia Crest Chenin Blanc, a wine that probably was released in 1987 and was NOT designed to improve with age, let alone seven years of age. On the other hand, the Vichon 1990 Napa Valley Chardonnay should be drinking just fine, and its marked-down cost of $ 10.14, though still pricey, is about one-third less than its regular retail. Meanwhile, the rest of the store’s wine shelves reflect the repositioning store officials talked about a few months ago: greater numbers of box wines and inexpensive bottles, less overall selection of better wines.
So let’s watch Kroger closely as it opens these Marketplace stores closer to Dayton — Lebanon this fall, then Middletown and Englewood in 2007 — to see whether the large grocery chain engages in a little “bait and switch” with local wine enthusiasts.
Cheers!
Mark Fisher
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Vintage Ohio will showcase Ohio’s best wines and more
Road Trip!
Vintage Ohio 2006 will be held on August 4 & 5 at Lake Metroparks Farmpark in Kirtland, Ohio in Lake County (think northeast Ohio). The event’s hours are 1 p.m. to 10 p.m. both days.
The festival will include:
—Ohio Wineries
— Ice Wine Tent (Additional Fee)
— Performing Arts
— Souvenir Wine Glass
— Live Music
— Fine Regional Restaurants & Caterers
— Regional Artisans & Crafters
— Friday Night Fireworks Display
— Cooking Demonstrations
— Carry Out Store
— Designated Driver Program
— Children’s Entertainment
Tickets can be purchased by phone at 1-800-227-6972 or online by clicking on the following link: 2006 Vintage Ohio Ticket Information
Tickets are $18 in advance, $20 at the gate, and $8 for Designated Drivers:Children 18 & Under $3. Children 3 & Under are free.
Those of you who enjoyed the Ohio wine festival in Dayton can experience a pumped-up version that includes more wineries many of them from the northeast corner of the state, though Warren County’s Valley Vineyards is making the trip north as well. The ice wine tasting sounds particularly intriguing.
The Ohio Wine Producers Association web site includes a list of potential lodging suggestions, and several motels and local livery companies will be providing door-to-door service for those who are looking for transport to and from the event. A a handful of the region’s retail wine shops are selling a transportation and admission ticket package to the event.
It’s clear organizers are trying to make the logistics of attending as easy as possible.
Anybody up for a road trip?
Cheers!
Mark Fisher
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Using natural corks will save the environment. And pigs will fly.
Here’s one for you: the World Wildlife Fund is calling for wineries to use natural corks rather than screwcaps or synthetic corks — to save the environment, according to this Decanter.com story.
Oh, that makes perfect sense.
We’ve written about the issue of corked wines before. But for a rather contrary view and his usual insightful analysis of this wildlife federation proclamation, check out Tom Wark’s post on Fermentation, in which Tom asserts that, “Unless the cork industry can find a way to guarantee their product does not ruin the wine, the wine industry will continue to look for alternatives that don’t make up to 5% or more of their product undrinkable.”
Of all the conservation and wildlife issues that the World Wildlife Fund could or should be addressing, how in the world did this end up on its radar map?
It’s a mystery.
Cheers!
Mark Fisher
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Paso Robles starting to bloom in California’s central valley
(The following story was published in the June 25, 2006 editions of the Dayton Daily News)
By Mark Fisher
Staff Writer
PASO ROBLES, Calif. - The “Paso moment” occurs on our first night in the central California wine-producing region.
We’re minding our own business, sitting at a table at McPhee’s Grill in Templeton for an early dinner, just starting to groove on the bottle of Linne Calodo zin-syrahmourvedre blend before the oak-grilled steaks arrive, when some guy strolls past, his wife and kid walking ahead of him.
He pauses at our table, points at our bottle and asks, “Hey, what do you think of that wine you’re drinking?”
We like it a lot, we reply. Why, perchance, do you ask?
“Because I made it.”
Turns out the mystery man was indeed the owner and winemaker of Linne Calodo, Matt Trevisan, genuinely curious about what a couple of out-of-towners thought of his wine.
This is exactly the kind of thing that might have happened 20 or 30 years ago in Napa or Sonoma - the regions we Ohioans know as California Wine Country - before those areas were developed and paved over with dozens of bed and breakfasts, frou-frou restaurants and mid-life-crises wineries, not to mention a wine train or two. Sure, visiting those tourist meccas is still fun. But you’re about as likely to have a winemaker stop by your dinner table in Napa to see what you think of their wine as you are to buy a house at a reasonable price anywhere in California.
The Paso Robles wine region isn’t close to anything - it’s smack dab in the middle of the state, pretty much equidistant from San Francisco and Los Angeles - and for now, it has a distinctly schizophrenic nature, seemingly unable to decide whether it wants to remain a collection of bucolic, backwater ranching towns hundreds of miles away from civilization, or to evolve into a premier wine-producing region that could someday rival California’s finest.
For now, it’s a little bit of both. The hills here are dotted with new vineyard plantings, many in the steeper terrain on the west side of U.S. 101 . But this is still a place a wine geek - I mean, enthusiast - can enjoy the undivided attention of the tasting-room staff, if not the winemaker.
The most exciting wines coming out of Paso Robles are Rhone varietals, particularly stunning whites made from viognier, marsanne and rousanne. Among the reds, syrah and mourvedre plantings are on the rise, while zinfandel and cabernet sauvignon also flourish.
None of the wines lacks in concentration or flavor - Paso is not a land of wimpy wines - and the region has long been a producer of quality juice . According to the Paso Robles Wine Country Alliance, about two-thirds of the wine grapes that Paso produces are sold to wineries outside the area, leading the alliance’s marketing minds to proclaim Paso Robles grapes “the secret ingredient in other California wines.”
That’s a tad much, but there is a real sense that Paso Robles is poised to carve its own distinctive identity. The number of wineries has already tripled in the last 10 years, to more than 100. Quality and enthusiasm are both growing.
Here’s hoping they can pull off this Renaissance while maintaining the charm of a place where the winemaker still stops by your table.
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2258 or mfisher@ DaytonDailyNews.com.
A Dayton connection, of course
Dr. Kedrin Van Steenwyk, the Dayton-area physician who oversees an OB-GYN residency program for Kettering Medical Network/ Grandview Southview hospitals, is the daughter of the founders of Adelaida Cellars, one of Paso’s up-and-coming wineries. Kedrin’s mother, Elizabeth Van Steenwyk, serves as Adelaida’s president and general manager.
Dr. Van Steenwyk’s medical career blossomed in Dayton - but she has quite a soft spot for Paso Robles.
“The area is growing and the land spectacular,” she said. “It hasn’t lost its very natural appeal and has not yet been overly commercialized, probably because it’s not easy to get to - but that makes its allure even stronger.”
- Mark Fisher If you go to Paso
Check out …
www.pasowine.com for information on (and links to) the region’s wineries.
Eat at McPhee’s Grill in Templeton (www.mcphees.com) or Villa Creek in Paso Robles (www.villacreek.com).
Both are open for lunch and dinner, and feature plenty of local wines.
Stay in downtown Paso Robles if you want to be within walking distance of restaurants and a very cool town square.
Or save some bucks by checking out the motels in nearby towns .
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If this were a restaurant wine list, they’d have to rent me a drool cup
Let’s play the “what if” game.
What if the wines that are being offered for sampling throughout the Miami Valley this weekend and next week during our regular ol’ run-of-the-mill wine tastings represented a restaurant wine list? How good of a list would it be?
Well, you could start your meal with a glass of bubbly from one of the most respected producers in all of Champagne, Veuve Clicquot (Jay’s).
Then we’ve got some of the biggest names in Napa — Caymus (Jay’s), Duckhorn (DLM Springboro) and Montelena (DLM Oakwood).
Want someething a bit more esoteric? how about a South African sauvignon blanc, an Italian Frascati, a Chilean Carmenere and a Spanish Tempranillo, all in a single flight (Arrow Kettering)? Or speaking of flights, how about a gaggle of pinoir noirs from all over the world: Chile, New Zealand, Germany and France (L’Auberge)? Or a half-dozen zins tonight at Little Sonoma?
Want to celebrate Bastille Day? Check out the all-French offerings at Cuvee and BR Scotese.
Or step back off the beaten path with an Ohio Riesling (Arrow Centerville) or a New Mexico sparkler (DLM Oakwood).
Think about it. This would be an awesome restaurant wine list by any measure. And I’ve just scratched the surface. Click on “continue reading” to view the full tastings list brought to us by a local wine listserve — and join me in counting our blessings. Cheers!
Jay’s Kitchen Door Friday, July 14, 2006 4-8 pm Robert Pecota Sauvignon Blanc 2003 Chateau De Saint Cosme Cote du Rhone 2002 Louis Jadot Nuits St. Georges 2002 Caymus (Napa)
Saturday, July 15, 2006 1-6 pm Veuve Clicquot Champagne 2003 Domaine Vieille Julienne Chateauneuf du Pape 1999 Le Petite Cheval St Emilion 2002 Monbousquet St Emilion
Call 222-2892 for the August 12 Crab Luncheon reservations!
Arrow – Kettering Saturday, July 15, 2006 11-4 pm 2005 Villa Simone Frascati (Italy) 2004 Asara Sauvignon Blanc (So. Africa) 2001 Nottage Haill Cab/Shiraz (Australia) 2004 Augustinos Carmenere (Chile) 2000 Mas D’Branyo Tempranillo (Spain) 2003 Penny’s Hill “Specialized� (Australia)
Arrow Centerville 615 Lyons Rd Saturday, July 15, 2006 1am-5pm 2005 Kinkead Ridge Dry Riesling… 2004 Carmel Road Chardonnay… 2004 Veranda Pinot Noir… 2003 Hedges CMS (Cabernet, Merlot, Syrah)… 2002 Columbia Crest Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon… Barbadillo Eva Cream Sherry
Dorothy Lane Market (DLM) Oakwood Friday, July 14, 2006 5-8pm Cht. Montelena ’04 Chardonnay Santa Margarita ‘04 Pinot Grigio Hanna ’01 Two Ranch Red Stoney Ridge Larose ’01 Waiheke Island Brown Bag!
Saturday, July 15, 2006 1-6pm Goesont Bourgogne ’04 Aligote TK ‘04 Sauvignon Blanc Muga Reserve ‘02 Rioja Matthews ’03 Claret Gruet Rose Bonus Bottle!
Beer: Lagunitas 10 Duchy Originals Organic English Ale
DLM Washington Square Thursday, July 13, 2006 5-8pm ’05 Tamar Ridge Sauvignon Blanc (Tasmania) ’05 Domaine de Noire Chinon Rose ’02 Robert Stemmler Pinot Noir ’04 Domaine de Noire Chinon ’03 Mathews Claret (Washington) Mystery Bottle!
Saturday, July 15, 2006 12-5pm ’02 Pumari Riesling (California) ’05 Domaine de Guy Allion Sauvignon Blanc (Loire, France) ’02 Arcadian “Sleepy Hollow Vineyard� Pinot Noir ’04 Nepenthe Tryst [Australia(Cab, Shiraz, Zin blend)] ’03 Spring Mountain Vineyard Syrah Mystery Bottle!
DLM Springboro Friday, July 14, 2006 3-7pm Vino Godeval Godello Borsao “Tres Picos” Garnacha Altos de Luzon Muga Reserva “Selection Especial” Marti Fabra “Masia Carreras”
Saturday, July 15, 2006 12-5pm Duckhorn Sauvignon Blanc Pouilly-Fuisse “La Roche” Veraison Merlot Lail Vineyard Cuvee
Cuvee Wine Bar and Cellar, 4457 State Route 725 Bellbrook Tuesday – Thursday 11:30 – 7 pm Friday and Saturday 11:30 – 8 pm www.cuveewinebar.net Wines beginning Friday, July 14, 2006 Guy Allion 2005 Sauvignon Villaine A & P Bouzeron 2004 Aligote Rene Mure Cote de Rouffache 2001 Tokay Pinot Gris Jobard F. 2002 Bourgogne Blanc Drouhin Vero Burgundy Domaine Santa Duc 2003 Gigondas Charbonniere 2003 Chateauneuf du Pape
Beer: Kronenbourg 1664 Food: Duck al’orange Pate en Croute Escargot French Frank (Burgundog) Oysters Shrimp Pate
Market Wine Imports 2nd Street Public Market Saturday 10-3 PM 2005 Sacha Lichine La Poule Blanche 2005 Sacha Lichine Le Cog Rouge 2003 Red Mud Shiraz 2005 Max Richter Mulheimer Sonnenlay “Zeppelin” Reisling
B. R. Scotese Wednesday, July 12, 2006 4:30 pm 2004 Sacha Lichine Poule Blanche 2003 Chateau Lamthe Rouge 2003 Chateau La Grande La Clotte 2003 Chateau Ampelia 2003 Chateau Plaisance “Cuvee Alix” 2002 Les Fiefs de Lagrange The restaurant is no smoking on Wednesdays!
DiSalvo’s Deli and Italian Store Wine Tasting – every third Wednesday of the month in conjunction with their Meal of the Month! www.disalvosdeli.com. The July dinner will feature cold water fish entrée. The Deli’s Feature Wines: Ecco Domani Merlot, Chianti, Pinot Grigio, Sangiovese
Little Sonoma, 6078 West Chester Road, West Chester, OH 45069. 513-942-9463. Located two blocks north of Union Centre Blvd. at the corner of Muhlhauser and West Chester Roads www.LittleSonomaWines.com Friday, July 14, 7 pm “Zinfest� Six zinfandels. Light appetizers served, reservations recommended.
Saturday. July 15, 4-6 pm “C� Squared, Chards & Cabs
Trader Joe’s - Town & Country Shopping Center, Kettering Sunday 4-7 and Tuesday 6-8 Caves des Perrieres (2004): AOC Pouilly-Fume, France Il Valore Reserva (2001): DOCG Chianti, Italy Trader Joe’s Coastal Cabernet (2004): AVA Central Coast, California
L’Auberge Tuesday, July 18, 2006 @ 7PM Pinot Noirs from around the World Veranda , Chile Spy Valley, New Zealand Domaine Vougeraire Pommard, France Dr. Hubert Ganz Spatburgunder, Germany
These are organized seated tastings costing $20. There is a 20% discount if you choose to stay for dinner.
Kinkead Ridge Winery Open on Saturdays to Labor Day, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. in Ripley at 904 Hamburg Street, (937) 392-6077. July 4th hours are 11 a.m.-6 p.m Labor Day weekend (September 1 and 3) the 2004 red wines will be released. No restrooms at the vineyard.
The Winery at Versailles Steak Fry on Saturday, July 15th at 5:00 p.m. Please call (937) 526-3232 for reservations. Cost is $50 per couple and includes all food, a bottle of wine from a selected list tax and gratuity.
WINE TASTING - July 21st, 7 to 9 p.m. The wine tasting in itihe vineyard will include a Vineyard Walk, to visit the new vines. Reservations are required.
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A birthday menu
My youngest son turns 17 today, and family tradition dictates that he gets to choose the menu for his birthday meal. He has selected:
— Rack of lamb
— Green beans, French-style
— Ciabatta rolls
— Raspberries and blueberries
— Baskin-Robbins baseball nut ice cream and peanut butter-chocolate ice cream
Kid knows how to live, doesn’t he?
I’ll be opening a bottle from his birth year — 1989 Chateau Chasse-Spleen — which is a tad ironic since I bash Bordeaux rather robustly over at Wine Sediments today. It’s the last bottle from the smattering of 1989 futures I bought with a former newspaper colleague — and that’s the last time I bought futures. All the rest of my money went to my kids!
What would YOU choose as your birthday meal — and what wine would you serve with it?
Cheers, and wish me luck that I don’t overcook the lamb!
Mark Fisher
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Searching for a shred of humility from Wine Spectator magazine
Wine Spectator magazine — which we’ve skewered a time or two, but whose integrity I’ve also vigorously defended — calls its upcoming California Wine Experience “the most important wine event in the country.” Do you agree?
Actually, in looking through the event’s program, it certainly does appear it will be one fine bash, even if the price of admission is $1,775.
Still, a little humility would be nice. Am I asking too much of the Spectator?
Cheers!
Mark Fisher
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Global warming could doom wine industry — but is it merely hype?
I am not one of those head-in-the-sand naysayers who claim global warming does not exist. Still, it’s hard to swallow the doomsday scenarios painted in the Associated Press story sweeping the country today that suggests global warming could ruin the wine industry as we know it by the end of this century. (For another version of the story that focuses more on the impact to California’s wine regions, check out this San Francisco Chronicle piece.)
As one who believes the truth lies somewhere in the middle, I can’t help but to think this doomsday rhetoric is — um — overheated. I suspect global warming will adversely affect only those wine-producing regions that are already very warm, regions that are close to being too warm to produce quality wine grapes.
Cool-climate regions that struggle to ripen grapes fully may benefit from global warming, at least in the short term (although that sure as heck is no reason to continue the practices we know exacerbates the warming).
But if the shift is too dramatic, what will be the impact on quality? Already, we know that some of the world’s finest wines — white and red Burgundy, for example, and German riesling — are grown in pretty much the coolest, northernmost climate that vines will tolerate and still — in certain years — produce stunning wines. Global warming may well reduce the number of poor vintages from those regions — but also result in fewer stunning vintages, in which the grapes struggle a bit at first, then ripen fully late in a long growing season, benefitting from extended hang time.
In short, white Burgundy will begin to taste like Australian chardonnay.
Maybe that’s the real doomsday scenario…. .
Cheers!
Mark Fisher
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Fleming’s Steakhouse and Wine Bar responds
Many moons ago, we wrote about Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse and Wine Bar’s decision to open a restaurant at the Greene, the large retail shopping development under construction in Beavercreek off of I-675. Well, readers responded with comments and questions on the “100 wines by the glass” offering, and back on May 15th, I promised to contact the Fleming’s folks for answers to many of your questions.
That proved more difficult than I expected, but finally, the Fleming’s folks hooked me up by phone with Marian Jansen op de Har, director of wine for Fleming’s. Most of what Marian had to say was reassuring. These folks do take their wine seriously — much moreso than other chain steakhouses. Of course, when you put “Wine Bar” into your name, you set the bar high.
Many readers’ questions focused on how the wines are preserved. All of us wine lovers have had the unpleasant experience of ordering a wine by the glass at a restaurant and being served an over-the-hill, oxidized glass of wine/sherry from a bottle that had been sitting open for who-knows-how-long.
That won’t happen at Fleming’s, Jansen op de Haar promises. Here’s why:
(Click on “continue reading” to learn about Fleming’s wine-preserving, how the list of 100 wines by the glass is chosen, and a revised opening date for the new restaurant site in suburban Dayton)
First, the wines are kept under controlled temperatures: 60 degrees for the reds, 45 degrees for the whites (all together now: Hallelujah! ). Those cooler temperatures will slow oxidation and keep the wines fresher longer, Jansen op de Haar said.
Second, each opened bottle is “squirted” every night with an inert gas such as Argon. Laying a blanket of inert gas atop the exposed wine in a half-full bottle is a common method of preserving wine.
Each partial bottle is dated with its own “uncorked” date, and after two days, partial bottles go on a list that is shared with the restaurant’s servers, so they can, perhaps, suggest a glass of that wine to customers, Jansen op de Haar said. (Now, this seems a bit odd to me. If I ask my server which wine he or she would recommend with a particular dish, I want the answer to be what the server thinks is the best wine for that dish, not the wine that has been open for two or three days.)
In any event, if a wine has been open six days or more, “we throw it out, or we cook with it,” Jansen op de Haar said. But that happens rarely, she said, “because we do plenty of volume.” And the restaurant offers generous six-ounce pours, meaning each bottle is gone after four pours, the Fleming’s wine director said.
This sounds encouraging — if it’s followed to the letter at every restaurant in the chain. Some reds (and maybe a few whites) might even benefit from a bit of exposure to the outside world (hey, maybe I’ll ask to see the list of wines that have been open a few days and select from that …)
Jansen op de Haar chooses 60 of the 100 wines on the by-the-glass list, and leaves it up to the wine manager at each restaurant to choose 40. “I want a wine list that is balanced in type and in price, and I want geographical diversity,” Jansen op de Haar said.
If you order a flight of wines at Fleming’s, they’ll be served in the Wine Vine that is pictured at the top of this posting, an elegant glass holder that Jansen op de Haar designed. The wine director often comes into each market just before a new Fleming’s opens to teach a wine seminar to servers and bartenders who will be working when the restaurant opens.
Not sure when that’ll happen for the suburban Dayton site. The projected opening of the restaurant has been pushed back to December 2006, according to a spokeswoman for Fleming’s. That came as a bit of a surprise to Jansen op de Haar, who was still under the impression the steakhouse might open in November. But construction timelines are always fluid.
Whenever the first cork is pulled, Fleming’s will be an intriguing addition to the Dayton-area restaurant and wine scene — so stay tuned.
Cheers!
Mark Fisher
P.S. Over at Wine Sediments today, my blogging colleague Jeff from GoodGrape (a fellow midwesterner based in Indianapolis, by the way) reviews four web sites that strive to combine computer technology with good ol’-fashioned human tastebuds of your fellow wine enthusiasts to help you manage your wine cellar. Interesting stuff!
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Santa Barbara wineries starting to excel
(The following winew column was published in the Oct. 1, 2003 editions of the Dayton Daily News)
By Mark Fisher Staff Writer
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - Making wine is a lot like the real-estate adage: The three most important factors are location, location and location.
The folks in Santa Barbara County, northwest of Los Angeles, think they’ve got a mighty fine location, thankyouverymuch. And after tasting through a few dozen of the region’s wines at the source in mid-August, it’s hard to argue with them.
For many reasons - all good ones - Santa Barbara County may turn out to be the hottest wine-producing region in all of California over the next decade. Wineries have planted acres of new vineyards along the hills and plateaus the last few years, carefully selecting the varieties and matching them to the soil and climate. They’re investing money in winemaking equipment and technology and building comfortable tasting rooms. And their wines are increasingly gaining notice from top-notch restaurants and publications such as Wine Spectator .
Chances are, you’ve seen or tasted Santa Barbara County wines from wineries such as Sanford, Byron, Firestone, Zaca Mesa, Cambria, Babcock or Fess Parker (yes, the Daniel Boone actor). Many of us in the Midwest don’t read labels all that closely and may assume these wines must come from the region we most closely associate with California wine country: Napa and Sonoma counties, north of San Francisco.
But Santa Barbara is light years away from Napa/Sonoma - both in geography and philosophy.
‘The thing about this valley is it’s more cooperative than competitive,’ said David Lafond, co-proprietor of Lafond Vineyards on the western side of the county. ‘There’s a great atmosphere, a great spirit. That’s what makes it exciting here.’
Well, that’s not all that makes it exciting. Ask any winemaker here - and I asked a half-dozen - what makes this region special, and they all say pretty much the same thing: climate.
Unlike most of the rest of California, where the mountain ranges run north-south, Santa Barbara’s mountains run east-west, creating valleys that at night suck up cool Pacific Ocean air like a vacuum cleaner and deliver it to the vineyards nearest the coast.
‘Very rarely do we get frost here, but the night-time temperatures almost always drop into the 50s, year-round,’ said Bruno D’Alfonso, Sanford’s winemaker since 1983. ‘In the summer, when the fog lifts in the morning, we get good warmth.’
The result: an astonishingly long growing season that allows grapes to mature slowly but fully - the kind of grapes winemakers yearn for.
In the western edge of the county, closest to the cooling influence of the Pacific air currents, the emphasis is on pinot noir and chardonnay, two grapes that flourish in cooler climates. It’s here in the Santa Rita Hills appellation that you’ll find high-quality producers such as Sanford, Melville, Babcock and Lafond. Travel east, and the temperature rises as the ocean influence diminishes. Syrah and other warmth-loving Rhone varietals become more prevalent, and it’s where wineries such as Zaca Mesa, Fess Parker and Beckmen have set up shop.
The excitement here is genuine and infectious. Melville Vineyards winemaker Greg Brewer eagerly details the 11 clones of pinot noir he is harvesting, and about the stunning no-oak chardonnay he’s making from his best chard grapes. Bryan Babcock can’t wait to talk about a new growing region in the eastern part of the county he thinks will produce a world-class Bordeaux-blend wine. Zaca Mesa is so proud of the improvements it has made to its winemaking that it invites comparison tastings with previous vintages that are still on the market just to show how much better the new bottlings are.
Collectively, Santa Barbara’s winemakers - and their wines - are delivering the same message: keep your eye on us. We’ll reward your attention.
For more about planning a trip to Santa Barbara and its surrounding wine country, keep your eye on this week’s Travel section of Sunday’s Dayton Daily News . For information about Santa Barbara County’s wineries, point your Web browser to www.sbcountywines.com .
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What the heck are those Ohioans smoking — er, I mean, drinking — anyway?
Well, I can help with the drinking part. Today and every Friday, we publish a list of wine tastings, dinners and other events that are copied and pasted from a local wine listserve which compiles the events (and is Uncorked ever thankful for THAT…).
So this weekend we’ll be slurping the likes of 1998 Cos D’Estournel, 2001 Beringer Chardonnay “Sbragiaâ€? Limited Release, 1998 Poderi Colla Tenuta Roncagli Barbaresco … y’know, the usual (yawn ...) plonk. Oh, did I forget the Penfolds Grange? Heavenly stars, I believe I did. Grange, too. Either ‘97 or ‘98, not sure yet.
I’m tellin’ ya, livin’ in Dayton is livin’ large.
It’s our little home on the Grange.
Cheers!
Mark Fisher
(To view the full list of tastings and event, click on “continue reading”)
Jay’s Kitchen Door Friday, July 7, 2006 4-8 pm 2003 Corton 2002 Rombauer Cabernet 2002 Lafon Rochet Bordeaux 2002 Spring Mountain Cabernet
Saturday, July 8, 2006 1-6 pm NV Moet White Star Champagne 2003 Latour Nuits St. George 1999 Pian delle Vigne Brunello 1998 Cos D’Estournel
Call 222-2892 for the August 12 Crab Luncheon reservations!
Arrow – Kettering Saturday, July 8, 2006 11-4 pm 2004 Ribeauville Tokay Pinot Gris, Alsace 2001 Beringer Chardonnay “Sbragia� Limited Release 2003 Chateau Gonin Red Bordeaux 2004 McLean’s Farm Shiraz-Cabernet 2001 Domus Aurea (Cabernet Sauvignon, Chile)
Arrow Centerville 615 Lyons Rd Saturday, July 8, 2006 1am-5pm 2005 Kunde Sauvignon Blanc… 2004 Lake Sonoma Chardonnay… 2004 Carmel Road Pinot Noir… 2002 Rutherford Hill Merlot… 2001 Beringer Knights Valley Cabernet Sauvignon Wolf Blass Sparkling Chardonnay/Pinot Noir
Dorothy Lane Market (DLM) Oakwood Friday, July 7, 2006 5-8pm Singing ’04 Gruner Veltliner Gran Feudo ’05 Rose Stoller ‘04 Pinot Noir MacRostie ’01 Syrah Bordino ’00 Barbaresco Brown Bag!
Saturday, July 8, 2006 1-6pm Allan Scott ’05 Sauvignon Blanc Bricco del Sole ’05 Moscato d’Asti Kelham ’01 Merlot Vasse Felix ’03 Adams Road Shiraz Giorgio ’00 Chianti Classico Bonus Bottle!
Beer: Southern Tier “Big Red� Imperial Red Ale Great Divide “Yeti� Imperial Stout
DLM Washington Square Thursday, July 6, 2006 5-8pm ’05 Crocker Starr Sauvignon Blanc ’03 Patton Valley Vineyard Pinot Noir ’03 Domaine Michel Gay et Fils Chorey les Beaune ’03 Mezzo Giorno Nero d’Avola ’04 Chateau de Roquefort “Les Mures� Cotes de Provence Mystery Bottle!
Saturday, July 8, 2006 12-5pm ’05 Allan Scott Sauvignon Blanc ’04 Stoller Vineyard Pinot Noir ’04 The Colonial Estate “Envoy� Grenache/Shiraz/Mourvedre ’03 Adam’s Road Vasse Felix Shiraz ’03 Teatown Cellars Merlot ’03 Flor de Pingus Mystery Bottle!
DLM Springboro Friday, July 7, 2006 3-7pm La Cadalora Pinot Grigio La Sirena Moscato Azul Francis Coppola Claret Cosentino M. Coz
Saturday, July 8, 2006 12-5pm Ramey Chardonnay Napa Oreno Ramey Diamond Mountain 97 or 98 Penfolds Grange
Cuvee Wine Bar and Cellar, 4457 State Route 725 Bellbrook Tuesday – Thursday 11:30 – 7 pm Friday and Saturday 11:30 – 8 pm www.cuveewinebar.net Wines beginning Friday, July 7, 2006 Bellini-made with Rivasecca Prosecco and Cipriani Peach Soda
Momy’s Time Out Pinot Grigio/Garganega St. Martin de la Garrigue Picpoul de Pinet Wachau Gruner Veltliner Kiwi Elements Pinot Noir French Rabbit Merlot Esterlina Zinfandel Poderi Colla Tenuta Roncagli 98 Barbaresco Beer: Mt Carmel Copper (Cincinnati) Food: Spare Ribs with White Peach BBQ Sauce
Market Wine Imports 2nd Street Public Market Saturday 10-3 PM Keo Panteleimon White 2005 Three Blind Moose Chardonnay 2003 Tribal Pinot Noir 2003 Montoya Cabernet Sauvignon
DiSalvo’s Deli and Italian Store Wine Tasting – every third Wednesday of the month in conjunction with their Meal of the Month! www.disalvosdeli.com. The July dinner will feature cold water fish entrée. The Deli’s Feature Wines: Ecco Domani Merlot, Chianti, Pinot Grigio, Sangiovese
Little Sonoma, 6078 West Chester Road, West Chester, OH 45069. 513-942-9463. Located two blocks north of Union Centre Blvd. at the corner of Muhlhauser and West Chester Roads www.LittleSonomaWines.com Friday, July 7th, 7 pm ~ 90 Point Wines that have been rated 90 points or better for $25 or less. Cost to attend this tasting is just $15 per person at the door, light appetizers will be served, reservations are recommended.
Saturday, July 8th, 4-6 pm ~ Rich Reds & Refreshing Whites Two full flavored reds and two wonderfully refreshing whites for summer enjoyment.
Trader Joe’s - Town & Country Shopping Center, Kettering Sunday 4-7 and Tuesday 6-8 JW Morris Chardonnay (2004): California La Ferme Julien Rose (2005): AOC Cotes de Ventoux, France Trader Joe’s French Classic Syrah (2004): VDP Pays d’Oc, France
The Winds Café Wine Tasting Join Winds for their Rosé wine tasting on Friday, July 7th at 7pm. Wines will be accompanied by food from the Winds’ kitchen. Call 937-767-9441 for reservations.
L’Auberge Tuesday, July 81, 2006 @ 7PM Domaine Riefle Pinot Blanc 2000 Domaine Riefle Riesling 2001 Kurt Daring Durkheimer Nonenngarten Gewurtraminer Kabinett 2004 H & R Lingenfelder Grosskarlbacher Osterberg Riesling Spatlese 2004 Leitz Redesheimer Trocken 2004 Gysler Weinheimer BA 1999
Grapes of Ruth Wines available for tasting July 7, Kit Fox Viognier Samantha Star Chardonnay Laurent Miquel Cinsault Syrah Rose Grove Street Pinot Noir Clos Sixte Lirac GSM Black Chook Shiraz Robert Pecota Merlot Worthy Cabernet Sauvignon
Kinkead Ridge Winery Open on Saturdays to Labor Day, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. in Ripley at 904 Hamburg Street, (937) 392-6077. July 4th hours are 11 a.m.-6 p.m Labor Day weekend (September 1 and 3) the 2004 red wines will be released. No restrooms at the vineyard.
The Winery at Versailles Steak Fry on Saturday, July 85th at 5:00 p.m. Please call (937) 526-3232 for reservations. Cost is $50 per couple and includes all food, a bottle of wine from a selected list tax and gratuity.
WINE TASTING - July 21st, 7 to 9 p.m. The wine tasting in itihe vineyard will include a Vineyard Walk, to visit the new vines. Reservations are required.
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A rose’ by any other name …
(Dayton Daily News photo by Jim Witmer)
Don’t let those overnight temps fool you. We’re poised to sweat through the dog days of summer, which gets me thinkin’ pink. And I’m not the only one. The Winds, which is featuring rosés this month and throwng its own ode to dry pink wines on Friday night, has been evangelizing for rosés for many years.
Hey — wait-a-minute. So have I. Let me just rummage around in the ole’ Dayton Daily News archives for a moment — ha! There it is! A story I wrote in July 2003 B. U. (Before Uncorked):
“When it gets hot and steamy outside, there’s only one drink of choice for the discriminating wine enthusiast: Beer. Oops, I mean rosé.
These beautifully hued wines capture summer in a bottle. But don’t be fooled by the color of these true roses - their taste bears little resemblance to the popular white zinfandels that share a similar ZIP code on the color spectrum. Roses are dry - sometimes bracingly so. And they just seem to taste best with mid-summer fare, from berries to ripe tomatoes to potato salad to burgers on the grill. Oh, and anything garlicky.
And they require little fuss. No need to swirl and sniff these straightforward lip-smackers. Don’t worry all that much about vintage years or when to drink the wine at its peak - the fresher the rose, the better. And they’re at their best cold. (Between you and me, I think it’s perfectly fine to put an ice cube into a glass of rose. Of course, I could never admit that in print … .)
Roses are made from red-wine grapes, sometimes by draining a portion of the lightest juice from a tank full of red wine (this has the benefit of making the remaining red wine more concentrated) or by separating the juice from the grapeskins - which contain the red-wine color - shortly after the grapes are crushed.
The best roses come from the Mediterranean - Italy, Spain and the south of France, where winemakers flourish at producing this style of wine from grenache, syrah, mourvedre and other warm-climate red-wine grapes. The standard-setter is the Domaine Tempier from the Bandol region of Southern France, but that wine has risen in price to the $25-$35 (2006 note: It’s now $30) range, and fresh vintages are sometimes difficult to find (another 2006 note: the price tag seems to have enhanced its availability this year. I’ve seen the 2005 Tempier in decent supply around town).
Fortunately, we don’t have to spend that kind of money to drink quality roses, European or otherwise. California winemakers are showing a deft touch in making roses, and the prices — especially compared to luxury chardonnays and pinot gris — are moderate.
So when the mercury rises, consider dipping your tongue into something cool and refreshing - a cold glass of rose. Just don’t get it stuck on the ice cube.”
I’ve tasted a raft of rosés in recent weeks, and I don’t know whether it’s the the 2005 vintage, or better winemaking, but the difference in quality between the most expensive and least expensive is narrowing. A $9.99 Verget Cotes du Luberon rosé is just as delicious as many that cost more. And Spanish and California rosés are delivering the flavor of their French and Italian brethren for fewer samoleons.
So as soon as the mercury creeps back up, start thinking — and drinking — pink.
Cheers!
Mark Fisher
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Georges Dubeouf convicted of fraud in French court
French winemakers already have enough woes, notwithstanding all the hubbub over the 2005 vintage that is helping the rich get richer but doing little to help the vast majority of vignerons. Now this story from the Associated Press details the conviction of and punishment for famous and well-respected wine exporter Georges Dubeouf.
Apparently, Duboeuf and the produdction manager at one of his wineries were convicted of fraud and attempted fraud for mixing a variety of grapes in 54,150 gallons of wine, thereby violating rules for “appellation” wines that carry France’s AOC seal, the AP story says. The AOC seal guarantees that the wine was made from grapes of a specific region, and such mixing or blending violates French law.
The wine production manager denied intentional wrongdoing. Duboeuf himself testified in the trial and also denied any wrongdoing, and may appeal the verdict. The $38,370 fine levied against Dubeouf was much smaller than the penalty sought by prosecutors, who apparently were trying to make an example of the winemaker most widely known in America for his Beaujolais Nouveau, though he exports many other wines from Beaujolais and elsewhere in France.
One suspects these are not the types of headlines the struggling French wine industry wants to see …
Mark Fisher
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Go Fourth and Wine!
Happy Independence Day! Tell us what you’re drinking on this fine holiday … I’ve got my sights set on a French rosé, a 2005 Cotes du Luberon from Verget ….From there, who knows?
C’mon, let us know what’s in YOUR glass ….
Cheers!
Mark Fisher
PS I’ve asked the same question this morning on Wine Sediments, by the way. Don’t be shy!
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Santa Barbara serves up sand, sun and wine
(The following story was published in the Oct. 5, 2003 edition of the Dayton Daily News)
By Mark Fisher
Staff Writer
SANTA BARBARA, Ca. — The first lesson for the naive Midwesterner (that would be me) is this: Counties in California are not the same size as counties in Ohio.
California counties are more like Pennsylvania - the entire state of Pennsylvania.
I had hatched what I was sure was a brilliant plan: I would park my wife and two teenage sons on the beach in the resort town of Santa Barbara - ‘The American Riviera,’ the local tourism folks like to call it - and zip over to visit several wineries in the emerging wine-producing region of Santa Barbara County, which I figured would be only a stone’s throw away.
Day One I hopped in my overworked rental car and headed off to the first winery, north on U.S. 101 out of the city of Santa Barbara. Some 60 miles and 90 minutes later, I pull into my destination. I’ve driven the equivalent of downtown Dayton to northern Kentucky - and I’m still in Santa Barbara County.
I left the beach for this?
Fortunately, the quality of the wines and the beauty of the Pacific mountain ranges erased any remnants of road-weariness. This region northwest of Los Angeles - it’s close enough to L.A. (100 miles) to make it convenient, far enough away to provide sanctuary from the smog and traffic - offers a resort atmosphere, top-notch dining and picture-perfect beaches. And for those looking to make wine country a part of their California experience, Santa Barbara trumps the commercialized and crowded Napa Valley, hands down.
Sure, Napa has San Francisco. But after spending a few days in San Fran on a separate leg on this trip - and getting stuck in a downtown traffic jam in which it took 40 minutes to drive 10 blocks - Santa Barbara provided welcome relief.
The city proper is nestled between the foothills of the Santa Ynez mountains and the Pacific Ocean’s Santa Barbara Channel. Its main beaches face almost due south, and the channel islands and geography dampen the intensity of the ocean waves, making the city’s beaches very friendly to young children.
Hotels, beaches, restaurants and shopping are all within relatively easy walking distance, and the streets are extremely bicycle-friendly, making the city easy to navigate. A 3.2-mile beachfront bikepath adds to the convenience. Hiking and backpacking opportunities abound in the Los Padres National Forest north and east of the city.
For adventurous adults and teenagers, those mellow beaches of Santa Barbara proper just won’t do. For more challenging surf, head out of town on U.S. 101 south toward Carpinteria, nine miles east of Santa Barbara, where the beachfront street is called Santa Claus Lane.
Here’s where this naive Midwesterner made another rookie mistake. I knew the Pacific Ocean was too cold to swim in northern California, where we had traveled earlier on this trip, but Santa Barbara, being far to the south, and it being August and all, I figured would be different. Wrong.
My boys and I dashed into the surf and received the jolt of what seemed an icewater bath. When the water reached our waists, my wife, standing on the shore, laughed at us and held up her thumb and forefinger about a quarter-inch apart. Now, what did she mean by that?
Fortunately, the nearby A-Frame Surf (3785 Santa Claus Lane in Carpinteria) rents wetsuits and spring suits (short-sleeve, shorter in the leg than wetsuits) as well as various types of surfboards and body boards. The suits will serve you well if you’re going to spend any length of time in the water and don’t want to experience hypothermia or other maladies of close contact with cold, cold water (hey, wait a minute, so that’s what my wife meant … ).
A day of riding the waves makes a person hungry. And my oh my, does Santa Barbara have restaurants. Most specialize, as you might imagine, in seafood, especially those on Stearns Wharf and along Cabrillo Boulevard, the beachfront strip. But walk down the city’s main street, State Street, for dozens of other alternatives, from Italian-style cafes, French Bistros and verrrrry Californian fusion cuisine. These establishments have a bounty of raw materials nearby, from fresh California-grown produce (also available to the public on Tuesday’s farmers’ market downtown) to high-quality beef to catch-of-the-day seafood. So the meals here should be good. And they are. They’re also a tad expensive, with entrees at the better restaurants in the $25-$30 range, but they don’t call this the American Riviera for nothing.
Wine flows freely in every type of restaurant, much of it ‘locally’ grown in the foothills and plateaus to the north and west. Indeed, Santa Barbara could very well be the up-and-coming wine region in California, and perhaps the United States. Acres of new vineyards are poised to begin producing high-quality grapes, which ripen slowly in an extended growing season moderated by the Pacific Ocean’s cooling influence. Many of the 60-plus wineries in the county are building comfortable tasting rooms that are not yet overrun with thirsty tourists as are the tasting rooms in Napa and Sonoma well to the north. And the region is still basking in the free publicity from the recent ABC-TV The Bachelor series that paired up Andrew Firestone, sales manager for Firestone Vineyards, with a potential bride to be.
Heady days, to be sure, for Santa Barbara.
The key to the region’s wine quality is its climate, which is heavily influenced by the Pacific Ocean and its chilly air currents. The wineries in the western edge of the county, closest to the ocean, focus mostly on the cool-climate grape varieties of pinot noir and chardonnay, while the vineyards to the warmer east accommodate syrah, grenache, cabernet sauvignon and other warmth-loving varieties. Frost is rare here, and the nighttime lows are remarkably constant year round, giving the grapes a long, leisurely growing season. Grapes that ripen evenly in a climate like this make great wines, and Santa Barbara winemakers appear to be just hitting their stride.
For a free map with winery hours, tours and other information, contact the Santa Barbara Vintners Association (www.sbcountywines.com ), but keep in mind that only those wineries that are association members show up on the map. Babcock Vineyards, for example, is a prominent winery with national availability (including the Dayton area) that is not shown on the association’s map. (It shares the same driveway on East California 246 with Melville Vineyards, whose winemaker Greg Brewer came to Dayton in 2000.)
Some wine touring companies will pick you up at the door of your Santa Barbara hotel, take you to wine country and return you to the hotel, no worse for wear (presumably). Make sure you save time for a stop at the tourist-friendly alpine village of Solvang, Santa Barbara County’s ‘Little Denmark’ that features windmills, Scandinavian food and every kind of Hans Christian Andersen souvenir you can possibly imagine.
If proximity to Santa Barbara County wine country is more important than resort towns and beaches when selecting your lodging, contact the Santa Ynez Valley Visitors Association at (800) 742-2843 or on the Web at www.santaynezvalleyvisit.com .
Either way, this is one very large county, so remember the following two words when you rent a car: unlimited mileage.
Contact Mark Fisher at 225-2258 or by e-mail at mfisher@DaytonDailyNews.com.
Santa Barbara on the Web
- For more information on Santa Barbara and the surrounding area,
point your Web browser to www.santabarbaraCA.com , the site for the
Santa Barbara Conference and Visitors Bureau. The bureau publishes a
112-page visitors guide that is available by calling (800) 676-1266.
- Or try santabarbara.com for comprehensive information about the
region, including reader reviews of restaurants. Want to really have some
fun and feel good about where you live and what you paid for your house?
Click on the ‘real estate’ section and check out the home sales prices.
- For more about the city’s dining establishments, check out
www.wineanddineSB.com .
- More information about Santa Barbara County’s wineries and special
events is available at www.sbcountywines.com .
- For an advance look at downtown Santa Barbara’s shopping district,
visit www.santabarbaradowntown.com .
- And for a good listing of current events and calendar listings, call
up www.newspress.com , the Web site for Santa Barbara’s daily newspaper.
Some content is available by subscription only, but the calendar listings
do not require a subscription.
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Columbus event mimics Dayton’s Fleurs de Fete — with one notable exception
It’s called the Columbus Food & Wine Affair, and here’s how the event — the second annual — is described on its web site:
“Begin with samplings from over 200 wineries pouring nearly 450 wines.
Pair them impeccably with food tastings from 25 of the finest
restaurants in Columbus. Garnish the evening with a delectable
silent auction, all to benefit Columbus area charities and
the Central Ohio Restaurant Association.”
Admission “includes all wine tastes, delicious foods, and a souvenir Reidel wine glass” and the event is held at the Franklin Park Conservatory near downtown Columbus.
Sound famililar? Sure. Sounds exactly like Dayton’s very own Fleurs de Fete, with a better wine glass thrown in.
With one key difference.
The ticket price for the Columbus event? One-hundred dollars.
Fleurs de Fete’s ticket price: Fifty dollars.
Now you and I had plenty to say about this year’s Fleurs de Fete, and not all of it good. But if we had paid a hundred bucks … ?
Yow-zah!
Cheers!
Mark Fisher
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A small pour of utter frivolity
A colleague responding to my entry about Ohio’s new law allowing leftover wine to be brought home from restaurants asks:
“If food leftovers are called doggie bags, what are wine leftovers called?”
Well?
Cheers!
Mark Fisher
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