How often does one get the opportunity to travel around a stare visiting great wine people with a master sommelier like Damon Ornowski? Last week, while my amigo was noshing it up in Nashville with Kermit, we were terroirizing the Texas countryside with a car full of Gruners and Nero D’Avolas. An unlikely pair of wines from the polar opposite ends of Italy (the Gruner was off the map from the Wachau).

Last week in Houston, our rolling wine show pulled up to the steps of a friend’s new place. Lynette Hawkins recently opened up Giacomo’s cibo e vino on 3215 Westheimer (near Kirby). The concept is bacaro with cicchetti, a casual wine bar with small plates. This is a delight for carnivore and vegan alike, as the counter is filled with any number of delicious offerings. Tha place had gotten great early press from my twitter buddy @alisoncook.

But our goal was to meet up with a group of sales reps and sommeliers for a quick meet-up and a light lunch. The draw was Damon with his wines from Cusumano in Sicily and a selection of Austrian wines from Kracher, Hirtzberger and Domane Wachau. Great stuff and right before the Thanksgiving holiday some liquid food for thought.

Damon is a lightning bug of info, and he moves as fast as one too (the guy took two runs in one day while we were in Austin!). After a long day in San Antonio, capped off by a dinner at Il Sogno, Andrew Weismann’s new Italian spot in the Pearl Brewery, we headed out early for the ride to Houston. All through the trip I kept wondering about all the great BBQ places we were passing. Thankfully it was too early and we had to be in Houston at 11:00AM.

Damon handled the wine details and I got with Giacomo manager Emily, who is as turned on to the concept of cicchetti as the able proprietressa, Lynette. I looked at the line of food and asked her for a little taste of everything for our group.

Within minutes small plates poured onto the table, fighting for space with the Gruners and the Neros. But a battle in which everyone won.

I have to say, I roll with some interesting folks in the wine business (starting to sound like an umami blog, hey Dr.P?) and this was no different. @JonSomm (Jonathan Hoenefenger of Tony’s) and I got into this deep chat about DOCG’s. Jon keeps me on my toes, and we had some fun flaring our nostrils at each other, trying to stump one another over the most esoteric of wines from Italy. Later in the lunch he mentioned the Nero D’Avola Bianco that he pours as the house wine at his restaurant (Damon made a note and emailed the Cusumano’s about it on the way to the next stop). Scott Barber from Tesar’s in the Woodlands took the drive in to hook up with us, along with a table of intense and attentive salespeople and their clients. Darn, we are lucky to be working and living in these times.

The Cicchetti we had were wonderful (If you aren′t a carnivore you would be very happy here - see the pictures):
we also had
•cavolfiore in agro dolce roast cauliflower in caramelized onion vinaigrette
•ratatouille roast eggplant and zucchini with sweet peppers, onions, tomato, herbs, garlic and olive oil
•insalata di barbabietole roast beets with goat cheese, fennel, walnuts
•tacchino tonnato poached turkey breast marinated in tuna sauce
•frutti di mare salad of poached shrimp, calamari, fennel, herbs, lemon and olive oil
•polpettini d’agnello spicy lamb meatballs
•pollo ai peperoni chicken thighs braised with white wine, sweet peppers and onions

But the showstopper of the afternoon was Lynette’s panino di porchetta, a toasted sandwich of slow braised fennel and rosemary roasted Berkshire pork on ciabatta(with my full year allocation of garlic). It was so good I didnt take the time to take a picture of it. It was so good I wasn’t even feeling bad about missing all that brisket and ribs we passed by on our way from San Antonio earlier.

And with wines like Cusumano Nero D’ Avola (rosato and rosso) and the Gruners from Domane Wachau, Hirtzberger and Kracher, it was hard to imagine how we would ever make the next three appointments (we did!)

Giacomo’s cibo e vine? A great new destination in Houston for wine and food lovers, especially if you are looking for pure and simple unpretentious food and affordable wine. Lynette, grazie e bravo!

Original post by Alfonso Cevola

Yeah, no, life is rolling along pretty well. I’ve got with me a road warrior selling-machine as we waltz the show across the Texas; no guitars, only corkscrews, when needed. So far, so good. Let’s see, any other clichés I can cram in here?

Tasting high-sugar, high-acid wines from Austria has been an education. It helps to take along an expert, in this case my buddy and colleague, Damon Ornowski. Life ain’t too bad.

These days, on the road, our conversation has taken us in and out of wine, Italian and otherwise. I feel like I’m taking a rolling master class with a man who is a class act. From Wachau to Etna and back.

Speaking of acts, what was Kermit Lynch thinking? We rolled into Austin to taste some of his wines at Vino Vino and to come to a CD release party, which turned out to be a “Listening Party.” Austin, the live music capital of Texas, and Kermit, and his buddy Ricky, sitting up there together and staring out at the crowd, smiling and waving, while the CD played? I gotta say, it had an unearthly feel, a slight-disconnect. The young ones in the crowd just looked at each other with that “so old-school” expression. Or maybe it was the Bourgogne Rouge on the table that was sulfering in silence? Old man, I love many of your wines and your first book, and you seem to be a good egg, but I don’t know about these here musical meanderings of yours. You should have brought your guitar - after all this is Texas.

While on the subject of music, Jay-Z was playing in Austin last night. I saw the spectacle unfold from my hotel window. Lots of Lambos lolling around the parking lots. Now we’re talking L.I.V.E. music.

After the show a group of us were sucking down some fruity Nebbiolo and noshing from the perch at Trio in the Four Seasons. As we poured out of the door to our chariots, a young rapper and his entourage rolled in.

As the young lion stood by his Lambo to take a private call, I observed him. Young, wealthy, famous, lots of stuff to play with.

He seemed so alone. The fame, yes, he had sought it and it stuck to him like the orange paint on the exotic Italian roadster that he stood by. But as he walked farther away into the darkness, chatting on his cell, I felt an other-worldy weight on his shoulders.

Or perhaps it was the sugar coursing through my veins from a long day on the wine road?

I pray he doesnt have a vineyard.

Original post by Alfonso Cevola

I get a call from a restaurateur. He wants me to come to his restaurant to taste wines and meet a winemaker. For years he has wanted to show in his place the wines from his region, Emilia-Romagna. One time I worked for a company that brought in wines for him, from Predappio. Predappio was where Mussolini came from.

Well, Predappio was a sad little place that had some imposing Mussolini era architecture which had fallen on hard times. The wines were a work in progress. So I was expecting more of the same.

Happily, the winemaker was someone who was grounded. I could tell by the way he took a piece of focaccia and placed the tomato and mozzarella on top of it, making his own impromptu pizza Margherita. He wasn’t waiting for someone to bring it out, he was taking charge.

Did I mention that he was from Friuli? We talked about wine as symbol and wine as sustenance. He pronounced Gravner correctly (Grǒwner). He knew how hard we all had tried to sell those wines, but he also knew that we also had to buy braces for our kid’s teeth. And he also knew we wanted to love the wines we sold.

The wines? Only three were tried, from Emilia-Romagna, all Sangiovese based. The basic wine, selling in Italy for about € 3.00 was our first glimpse into the heart of this young winemaker.

I was inclined to like this young winemaker. We had a mutual friend. And he wasn’t wearing loafers. He was a working guy, his hands were big; the kind one needs in a vineyard and around a winery. I could tell that we also were probably more aligned politically than the conversation at the table was going. Yeah, I liked him alright.

As we move on to the second wine, a Superiore, a duo of pizzas arrive at the table. We have launched into eating at this point the wine is supporting the food, not outshining it with its brilliance. So far, so good.

And then we arrive at the point when the next level red is opened, also a Superiore. Mostly Sangiovese, but interloper grapes are involved, Cabernet and Merlot vying for our attention. As if they didn’t get enough from Napa, from Bordeaux, from the Maremma. A plate of tagliata with arugula appears; let’s drive this wine around the dining room, shall we?

I went back to the first wine, the simple Sangiovese. And then to the second wine, the Superiore of solitary Sangiovese. And then back to the last wine. Back and forth, eating, talking, sitting in the middle of a little trattoria in flyover country, enjoying a simple meal, with a beacon of light from Italy, the messenger from Bacco. Magnificent in its simplicity perfect wine for the time.

The winemaker is going back to the base wine, pouring himself another glass. “So tell me, Stefano, about this wine. It is simple. It stands up to the other two wines above it. It is inexpensive. And it is so well balanced.” (He had me, didn’t he?)

“Well, Alfonso, this is the wine we make in Emilia Romagna. Even at this level the terroir comes through, as it should in any wine. I love to drink this wine. Everyday.”

Of course he does. Because this is really the mission of wine, isn’t it? To give pleasure in a simple and uncomplicated way. And this is something the Italians have done so well, for so many years. Before the bright lights of the scores and the designer clothes and cars got in the way of the mission of all the millennia leading to this present time.

Italy, take heed. The time is over for spoofulated, manipulated, overly oaked and alcoholic wine at high prices. Oh, you’ve heard this said too many times on these posts? Well, that is the word, once again, from the trenches. Get back to being real about what wine is in this world. It isn’t a Hollywood starlet with plastic surgery. It isn’t a 500 horsepower roadster that gets 10 miles to the gallon. And it isn’t a Sangiovese or a Merlot, or any other wine, at 15% alcohol in medium toast French barrique that is destined to be a wine of meditation, whatever that even could begin to be in this world today.

Get back to wines we can drink everyday, at lunch, and go back to work afterwards. Wines that we can afford to drink everyday. Wines that are simple but wines that reflect their sense of place. Do that, and do it consistently, and then you can have all the designer clothes and watches and cars and plastic surgery your little heart desires.

Original post by Alfonso Cevola

Despite practically non-existent marketing or announcement, PinotFest quietly pulls together 50 or so top producers of West Coast Pinot Noir every year for a dedicated crowd of Pinot lovers in San Francisco. Attendees get nibbles from Farallon’s kitchen, and access for a few hours to many hard to find Pinot Noirs that often don’t appear at the larger public tastings.

This year’s wineries will include:

Adelsheim, Alma Rosa, Argyle, Au Bon Climat, Bonaccorsi, Brewer Clifton, Byron, Calera, Cambria, Chehalem, Cobb, Costa de Oro, Domaine Drouhin, Domaine Serene, El Molino, Etude, Failla, Fiddlehead, Flowers, Fort Ross, Foxen, Freestone, Gloria Ferrer, Greenwood Ridge, Handley, Hartford, Hendry, Hitching Post, Iron Horse, J Vineyards, Keller Estate, Kosta Browne, Littorai, Londer, Lynmar, Marimar Torres, Melville, Merry Edwards, Michaud, Morgan, Patz & Hall, Paul Hobbs, Peay, Pey-Marin, Ponzi, Rex Hill, Radio Coteau, Saintsbury, Robert Sinskey, Siduri, Skewis, Soter, Talisman, Talley, Testarossa, Thomas Fogarty, Whitcraft, and Williams Selyem.

While, at $100, this tasting may be expensive for some, it is only the price of 1-2 bottles of most of these producers, and by far the least expensive way of getting a chance to taste a lot of them in one setting.

PinotFest 2009
Saturday November 21
3:00 PM to 6:00 PM
Farallon Restaurant, 4th Floor
450 Post Street
San Francisco, CA 94108

Tickets are $100 per person and can be ordered online or by calling 415-956-6969.

Original post by Alfonso Cevola

Fresh Fruit
I love the color in this image, and the bright wetness of the fruit and its motion into the destemmer. This fruit is alive and just waiting to be tasted. This is the top end of the destemmer, on the bottom end, each of these fat little blueberries will roll down the sorting table to be picked at by expert eyes and hands, ensuring that the fruit that is finally crushed (or dumped whole) into the fermenters is as pristine as possible. — Alder Yarrow

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Original post by Alfonso Cevola

In short: I′m beginning to notice folks who have heretofore made their living as journalists, wine writers, or wine critics are now taking jobs as PR and communication pros in the wine industry.

Two moves that recently caught my eye were Lettie Teague’s appointment as Director of Communications at the Italian Wine Merchant, and Alan Goldfarb’s identical role at the Tudal Wine Group. Last year W. Blake Gray ended up at a Newton Wines after the Chronicle cut him loose. I′m sure there are more.

On the one hand, as I said, this is hardly surprising. Wine writers need to eat, too. When magazines are folding, newspapers are laying off, and budgets are being cut, the publishing industry is not really in much of a position to offer many wine writers gainful employment. And of course, the wine industry needs the kind of skills that these folks possess (have you noticed it’s getting harder to sell a bottle of wine, these days, too?).

Yet, I must admit, I continue to be somewhat taken aback when I see names I normally associate with bylines followed by fancy titles and the names of wineries, wine retailers, or distributors. My reaction is completely irrational, and I know it, but I haven’t yet managed to suppress the initial gasp of surprise at these folks “crossing the line” to “the other side” like they’ve left the world of “objectivity” and entered the world of spin and marketing.

Never mind that many wine writers got their start on the industry side and then made the transition to journalism. And of course, plenty of wine writers fill the gaps between journalism gigs (those that still have them) by writing copy for winery labels, winery newsletters, and other industry marketing needs. We all gotta pay our rent.

But it still feels a little weird to have the folks we’re used to cutting through the spin be serving it up.

My surprise is no doubt fueled in part by some regret at the state of affairs that the wine writing world finds itself in. We’re losing (I hope only temporarily) some great voices in the world of wine journalism, and some measure of quality as well.

We′re far from the end of this migration from journalism to the commercial world in my opinion. While the publishing industry will recover some, it will be a long time before it even begins to approach its former self. And when it comes to wine writing, the future is definitely not going to look anything like the past.

Original post by Alfonso Cevola

Original post by Yahoo! News Search Results for Cafes

Original post by Yahoo! News Search Results for Cafes

Original post by Yahoo! News Search Results for Cafes

Original post by Yahoo! News Search Results for Cafes