Charleston; Good Old Reliable Nathan

Charleston, South Carolina

Visited Charleston, South Carolina recently. Have very mixed feelings about the city itself. The surrounding area is great with beaches and lots of tourist sites. The city seems tired to me. The food scene has a number of established restaurants that are very expensive and provide decent food. One place Hall's Chophouse http://hallschophouse.com/ was overpriced and terrible. The wine list was outrageously expensive. The steak I had was not prime though the menu said it was.
We did order some of the cheaper wines on the list and they were good. A Tamarack Cellars 2007 Syrah from Washington State and a Ballentine Vineyards 2008 Cabernet Franc from Napa. The wines were about $60 each. The Tamarack was very intense with good spiciness. We enjoyed it. The Ballentine was interesting. 100% cab Franc is hard to find. I found it a bit grapey which would be unusual for a cab franc.

I took a restaurant class years ago and I will never forget what my teacher told us. A restaurant should be an easy business. You have a menu and you need to provide perceived value for your menu. McDonald's provides value for the price it charges for hamburgers. When a fancy steakhouse charges a high price for an ala carte steak, it needs to deliver on the what the menu offers. Hall's did not. Not close.
However my ambivalence with Charleston is based on going off of the grid. I found a small pastry shop Christophe that serve croissants and tea or coffee. They also had chocolate and pastries. The croissant was OK but when I asked for jam they wanted to sell me a small jar of jam for $1.25. OMG.

The pastries looked good as did the chocolate. But the prices for the chocolate were higher than NY or Zurich.
I did find a great place for lunch, Kitchen 208 at 208 King Street. It is a nice place where you order at the counter and they bring the food to you.I had a smokey Joe sandwich. House smoked brisket, caramelized onions, aged cheddar, pickles, cracked bbq pepper and Texas Toast. The sandwich was great and it was $9. My friend had Quinoa salad with feta, cucumbers, bell pepper, tomatoes etc for $8 with chicken added for $3. He loved the salad and it looked great.

Also found a restaurant on the water for lunch, Fleet Landing, a short walk from the center of things. http://www.fleetlanding.net/. The place is on a pier in the water and has some great views of the bay and FT Sumter. The food is basic seafood but good and reasonable. I had a fried flounder platter and the fish was fresh and it cost $9. I had been there once before and the food has remained good for lunch.

I also found an interesting bakery on Broad Street, Normandy. http://www.normandyfarmbakery.com/ I walked in and checked things out. The bread looked very good.

Good Old Reliable Nathan
We had the opportunity to see a concert production of Guys and Dolls at Carnegie Hall last week. Guys and Dolls is one of my favorite musicals. It was our "house musical" when my sons were younger.Nathan Lane played Nathan Detroit, Megan Mullaly played Miss Adelaide, Patrick Wilson played Sky Masterton and Len Cariou was also in the concert. They did the entire play with some dance numbers and all of the songs. The night was a benefit concert for Carnegie Hall. We had the only reasonably priced tix but they were obstructed view in the balcony. We could not see that much but the music was great. Nathan Lane brought all of his comedic skills to the role of Nathan Detroit. He played the role in the last decent revival of the play on Broadway in 1992, which we saw. Megan Mullaly was great. If you get a chance see her in anything she does. She is now off -broadway in a new play with her husband.

Lettie Teague had an interesting article in WSJ on buying wine based upon the recommendations of salesmen in wine shops. http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304179704579459592138208628?mg=reno64-wsj&url=http%3A%2F%2Fonline.wsj.com%2Farticle%2FSB10001424052702304179704579459592138208628.html

Wine of the week. Domaine Drouhin has released their 2013 Rose. It is 100% Pinot Noir. I have not tasted the 2013 but the 2011 and 2012 were very good. It is about $25 but it is not a light wine. They only make 400 cases and I think that you can only get it from the winery. They do ship to NJ.

Anguilla is coming up soon. Really looking forward to it.

Spring looks like it is here. I am getting my garden ready and looking forward to the farmers' markets.
Enjoy.

Spring Break is in the air, Barolo, Ft Lauderdale

Cooked an interesting meal the other day. We started with a cheese course of some fascinating cheeses from around the world. I love to serve interesting cheeses when we have people over for dinner. It gives me a chance to try lots of cheeses at once. Robiola, a blend of sheep, goat and cow milk from Italy; Milton Creamery cheddar from the US are 2 favorites.An appetizer of baked clams and baked oysters with sauteed kale, onions and bacon.
The main course was onion puree with braised endive and roasted pork shoulder. Everything came together nicely on the plate. I found the recipe in Food and Wine Magazine  http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/roast-pork-with-buttermilk-onion-puree

 Dessert was a vanilla 4 layer cake filled with chocolate mousse and fresh strawberries and frosted with a dark chocolate frosting. Wines included several Bordeaux's and some sparkling wines.

2000 Château La Fleur de Boüard Lalande de Pomerol Red Bordeaux Blend  Rich tasting wine; not a big bouquet; great mouth feel and the wine had a purity; very good wine and we enjoyed with friends; drank with a pork roast; balanced with great flavor;

  2006 Château CantemerleHaut-Médoc Red Bordeaux Blend
3/1/2014 - I like this wine: 87 points
OK Bordeaux; smooth and balanced but nothing special compared to another Bordeaux we drank that night; drank with a pork roast;
 NV Cave de L'aurance Crémant de BourgogneChampagne Blend  
This is a sparkling wine from Lugny in Burgundy; it has beautiful rose color but the taste is dry with nicely balanced fruit and acid; drank with friends and everyone enjoyed; we had it with cheeses; Not sure of the grape used; Would definitely drink again if I find it.



Recent Wines

Had a great Barolo last night. It was a bottle I bought when I was in Italy 2 years ago. We went to the winery which was the winemakers home and tasted a number of wines. http://www.ruggericorsini.com/
The wine was a 2007 Podere Ruggeri Corsini Barolo Corsini. I paid about $30 for it. See my European trip Part 2 entry of 8/26/2011. This wine is what Barolo should taste like. I have not had that many Barolos but most taste thin and have lots of alcohol. While they have good subtle flavor, I usually make excuses for them as they are pretty expensive - $30 and up.
We had tasted this wine in Italy and were impressed but you never know how much the ambiance impacts your judgement when you drink wines on vacation. Drinking this Barolo last night was a revelation. Medium bodied, nice bouquet, and the mouth feel was great. It had texture but was not grainy. The flavor was immediately impressive and continued to develop. We had the wine with veal chops and pasta. The only problem with the wine is getting it. I have not been able to find it in the US. DiPalo wine in NYC carries wines from this winery but not this vintage. I need to check back with them as I only 1 other bottle of Podere Corsini Barolo 2007 but a different bottling.
Bottom line is that sometimes you must search long and hard to find the real stuff. Not all wines from a good wine area are good. Price many times is irrelevant although a certain minimum price helps. I would not buy a Barolo for under $20.
Found an interesting Cabernet Franc from the Loire Valley in France.
2010 Cave de Saumur Saumur-Champigny Réserve des Vignerons Cabernet Franc 
Interesting wine. Lots of flavor; all cabernet franc; different but good different; fruity but with structure; 12.5% alcohol so it drinks easy; we had with pizza and salad; will definitely drink again; at $12 a very good value.


Ft Lauderdale
I had a chance to be in Ft Lauderdale recently. Found a restaurant call Coconuts/G&B Oyster Bar 
http://coconutsfortlauderdale.com/. Coconuts is the more formal restaurant and there was over an hour wait on a Wednesday night. The Oyster Bar has open seating. I had a snapper sandwich and salt baked shrimp. They had Anchor Steam beer on tap and a special rum cake for dessert. Everything was very good and reasonably priced.

Enjoy.

The Winter Blues; What is a "bad wine"

The Winter Blues or how I learned to stop worrying and love that snow.
It has been a cold and snowy winter. A great time  for comfort food and good wine. I find that pizza is a great food to make on a cold night. We recently had a Vegan and a Vegetarian over for dinner and I made pizzas that everyone could enjoy. I used spinach, mushrooms, prosciutto, bufalo mozzarella, broccoli and tomato sauce to make all types of combination pizzas. Let your imagination and taste buds run wild. Tonight my wife is  making tomato sauce and meatballs.Nothing like the aromas of good food -garlic, onions, tomatoes, olive oil, sauteed meat - to brighten the the winter evening. Bring on the snow!

The Wall Street Journal had an article by Lettie Teague last Saturday that discussed how do you know if a wine is bad. http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304558804579374930439942914?mod=WSJ_LifeStyle_Lifestyle_5&mg=reno64-wsj&url=http%3A%2F%2Fonline.wsj.com%2Farticle%2FSB10001424052702304558804579374930439942914.html%3Fmod%3DWSJ_LifeStyle_Lifestyle_5

There can be problems with the corks, the wine production or you may not like a wine. Quite a high number of wines are bad and I wonder how many people understand that. When you taste a wine that you do not like, do you assume that it is bad or do you just think that it is a wine that you do not like.

Most reputable wine shops will take back a wine that you think is bad but doing so is a pain. I usually just pour the bad stuff down the drain. I must say that I don't know which of the possible things that impact a wine are responsible for the bad wines that I taste. I do know that I am particularly sensitive to funky smells in wines. There are times when a wine does not taste anywhere near the bad aroma of the wine. There are people who like these smells and there are  wines that are notorious for having these smells.Some of these smells come from the wine being infected with Brett, which is described in the article.

Interestingly there are restaurants where the sommelier will taste your wine before serving it to you. He/she will then identify a bad wine and not serve it to you. Okay but what if you don't like a wine that you have ordered in a restaurant. Should you just suffer in silence. I would tell the waiter and see what they suggest. Many good restaurants will take any back a wine that you do not like. They will not take back a very expensive or rare wine without agreeing with you that it is not good but they should take back most wines ordered off of the normal wine list. Same thing with food that you don't like. However people are less sure about their wine tastes than their food tastes so they hesitate to complain about wine.

Another recent article of interest is by Eric Asimov in the NY Times.   http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/12/dining/why-cant-you-find-that-wine.html?src=me&_r=0
Asimov reviews a number of wines and apparently many people have trouble finding these wines. People are complaining about this and Asimov is adamant that his role is to find interesting and unusual wines. He does not want to review big production wines or wines that are widely distributed as he does not think that it is his role to do that.

Over the last few years I believe that I outlined some of things to look for in purchasing wines. Asimov always reviews wines by area and tries to give one a sense of what a good wine from a region should taste like. He also believes that people can read his articles for the fun of reading a wine article. Many of his readers disagreed.

Clearly people do tend to take the wine critics too seriously. I had a very good wine last night that was rated 89 by both the Wine Advocate and the Wine Spectator. A wine like this tends to be stay off most people's radar. The wine was a 2009 Campo Alla Sughera Bolgheri Adeo $18 from Tuscany in Italy. It was a Bordeaux type blend of 60% Cabernet Sauvignon and 40% Merlot. It was balanced with good fruit and about 13.7% alcohol which I like. If this wine had a 90 rating it would be a much more expensive wine.

I review the wines that I drink and I try to give descriptions that may be helpful to you when trying to determine if you will like the wine. Sometimes I will comment that a particular wine is worth finding, like Borsao, but generally I would recommend trying wines that have characteristics that you like. In order to be able to do this you need to try to understand the differences that geography, grapes and wine making create in wines. Does grass fed beef taste like corn fed beef or does Coke taste like Pepsi or does Breyers ice cream taste like Turkey Hill. A Chardonnay from Burgundy France will taste different than a Chardonnay from California. A Chardonnay from Santa Barbara California can taste different that one from Napa.

If you to establish some of the characteristics of a wine that you like, it will be able to find other wines that you like. Many of these characteristics can be found on the wine label. The area, grape content, alcohol content and the importer are all found on a label. I find that if all I know about a wine from an area that I like is that the importer is good, then there is a good chance that I will like the wine. Look for Eric Solomon wines.

Recent Wines
I had the opportunity to try new vintages of 2 of my favorite wines recently - the 2012 Domaine Drouhin Pinot Noir, Oregon $40 and the 2011 Chalone Estate Chardonnay, California $20. The Domaine Drouhin was excellent. 2012 was a very good vintage in the Willamette Valley. Domaine Drouhin wines are somewhat pricey but the quality is very consistent. Willamette Valley Pinot Noirs are less fruity and lighter than many California Pinot Noirs. The Willamette wines can be like wines from Burgundy, France. The Chalone Estate Chardonnay integrates oak and fruit beautifully. I am not a big fan of lots of oak in wine but I usually enjoy the style of  Chalone wines. The Chalone Chards are big wines and have that buttery taste that one thinks of when describing oaky California Chards. The wines come from an area near Monterey in California.

Food
Easy dessert. For Valentine's Day I melted some good dark chocolate (Jacques Torres) and cream on a low setting in a microwave and had chocolate fondue. We dipped strawberries and apples in to the chocolate mixture. It was goood! For the main course I made linguine with clam sauce and broiled some North American lobster tails which were on sale for Valentine's day. We drank a NV Tendil & Lombardi Champagne Blanc De Noirs with the meal. I bought it for $25 on WTSO. The wine is 100% Pinot Noir, which is unusual for a Champagne. Most Champagnes are a blend of Chardonnay, Pinot Meunier and Pinot Noir. A Blanc de Blanc is all Chardonnay. An all Pinot Noir Champagne generally has more flavor and taste than other blends of Champagnes. Hint - the next time you find a Champagne that you like see if you can determine the grape blend. It will help you find another Champagne that you like.

Keep warm and enjoy the remnants of winter.

Cold, Snow and the Super Bowl

January appears to be a good month to buy wine. I have been inundated with wine offers from every store and winery possible. Shipping is a problem this time of year due to the cold weather. With all of the deals on wine restraint is important. There is so much wine available and there will always be new wines and new vintages.
Currently I am on the lookout for  2011 Cru Beaujolais', 2012 Willamette Valley wines and very good and reasonably price wines from other areas.

Anguilla
I just booked a trip to Anguilla for the spring. I used LuxuryLink  luxurylink.com to book the hotel. We received a very good price with a few extras. My travel searching has been showing that airfares and hotels prices appear to be increasing a good amount and good deals are harder to find at places that you want to visit.

Wine Articles
Interesting article by Robert Parker. He goes on a long rant against people who push wines with lower alcohol, different grapes, different techniques, and anything resembling the "Parkerization"  of wine. His word, not mine. I have no idea of what set him off because he does not get into specifics. It seems that he is tired at people taking shots at him. Unfortunately his article is only for subscribers of his site. However another blogger has taken him to task and it is interesting reading. http://www.vinography.com/archives/2014/01/debating_robert_parker.html

My take is that I agree with Parker on many things, and wines that are high in alcohol can taste very good. However they are difficult for my wife and I to drink. We feel the effects of the alcohol. So while I can appreciate the high alcohol wines, I try to find great wines without the high alcohol content. I would never compromise taste for alcohol content. My cooking approach is the same. I want maximum flavor without tons of butter, cream, salt and hot sauce.

The most recent edition of the Wine Spectator gives a summary of their reviews for the year. The results are quite interesting. They tasted 20,000 wines in 2013 of which 1% were rated 95-100, 32% were rated 90-94, and 54% were rated 85-89. Seems like they rate wines with very high scores. Also the average price of a bottle of wine with a score of 90 and above that they reviewed was $77. Wow! However averages can be deceiving as they review lots of wines that cost hundreds of dollars.

Interestingly 84% of all Champagnes were rated 90 or higher. This confirms my thoughts on Champagne; that if a wine is from the Champagne region of France it is generally very good. So when shopping for Champagne price is not that important. Many times you are paying for the prestige of the name like Veuve Cliquot.

49% of California Cabernet Sauvignon that were reviewed score 90 or better and 95% of California Cabernet that were reviewed scored 85 or better. So it seems hard to get a bad California Cabernet. However the average price for a California Cabernet that scored 90 or better was $132. Ouch! However only 28% of all California wines scored 90 or better whereas 42% of all French wines scored 90 or better. But the 90 or better French wines averaged $94.

97% of Oregon wines scored 85 or better and Oregon wines that scored 90 or better had an average price of $48. So if price is a consideration instead of California, go to Oregon for a better deal. Only 1 caveat, you must like Oregon wines.

I guess that I must be pretty good at selecting wines since the wines that I drink and review do not cost anywhere near the averages of the Wine Spectator. I do use the WS and the WA to help me determine wines to buy and drink. I automatically exclude high priced wines except in unusual situations.

Recent wines.
I apologize for the format as I copied from Cellartracker. BTW you can follow my wine reviews on Cellartracker.com. I am mwneil on Cellartracker.

2012 Château Pesquié Côtes du Ventoux Terrasses Red Rhone Blend more	1/15/2014 - I like this wine: 90 points Solid CDR. Nice balance and good flavor. Will drink again. Comment(18 views)
	Red	2012 Bodegas Borsao Garnacha Campo de Borja more	Options 1/26/2014 - I like this wine: 90 points (Edit) Great value. The 2012 is a good wine. On the verge of being grapey but it is not grapey. A big wine at 14.5% alcohol but it does not taste hot. Love this wine and its consistency. Good fruit and balance. Comment (25 views)
	Red	2010 E. Guigal Côtes du Rhône Red Rhone Blend more	Options 1/29/2014 - I like this wine: 88 points (Edit) Wine drinks easily but no real character in this bottle. Maybe bottle variation or my mood that night. Usually like this wine alot. Very balanced. Comment (36 views)
	Red	2002 Canoe Ridge Merlot Horse Heaven Hills more	Options 1/29/2014 - I wrote: flawed (Edit) Wine is way gone. Comment (24 views)
	White	2012 Cave de Lugny Mâcon-Lugny Les Charmes Chardonnay more	Options 1/30/2014 - I like this wine: 90 points (Edit) Good wine with great mouth feel; medium bodied not typical, light Macon. Nice balance of fruit and acid, no oak. Missing that slight honey taste that would make the wine great. Great value for a white Burgundy. Would drink again. Comment (26 views)
	Red	2009 Brewer-Clifton Pinot Noir 3-D Sta. Rita Hills more	Options 1/25/2014 - I like this wine: 91 points (Edit) VG Cali Pinot Noir. Beautiful nose, light in color but lots of flavor, somewhat high in alcohol but it dissapated as the wine opened up. Good fruit with complexity. Could use some terroir. Expensive wine. Comment (87 views)
	Red	2011 Francesco Boschis Dolcetto di Dogliani Vigna Dei Prey more	Options 1/24/2014 - I wrote: 87 points (Edit) Interesting wine, tannic and somewhat heavy, but fruit began to emerge as time went by; Not what I expected; drank with pork chops; would not buy again. Comment (65 views)
	Red	2003 Château Haut-Gardère Pessac-LéognanRed Bordeaux Blend more	Options 1/24/2014 - I like this wine: 92 points (Edit) Good stuff. Fruit, balance, complex, not high in alcohol, drank with roast chicken, just a very good wine. Nice how a Bordeaux can age. Comment (94 views)
	Red	2011 Bibi Graetz Casamatta Toscana IGT Sangiovese more	Options 1/22/2014 - I wrote: 85 points (Edit) Drank with pizza. Tasted somewhat over the hill and nondescript. OK for the price but WS score is over the top. Decent fruit and tannin. Comment (243 views)
	Red	2001 Souverain Cabernet Sauvignon Alexander Valley more	Options 1/18/2014 - I like this wine: 91 points (Edit) Good wine. Experimented to see how this wine would age. Tasted fresh. Balanced with good fruit. Surprised as to how good it tasted. Enjoyed with a steak. Guess I can't find any more although the stats show a good amount of this wine is still in cellars. Comment (85 views)
	White	2010 Marc Colin et Fils Saint-Aubin 1er Cru Les Combes Chardonnay more	Options 1/20/2014 - I like this wine: 93 points (Edit) This wine was very good. Fruit, acid, balance, and complexity. Great mouth feel; medium bodied. That touch of honey but never sweet. Nice integration of oak. I bought the wine by mistake thinking it from the other Colin but these Colins make a great wine. Apparently it is hard to find so I guess I was lucky. It also seems like I got a bargain. Tastes alot like Chalone Estate Chardonnay 08. Comment (91 views)
	White - Sparkling	NV Kirkland Signature Champagne Brut De Bruyne - Janisson Champagne Blend more	Options 1/20/2014 - I wrote: 87 points (Edit) This bottle had flavor. We enjoyed with flounder and clams. Good bubbles and a full flavor with nice balance and decent finish. Seems as as if this wine is different bottle by bottle. Comment (170 views)
	Red	2011 Château de Lacarelle Beaujolais-Villages Gamay more	Options 1/17/2014 - I don't like this wine: 82 points (Edit) Cherry aroma and taste with not much else. OK to drink but would not drink again. I had high hopes as 2011 was a good year in Beaujolais but oh well. Comment (38 views)
	Red	2011 Château de La Chaize Brouilly Gamay more	Options 1/11/2014 - I like this wine: 88 points (Edit) 2011 in Beaujolais was VG. This wine has body, balance and some complexity. Good fruit and just a very enjoyable wine. The old vines of this wine is off the charts if you can find it. Comment (38 views)
	Red	2013 Domaine des Terres Dorées (Jean-Paul Brun) Beaujolais Nouveau Cuvée l'Ancien Vieilles Vignes Gamay more	Options 1/3/2014 - I like this wine: 87 points (Edit) Second bottle and just as good as the first. Amazin for a nouveau. Good fruit but with some tannin and backbone. Brun wines should be on the top of your list. Comment (49 views)
	White	2010 Chalone Vineyard Chardonnay Estate Grown more	Options 1/10/2014 - I like this wine: 89 points (Edit) Typical Chalone Chardonnay; oak is nicely integrated with the fruit; could use a bit more acid; will see how this develops; Comment (132 views)
	Red	2005 Tenimenti Ricci Brunello di Montalcino Sangiovese more	Options 1/16/2014 - I wrote: 88 points (Edit) Agree with my prior note. Good fruit and balance and initial taste is very nice but a big, heavy wine and the alcohol while not noticeable, catches up with you. Not very complex. We drank half the bottle and really did not want more. Drank with baked ziti. Would like to try other Brunellos. Comment (139 views)
	Red	2007 Bodegas Caro (Barons de Rothschild / Catena) Amancaya Malbec Cabernet Sauvignon (Gran Reserva) Mendoza Red Bordeaux Blend more	Options 1/13/2014 - I like this wine: 92 points (Edit) Wine was very good. It surprised me as I had it in my cellar for a number of years. The wine was beautifully balanced with nice fruit. It was medium bodied, not heavy. We drank with steaks. I have had this wine before and had several vintages but this bottle was much better than I have remembered. Will check out more recent vintages. Comment (208 views)
	White	2013 Matua Wines Sauvignon Blanc Marlborough more	Options 1/10/2014 - I like this wine: 88 points (Edit) Good NZ Sauvginon Blanc. Typical but lighter and dryer finish than most NZ SB's. Nice fruit. Drank with chinese chicken with vegetables. Would drink again. Comment (83 views)
	White	2012 Badenhorst Family Wines The Curator Swartland White Blend more	Options 1/6/2014 - I like this wine: 86 points (Edit) Good white wine blend and a good value. The finish is very dry. Not overly complex. The wine opened up as it warmed up. It went well with salmon. Would try again. Comment (77 views)
	Rosé - Sparkling	NV Ruinart Champagne Brut Rosé Champagne Blend more	Options 12/31/2013 - I like this wine: 90 points (Edit)  Drank for New Year's Eve with Peking Duck. The wine opened up nicely and was very food friendly. Not a big Champagne, very dry, beautiful color. Not sure it is worth the price. No real complexity. We enjoyed the wine. Comment (535 views)
	Red	2011 Argiolas Monica di Sardegna Perdera more	Options 1/7/2014 - I like this wine: 87 points (Edit) Smoother than I imagined. Nice fruit and good balance. Enjoyed with pork fajitas. Good value. Somewhat dull. Comment (60 views)
	Red	2013 Domaine de la Madone Beaujolais-Villages Nouveau Le Perréon Gamay more	Options 1/5/2014 - I like this wine: 85 points (Edit) Good wine. Looks like 2013 may be a good year in Beaujolais. This is the second Nouveau that we have tried and both were real wines. This wine had a medium body and good fruit with nice balance. BTW there is another winery by this name in Fleurie. Comment (46 views)
	Red	2009 Château Grand Barail Montagne-St. Émilion Red Bordeaux Blend more	Options 12/30/2013 - I don't like this wine: 75 points (Edit) Not a good wine.Disjointed. I have another bottle to try. Comment (138 views)
	White	2010 Lenz Chardonnay Gold Label North Fork more	Options 12/28/2013 - I like this wine: 90 points (Edit)  Good chardonnay. Oaky but not overly so. It drank nicely with lobster tails. Not high in alcohol and good depth of flavor with a medium body. Would drink again. Comment (54 views)
	Red	2004 Château Valrose St. Estèphe Cuvée Alienor Red Bordeaux Blend more	Options 12/27/2013 - I like this wine: 88 points (Edit)  Good wine; medium to heavy bodied with nice mouth feel. Not high in alcohol but we did not finish the bottle. Nice balance with fruit and terroir. Have had this wine several times and it needs to be consumed in the near future as the fruit is leaving. I have one more bottle to go. Comment (168 views)
	White - Sparkling	NV Tendil & Lombardi Champagne Blanc de Noirs Pinot Noir more	Options 12/27/2013 - I like this wine: 91 points (Edit)  Interesting wine. 100% pinot noir and it tastes different than most Champagnes. It opened up as the temperature of the wine warmed up. Dry with with good flavor not fruity but we enjoyed. Good complexity. Drank with lobster; will drink again; vg value Comment (201 views)
	Red	2010 Chalone Vineyard Pinot Noir Limited release Founder's Club exclusive more	Options 12/27/2013 - I like this wine: 91 points (Edit)  Excellent bouquet; good fruit and light to medium bodied; not Burgundy, not Oregon, not typical California; a bit more terroir would make the wine great; maybe it needs some more time in bottle but it is drinking nicely; high in alcohol 14.5% but the alcohol was not noticeable. We enjoyed the bottle and drank it with butterflied leg of lamb. Like the wine and will be drinking more. Not sure what the difference is between this wine and the regular Chalone bottling. Comment (65 views)
	Red	2009 Trinchero Cabernet Sauvignon Chicken Ranch Vineyard Rutherford more	Options 12/25/2013 - I don't like this wine: 80 points (Edit) Tannic with no fruit. Drank with steak at Christmas dinner. Comment (236 views)
	Red	2006 Silver Oak Cabernet Sauvignon Alexander Valley more	Options 12/25/2013 - I wrote: 85 points (Edit) Tannic wine that opened up slowly and showed some fruit. Drank with steak at Christmas dinner. Nothing special. Comment (1,357 views)
	Red	2010 Jean-Marc Despres Fleurie Cuvée Prestige Gamay more	Options 12/21/2013 - I like this wine: 92 points (Edit)  Bought this wine at the winery in Fleurie -Domaine Madrone- good nose, excellent fruit with terroir, tastes almost like a Burgundy; a revelation for a Beaujolais, highly recommend but unfortunately this wine is not imported to the US. Would drink again. Cost about $15 at the winery. Comment (53 views)
	Red	2007 Montes Carménère Alpha Colchagua Valleymore	Options 12/22/2013 - I like this wine: 92 points (Edit)  First carmenere wine. Not much bouquet but the wine was balanced and somewhat complex. The wine is high in alcohol but does not taste like it. Nice fruit without being grapey. Enjoyed the wine and was pleasantly surprised. Drank with vegetable lasagna. Would drink again. Comment (267 views)
	Red	2012 Schiavenza Dolcetto d'Alba more	Options 12/17/2013 - I like this wine: 90 points (Edit)  Fruity but not grapey; good balance; drank at restaurant; $55. Enjoyed and would drink again depending on retail price. Drank with octopus and ravioli. Comment (114 views)
	Red	2011 Montebruno Pinot Noir Eola-Amity Hills Willamette Valley more	Options 12/19/2013 - I wrote: 89 points (Edit) Light color; nice fruit with good balance;drank at a restaurant and it was $80. Drank with duck. Nice Oregon pn but pricey in restaurant. Would drink again depending on retail price. Comment (119 views)
	Red	2005 Malvira' Roero Trinita' Riserva Nebbiolo more	Options 12/14/2013 - I like this wine: 90 points (Edit)  Good wine but not great. Nice balance with delicate fruit and good acid. It opens slowly. Not sure if there is much more development on this wine. Drank with veal chops, spinach and pasta. Comment (118 views)
	White - Sparkling	NV Codorníu Cava Brut Champagne Blend more	Options 12/12/2013 - I like this wine: 85 points (Edit)  Good fruity cava that is starting to get harder to find and more expensive. This bottle tasted a touch sweet but we still like it. Nice fresh wine with lively bubbles. Comment (77 views)
	Red	2010 Espelt Garnacha Empordà Old Vines more	Options 12/11/2013 - I like this wine: 91 points (Edit)  Wine was drinking great tonight; balanced, seamless from start to finish; good fruit but not overpowering; good middle for a granache; a bit unusual for a granache; enjoyed and wish I had more. Comment (1,011 views)
	Red	2009 Lenz Merlot North Fork more	Options 12/10/2013 - I like this wine: 90 points (Edit)  This is a good wine; fresh tasting, good fruit with terroir and balance. Like this wine consistently. Good value; low alcohol and very tasty with good mouth feel. Would drink again. Comment (95 views)
	Red	2010 Kirkland Signature Meritage Napa Valley Red Bordeaux Blend more	Options 12/9/2013 - I like this wine: 87 points (Edit) Again a good wine, not too grapey, it has some balance and drinks nicely. It tastes fresh. Would drink again.

The Super Bowl

Enjoy the Super Bowl. It looks like the weather will cooperate. New Jersey is getting the short end of the festivities but can you blame anyone. Most people would rather be in NYC not NJ. It is just hard to overlook the fact that the game is being played in NJ. Oh well.

I think I will be making barbecued pork shoulder, nachos, wings and assorted other things. Just not sure how much food we can eat.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year to all. 2014 is looking good.

Do you have any New Year traditions? We get Peking Duck and Chinese dumplings and have Champagne. Sometimes we get the duck from the Peking Duck House http://www.pekingduckhousenyc.com/?page_id=274 in Chinatown, NY and sometimes, like this year, we get it locally. This year we had steamed vegetable dumplings, fried pork dumplings, dry sauteed string beans, vegetable lo mein and the Peking Duck. If you don't know, Peking Duck is duck that has been prepared so that almost all of the fat has been rendered out and the skin is crisp. The duck is slices so that some skin and meat or together. You then take a pancake/crepe/ burrito shell and put on some hoisin sauce(Chinese barbecue sauce) add some duck, sliced scallions and sliced cucumbers. fold like a burrito and enjoy. We love it.

The Champagne of the evening was Ruinart NV Rose. It was dry with a beautiful light red color. It opened up with food as apparently rose Champagnes are very food friendly. A very good Champagne but not on top of my list.

Mark Bittman is an excellent food writer for the NY Times. His article today about eating better in 2014 is quite good.http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/01/dining/sustainable-resolutions-for-your-diet.html?ref=todayspaper&_r=0  If you follow some of his suggestions, you will eat healthy, good tasting food.

I recently had the opportunity to eat at Fork, a restaurant in Philadelphia.http://www.forkrestaurant.com/
We had a great meal there. We ordered the set menu which was an appetizer, pasta course, main course and dessert. My appetizer was charred octopus.

 Duck

 Mini Brioches

 Chickpea ravioli

 charred octopus

mini bagels

 mini pretzels

 root beer float

 duck meatballs; poached pears

 It was quite tasty. The kitchen kept sending out small dishes of stuff. We had small bagels with some flavored cream cheeses and stuffed small pretzels. The house bread was thick crusted, chewy inside Italian bread that was insanely good. They make the bread at the restaurant.

My pasta dish was chickpea ravioli with raw artichoke slices. Very good. I also tasted the Burnt Grains Pappardelle with wild boar ragu. This too was delicious.

My main course, which I shared with a friend, was Peking Style Whole Muscovy Duck with a number of small dishes. Duck meatballs, a salad with duck bits and other assorted sides. The duck was excellent; the duck meatballs were not good.

My dessert was the Root Beer Float with chocolate mousse and other stuff. It was a not a typical root beer float but a concept dessert. It was OK but too fussy.

We had a Dolcetto d' Alba 2012 Schiavenza. It was medium bodied and fruity with good balance. Enjoyed it. We then had a Montebruno Pinot Noir 2011 from the Eola-Amity Hills ava of the Willamette Valley, Oregon. The wine was light but with good flavor and some terroir. A good basic Willamette Valley Pinot Noir. 2011 was an OK year in Oregon.

The chef at the restaurant Eli Kulp has been getting lots of positive press lately. The food was very good if not great. The dishes were generally flavorful and not over the top. Many chefs these days put lots of ingredients into every dish and the result is a muddled mess. The dishes at fork were precise and the chef know what he wanted to accomplish by way flavor. Having just returned from France, the food a Fork can be in the conversation with the food we had in France. It was by far the best food that I have had in Philly. The prices are not crazy either . The huge meal we had was $70 per person.

Had a chance to see Mandy Patinkin of Homeland recent fame and Taylor Mac http://www.taylormac.net/TaylorMac.net/Home.html in a 2 person show - on The LastTwo People Earth- an Apocalyptic Vaudeville. http://www.classicstage.org/about/archive/lasttwopeople/ No dialogue, just songs - Row, Row, Row, Your Boat, The End of the World (REM), Sondheim, Rogers and Hammerstein, eclectic music. The show was really good. Taylor Mac is a rising star. He was also in the Good Person of Szechwan. The play was directed by Susan Stroman and was presented by the Classic Stage Company at the Abrons Arts Center on the lower east side of NY. One of my few regrets in life is that I did not see the original Evita on Broadway starring a young Mandy Patinkin and a young Patti Lupone. My wife saw it and she never lets me forget it. Oh well.

2014 is here. Enjoy.