Europe Part 4 and Other Things

Day 9 Went to  Nymphenburg Castle which is on the outskirts of Munich,. http://www.destination-munich.com/nymphenburg-palace.html We took a tram there. This was the summer residence of  Bavarian kings starting in the 1664. Beautiful grounds and several building all over the property. The main building is impressive and houses a museum showing the rooms of the palace, decorative arts and artworks showing the history of the building including alot of portraits. It also houses a museum of the carriages used by royalty to get around town. Lots of gold.

This is a portrait of Lola Montes whose relationship with Ludwig I created a scandal. Ludwig was quite a character. Also a the title of a famous Max Ophuls movie.

We had been to Munich before after we left Nymphenburg we went back to the center of the city and wandered around. The Marienplatz is at the center of the old town. This is the famous tower  with its carillon.For lunch went back to viktualienmarkt and drank some Pauliner beer with a pretzel. Then ate fish filet with potatoes from one of the stands at the market. I had plum tarte from a local bakery.

We wanted to try some more modern type food for dinner and maybe have some German wine. We found Retter's Feinschmecker near the market in the center of town.  www.retters.de The food was great. It was an intimate small and quiet restaurant. The owners have a wineshop next store.

 We started with carrot ginger soup. The breads were excellent - pumpernickel and walnut.We had cod with bok choy and tomato ravioli and saddle of veal with aubergine and mashed potatoes. Wines changed with every course. We started with a sekt sparkling wine from Baden 2004 which we enjoyed. Then we had a riesling from Baden and pinot noir/cabernet franc blend from Ahr. This was the first German red wine for me. We then had some other white wines including a sylvaner from Frankel which came in an oval squat bottle. The design of the bottle is over 100 years old. It was light and delicious. I finished with an eiswein 2008 from Austria. Eiswein is an intensely sweet dessert wine with enough acid to make it wonderful. Dessert was a pear tarte with vanilla ice cream.

The owner and I had detailed discussions on  German wines Some of the wines we had were trocken or dry. The Ahr region is very small. The meal was just right and the wines were special. German wine is changing and the wines we had were some of the newer examples of what is going on in Germany. The best thing was that the wines were all reasonably priced. The owner basically kept bringing us wines to taste.

Day 10 We left Munich and headed home. We had to change planes at Heathrow in London. Wow! a 10 minute bus ride from terminal to terminal and then about a 30 minute walk to our gate. We made our plane with 10 minutes to spare and flew home.

This week we had Signargues 2009 granacha ; cotes du rhone villages, France, $10,which we like alot. It drank lighter than we thought with good balance and some spiciness. This wine is imported by Eric Solomon/European Cellars. Knowing the importer can help in wine purchasing. There are certain importers such as Eric Solomon that one can trust when buying wines. More at a later date.

We also had a bottle of Chemin des Olivettes 2009 Coteaux du Languedoc , France. I paid $9.98. The Wine Spectator gave this wine a 92. http://www.winespectator.com/wine/detail/source/search/note_id/283563 The wine was good but not crazy good. I can't explain the rating.

BTW the answer to a previous post -- the smaller glass was mine but I had another glass of beer after it.

Thanksgiving is coming up. Any family recipes or traditions are welcome. Thanksgiving dinner is one of my favorite meals.

Mid October 2011

My wife/muse has been recovering from surgery so my wine tasting has slowed down. However I was in Phoenix this week and had the opportunity to taste a few wines. I had a glass of Veuve Cliquot that I did not enjoy. Dry and tasteless.  A glass of Moet Imperial which is the old White Star was OK. I usually do not like the Moet because it is extra dry not brut. Champagne goes in the following order of sweetness -- sec, demi sec, extra dry and brut. Brut has less sugar than extra dry.

I had a glass of Pascal Jolivet Sancerre 2010 and enjoyed it. This is becoming one of my favorite wines and for some reason, restaurants are stocking it. Sancerre is a sauvignon blanc from the Loire region of France.
I also had an  Elk Cove Pinot Noir 2008 from Oregon. It was very nice, balanced, good fruit and heavier than most Oregon Pinot Noirs.

However the best wine of the trip was a   Luce della Vite Toscana Lucente 2007. This was an Italian tuscan blend of merlot, sangiovese and cabernet sauvignon. Both the Wine Spectator and Wine Advocate liked it. The wine is very balanced with good fruit. We did not really notice the sangiovese. The merlot gave it a beautiful aroma. In the restaurant it was a bargain at around $60 since I understand that it sell for around $30 in stores although I have not seen it in a store.

I also have bought some more Italian wines as some very good opportunities have presented. Heavily discounted wines are continuing to be offered by all sorts of on-line operations. Wine Access, Lot 18, Founders Club and Wine Library are just a few. In addition I need to investigate the app Wine PHD. A waiter in a restaurant in Phoenix used it and obtained detailed info on a wine we had ordered. I will try it out. Currently I have the Wine Advocate and Wine Spectator on-line services at my disposal. It is not that their tastes are better than others, it is that I am accustomed to their reviews and info and I use them for background information and to help me identify wines that may interest me. It is also fun to compare your tasting notes with the "experts". However I never let an expert's opinion override my opinion of a wine.

BTW did anyone read Sam Sifton's review of Per Se in the NY Times this week.http://dinersjournal.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/10/11/reviewing-per-se/?ref=reviews I believe it is his last review as he is moving on. Per Se has a set price menu of $295  and a meal for 2 with wine will be around $1000 and will take 3 - 5 hours. Sifton loves the place and it is his favorite in NYC. I can't even dream of eating there so why bother reading about it. The goal of this blog is get everyone to experience food, wine and travel on their own. Dreaming is fine but is so easy to experience food, wine and travel on your own except at places like Per Se. Any thoughts.

Enjoy.

Weekend wine sale

Check out cinderellawine.com this weekend (9/30 - 10/2) for their "turn back the clock" sale on wine with shipping included if you buy 6 bottles.

Europe Part 3

Day 5 Our hotel was near the main train station in Milano. In many European cities there is a good selection of hotels near the main train station. This tends to be very convenient for us travellers. Milan has a subway/underground system that worked well for us. Our hotel room was not completely ready when we arrived so the manager gave us passes to the subway system.
We wanted to explore the center of the city and also find a place for dinner. Most restaurants of note are closed in August in Milano. I did have 1 place in mind that was supposed to be open. We tried to find it but it was so far away from transportation that we gave up.
We went to the Duomo and it was magnificent.

The manager of our hotel recommended a restaurant in the center of the city and we ate dinner there. I ordered a valpocella and when they poured me some to taste, it smelled awful. I rejected the wine and ordered  a piemonte wine. I believe that it was a dolcetti di alba. I had veal milanese and we shared a risotto milano. The meal was good but it was officially the day of our 25th anniversary, so the meal was special.

Day 6 Milano is a fun city. We had perfect weather - low 80's and no humidity. We saw the Last Supper. The fresco was better than expected.We had to take a walking tour to get into the last supper but we enjoyed the tour. The guide was very personable.

We went to the Pinacoteca di Brera. A great museum that is not my taste. Old paintings.

We enjoyed the Castello Sforzesco. After 4:30 admission is free. A variety of things including  Michelangelo's Rondanini Pieta. We walked thru Peck, Milan's fancy food place. Things looked nice but nothing excited us.
We found lots of small food shops in Milan despite all of the guidebooks telling us that everything is closed in August. Lots of gelati.
For dinner we at in the Navigli area (above). It was a beautful evening and we ate outside on a table by the canal. Pizza, salad and beer. For dessert we found a gelati place.

Day 7  We left Milano and headed for Zurich. This was to be our longest driving day. We headed towards Lake Como. We followed the road along Lake Como for 40 kilometers. The lake was beautiful and we tried to stop in Menaggio but it was very crowded and we could not find a place to park. Bellagio looked beautiful across the lake but we did not go there.

Bellagio

We decided to eat lunch in Lugano and then  followed the road to Lugano which is on Lake Lugano and in Switzerland. Lugano looked like a nice city. We went down to the lake and found a place for lunch. We instantly found out that Switzerland is much more expensive than Italy.

We left Lugano and found the highway to Zurich. The road went thru the St Gotthard pass tunnel. About 5 kilometers from the tunnel the traffic stopped. I thought that there was a major accident. We got out of the car and spoke with other people. Apparently the tunnel is one lane in each direction and  going from a 2 lane highway to a 1 lane tunnel creates huge jams at busy times. The tunnel is 17 kilometers long and with traffic it took us about 3.5 hours to go thru.

Zurich was OK. We only spent a night and a morning there. We stayed at the Marriott. Not usually my choice in Europe but I used Priceline for the first time and paid $125 for a night at the hotel. The usual rate at the hotel was $500. The hotel was very nice and it was the fanciest hotel on our trip. 2 people could fit in the bathroom. This is big in Europe.

We scouted the Bahnhofstrasse (the main street) and found chocolate shops. Our goal in Zurich was to buy lots of great chocolate truffles. We found Teuschers, Sprungli and Merkur. We bought 100 grams of truffles for a snack and went to dinner. We ate dinner in the old town. It was very touristy and expensive. We found a tapas restaurant and ate well outside on the cobblestone street. We then found a cafe with Teuschers pastries and had dessert.

Day 8 We had to be at the airport by 1pm so I went out at 10am and bought my chocolates at the 3 stores that we had scouted the night before. I bought about 1 and 1/2 pounds. We brought a cold pack bag with us so I could get them home in the best condition possible.

We drove to the airport and took our flight to Munich. We flew 1st class on a small Lufthansa commuter plane. We were served very interesting food. A square of smoked salmon and sundried tomato cottage cheese. A 6 oz can of Sprite.

It took a long time to retrieve our luggage in Munich. We took the train which ended 4 stops before our stop so we had to change trains and haul our luggage. We checked into our hotel which was modern and different. A glass shower was in the room. The upside - the bathroom was more spacious. Flemings Munchen-City. This hotel was also near the main train station which made life easy since we did not have a car in Munich.

We went straight to the Viktual market for our beer. Had 1/2 liter of Spaten with giant soft pretzels. The pretzels are fabulous. How they made their way across the Atlantic and became the disgusting thing sold in the US is beyond my ability to comprehend.

Dinner at Altes Hackerhaus. They serve Hacker Pschorr beer.Great beer hall. We ate in the atrium which was glass covered. We shared a giant slab of  pork with the crackled skin accompanied by a giant potato dumpling.  Had Hacker Pshorr Dunkel, Hell and Pilsner. The Pilsner was very good.

Guess which glass is mine. Winner will be announced in the coming weeks.

Wines of the week; some real corkers

Sometimes wines just don't click.

2004 Bodegas Y Vinedos El Chantre Ramos Paul

Bodegas Y Vinedos El Chantre A Proprietary Blend Dry Red Table wine from Ronda, Spain This bottle was not good. Probably corked.  It was the only bottle I had so I can't try again. Tasted again the next day and poured it down the drain. The wine received an excellent review in the WA and was about $30. I bought it nostagically because it is made in Ronda, Spain a place we had visited years ago. I had made duck breast so for the second bottle I opened a 2007 Beaulieu Rutherford cabernet sauvignon. $25. This should have been a very good wine. WA 90. After a glass it was getting tired and it wasn't enjoyable to drink. I have 2 more bottles of the Beaulieu. Oh well. Edna Valley 2004 Syrah - A $16 wine that I got for $5.This was the second bottle of this wine we opened. Loved the first bottle but this bottle did not thrill us. Allegrini Palazzo Della Torre 2005; $15 - Brought bottle to local pizza restaurant with excellent pizza and organic produce. The wine was excellent; lots of fruit and not high in alcohol. I like this wine alot. Chateau Valrose , Cuvee Alienor 2004 , St Estephe $25  I had about 5 bottles of this wine. Opened this bottle because I was curious to see how it was aging. This bottle was very good. This wine has been very inconsistent from bottle to bottle. A blend of 50% merlot 25% cabernet sauvignon and 25% cabernet franc. D'Arenberg Dry Dam Riesling 2007 $14 My wife loves this wine. This bottle showed a more intense flavor that I liked.

Wines of the Week

Coopers Creek, New Zealand, Sauvignon Blanc 2010 $9 --Nice bouquet; drank drier than it smelled; nice wine.
Chalone - Pinot Blanc 2007; A favorite of mine; first time I have had the 2007; good blend of oak and fruit; $16
Termes 2004- Spain ; I have had this wine in my celler for several years; $23; Toro grape which is also called tempranillo, the grape of rioja. Big wine, not great but enjoyed. Not enough balance yet, probably could use another few years in bottle. I have a few more bottles. This wine gets raves from the critics.The WA gave it a 94 and says that it is currently selling for $90. Oh my.
Malvira Sagiletto 2008 Roero Arneis, $18,Piemonte, Italy -- Enjoyed this white wine. BTW Malvira appears to be a winery worth seeking. I have recently a few of their wines and have been impressed.

Several nights ago I finally ate at Lupa in NYC luparestaurant.com. A Mario Batali production in Greenwich Village. Had a good meal. The food is fresh and the prices are very reasonable. I had wild striped bass and started with clams mixed with something like cous cous, olives and spaghetti squash. Had caramel gelati for dessert which was so-so.  Flavor was good but it did not taste like gelati.

 The wine was a Brandini Langhe Nebbiolo 2003 $57. I must admit that I had the "wine person" choose the wine. After speaking with me about my likes she chose a very safe wine. Interestingly I said I wanted a wine under $50 and she rounded up to $57. Oh well. I could have said no.The wine was very good and we enjoyed it immensely. BTW when we arrived they told that we had to leave in 90 minutes and at the end of the meal they just gave us our check without asking. I guess Manhattan trumps Italy no matter how authentic a restaurant tries to be.

Plum Torte Recipe

I have had a number of requests for a plum torte that I make frequently. I usually make it around this time of year since this is when the purple plums aka Italian prune plums are in season. This recipe has been the most requested New York Times recipe over the last 20 years. The link to the recipe is below.

While I think that the recipe is easy to make, if you have any questions or concerns about the recipe, let me know.

www.nytimes.com/2005/09/21/dining/216frex.html