Whenever I walk, bike or metro my way somewhere, whenever I go for a run or sit down for a lengthy fava bean peeling session, I rely on podcasts to keep me entertained.

Although there are a few I listen to that are not food-oriented -- This American Life being my unrivaled favorite -- you won't be surprised to hear I lean toward those that discuss cooking, eating, and the cultural or political ramifications of both activities.

I can't be alone in this, and I'd like to share those podcasts I listen to regularly.

I wrote a similar post almost four years ago, but there are new kids on my podcast block, so I thought it was time to update that list.

Naturally, if you have favorites of your own to recommend, I'm always happy to add new ones to my rotation!

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I had my first taste of this cake at my friend Adam's last December. I was in New York for a whirlwind visit to promote the big fat pink book, and he and Craig had invited me to dinner at their place.

I would have been grateful for any home-cooked meal, which is by far my favorite kind when I travel, but this was a truly delicious dinner, one that refutes the "amateur" in "amateur gourmet."

After a salad of roasted beets and a dish of milk-braised pork (read Adam's post for the recipes), dessert was this almond cake, after a recipe Amanda Hesser published in the New York Times, and then in the edited collection of her columns, Cooking for Mr. Latte.

It was a spectacular almond cake, buttery and fragrant, moist in the middle with a good crust all around. After I'd finished the extra slice Adam gave me to take home (or in this case, back to the hotel) with me, I vowed to bake one just like it.

It took me a few months to act upon this wish, but I finally did when my nephew turned two in the spring, and the family got together to celebrate.

The distinguishing trait of this recipe is that it draws its flavor not from whole or powdered almonds, but from almond paste, and this contributes to the smooth, tender texture of the crumb. (It also reminds me of Julia's Swedish cake, which I've had my eye on for a while and hope to make when apples return.)

I lightened up the recipe a little, lowering the amount of butter and sugar*, and using yogurt in place of sour cream, but the cake remained a pleasingly indulgent affair.

Because the almond and the blueberry are BFFs, I also prepared a quick blueberry coulis to serve with the cake: the idea was to make it a little more sophisticated, and provide a note of tartness to cut through its richness. And, well, I also had some blueberries in the freezer that I was hoping to use in preparation for a much-needed spring defrosting, which still hasn't happened, but let's not dwell on that.

The grown-ups around the table agreed this was a very, very good almond cake, but more important, the birthday boy wolfed down his (admittedly small) slice, asked for seconds, then thirds, and eventually had to be distracted with the toy shinkansen we'd brought him back from Japan so there would be leftovers for tea the next day.

* The original recipe calls for 8 ounces of butter and 1 1/2 cups sugar; I used 7 ounces butter and 1 cup sugar.

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The football* world cup has just ended (congratulations, Spain!), and although I haven't breathed a word about it until now -- there is such a media overload during the event, you don't need me adding to it -- we followed the competition with an enthusiasm that wasn't dampened by the magnitude of the French fiasco.

Some games we watched from bars, others from home, and it was our great pleasure then to invite friends over to join in on the fun. And naturally, because these evening games were played right around dinnertime -- continental Europe and South Africa conveniently share the same time zone in the summer -- they were perfect opportunities to share no-fuss food that could be eaten casually, between two cries of excitement or disappointment.

This tarte fine (i.e. a thin tart with little or no rim) is one I served during the Germany/Spain semi-final last week: it is a free-form room-temperature tart I assembled on a homemade crust with fresh cheese, mint, and thinly sliced raw zucchini, finished with a drizzle of olive oil and a little fresh thyme from my neighbor's parents' garden.

The overall format was inspired by Sonia Ezgulian's radish tart, as featured on Cécile Cau's blog: hers involves a pâte brisée made with fennel seeds and filled with a mix of fromage blanc (a sort of yogurt) and ground almonds, topped with thinly sliced raw pink radishes.

I thought I would transpose the idea to use the sprightly young zucchini we've been getting lately, and the crust I used in mine was an experiment, as I wanted to try and make a short crust pastry using yogurt.

I had long ago bookmarked several online mentions of a puff pastry-like dough made with petits suisses, for which you combine these little unsalted fresh cheeses with flour and butter in a 2:2:1 weight ratio (unless you use the 1:2:1 ratio others recommend), and thought it was finally time to give it a try.

There were no petits suisses in my fridge, but yogurt I did have, so I planned to use that. And the ratio didn't seem quite right to me -- I worried the dough would be too moist, and the fact that two different ratios were said to work equally well did nothing to reassure me -- so I improvised my own, combining flour, yogurt and butter in a 3:2:1 ratio instead (here, 180 grams flour, 120 grams yogurt, 60 grams butter, plus a little salt).

That crust was a complete success: it was quick to assemble, easy to roll out, and it baked into a deep golden, crisp and flaky crust that supported the tangy fresh cheese filling and the sweet zucchini slices beautifully.

We liked this refreshing summer tart so much I made another, identical one later that week, and used that same dough recipe for the Swiss chard quiche my mother, sister and I baked at my parents' mountain house over the weekend, before we all went into town to watch the Netherlands/Spain final.

I now intend to try and make a sweet version of that crust, probably very soon, and probably for a rhubarb tart using the gorgeous garden rhubarb I brought back with me.

* Maybe you call it soccer; we call it football or just foot, as in "la coupe du monde de foot."

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Rue des Martyrs, which shoots up from the 9th into the 18th arrondissement, is one of those typical Paris market streets that seems to defy business logic by offering no fewer than seven bread bakeries, some of them but a block from one another.

Because I live in the neighborhood, I've had the opportunity to sample the goods from (almost*) all of them, and I've been particularly impressed with the breads I've purchased from Maison Landemaine, on the eastern sidewalk: their tourte de meule (a round rustic loaf) and their baguette**, both leavened with their natural starter, are excellent, and they make a very good chocolate bread, too.

In French, the concept of chocolate bread poses a slight semantics problem, because the name pain au chocolat (literally, chocolate bread) is already taken by a much-loved member of the viennoiserie family that involves croissant dough wrapped around one or two sticks of chocolate to form a rectangular little pad. In some parts of France -- especially in the south -- this is cutely called a chocolatine.

But what we are talking about here is a regular bread dough that is flavored with cocoa powder and studded with small bits of chocolate -- an entirely different animal, one that's more to my taste. And since I'm always looking for new and delicious ideas to keep my natural starter entertained, it wasn't long before I decided to make my own.

I remembered Nancy Silverton has a recipe for chocolate cherry bread in her sourdough baking book Breads from the La Brea Bakery, so I looked it up, but hers involves sugar and butter -- she developed it to please the customers who came in wanting dessert rather than a loaf of bread -- and I wanted my dough unenriched.

Instead, I simply elaborated on the recipe I use for my sourdough baguettes, substituting cocoa powder for part of the flour and folding coarsely chopped chocolate into the dough, and making bâtard-shaped loaves. Because Nancy Silverton notes that the cocoa powder hinders the rise of the bread, I followed her lead and added a little fresh yeast to aid the action of the starter.

Aside from this addition of yeast, the technique is very similar to the one I describe in my baguette post, with an overnight fermentation for flavor and flexibility; you can refer to it for pictures of the different steps.

Because it is just bread with cocoa powder and a little dark chocolate, it is neither too rich nor too sweet for breakfast (i.e. no brick feeling in your stomach, and no sugar crash by mid-morning) and it is a luxurious treat to begin the day with, lightly toasted, and spread with butter or almond butter.

The tight crumb makes it ideal for tartines and I probably don't need to elaborate on the list of things you can spread on chocolate bread, but I will say this: raspberry jam or dulce de leche make it quite irresistible.

I like it like this, with just chopped chocolate folded in, but you could imagine endless variations, incorporating dried fruit (cherry, fig, prune), orange peel (as in this loaf) or nuts (pistachios, almonds, walnuts), or possibly replacing a little of the wheat flour with chestnut or malt flour.

This bread stays fresh for a few days, like most starter-leavened breads, but if the leftovers dry up they'll make a fine bread pudding or great breadcrumbs; they're the ones I used for the Noma-style radishes in soil I wrote about recently.

Maison Landemaine
26 rue des Martyrs, Paris 9ème
M° Notre-Dame de Lorette
+33 (0)1 40 16 03 42 / map it!

* A few of them I didn't bother to visit; sometimes a glance at the bread shelf is all it takes to form an opinion.

** Bruno Verjus shot a few videos of their baguette-making process.

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At the beginning of every month, I am offering C&Z readers a new wallpaper to apply on the desktop of your computer, with a food-related picture and a calendar of the current month.

Our calendar for July is a picture of zucchini blossoms shot at Alain Passard's vegetable garden a few years ago. It was a memorable visit that inspires me to this day, and in case you missed my report then, I invite you to take a look at the post and the accompanying photo set. If you're stuck in the city this summer, perhaps they will provide a measure of refreshment.

And as far as zucchini blossoms are concerned, I've tried stuffing them in various ways and it was fine (especially when the filling involved fresh sheep's milk cheese), but really, nothing beats frying them.

Instructions to get your calendar are below.

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Kitchen recycling is my favorite hobby.

So many food scraps can be put to good use with just a little time and flair*, and the satisfaction is immense when I feel I'm using my supplies to the max -- making chilled soup from pea pods, pesto from radish tops and croissants aux amandes from day-old croissants, using the whey from mozzarella in bread dough, parsley stems in stews, and the rinds from hard cheeses in soups.

Today's trick is one I've devised because it bothered me to toss the rinds of lemons when all I needed that day was their juice.

I got the idea from a jar of dried, roasted and ground lemon peel I bought years ago, made by a Sicilian company and simply sold under the name buccia di limone (lemon peel).

The scent and flavor were so lovely it took me years to go through that little container -- it was not cheap, and I seem to have trouble using up ingredients I perceive as rare and precious -- until I finally got my act together and realized I could just make my own.

The process is simple: before I juice the lemons, I peel off ribbons of the zest with a vegetable peeler. I leave those out to dry completely for a day or two, then roast them gently in the oven before grinding them with a mortar and pestle, a step that's rewarded by a fantastic tarte au citron smell.

Because I usually make a small batch and the whole idea is to be thrifty, I place the ribbons of lemon zest in my oven while I preheat it for something else: this means they're exposed to a moderate heat, but it also means they need to be kept on a close watch until they reach the proper shade of golden brown.

What you get is a fragrant powder that doesn't pack the punch of fresh zest, but makes up for it with a toasted dimension that pulls it toward the sweet. It can be used to flavor scones and butter cookies, mixed into a fruit crisp topping or granola, infused in cream or milk for crème brûlée or gelato, sprinkled over a fruit salad (think nectarines and raspberries), blended with sugar to make lemon sugar or with tea to make lemon tea, combined with other flavorings in a rub for meat or fish... the possibilities are endless.

In fact, roasted lemon zest powder can be used in pretty much any recipe that call for fresh -- I'm trying to find an exception but I can't think of one -- and I suggest substituting it measure for measure then.

And once you've peeled the zest for this, and juiced the lemons for whatever reason you had to buy them in the first place, the rest of the rind can be placed in your water pitcher for a day or two, where it will release a faint and refreshing citrusy flavor.

Naturally, this method could be applied to any other citrus fruit.

* For more on that topic, check out C&Z readers' tips for a green kitchen, including suggestions on how to reduce food waste.

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A few weeks ago, I read Tara Austen Weaver's book The Butcher and the Vegetarian, a memoir in which she writes about being brought up as a vegetarian and the challenges she faced as an adult, when she had to start cooking meat for herself to try to recover from a serious health issue.

It's a very good read, witty and honest, and even for readers like me, who don't share her dietary background or meat-handling angst, there are a lot of elements to relate to in her story. I especially enjoyed the sections where she addresses the political and ethical sides of the meat question in a remarkably level and dispassionate way.

A number of things she wrote stayed with me after I'd turned the last page, but there is one short passage in particular, early on in the book (p.31), in which her brother gives a technique for testing the doneness of red meat. It's a small thing, but I liked the tip so much I thought I would, in turn, share it with you:

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My first brush with tetragon -- a.k.a. New Zealand spinach, warrigal greens, sea spinach, and a few assorted nicknames -- took place six years ago: Nicolas Vagnon, the chef of the now long defunct La Table de Lucullus, had invited me to join him on his Saturday morning market run at the marché des Batignolles and hang out in his teeny kitchen afterward, watching him cook for the handful of customers who had come to lunch that day.

Among the things he bought and prepared was an alien-looking plant with diamond-shaped leaves attached to thick stalks. It and I were properly introduced: "Tétragone, meet Clotilde. Clotilde, meet Tétragone -- it's a little bit like spinach."

Tetragon leaves are in fact more succulent -- thicker, juicier -- than spinach, and for someone like me who still hasn't managed to get over a fierce childhood dislike for spinach, it is superior: it tastes green and marine (iodé, as we say in French, like the seaside air, or oysters) but without the bitter metallic aftertaste that bothers me so much in spinach.

Nicolas served it raw that day, drizzled with an olive oil dressing and paired with thinly fileted marinated sardines (see picture below, circa July 2004). And raw is definitely the way to go if the tetragon is young and its leaves spry; it pairs well with fish or shellfish then, but also with cured ham or burrata, and fresh almonds.

What I do is pluck the leaves off the stalk before I discard it, only retaining the upper part, where it becomes tender. Small sprouting clusters of what would have been more leaves are tipped into the salad bowl as well.

But sometimes you get a bouquet of slightly older tetragon (old tetragon should be avoided altogether) and find that, while the top leaves are delicate enough to be eaten raw, the ones on lower floors have toughened and feel scratchy in the back of your throat. It is preferable to cook those.

You can handle tetragon in much the same way you would spinach, keeping in mind that it is a pity to overcook it, even more so than other greens, because you want to retain a slight crispness in the leaves.

Among the things I've tried and loved, I'll mention adding tetragon leaves on top of a pizza just out of the oven so it will cook in the steam, and this pasta recipe.

It is a sort of variation on the orecchiette alla barese (orecchiette in the style of Bari) that Guillaume Long got from Laura Zavan's book Ma Little Italie and illustrated on his brilliant blog, and which I learned about by way of Patoumi's enthusiastic report.

I was once (just once) able to score the elusive cime di rapa that this recipe calls for (broccoli can be substituted) and I loved the result. The technique stuck with me, and I have since applied the same succession of steps to a variety of short pasta shapes and green vegetables.

It's simple, really, and as quick as pasta gets: while the pasta boils, you cook some garlic, chili pepper and anchovies with olive oil in a skillet. Depending on the vegetable you're using and how much cooking it requires, you either add it to the pasta water or to the skillet. When the pasta is cooked, you add it to the skillet, stir gently over low heat to combine, and serve with a good grating of cheese.

You may have noticed in the top photo that the strands of parmesan are fairly thick: I like to use the large holes in the box grater, because the cheese melts more slowly then and contributes its own texture.

Finally, I'd like to stress the importance of serving pasta in warmed pasta bowls. Eating lukewarm pasta ruins the experience for me, so I boil a little more water in the kettle than I'll need for the pasta, pour a shallow layer of that remaining hot water in each bowl when the pasta's almost done, and (important not to forget) pour out the water just before serving.

Note: I never knew this, but tetragon contains oxalic acid, which some sources say should be removed by blanching the leaves before using (the excess oxalic acid will transfer to the water that you'll discard). Other sources suggest this is only necessary if you are sensitive to oxalic acid, if you're dealing with wild plants or old leaves, or if you're eating tetragon on a frequent basis. If you're worried about it, discuss it with your doctor, and possibly with the vendor who sells you the tetragon.

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Vinegar barrels photographed by Rebecca Bollwitt.

This is part of a series on French idiomatic expressions that relate to food. Browse the list of idioms featured so far.

This week's expression is, "Tourner au vinaigre."

Literally translated as, "turning to vinegar," it describes a situation or a conversation that's taking a bad turn and may get ugly. It can be likened to its English cousin "going (or turning) sour."

Example: "Il a vite changé de sujet avant que la discussion tourne au vinaigre." "He quickly changed the subject before the discussion turned to vinegar."

Listen to the idiom and example read aloud:

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Menu Fretin is a young French independent publishing house that specializes in culinary books*. Considering the teeny size of the organization, and how crazily difficult it is for an indie to carve a space for itself among the Goliaths of publishing, its book list is impressive, featuring daring projects that straddle the old and the new.

Menu Fretin has published such historical gems as an augmented edition of Alexandre Dumas' Grand Dictionnaire de Cuisine, a biography of Grimod de la Reynière and other assorted texts of nineteenth-century food writing, but also new works by contemporary chefs Olivier Nasti in Kaysersberg, Juliette and Jean-Marie Baudic in Saint-Brieuc, or the twenty-six expatriated French chefs gathered in a collective called Village de chefs.

Late last year, three titles were added as part of a new collection called Menu Festin (small feast). For each of these little books, the clever concept is to have a chef come up with a five-course menu (appetizer, first course, main course, dessert, mignardise or pre-dessert) around a particular theme, then lay out the full cooking timeline throughout the book, with a countdown from the first prep steps to the time of serving. Step-by-step pictures and check lists of tasks and ingredients round out the cook's game plan.

One of these books is called Dimanche en famille and is authored by Yves Camdeborde, the famous Béarnais chef who's often credited for fathering the neo-bistro trend in Paris, where he now runs the über-popular Comptoir du Relais and the hotel it's attached to.

As the title of the book suggests, Camdeborde's menu is for a Sunday family meal, unfolding as follows: his grandmother's gougères (cheese puffs) as an appetizer, then a beef consommé (or broth) with foie gras ravioli, a salt-crusted chicken with chanterelles and pasta, an Armagnac-soaked savarin (a yeast-raised cake) with apricot marmalade and whipped cream, and some vanilla sablés (sandy butter cookies).

I find the entire menu appealing in a traditional way that evokes a family other than my own, a big old house somewhere south, and a table in a garden under a cherry tree. I probably wouldn't serve it all in one go because it sounds like a lot of food, even for a Sunday, but I love that each dish helps you learn one or several techniques, and Camdeborde is generous with his tips and explanations.

The first recipe I tried is the one for sablés, as emphatically recommended by Laurent Seminel, who runs the publishing house.

Butter, sugar, flour, vanilla, salt: it looks like a classic recipe for sablés diamant (butter cookies rimmed with sugar), and it uses my preferred technique of slice-and-baking the log of cookie dough. But what makes it exceptionally successful, I think, is that it calls for a low-temperature oven (150°C or 300°F). This allows the sablés to bake gently and evenly, without coloring, while the sugar coating around the sides has time to form a caramelized crust.

And what you get is, to me, the perfect sablé: a crisp-then-crumbly cookie that tastes of vanilla and butter, with a touch of salt and a caramel undertone.

It is a treat on its own, but it works well with fruit salads and ice cream, too. We've been savoring this latest batch with my chocolate frozen yogurt), before I was inspired to turn the last few into miniature tartlets, with a smear of crème fraîche and a cluster of wild strawberries on top.

The recipe makes a big batch -- the book says it yields eighteen cookies, but mine were bite-size and I got about fifty -- so half of the dough may be frozen for on-demand sablés on a later date.

Want more sablé recipes? Take a look at these:
~ Matcha Shortbread Cookies,
~ Squeeze Cookies made with roasted flour,
~ Crisp Hazelnut and Pepper Cookies,
~ Shortbread.

~~~

* In French, the expression menu fretin means things or people of little importance; it is the exact equivalent of the English expression "small fry". The adjective menu(e) means small, and fretin is the small fish that fishermen throw back into the water because they're not worth the trouble.

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The pop singer will make his acting debut on the show's season premiereimg src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/people/headlines/~4/v6Y404sqIio" height="1" width="1"/

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The actress jokingly spills a "secret" about Married ... with Childrenimg src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/people/headlines/~4/-Ag6AmzMXao" height="1" width="1"/

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"She knows who to call when she needs help," says Machete actor Danny Trejoimg src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/people/headlines/~4/KIKY1MLmOUI" height="1" width="1"/

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Tori Spelling grew up in front of the camera, and now her family is doing the same. Take a look as Tori, husband Dean McDermott, son Liam and daughter Stella grow before our eyesimg src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/people/photos/~4/J0dv4uyYfVw" height="1" width="1"/

We just spent five days in Oregon, visiting a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portland,_Oregon" target="_blank"Portland/a, the a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willamette_Valley" target="_blank"Willamette Valley/a around the town of a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newberg,_Oregon" target="_blank"Newberg/a in Yamhill County, as well as the beach resort of a href="http://www.cannonbeach.org/" target="_blank"Cannon Beach/a on the Pacific Coast.br /br /While touring the Willamette Valley, we found ourselves welcomed by a laid-back and bucolic lifestyle, meeting warm and frienfly people, always happy to share their stories. There were many highlights in our trip and in my next posts, I'll write about our lunch at the a href="http://www.ponziwinebar.com/" target="_blank"Ponzi Wine Bar/a in Dundee, wine tastings at a href="http://www.beauxfreres.com/" target="_blank"Beaux Frères/a, a href="http://www.jkcarriere.com/" target="_blank"J.K. Carriere Wines/a, a href="http://www.brickhousewines.com/" target="_blank"Brick House Vineyards/a, and a href="http://www.eyrievineyards.com" target="_blank"The Eyrie Vineyards/a. We also had a wonderful dinner at a href="http://www.thepaintedladyrestaurant.com" target="_blank"The Painted Lady Restaurant/a in Newberg.br /br /centerimg style="float:center;width:300px;margin:0px 0px 5px 0px;" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4075/4816806766_ec566a5728.jpg"brfont size-=1Vineyard in the Dundee Hills/font/centerbr /br /So stay tuned for my next post with a review of the a href="http://www.ponziwinebar.com/" target="_blank"Ponzi Wine Bar/a.br /br /font size=-1Technorati tags: a href="http://technorati.com/tag/wine" rel="tag"wine/a a href="http://technorati.com/tag/food+and+drink" rel="tag"food drink/a/fontdiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/9283195-3877664557151025875?l=manageyourcellar.blogspot.com' alt='' //div pa href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/Ack0Fk4z2R_FMpTVVxB9meTIOrQ/0/da"img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/Ack0Fk4z2R_FMpTVVxB9meTIOrQ/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"/img/abr/ a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/Ack0Fk4z2R_FMpTVVxB9meTIOrQ/1/da"img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/Ack0Fk4z2R_FMpTVVxB9meTIOrQ/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"/img/a/p

Sunday was the Spain-Netherlands World Cup Final and we were invited to a potluck party to watch the match. For the occasion I made a chilled a href="http://leitesculinaria.com/1242/recipes-carrot-ginger-soup.html" target="_blank"Carrot Ginger Soup/a that I served in small glasses garnished with a drop of cream and snipped parsley. With fresh ginger and a pinch of curry, the soup is spicy but very refreshing and it works wonderfully well with a Spanish Albariño like the a href="http://www.ManageYourCellar.com/winecellar/do/wine/View?id=135269" target="_blank"2008 Burgans Albariño Rias Baixas/a that I also brought to the party. br /br /a href="http://www.ManageYourCellar.com/winecellar/do/wine/View?id=135269" target="_blank"img style="float:right;width:140px;margin:0px 0px 5px 20px;cursor:pointer;cursor:hand;" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4118/4791149279_5e56e44afe.jpg"/aThe a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rías_Baixas_(DO)" target="_blank"Rias Baixas/a region (the name means ilow estuaries/i) is located on the Galician coast, between the city of Santiago de Compostela and the Portuguese border. It is renowned for its white wines (over 90% of the wine production) primarily made from the a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albariño" target="_blank"Albariño/a grape variety.br /br /Albariño produces aromatic wines with high acidity. The name means ithe white from the Rhine/i as it was thought to be a Riesling clone brought from Alsace in the twelfth century. It may actually be related to Petit Manseng, a grape grown in the southwest of France. In Portugal, it is called Alvarinho and is commonly used in the blend of Vinho Verde wines.br /br /The 2008 Burgan had a light yellow color and a citrus nose with white peach and mineral notes. On the palate, the wine was dry and bright, clean and zappy, just like a skilled and precise Spanish pass.br /br /font size=-1Technorati tags: a href="http://technorati.com/tag/wine" rel="tag"wine/a a href="http://technorati.com/tag/food+and+drink" rel="tag"food drink/a/fontdiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/9283195-1772126738778389006?l=manageyourcellar.blogspot.com' alt='' //div pa href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/NVM9TDlS0pVf-rXLJd-cUX2QTeU/0/da"img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/NVM9TDlS0pVf-rXLJd-cUX2QTeU/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"/img/abr/ a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/NVM9TDlS0pVf-rXLJd-cUX2QTeU/1/da"img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/NVM9TDlS0pVf-rXLJd-cUX2QTeU/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"/img/a/p

a href="http://www.ManageYourCellar.com/winecellar/do/wine/View?id=14183" target="_blank"img style="float:right;width:140px;margin:0px 0px 5px 20px;cursor:pointer;cursor:hand;" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4121/4778009080_ce43e6a7d3.jpg"/aThe bottle was a a href="http://www.ManageYourCellar.com/winecellar/do/wine/View?id=14183" target="_blank"1995 Château Haut-Brion/a, stored in our friend's wine cabinet in Chicago, patiently waiting for our visit.br /br /We arrived in Chicago on a Thursday night and it was decided that we would taste the wine the following evening. As the wine was from a great vintage and highly rated, we were expecting a memorable moment.br /br /ildquo;This wine has been brilliant on every occasion I have tasted itrdquo;/i, said Parker on the 1995. ildquo;More accessible and forward than the 1996, it possesses a saturated ruby/purple color, as well as a beautiful, knock-out set of aromatics, consisting of black fruits, vanillin, spice, and wood-fire smoke. Multidimensional and rich, with layers of ripe fruit, and beautifully integrated tannin and acidity, this medium to full-bodied wine is a graceful, seamless, exceptional Haut-Brion that should drink surprisingly well young.rdquo;/ibr /br /But as soon as we popped the cork, the bad news jumped at our nose: the wine was corked! We took a small sip to confirm the verdict and it was unmistakably bad. Sad, sad, sad!br /br /But then I remembered a a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/14/dining/14curi.html?pagewanted=1ref=dining" target="_blank"New York Times/a article that suggested a way to rescue a corked wine:br /br /iMr. Waterhouse said that the obnoxious, dank flavor of a ldquo;corkedrdquo; wine, which usually renders it unusable even in cooking, can be removed by pouring the wine into a bowl with a sheet of plastic wrap.br /br /ldquo;It's kind of messy, but very effective in just a few minutes,rdquo; he said. The culprit molecule in infected corks, 2,4,6-trichloroanisole, is chemically similar to polyethylene and sticks to the plastic./ibr /br /The experiment was worth trying, what could we lose? We took a large bowl, lined it with plastic wrap, and poured a small amount of the wine into the bowl. Then, after 5 minutes or so, we compared the wine from the bowl with the wine from the bottle. You could definitively detect some differences between the two. The bad chemical taste was somewhat smoothed out in the wine from the bowl, but sadly, it didn't make the wine more drinkable. Maybe the plastic wrap was able to catch some of the molecules but not all of them. And maybe we should try that experiment again but only with a wine that is marginally flawed.br /br /font size=-1Technorati tags: a href="http://technorati.com/tag/wine" rel="tag"wine/a a href="http://technorati.com/tag/food+and+drink" rel="tag"food drink/a/fontdiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/9283195-5524565865047676862?l=manageyourcellar.blogspot.com' alt='' //div pa href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/meiFSfGSzXoyal0pqO-XWOJZjUA/0/da"img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/meiFSfGSzXoyal0pqO-XWOJZjUA/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"/img/abr/ a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/meiFSfGSzXoyal0pqO-XWOJZjUA/1/da"img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/meiFSfGSzXoyal0pqO-XWOJZjUA/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"/img/a/p

As most Soccer fans have learned, Slovenia is barely the size of Houston and was the smallest of the 32 nations that participated in the 2010 World Cup tournament. Nonetheless, its wine industry is one of the most advanced of the former Yugoslav republics. So I felt very lucky when I got invited by Frank Dietrich and Zsuzsanna Molnar of a href="http://www.bluedanubewine.com" target="_blank"Blue Danube Wine/a to a Winemaker Dinner featuring the wines of the Slovenian winery a href="http://www.santomas.si" target="_blank"Santomas/a at a href="http://www.albonarestaurant.com" target="_blank"Albona Restaurant/a in San Francisco.br /br /The a href="http://www.santomas.si" target="_blank"Santomas/a winery is located in the coastal town of a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koper" target="_blank"Kopler/a, on the Slovenian side of the a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Istria" target="_blank"Istrian peninsula/a. The Glavina family has been cultivated vines and olives for 200 years and over time, has expanded the estate to almost 50 acres of vineyards and 7,5 acres of olive orchards. Nowadays, the winery consists of a modern wine cellar, a tasting room, and a wine laboratory.br /br /The current production is 70% Refok or a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refosco" target="_blank"Refosco/a, a local varietal that also grows in Italy and Croatia and can produce tannic and powerful wines, 15% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Merlot, and 10% a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malvasia" target="_blank"Malvasia/a, an ancient grape of Greek origin that is found throughout the Mediterranean.br /br /The winemaker dinner was at a href="http://www.albonarestaurant.com" target="_blank"Albona Restaurant/a in San Francisco's North Beach district, the only Istrian restaurant on the West Coast. The Istrian cuisine has been uniquely influenced by Italians, Austrians, Hungarians, Slavs, Spaniards, French, Jews, Greeks, and Turks and thus combines classic Italian dishes with ingredients like cumin, sauerkraut, and strudels.br /br /For the occasion, owner Michael Bruno had assembled a 4 course menu showcasing Istria's flavorful cuisine, and paired with 4 wines presented by Santomas Winemaker Tamara Glavina.br /br /centerimg style="float:center;width:300px;margin:0px 0px 5px 0px;" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4098/4749057169_bcc00348e1.jpg"brfont size-=11st Course: Minestre de asparaghi (Puree of asparagus soup thickened with Yukon Gold potatoes)/font/centerbr /br /The asparagus soup was paired with a a href="http://www.ManageYourCellar.com/winecellar/do/wine/View?id=157314" target="_blank"2008 Santomas Malvasia/a: the Malvasia vines grow on white soils that are hard to work on and thus require a lot of manual work. The harvest is manual. About 10% of the wine was aged in oak and rested on lees for additional body. My notes: golden color, aromatic nose of acacia blossom and citrus, fresh and slightly oily on the palate, dried herbs on the finish. The soup was really delicious and I loved the wine too!br /br /centerimg style="float:center;width:300px;margin:0px 0px 5px 0px;" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4135/4749057755_3cc097e346.jpg"brfont size-=12nd Course: Chifeleti de mia nona con sugo de carne al cumin (Grandmother's specialty: pan-fried potato gnocchi in a brown sirloin sauce laced with cumin)/font/centerbr /br /The gnocchi dish was paired with a a href="http://www.ManageYourCellar.com/winecellar/do/wine/View?id=157315" target="_blank"2008 Santomas Cabernet Sauvignon/a: manual harvest, made with no oak. My notes: attractive raspberry nose, smooth mouthfeel, soft tannins, spicy on the palate, good acidity, worked very well with the meaty sauce and the subtle notes of cumin.br /br /centerimg style="float:center;width:300px;margin:0px 0px 5px 0px;" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4079/4749058543_86b6f82779.jpg"brfont size-=13rd Course: Involtin de porco con capuzi garbi e prosuto (Pork loin stuffed with sauerkraut, apples, and plums served with red cabbage sauté)/font/centerbr /br /With the pork loin, we tasted the a href="http://www.ManageYourCellar.com/winecellar/do/wine/View?id=157316" target="_blank"2003 Santomas Big Red Grande Cuvée/a: the Grande Cuvée is Santomas's age-worthy premium blend made primarily from Refosco. Refosco is difficult to grow and historically vines were trained in a pergola style to optimize yields. Santomas moved to a guyot vine training system to reduce yields to 3000 l/ha. The wine is unfiltered, unfined. My notes: dark color, rich aromas, spicy, peppery on the palate, notes of garrigue on the finish. An excellent match for the apples, plums, and sauerkraut filling.br /br /centerimg style="float:center;width:300px;margin:0px 0px 5px 0px;" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4137/4749703372_f44c5cdae1.jpg"brfont size-=1Dessert: Sorbetto (Housemade raspberry sorbet)/font/centerbr /br /With the sorbet we were served a glass of a href="http://www.ManageYourCellar.com/winecellar/do/wine/View?id=157317" target="_blank"2007 Santomas Late Harvest Malvasia Invasia/a. Sadly, 2007 was the last year the winery produced a Late Harvest Malvasia. My notes: light golden color, fresh floral nose, with sweet apple aromas, light-bodied, semi-sweet on the palate, expressive, not cloying at all.br /br /centerimg style="float:center;width:300px;margin:0px 0px 5px 0px;" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4093/4749702702_b90217b7b4.jpg"brfont size-=1Winemaker Tamara Glavina introducing the 2007 Late Harvest Malvasia/font/centerbr /br /font size=-1Technorati tags: a href="http://technorati.com/tag/wine" rel="tag"wine/a a href="http://technorati.com/tag/food+and+drink" rel="tag"food drink/a/fontdiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/9283195-3195765895055608216?l=manageyourcellar.blogspot.com' alt='' //div pa href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/KbkVT9e08zL-MoLBO1Z6LfvkcII/0/da"img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/KbkVT9e08zL-MoLBO1Z6LfvkcII/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"/img/abr/ a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/KbkVT9e08zL-MoLBO1Z6LfvkcII/1/da"img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/KbkVT9e08zL-MoLBO1Z6LfvkcII/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"/img/a/p

As I a href="http://manageyourcellar.blogspot.com/2010/05/tour-of-savannah-chanelle-vineyards.html" target="_blank"posted earlier/a, during our visit to a href="http://www.savannahchanelle.com/" target="_blank"Savannah-Chanelle Vineyards/a, I ended up being the lucky winner of 2 a href="https://glassware.riedel.com/c-872-vinum-xl/p-273-pinot-noir-wine-glass" target="_blank"Vinum XL Pinot Noir glasses/a. Initially, I have to admit that I was not really sure about these glasses. Large and tall (they hold slightly more than a full bottle of wine), they obviously don't fit in my dishwasher, but would their size and shape make a real difference on the wine-tasting experience?br /br /So back at home, I had to check. I poured a a href="http://www.ManageYourCellar.com/winecellar/do/wine/View?id=1746" target="_blank"2001 Provenance Cabernet Sauvignon Oakville/a into the Vinum XL Pinot Noir glass (contenance 80cl) as well as into a a href="https://glassware.riedel.com/c-864-ouverture/p-417-red-wine-glass" target="_blank"Ouverture Red Wine glass/a (contenance 35cl), a glass that I particularly like because it doesn't break easily and fits nicely into my dishwasher.br /br /a href="http://www.ManageYourCellar.com/winecellar/do/wine/View?id=1746" target="_blank"img style="float:right;width:140px;margin:0px 0px 5px 20px;cursor:pointer;cursor:hand;" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4031/4688552931_9d9a5370d7.jpg"/aLocated on Highway 29 in Napa Valley, a href="http://www.provenancevineyards.com" target="_blank"Provenance Vineyards/a currently owns the land originally farmed by Thomas Rutherford in the 19th century. The name iProvenance/i means iorigin/i in French. The winery released its first Cabernet Sauvignon in 1999 and since then, has bought vineyards in the Rutherford, Oakville and Mount Veeder appellations. The philosophy of the winemaking team is to select top vineyards and intervene as little as possible during the winemaking process.br /br /There was no comparison between the wine poured into my everyday Ouverture Red Wine glass and the wine poured into the Vinum XL Pinot Noir glass. The large bowl of the glass allowed the wine aromas to fully develop while the slightly flared top lip directed them efficiently towards the nose and mouth.br /br /The wine had a deep garnet color and aromas of mint, figs, and blackberries on the nose. On the palate, it was full-bodied, rich, with flavors of sweet berries, leaving notes of cocoa on the finish.br /br /These glasses are advertised for Pinot Noir but I think they really work well with full-bodied Cabernets. However, I would not bother using them for wines with much less body and a more subtle nose.br /br /font size=-1Technorati tags: a href="http://technorati.com/tag/wine" rel="tag"wine/a a href="http://technorati.com/tag/food+and+drink" rel="tag"food drink/a/fontdiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/9283195-5806431352845397467?l=manageyourcellar.blogspot.com' alt='' //div pa href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/iyhdfIlKV1nTro1IhZaKPpiO-28/0/da"img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/iyhdfIlKV1nTro1IhZaKPpiO-28/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"/img/abr/ a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/iyhdfIlKV1nTro1IhZaKPpiO-28/1/da"img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/iyhdfIlKV1nTro1IhZaKPpiO-28/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"/img/a/p

In a href="http://www.feynmanlectures.info/" target="_blank"The Feynman Lectures on Physics,/a Richard Feynman invokes a glass of wine: ildquo;a distillation of the earth's rocks, and in its composition we see the secrets of the universe's age, and the evolution of starsrdquo;/i, a terrific quote that Author and Professor a href="http://stevenkolpanonwine.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"Steven Kolpan/a cites in his a href="http://www.salon.com/food/feature/2010/06/02/how_soil_affects_wine_ext2010/index.html" target="_blank"latest article/a on how soil and climate affect wine. br /br /ildquo;Grapes can grow in plenty of places,rdquo;/i says Kolpan, ildquo;but since the best soils for grapes are those that stress the vines, the best climates are those that are just barely warm enough for them to ripen, and wine growers are keenly attuned to the weather and temperature of their vineyards.rdquo;/i br /br /So in a a href="http://www.salon.com/food/feature/2010/06/03/wine_and_global_warming_climate_change_ext2010/index.html" target="_blank"follow-up article/a, Kolpan wonders what will happen to great wines when classic wine regions get too hot. Yes, what will happen when Napa Valley becomes as hot as California's Central Valley? br /br /ildquo;Cool climate conditions grant the grapes a healthy dose of acidity, rdquo;/i explains Kolpan, ildquo;the refreshing, citrus-or-green fruit-sour flavors that make a wine interesting, even compelling. It is that acidity that makes our mouth water, and encourages us to have another bite of food, another sip of wine.rdquo;/i However, ildquo;grapes that grow in warm climates obviously have no trouble ripening, but their lack of acidity can translate into a flat, flabby uninteresting wine. Also, in hot climates grapes easily overripen, creating huge amounts of sugar that turn into alcohol bombs during fermentation.rdquo;/i br /br /Unfortunately, argues Kolpan, global warming and wine is just another inconvenient truth for the global wine industry that has been ignoring the facts for too long, as well as for wine consumers.br /br /ildquo;The message is clear,rdquo;/i concludes Kopan, ildquo;Wine is a precious product of nature, and its future is threatened. In your glass of pleasure there is also a microcosm of our shared environmental concerns, concerns that can no longer be ignored, no longer be denied.rdquo;/ibr /br /ildquo;How vivid is the claret, pressing its existence into the consciousness that watches it!rdquo;/i says Richard Feynman at the end of his a href="http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Richard_Feynman" target="_blank"great speech on wine/a. ildquo;If our small minds, for some convenience, divide this glass of wine, this universe, into parts mdash; physics, biology, geology, astronomy, psychology, and so on mdash; remember that Nature does not know it! So let us put it all back together, not forgetting ultimately what it is for. Let it give us one more final pleasure: drink it and forget it all!rdquo;/ibr /br /font size=-1Technorati tags: a href="http://technorati.com/tag/wine" rel="tag"wine/a a href="http://technorati.com/tag/food+and+drink" rel="tag"food drink/a/fontdiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/9283195-7246758704041133265?l=manageyourcellar.blogspot.com' alt='' //div pa href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/2Fam7AjvciHoEQIMuz_pvZeKqWA/0/da"img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/2Fam7AjvciHoEQIMuz_pvZeKqWA/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"/img/abr/ a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/2Fam7AjvciHoEQIMuz_pvZeKqWA/1/da"img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/2Fam7AjvciHoEQIMuz_pvZeKqWA/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"/img/a/p

The other day, we were invited by our friend and real estate agent a href="http://www.sophieravel.com" target="_blank"Sophie Ravel/a to a wine tasting and lunch event at a href="http://www.savannahchanelle.com" target="_blank"Savannah-Chanelle Vineyards/a. br /br /Savannah-Chanelle Vineyards is a small winery located in the scenic a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Cruz_Mountains" target="_blank"Santa Cruz Mountains/a above the town of Saratoga. It was founded in 1892 by a French immigrant named Pierre Pourroy but Prohibition quickly forced the Pourroy family to shut down production. Winemaker Daniel Gehrs bought the neglected winery in 1976 and was able to rescue the old Zinfandel and Cabernet Franc vines that were still growing on the estate. Eventually, Michael and Kellie Ballard purchased the property in 1996, naming it after their two daughters Savannah and Chanel. Two years later, the Chanel fashion house sued the Ballards forcing them to change the winery name to Savannah-Chanelle Vineyards.br /br /The estate has 58 acres planted with Pinot Noir, Cabernet Franc, Zinfandel, and Chardonnay. The Zinfandel plantings date back to 1910, and the Cabernet Franc plantings mdash;California's oldestmdash; date back to 1920. We didn't have the opportunity to taste the old vine Estate Zinfandel nor the Cabernet Franc but we were served an unoaked a href="http://www.ManageYourCellar.com/winecellar/do/wine/View?id=152508" target="_blank"2009 Chardonnay Monterey County/a that I particularly liked, It was refreshingly crisp with attractive aromas of grapefruit and lemon . I also enjoyed the tasty and peppery a href="http://www.ManageYourCellar.com/winecellar/do/wine/View?id=145547" target="_blank"2007 Syrah Coastview Vineyard/a, from a vineyard located at 2600 ft on a mountain top overlooking Monterey Bay.br /br /It was a warm and sunny day and we had a nice lunch in the lawn and garden area in front of Pierre Pourroy's Mediterranean-style ichateau/i and surrounded by tall redwood trees and hillside vineyards. There was also a raffle and I did win one of the three prizes, a set of 2 Riedel Burgundy glasses! But that's the subject of a future post.br /br /centerimg style="float:center;width:300px;margin:0px 0px 5px 0px;" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4066/4639104477_abc4f18995.jpg"brfont size=-1The old redwood winery built in 1922 that now houses the tasting room/font/centerbr /br /centerimg style="float:center;width:300px;margin:0px 0px 5px 0px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3349/4639106521_14540cf881.jpg"brfont size=-1Inside the tasting room/font/centerbr /br /centerimg style="float:center;width:300px;margin:0px 0px 5px 0px;" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4016/4639109737_c3d5b227ce.jpg"brfont size=-1Old Zinfandel plantings/font/centerbr /br /centerimg style="float:center;width:300px;margin:0px 0px 5px 0px;" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4053/4639111635_d0b3d11080.jpg"brfont size=-1View from the garden of a small hillside Pinot Noir vineyard/font/centerbr /br /font size=-1Technorati tags: a href="http://technorati.com/tag/wine" rel="tag"wine/a a href="http://technorati.com/tag/food+and+drink" rel="tag"food drink/a/fontdiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/9283195-949084835455266119?l=manageyourcellar.blogspot.com' alt='' //div pa href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/D6pATlZaPPLUzf_dV6ZITa11Avs/0/da"img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/D6pATlZaPPLUzf_dV6ZITa11Avs/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"/img/abr/ a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/D6pATlZaPPLUzf_dV6ZITa11Avs/1/da"img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/D6pATlZaPPLUzf_dV6ZITa11Avs/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"/img/a/p

Our last tasting event was another iGuess the Wine/i party where guests are asked to identify the varietal, region, and vintage of wines they drink blind. This time, the wines were served in identical skittle-shaped Côtes de Provence bottles mdash;bottles that our friend Jean had saved just for the eventmdash; to ensure that no one could recognize the wine based on the shape and color of the bottle.br /br /I have to say that this game is extremely challenging because even wines that are made with one single varietal are hard to identify, especially if the only clue you have is a list of 6 varietals to choose from. Nonetheless, it's a fun game and it gives you the opportunity to really enjoy a wine without being influenced by its label.br /br /Here are the wines that we tasted:br /br /a href="http://www.ManageYourCellar.com/winecellar/do/wine/View?id=144314" target="_blank"img style="float:right;width:140px;margin:0px 0px 5px 20px;cursor:pointer;cursor:hand;" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4037/4622722400_43dc340c53.jpg"/abull;nbsp;a href="http://www.ManageYourCellar.com/winecellar/do/wine/View?id=144314" target="_blank"2007 Kingston Family Vineyards Cariblanco Sauvignon Blanc/a: The a href="http://www.kingstonvineyards.com/" target="_blank"Kingston Family/a came to Chile in the 1900's looking for copper and gold. In the 1920's, they settled in Casablanca, a town between Santiago and Valparaiso, and built a farm. They now specialize in Pinot Noir, Syrah, and Sauvignon Blanc from cool-climate vineyards located in the a href="http://gosouthamerica.about.com/cs/chile/l/blpixCasablanca.htm" target="_blank"Casablanca Valley/a, about 12 miles from the Pacific Ocean. My notes: pale color, nose of citrus, grapefruit, good body on the palate, fresh, crisp mouthfeel.br /br /a href="http://www.ManageYourCellar.com/winecellar/do/wine/View?id=144311" target="_blank"img style="float:left;width:140px;margin:0px 20px 5px 0px;cursor:pointer;cursor:hand;" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4002/4622728346_9760fbb0d2.jpg"/abull;nbsp;a href="http://www.ManageYourCellar.com/winecellar/do/wine/View?id=144311" target="_blank"2006 Trimbach Gewürztraminer/a: The a href="http://www.maison-trimbach.com" target="_blank"Trimbach family/a has been making wines in Alsace since 1626. The estate vineyards are located around a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ribeauvillé" target="_blank"Ribeauvillé/a, an area known for its soils of clay and limestone. The Trimbach house makes wines that are dry, mineral, fruity, and well balanced from classic Alsatian varietals such as Riesling, Gewürztraminer, Pinot Blanc, and Sylvaner. My notes: light golden color, nose of rose petal and lechee fruit, slightly sweet on the palate with a mineral finish.br /br /a href="http://www.ManageYourCellar.com/winecellar/do/wine/View?id=139979" target="_blank"img style="float:right;width:140px;margin:0px 0px 5px 20px;cursor:pointer;cursor:hand;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3403/4622730402_c64e0b3a94.jpg"/abull;nbsp;a href="http://ManageYourCellar.com/winecellar/do/wine/View?id=139979" target="_blank"Broadley Pinot Noir Willamette Valley/a: a href="http://www.broadleyvineyards.com" target="_blank"Broadley Vineyards/a have been making Oregon Pinot Noir for more than 20 years. The winery has 30 planted acres in the warmest and driest part of the valley near the small town of Monroe in Southern Willamette Valley. Grapes are harvested by hand and then a good portion of the wine is fermented in wood as whole clusters (stems and all) to add structure and character. The Willamette Valley Pinot Noir is a blend from several vineyards in the appellation. My notes: medium garnet color, aromatic nose of sweet cherry, light to medium bodied on the palate, good acidity, spicy finish. A very nice Pinot at a great price.br /br /a href="http://www.ManageYourCellar.com/winecellar/do/wine/View?id=103565" target="_blank"img style="float:left;width:140px;margin:0px 20px 5px 0px;cursor:pointer;cursor:hand;" src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1175/4622125981_f82c5d8817.jpg"/abull;nbsp;a href="http://www.ManageYourCellar.com/winecellar/do/wine/View?id=103565" target="_blank"2006 Las Rocas de San Alejandro Garnacha Vinas Viejas/a: founded in 1962, a href="http://www.san-alejandro.com/" target="_blank"Las Rocas de San Alejandro/a is a cooperative in the a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calatayud_(DO)" target="_blank"Calatayud appellation/a, in northeast Spain. Calatayud has a continental climate with vast temperature differences between night and day. The region is an old river basin with soils comprised of limestone and loam over slate and gypsum. The majority of the wines produced are red mostly from Grenache or Garnacha (55% of the vines planted) followed by Mazuelo, Tempranillo, Monastrell (or Mourvèdre), Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Syrah. The Garnacha Vinas Viejas is from dry-farmed old vines Grenache vines (a minimum of 45 year old) and aged in American oak (60%) and French oak barrels (40%). My notes: dark garnet color, spicy, peppery nose with black cherry aromas, firm backbone on the palate with some tannins, lengthy finish.br /br /a href="http://www.ManageYourCellar.com/winecellar/do/wine/View?id=129725" target="_blank"img style="float:right;width:140px;margin:0px 0px 5px 20px;cursor:pointer;cursor:hand;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3384/4622127971_5440342b95.jpg"/abull;nbsp;a href="http://www.ManageYourCellar.com/winecellar/do/wine/View?id=129725" target="_blank"2006 Whitehall Lane Merlot Napa Valley/a: founded in 1979, a href="http://www.whitehalllane.com" target="_blank"Whitehall Lane/a is a small, family owned winery located in Rutherford, Napa Valley. In 1993, the Leonardini family bought the Whitehall Lane property, updated the winemaking process and currently owns and operate six Napa Valley vineyards in the Rutherford, Oak Knoll, and St. Helena appellations. The 2006 Merlot is a blend of 83% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 7% Syrah. The Cabernet Sauvignon adds structure and additional fruit aromas while the Syrah adds complexity to the blend. My notes: deep red color, sweet berry aromas on the nose, soft tannins on the palate with notes of oak and vanilla, juicy finish.br /br /a href="http://www.ManageYourCellar.com/winecellar/do/wine/View?id=109089" target="_blank"img style="float:left;width:140px;margin:0px 20px 5px 0px;cursor:pointer;cursor:hand;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3327/4622129567_622c3bf4db.jpg"/abull;nbsp;a href="http://www.ManageYourCellar.com/winecellar/do/wine/View?id=109089" target="_blank"2007 Thorn-Clarke Shotfire Shiraz/a: a href="http://www.thornclarkewines.com" target="_blank"Thorn-Clarke Wines/a is a family owned producer located in the a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barossa_Valley" target="_blank"Barossa Valley/a in South Australia, probably Australia's most famous wine region. The valley enjoys a Mediterranean climate with a lot of sunshine, low humidity and rainfall, ideal for full-bodied red wines, especially Shiraz. The wine is aged for 12-18 months in a mix of French and American oak, 40% new. My notes: deep red color, smoky pepper on the nose, rich and soft on the palate with aromas of sweet berries, spicy and mineral on the finish, a great way to end the evening.br /br /This year, Xavier was our winner and received a bottle of Champagne for his performance. Hélène got the lowest score but lucky her, she got a bottle of wine too.br /br /Our next wine tasting will feature the wines of Santa Barbara County and I can already tell you that there will be no Merlot!br /br /Previous wine club tastings:br /bull;nbsp; a href="http://manageyourcellar.blogspot.com/2009/12/tasting-of-zinfandel-and-zinfandel.html" target="_blank"Tasting of Zinfandel and Zinfandel related grapes/abr /bull;nbsp; a href="http://manageyourcellar.blogspot.com/2009/10/wine-club-tasting-drink-local.html" target="_blank"Drink Local Tasting/abr /bull;nbsp; a href="http://manageyourcellar.blogspot.com/2009/09/pairing-wine-and-cheese.html" target="_blank"Pairing wine and cheese/abr /br /font size=-1Technorati tags: a href="http://technorati.com/tag/wine" rel="tag"wine/a a href="http://technorati.com/tag/food+and+drink" rel="tag"food drink/a/fontdiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/9283195-2497916851196482545?l=manageyourcellar.blogspot.com' alt='' //div pa href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/9H7dTcYADrorYDxqQwdx4GgvE_Y/0/da"img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/9H7dTcYADrorYDxqQwdx4GgvE_Y/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"/img/abr/ a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/9H7dTcYADrorYDxqQwdx4GgvE_Y/1/da"img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/9H7dTcYADrorYDxqQwdx4GgvE_Y/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"/img/a/p

The late husband of our friend Simone was a wine lover. In particular, he liked collecting wines from Bordeaux, Burgundy and California that he would generously share with good friends. But this was in the 70s and 80s when he was still in good health. Now, my friend Simone has a whole collection of dusty old bottles that are resting in a dark closet under the stairs. So when she asked me to make an inventory of the wines, I told her that unfortunately, many may have gone past their prime. Some had an alarming very low fill level with some dark mold around the cork. How to find out which wines were still drinkable? The best way was to taste them.br /br /And that's what we did the other day: we selected twenty bottles that looked most promising, opened them mdash;which was by far the hardest taskmdash; and tried them. We were all hoping that some of the wines would still be good and I have to say that each bottle was opened religiously. But sadly, half of the wines were simply not drinkable and some others were drying out with light bodies and fading aromas. But miraculously, we also found a handful of treasures. br /br /centerimg style="float:center;width:300px;margin:0px 0px 5px 0px;" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4001/4587371521_fb46ce2cb4.jpg"/centerbr /br /Here they are:br /br /bull;nbsp;a href="http://www.ManageYourCellar.com/winecellar/do/wine/View?id=560" target="_blank"img style="float:right;width:160px;margin:0px 0px 5px 20px;cursor:pointer;cursor:hand;" src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1171/4599869180_20ef145190.jpg"/aa href="http://www.ManageYourCellar.com/winecellar/do/wine/View?id=560" target="_blank"1979 Beaune-Grèves Château de Meursault/a: the a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beaune_wine" target="_blank"Beaune-Grèves/a appellation is a Premier Cru located on a hillside facing the town of Beaune. Its name probably comes from the French word igraviers/i (small pepples) due to the presence of small gravels and sand mixed with clay in the soil. The wines from Beaune-Grèves are known for their elegance and finesse. The estate of a href="http://www.meursault.com" target="_blank"Château de Meursault/a comprises 60 hectares of vines, all situated in the Côte de Beaune, around the towns of Aloxe Corton, Savigny-les-Beaune, Beaune, Pommard, Volnay, Meursault and Puligny-Montrachet. The wine had an amber-brick color and a fragrant, slightly smoky nose of dried cherry. The palate was fresh and well-balanced with a light finish of dried herbs, truly delicious!br /br /bull;nbsp;a href="http://www.ManageYourCellar.com/winecellar/do/wine/View?id=575" target="_blank"img style="float:left;width:90px;margin:0px 20px 5px 0px;cursor:pointer;cursor:hand;" src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1382/4599255237_93bbf8a49e.jpg"/aa href="http://www.ManageYourCellar.com/winecellar/do/wine/View?id=575" target="_blank"1986 Château Font Villac/a: the wine is a Grand Cru from the Saint Emilion appellation and most likely a Merlot-Cabernet Franc blend. The year 1986 was a great vintage in Bordeaux. While the weather was hot and dry during the summer, mid-September rains tempered the drought-like conditions and helped vines reach full maturity. The wine had a deep brick-orange color and a sweet nose of blackberries. The palate was not overly complex but smooth, round, and pleasant.br /br /bull;nbsp;a href="http://www.ManageYourCellar.com/winecellar/do/wine/View?id=582" target="_blank"img style="float:right;width:130px;margin:0px 0px 5px 20px;cursor:pointer;cursor:hand;" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4019/4599893100_a7fbbc1e40.jpg"/aa href="http://www.ManageYourCellar.com/winecellar/do/wine/View?id=582" target="_blank"1980 Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande/a: a href="http://www.pichon-lalande.com" target="_blank"Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande/a is a classified second-growth from Pauillac. The property uses a blend of 45% Cabernet Sauvignon, 35% Merlot, 12% Cabernet Franc and 8% Petit Verdot, which has an unusually high proportion of Merlot for a Pauillac. Therefore, the wine tends to be more fleshy and softer than wines from the other Pauillac properties. The 1980 vintage was cool and wet in Bordeaux. Growers were able to delay their harvest until the weather began to improve at the end of September but rains returned in the middle of October during the harvest. Many wines from this vintage were light and diluted, the best results being from producers that made a strict grape selection and picked exceptionally late. The wine had a light-to-medium red color and a seductive nose of berries and flowers. On the palate, it was smooth and savory with an elegant and spicy finish.br /br /bull;nbsp;a href="http://www.ManageYourCellar.com/winecellar/do/wine/View?id=583" target="_blank"img style="float:left;width:130px;margin:0px 20px 5px 0px;cursor:pointer;cursor:hand;" src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1393/4599260523_b753dfd208.jpg"/aa href="http://www.ManageYourCellar.com/winecellar/do/wine/View?id=583" target="_blank"1971 Château Lafite-Rothschild/a: a href="http://www.lafite.com" target="_blank"Château Lafite-Rothschild/a is maybe the most famous property in Bordeaux and one of the four classified first growth wines. Located in Pauillac, the Lafite vineyard is one of the largest in the Médoc planted with 70% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Merlot, 3% Cabernet Franc, and 2% Petit Verdot. The 1971 vintage is characterized by a small crop size and forward and flattering wines upon release, thanks to a cold, damp spring followed by a warm and sunny summer. The wine had a light orange color, a subtle nose, and a light-bodied, lean palate with notes of buttermilk and earthy flavors on the finish.br /br /bull;nbsp;a href="http://www.ManageYourCellar.com/winecellar/do/wine/View?id=606" target="_blank"img style="float:right;width:130px;margin:0px 0px 5px 20px;cursor:pointer;cursor:hand;" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4032/4599886504_1f6ac2bc03.jpg"/aa href="http://www.ManageYourCellar.com/winecellar/do/wine/View?id=606" target="_blank"1981 Château Lafite-Rothschild/a: the 1981 vintage produced wines of medium-weight, well-balanced and graceful. July was a cool month but August and September were hot and dry. It could have been an outstanding year had it not been for the heavy rains that fell just before the harvest. The wine had a light red color and a subtle nose of dried herbs. On the palate, it had more body and fruit than the 1971 with smoky spices on the finish.br /br /So did you guess my favorite wines? Hint: I had two.br /br /font size=-1Technorati tags: a href="http://technorati.com/tag/wine" rel="tag"wine/a a href="http://technorati.com/tag/food+and+drink" rel="tag"food drink/a/fontdiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/9283195-4865518422793727468?l=manageyourcellar.blogspot.com' alt='' //div pa href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/7yZFco4mKcKdLDKSPgMGJdy88CA/0/da"img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/7yZFco4mKcKdLDKSPgMGJdy88CA/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"/img/abr/ a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/7yZFco4mKcKdLDKSPgMGJdy88CA/1/da"img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/7yZFco4mKcKdLDKSPgMGJdy88CA/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"/img/a/p

A few weeks ago, we tasted the latest releases of a href="http://www.napacellars.com" target="_blank"Napa Cellars/a, that were sent to me by the winery. Located on Highway 29 in Oakville, Napa Cellars produces several very reasonably priced varietal wines, all from the a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napa_Valley_AVA" target="_blank"Napa Valley AVA/a.br /br /Stretching from Carneros to Calistoga, Napa Valley offers multiple microclimates due to various geographical factors. The open southern part of the valley is close to the northern tip of San Francisco Bay and is cooler during the growing season. Then, north of Yountville, the valley becomes narrower and bends towards the west. The winds don't make the turn so the St. Helena and Calistoga areas tend to be much warmer. Napa Cellars takes advantage of these diverse climates when blending wines to achieve a consistent quality year after year and balance fruit flavors, tannins, and acidity. br /br /Here are the wines that we tasted:br /br /bull;nbsp;a href="http://www.ManageYourCellar.com/winecellar/do/wine/View?id=139308" target="_blank"img style="float:right;width:140px;margin:0px 0px 5px 20px;cursor:pointer;cursor:hand;" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4014/4552018729_a4b89c6b9d.jpg"/aa href="http://www.ManageYourCellar.com/winecellar/do/wine/View?id=139308" target="_blank"2008 Napa Cellars Chardonnay Napa Valley/a: this is the winery's flagship wine. Most of the fruit is sourced from the southern part of the Napa Valley where summer temperatures can be ten to fifteen degrees cooler than those up north. The wine was aged 7 months in 100% French Oak (34% new). It had a light golden color and a nose that was more mineral than fruity. On the palate, it was medium-bodied, creamy, slightly oaky, with a good acidity and a lingering finish. Try it with a cream-based dish such as a href="http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Fettucine-with-Smoked-Salmon-and-Asparagus-103187" target="_blank"Fettucine with Smoked Salmon and Asparagus/abr /br /bull;nbsp;a href="http://www.ManageYourCellar.com/winecellar/do/wine/View?id=150227" target="_blank"img style="float:left;width:130px;margin:0px 20px 5px 0px;cursor:pointer;cursor:hand;" src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1276/4552643834_0af7bc20c5.jpg"/aa href="http://www.ManageYourCellar.com/winecellar/do/wine/View?id=150227" target="_blank"2007 Napa Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley/a: sourced from a collection of vineyards located in the St. Helena, Oak Knoll, and Rutherford districts, the wine was aged for 18 months, in predominately French oak (55% new). Showing a dark purple color and a red berry nose with notes of mint, eucalyptus, and vanilla, it was full-bodied with a moderate amount of alcohol (13.8%). It was surprisingly well-balanced in terms of acidity and tannins for a young Cabernet. Try it with grilled steaks such as a href="http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Rib-Eye-Steaks-with-Mixed-Mushroom-Saute-1114" target="_blank"Rib Eye Steaks with Mixed Mushroom Sauté/abr /br /bull;nbsp;a href="http://www.ManageYourCellar.com/winecellar/do/wine/View?id=150226" target="_blank"img style="float:right;width:130px;margin:0px 0px 5px 20px;cursor:pointer;cursor:hand;" src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1367/4552648342_383514c536.jpg"/aa href="http://www.ManageYourCellar.com/winecellar/do/wine/View?id=150226" target="_blank"2007 Napa Cellars Merlot Napa Valley/a: most of the fruit comes from the cooler regions of Napa Valley, such as Oak Knoll and Carneros. The blend also includes a small amount of Cabernet Sauvignon (10%). The wine was aged for 20 months in predominantely French oak (36% new). It had a deep red color and a nose of sweet black plums and blackberries. The palate was rich, full-bodied and showing more alcohol than the Cabernet, leaving notes of cocoa on the finish. Try it with a pork dish cooked with fruit such as a href="http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Pork-Roast-with-Winter-Fruits-and-Port-Sauce-350938" target="_blank"Pork Roast with Winter Fruits and Port Sauce/abr /br /bull;nbsp;a href="http://www.ManageYourCellar.com/winecellar/do/wine/View?id=150225" target="_blank"img style="float:left;width:130px;margin:0px 20px 5px 0px;cursor:pointer;cursor:hand;" src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1267/4552014259_07b87b0f06.jpg"/aa href="http://www.ManageYourCellar.com/winecellar/do/wine/View?id=150225" target="_blank"2007 Napa Cellars Zinfandel Napa Valley/a: much of the fruit was sourced from the warmer regions of Napa Valley, including Calistoga, St. Helena and Pope Valley. The blend is 88% Zinfandel and 12% Petit Sirah, aged for 18 months in American and French oak (23% new). Showing a medium red color, the wine had a nose of red berry fruit. The palate was fruity but not too jammy with exotic spices on the finish. Try it with some Asian spiced grilled meat such as a href="http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Sweet-Soy-Grilled-Short-Ribs-235200" target="_blank"Sweet Soy-Grilled Short Ribs/abr /br /font size=-1Technorati tags: a href="http://technorati.com/tag/wine" rel="tag"wine/a a href="http://technorati.com/tag/food+and+drink" rel="tag"food drink/a/fontdiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/9283195-8463126691681452698?l=manageyourcellar.blogspot.com' alt='' //div pa href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/Aa3WGhtjGVgSnwvWunOAVSfYZfU/0/da"img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/Aa3WGhtjGVgSnwvWunOAVSfYZfU/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"/img/abr/ a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/Aa3WGhtjGVgSnwvWunOAVSfYZfU/1/da"img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/Aa3WGhtjGVgSnwvWunOAVSfYZfU/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"/img/a/p