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June 2008
Paonia wine festival a relief, a delight
I wrote in today’s newspaper column about the Mountain Vineyard Wine Festival held Saturday at Orchard Valley Farms and Black Bridge Winery in Paonia.
I’ll repeat myself a bit here but it’s unavoidable, given the readers of this blog might not read the paper. My column appears here on the The Daily Sentinel Web site.
After spending three days at the chi-chi Food & Wine Magazine Classic in Aspen, heading to Paonia for an afternoon of cool jazz, good food and some pretty nice Colorado wines was a wonderful relief.
*Kathy Bradley of Black Bridge Winery pours a 2005 Pinot Noir. The unique label was designed by her husband, Lee.
Don’t get me wrong. The Food & Wine Classic is loads of fun, very educational and you meet some really famous food-and-wine people along with some not-so-famous-but-deserving type of folks.
I’ve almost never had a bad time at the Classic, although it’s getting more and more difficult to snag invitations to the hottest parties simply due to the demand for those tickets and the relative size of the facilities.
You can’t make a party better by cramming 250 people into a space designed for 175, I know, I’ve seen it happen.
The Paonia wine festival, on the other hand, attracted only about 200 people who paid $50 apiece for a lovely afternoon sampling local wines and local food.
If you’re unfamiliar with western Colorado, Paonia is a farming/ranching town about 90 miles southwest of Grand Junction and near the head of the fertile North Fork Valley, one of epicenters of the state’s organic, locavore movement.
The wine festival featured 11 Delta County wineries, most of which are in the West Elk American Viticultural Area (information here and here). One thing I found is the Delta County winemakers aren’t lacking in ability. They just need to get out the word about their wines.
The offerings Saturday ranged from a youthful but approachable syrah/cabernet sauvignon blend from Bill Musgnung (Bethlehem Cellars) to the elegant pinot noirs of Lee and Kathy Bradley (Black Bridge Winery), Steve Rhodes and Alfred Eames.
Rosés, always welcome on a hot summer day, also were popular. John Mathewson of Terror Creek Winery, one of the highest commercial vineyards in the world (6,400 feet), was pouring their newest wine, Chalet, a rosé blend of pinot noir and gamay while Anna Hanson of the organic Jack Rabbit Hill winery was presenting her 2007 Wild Rose rosé, a delightful Bandol-type rosé made of 100 percent Foch grapes.
I’ve thought for several years that pinot noir might be the signature red grape of the North Fork Valley, although both Rhodes and Eames Petersen remarked about the difficulty of consistently getting a good crop from that finicky grape.
There were wonderful vintages in 2005 and 2006 but the entire 2007 crop was lost due to a 2006 late fall and early 2007 spring frosts. It’s just like farming, and the romance of being a winemaker disappears quickly when you have no wine.
I’ll write more about the Mountain Vineyard Wine Festival in my next post.
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Sherry enjoys a rejuvenation
ASPEN — What’s old is new again, as a sage once offered, and that’s certainly true in regards to Sherry.
You remember Sherry, that Spanish fortified wine that originated in Jerez (the proper pronunciation isn’t as easy as it looks but that’s where the Sherry name derived). Sherry enjoyed a long run but when tastes and drinking styles changes, it unfortunately was relegated to the kitchen cabinet.
Ah, but now the merry-go-round turns and Sherry comes to the fore. By the way, the name Sherry, like Bordeaux and Burgundy and Champagne, is protected by law and capitalized because it refers to an actual region. More information about Sherry is available here and here.
Sherry comes in various levels of dryness, but since all Sherry is fermented dry and then fortified with brandy, the sweetness level is controlled after fermentation. In regular wine-making, the sweetness (or hints of sweetness) are controlled by stopping fermentation before the yeast bugs eat all the sugar.
Sherry styles range from fino, the driest, to sweet (or cream) Sherry.
What makes Sherry particularly unique is the solera system of aging. Here, large casks filled with younger wines gradually feed into smaller casks, sharing the attributes of many vintages, allowing the wine to ages until it’s a tawny liquid exploding with flavor.
The term “dry sack,” which refers to the solera method of aging, sometimes is used generically for Sherry but today that’s a line of fine Sherry imported by Kindred Spirits of Miami, Fla.
As it is with other fine wines, aging brings a depth and range of flavors to Sherry under-appreciated by someone unfamiliar with Sherry’s finer qualities.
“Sherry is coming back into their own,” offered Abbey Glazer of Kindred Spirits. “”It’s all about education, because many people still don’t understand how good Sherry can be.”
A medium-dry Sherry, such as an oloroso, is a delightful aperitif served chilled, something to be savored when the day ends and dinner comes to mind.
Two week we sampled two Sherry, Dry Sack (a blend of Palomino and Pedro Ximenez grapes) and Dry Sack 15, the more-sophisticated older brother blend of Oloroso and Pedro Ximenez that sees at least 15 years in oak casks and is promoted as a dessert wine and after-dinner drink.
Smooth, dark, intense, Dry Sack 15 was a lively palate pleaser even at 10 a.m. with a full day of tasting ahead. It was full of roasted nuts, dark raisins and figs, with hints of vanilla and black flowers, as a friend offered.
Dry Sack is produced by Williams and Humbert, owners of the largest (1,200 acres) bodega in Spain. Dry Sack 15 retails for around $30 for a 750-ml bottle.
**Dry Sack Sherry, imported by Kindred Spirits of Miami, Fla., was featured at the Food & Wine Magazine Classic in Aspen.
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Wine fest offers taste of West Elks
It’s not too late to add the fourth annual Mountain Vineyard Wine Festival to your must-do list on Saturday.
The festival, which benefits the oncology department at the Delta County Memorial Hospital, is at Orchard Valley Farms in Paonia. The event runs 2 p.m. until 6 p.m. and features 11 wineries from the West Elks AVA and Delta County.
Colorado wines have received some good exposure recently, including a booth at the recent Food & Wine Magazine Classic in Denver and a story today in The Denver Post.
The Mountain Vineyard Wine Festival offers the opportunity to sample some of western Colorado’s best wines in a friendly, unhurried atmosphere (Paonia isn’t Aspen, after all) and to talk with the people who nurtured the grapes from seedlings to bottlings.
Tickets are $50 each and are tax-deductible. Tickets are available at 874-6411 and via e-mail to cconiglio@deltahospital.org.
*Lee Bradley of Orchard Valley Farms and Black Bridge Winery in Paonia will be among the winemakers featured Saturday at the Mountain Vineyard Wine Festival.
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Day 3, Aspen: Colorado’s lack of consistency no exception
ASPEN - Colorado wines didn’t play much of a presence during the 26th annual Food & Wine Magazine Classic here. Not that they were expected to, since the Classic shows off an awful lot of competition from the world’s top wine regions.
But several remarks over the course of the weekend reminded me that while there’s a future for Colorado wine, the road ahead still has some bumps.
Even most Colorado residents pay little heed to this state’s wines. It’s the same old saw: Try something once, if it’s not exactly what you want, never return.
In spite of their improvements in quality over the last decade or so, Colorado wines continue to be ignored by wine drinkers who maybe had a bad bottle 15 years ago, can’t get over it and still refuse to give Colorado wines a try.
It’s hard to find a selection of Colorado wines in most restaurants, even in Grand Junction. When fellow blogger Jeremy Parzen spent the night in Grand Junction prior to going to Aspen for the Classic, he was disappointed to find only two Colorado wines at the restaurant he chose.
(Restaurant selection on a Sunday night in Grand Junction is another topic.)
He didn’t try either because they didn’t fit with his meal. Pairing is kind of tough when you have only two wines, one available only by the glass, from which to choose.
While listening Sunday to Richard Nalley talk about wines from South Africa, the veteran food-and-wine writer punched into what he calls the “Law of Exception.”
Tightly wrapped, the law says that if one wine producer from a region can make an outstanding wine, other producers in that region can do it, too.
If anything hurts any wine region in establishing a reputation, it’s inconsistency in its product. Colorado, which certainly isn’t alone in this dilemma, has yet to develop consistency across the range of its wines.
Some wine makers you can count on, vintage after vintage, to offer something drinkable. Other winemakers can’t reach that bar and sometimes make wines that shouldn’t be released but are because it’s a business and there are bills to be paid.
It’s true in Colorado, it’s true in Texas and California and Virginia, it’s true in Italy and France and Spain and everywhere.
Developing consistency will make a wine region’s reputation. Why can’t wines in the Grand Valley AVA or the West Elks AVA be consistently good?
We’re not talking great, necessarily, just harmonious, balanced, good-drinking wines that you are proud to share with a friend from Napa or anyplace. It’s an interesting topic we’ll pursue.
And it’s doubly hard to judge a wine region’s consistency when restaurants and liquor stores are afraid to offer a selection.
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More from Day Two at Aspen
ASPEN - I first met David Lynch through his 2004 book “Vino Italiano: The Regional Wines of Italy”, although earlier I had heard his name after Lynch snagged a James Beard Award for wine writing while at Wine & Spirits magazine.
But it was Vino Italiano, which he co-authored with restaurateur Joseph Bastianich, that helped open the doors to the multitude of wines offered from Italy, with its 300 official growing areas, more than 360 authorized grape varieties and literally thousands of wine producers.
Actually, Lynch’s book covers “only” 200 of what he considers this amazing country’s top wine producers, but that was plenty for one book.
I mention this because today I enjoyed Lynch’s afternoon tasting seminar on Italian wines during the 26th annual Food & Wine Classic here in Glamour Gulch.
Even though the seminar took place about 10 minutes (walking) from the heart of the Food & Wine Classic, there were few empty seats. And Lynch, a delightful and entertaining public speaker, didn’t disappoint us, telling stories about his trips to Italy’s wine regions while poking fun at wine snobs and those who can’t get past the Big Three varietals.
The seminar was titled “Insider’s Guide to Italian Wines,” and Lynch steadily emphasized the role of what’s called “ambiente” In italy. That translates to, well, Dottore Jeremy Parzen is much better at this than I, but environment is close, although it means so much more than simply terroir.
It’s about the how wine is key to Italian culture, and Lynch brought this home, taking us from Apuglia in Italy’s “boot” to Sicily and all the way north to the Valle d’Aosta, where it’s still not cool to taunt the border guards.
“One night we drove to dinner and had to go miles around and around these small roads because the border was closed,” Lynch told the packed room. “And we could almost see where were going from our starting point.”
Lynch’s secret favorites? They include a 2007 Les Cretes Petit Arvine from Valle d’Aosta; 2004 Nino Negri Valtelina Superiore “Le Tense” (Lombardia); 2004 Benanti Etna Rosso “Serre Della Contessa” (Sicilia); 2004 Contini Cannonau de Sardegna “Inu” (Sardegna); 2003 Tormaresca Salento Negroamero “Masserie Maime,” (Apulia); and the 2002 Feudi di San Gregorio Vigne de Mezzo Aglianico del Vulture “Efesto” (Basilicata).
And yes, the vulture in del Vulture refers to just what you think. But the wine isn’t dead, it’s very much alive. Smoky and dark, almost ink-like in color, “a wine not to be trifled with,” as Lynch put it.
And at $30 retail, a wine we all can enjoy. More about the Food & Wine Classic soon.
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Pepins make fast food easy
ASPEN - Early morning on Day Two of the Food and Wine Magazine Classic finds the father/daughter team of Jacques and Claudine Pepin teasing and sparring over techniques and cookery as they prepare for their demonstration titled “Fast Food Our Way.”
As you might expect, this isn’t fast food you “Biggie size” but food that’s seemingly complicated at first but surprisingly quick, tasty and good for you. In 42 minutes, three fewer than the time slot allotted, the Pepins teams to make chocolate mousse, sauteed quail with raita (a Greek yogurt and cucumber-based dip or spread) and shrimp-and-scallop pillows (using won ton wrappers) on a Boston lettuce salad.
Their continuous offerings of cooking tips (separating egg yolks by hand gives more of the white) and repartee (“My father, the human mandolin,” quipped Claudine after Jacques sliced a cucumber with eye-blurring speed) produced the expected outbursts of applause and “wows” from the adoring audience.
Paula Norton of Atlanta, who was watching the Pepins while her husband George took in Laura Werlin’s course in “American Raw Milk Cheeses,” said the Pepins were one reason the Nortons were attending their second Food & Wine Classic.
“The first time was, when, ‘94?” thought Paula. “It was the same time they were chasing OJ down the highway.”
For the record, OJ Simpson’s long and slow evasion of the Los Angeles police force happened June 17, 1994.
Showing off the plates of their creative skills, and to everyone’s agreement, Jacques reminded us, “Eating well is easy, you just make the decision to do so.”
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Rose sparkling wines brighten Aspen Classic opener
ASPEN - It’s Friday the 13th and nothing but good luck for the 5,000 foodies descending on Glamour Gulch for the first day of the 26th annual Food & Wine Magazine Classic.
What a place.Uncork your skiing technique in the morning and uncork a few classic wines in the afternoon. That, at least, is what Kelly Hayes of Aspen was doing when I ran into him during a lunch sponsored by Boston Brewing Co., the company that makes Sam Adams Boston Lager, among other delights.
Aspen Skiing Co. re-opened some of the upper slopes on Ajax Friday (and today and Sunday) and Hayes was among the die-hards who just couldn’t resist a few runs on a mid-June snow pack.
“I had six good runs and 1,000 grins,”Hayes said, summing up the feelings everyone (including moi) was feeling after adding to their skier days in the winter of 2007-2008.
The first sprint through the Grand Tasting tent and the 300 or so wine producers revealed several pleasant surprises, including a line of Spanish Sherries imported by Kindred Spirits of Miami and a handful of wonderfully crisp, bright-fruit rose sparkling wines.
Dry rose sparkling wines are perfect for these hot summer days. Friday’s best was the Torre Oria Cava Rosado, the color of raspberries with the flavor of strawberries, raspberries and tree-ripe cherries. All of Torre Oria’s cava are made methode champenoise, bottle fermented and hand-riddled. And affordable, around $10.
Two other roses to look for include Segura Viuda’s Aria, a pinot noir rose, and the Nicholas Feuillate rose Champagne, a blend of pinot noir, pinot meunier and chardonnay.
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Utah’s liquor law may change
With the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen just two days away (be still, my beating heart) there is wine news all around us, from the Beehive State to the land of Sherry and artisanal wine producers in Italia. So here goes.
According to a story filed this week by reporter Dawn House in the Salt Lake City Tribune, that state is perched on the precipice of major changes in its antiquated and little-understood liquor laws.
There is a push on to do away with Utah’s confusing 1960s-era private club system that requires you to join a club (basically paying a cover charge) in order to have a glass of wine or a drink without also buying a meal.
The system has its roots in the opposition to drinks-by-the-glass from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, which still has an overriding influence on all things political and economic in Utah.
But an alliance of hospitality and economic interests sees some opportunity with recent changes in the state Alcohol Control Board and a general moderation in some of the state’s leaders.
The Church hasn’t come out for or against the proposal to get rid of the club memberships, and everyone agrees that whichever way the Church goes, so will the state’s alcohol regulations.
Across the sea, there’s a movement to rediscover Sherry, reports Terry Hughes on his wryly informative, thought-provoking and mostly Italian wine oriented blog site Mondosapore.
Hughes quotes wine writer Jancis Robinson where Robinson lists some of the probable causes for sherry to lose its popularity over the years.
“One such cause is the all-too-effective marketing of sweet Sherry as typical of the type,” Hughes writes. He goes to quote Robinson as saying the old-favorite Harvey’s Bristol Cream Sherry “is as typical of sherry as Liebfraumilch is of great German Riesling.”
Robinson said a better future is ahead because, in part, low quality is being replaced by small producers striving to make a product that lives up to what Sherry can be and in doing so appeals to a higher-end market.
So it is, Hughes writes, in parts of Italy, where some regions are “re-awakening” and “shaking off their low-budget image.”
“These changes,” Hughes affirms, “are effected by visionaries who understand deeply their terrain and varieties and aren’t vainly chasing ‘the market.’’
A lovely thought for winemakers everywhere, no?
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It’s Classic time in Aspen
ASPEN — This week marks the 26th anniversary of the Food & Wine Magazine Classic in Aspen and as always there will be plenty of things to do and see. And taste, of course.
From the 90-plus food seminars and cooking demonstrations to the 50,000 or so bottles of wine being uncorked by the more than 300 producers, you’d be hard-pressed to say “Sono anoiato” (I’m bored) and get even a hint of sympathy from anyone here.
Everything kicks off Thursday (some pre-Classic get-togethers start today) with the wrap-up on Sunday with the popular Classic Cook-off where star chefs are given a bag of surprise ingredients and compete against each other and the clock.
I’ll be blogging from Aspen later this week but a quick trip Sunday to this chi-chi island of haute couture showed gas at $4.21 a gallon, every parking place taken and the expected plethora of foreign accents.
Aspen, long popular with the international set, should have no trouble continuing that attraction this summer due to the weak dollar.
Dinner last night was at Restaurant Six89 in Carbondale where some friends and I enjoyed a lovely 2006 pinot noir from Belle Pente Winery in the Yamhill-Carlton District of Oregon’s Willamette Valley.
According to the Belle Pente Web site, owners Jill and Brian O’Donnell are inspired by the wines of Burgundy and Alsace and include organic and biodynamic practices in their viticulture.
The wine was fresh and full of bright red fruits, perfect with the herb-roasted halibut and the accompanying carrot potato pancake. The wine is true Burgundian in style, and if you’ve been leery of trying an organic or biodynamic wine, this one will ease your mind and your palate.
And speaking of Burgundy and its wines, Eric Asimov of the New York Times recently wrote a terrific article about his weeklong trip through Burgundy.
