Patience please

Be patient with wine. I found myself with three bottles of Pinot Noir last weekend: Hansel Pinot Noir South Slope 2005, Copain Pinot Noir Hacienda Seccoya 2006, and a Varner Pinot Noir Hidden Block 2005. These wines couldn't have been more different. The Hansel was INITIALLY picture perfect Russian River Pinot Noir- just a bursting supple red cherry fruit. It turned heads. The Copain was the dark horse- earthy, almost wild and rustic in it's portrayal of the grape, and the Varner INITIALLY was very light in color, very aromatic and fresh, almost liquid like tannins, etc... Initially I think one would think the Hansel was the best of the three, with Copain, and then the Varner coming out the end. But be patient.

The Hansel didn't get worse over three days, but it faded as it was ought to do. The Copain opened and gained even more power, more tannin, and more dark depth. And the Varner exploded. It was the wine I truly enjoyed drinking, and I made a mental note for myself to start cellaring Varner.

My point is that great wine takes time- not just cellaring time- but time on the table, time going back to it during the week. I can't tell you how many wines I've pulled and been, frankly, unimpressed on day one only to see them magically explode with fantastic quality on day 2, 3, or even 4. Usually (and I say usually), this is the case with the old school wines. It is almost always the case with young Burgundy. I recently bought a couple bottles of a new producer I'm eagerly tracking- Pierre Boisson. His Bourgogne Rouge is awesome, and I have to imagine it is basically coming from his vines in Pommard (the resemblance is too there), and anyway I brought this out to a beach cookout for my wife, sister-in-law, and mother-in-law. The wine was popped and I immediately tasted that the fruit that I knew was there, but hidden deep in the wine. Still, I enjoyed the fresh quality of it. The acid. The tart cherry fruit. I was on the beach, and the wine for me at this moment acted more like a white wine in this profile.

My wife and sister-in-law flat out didn't get it. They tasted only tartness and acid. I knew exactly why. A month before my wife had raved about the same wine- after it had been open for an entire day. Burgundy (and Pinot Noir for that matter) that are made in a traditional (non-spoofulated style) need love. They need air and oxidation when they are young (over time, with cellaring, they receive this and it's actually a no-no to decant older Burgundy lest the wine breaks due to too much air). I see this as the major failing of Burgundy and it's marketers- not truly educating consumers in aeration- and also in not serving the wines at proper temperature (as Burgundy needs a chill).

But, it all goes back to my point- be patient at the table. The flashy wine that's initially poured almost always fades. And almost always, it is the tart, acidic monster that's poured initially that swans and flowers into the wine everyone is raving about by the end of the meal (or sometimes by the end of the week).

The 50 States of COTT

Yes, I know...my apologies. It's been too long. Frankly, up until this evening nothing has really struck me. My meals have been simple grilled meats and fresh vegetables drizzled with olive oil. The wines have been left over samples- good wines, excellent wines, but I haven't had an ear shattering COTT moment, so I figured I'd wait and right when I had something to say. And now I do...

One of the great legacies my wife's grandfather left was a PBS series (and cookbook) entitled Pierre Franey Cooks with his Friends. It's an excellent work. It combines Thomas Keller like photography and philosophy with Marcella Hazan-like down home cooking. And there's the larger themes- the exploration of French individual appelation cultures which always grabbed me. It's personal. And I personally like when authors open up and share their lives with me; it brings me in that much more.

I know many chefs visit this blog here and there, so for those of you who appear on TV, or plan on appearing on TV- I'd love to see a similar series but with American restaurants and American chefs. That's 50 potential episodes. Imagine the unique content! Surely someone's doing something interesting in South Dakota.

Restaurants I'd love to see (that is if you do decide to shoot it):

French Laundry
Montagna
Per Se
Balthazar
Pluckmann Inn
Alan Wong
Alenia
Charlie Trotter's
Le Bec Fin
The Corn Exchange (in South Dakota)
Alain Ducasse
Daniel
Cru
Del Posto
The Modern
Ko
Le Bernardin
etc...
etc..
...and of course a nice stable of my own restaurant clients out here on Long Island...

It's time. America has the culture, the personalities, the truly regional foods- there's countless stories to be told. We need a program to truly bring American food to the masses in an honest way comme Pierre.

HAN(d) me the "SOLO"

Medici Ermete Le Tenute "Solo" Reggiano 2007....$15-$18bt

Google it and buy a bottle. Chill it until it is cold, and drink with pizza. It is a dark red wine from the appelation of Reggiano (Parma-Reggiano cheese, etc...). It is frizzante- meaning it is slightly sparkling, and it has a small amount of residual sugar in it.

My wife hated it. "Agh, this tastes like grape soda!"

I love it. It is totally distinctive and unique. It really does kinda taste like grape soda- wine soda, maybe? But the slightly sweet dark fruit with the sparkling body marries fantastically with salt- salt you find in pizza dough, and salt you find in pamesan-reggiano cheese....wink, wink...

Old rule...if they grow (or are made) together, eat them together....Applies here.

60 degrees please

As many of you may or may not know, I'm all about traditional Beaujolais. Think Kermit's orginal "Gang of Four": LaPierre, Thevaunet, Foillard, and Breton. Now add to that Descombes, Desvignes, Michaud, Roilette, Tete, Trenel, and Brun. There are others, but these are my type of wines. They are wines- not cocktails- and they drink like beautiful earthy floral reds, not jammy banana juice. Enjoyment in them for me also brings up a good point. Temperature.

Wine, for the most part, is served entirely too warm. In just about every cave I've ever been in (and this includes the caves in Napa in July!) it is just about freezing. You are cold. You're lips chatter. You hug yourself while you taste and take notes. Wine likes this environment and wine tastes better in this environment as well.

If you read old Kermit offerings you will often see him refer to dinners at the Peyraud's in the Summer. Imagine that- Southern Provence in July. That's hot. And he would wax poetic about taking a couple bottles of the just finished Tempier vintage and "plunging" them into a bucket of ice. I often think about that. Tempier is the pinnacle of Mourvedre- one of the most hearty, masculine grapes found anywhere in the world and here is a guy making it colder; making it drink even more tannic!

The oddity is that the cold adds a freshness that young masculine reds love. Earthy reds love it as well. And additionally, it is my opinion that the true reason America doesn't understand Burgundy and/or the Loire is that the reds are not drunk at their proper temperature- which is to say 56 degrees (or only 24 degrees above freezing).

So, do this. Go buy a red. Something earthy. Something French. If you want to perfect the test, go buy a very good Cru Beaujolais (not from Dubeouf or Jadot!), open it, and plunge it into a bucket of ice water for 15 minutes. Play with the temperature. There is no right or wrong and remember that each bottle is different- as is always. But, it will bring some of the most new insight into your wine enjoyment; it certainly has for me.