Looking forward to squash...

I continue to be crusading against what I'm calling "the grocery tax".

I live literally 1/4 mile from Gardiner's Bay, and 5 miles from the Montauk fishing fleet, and yet it is cheaper for me to buy bulk chicken and beef, than flounder. Upon inquiring at a local grocer I was told this was because of quotas. Fair enough reply, but I'm not buying it. I LIVE 5 miles from one of the biggest fishing fleets on the Northeast, and in any terroir 85% of my diet should be seafood..and it's not.

What am I focusing on? Pork. At top grocers in the area, I can buy top, top level cuts of pork for almost 50% cheaper than flounder? This be-fuddles me, and I simply have to ask the fishing community why they are not interested in an immediate (zero shipping cost, middle-man based) consumer market?

So, it was it is...And what it is, is vegetables (and pork).

Funny, if you read about food history...in France...in Italy...meat was always talked about as a luxury. Recipes for beef, especially, were always considered dishes that could only be afforded a few times a year and thus were reserved for holidays. To kill a young lamb and butcher it was always referred to as a great offering. And where you do see meat, it's always pork and chicken. Perhaps we are returning to those terroir based economies?

Anyways, my vegetable garden this year is almost entirely grown from seed. It is just starting to produce, but for me I'm finding this almost paternal connection with it. I am excited for the harvest! Yellow squash is very prevalent this year, and I recently produced a pasta primavera that was excellent. I am excited to re-create it for wifey, coming from the garden. My guest for this dish was Maria Tiezzi Borsa of the top Siena Chianti estate, Pacina...She had two helpings.

Pasta Primavera (squash based)

Finely dice a tomato. And finely chop up 3 tablespoons of parseley. Slice a lemon in half. Set aside.

Take one yellow squash, and one zucchini, and slice them very very thin into disks. Very thin. Mince two garlic cloves in sea salt. 

Heat a very large saute pan on medium heat. Add 3 tablespoons of excellent olive oil. Add squash and zucchini. Saute until slightly browned.  Add garlic and cook through. Remove from heat and set aside.

Boil salted water. Add spaghetti (De Cecco brand is preferred...8 minutes). 

Just before draining pasta , re-heat squash/zucchini pan on low heat.

Drain pasta. Immediately add spaghetti to the squash/zucchini saute pan. Remove from heat. Add tomatoes and squeeze juice of both lemon sides into pasta. Add freshly cracked pepper (hand cracked is better), and taste for salt. Finish with parseley. Re-toss.

Serve with parmesan on side. Finish with the excellent olive oil.

Wine: Pacina Chianti Colli Senesi 2008

Social Farming

Hello there,

As we enter year 3 of Indie Wineries, I continue to learn so much about wine, life, people, and relationships. Although my time and my world are getting pulled in so many different ways, the "culture of the table" continues to be what I return to- what brings me home.

I lamented about the title "rep" last year. I've been lamenting about it for quite sometime, personally. The craft of what I do- what 'we' do as wine sales consultants is truly a craft. There's an art to it. There's a dedication to it; intricacies to the work that one learns over time.

During Indie Week this past March I was explaining this to one of our growers and happened upon the phrase "social farmer" in my explanation. Sounds under-handed, but it's not. Getting people to open their eyes and see what we see takes only one thing: trust. And trust is the foundation of all relationships. Without it, a relationship does not exist.

Trust cannot be bought, or procured. It's not a commodity. It's one of the truly great assets of the world (the first of which is time). Genuine trust takes no less than somewhere around 2.5 years to build. It requires living together through successes, and failures...through death, through fame...and it absolutely requires all of the grey, non-descript in-between time. Laughter is a healthy component to trust- although not entirely necessary. Being there and caring is what trust is all about.

And that is what social farming is.

Growers will start on day 1 and look at a parcel. They will spend time and muddle over what rootstock to use, what expositions to plant, which direction the vines should face, should there be irrigation, what rootstock should be used, and finally what clones of what varieties should be planted. They will then plant...knowing that they won't see fruit from which they can make wine for 3 years, and with a 1.5-2 year winemaking process, won't be able to sell their wine for an additional 6 months to a year. So, all in, they decide to make a product which at minimum will take them 4 years to get paid on. They are growers, farmers, it's a craft, and a dedication.

Rep'ing is equally as similar. 2.5 years...that's when trust is truly there. That's a healthy relationship.

The money is just a by-product.

Confirm: Barbuto

Um, if you were wondering if Barbuto's Roast Chicken is that good....IT IS.

...:)

To be a Rep

My last post was in 2010.

Two years ago. Yes, I know...OK, now that the verbal flogging part is over...If you're in need of an update...Personally, I spent 2010 with the wonderful folks at T Edward Wines. Good people, great portfolio. And then at the whee end of 2010 that lady (Summer Wolff, my partner in Indie) to my right offered a chance to launch a company with her called Indie Wineries and we did so in January 2011, and we've been off to the races ever since.

2011- crazy, amazing, scary, fun, exciting, manic year (IE- any business owner's first year in business, no?)

2012- is already better than the entire first half of 2011...:)

And now I find myself in NYC, in a small East Village flat, which I crash at mid-week, and I'm thinking about some comments that were said today...

To be "a rep".

A rep. A Sales Representative. Sounds so denigrating, like one would be a lower life form. A rep. Might as well be a porter or busboy, or runner, or worker. A rep.

A wine sales representative, or wine consultant as we correctly refer to our fine folks at Indie as, is the top position in the wine industry. Really, you ask? Yes. Here's why...

1. For all the glam and press, and love, that wine buyers get none of that knowledge would be possible without reps. IE- the reps control the knowledge, the facts...or knowledge, which in wine is the tastings...And that is very powerful. It is the palates of the wine buyers.

2. The best reps literally sway mass buyer palates...and I can think of one such rep who eventually went West, but his opinion was (and still is) considered 'law' on taste for many.

3. Reps are the behind the curtains essential elements of the wine biz trade. Reps make it all happen. They are the waiters of the wine buyer world.

4. Reps help make wine buyer's beverage programs make money, which in turn makes their shops/restaurants money, which overall makes everyone very happy...and allows those businesses to stay in business.

5. Reps...as a job, live incredibly well. It takes a while for rep to get going, but once they do a rep can enjoy the following:

-A very nice salary

-Exotic travel

-All of their holidays OFF

-A lot of time spent with their families

-A lot of time working from home

-Rich, lasting relationships with their clients

-A scenario where they honestly never ever have to buy a bottle of wine in their life again

-And a very very very long list of etcetera benefits............................................................

To be a rep. Lowest man on the wine totem pole??....I think not.

On good glassware...

Glassware matters.

Like, a lot.

This is not to say that every time I sit down at a table I'm expecting the finest Riedel stemware. No. What I'm hoping for is an appropriate glass that accurately accompanies the meal, the setting, and the seriousness of the wines served.

For example, it's 8:30pm after a very long day at work. Rumaging through the fridge and I come up with cornichons, prosciutto, marinated olives, some pate, two different cheeses- all to be served along side half a baguette. The wine might be a cru Beaujolais (Christian Bernard's Grands Fers or Clos du Roilette are good examples). The wine is served slightly chilled. I actually don't want a big, brassy, heavy, important glass. A simple bistro tasting glass is perfect.

For simple Italian pizza I actually don't like a wine glass. For me, mentally traveling with the meal I like a small tumbler . It reminds me of a something you might see at local Tuscan trattoria. The wine might be a Toscano Rosso. But with the simplicity of the food, it just tastes more pure in a non-wine glass.

Now, this is not to say that good glassware is not important. Burgundy is Burgundy. And with Burgundy, it simply tastes better in classic big bowled Burg glasses. It just does...Bordeaux and Napa Cab the same...Bordeaux glasses please.

But, if I had to choose one glass to have and use all the time it would be the classic Burgundy glass. Maker, Spieglau- the tried and true, and for me one of the best values. The Burg glasses aren't cheap, but for me they aerate the wine the best and Burgundy is all about the nose. And well, they just seem to make the wine in the glass feel more important. Jayer Hautes Cote de Nuits in a tumbler or a small tasting glass...it just doesn't work.

Where I stand on the Natural Wine debate

Those in the wine business may have recently noticed that a controversy is coming to a head regarding the marketing of the term natural wine. Those not in the wine business probably have never heard of this; it's a term more used by wine wholesalers to define a wine when selling to a restaurateur or retailer, than it is used by a retailer or restaurateur to educate the general public.

So, in Issue 191 of his Wine Advocate, Mr Robert Parker Jr. wrote the following:

"About these “natural,” unmanipulated and pure wines: One of the major scams being foisted on wine consumers is the so-called “Natural’ wine movement. It is not subjected to any government regulations or any definition beyond that of the individual who has spawned the term. Over 95% of the wines written about in this publication are from producers who make under 5,000 cases and are “natural” wines by nearly any rational definition of the word. They are made without additives or enzymes, and usually have minimal sulphur, but they do contain sulphur as they should because otherwise they are unstable, potentially dangerous and impossible to transport because the wines will spoil. In the case of southern Rhône wines, they simply have no make-up whatsoever. There are no color enzymes, no color added, no artificial flavors, very little acidification, etc., etc. In short, they are grapes fermented into wine with 95% or more aged in neutral wood vessels, concrete vats, stainless steel, etc. A tiny percentage does see aging in new oak casks, or more typically in the southern Rhône, the larger 600-liter demimuids. These are natural wines – make no mistake about it. They are also wines that work wonders with an assortment of cuisines because of the absence of new oak and any makeup."

This position has set off a fire storm of debate about the use of the term natural wine to market wines; and more over whether natural wines even exist at all. Currently there is a 4 page thread (and growing) on the Wine Advocate's Bulletin Board which contains posts from major importer/distributor owners, collectors, wine drinkers, and even Mr Parker himself raking over the coals of this debate.

Where do I stand on this issue?

I do believe in natural wine as a term to describe the style in which one chooses to farm, make, and bottle his/her wines.

I do believe that a more pure, terroir expressive quality can be achieved by attempting to go this route in one's production.

I do believe that this route is incredibly risky in terms of a standardization of product; and I believe that as long as the consumer purchases the wine knowing that it was made in a natural way then the consumer takes this risk on their shoulders (I also believe it is the restaurateur's/retailer's job to make sure the consumer is made aware.)

I do not believe all natural wine is superior to wines made with corrections in the cellar. I believe that the quality I point to in point #2 is totally on a producer by producer, and in many times a wine by wine, basis.

And that's where I stand on the issue.

At the end of the day, it's a wonderful product that enhances the table, our food, and hopefully our lives. But, it's still just fermented grapes. If you like it- drink it. If you don't, drink something else.

Eataly...you gotta go

Hats off to Joe, Mario and company. A client of mine raved heavy about Eataly. I had heard of it- didn't think much of it. And for the first time in a long time, the hype lived up to the hype.

Think Disney World for Italian food and wine lovers. Seriously. It's awe inspiring. It's fun. It's cool. It's convenient. It's got huge energy. It's affordable. It's quality. It's arguably the greatest commercial example of a living and breathing culture of the table (Italian table) that I've ever seen.

I was blown away. You gotta go...

Eataly

200 5th Ave
New York, NY 10010

P.S.- If you read the reviews you will be scratching your head. Trust me, just go...it's worth it.