Boris_A

The original recipe of my Swiss compatriot Dr. Bircher: 4 spoon of oats (Ive always seen the zart ones) half cup of water, let soak for several hours 4 spoon of sugared, condensed milk 4 spoon of lemon juice 500 g grated apples, without the "house" 4 spoons of grated hazelnuts, almonds, whatever nut Dont forget, this recipe is from about 1900, when raw, unpasteurized milk could be dangerous and viamine C was scarce in winter time. You can easily replace water and condensed milk with fresh milk and reduce a bit the lemon juice, if its too sour for you. I prefer a mix joghurt/milk instead of pure milk. Bananas and berries (in summertime) are great to add.

Then a wine from Napa is essentially a wine from Napa. Even in the USA, Im tempted to add. Thats what I wanted to hear: the framework for protection for designators of origin does already exist in the USA. All the French (and the rest of the western world) want is indiscrimating application of such a legal framework, whether the producer is a foreigner or not. In the very sense of fair trade.

Seroiusly, you want to tell me that everyone is allowed to sell wine labeled Napa in the USA, independently of the true source of the grapes? Neither is this a function of a classic trademark. Same with sparklers. Feel free do offer best quality. But not under a misleading name. When my assumption about the legal issue with Napa wines is correct, then "French law" is already implemented in the US, exept for the specific designators. And thats the idea of WTO/TRIPS. As long as the designator is protected in one of the member countries, it is protected in all member countries (at least as there is no Champagne AVA in the US). BTW, de facto, with wine and spirits, this is essentially undisputed in the WTO. Otherwise we would already have a complete chaos with wine names.

A wine merchant (specialist for Châteauneuf) told me several years ago how Parkers visit in the Rhone valley was arranged. Every producer knew what's going on and most of them sent samples from their best foudre. And I remember a Rhône report by Clive Coates MW where he reviewed the regular and the top cuvée of a producer. He wrote that when he was tasting the top cuvée, the producer grinned and said: "That's what we sent in as the regular cuvée for the Parker tasting". Oh well.

The building of a reputation is a product of investments in quality and communication, not a byproduct of regulation. A designator of origin does not create value per se. Such investments in reputation deserve to be protected exactly like investments in patents or trademarks. And if you grant protection in a specific country (based on the concept of AVAs for example), why should one refuse to grant this protection for foreign AVAs?

So we are in search of a virtually unknown, hence not written up (and preferredly written down) appellation capable of producing good wine at moderate prices? I'd vote for the best producers of Chasselas around the lake of Geneva and Pinot Noir (!) from top producers in northeastern Switzerland ($12-15). Never heard before? Think of Buxbaums law. It's so much of a secret I can't even convince my compatriots. But they are completely missing the quality changes having occurred in the last several years. Balex, are you here? Get some bottles of Pierre Leyvraz (Chexbres) St.Saphorin Les Blassinges 2001. Awesome apéritif wine at $11. I was successful in convincing some hard core Chasselas refusers.

Another little story: After xmas, there was a little movie by a guy called Piet Eekman on arte-tv: "The goose, 4 cooks and my mother" What did we see? In a little Belgian village, in a modest house, there was Eekmans mother, a goose prepared by her and 4 cooks sitting at the kitchen table: Monsieur P. Gagnaire, Señor F. Adrià, Herr D. Müller and Mr. T. Wakuda! 12 stars alltogehter! They talked the whole meal about cooking, art and why there are so little women in the haute cuisine business. Great fun! Anyway, when Adrià was interviewed, he told about the incredible taste of fried sardines prepared by his mother and that he was so stupid having "forgotten" this most simple, yet great food for almost 30 years. And that's why I wanted to tell it here: Even such experts must concede that simple, almost primitive food right from our lakes and soils can still keep at the top of all gourmandrie. Fascinating, no?

Victor, I'm always astonished at the fact that people here is prepared to spend a lot of money for cultivated sea fish and ignore the wild fish from our lakes. Here at the lake of Zürich we have only 12 professional fishermen for about 1 mio inhabitants around! Yet I have no problem to get my fishes. And it's relatively cheap compared to the imported seafood. True treasures for little money! Trüsche is a bit an exotic example. But in my cookbok by Alain Chapel, there are recipes for pike, so we can assume pike being a delicacy even for that size of a cuisinier. He mentioned explicitly how glad he was about the return of good quality pike to the lakes of Savoie given the 6 hour transport time from Norway (for salmon.) And hey, I just looked up in his book and found a recipe for .... lotte de rivière! He calls it an "exceptionnelle poisson". Pike season starts about now (when water gets warmer, the pike vanish to deeper, cooler water and you can't catch it easily then), and I'm looking forward already. For this year I'm planning a pike presented with "Service à la Russe" (whole animal). It's a bit of a fumbling with the bones, but rewarding. It's not very Spanish centered what we are talking about here, but given the fact that so many Gallegos are living here around ....

Correct. Here are some more pictures of the Trüsche as this animal is called here in Switzerland. The meat is easy to prepare and most people like it. As I said, this fish vanished from our dishes (in favour of, em, salmon I guess). The taste and mellowing texture of the liver can be a source of controversities (a typical element of a true delicacy, I'd say). Miguel, if you ever can lay hands on a liver, be careful. The fishy smell is not especially strong, but it's difficult to get rid of it once oyu prepare it in the kitchen. When I prepared it the first time, the "bouquet" came out from my sink for days. And I remember in my youth days, just saying the word "Trüsche" was enough to provoke serious protests among my compañeros.

To make it short and before Craig can step in again: Google with WTO (World Trade Organization) and TRIPS (Agreement on Trade Issues Regarding Intellectual Property Rights). By adding "Champagne", you'll find stuff for this particular issue. Of peculiar interest are documents when adding "Basmati" (rice from India). Anyway, you will know why there are no US bottles with the label "Champagne" anymore despite "US law allowing it". (Hint: the US are a WTO member). The basic concept is easy to understand. For deeper discussion, you need an expert for international trade law and agreements.

Well, in Switzerland and Germany a renowned delicacy for seafood (lakefood, to be precise) is the liver of sweetwater cod: English: eel-pot, burbot, French: Lotte de riviere, Italian: Lotta, Spanish: Lota. Burbot Gastrosophes back to Roman empire have been asking for this delicacy. I prepare it like fryed foie gras. It's vanished from restaurants menu lists, but in a lakeside restaurant you can ask for. I get it from time to time from my local fisherman. I adore seafood, but having a lake 20m in front of my home, I prepare mainly sweetwater fish.

I must concede that my impression of Cava is persistently damaged by these three words since my student days. Thanks for pointing to quality Cavas. I'm going to sample some of the labels. Craig: forgive!

Interestingly, some French like those wines matured. I can't say much about that, but there must be two or three bottles of "Doriane" 1994/95 sleeping forgotten somewhere in my cellar. I'm curious now about the secondary aromatics developped over time.

Just as you're not allowed to sell beef in Europe labelled as "US-Beef" just because it's cut like a T-Bone. Or selling fruity, concentrated, oaky Cabernet Sauvignon as "Napa", just because these type of wine is "commonly" associated with real Napa Cabernet. And so on ad nauseam. "Identifyer of origin" (or whatever it's called legally) and "Trademark" is a similar, but not identical legal concept, BTW. Pinot Noir is not a trademark, not a patent and not an identifyer of origin and no intellectual property. I've no idea what you are trying to demonstrate with this example. What kind of Champagne, actually? It's not ours to advice the Champagne producer how to educate the public, but anyway, before they encourage people drinking Champagne they should make sure that people know what's Champagne. Elementary, Dr. Watson! I don't see the Champagne producers encouraging the generic usage. But still, Champagne seems to be a increasingly successfull "brand/mark". Just to give you an idea: 40-50% of every $ spent in the world for imported wine id for French wine. And Champagne counts for roughly 35% here. So around 15% of s money spent for imported wine in the world is for Champagne. They can't be that wrong with their strategy, I think.

It's still heralded as the best place. But I can't judge. My Basel lunching/ dining experience is limited to sandwiches.

This are two sides of the same coin. If I develop and regulate (at a place of a certain origin, AOC) high quality standards at high costs for the producer, and other producers from anywhere are using this quality name, then of course the producer of the real stuff is damaged as well. > They're obligated to do so under trademark law When I said "using", I meant using as a synonm in everyday language, not "using" as a brand itself.

I dont think that Kleenex, Scotxh or Thermos are against people using their brand name as a synonym. Au contraire, I'd say. But they spend still advertising $$$ to convince you to buy the original stuff. That's what the Champagne people are doing. Being hard on legal (intellectual properties) issues. The rest is advertising. Nobody is trying to "regulate" somebody else's language.

Oh, you are still free to say "Champagne" for sparklers in general. But you are no longer allowed to write it on a bottle. Of course you are allowed to say Parmigiano for every white stuff you throwing at your spaghettis. But you are no longer allowed to write Parmigian on pieces of white rubber. And it's effective. 20-30 years ago, here in Europe, most people outside of France used to say Champagne for sparklers as well. This has significantly changed. And it has a lot to do with producers no longer labelling their stuff in a misleading way. They simply have to promote Prosecco, Cava and so on now.

My favourite: J. Lassalle, Champagne Brut Rosé NV, Réserve des Grandes Années. As mostly with Mme. Lassalle cuvées: not so bone dry. Bracchetto: fantastic dessert sparkler. Simply beautiful to look at. Very fashionable in Italy, I guess. A grower told me that over the last 10 years, production is ten-fold and grape prices are still about 3-4 times higher.

A very interesting French sparkler region is Limoux, an AOC in the hilly region of the Pyrenees near Carcassonne and Perpignan. They claim having invented the "Méthode Champenoise" and we find there the worlds oldest documents about prodcution of "Brut" sparklers going back to the year 1531. These wines are not very known outside of France. Nevertheless they produce excellent quality overall. You can find excellent values starting at $10.

I thought most consumers do already know how to compare price tags.

About 6 offerings, ranging from $120 to $150 per half bottle. In Switzerland, I must concede. Happy new year!

In his very interesting foreword of "La cuisine, c'est beaucoup plus que des recettes", Alain Chapel tells how he didn't like the customers saying: "I'v been at Bocuse yesterday, but your menu was better" à la "Troisgros beats Chapel 1:0, Loiseau beats Bocuse 1:0." Of course, as the title says Chapel was a context adherent.

Why don't split? 2 months in Paris, 2 month countryside for more versatility. Roberts Savoie/Haut Savoie (or Alpes de Hautes Provence) is interesting for short travels to Piedmonte. Regards

The best names are posted here already. I like Schnattl for it's atmosphere. It not haute cuisine, but the location is cool. Spend your money left for wine. It's a bit more than walking distance from Grand hotel: 10 minutes by street car, 5 min by Taxi. Regards