Rebel Rose

Will they have cool, icky stuff like birds' nest soup, bat soup, and chicken feet?

I've been contacted via my private email by some new members regarding posting priviliges, so I'd like to remind all our new members to click on the 'Upgrade' button next to your username in the upper left corner. Please apply for 'Participating' status. It's free, and will allow you to post in the eGullet Society threads. Cheers!

I set fire to our BBQ. And I don't mean the coals. I have so many "worst" moments, but this was undoubtedly the most public. We were grilling lambsicles and duck breast for customers on a wine festival weekend, but SO was speaking in a seminar at another winery, so I'm trying to keep up with the demand by myself, getting hot, sweaty and slightly panicked. He hadn't thawed enough lambsicles for the demand, so I needed to get some more from the freezer, and the coals were dying down, so I put on new coals, threw on a few dry mesquite chips for good measure, and closed the lid. When I came back, flames were shooting through the lid vent and melting the black plastic on the lid's handle. The plastic was flowing like lava down the Weber and onto a wooden paper towel holder. The towels were turning black on top, and smoke was starting to waft up. I whisked off the lid by grabbing the sides with potholders and set it aside on the gravel, and picked up the paper towels. "No problem, no problem," I said soothingly to all the alarmed onlookers. "It's all under control." I started to carry the paper towel holder to a nearby water spigot, smiling calmly of course, but halfway there it burst into flames in my hands. I shrieked, completely lost my dignity, and dropped the towels in a flaming mass at my feet. By the time SO returned, slightly weaving from a zinfandel seminar, I had everything under control and was churning out perfectly seared lamb racks. "What happened to the BBQ lid?" he asked. Slightly related topic: Snow crab raviolis with Joy liquid soap, and other accidental combinations

ingbakko, are you brave enough to tackle this thread? Does Italy lack culinary relevance?

They should make you the Minister of Wine Marketing. Every really special wine has a story!

From the Aziza thread:

Lovely notes, bills. I'm impressed by the food pairings--they sound delicious, not overpowering, and fairly easy to prepare. (Which always wins points in my book.) I thought the squash soup with the roussanne was particularly inspired. That's what happens when you're such a good host!

It's called "custom bottling." You can provide your own wine, or the service will provide bulk wine for you, depending on how the service is set up. To decide whether or not it's worth it, you may want to ask to taste the wine first. People often use this service to provide special bottles for anniversaries, weddings, etc.

I hadn't thought of using peaches in white sangria--sounds delicious! Since we have a regular supply of leftover wine after the weekends, I like to make a 'lite' version with citrus fruit, fresh mint and sparkling water, no brandy.

Yes, Mallet, to add to Daniel's comment, many wineries working with new plots will plant experimental rows and even work with those rows long after the new land has been planted. After a while, a determination is made regarding the experimental rows. If those rows are highly successful, the vineyard may be re-planted, which is very costly of course, but less costly than continuing with a less successful varietal. If the experimental rows do not seem to be thriving or evidencing any particular character, they will be ripped out and replaced with either new experimental varieties, or grafted over to the main crop. Small vineyards seldom have the space, money or manpower to conduct these experiments, which of necessity take several years to complete. The larger wineries in our area are very generous with their knowledge and the results of their experiments. In particular we are grateful to Jerry Lohr (J.Lohr) and Ken Volk (the previous owner of Wild Horse) for their generous contributions to our knowledge bank.

From this week's San Francisco Chronicle: So does this mean I can expect flowers, wine, and an all-purpose mandeline that chops, dices and has AM/FM reception for Mother's Day?

I thought I would bump this thread up as it contains some interesting comments and questions, and I have a few questions of my own. As someone who works closely with wine producers, I can attest, as many wine consumers here already have, that soil character is definitely expressed in a well-crafted wine. Coaxing that character into the wine involves first making a wise marriage of vine and rootstock to the soil and climate, and then making correct growing and stylistic decisions every step of the way. Ten years ago, only a handful of California wineries bothered to make vineyard-designate wines, nearly all of them in Napa. Now, if you open a Wine Spectator, there's vineyard after vineyard in the reviews. Do you think this burgeoning production of vineyard-designate wines is a result of marketing and media hype, or a real interest on the part of wine producers and consumers in the idea of "place"?

Here's a new launch: Edible San Francisco, edited by Bruce Cole of SauteWednesday fame.

George, when I receive my copy from Amazon, I will PM you for your address and send it to you with a return UPS label for your autograph. If that will work for you, perhaps others in the forum would like to follow suit. For those who are interested, as I am, in a little more information about George: Judgment of Paris And I see that Amazon now has a photo of the cover posted. Very cool cover. Was that your idea or the publisher's? This snippet from the Amazon blurb is intriguing. Can you tease us with some personal comments on your interactions with the California vintners? And what does it mean by a "business book"?

An interesting post in Food Media & News! Alton Brown (FoodTV) will be looking for refreshment along Route 66. For newcomers to the route, here's a refresher: California Route 66 Preservation Foundation (The old map is kind of cool . . .) U.S. Highway 66

Thanks, Maggie! For anyone interested in some more kitchen science and mayo variations, there's an article in today's San Francisco Chronicle on the art of mayo, including variations: sauce vert, rouille, cilantro mayo, thousand island dressing, soy-sesame and mustard-dill mayos, along with serving suggestions. Enjoy!

An article in today's Daily Breeze (Los Angeles) about Laurel's Tomatoes. Wow. 150 varieties of heirloom tomatoes, shipped in handmade boxes! I am definitely bookmarking this site for next spring.

So you should get started right away, chef koo!

Well, it's also important to learn how to be a well-behaved customer. Customer # 1: "This is our first time wine tasting, and we really don't know much about wine." Welcomed with open arms. Customer # 2: Plunking dirty purses and half-eaten food on the counter, spilling wine, talking loudly and incessantly about their friends and schedule, yelling on their cellphone while walking around the room trying to get better reception . . . finally buying a mixed case of wine . . . "So it says here we get a 5% discount on a half case, 15% off a full case, and 20% for joining the wine club. So that means we get 40% off, right?" (These people were here last weekend.) And then there's this thread: Wine Tasters from Hell I dare you to read it and not laugh. Or gag . . .

Quite right, thanks for returning to the topic, John. Further discussion on the always popular Parker can be continued here: Robert Parker and the Wine Advocate: Prince of Points?

Sometime around 1994 I remember that Wine Business Monthly did a semi-scientific tasting of wines that had been stored using VacuVin, Private Preserve, corked and stored at room temp, and corked and stored in the fridge. There may have been other methods I don't recall. They tasted the wines when opened, and (I think) twice the next day, and once a day over the next few days. I may have most of the minor facts wrong, but I DO recall, because it was so simple and so startling, that refrigerating the wine was most effective in preserving the wine's fruit and balance. (Points to winesomona.) Apparently it simply slows down the molecular activity, and hence the oxygenation. I think Brad is right about the VacuVin, and a winemaker told me once that the nitrogen sprays like Private Preserve need to be re-applied daily because the gas becomes ineffective quickly. Argon is a heavy gas that wineries sometimes use to protect wine in partial containers, because it sinks and layers itself onto the wine like a blanket--but it is not sold commercially because of inherent dangers in it's use. For instance, if I were to accidentally inhale a whiff (or three) it would sink to the bottom of my lungs and possibly suffocate me, unless my SO were to pick me up by my ankles and shake it out of me. Which is getting less likely with every bottle of wine . . .

There is also the enjoyment one receives from pairing a dry, perhaps slightly tannic wine with fatty or rich foods. A dry cabernet or syrah goes so well with the sweet fats dripping from an end piece of prime rib, or the nicely seared crusty fat on a lambsicle--the fat girds your palate to receive the wine, and the wine cleanses your palate of excess fat--so you can go back and forth, back and forth . . .

Thank you for joining us, George!. How fun to have you here to answer questions about the book! How and why did you choose the name, Judgment of Paris? Do I sense a double meaning in the title? That perhaps the incident caused us to look at French wines, people and attitudes differently? I have also pre-ordered a copy. Can I get an autograph?

How interesting that you've decided to attend a culinary arts program! Good luck with your future path. Hmmm, perhaps we have a new eGCI instructor-in-training here.

Dan is fully recovered (thanks for asking, Smithy) and has been making up for lost time. We have finished the vineyard prep, and begun conversion of the 1920's era pole barn built by Diamond Walnuts for crop processing into a real, bonafide wine building. Dry farmed, head trained zinfandel vines now trail across the twelve-foot aisles. We no longer drive the ATV's through the vine rows. This is a nice open bush--taller than some of the others, with nicely spaced clusters hanging in the sun. These zin clusters are approaching veraison (the moment when berries begin to turn from hard, green beads to purple, succulent fruit). The berries here are still filling out in size--they will get slightly more plump, I think. This bush is actually heavier than the above one, and the fruit is more shaded, but we can see a tinge of lavender on these berries. We've had our first real heat spike this week--108F in downtown Paso Robles and on the east side. We are on a windy hilltop on the west side, with only a few ridges between us and the ocean, so our highest temperature on top of the hill has been 92F, and that for only an hour or two. However, downslope in the vineyard where the wind is blocked, it stays warmer.