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winebabe

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  1. One of the greatest food and wine matches happens to be Riesling with heat or spice, which makes it a great wine for spicy Asian or Mexican dishes. The heat from the food is mitigated by the fruitiness of the wine. Asian dishes tend to have sweetness in addition to heat and the sweetness in the preparation is balanced out by the fruitiness of the wine. Try kabinetts that are of varying degrees of fruitiness.
  2. winebabe

    shelf life

    Depends on the wine. Some have the structure, fruit and acid to last for several days. Riesling immediately comes to mind but other wines with good acid and tannin structure will evolve over a few days - young Cote Rotie, for example. I had a partial bottle of GKA auslese that was still good after five months in my fridge. Hedonistic fruit bombs with little acid and gobs and gobs of fruit tend to fall apart overnight. They don't have the acidity levels to support the wine as it evolves with oxygen. Doesn't say much about RP's palate either.
  3. A good source for any Kosher wine is kosherwine.com I spoke with Daniel earlier and he said that while he does not have an ice wine per se, nothing from Canada or Germany, there are several wineries that make a similar style wine, probably freezing the already harvested fruit before pressing. here is the link to the site: http://www.kosherwine.com
  4. winebabe

    Sancerre

    I would try and visit Domaine Thomas-LaBaille Single vineyard old vine sancerre "Les Monts Damnes".
  5. Chefzadi Several years ago, I participated in a project under the auspices of Share our Strength called "operation frontline". It was partially funded by American Express and Kraft. Initially, they went out to the local chef community and recruited notables such as Rick Bayless and Michael Kornik to go out to the community, mostly boys and girls clubs, after school programs, WIC centers, and battered women's shelters to teach basic cooking and grocery shopping skills. Initial interest was high in the restaurant community becuase of the publicity boost that many chefs got for their restaurants. Few were as commited as they should have been with the exception of Susan Goss, then at Zinfandel and now at West Town Tavern. The program stayed alive with the commitment of people like her and the program director, who moved out of the area when she was accepted to a PhD program on the east cost. Nicole was the only paid employee of the organization and her job was to schedule the classes and to to the shopping. It was a set curriculum and all we had to do was show up once a week and teach the class. It couldn't have been any easier for us. Most of the "celebrity" chefs made an appearance or two and relegated the remainder of the course to their "assistants", people like me. Eventually, we took over and continued the program for as long as we could but when Nicole left, it was difficult for us to continue, as we all had conflicts and time constraints. It was one of the most rewarding things I ever did. Kraft subsidized the Kids cooking classes and you may try to contact someone in their community outreach division to see if they have some materials for you to use. They were then basing the class on the old food pyramid but since that has now been revised, you would have to do some adjustments. Each week, we would prepare something new, and the children actively participated. We made things like vegetable alphabet soup, vegetable pizzas, spaghetti, oatmeal cookies, and other things with the focus being on nutrution rich, low fat, fresh foods. Snacks were provided which were always natural fruit juices and fresh fruit and vegetables. The adult classes focused more on the preparation of healthy and economical meals. One of the classes was a field trip to the grocery store to learn how to read lables, compare prices, the difference between buying lets say a package of chicken breasts as opposed to an entire chicken and cutting it up yourself. Not only the cost savings, but the ability to generate several meals out of one chicken. I hope this is good information for you to use. If you have any quesions, feel free to email and I can help you as best I can. I may even be able to locate some old course materials. Good luck. This is a great idea and the rewards will be more than you can imagine. The kids were a joy and for many of them, this was the closest they got to ever having a home cooked meal.
  6. My apologies chefzadi. Please contribute, as it is a very challenging topic and we all benefit from discussion.
  7. Why is this topic "onerous"? I thought that the whole spirit of it was to be educational and informative? It makes me want to go and do a bit of research on the subject and by posting it here, it acts as a learning tool. My posts are not intended to be condescending by any means. I, for one would love to continue this discussion. As for your point about Beaujolais being either a Rhone or a Burgundy, I consider it neither, but a region unto itself. The predominant red grape is gamay, wheras it is syrah in the rhone, and pinot noir in burgundy. To me, it has its own distinct identity. I see good quality Beaujolais Villages as one of the greatest wine values in France and look for small producers rather that those god awful Duboeuf wines that all taste the same. some of my favorites: Thivin - Cotes de Brouilly Chignard - Fleurie Diochon - Moulin-a-Vent Thevenet - Morgon Terres Dorees l'Ancien & Moulin-a-Vent. He also makes an outstanding white beaujolais made with chardonnay. These are imorted by either Kermit Lynch or Louis Dressner and are not really too much of a hit on the wallet, unless of course, you are used to paying for Duboeuf beaujolais nouveau, which should be hitting the closeout bins right about now at 3.99.
  8. O.K. - I'll bite and and my .02: The comparison between Chambolle-Musigny and Volnay can be a good one. There a few obvious differences: CM is in the Cotes de Nuit and Volnay is in the Cotes de Beaune and Volnay does not have any Grand Cru vineyards whereas, CM has two: Le Musigny and Les Bonnes-Mares. Le Musigny also has another notable exception: De Vogue has planted a small parcel of Chardonnay and consequently is the only Grand Cru with the exception of Corton that can be both white and red. With that being said, there are striking similarities between the two: Chambolle Musigny wines can be lighter in structure than other Cotes de Nuits Communes and as such has been called more feminine than its CdN counterparts in Vosne and Gevrey. Volnay produces some of the most delicate and elegant wines in the Cotes de Beaune and have been called "the most fragrand and seductively feminine expression of Pinot Noir in the CdB" and are "directly analagous with the wines of Chambolle Musigny" according to Clive Coates. Both of these communes have a higher density of limestone in their soils and thus share similar characteristics of terroir. Hope this was a good start to the discussion. We should keep the thread alive because it makes an excellent learning tool for all of us.
  9. I agree. I prefer to butter my toast with softened butter, after the toast has cooled a bit and remains solid, rather than melted into the bread. When you put the cool jam on top, it stays this way. Is this strange? Am I the only one with this fetish?
  10. Some of my favorites: The Mercado in Colonia del Valle - the dining room off to the side has two vendors. Jorge ( I don't know his last name) and his family have been selling the best carnitas in Mexico City for decades. My family has been going there for ages and every time I return to Mexico City for my feast there, Jorge always remembers me as the daughter of the one who lives in Chicago. The Mercado in Coyocacan: I don't have a particular favorite here but have had many memorable meals wandering the stalls. One that stands out is a vendor that makes the most awesome tostadas. El Bajio, of course! but that has been mentioned several times here. When I take the late flight into Mexico City and arrive around 11 pm, my family always takes me for tacos at El Charco de las Ranas in Mixcoac. I don't know if it is still around but my grandfather used to take us to Ostioneria Boca del Rio when we were kids for the oyster and shrimp cocktails. When we were very young, he would take all his grandchildren, about seven of us at the time, on the trolley for Churros at El Moro. We had to be all dressed up and on our best behavior whenever we would go out with him. We would also visit him at his bookstore downtown with my mom and while she would visit with him, we would head off to the shoe store a few storefronts down (El Borsegui (sp?)) where they had aguas frescas in those old fountain drink dispensers and we could help ourselves to them. Apparently, the owner was friends with my grandfather and for this reason alone, put up with our antics. These places may no longer be there but they are treasured memories of my time in Mexico City.
  11. 2003 was an exraordinarily ripe year in Germany as in the rest of Europe. As a rule, the vintage is exceedingly ripe and the initial complaint has been the lower acid levels found in the wines. With that being said, the comparisons are being made with the 1959 vintage, which shared similar climate, and went on to be considered one of the great vintages of the century. The wine is very young, and because of the ripeness, this wine may take some time to come around before it starts showing its stuff.
  12. While looking for info on the Santenay, I found this link: http://www.burgundy-talent.com/
  13. One of the most important things I am learning about Burgundy is "who is making the wine". Clive Coates and Burghound are great resources, and as someone said earlier, Coates is a bit dated but it gives a great overview of the region. Burghound is getting some good accolades and of the other major wine writers, Stephen Tanzer seems to be the most knowledgeable. Parker is no longer welcome in Burgundy. The tasting group idea with everyone pitching in $20 bucks is a great one. I will propose it to my group so we can start tasting some of the more expensive bottles that we all talk about. I recently tasted a 2002 Santenay 1er cru "Les Gravieres" by A. Marie et J. Marc Vincent and I found info about this producer on a British site: "A domaine which has “arrived”. Wines of great distinction and finesse made by the radical and immensely talented Jean-Marc Vincent. This is fast becoming one of the really great domaines and still great value for the terrific quality. The young, dynamic Jean-Marc took over this family domaine of 4.5 hectares from his grandfather in 1997. We were told by a good friend in London to check out the progress at this estate and were also told that Kermit Lynch, the famous American importer, had recently started importing these wines to the USA! Jean-Marc is now fully “bio-dynamic” and has some innovative ideas about how he wants to make his wines. Having said that, the work in the vineyards is very natural and great pains are taken to ensure that he has the highest quality of fruit. There are a high proportion of old vines and the yields are kept under control. Selection is paramount and only the highest quality fruit is used for these wines. He uses a very high proportion of new oak. He also uses a high proportion of stems in the fermentations, which can last over a month. For Jean-Marc, having long, slow fermentations results in wines with better tannins and suppleness but without sacrificing structure. When tasting these wines it is hard to believe that some of these wines have up to 100% stems and 100% new oak, as the fruit is very silky and fine and the oak is discrete and superbly integrated. A domaine to follow. " This is just an example of the kind of producer I look for so it does take a bit of research. The wine is available in the US through Kermit Lynch. It shouldn't be more than $25-$30 a bottle.
  14. I would put Santa Margarita Pinot Grigio in that "sucker wine" category as well. In reference to the OP - its a bad example of an exreme markup (even though you only used it as a starting point). I have often felt in the case of a wine such as Santa Margarita that if you are too stupid to know any better, then you are the big sucker when you actually pay money for a wine like this. I don't understand why we (the american consumer) keep perpetuating the myth of a wine like this, Yellow Tail, or any such commodity wine. With that being said, many restauranteurs are simply too lazy to care when putting wines like this on their lists. There stock answer is, the wine sells itself. I agree that marking up some wines as "loss leaders" allows the ability to still make a marginal profit on the lesser known wines that you love.
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