melkor

I've merged the re-opening thread with the main French Laundry thread.

The beans showed up yesterday afternoon, and this morning we pulled shots with the espresso blend and with the mocha beans. These are both the espresso blend. I suspect the espresso blend is made mostly with columbian beans, it's a nice cup, extremely mild (needs no sugar or milk), and well balanced. The Mocha as espresso required a touch of sugar, it has nice toffee and chocolate notes, I think it will be much better as brewed coffee. More to come as I get to the others.

Paul Bara Brut Rose is another good option for a pink champagne. If you'd prefer white, go with Delamotte, Turgy, Egly-Ouriet, Jean Milan, Billecart Salmon, anything but Veuve Cliquot, Veuve yellow label isn't worth drinking and the Grand Dame is only good in excellent years.

A coffee shop (at least out here) doesn't have an active hot kitchen. You can often get baked goods, sometimes a sandwich, but rarely more than that at a coffee shop. Diners often serve columbian coffee exclusively while coffee shops will be more focused on espresso based drinks.

There's only so much wine you can drag from the boat to the island, so you might as well make the most of it and bring the Turley Petite Syrah - you'll spend much less time sober that way. It's interesting to see everone picking dessert wines for their white. I think I'd rather go with a Thanisch or Prum Riesling for all the fish I'll be catching while stumbling around the island drunk with a home-made spear...

Seems they decided to raise the price to $35/bottle after selling me my case through their website. Still a reasonable deal, but much less of a steal now.

That's not why they are looking at ya funny Chopped liver is usually made with schmaltz, chicken livers, and some onion. Cook some onion in schmaltz, once its translucent add the livers, cook them completely through, add some more schmaltz, puree in a food processor.

Wine House in SF, The Rare Wine Co in Sonoma has the 375's for $23 each if Wine House is sold out. edit: added link for wine house

Last night for dessert we had 1996 Ch La Tour Blanche and 1990 Ch Rieussec side by side. The Rieussec is a much bigger wine, it's slightly darker than the La Tour, it's got loads of honey and citrus, and is very nicely balanced with great acidity to match its considerable sugar level. The La Tour Blanche on the other hand at 6 years younger holds its own like a champ, light gold in color; it's full of toffee and apricot with a long spicy finish, very nice. The 96 La Tour Blanche is a complete steal - I just picked up a case of 750s for $25 a bottle.

I'm not trying to disagree with you here, but I'm curious if you or any of the other people who tasted that wine (I believe I was there) had tried it earlier in its almost 30 year life? I recall the wine being good, but I got much more nutty character from the wine than fruit/honey. I suspect it would have been better a decade or so earlier when it had more fruit and less nutty character. But I also recall the wine being from the early 80s, so maybe I'm losing my mind in my old age.

Things aren't looking good on that front

We are indeed talking across eachother, back to the topic of Ms Tillie's stale coffee.

I think you're talking about a different foamy than I am. I'm saying the espresso as it comes out of the PF spout will have huge air bubbles in it and it comes out as a stream of foam. I suspect you're talking about the clear soapy looking bubbles you get in a cup of coffee brewed with fresh beans. Coffee brewed with beans that haven't gassed out is thin, for the coffee to develop proper body the beans need to gas out. The bubbly crema is just a sign that the beans haven't had sufficent rest.

The resting period beans need depends on the roast and the beans being used. Most espresso blends need 48 hours of rest, some 72. An easy way to tell if the coffee needs more rest is to pull a shot, if it that hasn't gassed out the pour will be foamy. Ideally beans should be used from age 3 days old until 8 or 10. I have much more success using up my caffinated beans in that window than I do with decaf which usually takes closer to 14 days to use up a batch.

No beans, lots of stuff, chunky, and spicy.

I'd agree with Owen and add that the more milk in the drink the longer it stays drinkable, 30 minutes is still a long time for a latte to sit around but it's much better than a 30 minute old cappuccino.

Absolutely the fingerlakes wines are hugely underrated, but I think the crazy shipping laws in NY prevent most of us from being able to enjoy them so they get no press.

My favorite pairing so far with Tokaji was a pineapple creme brulee at Gary Danko with a 5 Putt.

It's absolutely true that there is awful wine made everywhere, it's just hard to say who makes the most awful wine. Germany produces a lot of really bad wine, but thanks to Terry Thiese and others we in the US have access to most of the best they offer. The thing that screws up this discussion with regard to value/price is that the majority of Sauternes are available on futures for very little money - 01 Rieussec for example was $22/375 on futures and is now $50+ for fall delivery and likely $75-$100/375 once it's in stores - what does that make the price when comparing it to other wines? Cheaper than the $30 California wines? Twice the price of Violeta? As little as I care for the Wine Spectator, I'd bet the 01 Rieussec makes their top 10 list, likely at the top spot. To be clear my counter argument is based on carefully picking wines from all over France, Germany, and Austria and comparing them to carefully picked wines from CA. I'd say Hungary is the only place that would give you a better chance of getting a good bottle by picking completely at random than Germany; however Germany, Austria, and Hungary all give better odds than France, Canada, Australia, NZ, or America. I actually believe it to be a generally agreed upon fact that acidity and sugar balance eachother out. Given that in general terms California wine is lower in acidity than it's old world counterparts that would present a problem when it comes to dessert wine. Oh, no argument from me about the Turley tasting room being full of people who I'd rather not be lumped in with. I'm just saying I don't have anything against new world wine. Besides, Turley zin from the mailing list at $20/bottle is a pretty good deal. I've got no idea if it's possible to make a complex white zin, but Clos Pegase makes a very nice Merlot Rose ($13 @ Winery). I haven't been able to find any of the sparkling Shiraz's that were suggested on that thread, though I forgot to look when I was in Sydney last month. On the bright side, no sparkling Shiraz can be as bad as the sparkling Cabernet Sauvignon from Napa. I'll pass on the low end Sauternes, Vouvray offers a nice alternative at those price points. My wine purchases are almost entirely based on my experience tasting the wines. I taste an awful lot of wines a year and only end up buying a few dozen. I've tried every sparkling Shiraz I've been able to get my hands on, it hasn't been pretty I've got no interest in putting down your choices, nor do I mind you calling me a knucklehead. It's your money and your welcome to spend it however you wish. I also don't think I was suggesting any sort of wine related competition, besides the simple fact is that if we each bring a few bottles of wine by the time we open the last one it will obviously be the best

Taste is subjective; opinions are individual; but quality is not subjective. There never has been a sweet wine made in California that will stand up to Chateau d'Yquem in a good year - that isn't really open for debate. A case can be made for some TBAs, Eisweins, or Tokaji Essencia, being at that level. The lower acidity in CA wines is also not really debatable either - volumes have been written on the subject. Warmer weather means lower acidity; it's just an issue that winemakers here need to deal with. I obviously don't believe that all California wine is crap, since more than half my wine is from CA. I've also got no interest in convincing you that my choice of dessert wines is any better than yours. My point was just that in terms of quality in absolute terms CA shows poorly. When you’re looking for value the same can be said once you are at around $20/375ml. If you want something that tastes good, is ready to drink when you bring it home, and won't cost too much money, sure California can be a good choice. There’s a lot to be said for variety as well, so that’s a perfectly good argument in favor of CA stickies. I do think you’ve got a completely confused image of me here. I drive a Subaru, I’m on the Turley mailing list, and own exactly 2 bottles of red Bordeaux - I’m hardly an old-world stalwart. I just recognize what they do better than us. I’ve tasted through most of the wineries in Napa, a good percentage of what’s in Sonoma, and a fair amount of what else is produced in the state. The same things pop up again and again: lots of sugar, not enough acidity, the wines are very often cloying. I’ve only got a couple domestic stickies in the cellar at the moment: a bottle of 99 Folie a Deux Frost Gewurztraminer that Carolyn Tillie mentioned earlier in the thread, and one last bottle of 94 Phelps Eisrebe. But I’ll likely buy more Eisrebe; Clos du Bois Fleur is nice, as is Raymond’s Eloquence; Mer Soleil Late is on my list to try. Iron Horse is at the top of my list for domestic sparklers, but it again is in the same price range as most of the RM Champagnes. My current favorite cheapo sparkler is Col Vetoraz Prosecco for $15/bottle. White zin serves a great purpose - it makes wine available to a much larger audience in the US and that’s a great thing for everyone. Sparkling Shiraz serves exactly the same purpose in Australia - again it’s a good thing there, but it’s no more than a novelty here than our white zinfandel is there. Don’t get me wrong; I’m not condemning anything. Drink what you like and enjoy it, and if you’re ever in the area let me know. I’ll drag a few bottles out of the cellar and meet you for dinner.

If you are just cooking with it check out Loupiac-Gaudiet at Sam's in Chicago, it's even cheaper than what TJ's is selling.

California specifically doesn't measure up to the old world regions. The weather here during the growing season is far warmer and the grapes are almost always harvested with lower acid levels than you get in Sauternes, Vouvray, Alsace, Germany, Austria, etc, etc, etc. A fair number of the CA dessert wines are made through all sorts of contrived methods: Beringer Nightingale ($30/375ml) - Botrytised Semillon & Sauvignon Blanc, Napa: Beringer harvests the grapes as any other and inoculates them in the winery with botrytis. It's not bad, but not worth seeking out. Phelps Eisrebe ($30/375ml) - Scheurebe (a hybrid of Sylvaner and Riesling), California: Grapes are harvested, tossed in a freezer, and pressed once frozen (since we're a bit short of winter here). This is one of my favorite domestic dessert wines; it, unlike a lot of it's peers isn't cloying, and has sufficient acidity to balance the sugar. It's not as complex as a good German/Austrian eiswein, but it's good for what it is. Far Niente Dolce ($75/375ml) - Botrytised Semillon & Savignon Blanc, Napa: Grown in the traditional Sauternes style, the grapes are infected with botrytis naturally and harvested by hand in multiple passes. It's an expensive way to make wine - the price shows that - I just don't think the end result shows well against others at this price. It's certainly worth drinking, just not worth buying Violeta is in the same boat as Dolce - nice to drink, but only worth buying if your idea of a good time is parking your H2 at Opus One and picking up a few cases of 1998 Opus. As far as good value goes, you can find all sorts of drinkable plonk from all over the world and the cheapest thing is often going to be what is made locally. Look at a wine list in any reasonable restaurant in Sydney - you have your choice of a half-dozen Australian made dessert wines by the glass. Rarely do they cost more than a few dollars. Most are bad but they sure are cheap. I disagree that California producers are on the whole making world-class dessert wines. There are a few examples where that is the case but they are the exception rather than the rule. Domestic dessert wine is very much like domestic sparkling wine: most of it is made in places with the wrong climate and massaged in the winery to make the product closest to what the winemaker wants. Don't get me wrong, I buy and enjoy a fair amount of domestic dessert wines, but I don't pretend they are spectacular. Their strength is that they are as ready to drink when they are put in the cellar where as yquem takes a minimum of 20 years to peak. There is no shortage of people producing dessert wine that far exceeds anything being made in California. I suspect the only way to argue that CA is on par with the likes of Kracher, Zind-Humbrecht, Ch d'Yquem, JJ Prum, JJ Christoffel and Huet among others is to have only tried their domestic counterparts. Let me know when you want to argue the relative merits of Krug/Egly-Ouriet/Jean Milan/Turgy/Paul Bara/Salon vs Domaine Carneros/Domaine Chandon/Schramsberg/Mumm Napa.

It'll just be a cut-out in the countertop with the cooktop dropped into it, it's only a problem if there's no gas line anywhere near by. Ya should be able to take one cooktop out and swap it for another as long as you can find one that needs roughly the same size cutout.

Buttermilk is good, but the biggest thing is to not overmix. Lumpy batter will sort itself out in the pan.

People in tasting rooms ask really really strange questions. There is an endless supply of 'how would you describe this?' or 'what is it I taste in this wine?' questions. Nevermind the folks rinsing their glasses in the spit bucket... Really all you need to work in a tasting room is one working arm and a lot of patience.