badthings

Craig (and others) -- is there any legal status to the distinction in Italy? I mean, do you get in trouble if you throw some juice in with the pomace and then call it grappa? Because that is what some of the California distillers appear to do: By that definition, as I said before, that sounds like brandy to me, not grappa. Mr. Messner's Blauburgunder is amazingly delicate and perfumy, considering there are no such additions. I wonder, are these fancy grappas made with normal pomace left over from winemaking, or do the press it a lot more gently? The French marcs I've had have a sugar-added caramalized taste to it. I mean, it's brown. Are they all like this?

Luis Javier Perez-Prieto et al., "Oak-matured wines: influence of the characteristics of the barrel on wine colour and sensory characteristics," Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture 83, Issue 14, Pages 1445-1450 abstract: PM me if you want more info. By the way, their methodology is germane to another, uh, magnetic discussion we're having:

Andy, what about Rogers & Gray? Perhaps my favorite restaurant cookbook of all time. Of course that has something to do with the time in my life that I first read it. Italian Country Cooking -- the second one is not as exciting.

It's like a list of the highest-production italian reds available here. It's as if they only listed wine you can find at Safeway. In fact, the Chron seems to have been getting complaints from people who can't find their bargain wines. The irony is, despite great importers and also very good wine shops, it is tough to find a good selection of Italian wine here (at least in Berkeley -- I'm too lazy to travel far). Though (this surprised me) a recent visitor from Campania was very impressed by the number, quality and price of the italian wine selection at our local supermarket. (All from big importers though). I agree with Echezeaux that the A Mano is not particularly drinkable. The Bolla is surprisingly drinkable, though, even if it doesn't have much to do with why we like valpolicella.

Katie, my German is terrible to non-existant, but I do know that blau = blue. schwartz is black. of course, whether pinot noir is more bluish than blackish is another question entirely. Perhaps my confusion was heightened by thinking that weissburgunder "is" chardonnay, or at least what they call chard. in Deutschland. But you are saying, if I understand, that it's actually pinot blanc? Wait -- maybe it's aligoté! Back to grappa though: how do they make these fancy italian grappas nowadays? By which I mean to ask, are they still just distilling the pomace, or are they throwing some real wine in there too, or are they using all wine? Germain-Robin, the great distiller in Mendocino, makes a big deal about using real wine to make their grappas, but my reaction to that is: but then it isn't grappa anymore, it's eau de vie. Or am I being naive and or stupid?

reuters:

I'd seen German wines (from germany( called weissburgunder, so that was how I guessed, but it seemed odd that noir/nero turned blue. All the A.A. wines I've seen in the US are labelled in italian, but it makes sense that grappa is a different story. Which reminds me, though I should probably post this in the wine forum, that I've had two fascinating wines from Alto Adige recently: a moscato giallo aka goldmuskateller, bone dry but with a wonderful fragrance not unlike dessert muscat; moscato rosso desert wine called (according to the guy I bought it from) rosso not because of the red color but because of the fragrace of rose petal. I'm dubious about this, though it does indeed have an astonishing rose nose. This was a remarkable wine. Come to think of it it was trentino, not AA though. I have yet to find a AA wine that doesn't offer something wonderful and interesting at its price point (which seems to be lower than comparable wines from Friuli).

My lovely ragazza just returned from florence with a bottle of grappa "Blauburgunder." Can this be pinot nero? the grappa is from Kastelbell in Alto Adige -- the label is in german and italian. it says things like: weingut Unterortl az. ag. von Reinhold Messner Erzeuger Familien Aurich seems like a lot of people were involved. The brand is Castel Juval. It is delicious -- smooth and fragrant and uncooked, but with a nice harsh edge to remind you that you are in fact drinking grappa. There is a complicated story about why she brought back german grappa from Tuscany.

That's what I call food writing, Russ. Awesome. Thank you. By the way, Lulu Peyraud grills them whole -- you are, I think, supposed to gut them yourself as you eat them with your hands. (not that I hang out at with Lulu, I just looked it up a couple weeks ago when I got some beautiful Monterey sardines. I gutted them first).

This is why I'll never be a cookbook author -- I didn't even notice the bacon. You definitely do NOT want bacon. Use blanched salt pork or fresh pork belly. Somewhere I read that you will be excommunicated from Castelnaudry if you use any smoked meat. I also just noticed that there is no pork skin involved in this recipe -- you could skip it, but that would be cheating. I mean the question comes down to how much you just want delicious fatty beans with pork and duck, versus how much you want to make something the way it is made in Toulouse.

"cuisine" is by definition a bourgeois pursuit, notwithstanding certain italian commies. what is become increasingly middle class is simple food based on good ingredients, which take time to prepare -- time that only those of us who don't work at Walmart can spare.

Of course, Paula is the expert on that, but that looks like a pretty good recipe. All the meats that you want are there. Compare with Julia's recipe in Mastering the Art of French Cooking (which has lamb) to get a better sense of what you're shooting for. If, inexplicably, you don't have MtAoFC, just go ahead and make it. Also make sure the stock you add at the end does not cover the surface of the beans. Traditionally, the crust is broken and allowed to re-form between 3 and 8 times. And forget the non-stick -- sauté the sausage in duck fat.

revolutionary! (referring to your name, not your point). welcome. Henceforth, I am going to use your scoring system exclusively.

For the red, there are some very good Jumillas in that price range. (sorry I can't remember producers, but there are many; Jumilla is the region, Monastrell -- aka Mourvedre -- is the grape). Cristalino is a good cheap cava, but there are tons of them.

That was tongue-in-cheek. (I admit, I skipped over much of the angst in the middle pages in this thread). I too am disappointed. None of this changes my opinion of his books, which I consider among the best published in the last decade. In general, "sellout," like "authenticity," is a problematic concept. Does anyone remember the outrage when Nirvana signed with DGC? Not to mention the consequences. Because of the CC connection, though, this seems pretty cut and dry to me. [ps to coop, as a Boston native, I find it hard to believe that an oklahoman arriviste can have much worthwhile to say about the plight of the Cubs fan... speaking of authenticity]

I just dicovered that if you run out of olive oil, you can make a vinaigrette with it. Just for future reference. Flavor good, "repercussions" not so good.

I just heard one of those sports radio hosts claim he was qualified to make idiotic pronouncements on the Cubs because his brother is Rick Bayless. Yes, Rick's brother Skip is apparently a columnist for the Merc News and a talk radio host. He went on to speculate in gruesome detail about Kobe Bryant's sexual interactions with his wife. He said nothing about making his maid acquire illegal pharmaceuticals for him, at least. Of course, this has nothing to do with whether Rick is or is not a horrible person.

I agree, his consistency is astounding. And I imagine, that if you found someone who had a similar palate to your own, their scores would be useful. And I can even understand the utility of keeping scores for writers and professionals who have to remember so many wines. So, yes, strictly speaking the scores are not meaningless. But we're not playing a football game here. What does it mean when one barolo "beats" another one? (to say nothing of a barolo "beating" an amarone). Unless you are comparing two wines from the same vineyard and explicitly rating how well they express the terroir (subjective) or how well they are made (still subjective), scoring is absurd. Of course, you can say, I like x expression of y terroir better than z, but you are really saying that you like it better on a hot august afternoon with melone, or while the Cubs are winning, or right before you're about to get laid, or whatever. And we all know that what ratings really score is not the above but rather the opposite: how well a wine has managed to betray (or transcend, depending on your inclination) its terroir in order to blow away the scorer's palate. I'm exaggerating, but for me the concept of scoring wine is, if not meaningless, of very limited utility.

Craig, that may have been the most graceful explanation I have ever read of the problem with points. To my (less graceful) mind, though, you didn't go far enough: saying that wines in the 80s are better deals and better with food is important and true, but it implies that the ratings are still meaningful in some way. As far as I'm concerned, they're not.

I put a few pictures up for the obsessed. [i'm not posting them in this thread because I have a shitty geocities account]. I'm thinking about the jar of fat I skimmed off -- I think I will spread some on toast, following Patience Gray's advice for goose fat.

Wait -- you guys don't get drunk at every meal?

Seriously, people, if they start selling Acme in Seattle how will they maintain the quality? Why don't you pressure someone to open a good bakery up there instead? Everyone deserves good bread.

sans soufflé, it was not as overwhelming, but still distractingly saffron-y, a little woody (not oaky) too. There's some amazing stuff going on underneath, but you can't really focus on it. I think I may taste the remainder with the merchant, see what she says. Or I'll do a before and after with a chunk of chocolate, just to see what that does. Then I'll go to get a shiraz from target.

There's a long article about them in today's Chronicle Wine section.

Well, this may make me weird, but I wish I'd read Kermit Lynch's Adventures on the Wine Route a long time before I did. Probably not the first wine book one should read, but maybe the second.