Amantivino’s Blog

Don’t worry, this is not the 400 page rebuttal to Sarah Palin’s new book (although given the time that has passed since the last post you would think that I have been working on it).

I once had a Master Sommelier tell me that the most important thing about food and wine pairing is to “have fun with it.” I am not going to name names because I don’t want him to lose his lapel pin or be tarred and feathered by a group of rabid foodies, but I think he is right. I think in many cases we take food and wine pairing way too seriously and there is no better illustration than the Thanksgiving feast.

Imagine if you walked into Jean Georges and the menu said “Warm Green Apple Asparagus Salad with Goat Cheese Gnocchi, Roasted Veal, Gulf Shrimp, Grilled Beef Tenderloin and Rhubarb, green tea pudding.” Would you sit down, order that plate and await the sommelier’s arrival to make the perfect pairing? Of course not!! There is way too much going on with that plate. When food and wine pairing is at its finest, or when food is at its finest for that matter, they are presented in small separate courses.

Since most people pile their plates sky high with ten different things on Thanksgiving there is no point in obsessing about the perfect wine to drink (because chances are there isn’t one). Tomorrow, I will be thankful for the incredible breadth of options available to us. Here are just a few choices:

Anything from the 2007 Southern Rhone vintage!! Parker called this the best vintage he has ever tasted in any region of the world and gave out 95 plus scores like wet naps at a BBQ joint. If this is the time of the year that you splurge, you can break out the Chateauneuf du Papes (just make sure you break out the decanter long before). The Cotes du Rhone reds represent one of the great values in the wine world in this vintage. The best producers have overachieved and even some of the more mediocre producers didn’t screw up this amazing fruit.

Oregon Pinot Noir. If you like the power of bold fruit, ripe tannins and higher alcohol levels, look to 2004 or 2006. If you prefer the elegance of fresh fruit, high acid, lower alcohol levels and lighter body look to the underrated 2007 vintage or 2008, which many are saying may shape up to be the vintage of the decade.

Is there anything to avoid? It depends on your taste. I don’t like drinking heavy Zinfandel, Cabernet or Shiraz at Thanksgiving. It has nothing to do with pairing and more to do with weight. I am inevitably going to eat six pounds of food and I don’t need to pour a heavy wine on top of that. But that is just me. There is nothing wrong with any of these choices as far as food harmony goes.

So if your family is anything like mine, the important question is not do I have the right wine for Thanksgiving but do I have enough wine for Thanksgiving!

Happy holidays to you & yours!!

Will Sugerman

Producers & wine lovers come together to taste Amanti Vino favorites at the Irving Mill.

At the end of August we did our first large-scale tasting in New York City. We held the event at a beautiful restaurant on the Lower East Side called the Irving Mill. Teaming up with T. Edward Wines (an NYC based importer), we welcomed more than 150 guests from NY & NJ as well as over 30 producers from California, Washington, Oregon, Bordeaux, Chile & Argentina. We even let some press types in (examiner & imbibenewyork). The proceeds for the event were donated to Moscot Mobileyes, a foundation that helps provide eyecare and eyewear to underprivileged clients.

Shortly after the event Ron Coleman, the owner & winemaker from Tamarack Cellars in Washington wrote us a note based on a conversation he had with a guest. As it puts a whole new perspective on what’s happening in the vineyard, we thought we would pass it along.

“To the plants it’s all about making bird candy, not about us and our love of wine. Grapes, just like every other living thing on Earth, have an ultimate goal of propagation, not of ending up in a Riedel. The way it works is as the sugar level rises to the point at which birds find the grapes tasty, the berries begin to turn a color that shouts to the birds, EAT ME, EAT ME! This occurs at the same time that the plant begins to lignify, turning brown and hard in the shoots and seeds. The seeds, having become hard and crisp, are passed through the birds digestive system, fall to the ground and, hopefully, germinate.”

Next time you walk into your favorite restaurant ask for a glass of their finest bird candy juice. See what they show you first, the door or the wine list.

I have always had a love-hate relationship with rosé. Or maybe, more accurately, it’s the relationship with the producers, mostly from my home state of California that torments me. This is not an issue of a Francophile wine snob bashing everything domestic and holding on high any juice from overseas. In fact, I have tasted many more poor rosés from France than I have from California. Nonetheless, a troubling trend has been developing among Golden State rosé producers over the last few years.

What do you think of when you think of rosé? The beach? A picnic? Sitting in the shade to escape the heat of a 95 degree day. Brunch? While this list is a great start in cataloging God’s greatest gifts to humanity it is not a litany of the most cerebral experiences. Even to the biggest wine nerds among us will admit that like the events associated with pink wine, the juice itself is usually not meant to be dissected or pondered. Yes, yes, yes…I know there are plenty of exceptions. Chateau Pibarnon comes out with a layered, complex and age-worthy rosé every vintage. Lopez de Heredia’s decades old rosé seems to contradict every commonly held belief about the style being fruity, cheap and cheerful. The few exceptions aside, you won’t hear the words “Tavel” and “Gevrey-Chambertin” uttered in the same sentence.

Why is it then that so many California rosé producers find it necessary to elevate their rosés beyond their reach and slap $30 or $40 price tags on them? “This rosé was made from special clones of Pinot Noir snuck back in the country from Champagne.” “We cut our yields in half over the last few years and now there is barely enough wine for you to have any.” “Next year we are thinking about bottling our rosé in magnums!!” I have heard countless producers use a collection of one-liners to separate their wines from the sea of pink flowing out of California. Are the wines tasty? Absolutely!! (But there is a lot of great wine out there). Has the quality of the wine improved over the last decade? Immeasurably (But so has Chilean Sauvignon Blanc and most of that is still under $10 a bottle). Is California one of the world’s premier rosé regions? Without a doubt (But the state has proven it can excel at all wine styles). Are the wines worth the $30+ prices that they often fetch? I’m not so sure.

As we suffer through the hottest days of the summer there is no doubt we will all be drinking a lot of rosé. If you want to drink an exclusive, pink wine that can only be obtained through a member’s only mailing list then be my guest. I think I will save my money for the California Chards, Cabs or Pinots and guzzle bottles of $15 roses from other parts of the world.

By Will Sugerman

The views expressed in this post do not necessarily represent the opinions of others at Amanti Vino. If this generates even a quarter of the debate that it did in the store I will be a happy man.

Our trips to the brewery were immensely helpful in crafting our pairing menu.

Last week I rolled out another awesome Amanti Vino beer event and hosted a Brooklyn Brewery Pairing Dinner at Culinariane in Montclair, NJ.  I was joined by Eric Ottaway, Brooklyn’s General Manager, who I had met in a beer class that I taught at the store. I didn’t know that Eric was among my students and when he introduced himself after class my jaw nearly hit the floor. Shock and awe aside, Eric and I struck up a conversion and he invited me to visit the Brewery in Williamsburg.  It was during the tour that we conceived of the idea for a beer pairing dinner in Montclair. Ariane Duarte, who had recently appeared on Bravo’s Top Chef, was naturally my first choice to execute the menu. Ariane and the other chefs drank the Brooklyn products throughout the series. She was incredibly excited to do the dinner and we made another pilgrimage to Williamsburg. After tasting through Brooklyn’s line up, Ariane and her husband Michael began devising a menu that would pair with the artisanal beers.  Not surprisingly, their menu was incredible and worked brilliantly with the beers.’

The night kicked off with the Brooklyn Summer Ale, which is a light-bodied golden beer with a crisp bitterness accompanied by citrus and floral aromas. For the appetizer, Ariane served a Black Tiger Shrimp Scampi with White Beans & Broccoli Rabe paired with the Brooklyn Pilsner. The Pilsner is a refreshing golden lager displaying a smooth, crisp and snappy bitterness with fresh floral aromas.  The sweetness of the shrimp and scampi sauce was cut nicely by the Pilsner’s crisp character. The second course was a Goat Cheese and Mushroom Bruschetta with White Truffle Oil and Petite Seasons Mix paired with the Brooklyn Weisse Beer.  The tangy goat cheese and delicate mushrooms were the ideal partner for the Weisse beer’s subtle banana, clove and melon notes.  The third course was Toasted Gnocchi and Spring Vegetable Carbonara paired with the Brooklyn Local 2.  The crispy Pancetta in the Carbonara was smokey and rich with earthy flavors that were truly amazing with Brooklyn’s dark Belgian style ale.  Next Ariane sent out the main course, Brown Ale Braised Short Ribs with Rosemary Parsnip Puree and Crispy Onions paired with the Brooklyn Brown Ale.  This pairing stole the show and was my personal favorite.  The brown ale’s caramel, chocolate and coffee flavors were the perfect accompaniment to the extremely tender and gamey meat.  The flavors and textures of both the short ribs and the beer were unbelievably luxurious and rich making this dish a true epiphany in beer and food pairing. For dessert, Michael prepared a Black Chocolate Stout Float with a Chocolate Brownie paired with the Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout.  I was a bit skeptical at first of this pairing; I thought the 10%abv of the beer might overpower the ice cream and brownie.  But, as soon as I tasted the dish my concerns were put to rest, the float was delicious.

The dinner was an eye opener for a lot of people who never know how versatile beer can be in regards to pairing with food.  We will continue to collaborate with breweries and local restaurants to offer more dinners.  Amanti Vino also offers educational beer classes and a monthly beer club: Amanti Birra. Shoot me an email if you have any ideas for future events, want to hear about what is currently planned or just want to chat about beer.

Cheers!!

Travis Glohs (travis@amantivino.com)

Dogfish has been a staple of the surging Amanti Vino beer department since Travis Glohs took it over last year.

A few weeks back we took over Restaurant Passionné in Montclair and had Chef/Owner Michael Carrino prepare an incredible tasting menu to match the distinctive beers of DogFish Head Brewery. Michael is just coming off his first season victory on the Food Network’s new hit Chopped and displayed his passion for great food one course at a time. Wendy Domurat came up from Delaware to present the beers and geek out with a room full of fellow beer lovers. We were also lucky enough to be joined by Peter Kennedy and his wife Danielle. Peter writes a blog called “Simply Beer,” widely considered the best suds blog on the internet. Check out his notes from the dinner and his other entries at Simply Beer.

We would like to thank Peter for the kind words, support and unparalleled beer blogging!!

Will Sugerman

I had the pleasure of traveling around Austria with Terry Thiese and a team of retailers, sommeliers and distributors last week. Thiese is an eminent importer of Austrian and German wines, along with some incredible Champagnes. Our traveling band of wine nerds tasted and analyzed hundreds of wines and I found some great new gems, many of which are already gracing the shelves of Amanti Vino. While I didn’t learn any more German than how to convey utter necessities (“more Gruner Veltliner please”), I learned a ton about Austria’s famous vineyards in the Wachau, Kremstal, Kamptal and the Weinvertel. The regions are more diverse than I had imagined, with soils, slope and even grape varietals displaying dramatic variations. We tasted dry whites, off-dry whites, sweet whites and reds from Blaufrankish, Zweigelt and Pinot Noir. There were even some “Super Austrians,” blends of native and international varietals, in the tasting rooms.

Austria is ripe with some amazing values with the Setzer Gruner Veltliner (June’s Wine of the Month) and the Hofer Zweigelt (coming soon) being among my favorites. There were also some pricier wines that are worth every penny and are sure to age like great white Burgundies. The biggest surprise was a 1959 Muller Thurgau from Salomon!! It still had tons of life left to it.

The wineries tend to be family affairs with 30 to 40-somethings running most of the operations. Meeting the winemakers and moving from region to region is as easy as in any wine producing country in the world as there are very few vineyards more than 90 minutes from the heart of Vienna. The Kremstal proved to be a great source for value wines made from Gruner Veltliner, Riesling, Zweigelt and St. Laurent. In the Weinviertel I was introduced to Gamel, Moskateller, Roter Veltliner and some amazingly ageworthy Rieslings and Gruners. The Kamptal was a step upmarket with producers like Hirsch, Brundlmayer and Schloss Gobelsburg all wowing me with a diversity of styles. The Hirsch wines tended to be more off-dry while those of the later were bone dry with piercing acidity (just the way I like them!!). Last but most certainly not least was the Wachau, home to the steepest and most dramatic sites in Austria. Wachau produces some spectacular Rieslings and Gruner Veltliners that can be cellared for decades.

I left Austria with a new appreciation for the value and diversity that the country offers. While these wines are slowly starting to make a comeback on the domestic market, Gruner Veltliner and St. Laurent are not exactly household names yet. This is a shame because Austria makes wines for all seasons and all cuisines, from asparagus and sauerkraut to schnitzel and beef. They are also perfect for summer barbecues with a wide variety of grilled meats and Asian dishes that are always a challenge to pair. While all of these wines can be enjoyed fresh and young, many can also camp out it your cellar for decades, developing honeysuckle, petrol and nutty flavors. Next time you are in the shop or perusing a wine list don’t overlook Austria.

By Sharon Sevrens

There are some rare moments in the process of deciding what to bring into the store when we lose all sight of rational, business sense and simply fall in love with a wine. Blind, uncontrollable romance is the only thing that could justify the mass purchase of a $70 Provincial white that only the wine nerdiest among us have even heard of. This is not Puligny-Montrachet, of which even the most casual wine drinkers are vaguely familiar, but a blend of the seemingly unidentifiable Grenache Blanc and Clairette from the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. For other zealots, it’s less of a romantic infatuation and more of a religious experience. When we told Neil Rosen, the longtime associate of importer Neil Rosenthal, that we were going to expose the latest release of the Chateau Simone Pallete Blanc to our best customers he lamented that there are not enough people “spreading the gospel of the Palette.” I recently took it to dinner with a group of wine geeks at the intimate village eatery August and the Simone was the star of the show. Somewhat surprisingly, the unctuous white paired just as well with the delicate Blue Point oysters as it did with the smoky, hearty Tarte Flambe, an Alsatian bacon tart covered in onions and creme fraiche. Not so surprisingly the wine showed its best after the check arrived, about three hours after we poured it, as the one smart drinker among us passed the glass that he had saved around the table for a final taste.

When we had it with the oysters the first impression was not fruit but a spicy, nutty, slightly oxidized character that comes from 18 months of aging in French oak barrels sourced from the best Chateau in Bordeaux. Right out of the bottle, the Simone’s racy acidity and persistent minerality made it clear that this was a wine that would play nicely with a wide variety of cuisine. As the wine opened up the fruit began to emerge from the spice and the minerals, with green apples, lime zest and orange pith revealing themselves. By the final sip the palate displayed a hearty, almost honeyed, viscous character that can only be found in a truly great white. The finish lasts forever, displaying notes of apple cider and bright minerality. With few exceptions, the Chateau Simone Palette will age as long as any white in existence. If it was beginning to show its honeyed-nutty complexities after a few hours in the glass, imagine what a couple decades in the cellar will do.

By Will Sugerman (will@amantivino.com)

Grapes and olives can be seen growing in the background on the rolling hills of Umbria.

On my recent trip to Umbria, the green heart of Italy, I went in search of the rare and ancient varietal Sagrantino di Montefalco – one of the country’s least known wines and also planned a trip to Orvieto to sample the wines of the Palazzone estate.

Along the way I found a few surprises—like wandering into Orvieto’s amazing Duomo to find Zubin Mehta conducting an orchestra—and made friends with the Pink Floyd loving chef at Fontanella di Porta Sole in Perugia. In addition to wine, I sampled many of the regions “prodotti tipici” (typical food products) which I smuggled home in the form of increased abdominal girth.

Before leaving for Italy I discovered that many people had never heard of Umbria and if they had, were only vaguely aware of where it might on the peninsula. This is probably because its more celebrated neighbor, Tuscany, often overshadows the region, with famous wine names like Chianti and Brunello. So, who could blame the uninitiated for not knowing more about what Umbria has to offer?

With a similar climate to Tuscany, Umbria is home to 13 DOC wines zones (two are DOCG) and at least as much breathtaking scenery. But while the white wines of Orvieto may have been enjoyed as far back as the twelfth century, the commercial wine history of the region is fairly short. According to the book “Vino Italiano”, many of the DOC classified wines of Umbria didn’t exist a few decades ago and eight were created after 1980.

My visit to Palazzone in Orvieto was one of the highlights of our trip. We toured the estate with property manager Lodovico Dubini and sampled the wines including the crisp, mouth-filling Orvieto Classico “Terre Vineate” made from a blend of native varieties.

My Sagrantino hunt took me to a tiny little wine shop, Enoteca Arco Etrusco in Perugia where owners Irene and Giuseppe willingly opened more than a few bottles to illustrate the differences in taste between traditional producers, who age their wines in large casks known as botti, and the modern-style producers, who use small barriques for a softer style. My favorite: the dark, wild and brambly Fattoria Milziade Antano Montefalco Rosso.

Another trend on the Umbrian wine scene is what are known as the “Super Umbrians”. These blends of Sangiovese and international varieties such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and any number of other grapes are aged in small oak barriques to enhance their international appeal. But while many of these wines are sure to be crowd pleasers, I believe they may further solidify the region’s “Second Fiddle to Tuscany” image. And call me old- fashioned (or as Will and Travis do, just call me old) but I think “Cinghiale all Cacciatora” (spicy wild boar stew) and “Baffo” (salted pigs cheeks and wild sage) are better paired with something a bit more rustic!

For more on my adventures in Umbria check out my on-the-scene posts for New Jersey Monthly Magazine

http://njmonthly.com/blogs/on-the-vine/2009/3/26/taking-umbria.html

http://njmonthly.com/blogs/on-the-vine/2009/3/31/hunting-the-rare-sagrantino.html

http://njmonthly.com/blogs/on-the-vine/2009/4/2/in-orvieto-some-vintage-surprises.html

http://njmonthly.com/blogs/on-the-vine/2009/4/9/food-wine-and-floyd.html

By Sue Guerra

Montclair Chef Ariane Duarte and winemakers Virgile & Laure Lignier

This is a shot from one of our wine dinners that took place at the end of last month in the home of Amanti Vino owner Sharon Sevrens. Ariane Duarte, fresh off her appearance on the New York edition Top Chef came in and prepared an incredible meal to pair with the fantastic Burgundies of Virgile Lignier. The wines were incredible and a few people left with Grand Cru wines destined for their cellars. As importer Doug Polaner describes: “The style of the Lignier-Michelot wines is dramatic and opulent, with sappy cores of fruit, excellent expressions of terroir, and the balance and structure to allow graceful aging in the cellar. The very fine village Gevrey and Chambolle are delicious out of the blocks, as both wines share a purity of fruit and just the right amount of oak.” We couldn’t agree more. There are no mistaking these wines as hailing from Oregon, California or New Zealand. These are incredibly structured red Burgundies that will age gracefully for decades.

Next week we welcome another staunch traditionalist to Montclair for a pairing dinner at Fascino, the highly acclaimed Italian eatery located at 331 Bloomfield Ave. This time it is Luca Roagna, a fabulous Barolo producer from Piedmont. Along with his Dolcetto and current Barolos we will also be tasting some special older vintages, including the 1993. Give us a call at the store (973 509 9463) or email chris@amantivino.com if you are interested in joining us. The dinner is on Monday, April 27th and will begin at 7 pm.

Last week Sharon and I returned from VinItaly, the world’s largest Italian wine fair. For one week every year the wine world descends on the quaint, medieval town of Verona, located in the heart of the Veneto (Valpolecella, Amarone and Soave country) to taste the newest releases from wineries throughout Italy. The size and the scale of the event is difficult to describe or, as I found on the last day of our trip, even capture through photography (although I must say that “Reinhard” did a commendable job in his comments last week, http://www.weinlese.it/index.php?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=141. The event takes place within 11 separate pavilions, each large enough to hold any one of the large scale distributor tastings that take place in New York City throughout the year. Over 150,000 wine lovers and professionals attended the fair this year with more than a third coming from outside of Italy.

Despite massive size of the event, Sharon and I found the fair to be very manageable. This was in large part due to the fact that we attended as guests of Michael Skurnik Wines and Marc de Grazia Selections. Marc de Grazia is an Italian importer who brings some of Italy’s finest wines into the United States. Like Amanti Vino, de Grazia focuses on small, artisinal producers for whom winemaking is a labor of love, http://www.marcdegrazia.com/index.html. One look at their roster of incredible producers and it is easy to tell why we carry so many of their wines.

While much of VinItaly displays the kind of tacky glitz generally reserved for car shows at the Javits Center, the de Grazia “booth” is a small, fenced off area manicured with nothing more than wine glasses, tables and chairs (plus all the Salami, Speck, olive oil and Parmigiano Reggiano the producers manage to “sneak” in). This pleasantly manageable setup allows tasters to focus on what’s really important: the producers and their wines. Although we tasted over 300 wines in our two days at the fair we took the time to sit and talk wine with some of Amanti Vino’s favorite producers, that is when the language barrier wasn’t too formidable. My full year of Italian in college was only good for a single apologetic sentence explaining our lack of Italian linguistic skills. Luckily, most of the producers spoke English and were more than happy to discuss the last few vintages in Piedmont, the infamous Brunello scandal, the struggling economy’s affect on their business and anything else related to Italian wine.

All and all we had a very successful trip and brought back over 400 cases of wine (they will be arriving sporadically throughout the year). Some of them are new vintages of old favorites, while other’s are brand new to Amanti Vino (and in a few cases the United States). We look forward to sharing these wines, and their stories, with you all year long.

Will Sugerman (will@amantivino.com)