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Saturday, December 31, 2005
Alameda Sun Article on Sparkling WinesSparkling Wine 101
Most of us associate sparkling wines with festive occasions - especially the traditional New Year’s Toast. So what better time to discuss Champagnes and their relative sparklers than right now?
Almost all the world's winemaking regions produce sparkling wine from a wide variety of grapes. Champagne is a region in France, and only sparkling wines from there should be called Champagne. In Italy it’s called Spumante; in France, it ‘s Crémant or Blanquete; in Spain, Cava; in Germany, Sekt, and in the US, Canada, South Africa and other winemaking areas it’s called Sparkling Wine.
Pairing food with sparkling wines is easy. Caviar, oysters and other shellfish are classic matches, but you'll find that white sparkling wines go well with just about anything in a creamy sauce, all sorts of vegetables, breads, and cheeses. Rosé and red sparklers also do well with fish and white-meats, fruit desserts, and even some of the darker meats (grilled beef, tuna, swordfish and other Bar-B-Que are outstanding with any sort of red bubbly). Sweet sparklers are best alone or with fruit desserts.
There are three methods of making sparkling wines: Méthode Champenoise, the Transfer Method, and Méthode Charmat. Méthode Champenoise is the most complicated (and most expensive) method, and involves two separate fermentations. The grapes are picked earlier than those used for table wines, and then fermented in large tanks. When fermentation is complete (when all of the sugar has been converted to alcohol), the wine is allowed to rest for several months.
During this time, solids and particles (the lees) settle to the bottom of the tank, and the clear wine is siphoned off and blended with wine from previous vintages (for non vintage champagne) in order to make a consistent house style or cuvée. The wine is then poured into heavy bottles with sugar and yeast (called liqeuer de triage) added to start a second fermentation. The bottles are capped with a soda cap, and allowed to rest from one to three years. Since fermentation always produces carbon dioxide, and the champagne bottles are sealed, the wine becomes bubbly.
This secondary fermentation also produces sediment. The wines are stored at an angle (neck down) and turned a bit every day, to encourage the sediment to settle at the neck. This is called riddling. After several weeks, the vintner freezes the neck and uncaps the bottle. The pressurized wine forces the sediment out of the bottle (disgorgement).
Since the bottle is no longer full, a bit of wine and sugar is added to fill up the bottle. This is called dosage. The amount of dosage added will make the wine extra brut, brut, extra dry, dry, demi-sec, or doux, depending upon sugar levels. The bottle is then recorked with a wire cage closure to prevent accidental opening, boxed and shipped.
The Transfer Method follows Méthode Champenoise up to the point the secondary fermentation. However, the secondary fermentation doesn’t take place in the bottle that is sold to the consumer. The fermentation bottles are emptied under pressure, and the wine is then filtered and then bottled under pressure into a new set of bottles. This eliminates the riddling, disgorgement and dosage processes, which are time consuming and expensive.
Méthode Charmat uses a glass-lined, pressurized tank for the secondary fermentation. Filtering and bottling are also done under pressure. This is the least expensive of the three, and can take as little as ninety days from first fermentation to bottling.
By law, Champagne is always made using Pinot Noir, Chardonnay or Pinot Meunier grapes (or a combination of them). Sparkling wines in California are also made using just those varietals. Other winemaking regions use a wide variety of grapes, most of which are native to the region. Generally speaking, Sekt is Riesling; Cava is Maccabeu, Mazeula or Parellada (although traditional Champagne varietals are being used with some of the higher end producers); Spumante is Prosecco, Lambrusco or Moscato Bianco, Crémant de Loire is Chenin Blanc; Blanquette de Limoux (the first sparkling wine ever produced) is a blend of Mauzac, Chenin Blanc, Clairette, and sometime Chardonnay), etc., etc., etc.
Red sparkling wines are made in Australia, Italy, and elsewhere. For a sparkling red, the skins are left in the fermenting juice, just as they would be for a still wine. Sparkling reds are generally more tannic than sparkling white wines. Rosé sparkling wines are made by adding a little red wine juice to the white base wine before secondary fermentation.
Generally speaking, sparkling wines have higher acidity, lower alcohol content and more delicate flavor than their still counterparts. They’re a great match with many foods, and they just seem more fun and festive to drink than a regular table wine. You can find sparkling wines at every price point - from the $5 range all the way up to $200 plus per bottle. Try some today!
Freelance writer Jeff Diamond owns and operates of Farmstead Cheeses & Wines, a fine wine and cheese store located on The Island in the Alameda Marketplace on Park Street. He can be reached at Jeff@FarmsteadCheesesAndWines.com.
Friday, December 30, 2005
Summer in Tuscany
We were driving to Cortona. The clouds and sunflowers were so beautiful that I had to pull over and take a few snapshots..... 
Tips from the Wine and Cheese Guy
Turkey Wines
No, not wines from Anatolia (although they are starting to produce some great wines in Turkey); this month, we’re talkin’ turkey - gobble gobble - and the wines that go or don’t go with them.
Here’s the deal: you’ve got 25 people coming over for a feast of roasted turkey with all of the trimmings - stuffing, squash soup, cranberry sauce, candied yams, mashed potatoes, green beans, tossed salad, biscuits, a cheese course, and pumpkin or pecan pie. Yikes!! Which wine or wines should you serve? How much wine should you buy? Red, white, sparkling, or rosé?
Relax, it’s not that complicated. Turkey goes amazingly well with many red, white, rosé wines and sparkling wines. The key is to choose wines that will complement the meal, and not overwhelm the already hearty flavors of the day. Look for high acid, lower alcohol wines that are dry to off-dry. Try to avoid big, tannic, or oaky California wines; steer towards France, Oregon and Spain.
The best white wine matches are refreshing, tangy, fruity, medium weight wines. Experiment a bit - think viognier, chenin blanc, dry gewürztraminer, torrontes, dry or off-dry riesling, and Alsatian-style pinot gris. Some sauvignon blancs might work (think Sancerre), as will unoaked chardonnays (Chablis, Macon, or other white burgundies).
But stay away from the oaky, buttery chards. While they’ll work with the turkey and potatoes, oaky flavors clash and dominate almost everything else on the plate. Also, avoid wines that are too light in stature (gruner veltliner, pinot grigio, vernaccia, et cetera). They tend to disappear behind the heavy flavors and textures of a hearty meal.
Red wine with poultry? Sure. For my money, the best reds that match with turkey are beaujolais, cabernet francs, and pinot noir. The Beaujolais Nouveau that has just arrived in most fine wine stores is a no-brainer. Fresh, fruity, and with a bit of spritz, can there be a better way to celebrate than with this Gamay-based charmer? The cherry fruits of pinot noir match nicely to game and to cranberry; and the soft tannins of a cabernet franc go well with big roasty flavors. Low alcohol cabernet sauvignon (like Bordeaux); spicy, peppery grenache- or syrah-based blends (from the Rhone Valley or Spain); lighter style zinfandels ; or even a spanish tempranillo like Rioja will also pair quite nicely with your Thanksgiving feast. Don’t be afraid to experiment.
But avoid choosing big cabernets, syrahs, or zinfandels. They’re too tannic and high in alcohol to match well with turkey, and the sugars in the food will make the tannins in cabs taste bitter.
Rosés are a breeze with turkey. The crisp, fruity nature of a good rosé will match perfectly with white meat, play off roasted flavors of crackly skin and blend in with the heavier dark meat flavors. Choose any dry rosé wine you can find. Even dreaded white zinfandel works well with turkey and all the trimmings.
Surprisingly, pairing a sparkling wine with the Thanksgiving meal works very well. The creaminess of a brut champagne, the sweetness of a spumante or prosecco, or the red fruity character of a lambrusco, dry rosé sparkler or sparkling shiraz can all take the place of a still wine very well. This might be an option you want to consider.
Are you serving ham and/or prime rib in addition to turkey? Mamma Mia! Don’t panic, here are a few wine suggestions:
A glazed ham is both salty and sweet; so fresh white wines with good acidity, some residual sugar, and a dry finish work best. Look for trocken (or dry) riesling, gewürztraminer, or an Alsatian pinot gris. Rosés, beaujolais and pinots will also work well.
Typically, beef screams out for big cabernets, syrahs, and zins; wines packed with fruit, oak, tannins and sugars. But if you’re serving beef along with the turkey, those wines will dominate our fine once-feathered friend (and everything else on the table). So, look for rhone-style blends of grenache or syrah , a soft cab or merlot, or even a nice mourvedre, with smokey and chocolately overtones that will match with both the prime rib and the big bird.
Finally, here’s a few Thanksgiving wine rules to remember:
· Don’t match heavy wines with a heavy meal. Go for lighter, fruitier wines without a lot of oak or tannin.
· Thanksgiving is about abundance; so don’t pour your best or most expensive wines.
· Pour several different varietals so you and your guests can match them with the varied flavors and textures on your table.
· There’s not one single wine that will perfectly pair with every flavor on the table, so don’t stress.
· Serve sparkling wine before the meal and dessert wine with the last course.
· How much wine to buy? Assume three glasses of wine per adult, and five glasses per bottle. Multiply the number of guests by three, and divide by five to arrive at the number of bottles you will need.
· Assume two three ounce pours of sparkling wine and one two ounce pour of dessert wine per adult.
· Dessert wines should always be as sweet as or sweeter than the desserts that they accompany.
· Relax, and try to have fun at this often stressful event. Remember, you’re among friends.
· Don’t let your guests drive home drunk.
Monday, December 26, 2005
Carol and Jeff
Here we are in Assisi....
Sunday, December 25, 2005
Merry ChristmasWhew! Well, we are two thirds through the "Holiday" season here at Farmstead (Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years' Day), and boy, are we ever flourishing!
We set a new sales record the day before Thanksgiving, met it the Saturday prior to Christmas weekend, broke it on the 23rd, and then shattered that record on the 24th!
Our staff performed admirably under at times trying times, providing superlative service (and great products) to Alamedans, San Leandrans, Oaklanders and even the occasional Berkeleyite.
Thanks to all, Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah, and have a groovin' Kwanzaa.
Friday, December 23, 2005
The 20 minute ruleAnother Alameda Sun Article......
The Twenty Minute Rule
Like the Three Bears of the nursery story, most of us tend to serve our wine either too warm or too cold, hardly ever just right. We seldom serve wine at proper temperature, and this contributes to almost as much bad-tasting wine as bad wine itself.
The problem stems from a bit of an oft-misunderstood wine wisdom: serve white wine cold, red wine at room temperature. Many people think that room temperature for reds means whatever temperature their room happens to be, and that chilling a white wine means that it’s at it’s best right out of the refrigerator.
This notion is reinforced by many restaurants that serve wines at the wrong temp, sending an incorrect message to their patrons about proper wine service temperature. This is disconcerting, as many of us look to restaurants for our cues about wine etiquette.
Room Temperature is not the temperature of your room, rather the temperature of some drafty castle in France or England without the central heating that is ubiquitous in the States. Most home refrigerators are set to 36-40°F; great for preserving milk, but horrible for serving wine.
When white wines are served too cold, the buttery notes of a California Chardonnay or the flintiness of a Sancerre (Loire Valley Sauvignon Blanc) are masked - revealing little but chilly and/or metallic notes. White wines always show their aromatic and flavor qualities better when they aren't ice cold.
Above 72°F, red wine tends to break down into its separate components: alcohol, fruit, tannin, and acid. This gives reds a heavy and out of balance character, with hot, alcoholic, and flabby flavors overwhelming the finesse and finish that the winemaker intended. Try drinking a high alcohol Amador Zin at ambient temperature on a warm day and you’ll see what I mean.
Think I’m crazy? Try the following experiment at home. Buy two identical bottles of white wine, and place them both in the fridge. Take one out 20 minutes before you want to drink it, and take the second one out 20 minutes later. Open them both, and pour out two glasses. Taste them both. Which one tastes better (not colder, not more refreshing, but better)? Which reveals more fruit and nuance? Which has more complexity, more of those pompous adjectives that wine geeks throw out at every chance?
Try the same thing on a hot day with red wines. Take two identical bottles of red and place one in the fridge for 20 minutes or so, and leave the other out on the counter. I’ll bet that the colder red delivers more of what it is that you like about red wine: balance, flavor, fruit, and finish.
Try to remember the Jeff Diamond 20 Minute Rule: get your red wines into the fridge 20 minutes before you drink them, and your white wines out of the fridge 20 minutes before serving. Exceptions to this rule are for rosés, Loire Valley Cabernet Francs and Beaujolais, which need to be a few degrees warmer than whites; fortified wines, which should be a tad warmer than Reds; and dessert wines, which should be a bit colder than whites. (Generally, the sweeter the wine, the colder the serving temperature).
A bottle of wine will chill in the fridge or an ice bucket at about 4°F per ten minutes, and will warm up out of the fridge at about the same rate. The best method to chill a bottle quickly is to use a bucket, filled with ice cubes and water, and let it chill for 20-25 minutes. It’s okay if you don’t have a fancy crystal or silver champagne bucket; a bowl or a pitcher large enough to hold the ice, water and a bottle will do just fine.
Don’t ever put a bottle into the freezer for rapid chilling. Rapid temperature change is never good for a fine wine, and more importantly, a forgotten bottle could either freeze or even explode.
When dining out, don't hesitate to adjust the temperature of your wine. If your Chardonnay is ice cold, take it out of the ice bucket and put it on the table for a few minutes. And don’t ask your server to warm up a bottle for you, I’ve heard of restaurants warming too cold wines in a microwave oven! If the red wine is too warm, ask the server for an ice bucket and use it judiciously.
Weather can be a factor, too. On a sweltering day, all wines - reds and whites - should be served a bit cooler than indicated in this article. Conversely, if you are in a chilly environment, adjust the temperature of the wines up by a degree or two.
Here are some optimal wine serving temperatures:
Whites: 45-50 °F
Reds: 50-65 °F
Rosés: 48-55 °F
Sparkling: 42-52 °F
Fortified wines: 55-68 °F
Dessert Wines: 41-46°F
Tuesday, December 20, 2005
Outside of Pisa......
Monday, December 19, 2005
Alameda Sun article on FondueHere's My article on Fondue, from the 12/14/05 Alameda Sun:
Do You Fondue?
It’s wintertime here on The Island, and thoughts turn to melted cheese. That’s right, it’s Fondue Time! Personally, I can’t think of a better way to eat some cheese.
The name fondue comes from the past participle of the French verb fondre (to melt), so a literal translation would be melted. The name refers to a Swiss dish consisting of bread dipped into a communal pot filled with melted Swiss cheeses. It’s a soothing, and healthful meal that is easy to prepare, and fun to eat. It makes a great family meal that also works well as a romantic dinner for two.
Fondue was originally a one-dish peasant meal that was invented out of necessity in the Swiss canton (county) of Neuchâtel in order to use up excess cheese. In the remote villages of Switzerland, people relied on locally produced food. During winter, fresh food was scarce. Folks discovered that melting dried out cheese made it not only edible, but tasty, even when sopped up with stale, crusty bread.
Fondue became popular in the US in the late 1950s, and remained a popular dish into the 60s and 70s. It has enjoyed a latter day renaissance that coincides with the increase in American’s appetite for fine cheeses, as well as an appreciation for retro and comfort foods.
In fact, we Americans love fondue so much, we’ve reinvented it to near unrecognizability. Do an Internet search for fondue recipes, and you’ll see what I mean: there’s Hot Oil Beef Fondue, Chocolate Fondue, Mexican Fondue, Mediterranean Shrimp Fondue, Velveeta Fondue, Almond Champagne Fondue, Butterscotch Fondue, Holiday Fondue with Ground Beef and Wisconsin Cheddar, Welsh Fondue with Leeks, Hot Dog Fondue, Vegan Dilled Garbanzo Fondue and even Angel Food Cake Fondue. Give me traditional cheese fondue any day.
Cheese fondue always has the same core ingredients, although each of Switzerland’s 23 cantons has its own variation. Those core ingredients are Gruyère and Emmenthaler cheese, cornstarch or flour, kirsch (cherry brandy), garlic, and dry white wine.
The cornstarch or flour is added to prevent the mixture from curdling, and the wine and brandy, while adding flavoring, lower the boiling point so that the cheese proteins don’t separate.
My favorite recipe adds three softer cheeses (Appenzeller, Vacherin Fribourgeois, and Raclette) and Sbrinz (a Swiss grating cheese) which add complexity, a bitter component, and depth.
Fondue is made in a fondue pot or caquelon that is made of either earthenware, glazed ceramic or enameled cast iron. The fondue is heated on a cooktop in the caquelon over low to medium heat then transferred to the table and placed over an alcohol burner or a hot plate.
Crusty chunks of bread (a baguette, sourdough or an Italian loaf all work fine) are placed onto long forks, which are then dipped into the caquelon, twirled to expel the excess, and then popped into the mouth.
Try the recipe below for a fun and nostalgic meal.
_______________
Fabulous Swiss Fondue (serves four-six) (adapted and modified from The Joy of Cooking and Epicurious.com)
1/2 lb Gruyère cheese
1/2 lb Emmenthaler cheese
1/4 lb Appenzeller cheese
1/4 lb Vacherin Fribourgious cheese
1/4lb Raclette cheese
a few ounces of Sbrinz
1 clove of garlic, cut lengthwise
1/4cup Kirsch (cherry brandy)
1 1/2 to 2 cups dry white wine
2 tablespoons cornstarch
juice of one lemon
pinch of nutmeg
1 to 1 1/2inch cubes of crusty French, Sourdough, or Italian bread
Fondue forks or wooden skewers
Caquelon or Fondue pot
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Grate the cheese using the large holes of a box grater.
Toss the cheese in one half of the cornstarch
Rub the inside of a caquelon or heavy pot with cut sides of garlic.
Discard garlic.
Add wine and lemon juice to pot and bring to a slow simmer over low/moderate heat.
Stir together the remaining cornstarch and kirsch in a cup.
Gradually add cheese by the handful to pot, stirring constantly in a zigzag pattern to prevent cheese from balling up, until cheese is just melted and creamy.
Keep the temperature just below simmering point.
Stir cornstarch/kirsch mixture again and stir into fondue.
Bring fondue to a slow simmer and cook, stirring, until thickened, 5 to 8 minutes.
If you aren’t preparing the fondue in a caquelon, transfer to heated caquelon set over a flame.
Serve with bread for dipping.
If the fondue becomes too thick, add some of the additional kirsch.
Spear the bread cubes with fondue forks and dip them into the fondue.
Here's one of the last photos of our sweetheart, Danni, who passed away in October from bone cancer. We miss her terribly, she was a wonderful friend.
Here's a photo of my bride, Ms. Farmstead, at Jeff's 50th birthday bash, putting the final touches on a huge mass of ribs. (Secret: we smoke our ribs with Hickory for 8 hours, then finish on the grill to glaze on the sauce!).
Sunday, December 18, 2005
Near Paso Robles.....