The Corkdork - Wine and Food Musing

Cork Taint Test Kit Available

Oeneo Closures USA, makers of a composite cork product that claims to be free of the possibility of taint by means of a combination of natural cork and a "high tech solution known as super critical CO2 (super critical is a physical state 'between' a liquid and a gas, where carbon dioxide acts as a very efficient solvent to remove TCA molecules —as well as 150 other compounds);" want you to learn more about corked wines and teach you how to pick out TCA taint.

In order to prove their point that TCA is wrecking your wine and mine, they have offered a kit (appears to be free) to train yourself to smell TCA. I've ordered a kit and will let know you how it works. I already have a high sensitivity to the scent of cork taint and am excited to try to hone it more.

You deserve to send back or return wine that has taint, but you need to know what it really smells like to be confident your nose is correct.

Taint happens to the best of wineries by getting a bad batch, but it also can cost dearly, as BV found out a few years ago, when it infests a whole area of the winery. BV ended up selling tons of wine at fire-sale prices during the spate of bad TCA news. Yes, I got a whole bunch, and not one was tainted! My good luck.

I imagine they have a limited amount of these kits, so I would check out the link above quickly if you're interested.

ZAP Treat: 25% off Trinitas

I got permission to pass this along...Trinitas makes some very fine Zinfandel and they have a good deal for ZAP fans.

In the spirit of the 2008 Z.A.P. Festival "For the Love of Zin" we are offering 25% off all of our Zinfandel products through February 29th, 2007. To receive your 25% discount, enter the Promo Code ZAPFESTIVAL at the checkout screen of trinitascellars.com or call our office at (707) 935-3504. If you should have any questions please email Jennifer Scott at jenscott@trinitascellars.com.

ZAP is here!

Tonight starts the week of Zinfandel in San Francisco with flights, food pairings, and tastings that covers the spectrum of zinfandel styles. I can only cover the main Saturday tasting, but I'll try to get my notes up in short order afterwards. Here are the details. My recommendation is to get there early for the public tasting as many of the best wines are in short supply and go fast. You may be able to become a member before Saturday and enjoy the new members early entrance. Great details on Ovahere.  I've been every year since 1996 except for 2005 when I was tasting in France. Lots of fun. See my guide to Zap survival here.

17th Annual Grand Zinfandel Tasting

Saturday January 26
Trade & Media 10 a.m. - 1 p.m.
(requires special ticket and badge)

NEW! Members Only Entrance Time 1 p.m. - 5 p.m.
General Public 2 p.m. - 5 p.m.
Silent Auction 10 a.m. - 4 p.m.

Herbst & Festival Pavilions
Fort Mason Center, San Francisco
Marina Blvd. at Buchanan
415-441-3400
$49(ZAP members), $59(non-members), $69 at the door

A minimal processing fee is included in the ticket price.

From Russia with Buzz: Zyr Vodka

Another superb vodka came to my attention, this one of a more modern wheat/rye composition. Zyr (pronounced Zēr) is super-clean and has a long-lingering smoothness on the tongue.  This has a lot more heft to it than other vodkas I've tasted recently, perhaps because it is distilled five times before the proof adjustment with water. The character of a grain-based vodka also is very different than one made from potatoes, I'm discovering. There is also a touch of sweetness on the palate that would make for a very fine cocktail. Recommended.

This reminded me a lot of the vodkas I remember drinking in Poland, where I had an amazing journey in the Solidarity-heavy days before Lech Walesa was elected President of the Republic of Poland.

You're best treating this with a light touch, namely an excellent martini. Here's my take on it.

Fool-Proof In-n-Out Martini
for making one drink

Prep a martini glass by filling it with ice while you prepare the cocktail. In a shaker, put in a handful of ice. Without needing to measure, put a nice big splash of white vermouth (I like Noilly Prat) and coat the ice nicely using a bar spoon. Then, drain out the vermouth into the sink, and add 2 oz of ZYR vodka (or your favorite gin, if you prefer), and STIR for 30 seconds or so with your spoon. Toss out the ice in the glass and strain the cocktail into the glass. Garnish with a good stuffed olive, or tiny sliver of lemon peel. Serves one.

WBW#41 Friuli-Venezia Giulia White Wines: The Magic of iClivi

It's Wine Blogging Wednesday again, and this month's theme, hosted by Fork and Bottle, is one of the best in many months. I love Italian whites, and haven't had nearly enough Friuli wines, so it's a great excuse seek out a great one.

This month, I feel very fortunate to have been turned on to a wine that I can revisit for this month from a master winemaker, Ferdinando Zanusso at iClivi. I first tasted this at the wonderful restaurant, Hearth, in NYC with one of my dear friends who just happens to work for Artisan Wines, an important importer of great Italian wines. Hearth had it on special by the glass, but honestly, I think it was not this exact bottling, but I still remembered it was very exciting at the time.

When I heard of our theme I called up my friend and asked if he could send me some more to write about today and he also sent a red Friuli and one more Clivi for the cellar. That is what friends are for --I really love this wine.

This is completely natural wine. No oak. No racking. No filtering. Natural yeast from the grapes themselves do the fermenting. Only age and long slow cold fermentation form what ends up in the glass. The grapes, mostly Tocai with a little Malvasia,  come from very old stock, up to 70 years old, with very low yields. The result is a stunningly clean wine.

2002 Clivi Brazan

The first thing that hits you is how fresh the wine smells, like it was just pressed with the headiness of the must rising from the tank. Then comes gentle flowery tones, honey, seaside minerals, and a hint of banana tropicals.  The lack of filtration makes the wine coat the palate in a lovely way, with some nice heft. Five years of age has left her mark, imparting a beautiful glow in the glass. While this has less of the bracing acidity of a lot of the Friuli whites I've had, with more minerality that doesn't detract from pairing this with food. It is drinking perfectly now, but a few more years of age couldn't hurt.

Seek this wine out. Highly recommended.

Steal this bottle! 2003 Grand Archer Syrah

My local Safeway has marked down Dick Arrowood's second label, Grand Archer from $25.98 to $7.99 with your safeway card. This is a very easy drinking syrah with no real edge to it, but can certainly put a smile on your face for $7.99.  I've been a fan of Dick's wine since the 70s when he was the winemaker at St. Jean, and then his own Arrowood bottlings today. He's removed the Arrowood name from label since this photo was taken, and I assume he's trying to get name recognition on its own. I recognized it immediately and seized a bunch of it. I'll race you to the rest!

The 2003 Grand Archer Syrah has the soft charm of a lot of Sonoma County  Syrahs, without the depth and sauvage nature of Syrahs from say, Santa Rita,  Petaluma Gap,  or those classified as Sonoma Coast. This is clearly from an area of more substantial warmth. Nonetheless, I would assume this is a $20+ wine at least, and I'm thrilled I found it for such a deal. Recommended.

Las Vegas Food & Wine Bargain! Sundays at Rosemary's

I end up in Las Vegas quite a bit for work and anyone who has been there in the last few years knows that bargains for eats usually stop at the end of the buffet table or food court. After extensive net searching, I found a wonderful restaurant quite far off the strip that is worth the $25 cab ride to get there. (About a half hour drive).

Forget the excellent food for a minute; Sunday is half-price wine night. --and they have an excellent list. We were able to have these two beauties for a little over a hundred dollars...

2005 Olivier Leflaive Puligny-Montrachet - a steely wonder from what is turning out to be a stunning year. Filled with minerality and focus this was a steal at $52.

2001 Sanguineti Brunello di Montalcino - leathery textured and bursting with heady licorice-tinged red currents. Another total steal at $56 or so. Recommended by the excellent sommelier.

Back to the food --all of which was first rate, and another bargain if you choose to use their $50 prix fixe. Much of their food is slanted toward the creole treatment, but done with a light hand. For my $50 I had lovely crisp pan fried milk-fed Veal Sweetbreads with pumpkin, sage & caramelized onion orzo & butternut squash coulis --complicated but well executed. I followed that with a second appetizer of gulf prawns, then the crispy skin striped bass with andouille, rock shrimp, fingerling potato hash, hushpuppies and creole meunier. The portions were on the large side, so I had no dessert, though they looked very fine.

 

Certainly a recommendation and I expect to be a regular Sunday night visitor when I'm in town. 

Rosemary's Restaurant
8125 W. Sahara
Las Vegas, NV 89117
Tel:702.869.2251
Fax: 702.869.2283
Lunch (Mon-Fri):11:30am-2:30pm
Dinner (Daily) 5:30pm - close

Reservations suggested though walk-ins welcome.

 

Best Breakfast in Anaheim

I've been traveling for the last week, first to Disneyland and LA for a few days with my kids, then to Las Vega$ for work. The trip to the land of Disney usually has no culinary treats whatsoever, but thanks to yelp, I did manage to get away from the park for one good meal: breakfast at the Original Pancake House in Anaheim.

This is one of those old fashioned SoCal places that I find charming and real - the antithesis of the land of Goofy and Mickey. One bite of the sourdough flap jacks will have you sold. They are using a home made starter and the result is a heady-yeasty-yielding wonder. If only they had real maple syrup...

Next time you're down there, check it out.

1418 E. Lincoln
Anaheim, CA 92805
714-535-9815 Fax: 714-572-6638

Open 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. daily