Category Archives: France

December 19, 2012 · 10:14 pm

Wine of the Week: Les Cepages Baron Philippe de Rothschild At Metropolitan Museum of Art

Met Christmas Tree

One of the truly great places to be at Christmas, if not skiing somewhere exciting, sunning somewhere warm or sailing in the Caribbean, is New York City. The city is festooned with beautiful Christmas lights and alive with wonderful Christmas shows. I love Christmas and all that it brings, including for me, a trip to the Metropolitan Museum to see the Christmas tree and its’ Neapolitan Presepio.

The Bernini show I saw was truly fabulous and gave me a real feeling of being in Rome among his gorgeous fountains which adorn every major square and his incredible sculptures which grace the interior of almost every major church.

There is actually a street in Naples where the “Maestri” of the presepio have their shops, the Via San Gregorio Armeno, otherwise known as the Via dei Presepi. When I lived in Milan I had a good friend from Naples who made his own presepio every year complete with water and electricity. It was very impressive.

Presepio

One of my favorite places to have a drink in New York City is the bar in the hallways above the great hall at the Met. Years ago I wrote an article on the restaurants in American Museums but the bar at the Met is still my favorite. The wines are passable, the nibbles are too but the location truly can’t be beat. This year I tried a new wine on their list, Les Cepages from Baron Philippe de Rothschild.

It was cheery and nicely paired with the food on the list which this month is American fare to coincide with a show on Andy Warhol. At a retail outlet, I believe it sells for between $8-$15, a nice price for a wine to bring to a party.

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December 4, 2012 · 1:07 pm

Wine of the Week: Pierre Frick Riesling 2000 Vendange Tardives Grand Cru Vorbourg

Pierre Frick

This week’s wine of the week is this delicious riesling vendanges tardives from Pierre Frick in Alsace. I thought this riesling was gorgeous filled with minerality, floral notes and flinty undertones. It was elegant and polished and the perfect end to a lovely dinner to celebrate this year’s group of graduates from the WSET Diploma program at the International Wine Center. On the first Monday in December for the last four years I have attended this dinner. It signifies the beginning of the holiday season in my mind and is a lovely way to see friends, old and new from the wine world. I got my diploma in 2008 and I was about as proud of that achievement as I was of getting my Master’s degree.

As part of the dinner, generously held each year at I Trulli, diploma graduates from past years bring wines to taste. We all try to sample as many as possible but it just isn’t possible when you see the amount of wine on offer.

Wines at Diploma Dinner

I was thrilled to see May from In the Grape and taste an Armagnac that she brought with her. May is the Armagnac ambassador for this region and is my go to person for information about this spirit and many other wines. Seated at my table was also the lovely Stephanie Mcdade from the International Wine Center. Other wine friends and partners in crime, Eileen Lemonda, Rodolphe Boulanger of Lot18 , Sasha Smith of Spin the Bottle, Tracy Ellen Kamens of Grand Cru Classes, Mary Gorman, Eileen Duffy, and Lisa Granik who provided my table with an amazing wine from Georgia, a 2007 Mukuzani made from the Saperavi grape, located in the northeastern corner of Georgia in the Kakheti region. Thanks to this wine, I found a great blog this morning called Exalted Rations. There were many men at the dinner but for once it seemed that women were the dominant force in the wine industry.

I’m sure I left someone out but it was such a lovely evening and a long one that I hope I will be forgiven. Additionally, I live in NYC where the movie industry reigns and they are shooting a new movie on my floor. The fourth in six years….I’d rather the incentives given to the movie industry go to hire 5000 new teachers as discussed in this article but alas I didn’t go into politics.

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August 15, 2012 · 9:35 pm

Buon Ferragosto and Bon Anniversaire to Julia Child

Today is Ferragosto or the holiday that celebrates the Assumption of the Virgin Mary. That said, mostly it’s a day when every Italian save the very unlucky few, is on holiday. The entire country is basically away this week and I for one applaud such dedication to relaxation for the mind, food & wine for the spirit and the beach to enjoy all of the above. I have spent many a Ferragosto on holiday in Italy or in other lands with Italian friends. It never feels right to me to work on this day but we do what we have to in order to get things done and I can’t complain having spent the better part of last week at the sea sailing or at the beach with a friend. On Saturday evening I even saw some of those amazing shooting stars I mentioned in my last post.

What do people drink on Ferragosto you might wonder? In my experience a bit of everything but it is slightly more celebratory than your average holiday so some sparkling wine might be involved or a good mixed drink like a Negroni Sbagliato. I can’t drink Gin it makes me mean like an angry cat so an ex-boyfriend introduced me to a Negroni Sbagliato years ago in Milan and I was hooked. I see I am not alone and that it has definitely made its’ way in the United States judging from this blog post at LA Cocktails.

Today we are also celebrating another holiday, Julia Child’s 100th birthday. I loved this piece in the New York Times by Jacques Pepin. She is and was such a part of our lives. Her cookbook stares out at me from my shelf everyday calling out for love as I slink past it to make simple fare. Sometimes though, I read it and imagine making what she would be making on any given night. As all readers of my blog know, like Julia, I was and remain a devoted francophile.

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May 4, 2012 · 8:36 pm

Friday How To Series: Wine Tasting With Friends: How To Organize, What To Bring To The Table

I’m starting a new series on this blog as I move into a new phase of my wine life, entitled “How To…”. This first post is about wine tasting and I would love to hear others opinions on this theme so please chime in, if you have the inclination.

I think about this issue a lot both if I’m doing an event for someone else, organizing a tasting for myself or studying for a wine exam.  If I am having a tasting with friends I think about what our goals are: to have fun, to learn something about wine, to test pairings with different foods. Mostly I think about what we collectively want out of the evening.

If I am organizing an event, I think about what the participants want out of the evening and their level of knowledge. I try to bring something new to the discussion, a grape, a region, a wine or a pairing but not so much information that they don’t remember what they have tried. I also try to leave them with materials on which to write notes and to bring home so that they remember what they have tasted.

If on the other hand I am studying, then things get more focused. A vintage, a grape, a region is usually the theme. What I am trying to do in those sessions is to profile a style in my mind. Perhaps I am tasting wines from a region that encompasses both modern and traditional styles of a certain wine. I will include both in a tasting but enough of each to firmly fix what would be a “perfect expression” of that style of wine in my mind.

This leads me to a second part of this topic, how many wines to taste at the same time. I find 12 wines a great number to pair and ponder, discuss and contrast in an evening. I also like to taste in pairs which enlivens the discussion for all.

Lucky for me, I am invited to taste wines with Gregory Del Piaz  from Snooth and his friends on a pretty regular basis. Greg is a fabulous taster as are many of his friends and he is very generous with wines from his cellar. Last night we tried a number of Chateauneuf-du Pape from the 1998 vintage.

Through the experience I reinforced what I know about Chateauneuf and how I think about those wines, all of which will help me with some future wine plans that I have in the works. We tasted in pairs and while not all of the wines showed their best, the evening was fun and helpful. My favorite was a Chateau Fortia although I think others had different preferences. It was a root day and I actually think that had something to do with the wines not showing their best.

What I also loved about the evening was listening to what people had to say and what their experiences were with these wines and other Chateauneufs. I like to taste wine with people who have more experience of a certain region than I do. With Greg, I’m in luck. He tastes more wine than anyone I know so I’m always happy to hear him wax poetic or rant about a certain wine or region. Thank you!

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April 9, 2012 · 2:09 am

Happy Easter, Buona Pasqua – Gita Fuori Porta

Today was Easter, a holiday I love actually. I tried to go to hear Gospel music but was thwarted in my attempt by renovations at the church I like to go to. I’m glad the Church is being renovated though, it needs it.

It’s a beautiful historic church in Harlem that I like to go to when I want to hear a sermon. Instead, I made my way to St. John the Divine, another church I am partial to on the West Side. Sometimes when I stand on west 112th street and look west at the rose window on St. John the Divine, I can fantasize that I am having a “gita fuori porta,” a lovely expression for a trip outside of the city, outside of the city walls. The view looks to me like that of a gothic cathedral, like Reims or Rouen.

I love French gothic Cathedrals and have spent many a day looking through them and traveling to see them specifically. To stay with the French theme, a friend and I shared an Easter meal at my local haunt, Picnic. A bistro with delicious but too pricey food. I had a glass of Paul Blanck’s Pinot Blanc. It was bigger and fruitier than I had imagined but delicious nonetheless with lovely acidity and mineral notes. While I stayed in NYC this Easter, these jaunts made me feel like I had been on my own “gita fuori porta.”

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February 20, 2012 · 5:08 pm

Happy Birthday Mr. President

I know that line is associated with a different President of the United States (POTUS) than the one I have in mind but today is President’s day and I am thinking about many of the great ones, including President Kennedy. Perhaps Lincoln is the one whom I admire most although Roosevelt ranks very highly in my mind as well.

Jefferson is of course the one I associate with the wine industry. Last year I wrote this post on Barboursville, a property he used to own.

This year, instead of drinking one of those wines I had a lovely Cremant de Loire from the winery Clos de la Briderie which
I could claim is somewhat related to Jefferson because of his love of all things French but in reality, I wanted some bubbly to celebrate the second season of my favorite soap opera, Downton Abbey.

Additionally, I rediscovered the pleasures of the Loire on a recent trip in November of last year. Chenin Blanc and Cabernet Franc are two of my favorite grapes and I was glad to try a sparkler that contained the two.

Back to the wine, this lovely, minerally cremant is made with 40% Chenin blanc, 20% Cabernet Franc, 20% Chardonnay, 20% Cabernet Sauvignon. It was long and persistent on the palate, delicate and perfect as an aperitif. The perlage was beautiful with a steady stream of fine, constant bubbles, signs of a good quality sparkler.

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February 14, 2012 · 9:52 pm

Rose All The Way On Valentine’s Day

Today is that day when you are reminded about love. I think we should be reminded of love everyday, be it love for a person, a furry friend, a poem, a mountain or a wine.

I am now taking a Master Level class on the Rhone Valley with the French Wine Academy.

The more I listened to Rhone Valley expert Kelly McAuliffe, the more I wanted to hop on a plan and hang out in Provence, drink Rose’ and contemplate life as it unfolds.

McAuliffe is so very knowledgeable about the wines of this area that it was a pleasure to listen to him via webinar. I feel excited and enthused. I haven’t been to the Rhone Valley in many years but I will never forget my first trip at 15.

I went to Avignon, Nimes and Arles. I remember that Keith Jarrett was playing but I had no idea who he was, my mistake. I later saw him play in Milan and was blown over.

Back to wine, I was interested in the way McAuliffe described the two different styles of Rose’, those that are deeper and color and more full-bodied which are produced in Tavel and those that are lighter bodied and are more popular here in the US.

I did have a Rose’ at lunch which was a 2010, a great year for whites according to McAuliffe. The Rose’ I had was nothing special but I did have a moment of transport thinking of France in the Spring.

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January 30, 2012 · 4:41 am

The Sweet Spot: Sunday With La Coume Du Roy AOC Maury

Sundays are always a mixed bag for me. Like many people I like the weekend and am always sad to see it end. To cure my malaise, this week I decided to sweeten the last hours of Sunday as I watched Downton Abbey. I have to say I am very taken with the series and all of the characters. Saddened by the death of one of them during the Great War, I reached into my frig and found to my delight, a magnificent albeit not new bottle of La Coume Du Roy from the AOC Maury from 2001.

It knocked my socks off, figuratively as I hate socks but truly what a wine. When it was first opened a few days (weeks) ago after dinner I was delighted by its aromas and flavors, in fact blown away would be a better description. A non-wine friend brought it to me as a gift for a dinner party I was having. Friends always hate to bring me wine, afraid to bring a bad bottle. That has never happened but as they say no one wants to bring coals to Newcastle. I’m so glad she brought me this wine.

I am starting a new column on this blog called the “Sweet Spot.” I love sweet wines, always have and always will. Give me a glass of sweet wine over dessert any day of the week. This one was a Vin Doux Naturel from Maury. Maury is a French town near the Spanish border in the Languedoc-Roussillon. The climate is hot and the soil in this area is black schist.

This wine is made from grenache blanche, gris and noir. Vin Doux Naturel or VDN are made by the addition of alcohol to stop the fermentation process. Some 90% of France’s VDN come from this region, according to Hugh Johnson and Jancis Robinson’s “The Concise World Atlas of Wine.”

While I was looking for more information on the wine, I came across this blog which has a great description of the winery if not this particular vintage.

I can’t wait to visit the Languedoc-Roussillon region. I hope to do so soon. In the meantime though, I wish everyone buona domenica even though it’s almost over.

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December 22, 2011 · 12:16 am

Wine of the Week: Chateauneuf-du-Pape Chateau Fortia 1994

I was lucky to be seated at just the right table during the recent WSET diploma dinner at I Trulli on December 5. I received my diploma in 2008 from the International Wine Center which manages the WSET program in the United States under the watchful eye of Mary Ewing Mulligan and Linda Lawry, guardians of the faith. I have been to every diploma dinner since and I look forward to the occasion each year.

It’s great to see other friends from the industry, meet new people and try some wonderful wines. My dear friend Eileen brought a Madeira from 1919, THANK YOU, and one from 1979 I believe.

At my table, a fellow diploma graduate brought this stunning bottle of Chateau Fortia, a Chateauneuf-du-pape from 1994 that was dreamy and in beautiful shape.
Here’s a great post on the winery written by a colleague in the wine writing business.


The history behind this bottle, the estate and Baron Le Roy was right up my alley. Nothing excites me more than that generation that fought in World War I and II. I also love what he apparently said in his testament to winegrowers in France:

“That Never the choice of Quality should be abondonned. We are not made for mass production. No!
We are unbeatable on the level of possessing elements that render the Artisan an Artist.
Quality spells out the Genious of the French people”.

This bottle certainly showed that philosophy. I found a few bottles of this year available on the internet. Don’t pass it up if you get the chance to try it.

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November 23, 2011 · 7:51 pm

We’ll Always Have Paris

Sometimes your first love is never really too far from your heart, especially when you see them again in all their glory. I will always love Paris…

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