Sean Connery and Barbara Carrera in "Never Say
Never Again" (1983)
❖❖❖
IN THIS ISSUE
BEND, OREGON By John Mariani
NEW YORK CORNER
FIVE SAVORY BLOCKS
IN ASTORIA, QUEENS
By John Mariani
NOTES
FROM THE WINE CELLAR
THE WINES OF THE WILLAMETTE VALLEY,
Part One
By John Mariani
❖❖❖
BEND,
OREGON, FIGHTS TO
STAY THE WAY IT WAS By John Mariani
Riverhouse on Deschutes
River
It’s
tough to tell the billionaires from the
millionaires in Bend, because they dress like
everyone else—a de rigueur uniform for both men
and women that focuses on gray or brown
Patagonia t-shirts, Orvis cargo pants, Big
Lebowski sweaters and Puma baseball caps, often
worn backwards, set with Oakley sunglasses above
the peak.In all seasons some wear wool beanies
over their ears.
It remains
to be seen if the current boom in Bend real estate
can be restrained enough to keep this beautiful
small-ish city of 90,000 people as the kind of
place people retire to and that over-taxed,
smog-poisoned Californians move to to escape.Bend is
the kind of town where a gigantic fir tree grows
through the roof of the Pine Tavern (below, left),
where the outdoor food market has a tent that
sells only kabocha products and where “awesome” is
the most common adjective used.
Depending on the direction you
take to get to Bend, which was named after a
“farewell bend” in the Deschutes River, you’ll
find a flat, arid landscape of high desert dotted
with aromatic sagebrush and juniper; on the
horizon just 23 miles from the city are the
totemic Three Sisters (below), a trio of 10,000-foot
mountains that are part of the Cascade Range;
Mount Washington is just an hour away, persnickety
Mount Hood two.Looming
over downtown Bend is Pilot Butte, a 500-foot
volcano easily trekked in a day; The High Desert
Museum, set on 135 wooded acres, features
both indoor and outdoor attractions that include a
reverential history of the Plateau Indians.
Vast state and national parks
lie within a two-hours’ drive of Bend, and the
fast-rushing Deschutes River, which bisects the
city, is ideal for kayaking, canoeing and good
fishing.As
you’d expect, you can book jeep and rafting tours,
and a company called Riddle Routes creates
scavenger hunts for teams to ferret through.
More
leisurely adventurers might well prefer the Bend Ale Trail,
the largest of its kind in the West (there’s an
app for it for your mobile phone), along which you
can visit sixteen breweries, stretching outside of
town to Redmond and Sisters. Right smack in town
are Boneyard, 10 Barrel, Bend Brewing Company,
Cascade Lakes, Crux, Deschutes, GoodLife,
Immersion, Sunriver, Worthy, and Old Saint, this
last carved out of what was once Old Saint Francis
School, now with a hotel, movies and bars.Monkless,
opened in 2014, is the creation of an organic
chemist and Immersion offers a “Brew It Yourself”
option.A
crop of new cideries has also popped up around the
city.
Nearby the start of the Ale
Trail, the Bunk + Brew Historic Lucas House has
been converted to a very low-cost place to stay,
so much so that you get your choice of a bed or a
bunk.A
Doubletree by Hilton is set smack in the middle of
town. Way higher up the pole are the Wall Street
Suites, with 17 fully equipped
suites, including kitchen, but no restaurant.
Themost
enticing hotel-resort in the city is Riverhouse,
straddling the roaring river.On-premises
it seems the hotel’s buildings are imbedded into
the Oregon woodlands, even though Route 20, Bend’s
main drag, is only steps from the front entrance,
with a strip mall across the road.Once
through the door, however, you enter a huge lobby
and restaurant called Currents (which I’ll be
writing about next week), with a shaded terrace
overlooking the Deschutes, which at that point
runs over rocks and swirls around boulders as it
courses off into the distance.
Across a wooden bridge are the
newer Riverhouse rooms (right), all spacious and
minimally decorated, with wide, tall windows that
take full advantage of the hilly landscape
outside. Riverhouse is also the only hotel and
convention center facility in the State of Oregon
to be awarded a LEED Silver Certification.
A city with a very high per
capita dog population, Bend earned Dog Fancy
magazine’s “Dogtown USA 2012” award for having 40
restaurants allowing canines outside the premises
and more than 13 off-leash areas in city parks and
National Forests. Watch where you walk.
Strolling
through downtown Bend, which fans out in every
direction, you’ll find a converted movie theater
for live entertainment, plenty of stores selling
woolen shirts, jeans, Birkenstocks and trail gear,
and, this being Oregon, if you’re over 21, a slew
of emporiums where you can legally buy marijuana,
with names like Jenny’s Dispensary, Oregrown
“farm-to-table cannabis company,” and Higher
Elevations, which offers “discounts to veterans.”There’s
also a boutique called Gypsy Soul Vagabond selling
gypsy home furnishings and clothes, and Ranch
Records still carries vinyl recordings, cassettes
and DVDs, along with rock and roll memorabilia of
many musicians who have long ago left the stage.
Also worth noting is that Bend is home to the last
remaining Blockbuster store anywhere. Homage
should be paid to such a landmark, at least if
you’re more than 30 years old.
❖❖❖
NEW YORK CORNER
FIVE
SAVORY BLOCKS
IN ASTORIA
By
John Mariani
Bridges to Astoria, Queens, from Manhattan
The
debate over which American cities have the best
restaurants will go on and on, but in sheer
numbers and in every borough (save Staten
Island) New York wins on points. One salient
proof is in Astoria, Queens, where on five short blocks,
bisected by an elevated subway track, a score of
restaurants of every stripe lines 36th Avenue
from 29th to 34th Street, with still more on the
next block and the next block and the
surrounding blocks, too.
Astoria was settled in the 17th
century and in the 19th was re-named after the
richest man in America, John Jacob Astor, in hopes
of getting the tycoon to invest in the area, which
ended up being a paltry $500.But the
name stuck and the neighborhood grew commercially
to include the Steinway piano factory and
America’s first movie studios, whose premises now
house the superb Museum of the Moving Image and
Kaufman Astoria Studios.
At first Astoria was a German
and Czech neighborhood—the Bohemian Beer Hall and
Garden is still thriving off 31st Street—then the
Jews and Italians came at the turn of the century,
followed by the Greeks and in recent years Eastern
Europeans, Hispanics, South Americans and
Africans, all of whom have opened their own kinds
of restaurants, all enriching the food culture
immeasurably.
Since my
son and daughter-in-law live in Astoria, and my
wife and I are weekly babysitters, I’ve gotten to
know the restaurants, bars and eateries in the
area, not all of them wonderful but in enough
profusion to keep us fed for weeks without ever
repeating a national cuisine.
Heading southeast from 29th
Street, near the Mosque Masjid el-Ber, you come to
Aladdin (2906
36th Avenue), a new Bangladeshi eatery where at
lunch they keep bringing out trays of fresh hot samosa
pastries and meat patties and a daily menu of
biryanis, curries, pulaos, all variants with goat,
chicken and beef. At breakfast the room fills with
the aromas of sweet pastries.
Two and a
half years old and very popular is Boishakhi
(2914 36th Avenue), also Bangladeshi but serving
halal Indian and Pakistani fare too, in a bright
room with a brisk take-out service. Portions are
very generous for plates of Bengali bhuri and
chana dal
of lentils, plenty of different kababs and
cheese-rich spinach saag paneer,
and the unusual river fish called hilsa.
The chef is Shahara Khan, who hails from Dhaka,
and her family members run the dining room with a
great rush of enthusiasm. They stay open till
midnight most nights. LIC (Long
Island City) Bagel (3108 36th Avenue, next
to the El), is something of a misnomer if only
because Mexican owner Armando serves big
breakfasts—all day—along with Mexican items like
burritos and quesadillas.Frescos
Tortillas (3112 36th Avenue) meanwhile is
owned by Asians who sell Tex-Mex items like
chile con carne and Mexican pizzas.
There are,
of course, Italian pizzerias and American bars all
claiming to serve the best burger in Queens.Arharn Thai
(3205 36th Avenue), which has flourished for 25
years, serves the standards of Thai cuisine like
mee krob, pad Thai noodles, tod mon
fish cakes, khaum
jep dumplings, yum pla muk
squid salad, yum koong
spicy lemongrass and shrimp soup, and chef’s
specialties like pla duk pad
ped of fried bone-in catfish with red curry
and coconut milk.
Across the street is a new
Greek restaurant, Psari Greek
Captain (3210 36th Avenue), with very pleasant outdoor tables
that allow you to see the entire panoply of recent
immigrants pass by. As you’d expect, seafood is
the draw (the word psari
means “fish”), grilled and served whole and
glossed with lemon and olive oil, along with
classics like saganaki,
tzatziki, taramasalata and lamb chops.
When Brazil was
still in the World Cup action, Rio Grill
and Café (3215 36th Avenue) was packed with
local boosters wearing yellow and green t-shirts
(which can purchase here) and shouting and
lamenting in Portuguese, while enjoying a buffet
of barbecue, pastel de
queijo cheese pastry, codfish cakes, rice,
beans and sandwiches of ham and cheese on a
Brazilian sweet bun.And at the Copacabana
churrascaria (3113 36th Avenue) the specialty is
Brazilian rodizio
barbecue.
There are also
two Ecuadorian restaurants on the avenue, but the
most popular spot at any time of day is the Venezuelan
Arepas Café (3307 36th Avenue), where the draw are the fat stuffed
corn pastry-wrapped arepas of
pork, chicken, beef, and tangy shredded cheese
with bottles of hot sauce on the side. Yuca strips
are served with a creamy cilantro dressing while
the parilla
of mixed grilled pepper steak, chicken strips or
shrimp over rice is as hearty a dish as you’ll
find in the neighborhood.The
colorful dining rooms are decorated with
Venezuelan flags and murals of the owners’
countryside. Ask Ricardo for his suggestions and
you’ll be an old friend by the end of the meal.
Next door,
at the corner of 36th Avenue and 34th Street, is a
small storefront named Joe Asian
& Sushi (3319 36th Avenue), where I go
for a quick sushi fix—the Sushi Deluxe is nine
pieces and a tuna roll for $20; Sashimi Deluxe is
17 pieces of assorted sashimi for $22.
By the way, most of these
places offer special prices, discounts for
first-timers and all sorts of inducements to bring
you through the door.
As the
photos here show, there are a lot more places I
haven’t mentioned and that I have yet to try.It’ll
take some time. Stay tuned.
❖❖❖
NOTES FROM THE WINE CELLAR
THE WINES OF THE
WILLAMETTE VALLEY,
Part One
By John Mariani
Sokol Blosser
Vineyards I’ll
just out and out say it: Overall, Oregon
makes the best Pinot Noirs in America. There
are, of course, several notable California
bottlings well worth savoring, a handful
from Washington State, but the terroir of
Oregon, particularly the Willamette Valley,
seems to possess the perfect aspects of soil
and climate to produce Pinot Noirs that
rival the better Burgundies.
In his authoritative book North
American Pinot Noir, JohnWinthrop
Haegar
wrote in 2004, “The model for too many
American Pinots is too large a wine, made from
grapes that are picked too ripe, sporting too
much alcohol, struggling for balance in a
space in which balance is, in fact, hard to
achieve.”
Since then there has been
progress on all fronts, especially in Northern
California’s Sonoma Valley, but my assertion
still holds true about Oregon’s terroirs.It’s
not surprising that Robert J. Drouhin of
Burgundy’s illustrious Maison Drouhin started
plantings in Oregon back in the late 1980s,
after investigations suggested it would be an
ideal terroir to grow Pinot Noir.
I was happily reminded of
this on a recent visit to Domaine Drouhin, and
it’s really a family story.In
1986, Robert' Drouhin’sdaughter Véronique came to
Oregon to work the harvest with three Oregon
wine families, the Letts (Eyrie Vineyard), the
Casteels (Bethel Heights) and the Adelsheims
(Adelsheim Vineyards). Her reports
to her father drew him the following year to
participate in the first International Pinot
Noir Celebration—which has become a premier
annual event in the wine world—where he was
impressed by the similarities of terroir to
his native Burgundy. He thereupon purchased a
Christmas tree farm in the Dundee Hills and
began plantingPinot Noir, appointing Véronique as
winemaker and her brother Philippe head of
viticulture (above).
In 1988, Domaine Drouhin (right)
produced its first vintage, albeit from grapes
purchased from other estates. A year later the
fully operational winery was erected, with a
four-story gravity flow distilling system.
To
this day Domaine Drouhin is one of America’s
finest examples, not because it tastes just
like the best Burgundies but because the
estate takes full advantage of Drouhin’s
historic knowledge of a grape often called
“finicky” and grows it accordingly in a cool
climate terroir—whereas the high temperatures
of Napa Valley can often cook the delicate
Pinot Noir.Drouhin’s success was the kick that
gave Oregon bragging rights, for although
other wineries had made Pinot Noir, Drouhin’s
was, and still is, a benchmark that does
indeed express the estate’s motto, “French
soul, Oregon soil.” A tasting of recent
vintages with Managing Director David Millman
corroborated my view that the estate’s
consistency, finesse and evolution show that
breeding counts.
Drouhin's Dundee Hills 2015
Chardonnay ($35) has a light peppery
minerality and bite without too much oak. The
2014 Pinot Noir Laurène ($70) was rich in aged
fruit flavors and had "rustic tannins" that
gave it earthiness, while the Eola Amity 2015
Roserock Zépherine Pinot Noir ($60) had layers
and layers of flavor and aromatic bouquet that
promised years of aging will only make it
better and better, comparable to some of
Drouhin's finest Burgundies.
I also had
the pleasure of visiting Sokol Blosser, which
has an older family history—46 years
now—dating to a time when vineyards were
scarce in the Valley or anywhere else in
Oregon. (There are now 725.) Located on a certified
organic, 85-acre planted vineyard in
Oregon’s Dundee Hills sub appellation, Sokol
Blosser Winery was founded by Bill and Susan
Blosser in 1971 and is now overseen by their
son, Alex, and daughter, Alison, as co-owner
and CEO (right). Since I last
interviewed Alex a year ago in New York, he’s
become more concerned than ever about climate
change in the world’s vineyards, especially
since Sokol Blosser has always been committed
to the environment and sustainability. “Global
warming is scary,” he said. “I really don’t
know what to do, except to be as aggressive as
we can with the politicians in an effort to
slow the roll of what seems at this point
inevitable.” Sokol Blosser makes a very
wide range of wines, sometimes from other
vineyards’ grapes, the reason being, simply,
that “there’s a market for them,” not least at
the winery’s beautiful hilltop tasting and
sales room (below,
right) and through on-line marketing
and sales. He
described how “volcanic
soil makes great Pinot Noir at higher
elevations, but below 300 feet the soil is
full of calcium and produces very vigorous
vines, which in turn make for good but not
great Pinot Noir.” But such soils are good
for other varietals, so Sokol Blosser also
makes estimable Pinot Gris, Riesling,
Chardonnay and a nine-grape blend in magnum
called Evolution. It even makes a
Müller-Thurgau, a German cross-breed of
Riesling and Sylvaner, which is highly
unusual in Oregon. “We make some of
our wines, like the Pinot Gris, as
experiments,” he said, “to learn what works.”On
the other hand, those “very vigorous vines” of
Pinot Noir are ideal for Rosé of Pinot Noir.“I
farm for
rosé,” he said, “and the grapes achieve 21
Brix [sugar content] to retain that essence of
Pinot Noir flavor at 12% alcohol. We plant in
soil that gives us lots of tons per acre, all
certified organic.” But Sokol Blosser’s
reputation is solidly built on well-balanced
Pinot Noirs. The 2015 I tasted that day had
wonderful aromatics along with the richness of
fruit and the brightness of acid. “The most
important component in Pinot Noir is acid;
complexity hangs on that acid,” he said,
differentiating the styles of Pinot Noir: “In
France the earthiness of their wines make for
a softer, rounder texture and more minerality.
In California, Pinot
Noir is usually picked in September or October
to make a heavier, showy style. The riper the
grape the more phenolics, the sugar goes up
and ferments into higher alcohol. Here in
Oregon, we’re in the middle, between France
and California. We don’t have the former’s
soil but we don’t get California’s heat. Our
summers are drier and last year we had two
weeks of snow on the ground, so we treat the
grapes more delicately, and we harvested in
August last year.”
There are dozens
of high quality Pinot Noirs coming out of the
Willamette Valley now—I’ll be writing about
some others next week—and they are proudly
Oregonian in style, which is all about balance
and, from estate to estate, a personality that
comes first from the soil, then, so often,
from the family.
❖❖❖
EVERYTHING (EXCEPT FOR
SPAGHETTI
AND CLAMS) THAT SHOULD NEVER BE IN A
SPAGHETTI WITH CLAM SAUCE
"Bar Primi: Bensonhurst native Sal Lamboglia uses loads
of garlic and ‘nduja, the red chile–laden pork sausage
— this one made byLa Quercia— to
make a slightly sticky sugo to coat his spaghetti and
clams. . . . A shot of heavy cream, along with
mussel and clam juice and a little white wine, also
figures in, and the dish is finished with copious bread
crumbs and plenty of chopped parsley."----Hugh Merwin, "15 Versions of Clam Sauce, New York’s Great,
Undervalued Dish," NY Mag 7/618
WONDER HOW THEIR
PROSPECTIVE CLIENTS WILL FEEL
ABOUT HAVING A BUSINESS LUNCH AT A
SALAD BAR
Coworking rental space tech
start-up WeWork, a NY-based company that rents space and
gives tech consultations, announced the company
will no longer serve meat at its corporate events and
that its 6,000 employees won’t be able to expense any
meals that include red meat, pork, or poultry; fish is
allowed. The policy change was made in order to counter
the "negative
environmental effects of eating meat."
❖❖❖
Wine
Column Sponsored by Banfi Vintners SANGIOVESE
Wine is a joy year-round but
in cooler weather one
grape varietal has really taken center stage in
my daily activities – that most Italian of
grapes, Sangiovese, and its ultimate expression
– Brunello di Montalcino. From mid-September through mid-October,
the Sangiovese grown for our various styles of red
wines are be harvested, culminating with the top
selection for Brunello di Montalcino.
Second, cooler weather here means
it is time to start enjoying more red wines and
especially Sangiovese based wines.That
includes Banfi’s cru of Brunello, Poggio alle Mura,
literally the cream of the crop of our Sangiovese
vineyards. Alongside our Poggio alle Mura Brunello di
Montalcino, this year we introduced two more wines
from the cru Poggio alle Mura – a Rosso di Montalcino
and a Riserva of Brunello.Rosso is sort of like the
younger brother of Brunello, also made from 100%
Sangiovese grapes but usually a selection from younger
vines and the wine is aged only two years compared to
the four required for Brunello.The
Riserva, on the other hand, is an even more selective
harvest of Sangiovese, and ages for an additional year
before release.
What is so special about this cru
Poggio alle Mura?Well, it is the result our over 30 years of
ongoing research at my family’s vineyard estate,
Castello Banfi.When we first began planting our vines there in
the late 1970s studies from the University of Bordeaux
indicated which strains of many varietals we should
plant, based on the soil type and microclimate of each
vineyard.But
when it came to the region’s native Sangiovese, there
was only local lore, no scientific research.So we took
it upon ourselves to figure out this vine, and set off
on three decades of incredibly detailed research.
We started
with 600 apparent variations on Sangiovese, because it
is so susceptible to variations in weather and soil,
and narrowed that down to 160 truly genetically
different clones.We planted a vineyard with two rows of each
type, made wine from each of them, and charted the
differences – remember, you only get one chance a year
to make wine, so this took time.
It took about ten years to get some
concrete results, though we continue to experiment
today and always will – you never stop learning in
science and nature!Once we determined which were the best,
complementary clones that could be planted together to
make the best Brunello, we chose to plant them in what
we determined to be the optimal vineyard sites.Coincidentally,
the best soils and climate conditions are in the
slopes surrounding the medieval fortress today known
as Castello Banfi, known since Etruscan times as
Poggio alle Mura – the walled hilltop.Hence the
name of our most special “cru” of Brunello,
representing a synthesis between tradition and
innovation.
Though the focus of this study was
our Brunello, all of our Sangiovese-based wines,
including the super Tuscans SummuS, Cum Laude, and
Centine, benefitted from this work.And that’s
the third reason for celebrating Sangiovese this
month, for the range of wonderful reds that usher us
into autumn!One
wine in particular was inspired by our research – the
BelnerO, a Sangiovese dominant blend with what I like
to call a kiss of Cabernet and a whisper of Merlot.We grow the
grapes a little differently for BelnerO than for
Brunello, make the wine with less oak aging and
released it earlier from the winery, providing a
counterpoint to Brunello and a lovely terroir-driven
wine in its own right. If you
know Italians, you know that by nature we are
multi-faceted, varying in mood, and always passionate.As a
nation, we span from the hot sunny beaches of Sicily
near the African coast to the rugged mountains and
Alpine ski slopes of Trentino-Alto Adige in the north.Sangiovese
is grown in almost all of Italy’s regions and reflects
the unique nature of each; it is most famous
(rightfully so) in Tuscany, yet even there it reflects
the nuances of each hilltop, valley and subzone.It has
something a little different to say in Brunello than
Chianti, Morellino than Vino Nobile di Montepulciano,
Rosso di Montalcino than Super Tuscan blends.
Here is a smattering of
Sangiovese-based wines that you may wish to get to
know better, reflecting a spectrum that appeals to
every occasion, every taste, and every budget.We can
assure you that the conversation will never become
boring.
Recommendations for Celebrating
Sangiovese
BelnerO Proprietor’s Reserve Sangiovese
– A refined
cuvée of noble red grapes perfected by our pioneering
clonal research. This dark beauty, BelnerO, is
produced at our innovative winery, chosen 11
consecutive years as Italy’s Premier Vineyard Estate.
Fermented in our patented temperature controlled
French oak and aged approximately 2 additional years.
Unfiltered, and Nitrogen bottled to minimize sulfites.
Castello Banfi Brunello di Montalcino –
Rich, round, velvety and intensely
aromatic, with flavor hints of licorice, cherry, and
spices. Brunello di Montalcino possesses an intense
ruby-red color, and a depth, complexity and opulence
that is softened by an elegant, lingering aftertaste.
Unfiltered after 1998 vintage.
Castello Banfi Rosso di Montalcino –Brunello's "younger brother," produced
from select Sangiovese grapes and aged in barrique for
10 to 12 months. Deep ruby-red, elegant, vibrant,
well-balanced and stylish with a dry velvety
finish.
Poggio all’Oro Brunello di Montalcino
Riserva – A single vineyard selection of our most
historically outstanding Sangiovese, aged five years
before release, the additional year more than that
required of Brunello including 6 months in barrel and
6 months more in bottle to grant its “Riserva”
designation.Incredible
elegance and harmony. Intense with lots of fruit and
subtle wood influence. Round, complete, well balanced
with hints of chocolate and berries. Unfiltered after
1998.
Poggio alle Mura – The first tangible result of years of
intensive clonal research on Montalcino’s native
Sangiovese grape.Estate bottled from the splendidly sun drenched
vineyards surrounding the medieval Castello from which
it takes its name.The Brunello
di Montalcino is seductive, silky and smoky.Deep ruby
in color with an expressive bouquet of violets, fruits
and berries as well as cigar box, cedar and exotic
spices. The Rosso
di Montalcino is also intense ruby red.The bouquet
is fresh and fruity with typical varietal notes of
cherry and blackberry, enriched by more complex hints
of licorice, tobacco and hazelnut.It is full
bodied, yet with a soft structure, and a surprisingly
long finish. The Poggio alle Mura Brunello di Montalcino
Riserva is deep ruby red with garnet
reflections and a rich, ample bouquet that hints of
prune jam, coffee, cacao and a light balsamic note.It is full
and powerful, with ripe and gentle tannins that make
it velvety and harmonious; this wine is supported by a
pleasing minerality that to me speaks soundly of that
special hillside in southern Montalcino.
SummuS – A wine of towering elegance, SummuS is an
extraordinary blend of Sangiovese which contributes
body; Cabernet Sauvignon for fruit and structure; and
Syrah for elegance, character and a fruity bouquet.An elegant,
complex and harmonious red wine.
Cum Laude – A complex and elegant red which graduated
“With Honors,” characterized by aromas of juicy
berries and fresh spices.
Centine – A Cuvee that is more than half
Sangiovese, the balanced consisting of equal parts of
Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot.Vinified in
a firm, round style that easily accompanies a wide
range of dishes, this is a smooth and fragrantly
satisfying wine with international character, and a
perennial favorite at my own dinner table.
Banfi Chianti Superiore – The “Superiore” designation signifies
stricter government regulations regarding production
and aging requirements, as compared to regular
Chianti.An
intense ruby red wine with fruit forward aromas and
floral notes.This
is a round wine with well-balanced acidity and fruit.
Banfi Chianti Classico – An enduring classic: alluring
bouquet of black fruit and violets; rich flavors of
cherry and leather; supple tannins and good acidity
for dining.
Banfi Chianti Classico Riserva – Produced from select grapes grown in the
"Classico" region of Chianti, this dry, fruity and
well-balanced red has a full bouquet reminiscent of
violets.
Fonte alla Selva Chianti Classico – This is our newest entry into the Chianti
arena, coming from a 99 acre estate in Castellina, the
heart of the Chianti Classico region.The wine is
a captivating mauve red that smells of cherry, plum
and blackberry with hints of spice.It is
round, full and balanced with very good
acidity.
Col di Sasso – Sangiovese and Cabernet Sauvignon.Luscious,
complex and soft with persistent notes of fruit and
great Italian style structure.
❖❖❖
Any of John Mariani's
books below may be ordered from amazon.com.
The Hound in Heaven
(21st Century Lion Books) is a novella, and
for anyone who loves dogs, Christmas, romance,
inspiration, even the supernatural, I hope you'll find
this to be a treasured favorite. The story
concerns how, after a New England teacher, his wife and
their two daughters adopt a stray puppy found in their
barn in northern Maine, their lives seem full of promise.
But when tragedy strikes, their wonderful dog Lazarus and
the spirit of Christmas are the only things that may bring
his master back from the edge of despair.
“What a huge surprise turn this story took! I was
completely stunned! I truly enjoyed this book and its
message.” – Actress Ali MacGraw
“He had me at Page One. The amount of heart, human insight,
soul searching, and deft literary strength that John Mariani
pours into this airtight novella is vertigo-inducing.
Perhaps ‘wow’ would be the best comment.” – James
Dalessandro, author of Bohemian
Heart and 1906.
“John Mariani’s Hound in
Heaven starts with a well-painted portrayal of an
American family, along with the requisite dog. A surprise
event flips the action of the novel and captures us for a
voyage leading to a hopeful and heart-warming message. A
page turning, one sitting read, it’s the perfect antidote
for the winter and promotion of holiday celebration.” – Ann
Pearlman, author of The
Christmas Cookie Club and A Gift for my Sister.
“John Mariani’s concise, achingly beautiful novella pulls a
literary rabbit out of a hat – a mash-up of the cosmic and
the intimate, the tragic and the heart-warming – a Christmas
tale for all ages, and all faiths. Read it to your children,
read it to yourself… but read it. Early and often. Highly
recommended.” – Jay Bonansinga, New York Times bestselling
author of Pinkerton’s War,
The Sinking of The Eastland, and The Walking Dead: The Road To
Woodbury.
“Amazing things happen when you open your heart to an
animal. The Hound in
Heaven delivers a powerful story of healing that
is forged in the spiritual relationship between a man and
his best friend. The book brings a message of hope that can
enrich our images of family, love, and loss.” – Dr. Barbara
Royal, author of The
Royal Treatment.
Modesty forbids me to praise my own new book, but
let me proudly say that it is an extensive
revision of the 4th edition that appeared more
than a decade ago, before locavores, molecular
cuisine, modernist cuisine, the Food Network and
so much more, now included. Word origins have been
completely updated, as have per capita consumption
and production stats. Most important, for the
first time since publication in the 1980s, the
book includes more than 100 biographies of
Americans who have changed the way we cook, eat
and drink -- from Fannie Farmer and Julia Child to
Robert Mondavi and Thomas Keller.
"This book is amazing! It has entries for
everything from `abalone' to `zwieback,' plus more
than 500 recipes for classic American dishes and
drinks."--Devra First, The Boston Globe.
"Much needed in any kitchen library."--Bon Appetit.
Now in Paperback,
too--How Italian Food Conquered the
World (Palgrave Macmillan) has won top prize from the
Gourmand
World Cookbook Awards. It is
a rollicking history of the food culture of
Italy and its ravenous embrace in the 21st
century by the entire world. From ancient Rome
to la dolce
vita of post-war Italy, from Italian
immigrant cooks to celebrity chefs, from
pizzerias to high-class ristoranti,
this chronicle of a culinary diaspora is as
much about the world's changing tastes,
prejudices, and dietary fads as about
our obsessions with culinary fashion and
style.--John Mariani
"Eating Italian will
never be the same after reading
John Mariani's entertaining and
savory gastronomical history of
the cuisine of Italy and how it
won over appetites worldwide. . .
. This book is such a tasteful
narrative that it will literally
make you hungry for Italian food
and arouse your appetite for
gastronomical history."--Don
Oldenburg, USA Today.
"Italian
restaurants--some good, some glitzy--far
outnumber their French rivals. Many of
these establishments are zestfully described
in How Italian Food Conquered the World, an
entertaining and fact-filled chronicle by
food-and-wine correspondent John F.
Mariani."--Aram Bakshian Jr., Wall Street
Journal.
"Mariani
admirably dishes out the story of
Italy’s remarkable global ascent
to virtual culinary
hegemony....Like a chef gladly
divulging a cherished family
recipe, Mariani’s book reveals the
secret sauce about how Italy’s
cuisine put gusto in gusto!"--David
Lincoln Ross,
thedailybeast.com
"Equal parts
history, sociology, gastronomy, and just
plain fun, How Italian Food Conquered the
World tells the captivating and delicious
story of the (let's face it) everybody's
favorite cuisine with clarity, verve and
more than one surprise."--Colman Andrews,
editorial director of The Daily
Meal.com.
"A fantastic and fascinating
read, covering everything from the influence
of Venice's spice trade to the impact of
Italian immigrants in America and the
evolution of alta cucina. This book will
serve as a terrific resource to anyone
interested in the real story of Italian
food."--Mary Ann Esposito, host of PBS-TV's
Ciao
Italia.
"John Mariani has written the
definitive history of how Italians won their
way into our hearts, minds, and
stomachs. It's a story of pleasure over
pomp and taste over technique."--Danny Meyer,
owner of NYC restaurants Union Square
Cafe, The Modern, and Maialino.
❖❖❖
FEATURED
LINKS: I am happy to report
that the Virtual
Gourmet is linked to four excellent
travel sites:
I consider this the best and
savviest blog of its kind on the web. Potter is a
columnist for USA
Weekend, Diversion, Laptop and Luxury Spa Finder,
a contributing editor for Ski and a frequent contributor
to National
Geographic Traveler, ForbesTraveler.com
and Elle Decor.
"I’ve designed this site is for people who take
their travel seriously," says Potter. "For
travelers who want to learn about special places
but don’t necessarily want to pay through the nose for
the privilege of staying there. Because at the end
of the day, it’s not so much about five-star
places as five-star experiences." THIS WEEK:
Eating Las Vegas
JOHN CURTAS has been covering the Las Vegas
food and restaurant scene since 1995. He is
the co-author of EATING LAS VEGAS – The 50
Essential Restaurants (as well as
the author of the Eating Las Vegas web site: www.eatinglasvegas.
He can also be seen every Friday morning as
the “resident foodie” for Wake Up With the
Wagners on KSNV TV (NBC) Channel 3 in
Las Vegas.
MARIANI'S VIRTUAL GOURMET
NEWSLETTER is published weekly. Publisher: John Mariani. Editor: Walter Bagley. Contributing Writers: Christopher Mariani,
Robert Mariani,Misha Mariani, John A. Curtas, Gerry Dawes, Geoff Kalish,
and Brian Freedman. Contributing
Photographer: Galina Dargery. Technical
Advisor: Gerry
McLoughlin.