Ladies and Gentlemen; Put on Your Logo Glasses

Every year, following on the heels of the Easter Bunny, is the launch of Wine Fest Season on California's Central Coast.

From Earthwise to Sideways, there's something for everybody. This weekend kicks off with the Ultimately Fine Blues and Wine Dinner at Costa d'Oro featuring wine maker, Gary Burk's blues band....right off U.S. 101 in Santa Maria. Besides being quite a gitar picker, Gary makes some great wine.

Saturday you have a tough choice between the Earth Day Food and Wine Festival which takes place in a spectacular locale; the historic Santa Margarita Ranch.

Head south, in the opposite direction, to Lompoc for the Santa Barbara County Vintners' Wine Festival.

At the end of April is the internationally acclaimed (and attended) Hospice du Rhone in Paso Robles. And this is just the beginning of the season!

"China Grove" Brand in Your Future?

BEIJING (AFP) - One of the great names in wine-making, Domaines Barons de Rothschild, said Sunday it plans to develop a vineyard in China to take advantage of growing interest in wine here.

The owners of the famed Chateau Lafite wine brand will plant the vineyard on 25 hectares (62 acres) on a peninsula in eastern China's Shandong province, according to a statement.

The joint venture vineyard will be developed with China International Trust and Investment Company (CITIC), a state-owned investment company.

"I am very pleased to develop a vineyard in a country where the interest in fine wines is increasing every year. It is particularly exciting to participate in the creation of an exceptional Chinese 'grand cru,'" Baron Eric de Rothschild said in the statement.

The Penglai peninsula was chosen as the site after a nationwide search because "it proved to be the most promising area to produce a great wine, in terms of both its climatic and geological conditions," the statement said.

Consumption of wine has surged in China along with that of other consumer goods as its economy has boomed in recent years.

The country became one of the global top ten wine consumers in 2005, but there remains a lot of potential for foreign labels as 95 percent of the wines now consumed are Chinese-made.

The pleasing minerality was balanced with just a hint of melamine.

Is Pizza Machine a Bunch of Bologna?

ROME (Reuters) – A vending machine that bakes fresh pizza in minutes for a few euros has got Italian chefs in a whirl before it hits the streets in the coming weeks.

The bright-red "Let's Pizza" machine uses infra-red rays and technology developed at the University of Bologna to knead flour and water into dough, spread it with tomato sauce and a choice of topping, and cook it -- all in less than three minutes.

Its developer, Claudio Torghele, says the machine has proved popular in trials in two Italian regions, but gourmets say it is an affront to traditional methods of cooking the classic dish.

"This is not just a vending machine, it's a mini-pizzeria," said Torghele, 56. "It has windows where you can watch the pizza-making process. Kids, including my own, love it: when the machine is working, there's always a crowd."

The device was developed with help from Anglo-Dutch group Unilever, which tested it in Germany, Torghele said. He hopes to launch the machines across Europe and in the United States, with ingredients varying according to local tastes.

At present it offers four toppings -- cheese and tomato, bacon, ham and fresh vegetables -- at an average cost of 4 euros. Torghele thinks "Let's Pizza" will appeal to Europeans looking for cheap options as a recession hits their pockets. "If I want to eat a great pizza, I go to a pizzeria. But our product is satisfactory, low cost and available 24-hours a day," he said. "This is crisis proof ... McDonald's is increasing its sales. Low cost, fast food is in demand."

Italy is famed for its cuisine and has seen a movement develop against fast food, called "Slow Food." But it has more vending machines than any other country in Europe, according to an industry body, mostly doling out hot coffee drinks.

Purists say the Italian pizza -- invented in the 18th century in the southern city of Naples -- cannot be rushed: the dough must be mixed and left for 12 hours, the ingredients kept fresh, and the oven pre-heated to around 300 degrees.

"This machine is a toy," Pino Morelli of the Association of Italian Pizzerias said. "Perhaps it will find a niche overseas, but Italians are born with pizza: their mothers feed it to them as babies. They understand it.

In Pizzeria Brandi, nestling near the center of ramshackle Naples, the reaction to Torghele's invention was cool.

The restaurant invented the pizza Margherita in 1889 in honor of the queen of the newly unified country, its tomato, mozzarella and basil toppings mimicking Italy's flag.

"Unfortunately, today people invent many things, but you can't make any comparison, especially in terms of quality," said chef Marcello, taking a break from sliding pizzas on a wooden pole into the dome-shaped oven. "The only benefit is the price."

"We should scrap this 'pizza machine' and bring back the old jukeboxes: at least they were charming," said Paolo Pagnani, who owns the historic restaurant.

(Additional reporting by Cristiano Corvino, editing by Paul Casciato

A Title After Our Own Hearts ....

Book Review: Heard it Through the Grapevine by Matt Skinner

There are two things I wish were more easily found in the world of wine: great bottles for under $5, and excellent introductory wine books for novice wine lovers. Although after reading his latest book Heard it Through The Grapevine: The Things You Should Know to Enjoy Wine, I'm tempted to suggest that the wine world also needs more people like Matt Skinner.

Born in Melbourne, Australia, Skinner stumbled into the wine world almost by accident. As relayed in a 2005 profile in the UK's The Observer, his transformation from surf bum to celebrity sommelier sounds more like the plot to a Hollywood movie than the early career of a successful wine writer. But listen to Skinner talk about wine, and it's clear that however accomplished he may be in the wine world, he still has one foot on the surfboard, so to speak.

That attitude is the Matt Skinner angle on wine, part of his charm, and no doubt one of the reasons that Naked Chef Jamie Oliver, who cultivates a similar enfant terrible image, tapped Skinner to be the sommelier for his London restaurant Fifteen in 2002. Skinner continues to manage the wine operations for the now global restaurant group, while also making a living as a writer, consultant and educator.

Heard it Through the Grapevine is Skinner's third book on wine and his most basic to date. In every way, the book attempts to be an essential guide for the complete wine novice, and it succeeds beautifully. I've thumbed my way through a lot of "educational" wine books -- probably close to a hundred of them -- and I always come away with one of three primary complaints. These books are either too dense with information, too boring, or too poorly organized. Heard it Through the Grapevine strikes the right balance between volume and type of information, style of presentation, organization, and attitude.

FULL STORY

Heard it Through The Grapevine: The Things You Should Know to Enjoy Wine, Mitchell Beazley 2009, $17.99, (Hardcover).

Frankenwine: Turn Two Buck Chuck Into 50 Buck Frank?

Can 600 volts and a little titanium take the place of reclining in a musty cellar for years (or a tidy temperature/humidity controlled storage locker)? Keep your eyes and palate peeled for further developments in this story:

Researchers - and some vineyards - are developing electrical equipment that accelerates the aging process, turning young wine from an undrinkable bitter grape juice into a quaffable beverage fit for any table.

The system being developed in China - which has a burgeoning wine industry - works by speeding up the normal chemical reactions in wines that can take up to 20 years. According to the researchers, the results have been "striking" and have fooled some wine experts in taste testings. Even the cheapest of wines are usually only drunk after six months. Most, especially reds, take longer to achieve the required balance and complexity.

The finest can take 20 years or more to reach their peak. During aging, wine becomes less acidic as the alcohol reacts with organic acids to produce a plethora of the fragrant compounds known as esters. Unpleasant components precipitate out and the wine becomes clearer and more stable. Red wines mellow and become less bitter.

A team led by Xin An Zeng, a chemist at the South China University of Technology in Guangzhou, came up with the idea of pumping the rough wine through a pipe that ran between two titanium electrodes, connected to the mains.
For the test wine, the team selected a three-month-old cabernet sauvignon from the Suntime Winery, China's largest producer. Batches of wine spent one, three or eight minutes in the electric fields. The team then analysed the treated wine for chemical changes that might alter its "mouth feel" and quality, and passed it to a panel of 12 experienced wine tasters who assessed it in a blind tasting With the gentlest treatment, the harsh, astringent wine grew softer. Longer exposure saw some of the hallmarks of aging emerge – a more mature "nose", better balance and greater complexity.

The improvements reached their peak after 3 minutes at 600 volts per centimeter: this left the wine well balanced and harmonious, with a nose of an aged wine and, importantly, still recognisably a cabernet sauvignon.
Although Zeng cannot yet explain how exposure to an electric field alters the wine's chemistry, his results show that under the right conditions the technique can accelerate some aspects of the aging process. "Not only can it shorten a wine's normal storage time, it can also improve some lower-quality wine," he said.
Five Chinese wineries have begun trials.

Show airing Saturday, September 6, 2008

Calcareous, it's what we call limestone around here. Find out more in our interview with Dana Brown, owner of Calcareous Winery in Paso Robles and her winemaker from Australia, Damian Grindley.


Then it's time for the dinner of your dreams with Liz Zimmerman, co-owner of Dream Dinners in San Luis Obispo. We also have a chat with Tina Porter, who makes dreams come true for parents with her company, SLO County Sitters.

Master Sommilier Tips Restaurants

I promised on our last show to post these tips for our restaurant owner listeners by Laura DePasquale, MS, VP of Fine Wine Development, Palm Bay International.

So, at long last, here they are. Details on the Sommelier Spiral Decanter are found at the bottom of this post. ---------------------------------------
Source: iSante Magazine
Gone are the heady days of wine and roses pricing as the competitive landscape dramatically intensifies. Customer loyalty, repeat diners and guest satisfaction have taken on monumental new meaning critical to the success or failure of many restaurants. Here are six simple, savvy techniques that I've observed in my business travels that will keep your guests coming back for more.

1. Focus, Focus, Focus. Wine and beverage programs that meander all over the place cost more money and result in confused customers. Have a point of view and choose wines and cocktails that reflect that point of view.

2. Did I mention value? It’s top of mind for every guest today. The days of high mark-ups (3-4 times) on wine are over. Successful wine programs have scaled back on percentages and offer “discounted nights” or “end of bin” values.

3. Tap into off-beat varieties. There’s great value to be found in premium quality wines made from lesser-known varieties or hailing from non-traditional regions. Look to Carmenère, Malbec and Sauvignon Blanc from South America and Albariño from Spain for interesting, delicious and budget-friendly by-the-glass pours.

4. Champion indigenous varieties. I’ve seen a major trend in successful establishments towards the classics – wines that are familiar, reflect a point of origin and actually taste like what they are. Great examples include Nebbiolo from Piedmont, Chianti and Sangiovese from Tuscany, Syrah from the Rhone, Riesling from Germany, and so on.

5. Create food & wine pairing gurus. Your entire team of servers should be well-versed in specific wines across price points and styles that pair well with each menu item. The "sell" becomes much more authentic and accurate. An excellent first step is increased collaboration between the sommelier and/or wine buyer and the chef in selecting wines that reflect the cuisine. Next step? Staff education and tasting sessions!

6. Have an open mind, and know your customer. Quite simply, successful sommeliers are listening to their customers much more in choosing wines and not just asserting their own preferences into the list.

If you have a question for the Master Sommelier, email info@palmbay.com.

The Ravenscroft Sommelier Decanter in the photo is from 125West.com and is handcrafted by European craftsmen. They are available in shapes and sizes to meet the needs of the world of fine wine. These breathing decanters combine a long neck for oxidation during the decanting process with a broad, shallow reservoir for further aeration while the wine rests before serving.