Worth Reading This Week: Hissy fits, DLW in Denver, and more hissy fits

Some thoughtful keyboard tappings for oenophiles:

Tom Wark, never one to mince words, continues his latest criticism of “natural wine” adherents as being the only sector of the wine industry that promotes themselves by being negative about everyone else. Wark was responding to an interview in The Drinks Business of Giuseppe Mascoli, a leading Italian advocate of natural wines, in which he compared them to the works of Karl Marx; you see, it requires some knowledge and sophistication to understand Marx, who was “not for the masses,” Mascoli said. An interesting, and perhaps inherently Italian, view of socialism, in which only the elites are capable of understanding what the proletariat needs. In the New York Times, Eric Asimov decries the “hissy fits” about natural wine and pleads, “Can’t we all just get along?” (Ok, not a direct quote on that last one.)

On the Regional Wine Front, “Wine Curmudgeon” Jeff Siegel visits Denver in preparation for April’s DrinkLocalWine.com annual conference there, and discovers he’s a media star. Seems the folks there are so excited about Colorado wine they even filled a Friday evening press conference – of course, samples from participating wineries helped. Jeff writes: “I had to tell the story about how Dave McIntyre and I started this thing so many times that even I got tired of it.” The conference will be April 27-29; tickets go on sale February 1.

Good news for the California wine industry at this week’s Unified Grape Symposium in Sacramento. Sales were up in 2011, and short harvests the last two years mean there will be weak supply to satisfy increasing demand for wine. As a result, growers can expect prices to rise. Presumably consumers can expect higher prices, too. At least there’s plenty of wine from elsewhere to compete and moderate that pressure (he says, thinking of the weak euro and some recent dips in prices of European wines.)

"1-Adam-12, reports of an angry man wielding a wine bottle ... "

Speaking of hissy fits, this one must have been a doozy: Sheriffs deputies were summoned to the Mendocino Wine Co. in Ukiah to intervene in a “domestic disturbance” after Paul Dolan was ousted as a partner there. Mendocino Wine Co. owns the estimable Parducci Cellars. Dolan, who helmed Fetzer Vineyards for years, is a leading advocate of organic and biodynamic viticulture. No word on whether that figured in the dispute. The Santa Rosa Press Democrat offered no details on the fracas, as the former partners were too pissed to comment, apparently. Officers Malloy and Reed determined that nothing criminal happened and pleaded, “Can’t we all just get along?”

Peter Chang, Kung Fu Master of Sichuan Cuisine

Peter Chang, whose gongfu ranks with the world's master chefs

In Chinese, the word we transliterate in English as “kung fu” (or gongfu in the current spelling system used in mainland China) does not mean martial arts. It means simply art, or technique. One displays exceptional gongfu when one has mastered a craft or metier. So I’m not stretching a metaphor at all when I call Peter Chang a Kung Fu Master of Sichuan cuisine.

Say “Chinese food” nowadays, and what springs to mind? Fast food. Even food courts. Heavily breaded and deep fried. Gloppy sauces. Swimming in oil. Some restaurants soar above that and manage to maintain a level of quality. Others seem to ride a roller-coaster of quality, as if there was an itinerant community of chefs who would move from place to place for an extra quarter an hour. But none of those are star chefs in the way we glorify our restaurant cooks these days. Do you know the name of the chef at your favorite Chinese restaurant?

That’s why I was bemused several years ago when Peter Chang and his cuisine became the rage on Internet food chat sites such as DonRockwell.com and Chowhound. People fell in love with his cuisine and wailed (online at least) when Chang would up and disappear from a restaurant without notice, and then celebrate when he reappeared somewhere else. His followers tracked him across Northern Virginia and then to Knoxville, Atlanta and Charlottesville. Chang’s reputation became national in March 2010 with two major magazine profiles, by Todd Kliman in Oxford American and Calvin Trillin in the New Yorker. People obsessed about the brilliance of flavors in Chang’s cuisine, and raved about the spiciness, the ma la of Sichuan.

Chang’s gongfu is more than ma la, of course. Ma means “numb,” referring to the sensation caused by Sichuan peppercorns, while la refers to the spicy heat of chile peppers. The ma balances the la. And that’s the key to Chang’s cuisine, just as it is the key to any star chef – the balance and clarity of flavors. In this way Chang reminds me of Alain Ducasse and his ability to coax complex flavor out of ingredients that seem simple.

The chaos of a Chinese banquet with winemakers!

That’s what I and several Virginia winemakers experienced earlier this month at Peter Chang’s China Grill in Charlottesville. You can read Chang’s story and how his dishes fare with various Virginia wines in my feature in this week’s Washington Post Food section.

In addition to pleasing the palate though, Chang’s gongfu – and that of his wife, Lisa, who is pastry, dumpling and dim sum chef – delights the eye. His artistry was on display with the various plates that resembled Chinese paintings, almost too pretty to disturb or eat, and with the balloon-like scallion “pancake” that looked like it should float to the ceiling. This whimsical touch reminded me of Michel Richard or José Andrés. You want to laugh and clap when a dish is presented to you, even before you have a chance to taste it.

It looks now like Chang may finally be settling down and making Richmond, Va., his base – at least for awhile. Peter Chang Café will open next month in Richmond’s Short Pump neighborhood. It’s near the highway, in case he feels the wanderlust again. But I sure hope he stays.

Art on a plate. The "bamboo" above the shrimp is made from cucumber slivers.

Chang's spicy lamb chops and that wonderful dry-fried eggplant

A quick guide to sherry

Yesterday, I wrote about how sherry pairs well with Chinese cuisine, in part because of its resemblance to the shaoxing rice wine of China. Today I offer this brief guide to the various types of sherries and some of the better ones available here in the United States.

Sherry 101: The Versatile Wine

Hidalgo's La Gitana is the leading Manzanilla sold in the United StatesFino and manzanilla are the driest and most common types of sherry. Their pale color and nutty flavor come from the flor, a layer of yeast that develops over the wine in cask and protects it from oxidation.

Fino and manzanilla are essentially the same except for one difference that is the stuff of sherry legend: Finos are produced inland, in Jerez de la Frontera, while manzanillas hail from the seaside town of Sanlucar de Barrameda, where the sea air off the Atlantic Ocean reputedly imbues the wines with a delicate saline character. Served well chilled, these wines are marvelous aperitifs, and they pair well with salty and briny foods, such as olives or shellfish.

Toast Chinese New Year with sherry

Ask wine lovers what to drink with Chinese food, and they’ll probably say “beer.” Press for a wine recommendation, and one might grudgingly suggest Riesling or Gewurztraminer, explaining that the sweetness in those wines is a necessary counter to the aromatic and hot spices typical of Chinese or other Asian cuisines.

With the new Lunar New Year that began yesterday, I suggest we say welcome the Year of the Dragon by raising a glass of sherry.

Sherry, which traditionally hails from the Jerez region of southern Spain, might not be an obvious choice for Chinese food, but there are several reasons to consider it. Chinese cuisine is remarkably varied, from the numbing heat of Sichuan to delicate Cantonese seafood dishes and smoked or roasted meats. Sherry, too, covers a wide range of flavors and styles, from light, delicate fino and manzanilla to fuller, robust oloroso and unctuously sweet dessert wines. Sherry’s relatively high alchol (it is fortified to anywhere between 15 and 20 percent) helps it match the sometimes complex fermented flavors of soy and black beans used in Chinese dishes. And its nuty, oxidized flavors resemble those of Chinese Shaoxing rice wine, a flavor bond that spans continents and cultures.

Year of the Dragon

Happy Lunar New Year, everyone! Today begins the Year of the Dragon, which should be auspicious and powerful, according to the Chinese zodiac.

I hope you have a nice dinner with some of the auspicious foods meant to bring luck and prosperity in the new year – fish (yü in Chinese is a homonym for “surplus”), dumplings (said to resemble gold ingots), chicken (ji is a homonym for “plenty”), and eight-treasure rice (self-explanatory), for example.

And what to drink? I’ll have some posts this week on the subject of wine with Chinese food. It’s a subject that is mired in the same-old preconceptions that wine doesn’t work with anything remotely spicy, and unfortunately the majority of Chinese restaurants don’t take wine seriously. But there’s room for fun and experimentation, as well as some delicious matches.

Photo courtesy of Iron Horse Vineyards

Of course, wineries like to get in on the celebration, too. Iron Horse Vineyards recently released their 2007 “Chinese Cuvée” sparkling wine, emblazoned with the Chinese character for dragon on the label. The wine is 75% pinot noir, 25% chardonnay, with the dosage (about 4 ml per bottle) coming from Iron Horse’s “M” chardonnay, a single-vineyard planting of the Stony Hill clone, according to winery CEO Joy Sterling.

The dosage “gives the wine a special spiciness and lemon zest, tangerine and lime,” Sterling said. Those flavors definitely showed through on the sample I tried, which was elegant and light, with nice finesse. We may have more luck finding it in China, however – of 1,000 cases produced, 880 are being exported to China. Iron Horse has a reputation in the Middle Kingdom, after President Clinton served an Iron Horse wine to Chinese President Jiang Zemin at a state dinner in 1997. The suggested retail on the wine in the US is $98.

So we may be toasting the Year of the Dragon some other, more plentiful wines. I’ll be suggesting some this week.

Worth Reading This Week: Local wines from outer space and fantasy lawsuits

Interesting reading this week for oenophiliacs:

In the Financial Times, Jancis Robinson takes on the potent issue of potent wines, including recent arguments that rising alcohol levels aren’t because of global warming or more efficient yeasts, but because winemakers are intentionally making wine that way. And she points out consumers may not all be complaining: “An occasional, recreational drinker on a budget, on the other hand, may well actively seek out those bottles that promise the heftiest hit,” she says.

Recent good press about Virginia’s wine industry has the state’s agriculture secretary, Todd Haymore, waving his pom poms in a rousing cheer in the pages of Charlottesville’s Daily Progress. But don’t they know that already in C’ville?

More on the regional wine front with this TV news report about increased sales of Tennessee wine – up 10% each of the last few years. Notice the surprise in the newscaster’s voice that a local wine could be successful. There’s a good shout-out for Virginia’s sales record, too.

Talk about minerality: Here’s a Chilean wine called “Meteorite” that was aged with a piece of a 6,000-year-old meteor soaking in the barrel. Would the natural wine folks object to that additive? (Hat tip: Allen Clark.)

And Jeff Siegel, aka “The Wine Curmudgeon,” fantasizes about the next silly lawsuit over wine names. Jeff is betting that the lawyers for the makers of Barefoot (Gall0) and flipflop (The Wine Group) will square off over similar names, logos, marketing strategies, and such. One would suspect flipflop has an edge in an election year.

Virginia, Maryland impress the California judges

Local wines shined – or at least won some shiny medals – at two recent competitions in California. At this year’s San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition, the largest annual contest featuring wines from around the United States, Barboursville Vineyards took Best in Class for its 2008 Cabernet Franc Reserve ($24), while Virginia wineries collected 22 medals in all. Maryland claimed three medals.

Barboursville's Cabernet Franc led a strong showing by local wines in two California competitions.

And at the Winemakers Challenge, a San Diego competition in which winemakers are the judges, Barboursville’s 2009 Cabernet Franc Reserve won Best Cabernet Franc, while its 2010 Viognier Reserve won best Viognier.

In the Chronicle competition, Barboursville also collected silvers for its 2007 Octagon red blend ($41) and its 2010 Viognier Reserve ($24).

Winemaker Luca Paschina was understandably excited about the Best in Class recognitions for two vintages of his Cab Franc, which many people consider Virginia’s best red grape.

“Once more, a Virginia wine has reached world class recognition for its own
merit, in a blind setting, and it is a great time for all people involved in our industry to be proud, celebrate and yet not surprised of the achievement,” he wrote in an email.

San Diego wine writer Robert Whitley, who organizes the Winemaker Challenge, noted that Barboursville’s showing “once again demonstrated that superb wines can be made in the southeastern United States.” He said Jefferson Vineyards “also spoke strongly for Virginia” by winning gold for its 2010 Cabernet Franc, as well as two silver medals.

Other wineries were celebrating, too. Barrel Oak, in Fauquier County, collected five medals in San Francisco, including a Double Gold (meaning all judges on the panel rating it gave a gold-medal score) for its 2010 Chardonnay Reserve, in the $25-$30 category. The winery also collected medals for its 2009 Cabernet Franc, 2009 Petit Verdot, 2010 Chardonnay and 2010 Viognier.

Barren Ridge Vineyards, Doukenie Winery, Gray Ghost Vineyards, Keswick Vineyards, Philip Carter Winery, and Rappahannock Cellars also collected medals in San Francisco.
From Maryland, Boordy Vineyards collected a silver medal for its 2010 Chardonnay Reserve from Long Green Vineyard, part of the winery’s ambitious replanting effort, as well as a bronze medal for its 2007 Veritas, a port-style wine. Slack Wines & Vineyards also won a bronze for its White Shoals sparkling wine.

Sneak Preview WoW: Murrieta’s Well, The Whip 2010 $20

This delightful blend of sauvignon blanc, viognier, semillon, pinot blanc, orange muscat and muscat canelli is the type of wine I revel in — it doesn’t follow any recipe or rules, but is created anew each year based on what the vintage and the terroir provide.

As you would guess from the blend, the wine is floral and richly fruit-forward, with some tropical (mango) notes and a bit of sweetness on the finish. Fans of Conundrum should appreciate this as well. It should pair nicely with spicy dishes, though I warn you: It goes down quickly by itself.

My 2-1/2 star review (Excellent/Exceptional) will appear this Wednesday in The Washington Post Food section.

Distributed in the Washington DC area by Southern/FP Winner: Available in the District at Cairo Wine & Liquor, Central Liquors, De Vinos, Harry’s Reserve Fine Wine & Spirits; and on the list at Agora, DC Coast, Firefly, Montmartre, Panache, Salt & Pepper, Serendipity 3, and West End Bistro.

Worth Reading This Week: China v. US, Better Wine Through Chemistry, Taste Camp

My weekly highlights of news from the wild, wacky world of wine:

Chinese New Year is approaching, and with it comes news that China continues its inexorable path to becoming a wine behemoth by overtaking the United Kingdom in wine consumption. Given the relative sizes of the two countries, this might seem like a yawn – but consider the UK’s traditional importance as the consumer driver of the world wine market. China’s rise to fifth place is a definite indicator that the Middle Kingdom is a rising force in determining market trends for vino. Now if we could just figure out what wines to pair with all that spicy cuisine …

Despite China’s rise, the great Doug Frost writes that this is America’s golden age for wine and drink. More wines from more regions are available to US consumers than every before he writes. Also, he writes:

I think the most important development is at least partially local. States other than California, Washington and Oregon are on a major roll. And it’s not just Missouri, New York, Ohio, Michigan or Virginia, each of which has developed strong and laudable wine industries. Entrepreneurial wine enthusiasts in every state are hoping to add to that combustion.

Iowa has more than 80 wineries. Kansas has nearly 30. Illinois, North Carolina and Colorado each has about a hundred. Even Wisconsin, Arizona and Indiana have more than 50 wineries each. Not all of these new regional wineries will prosper, but the fire has been lit.

That sounds like a lot of future venues for DrinkLocalWine.com’s annual conferences!

La Vida Local: An interview with Christina Findley of The Bottle Shop

This is the second in my monthly series of interviews with wine retailers throughout the D-M-V.

Christina Findley, owner of The Bottle Shop in Rockville, Md., living la vida local.

Christina Findley opened The Bottle Shop just over two years ago in the Potomac Woods Plaza shopping center off Seven Locks Road in Rockville. The store is part of a growing population of independent wine retailers that now challenge the dominance of Montgomery County’s government-run wine and liquor stores.

Why did you decide to open a wine store?

The recession forced this life-change. I was laid off from my job as assistant general manager at a downtown hotel in February of 2009. When I couldn’t find a job I decided to create one and I felt that our part of Montgomery County needed a good wine store. Although being in retail was new to me, my background in hotel food & beverage gave me a strong understanding of wine, food, and service, so the transition was pretty natural. I opened the store on November 30th of 2009.

What types of wines are your customers asking for? And in what price range?

We’ve made a name for ourselves finding wines that offer a good value, high quality and reasonable price. We sell a lot of wine in the $9 to $15 range – after all, who doesn’t like a good deal? Our customers enjoy exploring new varietals and wine from lesser known regions and our free tastings every Friday night offer risk- free experimentation. They really enjoy diversity, the wine just has to be good.

What trends do you see, both in your sales and in your crystal ball looking to the future? 

I noticed that this holiday season people were buying more expensive wines than last year. I’m encouraged by that, but I don’t expect people will ever go back to thinking that a wine has to cost more than $20 to be good. With the grape harvest in California down 20 – 30% this year, prices will be going up. We will continue to enjoy discovering wines from lesser known regions.  I think we will all be drinking more wine from South Africa, Spain, Portugal, even Greece.

You’ve supported local and regional wines – offering Maryland, Virginia and New York wines for example. Have your customers been receptive?

As the world grows smaller with globalization, we all find products that are authentic very appealing. We want to know the stories behind the wine and food we enjoy, and we want to know what makes it special. I love it that petit verdot or viognier from our area is so good, and that merlot from the North Fork of Long Island doesn’t taste like merlot from anywhere else. A few years from now we will be boasting that we were prescient enough to be drinking Black Ankle during their first vintages. They are not just making great Maryland wine, they are making great wine, period. I took a group of customers there last fall and we had a great time. I am planning trips to Maryland breweries and Virginia wineries this year.

What other goods do you sell? 

Because I am so passionate about regional diversity and local products I’m always on the lookout for the best our region has to offer. We sell Little Ragghi’s, a delicious cracker from Ocean City; Olli Salami and Gunthers Crab Salsa from Richmond; and BMore Nutz from Baltimore. Dogfish Head, Flying Dog and Heavy Seas are all brewing beer that can compete on a national level, and Rockville now has its own nano-brewery, Baying Hound Aleworks. Cherry Glen Goat Cheese from Boyds, right here in Montgomery County, is one of the best in the country, and Chapels Country Creamery is making fantastic cheddar and blue cheese in Easton. The folks at SPAGnVOLA are taking estate grown cocoa from the Dominican Republic and making chocolate in Gaithersburg – amazing right? We will continue to seek out these products and their stories for our customers, they love it as much as I do.

What’s your favorite wine in the store, the one that maybe you don’t want to tell customers about so you could keep it for yourself?

That’s like asking me which one of my daughters is my favorite! I crave change and new experiences, so often my favorite wines in the store are the most recent arrivals. I really enjoy sharing new wines with my customers.

The Bottle Shop, Potomac Woods Plaza, 350 Fortune Terrace Dr., Rockville, MD 20854
301-738-WINE     www.mybottleshop.net