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Come Celebrate The Cameo Cinema’s 100th Birthday -- Major Party May 15!

Talk about projecting yourself! Over the past century, the Cameo Cinema, in St. Helena, first projected silent films, then talkies, then 3D, computer-generated, digital epics. And now, on the eve of turning 100, the dowager screen queen is being remodeled to become the single best independent movie theater in America.

With more than $300,000 pledged from private donors, Cameo owner-operator Cathy Buck is remodeling the cinema. Local contractors are donating their time and Dolby has donated its top-of-the-line ATMOS screening system.

Cinema-goers are in for a treat. “With ATMOS, we’re adding many speakers, including in the ceiling, which will provide the best movie experience possible, “says Cathy.

Cathy Buck, owner-operator of the Cameo Cinema

“We will be the only independent, single-screen cinema in America with the ATMOS sound system and Meyer Sound speakers,” she adds.

That’s quite an achievement. Meyer Sound is considered THE top speaker-maker in the industry. The Berkeley-based firm makes all the top-end speakers for Pixar, Lucas Films, Skywalker Labs, American Zoetrope and Cirque du Soleil. That’s a Triple-A list of customers. Now add the tiny, tony, terrific Cameo and you get a sense of how good the sound system will be.

Factoid: There are 39,580 movie screens in America today. Not one will have a sound and projection system better than the Cameo's! 

Additional reno details

When the renovation is completed, just ahead of the Cameo’s 100^th Birthday Bash May 15, there will still be 142 seats. And, yes, all the love seats in the last two rows are coming back, all new but the color remains grape purple.

The theater has the size, feel and intimacy of a movie director’s private screening room at home.

Lobby of the Cameo Cinema, before the renovation

At the confection counter, Cathy will add chocolates made locally at the CIA, and sweet potato chips made locally by Food of Love. There will also be a new popcorn machine.

“Every year, we fall short by $75,000, which we make up with fund-raising drives,” says Cathy. This was the reason she applied for, and received, 501c3 status. So now, Friends of the Cameo donations are tax deductible.

May 15 – Cameo’s Centennial Party

The Cameo opened its doors on Main Street, in St. Helena, on May 15, 1913. The first screening was a silent film, Kings of the Forest.

Which is what Cathy will screen for the 100^th birthday bash. Musician Mike Greensill will accompany both the afternoon matinee and the evening screenings with an original score.

Each projection will be followed by a screening of Napa Valley Dreams, a special documentary, which has taken several years to produce; it’s a complete tour of our little paradise, Napa Valley, and it will play several times daily, seven days a week, at the new, upgraded Cameo starting May 16.

For the May 15 matinee birthday bash, doors open at 2 pm, the two films will be screened starting at 3 pm. Cameo popcorn and birthday cupcakes, baked by students at the CIA, are included in the $25 admission ticket.

For the evening screening, guests will first attend a Hollywood-like cocktail party at 7 pm at Caldwell Snyder Gallery, 1328 Main Street, St. Helena. Meadowood’s Michelin-starred chef Christopher Kostow will prepare hors d’oeuvre to accompany premium Napa Valley wines.

As well, chef John Defilippo of the CIA is creating a special anniversary centennial cake and chef Stephen Durfee is producing a unique chocolate sculpture. At 8 pm guests walk the red carpet to the Cameo Cinema to view the two films, which start at 8:30 pm. The $100 admission ticket for the evening includes food, libations and film screenings. 

For additional information, visit cameocinema.com, or drop by the Cameo box office, which opens daily an hour before the day’s first screening. Or call 707-963-9779.

All proceeds from the 100^th Birthday Bash will be donated to Cameo Cinema Community Programming.

Several years ago, I wrote a story about the Cameo Cinema under this headline:

The Second Best Thing You Can Do in the Dark in Napa Valley!

With the giddy rush that comes from watching films screened with the new sound and projection system, I may just have to revise this sentiment; watching films at the Cameo may just become the best thing you can do in the dark in Napa Valley!

The Only Time it Pays to be Sheepish!

Or maybe I mean it’s the only time you have to pay to be sheepish!?

I just returned from Sonoma County where they're holding the 19th annual Sheepdog Trials at Oak Springs Ranch, on the outskirts of Santa Rosa.

This annual competition brings owners and their Border Collies from all over the US and Canada.

The Collies compete to see which dog can corral a small herd of sheep into a pen in record time. There are cash prizes and ribbons to be won, and  participants have to pay to register their pets, while guests and the photographic public must pay $5 to park.

This morning, the pro-novice dogs and owners competed; tomorrow the expert dogs, trained for years to herd sheep , will compete.

The judges are from Ireland and Scotland.

One Collie owner told napaman that “these are REAL Border Collies, not the ones approved by the American Kennel Club, where the dog’s herding instincts have been bred out, in preference of looks.”

“These Collies are scruffy looking, but they know how to corral sheep,” the owner said.

If you want to visit this event next March when the trials will be held again – a great photo opp! – make a note to go to this site around March 1, 2014:

www.sonomasheepdogtrial.com

Napa Valley Premiere Barrel Auction Raises More than $3 million!

Auctioneer Fritz Hatton sets the auction in motion...

$3,044,500 to be exact, by napaman’s tally.

More than 1,000 wine tradespeople, media personnel and winemakers crammed into the barrel room of the Culinary Institute of America (CIA), in St. Helena, today to taste barrel samples of more than 210 wines, most of them from 2011, and then to bid on them.

The event was organized by the Napa Valley Vintners’(NVV) association. Proceeds from the auction are used to promote the valley’s wines. NVV represents about 450 local wineries.

What winemakers were promoting today was their 2011 vintage; guests were given a chance to peak beneath Pandora’s skirt – this was the first official chance for the wine trade to taste the 2011 Cabernets.

Initially, 2011 was the Rodney Dangerfield of vintages; it didn’t get much respect.

Wine writers wrote off the vintage as being water-logged. Production was down so low that many winemakers talked about the pounds of fruit they got off an acre rather than the tons they normally harvest.

Napaman reveals all

But here’s my tip: FORGET what you’ve heard, or read, about the 2011 vintage of Napa Valley Cabs.

Doomsdayers who predicted that the water-logged crop would be lean, mean and green were WRONG. Just plain wrong.

The Barrel tasting Room at the CIA this morning

I’ve just spent three days tasting through dozens of 2011 Cabs and 2011 blends and these wines are soft, pretty, even elegant. And approachable on release. These will be great wines for restaurant wine lists. And also for impatient wine drinkers who don’t want to wait seven years for their wines to age.

The only word one wouldn’t include in describing these wines is “complex.”

Of the 2011 Cabs, which I have tasted, not a single one could be described as “showing great complexity.”

From today’s barrel sampling, I really loved these wines:

2011 Vineyard 29 Cabernet Sauvignon which exhibited a juicy core of fresh, ripe fruit and sweet dark cherries; one of the more thrilling wines of the day, I thought. And so did someone else because the lot fetched $27,000 at auction for 60-bottles.

2011 Turnbull Wine Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon, cuvee Le Corbeau.

"! ! !" This was the complete set of notes I made about this wine, so impressed was I by the presence of fruit and character - three very large exclamation marks in the column of my notebook. Nothing more needs to be said about this glorious wine.

2011 ADV (Adler Deutsch Vineyard) Rutherford Cabernet.

I am NOT raving about this wine because I am a personal friend of the Adlers; I just didn’t think it fair to penalize them by omitting their wine because they are friends.

Besides, I heard enough positive spin around the barrel tasting room about this wine to know that I am not alone in praising it; it reminds me of a young Spottswoode, it’s that good.

Elegant, pretty, extremely well balanced and expressing a minerality, which I did not find in many wines of the vintage.

Show Time!

Regular readers of napaman.com will recall that I typically ask winemakers at the annual barrel auction to describe wines of the vintage in terms of a Hollywood star or actor – to give readers a more vivid sense of what the vintage holds, or is like. You know, is it an edgy, boring, or flashy vintage?

Here’s how winemakers responded to the question this year:

If the 2011 vintage in Napa Valley were a Hollywood star, who would it be?

Steve Reynolds of Reynolds Family Winery.. he offered:

“Debby Reynolds. Not because we share the same last name, but because she is classy, classic, stands the test of time and is not flashy. Just like wines of the 2011 vintage.”

Cliff Lede of his eponymous winery suggested...

“Catherine Deneuve. She is elegant, understated, elegant – a timeless beauty.”

The dynamic duo from Broman Cellars: Lisa Augustine, sales & marketing, and Bob Broman, owner and winemaker.. they agreed on their answer:

“Natalie Portman. She is small in stature but her performances are BIG!”

Peter Heitz, winemaker, Turnbull Wine Cellars

“I think the 2011 vintage is best represented by a nameless Sundance Indie actor. Someone who is charming, not well known, somewhat awkward, waiting to be discovered.”

Robert Adler, owner, ADV (Adler Deutsch Vineyards)

“Anne Hathaway, for sure. The wines from this vintage remind me of her – soft, elegant, voluptuous and unforgettable.”

Sue Parry (right) who with her husband Stephen makes a wonderful Cabernet, volunteered to pour wines at lunch; she took the bottle table labeled A-J while Stephen was nearby pouring from bottles labeled K to Z.

Lunch for 1,000 is prepared by students at the CIA, and all the wines are donated by NVV sponsors.

It’s usually a free-for-all at lunch, as guests race to try favorite, hard-to-get wines.

Stephen Parry's wine table, K to Z

After lunch for 1,000 in the CIA kitchen, the auction gets underway in an adjacent room. The air is chilled by the activity of bidders raising their paddles:

The largest single lot sold was $75,000 for 120 bottles of Bevan Cellars and Chateau Boswell Winery’s 2011 Red Wine called “We Will Rock You.”

And the largest price PER BOTTLE was paid for 60 bottles of Shafer Vineyards – Total Wine, a chain with 89 stores across the country, bid $50,000 for the lot, bringing the price per bottle to $833.33.

Total Wine also happened to buy the Bevan/Boswell lot above, too. 

"We want the industry to know that we are serious about high-end wine and the Napa Valley Vintners Premiere Barrel Auction allows us to offer wines not avaialble anywhere else," a spokesperson for Total Wine told napaman.   

"Some people only see us as a big box store, but we are focusing on acquiring impossible-to-come-by wines for our high-end clientele. We purchased many of the top lots at the Barrel Auction, including Bevan/Boswell, Shafer, Cade, Pride, Moone Tsai, Chappellet, Silver Oak, Rombauer, Amici, Spring Mountain, Stags Leap, Baldacci, Raymond, Red Mare, VinRoc, and Peter Paul," the spokesperson added.

How much someone bid per bottle for each of 60 bottles of 2011 Shafer Vineyards Sunspot Vineyard Cabernet.

In an unusual move, someone bid $316.66 per bottle for a Sauvignon Blanc – the 2011 from Lail Vineyards.

Sure hope we don’t see retail prices like this when these wines hit the street!

Finally...

Helen Buehler of Buehler Vineyards

I couldn’t help overhearing the conversation of two young wine producers on the shuttle bus from the event parking lot to the CIA. They made no effort to guard their conversation or keep it private.

 Helen Buehler, on the bus, to a wine pal:

“I had to stay out drinking with a Canadian film crew last night and didn’t get home until 5 am (it being 9 am when she said this).”

“How do you feel?” asked her friend out loud?

“If my hangover were a person, it would be John Goodman!”

Which says it all.

It turns out that even hangovers have star qualities at the Premiere Barrel Auction.

Napa Valley – How I Do Love Thee!

The only way you can make living in Napa Valley any better is to stage a weekend wine event, invite a thousand professional wine tasters, and let them loose, tasting hundreds of unreleased wines.

It’s a bit like inviting lemmings to a cliff. They all come. They all partake. They all jump.

This weekend marks one of my favorite annual wine events in the valley, the mid-winter Premiere Barrel Auction, organized by the highly professional trade group called Napa Valley Vintners (NVV), a marketing association representing 450 local wineries.

This morning’s session, organized by NVV, called a Multi-Vintage Perspective, gave professional tasters and tradespeople a chance to taste three successive vintages of Chardonnay and three of Cabernet Sauvignon, to prove that climate and weather DO make a difference in winemaking here.

The tasting was held at the Rudd Center for Professional Wine Studies at the Culinary Institute of America’s St. Helena campus.

British wine expert, Steven Spurrier

Among attendees were Steven Spurrier, the UK wine expert who organized the famous 1976 Paris Wine Tasting, and Napa Valley’s own Karen MacNeil, author of “The Wine Bible“ (which is a MUST compendium in every wine library).

Karen MacNeil and Steven Spurrier

The session enabled invitees to taste blind three vintages of Chardonnay (the ‘09, ‘10, & ‘11 vintages) from 12 different producers and three vintages of Cabernet (the ’08, ’09 & ’10 vintages) from 12 different producers. A total of 72 wines tasted blind.

Tasters tasted.... photographers photographed...

This is often one of my favorite tastings because it reaffirms my belief that when Napa Valley Cabernets are tasted blind, price does not necessarily dictate quality.

Often at this tasting, my preferred wines are the low- to mid-priced wines, not the really expensive, cult wines.

A roomful of tasters

This year, for example, I rated the 2010 Reynolds Family Estate Cabernet Sauvignon and the 2009 Titus Cabernet Sauvignon as my top wines of the blind tasting.

The 2010 Reynolds Family Estate Cab is a gorgeous, beautifully balanced wine, showing a great deal of elegance and “European restraint,” as Steve Spurrier noted. It retails for $45 (they haven’t raised their price in 10 years, according to Matt in their tasting room).

This 2010 wine won’t be available in retail circles until May, 2014 ... but oh! is it worth waiting for!

The 2009 Titus Family Estate Reserve Cab had me going back for seconds and thirds. I loved the structure, the complexity, the texture and balance of this wine. Simply breathtaking. It retails for $65.

By contrast, there were wines in the tasting running from $110 to $230 a bottle, which I didn’t think showed as well.

Emma Wellings, UK taster

The purpose of this tasting was to show that our wines DO alter from year to year; many consumers think that we have hot, sunny summers every year, but, in truth, no two vintages here are the same.

The wine buyer for Selfridges, London, was on hand to judge Napa Valley wines. She took notes on her Samsung tablet, converting hand-written notes to typewritten text at the stroke of a button.

2008

This was a nightmarish vintage born with a crippling spring frost, which lowered yields, followed by dry-bordering-on-drought conditions, followed by freaky summer heat spikes. You want an example of an inconsistent vintage? This is it.

2009

The trick this year was to pick before the rains came in mid-October or to wait to pick until well afterward. Anyone who picked during the deluge, has watered-down wine. The 2009s are, for the most part, lovely, medium-weight, graceful wines, built for a long evolution.

2010

Until I tasted the 2012s (which readers won’t see for some time), I thought that 2010s were among the best we’ve ever made in Napa Valley. The killer Cabs are powerful, shockingly big, yet balanced - what wine writers like to call a “thrilling vintage.”

Napa Valley’s Purple Floss Weekend Has Finally Arrived!

Kelly Kehoe, business manager, and Robert Foley, winemaker

In case you’ve been living in a cave, you know that this is the weekend Napa Valley Vintners hosts its annual winter, Premiere Barrel Auction, an excuse for wine retailers and tradespeople to descend on the valley, taste copiously of unreleased, next-vintage Cabs en barrique, and see old friends.

It’s a bit like a 30-year college reunion, a freshman hazing and a wine-lover’s weekend all rolled into one.

And don’t forget the manifestation of the weekend: purple floss.

After you’ve tasted 30, or 40, or 80 young Cabernets at each tasting, we’re talking heavily stained, purple-colored teeth.

At yesterday’s multiple-wine tasting hosted at 750 Wines, at an event cleverly called Port Foley Oh!, a portfolio of wines from legendary winemaker Robert Foley were highlighted.

Invitees got to taste the wines of eight different producers - a total of 21 different wines, all made by Robert Foley, who is colloquially known as “Mr. Merlot” for his early insistence that Merlot could stand on its own as a single, bottled variety.

(Many years ago, Robert was recognized for his insistence and for his brilliance: the Wine Spectator chose his 2001 Paloma Merlot as Best Wine of the Year.)

When I mentioned to Robert at the 750 Wines tasting that his wines not only make an indelible imprint on my memory – “they also make an indelible purple mark on my floss!” he retorted: “My wines stain everything – even stainless steel!”

Owner of Switchback Ridge, Kelly Peterson, pours her 2010 Merlot, Cabernet and Petite Sirah wines, all made by Robert Foley

Of all the Foley-produced wines poured at the 750 Wines event, my top favorite was the 2010 Merlot fashioned out of fruit from Kelly Peterson’s Switchback Ridge vineyard in Calistoga.

This wine had the texture of satin, and the concentration, extraction and depth of a serious Napa Valley Cabernet. If Jimi Hendrix were alive, this wine would have been the model for his song “Purple Haze.”

This was the single best wine of the 21, which I tasted at the Port Foley Oh! event, itself a prelude of hundreds of wines to come over the next 72  hours of auction weekend.

Lynn Wight, Ron Engel, Jen Engel

I finally had a chance to meet Ron Engel at the 750 Wines event. Bob Foley fashions his wines out of fruit grown on Ron’s vineyard near the Grist Mill, outside Calistoga. When he’s not growing grapes, Ron is wrestling feisty Bulgarians in international wrestling competitions. Looks like he’s done a good job of “wrastling” the other guys – and his grapes – into submission.

Tom & Marcie Dinkel

The event also gave me a chance to catch up with Tom and Marcie Dinkel, who grow fruit on Atlas Peak, and whom I haven’t seen for nearly ten years. That’s part of the allure of this weekend; you get to catch up with old acquaintances.

The Dos Lagos Cabernets, which Robert Foley makes for the Dinkels, is stellar stuff. Of the two vintages poured, I preferred the 2010.

The 750 Wines tasting room – an unusually quiet moment Thursday afternoon, when you could actually see the floor and find time to raise your glass to your lips.

And now, a word about the vintages poured at this event – and at events all weekend:

The 2010 vintage was ideal. If  someone made lousy wine in 2010, shame on  them. Hard to do.

2011, by contrast, was a lesser year; the fruit was caught in colder, wetter climes, and the results are evident in the barrel. You had to be a talented winemaker in 2011 to make memorable wine.

(And for anyone anticipating the next vintage... last year’s 2012... let me just say as a winemaker’s assistant... that this may turn out to be the single greatest vintage in living memory in Napa Valley. It’ll drink great early, it’ll drink great with age, and there’s tons of it.)

The 2011 Chateauneufs-du-Pape – prettier and sexier than a politician’s mistress! And cheaper, too!

The 2011 Chateauneuf-du-Pape circus has come to town (if you live in San Francisco this is true).

Wine importer Alain Junguenet

Angeles Wine Agency, out of southern California, and wine importer Alain Junguenet hosted a tasting of 2011 Chateauneufs-du-Pape at the tiny, tony restaurant Bistro Aix, in the Marina district, today.

They graciously invited napaman to taste from barrel samples and just-bottled wines from a CDP vintage that is lighter than we’re accustomed to tasting.

Chateauneuf-du-Pape vines, in France’s southern Rhone valley, were drenched with rain in early September in 2011, causing some winemakers to panic; they harvested immediately after the rains to take advantage of bright acidity. These wines have length, finesse, a note of herbs and display some bright red fruit.

Typical signpost in and around Chateauneuf-du-Pape

Winemakers who waited for their grapes to dry wound up picking fruit that ripened on the vine, reaching full maturity; wines made from these grapes exhibit greater structure, more tannins, more voluptuousness. Which isn’t, by the way, a word that any other winewriter is going to use to describe the 2011 vintage in Chateauneuf-du-Pape. You heard it first here. And only here.

But dang! Two of the wines I tasted at the AWA/Junguenet event this afternoon were absolutely voluptuous, and I will stand by this observation –

+ The 2001 Bosquet des Papes Chante Le Merle was syrupy thick, rich, unctuous, tasted more like they’d added 20% from the 2010 vintage, which was a killer year in CDP.

Sandrine et Thierry Usseglio of Domaine Pierre Usseglio

+ The 2011 Domaine Pierre Usseglio & Fils, cuvee Tradition, made from 80 percent Grenache, 10 percent Syrah, and 5 percent each of Mourvedre and Cinsault.

Instead of producing his premium-tier cuvees “Mon Aieul” and “Deux Freres” in 2011, winemaker Thierry Usseglio added the fruit that would otherwise have gone into these top-end cuvees to his One and Only cuvee this year, “Tradition.”

I rated both of these wines 96 points, my highest scoring wines of the tasting.

I will be buying a case of each. They are that good.

Many of the other 2011 wines tasted exhibited lighter structure; there are many pretty wines here, easily accessible NOW, as opposed to having to wait five or seven years for them to “come around.”

Alain and his son John Junguenet

Alain Junguenet started his wine import business, Wines of France, in 1984. He and his son, John, live in New Jersey, where they import containers of delicious Chateauneuf-du-Pape, as well as other wines from the Rhone valley.

“We have become the largest importer of Chateauneuf-du-Pape wines in America,” Alain told me in French. He’s speaking in terms of SKUs, not in tonnage.

In total, Wines of France imports 19 different Chateauneuf-du-Pape wines whose annual offerings exceed 75 different cuvees.

Francois Michel, of Le Vieux Donjon

napaman and Claire Michel-Fabre, the winemaker/owner, joshing at the winery last September.

Claire Michel-Fabre in her cellar

Wines I really liked at the tasting:

2011 Le Vieux Donjon, poured by Francois Michel. I always buy a case, or two, of Vieux Donjon every vintage; the family believes in only making ONE cuvee, so they put ALL their fruit, including that from their best blocs, into ONE blend. From a consumer’s perspective, how refreshing!

For the record: The single best case of wine I ever bought from any wine-producing region, was the 1990 Le Vieux Donjon; every one of the bottles was a perfect specimen of pleasure.

I visited Vieux Donjon in Chateauneuf-du-Pape last September where winemaker Claire Michel-Fabre, Francois’ sister, let us taste several vintages.

2011 is lighter for V. Donjon than any wine in recent memory, but it is still balanced, pretty, and drinkable already.

2011 Chateau Sixtine, cuvee Manus Dei. A blend of Grenache, Syrah and Mourvedre with a gorgeous robe, and equally gorgeous balance. I loved the very dark, very plum-y flavors. While not textbook complex, this is still a richer wine than many others in the tasting.

2011 Mas de Boislauzon, cuvee Tradition. Because the fruit was imperfectly ripened, brother and sister Daniel (winemaker) and Christine (sales) Chaussy chose not to make their two top cuvees in 2011.

So no “Quet,” and no “Tintot” this year. (The 2010 Boislauzon Quet was one of my personal favorite Chateauneufs of 2010.)

As such, the fruit that would otherwise have gone into these two premium blends has been added this year to “Tradition,” making it a substantially richer wine than it would have been without these additional blocks.

Really liked this 2011 a lot.

2011 Domaine de la Charbonniere both the “Domaine” and “Hautes Brusquieres” cuvees. Even if I didn’t like these wines, I would be compelled to mention them. But as it turns out, I really do like them.

The Maret family, who make these wines, are good, hard-working people; their pert, smart daughter, Veronique, who makes the wine now, had dinner in our home a few summers ago. Her wine is never flashy, never over-wooded, never over-extracted. If you are looking for a New World wine experience take a pass here.

This is classic Chateauneuf-du-Pape and Veronique’s 2011 exhibits beautiful hints of perfume on the nose. There is an underlying finesse in both these cuvees. Lovely balance and memorable texture -- which I never expected from 2011 wines, given what other wine writers have said in print. Lovely stuff, this.

Street shot from my most recent visit to Chateauneuf-du-Pape

In the next few months, napaman.com readers are going to start seeing offers for pre-arrivals of the 2011 Chateauneuf-du-Pape wines; if you can’t find a retailer in your area, call Karen Bria at AWA to locate a dealer where you can find these wines. Call 831-239-6174, or send her an email at karen@angeleswine.com.

My favorite street in Chateauneuf-du-Pape!

I had heard early press rumblings that this might be a light vintage, one even to forego; but based on tasting nearly two-dozen wines from the vintage, I am keen to purchase a sampling from many producers.

These wines will be drinkable early – from now to about five years out – and they are truly pretty, sexy, bright, easy-to-enjoy wines, few with tannins which need time to be integrated.

Lucien Le Grand, the (now deceased) proprietor of one of the great retail wine establishments of Paris, once shared his wine consuming philosophy with me in the early 70s. We were standing in his cluttered, dusty-bottle cellar:

“Never forget, wine is like a beautiful woman. What’s the point of taking a beautiful girl home tonight... and putting her in your cellar... and waiting 15 years to take her out and up to dinner?”

“When you find a beautiful woman, you need to take her home with you the same night you find her – and ravish her AT THIS MOMENT, not in 15 years!”

If Lucien were alive today, I am sure that he would identify the 2011 Chateauneufs-du-Pape as a vintage to take home now – to ravish TONIGHT!

Secret to Making the World’s Best Negroni Cocktail!

Recently, I had the best Negroni cocktail that I’ve ever had at Il Buco Alimentari,  in NYC.

That cocktail, the color of faded Venetian draperies, displayed a pitch-perfect balance of sweetness and bitterness; it sported a sensational middle palate with a lush, syrupy texture, and had a long, lingering, bitter cherry, finish. I can still taste it a month later.

The Il Buco Alimentari Negroni.

The Negroni is said to have originated in Florence, Italy, in 1919, at Caffe Casoni when Count Camillo Negroni reputedly asked the bartender to strengthen his favorite drink, the Americano, by replacing the soda water with gin.

The drink became so popular so quickly that it was soon called the “King of Aperitives.” Eventually, the originator’s name was affixed to the cocktail.

I’m sure the Count never imagined that one day he’d become the spirit(ual) leader of drinkers around the world.

One taste of the Negroni at Il Buco Alimentari and I knew that I had to learn how to ace this cocktail at home. So I asked Melissa, the bartender, for her secrets to make the perfect Negroni, which is basically a concoction of three spirits:

Equal parts of:

Gin

Campari

Sweet Italian vermouth

Mixology 101: Stir, do not shake, the mixture of three spirits over ice, pour into old-fashioned glasses filled with ice (different ice, not the same ice used to mix the concoction) and, if desired, squeeze the oil from a strip of orange rind over the drink, and then add the rind.

Sounds simple. But the mixing’s a mathematical nightmare: which gin, which vermouth, and does one really add equal parts?

Campari is central to any Negroni and is the one part you don’t substitute when formulating a strategy to mix The Best-Ever Negroni.

This was an assignment for napaman akin to decoding the human genome. And equally as important to humanity if you agree that what happens daily at 5 o’clock somewhere in the world is critically important to the survival of mankind everywhere in the world.

Melissa told me that she uses Breuckelen Distilling’s Glorious Gin, a NY-made gin (Breuckelen is the old Dutch spelling for the borough in which it’s made).

The secret ingredient in the Il Buco Alimentari Negroni. Should be on the UN watch list as a dangerous weapon of mass intoxication.

This one night, she also replaced Carpano Antica, the sweet vermouth typically used here, for Cocchi di Torino, a more focused, slightly edgier, sweet Italian vermouth. It’s a complex, very intense vermouth; if Cocchi were a psychiatric patient, you wouldn’t learn in five years of psychoanalytic couch therapy what makes it so moody and intense.

San Francisco skyline; I had to head off to San Francisco to conduct basic Negroni research.

Back home, in California, I contacted my favorite wine and spirit retailer, K&L Wine, in San Francisco, and asked the dynamic Duo of Daves (Dave Driscoll and Dave Othenin-Girard) if they could order Cocchi and Breuckelen Distilling’s Glorious Gin for me. And also sell me some other branded gins for the exercise I was about to undertake.

“No problem” they chirped in unison in their standard echo-like fashion to please this customer.

While waiting for the gins and vermouth to arrive, I thought I’d be smart to conduct some basic bar research, to better understand how different brands of gin and vermouth altered Melissa’s recipe.

So I visited two of my favorite bars/hotels in San Francisco, both which happen to be Kimpton properties, the classy, high-end, boutique lodger, in whose hotels I often stay.

I visited Jasper’s Corner Tap, where I have enjoyed one of my favorite burgers ever in San Francisco. (This hunk o’ beautiful bovine is served on an original, crusty bun that is as memorable as the meat.)

I figured that if they know as much about mixing as they know about meat, this would be a solid place to start my Negroni research. I was right.

Barman Dan Wootton agreed that not all gins, and not all vermouths, are created equal. So he set up a trial of drinks to make his case.

Each was made with equal parts of three spirits, each contained Campari and Cocchi, which I’d already determined in tests is a superior vermouth for Negronis, better than Carpano Antica or even VYA Sweet Vermouth.

Do not lose sight of the fact that VYA Dry Vermouth is the secret to making the world’s best martini. But that’s another story and to fully understand how to make the World’s Best Martini, go here:

http://www.napaman.com/napamancom/2007/05/vya_the_stephen.html

And do not lose sight of the fact that Carpano Antica made some stellar Negronis in the course of my research, not the least of which was the Negroni made at Bistro Don Giovanni, in Napa town. Here they mix No. 209 gin, Campari and Carpano Antica. Fabuloso.

But back to Dan; he made three Negronis to prove his point.

Ginning at Jasper’s Corner Tap

The one made with Old Tom Ransom Gin from Oregon was muddied and unfocused.

The one made with Aviation Gin from Portland, which was Dan’s preferred Negroni of the trial, was a bit too clean; for me, it exhibited too much vanilla on the finish.

I selected the Negroni made with Martin Miller’s Reformed London Dry Gin, Westbourne Strength, as “Negroni of the Night.” It was sensational. Properly named, it Reformed my opinion about which gin makes the best Negroni. 

Dan and assistant general manager Jose Carlos Delgado pointed out that to meet the demand for Negronis, Jasper’s Corner Tap actually has devoted one wine/beer tap to… Negronis! 

That’s right, they pull a pressurized Negroni off one of their bar taps and the beverage is… FANTASTIC!

To make their wildly popular “draft Negroni,” they mix one part each of Campari and Plymouth Gin and for the third part, they mix Cinzanno and Punt e Mes, an Italian vermouth. This is a sensational, house-ready, Negroni. And it’s On Tap!

Over time, I’ve also come to respect and enjoy the spirits, wine and food at the Fifth Floor restaurant and bar, in another Kimpton San Francisco property, the Palomar Hotel.

As the Fifth Floor is a Mecca for Martini- and Negroni-drinkers, I knew it was time to visit an old friend here, Amy Goldberger, head sommelier at Fifth Floor.

In turn, she introduced me to Brian Means, the affable and skilled barman who mixed many variations of the Negroni on my visit so that I could test the impact of different gins and different vermouths.

Bartender Brian Means at the Fifth Floor. You could say that Brian Means business when he makes you a Negroni.

Plymouth gin produced a rusty, rustic, serviceable Negroni; Martin Miller’s Reformed London Dry Gin, Westbourne Strength, produced a superior cocktail with a sensational middle palate, and a sunburned finish.

St. George Dry Rye Gin, made in Alameda, CA, produced a Negroni that was flavored with bandages and Mercurochrome, and which had long lasting bitter notes.

Fords Gin, from England, produced a watery, non-descript beverage with not much of a middle palate and no memorable finish. Call it the Mitch McConnell Negroni – absolutely no personality.

Brian Means in his laboratory... er, I mean bar, planning a few more Negroni combinations to try.

We tried a Negroni made with Greenhook Ginsmiths Gin from Brooklyn, NY, which Brian wangles from a special source as it is not commercially available in this market. It produced a drink with slow attack and slow release; there were a few floral notes and a hint of cucumber. This might be the Negroni to have if you’re planning to have more than two Negronis, as the flavor build-up is slow. 

But I’m in search of the one-off, single best Negroni you can make at home, not one of which you need to drink a bathtubful to obtain a flavor hit.

(By the way, let’s not forget to mention that the bar area of the Fifth Floor is THE place in San Francisco to have a sensational, rich, burger – order it with “the works”  -- with a side of fries. Major delicious.

If your server is Dillon, he will guide you through all the other spirit and food options on the bar menu. This is one of my favorite after-hours destinations in San Francisco; it is quiet, comforting, secluded. The drinks and service are first-class.)

When my bottles of Breuckelen Distilling’s Glorious Gin and Cocchi finally arrived at K&L Wine, I started to conduct mixology trials at home.

After determining that Cocchi sweet vermouth makes the best Negroni, I mixed the cocktail using many different gins.

Here’s what I discovered, on my way to selecting my all-time favorite, Best Ever Negroni. In order of preference, from least liked to best liked:

Boodles Gin

Not much of anything. The spirits and flavors do not integrate with one another. There is a succession of tastes, including cinnamon and ripe fruit, but overall, the Negroni lacks luster, focus and zip. 89 points out of 100.

Hendrick’s Gin

Here’s a gin I often like for martinis, but in auditioning for The Negroni Idol, this straight-forward gin produces a rather straight-forward, rather pedestrian, cocktail. There’s not much “there” there.

A rather simple drink, missing the complexity and alluring character found in other Negronis in this taste test.

91 points out of 100.

Plymouth Gin

Somewhat soapy, pallid, pastel-flavored in the Negroni. Even with the addition of bitters and an orange peel, this gin underwhelms in the cocktail.

This gin is far more successful as an ingredient in a martini.

91 points on its own, 94 points when made with bitters.

No. 209

The best US gin you can use for martinis. Bar none. In any bar.

But for Negronis made with Cocchi, this very floral, very botanical, gin produces a beverage that is a bit sloppy, and unfocused. Almost socially backward and embarrassing. Still, it produces a refreshing cocktail. Much better when combined with Carpano Antica vermouth. 95 points.

Breuckelen Distilling’s Glorious Gin

A winner by any standard of comparative measurement.

The presence of Cocchi lengthens the finish considerably.

Love this gin for the Negroni, though when tasted straight, on its own, it’s a rather mundane, lackluster spirit. How curious. 96 points.

 

Martin Miller’s Reformed London Dry Gin, Westbourne Strength

This gin makes a sensational Negroni; the cocktail is bright in the mouth, bouncy and alive on the palate.

The cocktail is vibrant, and does what a proper cocktail before dinner is meant to do: arouse one’s appetite. 98 points.

In short:

Miller’s Reformed London Dry Gin, Westbourne Strength, makes a superior Negroni when mixed in equal parts with Cocchi di Torino sweet vermouth and Campari.

This combination of spirits produces an Academy Award-worthy Negroni.

(For the record: Miller’s Reformed London Dry Gin is distilled in the UK, then shipped to Iceland where it is blended with Icelandic waters and bottled. How curious! How delicious!)

Here’s what happened next:

Thinking that I’d found the Holy Grail Recipe for The Perfect Negroni, I called my friend Eileen, who is the bartender at Tra Vigne, in St. Helena, and who is, in my humble opinion, the best bartender in Napa Valley.

“I want to make you a Negroni and get your feedback,” I offered.

I made my Negroni with equal parts of Miller’s Reformed London Dry Gin, Cocchi and Campari, and as good as it was, Eileen improved it!

She suggested upping the gin to 1.5 oz. while keeping the Cocchi and Campari at 1 oz. each.

“The extra gin softens the drink, reduces the perceived sweetness, and generally makes for a better cocktail,” Eileen concluded.

And she was right.

So now you have all the trade secrets – the ingredients, the ratios, and bartender tips -- to make The Perfect Negroni at home. So what are you waiting for...?

Want to taste the best commercial Negronis?

In NY, go to:

Il Buco Alimentari, 53 Great Jones Street,

Tel: 212-837-2622 

In San Francisco, go to:

Jasper’s Corner Tap, 401 Taylor, off the lobby of the Serrano Hotel.

Tel: 415-775-7979.

The Fifth Floor, on the 5^th floor of the Palomar Hotel, 12 Fourth St.

Tel: 415-348-1555.

In Napa Valley, go to:

Bistro Don Giovanni, 4110 Howard Lane, Napa.

Tel: 707-224-3300.

Tra Vigne, 1050 Charter Oak Avenue, St. Helena.

Tel: 707-963-4444.

Margrit Mondavi Honored for a Lifetime of Wine Achievements

Margrit Mondavi, the Wine World’s Patron Saint of Culture, was recognized this afternoon for her lifetime contribution to the American wine industry, essentially for proving to us all that wine is part of an active lifestyle.

Man cannot live on bread alone. Or on books alone, Or on art, theater or film alone. Everything, it turns out, goes better with a glass of wine, which Margrit has taught us to think of as the hydraulic fluid of life.

Margrit with the Tiiffany Monteith Trophy

At a formal luncheon at The Robert Mondavi Winery today, Margrit, as we all call, know, and love her, received the elegant, sterling silver, Tiffany Monteith Trophy, one of the most prestigious awards in the American wine industry.

Mike Thompson, our regional congressman, and Co-Chairman of the Congressional Wine Caucus, presented the award to Margrit at the luncheon, honoring her for her tireless promotion and consumer education in the fields of wine, food and the arts.

The Tiffany Monteith Trophy was created in 1980 and Margrit is its 30th recipient. The award is sponsored by the Atlantic Seaboard Wine Association, whose board members were present for the presentation.

The award is presented annually (with a few exceptions) to an individual who, or an organization which, has made an exceptional contribution to the development of the American wine industry.

The Monteith Wine Bowl Trophy, made of pure sterling silver, was made by New York’s Tiffany & Co for the Vinifera Wine Growers Association. Its craftsmanship represents one of the earliest forms of silversmithing.

The award was presented to Margrit ahead of a delicious lunch, served in the Robert Mondavi Vintage Room, where I have had some of the best food I have ever been served in Napa Valley. (Let the record be clear: I first had the privilege of dining with Bob & Margrit Mondavi in this private dining room 33 years ago.)

Margrit kibbutzes around with L. Pierce Carson, food, arts and wine reporter for the Napa Valley Register.

Good going, Margrit! We’re sure happy for ya! It’s recognition you’ve earned. I’m pleased to be able to call you a friend and neighbor.

Best Meal of the Year! (And It’s Only The First Week of January!)

New York City: it ain’t your granddaddy’s dining scene! (Painting by Edward Hopper, 1930, “Tables for Ladies.”)

My three best meals in New York last week were all Italian, and one of them will likely remain on top of my list as The Most Outstanding Meal of the Year, regardless of what follows.

Is there a better cuisine than Italian? 

Is there a better city in North America in which to find sublime examples of the Mother Kitchen?

My three top restaurants are listed below alphabetically, which also happens to be, by coincidence, their order of ranking.

For some reason, friends and readers extrapolate and think that as Napaman is knowledgeable about where to dine, and what to do, in Napa Valley, he’ll know, too, where to dine in other destinations.  Which is why I’ve penned this short profile of my Three Best Dining Experiences in NYC, because everyone is asking me for them.

So go ahead... copy... paste... drool... and ultimately enjoy!

#1. Del Posto

Chef Mario Battali’s single best restaurant anywhere. Rated 1-star by Michelin, but on napaman’s  scorecard, this is a solid 4-star dining experience, and the best place in America at which to have lunch. Ours lasted 4 hours and was a thrill-a-minute series of courses complemented by paired wines, immaculately selected by head sommelier Massimiliano Giovannoni.

I will be shocked if we have a better dining experience in the coming year. How do you improve upon perfection?

Head sommelier Massimiliano Giovannoni

Elisabetta Riccardi

Overseeing our dining needs was Elisabetta Riccardi, who made us feel at home, and who carefully guided us through menu options.

Highlights of the lunch

A cauliflower veloute that will forever change the way I think of the ubiquitous vegetable.

A captivating salad with unusual greens, which appear to have been plucked out of a garden minutes before being served. How else could they taste so fresh? It is tossed with a black truffle vinaigrette that so commands our attention that we’re inclined to ask for a steak on which we might nap this compelling, earthy, aromatic vinaigrette.

Head sommelier Massimiliano Giovannoni pours a single glass of wine using a soon-to-be-released-to-the-public wine device called Coravin, which enables one to draw wine from an, unopened bottle! The 2008 Damijan Malvasia, which Massimiliano poured for us, was sensational.

Lobster salad with “gigantes” beans.

Lobster salad with meaty, gigantic beans; just the thought of having fresh, tender chunks of this seameat , served with my favorite beans excites my palate!

Cacciucco all Livornese, the traditional fish soup of Livorno. What cioppino is to San Francisco, or bouillabaisse is to southern France. Only better, if you have it at Del Posto.

Yes, yes, I know... not enough wine at lunch. 

 Fact: There were more glasses on our table than you’d find in a Riedel glass showroom!

New York’s Battery, the Statue of Liberty, looking west.

#2. Il Buco Alimentari

I have now eaten four times at this sensational restaurant, owned by Donna Lennard, and have never had a disappointing dinner. I am giddy for two days before dining here, excited by the anticipation of what joys my mouth will have.

New York magazine describes this as being one of the Top Ten Restaurants in New York. It is.

If you meet Maggie, the capable, able, talented hostess, say napaman sent you; she’s totally professional and keeps her calm even when, on a weekend night, the place is packed like a subway car at rush hour.

Il Buco Alimentari is home of the single greatest Negroni I have ever tasted. It’s superb when made by any barman here, but particularly memorable when Melissa makes it.

The secret ingredients include a local gin (Breuckelen Gin), Cocchi (Italy’s least understood  -- and best! -- sweet vermouth), and a dash of bitters. And of course, Campari.

(Stay tuned to napaman.com; in coming weeks, after I perfect the Negroni at home, I will share the recipe... and you can save the airfare to NY to order one at Il Buco Alimentari. On the other hand, I’d STILL fly to New York just for one of Il Buco Alimentari’s Negronis!)

Lattuga

Be sure to order lattuga, a salad of winter chicories, white anchovies, marconna almonds and red radish. Note in the margin of my dining notebook: “This salad scores 12 out of 10!”

Don’t miss: grilled sausage, served on a bed of Umbrian lentils, tweaked with roasted cipolline onions and given some weight with a deep aftertaste of sage.

Another winner is lasagnette, a house-made noodle tossed with a classic Bolognese ragu; the meaty flavors are lifted by Parmigiano and black pepper. You want perfection on a plate? This dish has it.

Another cold-winter must: Slow-roasted short ribs. Served with Castelvetrano olives, celery, walnuts and – catch this! – horseradish. Richer than Donald Trump. And more appealing.

How they serve the house-made ice creams at Il Buco Alimentari.

Did I say deeelicious?

 

#3. L’Artusi

The primary sensory highlights at L’Artusi: it’s dark (as the photo above attests), it’s loud, and it’s fucking delicious.

One young, trendoid diner we know describes this noisy, jam-packed, Italian restaurant as his favorite in all of Manhattan. One taste of the pastas and we fully understand why.

Beef carpaccio at L’Artusi

Don’t miss the arancini (fried risotto balls), served with a tongue-clacking tomato sauce.

Chicories, lit by candlelight.

Chicories tossed with a sensational Parmesan, lemon and anchovy dressing earned three exclamations in my notebook and the added comment: “Worth flying to New York just for this dish!”

Ravioli stuffed with autumn squash, dressed with a sage-brown butter sauce; your mouth will sing The Battle Hymn of the Pasta Republic.

Garganelli with a mushroom ragu, tumbled with a ricotta salata. The best single dish of the night. We thought about ordering a second one it was so good, but knowing what desserts might follow, we opted for prudence over pig-outery.

Gilded bronze sculpture, “Standing Nude,” by Elie Nadelman,

If you’re going:

Del Posto, 85 10^th Avenue, NYC. Tel: 212-497-8090

Il Buco Alimentari, 53 Great Jones St., NYC. Tel: 212-837-2622

L’Artusi, 228 West 10^th St., NYC. Tel: 212-255-5757

Best Wines of the Year!

2001 Domaine Roger Sabon, Le Secret des Sabon

Six years ago, I visited one of my favorite wine producers in the world, Domaine Roger Sabon, in Chateauneuf-du-Pape, in the southern Rhone.

The consulting winemaker to this property, Alain Benquet, who is a longtime friend, secured the tasting appointment for me with owner, Jean Jacques Sabon, who has since deceased.

Backgrounder about this wine

Robert Parker scored the 2001 vintage of Roger Sabon’s top cuvee, Le Secret des Sabon, a perfect 100 points on every occasion he has tasted it.

I have been fortunate to experience this wine on several occasions.

In 2004, at a business dinner, I ordered this wine at The French Laundry, in Yountville, and rated it 100 points. It was a perfect wine.

In 2006, I tasted it again, this time with Jean Jacques, the owner, and with Alain, who made it, at the winery and again, it was a perfect 100-point wine.

And now, six years later, last night, I opened my only cellared bottle (which I purchased at the winery) and it was as impressive, still easily a 100-point wine. Maybe more.

The wine exhibits a core of very ripe, black fruit, predominantly black cherry and blackberries. There is a backfill of grilled steak flavors, with a faint echo of white birch sap. (Trust me - it's there.)

There is more than wine in this bottle; upon pouring, one senses an essence, a spirit of wine, which is more than just juice. Thrilling, complex, complete.

1990 Vieux Donjon

I enjoyed this bottle with Stefan Blicker, of BPWines, St. Helena, who brought the 22-year-old Chateauneuf-du-Pape to lunch at one of my favorite local restaurants, Market.

I’d had 12 bottles of the 1990 vintage from a case I’d bought as a pre-arrival and everyone of the bottles from that case was a perfect 100-point wine.

I asked Stefan to share his only bottle of the 1990 Donjon, acquired with the contents of a wine cellar purchased from a California collector, with me. It was, like the 12 bottles before it, a perfect 100-pointer. And one of my best wine experiences of the year.

We paired it with the immaculate pepper-crusted filet (served with truffled shoestring French fries), on the small plates list at Market.

The wine, upon being opened, exhibited scents of cedar, white truffles, anise seed, garrigue, licorice, herbes de provence, and kirsch.

Earlier in the year, I devoted an entire story to this one bottle of wine. Go to:

http://www.napaman.com/napamancom/2012/05/how-can-a-wine-be-this-good-13-times-.html

2003 Domaine Serene, Grace Vineyard

I have long been a fan of the sensational, fleshy but balanced, Pinot Noirs coming out of the Willamette Valley, in Oregon.

These are my Go To Pinots when I want freshness, balance, food friendliness, and no fear that I’m going to find over-zealous alcohol or wood (a failure of too many California Pinot Noirs) or hints of dirty barrels and tired winemaking (too many Burgundies).

Of all the Willamette houses producing Pinot Noir, the ones I treasure the most are Domaine Serene, and Arterberry Maresh.

In June, served at home with Carol’s perfectly broiled, center-cut filets of fresh Atlantic salmon, I opened an eight-year-old Domaine Serene classic, the 2003 Grace Vineyard Pinot Noir.

It was still young, gorgeously balanced, filled with fresh and candied versions of black cherry, gobs of sweet, ripe red cherry and the alcohol and wood elements were so integrated, they were unnoticeable.

Quite a wine. Easily a 98-point experience. Nice work, Serenistes!

2006 Arterberry Maresh Pinot Noir, White Rose Vineyard.

This wine was one of my top wines of 2008, and I thought that was the end of the accolades.

Then, in July of this year, I opened my last bottle from a case I had bought and, as every bottle before, it was a perfect, unctuous, syrupy rich, delicious, wholly balanced, Willamette Pinot Noir.

I said the following about this wine four years ago, and every word I wrote about it then, is still true today:

“I could write a sonnet, a book, an encyclopedia about my love for this extravagant, balanced, elegant, mature, brilliant Pinot Noir from the Willamette Valley in Oregon.

I have now opened and shared many bottles from the case and every one gets a forehead-slapping, “I can’t believe how good this wine is!” comment from Napa Valley winemakers, and knowledgeable sommeliers for whom I have poured it.

The Dinner, Wine-tasting and Social Event of the Year,

featuring three of the year’s very best wines

 

 
Barry and Patricia Brown, my Toronto dinner hosts

 What they served with an exquisite home-cooked dinner:

1944 Marques de Murrieta, Ygay (white)

1935 Marques de Murrieta, Ygay, Carta Blanca (red)

Imperial Corrigedor (a Non-Vintage Sherry that is not less than 63-years-old, and partially 130 years old)

Served by very good, very close, and very dear friends Barry and Patricia Brown in their condominium overlooking the “Mink Mile” of Bloor Street, in Toronto.

1944 Marques de Murrieta, Ygay (white)

Barry Brown, who is president of the Spanish Wine Society of Canada, knows more about Spanish wines than any North American I have ever met. Name a vintage, a Spanish winemaker, a region – the guy knows them intimately.

Barry has a taste memory of every Spanish wine he’s ever had; he could fill the shelves of a large LCBO (Ontario wine store) with the empty Spanish bottles he’s had in his lifetime. Got the picture?

A day after my birthday, in July, I visited Barry and Patricia in Toronto and they threw a birthday feast for me that eclipsed just about every wine I’ve experienced at any table the entire year -- in age, complexity, and sheer enthusiastic enjoyment.

The white 1944 Marques de Murrieta Ygay, made largely from the Viura grape (93% Viura, 7% Malvasia, aged in a succession of old oak tanks, then smaller oak barrels) was 68 years old. A 68-year-old white wine! Yet the wine still showed youth, vigor, complexity and verve!

The wine was the color of apricots; initial tastes were of camphor, cedar, clover honey, almonds, and leather. Patricia described the wine as “pretty,” Barry said that it was the oldest dry white wine he’s ever had. Me too. And one of the best.

One hour after being opened, this wine still exhibited vibrancy, complexity, and crisp acidity on the finish. Patricia said that among long-lived Spanish whites, this was a “templar” (knight) of wine. I totally agree.

That’s me, Patricia Brown, and the two oldest wines tasted this year

1935 Marques de Murrieta, Ygay Carta Blanca (red)

As good – and astonishing -- as the 68-year-old white Ygay was, there was more magic to follow. Barry opened and decanted a 77-year-old, red Marques de Murrieta Ygay – from the 1935 vintage.

The wine, about half Tempranillo (the remainder being Garnacha, Mazuelo & Graciano – which sounds like the name of a Spanish law firm), was a gift, given to Barry by the cellar master of the winery in 1985. It was the oldest, and only, bottle in his cellar, and he chose to open it for my birthday. Which itself made this a special wine.

Barry Brown and the 1935 Marques de Murrieta Ygay, Carta Blanca

Upon opening the bottle, we found ourselves slapping our respective foreheads; this 77-year-old wine was like the most intense Merlot-Cabernet Franc wine I’ve ever tasted; dark plums, dark cherries, and red raspberries rushed from the glass; there was a ton of bright acidity, a vibrancy suggesting a much younger wine – and yet this wine was made and bottled before the Spanish Civil War!

I have three pages of notes and a brace of exclamation marks describing this wine; cherries, cinnamon and blackberries are noted multiple times in my notes. Patricia said that the wine was “like a sunset – filled with romance, warmth and the promise of a perfect tomorrow.”

Barry said that of all the 60- and 70-year-old Spanish reds he’s ever had, this bottle was the youngest tasting of any he’s had.

Imperial Corrigedor (a Non-Vintage Sherry that is not less than 63-years-old, and partially 130 years old)

Who’d a thunk you could top these two wine experiences the same evening? Barry went to his Spanish-stocked cellar and pulled out a wine, which the great cellar masters of Spain believe is one of the greatest sherries ever made.

Barry says that Sandeman, the producer, only ever made three barrels of the rare, Imperial Corrigedor Sherry. The young wines used to refresh the solera in which this Sherry was made, were Sandeman Very, Very Old Olorosso and Pedro Ximenes Viejo, themselves 30-years-old when added to the solera.

According to records, the solera, which produced this sherry, was started in 1882.

The Corrigedor Olorosso has dark chocolate colors and flavors, and also tastes of rum, mahogany, coffee, tangerine and treacle.

Patricia insisted that this sherry MUST be tried with tart Spanish clementines – to bring out the bright orange acidity in the wine. At first, I thought this would destroy the wine – pairing fresh fruit with such an old wine to supposedly enhance the wine’s flavor? But I followed Pat’s suggestion and SHE WAS 100 PERCENT RIGHT! I ate a few segments of clementine and then tasted the sherry – the fruit pulled out the blood-orange notes of the wine and accentuated them! Patricia was right – this was a perfect food and wine pairing experience!

In a lifetime, to have the occasional, perfect 100-point wine is something. But to be invited to someone’s home and to be served wines that are older than you – and to have each of them score a perfect 100 points – now, THAT’S the definition of a memorable wine evening!

Addendum:

Worst Wine Moment of the Year

We visited our favorite French wine region in July, Chateauneuf-du-Pape, to check out the 2010 vintage, which was just being bottled and to see dear winemaker friends.

We couldn’t believe the pathetic, offensive and unfriendly reception we received at Vieux Telegraphe.

I have been buying this wine for more than 20 years from Kermit Lynch, one of my most trusted wine merchants in California. Not only does Kermit sell the wine, but he’s also the importer of Vieux Telegraphe.

We did not book an appointment at VT (as it’s colloquially known in the trade) because the firm has a proper drop-in tasting room, much as you find in Napa Valley.

We pulled up to the winery at 11.59 am, having traveled 6,000 miles to visit one of our favorite wine houses; the tall, young, rude and offensive clerk was just coming out; he told us that he was going for lunch and was locking up the tasting room.

We pleaded, told him that we had just come 6,000 miles to just have a quick sip of the 2010 vintage and then we’d go. The tasting room staffer didn’t give a hoot and told us so. He then proceeded to lock up, walking off with a crusty French baguette for lunch. Les maudits visiteurs!

This kind of reception does NOT happen in Italy, it does NOT happen in Napa Valley, or other California wine regions; hospitality is the name of the game and if someone walks into a tasting room at 4.59 pm, despite the official closing at 5 pm, no tasting room employee would throw out a potential future customer, someone who might spend $600 a case for 20 years (= $12,000), as I have for VT

Basically, we were told in a crude, rude and unfriendly fashion to piss off, “I’m going to lunch.”

Well, here’s my response: VT, I’ve bought the last bottle I’ll ever buy and I will do my utmost to convince friends and readers that there are far better Chateauneufs-du-Pape to drink, ones that are filled with flamboyant aromas, not flaming arrogance.

Best New Restaurant Discovery of the Year

Hands down, it goes to Frank’s Kitchen, a sensational artisanal effort in Toronto, where I had the good fortune to dine twice this year.

Frank Parhizgar and his wife Shawn Cooper run this sensational, small, restaurant where everything is made in house. And I mean everything. Including the ceramic platters on which the appetizers are served.

I enjoyed a sensational dish of Lamb Prepared Several Ways on my most recent visit; the large rack of Ontario lamb was perfectly cooked, the Merguez sausage, made with lamb, was ethereal, a word I’ve never applied to sausage in 35 years of reviewing restaurants. The dish had great taste, great texture, and all the flavors were liaised with a delicious reduction.

Shawn, who looks after wine purchases, has done a masterful job of finding fairly priced wines that complement Frank’s dishes; not easy to do in Ontario where the monopolistic LCBO unreasonably marks up wines and then makes restaurants buy them at virtual retail prices. As a result, Napa Valley’s modestly priced Cakebread Cabernet turns up on Toronto menus at $200.

On future visits to Toronto, I will book my first night of dining at Frank’s Kitchen; as much to reacquaint myself with Frank’s sensational cuisine as to set the bar high for other restaurants I will visit on my trip.

Frank’s Kitchen, 588 College St. (at Clinton), Toronto. (416) 516-5861.