Friday, February 27, 2009

Thierry and his pinot



I know the picture at left leaves a little to be desired.

Traveling to sell your product can be a tricky scenario; tiring quests for sales matched up with the hurdles of language barriers and cultural differences can make life a bit harried. But, sometimes you just find a simpatico with someone regardless of those hurdles.
This was the case yesterday with a very genuine winemaker named Thierry Michon from Domaine St Nicolas. Thierry walked into 5&10 and was instantly buoyed with familiarity when I greeted him in French. I grew up speaking a lot of French though a wonderfully Canadian tradition of bilingual elementary schools in Ottawa and, though rusty, I can still get my point across, albeit with a strong Quebecois accent, humoring all from France.
Thierry just felt immediately at home. We chatted about his vineyard, how hard winemaking has been in the last four years (good vintages but very small yields, down as much as 2/3 from what he used to yield), about his wondrous soil, about fellow Loire producers, and cheery comfortable banter about life on the road. Really great guy. He talked about how he has made a a big decision in trying to move into the American market even though he sells out just about every wine he has in France... a common malaise among French winemakers who have decided to take that route. They are increasing their playing field for larger future production but then they get saddened when their wines get lost in the shuffle of non-varietally labelled wines in the USA.

In France Thierry has sold out of all of the 04, 05 and most of the 06 of his higher-end pinot noir called "Cuvee Jacques". The wine is 100% pinot and a rarity because it is grown on the very sought-after schist soil.
"Schist
A medium to coarse grained metamorphic rock with well developed bedding planes derived from the foliated recrystrallization of platy like minerals like mica."
Physicalgeography.net
This schiste is salty stuff too, because Thierry's land is very close to the ocean as you can see in the photo. He's next to the Atlantic in the Southern Loire where it says Fiefs Vendeens.
The kicker is this wine is a 2004 which is just magical now and for a number of years to come. It's all biodynamic and worth every penny. And it doesn't cost many pennies.
$22.99 for a wine that I think is worth double that, from the hands and vines of a guy who travelled here from is home to sell something that should sell itself.

DO NOT LET THIS WINE GET AWAY. I have three cases coming in Wednesday March 4th and that's pretty much all there is.

A la prochaine Thierry!

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Frogmore Stew


Someone just asked for the Frogmore Stew recipe...
here's a link to the fine folks at Food & Wine magazine. They have it in their fine recipe database.

recession restaurants

Only having two little restaurants is sometimes a good thing. I have been weighing the impact of the economic situation in the country and have come to the conclusion that university towns are a bit more insulated than most places... at least for now. The university works on a budget that was crafted before the recession really kicked in so they get to glide along until the legislators hack the next years budget to shreds. So while the rest of the country is gearing up for recovery, us little university towns may be waning for a wee bit longer, but it shouldn't5 be too bad. Long live tenured positions. Long live our customers.

This is not to say that the recession hashad no impact around these here parts. We have declined in sales but customer covers remain about the same, maybe a touch lower. High end wines have taken a hit and splitting dishes or eating apps as mains seems to be more popular than ever. But you know what? That's fine with us. At the end of the day we can absorb the decline and we just continue to enjoy being what we are: restaurants for a community. We'll all get through this and it will make us (hopefully) financially smarter for years to come.
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Specials for Wednesday Night!

02/25/09

• Bon Secour, LA 1.50
• Kumomoto, WA 2.25
• Wellfleet, MA 2.25

grilled scallions, romesco, red wine poached egg and potato chips 8.

ahi tuna tartare with citrus ponzu, chopped white anchovy, spinach and grapefruit 12.

grilled quail with roasted apple, baked polenta and a calvados jus 15.

seared #1 tuna over Basque potato stew
with arugula and a sherry emulsion 25.

olive and pepper braised lamb shank with roasted rack of lamb… leek polenta, mint, crisped artichokes 33.

meyer lemon pannacotta with earl grey tea cookies 7.

• half bottle of bubbles.
Champagne, Taittinger, Brut, NV $28.
• sauvignon blanc/ Semillon,
La Freynelle, Entre-deux-Mers,
France, 5./20.
• tannat, merlot, cab, Colombelle, Gascony, France, 2007 4.50/18.
• cab-syrah, Domaine des Cantarelles, Vin de Pays de Gard, France, 2004 7./28.

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Tonight's Specials!

TUESDAY 02/24/09

• Apalachicola, FL 1.50
• Bon Secour, LA 1.50
• Chincoteague, VA 2.25
• Kumomoto, WA 2.25
• Naked Roy’s, BC 2.25
• Wellfleet, MA 2.25

chicken liver and country ham paté with bread and
butter pickles, muscat gelee, buttery toasts and apple 8.

grilled scallions, romesco, red wine poached egg
and potato chips 8.

ahi tuna tartare with citrus ponzu, chopped white anchovy,
spinach and grapefruit 12.

grilled quail with roasted apple,
baked polenta and a calvados jus 15.

roasted halibut with romesco, leek whipped potatoes,
vermouth emulsion, roasted artichokes and watercress 26.

seared #1 tuna over Basque potato stew
with arugula and a sherry emulsion 25.

olive and pepper braised lamb shank with roasted rack of lamb… leek polenta, mint, crisped artichokes 33.

meyer lemon pannacotta with earl grey tea cookies 7.

• half bottle of bubbles. Champagne, Taittinger, Brut, NV $28. for 375 ml
• sauvignon blanc/ Semillon, La Freynelle, Entre-deux-Mers, France, 5./20.
• tannat, merlot, cab, Colombelle, Gascony, France, 2007 4.50/18.
• cab-syrah, Domaine des Cantarelles, VdP Gard, France, 2004 7./28.

Vine Connections wine dinner

Vine Connections dinner
SIX COURSES OF WINE & FOOD FOR $65.00
Thursday, March 12th, 6:00 PM

Don’t Cry For Me, Argentina
This is a wine dinner looking at some wonderful wines in a very palatable price point (retail $13 to $26). Because we care.

All of the wines are from a wonderful importer called Vine Connections, based in Sausalito, CA. (Off topic: Sausilito has the most amazing sushi restaurant called Sushi Ran where I’m sure you can procure many of the Vince Connections sakes. Such great food there.) Vine Connections specialize in Argentinian wines and Japanese Sake, which someone will have to explain the synergies of to me.
This is one of those dinners that will make you want to become a Mendoza cowboy.
The wines really are spectacular. The food will follow suit, as hopefully it always does.

1.
roasted oysters with chiles, watercress, andouille and lemon sabayon
Mapema Sauvignon Blanc 2008

2.
ceviche of scallops with local radishes
Crios Torrontes 2008

3.
crostinis with crisped goat cheese, roasted lamb leg, fresh mint and salsa rossa
Mendel Malbec 2006

4.
pork confit with pimiento polenta, roasted shallots and maitake mushrooms
Tikal Patriota Bonarda/Malbec 2006

5.
simple grilled prime ribeye with chimichurri
Ben Marco Cabernet Sauvignon 2007

6.
shortbread with housemade dulce de leche
Susanna Balbo Virtuoso Late harvest Malbec

cheers
Hugh

Thursday, February 19, 2009

red wine poached egg

this turned out really well. One of Jan's eggs poached in grenache with romesco, grilled scallions and fingerling potato chips. Fun dish on this week's $25 prix fixe. yum yum.
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Friday, February 13, 2009

gnocchi fusion

Potato gnocchi with pork dashi, buttery 
turnip greens and a fried local egg

I had some issues with putting this dish on our $25 prix fixe this week because it was maybe just a little too whack for Athens, GA.  
But it turned out really well so it's there for the eatin'.

 
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Thursday, February 12, 2009

Sineann wines: lunch with Peter Rosback




I had lunch today with the lovely Jerilene Slaughter from Specialty Wine in Atlanta and she was carting around the very exuberant owner and winemaker for Sineann Cellars in Oregon, Peter Rosback. Peter is a treat of a wiry man who exudes smartness and knowledge about his craft and really undertands his stuff. We tasted through much of the portfolio which is pretty vast.
Two whites and seven reds and he didn't even bring all he had.
We started with a very interesting phenonema that seems to be spreading thrhough the world of wine which is the concept that wine no longer has borders. Wine can be made by a Oregon winery in Marlborough, New Zealand pretty much as easily now as it can be made in Oregon, with the nice addition of some frequent flyer miles to round things out. So this first wine was a sauvignon blanc made at a small winery down in NZ and then bottled under the Sineann label. Very classic marlborough with striking citrus overtones and razor like acidity. Really refreshing quencher of a wine.
Next was the very bright Pinot Gris 2007 which was the newer vintage to a wine already on Five & Ten's list. Wonderfully full but not sweet at all. Full of crisp uncooked fruit with a stones and waterfall finish.
On to the reds:
First three pinots.
Sineann Pinot Noir, Oregon, 2007
For a pinot in this price point (around $30) it really is a great wine. Very Burgundian with restrained fruit and greta minerality.
Sineann Pinot Noir, "Resonance Vineyard", Willamette, Oregon, 2007
If the estate had some aspects of classic Burgundy than this single vineyard is showing off. It's got that drippy bacon fat nose with beautiful bright fruit and tons of finish. Great wine. Go Peter!
Sineann Pinot Noir, "Schindler Vineyard", Willamette, Oregon, 2007
Another single vineyard which just took longer to open up than the Resonance. It is a gem when it relaxes a bit and would probably love some time in the bottle.

and then the bigguns:
Sineann Red Table Wine, NV
Really interesting press wine made from all the pressed remains of all of Peter's reds. Mostly pinot noir but also has zinfandel, merlot, cab and some others contained. Reminds me of the concept of Pot Pourri, where in old skool times it was the pot on the back of the stove that just stewed all the leftovers to infinity. Because of the press style the wine is a strong beast with a nice tannin structure but the tannins are well integrated.
merlot, Sineann, Champoux, Heaven Hills, 2007
This is where the access to fruit really shines. Pair someof the best merlot in the US with Peter's gifts in the winemaking process and you have a stellar wine. Big and broad and makes me think of Pomerol. Bad ass wine. Makes me long to have merlot retake the position in the wine world it deserves. It is a varietal laden with an albatross called Sideways. Sad.
cabernet, Sineann, Baby Poux, 2006
The Baby Poux is the section of Champoux that was planted 18 years ago... the baby part of the vineyard. It is a vineyard just really getting its stride and the results are fantastic. Usually you have a winery with a skillset that lends itself to a varietal or two but in this instance Peter is just a magician with any grape at all. Fun to watch skills like that. The cab is bright and old skool with beautiful tobacco overtones and richness and a backbone made to age.
cabernet, Sineann, Cold Creek Vineyard, 2006
Peter has a contract with Chateau St. Michelle for a couple of acres (I think even more than that) and these grapes are wondrous. This wine is massive. Quilceda competition.

Always a treat to meet people like Peter who come into town. Look forward to a nice Sineann wine dinner soon at 5&10.
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