Wining About The Good Life

THIS SITE HAS MOVED!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2011-02-08T18:26:00.005-05:00

WINING ABOUT THE GOOD LIFE BLOG HAS NOW MOVED TO:

www.thesilverstonecollection.com

And The Winner Is...

2011-02-02T21:49:00.003-05:00

I’ve always got my nose in a magazine devoted to one of my favorite subjects: Films, music, Cars, Kylie Minogue and wine. Did you spot the odd one out? Yup, Wine. The others you can be addicted to without the neighbors gossiping. And if you aren't familiar with Kylie, she is a stunning Aussie lady who is easy on the eyes and ears, and her music is a blend of bubble gum, trance and disco. I’m Obsessive about my flicks, but if you chuck an over hyped one my way, I tend to doze off during the opening credits. I don’t like hype. Niles and Frazier Crane were incredibly entertaining on the subject of wine, and Peter Seller’s description of a bottle he’d enjoyed, in the classic 60’s flick “There’s a Girl in my Soup” with Goldie Hawn was wickedly funny. A film about wine is not unlike a bottle of wine itself. It can be touted as the greatest thing since...well, since the last great bottle of wine the critic consumed, or it can be dismissed as total mouthwash. Of course, being a thoroughly obnoxious bloke, I’ll go for the mouthwash every time. The same way I’d sit through “My Dinner with André” or “Chocolat” rather than an over touted 100 million Dollar blockbuster (Lord of the Rings and Pirates of the Caribbean are of course the obvious exceptions). My worlds do harmonize once a year, and I indulge them to the hilt, as I put down my car magazine, take Kylie’s “Red Blooded Woman” off the CD player and pop a cork from some luscious dessert wine, as the stars take their seats for Oscar’s night out. I’ve maintained my tradition for nigh on 25 years. For the marathon telecast, I lay before me (and my wife of course) the smelliest, ripest cheeses I can find. This year: the rich and creamy Maytag Blue, and the triple cream St André along with some Jacob's Cream crackers (so British) and fresh, crunchy celery sticks. The libation for this simple yet Academy Award friendly repast is normally port. And I always write the names of the winners on the labels which I keep as momentos. I always have some Cockburn’s Late Bottled Vintage Port (PLCB Code 8169 $19.99 750ml) in the decanter. I also enjoy a bottle of Bonny Doon Muscat Vin De Glaciere (PLCB Code 10029 $12.99 375ml) which is pure sex in a bottle... sweet nectar. If I had to pick between cars, Films, music and wine, I’d ponder them all for a while and then I’d announce: “And the winner is.................” (I’ll let you fill in the blank. Cheers!)

About PA Wine Tours And Personalized Corks

2011-01-26T21:01:00.003-05:00

This week a potpourrie of stuff.
The PlaceTile Erasable Ceramic Bottle Stoppers are stylish wine corks with erasable ceramic tops, making it easy to write and erase any message. Pretty nifty for identifying dates for when wines were opened, flavors of wines, or describing unlabeled wines and other wine tasting/presentation applications. They come in a variety of styles and designs. They etail for $13 per 3 www.placetile.com 678-467-4776.
Discover the heart of Pennsylvania’s wine country as the UnCork York Wine Trail presents the 6th Annual Tour de Tanks Event! Celebrate the arrival of new vintages with special tank and barrel tastings every Saturday and Sunday in March. Chat with UnCork York winemakers, meet fellow wine enthusiasts and enjoy tasty treats as you travel the trail.

The 13 wineries of the UnCork York Wine Trail will welcome you with outstretched arms Saturdays and Sundays in March from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. for a sneak preview of upcoming vintages before they are bottled. Saunter along the trail and discover the picturesque splendor of the Susquehanna Valley.

Tickets are $25 and valid every Saturday and Sunday in March, allowing unlimited visits to you’re the wineries along the trail! Tickets are available online at www.UnCorkYork.com and can also be purchased at participating wineries. Designated driver tickets are also available for $15 each which does not include the wine tastings.

You can extend your Tour de Tanks getaway with “UnCork York’s Meet the Winemaker Dinners” on Friday evenings throughout March. This will combine a meal from the area’s finest restaurants, while also learning from UnCork York winemakers why each carefully selected vintage was paired with the evening’s courses.

Tickets for these dinners include dinner, selected wines, tax and gratuity. For more details and to order your tickets, visit www.UnCorkYork.com or call (888) 858-9675.

Here are 3 fabulous wines for under $10 which I purchased at Franks Union Wine Mart in Wilmington DE – 1-800- AT -FRANKS

Montes 2008 Cherub Rose of Syrah ~ Colchagua Valley, Chile. A really stunning not overly sweet pre dinner quaff.

Tiki Sound 2009 Sauvignon Blanc ~ Marlborough, New Zealand . What a stunning wine which, as expected, delivers a gorgeous grapefruity flavor.

King Estate 2007 Next Riesling ~ Columbia Valley, Washington. I adore King Estate wines and this Riesling is crisp and dry and a reat contender for people like me who enjoy German Rieslings.

Cheers!

WSC

2011-01-18T20:49:00.002-05:00

We had the day off of school. I sat and watched the telly all day with my mum and grandma, and both women spent a lot of time blowing their noses. Hardly any traffic passed by our house and I remember the mood was very somber. Everyone knew the man they were burying, and the Queen and Prince Philip were looking especially sad. The Queen Mother in particular was not her usual spirited self. I’d heard this man’s name mentioned often enough in the first dozen years of my life and I was constantly reminded that the destruction which I’d fortunately missed by arriving after it had taken place, would have been much worse were it not for the “Old Boy”. Years before , this “old boy” in winged collar, bow tie, tall hat and puffing on a huge cigar would delight photographers with his fingered gesture of a “V” for victory sign. In time I became besotted by this man. I quote him when wine-tertaining, I even lunched with his great grandson. He was, undoubtedly, the most eloquent, most opinionated and most patriotic Englishman who ever lived: Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill. Whenever I find myself in Whitehall - recognized as the centre of government, the road is lined with government departments and ministries - I am lured to Churchill’s war rooms, below ground. The old boy’s personality seems to have been preserved in the underground museum. I purchased a book of Churchill’s notorious drinking quotes, since he was one of history’s most celebrated imbibers Here are a few to make you chuckle:

Field Marshal Montgomery told Churchill: “I neither drink nor smoke and am a hundred per cent fit” Churchill responded: “ I drink and smoke and I am two hundred per cent fit.”

Churchill was lunching with the King of Saudi Arabia who informed the Prime Minister that his religion forbade drinking and smoking. Churchill responded: “I must point out that my rule of life prescribes as an absolutely sacred rite smoking cigars, and also the drinking of alcohol before, after, and if need be, during all meals and in the intervals between them.”

Churchill once announced: “When I was younger I made it a rule never to take strong drink before lunch. It is now my rule never to do so before breakfast.”

Finally, the famous exchange with lady Astor, first female member of Parliament:
“Astor: Sir you are Drunk”
WSC:” And madam you are ugly, but in the morning I will be shober.”

When the “ old boy” died, Pol Roget, Churchill’s favorite Champaign, added a black border to their label as a tribute to his memory.

Those days were indeed his finest hours. Cheers!

Wining In Two Cities

2011-01-10T20:10:00.001-05:00

Until recently I’d been traveling back to London each month as I launched my career back in my home town. I must say, taking my wine act to Britain was rather daunting. The UK has always been known as a nation of beer drinkers, and Britain and good cooking was once considered an oxymoron. But the fact is, London, and many major cities and country towns, now boast top chefs, and multi Michelin stars. The UK, may not have adopted the Euro, but it has embraced culinary brilliance and now shines as the cheffing capital of Europe. Wine has always filled the cellars of the best restaurants and the country estates of the landed gentry. But since the Swinging 60’s, through the Yuppie era right up to today, wine is the tipple of choice. And just as Britain is attracting all the celebs from Hollywood, it is also being flooded with wine from the same coast. California is enjoying some serious space on the supermarket shelves. Gallo, Mondavi and Kendall Jackson reign supreme in the “high street” shops as they are fondly known. But once you venture into the more specialized West End stores (downtown) almost every Left Coast winery is represented. And with more cooking shows on Brit TV than PBS and the Food Network combined, bangers and mash have long galloped into the sunset. You can get a taste of new British food by watching and reading Jaimie Oliver and Nigella Lawson. Philly and London have come of cooking age together. Both were the brunt of food commentators’ jokes for far too long, and today those critics are literally eating their words. And the wine world is taking London and Philly very seriously when they look at their sales objectives and the demographics of the two cities. Even with PA’s state run monopoly, the knowledge and buying power of Harrisburg’s wine department is as impressive as any I know. Walking into the Wine and Spirit Shoppes in Narberth, Ardmore or Devon isn’t as tantalizing as browsing in the wine department at Harrod’s, but it can be just as exciting. There was a time when you could impress Philadelphians and Londoners with precious little knowledge about wine. Today, a good number of the citizens of both cities are well versed in the subject and have an opinion of their own about what they like and who produces the best Cabernets and Chardonnays. This is my 33rd year in the Delaware Valley, so I have now lived here longer than I lived in London. And I’m reminded of the cigarette advertisement which was popular when I first arrived in this country. I think it succinctly sums up my feeling for both cities: “You’ve come a long way baby”. Cheers!

Guest Blogger - Eric Miller, winemaker/owner Chaddsford WInery, PA

2010-12-03T10:27:00.004-05:00

I think in my next life I'm going to be a Robin Hood for the Black Forest of the East. I keep looking for a sheriff to pierce with a well-placed arrow but all I taste is good stuff all around the world. Great work in Burgundy. Wonderful Cabs out of CA, Argentina and Chile. Brilliant Chenins out of S Africa. Fabulous marketing of the sea of Aussie Shiraz. It's like there are no bad regions; only slackers among the hard workers. No one seems to talk much about the slackers. And that's good. So why are we fixated about the slackers in the East? I guess it's so close to home that the disappointed parents only see that their off-spring fall short. Me too, but I make it my biz to point out the good work. Maybe we need to re-write the eno-rules and regs like CA did just 30 years ago? When will the time come for lower alcohols? Lighter fresher wines? Leaner things that are easy on food pairings? The fact that the East is a rainbow of textures, flavors, varieties that are not mass marketed?

Eric Miller
Chaddsford Winery
632 Baltimore Pike
Chadds Ford, PA
19317
(610) 388 6221

Photo: Eric and Lee Miller co-owners and founders of Chaddsford Winery

Cowhorn WInery

2010-11-11T12:06:00.001-05:00

Cowhorn Winery, Oregon's Rogue Valley’s only Biodynamic estate, is partnering with Wine Bottle Renew to pioneer The RINSE Project, a bioregional program that closes the loop on wine bottle waste. Of the 300 million cases of wine sold each year in the United States, 70 percent of the bottles end up in land fills, not recycling centers, and none are being reused–but not for long.

In October, COWHORN was the first Southern Oregon winery to ship used bottles through The RINSE Project and intends to source from Wine Bottle Renew for future bottlings. The project enables the winery to cut its carbon footprint and per bottle cost while delivering an added value to customers: bottles that are better for the wine and the world.

The RINSE Project solves another growing concern for tiny wineries, bottle bloom, a condition when glass becomes cloudy from over exposure to climatic conditions and can cause spoilage. Small producers are frequently the recipients of discarded bottles that are renowned for bringing wine back to life the wrong way.

Inspired by Barbara Steele, the program is the first of its kind with the possibility of scaling up and will complement the winery’s relationship with The Green Glass Company to upcycle bottles into heirloom glassware. In partnership with The Ashland Food Co-op, COWHORN also maintains a Co-op cork-drop that sends used natural corks to Western Pulp for conversion into reusable, compostable wine packs guaranteed to contain a minimum of 99% recycled content.

The RINSE Project is made possible by transportation partner Agri-Plas, a Brooks, Oregon company that recycles agricultural plastics. Agri-Plas will deliver bottles between COWHORN’s Applegate estate and Wine Bottle Renew’s washing operation in Stockton, California. Additional Rogue Valley wineries are expected to join in and give wine lovers more locations to return used bottles for renewal.

“Biodynamic winemaking is about the purity of both our wine and the way we produce it.” says Barabara Steele, co-owner of COWHORN Wines and organizer of The RINSE Project. “Winemaking at COWHORN is a balance of high-tech and high-touch. Wine Bottle Renew uses leading-edge technology to extend the life of wine bottles by a factor or two or more times. Getting bottles back that are cleaner and greener than new glass is an added value for COWHORN customers who support sustainable businesses in spades and increasingly won’t settle for less.”

The tiny winery has made a big name throughout its home state. It’s 2008 Spiral 36, a hand-crafted blend of Marsanne, Roussanne and Viognier, was an early sell-out in its first year. Wine writer Matt Kramer praised its 2009 Spiral 36 as “a rare accomplishment” of “very deft winemaking.”

Currently the only certified organic and Biodynamic® winery in Southern Oregon, COWHORN is among the first certified Biodynamic® estate wineries and commercial farms in the United States. Guided by holistic-estate advisor Alan York, consultant winemaker Ken Bernards, and environmental designer Buddy Williams, COWHORN planted its first eleven acres of vineyard in 2005. Using state-of-the-art technology, winemakers Bill and Barbara Steele gently nudge native yeast through the fermentation process on a mission to make fine wine with few inputs, going from grapes to glass as purely as possible.

Cowhorn isn’t available, as yet, in our area but I expect the PLCB could special order the wine for you. www.cowhornwine.com

THIS IS BIG NEWS!!!

2010-05-21T13:37:00.002-04:00

Tell your friends...it's the biggest promotion I've ever undertaken...the site say it all. It's on til Sunday!!!
http://www.groupon.com/deals/the-silverstone-collection

The Best Of The Best In Philly

2010-04-27T15:21:00.003-04:00

It’s that time of year for the best annual wine event in our region which benefits a very good cause. I am, of course, talking about the NINTH ANNUAL PHILADELPHIA WINE FESTIVAL which is presented by Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board and Philadelphia Magazine and benefits The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

The Philadelphia Wine Festival will be held on Saturday, May 8 at the Philadelphia Marriott Downtown at 1201 Market.

The Grand Tasting features nearly 200 of the world’s top wineries, which share samples of their finest selections with festival attendees. Guests will interact with winemakers, presidents and brand ambassadors of wineries from Italy to South America, from Australia to New Zealand to the Pacific Northwest and many points in between. The event includes an extensive selection of collectable and highly allocated wines. Winemakers or local representatives will be at tables all night and will be on hand to answer questions and discuss their wines with guests.

Guests will enjoy signature dishes from some of Philadelphia’s most acclaimed restaurants including: The Capital Grille, Garces Trading Company and Penne Restaurant & Wine Bar. An onsite silent auction will benefit The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. The Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board will operate an on-site store featuring wines by the bottle or by the case. A concierge staff will assist with loading wine purchases to guests’ cars at The Marriott’s Filbert Street entrance.

The event will be held from 6:30- 9:00 p.m. Tickets are $125/person. There is a VIP Tasting with early entry at 5:00 for $225 per person, offering exclusive tastings of selected rare wines served only to VIP guests. Street (800.595.4TIX or www.philadelphiawinefestival.com).

If you didn’t already know this, my favorite restaurant in Philly has ALWAYS been Ristorante Panorama in The Penn’s View Hotel (Front and Market Streets Philadelphia-215-922-7800 or www.panoramaristorante.com. The owner, Luca Sena, has the biggest heart of any human being I have ever known. I adore him. So I was thrilled to learn that Panorama has just earned the distinction from Guinness World Records™ of Largest Winekeeper/Cruvinet. The unique wine bar’s, custom-built, 120-bottle wine keeper was designed by owner Luca Sena in 1990 when he opened the restaurant. The cruvinet is the key to the restaurant’s extensive offering of flights and up to 150 wines by the glass on any given day. “We’ve always known we had the largest cruvinet. Before the unit was built, wine bars only had 12-bottle systems, said Luca Sena. “The distinction of winning a Guinness World Record™ is one that proves and validates our twenty-year dedication to providing our customers with a vast selection of perfectly presented wines.”

The wine keeper is officially the largest wine preservation and dispensing system in the world. This system allows the restaurant to maintain the vitality of 120 open bottles of wine for an extended period of time. Each bottle is pressurized with inert nitrogen gas. The system (known also as a “cruvinet”) enables Panorama to present a tremendous offering of fine wines in optimum condition. The unit includes 120 usable taps with overall cabinetry dimensions of 160 3/8 inches wide, 94 ¼ inches high, 21 ¾ inches deep. The cruvinet features 60 bottles of red and 60 bottles of white wine.

Congrats Luca - Cheers!

Passage

2010-03-03T16:24:00.001-05:00

The high tech society has been embraced with all the passion of adolescent lust. Life used to have meaning, substance, a purpose. Now it is little more than a race against time, a crazed dash through an impotent world devoid of all the virtues I remember from childhood. My long lost childhood. Where did you go?

I can still smell the freshly baked apple pie diffusing cinnamon perfume through the house, while grandmother serenaded the rising dough to the melody of Qué sera sera. I remember those balmy summer mornings, and the distant drone of a small plane sketching a path across the powder blue canvas, as I filled my basket with apples which had dropped to the green velvet lawn. Ripe, crisp, juicy, tenderly nurtured by Mother Nature on the sentinel tree just beyond my bedroom window, whose limbs danced spiritedly on my ceiling in the moonlight. On such nights an owl marked time with eerily comforting lullabies. And Sunday afternoons in summer... those languid interludes on wooden framed deck chairs whose candy striped canvas ferried us to a tranquil siesta. Mother's voice softly rousing us for the arrival of tea. Small delicate sandwiches filled with smoked salmon, and cucumber and tomatoes from our greenhouse... and the freshly baked apple pie, with a paper thin crust, slivers of apples, plump raisins, and a stream of golden juices liberated as the fork began to explore the sweet confection within. The scent of Earl Gray melding the bouquet from the roses which crowned the garden in a sweep of colors, so proud in the late afternoon sunlight.

Those are the moments I recall fondly, when the world was young and the days were long and the sun shone from dawn to dusk. Everyone had time to stop and talk. Everyone used a fountain pen and very fine paper on which to write their sentiments to one another. Shopkeepers knew your name, restaurant owners sat at your table to present snapshots of their grandchildren. Mrs. Ayles at the corner shop - which served as both the grocer and post office - would read the post cards from our friends travelling abroad before we were afforded that pleasure. But nobody seemed to mind, it was an amiable time. My favourite treat during winter, was Sunday lunch at a London restaurant, accoutered in my best jacket, a clean white shirt, freshly polished sensible shoes and a smart tie. We were deprived of cellular phones and pagers ringing across the room, but sat enthralled by Neapolitan love songs from the strolling violinist, debonair in his Brylcreemed hair and starched moustache. The hushed dining room was peppered by the sounds of china being removed, cutlery being replaced and the carving trolley's wheels gliding gently across the floor. The air was full of exquisite fragrances, of opulent perfume from ladies in mink and perfect deportment, of fowl and meat and fresh fish, of overcooked vegetables, of soup and stew and Yorkshire pudding, of chocolate and rum and treacle and trifle, and of ripened cheeses. The smells, the stillness of the room, save for quiet attentive intimate conversation, and a bow passionately caressing the strings of an ersatz Stradivarious.... and the unobtrusive service. How well it is preserved in my memory.

That quality of life was lost to the new generation when we inherited the world and accepted the baton. I do not relish this new era, it is a sad, brittle existence which in time will doubtlessly shatter. And among the shards, perhaps someone will pluck a small green apple from the debris. Maybe the child in me will emerge to reclaim it for my basket.

People are perpetually running. They run for exercise, they run for planes, they run for meetings and they run late. How I loathe that expression, adopted as a limp excuse in the absence of respect and responsibility. People eat atrociously...talking on cell phones, looking at watches, crunching on crackers, drinking dreadful hot beverages from Styrofoam cups in 4-wheel drives, which, one must assume are procured for the treacherous terrain of the local shopping centre. In the age of e-mail, fax, overnight delivery, "voice mail", cell phones, pagers, and the Postal service, people still fail to respond to communications in an arrogant demonstration of abject rudeness. I am afraid the generation to which I must sadly be counted as a member, and the generation at our heels, are essentially a disrespectful, insidious group. Good manners is a commodity which does not demand a Platinum American Express card or a PIN number, it solicits just a few moments of time, and some perfunctory interest in other people.

My recent flight, high above the clouds, inspired a protracted reflection into the tulip bowled glass of life. A passionate swirl of realization that beyond the laborious discipline of reality's senseless and futile duties, there is indeed a place where pleasure and meaning are harbored for supreme indulgence. As our destination grew closer, I unbridled my burdens and sensed a sudden exuberance and lightheaded euphoric rush pumping through my body. A holiday approached, and with it, everything life had to offer would be spread before me - a pirate surveying his bounty! Life, so often becomes a cross to which my limbs are cruelly nailed, while beyond, in the mists of my imagination, are places where only a few may bask in unsullied, consummate nirvana.......a world and a time quite remote. In life, the one I inhabit from dawn to dusk, I am a relatively solitary soul, quite by my own election, but frequently, it could be suggested, a predilection conceivably credited to others. I am loved, one presumes, by my immediate family, the inner coterie orbiting by virtue of the gravitational magnetism of duty. Beyond this contiguous, modest cluster of satellites there is a vast ocean of darkness, uninhabited, empty - a chasm which will never be filled. Love has visited me twice. The first time through a chance encounter and unexpected tryst with the attractive, intriguing woman I married. Love returned once again when our baby placed her tiny fingers in my hand and I understood and recognized utter perfection and unconditional love. Never was life more beautiful, more intrinsic, more purposeful. Indeed, if it is to have meaning, a design, a fusion of sanguine energy from within one's own dominion, then these paradigms of love are truly an undeniable legacy of the quintessential image reflected from my glass -the glass I began to fill in the garden of my childhood.

Lift a glass my friend and carefully observe the images it reflects of your life. You can still correct the ones which lie ahead, but in order to make this transition, you must find the time to sit and contemplate....not only your world but the world of those with whom you share your work, your pleasure, your pain. These are moments to savour and cherish, to be created naturally without the assistance of electronic devices or sound bite conversation. They are your own design. Take a moment. Smell the apple pie. And listen.... the branches are rustling outside the window, and if you listen very carefully you can hear the gentle whisper of grandmother's voice borne by the distant breeze of memory.....Qué Cera Cera... whatever will be will be, the future is ours to see, Qué cera cera.

Check Out My Video

2010-02-05T15:01:00.001-05:00

Check out my video on Youube: http://youtu.be/1OnDQ5s0ooA

An Interview With Julia Child

2009-11-03T14:53:00.001-05:00

My life is painted across a broad canvas. Although wine is my chosen vocation,and has occupied my world for three decades, the canvas allows much more than black and white...all kinds of colors and intricate shades come clearly into view with vivid brush strokes of good fortune. I have many landscapes to share with anyone who cares to stop and savor my world....but masterpieces are rarities and when they come they are to be enjoyed slowly and carefully and examined for their entire beauty, which flows beyond the frame and to depths well beneath the canvas. The food world had a living and breathing masterpiece and I was honored to sit with her and talk to her and savor her company for a short while. In reality it was a brief encounter, in memory it will always be an eternity - a gorgeous, sumptuous, enchanting eternity. This interview was conducted 12 years ago and I am sharing it with you just before the release of “Julie and Julia” starring Meryl Streep as Ms. Child comes out on DVD.

AN INTERVIEW WITH JULIA CHILD

P. Tell me about little Julia McWilliams first experiences with food. I understand that your grandmother was a pretty good cook.

J. She was a good cook but I grew up in the teens and twenties and middle class people all had maids or cooks. There were lots of people who would come in as immigrants from Germany and Ireland and so forth so there was lots of help around. Then it all disappeared in the thirties. My mother didn't cook really at all. She could make baking powder biscuits. I was always very hungry living out in California doing lots of tennis and golf and everything so I ate hugely. My feeling was the more you ate at every meal the better. That was until the age of 42 when I found that calories did something.

P. You married just after World War II and you ended up going to France and you joined the Cordon Bleu and I read that you said you stayed there until they started getting a little too extravagant.

J. No, it wasn't that.... they began repeating the lessons....I had no compunctions about extravagance of any type as long as it was edible.

P. You teamed up with two friends in France to create a cooking school and when you came back to the States you penned a book that the three of you had written.

J. We did it together. We started this little cooking school and then my two friends had already started a book on French cooking for Americans which pleased me, of course, because I wanted to go in with the m. It began with a large number of pages on French sauces which I sent around to various people and we finally had a contract for $250. We went out and produced a large manuscript of 800 pages on French sauces and French poultry. There was also an esoteric section explaining things such as how you could go to the slaughterhouse and get some fresh pig's blood and for some reason the publisher was not interested in that kind of information... so we put together a regular book from soup to nuts but it took around 8 or 10 years.

P. When you came to the States that became Mastering the Art of French Cooking. What was the response to that book when it was first published?

J. Fortunately that was about the time when people were beginning to travel abroad. Before you had to go by boat which took 5 or 6 days. Finally when you could fly over a lot more people did and became very much interested in good cooking because general American cooking was awful.

P. That actually leads me to a question I wanted to ask you. When you returned to the States, this country's cooking wasn't terribly well respected around the world.

J. It was absolutely not respected at all. It tended to be peanut butter and hamburgers.

P. Now would you have guessed back then, that some 30 years later, you would have been able to produce a book that contained some of the most incredible chefs on the planet from this very country.

J. No, I wouldn't and it wasn't a respected profession or discipline at that point. It was kind of a dumping ground, I think. If you couldn't hack it in something else, put them into the kitchen. There is a wonderful and amazing change now where really educated people are going into the kitchen.

P. I should mention that book that I referred to is called “ In Julia's Kitche n with Master Chefs”.

J. The reason it's called In Julia's Kitchen, it is aimed at serious home cooks. This is for people who are serious cooks, who want to learn things from professionals, the professionals happen to be cooking in the home kitchen. And, of course, almost everything is perfectly possible. And there is such a tremendous difference between home cooking and restaurant cooking, especially large restaurant cooking which is an entirely different art form.

P. How did the French Chef series come about? What was the reaction of the fledgling PBS at that time?

J. The first series was called the French Chef and I had hoped to get some French chefs on to do some of the teaching and we had to have a short enough title so it would go in on one line in the TV Guide and the French Chef just fit there. Of cour se, we never had any French chefs on and I am neither French nor a chef. It was an appealing title at that point.

P. In the past 35 years, what have you noticed as the major change to people's attitude toward eating.

J. Of course, now we have this whole series of fear of food. We have all of this Mediterranean cuisine where everything is cooked in olive oil and ends up looking very much the same. People seem to be not very well informed.... they're told lard is poison. It turns out that lard is perfectly all right to use.

P. Carrying out from what you were talking about, do you think that perhaps we are losing anything as far as quality and variety of food in our fervor to have a healthy diet.

J. I think it is very, very dangerous not to have a well balanced diet. The other day I heard about a woman who had given up fat altogether, one of the all or nothing type of people. She began getting seizures as though it was epilepsy. Then another who is some kind of a diet man, a friend of ours who runs a radio program, was interviewing him. He ate just about no fat at all. He was kind of greenish yellow and and the worst thing about it was that he was covered with dandruff. You see that is what can happen if you don't eat a balanced diet. There is enough written about it so that you should know exactly what you are supposed to eat. We have that upside down pyramid in which we eat more beans and things and less meat. We all should know by now that you don't go over 30% fat. If you just use your head, you can eat beautifully and deliciously following th e guidelines of moderation. Small helpings which is probably necessary and a little bit of everything and...having a good time eating.

P. If you were beginning again today, knowing what you know, what would you do, if anything, differently in your life?

J. Well, I'd learn more French. I would have gone over to France earlier and I would have taken a business course and I would also have a good nutrition course as well. I would leap into France. I've done some restaurant work but not much but I love doing what I do just now - the teaching. Somehow I'd do what I'm doing now but better and I'd know about everything whe n I wrote.

P. You've written nine books and so many different articles, and you've appeared on TV. Do you have a particular favorite series, book, article that you have written.

J. Of course I love all of my books. I love the television work. Problem with doing a book is that it is so very lonely work. And it is such fun on the television because you're all like a big family. We have a lovely group of people. I've had two producers whom I love working with and we have a team and we're all just like a big family.

P. Where on earth do you keep getting these new recipes? Or the inspiration for recipes? Do you borrow them from people in your travels or are they you own creation?

J. Act ually I'm being so tied up with all the television and writing, that I haven't been in the kitchen enough so I'm looking forward to really doing a lot more cooking. There is no problem about getting dishes and ideas to do. But I don't speak of recipes, I speak of a dish or a bread or something like that.

P. So these come naturally to you.

J. You start working on something and then something else would suggest itself. I remember there was a famous chocolate cake made by a French woman in New York. She was a nasty woman. Among nasty women, little French women can be some of the worst. She had a cake that was presumably a flour-less cake and it was in a rectangular pan. All of the professional cooks, were trying to do it. I decided I'd try too. Then I went off on another tangent but I learned a lot just from doing that. Now you look at a recipe at some of the restaurants and they will say flour-less chocolate cake. That's not an attractive title, is it? Every time I see one I speak to the chef and say that's not an attractive title. Why don't you call it the supreme chocolate cake or something like that.

P. 30 years ago you were planning retirement.

J. No, I've never and I would never, ever retire. For one thing you couldn't take off your business and travel expenses on the income tax.

P. Besides, you are having a fun time doing it. Who has been the greatest influence in your life?

J. Well, L'Escoffier of course. I had great admiration for him. And then all those chefs with whom I worked when I was in Paris were just wonderful people back in 1949 when I really began. That was still the age of the old classical French cooking and of the seriousness with which they took their work. It made no difference how long or how difficult it was. If it produced something marvelous to eat, it was worth it. They really produced food as an art form and that's what really inspired me. It was a profession worth pursuing.

P. When the time comes for you to go to that great kitchen in the sky what contribution do you hope to have made to the culinary world?

J. That it is a wonderful profession and well worthwhile. We are always entertained and fascinated and there are wonderful people in the profession. Very generous, good people.
K.

Julia Child died August 12th 2004.
Her kitchen is now an exhibit in the Smithsonian Institution in Washington.

Peter Mayle On Corkscrews

2009-07-23T12:30:00.000-04:00

Peter Mayle is the ex-Brit advertising executive who moved to Provence and made packets of money publishing journals of his experiences. He is the most charming person to chat with over a glass of inexpensive wine. When we met recently I wanted Peter’s opinion on an important implement which allows us to enjoy our preferred beverage.

Phillip Silverstone: What, for you, is the perfect corkscrew?

Peter Mayle: Definitely not one of those monuments to alcoholic engineering which requires two hands and an MBA to work out. I like a corkscrew you can put in your pocket, with a hollow worm that goes into the cork and is twisted around to retrieve the cork. Often these are solid in the middle and when they go into the cork and they tend to split it in half. The hollow worm should have a rifled groove through it which allows the worm to progress smoothly through the cork. It needs to have a good knife for cutting the capsule, not a straight edge knife which needs sharpening all the time but a serrated edge which doesn’t need sharpening so often. And a sturdy lever. This corkscrew is known as the waiter’s friend. It’s an old tool which has never been bettered.

I have a friend in France who has a wonderful museum with a thousand corkscrews on display. And the best ones are these old-fashioned ones I just mentioned. Occasionally, you get the fancy ones with a brush for brushing the neck of the bottle, but all this other stuff with gas-injection and triple-hydraulic push-and-pull and turbo-charge I leave to people who don’t drink wine regularly!

P.S.: Since we last met, an entire ocean of wine from Provence, Languedoc and Rousillion have flooded our wine shop shelves in this country. Do you think people like yourself have influenced our fascination with wines from the south of France?

P.M.: I don’t know. America has taken to wine in a big way over the last 20 years. And Americans being curious people want to explore and investigate, especially now that Californian wines are rather expensive.

P.S.: And wines from the south of France are very much a bargain.

P.M.: There are some very adventurous wine buyers in the U.S. who go out and discover what you call “gems” Phillip and the south of France is an under-rated area, especially the Cotes du Rhone area. For eight bucks a bottle, you can get a very nice red wine from the south of France.

Cheers!

Wine Schtick

2009-06-29T14:47:00.001-04:00

So there I was mid way into my wine schtick - an expression freely adapted into the wine community’s parlance from Vaudeville - when I noticed a lady with a glazed expression on her face. It was evident that the lights were on but nobody was at home. I’d just spent two hours with lighthearted idle banter about my favorite topic, and between stories about me, I had chatted about wine. The glazing in the eyes began soon after the lady discovered my selection was mostly dry, suited admirably to my humor. My humor didn’t seem to remove the glazing, and my presence was creating a stifled yawn easily detected from her bloated cheeks which were inflated to capture the yawn before it became evident to me. I was most appreciative, since glazing and yawning are not very conducive to wine event hosts. After about two hours I drew my concluding witticisms to a close, ending with a torrent of my best wine world satire. The poor lady almost fell off her seat as she drifted away into her dreams, but the thunderous applause (well OK it was a mild ripple) awoke her and feeling somewhat embarrassed she thrust her hand into the air to ask a poignant question: “er..Mr. Silverstone, these wines were OK but I wonder whether you’ve ever heard of the one I enjoy the best?” Reluctantly I inquired into the brand of her chosen libation, and was startled by her response: “Manischewitz Concord Grape”. Startled, because I’ve never heard anyone admit to actually enjoying that particular drink, and flabbergasted because she asked whether I was familiar with it. Manischewitz is probably the brunt of every wine joke ever incorporated into wine schtick. But here I must stop everyone in their tracks and watch as their monocles go into free fall - I love Manischewitz Concord Grape, in fact I often wish it was dispensed from vending machines - it’s sweet, it’s absurdly inexpensive and as far as I know it has some grape juice in it. It takes a pretty confident multi media wine personality to confess such truths, but there I’ve done it. One year in this very column I outed myself and admitted my clandestine affair over many years, with white zinfandel, and now the truth is out about my secret passion for the big M.

Back to the lady who was snoozing while I was slurping. It’s all very well being a one wine woman, and I for one commend faithfulness to the grape, but closing your mind to other tasteful adventures didn’t conquer Everest, or win the land speed record or the 3 minute mile. To open your mind to wine experiences, is to open French doors on an early April morning and to smell the fresh scent of Spring drifting into the room. Now is the season to get outdoors, savor the moment and reach for new opportunities. especially in your choice of wine. If sweet gooey sticky wine is your “thing” just do me one small favor - try a white zinfandel, and do so with an open mind. It’s just like kids who refuse veggies - just give it one small try, don’t say you don’t like what you’ve never tasted. As for the lady with the glazed expression, I forgot to mention, that was no lady that was my wife. Cheers!

Rock On

2009-06-27T00:22:00.002-04:00

Proposed Mastectomy Law Change

2009-05-31T15:27:00.001-04:00

(written by a surgeon)

I'll never forget the look in my patients eyes when I had to tell them they had to go home with the drains, new exercises and no breast. I remember begging the doctors to keep these women in the hospital longer, only to hear that they would, but their hands were tied by the insurance companies.

So there I sat with my patient giving them the instructions they needed to take care of themselves, knowing full well they didn't grasp half of what I was saying, because the glazed, hopeless, frightened look spoke louder than the quiet 'Thank you' they muttered.

A mastectomy is when a woman's breast is removed in order to remove cancerous breast cells/tissue. If you know anyone who has had a mastectomy, you may know that there is a lot of discomfort and pain afterwards. Insurance companies are trying to make mastectomies an outpatient procedure. Let's give women the chance to recover properly in the hospital for 2 days after surgery.

This Mastectomy Bill is in Congress now. It takes 2 seconds to do this and is very important. Please take the time and do it really quick! The Breast Cancer Hospitalization Bill is important legislation for all women.

Please send this to everyone in your address book. If there was ever a time when our voices and choices should be heard, this is one of those times. If you're receiving this, it's because I think you will take the 30 seconds to go to vote on this issue and send it on to others you know who will do the same.

There's a bill called the Breast Cancer Patient Protection Act which will require insurance companies to cover a minimum 48-hour hospital stay for patients undergoing a mastectomy. It's about eliminating the 'drive-through mastectomy' where women are forced to go home just a few hours after surgery, against the wishes of their doctor, still groggy from anesthesia and sometimes with drainage tubes still attached.

Lifetime Television has put this bill on their web page with a petition drive to show your support.. Last year over half the House signed on. PLEASE! Sign the petition by clicking on the web site below. You need not give more than your name and zip code number.

http://www.mylifetime.com/community/my-lifetime-commitment/breast-cancer/petition/breast-cancer-petition

This takes about 2 seconds. PLEASE PASS THIS ON to your 20 friends.

Chef Georges Perrier - Forty-Six And Counting

2009-05-27T16:40:00.006-04:00

By GUEST BLOGGER Robert Bickell

The 70's, 80's and 90's are yesterday's news. These are the days of Sushi, Mexican Food, Wine Bars, BYOB's and Gastro Pubs. The only 5-Star Mobil Restaurant in Philadelphia is now the 46th Best Restaurant in the region according to our highly regarded City Magazine. Chef Georges Perrier once owned this town, and if you buy into the new "Top 50", the presumption is that the man forgot how to cook, or how to run a restaurant. After 39 years at 1523 Walnut Street, the great chef is number 46.

I have enjoyed three recent meals at #46 and I can tell you that something is missing in this picture. If there are 45 restaurants in Philadelphia that are better than Le Bec-Fin, I would suggest that Philadelphia has become the new Restaurant Capital of the world. Forget about New York, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Paris, London and Tokyo. Philadelphia has to be in a class by itself.

For all the great things Chef Perrier has done for the City, I'm not suggesting that you add Le Bec-Fin to a "Best Of" list simply out of respect. If a restaurant loses it, that restaurant should quietly (and quickly) go away. This is hardly the case of the 2009 version of Le Bec-Fin, and herein lies my point. Do you punish a restaurant because it's not what it used to be? What is and who is what it used to be?

The Mobil Five Stars are gone and yes, you can now enjoy lunch for fifteen-dollars and twenty-three cents. Le Bar Lyonnais, downstairs from Le Bec Fin, is the more casual Parisian Bistro. This "best kept secret" Happy Hour with $5 selected drinks, complimentary hors d'oeuvres, and $5 Bites is still packing them in. Le Bec-Fin now serves the best hamburger on the East Coast, and maybe the place that was more about foie gras than hamburgers and happy hours bothers some people. I would argue that in several ways, Le Bec-Fin is better than it used to be.

And can we finally stop talking about the 5-Stars? Mobil should be spending more time worrying about the automobile industry than our nation's restaurants. Is there someone out there who still cares about Mobil and their stars? Le Bec-Fin lost a star back in 2000, and Chef Perrier went ballistic. In two short years, the Five Star designation was returned and all was right with the world. In 2008, the chef himself surrendered the Five Stars to make his restaurant more affordable, more casual, and certainly more happening.

It's not like the good chef has retired and makes an occasional appearance signing autographs and kissing babies. He has always been one of the hardest working chefs on the planet, and that hasn't changed. The man is in the restaurant every single day and he hasn't forgotten how to cook. If one can come to the conclusion that Le Bec-Fin is no longer viable, I'm guessing that someone didn't even bother walking in the front door - or maybe those crystal chandeliers made them uncomfortable.

It's easy to buy into the hype that elegant French restaurants are dead or dying. If it's true (and it might be) someone forgot to tell Chef Perrier.

This man has accomplished more in the past 39 years than any Philadelphia chef can dream about. He is enjoying himself, and he plans to go out on his terms. Chef Georges Perrier has nothing to prove - his success is well documented and it's nothing short of amazing, and he is still a great chef.

Number 46? You can't be serious!

Robert Bickell is publisher of www.22spots.com

Keep It Simple

2009-05-14T16:17:00.002-04:00

Some friends of ours live permanently “down the shore”. Avalon can be a wickedly lonely place in the winter, so they decided to organize a monthly wine tasting group for their neighbors. They asked me to recommend appropriate reading material to guide their group’s study of my favorite libation. Since the husband is a doctor and the wife is a voracious reader, I was flattered that they needed any help from me. However, later that same day, I found myself in Best Buy, overwhelmed by the number of portable electronic games, iPod wannabes and state of the art gadgetry which had been introduced since my last visit, rendering me clueless, and dumbfounded. On the drive home I was thinking about the labyrinth of high techi-ness, and my confusion at the selection of so many products all essentially offering different versions of the same thing! Then I visualized my shore friends in the middle of a wine store, surrounded by hundreds of varieties of the same grape types but with different labels, in unfamiliar languages, stored haphazardly on rows of shelves. We are not dissimilar, my Avalon friends and I. We seek guidance. Clear, concise, no frills explanations on topics which interest us, yet leave us baffled in their complexity. I returned home, sympathetic to my friends’ needs and began book “surfing” for titles which would ease them into a wine tasting party, and guide them to the appropriate tools for the job, such as glassware, types of wines, foods to serve and useful maps they could copy for their fellow wine novices. The two books I decided were the most user friendly are Joanna Simon’s Discovering Wine and Kevin Zraly’s Windows On The World Wine Course. These books are far more detailed than the Dummy series and they are written by passionate, yet compassionate, wine educators who understand how to uncork the mysteries of the grape in layman’s terms. When the UPS man delivered my two choices to our friends, they were absolutely thrilled, since their local book stores were boarded up for the winter and they didn’t have a clue which books to borrow from the library. The best way to learn about wine, as I’ve said so many times before, is by drinking it. But that’s like telling someone to download iTunes before they’ve bought the iPod. First things first. And the first step is always the most difficult. Clear, concise, basic explanations always win the day. Cheers!

2009-04-04T19:21:00.000-04:00

2009-03-30T10:33:00.004-04:00

I’ve been toying for some time with the notion of writing a column about ”wine and sex”, but somehow those three words within the quotation marks look quite crude and offensive. Since society has become so intoxicated with sexual candor, the more tasteful, poetical, sensitive aspect of the topic is now as fashionable as a ribbon in a typewriter. Being a romantic, and having my sensibilities firmly anchored in the middle of the last century, writing about sex and wine is not a distasteful affair to me. I certainly respect the intimate moments between two people but the libation which best compliments these encounters is quite fascinating to me. I’ve thought about the types of wines which would be well suited to the mood, and I've approached the combinations as I would those for food and wine. So here are my suggestions:

The first encounter at a bar or party - sparkling wine or champagne (modestly priced unless you want to impress with your extravagance).
The first date - Dry, but fruity, Rosé - since you probably don’t know your companion’s taste and this is safe ground.
The second date (prelude to a kiss) A sparkling pink wine, offers romance in a glass.
The most intimate encounter should be followed by a glass of dessert wine, preferably the luscious and seductive late harvest Riesling either from Germany, or from Washington State.
The first argument can be resolved over a glass of cream sherry, a sound, yet comforting elixir which is the wine world’s equivalent of a pair of sensible shoes.
A cuddle in front of the winter fire should be accompanied by a glass of inexpensive tawny port.
A cuddle on the beach is perfect with a glass of Sauvignon Blanc from the Marlborough region of New Zealand.
A glitch in the relationship and a “let’s talk” moment is best suited to a glass of Merlot from California or Australia.
The glitch resolved can be rewarded with a glass of Chilean Chardonnay.
A period of intimacy following the “let’s talk” conversation would be perfect with a glass of sparkling wine and peach juice (a Bellini).
News of the pregnancy to be toasted with a glass of sparkling apple cider - after all why should the woman have to abstain from alcohol alone! The birth of the child is celebrated with a glass of sparkling wine and a glass of late harvest wine, for sentimental reasons!

You may think I’ve lost my marbles, you may think I’m a romantic, but admit it...the whole idea is quite intriguing isn’t it? And I bet some of you try my suggestions. If you do, let know whether they were good combinations. Cheers!

Disillusioned

2009-02-20T22:00:00.001-05:00

I am pondering the Autumn of my wine life and debating which road is the lesser traveled and which can inspire the creative juices which have driven me for so long. Sadly, the world of wine is no longer the place it once was. Long gone are the privately owned wine importers, the family owned wineries, the colorful characters of the trade passionate about the grape and the nectar it produces. I’ll grant you, there is a scattering of independent wine companies and vineyards out there, somewhere, but the dominating force in the wine world is the dreaded “C” word: Corporate. The lovely, gentle, poetic, romantic world of wine, is now powered by big shiny conglomerate headquarters and a young, dressed down generation pre-occupied with bottom line number crunching rather than vineyard grape stomping. I remember my early days in the world of wine, when I could pick up a phone and speak to the vineyard manager, the winemaker or the winery owner...even the owner of the import company of the brand in the USA. Today, my calls are fielded by PRs and Communications Directors and all types of impressive titles who wouldn’t know a Cabernet if it put a ring in it’s plastic cork, tattooed it’s label and downloaded itself into their glass. I’m disappointed and saddened by the decline of my industry. I’m all for change and modernization, but the world of wine has become a dull place to live, a personality challenged industry. It’s become.... corporate, and, contemporary. And to me contemporary lives in an uninspired place in time. I don’t want the world of wine to appeal to anyone who finds Britney Spears marriage ceremonies interesting, or Jude Law talented, or modern politicians (except, of course, Obama) charismatic. I want the world of wine to remain a haven for quirky, eccentric, passionate individuals, who shied away from the real world and chose a profession for colorful “black sheep”. After all, the entire British wine trade was at one time populated by offsping who were hopeless at any profession requiring cunning or street smarts, so they found solace in the wine business. Serious lunches and handshakes were all it took to consummate deals, rather than reims of signatures and the expensive cologne of a lawyer hovering over the room. I am currently the only regular wine commentator on British radio and I lead the pack in this part of the US so my brief is pretty obvious: Stay on track, be true to your original philosophy “drink wine because you enjoy it, and don’t spend a fortune on it”. That was an easy philosophy when the world of wine was a small island. Now it’s a vast continent and governed by big business, am I perhaps an anachronism? I’m really not sure. But I have the rest of my life to find out...and to perhaps catch up with progress!

All Heart

2009-02-13T14:16:00.000-05:00

A bloke pushing 57 seems to be perfect fodder for the prodding and probing routines of our good friends in white coats. Lankenau Hospital, PA should have a plaque for me in their parking lot as I regularly stop by for a quick prod and one of their superb espressos from the cart in the lobby. My insurance broker advised me that due to my recent smorgasbord of mid life check ups, the insurance carriers have decided I’m a bit of a risk. Being a Brit, I thrive on irony, and my predicament is sadly ironic. As I was coaxing my heart rate along on the tread mill during my stress test the attending nurse started “probing” my wine knowledge and asking whether I believe the reports which suggest a glass of red wine a day helps us live longer. The same question was directed at me while my GP was probing in areas which aren’t conducive to conversation by the patient who is being examined. My cardiologist, usually greets me with a derogatory editorial on the amount of excess body around my midriff since his last similarly insulting comments 2 years ago, and then he smiles and proceeds to describe wines he recently enjoyed with his wife. And another physician whose visits take us into an area which one might categorize as “too much information” for my readers, is a multi-tasker, who manages to inflict severe discomfort on me, while at the same time, referring to his pocket wine computer, reports to me on his recent wine acquisitions. The irony is that most doctors I know are also very astute wine lovers. In addition, most people I’ve met in the medical profession concur with the medical reports promoting a glass of wine each day for a strong heart and the promise of an extra birthday candle on our cakes. And do those intellectuals who underwrite life insurance and disability insurance have the slightest interest in the nature of my career? Do any of the insurance application forms ask how many glasses of red wine we drink each week? Of course they don’t. So dear readers, I think the medical community who issue these proclamations about wine being healthy for us, should perhaps not direct their studious results to the consumer, but send them to Insurance companies. The arrogant insurance underwriters, who are as proficient at reading a medical report as I am at reading a quantum physics manual, should recognize wine drinking in moderation as an “asset” to our medical records. Until they do, we will undoubtedly live longer, but often without adequate insurance coverage. As for my cardiologist at Lankenau, he wants me to lose 30 pounds. He’s all heart! Cheers!

CURTIRENE Salice Salentino (approx $10)

2009-02-06T11:21:00.002-05:00

I can’t remember when or how my path was first intercepted by Anthony Iatesta. Probably the unlikeliest of wine trade inhabitants. Anthony is a transplanted Philadelphian, a true Italian, not somebody with an Italian name separated from the mother country by 2 or 3 generations. This man is as Italian as a Gucci handbag or the Pope.....bad analogy...sorry...anyway.....somehow Tony has managed to survive in an industry controlled by multi national corporations...he is one the Philadelphia wine community’s stealth aircraft, managing to operate below the radar unhindered by competition, and frankly, not much of a threat to them either. Tony has a day job which keeps a roof over his wife and kids, and he has returned to his native Italy regularly to find new wines to bring home to Philadelphia. His portfolio is simple but satisfying, like a dish of homemade pasta. It doesn’t intend to be placed on a pedestal and worshipped from afar. It is affordable quaffing for family and friends without any airs and graces or misconceptions about it’s station in life. The wines which Tony brings to market remind us of life’s simple pleasures. And I say that with the greatest respect for both Anthony and his passion for his native grapes. Curtirene is the latest Iatesta Import to have be swirled about in my wine glass. Salice Salentino is the peninsula which forms Italy’s heel in the region of Apulia. And the wines made in this DOC are a blend of Negroamaro and Malvasia Nera grapes. The Azienda Vinicola Durante winery in the town of Veglie in southern Puglia, is responsible for Iatesta’s “Salice”. I’’m very partial to this deep ruby colored wine, after about 20 minutes in the fridge. The flavor isn’t intense or overly rich, it does however, offer a refreshing, yet concentrated, spicy and berry fruit which marry well with heavy dishes or simple pasta. I’m not impressed with extravagant wines, I prefer humble wines which the country folk would drink. Here we have one of life’s simple pleasures, the type of drink which originally attracted me to the wine world and which reminds me why I stayed. Cheers!

L'ARDI Dolcetto d'Acqui (approx $12)

2009-02-03T20:19:00.000-05:00

From time to time I revisit a wine which has brought joy to my taste buds in the past. In the case of L'Ardi Dolcetto d'Acqui, not only does the wine taste better than the flavors captured to memory, but this time around the wine is $1 less than before!! In the northwest corner of Italy is the amazing wine growing region of Piedmont. And it is here that Vigne Regali produce their Dolcetto grape in the Acqui zone. This is an early ripening, low acid red grape variety, ripening up to a month before any other grapes, and it does well throughout the region. It's a wine to be enjoyed when young by anyone with a light and breezy view of life. It is a stunner when chilled, even if that's going to get me in trouble with the wine police and wine snobs. Dolcetto translates to “little sweet one” yet this red grape produces dry, fruity nectar. The term “ L'Ardì” in Piedmontese means “bright and brave”, referring specifically to a fun and adventurous young man. And this wine indeed reflects a youthful, adventurous character, to whichever gender is drinking it. Fresh and fruity, Dolcetto d'Acqui is easy to drink and is often called Italy's Beaujolais. Made from 100% Dolcetto grapes, L'Ardì has an intense ruby red color and tastes of berries and cherries and all the pleasant summer fruits which come to mind. Since the wine has fermented in stainless steel tanks, the fruit is very fresh and forward. It is indeed - as I said in my last review - an 'anytime” drink to savor while you're enjoying life, regardless of your age or your adventurous spirit. Cheers!

Cline Cellars Viognier (approx $12)

2009-02-03T20:14:00.002-05:00

In 1982 Fred Cline founded Cline Cellars in Oakley, California. He prescribes to what the French call “Terroir”, the fusion of climate, of soil and of the personality of the region. In 1991 Fred relocated to the Carneros region of Sonoma County. He became a “Rhone Ranger”, one of a small band of winemakers pioneering the planting of varietals which thrive in France's Rhone Valley. Take, for example, the Viognier which originates from the Condrieu and Chateau-Grillet appellations of the northern Rhone. Currently there are approximately 2,000 acres of this varietal planted in California. Viognier grapes are late ripening and have to be picked at just the right moment allowing fruitier, more concentrated flavors. The majority of the grapes for this wine come from Carneros. The vineyards are located in the southern end of Sonoma and cooled by coastal breezes throughout the growing season. Cline's winemaking notes sum up this stellar wine succinctly, and, of course (since they made it) accurately: “Cline's Viognier offers rich and distinctive aromas of peaches, apricots, orange blossoms and honeysuckle. Its blockbuster flavor and full-body mouth-feel make it an ideal match for spicy stir-fries, curried Thai dishes and grilled fish topped with fruit salsa”. Cheers!

Alcoholism

2009-01-24T20:07:00.002-05:00

“We will be bold to say there is scarcely a man in the constant habit of walking, day after day, through any of the crowded thoroughfares of town, who cannot recollect, among the people whom he knows by sight, some being of abject and wretched appearance, lingering about the pavement, from whom everyone turns coldly away”.

This commentary appeared in 1837 in "Sketches by Boz" by a journalist who had a keen eye and sympathy for the seedier side of life in London. Boz reverted to his real name in later years when he established himself as the novelist, Charles Dickens. Some 170 years later and in most cities around the world "The Drunkard's Death" when read in it's entirety, has a painful familiarity about it. A man who slips through society, falls dependent on alcohol as his only umbilical to the world he inhabits. Life has turned it's back on him and fails to notice his decline, as he becomes simply an obstacle for the hurrying pedestrian to negotiate on their way to their important destination.

Alcohol is a dreadful disease and I know - and have known - many who have succumbed to its embraces. One thoroughly obnoxious fellow "cleaned himself up", diligently learned a profession and became a significant force on Wall Street, and now lives with his wife, children and nanny in a large mansion (or at least did prior to the recent financial fiasco). Another man I know has been 'on the wagon' for 15 years and continues to run a very successful wine company. He selects wines by smell rather than taste, a rare and unique talent. Both people had the love and commitment of somebody close to them to "pick themselves up, dust themselves off and start all over again". Alas, another friend is a lost cause . He is totally dependent on the bottle to a pathetic and deplorable degree. I have attempted to help him change his ways but I admit my own failure in achieving any success in his case. His destiny is painfully clear to me and to others who know him.

Wine itself is not the seductress, as the self righteous amongst us would have us believe. If one is predisposed to an addiction and is weak enough to succumb to its allure and fall victim to their weakness, then, whatever happens along will ultimately become their poison. As a veteran member of the wine community I am sensitive to our particular battlefield, and to those who have fallen on the front line. There are plenty of organizations and groups and indeed, individuals, who can help those in our community who are becoming dependent on alcohol. But the addict must recognize their own problem and take the first step, with our guidance. Those of us who care enough to offer help, can indeed be a crutch, but the individual afflicted with the disease must first stand up in order to lean on us. And therein lies the rub. it's a Dickens of a dilemma to be sure. Cheers!

A Weighty Issue

2009-01-16T13:34:00.000-05:00

We’re only slightly into the new year but already the threat of pompous, opinionated, so called wine and food experts has clouded my placid skies. Why is it whenever I insist, that I don’t care which foods people serve with the wines I’m pouring, I receive incensed resentment? And when I state quite clearly that I don’t believe in wine and food marriages, I hear sighs and mutterings of “Well, I disagree with you - that's nonsense.” Why don’t people understand that when the cow was invented, somebody didn’t come along and say: “OK, that’s the cow done, think I’ll create the Cabernet Sauvignon to drink with it. Mind you, it’ll take a hefty slice of bread to make a sandwich around that animal.” It really is ludicrous so please - you all know who you are - stop annoying me. Most people know my philosophy: Drink whatever you want with whatever you want, until you don’t like the combination - then stop!

I do have one invention of my own - at least I think I invented it, but having been involved with wine for so long, it is possible I've plagiarized a chum or two along the way. But no matter, it works, I preach it, so I take the credit for it. I mentally use my arms as a scale. In the palm of my left hand I imagine the food I am about to eat. Is the food heavy, like steak? If so the hand will be weighed down. Or is it light, like sole, in which case my hand will remain outstretched to my side. In my other hand I want to fill a glass with the wine best suited to the weight in my food hand. If the hand with the food is sagging, then I need to counterbalance in my wine hand with a heavy wine. Probably a robust red such as Sangiovese. However, if the hand with the food doesn't sag at all since it is holding Dover Sole, then the wine should also be light. Perhaps a Sauvignon Blanc. The flavors don’t worry me as much as the balance. You don’t want a heavy wine to over power the taste of the food or vice versa. It’s common sense and it seems more logical than the marriage concept. Whenever I encounter one of these so-called wine and food experts I think immediately of a poem by Sir Walter A. Raleigh, who died in 1922:

“I wish I loved the human race
I wish I loved it’s silly face
I wish I liked the way it walks
I wish I liked the way it talks
And when I’m introduced to one
I wish I thought: “What jolly fun.”

Cheers!

Wine Maladies

2009-01-09T14:10:00.003-05:00

A reader wrote to me with a question I know something about! It seems she has stomach cramps every time she drinks a glass of wine. My initial response was going to be the one the doctor used when his patient said: “Hey doc it hurts when I lift my arm this high”. The doc responded: “My diagnosis is simple...don’t lift it that high”. Obviously the caller could eliminate her cramps simply by abstaining from wine. But that’s an easy way out. Life would be dull and colorless if we applied that philosophy to other malfunctions of our system. My summer visit to an alternative medicine doctor in London, Alla Svirinskaya (www.allasvirinskaya.com) provided the answer to the caller’s discomfort. I learned that digestive disorders provoked by wine, can be eased, and in many cases eliminated, by dipping a piece of bread in olive oil prior to quaffing the nectar. Just eating a piece of bread soaked in the oil is just the ticket for these stomach problems. I can tell you from experience, the remedy works. Not sure I understand why, but it does. Wish I could help the man with the arm problem, but that’s way out of my reach.

Many people find white wine, especially dry young whites from Germany, gives them heartburn. Me too! I recently discovered that a Prilosec OTC pill about 1 hour prior to drinking, will seriously improve the digestive system’s lack of tolerance to these acidic wines.

I also have a word of advice for for anybody who suffers allergic reactions to wine, getting ruddy faced, coughing, and generally sounding wretched. This malady, generally affects people after red wine, caused probably by the hystamines produced from the skins of the red wine grapes. If you pour a glass of wine and let it sit for about 30 minutes, you’ll find the hystamines dissipate into thin air and you can quaff away to your heart’s - and nose’s - content.

Just imagine how much information I could have shared with you if I’d have gone to med school. Though I’d never have been a doctor - I just don’t have enough patients! Cheers!

Keep It Simple

2009-01-01T14:46:00.001-05:00

Some friends of ours live permanently “down the shore”. Avalon can be a wickedly lonely place in the winter, so they decided to organize a monthly wine tasting group for their neighbors. They asked me to recommend appropriate reading material to guide their group’s study of my favorite libation. Since the husband is a doctor and the wife is a voracious reader, I was flattered that they needed any help from me. However, later that same day, I found myself in Circuit City, overwhelmed by the number of portable electronic games, iPod wannabes and state of the art gadgetry which had been introduced since my last visit, rendering me clueless, and dumbfounded. I also discovered how little I knew about satellite radio, and I simply couldn’t understand the salesman’s explanation about the installation of the system. On the drive home I was thinking about the labyrinth of high techi-ness, and my confusion at the selection of so many products all essentially offering different versions of the same thing! Then I visualized my shore friends in the middle of a wine store, surrounded by hundreds of varieties of the same grape types but with different labels, in unfamiliar languages, stored haphazardly on rows of shelves. We are not dissimilar, my Avalon friends and I. We seek guidance. Clear, concise, no frills explanations on topics which interest us, yet leave us baffled in their complexity. I returned home, sympathetic to my friends’ needs and began book “surfing” for titles which would ease them into a wine tasting party, and guide them to the appropriate tools for the job, such as glassware, types of wines, foods to serve and useful maps they could copy for their fellow wine novices. The two books I decided were the most user friendly are Joanna Simon’s Discovering Wine and Kevin Zraly’s Windows On The World Wine Course. These books are far more detailed than the Dummy series and they are written by passionate, yet compassionate, wine educators who understand how to uncork the mysteries of the grape in layman’s terms. When the UPS man delivered my two choices to our friends, they were absolutely thrilled, since their local book stores were boarded up for the winter and they didn’t have a clue which books to borrow from the library. The best way to learn about wine, as I’ve said so many times before, is by drinking it. But that’s like telling me to download iTunes before I’ve bought the iPod. First things first. And the first step is always the most difficult. Clear, concise, basic explanations always win the day. Cheers!

Sparkling End To Year

2008-12-24T16:04:00.002-05:00

I’ve spent all my adult life with such eclectic, diversified taste that I’m almost a walking contradiction. There’s not many 55 year old men who can switch their car CD player from playing “disc 1” Mahler’s Symphony number 2 to disc 2: “Winston Churchill’s Greatest Speeches” to disc 3: “Monkey Business” by the Black Eyed Peas. The latter always requires roof open, windows down and volume to highest possible position...oh and nifty shades “must” be worn while listening. Problem is, in December that’s a tad eccentric. I still enjoy a heavy duty Cabernet Sauvignon to accompany Heinz baked beans on toasted Maier’s white bread with lashings of butter. Or better yet, I can’t resist the finest smoked Scottish salmon with a glass of Coke. I’ve never put anything in my mouth which looks like it did when it was alive or which is still in the final phases of death. Neither lobster, nor any type of shell fish or sushi have ever passed my lips. Until a couple of years ago, I also shied away from wine with bubbles. I loathed sparkling wines, especially the French versions, called Champagne (because that’s the area where they are made and NOT a guarantee of quality). But I’ve become curious to explore the fizzy nectar on our wine shop shelves and without any encouragement from my conscious self, I’ve managed to lasso the errant bubbly varmint and bring it into my drinking territory, where I’ve embraced it and now welcome it, as the long lost relative to my wine collection. And how appropriate that I’m sharing this nugget of information with you within weeks of the end of year celebrations. Coincidence? I think not! I’ve spent the last few weeks sharing some holiday wine gift ideas with you so it’s only fitting to wrap up this seasonal burst of favorite libations with some sparkling Auld Lang Syne thoughts. I’m not quite up to my hero Winston Churchill’s astonishing bubbly quaffing accomplishments, but I have done him proud by sampling a healthy number of bottles so I can present you with my list of stunning New Year’s Eve poppers. Wine is subjective, so my opinion is not sacrosanct, but it’s jolly well close! These are all available in your local wine stores and splendid examples of the finest end of year quaffs, relatively modest sums of money can procure:

Gloria Ferrer Royal Cuvee (Sonoma) $29.99
Domaine Carneros by Taittinger (Napa) $19.99
Nicolas Feuillatte Blanc de Blancs (Champagne) $39.99
Cascinetta Moscato d’Asti (Piedmont, Italy) $11.99
(Prices are approx)

Any of these will end the year in excellent taste. Cheers!

A Dickens Of A Season

2008-12-15T17:08:00.001-05:00

It always makes me chuckle this time of year when A Christmas Carol is shown for the millionth time on the telly and all sorts of black and white movies suddenly appear depicting the Dickensian tale in various guises. It makes me fall of my perch with laughter when the Ancient Movie Channels show old flicks set in World War II Blighty with everyone speaking with clipped upper class accents. Then there’s the Sherlock Holmes sagas with fogs swirling and mustachioed fiends presenting themselves as princes, lords or some such upper tier of the landed gentry set. Today, of course. lords are mostly rock opera impresarios and the only peers of any note are spelled piers and you have a walk along them looking down at the ocean. The upper classes are mostly Hollywood stars and aging disc divas who lust after the limelight shone in their direction by London paparazzi. The US and the UK once separated by a common language and now pretty identical. Same stores along the high street, same Starbucks serving same cappuccinos, same ole same ole. Thanks to the European Community laws, red telephone boxes are the wrong color, double decker buses too high and policeman’s helmets plain silly looking. It’s enough to make a grown man tear off his slippers, tread on his pipe and sack the downstairs servants. However, one is truly thankful for the odd morsel of old Britain - no not Margaret Thatcher. I’m referring to something much more traditional. The annual Harrod’s Christmas catalog was delivered to my mailbox, without fanfare or tugging at the forelocks. It just appeared, as it has for countless years, filled with delicacies and quaffs fit for self proclaimed queens and lesser mortals than Elton John. The 42 page catalog is crammed with some astonishing Christmas hampers which really switch the saliva glands to maximum throttle. The “Port & Stilton Box” is for mere paupers for £38 (approx $64). The “Belgravia” is packed with delicious foods along with 1 bottle each: Harrods Grand Reserve Champagne; Penamonte 3 Meses Barrica; Echeverria Carmenere;Château Barreyre;Bouzeron Ancien Carnot Bouchard Pèreet Fils 2005; Flor de Torrontes; Bodega Lurton Reserva. All quite stunning for a mere £250 (approx $425). Half a case of Harrod’s finest champagne is £150 (approx $260). www.Harrods.com is a fun place to visit this time of year. Ideal for a post holiday purchase. I’ll give you my address if you want to send me a hamper. Cheers!

Chateau de Fontpinot XO Grande Champagne 1er Cru du Cognac

2008-12-10T10:34:00.001-05:00

The word "cognac" may conjure up images of stuffy old men, most probably English, sitting in oak-paneled libraries and puffing on huge cigars while swirling the brandy in fat, expensive snifter glasses.

Cognac is a town along the quiet little river Charente, in the southwest of France, just about a 90-minute drive north of Bordeaux. The town smells of cognac, from the moisture of the ground and the humidity of the river. The walls and tiles of the warehouses are clearly blackened from a fungus, often referred to by its Latin name, "torula compniacensis richon". Torula, is the name of the fungus. Compniacensis, is the old Latin name for cognac, and Richon was the name of the scientist who discovered the fungus. A sweet, soft, alcoholic aroma, most prevalent in the summertime, fills the streets of Cognac.

Among cognac producers, family-owned Cognac Frapin is a rarity. Frapin’s massive 741-acre domain, including 500 acres of prime Grande Champagne vineyard, on an inner semi-circle of slopes, is the largest, by far, in this top-rated appellation, where average holdings seldom exceed 80 acres. Of the more widely distributed producers, Frapin is unique because it does not depend on outside growers for grapes. Every Cognac Frapin release is estate-bottled. The Frapin family’s ties to the Cognac area of the Charentes region spans more than 40 generations, extending back to 1270. Today the firm is still family-owned. In 1992 the Frapin family added to their luxury portfolio, with the purchase of the historic Champagne House of Gosset.

Within the Frapin vineyards sits the elegant, turreted Chateau Fontpinot, the original Frapin family seat. Now used for entertaining and hospitality, Fontpinot gives its name to the region’s only Grande Champagne chateau-bottled cognac, Chateau de Fontpinot XO Grande Champagne. The harvest takes place during the first few weeks in October, when acidity levels -very important to cognac - are high. Pressing at Frapin takes place within two hours of harvest. A double distillation, in late November-early December, takes place in small 25-hectoliter copper alambic stills (ancient word for pot still). A single distillation takes about 8-10 hours and depending on the alcoholic strength of the wine being used, 8-10 liters of wine produces one liter of cognac.

The distilled product, called eau-de-vie de Grande Champagne, is clear when it is transferred into oak casks. The eau-de-vie acquires color from the casks, earning the name “cognac”, only when it has attained this color. At Frapin, barriques are made of Limousin oak, bound with chestnut bands, to facilitate the rolling of these casks.

Grande Champagne cognacs are blended from cask to cask. Blending starts with the transfer from “new” casks to medium-old “Roux” casks (5-20 years old). The time the cognac spends in Roux casks varies depending on the quality of type. Before bottling it is pumped into very old casks. Unlike the cellar aging of wines, where a cool, stable environment is essential, a fluctuation of temperature is desirable for cognac.

Two types of aging cellars exist in the Cognac area, one humid and the other dry, with humid being the more predominant. In humid cellars, where the air is already saturated with water, the evaporation is primarily alcohol, lending a necessary smoothness. Both types exist at Frapin, but no other cognac producer places greater emphasis on its dry cellars, where evaporation is principally water, which accentuates aroma.

I spoke to Philippe Manfredini, “Directeur International” of Frapin.

PS: What is the difference between a Cognac and an Armagnac?

PM: Armagnac comes only from the Armagnac region located 2 to 3 hours South-East of the Cognac region; Armagnac uses a grape called Colombard whereas Uni-Blanc is used in Cognac. Armagnacs undergo a single continuous distillation whereas in Cognac we do two distillations - the second one permits the distillation of the best and finest eaux-de-vie from the first distillation, therefore cognacs are generally finer and more elegant than armagnacs which could be considered more "rustic".

PS: What makes Chateau de Fontpinot a Grande Champagne?

PM: The Château de Fontpinot Estate is located in the very heart of the Grande Champagne area (known as Premier Grand Cru or 1st growth of Cognac). All the grapes used to produce our Chateau de Fontpinot Cognac come exclusively from the domain of the Chateau. They are distilled on the domain and aged for many many years within the dry cellars of the Chateau, very particular cellars which give this cognac an especially subtle and complex bouquet.

PS: What grapes produce Chateau de Fontpinot?

PM: Our Chateau de Fontpinot XO cognac is different to many other XOs on the market. It’s a unique Estate Bottled Cognac (the only one within the entire Grande Champagne area) and we use the Ugni-Blanc grapes which grow on the domain of the Chateau within the First Growth Grande Champagne appellation, where the grapes are the most concentrated in sugar and acidity. The wine made from these grapes is distilled on its fine lees (sediments) to enhance the finesse of its aromas. It is aged for an average of 20 years in the dry cellars of the chateau where there will be an evaporation of mostly water, so this cognac will develop aromas of vanilla, wild flowers, candied fruits, like orange, dry apricot, and its elegance & finesse.

PS: Do you find more Americans are now drinking cognac?

PM: Over the years I have found more and more Americans interested in discovering other cognacs than the ones they've known for years . There are more consumers willing to learn about our eaux-de vies and our region and also more people looking for boutique and high-end cognacs… it seems more people nowadays are looking for something different, and a lot of them are just looking for better quality cognacs like Chateau de Fontpinot.

PS: Cognac was once considered an "elderly man's" drink. Do you think this image is changing?

PM: This image is changing significantly. There are still a lot of people consuming the cognac like our dads and granddads used to drink it, by the fireplace… but also there is a growing new trend of people who have discovered that cognac can make a perfect aperitif too, to be drunk either on its own or with plain or fizz water, on the rocks - I like it even better with crushed ice - or used as a cocktail base... and bear in mind that the best and more fruity cognac you use for the cocktail, the better your cocktail will be...also, just like the French, don’t hesitate to put a few drops in your coffee. And no need to wait to catch a cold to do it, even though it can be a great medication with hot milk instead of coffee. You can enjoy Chateau de Fontpinot as a refreshing aperitif, and during lunch or dinner. I had some recently in Dallas with a serious piece of beef in an up-scale steak house... that was magnificent.

PS: Who is responsible for the final decision on how Chateau Fontpinot will taste?

PM: First, our vineyard director, Patrice Piveteau, who makes sure of healthy and top quality grapes year after year and then Olivier Paultes, our cellar-master, who makes sure, by permanently blending Fontpinot "eaux-de-vies" from barrel to barrel, that this cognac will year after year, come out with the same balance, style and elegance… since it's a blend of old cognacs. Olivier wants to ensure that "loyal" customers of Chateau de Fontpinot will, consistently, recognize the cognacs they always enjoyed. But after all those explanations, the ideal way to understand what makes Chateau de Fontpinot XO Frapin Cognac so different to any others: the first sip will explain a lot.

Chateau de Fontpinot XO Grande Champagne 1er Cru du Cognac
Approx $ 89.99 • In Pennsylvania USA PLCB Code: 6822

Churchill Quotes

2008-12-09T19:33:00.005-05:00

We had the day off of school. I sat and watched the telly all day with my mum and grandma, and both women spent a lot of time blowing their noses. Hardly any traffic passed by our house and I remember the mood was very somber. Everyone knew the man they were burying, and the Queen and Prince Philip were looking especially sad. The Queen Mother in particular was not her usual spirited self. I’d heard this man’s name mentioned often enough in the first dozen years of my life and I was constantly reminded that the destruction which I’d fortunately missed by arriving after it had taken place, would have been much worse were it not for the “Old Boy”. Years before , this “old boy” in winged collar, bow tie, tall hat and puffing on a huge cigar would delight photographers with his fingered gesture of a “V” for victory sign. In time I became besotted by this man. I quote him when wine-tertaining, I even lunched with his great grandson. He was, undoubtedly, the most eloquent, most opinionated and most patriotic Englishman who ever lived: Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill. As winds of war blew down the corridors of Whitehall during a recent afternoon in London, I found myself lured to Churchill’s war rooms, below ground. The old boy’s personality seems to have been preserved in the underground museum. I purchased a book of Churchill’s notorious drinking quotes, since he was one of history’s most celebrated imbibers Here are a few to make you chuckle:

Field Marshal Montgomery told Churchill: “I neither drink nor smoke and am a hundred per cent fit” Churchill responded: “ I drink and smoke and I am two hundred per cent fit.”

Churchill was lunching with the King of Saudi Arabia who informed the Prime Minister that his religion forbade drinking and smoking. Churchill responded: “I must point out that my rule of life prescribes as an absolutely sacred rite smoking cigars, and also the drinking of alcohol before, after, and if need be, during all meals and in the intervals between them.”

Churchill once announced: “When I was younger I made it a rule never to take strong drink before lunch. It is now my rule never to do so before breakfast.”

FInally, the famous exchange with lady Astor, first female member of Parliament:
“Astor: Sir you are Drunk”
WSC:” And madam you are ugly, but in the morning I will be shober.”

When the “ old boy” died, Pol Roget, Churchill’s favorite Champagne, added a black border to their label as a tribute to his memory.

Those days were indeed his finest hours. Cheers!

Angus Prune

2008-12-09T19:30:00.006-05:00

“...ooh aah ooh..." (impersonation of Lady Constance Decovelet, famously ugly woman with lascivious appetite and awful taste in dress designers - spoken loudly while outfitted in short paisley patterned frock, stockings innocently worn around ankles and glazed expression on face) "...ooh ahh come closer dear boy and let me see your face ooo aah wrouch" (loud retching sound as Lady C dashes to toilet).

Later that same day in a top secret office not unlike the one we're imagining even as we write

"Angus Prune, I arrest you in the name of Fred"
"But you can't arrest me in the name of Fred Constable"
"And why not sir?"
"Because my name is Fred Higgins...not Fred Constable..constable"
"I thought you said your name was Angus Prune..aha caught you"

Suddenly in a poof of smoke (editors note: that's a typo it should read a puff of smoke)
(Authors note: I was bloomin’ there and saw it with my own eyes..it WAS a poof of smoke)
Angus Prune removes his mask, unbuttons his flies and reveals himself
"Ooh dear boy come closer" says Lady C
"Cor lummy, I've never seen one that shape" says the constable
Prune produces a huge wombat from his trousers
(Editors note: The wombat was actually......)
(Author's note: Shut yer cake 'ole editor and let me finish me story)
"This wombat contains top secret documents of a sensitive nature - I was merely impersonating Angus Prune to enable me to conceal the wombat"
Lady Constance grabs the wombat and runs through the policeman (the door was closed, so we had to improvise on the set)
"Who was that ugly woman" Said the copper
"She was none other than top Lithuanian juggler and spy, Viktor shmendrick" says Prune
"But she has your secret document"
"No No it was a ruse"
"Surely you mean a rose...but I thought it was a wombat"
"No you fool - the wombat was a ruse - I suspected Viktor from the first moment I laid eyes on his floral dress and hairy chest"
"But he has your secret wombat"
"No I have the secret information in this very tiny mole on my face"
"Oh thats a MOLE - I thought it was a squirrell"
"So what does the wombat contain"
"Something so sinister and disgusting I can hardly bring myself to tell you"
Ohh do..do (shouts the audience)
"It contains"
Yes (shouts the audience)
"It contains"
Yes (shouts the audience)
"It contains the entire performance of Clodagh Rodgers singing Jack In The Box from the Eurovision Song Contest "
"Oh my Lord - it'll kill him instantly"
"That's the price you pay for .....fighting in wombat" (audience groans)
I'll be your Jack in the.....boom!

Curtain falls - audience applauds - Clodagh sues

THE END

Inspired by - and in loving memory of - the BBC radio series of the '60's: "I'm Sorry I'll Read That Again."

Wynnewood Train Station

2008-12-09T19:20:00.003-05:00

There is a peaceful reminder of village life as one slips quietly onto the platform of the railway station. When the moan of motor vehicles abates for brief intermezzos at the traffic lights, the sound of nature’s chorus returns with an ebullient serenade. While the timpani of tires and engines rests, the chirps and warbles of the perched choir drift to the solitary passenger on the brick red bench. A bench, so perfectly situated to enjoy a few moments of sunshine, while the birds sing in loving, harmonious accord. And the fragrance - the sweet smell of scones and biscuits and various confections float seductively on the spring breeze from the kitchen of the Irish Bake Shop. A dainty culinary bauble adjoining the ticket counter inside the modest, inviting waiting room. Oh joy! Have I stepped backwards through a secret gateway to my childhood? Will a shiny coal-black steam engine chug round the bend in the track, belching a cloud of aromatic fog? How rich an experience, for a brief, yet tantalizing moment of nostalgia, elicited by my early arrival at Wynnewood Station one morning...not last century, but last week

Don't Knock Philly's Wining

2008-12-09T19:13:00.001-05:00

Letter To the Editor, Decanter Magazine, London.

Philadelphia 12-6-99

I have just read John Stimpfig's interview with Robert Parker (June 1999), and have no comments or criticisms whatsoever related to the article. I do, however, take issue with a quote attributed to Mr. Stimpfig in the contributor's profile. Let me preface my remarks by stating that I know Mr. Stimpfig and I have enormous admiration for his work as well as for him personally. Indeed, he included a quote from me in a recent Decanter story. However, as a Brit who has been actively involved in the wine community in Philadelphia for over twenty years, I think John needs to live in the City of Brotherly Love a little longer before making broad sweeping statements such as the one you published: "...he is now based in Philadelphia , which is, he confesses, one of the worst places on Earth for any wine lover..." I think this smacks of the arrogance which lost us a rather large battle in this very same city a couple of centuries ago. I am a wine broadcaster, columnist and consultant in Philadelphia, but more importantly, I work closely with the state's Liquor Control Board. There is a belief, mostly held by the uninformed, that the availability and selection of wines in this marketplace pales in comparison to the rest of the country - and indeed the world - where private enterprise flourishes and an ocean of vinous nectar flows endlessly to the call of our plastic charge cards. The Pennsylvania Liquor Board is the most significant purchaser of alcoholic beverages on the planet - admittedly due to the number of stores in the PA system - and the two major cities in the state, Pittsburgh and Philadelphia boast some of the most knowledgeable oenophiles in the country. In fact, Philadelphia mirror's London's unprecedented ascent to a culinary apex offering arguably some of the greatest restaurants in the land. Virtually every wine and food publication in the United States and Europe lavish praise on the culinary dexterity of Philly's chefs and give equal amounts of ink to the brilliant wine lists accompanying the menus. I have yet to read anything derogatory about the sommeliers' selections and if there are any weaknesses, these are never attributed to any failings in the state system. I am a consultant to several prominent restaurants in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh and thanks to the Specialty Stores (vast superstores specializing in fine wines and spirits) and Special Liquor Orders (SLO's) which enable you to procure virtually any wine or spirit as long as it is available somewhere in the United States, I have never been distressed by the state monopoly. I should also point out that Philadelphia is less than a thirty minute drive from some of this country's most amazing wineries, and I proudly serve PA wines at every opportunity. If this is one of the "worst places on earth for wine lovers", I suggest Mr. Stimpfig pack his corkscrew and return to Blighty, or enjoy this city's hospitality a little longer before making obtuse statements. In closing, I would like to point out that I do not work for the Liquor Board, and my monthly wine selections for them are done without payment by the Board or by PA distributors. My work is performed as a service to consumers who want to discover affordable gems from the wine world. These consumers (both neophytes and seasoned aficionados) have demonstrated through their enthusiastic support of my selections, that they subscribe to my conviction that PA is affording us all an opportunity to make some extraordinary discoveries. Loved your interview though John. Cheers!

Cork Taint It Taint!

2008-12-09T19:06:00.001-05:00

Letter To The Editor
The Wine Spectator

October 9, 2002
Philadelphia, PA, USA

Sir:

I read with disbelief, James Laube's “Exclusive” report on Beaulieu Vineyard’s corky wines (The Wine Spectator on-line 9/27/02). I have enormous respect for Mr. Laube’s body of work, but from one wine journalist to another, to quote a modern idiom, I propose that “he get a life” or better yet take a cork extracting hiatus. I found his article nothing more than tabloid sensationalism and perhaps the result of an uninspired moment in front of the computer screen. The Wine Spectator has always been a publication where wine lovers can enjoy the de-mystification of their favorite elixir. However, I doubt whether the majority of Wine Spectator readers would know a trichloroanisole if it knocked on their front door, tipped its cap and introduced itself. Mr. Laube thankfully saves us that formal introduction by explaining that TCA is a chemical compound responsible for “off flavors in corky wines”. The presence of TCA does not threaten the consumer’s health. According to the article, it merely manifests itself in the olfactory and flavor properties of a wine. Since wine appreciation and criticism is of a subjective nature, then surely the effect of TCA on any wine, is something for the individual to discern, without an alarmist influencing their conclusion.

Mr. Laube goes on to inform us that BV produces more than 1 million cases of wine per year, and that “experts” admit consumers’ ability to perceive and to identify TCA in wine exposes a vast variance of opinion. The winemakers at Beaulieu Vineyard were quoted as saying, that despite the positive TCA test readings, no one else had detected off flavors in BV's wines. They apparently had only : “four consumer complaints of bad corks in the past year."

I have lived in the Philadelphia area for the past 25 years, where I write and host TV and radio wine features and a syndicated wine column. During this past year I have been conducting a significant number of wine tastings/personal appearances to benefit various charities, in appreciation of the Delaware Valley wine community’s generous hospitality to me for a quarter of a century. When I first arrived in the US, I managed my late father-in-law’s liquor store in New Jersey and the first California winery I featured was Beaulieu Vineyard. Since then, BV and I have enjoyed a faithful relationship and have shared many happy times as dinner host and favored libation.

Over the past 12 months I have featured many BV wines at my events, ranging from their Coastal selection to their innovative Signet Collection. Having met and served 4,000 people, I can assure you that not once did the wines misbehave, or embarrass me. If perhaps my own sensory evaluations are dubious, then do we also question 4,000 additional noses - noses which belong to both seasoned wine aficionados as well as neophytes? I would suggest that my statistics are every bit as authoritative as Mr. Laube's. So have I been serving a bunch of nincompoops (myself included) who wouldn’t know a TCA if it jumped out and bit them on their backsides? Precisely! I have little time and patience for statistics. If you want statistics, however, I do have the e-mail addresses of all the people who attended my tastings. But I can save you the trouble of contacting them, since I can tell you first hand, that not one single bottle - in our collective opinion - was tainted. I have been pouring at least 4 BV wines at each event and in my calculations that amounts to 1,500 bottles of unblemished BV wine!

It is a really mean and nasty world out there, with violence and atrocities filling our newspapers and TV screens. One of the last bastions of sanity is the world of wine. If there is a problem in that world, why not sort it out tactfully, in a civilized manner, and leave the scare mongering to Washington and Baghdad. I have not noticed anything wrong with Beaulieu Vineyard wines, and neither have 4,000 other people I know. BV is the founding father of the California wine industry, Georges de Latour and André Tchelistcheff have their faces carved on every wine lover’s image of Mount Rushmore. Mr Laube, don’t you owe it to BV and to their heritage, to take them to one side and discuss your issues with them privately? Or was there another motive lurking beneath your article that I am too naive to detect?

Give That Man A Cigar

2008-12-09T18:57:00.001-05:00

September 22, 1998

I have lived in the Philadelphia area for 21 years. For these two decades I have defended some character flaws in the American demeanor and tolerated these imperfections, because I was in love with this great country and love is often blind and diffuses the defective images which one sees - or indeed wants to see. In observance of Rosh Hashanah I attended Synagogue as I do each year with my wife and daughter, but rather than my usual late arrival I elected to arrive earlier, in order to avoid the urge to turn on the television and witness the end of my love affair - ironically, and appropriately the end ˝of two love affairs - my own (real) and Ms. Lewinsky’s (imagined perhaps). I sat in synagogue grieving for my shattered dreams, and in my Mahzor (prayer book) during the Musaf morning service I skimmed through the pages while in my deep contemplative state of mind. On page 232 there was a paragraph which essentially gives a brief sketch of God’s first 12 hours of brilliant creativity. He/she gave life to Adam and within 10 hours Adam disobeyed the first commandment handed down, not to eat the fruit of the vine, in the eleventh hour he was judged and in the twelfth hour he was pardoned - by the highest judge in the land, his very own creator! “This,” said the Holy One to Adam, “will be a sign and a symbol of hope for your children and for future generations. As you stood in judgment before Me on this day and emerged with a full pardon, so will your descendants stand in judgment before ME on this day and emerge from My Presence with a full pardon.”

I am not yet convinced that I believe in God, well , at least not the traditional Deity one learns about in religious text books. I’m not a text book type of person. I believe that God is the combined decency and passion and zest for all that is good within every living and breathing creature on this planet. Our collective goodness, honesty and compassion IS essentially what we refer to as God. This is my belief, and it keeps me going through the stinky and murky waters of life. As I sat in Synagogue reading the last line in this very significant book on the Jewish Holy day, I pondered the significance of this extract and wondered why it should be significant enough to Jewish beliefs, yet ignored by the very leaders of this once great nation. The Rabbi stood between the Israeli flag and the American flag, surely signifying that our beliefs were not merely Jewish ones but American Jewish ones, and as Genesis is not only the foundation of Jewish belief but also Christianity, surely this quote is relevant to all religious leaders in the land. I am not a religious man, but I recognize that President Clinton broke a very important commandment, so if one is pious and respects the “word of God” surely no man or woman would set themselves on a pedestal higher than the one on which their Creator sits. If the only sins the president of the United States committed was to lie about an affair (the sin of extramarital dalliances and the sin of lying about it) then he should be pardoned by all the religious leaders and their actions and motives should be clearly stated to the misguided politicians who are embarassing this nation in the eyes of the world. Next week is Yom Kippur - the Day of Atonement. I suggest the circus which has been playing on our nerves these past months leave town the night before Yom Kippur; that our leaders reconsider the fiasco that has just been witnessed by the entire world and let Bill Clinton join Jews across the world and atone for his sins - his personal ones. He can atone for the same indiscretions that millions of people (even Americans) have buried away in the dark hidden recesses of their mental closets.

Bill Clinton is human, and like Adam he couldn’t resist temptation - is that grounds for world -wide humiliation? I think we all need to brush up on Genesis and rekindle some of our lost compassion....Larry King might disagree, but then he chose to work on the Jewish New year because hosting a panel discussion on the President’s video performance was more important than being respectful to his own faith and taking a break in observance of the holiday. Everyone’s got their priorities in the wrong place - and Clinton’s only crime was that his “priority” was unzipped and was most definitely in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Symingon - Any Port In A Storm

2008-12-09T16:13:00.001-05:00

I love my work, although there are occasions when my comments have a way of giving me a nip in my behind. Like the time I ridiculed the seemingly preposterous suggestion that an expensive wine glass would improve the taste of the wine. The glass maker read my column during a rare visit to Philadelphia, invited me to compare his glassware against the cheaper varieties I champion, and as a consequence I appeared to have egg all over my face. I accepted defeat (but didn’t actually say so to his face).

So when one’s comments and opinions are written and broadcast for all to hear and see, one must be prepared to defend one’s opinions with an iron fisted defiance. A few years ago in this very column I wrote some rather kind words about Graham’s Port. I shared my recent liaison with a bottle of Graham’s 20 year old Tawny which cost around $40 in our area at the time. I also mentioned that W. & J. Graham's has been producing Ports for over 170 years and in 1970 the Royal Family of port -The Symington Family - acquired Graham's. Their Empire includes: Warre, Dow’s, and Smith Woodhouse. The 20 year old is absolute heaven - or to be more specific, whatever your imagination of heaven is, quadruple it, and that’s Graham’s 20 year old. Anyway, not long after the column appeared, the joint managing director of Graham’s, Rupert Symington, invited me to meet him in Philly to quaff some more of his amazing elixir. Rupert was here to host a port tasting in the recently refurbished Wine & Spirits Shoppe in Bryn Mawr at the behest of then PLCB Chairman Jonathan Newman. Educated in Britain and living in Portugal gives an elegant and eloquent demeanor to a man who has the type of ambassadorial role I could comfortably fit into. I fear that I quaffed rather more than Rupert and managed to deplete a healthy portion of the bottle during our conversation. Port is easy to drink and as you know, I will not spend more than $10 on a bottle, but if somebody else is paying then I’m happy to enjoy as much as possible! Rupert agreed that port is becoming a trendy drink, having shed it’s reputation as the tipple for old geezers siting around a fire. I still drink port at room temperature, but maybe 10 minutes in the fridge would make it even yummier. It’s the only wine which I tend to treat with traditional sensibilities. When summer is over I look ahead to the Holiday season and a glass of this wine with some chestnuts is anan admirable libation to lubricate the festive spirit. Right now, be devilish, and find a bottle of one of Symington’s ports (which fits your bank account) and cool it down for summer slurping. Cheers!

The Olyglott Song For Lauren

2008-12-09T09:46:00.007-05:00

A Poem By Daddy
October 30, 1999

An Olyglott took refuge
In a tall banoony tree
While Sprine and Merring
Caught a herring
Which anyone could see

An Iggypong swam deeply
In a purple yellow lake
And while Merring Sprine
Drank some wine
Which anyone could take

An Oddypuss slept soundly
On an old potter's wheel
Merring and Sprine while
Saw his smile
Which anyone could steal

An eccypogg ate roses
On a rotten burlap sack
Sprine while Merring and
Kissed his hand
Which anyone could smack

An eligloph built rainbows
On a clear blue sky
While Sprine and Merring
Ate their herring
Which anyone could buy

Reunion

2008-12-08T21:05:00.001-05:00

Written in 2002

I certainly didn’t give much currency to the concept of male menopause when I was 17. The world was very much my oyster with the odd pearl winking at me when I was fortunate enough to open the right shell. But as the freight train of life brought me closer to platform 50 I suddenly felt trepidation. The plumper, balder, grayer reflection staring at me in the mirror seemed like an elderly uncle, not the cool, suave, charming bloke I felt oozing from my imagination. As Tony Newley once said: “Stop the world I want to get off”. My dad didn’t exactly help matters by passing away on my 49th birthday last August. But fate played her brilliant hand and came to my rescue. Thanks to a website called: friendsreunited.com a smattering of pals from my high school in north London popped into my cyberspace. We hadn’t spoken for 33 years, and suddenly 5 chums from my early teens came back into my life.

Since it was Dad’s dry, dark humor to pick that specific day to toddle off, I plotted my revenge. Hardly appropriate to celebrate my half century on the anniversary of pater’s death, I chose the day after the official end of the Jewish mourning period. My brother and I traveled back to London for the stone setting or unveiling as it’s known in the States, when the stone was consecrated and the odd relative (frankly, most of my relatives are odd) stopped back to Silverstone Towers for a smoked salmon sandwich and a cup of tea and some cheering chatter.

I had scoured the internet for an appropriate pub in my favorite part of the English countryside, Hertfordshire, (where I misspent my youthful years) and discovered a lovely olde world watering hole, which, as it turned out, was one of my former haunts. My “un 50th” birthday party, was a reunion of middle aged blokes, rather than a birthday bash, and the Three Horseshoes in Letchmore Heath, offered a picture perfect setting. The pub dominates the village, with a pond close by, virtually no traffic disturbing the quaffers and plenty of garden area for discreet discourse. I convinced the accomodating landlord and his good lady wife (Richard and Vicky) via e-mail, to permit me to bring my own bubbly, since I wanted to marry some splendid New World fizz to the sparkle of our old world gathering. So I carried several bottles of Gloria Ferrer Sonoma Brut (my absolute favorite bubbly at $15 retail in the U.S.) the 3000 miles to the pub. It was a glorious evening, the sky was the blue of childhood: cloudless, humidity free and remaining light well into the 10 PM hour, so typical of England in late June. Fizz chilled, glasses at the ready our “pub wench” (her description, not mine), Valerie, the assistant manager (the guv’nor and his wife were on holiday) , spent the next 3 hours treating us like mischievous schoolboys (in the nicest possible way you understand) and was totally brilliant - the best hospitality I’ve ever experienced in my entire life. 5 star hotels please take note. Valerie was attentive, deliciously risqué and warm and huggable.

As my former class mates arrived, the fried mushroom caps, brie wedges and brandy and herb paté went down a treat with the bubbly. There was magic abroad that night, and if pixie dust exists, I’m certain Valerie was sprinkling it as dusk approached. The air was intoxicating with camaraderie, and it was without doubt one of the most memorable evenings of my life.

Time, apparently, hadn’t been too cruel to our anatomies or dispositions, since we immediately recognized one another. Three of my chums came bearing a “gag gift”. Knowing my chosen profession and my penchant for inexpensive wine they presented me with a £1.75/$3 bottle of Moscato Bianco from a supermarket chain called Asda (the Moscato grape is responsible for Asti Spumante). Llittle did they realize the true value of their laughable libation. I made each of them sign the label, and now it is a treasured possession, reminding me of our remarkable evening.

We moved to the secluded rear garden and were seated around a long table where we chose our entrees, which ranged from Lamb Henry (named for the chef’) to Steak and ale pie (my choice..rich, zesty and piping hot in a delicate crust) to Chicken St. Jacques or poached salmon to goat’s cheese and broccoli crumble. Even though the conversation overshadowed the food, all agreed the dishes were amazing. We finished with profiteroles, my favorite dessert, mini puff pastries filled with cream and drizzled with chocolate sauce. I chose 2 wines for the meal, both from an Aussie winery I adore: Banrock Station. The Chardonnay and Cabernet met with unanimous approval and complimented the diversified repast admirably (both around £9/ $13 a bottle) A three course meal at the Three horseshoes (excluding beverage) will average £18 ($25) per person which, given the location, the ambiance, the service and the quality and freshness of the food is unbelievable (and probably too much food for the average appetite).

It was quite a while until we realized we were sitting in the moonlight, all other customers long gone, Valerie pouring us filtered coffee, way past her bedtime, reluctant to break up this fellowship. We eventually spilled into the summer night promising a repeat performance next year, or even sooner. I don’t know whether it was Valerie, the surroundings or the banter spanning three decades, but the wines I’ve known so well, never quite tasted as they did that evening. They were most definitely nectar of the gods and for those perched atop Mount Olympus, the view must have been spectacular. Cheers!

Wine And Film

2008-12-08T21:02:00.001-05:00

In my favorite film of all time, and the one I play impetuously whenever the mood envelops me, a ship emerges from a blanket of fog while the Adagietto from Mahler’s 5th Symphony, mournfully guides the film’s opening credits and ultimately the destiny of the principal character. Death In Venice based on the slim novel by Thomas Mann and directed by the master craftsman Lucino Visconti is not for a mass audience, it is an acquired taste for all the senses, but senses which are receptive to an unusual experience - a gradual unveiling of flavors, a deliciously captivating stroke of genius where all the elements are in harmony, yet the harmony is only suited to a participant ready for the journey. The only direction, the late actor Sir Dirk Bogarde was given by the late Italian director was to read the book 30 times to understand the character he was playing, and in one scene to stand when the gondola on which he was travelling, passed beneath the Rialto bridge. The actor discovered at the film’s release, that the entire production was orchestrated to the Mahler symphony, and at the precise moment he stood on the gondola, the music reached a powerful crescendo. A masterpiece, choreographed to the minutest degree, without hype, without sycophantic pampering to the masses, and with virtually no promotional budget. Granted, this was 1971, but all the temptations of commercialism were alive and well even back then. The film was seen by a limited audience, it wasn’t particularly hip, and it didn’t burst onto the screen in glossy, funky colors with cool graphics. It was traditional, it was classic, it was tasteful. I expect, since we’re 280 words into this column, that you’re scratching your head wondering whether there’s a mistake and whether this is in fact a movie column rather than one devoted to wine. It is indeed the wine column, and I believe that the appreciation of wine is not unlike the appreciation of a good flick. I’ve discovered my wine and film philosophies are clearly connected. I favor under hyped, brilliantly produced wines and films...I shy away from anything that can afford a multi million dollar promotional campaign, and embrace small budget, carefully crafted gems which don’t enjoy mass distribution, but will be featured at smaller venues, where quality rather than quantity is appreciated. And the producer, or even the main players (or grapes) needn’t be mega stars. There is even a parallel to the method of Visconti when he suggested to the actor that multiple readings of the novel were essential. The flavor of the book, as in the flavor of the wine, and the subtle nuances, become only too apparent when you have a level of comfort with the content. The production of a wine and of a film have many comparables, but the most conspicuous is their attraction of snobs, and the army of critics who get paid for a career I’ve never quite understood, or found relevant. And the sheer pleasure and escapism each allows from our pressure cooker world is second to none. A good film and a good wine should unfold it’s secrets slowly, and be savored attentively to fully appreciate the passion poured into the product by it’s maestro. There are few who truly enjoyed Death in Venice as I did, there are few who genuinely enjoy dry wines from the Mosel region of Germany, as I do. There are many who salivate over Alien and White Zinfandel. Whose taste is the correct one? Whomever puts the money down on the counter, for the experience! Cheers!

Despair

2008-12-08T20:58:00.001-05:00

A faint fragile light flickers on a distant hill, casting a ghostly candle shadow across a still landscape. The stillness is hauntingly disturbing. The silence is deafeningly denied to the onlooker who sees nothing save for his own breath ascending in the chilly, unfriendly night air. A stray cloud blots out the ebbing moon, diffusing the glow and erasing the chalk dots from the celestial blackboard. The tree limbs bereft of leaves grumble in the hostile wind that whips across the desolate landscape

Passage

2008-12-08T20:38:00.002-05:00

The high tech society has been embraced with all the passion of adolescent lust. Life used to have meaning, substance, a purpose. Now it is little more than a race against time, a crazed dash through an impotent world devoid of all the virtues I remember from childhood. My long lost childhood. Where did you go?

I can still smell the freshly baked apple pie diffusing cinnamon perfume through the house, while grandmother serenaded the rising dough to the melody of Qué sera sera. I remember those balmy summer mornings, and the distant drone of a small plane sketching a path across the powder blue canvas, as I filled my basket with apples which had dropped to the green velvet lawn. Ripe, crisp, juicy, tenderly nurtured by Mother Nature on the sentinel tree just beyond my bedroom window, whose limbs danced spiritedly on my ceiling in the moonlight. On such nights an owl marked time with eerily comforting lullabies. And Sunday afternoons in summer... those languid interludes on wooden framed deck chairs whose candy striped canvas ferried us to a tranquil siesta. Mother's voice softly rousing us for the arrival of tea. Small delicate sandwiches filled with smoked salmon, and cucumber and tomatoes from our greenhouse... and the freshly baked apple pie, with a paper thin crust, slivers of apples, plump raisins, and a stream of golden juices liberated as the fork began to explore the sweet confection within. The scent of Earl Gray melding the bouquet from the roses which crowned the garden in a sweep of colours, so proud in the late afternoon sunlight.

Those are the moments I recall fondly, when the world was young and the days were long and the sun shone from dawn to dusk. Everyone had time to stop and talk. Everyone used a fountain pen and very fine paper on which to write their sentiments to one another. Shopkeepers knew your name, restaurant owners sat at your table to present snapshots of their grandchildren. Mrs. Ayles at the corner shop - which served as both the grocer and post office - would read the post cards from our friends travelling abroad before we were afforded that pleasure. But nobody seemed to mind, it was an amiable time. My favourite treat during winter, was Sunday lunch at a London restaurant, accoutered in my best jacket, a clean white shirt, freshly polished sensible shoes and a smart tie. We were deprived of cellular phones and pagers ringing across the room, but sat enthralled by Neapolitan love songs from the strolling violinist, debonair in his Brylcreemed hair and starched moustache. The hushed dining room was peppered by the sounds of china being removed, cutlery being replaced and the carving trolley's wheels gliding gently across the floor. The air was full of exquisite fragrances, of opulent perfume from ladies in mink and perfect deportment, of fowl and meat and fresh fish, of overcooked vegetables, of soup and stew and Yorkshire pudding, of chocolate and rum and treacle and trifle, and of ripened cheeses. The smells, the stillness of the room, save for quiet attentive intimate conversation, and a bow passionately caressing the strings of an ersatz Stradivarious.... and the unobtrusive service. How well it is preserved in my memory.

That quality of life was lost to the new generation when we inherited the world and accepted the baton. I do not relish this new era, it is a sad, brittle existence which in time will doubtlessly shatter. And among the shards, perhaps someone will pluck a small green apple from the debris. Maybe the child in me will emerge to reclaim it for my basket.

People are perpetually running. They run for exercise, they run for planes, they run for meetings and they run late. How I loathe that expression, adopted as a limp excuse in the absence of respect and responsibility. People eat atrociously...talking on cell phones, looking at watches, crunching on crackers, drinking dreadful hot beverages from Styrofoam cups in 4-wheel drives, which, one must assume are procured for the treacherous terrain of the local shopping centre. In the age of e-mail, fax, overnight delivery, "voice mail", cell phones, pagers, and the postal service, people still fail to respond to communications in an arrogant demonstration of abject rudeness. I am afraid the generation to which I must sadly be counted as a member, and the generation at our heels, are essentially a disrespectful, insidious group. Good manners is a commodity which does not demand a Platinum American Express card or a PIN number, it solicits just a few moments of time, and some perfunctory interest in other people.

My recent flight, high above the clouds, inspired a protracted reflection into the tulip bowled glass of life. A passionate swirl of realization that beyond the laborious discipline of reality's senseless and futile duties, there is indeed a place where pleasure and meaning are harbored for supreme indulgence. As our destination grew closer, I unbridled my burdens and sensed a sudden exuberance and lightheaded euphoric rush pumping through my body. A holiday approached, and with it, everything life had to offer would be spread before me - a pirate surveying his bounty! Life, so often becomes a cross to which my limbs are cruelly nailed, while beyond, in the mists of my imagination, are places where only a few may bask in unsullied, consummate nirvana.......a world and a time quite remote. In life, the one I inhabit from dawn to dusk, I am a relatively solitary soul, quite by my own election, but frequently, it could be suggested, a predilection conceivably credited to others. I am loved, one presumes, by my immediate family, the inner coterie orbiting by virtue of the gravitational magnetism of duty. Beyond this contiguous, modest cluster of satellites there is a vast ocean of darkness, uninhabited, empty - a chasm which will never be filled. Love has visited me twice. The first time through a chance encounter and unexpected tryst with the attractive, intriguing woman I married. Love returned once again when our baby placed her tiny fingers in my hand and I understood and recognized utter perfection and unconditional love. Never was life more beautiful, more intrinsic, more purposeful. Indeed, if it is to have meaning, a design, a fusion of sanguine energy from within one's own dominion, then these paradigms of love are truly an undeniable legacy of the quintessential image reflected from my glass -the glass I began to fill in the garden of my childhood.

Lift a glass my friend and carefully observe the images it reflects of your life. You can still correct the ones which lie ahead, but in order to make this transition, you must find the time to sit and contemplate....not only your world but the world of those with whom you share your work, your pleasure, your pain. These are moments to savour and cherish, to be created naturally without the assistance of electronic devices or sound bite conversation. They are your own design. Take a moment. Smell the apple pie. And listen.... the branches are rustling outside the window, and if you listen very carefully you can hear the gentle whisper of grandmother's voice borne by the distant breeze of memory.....Qué Cera Cera... whatever will be will be, the future is ours to see, Qué cera cera.

Reflections In A Glass

2008-12-08T20:35:00.001-05:00

I’ve been busily tasting and spitting my way through modestly priced, exceptional wines for my many duties as a wine commentator. It would be very easy for me to pick wines which offer that big gulp of satisfaction in the first glass followed by serious disappointment in successive glasses. Some wines have that weakness of character, similar to a person whom you find you dislike after only five minutes in conversation. Well, I select my wines the same way I pick my friends. I want the relationship to develop into a warmer, richer more honest state, eagerly anticipating our next encounter. Wine to me is a mistress, a seducer of hearts, a gorgeously sensual experience which provokes all manner of dreams through it’s tantalizing perfume and provocative flavors. Wine is the world’s truly democratic beverage. It sweeps across ethnic and cultural borders, it is the language of love, of celebration, of life. It is my passion. Cheers!

All Things Must Pass

2008-12-08T20:19:00.001-05:00

“Beware of Sadness,
It can hit you, it can hurt you
Make you sore and what is more
That is not what you are here for”

On November 29th 2002, George Harrison’s lyrics energized London’s Royal Albert Hall as the “quiet Beatle’s” best mates celebrated the anniversary of Harrison’s death. Indeed, all things must pass. Yet the spiritual and inspirational aspects of Harrison pervaded the room and the musicians on stage performed as they had never before performed in their collected lives. With harmony and passion and profound perfection. We all knew George was with them. I watched the concert on the recently released DVD Concert For George and savored every morsel of the 2 hour and 20 minute film while marrying each pattern in the eclectic musical tapestry of Harrison’s life with an appropriate libation. As noted in this column many times before, wine and food obsessions are not for me, but film, and better yet, wine and music are admirable companions. And Concert For George presents so many opportunities for mood and taste’s groovy gear change. As the stunning Anoushka Shankar played her father Ravi’s specially written “Your Eyes” followed by “Arpan” (giving) on sitar, the mystical eastern music I adore begged for an aromatic, ethereal Gewurztraminer, a white grape which transcends all others. As I closed my eyes and peaceful images filled my head, I sipped Handley Cellars Gewurztraminer and it offered grace and serenity and an existential cohesion of sounds and tastes and feelings of well being. When western music arrived on stage, the aging 60’s icons had an aura around them that exuded love, contentment, accomplishment and peace. They had matured and reached their zenith. And as I was swept along by the moment, I opened a bottle of Grahams 20-Year-Old Tawny Port that too had started life a little unsure of itself – temperamental, yet full of promise. And now it had mellowed into a truly great performer, with soft chords, and mesmerizing nuances, which harmonized to pro-duce a sweet, velvet note lingering long into the night. I maintained my composure until Joe Brown, a British pop star when I was still in short trousers, ended the concert on his ukulele with a ren-dering of “I’ll See you in my dreams”. As petals fell from the sky onto the audience, I was seeing them through very misty eyes. Yet it was a sweet note to end the evening and Hogue’s Late Harvest White Riesling struck just the right chord as the credits rolled.

“I look at you all see the
love there that’s sleeping
While my guitar gently weeps”