T O O RDER M ORE F EA T URED W INES C ALL 1-800-823-5527 T ODAY ! Volume 20 Number 10 ©Vinesse Wine Club 2012 The SKU 20262 GrThe Officiala NewslepTTer fOrevine ViiNesse wiiNe club MeMbers Taste the Artistry of BELGIAN CHOCOLATE Food Trends & What They Mean for Wine Mastering the Basics of Wine Glassware Getting to Know the Landscape of Alsace G E T Y OUR D AILY D OSE O F W INE N E W S A T http://blog.vinesse.com 2 • The Grapevine • Visit vinesse.com OUR MISSION: To uncover and bring you wine gems diTOr s OurNal from around the world, which you’re e ’ J not likely to discover on your own, and which enhance your wine enjoyment. YOUR GRAPEVINE TEAM: Food Trends and What Intrepid Wine Enthusiast, Chief Taster and Winehound: They Mean for Wine Martin Stewart By Robert Johnson Chief Operating Officer (aka “The Buck Stops Here”): Lawrence D. Dutra here have always been trends in most aspects of our Editor: T lives. But with the instant communication that social Robert Johnson media has spawned, it seems as if trends are surging Wine Steward: more quickly than ever. Katie Montgomery The Grapevine is published by Vinesse, You might say that trends are... 2. Farm to Table Eating. “A 822 Hampshire Road, Suite E, Westlake trending. corollary of the Slow Food Movement, Village, CA 91361; 1-800-823-5527. Copyright by Vinesse, LLC. Printed in USA. The end of one trend (do we all this easy-to-understand idea has No responsibility is assumed for loss or agree that blackened redfish has hit become a mantra for chefs who damage to unsolicited materials. a red light?) makes way for another, believe that the closer the ingredient and food columnist and author John sources are to the restaurant, the Be good to the planet Mariani (Esquire, The Encyclopedia better the food will be.” of American Food & Drink, The The wine world has embraced this RECYCLE Dictionary of Italian Food and Drink) philosophy for generations. While recently identified 10 trends in food commerce dictates that wines made for the 10th anniversary issue of in large quantities be shipped long CHARTER MEMBER Celebrated Living. distances in order to be sold, there BENEFITS: We will share Mariani’s food trends still are plenty of under-the-radar The Grapevine Newsletter (with his comments in quotation gems crafted in such small amounts marks), and add some wine-related that they’re available only in a Premium wine selections at members-only prices observations of our own... winery’s tasting room. 1. Slow Food Movement. “Has 3. Olive Oils. “Pick up any French Wine tasting as a participant grown into a worldwide advocacy cookbook now or watch any American on VINESSE’s Gold Medal group zealously trying to preserve cooking show... and olive oil will be Award Panel food traditions and culture, lobbying the requisite fat medium.” Complimentary subscription against the use of pesticides, and Restaurant chefs and those who to VINESSE’s Cyber Circle inveighing against large-scale cook at home have largely replaced Community agribusiness.” butter with olive oil, and this has Random giveaways of wine The impact has been the creation of fundamentally changed the flavor of and accessories a dining public and a generation of many dishes. It also has had an impact Wine Finders Reward — cooks more aware of the quality and on wine-pairing possibilities for these identify a future wine selection benefits of food cooked from scratch, dishes — in some cases even changing and earn a reward using natural ingredients. This ties the ideal wine from a white to a red. Perfectly matched recipes for in perfectly with the “natural wine” 4. Pizza. “These days chefs are featured wine selections trend in Europe and the ongoing devoting as much energy and time — Complimentary wine tasting transition to organic winegrowing in constructing special ovens, importing America. buffalo mozzarella — to pizzas as to Visit vinesse.com • The Grapevine • 3 anything else on their menus, and restaurateur with the motivation to in ethnic restaurants of all kinds. they don’t have to be Italian.” stock the wine cellar with selections Just about any red wine on the list Many of these new creations come other than standbys Cabernet formerly was a pretty safe choice at in single-serving sizes, and may be Sauvignon and Chardonnay. Meats Italian restaurants. No more. Today, called flatbreads, focaccia or pizzette. prepared with a bit of spice are with any dish — raw or cooked — These dishes allow each person in a enhanced by varieties such as ordered in any type of restaurant, dining party to enjoy his or her own Zinfandel and Petite Sirah, while salty it’s important to know the dominant favorite toppings. It also makes it charcuterie benefits from red wines flavor in order to be able to select the possible — and advisable — for the with a solid acid backbone, such as most complementary wine. restaurant to have a creative wine-by- Chianti. 9. Upscale Comfort Food. “Old- the-glass list. 7. Cheese Service. “It is rare that fashioned comfort food is now being 5. Pork Rules. “With the a new restaurant does not have a refined by some of the best chefs development of hormone-free, fatter selection of fine, perfectly-ripened in the world, demonstrating that Berkshire hogs... chefs have restored cheeses, many of them from local even prole food can be stunningly pork to its proper place on a proper dairies.” delicious.” menu. The use of pork belly, once Wine and cheese have always been Never thought about serving wine reserved for Chinese restaurants, pairing partners, but only in recent with macaroni and cheese or wings? has now become the ‘in’ food of the years have restaurant owners paid You might if you were noshing on decade.” close attention to the pairings. As mac 'n' cheese bites with truffle This is good news for Chardonnay more restaurants offer cheese courses, dipping sauce, or ‘lollipop’ chicken and Pinot Noir, two wine varieties it’s becoming more common to see wings with blue cheese dressing — as commonly matched with pork. It’s specific wine recommendations on prepared at the Society Café at Steve also good news for an array of other menus. A cheese-centric menu is Wynn’s Encore resort in Las Vegas. varieties, which also can be paired greatly enhanced by a well-selected 10. Desserts. “Even a small with pork depending on the flavors wine-by-the-glass list. Even better: restaurant with 50 to 80 seats, just added to a dish by creative chefs. For cheese flights accompanied by wine about anywhere in any city, now has instance, pork served with a sweet flights. its own pastry chef who turns out caramel-soy glaze cries out for a dry 8. Raw Food. “The real trend right stunning, original creations that often or off-dry Gewurztraminer. now is how chefs of different food come hot to the table.” 6. Charcuterie. “American chefs cultures have adapted raw fish and, to Pairing wine with sweet dishes have taken charcuterie... a blanket an extent, raw meats on their menus... can be tricky, but a wine-focused term I use for all sausages, salamis, Crudi — Italian chefs’ version of sushi restaurant will take care to include patés and other cooked or cured — has become all the rage, from Nice complementary (mostly sweet) wines meats... off the sideboard and put it to Naples.” for their special desserts. And keep center stage.” This trend is fundamentally changing in mind that a well-made sweet wine This trend should provide a how we think about wine pairing can, in itself, make a great dessert. 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Patz & Hall was founded in 1988 Vinesse created the Élevant Society by Donald Patz, James Hall (who to meet members’ demands for serves as winemaker), Anne Moses super-premium wines. and Heather Patz. Together, they While virtually all have turned the winery into one of California’s most highly regarded, members of the original with a celebrated portfolio of single- American Cellars Wine Club vineyard wines. were planted on the Sonoma Coast were very satisfied with their The proprietors believe that wines in the mid-’90s,” Hall notes. “As monthly selections, some capture the essence of great vineyards. these vineyards have matured, they wanted more, and they For more than two decades, Patz & have emerged as the finest sources were willing to pay for it. 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