It’s always impressive to hear somebody who works a particular spot of land, on a day to day basis - year round for decades, talk about farming practices. These are people who know their property in a very intimate way, and can convey the benefits they see from their work.
Stephen Henschke needs no introduction. He’s simply one of the top winemakers in the world, and I was privileged to visit him this last spring. Here’s a video of him discussing farming practices and the application of biodynamics on the Hill of Grace Vineyard.
Happy Fourth of July to everybody! And in the quest for the ultimate summertime fare, keep in mind the wonderful combination of ribs (beef, short, pork, baby back, St. Louis style, Texas style, doesn’t matter!) and red wine, especially Zinfandel. Particularly good this year are the 2005 Seghesio Old Vine, and the 2006 Ridge Geyserville. Both are showing great expression and personality. Absolutely outstanding wines to have with ribs. Below are some great links regarding ribs and wine.
And finally, here is my own pork rub formula, guaranteed to increase your enjoyment of ribs. Rub generously on the ribs (or any pork cut) at least three hours before smoking. (A little hint as well: marinate the ribs in Italian salad dressing overnight before smoking them!)
We call this the ‘family rub’ because everybody in my household loves it. All quantities are in parts to make it easy to make as little or as much as you want.
3 parts Kosher salt
4 parts granulated garlic
1 part granulated onion
4 parts Spanish paprika
1 part fresh ground black pepper
2 parts raw cane sugar (don’t use regular brown sugar - too much water content)
1/2 part dried oregano
1/2 part rubbed sage
The mix can be stored in a tight jar, in the dark, for up to four months.
In an article in this morning’s New York Times, Open Table has announced plans to integrate suggestions and discussion into their site, emulating the popular Chowhound.com and Yelp.com formats.
This plays directly into Jermey Iggers and Andrew Zimmern’s recents posts regarding the role of the critic in restaurant decisions. If you use Open Table, and your restaurant suddenly has three negative posts, what might that do you to your business? Conversely, do you see the reader reviews eventually being entirely corrupted by self-posting restaurants?
This is a fascinating development in how the public discovers you as a restaurant, learns more about you, and decides to give you business. The implications are immense, especially as more and more diners and restaurants seem to be using Open Table.
If you are a restaurateur that uses Open Table (or chooses to not use Open Table) please comment! We would love to hear your opinion (and you don’t even need to tell us who you are).
The Santa Rosa Press Democrat has done an excellent job keeping people up to the minute on the wildfires of Northern California. As of now, we have not heard of any damage to wineries or vineyards, but that could change with a moment’s notice.
You can go here for a current, up to the minute, constantly updated Google Map on the wildfires. Click on any of the fires listed on the left hand side for full details.
It’s late June and here in Minnesota the bugs are starting to come out and pretty soon by 3:00 in the afternoon that heat will start to be a bit too much for most people. Or maybe it’s the humidity … that magical invisible meteorological condition that separates us from Colorado (that and mountains, scenery, and outdoor baseball). Anyway, back to point.
When you’re in Minnesota and sell some of the best Ports made, June through mid September tends to be a pretty slow time. I hear it from every restaurant and retailer buyer I present them to: “Are you kidding? It’s way too hot outside for Port!”
So what do they do in Portugal? Think about it. Nobody consumes more Port than Portugal, yet they have heat waves the likes of which put us to shame. Heat and humidity are a way of life there. So what do they do? They chill it!
Try it yourself. Get some Graham’s 20 year tawny, or Smith Woodhouse 10 year tawny and put it in the fridge overnight. Then pour two glasses and microwave one of them until it’s just above room temperature. This is a great, quick education in taste sensations. The cooler temp brings out the acidity and liveliness in the port. It enhances the bright brown sugar aromas, the orange rind tang, the brighter dry fruit aromas. It’s downright REFRESHING. The one that is too warm is downright FLABBY, with the heat of the alcohol overwhelming the wine.
Last year, in Chicago, there were fourteen restaurants that were doing chilled Tawny Port offerings. The results were clear: it was a hit. Not gangbusters, of course, but enough to justify the ‘effort’ to do it (’effort’ here being to put the bottle in the cooler and re-print the menu).
And retailers? Don’t forget that in many other states you would be banned from in-store tastings! Make use of our situation and chill down a bottle of Tawny Port to introduce you customers to a new favorite summertime sipper! Offer 20% off all Port between Memorial Day and Labor Day. Do anything to bring attention to that part of your shop!
Jason Kallsen
Annette Peters
Lee Codding
(photo by Flickr user 
In an article in this morning’s New York Times, Open Table has announced plans to integrate suggestions and discussion into their site, emulating the popular 
