Suburban Goes to Italy 2009 - Part Two

Or is it really Day 1? I left yesterday, but just got here? Time difference if a killer, but I am good to go and feel like a million bucks! When we last met, I was on my way to Giorgio Rivetti’s Tuscan Estate. Normally at this juncture, I would share so fabulous pictures with you. But, when we finally found the winery (travelling in Europe without a GPS is FUN!), we had to walk a bit and I had left my camera in the car, I did take some pictures with my phone (the quality is not as great, but it's better than nothing!). Fear not, however, as I had it by my side for the remainder of the trip. Anyway, I digress, he gave us a tour of the new building. The winery is very modern in style (much like his wines), and carved into the side of a mountain. A picture of the some of the vineyards is below.

The entire operation is state-of-the-art, and brand spanking new. Without question, Giorgio’s Tuscan offerings have seen dramatic improvement since they were initially introduced 3 years ago. After we tasted through his new releases, Giorgio says “We are going to go to lunch at my favorite place, it’s only about 20 minutes North of here”. I hop into his car and away we go. A full hour later, driving at 200 kilometers an hour we arrive. But it was worth the trip, at least after my heart stopped racing!

Lunch itself was an amazing experience, at a restaurant called “Lorenzo” in Forte dei Marmi, just north of Pisa (picture below).



Giorgio, as always was the perfect host, rolling out an amazing assortment of wines (all served blind):

Philliponnat Brut as a starter
01 Valentini Trebbiano d’Abruzzo
05 Coche-Dury Meursault AC
04 Spinetta Barbaresco Valeirano
08 Spinetta Moscato Biancospino

Killer lunch…great wines…wonderful company. Thank you Giorgio!

We finished up around 4pm, when Giorgio stood and told us that he needs to leave because he is hosting a dinner that evening…in Rome! A three hour drive away! He has boundless energy and is truly one of the best in the business!

We were full, a little jet-lagged, and in desperate need of another coffee. We took a walk around this gorgeous coastal town, grabbed a coffee (picture below) and jumped in the car for the 2 hour drive down to Montalcino…..where my brother…and another fabulous meal was waiting! More on that next time!

- Lance Cerutti - www.suburbanwines.com

Suburban Goes to Italy 2009 - Part One

The few weeks before my annual buying trip to Italy is always met with a hearty mixture of angst and excitement. The angst comes from leaving my family and business for such a long period of time (this year - 12 days). The excitement, clearly, comes from the opportunity to travel to Europe and visit (and re-visit) the places that make the wine and the wine business so special.

This year, the whirlwind tour took me through all of Tuscany, parts of Emilia-Romagna, and Veneto. Starting in Pisa and looping through Montalicno, Sienna, and Florence, this was the first leg of my journey. Lessons were learned every step of the way. I hope to share my experiences with you through my next batch of blog entries, so please be prepared to either be bored to tears, or skip over large amounts of text. The choice is yours…personally, I would opt for a mixture of reading until you get bored, then, skipping the remainder of the paragraph.
First, a bit about me. I love to go places, but I hate to get there. Flying is not a fun experience for me, and an overnight flight is the worst possible scenario. Cramped quarters, bad food, surly service, and the wine choices….not so good. Having said that, Delta has a lovely flight directly into Pisa which really put us in the thick of it all right away…..boarded the plane (empty I might add), took off at 8:30pm; and landed in Pisa before 10:30am local time. Luckily, as I mentioned, the plane (a 767), had only 88 people on board. Certainly a better scenario that I had anticipated and it made for a much more pleasant flight (although the surly service and bad food was still there).

I ate (you don’t want to know), watched “Eagle Eye” (decent movie….I would give it a “7”), and caught about 3 hours of sleep (not as much as I would like, but enough for me to get by). Before I knew it, I was on the ground in Tuscany. Went through customs (which is a breeze compared to the US), grabbed my luggage and headed outside to pick up the rental car. We rented an Alpha-Romeo station wagon (there were 5 of us). Hopped in and headed straight to our first appointment, meeting Giorgio Rivetti at his Tuscan estate, where he makes Sangiovese based wines.

Giorgio is best known for the “La Spinetta” wines from Piedmont, but he spends a few days a week in Tuscany overseeing the operation there. The Tuscan operation is really something to behold. I will go into more detail in my next entry. I am hoping to give you a day-by-day accounting of the trip, and shorter snippets like this are clinically proven to prevent nodding off. Until next time – Lance Cerutti – www.suburbanwines.com

WINE WITH DINNER – What does “unoaked” on a wine label mean?

I prefer unoaked Chardonnay with my meals, unless I’m having barbequed white meats or fish. But even Chardonnays with “unoaked” on the label can taste as if they have spent some time in oak. Why is that? To find the answer, I recently put the question to several vintners I know and people in the wine industry with whom I deal. Everyone I spoke to agreed that the term "unoaked" whether it appears on the front label or in the "poetic" descriptive material on the back label, allows the vintner quite a bit of leeway, since "unoaked" is an unregulated term.

One vintner explained, "..sometimes a wine is originally meant to be unoaked, but the winemaker finds it to be lacking in acid, richness and overall complexity. In order to counter that flatness he/she might blend back a little of their oaked Chard." This idea was further elaborated on by one of our major California wine distributors, who said, "... I would say that it is very common for California vintners to ferment the wine in tank and then move it to old barrels for 4-6 months to give it texture and some oxygen. Really not “unoaked”, but by California standards it is considered to be. There are almost no Chardonnays, or even Sauvignon Blancs from California that don't see any oak."

As to the difficulty of even deciding whether an "unoaked" label is truthful or not, one vintner posited, “... If a producer makes a Chard that is fermented primary in oak and then puts it through malolactic fermentation in oak again (so that it has a huge oak character), and also makes another Chard which is 90% stainless, …well by comparison the second is unoaked. So while it is possible that the label police could come after the producer, it's not likely."

But if the wine is truly unoaked, how can it taste oaked? A few vintners said that leaving Chardonnay on the skins (or the lees) for an extended period would allow for more phenolics than you might expect from a Chardonnay. One vintner said, "…these phenolics from the skins could form phenolic aldehydes, which are normally contributed to whites through the breakdown of oak lignin. So, that could explain some vanilla or spice aroma."

Another vintner highlighted the need to distinguish the "buttery" aspect of malolactic fermentation from the "vanillin" aspect of barrel aging. "Many tasters will attribute any buttery character to oak, but the buttery aromas are mostly diacetyl -- which is a metabolic by-product of malolactic fermentation. Diacetyl, by the way, is the chemical used to flavor microwave popcorn. Vanillin can be found in oak, and I have noticed that some tasters will confuse vanillin with diacetyl."

What I've learned from this exercise is that I shouldn't put much stock in the term "unoaked" on a wine label other than to regard it to mean "minimally oaked, if at all" – Jay Roelof – www.suburbanwines.com

Another indulgent evening at PPI

This month, it almost didn’t happen. Several cancellations (including my own) had George poised to call the evening off. But Lance convinced me, last minute, to keep it alive. And boy am I glad I didn’t miss this one……a quiet Wednesday night at Pratt’s allowed Jon to join us in assessing a kickin’ batch of juice that included an armada of samples from Argentina, and some more serious picks from our own cellars.

Amongst the various Malbecs and Malbec blends, there were few wines to speak kindly of. But amongst our special contributions, there were no slouches this time. Neither Mark’s ‘00 Jean Grivot Nuits-St-Georges les Roncieres nor my ‘06 Pierre Matrot Puligny-Montrachet les Chalumeaux were served blind, so there was no guessing game here. While the Grivot needed an hour in a decanter to reveal its supple texture, forward minerality and reserved, classic ‘00 personality, my Matrot was hot-to-trot right outta the gate, with a creamy, generous Chardonnay profile and a gorgeous pear/nut/mineral interplay. Both were picture perfect and consumed at the right time.

George and Lance’s contributions kicked it up a notch, as they were both celebrated bottlings from older vintages, again consumed at a perfect point in their evolution. Our guesses pinned it down to region on both, but Lance’s detective work maneuvered him to within one vintage of George’s very wine. It unleashed a rustic, aromatic attack of tobacco, Balsamic, soy, fennel and underbrush that screamed, what else……. Nebbiolo! The wine was clearly mature, but depending upon producer, it could have been anywhere from 10 to 30 years old. Lance settled on the halfway point, and guessed ’93 Giacomo Conterno Barolo Cascina Francia. Turns out it was the ’94.

Lance’s wine, at first, seemed over-the-hill, but upon one-hour’s decant, blossomed into what appeared to be a Burgundy of considerable depth and expression. Subtle herb, game and wet stone aromas jostled the olfactory instincts, preparing the palate for a sophisticated and surprisingly-sweet delivery of sexy, maturing Pinot. We’ll call this one the cougar! After some group deliberation, Lance tore away the paper bag on his bottle of ‘89 Louis Jadot Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Clos St Jacques, certifiably the Wine of the Night!

An honorable mention is in order for a supplemental wine that Lance threw into the mix. I was only able to guess its identity after multiple juicy hints. An ‘06 Pride Sangiovese from Sonoma was fat, fleshy, satisfyingly-sweet to the core and very good at being what it is, but was intrinsically-unable to impress this group of old-world wine fans. Great ringer, Lance, and a nice finish to a particularly-delicious evening for our group. Here’s to many more! -Michael Koehler – www.suburbanwines.com

WINE WITH DINNER – How Many Bottles Do You Buy For a Dinner Party?

When planning a dinner party, the first thing to ask yourself is, “How many people will there be at the table and do they all like wine?” Not everybody enjoys wine with their dinner, so it’s a good idea to have some sparkling water, fruit juice and soft drinks on hand, just in case.

Assuming everybody likes wine, how many bottles will be needed for a dinner party of six? For planning purposes, one bottle of wine will fill six wine glasses sufficiently, so that everybody gets a decent amount. Since most wine glasses hold 10 to 12 ounces, that means the glasses will be about 2/5ths to a third full, which is about right for a single glass of wine to really enjoy the wine’s bouquet. But there won’t be enough wine for second helpings, so you might want to have two bottles on hand (or serve two different wines side-by-side, which really adds another dimension of interest to your meal!). Two bottles for six people is about right, especially if everybody has a glass of water at their place setting as well, which health conscious people nowadays think is de rigueur for any dinner table setting.

You can stretch out one bottle to eight glasses, but there won’t be much in each glass when you have finished pouring. A regular bottle of wine holds 750 milliliters, which is about 25 ounces. So, eight glasses will only have about three ounces of wine in each, which is not very much - unless you are serving two different wines side-by-side or have an extra bottle of the same wine on hand to take care of refills. If you are not serving two different dinner wines, two bottles for eight almost requires that you have a third (unopened) bottle on hand, just in case.

If you are serving wine before dinner with appetizers and plan on spending some time socializing, you should buy three bottles for six to eight people (but don’t open the third until you need to), because the first wine of the evening usually gets the heaviest demand placed upon it.
In summary then, for a dinner party preceded by a social hour wherein hors d’oeurves are served, you should end up buying a total of five bottles for your dinner party for six and five or six bottles for your dinner party for eight (depending on how many wines will be served for dinner). If you do this, you are not likely to run out of wine, and may even have an unopened bottle left over to enjoy with a future meal.
And, from an alcohol moderation point of view, I have found it a good practice to serve at least one bottle less than the number of people who are being served over the entire evening - Jay Roelof – www.suburbanwines.com

On the misconceptions of cooking with wine

The following is one man’s opinion on cooking with wine. And considering that I don’t often cook, this opinion might not hold much water. The idea to post this gibberish owes its genesis to 8 years of collective inquiries from my customers at Suburban about how to choose a wine to cook with.

My favorite requests to fill involve wines for cooking specific dishes. The true “foodies” amongst you are adventurous and often take my advice on wine type and style, even when the selection costs a few bucks more than you had expected. This brings to mind the deeper issue…….just how much should one spend on a cooking wine? My answer is almost always “not a lot”. But then again, you should not spend too little, either. The following should guide you in making the distinction for your self:

-First, stay away from any wine or wine section labeled “cooking wine”. This is your first indication that the quality of the juice is substandard, and not worthy of your discerning palates.

-Second, aside from including the right type of wine in your dish, you should always cook with wine that you would also consider for drinking. When trying to decide how much that should cost, consider the price and quality of the other ingredients in the dish. I doubt that any of you would be using poor, stale or tainted ingredients in your cooking, and the wine you include should be no exception. Spending as little as $5 or $6 on a bottle may be a mistake, as would be spending as much as $100.

-Finally, the better quality the wine, the potentially tastier your dish. But like everything else, this has its limits. I recall an article in Decanter Magazine a few years back wherein a columnist wrote about her experiment with using high-end wine in her cooking. She prepared several different dishes using mature first-growth Bordeaux. She concluded that her coq au vin was indeed the best she had ever prepared, but only by a subjective margin of 10%. So, does that justify spending 2,000% more on the wine? The lesson is: be sensible with your cooking wine choices, but avoid being chintzy.

Most of the wines I end up recommending for cooking cost between $15 and $25/bottle, with some exceptions in either direction. Essentially, what you’ll want is a wine that will match with, as well as enhance the flavors in your dish, rather than one that competes with your dish or stands out as an obvious component. For specific recommendations, I welcome your inquiries anytime, either in person, or by email at michael@suburbanwines.com.

As a footnote, after you have picked your poison, treat is as you would any other ingredient. What I’m getting at specifically is that you should always smell and taste a wine before cooking with it. You all have had that unpleasant experience of discovering your drinking wine is corked, oxidized or otherwise flawed. Your cooking wine may be one of those, and you wouldn’t want to ruin your beautiful dish by inadvertently pouring spoiled wine into it. –Michael Koehler- www.suburbanwines.com

Well, here we are right smack in the middle of February. Things sure have changed over the last year or so! Everyone has been affected by the economy. Last year it seemed like the “perfect storm”…downturn in the economy, weak dollar abroad…wholesalers (the people we buy wine from) and wineries raising prices across the board. It was tough for everyone. As a store, it makes us work even harder to find the value that is out there. We held the line and did not raise many prices, absorbing the increases.

But from the customer standpoint, there seems to be alight at the end of this tunnel! The dollar is getting stronger, and the wholesalers have lots of unsold wine that we are making great deals on. About a week or so, I sat down and decided to put into writing some of the things that makes Suburban different from some of the other stores out there. What you may not see behind the scene here is that we literally taste hundreds of wines each week…constantly looking for value. Our team is scouring every possible buying option finding those hidden gems that are out there. We work hard, and I hope that it shows.

I would also like to thank each end every one of you for your continued patronage. Without all of you, there is no Suburban, and we are eternally grateful.

What makes Suburban different?

· We taste hundreds of wines per week, selecting new items based on delivering more value for your dollar.

· NO NEW ITEM graces our shelves unless we have tasted it and approved of it first.

· We host large-scale tasting events at least twice per month. AND, we open wine for you to taste every Saturday!

· Membership in our wine club allows you to get up to 30% or more off the items you purchase from us. Are you a member yet?

· We are always happy to special-order any item that we do not already carry.

· Need wine help or advice? We have a team of “wine geeks” ready to help with whatever you may need.

· Many times we find that big “name brands” simply do not deliver quality based upon their cost. Remember… their advertising budget comes from your pocket! We specialize in finding small-production wines from people who put their heart and soul into the bottle, offering a product that costs less than it should!