Author: rakemag

If the question is “do French fries belong in a stir-fry?” then the answer is Machu Picchu. While the game of musical chairs continues apace with restaurateurs at the intersection of Lyndale and Lake, the Saltados at this Peruvian-style joint have made us glad they’ve stuck it out. Their new expansion features a nifty little bar in a nicely lit room facing Lyndale. Gastronomic temptations include Papa a la Huancaina, about which you only need to know the phrase “feta cheese cream sauce.” If Paddington Bear ate this well, he never would have left darkest Peru.

Everyone thinks they could be a writer, and everyone thinks they could run a restaurant. Folks don’t realize how much work, tedious work, is involved in either enterprise. Well, we confess that our second-best idea—after starting this magazine—was to open a good fish-and-chips joint, in the classic British style of a walk-up chippy. True, you can find fish and chips all over town, but other than Mac’s in St. Paul, none is dedicated exclusively to this noble cause. Now Minneapolis has a proud contender, in an amazing location: The Tin Fish is the Minneapolis Park Board’s seasonal restaurant in the boathouse at Lake Calhoun. The prices are a little steep (running $10-$15 for an actual meal) and the wait can be unsettling, but the quality (walleye, salmon, cod, cross-cut fries, slaw—upscale!) has us beaming with civic pride. Each of the city’s great lakes deserves a delightful gathering place like this. Now how about a model yacht club at Loring Pond?

May 25, 2004

With two week’s worth of wine events to report on, this entry is packed with tasting notes. It is a busy time of year, springtime, so full of promise. The Napa Valley Vintner’s Association event of early May was the harbinger for the lively Wine Fest weekend on May 14 and 15, which featured a variety of gatherings celebrating Napa Valley wines and raising money for a local charity. It was my great pleasure to introduce Fernando Frias of Frias Family Vineyard to The Wine Doctor, so that the fabulous Frias Family wines might become available here in Minnesota. The deal was struck, so stay tuned for what could be the most exciting new wine to enter our market in some time.

Speaking of The Wine Doctor, I recently had the good fortune to sit down with him to taste the wines of Mike Januik, formerly the winemaker for Chateau St. Michelle. Mike had become perhaps the most powerful force in the Washington State wine industry, through St. Michelle’s dominance in the market. So why did he leave? Simply put, to work toward making the best wines in the world. Januik believes that Washington State can produce wines as distinctive and expressive in varietal character as those from the best regions of California. After putting nine of his wines to the test, here’s my opinion: His chardonnays are very solid, but these days not many of us are interested in paying $30 for a chardonnay. His merlots were not distinctive, but then I don’t find that quality in many merlots (Pride Mountain and Paloma being two exceptions). Januik’s ’01 Cabernet was approaching greatness, and I could see where the high ratings were deserved. But it was his Syrah, both the 2000 and the 2002, that made my heart sing. These wines are worth every penny—seek them out and consume with certain delight!

We also tasted a ’96 Chateau Corbin Michotte St. Emilion, which, at $31.99 retail, didn’t impress me too much. But I am tough to please when it comes to French Bordeaux, having developed such a Napa palate. I did get to try just this past Saturday a ’98 Chateau Ducru Beaucaillou, quite a prestigious Bordeaux from the St. Julien region. This was a finely structured wine, but I still preferred its tasting mate, a ’97 Clos du Bois “Marlstone.”

The Wine Doctor and I also sampled a couple of tasty offerings from the South American producer Budini. Both the 2002 malbec and cabernet were very much worth their asking price of about $10 a bottle. Likewise the red and white blends under the label “Le Bistro” were very good, when you consider the $8.99 price.

Moving on to an event I presided over on May 15, during which a small group celebrated with four flights of Napa wines. Standouts included S. Anderson “Stag’s Leap” 2000 Chardonnay ($24.99) and the Kendall Jackson 2001 Cabernet “Grand Reserve” ($22.99).

And, lastly, a wine dinner on May 22 gave us the opportunity to taste Schramsberg’s “Mirabelle,” a non-vintage blend sparkling wine. A great bubbly for picnics, it’s also a great value at about $18. Another standout was the quirky zinfandel from “Blockheadia Ringnosii.” Winemaker Michael Ouellette honors his French heritage by making a wine that is very Rhone in its styling (perhaps akin to a Chateau-neuf-du-Pape, or in a similar manner as Bonny Doon’s “Cigare Volant”). This is a great wine to pair with a spring lamb barbecue. A Ferrari-Carano ’00 Reserve Chardonnay went over very nicely with a salad of spring greens, feta, and caramelized walnuts. And then came the big cabernet blends mentioned earlier, the Ducru Beaucaiilou and the Clos du Bois “Marlstone.” Both were massive and yet supple—great beef wines. And I must mention that just this past Friday I noticed at Sam’s Club in Maple Grove that the ’97 Marlstone was on sale for $24 and change. That, dear friend, is a steal!

We ended this fabulous evening with two knockout dessert wines: First, a sublime Eiswein from Franz Reh in Germany; and second, a delightful port from Silver Oak’s winemaker, Justin Meyer. Along with some locally produced passion-fruit-filled chocolates and a precious Stilton cheese from England, dessert became an international love-fest! Ah, gluttony…

So, what is up on the local scene? I was checking out one of the Cost Plus Word Market outlets, and they do offer an occasional reason to stop in a buy a few bottles. This month they are featuring Cline’s Red Truck blend, as well as the Toasted Head Chardonnay from R.H. Phillips. Two very nice spring picnic wines. Another chain, The Cellars, is having somewhat of a May sale, with a hodge-podge of selections discounted through the end of the month. A few big-name Napa cabs stand out, like Caymus and Staglin Family. And they stay balanced by offering an assortment of ’97 French Bordeaux as well. I might be tempted by the ’97 Chateau LaGrange, St. Julien, at $26.97.

With the spring wine sales now past, the next big sale to anticipate is Hennepin-Lake’s coming in June. Stay tuned for more news on this sale-to-beat-all-sales, if you believe everything owner Phil has to say… Well, time to jump back outside and enjoy what is turning out to be a long and cool spring. The city gardens and parks are lush and gorgeous this year, so grab your favorite bottle of wine, your favorite friend, and go enjoy!

June 9, 2004

The near-monsoon rains and sudden burst of heat tell us two things: 1) summer is arriving, and 2) it’s time to prep the barbeque for the long grilling season ahead. And, besides a frosty beer from time to time, nothing goes better with grilled meats than the big-fruited wines from California, Oregon and Washington State. Read on for news about several tastings featuring these domestic offerings, as well as aand preview of Hennepin Lake Liquors’ sale—arguably the best summer wine sale in the metro area.

First, the tasting reports. I was lucky enough to sit down with Mikael Thollander and Robert Croce of The Wine Doctor, sampling a lineup of their very best from the West Coast. After a light warm-up of a couple South African Chenin Blancs, we tasted a lovely Riesling from Brooks Winery in Oregon. Charlie Trotter, the Chicago celebrity chef, buys up almost all of Jimi Brooks’ Riesling, but a small amount is available locally at $17.99. Top quality.

Next we moved on to a few wines from Walter Schug, a premium Carneros region producer. The Heritage Reserve Chardonnay was sublime, with a rich fruit and oak balance. Schug barrel ferments its wine and ages it sur-lie (with the fermentation sediment in the barrels for big extract flavors). This chardonnay is one of the few worth the $31 price tag. Great with a grilled salmon or halibut. The Heritage Reserve Pinot Noir—the grape that Walter Schug has devoted his whole life to mastering—was even more stunning.. Elegant yet full of gusto, it would accompany a grilled lamb or salmon entrée perfectly. Also $31 retail. Schug’s ’99 Merlot was massive, but a $42 merlot is a tough sell in my opinion (I’ll contradict myself in just a few minutes!). It was a bit herbaceous in the nose, which is characteristic of merlots from cooler regions like Carneros and Oregon.

Those same regions are emerging as the very best sources of Pinot Noir. The next one we tried, from Maysara, was majestic. This ’01 Delara Pinot Noir, made by the aforementioned Jimi Brooks, was perhaps the finest example I have ever sampled of this sometimes awkward grape. Worth the $45 if you can find it. Ask Phil at Hennepin Lake Liquors to pick up a case and add it to his Summer Sale inventory.

The tasting got even better with two top producers from Washington State. Robert Parker named the first, DeLille Cellars, as the very best in Washington right now. Chris Upchurch, winemaker, produces a couple of estate bottled Bordeaux-style blends, namely Chaleur Estate & Harrison Hill, both of which retail at around $60 a bottle. Then there is the D2, the “deuxieme” or second wine, which blends the remains of the top estate wines. This ’91 D2 retails at about $40, and I found it at first very tight and hot, but as I “followed” the wine over the next 48 hours, tasting it at various points, it opened beautifully to show its full pedigree. It’s as good as, say, a Silver Oak Cellars or Jarvis from Napa Valley, at about half the price.

We ended our outing with two products from Andrew Will, second perhaps only to Delille as the premiere Washington State winery. Both wines, the ’01 Klipson Merlot and the ’00 Seven Hills Cabernet, were amazing. I could only use extreme superlatives in my tasting notes—“incredible!,” “stunning!” (though admittedly, this could have been partly due to the effects by then of about a dozen wines). These wines both retail at $50, which might seem steep, but not if you actually drink the wine. It’s all relative.

The next tasting to report was a benefit fundraiser for a local Humane Society. Greg Varner, proprietor of Excelsior Vintage wine shop , chose most of the lineup.. Whites included Monte Volpe Sauvignon Blanc ($12)(very well received), Bonny Doon Big House White($12)(always a good quaffer for grilled chicken or pork), Gallo of Sonoma Chardonnay($12)(a standard in value chards), and Cambria’s “Katherine’s Vineyard” Chardonnay ($18)(an even nicer accompaniment to grilled chicken, pork, or even salmon).

For the reds, things became a bit more interesting, as Greg’s lineup accented a few selections from my spring Napa trip. The showcase wine of the evening was Duckhorn ’98 Howell Mountain Merlot, and it proved every bit the winner predicted. We sampled from a magnum, so it was showing a bit young but opened nicely over the evening. Also on the sample list was a nice merlot from Andretti Winery, a relatively new Napa producer owned by the race-car legend Mario Andretti. At $12, this is a lovely wine with enough structure to complement a grilled rib-eye. A “Fleur du Cote Rouge” from Torii Mor was medium-bodied and delightful—another example of why Oregon is tops for Pinot Noir and rhone-style wines. This wine would go perfectly with grilled pork tenderloin.

We got a most pleasant surprise from a Meritage from Hahn Estates in central California. A classic five-grape Bordeaux style blend with merlot leading the way, this wine, for under $20, is a great choice to accompany any sort of beef done on the grill. Likewise, the Napa cabernet from Liparita ($25 in California, but not yet available in Minnesota) was powerful and smooth, with enough backbone to stand up to a grilled steak. We also enjoyed a Zinfandel from Chateau Montelena, brought back from Napa, but luckily now available in town. $25-$30 may be a bit pricey for a Zin, but hey, it’s Montelena. Not many know that this premiere cab-chard producer even makes Zin (they make a Riesling too, but only sell it at the winery).

Speaking of Zinfandel, I was fortunate enough to try a bottle of 7 Deadly Zins, an old-vine zinfandel from Central California. Very big fruit for the price (around $20), and a great choice with barbecued ribs. Yummy!

The last tasting in this report was a small, private BYOB event at which a few interesting bottles showed up. Among the three that stood out were two from Gundlach Bundschu, the $12.99 Bearitage and the $19.99 Mountain Cuvee. Both are blends, and great wines for summer beef grilling. The Bearitage is a perfect burger wine, whereas the Mountain Cuvee would show better with a nice sirloin. The third pick was the Steele “Pacini” Zinfandel, long a favorite of mine and also a great accompaniment for ribs or steak.

UPCOMING EVENTS

“G’day in a Glass” is a huge Australian wine tasting on June 16 from 6:30pm to 9pm at the Nicollet Island Pavilion. There is a Trade Only tasting in the afternoon and an event for the public that evening. Over 300 wines will be shown!

Hennepin Lake Liquors Summer Wine Sale
This sale runs through July 3. Come back for details on both the sale and its kick-off wine tasting event in the next report. In the meantime, get grilling!

June 20, 2004

Well, the time has finally come. Hennepin-Lake Liquors’ Summer Wine Sale is in full force, running through July 3rd. Reportedly, this is the sale to beat all sales, and I pretty much have to agree. Be advised, however, that newcomers to Phil’s place, or those who are at all claustrophobic might become overwhelmed. With that caveat in place, let’s dive into the sale.

Henn-Lake Liquors, as comapred to Surdyk’s, has a huge selection of high-end wines. This is one of the standout elements of the Summer Sale. California, France, Australia, Italy: If the name is prestigious, Phil more than likely carries it. If only two cases came to Minnesota, he probably bought them both. Haskells might argue the point, but while they excel with European wines, they can hardly compete in the domestic category.

Being a California wine guy, need I say more? To put a finer point on it, let’s look at the Cabernet/Meritage list from the Henn-Lake’s sale catalogue. Some big names like Quintessa, Viader, Chateau Montelena, and Opus stand out from the rest. Some even better, though perhaps less-familiar names that stand to offer more “value” in the high-end world of wine are O’Shaughnessy, Atalon, Cain, and Flora Springs.

Just to be fair, there are also more than twenty wines among Cabernet/Meritage selection that are on sale for under $10 a bottle. The list is as broad as it is deep, and the prices, overall, are very good, about twenty-five percent off “other’s price” (which, as usual, is a somewhat inflated idea of full retail). You will find better values at Sam’s Club & Costco, but on a much smaller selection. A few examples from Sam’s: Viader ’00 is $54.99 (Henn-Lake is $69.95); Clos du Bois “Marlstone” ’97 is $24.99 at Sam’s and $35.95 (for the ’99!) at Henn-Lake.

Now, Phil always says he will match anyone else’s price, but you do have to wonder if that means he could go head-to-head with the buying power of Wal-Mart (the Sam’s Club mother-ship). Still, I would make Henn-Lake the first choice for stocking up on a few mixed cases of very special wine. Phil even teases us in saying that he might have some Harlan for sale!

Henn-Lake’s kick-off tasting did not reflect well on the overall quality of the sale. It was held on Wednesday, June 9 in a large tent in the parking lot behind Campiello’s, just a block from the store. Unfortunately, the tent was not nearly large enough, and by 7pm the crowds were hardly navigable. Luckily I arrived early and made quick work of the large selection of wines.

The first group was from Phillips and included the Atalon ’00 Cab (young, a bit hot, but massivea great wine), three zinfandels from Edmeades (the “Piffero Vineyard” my favorite), Archipel ’00 meritage (very nice), and the best at the table, the Verite “La Joie” and“La Muse” (two beautifully structured Bordeaux-styled wines (are a bit pricey at $77.95 on sale). Also sampled at the Phillips table were Cambria’s “Julia’s Vineyard” Pinot Noir (always solid), Hartford Pinot Noir (just ok), Heitz ’00 Napa Cabernet (a bit disappointing), Tommasi’s Amarone ’98 (very nice), and the organic cab from Bonterra (surprisingly good).

The quality really picked up at the Grape Beginnings table! In the three-stars-or-higher category were the Altamura ’00 Sangiovese, the Paradigm ’99 Cabernet (amazing!), and Ehler’s ’01 Napa Estate Cabernet (my pick for the best quality/value at the tasting at just $24.95). At two-and-a-half stars we had Liberty School ’02 Cab and Treanna ’00 blend; and at two stars were Paul Hobbs ’00 Cab and the Vieux Telegraph ’00 Chateauneuf du Pape.

Paustis was pouring some fine selections such as the Steele ’01 Pinot Noir “Durrell Vineyard” – three stars, very fine, the best Pinot of the tasting, along with Cat & Fiddle’s Handley. Also a standout at this table was Fess Parker’s ’00 Syrah and Whitehall Lane’s ’01 Cab (both two-and-a-half stars). At the Grigg’s table I tried their Hungarian Egri Bikaver and was not impressed; also, the Phelps ’01 Pastiche was disappointing, as I have been long-time fan.

On the Johnson Bros. table, who showed one of the top wines of the show, the Chimney Rock ’01 “Stag’s Leap” Cabernet (was a three-and-a-half-starswow! Also decent, but not worth the price ($75) was the Raymond “Generations”; Raymond’s ’00 Reserve Cabernet was just about as good and is on sale for $23.95. I also tried the Freemark Abbey ’99 Cab, which was smooth and solid (two stars).

Two nice pinot noirs at the Wine Merchants table were from Archery Summit (the ’01 Premier Cuvee, two-and-a-half stars) and Rex Hill (two stars). At the nearby Vintage One table I sampled Van Duzer’s Pinot Noir (also two-and-a-half stars), the Badger Mountain organic merlot (simply not good), and the Powers ’01 Cabernet (nasty! have they ever slipped from their ’00 “best buy” perch).

World Class Wines, one of my favorite distributors, had few selections that I chose to sample. These included cabs from Provenance (two stars) and Terra Valentine (the ’01 Napa two-and-a-half stars), and the zinfandel from Seghesio (also two-and-a-half stars). Next door Cat & Fiddle wowed me with the aforementioned Handley Pinot Noir and with the best chardonnay of the event, from Solitude (three-and-a-half stars). Also a standout was the Elyse D’Aventure ’01 rhone blend (three stars), and both the cab and merlot from Grove Street (two stars).

The Wine Company showed the top zinfandel of the tasting, the Dashe Cellars ’01 Dry Creek (three stars and best value at the sale price of $16.95). But the real stunner at this table was the Flora Springs ’01 Napa Cabernet, which I thought superior to the Trilogy from Flora Springs and about half the price. Wow! Wow!

I greatly appreciated the few dessert wines offered, especially the fabulous Muscat from Bonny Dune. At eighteen-and-a-half percent residual sugar, this dreamy potion earned my only 4-star rating of the night, but then I am a real sucker for dessert wines, especially on the tail of such a great tasting. My only real complaint, though, Phil, is how come you couldn’t spring for glasses? To drink so many gorgeous wines out of plastic cups was a real travesty. The distributors provide all the wine; Campiello, the food; couldn’t you supply some glassware?

Now, in contrast, a great tasting was put on by our friends Down Under, the Australian Wine Bureau. They showcased over three hundred wines last Wednesday night at the lovely Nicollet Island Pavilion. This event helped me redefine my image of Austalian wines; like many, I tended to think of them only as producers of fine shiraz and shariz/cab blends. Au contraire!

At one table in particular, I learned how great Australian wine can be. It showcased the wines of Penley Estate and Giant Steps and all that these chaps Down Under can do. The Penley Estate ’00 Reserve Coonawara Cabernet ($65) was truly remarkable, and by far the best cab of the evening. It rated the top four-star rating, as did both the Pinot Noir and the Chardonnay from Giant Steps (both sell for $35). I never realized that I might find California- and Washington State-style wines being made in Australia. Sadly, so far we don’t see these in our retail market, but maybe this tasting will begin to change that. Another truly great offering from Giant Steps was their Innocent Bystander ’02 Barossa Yarra Valley Sangiovese Merlot (three-and-a-half stars), and very good was the Innocent Bystander ’03 Central Victoria Shiraz Viognier (the Aussies have got to shorten the names of their wines!). I learned the value of blending a white grape like viognier into a red wine to add silkiness and perhaps a touch of sweetness.

Great wines abounded at the Leeuwin Estate table, shared with Jasper Hill, who produce a knockout shiraz, “Georgia’s Paddock” ($100). At half that price, and my pick for the best of all the shi
raz at the event, was Charles Melton (Epic Wines) ’00 Baroosa Valley ($45, four stars). Amazing wine. Charles Melton also makes a killer rose for $22. Another four-star shiraz came at the next table, a wine compared to Penfold’s Grange but at a fraction of the cost. The Mount Langi Ghiran ’99 “Langi Shiraz” Grampians Shiraz (what’s with these names?) was fabulous ($45, four stars)

Again, it was the dessert wines that really stole my heart. Southern Starz was showing two wines from R.L. Buller, one a Muscat and the other a tokay. Both were absolutely delicious. Even more remarkable, though, is that these wines, rated 97 and 95 by Robert Parker, retail for only $15 per 375 ml bottle. That, my friend, is a steal and you should demand your local wine dealer pick up a few cases. The dessert wine that I saved for the very end was a Mt. Horrocks “Cordon Cut” Watervale Riesling which, even at $27 for 500ml, was sensational.

This California wine guy has to include Down Under on his amended list of the best wine regions of the world. Now if only it wasn’t such a long flight to get there, I could start thinking about touring Australian wine regions next winter!

But hey – no time to be dreaming of winter travels today. It’s summer, and the air is perfect today, so I’m off to share coffee and a game of chess al fresco, followed by a round of golf, a barbecue and some fabulous wines. Can life get any better than this?