Photo Camp: Blue Yountville Dawn March 2010
Living Impressionism - Monet 95 points/Renoir 93 but a "Best Buy"
The white blurs intertwined and wove themselves in and then out of the lights. They could move from absolute stillness to a dazzling, dizzying swirl of energy and grace. The second act of Swan Lake in this winter’s performance by the San Francisco Ballet was like watching a Renoir or Monet come to life.
As the beautiful vision of the dancers floated from the stage the first row leapt to their feet and, like the Olympics, rated the performers with points. Holding up their placards they reduced art to sport. Absurd, right? While such a nightmare is offensive to anyone who cares about beauty this is exactly what we now do with both food and wine. Today wine is about points and food is about Iron Chef TV slap-downs.
Could there be anything more anti-fine dining than turning wine and food into a sport? Yet this is precisely what we have done. As when you watch a ballet or contemplate a painting, fine food and wine should transport you away from the intensity of day-to-day life and inspire your mind to find peace and pleasure. Dinner should be a time to slow down, not a best of three falls.
There are two big lies in the wine world. The first is that price is related to quality and, second, is that point ratings for wines are worth anything. Beside the fact that rating wines with points is an affront to what they were created for (to be part of a meal), they are a lie on on their own turf - statistics. To be meaningful a critic that rates wines on a numerical scale, be that 10, 20 or 100 points, must be able to repeat those results over-and-over in all tasting conditions. Anyone who knows anything about taste and the human condition knows that is a joke. Critics that use points are not only fooling their readers, they’re fooling themselves.
I defy anyone to take this test. We’ll take twenty-five top quality wines of one place and variety and blind taste them over a five day period without the expert tasters knowing the variety or place of origin having them rank the wine using their preferred scale . Each day we’ll open a fresh bottle, then taste the wines in four flights, in each flight changing the order of the wines being tasted. Needless to say, that if these results were analyzed the worthlessness of reviews based on points would be clearly established. If statistical results cannot be repeated they are worthless, which is exactly the value of the point ratings used by the major wine critics.
Not that anyone would listen because while consumers like points as a simple way to make buying choices, wine producers like them even more as a simple way to market their wines. The point is that points are an easy way out for everyone, but most of all it is an easy way out for the big wine publications. After all we should remember their business is not selling wine or helping people to buy better wine. Their business is selling magazines, which is something rating wines on a point scale does better than reliable information ever would. Their readers want it simple and fast so that’s what they give them.
The title of this article jokes about rating Monet 95 points, but giving only 93 to Renoir although he is given a “Best Buy” nod. The real joke of this is that during their own time Monet and Renoir where given very low “points” by the critics. This should remind us all that the creative pleasures of life: dance, music, painting, food and wine among so may others are not so easily reduced into numerical simplicity. The very complexity of these pleasures combined with the intense differences our individual personalities interact to create something that is not possible to quantify or rank on a precise scale.
When you’re experiencing the best, points are pointless.
Grappa, Grappa, Grappa, Gaja
I picked him up at the airport straight from Italy. He was a young, energetic Italian wine producer. We went from store to restaurant sampling his wines trying to convince buyers to buy. After all it would have cost them just over ten dollars a bottle. Although his English was not good (in those days) his passion won over a more than a few cynical buyers. The young winemaker’s name was Angelo Gaja and the year was 1983. Needless to say, in the last three decades Angelo has gone a long way. As it’s impossible to distill all of Angelo’s creativity into one short post, we’ll let Angelo do the distilling. Actually in this case the Distilleria del Barbaresco did the distilling for Gaja in producing three excellent grappe (plural of grappa) that each represent a distinct style of this most misunderstood of spirits.
Often considered nothing less than an explosive, better suited for a Molotov Cocktail than as the final touch to an fine meal, things have changed for grappa due to the efforts of a few extraordinary distillers. Today elegant bottles of grappa are now on the back bars of the best American restaurants - Italian or not. It’s true that mass produced grappa has more burn than anything else and homemade grappa may cause blindness (figuratively and literally), but when this spirit is crafted by dedicated artisans it is among the most delicate and elegant of digestivi. As with all spirits, the vast majority of labels are rough, industrial products. Only a few producers of whisky, brandy, rum and so on actually try to achieve greatness in their products and the same is true of grappa. In the hands of extraordinary producers like Nonino, Poli, Maschio, Pilzer, Marolo and the Castello di Barbaresco Grappe featured here grappa rivals the worlds greatest spirits - and costs as much too.
While all grappa is produced from what is left after the grapes are pressed for wine (grappa in Italian, or as the French call it marc) all grappa is not one thing as there are three distinct styles. Grappa made from white grapes is quite different from those made from red grapes. While the grappa from the red grapes has already fermented, that from the white grapes has not making the production process and the resulting spirit quite different. Grappa produced from white grapes tends to be more delicate and floral, while that from red grapes is more forceful and herbal. Then there is grappa gialla (yellow), which is aged in wood barrels that add sweet vanilla notes just as they do for Cognac or whisky. These aged grappe are easy to spot due to the golden color imparted by the wood as compared to the grappa bianca or the clear grappa that accounts for most of the grappa produced.
These three Gaja Grappe are offered as a tasting flight by Mustard’s Grill in the Napa Valley. While the tastes are small, they can easily be shared by two or three people looking to learn about grappa. This tasting flight is a great idea and hopefully more restaurants will follow this example.
Castello di Barbaresco Gaja Grappa
Gaia & Rey - Produced from the chardonnay vineyard of the same name, this spirit is elegant and refined with a spicy floral nose and clean, refreshing character. Just a touch of herbal warmth reminds where this spirit came from.
Sperss - From Gaja’s Barolo estate, this golden spirit is produced exclusively from their nebbiolo and then is aged in oak barrels. The oak adds roundness, depth and aromatics to this complex grappa that bridges the gap between clear grappa and aged brandy.
Darmagi - A classic grappa bianca from red grapes, the cabernet sauvignon from the famed Darmagi Vineyards. Meaning “a pity” in Piemontese dialect, this is what Angelo’s father called the vineyard after Angelo planted cabernet sauvignon rather than nebbiolo is this Barbaresco zone vineyard. Spicy, herbal and warming this is old style grappa refined by the art of the master distiller. Clearly my favorite of the three.
The warm glow fine grappa brings to your stomach after eating a bit more than you probably should have is a great pleasure. It truly is a digestive. As a starting place grappa from the moscato grape is the most elegant, fragrant and easy to like of all, but eventually, with experience I think you’ll go over to the red side.
SAVEUR.com's First Annual Best Food Blog Awards
I’m very flattered to have been nominated for “Best Wine Blog” by Saveur Magazine. Check out the other nominees and vote for Wine Camp at the link below:
Warning Label
I like to experiment with wines so I’m always trying new things. That’s always a risk and sometimes I get burned. Burned was what I got when I ordered the Herman’s Story, On the Road, Santa Barbara Grenache 2007. I was not burned by the wine, after all a winemaker has the right to make the wine they see fit. The wine itself was well made and interesting, but it clocked in at 16.1% alcohol on the label. A little warning of such an extreme would have been nice.
In Italy Amarone has for generations been a revered wine and it routinely sports alcohol levels of 16% and more. The problem with this Grenache was not the alcohol level, but that there was no way to know what was coming to your table unless you read the label before the cork was pulled. When you see Amarone on a wine list you know what to expect. With New World wines you have no clue. It seems to me the restaurants should make an effort to guide us a bit considering the markup they take. As with Amarone, wines like the Herman’s Story Grenache are not really table wines to compliment dinner, but “meditation wines” to be sipped with cheeses and nuts to finish a meal or while you read a book before the fireplace. When a restaurant tosses such wines into the wine list without comment they do their customers a disservice. It’s like putting a bottle of Graham’s Oporto into the wine list with the rest of the red wines - except that everyone knows Port is sweet.
A wine at 16.1% alcohol is an extreme wine for special circumstances and the wine list should note this fact.
The Herman’s Story, On the Road, Santa Barbara Grenache 2007 itself is an outstanding wine for the finest full flavored cheese you can find. Washed rind and blue cheeses will find a perfect counter point in this powerful, warm and richly fruity wine. The intense fruit and the high alcohol give an impression of sweetness on the palate that marries well with the the pungent saltiness of such cheeses. As there was no chance we could finish this wine with a meal, we brought the bottle home and tomorrow night a cheese course will be waiting for it. I think 24 hours of air won’t hurt a bit either.
Photo Camp: Yountville Dawn
February dawn over the vineyards of Yountville and the Vaca Mountains
Help Lamborn Fight Childhood Cancer
Support Lamborn Family Vineyards in their ongoing fight against childhood cancer on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lamborn-Family-Vineyards-Winery-for-a-Day-Auction/365613615536?v=wall
Beginning on Monday, March 1 and ending on Friday, March 5, we will have a silent auction in the “Photos” section. Click on the “Photos” tab above, click the Auction album, and enter your bid in the “Comment” section. Treat as a normal silent auction with bidding beginning at $1,000 and $100 increments.
Underrated/Overrated
Jimmy Dorsey and Frank Sinatra made the phrase famous in the beautiful song, I’m Glad There is You by Paul Maderia, “In this world of over-rated pleasures, of under-rated treasures.” This phrase from a moving love song well defines the world of wine today. Big pointy overrated wines give little pleasure while underrated and often underpriced wines may lack points, but are packed with pleasure.
A couple of such underrated treasures are:
The 2004 Lignères, Aric, Montagne d’Alaric, a blend of carignan, mourvèdre and syrah that is sure to be on the underrated charts. This is a big and delicious wine, concentrated, exotic and satisfying. You wonder why you have to pay so much more for wines that deliver concentration - then fall over the edge into dull flabbiness. Concentrated flavors on their own are boring, but wines like this lead with power then expand, while so many of today’s wines lead with power - then collapse - just holding on long enough to get their points from critics more concerned with the front of a wine than the back.
Then there’s wines with catchy names like the 2007 Bastide Saint Vincent, Vin de Pays de Vaucluse, a
Sadly price has become a less than reliable indicator of quality. Most expensive wines having become caricatures of good wine. Like the exaggerated portraits drawn by street artists they focus on a few characteristics and blow them out of proportion. As the caricature artist exaggerates noses, chins and ears, too many winemakers exaggerate oak, extraction and alcohol to make a wine that is a comic image of what it should and could be - something to have with dinner.
Petrus Gets Bad Review from Wine Spectator
2007 Petrus got 92 points from The Wine Spectator. I could not be more shocked to see The Wine Spectator trashing Petrus. However, that’s exactly what they did as any wine selling for $1300 is an abject failure at anything less than 100 points. You’d have to be a fool to bother to drink Petrus with such a rating - at least if you gave any credence to the 100 point scale.
That’s the rub with the worthless pointy system - a $25 wine can get the same score as a $1300 wine thus implying anybody that drinks Petrus is an idiot. Well OK, anybody spending $1300 on a bottle of wine is a sucker, but the fact is that Petrus is as unique and distinctive as wine can be and such silly rankings miss that fact. You may have to be an idiot to buy Petrus, but you’re no such thing if you enjoy drinking it.
At the top of the The Wine Spectator Top 100 Wines of 2009 is the excellent Columbia Crest 2005 Columbia Valley Reserve rated 95 points by The Wine Spectator. I defy anyone with a palate to taste the 2007 Petrus against that 05 Columbia Crest and, without price as a factor, choose the Columbia Crest over the Petrus. Yet that is exactly what The Wine Spectator claims with their rankings. I’m also willing to bet that not one single Wine Spectator editor, including the one that gave the Columbia Crest 95 points, given the choice, would choose to drink (not buy) the Washington wine over the Petrus if they had to pick between the two. Yet, if they give any credence to their own system they would have to choose the Columbia Crest, which their own rating system ranks higher than Petrus.
I’ll happily drink the Columbia Crest, but I’m not hypocritical enough to claim I prefer it over the Petrus. I would never spend $1300 for a bottle of wine as no wine is worth that much, but if you’re buying, just like the editors of The Wine Spectator would, I’ll take the Petrus.
Oasi degli Angeli
In 2003 I wrote, “Kurni is on a whole different level of being.” I achieved that level of being this weekend when I opened a bottle of 1999 Oasi degli Angeli Kurni. This micro-estate in Italy’s beautiful Le Marche is the vision and labor-of-love of Eleonora Rossi and Marco Casolanetti. Kurni is a perennial winner of Tre Bicchieri Awards in the Gambero Rosso and has become a true cult wine in Italy. The production of Kurni is measured in bottles instead of cases with a scant 4000 available to grace fine tables. Most of this treasure is grabbed up by Italian restaurants, but some bottles do find their way here. If you see one don’t pass it by because you may never find it again.
Perhaps what is most interesting about this bottle is that it was from a difficult vintage and the wine that broke the string of Tre Bicchieri Awards that Kurni had achieved once again proving that vintage charts and wine ratings leave much to be desired. This 100% Montepulicano from their old vine vineyard is still a dark ruby and sizzles with acidity and deep, dark black fruit flavors. As vivacious as this wine is I think it is ready to drink. This is a wine at its zenith - that moment when bottle age has brought out the maximum complexity, but while the beauty of the fruit from which it was born still remains. The greatness that is Kurni is only achieved with age. In it’s youth it often seems just another oaky fruit bomb. It is only with age that it achieves its promise.
Here is the link to my story on Oasi degli Angeli in 2003:
http://www.winecampblog.com/journal/2006/2/26/oasi-degli-angeli-and-kurni.html
Matt Kramer Drinking out Loud
Redux: the Risotto Lesson
This article is an updated version of an article I wrote for eGullet.org a few years ago
Risotto is rice in the spotlight - the star of the show. This is a very different concept than the way rice is usually used in the United States, as a backdrop, something to fill up the plate. Risotto is a classic dish of northern Italy and there are as many variations as there are ingredients available. What’s the big deal? Rice is rice, right? Wrong.
Everything is special about Risotto. The rice, the ingredients and the way it is cooked makes it not only delicious, but the most elegant rice dish in the world. Risotto, like all Italian cooking, is first based on the quality of the ingredients. To make wonderful risotto you have to have just the right rice and a fresh tasting broth that brings out the flavors of the other ingredients. The right technique is also essential. Without it you end up with a rice mush. Forget those who argue for shortcuts like pressure cookers. There are no shortcuts to great risotto.
Why would you want to take a shortcut? Making risotto is like therapy and much cheaper than lying on your shrink’s couch for an hour. The rhythmic and peaceful nature of making risotto has a mantra like effect. Perhaps this is the start of a new self-help book, “Kitchen Therapy, the way to spiritual enlightenment through stirring”. Risotto takes time. It is not hard to make, it just requires patience and a little care. Like all things involved with fine dining, risotto is not about speed. Not that it takes that long, only twenty minutes form the time you start cooking, but it requires your undivided attention for those twenty minutes.
Unfortunately there is a lot of poor risotto sold in restaurants at high prices. If your risotto arrives at your table in less than twenty minutes you know they are cheating in the kitchen. Risotto made using shortcuts never has the texture and complexity of risotto properly made. Risotto is much more than rice carrying other flavors. If you can’t taste each grain of this special rice dish keep trying. The goal is to learn the technique and then start creating your own recipes.
The Rice
No you can’t use that big bag of rice sitting in your cabinet to make risotto. Risotto can be made from only three types of rice – all from Italy. Sometimes you see Arborio or one of the other types of Italian rice grown in the USA, but I say avoid them. To get stellar risotto you have to seek out the best Italian brands. Yes, that inexpensive box of Arborio at the grocery will work just find, but with a little more investment in time and money you will find brands that cook and taste better.
The secret to risotto is in the way these types of Italian rice absorb liquid – in our case the broth. Each piece of the rice used for risotto has two characteristics:
- A very soft starch on the outside that melts away from the kernel and makes gives the creamy texture to risotto.
- A very hard inner starch that stays firm and gives the risotto its backbone – the ability to have in the finished dish an ‘al dente’ or firm texture to each grain of rice.
This combination of creaminess (no actual cream required or wanted) and an individual bite for each grain is what makes risotto so special. You can only create this unique combination with three types of rice.
Arborio
Arborio is the Marilyn Monroe of rice, very amply endowed with the outer layer of starch that melts away, but it is a little light on the inner, hard starch that gives bite each kernel of rice. These characteristics produce the very rich and creamy risotto style of risotto loved in Lombardia, Emilia-Romagna and Piemonte. The famous Risotto Milanese was born of this rice. Warning: because of all the soft starch it is easy to overcook Arborio and end up with rice porridge instead of risotto. You always want to be able to taste each grain of rice. It is grown primarily in Piemonte and Emilia-Romagna. You must buy the ‘superfino’ grade of Arborio. The superfino name can be applied to only the plumpest grains.
Vialone Nano
The rice of choice in Veneto and Fruili. This is a short ugly little guy and is almost the opposite of Arborio in that it has a strong hard inner kernel and is light on the soft outer layer that melts away. This is perfect rice for those who really appreciate the ‘al dente’ style. While Arborio creates a very creamy risotto, Vialone Nano is more grainy and each kernel is very distinct in the dish. A perfect choice for seafood risotto and very fresh vegetables. To me this rice is so distinct from Arborio they are almost different dishes.
Carnaroli
The new kid on the block. Carnaroli only arrived on the Italian scene in 1945, the creation of a Milanese rice grower who created a hybrid by crossing Vialone Nano with a Japanese variety of rice. This is the most expensive or the three types of rice and combines the strengths of both Arborio and Vialone Nano. Carnaroli has more than enough the outside soft starch to make a creamy risotto, but also has a substantial amount of the hard inner starch to make an ‘al dente’ risotto with clearly defined kernels of rice.
I recommend using and experimenting with all three until you establish your own personal preferences. With experience you will probably want to use all three depending on what kind of risotto you are making.
The Broth
Cookbook after cookbook suggests using chicken broth for risotto. With few exceptions a delicate beef based broth will give you a far more complex and interesting risotto. Some chefs argue that chicken broth can give a bitter flavor to risotto. I have used chicken broth with good results, but greatly prefer the flavor of risotto prepared with beef broth. This is true for all except seafood risotto which is cooked with a broth from the fish or shellfish in the dish.
First an important definition, the broth you use for risotto is not stock. A stock is made by simmering meat or fish with bones and vegetables the resulting liquid is strained and often reduced to concentrate flavors. An Italian broth is often the byproduct of making a main dish like Il Lesso da Brodo, a boiled meat main course that creates a wonderful broth. This broth is much more delicate than the classic French style stock made with many bones to create the rich flavor that is the basis for sauces. A stock would produce flavors too intense for risotto as the flavors are concentrated as the cooking proceeds.
The easy broth recipe:
In a 6 to 8 quart pot of cold water add:
- 2 carrots peeled and halved.
- 2 stalks celery with leaves if possible
- 1 onion, halved.
Bring the water to a rolling simmer.
- Add a 4 to 6 lb. chuck roast or other inexpensive cut of beef and three or four pieces of chicken (legs and thighs) and return to a full simmer. Make sure the meat is covered by at least of two inches of water.
- Reduce heat to just simmering, cover loosely and skim any scum that comes to the surface.
- After two hours add 2 tsp. sea salt.
- Simmer gently for about 4 hours in total, or until the meat is very tender.
- When done serve the meats hot or cold with your favorite condiments – like extra virgin olive oil and lemon or horseradish and mustard. Though not very Italian the beef makes great hot or cold sandwiches.
- Strain the remaining broth and refrigerate overnight , discard the vegetables . When cold remove the congealed fat. If you don’t have time to refrigerate strain the broth through a cheese cloth that has been in the freezer for at least a half an hour.
- If you prefer to use chicken stock use the above recipe replacing the beef with a 4 to 5 lb. whole chicken. For the decadent version of Risotto Milanese replace the beef with meaty beef shanks with marrow and add the marrow to the risotto.
Serving Risotto
Primo or secondo? Risotto can fill both roles with style. Following the traditional Italian manner of eating; first would come the antipasti (appetizers), followed by the primo (the first course usually a starch like pasta or risotto), which would be followed by the secondo (main course usually fish or meat). However we find risotto such a satisfying dish we often serve it as the main course. If you are having a formal Italian meal and going through all the courses, any of the these risotti as a first course will help make your dinner an elegant occasion. Because these are relatively rich risotto recipes, I would recommend a secondo featuring meat as fish may seem a little delicate after either of these risotti. Also if you follow with a meat course you can easily continue with the wine you matched with the risotto.
In Milano, they often serve Risotto Milanese in a way that breaks the normal rules of primo and secondo. Instead of a first course the risotto becomes side dish (more equal partner) to Osso Buco, the famous braised veal shank dish of Lombardia. Of course this risotto is also served as a traditional first course both in restaurants and at home.
Serving risotto as a main course is also a great opportunity as a prelude to a more elaborate cheese course to top off the meal. The textures and flavors of the cheeses are a great counterpoint to the risotto.
Basic Risotto
Serves 4 as a main course (secondo) or 8 as a first course (primo).
Preparation time: 45 minutes (20 minutes cooking time)
The basics*: the basic technique used for both recipes.
- 10 or more cups hot meat broth - Yours, never canned. See the easy broth recipe above.
- TIP: Keep the broth hot, almost boiling, over heat throughout the preparation
- 1 small onion -finely chopped
- TIP: Take the time to dice the onion very finely. I do not recommend a food processor.
- 1/4 pound unsalted butter. I recommend Pulgra or a European style unsalted butter as it has a richer flavor than commercial American butter. Use the American butter if you can’t find the European style butter it will still be good.
- TIP: Feel free to use a little more butter- the dish will be that much richer.
- 2 cups - Italian Arborio or Carnaroli Rice - do not replace. You have to use these unique types of rice imported from Italy for the best risotto.
- TIP: The rice is critical because these type of Italian rice absorbs a huge amount of liquid.
- 2 glasses good dry white wine.
- TIP: If you won’t drink it don’t put it in.
The beginning:
- In a large, large heavy sauté pan, melt all but 2 tablespoons of the butter over medium heat being sure not to let the butter brown.
- TIP: I use a 5 quart Calphalon sauté pan as the handle helps steady the pan while stirring. I don’t like using a pot with sides that are very high.
- TIP: Keep the pan as hot as you can throughout the process without burning or browning anything! As you add the hot broth it should immediately come to a light boil in the pan with the rice.
- Once the butter is melted put the chopped onions in the pan and lightly sauté until just translucent never letting them brown.
- From now on you must stir gently, but throughly and constantly until the rice is cooked.
- TIP: I recommend a broad flat wooden spatula. Stirring should be slow and make sure to reach all parts of the pan.
- Once the onions are just cooked add the rice and toss with the butter and onions. Cook and toss like this for about a minute.
- Increase the heat to medium high and add 1 glass of the wine and cook until evaporated, drink the other glass while cooking the risotto.
You have now reached the point of variations. The beginning and the finish is the same only the middle changes. You must have made up your mind before you get to this point which risotto you are going to make as the process must be continuous, not stop and go.
Variation One—Risotto con Funghi (porcini mushrooms)
The basics* as above plus:
- Dried porcini mushrooms soaked in a bowl of warm water for 2 hours (I use just over half of the 1 oz. package), then chop half of them finely and half coarsely reserving the mushroom broth. Strain the mushroom broth through cheesecloth and reserve– heat before using. Dried mushrooms can be sandy and this sand will fall to the bottom of the bowl where you soaked—try to leave the sand in the bottom of the bowl when you strain the mushroom broth.
- TIP: No you can’t use the bland fresh mushrooms they sell in the USA. If you can find fresh porcini count your blessings.
- salt to taste (don’t forget when you add the cheese at the end it also adds salt).
Continuing from the beginning above:
- Once the wine has evaporated and you are drinking the other glass-
- Add the hot mushroom broth and the chopped mushrooms.
- Once the broth is absorbed by the rice began adding the HOT stock one ladle at time.
- REPEAT patiently adding one ladle of hot broth at a time waiting until it is almost absorbed before adding the next ladle.
- TIP: To make really good risotto you have to stand there and stir it slowly but continuously. I really mean it! Everything must be prepared and organized in advance.
- From here to the finish is simple - keep stirring and keep adding the hot both as it cooks into the rice and keep drinking the wine in your glass.
The process takes about 18 minutes from the time you add the first ladle of broth to the rice. Start tasting the rice after 15 minutes to check the cooking progress. Each grain should retain just a bite—not a crunch. To finish go to “finishing both” below.
Variation Two—Risotto Milanese - Italian rice with saffron
All of the basics* as above plus:
- Saffron powder (at least 125 mg.) mixed with one cup of the hot broth for 5 minutes or, preferably, saffron threads (at least 300 mg.) mixed with a cup of the hot broth and soaked for at least 30 minutes (60 is better).
- TIP: Saffron threads are best and are prettiest in the finished dish.
Continuing from the basics* above:
- Once the wine has evaporated and you are drinking the other glass.
- Begin adding the hot broth one ladle at time.
- After you have added one ladle of broth add either the saffron powder mixed with a ladle of hot broth or the saffron thread that have been soaking in a cup of the hot broth for at least 30 minutes.
- REPEAT patiently adding one ladle of hot broth at a time waiting until it is almost absorbed before adding the next ladle.
- TIP: To make really good risotto you have to stand there and stir it slowly but continuously. I really mean it! Everything must be prepared and organized in advance.
- Salt to taste
- From here to the finish is simple - keep stirring, add keep adding the hot both as it cooks into the rice and drink the wine in your glass. Start tasting the rice after 15 minutes to check the cooking progress. Each grain should retain just a bite—not a crunch.
- The process takes about 18 minutes from the time you add the first ladle of broth to the rice.Start tasting the rice after 15 minutes to check the cooking progress. Each grain should retain just a bite—not a crunch.
Finishing both:
But when is the rice done? You have to taste it frequently after you have been blending in the broth for 15 minutes. The rice should be firm to the bite - not crunchy, but also not soft like the steamed rice we make in the United States. The risotto should also be quite moist - not dry at all. It will look and taste creamy.
The Mantacare:
- When the rice is barely short of being done remove from heat and blend in what is called the mantacare, the remaining butter and cheese - this adds a rich creamy texture to the risotto:
- Blend in the remaining butter and
- 1/2 of a cup grated Italian Parmigiano Reggiano cheese
- TIP: The American versions of this cheese can’t match the real thing. Please after all this work use real Parmigiano Reggiano or in a pinch Grana Padano.
Plate and sprinkle with a bit of freshly chopped parsley, preferable Italian flat leaf or chives.
Serve immediately with additional freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano.
Risotto and Wine
Risotto Milanese and Risotto con Funghi are the perfect dishes to show off your finest mature red wines. These risotti are elegant dishes with complex, but not strong flavors that make them the perfect match with the refined flavors of mature wines.
Classic accompaniments would be Barolo and Barbaresco and I could not agree more. I would caution against pairing the ultra-modern style of these wines with these dishes as overt oaky flavors tend to bury the subtle flavors of the risotto. Great Bordeaux and Burgundy wines will also find themselves quite at home beside these recipes.
However, I like to stay with the wines of Piemonte with these two recipes. Barbaresco is somewhat more restrained than Barolo and is a good choice for earlier drinking. Don’t forget Nebbiolo d’Alba as it is produced from the same grape that makes Barolo and Barbaresco and drinks well much earlier. Dolcetto d’Alba and Barbera d’Alba/Asti (not the oaky ones) also work well.
For American wines my choices would clearly be either an Oregon Pinot Noir or a Napa or Sonoma Merlot.
Homage to Homard
It was time to kill. I’d killed before, just a couple of weeks ago in fact. It was two of them that time, which made killing only one not such a big deal - though that guilt tinge never seems to totally disappear. Sometimes you have to do terrible things to make a great risotto. The ends are worth the means when it comes to lobster risotto. I have to admit, it makes you more connected to the dish, but I digress. This meal and the wine selected went back to our New Year’s Eve lobster feast that was chosen to go with a beautiful magnum of Henriot Blanc de blancs - a wonderful Champagne deserving an equally wonderful meal. Not wanting to waste the shells from those great lobsters, I froze them and, last weekend while I enjoyed the Sunday New York Times, simmered a lobster stock.
At halftime of the Packers/Cardinals play off, I ran down to the outstanding Osprey Fish Market in Napa and picked up today’s victim. Upon arriving home the first thing I did was to dispatch the evenings main course with a sharp blade. While having no qualms, I see no reason to make them wait. As the Packers attempted their comeback, I cooked the just purchased lobster. Cooking a lobster is easy: a big enough pot of boiling water with plenty of heat. Bring the pot to a boil and put in the lobster (head first please if you’ve not dispatched it already), cover to bring it back to a boil fast and cook for 10 minutes for the first pound and about 3 more minutes for each additional pound. Remove the now rosy lobster and drain and enjoy or hold it at room temperature if you’re planning on making the risotto right away.
The broth for the risotto could not be simpler, especially if you’ve just celebrated New Year’s Eve with a couple of beauties. Oddly enough, I don’t recommend the water you cooked the lobster in for a broth. I had frozen the shells from the feast and pulled them out and rinsed them off. Leaving them to defrost for a while, I melted some butter in a cast iron Dutch oven then quickly sauteed the shells for a few minutes being sure not to burn the butter. Then filling the pan with water, I added some sliced carrots, celery and a quartered onion. Next I added several large dollops of Vietnamese Fish Sauce for both salt and flavor and then simmered (not boiled) for an hour, then strained the broth into a clean stock pot, which you should keep at the simmer. Remove one cup of the hot lobster broth and add some saffron threads to steep.
Now back to the just cooked lobster, carefully remove the claw and tail meat to keep them whole, while getting every last little bit of meat out of every leg and corner you can find. Divide the tail in two pieces lengthwise.
Now you’re ready to start the risotto, but don’t start until everything is assembled and ready to go and everyone is ready to eat in twenty minutes.
Into a sauté pan add 3 or 4 tablespoons of butter at medium heat. When foaming add one-half finely chopped onion and cook slowly until the onion is translucent, but not browned at all. Slightly increase the heat and add one-and-a-half fistfuls of Carnaroli rice (I have big hands) per person. The recipe here is for two as a main course and four as a first course, plan on one whole 2 pound lobster for two people as a main course. After a minute tossing the rice and butter (no browning!) add a cup or so of dry white wine and, stirring continuously, reduce to almost gone, but still moist. Now add the cup of broth with the saffron. Stirring continuously, but not violently, keep adding ladles of the hot broth as the broth in the pan reduces to the point where the rice is still very wet, but not soupy. After about fifteen minutes repeating these steps start to taste the rice. If it needs salt, add more Fish Sauce or salt. When the rice starts to taste cooked, but still “al dente” meaning it’s not too soft and still has some bite, it’s done. In other words each grain still has a firm texture, but the dish is creamy. Just as the rice comes to “al dente” and is creamy, not soupy, remove the risotto from the heat and add all the small pieces of lobster and 2 tablespoons of butter, swirling it into the rice as it melts. In a separate sauté pan melt several tablespoons of butter and briefly sauté the claw meet and the split tail. Divide the risotto into dishes and top with the claw and tail meat and freshly chopped parsley or chives. No Parmigiano please, not with seafood.
What wine for such luxury? That’s easy, Chablis. A white wine loaded with complexity, but with enough backbone and acidity to stand up to such a rich dish. For our dinner, the 2007 Jean-Marc Brocard, Chablis Domaine Sainte Claire could not have been more perfect. Imported by the always reliable Martine’s Wines, this wine was nothing short of gorgeous. A finer chardonnay you’ll not find for the money and, if you’ve come to hate chardonnay, this is a wine that will make you fall back in love with the variety. The aromas mix fresh green apples, kiwi and a racy minerality that challenges and refreshes both the nose and palate. The firm backbone of acidity carries the intense, but restrained fruit. Finished with a screw-cap, this may be a modern package, but it is a classic Chablis. With rich seafood I like a wine that provide counterpoint and this firm beauty lifted our risotto to new heights.
Chablis is a homage to homard.
Gracing My Table
Then along comes a svelte, subtle beauty that reminds you that sometimes the experience of consumption is improved if it requires your brain to become more involved in the process instead of a sedated bystander. Such a wine touched me at a lunch at Chez Panisse recently. This very non-Botero like wine was the 2006 Menetou Salon Rouge of Domaine Philippe Gilbert. Not a place name likely to be familiar to many, but 
This beautiful pinot noir graces your table with its almost exotic floral, spiced aromatics and flavors that touch your palate with the complex thrust and parry of a champion fencer rather than the Braveheart broadsword of so many wines today. If purity is what you want in your pinot noir you’ll find it here - and find it for less than $25.
Death of the Wine Magazine
You walk into the wine shop to buy a bottle of Champagne for New Year's Eve 2011. Greeted by a wall of unfamiliar brands you whip out your iPhone 5Gs and start scanning bar codes on the bottles. Your browser pops open with pages of reviews and commentary about the producer and vintage. There are dozens of reviews on CellarTracker and just as many posts on wine blogs. Quickly you make a selection and head off to the party.
This is not a guess of what's going to happen in the future, it is what is going to happen and is in fact happening now. The technology exists and it's in use. What you won't see on your phone when looking for recommendation will be scores from publications like The Wine Spectator and The Wine Advocate. Their data resides in "walled gardens" and you have to pay to see what they think about that bottle of Champagne you wanted to buy. At some point they will be faced with offering their content for free or, as mentioned in my previous post, sliding into oblivion.
The biggest threat to the point porn of traditional print wine media has to be the model employed by that IT wizard of the wine industry Eric Levine and his CellarTracker website. There some 89,000 users have posted over 1 million wine reviews. Instead of ratings from a "wine expert" those who visit CellarTracker can often get dozens of reviews on a single wine from people who taste wine just like they do. Sure there are worthless notes from people that don't have a clue, but they are overwhelmed by those that take their comments on CellarTracker very seriously. This is a powerful resource that is comprehensive, free and available to anyone, anywhere with an Internet connection or a smart phone in their hand.
Wineries themselves are taking things into their own hands instead of just rolling the dice and hoping for big points in The Wine Spectator or The Wine Advocate. Notably Murphy-Goode with Hardy Wallace and St. Supery with Rick Bakas hired on as full-time new media hired guns have been aggressively following new marketing paradigms. Recent travels by Bakas showed the future of wine marketing as he did "Tweet-ups" around the country gathering small groups of wine lovers together to directly hear the story and taste the wines of St. Supery. Certainly such direct contact generates more consumer brand loyalty than just getting points and placing an ad in a wine magazine. When there's not a good reason for a winery to place an ad in a wine magazine that's big trouble for the wine publishing industry.
This confluence of technology, new marketing techniques and the growth of consumers that prefer to get advice from their "friends" rather than experts upon high spells trouble for the big wine media of today. They are just not needed in the same way anymore - by both the consumer and the producer. It's safe to say that in not so many years the big glossy wine magazines will go the way of Gourmet Magazine. This will happen not because of the quality of their content, but because the market has changed around them.
Oddly enough the 100 point scale, which built these established wine publications may be what they need to abandon to stay alive. Rankings, points and tasting notes will be easy to come by and free. What will be needed, and worth paying for, will be real wine journalism and wine writing. Great reporting and quality writing are things all to rare and people are willing to pay for things that are rare and precious.
Photo Camp: Fall colors - Napa November
Fall colors - Napa cabernet vines near Yountville on a November morning.
Last harvest - Cabernet vines ripped out after harvest 2009
Last harvest - Cabernet vines ripped out of a Yountville vineyard after harvest 2009.
Ripasso
Smooth. Is there a smoother red wine made than Valpolicella? Add a touch of ripasso richness and you get a great wine bargain. Ripasso, the process of adding the pressed grapes from Amarone to Valpolicella causing it to referment, elevates Valpolicella from a lovely everyday wine to one worthy of special occations.
The 2006 Capitel della Valpolicella Ripasso from Montrasor is such a wine. Ripe, round and velvety without a touch of heaviness, it delivers an excellent wine at a very fair price - under $20.