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Showing posts from November, 2010

Good wine with Turkey

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From last Thursday's Thanksgiving feast, all I can say is... Turkey with Pinot Noir. For me - from Burgundy, of course. Robert Chevillon's 2006 Nuits-Saint-Georges "Les Bousselots" 1er Cru is so seductively perfumey, it undresses you with one whiff! No need to get overly creative, my friends. Perfection is perfect!

Celebrate Dungeness crab season with magnificent German Riesling Kabinett

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In the morning the kitchen still smells like crabs. In a good, fresh, oceany way. The belly feels light, the mind satisfied. We spent the whole Friday exploring Half Moon Bay - visiting the Pillar Point Harbor where we bought 3 of the freshest, right out of the ocean, 2-lbs. dungeness crabs (only $3.50/lb!), ate catch-of-the-day fisherman's stew and fish-and-chips right on the ocean front, and strolled along the beaches and lawns on a crisp, sunny, picture-perfect day after Thanksgiving. And at night, we steamed those monsters and gobbled all 6 lbs., with just a little dipping sauce and the most amazing pairing of a German off-dry Riesling. The purity of that meal and the combination of the flavors of the fresh, light, subtly sweet crab meat, the tangy Chinese black Chinkiang vinegar and wasabi dipping sauce, and a Kabinett level 2006 Schloss Schonborn Riesling from one of the absolute top vineyards in Rheingau, Germany - Erbacher Marcobrunn, was proof that food-and-wine pairing i

Roero - the forgotten cousin of Barolo & Barbaresco, and oh - the dungeness crab cioppino frenzy

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Amazingly, even serious winos don't seem to know Roero . Specifically Roero red wine, made from Nebbiolo, and in many vintages just as elegant, intense, and charming as Barolo and Barbaresco. A neighboring appellation (DOCG since 2004), Roero is better recognized for their white Arneis wine - the most famous white wine export of Piedmonte, which I love on its own right. But it's the red that I am happy for so many others to overlook, thus keeping prices down for those in the know. Here is a very good article on Roero from the Dehli Wine Club (of all places!). A quick excerpt is telling: The aging periods required by law are significantly different - Barolo needs to undergo 3 years, while Barbaresco can age only for 2 years. Roero can do with a year and a half as it can be released on July 1, second year after harvesting. So the Barolo and Barbaresco producers would claim that Nebbiolo grape requires long aging to tame the tannins... The young Roero is too tannic, closed and n

Austrian sparkling wine (Sekt) knocks my socks off on Thanksgiving

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If you've never had an Austrian sparkling wine (called "Sekt" in Austria and Germany), then you are like me. Or more precisely like I used to be until today's Thanksgiving dinner when I tried my first bottle. And boy, what a wine! For years, I've been searching for a wine that goes with Russian cold appetizers (salads, cured meats and fish, all kinds of salty, vinegary, and savory goodies), and this most excellent sparkler fit the bill perfectly. Perhaps it's the relative similarity of Russian, German, and Austrian cuisines that makes Austria's wines suit the Russian table? My family were impressed (not an easy feat for a gang used to drinking everything from Shaoxing rice wine to tequila to vodka). Wiener Gemischter Satz Sekt is not the type you are likely to see even in the most esoteric wine shops (but check wine-searcher.com, this wine costs ~$30-35), and is yet another fabulous find in my recent chain of Austrian revelations ! Vienna is the only cap

Food-friendly Austrian wines - "Zweigelt and Rotgipfler walk into a bar"...

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The Refuge's Reuben: pastrami, sauerkraut, melted swiss, russian dressing, toasted rye. I have a newfound respect for Austrian wines. Austrian? What?! Rona and I picked up her sis from the airport, and stopped by at the Refuge in San Carlos. Last time their amazing pastrami sandwich sang chorus with a Borgueil, a Loire red wine made from Cabernet Franc. This time, I tempted fate even more, and brought a totally obscure Austrian red - 2008 Blauer Zweigelt from Anita and Hans Nittnaus. I mean who ever drinks Austrian reds?!!! For around $15/bottle, at the low 12.5% alcohol, the wine is more versatile than, say, a Borgueil, nicely balanced in a European (rather than Californian) sort of way (meaning you can taste veggie and fruit), medium-body, reminiscent of a cool climate Pinot Noir but with darker fruit and touch of spiciness. In other words - really really great with the Refuge's menu! Blauer Zweigelt is an Austrian grape variety that's a cross of relatively obscure but

Sparkling at J Vineyards, Russian River Valley

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Not everything that sparkles in California is gold. Sometimes it's J! With the holiday season approaching, I found myself in Healdsburg in the heart of Sonoma County a week ago speaking at a technology growth and innovation conference . Meeting many cool and impressive techies and social media gurus was a lot of fun. That, plus a picture-perfect 80-degree weather in the middle of November put me in a groovy mood. So on the way back to Palo Alto, I felt like sparkling wine. Sonoma county is relatively well known for a number of reputable sparkling wine producers, who make bubblies in the traditional Champagne method (i.e. second fermentation in the bottle). In my mind, with all due respect to all other methods of getting CO2 into a wine, the method of Champagne is the only way to go for any serious drinkin'! And while nothing touches Champagne itself (with the exception of perhaps Italy's Franciacorta and Trento DOC), our traditional method domestics from Napa, Sonoma and Me

Drinking Alsatian at San Francisco Wine School

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On Tuesday last week, I dropped in on the first (ever) session of the newly minted San Francisco Wine School. Their introductory course was France. I had previously announced the opening of the school on this blog (see here ), but wanted to check for myself what it'd be like, before I really stuck my neck out and put the Iron Chevsky seal of approval on these guys. On the second floor of a swanky'ish old Hotel Triton in the super-happening downtown area close to the Union Square, I walked into a cozy room with a small group of students, and two wine Jedi presiding. One of them - Maureen Downey, specializes in managing wine collections and wine auctions (her copious credentials can be seen here .) The other - David Glancy is a Master Sommelier and a long-time educator and department chair in the Professional Culinary Institute in Campbell, CA. Both were incredibly knowledgeable. The first class focused on Alsace, a region that is supposed to be the easiest to understand in Fra

White truffle decadence with Barbaresco

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If you've never had white truffles, oh well... Splurge! Don't let the looks deceive you - it's one of those life's pleasures along with cod liver, duck fat, pork belly, foie gras, and sushi that must be experienced for the amazing umami that just makes you happy. Don't confuse white truffles with black truffles or chocolate truffles. White truffles are extremely rare and prized pretty much at the very top of the food chain, found in the woods of Piedmonte (Northern Italy) by specially trained dogs, and sold for thousands of $$ per kilo. They come each year around October/November, and they are devoured quickly, no matter the cost. The other day I talked about impressive but not inspiring . Last night the annual white truffle menu at Donato Enoteca delivered bliss in full inspiring glory at a fraction of what one'd pay some place else . I brought a bottle of 2003 Roagna Barbaresco Paje from a much maligned 2003 vintage, and it had plenty of acidity and wonderfu

Cyrus impresses but fails to inspire

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Much acclaimed 2-Michelin-star restaurant, Cyrus is Healdsburg's attempted answer to French Laundry in Yountville (3 Michelin stars) and Manresa in Los Gatos (2 Michelin stars). Almost 400 Yelp reviews with average of 4.5 rating, and plenty of exalted awards and articles found on the web sing praises to Cyrus. Open less than five years, Cyrus and Chef Douglass Keane (ex-Gary Danko and Jardiniere) have each amassed numerous accolades in addition to their 2 Michelin stars - four stars from Michael Bauer at the San Francisco Chronicle, Gourmet Magazines’ Top Fifty Restaurants, Esquire Magazine’s Chef of the Year, Food and Wine Magazines Best New Chef and most recently, James Beard Award Best Chef Pacific. Rona and I went to Cyrus for her birthday. Impeccable service, super interesting and excellent wine pairings, wine-savvy staff, classy understated atmosphere, and impressive albeit somewhat overly Japanese-influenced food (if I wanted Japanese, I'd go for a Kaiseki restaurant

Eating well in unexpected places

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In the heart of Healdsburg, right there on the charming main plaza, tourist traps abound. The famous Oakville Grocery at the corner, full inside and out, is but a Whole-Foods-like shadow of its authentic self along highway 29 in Oakville that still draws me during visits to Napa Valley. But hidden behind yet another quaint-ish bookstore is a gem of a place called Bovolo , that is a foodie's delight. Founded by John Stewart and his wife Duskie Estes, famous for their high-end Cali-Italian Zazu restaurant in Santa Rosa, and perhaps even more so for her brief appearance in season 3 of the Food Network's The Next Iron Chef , Bovolo is Zazu's sister restaurant that adapts the Cali-Italian theme to a chill and unpretentious cafe that's no ordinary bookstore coffee shop. Opened in 2005, Bovolo's pork cheek sandwich was voted in the Top 5 Sandwiches in the Bay Area by San Francisco Magazine. I had to check for myself, and I was not disappointed. On the contrary, not only

Iron Chevsky on Celebrity Wine Review TV

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I told you what happened a month ago . When Hollywood-based Celebrity Wine Review rolled into the City by the Bay to throw the "roaring 20's" vintage dress-up party in Hotel Rex, I was invited as a wine blogger and a bit of a tech celebrity, to rub shoulders with Charity and Desiree, the two Hollywood starlets who host this unique wine entertainment venture. And rub shoulders I did! It was totally goofy and a bloody great time! Move over, Gary Vaynerchuk! Now watch the first ever clip of Iron Chevsky on Celebrity Wine Review TV. Would there be more to come...? If so, know this: in the future, I promise to be the serious old self, a seasoned wine expert that you've come to know and love.... NOT! P.S. Don't know about you, but I sure wasn't focusing on the wine, if you know what I mean. Just kidding :)

San Francisco Wine School launching French wine program

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San Francisco Wine School is launching a French wine program in partnership with French Wine Society - an organization that I have been a member of for several years. They are known for high-quality French wine curriculum, and I try to attend every new event they bring to San Francisco. The French Wine School program starts on Tuesday, Nov 16, and includes 6 classes that painstakingly go through each major wine region of France. I took a similar class years ago when I was a staunch California wine fanatic and I didn't "get" French or Italian wine. The class opened my eyes and completely changed my appreciation of "old world" wine and France, in particular, and got me onto an amazing wine journey that I find myself on now. In my opinion, for anyone who is eager to grow from a casual wine drinker to a wine aficionado, or for those who still don't "get" French wine, this type of class is a must. Fall 2010 Class Schedule (Tuesday & Thursday 6pm-8

Innovation Summit 2010, Nov 12-14, Healdsburg, CA

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This Saturday, Nov 13, I will be keynoting at a unique conference, put together by Partners for Growth & Innovation in Healdsburg, Sonoma wine country. I will tell a story spanning from the early days in Soviet Union, to the founding of Ask Jeeves and to the executive position at one of the fastest-growing startups in the Valley - YouSendIt - and the role innovation, hard work and perseverance have played in that. Innovation Summit 2010: Creating an Innovative Ecosystem is my kind of conference - tech talk by day, wine talk by night, along with wine tours, wine dinners, and a lot of good-natured hanging out, eating, drinking, and thought exchange. Nightly "fireside wine chats" will touch on the topics on wine biz, innovative farming, wine making, and social media. The complete 3-day conference agenda is here . The following should give you a taste: Friday Green Winery Tours in Dry Creek Valley: Sbragia (they are releasing a wine with football great Joe Montana next Febr