Question: I am travelling to St. Petersburg on a cruise for a holiday this summer. What Russian wines to you recommend we should look for to taste while dining there?
Answer: Very topical question for me as I was just there this year too. Visited the wine cellars in the beautiful Constantine Palace in Strelna with their vast collection. Also had a wine tasting there with some tired white blends from 2012 of 50% Riesling & 50% Chardonnay, West Hill Blend limited production 2012 reds from the Black Sea coast of 50% Merlot & 50% Cabernet Sauvignon with some sweetish smokey spicy notes, and older Tokay from Hungary. The best Russian wines we found in restaurants in St. Petersburg were all from the Krasnodar southernmost region bordering the Ukraine to the west at about 45 degrees latitude. My favourite was Temelion Brut sparkling by Lefkadia a blend of chardonnay & pinot noir displaying drier refreshing citrus lemon flavours. Also served some simpler 2016 varietal Sauvignon Blanc & 2015 oaky Chardonnay. A unique almost Syrah-like red from the native vitis vinifera grape Saperavi 2015 called Fanagoria Vintage is worth investigating. Believe there are some of this variety also being grown in the Finger Lakes of New York state. This acidic grape variety native to Georgia though with thin skins produced an intense deep red colour wine with some interest. Check it out.
Delighted to return to the River Cafe (rivercafe.co.uk) in London for an amazing food long lunch on June 25th. This iconic restaurant opened in an airy riverside location at Thames Wharf on Rainville Road in Hammersmith (tube stop) designed by Richard Rogers in 1987. It has been going strong ever since though lately has received comments that the prices tend to be a bit expensively scary. Nonetheless it is a special treat to dine there because the quality of the cuisine remains outstanding. Corkage is also high as I took my excellent elegant aged bottle of 1996 Barolo Bricco Boschis from Cavallotto and was charged the usual 40£ corkage. However that is the price of the cheapest Dolcetto on their all Italian wine list so an appropriate charge I guess if you were going to order wine anyhow. At least the wine was decanted and served in some appropriate large bowl glasses to show to best advantage. The menu as attached is divided into 3 normal sections of Antipasti, Primi, and Secondi. The pasta dishes are always unbelievably delicious with both Taglierini – with slow-cooked peas, wild fennel, prosciutto & pecorini plus Ravioli di Boraggine – hand-made pasta with sheep’s milk ricotta, borage, flowering thyme and nutmeg butter really sublime! Mains of Triglia – chargrilled whole Red Mullet with bay salmoriglio, roasted yellow peppers, capers, & Castelluccio lentils plus Piccione al forno – roasted spatchcocked pigeon marinated in Valpolicella & thyme with pancetta, broad beans & rainbow chard also shone so brightly!
Pleased to see the founder icon Ruth Rogers in the restaurant on a Sunday and had the opportunity to speak with her. We reminiscenced about the early days of her wonderful restaurant and your scribe congratulated her for carrying on at such a high culinary level since the passing of her co-founder partner Rose Gray on February 28, 2010. Ruth mentioned she had brought in Charles and other important members of her long serving personal team to carry on. They are currently recruiting full-time chefs, sommeliers and other service staff at the restaurant. Highly recommend it to young chefs or sommeliers looking for a great learning experience exposure on the finest in Italian food and wines. We talked about how we enjoyed using her 6 successful cook books from the first one Italian Country Cookbook through Italian Easy, River Cafe One, Two, and Green. The big news she announced is that Ruth is excited about her newest cook book expected to be released in October 2017. Watch for it. Sure to be another gem.
It’s no secret that the French view their wine as sacrosanct. From Bordeaux and Burgundy to Champagne and Côtes du Rhone, the soil that has given us some of the finest vintages is deeply embedded in the culture of every citizen across the Fifth Republic. And when it comes to bubbly, the vineyards of Champagne are held in the highest regards, having survived numerous invasions and wars over the past two millennia.
So when someone erroneously asks for or praises a glass of “American Champagne” or “Italian Champagne,” you can see why both French winemakers and citizens would get upset. Fighting back against this mislabeling, the government of France has applied diplomatic pressure for centuries to stop the use of this word unless the sparkling wine is specifically made in the region of Champagne. As one famous example illustrates, the French delegation led by Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau successfully protected the Champenois during the 1919 Paris Peace Conference with Article 275, which stated that “the importation, exportation, manufacture, distribution, sale or offering for sale of products or articles bearing regional appellations inconsistent with such law or order shall be prohibited.”
But nearly a century later, the Champagne label is still being misused and abused. To understand the loopholes and clever tricks that have been employed for hundreds of years, have a look below to see how you can say “Champagne” without saying Champagne.
Although the United States signed the Treaty of Versailles, the Senate never ratified it, making America null and void from Article 275, which has led to many “American Champagnes” over the years. However, in 2005 the U.S. And European Union finally agreed that labels like this one would no longer be tolerated—with an important catch. If any winemaker used this term before March 10th, 2006, they would be grandfathered in, a decision that caused Korbel Natural Special Inaugural Cuvée California Champagne to be served at Barack Obama’s second inauguration in 2013. blank
In addition to false labelling, the Pleasant Valley Wine Company took it one step further in the nineteenth century when they lobbied the federal government to change the name of their hamlet. So when people saw Great Western Champagne as being from Rheims, it’s because the wine was actually made in Rheims—New York! blank
3. Deny its Champagne … over and over again.
If you’re a WWII veteran who fought during the Italian campaign, then you probably developed a taste for a sweet sparkling wine known as Asti Spumante. Unfortunately, its reputation has taken a nosedive in the years following the Second World War, with many producers dropping the name Spumante due to its negative perception for being a cheap wine. But here’s a great way to piggyback off of Champagne using a rhetorical device: a 1977 commercial where the viewer is told that it’s not Champagne—it’s Asti Spumante. Rinse and repeat.
HONORABLE MENTION: Champagne, Champale. Hey, they both rhyme.
Question: I see so many wines using a screw cap closure these days but was wondering if you could advise me who started this all off.
Answer: Well there have been experiments with various closure alternatives for bottles for a while but screw caps for wine were investigated further in the sixties and patented in the seventies as “Stelvin”. Yalumba together with other Australian wineries should get the credit for first commercial use but the idea really caught on and blossomed after the wide acceptance of same in New Zealand so they deserve some recognition too. More recently the issues arising from corked wines showing TCA have spurred more wineries to adopt this screw cap alternative.
Just concluded participating in Burgundy week celebrations here in London with a tremendous weekend Paulee at Cabotte a wonderful French restaurant 48 Gresham Street on the east side near Bank. Some special bottles brought with notes made by your scribe on over 30 of them including outstanding Coche Dury whites and DRC reds among so many treasures. A later blog perhaps.
We are passionate followers of the recipe writer Israeli-British Chef Yotam Ottolenghi. Really enjoy so much making the dishes from his excellent 5 cookbooks including The Cookbook, Plenty, Jerusalem, Plenty More and Nopi. He is co-owner of several successful delis in London and one sit down restaurant Nopi (www.nopi-restaurant.com) at 21 Warwick just off Regent Street at Beak. Therefore privileged and delighted to have a delicious lunch today at Nopi. Tried several dishes and rated everything tasted very highly indeed! Their mixed seed lavosh with burnt Spring onion dip is an unreal nibbles starter. We loved the char roasted eggplant with tamarind yogurt, pistachio topped by pickled lemon to die for! Even their crispy potato chips and coconut salad mackerel dishes sing clearly. A big surprise highlight was the fresh whole lemon sole on the bone with burnt butter, nori & ginger. Wow what a winner! Another smart move by Nopi is their reasonable winelist together with a just released Summer “bright” choices list by the glass that includes sparkling, appropriate roses, and chilled reds. If you are visiting London this year I highly recommend you check this place out. Also their cookbooks.
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