The Accidental Wino » Obama

Wine Tasting Notes: Schramsberg Vineyards, Calistoga

The Accidental Wino — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 08:33:20 +0000

"A Night on the Town," dedicated to Schramsberg's legendary riddler of more than 36 years, Ramon Viera, who retired last December.

As a Napa Valley local, I’ve visited Schramsberg maybe half a dozen times over the last few years, but today I’ve finally decided that this winery offers the mother of all wine tours, hands down. The deep history, the unique property, and the world-class sparkling wines are practically unrivaled here in the Napa Valley, and for these three reasons, Schramsberg truly belongs in a class by itself. I’ll just leave it at that. Below, I’ve posted scans of my Schramsberg tasting sheet, with my scrawled notes included. It’s kind of a lazy approach, I know, but I have to drive up to Mendocino for wine tasting tomorrow morning, and it’s late. I will quickly acknowledge that the 2006 Schramsberg Brut Rosé ($41) crushes all of the local competition. And as expected, the 2003 Schramsberg J. Schram ($100) is a stunner. I may flesh out some additional details later, but will probably just move on. It’s all pretty much there, anyway. Read it, and weep (bonus points for those who can decipher VC”GD”).

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John Besh in The Atlantic Online: “Black Death: Will Fisheries Survive the Oil Spill?”

The Accidental Wino — Sat, 01 May 2010 03:37:33 +0000

I try not to make a point of “re-purposing” web content, since so many other sites do it so well, but I had to pass along this Atlantic Online article by chef John Besh. The lifelong Louisiana resident does an admirable job of ripping the federal government, which again seems a bit slow to react to another Gulf Coast crisis (Katrina who?). I wonder what kind of accountability will be held for this fiasco. And is disaster one of the inevitable results of human evolution?

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Update: The White House Garden…

The Accidental Wino — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 08:34:06 +0000

Last month, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack broke ground (with a jackhammer, literally) on The People’s Garden, which was formerly 1250 square feet of pavement at USDA headquarters. But this act of showmanship, which coincided with Abraham Lincoln’s 200th birthday celebration, was derided as a publicity stunt. Critics, already skeptical of Vilsack’s appointment as the head of the USDA, pointed out that The People’s Garden was not necessarily designated as a food garden.

As disappointing as The People’s Garden may have been, Michelle Obama has recently announced plans to finally give the people exactly what they wanted in the first place, a White House Garden. The First Lady, along with children from the nearby Bancroft Elementary School, will break ground on the South Lawn today. The White House Garden will feature fruits and vegetables that will be used in the White House kitchen, and kids at Bancroft Elementary will stay involved with the project through harvest.

According to the Associated Press, chef Alice Waters was overjoyed at the news. Hey, I’m reasonably overjoyed myself.

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The Inaugural Luncheon: What is Obama eating?

The Accidental Wino — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 07:35:46 +0000

The word “brace” is something you don’t often see on a menu. It was stumping me as a culinary term, until I remembered that it was simply an arcane synonym for the word “pair.” I recalled this definition from my high school days, back when I was cramming for the SAT, but I hadn’t really thought about this usage in years. Then, I stumbled across this word last week, while reading the Joint Congressional Committee’s Inaugural Luncheon menu. This “quadrennial event” (I’ve got your SAT right here) dates back to Dwight D. Eisenhower, and is traditionally sandwiched between the President’s Inaugural Address and the Inaugural Parade.

This year, the three-course menu features a “brace” of pheasant and duck, served alongside a sour cherry chutney and molasses sweet potatoes. The dish is paired with a 2005 Anderson Valley Goldeneye Pinot Noir, which is a $55 bottle of juice. I do enjoy the Goldeneye, but its price point has always pushed me to purchase the Pinot Noir from Goldeneye’s second label, Migration, which is only $32 for the current 2006 vintage. I’ve always felt that the price of Goldeneye was always a little bit steep, especially when a great Russian River wine such as a Rochioli Estate Pinot Noir retails at $48.

For those who weren’t already aware, Goldeneye is actually the sister label of Duckhorn, producer of the 2007 Duckhorn Napa Valley Sauvignon Blanc, which is being paired with the luncheon’s first course, seafood stew. If the online recipe is accurate, the seafood stew will feature lobster, scallops, shrimp and cod, and will be served en croute (covered by a delicious blanket of tasty puff pastry). Although I’m never really floored by Duckhorn’s reds these days, their Sauvignon Blanc has always rated high with me, although at $27 per bottle, one could also do better (I’ll take a delicious 2007 Venge Bianco Spettro at that price).

The luncheon’s third course is what’s really interesting: the dessert is an apple-cinnamon sponge cake with sweet cream glacé. The wine pairing is Korbel Natural “Special Inaugural Cuvée” NV, which I have never tasted. I’m going to be honest — aside from the times when I didn’t know any better, I’ve never sipped Korbel outside of a mimosa. But at $15 per bottle, I’m intrigued. I assume that this “California Champagne” (as Korbel insists on calling their sparkling wines) has a touch of residual sugar to complement the sweetness of the dessert. Still, with Korbel selling at every 7-Eleven this side of Washington DC, I was hoping for a label that produced less than a million cases annually.

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The photo above is from Reuters, and features President Obama at Dooky Chase in New Orleans, February 2008 (I love seeing a bottle of hot sauce on a white tablecloth). For Tuesday’s Inaugural Luncheon menu, with recipes, please click here.

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White House vegetable garden…

The Accidental Wino — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 07:15:20 +0000

I sincerely hope that the Obamas plant a vegetable garden at the White House. Frankly, I’m a little appalled that there isn’t one already on the property, and I view this as a tremendous shortcoming on many different levels. Without a doubt, I place a lot of the blame on the White House executive chef, whom I felt should have been lobbying for this resource all along.

I first heard about the movement to create a White House vegetable garden during an NPR interview with Alice Waters. She had mentioned this cause alongside her own Edible Schoolyard program, which shares a similar ideology: that people will tend to eat better when they develop a connection to their food. Waters often cites the fact that kids will eat vegetables more readily when they have grown them themselves, which makes perfect sense.

It is extremely easy to view food as a common commodity these days, with so many products pre-packaged and overly processed. Thanks to supermarkets, very few people in America consider where their food comes from, which is an alarming trend. It has allowed many of the large agricultural corporations to commit various crimes against nature, such as turning cattle into carnivores (which, in turn, has led to Mad Cow Disease). The meat industry, in particular, is one horror show after another.

Granted, a White House vegetable garden will not solve the agro-industrial problems that have begun to plague this country over the last several decades. But it would at least shed some light on the importance of eating well, and it would set a good example for the public. The way I see it, any house that has a bowling alley should also have a vegetable garden — it’s really not too much to ask.

[Please click here for an update to this post]

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