Tag Archives: Wine

Drink More Bubbly!

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It’s such a shame that people don’t drink more sparking wine.   It tastes so good yet it’s relegated to only being consumed on New Year’s Eve.

Today, I espouse a philosophy that I learned from a wine professor that I had in college.  Drink sparkling wine often.  Use it as an opportunity to celebrate something that recently happened in your life.  We are so very blessed.  We have so much to be thankful for.

The next time you have a dinner party, bring a bottle of bubbly and take 5 mins to go around the table and talk about something awesome that’s happened during the week.

In Praise of Antonio’s

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It would take something special to post again on this oft-neglected piece of cyberspace. Justin and I have been busy, after all. In my case, working and new fathering have kept me from sampling DC’s finest or reflecting more on the absolute perfection of Hefeweizen (at least in written form).

But I am on vacation at my parents’ house in Orlando. Last night, my folks took care of our little one, while my wife and I found a new corner of restaurant heaven.

Now, I know what you’re thinking. Orlando? The land of Disney and plastic culture? Isn’t Orlando the headquarters of all those big restaurant chains that push a bland uniformity into U.S. food culture? Isn’t Orlando cuisine nothing but overpriced tourist trap food?

Well, in part. But step away from International Drive. Go from the corporates to the foodies. Put down that expensive Disney Turkey leg. Next time you take the kids to Disney World and Universal Studios, be sure to drive over to Antonio’s Cafe & Deli in Maitland on 17-92. We did so, on my parents’ recommendation, and we tasted the best Italian food I’ve had in a long time.

Our romantic table in the liquor section.

Now, here is the charm. The Cafe & Deli, as you can see, is nestled within a mini Italian grocery and wine shop. We had a romantic little table in the liquor section. It may sound strange, but experience it, and you’ll find it creates a natural ambiance that most restaurants attempt to produce with funky decorations and weird lighting. We sat at our table and had two servers: A nice waitress who took our order, and their resident wine expert. The wine expert helped us select a bottle of wine from around the store (“we have an excellent wine list, and it’s all around us,” he joked), and was kind enough to open it and give us the “sniffy sniff sniff.” To go with our food, he selected a Dogajolo – 80% Chianti and 20% Cabernet Sauvignon (“which gives it more complexity,” he said). Yum.

For an appetizer, we had the Topped Ciabatta – fresh Ciabatta bread, blanketed with Mozzarella and tomato sauce – fresh, delicious, opposite of canned. It was a generous appetizer to say the least – on another more budgeted night we may have gone with just appetizers and wine. But this was a rare date night for new parents. We were going the distance. (I should also mention that this was alongside some fantastic bread, fresh butter and olive oil that could have stood alone)

My wife ordered the pizza. Delightful, authentic crust, generous portions of prosciutto, red onions, sauce and spices that blend and flavor delightfully without dominating. As a real European, she has authority to say what she said afterwards. “Here in America, all the Italian food is Chicago-Italian or New York-Italian. It’s fine and everything, but it is hard to find Italian-Italian.” Antonio’s fit the bill. Yes, she’s from Germany. But as Texas has top-notch Mexican food, southern Germany is peppered with fantastic Italian restaurants. She knows what she’s talking about.

I had a hankering for some pasta and went with the Linguini Calabrese. Wonderful sausage, onion and that perfect tomato sauce, tossed lovingly into linguini noodles. The garlic was present but not overwhelming, and as far as I could tell, the ingredients were fresh. Excellence.

The portions were generous, and though good taste spurred us on, we couldn’t quite clear our plates. But our server corked our wine bottle and gave us boxes, and our movable feast would continue the next day.

We walked away from the restaurant with a sense of satisfaction I don’t often feel. We did not feel like we had a lake of grease cratered in our stomachs. We did not feel as if we couldn’t look at another garlic clove again. We strolled through the the shop, admiring the wine selection, fresh meats, cheeses and gelato. All the while, the full feeling in our bellies didn’t make us groan. It made us smile.

Bene.

Gary Vaynerchuk Talks About Banyuls On Wine Library TV

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My favorite episodes of Wine Library TV are the ones where Gary Vaynerchuk drops some knowledge and helps me expand my understanding about the wine world.

The latest episode is a great example.  In it, Gary talks about the Banyuls region of France and their well known dessert wines.  It’s an area that I’m not familiar with and am anxious to try.

Check out the episode and let me know what you think.

Six Wine Resolutions Everyone Should Take in 2010

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It really has been a blast to learn about all that is wine, since I started back during my Wines of the World class in college.  It’s really cool to learn about how wine has played an important role in just about every culture, around the world.

Well, the Wall Street Journal has a great article where they put together 6 wine resolutions that you can accomplish for 2010.  I think this is a great idea and a great way to expand your love of wine.

  1. Try wine from a different state.
  2. Next time you are making a special meal, go to two good wine shops and ask them to match the main course with a wine in a certain price range.
  3. Take a wine trip.
  4. Truly engage a sommelier at a fine restaurant.
  5. Do a little research on a wine before or after you drink it.
  6. Go to a mass tasting.

I feel like the more that I’ve slowed down and taken time to understand the food and drinks that I put into my mouth, along with the culture that goes with them, the better I’ve been able to understand the world around me.  These 6 wine resolutions are good steps to keep pushing in that direction.

Cheeky Tastings: “Michael Mina”

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If you live in Washington, DC you may be familiar with the restaurant Bourbon Steak in the Four Seasons in Georgetown. The chef is Michael Mina, whose star seems to be rising. I hadn’t heard of him until Bourbon Steak (of course, I’m not a professional restaurant reviewer…).

I recently had the opportunity to sample his resturant Stonehill Tavern in Dana Point, CA (south Orange County). It’s inside the St. Regis resort there, which is stunning in itself.

Stonehill feels a lot like Bourbon. It was probably designed by the same person. It’s modern, hip American with lots of dark wood and old-fashioned class. I went with a date. We had two glasses of champagne, for which there was really poor selection and frankly some outrageous pricing.

That out of the way, we had an amazing meal. Appetizers, dishes, and desert (pumpkin donuts!) were awesome. I had the sommelier bring me a glass of whatever red would go best with my pork chop, and it was perfect.

Michael Mina’s not cheap. But I think you get your money’s worth. And in this case, with a view of the ocean. If you’re in SoCal and want an elegant, expensive meal, try Stonehill Tavern.

Cheeky Tastings: “Gary Vaynerchuk”

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Someone sent me some wine from Wine Library, as a gift. Turns out, one of the bottles is actually a collaboration between Gary Vaynerchuk and a winery.

The 2006 Chateau Sansonnet La Reserve (750ML) is absolutely delicious. Try some. The chateau’s cuvee is 82% Merlot and 18% Cabernet Franc. It’s fairly expensive ($50), but I’ve had worse for more, I suppose.

Further, I think it’s cool that Gary is actually working to make wines. According to the label, “In order for Gary Vaynerchuk to select a wine as worthy of the title ‘La Reserve’ it must exhibit excheptional breed and class as well as the potention to age gracefully and gain complexity over time.”

Good stuff, Gary. Thanks!

Cheeky Tastings: “The Grille”

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I had lunch with a good friend of mine at the Capital Grille near the Navy Memorial in DC the other day. I usually don’t have power lunches but this was just one of those Fridays, I suppose. We were eating at nearly 2pm. It had been a long week.

There’s a lot you could say about the Grille, from the bleached blondes at the bar scoping the room to the excellent staff waiting on your requests to the fact that the place was packed in the middle of a recession. But surely all that has been said before.

Two quick tasting notes. One, the “truffled fries” are insanely good. I’m not certain I’ve had them before. They’re really addictive. Unclear if a goal of the Grille is to make its customers fat but you almost cannot stop eating these things. There was also a sick side sauce in addition to the normal stuff. Sorry, I forget what it was.

Two, the hamburger apparently had bacon up in it. Good idea.

If you’re looking to blow a little money, perhaps have some wine, and have a nice power lunch with some hearty food [oh, the lobster bisque was great, too!] definitely try the Grille on Penn and 6th (or most any other Grille). It’s a little old-school and it’s filled with Washington’s power elite, but so what? Just think about the fries.

- Mark Drapeau

Cheeky Tastings: “Papa Burgundy”

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Editor’s Note: Welcome my friend Mark Drapeau to Justin Loves Food.  He is a retired fruit fly brain surgeon currently hiding in sleepy Washington, DC. He spends his leisure time writing and eating. Here, he combines both skills.

I was recently turned on to Burgundy wine by a friend. It’s generally lighter than what I usually order, but it was wonderful at a meal in New York with a vegetarian pasta appetizer followed by a light scallops dish and bread pudding. So when I returned to Washington, I thought I’d try a couple more bottles at reasonable prices (these were both about 20 bones).

I had them with the new Papa Johns “Perfect Pan” pizza with six cheeses. Yup, pizza. Seriously, it’s okay to pair wine with things like pizza, hot dogs, and McDonald’s, just as it’s okay to pair a beer with a steak – you just have to do it right. Anyway, the first wine was a 2006 Jacqueson Rully Chaponnieres, and the second was a 2005 Martin Michel Chorey Le Beaune.

First, the Jacqueson Rully. This was a lovely, fruity wine that was light to the lips. It smelled light as well, and was somewhat like what I had expected from New York. It paired really well with the cheap pizza – just enough to break through the oil and fruity enough to overpower my senses briefly.  The Martin Michel, on the other hand, tasted nice but had a more earthy flavor. It was light like a Burgundy of course but was too deep for the pizza.

Burgundy can work with pizza. If you’re feeling adventurous, try the 2006 Jacqueson Rully Chaponnieres.

- Mark Drapeau

Drink Sparkling Wine More Often!

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Last week, I was at a Halloween party out a DC bar and ordered a glass of sparkling wine from the bartender.   A few of my friends looked at me like I was very strange.    It wasn’t because I was drinking wine.  It was because I was drinking sparkling wine.

Popular culture has unfortunately labeled sparkling wine as something that you only drink during New Years or birthday parties, which is SOOO unfortunate.  Sparkling wine is so good that it shouldn’t be relegated to just a couple of times per year. Let it be something that you drink all the time.

Or… you could take my approach to sparkling wine.  When you drink it, think about all the great blessings that you’ve received throughout the day and celebrate that.   Use it as an opportunities to celebrate all the great gifts that God has given us.

Looking for some good sparkling wines?  Check out one of the latest episodes of Wine Library TV.  Gary Vaynerchuk takes two sparkling wines head to head…

Wine Library TV’s Gary Vaynerchuk on Dolcetto

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Yesterday, Wine Library TV’s Gary Vaynerchuk had a pretty rockin’ episode where he dished some knowledge about the grape varietal Dolcetto that’s predominately from Northwestern Italy.

It’s definitely a wine varietal that I need to dive into more.  When you think of Itallian grapes, all too often you just see things like Sangiovese and Chianti.

If you’re a Dolcetto nube like me, this episode is a great place to start.

Have you tried Dolcetto wines? If so what do you think?