Drink Eat Love

Art and looking for a drink

"Where the Wild Things Are" is a seminal work that since my first viewing as a little boy has always made me smile. The Jewish Contemporary Museum is showing an exhibit titled, "There's a Mystery There: Sendak on Sendak" and being fans of Maurice Sendak we decided to go. Neither Shauna or I had been to the museum and had wanted to go for a while. The space was formally a power station for San Francisco and has been re-imagined into a world-class museum by Daniel Libeskind.  It is a large space that has three dedicated rooms for shows,  The Sendak exhibit took me back to my childhood and I did not realize just how many books he either wrote or did the art for, his influence on my life was immense. Not knowing it until yesterday, I owe much to Mr. Sendak, his drawings helped shape my ability to imagine. If you are in San Francisco or at least near it you should take the time to see the exhibit.

Wine, Food, and Music: Outside Lands Music and Art Festival

(All photos by Shoshauna Leytus)

When Outside Lands was conceived the organizers wanted to bring great music to the park from around the world while highlighting the foods, wines, and arts that make the Bay Area such a special place. The ability to draw from so many amazing farms, restaurants, and wineries gives the region an "unfair" advantage over the rest of the country...maybe world but that is exactly what was found this weekend. The moment you walked through the gates you were not given options of traditional "fair" foods and nasty beer but fresh oysters from Tomales Bay shucked by Hog Island Oyster Co, gourmet sausage sandwiches by Fatted Calf,and of course wine...lots of really good wine.

Monday Night Wines: The slight fizz of Champagne

I have stated before that the one style of wine I cannot live without is Champagne. Not sparkling wine, but Champagne...the real stuff from that small region 90 miles northeast of Paris. Champagne is ethereal, exciting, sexy, fun, and when it is good it is really good. This week's wine was introduced to me by Rajat Paar, the wine director of the Michael Mina Group. Shauna, my pal Jesse and I dined at RN74 and Raj started us off with a few glasses of Champagne, which quickly evolved into the entire bottle. The moment I put the glass to my nose I had a giant grin plastered on my face. As Jesse and Raj caught up, I just let the wine take me over. For those of you who still don't think Champagne is the "bee's knees" get a few bottles of good Champagne from your local fine wine shop and don't stop until you get it.

Mom's coming to town

Call me a "mama's boy" or whatever but I love my mom and I'm totally stoked she is coming to town this weekend! Though she is only here for two days we have a full weekend! Saturday we are making pizzas at home and Sunday we are going out to celebrate our second wedding anniversary at Gary Danko. Shauna and I have talked about going to Restaurant Gary Danko for years and we are excited to share the experience with Richard and Mom! Yea for Mommy!

Monday Night Wines: Its in the dirt

Those large hands belong to Thibault Liger Belair, a young, passionate, driven, and funny grower in Burgundy. He, like many of his compatriots along the Cote d Or believes that dirt is a primary reason his wines taste so great. Since my return from France I have found it hard to taste, let alone, drink any wine that did not show me some dirt. This past weekend we had guests over for a lovely meal in our tiny kitchen. We opened a bottle of wine none of us had tasted, and it was fantastic. It personified that mound of dirt in Thibault's hands. Even after I finished my glass, ate some food and washed the dishes I could still taste the soul of the wine. Wines that speak of where they come in such a way keep me up at night or enter my dreams. These are singular wines that can move the soul and make a good meal into a great meal

How San Francisco does a music festival

 

(Photo of Woodstock August 1969)

Forty years ago throngs of people descended upon San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury district declaring it the "Summer of Love". In that same summer from August 15th through the 18th the "Summer of Love" culminated with Woodstock. It is now 2009 and the "Haight" is a mix of capitalism, local SF flair and a bunch of kids trying to sell pot and Woodstock is being revisited in Ang Lee's new film, Taking Woodstock. Yet, we still love music and want to see it, but as the economy continues to suck wind it is getting expensive to see all the acts you want to experience. Thank God for the music festival! Across the world there are countless festivals that bring together some of the greatest acts for a pretty darn good value: Bonnaroo, Austin City Limits, Lollapalooza, Hardly Strictly Blue Grass and the newest (2009 is the second go)  San Francisco's Outside Lands Music and Art Festival.

315 Wines One Vintage

I am back in the States and still processing the latest wine adventure to shake my soul. Over the next few weeks I'm going to try to distill what I experienced and how you can go out, find these wines and experience, at least the most important part of my trip: the sense of place. 

I made the right choice

(The view from Domaine Weinbach in Kaysersberg, Alsace)

A spectacular finish

(A view of the Piesporter Goldtropfchen vineyard along the Mosel river)

I have just ended my tour of the Terry Theise portfolio of Germany producers and this has been the single most educational, heart warming, and amazing wine trip I have yet to experience. I was extremely fortunate to be with Hiram Simon of the Vienna/Winewise company of Berkeley, California. Hiram is the California distributor for this portfolio and has relationships spanning twenty plus years with many of the growers we saw. I cannot thank him enough for allowing me to tag along and learn from all of his experience.  In five days Hiram and I tasted wines from thirty-one estates and visited twenty-seven in person. Each tasting was held in the kitchen, living room, or parlor of the actual family. The ability to taste with the growers themselves in their homes was amazing. Many of the estates have been in the same family from 250 to 500 years and the history is draped on the walls. As we sat and tasted generations of growers from the past watched us enjoy their family legacy continue. I will post more about each winery when I return to the states but in the meantime here are some photos of my trip.

Raining Riesling

WOW! It is now just the fourth day of the trip and I feel like I've been here for a month. We have tried so many wines (close to 250) from three regions and we still have two more regions to go. The 2008 vintage is GREAT! The wines are high in acid but the balance is unreal. Most growers are saying that this vintage reminds them of the early 90's or as we have heard, "The way it used to be."