Drink Eat Love

Win 3 free nights at TorreBarolo

This past week I was contacted by the owner of TorreBarolo, a boutique hotel located in the village of Barolo (heart of Piedmont!), an informed me about a contest for a three night stay at her property. The rules are very simple (see this link: RULES), become a Fan of TorreBarolo on Facebook and you will be entered to win a 3 night stay at TorreBarolo for FREE! Do not miss a chance to have the opprotunity to stay in one of the most majestic places in Italy.

Thumbs Up - Down Under by Jon Porter

  

My dad, Jon Porter, recently spent a week in New Zealand. I asked him to write about his day trip on Waiheke Island off the coast of Auckland.

Time changes all things, but some things get better over time.  Children grow up, global events can be placed into perspective and wine improves, especially wine producers.  Nearly 30 years ago, I took my first trip down under to what the native Maori’s called Aotearoa, “the land of the long white clouds,” now known as New Zealand.  This incredibly beautiful nation of some 4.2 million people, 40 million sheep and 10 million dairy cattle, is also now famous for its wines.  This was not the case 30 years ago on my first visit.  The only wine worth drinking was something called MacWilliam’s Cabernet, which was overly juicy and tannic, but for the price, not bad.  New Zealand is also the first place I encountered that had wines in a box.  The white wines of the country were overly sweet and best used as paint thinner.

The Big Change

Hawaii-Wine-O

Looking at that sunset for a week made it very difficult to muster up the energy to blog, but I'm back in San Francisco and thought I'd share a few wine memories of our trip to the south side of Maui.

Wine and Poi - nah...Poi is gross

As life has caught up with me the past few weeks, I have neglected one of my favorite pastimes...my blog. Well, on Saturday evening Shauna and I met up with my Dad and his wife for a week on Maui.  So it is back to the blog.

It has been over 20 years since I have been to any island of this fair state and I have now realized it has been too long. We have only been here two full days and it really is heaven on the Pacific. Of course, we have added to our piece of heaven with a case of wine. We have only had a fourth of it so far with two days left, so we will have to get to drinking.

Carbs and fat be damned! EVEN IN L.A.

Los Angeles has a very misunderstood image. Now, as with all stereotypes there is some truth to the vapid, self-conscious, and self-obsessed culture in L.A. but times are a changing. This weekend I was in LaLa-land for a wedding and got to explore a new trend in the dining scene: FAT and BREAD!

When I arrived into L.A. we headed over to my sister-in-law's place and putzed around thinking of a place to eat when the in-law's boyfriend pulled out the most recent edition of Los Angeles Magazine  which had a cover story about the best new bars in L.A. He said there was this place that I only thought could be in the movies. A  restaurant that ONLY serves sausage, buns, toppings, dessert, and beer! The moment he uttered these words I had to go.

This place of fat, bread and yeast is located in Downtown. A place that for years had been forgotten but has in the past few years become a bastion of the hip, hungry and  thirsty. Our sausage adventure took us to Wurstkuche and I must say I was impressed. When we arrived there was a line of about 25 to 30 people, by the time we got to the counter there must have been close to 100 people in line. The concept is brilliant. There are a plethora of sausages to choose from (I got Rattlesnake and Duck), you then choose two toppings, a great beer list all on tap and if you are up to it and we were, Belgium style fries with a choice of two dipping sauces! Heaven on Earth for us meat eaters, beer drinkers and lovers of not using utensils. The sausages are sourced from all around the country but the majority are from the west coast, choosing very high quality sausages from the classic Brat to the exotic alligator.

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.

Finally! I get to use German

Getting outta Dodge

On Tuesday I am heading out of town for four days and I could not be happier. No, this is not a wine trip, it is a real vacation: no cell phone coverage, no internet, and no TV. I am headed to Sequoia National Forest with my wife and her family. There will be twelve of us hiking, relaxing and cooking each night. I have packed two cases of wine, a case of beer and a mixed bag of some spirits...it will be a good week. Cheers!

 

Photo Journal of Portugal and Rioja