THE SMALL WINE SHOP, STILL RELEVANT
Fine Wines of Stockton, a venerable wine shop, just closed down. Its owners George and Gail Heron decided to retire. This left us with only two other small wine vendors, Wine Wizard’s and Mile Wine Company. Wine Wizard’s owner Larry Johansen, also around retirement age, might be next. George & Gail Heron Is there any room for new entrepreneurs to replace these establishments? The question was posed to me by a young woman, manager of a restaurant we frequent, who is currently pursuing a career in nursing, her training arduous. Owning a wine shop appealed to her as a romantic[...]
DECANTING DILEMMAS, A PLEASANT SURPRISE
Have you ever been to a fancy restaurant and observed wine stewards ceremoniously decant every red wine ordered by every table? It can be quite a spectacle, akin to the changing of the guard in London, and in many occasions, equally as useless. When to decant and when not is one of those conundrums that befuddles the novice and connoisseur alike. The ornamental aspects of the glassware aside, what does decanting actually achieve? A basic Wine Spectator article on the subject (top hit on a Goggle search) says that it has two goals: separate the wine from its sediment and[...]
WINERY IN A HOSPITAL; ONLY IN FRANCE
In the historic French city of Strasbourg, a most unusual wine shop resides within a giant public hospital complex. Hospice Strasbourg, a 2000 bed hospital with an associated medical school, has been in continuous operation since 1395. It employs over twenty-three thousand people. Among them is a small staff that tends to the wine shop and cellar of the hospital, located in the basement of one of its buildings. In Medieval times wine was not just an alcoholic beverage. It was considered medicinal. It was also an indispensable part of Christian church liturgy. The monks that ran the early hospital[...]
ROSÉ RESURGENCE; NO LONGER BELLY-BUTTON FLUFF
“I have red and I have white,” she said. “What do I need pink for?” My wife was responding to my insistent call for her to try a terrific new rosé from Acquiesce. When did she become a rosé snubber?I thought. I remembered a time when we put away a lot rosé together at the poolside. Her proclamation reminded me of a British wine snob who once said, “Rosé is wine’s answer to belly-button fluff, baffling in origin, purposeless in deployment.” Elegant, yet brutal. Why indeed do we need rosé in our lives? I posed the question to[...]
CABERNET FRANC; IS THERE ANY HOPE IN AMERICA?
Someone suggested a Cabernet Franc tasting, domestic versus French. Not again! Over the years I’ve been through a few of these. They have all left me with the same impression: the French maintain the essence of the grape while Americans make a mess of it. Would this one be any different? Cabernet Franc is mostly a blending grape, ubiquitous in Bordeaux where it plays second fiddle to its more illustrious counterparts, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. These mixes are imitated in other parts of the world. The only region where Cab Franc is a mainstay solitary varietal is the Loire Valley[...]
PAIRING PERCEPTIONS AT SEVEN HILLS
Pairing wine with food is a world onto itself. A recent dinner at Seven Hills, a San Francisco restaurant, allowed me to rediscover some rules I already knew and one I should have known.Located in Russian Hill, Seven Hills is one of those hidden neighborhood gems that Michael Bauer, food critic of the San Francisco Chronicle, refers to as “a second tier restaurant that would be first tier in any other city.” It’s a small, 45 seat storefront spot on a quiet, residential block of Hyde Street, cable cars crisscrossing in front. The food is Italian, with a strong touch[...]