Why we should start noticing what’s going on in the Finger Lakes pt.1

Lets learn about the Finger Lakes:

The Finger Lakes region in New York is closer to Niagra Falls than to NYC.  Its’ wine industry has been built on concord grapes (still twice as much acreage devoted to Concord than Riesling) and weekend warriors getting on tour buses to pick up sweet wines many times made with hybrid grapes.  Why should we take notice? 

There are a total of 43 non fortified listings on seven fifty in Chicago.  There are 8 producers who are currently distributed 5 on seven fifty and novovino picked up 3 recently.  Who’s championing this region?  It’s clearly not happening yet in Chicago.  Now don’t take this as an every wine list should have x amount of finger lakes wines, but we should take pride in domestic Riesling production that (sorry Oregon) is the best in the country. 

A little over a month ago I, with two fantastic sommeliers Matthew Kaner and Pascaline Lepaletier, presented 6 rieslings from the Finger Lakes to a group of competitors as well as journalists and local sommeliers in San Francisco. Though they have more options than Chicago in terms of numbers of producers, they were under educated and excited to learn. 

 

Basics:

The Finger Lakes region surrounds 11 lakes hundreds of thousands of years in the making, carved out by successive waves of glaciers. The focus as of now for winemaking is around the Seneca, Keuka, and Cayuga lakes.  Seneca and Cayuga each have their own AVA.  These lakes moderate the cool temperatures in the winters (avoiding early frost) and warm summers (cooler temps to allow the grapes to still have appropriate acidity).  Currently there are 7 wineries on Canandaigua Lake, 25 wineries on Cayuga Lake, 19 wineries on Keuka Lake, and 61 wineries on Seneca Lake.

Riesling is a winter hardy varietal, made even more so by grafting onto native American rootstocks.  This has made it a favorite of winegrowers in this region, but there has been much success as well with Gruner Veltliner, Chardonnay, Cabernet Franc, Pinot Noir, and Syrah.

The grapes are generally planted on sloped hillsides on one side or the other of the lake and each side will tell you why its better to be on the side they are on.  The west side will always get more sun making generally more lush wines, while the east side will see more shade and therefore retain more acid.  Either side needs this extra sun as it helps protect from frost and being planted on the slope allows for good drainage as the region can see a fair amount of precipitation each year.

Soil type is generally Devoinian shale with loam and loesse on top.  The preponderance of Devonian shale serves these two soil functions. It defines the slate driven mineral characteristic of the region’s wines and Rieslings in particular. It allows for proper drainage in the vineyard which helps to further accentuate the concentration of fruit flavors.  Argetsinger vineyard is a rare outcropping of limestone.

 

Historical Info:

Pleasant Valley Wine Company was the first bonded winery in the US in 1862.  So the first US wine came from the Finger Lakes.  But at this time this is mostly made with hybrids and vitis labrusca.

The depression and phyloxera ravaged the industry here until the early 1960s when Dr. Konstantin Franck successfully grew and vinified vitis vinifera.  This created an explosion of plantings of vitis vinifera, but there still remained an industry for sweeter wines made with hybrid grapes.

The AVA was established in October, 1982.

 

Pt 2 next week: The Wineries and Winemaking Choices of the Finger Lakes

Sommelier Wine List Reviews: Shebnem Ince

Two New Restaurants, Much Promise for Wine in Chicago: M.F.K. Restaurant & Parachute

This week I take a look at the wine lists for two new restaurants receiving much critical acclaim for their food. These are not the kinds of wine lists upon which the Wine Spectator will ever bestow a Grand Award, but rather very personal, small lists with a point of view. Ballers and Whales may be disappointed, but wine lovers, true true wine lovers will be pleasantly surprised. In a city where it is too easy just to throw a "craft beer and cocktail" list together and stick a bunch of uninspiring wines on tap, it is really nice to see this kind of thing happening once again.

===

M.F.K. Restaurant has a beachy, clean vibe to it. It's tiny (40 seats), and seafood-focused. The wine list is Euro-centric and culls from regions that have close proximity to water; Sicily, Nantes, Basque Spain etc. Scott Worsham, one of the owners (along with his wife, Sari Zurnish Worsham) is the person responsible for the list. He chooses to focus on producers who try to uphold responsible, environmental standards in their vineyards, not always easy in places near water, where keeping mold under control is a constant battle. Copper-Sulfate is often liberally employed in cool, wet regions as an anti-rot agent. The list is heavier on the white side than red, and although small there are a multitude of inspired choices. While I do think there could be a few more choices for red, I think is a reflection of personal choice, not an oversight but rather a direct statement. I really admire this stance. Also there is no Champagne (Insert sad face here).

There is a small section on their website called "morsels" in which Mr. Worsham writes about the list. It is lovely and succinct writing, but then he makes some spurious claims regarding wine headaches and how biodynamic and natural wines won't cause these. While I agree that downing a bottle of Cupcake Pinot Grigio and a bag of Cheetos Mix-Ups™ will find you feeling pretty craptastic the next day, let's just say that the measure sulfur in P.P.M. on the Argiolas Vermentino is not exactly on the low side. Being an advocate of biodynamic wines myself, and having drunk my fair share of them, I can definitely say from my experience, that the key to the wine headache is moderation.

This kind of list speaks directly to my own personal taste in wine; cool climate, acid driven wines made for simply prepared food and fresh ingredients, so it is difficult for me to muster any type of criticism. Do I wish the list were bigger? Sure. Would that make sense in a 40 seat restaurant? Probably not! This kind of tidy, careful wine list with each wine being chosen for a reason, to work with a dish or simply because Mr. Worsham thought it was delicious, and this is the kind of thing we need more of in this city. Everything is available by the glass, which is nice. Prices range from $8-$18/ glass and everything is also available by the bottle.

M.F.K. Restaurant
432 W. Diversey Parkway
773-857-2540
http://www.mfkrestaurant.com

===

Parachute has also recently opened, to critical acclaim, and is also a husband and wife team (Beverly Kim, of Top Chef fame and her less famous, but equally talented husband, Johnny Clark). The food is Korean American, like the husband and wife. Matty Colston, a friend of mine, does the wine list. The menu is challenging: complex, densely flavored, umami-centered and bold. Quite a task, finding a wine list to match this!

At first, I was worried that Mr. Colston, a disciple of Jeremy Quinn, natural wine guru (also a great friend, I say this with affection) would go overboard on the natural wine thing, and the list would be teeming with those kinds of stinky, dirty, gritty wines that are prevalent in the natural wine catalog. Or perhaps it would be at Pet-Nats, those crown-capped, opaque and cake-y sparklers that dirty, French hipsters like to drink in small town bars, late at night, while smoking too many cigarettes.

I was not wrong about the Pet-Nats: there are three, and zero Champagne (insert Claire Danes cry face here). I do think the sparkling part of the list suffers from a lack of classic choices. However, Mr. Colston rights this imbalance as he gets into the white, rosé and red part of the list, effortlessly co-mingling classic wines like Isole E Olena's Chianti Classico with Matin Calme's "Ose", a cloudy, san sufre Grenache Blanc from the nether region between France and Spain, as dirty and natural as they get (but very delicious too).

Parachute does not allow BYOB, and they do offer everything by the glass, carafe or bottle. The prices are reasonable. The wine lists is actually arranged by price, which is a clever way to avoid having to categorize a very eclectic list. There only bummer is that you cannot bring in Champagne.

Matty- can you please add some damned Champagne???

Parachute
3500 N Elston Ave
Chicago, IL 60618
(773) 654 -1460
http://www.parachuterestaurant.com/#home

The Chicago Somm - Rachel Driver Speckan

What does the Chicago Somm look like? Whats it like to be a Somm in Chicago? We've asked questions both silly and serious of some of our best and brightest. Here's our first installments featuring Rachel Driver Speckan. New mom, educator, and somehow makes it to every tasting.

How did you start in the wine industry? Which restaurant or person?

I began my adventure in wine after graduating from MAPSS at the University of Chicago with a Masters Degree. As a student of Anthropology with extended time living in Italy studying folks, language and culture, I was enthralled and intrigued by food and wine, as well. I thirsted for more knowledge of wine, and the more I learned, the more there was to learn. I loved the dirt and the culture and the people. I was hooked. And, then, I stumbled upon the opening of LUSH Wine and Spirits. Growing a small business from scratch involves love, passion, challenges, and an intense on the job learning curve. It was an opportunity to crash into the industry and build a career. LUSH was not simply a retail bottle shop, it was an incubator for wine professionals, an event space, a restaurant, and a wine classroom. It was raw and real and edgy. Here I learned how to manage and run a business, manage staff, teach, coordinate events and professionally serve as a sommelier with expertise in wine, beer, and spirits.

I am entirely driven to find the perfect wine to pair with the client and the situation. I strive to provide not just a bottle sale, but to quench thirst and provide a memorable experience. Ideally, the client will take home a tangible connection to the wine and the evening. Rather than fit the client with a bottle that I want to move or sell, I love the challenge of suiting their needs and tastes.


What are you doing now (job, jobs, etc.)?

At the moment, I am the Wine Education Director for City Winery, as well as the Beverage Director at the Chicago location.

Are you currently or have you ever been involved in the court of master sommeliers or WSET? How far did you get in your journey?

I am a Certified Sommelier with the Court of Master Sommeliers, with the intention to sit the Advanced course in 2015. I also passed the WSET Advanced course with distinction.

What’s the best one liner from a sales rep you've heard?

A one liner from a sales rep. Good question. Hmmm, I'll think and come back. Nope. Nothing. Certain there are some gems hidden in my memory, however, I am surprising them.

If you could go back into time who would you want to make wine with?

Back in time to make wine. Super fun. However, I think that I would be absolutely thrilled to make wine currently with Elisabetta Foradori or Matthew Rorick. Okay, fine, to kick it back old school, I would do anything to make wine with Didier Dagueneau.

What unspeakable act would you commit to drink 1967 La Tache?

For 1967 La Tache, I would figure out a way to acquire clandestine seats at a Prince concert at City Winery. Probably something worse, if it came down to it. I am a rule follower, so this question makes me really nervous.

What’s your favorite dirty would to use to describe a bottle of wine?

A dirty word I would use to describe a bottle of wine is schist-y. Now that is sexy.

If you could transport to any restaurant and city in the world. Where would you go?

The restaurant that I am fiending for is Arzak in San Sebastian, Spain. Woman chef. Starred. Beautiful.

If you were a grape what would you be?

Chenin Blanc.

What wine programs are exciting you outside Chicago?

I love peeking at wine programs across the country. They are exciting. I am a big fan of the ballsy list at Terroir. I loved drinking at Charlie Bird. Blackberry Farm! Press for all the amazing historical American wine selections. I know some folks within Altamarea and really drool over their programs. I think Pascaline Lepeltier is super amazing and has a baller list. I sipped at Reynard this past winter and very much enjoyed perusing the pages of the wine list.

What about within Chicago?

I love drinking in Chicago! The list that I love the most is Arthur Hon's wine program at Sepia. However, the wine list I drink the most is Vera. I love diving into the badass selections at Rootstock. Matty Colston at Parachute is pushing the edge, daring to showcase wild and distinctive wines. I always keep Alpana Singh on the radar and watch the moves she is making. Her list is always solid and extremely conscious of her clientele. Haven't been to new Webster, but loved the old one and their cellar selections. Nico is killing it right now...like the way that kid Bret thinks about wine.

You've got the space to say anything to wine professionals in Chicago. What would you say?

Chicago has a brilliant and exciting wine culture and community. The sommeliers and beverage professionals are immersed in their craft and committed to furthering education and experience. With a supportive community of folks that live and love wine, there is an amazing opportunity to push Chicago into the wine scene internationally. I hope that we remain driven, passionate, challenge each other to be sharper, smarter and more polished. But, to always keep in mind that learning about wine is fun. Drinking wine is delicious. We should play with our profession and love it, not just go to work. We should research and respect wine history and tradition, but also look to innovation, rule breakers, and wild ones. Be a crazy nerd with a penchant for rocks and maps, wines that taste like dirt, but also keep up with trends and popular culture. Attain balance and cultivate a deep, textured and adventurous beverage culture and community.

WOW - West of West Festival

The highlight of my summer was working West of West Festival in Sebastopol, California. West of West is a group of wineries that are promoting the true Sonoma Coast vitcultural area. Sonoma is a massive growing area with 16 different AVA’s . The true coast is comprised of rugged terrain and is greatly effected by the foggy, blanketing effect of the pacific. David Hirsch was certainly on to something when he pioneered the area some 40 years ago.

2014 was the fourth year of WOW. The group hosts two tastings per year. They were in Chicago the first part of this year and held their California tasting at the amazing new facility in Sebastapol, The Barlow. The Barlow is a redeveloped area that opened last year and is home to wineries, tasting rooms, breweries, cafes, restaurants, etc. and is helping revitalize downtown Sebastapol.

14 somms from across the country, Hawaii to North Carolina were invited to fly to Sonoma to help work for the weekend. The event was three days of non-stop activity. We kicked everything off by each somming a dinner at different restaurants on Friday night with a host winery.

I fortunately got to work with one of the driving forces behind WOW, Andy Peay. Andy’s conviction and dedication to the west Sonoma coast is so serious it can be intimidating at times. He’s also very tall. The dinner was hosted at the Zazu Kitchen & Farm, an iconic restaurant founded in rural Santa Rosa in 2001 that relocated to the Barlow in Sebsatopl last year. The husband and wife team are the undisputed champions of all things pork. Andy hosted a group of his loyal wine club members and treated them to a delicious meal.

For this event I was paired with a very talented somm, Christian Varras. One of the most beneficial aspects of working events like WOW is meeting somms from other cities. It’s fun to network and find out about their programs and wine trends from certain parts of the country. Christian has an impressive resume working and is currently the wine director at River Oaks Country Club, in Houston, Texas.

Day two was a day of seminars. The first seminar, The evolution of California Cuisine and Wine, was a panel of some of the top SF restaurants, and how their food interacts with wine. The restaurants were Bar Tartine, Rich Table, State Bird Provisions.

Following that was a seminar on Charles Heintz Vineyard Chardonnay. A very fitting seminar as the Heintz family pioneered the true Sonoma coast over 100 years ago. The vineyards were originally planted to zinfandel and eventually replanted with apples during prohibition. Apples thrived in the area up until the early 80’s when the chardonnay vineyard was planted. Heintz sells fruit to several wineries, to name just a few: Peay, Littorai, Realm, Ceritas, DuMol, Zepaltas and Flowers.

The focus was a comparative of picking range times in the Heintz vineyard. Ceritas, Zepaltas, Littorai and DuMol were all represented. In addition to picking there were several other decisions made by the winery that effected the wine, traditional or organic farming, stainless or barrel, what size barrel? Each wine was expressive in their own right. The wines that were showcased in this seminar showed the impressive range of styles possible in the vineyard . This was no surprise as Heintz is a big vineyard. It sits about 900 ft above sea level and is around 100 acres large, 50 planted to vine. It’s only a few miles form the coast, situated on the second ridge from the sea.

The underlying theme was high acidity however the weight varied greatly throughout the wines. Ceritas was the leanest and most angular of the bunch and ended up being my favorite. They are adamant about farming organically. The most eye opening was the DuMol. Admittedly I feel like I pre judged this more than any other chardonnay in the group. Andy lets the wine sit on the lees for two winters and ages in hogsheads barrel. He believes that this helps connect the wine to the vineyards. This was the most round and powerful of the bunch but still displayed the Heintz freshness. The oak did not interfere much on the aromatics.

Two months removed I can’t stop thinking about the determination of this group, banned together to promote what they consider to be the best growing area of Sonoma. There was zero competitiveness amongst the group of wineries. Peay believes that promoting their region and each other’s wines will help increase every wineries visibility. Hopefully restaurants will increase their selections from West Sonoma and somms can share the bright fruit it produces. In the end it’s hard to pinpoint exactly what makes this place so special. I’d like to think it’s a combination of the climactic conditions that make it difficult to ripen fruit and the group of adventurous personalities shaping the future West Sonoma might be not the easiest wine region to farm for pinot noir but it’s certainly the most rewarding.

Serving Temperatures for Wine

I hate it but when I think about wine and temperature, I always think cheap beer.  No beer is too terrible if you make it as cold as possible.  It will be easier to drink and have less flavor, but a great level of refreshment. 

Temperature is an ingredient as wine professionals that we can control.  By changing temperature we can coax different flavors out of a wine to create the best version of it .  If it’s a light red with a little chill the fruit becomes more enveloping the tannin shrinks and the acidity is still present, but less sharp.  If it’s a richer white a little less chill allows the primary, secondary and tertiary flavors to come out.  Nothing will be masked.  The complexities will come out in full force and the light chill will leave the drinker refreshed after each sip.

What are the ideal temperatures for wines?  How do we maintain temperature in the dining room?  What wines deserve what temperatures? How does it effect pairing?

Ideal temperatures generally speaking (in fahrenheit):

Champagne and sparkling wine should be served from 38 to 50 degrees.  The higher the quality of sparkling wine the warmer you can allow it to be.

Crisp, high acid white wines should be served from 44 to 50 degrees, where richer whites can be served from 50 to 57 degrees.

Lighter bodied reds can be served from 53 to 63 degrees.

Full bodied reds should be served from 63 to 69 degrees.

Service:

Where do you keep your wines during service? 

Are they kept in a termperature controlled environment? 

How do you monitor temperature throughout service? 

Who is maintaining the ice in the stations and how do they do it?

Some are lucky to have temperature controlled storage for all wines even those by the glass, but for most of us its refrigerators for white wines, cellar temperatures for red wines that are not by the glass and ice buckets on the floor.  Lots and lots of ice buckets.   

Its easy to shove a bottle of pinot grigio in an ice bucket and forget about it, but what do we do when it’s a beautiful bottle of white burgundy.  Or a red wine by the glass? 

My advice is very simple.  Keep monitoring your wine temperatures.  Keep your ice fresh so that you can lay some items on top of it and dig some deep into it.  Use large buckets for wines by the glass.  Make it look soignee.  What we did for red wines at Ai Fiori which I thought was brilliant was take a linen and lay it over the ice and place the red wines on that linen.  It not only prevented the labels from getting too wet, but it allowed the wine to not slip into the ice as it melted.  This meant that with close attention we could keep reds at appropriate temperatures for by the glass pours.

Ideally in the best of all possible worlds all wines by the glass will come from and return to temperature controlled environments, but due to cost this is unlikely for most restaurants.  It is important to remember that every step of the way this wine has been kept at a specific temperature (fifty degrees) to keep the wines sound during transport to the restaurant and thus the guest.  It is our job to make sure that we show the wines in the best possible way to pay tribute to the producer’s work and not to diminish its quality by serving it too hot or too cold.

#drinknapa

Napa as many of you know was hit with a 6.0 earthquake that was shattering to many people’s homes and wineries. Many came out less scathed, but for many more the damage is real and at this point unquantifiable. One of the pictures that has been at the forefront of showcasing the damage of the earthquake is of the barrel room for Steve and Jill Matthiasson. Two of the kindest and most welcoming people in Napa as well as two of the most progressive, talented and creative winemaking professionals out there. They don’t know how much damage will be unsurfaced as they lift each full 600 pound oak barrel of wine up. They are happy that their family is healthy and they are pushing forward and not giving up.

Countless others are in similar situations – Lagier Meredith, Hess Collection, Trefethen, Saintsbury, BR Cohn and many more will come out in the news in the next days.

2 custom crush facilities were hit where small producers who don’t have wineries of their own store their barrels.


There is a campaign being started #drinknapa. As a city that still supports California wine above all other categories I hope we can find ways to lead the way in supporting these small to mid sized producers who were hit by the earthquake. What would happen if we poured these by the glass? How can we use social media to let Napa know that we stand beside them in their struggle and that though we are far away we want them to know that they are in our minds and hearts? Lets start with #drinknapa and begin a conversation.


We all go full circle in likes and dislikes about wine. Things float in and out of vogue. But people never do. And neither do their dreams. Lets do our best to support our friends and their art.

Thanks
Squire Wine Co

The Allocation Conundrum

Allocations are becoming something increasingly important in the wine industry, not just from the high end either. Repeat attacks by hail, drought and other difficult climatic conditions have threatened wine growers in France, Italy and America. Vintage to vintage the production numbers of some of our favorite producers are at an all time low. And then to add that only a small portion of these wines are making it into Chicago.

So it’s a two part question: how do we get these small production wines and how do we make Chicago into a destination that requires more of this small pie that we all want a piece of.

The second question is more difficult to answer and one of the real reasons for the creation of squire wine co.

The first question is something worth discussing.

Whether it be the big iconic names like DRC, Coche, Araujo, Harlan, Quintarelli, and the myriad of other amazing producers who command astronomic prices or the smaller producers who make tiny amounts of fantastic wine in lower rent areas in France, Italy and America they are all brought in by importers and distributors who all have their own agenda.

Its not some malevolent plan. They are not trying to take advantage of us. Just like any other business they have core producers that they work with. Producers who have much higher wine production than those highly allocated prod These producers create the base of that book. They pay the bills. 10,000 cases of one come into America and 500 of the other. But what’s important to note here is that that 500 case producer wants to be in a book that includes that 10,000 case producer. The producers that surround these iconic producers also define them too.

So how do you do it? How do you land these big names? First and most importantly, be a restaurant that can sell these wines. Wineries like this have restaurant check lists and want to be featured on specific wine lists. If you are on that list life is much easier, if not it’s still doable, but you have to recognize whether those three bottles are going to jump out to your clientele or wither away on a shelf only to be sold to an auction house a few years later.

Now if you can afford it and have clientele who are into these types of wine you have to make a game plan. DRC doesn’t just get offered to you every year. You have to look and see who imports DRC and then you come upon a much bigger book. And in that book there are a myriad of producers who you know and many you like. Some might even already be on your wine list. Find out from your wine rep which of these wineries are specifically important to this importer.

Is there room to offer any of these items by the glass? Can you fill a few bottle placements with some of these wines? Are these all choices that make you happier about your wine list or is that one coveted bottle all that matters? Think about it.

Now if you want a lot of allocated wine than you need a big wine list to appease all of these different importers and distributors. You can always try and pick off stray bottles that become available from people who didn’t pick up their allocations, but those will only be offered if you are in general a good client to a distributor or if you already took your entire allocation and some more just became available.

And its important to note that allocations are just as tight for the more inexpensive wines made by these allocated producers as well. Raveneau AC Chablis is as difficult to get as Les Clos. Coche Bougogne Blanc is just as difficult to get as Corton Charlemagne. They don’t have the same grand cru status, but they are made by the same people from their vines.

Its not that we have to be beholden to distributors or importers, but we do have to know that if we covet small production wines that others covet we will have to compete with them to get those wines. There are plenty of amazing producers out there who are not allocated, who to the general public are undiscovered, but it requires the sommelier to act as teacher for them to learn about them. And if we do our job too well those producers will be allocated as well soon.