After our last trip to Napa and Sonoma, my wife and I stopped for a day in San Francisco to visit some friends. In our travels we came across some amazing art work in one of the galleries.
Paintings of famous wine capturing part of the experience of drinking such wine. The painting evoked so much emotion and had so much detail you struggled to believe 1) that they were paintings and 2) that while looking at it you weren't there.
Turns out the artist is Thomas Arvid.
We ended up buying the following book, I highly recommend you check it out.
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Friday, June 27, 2008
Wine & Spirits Magazine Hot Picks
Last Tuesday my wife and I went to the Wine & Spirits Magazine Hot Picks in Seattle. It was held at the Paramount theatre which seemed like an odd location at first but I really like the way it panned out.
They took out all of the seating on the main floor except at the very back which opened up the whole area right up to the stage (they used the covered pit as well). The Paramount has an ornate look to it and when you added in some lighting, some music and load of tables of wine and food, it just made for a great venue.
As you walked in to the event, there was white wine to the right, red wine to the left and desert wines right as you walk in. They grouped the wines by region which was a thoughtful touch.
The food was all tapas style... some were just tastes, bites of stuff. Restaurants represented included Monsoon, Qube, Herb Farm, Canlis, The Harvest Vine, Tom Douglas catering and Crush among a few others.
Really liked the lamb bites that Canlis provided and the prosciutto pizza that The Harvest Vine provided. It was cool to see all of the chefs from the restaurant there although I image the conditions they had to cook were far less than ideal. Even so, the food was tasty.
Among the wines, Pelton House and Cadence really stuck out as good. The Pelton House wines were made in more of a French style and we really enjoyed a nice discussion with the winemaker. Cadence had their second label, Coda there which was really quite good as well.
Overall, it was a really good event.
They took out all of the seating on the main floor except at the very back which opened up the whole area right up to the stage (they used the covered pit as well). The Paramount has an ornate look to it and when you added in some lighting, some music and load of tables of wine and food, it just made for a great venue.
As you walked in to the event, there was white wine to the right, red wine to the left and desert wines right as you walk in. They grouped the wines by region which was a thoughtful touch.
The food was all tapas style... some were just tastes, bites of stuff. Restaurants represented included Monsoon, Qube, Herb Farm, Canlis, The Harvest Vine, Tom Douglas catering and Crush among a few others.
Really liked the lamb bites that Canlis provided and the prosciutto pizza that The Harvest Vine provided. It was cool to see all of the chefs from the restaurant there although I image the conditions they had to cook were far less than ideal. Even so, the food was tasty.
Among the wines, Pelton House and Cadence really stuck out as good. The Pelton House wines were made in more of a French style and we really enjoyed a nice discussion with the winemaker. Cadence had their second label, Coda there which was really quite good as well.
Overall, it was a really good event.
Sunday, June 8, 2008
Masterpiece/Winemaker's Dinner at the Lake Washington Technical College
A cool thing that we discovered after taking a wine class at the Lake Washington Technical College is that twice a year they put on a Masterpiece / Winemaker's dinner.
The culinary students prepare the dinner and each course is paired with wine. At the most recent event last Thursday, the wines were supplied by Parducci Winery (Mendocino Wine Company), last Winter the wines were from Kana Winery.
The beauty of this event is that the food is all wonderfully prepared by the culinary students as part of their graduate work, and the cost is about half of what you would expect for such an event.
I highly recommend that you look into the Culinary Schools around your neighborhood, I doubt that LWTC is the only school that does this kind of thing.
The culinary students prepare the dinner and each course is paired with wine. At the most recent event last Thursday, the wines were supplied by Parducci Winery (Mendocino Wine Company), last Winter the wines were from Kana Winery.
The beauty of this event is that the food is all wonderfully prepared by the culinary students as part of their graduate work, and the cost is about half of what you would expect for such an event.
I highly recommend that you look into the Culinary Schools around your neighborhood, I doubt that LWTC is the only school that does this kind of thing.
Saturday, June 7, 2008
Dinner at Crush in Seattle
Recently, my wife and I ate at Crush in Madison Park (suburb of Seattle). As we drove up to the restaurant we realized that it is a converted Tudor style home which gives the restaurant a lot of character. The downside is that finding parking is a bit tough (no parking lot) and the restaurant capacity is somewhat limited (which on further reflection, may be a good thing).
As we walked in, we were greeted at the door by Chef Jason Wilson as the host was on the phone. This was a bit of a surprise, a pleasant surprise. While we were there, we didn't see him cook, he alternated between host his guests, and watching his staff/checking over the food.
As you walk in, the host stand is in front of you with steps to an upper floor to the immediate right. Scanning to the right there is a bar, behind which is the kitchen and some tables. To the left is a main dining area with tables.
The restaurant has a very clean look in a modern style (the Crush web site has a good picture of the dining room). The chairs were white, plastic egg-like things, very modern but not terribly comfortable. Overall, it looked nice and had enough warmth that it felt good to be there. Unfortunately, we found through the course of our evening that it was hard to have a nice conversation due to the high level of ambient noise. At times that was a little frustrating.
Chef Jason Wilson describes the food at Crush as Modern Northwest Cuisine. The menu changes quite frequently but you can expect to see a fair number of seafood dishes as well as grilled meats. We had the really light yet tasty Baby Beet Salad with Blue Cheese & Pear to start and had a pasta with beef rib for our main course. The pasta was a bit on the rich side for us as it had cream and olive oil but the quality of the food and cooking was apparent. I did spy what looked like really outstanding scallop and lamb dishes at the table next to us and kind of wished I had ordered something different. Next time I guess.
We ended our meal with bread pudding which was cooked the way we like it - not too sweet.
Overall, it was a good meal, probably the main thing that wrecked it for us was the noise level. I would be wary of going here for a date or romantic occasion for that reason.
Definitely make reservations, word on the street is that Crush tends to overbook on the reservations so bring patience - although it is important to note that we got seated right at our reservation time and had no complaints in that regard. Service was good.
As we walked in, we were greeted at the door by Chef Jason Wilson as the host was on the phone. This was a bit of a surprise, a pleasant surprise. While we were there, we didn't see him cook, he alternated between host his guests, and watching his staff/checking over the food.
As you walk in, the host stand is in front of you with steps to an upper floor to the immediate right. Scanning to the right there is a bar, behind which is the kitchen and some tables. To the left is a main dining area with tables.
The restaurant has a very clean look in a modern style (the Crush web site has a good picture of the dining room). The chairs were white, plastic egg-like things, very modern but not terribly comfortable. Overall, it looked nice and had enough warmth that it felt good to be there. Unfortunately, we found through the course of our evening that it was hard to have a nice conversation due to the high level of ambient noise. At times that was a little frustrating.
Chef Jason Wilson describes the food at Crush as Modern Northwest Cuisine. The menu changes quite frequently but you can expect to see a fair number of seafood dishes as well as grilled meats. We had the really light yet tasty Baby Beet Salad with Blue Cheese & Pear to start and had a pasta with beef rib for our main course. The pasta was a bit on the rich side for us as it had cream and olive oil but the quality of the food and cooking was apparent. I did spy what looked like really outstanding scallop and lamb dishes at the table next to us and kind of wished I had ordered something different. Next time I guess.
We ended our meal with bread pudding which was cooked the way we like it - not too sweet.
Overall, it was a good meal, probably the main thing that wrecked it for us was the noise level. I would be wary of going here for a date or romantic occasion for that reason.
Definitely make reservations, word on the street is that Crush tends to overbook on the reservations so bring patience - although it is important to note that we got seated right at our reservation time and had no complaints in that regard. Service was good.
Sunday, June 1, 2008
An Evening with Brian Carter
I went to "An Evening with Brian Carter" at Vino 100 in Bellevue last night. We tried the latest offerings from Brian Carter cellars paired with food. Brian Carter himself was there to describe the wines, his thinking behind each one and so on. Quite a treat.
The pairing of the Oriana Southern Rhone White Blend with a Nicoise inspired salad with fresh Crab instead of tuna was outstanding. That experience of having both the wine and the food taste better because you have them together is one of the things I really enjoy about having wine with dinner.
Basically tasted the whole lineup of wines:
TUTTOROSSO, Super-Tuscan Style Blend
ORIANA, White Wine Blend
SOLESCE, Bordeaux-Style Blend
BYZANCE, Southern Rhone-Style Blend
L'ETALON, Bordeaux-Style Blend
ABRACADABRA, a Magically Whimsical Blend
The Abracadabra was described as being the result of the surplus after blending all of the first label wines... magically, this wine appears each year. In actually, we quite liked it as it had a very nice balance and was enjoyable to drink.
L'Etalon was our favorite and at $30-$35/bottle (same price as a few years ago) it's quite a good deal. I've drinken a couple of bottles of the 2002 which had more structure (most notably tannin) but tended to be more bitter.
There are trade offs of course, the 2004 we drank at this event was smoother right from the get go but didn't finish as long and I think the maturity date of the wine will be much sooner than the 2002.
Good event.
The pairing of the Oriana Southern Rhone White Blend with a Nicoise inspired salad with fresh Crab instead of tuna was outstanding. That experience of having both the wine and the food taste better because you have them together is one of the things I really enjoy about having wine with dinner.
Basically tasted the whole lineup of wines:
TUTTOROSSO, Super-Tuscan Style Blend
ORIANA, White Wine Blend
SOLESCE, Bordeaux-Style Blend
BYZANCE, Southern Rhone-Style Blend
L'ETALON, Bordeaux-Style Blend
ABRACADABRA, a Magically Whimsical Blend
The Abracadabra was described as being the result of the surplus after blending all of the first label wines... magically, this wine appears each year. In actually, we quite liked it as it had a very nice balance and was enjoyable to drink.
L'Etalon was our favorite and at $30-$35/bottle (same price as a few years ago) it's quite a good deal. I've drinken a couple of bottles of the 2002 which had more structure (most notably tannin) but tended to be more bitter.
There are trade offs of course, the 2004 we drank at this event was smoother right from the get go but didn't finish as long and I think the maturity date of the wine will be much sooner than the 2002.
Good event.
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