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Sake and Such at Angeli Caffe

Angeli Caffe was jammed last Thursday, the night allotted to special dinners apart from the restaurant’s regular menu.

This time, it was Japanese food paired with sake produced in Oregon, a novelty that alone could have drawn a crowd.

After a sweet, floral appetizer sake, Guest chef Jet Tila started the dinner with miso soup–not the bland, yellowish stuff that I always push aside in Japanese restaurants, but soup so good I wanted more.

This one was made with red miso and dashi (Japanese soup stock) prepared from scratch, not from instant granules.  Shimeji mushrooms and seaweed strands gave it substance.

SakeOne’s Silver, poured with the soup, seemed dry and crisp at first, but became softer and sweeter as it interreacted with the flavors of the soup.

Three beautiful pieces of nigiri sushi came next, topped with tuna, salmon and sweet, chewy eel. No need to drown these in pools of soy sauce or overpower them with wasabi. Tila had brushed each with its own sauce and tucked in a dash of fresh wasabi root, making three perfectly seasoned packages.

Medium dry Diamond, which accompanied the sushi, could go well with non-Asian dishes such as pasta--anything with which you would serve a white wine, said Dewey Weddington, SakeOne’s vice president of marketing. All the sakes were served slightly chilled. Heating destroys the flavor, he pointed out.

Next came the salad course--platters of firm tofu wedges covered with bonito flakes, thinly sliced cucumber and strands of nori (dried seaweed). The distinctive ingredient in the dressing was seasoned sesame powder.

SakeOne’s Pearl, a creamy, cloudy, sweet sake, paired well with the light, sweet flavors of this dish.

Black cod marinated in fermented sake lees (kasu) arrived next, on platters of soba noodles. Sake One’s Ruby showed floral and fruity components as well as crisp notes—good for fish with slightly sweet components.

G, an undiluted sake in a chunky, macho bottle (the others were in graceful, slim bottles), accompanied Tila’s “homestyle teriyaki,” chicken marinated with soy sauce and mirin, presented on a bed of rice cooked with shiitake mushrooms, wine and dashi.

Dinner then ended with bowls of green tea and taro frozen yogurt dotted with bits of chewy mochi (rice cakes).

To learn more about Angeli Caffe’s Thursday dinners, go to www.angelicaffe.com. The restaurant is located at 7274 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90046. Tel: (323) 936-9086.

SakeOne, the only American-owned and operated sake brewery, offers free tours of its facilities at Forest Grove, just outside Portland, Oregon. For more information, go to www.sakeone.com.

Mosby's Classic American 4th

The sky was slightly misty, or was it smoke from the fires ranging around Santa Barbara? Still, the sun shone brightly on Mosby Winery’s annual Independence Day celebration and flag retirement ceremony last Saturday in Buellton.

Guests gathered in the patio behind Mosby’s historic adobe house to snack on spicy buffalo sausages, olives, cheese, salsa and chips and listen to country music.

Chicken and ribs were grilling over red oak out back, sending tempting aromas toward the visitors, most of them wearing red, white and blue.

The menu: A classic Fourth of July spread of chicken, ribs, green salad, potato salad, boiled sweet corn, beans, garlic bread and, for dessert, a cake frosted with a replica of the American flag.

A dry spice rub added zesty flavor to the meats, and the chicken picked up even more flavor from steaming over beer, garlic and herbs after it was grilled.

There was plenty of wine too, poured at a bar shaded by grape vines.

Guests held up souvenir glasses etched with winemaker Bill Mosby's signature for tastes of Mosby Cortese, La Donna white wine, which is a blend of Cortese and Chardonnay, and a deeply colored Italian red, Ossessione, made from Montepulciano grapes.

Mosby (in the photo below) supervises the making of Ossessione in Italy, where he controls a vineyard in the Marche. The wine is bottled there, then shipped here. Only 400 casess were made of Ossessione 2005, the first release and the wine served at the party.

“It’s like a very well extracted Zinfandel or Sanviovese,” says Mosby, who specializes in Cal-Italian wines. He recommends it with robust dishes such as game, roast beef and sauerbraten. However, it went just fine with chicken and ribs.

After lunch, partygoers stood quietly for a moving rendition of taps followed by the burning of worn flags, supervised by a military honor guard from Vandenberg Air Force Base.  Retired military officers and parents of servicemen deployed in Iraq carried the flags to the fire.

To get on the list for next year’s barbecue or to order wine, call 1(800) 70-Mosby. Or email to mosbywines@yahoo.com. Cortese is $18; La Donna is $14, and Ossessione is $26. The winery is located at 9496 Santa Rosa Road, Buellton, CA. 933427-9482, just off Highway 101.

A Threat to Chile's Vineyards?

It's a sad and all too common story, prime agricultural land being sold for housing. And it’s happening to the vineyards around Vina Quebrada de Macul in Chile.

This winery produces Domus Aurea, an iconic, high-priced Cabernet Sauvignon destined primarily for export.

The winery is small, and the land around it is beautiful. The area is the Alto-Maipo Valley in the commune of Penalolen, far enough outside Santiago and high enough so that one can see the brown layer of pollution that clouds the city.

The terrain rises to a spectacular view of the Andes, snow-capped all year. No wonder people want to live here.

For now, at least, Vina Quebrada will retain its 26 hectares (about 64 acres) of vineyards, which yield the grapes for Domus and two other premium reds, Alba de Domus and Stella Aurea.

The only other wineries that remain in what is one of the oldest vineyard areas in Chile are Aquitania and Cousino Macul.

Forty years ago, the grandfather of  Ricardo Pena, the attorney who owns Vina Quebrada, bought the land from Cousino Macul, planted food crops and reverted to grapes when those did not do well. 

The winery building is small and not open for touring. “We put our money into wine, not into something to impress people,” says wine consultant Rodolphe Bourdeau, who offered to guide me through the property (he is at right in the photo above). And so there is no tasting room, no place to buy the wines. 

Before entering the winery, we look at the 16 hectares that are devoted to Cabernet Sauvignon. The vines, leaves turning yellow now, were planted in the early 1970s. The remaining 10 hectares include Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot and more Cabernet Sauvignon.

The soil is littered with stones washed down from the Andes. The roots of the vines go very deep so that little irrigation is needed, Bourdeau says. Despite the poor soil, the Cabernets from this area rank among Chile's finest.

Temperatures during harvest can be very cold at night, hot during the day. This year, the harvest was late and long, ending just two days before my visit well after the middle of May. Winery workers stand in clusters, relaxing for a moment now that the intense work of harvest and crush is over.

A vineyard block is divided into five areas that are divided again into thirds according to altitude. Even a slight rise in the land makes a difference, Bourdeau says. To me, the rise is barely perceptible.

We go inside to taste the makings of Domus from stainless steel tanks and French oak barrels.

“Many times when we bottle this wine, we are a little bit scared, but after one and a half  years in the bottle, it develops,” says Bourdeau. The wine maker is Jean-Pascal Lacaze.

One of the young Cabernets that I taste from a tank is impressive, beautiful.  Bourdeau calls it  “the soul of 2008.”  And he enthuses about the sensations  of black currants, mint, balsamic, eucalyptus and fresh and brilliant fruits.

It is so good that I wish we could pull up a table and sit down to a lunch of cheeses, bread and this wine, which will eventually go into a blend.

For Domus, Cabernet Sauvignon is blended with small amounts of other varietals. Depending upon the vintage, these could include Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. "This place has a very strong personality. In a blind tasting, it is almost impossible not to recognize it,” Bourdeau says.

I’m not sure that I’ll ever taste Domus, because none of the wine shops in my vicinity have it, although there are distributors in the United States.

Internet prices range from $35 to $75, depending upon the vintage and the source. The price in Chile is around $80, Bourdeau says. (Fluctuating eschange rates determine the actual price.)

The latest release, 2006, consists of only 3,000 cases, less for Alba de Domus, and still less for Stella Aurea. And the company exports to 30 countries. Only 5 per cent remains in Chile.

A fourth label, Vina Penalolen is a smoother, easy-to-drink wine made from purchased grapes as well as those from the property. It is more widely available and moderately priced, around $15.

As soon as I return to Santiago I have to catch my flight home, so I can’t go to the shops where Bourdeau says I might find Domus. However, I do leave with a souvenir—two very small Andean stones that I found among the Cabernet vines—a much nicer memento than another T-shirt, engraved wine glass or logo bottle opener.

A Quick Wine Tour in Chile

The French couple that I am having breakfast with in Santiago look perplexed. ”We want to see a winery while we are in Chile,” they tell me, "but we have so little time.”

Not to worry. Even if you have only a day or two, it is possible to visit a top Chilean winery, tour its spacious grounds and historic wine caves, sip a glass or two of wine and be back in Santiago in time for lunch--or to catch a plane to your next destination.

That is, if you take the 10 a.m. tour at Santa Carolina Winery, as I did. For late sleepers, there are tours at 12:30, 3 and 4:30 p.m. The tour lasts an hour, but you can linger in the brand new tasting room, which was completed in early 2008.

Most wineries are located in farflung valleys, but Santa Carolina is right in town. Line 5 of the Metro takes you to the stop Rodrigo de Araya. From there, it’s a three-block walk.

Your tour group will assemble in a room where historic wine bottles are on display, including the only two left of a special bottling in honor of Pope John Paul II’s visit to Chile in 1987. The labels show the papal insignia.

Then you’ll pass by a room of stainless steel fermentation tanks and head outdoors to see the old chapel, constructed in 1875, when roof tiles were molded over human thighs. The chapel, and the country house where winery workers once lived, are now offices.

The national flower of Chile, copihue, grows in the courtyard of this old building.  Although its habitat is the far south, the plant has survived in this location.  A red copihue was in bloom when I was there in May.

A broad park used for weddings and other events includes one example of a Chilean palm that yields honey.

My guide, Macarena Moya, explained that a popular dessert in Chile is bananas topped with this miel de palma. The honey comes in cans small enough to take home as a souvenir. I picked one up at a Lider supermarket.

But I’m here to taste wine, not honey.  And here it is, a bottle and glasses set out on a wine barrel beside the walkway. The wine is Santa Carolina Barrica Selection Carmenere 2006, produced from grapes from the Rapel Valley. There are no vineyards at this site.

Only in Chile does Carmenere grow on its own roots, Moya says proudly. In Europe, phylloxera wiped out grape vines in the late 1800s, and new cuttings had to be planted on resistant American root stock.

Now we are heading into the warehouse and wine caves. Built over a 21-year period starting in 1877, they were named a national monument in 1973. To comply with that honor, worn-out flooring had to be replaced with an exact replica of the original.

We see huge fudres, tanks of Chilean oak in which wines were fermented before the era of  temperature-controlled stainless steel tanks and smaller lots of wine. A few are still in use, but only to ferment young wines for cooking.

Now, wines are aged in French oak barrels in beautifully-arched and illuminated underground caves, designed to resist earthquakes. The oldest part was built by a technique known as cal y canto, bricks put together with egg whites and lime.

Wines reserved for the original owners were stored behind a railing at one end of a long corridor.

The founder, Luis Pereira Cotapos,  brought enologists from France and commissioned a French architect to design the imposing warehouse. The winery was named for his wife, Carolina Iniguez Vicuna. 

Our tour ends in the new tasting room, where I am poured a glass of Santa Carolina Reserva de Familia Cabernet Sauvignon 2005. The room is spacious and comfortable, with places to relax. A large screen is there for a slide show, the finale of a tour for architectural students conducted by the architect who handled the recent restoration project. Not only were the premises revamped, the  wine labels have also been redesigned.

Santa Carolina is now part of a large agroindustrial group, Watt’s S.A., which produces processed foods and beverages.

Carolina Wine Brands is the new name for the wine operation, which has an office in Charleston. South Carolina. Perhaps this will make it easier to locate the wines in the United States.

The sixth largest wine producer in Chile in terms of exports, Carolina Wine Brands has five lines.

The oldest is Santa Carolina, which ranges from varietals to icon wines.  Vina Casablanca is a boutique line from the Casablanca Valley. Antares is aimed at a young market.

Vina Ochagavia wines range from varietals to grand reserve wines. This line is named for Silvestre Ochagavia, who founded his namesake winery in 1851 and is considered the father of Chilean viticulture.

Finca el Origen produces Malbec and other varietals at a property in Mendoza, Argentina.

Head winemaker Sven Bruchfeld studied at UC Davis in California as well as the prestigious Universidad Catolica in Santiago. Once a month he takes the 30-minute flight to Mendoza to oversee winemaking operations there.

Fortunately, he is in town, and I meet up with him for a tasting before I leave. We sample wines from the Santa Carolina and Casablanca lines, including the intense Reserva de Familia Carmenere 2006, which spent a year or so in barrels.

Although Carmenere is Chile’s signature wine, Chileans  buy mostly Cabernet Sauvignon, Bruchfeld says.  “In Chile, Carmenere is very good, but other varietals are also good,” he adds. Bruchfeld himself is partial to Syrah.

When I ask what these wines will sell for in the United States, I am amazed at the low prices.  Even the top of the line icon wine, VSC, a Cabernet Sauvignon blend, will cost only about $25.

I figured that shipping such a long distance would be expensive, but that is not the case.  “Shipping costs nothing,” Bruchfeld says.  And I determine to seek out these wines when I go home.

Bruchfeld has a meeting now, so our tasting of a dozen wines ends, and I head back to lunch in  Santiago.

Santa Caroline Winery Tour Schedule:

Tours are offered Monday through Friday at 10 a.m., 12:30, 3 and 4:30 p.m. Saturday tours take place at 10 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. The winery is closed Sundays.

The basic tour is about $15, and includes tastings of two reserve wines. The icon tour, at approximately $33 (the exact amounts depend upon currency exchange rates), includes tasting of two premium wines and one icon wine.

To schedule a tour, go to the web site,  http://www.santacarolina.com, and click on “contact,”  then click on “tours” in the subject box. The address is Vina Santa Carolina, Rodrigo de Araya 1431, Macul, Santiago, Chile. The telephone is (56-2) 450-3000.

The Photos:

From the top, pouring wine during the tour; the old country house, now offices; copihue in bloom, an underground wine cave; earthquake-proof arches; Santa Carolina wines; winemaker Sven Bruchfeld.

Sunday School for Wine Lovers

Going to school on Sunday is a real drag--unless the class you are attending is a wine appreciation seminar at San Antonio Winery in downtown Los Angeles.

It took a large room to hold the enthusiastic students taking Wine 103, the class that I attended. This was the third in a series that started with Wine 101, “An Introduction to Wine,” in January, and Wine 102, “How to Get the Wine You Want,” in  March.

Wine 103’s topic was “A Match Made in Heaven,” or how to pair wine and cheese. The assignment was to taste eight wines and match these with samples of Boucheron, Parmigiano Reggiano, Brie, Gorgonzola Dolce, Pecorino Toscano and Emmental cheeses.

Our guidelines were to pair red wines with harder cheeses and white wines with softer cheeses, taking into account that semi-dry and sweet wines are more versatile with cheeses than dry wines.

Still more pointers:

Soft and/or mild cheeses such as fresh goat cheese marry well with light crisp wines such as Pouilly-Fume or Sancerre.

Assertive, strong flavored cheeses such as Provolone call for young robust red wines such as Chianti Classico or Shiraz.

Aged mellow cheeses such as Parmigiano Reggiano and Gouda go well with an older robust wine such as a Bordeaux or California Cabernet Sauvignon.

But the class assignment was to eat as well as taste. So while we nibbled the cheeses and sipped Giesen Sauvignon Blanc 2007 from New Zealand and Comte Lafond Sancerre 2005, we ate a jumbo-sized blue lump crab cake with spicy remoulade.

Then we matched Claiborne & Churchill Dry Riesling 2006 and Domaines Schlumberger Gewurtraminer “Fleur” 2005 with a smoked chicken breast and fruit salad with a mint yogurt vinaigrette.

Moving on to red wines, we drank Antinori Chianti Classico Riserva 2003, San Simeon Cabernet Sauvignon 2003 and Penfolds 389 Cabernet/Shiraz 2004 with roasted pork loin stuffed with Spanish chorizo accompanied by nappa cabbage, coriander mashed potatoes and fresh fava beans in shiitake au jus.

The lesson ended with Grans-Fassian Riesling Eiswein 2001 and a pear and mascarpone charlotte with sour cherry jubilee.

San Antonio Winery's next series of three seminars and lunches will focus on wines of the world. They are “A Day in Tuscany” April 26; “The Wines of Germany and Alsace” May 18, and “Wines from Down Under,” June 21.

The seminars are $75 each or $200 for a package of three.  To enroll, call (323) 223-1401. Ask for Michael Papalia at ext. 8771. Or email to wineshop@sanantoniowinery.com.  The winery is located at 737 Lamar Street, Los Angeles, CA 90031.

A Super Sauvignon Blanc

San Antonio Winery Maddalena Sauvignon Blanc 2006.

This is the perfect wine to welcome spring. It’s fresh, crisp and as light as a spring day, with just enough grassy-citrus flavor to make it interesting.

The sun glinting through a glass of this pale wine is a beautiful sight, so serve it in the late afternoon on the patio, with cheeses. I poured it with a spicy pork milanesa and another time with creamed chicken and noodles. In other words, it’s good with just about anything.

The suggested retail price is $11.95.

What's Best with Barolo?

What would you serve with a $400 bottle of wine?

That’s something I don’t have to worry about, so I asked Luca Currado, owner/winemaker of Vietti, whose Barolo Riserva Villero 2001 sells for $400—if you can find it.

(If not, you’ll have to settle for Vietti’s estate-bottled single vineyard Barolos. Those from the 2004 vintage, due out this spring, cost only $130.)

Currado’s ideal Barolo menu starts with steak tartare or carpaccio. A salad with fresh greens and chicken breast or quail eggs and tomatoes would also work, he says.

The next course would be pasta, homemade and sauced with cream and fresh mushrooms.

The ideal meat dish would be grilled lamb or veal marinated with Barolo and then braised. Lamb is obviously Currado’s choice, because grilled rack of lamb accompanied Vietti wines at a lunch that Currado hosted at Paperfish in Beverly Hills.

A bowl of luscious seasonal fruits such as peaches and apricots is enough for dessert, accompanied by a sparkling Moscato d’Asti, some of which would be poured into the bowl with the sliced fruit.

If you’re a high-end wine buyer (I’m not. Severe rain damage and crumbling foundations have preempted my budget this year), the Vietti Barolos to look for are the 2004 Rocche, Brunate  and Lazzarito, each named for a vineyard, as is Villero. The 2004 and 2001 vintages are the finest in years, Currado says.

Why do these wines cost so much?  An acre of Barolo land  (Barolo is produced in the Piedmont region of northern Italy) is worth $300,000 to $400,000, for starters. Vietti harvests only .8 to 1.2 tons of grapes per acre, which adds up to about one bottle for each vine.

The Riserva Villero? Don’t even ask. Vietti has made this wine only seven times since 1982, and the little that is available is allocated to collectors.

A Good Wine

Adelaida Cellars Roussanne Grenache Blanc 2005. 

The bad news is, this Central Coast white Rhone blend is sold out. However, the 2006 is due to be released in time for spring and summer dining.

The 2005 is 57 % Grenache Blanc and 43% Roussanne, grown in calcareous soil that is ideal for Rhone wines.

Crisp and fruity, with nice acid, it is a delightful food wine and so well balanced that the high alcohol content—14.9 %.—isn’t apparent.  The winery retail price is $27.

For further information, go to http://www.adelaida.com.

A Good (Non)Wine

Navarro Vineyards of Mendocino makes a luscious non-alcoholic Gewürztraminer—adult grape juice that the kids will love too.

The flavor is rich, sweet and honeyed, so delicious that you won’t miss the alcoholic kick. In case you do, Navarro makes Gewurztraminer as a wine too.

The grapes for the juice were harvested in September, 2007 and bottled in October  The wine grapes were harvested in 2006, and the wine was bottled in May, 2007.

The juice is $11 a bottle. The wine is $19. Order either one through the winery. Call 1(800) 537-WINE or go to http://www.navarrowine.com/shop.

A Good Wine

Trapiche Malbec 2006. This inexpensive Malbec is the type of wine you’d find at a home barbecue in Argentina.

Trapiche makes more expensive Malbecs, but this one is all you need to go with zesty foods such as Argentinian grilled beef with highly seasoned chimichurri sauce or American barbecue with spicy, sweet marinades.

The wine is worth searching for, because 2006 was one of the best vintages in recent years in Mendoza, Argentina’s main wine district, where Bodegas Trapiche is located.

I picked up a bottle for $6.49 at Catalina’s Market, 1070 N. Western Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90029. Tel: (323) 46 1-2535. The photo shows  it at Café-Bar Montecarlo in Palermo Viejo, Buenos Aires.

For more information, go to http://www.trapiche.com.ar.