TableConversation.com

Santa Barbara Rhones Go On the Road

Walk-around wine tastings can be overwhelming, so it was nice to sit down at a seminar and taste just six.

This, the third day of the Santa Barbara Vintners Road Trip Los Angeles, was dedicated to Rhone style varieties. All of the events took place at République. 

The seminar I went to focused on Roussanne and Grenache. The thinking was, Syrah and Viognier are well established, so why not highlight two varietals less known in the region?

With Patrick Comiskey as moderator, six winemakers discussed their wines as tasters sipped and wrote notes. From left are Larry Schaffer, Bob Lindquist, Sonja Magdevski and Andrew Murray.  

Also on the panel were Steve Beckmen (left) and Mikael Sigouin. 

The three Roussannes (above), showed how different this wine can be. At the left is the 2014 Roussanne/Grenache Blanc blend from Andrew Murray, made with grapes from the Curtis Vineyard in the Santa Ynez Valley. Grenache Blanc can lift the weightier varieties, supplying acidity and a citrus quality, Murray said.

The wine next to it is the 2013 Roussanne La Presa Vineyard, Santa Ynez Valley, from Casa Dumetz.  Deep gold and full bodied, it came from an area that takes longer to warm up, is hot in the day and cools down faster than other locations.

"It's a tricky variety to pick," said winemaker Sonja Magdevski, because a bunch can be ripe on one side and unripe on the other. 

On the right in the photo is the Qupé 2012 Roussanne Bien Nacido Vineyard, Santa Maria Valley.  Roussanne "is not an easy wine to sell," said winemaker Bob Lindquist, because many consumers have never heard of it. Nevertheless, it is Qupé's most important white wine and the most expensive to produce and sell, he said.

Then the seminar moved on to Grenache. The wine on the left is the Tercero 2011 Grenache Larner Vineyard, Ballard Canyon. This is "my favorite Grenache that I've made up to this point," said winemaker Larry Schaffer. He made only three barrels--75 cases. His goal was to build aromatic complexity. The challenge in dealing with Grenache, he said, "is to just let it be." 

"I live and breathe Grenache," said Mikael Sigouin, who brought the Kaena 2013 Grenache from Larner Vineyard, Ballard Canyon. It's the wine in the center of the three and in the glass above. "Grenache is one of my favorite grapes for expressing the site," he said. To make this wine, he softened the tannins and pumped up the aromatics. "The biggest thing for Grenache is tannin management," he said. 

The last in the Grenache line-up was the Beckmen 2013 Grenache Purisima Mountain Vineyard, Ballard Canyon. The wine was blended with a small amount of Syrah and saw some oak. Aromatically rich, it exemplified what Beckmen said about winemaking: "When you take a grape and push it to an extreme, you can be rewarded."  

Indian Wines Headed for the U.S.

It was great fun, drinking wine from a paper bag in India. A friend bought the wine, and we shared it sitting on a curb in Pondicherry. Luckily, no one investigated our illegal cocktail hour. 

The wine, a Grover red blend, was surprisingly good, not sourish, like most Indians wines I had tasted. Fast forward a bundle of years, and I am tasting a Grover red blend again, not from a paper bag but at a respectable Indian restaurant in Los Angeles.

The earlier wine was fine. This one, the 2012 La Réserve Cabernet Sauvignon-Shiraz (above), was so good I would buy it by the case once it reaches Los Angeles. 

Grover has changed a lot over the years. The company is now Grover Zampa, the result of a merger, and produces quality wines that sell for as little as $9.  Already exporting internationally, Grover is entering the American market starting with eight states, including California.    

CEO Sumedh Singh Mandla (at the left) came from India for the Los Angeles tasting, held at India's Tandoori in Brentwood. The food was Indian, but not because Indian wines can't stand up to other cuisines.

"We usually do tastings with international food," Mandla said. "but Indian food is getting more refined, not as spicy, less oily, and well plated. We want to be part of that movement."

Wine-making in India started from scratch in the 1970s, despite the conviction that wines couldn't be produced in a tropical climate. At that time, Kanwal Grover, an Indian businessman, visited wineries in France and fell in love with what he tasted. Today, Grover vineyards are planted with French clones on American rootstock, and Kanwal Grover is regarded as the father of Indian viticulture.

The wines poured in Los Angeles were from vineyards in the Nandi Hills near Bangalore, one of three areas where the company has planted grapes, and the one that gives the best results. 

In the 1990s, renowned French enologist Michel Rolland came on board as consultant. More recently, Grover added star power by connecting with Vijay Amritraj, India's most famous tennis player. 

The two Vijay Amritraj wines are a Reserve Collection White (top right), which is a Viognier that is barrel fermented and aged on lees, and the Vijay Amritraj Reserve Collection Red (above), which blends Cabernet Sauvignon, Shiraz and Viognier. Amritraj is on the labels as he appeared in his heyday (above and at the top).

And here he is today, a surprise guest at the tasting.

The Amritraj white was paired with steamed mussels in a creamy curry-accented sauce. Chicken tikka masala (above), lamb seekh kebab and tandoor paneer went with La Réserve and the Vijay Amritraj red.

The other four wines were from the Art Collection, so named because each label features the work of an Indian artist. The painting above is by Paresh Maity, known for his tightly cropped faces.

The first wine poured was the 2013 Grover Art Collection Rosé (above), a dry, intense wine that is 100% Shiraz. Its deep salmony color resulted from skin contact with the grapes.

Paired with the rosé were potato pakoras with chickpea flour batter and spring rolls filled with noodles and vegetables (above).

The other Art Collection wines poured were a Sauvignon Blanc, made in the Loire style, and a Cabernet Shiraz, which was accompanied by chicken tandoori (above).  

Grover is experimenting with additional varietals. Tempranillo is giving good results, Mandla said. Others with potential are Cabernet Franc and Malbec. Merlot is less promising so far.

Syrah has done "wonderfully well," and Mandla recommends it with Indian food, as well as Viognier. Missing from the line are Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. "The climate is not cool enough for them," Mandla said.

Grapes are hand harvested and picked toward the evening, when the temperature is lower. White wine grapes go to a cold room to relax before the wine-making process begins. The vines are young, averaging 8 to 10 years, with 15-year-old vines producing the grapes for La Réserve. Tonnage is kept low. 

Grover produces 33 wines, seven of them chosen for the United States."The trend [wine-drinking] has not really picked up in India," Mandla said. There, spirits are more popular.

"Given the climate, rosé is good for India," he said. The  Art Collection rosé poured that day (at the right) was complex and assertive enough to be good anywhere, in my opinion. 

A Cookbook from the House of An

At last, Mama has put out a cookbook.

It's not your ordinary collection of homey family favorites, compiled with a mother's love. On the other hand, it is. Because Mama is Chef Helene An, and this is the way the Ans eat at home, and the way you will eat if you go to their restaurants. 

The House of An has five: Thanh Long and Crustacean in San Francisco, Crustacean Beverly Hills, where Mama is the executive chef; Tiato in Santa Monica and AnQi Gourmet Bistro & Noodle Bar in Costa Mesa.  

The title of the book, "Ăn: To Eat," is an interesting play on linguistics.  An, the family surname, is Vietnamese for "peace."  Put that little mark above the A, and the meaning becomes "to eat."

A book launch at Crustacean Beverly Hills had all the trimmings of the elite life Mama was born to in Vietnam: fine wines, spectacular floral arrangements (above), elegant china and a lavish parade of dishes, just as her family enjoyed until they fled Vietnam as refugees.

Three of her daughters attended the party, including Jacqueline An, who wrote the book with her mother. It's filled with wonderful food, as well as family history and insights into Vietnamese culture and history. This makes it a great read.

The recipes show how Mama elevates food to high levels, whether traditional Vietnamese or fusion. All have been tested for home use. Here are a few examples, from the launch party:

Oven-roasted lemongrass chicken is pure comfort food. The flavor comes from the Vietnamese herbs rau ram, Vietnamese balm, Vietnamese perilla (tiato) and lemongrass.  

A simple home style recipe for beef pho starts the book. The sophisticated version above, French onion pho with beef ravioli, was created for the James Beard House.  

Vietnamese steak tartare with honey truffle Dijon sauce is as good as fusion gets.

Ruoc--dried shredded chicken--was survival food during the war. Here, it's being piled onto rice cakes, then will be topped with quail eggs and served as an appetizer. 

An example of the role herbs play in Vietnamese cuisine, crispy turmeric fish is eaten with rice noodles, fresh dill and an herb platter.  

A warm goji berry-brown rice salad is full of healthy ingredients including ginkgo nuts, edamame, kale, baby bok choy and shiitake mushrooms. 

Would you believe beef stew is eaten for breakfast in Vietnam? It's an easy recipe that calls for only a few Vietnamese basics. 

Cooking tips, advice on how to entertain, wine and beer pairings, ingredient explanations--the book has everything--well almost. What's missing is the recipe for garlic noodles. The noodles and roasted crab made the Ans famous, dating from their start at a small Italian deli in San Francisco, where Mama gradually worked Vietnamese dishes into the menu.

So that no one can steal the recipes, they are prepared in a secret kitchen, one for each restaurant. Only family members and loyal staff are allowed in.

Now 73, Mama works as hard as ever. Calling her Mama may seem too informal, but even restaurant patrons get to use that term. In the photo above, she's with corporate chef Tony Nguyen, demonstrating recipes from the book at the start of the launch party. 

And here's how dinner ended-- coconut cake with rum syrup, coconut filling, whipped cream frosting and fresh berries.  

A New Place to Buy Indian Breads

These gorgeous golden flatbreads are methi thepla. Embedded with fresh fenugreek leaves (methi), they're  popular in the state of Gujarat in India.

But you don't have to go there to get them. You only have to go to Artesia and the new Pioneer Cash & Carry market. This enormous supermarket opened last October, not far from the original location in the heart of Little India. It's a paradise if you're looking for Indian ingredients--I loaded my cart with things I haven't seen elsewhere.

At one end is a huge bakery. It's glassed in so you can watch as the breads are made (above). If you're mesmerized by machinery in action, you'll be spellbound by two machines so fast they seem like miracle workers. One can turn out 1,000 balls of dough in 10 minutes. The other flattens the balls of dough and bakes them, producing 1,000 breads in an hour.

Devraj and Dhanu Keray own the market. Devraj is tending the machine (above). Dhanu is at the right in yellow. 

The kitchen has a walk-in oven for other breads including the soft white rolls for pav bhaji (above). This is a Mumbai street snack of bread accompanied by a spicy vegetable mixture.

After the bakery tour, the group I was with, the Kitchen Queens, gathered for a vegetarian lunch that included pav bhaji. Above is a homemade vegetable mixture to go with the rolls.

Hot off the griddle, methi thepla was delicious with homemade garlic potatoes and additional vegetable dishes from Jay Bharat, a nearby restaurant (above). Dessert was Indian style ice cream from Saffron Spot. 

This weekend I made my own pav bhaji with rolls I bought at Pioneer (above).  I split these and grilled them in butter.  My vegetable mixture certainly wasn't authentic--I put in poblano chile, celery root and mushrooms as well as tomatoes, potatoes, carrots, onion and cilantro, which are basic.

Because I didn't have pav bhaji masala, which you can get in Indian shops, I substituted garam masala. I also put in cumin seeds, garlic-ginger paste, amchur (mango powder) and added pats of butter for richer flavor. 

My only guidance came from the Internet. Despite its imperfections, my pav bhaji was tasty, and I'll make it again. It's perfect for vegetarians and, eliminating the butter, for vegans too.  

Pioneer Cash & Carry, 11700 183^rd Street, Artesia, Calif. 90701.

Mmmm--Malagousia, a Wine You'll Like

It's good to learn about a really nice white wine just as summer approaches. And here is one you may not have heard of--Malagousia, from Greece.

This wine grape was rescued from near extinction, a good thing, because it produces delightfully light, fresh floral wines. 

I had my first taste when the Greek winery Ktima Gerovassiliou staged a tasting at Ledlow in downtown Los Angeles. Ktima means "estate," so now you have at least one Greek word in your wine vocabulary. The wines from Gerovassiliou have just arrived in Los Angeles. They're not widely distributed, but if you come across one it's worth a try.

Here are three made with Malagousia.

Ktima Gerovassiliou Estate White, PGI Epanomi, Greece, 2014 (above). This wine is 52% Malagousia. The rest is Assyrtiko, a white wine grape from Santorini. Epanomi is the region, and PGI means Protected Geographical Indication.

Malagousia fell into disrepute because it produced flabby wines--until planted on the correct soil, said Thrasyvoulos Giantsidis, chemist-enologist with Gerovassiliou. This blend was tank fermented. It would be nice with a seafood salad, American style or Thai. 

Ktima Gerovassiliou Malagousia, PGI Epanomi, Greece, 2014 (above). Aromatic and floral, this wine is pure Malagousia, vinified bone dry. A small portion was fermented in neutral oak. Both wines are 13.5% alcohol. And both are at the lower end of the price scale for Gerovassiliou wines, $20 and $23 respectively.

Ktima Gerovassiliou Late Harvest Malagousia, PGI Epanomi, Greece 2009 (above).  A honey-like wine that is 100% Malagousia, it has "a little less residual sugar than the average dessert wine, so you can enjoy it with your dessert," Giantsidis said. The price is $35. 

Other Gerovassiliou white wines are Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay and Viognier. An Estate Red from 2010 (above) combines Syrah and Merlot with Limnio, which, said Giantsidis, is "the oldest red Greek grape."  The idea behind the blend was "to show that Greek grapes can do well."  How well? It's "a perfect marriage," he said. The price is $36.

Avaton, from 2008 (above), really shows off indigenous grapes. It's a blend of Limnio, Mavroudi and Mavrotragano. "Mavro" means black, which indicates the depth of color. "As single varietals, these would be very harsh," Giantsidis said. Combined, they yield a wine with smoky, charred aspects, perfect with barbecue or with spetzofai, a hearty Greek dish of sausage and peppers in tomato sauce. It sells for $60.

Evangelo 2008 (above) was the priciest wine at the tasting--$90. The flagship Gerovassiliou wine, it is 92% Petite Sirah, co-fermented with Viognier. 

These superior reds are produced in a region that is especially suited to red wines, said Giantsidis (at the right). Located in the north of Greece near Thessaloniki, Epanomi has a Mediterranean climate, he said.

Although these reds were excellent, 68 % of the wine made in Greece is white, Giantsidis said. It follows that Gerovassiliou's biggest sellers at home are the two dry Malagousia wines.