Chandon de Briailles, Where the Old is New

At Vineyard Gate we've been selling the Burgundies of Domaine Chandon de Briailles almost from the time we opened for business in 1998. Their Burgundies, both red and white, are the kind I love most: light, elegant, without the taste of oak, classic and firm, usually partially destemmed. It also helps a lot that prices have always been modest.

The domaine's parcels are usually in the best sites of the appellations and planted with old vines. Perhaps the flagship is the premier cru Pernand-Vergelesses Ile des Vergelesses, for which the domaine is best known for as it owns the lion's share of the vineyard. But there was also the previous parcel rented in Corton-Charlemagne situated near the crest of the hill just above that of Coch-Dury's in the "lieu Charlemagne" section.

Changes have been afoot at the domaine since the hiring of the young Aussie cellar master, Christian Knott, in 2009. I met him at a wine bar in Beaune last September and told him how much I admire the 2010 range. There was a depth, purity, and aromatics to the wines that I've not found before. Previous vintages tend to have a rustic touch. Above all the Savigny-Lavieres was the best I've ever had. He smiled satisfyingly, somewhat vindicated for changes he championed at the domaine to which both brother and sister proprietors, Francois and Claude de Nicolay, were in accord. We hit it off and the topic turned to food. I told him I probably had my best ever dinner in Paris at Bones, where there happens to be an Aussie chef in charge. It turns out he was also there for dinner the following night.

A few days later my friends and I took up Christian's invitation to taste at the domaine in Savigny les Beaune. We tasted from barrel mainly 2012s: Savigny-Lavieres, Pernand Les Vergelesses Ile de Verglesses rouge, Corton-Marechaude, Corton-Bressandes, Corton Clos du Roi, Pernand Ile de Vergelesses blanc, and Corton blanc. I can tell you that the streak he helped drive since the 2010 vintage continues. This is a venerable domaine that has found a way to take its wines to an even higher level.

Christian explained that sulphites have been reduced to a bare minimum and nothing is added before fermentation has started. They are more careful not to over-extract to keep the wines elegant. Exposure to air during vinification and cellaring is also avoided as much as possible to reduce the need for SO2, while this has also resulted in a more intense perfume.

Christian also engages in some extra-curricular activities in the domaine, as there is a sort of "skunk works" going on  there with some interesting wines that would probably not leave the domaine. Like a barrel of Pinot Blanc with 8 days skin contact and without addition of sulphites. It was terrific! I'll have to ask Christian to save me a bottle.

Meanwhile, I await excitedly the arrival of their 2011s. Let the wine press drum up attention now on 2012 Burgundies (obviously to hype up their newsletter subscriptions). The 2011s are very good and promising, and more modestly priced. Domaine Chandon de Briailles' wines also have new labels.

Year-End Dinners At the SPQR

I've established a personal holiday tradition that I now look forward to every year. Since it reopened in 2009 with a new chef, I've been coming to SPQR on Fillmore for a year-end dinner. Ostensibly, it's for the seasonal white truffle and to open great bottles of wine with friends, but mainly I believe Fall/Winter is when SPQR is at its best.

Last year--2013 that is--white truffle season started early and was reputed to be the best in recent years. I found time to book at SPQR only after Christmas and almost missed having the last of the season's white truffles entirely. Apparently Matthew Accarino has the best connections to Alba as he put tartufi bianchi on the menu that night when everyone seemed to have ran out of them. Though the white truffle is a draw, it is just icing for me. Matthew's fine cuisine, especially this time of the year, is why I come to SPQR. He is I think one of the most gifted chefs in the San Francisco Bay Area.

The fact that you can have a individually plated, multi-course fine dining experience inside the tiny, cramped space of SPQR with its puny open kitchen is a small miracle. I sit on a high chair at the chef's counter, or "table", facing the stoves. Usually we do away with the printed menu and leave it to Matthew to design the dinner and to hit us with his best shot, so to speak.

SPQR's wine list is superb. I always try one or two wines to learn something new. This night it was Nino Negri's Sassella "Le Tense", a red from Lombardy's Valtellina region made of Chiavennasca, the local term for Nebbiolo. A lively, fruity, very pleasing wine that seems to go with everything.

Next thing I know a large espresso cup materialized filled with thick mushroom soup. It had good "crema", and the intense savory aromas and tastes of pan drippings.

Matthew's take on a potato salad was a deconstructed palette of jig-saw shapes and colors.

I brought a bottle of 1999 Brovia Barolo Villero, the estate's flagship cru notorious for staying close for a long period. It is still youthful but smooth and relaxed, 'twas the right foil for the dishes to follow, especially the white truffle.

A fallish-looking plate of guinea hen terrine, sweet-and-sour brioche, liver mousse was both gorgeous and delicious.

Here is a most interesting plate. Tempura hen-of-the-woods mushroom, shishito peppers, and sliced prosciutto from a fire-engine red, hand-cracked $5,000 machine slicer.  Everything works.

It was definitely an all Nebbiolo night. With the Brovia, two seamless 1996ers. Oddero's Barolo Mondoca di Bussia Soprana was juicy and fresh with a still youthful firmness. Giuseppe Rinaldi's Barolo Brunate-Le Coste was big but well-behaved, still tight though its gorgeous fruit was showing.

Perhaps my favorite dish of the night, meyer-lemon spaghetti with abalone. Simple and amazing.

Sunchoke-stuffed ravioli with shaved white truffles. I asked our server what was in the ravioli, her reply, "love."

Mustard capellini with bits of guinea hen, savoy cabbage, and grated mimolette cheese. Wait... isn't mimolette cheese banned?

Smoked wild duck, off menu, a treat from Matthew. Smoked on premise and the smoke aromas were all over the restaurant.

A sort of deconstructed take on apple pie a la mode. Refreshing on the palate.

A holiday treat, toasted panettone, quince caramel and black truffled gelato! Great finish.

Christmas Eve Dinner

Our family gathers together for a late dinner on Christmas Eve. We follow the tradition of noche buena. The food is always a mixed bag, depending on what everyone feels like bringing or cooking.

Last night for starters my cousin brought some devilled eggs sprinkled with crisped bacon, my brother whipped up his tuna poke, my wife seeded some pomegranates, and I had aged Camembert. The combination proved awesome, especially with the very ripe and juicy 2011 Domaine Eden Santa Cruz Mountains Pinot Noir. This is Mount Eden Vineyards' second Pinot Noir made from younger vines. It sells for almost half the price of its big brother but its flavors are anything but little. Immediately, its rich, sweet flavors are all over your mouth, but it never gets tiring to sip as the fruit is bright and vibrant. This Pinot Noir is a crowd-pleaser in the best sense of that term.

While we were enjoying the starters my brother and I were also busy cooking dinner. I demonstrated the magic of cooking with modern pressure cookers by cooking an oxtail adobo in my small Kuhn-Rikon. I left it on high pressure for about 30 minutes, but I think it could have used another 5, but no problem as everyone enjoyed it. The piece de resistance was my bro's roasted crabs in butter. I must've eaten close to a whole crab altogether. The local Dungeness crab this season is the best I can remember. They're hefty and packed with sweet, dense meat.

I opened a special bottle of Jura wine that I brought back with me from a visit there a few years ago. Appropriately enough on this Christmas Eve the wine is named "Jour de Fête." I got it from its producer, Jean-Marc Brignot when I visited him and his Japanese wife at their old farmhouse in the remote village of Molamboz. Soon after my visit they sold the farmhouse and their vineyard and left for Japan where they now live with their young son.

During my visit Jean-Marc opened a few bottles for a small deguastation. All his wines are non-appellation and labeled Vin de France. He doesn't care at all about appellations. As I was about to leave I asked him if I can purchase a bottle as a souvenir. I think at that time he had already unloaded his last inventories in preparation for leaving. But he was gracious enough to search his stash and find me a bottle that I could purchase. It was this Jour de Fête. This is Savagnin from the 2005 vintage aged in old cask for about 4 years without topping up or as they say in Jura sous voile. As in all of Jean-Marc's wines it is vinified in natural yeasts and no sulfites were added at any time. It is drinking fantastic today. Totally fresh and intense, the flavors are thick and alive. On the first whiff my cousin smelled the sweetness of celery and cut cucumber. My brother detected raw almonds. Then as the wine opened up more in the glass I relished notes of pear skin and honey wax. The flavors were piquant but soon smoothed out, tasting more of ripe pears. Thank you and santé Jean-Marc! I hope I catch up with you soon.

What a memorable Christmas Eve dinner. We finished the night FaceTiming with our Mom who's in Manila with my youngest brother and his family. We connected the iPad via AppleTV to a 52-inch TV, sat around the living room and FaceTimed away, joining in a chorus of carols with my Mom and my brother's family in Manila late into the night.


Santa Cruz Mountains Pinot Noir, Domaine Eden (Mount Eden Vineyards) 2011

Champagne and Oysters

Days before Christmas a few weeks ago Vineyard Gate held a Champagne and oyster tasting extravaganza. The event was festive, educational, and decadent. Champagnes from Barnaut, Lilbert, and Jacquesson overflowed, while equally staggering were three man-piles of fresh, juicy steam boat, kumamoto, and blue point oysters.

The oysters were supplied by long-time San Franciso-based seafood wholesaler to the restaurant trade, Royal Hawaiian Seafood. The company focuses on sourcing high quality seafood that is safe, traceable, and sustainable. It will soon be introducing a consumer-subscription "Fishbox" program, modeled after a CSA, that allows households a steady supply of their highly desirable seafood products. If everything goes as planned Vineyard Gate would be the first pick-up site for the "Fishbox."

Tasting six different Champagnes side-by-side with the three varieties of oysters was an eye-opening experience. Certain oysters paired better with a particular Champagne.

One of the consensus was the sweet and delicate tasting kumamoto was a perfect match with the evolved 2007 Lilbert Brut Blanc des Blancs.

On the other hand, the meaty, mouthfilling taste of the steam boat oysters was particularly suited to the bone-dry, racy character of Jacquesson's Extra Brut 736.

Champagnes featured in the tasting included:

Champagne Brut Grand Cru Blanc de Noirs, Barnaut NV

Champagne Brut Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs, Lilbert & Fils NV

Champagne Extra Brut "Cuvee No. 736", Jacquesson NV

Jean-Yves Péron's Natural Cider from the Savoie

 

Jean-Yves Péron is one of the brightest vignerons to emerge from the Savoie region in recent years. He trained with Thierry Allemand in the Rhone and Bruno Schueller in Alsace.

Péron started his own estate in 2004 working a tiny plot of 2 hectares planted with very old Mondeuse and Jacquere vines dating back to the 19th century. He farms organically and vinifies only with native yeasts and doesn't add sulfites. His wines are radically showing what is possible in the Savoie's alpine hills.

What surprised me about Péron is that  he also makes hard apple cider. The Savoie region is known for its high quality apples. A number of cider producers are around, but I haven't encountered a Savoie vigneron who also makes cider.

Péron's current release of his "Cidre des Cimes" is a blend of apples harvested in 2010 and 2011. He applies the same approach in winemaking for his cider. The organically grown apples are fermented with native yeasts and no sulfites are added. The juice finishes its fermentation in bottle without dosage, thus it's a petillant naturel. He ages it in used barrels for a year before bottling.

I love this cider from Péron. Just 7% alcohol yet it's full of flavor. Bone dry and refreshing, it's great to sip on its own but I find that it's one of the most versatile beverages to drink with any dish, especially with spicy Indian food, Thai cuisine, and garlic fries. I can finish a bottle or two while munching on pizza and watching a ballgame.


Cidre des Cimes Brut Zero, Jean-Yves Péron 2010 & 11

Back to Skool

After some absence I was lured back to Skool a few times last month. Every month the pastry chef and co-owner, Hiroko Nagano, features a new dessert special. The one for November was a real surprise for me as it was a version of ginataan, a traditional Filipino sweet snack of sweet potatoes, purple yam, banana, tapioca, sago, and jack fruit stewed in sweetened coconut milk. Street eateries in the small towns and metropolises of the Philippines offer this sweet treat every day

Hiroko's ginataan had a more refined and elegant presentation compared to what's hawked along the alleyways of Manila. She uses only a few ingredients--sweetened black rice, purple yam, tapioca, and jack fruit--in a pool of medium-sweet coconut milk sauce. This more simple medley nevertheless channeled the soul of this humble snack, bringing food memories growing up when I would have it for merienda. Skool featured the dessert to raise funds for UNICEF to benefit Filipino children who are victims of typhoon Haiyan. One hundred percent of the price were donated to the charity. Way to go Skool!

Skool's uni flan topped with ikura and spread on mini crostini is the most killer app in the city. It's quite rich, so best to have a glass of Champagne or Chablis with it. I tried it with a Manhattan cocktail and it rocked.

It's sneakily listed on the menu as "squid ink spaghettina" but one slurp and you know it's clearly a seafood ramen. And it's terrific! A simple meal for me at Skool would be to start with the uni flan, then this "spaghettina".

I always bring wine to Skool, but one quiet night I went there without wine as their attractive bar has always intrigued me. I ordered a Manhattan, my favorite cocktail. My waitress asked me what Bourbon, but I said I'd have Rye. She suggested Redemption but I opted for Templeton. But where I break with tradition is I like it in a lowball glass instead of a cocktail glass. But this was a very good Manhattan, just a low dose of vermouth so the aggressive taste of the Templeton comes through.

Just a few of the wines I've enjoyed at Skool. After Beaujolais Nouveau Day friends and I opened a couple of cru Beaujolais and Thomas Pico's Pattes Loup Chablis. All wines were gorgeous with the food. Jean-Claude Lapalu's 2012 Brouilly Vielles Vignes showed graceful, rustic charm, while Pico's Chablis never fails to blow me away every time I have it.


Brouilly "Vieilles Vignes", Jean-Claude Lapalu 2012


Skool Restaurant
1725 Alameda Street
San Francisco, CA 94103
415.255.8800
Open for lunch Monday through Friday, dinner everyday, and brunch Saturday and Sunday

Hard Cider From Sonoma Apples: Tastes Great, Less Filling

Fall ushers in cold winds, rain, sleet, and hard apple cider. While the weather outside gets nastier, I'm inside a restaurant enjoying a steaming plate of lobster and sipping really good hard apple cider that just arrived in the store.

Troy Carter and Tony Coturri of Coturri Winery together produce a hard apple cider from organic Sonoma apples. It is made at the Coturri Winery in Glen Ellen, Sonoma, using only ambient yeasts for fermentation and without the addition of sulfites.

The latest batch of Troy Cider produced 22 barrels. I'm drinking from a 500ml bottle that came out of Barrel 12. It is delicious. Thirst-quenching. Refreshing my palate after each bite of lobster. This plate of lobster had no chance. Next up is a wok-fried whole Dungeness crab.

After dinner I browsed through Troy Carter's Motorcycle Wineries blog and found this encouraging passage:

I could go on for pages summarizing research at the edge of scientific knowledge of probiotic diets, but instead, I have just one recommendation.
Drink more cider.
Our cider is alive. It has god-only-knows-how-many strains of wild yeast, bacteria and other goodies that make me feel great. That bottom 1/8″ of sediment at the bottom of the bottle? The healthiest sludge ever. Most beverages these days are sterile, dead sugar bombs that is simply artificial industrial homogeneity. So enjoy our booze as wonderfully natural medicine, as an authentically healthy ritual that nourishes your body and makes you smile.


Troy Hard Apple Cider H. Coturri and Sons NV 500ml