On Monday, I spent some time talking about Piper-Heidsieck. My thanks to Eric who sent me an image of a beautiful vintage poster of a Piper-Heidsieck bottle. It’s so appropriate considering Mad Men is set in the world of advertising. This print ad is from 1953, displaying the 1949 vintage. The bottle is appears identical to the one Pete opened in Sunday’s episode. If indeed it was a 1949 vintage, I have no doubt it cost our fictional character a fair amount of his fictional 1960s dollars. I bet it tasted pretty darned good though.

One item I’d like to point out about the above ad is that the bubbly is poured into a regular wine glass and not a champagne flute. Now, maybe the good folks at Piper-Heidsieck can shed some light on that choice for me. In fact, the classic tulip shaped champagne flute was in wide use by the 1930s. However, a lot of people were still using the champagne coupe, from the late 1800s. (A myth states the coupe was molded from the breast of Marie Antoinette.) In fact, in 2009, we found the characters of Mad Men enjoying some Veuve Clicquot in coupes.

To end on a note of utter whimsy, you’ll notice there is a miniature circus, including a rather talented giraffe, taking over the ad. Piper-Heidsieck is a Champagne House that’s always been slightly unconventional, even when everything was conventional in the 1940s and ’50s. In 2008 they embraced their inner Lewis Carroll and released an upside-down bottle designed by Viktor & Rolf. If you were feeling exravagant, you might also pick up an upside down ice bucket and flutes.

Cheers!

—

Tequila country did not prepare me for the Del Maguey Single Village Mezcal producers in Oaxaca. Del Maguey mastermind Ron Cooper took me on a four day tour of Oaxaca. From village markets where we feasted on things like pit roasted goat (and—bonus!—the blood of the goat, cooked in the stomach with mint, swear I’m not making this up), to cutting edge restaurants in Oaxaca City, I was immersed in the most vibrant, colorful culture I’ve ever experienced.

I was acquainted with the traditional production methods used by such Mezcal masters as Paciano Cruz Nolasco of San Luis del Rio.

To actually see these distilleries operate with technology that was virtually pre-industrial was totally amazing. The techniques are positively pre-industrial, such as roasting the maguey in an earthen pit of smoldering wood and hot rocks for up to three weeks, and crushing the cooked plants with a mule-powered stone. Señor Nolasco harvests maguey plants (a relative of the blue agave used for Tequila) from very high hills, in his very high village, at the end of a very bad road. (Paciano is a Mezcal maker, a palenquero, but this generous, forward-thinking man is training his daughter to become a palenquera, possibly the first female Mezcal distiller.) The term “rustic” does not do justice to his distillery, hugging the dusty banks of the rio amidst a cluster of banana trees, vines and lizards. His Mezcal might offer the single most complex aroma of any spirit I sell, a kaleidoscope of smoky earth, pineapple fruits and mountain herbs, citrus leaves and rinds, black and white pepper and more. Nosing a glass of San Luis is like approaching the event horizon of a black hole; inevitably, it pulls you in, and you’re done for.

In the village of Minero, Florencio Sarmiento uses two stills made of clay and bamboo from a unique design of ancient Chinese origin.

Florencio’s distillery is also the only one I saw that used electricity, with a small pump circulating cold water to the internal condenser bowls in his far-out stills. The resulting Mezcal cuts across the palate like a lightsaber, with a breathtaking citrus intensity.

Like El Tesoro, all Del Maguey Mezcals are 100% natural with no added flavors or chemicals used in production/ On top of that, these Mezcals possess full organic certification. Having been there, I can better appreciate where the potent, smoky flavor of these Mezcals comes from. If they are drop for drop the most intensely flavored spirits in The Party Source, surely that reflects the rugged land—and the hand of the maker—from which they spring.

– Jay Erisman
Photos © Jay Erisman 2007-2010

View part 1 of the Mexican adventure – Tequila.

—

My 2007 tour of Mexico will last forever as one of the great cultural experiences of my life, filled with warm and friendly people, fantastic food and a colorful aesthetic sensibility everywhere we turned. But for sure the highlights of the trip were the distilleries. From finding the flat-out Best Tequila Distillery to mind-bending tours of four single village Mezcal producers, I found the state of this Mexican art to be perhaps the most traditional of all the spirits in the world.

Tequila

Shortly after meeting Carlos Camarena*, I decided he is a really cool guy. The passion he holds for his ultra-traditional El Tesoro 100% Agave Tequila comes burning off him like the steam that fires his old-fashioned agave ovens. Working the La Alteña distillery in his father Don Felipe’s footsteps, Carlos does things with Tequila that other distillers would consider insane.

Carlos’ estate-grown blue agave plants are the ripest in the industry, covered with brown spots like a banana.

The workers laboriously trim by hand the part of the male plant that creates bitter flavors in the finished product. (Hmm. Bitter male parts. There’s a joke in there somewhere.)

He persists in crushing the cooked agave—which are baked three days in brick ovens—with a giant millstone (as opposed to a modern mechanical shredder).

Unlike nearly all other Tequila producers, Señor Camarena ferments his agave totally naturally, with no added chemical fermentation accelerators. He then distills the fermented juice with the agave fibers for added flavor, in pot stills so small they could fit in the back of a van.

All this obsessive attention to detail leads to the most flavorful Tequila I’ve ever had, bar none. El Tesoro has a crackling intensity, a sustain, a hang-time in the mouth that simply outclasses other Tequilas. You don’t just get stony, mineral, earthy flavors—you get a faceplant into the red highland Tequila soil. You don’t just taste green bean—you get the snap of the bean, the juice of cucumber. The difference between El Tesoro and other Tequilas is like the difference between normal and high-definition TV. The operative word is clarity.

*I’m pleased to say there is another Camarena-crafted Tequila on the market. (No, not the “Camarena” brand owned by Gallo; that’s made by Carlo’s cousin from another branch of the family.) Carlos’ brother Felipe joined forces with a Tequila ambassador Tomas Estes to create Tequila Ocho, which takes the Camarena family estate-grown agave to its logical conclusion. Ocho is a single vintage Tequila, chosen each year from only one agave field. Ocho reveals the terroir of an agave field very much like the cru system in Burgundy reveals the truth of Pinot Noir. I’ll write more about Ocho another time, but suffice to say that Felipe’s Ocho surpasses even Carlo’s El Tesoro, with the fattest, ripest, most glisteningly fresh and viscerally thrilling Tequila I’ve ever had.

– Jay Erisman
Photos © Jay Erisman 2007-2010

Want to know more about Mezcal? Tune in tomorrow morning for the conclusion of Jay’s adventure and a primer on Mezcal.

I was amused that with a selection of female winemakers and hot chicks on labels, it was the hot chicks on the labels  - both from Washington state – that won the day. I would say that my top seller was probably the Kung Fu Girl Riesling, followed by the Airfield Estates Bombshell Red. The lovely pink Domain Carneros Cuvee, named for Madame de Pompadour, was also fairly popular (albeit a little more expensive).

The Washington riesling seemed to be a surprise to everyone. It is a fruit-forward, bright riesling, but it’s not overly sweet. That said, so many people were afraid to try it, convinced that all rieslings are sugary syrupy things. So let’s clear that up a little.

I blame Blue Nun for the sugary, syrup reputation that riesling seems to have. Now, when a riesling comes from some where other than Germany, you’re a little hard pressed to identify how dry it might be. Cross your fingers that they mention it in the label description. But those Germans? They’re helpful when it comes to identifying the sweetness in your glass.

You’ll notice three words attached to the German wines – Kabinett, Auslese, and Spätlese. The highest quality wine category in Germany is QmP, and it is divided into subcategories.

Kabinett wines must contain minimum amounts of natural sugar (around 17-21% sugar by weight), depending on the region and the variety. These are the lowest minimums for QmP wines, and these wines are therefore usually the driest and least expensive.

Spätlese is German for “late picking.” It refers to grapes that are selectively picked at least 7 days after the main harvest. Because such fruit is riper than the grapes from the main harvest, it contains more sugar and produces wines that are rich and sweet. The natural sugar must attain around 19-23% sugar by weight.

Auslese is German for “selection,” used to describe specially selected grapes that are hand-picked and pressed separately from other grapes. The natural sugar content of the grapes must reach around 20-25% sugar by weight. Auslese grapes are sometimes subject to botrytis (the noble rot, so to speak) to make them sweeter.

I know it’s hard to remember. I’m working on some sort of mnemonic that will make it easier.

Another tip with rieslings? Don’t drink them too cold. Really, this applies to most whites. Yes, you should chill them. But if you over-chill, you’re missing out. They always warm up a little and bloom with flavor. So keep that in mind with whatever riesling you’re drinking – your refrigerator might just be a little too chilled for the right flavors to emerge.

There was much celebrating on Dec 5, 1933, as seen in this fantastic newsreel:

You now have another reason to officially celebrate today. Get out there and drink some wine!

Enjoy!

Now, I’d be perfectly happy to only drink sparkling wine (including champagne, prosecco, cava, and others) for the rest of my life. It is my favorite type of wine, closely followed by pinot noir. But to get you in the mood for a sparkling wine dinner, I thought I’d talk a little about a seminar we took in Disney, with Moët & Chandon, Domaine Chandon’s parent company. Moët & Chandon, based in France, makes champagne. Domaine Chandon, in Napa, makes sparkling wine using the traditional champagne method. Only sparkling wine made in the Champagne region of France can actually be called “champagne.” For our purposes, I’m just going to go with “bubbly.”

Our instructor was Seth Box, Director of Education for Moët & Chandon USA. One of the first things he did was to preemptively correct the class’s pronunciation. Despite the fact that folks everywhere pronounce it Mo-AY and Chandon, it’s actually Mo-ETT. That, folks, is what those two little dots mean over the e.

Champagne, and sparkling wine in the champagne method, can be made from three grapes: Pinot Noir gives the wine backbone and structure, Chardonnay lends elegance, and the Pinot Meunier picks up the slack as a workhorse grape. I find this interesting, as I really enjoy Pinot Meunier on its own. In fact, I think Domain Chandon might make one of the few Pinot Meunier-only wines available on our retail shelves.

Seth pretty much told us to just enjoy our samples while he talked
about Moët & Chandon and bubbly in general. I thought I’d touch on
some of the more interesting points he shared before I dive into our
review of the wines.

• Why are bubbly hangovers so bad? It’s for one of two reasons: either you drank too much, in which case you probably earned your hangover, or your drank bad bubby. No kidding folks. Drink too many bottles of $5 Andre and you’re going to feel it for a reason. According to Seth, the cheaper bubblies are suffering from poor workmanship. The grapes are squeezed too hard, releasing histamines into the wine. The histamines are then fermented. It’s a sign. Drink. Better. Wine.
• Store your bubbly upright. Kevin and I keep ours upright in our pantry, where it’s dark and there’s no vibration. But don’t store it too long. Seth commented that “It’s a British thing to sit on wine until you’re almost dead.” Most non vintage bubblies have aged at the winery and are ready to drink now.
• There are ~250 million bubbles in a bottle of champagne. That’s a lot of bubbles folks. The cork can come out of the bottle at up to 65 miles per hour, due to the pressure built up behind the cork.

On to the wines. We tried three, all Moët & Chandon Non-Vintage. I enjoyed all three, but definitely preferred the second glass.

Rosé (Brut): According to Seth, this pink wine was the best of our three for food pairing, because the contact with the red grape skins (thus the pink) lends a little bit of tannins to the wine. This wine had some strawberries, light cherries, and a good texture.

Michelle: Kevin

Imperial (Extra Dry): You might know this wine as White Star. Until recently, it was known world-over as Imperial, except in the US. They changed the name domestically so that you could order your favorite sparkler by the same name, no matter where you land. I’ve always been a fan of White Star, er, Imperial. It has more of the dry, bread-y flavors I prefer in a good bubbly, and it’s not very sweet.

Michelle & Kevin:

Nectar Imperial (Demi-Sec): This was by far the sweetest. I’m not a huge fan of sweet bubbly, so this one was my least favorite. I made a very unscientific observations at the Dessert & Champagne booth, however. I noticed this wine was being poured more frequently than the other bubblies and that it was almost always chosen by women. Seth noted that this wine pairs well with strong cheeses, such as cheddar, gouda, and chevre.

Michelle & Kevin:

The Dilly Cafe dinner (full menu) on Tuesday begins with a reception at 6:30 pm and dinner at 7 pm. Again, it’s a Domain Chandon wine dinner, which is located in Napa and owned by Moët & Chandon. In fact, Domaine Chandon has a special place in my heart as the first winery I ever visited in Napa, back in 2004. There was no doubt in my mind that we were going to begin that trip with some sparkling wine. I recommend you give Domaine Chandon a try as well. You can RSVP by calling 513.561.5233.

The first thing into my head is the jingle from when I was a little girl: "Martini & Rossi Asti Spumante, a celebration in a glass." I searched all over The Internets and could not find that ad anywhere (although I was highly amused by a few Angie Dickinson, Burt Bacharach, and Jaclyn Smith Martini & Rossi ads). I did find one with the right attitude though:

Are you done laughing now? I laugh nonstop every time I watch it. And don't you just want to break into the jingle there at the end?

Thanks to years of ads like the one you just watched, Asti Spumante gets a pretty bad rap, and in fact, most of it is mass produced. Betty should have ordered a Moscato d'Asti.

Both Asti Spumante and Moscato d'Asti are made from the Moscato Bianco grape and come from an area to the south of the town of Asti in Piedmont, Italy. How is Moscato d'Asti different? Well, aside from smaller production, Moscato d'Asti is lighter, more fizzy than bubbly.  

Additionally, the production process is different. After all, there's more fizz than foam in a Moscato d'Asti. When making our moscato of choice, the winemakers stop the fermentation earlier than they do with a Spumante. The result? Less sugar is consumed by the yeast, so you get a sweeter, low alcohol wine.

A Moscato d'Asti is a drink-now sort of wine, tasting fresh and easy. It's a perfect light summer drink, for instance. And of course, perfect if you're in Rome in August.

Continuing the motif, I was also surprised that I enjoyed myself so thoroughly. I had intended on staying through my session, which was before lunch, and then heading out to explore San Francisco. I ended up remaining at the conference for the entire day. I found the sessions, while geared towards recipe-oriented food bloggers, were still relevant for review and wine blogs as well. The whole attitude of the day was different from what I expected, and I was thrilled. It was the perfect size (I believe it was around 300 people) and the programming struck just the right note.

My panel focused on blogging best practices. Not only was I on a panel with an impressive group of women, we actually talked about blogging. (My panel included two cookbooks authors, Elana and Lauren, as well as Kalyn from Kalyn's Kitchen, with moderating by Alanna Kellogg.) It was refreshing. I also attended a session on photography basics, as well as a fantastic session on protecting your work and copyright. I learned something in every session I attended. I'm a terrible conference attendee, and often my attention easily wanders, so BlogHer Food's programming impressed me.

In fact, the only complaint I heard from anyone (myself included) was about the lunch. It was a hyper Rocco diSpirito and Bertolli. Yep, they served a bunch of food bloggers thawed Bertolli. When the people at the table are complaining that the ravioli alfredo was more reminiscent of biscuits and gravy, you know there's a problem. Wine was provided by St. Supery.

Perhaps it was because we were all coalescing around a common topic – the love of food and wine – but I found the entire environment to be a lot more friendly than my previous BlogHer experiences. I hunted down folks I knew, people I hadn't seen in a long time, and even met several impressive authors who were more than friendly. I gladly attended a party in the evening, looking forward to seeing some people again. I discovered that food bloggers are food bloggers, no matter their genre. Recipe bloggers were interested in hearing from review bloggers (and wine bloggers!) and I was interested to talk to the recipe folks. It was just such a different experience – for me – than the larger BlogHer conference I attended in July.

Finally, while there was swag, it was both excellent and controlled. I
believe there were only five sponsors in the expo/demo area (Healthy
Choice, Campbell's, Pur, Cuisinart, and Pillsbury) as well as the
Bertolli lunch and the California Milk-sponsored breakfast. The organization
even set up an easy and obvious area to donate unwanted foodstuffs from
the goodie bags to a local shelter.

Even if I don't speak next year, I'll gladly return to BlogHer Food.
Among other things, it was just great to be in a room with other people
who all whip out their cameras to take a photo of their food.
Camaraderie wins every time.

Update: Live blogging sessions have been posted.

Note: This post is cross-posted for the most part at technology blog bub.blicio.us.

Image by Lincoln-Log via Creative Commons

Or so the story goes. Wired Magazine points out that this fortuitous accident was supposed to have happened exactly 316 years ago today. On Aug 4, 1693, Dom Pérignon invented champagne.

Except he didn't. The story is most likely the result of some brilliant marketing campaigns throughout the years, including the "drinking the stars" line, which dates back to an advertisement in the 1800s.

In reality, Dom Pérignon was a Benedictine monk who entered the order at the age of 19. He resided  at the Abbey of Hautvillers near the town of Épernay (within Champagne, France), where he served as cellarmaster. He was charged by his superiors to get rid of the bubbles in the wine, but was unable to do so. Instead he made great advances in perfecting the method of champagne creation.

Champagne undergoes two fermentations. After the first, traditional fermentation and bottling, yeast and a bit of rock sugar are added to the bottle. The bottle, now sealed with a cap, ages for a minimum of 1.5 years. Once the bottle has reached maturity, remuage occurs. During remuage, the bottles are slowly turned almost upside down so that the residual yeast ends up in the neck of the bottle. The bottle necks are then quick-frozen and the cap removed. The pressure in the bottle forces out the ice containing the residue and the bottle is quickly corked to maintain the carbon dioxide. Several houses will add a dosage (sugar syrup) at this point to maintain the level of liquid within the bottle. 
The bottles are corked and caged, and often aged for a few months to many years before they are released to the market.

Back in Dom Pérignon's day, cellars would lose around 20% of their wine to exploding bottles, as the pressure from the bubbles would be just too much. It was Dom Pérignon's advancements that helped bring about the champagne we know today.

I love that champagne is such a wonderful beverage, inspiring myths about its creation and songs about its invention. So happy mythical birthday, champagne. You wear 300+ well.