Grape Thinking » event

Red wine and steak

Ruarri — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 17:00:54 +0000

For the reward given – cooking steak is probably one of the best things you can do to entertain guests. It’s so easy and there’s really no better accompaniment for steak than red wine.

I like to buy a whole Angus fillet and cook it first before cutting it into fillet steaks, this way you can keep the juices and really preserve a lot of the flavour. It also presents a perfect opportunity to do what any male wine millennial, or any male for that matter – likes most… marinade. Like making hot-sauce, there is perhaps no time more satisfying to a man than when given the chances to marinade something. There’s a certain feeling of alchemy in preparing the meat that really doesn’t come with other pre-preparation chores like peeling potatoes or rolling pastry flat.

The ingredients for getting a steak ready are quite simple: rock salt, English mustard, lemons, pepper, red wine, olive oil, chopped garlic and mixed spices. Adding lemon juice helps seal the steak and within minutes the pinkish colour will disappear and the fillet will start to gain a more cooked sort of colour. At this point I roll the fillet in a bed of rock-salt before smothering it in a healthy dose of English mustard mixed with spice and crushed garlic. Once done, leave it to soak in a pool of red wine on top of a bed of diced onions allowing the blood and fermented juice to comingle.

At this point it’s time to pour yourself a glass of wine and get down to preparing a simple salad (feta, tomato, cucumber, rocket, red lettuce and sesame seeds with a balsamic glaze always goes down well) together with some baked vegetables (onions, courgettes, egg-plant and butternut are perfect.)

After about 3 hours of marinating or so – once the guests arrive; you can chat and get the barbecue going for about half an hour. The veg will take about an hour to cook and the meat will take 15 minutes (if you like it burnt and bloody); 20 minutes if you want it medium rare… so stick the veg in in a pocket of tin-foil – and half an hour later gather people around as it’s always a bit of excitement to watch the meat go on.

Generally if the steak is sealed – leaving it on one side should do fine; and at a medium temperature it should cook through. At this stage you can heat the marinade up, add a lamb stock cube and a cup of water along with some diced mushrooms and pepper and you have a great red wine and mushroom gravy.

The perfect wine for steak on a summer’s day is a Shiraz Viognier – especially if you’ve used mustard, and garlic as they really complement and bring out the spice flavour. Some people would argue cab – but I think that that would more be for an evening event if there’s a chill in the air.

For our Angus Fillet I chose the Graham Beck Joshua 2003 – which turned out to be a perfect accompaniment. It may not have been March 14th, but any chance for steak and red wine is something to smile about.

Cheerz!

Passion on the Vine – a review

Ruarri — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 12:00:41 +0000

When one looks at a vineyard – you’re not looking at it in the same way as you would look at an orange orchard. Instead one sees a multitude of experiences past and of moments yet to come – moments of intimacy, memorable occasions, conversations and treasured friendships. Since time immemorial, vineyards have not only been the touchstone of certain regions, but have often been the lifeblood of local communities and the cornerstone of entire generations of families. Every vineyard contains a family, a history, a culture and a purpose. This was at least, the sentiment I had before embarking on a mission to New York City, where I would promote and sell wine’s connected to my family in some ways, and more importantly – wine from my country. During that time – having spent much time in preparation for the mission, I left with those stories and sentiments of culture and family fresh in my blood. But with every sales-call and wine event I began to feel further and further from the vineyard. Soon it was about laid in cost, case-discounts and what kind of Point of Sale material was on offer. I travelled the country in a rental car with a case of wine, a corskrew and a power-point presentation along the way having people from Westchester Wine Warehouse cruelly spit wine on my shoe after having left me waiting for an hour, sitting in cold-rooms of cellars in Maryland, helping do stock-takes in Ohio, presenting to Wholefoods buyers in North Carolina and pushing on-premise retail in Atlanta: and with every step I became a bit more confused and lost the focus of what I was doing. Having believed that wine was so important to my country and stepping into the States to tell the story of South African wine, it was very dispiriting to suddenly be faced with the fact that no one really cared so long as they could make a profit.

Step in Sergio Esposito‘s Passion on the Vine: A Memoir of Food, Wine and Family in the Heart of Italy – which from the first page pulls one directly into the rental car of he and his brother Sal at the end of an epic 60 winery tour of Italy. Sergio, an Italian born New York wine retailer has embarked on a wine-buying tour of Italy with his brother who got him into the business in the fist place – and within the first pages of reading you are situated within a remarkable life, which I was utterly compelled by because suddenly the retailer I had been up against was given a face. I completely sympathise with the opening sentiments of having a job that on the surface sounds glamorous but in reality can be very gritty – however one quickly learns that Esposito has been doing this for 3 months every year for nearly 2 decades. From my part I was around the East Coast, Mid West and West Coast pushing wine to restaurants retailers and country-clubs tasting wine from 8:30 in the morning to 1am sometimes 6 days a week – and within two years I have more stories than I care to remember. For Sergio and his brother they’re diligently working through 10 wineries a day tasting through varietals and enduring long-drives in hot weather – often what sounds glamorous, and would seem like the setting for a series of Sideways style misadventures through a foreign country ends up being a lot more like work than anyone else could ever imagine. One has to take their hat off to such dedication even though amidst the work it is interspersed with tales of seductive winemakers daughters, raucous Italian weddings and personalities you’re unlikely to forget.

Passion on the Vine is an insight into a life less ordinary from one of the world’s leading wine consultants who can be found on the pages of the Wall Street Journal to the Times to the Wine Spectator itself. Esposito brings the innate raconteur nature of Italian New Yorkers, combined with a mellifluous writing style into a memoir that goes to the heart of what it means to be an epicurean. He illustrates so perfectly how passion, love and romance can go a long way to carrying someone throughout life. Ultimately this is a romance between one man and an entire region which will make you fall in love with Italy; and paints the picture of a dying breed – wine-men who actually love wine, men who excel in their jobs for more than money and people who add value not only to their families but pay their dues to those who have helped them over the years. Esposito’s is a poignant picture of optimism and love in a marketplace that is primarily having the life squeezed out of it by soulless critters.

Esposito re-introduced me to a feeling I nearly lost, and in his words I remembered a part of myself. When one is up against Little Penguin – it’s difficult to find the actual stories and vines and passion in a fuzzy cartoon character. There is no doubt that much of Western Philosophy was built on the back of wine-fueled sentiments; and from the foundation of Western culture there is no doubt that Italians built New York and have made the culture (together with the Irish) what it is today. Esposito, in a tale filled with adventure, comedy and energy has staked his claim to not only being a philosopher, a wine lover and a great New Yorker – but being an advocate and an inspiration to future wine millenials, showing that there’s no real substitute for loving what you do.

Cheerz.

Special thanks to Dianna Tingg from Italian Wine Merchants who has reached out to so many of us on the wine blogosphere, and has shared this wonderful book with us. It is a priveledge to have been given the opportunity to review such a great book.

Cycling Triple Crown

Mu — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 19:03:28 +0000

The first leg of the Commerce Bank triple crown of cycling (Lehigh Valley Classic) was today in Allentown, Pa so I took the afternoon off to go check it out. I had never been to a cycling race before and wasn’t expecting much, but it was surprisingly entertaining. Some of the best cyclists in the world were there, many of which cycle the Tour de France. It is a very social type of event because you only see them come by every 15-20 minutes or so (10 eight mile laps through the city), and then chat it up with your friends and family while waiting for the next pass. It was great to watch the cyclists push it out, their fitness was amazing. Very enjoyable event, and when it came down to the wire, the crowd started going nuts and the commentators were going absolutely bonkers.

They were playing sick music too, and I found myself getting really fired up. I’ve been to nascar and indy events before and found them boring because there’s rarely a photo finish, but with cycling they say there’s almost always a close finish. In this one there were about 15 guys tight together at the end and they pumped it out, with a Ukranian pulling out the victory. Great inspiration for the power and endurance of the human body. The second leg of the triple crown is in Redding and the 3rd leg in Philly on Sunday.

Deck Party – RTP, NC

Tayloe — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 19:37:11 +0000

We helped sponsor the Deck Party in Research Triangle Park, NC and had an awesome time. We’re going to do it again in Atlanta next weekend, so come join us for some fun!

Young Guys at Wine 2.0

Ruarri — Sun, 03 Jun 2007 03:46:38 +0000

I’ve had an unbelievable two weeks with much good food, hundreds of 1 ounce wine pours, great restaurants, changing cities, cool people and a lot of business. We’ve just touched down in Atlanta and are reflecting on an amazing two weeks and the culmination of it all undoubtedly being Wine 2.0 at Club Sportiva last night.

Left to Right: Ben (CalWineries.com); Gary V., G-Man and me

Stepping out of the virtual world and into the reality of Wine 2.0 was pretty neat, especially to be in the same room with Gary V., Inertia’s Andrea, Tom Wark, Wine Hiker Russ, Alder Yarrow and everyone else playing in this circle.

G-man and myself were the youngest guys by 5 and 3 years respectively – and that’s not to say that it was an older crowd. If anything, having come from the traditional route of working in on-premise and off-premise sales, everyone in the room was a baby compared to the aging 3-tier crowd. It is inspirational to be in a game that is dominated by young players.

To listen to the panel last night, it is a relief to hear people who not only understand how to, but have begun to take wine from a prohibitionist era mindset into the 21st Century (where everyone else is.) Gary is leading the charge, Inertia is laying the tracks and Tom Wark has spread the message. The stadium is built and the people will come.

Grape Thinking and people like the dudes at CalWineries are fortunate to be able to start down the path that has been cleared for us. Whilst Bottlenotes, RadCru, Wine Q and Cork’d are doing a good job giving an online platform to the established wine appreciation crew.

It was great to share the same vision with those who have begun to make it happen. There’s space for all of us to be successful – and with so much opposition at every step, we’re going to need all the force we can muster. Having had a great 2 weeks I’d like to take the chance to propose a digital toast to all the young self-starters in the room last night: the future is ours.

Grape Thinking » event

Red wine and steak

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