http://www.sonsanddaughterssf.com/

We joined Olivier Humbrecht for dinner at San Francisco's Jardiniere to taste the 2009s and learn more about this iconic producer. I was interested to meet Olivier and discuss his winemaking style bacause his wines have always been some of the most opulent and exotic in Alsace; a style I tend not to drink.

Olivier said that global warming and his conversion to biodynamics have indeed brought change to his winemaking style in that mainly he no longer needs to wait late into the harvest for physiological ripeness and that he is picking earlier than in the past. He added that Germany's Pfalz and Rheingau regions have the weather of Alsace 30 years ago. The 2009s did seem more restrained though that could also be the precocious 2009 vintage.

We began with an aperitif of Olivier's 2009 Muscat which was light, dry, graceful at just 11.5% alcohol. This was a surprising way to begin a Zind-Humbrecht tasting where you would expect wines of exotic richness and weight. Olivier said that Muscat is a wine for "after church cocktals" and for quaffing but we thought it went exceptionally well with Jardiniere's house charcuterie. The rest of the menu follows:

Rieslings (paired with Tarte Flambee and Charcuterie)

2009 Riesling Brand, 2009 Clos Hauserer, 2009 Riesling Rangen de Thann Cos Saint-Urbain

Pinot Gris (paired with Local Petrale Sole, Heirloom Squash and Caper Brown Butter Sauce)

2009 Pinot Gris Vieille Vignes, 2009 Pinot Gris Rothenberg, 2009 Pinot Gris Rangen de Thann Clos Sain-Urbain

Gewurztraminers (paired with Magruder Ranch Wild Boar with Roasted Fennel, Leeks, Butter Poached Potatoes and Honey-Apricot Gastrique)

2009 Gewurztraminer Calcaire, 2009 Gewurztraminer Clos Winesbuhl, 2009 Gewurztraminer Rangen de Thann Clos Saint-Urbain

Sweet Wines (paired with Jasper Hill Farms Winnimere raw [raw cow's milk, 60 days]

2006 Riesling Brand VT, 2006 Pinot Gris Clos Jesbal VT, 2006 Gewurztraminer Goldert VT, 2007 Riesling Brand SGN

 

My latest obsession: Outerland's pain au levain.

The trek to the Outer Sunset is well worth the commute for the outstanding pain au levain that awaits you at Outerlands. We had to visit Outerlands after being introduced to their delicious sourdough at a recent dinner gathering and their bread and coffee service has turned us into believers.

Outerlands bread is everything a pain au levain is supposed to be: tangy acidic notes; a chewy and delicious crust; a sweet and wheaty crumb. Complex and a pleasure to eat, this stuff is featured throughout the menu and they will sell you a loaf ($5) to take home if they have some to spare. We love it as sandwich bread and it makes killer French toast. Its also excellent on its own with good butter and a bottle of 2009 Paul Pernot Bourgogne Blanc. A delicious snack!

Outerlands also excels at coffee service which is extremely important in our view. A dedicated barista grinds Sightglass coffee to order and will pull an excellent espresso for you. What really sets Outerlands apart (besides the bread) is the skill at which they brew coffee using the Chemex system.

Individually brewed Chemex coffee requires a great deal patience and attention to detail. Given that coffee is an after thought in 99.9 percent of restaurants, I'm totally impressed that the Outerlands barista can go into zen mode and carefully brew Chexmex after Chemex of perfectly clean, full-flavored coffee during the Sunday brunch crunch. Well done!

I'll tackle the rest of the menu in a later post but owners David Muller and Lana Porcello and Chef Brett Cooper (Serpentine, Coi, Saison) are turning out product-driven cuisine at a very high level. If they take their bread and coffee this seriously...

Outerlands
4001 Judah
San Francisco, CA 94122
415-661-6140
http://outerlandssf.com

Oz Clarke, the U.K.’s most popular wine critic, met representatives of the wine trade at San Francisco’s Slanted Door to discuss his new books, Kiwi wines, and food pairing.

Oz Clarke is indeed the U.K.’s best-known wine personality. He’s written several books and regularly appears on BBC radio and television and has the unique distinction of getting busted by Christopher Reeve in Superman (1978)--awesome movie BTW. Clarke also enjoys a good amount of popularity on this side of the pond, although his wine criticism comes more often in the form of good writing rather than the scoring and rating of wines popular here in the States.

There is a well-worn copy of Clarke’s excellent topographical wine atlas sitting on my bookshelf at home. The binding has been taped up and the pages are often out of order as they freely fall to the floor whenever I open its cover. Its tattered condition is the result of me compulsively carrying it wherever I went while studying for the Master Sommelier exam. With Clarke’s atlas, I was able to visualize the dramatic slopes of the Mosel and the gradual undulations of Bordeaux’s terroir long before I was able to visit these places in person. It’s truly one of my favorite wine books.

Clarke is credited with coining the phrase “cat’s pee on a gooseberry bush,” which he used to describe the pungent green character typical of New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc. The phrase is off-putting to some, but Clarke meant it as a compliment, and it certainly is accurate. We tasted several Kiwi Sauvignons, as well as Rieslings, Gewurztraminers, and Pinot Noirs with Chef Charles Phan’s excellent Vietnamese cooking at the Slanted Door on Sunday night.

Clarke has a take on food and wine pairing that I wish more wine drinkers would adapt. From his new Pocket Wine Guide 2011:

The pleasures of eating and drinking operate on so many levels that hard and fast rules make no sense. What about mood? If I’m in the mood for Champagne, Champagne it shall be, whatever I’m eating. What about company? An old friend, a lover, a bank manager—each of these companions would probably be best served by quite different wines. What about place? If I’m sitting gazing out across the Mediterranean, hand me anything, just as long as it’s local—it’ll be perfect.

périphériquewine is an online wine merchant specializing in great terroirs and small producers. The best way to receive our wines is to sign up for our e-mails!

 

When I worked for restaurants and hotels as a sommelier, I coveted the big-industry tastings because I could mingle with my fellow wine buyers for a few hours instead of unpacking wine boxes or re-organizing the cellar for the umpteenth time. At some point between signing off as The Boiler Room’s wine director and starting périphérique, I lost interest in such mega-tasting events. But don’t get me wrong: they provide a great opportunity to taste many wines in a short period of time. And to be honest, I’ve made a lot of successful buying decisions based on wines I’ve tasted with the huge masses of buyers and sometimes thousands of bottles. 

When it comes to selecting, however, a big-industry tasting is not the best way to do things, at least not for me. Today, I prefer tasting wines in the cellars of the people who grew the grapes and made the wine. Only by regularly tasting at the cellar can we follow a wine’s evolution from beginning to end and get the facts of its production straight from the producer’s mouth. Of course, the requisite time and travel is expensive (and comes right out of our bottom line), but that’s how we prefer to work, and that’s how we intend to select the wines we offer when you sign up for our e-mails.

In our e-mails, for example, you might see an offer for wines from Martin Foradori, whom we regularly visit at his J. Hofstätter estate in the northern reaches of Italy’s Alto Adige. We’ve now paid three visits to his estate (2007, 2008, and 2010) and greatly admire Martin’s range of wines. We’ve walked in the Kolbenhof together (one of Europe’s greatest Gewürztraminer vineyards), drank numerous older bottles of his remarkable Pinot Noir Barthenau Vigna S.Urbano, and shared many meals.

I’m obviously a fan of Martin’s work, so I expected meeting him and tasting new wines at a big-industry tasting in San Francisco yesterday to be predictably enjoyable, but I walked away from Martin’s table being even more impressed than ever. My notes on Martin’s 2009 Pinot Grigio and Bianco read: “why bother with PG from a different producer?” And on the 2009 Gewürztraminer: “is this the best Kolbenhof ever?” Even the Lagrein’s and Pinots seemed more expressive than usual. Maybe it was the 2009 vintage which was excellent, or perhaps it was because I tasted those 2009s from bottle instead of tank for the first time. Whatever the cause, the greatness of Martin’s wines really sunk in, in a setting where wines rarely show their best.

 

Since our return to the Bay Area six months ago, our best find has been the fifteen dollar (yes, I said $15) tasting menu at Mr. Pollo at 24th and Mission in San Francisco. Apparently we're not the only ones who have taken notice of Chef Manny Torres Gimenez's talents. Chef Manny is applying what he calls "three-star Michelin technique" to simple Columbian street food, techniques he's picked up over the years at Frasca Food and Wine, Quince, and Coi (disclosure: I worked with Manny while I was a sommelier at Frasca). We're not the only one's who've taken notice.  Chef Chris Cosentino and his crew from Incanto have made it a regular post-shift hangout and Chef Manny was just interviewed for the Food Network's "The Best Thing I Ever Ate". Everything is sourced from local markets and Manny makes a point of using the freshest ingredients and crafting every dish by hand. There are only twelve seats so you'll have to stand in line and remember to bring your own wine (it is BYOB only) but this is very thoughtful, wine-friendly, farm-to-table cooking at an incredible price from a passionate chef. Do not miss Mr. Pollo!

2823 Mission St

San Francisco, CA 94110

(415) 374-5546

Open Monday - Saturday

You know you had a good weekend when you don't remember everything you did until you see the pics! Great fun with friends from out of town watching the Giants beat the Redsox and lots of excellent food and drink. Restaurant stops included Slanted Door, Zuni Cafe, Heart, and Beretta. Zuni chicken was great as usual and I personally have no problem drinking wine from mason jars at Heart, especially when the wine is one liters of Zweigelt.  After Zuni and Heart we apparently ate dinner again at Beretta which I believe serves pretty awesome pizza.

Roller skaters in Golden Gate Park: