Cafes & Wineries

There never seems to be enough time for it all. Put handful of master-somms and an ersatz Italian together and give them 90 minutes to talk about 8 wines? Not enough time for disambiguation. No time for the bang, not even for a whimper. Press on, press on.

There is something exhilarating about being in a room with a set of high energy wine gurus. Rising tide kind of thing. We had two sessions on Italian wines, Italy being a darling of the mutant set of somms currently working their way around the airports and boardrooms of the halls of power in the wine biz. Make no mistake about it folks, the big boys in the industry know what is at stake and they have lined up some of the best and the brightest to sell the message down to the platoon level.

In our sessions, day one (Northern and Central Italy) we had:
Moderator: Brian Cronin MS

Panel:
Laura DePasquale MS
Brett Zimmerman MS
Larry O’Brien MS
Joe Spellman MS
Alfonso Cevola CSW

Day two (Southern Italy and the islands) we had:
Moderator David Glancy MS

Panel:
Laura DePasquale MS
Reggie Narito MS
Larry O’Brien MS
Brett Zimmerman MS
Alfonso Cevola CSW

I would love to accompany a couple of these folks on a wine blast through Italy, or anywhere for that matter. Guys like Larry O’ Brian (above) always seem to be working through the wine, constant students of the grape. Brett Zimmerman, working for a small importer, his path on the Italian wine trail, treading and tasting, working his way up that insurmountable mountain we call Italy. How about that new salesperson in the audience looking at this and wondering how they’ll be able to get to base camp. I’m telling you, sons and daughters, we’re all trying to get to base camp. And on to the ascent.

Teaser: The article in the latest Sommelier Journal from my last trip to Piemonte so you can get a little avvinare (taste). Subscribe and support David Vogels valiant effort to bring intelligent writing about wine to the young sommeliers and all the rest of us.

On one of our sessions, The Central Italy part, we had two wines from Tuscany. I hadn’t realized it until I tasted the wines but there was some thread of similarity, even though the two wines were as different as concrete and balsa wood. The wines, Castello dei Rampolla’s Chianti Classico 2004 and the Argiano Solengo 2004, both had the imprimatur of Giacomo Tachis, albeit from a now historical whisper. Time, time, bang, bang, whimper, whimper.

The Rampolla spoke to me in a simple, pure and direct way. The spirit of the place, Panzano, was erect and present. Wild horses tied to a wagon heading towards a sunset on the coast, in no particular hurry. Gorgeous, golden, wild, velvet, young first love Michele in 1965. Holy mother of God, how did they do this?

The Argiano, with those gypsy grapes of Cabernet, Merlot and Syrah (aren’t these the grapes that could get a winemaker in trouble in Montalcino?), preening and prancing about the glass. “Last dance with Mary Jane, one more time to kill the pain.” I’m at a loess for words. I don’t want to like this wine, want to prefer the Sangiovese in purezza. But the two wines have this astral thread that connects them. Is it the Dali Lama of Italy, Tachis, from his cave in Sardegna, sending out his influence over the waves, out-Milarepa-ing Milarepa?

Soil, servitude and the fortune of territoriality. Two wines, two apparently different styles. Our house is a very fine house, with two cats in the yard. Dottore Tachis, now everything is easy ‘cause of you.

And this is the way the week ends. Not with a wine, but a conga line.

Photos courtesy of Texas Sommelier Conference 2008

Original post by Alfonso Cevola

GREENSBORO — It’s Saturday night — prime people-watching time on Elm Street. Cars with custom rims stream by, speakers thumpin’. Ladies in high heels and short dresses giggle down the sidewalk. Police officers on bicycles zip between pedestrians and cars. If Rocco Scarfone  has his way, the Elm Street sidewalk outside Much martini bar will be a hot spot for people-watching later into the …

Original post by Yahoo! News Search Results for Cafes

CEBU CITY, Philippines - A proposed ordinance by officials of Barangay (village) Sambag 1 in Cebu City hopes to cash in on the operations of Internet cafes and computer stores that abound in their area.

Original post by Yahoo! News Search Results for Cafes

Lois Arleen Marshall spent much of her childhood years moving about with her family, most of it in the Timber Lake area, and helping with the farming chores so much that she couldn’t complete her schooling. She worked in cafes in Oregon and Montana until recalled home to help her parents.

Original post by Yahoo! News Search Results for Cafes

INDIANAPOLIS McDonald’s, which this month relaunched its store at 96th and Meridian streets as a McCafe, will bring that concept to at least 15 stores in Indianapolis, according to construction permit applications filed in Marion County. At McCafes, customers can order cappuccinos and other sweet caffeinated goodies at special counters. Dates for the renovations were unclear. Locations include …

Original post by Yahoo! News Search Results for Cafes

“The performances of the Chinese athletes are wonderful!” Cairo fast-food restaurant manager Said said of the Chinese athletes competing at the ongoing Beijing Olympic Games. “It’s great for the Chinese team to lead the medal tally since the beginning of the Games,” said Said, whose snack bar in the suburban district of Maadi is crowded every night with locals watching repeat telecasts of the …

Original post by Yahoo! News Search Results for Cafes

Company News Irwin Union Bank and Trust has opened a branch at 751 City Center Drive in Carmel. Synergy Marketing Group announced it will become the agency of record for Panera Bread Co.’s bakery-cafes in Indiana.

Original post by Yahoo! News Search Results for Cafes

In 1600, Rome’s Campo de’ Fiori, now a nice plaza lined with cafés, was one of the city’s execution grounds, and on Ash Wednesday of that year Giordano Bruno, a philosopher and former priest accused of heresy by the Inquisition, was taken there and burned. The event was carefully timed . . .

Original post by Yahoo! News Search Results for Cafes

Two Little Rock restaurants had lawsuits filed against them last week as Little Rock’s Advertising and Promotion Commission stepped up efforts to collect taxes dating back to 2005. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette Northwest Edition)

Original post by Yahoo! News Search Results for Cafes

Julie over at D-Magazine is doing a live-blogging feed, for more information. She’s even got a Quicktime dance video of the Master Sommeliers in action. Too much going on to put it all down right now. Ray Wylie Hubbard, Shiner Bock, ribs, cobbler and dancin’. See some pix after the jump.

Original post by Alfonso Cevola