Cooking
One of our favorite Oakland restaurants is Jojo on Piedmont Avenue. Curt and Mary Jo, the chefs and owners, have impressive pedigrees. Mary Jo was pastry chef at Chez Panisse for many years, Curt worked at Zuni for a time, and on and on. When they opened their own place, they wanted to make a comfortable neighborhood restaurant. Melissa and I had our rehearsal dinner there, and we try to eat there every couple months. Our most recent dinner was a bit unusual, though. The restaurant has introduced wine tasting nights led by their wine buyer Vito Passero, not coincidentally the head of our Slow Food convivium. Vito has crafted a great wine list for Curt and Mary Jo. It's not a big list, but it's focused and well thought out. Vito is passionate about French and Italian wines, and these wine tastings give him a chance to educate people a bit about the French wine they might find at the restaurant and at their local shops. This event (their second) focused on Rhône wines, and Vito talked about five different wines as Curt and Mary Jo cooked four small courses. The staff kept things casual and the courses and the wine moved independently, not in some rigid and arbitrary lockstep. It was a perfect night for warm food and robust reds; mist that flirted with being rain dampened the cold night air as we arrived, and the warmth and friendliness of the restaurant were even more welcome than normal. Before any food arrived, Vito told us about the region and offered up general thoughts about wine. I found his opinions refreshing and dead on, even his comment that while certain foods go really well with certain wines (he offered oysters and Muscadet as an example), in general food and wine make such a complicated mesh that if you like the food and you like the wine, you can manage to make most pairings work for yourself. Many food snobs will no doubt find this sacrilege, but let them fret about such things while the rest of us just enjoy our meals. He's amused when he sees recipes or menus that say "with this dish, serve a 1998 Ridge Lytton Springs Zinfandel" or something to that effect. What mood are you in? What's the weather like? What do you like in a wine? These should factor more than some food writer's view of the perfect wine with a dish. But. Off my soapbox and onto the wines (the menu is down below). Prices are Vito's estimates based on standard retail markups of the price he buys them at.
I didn't write notes about the food. I don't have to; Mary Jo and Curt are great chefs and everything was delicious.
- Wtn: 2004 La Cabotte, Côtes Du Rhône
For my current wine class, I don't limit the wines to ones I already know. Because the class is about sensory analysis, I choose wines that I know will illustrate certain characteristics. So each night's batch is something of a crap shoot, though...
- House Red Hunt: Summer 2006
Melissa and I recently went on a hunt for a "house red," an inexpensive red wine that pairs well with a wide range of foods. A wine we can afford to buy in "bulk" and open for the most casual of dinners. (As a couple who amass German...
- Wtn: 2002 Puligny-montrachet, Chateau De Puligny-montrachet
I have avoided learning much about Burgundy so far. I love the wines from this region, but I worry that its convoluted swirl of soil types and tiny producers will trigger my obsessive personality, to the detriment of my pocketbook. So I skirt the edges...
- Wtn: 2001 Syrah, Paschal Winery, Rogue Valley
2001 Syrah, Paschal, Rogue Valley - $23 Every couple years Melissa and I drive to the tiny town of Ashland in southern Oregon to take in some plays with our friends Pavel and Kathleen. Theater is the focus, but now that I'm into wine, I make a habit...
- Wtn: 2003 Cascavel "le Vin", Côtes Du Ventoux
I've decided to start posting wine tasting notes as specific posts here on OWF. Why? Why not. Who cares? Probably no one. But seriously, good tasting notes are rare. That hit home as I read David Schildknecht's tasting notes about German wines...
Cooking
Jojo Wine Tasting - The Rhône
One of our favorite Oakland restaurants is Jojo on Piedmont Avenue. Curt and Mary Jo, the chefs and owners, have impressive pedigrees. Mary Jo was pastry chef at Chez Panisse for many years, Curt worked at Zuni for a time, and on and on. When they opened their own place, they wanted to make a comfortable neighborhood restaurant. Melissa and I had our rehearsal dinner there, and we try to eat there every couple months. Our most recent dinner was a bit unusual, though. The restaurant has introduced wine tasting nights led by their wine buyer Vito Passero, not coincidentally the head of our Slow Food convivium. Vito has crafted a great wine list for Curt and Mary Jo. It's not a big list, but it's focused and well thought out. Vito is passionate about French and Italian wines, and these wine tastings give him a chance to educate people a bit about the French wine they might find at the restaurant and at their local shops. This event (their second) focused on Rhône wines, and Vito talked about five different wines as Curt and Mary Jo cooked four small courses. The staff kept things casual and the courses and the wine moved independently, not in some rigid and arbitrary lockstep. It was a perfect night for warm food and robust reds; mist that flirted with being rain dampened the cold night air as we arrived, and the warmth and friendliness of the restaurant were even more welcome than normal. Before any food arrived, Vito told us about the region and offered up general thoughts about wine. I found his opinions refreshing and dead on, even his comment that while certain foods go really well with certain wines (he offered oysters and Muscadet as an example), in general food and wine make such a complicated mesh that if you like the food and you like the wine, you can manage to make most pairings work for yourself. Many food snobs will no doubt find this sacrilege, but let them fret about such things while the rest of us just enjoy our meals. He's amused when he sees recipes or menus that say "with this dish, serve a 1998 Ridge Lytton Springs Zinfandel" or something to that effect. What mood are you in? What's the weather like? What do you like in a wine? These should factor more than some food writer's view of the perfect wine with a dish. But. Off my soapbox and onto the wines (the menu is down below). Prices are Vito's estimates based on standard retail markups of the price he buys them at.
- Côtes du Rhône, Chateau du Trignon 2002 - $12 - Mostly grenache. Warm aromas of berries, strawberry preserves and pears with notes of soap and mint. Modest acidity and tastes of berries and apples lingered for a long, warm finish that revealed a nice dustiness at the end. Vito says this reliable producer uses carbonic maceration in these wines, a practice I thought only occurred in Beaujolais. Basically, you ferment the juice inside the grape skin, which brings out a lot of the fruit character.
- Côteaux du Tricastin, Domaine de Grangeneuve "Cuvée de la Truffière" 2000 - $20 - Mostly syrah with the rest being grenache. Rosemary and thyme and black pepper aromas are complemented by yeasty smells of bread and cheese, with subtle notes of rubber and smoke and mushrooms. A nice acidity, modest tannins and a medium long finish give you lots of chances to appreciate flavors that combine rosemary, cream, vanilla, and pie crust and perhaps just a hint of smoke on the finish. This wine, from an artisanal producer in a relatively young appellation, was one of my favorites from the set.
- Gigondas Domaine Palliè 2001 - $25-$30 - 80% grenache. Strong smells of leather, spice and minerals nonetheless allow strawberry notes to come through as you concentrate. Taste is like black pepper sprinkled on flowers, with hints of nutmeg on the medium long finish. A really nice acidity and medium tannins suggest that this wine would work well with a wide variety of hearty foods.
- Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Domaine des Sénéchaux 2000 - no price or grape noted. Aromas of green leaves with spices and deep red cherries. A nice acidity and modest tannins showcase a swirl of flavors, from black pepper and cherries to cream and vanilla. A nice long finish. This wine worked really well with the braised beef we had (see below).
- Côte Rôtie, Domaine Duclaux, 2000 - $35 - 100% syrah. All the things you want in a wine. My notes taper off here, but I can still imagine this rich meaty wine, and a big star sits next to it on the list. A wine with a lot of balance. This wine reminds me why I prefer Northern Rhône syrahs to the California and Australia renditions.
I didn't write notes about the food. I don't have to; Mary Jo and Curt are great chefs and everything was delicious.
- Potato and blue cheese croquettes
- Endive salad with Chicken Livers, Chestnuts, and Apple
- Braised beef short ribs with butternut squash (and, I'll add, a heavenly sauce)
- Roasted Winter Pears with Black Currant Tea poached prunes (Mary Jo specifies the type of pear, but I can't quite read it)
- Wtn: 2004 La Cabotte, Côtes Du Rhône
For my current wine class, I don't limit the wines to ones I already know. Because the class is about sensory analysis, I choose wines that I know will illustrate certain characteristics. So each night's batch is something of a crap shoot, though...
- House Red Hunt: Summer 2006
Melissa and I recently went on a hunt for a "house red," an inexpensive red wine that pairs well with a wide range of foods. A wine we can afford to buy in "bulk" and open for the most casual of dinners. (As a couple who amass German...
- Wtn: 2002 Puligny-montrachet, Chateau De Puligny-montrachet
I have avoided learning much about Burgundy so far. I love the wines from this region, but I worry that its convoluted swirl of soil types and tiny producers will trigger my obsessive personality, to the detriment of my pocketbook. So I skirt the edges...
- Wtn: 2001 Syrah, Paschal Winery, Rogue Valley
2001 Syrah, Paschal, Rogue Valley - $23 Every couple years Melissa and I drive to the tiny town of Ashland in southern Oregon to take in some plays with our friends Pavel and Kathleen. Theater is the focus, but now that I'm into wine, I make a habit...
- Wtn: 2003 Cascavel "le Vin", Côtes Du Ventoux
I've decided to start posting wine tasting notes as specific posts here on OWF. Why? Why not. Who cares? Probably no one. But seriously, good tasting notes are rare. That hit home as I read David Schildknecht's tasting notes about German wines...