A Holiday Garland: Chocolates, Great Drinks, and More
Article by: Bill Marsano, HEMISPHERES’ James Beard Award–winning contributing editor.
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The great names in chocolate are all Web-accessible: Amedei.com, Guittard.com, Ghirardelli.com, JacquesTorres.com, ScharffenBerger.com, Recchiuti.com, Valrhona.com, LaMaisonDuChocolat.com, ChocolatModerne.com, GreenAndBlacks.com, and MarcoliniChocolatier.com.
This just in: Harry & David, the fruit-basket kings of Oregon, have made some of their offerings more festive—and more tempting—by adding chocolate paired with wines chosen by award-winning wine consultant Leslie Sbrocco.
Gear, Gadgets, and Goodies
OK with you if I start with beer? There’s a reason. The Krups people have a nifty item that will clear a lot of acreage in many refrigerators: it’s the Beertender, a countertop appliance that will keep a 5-liter keg of beer at proper serving temperature for up to 30 days—and serves the beer through its built-in spigot. All you need is an electrical outlet. Is that too much to ask?
Glassware is always a popular holiday choice—with the breakage of old stuff and the appeal of new, there’s plenty of reasons to buy.
Few things age well over long periods, especially five decades. But the Burgundy Grand Cru Glass designed by Claus Josef Riedel is 50 this year, and it hasn’t changed a bit. It was the first in the long series of wine-specific stems that has since threatened to take over the wine closets of the world, and C.J.’s descendants aren’t stopping. “I’m here to complicate your life,” is the way his son, Georg, puts it, and his son, the dashing Max, is learning from the master. I’ve tried to be a skeptic here. Maybe Riedel glasses don’t make wine taste better—but they usually make me feel better.
Two other glasses have tempted me lately. CharlesandMarie is a high-style design-driven company that blends originality and wit (thus the USB drives hidden in what appear to be Lego blocks . . . ). They spotted Alissia Melka-Teichroew’s Inside Out Glasses quickly and snapped them up. The shape of her champagne flute—and her martini glass and others—is a simple cylinder on the outside. The shape you expect the glass to be is on the inside. Must see to believe. Unique is an overused word and usually inaccurate. Not this time. Finally, Govino’s stemless glasses must be described as downmarket-up. They’re plastic but they’re classy. They resemble Riedel’s stemless O-line glasses so—unlike most plastic items meant for picnics—they’re not at all ugly. They’re handsome indeed and endlessly re-usable.
Poured with Pleasure Holiday Edition
Malts: New Bowmore 1992 (16 years old and wine-cask matured), Bowmore White and the re-release of the legendary Black; The Glenlivet XXV; Ardmore Traditional Cask; The Glenrothes 1985 and The Glenrothes Special Reserve (non-vintage); The Singleton of Glendullan, 12 years old; The Balvenie Vintage Cask 1976. Blends: The Last Drop, a marriage of 70 malts and 12 grain whiskeys that date to the 1950s; The Famous Grouse; White Horse; Chivas 18 and 25; Johnnie Walker—Blue, Green or Gold Label. Irish: Jameson’s port-finished Rarest Vintage Reserve, 92-proof, blends old grain and pot-still whiskies. Vodka: Orzel quartz-filtered; Smirnoff’s latest flavored versions; Jean-Marc XO, pot-distilled, wheat-based and French; Square One, plain and cucumber infused; Skyy; and Sobieski, the bargain bottle that takes on the super-premiums. Bourbon: W.L. Weller Special Reserve, Old Forester Repeal, Wild Turkey and Russell’s Reserve, Knob Creek, Maker’s Mark, Jack Daniels. Rye: Old Potrero 18th-Century Style Rye, Old Overholt, Van Winkle.
Tequila: Rocker Sammy Hagar’s new extra-añejo Cabo Uno, Gran Patrón Platinum, Ocho Single Estate, Cuervo Reserva de la Familia, Maestro Dobel Diamond reposado and Siembra Azul añejo. Brandy: Cognac Delamain and Barsol pisco, Peruvian brandy. Rum: James Bond’s favorite, Mount Gay and Mount Gay’s new Eclipse Silver; Clément Shrubb, spiced with bitter orange; Cruzan single-Barrel Estate. Cachaça Brazilian rum: Mãe de Ouro and Sagatiba. Liqueurs: Domaine de Canton Ginger; Starbucks Cream and Starbucks Coffee; Cointreau Noir; Amarula Cream; Stock Limoncé.
Winter warmers: Lynfred Winery’s Glögg, blends wine and spices (warm on stovetop or in microwave); Redstone Meadery’s ancient honey wine; a hot poker is the traditional heating instrument.
Red wine: Penfolds Grange, BV Georges De Latour Private Reserve, Hall, Sbragia, Barolos by Fontanafredda and Gianni Gagliardi, Chateau Lynch-Bages Pauillac, Davis Bynum, Rochioli, Orogeny, Foxen, Au Bon Climat, Ponzi, Archery Summit, Erath, Chehalem, Argyle Reserve, Two Latitudes, Dry Creek Vineyard, Klipsun, Hogue Reserve, Leonetti, Leelanau Cellars.
Ports and Other Dessert Wines: Taylor Fladgate, Fonseca and Croft, now under one owner; Sandeman Vau Vintage 2000 and its 30- and 10-year-old tawnies; Cockburn’s 2001 Quinta dos Canas, Symington’s 2001 Quinta do Vesuvio; Smith Woodhouse Vintage 1985; Chateau d’Yquem Sauternes; Livio Felluga Picolit; Edmeades Late-Harvest Zinfandel; Dry Creek’s Soleil and Late-Harvest Zinfandel; Bonny Doon Le Vol des Anges; Lucas & Lewellen Silver King Late-Harvest Merlot; icewines by Inniskillin, Jackson-Trigg and Henry of Pelham.
Champagnes/Sparkling wines: Ayala, Schramsberg, Henriot, Domaine Carneros, Pommery, J, Bollinger, Domaine Chandon, G.H. Mumm, Iron Horse, Perrier-Jouët, and Laurent-Perrier--even cheap-and-cheerful Barefoot Cellars; proseccos by Mionetto and Villa Sandi; Rosa Regale Brachetto d’Acqui; and any Moscato you can lay hands on from Italy’s Piedmont.
Of course it you’re stuck, if you just don’t know what to get, don’t make a choice—make an impression. For that, a box is just the thing, less than a case but also, because of its lovely trappings, more. J Vineyards has handsome black box for six bottles of its sparkling wine: limited editions of top vintages of the past 20 years. Dom Perignon has a triple and a six-bottle box complete with flutes. It’s done up in luggage-style—but don’t try to take it aboard as carry-on. And then there’s Tauleto’s basket of wine-based cosmetics and skin-therapy items. All made from Sangiovese, the grape of Chianti, Vino Nobile and Brunello—this set is perfect if she wishes she really were Italian. And who doesn’t?
Bound to Please
For my money the best drink book of the year is How’s Your Drink? Eric Felten’s elegant cocktail-hour cocktail tour, full of gracefully imparted learning and lore, much wit and a generous serving of recipes for classic and new cocktails. As if to support Felten’s view that cocktailiana does have its own history, a fellow named Ross Bolton has busied himself collecting and reprinting vintage guides, all of them charming backward glances: Shake ‘Em Up! (1930). Here’s How (1941), Burke’s Complete Cocktail and Tastybite Recipes (1936), Bar Florida (1935), What’ll You Have? (1933) and, of course, Jerry Thomas Bartender’s Guide (1887). Also in the instructional vein: Charles Schumann’s American Bar: The Artistry of Mixing Drinks; Ray Foley’s Rum 1000: The Ultimate Collection of Rum Cocktails, Recipes, Facts, and Resources and Ultimate Bartender’s Guide; Absinthe: Sip of Seduction, by Bettina J. Wittels and Robert Hermesch; Grappa: A Guide to the Best, by Axel and Bibiana Behrendt; Rum, by Dave Broom and Jason Lowe; Tequila: The Spirit of Mexico, by Enrique F. Martínez Limón; Market-fresh Mixology: Cocktails for Every Season, Artisanal Cocktails: Drinks Inspired by the Seasons from the Bar at Cyrus, by Scott Beattie. But the biggest news may be the long-awaited new edition of Kevin Zraly’s Windows on the World Complete Wine Course.
Eye-openers and Scandals: Wine Politics: How Governments, Environmentalists, Mobsters and Critics Influence the Wines We Drink, by Tyler Colman; George Taber’s The Billionaire’s Vinegar; and The House of Mondavi: The Rise and Fall of an American Wine Dynasty, by Julia Flynn Siler.
California Dreamin’: Wine Country Cooking, by Joanne Weir, is just the ticket for its good, simple no-nonsense wine pairings, but a clear favorite is A16: Food & Wine, by Nate Appleman and Shelley Lindgren. This tribute to San Francisco’s enormously popular A16 restaurant (named for an Italian autostrada) is well-written and beautifully photographed—and fully half of it is devoted to wine. The rest? Merely great southern Italian recipes, that’s all. Recipes also abound in "Taste: A Life in Wine," by Anthony Terlato, whose hard work, integrity and vision took him from hustling tips at a Miami hotel to the top of an international wine company and a Napa winery all his own.
For Skeptics and Such: Anything but Chardonnay; Wine on Tuesdays: Be a Serious Wine Drinker Without Taking Wine Too Seriously; and Wine Trials: The 100 Everyday Wines Under $15 that Beat $50 to $150 Wines in Brown-Bag Blind Tastings. But don't forget the laughs, which come from David Kamp and David Lynch's "The Wine Snob's Dictionary."
Stocking Stuffers: any Zagat Guide you choose; the updated Vino Italiano Buying Guide; Travels with Barley, a beer-lover’s odyssey; Whisky Tales, a dram of Scotch lore; 2009 Scotch Calendar; Karen MacNeil’s Wine-Lover’s Calendar and 365 Bottles of Beer for the Year 2009. Tyler Colman takes a different approach to the calendar in "A Year of Wine: Perfect Pairings, Great Buys and What to Sip for each Season."
Last-Minute Choices: The Wine Snob’s Dictionary, by David Kamp and David Lynch (the latter’s revised Vino Italiano Buying Guide is also just out); Barry Foy’s The Devil’s Food Dictionary (with some snarky entries on Drink); Carmine’s Family-Style Cookbook, from the cooks at New York’s beloved Theater District Italian restaurant; and Joanne Weir’s Tequila: A Guide to Types, Flights, Cocktails and Bites.
Happy holidays, all!
