January
11
2010
It seems that air carriers are creating more accommodating wine lists, especially for their business and first class passengers, than ever before!
That means the customers are becoming more sophisticated and demanding, and in order to have the edge over the competition, air carriers are offering unique wine lists that might separate them from others.
However, when examining the wines listed, the choices they offer do not always guarantee a memorable experience for their clientele. Not that they tend to offer inferior wines en route, to the contrary, most airlines have quality wine lists! The problem is that the wines they offer, though “premium” and in the right vintage, do not always live up to expectations!
Just because the wine is “quality and expensive” does not always guarantee customer satisfaction.
The secret is to offer a variety of quality wines that are not necessarily price prohibitive but tend to satisfy the majority of taste buds. Wines that have been market tested and have universal appeal due to their smooth, settling and pleasing tastes.
There are a number of wines that satisfy the above criteria, but for starters, I am going to make 2 wine suggestions here that if any airline decides to serve them on a regular bases, they would almost always be guaranteed to get compliments from their customers:
E.Guigal Crozes Hermitage from the Rhone region of France (Grape: Syrah), and Zenato Ripassa Della Valpolicella from the Veneto region of Italy (Grape: Corvina). Both of these are red, we’ll talk about white wine suggestions another time.
Remember, I just gave airlines around the world 2 wine suggestions that if they put on their wine list, they will make their customers smile:). Don’t believe me? Try them and you’ll see! Indeed!
January
6
2010
If you are familiar with my writings on wine, you know that for me the taste of a wine tops my agenda in criticizing that wine. It is not what the experts think and base their opinions on, it is basically the taste of the wine.
Not being a fan of tannic, oaky and heavy wines, I tend to recommend smooth, settling, and delightful wines that have a clean finish and lack aftertaste. So if you are a die hard California wine drinker that enjoy heavy Cabs and Merlots that have been vinified and developed in relatively new French oak barrels, and carry this conspicuous woody flavor and tannin that linger in your mouth, then you probably do not appreciate my articles as much.
However, if you are a wine drinker that enjoys and even prefers a certain smoothness in a wine that provides a sense of delight in your mouth, my next recommendation in these types of wines is an impressively enjoyable wine from the Rhone region of France called Gigondas.
Gigondas vineyards are located in the Dentelle de Montmirail region of Cote du Rhone in France. They profit from the red clay soil and Mediterranean like weather. Gigondas is a well-balanced and aromatic wine. It is very smooth and settles wonderfully in the mouth. It is a very inviting wine that has such an impressive effect on the consumer, that he or she would have a very difficult time not to completely finish the bottle.
The savvy wine makers of this region develop this wine so impeccably in most chateaus, that in my opinion need to be rewarded by constant recognition and commendations.
The grapes used to make this wine are, Syrah, Grenache, and Mouvedre. Gigondas is available in red and rose.
January
6
2010
Montepulciano is a beautiful hilly region on Tuscany’s southwestern edge, east of the historic hilltop town of Siena, where Tuscany meets Umbria near pretty Lake Trasimeno. The Montepulciano grape is found in numerous regions around Southern Italy and most famously in the town of Abruzzo. The grape is often confused with Sangiovese when used for making Vino Nobile di Montepulciano.
While increasingly enjoyed as a non- blended varietal, Montepulciano is most classically crafted into two style of wines, Rosso Conero and Rosso Piceno. Both are blends of Montepulciano and Sangiovese with Piceno typically having a mixture of 85% Sangiovese and 15% Montepulciano while Conero is typically a blend of 15% Sangiovese and 85% Montepulciano.
This young wine, bottled in the same year it is produced, has an intense ruby red color, with light violet reflections. It features a soft bouquet, considered fruity, and it has a dry, smooth, and well-balanced flavor, with an enjoyable slightly bitter but pleasant aftertaste.
Montepulciano has a fairly intense nose of strawberry and ripe plum fruit, combined with hints of leather and fading red flowers. On the palate it is dry, warm and quite smooth with good freshness. Flavors of Morello cherries, peaches and plums are backed by soft yet persistent sweet tannins and subtle tobacco notes.
The quality of Montepulciano wines produced in Abruzzo has been constantly improving in the last ten years, making Abruzzi, once a backwater in wine making, one of the most interesting realities in the Italian scene.
This wine can accommodate many red meats and game birds. It’s over all smooth and balanced taste can please almost every kind of wine drinker.
January
6
2010
When I was being marked for my final exam at the Cordon Bleu culinary school in Paris, one comment from my instructor chef stuck in my mind. When he first looked at my dish that I had prepared for the final exam, he said: “Well, it looks good, but does it taste good?’ I will never forget that comment because it is this very point that separates a good cook from a mediocre one. To my good fortune, he liked the taste of my creation as well!
This fact is very true. You love your grand ma’s cooking because it is always wholesome and good. It is not the look of her food that excites you, it is the taste. Same thing when you eat at your favorite restaurant. It is the food that brings you back more that anything else.
Taste in food and wine has always been the number one priority for me . Creating food is only the first step in cuisine, however it is the taste of that food that leaves a lasting impression. This is equally true about wine. There are many “expensive wines” out there in the market, but many of them do not live up to their quality or expectations, and are not impressive in taste, to say the least. No, you do not have to pay a fortune to enjoy a bottle of wine, you just have to know what to get and become more familiar with the types of wine that are always impressive in taste.
Yes my friends, it is the taste in food and wine that makes our lives more tastefully enjoyable!
January
6
2010
It is a fact that an increasing number of people are moving towards natural and organic products every year. That means people are becoming more aware of what types of food are offered in the market and what kind of effects they are producing on the general health of the population.
We, as Americans, are among the most sensible and logical people on the planet when it comes to production and manpower. However we had not put too much importance on the quality of food we consumed, till now. That is very exciting and means we are now becoming even sensible about our food consumption.
Organic food usually means food that has been grown with natural untreated fertilizers, and is pesticide free. What the earth intended to begin with.
When we look around us, abundance of nature is quite visible. We actually live in abundance of natural creation. However when man decided, due to the false impression, that he needs to produce more, using every means at his disposal to feed people and make more money, even if it goes against the rules of nature, the number of diseases became more frequent. We are what we eat.
When we act on a competitive plane rather than a creative plane, we loose sight of the unlimited natural resources that are at our disposal.
So, it is quit thrilling to see that more people are becoming health conscious and desire to live naturally. This is why we see that more organic food products, and organic food stores are becoming available in our neighborhoods.
January
6
2010
It is important to recognize, and once and for all realize that eating well and natural is the only sure way to lose weight and keep it off.
The above statement can be proven to you by doing a little survey of your own. Or maybe I should say a little surveillance of your own. Next time you go to the supermarket, pay attention to what people have on their carts when checking out!
I bet here is what you find:
- Most people that you find overweight and do not seem fit have packaged and processed food such as hot dogs, processed bread, drinks with lots of sugar, coloring and chemicals, frozen dinners, “diet” Coke or Pepsi or similar, processed cheese, pop tarts, canned foods, etc.
- Most people that you find slim and somewhat fit have fruits, vegetables, unprocessed meat, chicken, fish, fruit juice, milk, Yogurt, unprocessed cheese, etc.
Once you do this personal survey and you realize that I was right and am not throwing a bunch of things at you just because I am a chef and know a little about food, then you can arrive at your own logical conclusions.
Yes, my friends the secret to weight loss is right in front of our eyes. Please take a moment and observe.
All we have to do is eat and live healthy and naturally. Please forgive me to be blunt and harsh, but we need to stop the excuses and go natural, that’s all there is to it. Unless of course, one is suffering from a medical condition that is preventing the excess fat to dissolve!
January
6
2010
It has always been so puzzling to me why people in Europe get to enjoy some of the best tasting wines on the planet coming from France, and we tend to stick only to wines that are produced here in North America using the grapes coming from France. Oh yes I know, we have been led to believe that we have some of the best wines here in the U.S., why drink wines from France or Europe?!
Kind of a limited thinking, don’t you think? Either that, or we just don’t know what wine to buy! Is it cool to admit that, and try to learn more about other wines too, or no, we don’t need to admit anything, we have the best wines from California and other regions and that’s all there is to it?
Do you really believe that? Is that REALLY true?
Lets put some of these readily available French wines in North America to test and find out for ourselves if they’re good or not.
Here is a small list of French wines available in our markets that are friendly to our pocket books:
Red: Perrin Reserve(producer) or Parrallele(producer) Cote du Rhone from the Rhone valley, Montagne St. Emillion from Bordeaux
White: Muscadet Sevre et Maine from the Loire valley, Sancerre from the Loire valley
Rose’: Rose’ d’Anjou from the Loire valley
Put these wines to test at your own convenience, and please comment on this article. Thank you.
January
6
2010
Alsace region of France, situated on the extreme east of France bordering Germany, produces some of the best tasting white wines in the world.
The best Riesling wines in the world come from this region also. However, the grape originates from the Rhine region on the the German side. as where Gewurztraminer comes originally from the Rhine in Alsace, between the Vosges and the Blackforest on the French side.
Gewurztraminer is highly aromatic and usually off-dry, with a flamboyant bouquet of lychee. At the nose, it emanates aromas of roses, passion fruit with floral notes.
This distinctively fruity wine gives the impression of a sweet wine, but in reality it contains much less sugar than it makes belief. It is a perfect wine for amateur wine drinkers, specially the ones that do not necessarily like wine. It gives one the impression of drinking a high quality grape juice.
The more dry Gewurztraminers give a less sweet impression, but because they are considered more of a spicy wine, they are among the very few wines that are suitable for drinking with Asian dishes! Another particularly good match with this wine would be smoked salmon.
This lightly gold wine is a jewel that has to be discovered, and to discover it, you should not go further than looking for it in the Alsace region of France. Any imitation Gewurztraminers from other parts of the world do not even come close to it’s delicious, distinctive and joyful taste, and drinking them as Gewurztraminer, excuse my French, would be fooling yourself. So, please do yourself a favor and drink only the original Gewurztraminer d’Alsace.
January
6
2010
There are 9 principle wine regions in France. They are Burgundy, Beaujolais, Rhone, Provence, Languedoc-Roussillon, Bordeaux, Loire, Champagne and Alsace.
Many of the internationally prominent grapes are native to these regions and they are as follows:
-Burgundy: Pinot Noir or Pinot Blanc, Chardonnay
-Rhone: Syrah
-Bordeaux: Merlot, Canernet Sauvignon
-Alsace: Pinot Gris, Riesling, Gewurztraminer
-South West: Malbec
Some would question as to why these grapes from France are grown and utilized for wine making in different wine regions of the world instead of their own native grapes. Well, study shows that many of wine regions like North America, Argentina, South Africa, etc. do not have a variety of native grapes that can be used to produce wine. Additionally, since the French winemakers have always been the authority in wine making throughout the world with the exception of the Italians, who use pretty impressive methods to produce high quality and award winning wines, have been able to influence wine making in widely known wine regions of the world.
In any event, the 9 wine regions of France tend to produce wines that are very much typical to those regions and not characterized by the types of grape that are used to make them. For example in France you usually don’t see the name of the grape written on the bottle of the wine, rather you see the region where the wine was produced that has a specific characteristic coming from the climate, the terroir and lastly the type of grape used in that region. That is why, Chassagne Montracher has a different taste and characteristic than Nuits Saint George but both regions use Pinot Noir or Pinot Blanc to produce their wines!
So, in France wines are characterized and known by their regions rather than by their grapes.
January
6
2010
Ruth Fertel was the founder of Ruth’s Chris Steak House. Ruth was a Louisiana native who purchased a steak house from a gentleman in 1965. Just a few months after her purchase, Hurricane Betsy hit the Louisiana coast in September of 1965. The electricity went out and Ruth knew that she would have to get rid of the meat in the cooler before it would spoil. Instinctively, she cooked up the steaks and sent them down to the hardest hit area of town. All the utility workers discovered her business through that act of kindness and obligation to the community. That was the beginning of her success.
Ruth would say, “You have to please your customers, can’t compromise your product, and you do what you say you’re going to do.”
What she said when she was alive, still remains true today. When you go to a Ruth’s Chris, you’re served top quality succulent prime steaks on sizzling plates to your likings, with a variety of plentiful side dishes that are consistent and memorable in taste, provided with an extensive domestic and international wine list along with the highest quality of service in the industry intended to please the guests.
That is why Ruth’s Chris is known as “The Steak House” with over 90 locations worldwide, and considered an American success.
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