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The Best Wine Tasting You May Ever Attend. Anywhere.

It is not only THE BEST wine tasting in Napa Valley. It just may be THE BEST wine tasting anywhere in the world. For sure, it is unique, original, one-of-a-kind. The kind of thing that makes headlines.

Everyone complains these days about the elevated – and nonsensical -- price of tastings at wineries in Napa Valley. And, for the most part, these gripes are merited.

But put into context, the $500 to $750 per person tasting fee at Blankiet, in Yountville, is actually a bargain.

Here you will compare Blankiet Merlot or Blankiet Cabernet against same-varietal, first growth Bordeaux wines, including Petrus, the world’s most expensive wine (100% Merlot), costing $6,500 a bottle on release. Or substantially more.

By comparison, Blankiet’s stunning, mouth-thrilling, exquisite, Merlot (called Rive Droite), is $250 per bottle, and it runs rings around the $6,500 Petrus.

But I am getting ahead of myself.

Blankiet Estate, in Yountville.

Claude Blankiet and his wife, Katherine, hosted my two comparative tastings

I was fortunate to attend two of proprietor Claude Blankiet’s comparative, international wine pairings in the last month and on each occasion, his red wines trounced those of Bordeaux.

The tastings, which you can reserve online (details at the end of this story), are a sort of Judgment of Paris 2.0… pairing great Napa Valley wine against the best red wine that France can bring to the table.

(The first time this was done, in Paris, in 1976, the event became known as “Judgment in Paris,” and critics who rated the French and Napa Valley wines blind, were astounded when the winning Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon turned out to be from Napa Valley, and not France.)

I do not know of any other wine producer in America who has the balls to take on the French in such a fashion – and make the tasting so public, permitting guests to sign up, step up, and then spit out a series of such exceptional wines. Guests can decide for themselves which they like better -- the over-priced, French Cabernets or Merlots, or the fairly priced (by comparison) Blankiet reds.

But you’ll have to come to Yountville, close to the mid-point of Napa Valley, to have the experience.

Blankiet vineyards

Petrus, considered by many to be the best red wine in the world, costs on release about $6,500 a bottle, TWENTY-FIVE TIMES more than Blankiet’s Merlot, Rive Droite.

Having tasted these wines side by side twice this past month, I’d say the Rive Droite is a substantially better made wine.

So as well as being a serious wine producer, 80-year-old Claude Blankiet turns out to be a serious Mythbuster!

How does Blankiet make such phenomenal wine?

For starters, Claude’s estate vineyard crew makes 30 passes through the vineyard during harvest period, selectively picking blocks as they ripen and each of these blocks is fermented separately.

By comparison, many winemakers make one, or two, passes through their vineyard to bring in the majority of grapes at once, but when they do, there is no uniformity among the fruit.

And then there are the optical sorters that Claude purchased to improve grape selection. He bought two and placed them in sequential mode; according to Claude, the eight infrared cameras on the first sorter kick out berries that have not been pollinated and which are filled with malic acid, which adds bitterness to wine; the second sorter uses infrared cameras to remove overripe fruit, whose sugar content would increase alcohol and add undesirable, port-like notes to the finished wine.

This double-hurdle, optical sorting that Blankiet’s grapes must jump gives Claude’s wines a head start over many French wine producers.

Winery host and director of hospitality, Julian Christian, prepares most comparative tastings.

Graeme MacDonald

Another reason Blankiet wines are such winners: The resident winemaker is Graeme MacDonald, a fourth-generation, Napa Valley, grape-grower, who also makes a compelling wine under his own label, MacDonald.

Below are my notes from two comparative tastings at Blankiet.

At both tastings, the Blankiet Merlot (Rive Droite) and Blankiet Cabs, Proprietary Red and Mythicvs,  shamed the French wines.

The comparative tastings at Blankiet are created around classic Bordeaux properties:

The $750, “Right Bank tasting” of Merlot-predominant wines include:

• Petrus
• Cheval Blanc
• Ausone
• Lafleur
• Masseto (A “Super Tuscan, 100% Merlot, produced by Tenuta dell'Ornellaia, called the Petrus of Italy.”)
• One or two recent vintages of Blanket Rive Droite

The $500 “Left Bank tasting” of Cabernet-based wines include:

• Lafite
• Margaux
• Haut Brion
• Mouton Rothschild
• A recent vintage of Blankiet Proprietary Red
• A recent vintage of Blankiet Mythicvs

Right Bank Wines, First Tasting

2018 Petrus

2018 was a good year in Pomerol and, if anything, the extra year of age could have given Petrus an edge over the younger Blankiet Rive-Droite. But even with the handicap, Blankiet beat it hands down.

The Petrus exhibited fresh baked fruit aromas on the nose and a hint of bacon. And these flavor notes persisted throughout the swallow. Nicely done. 98 points.

2019 Cheval Blanc

This wine, half-Merlot, half-Cabernet, is often considered one of the world’s great reds. The average price you’d pay online right now in the US is $900 a bottle. The wine has a perceptible, fermented-fruit aroma on the nose, almost moving into the umami range. A sort of soy sauce scent on taking a deep whiff. 96 points.

2019 Lafleur

This Merlot has a lovely, bright, fruited nose with complete follow-through… there is an exceptional hit of bright, ripe red fruit on the initial attack. Loved the middle palate and end notes, which linger. A bottle of this would set you back $2,000 today. Substantially more than a $250 bottle of Rive-Droite, which is the superior wine of the two. 99 points.

2019 Rive Droite

This 95% Merlot, 5% Cabernet Franc wine is a showstopper. The nose closely resembles that of the 2019 Lafleur, but that’s where all similarity ends.

My tasting note for this wine has more exclamation marks than a Tom Wolfe novel. I scored the wine 102 points because it belongs on a pedestal in the Pantheon of Great Wines. It is like Petrus, only better; like Petrus on steroids. It has more definition, more length, more puissance, more elegance, and more finesse than Petrus. 102 points.

There is NO question in my mind after two tastings, or in the mind of the guests with whom I tasted – everyone was unanimous in each tasting – the 300-case, limited production, Blankiet Rive-Droite Merlot – is the David of Merlot, capable of slaying the Goliath of Merlot, Petrus. It’s the stuff you read about in Bible stories and in wine columns.

One of the guests at both tastings was Lucio Della Gasperina, a local grapegrower and winemaker, and friend.

Left Bank Wines, First Tasting

2019 Margaux

Claude opened a bottle of this venerated wine to let guests taste it beside his best Cabernet effort, Mythicvs.

The disappointment was palpable. The Margaux is a solid citizen but not in the league of Mythicvs.

A bottle of Margaux costs $1,000. A bottle of 2021 Mythicvs on release is likely to be $350. Your honor, I rest my case which is the better value and also the better wine. The Margaux – 95 points.

2021 Mythicvs

Claude thinks this wine, which will be released in March 2024, will start to strut its stuff in four years and then hold its juicy, balanced, finessed, elegance for 20 or 30 more years. I would never be able to wait this long to swallow this ripe, red manna.

On the nose, there is so much ripe red fruit that it is fair to say there is a mouthfulof fruit on the nose! On the palate, there is cassis, ripe blue fruit, ripe red fruit, hints of tabac. This is poetry in your mouth.

For the uninitiated, regardless of how it is spelled, with that curious “V” instead of an “U,” it is pronounced as though it were spelled MYTH-EH-CUS. There are only about 175 cases made annually. 102 points.

For the record:

Mythicvs and Rive Droite are the two best wines I tasted in all of 2023. Nothing else comes close to their purity, finesse, elegance or balance. Not from any country, or wine region, whose wines I’ve tasted this year.

Second comparative tasting at Blankiet

Just to quell any argument that we may have tasted from flawed bottles at the first Judgment of Paris 2.0 comparative tasting, I accepted Claude’s offer to return for a similar tasting with wines poured from bottles not poured at the earlier tasting.

Again, the results were the same; the Blankiet Merlot-dominant and Cab-dominant wines crushed the French equivalents. I’ll give tasting notes in a moment for die-hard wine geeks, but I want to add a caveat to put the experience into context:

Bordeaux wines are meant to be aged 20- 30- even 40-years before they strut their complexity. It is also known that after several years, most Bordeaux wines go into a long, deep, brooding period where flavors and aromatics not only pale – they can go completely rogue and disappear.

So, an argument can be made that it is unfair to compare young Napa Valley wines with young Bordeaux wines – but the French wines chosen for these comparative tastings are of pre-shut-down age and if you’re spending $1,000 to $6,500 for a bottle of grape juice, it’s fair to assume the wine will be better than a $250 Merlot from Napa Valley. But we couldn’t find one First Growth Bordeaux wine that was.

Two other notes regarding the tastings:

The indefatigable host of your visit will likely be Julian Christian, a certified sommelier, a bon vivant, a raconteur of tales and a most affable host. Tell him that napaman sent you and he may just give you an extra tipple of some exotic wine… and if you’re palate’s on spec… you’ll most likely ask for more Rive Droite than Petrus!

On our second tasting, we were joined by someone who touches the lives of more than 500 wineries in Napa Valley – Dustin Mowe is President and CEO of Portocork America. He’s the guy who puts clean, TCA-free, pedigreed Portuguese corks in so many wines bottled here. And he has a highly elevated palate, having been invited to taste at every significant winery.

“No other winery in Napa Valley offers a comparative tasting with international wines,” says Dustin. “Nor could they and hope to win. Claude has learned how to make wines that have more finesse, more elegance and more purity than the best wines of France.”

Amen. I couldn’t have said it better myself.

And now, if you’re still with us… on to the second tasting.

Right Bank Wines, Second Tasting

2016 Petrus

Claude bought this $4500 bottle from a respected merchant. The wine, 100% Merlot, exhibits roses and oil on the nose. Rather tight and short on the swallow. No finish. No polish. Bit of charcoal, maybe ash, if you can call this a finish.

I’d be plenty disappointed if I’d paid $4,500 for this bottle. 92 points.

2019 Cheval Blanc

Bright fruit on the nose resembling freshly cut flowers. Lovely fruited notes on the palate, ends with a bit of smoke, tar. Quite complex, really. 97 points.

2019 Ausone

The presence of so much Cabernet Franc in this wine (65%) is evident in the sniff n’ swallow; very focused, very young, lots of pepper and Turkish spices. 95 points.

2019 Lafleur

A blend of nearly 50/50 Merlot and Cabernet Franc, this wine sports a nose of decaying irises, but the palate brightens considerably, offering a crescendo of fruit flavors. A lively, complex wine. 98 points.

2019 Masseto

So here we go, the 100% Merlot, Italian wannabe Petrus. Same nose as the Cheval Blanc if you sniff them blind, though the Masseto is a bit leaner on the nose. The wine is decent, just not evolved, elegant or gripping in any sensual way. 92 points.

2019 Rive Droite

On the nose, in the same ballpark as Cheval Blanc and Masseto, but there all similarity ends. This wine is like a Tesla Plaid, capable of leaping out ahead of everyone else, and leaving them all in a distant, far-away, second place.

The Tesla Plaid actually gives you a bruised neck if you launch the car from a dead start; Rive Droite Plaid gives the drinker a sore forehead – what you get from slapping your forehead so many times as you repeat, “How can anything taste this good?”

The wine is sensual, alluring, capable of making you beg for an allocation. 100 points.

Left Bank Wines, Second Tasting

2018 Haut Brion

This $700 bottle, a blend of Merlot, Cabernet and Cabernet Franc, is warm, inviting friendly. But again, there is a hint of decaying lilies on the nose and the palate is pretty tight. 93 points.

2019 Lafite Rothschild

Warm and hints of jam-like fruit on the nose, with a cascade of fruit flavors on the palate. Well balanced. Pretty finish. 94 points.

2019 Margaux

An unfocused nose, a bit ”smudge-y,” my tasting notes read.

A true classic Bordeaux wine, 20 or 30 years before it ever reaches puberty. Based on its eventual, likely ethereal pleasure, score it 97 points.

2016 Mouton Rothschild

A major disappointment around the table. Off-aromas of soiled clothes. A hint of brett (brettanomyces -- short form is Brett – is a type of yeast often found in wineries, which has the potential to cause spoilage in wine through the production of volatile phenol compounds). Feh. Hints of straw and barn with a short finish. Not what you want in a $900 bottle of wine. 91 points

2018 Blanket Proprietary Red

A blend of 85% Cabernet, 15% Merlot. Putting you nose in a glass of this wine is like putting you head in front of a large room fan that is blowing fresh fruit in your face. There is a purity to the aromatics and to the palate that have been absent in everything we’ve tasted from the Left Bank so far. The finish lasts a full minute. 100 points.

2019 Mythicvs

This wine has the same fresh fruit aromatics as the Proprietary Red above, though maybe even prettier. Even though there is no Merlot in this wine, it has a suppleness, a slipperiness, a sensuality that surpasses even the Proprietary Red. “This wine has it all,” says Dustin Mowe. “Power, finesse and length. This wine is literally off the charts. You never taste this kind of purity in the young wines of France. Not ever.” (For the record: His company puts the corks in most of them.) 102 points.

If you have questions regarding Blankiet’s comparative Bordeaux tastings, contact winery host, Julian, via email:

[email protected]

Go here to learn more about visiting Blankiet:

https://blankiet.com/visit/

Go here to directly sign up for a comparative tasting:

https://www.exploretock.com/blankietestate?tock_source=tock&tock_medium=search_nav

 

Bordeaux’ Best No Match for This Napa Valley Cabernet!

Ok, listen up. This is a story about a Yountville winery producing some of the very best Cabernets in Napa Valley. Blankiet Estate Cabs are not well known, which is surprising, given how elegant, balanced, and sensual they are.

I attended a tasting at Blankiet yesterday at which their Cabs crushed venerated, first-growth, Bordeaux wines that cost as much as four times more than the Blankiet Cabs.

If the Judgment of Paris wine tasting in 1976 hadn’t ever happened (at which American wines dominated revered French labels), the tasting I attended proved to me that Napa Valley Cabernets can be far superior than costly, first-growth Bordeaux wines. 

(Keep reading: YOU will be able to take the Blankiet/Bordeaux Challenge yourself at Blankiet Estate … read on for details!)

The Blankiet Cabernets that were tasted against Bordeaux’ top wines were:

+ The 2018 and 2019 Blankiet Estate Proprietary Red, a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot

+ The 2018 and 2019 Cabernet called Mythicvs, which looks like a typo, but which crushed every Bordelaise wine on the table in terms of purity, elegance, finesse, texture, and balance.

Mythicvs: You would expect the “v” to be a “u,” but winery owner Claude Blankiet, proudly steeped in the Classics, had other ideas.

Mythicvs, properly spelled with a “u,” is an adjective from Latin, meaning “legendary.” And what an appropriate term for the wine in this bottle! Every time I have tasted this wine, I  have slapped my forehead as in a “DUH!”moment, asking myself why hadn’t I bought more before the vintage sold out?

According to Claude, Mythicvs is produced to exhibit balance, elegance, harmony, and sophistication. And of the many vintages I have tasted, this goal has been reached again and again.

Blankiet only produces 150 cases of Mythicvs each year, while top Bordeaux factories, er,wineries, may produce 25,000 cases of a first-growth wine. As such, Claude can afford to micro-manage the care of his grapes during the growing season and afterward, during production.

I am not alone in crowing about Blankiet’s killer Cabs. Respected wine critic Jeb Dunnuck, formerly with the Wine Advocate, recently rated each of the 2018 and 2019 Mythicvs wines 100 points, the same perfect score he ascribed to the 2019 Chateau Lafite Rothschild, reputedly one of the world’s greatest wines.

For the record: Long before Dunnuck rated these wines, I had found them so compelling that I bought them for my cellar. After visiting Blankiet Estate as a paying customer over the years, I befriended owners Claude and Katherine Blankiet. On the basis of our friendship and my professional interest as a wine writer and winemaker, I was invited to the Blankiet/Bordeaux comparative tasting.

Claude Blankiet

Claude’s goal was to prove to himself -- and  to anyone who wants to take the Challenge -- that his Cabernets are as good as, and possibly better than, the best of Bordeaux.

The Pepsi/Coke Challenge is so…. 20^th century. Claude has updated the idea and thrown down the gauntlet, offering visitors to his winery a chance themselves to take the Blankiet/Bordeaux Challenge!

In his review of Blankiet Estate wines, Dunnuck commented on several connections between the Blankiet Cabs and the 2019 Château Lafite Rothschild.

“The 2019 Blankiet Estate Proprietary Red is straight-up incredible. It reminds me of a great vintage of Château Lafite Rothschild with its elegance and purity. It is just pure class!”

“Pure gold. The 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon Mythicvs has that incredible profile of power without weight that is so hard to find, and again, it has a Lafite-like elegance and class. This wine absolutely stopped me in my tracks.”

Claude was not surprised by Dunnuck’s comparative statements, for what Jeb did not know is that 75% of Blankiet’s Cabernet vines were grafted 26 years ago with budwood from Château Lafite!

“The complexity of our fruit arises from the soil – we sit atop three seismic faults, which helps produce great grapes,” says Claude, adding, “but good genes also help!”

Claude, who grew up in Dijon, France, has always preferred French-style Cabernets (Bordeaux wines) over the bombastic, over-extracted, over-alcoholized, over-oaked Cabernets that so many American wineries produce. These wines lack the finesse, precision, and balance that make Claude swoon.

“California gives us more consistent fruit purity than Bordeaux, but sometimes we just have too much sun, adds Claude.

He continues: “To moderate this, we installed 70,000 linear feet of shade cloth, 9,000 vaporizing misters, and two optical sorters to eliminate all high-sugar content berries that would contribute to over-ripeness and higher alcohol levels.”

Blankiet’s exceptional wines are made by winemaker Graeme MacDonald, who shares a reluctance with Claude to make wines with over-ripe fruit and high alcohol.

Claude and his wife, Katherine, are some of the last, old-time, original, independent, winery owners in Napa Valley, which is quickly becoming a corporate clone of industrial corporations, bent on buying up family wineries at an alarming rate. These are NOT the kind of clones we welcome in wine country.

To initiate the Blankiet/Bordeaux Challenge, Claude, Julian Christian, a certified sommelier and hospitality director at Blankiet Estate, and I sat down with nine Cabernets, each poured four hours earlier to optimize their appeal.

Julian pours for the tasting.

In the first round, we tasted three wines that Dunnuck had reviewed.

To my palate, there was NO contest. The Blankiet wines dominated the round. And the 2018 Mythicvs clearly bested the Bordeaux.

Flight 1

2018 Blankiet Estate Proprietary Red

Gorgeous red fruit nose, mostly of ripe cherries. I was prepared to score this wine 100 points on the basis of aroma alone. Alluring, welcoming, warming. Dunnuck scored this wine 98+ points, but for me, it was a perfect wine, so beautifully rich in fruit aromatics that I would happily pour it into my home humidifier to be able to smell it all day long in every room of the house! 100 points, my score.

2018 Blankiet Estate Mythicvs

A gentle hint of new leather as well as the scents of ripe black olives and ripe red fruit. If this wine were a movie star, it would be Charlize Theron, known for her sensual beauty and ability to charm and captivate your heart. Just like this wine. 100 points, my score. (All scores hereon will be my scores, not Jeb’s.)

2018 Chateau Lafite Rothschild

A much tighter nose than either of the Blankiet wines in this flight, though there are hints of wax, leather, briar, and a soupcon of greenness. On the palate the wine is flat, linear. The attack is on standard, but the middle palate disappears, and as you would expect at this age, this wine has a disappointing finish. 97 points.

Blankiet's vineyard, tucked into a hillside in Yountville:

Wanting to go beyond Dunnuck’s realm, Claude and Julian decided that since we were together tasting venerated Bordeaux first-growths, we might as well rate a second flight of wines from the 2019 vintage. I was not reluctant to join them! These are some of the very best Cabernets in the world, assembled for our professional edification… oh, and yes, our pleasure!

Flight 2

2019 Blankiet Estate Proprietary Red

Unusual but alluring aroma of warm clothes just taken out of the dryer, followed by aromas of ripe fruits in a warm, baked compote. Gorgeous integration of fruit and alcohol. Tannins are evident but submissive, even at this age, to the fruit, which is sublime. 98+ points.

2019 Chateau La Mission Haut-Brion

A boatload of ripe fruit on the nose! Would score this wine 100 points on the aromatics alone. On the palate, this is a thrilling wine. Nothing short of ethereal. 100 points.

2019 Blankiet Estate Mythicvs

Rich, ripe, dark fruit on the nose. On the palate, let’s put it this way – it was impossible to spit this out. I had to own it for a while. Of the nine wines we tasted, this was the most outstanding wine of the tasting, beating out such classic labels as Chateau Margaux, Chateau Mouton Rothschild and two vintages (2018 and 2019) of Chateau Lafite Rothschild.

The 2019 Mythicvs may very well  become the best wine of the year for me and we are only two weeks into the year. You can't make a more sublime, sexier, more sensual wine. Period. I was forced to rate this wine 101 points. You do the math.

2019 Chateau Lafite Rothschild

Elegant, herbaceous nose, plenty of complexity. There are cherries present, and a cherry-liqueur top note, suggesting over-ripeness. The nose finishes with a hint of Balsamic acidity. The palate is linear, the fruit is over-ripe and the wine lacks the finesse you expect from such an important label. 98+ points.

2019 Chateau Margaux

An enticing nose, though there are hints of alcohol and after a few deep whiffs, copper pennies proliferate. The wine is lean on the palate. I'm inclined to call it naked. The fruit is underripe, very lean, the finish is disappointing. And they charge, on average, across America, $850 for this? 97 points.

2019 Chateau Mouton Rothschild

Straw and hay notes on the nose, with a strong finish of Band-aids. A dirty wine, compromised by Brettanomyces. The worst wine on the table. 93 points

And now, the Good News!

I encouraged Claude to make this wine tasting experience available to visitors to his winery, so they can establish for themselves that his fairly priced, Napa Valley Cabs exhibit more finesse, elegance, charm and balance than Bordeaux' top wines, which cost many times more.

Book your own personal, private Blankiet/Bordeaux Challenge by sending an email to hospitality director Julian Christian:

[email protected]

For $500 per person, you will be poured 50 mL of six wines:

From 2018:

Blankiet Mythicvs

Blankiet Proprietary Red

Chateau Lafite Rothschild

From 2019:

Blankiet Mythicvs

Blankiet Proprietary Red

Chateau Lafite Rothschild

In the meantime, you can learn more about Claude’s winemaking philosophies and practices at blankiet.com

 

 

Napaman – Back From a Week-long, Whisky Safari in Scotland!

Like big game hunters, I went on a safari last week, but with the intention of bagging some memorable Scotch whiskies, not whiskered trophies.

Aiming to break out of our pandemic mindset in a burst of alcoholic glory, the missus and I headed to one of our favorite countries, Scotland, land of sleepy sheep and stunning spirits.

Through an executive travel service (more about this later), I hired a car and driver, who, for a week, shuttled us from distillery to distillery and occasionally to a whisky shop, across the country in search of killer spirits.

We put on 1,100 miles in search of glorious, golden, whisky.

Here, in America, we tend to call the spirit “Scotch,” but to the Scots, where it’s made, it’s simply called “whisky,” because in their collective mind, there is no other spirit worth talking about.

What’s happened to the price of everything else we consume has recently happened to Scotland’s venerated elixir, only more so; the price of rare whisky has jumped 50 to 100 percent in the last six months, according to retailers with whom I spoke.

Rather than recap what happened chronologically, it would be more useful to readers to highlight the Best Of my experiences, so that if any of you intend to replicate our travels, you will know where to aim.

The Best Whisky Tasting

Of all the whisky pitstops, tours and tastings we experienced, by far the classiest was that hosted by Jack Dickinson at Gordon and MacPhail, in Elgin, Scotland.

This is a 127-year-old whisky “negociant,” if you permit; they approach many of Scotland’s 120 distilleries, purchase a distillery’s “new spirit” (the just-created distilled liquor) and age it for decades in (mostly) used bourbon, or sherry, casks, imparting their own twist to a participating distillery’s whisky. Some of the decade-old G&M whiskies we tasted were exceptional.

Jack Dickinson led us on a 90-minute, educational tasting, sharing his knowledge with professional detail – possibly due to the fact that he was a sommelier, formerly working in our favorite restaurant in Scotland. (More about this in a minute).

Gordon and MacPhail, 58 South Street, Elgin, Scotland.

The Best Retail Whisky Store in Scotland.

Over my many trips to Scotland, I have shopped at some mighty fine whisky shops, but I have never met any retailer with more passion than Scott Ashford, who, with his wife Sam (Samantha), runs the Whisky Castle in the tony town of Tomintoul.

Scott has an infectious zeal for whisky; he is not afraid to open $250+ bottles and give you a sip to make his point about a particular spirit and he will ship anything you buy back to your home state.

Is there a happier guy in all of Scotland? It’s hard to say because, in general, the Scots are among the happiest, cheeriest, people I’ve ever known. It’s almost as though town councils across the land have been adding happy-time chemicals to municipal drinking water sources, because we failed to meet one dour person in our entire time in Scotland.

(Also, please take note, San Francisco: no litter anywhere, no homeless, no graffiti sprayed across public buildings, not on trains, trams or buses.)

But back to Scott Ashford; he actually sets the bar for W.E. -- Whisky Exuberance -- of anyone we met on this trip.

One of the whiskies that Scott pulled off his shelf and let us taste was this rare (only 482 bottles produced) 25-year-old, Carn Mor, a brand from Benrinnes Distillery, in Speyside.

I’d never heard of this whisky, but it set my tongue a-clackin’ and the pounds sterling in my pocket a-crinklin.’ It whispered in my ear: “p-u-h-l-e-s-e, I want to live with you in Napa Valley…”

And now it does.

Make sure you put this address in your files – and please note that Resistance to Scott is Futile!

Whisky Castle, 6 Main Street, Tomintoul, Scotland.

 

The Best Restaurant in Scotland.

The restaurant is The Kitchin, and please note, this is NOT a typo.

The 1-star Michelin restaurant is named after owner/chef Tom Kitchin, whose fare I have enjoyed over a period spanning four years.

Tom Kitchin, Carol and me at The Kitchin, enjoying a glass of Tom’s favorite Champagne, Philopponnat “Royal Reserve” Brut.

On this trip, we dined two consecutive nights at The Kitchin, and as it was closed on the two Sundays we were in Edinburgh, we opted to dine at Tom’s other restaurant, a high-end, gastro-pub that itself is a cause for joy. Even the Michelin Guide inspectors agree as they have awarded this neighborhood pub a “Bib Gourmand” rating every year since 2017.

At Scran and Scallie (Scran means food, and Scallies are friends, or scallywags, in local jargon), we had the best oysters that we’ve ever eaten; Tom’s version of a Scottish meat pie was memorable.

And the chocolate tart (below), served with “milk” ice cream, was the single best chocolate indulgence that I have had in years.

At The Kitchin, I had the best soups I have had anywhere in a considerable time; Tom’s pea velouté is the only soup that I have earnestly thought about for weeks afterward;

his version of lobster bisque, without cream, puts every version of this soup that I have ever had in New England to shame.

The cheese selection here is exceptional, and like every ingredient in Tom’s arsenal, the DNA of every cheese offered is Scottish; Tom believes in supporting local farmers, growers, producers, taking an Alice Waters approach to cuisine.

(Alice Waters, owner and founder of Chez Panisse, in Berkeley, once told me over lunch that if California health regulations didn’t require her to have a refrigerator in her restaurant kitchen, she wouldn’t have one.

“We’d have produce, cream, butter, fresh fish, everything… would be delivered each morning and used up by dinner,” she told me. Which is pretty much how Tom cooks, relying on small quantities of uber-fresh, ingredients being delivered daily to his kitchen.)

After dinner, bar manager Kat Barker (above) rolled a monster cart up to our table, offering us numerous whiskies well older than her. I was dumbfounded by:

1. The presence of a whisky cart at all
2. The number of outstanding whiskies on it
3. Kat’s knowledge of every whisky on the cart, as though she had hand-picked each of them

Make a note of this address for your next visit to Edinburgh:

The Kitchin, 78 Commercial Quay, Leith, Edinburgh, Scotland

And if you are in town long enough, score a reservation at Tom’s neighborhood eatery:

The Scran and Scallie 1 Comely Bank Road, Stockbridge, Edinburgh.

 

The Best Bar in Scotland

Ask locals to name the best bars in Scotland and this one, in Speyside, makes all the shortlists: Quaich Bar, in the Craigellachie Hotel, in Aberlour.

(Locals pronounce it “QUAKE-kh… there’s a little guttural “kh” at the end, almost undetectable. In Gaelic, it refers to a traditional, shallow, two-handled cup symbolizing friendship.)

It’s upstairs, above a restaurant called Copper Dog. The bar is a rich depot of delicious drams.

Ben, the young bartender, knows all 700 of the whiskies stocked and has an opinion about every one of them.

Three whiskies (below), which Ben suggested we try – some of his personal current favorites:

Below is my good friend, Jim Walker, of Walker’s Shortbreads fame; he lives in Aberlour; he and his wife Jennifer joined us for dinner and then for drinks afterward, at the Quaich Bar.

The whisky Jim is holding is made for the onsite restaurant, Copper Dog.

Quaich Bar, Craigellachie Hotel, Aberlour, Scotland

 

The Best Way to Tour Scotland

On previous visits to Scotland, I’ve rented a car and driven on “the wrong side of the road,” fortunately missing pedestrians, but often hitting potholes, curbs, and missing much of the bucolic scenery as we rolled through the Highlands and Speyside regions of whiskydom.

So this time, I called my friend, Jim Walker, and asked if he would suggest a local travel company that might supply a car and driver.

Daniel Main, left, owner of DM Executive Travel, and on the right, our driver and tour guide, Steve Brockman.

“DM Executive Travel” was his suggestion, the D and M standing for agency owner Daniel Main, a pleasant, capable, professional tour operator.

Daniel suggested an itinerary based on several of our own agenda requests; we wanted to visit the Isle of Mull, site of the producer of one of our current favorite whiskies, Ledaig (pronounced LETCH-ig), and we wanted to dine at a few favorite restaurants upcountry.

Our driver for the week was Steve Brockman, a cheery, thoughtful, detail-driven man and a helluva good driver.

As we drove across country, Steve would occasionally veer off road, suggesting we needed to see something special.

Like the oldest bridge in Scotland…

The Carr Bridge, above, has suffered from the hooves of horses, bone-numbing winters, and Biblical floods since 1717 when it was built.

Other visual, or historical, highlights of our week with Steve:

Kelpies are said to be shape-shifting monsters beneath the sea -- though this presentation sure makes them look like horses! Kelpies supposedly drag sailors down to their death.

Steve detoured to show us these 100-foot high, stainless steel-plated, horse heads, constructed at locks joining the Forth river and Clyde canal, in Falkirk, Scotland.

Knowing that I have a passion for photography, Steve made a point of stopping, or detouring, to present me with moments of Kodak lucidity. Here are some shots from our travel to the

Isle of Mull, the Highlands and Speyside…

Because we were so far north and nearly at the summer equinox, daylight stays around until close to 11 pm… and the sun rises to wake you at 3.50 am.

Here’s a shot of the harbor at Oban, one of my favorite mid-country towns, taken at 11 pm at night. Catch how much light there still is!

And then there were the Pyramids of Dufftown!

Steve detoured to take us to Dufftown Cooperage, site of 250,000 used barrels from bourbon producers in America and sherry producers in Spain; before these barrels can be used to age local whiskies for 10-30 years, they individually need to be reconditioned, repaired, re-banded, or made leak-proof again.

To contact Daniel Martin and plan your own Whisky Safari, make a note of his contact information:

DM Executive Travel

[email protected]

+44 07756297947

One of the original visits that Daniel set up for us at the rural home of Ann Miller, who calls herself The Dram Queen, a dram being the Scots’ term for a wee pour, or nip, of whisky.

Ann Miller, The Dram Queen, uses a map to illustrate the origin of distilleries whose whiskies we tasted.

I joked with Ann, told her that I had been expecting to meet The Drama Queen, instead of The Dram Queen. She is a retired veteran of the whisky trade, worked for years with Chivas, knows everyone in the trade and knows everything you ever wanted to know about whisky but were afraid to ask. She leads educational whisky tastings that are highly informative and entertaining. She does not sell the whiskies she pours.

As a motif for our tasting of six whiskies, Ann resorted to an historical map of Speyside, showing us how distilleries popped up along the rail line (essential for bringing goods in and whisky out of the country).

This is what we sipped with The Dram Queen as she regaled us with stories about the cask-strength elixirs…

If you’d like to book a session with The Dram Queen, best to do it through Daniel Main, who knows the way to Ann’s home in Carron. However, you can contact her directly through www.dramqueen.co.uk and Ann will send you a map and directions to find her comfy digs.

You Know You Are In Scotland When You See Products and Signs Like these….

Finally, there’s this tidbit from my own history.

When I was in grade school in Toronto, one of my classmates (we are still close friends 62 years later…) and I made up a Scottish joke about an estuary (called a “firth” in Scotland) that runs into a particular river in Scotland, the Forth.

The joke came back to me as we crossed a bridge over the Forth River.

I shared it with Steve, our driver, and he laughed heartily:

If you are drinking a 32-ounce bottle of whisky, sitting on the banks of a particular Scottish river estuary on April 4th, could you say that you were drinking a fifth on the fourth of the fourth at the Firth of the frothy Forth?

Well, it had me in stitches 62 years ago….

 

Another Cabernet Night in Napa Valley

We assembled a small, professional but edgy, group last night to break out of our pandemic torpor. Sort of the equivalent of kissing a slumbering princess who has been in a coma for 2+ years, but in the case of our dinner, it was the simple opening and aeration of 10 wines that shocked us awake… and the eight of us were instantly reinvigorated back to lively, pre-pandemic times!

Our dinner guests included two sommeliers and four winemakers, each recognizable for a lifetime of labels that you know, many which have garnered 100 points by Parker, Galloni, Suckling, or hey, even napaman!

For our guests, I grilled five New York strip steaks, each about the size of Manhattan, hence their geographic nomenclature, and for the one, non-bovine-ista in the group, Carol made her spectacular roasted, farmhouse chicken. Proteins were served with asparagus, roasted fingerling potatoes, Carol’s most-ever-requested dish, Tuscan beans, as well as her sensational roasted red onions.

On the wine side, I chose to serve six older reds, mostly Cabs and most from Napa Valley, but not all.

These are the wines I put before the group:

1976 Robert Mondavi Reserve

This wine, at 46-years of age, is older than our son! I chose this wine out of reverence for Bob Mondavi, who introduced me to Napa Valley. 

I actually sat with him in May 1980 after a large dinner at his winery and we drank this ’76 Reserve together.

The wine did not disappoint last night. There is still a pronounced vivacity. Tertiary notes of tea, camphor, and sandalwood dominate any hues of fruit, sure. Even so, this impressive, older wine still has a strong pulse. 

93 points.

1988 Dunn, Howell Mountain

It generally takes 20 years for Dunn’s Howell Mountain Cabs to start to calm down and open up. This wine, at 34 years of age, is still bright red with only the slightest fading at the rim.

Still tightly wound with with loads of red fruit notes and lip-smacking acidity. Well balanced. 

This venerable Cab could never be mistaken for an older Bordeaux — there is just too much fruit and levity in each sip. 94 points.   

1996 Ridge Montebello

Ridge Montebello is one of the great wines of California, but this bottle has suffered from a flawed cork and there is a whiff of wet basement that makes one grimace.

1991 Clos Du Val

A pretty wine from the 19th vintage of this Stag’s Leap District winery but there is an off-putting, sour cherry note at the finish that diminishes the experience. Like Marlon Brando in Streetcar Named Desire, this wine "coulda been a contender"…. as is, 91 points.  

2002 Blankiet Merlot

I only discovered Blankiet’s extraordinary wines a few years ago at a Coravin tasting. Might this be Napa Valley’s best kept secret?

Situated in the Yountville hills above Dominus, Blankiet makes a slap-your-forehead-why-haven’t-I-tasted-this-before? Merlot.

Tonight’s version was one of the evening’s  highlights. A standout in suppleness and weight in the mouth; gobs of glycerin and an underlying natural sweetness of ripe fruit. 

The wine shows impeccable curation in the cellar — bravo to the team that made this! 97 points.

2007 Araujo, Eisele Vineyard

As long as I can remember, everyone I know in the wine industry LOVES wine from this house, this vineyard. And tonight’s bottle explains why.

This is the youngest of the wines I served, so, of course, it is the darkest, brooding, Plantagenet kingly red of any wine on the table. 

The wine exhibits elegance, puissance, yet balance. 96 points. 

2003 Chateau d’Y’Quem

Even though Carol made one of her memorable blueberry crumbles for dessert, I thought the special evening needed to be capped with a special dessert wine. Nothing says, “Dinner’s done!” better than the world’s most coveted golden elixir, Y’Quem. The 2003 is at its prime, showing loads of apricot and honey. Still a good core of acidity to balance the sweet finish. 95 points. 

This is what our guests brought to dinner:

1977 Beaulieu Vineyard, Rutherford

Whoa! This is royal blood in Napa Valley, one of the heralded wine estates. The second-oldest wine on the table, it still has verve, focus and flavors that you would never associate with a 45-year-old Cabernet.

Lovely, subtle fruit, and a gentle finish. 94 points.

1988 Pahlmeyer

How wonderful to have THIS wine experience — the 1988 Pahlmeyer was made by Randy Dunn, who also made his own wine that year - the Dunn Howell Mountain noted above.

I think his Pahlmeyer version is the better of the two ’88 wines; this bottle sung in perfect pitch, a melody of sweet juice. I’d say the 1988 Pahlmeyer and the 2002 Blankiet were my two favorite wines of the evening. 

97 points.

1991 Pahlmeyer (not shown above)

Another standout wine, though not in the same league as the ’88. But it was head and shoulders better than the other 1991 on the table, the Clos du Val with the sour cherry middle notes. 94 points.

1997 Steltzner

’97 was a year that produced bruiser wines in Napa Valley, big, blowsy, beautiful. There was less of the Steltzner here than I expected and upon reflection, I recall being disappointed by several Steltzner bottlings over the years. This might have been one of them. Mostly a meh experience. 90 points.

This was the line-up at the end of the evening:

In sum... just another Sunday night in Napa Valley....

The best burger that I have ever had

The Goldfinch Tavern in the Four Seasons Hotel in Seattle serves, quite simply, the best burger that I have ever had.

And this praise does not come lightly. I traveled the world as a restaurant critic for one of the largest newspapers in North America for six years to discover the best foods and restaurants.

Regular readers of napaman.com know that I have written that the best burger in Napa Valley is served at G&G (Goose & Gander), in St. Helena, but I have found a burger that eclipses even this burger's ground greatness.

(To be clear, the G&G burger flirts with perfection and ranks among the most memorable burgers that I have ever had, right up there with the one served to me by Antoine Magnin, owner and chef of Louis L'Ami, in Paris, and the burger prepared from scratch for me by Pierre Franey, chef and food writer for the New York Times, who served it to me in my test kitchen. Both Antoine and Pierre have long departed this plane of existence - but the memory of their burgers burns on brightly.)

I have now had the Goldfinch Tavern Burger five times and it is consistently a perfect dining experience.

If I rated burgers on a scale of 100, the Goldfinch burger would rate 102.

Having the Goldfinch Tavern Burger is like seeing an original Picasso, or Matisse, painting close up – you walk a bit lighter the rest of the day having been graced with artistry that cavorts with angels.

The fact that they also make a killer rye Manhattan at the Goldfinch Tavern adds to the enjoyment factor of this burger.

But I digress.

I now know the secrets of how they make this exceptional burger; I spoke with the talented executive chef, Emmanuel Calderon, who goes by the nickname “Manu,” who has been at the helm here for more than two years.

“As important as making our burger tasty and juicy,” Manu told me, “is the need to make it consistently perfect.”

Manu’s brigade only makes 400 burgers a week post-pandemically so there are only 400 people in Seattle each week lucky enough to be graced by burger greatness.

The ingredients of the best burger in America

Manu starts with ground beef from an Idaho beef supplier with a pedigree -- Double R Ranch.

“I ask for an 80/20 blend (80% lean/20% fat) of short ribs and brisket for flavor. Double R makes up the difference with lean cuts,” Manu says.

The first time that I tasted this burger, I conjectured that there was brisket in it; after three weeks of gum-shoeing for this story, I discovered that this was, indeed, the case. Manu admits that from time to time, the fat ratio even approaches 75/25.

Manu makes hand-pressed, 8-ounce patties from this meat blend and then ages them 24 hours – “this produces a slight oxidation, which adds to the taste,” he says.

I also detected that there was an “umami thing” going on with the Goldfinch Tavern Burger and Manu provided the Big Reveal:

“We splash the patty with Balsamic vinegar when we start to grill it to add that “umami thing” you speak of.”

The other ingredients that make this burger exceptional:

In-house made pickles. “We start with English cucumbers, skin them, soak them in a house-made brine flavored with coriander, bay leaves, and black pepper.

Manu also falls back on a recipe for one of the condiments that was created by 3-star Michelin French chef Michel Guerard. I met Gerard in the early 1980s just after he invented Cuisine Minceur. One of his flavorful, low-cal condiments was “Onion Marmalade,” which he made by s-l-o-w-l-y sweating red onions until their natural sugars caramelized over low heat.

Manu makes a version of this cuisine minceur onion marmalade and adds it to the burger. But Manu adds his own signature:

“I hot smoke the onions before we sauté them,” he admits. “It adds another level of complexity.”

He also smears the bun with a stunning fennel aioli that was the brainchild of Ethan Stowell, a partner-chef at the Goldfinch Tavern.

Ethan runs more than a dozen successful restaurants in Seattle, including one of my favorites, How To Cook a Wolf, in the Madison Park neighborhood.

Years ago, before Manu came along, the Four Seasons hired Ethan to consult on the menu and operation side of Goldfinch Tavern and there are still legacy elements of Ethan’s contribution, like fennel aioli.

Manu adds lettuce, tomato, and Beecher’s cheese (a Seattle classic) to the burger and layers all this into a bun made by the Macrina Bakery, which I discovered for a Seattle food story that I wrote 25 years ago!

The bun has good chew and good flavor. “I like this particular bun because, in texture and flavor, it is between challah bread and a brioche. I think a straight brioche bun would be too rich, detracting from the burger, so we require something less buttery,” Manu explains.

The result: One of the most delicious, juicy, hamburgers that you will ever have. It’s as close to having angels dance on your palate as you’ll ever get.

The $25 Goldfinch burger comes with sensational fries, but be sure to order them "lightly salted," in order to have just the right amount of salt. Otherwise, it's salt overkill. Also order a few vegetable sides to complete your meal. I always order a side of roasted baby carrots (sometimes glazed handsomely with maple syrup), a side of roasted mushrooms, or a side of roasted broccolini. 

Visitors to San Francisco are often lured to what is considered “the quintessential San Francisco experience,” an Irish Coffee at the Buena Vista Cafe, where the intoxicating drink was first served in this country, in 1952.

It is said that a trip to San Francisco is incomplete without an Irish Coffee at the Buena Vista Café; I would argue, in similar fashion, that a visit to Seattle is incomplete without having the Goldfinch Tavern burger. It is the quintessential Seattle food experience. But, remember, only 400 of these burgers are available each week, so book early to avoid disappointment.

Goldfinch Tavern, Four Seasons Hotel, 99 Union St., Seattle. Tel 206-749-7070.

Napaman’s Best Wines of the Year

Wine critic and flamboyant wine-marketer James Suckling boasts that he and his tiny team taste 25,000 wines a year.

That’s 68 bottles a day, day after day, even on Thanksgiving and Christmas.

That’s also asinine.

In his wine-tasting hey-day, Robert Parker annually came to Napa Valley to assess a new vintage; he’d taste through 450 palate-bruising, purple-teeth-staining, Napa Valley Cabernets in three days. That’s 150 bottles a day!

No one, not even Bob Parker, can taste that many corrosive wines in a day and really assess their beauty, finesse and perfections.

The only wines that stand out when you taste this many at once are the over-alcoholic, over-extracted, over-oaked, aberrant wines. And when these hyper-exaggerated wines stand out from a pack tasted all together, these are the wines given a score of 100, simply because they poke their head out of a field of more nuanced wines. It’s the oddball wines that get the high scores and resultant press.

In my world, my end-of-year wine notes are assembled over 365 days, one wine at a time. With dinner.

In this manner, my few favorites this year were discovered one by one, WITH FOOD, which is what wine is all about and what it is intended to complement. All those wines tasted by critics Parker, Galloni and Suckling are rated with hundreds of other wines at the same time without food.

I kind of like the way I do things, and how I rate my wines.

“Okay the suspense is killing me, what are your favorite wines this year, Napaman?”

As has become my tradition, toward the end of the year, I roll the calendar backwards, reviewing the best wines that I have had the past year. So let’s get to it.

There were not many positive things you can say about COVID-19, but the resulting quarantine sent many of us deep into our cellars to discover long-lost wines hiding in corners.

In June, we had a most rare experience on our then 117^th day of quarantine – three perfect, 100-point wines. How rare is that?!

The occasion was a visit from San Francisco of very close friends with whom we maintained proper social distance.

On the occasion of their visit, I called G&G (Goose & Gander), in St. Helena, home of the BEST BURGER IN NAPA VALLEY and asked chef Nic to supply me with two dozen of his insanely delicious burgers, frozen.

I figured that the Best Burger in Napa Valley required the Best Cabernets in Napa Valley, so I pulled out three different labels from three different vintages, hoping they’d be showstoppers.

Each turned out to be, respectively, a perfect, textbook, 100-point, wine.

2001 Rudd Cabernet, Oakville

The Rudd Oakville Cab, despite being 19-years-old, was still extremely youthful, filled with vigor and bright fruit. I raised a glass and toasted to the memory of Lesley Rudd, a friend who died a few years ago. He was the brains and brawn behind this wine. You can’t make a more perfect, more balanced, more nuanced, more satisfying wine. Loads of dark, ripe fruit, and a velour-like texture.

100 points.

2011 Kathryn Hall, Cabernet, red label

A comment about the 2011 Napa Valley vintage; James Laube of the Wine Spectator, and other wine writers, killed this vintage at the start, claiming that 2011 was a wet, less-than-stellar vintage, in essence, a major disappointment.

I begged to differ then – and still do -- and wrote numerous contrarian pieces at the time, forecasting that 2011 was going to be a supremely gratifying vintage. I predicted that the better wines would have balance, be less alcoholic, show finesse and elegance after six to nine years.

Let me count… 2020 minus 2011…. equals 9 years. Just as I predicted!

This is why the 2011 Kathryn Hall is showing so well right now – what a gorgeous wine! Filled with balance, elegance, and all those other “ance” words – like nuance, vibrance, endurance.

I have had numerous bottles of this red label Kathryn Hall wine from 2011 and each has flirted with 99-100 points. This bottle was particularly good, the wine so pleasing, so complementary to our barbecued G&G burgers that the union seemed to have the blessing of a higher order.

100 points.

2002 Harris Estate Vineyards, Treva’s Vineyard

The 2002 Harris Cabernet was a real treat, my sole remaining bottle and one I had completely forgotten I had in the cellar.

Mike and Treva Harris were close friends while they lived in Napa Valley; from their vineyard in Calistoga, they produced some exceptionally brilliant wines (several years ago, they sold their vineyards and gorgeous home and moved to Park City, Utah).

I wrote many times about their sensational wines, which were made by a succession of different winemakers, but the fruit was so good from their vineyards that even a neophyte winemaker couldn’t screw things up.

These were fantastic, magical, Cabernets. I had forgotten how good the Treva’s Vineyard offering was – this 2002 was filled with super-ripe dark fruit, exhibits a finish of ripe boysenberries. How delicious and what a complement to the G&G burgers!

100 points.

Oh, and let’s not forget those burgers – easily 100 points themselves!

Andy Florsheim, proprietor of G&G, has just temporarily closed the restaurant in St. Helena but says that he will reopen for outdoor dining at the very least in the spring, likely around late March.

Andy, don’t forget to let me know when you re-open… I will be down a few quarts of G&G burgers and several gallons of your sensational Manhattans by then!

Bravo to Hall Winery for Keeping up our Spirits!

If you are a resident of Napa Valley… or an occasional visitor here… chances are that you have driven by Bunny Foo Foo, the 35-foot tall, stainless-steel sculpture that highlights the roadside vineyard of Hall Winery, in St. Helena.

For the record: I LOVE this whimsical sculpture, created by English sculptor Lawrence Argent; it puts the fun into wine-making and wine-tasting, which can get a bit too serious. C’mon people – wine is a lifestyle beverage, not bleach to drink to avoid getting Covid-19!

At various times of the year, Bunny Foo Foo, named after a children’s poem about a pestering rabbit, dons calendar-relevant garb – a conical witch’s hat around Halloween, or a basketful of colorful eggs at Easter.

But thanks to Kathryn and Craig Hall, for elevating our spirits during the coronavirus pandemic… Bunny Foo Foo now sports the mandatory-in-public face mask!

Thanks for the chuckle, Kathryn and Craig.

And by the way, I continue to enjoy cases of your 2012 WALT Pinot Noirs and 2015 Hall Winery Cabernets, which I overbought years ago. They’re still rockin’ delicious! Longevity, as well as balance and flavor, are Hallmarks of Hall wines!

The House restaurant in San Francisco is closing permanently

What a sad day for us — and what a tragic loss for San Francisco…. one of my very favorite restaurants anywhere has just announced that it is closing for good.

The House, a sensational Asian-fusion restaurant, on Grant Ave., on the edge of North Beach and Chinatown, was forced to shutter months ago due to the coronavirus pandemic and the owners cannot justify hanging on until dining inside a restaurant in San Francisco, at full capacity, is re-permitted.

 

My favorite sandwich anywhere - The House's 

brilliant Ahi-Tuna BLT

 

We are sad, sad, sad…. I have written numerous times that the Ahi Tuna BLT here is my favorite sandwich ever… if they gave out awards like the Oscars, or Tonys, or Emmys  for sensational restaurants — The House would have walked away with dozens of statues over its 26 years of keen devotion to serving tasty, original, memorable dishes. 

 

One of the tastiest appetizer's in any San Francisco 

restaurant -- the Salmon Roll, created by chef/owner  Larry Tse

 

The House proved that Asian fusion fare doesn’t have to be con-Fusion… they created so many memorable, tasty, harmonious, Asian-inspired dishes with local San Francisco ingredients that I treated visits to The House as though I were making a pilgrimage to Mecca. It was that special and meaningful.   

 

RIP The House. We loved you.

 

These New Food Discoveries are Getting Me Through Quarantine!

In order to keep things “new” and happening during our mandated Shelter In Place, I headed to the stores, masked and gloved, twice in the last 60 days to discover new edible treats.

 

Several products have been so addictive, such a taste-hit, that I want to share them with readers.

 

Haig’s Organic Hummus

 

Hard to imagine that a small tub of hummus could be so gratifying that I would elevate it to Star status. 

 

My son mentioned that one of the things he regularly buys at Whole Foods is Haig’s Organic Hummus. 

 

While Haig’s, based in San Francisco, also makes a conventional hummus, it’s their organic version that commands a 21-gun salute. 

 

 

Late every afternoon, just before cocktail hour, I find myself heading to the fridge to take out the Haig’s tub; I dip 365 (Whole Foods house brand) Baked Woven Wheat crackers into the dip; or I rip large pieces off a sheet of Trader Joe’s Lavash for my dipping pleasure.

 

While I do NOT  have an addictive personality, and can taste a single spoonful of most every dip and move on, there is an addictive element to my hitting the Haig’s Organic Hummus tub and I really have to work at convincing myself to have “just one more” cracker with dip.

 

Haig’s Organic Hummus is $4.99 at Whole Foods.

 

 

If you live much further south than Yountville, or much further north than St. Helena, you may not be eligible to enjoy this newfound source of nourishment: B’s Seedy STATION Granola.

 

The “B” is Brenda Bosetti, who is one of the most talented bakers and cooks in Napa Valley. She makes a lot of the tasty fare for Joel Gott’s new venture, STATION, in St. Helena, but the stand-out item for me is B’s“Seedy” granola.

 

B makes another STATION granola, but as it contains grains, it is unacceptable to gluten-intolerant consumers. B’s “Seedy” granola has NO grains so is an ideal snack for gluten-sensitive consumers.

 

I am NOT gluten-sensitive so the fact that I love B’s “Seedy” granola underscores how good, and how addictive, it is. 

 

I love the playful, and perfect, levels of sweetness and salt in this granola. There is a draw which brings me back for another handful after every swallow. I find it hard to stop noshing on this crunchy, seedy granola, rich as it is with coconut, almonds, and sesame, hemp, chia and flax seeds. Brenda has dialed in the salt and honey levels perfectly.

 

Nice work, Brenda!

 

1-lb bag of B’s Seedy STATION Granola is $16, sold only at STATION, on Main St., St. Helena. 

During quarantine, you must call in your order and arrange a pre-paid pick-up on the phone.

 

 

You may think I’m a chipmunk, given that I am listing another nut product as a Go-To on my list of newly discovered quarantine foods, but I love to have a few walnut pieces with my morning espresso, or cappuccino. And I have largely been disappointed with the walnut offerings in bulk bins. Too often, the nuts are only marginally fresh. 

 

But Whole Foods 356 Organic Walnut Halves & Pieces presents a 10-ounce bag filled with fleshy, tasty walnuts. Delicious on their own, these would also be great if added to home-baked banana bread, or, if chopped, to home-made chocolate chip cookies. What are you waiting for?

 

These are the freshest, tastiest commercial walnuts I’ve ever had.

 

Whole Foods 365 Organic Walnuts, Halves & Pieces, 10-oz bag $7.99.

Spatchcock Chicken – My Favorite New Recipe

Like so many families mandated to stay at home to side-step the coronavirus, we have taken the time to perfect old family recipes and try new ones.

What else is there to do after you’ve seen every movie on Netflix?

As I am married to a sensational home cook, I am a lucky person, indeed. One of the dishes Carol perfected during our home quarantine has become one of my favorite-ever chicken dishes. I urge you to try it.

The official name for this dish is Spatchcock Chicken. But as the backbone is removed and the chicken splayed out flat, the bird starts to resemble one of the inkblot images in tests, which psychologists sometimes use.

As such, my nickname for this flattened chicken is Rorschach Chicken.

“Spatchcock” is 17th century shorthand for “dispatching the cock,” a reference to opening the chicken carcass in order to cook it. 

By removing the backbone, you can split the chicken and flatten it out. As such, the chicken cooks much faster than if roasted whole.

Also, by removing the backbone, you can get under the skin and more easily add herbs to flavor the bird.

If you are squeamish about removing the backbone yourself, buy a whole chicken and ask your butcher to remove the backbone.

I served a balanced, elegant, Pinot Noir from the Willamette Valley, in Oregon, to complement this dish.

But during our quarantine, I also paired it with a 2010 Brunello from Montalcino, Italy, and on another occasion with a 2009 Chateauneuf-du-Pape from the southern Rhone in France, and once I paired it with an elegant 2011 Napa Valley Cabernet… and loved the pairing each time.

Here is Carol’s recipe. Have fun cooking, have fun eating and drinking, and then, as they say in these times of coronavirus… don’t forget to wash your hands!

 

Carol's Brined and Roasted Spatchcock Chicken

Although I love cooking whole roasted chicken, I’ve recently taken to cooking this spatchcock recipe. It’s a fun change, quicker to cook than a whole chicken and it’s delicious.

If time permits, buy or thaw your chicken one or two days before you plan to cook it. This way you’ll have time to dry-brine the chicken before you prep and roast it.

You can either have your butcher spatchcock your chicken, or do it yourself by cutting out the backbone with a sturdy kitchen or poultry shears. It’s actually very quick and easy to do.

 

1      good quality whole chicken (about 4 to 5 lb), spatchcocked

        Kosher salt

        Several sprigs fresh thyme

        Several sprigs fresh rosemary

        Grated rind of one lemon (optional)

        Freshly ground pepper

        Extra-virgin olive oil

Wipe chicken with damp cloth or paper towel and pat dry.

Sprinkle liberally all over with salt (about 1 tbsp or a bit more) and, if desired, a spoonful or two of chopped fresh thyme and/or rosemary. If desired, you can also add the finely grated rind of one lemon to the mix.

Place chicken in a heavy Ziplock bag, seal well and place in fridge for one or two days, turning bag once or twice.

On the day you plan to cook the chicken, remove it from the bag and place uncovered on a rack on a sheet pan or in a baking dish. Do not wipe off herbs or lemon rind. Return to fridge for several hours to dry the bird.

Remove from fridge and let warm to room temperature.

Remove the leaves from remaining thyme and/or rosemary and chop fine. Place in small bowl. Mix in a very small amount of salt (not too much as chicken has been salt brined already) and freshly ground pepper to taste.

Place chicken, breast side up, on work surface. (I often place a clean kitchen towel on my counter or cutting board to do this.)

Then, very carefully, use your fingers to loosen the skin over most of the breast (do not detach skin at bottom of breast). As well, try to loosen some of the skin over the thighs and legs. Using your hands or a small spoon, place some or all of the herb mixture under the skin and distribute as evenly and carefully as possible.

Drizzle a few spoonfuls of olive oil on the top of the chicken and use your hands to rub it all over the bird, top and bottom.

Then place chicken, skin side up, on rack over roasting pan or sheet pan. If you have any chopped herbs left over, sprinkle on top of chicken. Then place pan in middle of preheated 350F oven.

Roast for about an hour or longer, basting periodically, until golden brown and juices runs clear when thigh is pierced.

Remove from oven and let cool 10 to 15 minutes.

Then cut up and serve.

Makes about 4 servings.