Blind Tasting in the New Era

The world changed since the last tasting. The Great Coronavirus Shutdown of 2020 ensued just days later. Chatter on the text lines immediately turned to virtual tasting and since everyone's schedule is remarkably (unfortunately) free these days we met on a Saturday night and because we were gathering online, our friend Jorge was able to join us from Napa.

Everyone would have their turn describing the characteristics of the wine, then everyone would try to deduct and identify the wine. For an added wrinkle a spouse or significant other would pull a wine so the it would be blind to the taster as well. Sounds like fun!

The date was set. A copy of the Deductive Tasting Grid used by the Court of Master Sommeliers was distributed to aid the tasters. The software was tested. Saturday night came and we were ready to go.

I chose a selection  of wines from which Susan chose one She opened and decanted the wine and put the bottle in a brown bag. I know John used a similar method. Jorge went all out and let Kristina have total access.

Without a lot of fanfare, we cut quickly to the chase.

Jorge was first up and gave a textbook example of how to use and follow the grid. From the physical appearance we knew the wine was hazy with no gas, there was a slight stain to the tears. The wine showed a purple core changing to a ruby rim with a wide, clear rim around the edge.

Aromas showed the wine to be clean with medium intensity and notes of slightly overripe cranberries and cherries with herbal suggestions of eucalyptus and sage. Some evidence of oak, but not new.

On the palate the wine was dry with overripe cranberries and cherries and flowers. It was gamey with blood and animal notes, no new oak with medium tannins, medium plus acidity, round texture and medium complexity.

Putting all those factors together his final conclusion was that it was a Syrah from Napa. I questioned his call, asking about the spiciness and suggesting that the game and blood indicated Mourvedre.
The wine was a 2012 Lirac from the Southern Rhone, a traditional blend of Grenache, Syrah and Mourvedre. Domaine Marcoux I believe was the producer.

Scott went next, describing a light red wine of indeterminate age that had been open for three hours. Aromas of crushed cranberries and rose petals led to dry wine with bursting flavors of cranberries and cherries that dissipated rapidly on the palate. No evidence of new oak. Pinot Noir was ruled out immediately. Jorge asked several questions about tannins and acidity.

Sepi kept talking about a bottle of Neyers Rossi Ranch Grenache I once sold him. And it turns out he was pretty much correct. Aaron Pott, 2012 Grenache. Would loved to have had a taste! Mr. Pott is a remarkable winemaker.

I went next and managed a credible run through of the grid. I realized how out of practice I was. Looking back over the blogposts, the last blind tasting of my study group was in 2015! Jeez! I still think of it as being just a couple of years ago! It takes practice to run the grid as smoothly as Jorge had done to start us off. And it takes discipline to listen to what the grid is telling you rather just leaping to mnemonic conclusions.

A clear red wine of medium concentration. A purple shifting to a garnet tinge at the edge, medium plus menicus, no staining of the tears, no gas. The nose was clean and of medium plus intensity with ripe aromas of blueberries and huckleberries with suggetions of forest floor, mushrooms and hints of new French Oak.

Flavors were confirmed on the dry palate with no evident flaws. Fruits were ripe with medium extraction. Soft integrated tannins, gentle finishing acidity, medium plus body with round, velvety textures and a long finish of medium plus complexity. Even though I knew the selection of wines that I had pulled for Susan to pull from, this wine stood out for me as unmistakably Pinot Noir. I left it for the group to take it home.

Group think went immediately to New World and specifically to California. After a round of questions the call was Carneros Pinot Noir. I kept trying to bring up the blue fruit dominance which to me almost always points to Oregon and that's what it was. Another 2012! Evening Land's 'la Source' Pinot from the highest block in their Seven Springs Vineyard. Side Note #1: First time Dave brings a Pinot? Side Note#2: Kept developing, putting on weight and oomph. Even better the next day. Pretty nice stuff.

Sepi was up next. I kept sipping my wine. And my note taking skills started diminishing. Rapidly. But I remember him describing a big ass wine. "Something John would like," I believe he said. Big extracted black fruits. Spicy integrated tannins on the long finsh. Sepi was liking this wine. A lot. I was wishing I had some.

Everyone was comfortable placing the wine in the new world, in California.

Didn't sound like Cab. Zin? Rhone? Not Cab.

Paso? Napa? Not Santa Barbara.

Epoch 2011 Veracity (?) Paso Robles. Great producers. They sell a lot of Fruit to Saxum and their wines are like baby Saxums at half the price.

John, our host, brought us home and did a credible job following the grid for the first time. He described a dark wine, purple to the rim with massive stained legs and a wide, clear meniscus; no gas and alcohol. (A big boy!) Very ripe extracted black fruits with toasty vanilla graham crackers on the long finish. Definitely new world, seemingly definitely Napa Cab. Nope, not Cab, but Merlot. Behrens and Hitchcock. I can't remember the specific label or vintage. Going to their website, it appears that they are now producing under the Behrens Family Winery label.

All in all a great success, everyone is looking forward to our next tasting Thursday of white wines.  I can't remember who said it but this quote sums up the evening.

"Wow. We've been talking for two hours with not one mention of Coronavirus!"

A nice relief indeed.

The Last Tasting

The tasting happened on one of the last days before the world changed. Despite the usual flurry of New Year resolutions to get together more often it hadn't happened.

As the world teetered on the precipice trips were cancelled and commitments were made. As the date approached the numbers dropped to a bare quorum of three who gathered on a Thursday night at Epheses to have a quick meal and "to not make too big a night of it."

Even with advance planning I was a few minutes late getting out of the store. I arrived to find two compadres tucking into a bottle of white wine and a platter of hummus and baba ghanoush. #4 poured me a glass. I took a big sniff and a taste and looked up. 

"Where's Scottie?" I asked. The big rich wine showed heady aromas of hazelnut, vanilla, white flowers and poached citrus and stone fruits followed on the palate by a rich silky melange of minerals extended by surprising acidity. Delicious. Obviously Chardonnay. Seemingly new world, RRV, Sonoma Coast? No. Not Burgundian. Surprise! Italian. 

Antinori Cervaro della Sara Chardonnay, 2016.

All notions of a less than serious evening were being quickly dispelled. 

The second wine was another white. Aromas filled the table as soon as the cork was popped. 

 "Wow! Another blue cheese wine!" exclaimed #4. A powerful mineral funk gradually transformed into a heady perfume emanating from the viscous yellow gold wine. Big flavors of white peaches, dried apricot and marzipan coalesced into long mineral inflected finish. Not Chardonnay. Viognier? A little. It's a blend. Mainly Chenin Blanc.
Mullineux, Old Vines White, 2014, Swartland, South Africa.

We ordered our meals. a double order of lamb chops and lamb gyro and turned our attention to the red wine.

John briefly left the table so I tried to channel my my old blind tasting study group days. Dark ruby core starting to brick on the edge. Clear but thin miniscus, pointing to an older wine, possibly old world. Aromas of baking spices and fresh and dried red fruits. Notes of cedar herbs tucked under the fruit. All notes confirmed on the palate, supported by gentle acidity and soft integrated tannins. Flavor notes point to Bordeaux varieties. Weight and texture point to Bordeaux. Acid and tannins point to the Medoc, St Julien? Most great Bordeaux vintages after 2000 are all power wines so maybe 95 or 96? Close.
Chateau Haut Marbuzet, 1995 Saint Estephe. Nice.

Any remaining notions of a lightweight evening are dashed.

The next wine was much darker in the glass with broody dark cherry, smoky cedar and spicy herbs. Flavors were confirmed on the palate with a darker espresso-like concentration. #4 went quickly to Syrah, his go-to variety. Correct, only it's just half the blend. Discussion ensued with a big nod to Bordeaux varietals. Correct again. Cab Franc. But from where. Guesses jumped around the wine world. Old World? Very. Mountain Grown, Extremely low yields: 11 hl/ha.
Chateau Belle-Vue le Chateau, 2011, Lebanon.

The lamb chops really sang with this wine.

Explosive aromas flooded the table as John opened the next wine. A BOMB!!!  Massive fresh and dried red fruits burst out in all directions. Big silky flavors that didn't end. I think we were all stunned. Rhone varieties? Yes. Grenache? Yes. Too flashy to be an old vine CDP Grenache bomb. Can't think of a Cali producer. Wait a minute does he still have some of that left? Why yes, evidently! Old Vine Aussie Grenache made by Chris Ringland and brought in by Dan Phillips in his glory days. Wow it's holding up beautifully. Some of Dan's wines fell apart but these selections from some of the greatest vineyards in Australia show that yes, VINES MATTER!!!
Chateau Chateau Island, 2006 Grenache, Ebenezer Vineyard, Barossa.

We did the only sensible thing we could do at this point. We ordered an insanely rich chocolate desert and opened another bottle of wine.

Not to be outdone, Bradley pulls a stunner from his deep bag of tricks. Another big boy. Spicy black fruits intertwine with espresso in a seamless sensation of flavor and texture. My thoughts immediately go to a big-ass Right Bank Bordeaux, but no. Thoughts flirt with a top end Malbec from Mendoza, but evidently that's not the case. Merlot? Yes. The wine is beautifully integrated with suggestivw hints of fine tannins structually keeping the wine alive. Napa? Yes. Spring Mountain.
Paloma Merlot, 2013. Napa Valley.

Just three guys on a workday Thursday night.

But wait. What's that bottle on the far right? Where did it come from?

We knew there was one other table of wine drinkers in the restaurant as there was last time we met here. And both times the table was hosted by Dallas's own MW Dilek Caner! So of course we shared bottles and conversation. The real star of their table was a magnum of Dunn Howell Mountain Cabernet 1981 that stunning with baking spices, vanilla and dried cherries in a silky texture with the barest hint of inflected tannin. Wow. A treat.

The 2005 Pichon Lalande Comtessa seemed muted and closed in comparison to the other wines of the evening, though it showed hints of its true self. Definitely needs a lot more time. I took the unfinished bottle home and finished it a week later. Maybe it was the lack of other wines, but it showed great. Big and rich. Dark and complex. I've seen it happen a number of times with big powerful middle aged Bordeaux. Sometimes they just don't sing well with others and need to sing solo. Maybe it just needed 10 days of air.

And that was the last tasting.

A Perfectly Peachy Pairing

The Lurton Family Wine Dinner last week was a heartwarming affair for longtime fans of Sevy's Grill. Sevy's is no stranger to wine dinners. In his opening remarks Jim 'Sevy' Severson, owner and chef claimed that it was his 160th and no one doubted him. BUT it was the first time in my sixteen years that Sigel's has hosted a Bordeaux Dinner at Sevy's. They tend more toward the French side of the cookbooks.

The food was delicious, paired perfectly with the wines but the food remained Sevy's through and through. The Duck Confit was rich and filling, the Waygu Porterhouse had just that sweet touch of smoke.

But the knockout punch was the Peach Cobbler with Ham Orchard Peach Ice Cream and what made it great was the seamless transition to the spectacular 2005 Chateau Climens Barsac. The wine's rich flavors of roasted pineapple and baked peaches made it difficult to tell where the flavor of the dessert ended and the wine began. Truly glorious. So much so that most diners drank most of their wine. Which is rare. Usually glasses of Sauternes remain untouched. Dallas does not like sweet wine.

And that's the end of the post. Almost. About the wine:

Although the two appellations are neighbors, Barsac wines tend to be a little fresher and less creamy than Sauternes  due in large part to the silt soils. The 2005 Climens was just beginning to transition from its primary flavors to its mature secondary flavors which are caused by the slow aging and oxidation of the wine. Vivid flavors of pure perfumed fruits and sugars begin to take on the flavors of baked, roasted or dried fruits, the sugars begin to caramelize and the wine becomes richer and more complex. The  color changes as well darkening from yellow gold to rich burnished tones.

Still Buzzin 1.0: Tequila with David Suro-Pinero

My head's still buzzin' after the three and a half hour master seminar/tasting with the legendary David Suro-Pinero the other day. It was a small knowledgeable group and David was able to use his Tequila 101 slides but go way beyond the basics. Way beyond. Rather than me summarize, I found this recording of a training class he did a year or so ago. Take the time, if possible have a spot of Tequila and enjoy! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LG1MISYiiI

written May 2016, never posted.

What's Buzzin' in My Head: Tequila

No, it's not that. I did not sample a few too many last night. Though I did mean to have a spot of something but I fell asleep instead.

No, I attended a tasting, well it was more like a seminar on artisanal Agave distillates with the legendary Tequila producer and advocate David Suro. David is from Jalisco but wound up opening a Mexican restaurant twenty years ago in Philadelphia that he ambitiously named Tequilas, although at the time he could only source five major label Tequilas from the state controlled liquor stores in Pennsylvania. For the last twenty years David has pursued the highest quality Tequilas with a passionate intensity, becoming not only a producer with his own labels, but a major voice in the industry.

And make no mistake, David loves to share his passion for all things Agave. I could go on, but go to You Tube and search David Suro Tequila and spend some time. Here's a link to a presentation he did a couple of years ago. He starts at the basics and expands. Take some time, have a glass of Tequila and enjoy.

David Suro-Pinero Presents Siembra Azul

If you want a deeper discussion read Divided Spirits by Sarah Bowen. Available from Amazon.

Divided Spirits: Tequila, Mezcal and the Politics of Production

Oh, we did taste.

Written May 2016, never posted.

Great Moments in Retail 1.10: Appreciation of Service

I helped a gentleman at the register today. He bought half a case of wine, liquor, gin and a couple six packs of beer. As I loaded the boxes into the back of his SUV I thanked him as I always do.

"There you go sir and thank you for shopping with us, we always appreciate your business."

"No, thank YOU," he said. " It's an honor to shop here. Everyone is so courteous and helpful. Those other places are just so large and cold people and unresponsive. It's always a pleasure to shop here."

And away he went.

We work hard at being aggressively friendly and helpful. It's nice to know that it's appreciated!

Great Moments in Retail 1.09: Still the Standard of Service.

One of my first jobs, fifty years ago or so, I worked as a package boy in the local Grocery Store. While I went through an application process, but the real reason I got my job was because my mother was on a first name basis with the store manager (of course.) She could be a demanding lady.

I quickly learned to throw a mean sack of groceries and which customers would tip a quarter for carrying them out to the car. But the truth was that we were expected to carry out anyone's groceries if it was anything but a small sack. THAT was the standard of service.

Flash forward thirty five years and I took my first job in my new career as Wine Consultant for the old family run chain of Red Coleman stores. I quickly found out that the job was not so glamorous as it sounded. Mr. Coleman used to sit outside the store in his car waiting for a customer, preferably a lady, to push a basket to her car. Then he would come inside and woe be unto the staff on duty behind the registers. THAT was the standard of service.

Today is a beautiful day, clear and crisp and not hot, more like Dallas January than May. As I helped a lady to her car and loaded her purchases, I thought of that first job.

Back then I had no idea that fifty years later I would still be carrying out packages. But, that's STILL the standard of service.

Strangeways: Barrel Week 2016

Monday was the first day of Strangeways Barrel Week. The board of 41 barrel aged beers was posted early so flight planning could commence. I'm told there were lines when the large black door was cracked open. There was still a line to order when I arrived a hour or so later. I made my order and carried my flight through the dark interior to the streetside patio. It was a cool but muggy afternoon with grey clouds hanging in the sky. It was a quiet scene. Everyone was sitting at the picnic tables, hunched over their trays of small glasses, examining. The only conversations were muted discussions of flavor profiles.

I had been tasting wine since noon, so I chose beers with winey, yeast-driven flavors. Except for the finale. Oh, and the first, but it was aged in wine barrels. What follows is my list, with some notes taken in real time. The numbers are from the list as posted on the chalkboard.

#3   Prairie Wine Noir:  Imperial Stout aged in Wine barrels. 11%:  "The wet barrels created some funk, possibly from some additional fermentation," I was told. "Some folks have said that it was too tannic." Sounded good to me! And it was. Rich and dark and with slight carbonation, just enough to give lift. Scorched earth, charcoal, black cassis, espresso, the bright citrus notes of a good Ethiopian coffee. If a wine was this dark, it would be over the top, but the carbonation sustains life. Is there such a thing as a black pomegranate?

The Amen Corner: Three  barrel-aged Gose.

Gose is an ancient, sour and saline ale from the area around Leipzig. Production has been spotty since the second World War as several of the main breweries were destroyed by Allied bombing and not restored. Due to shortages in the post war years, there was little wheat available for brewers and production of Gose ceased on more than one occasion. Gose has flourished since Reunification both in Leipzig and with Craft brewers worldwide. Gose is brewed with half malted wheat and half malted barley and fermented with both yeast and lactic acid and spiced with both coriander and hops. It is generally brewed with slightly salted water.

The Bayerischer Bahnhof in Leipzig was an early example of the ornate rail palaces built in the early 1800s and was a major hub. After severe damage during the War, the building was neglected until Reunification. The building was restored in 2000 with its Gasthaus & Gosebrauerei featuring Gose, the regional specialty. Their Gose is a rare find in the United States, Strangeways has three  expressions, aged in Aquavit, Rum and Tequila barrels respectively.

#15  Gasthaus & Gosebrauerie Goseator aged in Aquavit Barrel 9%:  Whenever I taste a gose or a sour I always wonder, "What would I think if I was served a wine that tastes like this?" The flavors are out there, but I find them delicious. Savory, dry and salty with a refreshing acidity and a massive infusion of funk; dried sour fruits, baked lemon, dried herbs with a toasty finish and a long salty finish. I want fish and chips NOW! It's difficult to separate the Aquavit from the Gose itself, the integration is seamless.

#16)  Gasthaus & Gosebrauerie Goseator aged in Rum Barrel 9%:  Here the barrel is much more evident than the aquavit with warm notes of sweet vanilla and spice. Was it a spiced rum? This Gose would be great paired against a mincemeat pie! Who would win?

#17)  Gasthaus & Gosebrauerie Goseator aged in Tequila Barrel 10.5%:  Ok, now I've got this baked lemon, savory salty thing down and I'm looking for the differentiation between the Goseator and the barrel. Is there a calculus for this? As with the Aquavit, I think the herbal nature of the agave merges seamlessly with the sourness of the Gose. I sense a harmony here rather than a progression of flavors which ultimately resolve into the same mouthwatering finish.

I finished with an old friend. It seems like forever since we first heard of the crazy dudes from Aberdeen who were aging their stout in Islay whisky barrels. BrewDog Paradox was the Holy Grail. I remember Michael sitting for what seemed like hours, a glass of BrewDog Smokehead in one hand, a glass of Laphroiag in the other. Finally he spoke, "It's the peat! It's the peat!"

#11)  BrewDog Paradox, Imperial Stout aged in Smokehead Islay Whisky Barrels 10%:  Dark, coffee, espresso, unsweetened chocolate, scorched earth and crazily some fruitiness comes from somewhere, but all things ultimately resolve into massive smokiness. Is it the blackened malt or the smoked peat? Nothing to do but wait it out. And then... there it is! The unmistakable nuttiness of the smoked kernels of malted barley. Nice!

So that's my Monday flight. There's only 36 more beers left on the board! And they are going quick!

BT 12: A Long Time Comin'

Wow. I just looked it up. the last post in this series was in February, 2013. Over three years. Time passes quickly when you get old.

Not that the group hasn't gotten together. We have. Several of us have joined for dinners and lunches. When I've been able to attend, I just didn't take notes and blog. We do stay in almost constant touch with a running text thread. But Saturday night was a big deal. #4 and his wife outdid themselves and had us all over for dinner Saturday night. Big dining room table with white table cloth and a jillion wine glasses. Their children served and cleared the table. High cotton for sure.

And the wines were all amazing. I didn't take notes I can't remember all the wines. Here are some highlights.

Sepi's five year old Sigalas Assyrtiko was spectacular. Big petrol nose, penetrating stone fruits, mouth watering salinity. What? Everything screamed Riesling except it didn't taste like Riesling. Of course not. The wine was from Santorini and wants to be drunk with grilled octopus!

That was followed by a fruit driven Gavi di Gavi from Michele Chiarlo. Of course we were stumped again. We were tasting double blind!

Then a flight of old reds. Definitely more familiar territory. 1989 Lynch Bages. Boom! Nailed. (The wine was perfect, there was no evidence of aging, even on the edge of the rim.) 1986 Diamond Creek Gravelly Meadows. The call was old Medoc, but the wine showed some age, the color showed some bricking, but the wine was 100% pure essence of Cabernet. But the shocker was the 1990 Arrowood Sonoma County Cabernet. Showing some oak and faded fruit but hanging in there strong! Not a reserve, not a single vineyard, but well made ordinary wine made by a master. Bravo.

And then the battle was on. We were Pickett's Charge headed up the hill against massive armaments: Clos d Vougeot, Contrada Nero Mascalese, Mica, Lussac, Axios, Amon Ra. Casualties were high, but we kept on charging. And then, and then, and then we reached the summit.

Skip to yesterday. I attended a fabulous trade tasting of Australian Wines. d'Arenberg, Jim Barry, (note to Michael Waddington, Alan says hi, keep the sample requests coming!) Yalumba, (three viogniers from three terroirs, oh and the Bush Vine Grenache, benchmark!) Torbreck (Runrig!) and Penfolds and Dallas's own D'Lynn Proctor.

So, I went up to D'Lynn to say hi and told him I had been talking about him Saturday night.

"Really," he said.

"Yep. I was at a blind tasting Saturday night with some friends. Took an 89 Lynch Bages and it was perfect. BUT I was trumped. So my question to you is how do you trump a perfect 89 Lynch Bages?"

He just looked at me, cocked his head and raised an eyebrow.

I said, "With a 1998 Grange."

And he just grinned and shook his head.

"How do you trump a 1998 Grange?" he asked.

I shook my head.

"With another 1998 Grange."

Yep, #4, Mr. Massetto his own self blinded us Saturday night with a 1998 Penfolds Grange. And you can't get much better than that. THANKS John, for a fabulous evening.

Of course, not that we were done, Scott brought a Chateau d'Arlay Vin Jaun from Cotes de Jura. Its bone dry funk was the PERFECT foil for the Amaretto glazed pound cake. And then a Chateau Guiraud Sauternes and then the 100 point Alvear Pedro Ximenez of which there is no more. (Bradley cornered the market.)

I think we all survived. That's how great it was.

An Accidental Zin

At the end of a cold, rainy Thanksgiving weekend, I decided to make a beef stew. Shopping was done and I was on my way home before I started thinking about wine. Halfway home, I realized that while there I had a lot of bottles to drink, I didn't have one that I wanted to commit to the stew pot. But, I thought, surely there's something a few years too old that you've forgotten about. I didn't want to drive back to the store. Not again, not on my day off. So I headed on home.

And sure enough, there at the bottom of the wine cabinet was a bottle of Steele Zinfandel that had been there who knows how long. Perfect! I grabbed the bottle, pulled the cork, and started pouring.

Oh, my! The wine smelled fantastic.

"Wow! What is that?" I asked myself, and looked at the label.

1994 Steele Catfish Zinfandel.

"WHAT THE HELL!!!" I said aloud.

I still can't remember where that bottle came from. I started working at Sigel's in 2001, that would have been an old bottle to still be in inventory at that time.

But, that's what it was.

I've never had a Zinfandel that old. It helps that I know the wine well, I get to taste every vintage as the wine passes through the store. Jed Steele now owns the vineyard, it was planted in 1901. With the 2001 vintage Jed gave the wine its own label with a black catfish jumping through the Steele logo along with "century vine" designation. Neither was on this bottle.

As to the wine? It was very much alive, with a dark ruby core showing the slightest hint of brickiness on the edge with aromas of fresh and dried fruit and flowers. The classic Catfish zinfandel is redolent of velvety red plums with classic brambly Zinfandel finish and this old Catfish holds true to form, except that the plums are dried. Yes, I know dried plums are prunes, but the wine tastes like delicate dried plums without the concentrated sugars that you find in prunes or raisins. Elegant and gorgeous, light yet full. At 13%, it's a wine for those in pursuit of balance.

So, a happy accident. As I write, the wine's been opened for five hours and it's still pleasant. Susan's gone to bed. Too bad there's no one else to share it with.

Blind Tasting: Monday Study Group 1.4

This post is a continuation of the previous post which discussed the white wines. We finished the morning with red wines. The first, a Napa Carneros Pinot Noir was pretty straightforward with the lighter character and dusty cherries that are typical of the AVA.

The second wine caused the most confusion. It was a classic blind tasting dilemma - how to differentiate between Sangiovese and Tempranillo. Red and black cherries defined the core fruit of the wine with mouth coating tannins that were intense but not overwhelming. Acid on both wines was medium-plus, there was evidence of moderate barrel use, but not the signature coconut and pungency of American Oak one would expect to find in Rioja or the leathery finish of Sangiovese. The favorite call of the group with Chianti, maybe with a small blending dollop of Merlot. It turned out to be a Gran Reserva Rioja, but with a curveball. Cune uses both French and American oak. Exceptions will get you every time. These two varieties are so similar. When the wine is opened and the label is known, the flavors seem so correct. And so baffling when tasting blind.

We then tasted a 2007 Napa Merlot that was falling apart and disjointed. The alcohol was high as was the acidity which was surprising and out of balance. Our 'coach' suggested a problem with acidification. A red wine from Napa with that much alcohol would not have such a high level of acid, especially in 2007 which was a warm, generous vintage.

The last wine was a 2012 Napa Cabernet.There was the thought that the wine was a Malbec due to the rich, velvety quality of the fruit. My thought was that it was Cabernet due to the pyrazine character of the red fruit. A year or so ago I attended a portfolio tasting with Clear Creek distillery of Oregon. Tasting their Cassis was a true "Ah-Hah" moment as memories of aromas of years of tasting Napa Cabernets flashed through my senses. A redolent blend of intense red fruits with a pronounced herbal edge that cut through the flavors like a deep cut on a crystal goblet. And there it was, peaking out from the canopy of black fruit.

When blind tasting, the immediate temptation is to make an immediate identification based on matching the flavor in the glass with a flavor in our memory. Like making matches in a memory game like Concentration. As we work on these blind tasting skills, we are constantly being told not to make these immediate identifications. Rather, we taste and analyze. And then let the results speak and identify themselves. But memories keep popping out and making themselves heard.

 "Will the real Cabernet please step forward and identify yourself!"

photo of Clear Creek Cassis by David Waddington

Blind Tasting: Monday Study Group 1.3

After a couple of weeks off we're almost all back together. Two members have just taken new positions with new projects that will be opening quickly in the next couple of weeks. Exciting time for them, but now is not the time for them to be studying! So, it was a smallish group today. Ben, our tasting coach was able to join us and brought a pair of classic white wines for us to blind.

The first wine presented a powerful nose with plenty of viscosity and a deep gold color. Aromas and flavors were driven by peach skins and stone fruits. The wine was dry, the big round ripe flavors were offset by both the high acidity and high alcohol (always an unusual combination.) The initial call was Alsatian Riesling which made sense except for the fact that there was none of the petrol character which is such a signature of wines made from this grape. I thought it might be a Santa Rita Hills Chardonnay, either Melville or Brewer Clifton. Alsatian Pinot Gris was also suggested but the wine seemed too powerful to my thinking. BUT that's what it was. Rotenberg Pinot Gris from Zind Humbrecht. Which explains the power, the intensity and everything else. The Rotenberg vineyard is high on the slopes, near the forests and produces small, intensely flavored berries. The wine is aged on the lees for 18 months in 40 year old barrels. Not your typical Italian Pinot Grigio! Now I feel better about my call.

The second white wine was a Sauvignon Blanc. Period. End of story. Classic notes of grapefruit zest, lime zest with just a proper kiss of funk and screaming pyrazines. The question was one of origin. The high acidity and steely funk pointed to Sancerre. New Zealand sauvignon typically has more tropical fruit which obscures the mineral flavors and a California wine would typically show more melon and grassy characteristics. And Sancerre it was.

Yes, yes, yes. I know that there is a lot of talk that there is no chemical basis for ascribing different soil, rock and mineral attributes to wine. BUT those are scientific meanings of the word. Flavor descriptors are the language of wine. There are no more raspberries, blackberries or shoe leather in wine than limestone or chalk. Yet there are flavor components which we describe with those terms. Different words have different meanings in different contexts. Is there a better word to describe the flavors we ascribe to minerals and soil types? I remember tasting Fritz Haag's Brauneberg Riesling and touching pieces of red slate from the vineyard. The nuances of the 'mineral' flavor were very different from the Urziger Wurzgarten Riesling from Robert Eymael who had brought pieces of blue and grey slate from that vineyard. Say what you say, mean what you mean. If meaning is conveyed, GREAT SUCCESS!

Bruce Neyers' Heirloom Wines

Bruce Neyers was in town for a series of tastings a couple of weeks ago. Bruce has been in the business a while now and his work history is unique in that he has been deeply involved with wines from both Napa and France. In Napa, first with a long career with Joseph Phelps and then his own Neyers Vineyards. In France, with Kermit Lynch, the legendary Berkeley importer of some of the finest French and other European producers. I've been tasting once or three times a year with Bruce for some fifteen years now and more than ever he emphasizes the influence the great French winemakers he visits several times a year has on his California wines.

On his most recent visit we paired Bruce's wines with wines from the Kermit Lynch portfolio. There were several standouts. What they all had in common was the old age of the source vineyards and the heirloom purity of the vines themselves.

For his California wines, Bruce pays particular attention to the source of the vines. He demands that the budwood be taken from existing vines, selected for the quality of the fruit and the provenance of the vines themselves. He insists on vegetative reproduction rather than clonal to retain as much of the original genetic material as possible. Vines are then tended with biodynamic farming and wines are made naturally with indigenous yeasts and minimal intervention.

The Carignan was sensational. Most tasters did not know that Carignan is a grape. Over and over I had to explain that it came from the South of France, both in the Rhone Valley as well as Rousillon in the foothills of the Pyrenees as well as northern Spain. The wine spoke for itself with its silky, velvety almost Burgundian flavors and textures, but there was an exotic wildness that came from the 140 year old vines themselves. Yes, that is correct 140 years and on the original roots. The vines are in the 'ancient' Evangelho Vineyard in the hot sandy soils of Contra Costa County.

The Neyers Grenache comes the old Rossi Ranch in Sonoma's Dry Creek Valley. The story is the same: 70 cases were made from the ancient vines, resulting in a silky wine with penetrating red fruit characteristics. The Mourvedre is another tiny production from the Evangelho Vineyard.

All of these wines are treasures, heirlooms that have survived storms and drought, Prohibition and years of neglect, not to mention the pressures of expanding cities and real estate developers.

The other star came from France. Cotes du Rhone "La Sagesse" from Domaine Gramenon. When I started with Sigel's, Gramenon's wines were imported by Robert Kacher and I was blown away by their quality, but they soon left Kacher and I lost touch. Now they are being imported by Kermit Lynch and Sigel's now brings these treasures into the Dallas market.

La Sagesse is mainly Grenache from 50 year old vines which yield only 20 hectoliters per hectare, which is exceeding low. (The lowest required yield for any AOP vineyard is Chateauneuf du Pape at 35 hl/ha.) Again, this intense wine drinks like a rich, velvety Burgundy, but instead of the aromatic splendor of Pinot Noir, there is this deep, winey dark fruit inflected with the flavors of the Rhone Valley - lavender, thyme, and rosemary.

Spectacular stuff.

 

 

Photos courtesy: Evangelho Vineyards, Carlisle Winery, Domaine Gramenon.

 

 

 

Blind Tasting - Monday Study Group 1.2

Back to starting with a bit of Theory, the last two weeks we covered Washington and Oregon. Today we start with California. We will go quickly as these are the wines we all sell and know best. Started with non-Napa and Sonoma. From Mendocino to Monterey to Santa Lucia Highlands to Paso Robles to Santa Barbara. Every region has its own version of the American story. Initial winemaking efforts by the European settlers, in this case first the Spanish, then the great immigrant influx of the 19th century. The nascent wineries are dealt the dual blows of Prohibition, then phylloxera and most were abandoned only to be revived by successful entrepreneurs who chose to leave successful careers and follow their passion in the sixties and seventies. In every region there are iconic producers who staked the claims for the modern California wine industry.

It was an open blind tasting session, four white wines and three red. Once again the wine I brought was flawed. I bought it from the store's cold box and now wonder if it spent too much time in the fridge. Note to self:  need to look at how long wines stay standing up in the cold. Maybe I'll put a date stamp when they go in and start rotating. Or maybe it was just a flawed bottle. The tasting comments of my colleagues were not kind, to say the least! Nor should they have been. The wine was terrrrrrible!

Otherwise the tasting session went smoothly. As a group we're getting quicker at running through the tasting grid and getting better at getting our notes consistent and without contradiction. Today we had more than a couple of wines on which we identified all the components correctly but for a conclusion could only say, "What the hell is this?"

The first problem was a Santa Barbara Viognier . The surprising acidity led to a call of Italian Pinot Grigio with which no one was happy. The wine had too much weight and complexity for PG. Most tasters were looking for more tropical fruit to call Viognier. I was thinking unoaked Chardonnay. As the wine sat in the glass, the peachiness became more and more evident. Several weeks ago, Rob, our tasting coach, brought a Condrieu which gave us fits as well. Evidently we need to work on Viognier.

The next wine was Alsatian. Everyone had the same "Ah Hah!" moment when smelling the wine. The big floral peachy-lychee aromatics screamed Gewurztraminer. But the rich, seemingly off dry flavor masked the surprisingly persistent acidity which lingered past the sweetness of the fruit and left a dry mineral finish to the wine. Yes, that's right. It was an Alsatian dry Muscat in the classic overripe style of Zind-Humbrecht. It's not the first time the group has faced the Muscat/Gewurz confusion.

Now it was my turn to run the grid. The wine had rich floral citrus aromas that I described as baked Meyer Lemon with a creamy meringue and good acidity. I leaped to the conclusion that it was the Sta. Rita Hills Chardonnay that I had brought and so I raced through the rest of the grid, building what I thought was the case for the wine that I thought it was. (Of course as we later learned the wine I brought smelled like ass!) Appropriate. I had just committed the cardinal sin of blind tasting. Premature identification.

As I started into my initial conclusion, I took another sip of the wine.

"Wait a minute," I said. "I think I'm totally wrong. This wine is off dry. It is oozing petrol on the aroma and the palate! How did I miss that? This wine is top quality 2010 Alsatian Riesling from a good producer!"

An embarrassing, but spot-on reversal.

Our first red was a straight forward New World Pinot Noir. The only question was whether it was Sonoma Coast/Russian River or Oregon. I really think it could have been either. The ripeness of the fruit overwhelmed any significant identifying characteristics.

The last two reds were much more problematic and the differences and similarity were classic. The wines were very similar with good acidity, predominately red and black cherry fruit notes with some sort of spiciness on the finish. Both were obviously classically Old World.

The group was split on the second wine. Some thought it was Syrah from the Northern Rhone, some thought it was a Bordeaux varietal. A classic clash of flavor groups, was the spiciness due to some form of Pyrazine driven bell pepper (not necessarily green but possibly dried ancho) or was it due to Rotundone (white or black peppercorns?)  The vegetal note won out over the spice. The wine was a fabulous Cabernet Franc from Chinon in the Loire Valley.

The last wine was very similar, but had more drying tannins and less spice. Discussion centered on the Tempranillo/Sangiovese divide. Nebbiolo was out of the question. The wine did not show characteristics of American Oak which would seemingly rule out Rioja, but did not show the leatheriness expected out of Sangiovese. I thought is was Tempranillo from Ribera del Duero, but it was a very ripe Chianti Classico. I wish Rob had been present to coach us through the subtle structural differences and distinguishing elements between the two wines.

All in all, a really great session. I think we've really raised our game!

Blind Tasting - Monday Study Group 1.1

To bring matters up to date, for a little over a year I have been meeting with a group of young Dallas sommeliers who are intent on achieving advanced levels of sommelier certification. To that end, we meet to study theory of wine involving intensive learning about winemaking and viticulture as well as tasting wines both to reinforce what we are studying and tasting and identifying these wines 'blind' in accordance with the blind tasting examination of the Court of Master Sommeliers.

Our core group consists of three restaurant sommeliers, a salesman for a local supplier - all of whom are quite young - and myself, the grizzled geezer of the group, almost old enough to be their grandfather! They are patient and seem happy to put up with this old man.

In the world of these young Dallas somms, the year culminates in the TEXSOM Conference, a three day weekend full of workshops, tastings, a sommelier competition and testing conducted by the major somm accreditation programs. It's a big deal!

So getting together post TEXSOM is like starting the school year.

And so it is that we have some new faces in the group as well as the return of familiar but intermittent members from the past year all with good intentions of regular attendance and sticking with it. Our core group is back and looking forward to another year.

So far we've covered Europe from Germany and Austria to Spain and Portugal. Of course France and Italy required many weeks of study. So where do we go next?

Before the TEXSOM break, we were fortunate to have Master Sommelier Candidate Ben Roberts coach us through some blind tasting sessions. We thought we had been doing pretty good and making progress, but in fact we were babes in the woods. Ben was able to give us a new sense of perspective and focus to help us when we're blind tasting.

Blind tasting is like walking through a densely treed forest and it is easy to forget where you are. But if you combine the identity of the plants and trees with the geography, the geology, the climate, the position of the sun, the direction of the wind; all these points of data combine to define the notion of place. It's a deductive exercise that forces examination of all factors of the wine.

Critical tasting of wine often seems silly and is an easy target of jokes. But the rationale is simple. To develop a vocabulary that will make us more able to describe wine to customers whether in a restaurant or in a wine shop.

We all agreed that the primary focus of the groups needs to shift to blind tasting. And that means not just running willy nilly through tasting grids, but taking notes and holding each other accountable for making correct, non-contradictory calls, being more precise and eliminating ambiguity and to make our final identifications consistent with the descriptions we have called.

So this morning we concentrated on aromatic white wines whose primary flavor characteristics are driven by terpenes and we blind tasted:  2 Spanish Albarinos, 2 Alsatian Gewurztraminers, 1 Alsatian Riesling, 2 German Rieslings, a Gruner-Veltliner from Austria and a Napa Valley Viognier. Whew! A serious assault on tooth enamel.

So this post was written at Method Coffee, a new café at the corner of Ross and Hall. Forty years ago I drove through this section every day on my way to work and it's just now finally showing signs of gentrification.

 I finished writing with two empty cups of the best espresso I have had in Dallas, a serious contender for top cup ever. The Kenyan beans yielded espresso with a deep, rich crema with a brilliant acidic flourish of baked Meyer lemons. Showy, spectacular stuff.

Not bad for a Monday.

Tasting on a Gray Day in August

Gray days are rare in Dallas in August but it's nice that the predicted rains have held off. Parking at the hotel where Pioneer Wine always holds their annual portfolio tasting is always a bitch. (Though as #4 tells me, valet is available, but my low-rent brain never thinks that way.) So I wasn't parked in a muddy field and that's a good thing.

Portfolio tastings are always fun, a big room filled with great wines and great friends I've met through the now fifteen years in the wine biz. Champagne from Billecart-Salmon filled the first table and the day brightened immediately. The wines were crisp with a bone dry elegance. The Rose is mostly chardonnay which gives it its legendary austerity softened by the final addition of Pinot Noir. Fruit is barely detectable in most red Pinot Noir I've tasted from Champagne. It's always amazing how much more fruit is apparent when it's diluted in the white base wine. The 1999 reserve was the standout with its undercurrents of tart red berries.

One of my favorite wines  I've tasted in a long time is Cartology from Alheit Vineyards from South Africa. An elegant austere blend of Chenin Blanc and Semillon (a new combination for me!) The lean Chenin greets the palate and is lengthened and complicated by the richness of the Semillon. The bright acids of the Chenin hold the complex stone and orchard fruits in suspension through the long finish. A bit pricey, but spectacular.

For me that was the star of the show. (Although the room was filled with great wines.) That and a few old friends.

Fish Wine

We spent a memorable weekend in a snowy New York City.

After a long afternoon in the American Museum of Natural History, it was difficult hailing a cab in the driving snow along Central Park West, so we ducked into the subway. After a long cross-station walk, we caught the #7 shuttle from Times Square to Grand Central, arriving at dinner-time. A perfect night to eat at the Oyster Bar at Grand Central Station.

The menu is huge. The wine list is long. Decisions are difficult.

Actually, the wine was easy.

Some of the greatest fish wines in the world come from France's Loire Valley. Whether it's Muscadet from Nantes, Chenin Blanc from Savenierres or Vouvray, or Sauvignon Blanc (I like to just say Sauvignon) from the inland valleys, the wines are fresh and clean, driven by citrus and mineral flavors with high acidity that clears the palate and makes you want more to eat and drink.

While more expensive appellations produce amazing wines, the basic wines of the appellations are delicious unto themselves, offering great flavors at fair prices. I ordered a young Sauvignon from Touraine. I did not know the producer, but the region is known for high basic level of quality. The price was within my budget and the wine was delicious.

My special treat was ordering a few oysters. Normally raw seafood is off my diet due to my lowered level of immune-suppression necessary to protect my transplanted kidney and I have been real strict through the years. Susan smiled and said go for it. The provenance of the Oyster Bars oysters is as tight as can be found. I ordered a few old friends and one new, an extra-large beauty from Wianno Bay on the southern shore of Cape Cod. As you can see, the oysters are harvested from icy cold water.

 

The bivalve was so large I had to cut it into two bites. I felt immersed in the Atlantic with bursting sweet, briny, ocean flavors. Washed down with a swallow of wine, I felt reborn. Experience confirmed with the second bite.

Main courses followed. Susan had Salmon served with a Béarnaise, I had a grilled Branzino served with lemon, capers and olive oil. It was a great meal and we had great wine and stayed within budget.

For desert it was a short walk to Junior's in the food concourse where we enjoyed their classic cheesecake.

Then walked through an empty Grand Central and a couple of snowy blocks to our hotel. And I think we fell asleep. Happy.

Semi Demi Somm, Part Deux

So after my last post I read a thread which posts the question, "Do you have to work in a restaurant to be a sommelier?"

The answers were all over the place, though in this case they all referred to wine. Many felt the term was strictly restaurant specific. Most seemed to think that the term can refer to anyone who is a wine professional. Some felt that a strong educated interest qualified.

Merriam-Webster is quite specific, "a waiter in a restaurant who is in charge of serving wine: a wine steward." First known use was in 1829. The term derives from the Middle French, "soumelier: official charged with transportation of supplies, from old french, pack animal driver."

Merriam-Webster also asks why the word was referenced. There were 62 responses. Many concerned pronunciation. An equal number wanted to know what the word meant. A good number had children or knew someone who was a sommelier. Most of these were wine sommeliers, most restaurant, a couple were retailers. And most were wine, there were also coffee, water, tea, tomato, fresh raw juice, chocolate and beer sommeliers.

The Court of Master Sommeliers does not help. Though their focus is always on service, they offer their lower two levels of certification to those in the wine trade or to anyone serious enough to pay the money to take the tests. They're not cheap and they're not easy. I know a number of professional 'wine consultants' who have taken the tests and not passed. The Advanced and Master certificates are only open to serious candidates with a minimum of five years in wine service and written recommendations from Master Sommeliers.

Sommelier skills certainly apply to retail wine sales. To work in a large store requires knowledge of all major wine regions, the culture, the food, the wines , the grapes and the producers. Customers expect to find menu consultants, food and wine pairings and wedding and party planning. I've had customers call from Paris, New York, Las Vegas for help making selections from wine lists. One called from his Alaskan cruise ship, he had to put his phone down to take a picture of a calving glacier. On the service side, we are expected to make recommendations on opening and decanting, proper serving temperature and storage.

So, somm or no somm?

I wrote in my previous blog Semi Somm about my sister's reaction to the movie SOMM. She had a similar lengthy reaction to my onesided reporting of her position. She is an ardent believer in greater knowledge about almost everything. She has been to biodynamic farming workshops in Napa, she has been through professional wine education courses. What she's against is elitism and certification for certification's sake. You can read her words in her comments to the previous post.

There is a reaction to the sommsnobbery.Here's a link to a column in the Washington Post which begins with the question, "Are we seeing a backlash against sommeliers?" Yikes!

But the need for educated wine sellers is greater than ever. Wine, like everything else is rapidly fragmenting. Electronic media combined with modern transportation and marketing have made small producers available like never before. But the consequence is that reading a good wine list or walking into an unfamiliar wine shop is more bewildering than ever. And the key to reaping the benefits is a well trained sommelier or wine consultant who is passionate about his or her products.

Or of course you can shop the major brands off a plastic wine list and at a nationally franchised restaurant at your megachain discount grocery store.

You choose.

Semi Somm

Seems like Somm is the new buzz word.

I don't remember much ado about sommeliers until recently. Sommelier was and to some still is, a restaurant term. In the retail world "Wine Geek" was much more common. Whatever rack held white wines that were not Chardonnay or Sauvignon Blanc or possibly Rieslings held "Geek Whites."

But that's all changed.

Locally the Texas Sommelier Conference TEXSOM in its ten years has grown into a huge event with national attention.

And the documentary SOMM shows what it takes to become a Master Sommelier. And that the world of a somm is an intense geeky place. I mentioned the film to my sister the food critic and she flew off on a twenty minute tirade, the gist of which I gathered was that she didn't like the movie or Somms among other things.

Sort of awkward. It was dinner at my house and I was pouring some pretty nice wines.

I saw the movie with a couple of wine buddies. Colleagues in fact. We had taken and passed the first level of the Court of Sommelier tests together and had received three of the highest scores in our class. But the movie was insider and geeky.I wondered at the time how it would play to an outsider.

In a recent Wine Spectator James Laube wrote a column titled "Dim Somms" in which he railed at Sommeliers who are "misguided know-it-alls who are doing more harm than good." More specifically he is railing against the group 'In Pursuit of Balance" whose mission is "to promote dialogue around the meaning and relevance in California Pinot Noir and Chardonnay."

Well, there you have it. Meaning and Relevance. Is this a graduate seminar?

CONFESSION

I am Somm. I have passed first level examinations with both the Court of Master Sommeliers and the Society of Wine Educators. I am an active member of the Dallas Sommelier Society. I attend a Monday Morning Theory Study Group with some young sommeliers intent on pursuing higher certification. Whether higher certification is in my future is uncertain, but I am certainly learning.

I was pondering all these issues as I went to a meeting at 10 pm on a Thursday night in a dark restaurant. We met with David Jeffrey, proprietor and visionary of Colluna Vineyards, a tiny new producer he shared his vision:  MISSION:  To capture the qualities of great Bordeaux--balance, intensity and longevity-- in the context of the Chalk Hill Appellation.
I listened to him talk, I tasted his wine. And everything clicked into place.

 

Something New: Pairing Craft Beers

Last Saturday was exhausting.

Customers had been doing some serious wine-buying all day then Susan and Travis showed up at the store ready to go out to dinner. I was exhausted and none of our favorite places had any appeal. They all sounded just as tired as I felt. Thoughts were trending Vietnamese when I thought of a place we'd never been.

Mot Hai Ba was started by Jeana Johnson and Colleen O'Hare , the same two women who started Good to Go Tacos which we love. After GTGT had been such a great success, they went on a motorcycle trek through North Vietnam and came back to Dallas and opened a Vietnamese restaurant to great acclaim. Not only did most Dallas reviewers name it one of the top new Dallas restaurants in 2013, the Zagat review put it in their top 25 most significant openings in the country. So we decided to check it out.

It was getting late when we arrived, but a number of tables were still occupied. We were greeted and seated immediately. I scanned the menu, immediately flipped it over and looked for something to drink. All I could see was the beer list. I was too tired to read about cocktails and didn't see any wines. Now I know they have a great looking wine list, all French, how could I have missed that? All I had been doing all day was selling French wine! BUT the beer list was GREAT!

To start, we ordered a Green Papaya Salad and a bottle of Cherry Funk Sour Ale from Prairie Artisan Ales out of Tulsa. What a great beginning! The salad was delicious, light and crisp. The ale was a perfect aperitif. The sour cherry flavor was precise and defined, balanced by the malty funk on the finish and everything was kept light and bright by the acidity and carbonation. Plus there was enough alcohol to do the job, always an important function of the proper aperitif. The salad and the 17 ounce bottle were perfect for 3 people to share.

Next came a second salad, this time a Banana Flower Salad followed by our main dish, a flash-fried whole Branzino and sides of grilled baby bok-choi and vermicelli. The fish was filleted tableside and was delicious. We chose another ale to accompany the fish, Trellis Garden Ale by Odell, out of Colorado, a substantial ale infused with locally grown herbs and spices. The effects of the botanicals was very subtle, but kept the flavors surprisingly light and balanced. At 8.7%, it is a strong ale, but it paired wonderfully with the fish. The 25 oz. bottle let us each have several glasses. We ended the meal by finishing our second salad along with our last glass of ale.

What a great dinner! Delicious food paired with delicious beers, chosen from a wonderfully curated list of beers. Some, especially Asian brands, are beers that would be normally expected. But they also offer a good selection of bottled specialty craft beers, some of which are extremely limited. Mot Hai Ba provides a tremendous opportunity to pair these complex flavors with expertly prepared foods. The larger format bottles are perfect for sharing and several different beers can be served during the meal.

Frankly, wine prices are so jacked up in most restaurants that several large bottles of beer are cheaper than one bottle of wine. I always find it nerve wracking to pay $40-50 for a mediocre bottle of sauvignon blanc, it's one reason we don't go to fine dining restaurants. So it was a great relief to feel free to order anything I wanted and be able to pay for it.

All in all it was a great evening. The restaurant staff was very professional, but also low-key and friendly at the same time. Chef Johnson gave it the personal touch with a nice visit at the end of the meal. She remembered us from the first taco stand. We felt very relaxed and at home at the end of the evening.