Dorianne, Richard Clark and I went to the new restaurant in Westlake Village tonight, sort of by accident. Our house is for sale and they wanted to show it at dinner time, so . . .
I suggested Ahroha, the new New Zealand Restaurant that we had seen the night before. It’s been open for nine weeks. Chef Gwithyen Thomas and his wife opened this place on their own after Gwithyen had worked as a chef in eight previous restaurants over eleven years. He looks like he is about 28.
The restaurant is in a small space that had been empty for some time.
We had an amazing meal – venison, lamb, scallops, etc. Entrees run in the $30’s, but are well worth it – excellent ingredients, many sourced from New Zealand, beautifully prepared and served very competently.
The wine list is very heavily New Zealand oriented, which is both what you might expect and very nice. We chose a mid-range 2012 Pinot Noir from Forest. Very nice, evenly balanced, peppery. It struggled to keep up with the heavy meats, but it did fairly well. We ordered the wine before deciding on entrees, or we might have ordered something more substantial.
2012 Forrest Pinot Noir
I noted that on the wine list, wine by the glass was a bit expensive and the bottles were something of a bargain. The bottle price was just about the cost of three glasses.
I look forward to returning and exploring more of the New Zealand wines – there are also a smattering of California, French, and Italian bottles, by the way.
There is also a nice brunch menu.
We now have a New Zealand restaurant and a Kurdish restaurant (Niroj Levant) within a mile or so of each other. Very nice!
Last week, our friend Mary Stec held the first of a series of cooking classes at her home. Dorianne went over to do dishes as the evening progressed. I, of course, offered to be wine steward, assuming that we would be pouring Richard (Mary’s husband and our wine co-op winemaker) Clark’s wine.
Dorianne and I arrived a bit before the students and I examined the bottles of wine co-op red wine that Richard had set out. There were red blends, a Merlot, a Cabernet Sauvignon, and a Syrah. Once everyone arrived, I poured them each a glass and Richard and I headed down to the den to await further instructions, expecting that as each course (Tuscan Autumn Cooking) was completed, we would receive a sampling.
Did I mention that Richard and I were drinking, well, let’s say different wine from the folks upstairs. I brought a 2007 Au Bon Climat White Table Wine, which was not chilled and had been stored in the refrigerator. Richard told me to select a wine from several cases that he had recently obtained – cases of VERY nice wines. I pulled a 2009 Kistler Cuvee Elizabeth Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir, Bottle #16586; you know, something nice, but not at the top level of what was in those cases, so as not to appear greedy.
The Au Bon Climat & the Kistler.
So we opened the Kistler – heaven! We sat back to watch a football game. The wine went down smoothly, but, after a glass or two, I began to wonder when the morsels of food from the cooking class would arrive. I asked Richard about it, but he was clearly on orders not to disturb the goings-on in the kitchen for ANY reason. So we finished the Kistler.
After a few minutes of sitting with empty glasses, I boldly went up to the kitchen, circled through the living room so as not to walk through the class, and entered the back near the refrigerator. Nothing resembling completed food was in evidence. Coolly, I slipped the Au Bon Climat from the refrigerator and retraced my circuitous steps to the lower den. We opened the bottle and basked in the explosion of perfectly aged wine with strong fruit, great structure, and nearly perfect balance. Food, what food?
Oh, food – getting hungry – it’s almost 8:30. Not even an appetizer in site. A friend, Keith, taking the class, passes through the den on the way to the rest room. “Food?” we ask. “You want some food? Sure.” So after completing his mission, Keith goes upstairs and gets us some crackers and a kind of cheese dip. We are in good shape.
Au Bon Climat – Back Label.Kistler – Back Label.
The Au Bon Climat is soon almost gone, and we are called upstairs to pour wine for the dinner. After completing that duty, we again retire to the den with plates heaping with amazing Tuscan delicacies. We finish the white wine and the evening is declared a success.
Oh, I’m fine with no one at the cooking class knowing that we did not drink the co-op wines. AND I want to stress, that my commentary in no way indicates anything negative about Mary’s Cooking Classes – they are amazing.
“Aldo Sohm, the aptly named wine director of Le Bernardin, was the 2008 winner of the “Best Sommelier in the World” award given by the World Sommelier Association. He is the man. We talked to Aldo to ask for some basic tips for a guy that wants to buy a bottle of wine at the store and doesn’t know anything beyond “it should cost more than $15.” (Which, by the way, is not bad advice as far as it goes.)”
Dorianne and I like to host special wine-related dinners once in a while. The idea is to get some people interested in wine together, to have some good food, to have some interesting wines, and to engage in conversation beyond the ordinary. We have found that the wine can aid and abet this kind of conversation.
Not to talk endlessly about the wine itself – you know what I mean – but to tell a story in which the wine is a character and see where that leads. I will write about a couple of those dinners here.
Your theme is important. One was “Bring the bottle that you have been saving for a special occasion for ten years and the special occasion has never happened; or it did happen and you couldn’t part with the wine.”
The Line Up for the Wine You’ve Been Saving for a Special Occasion Dinner.The All-Stars of the Evening.
Five couples and one single attended, each bringing their special wine and a dish to go with it. Dorianne and I supplied the main course. Each couple would share how they obtained the wine, and any special story that went along with it. We ended up with nine wines. Oddly enough, only one was a California Wine. The highlight was a 1981 Chateau Mouton Rothschild, and there were fabulous wines from Australia and Italy. We provided a number of decanters for the wines – the evening was memorable on many levels.
After the meal – lots of glasses!
A few months ago, we hosted a “Bring a Wine with a Great Story” dinner. Four couples and a single friend brought food and some wonderful wines to share. The dishes ranged from pâté and melon and prosciutto appetizers to Tuscan chicken with side dishes of chickpeas and rabe and a green salad, to home-made peach pie and chocolate cake for dessert (there were two birthdays in the group). The wines ranged from the Chateaux Margeaux Premier Cru to an Il Borro Tuscan red Bordeaux Blend, to a Central Coast Pinot Noir to another Tuscan red just obtained on a trip to Italy. One friend had just flown in from British Columbia and brought two bottles of ice wine – a Merlot and a Riesling.
We have also hosted dinners where you bring your favorite red or white under $25, or bring a specific varietal from a certain appellation. The idea is just to provide a theme that the meal and the experience can be built around.
The joy of such occasions is to share food and wine with people who appreciate both. The stories about the wines inevitably lead to other stories – about family, travel or just about anything. We share the experience and, if the evening is a true success, the wine fades to the background and the connection come to the fore.
The Il Borro Tuscan Burgundy Blend in the Decanter.Dessert and Ice Wine from British Columbia’s Okanagan Valley in Kelowna.
Later, the coffee is shared and the dishes are done, and people depart having experienced a memorable evening that itself becomes the next story.
To plan your own special wine dinners think “Theme – Story – Invitation List – Wines – Food. Make a plan and find creative ways to invite people and to share the idea. If guests bring a dish to share, there is less work for the hosts, and more involvement in the whole experience by everyone. Have fun!
As a wine lover, you will want to visit Cellar Masters, a feature of several ships in the Celebrity fleet. This nicely appointed wine bar features comfortable furnishings to sit and sip, a wine bar, and anEnomatic Wine Dispensing System that stores and pours with the use of a card.
We had experienced a Cellar Masters on the Celebrity Equinox a couple of years ago, and were eager to see what the experience on the Solstice would be. Our host is Csbas (Sha-vas) from Hungary, a very formal and knowledgeable young man who has had a passion for wine since he was 14. We stopped in to introduce ourselves and were very impressed with Csbas’ knowledge of wine and wine regions around the world. Celebrity has a very good training program for its international wine staff. The staff ranges from the wine stewards in the dining room, to the Cellar Master host, to the overall Ship’s Wine Master who reports to the Food and Beverage Chief Officer. As with most of the cruise line positions, there is a lot of competition to get promoted, and wine knowledge combined with the provision of excellent service, is the path to the top.
We visited Csbas often during the cruise.
Your blogger with Csbas (Sha-vas), the Cellar Master Wine Steward.
On our first full day at sea, there was an Around the World Wine Tasting event at Cellar Masters. There were six wine stations, three representing the Old World – France, Germany, and Spain; and three featuring the New World – California, Australia/New Zealand, and Argentina. There were a total of 12 wines, six reds and six whites, all of which are available by the bottle on the Solstice. These wines were what I would call, price-accessible to just about everyone, meaning that they were not premium wines. A wine steward staffed each position. There was a table with fruits, cheeses, breads and crackers for palate maintenance. The tasting cost $20 per person, and was attended by about 60 people.
Bottles Ready for TastingPalate CleansersTasting in Progress.Italian Wines in the Old World Section.
We had a very good time, between tasting wines from labels that, for the most part, we had never had. Speaking with the very knowledgeable wine stewards, and connecting with some of the others at the event.
In the next post, I will describe a higher-end tasting of a flight of four French wines that Dorianne and I enjoyed at Cellar Masters.
This will be the first of several posts about my experiences with wine and other beverages on a cruise to Alaska
Celebrity Solstice in Alaska
We booked an Alaskan Cruise this September. Dorianne and I are leading a group of twenty – something that we do just about every year; sometimes on land, sometimes at sea. Our 11 night cruise on the Celebrity Solstice departed from Seattle and will end in Vancouver, after exploring Alaska and British Columbia ports of call.
We chose Celebrity for a number of reasons. We like their ships (Solstice class especially), and they always do a good job with food and beverages. Celebrity is owned by Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines, and is more upscale than that line.
I will be blogging about the wine experience aboard a ship like this, which is positioned between the basic level lines like Carnival and Royal Caribbean, and the upscale lines like Crystal and Seabourne.
Celebrity has a wine list of over 60 pages to cover its many dining rooms, buffet areas, cocktail lounges and bars. There are a total of 35 to 40 wines served by the glass, the selection varying by location on the ship. Bottled wines are available across a wide spectrum in the main dining room and some of the specialty restaurants; and a more limited selection is available at the other bars throughout the ship. The bars range from upscale lounges with live music to a disco to pool bars to Cellar Masters, which specializes in wine. There are lots of options and very little waiting at any of the bars – the Solstice is brilliantly designed to minimize waits for food and beverages, as well as for just about all activities on board the ship.
French Whites at Cellar Masters on the Ship.
The first thing to realize is that your wine experience will depend on some of the decisions that you make before you sail. Celebrity offers beverage packages in two basic categories – general packages that include all kinds of beverages; and specialized packages that give access to a narrow range of beverages. You can also opt for a pay-as-you-go process, paying separately for each drink or bottle that you order. There are plusses and minuses to these options, of course.
We generally opt for the premium general beverage package. This includes all non-alcoholic beverages, including specialty coffee drinks, premium bottled water, etc., and beer, wine and cocktails up to $13 per glass. The premium package costs $56 per day and must be purchased for the entire cruise. The package gives a 20% discount on bottles of wine. There is also a classic package for $10 less per day that limits you to beverages under $9 per glass. The packages do not cover cabin mini-bar or room service beverages.
There is also a wine-only package that gives you a certain number of bottles in one of three price categories for a discount of about 10% off of the regular bottle price. Celebrity’s markups are like restaurant markups – 2 to 2 ½ times the retail price of the wine.
With the premium package, you are better off ordering wines by the glass up to the price point of $13 per glass, which covers about 90% of the wines by the glass menu on the ship. There are a few places, such as the specialty restaurants, where you pay a premium to dine, and Cellar Masters, a wine bar, that have a higher number of upscale wines by the glass on their wine lists. BUT, when you order a wine at, say, $18 per glass and you have the premium package, you pay the full $18 for that glass – you get no credit for the first $13, according to Celebrity policy. However, we did speak to a person who said that she had ordered more expensive glasses on this cruise and was only charged for the difference. I will blog separately about the specialty restaurants and Cellar Masters – some very nice wine experiences are to be had there.
If you are a wine by the bottle person, you will likely do better with a specialty wine package and perhaps a general package that does not include alcoholic beverages, or a classic general package to allow you to get beer and some cocktails. There are well over a dozen bars on this ship, some with amazing cocktail preparations that may draw you away from a wine-only policy. Plus, you are on vacation – so have fun!
Here is a salient quote: “The weight of the evidence shows moderate drinking is better than abstaining and heavy drinking is worse than abstaining – however the moderate amounts can be higher than the guidelines say,” Dr Poikolainen reportedly told The Mail.
Tonight for dinner, we had a 2008 Sangiovese from the Conejo Valley Wine Co-op. This wine was made before Dorianne and I joined. We were gifted two bottles by our winemaker, Richard Clark, after a former member turned some wine back to the co-op.
Sangiovese was already well known by the 16th century. Recent DNA profiling by José Vouillamoz of the Istituto Agrario di San Michele all’Adige suggests that Sangiovese’s ancestors are Ciliegiolo and Calabrese Montenuovo. The former is well known as an ancient variety in Tuscany, the latter is an almost-extinct relic from the Calabria, the toe of Italy.[4] At least fourteen Sangiovese clones exist, of which Brunello is one of the best regarded. An attempt to classify the clones into Sangiovese grosso (including Brunello) and Sangiovese piccolo families has gained little evidential support.[5]
The wine was simply amazing – elegant, with a nose of fruit and spice, smooth in the mouth and clearly a wonderful wine. Kudos to Dennis Weiher, our former winemaker for this one!
Jim Lockard On Wine 