Joe Winger, Author at LA FlavRReport

Oregon Wine shares a Tasty, New Release, with Winemaker Aaron Lieberman from Iris Vineyards

By Joe Winger — 1 year ago

Oregon Wine shares a Tasty, New Release, with Winemaker Aaron Lieberman from Iris Vineyards

Sure, Oregon Wine is world-famous for its Pinot Noir. And rightly so, as the area produces incredible expressions of the varietal. But that’s not all they can do.

Award-winning winemaker Aaron Lieberman wants the world to taste and discover all of the incredible wines from the area including Iris Vineyards’s new Pinot Gris which has won acclaim several years in a row.

Oregon Wine

Today, Winemaker Aaron Lieberman from Iris Vineyards sits down over zoom to talk about his inspirations, his favorite wines, food pairings and what’s next for Oregon Wine.

The conversation has been edited for length and clarity. Find the whole conversation on our YouTube channel.

There’s so much to go over with you because you’re in a great area of Oregon.

Last year we had the privilege of covering the 2022 McMinnville Wine Classic, your Pinot Gris won Best in Show and Best White varietal.

According to press announcements it’s the first time ever for a Pinot Gris. What was it about that bottle and that year that brought you so much acclaim?

The vintage we won that on was the 2020, and I think our Pinot Gris is fairly consistent. So I actually personally felt that the 2021 vintage was better than the 2020. What I think is going on there is that in our growing area Southwest of Eugene we have our vineyard in what’s called the Lorane Valley. We’re a relatively high elevation vineyard compared to the rest of the Willamette Valley. We get a lot more hang time on our Pinot Gris, which allows more flavor development and preservation of acidity, as well as slower and lower accumulation of sugar.

So we ended up with a higher acid, lower alcohol wine that’s very expressive in terms of fruit flavors.

I wanna let our audience know a little bit about your background and what brought you to where you are today. Your education in soil and winemaking, but I hope you’ll touch on your Peace Corps time, and your work in Guatemala with soil education.

As I was finishing up my Bachelor’s Degree at Oregon State University, I became involved with a couple of different grad students, helping them with their research projects, basically. At the beginning of my junior year [I had already] switched my major from Pre-Vet to Crop and Soil Science.

So the projects I was working on with these grad students involved soil research. One of these grad students had been in the Peace Corps and talked about it frequently and also had a professor who had been in the Peace Corps. They both inspired me to look into it and do it.

I ended up going to Guatemala. The project I worked on was called Corn and Bean Seed Improvement and Post Harvest Management. We were trying to counteract the invasion of commercial corn seed into Guatemala and Latin America. It’s replacing the land raise varietals or the traditional varietals of corn. We were working with those traditional varietals to improve their performance in the field by selecting the plants that were growing well and were the most disease resistant.

The program started four years before I got to Guatemala, so I was the third volunteer and we were really showing some really good results.

Something I love about winemaking is such a mix of science and magic, or science and artistry. And it sounds like science is very strong with your background and the magic that you bring to the bottle.

Yes, I would agree with that.

So let’s switch back from Guatemala. You’ve got some great soil types. Let’s talk about how you use the soils in your region to bring such delicious flavor, characteristics and aromas.

In our vineyard, we do have some Jory soils, and I think most people who know about the Willamette Valley know that Jory is the preferred soil in the region particularly for Pinot Noir.

Our vineyard is dominated by Bellpine soil. Bellpine is kind of an analog of Jory, but it’s formed in sedimentary rock rather than basaltic rock or volcanic rock. So there’s some significant differences in the chemical makeup of the soil that contributes to the flavor difference in our Pinot Gris compared to some others.

The last time I visited, what I heard overwhelmingly from the winemakers is you have to be okay with inconsistency year after year.

I want my wines to represent the area that they’re from and the varietal from which they’re made and different weather during each growing season as part of that representation.

So based on the weather and the level of ripeness of the fruit and what we’re tasting in the grapes before we bring them in, we will make some adjustments to how we do the vinification to try to push it in one direction or another, to be at least somewhat consistent.

Let’s talk about the wines themselves.

Let’s start with the Pinot Gris. The comment I hear the most is white peach. That’s new. I usually hear pear, red apple peel, quite a bit of citrus.

iris vineyards

Commonly I get stone fruit comments on our Chardonnay. Whether it’s our still Chardonnay or our Blanc de Blanc.

Then there’s the Brut Rose, the Pinot Noir 2021, the House Red Blend. A lot of people will remember 2020 and how that vintage went for us. I refer to that year as the worst year of my life.

Let’s talk a little bit about what made it such a bad year.

We had beautiful weather during bloom. I started to feel like it was going to be a really great vintage. We’re seeing a really modest crop load and smallish berries, which leads to more fruit forward. Right around Labor Day, the major fires started. Smoke came into the valley for about two weeks which was extremely disheartening.

In the Willamette Valley that was really our first experience with that level of damage to the fruit. So a lot of people were scrambling, worried, and ultimately didn’t produce Pinot Noir in 2020.

We made less than we had planned. We applied some techniques to mitigate the smoke effect.

Can we talk about what you did to mitigate?

Well, there are two things that helped the most. One, we sent some grapes to California to go through a process called flash. It’s a kind of thermovinification method where the must is heated to 80 degrees celsius and then pumped into a vacuum chamber that boils at a much lower temperature. The water and the skins of the grapes “flashes” to steam in the the vacuum chamber. That steam carries away a lot of bad things. Those things are responsible for the bulk of the smoke effect that you might find in a wine.

Then following vintage and some aging, we did some reverse osmosis to remove the smoke effect from the rest of our wine.

At the tail end of vintage, I had surgery for appendicitis. As I was about recovered from that, I got covid right at the end of 2020.

Fortunately ’21 and ’22 were very similar to 2020 and how the vintage started and ended up, we had some really beautiful fruit and beautiful wines. I’m really excited about ’22 based on what we have in barrel right now.

Some people approach wine from a food and wine pairing point of view. I’m not sure if you are a chef or a home cook, but do you have any suggestions for great food pairings for some of your bottles?

I think with our Pinot Gris, I really enjoy seafood.

It’s really good with salad. Brut Rose, I always say if you’re making a dinner and you’re not quite sure what wine to serve with your dinners sparkling wine is always a a crowd pleaser. It’ll go with dishes from salad to steak or pizza. The acidity of sparkling wines makes them really versatile in any kind of food. Fatty foods in particular pair well with more acidic wines, kind of a palette cleansing.

For our Pinot Noir, traditional pairings like salmon and chicken.

When you’re going through a year, from growth to harvest, what are the traits or elements that get you excited saying it’s gonna be a good year?

Last spring we had a couple of fairly severe frosts after bud break and it was an interesting year because of that. We ended up, to everyone’s surprise, with a vintage that was quite nice and yields that were not really affected by the frost. The vines bounced back with their secondary and tertiary buds set fruit, set a really good crop. We got a nice batch of wine out of it.

If we get into harvest in the rainy season, sometimes your hand is forced and the grapes start to get ripe, the skin softens an they become more susceptible to botrytis and other bad things that you don’t want.

But ’22 was nice. We weren’t really forced right up until the end. Around October 20, we had the first big rainstorm come in. 20% of our fruit still hanging. We brought most of it in before that big rain.

But I think we had really good ripeness even at that point.

You’ve been doing in-person and zoom wine tastings, do you have a favorite part of that wine tasting process?

My favorite part, without a doubt, is just when I see somebody tasting my wine and the look on their face shows me that they’re really enjoying it. That’s a big reason why I’m in this industry, what we do makes people happy.

Do you have a certain memory of including either your wine or someone else’s wine in a great celebration?

Several memories. My father and I had a wine business of our own from 2002 to 2015. [A few years in] we had a celebration at a steakhouse in Portland. I ordered a Puligny Montrachet off the menu. I still remember that wine quite vividly and how impressive it was. That changed my mind about chardonnay in some ways.

In Oregon, there’s a lot more chardonnay coming out of the Willamette Valley now is a good thing, but it’s still been an uphill battle for producers to get that chardonnay wine passed the gatekeepers, the distributors.

You go to a distributor and they’re like, “Everybody drinks California Chardonnay or white burgundy. They don’t know about Oregon Chardonnay. And when you say Willamette Valley, everybody thinks Pinot Noir, which is great. But we’ve kind of pigeonholed ourselves with that. There are a lot of other nice things that can come out of this valley like Pinot Gris and Chardonnay. So we have some work to do on the marketing and publicity to let people know.

Any lessons your winemaking team has learned this past vintage that you can share?

I think that happens every year. Let’s not assume that I know everything because I learn stuff every year as well.

One of the things that I really stress with people who are working for me during harvest, is the importance of fermentation temperature.

It’s with white wine, with aromatic whites in particular. You really have to keep the temperature under control. Yeast likes to get hot and ferment fast, so you have to keep those ferments cool, whatever the method is if you’re in stainless with jacketed tanks or if you’re in barrel and you’re taking the barrels outside at night or wetting them down to keep the temperature down. It’s super, super important.

With the white wines, you get a temperature or a fermentation that’s too hot and you end up with a wine that’s like generic white wine. It doesn’t have varietal character left in it, that’s something I stress a lot.

Then when you talk about red wines, the style of red wine that you’re making is so dependent on a lot of things, but temperature is a big thing. So if you do a cool ferment on a red wine, you’re going to have a red wine that’s fruit forward and aromatic, but it’s not going to be very extracted. It’s not gonna have a big tannic backbone to it. In that way it would be out of balance.

Like with our Willamette Valley Pinot Noir, we do a couple of different fermentation methods that end up having different peak fermentation temperatures and then we blend them together to get a wine that is crowd pleasing, easy balanced. So one of my big things is temperature.

Are there any topics in winemaking that you wish got more attention?

The fact that I don’t do this alone. If I didn’t have a team behind me doing the right thing and supporting production in the winery, starting with our vineyard and our vineyard manager, who is amazing, grows amazing fruit, all the way through to the marketing team selling the wine or promoting the wine and the sales team selling the wine. I think it’s really important for people to understand that it’s really a team effort. I’m the winemaker, I get the publicity, I get the recognition but there’s no way I could do it by myself.

I’m sure you talk to young winemakers all the time. Is there one huge piece of advice you would give a young winemaker from all your experience?

A big thing would be, and I’ve made this mistake when I was a young winemaker, if you’re about to do something to a wine and you think you know what you’re doing, but you’ve never done it before, make a phone call.

Ask another winemaker that maybe has had the experience and has done that. You’ve got a 5,000 gallon tank of wine and you’re gonna do some kind of adjustment that you’ve never done before. Get some information first.

Building network, building community, reaching out to those with either more experience or more diverse experience.

Yes. And in most wine regions, it is a community and people are happy to share their information to help the next guy out. Because ultimately, if we’re all making really good wine in the Willamette Valley, that enhances our reputation as a region. So I think it would be a big mistake for us not to share information.

Let’s talk about where people can find more information.

On Iris Vineyards website and social media. Our website is IrisVineyards.com and our handle on every social site is @IrisVineyards.

So thank you again for your time, and it was, it was great to have this conversation.

Thank you, Joe. I really appreciate your time.

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Discover Great Wines with Wine Pro’s Mike DeSimone and Jeff Jenssen’s new book White Wine Book, available on Amazon now.

By Joe Winger — 1 year ago

Discover Great Wines , Wine Pro’s Mike DeSimone and Jeff Jenssen’s new book White Wine Book, available on Amazon now.

Summertime is hot weather, light meals and adventures outside. All of which pair incredibly well with white wines.

That’s why Mike DeSimone and Jeff Jenssen decided to write a book featuring 1000s of white wine grapes that wine lovers should try. Some are very common, some are very obscure. But they’re all worth a taste – seriously.

Mike DeSimone, Jeff Jenssen’s new book White Wine Book

Today Mike DeSimone and Jeff Jenssen sat down (over zoom) for a conversation about wine, travel, food and more!

Note: the below interview has been edited for length and clarity. The full interview is available on YouTube, with clips in this article.

We’re talking about your new book “White Wine” today, available now on Amazon and we have a lot of questions. But first, welcome to the conversation and thank you both for being here.

Thank you. Thank you. We’re thrilled to be here.

For anyone who’s new to wine, these two are absolute wine GOATs. They’re the experts. They’ve written some great books in the past, and their new book is absolutely amazing. Over the past week I’ve had the chance to show it to a lot of people in my life and what I’ve loved about it is everybody from the wine geek all the way down to people who are barely wine drinkers, have all found really interesting reasons to love the book.

In the book you mention the word “invitation” several times. You include casual tasting instructions, the food pairing index, the white wine checklist. You do such a good job of making the wine approachable.

How important was it when you were building this book, the idea of making it approachable?

Wine always is very mysterious to people. And it doesn’t have to be. We really believe it. It’s kind of like our mantra. Open up a bottle of wine, sit around a table together, and there’s some conviviality and communal, you know, and, and communality in that bottle. So when you sit down in a circle and you’re having a glass of wine together, all of a sudden, we’re not so different.

So one of the things that we really wanted to speak to is to make wine approachable. One of things I really appreciate what you just said, is that people from all levels, from wine geeks to wine novices, we specifically set out to write this book with enough information that the geek will be really happy and enough information to intrigue the novice to wanna learn more.

We’ve always said this is the kind of book that you would buy for your Dad who happens to like wine, or you would buy it for yourself or buy it for a girlfriend or a buddy that wants to learn more about wine.

But I will tell you that we’ve been honored; our last book, Red Wine (amazon.com), was actually suggested reading list for people who were studying to become Masters of Wine. So we wrote this book with that idea in mind because we’d like this book to be a reference for Master of Wine students.

I think a lot of people may not realize just how much wine you might taste in an average year.

When we are tasting wine, whether it’s for a book like this and we’re trying to decide what gets include, or when we’re writing our articles, it’s very easy for us to open up 30 bottles in a day.

But there’s also traveling, going to wine regions, and walking into a winery and visiting four wineries a day where people can pour you anywhere between 3 or 4, up to 20 glasses.

One of the things that we have to make a distinction is how much wine do we taste and how much wine do we drink.

Because when we taste wine, we may open 30 bottles, but you just have a sip, you swirl it around your mouth, you get your impression, and then you spit it out. So you can actually taste 30 or 40 wines in one sitting. The alcohol that you actually absorb in your mouth is probably equal to one glass of wine.

We really have to maintain our wits about us when we’re writing books and tasting notes. And then out of those 30 wines, we’ll choose one or two to put in the fridge and drink with dinner.

So the difference between drinking the wine and tasting the wine is a big difference. Our neighbors absolutely love us because we have these bottles with [2 inches] out of it and put the cork back in and give it to them. So they’re very, very happy. But I think one of the things that we had to do for this book is taste.

There’s about 2,000 recommended wines. I’m gonna say we we tasted close to 5,000 [wines]. Not everything made the cut.

That’s incredible. So speaking of those 5,000, how do we prevent palette fatigue?

One thing for both of us is we both drink sparkling water.

Also, we eat very simple things just to clear the palette, wipe some of the tannins from it. We’ll eat sliced baguette or plain water crackers. That kind of thing. Also, try to break it up. Don’t drink the same style of wine over and over, because you’ll stop noticing the subtleties between them.

It’s training too. I can’t run a marathon tomorrow because I haven’t trained for a marathon, but I can taste 30 wines or 40 wines tomorrow because I’ve trained my palette to discern the differences. So it’s kind of like an athlete, it has to do with training to prevent fatigue.

So staying on the idea of tasting for a second, how do we talk to a winemaker? Any tips for a less-experienced wine drinker?

One of the first, and an easy question to ask, is how much did you make of this wine? Because that actually gives you an indication of how special the wine is, right? If somebody says, ‘Oh, we make a million bottles of this every year.’ Maybe it’s not so special.

If they say, ‘Oh, we only made 2,000 bottles of this and it comes from one special vineyard, that sometimes opens up the question of how special it is.

Another question is, if it’s a blend, if it doesn’t say on the bottle that it’s Chardonnay or Pinot Grigio, and you just know that it’s a white wine, you can ask what grapes are in this.

But people who visit wineries should ask questions. Take that as an opportunity to learn. Read the book White Wine, get some knowledge, and then you go to a winery, go out to California, go to New York State, go wherever you go, and visit a winery and talk to the winemaker and talk to the people who are responsible for making the wine. They’re very generous with their time. They want you to be informed and they want you to enjoy their wine. So do your homework and then learn some more in person, and then go back and read our book again, because you’ll learn a little bit more.

Your White Wine book is a mammoth undertaking. There’s a lot of information in there. How did you create all of this?

I think actually we were lucky in that we’d already written Red Wine. We worked with our publisher. We actually walked in, knowing that some of our prior books were a little bit text heavy, and said, ‘Hey, we want to do some graphics. For the flavor profile, there might be a picture of a peach and a rose and a lemon. For the food pairing, you’ll see a little plate of pasta and a pig and a steak.’

We worked with the same editor again. We had the structure already so that was a blessing.

When our editor came to us and said we want to publish this book, we were so excited. But then we looked at each other and said, we don’t have a lot of time to write this book. Let’s let, how, how are we gonna do this? You know? So we divided and conquered.

If you love wine, you’re gonna love this book, whether you’re a novice or above.

My old boss used to tease me because back then I enjoyed white more than red. Why doesn’t white get the respect that red does?

You know, you’re very right. We had to fight for this book.

I’m an equal opportunity white wine and red wine drinker and rose, because there are wines for different occasions. Sometimes when you’re having a big heavy steak, you want a red wine, but a lot of times we’re trying to eat lighter, more vegetables, lighter cuisine. It’s summertime now. Lighter white wines really go with those foods.

There’s so many grapes in this book. Is there one lesser-known grape that you want the world to know about because it’s an amazing discovery?

We have a holiday coming up this weekend. By the time this is posted, it will just have passed. This coming Sunday is International Pošip Day, and Pošip is a wine from coastal Croatia. It grows in Dalmatia and on some of the islands. It’s this wonderful, delightful, fresh, crisp, citrusy white grape from Croatia that we don’t see a lot of in the US. It’s in more major urban markets. It’d really worthy of attention.

Were there any unexpected surprises as you created this book?

When we did Red Wine, we did single varieties and regional blend styles, like Rioja which can have three or four different grapes in a bottle and Bordeaux can be up to six different grapes. That actually includes sparkling wine we covered in Red wine.

We covered only nine regional blend styles and 41 single varieties in White Wine. I just did account. I believe we have 14 regional right grape styles. So things like White Bordeaux, White Rioja fall under a style that’s not necessarily one grape.

Is there a message that you haven’t been asked that you would love to share with a wine loving audience?

You can always learn something. Keep learning, keep asking questions.

Sometimes there are some really interesting questions that people come up with.

We are wine experts, we’re authors of six wine books now. We write for different publications. We’re mast head at two different magazines, so we really kind of know what we’re talking about, but we don’t know everything.

So, being able to understand that and admit that, wine is a continuous, ongoing journey and learning about wine is what makes it very exciting. So I’m really happy to have been on the journey so far and I hope have a lot more years on this journey to learn more about wines I’ve never tried.

So thank you so much for your time. Tell us where to find you, where to follow you, your social media websites.

We are on Facebook and on Instagram as World Wine Guys. We have a website, www.WorldWineGuys.com for a lot of our articles and videos we’ve done over the last 13 -14 years.

Go to www amazon.com and put in three words, white wine book, it’ll pop up.

And then as you scroll down under, ‘Usually bought together.’ It’s our white wine book and our Red Wine book.

We have some friends that have written some great books, Wine Folly, Jancis Robinson.

We’re not the beginning and the end of wine knowledge. There are so many of our colleagues that we respect deeply. So there’s a lot to learn from everybody.

All I can say is that’s what we’d like for people to learn more, enjoy wine, open a bottle of wine with your family and friends and you know, we kind of drop all of our guards, we drop all of our pretenses and the world will be a lot better place.

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Executive Chef Michael Hung and his celebrity chef friends Annc The Colony Palms Hotel Club Guest Chef Series

By Joe Winger — 1 year ago

The Colony Palms Hotel is thrilled to announce the highly anticipated “Join The Club Guest Chef Series” at The Colony Club, featuring renowned Executive Chef Michael Hung and his esteemed celebrity chef friends.

Taking place throughout the month of June 2023, this exclusive culinary event promises an extraordinary dining experience for guests seeking exquisite flavors and a touch of glamour!

Colony Club’s The Club Guest Chef Series

The Colony Club, The Colony Palms Hotel’s signature restaurant, is renowned for its innovative California Fare served throughout the day, including breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Nestled in the heart of Palm Springs, guests have the option to dine in the main dining room, where they can indulge in Steve Hermann’s modern take on Art Deco glamour or choose the al fresco poolside dining patio with breathtaking views of the mountains.

The “Join The Club Guest Chef Series,” hosted by Executive Chef Michael Hung, will bring together a curated collection of celebrity chefs for four special evenings of culinary excellence. Each event will feature a delectable Five-Course Prix-Fixe Menu, Optional Wine Pairing, and selection of Specialty Handcrafted Cocktails created by The Colony Club, SO.PA, and Hermann’s Bungalows Bar Manager, Kelly David.

Chef Brittany Cassidy

The series kicks-off on Wednesday, June 7th, 2023, with Chef Brittany Cassidy, Head Chef at Violet Bistro in Westwood. Born and raised in San Diego, Cassidy’s culinary journey spans from Le Cordon Bleu in Hollywood to some of LA’s top kitchens, including Rustic Canyon and Birdie G’s. She will showcase her affinity for crave-worthy comfort food and transportive French Bistro fare in a menu that includes dishes such as her Roasted Beet Salad, and Confit Duck Leg, along with Hung’s Local Halibut Carpaccio and Sauteed Petrale Sole, finished with Cassidy’s Vegan Chocolate Mousse ($89 per person, does not include tax and gratuity).

Chef Isaias Peña

On Wednesday, June 14th, 2023, Chef Isaias Peña, Caruso Regional Executive Chef of Hank’s and Qué Padre in the Pacific Palisades at Palisades Village, will take the stage. With a deep appreciation for Mexican cuisine and fusion, Chef Peña’s culinary creations at Hank’s and Qué Padre captivate diners with their extraordinary flavors and striking presentation.

Chef Walter Nunez

The Guest Chef Series continues Wednesday, June 21st, 2023, with Chef Walter Nunez, Executive Chef of The Rex – Seaside Steakhouse in Redondo Beach. Chef Nunez’s refined approach to cuisine has elevated The Rex’s dining experience, showcasing his expertise in traditional and contemporary culinary techniques.

Chef Chris Oh

The final event of the series will be held on Wednesday, June 28th, 2023, featuring the multi-talented Chef Chris Oh (Seoul Sausage, Escala K-Town,Um.Ma SF, Kamu Ultra Karaoke) and Executive Chef Michael Hung presenting an evening of Traditional Korean Barbeque spotlighting Prime Beef and Japanese A5 Wagyu Beef served on The Colony Club’s poolside dining patio. Chef Chris Oh is known as the founder of Seoul Sausage Co and a winner of multiple TV competition shows, Chef Oh’s innovative culinary creations bridge cultural traditions and redefine the boundaries of gastronomy.

For more information on The Colony Club’s “Join The Club Guest Chef Series” coming up on Wednesday, June 7^th, 2023, Wednesday, June 14^th, 2023, Wednesday, June 21^st, 2023, and Wednesday, June 28^th, 2023, please call 760.969.1800 or to make your reservations now, please visitOpenTable.com.

The Colony Club at The Colony Palms Hotel is open for Dinner every Sunday through Thursday from 5:00 pm to 8:00 pm, and every Friday and Saturday from 5:00 pm to 10:00 pm. Lunch is server every Monday through Friday from 11:00 am to 3:00 pm. Breakfast is offered every Monday through Friday from 8:00 am to 11:00 am, and Brunch is served every Saturday and Sunday from 8:00 am to 3:00 pm. For more information about The Colony Club restaurant at The Colony Palms Hotel or to make reservations, please call 760.969.1800 or visit www.ColonyPalmsHotels.com.

ABOUT THE COLONY CLUB AT THE COLONY PALMS HOTEL

The Colony Club is The Colony Palm Hotel’s signature restaurant where Executive Chef Michael Hung showcases his innovative California Fare for Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner. Guests of The Colony Club can dine inside the main dining room while enjoying Hermann’s modern take on Art Deco glamour or enjoy the warm breezes while dining al fresco poolside with a stunning view of the mountains.

ABOUT EXECUTIVE CHEF MICHAEL HUNG:

Chef Michael Hung, a culinary virtuoso, brings his innovative vision and wealth of experience to The Colony Club at The Colony Palms Hotel and SO.PA at L’Horizon Resort and Hermann Bungalows as their newly appointed Executive Chef.

With an impressive career spanning from apprenticeships at Daniel and Aquavit in New York City to working alongside renowned chefs in San Francisco, including Chef Traci Des Jardins at Jardiniere and Chef Roland Passot at La Folie, Chef Hung has solidified his reputation as a rising star.

Notable achievements include his acclaimed restaurant Faith & Flower in Los Angeles, which garnered numerous accolades, and the highly praised Viviane at the Avalon Hotel, recognized by food critics and publications alike.

Now in Palm Springs, Chef Michael Hung is poised to elevate dining experiences, fusing vibrant flavors, local ingredients, and his own creative flair to create unforgettable culinary journeys at these esteemed establishments.

ABOUT THE COLONY PALMS HOTEL

Opened in the 1930s, The Colony Palms has a colorful history involving mobsters, athletes, politicians, and Hollywood stars. This Spanish colonial gem, updated by celebrated designer Steve Hermann, blends Hollywood glamour with an art-

deco aesthetic. Located in the heart of Palm Springs, it provides a lush escape just steps from the city’s design district, complete with boutiques, restaurants, and nightlife. With fire pits and intimate alcoves dotted throughout the property, the exclusive and elevated setting features 57 exquisitely designed rooms and suites, unrivaled poolside dining, and a wellness spa with all the latest offerings.

This upscale adults-only boutique hotel and its inviting palm tree-lined pool are set against the backdrop of the San Jacinto Mountains. The perfect place to savor the ultimate Palm Springs experience, The Colony Palms is a laid-back yet upbeat retreat that brings a dash of Hollywood glamour to the desert.

ABOUT STEVE HERMANN:

Steve Hermann is a celebrated designer of high-end homes and hotels. As one of the most prolific designers within California, he is known as the design guru for the Hollywood elite, captains of industry, and foreign royalty.

His innovative and imaginative homes are owned by A-list celebrities, entertainment executives and members of the Forbes top ten wealthiest list. His designs have been featured on Architectural Digest, Conde Nast Traveler, Travel and Leisure, E!, MTV, ABC, as well as in hundreds of magazines and websites worldwide.

One of his projects, called The Glass Pavilion, was published in over a hundred magazines and newspapers and was the third most Googled house in the world. Steve has established a world recognized luxury hospitality company, Steve Hermann Luxury Hotels, of which L’Horizon Palm Springs served as the initial flagship property. L’Horizon has won dozens of awards including the #1 Resort in the world by the readers of Conde Naste Traveler.

Steve has followed up his success by adding The Colony Palms Hotel to his portfolio, which he has transformed into another spectacular luxury resort. When Steve is not designing residences and opening hotels, he spends his time collecting post war, European sports cars, which he enjoys driving with his wife and two young daughters. After 15 years of living in Los Angeles, Steve currently calls Montecito, California home.

Social Media:

Follow @colonyclubps on Instagram and @colonypalmshotel on Facebook

Follow Executive Chef Michael Hung @chefmikeh on Instagram

The Colony Club at The Colony Palms Hotel

572 N. Indian Canyon Drive

Palm Springs, CA 92262

T: 760.969.1800

www.ColonyPalmsHotel.com

Incredible A. O. C. Dinner! Critically Acclaimed Winemaker Raul Perez Curated by Caroline Styne are Paired with End-of-Spring Menu by Suzanne Goin

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Incredible A. O. C. Dinner June 15! Critically Acclaimed Winemaker Raul Perez Curated by Caroline Styne, Paired with End-of-Spring Menu by Suzanne Goin

By Joe Winger — 1 year ago

Critically Acclaimed Winemaker Raul Perez hosts wine Dinner June 15, curated by Caroline Styne, paired with End-of-Spring Menu by Suzanne Goin.

A.O.C. by Chef Suzanne Goin and Business Partner / Wine Director Caroline Styne, 3rd Street, Los Angeles, California, and Winemaker Raúl Pérez, Bodegas y Viñedos Raúl Pérez.

A.O.C. Chef Suzanne Goin and Business Partner / Wine Director Caroline Styne

A.O.C., Los Angeles’ ground-breaking small plates restaurant at the forefront of the city’s best dining since 2002, presents an extraordinary evening celebrating the wines of the revered Raúl Pérez on Thursday, June 15, 2023. The wines are curated by Caroline Styne and paired with Suzanne’s end-of-spring menu which is inspired by her love of the Pérez collection. Raúl Pérez will be in attendance to meet and greet guests.

Raúl Pérez Pereira is highly regarded as one of the world’s most visionary winemakers. He gained recognition for his winemaking skills and innovation from an early age. Born in Valtuille de Abajo, a village in the Bierzo region of Spain, Pérez comes from a family with a long history of winemaking. He produced his first vintage for his family’s winery in 1994 when he was just 22 years old, showcasing his talent and passion for the craft.

In 2005, Pérez decided to venture out on his own and established Bodegas y Viñedos Raúl Pérez, a winery that quickly became renowned within the Bierzo appellation. Bierzo, located in northwestern Spain, is known for its distinctive and high-quality wines, particularly made from the Mencía grape variety. Pérez’s wines gained critical acclaim for their unmatched quality, capturing the essence of the Bierzo terroir. Over the years, Pérez expanded his winemaking activities beyond Bierzo to other appellations in Spain. He ventured into Rías Baixas, known for its Albariño wines, Ribeira Sacra, recognized for its steep vineyards along the Sil River, and Tierra de León, an emerging wine region. Despite his expansion, Valtuille de Abajo remains close to his heart and serves as his home base.

Pérez’s winemaking approach is characterized by a deep respect for the land, a commitment to organic and sustainable practices, and a focus on expressing the unique qualities of each vineyard and grape variety. His wines are often described as terroir-driven, showing a sense of place and reflecting the distinct characteristics of the regions where the grapes are grown.

With his innovative techniques and dedication to quality, Raúl Pérez Pereira has significantly impacted the Spanish wine scene. His wines continue to be highly sought after by wine enthusiasts and collectors worldwide, cementing his reputation as a visionary winemaker.

Caroline is enthusiastic about introducing these exceptional wines to their guests. “I discovered Raul’s wines when opening Caldo Verde, and I haven’t turned back,” states Caroline. “His wines are so well made and diverse with a through-line of beautiful minerality and balance.”

Pricing for the four-course dinner with paired wines is $150 per guest, excluding tax and gratuity. Guests dining à la carte can experience a flight of three Raúl Pérez wines to pair with their dinner selections. Prepaid reservations can be secured via OpenTable Experience; limited availability for this exclusive event.

A Celebration of Raúl Pérez

June 15, 2023

kanpachi & bay scallop ceviche, stone fruit, urfa & pistachios

endive, radishes, meyer lemon cream & oil-cured olives

2021 la vizcaina, la del vivo, godello, bierzo

***

spring greens, broccoli kibbeh, avocado, favas & feta

spanish fried chicken, romesco aïoli & chili-cumin butter

2022 los arrotos del pendón, rosado, leon

***

scottish salmon, fennel-potato gratin & beet chutney

sugar snap peas, pea shoots & green butter

2020 castro candez, mencia, ribiera sacra

***

grilled hanger steak, braised leek butter & fried leeks

italian broccoli, green harissa & douro almond dukkah

2020 la vizcaina, las gundiñas, bierzo

***

bittersweet chocolate torta

pecan cookie brittle & coffee syrup

$150 per person, including wine pairing

WHEN:

Raúl Pérez Winemaker Dinner at A.O.C.

Thursday, June 15, 2023

5:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.

WHERE:

A.O.C. 3rd Street

8700 W. 3rd Street, Los Angeles, CA 90048 – 310.859.9859

ABOUT RAÚL PÉREZ

In addition to numerous other accolades, Raúl was named “Winemaker of the Year” by German publication Der Feinschmecker in 2014 and “Best Winemaker in the World” in 2015 by the French publication Bettane+Desseauve. In the February 2018 Decanter, Master of Wine Pedro Ballesteros wrote, “Raúl Pérez is the archetype of the intuitive winemaking genius.” A picture of Raúl in that same article is captioned, “Is this the best winemaker in the world?” Raúl would certainly not self-apply any of these superlatives. His humility and generosity of spirit far exceed his genius, and that humility comes through in his wines. These are not “winemaker” wines so much as they are unadulterated expressions of the villages and vineyards they hail from.

ABOUT THE LUCQUES GROUP:

With the opening of Lucques, their flagship restaurant, in 1998, James Beard Foundation award-winning Chef/Author Suzanne Goin and award-winning Restaurateur Caroline Styne planted the seeds for The Lucques Group, a Los Angeles hospitality company that comprises two fine dining restaurants – A.O.C. in both Los Angeles and Brentwood. Along with these culinary enterprises, the company also owns the Larder Baking Company and oversees Hollywood Bowl Food + Wine, which curates all the food and beverage outlets at L.A.’s iconic music venue. The duo also operates two new restaurants – Caldo Verde and Cara Cara, and the new Dahlia cocktail bar at the Downtown L.A. Proper Hotel. The Lucques Group is dedicated to seasonally influenced cooking and focuses on sourcing local, organic produce from which Goin creates soulful dishes that are bold in flavor, vibrant, layered and complex.

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Italy’s Trentodoc makes history with Sparkling Wine, Giacomo Malfer reveals their Tasty Secret

By Joe Winger — 1 year ago

Italy’s Trentodoc has a history of producing incredible sparkling wine, Giacomo Malfer reveals their tasty secret.

We had the chance to sit down with Revi Trentodoc’s Giacomo Malfer to talk about the Italian Trentino region, their multi-generational family business, favorite foods, and of course their legendary sparking wines.

Listen to the podcast here:

Giacomo, Can you share some of your favorite memories that include a wonderful sparkling wine celebration?

I’m very happy to talk about Revi and my family and my world. One of the best memories that I remember with sparkling wine Trentodoc was my 30th party. I invited a lot of friends. The bottles, one by one [were poured and put] on the floor [lined up] around the house. But, the most important thing was the joy, the happiness, to enjoy that party.

In history, Trentodoc sparkling wine is the best product for celebrations. So celebrating my birthday or other important things in life is one of the best things that we produce of that kind of product can make because We work our life to produce something people enjoy the best highlights of the life. So what’s better? And one of my best memories is my 30th birthday party.

You mentioned celebrating with your family. Tell me what it’s like growing up in a winemaking family.

Paolo, my father, for me is a common star because when I was young, I never wanted to go on with the winery. It’s funny to know because today it’s my life. Sometimes [I feel like] it is my girlfriend. Francesca is my real girlfriend. So it’s matches perfectly now with my life and with my private life.

Courtesy of http://www.revispumanti.com/

Someone said that if you love your work, you’ll never work a day in your life. I think that idea is very important. As I said earlier, there is something very beautiful about making something that people used to celebrate.

I remember when my father Paolo would talk about wine and producing wine, his eyes would shine. That shine was one of the first things that was useful for me to start and work in the wine industry. I remember that Paolo said to us to do what we wanna do, not follow the winery. Because it was his passion, not his first job. He said, ‘this is my passion. I want to work with Revi as a passion.’ In fact for 30 years that was not his job. He started when he was 13 years old.

He was in a classroom with only females. He found a book with an article on Dom Perignon. He came home and asked my grandfather [for] some white wines because we were an agriculture family. And he said, I wanna make champagne now. And my grandfather laughed, because my Dad was just a young boy. But you know what? He said, okay, you can try a very small batch.

My grandmother made bread each week, so Paulo asked my grandmother for some yeast, and put it inside with the sugar.

And on Christmas of 1963, my family enjoyed the holiday with methodic champagne noir. Because in Italy at that time we could name the methodic champagne, the classic method with the second fermentation in the bottle. And so after that, he studied at school, and then he started with Revi in 1982. And for 30 years it was his hobby.

I believe it was one of the most important things, to grow up with passion, in my father, in my brother Stefano and in me, because he’s never forced us to follow that.

We both studied economics. But I remember many memories about when my grandmother would take the broth to the people who helped my father in the winery. I have some memories that is between the brain and the heart. I believe that premise was the first seed to grow the passion. After that, my brother Stefano, the producer and manager; we followed because we were tasting all the time with my family together. We are looking for a very clean, very fresh identity wine of our region.

The best thing that I believe our father gave us is a way to read the wine world. This is the identity. We always want to find in Revi our territory. He was one of the first to produce the zero dosage. We have been producing zero dosage or pas dose, you know, that is the same since 1983. The first harvest of the first vintage of pas dose Revi was 1981. It was very, very uncommon for that period, even just five years ago it was uncommon. But 40 years ago.

I believe inside that particular label is the philosophy of our winery, and we want go on with that. So the second generation, me and my brother Stefano, for sure, we wanna follow that.

There’s a lot less magic in economics than there is in sparkling wine. Was there a moment when you realized, ‘I need more magic?’

Yes, I remember. When I was 13 or 14 years old, and I was helping my father in the vineyard, I didn’t like it because it was very warm and some activities were very slow. My friends would go to the swimming pool, and I was with my father. So I said, I want my office, with my shirt and air conditioning and not be here.

But at the end, I really love the people and finding magic. Because it all starts from a piece of wood and arrives at the end in a bubble, in the most beautiful moment that you put that wine in a glass and enjoy with your friends and your family.

There was not a very clear moment when I changed my mind and said no economics, but wine making for sure.

I made the commercial part of the winery. So economics is important and now it’s the economics of a winery. I found a very good way to have a little bit economics and stay in the best [wine] world.

I always tell my friends and my girlfriend, we are working for something that others work for the Saturday night or the Friday night. That is super beautiful, because celebrating is the best thing. To enjoy life is to celebrate the big things and the small things. The small things could be simpler, pizza with friends.

I think the theme that I’m learning is the magic of celebration. Let’s seque to the magic of your region.

Yes, for sure. The [Dolomite] mountains area is one of the important things. And thanks to the mountain region, we can have the freshness, the aromas that come up from the difference in temperature between day and night.

At the same time, we have a region that goes from 200 meters in altitude over to 700 meters. More than 70% is over 1,000 meters in altitude. So it’s a very mountain region. And the valley also is a mountain valley, because the fresh air comes down from the mountains and goes through our vineyards. That’s increases the performance and the structure we find in our glass of trentodoc.

Wine Enthusiast awarded us as one of the best wine areas for Trentodoc because we can have the maturity of the grapes, and at the same time we defend the freshness. So we have a balance between the complexity, the perfumes, the aromas thanks to the mature grapes. We don’t forget and lose the freshness, the acidity freshness, very important to enjoy, because at the end, one bottle, one glass, you have to drink to enjoy it.
Another thing that is important here is the soil, limestone, there are different soils. And that gives us some different shades about Trentodoc. This is one of the most important things not only here in Trentodoc, but in the wine world.

Drinking is a way to take a trip in your life. It’s very nice to drink the same wine, the same grapes in the same area, but at the same time, find something different. Not only because its comes from different wine growers, but because the soil, the terroir.

For example, Albano, the small village where I come from, where Revi was born.
Re Vino [translates to] “king wine”, because it was one of the best areas in Albano, my village, to produce grapes for wine. Albano was named from Veronelli, one of the best and most important, wine journalists in Italy.

Why? Because many private people in the area made their own classic method, sparkling wine. It was an agricultural village, but they didn’t make only still wine. They made sparkling wine. So that is the terroir. That is the the know-how, the idea of one place, not only the type of soil or the wind.

Here in Trentino, in our vineyard we have some of the best soil, Cavaliere Nero.
Cavaliere Nero is 100% Pinot Noir, it’s clay and red marble. Now red marble was the motherstone. And we have clay. It is a very important Pinot Noir. It is a very important red pinot noir dressed by the bubbles.

Sticking with the region for a moment, tell us about what’s it like living in that area today?

It’s a mountain region so we have ski slopes we can enjoy in the winter season. But the mountains are really magic during the summer. On my summer holidays, I want to go to the sea. We have one of the best lakes in Italy, Llago di Garda.

A few weeks ago there was the Gambero Rosso event, where I tasted your sparklers for the first time. Let’s talk about the bottles.

You tasted the classic one, Revi Brut Trentodoc, the Revi Reserve 2012.
Revi Brut Trentodoc has 40 months on lees. Both are Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.
The Chardonnay grown here in Trentodoc gives very good aromas, good acidity, good freshness. Pinot Noir in more in altitude, gives us the body.

Courtesy of http://www.revispumanti.com/

In the Pinot Noir of the brut, it’s only for the body. Not for the structure.

With aging, the wine comes out with notes of Pinot Noir. In fact, in the Reserva 2012 or other Revi, when it stays many months on the yeast, you find the perfumes of the Pinot Noir, we have the classic line: Revi Brut, Revi Rose, Revi Dosaggio Fero. They are all made with a cuvee of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. 20% white and more in the rose, because we have 70%, helps us to give a lot of structure and body.

Chardonnay is a major part of it and that is very important for the Brut as for the Reserva, because it gives us the freshness in the Reserva.

People always ask me which is my favorite, the Brut or the Reserva?

It really depends. It depends on the time of day and my mood. In the summer when it is warm, I like really a glass of fresh Brut classic, because it’s simple. I want to chill out a little.

Then on the same day at dinner we drink a glass or a bottle of Reserva tasting and pairing with some foods.

With the Brut, the tasting notes are apples. One of the classic notes. Toasted nuts. All very light and delicate.

If you ask me what to expect if you taste a glass of Revi Brut, you have to expect some fresh apples, some flowers, a little toast, and freshness and joy on the palate.
For the food pairing, some salami or fromage, very simple aperitivo that you can have in your house.

One of the best pairings that I really love is with pappardelle or a pasta with white ragu and parmesano, because it’s delicate and a little bit salty. Parmesano’s taste is not so aggressive, it’s also delicate. And with the Brut I love a lot.

I love pappardelle, I love pasta for sure. I’m Italian, you know, so… I’m a pasta lover.
Thinking about Reserva, you can really go all over the world with the taste. You can also pair with fusion cuisine, you can have some more taste.

In our Reserva, we have the structure, the body, the complexity at the same time, the very freshness. So you can enjoy that glass with some fatty foods, because it’ll clean up your mouth and have structure. Carpaccio, branzino, fresh fish.

Is there a unique or surprising food that you wouldn’t traditionally think pairs well with your wines and yet it did?

I love surprising myself with pairing foods. As you were talking, I was thinking of risotto with porcini, with gouda.

During the [pandemic] lockdown I stayed with my family and during our Sunday meals, we had a violet rosemary [herb sprig] inside a glass was amazing.

I believe, one of the best important things, if you are in a winery, in a restaurant, you have to taste and try. Be curious.

Something we really aim for with our audience is helping someone who’s curious and eager, helping them understand what they’re trying so they can have more appreciation for the taste and the flavor.

Can you walk us through the process of the classic method?

The first part, it’s common, like still wine. You grow the grapes. It’s very important to have high quality raw materials at the start. Then you have harvest after one year. Then you press, you have the first fermentation, that is the vinification.

The very important different thing about sparkling wine and a classic method, for example, in 100% Chardonnay is when you want to have a chardonnay for a base of sparkling wine, you have to have more acidity. So your harvest is a couple of weeks [earlier]. It depends on the velocity of the maturation.

But we can say between one and two weeks before, because you have to preserve the freshness, the acidity.

Then after harvest, you have a different vinification. It depends if you want to, to make a rose or a white wine. In that case, you have a maceration on the skin of the grapes of Pinot Noir. If you want a Blanc de Noir, a white wine from Pinot Noir, you have to separate the skin of the grapes, from the juice.

After the first fermentation we make the cuvee. We sit with my family and taste, and discuss which kind of chardonnay goes inside with some percentage of Pinot Noir.
For example, we talked about the Revi Brut and 80% of Chardonnay, and 20% Pinot Noir. So [a blend of] Chardonnay 1-2, and 7 with 20% of Pinot Noir or a [blend of a] couple of Pinot Noirs, it depends on the vintage of the year.

After that, we put inside the Liqueur de tirage, so yeast and sugar, like [if you] make bread. You put all inside a bottle and you cork. So, the yeast starts eating the sugar and give us the bubbles.

That activity let’s the yeast work.

One important thing for Trentodoc it it’s made with only grapes of the Trento area: Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier and Pinot Blanc.

First of all, we use Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. In Revi we use only Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.

To be Trentodoc, it has to stay on the lees, for a minimum 15 months. To be Vintage Trentodoc, it has to stay for two years, 24 months. We have two years on the grapes of just one harvest.

For example, the 2018, to be Reserva Trentodoc has to stay minimum three years on lees, so 36 months with just one harvest.

After that, we have the bubbles inside the bottle, also the yeast. So we have to make the. [Years ago] we made it all by hand, today is automatic. It’s useful to clean up the wine from the yeast to have at the end of this activity a brilliant sparkling wine. Then we have the disgorgement. The isgorgement is made with glass, so we freeze that part of the yeast.
And with the pressure between six and seven bar with the disgorge. So we open the bottle, the pressure pulls out that cork freeze of yeast, and we have a very brilliant, sparkling wine.

If we don’t add [anything] because, sparkling wine is special wine, because we can add sugar, and with the sugar, we can define the type of Trentodoc sparkling wines who had, for example, de Natura, de Dossagio Ferro, after we have the extra Brut Brut, and go on with more sugar wine.

We can add something to create a very secret recipe of each winery. At the end, a couple of month minimum to recalibrate the sparkling wine, with this liquor disposition. We have the magic done. From some grapes to a glass full of emotional, nice moments and full of bubbles.

Outstanding. The magic and the science involved,.

Our payoff is when magic and technique meet, because that is sparkling wine.

As we wrap up, where can we find Revi, browse and shop?

I wanna ask your audience to be our ambassador. You have to go and ask [restaurants and shops] about Revi. When you find Revi, you have to try Revi.

When you don’t find Revi, you have to ask for it.

You can find us on Instagram and on our website Revi.com.

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Island-Inspired Cocktail Bar ‘Gin Rummy’ Opens on the Westside Memorial Day Weekend

By Joe Winger — 1 year ago

Gin Rummy – An Island-Inspired Cocktail Bar Opens on the Westside Memorial Day Weekend

Renowned Los Angeles bar proprietor Jared Meisler (The Roger Room, Bar Lubitsch, The Friend and The Little Friend) and the exemplary team of David and Patti Reiss of Reiss Co. (The Brig and The Alibi Room) announce the opening of a new westside cocktail establishment, GIN RUMMY, on Friday, May 26, 2023.

The cocktail program is masterfully led by Beverage Directors Danilo Kim, formerly of The Alibi Room and Nueva and Marcus Ragas, whose resume includes The Chestnut Club and Caboco.

Located at 822 Washington Boulevard, Marina del Rey, adjacent to Meisler’s popular Little Friend, GIN RUMMY takes over NUEVA after a successful three-year run.

Meisler states that he and his partners saw a need for a large and welcoming bar space in the neighborhood.

Meisler states:

“I’ve always loved the cocktails that come from beach cultures, just as much as I love the imagery and feel of beachy bars. I see a through line between a Tiki Bar, a Cuban Rum Bar, a Mexican Cantina, a Brazilian Quisque, a Spanish Chiringuito and a Venice Beach watering hole. They’re all timeless, relaxed, and fun, serving fantastic and unique drinks…

“…Gin Rummy is an homage to all things Beach Bar, from Nautical to Tropical, in a vintage parlor.”

At this gateway to Venice, GIN RUMMY invites passersby to escape to the tropics and get swept away, sipping exotic cocktails and enjoying delicious snacks in a pirate’s lair.

Gin Rummy’s spacious 200-seat setting…

The spacious 200-seat setting… reimagined and designed by Jared Meisler creates a colorful and ornate island paradise marrying nautical and South Pacific themes with contemporary design.

Enter Gin Rummy’s large front door…

Enter GIN RUMMY through the large front door just off Washington and take in the huge zinc-top mahogany bar with shelves stacked with vast arrays of rum, gin, tequila, and mezcal along with decorative tchotchkes of ships in bottles.

A large bank of skylights above the bar provides soft sunlight during golden hour as guests relax in a convivial state of mind.

When dusk turns to night, the far wall is illuminated by a row of vintage island-themed pinball machines giving GIN RUMMY a timeless, comfortable feel.

As one’s eye travels the room, imbibers take in giant redwood beams supporting a tongue and grove ceiling adorned by funky glassware. Native and tribal prints cover the bar stools and wood booths.

Scattered around the room are mini palm trees and lush tropical plants adorned with brass ship hardware. The thick posts are wrapped in nautical rope and accented with imagery of Caribbean and Polynesian life, ocean and boats and jungle paintings. Other notes include large bone-inlaid mirrors, woven wood light fixtures, rattan chairs, and lazy ceiling fans for a sultry Key Largo effect.

On Gin Rummy’s Outside…

Outside, the convertible indoor/outdoor patio exudes a tropical sandy beachy village vibe, adorned with wood carvings and carved wooden mirrors. The natural oak tables are painted with checker and backgammon boards, inviting guests to linger and play games comfortably in reclined rattan chairs. Lush tropical foliage is covered by a mahogany pergola illuminating the space with brass ship lights.

Gin Rummy’s playful craft cocktail bar program

At GIN RUMMY, Beverage Directors Marcus Ragas and Danilo Kim have created an inventive and playful craft cocktail bar program and menu:

Fun drinks equal a fun vibe. Look for categories of FROZEN RUMMYS, STIRRED and TIKI, classic and imaginative HIGHBALLS, as well as the irresistible COCKTAILS FOR FOUR that look back to the legendary Trader Vic’s from days gone by.

GIN RUMMY offers several NO BOOZE options for the sober crowd or designated driver.

GIN RUMMY is open daily: Monday – Friday: from 4:00 p.m. – 2:00 a.m.; Saturday and Sunday: from 12:00 p.m. – 2:00 a.m. and Happy Hour: 4:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m. nightly.

FROZEN RUMMYS

Hemingway Daiquiri with Rum, Grapefruit, Luxardo Maraschino & Lime

Guava Daiquiri; Mango Ango

Habanero Honeysuckle

Frozen Margaritas

Pina Colada

STIRRED

Mamajuana

Banana Manhattan

MSG Old Fashioned

Tail of The Cock with Oaked Cachaca, Cynar, Carpano Antica & Orange Bitters

TIKI

Agave Zombie

Velvet Falernum

Pina Colada

Nui Nui

Jungle Bird

Marina Fog Cutter

Tropical Itch; Rye Tai

Pain Killer (for two, served in a pineapple)

HIGHBALLS

Gin & Tonic

Super Paloma

Captains Wheel

AK Mojito

Yuzu Spritz with Gin, Yuzu, Aperol & Champagne

SHAKEN

Reina Picante

Strawberry Caipirinha

Baggiewrinkle

Corpse Reviver No. 47 with Chamomile Infused Gin, Yellow Chartreuse,

Lemon, Orange Curaçao, Absinthe & Chamomile Smoke

Nitro Charged Carajillo

COCKTAILS FOR FOUR

Scorpion Bowl with Vodka, Gin, Light Rum, Dark Rum, 151 Rum, Pineapple, Orange & Lemon

Fish Bowl with Vodka, Coconut Rum, Blue curaçao, Lemon & Pineapple.

For guests who prefer sans alcohol, there are creative NO BOOZE options, including Passionfruit Picante Spritz with Passionfruit, Tamarind, Lime, Black Lava Saline, Thai Chili & Mineral Water; Virgin Mint Margarita with Spiritless Jalisco Tequila, Lyres Orange Sec, Lime & Agave; and Not Gin & Tonic with Ritual Zero Proof Gin, Rosemary, Sea Bean, Lemon Basil, Juniper Berry and Fever Tree Tonic.

For a complete list, please visit GIN RUMMY’s online drink and spirits menu

GIN RUMMY offers a selection of satisfying nosh to enjoy

while sipping on delicious cocktails and dreaming of the Pacific.

SNACKS

Crispy Cauliflower

Tempura Calamari

Coconut Shrimp

Fries and Sweet Potato Fries

Onion Rings

BASKETS

Wings

(with Buffalo, BBQ and Lemon Pepper Mango Habanero Thai Chili)

Beer Battered Fish & Chips

Chicken & Chips

Vegan Chicken & Chips

(Sauces – Chipotle Aioli, BBQ, Hot Honey, Creamy Ranch, Vegan Ranch, Cocktail Sauce, Tartar Sauce, Thai Chili, Honey Mustard, Yellow Mustard, Buffalo & Mango Habanero)

SALADS

Smokey Caesar

Kale Salad

Aaarrrugula & Quinoa

TACOS

Mushroom

Zucchini & Squash

Shrimp; Chicken

Carnitas

Carne Asada

(served with Salsa and Onions)

PIES

Key Lime

Chocolate Chess

Banana Cream

(for a complete list, please visit GIN RUMMY’s online SNACKS menu)

GIN RUMMY HOURS:

Monday – Friday: from 4:00 p.m. – 2:00 a.m.

Saturday and Sunday: from 12:00 p.m. – 2:00 a.m.

Happy Hour: 4:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m. nightly

GIN RUMMY offers customized Event Planning by appointment at info@ginrummybar.com.

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Vino Nobile di Montepulciano Guided Tasting led by Antonio Gallon with Marina Nordic of IEEM USA – Wine Review

By Joe Winger — 1 year ago

Vino Nobile di Montepulciano Master Class & Guided Tasting “The History Teller” led by Antonio Galloni, hosted by the Consorzio and Marina Nordic of IEEM USA.

Vino Nobile di Montepulciano has a long history and tradition of producing memorable bottles, so today should be a phenomenal event..

As expected, the room was crowded with curious and distinguished palettes. Sommeliers, wine educators, wine critics, wine journalists, importers.

Vino Nobile di Montepulciano Region

The event featured Andrea Rossi, President of the Consorzio del Vino Nobile di Montepulcino and Antonio Galloni, Wine Critic & Founder of Vinous, who led the tasting.

Andrea Rossi, President of the Consorzio del Vino Nobile di Montepulcino

Rossi spoke about the Consorzio and Montepulciano while Galloni explained the Vino Noble di Montepulciano region with intrigue and excitement

The Vino Nobile production zone is positioned between Val di Chiana and Val d’Orcia at altitudes from 820 and 1900 feet.

Antonio Galloni, Wine Critic & Founder of Vinous, led the tasting.

The climate is influenced by nearby Trasimeno Lake, its soils composed of marine fossils, sandstone, salt rich clay and precious silt deposits.

The Sangiovese grape is locally called Prugnolo Gentile. Within their local Producer community, it’s name is mostly interchangeable.

Montepulciano in Tuscany is the center for Vino Nobile’s vinification efforts where both vinification and aging takes place and are supervised in the municipal area.

Vino Nobile is aged for a minimum of two years, including one year in oak barrels; and three years total in order to earn the title Riserva.

Vino Nobile di Montepulciano Tasting

There were 11 wines tasted in total.

“Alboreto” Vino Nobile di Montepulciano 2020

From Fattoria della Talosa made from 100% Sangiovese.

The vineyard is at 350-400 meters above sea level. After a careful selection of grapes, from the last week of September to the first week of October, the fermentation time is about 15-20 days.

Then malolactic fermentation is in stainless steel. The maturation is for 2 years in big barrels and stainless steel for another 2 months. The finished wine continues to be aged in bottle before release. An easy drinking win, hints of plum, blackberries, a kiss of strawberry and pepper. An excellent start to the day.

Vino Nobile di Montepulciano 2020 docg from Dei

Made from 90% Sangiovese and 10% Canaiolo.

The soil is mostly clay with sand (tuff) and the vineyard is at 300 meters above sea level. Soft pressing of the grapes followed by spontaneous fermentation with the use of indigenous yeasts in stainless steel tanks at a controlled temperature. Maturation on the skins for 15 – 25 days with pump over’s. Aging for at least 24 months of which a minimum of 18 months is in wood. The wine remains in-bottle for some time before release.

On the nose, hints of cherry, plum and violets with a hint of coffee and a touch of vanilla. Pair it with braised beef cheek with mashed potatoes.

“Asinine” Vino Nobile di Montepulciano Selezione 2020

“Asinone” Vino Nobile di Montepulciano Selezione 2020

Made from 100% Sangiovese.

The vineyard is at 380 – 400 meters. The soil is clay and silt with embedded fossils. Fermentation is in stainless steel vats for 20 to 25 days with cultured yeasts from the vineyard. Malolactic fermentation in 6,000 to 8,000 French oak vats.

A vibrant wine with hints of red currant, cherry, strawberry, plum, violet. Pair it with ribeye

“La Braccesca” Vino Nobile di Montepulciano 2020

Made from 90% Sangiovese and 10% Merlot.

The vineyard is at 290 meters. The soil is sandy loam. Each grape variety was harvested separately, de-stemmed and delicately crushed. Then transferred into stainless steel vats where alcoholic fermentation took place at a controlled temperature to preserve the fruit’s aromatic profile. Maceration on the skins for 10 days. Malolactic fermentation. Then the following spring, the bottles were aged approximately 12 months. Then bottled in spring 2020 and aged for one additional year in the bottle.

Red currant, strawberries, cherries and a subtle hint of spice and vanilla.

“Vigna d’Afiero” Vino Nobile di Montepulciano docg Selezione 2020 from Tenuta Valdipiatta

“Vigna d’Alfiero” Vino Nobile di Montepulciano docg Selezione 2020 from Tenuta Valdipiatta

Made from 100% Sangiovese.

Vinification is in steel tanks at controlled temperatures. Maceration on the skins for 20-25 days. Daily pump over and délestage at the beginning and in the middle of fermentation. Spontaneous malolactic fermentation. Fermentation in stainless steel tanks for 20 days. Malolactic fermentation in stainless steel. The wine is aged in French barrels at 20% new oak for 18 months, then aged in bottle before release.

A delicious and complex flavor. Black cherry, dark chocolate, balsamic notes and a touch of vanilla Pair this with duck, roasted and grilled meats.

Vino Nobile di Montepulciano docg 2020 Boscarelli

Made from 85% Sangiovese and 15% Canaiolo.

Alluvial and sandy lime soil with silt, clay and stony structure. The grapes are picked manually. After de-stemming and soft pressing, they are fermented in oak vats. Indigenous yeast is used in the fermentation process that lasts about a week. Aged in Slavonian oak casks, where malolactic fermentation occurs. Maturation takes from 18 to 24 months, then aged in the bottle for several more months before the release.

Strawberry, blueberry and sage notes. Medium body, medium tannin. Suggested pairing: grilled, roasted or braised meat and manchego or other seasoned cheese.

Luca de Ferrari of Boscarelli

Vino Nobile di Montepulciano docg 2019 Avignonesi

100% Sangiovese.

This bottle is even more special, as it employs Pied de Cuve, a process used by winemakers wanting to use wild yeast from the vineyard to ferment their wines. The process aims to build a population of viable (alive yeast) and vital (strong) in the wild yeast culture in a small volume of wine.

20-25 days of maceration. Pied de cuve used for the first bath of grapes in advance, select yeasts which are naturally present on the skins. Then these grapes become the basic yeast used for the fermentation. At least 18 months in Slavonian oak barrels and then at least 6 months aged in bottle.

On the nose, strawberry and red currant with subtle vanilla and spices. Well-balanced, medium body, ripe cherries and plum. Elegant tannin that creates a nice balance against the flavor and mouthfeel. Surprisingly long finish.

Would pair well with traditional Italian dishes, prosciutto, pecorino.

“Tenuta Calimaia” Vino Nobile di Montepulciano docg 2020 Marchesi Frescobaldi

90% Sangiovese (Prugnolo Gentile) and 10% red grape varieties.

Maturation in oak barrels for 24 months. Bottle aged for 4 additional months.

Intense ruby red in the glass. Nose is vibrant with cherry, sage, cardamom. Dark chocolate. Body is bold and velvety. Heavy tannin. Long dry finish.

“Silineo” Vino Nobile di Montepulciano docg 2020 from Tenute del Cerro

Fermentation and maceration at controlled temperature with daily pump overs.

Goes through malolactic conversion then 18 months of aging.

Cherry and red currant on the nose. Earthy, cedar, vegetal.

Pairs well with roasted chicken, and sharp cheddar.

“Messaggero” Vino Nobile de Montepulciano docg 2018

95% Sangiovese and 5% Canaiolo Nero.

The grapes are handpicked, fermented in small containers to facilitate extraction of the skins. Fermentation is made with natural yeast, in full respect of the area, when the wine is still in contact with the skin, for 18-20 days. Then transferred to Slovenian oak casks for 18 months, then 6 more months in oak. During this period, they decant to make the wine clear and prepare for bottling.

The nose is pronounced with black currant, blackberry, blueberries, spice and leather. Full body, medium tannin, long finish.

Would pair well with aged pecorino, ribeye and game

Vino Nobile di Montepulciano docg 2018 from Villa S. Anna

85% Sangiovese, Mammolo Canaiolo, 8% Colorino, 7% Merlot.

Fermented with a 20 day maceration. Then 24 months in Slavonian oak barrels, French Oak, barriques. After bottling, kept in bottle for another year.

Ruby in the glass, Dark cherry on the nose with tobacco and licorice. Light body, medium tannin, dried cherry, raspberry, crushed herb, medium finish.

Pairs well with game meats, venison, seasoned cheese.

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Come have a taste! Hollywood Bowl Previews their Food + Wine Menu for the 2023 Season

By Joe Winger — 1 year ago

Hollywood Bowl Food + Wine for the 2023 Season presented by Los Angeles Philharmonic Association

The Los Angeles Philharmonic Association announces it’s menus for the 2023 Hollywood Bowl Food + Wine season.

Eighth year with award-winning chef Suzanne Goin and restaurateur Caroline Styne

Now into the eighth year with award-winning chef Suzanne Goin and restaurateur Caroline Styne, Hollywood Bowl Food + Wine promises exceptional dining for visitors to the iconic venue.

Goin and Styne’s culinary history has defined Los Angeles tastes since 1998 when they opened Lucques, their legendary first restaurant.

At the Hollywood Bowl, their California-inspired offerings include three restaurants and three marketplaces.

Additionally, menus for the Terrace and Garden Boxes, which can be ordered a day in advance, are created by four-time James Beard Foundation award-winner Suzanne Goin.

Vibrant Summer Dishes

Goin’s vibrant new summer dishes pair beautifully with the exceptional wine and beer programs curated by Caroline Styne, the James Beard Foundation’s 2018 Outstanding Restaurateur of the Year award recipient. Overseeing the broad range of dining options serving Hollywood Bowl Food + Wine’s thousands of nightly guests is Executive Chef Jeff Rogers.

Hollywood Bowl’s Wine Selection

This year Caroline Styne has expanded the retail wine selections in the three marketplaces, broadening the varieties and options for wine lovers visiting the Bowl.

In addition to increasing the selection of her popular canned wine offerings, she has also added a number of vegan and organic bottles, as well as a collection of natural wines from producers including Broc Cellars, Johan Vineyards, Lo-fi Wines, Angeleno Wine Company and more.

Returning for the 2023 season are the fan favorites Winemaker Wednesdays and Sunday Market Tastings – a 14-week program of complimentary wine tastings at the Plaza Marketplace with guest winemakers, importers and sommeliers hand-selected by Caroline to give the venue’s visitors an immersive and personal experience with her favorite people in the wine world.

Hollywood Bowl Food + Wine’s dining options

Hollywood Bowl Food + Wine’s many dining options include three sit-down restaurants, street-food kiosks, pre-ordered picnic boxes and a full-service dinner delivered to your box seat. For private events, Hollywood Bowl Food + Wine provides catering at several locations for groups both large and small.

Notable additions for the 2023 Hollywood Bowl Food + Wine portfolio include:

Suzanne’s Fried Chicken: This kiosk serves an all-inclusive bucket of chicken in two sizes, complete with sides of cornbread, coleslaw, house-made ranch dressing, honey and hot sauce
Bar West, with batched craft cocktails, made with soju and other wine-based liquors by A.O.C.’s head barman Ignacio Murillo
The Plaza’s new South LA Cafe, a thriving Black-owned, family-owned and community-owned and -focused company, operates daily 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. and during performances
State-of-the-art customer self-checkout at Marketplace East, where guests can have their entire purchase of up to 12 items scanned at once
Food kiosks – fried chicken, tacos, pizzas/BBQ and Kitchen 22 – have ordering stations, or guests can order from the Hollywood Bowl app or posted QR code
Additions of smaller Sweet Shop and soft serve ice cream stations around the grounds to increase availability
New beer pads for grab-and-go beers with self-checkout
Comprehensive compostable food ware and greenware program used throughout all disposable food services

Highlights for the 2023 menus include:

Supper in Your Seats – Available by pre-order online until 6 p.m. the day before a performance, Supper in Your Seats offers curated three-course dinners or customized meals from à la carte selections delivered right to your box seats.

Menu Highlight: The Angeleno – summer fruit and arugula with Leonora goat cheese, jamon and candied pecans; a choice of soft polenta, wild mushrooms, Swiss chard, mascarpone and gremolata or slow-roasted salmon with farro tabbouleh, summer vegetables and cucumber yogurt; and dessert of crème fraîche cheesecake with stone fruit and blackberries.

Newly available Supper in Your Seats items for 2023 include:

chopped Greek salad: romaine, cucumber, tomato, black olives and feta
summer fruit and arugula with Leonora goat cheese, jamon and candied pecans
tortiglioni pasta with heirloom tomatoes, pancetta, parmigiano-reggiano and garlic breadcrumbs (can be prepared vegan)
diver scallops with saffron risotto, young spinach and Meyer lemon salsa
braised short ribs with shell bean ragoût, rapini and whole grain mustard

Ann’s Wine Bar by A.O.C. – Showcasing a wine list personally curated by Caroline Styne, Los Angeles’ favorite wine bar comes to life at the Hollywood Bowl with a wine-friendly menu of artisanal cheese and charcuterie, farmers plates, grilled flatbreads, market-fresh salads and A.O.C.-style fish and meats.

There are also craft brews and farmers market-driven cocktails made with soju and other wine-based liquors.

Newly available Ann’s Wine Bar by A.O.C. items for 2023 include:

grilled flatbread with summer squash, taleggio, sun-dried tomato pesto
apricots and pickled cherries with soft ricotta, jamon and coriander hazelnuts
cherry tomatoes with sweet peppers, stracciatella, basil pesto and torn croutons
quinoa dumplings with spiced tomato, sugar snaps, pea shoots and feta
cumin lamb chops with black beans, cucumber, roasted poblano, Urfa and pistachios
milk chocolate torta with rum caramel and coffee cream

the backyard – The al fresco dining area, adjacent to the amphitheater, is flanked by two large wood-burning grills and offers an updated seasonal market-driven menu of summer salads, an extensive raw bar and side dishes, in addition to the wood-grilled selection of fresh fish, seafood, organic chicken, chops and steaks.

Newly available items for the backyard in 2023 include:

hamachi tostada with avocado, cucumber, citrus and salsa macha
avocado bruschetta with cherry tomatoes, feta and piri piri
heirloom tomatoes with Jimmy Nardellos, butter beans, aloreña olives and paprika
whole sea bream with couscous, golden raisins, pistachios, kumquat and chermoula
grilled lobster with toasted cornbread, succotash salad and smoked tomato butter
chicken paillard with pecorino pudding, haricots verts, spring onions and mustard breadcrumbs

Picnic Boxes – All four of Suzanne Goin’s complete picnic boxes can be pre-ordered a day before a concert and picked up at the Plaza Marketplace or delivered to your box seats.

Menu Highlight: The Maple Drive – Grilled wagyu with arugula, cherry tomatoes and preserved lemon salsa; summer succotash salad; feta stone-fruit salad with beets, dandelion and hazelnut vinaigrette; 2 cheeses, pain aux fruits, nuts and dried fruit, fig jam; and crème fraîche cheesecake with stone fruit and blackberries

Kitchen 22 – Made-to-order beef and veggie burgers, Suzanne’s Spanish fried chicken, grilled Comté cheese on Larder sourdough and savory sandwiches anchor the Hollywood Bowl’s tribute to classic American fare.

Menu Highlight: Big and Juicy Burgers

Marketplaces – Three Marketplace locations – Plaza, East and West – specialize in “grab-and-go” salads, sandwiches, farmers’ market-driven main courses, charcuterie, cheese plates, desserts, and Magpies Softserve ice cream pies and sundaes.

Showcasing the best of Goin and Styne’s casual Larder café-marketplace, these Hollywood Bowl venues also feature a large selection of hand-picked wines, craft beers, sodas and waters, as well as salty and sweet snacks including cookies and brownies, candy, nuts and crackers.

Lucques at the Circle full-service dining experience for Pool Circle

Lucques at the Circle – This is a full-service dining experience for Pool Circle subscribers, showcasing a seasonal made-to-order menu and exceptional wine list styled from the award-winning cuisine of Lucques.

Menu Highlights:

ricotta gnocchi with chanterelles, sweet corn, spinach and sage brown butter
“three sisters” gazpacho: yellow tomato, avocado, pepitas and queso fresco
dandelion and radicchio with roasted wild plums, pecans and crumbled goat cheese
arugula and Weiser melons with cucumber, Urfa, lime and pistachios
grilled ribeye steak frites with arugula salad and smoked tomato butter
Spanish stuffed chicken, romanesco, pickled golden raisins and Marcona aioli
pistachio baklava Magpies: chocolate crust, almond pound cake and fudge

Authentic street foods and snacks

Street Food and Snacks – Authentic street foods can be found throughout the grounds of the Hollywood Bowl, including Suzanne’s fried chicken, tacos (including vegan), artisanal pizzas, pulled pork BBQ sandwiches, assorted sandwiches and beverages.

The Sweet Shop offers signature desserts, cookies and brownies, coffee and ice cream. Visitors will find L.A.’s Magpies Softserve’s ice cream pies and their mix-in ice creams, which include nondairy and vegan options.

Please visit Hollywood Bowl Food + Wine for more information about the food and wine experiences available at the Hollywood Bowl.

Hollywood Bowl has been the summer home of the Los Angeles Philharmonic since its official opening in 1922

One of the largest natural amphitheaters in the world, with a seating capacity of nearly 18,000, the Hollywood Bowl has been the summer home of the Los Angeles Philharmonic since its official opening in 1922 and plays host to the finest artists from all genres of music, offering something for everyone.

It remains one of the best deals anywhere in Los Angeles; to this day, $1 buys a seat at the top of the Bowl for many classical and jazz performances. In February 2023 the venue was named the Outdoor Concert Venue of the Year at the 34th Annual Pollstar Awards, an honor bestowed 15 previous times.

The Hollywood Bowl was also named Amphitheater of the Decade at the 32nd Annual Pollstar Awards as well as Top Amphitheater at the 2017 and 2018 Billboard Touring Awards.

For millions of music lovers across Southern California, the Hollywood Bowl is synonymous with summer. hollywoodbowl.com

Hollywood Bowl Food + Wine is presented by the Los Angeles Philharmonic in partnership with The Lucques Group and Sodexo Live!

The Magic of Honey is getting Rediscovered and Darko Mandich is leading the way

Post Views: 7,977

The Magic of Honey (and its Health Powers) is getting Rediscovered and Darko Mandich is leading the way

By Joe Winger — 1 year ago

The magic and power of honey is getting Rediscovered and Mellody Food’s Darko Mandich is leading the way

Honey has been a staple in my people diets for their whole. As a result, many of us take it for granted. But that’s changing thanks now.

Let’s find out in an exclusive interview with Mellody Food’s Darko Mandich.

Darko Mandich is a food entrepreneur in San Francisco. After spending almost a decade in the European honey industry as a business executive, Darko committed to reimagining the honey industry to become sustainable. Darko immigrated from Europe to California to launch Mellody, the world’s first plant-based honey brand. Darko is an advocate of saving the bees and wild pollinators.

Mellody Food’s Darko Mandich

Recently, I had a chance to talk with Darko.

Why honey? Was it a personal passion or where did the interest come from for you?

Honestly, at that time, it was a great opportunity and a very interesting company that had many different divisions all related to food and agriculture.

It’s my grandma’s fault that I got into the food industry because I remember when I was a kid, my grandma and my mom and dad, they were running a tiny tavern in the Mediterranean coastline.

Seeing people gathered around the food, seeing people running around prepping the food. In my family, whenever we would have guests visiting our home, there’s always gonna be like plenty of food. And I think that subliminally inserted in my brain. Even though I pursued business and entrepreneurship, that’s something that excites me. In the background of all of that was food. I don’t mind that because I’m a foodie myself.

Honey is being Re-Discovered. Why did honey become so important to us today?

There’s so many angles to that. If you ask consumers in the US their preferred sweetener is honey. Why? Because people understand that honey has the sugar part that gives you a kick, gives you energy; but honey also has a very exciting non sugary part to it, which makes it a better for you. I would say [it’s] the best sweetener out there.

Also, there’s something about the mythology of honey.

There’s this Greek goddess of honey. Honey has been presented as a divine product across many religious books in different religious and history is telling so many interesting stories about honey.

Around 200 years ago, they unsealed Egyptian pyramids, got inside, found a bunch of things, and amongst others there was honey in a pot. And you know what? That honey was edible. And no food in the world would actually stand against that shelf life because, [of honey’s ] special combinations of sugar acidity, pH. Now I’m nerding up.

But the thing is, honey is very special. It will never go bad. There’s kind of official shelf life to honey, but honey will actually never go bad.

And I think if you connect all these things and consumers looking for better solutions, looking for something that can satisfy them, not only on a taste, but on a nutritious level, honey [has] become so popular. I had a chance to witness this across my decade old career in the US and before that in Europe.

And look, I was very excited about honey. I didn’t know much about it when I joined that [first] company, but when I started learning about it, I was like, ‘Wow, this product is really amazing.’

Is the honey currently available at Eleven Madison Home?

This is the product from a direct to consumer collaboration. We just launched with three Michelin star, Eleven Madison Park in New York City.

Eleven Madison Home’s The Specialty Tea and Honey Box featuring Mellody Honey

Yeah, the honey is currently available. The Specialty Tea and Honey Box launched for the Mother’s Day collection and Earth Month.

It’s a specially curated box of artisanal teas coming from different parts of the world with honey and also amazing, shortbread cookies. All plant-based, also made with our honey. That’s available right now

Sometime very soon a standalone jar [of honey] will also be available to Eleven Madison Home.

Eleven Madison Home’s The Specialty Tea and Honey Box featuring Mellody Honey

Tell us again what’s available, how to find it; and how to follow you and support you.

Yeah, follow us on Instagram and TikTok at MellodyFoods

In terms of purchasing, head to ElevenMadisonHome.com and you can purchase it there.

Saving the bees is learning more about them. Learning more about pollinators and you can do that on our social media.

And finally, if you’re equally passionate about bees and plants as we are, ask your favorite restaurant to reach out to us to offer Mellody in your favorite restaurant. It can be a vegan restaurant on non-vegan.

We are gonna work with all the restaurants that reach out to us where people ask to see our product offered, either on the menu, either within a meal, or just if you order a cup of tea and you want a side of Mellody.

SoCal Wonders How Bees are Involved? How do they actually make plant-based honey?

Post Views: 406

SoCal, Has a Bee’s Role Changed? How Science makes plant-based honey

By Joe Winger — 1 year ago

Southern California wonders how bees are involved? How do they actually make plant-based honey?

Traditionally bees have a massive role in producing honey. So, removing their support seems unrealistic, or does it? And sure, scientists can try to explain it. But can someone explain it in simple terms, in a way that a curious foodie could understand it?

Let’s find out in an exclusive interview with Mellody Food’s Darko Mandich.

Mellody Food’s Darko Mandich

Recently, I had a chance to talk with Darko.

From a science point of view, how are you creating plant-based honey products?

The process has to start with philosophy. When people think about science, engineering and process, what comes to their mind is what’s the science? What’s the engineering behind that? What’s the process of making something?

But I would argue that every process, every science starts with a philosophy in the first place. So for us, our philosophy was there’s honey made by the bees in the market, the real ones, that product quality-wise is amazing, but has negative baggage in terms of how it’s made. Next to that, there’s fake honey. There’s basically adulterated honey that’s made by people taking fraudulent activities and blending a little bit of real honey and a lot of rice syrup.

That’s done outside of the US by people trying not to get caught. The third group are vegan honey alternatives, made out of tapioca, dates, maple, pure sugar. These products are just not honey. Trying to impersonate honey, but it’s not honey. It’s a legit product. It’s in the market. People can buy it.

What was missing is the fourth group, which is the category that we pioneered.

Honey, the product that has the composition of real honey but that doesn’t have any rice syrups, nothing that doesn’t belong to honey. But, it’s not made by the bees and therefore by default is vegan and plant-based. So that was the category that we started, and we didn’t start it only for vegans. Obviously vegans are our early adopters. They love what we’re doing. I’m vegan myself. But I want this to be an inclusive company and brand, and therefore we launched this for everybody. For everybody who likes delicious and nutritious foods. By choosing this you’re basically voting for those little creatures to survive on this planet.

You asked me about the process.

You wanna make honey only from something that in nature that touches bees and honey, it’s very strict. Our team studied a lot of different honeys, the different anatomy of the bees, the science behind honey production. Bees land on a flower, they suck up nectar. And there’s a couple of things in a bee’s anatomy. We came up with this proprietary process where we interact with the plants, we take different parts of the plants.

What’s really exciting and cool is we can take the whole plant, break it into different ingredients, and take parts of the plant that maybe bees don’t have access to, like its roots. So we take different ingredients from different plants. We have more than 30 different plants in our product that we launched and we created this process that is basically mixing all those ingredients in a food facility in a regular culinary approach, and basically create a product that looks, tastes, and behaves like honey.

Is your honey currently available at Eleven Madison Home?

This is the product from a direct to consumer collaboration. We just launched with three Michelin star, Eleven Madison Park in New York City.

Eleven Madison Home’s The Specialty Tea and Honey Box featuring Mellody Honey

Yeah, the honey is currently available. The Specialty Tea and Honey Box launched for the Mother’s Day collection and Earth Month.

Sometime very soon a standalone jar [of honey] will also be available to Eleven Madison Home.

Eleven Madison Home’s The Specialty Tea and Honey Box featuring Mellody Honey

Tell us again what’s available, how to find it; and how to follow you and support you.

Yeah, follow us on Instagram and TikTok at MellodyFoods

In terms of purchasing, head to ElevenMadisonHome.com and you can purchase it there.

Saving the bees is learning more about them. Learning more about pollinators and you can do that on our social media.

Author

About the Author

There’s so much to go over with you because you’re in a great area of Oregon.

Last year we had the privilege of covering the 2022 McMinnville Wine Classic, your Pinot Gris won Best in Show and Best White varietal.

According to press announcements it’s the first time ever for a Pinot Gris. What was it about that bottle and that year that brought you so much acclaim?

I wanna let our audience know a little bit about your background and what brought you to where you are today. Your education in soil and winemaking, but I hope you’ll touch on your Peace Corps time, and your work in Guatemala with soil education.

Something I love about winemaking is such a mix of science and magic, or science and artistry. And it sounds like science is very strong with your background and the magic that you bring to the bottle.

So let’s switch back from Guatemala. You’ve got some great soil types. Let’s talk about how you use the soils in your region to bring such delicious flavor, characteristics and aromas.

The last time I visited, what I heard overwhelmingly from the winemakers is you have to be okay with inconsistency year after year.

Let’s talk about the wines themselves.

Let’s talk a little bit about what made it such a bad year.

Can we talk about what you did to mitigate?

Some people approach wine from a food and wine pairing point of view. I’m not sure if you are a chef or a home cook, but do you have any suggestions for great food pairings for some of your bottles?

When you’re going through a year, from growth to harvest, what are the traits or elements that get you excited saying it’s gonna be a good year?

You’ve been doing in-person and zoom wine tastings, do you have a favorite part of that wine tasting process?

Do you have a certain memory of including either your wine or someone else’s wine in a great celebration?

Any lessons your winemaking team has learned this past vintage that you can share?

Are there any topics in winemaking that you wish got more attention?

I’m sure you talk to young winemakers all the time. Is there one huge piece of advice you would give a young winemaker from all your experience?

Building network, building community, reaching out to those with either more experience or more diverse experience.

Let’s talk about where people can find more information.

So thank you again for your time, and it was, it was great to have this conversation.

How important was it when you were building this book, the idea of making it approachable?

I think a lot of people may not realize just how much wine you might taste in an average year.

That’s incredible. So speaking of those 5,000, how do we prevent palette fatigue?

So staying on the idea of tasting for a second, how do we talk to a winemaker? Any tips for a less-experienced wine drinker?

Your White Wine book is a mammoth undertaking. There’s a lot of information in there. How did you create all of this?

My old boss used to tease me because back then I enjoyed white more than red. Why doesn’t white get the respect that red does?

There’s so many grapes in this book. Is there one lesser-known grape that you want the world to know about because it’s an amazing discovery?

Were there any unexpected surprises as you created this book?

Is there a message that you haven’t been asked that you would love to share with a wine loving audience?

So thank you so much for your time. Tell us where to find you, where to follow you, your social media websites.

Listen to the podcast here:

Giacomo, Can you share some of your favorite memories that include a wonderful sparkling wine celebration?

You mentioned celebrating with your family. Tell me what it’s like growing up in a winemaking family.

There’s a lot less magic in economics than there is in sparkling wine. Was there a moment when you realized, ‘I need more magic?’

I think the theme that I’m learning is the magic of celebration. Let’s seque to the magic of your region.

Sticking with the region for a moment, tell us about what’s it like living in that area today?

A few weeks ago there was the Gambero Rosso event, where I tasted your sparklers for the first time. Let’s talk about the bottles.

Can you walk us through the process of the classic method?

As we wrap up, where can we find Revi, browse and shop?

Gin Rummy’s spacious 200-seat setting…

Enter Gin Rummy’s large front door…

On Gin Rummy’s Outside…

Gin Rummy’s playful craft cocktail bar program

Vino Nobile di Montepulciano Region

“Alboreto” Vino Nobile di Montepulciano 2020

Vino Nobile di Montepulciano 2020 docg from Dei

“Asinone” Vino Nobile di Montepulciano Selezione 2020

“La Braccesca” Vino Nobile di Montepulciano 2020

“Vigna d’Alfiero” Vino Nobile di Montepulciano docg Selezione 2020 from Tenuta Valdipiatta

Vino Nobile di Montepulciano docg 2020 Boscarelli

Vino Nobile di Montepulciano docg 2019 Avignonesi

“Tenuta Calimaia” Vino Nobile di Montepulciano docg 2020 Marchesi Frescobaldi

“Silineo” Vino Nobile di Montepulciano docg 2020 from Tenute del Cerro

“Messaggero” Vino Nobile de Montepulciano docg 2018

Vino Nobile di Montepulciano docg 2018 from Villa S. Anna

Eighth year with award-winning chef Suzanne Goin and restaurateur Caroline Styne

Vibrant Summer Dishes

Hollywood Bowl’s Wine Selection

Hollywood Bowl Food + Wine’s dining options

Highlights for the 2023 menus include:

Newly available Supper in Your Seats items for 2023 include:

Newly available Ann’s Wine Bar by A.O.C. items for 2023 include:

Newly available items for the backyard in 2023 include:

Lucques at the Circle full-service dining experience for Pool Circle

Authentic street foods and snacks

Hollywood Bowl has been the summer home of the Los Angeles Philharmonic since its official opening in 1922

Why honey? Was it a personal passion or where did the interest come from for you?

Honey is being Re-Discovered. Why did honey become so important to us today?

Is the honey currently available at Eleven Madison Home?

Tell us again what’s available, how to find it; and how to follow you and support you.

From a science point of view, how are you creating plant-based honey products?

Is your honey currently available at Eleven Madison Home?

Tell us again what’s available, how to find it; and how to follow you and support you.

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