Wine & Food Festival Comes To San Diego

The 6th annual San Diego Bay Wine and Food Festival, a huge five day celebration with the top names in wine and food, is good to go Wednesday November 18 through Sunday November 22 in downtown San Diego.

Check out these numbers: over 170 wineries, breweries and spirit brands, 70 of San Diego’s top restaurants, over 800 wines, celebrity chefs, big bottle auctions, cooking and wine tasting classes and a $50,000.“Chef of the Fest” Competition.

Michelle Metter, the co-producer, promises lots of star-power chefs and winemakers for this best-of-breed event. “We are very excited to have some of the world’s best and most renowned names. Our visitors will get up close and personal and meet them, and experience culinary excellence,” she said.

The biggest of the many highly focused events will be the outdoor Grand Tasting, Saturday the 21st from 12 Noon to 4pm at Embarcadero Marina Park North, behind Seaport Village where over 700 different wines will be tasted along with 70 chefs from the most popular fine restaurants.

One of the thousands of wine tasters at last year’s Grand Tasting, a highlight of the San Diego Bay Wine & Food Festival.

The “Chef of the Fest” will be chosen in a showdown judging as the best innovator of fresh, flavorful cuisine, for $50,000. in cash and prizes and some serious bragging rights. Live entertainment and cookbook signings round out the fun. Prices range from $125. to $175. To purchase, visit the website at www.worldofwineevents.com. You can call at 619-342-7337.

Other must-see and taste events include: Reserve and New Release Tasting on Friday, November 20, 6:30pm to 9:30pm at the “Wonderbread” Building at 14th and L Streets. It includes 160 wine and spirits producers, 10 gourmet food producers and a benefit auction. $100. per person in advance.

Several cooking and wine classes are planned in various locations Thursday and Friday the 19th and 20th. Don’t miss Peter Mondavi Jr. of Napa Valley’s Charles Krug Winery and his Vertical Cabernet Tasting class at the Wine and Culinary Center, Friday, 12 Noon to 1pm. Cost is $60. each. These and other events are also detailed at www.worldofwineevents.com.


Tasting Room Finder Unveiled
A Tasting Room Finder I Phone Application was announced by the producers of the San Diego Bay Wine and Food Festival, World of Wine Events LLC. The application is the ultimate wine traveler’s guide to wine tasting rooms around the country.

Ken Loyst, one of the partners said “whether you are in the heart of Napa Valley or anywhere in the nation, the Tasting Room Finder brings wine country to you with wine collection features and a highly accurate locator, directly on their IPhones. We have all the tasting room wine data, and the user can take an image of the wine label for future reference,” he said.

The program is now available for download on the Apple IPhone and features: 3,180 wine tasting rooms on a map, a pop-up menu of name, address and clickable phone numbers for each tasting room, users map position in relation to the tasting room and a rating of favorites. For more, check out the Tasting Room Finder booth at the Festival event on Saturday, November 21, or see www.worldofwineevents.com.

Wine Bytes
Café Merlot at the Bernardo Winery in Rancho Bernardo presents a cooking and wine class, “Super Easy Holiday Parties: Soups, Roasts, Cookies and Wine,” Tues. Nov. 10 from 5:30 to 8:30pm. Cost is $50. pp. Call 858-592-7785 for an RSVP.

The Sky Room at the LaValencia Hotel in La Jolla is hosting a Renteria Wine Dinner on Wed. Nov. 11 from 6:30 to 10pm. Enjoy a 4 course dinner paired with Renteria complimentary wines. Cost is $105. ea. Call 858-454-0771 for an RSVP.

Ponte Winery and winemaker Robert Cartwright present the Fall Winemaker’s Dinner on Sat. Nov. 14 at 7pm. It’s a 6 course dinner, entertainment and wines that match the cuisine. Cost is $130. p.p. You can reserve your seats at 951-694-9444.

Holiday Wine Cellars of Escondido has a premiere tasting of Vintage Port with 3 offerings on Sat. Nov. 14 from 5:30 to 7:30. Price is $15. Call 1-760-745-1200.

3rd Corner Wine Shop and Bistro in Encinitas offers Thanksgiving Wines on Tues. Nov. 17 from 6 to 9pm, with appetizers for $15. On Wed. Nov. 18, it has Minassian Younger Wines in a special dinner that starts at 6pm. Cost is $45. RSVP at 1-760-942-2104.

Super Tuscans for 2006 are Super!

by Frank Mangio
In Italy there is very little rhyme or reason, only art and living with the heart.

In the history of Italian wines there has never been a greater style of winemaking than the “Super Tuscans.” They are those red wine blends that were first crafted in Tuscany in the early 1970’s as a rescue for wineries that were faltering due to mediocre Sangiovese grapes, mixed with white grapes, and called Chianti.

Super Tuscan is a silly name that no responsible winemaker would promote. It was a media term put together for U.S. consumption. But no matter, the elegant wines that were blended, and to this day still called “Super Tuscan,” are a masterpiece of wine art and genius.

One of the pioneers of this next-level of Italian wines was Piero Antinori, whose cousin had made the first wine that broke with tradition: Sassicaia from coastal Bolgheri with mostly Cabernet Sauvignon. Piero was the latest in an Antinori family of 26 generations and six hundred years of winemaking. It was a courageous choice, almost sacrilegious for its time, as the Italian government did not recognize any wine in Tuscany that was not 100% Sangiovese.

Antinori was driven to express the vast potential of wine, so he created Tignanello, mostly Sangiovese, but with perfect amounts of Cabernet and Cab Franc, and considered to be the quintessential “Super Tuscan.”


Piero Antinori, shown with his three winemaking daughters: Albiera, Allegra and Alessia at Villa Antinori, Tuscany,Italy.

After his initial success, Antinori later partnered with other like-minded Italian innovators to make the equally well-known Solaia, also from central Tuscany and mostly Cabernet; and the Guado al Tasso from Bolgheri, with Cab, Merlot and Syrah grapes, among others.

Not since the heaven-sent 1997 vintage has there been such promise and fulfillment as the 2006 “Super Tuscan” releases. With some patience and cellaring, they could surpass that seminal year. The growing season was long and even, with lots of sunshine. The wines are perfumed and richly endowed with the heritage of Tuscany.

Nowhere is the canvas of a “Super Tuscan” style so perfect as those wines expressed by the Anitnori name and legacy. Anitnori vineyards are now planted all over Tuscany’s finest districts: Chianti Classico, Bolgheri, Montalcino, Montepulciano and Orvieto, Umbria. To learn more about this traditional Italian winemaking leader, visit www.antinori.it.


Pizza and Wine
Americans spend about 32 billion dollars a year on pizza in restaurants. Half of that sum is picked up by the dumbed-down chains such as Pizza Hut and the like, with little more than a cracker-thin bed of pre-frozen dough, canned sauce, cheese and a mountain of “extras,” tossed about on the bed of sauce.

I bring it up only because of the exciting and delicious turn to high quality oven-fresh pizza restaurants that now comprise the other half of that 32 billion. Chefs are being trained to create pizza as a special dish with balance, texture and flavors that work together, right down to the flour that is used to make the dough.

Tomatoes, mozzarella cheese and sweet basil are the ultimate basic Italian ingredients, where pizza originated in Naples. These three ingredients with extra virgin olive oil and a touch of garlic is on the menu as a Pizza Margherita. Its crust is thin and soft and slightly charred from wood-oven baking.

Now that I have you salivating for pizza, next time you order one, forget the beer menu and go for a lovely red wine. Considering that the pizza you order is one that resembles a Margherita, without stacks of pepperoni, sausage and salami, I would suggest you pass on the Cabs and Zins and think central and southern Italian. You will want to consider varietals like Sangiovese ( Chianti Classico), Aglianico and Nero d’Avola from Sicily. West coast varietals to look for are: Syrah, Pinot Noir and Merlot.

All these wines have just the right acidity, to cut the richness of tomatoes, baked dough and cheese. All have rich, black fruit and are drink-now wines to keep the price in line with the meal.

Wine Bytes
Thornton Winery in Temecula is staging a unique Halloween Costume Dinner Dance Fri. Oct. 30 with a 7:30pm start. Five star cuisine, premium wines, dancing and gifts for best-dressed will add to the festivities. Cost is $85. ea. RSVP at 951-699-0099 or www.thorntonwine.com.

Bistro 39 at the Hilton Garden Inn San Diego/Del Mar presents a Local Harvest Winemaker’s Dinner Fri. Nov. 6 from 7 to 9:30pm. Only locally grown and caught entrees and sides will be served. Wines are from Salerno Winery in Ramona. Cost is $55. inclusive. Call for tickets at 858-720-9500.

The wine spotlight is on Temecula Wine Country for its Harvest Celebration Sat. and Sun. Nov. 7 and 8, 10am to 4:30pm. It’s a self-guided tour of the valley, with food and wine samples fro more than 20 wineries. Barrel and tank tasting are available. Cost is $89. for both days. Discounts apply for one day and other considerations. Full details at 800-801-9463 or access www.temeculawines.org.

One hour private Gondola rides are available weekdays 3pm to midnight at Loews Coronado Bay and hold up to six passengers. Blankets provided with complimentary appetizers. Bring your own beverage. $85 for each couple. Experience Venice though the canals next to the Loews Resort. To learn more, call 619-429-6317.

Roll-Out of New Value Format for Carlsbad Wine Merchants

by Frank Mangio
Challenging times call for extraordinary strategies in the retail arena and the wine industry is no exception.

As wine shops and wineries grow in number, the economy and wine sales in high price points continue to shrink. Wine producing areas in California report an abundance of grapes in the fine wine category. So the consumer who has the discretionary dollars to spend on a bottle of wine over $15. is benefiting. But wine shops that don’t have the buying power, are seeing their margins shrink with heavy discounting in order to stay competitive.

Kathy Bankerd and her team at Carlsbad Wine Merchants have been doing business in a small shopping center in a corporate Carlsbad neighborhood for 5 years. Her dream of a wine shop like an Italian Enoteca, in a relaxed enjoyable environment where all her customers are friends, has come true.

Her wine club is flourishing and supports her events. Her Mediterranean influenced selections are well accepted, and a sense of wine community spelled success. But the terrible economy took its toll with many layoffs and firings at the local companies that supported her. A kind of stalemate set in. “We all decided to make some fundamental changes and get the excitement of the wine experience back where it was when we started” she said.
Leela Stedt of Four Vines Paso Robles pours award winning Zinfandel for Carlsbad Wine Merchants' Kathy Bankerd

“We found that it’s not all about the cheapest price but the quality of wine you get for the dollars you pay. And everyone we talked to wanted better wine tastings! Our 2nd location next to Napa Valley will give us more buying power and access to great winemakers. We are going to pass that benefit on to our customers.”

Guests will now be seeing some exciting appearances by star-quality wines and winemakers. In fact it already began a couple of Fridays ago with a huge variety of wines to taste from the freaky-fun Four Vines from Paso Robles. Rated in the 90’s, their lineup blew everyone to bits. The high quality sought-after wines coming down the pipeline will continue on Thursday October 22nd with Rob Mondavi, direct from Napa Valley . Mark the date and call for more information at 760-804-9994. www.carlsbadwinemerchants.com.

Taste of Wine Blind Tasting Results
I recently hosted a red wine blind tasting event for a group of wine aficionados who had the challenging task of matching up 9 grape varietals from around the world with covered and numbered bottles. The most anyone got correctly was 5. They were also asked to rate each varietal on a 1 to 5 scale with 5 being the best.

Two wines scored best with most of the tasters: the 2006 ZD Cabernet Sauvignon from Napa Valley , a wine with rich, dark plums and tobacco accents ( $50); and the 2007 Ancient Peaks Zinfandel from Paso Robles, with lots of black cherry and licorice.

Other wines to love:
* Facelli Winery 2007 Barbera, Columbia Valley Washington $24.99 Classic Nebbiolo grape from the Piedmont appellation in Italy . Facelli gives it a Washington texture and the aromas of rich, ruby fruit come bursting out of the bottle. Winery only sales at www.facelliwinerycom.

* Pedroncelli 2007 Mother Clone Zinfandel Dry Creek Sonoma . $15. Another high quality, budget wine that Pedroncelli has perfected. Just the right combination of fruit and spice. 100 year-old vines. www.pedroncelli.com.

* Chamisal Vineyards 2007 Edna Valley Pinot Noir Califa. $60. Hand crafted estate Pinot. Delicious cherry flavor and subtle spice with a fulfilling, delicate finish. www.chamisalvineyards.com

Wine Bytes
* PAON in Carlsbad is a new California-French Restaurant and Wine Bar in the downtown village district. Wine tasting specials daily in the wine shop with 6 tastings for $12. Major wine events are planned. They are open daily. Call 760-729-7377 for the hours.

* Bernardo Winery in Rancho Bernardo has their 32nd Annual wine and craft fair Sat. and Sun. Oct. 17 and 18 from 10am to 4pm . Wine and beer garden, with live entertainment. Admission is FREE. More details at 858-487-1866.

* Old Town San Diego at the State Historic Park is holding an Art Festival Sat. & Sun. Oct. 17 from 10 to 6pm . Hacienda de las Rosas is providing 6 red and white wines for tasting at $20. ea. Live music. Call 619-233-5008.

* Bacchus Wine Market in San Diego ’s Gaslamp District is hosting its Anniversary Wine Tasting Party and Sale Sat. Oct. 24 from 4 to 9pm for just $10. Sample 10 wines with lots of tasty appetizers.

Malbec: From Bit Player to Star

by Frank Mangio

The Malbec grape reminds me of a young Clint Eastwood when the actor tried to break into Hollywood as an action star but got lost in the crowded field of cinematic romantic male stars of the era. Instead of struggling for his place in the tinsel-town sun, he went to Italy where an American leading man could stand out and be counted, and made a series of “spaghetti westerns.” He became the movie star he always wanted to be by leaving his home and making his mark elsewhere.

Here’s the link between Eastwood and Malbec. This luscious grape is from Bordeaux , France . There it was just a bit player in a cast of heavyweights like Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Chardonnay, Merlot, Petite Verdot, Sauvignon Blanc and many more. Winemakers who chose to develop vineyards in the new world of Argentina’s only productive appellation of Mendoza, were on the look-out for something that would put them on the map, and it was this minor French player, Malbec. The grape loves the higher attitudes of the nearby Andes.

Most vineyards are at 2,500 feet and above, with January temperatures at 75 degrees (due to opposite seasons.) This condition unlocks the extraordinary flavor.

The explosion of Malbec in the U.S. can be compared to the fast ascension of Merlot in the 90’s. Argentina is now the 4th largest importer of wines to America by volume, just behind Italy , France and Australia , rising 800% since 2000. This is a $10. to $20. bottle of wine… a bargain!

Nicolas Catena and daughter Laura produce Catena Wines, considered a top Malbec in Mendoza, Argentina.

The 2006 Catena Zapata Malbec is a product of the Catena family of Mendoza, a richly endowed region in Argentina , best suited for Malbec.

Very little rain falls on their vineyards, but when it does, it is close to the critical harvest from January to April. The soil is alluvial, or highly mineralized. The high temperatures at this altitude make for softer tannins. High alcohol is an issue for the Catenas, so they ferment their wines in outside, open tanks so that the morning air forces out and dilutes the alcohol content down to the desired14%.

“We are dedicated to unlocking the secrets of our land,” said Nicolas Catena, the present owner. His forefather, Nicola Catena, sailed from Italy to Argentina in 1898, to find the promised land in Mendoza . He planted his first Malbec in 1902, believing that this bit player French blending grape could thrive in the new world environment. Nicolas, a chemist and University of California graduate, with experience in the Napa Valley, took control of the vineyards in the 1980’s and turned the operation from bulk producer to fine wines, concentrating on Malbec and Chardonnay. He explained that “the only way we would make a leap in quality would be by pushing the limits of vine cultivation and taking risks.” Nicolas and daughter Laura have unlocked a Malbec that stands tall with the Andes and the Tango, as Argentina ’s gift to the world.

What to Do with Boring Wine

I never purposely look for a mediocre tasting wine, but as you and I know, they are out there and in the most unlikely wines. You can always buy a jug wine or “Two-Buck-You-Know-What” and know that it’s going to be just-picked grapes fermented in high alcohol. But at times, a wine that has the pedigree, turns out wrong.

The next time this happens to you, don’t dump it into the sink, use it to flavor food. We all know that for years, a kitchen cook could buy what was (and still is) known as “cooking wine,” a terrible brew of the worst grapes known to man. Resolve never to buy any of that again, but instead, keep that red or white wine that disappointed when you opened it, and use it to transform fish, pastas, soups, lamb, even desserts, into a wonderfully savory dish.

I have been observing an increasing number of restaurants using a wine ingredient as a sauce to raise the level of flavor in their creations, to the point where they are “calling out” what types of wine are added to the entrees. That is a true wine-food pairing. Add wine to taste in your next dinner and your creative juices will really flow.

Wine Bytes

§ Vino 100 in San Marcos presents Zinfandels from Around the World on Fri. Oct. 9 from 5 to 9pm . Cost is $15. pp. Details by calling 760-591-9113.

§ WineSellar and Brasserie in San Diego ’s Sorrento Valley is planning a Family-Style Italian Wine Tasting and Lunch Sat. Oct. 10 from 11:30 to 2pm . Lots of value wines are being released from Italy , so try six here for $18. plus $12.50 for optional lunch. Call 858-450-9557 for more.

§ The Prado Restaurant in Balboa Park San Diego, hosts the 10th annual Food & Wine Harvest Celebration Thurs. Oct. 15 from 5 to 9pm . Cooking demos from area chefs, local winemakers with tastings, rustic cheeses, chocolate and champagne as well as live music. Cost is $59.95 ea. Call 619-557-9441 x 203 for tickets.

§ San Diego State University College of Extended Studies offers Wine Making Behind the Scenes Sat. Oct. 17, 9 to 4:30pm at South Coast Winery Resort & Spa in Temecula. Learn the insights and secrets of making wines in the winery. Operational processes will be taught. Class fee is $195. For details, call 619-594-6924, or e mail rbeard@mail.sdsu.edu.

§ Paso Robles Wine Country celebrates its Harvest Wine Weekend Fri. Oct. 16 thru Sun. Oct. 18. Crush and harvest activities, grape stomping and barrel tasting from more than 130 wineries throughout Paso. For more information, visit www.pasowine.com.