A beautiful pale-straw color with a nose of lime zest, yeast and in-your-face limestone.  Elegant and laser-focused on the palate with tart green apple, pollenating flowers, more lime zest, clover-honey and plenty of wet stone. Tastes more expensive that it is.  If you are a fan of minerality, this wine rocks. [bad pun, my apologies]

This Jura sparkling wine of the traditional method is from the Neal Rosenthal portfolio. I must also recommend the other wines from L’Etoile superstar Domaine de Montbourgeau. Seek them out.   

Picked up our bottle last night at the Austin Wine Merchant for $22.50 [after mixed-case discount; normal retail $25]. Anne loves bub and we needed a celebratory bottle for after our shifts at Cipollina and Jeffrey’s.  Anne is leaving HEB after 10+ years of service to pursue a straight culinary path. Nice. She remains at Cipollina, but in addition, she’s now the private chef for a wonderful client. Anne is incredibly happy as am I for her.

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Recently, my pal Zach gave me a box of bitters, a dozen little Underberg liqueurs, suitable for after a meal, and a bottle of Cardamaro, which is quite delicious as an apéritif.

Cardamaro is new to the market. It is a fortified, aromatized wine-based amaro from Piedmont.  The bitter aperitivo is made of botanicals highlighting two ingredients: Blessed Thistle and Cardoon, which is a cousin of the artichoke. The taste is slightly sweet with a hazelnut meets clove nuance. Since it’s wine-based with an abv of 17%, folks in Texas should be able to order it with a with an on-premise beer and wine license. If you find it, you can drink chilled and straight, or the way I prefer, 3 ounces of Cardamaro and three ounces of soda on the rocks with a lemon twist.  I’ve come to realize, I’m addicted to all things bitter.

Espresso- At any given coffeehouse, I can’t remember the last time I’ve ordered anything, but an espresso. No cappuccino, latte, just espresso without sugar. If I’m home, I make very strong cafetière or French Press coffee.

Hop Czar Imperial IPA- my new favorite beer from the Bridgeport Brewery in Portland, OR.  I can’t stop drinking it.  When I come home after a night on the floor at Jeffrey’s one of these bitter beers really does the trick.

It is should be noted that bitter flavors are somehow associated with health. In the case of hops, these flowers act as a bitter flavoring agent, a “bitter-balancer,” and an antiseptic to keep the beer from spoiling. Nice.

In the case of the lower alcohol bitter liqueurs such as Campari and Aperol, they are meant to stimulate the appetite before a meal, and their stronger cousins Underberg, Fernet-Branca and Averna are meant to settle the stomach after a meal [digestivo]. Bitters have a sort of medicinal relationship to food and drink.

For me, when I need a non-alcoholic, non-caffeinated pick-me-up. I put a few dashes of cocktail bitters into a Topo Chico Sparkling Mineral Water, to restore my senses.

My wife Anne loves acidic things. I love bitter things. Culinarily-speaking, both acid and bitterness serve to balance other flavors, so it’s no surprise they often don’t mesh very well. When you do combine bitter with acid, say in a Champagne Cocktail, you have to have the sugar cube to create the balance between the Angostura and the Brut.

For many people, not sweetening their morning coffee is not an option.  A little sweetness creates the harmony. For me I don’t mind a little acid and a little bitter together, but too much acid, like a poorly made espresso or coffee from an urn at a conference or tradeshow, no thank you! 

What do I do with the peel after I finish the drink? I eat it of course.  

Recently, my friend Greg Randle, CWE sent me some personal photos from the Sommelier Journal Slovenian White Wine Tasting, which occurred in February 2011.  I texted him back, “I look so old. Thank you. I owe you one.”

When you’re a kid, you don’t think about getting this old. My flash-forwarding-imagination went as far as my twenties, maybe thirty, but not a forty year old person. I’m not complaining; it’s just that I’m not quite used to the idea yet. I can still run around the floor with the best of them, but at Jeffrey’s Restaurant, I’m not the oldest. I work with Johnny Guffey and Marco Biancalana who have been there 30 and 20-plus years, respectively.  Let’s say one day I’m in another market somewhere, attempting to work on the floor, would my age be a benefit or a detractor? Would you hire me?

Look at June Rodil [above], the hottest sommelier in Texas right now, working at the hottest restaurant CONGRESS, in the nationally acclaimed “Best City to Live In” Austin. She’s at the top of her game and just getting warmed up.  Her press is well-deserved and well-earned. I’m always happy and impressed when I read about her. In this picture again courtesy of Greg, I look like the old feller and she looks like—well, she looks a little annoyed that Greg’s taking her picture—but she looks so young, fresh and capable.  This sort of reminds me of the McCain/Obama Presidential debates. McCain looked like this incapable grandpa, next to Obama. I remember thinking, “that dude does not have a chance of winning the election.”
I recently hung out with the man who started my vinous career, here in Austin, 17 years ago, Rob Forman of Dalla Terra. He was my first mentor and even named my old restaurant “Tocai.” I haven’t hung out with Rob in years. A couple weeks ago, I was able to leave work a little early to join him and Greg at Paggi House. It was a blast. He told me your thirties are “vague” and I’ll like my forties. He always gave great advice. I guess it means that I’ll be becoming more defined in this decade. I can live with that.