Harvest in Austria-Part 1

I have been on the road again. After 3 weeks in beautiful, sunny Florida opening our new hotel Postcard Inn on the Beach, I had the great pleasure of being invited to Austria to work harvest by Domaine Select Wine Estates.http://www.domaineselect.com/main.cfm. It was one of the best experiences of my career and I highly recommend that anyone in the wine business or with the desire to be in the wine business seeks out the opportunity to be in the vineyards to learn first hand what vignerons do. In the meantime, I will take you on a virtual tour of my experience via a series of posts.

Austria is a country of about 48,500 hectares of wine with over 32,000 producers. There are 4 major regions with about 19 wine areas. Our first stop after a melange (light frothy milk and espresso) was to the Wagram district. This area, 1 hour north of the Danube river and Vienna, east of Kamptal near Klosterneuburg (which is home to famous enology and viticulture school) was formed by ice-age glaciers and looks like a small Burgundian hill. It is known for its elegant and well structured wines from grapes such as Gruner Veltliner, Pinot Noir, Weissburgunder, and Zweigelt as well a high proportion of organic viticulture.

We dropped off our luggage at Hotel Katarina in the town of Fels and headed to our first visit with Franz Leth. He took us on a tour of his vineyards and explained the Loss soil to us by letting us taste it. It tastes like chalk. It formed a hill-like structure but fell apart like dust when Franz touched it. This soil is perfect for retaining minerality and acidity in wine and forces the vine to dig deep to extract moisture and nutrients which aids in concentrating the wines. The vineyards are terraced on the banks of the Wagram River. Rolling green beautiful hills provide a back drop that even on a foggy day was a great vista for seeing Austria for the first time.

Franz discussed his production of 300,000 btls of which 85% is bottled in screwtop with us over his wife's homemade noodle soup and weiner schnitzel which was so crispy and delicious with tons of air pockets from being fried in sunflower oil. We refreshed our palates with the 2008 Brunnthal Gruner Veltliner which is a single vineyard that translates to Burning Terraces.The vines are 25-40 years old and show flavors of caraway, lentils and rice pudding. It was mineral laden and peppery as a good Gruner Veltliner should be with the creaminess coming from old oak barrels. Of course we decided that it would be a good idea to start a rock band called Schnitzel and Burning Terraces after consuming the bottle......

After a hunk of Zucchini bread with chocolate, it was time to get to work in the cellar. (Harvest was finished the week before). Our first order of business was to pump one of the freshly fermented tanks into another barrel. After that we went to the barrel room and were all given a row of barrels and some wine to top off the barrels; this is necessary to ensure that the wine doesn't get too much oxygen and stays fresh. We blasted U2 and raced to see who could finish first and I have to say I was the winner.

After we tasted many of Franz's Zweigelts (indigenous grape that tastes a lot like Syrah from France) from our barrels to learn about all the different oak and coopers that Franz works with and how these components will eventually be used in his "tete du cuvee" wine Gigama (means gigantic aromatics). Most of my notes say opaque, peppery, black earth, rich concentrated, with hints of sassofrass. Amongst the different barrels we had Taransaud oak, Vicard, Sylvain and Nadalie and when we tasted the final blend we listened to Bruce Springstein

Born in the u.s.a., I'm a long gone daddy in the u.s.a.
Born in the u.s.a., born in the u.s.a.
Born in the u.s.a., I'm a cool rocking daddy in the u.s.a. Born in the u.s.a.,

I guess that's what motivates an amazing man like Franz to make kick ass wine. My notes on the final blend say roasted meats, smoky, peppery, juicy blue fruits, tastes the loss, ashy, chalky, beautifully complex. I am going to be purchasing some of these wines for the restaurants as I truly believe Franz is doing amazing things with the Zweilgelt grape.

Stay tuned for day 2

Summer Updates...

I have been keeping busy this summer and hope you have too. Since June, I traveled to Tuscany for a friend’s wedding, celebrated my 30th birthday, participated in Aspen Food and Wine event for the first time and managed to sneak in a week of R&R camping on Sebago Lake in Maine.

 

My team and I in the Beverage Dept are really excited for the upcoming fall season and harvest. We have many new wines planned for our lists, seasonal cocktails and events planned. If you want up to the minute details, feel free to follow me on twitter. You can find me easily @lauramaniec.

 

As you know, I am obsessed with champagne and all things sparkling. (Wine especially)I can’t contain my excitement for the upcoming International Champagne and Sparkling Wine Conference that I am on the Board of Directors for and wanted everyone to know a little more about it. Check out the following link and I hope to see you in New Orleans in April 2010.

 

http://www.icswi2010.com/about.php

 

Cellar Grab at 675 Bar

I have been having a ton of fun this last month opening our new bar, 675, in the meatpacking district. It is located on 13th Street and Hudson, under Vento Restaurant.

We feature mixed drinks created by Eben Klemm such as the Fenimore (my favorite) made with Applejack, Maple Syrup and Fernet Branca and the Algerian Typist (most popular and also another of my top selections) made with Sombra Mescal, Harissa and Pineapple Juice.

Our wine program offers a fun twist on the traditional. We offer about 25 artisan produced wines which are all offered by the glass and are on our printed menu. In addition, we have a program called Cellar Grab which is essentially our reserve list. You pick a category and price point red, white, sparkling 100,200, or 350 and are escorted to our cellar to pick your wine blind. You are permitted one throw back if the wine you pick isn't something you are in the mood for. Rest assured there are no booby prizes in this game, everything in the cellar is extremely well priced and over delivers for the category and price.

Some of our recent 100 grabs

2001 Prager, Riesling, Bodenstein, Wachau. 1998 Arlot, Clos de Arlot, Nuits St George. 2000 Mascarello Monprivato Barolo, NV Billecart Brut Reserve, Champagne.

Can you imagine what we are giving away for 200 and 350? You will have to see for yourself or follow me on twitter for up to the minute updates.

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Wed evening- live bourbon

As I sit in my office, writing a new wine list, I just noticed that my collegues Eben and Alex inherited a stash of Bourbons that they didn't ask me to sample this afternoon. Not wanting to put off anything, I have decided to taste them and update my blog at the same time. If you want to taste some Bourbon of your own. head down to wildwood bbq. We have a great selection and the staff is very knowledgable or try one of the Bourbon's listed below.

#1-Michters 10 yr old-Bourbon 47.2% abv-Barrel #8e-1

Caramel, golden color with sweet vanilla and popcorn aromas, smooth finish with light amounts of char and a long finish.

#2- Michter's Small Batch-Unblended American Whiskey-41.7%abv-Barrel #8f-9

Slightly amber color with light blue hues, earthy nose of petroleum and granite, creamy toast and a light finish of muddled fruit

#3-Michter's Small Batch-Bourbon 45.7%abv-Barrel #9a5

Medium amber color with fragrant floral nose of violets, understated charred oak, creamy banana, smooth and easy drinking

In general, I think these are all smooth and a nice introduction to bourbon. Now, where can I find some Champagne? hmm, gotta check the fridge.

    

Thank you

Becoming a Master Sommelier takes dedication, time, passion and patience. More than anything else it takes the support and love of friends, family and colleagues. Having just settled back in NYC after exams, the only thing I can think about is how lucky I am. This, my first post of the new year. (I was studying and had no time, sorry) is dedicated to all of YOU that have helped me fulfill my dream. I hope if I am speaking about YOU without using your name, you realize how you have inspired me and if you aren't directly a part of my journey, you know that you have been a part of someone else's with similar experiences.   You told me 'Pal, it is about the journey and not the end result that matters'. You were my first mentor, you believed in me when I was 21 and convinced the owner of our company to give me my first sommelier job. You were the first person to tell me I didn't pass my exams in London and the person I couldn't wait to sit next to during my first MS dinner. You woke up every Monday, Wed and Friday for our tasting group at 9am and never minded that I couldn't get Gruner Veltliner right. You were the person I walked around the block with to clear my head after we got our test results. You were the guest in my restaurant that asked me enthusiastic questions. You let me come into your restaurant to serve your guests and helped me perfect service. You were the distributor that taught me there is a practical reason to know the sub zones of Lambrusco by tasting me on one of them. You had so many people to mentor and a busy successful career but you always made me feel like the most important person in your world. You designed a special tray for service that would help you take care of your guests better. You asked me the 1er crus of Burgundy over and over until I remembered. You invited me to your home and cooked me duck and served me Chateauneuf du Pape. You reminded me to be kind to myself and to SMILE. You let me take 2 weeks off from work to prepare for the exam. You hosted my first introduction class. You taught me to never give up on my dreams and that for me the 4th time is a charm.

What's new at BRG? BBQ!!

I just got home from the first of three Friends and Family dinners at our new restaurant Wildwood Barbecue. These test dinners give our staff the opportunity to become familiar with their environment: the computers, the food, the drink, and the general flow of service. We want everything to be flawless before we fling the doors open to the paying guests. Tonight was a smooth beginning to what will hopefully be a great new concept for us.

And speaking of smooth…

I never thought of myself as the bourbon drinking type but after tasting over 40 of them with my colleagues (just in the past month!) to determine our house selections, I have a newfound love for charred American oak. My favorite so far is Eagle Rare by Saserac. It has the perfect amount of vanilla and toast. The smoothness makes it a perfect choice for any beginner.

Did I mention the 9 draft beers and 40 bottle selections? These past few months have been an eye opening change in the Wine and Spirits department of BR Guest. Instead of our usual sniffing and sampling of wine, you would have found us in the conference room with the Pit master BIG LOU deciding which of the Amber Ale's we should choose to put on the list...

Some favorites so far are:

Hitachino, Gingle Ale, Abita Strawberry Ale, De Dolle 'Mad Bitch', and Lagunitas 'Censored Ale'.

But who knows what the future holds? I am definitely excited to be discovering new areas of the beverage world.

Explore something new…I will save the wine advice for another day…