JUSTIN Food & Wine Blog

Paso Robles Red: Tradition and Invention

I read the recent weekly column by Eric Asimov in the New York Times about Paso Robles zinfandel. Now, I am certain that this is a piece that has made many Paso producers happy, for it praises many of the wines of the region, mostly zinfandel driven ones, though. Zinfandel does indeed have a long history in the region, but due to market factors and brand visibility, North Coast zins from Napa and Sonoma have more cachet. No doubt many of our neighbors have done very well promoting zinfandel as their primary wine, and with good reason; old head-pruned vines, warm climate, and interesting field blends all make zin work well in Paso. It's been a workhorse variety here since the mid-19th century. But it has been eclipsed in the 20th, and now 21st--and many producers have moved on.

Asimov's work in the Times is must-read wine information, and I am a huge fan of the column. It is better written and more entertaining than anything else I read about wine, especially in newspapers and magazines, local or national. I like the rating system, and the allowance for idiosyncratic styles to be praised by the often-changing panelists. But in this case, I think the panel was looking at an outdated model of Paso Robles wine--the Oldsmobile or Plymouth, if not the Hudson or Studebaker of wines here.

Of course, JUSTIN has never really been much of a zin player, and that is by design. Justin and Deborah Baldwin explicitly sought out their corner of the region to grow the Bordeaux varieties precisely because it was different from most of the rest of Paso: at higher elevation, closer to the Pacific Ocean, it is a cooler place than most zin growers would like. And the Baldwins' aim was at a very different style and market from the zin "traditionalists." Fact is, most of the zin grown in the 19th century in Paso Robles went into nondescript if bold red blends or fortified wines. Much still does. And much of it also leaves the region and any regional labeling too. JUSTIN wines are 100% and exclusively Paso Robles grown - and we don't make very much zin (it is one of our boutique wines, only available through the JUSTIN Wine Society and while supplies last once a year in our tasting room).

Of particular curiosity to me was how many wines listed in the Times article were made outside the region, by estimable producers no doubt, but somehow a little less homegrown because of that. Ridge, Turley, Kunin, Rosenblum . . . all very fine and even iconic producers, but why can't Paso growers keep and make the "good stuff?" I am in no position to answer that. But I also don't wish to overlook the achievements of locals Peachy Canyon, Gravity Hills, Paso Creek, or Opolo in making the list among these stalwarts.

I am particularly intrigued by the notice given to Linne Calodo for its "Problem Child" blend. Here zin is teamed with syrah and mourvedre, an unlikely trio anywhere else, and it is a stunning wine. Wine Spectator's James Laube featured it in its Wine Experience tastings in October in New York, and it's the kind of blend that makes sense for the region. It uses zin to add generous fruit to two rather spicy and tannic Rhone varieties. And those varieties in turn temper the typical high alcohol of zin left by itself. This kind of idea has a future here.

We're making a most interesting blend at JUSTIN using syrah and cabernet, our Savant. I wonder how we'd do with a bit of zin in the mix? Of course, I'm no winemaker, nor vineyard manager. But we're all used to thinking creatively in Paso, whether traditionalists or not. So never say never! The twist coming up in Savant, as I've just tasted, is that winemaker Kevin Sass has used a small percentage of Malbec in the 2007 blend, due for release in summer of 2009. It's a long way from zinfandel, and we are excited about it!

An October Surprise

We move on to football season! (Don't ask about my White Sox or Cubs.) And of course I want to drink more good red wine. So as long as the propane is flowing into my grill, I can keep the protein coming! Lately I have been trying to use less beef. I have worked on a recipe I truly love, using a deboned and butterflied leg of lamb, slathered in a multitude of fresh herbs and garlic. If that doesn't scream out for JUSTIN Savant or Syrah, I don't know what will.

Mind you, I'm not one for recipes too often. I see ideas in magazines (of which I get far too many) and then riff on them based on what I have in the cupboard. I am an undisciplined cook. But at least I know how to avoid burning it all up! And if something doesn't work, I can always resort to grilling a few encased meats.

Speaking of burning it up, I had the opportunity to again host several seminars a the Santa Fe Wine & Chile Fiesta at the end of September. (This immediately followed a presentation I gave on Paso Robles wines up at Willamette Valley Vineyards, in Salem, Oregon. Crazy itinerary as usual.) It's my favorite event of the year, with dozens of good local restaurants hosting dinners and demonstrations, and scores of very good wineries represented all around town. I had the pleasure of speaking about JUSTIN wines at La Fonda Hotel, hosted by Bert Leyva and the talented kitchen team of Lane Warner. The historic room was full, and full of energy. Somehow we found enough Isosceles 2005 to serve there, alongside several new releases, including Obtuse 2007. Although it's often difficult to match our wines precisely with food, most of them being red, we tweaked some menu items, like salmon, to be red wine friendly. Sometimes all it takes is a sauce modification, or the addition of a meat element. Vitamin "P" always works--Pork!--that is, a bit of bacon, pork belly, prosciutto, jamon, smoked butt . . . but I digress. In this case the added item was chiles! A bit of heat really picked up the spice of the Syrah as paired with a salmon terrine. Isosceles was served with a classic duo of beef preparations, one poached and the other in a slow barbecue preparation. Very fine indeed. And topped off by Obtuse with a banana flan and chocolate custard dessert. Mmmmm.

OK, so the surprise: After October trips to New Orleans, Dallas, Toronto, New York and Boston, I wondered if restaurants and the wine business are really hurting all that badly. New ones keep opening; our wines are allocated or sold out in many cases; and I see full rooms all around. The one sign that perhaps the glamour of trophy wine has worn a bit was the empty seats at some of the seminars at Wine Spectator's "California Wine Experience in New York" (confusing, I know). I was privileged to be part of the sommelier team there and tasted many grand old and young wines. As I got around the city to see a few dining rooms, no one seemed to be suffering. Perhaps I am deluded, and of course there remains high anxiety, but the city was its usual pulsing self, including the top dining rooms, from what I was hearing.

In any case, wine collectibles are vulnerable in a soft market, as most people in the auction business will tell you, and I suppose so are trophy wines--which is why I'm very glad that wines from JUSTIN like Isosceles and Justification and Savant are still reachable, valuable pleasures.

September meanderings

Now as baseball reaches its crescendo and winds of change are in the air, the travel schedule has heated up and the market beckons. There is a palpable nervousness in many places, and the deepening worries about the financial future have made wine buyers skittish. Not that folks are drinking less wine--the consumption levels are static--but what the average or even above average consumer will spend on a bottle of wine for dinner, or even for a gift or special occasion, has declined somewhat according to most observers.

My visits to several major restaurant cities this month have borne some of this out. Many restaurant wine buyers are indeed apprehensive. In many cases this is due to slow summer seasons in warm places like Las Vegas and central Florida; in others it is a direct gauging of the rates of hotel occupancy, convention bookings, and other core business activities within a given city.

Yet, restaurants are still aiming high to deliver extraordinary product. And one note of caution that I must raise is the movement of much food-related beverage activity from classic wine to craft cocktails. Other beverages have also entered the fray: sake, craft beer, even sophisticated non-alcoholic concoctions. Not that I don't enjoy a properly made Manhattan or a classic Negroni from time to time--just that I didn't think they'd ever be considered food-friendly!

I enjoyed two grand restaurant experiences that I would like to dwell on. One was at the splendid new Restaurant Charlie, in the Palazzo Tower of the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas. I tasted incredibly delicious and creative food--about ten courses, I recall. I also had numerous tastes of splendid wine. Dining Room Manager Nick Rimedio was psyched that I was able to come in, and the beverage team pulled out all the stops. And amidst all this, I was treated to a wildly inventive range of house-designed specialty cocktails--specifically created to pair with menu items. This is a rather jarring experience to most of us traditional sommeliers, who see booze as a competitor for wine on the table. As a floor sommelier, my primary interest was always to discuss, recommend, pair, and properly serve an ideal bottle or two alongside several dishes. This idea has refracted over time, with degustation menus especially, to focus on ideal individual wine-and-food pairings through the course of a meal. We did this at Charlie Trotter's fifteen years ago and it seems de rigueur at any self-respecting high-end dining establishment now. The fact that ideal pairings now include non-wine items takes some getting used to. But it can be fabulous.

The second dining experience I found intriguing was the new L2O, a gorgeous Lettuce Entertain You/Chef Laurent Gras restaurant that has replaced the grand old Ambria in Chicago's Lincoln Park. Here I tasted many pristine and spare seafood driven dishes, and was served nothing but wine all the way. Sommeliers Chantelle Pabros and Doug Merello were most professional and even classical in their approach. An immediate flute of Champagne was offered upon arrival. The already formidable (for a two month old restaurant) wine list came along with the menus. I reviewed the wide-ranging troops, selected a crisp Alsace Grand Cru, and away we went. How lively a good bottle can be with so many intricate flavors! How malleable, how changing, how enriching. I still think it's the way to go, with perhaps pre- and post-meal augmentations.

These two meals made me also wonder: Where do rich, ripe reds like ours from Paso Robles fit in? As a representative of JUSTIN Vineyards, this is an ongoing question, and task, for all my sommelier friends. Neither meal sported more than a course of red-wine oriented food. Yet we know that most restaurants, even seafood-driven ones, serve more red than white wine. So maybe our new non-malolactic style of Chardonnay can hit the spot! If not, perhaps JUSTIN Syrah or Cabernet has a shot after all. In any case, please let's not make a cocktail out of it!

Wine Service

So, the many Wine Spectator survey participants have spoken! And they say, according to the cover of the magazine, that wine service in the US is "not good enough." Well, let's see what they really mean.

As a former restaurant sommelier and manager myself, and as current Chairman of the Court of Master Sommeliers, American Chapter, my first reaction is defensive and ultimately dismissive. I would argue that wine service in the US is better than ever--mostly, because the wines are, and the breadth of their origins is as well. And of course the sommeliers and waiters are better trained, more knowledgeable, and more involved in the experience of the diner. What once seemed a rarity, like a wine list of vertical selections from many key regions like Bordeaux and California and Tuscany and Rioja, or a range of aromatic, unoaked, corkless fresh wines, is now rather commonplace. What once seemed impossible, the adoption of quality glassware and cellar conditions by even chain restaurants, is a norm. And what once seemed elitist and classist, a tuxedoed servant acting as butler in a darkly draped parlor, has morphed into the very democratic, and well-informed, up-to-the-minute expert on wine in the restaurant. The modern, business suited, tastevin-less sommelier who also knows food, has traveled extensively, and acts as a customer's ally, is now expected at fine restaurants. So who could complain?

Well, the bottom line on complaints is just that: what we pay for wine in restaurants can be exorbitant. Well, at least relative to the "retail" price. Indeed, many restaurants mark up wine noticeably high--although the markup on wine is nowhere near as high percentage-wise as it is on beer, liquor, or coffee. After all, there are the aforementioned enhancements to pay for, not to mention energy, linen, labor, and decor. But I'm sorry, I have no sympathy for the diner who imposes a BYO bottle on a restaurant staff or chef without warning; I don't believe in shorting a tip because wine service is somehow not equivalent to food service; and I don't believe that sommeliers who know what they're doing give bad advice.

Wine is a highly charged subject in restaurants precisely because there is so much of it to be chosen--an aesthetic, economic, and even political choice, at the very least. And many wine-savvy diners are also smart shoppers. But I would hope they would be loathe to be considered cheapskates. The best way to object is to support only restaurants that you trust, and avoid cynical chains; support chefs who involve savvy staff members in their service; and, once in a while, to splurge, and see what kind of respect you'll get from the service team. That experience feels grand, and everyone shares in it. In fact, it's part of why we go out to dine.