Proof takes it outside

If you (like me) are a fan of Proof restaurant in DC, you'll be excited to know that you can now enjoy their phenomenal wine list and cuisine al fresco, including the excellent service of Sommelier Sebastian Zutant, as the restaurant recently opened its 50-seat patio.

Chef Haidar Karoum has added several dishes to his menu of small and large plates, including a chilled seafood and hearts of palm cocktail, grilled house-made lamb sausage with cucumber, mint, and feta, and a chilled asparagus and nettle soup served with lemon crème fraîche.

Wine Director Sebastian Zutant complements these additions by offering a "Rosé of the Day" for $9 a glass, rotating the wines to offer domestic and international selections such as the Lauderbach, a Syrah from California's Russian River Valley, and the Suzanna Balboa, an Argentinian Malbec. Other summer specialties now stocked in the restaurant's unique Enomatic wine serving system include The Black Chook, a Viogner blend from Australia priced at $9, and the Northern Italian Livio Felluga Tocai Friulano for $12.

Zutant has also added a few twists to his inventive cocktail list that are sure to beat the heat. Mixed drinks such as the Coquette, a concoction made with Tanqueray Rangpur, Elderflower, grapefruit bitters, and Zutant's house-made Rosé syrup, as well as the Chupa Cabra, made with Machu Pisco, yuzu sour, crème de violet and fresh lime juice are now available for $11 each.

I look forward to trying his Coquette cocktail creation, which sounds fun, floral and fabulous.

One Wine Cocktail, Hold the Wine

Cafe Atlantico's Jill Zimorski created a cocktail that evokes the aromas and flavors of a Northern Rhone red, but doesn't contain a drop a wine. Read about it here.

114 degrees and wine's not on my mind...

This week, I'm staying at the gorgeous Arizona Biltmore in Phoenix for a (non wine-related) convention. Yesterday it was 114 degrees, though I did get in some much-needed pool time. Posts will probably be spotty at best this week, so if I just don't get a chance to create some, I invite you to go back and look at some old posts you may have missed. I'll pick up the blog next week.

Have a great week!

Francophile Oenophiles unite!

Old Town Alexandria has a new place for French wine lovers to rendezvous. Bar Baudelaire, located on the second floor above bastion French restaurant Le Gaulois Cafe, specializes in French wines (by the half glass, glass or bottle) and petits plats.

I stopped by the other night for their opening (as did a lot of other people...my friend and I must have arrived at the wrong time, because guests were three deep at the bar, and we waited FOREVER for a (not so chilled) glass of sparkling wine. The bartender told us there would be a few minutes wait time on the bubbly, as they had to go grab more bottles from downstairs. Had he told me it wasn't going to be that cold, I would have changed my order to something else.)

Anyway, the evening got better from there. We were able to snag a table right by the buffet, and luckily the empty trays and dishes were continually replenished throughout the evening. We had some lovely oysters on the half shell, mini quiches, smoked salmon, pate, shrimp cocktail, etc. etc. While it was delish, I would have liked to sample more dishes from the actual small plates menu--mussels, garlic sausage, calamari, and pureed salt cod. I'll have to head back sometime to taste those.

The wine list appropriately has a decent selection of French wines, along with some from the U.S., other parts of Europe and Australia. After my tepid glass of sparkling wine, I opted for a Pinot instead. I was pretty surprised to see the bartender pour a glass of Australia's d'Arenberg, but to give them the benefit of the doubt, they were getting slammed and maybe they just ran out of the French stuff.

Le Gaulois has a lovely courtyard that is the perfect spot for a summer evening dinner. After dinner, head upstairs for un verre de vin francais.

WineSmith and Vinifera event with Vision cellars

My friend Neil Smith, owner of Ashburn's WineSmith, will be doing in-store tasting this evening, followed by a special event with the winemaker at Vinifera in Reston. Here are the details:

Vision Cellars owner / winemaker Mac McDonald will be in the WineSmith store on Friday, June 20th from 5:00 - 7:00. Mac makes some of the finest Pinot Noirs (and some outstanding white wines, too) in California.

Once our in-store tasting is over we’ll be heading over to Vinifera, the wine bar inside the new Westin Hotel in Reston, to continue the evening with Mac. We hope you’ll join us for this event, which will feature a flight of Mac’s wines (different from what we will be tasting in the store earlier that evening), small plates prepared by the chef of Vinifera, and live jazz! The cost will be $25 per person, and glasses of wine will also be available for purchase. Please call the store at (703) 729-2970 to RSVP.

It's sure to be a great event!

American Roots Winery

Recently, I received an email from Lori Ondaro, whose family owns American Roots Winery:

Hello, my name is Lori Ondaro and like so many others I was diagnosed with breast cancer last year for the second time. As my family gathered together, it became clear to each of them their need to find a way to join the fight to find a cure. My son, Jeff Murrell and daughter-in-law, Julie Murrell felt that their contribution should come from what they know best - wine. Both in the wine industry, Jeff as Director of Research at StaVin and Julie, Assistant Winemaker at The Hess Collection Winery in Napa, they put themselves to the task of making an exceptional group of wines that would benefit all those fighting and facing breast cancer.

With incredible devotion and hard work, they founded American Roots Winery and have just bottled their Red, White and Blue label wines. A donation of 10% of their total sales are being donated to breast cancer organizations. Any attention you could give our effort to raise money for the fight against breast cancer would be greatly appreciated. Additional information has been attached and I also invite you to view their website at http://www.americanrootswinery.com/ to gather more information about their passion to help "fight the fight".

I wrote an article for Wine Enthusiast last October about wineries and wine-related companies who donate proceeds towards breast cancer research, so I am more than happy to support Lori and her family's company. Check out their website for more information and purchasing information.

Italian Cellar Tour

My friends over at the Washington Wine Academy have organized a phenomenal Italian Cellar Tour coming up in October. Led by Jay Youmans, Master of Wine and wine educator, the tour promises to be fun and educational, with the gorgeous Italian scenery in the backdrop.

Jay was my instructor for my Intermediate and Advanced Certificate courses for the WSET. He's extremely knowledgeable, but not at all pretentious. This is a wonderful opportunity to accompany Jay on a tour of some of his favorite cellars in Tuscany, Piemonte and Umbria. You will not only be tasting some great wine pulled from the cellars in Italy, but you'll be enjoying private walking tours, having some really great meals, staying at luxury hotels and much more.

For more information, check out this site.

Warmer Weather Wines article

I recently wrote an article for the premiere edition of iammodern magazine, geared for moms in Fairfax County. It offers suggestions for wines made in Northern Virginia that are good to sip in the warmer weather. Pick up a copy at select Northern Virginia locations, including some doctors' offices, the Reston Conservatory Ballet and Babies R Us, or read the article here.

Gruet Brut

Say "sparkling wine," and New Mexico certainly isn't the first place that comes to mind. But Gruet Winery has been making good bubbly since 1989. They now produce 50,000 cases of a total of seven different sparklers--all methode champenoise--which are distributed in 47 states.

I popped open a bottle of their Brut the other evening, and it was just lovely. It has some tart fruit on the nose (green apple and lemon/lime), some toastiness and a long, lingering finish. I'm currently working on an article that pairs sparkling wines with casual foods, and to go along with the "when in Rome" mentality, I think this would be great with some southwestern food like enchiladas.

Gruet Brut retails for about $14 and is available at many wine stores in the DC area.

The Source for great food and drinks

Last week I spent an evening at The Source's first floor bar and lounge. This DC-outpost of Wolfgang Puck is connected to the recently launched Newseum. The more formal restaurant is upstairs, but the lounge is also a destination in itself--complete with its own great menu of bar munchies.

The drinks menu is broken down into Classics (Negroni, Sidecar, etc.) as well as specialty (more modern libations). I started with the Cucumber Martini, created with Hendricks gin, muddled cucumber and fresh lime juice, and topped with several thin cucumber slices. Although I always describe cucumber-based drinks as refreshing, and I feel it's becoming a bit cliched, this drink certainly was, with just the right kick of gin.

Next was the classic Aviation, made with Plymouth gin, Maraschino Liqueur and fresh sour mix, garnished with cherries. It was a tad floral, and a tad fruity, and very well made.

The large and well-conceived bar menu has something for everyone. The Kobe beef sliders had great brioche buns, and a sweet-smoky onion marmalade. Spicy tuna tartare was served in a sesame miso cone--definitely finger food. Pork belly dumplings were substantial, yet the dumpling wrappers weren't at all tough as is often the case with dumplings. Four of Puck's signature pizzas appear on the menu: we opted for the pesto marinated shrimp with sun dried tomatoes and rapini. The thin crust was topped with delicious seasoned shrimp.

If you can't get a reservation upstairs, don't worry. The restaurant menu is available in the bar. The bar clientele is very diverse--the night I was there, a group of middle-aged politicos sipped martinis, while a bunch of well-dressed ladies sipped Cosmos (if I had to venture a guess, I would have said they had just seen the Sex and the City movie...)

These Flowers Won't Wilt

If your blooms (like mine) are drooping because of the current heat wave (my thermometer registered 102 in the shade Saturday afternoon...), consider sipping your flowers instead. Check out my article in the July issue of Wine Enthusiast for some wine styles that evokes a garden stroll.

SATC and the Cosmo

I went to see the Sex and the City movie this week. I've always been a fan of the TV show, especially when I was working in NYC, and I found the film funny and entertaining--like catching up with old friends.

At the end, the girls toast with their signature Cosmopolitans. They ask why they ever stopped drinking them, and then smartly note it was because everyone else started. The drink has become a bit of a cliche, and its pink color has assured its popularity with mainly the female of the species...

If you are a fan (or a closet fan), check out Zola's version. It's made with white cranberry juice to appeal to BOTH sexes. Let's face it: if the cocktail is made properly, as Zola's is, the tart blend of cranberry and lime really marries well with the vodka.

And if you haven't checked out the SATC movie, the theater will be a cool respite this weekend, as temperatures in the DC area are going to go above 95.

Cheers!

Trading Tang for Bubbles...

I adore Schramsberg, and I LOVE this story:

St. Helena, CA (May 30, 2008) - What does Navy Commander Kenneth Ham drink after a space mission? Schramsberg. A fan of the Napa Valley winery, Ham will be the first astronaut to take Schramsberg into space—or at least part of it. Ham will fly with labels and corks from the venerable sparkling wine producer on the Space Shuttle Discovery’s STS-124 mission scheduled to launch May 31, 2008.

With over 3,700 flight hours in more than 40 different aircraft, Ham will pilot the Discovery on a mission described by NASA as, “the second of three flights that will launch components to complete the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Kibo [Japanese for hope] laboratory”. The 14-day flight will carry the largest payload to-date to the station and will include three spacewalks.

According to the facts and figures provided by NASA, the STS-124 is the 123rd space shuttle flight, the 26th flight to the station, the 35th flight for Discovery and the third flight in 2008.

This will be the first space shuttle flight for Schramsberg, and has been in the works for several months since Ham and his wife, Michelle, visited the winery last year. Each astronaut is allowed a small stash of personal items to accompany them into space, and while Ham’s fellow astronauts predominantly chose sports memorabilia, Ham chose Schramsberg labels and corks.

“We are thrilled to have our labels and corks go on the space shuttle with Ken,” vintner Hugh Davies says, “We love that our American sparkling wine will become a part of American history and we are all ready looking forward to Ken’s next visit to the winery after his return to earth.”

For more information about Schramsberg Vineyards visit www.schramsberg.com. For more information about Ken Ham or the Space Shuttle Discovery’s STS-124 mission visit www.nasa.gov.

Wine and your health

Which is healthier--red or white? What is the maximum number of daily glasses of wine recommended for men and women? How much wine is in a "serving"?

Weed through all the fiction surrounding wine by reading my recent article in Wine Enthusiast about how to make wine part of a healthy lifestyle.

Belgian Suds

Bill Catron knows his beer. Those from Belgium, specifically. DC's Brasserie Beck only carries Belgian brews--lots and lots of them. Last week, we enjoyed a lovely dinner on Beck's newly opened patio, while Bill selected suds to pair with each of the dishes we tried (the cuisine is authenticly Belgian as well.)

We started with two light selections to whet our whistles before deciding what to eat. Bavik on tap is one of the more popular selections at Beck, and it was light and refreshing. We also had a bottle of Grimbergen, a blond ale--also highly enjoyable.

Brasserie Beck does mussels three ways, and we opted for those steamed with fennel and chorizo (my husband and I love both of those ingredients...) We sipped Saison Dupont--similar to a Hefeweizen, with a golden hue and hints of coriander.

Bill's favorite beer with oysters on the half shell is not Stout (a traditional pairing--just Google "beer and oysters.") He instead prefers Gueze. This is a spontaneously fermented beer, made with the yeast that is just floating around in the air. It's very cidery and vinegary, and certainly not for everyone (though it is his favorite style of beer.) It had a barnyard aroma, but not in a bad way. It was quite enjoyable with the oysters--kind of like the lemon wedge for the bivalves.

Gulden Draak was the beer for our duck roulade. It had a dried fruit/raisiny flavor to it, so it went well with the roulade's similar sauce. And St. Bernarbus, an Abbey ale, was the selection for Choucroute en Croute--a melange of pork tenderloin, sausage and cabbage served in a pastry shell. It was a heavy, filling dish (the kitchen was nice enough to split it in two before serving it), and this more substantial style of beer was a great match.

After dinner and before dessert, we tried what can best be described as the Port of Belgian Beers--Gouden Carullus, Grand Cru of the Emperor. It tasted so much like Port--just with some carbonation (and an interesting banana aroma.) The best part for me was learning that this beer is only brewed on one day of the year--Charles the Fifth's birthday, February 24. That just so happens to be MY birthday, too, so it was really cool to discover "my" beer.

One of the most popular desserts at Brasserie Beck is their pear tarte tatin, with which we enjoyed an apple beer (the name escapes me right now, because by the end of our meal the number of bottles and glasses on our table was staggering. So much that a neighboring table of customers sat down and said "we'll have what they're having.") Anyway, the beer was crisp and fruity without being disgustingly sweet--and a great choice with our dessert.

The coolest thing about Brasserie Beck is learning how food friendly Belgian beers can be. I've always enjoyed them, but I never had such an exotic selection from which to select--Hoegaarden is the most common brand you'll find at restaurants and bars. Check out Beck for happy hour, lunch or dinner, and be sure to ask for Bill. He's super nice and super knowledgeable.

Stay Incognito this weekend

The weather in the DC area this weekend looks to be picture perfect (except for a small chance of showers late in the day on Saturday...) So it's a perfect time to sip pink. Lodi Vineyards produces three wines under the Incognito line--Viognier, rouge and pink. I sampled the pink a few nights ago. It has a super vivid watermelon/pomegranate color, with watermelon on the nose and ripe cherry on the finish. Great for a picnic, with some crusty bread, hard cheese and salumi (soppressata is my personal fave...)

For more info, check out Lodi Vineyards website. And enjoy the time spent al fresco.

And the sweet goes on

Last evening I went to Co Co Sala's press dinner. The opening of this restaurant, billed as DC's first and only "chocolate lounge," has been the buzz all over town for months.

The interior doesn't disappoint--gorgeous red and brown towns give a sumptuous, sleek, warm look. Co Co is divided into two main rooms--head left as you enter, and you'll see a row of banquettes, and a bar that runs the length of them. Head right, and you'll see the other side of the same bar. But this room has more of the loungey vibe, with lower tables and softer, velvet seating. Gas fires are alit, casting a warm glow. Two flat screen TVs behind the bar show chocolate being poured and made into confections (don't ask the bartender to turn on the Nationals game--they don't get cable. So it's all chocolate, all the time.)

Co Co's menu has small bites divided into four categories, with three selections of each: salads, sliders, mac and cheese and crabcakes. The lobster salad was lovely, with lemon aioli and avocado atop corn bread. And I'm a sucker for sliders--the bleu cheese and beef were my fave.

But chocolate aficionados come here for the five course "monde du chocolat," which is basically a chocolate tasting menu. Choose from Italian, Indian, Aztec or Childhood Favorites, and then the fun begins. An amuse bouche, the main dessert, an intermezzo, a cheese course (the only savory one out of five) and some petit fours. I tried most of all five courses from each of the four options, and it was palate overload. But there were a lot of winners. The five course monde du chocolate goes for 30 bucks, by the way.

There are lots of options to sip with all of this sugar and caffeine--Co Co pretty much provides an "elixir" pairing for each item on the menu. Their take on the mojito substitutes vanilla vodka for the rum, and adds chocolate shavings--I thought it was really refreshingly tasty without being sickening sweet, as I half-expected it to be.

We sipped Fumello Prosecco during the Monde du Chocolat. I had never had this Prosecco before, and it's nice tropical fruit overtones (I'm thinking pineapple, but I just couldn't put my finger on it...) were really pleasant.

Whenever I go back, I think it'll be for just desserts--maybe after some kind of special dinner someplace else. The small plates are kind of tiny and a bit pricey to sit and nosh on them all evening. But Co Co Sala is lounge in the truest sense of the word, and an inviting place to spend an hour or two and get your sugar on.

Vinifera

Last week I had the chance to go out and try Reston's answer to all the new DC wine bars that have cropped up over the last year or so. Vinifera is located in the Westin hotel in Restin Heights. Catering to locals as well as travelers, Vinifera's look is sleek yet approachable (think dark wood, muted tones and comfy seating.) The menu boasts 25 options by the glass or half glass, with an additional 250 selections available by the bottle. (Although Vinifera doesn't yet offer flights, that's one of their future plans, along with wine dinners and classes in the sumptuous private dining room that overlooks the patio).

Speaking of the patio, I can't think of a better spot for a summer evening--the Dulles Toll Road is close by, but you would never know it by sitting outside--you can't see it and you can barely hear it. Hardwood furniture gives it an upscale al fresco look--a perfect spot for sipping a glass of bubbly or crisp Albarino.

The menu focuses on tastings, or small plates. Highlights include chicken lollipops, tiger prawn potstickers and Margarita flat bread. If you crave more substantial fare, an entree menu is available at nearby tables. Service is friendly and knowledgeable, and the servers I encountered moonlight at area wine stores--so they know their stuff and are passionate about it.

I've been told the website(www.viniferabistro.com) should be up, but I haven't had any luck getting to it. Better to search using Westin's website. Oh, and I forgot to mention the FREE valet parking available out front. Just try to find that at a DC wine bar.

Pork and Pinot at the Park Hyatt

Here is info from a press release I received this morning about a new addition to the Park Hyatt's lounge menu. Although I typically prefer Pinot with duck or salmon, I think the rich, tender suckling pig would pair wonderfully with Pinot's earthiness, low tannins and tart cherry and raspberry flavors. And I concur with Diego Anea's review of the Belle Glos Pinot offering from Monterey--I tried all of their current bottles during my trip to Monterey last fall, and they are gorgeous, well-structured wines. The wax seal on the cork is a striking aesthetic touch, too--albeit somewhat difficult to remove.

Washington, D.C. (May 27, 2008) -- Executive Chef Brian McBride is pleased to introduce some delicious new dishes to Park Hyatt Washington’s Lounge menu with pork stealing center stage. Beginning June 11, every Wednesday evening highlights Pork & Pinot, from 5:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m., with a whole roasted farm-raised suckling pig displayed on the Lounge’s expansive marble table so guests can enjoy a generous slice of pork accompanied with sweet potato biscuits for $8 per serving. Additional new pork dishes offered on the Lounge menu exclusively for Pork & Pinot, priced at $8 each, include Ham Hock Terrine, Glazed Pork Belly with White Beans, and Potted Pork with Garlic & Rosemary and Smoked Bacon Chips.

Park Hyatt Washington’s Lounge is also introducing the coveted Jamon Iberico de bellota. This rare, famous Spanish ham, a new arrival to the United States, will be carved on the marble lounge table for guests when ordered and is priced at $20 per ounce slice. Iberico pigs are descendants of sus mediterraneus, the wild boar that once inhabited the forests of the Mediterranean, popularly known as pata negra, or black hoof Iberico pigs. They are the last free ranging pigs in Europe. The term Iberico de bellota indicates an Iberico product is of the highest quality assuring consumers that the product is made from Iberico pigs born in the early spring and left to forage for the winter months, in the dehesa, the forest of Cork and Holm oaks of western Spain. During this time, known as the montanera, the pigs fatten up on fallen acorns or bellota and may gain up to a pound a day. This acorn-heavy diet gives the resulting hams an unsurpassed taste and sweetness to the meat.

To complete the savory pork dishes, a selection of Pinot Noir wines by the glass and by the bottle will be available, with prices ranging from $10 to $28 per glass and $95 to $180 per bottle. According to Diego Anea, the Executive Assistant Manager- Food & Beverage of Park Hyatt Washington, the wine that marries best with the Iberico is the Belle Glos 2005. “The Belle Glos is well structured, with a nice balance of fruit and tannins and its higher alcohol content, (15.1%) gives it a nice round mouth feel and a smooth, soft texture. It finishes clean but long and has a nice acidity which cuts through the richness of the Iberico,” states Mr. Anea.

Mark it with a Z

I spent last evening at Zola , sampling some of their most popular cocktails and selections from the new bar menu. My visit included an informative chat with Ralph Rosenberg, their Director of Operations.

The sleek restaurant, located next to DC's International Spy Museum (one of my fave museums in the city...) has lots of red and brushed metal. Spyholes allow you to see into the kitchen, without the noise that can often accompany the open kitchen concept. The bar itself is large and inviting, and adjacent small wooden tables allow you to linger with some nibbles and a drink.

As far as cocktails go, there are some stellar options. Much of what goes into the libations is seasonal, fresh and from scratch. The Zojito substitutes kumquats for limes, with platinum rum, housemade kaffir lime syrup, mint and Fever Tree (yum!) club soda. This version restored my faith in the Mojito--a drink I enjoyed for several summers but then kind of felt, well, over it. But I'll be grabbing my muddling and cutting up those kumquats this summer, I can see it.

The I.R.S. Raspberry made its debut on the cocktail menu during tax season, but its popularity made owners keep it on the menu. I was a bit skeptical, as the main ingredient is Maker's Mark, and I'm not really a bourbon fan. But the addition of raspberry green tea soda, limes and fresh raspberries definitely made it refreshingly palatable.

And the Passion is just a gorgeous drink--Champagne, citrus rum, passion fruit and a sugar rim, served in a trumpet-style flute.

The bar menu is divided into three (self-explanatory) sections: "I Feel Like Sharing," "It's All Mine" and "Zola TV Dinners." I pretty much tasted everything. The highlights for me were the savory cream puffs filled with braised beef and topped with a foie gras glaze; shrimp and lobster sliders--the purple potato chips on the side were to die for; grilled flat bread with prosciutto, figs, foie gras butter, mascarpone and balsamic drizzle; and the curried lamb tacos.

The TV dinners are a whimsical touch. Served on white ceramic trays with 4 compartments, the choices are duck salisbury steak, roast game hen, or broiled skate wing. Each comes with a starch and a veggie that change frequently--ours were creamy polenta and wax beans. And the "sweet surprise" was a decadent red velvet cupcake with cream cheese frosting--topped with a Z in red icing.

Skate has been one of my favorite fish dishes since having a heavenly one in Paris a few years back. Zola's version was rich and buttery, yet lights and flaky. Chef Bryan Moscatello explained that he grinds up duck legs and combines it with a blend of savory, sage and other spices for the duck salisbury steak--definitely not a Swanson's TV dinner.