What I'm drinking this week, David Lieberman
January 8, 2012
A semi-regular commentary from a wine-obsessed artist manager…
It’s a hectic week in New York of meetings, meals and showcases as we are attending the APAP Conference at the NY Hilton. This conference is especially busy for us since one of our companies, Joe Goode Performance Group is in town to showcase on Thursday and Saturday at the Joyce Theater as part of a new dance initiative, Dance Focus, and Donald Byrd, in town to rehearse the “Color Purple” before it heads out on the road, is also participating on a session at Dance Focus with me.
Allen (obsessed Director of Sales here at DLAR) and I usually have a pretty straight trajectory most days, back and forth from our short-term apartment lease to the Hilton trade show booth. This year though, we are often tacking to drop anchor briefly at the Joyce Theater, City Center (5th floor headquarters for Dance Focus participants) as well as the trade show. These additional spots added to the itinerary, along with the grim discovery that the “such a deal” VRBO apartment is a 5th floor walk-up, has taken a lot of the wind out of my sails by the time Sunday rolls along. Fortunately, we are in one of the great cities of the world for eaters and drinkers. We can fortify ourselves at numerous stops along the way from apartment to our professional duties.
We have quite a turnout at the Joyce Theater to see Joe Goode Performance Group’s first showcase performance. Joe does not disappoint. He is at his cowboy best, opening the evening with just the right Gene Autry – inflected vocal styling to set the tone and let New York know that we do things a little differently out West. The company showcases “The Rambler”, Joe’s latest piece on the theme of the character of the restless, wandering soul. The production design by Basil Twist is a marvelous, changing vista of the playing space accomplished by the clever changing picture frame of Basil’s manipulation of the drapery travelers to form various “windows” into the different scenes of the narrative as performed by Joe’s dancers.
After the performance we pay our respects to Joe and I find myself in New York standing on the sidewalk outside of the Joyce Theater at 10PM with some hungry presenters; Todd Wetzel (Purdue Convocations), Amy Vashaw (Center for the Performing Arts at Penn State), Anna Thompson (DeBartolo Center for the Performing Arts at Notre Dame), Mary Dixon (Cal Performances at UC Berkeley). Allen takes his leave for a rendezvous with his paramour, Laia and I am charged with finding proper grub for our party of five. If you find yourself surrounded by a flash mob of peckish presenters, pray that you are in New York City. Onward…
We convince our cabbie that there is no prohibition against five passengers in a cab and speed (okay, maybe crawl) our way our way up 8th Avenue to Time Warner Center at Columbus Circle, where we head up to the 4th floor. Thanks, its been a good year, but not that good, as we pass by the imposing entrance of Per Se restaurant and head to Landmarc, the noisy, busy, energized, open-late American style brasserie that shares a floor with Thomas Keller’s 3-star monument to gastronomy.
Places like Landmarc were made for us 99%’ers in the arts; a wine list that is modest, but clearly curatorial, and food which is well-sourced, comforting and not too fussy. Last year it was my go-to late nite spot when I discovered their soulful roasted marrow bones and the availability of Lopez de Heredia’s Cubillo bottling of Rioja in the convenient half(!)- bottle format. By the way, if you are ever interested in the experience of truly authentic Rioja, the Bodega of Lopez de Heredia is the keeper of that flame. In a world obsessed with making export product to neither offend nor engage, this is the most distinguished traditionalist in Rioja and one who really couldn’t give a whit whether you like the taste of real Rioja or not. If you a have a moment, click over to their website for a crash course in an authentic tradition…
We have arrived late enough that there is still some buzzing in the massive dining room, but not so much that we can’t secure a comfy, family-sized booth for the five of us. Amy is wide-eyed as we study the eclectic menu and settle on a collaborative game plan; avoid the mains, and order up a mess of openers and side dishes. This strategy is a variation of my friend Michael McCarty’s flash-dine approach to highly-touted, new restaurants in Manhattan.
Briefly;
As the owner of Michael’s Restaurant on 55th (as well as Michael’s Restaurant on 3rd St in Santa Monica) he stays current as to what’s happening by making 4 reservations in 4 restaurants on the same evening, staggered by one hour each.
Michael’s Flash-Dine technique to really drill down to true the potential of any restaurant;
To the waiter; “We don’t need a menu, just bring us your 2 best appetizers and your 2 best desserts and your favorite bottle of wine under $50. We have 30 minutes.” Its Michael’s theory that this model tells you everything you need to know about a restaurant in the most efficient manner allowing for a lot of “research” in a single evening -
1.Quality and engagement of front of house staff
2. Can the chef cook?
3.Can the pastry chef cook?
4.Can the line cooks move the food out?
5.Is there someone with an informed palate doing the wine list?
Not quite as clinical, but just as informative, we order a selection of small plates to share; Red & Yellow Beets, Grilled Octopus with black olives and capers, Goat Cheese profiteroles, Calamari with spicy tomato sauce, Mozarella and Ricotta Fritters, Steamed mussels with shallots and white wine, Lamb meatballs with ricotta and mint, French fries, creamed spinach, Brussels sprouts with bacon, sautéed green beans. OK – eleven items, and that might look like a lot, but really these are pretty small plates so we each had one or two bites and that was it.
What to wash it all down with? Landmarc prides itself on a well thought out, modestly marked up wine list. I concur. You can usually find something to drink that’s not too dear, and frequently in a half bottle size for the solo diner. But tonight, this is no half bottle crowd…
Perusing the list, I am not really seeing anything that catches my eye. What looks good are mostly the hearty reds, which tend to be heavier and more alcoholic. I just don’t think the late hour is conducive to that sort of drinking tonight. But then, there it is, in the convenient MAGNUM (that’s two regular bottles in one) section…a nice example of that go-with-everything-beverage, Champagne. In this case, the “white label” Pol Roger Extra Reserve Brut Champagne. Frankly, its surprising to find this nice of a bottle in this large format at such a casual dining spot. I’m thrilled; the House of Pol Roger has produced some legends in its time – favored champagne supplier of Winston Churchill, the style reflects what the British prefer in their bubbly; a yeasty nose of freshly baked bread that is lush and mouthfilling. Just to keep it interesting, under it all there is a kind of smokiness expressing the terroir of the grapes. Champagne always works well with the kind of potpourri menu we are sharing together and with the magnum, there is enough for us all to get through the meal.
Pol Roger Extra Reserve Brut (magnum) on the list at Landmarc ($158)
Friday, Allen and I are scheduled for a lunch meeting with one of our favorite people, Fenn Gordon, newly appointed CEO of Performing Lines, one of a handful of producing/managing entities in Australia that provides management to artists making work and touring it. Fenn will always be revered here for her wonderful history in managing the early career of Flight of the Conchords, the quirky duo that successfully transitioned from New Zealand performance artist to stars of their own successful series here on HBO. As the CEO of Performing Lines, her portfolio currently contains the Meryl Tankard project, The Oracle, which we are touring in 2013. So it’s a check-in conversation on how things are going for the US leg of the tour and some commentary from Fenn on how the progress goes for prepping the production for what looks to be a pretty good tour that is shaping up.
The lunch venue of choice is (coincidentally) Michael’s, on West 55th, favorite power lunch site for the media industry, and a favorite of ours because Michael’s collection of art that adorns the walls reads like a who’s who of iconic American art; Rauschenberg, Johns, Warhol, on every surface. It’s like having a picnic in the main gallery of MOMA, except the cooking and the wine list are equal to the visual feast before you.
I can’t really have a meal at Michael’s without a starter of the house-cured gravlax on brioche. Michael is justifiably proud of this dish as he should be. The gravlax is just perfect – a silky texture that drapes over a bit freshly baked brioche and moistened up with just a dab of lemony aioli.
Fenn is soaking in the artwork but pays just enough attention to know to order the dayboat scallops, seared in brown butter with pancetta and butternut squash. Allen goes for the same. It’s an overwhelmingly rich dish that begs for something vinous to intercept the voluptuous texture and add some focus.
Fortunately, the wine list provides several possiblities, but the one that leaps out to me is the NV Delamotte Brut Champagne. Background; Delamotte Champagne is the wine from the famous Le Mesnil vineyard, a vineyard which every third vintage or so, provides the grapes for one of the greatest champagnes available, Salon. Made only in the very greatest vintages, Salon is a blanc de blanc (100% chardonnay) that retails for something north of $250 a bottle on release. In vintages where no Salon is made, the less well-heeled consumer can usually find Delamotte for around $40 a bottle retail. Try one – it will give you some notion of what the Wall Street crowd drinks after they cash their bonus checks.
Compared to the Pol Roger of the previous evening, the Delamotte is the polar opposite of style. More chiseled than opulent, we are happy to have it first with the salmon, where it balances the fatty richness of the fish and aioli, and then with the plump scallops. The yeasty aromas of the Pol Roger are here replaced by a more obvious acidity, expressed as a lemony bruleé...strong citrus with a bit of burnt sugar underneath. Gosh…what a great lunch…great art, great food, great wine, great conversation…
Delamotte Champagne NV on the list at Michaels Restaurant, $90. At retail, about $40
By Saturday evening, we have our rhythm down in the exhibit hall, which is absolutely jammed with fellow artist managers and presenters who have recognized that they have hit the tipping point. Commit to the artists they are considering for the 12-13 season, or risk losing to another venue or (sadly) having a tour collapse before their very eyes.
After the exhibit hall closes, I grab a cab to the Public Theater for a beautiful one-woman show by the Builders Association on Susan Sontag. Then back to the apartment
Sunday starts out promising. A few espresso shots at the apartment and I head over to the Karole Armitage showcase at the Ailey Studios on Ninth, where Karole has drawn a large crowd of conference delegates and gives her all to a showcase of the company, supplemented by an army of Ailey Studio students to create a performance that captures a lot of energy and a lot of attention from the presenters. The exhibit hall opens shortly afterwards and Allen and I have our hands full with appointments and chance conversations, before I head off to the London Hotel for some conversation with Mike Ross of the Krannert Center over glasses of Johnny Walker Blue. At the meeting we resolve three things;
1)resolved: we both like Johnny Walker Blue
2)resolved: we will include the Krannert in the Meryl Tankard tour in 2013
3)resolved: we will include the Krannert in the Circus Oz tour in 2013
In my view, a fine set of resolutions…
By 6PM, Mike is off to his next meeting and I am moving in the direction of the City Center Studios, where I am meeting choreographer, Donald Byrd to pitch the next tour of his company, Spectrum Dance Theater as part of the official proceedings of “Dance Meet”. Something good may come of this as several managers have mustered the vision and resources to create a place for the APAP attendees to specifically meet with those who share a common interest in promoting dance; dance presenters, dance managers, choreographers, and even…dancers…
By 8PM, I am summoning up all the reserves to make my way up the five flights of stairs at our apartment on 60th street with a to-go bowl of Won Ton soup from the place across the street. Tired and hungry, I think I am spending the evening watching TV. At least I am staring at it while I slurp my noodles
Monday offers us the last day at the exhibit hall for appointments and I am happy to bump into Tim van Leer strolling the aisles. Tim and his wife Geri are more than colleagues, sliding into the friends and wine-drinking buddies category when Tim became the director of the presenting program at El Camino College in the 90’s in Torrance, Callifornia. Geri didn’t make the move from Florida to California for several months after Tim got the job, staying behind to close up the house and let the kids finish out their school year. So there we were for a few months of two bachelors discovering which pubs had the best chefs and cementing our friendship over our mutual fondness for Paul Draper’s, Ridge Vineyards wines, especially the zinfandels, and more specifically the Lytton Springs bottling. I think it was the ’90 or the ’91 that we first shared.
But Tim left California and became the Executive Director of the Lied Center of Kansas just shortly after Linda and I got married, and so the Van Leers exited as a dependable presence in our lives, except for the holiday card and occasional bit of business. Now here comes Tim strolling down the aisle at Americas Hall II and we determine its been too long since we’ve broken bread.
The next night, Monday, we find ourselves at dependable Landmarc again – the three of us – Tim, Geri and I, settling into some comfortable conversation about our kids and toasting Geri on her successful retirement from the Lawrence Arts Center into a full time position as adoring grandmother.
This feels more like hearty food night for all of us, nothing so polite as a few plates of Tapas. We need something ribsticking. After a bowl of mussels, Tim leads the way, boldly committing to a ribeye steak about the size of his head. But just incase that’s not enough, they add a pile of pencil-cut frites. When Tim’s monumental steak arrives, I feel like a real calorie-counter since both Geri and I made do with the more “modest” braised lamb shank with crispy brussel sprouts. OK, maybe not – the brussel sprouts had bacon with them…
Nothing could have been a better choice for the cuisine or the 2 hours of reminiscing than the delicious bottle of 2008 Ridge Lytton Springs ordered off the list. In this day of full disclosure, we are no longer allowed to describe Lytton Springs as zinfandel, since the amount of zin in the final bottled blend varys from vintage to vintage, sometimes as much as 80%, but some vintages have as little as 65%. California’s regulations require that there be at least 70% zin in the bottle to use the varietal in the labeling. In the interest of consistency, Ridge has chosen now to lable the wine as a “proprietary red”, which may have a significant amount of other grapes such as petit sirah, carignane, and what-have-you. No matter – those of us who matriculated to legal drinking age before the millennium know what it is and are always thrilled to see it on a wine list.
Ridge’s remarkable winemaker, Paul Draper, is revered to have a very artisanal touch with all of his wines, and with zinfandel, his mastery is particularly evident. The grape can get to intensely ripe levels if conditions allow and so it is not unusual to see sugar-laden vats of zinfandel juice fermented to stratospheric levels of alcohol, maybe 16 or 17%. Draper’s more modest approach of picking his fruit before it reaches dramatic levels of ripeness (read; sugar) allows for lower levels of alcohol in the product in the neighborhood of 14.5% or less. The lower alcohol makes the wine capable of a more complex aging curve that allows the fruit in the wine a more graceful metamorphosis into interesting secondary flavors and aromas without risk of being overwhelmed by the heat of excessive alcohol. The best “food wines” tend to be those without high levels of alcohol.
Not all California wines are monolithic fruit bombs. You can learn more about Ridge Wines by clicking here;
Anyway, the Lytton Springs on the table is a beautiful complement to both the steak and the lamb – exhibiting lush zinfandel flavors of chocolate, blackberries and sagebrush. There’s a wonderful, leathery quality in the bouquet mixed with the juicy berry aroma. It works well with the food and is a great companion to all of the reminiscing going on at the table…
2008 Ridge Lytton Springs proprietary red - $65 on the list at Landmarc
$30 or so at most wine shops…
The table is cleared two hours later and we head out to the chilly nite on Columbus Circle with our tummies full, warmed by good food, good wine and good companionship.
I am up the next day, packed and anxious to fly home, leaving Allen behind to navigate through the ISPAA Conference, Chamber Music America Conference and the apartment staircase, now known to some presenters who agreed to take meetings there, as “K2” or “Heartbreak Ridge”.
November 1, 2011
One of the perks of a job that demands frequent travel, is the opportunity to see how the serious wine-drinkers in other cities are being treated by the sommeliers and beverage managers in the better restaurants. A career in the arts has blessed me with this privilege
Last week had me tagging along with the Merce Cunningham Dance Company as the Legacy Tour set down for two performances and an ambitious week of community engagement in Seattle. The performances happened in the glorious, Paramount Theater.
To read the Seattle Times commentary on the performances, click here.
But I digress… Seattle is a restaurant town and Seattle is a wine town. Having been burned by a couple of less than stellar dining/drinking experiences the last time I was in town, I took no chances this time and spent my two après concert evenings at Purple Restaurant and Wine Bar. I am too old now for all the “so what do you do?” hub-bub downstairs and was happy to sit at the more tranquil upstairs bar, perusing the wine list and peering over the counter watching the tapas chefs preparing the cheese plates and other small items.
On both nights, I was fortunate to have some company in the distinguished presence of Bonnie Brooks, on sabbatical from her position at Columbia College Chicago School of Dance, and currently charged with documenting the process of the Legacy Project. It’s a lot of work. She gets hungry.
Bonnie exhibits immense patience as I study the list looking for that one perfect bottle, untouched, unappreciated, underpriced, which will harmonize with our late night of lamb empanadas, gorgonzola stuffed dates, and margherita pizza
Its there, under “Loire Valley”. Possessing all the qualities of geek-wines; Nicolas Joly’s idiosyncratic 2005 Coulée de Serrant. Admired, but unhyped by the critical press, this Savennieres is made from a grape spurned by the masses (Chenin Blanc) and unknown by the two-buck Chuck constituency. It was just sitting there on the wine list unmolested by the Chilean Merlot crowd, sipping, bobbing and weaving downstairs to a thumping sound track not by John Cage for sure. I ordered. Not that I need the validation, but the server responded with such enthusiasm you would have thought that he was operating on commission. Quite a stir then, the waiter brought over the assistant manager to meet the guy that actually ordered the Coulée de Serrant. Bonnie was cool…she had her lamb empanadas to keep her busy and so was not bothered by the geek chatter about esoteric, biodynamically produced French Chenin Blanc.
What you need to know about this wine;
In the wine world, Nicolas Joly is about the closest we have to a performance artist. Born of a privileged French family, he earned his MBA from Columbia University before his epiphany sometime in the 1970’s led him to leave the world of the 1 percenters behind and embrace the quirky world of biodynamic wine farming at a family estate, Coulée de Serrant. It was once decreed as home to one of the 5 most noble white wines in France. But that was a century ago, and when Joly assumed control of the estate, Coulée de Serrant was only a historical curiosity. Inspired by the writing of Austrian philosopher/educator Rudolf Steiner, Joly embarked on a rigorous agricultural reclamation project to restore one of France’s greatest vineyards to its former glory. The principles of biodynamic agriculture are related to organic farming, but much more rigorous, rejecting the use of pesticides and chemical treatments as does organic farming, but also incorporating a fair amount of ritual, mysticism and astronomy in the cultivation of the grapes. There is a belief that not every variable affecting the quality of the grape can be quantified into a formula. The biodynamic farmer allows for a dose of “faith” to be incorporated into the process. So the biodynamic winemaker is at once, a scientist who repudiates some of the core principles of the scientific method.
The Coulée is a monopole, that is, a recognized vineyard whose entire property is in the possession of one winemaking entity. This is a very rare circumstance, as the Napoleonic inheritance laws frequently cause most vineyards to be sliced up into smaller and smaller pieces with each succeeding genration. Located in the larger appellation of Savenniéres in the Loire Valley, the wines of the region are typically presented with descriptors like “peaches and wet stones” or “honeysuckle with a whiff of minerality”. An interesting article from the New York Times about the wines of Savenniéres in general can be found here.
This is the 2005 we have stumbled upon, and it does not disappoint. A beautiful, burnished yellow robe unfurls as the wine is poured into our glasses. Coulée de Serrant is famously ungiving early in its life (the 2005 is a relative baby) but this is a pretty ripe year for the vineyard and we have the unmistakable richness of one of Joly’s wines there in our mouths. Palpably opulent, with a high level of extract in the wine, it’s an hour at least before the wine starts to really reveal itself; white peaches, a bit of marmalade, sherry and a fantastic sense of minerality from deep down in the vineyard’s rocky strata. We savor the wine for 3 hours, while availing ourselves of an ever-changing assortment of great Tapas –styled food; grilled shrimps, empanadas, dates with gorgonzola and a Washington state inspired cheese plate.
Yes, we over-ate. Yes, we splurged on the wine. But it was one of those great wine/food moments that we atoned for by making the walk back up the hill to the hotel sometime after midnight. Priceless!
Wine; 2005 Clos de la Coulée de Serrant, Savennierés, Domaine Nicolas Joly on the list at Purple Café, Seattle for $84.
On night two, the company provides an evening of one remarkable moment after another. No one in the audience of 2,000 or so is unmoved or unaware of the historic quality of the moment we share tonight at the Paramount Theater with the Merce Cunningham Dance Company and the citizens of Seattle. I recognize at least two former dancers of a few decades ago marveling at this new generation of dancers executing the choreography that maybe was first set on them 30 or 40 years ago by Merce. Also there, is Chris Rauschenberg, son of Merce’s most distinguished visual collaborator, Robert Rauschenberg, who has driven up from his home in Portland to be here for this moment. An after concert reception at the Paramount to embrace the dancers and the wonderful members of this community who all collaborated to make this week in Seattle such a success, and then back down the hill to Purple again to see what we might have missed the night before.
Back to the calmer upstairs bar and we station ourselves next to the cheese station again. Warm greetings from the staff and we are at it again;
To wash down the outstanding grilled prawns, a really tasty Alsatian Riesling available by the glass; 2009 Domaine Weinbach, Reserve Personelle. Terrific, semi-dry, with nice white fruits and some rosemary and honey overtones in the nose. At retail, this wine sells for something less than $25/bottle. If I had plans for a dinner of Pad Thai anytime in the future, I wouldn’t hesitate to pick up a bottle.
Following, we order the ’07 Perbacco by an esteemed Piedmontese producer of pricey Barolos, Vietti. But the Perbacco is neither pricey, nor Barolo. Perbacco
(literally, “Surprise”, as in “Surprise, bet you didn’t think this was gonna be this good!”) suggested itself as soon as the ticket was hung for my chilé braised boar with orchietti and Bonnie’s (two nights in a row) lamb empanadas.
Savory meats caramelized by braising or roasting are always well-served by Nebbiolo-based wines. Though there are other lesser-knowns, these wines are primarily Barolos and Barbarescos. Vietti culls the youngest grapes for the Barolo vineyards of his pricier bottlings and instead produces a wine with less aging time than is required of a legal Barolo. Perbacco is then, a less-structured, more approachable bottle of nebbiolo that gives us the character of a good Barolo without having to wait so long (or pay so much). The ’07 Perbacco delivers in this regard. It’s a wonderful introduction to the wines of Northwest Italy; a beautiful nose of floral overtones, with smoky, dark notes intermingling. In the mouth, the more masculine quality of the grape emerges, dark cherry, roasted meats, strong tannins. Curious about Italian wines? A bottle of Perbacco is a good introduction to them and the current bottling on the market is from the outstanding ’07 vintage. It can be had at retail for about $25 a bottle.
Its an early flight out tomorrow, and so another penitential walk up the hill to pack and get a few hours before a flight home the next morning.
Wines;
2009 Reisling, Domaine Weinbach Reserve Personelle $9 by the glass
2007 “Perbacco”, Vietti $49
both on the list at Purple Café and Wine Bar, Seattle
