We attended a wine dinner at Bistro 45 tonight in Pasadena, CA - our first blogging foray to the well known wine and dine fixture (I suppose we must not get out much, or perhaps we just overlooked it lately). Our attendance at this event was the result of a recommendation from Christina (more later about a previous wine dinner she was responsible for). This was an excellent wine pairing dinner - moslty in part to the quality of the wine and food pairings, and also because we were dining in memory of our recently passed wine mentor, Fred.
So, let's begin. The wines are from Pelerin ("The Pilgrim") Wines, a small but artisinal producer of all things Burgundian located in the Santa Lucia Highlands ("where's that?"), a place with cool springs and moderate falls require expert grape mashing. Chris Weidemann is the alchemist for the juices, and the chefs at Bistro 45 paired them with some unusual grub!
(quick menu - to be expounded upon in a grossly verbose manner later!)
Chilled Frutes de Mer - lobster gelee with shrimp, scallop, and salmon
2007 "Les Tournesols", a Roussanne, Viogner, and Chardonney blend
notes - this pairing was perfect - crisp, clean fruit with a nice concoction of "poisson frais"
Seared Maine Skate Wing with sweet corn risotto, sea urchin emulsion and Persian cucumber
2006 "St. Vincent's" Cuvee Pinot Noir
notes: say what? the skate was perhaps not as fatty as a nice Copper River salmon and the wine was not as mature or refined as a Willamette Valley concotion (Chris admitted it was not a premium year). Two sad faces.
Slow braised Kurobuta Pork Guanciale with white bean/tomato salad and roasted Bartlett pear sauce
2006 "Mesa Del Sol" Sangiovese
notes - this wine had a great story of how it came about (more later) - we loved this combination - I thought the San could have been better but with the food it was perfect
Colorado Lamb Two Ways (crepenette farci, grilled loin) with organic vegetable salad and star anise essence
2005 Monterey Syrah and 2005 "Les Violettes" Syrah
notes - what a great combination with the "Les Violettes" and the tenderloin, but why add the third wheels with the Monterey and the sausage? Too rococco a ldish for me - simplify, simplify! (ps: the anise needs to stay in Greece)
Toasted Coconut Lemon Cake with mango drizzle and summer berry compote
note: a great dessert! Fred, you should have been there!!
(we will finish this up at a later date - promise!)
Monday, July 28, 2008
Saturday, January 12, 2008
Where do we buy our wine?
Wing Hop Fung
Monterey Park, CA
http://www.winghopfung.com/
This is an Asian supermarket - the name means "together forever prosper". The owner Keng Ong is a young and hard working entrepenuer and also a very knowledgable and enthusiastic oenophile. His inventory of wine and spirits is possibly the best around east of Los Angeles - there are other wine stores that may focus on the odd boutiques, eclectics, cheap and high end, mass market imports, or specific regions, but his choices are wide ranging, pragmatic, high quality, drinkable, collectible, and the best price.
For a store that mainly focuses on Asian products, herbs, and dry goods, you will also find that he has a very good wine selection. It's an odd combination - gingseng, bird's nest, and Chateau Margaux. And if the wine isn't in the store, he can find it. But be quick - he moves a lot of product and does not let it sit, so pounce on it while it's there (more later).
His selections include the usual range of California cabs, zins, etc, and a nice selection of the up and coming Spanish and Argentian blockbusters, as well as Australian/NZ and other offshore selections from Italy and boutiques from within the US. Among them is his great selection of rieslings (pairs well with Asian food) and his inventory of French wine ranges from Arrogant Frog ( a great mass market but very very tasty chardonnay-viogner blend from Languodoc for under $8 - we've burned through three cases!) to your high end Bordeauxs in the wine cooler that go for hundreds per bottle.
He's no slouch on his specific selections of the local wine from the US - I've discovered hidden gems from California AVAs that he recommends that turn eventually out to be short lived inventories - everyone else buys them up! That's the reminder - if he has it on sale, he is determined to move it, and you can benefit from the discount. Once it's gone, get on his list to learn if he finds it again, and he'll let you know ( we got a couple of half cases of John Duval Entity before it hit the Wine Spectator, and then it was gone!)
Keng has one of the best palates I know - I trust him for recommendations, and when we taste, his choices are confirmed. He has recommended us wines to buy that six months later appear on the WS 100 and then are nowhere to be found, but he has perhaps the most I've seen available if you're trophy hunting. He also has the simple easy to drink wines that we can buy by the case for our events that everyone ends up liking. Once he finds and recommendations a specific wine, we now buy it up.
As for prices, he has always beaten the comps, from Costco to BevMo to Trader Joes, and especially the Vendomes and other speciality shops. One or two obscure warehouses may get him by a dollar or two, but he has a better selection and he'll beat it if you buy a case. Never paid more for a wine at his place, unless someone at another store was dumping a bad batch and marked it down. His quality control is excellent and he really cares - shipments to his store are often outright rejected if they have not been temperature controlled.
Tasting? He does it many times a week, and under direction from Guy, another young man at the store who is actually a winemaker by trade from France. Do not miss their tastings - it is a great experience. Guy once did a tasting for us comparing cabernet sauvignons between Napa and Sonoma counties, complete with terrior analysis, east or west facing fields, and weather explanations and we sure experienced the difference! Fun, educational, and of course, another excuse to use someone else's expertise to be a fast follower in learning about wine. Guy is very unassuming and helpful - we called him from a tasting room from Central California to see if he had a wine in stock and he beat it considerably! He now runs the wine section, and he is even learning Chinese, but many of his Asian customers speak French anyway.
A week doesn't go by (if we're in town) where we drop by, look, taste, chat, and buy. The wines are some of the best selection in town, the prices are absolutely the best, Guy's wine class is a great perspective in appreciation and a hidden gem on its own, and WHF is a place that is just fun to hang out in (the store itself has some neat stuff even if you don't want to buy wine). From an intimate wine class for six to special tasting, he does it all. Remember, it is an Asian store in the heart of Montery Park, so the parking lot can get busy on the weekend, but it's worth it!
Wing Hop Fung
725 W. Garvey
Monterey Park, CA
(626) 227-1688
Keng Ong - owner
Guillaume Galand - wine expert
Wing Hop Fung
Monterey Park, CA
http://www.winghopfung.com/
This is an Asian supermarket - the name means "together forever prosper". The owner Keng Ong is a young and hard working entrepenuer and also a very knowledgable and enthusiastic oenophile. His inventory of wine and spirits is possibly the best around east of Los Angeles - there are other wine stores that may focus on the odd boutiques, eclectics, cheap and high end, mass market imports, or specific regions, but his choices are wide ranging, pragmatic, high quality, drinkable, collectible, and the best price.
For a store that mainly focuses on Asian products, herbs, and dry goods, you will also find that he has a very good wine selection. It's an odd combination - gingseng, bird's nest, and Chateau Margaux. And if the wine isn't in the store, he can find it. But be quick - he moves a lot of product and does not let it sit, so pounce on it while it's there (more later).
His selections include the usual range of California cabs, zins, etc, and a nice selection of the up and coming Spanish and Argentian blockbusters, as well as Australian/NZ and other offshore selections from Italy and boutiques from within the US. Among them is his great selection of rieslings (pairs well with Asian food) and his inventory of French wine ranges from Arrogant Frog ( a great mass market but very very tasty chardonnay-viogner blend from Languodoc for under $8 - we've burned through three cases!) to your high end Bordeauxs in the wine cooler that go for hundreds per bottle.
He's no slouch on his specific selections of the local wine from the US - I've discovered hidden gems from California AVAs that he recommends that turn eventually out to be short lived inventories - everyone else buys them up! That's the reminder - if he has it on sale, he is determined to move it, and you can benefit from the discount. Once it's gone, get on his list to learn if he finds it again, and he'll let you know ( we got a couple of half cases of John Duval Entity before it hit the Wine Spectator, and then it was gone!)
Keng has one of the best palates I know - I trust him for recommendations, and when we taste, his choices are confirmed. He has recommended us wines to buy that six months later appear on the WS 100 and then are nowhere to be found, but he has perhaps the most I've seen available if you're trophy hunting. He also has the simple easy to drink wines that we can buy by the case for our events that everyone ends up liking. Once he finds and recommendations a specific wine, we now buy it up.
As for prices, he has always beaten the comps, from Costco to BevMo to Trader Joes, and especially the Vendomes and other speciality shops. One or two obscure warehouses may get him by a dollar or two, but he has a better selection and he'll beat it if you buy a case. Never paid more for a wine at his place, unless someone at another store was dumping a bad batch and marked it down. His quality control is excellent and he really cares - shipments to his store are often outright rejected if they have not been temperature controlled.
Tasting? He does it many times a week, and under direction from Guy, another young man at the store who is actually a winemaker by trade from France. Do not miss their tastings - it is a great experience. Guy once did a tasting for us comparing cabernet sauvignons between Napa and Sonoma counties, complete with terrior analysis, east or west facing fields, and weather explanations and we sure experienced the difference! Fun, educational, and of course, another excuse to use someone else's expertise to be a fast follower in learning about wine. Guy is very unassuming and helpful - we called him from a tasting room from Central California to see if he had a wine in stock and he beat it considerably! He now runs the wine section, and he is even learning Chinese, but many of his Asian customers speak French anyway.
A week doesn't go by (if we're in town) where we drop by, look, taste, chat, and buy. The wines are some of the best selection in town, the prices are absolutely the best, Guy's wine class is a great perspective in appreciation and a hidden gem on its own, and WHF is a place that is just fun to hang out in (the store itself has some neat stuff even if you don't want to buy wine). From an intimate wine class for six to special tasting, he does it all. Remember, it is an Asian store in the heart of Montery Park, so the parking lot can get busy on the weekend, but it's worth it!
Wing Hop Fung
725 W. Garvey
Monterey Park, CA
(626) 227-1688
Keng Ong - owner
Guillaume Galand - wine expert
Sunday, January 6, 2008
Welcome to the first posting of Nosing and Noshing, an on-line history of our wine and dine experiences for 2008. It's a lot easier to post to the blog rather than the numerous wine and food sites on the blogosphere. This doesn't mean we still won't post on Yelp or Chow hoping to seriously change the culinary world, but this can be a place where we at least place the fresh notes from our various travels and tastings for us and others to check out.
For a start, tonight while I'm typing this I'm drinking a 2005 Avila Santa Barbara County Chardonney purchased at Trader Joe's this weekend for $4.99. It's suprisingly refreshing, but a tiny bit harsh on the back end and is a bit drier and citrusy than than your typical California malolactic chards most everyone seems to like. It's a high volume wine that may be ending its reign at Laetitia Winery in Arroyo Grande, California - we were just there last week and it was on sale half price at the winery for $5 a bottle but we didn't buy any. This Avila brand has nothing to do with nearby Avila Beach - it is their "affordable" wine line for mass distribution and I seem to recall from the conversation at the tasting room they were eliminating the label entirely It's a good deal at that price, tasty, and any of the Avila wines for under $5 are very good buys, since they used to retail at more than twice that price. Go to http://www.avilawine.com/ for more info about the specs and more professional (but biased) tasting notes - good reading -might even make the wine taste better (!).
ps: Laetitia Winery is the first wine stop on the San Luis Obispo/Edna Valley - Arroyo Grande Wine trail. It is right off 101 before Arroyo Grande and the must first stop for the wine trekker to that area. Be very mindful of the traffic as it is a driveway right off the "freeway" to the winery. The entire facility has a very interesting and long history in the area and in addition to the regular Chards and Pinots there are some very decent sparkling wines. Before the French got all uptight about us 'Merican's using the word Champagne, the place was called Maison Duetz back in the '80s and they made some pretty good methode champenoise - it still has one of the only special presses this side of the Rockies for sparking wine. More on Laetitia later..
For a start, tonight while I'm typing this I'm drinking a 2005 Avila Santa Barbara County Chardonney purchased at Trader Joe's this weekend for $4.99. It's suprisingly refreshing, but a tiny bit harsh on the back end and is a bit drier and citrusy than than your typical California malolactic chards most everyone seems to like. It's a high volume wine that may be ending its reign at Laetitia Winery in Arroyo Grande, California - we were just there last week and it was on sale half price at the winery for $5 a bottle but we didn't buy any. This Avila brand has nothing to do with nearby Avila Beach - it is their "affordable" wine line for mass distribution and I seem to recall from the conversation at the tasting room they were eliminating the label entirely It's a good deal at that price, tasty, and any of the Avila wines for under $5 are very good buys, since they used to retail at more than twice that price. Go to http://www.avilawine.com/ for more info about the specs and more professional (but biased) tasting notes - good reading -might even make the wine taste better (!).
ps: Laetitia Winery is the first wine stop on the San Luis Obispo/Edna Valley - Arroyo Grande Wine trail. It is right off 101 before Arroyo Grande and the must first stop for the wine trekker to that area. Be very mindful of the traffic as it is a driveway right off the "freeway" to the winery. The entire facility has a very interesting and long history in the area and in addition to the regular Chards and Pinots there are some very decent sparkling wines. Before the French got all uptight about us 'Merican's using the word Champagne, the place was called Maison Duetz back in the '80s and they made some pretty good methode champenoise - it still has one of the only special presses this side of the Rockies for sparking wine. More on Laetitia later..
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