Howie Rubin, not just a wine guy

First and foremost,  I consider myself a “wine guy” and I pursue my craft with passion and dedication.  But, I do have another love and that is the nectar of the agave plant, the holiest of all holy beverages, TEQUILA!  This affair started when I was living in the Mission District of San Fransisco in the 1970s where I would sit in Dolores Park listening to the Latin drummers.  They passed around this magical elixir, Herradura Anejo and I was enchanted with it right from the start.  When I picked grapes in the Napa Valley, I would always find solace at the end of a back-breaking day with my Mexican co-workers, sharing their cuisine and tequila.  Since then, I’ve indulged in my fair share of all things tequila and I love it as much now as I did then.  My wife says she feels its warmth right between her eyes and I have to agree.

Boston is now awash with tequila bars, for which I have mixed emotions.  Tequila deserves to be nursed and understood rather than disrespected and commercialized.  Thankfully, there are a few that do just that and treat their tequila with reverence.  One of my favorite summer recipes, as I have shared

The perfect summer cocktail

with you before when I shared my story about serving this margarita to my friend Julia Child, is muddling fresh watermelon, then putting it in a shaker with limes (maybe an orange too), Citronage Orange Liqueur and a top flight silver tequila.  Patron or Chinaco were always my first choices, but now Tequila Ocho has entered the top of the list as well.  Garnish the finished drink with a watermelon slice, and as Jackie Gleason would say, “And away we go!”

Don’t be afraid to start your exploration of tequila’s different styles…just make sure you do it with reverence and restraint, and hopefully with just the right cuisine.

So this is what I learned about Tequila Ocho today at our tasting.  It is estate grown, not unlike wine, and Tequila Ocho demonstrates that “terroir” exists in agave.  They demonstrate this annually with new vintages drawn from single estates at varying altitudes in Arandas, Jalisco, ensuring each vintage is distinct in aroma and flavor. Since each estate, or “rancho,” produces a limited amount of agave, each vintage of Ocho is both rare and collectible. Every bottle is hand numbered.   Ocho, unlike many other tequila producers, only harvest their agaves from each estate only 8-10 years because they believe that a extra ripe plants produce a more complex tequila.  They are right.
We had the privilege of trying Plata, Reposado, and Anejo from Tequila Ocho.  Although my favorite was the Reposado, the Plata and Anejo were smooth and delicious as well.  Plata has no aging, the Reposado spend only 8 weeks resting in oak barrels, and the Anejo-a year because Ocho believes in limited amount of aging. I wish more tequila makers had the same beliefs because what Ocho is producing is a cut above the rest.

Cheers,

Howie

More pictures for you to enjoy:

Trying out Tequila Ocho Plata

It's empty...need more!

awwww...much better

As always, I catch Howie mid-sentence.

Summer of Riesling and Dynamite Shrimp Kabobs

It’s the summer of Riesling according to Matt Reiser, the sommelier and beverage director at Upstairs on the Square, and I couldn’t be happier about it!  In celebration of this spectacular idea, we had a tasting on Thursday of international Rieslings with City Table in the Lenox Hotel.  It was the inaugural Chef’s Series event in Bauer and we were ready to eat great food and drink our way through the wines.  For those of you who haven’t heard of the Chef’s Series yet, Bauer is inviting Back Bay chefs into our store for special tasting events.  The chef brings in their specialty and we pair our wines for a tasting event that won’t soon be forgotten.

Sous Chef Sean MacAlpine prepared his Dynamite Shrimp Kabobs with pineapple BBQ sauce and salsa verde.    Just picture it… Jumbo shrimp on cane skewers brushed with Sean’s homemade BBQ sauce and grilled.  On the side, corn bread with hints of chili with a pineapple tomatillo salsa verde.  Are you drooling yet?  Sean’s dish was utterly delicious. The slight spiciness of the shrimp kabobs was offset by the the Rieslings perfectly.  Definitely a match made in heaven.

For our end we offered our faithful followers who trudged through the rain to attend, four Rieslings from around the world:  2010 Frisk Naturally Prickly Riesling from Victoria, Australia, 2010 Weingut Karl Erbes Riesling out of Mosel, Germany, 2008 Ravines Dry Riesling from the Finger Lakes in New York and lastly a 2009 Hugel Riesling from Alsace, France.

A great big thank you goes out to City Table’s General Manager Robert George and Sous Chef Sean MacAlpine for a wonderful event! They were both great to work with and they certainly charmed all who walked through the door.  We hope to be able to work with them in the near future again!

Check out some of our attendees!  Thank you to everyone who came out on a Thursday for helping us make this a successful and fun night.

Dog Food and Beer?

Yes,  I know it sounds crazy but on Tuesday I watched people have dog food and beer.  The Fish & Bone (217 Newbury St) hosted a tasting of The Honest Kitchen for both dogs and their humans.  Kathy Palmer, the owner, and her crew put out quite a spread for everyone.  From doggie beer and beer bones for the pooches to human beer, chicken sausage and chips for everyone else, Kathy made sure no one would go hungry.

This was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up. Yes, I love dogs and I was excited to see them drinking their Bowser Beer and trying a new food.  So I offered to come down and talk about the beers that Kathy was offering her guests.  My job was to just tell people about the Avery’s IPA, Avery’s White Rascal, Smuttynose Old Brown Dog and Lagunitas New Dogtown American Pale Ale.  These four delicious beers I paired with the dog foods from The Honest Kitchen.   Little did I know that people would actually take me up on these pairings.  It isn’t as gross as it sounds.  The Honest Kitchen’s dog food is made from meat, vegetables and fruit only; there’s even a vegetarian choice.  They are gluten free and most of them contain no grain.  I would equate it to putting your dinner in the blender before you eat it.  Surprisingly,  there wasn’t a single taster, human or canine, that didn’t enjoy every bite.

Overall, the dogs and their humans had a great time.  I am thrilled that I could be a part of their event and promote some of Bauer’s beer.  The big hit of the hour was definitely Avery’s White Rascal.  A truly authentic Belgian style wheat or “white” ale, that is unfiltered (yup, that’s yeast on the bottom) and cleverly spiced with coriander and Curacao orange peel producing a refreshingly fruity thirst quencher.

Bowzer Beer

Kathy and Matt setting up

The Honest Kitchen

Cameron and his Grandma

Matt says "It's good"

Matt taste testing The Honest Kitchen

A taster named Tobo

Getting to know each other

Human Tasters

Making Friends

Morgan was more interested in the human beer and almost tall enough to reach it

Moose loved his taste!!!

Kathy and her pug, Zip

Demystifying Bordeaux

Let’s play a word association game. I say the word Bordeaux and what do you immediately say back to me.  My friends fired back with “expensive” and “wine snob.” It got me thinking about the world of wine and how certain areas are perceived. Bordeaux has been given the distinction of having some of the best terroir in the world and therefore produce the best wines at a very expensive price. This myth, however, is only partially true. Bordeaux still has the distinction of having the best terroir and the best wines, but they don’t have to be out of the average person’s league in price.
Although the elites are still around and still expensive, many have second label wines that are made with newer vines on the same terroir as their premier crus. These second label wines, unlike their expensive, older sisters, don’t have to be cellared for 10-30 years. They are meant to be enjoyed now. Of course, they are less polished, less structured and less complex but these second labels are no less drinkable.
So how do we know one of these second labels when we see them? Most often, the chateau’s name will not be on the label but the name will probably be close enough to reveal the winery. For example, I would love to buy a bottle of Chateau Lafite Rothschild from the Pauillac region of Bordeaux. But seriously, $750-$1,250 for a single bottle of wine is a little out of my price range. Instead I brought home with me Baron de Rothschild Reserve Speciale Bordeaux. With its delicate tannins, this Bordeaux is easy drinking and delicious at the affordable price of $12.99 a bottle. Ripe red fruit, especially cherry, with just a hint of vanilla from the oak made me feel like I was drinking an expensive bottle nonetheless. This 2009 Bordeaux has 70% Merlot and 30% Cabernet Sauvignon. It is soft, well-rounded with just enough acidity to go well with food. Roasted lamb would be my first choice but I know there are many out there that say no to lamb. So as a back-up choice I would suggest entre cote bordelaise, or in English, a steak that is topped with carmelized shallots.

Other second label wines to look out for are Bahans Haut-Brion from Chateau Haut-Brion, Les Forts de Latour from Chateau Latour, and Pavillon Rouge du Chateau Margaux from Chateau Margaux.  When I see these wines on the shelf I just grab them.  You get the name of a big Bordeaux without the price tag that goes with it.  These wines certainly take the expense and snobbery out of Bordeaux.

Nick’s adventures in stunning Oregon

There aren’t many places I’ve been to that are as beautiful as Oregon is, especially in late May when almost everything was in full bloom.  The weather was, as I was told by the locals, unusually nice for this part of the country with sunshine pretty much everyday.  The city of Portland is a nice mix of city and rural wilderness with great hikes just a few subway stops away from downtown.   After one of those hikes one day on a hot, sunny afternoon we decided to take advantage of one of Portland’s best brew pubs, Deschutes, where we enjoyed a sampling of what they had on draft that day.  The highlight was definitely their 21st anniversary Barrel Aged Black Butte Porter, with a couple years age on it, was drinking real nice with those delicious, sweet bourbon notes.

Going out to dinner in City of Roses was awesome too, we never had a bad meal at any of the restaurants that we ate at.  It seemed that all the places that we went to really focused on the farm to table concept and it really comes through in the flavors of the food.  Everything from the cheese plates to the cuts of meat to simple sandwiches were all really fresh and flavorful whether it was served from one of the many food trucks or on top of a linen covered table.

After a short day trip out to the coast to Cannon Beach and another hike along the coastline with views that can’t be described in words we made our way about an hour south to the Willamette Valley for a weekend in wine country.  The hospitable folks over at Argyle Winery were gracious enough to host us in their guest house, The Nuthouse, a cozy house within walking distance to many great restaurants in Dundee.  However if you go to Oregon Wine Country, go to the small town of Lafayette and go to Martha’s Tacos.  A life changing experience and where a lot of the vineyard and winery workers go after a long day in the fields.  We ordered a few menu items a shared every last bite, hands down one of the best meals I’ve had with the stand out being their wet burrito.

On our first full day in Dundee we started out with a full tour of Argyle.  They are renown for their sparkling wines but as they told me and from what I tasted, you can’t make good sparkling wine without making good still wines first.  And they sure make good wine.  Sourcing their fruit from four vineyard sites in Willamette they make top notch Chardonnay and Pinot Noir and small amount of Riesling as well as some dessert wine.  We happened to be there on the day that they were disgorging their 2001 Extended Triage Sparkling which was an absolute treat to taste something that is almost 10 years old and is just ready to be released.  After going to the barrel room and tasting some samples of the 2010 vintage right out of the barrel,  our tour had come to an end but the day of tasting had just started.  The rest of the afternoon we drove to Carlton and around Dundee visiting wineries such as Lemelson, Carton Wine Makers Studio, Lange, Tori Mor and finished up the day with a glass of wine on Anne Amie’s patio overlooking the entire Valley.  The only regret I have about this whole trip is that it was only a week long, I could’ve stayed for another couple weeks.

A great meal and a very happy birthday

Courtesy of unknown photographer on boston.com

There are moments in life where food, wine and circumstances blend so perfectly you end up with tornado warnings and an impressive storm.  Last night I took my fiancée to dinner at Aquitaine in the South End for his big birthday, had an amazing dinner and ended up with a spectacular light show outside the window.

Aquitaine has always been a solid restaurant for dinner, but last night I was able to see just how special they are.  I had made my reservation using Open Table and simply asked for nice spot because I was celebrating a birthday.  We arrived and were received warmly by the host.  For me, having been in the restaurant business for 15 years, that was a big deal.  I have been in places where the host is unpleasant and all I want to do is turn around and leave.  Thankfully, Acquitaine recognizes that a welcoming host is the best first impression a restaurant can make.  She sat us down in the back by the big window and put a birthday card down next to Matt’s menu. What a nice personal touch!

Our server, Chris, was phenomenal.  He wished Matt a happy birthday right off the bat, introduced himself and gave us a few minutes to decide on wine.  He knew his menu, knew his wine and exuded a quiet charm and confidence.

I, being obsessed with big Bordeauxs recently, chose the 2004 Chateau Compassant.  From rising Bordeaux Star Jean-Luc Thunevin, the Chateau Compassant is a right bank blend of 80% Merlot, 15% Cabernet Franc and 5% Cabernet Sauvignon. Jean-Luc first came to fame with his “garage” Chateau Valandraud project, focusing on micro cuvees, and work on their vineyard to lower the yields and produce the ripest fruits possible. While Jean-Luc might be the new bad boy of Bordeaux, this right bank offering from just east of St. Emilion is very traditional with some earthy funk, luscious fruit, and firm tannins.   This Bordeaux needed some air and by the time our dinners arrived it was opening up beautifully.  An hour of decanting would have made this wine perfect from the start, but we didn’t have that kind of time.   I let my glass breathe during our appetizer salads and when my steak frittes arrived all I could say was-delicious!

As Matt and I slid into the dessert course, I asked Chris for a recommendation for the Bittersweet Chocolate Mousse.  The menu suggested the Graham’s Six Grape Ruby Reserve, which I have had and wanted something new.  I asked about a cognac and he was quick to point out that the cognac would overpower the delicate flavors of my dessert.  Chris said “Banyuls…that’s what you want.”  Perfect.  I am always happy when a server has a better suggestion.  Matt quickly ordered his Crème Brulee and the Muscat de Baumes de Venise to go with it.

What can I say?  Our meal was heavenly, from top to bottom.  The light show from the sky started during dessert and was the perfect ending.  An awe-inspiring meal and an awe-inspiring act of nature.  Happy Birthday Matt!