MARIANI’S
Virtual Gourmet
Nik-L-Nips
Wax Juice Bottles ❖❖❖
IN THIS ISSUE MARTHA'S VINEYARD By John Mariani NEW YORK CORNER BRASSERIE 8 1/2 By John Mariani NOTES FROM THE WINE CELLAR THE FOUR BLACK BULLS OF THE SPANISH WINE APOCALYPSE WREAK HAVOC IN THE NORTHERN VINEYARDS
❖❖❖ MARTHA'S VINEYARD By John Mariani
The ferries ply the New
England waters between the mainland and
Nantucket, Cape Cod and Martha’s Vineyard all
the year round, and each season has its charms
and its degree of activity on those North
Atlantic islands. NEW YORK
CORNER
By John Mariani Photos by Evan Sung BRASSERIE 8/12
NYC’s historic restaurants dwarf in
number those of any other city in the world,
beginning with America’s very first restaurant,
Delmonico’s, in 1837 to the Italian kitsch of
Mama Leone's in the 1940s and the grandeur of
The Four Seasons and Windows on the World in the
post-war 20th century. These and so many others
were as much works of innovative architecture as
they were fine dining establishments, and,
though some very dazzling restaurants have
opened in Las Vegas and Asia in the present
century, in NYC only the stunning glass box at
Lincoln Center named Lincoln Ristorante (where
my son is g-m), opened in 2012, shows signs of
an enduring architectural legacy.
Sunday 11a.m.-9 p.m.; Monday-Friday 11:30 a.m.-10 p.m.; Saturday 5-10 p.m.
❖❖❖ NOTES FROM THE WINE CELLAR
THE
FOUR BLACK BULLS OF THE SPANISH WINE
In their wake, they have brought a great wave of demoralization, one which the brave men and women who farm the vineyards of Atlantic Spain will no doubt overcome. Still, at this point, many predict crop losses of 70 to 90 percent. In mid-April, high winds in Galicia ripped off branches of vines in Rías Baixas, according to Manolo Dovalo, owner of Adegas Rozas, who produces one of Galicia’s greatest artisan Albariños. Then on the night of April 28 a late freeze that will go down in the history of this region devastated much of La Rioja Alta and La Rioja Alavesa, causing 90 to 100% damage to this year’s grape crops. Luis Albert Lecea, owner of Bodegas Lecea in San Asensio, told me, “I have bad news. There will be no wine next year.” Luis then took me on a tour of his devastated vineyards. Lecea and his crew laboriously laid water lines into his vineyards and spent 800 Euros on gasoil (diesel) to run the pumps, trying to irrigate the vines, which had also been suffering from drought, hoping that the water would provoke the growth of more leaves to replace those shriveled by the freeze (left). Three days later, I arrived in Villafranca del Bierzo and found roads still being cleared from mud slides, the Camino de Santiago in front of La Puerta del Perdón strewn with rocks washed down by the torrential rains, and mud across many roads. There were reports of hail and freeze that, especially in lower lying vineyards, will mean a short crop in 2017. A month after the freeze hit, Bierzo producer Gregory Perez, owner of Bodegas y Viñedos Mengoba, told me, "Now is when we are really beginning to see the damage from the freeze: the vines are drying up, the bark of the trunks is bursting, and the only thing we can do is severely re-crop the salvageable vines and begin anew. Later the same day, I visited Hacienda Ucediños in O Barco de Valdeorras, whose owners, Eladio and Marcos Santalla Freile, reported their prime Godello Vineyard was hard hit by the freeze and will produce little or no wine. They were also hit by torrential rains. D’Berna in Córgomo in Valdeorras, higher up than some of its neighbors, escaped the freeze, but was hit with mudslides during a downpour in which three inches of rain fell in just a couple of hours, The deluge brought tons of topsoil down from the vineyards that surround the winery and deposited several feet of mud and rocks in the parking lot, buried their cooling unit and knocked out their water. When I arrived, several members of the family were hand shoveling the mud into wheel barrows and taking it away, while a front loader plowed mud out of the parking lot and road leading into the winery (right). In Ribeira Sacra, where I was last week, there were more reports of hail and torrential rains. José Manuel Rodríguez, President of the Ribeira Sacra D. O. and producer of the superb Décima Mencía, suffered damage to one of his prime vineyards to add to the loss of much of his crop last year to a powerful hail storm. Here there were also reports of freeze and more damage from hail and torrential rains. I spent an afternoon with my Bodegas Artesanas Albariño producers in Rías Baixas, where Manolo Dovalo of Adegas Rozas reported wind damage in his vineyards, but all six of my producers seemed to have escaped serious crop damage. Not so in Ribeiro, to the east and inland, where Manolo Formigo showed me freeze damage and estimated that he may lose as much as 80% of 2017’s expected production. In Monterrei, Antonio Triay, his wife, Puri García, and their son (left) showed me their freeze-damaged vines and were very demoralized. Puri’s father, who farmed the Triay’s vineyards for decades is now an octogenarian. He remembers a hard frost like the one that hit this year, but back in 1941! They are small, very high quality producers of Triay Godello and Mencía and they believe that 85 to 90% of their 2017 crop was wiped out in the late April freeze that hit the Monterrei D.O. particularly hard. Of all the regions I have visited so far, only southern Navarra seems to have escaped damage. Carlos Aliaga at Bodega Aliaga reported no damage. Ironically, where I saw the mud slides the mudslides and the rock strewn across the road near La Puerta del Perdón in Villafranca del Bierzo, there was a wall mural of a hiker with the words "AVE FENIX." It appears that the vineyards of much of northern Spain will have to do just that, rise like the Phoenix from the ruins of the 2007 freeze, regroup and battle their way back what is sure to be a very hard economic blow to that wine making efforts.
All photos by Gerry Dawes©2017.
❖❖❖
Competitive
eater Molly Schuyler (left),
who weighs 100-pounds and is a mother of four, set
a record for the most burgers eaten in 97 seconds,
beating out 12 male competitors at the annual Hwy 55
World Hamburger Eating Competition in Raleigh, NC.
The meal included seven stacked burgers from Hwy
55 restaurant, a side of fries and a 20-ounce drink in
one minute and 37 seconds, winning her a grand prize of
$2,500. MOST ENTICING
OPENING LINE TO “Since
colonial days, the community that became the midsized
mountain city of Roanoke, Virginia, has been a
transportation hub.”—Mason Adams, “It’s Easy Being
Green,” Delta Sky
(April 2017). ❖❖❖
Any of John Mariani's books below may be ordered from amazon.com. The Hound in Heaven (21st Century Lion Books) is a novella, and for anyone who loves dogs, Christmas, romance, inspiration, even the supernatural, I hope you'll find this to be a treasured favorite. The story concerns how, after a New England teacher, his wife and their two daughters adopt a stray puppy found in their barn in northern Maine, their lives seem full of promise. But when tragedy strikes, their wonderful dog Lazarus and the spirit of Christmas are the only things that may bring his master back from the edge of despair. WATCH THE VIDEO! “What a huge surprise turn this story took! I was completely stunned! I truly enjoyed this book and its message.” – Actress Ali MacGraw “He had me at Page One. The amount of heart, human insight, soul searching, and deft literary strength that John Mariani pours into this airtight novella is vertigo-inducing. Perhaps ‘wow’ would be the best comment.” – James Dalessandro, author of Bohemian Heart and 1906. “John Mariani’s Hound in Heaven starts with a well-painted portrayal of an American family, along with the requisite dog. A surprise event flips the action of the novel and captures us for a voyage leading to a hopeful and heart-warming message. A page turning, one sitting read, it’s the perfect antidote for the winter and promotion of holiday celebration.” – Ann Pearlman, author of The Christmas Cookie Club and A Gift for my Sister. “John Mariani’s concise, achingly beautiful novella pulls a literary rabbit out of a hat – a mash-up of the cosmic and the intimate, the tragic and the heart-warming – a Christmas tale for all ages, and all faiths. Read it to your children, read it to yourself… but read it. Early and often. Highly recommended.” – Jay Bonansinga, New York Times bestselling author of Pinkerton’s War, The Sinking of The Eastland, and The Walking Dead: The Road To Woodbury. “Amazing things happen when you open your heart to an animal. The Hound in Heaven delivers a powerful story of healing that is forged in the spiritual relationship between a man and his best friend. The book brings a message of hope that can enrich our images of family, love, and loss.” – Dr. Barbara Royal, author of The Royal Treatment. ❖❖❖
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FEATURED
LINKS: I am happy to report
that the Virtual
Gourmet is linked to four excellent
travel sites: Everett Potter's Travel Report: I consider this the best and
savviest blog of its kind on the web. Potter is a
columnist for USA
Weekend, Diversion, Laptop and Luxury Spa Finder,
a contributing editor for Ski and a frequent contributor
to National
Geographic Traveler, ForbesTraveler.com
and Elle Decor.
"I’ve designed this site is for people who take
their travel seriously," says Potter. "For
travelers who want to learn about special places
but don’t necessarily want to pay through the nose for
the privilege of staying there. Because at the end
of the day, it’s not so much about five-star
places as five-star experiences." THIS WEEK:
Eating Las Vegas
JOHN CURTAS has been covering the Las Vegas
food and restaurant scene since 1995. He is
the co-author of EATING LAS VEGAS – The 50
Essential Restaurants (as well as
the author of the Eating Las Vegas web site: www.eatinglasvegas.
He can also be seen every Friday morning as
the “resident foodie” for Wake Up With the
Wagners on KSNV TV (NBC) Channel 3 in
Las Vegas.
MARIANI'S VIRTUAL GOURMET
NEWSLETTER is published weekly. Editor/Publisher: John
Mariani.
Editor: Walter Bagley. Contributing Writers: Christopher Mariani,
Robert Mariani, Misha Mariani, John A. Curtas, Geoff Kalish, Mort
Hochstein, and
Brian Freedman. Contributing Photographer: Galina
Dargery. Technical Advisor: Gerry McLoughlin.
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