MARIANI’S
Virtual
Gourmet
❖❖❖
IN THIS ISSUE COOPERSTOWN, NY By Geoffrey Kalish NEW YORK CORNER MIFUNE NEW YORK By John Mariani CAPONE'S GOLD CHAPTER 22 By John Mariani NOTES FROM THE WINE CELLAR BILLECART-SALMON CHAMPAGNE By John Mariani ❖❖❖ On this week's episode of my WVOX
Radio Show "Almost Golden," on Wed. Sept.1at
11AM EDT,I will be featuring the Songs
of the Civil
Rights Movement, including singers
Marian Anderson, Odette, Rev. Gary
Davis, Sam Cooke, Marvin Gaye and
others. . Go to: WVOX.com.
The episode will also be archived at: almostgolden.
❖❖❖ COOPERSTOWN, NY By Geoffrey Kalish
Yes, there’s the Baseball Hall
of Fame (below), with all it’s
fantastic exhibits of the sport, but there’s
a lot more to do in Cooperstown (a 3½-hour
car ride from Manhattan) and nearby
environs, from an exceptional art museum and
farmers’ museum to an annual opera festival
(Glimmerglass) to nearby wineries, scenic
golf and surprisingly good lodging and
dining options.
Ours was
clean, quiet and contained a walk-in shower
and very comfortable king-sized bed. Also,
breakfast, with daily changing specials like
quiches and omelets, as well as yogurt and
fresh fruit, enhanced the overall experience,
as did the advice about activities and dining
options from new owners John and Keith. ❖❖❖ NEW YORK
CORNER
MIFUNE NEW YORK
245 East 44th
Street
646-581-4702 By John Mariani Located within a chopstick’s throw
of the U.N., the four-year-old Mifune has
been one of New York’s most distinguished
Japanese restaurants that has evolved under
the leadership of chef-owner Hiroki
Yoshitake—he named it after Japan’s favorite
action hero, Toshiro Mifune, star of such
classic samurai movies as Seven
Samurai, Yojimbo and Rasho-Mon—whose original
restaurant in Paris is called La Sola. In
New York the hands-on
skills of co-executive chefs Yuu Shimano and
Tomohiro Urata manifest a cross-cultural
refinement very different from other
Japanese restaurants around town.
Mifune is open for .
Dinner: Wed.-Sat. ❖❖❖ CAPONE’S
GOLD
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
The next morning they had the atlas
spread open on the dinner table. David
felt funny not having a change of clothes.
Katie was in jeans and a v-neck t-shirt that
David couldn’t keep his eyes off. She seemed
to notice and said, “It’s a little chilly in
here. I’m going to get a sweater.”
*
*
*
David busied himself
re-connecting with old cronies and contacts in
the police department and the F.B.I., sharing
with them details—not all with everyone—that
might get them to thinking and helping him to
figure out the mystery of Al Capone’s gold.
*
*
*
Meanwhile,
Katie was doing her research on the state of
gold in the international market during the
years just before and during World War II, and
confirmed the fact that European nations were
parking gold in the U.S. Treasury for
safekeeping.
Yet neither Germany nor Italy did so,
although they may have had some stored in Swiss
banks, which discreetly kept even their most
notorious clients’ business transactions secret. © John Mariani, 2015 ❖❖❖ NOTES FROM THE WINE CELLAR
BILLECART-SALMON 2021 By John Mariani
Billecart-Salmon has been
consistently ranked among the finest Champagnes,
dating back to 1818 when Tell me a
little of your own background. How many family
members are involved? I grew up in
Champagne, but was trained internationally. I
studied Economics and Business in London, and more
recently, I graduated with a Champagne vines pruning
degree that teaches how to prune vines the Champagne
way, as well as all other steps in growing Champagne
vines/grapes. While it is not strictly necessary to
do my job as CEO of the house, it was very important
for me to understand the finest details of how to
get the very best grapes across our different
vineyards as it is the essential cornerstone to
making amazing Champagne. I came back to Champagne
in 2017, and I have run the estate since 2019 as the
seventh-generation CEO. Our family
has created and has remained at the helm of the
house since 1818. I am the 7th generation of the
family to lead the house and I work with two other
family members who focus on sales: Antoine
Roland-Billecart is Deputy General Manager for
export; François
Roland-Billecart is Chairman. Jean Roland-Billecart
is fifth generation and honorary member of the
Billecart-Salmon tasting committee. When did Billecart-Salmon
begin its rise to eminence? The house has long been
known to produce some of the very best Champagnes,
and my
great-great grandfather got them into the Court of
Russia. Our
reputation has continued to grow organically amongst
the connoisseurs and the elite of food and wine
lovers since then. We have never done much
communication or advertising compared to other
brands. It is basically word of mouth and informal
patronage from top chefs, sommeliers, wine lovers,
collectors, etc. that have made Billecart’s
reputation as a top quality producer. More recently,
we were in the spotlight in 1999 as our prestige
cuvée Nicolas François 1959 was elected Champagne of
the Millennium by a panel of the most esteemed
international wine critics. How much Champagne does
Billecart-Salmon make and sell? (It is believed
production is about 1.7 million bottles.) Where
are its biggest markets? Billecart does not publish
numbers on quantities produced, but in terms of
markets, geographically, France remains our largest
market, followed by the USA, the UK, Italy and
Australia. In terms of market segment, we focus on
high-end gastronomy restaurants as well as luxury
hotels and independent wine merchants. We also work
in partnership with independent luxury brands and
are fortunate to have a long list of private clients
and collectors. We simply try to be available where
they go, but we have to be very selective as we have
limited quantities to sell, relative to the demand. What sets it apart from
other grand marques? The quality of wine is at
the center of everything we do and we have our own
way of creating our very fine bubbles with no
compromise. Our family ownership and management mean
that we thrive to build long-term, sustainable and
resilient relationships with all the people involved
in the Billecart-Salmon ecosystem, from our grower
partners to our customers across the world. It is
the accumulation of small things that make a big
difference of quality in the end. It is easy to say
that one focuses on quality—whether it is the
vineyard, in the wine making, approach to people
etc.—but it is quite another to build a reputation
around it as we have done. To be more
specific with examples, I can’t think of any other
houses that have:
•
Uninterrupted family ownership, have a CEO
that is a direct descendant of the founders of the
house and are over 200 years old.
•
Won the awards of the best Champagne ever
produced with the Champagne of the Millennium award
for our (now called) Cuvée Nicolas François in
Vintage 1959 and our 1961 also finished second.
•
Source its grapes from 2/3 Grand Cru and
Premier Cru.
•
Use a unique cold fermentation technique that
gives additional freshness and longevity to all its
wines.
•
Is present in the vast majority of the
Michelin star restaurants in France and across the
world. What happened to the
vineyards during the two world wars? They stayed where they
were, and they were still worked, but it was
clearly a troubled time. Champagne was still
produced, but mainly consumed by the Germans. Stocks
were re-built by setting aside a part of the
production every year that was not sold to rebuild
our stock of bottles and reserve wines. These are
huge financial sacrifices for a family to make,
particularly in hard times as it was then, but it is
the price to pay if you want to offer exceptional
Champagne to your clients. Champagne workers in the vineyards during World War II
Temperatures have gone up
in the last decade. The rise in the temperature
in Champagne over the past three decades has been
1.1C (about 2F).
So far, it has meant it is easier to get our
grapes to maturity, which is a good thing (for
now!). We have had to adapt our methods in the
vineyard from pruning, taking some leaves out,
harvesting early, etc. Longer term, we may have to
change the type of vines we use and the density of
plantation but we are not quite at that stage yet.
The CIVC has approved the use of Voltis as
a potential grape to use in the future to fight
against global warming. It is still very early days,
and we have not experimented with it as a house for
now. What are the
reasons prestige cuvées are so much more expensive
than other Champagnes from the same marque? They are the best of the
best: the best parcels that give our best wines,
long ageing in our cellars, and they are only done
in selective years. All our prestige cuvées are
vintage Champagne (i.e, made from only one year instead
of a blend of several years). What makes the
prestige cuvées stand apart at Billecart-Salmon is
that they are only produced in the very best years,
from the very best parcels that have achieved the
ultimate maturity. They are aged significantly
longer than our NVs, typically a minimum of 10-12
years before they are released, thereby gaining
additional depth and complexity. Finally, the blends
of our prestige cuvées are made to age for a very
long time so our cuvées Nicolas Francois, Elisabeth
Salmon and Louis Salmon can frequently age well over
20 years. It is best to think of these cuvées as the
“best of the best” that a house’s vineyard and
know-how can ever produce. The vintage element means
you get a different expression in the wine from one
year to the next depending on the weather conditions
of that particular year, which makes it a one off. Describe to me the
differences of the vineyards and why they were
chosen for the bottling Elisabeth Salmon, i.e.,
Montagne de Reims and the Grande Vallée de la
Marne; the Côtes des Blancs; Valofroy, a parcel of
old vines in Mareuil-sur-Aÿ with a full southern
exposure. They are decided at the
harvest based on the tasting of the grapes directly
in the plot. For the Elisabeth Salmon 2008
blend, we sourced our Pinot Noir Grand Cru and
Premier Cru from Montagne de Reims and Grand Vallée
de la Marne and Chardonnay Grand Cru exclusively
from Cotes des Blancs. Vallofroy is the name of a
parcel of Pinot Noir planted in the village of
Mareuil sur Aÿ, and we used the grapes from that
parcel to vinify as red wine that was used to make
this cuvée as a rosé (blending white and red wines). The most important thing
is when we blind taste the wines from these parcels
and we select the very best to use in
these top cuvées. It is hard to summarize, but
it comes down to:
•
The soil (at Billecart-Salmon, we favor deep
chalk soil that you find in the premier and grand
cru and we use over 2/3 of Grand Cru and Premier
Cru)
•
The choice of the right grape variety in
specific regions (for example, Côte des Blancs is
amazing for Chardonnay but less so for other grape
varieties)
•
The age of the vineyard (the older the vines,
the more concentration you get )
•
The maturity level at which they are
harvested
•
Aside from these technical elements, we
confirm the above when we press the grapes and taste
the must that we make wine with. Great taste is what
it is all about ultimately if you want a great wine
and champagne How have sales been
impacted during the pandemic? They were badly impacted
at the start during Spring, but, taking a step
back, Billecart-Salmon has more demand than the
bottles we have for sale, so we switched our
allocations across different
markets/channels and, over the entire year, we
sold the same number of bottle as in a normal year.
We are fortunate to have much more demand globally
than we can supply, so we simply increased their
allocation to markets/regions and wine
merchants/retailers that we knew typically wanted
more of our bottles (knowing that our
restaurant/hotels clients would not want to take
their usual allocations since they were closed). Did restaurants stop
buying when they were closed by Covid? For the vast majority,
that’s the right, but our clients kept buying our
bottles from retailers and websites to enjoy at home
and make their lockdown a little bit more enjoyable.
What are the differences
between Reims and Épernay wines? Reims (left)
and Épernay are indeed cities where other houses
have based their HQ, but it is not where the vines
are grown. Also, virtually all three main grape
varieties are planted in all villages around Reims
or Epernay and indeed across the wider Champagne
region. At Billecart-Salmon, we have made the choice
to stay in the heart of the vineyard at Mareuil sur
Aÿ and not move our HQ to a City, so we can stay
close to our vineyards. We are very fortunate
that the vast majority of the Premier and Grand
Cru are 20km radius around our village and
that’s where we source our grapes from. You are
right that there are differences between each of the
villages individually and even sometimes within a
village, and our 200 years of
experience and know-how gives us the ability to
hand-pick where to get the very best from each
parcel and great variety to make great Champagne. How do you balance
tradition with modernity? Tradition gives us the
experience and know-how to make exceptional wines.
It has taught us the sacrifices and commitment we
must have to produce the very
best Champagne, but nothing is ever set in
stone and you have to keep challenging yourself to
do better. We embrace modernity and technology where
it helps us make better wines and / or work our
vines better. That said, we are a little weary
of trying every little new fad. We have to be humble
in our approach, we have been making wines for over
200 years and we know that one has to take time to
achieve excellence and not be distracted all the
time. We tend to avoid anything that does not
contribute to long-term and sustainable improvement
in quality, so that excludes much of the trends in
short-term partnership with celebrities,
advertisement. We work with nature and that requires
long-term engagement and patience, if you want to
make any kind of improvement. How has the
competition from sparklers from other countries,
including the USA, Italy, Spain et al, affected
Champagne sales? It is hard to say. We know
the sparkling category is growing faster than
Champagne but equally Champagne production is
limited so it is to be expected. It may affect some
of the bottom end Champagne producers in terms of
direct competition but that does not directly affect
us with our customers that want the very
best wine, instead of buying something (mainly)
based on price. Are any of the great
marques owned by non-French? Many
´grand marques’ are owned by listed
international groups (LVMH, Pernod Ricard, etc.) and
I suspect many of their shareholders are non-French.
At the very top in terms of quality and at the top
end of Champagne, I can’t think of a house with a
non-French owner. ❖❖❖ . . . AND
THE EDGE TASTES JUST LIKE THE TIN CAN
“Conventional wisdom says that fresher is better, but when it comes to umami-packed brine and easy volume, canned clams have the edge.”—Anna Hezel, “The Shortcut to Clam Opulence,” Taste (8/21)
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. ❖❖❖
❖❖❖
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
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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
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travelers who want to learn about special places
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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."
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. Publisher: John Mariani. Editor: Walter Bagley. Contributing Writers: Christopher
Mariani, Misha Mariani, John A. Curtas, Gerry Dawes, Geoff Kalish.
Contributing
Photographer: Galina Dargery. Technical
Advisor: Gerry
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