MARIANI’S
Virtual
Gourmet
Joan
Crawford
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IN THIS ISSUE HOW CAN EVERY RESTAURANT CLAIM TO SERVE HAVE THE BEST OF EVERYTHING? By John Mariani NEW YORK CORNER Macelleria Greenwich, CT By John Mariani CAPONE'S GOLD CHAPTER 29 By John Mariani NOTES FROM THE WINE CELLAR Brancott of New Zealand By John Mariani ❖❖❖ On this week's episode of my WVOX
Radio Show "Almost Golden," on Wed. October
20 at 11AM EST,I will be
interviewing the indefatigable
chanteuse, aged 93, Marilyn Maye about
her career and the history of
cabaret. Go to: WVOX.com.
The episode will also be archived at: almostgolden.
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WHY SO MANY RESTAURANTS'
CLAIM TO
SERVE THE BEST OF EVERYTHING ARE BOGUS By John Mariani "Still Life with Raspberries" (c. 1770) by Luis Meléndez
Some years ago I watched while the late
French chef Joël Robuchon stood
outside his namesake Paris restaurant with a
vendor of raspberries. Looking
over the flats with the eye of an eagle,
Robuchon said, “That one, not
that,
not that, yes, that one. . .” and accepted
perhaps four out of the twelve
cartons. Mind you, vendors would not dare to
bring a chef like Robuchon, whose
restaurant then had three Michelin stars,
anything but their absolute best. Yet
among those flats Robuchon picked the best of
the best. ❖❖❖ NEW
YORK CORNER
MACELLERIA By John Mariani
Greenwich,
Connecticut, has long needed both a high quality
steakhouse
and a fine Italian restaurant. Macelleria, which
debuted in Pelham, New York,
two years ago, with a second in Armonk, has
managed to provide both to this
suburban city on the Gold Coast within one
splendid looking space. Open
for lunch and dinner daily.
❖❖❖ CAPONE’S
GOLD
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Basilica
di San Francesco di Paola, Naples
The
flight landed in Rome, where Katie and David
had a quick brioche and cappuccino before
getting the fast train to Naples that took
barely an hour, arriving
in the city center terminal.
The next
morning, after coffee and brioche,
Katie and David were feeling wholly refreshed,
excited by what lay ahead, believing that the
last piece of the puzzle might
soon be found.
And it was all to happen
in Naples, which was
sun-filled and clear that day after a midnight
rainfall. © John Mariani, 2015 ❖❖❖ NOTES FROM THE WINE CELLAR
NEW ZEALAND'S BRANCOTT ESTATE WINERY HIRES FIRST WOMAN WINEMAKER By John Mariani
I would hardly be the first to say that
Brancott
Estate was the pioneer of New Zealand winemaking,
beginning back in 1973 in Marlborough, showing
that the terroir was excellent for viticulture and
at least as good as Australia's (which is 2,500
miles away) and growing into the country's largest
producer. The brand was adopted in 2010 by
Pernod Ricard. This month Laura-Kate Morgan, who
grew up in Marlborough, was appointed the first
woman to hold the position of winemaker. I checked
in with her as to Brancott's heritage and future
and that of women in the wine world.
How long has
Lincoln University offered a
dedicated wine program? 1998 was the first
year Lincoln University
offered the bachelor’s degree in viticulture and
oenology. While the one-year
Postgraduate Diploma in Viticulture and Oenology was
up and running several
years prior and currently both the postgraduate
diploma and bachelor’s degrees
are still offered. Grape and wine research at
Lincoln University dates back
until the early 1970s. What
are the main differences in
terroir within NZ? How do they differ from
Australia’s or California’s? Here
at Brancott Estate and
through the New Zealand wine industry, our wines
reflect and explore our unique
Tūrangawaewae, literally translating as “a place to
put your feet” or the place
where the grape finds itself — the soil, the
climate, the people — all woven
together. This is what differentiates NZ Sauvignon
Blanc from other countries’
Sauv Blanc. We have amazing soils, fantastic
sunlight hours and UV exposure,
lovely warm days and cooler nights (diurnal
temperature), amazing culture and
people. New
Zealand, being a cooler
climate, has longer, cooler growing conditions that
promote vibrant and
expressive fruit flavors and higher acidity. The
diurnal temperature is
fantastic and there is slow ripening, freshness is
retained and acidity. The
resulting wines are pungent, crisp with passionfruit
and tropical overtones,
citrus, and herbaceous notes not to forget the
freshness lingering acidity on
the palate — this is Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc. How
did canopy management
radically charge viticulture in NZ? Mechanical
leaf plucking
practices were first presented to the New Zealand
wine industry in the late
1980s. The results promoted benefits for managing
disease and increasing ripe
fruit flavors. This created a change within the
industry, shining a spotlight
on the beneficial impacts that canopy management has
on wine quality. The increase of vineyard area in
New Zealand and the subsequent pressure on labor
resources meant that the
industry could adopt creative solutions for leaf
removal, including the use of
sheep like the ones Brancott Estate has in our
vineyards. Is
the NZ wine industry male
dominated still? Who are some of your female
colleagues? The
industry has really evolved.
Twenty years ago, there were fewer women in
winemaking as it used to be seen as
manual, hands-on work for men — which is definitely
not the case now. There are
so many opportunities and interesting roles from
winemaking, to sales, and
management. It is an exciting time for New Zealand
wine. It is an incredibly
diverse industry to work in. The wine industry is a
giant platform and there is
a lot that goes into producing a bottle of wine.
Across our sites and operations,
the company represents great diversity, within our
winemaking team alone we
currently have 70% female occupying winemaking
roles. A handful noted below are women
that are working within the wine industry and
specifically for Pernod Ricard
for a while and have worked their way to their
various roles/positions, including Jo-Anna
Partridge, with various
roles across various countries within our
organization and industry; Lesley Boon,
Viticulture
manager South Island, and Trina Smith, Group White and
Sparkling Winemaker Pernod
Ricard Winemakers Australia What
innovations have you been
making for the future within such a large
company? The
adoption of technology is
huge. It is allowing us to have more visibility and
be able to capture more
data as it's happening. This means we can be more
reactive and make decisions a
lot faster, we can be more agile and troubleshoot
problems before they arrive. Examples in the
vineyard include
AVT (autonomous vineyard tractors), which has
allowed us to protect ourselves
from a shortage in labor, real time data with soil
moisture monitoring, and
therefore, irrigation, which has given us the
ability to act precisely rather
than on instinct and new constantly, improving
harvesting technology. Examples
in the winery include real time data, with tank
analysis using probes and
sensors, a catwalk-less winery helping to eliminate
risks involved with
earthquakes, lights out processing, which maximizes
technology while offsite
through the night and use of machine learning and
predictions with a
intelligent, integrated software system. What
is the company’s commitment
to sustainability and climate change? As a company that
has such a strong focus on the
beautiful land of New Zealand and the bounty it has
to offer, Brancott Estate
understands the importance of sustainability and
climate change. Brancott has
been dedicated to advocating sustainable wine
practices from adopting screw
caps to advocating for stainless steel over oak. Beyond the
liquid and bottle, as a founding
member of New Zealand's original sustainable wine
growing initiative, we’re
dedicated to nurturing and protecting the
Marlborough region, including the
wildlife.
"If a ruby-red Beamer
screams
panic for a certain breed of middle-aged men,
do soulless corporate digs for a
guerrilla outfit turned establishment darling
signal anxiety about identity for
an iconic culinary empire?"—Jiayang Fan, "Momofuku
Ssäm
Bar," The New Yorker (10/18/21). ❖❖❖
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. ❖❖❖
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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."
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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