MARIANI’S
Virtual
Gourmet
ARCHIVE "The Quiet Man" (1952) HAPPY ST PATRICK'S DAY!
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THIS WEEK WHAT DINING OUT IN PARIS REALLY COSTS By John Mariani NEW YORK CORNER CAFÉ BOULUD By John Mariani THE MAGDALENE LAUNDRIES CHAPTER ELEVEN By John Mariani NOTES FROM THE WINE CELLAR AN AMERICAN IN TUSCANY By John Mariani ❖❖❖
WHAT DINING OUT IN PARIS REALLY COSTS By John Mariani Le Chardenoux Mon Dieu!
How much does it cost to eat in Paris these
days? If you’re planning to dine at
the Michelin three-star L’Arpège, appetizers
will run you between €80 and €120.
At Pierre Gagnaire lunch is price fixed at
€180. At Le Cinq (left), Black Angus
beef
with mozzarella and mushrooms alone sets you
back €180. (As of this writing the
euro is pegged at about $1.08). Such prices
are about as high as you will find
anywhere in the world, even if Forbes
ranks Paris as only the seventh most expensive
city to live in (after Singapore,
Zurich, New York, Geneva, Hong Kong and Los
Angeles). ❖❖❖ NEW YORK CORNER CAFÉ BOULUD
100 East 63rd Street 212-772-2600 By John Mariani Photos by Bil Milne Romain Paumier, Daniel Boulud and Katalina Diaz
Daniel
Boulud is rightfully proud of many
accomplishments in his career, but it was
his being raised on a farm with a namesake
café in Lyon that he cherishes as the
root of his passion
for food and cooking, which, as of the age of
fifteen, he pursued under the
tutelage of some of France’s greatest chefs,
including Roger Vergé, Georges
Blanc and Michel Guérard, who were then
leading the revolution called la
nouvelle cuisine of the 1970s. Open
for dinner Mon.-Sat,; for brunch Sat.&
Sun. ❖❖❖
THE MAGDALENE LAUNDRIES By John Mariani CHAPTER ELEVEN
In
checking up on Sipe, Katie found he had been born
in 1932 in
Robbinsdale, Minnesota, to a family of ten
children. Upon joining the
priesthood in 1959, he added the name “Aquinas” to
his, out of reverence for
the Church’s greatest dogmatist, Thomas Aquinas. "Laocoon" For
the next 25 years Sipe and Marianne researched the
crimes of the clergy, as
much to expose them as to try to understand the
psychoses that drove these men
and women to such nefarious activity. No
one paid much attention to their work. © John Mariani, 2018 ❖❖❖ NOTES FROM THE WINE CELLAR
AN AMERICAN IN TUSCANY For
an American woman
who has never studied
enology, Jem Macy has been ruffling the feathers
of tradition-bound Tuscan
winemakers. Beginning only in 2000, she and
then-husband founded a
nine-hectare boutique winery while working as a
portfolio manager for a US
importer.
My first estate was
Castello Poggiarello—where
I planted vineyards,
built a cellar and made wines for ten years. Then, I
ran a large estate called
Mansalto on behalf of foreign investors, leaving
that role to found Fanciulle
Vini. Initially, I wanted to create a
négoce, such as are common in Burgundy, buying
high quality, organic grapes
from different vineyards around Tuscany and making
wines from them. But most
estates are not willing to sell their best grapes,
so I invested in buying
vineyards so that I could conduct the kind of
viticulture I believe is
necessary for the quality of grapes I want. My
business model is sound—we are
on track to break even this year (our fifth—so
pretty good for a wine business)
but it’s also very romantic to me. I love wine and I
love almost every aspect
of the business, from working in the vineyards, to
working in the cellar, to
marketing the wines. You
own many acres, but also buy grapes from growers.
What do you look for in the
grapes you use? The
kind of terrain they were grown on
(limestone, sandstone, clay, etc.).
The elevation is important, too, as is the age of
the vines. Tuscans have a
penchant for ripping out vineyards when they are 25
years old because yields
get lower, whereas a vine starts to produce its
best, most complex, balanced
grapes at around 35 years of age. Less than 15% of
vines in Tuscany are over 40
years old. It’s tragic! If the grape supplier allows
me, I try to manage the
later part of the growing season, but usually I have
no say, so it’s good that,
as I’ve discovered, badly managed vines (overcropped
vines, or vines that have
suffered during the growing season) can still
produce grapes that make
outstanding wines, if the terrain is good enough. How
were you received as a foreigner coming to
tradition-bound Tuscany ? I
managed the Italian portfolio of a
U.S. importer for almost a decade. Wine estates tend
to listen to their biggest
clients, so I mostly got them to collaborate with
what we wanted done in the
cellar, but I have no doubt they were skeptical. As
a producer, I guess
everyone thinks I’m nuts. You
were not trained in enology. Where did you acquire
your expertise? By
tasting with really great
tasters—thousands of wines a year, both bottled
wines and wines from tank and
barrel. By talking to Burgundian winemakers a lot
and hanging out in their
cellars when I could. And by making mistakes. In
Burgundy their mantra is to do as little as
possible to the terroir and
grapes. Does that make sense in Tuscany? It
makes sense to me to do as much as
possible to keep the aromas, flavors and textures
that derive from the grapes
and partially from where they’re grown as pure and
unfettered as possible.
Often that means doing a lot in the
vineyard—detailed work on each plant,
careful cultivation of the soil, etc.
Good viticulture can be expensive and
time-consuming, too. Ideally, if you
bring great grapes into the cellar, all you have to
do is make sure they
ferment swiftly (but not too swiftly!), age them for
a while and bottle them.
And in some vintages in Tuscany or elsewhere it
works out like that. “Fanciulla”
is an old-fashioned Italian word for "girl,"
somewhat like the
English “lass.” I always liked the term, and I live
in a world of girls.
I have two daughters, my sister has two
daughters, I have seven female cousins, so it was
the right word. ou
are using the same Sangiovese grape that goes into
Chianti, Chianti Classico,
Vino Nobile, Rosso di Montalcino and Brunello (as
well as the so-called Super
Tuscans). Why are you not taking advantage of the
Italian appellations on your
label, not even the IGT? Many
reasons. First, the idea behind
Fanciulle is to explore how Sangiovese wines made
from grapes grown on
different soil types compare. I had to eliminate, as
much as possible, other
variables, so I could not be constrained by those
appellations' recipes or
aging rules or anything like that. Second, I had a
hunch that some of those
rules were going to get in the way of making the
kind of pure, fresh, nuanced
wines I wanted to make. Third, each of those
appellations includes enormous
variations in the quality and type of terrain, and
therefore wine quality,
which I am not sure serves the customer well.
Fourth, there is an almost
unimaginably large amount of bureaucracy involved in
owning and running a farm
in Italy, and being part of an appellation would
only increase that. I want to
be in the vineyard and the cellar as much as
possible, not at my computer. I
have a precise idea of the wines I
want to make, and, in the vineyard and cellar, I am
doing what I believe will
produce them. It’s definitely different from how
other Tuscan estates work, but
fortunately there’s room for all of us in the wine
world. I
consult both to potential investors
as well as to current winery owners. The choice of
whether to smooth over some
old man-made or natural terraces has a number of
implications. Obviously, a
continuous hillside can be farmed more efficiently.
More vines can be planted
and the viticulture can be mechanized. On the other
hand, the top few inches of
soil contain most of what’s most important for the
vines. It’s possible to rake
aside this topsoil, smooth the hillside and then put
it back, but I tend to feel
that leaving the soil layers as they have developed
over the decades as intact
as possible will offer the best habitat for the
young vines. Also, terraces are
so picturesque!
It
seems silly to me to practice
organic viticulture as I do, to work incessantly at
enriching the top-soils,
making them as soft and airy and full of life as
possible, if I am going to
roll over them ten or 20 times a year with a few
tons of metal spewing diesel
fumes everywhere. Our
neighbor raises cattle and is happy
to share the manure. You
prefer grapes from older vines. Why? Old
vines are easier to manage. They
thrive in drought or floods, are more
disease-resistant, ripen their grapes
more evenly. And then the grapes are more complex
and nuanced, so the wines
made from them are too. Tuscany’s
hot, dry summers have surely
gotten hotter and drier, but growing seasons have
always provided their share
of challenges. Fortunately, both vines and humans
have a great capacity to
adapt. How
can you guard against excessive alcohol levels in
your wines? Old
vines help keep alcohol more
moderate. I tend to pick on the fresh side of ripe,
which also helps. Reducing
yields too much contributes to high alcohols. The
growers I buy grapes from
tend to err on the generous side in terms of how
much fruit they leave on the
vine, which suits Sangiovese well. What’s
your 5-year plan? I’d
like to be doing exactly what I’m
doing now, honing my skills, deepening my understand
of winemaking, marveling
at the beauty and mystery of wine. So far, each
vintage has presented
opportunities to vinify grapes from new soil types.
I hope that continues, and
I wouldn’t mind finding a parcel or two more of old
vines to add to my
holdings. ❖❖❖ DON'T SAY "GAY"
The FLORIDA MAN
GAMES, promoted as “the
most insane athletic showdown on Earth,” poke fun at
the state’s reputation for
bizarre stories that involve brawling, drinking,
gunfire, reptile wrangling and
other antics carrying a risk of time in jail or
intensive care, such as contenders wrestling
sumo-style while holding pitchers
of beer and a pool noodle mud duel. ❖❖❖ 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. ❖❖❖
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.
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