What do mothers love? Tea. Scones. Clotted cream. Rose gardens. Museums with…art and pretty things. Where do you take your mother when she visits town? A place that has tea, scones, clotted cream, a ton of roses and a lot of art. Get thee to the Huntington!

The gardens are absolutely lovely. There’s a rainforest, a tropical garden, a sub-tropical garden, desert garden, japanese garden, chinese garden…you get the point. There is no short of variety here. And within the rose garden there is also a tea room. From the idyllic splendor of rose scented paths and floating butterflies, we entered….

A Doubletree in Ohio? A Best Western continental breakfast in Indiana? What is going on here?

After knocking back our respective rooibos (me) and english breakfast (mom) teas, we quickly packed up our scones to go and headed back into the sweet bounty of the Mother Nature.

Sorry Huntington, but seriously. You need to step up your game. In the future, I should have taken the advice of my friend Rachel and grabbed a pot of tea and a bento box in the amazing Japanese garden. Next time.

Ah, the joys of summer. Firing up the grill and throwing back some rosé. Could life get any better? Oh right…add to that line-up outdoor dining; something that is possible most of the year in LA, but somehow seems way more special and exciting in the summer months. So, on to the important stuff! The sipper: Domaine du Bagnol’s Cassis rosé.

This Provence rosé is truly delicious and the color is divine. To me, it’s basically like a really gorgeous prep school girl in pearls and shiny watermelon lip gloss that you love to hate because she’s so perfect but can’t help but love because she’s actually really smart and sophisticated (and nice.)

On the menu: sliders made from McCall’s hamburger blend on La Brea Bakery jalapeno onion rolls, brussel sprout salad and rosemary fries. Yum! There’s just something about rosé and grilled meat on a warm day. You feel me?

I cleaned my plate….and my bottle glass.

Where there’s a grill, there’s Andrea Calek. Well, not really. But a few weeks ago ’twas true.

sorry for the blur...that's how excited I was for meat

My dear friends Molly and Tyler had some people over for grillin’ and drinkin’.  I decided to add some vin naturel goodness into the mix of steaks and Memorial Day shenanigans. Babiole is an interesting wine from an interesting man in the Ardeche (Rhone); a sans soufre blend of syrah, carignan and grenache.

For a bunch of people that never drink wines like this, they loved it. Another one for Team Natural Wines!

Last but not least- many thanks to our dashing butler for the evening- Monsieur Willy.

Where: Cinespia Cemetery Screenings, Hollywood

What: Purple Rain

Who: A bunch of cool ass people. Including Dâm Funk on the turntables and keytar pre and post show.

Click here to put a little funk in your step courtesy of Mr. D Funk himself.

For those of you living in a cave, not from the South or who are completely uninterested in horse racing- yesterday was the 136th running of the Kentucky Derby. I was throwing a party, wearing a large and in charge hat, screaming at horses and drinking a lot of Bulleit bourbon. And drinking it out of that lovely engraved (with my initials) julep cup you see above. It was given to me when I was born. If that doesn’t clue you in to the fact that I am from Kentucky, I don’t know what will.

Tom and Hollis Bulleit are also, clearly, from Kentucky. And they are pretty swell people. Tom is a friend of the family and Hollis is his incredibly talented, intelligent and vivacious daughter. She is living out here in LA now and traveling around the country acting as the world ambassador for Bulleit. But, it’s also great to have her right here in our fine city educating folks about bourbon and brown spirits. Bulleit truly is one of my very favorite bourbons. It is an incredible value for the price and it’s a great sipping bourbon as well as brilliant in cocktails. It’s well balanced but with a whole treasure trove of complexity on the palate. There’s orange, vanilla, ginger, oak, honey, cherry…and a whole lot of delicious.

photo by M. Quintanilla

Runaway mint and blackberry juice. Making cocktails for the crowd at the On The Lamb Derby party yesterday.

Just so you know where to find it and at the best price- you can purchase at K&L Wine Merchants in LA.

Blind Wine Tastings. That’s my jam. Throw in good friends, good eats….perfect Sunday evening material right there. When I was up in Napa for the Wine Writer’s Symposium, I received a lovely little gift bag from the Napa Valley Vintners. Inside were 3 bottles of Napa Cabernet Sauvignon. After a week of cabs and chards at the symposium, I needed a little hiatus from all things Northern Cali for a while. Last Sunday, I decided it was finally time to pop some bottles. Call the friends, enlist cheese purchasing, ready the aluminum foil. Blind tasting time.

We drank them in no particular order. After covering them in foil, I had already forgotten what was what. There was no real scholarly approach to the tasting, we just discussed what we liked and why. After the third wine, we had a clear winner. Number 2. It was more elegant and restrained on the oak, lower in alcohol (coming it at 13.6%) and well balanced and had a nice acidity despite its rich cab fruit. Our second favorite unanimously was Number 3…coming in last was the first one out of the gate, Numero Uno. So, what did we drink? The reveal….

The “winner”- 2007 Frog’s Leap Cabernet.  88% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Cabernet Franc, 2% Merlot. From the winemakers:

“…what kind of cabernet to make? There were the closed, tight fisted, cough-and-hack Cabs of the late 70’s or the now popular pick-late, sweet fruit, high alcohol wines of the early 21st century. Instead of chasing fads we simply learned from the past, favoring the lessons passed on by generations of Bordeaux winemakers. Our attempt is not to emulate anyone, but rather to avoid sacrificing the balance between Cabernet’s ripe fruit character and its lean herbaceous side at the altar of over-extraction and manipulation.”

Runner-up was 2002 Cafaro “Alta Tierra” Cabernet (92% cabernet, 8% petit verdot) and lastly the 2005 Porter Family Vineyards Cabernet (85% cabernet, 12% syrah, 3% merlot- and the most expensive bottle of the 3). As you all know, I am not keen on reviewing wines and giving extensive tasting notes. Therefore, I will spare you my thoughts only to say that we favored a more balanced wine and Old World style.  Bonus wine- Jane, our host for the evening, had a bottle of 2005 Stag’s Leap “Artemis” Cabernet she had been holding onto for a special occasion. She had mentioned that she thought it might have gone bad as she came home and saw a few drips of wine under the bottle on the wine rack. We decided now was a better time than any other to see if it had indeed been damaged (I never mind being a test subject) and to compare to the other cabs. It was great! Super decadent and velvety but not at all cloying. Possibly a tie for first place.

Conclusions: I can’t say that after all of this Napa Cab-ing, that I am more likely to purchase a bottle of Cali Cab the next time I’m dropping dollars on a bottle.  As a varietal, Cabernet Sauvignon just isn’t my favorite.  I can say that my aversion to and prejudice of has subsided on the whole…

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Thank you to Jason and Jane for the hospitality and the opening of some Stag’s Leap in the name of research.

This Sunday, I’m putting a little Vermont in my Los Angeles. It very well could be snowing there so, I will just take the fermented beverages and dairy products and keep my LA sunshine, thank you.

Veronica Pedraza of the amazing  Jasper Hill Farm in Vermont happens to be a friend of my dear friend Rachel.  Veronica sent her a lovely package of cheese and some Eden Ice Cider. Rachel, being the generous woman that she is, shared those gifts with us. Also, she knew that if she didn’t, we would be come to her house at a midnight hour and run swiftly away with the goods.  So we “agreed” upon the following equation- a park + sunny afternoon + a handful of smiling friends + the cheese and cider. The sum:  a bunch of happy bellies.

This is an ice cider, not an ice wine. So, we’re talking apples, not grapes.  I was super excited to give this a try as I had never had an ice cider before. The husband and wife team at Eden make this cider with a blend of 5 different heirloom apples. The fruit is harvested when it is ripe and it is then held in cold storage until frost-like temperatures arrive in Vermont. The apples are pressed and the juice is left outside in the cold to freeze for 6 to 8 weeks. Water is separated and the remaining apple concentrate  is fermented. And there is no added sugar! The result is a crisp, clean and bright apple flavor with just enough natural sweetness to keep glass to lip. Delicious and a pleasure to drink. Everyone loved it.

That brings me to the cheese. Oh my. Utter and sheer joy crept on our collective faces as we began to unwrap the wonders of Jasper Hill. We had 2 new cheese friends two play with; Winnemere and Caspian. They are my new best friends.

Is your mouth watering yet? Good. The Winnemere is a seasonally produced cow’s milk cheese with a raspberry lambic washed rind bound by a strip of spruce bark. Everything from the bark to the milk and the beer used to wash the cheese are from the farm. The star of the day was a yet to be released Caspian robiola, a group effort made on Christmas Day at the farm. It is wrapped in grape leaves and soaked in ice wine (how amazing would it have been to get our hands on a bottle of that!) As the farm has a herd of Ayrshire cows, we assume this robiola is made from cow’s milk. Although a few of us thought there might have been some goat’s milk in the mix. Robiola is a traditional Northern Italian soft-ripened cheese and is usually cow’s milk or a blend of different proportions of cow, goat and sheep. In any case, Caspian rocked my world and the subtle lemony creaminess of the robiola was delicious with the sweet tart apple cider.

The afternoon snacking did not stop at cheese and cider alone. Our spread of accoutrements included: raisins, almond stuffed Italian dried figs, homemade lemon poppy seed crackers, charcoal crackers, raw almonds, orange slices and honey.  What do you like to eat with your cheese and wine?

Yesterday, I attended the first annual Pinot Days tasting at the Barker Hangar in Santa Monica. Pinot and airplanes- a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

I have to say, this event was very well organized. It was in a spacious venue, the tables were organized alphabetically, parking attendants made it a breeze to get in and out, outposts of bread and cheese kept a serious buzz and hunger at bay and plentiful spitoons were available. And they were constantly being emptied- a majorly important activity in my book. My biggest pet peeve at tastings is having hundreds of tasters’ mouth-rinsed wine remains splash up in my face as I spit into an overflowing bucket. Gross. Gross times 10.

On to the wine. I love Pinot Noir.  As do many people, especially after Sideways blew up everyone’s wine worlds. So, I didn’t want to miss the opportunity to taste newly released vintages from some fabulous pinot producers from California and Oregon or the ability to side by side compare these distinctly different growing regions. My friend Rachel and I were really digging the Russian River Valley and Central Coast Cali pinots. They tended to express more fruit and less minerality than their Oregon counterparts. And what I really love about pinot is the fruit and when that fruit is elegantly expressed.  Some may be surprised to know that there are definitely producers in Southern California making pinot noir that wouldn’t be likened to an oaky fruit “bomb.”

A few favorites of the day were the always well-reviewed Merry Edwards, sparkling king J Vineyards and hometown negociant La Fenetre. Some tasting notes or oft-repeated sentences from Rachel and I throughout the day: “well-behaved black cherry”, “raspberry preserves”, “this makes me want to cook”, “this makes me want to eat a steak” and “I’m hungry.”

If you don’t do a lot of wine tasting but plan on it in the near future, I would like to give a few tips from someone who does it often.

• Find out the producers that will be pouring. If a producer is unfamiliar, research them online. Make a list of those you want to see and go to them first.
• Eat a meal or snack before you go.
• Bring water.
• Don’t wear white.
• Don’t be afraid to spit. Everyone does it. And it is essential to being able to taste as much as possible and actually know and remember what you are tasting. Practice at home. It’s fun.
• Don’t feel the need to kiss anyone’s ass. You don’t have to say the wine is “great” and “delicious” if you really don’t think so. Just say thank you and move along.

What you experience when drinking a glass of wine is completely subjective. The smells, the tastes, and even the possible images and memories evoked are purely personal. While describing wine in a restaurant to guests, I always wonder if my comment of high acidity and lemon are someone else’s medium acidity and grapefruit. It is always difficult to discuss wine in a universal way, because it changes and evolves depending on the palate consuming it, the season and temperature outside, how young or old the bottle is and so on and so forth. Sometimes annoying, but one of the main reasons wine is so endlessly interesting. Yay wine!

I had two of my best lady friends over yesterday and had a bottle of wine hanging around (a gift for my homecoming last week as my stock of wine was completely depleted before I left for Italy).  I thought it would be fun to see what each of  us thought of the wine and how we would describe it. Yes, I am lucky that I have equally as nerdy food and wine friends that won’t laugh at me for handing out pieces of paper and pens to fill out a survey about the wine I am serving them.

2006 Peachy Canyon Incredible Red. An affordable and available bottle from a well-know California winery.

With wine in our glasses and a few moments to sniff and swirl, I asked the following 3 questions:

• What color best describes what you see and feel (figuratively) when you drink this wine?
• What are the top 3 things you smell and taste?
• In one sentence, describe a visual scenario or palpable situation that IS this wine to you.

The answers were interesting, to say the least. There were definite similarities and synonymous flavor vibes going on. And somehow an overall theme of large men, cigar smoking and leisure suits. Confirming why my friends are so awesome.

Rachel:

• 2-piece mens maroon velour lounge suit
• Bramble, dark berry, gasoline (trying to kiss up to the teacher with extra credit points of: milk chocolate, plum, lollipop, star anise)
• Seated on a sun porch after a dinner of roast and potatoes, overlooking the berry patches. You can smell the garage around the other side of the house, relax in your maroon velour leisure suit and soak in the late dusk.

Joy:

• Ugly, dirty vintage mauve drapes
• Lit then unlit cigars,  musky sweaty armpits that have since dried,  grocery store prunes
• A cigar lounge in early winter in Vancouver, Canada surrounded by big fat white men who think they know great wine.

Me (I was a bit more forgiving and less, ahem, judgemental):

• Blackberry &  rust
• Wet rocks, sour black cherry, charred wood
• In an old appalachian mountain cabin on a cold, grey fall day next to the fire that has just gone out listening to the creek trickling along outside.

Needless to say, we didn’t LOVE the wine. It was a bit lean, a bit bitter and didn’t have much of a finish. But, a fun experiment nonetheless. Which basically proves that there is no wrong or right when it comes to wine. Sure, a wine can be flawed and as a sommelier, tasting observations are practically a scientific chart. But, to the everyday wine drinking population, you taste what you taste and enjoy what you enjoy. Like art, it is only what you interpret it to be.

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I would like to thank Miriam and Matt for providing me with said bottle of wine and not hating me for hating on their generous and thoughtful gift. Please continue to feel free to give me wine. I will drink it.

While in Italy, my favorite time of day is around 5 or 6 pm. Not only because I am that much closer to some sort of utterly fantastic dinner feast, but because these are the hours of aperitivo. Much like an American happy hour, it is a time to gather with friends, have a snack and a drink and open the stomach and palate for the dinner experience. Other than the region of Emilia-Romagna (with it’s lambrusco and culatello), Venice is my favorite place for aperitivo. I was there in chilly November and the piazzas were still full of people sitting around drinking ice cold glasses of spritz, munching on potato chips and discussing the day’s events. You can get a spritz anywhere in Italy, but it is most popular in the North.

photo by M. Quintanilla

What is a spritz, you ask? Classically, it is Campari (an Italian bitter liqueur), white wine and a splash of sparkling water over ice with an olive garnish. But, there are variations on this theme. As my friend Marisa and I stood at an incredibly crowded bar waiting to order, we watched as the bartender expertly created what seemed like dozens of spritz per minute for us thirsty patrons. Sometimes he would use white wine and sometimes he would use…..prosecco! Also an option, it seemed, was Aperol instead of Campari.  That was it, I had chosen my version of spritz. Aperol and prosecco on ice with a slice of orange. Delicious and refreshing.

Spritz. It’s what’s for aperitivo.