Category Archives: de musica

71 Gattinara Monsecco (Conte Ravizza), Lenny Bruce, and BrooklynGuy

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One last “wines and the city,” killer wines I tasted last week in NYC…

Beyond the “farmed content” found on aggregate sties (which tries to get you to land on their pages in order to show you advertising), there’s not much info out there in the interwebs about the 1971 Gattinara Monsecco Conte Ravizza by Le Colline, Vercelli, which I got to taste last week thanks to the generosity of BrooklynGuy’s childhood friend Dan (who reminded me, in all the best ways, of my favorite Litvishe Jew, Lenny Bruce, and as it turns out, whose father represented Lenny Bruce is his legal battle against censorship! Incredible!).

The bottle we shared (thanks to Dan, paired with BrooklynGuy’s stunning bread-crumb- and marjoram-encrusted rack of lamb, above) had a strip label on the front that reported: “selected and shipped by Neil Empson, Milan.” On the back, there was a round label that reported: “Acquired from a private cellar [by] Acker, Merrall, & Condit,” the famed rare wine broker of the Upper West Side of Manhattan.

In 1985, Sheldon Wasserman didn’t offer a tasting note for this wine in Italy’s Noble Red Wines, but he did write that “Luigi & Italo Nervi places 1971 among the worst vintages [for this appellation] and Travaglini puts it with the best! Antonio Rossi gave it three stars, Niederbacher, one. Obviously a controversial vintage. We never agreed with the three-star rating. Nevertheless, we find that all are too old now. At Le Colline they consider their ’71 Monsecco on a par with the ’64, so it should still be good.”

Dan mentioned that he had experienced some serious bottle variation in the lot he acquired but, man, this wine was off-the-charts good. Fresher than I would have expected on the nose (topped off? perhaps; the bottle was definitely reconditioned), with gentle berry fruit on the nose and on the palate, and wonderfully integrated tannin. I agreed with BrooklynGuy’s approach of not decanting this wine and opening it right before service (for the record, Dan had brought it over a few nights before and BrooklynGuy left it standing up right for more than 24 hours). Great wine…

Before we got to the Gattinara, BrooklynGuy reached into his cellar for a 2000 Moccagatta by Produttori del Barbaresco, which paired superbly with a savory mushroom flan that he prepared for our Brooklyn repast. Frankly, I was surprised by how tannic this wine was, especially considering the fact that Moccagatta tends to come around earlier than some of the more powerful crus (like Montestefano or Rabajà). At 10 years out, it seems to be closing down but with a little aeration we coaxed out some bramble and red berry fruit balanced by the mushroom and earth that are Produttori del Barbaresco’s signature. Killer wine…

This last trip to NYC was an intense one: after heading back through the sludge to the city, Verena and I wrote one more song before calling it a night… Someday, if that nowhere song for nobody ever gets recorded, I’ll play it for BrooklynGuy.

I didn’t get to do a lot of socializing or fancy eating this time around. But I was really glad to connect with BrooklynGuy, who’s become a super good friend.

I remember a time, not so many years ago, when he and I first met in person, in San Diego. Life then for me was good but didn’t have the direction and purpose it has today. At a taco shop in La Jolla (where Tracie P and I would later hold the rehearsal dinner for our wedding some two years later), BrooklynGuy — with the wisdom of a rabbinic Lenny Bruce — reminded me gently of the goodness in me and pointed out confidently that I would find my path again. He probably didn’t realize then how much those words meant to me. I hope some day I can return the favor…

Writing nowhere songs for nobody

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While in New York City, I spent some intense sessions writing songs with my super good friend and writing partner Verena, aka Céline Dijon of our band Nous Non Plus. She and I began writing together in 2000 (!) and if you watch TV and/or movies or listen to college radio, you might have heard some of the songs we’ve written and recorded together with our bandmates.

These days, I write so much: for my own blog, for VinoWire, and for so many other blogs to which I contribute openly or anonymously as a ghost writer. Everything I write is published almost immediately.

The process of songwriting is the exact opposite: we come up with an idea, we play around with it, we improvise melodies and discuss the subject, and we flesh out the lyrics. In our case, I usually have a riff or a song structure and then Verena writes the melodies and lyrics. But that’s just the BEGINNING of the process. We then record the demo and start fine tuning it. If we decide that we want to release a given song, we will rerecord it and then set into motion all the elements that go into a release: rehearsing, recording, mixing, mastering, artwork for the album, and ultimately a new record — a process that takes months and months. In the meantime, these works are just nowhere songs for nobody (although I always play them for Tracie P).

Recording technology is so accessible these days. All you need is a decent computer and relatively inexpensive software and hardware (a tube-powered microphone preamp, a digital-to-analog interface, and a decent microphone). When I started working the recording arts at 19 years old (some 24 years ago), we used expensive 24-track tape machines that used 2-inch-wide reels of tape!

We took a break from the intense process of songwriting for a visit from the newest member of the Nous Non Plus family, Vivian, with her dad (and NN+ drummer) Harry Covert.

Buona domenica, ya’ll! Have a great Sunday…

Trainspotting a trend: British gastropub franchise in Austin? A culinary double-take at Haddington’s

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Above: The kitchen at the newly opened British gastropub Haddington’s in Austin still needs to work out the Kinks, Beatles, and Stones, but we really dug their more than reasonably priced sparkling wine list, including this Crémant du Jura by Montbourgeau (delicious) and a Gaston Chiquet Champagne Special Club (that will surely lure me back when in the mood/occasion for celebrating).

One of my magazine editors (for a food and wine pub I contribute to) likes to remind me that it “takes three examples” to constitute a bona fide trend. Between the Spotted Pig (technically and self-consciously “British and Italian”) in NYC, Jaynes Gastropub in San Diego (familiar to regular visitors here), and now Haddington’s in Austin, I think it’s safe to say that the second (third?) British wave has begun.

I did a culinary double-take when Tracie P and I arrived chez Haddington last night, not knowing — frankly — what to expect aside from the fact that the place is brand-spanking new and that Tracie P and I needed a great glass of wine after a Friday that was too long for both of us.

Tiled floor? Check. French windows? Check. Open kitchen (replete with stressed-out chefs)? Check. Monty Python-worthy relics and paraphernalia of the fallen British empire? Check. Hipster play list with emphasis on retro? Check. Gourmet-aspirant pub (read comfort) food? Checkmate (I had the Bibb Salad with blue cheese and pickled watermelon rind and the “Blue Burger”; Tracie P had a turkey and stuffing sandwich with cranberry relish).

Haddington’s was packed to the gills last night and although I think the kitchen is still working out some of the kinks that any new (and immediately popular) restaurant has to unravel, the impressive sparkling wine list will certainly bring us back. A stiff glass of Gérard Mugneret 08 Bourgogne Rouge was also nice with my main course.

2010 saw so many new restaurants open in Austin (which, according to most reports and eyeball witnesses continues to lead the country in its growth as a tourism destination) and the Austin food blogger community is thrilled (clearly) by this new edition (pun intended for Sam). I’m sure we’ll revisit Haddington’s but there’s only room for one British gastropub in our hearts… and her name is Jaynes…

Our night on the town with Lettie

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One of the more remarkable things that happened between Christmas and New Year’s was our night on the town in Austin with Lettie Teague. Lettie was in Dallas celebrating the holiday with family when Nature, by means of the east coast blizzard, decided not to let her fly back to New York. So, she decided to hit the road and come visit us in Austin, where we took her to some of our favorite spots, like Fonda San Miguel, where we had some huitlacoche tamales (de rigueur). Oddly enough, they were out of our fav Tondonia Rosado by López de Heridia and so Lettie proposed that we drink Gimmonet Champagne instead. The pairing was BRILLIANT!

Later, we took her to another one of our favorite nightspots, Vino Vino, where Jeff disgorged some Puro for her.

And, of course, no night on the town with Tracie P and me is complete without some late-night honkytonking at Ginny’s Little Longhorn Saloon.

Lettie wrote about our evening here. And I don’t care how much ya’ll holler: I ain’t givin’ you the number to the speakeasy we visited! Ya’ll will just have to come down and pay us a proper visit if you want to check it out!

Beatles (forever) and Natural wine

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Many wonderful and thoughtful gifts came my way this holiday season (including a fantastic new camera from Tracie P) but the one that took it over the top and the one that none of us can stop talking about was Mrs. and Rev. B’s gift of the complete Beatles on ITunes. (!!!)

Listening to the more than 250 tracks on our way back from Orange, Texas on the Sunday after the holiday, I remembered a cartoon I wrote when I was ten years old, “Jeremy vs. the Plastic People.” In it, I imagined myself protecting the world against the “Plastic People,” who had come to earth to cover the world in plastic. My plan of action? I drove the would-be invaders away by singing Beatles songs, poison to their ears.

Over the holiday break I took time out to fix a hole where the rain gets in: I reread “Jeremy vs. the Plastic People” and spent some time thinking about the ethos of the 1960s (I was born in 1967 during the “Summer of Love”) and how many of the values championed by the Beatles and the 60s generation resonate in our passion for “real wine,” “Natural wine” (whatever that term means to you), wines not made with a plastic spirit…

You can download the entire cartoon here (about 9 MB).

Thanks again, Rev. and Mrs. B! I LOVE MY BEATLES on ITunes… Beatles forever!

Sérgio Mendes favorite wine last night (with Sérgio!)

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From the “I shit you not” department…

It was while Brother Anthony (as he has been duly dubbed by Comrade Howard) and I were doing a little wine bar hopping last night in LA that we bumped into bossa nova, jazz, and funk giants Sérgio Mendes and Gracinha Leporace. We literally saw Sérgio from the street through the window of Osteria Mozza (where we had just left the bar) and he insisted that we come back in and taste his wines (brother Anthony recently recorded with Sérgio, who was having dinner with Gracinha and their agent).

What’s it like to drink Chapoutier 2004 Ermitage [sic] De L’Orée with Sérgio? Unbelievably crunchy and salty and utterly delicious. Sérgio and his entourage were super cool and friendly and fun to hang out with (and he was geeked to see brother Anthony and had high praise for him). I love the white wines of Chapoutier and rarely get to drink them. It was such a thrill to taste such an amazing bottling with Sérgio! Thanks again, Sérgio!

But the wine I can’t stop thinking about this foggy morning in LA (there’s a fog upon LA…) is the 2009 Langhe Bianco by Cavallotto, made from Pinot Nero. Not much of this wine is produced, said my fav LA sommelier and GM at Mozza David Rosoff.

I’ve had some great Langhe Bianco this year, notably from Vajra, Cogno, and Ettore Germano, but this wine simply floored me with its structure and nuance.

In keeping with our tradition of Holocaust humor (one of my all-time favorite posts here at Do Bianchi), I greeted David with a heil myself! I love David and one my new year’s resolutions for 2011 is to spend more time tasting with him. This guy deserves a medal for what he’s doing with Italian wine: his list is the top all-Italian carta dei vini, hands down, in the City of Angels.

Next we headed over to see more Jews at my favorite wine bar in the world, Lou on Vine. Lou is a true rebbe of natural wine and is another one of those folks I just wish Tracie P and I got to see more often.

The squid (above) at the Monday night supper was brilliant.

The rabbit was divine.

I just love everything about Lou on Vine.

How do you like my LA stories? It’s been a long time since I’ve posted in the “de urbe angelorum” category!

Bertani 1986 Amarone della Valpolicella, that’s what friends are for

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Tracie P was just reminding me of a time in my life, not so long ago, when I needed a little help from my friends. Well, last night one of those friends, Yele, needed a little help from me and Erickson… I mean, you can’t drink 1986 Bertani Amarone della Valpolicella by yourself, now, can you?

What a mind-blowingly amazing bottle, with such bright acidity in a wine more than two decades old! Drank a lot of great, old wine in 2010 but this bottle is a real stand-out: it had that unforgettable “nerviness,” that “backbone” of acidity that Italians use in their canon of wine descriptors. I would have always reached for the 88 with Bertani (also a great and unforgettable wine, tasted most recently in February 2009), but the 86 was better IMHO.

The best part, though, was that wide, familiar, contagious grin on Yele’s face when we were perusing the cellar at Third Corner in Ocean Beach, California, and he pulled me away from the 02 La Turque to show me his find. That’s what friends are for, right? 01 Musar white was stunning as well and the grandfathered retail sales program and corkage policy at Third Corner always make a splurge like this so much more palatable.

Keep smilin’, keep shinin’
Knowin’ you can always count on me, for sure
That’s what friends are for
For good times and bad times
I’ll be on your side forever more
That’s what friends are for

In other news…

Just had to share these images from clients and friends Dan and Chrissa who invited me in for some holiday cheer when I dropped off their Do Bianchi Christmas Six-Pack.

Chrissa’s wonderful zuppa maritata (named, btw, not because it is served at Italian weddings, a folkloric etymology, but rather because it is a “marriage” or pairing of ingredients).

Dan’s homemade pork sausage for the meatballs.

Chrissa’s homegrown escarole for the soup.

Chrissa’s lemon cake. Damn, those two can cook!

Gary Jules and me sing a song under the dome, a “night at the museum”

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Photo by my childhood friend and doppelgänger Jeremy Farson.

Gary invited me up on stage to sing a song last night at the museum. It always brings back so many memories to see Gary and to get to play with him was such a treat. We always fall right back into it like we were teenagers again… “I’ve just seen a face. I can’t forget the time or place…” So much fun…

Gary played all my favs of his, like “Barstool” and “No Poetry.” Gary is such an amazing lyricist and performer…

And, of course, he played his mega hit “Mad World,” which appeared originally in the Donnie Darko soundtrack and went on to become a UK #1 Christmas single.

But the song that really got me was “Close Your Eyes” by James Taylor, which Gary dedicated to brother Micah, a song the three of us used to listen to when we were teenagers and our whole worlds and hearts were being torn apart by the trappings of modern society. I could barely hold back the tears that welled up in my eyes.

“I don’t know no love songs and I can’t sing the blues anymore…”

Brother Micah, director of Museum of Man, did a fantastic job running the auction to raise money future exhibits. It was great to see how excited his staff is about the new energy there.

And it was wonderful to catch up with so many of my high school friends. We all remembered the many school trips we made as youngsters to the museum, a true diamond in the rough.

We’re all looking forward to the programs that brother Micah has in store for next year… Stay tuned!

My band in a pretty major Google ad campaign launch today

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Yup, that’s me playing a Telecaster…

Whenever I hear one of our old songs in a license or film (and thankfully, that happens often), it always brings back powerful memories of being in the studio and recording. I even remember the sautéed pork chops deglazed with white wine that I cooked for the band the night that we tracked “Allô Allô” in my friend Mike Andrews’s Hollywood Hills studio!

Back then, the band was still called Les Sans Culottes (before the infamous on-stage fish taco fart, the inevitable split in the wake of the fart, the lawsuit, and the dawning of the NN+ era) and since we tracked that song, I must have played it a thousand times live (we used to and still will open the show with it).

Jean-Luc Retard and Céline Dijon wrote the song back in New York City and we recorded the rhythm track in one take. That’s me playing guitar: I played one of Mike’s 70s Telecasters through a Fender Champ (small amps are always the best in the studio). Jon Erickson of Jaynes Gastropub engineered the session and that’s how he and I become friends.

For those of you so inclined, you can hear other tracks from those sessions (Fixation Orale, Aeronaut, 2004) and purchase “Allô Allô” from ITunes by clicking here.

Allô Allô (Hello I Love You) - Fixation Orale

Tracie P and I had have a pretty amazing year professionally, and, wow, this license is the icing on the cake. Suck a lime: I have a whole lot to be thankful for this year.

So many of my dreams have come true in life — opening for Ringo Starr in New York City (!) and a top-10 college radio album have been musical highlights for me… When I left NYC, I thought that all of that joy was behind me. But since I met Tracie P back in 2008, it sometimes feels like the whole world is smiling at me.

Maybe that’s because I’m standing next to a beautiful girl…

Thanks for reading and listening and thanks for all the support for our music over the years!

New York Stories 2: Vivian, newest member of the NN+ family

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Vivian is the newest member of the NN+ family. Finally, someone who calls me “uncle Jar”!

Couldn’t not have Barney Greengrass while in NYC.

More New York stories to come…