AUGUST 2021
WINERY PROFILE: CHÂTEAU TALBOT
ALSO INSIDE • Price Breakdown of an IWFS Omaha Event • Event Report:Modern Cuisine and Wine Couples Dinner at Au Courant • Blast from the Past • Upcoming Omaha Branch Events
A publication of the Omaha Branch of the International Wine and Food Society
The housemaid was complaining to another that her mistress was demanding so much of her at large dinner parties, even insisting that all dinner plates be warmed. “My lady used to insist on it too,” said the other, “but now I just warm her plate, and everything is OK.” F rom T he Be s t of t he Cock l e Bur c omp il ed a nd edi t ed by H a r ry B O t is, 3r d P r e siden t 1973-1974
A publication of the Omaha Branch of the International Wine and Food Society
CORNER
EDITOR’S Y
our Board Members have been hearing some comments from members that the events are getting too expensive. It is getting common now days for events to cross the $200.00 threshold. But you have to remember, you could not duplicate this yourself without an outlay of a lot more money. We decided to share with everyone how we price an event, so be sure to check that story out. It is such a joy to go to Au Courant. We always get an exceptional meal. It is always carefully thought out with many culinary twists and unusual flavors and combinations, always harmonious. Executive Chef Benjamin Maides outdid himself for our best meal yet since we began going to Au Courant. Unfortunately, COVID 19 prevented us from enjoying a dinner there in 2020. We had so many unusual ingredients. You will just have to read the Event Report to discover what the following were: Leche de Tigre (Tiger’s milk); Agretti; Orange Supreme; Cavatelli; Kompachi and Piedmontese beef. One of the best meals of the year so far, very educational for both wine and food. At our Au Courant event, we compared a Bordeaux Left Bank property with a Right Bank. We featured Château Larcis Ducasse, a Saint Emilion Grand Cru Classé Bordeaux Left Bank wine in last month’s Gazette. In this Gazette, we will compare the well known Right Bank label, Château Talbot, whose wine has been sold in Omaha for years. This wine comes from the Médoc, and was included in the famous 1855 Classification. Give it a read. Please note in the Upcoming Events section that the September 11th event got moved to Sunday, September 12. Rockbrook was having their festival on the 11th, so Pasta Amore was busy. Change your calendars to 9/12/2021. Cheers!
Tom Murnan
Cover Photo: Chateau Talbot. From the Talbot website.
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A publication of the Omaha Branch of the International Wine and Food Society
EVENT REPORT:
Modern Cuisine & Wine Couples Dinner at Au Courant Written by Tom Murnan Photos by Tom Murnan & Ron Policky
I
t’s always a treat to go to Au Courant Regional Kitchen in Benson, NE. They have an eye for gourmet cuisine. This event was on June 6th, the anniversary of D Day in World War II. Our palates were treated to an invasion of imaginative, innovative and quite tasty food. I just surrendered and let it happen! Executive Chef Ben Maides has been spending less time at the restaurant to have more quality time with his young family. But Ben was present for our event, explaining the culinary intricacies of each course. There was a lot of complexity happening on our plates. I guess he comes in on Sundays from time to time. We had a new general manager / sommelier since our event last time: Amanda Smith. She gave us the rundown on most of the wines, and your humble scribe was asked to give a quick summary of the June Gazette article on Right Bank vs. Left Bank Bordeaux. We were served two red Bordeaux blind for the Beef Entrée and were asked to decide which was Right Bank and which Left. We had 26 attendees including 5 guests. During our quaffing, it seems to be a tradition that the staff hauls out a five foot plank of Charcuterie. This was loaded down with a large selection of prosciutto, salami, cheese, olives, mustard, jam, and other delectable delecti. Passed Oysters were also a hit, so cold and fresh they just went right down the hatch, making one ask for more. Besides two red Bordeaux from the Branch cellar, the restaurant included a
Clos des Lunes Lune Blanche 2018 from Bordeaux, a Domaine Delong-Depaquit Chablis 2018, and a Patton Valley Vineyard Pinot Noir Rosé 2019, which I’ve only seen at Au Courant. This last is interesting because it has a slight Petillant Natural, or slight effervescence. Nothing disruptive, but the small bubbles serves to emphasize the Pinot Noir flavors. These three all went especially well with the oysters. We moved to our assigned tables to enjoy our Crudo course. But, like numerous restaurants in France, many times they give you an extra you are not expecting. It was not on our invite, for example, but we had an Amuse Bouche that has been on the Au Courant menu for years: Chovy’s Egg. It proved to be a perfectly poached slice of egg on a square of toast. Chovy is the directing Chef when Ben is absent. If you have ever tried to poach an egg, you know how difficult that is to get perfectly cooked. A little undercooked, and the yolk runs on top of the toast. Too cooked and you get into hard boiled territory. Chovy has this down to 15 second intervals. A perfect mouthful, or bouche, to amuse the palate, the egg was topped by caviar. Our wine was the same as for the Crudo course. Crudo means raw, and so for this course we had Cucumber, Celery, Leche de Tigre and Red Onion and Kompachi (amberjack). Kompachi is the only sustainable farm raised fish off the coast of Hawaii in huge underground aqua pens. Very strict feeding: no hormones, no antibiotics. The
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result is top quality fish with a really clean, nice, light fattiness. Leche de Tigre is a Peruvian cerviche. It is usually made using lime juice, sliced onion, chilies, habenero, raw red onions, salt, pepper and of course the juices of the fish it helps to marinate. It is a common appetizer in Peru. The sharp acidity of the Leche “cured” the raw fish, which melted in your mouth. The cucumbers accentuated this sharpness. Very unusual, high-toned, with bright acidity. A very different set of flavors. The William Fèvre Chablis 1er Cru ‘Vaillons” Bourgogne 2018 was dry, minerally and had a taste of Meyer lemons and pears. No oak on the palate, unlike many California Chardonnays. Nice. The Foie Gras Course was next. Foie Gras, Strawberry, Rhubarb and Ramp was presented on a small plank, with a nice sized disc of the liver, with strawberry slices distributed around the plank with a strawberry gastric sauce artistically drizzled around. I liked the foie gras being at the top of the menu, and also having the Château Guiraud Sauternes, Bordeaux 2009 as the obligatory sticky early too. In the 19th Century, Sauternes was frequently served at the front part of a meal. Nowadays, it is usually regulated to the menu rear. It was a perfect match to the umami of the foie gras, and its sweetness did not negatively affect the next course. >
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A publication of the Omaha Branch of the International Wine and Food Society
< Pasta followed the liver. But not just any pasta, but house made pasta, which was very much denser than store bought, and had more flavor. House Made Cavatelli, Heirloom Cherry Tomatoes, Bacon, Local Spring Garlic and Smoked Chili Flakes and Parmesan Reggiano comprised the dish. Cavatelli is a pasta shape that looks like a little worm. Chef Maides has a cavatelli machine. To add some color, purple Corn Flowers were sprinkled on top. Wow, this was a nice pasta dish, and I have had my share of pasta with my Italian wife, Mary. Besides the pasta being made on premises, the “salsa” (Italian for sauce) was intense with a deeply earthy flavor, with high acidity and a smoky character. We found out later they house smoked the tomatoes. Amazing. Ben waits until the chili peppers are in season, smokes them and dries them for use all year long. The Tenuta Fanti Brunello di Montalcino Toscana 2010 married well to the salsa. Amanda told us that Montalciano is the height of what the Sangiovese grape can achieve. It smells like dried herbs, balsamic, leather and is a natural match to pasta. Slightly austere, it let the salsa shine. A good symbiotic relationship where the food and the wine help each other out so that the combination is better than each individual. This wine could handle the spiciness of the dish. The Fish Course was next with Halibut Cheeks, Carrots, Carrot/Orange Puree, Orange Supreme, Agretti and Pumpkin Seed. The pumpkin seeds covered the halibut and gave it a crunch. Wide ribbons of carrots sat atop thin strips of green agretti (a specialty vegetable from the Chef’s farm; it is hard to find so Maides decided just to grow it himself). There was also a dollop of carrot/orange puree to one side, along with Orange Supreme (pronounced su-PREMS). This is orange pieces without the white, bitter pith, in this case cut small. The dish was very fragrant, and you could smell the fish perfume the room as it was delivered tableside. The halibut cheeks are the most succulent part of the fish. I thought they must be hard to find (have you ever had halibut cheek before?) and wonderfully
tender. A nicely presented dish. “Agretti is Salsola soda, and is native in Eurasia and North Africa. The Italian name agretti is commonly used in English to refer to the edible leaves of salsola soda. Barba di frate (or friar’s beard) is the most common of the Italian names. It is most commonly boiled and eaten as a leafy vegetable; the recommendation is to cook it in boiling water until the leaves soften, and to serve while some bite (crunch) remains. It can also be eaten raw; it is said to taste grassy and slightly salty with a pleasant, crunchy texture.” [Wikipedia.] Spinach is the closest taste. The halibut was incredibly tender and flavorful. The pumpkin seeds added an earthy note that cut down the richness of the fish. The carrot puree was on the sweet side, while the agretti was a complete, austere contrast. You could use the puree as a sauce for the agretti. The wine, a Domaine Faiveley Mercurey Rouge, Bourgogne 2009 was Pinot Noir from the Côte Chalonnaise, which is a minor appellation south of the Côte d’Or. Mercurey is the most important village of the Côte Chalonnaise. Amanda analyzed the wine for us. 100% Pinot Noir, it is a bit steely and austere, not like the rich Pinots we are used to in California or Oregon. Rather it had tart red fruits of raspberry and red currants with a touch of orange peel character which complimented the orange in the dish. You can have red wine with fish as long as long as it is low in tannin and high in acidity. Burgundy is known for its high acidity. It seemed to work well with all the complexity of the dish. Our Entrée was a Beef Duet of Spinach, Maitake Mushroom, Smoked Bacon and Sweet Potato Puree. The two kinds of beef were a braised short rib topped with sesame seeds, and hanger steak. So two different textures of beef. Certified Piedmontese hanger steak was used after removing the nerve and then wrapped in house cured, house smoked bacon, then slow roasted. They then took the certified Piedmontese short rib and glazed that in its own braising liquid and topped it with sesame seeds on the plate. Creamed spinach was put into a
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dumpling. Locally cultivated maitake mushrooms came from The Grateful Garden. All this is tied together by a house made jus. Piedmontse beef has a larger muscle mass and is more tender than regular beef. I found the hanger steak cut to be incredibly, deeply beefy and tender. The braised beef was good too, but not as intense. Our two Bordeaux reds gave us a Right Bank / Left Bank comparison. Right Bank (St. Emilion, Pomerol) is dominated by Merlot, while Left Bank (Médoc, Graves) is dominated by Cabernet Sauvignon. This is because of the soil. Right Bank has more gravel, which Cabs favor, while Merlot prefers clay or limestone soil. See the June 2021 Gazette for more information. We were comparing the Château Larcis Ducasse Saint Emilion Bordeaux 2009, a Left Bank Premier Grand Cru Class wine, to the Château Talbot Saint Julien, Bordeaux 2009, a 4th Growth Left Bank form the Medoc. We were fortunate that both wines were from the same vintage. The Larcis had 87% Merlot and 17% Cabernet Franc. The Talbot had 68% Cabernet Sauvignon and about 30% Merlot. The wines were served blind. Our mission was to see if we could identify which was Right and which Left Bank. A show of hands revealed that more diners liked the Talbot, the Left Bank candidate, than the Larcis. We finished with a Flourless Cake with Pine Nut, Chocolate and Buttermilk. A bit of a sweet to top us off. The Warre Vintage Port, Douro Portugal 1997 was just the right wine pairing. This was a tremendous meal. We had a lot of new flavors and ingredients juxtaposed with new culinary situations. This was true gourmet, a high end meal that delighted at every turn. Many thanks to Executive Chef Benjamin Maides, Chef Chovy Caniglia, Somm Amanda Smith, Pastry Chef Lindy Pearson, and the entire wait staff. The timing was spot on, the wine and food education exceptional, and the service impeccable. Thanks as well for event producer Lowell Wilhite who organized this all for us. Merci bien!
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A publication of the Omaha Branch of the International Wine and Food Society
PRICE BREAKDOWN OF AN IWF$ OMAHA EVENT T
he average member probably doesn’t know the inner workings of putting on an event for our Branch. But they have noticed that the price has been going up. Our Board Members wanted you to know how we plan and charge for an event. In a nutshell:
Let’s elaborate with a few more details. First, all members should know that our events are a good value. There are many things that go into producing an event. You are getting hard to find wines that are properly aged being served at the top restaurants
• The cost of wine has increased; • The cost of food at restaurants has increased; • The Branch buys wine when young or before it has been released to keep the price down; • The Branch ages this wine ourselves; • Members get the original price paid, not the stepped-up value after aging; • When you join, you buy into the cellar, available to you at events; • Branch events are, in reality, a good value.
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in the Omaha area. A Board member usually has a wine theme to enhance the interest in the meal. More than one wine is frequently served at a course to help improve your learning about evaluating wine, enhancing your ability to distinguish different kinds of wine. You did join to be educated about wine, after all. It is not the aim of an event to make money. The events are designed to break even. It can be hard to determine in advance how the event will do financially. It all depends on how many members show up. For example, if you budget to get 8 people out of a bottle of wine, and you have a few extra people sign up, but not enough to use the whole bottle, it throws your bottle usage off, and causes you to lose money. That is why there sometimes is an exact number of attendees allowed at an event.
A publication of the Omaha Branch of the International Wine and Food Society
What members might not know is the way the Branch purchases wine is designed to get the biggest bang for the buck. That means buying wines as soon as they are released. In the case of Bordeaux, we buy them many times as futures, before they are released, to get the lowest price. Rarely done anywhere else except in Bordeaux (although you are beginning to see wine futures in the USA), this is the lowest charge the property will ever charge, before you even receive the wine. Even if not purchased as futures, once received upon release, they need to be aged. These wines are youthful and raw. There is a reason you age them because they can be disjointed and unpleasant at first, with high tannins and acidity. We age them in our Branch cellar, under perfect temperature and humidity conditions, until they are deemed by wine professionals as ready to drink. During this cellaring period, good wine reviews will push the value of a label up, making them more desirable. Wines with some age on them are more valuable than young wines. The Board has made the decision to age these wines longer that we did previously. The Branch, however, only charges the event what the initial cost was. We do not inflate the value, and hence the cost to members, by what that wine may appreciated into after several years. If you were to buy these wines from a restaurant, assuming if you could even find them (which you probably can’t), they would have huge mark-ups, sometimes 200% or more over current retail cost. All our events have a good number of different wines. Many times, we compare two reds with a single menu item. By the time you tried to duplicate this at a restaurant, you would be laying out a considerable sum of money. In this era of high inflation, food prices are rising, along with lumber, steel, trucks, labor and just about everything else. In your negotiations for an event, if you allow it, restaurants will put add-on after add-on onto the bill. The charges are seemingly endless: tax, mayor’s restaurant tax, tip, wine glass rental, room rental, corkage, etc. Your event producer must handle all these negotiations. We solve this problem by giving them our budgeted price per person and let them fit the food and all their extras into our budget. But restaurant prices are increasing. Not only has the price of food gone up, but also restaurant labor. Sometimes, on a special event, like the 7/8/2021 Summer Bash at Fleming’s stag, mostly high-end wines were used. A Board Member had to purchase these wines himself at current market prices. The California Cabs for the pre-diner tasting, all Joseph Phelps Insignia, were specially ordered from the Phelps library. The Phelps Insignias all cost $340.00 per bottle. The Bordeaux, including a 2004 Château Lafite Rothschild, came from the Branch cellar. Les Zanotti purchased this Lafite for an astoundingly inexpensive $207.00, even back in 2006. I guarantee you, the future’s price in 2006 for a 2004 Lafite is substantially lower than if you tried to buy one now. The current value is $830.00. But what an exciting event for our members! That’s why you joined this club, to be able to experience wine and food only
Bordeaux Futures
the cognoscenti would be able to attend. The wine cost per member attendee for this event was $240, which also includes glass rental and credit card transaction fee, while the food cost was $150. These are hard costs, no value appreciation mark-ups. If you tried to duplicate this on your own, you would have to buy one bottle of everything and invite 8 people. Just the Branch wine cost alone was $1622.00 for 8 people. But you would not be able to purchase those wines at the club cost. The current value of our July 8th wines is $2431.00. To this you would add the restaurant charge for the same dinner, or $1200.00. Your total outlay would be $3631.00, assuming you could even find the wines. The Branch tariff for this event at $390.00 per person is a bargain compared to $3631.00, or $454.00 per person if you did it yourself. So rest assured, our Board works tirelessly to get the biggest bang for the buck when it comes to wine, whose price has risen considerably. We also strive to have varied events, at different price levels, to let you explore the universe of food and wine pairings and learn something in the process. We have less control over the food, which will always be somewhat at a premium since we only go to top-of-the-line restaurant in the Omaha area. The Board just thought you should know.
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A publication of the Omaha Branch of the International Wine and Food Society
WINERY PROFILE: CHÂTEAU TALBOT By Tom Murnan
Harvest at Château Talbot
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A publication of the Omaha Branch of the International Wine and Food Society
F
or our 6/6/2021 event at Au Courant, we had a Right Bank / Left Bank Bordeaux comparison. Château Larcis Ducasse was our Right Bank wine, which we profiled in the July Gazette. Château Talbot was our Left Bank wine. The Larcis used no Cabernet Sauvignon in its blend, which is not the case with Talbot. The Château has had a good presence in the Omaha market for years. I purchased 1982 Talbot at Louis Market in 1985. The price? $12.50 a bottle. Ah, the good old days! The Château gets its name from Connétable Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury and governor of Guyenne [Bordeaux area]. This was in the period when the English
Désiré Cordier (holding top hat) hosts the President of France, Albert Lebrun (center), on a 1934 visit to Château Talbot
Sir John Talbot
were trying to take over France. The Earl, the English army commander, was killed at the battle of Castillon in 1453. The property was owned by the d’Aux-Lally family for centuries. In the famous 1855 Classification, Talbot was given the rank of 4th Growth in the Saint-Julien AOC. Talbot remained in the hands of the d’Aux-Lally family until 1918, when Désiré Cordier bought the property. Besides owning a negociant business selling Bordeaux wine, he owned Châteaux Gruaud Larose (a Second Growth) and Senejac, a Haut Médoc. In 1925, he became mayor of Saint-Julien, and in 1934, he invited the President of the Third Republic, Albert Lebrun, to visit the estate. The Presidential
The current owners of Château Talbot, the Bignon-Cordier family, in the large new cellar train arrived at Saint-Julien station, and the ceremony with the President and his entourage began with great pomp. During a speech he touted the wines of Bordeaux as “the elixir of long life.” Désiré had a great sense of advertising and promotion! The Château has remained in the Cordier family until the present time. Château Talbot occupies the highest elevations in Saint-Julien at 23 meters. The terroir is mostly gravel, sand, and clay soils over sandstone, clay, sand, and iron, which is just below the surface. Their vines abut the three Leoville estates, Second Growths all: Las Cases, Barton and Poyferre. Saint-Julien has no First Growths. >
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A publication of the Omaha Branch of the International Wine and Food Society
< All Bordeaux are blends, and Talbot has a mix of 67% Cabernet Sauvignon, 27% Merlot, 4.5% Petit Verdot, and 1.5% Cabernet Franc, which may change slightly from year to year. Talbot also has one of the largest estates in all of Bordeaux, not just Saint-Julien, at 110 total hectares. It is unusual as well as the area under vine is one large block instead of a lot of cut up parcels. 105 hectares are used for red wine, but 5 hectares are used to grow Sauvignon Blanc (80%) and Semillon (20%) to make white wine. Called Caillou Blanc, it is the only white wine made in Saint-Julien, and one of the first white wines made in the Médoc. Their second (red) wine is called Connétable Talbot, which began in the 1960s. The wine is vinified in a combination of temperature controlled stainless steel for the young vines, and temperature controlled truncated wood vats for
the more mature vines. The grand vin is aged in 50% to 60% new French oak barrels for 14 to 16 months. About 25,000 cases of Château Talbot are typically made annually. In 2007, Talbot hired famed consultant Stephane Derenoncourt and Eric Boissenot to improve the wine. Interestingly enough, Derenoncourt was also hired by Château Larcis Ducasse to improve their estate. They began picking fruit at higher ripeness levels. They also discontinued the practice of a drying tunnel. When the fruit was brought to the winery, they used to dry off excess moisture on the grapes in a tunnel with a fan and slightly higher temperature to promote drying. In 2016, they were instrumental in the estate investing in new wine making facilities, a vat room and an aging cellar, all in a very modern design. They have also been experimenting with the Genodics technology. The Genodics system emits various sounds and frequencies to enhance or curtail the growth of proteins in the vines. The Wine Advocate has scored their improvement efforts mostly in the 90 to 92 point range, while the Wine Spectator seems to have given slightly more generous scores, as high as 95 points. Sources: chateau-talbot.com/en/; thewinecellarinsider.com/bordeaux-wine-producer-profiles/ bordeaux/st-julien/talbot-2/
New aging chai
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A publication of the Omaha Branch of the International Wine and Food Society
Photos from Mike Dunn & Roger Peterson
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A publication of the Omaha Branch of the International Wine and Food Society
UPCOMING OMAHA BRANCH EVENTS Mark Your Calendars!
AUG
26
KICK BUTT CABS & BORDEAUX STAG V Mertz Producer: Tad Singer
SEP
FOURTH ANNUAL FESTA ITALIANA DINNER POOLSIDE, COUPLES Doctors Iris & Gary Moore Lake House Producer: Mike Wilke NOTE DATE CHANGE
OCT
STAG Trap Shoot at Harry A Koch Trap & Skeet Range - Rhône Ranger 6 dinner at Champions Run Producer: Tom Murnan
NOV
STAG 801 Chophouse 100 point Napa Cab vs. Bordeaux First Growth Producer: Dave Thrasher
12 10 07
HOSTING AN EVENT? Let us know when, where and a little bit about what’s going on! We would love to include YOUR event on the calendar! Email details to: murnantom@gmail.com
A publication of the Omaha Branch of the International Wine and Food Society
August 2021 Purpose: To meet communication and service needs, to broaden participation and understand and to be an information exchange for the membership of The International Wine & Food Society in the Americas. Publisher: Todd Lemke Editor: Tom Murnan Graphic Designer: Omaha Magazine, LTD.
THE INTERNATIONAL WINE & FOOD SOCIETY OF LONDON, ENGLAND OM A H A, NEBR A SK A BR A NCH - E X ECU T I V E COM MIT TEE This Quick Response Code (QR-Code) can be scanned with a scanner app on your smart phone to take the reader directly to the Omaha Branch web site.
PR ESI DENT: Mark Stokes............................................................... mark_stokes@aig.com V ICE PR ESI DENT / SECR ETA RY: Dave Thrasher.................... dave@supportworks.com TR EASU R ER: Les Zanotti................................................................ zanol@cox.net W I N E CELLA R M ASTER: Duke Matz....................................... dmatz@darland.com M EM BER SH I P CH A I R M A N: Joe Goldstein.............................. goldie2@cox.net
B OA R D O F D I R E C T O R S : Joe Goldstein Steve Hipple Todd Lemke
John Matthews Duke Matz Tom Murnan
Tad Singer Mark Stokes Dave Thrasher
Lowell Wilhite Mike Wilke Les Zanotti
KEEP IN TOUCH! Please notify Club President, Mark Stokes, 402-679-7317 or via email at mark_stokes@aig.com to let him know if you are interested in hosting an IWFS event.
ANNOUNCEMENTS FOR THE MEMBERS WILL BE POSTED ON FACEBOOK AND TWITTER. Like us on FACEBOOK (IWFSOmaha): facebook.com/IWFSOmaha and follow us on TWITTER (IWFSOmaha): twitter.com/IWFSOmaha All versions of Wine & Food Gazette are published monthly by Omaha Magazine, LTD, P.O. Box 461208, Omaha, NE 68046-1208. Telephone: (402) 884-2000. No whole or part of the contents herein may be reproduced without prior written permission of Omaha Magazine, excepting individually copyrighted articles and photographs. Unsolicited manuscripts are accepted however no responsibility will be assumed for such solicitations. The opinions expressed in this publication, except as specifically stated to the contrary, are solely the opinion of the author and do no necessarily represent the views of the Board of Governors of the Americas. The International Wine & Food Society, LTD., the publisher and any officer, director, member or agent thereof. The international Wine & Food Society does not endorse advertisers’ products and is not responsible for damages incurred from the use of such products nor does it guarantee such products.