DINING
Desert Island Wine
Brushing Up on Exceptional Sparkling Wines
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($79.99 at America’s Wine Shop, 398 3rd Ave., betw. E. 28th & E. 29th Sts., 800-8650982). This is the high-end offering, or “tete de cuvee,” from Champagne’s sixtholdest producer. Tete de cuvee means the grape selection is tougher, and the wine ages for a longer time in the bottle, in contact with the yeasts that fermented it. This gives the wine the pungent scent of fresh rising dough in the glass. On the palate, the flavors are rich and complex. Butterscotch and salted caramel notes are up front with a refreshing lemon pith balance throughout. There is a long finish with flavors of quince paste that make this an extremely memorable wine. Heading to the North Coast of California, the U.S. shows it has something serious to offer the world of fullbodied sparkling wine, as well. The Schramsberg Vineyards 2007 Blanc de Noirs North Coast ($27.99, Beacon Wines and Spirits, 2120 Broadway at W. 74th St., 212-877-0028) is a great example of a sparkling wine that you will never find being made in By Josh Perilo C h a m p a g n e . Blanc de Noir is a sparkling wine that is made using only red grapes, traditionally Pinot Noir. The grapes are gently crushed and the juice is collected before the skins have a chance to bleed any color. French law forbids any wine labeled Champagne to be made exclusively from Pinot Noir, making Blanc de Noir a uniquely American beverage. Schramsberg’s full-throttle sparkler starts with intense mushroom, earth and truffle notes on the nose. The bright, underripe cherry fruit of the Pinot Noir shines through on the palate up front, then gives way to more funk and earthen flavors toward the tail end of the palate.
with lime zest in the background. Then the middle brings orange and cream, carrying through to a bright and playful finish with a serious white pepper underpinning. Celebrating a big event with a glass of sparkling wine is always a good idea. Celebrating a big event with a glass of exceptional sparkling wine is a great idea. Follow Josh on Twitter: @joshperilo.
‘Pssst...Potstickers, Perfect’ I dialed my voicemail to hear a woman’s voice, deep and raspy: “There’s a vendor outside Bank of America on West 72nd Street. They serve pot stickers. Five for $3.50. Absolutely delicious.” No name. I was a little weirded out that someone had searched for my phone number, but I knew the caller was legit; just a week before, while shopping at the West 72nd Street Trader Joe’s, I put A-Pou’s Taste, a Taiwanese cart, on my “To Eat” list. Call this double happiness: five fried pork dumplings contains carrots, parsley, celand a heaping ery and thick shitake mushorder of “Chinese rooms, I was more wowed by Spaghetti” for $6. Broadway and W. 72nd St. the firm, eggy noodles. The While I usually pay presence of A-Pou’s outside (outside Trader Joe’s) more attention to TJ’s is genius. You can drool the innards—qual10 a.m.–8 p.m., 7 days over all the interesting frozen ity pork plus chives, potstickers that you can’t eat in this case—than the until hours later, while a quick dumpling skin, I liked the thin, chewy skin, dumpling fix awaits you outside. Tell ’em I fried to perfection, and A-Pou’s brown, sent you. sweet sauce, a departure from the usual —Nancy J. Brandwein black vinegar concoction. You’ll need their red-hot sauce to spruce up the comfortGot a snack attack to share? ing, but bland Chinese spaghetti. While it Contact nancybrandwein@gmail.com DANIEL S. BURNSTEIN
have always said that the one bottle of wine I would take with me to a desert island would be Champagne. Or California sparkling wine. Or a great, top shelf Cava… So the “one” bottle I would take to the island is up for debate, but the one type of wine I would take is not. Sparkling wine is my absolute favorite for one simple reason: It’s fun. I’ve covered all things bubbly before, but every time I have a chance to taste new products, or new vintages of old favorites, the subject deserves a return glance. So let’s brush up on the basics since it’s been a while: All wines that are made in the style of Champagne (and that includes all the wines I will be discussing herein) are made using Méthode Champenoise, also called Méthode Traditional. This is where the juice is fermented in a large vat, and afterwards it is put into a bottle and allowed to ferment a second time. Because the bottle is airtight, and because fermentation gives off CO2, the gas is trapped inside the liquid and creates bubbles. Ta da! It sounds simple, but there are a hundred ways for the entire thing to go wrong. That’s why when you find a sparkling wine that is not only good, but exceptional, it is a rare and amazing thing. Recently I was lucky enough to try several from a couple different regions. Some may be a bit pricier than others, but keep in mind that these are splurgeworthy indulgences. Starting in the area where sparkling wine was made famous, the first exceptional Champagne I recently tried was the venerable Champagne Delamotte 1999 Blanc de Blanc Le Mesnil-Sur-Oger
Heading back to Champagne, one of the most famous houses of the region is Salon, and I was lucky enough to taste the new vintage. Champagne Salon 1997 Blanc de Blanc Le Mesnil-SurOger ($259.95 at Sherry-Lehman Wine and Spirits, 505 Park Ave. at E. 59th St., 212-838-7500) is leaner than the other wines, but no less complex. The smells of orange zest and biscuit dough waft from the glass. The palate starts vanilla-heavy,
A-Pou’s Taste
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May 26, 2011
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