SEPTEMBER 2020
Event Report SUMMER STAG FOR THE AGES AT FLEMING’S STEAKHOUSE
ALSO INSIDE • Shafer Vineyards: Stags Leap Mark of Excellence • IWFS Great Weekend in Charleston South Carolina Part 5 Saturday 10/19/2019 Finale • Blast from the Past • Upcoming Omaha Branch Events Page 1 · 2020 ·
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A publication of the Omaha Branch of the International Wine and Food Society
CORNER
EDITOR’S
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e had a special treat with our Flemings event on July 9th where we had a tasting of 12 (pushing 13) year old wines. Included in our 2007 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon lineup were two 100 point wines. Advertised as “A Summer Stag for the Ages” it was sold out in one day. Luckily, Mike Wilke and Mark Stokes were able to expand the 24 cap to 32. Everything was great except for one thing, but it was a big one thing. Read all about it within. One of our Perfect Wines was a 2007 Shafer Vineyards Hillside Select. I always think that it is better to have some knowledge of your subject, so I threw a spotlight on the story of John Shafer and his vineyard. For a guy who came from Chicago to Napa Valley, with no wine experience, he ended up one of the titans of the wine industry. But he had a rough start at first, and it took a number of years before the winery became the superstar it is today. Eventually the accolades came rolling in, but not at first.
Wayne Markus wraps up the IWFS Charleston Great Weekend with the dinner finale at the Hotel Bennett. The featured wines were from Joseph Phelps Vineyards, where the 2010 Insignia was poured. Instead of photos for our Blast from the Past section, we have a Louis’ Market Christmas brochure from 1988. It is interesting to see the wide selection Louis’ had (they had about the best in town at the time) and the low prices! You can compare what they were sold for then to what they cost now. A nice walk down memory road. Enjoy!
Tom Murnan On the Cover: Fleming’s façade shot with benefit of the morning sun. Photo by Ron Policky.
“Business is what, when you don’t have any, you go out of.” — The Guradian From The Best of the Cockle Bur compiled and edited by Harry B Otis, 3rd President 1973-1974
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A publication of the Council Bluffs Branch of the International Wine and Food Society
Event Report:
Summer Stag for the Ages at Fleming’s Steakhouse, Featuring Two 100 Point Wines and Blind Tasting Against Some of the Best Napa Valley Wines Ever Produced
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Story by Tom Murnan // Photos by Tom Murnan & Ron Policky
hew, that is quite a long title, but this was a very special event. It is not every day that you have two 100-point wines to compare. Seating was strictly limited to 24 at first round, but fortunately got expanded to 32. I would have been left out in the cold on round one because I did not see my email until day’s end, and the event had sold out. The price was a new Benchmark for this Branch at $350. But most the wines had to be purchased in today’s market, except for the quaffing and the Port. Luckily, Mike Wilke has connections, and was able to procure our tasting and dinner wines. It is a little difficult to buy 12-year-old wine now, and all from the same year, 2007. It helps to have Napa connections! I arrived about 5:15 pm, early as always, only to be told that our private room was quarantined while the staff poured the tasting wines. Six wines were poured in a random order. Our mission was to correctly identify all six. Even the event hosts did not know the order of the wines. Mercifully, you just had to determine what wine was the mystery wine, and not actually identify it à la a Master Sommelier candidate. In an interesting twist, everyone was given a card to fill out at the end of our half hour period to immortalize on paper and ink our wine prowess / best guesses. This was a tasting for the ages after all. Luckily, we were not asked to identify ourselves on the card should we fail miserably. But first, it was time to get primed by our usual high-quality quaffing wines. Masked service staffers passed a nice selection of several different kinds of appetizers which you ate off a napkin. These included South American beef style Satay, pork belly bites and Butcher Board treats. We soon sat down to our main task: decide what was what in our six glasses. Fortunately,
we knew what the wine lineup (except for the Mystery Wine) would be. They were just in random order. The following is just my opinion. As one would expect, all six were tannic. In fact, we were faced with a monolithic block of 6 wines that tasted virtually identical as they were uniformly tight as granite and so closed in they tasted virtually the same upon first sip. My plan of attack was to first identify the two perfect wines. I would have expected them to be darker and the most tannic. Surprisingly, the color was pretty uniformly dark for all contenders. The biggest hurdle to me was the wines had only about an hour to breathe, and were uniformly tight and closed in. The pouring was supposed to have been done by 4:00, but that didn’t happen. This was a critical error as the restaurant had been instructed to start breathing the wines at least by 4:00. Unfortunately, nothing could be done by the event hosts once they arrived and discovered pouring had only begun about 5:00. Wine number six seemed to have a non-typical, hard to identify flavor, but that seemed to blow off later with lots of glass swirling. That wine turned out to be the Phelps Insignia, one of our 100 pointers. The opposite strategy was to pick the weakest wines. Since everything was so closed in, I did a lot of swirling in an attempt to loosen them up and reveal their secrets. Another tasting technique is to draw a thin stream of wine onto your tongue, almost like drawing up into a thin straw. This spray fans the wine stream out like a carburetor to intensify the flavors and complexity on the palate. Again, everything was so tightly shut that this strategy had limited success. The half hour allotted went quickly, and I turned in my card. When the wines were identified, I am pleased to say I got the two 100 pointers correct, along with the mystery wine and one other. The ones Page 4 · 2020 ·
I got backwards were the “lesser” cabs. Really, to give everyone a better chance, and to have a more enjoyable tasting experience, the wines should have been poured a minimum of 3 hours ahead of time. Only time and breathing would coax the wine to unfurl. My proof for the contention that these Cabs needing more breathing time? I saved all six wines and was trying them throughout dinner. By the end of the dinner, it was much easier to apprise what was in the glass as they had finally loosened enough to reveal themselves. Logistically, this may have been difficult, but we did have a private room after all where the wines could have been poured and sitting out for hours undisturbed. So, the answers were: 1. Dunn Howell Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon; 2. Joseph Phelps Cabernet Sauvignon; 3. Shafer Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Hillside Select; 4. Smith Madrone Cooks Flat Reserve; 5. Shafer Vineyards 1.5 Cabernet Sauvignon; and 6. Joseph Phelps Insignia. Mike Wilke counted all the votes and only one person had selected all 6 wines correctly. We are looking for this mystery member. I have included his card in the article so you can check the handwriting. Please let me know your identity since you are the glorious winner! The next number correct was one person (me) that got 4 right. Four got 2 correct, thirteen had 1 correct, and 13 got all the wines incorrect. We are better wine tasters than these results suggest. What this tells me is that it is crucial to let high quality, still youthful Cabernet Sauvignons breathe more than one hour. Again, I want to emphasize that this was an unforeseen consequence that in no way reflects poorly on our event hosts, whose instructions when to pour were not followed. But I believe that it does provide us all with a teachable moment. >
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< The IWFS Vintage card gives 2007 Napa a 7 out of 7, the best, and indicates it is for current drinking. The Wine Advocate rates 2007 Napa Cabs as 96 E (for early). To not have adequate time to breathe is the culinary equivalent of putting an expensive Burgundy into Boeuf Bourguignon stew. You lose all the fine attributes, nuances, and subtleties of the wine you are paying so dearly for. I am guessing that 3 hours decanting, and breathing would have been key to greater success. They would have had 2½ hours if instructions were followed, something that would have been manageable. More interesting results: 13 guys were correct on the Insignia and 6 guys were correct on the Hillside. 4 guys had the two 100-point wines flip flopped, but at least they identified the perfect wines. 13 guys filled out their favorite choice out of the six wines. Results were: 6 picked the Hillside, 3 picked the Smith Madrone, and 4 picked the Insignia. Considering the Smith-Madrone was not even rated, this tells me that the Cooks Flat Reserve was a pretty darned good Bordeaux blend from the Spring Mountain AVA. This would not be a truthful review if I ignored the elephant in the room, which was the failure to follow pouring instructions. It affected everyone’s ability to identify the wines. There was little Mike or Mark could do since their instructions were not followed. The following teachable moment would only work if it had been known ahead of time that the wines would not be left a sufficient time to breathe, such as the host restaurant informing us that they could not fulfill our breathing requirements If a restaurant balks at advanced breathing during negotiations, then it is incumbent on the host to intervene. I recommend the Robert Parker method, where you decant and pour the wine right back into the bottle. In this case, since everything was so shut down, you might have to do these 6 or 8 hours before. On super tannic monsters, you may need more than the Parker method. and let them sit in decanter, but if they are too young, the wine still will not open even with a lot of breathing. There is a reason why we age wines, after all. But these wines were 12 years old, so the Parker method should have greatly assisted in opening up tightly closed wines. That way you bring bottles to the restaurant that have had some time to unwind in the bottle. A new technology solution could have helped, but it runs in the $500.00 range. The Breville Sommelier BWD600SIL Electric Hyper Speed Decanter injects 90% pure oxygen into the wine at a rate of one-minute equals one hour of traditional breathing. More on that in a later Gazette.
Our Steakhouse themed dinner continued with a Pear Salad with Gorgonzola Blue Cheese. Also sporting dried cranberries and almonds, it was a refreshing start after all those tannic monsters. A Shafer Chardonnay 2017 made a nice match and a relief with no tight tannin. Second Course found us with rather large Seared Bacon Wrapped Scallops with Spinach Risotto. The bacon tended to overwhelm the scallop taste, but the combination seems to work. The risotto also had a good affinity with both the scallops and the wine. We had a Brick House Les Dijonais Pinot Noir Ribbon Ridge Willamette Valley 2015. This was just like its name implied: very Burgundian in style. Dijon is an important city in Burgundy’s Côte d’Or. Our Third Course was our entrée. We were treated to a Steak Duo: Dry Aged Ribeye and Filet Mignon with sides of Asparagus and Flemings Potatoes. It may be steakhouse fare, but it was great comfort food. My filet was cooked medium rare and was quite nice, although I like ‘em rarer. Anytime you get dry aged beef in Omaha, NE it is a treat. I found my piece quite flavorful, more so than the filet. Besides having a duo of beef, we also had a
duo of red wines. The Meyer Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley 2014 was mildly tannic, full bodied and pleasing. The Adriano Barbaresco, Italy 2014 was earthy with moderate tannins but well balanced. Both were quite nice. Dessert found us with Pecan Turtle Pie, which seemed almost like a cake than your traditional pecan pie. This was so sweet that it was on the verge of overwhelming the Warre’s Vintage Port 2007, which did everything it could to keep up with the pie’s sweetness, but in the end barely lost out. It was a little too rich and sweet for me. A great huzzah to producers Mike Wilke and Mark Stokes. The wines were amazing and powerful, despite their brief breathing. Thanks as well to the Fleming’s staff for attentive service. Wine Manager Brad Van de Lune organized the tasting pours and wine service, while Chef Partner Raphael Ponce provided the quality dinner. Everything was wonderful except the short breathing time, which was critical to fuller enjoyment of the 2007. Perhaps that was just an oversight, but it made it harder to figure out the differences between the tasting wines.
The Glorious winner! Let us know who you are. Page 12 · 2020 ·
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A publication of the Omaha Branch of the International Wine and Food Society
IWFS GREAT WEEKEND IN CHARLESTON SOUTH CAROLINA Part 5
Saturday 10/19/2019 Finale STORY & PHOTOS BY WAYNE MARKUS
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aturday began with Breakfast with Bubbles in the Hotel Bennett. Domaine Chandon Étoile for breakfast! Many attended the IWFS Americas Annual General Meeting. The rest of the day was free time until the Black-Tie dinner. The Saturday evening Black Tie Dinner at Hotel Bennett was prepared under guest Chef Todd Gray, chef and co-owner of Equinox in Washington, D.C. Todd studied at the University of Richmond and graduated with honors from the Culinary Institute of America, earning five nominations for James Beard Foundation’s “Best Chef, Mid-Atlantic” Award. He was the first chef to be invited to speak in the White House Rose Garden and was appointed by then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to serve as one of the inaugural State Department Chefs. Dom Pérignon Brut Champagne 2008 and passed hors d’oeuvres were served during the reception. Everyone was dressed to the nines (a term from the 18th century poetry of Robert Burns and possibly referring to the game of nine pins). Multiple groups arranged to have group photos hampered by the ability to get the photographer (me) and members of the group together at the same time. The featured wines of Joseph Phelps Vineyards were presented by Bill Phelps, son of the late Joseph Phelps. Joseph Phelps wines have been well known to the more mature members of IWFS for many years. It remains a family owned winery. The winery was founded in 1973 and the flagship wine Insignia, a blend of
Bordeaux varietals, was first made in 1974 and scored 99 by Robert Parker. This wine was one of the first to dispel the argument that California wines do not age. The original intent of the Insignia label was to be the best wine of the year be it Cabernet, Chardonnay, or any of their varietals or blends, but it has always been a Cabernet or Merlot predominant blend. Robert Parker has awarded four perfect 100-point scores to the 1991, 1997, 2002, and 2007 vintages of Insignia. Parker wrote: “Joseph Phelps was one of the great visionaries of Napa Valley. His legacy is one of extraordinary quality. He was one of the first to see the merit in blending, which his legendary Insignia, which first debuted in 1974, has proven year after year. It remains one of the world’s finest Cabernet Sauvignondominated blends.” The first course was Lemon Rosemary Glazed Jumbo Prawn with Morel Mushroom Grit Cake and Spiced Butternut Squash Puree. The wine was Joseph Phelps Chardonnay, “Firestone Vineyards,” Sonoma Coast, 2015. The second course was Pan Seared Charleston Wreckfish served on Celery Root Galette with Beurre Rouge, Black Truffle and Porcini Dusted Enoki Mushroom Tempura. Wreckfish in the South Atlantic are large predators that lurk in caves and under overhangs on the Charleston Bump and come out to feed on fish and squid. They are deep-water marine fish and can be found on the ocean bottom, where they inhabit caves and shipwrecks (hence their common name). The wine was Joseph Phelps Pinot Noir, “Firestone Vineyards,” Sonoma Coast 2017. The Page 14 · 2020 ·
wine scored 96 points by Wine Enthusiast and 94 points by James Suckling. The third course was Hazelnut Crusted Saddle of Lamb with Parsnip Custard, Spinach Cannelloni, and Sweet Garlic Lamb Jus. It was served with Joseph Phelps Insignia, Napa, 2010. The Insignia scored 95 points by Wine Advocate. The dessert course was Olive Oil Pound Cake, Mix Berry Marmalade, Lemon Vanilla Cream, and Raspberry Coulis. The dessert wine was Joseph Phelps Delice, Napa, 2017. Delice is 100% Scheurebe from the Home Ranch Vineyard in St. Helena. Scheurebe is a hybrid of Riesling and Bukettrebe. The grapes are hand-picked, frozen, partially thawed then gently pressed. Several awards were given out. Hal Jones of Southern Glazier Wine & Spirits who selected and obtained the wine for the weekend; Bill Phelps Executive Chairman of Joseph Phelps Vineyards who presented the evening’s wines; and Chef Todd Gray at Hotel Bennett were all given the IWFS Certificate of Appreciation. Stephen Greenwald was awarded the André Simon Bronze Medal for all his work on the Festivals & Events Committee. The following morning the event was over, and we all went our ways. Karen and I went to McLead Plantation then Savannah for a couple days. We had never spent any time in Savannah and thoroughly enjoyed it. We were looking forward to the Paris and Bordeaux event with side-trips to Normandy, Lourdes, and Alsace. Now, due to the COVID 19 virus that is on hold until 2021.
BREAKFAST WITH BUBBLES
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BLACK TIE DINNER
A publication of the Omaha Branch of the International Wine and Food Society
Shafer Vineyards: Stags Leap Mark of Excellence BY TOM MURNAN s you have read in the Event report above, our 7/9/2020 stag featured a blind tasting of six 2007 California Cabs. Shafer Vineyards supplied one 100 point wine, the Hillside Select, and the 1.5 Cabernet Sauvignon. Shafer’s Hillside label quality has been their private reserve, but ever since about 1993 the quality exploded. But I get ahead of myself. There has been a winery on the current Shafer property ever since the 1880s, when Jacob Ohl and C.H. Linderman planted a vineyard. In 1922, during Prohibition, the vineyards were replanted and the grapes sold to home winemakers. In 1972, John Shafer, a textbook businessman in Chicago, moved to the Stags Leap area of southern Napa Valley. He purchased the vineyard in 1973. This area was affected by almost daily fog, and it was considered too cool to grow Cabernet Sauvignon in the 1970 mindset. But John had tasted a neighbor’s Cabernet Sauvignon and made the prescient decision to plant Cab. So Cabernet Sauvignon was planted in the Sunspot and John’s Upper 7 vineyards. He had virtually no wine experience, but stumbled along, learning as he went. But he also had pretty good luck. For his first harvest in 1978, he waited to pick until the grapes achieved a ripeness of 22.5 Brix, the desired sugar level of 1970s Napa. However, all the other wineries had the same target, and he had not contracted a picking crew well ahead of time. He had to wait 6 days until a crew was available. Meanwhile, the grape sugar soared to 27 Brix. John thought he had ruined the batch. The next crisis for the 1978 vintage was a cold winter, which prevented the wine from undergoing malolactic fermentation. Electric blankets were draped over the barrels to start the malolactic process. Despite all this, the wine was a great success. From 1979 to 1983, John and his son Doug were the winemakers. But it was still hit and miss rather than
consistent. There was no 1981, and the 1980 was weedy tasting. The wines were lean and ungenerous. In 1985, Doug hired an assistant winemaker named Elias Fernandez a few weeks before he graduated from UC Davis. Both winemakers were young and inexperienced, but they learned with every vintage how to improve. Hillside vintage quality was irregular until 1993, when everything seemed to come 1978, the “Electric Blanket Vintage’ together. In 1994, John named his son Doug as President, and Elias winemaker. John was also lobbying ship between father John and Doug son. In the government for a separate AVA for Stags 2010, the father son duo of John and Doug Leap District, which was approved in 1989. Schafer were awarded the James Beard Foundation’s “Wine & Spirits Professionals Merlot was first bottled in 1985. In 1995, of the year. the first Chardonnay was released from Red Shoulder Ranch (in Carneros), and the 1994 Shafer is most renowned for its Hillside Chardonnay was named a Wine Spectator Select line, which debuted in 1983. Before Top 10 for the year. In 2001 a new state that the top wine was just called Reserve. of the art barrel room was constructed. In Hillside Select comes from 14 small vine2002, a Rhone varietal based wine dubbed yard blocks on the estate. Yields are always Relentless was introduced, named after small, but the complexity of the grapes is winemaker Elias Fernandez’s relentless remarkable. The wine is aged for 30 or more pursuit of quality. 1999 fruit from Syrah months in new French oak. John died March and Petite Syrah were used in that blend. By 2nd, 2019 at the age of 94. and remains one 2012, the 2008 Relentless was named wine of the titans of Napa Valley wine history. of the year by the Wine Spectator. The winery also introduced the TD-9 label in 2017 which Sources: https://www.winespectator.com/ sports Bordeaux blend grapes. TD-9 refers to articles/john-shafer-dies-at-94 https://www. the tractor John taught himself to drive when winespectator.com/articles/shafers-firstplanting his first grapes. syrah-is-dedicated-to-its-relentless-winemaker-21127https://www.winespectator. The Shafer label received a great promocom/articles/30-vintages-of-shafer-hilltional boost in 2003 when Robert Parker side-select-the-evolution-of-a-classic-naJr. awarded the Hillside Select 100 points. pa-cabernet-49099; https://www.robertParker called Shafer Vineyards “one of the parker.com/wines/xyxZwzLvouumXCKjz#world’s greatest wineries.” The 1.5 label professional-noteshttps://shafervineyards. was launched in 2007, a 100% Cabernet com/story/index.php; https://www.forbes. Sauvignon using Stags Leap fruit. 1.5 refers com/sites/tomhyland/2018/11/05/shaferto a “generation and a half” working relationvineyards-40-years-of-napa-valley-excellence/#784aac6721b4
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Shafer Vineyards
Elias Fernandez, winemaker
Doug and John Shafer
Shafer Vineyards
September 2020 ¡ Page 19
A publication of the Omaha Branch of the International Wine and Food Society
Mike Wilke was given this Louis Market flyer from December 1988 by Erwin Siegler. My, have wine prices risen in 32 years!
A publication of the Omaha Branch of the International Wine and Food Society
UPCOMING OMAHA BRANCH EVENTS
Mark Your Calendars! SEP.
17 OCT.
11
NOV.
8
DEC.
13
STAG
V. Mertz Producer: Tad Singer
COUPLES
49th Formal Dinner | Champions Run Tablas Creek & Château Beaucastel: Kissing Cousins? Producers: Tom Murnan & John Klemke
STAG
801 Chophouse at the Paxton Sit down tasting: Mouton Rothschild vs. California 100 point Cab Producer: Dave Thrasher
COUPLES
Happy Hollow Club Producer: Duke Matz
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
September 2020 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 E SI DENT: Mark Stokes............................................................... mark_stokes@aig.com
V ICE PR E SI 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 BERSH 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 : Derek Burdeny Joe Goldstein Steve Hipple
Todd Lemke
John Matthews Duke Matz
Tom Murnan
Tad Singer
Mark Stokes
Dave Thrasher
Mike Wilke Les Zanotti
Lowell Wilhite
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.
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