IWFS Wine & Food Gazette September 2021

SEPTEMBER 2021

EVENT REPORT S U M M E R B A S H AT F L E M I N G ’ S

ALSO INSIDE • In Memoriam: Tom Gallagher 14th President 1984-1985 • Opening Large Format Wine Bottles • Blast from the Past • Upcoming Omaha Branch Events

A publication of the Omaha Branch of the International Wine and Food Society

“Veni, vidi, Visa” (We came, we saw, we shopped.)

With apologies to Julius Caesar F ro m T he Best of t he Cockle Bur comp il ed a nd edi t ed by H a rry B Ot is, 3rd P residen t 1973-1974

A publication of the Omaha Branch of the International Wine and Food Society

CORNER

EDITOR’S W

ell, we had a very nice event at Fleming’s where all high end wines were served. It was Phelps Insignia from 3 different vintages versus Bordeaux from the same vintages.

The Bordeaux included the likes of First Growth Château Lafite Rothschild. Unlike last year where there were a few glitches, everything went smoothly. The big thing last year was that the wines didn’t get enough breathing. That was remedied this year, beginning at 11:00 am for a Parker method breathing, and again 2 hours ahead of the sit down tasting, when the wines were poured at 4:00 in the afternoon. Read about it within.

Thomas Gallagher, our 14th president, died on August 13, 2021. I had never met Dr. Tom, but our Branch History said he was an amateur chef and loved good food, while the obituary said he loved food and wine, along with a list of other things.

He must have loved both because he was our president between 1984 and 1985. Thank you for your service to our Branch, Tom. If you have never had to open a large format bottle, you might not realize that none of the usual cork extracting tools are really meant for this task. A regular waiter’s corkscrew will not center the helix, unless you want to try and muscle the cork out of the neck without the benefit of the lever. Check out how it’s done.

Some members have had trouble reading the Gazette on issuu.com, Or, they don’t want to sign in, which means you can’t even read the Gazette at all. They prefer a PDF since all you have to do is click it open. We have decided to offer it in both formats. In your email, a PDF will be sent along with the issuu.com link. The advantage of issuu.com is that you can see both right and left pages, like a paper magazine. Our PDF only lets you view one page at a time.

Cheers!

Tom Murnan

Cover Photo: Fleming’s wine cellar on the main dining room floor. Photo by Ron Policky

September 2021 · Page 3

A publication of the Omaha Branch of the International Wine and Food Society

E V E N T R E P O R T:

Summer Bash at Fleming’s Written by Tom Murnan Photos by Ron Policky & Tom Murnan

O

ur second annual summer bash at Flemings once again featured only highly esteemed wines, partially from our Branch cellar, and partially specially sourced just for this event. At a sitdown tasting, we highlighted a First Growth Bordeaux, Château Lafite Rothschild 2004, as well as Château Smith Haut Lafitte 2008 and Château La Dominique 2009. These were all compared to Joseph Phelps Insignia. Interestingly, they were all from the same years as the Bordeaux. That probably doesn’t mean a lot since they are 5000 miles apart and had different weather conditions, but I thought it was pretty cool never-the-less.

As usual, we started the event with high quality wines from our cellar. You just can’t beat the Omaha Branch for the quality of their quaffers. They were, after all, dinner wines that many times got placed into quaffing just because their numbers had dwindled so that you didn’t have enough of them for a dinner. We sampled the following Châteaux: Barde Haut 2009, Haut Bergey 2010, Haut Batailley 2005 There was also an American quaffer in the line-up, Bedrock Old Vine Zinfandel 2015. Our servers, who were sporting COVID 19 masks, passed around two appetizers. There was Carpaccio on Toast that was so dried and crunchy that it just shattered when you bit into it. Personally, I think the toasting should have been backed off. All I could think about was how dry this was, and it seemed to reduce the beefy flavor to tastelessness. The toast had

to be softened with wine in hand. The other appetizer was ground lobster meat formed into a ball, breaded, and baked. This was enhanced by a bowl of lobster bisque sauce (just a tad thicker than lobster bisque soup).

You could dip the sphere into the sauce before you ate it. That was quite good.

We then sat down at table where we were greeted by pre-poured glasses of the six wines previously mentioned, each filled with 3 ounces of wine. This was more than a half bottle of wine right in front of us. Last year the controversy was that the wines didn’t receive enough breathing time. We are dealing with top-of-the-line California Cabs, after all, and they need time to relax and unwind. Co-host Mike Wilke began decanting at 11:00 in the morning using the Parker method. The Parker method, named after wine critic Robert Parker Jr., is when you decant, ridding the bottle of any sediment should it have some, and then pour it right back in the bottle and cork it. This starts the oxidization process to soften the wine. The three Phelps Insignias were double decanted. This took Mike at least two hours. When the wines arrived at the restaurant, they were poured into 6 glasses at every place setting at 4:00 pm. Thank you, Mike, for doing all that. I think it really helped to open the wines and explore their differences.

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Château Lafite Rothschild needs no introduction. It is world famous and was one of the four First Growths in the famous 1855 Classification of Bordeaux wines of the Médoc. The 2004 contains 90.5% Cabernet Sauvignon, 9% Merlot, and 0.5% Petit Verdot. The other two Bordeaux need a little introduction.

Smith Haut Lafitte was not included in the 1855 Classification since it was not part of the Médoc. It is from the area of Graves south of the City of Bordeaux and is a Crus Classés in the 1953 and 1959 classification of Graves wines, which classified the various communes in that area. Smith Haut Lafitte is in the commune of Martillac. The only exception to the all Médoc wines in the 1855 Classification was for the First Growth Château Haut Brion, which was in Graves.

Pessac-Léognan today represents the best of the Graves AOC. Smith Haut Lafitte got its name because its vineyards were planted on the Lafitte gravely plateau named in 1365.

Then a Scotsman, George Smith, bought the property in 1720 and attached his name. The Grand Vin has 55% Cabernet Sauvignon, 35% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Franc. >

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A publication of the Omaha Branch of the International Wine and Food Society

< Château La Dominique hails from the Saint Émilion commune and is ranked a Grands Crus Classé from the 1955 Saint Émilion Classification, the third highest growth in that classification system. Its location is adjacent to Château Cheval Blanc, which has the highest growth classification at Premier Grand Cru Classé. The property hails from the 19th century Bordelais merchant who named it after the Caribbean Island of (in French) Dominique. While it does not reach the heights of Cheval Blanc, it is considered one of the best Grand Cru Classés. It uses 80% Merlot, 15% Cabernet Franc and 5% Cabernet Sauvignon.

Joseph Phelps Vineyards was established in 1973 by the founder of the same name. He made his fortune in construction.

He was one of the first who devised a proprietary name, Insignia, for his top Cabernet Sauvignon based wine. The 2004 Insignia, for example, contains A blend of 72% Cabernet Sauvignon, 14% Merlot, 12% Petit Verdot and 2% Malbec.

So we were given about a half an hour to explore our 6 different wines. Unlike last year, this year’s tasting wines were not served blind. We knew exactly the identity of each wine. My notes are as follows.

2004 Lafite Rothschild. First impression: ripe with smooth, resolved tannins, great color with no browning at the edges.

Classic pencil lead nose. Towards the end of the tasting I felt it was the wine of the tasting. Elegant with incredible balance.

2008 Smith Haut Lafitte. Rougher than the Lafite, not as elegant, but good solid Cabernet Sauvignon flavors.

2009 La Dominique. A bit tannic, a bit tart. Still very young. Got bigger on the palate with time. Who says Merlot cannot be tannic?

2004 Phelps Insignia. Dense, tannins taming and getting smoother. Still needs more time. A bit of a teenager. Big and powerful. With all the glass swirling, it became a bit lighter on the palate, but still retained its power.

2008 Phelps Insignia. Mildly tannic.

Another monster. Practically black color, dense and hard to penetrate. Needs way more time. Great Cabernet Sauvignon flavors. At the end of the tasting, with a lot of glass swirling, it was more integrated and slightly less tannic, but still formidable. We had one magnum and one single bottle.

2009 Phelps Insignia. Less tannic than the 2008, even though it was one year younger. Densely dark. A bit of infanticide drinking this 11-year-old baby. Tannins were less harsh than I would have supposed.

Probably will not be the monsters that 2008 and 2004 are. Again, we had one magnum and one 750 ml bttle.

So, this was a was more relaxed tasting this year since it was not done blind.

The First Course was Grilled Peach Salad with Lemon Balsamic Vinaigrette, Candied Walnuts & Mixed Greens. Lettuce sprinkled with balsamic vinaigrette and candied walnuts was topped by several peach slices, then sprinkled with ground Parmesan cheese. Unfortunately, the peaches were not especially ripe. The chosen wine was a Newton Unfiltered Chardonnay 2015. This was an OK match, with no conflicts with the dressing or the salad. I enjoyed the candied walnuts the most.

Second was Tea Smoked Chilean Seabass, Shitake Mushrooms & Polenta with Chimichurri Sauce. The fish was quite tender and perfectly cooked, topped by one string of pickled onion. This sat atop a piece of deep fried polenta. Dots of green chimichurri sauce were scattered on the plate. As one would expect of polenta, it was fairly neutral tasting, and the shitake slices so thin it was hard to detect any of their savoriness in the polenta, all the mushroom juice doubtlessly wicked away by the corn. I could have benefited from a bit more chimichurri. The Siduri Pinot Noir 2014 was a great choice for the delicate sea bass.

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Our Third and Entrée course was a New York Strip with Sous Vide Pork Belly and Fig Demiglace. We also had two sides. Served separately family style, we had Mexican Street Corn and Fleming’s Potatoes. My steak was expertly sautéed to my desired rare temperature. The pork was a nice contrast, which added a sweeter, savory note. The ensemble was given a slick of rich, brown wine sauce. We were back to a pair of Cabernet Sauvignons to compare. We sampled the Beringer Cabernet Sauvignon 2012 against the Mondavi Cabernet Sauvignon of the same year. The Mondavi was structured, mildly tannic and full bodied, while the Beringer was medium bodied with a great Cab nose.

Dessert found us with Carrot Cake.

This was rich, moist, sweet with a great frosting. Really nice and not too sweet.

We had an unusual dessert wine, a Royal Tokaji 2006. Tokaji was considered the King of Wines and the Wine of Kings in the 19th century, although they were primarily referring to Essencia, which was the first of the juice that ran freely from the weight of the grapes (i.e., not pressed). Ours was not Essencia, however. It had sharp acidity, a bit earthy, and was mildly sweet. The dessert was too sweet for the wine. The usual rule is the wine should be sweeter than the dessert. I did enjoy the fact that we had a different dessert wine than our usual Port or Sauternes, however.

Many thanks to Chef Rafael Ponce, Chef Partner, for a nicely crafted meal. Bran Van de Lune was our wine steward for the evening. Service was great thanks to Katie, Ashley, and Daniel, all experienced servers.

Many thanks to our Co-hosts, Mark Stokes and Mike Wilke. Special thanks are showered on Mike for his attentive decanting and sourcing the Phelps tasting wines.

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A publication of the Omaha Branch of the International Wine and Food Society

In Memoriam: Tom Gallagher th 14 President 1984 to 1985 T

homas Francis Gallagher M.D. was our 14th president. His term was between 1984 and 1985, coming after Herman Goldstein and before Harlan Falk.

Thomas was born in Chicago and lived in Hyde Park. He was a Hutchins scholar and received a BA from the University of Chicago in 1950. He attended Swarthmore College until 1952, after which he entered the US Navy, went to officer candidate school, and served in Korea in mine warfare.

In 1962, Thomas entered medical school at the University of Chicago, doing internships and residency there. His fellowship in Boston was in Endocrinology, specializing in thyroid and obesity. In 1970, Thomas joined the faculty of the University of Nebraska College of Medicine. He retired in 1999 after a career of research, teaching students, patients, and fellow physicians.

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Thomas was a lifelong student of aspects of life, especially literature, music, art, religion, food and wine, roses, birds, new discoveries in science, word puzzles, and the list goes on. Thomas’s many interests fostered his great joy of connecting with people, sharing deep and engaging conversations, and building forever memories. He and Nancy were the first ones on the dance floor and the last ones to leave—living life to the fullest with each step.

Thomas is survived by his loving wife, Nancy; grateful and caring daughters: Ruth (Mark Nelson), Ann (Joe Steele), Mary (Jim Jansen), and Clare (Rick Sansburn); and exceptional grandchildren: Theo and Virginia Jansen, Ava and Tom Steele, and Owen and Margaret Sansburn.

Source: https://heafeyheafey.com/thomas-francis-gallagher-m-d/

A publication of the Omaha Branch of the International Wine and Food Society

OPENING LARGE FORMAT WINE BOTTLES

By Tom Murnan

I

f you never had to open a bottle larger than a magnum, you could be in for a nasty surprise when you do. How are you supposed to get this bottle open? All the usual tools are not made for this large a bottle. If you screw a regular waiter’s corkscrew down the cork, the helix will have to be off-centered if you want to use the attached leverage tool. The usual leverage tool found on regular corkscrews assume you are using a regular bottle. If you try using that, the worm is buried way off the large cork’s center, close to the edge of the cork.

This is asking for problems, like tearing up the cork as you attempt to leverage your way open. I guess there are always Port tongs, but even those are meant for a smaller necked bottle, i.e., a regular sized or possibly magnum bottle. That leaves sabering. God help you if you miss and the saber hits a little low and the contents of all that huge bottle goes on the table or floor. You will be persona non grata to everyone present.

There are a lot of large format bottles out there, each with its own name. Sometimes the name is the same for large bottles from different appellations but sometimes it is different. Bordeaux names are different from Champagne, for example. Here are most of the sizes larger than a magnum.

• Double Magnum, 3000 ml (3 L) 4 bottles; • Jeroboam, 3000 ml (3 L) 4 bottles Champagne; • Rehoboam, 4500 ml (4.5L) 6 bottles Champagne; • Jeroboam, 5000 ml (5 L) 6 bottles Bordeaux; • Imperial, 6000 ml (6 L) 8 bottles; • Methuselah, 6000 ml (6 L) 8 bottles Champagne; • Salmanazar, 9000 ml (9 L) 12 Bottles Champagne; • Balthazar, 12000 ml (12 L) 16 bottles; • Nebuchadnezzar, 15000 ml (15 L) 20 bottles; • Melchior, 18000 ml (18 L) 24 bottles; • Solomon, 20000 ml (20 L) 26 bottles Champagne; • Sovereign, 25000 ml (25 L) 33.3 bottles Champagne; • Primat or Goliath, 27000 ml (27 L) 36 bottles; • Melchizedek, 30,000 ml (30 L) 40 bottles Champagne; • Maximus, 130,000 ml (130L) 173 bottles especially made for Beringer.

All I have to say is beware. You need a large party to drink all that wine. Not only that, the guests get tired of having the same wine over and over if your party is too small for the bottle. >

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A publication of the Omaha Branch of the International Wine and Food Society

Bottle Equivalency Burgundy/Rhône 1/4 Bottle 1/2 Bottle 1 Bottle 2 Bottles -- (not used) -- (not used)

Champagne 1/4 Bottle 1/2 Bottle 1 Bottle 2 Bottles -- (not used) -- (not used)

-- (not used) 8 Bottles -- (not used) -- (not used) 16 Bottles 20 Bottles 24 Bottles (not used) (not used)

4 Bottles 6 Bottles -- (not used) 8 Bottles 12 Bottles 16 Bottles 20 Bottles 24 Bottles (not used) (not used)

4 Bottles 6 Bottles -- (not used) 8 Bottles 12 Bottles 16 Bottles 20 Bottles 24 Bottles 26 Bottles 33.3 Bottles

27000 ml (27 L)

36 Bottles

(not used)

36 Bottles

Melchizedek

30,000 ml (30 L)

(not used)

(not used)

40 Bottles

Maximus (Beringer)

130,000ml (130L)

173 Bottles

Name Split or piccolo Half Bottle Magnum Marie Jeanne Double Magnum

Volume 187.5 ml 375 ml 750 ml 1500 ml (1.5L) 2250 ml (2.25 L) 3000 ml (3 L)

Bordeaux 1/4 Bottle 1/2 Bottle 1 Bottle 2 Bottles 3 Bottles 4 Bottles

Jeroboam

5000 ml (5 L)

6 Bottles

Jeroboam Rehoboam Imperial Methuselah Salmanazar Balthazar Nebuchadnezzar Melchior Solomon Sovereign

3000 ml (3 L) 4500 ml (4.5L L) 6000 ml (6 L) 6000 ml (6 L) 9000 ml (9 L) 12000 ml (12 L) 15000 ml (12 L) 18000 ml (18 L) 20000 ml (20 L) 25000 ml (25 L)

Primat or Goliath

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A publication of the Omaha Branch of the International Wine and Food Society

< One advantage of the large format bottle is that the wine ages much slower than the single or half bottle, assuming good cellar conditions. But what about the condition of the cork? What this means, if you are the chosen one to open the bottle, is that the cork may have deteriorated in the cellar while the wine takes its sweet time to develop in the larger container, depending on its age.

The May 31, 2020 Wine Spectator, in their Feedback section, had a comment from George Caloyannidis from Calistoga, CA entitled Big Bottle Tales: Chapter Two. I never saw Chapter One, so don’t know what that was all about. But he laid out the process he had for opening a Nebuchadnezzar of Château Lynch-Bages. That’s 20 bottles.

What he didn’t do is provide any photos.

Someone gave me a 5 liter bottle (that’s 6.66 regular bottles) as a dinner host gift, so I thought I should try George’s suggestions but this time provide photos.

cally, what happens on old corks is that half the cork breaks off... way down the neck, leaving you exasperated and trying to figure out how to get that remnant extracted. But in this case, you will not use the Durand’s Ah So because it is not long enough for a large format Bordeaux aging cork.

STEP 4

Remove Ah So and anchoring helix. Insert the longer Screwpull helix. The Durand anchoring helix is not long enough, plus it would be hard to hold on to the small T handle when it came time to pull.

STEP 2 Screw in Durand helix to anchor

cork. The older your bottle is, the more important this is to do. Might not even be necessary for a relatively young cork 4 years or less if properly stored on its side.

STEP 5

Now comes the fun. Manually pull the cork to extract. Older corks will pull out easier than a newer one clinging to the bottle. I have a new appreciation for the leveraging tool on the waiter’s type corkscrew. You may need a small piece of cloth or dish rag to cushion your fingers.

STEP 1

Assemble your tools. You will need a.) the old style Screwpull where the helix is completely separate from the leverage unit. This may be a problem because they have not made this style of corkscrew for a number of years now. The Screwpull was selected because of its thin, Teflon coated helix. Sure, you could use a waiter’s corkscrew, but typically they have thick helixes that tend to tear up old corks. b.) Next you need an Ah So, that two pronged opener that you slide down the edge of a regular sized cork. (Whenever I use an Ah So, it gouges the outer edge of the cork, inevitably obliterating the name of the winery or the date stamp. It is not one of my favorite tools). c.)

A Durand corkscrew, only available from the Rare Wine Company as far as I know. Every wine connoisseur should have this $110.00 tool that comes in two parts: a small helix with a small T top. the other half is an Ah So. As an aside, someone clearly put some thought into the engineered design of the Durand because the little helix anchors the old cork, keeping it in one piece, while the Ah So is what actually extracts the cork. Typi-

STEP 3 Loosen cork from the side of the

bottle. I do this all the time with a Durand on a regular bottle and it is relatively easy. Over time, wine works its way towards the mouth of the bottle. This acts like glue, making your cork harder to extract. It is relatively easy to insert the Durand and twist so the prongs loosen the cork on all sides of the neck. On A Regular Sized Bottle. It is quite difficult to do this on a large format bottle because you can only insert one tine, not both as you can for a 750 ml bottle.

Using a regular Ah So has longer tines, insert the long tine in backwards, since you can’t put both sides in at once like a regular bottle. On my relatively young 2006 bottle, the cork was quite tight and the only way to do this was to repeatedly insert and extract the tine all around the cork. Not fun. Probably not necessary on a newer cork. The Durand helix keeps everything from being pushed into the bottle if the cork is old and loose. Again, you can probably skip this step if the cork is young and intact.

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STEP 6 Voila! Success...hopefully. The

cork pictured was from an Italian bottle and was surprisingly short. A Bordeaux or California aging cork would be a lot longer.

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!

SEP

FOURTH ANNUAL FESTA ITALIANA DINNER POOLSIDE, COUPLES Leo Fascianella along with Pasta Amore’s Chefs Jared Clarke & Matt Burbach Doctors Iris & Gary Moore Lake House Producer: Mike Wilke

OCT

STAG Trap Shoot at Harry A Koch Trap & Skeet Range - Rhône Ranger 6 dinner at Champions Run Producer: Tom Murnan

NOV

801 CHOPHOUSE STAG 100 point Napa Cab vs.

Bordeaux First Growth Producer: Dave Thrasher

DEC

HOLIDAY EVENT Happy Hollow Club Producer: Duke Matz

12 10 07 12

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 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.