Sip & Savor / Guide to Great Gifts | Winter 2019 by Rosebud Media

Winter 2019

E I N eSs I35D-40 pag

Jackson and Josephine Counties’ Guide to Wining, Dining, and Great Gifts!

S TA F F CEO & Publisher: Steven Saslow Associate Publisher & VP of Sales: Gail Whiting

ADVERTISING INDEX

Wi n t e r 2 0 1 9

Applebee’s....................................................6 Bambu.......................................................16 Beth’s Nails................................................37 Bohemian Bar & Bistro..............................31 Café Dejeuner.............................................28 Central Point Pawn Plus.............................38 El Tapatio in Medford.................................13 Ella Lane Boutique.....................................40 Essentials Home Decor..............................38 Garcia’s Tacos............................................33 Honeysuckle Café.......................................18 Human Bean..............................................33 Indigo Grill.................................................11 J’s Bistro Wagon........................................33 Jacksonville Inn...........................................8 Kenda’s Treasures......................................39

Design & Production: Jaren Hobson & John Sullivan

La Reyna Monarca.....................................10 Los Arcos...................................................23 Luna Mexican Cuisine..................................3 Medford Food Co-op....................................6 Ostras Tapas & Bottle Shop.......................35 Paschal Winery..........................................20 The Point Pub and Grill..............................30 Porters Dining at the Depot........................28 Rosario’s Italian Restaurant.......................16 RoxyAnn Winery..........................................8 Shalo’mein.................................................33 Shoji’s of Medford......................................21 Urban Minx................................................35 Wayback Burgers.........................................5 Xilakil Latin Fusion.....................................25

ON THE COVER

Sales Supervisor: Laura Perkins

Luna Mexican Restaurant’s Molcajete

Sip & Savor is published quarterly by the Rosebud Media Advertising Department 111 N Fir St., Medford, OR 97501 General Information: (541) 776-4422

A hot stone bowl filled with homemade spicy salsa. Accompanied by grilled steak, grilled chicken, Mexican sausage, Mexican cheese, bacon wrapped shrimp, onion, jalapeno and cactus.

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on local restaurant & winery gift certificates!

ONLINE GIFT CERTIFICATE SALE 5 DAYS ONLY! Monday, December 2 through Friday, December 6

On Monday, December 2, go to SOGiftCards.com and find gift certificates from dozens of local restaurants, wineries, and local businesses for 10% off face value. On Tuesday, they will be 20% off, and so on until the final day of the sale on Friday, December 6, when all remaining gift certificates will be 50% off. Buy as many as you like, but don’t wait too long - the certificate to your favorite local business may be gone!

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Winter 2019 ▪ Sip & Savor

Inside the world of flavorists,

who try to make plant-based meat taste like the real thing By Laura Reiley

The Washington Post

CRANBURY, N.J. - Marie Wright dips four long strips of paper, the kind you'd sniff a perfume sample from Sephora, into bottles of clear liquid marked Methyl Cinnamate, Ethyl Butyrate, y-decalactone and Furaneol. She holds the four strips together and wafts them, fanlike, under her nose. Suddenly, the lab smells of strawberries. Wright is the vice president and chief global flavorist for Archer Daniels Midland, one of the world's largest food processors and suppliers. She's a former perfume industry chemist who has created more than 1,000 individual flavors for major food and beverage companies, and she's now facing one of the biggest challenges of her career. Consumers are seduced and beguiled by flavorists without even being aware of it. Flavorists are the people who tinker with nacho cheese dust, Hot Pockets and pumpkin spice lattes. They are the tastemakers, driving consumer trends and making food craveable. Wright and the planet's 200 or so other flavorists are bringing their alchemy to plant-based meat. It's the biggest craze the food industry has seen in a long time, driven by concerns about climate change, animal welfare and human health. It is still dwarfed by the $49 billion beef industry; however, the Swiss investment firm UBS predicts growth of plant-based protein and meat alternatives will increase from $4.6 billion in 2018 to $85 billion by 2030. Despite its swift ascent, plant-based meat is the antithesis of recent trends such as local and farm-to-table dining, representing an embrace of highly processed foods made palatable in a laboratory by technicians such as Wright. "These are great proteins from a nutri-

tional perspective, but plant-based presents some challenges with tastes that can be unpleasant," Wright says. First, there is the masking of the vegetal "green" notes in pea protein and the "beany" notes in soy, often by adding other ingredients and chemicals. "There isn't one magic bullet, not one molecule or extract. It tends to be common pantry items like salt, spices, molasses, honey," Wright says. Vanilla extract is often used for masking because it is known for how it binds to a protein, rendering its own distinctive taste undetectable. "It sacrifices itself," she says. She describes vegetal notes that are more about aromatics. The goal is not to remove these aromas, but to prevent them from being perceived. "Smell and taste are closely linked in the appreciation of flavor but are independently triggered," she says. "Taste is composed of the taste sensations perceived in the mouth and odor compounds perceived by the receptors in the nose linked to the olfactory lobe." Then comes the insertion of the mineral, musky, charry, "umami" flavors that we associate with meat. Wright huddles with fellow flavorist Ken Kraut, who works only on the savory side. They swirl little plastic cups of clear liquid, sniffing and tasting. Too yeasty, they say. They want a little less soy and a bit more umami - that elusive, savory monosodium glutamate flavor. Mushrooms give that umami flavor, as does Japanese green tea. Meat's mineralized note can be mimicked by concentrated extracts of broccoli and spinach. They've got a deadline. A big client is coming in the following week to test blended veggie-chicken meatballs, a plant-based burger and a few other proprietary products. Everyone is launching a plant-based burger these days, and as quickly as possible.

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THE WASHINGTON POST

"They want to do it in anywhere from six weeks to three months - there's an urgency, a panic," Wright says. "Usually, a product is a year to 18 months to complete." Wright says an ordinary product - a snack bar or a protein drink - might cost a client from $10,000 to $200,000 to have ADM formulate a recipe, which the company can then produce in its own processing facilities. Plant-based meat is different. "This whole area is expensive because it's fairly high-tech, with a lot of dollars involved in research," she says. "Something like this, you're talking $100,000 to $1 million." There's a lot of heavy lifting that goes into making vegan sea urchins out of soy and vegetable oils or sausage links out of lupin beans, a yellow and occasionally bitter legume. The world is agog at plant-based meats that taste uncannily like the real thing, but nutritionists warn that if companies increasingly rely on

chemists to insert desirable flavors into food, consumers might temper their enthusiasm for this new raft of better-living-through-science processed foods. With their pea protein isolates, their gum arabic and yeast extracts, these new foods are the opposite of whole foods, the obverse of transparent sourcing. Some nutritionists and food industry leaders are wondering whether the food system is being led astray by foods that have flavor and appeal inserted industrially. "It doesn't resemble the foods from which it came; it has a vast numbers of ingredients. It fully meets the definition of ultra-processed food," says author Marion Nestle, a nutrition professor at New York University, about these new plant-based meats. "Are flavorists complicit? They always have been. These are industrially produced food to which flavors and textures and colors are added so CONTINUED ON PAGE 7

on local restaurant & winery gift certificates!

On Monday, December 2, go to SOGiftCards.com and find gift certificates from dozens of local restaurants, wineries, and local businesses for 10% off face value. On Tuesday, they will be 20% off, and so on until the final day of the sale on Friday, December 6, when all remaining gift certificates will be 50% off. Buy as many as you like, but donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t wait too long - the certificate to your favorite local business may be gone!

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CONTINUED FROM PAGE 4

it's attractive. What they do is cosmetics." Back at the lab, Wright and team nudge the burger formula, trying to achieve the aroma and flavors resulting from the Maillard reaction, a chemical process between amino acids and sugars that gives caramelized meat its distinctive seared flavor. They dry liquids in a spray dryer, tiny droplets sent through a hot chamber in a stainless-steel box, the water driven off to produce powders. They consider the protein, the flavorings and the binders, looking for a mineral, bloody note and seeking appealing top notes that mimic seared sirloin. They go beyond sweetness, sourness, saltiness, bitterness and umami, reaching for a lesser-known "sixth taste" sensation that the Japanese call kokumi, which translates as something like "heartiness" or "mouthfulness." Then they take their thoughts into the kitchen. John Stephanian, ADM's culinary director, went to culinary school but considers himself a culinologist, a job where the culinary arts and the science of food meet. He's plating the plant-based burgers as the flavorists arrive, deep ruddy patties with charry grill marks, tucked

onto glossy brioche buns with delicate Parmesan crisps. Wright tastes, appraising. How is the chew? Is it meaty enough? Wright grew up east of London and studied chemistry at King's College London. She worked in Europe for years, moved to New Jersey and commuted back and forth to South America to set up flavor labs. Salaries for flavorists vary widely, she says, from $50,000 to $500,000. Flavorist is a mentoring profession, with trainees spending years as underlings in places such as ADM's Academy of Future Flavorists program. It takes seven to 10 years to achieve flavorist status, and 20 to be a senior flavorist, Wright says. "Learning the materials takes three to four years. Like being a pianist, you have to practice. A trainee may do 20 to 30 versions of a flavor," she says. Flavorists work with beakers and magnetic stir bars. They work with gas chromatography mass spectrometry instruments that separate chemical mixtures and identify the components at a molecular level. They paint their pictures with essential oils, resinoids, concretes and absolutes, the building blocks of fragrance and flavor. But mostly, they use their noses and skills of prognostication. Designing an average of 300 new products a year, flavorists have tens of mil-

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lions of dollars riding on their senses and gut instincts about the next big thing in the food industry. "There are so many influences from all over the world. If you're going to hang your hat on a flavor for next year, you may be wrong," Wright says. It's about reverse engineering, listening to clients' visions while tracking trends and predicting consumer fetishes and preoccupations. "Consumers are driving trends. Trends only used to come from high-end restaurants. Now, a lot of trends are coming from street foods," she says. "The consumer has changed. They're saying, 'I'm not going to eat that, and I have a say.' " She points to smaller food companies such as Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods, which have pushed food giants such as Cargill, Tyson Foods, Kellogg and Smithfield Foods into a headlong race to produce signature plant-based meats. Before the day is over, Wright checks in with a flavorist working on an energy bar flavored with salted caramel, then with a team in the mint lab working on a gum that both cools and tingles. She tastes a nitro coffee, deciding whether it should be flavored with Madagascar or Ugandan vanilla - the former classic and beany, the latter sweeter with a hint of milk chocolate. And about that burger. Nondisclosure agreements prevent her from naming the

company behind this plant-based burger, but the meeting is a success, the company's team staying for two days to hash out the details. "They liked aspects of it, and they also wanted some changes in the fat delivery. They wanted a bit more of that bloody, minerally note and more of that seared taste, as well as that melty quality you get with animal fat," Wright says.

"A few years ago, they didn't have to taste so fantastic, but now we can really replicate a meat product without meat," she says. Clients often provide nutritional and price guidelines, with the ADM team working within constraints such as calorie counts or projected retail cost. Once the formulation has been approved, the client gets the recipe, frequently having it produced and packaged by a co-manufacturing facility. Wright and her group don't produce the finished, packaged product. They invent the formula. With food technology and the culinary zeitgeist moving so swiftly, predicting what will resonate with consumers is tricky - even with Wright's expanding toolbox of ingredients and food technologies. "It's a huge area of investment," Wright says. "If it doesn't taste delicious, people are not going to buy it." ■

THE WASHINGTON POST

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A new wave of American rosé rivals anything from France

11 OUTSTANDING AMERICAN ROSÉS

2018 CHARLES & CHARLES ROSÉ ($15) With an easy-to-open screw cap and a label that's a take on the American flag, this top-value rosé from Washington state seems especially appropriate for the Fourth. A blend of six grape varieties, it's mostly syrah, with bright cherry and lavender aromas as well as tart, tangy flavors.

By Elin McCoy Bloomberg

The perfect time for #roseallday is surely Fourth of July, when beach picnics are followed by evening barbecues and watching fireworks from a blanket in the middle of a field. Now it’s easy to make sure the rosés in your ice bucket are all proudly Made in the America, too. In the not-so-distant past, that wasn’t the case. Robert Sinskey, owner of the eponymous Napa winery, says rosé was a “dirty word” when he made his first one in 1991. The most popular wines were sweet “blush” wines, aka white zinfandel, and no one would buy his Euro-inspired dry rosé, which he named Vin Gris of pinot noir. Today it’s the fastest-selling wine in his portfolio, and more than 100 Napa wineries make their own versions, though often in tiny quantities. In fact, just about every wine region in the U.S. is now cashing in on the insatiable demand for pink vino. Consider these statistics from SevenFifty, an online wholesale marketplace for alcohol: 3,186 different still rosé bottlings are for sale in New York City, 550 of which are made in the U.S. Although regional trade associations don’t have exact data on how many of their wineries are producing dry rosé, it’s one of the fastest-growing segments in Washington state’s direct-to-consumer business, up 17% over the last three quarters. About 65% of Oregon’s nearly 800 wineries make at least one, according to the Oregon Wine Board. Long Island pioneer Wölffer Estate released that region’s first rosé in 1992 and now makes three (plus rosé sparkling wine, cider, and gin). “The Hamptons was ripe for the spirit of rosé,” says winemaker Roman Roth, a German native. “It has the same hedonistic beach culture as Provence.” The turning point, he says,

BOTTLE BUYING GUIDE:

2018 BRIDGE LANE ROSÉ ($34 for four 375-milliliter cans) This is the year of the canned rosé, as though producers finally recognized the way we drink in summer. While I've recommended several already, including Una Lou, Bridge Lane's is simple and seriously tasty, with juicy berry flavors. A $48 matching pool float is offered on its website. 2018 EARLY MOUNTAIN ROSÉ ($20) Delicate, crisp, and lip-smacking, this salmon-hued blend of merlot, cabernet franc, syrah, and malbec from Virginia is extremely versatile and food-friendly. Don't sleep on Early Mountain's delicious rosé pét-nat, either. 2018 LORENZA ROSÉ ($20) This zesty blend of grenache, carignan, mourvedre, and cinsault from old vines in Lodi, Calif., is made by a motherdaughter duo who focus only on rosé. Rose petal-scented, it has a pale pink color along with salty strawberry and citrus flavors. (Spritz is their bubbly rosé in cans.) BLOOMBERG

was 2014, when even keeping bottles of it in Wölffer’s tasting room was a struggle. “There’s still a lot of growth possible,” he ambitiously predicts. “Sparkling rosé spritzers will change beer drinking.” Many other Long Island wineries have jumped on the bandwagon. Neighbor Channing Daughters winery makes five versions, plus a couple of pét-nats. “Instagram made it OK to drink rosé,” says Napa winemaker Julien Fayard, a native of France whose Azur label now turns out 4,000 cases annually. But with the high price of Napa grapes, he has to source most of them in places such as the Sierra Foothills. Naturally, a lot of American rosés are pretty ordinary; to be fair, so are many in France. But the U.S. is a hotbed of rosé experiments. Winemakers are trying out different winemaking techniques and unusual grapes like touriga nacional and counoise, which lend violet aromas and soft peppery flavors, respectively. There are several ways to make rosé. With the saignee method, rosé is an afterthought to making red wine. The juice picks up color from the skins, and some

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is bled off for rosé, allowing the rest to become a more concentrated red. Another way is blending red and white varieties together, as they do in Champagne, a technique Roth uses because he believes it creates complexity. But more and more top winemakers are going for “intentional” rosés, as they do in Provence. That means picking earlier specifically for rosé production, macerating grapes until they desired color is achieved, and using all the juice for a pink wine. For very light-colored examples, winemakers press whole clusters of grapes directly into vats, just like white wine, to keep fresh, bright flavors. As for those fancy bottles, the current trend in Provence, they’re just getting started in the U.S. Those in my hot list below are a mix of classic and new producers in five states. I left out superexpensive bottles that belong on a dinner table and not a picnic blanket, as well as a couple dozen more fine examples that are difficult to obtain, such as star winemaker Chris Figgins’s impossible-to-resist Toil Oregon rosé. This is summer, after all-best to just enjoy and not overthink it. ■

2018 BEDROCK ODE TO LULU OLD VINE CALIFORNIA ROSÉ ($23) Morgan Twain-Peterson blends mataro and grenache grapes from 100-year-old vines for this rosé inspired by famous French producer Domaine Tempier in Bandol. The 2018 is more on the nose than previous vintages: lighter yet more savory and spicy. 2018 WÖLFFER ESTATE SUMMER IN A BOTTLE ($25) This year, the superpopular Hamptons rosé has a redesigned bottle with flowing imagery of blooming flowers. The wine inside is full of exuberant fruit and freshness. It's not as serious as Wölffer's prestige rosé, Grandioso, but more fun to drink. 2018 A TRIBUTE TO GRACE ROSÉ OF GRENACHE ($28) New Zealander Angela Osborne ditched a film career for winemaking and discovered her talent for grenache grapes-she makes six, plus this rosé version from the Santa Barbara highlands. It's subtle and lush, with citrusy overtones. 2018 ARNOT-ROBERTS ROSÉ ($28) This unique rosé from a top Sonoma producer is made from touriga nacional, a grape used for port in Portugal's Douro region. It's delicate and light, with violet and rose aromas and zingy mineral and spice flavors that are fantastic with grilled salmon. 2018 STOLLER FAMILY ESTATE PINOT NOIR ROSÉ ($28) This Willamette Valley producer has been making rosé for more than a decade. It brims with citrus aromas and bright, intense cherry-ish flavors. 2018 ROBERT SINSKEY VIN GRIS DE PINOT NOIR ($32) Pure and elegant, this Napa classic comes from certified organic vineyards in the cool Carneros region. Provencestyle pale pink with mouthwatering freshness, it has floral aromas and spicy, savory minerality. 2018 AZUR ($36) Napa winemaker Julien Fayard grew up in France, so he likes to call this blend of grenache and syrah from Napa and the Sierra Foothills a California rosé with a French soul. With seductive peach aromas and layers of fruit flavors, it's sophisticated and harmonious.

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There’s more great chocolate available than ever. Here’s how you can find and savor the best.

gan’s practice direct trade, buying cocoa directly from farms or specialty cocoa bean brokers, with a focus on exceptional flavor. Rattigan emphasizes the relationships: “As we grow, we can buy more cacao from them at prices that far exceed the commodity price.”

By Simran Sethi

The Washington Post

I step into the candy aisle and prepare myself for overwhelm. Although I have been reporting about chocolate for years - and devouring it for even longer - I am always dazzled by the growing number of companies that are making chocolate and now sourcing it from an even broader swath of countries within the equatorial band where cocoa is grown: from Hawaii to Haiti, Ecuador to India, and Vietnam to Vanuatu. While most of us tend to think of chocolate as a single flavor, cocoa has more than 600 aroma compounds that reflect the plant’s genetic makeup and where it was grown, fermented and dried. These diverse aromas and tastes are usually highlighted in more specialized chocolates, but they can also be mixed and muted to achieve the consistent flavors we expect in mass-produced confections. Chocolate lovers now have a cornucopia of choices that celebrate flavor and offer more opportunities than ever before to support the people behind the bars, but it can be easy to get lost in a sea of high prices, shiny wrappers and certification jargon. Here’s what you need to know to find and savor your ultimate bar - or bars. What chocolate is made of: The foundational ingredient are cocoa beans, the processed seeds of Theobroma cacao - the name translates from the Greek as “food of the gods” - a tree with heavy, colorful pods that each holds 30 to 40 seeds, surrounded by a thin layer of creamy white pulp. Cocoa production is a labor-intensive, hands-on process at every juncture. Once cocoa pods are harvested and cracked open, the seeds are extracted, piled in boxes or under plantain or banana leaves, and fermented for up to five days. After fermentation, the

THE WASHINGTON POST

beans are dried and stored, ready for the next step of their journey. The transformation from bean to bar: A cocoa bean is made up of fat (cocoa butter) and chocolatey nibs. Some cocoa is processed directly into cocoa butter and powder, while other lots are destined for makers and manufacturers. The latter will sort, roast, crack, shell, refine, temper and mold their bars, adding ingredients along the way. Almost all chocolate bars contain sugar; some also incorporate an emulsifier, such as lecithin, or extra cocoa butter to enhance texture, plus such ingredients as vanilla, salt, nuts and dried fruit. Milk chocolate is made with milk powder or a plant-based alternative, and white chocolate (yes, it’s really chocolate) contains only cocoa fat (no nibs), plus sugar and any other ingredients. What to look for: When approaching the chocolate aisle, ask yourself what kind of experience you want to have and what you want that experience to support. Many people speak of allegiance to particular percentages, but that number tells a partial story - and can limit you in terms of flavor. A 70 percent bar is made of 70 percent cocoa, with other ingredients (sugar, cocoa fat, inclusions, etc.) making up the remaining 30 percent. (Chocolates that don’t list percentages - such as candy bars chock-full of nougat and caramel - aren’t trying to emphasize the amount, or qual-

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ity, of cocoa.) Jael Rattigan, co-founder of French Broad Chocolates and curator of the company’s online shop and Chocolate Bar Library in Asheville, North Carolina, says that when she shops for chocolate, she “gravitates in two seemingly opposite directions: old favorites and new experiences.” One way to embrace both is to try different companies’ takes on 70 percent bars or explore different origins. For example, even though Venezuela and Trinidad and Tobago are neighbors, the former is known for cocoa varieties that hold delicate notes of honey and caramel, while the latter’s chocolate displays deeper dried fruit aromas. Certifications also communicate the stories behind the bar. Rattigan reaches for chocolate “that support people and place, meaning chocolate that’s built upon fair relationships with cacao farmers and producers, and sustainable growing practices.” Fair Trade is the most established economic protocol and assures a baseline price to farmer cooperatives (not individual producers). Rainforest Alliance and UTZ are merging and, collectively, focus on environmental protection, health and safety, and labor practices. USDA Organic certification is strictly focused on inputs, indicating whether any ingredients were grown with synthetic chemicals. While these protocols confer some benefits, none solve the problems of poverty or environmental degradation. It’s why craft companies such as Ratti-

How to savor it: First, know your motivation, says Terese Weiss, an instructor at the International Institute of Chocolate and Cacao Tasting and judge at the International Chocolate Awards. “If what you need is creamy texture and a rush of sweetness, there isn’t much point in worrying about approach,” she says. “It’s a destination, not a journey.” If you’re consuming a higher-priced craft bar, however, slow down and assess the way the bar impacts your senses. Weiss recommends exploring how the chocolate smells, and gauging its intensity (“gentle, medium or bold?”), texture (“fine, rough or sandy?”) and flavor (“sweet, floral, fruity, woody, roasted, chocolatey?”). The goal isn’t to become a choco-snob but to better understand and describe what you like - so you can spend your money wisely and more easily find what you want.

How to store it: If you happen to have any chocolate left, store it in a cool, dry, dark place, away from any strong smells. Don’t be alarmed by any whitish discoloration you find on your bar; it’s simply the cocoa fat separating from the nib. It will melt together in your mouth. Chocolate companies are required to include an expiration date, but bars that don’t contain milk powder will usually last well past any listed time. Use your judgment before throwing away something so precious. ■

Sethi is the author of “Bread, Wine, Chocolate: The Slow Loss of Foods We Love” and the host/creator of “The Slow Melt” chocolate podcast.

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2019 Oregon wine harvest gets a late, cool and wet twist REGISTER-GUARD

By Paul Omundson

The Register-Guard, Eugene, Ore.

Like a conventional novel, the last chapter of this year’s wine grape harvest seemed to follow the script. Everything was going smoothly until the very end. And then the rains came. Suddenly, the 2019 harvest had drama, an all too familiar rain dance with nature. It’s been a couple of years since growers had to work so frantically to take advantage of elusive weather breaks. Hard decisions had to be made: pick a particular block early, or wait for a patch of clear weather. After the dry, uneventful harvests of recent years, some farmers took their chances this year on growing heavy crop loads, but then struggled to get their fruit ripe. This was not a season that supported excess fruit.

Sip & Savor ▪ Winter 2019

Total crush in 2018 was 79,685 tons. Greg Jones, climatologist, doesn’t believe it will reach that number this year. He explains that growers across the state had to do more thinning as the season’s cool, wet weather took hold, and control of diseases, especially powdery mildew, made for a lot of necessary pruning. A reputation forged by the rains “The season was nothing to speak of until September,” says Jones, director of wine education at Linfield College and adviser to Oregon growers and wine producers. “It was a relatively mild year with few heat extremes compared to recent years. There was very little drought stress and not much disease pressure early on. The cooler weather at the beginning of the season made for a lower incidence of pests. A lot of good things were going on. Even up to the end of August, I thought we were headed for a spectacular vintage.”

Then weather dynamics changed. “In September we flipped from mild and nice to cold and rainy,” he adds. “But we finally got what everyone wanted the last two weeks of October: dry weather.” It was a far cry from a dry 2018. Last year, areas all over the state set records on number of days without rain. But this year, cool and wet ruled. “There was a lot of differentiation,” Jones notes, “For example, growers in southern and eastern Oregon had to deal with hail damage.” They also had spring and fall frost issues, with fruit in some areas needing to withstand consecutive days of freezing temperature. However, he points out that southern Oregon also just completed one of its lowest smoke and fire seasons in years -- because of the weather. We won’t know this year’s planted acreage totals and fruit tonnage until the Oregon Wine Board completes data collecting and posts its 2019 vineyard

and winery website report in September 2020. The current top six varieties, per 2018 planted acreage, are pinot noir (20,616 acres), pinot gris (5,078 acres), chardonnay (2,406 acres), syrah (1,598 acres), cabernet sauvignon (1,377 acres) and merlot (699 acres). Riesling, currently at 500 acres, may be set to make a big jump; at least some growers think so. Despite the challenges of 2019, growers and winemakers are not complaining. Oregon has forged its reputation in climate like this. A silver lining of this year’s cooler weather and fewer sunny days is lower sugar levels and less alcohol. Winemakers look forward to bringing out nuances and subtle complexities that are sometimes overwhelmed in wine with high alcohol. We can taste for ourselves in about a year when 2019 wines finish their journey from vineyards to tanks to barrels to bottles to lips.

volumes in mind.” An impressive result of this approach is King Estate’s nod to the Alsace region of northeastern France. That’s its recently released 2017 Four Nobles Cuvée Blanc, a blend of gewürztraminer, pinot gris, riesling and muscat -- the four noble grapes of Alsace. This year’s fruit, picked from separate, defined lots, will be bottled in June 2020 and ready to drink after six months in the bottle. Stone adds that it will continue to age beautifully for another 10 years. Adversity is just the thing Quite likely, no one got battered by the elements this year as badly as Barbara and Bill Steele, co-founders in 2003 of Cowhorn Vineyard and Garden in Applegate Valley, a few miles north of the California border. The two are known for their outstanding Oregon versions of the Rh”ne River wine region in France; syrah and grenache for reds, and viognier, marsanne and roussanne for whites. “Mother nature threw some extreme curve balls at us,” says Barbara. “There were several occasions in spring and fall when we had six consecutive nights of freezing temperatures. During prime harvest time, Oct. 9-15, we had frost every night and no ripening days.” Earlier, powdery mildew became a

problem. “We had to drop fruit in September when we realized the weather wasn’t going to dry up,” she says. “It was tough to manage, a lot of things to juggle.” But challenges bring opportunities, and she feels this vintage of Rh”ne wines, both reds and whites, will excel for beautiful complexities along with subtle flavors from molds and mildews.

What’s best, warm/dry or cool/wet?

After 40 years of wine grape growing, fifth-generation farmer Kevin Chambers, of Koosah Farm in Amity, reflects on rating each year’s harvest. “In warm, dry years, we assume it will be a great vintage,” he says, “and if it’s cool and damp, it will be a bad vintage. But in reality, very few vintages can be accurately tagged as good or bad. There’s always a high degree of variability,” he cautions. “I think most growers and winemakers prefer cooler vintages over the warmer ones. You get more acid balance, structure of the wine is more complete, and you don’t have overripe fruit. In a vintage like this year, where we had a cool and slightly damp end, there’s not an over-amount of alcohol, the acids are retained and the wine is more refreshing.” “I have high expectations for this year,” Chambers says. “It’s a classic pinot noir and chardonnay vintage.” ■

In the trenches It’s interesting when a mega-winery such as King Estate in the Lorane Valley, in certain circumstances transforms itself into a boutique winery producing small batches of under 500 cases. At harvest time there, separated, small-lot production is in high gear. Winemaker/chief operating officer Brent Stone loves it. “Each lot and block are inherently unique,” he says. “For us, these are like wine’s spice rack. Each brings something different to the table so it gives us a lot to work with

when blending.” Rather than focusing on volume, he’s kept small tanks and even added more. Currently 150 tanks at 14 tons and smaller are in use fermenting this year’s vintage. The smallest is two tons. “Instead of cobbling together a bunch of small vineyard blocks to fill a 100-ton tank we focus and pick each vineyard block as a stand-alone wine,” Stone says of this small-craft-winery-within-a-bigwinery philosophy. “It allows us to pick when fruit is at optimal ripeness and maturity as opposed to picking with tank

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You do eat more at the holidays . . . ...evolution trained you to. By Kellie B. Gormly The Washington Post

If you reach for extra helpings of turkey and stuffing on Thanksgiving, don’t feel too self-conscious. Chances are, everyone else gathered at the table will pile more food onto their plates, too. Blame the indulgence on one another, and our evolutionary wiring that dates back to our primitive days. It’s a real thing, and researchers call it the “social facilitation of eating”- the tendency for people to eat more when they are with company than when they are alone. In fact, according to a recent British study, a meal size could be 29 to 48 percent larger when someone eats with other people, particularly when they are with friends and family, vs. people they don’t know well. Psychologist Helen Ruddock, an author of the study, said that, indeed, she eats more when she is with friends and family - “especially at Christmas, because there’s always so much food available.” “I often eat beyond the point of fullness in social situations,” Ruddock said. Our tendency to eat more with companions goes back to the hunter-gatherer days, when people competed for resources, Ruddock said. This created a tension between wanting to get enough food for ourselves, and not wanting to look greedy. People would strike a balance by eating roughly the same amount as those around them. “Individual group members are guided to match their behavior to others, promoting a larger meal than might otherwise be eaten in the absence of this social competition,” the study states. Of course, most of us aren’t hunter-gatherers in the modern world, but the evolutionary roots still guide our eating habits, according to the study.

Ruddock and her colleagues at the University of Birmingham’s Eating Behaviour Research Group did a meta-analysis by examining 42 previous studies about social eating, which was published in the fall in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. The studies include those in which participants were observed eating alone and with others, and also those that examined people’s food diaries. Researchers discovered that other species do the same. Animals, including chickens, rats and gerbils, also eat more when they are in a group, the study stated. “This suggests it serves an ultimate purpose,” the authors wrote. While our close relations seem to have a big impact on our meal size - in part because the meal can go on for hours the analysis found no major difference in food intake when people eat alone vs. with strangers and acquaintances. Thanksgiving, with large quantities of comfort food and a celebratory vibe with loved ones, creates a perfect storm for stuffing ourselves with mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce and green bean casserole, said Tessie Tracy, an eating-psychology coach affiliated with the Boulder, Colo.-based Institute for the Psychology of Eating. Tracy, who is not connected to the study, said that with friends and family, there’s an expectation and also almost “an unspoken pres-

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sure” to eat a lot on holidays. “Auntie says, ‘Oh, you have to clear your plate,’ “ said Tracy, who coaches people to explore their relationship with food. “Auntie says, ‘Oh, you’re not going to try my pie?’ “ She also said that, apart from family pressure, many of us just like to join the pack when there’s a delicious sweet-potato casserole and fresh-baked rolls on the table. “Everyone else is doing it, so I’m going to do it,” Tracy said about our mind-set. While this kind of eating once served a survival purpose, let’s face it: Now that instinct can lead to indigestion and unwanted pounds. The authors recommend that future studies on the subject look at ways to enjoy social eating without being unhealthy.

That might be extra challenging at the holidays. There’s some evidence that the Thanksgiving menu in particular fits well with the social facilitation of eating: Foods high in fat and protein - like turkey and gravy - have a strong association with eating more while with family and friends. One study found that the highest social-facilitation effects came from high-fat sweet foods such as pumpkin pie. Whether it’s the entree, dessert or the company - or likely, all three - the Thanksgiving meal is bound to foster a hearty appetite. After all, it appears that we are just being human. And everyone else at the table probably will be polishing off their heaping plates, too. ■

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Not all riesling is sweet . . . ...and other things to know about the versatile white wine By Dave McIntyre The Washington Post

Riesling is arguably the most misunderstood wine. Sommeliers, wine writers, people who spend too much of their disposable income on wine, tend to love it. And yet, “I don’t like riesling - it’s too sweet,” is a common refrain from casual wine drinkers, whenever I rave about it. That’s understandable. Generations of Americans favored sweet wine, and riesling fit the bill. Whether inexpensive plonk from Germany or generic white wine from California, we drank lots of it. But somewhere along the way, we learned that “dry” wine is supposed to be better. Chardonnay and sauvignon blanc eclipsed riesling in U.S. vineyards and American imaginations. Today there’s a bit of a riesling renaissance in the United States. Riesling shines in certain regions, such as New York’s Finger Lakes, Michigan’s Old Mission Peninsula and Washington state’s Columbia Valley. Some dedicated winemakers are crafting exceptional riesling in Oregon’s Willamette Valley, and there are a few notable holdouts in California. Here are several things to know about riesling and to encourage you to explore this exciting wine. They are NOT all sweet! Riesling is a versatile wine, because it can be racy and bone dry, unctuous and sweet, and everything in between. That’s why consumers can be confused - we don’t know what we’re buying unless the label tells us. And it doesn’t, usually. But there are clues. Rieslings from Austria, Australia and

New Zealand are almost always dry, and the rare dessert wines are usually marked as such. Dry German rieslings may be labeled as “trocken,” and the top bottlings called Erste Lage or Grosses Gewachs are always dry. U.S. wineries may make a range of styles. These may be labeled as Dry or Semi-Dry, to indicate moderate sweetness, which I prefer to call fruitiness. Ripe fruit, after all, tastes sweet. Or the back label may sport a scale indicating Dry, Medium Dry, Medium Sweet or Sweet. This scale was developed by a group or wineries called the International Riesling Foundation, and it’s a little more complex than it sounds. A wine’s perceptible sweetness is not just a question of how much sugar is left in the wine after fermentation. The IRF scale factors in sugar, acidity and the wine’s pH level to give us an indication of how sweet or dry the wine will taste. Riesling is a great food wine. A food-wine pairing maxim pitches sweeter wine with spicy Asian foods, because the sugar in the wine moderates the food’s heat. Riesling fits that, especially a semi-dry version. But the wine’s key is really its fruitiness and acidity, a combination that equal versatility. “Riesling can be made in many different styles, from low to high alcohol, from dry, to off-dry and then the many dessert styles,” says Stu Smith, winemaker at Smith-Madrone Vineyards on Napa Valley’s Spring Mountain. Smith-Madrone planted its riesling vineyard in 1972 and is now celebrated as one of the few riesling holdouts in the land of cabernet sauvignon. “It goes with just about any food, meat, soup or cuisine - or all by itself.”

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THE WASHINGTON POST

Riesling is great with smoked fish, salads, curries, even braised beef - one of my most memorable meals was beef braised in Riesling, with spaetzle. It may have helped that I was in Germany, of course. And if you buy a bottle that turns out to be too sweet for your taste, save it for a salty cheese or dessert. Riesling is a megaphone for terroir. A conversation with a German winemaker can turn into a dizzying discourse on how a riesling from a vineyard on blue slate soils tastes different from one grown on red slate. But you don’t have to be a geologist to appreciate riesling’s ability to express its origins. In cool climates, such as New York’s Finger Lakes and Michigan’s Old Mission Peninsula, riesling takes on a lean, racy profile. Warmer climes such as the Columbia Valley in Washington state or Napa Valley give riesling a richer body, with riper fruit flavors.

But there are differences, and U.S. riesling is especially exciting now, as winemakers explore its different expressions. Rieslings from Seneca Lake in the Finger Lakes tend to have a delicate texture with an accent of lime zest, while ones from nearby Keuka Lake are richer. Brooks winery makes more than 20 rieslings, including several single-vineyard bottlings, that vividly demonstrate the terroirs and microclimates of Oregon’s Willamette Valley. Riesling ages well.

Wine lovers who are still collectors should keep a stash of riesling in their cellars. We tend to consider white wines at their peak just a year or two after the vintage, but riesling’s acidity gives it a potential for long life. “Why do I keep making riesling?” Smith asks. “Because I love drinking it while it’s young, and savor it when it’s aged.” ■

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Restaurants put climate change on the menu By Sarah Henry

The Washington Post

San Francisco restaurateurs Anthony Myint and Karen Leibowitz may have been ahead of their time with their environmentally minded restaurant. The Perennial, which closed in February after three years of business in the city’s challenging Mid-Market neighborhood, tried to tackle climate change through hyperlocal sourcing, energy efficiency, an eco-conscious design, food waste prevention and consumer education, among other planet-friendly practices. But the culinary couple, partners in life and work, haven’t lost their sense of urgency around global warming and how the restaurant industry could play a key role in combating the problem. Their latest climate change campaign with a culinary bent: an optional surcharge on California restaurant checks as part of a new public-private initiative supporting carbon farming practices that Myint and Leibowitz are leading called Restore California. The pair came to realize that one restaurant alone can’t change the food system fast enough to make an impact on the climate crisis. It takes an international village of concerned culinary industry leaders, they say, to take on a topic that many diners and chefs can find tough to digest: the critical role that regenerative agriculture - think practices like composting and cover cropping - can play in mitigating the impact of global warming. In a state now suffering the wrath of hotter, drier weather in the form of larger, more frequent and more devastating wildfires, Myint and Leibowitz’s message has only taken on more urgency. As the co-founders of the popular pop-up Mission Street Food, Myint and Leibowitz are no strangers to industry innovation. In 2014, they founded the nonprofit Zero Foodprint, which serves as a resource for restaurants and food service providers that want to find ways to reduce their carbon footprint, by, say,

THE WASHINGTON POST

switching to renewable energy, eschewing plastic or sourcing sustainably raised beef. To date, around 30 restaurants have achieved carbon-neutral status under the program; twice that number are on their way to earning the stamp. Michelin-starred Bresca is Washington’s lone entry on the list of Zero Foodprint’s carbon-neutral restaurants, which includes such other upscale dining establishments as California’s Atelier Crenn, Benu and State Bird Provisions. “With small adjustments we can make huge impacts for our environment,” says Bresca chef/owner Ryan Ratino, who works with “imperfect” foods and whole animals, composts and uses compostable containers, and avoids plastic and over-ordering. “My hope is that these sustainable practices become a lifestyle for our restaurants and in this way we truly make a difference together.” That’s the goal. “Food is both a major cause and a major solution to global warming. We’ve spent five years engaging chefs and restaurateurs on becoming part of the solution to climate change,” says Myint, an earnest, self-described

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social introvert who makes fun of how much he geeks out on climate change science and potential solutions. Since he is a chef, he understands them: They’re busy people, consumed by daily operations and razor-thin profit margins, who have what he calls “a really strong B.S. meter.” He adds: “But chefs possess all this cultural capital, they’re agile, they get stuff done and make things work. This could become a global movement of chefs who want to do the right thing.” And the culinary industry, he says, is uniquely positioned to support this cause. When Myint talks up the benefits to the planet of carbon farming and why restaurants should add a small fee to aid farmers in implementing such practices, he doesn’t get too into the science-y weeds. Put simply, carbon farming increases soil carbon (that’s a good thing) and decreases carbon dioxide in the air (also a good thing). As one chef told him, “You mean I just have to add a 1 percent fee to unf*** the planet?” Something like that. Restaurants that sign up to participate in Restore California - a partnership between Myint and

Leibowitz’s culinary-agricultural nonprofit Perennial Farming Initiative and its Zero Foodprint program, and the state Department of Food and Agriculture and California Air Resources Board - commit to collecting a 1 percent optional fee from customers to fight climate change by helping fund farmers who implement practices designed to reduce, contain or remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. CO2 is considered one of the main contributors to climate change. This fall, Zero Foodprint is gathering support for the Restore California program, formally announced in the spring, with the intent of highlighting a core group of early adopters come January 2020, says Leibowitz. San Francisco newcomer Great Gold, a modern Italian restaurant that opened in August and already has a Zero Foodprint ranking, is experimenting with listing the surcharge in the fine print on its menu. “Most of our customers don’t mind the surcharge, but we have had a few complaints,” says partner/co-owner David Steele, who notes that San Francisco diners are already used to a 5 percent surcharge to help fund health insurance and other employee costs. “We will continue to monitor this. If we feel it is not fully accepted by our customers, we will remove the 1 percent [from menus] and just eat the cost internally because we believe deeply in the cause.” Myint points to the early success of such efforts with restaurants he’s involved with. Since the fall of 2018, Mission Chinese Food in San Francisco, Myint and Leibowitz’s brick-and-mortar restaurant, has included a 3 percent carbon farming surcharge. Out of the more than 30,000 diners who have eaten at the restaurant since then, only a handful have questioned the charge and just one consumer - paying for a group of four - declined to participate, says Myint, who sees that as an encouraging sign, since few consumers want to pay more for food than they have to. CONTINUED ON PAGE 24

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San Francisco restaurateurs Karen Leibowitz and Anthony Myint. CONTINUED FROM PAGE 22

A sister restaurant in Copenhagen, Vesterbro Chinese Food, where Myint serves as a consultant, is carbon-neutral and includes a 1 percent surcharge on its bill. At a different price point on the dining scale, one San Francisco burger joint opted for an alternative way to pass on the carbon surcharge to consumers by building it into the price of menu items. The robot restaurant Creator, which includes a Mission Street Food burger by Myint, increased the cost of its $6 and $7 burgers by 7 cents to support the cause. In California, the surcharge funds are managed by a social impact bank partner of the Perennial Farming Initiative. Eligible farmers complete an assessment for funding consideration. The program will serve as a complement to California’s existing Healthy Soils Program. That government program funds carbon farming practices such as hedgerow and tree planting, cover crops and crop rotation, composting and other measures that pull carbon dioxide from the air, prevent its release from the soil or store it in the ground.

THE WASHINGTON POST

“This could potentially help a lot of farmers and ranchers who don’t have the capital to implement carbon farming practices, which can be expensing, risky and take time to learn what to do,” says Loren Poncia of Stemple Creek Ranch in Marin County, Calif., an early adopter of carbon farming practices through the Marin Carbon Project. Poncia has received funding twice from the Healthy Soils Program to implement such efforts. “For consumers, it’s a chance to vote with their dollars and commit to helping combat climate change in a way they’ll barely notice on their check but will collectively add up and really help,” says Poncia. “Global warming is here. We only have so much time to implement change. Things are getting worse, not better. It’s never a bad thing to build better soil.” Changing agricultural practices to reduce and store greenhouse gases will be crucial for the Golden State’s goal, set by former Gov. Jerry Brown, D, of achieving carbon neutrality by 2045, an ambitious undertaking for the fifth-largest economy in the world. Gov. Gavin Newsom,

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who has said healthy soils are a “passion of mine,” pledged $28 million in Healthy Soils Program funding in this year’s budget. Not everyone thinks that’s enough to increase carbon-focused farming in California to meet the state’s decarbonization goals. Global warming’s impact on the food supply has been linked to mussels being cooked in their shells in a heat wave on the California shore, stone fruit shortages across the United States due to low-chill winters and erratic frosts, and Napa Valley vineyard growers experimenting with different varieties to adapt to changing weather patterns, among other disruptions. This summer, Zero Foodprint’s carbon farming crusade received a big international boost when Myint won the Basque Culinary World Prize, which comes with 100,000 euros in prize money attached, courtesy of the Basque Culinary Center and the Basque Government. The annual award honors a chef who demonstrates how gastronomy can serve as a powerful force for positive change. Myint says he intends to use the award to further the work of Zero Foodprint. The prize was announced at a Sustainable Thinking Symposium in San Francisco, which brought together some of

the world’s most prominent chefs, including Italy’s Massimo Bottura, Mexico’s Enrique Olvera and San Francisco’s Dominique Crenn, to discuss pressing sustainability matters. On the agenda: climate change, soil health, food waste, vertical indoor farming, institutional food service and local sourcing. The Golden State may be a trailblazer on climate change solutions, but several states have passed healthy soils legislation, and many more are working on similar initiatives for 2020, says Myint, who could see other states developing their own versions of Restore California. “I started cooking because I believe restaurants can make the world a better place,” says Myint, who adds that becoming a parent seven years ago proved an impetus for exploring what chefs can do about climate change. “I still believe that’s true.” “If even 1 percent of restaurants in California become part of this program, that would create as much as $10 million a year in funding for these farming practices, says Myint. “And if there’s no other major sea change in the industry except that every restaurant starts composting and restaurants pay for that to go back to the farms, that alone would be a game changer.” ■

THE WASHINGTON POST

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Do you pour from a wine bottle for what’s in it or what’s behind it? By Dave McIntyre The Washington Post

How do you choose a wine? Whether it tastes good and how much it costs, are the basic criteria of any wine purchase. Beyond that, how do you whittle down the choices to decide which wine to pluck from the shelf and place in your cart? How about a wine made by a refugee dreaming of restoring his country’s wine traditions? You might help promote Middle East peace, or ease poverty in one of the world’s poorest countries. More likely, you filter by where the wine is from - France, Italy, California? That could be wine preference, political preference or a reflection of what’s for dinner tonight. Do you favor heavy bottles, believing the wine inside must be high quality? A lot of people do, judging by the number of wineries using heavy glass. Perhaps a pretty label, a map, a critter or even some fanciful artwork of a mythical beast will catch your eye. Some wines use a sort of virtual reality to draw you in to an interactive experience, in which you download an app and point your phone at the label, which then comes to life. (Meanwhile, your dinner is getting cold.) There is a saying in the wine industry: The label sells the first bottle, the wine sells the second. Quality means nothing if people won’t buy it, but marketing is ultimately superfluous if the wine is no good. And marketing today is increasingly about the story behind the wine. And it’s not just wine. We may pay a little more for organic produce at the supermarket, believing it’s better for the environment, or at a farmers market to support a local farmer. Folger’s might give us a buzz, but fair-trade coffee is better for the environment and the farmers who grow the beans. Solar panels on our roofs, rain barrels on our patios, and electric vehicles in our driveways are not just ways to save money on electricity, water or gas. They are statements about how

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we want to live our lives and the kind of world we want to leave to our children. So why not buy a wine made by Abdullah Richi, a Syrian refugee who trucks indigenous Syrian grapes grown in conflict-ridden areas of his homeland across the border to his Dar Richi winery in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley, and dreams of someday reviving Syria’s wine traditions? Or Cremisan wines, made in an ancient monastery near Jerusalem with grapes trucked across security checkpoints from vineyards in Palestinian territory? Or a Bolivian tannat, grown in some of the highest vineyards of the world, whose profits will help lift some of South America’s poorest farmers out of poverty? You won’t find those wines in the traditional lists of the world’s top vino. Those pointed questions are posed by Peter Weltman, a journalist turned evangelist wine importer, with his company called Borderless Wine. Weltman preaches a gospel of sorts, in which wine belongs to everyone and is not confined by national borders or political disputes. Sporting a T-shirt proclaiming himself an “activist wine drinker,” Weltman brought his altruistic message to Wash-

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ington in April for an event sponsored by Rose Previte, proprietor of Compass Rose and Maydan restaurants. Wine has been telling the world’s story at least since the invention of the bottle, Weltman argues. “The wine bottle was invented to travel, so it is one of the best ambassadors for the place where the wine originates,” Weltman said during a panel discussion and tasting that spilled across the bor-

ders of Maydan into Compass Rose, a few blocks away. Previte noted that younger customers are more interested in the narrative behind the wine than its rating from critics. “Generation Z wants to know where a wine came from, what its story is,” she said, contrasting that openness to a nationally known politician who balked at her unconventional wine list because he had, as she said, “lots of borders in his mind.” Maria Bastasch, beverage director for Compass Rose and Maydan, directly connected our wine choices with the world’s most intractable conflict. “If you have a chance to buy a wine made in Syria using indigenous Syrian grapes made by actual Syrians, you make a connection with Syria and its people that goes beyond war and the images on the news,” she said. And that connection may take us beyond the simple calculation of price and taste that initiates our purchasing decisions. A story can be delicious, after all, and it can liberate us as wine drinkers and help those who make the wine. “These wines break down the normative barriers that tell us what is good and what we should drink,” she said. So choose a wine with a story and a cause. And take a stand while you pull a cork. ■

THE WASHINGTON POST

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Pears are the unheralded stars of the fall fruit bounty Here’s how to choose and use them. By Becky Krystal

The Washington Post

It’s been a couple of weeks since I had my last farmers market peach, and the transition always feels like a bit of a bummer. But my disappointment is lessened knowing pear season is ramping up. While buying any type of pears I could get my hands on for the photo above, I sampled my first Seckel pears of the year. Bliss! Peach who? As fantastic as pears can be, they sometimes play second fiddle to their relations, apples. Why? “Pears are difficult,” says Emily Zaas, who runs Maryland’s Black Rock Orchard with her husband, David Hochheimer, “but they are so enjoyable because of the variety.” They’re hard to grow, which for buyers can mean less access, or access to fewer varieties. Moreover, once you buy them, it takes a little more effort to figure out when they’re ready to eat. Don’t let uncertainty stop you from loving on this quintessential fall fruit. Here’s what you need to know: Buying. Pears come in a variety of colors and gradients, which don’t really tell you much beyond what type they are. The colors don’t indicate what’s going on inside, other than the Bartlett, which I’ll get to below. Purchase pears that are fragrant and free of cuts or other blemishes that might cause them to rot. Russeting, or brown rough patches, is perfectly normal and fine to eat. Pear season runs from late summer into December or January, although they’re typically available year-round at supermarkets. Ripening. In “Jane Grigson’s Fruit Book,” the author gives a sobering assessment: “A ripe pear gives very slightly round the stem, but should be in no way squashy. All this provides problems for the shopkeeper and supplier. The result is that most people have never eaten a decent pear in their lives.” Jane does not suffer fools! Even if you don’t subscribe to that brand of bluntness, it is true that getting a perfectly ripe pear requires some know-how. USA Pears, a website run by a group representing growers in the

Northwest, says pears are one of the few types of fruits that don’t ripen on the tree. (Asian pears, however, do ripen on the tree.) That, in combination with the fact that riper pears are easily damaged, means many of the pears you find at the grocery store are not quite ready to be eaten. For more same- or next-day satisfaction, farmers market pears are a safer bet. They’re also where you may come across less common varieties. But how to ensure your pear is ripe? Give it the old squeeze test, applying gentle pressure to the neck with your thumb. The pear is ready if it yields there; firm Boscs and Concordes won’t give quite as much as other types. USA Pears notes that pears ripen from the inside out, and the neck is closest to the center. If you checked the fatter part of the pear, by the time it was soft, the inside would be overripe. If you have Bartletts with green skin, they will lighten to yellow as they ripen. Once your pears have ripened at room temperature, store them in the refrigerator. At that point, Zaas says, they can last as long as a few weeks. You can also store unripe pears in the refrigerator and then bring them back out when you’re ready to ripen them. Prepping. There’s not a whole lot that’s complicated here. As with all fruit, wash and scrub under cold, running water and then dry. If you’re peeling, you can use a paring knife, but a swivel-bladed vegetable peeler is good for removing a thinner layer, says Rolce Payne in “Cooking With Fruit.” She suggests going down the pear from stem to blossom end. To core, a dedicated corer can do the trick; so can a melon baller. When you want to halve and stuff pears, Payne says to scoop them out with the small end of a melon baller, a small knife or a teaspoon. Pears are prone to browning once cut, but water mixed with some lemon juice can help stave off discoloration. Varieties. Here’s a rundown on flavor and appearance of some of the most common varieties as described by USA Pears, unless otherwise noted. Anjou: “Refreshingly sweet and juicy with a hint of citrus.” Egg-shaped and bright green, sometimes with a red blush. Other than color, red and green Anjou are basically interchangeable, although Saveur says the red are sweeter with less pronounced citrus undertones. Asian: “The Asian pear could be the love child between a pear and jicama with some melon thrown in. Its flesh is cool, crisp, juicy and

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firm, with diverse notes,” is how food writer David Hagedorn described them in The Post. Zaas finds them quite sweet, too. There are many varieties, but most of what you’ll come across here are round like apples and speckled, with a color that can range from olive to pale yellow. Bartlett: “Signature pear flavor with abundant juice.” Most traditional pear shape with rounded bottom and distinct neck. Green and red are similar, though, again, Saveur says red are smoother and sweeter. Bosc: “Crisp and woodsy with a honey sweetness.” Brown with russeting on all or some of the skin, with a fully round bottom that gradually tapers into a narrow neck. Comice: “Succulent, buttery and exceptionally sweet.” Round with a squat neck, mostly green with some red. Often found in fruit boxes sent to you by doting aunts. Concorde: “Crunchy and earthy with a hint of vanilla.” Yellow-green with a pointed top that expands into a round bottom. Forelle: “Crisp, tangy and refreshingly sweet.” Bell-shaped, a little bigger than Seckel, green and red with red freckles. Seckel: “Bite-sized, crunchy and ultra-sweet.” Chubby and round with a small neck, a mix of olive green and maroon skin. My favorite; I pop them like candy. Starkrimson: “Aromatic, moist and sweet with a floral essence.” Bright red with a shape similar to Bartlett. Which to use where. Texture is a primary factor in choosing pears for cooking. Mostly that comes down to whether the pear is firm or soft, which can be driven by the variety or the degree of ripeness. Seckel and Bosc pears are firmer and can hold their shape, Zaas says. Whole or halved Seckels are spectacular baked into the top of a cake, and Bake From Scratch magazine recently used the shape and texture of Boscs to advantage by fanning out partially sliced whole fruit in a mesmerizing galette. The magazine also recommends Anjou as an all-purpose variety that can stand up to high temperatures, so consider them in pies and tarts. Firmer pears - Bosc, Anjou - or less ripe specimens of the softer types are great for poaching, such as in a spiced wine mixture. They can work for slaws, grilling and sauteing, too, according

to USA Pears. Pears in salads are a prime fall attraction as well. Don’t forget about Asian pears in the firm and crisp category, either, although they don’t cook well. Bartletts break down very well, making them an ideal candidate for sauce, jam or butter. Anything that’s very soft or juicy can, of course, be eaten out of hand, as well as incorporated into soups or smoothies or spooned on top of yogurt and oatmeal. If you want to do a simple taste test of cooked pears, Zaas recommends cutting several varieties into quarters and roasting them with a little butter. You should be able to notice their distinct flavors and textures. Similarly, try halving and coring them and filling with your choice of sweet or savory filling. Pairing. Pears lean mild and sweet, meaning they’re a perfect foil for stronger flavors. Payne suggests pairing pears with cranberries. She also recommends adding them to thicken and flavor a spinach soup, as well as dressing pears with a lemon vinaigrette that does double duty in terms of taste and keeping the fruit from browning. Another option if you like punchy is to pickle pears. Warm spices are an ideal partner, too, whether it’s cinnamon, cardamom or ginger. And dark chocolate? Yes, please. Zaas recommends you build a cheese board that includes pears (try fresh and dried) alongside nuts. I’d start with blue cheese, goat cheese and brie. If your theory is more like-with-like, pears go very well with their apple cousins. Almonds, with a similar mellow, floral fragrance, are always a safe bet, too. ■

THE WASHINGTON POST

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SOME BINGE-WORTHY OPTIONS FOR HOLIDAY GIFT SEASON By Leanne Italie Associated Press

HYDRATION:

SOUND:

TV-FREE:

Chances are there's at least one TV binger on your gift list. Why not go all in for the holidays and wrap up something on-point? Some Ideas:

POPCORN:

Pick up a water infusion bottle or a mug warmer with automatic shut off. Or just buy a regular reusable bottle that’s fun and colorful, such as the collapsible que Bottle. It comes in 12- and 20-ounce versions and a ton of great colors. The larger one sells for $24.95. If your binger has a special drink, consider a monthly club or gift a case.

FOOD:

So many gifty options are out there, including sets of seasonings and artisanal corn. But nobody loves popcorn quite like Questlove. Among his offerings on Williams Sonoma is a seasoning mix called Saturday Morning Cereal. He also collaborated on a rainbow-finish bowl in a floral design that's just waiting for the corn to be ready. His Sneakies set of three seasonings goes for $24.95. As for popcorn makers, Cuisinart's EasyPop Hot Air Popcorn Maker is a healthy option. $39.95.

A binge is a binge, leaving scant time to consider meal planning or prepping. Spring for a food delivery gift card or code from Postmates, Seamless, Grubhub or whichever mode your recipient prefers. Is your binger an old school snacker? Amazon is loaded with gift boxes full of name brand snacks, or order up a favorite bingey pleasure in bulk.

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Consider a listening upgrade with a high-end soundbar, such as the Sonos Playbase for $699. If that price is a budget buster, the Vizio SB2920 goes for $121 and change. You could spring for new over-ear wireless headphones. The Cowen E7 headphones retail for $69.99 and come in five colors. As for ear buds, perhaps the Apple AirPods with the charging case would be appreciated. $159. Even more appreciated, perhaps, would be the new active noise canceling Apple AirPods Pro. $249.

Summret.com sells a combination bluetooth speaker and mobile phone holder in the shape of a retro TV. It comes in white and bright orange. $18.98. Devices are out there with those features plus charging capability. Similar systems exist for tablets, but there are also plenty of just plain stands. Or just go for cute and soft with a Flippy, a pillow-like stand that comes in multiple colors and offers different angles good for a range of devices. $34.98.

COMFORT:

Get your binger cozy in a fleece wearable blanket. Snuggies are not alone, though they do come in solid colors, plaids, zebra print and leopard. Search around and you’ll also find hoodie sweatshirts, including the Comfy, as seen on “Shark Tank.” They stop at the knees and sell for $44.99. You can gift elf and reindeer versions, or Santa himself.

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On Monday, December 2, go to SOGiftCards.com and find gift certificates from dozens of local restaurants, wineries, and local businesses for 10% off face value. On Tuesday, they will be 20% off, and so on until the final day of the sale on Friday, December 6, when all remaining gift certificates will be 50% off. Buy as many as you like, but donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t wait too long - the certificate to your favorite local business may be gone!

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Give them something to open, but make it a book instead of a bottle

THE WASHINGTON POST

Know your target when choosing a wine book. Here are three good choices from this year’s litLooking for holiday gifts for the wine lover on your list, other erary harvest: than wine itself? Books are safer “Grasping the Grape: Degifts than gadgets. Wine lovers’ kitchen drawers are overflowing mystifying Grape Varieties with gadgets, and we all already to Help You Discover the have signs or doormats that say, Wines You Love” by Maryse “This house serves only the best Chevriere (Hardie Grant, $15): wine. Did you bring any?” For someone just learning about By Dave McIntyre The Washington Post

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wine, this is the year’s best allaround primer. Chevriere is a sommelier and wine educator who has delighted social media-savvy wine lovers by lampooning the pretentiousness of tasting notes on her humorous Instagram feed, Fresh Cut Garden Hose. In “Grasping the Grape,” she cuts through the hogwash and presents the essen-

tials about grape varieties. These include pronunciation, because you don’t want to say “murrlott” instead of “mer-low” in front of a wine snob. Each one-page (in tiny print) introduction to a grape variety includes helpful information that will help even novices navigate conversations at a wine tasting. Chevriere includes re-

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gions known for producing each grape, food-pairing suggestions, and words commonly used to describe the flavors of each grape. Even more helpful, she offers suggestions of similar wines to try. And if we’re learning about wine, why not make it a drinking game? Chevriere offers several suggestions for us to open two bottles at a time and compare, for example, a French chablis with a California chardonnay, or a dry Austrian riesling with a sweeter spätlese from Germany. Exercises like these can help wine lovers of any level hone their tasting vocabulary. Chevriere also gives us a glossary to explain some of wine’s more arcane terms, as well as helpful tips on deciphering wine labels and shopping for wine in stores and restaurants. The focus on grape varieties gives the book a decidedly New World accent. We don’t learn the nuances of Old World regions, such as Bordeaux or the

Rhone, where wines traditionally are blends of different varieties. There isn’t much here about terroir, or regional expressions. But this is a great book to get us to that level of wine exploration, with Chevriere’s encouragement to “drink up, and remember to have fun and keep learning.” “Natural Wine for the People: What It Is, Where to Find It, How to Love It” by Alice Feiring (Ten Speed Press, $19). The natural wine movement now has a manifesto: Feiring has been an outspoken champion for the category in several books and her subscription website, the Feiring Line (alicefeiring.com). Her latest is an engagingly written, witty and fun-to-read wine primer with a definite point of view. The most controversial aspect of natural wine is its definition. For Feiring, natural wine is wine from grapes farmed without synthetic herbicides, pesticides

or fertilizers, and wines made without additives such as yeasts, tannins, enzymes, grape concentrates or even oak barrels. While some natural winemakers dogmatically avoid using sulfur as a natural preservative, Feiring tolerates “minimal sulfite” additions in a section on myths. And her section on additives and techniques commonly used to manipulate “conventional” or “industrial” wine will be eye-opening to many readers. This is a great book for adventurous drinkers who are unimpressed by wine’s traditional norms and hierarchies, who don’t mind a cloudy or fizzy wine once in a while, and who want to know how to respond to skeptics who argue that natural wines are inherently flawed. Those skeptics should also read it, to gain a better understanding of this movement that began in Beaujolais in the 1970s as a reaction to industrial-scale viticulture and the overuse of chemi-

cals in farming after World War II. This book is mostly free of the holier-than-thou attitude of some zealous naturalistas. I suspect even die-hard skeptics of natural wine will find themselves nodding in agreement at Feiring’s advice on how to taste a wine’s structure, her encouragement to “be creative” with our descriptions of wine’s flavor, and her obvious love of the grape.

“World Atlas of Wine, 8th Edition” by Hugh Johnson and Jancis Robinson (Mitchell Beazley, $65). I wrote about this essential reference in detail a few weeks ago. This is for dedicated wine fiends, or even people who love wine and travel. It is certainly the wine book of the year. But at this price point, you’d better love the one you gift. ■

McIntyre blogs at dmwineline.com. On Twitter: @dmwine.

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