First, let me tell you about my home set-up. As an avid (and somewhat crazed) coffee drinker, I have multiple options available to me. I buy only whole-bean coffee, and while I have yet to go the route of roasting my own I do tend to buy high-quality pre-roasted beans. Of course, my vendor of choice is Central Market, and for the past month or so, I’ve been buying Nicaraguan Organic Medium Roast. It’s really good, a bit with a tart undertone and a bit of a mineral tang. With cream and sweetener it has a very warm, drinkable flavor profile.

So I start with the whole beans, and dump them in to my cuisinart burr grinder (though I think the next step is a Zassenhaus crank-driven conical burr grinder, I have yet to get to that level of obsession – though I will) and grind enough for a few days worth of coffee if it is for the week, or enough for a couple of cups of coffee if it is the weekend.

For weekdays, I use my standard Mr. Coffee drip coffee maker, on a timer, and prep it the night before. For the weekend, I either use my espresso machine or my french press, depending on my mood.

On the weekdays, my coffee is good. It is certainly better than anything I can buy on my way to work. On the weekend, my coffee is amazing. It is the type of coffee that makes me sit down, watch the news, and actually enjoy consuming this hot beverage that I created.

As of today, I’ve been thinking about Turkish coffee. I’m often drawn to things that work better because one is forced to take one’s time in doing them, thus the attraction of rituals. I shave with a classic safety razor, which requires a bit more care and attention than the latest 8 bladed monstrosity from Schick, or whomever.

Turkish coffee requires more effort, and perhaps a bit more precision, than even getting ready for press-style coffee or espresso does. According to what I’ve read, it has to be exceptionally finely ground. It’s added to a pot of water with the appropriate amount of sugar to taste, is boiled, slightly cooled, then brought to a second boil, slightly cooled, brought to a third boil, slightly cooled, and then served.

I must admit that I am curious, but as both former Lebanese and Turkish co-workers attest, and wikipedia states as well, the coffee culture of the near-east is amazingly well developed, and culture tells me a lot about a product.

So that’s how much I love coffee; at home I can grind it myself, and looking at better ways of grinding it, then I can prepare it at least three different ways, with a fourth to come soon, I hope. I wonder, when I grow up, if I don’t end up as a brewer, vintner, restaurant owner, or travel writer, I could become a coffee taster and buyer…

To be fair, it’s probably not their fault. Addison carries with it the same pretention that uptown now does, but the city does it with broad strokes and deft swoops, like those of a master painter. It attracts the “thirty thousand dollar millionaires” like no other five square mile city in the area – never mind that it’s the only five square mile city in the area. So we have our base ingredient and then we begin adding bars to the mix. Finally, we add a wine focus to one of the bars and we are set.

The problem that I have is that the bartenders there are bartenders… and while their web page references their “Wine Guy” – Vincent, I have yet to meet him, nor have I any evidence he actually exists. Several times I’ve asked bartenders for recommendations and gotten mediocre expensive wines, or ones that didn’t really meet my expectations. For instance, last time I was there I was non-specific about which wine I wanted, specifying a mid-range, full bodied red on the dry side, expecting a Cabernet Sauvignon or Cabernet Franc. Instead, while I ended up with a red wine, it was light bodied, sweet, and very fruity – a pinot, probably, though I didn’t ask. It was good – but it wasn’t what I asked for, or really wanted. When I picked up the tab, I also found that in no way was it ‘mid-range.’

That may fly in Addison – hell, I know it does, I see it all the time. The bartenders mix top shelf without asking, put it on the tab, and of course our faux riche that crowd the bars on Friday night don’t want to make a scene about the $17 cocktail that should have been a $7 cocktail. Or in my case, an $8 glass of wine that is suddenly $20. I’m not going to argue too much about the wine, given the location, it was probably a $14 glass of wine that had a $6 ‘being seen’ fee tacked on, but if you’re pouring at a wine bar, you should know wine.

My second issue that makes things difficult is that while they have “100 wines by the glass” and “50 more in the bottle” – the regions they pick and choose from are exceptionally limited. The bar is in Texas, two shakes from grapevine, a hundred and eighty miles from the Hill Country AVA. Amongst all of the US wines on the list, I’d say 80-90% are from the west coast, specifically Napa County, Sonoma County, and Washington State. Suspiciously missing are Oregon and any south coast wines, and I don’t think I’ve seen anything from anything on the list east of there. The list of imports from Argentina and Chile is sub-par for a wine bar with that volume of supposed variety; focusing instead on French wines with a smattering of other euros for measure. I suppose this makes sense, given the “Wine Guy” I’ve never met is French, but it is disappointing. On the upside, they certainly have more world varietals than Dali does.

My final point is what makes it such a love/hate relationship. The wines they do carry tend to be good – very good, actually, and that’s something I really enjoy. I know that I can find something that won’t let me down, no matter what the style – but none of it is truly new or surprising. There’s nothing that pops out and says to me, “Hey, there’s no way you’ve tried something like this before!” and given my prior experiences with recommendations (the one I detailed was only one of a few) I’m leery of asking for something without any specifications at all.

For what it is, an overpriced, well stocked (but non-varied) wine bar, Mercy is great. It’s even better if you know what you want before you ever walk in the door. Oh, the kicker for me is that their fortified wine (that’s sherry and port) options are limited to just just three, with no LBV or reserve choices in the lot.

Reading back on this it sounds incredibly harsh, like I’m beating up on Mercy’s flaws, and I am – but it’s still a wonderful atmosphere, and perhaps I’ll cover the excellent food at a later date. However advertising yourself as a wine bar and then not having people behind that bar with a clear understanding of what they are serving seems like a very poor idea, and it certainly does not bode well for attracting wine enthusiasts. It seems simply to be capitalizing on the money and ego driven atmosphere of North Dallas while disregarding what could be a fine staple of customers.

I started with no idea of what winery to visit first, so I typed “Winery” and “Russian River” in to google and ended up with Rodney Strong. So off we went, bumbling through down town San Francisco, then up the 101 in to northwest Sonoma County.

If there has ever been a more picturesque setting than the side-by-side tasting rooms of Rodney Strong and J Vineyards, I’ve yet to come across it. Both tasting rooms, the wineries, and their wines were great.

We started with Rodney Strong, which was definitely the busier of the two. I’ve had a few of their wines in the past, and was rarely disappointed. I’ve often used them for slightly more expensive dinner wines. The tasting room was wonderful – the staff was friendly, excited about what they were doing, and seemed genuinely interested. The wine was solid; nothing really blew my mind, but one of my compatriots found a new love for pinot noir thanks to these guys, and that leads me in to my next experience.

After we finished at Rodney Strong tasting, and took a walk around the premises, viewing the oak and steel fermentation vats, we walked across the parking lot to J. That’s right, just J. J was really awesome, lots of glass and steel for their tasting room, sort of a post-modern-art-deco feel. I’ll be honest, I’ve never been one to really shy away from tasting, but at $20 for a four-pour tasting, my friends were a little leery – and so was I. Still, the tasting room manager (and I’m sorry I didn’t get his name) keyed in quite quickly on that and comped us tastings of the pinot noir and the cuvée.

I should take a moment here and note that while I’d seen “cuvée” used as an blend indicator on a label before, I’d never seen it as the style before – I imagine that J is using it to move around the limitations on calling a sparkling white “champagne” without it being produced in that region of France, and if so, I do have to say it sounds better than “sparkling white.” On their site, the official full name (not the one that was on the tasting list) appears to be “J Cuvée 20 Brut Non-Vintage Russian River Valley” which also confirms my suspicions.

The gentleman there was happy to have us, enjoyed his work, gave us a few tasting pointers, and genuinely seemed pleased to have us visiting. When we were finished, I elected to pick up a bottle of the pinot to take with me (and in retrospect, I should have picked up a bottle of the cuvée as well), I found myself the recipient of the semi-serious, but jocularly delivered “Wait! Before you go, what’s your secret? What are you doing right to get four girls?” I replied seriously with “I’m just that good,” which earned me a confused look from the querent and amused laughs from my companions.

Leaving J and Rodney Strong behind, we coasted over to Limerick Lane, and I spouted off a few in the car (none of them dirty, surprising my friends with my restraint) and enjoyed the tasting room there. The person handling our tastings was a friendly combination of helpful and quirky, providing us with not only insight for the wines, but a bit as well in to the culture of the Russian River Valley wineries. Limerick Lane had a quite nice selection of standards, pinots and zins (the web page states that they began as an estate zinfandel producer, though they are now certainly producing syrah and furmint as well) that were fairly decent, but not very inspirational. They did, however, have a syrah/zinfandel blend called “1023″ which several of us were quite taken with. I mulled over procuring a bottle, and instead, one of others in our little crew did.

Finally, we stopped by L Foppiano, which should be, in my experience, “Floppiano.” The wine was forgettable, the tasting room attendants were at best, inattentive, and actually bordered on rude. It was the disappointment of the trip, and for myself and my single friend who decided to taste the wines, we were both discouraged and dismayed at the experience.

So that was the afternoon’s experience in Sonoma. I thoroughly recommend visiting Rodney Strong and J, and definitely stop by Limerick Lane if it’s within your scope. As an aficionado, though no connoisseur, I would have loved to stay my whole trip in the Russian River AVA, but there was only so much time to do so.

If you do head out to the Russian River AVA or the Dry Creek AVA, tell your tasting attendant that I sent you – they’ll have no idea who I am, but I’m sure they’ll be grateful to know someone is out there touting their wares.

Resources:
the Robert Strong website
the J Winery website
the Limerick Lane website
the L Foppiano website
an interactive map of the Russian River Valley AVA (includes wineries, hotels, and other points of interest)

Over the weekend my girlfriend and I took a short trek down to Austin from our homes here in the Dallas area to listen to my cousin’s senior recital. Given how I operate, I wasn’t terribly interested in driving down Sunday morning, then driving back Sunday evening, so I planned a nice little getaway for us Saturday afternoon.

Saturday evening after we arrived and got settled in at the hotel, we took a stroll down Congress, and despite the wind attempting to blow us from there to I-35, we managed to walk a relatively straight line and when we got to 4th street, I looked around and spied a McCormick & Schmick’s Seafood.

It’s fairly well known that seafood will kill me dead, however the young woman accompanying me loves it, and in fact does not eat land animals, so it worked out well as I’d heard rumors in the shadows about the food being better than decent. In this day and age, for a fairly broad chain having food that is ‘better than decent’ it’s worth taking a chance on, if only to prove or disprove what I’ve been told.

The Experience

I will say that it didn’t go well at first for this particular location – as walk-ins, we were of course accepted on a contingency basis, but were immediately told there was no issue and we’d be seated within fifteen minutes or so. Several other walk-ins came right behind us, and they too were told the same thing.

The issue I had was after we (and all the other groups) moved to the bar to have drinks while waiting, the other groups were seated, and my girlfriend and I were still at the bar some twenty minutes later – not horrible, all told, as we were drinking a Real Ale Brewing Co. Fireman’s #4 Blonde Ale.

However, as the girlfriend continued to sip her beer, and another couple walked in and was immediately seated, I grew a little frustrated. To be fair, I could not hear from our spot on the corner of the bar whether or not they had a reservation, but I decided to check on the wait. I got up and walked over to the host-station, where the same girl was standing, and asked how she could help me. I inquired about the wait – and here’s the kicker, again I was asked if I had a reservation. I said no, that about twenty minutes ago, she’d told us it would be about fifteen minutes, and let it sink in that she’d forgotten me. She looked appropriately abashed, so I didn’t bother to bluntly state that she’d sat everyone else that was waiting already – though from the look on her face, she had already realized that.

I was told it would be another five minutes, so I closed the tab, and within three the hostess fetched us from the bar and deposited us at a table. The menu was interesting and appropriate for a surf and turf joint, and my date was appropriately awed by the interesting variety of options concerning the surf portion. The turf menu was limited, but certainly not lacking, having filet mignon, top sirloin, and ribeye amongst other cuts and my final selection, the New York strip.

So while she ordered the seafood stuffed Atlantic salmon, and declared it to be quite wonderful, I pondered over my own meal, which was paired with an Argentinian Malbec called Ñanos.

The service was prompt and our waiter was attentive without being overbearing. My girlfriend was somewhat annoyed at a rather pricey steak and seafood restaurant waiter taking her plate before I was done (she finished eating before I did), but otherwise we were pleased with the table service.

The Meal

Let me be honest, I’m reviewing a steak from a seafood restaurant, so that should be noted first. It is my opinion, however, that if something is an option on a menu, it should be prepared and served with the same care as everything else offered.

First was the apple salad. This was simply amazing. It was very basic – lettuce, walnuts – honey roasted, I believe, Gorgonzola cheese, and apple slices with an apple cider vinagrette. I can say nothing bad about this, and indeed, would have been glad to order this as a light meal, for lunch perhaps, with a grilled chicken breast on top. The salad was amazing, and had me very excited about the steak that would be coming shortly thereafter.

I ordered my steak rare plus, that is for those of you who prefer shoe leather, rare cooked slightly towards medium-rare. I’d asked about this, as many chains are leery of offering steaks cooked less than medium-rare, and our wait-person said that they would cook it “black and blue” if I so desired. That was fairly impressive to me, as you don’t hear the term much any more, but basically means that the outside is cold pink and the outside is seared, then served.

As my steak was presented, I was asked to cut across the middle to verify that it was prepared as I’d requested, which many steak places do, and it was indeed cooked properly. The plate had four spears of sauteed asparagus on it, along with two fried potato cakes. The potato cakes were good, though uninteresting. The asparagus was slightly overcooked, but not too much, so while it retained its flavor it was slightly stringy.

Now on to the focus of the meal: The New York strip. The steak itself had the amount of marbling I would expect on a NY strip, and as I actually cut through, was prepared well, but seemed to resist more than I would expect – of course, at first this could be a dull knife or a small piece of gristle, but as I consumed my steak, I noticed that portions of it were exceptionally chewy. So that was how it went, the flavor of the steak was excellent, and the kitchen did a good job of providing me with exactly what I ordered – but the steak itself would be what I would have considered buying on a budget at the supermarket, having far too much gristle and being much less tender than I would expect for the price.

The highlight was the Malbec that I’d selected to pair with my steak – it had a nice berry undertone with a floral accent, sweet, perhaps like honeysuckle, and a good mouth feel. It complimented the steak without being stringent in the slightest, and would have been a fine complement to any of the steaks offered.

Overall, testing the limits of a restaurant on one of the busiest nights of the week might not be the way to gauge the full ability thereof, but it seems to me that it is the best way to get a feel for what anyone walking in off the street might experience.

In order to wrap things up, I will put out there that the service could use some pointers, but I think the failure is not of the waiters and waitresses, it is simply that they’ve not been trained properly, and that can be carried to the hosting as well. Our waiter was quite good within these limitations, and I would not hesitate to ask for him again by name. The hosts and hostesses may be harried, but there is no excuse for forgetting someone who you’ve put on a list and has told you they will be at the bar.

The kitchen has some work to do, in my opinion. The food was within reason, and not badly prepared – but a bit more attention to what was being prepared could have prevented a chewy steak and overcooked asparagus. The salad was certainly good, but I would have been disappointed if such a simple formula had been poorly executed.

In conclusion, those who told me that McCormick & Schmick’s was “more than decent” would have have my dissent. It certainly was decent, there is no argument from me there, but I think that for the service and the food, it was well overpriced.

McCormick & Scmick’s Seafood Restaurant
401 Congress Ave.
Austin, TX 78701
512.836.9600

Service: 3/5
Food: 3.5/5
Price: $25-35 without drinks, $35-50 with drinks

For those who don’t know, I should preface this by saying I am generally a fan of drier wines. I like the mouth feel and the evaporation more, and I don’t really enjoy the lingering bouquet of sweet wines in my mouth. There are exceptions, of course, and I won’t limit myself because of it, but it is how my preferences lie.

Upon arrival, I asked for the barman to recommend me a Muscat or Muscato, and the recommendation came as the 2006 Il Conte D’Alba Moscato D’Asti. A sweet, sparkling wine, that was described as having peach overtones. My palate was fresh, and I’m going to honestly say that the nose had no peach on it, so I was hoping for a surprise. The mouth feel was solid; what one would expect from a sweet sparkling white, but the bouquet was disappointing. The peach (and perhaps something else, more floral but hidden) was submerged in a cloying clover-honey overtone. The entire glass was simply like sparkling-honey wine and reminded me more of a mead than a muscat normally should. At the end of the glass, my mouth felt as if it were coated with the sweetness. I went through a few crackers and about half a glass of water to cleanse my palate. I, personally, would not recommend this wine for most people and most purposes. Disappointing, truly – 2.5 corks out of 5, only an average wine.

Moving forward (and thinking forward to Father’s day) I asked for a recommendation for a Cabernet Franc. What I ended up with was the 2005 Alexander Valley Cab Franc, and after the disappointing first pick, I was looking for a way to improve my thoughts on Mercy’s stock, and I’ll say right now that the Alexander Valley Cabernet Franc was definitely a step up. The nose was quite nice, with a dry floral scent. I couldn’t identify it immediately, but possibly some sage and honeysuckle, but the latter could have just been the remnants of the lingering bouquet from the Muscato d’Asti. There was a lighter mouth feel than I expected, but it wasn’t bad, and there was the definite peppery taste that one comes to expect with Cabernet Francs. There were more discernible tannins than I would have hoped for, but in the end, as the wine was given a chance to really breathe, it mellowed quite a bit. I would give this 3.5 out of 5 corks, but my main thought on this is that it hardly warranted the $15 price point for the 6oz carafe.

What makes a good vacation? Well, in my opinion there has to be some amount of exploration, good food, and good drink.

That made last Thursday’s and last Friday’s tour around the Loudoun Wine Trail in Loudoun County, Virginia, west of Washington, D.C. a pretty good way to start a vacation. My friends Chris and Rachyl (who knitters from Ravelry may know as The Knitting Pirate) hosted our friend Michael and me for the Memorial Day weekend, so the local wineries were high on the priority list.

We started with a known favorite – Chrysalis Vineyard in Middleburg. Every time we visit, we’re more impressed with the quality of wine that is produced there. While Michael was exceptionally impressed (as always) with the Locksley Reserve, I found myself quite taken with the ‘05 Tannat and the ‘06 Viognier. We bought a bottle of the ‘05 Chardonnay and had a ploughman’s lunch on the grounds, and then moved on.

Our second stop on Thursday was Breaux Vineyard in Purcelleville. I’m not quite sure how I would describe our experience here – Ben, the Tasting Room Manager was well informed and friendly, and the wines were certainly solid, but none stood out in my opinion. The most interesting wine at Breaux was (probably due to my love of Rosés) was the Syrah Rosé, but while it was good, I think it could probably still use some maturity.

The third winery we visited was Doukénie Winery, and Paige in the tasting room was very friendly. She seemed a bit distracted as we did our tasting, but she was friendly and enthusiastic and the Mandolin white was quite interesting, but the wine that got everyone’s attention was the Raspberry Merlot – which they say is not a dessert wine, but I highly disagree – as my qualifier for a Dessert wine has a lot to do with pairings, and the high residual sugar makes it hard to pair with much else. It was served with dark chocolate during the tasting, but it could easily stand up to something like a chocolate flan or a créme brulee.

Last for the day on Thursday was the biggest (and most pleasant!) surprise of the trip, Loudoun Valley Vineyard. As soon as we made it in the door, vintner and owner Bree Ann Moore was there, making cheerful conversation and guiding us through our tasting. The wines were all quite lovely, and consistent and consistently superior in my book. We took away several bottles from Loudoun Valley, including the misleadingly named Zinfandel Blush, which is actually a sweet Rosé, and the most excellent Cabernet Franc. I highly recommend visiting this little gem as much for the wonderful treatment as the good wine.

Friday’s first vineyard was Fabbioli Cellars, which was showcasing a couple of other vineyards wines along with their own, and I have to say that I was very impressed with the 8 Chains LoCo Vino, even though it was significantly sweeter than I prefer my wines to be. It is, as I understand, a 50/50 blend of Traminette and Vidal Blanc, and goes (as tested) quite well with Mexican fare. Fabbioli’s own productions were good, but they all still seemed a bit underdeveloped – though there is clear potential and I certainly will be keeping my eye on them.

I’m combining the second and third vineyards we visited, Lost Creek and Hidden Brook, because the families that own them are related. At Hidden Brook, we met Deborah Houck – one of the owners, who was quite helpful in going through their tasting. At Lost Creek, we had another good experience. Both wineries tended towards the sweet whites, and very fruity but light reds, not quite where my tastes lie. I think with both, as well, there still needs to be a bit of development – but don’t discount that as these being bad wines. Give them ago – I promise if your tastes list towards the sweeter, then you’ll be startled by how much the wines at these two fine places appeal.

The last winery for this trip was Tarara, which is one of the more established (and possibly the largest) Loudoun County winery. We did both the reserve and standard tastings, and all of the wines were solid entries. I think my biggest complaint about Tarara’s wines is that for the quality, I’d have placed them at a lower price point. That isn’t to say they aren’t good wines, but many are priced like one would expect exceptional wines to be priced. Still, the staff was very friendly and I enjoyed the most wine-related discussion with them more than any of the other staffs. They gave us a very good idea of both what the goals for each wine were as well as what the actual results were. Kudos to Tarara for that!

So there you go! My Memorial weekend at Loudoun County vineyards! It was a great experience, and I look forward to visiting each of the wineries again and following their progression.