Friday PM Hip-hop returns with Pete Rock

I'm going to do my best to get back on track programming real hip-hop every Friday afternoon, just like I did back in the day, circa '07. Pete Rock, one of hip-hop's greatest producers, proves here that he's also got some mic skills. He's accompanied by one of the most promising MC's at that time, Inspectah Deck along with west coast by way of Philadelphia rapper Kurupt. From the 1998 album Soul Survivor. For the record, a 10 year-old record in hip-hop definitely qualifies as OLD SCHOOL.

In an Euskadi state of mind

This evening, on the train ride home from work, my friend Chiara and I shared some txakoli (alternatively known as txakolina, maybe it's a declension thing - Basque language majors?) There's nothing better than drinking on Caltrain, especially if you're drinking Basque wine. Xarmant, our Caltrain txakoli for the evening, is the largest producer in the Arabako Txakolina D.O.

Let' break it down first with some Txakoli (-na) basics.

There are 3 sub-regions, differentiated by place and levels of dissolved CO2. Here they are from fizziest to least fizzy:

Getariako Txakolina(Ameztoi, Talai Berri, Txomin Etxaniz and I believe 9 other producers) - these wines are produced in the area just outside of San Sebastian
Arabako Txakolina (Xarmant, plus a few other very tiny estates (?) ) - from the Basque province of Alava, a bit further south than the other two D.O.'s
Bizkaiko Txakolina (Uriondo, Gurrutxaga, Gorrondona, Berroia) - Centered around Bilbao.

Since my work pays me to be geeky (for those who know me, easy on the comments, bitches!) I decided to taste the remaining Caltrain bottle of Xarmant side by side with the famed fizzy Ameztoi and the Uriondo. At the expense of preparing/eating a proper dinner, I did this.

Xarmant Arabako Txakolina- Green fruits, especially lime. Simple but very thirst quenching and satisfying.
Ameztoi Getariako Tkakolina- Also green fruited, but noticeably fizzier. Mineral, tighter, more complex (but it's txakoli, after all, so not too complex)
Uriondo Bizkaiko Txakolina - This was my clear favorite. It's the least fizzy, but also the most textural and distinctive. Slightly underripe Anjou pear flavor, excellent purity and mouthfeel, and a faint suggestion of white pepper on the finish. Txakoli 'gastronomique,' if you will.

Off to eat some cheesy toast and salad for dinner; hopefully this has been of interest to one or two people....

A Quick Foray into LA

As much as I love my adopted city of San Francisco, I do enjoy the occasional jaunt to our southerly neighbors in LA. Well, now that I think of it, I have only been to LA twice since moving here two and a half years ago. Anyway, LA does have a lot to offer: fake boobs, killer poolside scenes like that of the Viceroy in Santa Monica and a much more vibrant club scene with better VIP services than we have here up north.

Joking...in all seriousness LA is a city with a flavor all its own. It's a bit warmer, the radio is much, much better, many people seem genuinely happy, even the hipsters are friendlier. Here's a quick re-hashing of my day in LA:

I checked in to the Hotel Miyako, saw Liza Minelli and Quincy Jones chatting with Larry King about you know who (not live, on the tv), and then headed off to the Hungry Cat to meet fellow K&Ler and blogger Leah G for cocktails and soft shell crab. After that it was off to Lou, where I had a decent if somewhat lower acid, less intense than I remember glass of '07 Viñedos de Ithaca PX (that's dry pedro ximenez, from Priorat). Also enjoyed an '04 Viña Ijalba Graciano (plumper and fleshier, but also better balanced than when I last tasted 8-10 months ago). Ijalba makes good wine in Rioja, they are also reasonably priced so you should check them out. It went really nicely with the savory, tangy Basque style grilled sausage and black lentils. Certainly better than the '07 Foillard Morgon Cotes du Py, which perhaps was showing softer, rounder and friendlier than I would have liked. Should probably note that I would not fully trust my palate after drinking a cocktail, and I had in fact consumed two coktails. I think that was it for wine. I was distracted a bit by the small talk with proprietor Lou (very cool guy) and Frank from the Bronx, a regular, who as you may imagine about a guy named Frank who hails from the Bronx, has got some stories to tell.

The next morning I got a taste of Valencia St mission gone south in Silver Lake. I went to Intelligentsia for some decent fancy coffee with fancy cheese n sausage muffin. Oh yeah, there is a Saturday farmer's market in Silver Lake if you're in the area and want to procure some fresh produce, floppy fishing hats, fedoras, or homemade soap, all while listening to the smooth reggae guitar stylings of Ernest Ranglin from one of the booths. Yes, this is very much an LA farmer's market.

From Silver Lake it was off to Santa Monica for the LA which many people know and love best. I did in fact hang out poolside at the Viceroy (yeah, I did it) primarily to catch up with an old friend who was in town for a bachelor party. Managed to hang out and have a pretty good time, though in a rather douche-y environment.

And that, fellow blog readers, was the trip. I'd be remiss if I did not mention the very good tacos served to the primarily gringo populace of Santa Barbara at La Super Rica (thanks, Leah for the tip!) They have more vegetarian options then any other taqueria I have been to, while still providing some authentic ingredients and flavor combinations (chayote, roasted pasillo peppers, cheese). Not the ubiquitous NorCal Michoacan style here. The seasoning of the pork, with terrific savory- sweet interplay and prominent cinnamon, suggested regions further south. Jamaica (hibiscus tea, slightly sweetened) was rich, tangy and terrific. If someone opted for this instead of a beer, I would not give them a tough time for doing so.

La Super Rica was enough to tide me over until I arrived at the Monterey In n' Out Burger to walk off my restless leg syndrome and provide a bit more sustenance for the home stretch.

I do not, by the way, recommend driving from San Francisco to LA for merely a one day visit. Try to catch a flight, at least until the high speed train is ready in another 10-25 years.

MICHAEL JOSEPH JACKSON

The news about Michael didn't really sink in until the ride home from work on Thursday afternoon. I was listening to the local hip-hop station's inevitable afternoon drive time tribute, and to be perfectly honest tears were welling up in my eyes during the set. When they played 'Human Nature,' a beautiful ballad on the best selling album of all time, Thriller, I damn near lost it.

Why did Michael Jackson's death affect me in a way that no other celebrity death has? Maybe it's the tragic human element to his story, a tremendous, once in a generation talent that happens to belong to a very sick person, who had to grapple with an ugly three headed monster of celebrity, severe depression and HUGE debt. Or maybe it's just that it's, as my friend Matt put it, the worst celebrity death of our generation. Either way, I realized that whether or not I knew it, I am - like millions of others around the word - a huge Michael Jackson fan. I should qualify that, since we are strictly old school here. A huge fan of Michael Jackson pre-1984.

If you're of a similar mind, then I would definitely check out J. Period's 'Man or the Music' (great title) Michael Jackson tribute mix. I heard it on the freeway yesterday while en route to Santa Monica. Great stuff, focusing primarily on Michael Jackson's earlier career, with some fun mixes and demo versions.

Long live the music.

Vinho Verde's RED WINE

Best known for slightly fizzy, lime inflected, simple, thirst quenching, warm weather white wine quaffers, northern Portugal's Vinho Verde DOC actually produces a sizable amount of red wine as well (at one point the figure stood at nearly 50% of the region's total production). Hardly any of it reaches the US, primarily due to the high demand for this style of wine in the region, as well as the unusual, raspingly tart flavor profile.

Upon tasting my first red ('tinto' as its called there) vinho verde, I knew that I had a new unusual summer red to enjoy, and additionally that I had to stock it in the store. According to one of our Portuguese wine suppliers, world reknowned food and wine guru Darrell Corti is the only other retailer to stock the wine in northern California, so I guess that puts me in pretty good company.

The wine in question here is the Casal Garcia Vinho Verde Tinto, produced by the large Quinta de Aveleda winery. They sell boat loads of their reliably tasty, dry quinta label vinho verde, but I'm curious as to how many cases of the tinto get exported. I can't imagine it being much more than 500 cases, which for a winery whose production is well into the hundreds of thousands, is a tiny amount. Produced primarily from Vinhão grapes, as well as from some Azal Tinto, this wine is an odd bird. The color is shockingly deep and dark purple for what one might expect out of a wine with 10% alcohol. Barnyard like aromas on the nose combine with some savory cherry fruit, all leading to a slightly petillant, edgy palate of red berries, cherries and a bit of brett, finishing with appealingly dry, rustic tannins. Unlike 99.9% of red wine out there, this one probably did not go through malolactic fermentation. Serving this wine at cellar temperature (i.e. pop it in the fridge for 30 or so minutes) helps to highlight the high tones of the wine and reign in the funk. Though it may be described as funky, tart, cheap, or worse, I would maintain that you could do a lot worse out there. In fact, for under $10 I'd take this as a summer red over most examples of the following: anything from the new world (duh...), cotes du rhone, bordeaux, spanish garnacha, monastrell, zweigelt, sangiovese, and any other would be contenders. Granted, it's a limited field these days for interesting reds under $10.

Drink this with some hearty, flavorful food from your favorite purveyor of Michoacan style tacos. or burritos.

Best under $10 bottle of the year thus far

A photo of Phillipe Tessier's Cour-Cheverny. Please note, the bottle pictured is 2006 vintage; the post is about the 2004.

Let's start the week off right with a genuine, bona fide post about honest, tasty, affordable wine. A wine blogging back to basics post if you will. Tonight I opened my second to last bottle of 2004 Phillipe Tessier Cour-Cheverny to go with a quick, light, thrown together at the last minute vegetarian dinner of perciatelli a la trapanese (i.e. pureed, uncooked roma tomatoes with garlic, salt, olive oil and almonds) accompanied by sides of swiss chard sauteed with bacon, and baked zucchini. While the food was fresh, tasty, and competently prepaired, and the pairing worked fairly well, I must admit that the highlight was the 100% Romorantin wine I had opened.

Tessier makes wines that typically have minimal fat and little immediate appeal. They are usually a bit taut and mineral, in fact there is this tough to describe pungency to his wines (both red and white) which may be off-putting to some. For this particular bottle, on this evening, however, the pungency took a back seat to incredibly pure, focused, well-delineated flavors. Citrus oil, pink grapefruit, a hint of grapefruit pith. Not NZ sauvignon blanc grapefruit here. As an aside, what an unfortunate thing that some people associate grapefruit like flavors with obnoxious, manufactured New Zealand sauvignon blanc. That's like confusing a perfect, in season grapefruit for Minute Maid grapefruit juice from concentrate. Away from grapefruit and back to Tessier, his '04 Cour-Cheverny is pure, perfectly balanced and quite persistent. I paid a mere $6 per bottle on this wine (solid closeout purchase) and I wish that I had at least another case.

May everyone out there drink at least one bottle this tasty over the next week.

'Mr. Dodd': The Father of Reggae on Father's Day

One of the fathers, at any rate. Clement Seymour 'Sir Coxsone' Dodd, RIP.

Enjoy the Sunday Studio One special: