Drinking: A focused practice

"I'm focused, man" - Jay-Z

At some point last week, I remember the one and only El-P, independent rapper/producer extraordinaire and head "Def Jukie" (founder/head of Def Jux Records) tweeting something to the effect of "Attn: rappers. I don't need to know how focused you are every time you rap" (this is a commonly overused word in the rapper's lexicon - 'focused'). It brought a smile to my face, though for the past two weeks, at least as it relates to my drinking habits, I must admit: I'm focused. It has been a very sherry dominant period, as I have probably had eight sherries up in the mix, in the fridge and in the wine "cellar" of my apartment.

There is something you learn by comparative tasting flights, no doubt. However, what you can learn by picking a handful of wines from the same region, or perhaps contrasting in whichever ways you choose to select, and drinking them over the course of a week or two, is invaluable. I plan on doing so more frequently.

I am towards the end of the sherry focus (though there will still be plenty of it around regardless, you can believe that).

Next?

A Xit ton of Xeres - the ambers

Once you get into it, drinking good sherry is a dangerously addictive, habit forming way to roll. I highly recommend it.

I drink way more manzanilla and fino than any other type of sherry. Regardless of the season (yes, we do experience variations in temperature as well as seasons in San Francisco...well, sort of), I love the crisp, saline, sometimes appley sometimes citric bite of the drier styles of sherry. When I say "bite" I do mean it; these wines are bone dry, disarmingly so for many people. Anyway, I could be just about anywhere south of Greenland and still crave a bracing glass or two (ok, three) of manzanilla or fino.

Olorosos (the variety of sherry which never has much of a tuft of flor form above it in the barrel) are wonderful. Pedro Ximenez based sherries, for me, are just too damn sweet for sipping, regardless of the style or VOS (very old sherry) or VORS (very old rare sherry) status. Amontillado and palo cortado styles, with their initital ageing under flor influence, hit a nice sweet spot between nuttiness and racy, tangy immediacy [he says as he downs his glass of amontillado.] Ahh!

So that having been said, I'm focusing on the three bottles of amber hued sherries which are currently open in my apartment.

Herederos de Argüeso Amontillado Sanlucar de Barrameda

#AwwHellYeah. Oops, I'm not twittering now. Anyway, this tastes like dried toffee and orange candies, if you were to take out the sugar, add some salt and a pinch of magic. There is something about amontillados from Sanlucar that are so full of energy and vitality. Awesome value at $25/750ml.

Barbadillo "Obispo Gascon" Palo Cortado Sanlucar de Barrameda

Deeper amber in color, with a decidedly more pungent and slightly boozy nose. It's 21.5% abv, a bit up there by palo cortado standards. Aromas are a shade more rancio, more oxidized, with something that I often find in amber sherries that I can only refer to as "yellow Triaminic." I don't recall what the yellow variety of Triaminic cold medicine was specifically for (maybe really bad colds, given the extra nastiness of its smell and taste), but rest assured that this sherry "tell" as it were is a personal one, and just one element of a satisfying sherry experience. Flavors echo the richer aromatics, with a bit more ripeness, nuttiness, and a hint of a dark chocolate quality as well. To me I see this as a terrific after dinner drink, whereas the aforementioned Argueso Amontillado could function as apero as well as dinner accompaniment for the right dishes.

Lustau Almacenista "Pata de Gallina" Juan Garcia Jarana Oloroso

At 20% abv, this is a comparably lighter oloroso. Very minimal detectable sweetness as well. It drinks brighter than the Barbadillo Obispo Gascon PC, with racier acids as well as a more noticeable depth in the mid-palate and finish. Hella walnut, we might say here in the Bay Area. I think this could well be the most versatile of this trio, equally adept as apero, dinner companion, and after dinner drink with cheese (Cabot clothbound cheddar, perhaps?), nuts, or just a warm fireplace and some interesting modern or contemporary fiction. Nothing pre 20th c, that would just be too stodgy in today's fast paced, casual, drinking and reading environment.

Pues...nada. Salud!

Braised Lamb Shanks and...sherry?

I'm not going to lie. I just spent the last 45 minutes typing some bullshit about pairing food with wine. It was horrible. Truly awful, deplorable, boring wine feature in your local newspaper type stuff. Now that this is safely deleted, never, ever to be seen again, let me summarize what had taken me way to long to articulate on this screen. I love wine. I enjoy drinking wine with food. But I really like wine without food and often need a break from the minutiae of picking an "appropriate" wine for the dish before me.

Last night I braised lamb shanks. It was a delicious, rich, wonderfully lamby (read: slightly gamey) braise made all the more interesting by the stock, lemon juice and fino sherry used for the piquant braising liquid, as well as the late addition of watercress to provide another counterpoint to the meat and potatoes. The result was a lamb dish that I believed would benefit from the right sparkling or white wine. Another version of this story, I suppose, might be that yet another night I was not in the mood for any of the reds in my house. While the Etienne Dupont "Triple" Cider, El Maestro Sierra Fino, Hidalgo "La Pastraña" Manzanilla Pasada and Bodegas Argüeso Amontillado were all very good wines, not overpowered by the lamb, they did not add anything, enhance, or complement the flavors in any way.

In the tradition of my colleague Brooklynguy's "You be the Sommelier" posts, I'd like to ask you what you would pair with this dish. It would be interesting to get some ideas from the more experienced food and beverage types out there.

Sunday B3 clips

TAKE IT AWAY, BABS. Barbara Dennerlein does some jazzy Bach improv



WHY COULDN'T I GRAB MY DIPLOMA TO THAT? Joey DeFrancesco Trio sound checking, in a gymnasium somewhere



IMPECCABLE TASTE Larry Goldings has a classic, yet original sound



THE GODFATHER Jimmy Smith and band play an uptempo blues (video cuts off, unfortunately)

Connections

A quick list of things I've noticed may have more in common than one might expect.

Rubber, glue or swimming pool and fino sherry
Fino sherry and sake
Fino sherry and an energetic buzz
Gamay and grenache
Orange wine and a lay person's appreciation
Workplace and civility
Bass players and a sense of groundedness
Profit and loss
Joy and pain
Sunshine and rain (ok, so it was the band Maze who should be credited for those last two)

Enjoy the weekend.

New York and Baltimore, October 2010

SF GIANTS - World Champs

I'm not a long time Giants fan. And I'm not a Bay Area native. Nonetheless, San Francisco is home now, and this 2009-2010 season Giants team will forever be remembered as world champions. The best thing about this team is not only that they are weird and unpredictable, but also that they are professional and so incredibly clutch. They played their best ball when it counted. And most importantly, they beat the Texas Rangers in their home park, in front of Mr. Texas himself George W. Bush, to win the World Series. This is in many ways the most satisfying professional sports victory I've had the privilege to celebrate.

Though at 11:28PM, the celebration outside is still going strong, I just returned home and find it appropriate to celebrate with a Bay Area band whose creative output has been appreciated in arenas, stadiums and bars throughout the world.

GO GIANTS!! 2010 World Series champions.