sauvignon blanc

I just love sauvignon blanc!

When treated with respect and afforded suitable growing conditions, it is one of the wine world’s darlings. Dry wines made from this grape are characterized by steely, racy acidity, green, gooseberry fruit, asparagus and a grassy, herbaceous character. It is rarely oaked, except in California, where it has often been subjected to such extreme winemaking as new oak, extended lees contact and malolactic fermentation. Here, it produces a tropical, buttery style of Sauvignon Blanc. However, California producers are increasingly using less oak, to create more naturally expressive wines.

make that Sauvignon Blanc please

I was defamed recently via Twitter. Which makes it sound like a joke, not an actual legal issue. What happened was I got into a short but nasty exchange of Twitter posts with a couple of actors I had blogged about. A third actor, someone I hadn't spoken to in two years, after he ripped off my theatre group mailing list to get his own theatre group started, decided to chime in by making a malicious statement about me. Since he has virtually nothing to gain by libeling me, I expect that his primary objective was to curry favor with the other actors, who are young enough to be his sons. I guess there's no male-bonding quite as effective as ganging up to attack a woman who has gotten out of line - it even spans generations. But while the other two actors said some truly nasty things about me, what they said was opinion. Everyone is entitled to their own opinions. Everyone is not entitled to their own facts. What the third actor said was that I "guzzle Chardonnay" while working on this blog. And since I post to this blog pretty much on a daily basis, as evident by the dates on the blog posts, he was in effect claiming I'm an alcoholic.
In fact I'm a very moderate drinker, so not only was his statement malicious, it was false. Which is the definition of libel. In this case he committed what is known as "libel per se" which is defined by the Legal Dictionary as:

n. broadcast or written publication of a false statement about another which accuses him/her of a crime, immoral acts, inability to perform his/her profession, having a loathsome disease (like syphilis) or dishonesty in business. Such claims are considered so obviously harmful that malice need not be proved to obtain a judgment for "general damages," and not just specific losses.

Claiming that someone is an alcoholic is covered under this definition. I recounted this incident to my friend Bruce, another actor, whom I've known for twelve years, and he said it was ridiculous to make such a claim - he'd never even seen me drunk. Which makes sense - I haven't been seriously inebriated since high school. And I sometimes go weeks without drinking alcohol. Now it should be noted that I've never seen this libelous actor turn down a drink - certainly not at the legendary Penny Templeton Christmas party of 2008 - but I would never in a million years claim that he guzzled alcohol while performing a daily task. It would be unethical to do so. But if you're going to rip someone off why stop there? Why not then go on to insinuate the person is also an alcoholic? Certainly if you pal around with people who have no shame, no principles and no personal integrity, you're not going to pay any kind of social price for such behavior.
Twitter really does bring out the worst in many people. Banal people for example - their tweets are mind-bogglingly banal. Bitchy people, well... I was already becoming fed up with this libelous actor before he ripped me off, after following him on Twitter and realizing that a goodly number of his tweets were bitchy observations about the fashion choices of strangers on the street. I already suspected that this person was petty and shallow but his tweets only made it painfully obvious. So we would probably have had a parting of the ways sooner or later. But I can do without being ripped-off and libeled.
And in any case, not only is he wrong about my drinking frequency, I rarely drink Chardonnay - I much prefer Sauvignon Blanc.

but with a name like that...

I had a glass of Infamous Goose Sauvignon Blanc last night. But not while I was blogging about how the Man is keeping me down. When you are blogging about how the Man is keeping you down, you have to be sharp, alert and you need both hands to type.

Also, I sipped the wine, I did not guzzle it.

I actually bought the wine for the next NYCPlaywrights meeting because many actors, it turns out, like to drink. But I thought it wouldn't hurt to taste-test it.

I must agree with Gary and Allison:

This is a very drinkable, with characteristic citrus fruit (a bit heavy on the grapefruit notes) with fresh herb and grass with a finish of mineral and acidity. And it is $8.99 a bottle.

However, so are a lot of other New Zealand sauvignon blancs. There really is nothing to make this stand out from the crowd.

It really is good, it just is not memorable.

I especially agree about the heavy on the grapefruit. But I didn't read the review before I bought this - I confess I got it for the label alone. How could you not buy wine named "The Infamous Goose"?

Black Currants & White Wine

During several episodes of "French in Action" the leading characters Robert and Mirielle are at a cafe drinking Kir. For the longest time I had assumed that Kir was a brand name for a French liqueur because the waiter in the episode also mentions Dubonnet when listing, at Mirelle's request "typical French" offerings. I know Dubonnet is a brand thanks to the many classic French posters associated with it.

But it turns out that Kir is the name of a cocktail that combines one part creme de cassis (black currants) and four parts dry white wine - or in the case of Kir Royal, the white wine is swapped out for champagne. 

I finally got around to buying creme de cassis and trying it out. I'm actually not that crazy about it, I find the creme de cassis is a little bitter for my taste. I'm really not a cocktail person, I prefer my alcohol to be unmixed. Although it looks pretty, the diluted creme de cassis: it comes out of the bottle as a thick syrup but becomes a light crimson when mixed with the white wine. But really, I felt like I just ruined a perfectly good class of Sauvignon Blanc. Well at least I gave it a try.

But now I have a $26 bottle of creme de cassis that I really don't have any use for.

Luckily it turns out the NYTimes has a bunch of recipes for Creme de Cassis.

A wine recommendation

Although I do love sauvignon blanc I have lately been enjoying pinot noir, and recently discovered a wine from a Chilean grower D. Bosler, called Birdsnest. This reviewer gives the 2008 version an excellent review although I had the 2011. He writes:

Shockingly floral, spiked with ripe strawberries and an oily Viognier-like finish. Carey may have just grimaced—I discover it’s just surprise. She noticed the white wine: “it tastes like it was blended with Champagne.” The palate is distinctly red berry driven and lushly rosy. I remember a Wine Library TV episode where Gary commented on the importance of eating roses from time to time—I thought of that. 

For such an inexpensive Pinot Noir, it does smooth out expertly—it becomes increasingly linear, in a good way, with time. Young and vibrant, a touch of finesse, and a more complete nose than palate. Hints of graham, anise, and muddled spices. Very tasty.

Although the best description comes from the wine bottle:

Exuberant aromas of fresh strawberries, rose petal and spice box. Lush and inviting on the palate with ripe seductive red fruits and smooth tannins. Deliciously smooth Pinot with plenty of length and substance.

What really caught my attention when reading the bottle in a Brooklyn liquor store, where it was sold for $15, was the part about the rose petals. Really? Rose petals? was what I thought, so I bought it because it seemed implausible and I wanted to see if it was just hype.

Which shows how little I know about Pinot Noir because comparing the aroma of a Pinot Noir to rose petals is not at all uncommon.

And sure enough after a few sips I did sense the rose petals. I was impressed. However, the rose petals are delicate, as you might imagine, and if you plan to have a glass from a bottle and save the rest for another day you will be disappointed - the rose petals will have disappeared, although it was still pretty spicy, which is what they mean by "spice box" I assume. So your best bet is to share this D. Bosler Pinot with a friend or two and finish the bottle the same night you open it.

A wine review - Oko Pinot Grigio

I have to admit that I am far too influenced by the artwork on bottles of wine when making a selection. I was looking for a white wine and this "tree of life" graphic on the 2013 Oko Pinot Grigio caught my eye. Luckily it turned out to be pretty decent, although I don't like it quite as much as this Mom Who Needs Wine.

By the same token I doubt I will ever buy Barefoot Wine, or as Mr. Monk would call it, "foot wine."

Yes, when it comes to wine, I'm pretty damn shallow.

More of my wine reviews:

• D. Bosler Bird's Nest Pinot Noir
• Infamous Goose Sauvignon Blanc
• Goldmuskateller
• Gnarly Head Pinot Noir

make that absinthe please

I was taken to Beekman Bar and Books last night by a very congenial, continental and erudite gentleman - he's even read Russell's Principia Mathematica - how many people can make that claim? - and I lost my absinthe virginity, finally.

So what is absinthe like? It's very... anise-y. Like Italian Christmas cookies. I liked it, even though I'm not fond of anise as a flavor. My date had Scotch, and he insisted I try a sip. I did not tell him what I really thought of the taste - that it reminded me of paint thinner. No, I just do not get Scotch. I bought my ex-boyfriend a 30-year-old bottle of Glen Morangie scotch for Christmas seven years ago, and that reminded me of turpentine.

Give me a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc instead, any day.

I don't remember why I became so fascinated by absinthe, now, but I put a reference to absinthe in my adaptation of "Jane Eyre" although it's mentioned nowhere in the original. That's very unusual for me - I rarely take liberties with my classic literature adaptations unless absolutely necessary. Perhaps I was inspired by Rochester's often referring to Jane as a fairy, and absinthe is known as "le fee vert" - the green fairy.

Beekman Bar and Books is right near the United Nations, so I got to have a walk down memory lane... or Dag Hammarskjold Plaza to be precise. I haven't been there since my ex-husband and I hitch-hiked to New York so we could participate in a No-Nukes rally in Central Park. After that we joined up with a hard-core No-Nukes faction to do a sit-in at Dag Hammarskjold Plaza and we all got arrested for civil disobedience. Good times.

I'm not sure why DHP was selected as a good location for a sit-in. It isn't even within viewing distance of the UN, although the neighborhood is full of various national consulates and the like. When they arrested us they put us all on buses parked by DHP and made us wait a couple of hours while they processed us.

I was pregnant at the time and after we were released on our on recognizances I desperately had to use the bathroom but was turned away by the nearby bar - nothing as fancy as Beekman B&B, but the proprietor was apparently too genteel to permit a the scruffy likes of us to use the facilities - so genteel that she claimed they didn't have a bathroom and when we enquired what she and her patrons did when nature called replied "we drink our piss!" Welcome to New York.

Dag Hammarskjold Plaza sure looks different when it isn't full of hippies though...

Deconstructed Goat Cheese Tart

As I mentioned on this blog last week, I absolutely adore the Goat Cheese Tart at the Black Mountain Winery in the Carroll Gardens section of Brooklyn. The really great thing about it is that although it is mind-blowingly delicious it's also incredibly freaking healthy too. It's not actually a tart in the traditional sense of a small pie with a crust. I guess since potatoes are a starch maybe that's considered close enough to stand in for the usual pastry used in tarts. But whatever - the sandwich made from potato and roasted beet with a thin layer of goat cheese in the middle is just right - plus the balsamic and the greens with a dash of dressing and you have yourself a perfect food. I went back to Black Mountain Winery for the second week in a row, just to eat it again. But this time I examined it well enough I was able to deconstruct it. I think my illustration above is very close to accurate. Although who knows what magical things they do to make it work together in the amazing synergistic way it does?

Here's what it looked like after I ate about 20%. And of course I paired it was a sauvignon blanc. I'm sitting by the fireplace - it was chilly last Tuesday so they had a roaring fire going. Just a perfect dining experience.

 

Here's the place from the outside. 

Restaurant recommendation

You need to go the the Black Mountain Winehouse and you need to get their Goat Cheese Tart. It is amazing. And get the Sauvignon Blanc to go with it.

It's in the Carroll Gardens section of Brooklyn, just west of Park Slope. Take the F or the G train.