Archive for the ‘gastrotommy’ Category

052112

Podcast: Download

This week we begin with an educational piece teaching our listening audience on how to visually analyze wine. This information comes directly from Tommy’s Sommelier training. Mary jumps in and gives us a rundown of some great spring produce. Mary & Tommy discuss a couple of great cookbooks like The Farm: Rustic Recipes for a Year of Incredible Food by Ian Knauer and Seven Fires by Francis Mallmann. Our wine tasting this week focuses on a Vouvray from Dme. Pichot. This wine is from the Loire Valley and is made from Chenin Blanc. This grape is among the most versatile grapes that can make bone dry to sweet wines, flat and sparkling. They have a wonderful aromatic quality that sing of lavender and honey. The red wine is from Sicily. It is the Tascsa d’ Almerita, Lumuri made from Nero d’Avola. This is a delicious wine from an area gaining momentum on the world stage. We hope you enjoy the show.

Podcast: Download

This week we will talk about some of the people, publications that our audience should be following. We acknowledge the quality the articles in the Wine Spectator, but question the merits of their scoring system. Tommy can support Decanter in a more inclusive capacity. Although the magazine has a condescending quality towards American wines, their perspective on the rest of the global wine scene is considerable. Mary, our lovely co-host, has interviewed so many cookbook authors and gives us a short list of her favorite books. She starts with Steve Raichlen and his Planet BBQ or his website BBQBilbe.com. She is also a big fan or the Barefoot Contessa. Tommy is a big fan of Mario Batali’s books which he has Our favorite wine blog is Tom Wark’s Fermentation.

This week we introduce a new feature to the show where we analyze a specific wine and discuss the types of food that can be paired with it. Although there are a plethora of American food shows and clearly there is a profound love of wine, there is not a structured place to discuss food and wine pairings. Gastro will be that place. There is a specific jargon to this activity that we will help the audience become more familiar with these terms.

The show closes with our partner Danny Halfman has created the World’s Best Beer Rating System. Danny has moved away from the traditional scale to one that is completely unique, completely original. It will soon become the most used beer rating system.

Podcast: Download

Today, Tommy and Mary focus on smaller production wine versus larger production wine and discuss the upcoming In Pursuit of Balance tasting event in San Francisco and New York this spring. The topic of smaller production wines versus larger production wines has gained quite a bit of notoriety lately. There is a feeling among the fine wine community that the grapes that are harvested by hand, that are produced into wines that have typically less than 10,000 cases to as many as 40,000 cases tend to show a more expressive terroir. The wines tend to be more complex and ultimately tend to taste better. The large-scale productions often have massive marketing budgets behind them. In turn, they receive prime placements on the shelves of our local grocery and wine stores. However, they often have a higher price point and less drinking satisfaction.
From this movement there was an ongoing discussion within the community to examine and promote balanced wines. Rajat Parr and Jasmine Hirsch decided to highlight outstanding California Pinot Noir producers. The tasting was held last March in San Francisco and was a tremendous success. This year the events will be held in both San Francisco and New York City.

Podcast: Download