WineInk: Classic lessons learned
Well, that was fun.
The 42nd Food & Wine Classic in Aspen came to a close this past weekend, and by all accounts, it was another stellar event. The weather was spectacular, the crowd spent prodigious cash in the community, and as far as I know, with the exception of more than a few mighty hangovers, no one got hurt.
I have attended over 30 of these things going back to the late ’80s and have enjoyed culinary events hosted by Julia Child at the Paradise Club, Jacques Pepín atop Aspen Mountain, and Charles Dale at his epic French-inspired Renaissance restaurant when he was named as a Best New Chef in 1995. In years past, I have tasted the wines of Angelo Gaja with Antonio Galloni, some of the world’s great riesling with Paul Grieco, and explored the best of Rutherford Dust with Andrea Robinson. A chance meeting with leading Prosecco producer Gianluca Bisol introduced me to the nearly extinct Dorona di Venezia grape and led to an exploratory visit to Venice to see the only winery in the surrounding isles. It has been a good run, and I have seen and tasted a lot of Aspen history over the decades.
As I write the wine column for this paper and, with my wife Linda, help put together The Aspen Times Special Food & Wine magazine, I am often asked, “What’s your favorite thing about the Classic?” I could come up with a lot of answers, but I usually reply that what I love most is standing in the sunshine in the courtyard as the Grand Tastings wind down, watching the happily buzzed people streaming out of the tents beneath puffy, white clouds floating in the cobalt blue sky at the base of the world’s best ski mountain. It is a pretty unique experience.
Having said that, the reason I keep coming back to the Classic year-in and year-out is that I always learn new lessons about wine and food. The adage “The more you know, the more there is to learn” has always resonated with me, as it speaks to the power of continued curiosity. And the Classic annually delivers new lessons.
My edification this year began at the front table in the bar at Clark’s Oyster Bar with something very old. Brady Lowe — who produces the Global Fire event and has a long history in Aspen having previously brought Cochon and Heritage Fire to the Valley — greeted me at Clark’s with a very special bottle of Spanish wine.
It was a Bodegas Riojanas Rioja Monte Real Gran Reserva, fair enough, but what made it unique for me was the wine’s vintage. 1956, the year of my birth. I’ll let you do the math, but suffice to say, it is a wine of maturity. When harvested, Dwight D. Eisenhower, a.k.a. Ike, was president of the United States, Francisco Franco ruled Spain, and, in the Napa Valley, Beaulieu Vineyard released their first vintage of Georges de Latour Private Reserve. Yes, it was a long time ago.
But amazingly, the wine showed beautifully. It had a tinge of orange on the rim and a touch of minty sage on the nose. It was earthy and complex and drank much more youthful than one might expect, giving me reason to hope, if you know what I mean.
Brady explained that the wine came from a cellar in San Sebastián in the Basque region of Spain maintained by Viña Viejas Selections. They have 11,000 bottles of older vintages of collectable Spanish wines, including Vega Sicilia, and they bring them to this market for special events, like the Miami F1 races.
As I admired the bottle, Brady produced a small wooden box and pulled out a corkscrew that is specifically designed to open wines with old or fragile corks. Called The Durand Corkscrew, the device features two parts, a traditional Worm corkscrew with wings on either side and a two-bladed Ah-So. He gently turned the worm into the cork, then dropped the blades of the Ah-So on either side of the cork, twisted it and slowly extracted the wine saturated cork from the bottle without so much as a crumb breaking off. For those who appreciate old wines, The Durand is a must have.
Another weekend event proved to be as luxurious as it was educational. Actually, luxury led by a lot in a gathering of Parisian caviar producer Petrossian, Irish crystalware producer Waterford, and the Champagne House of Louis Roederer in the Wheeler room at Hotel Jerome. A collection of wine lovers, including former Jerome General Manager Tony DiLucia along with current GM the newly-arrived Stephane Lacroix, were led in a perfectly-paired tasting by Petrossian Caviar expert Christopher Klapp and the Jerome’s wine and spirits director Christel Stiver; Sarah Harper from Waterford introduced the stemware.
“In caviar, the sturgeon is the source, like grapes are in wine. As the grape determines what a wine is like, so, too, does the species of sturgeon that produces the eggs determine what kind of caviar it is,” said Christopher.
He went on to introduce six different selections of caviar including Beluga, Kaluga, and Ossetra produced by Petrossian which was founded in 1920 and is the standard for the industry. All farm raised in pens throughout the world, there are 28 different species of sturgeon. Who knew?
The wines were sublime, as they included a 2018 Louis Roederer Brut Nature zero-dosage bottling with a label by artist Phillipe Starck and, of course, Cristal. The hand-blown Waterford “Forever Love” 7-ounce Champagne flutes had heft and added gravitas to the experience.
The list of revelations goes on. From a fiery Armagnac producer named Bhakta Spirits based in Poultney, Vermont, to a Sake High!, a canned Japanese sake, to Australian Wagyu beef from Westholme that graces the menus at Steakhouse No. 316 and Catch Steak, there was never a dull sip or bite.
Yes, at every Food & Wine Classic, classic lessons are there to be learned.
