Posted: Friday, March 5, 2010

Christophe Hedges holds his young son at his family’s winery on Red Mountain in Eastern Washington. Hedges is fighting against wine reviewers who want to score his family’s wine in magazines and other publications. Photo by Anna King

RICHLAND, WA – Some big names in the Northwest wine industry have been quarrelling publicly — online. Gut punches on Facebook have led to rebuttals on blogs and plenty of ringside jeering. The cause of the spat? Wine scores. Those are the numerical ratings wine critics use to help consumers navigate the world-of-wine. In the Northwest there’s a small but vocal movement to let vino speak for itself. But wine journalists are none too happy about it. Correspondent Anna King reports.

At Wine Spectator a score of 50-74 is not good. A wine from 95 -100, now that’s a classic. But it’s not just Spectator that uses these types of scores. They’ve become ubiquitous in the wine world, and they pack a lot of power.

Christophe Hedges hates scores.

Christophe Hedges: “We don’t want to give too much power to one person’s palate.”

Hedges is the son of the owners of Hedges Family Estate in Eastern Washington. It’s one of the largest, most influential wineries in the state.

Hedges says he had his epiphany about scores about seven years ago. He was in New York and walked into a new, hip restaurant with his laminated sheet of scores. He made the mistake of dropping the sheet down on the bar in front of the owner.

Christophe Hedges: “He glanced down at it and he said, ‘Get out of my restaurant.’”

He left mystified. Until his wine distributor later told Hedges he had offended the chef.

Hedges: “…he’s been buying wine for over 20 years, and you basically said his palate isn’t good enough, so why don’t you look at everyone else’s palate? Really? That makes total sense.”

Since then Hedges has been on a steady campaign to get rid of scores on his family’s wine altogether. Now many bottles of Hedges wine sport a no-score symbol – it looks like a no smoking sign. Hedges even produced an online cartoon. It features a balding wine critic verbally sparring with a hipster wine guy.

SOUND: [Hedges wine cartoon]

Cartoon wine critic: “I warned you, do not cross me, I will give you bad scores for your wines, you horrible hipster freak.”

Cartoon Hedges hipster: “Well … we feel that quantifying a subjective product like wine ruins the experience for the human race.”

The most recent object of Hedges ire is Paul Gregutt. The Seattle Times writer and popular blogger wouldn’t comment for this story. But there’s another critic who has seen both sides of the scoring show.

Dan Sogg used to critique wines for the Wine Spectator. Arguably, it’s the most influential press house in the wine industry. But his job ended at the magazine a couple years ago. Now he consults with wineries seeking higher scores.

Dan Sogg: “The 100 point scale … provides an easily digested nugget of information.”

Still, Sogg says that nugget of information comes with its own limitations. And wine judging isn’t always fair, especially when judges taste many wines at one sitting.

Dan Sogg: “It can become almost kind of like a cage fight. And the heavyweights tend to win. The wines with more richness, more oak, more alcohol and maybe more residual sugar. So other styles of wine that aren’t as weighty, but can be equally as well done, and might even be better at dinner are not necessarily going to get their due.”

The daddy of all wine critics — Robert Parker — is probably the most chastised for liking those ‘heavyweights.’

Parker wields tremendous power in the wine world. If he gets behind a wine, prices and demand can skyrocket. He sees Hedges opposition to scoring as just sour grapes.

Robert Parker: “I know we have reviewed Hedges and given them good, not great scores. I have to say this quite candidly, I’ve never known a winery that makes really top quality wine that didn’t want their wine reviewed. Some winery just coming out and saying we don’t want our wines to be scored sounds like they have more to lose than to gain by being evaluated.”

Wine reviews have become more democratized with the advent of social media and blogging. But Parker says professional wine scoring isn’t a job just anyone can do.

Robert Parker: “I mean it’s like taking a picture of a runner. You are trying to photograph this runner at a very beginning point and compare it to the other ones. There is a lot you can ascertain, and there is a lot you can’t. You make your best call.”

So far, not many wineries have rushed to Christophe Hedges’ no-scoring banner. But the young upstart says the next generation of wine buyers isn’t buying into the numbers.

Hedges: “A Lot of those young generation people will say, ‘I see that there are some points underneath this bottle of wine, but really I like it because the price is good, it has a nice label and I like the style from this region.’ They do not buy wines based on scores, they buy wine based on their experiences.”

As for Hedges and Gregutt, Christophe Hedges says the wine reviewer is no longer welcome at his family’s chateau winery. And Paul Gregutt says he respects the family’s wishes for no scores, but argues he still has the right, and even an obligation, to review wines.

On the Web:

Paul Gregutt’s wine blog about scores

The Hipster and the Wine Critic video

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Photo courtesy of Cinder

Garden City based Cinder Winery has been on the receiving end of some very good press lately (not that that’s altogether unusual thing for husband and wife team Joe Schnerr & Melanie Krause).

In February, Cinder made Wine Business Monthly’s seventh annual “Hot Small Brands” list, which the magazine says “includes some of today’s most exciting brands from small- and medium-sized producers . . . wineries and brands that represent market trends or innovation, that take a leadership position in their regions, or that make unusual varietals or unexpected wines.”

Of the ten North American wines the magazine chose, four were from the Northwest, including Cinder (plus Pacific Rim and Wines of Substance from Washington and Abacela from Oregon).

Yesterday, ag weekly Capital Press profiled Cinder and their work with the often cantankerous Viognier grape.  The paper credits Cinder for showing the potential leading role Viognier could play in Idaho’s wine future.

Photo courtesy of Cinder

If you want to check this all out first hand, Cinder is offering a tasting of their new releases tomorrow, Saturday, March 6th from noon to 5p.m. at their winery at 107 E. 44th Garden City. In addition to their new 2009 Viognier, they’ll open bottles of 2008 Syrah, 2009 Rosé.

And if you missed it, here’s a link to a 2008 Edible Idaho radio show on Cinder and their Urban Winemaker’s Cooperative.

Pig confined in cage

The ethical treatment of farm animals is a growing concern for many Americans.  And that puts states with relatively few animal cruelty laws, like Idaho, in the cross-hairs of animal welfare groups.  It also makes those states attractive to livestock operations looking to relocate to less regulated areas.

In this installment of Edible Idaho, correspondent Guy Hand explores animal welfare on the farm.

Download the script for this Edible Idaho radio show.

Follow Senator Corder’s Animal Cruelty legislation S1317

Idaho Senator Tim Corder’s Website

Animal Legal Defense Fund Website

Humane Society of the U.S. Farm Animal Website

Idaho Dairymen’s Association

Animal Welfare Approved Website

Janie Burns’s Meadowlark Farm Website

[View with PicLens]

(GH: Anna King of The Northwest News Network reports on a law that would allow wine tasting at farmers’ markets.)

RICHLAND, WA – Washington wineries are asking state lawmakers to include them in farmers’ markets. A new bill in Olympia would allow wineries to give small sips of their libations at markets in a pilot program. Richland Correspondent Anna King reports.

This is not your big chance to guzzle free wine. It’s only a tasty 2-ounce pour. But Washington wineries say that is enough to get their products in front of new customers and possibly make a sale. Last year, lawmakers approved a similar pilot program for wine tasting in grocery stores. That program was deemed a success by both the Washington wine industry and the Liquor Control Board.

Marty Clubb says adding farmers markets too would be a boon to family-owned Washington wineries. He’s a Walla Walla winemaker and the president of the Washington Wine Institute, a lobbying group.

Marty Clubb: “In today’s marketplace we’re basically looking for as many channels as exposure as possible. So the farmer’s market is a great idea to give some of these small wines a chance to show what is in essence a farm product.”

The bill faces opposition from one group dedicated to preventing substance abuse. The farmer’s market tasting bill has passed the Washington House and is pending in the state Senate.

Copyright 2010 Northwest Public Radio

Listen ]]> http://www.nwfoodnews.com/2010/02/27/wine-at-market/feed/ 0 http://www.nwfoodnews.com/2010/02/26/cucina-di-paolo-boise/ http://www.nwfoodnews.com/2010/02/26/cucina-di-paolo-boise/#comments Fri, 26 Feb 2010 12:17:53 +0000 Guy Hand http://www.nwfoodnews.com/?p=2206

Shawn Raecke/Idaho Statesman Mary Jean Wegner makes her rounds at Cucina di Poalo -- the restaurant she runs with her husband Paul -- located off Vista in Boise. Mary Jean isn't shy about telling people that she does all the talking and her husband Paul is the talent in the kitchen.

Mary Jean Wegner is not so much a restaurant owner as a tousle-haired force of nature. She twirls around this tight cluster of tables and chairs scattering greetings, menu suggestions and meals like a benevolent, if slightly mischievous, typhoon. (To one table of regulars, she says she’s adding “a shut up and eat it special.”) Husband Paul, on the other hand, floats in the eye of this cheerful daily tempest, stirring pots, cutting herbs and plating his signature lasagna with the quiet grace of a dancer.

For those loyal patrons of Cucina di Paolo – and there are legions – this won’t be news. But for those unfamiliar with the Wegners’ tiny, brick box of a restaurant, there’s a dose of personality here not common to this franchise-infected stretch of Vista Avenue. It makes the food taste better. And the food is already good.

When I first stepped through the door, Cucina di Paolo looked more deli than eatery. With glass cases full of pre-made menu items separating the kitchen from a very small dining area, it was obvious a good deal of the focus here is on take-away. But a closer inspection of those deli cases – organized under signs labeled “Pasta . . . bilities!,” “Incidentals!” and “Sweet Nothings!” – revealed Cucina di Paolo to be more than a mere maker of potato salads, slaws and sandwiches. Instead, they contained polenta domes stuffed with fresh mozzarella; thin strips of grilled eggplant in a garlic, parsley and olive oil marinade; tangles of fresh pasta and homemade desserts.

When Mary Jean slid a steaming bowl of bouillabaisse ($10.95) my way on that first visit, she pushed away any lingering notion that hers was a simple deli with extra attitude. The scent of saffron, orange zest and fennel rose off that Mediterranean seafood stew like an Idaho vision of a Marseilles afternoon. Studded with clams, mussels, calamari and shrimp, it was the best bouillabaisse I’ve had in Boise. (Well, it may be the only bouillabaisse I’ve had in Boise, but that didn’t stop me from mopping up every drop with a chunk of crusty bread).

About that time, my lunchmate glanced up from her slab of chipotle meatloaf ($9.95 w/soup or salad) and flashed a look of surprise. With a texture both chewy and soft, complicated with sliced onion and a smoky chipotle bite, that meatloaf was comfort food with pedigree (although the accompanying gravy was a bit salty).

Much of what Cucina di Paolo offers tastes like the unpretentious yet ambitious home cooking you might get from a friend with decades of dog-eared Gourmet magazines stashed in the kitchen cupboard.

Shawn Raecke/Idaho Statesman Traditional beef lasagna served with bechamel sauce and fresh Parmesan cheese along with a fresh green salad and garlic bread for $9.25 at Cucina di Poalo on Vista in Boise.

Self-taught chef Paul Wegner honed his cooking chops early. At 12, he helped out at his family’s American Falls pizzeria. After a stint in the army in Italy, he stayed there to work in kitchens (thus the Italian name Cucina di Paolo or Kitchen of Paul). Back in Idaho, he and Mary Jean peddled pans of homemade lasagna at Boise’s fledgling farmers’ market. That was nearly 20 years ago.The Wegners still sell those “Take-N-Bake” lasagnas at the Capital City Public Market while offering them also at Cucina di Paolo. I counted 14 meat, chicken and vegetarian variations on their takeout menu including traditional beef and sausage, chicken Mexicali-style and organic summer squash with basil pesto (ranging from $6.50 for an individual pan to $68 for a 24-piece portion).

In the restaurant, they serve four types of lasagna. The beef and sausage is rich and savory ($9.25), especially with a little bechamel sauce surrounding it. I’ll be back to try the others.

I’ll also check out the Friday clam chowder special ($4.95/bowl) – a patron sitting near me one lunch (everyone sits near you here) slurped some chowder and then, to no one in particular, whispered “unbelievable.”

An eavesdropping Mary Jean smiled.

For more on this story in the Idaho Statesman go to: http://www.idahostatesman.com/2010/02/26/1095636/owners-make-good-food-taste-better.html

Tower of Tuna Photo by Guy Hand

Bluefin tuna is the poster-fish for declining fisheries worldwide.  The International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas reports that bluefin stocks hover at 15% of their historic levels.  Many organizations have called for a ban on bluefin tuna.

And that has sushi restaurants scrambling to find alternatives to a fish that is often the most popular on the menu.

As the Boston Globe reports, Bamboo Sushi in Portland, Oregon and Mashiko in Seattle are examples of sushi restaurants responding to the decline not only in bluefin, but other ocean species as well.  They are, however, the exception.

Casson Trenor, author of  the excellent book “Sustainable Sushi: A Guide to Saving the Oceans One Bite at a Time’’ say in the Globe article:

“A lot of sushi restaurants are in denial. Sustainability is not a choice. It’s coming. The sushi industry is falling apart. It’s eating itself, and we need to adapt to that.’’

Of course, seafood isn’t only served in sushi restaurants.  A new website called Fish2Fork is offering a restaurant guide for both the U.S. and Britain specializing in establishments that serve sustainable seafood.

Here are the Northwest restaurants listed at the site (the list certainly isn’t comprehensive, but promises to grow):

Seattle:

Etta’s Seafood: 2020, Western Avenue, Seattle, WA 98121, (206) 443-6000

Flying Fish: 2234, 1st Avenue, Seattle, WA 98121, (206) 728-8595 www.flyingfishrestaurant.com

Ray’s Boathouse: 6049, Seaview Avenue NW, Seattle, WA 98107, (206) 789-3770 www.rays.com

Waterfront Seafood Grill: 2801, Alaskan Way, Seattle, WA 98121, (206) 956-9171 www.waterfrontpier70.com

Oregon:

Bamboo Sushi: 310, SE 28th Ave, Portland, OR 97214, (503) 232-5255 www.bamboosushipdx.com

Idaho:

Bittercreek Ale House: 246, North 8th Street, Boise, ID 83702  www.justeatlocal.com/bittercreek

Nikki Kelly from Portland meets for coffee with friends every Saturday. Photo by Chantal Anderson.

(GH: Chantal Anderson of The Northwest News Network reports on coffee culture domination on Northwest Public Radio.  Go here for a reaction to this story from the Seattle Times.)

PORTLAND, OR – Ask a crowd what city in the United States has the best coffee, and the answer is likely Seattle. But that’s not the view of coffee industry insiders. They say it’s been years since Seattle led the way in coffee culture. The consensus among connoisseurs is Seattle has lost its crown to Portland. Correspondent Chantal Anderson talked to coffee aficionados in both cities. She begins her story in Seattle.

In a neighborhood coffee house in Fremont with creaky hard wood floors and warm lighting, Jordan Michelman leans over to tell me something he probably shouldn’t say in a Seattle coffee shop.

Jordan Michelman: “There’s not really any good coffee in Seattle.”

Michelman is one of the cofounders of coffee news website Sprudge.com. He doesn’t consider a tall, nonfat, vanilla latte innovative.

Jordan Michelman: “Seattle is very stuck in a mold of what coffee culture was like 20 years ago and third wave coffee is very, very different from that.”

Third wave is a term the average coffee drinker might not know. Michelman sums it up this way.

Jordan Michelman: “It works on much more of a thinking about it almost from a gastronomy stand point of being really, really obsessed about seed to cup, where it comes from, who’s roasting it, where it’s roasted, the duration of time, having the choices, seasonality, all these kinds of things. There’s nowhere that does that here.”

He says there are a few exceptions to his blanket condemnation of Seattle coffee. One of them is a café called Vivace Roasteria.

Owner David Schomer literally wrote the book on how to be a barista and he doesn’t suffer coffee amateurs lightly. He says one reason Seattle is falling behind Portland is Seattle consumers are more likely to accept mediocre coffee.

David Schomer: “When I opened on Broadway in ’88 as a cart in my infinite hubris I also opened one downtown in the financial district, well those people you could not establish loyalty with them, one day they’d have a Starbucks, one day they’d have mine, and I just thought well don’t you stop and taste that? I wanted to rip my hair out because I was still you know believing that people are all available for culinary experience, and if you show them something better, they’ll just flock to it. Well I’ve learned the hard way that, that is not true.”

One other complaint from coffee people in Seattle is city regulations. At Equal Exchange in Ballard, Sam Lewontin, tells me the city of Portland is friendlier to small businesses.

Sam Lewontin: “There’s a lot of street food in Portland there are a lot of carts, a lot of small venders whose entire ethos is making something awesome for their customers and it doesn’t have to be high rent or really even fully built. That’s really what David Schomer did with Vivace. And it’s an awesome model which doesn’t work really well in Seattle anymore because of regulations regarding street vending, regulations regarding restaurant building really kind of prohibit it. ”

For baristas like Lewontin coffee is not like fast food. Great coffee takes time, time for: sourcing, roasting, training, and creating the final drink. In Portland, coffee connoisseurs agree the bar for greatness was set by one company.

Adam McGovern: “Stumptown, definitely single-handedly shaped coffee here.”

That’s Adam McGovern in Portland. He runs a café called Coffeehouse Northwest which serves Stumptown coffee.

Adam McGovern: “If it’s not the best coffee in the world it’s some of the best. Because what’s unique about Stumptown’s coffee is for the very first time roasters are able to give feedback to farmers who haven’t been able to try their product.”

Across town at Cellar Door Coffee Roasters in Southeast Portland, six friends leisurely sip coffee on a Saturday morning.

They’re into supporting local small businesses and view coffee as the new wine. One of them is Nikki Kelly. She says among her friends coffee infatuation is the norm.

Nikki Kelly: “They’ll talk about their French presses and how they clean them and how long they brew, and what kind of coffee they drink, like and not like. It’s kind of really high up on Portland’s radar.”

Inside the café, owner Jeremy Adams says what he’s found is that Portland consumers are more receptive to hardcore coffee drinks. He says people also appreciate the “do it yourself” attitude that comes with small cafes.

Jeremy Adams: “Somebody said, ‘Portland coffee’s just more punk rock.’ Or something, or more you know DIY or more you know people hustling and trying to scrape things together and make it happen and still doing really high quality, but not always with the most resources, but I think there’s something to that.”

Portland may be more punk rock, but Seattle has an espresso machine with a death metal name. It’s called Slayer and it’s considered one of the bright spots in Seattle’s coffee future. Inside a Georgetown studio, three coffee dudes have created what some are calling, the “holy grail” of espresso machines.

Sound: [Espresso machine]

The machines are selling at $14,000 and up.

Copyright 2010 Northwest News Network

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Bob Moore overlooks his landmark Bob's Red Mill Natural Food store in Milwaukie, Or. Photo for the Oregonian by Doug Beghtel

Now here’s one you won’t read every day: This week Bob Moore, owner of the internationally known Bob’s Red Mill Natural Food store based in Milwaukie, Oregon gave the whole business to his 209 employees at his 81st birthday party.

Red Mill produces and sells more than 400 whole-grain flours, cereals and bread mixes.  The company even won the world’s porridge-making championship in Scotland a while back.

The Oregonian goes on to say:

“This is Bob taking care of us,” said Lori Sobelson, who helps run the business’ retail operationshe said. “He expects a lot out of us, but really gives us the world in return.” Moore declined to say how much he thinks the company is worth. In 2004, however, one business publication estimated that year’s revenues at more than $24 million. A company news release issued this week stated that Bob’s Red Mill has chalked up an annual growth rate of between 20 percent to 30 percent every year since.

“In some ways I had a choice,” Moore said of what he could have done with the company he founded with his wife, Charlee, in 1978. “But in my heart, I didn’t. These people are far too good at their jobs for me to just sell it.

Moore did have one caveat:

“I may have given them the company,” he said, chuckling, “but the boss part is still mine.”

For the whole story go to: http://www.oregonlive.com/clackamascounty/index.ssf/2010/02/bobs_red_mill_natural_foods_ro.html

Dairy owner Darryl Vander Haak. By Tom Banse

(GH: Tom Banse of The Northwest News Network reports on converting cow manure to electricity on Northwest Public Radio)

BELLINGHAM, WA – When you think of what federal economic stimulus money has paid for, the first things that come to mind might be highway paving, energy retrofits or high-speed trains. Now here’s one of the most unconventional stimulus projects we’ve heard of. An institute at Western Washington University is getting half a million dollars to examine how to convert cow manure into horsepower. From Bellingham, correspondent Tom Banse explains.

Five years ago, dairy farmer Darryl Vander Haak flipped the switch on the first poop-to-power generator in Washington State. Officially, the facility near Lynden, Washington is known as a methane digester. Manure from around a 1000 cows goes in one end. Then controlled decomposition yields methane gas. It’s burned like natural gas in an electric generator.

The rub is, electricity sales haven’t been very profitable, or profitable at all says dairyman Vander Haak.

Darryl Vander Haak: “We’re looking for alternative ways. The Northwest has too much hydropower to compete with. It would be easier to compete with the gas companies, I guess.”

That’s why Vander Haak was open minded when the director of the Vehicle Research Institute at Western Washington University came calling from down the road in Bellingham. Eric Leonhardt says he’s long had his eye on the dairy herd as a source of transportation fuel.

Eric Leonhardt: “The problem is when the gas comes off the digester, it has not only methane in it – sixty percent — it also has carbon dioxide — forty percent, roughly. And it has a trace of hydrogen sulfide.”

Leonhardt says the challenge is to remove those engine-wrecking impurities cost-effectively. Other than that, powering vehicles with natural gas is not new. Generating the fuel from renewable sources has been done before too, for example at landfills. The U.S. Department of Energy gave the $500,000 grant to improve the fuel refining process and then demonstrate whether biogas could be cost-competitive. At lot depends on the price of fossil fuels.

Eric Leonhardt: “At six dollars a gallon, the payoff period isn’t very long.”

Reporter: “Six dollars a gallon for petroleum fuel?”

Eric Leonhardt: Yes. If you start at three dollars a gallon, it’s a push. It is right on the edge of being possible.”

This spring, the vehicle research institute plans to retrofit a donated airporter shuttle bus. It will take a few months of road testing to confirm Leonhardt’s cost estimates. The researcher has already calculated that the cows from just two large dairies could fuel all the public buses in his home of Whatcom County.

Copyright 2010 Northwest News Network

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