Provence, Photos Summer 2013

             Near Sault

       Senanque Abbet

Chateauneuf du Pape

Flamingos in Camargue

                             Heron

                     Black Bulls

                    White Horse

                   Les Guardiens

                       Young Girls

Provence Summer 2013

Summer in Provence! It is where everyone wants to be, the air is fresh (and very hot) with a scent of lavender in the air. Last summer we went to Provence in search of the lavender fields and left just a little disappointed. We did not find the super saturated purple fields that you see on calendars and in coffee table books, but that was likely due to arriving several weeks early before the fields were in full bloom. This summer we returned a few weeks later and were rewarded with some spectacular views of lavender fields in full bloom. Now we know where the pictures on the Provence calendars come from, not “photo-shopped” as we originally suspected.  

If you do an internet search of where to see lavender fields, you will be directed to the areas around Mont Ventoux, Sault, Apt, Gordes and Saignon. We headed northeast from Montpillier and came to the area around Mont Ventoux where the fields start. In and around Sault, the capital of lavender in Provence, we saw some of the most vividly colored fields. When you walk around the fields and in between the rows, you hear a low hum of honey bees and see the sway of the blossoms with their movement. Another favorite spot to take pictures is the Senanque Abbey near Gordes. Many a calendar photo is taken of lavender fields in front of the 12th century church. Today the monks living there grow lavender and tend bees to support their livelihood within the abbey. After a day of taking photos in the hot summer sun, you tend to get a little thirsty. So we headed south to one of the wine regions of Provence.

Chateauneuf du Pape, “the Pope’s new castle” is an AOC in the Rhone wine region in Southeastern France. In 1308, Pope Clement V moved the Papacy from Rome to Avignon France and stayed for the next 70 years. The group of popes known as the “Avignon Popes” had a reputation as wine lovers, in particular Pope John XXII, originally from Cahors, who did much to promote the wines of this region. Pope John XXII was responsible for building the castle which is now the emblematic symbol of the appellation. The appellation, Chateauneuf du Pape was the first AOC created in France. The reason for the creation of the AOC in 1923 was to combat rampant wine fraud in the region. Chateauneuf du Pape AOC created protocols for guideline development of appellation rules and regulations throughout all France. They were first in setting vineyard boundaries, limits to harvest per acre, types of grapes and minimum alcohol by volume. The types of wine bottles were also standardized, with extra heavy glass and an embossed label, making it harder to counterfeit.

The wines have recently gained international popularity due to Robert M. Parker Jr. giving them high scores in his “Wine Advocate”. Not only have they become more popular, but also more expensive. There are three distinct terriors: The North with round rocks and pebbles resulting from the ancient Alpine glaciers which were later smoothed by the Rhone River. The rocks absorb the daytime sun and keep the grapes warm overnight allowing for faster ripening. The East is characterized by sandy soil while the South has a grittier make up. Grenache is the dominate grape with 72% of the plantings and adds a sweet jam-like flavor to the wine. Syrah accounts for 10.5% of the grapes and adds color and spice, while the third most prominent grape is Mourvedre at 7% adding elegance and structure. There are 10 other grapes allowed in the region, but make up less than 10% of the plantings. Overall the red wines are described as having earthy, gamy flavors with hints of tar and leather. They can be tough and tannic in their youth, but allowing them to can cellar for years they can become more rich and spicy as they age.  

White wines from this region make up only 5-7% of the total wine produced and Rose is not permitted to be produced within this appellation. Since it was a very hot day, we were offered samples of the white wines which we found to be delicious. The grapes used are Grenache Blanc and Roussanne for fruity and fatness; Bourboulenc, Clairette and Picpoul for acidity and floral flavors. These white wines are a bit unusual, in that some can be aged 7-8 years to develop exotic aromas and scents of orange peel.  

After an overnight in the town of Orange, we drove to another region of Provence that was most surprising, The Camargue. The Camargue area is between the two arms of the Rhone River as it enters the Mediterranean Sea. It is known as a wetland of international importance covering 360 square miles. Over one third of the area is lakes or marshland making it a habitat for birds. In the central area is a National Park where over 400 species of migrating birds take refuge spring and fall between Northern Europe and Africa. Some of the star attractions of the area is the pink flamingo along with 9 species of heron. Not only are there birds here, but the area is famous for its black bulls and white horses. The bulls are particular breed which are used for fighting, many going off to Spain. The horses turn white as they age and ridden by the only European cowboys known as “Guardiens”. Other products from the area are rice and salt. The salt has been harvested from the sea for centuries and in the Middle Ages, Cistercian abbeys controlled the salt commerce, hence the term “Salt Abbeys”.  

The biggest town in the area is Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer. The plural in the name goes back the three women who were at the tomb of Jesus at the time of his resurrection: St. Mary Magdalene, St. Mary Salome and St. Mary Jacob. Legend has it that after Jesus returned to heaven, these three women along with Joseph of Arimathea escaped from Alexandria Egypt and ended up here. Another traveler with this group was St. Sarah who was an Egyptian servant of the three Marys. St. Sarah is the patron Saint of the Romas and every May they arrive in town for a religious celebration. The day we arrived, there was a festival and horse show. The “Guardiens” rode their white horses into town, while the women and girls were wearing traditional clothing. It was interesting to see the cowboys in colorful shirts arriving to the square in front of the church where the girls were lined up ready to go inside. The church building itself was fortified in the 14th century to be able to with stand the attack of pirates. This is probably the most remote and wildest part of France and although off the beaten track, well worth the effort to get here.

Copenhagen- Photos July 2013

Medieval Building

  Frederikskirke

Church of Our Savior

         Saint Alban

    Little Mermaid

                Nyhavn

 Rosenborg Castle

        Royal Crown

            Royal Jewels

               Street Scene

               Modern City

          Mikkeller's Pub

Friendliest Bartenders

Copenhagen July 2013

It has been about 25 years since I was in Copenhagen. It was my first trip to Europe and ever since I have always dreamed of returning. This summer I finally made it back to Copenhagen. Things were different, but yet enough remained the same. There have been inhabitants in the area for 5000 years, and things have changed quite a bit since its original Viking fishing village roots. Copenhagen became the capital of Denmark in the 15th century and since the time of King Christian IV in the 17th century, a major cultural and urban center. The city although far north has some of the mildest winters compared to the other Nordic countries due to the Gulf Stream. Today there are almost 2 million people in the Copenhagen metro area.  

The old city is a medieval city complete with narrow winding cobblestoned streets dominated by old churches and towers. Many of these old buildings have copper roofs on their towers giving the city a charming feel. Copenhagen was late in removing their protective city walls, and therefore later in modernizing compared to other European cities but when they finally did, they had a grand plan. The city expanded out to the surrounding lake areas and incorporated villages outside the old walls. A beautiful area is the 17th century waterfront Nyhavn which today it is a major restaurant and night life area. Not far from here is the harbor with the “Little Mermaid” the city’s emblem perched on a rock. She is in the harbor which the area around it has been transformed into a beautiful park.  

Christian IV left a lasting mark on the city of Denmark in many ways. He founded and designed the oldest park in Copenhagen, the “King’s Park” outside Rosenborg Castle. Rosenborg Castle was a vacation home of the royal family which over the years became less used as a residence, and became a kind of royal warehouse. Today you can tour the castle and see many of the “extra” items that ended up in storage, from furniture and thrones, to dishes and jewelry. Gifts from visitors from other countries made their way here as well. The castle is small and easy to get through in about an hour. Don’t miss the trip to the basement to see beautiful crown jewels. Another interesting fact about Christian IV is his establishment of amusement parks. The oldest amusement park in the world is just outside of Copenhagen founded in 1583 complete with rides, games and restaurants. Within the city is Tivoli Garden which opened in 1843, (after Christian’s time) and boasts the oldest rollercoaster (1915) and the oldest operating Ferris Wheel from 1943.

These are the things I remember the most in my original trip to Copenhagen, old streets, old amusement parks, beautiful buildings and churches. It is all still there, but what impressed me more this time were all the modern additions. I had the distinct feeling of being in a Jetson’s Cartoon while waiting for the metro on an outdoor platform near the airport. The landscape is fairly barren without tall trees; modern buildings surround the area are all a sleek and “green looking”. Copenhagen as a city had a plan for its development which is seen as a model for modern cities. Copenhagen won the most Environmentally Friendly city in 2006 and the World’s Best Designed City Award in 2008. The harbor is now so clean that there are areas for swimming. Perhaps the Gulf Stream warms the water enough for Nordic blood to take a dip, but even in July I would not. 

Another memory I had about Copenhagen was the food. I remembered going to a pub type restaurants and pointing to something on a menu (everything was in Danish in those days) and ending up with baskets of fried fish or some sort of sausages. I drank Tuborg Gold or Carlsburg lagers. Good because it was different than home, but not that memorable. My how things have changed! Along with winning awards for environment and buildings, Copenhagen has 13 Michelin starred restaurants. One of these restaurants, Noma has won the World’s Best Restaurant for the years 2010, 2011 and 2012. Unfortunately the next available table was 12 months too late for us, but no matter, when you have that much competition in town, everyone steps up their game! We had a great dinner our first night at one of the Top 10 ranked restaurants on Trip Advisor, Brasserie Degas. Everything was prepared fresh from seasonal ingredients, leaning heavily on foods from the ocean with a distinctly modern flair. The next afternoon we were out in the lake region pondering lunch as we were walking. Two men sitting at their table outside a café jumped up and said take our table. They had heard us and were insistent that we eat at this café and taste traditional Danish food. They even made recommendations for things to order, discussed them with the waiter and in a short time we were having a traditional Danish lunch. Smorrebrod are the traditional open faced sandwiches, but in this case we had several platters of food to build your own. My favorite was a dish of cold curried herring pieces. The fish was put on a dark rye bread with the curry sauce. On another platter we had a variety of smoked salmon, tomatoes, capers, hard boiled eggs and pickles- a sort of deconstructed egg salad. What made this plate was the sauce. When I asked the waiter what it was called, he said “Béarnaise Sauce”. This was not a Béarnaise sauce that I was familiar with. It was cold with great chunks of pickled vegetables in it, a little tangy and quite delicious. Pouring it over a quarter of a boiled egg was much better than any deviled egg I’d ever had! So, now the search for curried herring and a secrete Danish Béarnaise sauce begins.

Back to the beer; Danes have been drinkers of beer for the past 5000 years and average 80 liters per person per year. In the olden days, it was the woman’s job to make the beer. The better she made the beer, the more people signed on to work for their harvest at the farm. In the late Middle Ages the first brewery guild was formed and turned beer brewing into a man’s job. Until 1838 the only kind of beer made in Denmark was hvidtol (white beer). But then in 1847, someone brought the king a German beer and Carlsberg Brewery was founded, brewing German style beers. Tuborg Brewery was founded in 1873 and brewed traditional style lagers. Recently, there has been an explosion of microbreweries in Denmark, and now there are at least 200 microbreweries, many receiving international recognition. Currently, according to Ratebeer.com, Mikkeller’s Beer Geek Brunch Weasel is the #20 beer in the world. Legend has it that Mikkeller was founded by two hobby brewers who have gone from kitchen brewing to international fame in a few short years. They have a pub in the Vesterbro neighborhood and another Mikkeller & Friends Pub nearby. Their website lists a Mikkeller Bar in SanFrancisco for those of you that can’t make it to Copenhagen.  

Where ever you go in Copenhagen you are sure to meet the world’s friendliest bartenders. They will be happy to set you up with something to your liking. And if all this doesn’t make you want to jump on the next plane to Copenhagen, then maybe the Copenhagen Olentvsiaster Beer Festival will. The website promises over 700 beers. The 2014 dates are May 23-25 at TAP1 Ny Carlesberg Vej 91 Copenhagen V. Perhaps you will join us because I’m not going to let 25 years go between visits anymore.

Champagne Photos, July 2013

Champagne Vineyards

          Epernay, France

  Champagne House

     Champagne Caves

Stove to prevent frost

  Antique equipment

           Antique press

Primary fermentation

        Bottling process

       Hand "Riddling"

                    Corking

   Cathedral, Reims

 Laser show, Reims

Champagne, July 2013

On a drive back from Paris earlier this summer, we took a detour to the Champagne region of France. We spent an afternoon in Epernay and overnighted in Reims. During the weekend we had time to tour a champagne cave and go do a tasting. The tour we chose to go on was located at Champagne GH Martle which included the caves and a look at antique equipment for champagne production. Many of the caves in the region were a result of the Romans mining chalk form the region. The caves provide the proper temperature for champagne production. Champagne is a relatively newer wine making production method. What I found most interesting in the antique equipment were the stoves that were put out in the fields in case of frost and the safety shields used in the event of exploding bottles. I guess it didn’t occur to me that there were so many hazards back in the old days! And to top it off, that evening there was a fantastic laser light show on the front of the historic Notre Dame Cathedral in Reims. The history of the region fascinated me, so I had to write it down to remember later when I enjoy a few bubbles.

Champagne is a region in France about 100 miles north east of Paris at the most northern edge of the wine growing region of France. The Romans planted wine grapes in this region between the 3rd and 5th centuries, but given the climate, the wines produced were different and more difficult to manage than many others French varieties. With the relatively high altitudes, northern latitudes and erratic sunshine the grapes do not fully ripen so are highly acidic at harvest. Cold temperatures over the winter halt the wines fermentation. When the temperatures rise again in the spring, fermentation starts again. If the wine was bottled before this secondary fermentation, the wine might contain bubbles and the glass bottles had the tendency to explode. Despite this, wines from this region were well liked by many, and highly acclaimed. Red wines were the popular wines of the day and the Burgundy region nearby produced a spectacular wine. This started a rivalry between to two regions. This rivalry between Champagne and Burgundy continued for centuries. At various points in time one region seemed to have an edge over the other. During different phases of the wine battles the regions employed physicians to write scientific papers that touted the benefits of one wine over the other. Pamphlets were developed from these papers and distributed among the people. The tensions were so high between the regions that civil war almost resulted. Finally, many wine producers in the Champagne region stopped trying to make full bodied red wines and concentrate on the production of sparkling wines. The doctors then switched to writing about the health benefits of bubbles and thought that perhaps the bubbles cured malaria.

Reims was the early capital of France. Clovis the King of the Franks was baptized by the Bishop of Reims and a dove brought holy oil from heaven for the anointing. For the next 8 centuries the Kings of France were crowned in the cathedral at Reims and local wines were served. The tradition was to export wines from this region to give to the kings of other countries to celebrate when a new king of France was crowned. As a result, many foreigners liked the wines of this region. But the volatility and fragility of the wines were problematic. At first, cellar masters tried to figure out methods to keep the bubbles out of the wines, and later on, the goal became to make more bubbles.

One of the pioneering cellar masters was Dom Perignon, a Benedictine monk at the abbey in Hautvillers who lived between 1638- and 1715. Although not the inventor of Champagne as we know it today, he was instrumental in improving winemaking and moved wine production towards a sparkling wine. Dom Perignon was the first to blend the wines to improve their quality and improved the method of producing white wine from black grapes by manipulating the presses. He enhanced the wine’s ability to retain natural sugar to induce secondary fermentation. He also used a thicker bottle, a cork instead of wood and tied oiled hemp string around the cork to prevent popping. The English, due to the wine’s great popularity in England, were instrumental in improving production methods and understanding the science behind the secondary fermentation.  

Why is champagne champagne and not just any sparkling wine champagne? In 1927 the boundaries of the Champagne region were set and limited to an area covering 33,500 hectares. In 1942 the CIVC (Comite Interprofessionnel du Vin de Champagne) was created to protect the reputation and marketing of champagne. No other wine except that produced in these specific vineyards, under very specific conditions for growing grapes, pruning, harvesting, pressing and fermenting can be called champagne.

There are 5 wine producing regions using just 3 kinds of grapes grown in well-draining chalky belemite marine fossil subsoil. The regions are Aube, Cote des Blancs, Cote de Sezanne, Montagne de Reims and Vallee de la Marne. The grapes grown are Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Pinot Meunier. Pinot Noir is primarily grown in Aube and Montagne de Reims and adds the aroma of red fruits while giving champagne its strength and body. Pinot Meunier is the primary grape of Vallee de la Marne providing champagne with roundness and fragrance. Cotes des Blancs region is devoted to Chardonnay production and this grape provides finesse, floral aromas along with mineral overtones.  

There are strict guidelines for pruning and harvest as well as the rest of the champagne production. Harvest and sorting are done by hand. Pressing quickly follows often there is a press in the vineyards to limit the possibility of accidentally crushing the grapes. Pressing is vital to the process. Generally, there are 4 to 5 pressings of the grapes; juice form each press is separated from each other. The first press yields the highest quality of champagne, followed by second and third pressings. Fourth and fifth pressings are not used in champagne production; rather the wine produced from these pressings is often distilled into cognac.  

After the primary fermentation occurs, the cellar master decides if and how to do the blending. At this point several things can occur. If the cellar master determines that a wine is of the most excellent quality, no blending will occur and this wine will be used to make vintage champagne. Often there is no vintage year declared. When this happens, the cellar master is responsible for blending wines that the house has produced over the past several years to match the house style of champagne. There may be up to 70 blending wines to choose from. Once the blending has occurred the wine is put in the bottle along with “liqueur de triage”, a mixture of yeast and sugar to induce secondary fermentation. The bottle is capped with a crown type cap and laid horizontal for a minimum of 15 months.

The next stage is called “Riddling”. The yeast and sugar added in the second stage has built up on the side of the bottle where it has been laid. The process of “Riddling” moves the sediment to the neck of the bottle as it is slowly turned to bottoms up position. In the olden days, this process was done by hand over the course of 8 weeks. Now mechanical processing is completed in 8 days. Of note though, large format bottles the “Jeroboam”-equal to 4 bottles and the “Nebuchadnezzar”-equal to 20 bottles are still “riddled” by hand.

Once the yeast debris is in the neck of the bottle, the “Disgorgement” process happens. The neck of the bottle is frozen and the sediment is removed. The final step, “Dosage” occurs. This step determines the final type of champagne produced by the amount of wine and sugar mixture is added to top off the bottle and the cork inserted.

Sweetness levels are as follows:
Brut: the driest type with less than 1.5% sugar
Extra Sec: extra dry with 1.2-2.0% sugar
Sec: medium sweet with 1.7-3.5% sugar
Demi-Sec: sweet with 3.5-5% sugar (dessert champagne)
Doux: very sweet over 5% sugar (dessert champagne)

Other descriptors of champagne are used:
Blanc de Blanc: made from 100% Chardonnay-light and usually dry, popular as an aperitif or with soups and seafood.
Blanc de Noir: made from Pinot Noir and/or Pinot Meunier-full bodied and a deeper yellow gold color, often served with full flavored foods including meats and cheese.
Pink or Rose: only accounts for 5% of all champagne production made by the addition of a little red wine or exposing the juice to the skins longer during the press.
Non-vintage: accounts for 85-90% of champagne produced, multiple years of wine used in the blending.
Vintage: single harvest year-a decision by each champagne house.
Cuvees de Prestige: blends that make a top end champagne.

Once you bring your bottle home, treat it well by storing it in the dark at 40-60 degrees F. Champagne should not be shaken nor should it spout everywhere upon serving. Properly opened champagne should sigh with the release of the cork, not shower all of your guests!

Cologne Germany Photos, June 2013

Cologne Skyline

Train Station

 Rhine River Waterfront

Modern building on river

             Sleek interior

      Cologne Cathedral

          Locks on bridge

                   Pub Scene

          Restaurant Area

                 Rhine River

    Modern and Antique