Lechon, as whole roast pig is called in the Philippines, is roasted traditionally in a long bamboo spit over coals for several hours.

I've been eating whole roast pig for as long as I can remember. It's primal dining at its best. The sight of a 100-lb (80-100 lbs is best for a full size roaster and about 35 lbs for a suckling) greasy, glistening, orange/red pig roasted in its entirety from head to tail (often garnished with an apple in its mouth) resting on a chopping table immediately sends my gastric juices into action.

When I was growing up in the Philippines, my father would order a side of roast pig for Sunday lunch after church. Lechon, as it is called there, is chopped up and eaten with gravy sauce (made with fat drippings and liver) over rice. The crispy, crackly skin-the ultimate pork fat-is the first thing that everyone attacks.

In the US, the most accessible source of whole roast pig is the takeout deli in a Chinese restaurant or store. The Cantonese roast pig is flavored with five-spice, but it's essentially the same as lechon, though in the Philippines, the lechoneros strive to make every square inch of the pig's skin as crispy as possible-that's where the money is.

In the San Francisco Bay Area, where many food trends start, Chinese cuisine isn't as gourmet chic as Italian, at least to folks who seriously follow food trends, so Cantonese whole roast pig has never caught on among foodies. Instead, lately, I've been hearing a lot about porchetta, the Italian-style whole roast pig that's deboned and flavored with herbs and garlic. It's becoming the latest food rave. While I'm definitely a whole roast pig aficionado, I confess I've never tasted porchetta, until last week, when I was invited to a porchetta luncheon.

Lorenzo Scarpone, one of my wine importers, is a native of Abruzzo, where porchetta is indigenous cuisine. At his warehouse in South San Francisco he brought in Salvatore Denaro, the renowned chef/prorietor of Il Bacco Felice in Foligno, one of Umbria's top restaurants, to prepare a whole porchetta, plus a side dish of polenta e salsicce. Chef Denaro spread slices of the roast pig on long loaves of cibatta bread and cut up the loaves into small paninis. It was ridiculously delicious! The pork was tender and flavorful, with just a hint of rosemary.

I easily devoured four or five of those paninis, washing them down with various wines, including Ruggeri's Extra Dry Prosecco (I never expected extra dry Prosecco to be fantastic pairing with porchetta), Fornacina's 2003 Brunello and 2005 Rosso, Fonti's 2004 Chianti Classico Riserva and 2003 Fontissimo super-Tuscan, Sassotondo's 2007 Maremma and 2005 San Lorenzo Riserva, and, of course, Caprai's 2005 Poggio Belvedere, 2005 Montefalco Rosso Riserva (wow!), 2003 Sagrantino Collepiano, and 2003 and 2004 Sagrantino Riserva 25 Anni.

I have eaten countless roast pigs in my life, but porchetta is the most enjoyable roast pig dish I've ever had. I left the luncheon three hours later, satiated and staggering from all the wine and food. Since then, I dream of porchetta everyday.

Chef Denaro slices porchetta for the cibatta bread panini

Just a few of the dozens of Italian wines we gulped down during the luncheon

Ah, the perfect ending, a selection of tasty dolci after the meal. Quick, find the mini canoli, it's heavenly!

Chef Salvatore Denaro, renowned Umbrian chef, on the left holding what remains of the pig and our generous host, Lorenzo Scarpone, on the right. On the foreground is the tasty polenta, perfect with the porchetta

Italy's version of a smart car, right-hand drive, with painted sign saying "Italian Culinary Toy"

Posted by Alex Bernardo at 09:47 AM | Permalink

I blogged about the Chateau Montelena sale to Chateau Cos d’Estournel back in July saying that it was the biggest news in winedom at that time. Well, last week Chateau Montelena announced that the deal collapsed, making this by logic the other biggest news in winedom.

Wine blogs and wine forums immediately picked up the news. I tried to look for more info and Yahooed (I happen to use Yahoo not Google) the news, typing in “Cos”, “Montelena”, etc., and I was amazed at the dozens of search results all saying the same thing. Wrapping the history of Montelena—including, of course, its winning the “Judgment of Paris” tasting, the Barrett family story, blah, blah, blah—around the single press release from Montelena, which said: ‘Reybier Investments has been unable to meet its obligations under its contract with the Barrett family, who will retain ownership and not offer the winery for sale. The process that just ended did not result in the outcome we or Mr. Reybier desired.”

That’s it. There is no further news or explanation for this nixed deal. No statement from Jean-Guillaume Prats, Cos d’Estournel’s GM, or from Michel Reybier himself, the owner of Cos and the buyer. It’s not even clear if any news organization tried to reach them. I found myself asking the question, like a lot of people reading the news, I'm sure, why didn't the sale go through? And who is this shadowy-like figure, Michel Reybier?

Jean-Guillaume Prats has been the only French face in this deal. Many know him, of course, as the son of Bruno Prats, the long-time, former patriarch of Cos, who was forced to sell his family’s property due to French tax laws. An investment company purchased Cos from the Prats in 1998, then in 2001 sold it to Michel Reybier. Reybier was a processed-meat tycoon from Lyon, who created some of the most well-known deli meat brands in Europe. Reybier successfully sold his deli meat empire to the US company, Sara Lee, in 1996. His wealth is currently estimated at $650-800 million. Among his other interests are a luxury hotel group based in Geneva and Paris, an investment stake in an oil exploration company, and properties in the south of France.

Reybier is one of many French tycoons who own high-profile estates in Bordeaux. Others are Bernard Arnault, François Pinault, Albert Frere, Jean-Claude Beton, Gerard Perse, Cathiard family, Bich family, and Wertheimer family, just to name a few.

Posted by Alex Bernardo at 10:15 AM | Permalink

A most unlikely pairing with Rioja's most classic Rioja, Viña Tondonia, is the classic sportscar 911 Porsche. An exhibition of 11 models of 911 Porsche will be shown at Bodega R. López de Heredia on November 7-22.

On hand will be the following 911 Porsche models gathered from private owners in Spain:
Porsche 911 2.0 (1965)
Porsche 911 2.4 Targa (1972)
Porsche 911 ST (1972)
Porsche 911 3.0 RSR (1974)
Porsche 911 3.0 Carrera (1976)
Porsche 911 3.3 Turbo (1982)
Porsche 911 3.2 (1984)
Porsche 911 3.2 Speedster (1989)
Porsche 911 (964) (1992)
Porsche 911 (964) Cabriolet (1992)
Porsche 911 (993) (1995)

Ms. María José López de Heredia sent us a note to relay her gracious invitation to this extraordinary event:
"For anyone who is a Porsche lover and want to come and visit our bodega during the time of the exhibition we would love to share a glass of Viña Tondonia with them. The showing of these 11 porsches model 911 will be open Monday to Saturday, from 7th of November to the 22nd, inclusive, from 10 am. to 2 p.m. and from 4 to 7 p.m."

Bodega R. López de Heredia Viña Tondonia
Pabellon de Exposiciónes
Avenida de Vizcaya, 3
26200 Haro. La Rioja
Phone: 941.310.244

Posted by Alex Bernardo at 01:48 PM | Permalink

Recent thoughts and conversations with Napa folks about Napa Cabernet Sauvignon vintages somehow left me with an urge to write these rambling notes.

Mark Grassi sauntered in to the store Friday to introduce himself and to thank me for my support. Great guy. He's a construction man by profession, his Napa construction company builds wineries for Napa's cult wine producers like Screaming Eagle and Ovid, as well as houses for their owners, like Tim Mondavi and Jayson Pahlmeyer.

But Mark seems proudest of all of his latest achievement, releasing the debut 2005 vintage of the Cabernet Sauvignon from his 4-acre estate and residence in Soda Canyon. He believes timing couldn't be better for the debut release as the quality of his 2005 is high. He was happy to point out that his Cabernet, at $60 a pop, is about half the price of the top California Cabernets that the Wine Spectator listed in its current issue on California Cabernets that scored at least 90 points (his scored 91). And to top it off, he was profiled in a piece in that issue regarding eight newcomer producers of Napa Cabernet Sauvignon to watch out for. Hey, everything's going his way right now! Check out the 2005 Grassi Cabernet before it sells out.

The 2005 Napa Cabernet Sauvignon vintage offers the best wines since the 2001. However, James Laube of the Wine Spectator expressed "surprise" at the high quality of the vintage, as he sort of panned it previously. I thought he screwed up, yet again, when he first wrote up about the vintage two years ago. When I also tasted many of the wines from barrel around that time, I thought they already showed wonderful promise. Moreover, Napa Cabernet producers believed that, too, and they were upbeat about the vintage.

For the record here is what Laube wrote after barrel-sampling the 2005 vintage over two years ago: "If 2005 is to end up being a sensational year for Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, as so many producers insist it will, the wines will have to make a stronger impression than they did in my preliminary blind tasting in Napa this week... The 2005s do not show as much depth, plushness, concentration or range of flavor as past vintages have displayed at a similar stage of development. This may be both a function of the vintage and the result of a deliberate attempt by winemakers to ease off on superripe wine and soaring alcohol levels." Laube and his poor readers were the only ones surprised.

So the Wine Spectator rates the 2005 Napa Cabernet vintage 93 points, on par with 2002 and 2001. I'd score 2001 and 2005 even higher. But why is 1997 rated 99 points? It is now known, even by Laube's published ten years on tastings, that many of the top-scoring Cabernets from this vintage have had problems lasting a decade, not to mention that so many are showing elevated VA now. I expect the top 2005 Cabernets will both age and taste better than these 1997s after ten years. Let's wait and see.

Tasting some barrel samples of 2007 Cabernet Sauvignons earlier this year at the Cabernet Society tasting in Napa showed the wonderful potential of this vintage. Very much like 2005 in quality. Good vivid flavors, balanced ripeness, and rich tannins. Always the three things I look for when tasting Napa Cabernets, especially from barrel.

But honestly, I'm still at a loss at why vintages can vary so much in quality in Napa. I mean, it never really rains between May and November, and the majority of days are very warm and sunny. It ought to be a slam-dunk each vintage. One has to conclude that it's basically two things why there's inconsistent quality: too many wrong vineyard sites and too many producers not really knowing how to grow good wine.

2005 is a bumper crop in Napa, and the timing for producers couldn't be better considering the current economic downturn. Even at reduced prices they should be able to make it up with sales volume. But guess what, prices are up! The Wine Spectator issue notes that the average price of "outstanding" Napa Cabernets (those they score at least 90 points) is $119/bottle in the 2005 vintage, which is about double what it was a decade ago. I bet you, most, if not all, producers can slash their prices by half to $60/bottle and still make money. Napa producers, you gotta start lowering your prices, like almost everyone seems to be doing these days. Don't let the market force you to do so.

2008 crops are now in and it is clear the harvest is down by as much as 30-40% in Napa. How the heck did that happen? We haven't seen rain in a long time. And though the weather was relatively cool for long stretches, there was no problem getting enough warm, sunny days to ripen fruit in Napa. We are talking of a cool-climate grape here, Cabernet Sauvignon, native to Bordeaux, where the weather is much cooler. Again, I go back to my comment above: too many wrong vineyard sites in Napa and too many Napa producers who don't know how to grow good wine.

Posted by Alex Bernardo at 05:51 PM | Permalink

New York Times wine writer and wine blogger, Eric Asimov, noted in his latest post that Barbaresco King, Angelo Gaja, and comedian, Billy Crystal, have a "striking resemblance".

Posted by Alex Bernardo at 02:50 PM | Permalink

No one wants green in their wine, with the possible exception of this diesel/electric hybrid truck, the first of its kind.

Built by Peterbilt, the first two trucks off the assembly line were purchased by VinLux, a Napa wine delivery company co-owned by Kendall Jackson Wine Estates. The trucks started service last month and have been making regular stops at the store since then.

The truck switches to electric power automatically, according to the driver. A 110-pound lithium ion battery pack installed on the side of the truck powers the electric motor. Its sticker price is said to be 40% more than a regular diesel truck, but the savings come in its fuel efficiency.

I sure hope these hybrid trucks put a stop on the fuel surcharges being tacked on to our wine orders!

Posted by Alex Bernardo at 09:58 AM | Permalink

The Howell Mountain Vintners & Growers Association put together a 28-bottle collection of members' flagship Howell Mountain wines for a cool $2,500 per collection. Only 100 sets are being made available.

If you love Howell Mountain wines it's actually a pretty good deal than purchasing all the wines individually. The money raised will go to the coffers of the non-profit association.

Posted by Alex Bernardo at 10:28 AM | Permalink