Thursday Sips & Nibbles

I'm back again with a new edition of Sips & Nibbles, my regular column where I highlight some interesting, upcoming food and drink events. I hope everyone dines out safely, tips well and are nice to their servers.
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1) To celebrate the start of fall, Tonno Wakefield and Tonno Gloucester are hosting a fall Harvest Dinner featuring Piedmont wines from Beni di Batasiolo with a six-course seasonal pairing menu. The dinner will be held at Tonno Gloucester on September 23, at 6pm, and Tonno Wakefield on September 25, at 6:30pm.

The six-course menu offerings include:
Reception: Breadsticks with extra virgin olive oil; paired with 2023 Batasiolo Gavi
First Course: Pumpkin soup, parmesan croutons, and fried sage; paired with 2021 Batasiolo Barbera d’Alba
Second Course: Porcini Risotto topped with shaved black truffle; paired with 2020 Batasiolo Langhe Nebbiolo
Third Course: Chestnut Ravioli with pulled duck, brown butter and marscapone; paired with 2020 Batasiolo Barolo
Fourth Course: “Brasato Di Barolo” Braised Beef, Barolo wine, cipollini onions, carrots, celery, and gorgonzola mashed potatoes; paired with 2013 Batasiolo Barolo Bofani
Dessert: Gianduja Budino

To reserve a spot for dinner, please visit Tonno Gloucester’s Resy and Tonno Wakefield’s Resy. Tickets are $150 per person and include tax and gratuity.

2) Join InterContinental Boston’s Matria for the Two Chefs. Two Cities. One Table, a four-course dining experience curated by InterContinental Boston’s Chef De Cuisine, Jeffrey Bianchi, and InterContinental Seattle’s Chef, Eden Guillermo. This special dinner will feature a menu highlighting fresh ingredients from Italy’s Piedmont region, complemented by local inspirations and flavors from both Boston and Seattle.

The curated menu begins with Dungeness Crab & Cream Croquette, paired with Washington apples, fennel, and tomato coulis. The second-course presents Beet Cured Salmon Gravlax, served with shaved baby carrots, citrus purée, crisp kale, and avocado mousse. The main course, savor a Bone-In Black Truffle Short Rib with smoked butternut squash purée, broccolini, and shaved black-truffles. To finish the evening on a sweet note, indulge in Fall Apple Focaccia Bread Pudding, made with caramelized apple, ricotta, vanilla gelato, and caramel sauce.

Seatings are from Thursday, October 9 - Saturday, October 11, from 5pm-9:30pm. 

Cost: $99 per guest | +$60 optional 4-wine pairing | +$40 optional non-alcoholic 4-wine pairing (excludes tax and gratuity).
Reservations: Space is limited, to reserve a seat, visit Resy.

2020 Zuccardi Poligonos Paraje Altamira Malbec: A Delicious Mountain Wine

A Malbec with a sense of place, from grapes in mountain vineyards, and aged in concrete. And produced by a winery which is one of my favorites in Argentina. 

Bodega Zuccardi Valle De Uco extends back over 60 years in Argentina, when, in 1963, Alberto “Tito” Zuccardi planted his family's first vineyard. He was an engineer and had developed a new irrigation system, to help combat some of the desert conditions in the Mendoza region. A passion for viticulture then enveloped him, and the project grew and grew. It become a family business, and his son,  José Alberto took over in 1985. And then, in 1999, Jose's son, Sebastián, also got involved in the family business. 

Their vineyards are primarily in the mountainous region of the Uco Valley, and their Polígonos brand is considered to be "the expression of those villages of the Valley." And more specifically, Paraje Altamira is located on the plain south of the source of the Tunuyán River, at an altitude of 1050-1150 meters. It has a cool temperate climate, and its soils possess many stones and granite gravel, covered with calcareous material.

The 2020 Zuccardi Poligonos Paraje Altamira Malbec ($30-$35) is produced from 100% Malbec, and was fermented with native yeasts in concrete vessels. It was then aged in concrete (although the length of time isn't provided), and possesses a 14% ABV. The wine, which is fresh and bright, possesses a rich purple color, and a nose of black fruits and hints of herbs. On the palate, the fruit dominates, with flavors of ripe plum, black cherry and blueberry, but is supported by mineral notes (a stony element) and a subtle herbal accent. It's medium-bodied, with restrained tannins and good acidity. The finish is long and satisfying, and this is an excellent wine with a hearty meal. I drank the wine with some steak tips, and it was a delightful pairing. 

A complex and intriguing wine, the lack of oak helps you better understand the terroir, how the Malbec of his particular region differs from Malbec from other areas. Those who already enjoy Malbec will be thrilled by this wine, and others, who may not know much about Malbec, will also be thrilled by its taste. Highly recommended.   

Rant: Don't Stop Drinking Rosé!

As Labor Day has passed, it's a signal to many of the end of summer. As such, you'll stop seeing media advertisements for Rosé wine. Wine distributors will generally stop recommending Rosé to their accounts. Many wine shops will stop carrying Rosé until the springtime. This is all part and parcel of the myth that Rosé is a "summer wine." 

The reality is that Rosé season doesn't exist! It's a pervasive myth, a wrongful stereotype, that spring and summer herald Rosé season. The simple fact is that Rosé is appropriate year-round, even in the winter. Many of those perpetuating the myth of Rosé season know better, but they choose to ignore the truth. Stop deluding the public and embrace the reality of Rosé every month of the year. 

Sure, a chilled Rosé can taste wonderful on a hot, summer day, but it can equally satisfy when you are at home during a snow storm. If you can drink white wine in the fall and winter, there's absolutely no reason you cannot drink Rosé too. It's extremely food friendly, and there is absolutely no reason why you shouldn't enjoy it with the same roast chicken or seafood dish you serve in the summer or winter. Rosé is also an excellent choice for Thanksgiving. 

The situation has slowly improved during the last several years but significant change is still needed. There are some wine stores which stock Rosé throughout the year and if your local shop doesn't, then you should recommend that they stock some. And if they don't bring in some Rosé, then seek elsewhere for this wine. 

Share some Rosé this fall and winter with your friends, showing them the potential of this delicious wine. Don't ask if they want Rosé but just pour them a glass. Once they taste the wine, they'll probably come to the realization of what they have been missing.

We also need more wine writers to pen Rosé articles during the fall and winter, to persuade consumers that this pink wine is appropriate during every season, and not just during the summer. Raising consumer awareness is vital to spreading a passion for Rosé year round. We need to correct their vinous myth.

I drink Rosé wine year round and strongly encourage my readers to do so as well. 

Thursday Sips & Nibbles

I'm back again with a new edition of Sips & Nibbles, my regular column where I highlight some interesting, upcoming food and drink events. I hope everyone dines out safely, tips well and are nice to their servers.
********************************************************
1) There's a new dinner series happening at Boston’s Somaek – Seoul Mates, a multi-course collaboration dinner series which is kicking off with Chef Danny Lee of D.C.'s award-winning Anju, happening on Tuesday, September 16th. 

The multi-course, family-style dinner (which is priced at $125 a person), features a mix of Korean flavors from both Chef Danny Lee and Chef Jamie Bissonnette, Chef/Partner at Somaek. The menu will include five courses, alongside Somaek’s signature Korean banchan and dessert and be a part of a larger, monthly series bringing top national talent to Boston. 

For the first dinner of the series, Chef Jamie and Chef Danny will be collaborating on a family-style dinner, blending their unique, personal takes on Korean cuisine.

Sample dishes include:
Yukhoe, crispy rice, beef tartare, sea urchin, frozen asian pear, egg gel, grated pine nut
Mandu, pork & kimchi mandu served with apple kimchi
Dakkochi, spicy chicken thigh skewers served with kimchi toum and ssam
Daegu Jorim, a spice braised cod with Korean radish and perilla
Galbi Jjim, soy-braised short rib with fondant potatoes, carrots, charred pearl onions, and doenjang demi

Reservations are available on Resy and the series will be in partnership with Bina Farm Center, a non-profit organization which provides equine therapy for children and individuals with disabilities. 

Rant: Seeking Accurate Information

"There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics."
--Anonymous

When you read a food or drink article, you'll find a number of alleged "facts" within that article. However,  are those alleged facts the truth, or merely errors which are being offered as "facts?" The same can be said for articles about all other topics as well. We are flooded with information from the media and plenty of it isn't true. 

The key question is always: Who can you trust for accurate information?

That cannot be easily answered. In the end, it's an assessment based on various factors, including a source's motivations, biases, knowledge base, experience, skills, and more. It's a crucial assessment if we want accurate data, if we want correct and honest information. If these matters are important to us, then it's our duty to seek the truth, or at least as close as we can get to the truth. And that's a sentiment applicable to so many topics, not just food and drink.

You'll sometimes hear the phrase "Data is truth," but it's not accurate. Data may or may not be accurate dependent on numerous factors, such as who is collecting the data, how they are collecting it, any definitions that were used, and much more. Plus, one's interpretation of that data may not rise to the level of fact or truth. Statistics can be easily manipulated to prove one's own agenda. Facts can also be cherry picked to do the same. We see this occurring all the time in the media. 

During the course of researching and writing my numerous historical articles, I've found plenty of claims, which were "common knowledge," and accepted by many as the truth, yet in the end, proved not to be true. It was easier for some media sources to repeat this common knowledge rather than do their own detailed research. Even some authoritative sources make errors, and sometimes those errors can be easily discerned through additional research. 

Over this past weekend, I perused a Facebook thread dealing with Chinese food, and I found a number of incorrect claims, some repeating "common knowledge" that wasn't actually true. The posters seemed so sure of their claims, but I had done my own extensive research on these issues and knew the "common knowledge" was wrong. However, I know those same erroneous claims will continue to be promoted by others. Too many people accepting information without verifying its accuracy, some refusing to change their minds even if confronted with the actual facts.

The key to discerning an accurate source, to determine what to believe, is to question everything. Question motivations, knowledge levels, biases and more. Don't accept anything at face value. Yes, it takes more time to do this, but it pays off in the end by providing you better and more accurate answers. That questioning can help you trust your source more. For example, the longer you follow a writer, the better you will understand them, and the better you can assess their biases, preferences, and knowledge level. That will lead to a better bond of trust.

Besides questioning everything, you should also consult other resources and not just a single one. The more references you consult, the better your chances of getting accurate information. Don't just consult Wikipedia for your information. Yes, it might take longer to do all of the necessary research, but in the end, you will get closer to the truth, a worthy goal. 

With the information overload found online, please remember that not everything can be trusted. Question everything, and seek as many references as possible. Trust and accuracy comes with time and effort.