Dining Essentials: Alan Wong’s
April 30, 2007 by Sean
Filed under Destinations
What: Alan Wong’s, Honolulu
Where: 1857 S. King Street, Honolulu; 808/949-2526; reservations@alanwongs.com
Why Go: Often hailed as the best restaurant in Hawaii, Alan Wong’s blends Eastern and Western cuisine seamlessly, using fresh Pacific Rim ingredients to give it a distinct island flavor. Highly acclaimed but not snobby, the singular focus on food means accessible cuisine in hearty portions.
The Ambience: On the third floor of an office building, it is unassumingly small and easy to miss. An open kitchen, curly koa wall panels, and dim lighting make it casually sophisticated.
The Cost: Moderate: the average entrée runs $25 and higher, and will certainly not leave you hungry.
What I Ate: Seafood cakes (lobster, scallop, crab, and shrimp), paired with caper mayonnaise and a tartly complementary tsukemono relish; steamed shellfish bowl, with generous portions of Dungeness crab, prawns, lobster, and the like in a bouillabaisse broth; garlic steak with the pipikaula potato gratin, one of the best things I had ever tasted – sweetly soft and flaky with pieces of savory bacon. The dessert was impressively eclectic and incorporated fresh local ingredients, such as the refreshing coconut tapioca with passion fruit sorbet, the macadamia nut brulee, and the whimsical “Coconut” – haupia sorbet in a chocolate shell resembling a real coconut bowl. 
What I Drank: A full-bodied Guenoc Lake County Petite Sirah, paired with the garlic steak, emitted abundant fruit and hints of smoky oak and vanilla. Langtry Estate and Vineyard’s Guenoc wines are produced just north of Calistoga and numerous Napa Valley wineries. (Guenoc Valley is a recognized AVA, and, in fact, Langtry was the first winery to possess its very own AVA). Petite Sirah is appreciated by those who savor ripe berry flavors and a substantial red wine.
Next Time I’d…Reserve a mountain-view table by the terrace.
– Kai Zhang
An Evening with Renzo Cotarella
April 26, 2007 by Sean
Filed under Sean Chaudhry
Bruce Schoenfeld in Florence
“There are two categories of wine,” Antinori’s Renzo Cotarella says as he spears a mouthful of spaghetti. “With grapes like Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, the drinkability of the wine is the priority. Then there are the complicated grapes, like Pinot Noir and Nebbiolo. With those, it isn’t about drinkability. Those are grapes that you have to be in love with.”
He pauses for a first taste from a bottle of Tignanello 2003. “It’s like a woman who can be beautiful – but if you’re not in love with her, she’s nothing to you,” he says. He looks across the table at his wife. “You’re my Pinot Noir,” he says.
We’re sitting in a trattoria alongside Antinori world headquarters on Via Tornabuoni in Florence. Piero Antinori’s right-hand man in all matters enological and viticultural, Cotarella is the corporate half of one of the wine world’s most successful brother acts. His older sibling Riccardo is the consulting enologist for what seems like a million Italian wines. And together, they own Falesco, the winery they founded in 1979.
Cotarella is also one of the better dinner companions around. Whether he’s talking about world soccer, the American wine market, or dining around Italy, he has insightful theories and opinions, cushioned with charm but expressed forcefully.
He’s just back from California and an examination of the slow-moving Antinori venture there, provisionally called Antica. He remains committed to making Col Solare – the joint investment with Chateau Ste. Michelle in eastern Washington that has shown uneven results – “the best wine in the state.” He keeps a firm hand on Antinori holdings from Prunotto in the Langhe all the way down the Italian peninsula.
But his passion these days is a wine made from the fascinating but seldom-seen grape Aglianico del Vulture. At about the time our spaghetti is being replaced by slabs of rare Tuscan meat, Cotarella requests a bottle of 2003 Bocca di Lupo, from an Antinori-owned winery called Tormaresca on the Adriatic Coast. It’s a wine I haven’t tasted before, or even ever seen.
I’ve enjoyed wines made from the Aglianico del Vulture grape the few times I’ve had them, most notably Feudi di San Gregorio’s Vigne di Mezzo Efesto. But that wine, like nearly all Aglianico del Vulture, is from Basilicata.
Bocca di Lupo comes from the Puglian hills above the Adriatic. It is full but not dense, refreshing but not sharp – and spicy, as Aglianicos tend to be. The spice calls to mind Syrah, but the mouthfeel is all Barolo. The only flaw is a short finish that seems to dissipate on the back of the palate. “Young vines,” Cotarella explains.
Still, I understand his excitement. The evident potential is there. With the terroir on the Adriatic and the commitment of Antinori, he says, this wine will be world-class, “the best manifestation of the grape anywhere in the country.” In fact, Cotarella – a man not given to overstatement – predicts that Bocca di Lupo (current U.S. price: $30) will eventually stand alongside Italy’s deepest and most nuanced wines.
We sip. He sighs. “A wine to fall in love with,” he says.
Palate Paradise
On any given day Chicago welcomes titans of industry, Hollywood screen stars and global political figures. The star power this week was courtesy of the premium wine business. Pure Wine Co., a major midwest distributor, assembled an all-star roster of winery owners, vintners and importers to present their current releases to Chicago-area sommeliers and retailers.
The setting was dramatic: Inside Jay Pritzker Pavilion, with the city’s Millennium Park and a gorgeous April day as the backdrop through a towering glass partition. In all, 13 importers and 50 U.S. wineries were represented (43 from California).
Much of what was poured Monday is destined for critical acclaim, collectors’ wine cellars and epic wine lists, if they are not there already. Among those with whom we conversed and sipped:
Dierberg’s director of sales David Blantly (2004 Dierberg Pinot Noir; 2005 Star Lane Sauvignon Blanc; and a 2005 barrel sample of Cabernet Sauvignon).
Celia Deneen Brown (right) of Brown Estate Vineyards (2005 Napa Zinfandel; 2003 Napa Cabernet Sauvignon).
The charming Greg (below) and Petra Martin of Martin Estate, with a few pieces from Greg’s armor and antique weaponry collection on display (as well as their unparalleled 2003 Estate and Reserve Estate Cabernets, the latter born of a single clone). When you admire the distinct Martin Estate label, comprised of antique firearms, armor and other militaristic implements, every piece depicts an actual collectible item. 
Sea Smoke general manager Victor Gallegos, pouring the ‘05 Botella, ‘05 Ten, ‘04 Southing, and the latest release from his Priorat project, the 2004 Melis.
Robert Craig, founder of the premium Napa Cabernet winery that bears his name.
Jeff Fink, the Tantara Winery winemaker, standing before a vast array of lush 2005 Pinot Noirs. 
Among importers were Ben Hammerschlag of Epicurean (2005 Amon-Ra and Godolphin), and Alberto Lataliste of Gaucho Imports with a selection of Malbecs from Argentina’s Mendoza region (Vistalba releases designated A, B and C). Lataliste (right) also is a partner in a hit Argentine steakhouse, El Raigon, in San Francisco’s North Beach.
– Steve Woodward
