Locals Favorites Blog

Ramazotti for Thanksgiving Dinner

Wow...here is a great wine I have found to go with your Thanksgiving feast. Click here and give it a try! Be sure to let me know what you think.

Restaurant Trends - Do you agree?

Hot off the press....from Zagat's annual survey. I thought you all might find this interesting.

Zagat Releases 2006 America's Top Restaurants Survey

Covering 1,352 Eateries in 41 Cities as Americans Dine Out and Spend More; East Coast Diners are the Best Tippers, Despite Myriad Complaints About

Service; Japanese Net Highest Food Ratings in Nearly All Cities, While Chinese Tread Water

NEW YORK, Oct. 26 /PRNewswire/ -- Zagat Survey today released its 2006 America's Top Restaurants guide. The book covers 1,352 eateries in 41 citiesnationwide, surveyed by over 115,000 avid restaurant-goers. In addition to rating and reviewing the most significant eateries in each city, the Survey includes a great variety of comparative data regarding meal costs, tipping, favorite cuisines, customer complaints, frequency of dining out and much

more.

It also points to a variety of national dining trends and issues.

"Its an eater's market out there," Tim Zagat, CEO of Zagat Survey said in announcing the guide's results. "The number of really good restaurants in

every city has soared over the last few years while meal prices have remained relatively consistent."

Facts and Figures: When comparing various U.S. cities, there are some surprising findings this year. For example when it comes to average Food Ratings, San Francisco (21.50 on Zagat Survey's trademark 30 point scale), Las Vegas (21.10) and Miami (21.01) lead the pack. And there nation-wide good news too: food ratings are at their highest point ever, after inching up in city after city for the past ten years.

Food vs. Service: Unfortunately, Service Ratings lag behind food ratings everywhere by almost two points on the Zagat scale. When asked what irritates them the most about eating out, there was a great deal of consistency in diners' responses -- "poor service" led the way in every city. Nationally,

72% of complaints focused on service. The remaining 28% of complaints were about Noise/Crowds (11%), Food (5%), Prices (4%), Traffic/Parking (4%), and Other (4%). "Year after year, our surveys show that service is the weak link in the restaurant industry," added Mr. Zagat.

Dollars and Cents: On the whole, meals this year are 3% more expensive than they were a year ago. It shouldn't come as much of a surprise that New York is the most costly restaurant city in the nation. With an average meal tab of $37.61, New York restaurants cost at least 50% more than those in Atlanta ($24.72) or Seattle ($25.56). In fact, New York exceeds the national average ($32.60) by 15%. However, when compared to foreign cities such as Tokyo ($70.64), London ($67.69) and Paris ($62.97), New York's restaurants are a bargain.

Tipping: On the question of tipping, the results present a clear contrast between residents of the East and West Coasts. Restaurant-goers in Philadelphia (19.2%), Atlanta (19.1%) and Boston (18.9%) are the nation's most generous tippers, while diners in Seattle (18%), Los Angeles and San

Francisco (both at 18.3) turn out to be the worst. Nationwide, the average tip has been going up over the last several years from 18% in 2000 to 18.7% today.

Dining Out: By comparison, the frequency with which surveyors dine out or take out does not reflect competition between the two coasts, but rather a clear distinction between the two coasts and the center of the country. So, whereas residents of New York and Los Angeles are among the national

leaders (with 60% and 55% of meals coming from outside the home, respectively), Phoenix (50%) and St. Louis (47%) trail well behind. The national average has reached 53% and is continuing to grow.

Changing Palates: Another trend signaled by the guide is the continuing movement of the American palate away from rich, elaborate preparations toward the simple natural flavors of fresh local produce. As a result, the mark of an acclaimed chef today is no longer the formal French recipe (note the recent closings of such formal French bastions as Maison Robert in Boston, Maisonette in Cincinnati and Le Cirque, La Cote Basque and Lutece in New

York), but rather the ability to incorporate the freshest possible produce, meats and seafood from the best local suppliers -- like Union Square Cafe in New York, the French Laundry in Napa Valley, Mistral in Seattle, L'Espalier in Boston, Green Zebra in Chicago, and Chef Allen's in Miami.

Dressing Down and Up: While informality has become the mode when it comes to customer attire (hardly any top restaurants require a jacket and tie anymore), restaurants themselves are becoming more and more stylish everyday. High-profile chefs are requiring high-style settings and designers like Frank Gehry, Richard Meier (New York's 66), Todd Oldham (Miami's Wish) and David Rockwell (New York's Nobu) are creating more and more memorable restaurant spaces. With hoteliers, real estate moguls and casino operators subsidizing million dollar restaurant build-outs, it's no surprise that chefs are dressing up their dining rooms.

Japanese vs. Chinese: Among the key trends this year is the rise of Japanese food, which clearly isn't just for Californians anymore. In fact, sushi restaurants lead the Top Food and/or Most Popular lists in Boston (Oishii), Charlotte (Niko), Chicago (Mirai Sushi), Dallas (Tepo), Denver (Sushi

Den), Las Vegas (Nobu), Long Island (Kotobuki), Los Angeles (Matsuhisa and Katsu-ya), Miami (Matsuri), New York (Sushi Yasuda), Portland (Saburo's), San Diego (Sushi Ota), San Francisco (Sushi Ran), Seattle (Nishino) and Washington D.C. (Makoto), among others. On the other hand, fine Chinese dining, once the leading Asian cuisine in the U.S., seems to have stalled, with not even one Chinese restaurant reaching the Top Food Rankings.

New Orleans: Zagat surveyors hold a special place in their hearts for New Orleans. The new guide addresses the city's future hopes head on, saying "Our hearts and minds have also been with New Orleans, which at press time is just starting to recover from Hurricane Katrina. Nevertheless, we have included the Crescent City section here, in the hope and faith that one of America's richest restaurant capitals will rise again."

To screw or not...

I was surfing around today and found a great article about screw..caps...so here is a link to all you ever needed, or wanted, to know about this touchy subject..

To screw or not

What have been your experiences with this?

Harvest draws to a close - Day 4

Harvest has ended at Laurel Glen........The last day of the main harvest, and Oliverio's face, in the golden late summer sun says it all!

It was a long growing season, nearly lost in the fog and chill of September, but ripened magically by the Indian summer of October.

It was a wonderful year and perhaps one of the all time greats.  Time will tell.

Where to eat? Suggestions anyone?

Being from New York City makes me pretty careful about recommending restaurants to visitors. One of the questions I often get in my tasting room is "what's your favorite place to eat?" to which I usually reply...I can tell you....but how do I know you will like it also?

So...that said...here are a few of the spots I have dined at lately that definitely make my list of places I personally think rock. If you visit one would you mind posting a comment so I can see if we have the same taste?

Taverna Santi - Right here in good old Geyserville  - Stop by and visit us at Locals Tasting Room
first and try a flight of wines.

Syrah Bistro - worth a short drive to Santa Rosa's railroad square  - Make sure you browse the wine list as there are lots of great local finds.

Vineyard Grafting Pictures

Vineyard Grafting Pictures

For those of you that are looking for more detail about what goes on in the vineyard...and ask me those technical grower questions I never know how to answer :) Here is more great info from Patrick Campbell of Laurel Glen

Laurel Glen Harvest part 3

 

This photo is of the vineyard block we call Los Pinos, named for the small stand of redwood trees you can see in the background on the right side. This shot was taken on the third day of picking at 07:15, with the golden eastern light flooding in from the right side; we’re looking here across the Valley of the Moon in the foreground and over to the Mayacamas Mountains, which divide Sonoma Valley from Napa Valley, in the background.

 

 

It’s been a long growing season so far, with bud break on March 12 -- five days earlier than our 27 year average, and the first day of picking on October 6 -- a full twelve days later. The Laurel Glen vineyards have, then, worked overtime in 2005, and the leaves show it.

 

Like an exhausted salmon, speckled and discolored, returning to its spawning stream after several years in the ocean, so too the leaves appear old and tired after their journey. (How’s that for a simile!) They are: have a look at the leaves in the foreground. The basal leaves (those nearest the truck and hence the first to push out early in the growing season) have largely fallen off the canes, and can be seen spread, brown and dry, around the vineyard floor. Many of the leaves are yellow and desiccated, no longer able to photosynthesize: they, too, will soon fall off the vine.

 

Weeks ago, the vine stopped putting out new leaves and instead concentrated its energy into ripening the grapes – or more correctly, into maturing the grape seeds, which are now brown and crunchy. The remaining green leaves are struggling to finish their work in the waning days of the season: those berries the pickers miss today will remain on the vine, drying out, falling to the ground, and, in a natural setting, be scattered by birds over the winter and eventually sprout next spring to perpetuate the species.

 

The vines have done their job.

Visitors from out of town

This was a VERY busy weekend for us at Locals but we met lot's of interesting people..from as far away as Japan and as close as River Road. There are new photos in the gallery...so if you see yourself be sure to drop us a note and let us know what you liked best about your visit to Sonoma County.

A harvest story continued...

From Patrick Campbell at Laurel Glen....on how the harvest is continuing to evolve...

Friends,

 

A long, cool growing season, punctuated by rain, resulted in high mildew pressure for most of the past four months.  Mildew manifests itself in many ways.  At worst, the crop is destroyed in a bloom of nasty grey mold.  The least virulent form can dry out the rachis (the fibrous part of the cluster that the individual grapes attach to), and the berries below that point dehydrate: usually, it dries out the stem, where the rachis attaches to the cane, and then the whole cluster dries out and is useless. 

 

Fortunately, we had only the mildest form to deal with in 2005, and this resulted in the loss of a half ton or so of grapes per acre.  As I mentioned yesterday, over the past several weeks, the crew went through all the vineyards six times prior to harvest to remove the dehydrated clusters, which you can see dropped on the ground in the attached photo.

 

In case you were wondering, there is no danger of residual moldy tastes or aromas in the resulting wine with this sort of mildew: just a lot more work in the vineyard to remove substandard clusters.  This is the sort of extra hand work that growing fruit organically occasionally demands, and it's a small price to pay for a year which is producing such intense and balanced fruit.

 

More tomorrow!

 

A Harvest Story from Laurel Glen

Here is the first account of harvest at Laurel Glen sent to us by Owner Patrick Campbell. Get a glimpse into the vineyard and the process:

Friends,

 

Two weeks late, but worth the wait, we began this morning.

 

Early observations:

very high quality

aromatic, concentrated fruit

high acid and low pH

maturity at lower sugar levels

fans of gobs of hedonistic and plush fruit etc won't be pleased

fans of balance and intensity will be pleased

overall production seems to be higher than anticipated in California

 

• The photo was taken this morning in one of our oldest fields -- planted in 1968, and is emblematic of the harvest conditions:

• the fruit at the far left and the interior of the vine   reveal small berries, loose clusters, and excellent   uniformity
• the cluster second in from the   left shows the harvest-time effects of the mildew that organic and many other   growers have been fighting all this cool year – you can see the mildew-stained   rachis and the resulting uneven development of the berries on the cluster;   this cluster will be rejected
• the third cluster from the left   (under the yellow/red leaf)  is   uniformly dehydrated and raisined, and will also be   rejected
• the cluster on the far right shows a mixture of sound fruit and   slight shrivel – the complexity of the cluster should add to the complexity of   the resulting wine

 

The 2005 vintage has demanded more intensive vineyard labor than any in memory. We have gone through our vineyards six times in as many weeks to cut off unacceptable clusters prior to harvest, purging at least a half ton per acre. The few dehydrated clusters that have nonetheless sneaked through will have been sorted out at the crusher, and that’s the harvest report to the moment.  I‘ll send out some more shots as we continue.

Stop by Locals and try some of Patrick's current vintages....and see what you have to look forward to soon!