Oregonian axes Matt Kramer

Wow. This is big news. (Kramer is the Oregonian's wine critic.) I assume this has mostly to do with the continued death-by-a-thousand-cuts at the nation's newspapers. I do not expect the Oregonian to survive another decade.

Kramer had a strong local following. He was at times overly supportive of European wines, particularly French ones, for which he drew some heat. But he also supported many good local wines. He will be missed.

In the "where's the justice" category: Why does a guy like Kramer lose his job, whereas that know-nothing at Salon keeps his wine critic gig?
http://www.portlandfoodanddrink.com/2011/01/another-rumor-matt-kramer-column-cut-from-oregonian/

Sushi Ichiban!

Sushi Ichiban (formerly Sushi Takehashi) is located at 24 NW Broadway; that's a block or less north of Burnside, on Broadway.

They have a train (not a conveyor belt-a real, old model train, with flatbed cars), which circles the chef island for your sushi-choosing pleasure (just try to say "sushi-choosing pleasure" fast, ten times). The fish is very fresh and tasty. The green tea really is golden-green, and is wonderful, and comes with your very own lovely antique porcelain teapot with wicker handle. The orange "special sauce" (rooster hot sauce in mayo) is the best I've had in Portland; it has some other spices in it.

On Wed and Sat, most of the sushi menu is discounted to just $1.25 a plate. But on other days (we went on Sunday lunch; they open at noon on Sunday) the plates cost just $1.00, $1.50, $2.00, and $3.00. What a deal! And if you don't see what you like on the train, just fill out a form and the chef will make it for you.

Good '80s music (Pat Benatar, for example) plays overhead. It's a downtown crowd, so don't expect to see your suburban neighbors there. But it's just fine. The servers are friendly, as is the chef, who took time to enthusiastically answer my questions about one particularly well-made dish (Tiger Roll: snapper tempura in a rice roll, capped with a sweet tofu wrapper, scallions, and special sauce). At least three of their dishes were fare I hadn't seen before, anywhere else (such as white radish roll (with a bundle of radish sprouts) and yellow radish roll.

The two of us stuffed ourselves for just $19 plus tip. That's my kind of restaurant! Yes, I like Sushiville (NW 23rd), Sushi Town (NW 185th), and several other sushi restaurants, but this is another favorite to add to the list! I went to it about ten years ago; I've been remiss for waiting so long to go back. Check it out.

My Vineyard in Winter

My slumbering vineyard floor is kissed

By winter's snowy, foggy mist,

Almost obscuring the upright posts

Which stand, like sentinels,

Which stand, like ghosts,

Awaiting the return of Spring.

Your refrigerator

You probably already have in your kitchen a device which will save you from all your worries about how to store an opened bottle of wine.

It is SO SIMPLE--just put the cork back partway in the bottle and stick the bottle in the fridge.

Do this for your reds and your whites. Do not fear. The cold temp prevents oxidation. The wine remains fresh.

When you're ready to drink the wine again, if it's white, just uncork, pour, and wait a bit for the wine to come up to proper white wine temp.

If it's a red, either let it warm to room temp the old-fashioned way (using time and the laws of thermodynamics), or pour a glass and nuke it for about :10-:12 seconds in the microwave. Then swirl, to make the temperature uniform throughout the glass.

Do not be afraid. This works. This does not harm the wine. Do not be afraid.

And you do not need a vacuum system (which doesn't work; the differential atmospheric pressure draws oxygen back into the bottle MUCH quicker than you might realize). And you do not need a sparging system (a cannister which fills the headspace with an inert gas). Hooray!

Isn't life great when it's made more simple?

2008 Elk Cove Pinot noir: A Real Find

In taste tests, I was very pleasantly surprised by the 2008 Elk Cove Willamette Valley Pinor noir. In fact, it beats out many Oregon Pinots costing more than twice as much. 2008 was Oregon's greatest vintage. We should all be laying down quality Pinots (and other wines) from that year.

This Pinot gets 90 points from Wine & Spirits, and is marked a Best Buy. I appreciate its quality "Oregon Pinot nose" for the price, and it also has great fruit, balance, and length.

Best of all, this particular Pinot noir is only $20 when purchased from me (versus $29 at the winery!). That is a pretty great price for a pretty good Pinot.

Vitis aestivalis: Silver Leaf grape

You are looking at the underside of the Silver Leaf grape, or, more properly, Vitis aestivalis. It is a wild American grape found throughout the Eastern U.S. The silver underside (along with the traditional bright green topside) gives a certain variety of this species the name "bicolor." (And, isn't that red pigment in the stem attractive?)

Aestivalis is very cold hardy. It is also the parent of the winegrape "Norton," which was loved by Thos. Jefferson for its wine, and is even now considered an excellent wine grape. I will be pouring some Virginia Nortons at an upcoming all-Virginia winetasting.

But grape breeders are using V. aestivalis in efforts to breed a Norton-like grape cold-hardy enough to grow in places like Minnesota, New Hampshire, and even Eastern Canada. Aestivalis has already been used to make several very useful hybrid winegrapes. Problem is, it's a devil of a grape to root. Some growers try every trick in the book, but cannot get even one cutting to issue roots. That's compared to most other grape cuttings, which even a greenhorn like me can root without much trouble. Breeders comb the wilderness, collecting wild grapes (the fruit, and the cuttings). They plant the seed, and they root the cuttings, if they can, and thus begins the multi-year effort to create a new cross (hybrid).

Taste test: 1999 L'ecole No. 41 Cab

Eleven years later! I'd been holding this wine since I bought it at the winery on my first trip to Walla Walla in 2002. Paid retail, about $35. Opened and vigorously swirled, it was good with a beef dish. Comments:

Color: The traditional magnificent dark purple hue extracted from red Walla Walla fruit. It's a desert! Color should always be dark--near black.

Nose: Disappointing. This is 100% Cabernet sauvignon; I suspected that because it didn't offer up much in the way of fruits, flowers, cedar, or leather. In Bordeaux they do it right, by blending in some aromatic varieties (Merlot, Cab franc, etc.). Advice to winemakers: Don't forget the nose! Humans are incredibly nose-driven, and in foodstuffs the smell is critical!

Palate: Nice dark fruits. Smooth tannins. Good finish.

Overall score: 87. Way too few points, for so many purchase dollars! I note that one Snooth amateur scorer gave it just 3.5 stars, out of five.

Conclusion: Glad that was my last bottle, of two. There are many better Walla Walla wines.