it is just grapejuice

Larkspur Sommelier to Offer Weekly Educational Wine Classes

Kevin Furtado Launches “(L) University” Series

Who: Hosted by Larkspur Sommelier, Kevin Furtado

What: Weekly educational wine classes

When: Each Thursday running from June - August 2008

Time: 6pm-7pm

Where: Larkspur Restaurant, 458 Vail Valley Dr., Vail, CO 81657

Cost: $40 per person per class (including tax)

 Or all 12 weeks at 20% off (must book by June 30)

Reservations required, space is limited

Call 970-479-8063 or email sue@larkspurvail.com

Classes offered:

June 5^th:         Wine 101:         

Tasting and evaluating wine

June 12:         Winemaking Power Hour:            

From vine to glass

June 19^th:         Searching for the Oregonian voice:

Examining the diversity of Oregon Pinot Noirs

June 26^th:         Overlooked and Underappreciated Whites:

Chenin blanc, Gewurztraminer, Viognier, Riesling,

Pinot Gris, Marsanne

July 3^rd:         No class

July 10^th:         The Holy Grail:        

Red Burgundy

July 17^th:         Cult Wines and Big Points:        

Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon

July 24^th:         Recent Vintages and Rising Prices:

Bordeaux

July 31^st:         Roll your own-a blending session:

Meritage

August 7^th:                  A Syrah-bration:

From the Rhone, to the Barossa, to the Central Coast

August 14^th:         Food and wine pairings:

What are rules?

August 21^st:                  The Royal Family of Northern Italy:

Barolo and Barbaresco

August 28^th:         It’s is not just for celebrating:

The Bubblies

Details: Join award-winning Vail Valley sommelier, Kevin Furtado as he opens up the Larkspur cellar for his weekly (L) University.  Sip and learn about both common and esoteric varietals in a casual and unpretentious setting. Learn why particular wines are better suited for meals than others. Special guests include wine makers and distributors. Each participant will receive a ‘tasting notes’ log and a (L) Club Card, good for 50% off a select bottle of wine with dinner at Larkspur.

For more information: www.larkspurvail.com

“Wine is both a reflection of the people who make it and the region that produces it, for it not one of natures free gifts.  Everyone seams to think of wine as a natural produce, but it is a processed product, subject to deterioration, manmade and surviving as a result of constant care.  Nature alone does not make wine, even less does it produce good wine, and certainly does not make the best possible wine.  The reality is that human beings have to intervene at every stage of its production.  Wine is effectively the product of human labor and the product is only as good as the people who make it.  Quality wine is not obtained fortuitously, buy only as the result fo a constant effort toward quality.” The taste of Wine, p. 230.  

“Thanks for your support  - I’ll follow up with you next week regarding some of the wines you expressed interest in… I do appreciate your support on Ruinart; if you would like to consider the BTFlute program in the future, please let me know… Here are some facts I thought you might find interesting: Dom Ruinart was a monk who was practicing the art of theology and traveling the royal courts.  He noticed how much people liked the “fizzy wine” - which was not officially champagne at this point.  So he called his nephew, who was a textile merchant, to suggest working on this type of wine.  It soon became profitable and he got out of the textile business and focused on the production of champagne.  As they started making it, they needed a place to store it.  They decided that the chalk cellars below the winery were temperature stable and a good guess to try.  Turns out, this is most perfect environment for aging and most champagne houses today store all their wines in caves and cellars.  The Ruinart Chalk Caves are an official National Monument on the level of the Eiffel Tower and Versailles.Ruinart is officially the oldest house to produce champagne.  You may hear that Gosset is, but they were actually the first to produce STILL wines in Champagne, but not actually “Champagne”.  This title goes to Ruinart.The bottle is not UV protected (urban myth), but they do have a trademark on the bottle shape so that no one else may use it.Ruinart NV  are all Premier Cru grapesDom Ruinart is 100% Grand Cru GrapesThis is the top selling Premium Champagne in France- outselling Veuve Clicquot and Moet.”

If any of you see our Italian diva sommelier friend Vanessa Cinti from Spago running around town make sure you give her a big shout out for passing her ADVANCED level of the Court of Master Sommeliers program.  Not an easy task, good work!

Okay so I called up ALL my foodie friends, and then asked Kevin to call all his foodie friends and they all e-mailed back with their best restaurant recommends for NYC.  By our best assessment if one place occurred on three lists we ought to check it out.  Thus, Blue Hill Restaurant, and we were SO NOT MISTAKEN.  Blue Hill sources almost all of its menu from the Blue Hill Farm (same owners) and if not from the Hudson Valley proper.  The wine list is doable, and the food in unbelievable.  We went with our friend who rocks an extreme new world palate and ourselves with the extreme opposite and we were still wine happy, best of both worlds, and at an affordable price even for that part of town.  The carrots, ah the CARROTS, they were ETHEREAL.  Check it out for yourself www.bluehillnyc.com As a footnote after, for cocktails, we visited the Little Branch, which was even more UNBELIEVEABLE, old school, speakeasy vibe.  I may be a cheesy tourist but I kept my mouth shut and drank my real deal Old Fashioned and listened to the three man jazz until we were pretty much dragged out of the joint!!  

“I hope this email finds you well.  Life here in Colorado is good-although it

is still snowing! 

I wanted to check on the status of my syrah over at McGinley.  How is it

shaping up after the intense cold and now what seams to be drastic heat?

BTW, the ‘07 syrah just finished MALO and is spectacular.”

Kevin 

“Your Syrah at McGinley is looking good. We did have a bit of frost damage at

the end of the row on the lower section, but it didn’t have much impact

overall.  Hope all is well.”

Jeff 

We were all happy to be drinking grower champage out of water bottles the last last day Vail mountian was open. Thanks for stopping by our blog and stay tuned from more posts in the very near future.   

Well, sorry for the lag in blog but now I have PLENTY to talk about.  While it has continued to snow here I have been running around the country doing lots of food and wine stuff that I intend to opine about right here in this forum!!  Primarily because I’m back in Vail, and I can’t ride my bike because of all the snow.  Stay tuned for my digressions about great restaurants in New York, and interactions with some unbelievable wines and winemakers from the Rhone, and the Central Coast.  SYRAH baby, it’s the new Pinot!!