TASTING NOTES
1. When and how did wine become a big part of your life?
I was inspired by James Beard (another Northwest native who was often featured in our local papers), Angelo Pellegrini, and Julia Child at a young age to believe that wine and food went together. I started cooking with my family and for my school friends at age 7 and around that time I also decided to try blind tasting at the dinner table. To everyone's surprise, I was pretty talented at it. It wasn't until much later, while I was in graduate school and writing my dissertation in Comparative Literature, and still known for my ability to cook and to taste wine, that I realized this could be a career.
2. What do you look for in a wine?
That it is delicious, complex and balanced. The proof of a great wine is that it disappears too quickly when it is served.
3. There are many myths around wine-drinking. Which one annoys you most?
Three bother me the most, in order of importance. That it is hard to understand;
That it has to be drinkable when released.
And that it has to be something on the agenda of the day such as: a) unfined, unfiltered; b) low in tannin; c) low in alcohol; d) oaky ("no wood, no good"); or conversely e) unoaked; f) highly extracted; or g) not overextracted; h) powerful (i.e. concentrated, high in oak, alcohol and extract: or i)delicate (low in alcohol, low in extract low in intensity). Wine does not have to be any of these things yet it can be any of these things. Good wine doesn't follow some silly rule.
4. What is the one thing you would do to change wine or winemaking?
It changes enough as it is. The trend in the last two decades has been to come to a better understanding of the composition of wine and to make sure that wine is sound and well-made. Recently, people are beginning to believe that there has been too much internationalization and standardization of wine. Certainly there has been something essential lost in depending entirely on modern styles and techniques.
I think that the current trend is to make wines that are more unique and even idiosyncratic, such as reintroducing the ancient amphora as a fermentation vessel. There will be some interesting and unique wines made by going back to traditional methods in classic European regions, but I doubt that few would like to see the vinegary, dilute, dirty and poorly made wines of the 1950s and 1960s. The New World on the other hand, and wineries in the Old World, working with modern artisanal methods will continue to flourish, blending traditional methods with a boundless enthusiasm for experimentation.
5. it's your last supper. Choose the location, the meal and what's in your glass.
Seattle, an apartment on Queen Anne overlooking the Space Needle, the Puget Sound, downtown Seattle and Mount Rainier.
Krug Clos du Mesnil 1985 served with Kusshi Oysters, Russian Malassol Oscetra with blini and creme fraiche, Escargot bourguignone,
DRC Montrachet 1982 served with Dungeness crab in a crab-sea urchin broth, with a parmesan foam Gregory Pugin style (Veritas Restaurant),
Inglenook Estate Bottled Cabernet Sauvignon 1941 served with tandoori quail marinated in yoghurt, Rajat Parr-style (Michael Mina Restaurant)
Chateau Cheval Blanc 1921 served with Wagyu beef tenderloin with poached short rib Charlie Trotter-Style with a side of My Mother's Black Truffled Farfel (my style)