Order Modicum Wine from The French Laundry
posted by snekse

Several months ago I wrote about some of the mystery around the amazing Modicum Cabernet Sauvignon served at The French Laundry as their house wine. Thanks to an anonymous commenter and Paul Roberts, the Corporate Wine and Beverage Director for The French Laundry, I have some more exciting news for everyone.

While you may still find it difficult, if not impossible, to get a reservation at The French Laundry , you can now at least drink their wine. Though only available in very limited quantities, they have decided to start offering Modicum, along with a new Bordeaux blend, for off-site sales. Pair this wine with some French Laundry recipes and you have the next best thing to actually getting a reservation.

September 15, 2007

We are pleased to announce the second release of wines under the Modicum label. This offering includes the 2003 Rutherford Cabernet Sauvignon and the 2005 St. Helena Red Wine. These bottlings are a collaborative project between Chef Thomas Keller and Master Sommelier, Paul Roberts.

The meaning of modicum is “a small amount of something unique.” To us, Modicum represents a small amount of the very best fruit that we can locate.. This fall Modicum has grown to two wines: a 2003 Cabernet Sauvignon from Rutherford and a 2005 Napa Valley Red from St. Helena.

The 2003 Cabernet Sauvignon comes from a dramatic site located in Rutherford. In this vineyard, sandy loam soils cover composted volcanic ash, and coupled with its locale above the valley floor compose a site that yields distinct fruit with remarkable ripeness and still the elusive element of finesse.

Our newest offering is the 2005 Napa Valley Red Wine from St. Helena. This wine is a blend of three vineyards in the St. Helena AVA, which are planted to Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Merlot. The unique terroir of each site is apparent in the complexity of this blend. The backbone of the blend is from a rocky, high elevation parcel east of the city of St. Helena. Two vineyards in the western hills of the appellation complete the blend: one parcel is north of the St. Helena city limits planted in dusty red soil, the other is nestled against the base of Spring Mountain along an alluvial plain filled with decomposed river rocks.

As envisioned, the Modicum project is extremely small in production. Only 100 cases of the 2003 Rutherford Cabernet Sauvignon and only 150 cases of the 2005 St. Helena Red Wine were produced.

Thank you for joining us in the excitement of our second public release! We look forward to hearing from you soon. If you have any questions, we welcome you to contact Paul Roberts by fax at 707.944.0447 or by email at proberts@modicum.net

With Warm Regards,

Thomas Keller Paul Roberts, MS

MODICUM ORDER FORM

RELATED LINKS:
RESTAURANT REVIEW: The French Laundry, Yountville (by Alder @ Vinography)
PHOTOS: Dinner at The French Laundry
INTERVIEW: Thomas Keller
NOTES: Modicum on CellerTracker.com

Labels: NEWS, Thomas Keller, WINE

2007 JAMES BEARD WINNER
posted by snekse

And the winner is...

In my opinion, Chef David Chang @ Momofuku Noodle Bar, for receiving the highly competitive Raising Star Chef Award. This honor is given to a chef under 30 who "display an impressive talent and who is likely to have a significant impact on the industry in years to come". Congrats to Chef Chang!

Other notable winners include...

Outstanding Chef: Michel Richard @ Citronelle
Outstanding Pastry Chef: Michael Laskonis @ Le Bernardin
Outstanding Restaurant: Rick Bayless @ Frontera Grill
Outstanding Restaurateur: Thomas Keller @ TFL & Per Se
Outstanding Service: TRU , Chicago IL
Outstanding Wine & Spirits Professional: Paul Draper, Ridge Vineyards, Cupertino, CA

Best New Restaurant: L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon in New York

Best Chef Awards
CHEFS WHO HAVE SET NEW OR CONSISTENT STANDARDS OF EXCELLENCE IN THEIR RESPECTIVE REGIONS. EACH CANDIDATE MAY BE EMPLOYED BY ANY KIND OF DINING ESTABLISHMENT AND MUST HAVE BEEN A WORKING CHEF FOR AT LEAST THE PAST 5 YEARS. THE 3 MOST RECENT YEARS MUST HAVE BEEN SPENT IN THE REGION WHERE CHEF IS PRESENTLY WORKING.
**NOTE: This is a list of select regional winners

Best Chef [NYC]: David Waltuck @ Chanterelle
TriBeCa NYC, NY ~ Make a reservation
Best Chef [Great Lakes]: Grant Achatz @ Alinea
Chicago, IL ~ Make a reservation
Best Chef [Midwest]: Celina Tio @ The American Restaurant
Kansas City, MO ~ Make a reservation
Best Chef [Northwest]: John Sundstrom @ Lark
Seattle, WA ~ Make a reservation
Best Chef [Pacific]: Traci Des Jardins @ Jardiniere
San Francisco, CA ~ Make a reservation

America's Classics restaurants

Aunt Carrie's, Narragansett, R.I.
Doe's Eat Place, Greenville, Miss.
Primanti Brothers, Pittsburgh
Brookville Hotel, Abilene, Kan.
The Pickwick, Duluth, Minn.
Weaver D's, Athens, Ga.

Book Awards

Cookbook of the year: Matt Lee & Ted Lee
The Lee Brothers Southern Cookbook: Stories and Recipes for Southerners and Would-be Southerners

COOKBOOK HALL OF FAME: Mollie Katzen
Moosewood Cookbook

ASIAN COOKING: James Oseland
Cradle of Flavor: Home Cooking from the Spice Islands of Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia

BAKING AND DESSERT: Dorie Greenspan
BAKING: From My Home To Yours

PROFESSIONAL POINT OF VIEW: Alain Ducasse & Frédéric Robert
GRAND LIVRE DE CUISINE: Alain Ducasse's Desserts & Pastries

ENTERTAINING: Cheryl Alters Jamison & Bill Jamison
The Big Book Of Outdoor Cooking and Entertaining: Spirited Recipes and Expert Tips for Barbecuing, Charcoal and Gas Grilling, Rotisserie Roasting, Smoking, Deep-Frying, and Making Merry

GENERAL: Roy Finamore
TASTY: Get Great Food on the Table Every Day

INTERNATIONAL: Marcus Samuelsson
The Soul of a New Cuisine: A Discovery of the Foods and Flavors of Africa

PHOTOGRAPHY: Karl Petzke (Photographer)
MICHAEL MINA: The Cookbook

REFERENCE: Marion Nestle
What To Eat

SINGLE SUBJECT: John Scharffenberger & Robert Steinberg
The Essence of Chocolate: Recipes for Baking & Cooking with Fine Chocolate

Congratulations to all the winners. Congrats to chef Achatz of Alinea for racking up yet another accolade. Congrats to Traci Des Jardins for what many believe is some long overdue recognition. And a really big congrats to Celina Tio for taking home the Midwest award, even if I didn't wish her luck ;-p

And a special congrats to the America's Classics, which I thought were pretty cool. Now I'll have to hunt a couple down.

RELATED LINKS:
2007 JAMES BEARD NOMINEES ANNOUNCED
RESTAURANT REVIEW: TRU Restaurant, Chicago, IL
RESTAURANT REVIEW: Alinea, Chicago, IL
INTERVIEW: Thomas Keller
2007 James Beard Foundation Award Winners

Tags || GFC | FOOD | JAMES BEARD | 2007 | RICK BAYLESS | GRANT ACHATZ | more... |

Labels: JAMES BEARD, KANSAS CITY, Thomas Keller

INTERVIEW: Thomas Keller
posted by snekse

Label for The French Laundry's Modicum Cabernet

No, I didn't get a chance to interview Thomas Keller. To be honest, even if I got the chance, I have no idea what I would ask him. Instead I thought I'd share a recent Wine Spectator interview with the owner of The French Laundry empire.

Chef Talk: Thomas Keller

What I thought was interesting, but obviously fitting, was the fact that they discussed The French Laundry's house wine - Modicum.

Modicum instantly became one of my favorite wines the first time I tried it. I remember being blown away by it's rich, but bright chocolaty fruit flavors with amazing complexity and balance. I've been a bit obsessed about it ever since.

It's very rare that Modicum gets more than a passing mention in an interview, so to eek out some additional information about this amazing Cabernet is exciting. In general, the details about this wine are minimal and not always reliable. Beyond the basics, it's been protected under a shroud of secrecy. Of course that, combined with the French Laundry name just adds to the wine's sexiness.

For a little peak under that shroud, here's what I have been able to gleam from various sources about the wine.

It's made from a single vineyard in the Rutherford district of Napa Valley
Bottled under the name Vita Morrell Vineyards, but all indications seem to point that this is bottled by Sloan Estate
The 2000 vintage *may* have been bottled by Colgin from their Tychson Hill Vineyard
It's very likely Mark Aubert was involved in the initial project launch because of his involvement with both Colgin and Sloan during the 2000 vintage.
For the same reasons, it's very likely that the vineyard was planted by David Abreu

With a pedigree like that, it makes me feel very fortunate that I was able to acquire a bottle of the 2000 vintage for my personal collection.

***UPDATE***
You can now order Modicum from The French Laundry. Thanks to our anonymous commenter below for letting us know.

Tags || MODICUM | WINE | THE FRENCH LAUNDRY | THOMAS KELLER | PER SE | INTERVIEW | more... |

Labels: INTERVIEW, Thomas Keller, WINE

The International Agenda for Great Cooking
posted by snekse

Could you ask for anything cooler. Four of the most influential people in the food industry have gathered together to create a manifesto of sorts, expressing what guides them in their craft, how they view the past/present/future traditions/techniques/movements of the cooking world and how an Open Source philosophy in the kitchen can benefit everyone. To borrow from the Java Programming world, this may be the new "Design Patterns" by the new Gang of Four!

They will break the rules, make new rules and break those too. They will borrow from multiple disciplines to create a style all their own.

They will do all of this without labels. They will do all of this in the spirit of progress and the pursuit of excellence. They will do all of this knowing their journey will never end.

Welcome to the new food renaissance.

The International Agenda for Great Cooking
-By Ferran Adria, Heston Blumenthal, Thomas Keller and Harold McGee

The world of food has changed a great deal in modern times. Change has come especially fast over the last decade. Along with many other developments, a new approach to cooking has emerged in restaurants around the globe, including our own. We feel that this approach has been widely misunderstood, both outside and inside our profession. Certain aspects of it are overemphasized and sensationalized, while others are ignored. We believe that this is an important time in the history of cooking, and wish to clarify the principles and thoughts that actually guide us. We hope that this statement will be useful to all people with an interest in food, but especially to our younger colleagues, the new generations of food professionals.

1. Three basic principles guide our cooking: excellence, openness, and integrity.

We are motivated above all by an aspiration to excellence. We wish to work with ingredients of the finest quality, and to realize the full potential of the food we choose to prepare, whether it is a single shot of espresso or a multicourse tasting menu.

We believe that today and in the future, a commitment to excellence requires openness to all resources that can help us give pleasure and meaning to people through the medium of food. In the past, cooks and their dishes were constrained by many factors: the limited availability of ingredients and ways of transforming them, limited understanding of cooking processes, and the necessarily narrow definitions and expectations embodied in local tradition. Today there are many fewer constraints, and tremendous potential for the progress of our craft. We can choose from the entire planet's ingredients, cooking methods, and traditions, and draw on all of human knowledge, to explore what it is possible to do with food and the experience of eating. This is not a new idea, but a new opportunity. Nearly two centuries ago, Brillat-Savarin wrote that 'the discovery of a new dish does more for human happiness than the discovery of a new star."

Paramount in everything we do is integrity. Our beliefs and commitments are sincere and do not follow the latest trend.

2. Our cooking values tradition, builds on it, and along with tradition is part of the ongoing evolution of our craft.

The world's culinary traditions are collective, cumulative inventions, a heritage created by hundreds of generations of cooks. Tradition is the base which all cooks who aspire to excellence must know and master. Our open approach builds on the best that tradition has to offer.

As with everything in life, our craft evolves, and has done so from the moment when man first realized the powers of fire. We embrace this natural process of evolution and aspire to influence it. We respect our rich history and at the same time attempt to play a small part in the history of tomorrow.

3. We embrace innovation - new ingredients, techniques, appliances, information, and ideas - whenever it can make a real contribution to our cooking.

We do not pursue novelty for its own sake. We may use modern thickeners, sugar substitutes, enzymes, liquid nitrogen, sous-vide, dehydration, and other nontraditional means, but these do not define our cooking. They are a few of the many tools that we are fortunate to have available as we strive to make delicious and stimulating dishes.

Similarly, the disciplines of food chemistry and food technology are valuable sources of information and ideas for all cooks. Even the most straightforward traditional preparation can be strengthened by an understanding of its ingredients and methods, and chemists have been helping cooks for hundreds of years. The fashionable term "molecular gastronomy" was introduced relatively recently, in 1992, to name a particular academic workshop for scientists and chefs on the basic food chemistry of traditional dishes. That workshop did not influence our approach, and the term "molecular gastronomy" does not describe our cooking, or indeed any style of cooking.

4. We believe that cooking can affect people in profound ways, and that a spirit of collaboration and sharing is essential to true progress in developing this potential.

The act of eating engages all the senses as well as the mind. Preparing and serving food could therefore be the most complex and comprehensive of the performing arts. To explore the full expressive potential of food and cooking, we collaborate with scientists, from food chemists to psychologists, with artisans and artists (from all walks of the performing arts), architects, designers, industrial engineers. We also believe in the importance of collaboration and generosity among cooks: a readiness to share ideas and information, together with full acknowledgment of those who invent new techniques and dishes.