Caribbean Bound!

Silver Spirit

Wow did I get smacked with a great job perk this month!  I am going on a cruise.... and not just any cruise, the Silver Sea cruise line has invited me aboard the Silver Spirit to teach about sake.  

On Saturday, I will fly to Antigua to catch up with the boat and continue the journey home by way of St. Kitts and Spanish Town in the British Virgin Islands.  This is a first for me - luxury travel while calling it "work".....  More stories to come!

Susana Balbo

I had a winemaker in town a few weeks back.  Not just any winemaker, but THE winemaker from Argentina.  People who know the wine industry in Argentina might say (arguably true) that all roads somehow lead back to Catena, or Rutini, or Lurton.... but today, one of the most famous and well-known winemakers is Susana Balbo.  I had the great pleasure of having her in the market with me, 1 day in Asheville NC, and 2 days in Atlanta GA.

Let me tell you, she is a force.  With a soft voice, a very girlish and stylish demeanor, beautiful curly locks of hair, and a rather unassuming presence, this woman is a ROCK STAR.  Her power and presence precede her, and she follows up with a wealth of knowledge and a quiet determination that no-doubt got her to where she is today, despite her chauvinistic colleagues.

We met in Asheville, and began our day with a key-buyer luncheon.  We were all behaving, spitting more wine than swallowing, and then she did something extremely funny.  She went to dump her wine to move on to the next bottle and instead of dumping it into the dump bucket, she dumped it into the candle holder.  I tried not to, but I laughed out loud.  Here we are, this group of professionals, and she committed the first faux pas.  Hilarious!  Fortunately, she laughed too, and decided not to tell anyone.

We did a dinner that night that was extremely lucrative - almost 20 cases of wine sold!  More interesting was the venue - a beautiful outdoor patio with enough room to seat 60 - and we had so much
food...



Here is the menu:



Empanadas, Bread, cured meats, olives

Sweetbreads & chorizo

Chorizo
Mollejas (sweetbreads)
Parrillada Mixta (mixed grilled meats - filet, sirloin, flank)
Asado de Tira (Short Rib)
Bife de Chorizo (NY Strip)
Lomo (Filet Mignon)
Lentil Salad
Papas Fritas
Tomato salad
Homemade Flan

Salads and NY Strip

I don't know.... meat again

The company was wonderful, the weather was perfect, and you truly couldn't have planned for a better feast - well maybe run 10 miles before hand.... but truly, an awesome experience.  I just don't really eat meat... too bad I couldn't get a doggy bag!

Here is Ms Balbo talking to the diners:

I was sitting next to a woman who had a very funny name.  I didn't really figure it out until the end of the evening, and since she bought a case of wine, I had to stifle my juvenile snickers until she and her friends left....  Sometimes I am so fourth grade.

Nash-vegas, baby!

I worked Nashville last week.  Yes, yes I did.  Early flight at 7:50am Wednesday on AA direct to BNA and I was at the office and ready to go by 10am.  I got my rental car, which just happened to be this:

Yep, BRIGHT yellow Camero.  2010 model.  29 miles on the OD.  (That's cool speak for odometer)

The agent was sort of apologetic about it.  So was I.



I mean, honestly.  I drive a Honda Accord.  Does it get any frumpier?  It's fully loaded, but it ain't yellow and it doesn't go 0-60 in 10 seconds.  More like 2 minutes!

I worked two full days in the market, showing wine and making some new friends, while also visiting old customers I've worked with before.  Nashville is a good market and my distributor is full of good people.  The only downside was I happened to arrive in the middle of a major heat-wave.  At one point, temps soared to 108, but they hovered during the day typically around 100, plus or minus 5.  Not the best temperature for drinking Malbec, but we did our best to push some wine.

I stayed at the Hutton Hotel, which is a great little hotel on West End Avenue.  I like this place, not just because they pimp my wine, but the bartenders are lively, the food is thoughtful, and the shower has one of those awesome shower heads that looks like a giant sunflower coming directly down from the ceiling.  And they supply you with L'Occitane products.  (Sometimes I am shameful and pretend I need an extra set....shhhhhhh!)

The toilet experience is one of those water-conserving types too.  You know the kinds, where you push one for "#1" and the other for "#2" and from my travels abroad, I usually see one part of the flushing mechanism bigger than the other.  You know what to do.  But I have never seen it this obvious!

I usually hang out at the bar after the day is done and this is one of my favorite bars to hang out in.  Greg, the GREGarious bartender always makes me feel right at home.  He even remembers my name - as Meagan.  Close enough.  And he throws me a few free glasses here and there.  And he thinks I am a "shy, sweet little flower."  Love the delusion I get to live there!

I was joking one night at the bar with a songwriter, which by the way, is a very rare ambition in Nashville, about my yellow car.  Apparently I made quite an entrance in that thing.  I told him I expected royalties from Carrie Underwood's next big hit if she mentions a yellow Camero.

On Friday, I flew home.  No drama, everything was on time, and that is my favorite airline experience.  But I got to MIA and there were TSA agents everywhere.  On stilts.  I still have no idea why.  I swear to you they were on stilts.

And no, I didn't have a cocktail on my flight!  This woman was talking to travelers from a 5ft advantage!  Weird.....

Tasting in Tarpon Springs

Friday, I began the long trek to Tarpon Springs.  It is about 5 hours from my house to B-21, the account where I was to be pouring sake on Saturday, so I usually break up the trip with a stay at my mom's in Naples.  So Friday I stayed with my momma, and Saturday morning, headed up I75 towards Tampa (Tarpon Springs is about 25 minutes north of Tampa).

B-21 is a really cool account that has been in business since 1948.  They do a tremendous amount of business, with free delivery to residents of  South Florida.  They do seminars on a regular basis, and wine tastings every Saturday.  They publish a flyer each month called "The Buzz" and members of the staff contribute on various wine regions and wines to try.  It is a delight to work with this account! (www.b-21.com)

Anyway, so it is the dead of summer, so I expected the tasting to be rather slow.  People are on vacation, gearing up for school to start, etc. etc.... And I was pouring an array of 8 sakes and 1 plum wine.  Most people are still a little leery of sake, so it wasn't the biggest draw on a Saturday afternoon.  But we sold a few bottles and educated some newbies, and that was the best we could hope for.

The lineup

Chillin'

These are some of the best sakes my company offers, so it was fun to taste them in a lineup.  The flavors range from soft and delicate to bold, earthy, and rich, and the potential for pairing these with food is limitless.  I particularly liked the plum wine on this afternoon, made with Aodani Plums that have been soaked in sake for 3 months before going through fermentation.  Slightly sweet, clean dry finish and perfect for a hot, sticky, muggy Florida afternoon!

The view from my table

When things were really slow, some of us joked about Weeki Wachee, a state park about 30 minutes north of Tarpon Springs.  If you don't know about Weeki Wachee, I suggest you check it out:  www.weekiwachee.com

This has to be the tackiest AND coolest thing ever.  In 1946, Newton Perry, a former US Naval Officer who trained SEALS during WWII found this deep natural spring and decided to build a theater for underwater viewing.  Then he scouted a bunch of pretty girls and trained them to swim with air hoses.  They dressed as mermaids and performed a number of shows under water including synchronized ballet, magic shows, sporting events, picnics circus acts.... you name it.  the first show began in 1947, and it is still in operation today.  I really want to go, so on my next trek to Tarpon Springs, I'll take a detour and check this place out!  Stay tuned for photos......

A new friend in Tallahassee

I flew to Tallahassee last Thursday for a market day with one of my sales reps, and then a dinner at Cypress, a fantastic restaurant that happens do do a lot of business with me.  They also do bi-monthly wine dinners that are each 5 courses paired with wine for $65.  They aren't formal dinners, but rather a come-and-go situation where you receive each course and then I, (or whoever is hosting) and the sales rep provide a tableside explanation of each wine and why it was paired with the dish.  The chef and owner, David Gwynn, has a huge following, and so the dining room gets pretty full.  That means that the sales rep and I sit at the bar to eat and drink and get out of the way until we are needed.

On this particular night, there was a very curious gentleman sitting at the bar with us.  He seemed a little aloof, but was enjoying his beer.  I snapped this photo because he reminded me of a character in the movie Vernon, FL, which is a documentary about a rural FL town in the panhandle.   This town is populated by some very strange people who are "a few sandwiches short of a good picnic" if you know what I mean - probably some inbreeding, certainly a lack of interaction with the rest of civilization.  The movie is more of a cult classic, but the sad thing is, the people and stories in the movie are REAL.

Anyway, as the night went on the bartender and the servers were friendly to him, calling him by name, and a story began to unfold.  Leonard Hill, age 77, lives in a nursing home up the street.  He comes to Cypress every day, three times, each time for a pint of beer.  He can't have alcohol where he lives, so this is how he passes his evenings and gets his fix.  At this point, I was intrigued and went over and sat next to him (I suspect I'll be a version of this person when I get older).  Turns out, Mr. Hill is from Birmingham, AL.  He worked on cotton farms most of his life, and maybe even owned his own - I couldn't quite understand everything he said.  His kids are "scattered all over" and they don't visit very often.  He hates the nursing home because there is noone to talk to, and he loves his beer -- and one of the female servers at the restaurant.  In fact, I think Mr. Hill was kind of fond of all of the ladies there...

Then it was brought to my attention that he never eats at Cypress because he can't afford it, but he hardly eats at all because the food where he lives is so bland.  Upon hearing this, I asked him to pick something off the menu and I'd buy him dinner.  He was a little overwhelmed, but settled on Shrimp & Grits and gave me a grateful pat on the back.  When the dish came out, he devoured the grits but left the shrimp (which looked AMAZING) because his teeth are too "wobbly" to chew them.  Rats!

We offered to give him a bottle of wine to take with him, because we also learned that he does smuggle alcohol into his room from time to time.  So, after finishing his second beer and his meal, he walked home to grab a coat.  This coat has a reputation evidently, because the servers explained that it has a secret pocket for stashing things.  It was 105 degrees!  But Mr. Hill came back a short time later, with his flannel contraband smuggler, and ordered his third beer and thanked us for the wine and grits.

For more info on Cypress:  http://www.cypressrestaurant.com