piran café

From yesterday’s Cvičkarija festival in Ljubljana, a celebration for Dolenjska’s cviček wine, which was a key ingredient for Martin Strel’s successful swim down the Amazon two years ago. Wine and Earth Day should be synonymous, no?

(The guy wouldn’t get out of the way. My apologies.)

If you’ve ever wanted to see a bathtub full of corks, you can now cross that off of your list of Things to See Before You Die.

I had two fairly large boxes full sitting on my balcony for the past seven months. An extended family of silverfish decided to move in, forcing a quick and unceremonial eviction. Despite the name, silverfish, or lepisma saccharina, don’t swim (and they’re easily subdued by lemon-scented Mr. Musculo kitchen cleaner, by the way) so the bath was in order.

All is well again.

(RIP. BTW, happy to note that the Ravenswood 1995 Zin cork is doing just fine.)

still life with corks and plastic yellow seahorses, originally uploaded by pirano.

A few bottles that jumped out at me at Budapest airport last week. Any thoughts, suggestions, notes, and/or observations would be most graciously appreciated.

- Bock Villanyi Royal Cuvee 2004
- Chateau Dereszla Tokaji Aszu Eszencia 2000
- Royal Tokaji 5 Puttonyos 2003

I’ve read lots of ‘wows’ about this bottle from Dereszla. According to Wine Spectator, only 415 cases were produced, and in their June 2004 review (94 pts) wrote that it’ll last nicely through 2025. (I’m extremely patient, but that’s really pushing it.)

The Bock is a cab sav, cab franc, merlot and pinot noir blend from the southern Villanyi region. The Royal I knew very little about.

Thanks!

hungarian_baggage, originally uploaded by pirano.

Keeping with the St. Martin’s day theme and before I forget, notes on a few wines that were uncorked before the champagne during the election watching party the other night:

First was this 2006 Bonvin Humagne Rouge, made from a little known grape grown in Switzerland which I picked up a little over a year ago in Zurich. I’ve never tried or even heard of it before, but fell for a cute red-headed saleswoman’s pitch when I asked about local reds. I’m glad I did. It reminded me of a good zin, fruity with solid tannins. If anything it was opened at least two years too soon. Drink this with something Sarah Palin and Nicholas Sarkozy might shoot on their next helicopter-hunting trip.

I have no idea on its availability elsewhere, but my guess is that very little, if any, actually makes it out of Switzerland. Price tag was CHF 22.50 (today, EUR 15, USD 19). Nothing’s cheap in Switzerland, so this is definitely worth jumping on if you’re passing through.

Chateau Haut Padernac 2004. I picked this up in Paris on 07/07/07, and although my gut instinct was to wait, I yanked it out of the cellar simply because a Linz, Austria-based radio journalist from France, in town to cover the HAIP Festival, came by for the watching party. And I wanted him to feel at home. It rocks!

Produced by Pauillac’s Chateau Pedesclaux (sorry, don’t feel like googling the estate’s website right now), it’s a solid wine, with delightful layers of fruit and with just enough tannins to last until the next election when you can celebrate the Republicans losing even more seats in the House. By far, the best EUR 11.95 (USD 15.20 today, 16.20 on day of purchase) I spent that fabulous Saturday afternoon.

I’m heading to Greece today for a week, a little work in Athens, and a little play and time for reflection on Syros. I’ve never been. The weather forecast is warm and sunny.

Enjoy!

Obama wines, originally uploaded by pirano.

This shot, another of the front of Slovenia’s Parliament, is a fitting one for today, the kick-off of St. Martin’s Day festivities.

St. Martin? From one St. Martin’s Day fiesta a few years ago:

St. Martin –-specifically, St. Martin of Tours–- is the Catholic Church’s patron Saint of wine. Besides wine-growers, he is also said to look after beggars, soldiers and tailors. Quite a quartet to have under your wings. November 11 is an obligatory memorial in the Church, and, just a few months after the traditional grape harvest, a date that nicely corresponds with the year’s first wine releases. What is nouveau in Beaujolais, is simply mlado vino (young wine) here. And the day is set aside specifically with the Pope’s blessing. [More]

Or, if you prefer, a wine outing this weekend is another well-earned excuse to continue celebrating the end of the Bush Era, and the Dawning of the new.

The pic is also among a dozen or so of my personal faves shot in October; there are about a dozen more here, all, for a change, shot at home in Ljubljana.

Previous pic(k)s of the month: [Sep 08] [Aug 08] [July 08] [June 08] [May 08] [March 08] [February 08] [January 08]

Ljubljana 103, originally uploaded by pirano.

The first wave of anxiety hit me during the subway ride to Ambassador Wines and Spirits, at 54th Street and Second Avenue, in Manhattan. I wasn’t overcome by a fear of stripping, or the thought that the fish might leave some kind of smelly residue. What happened is that I glanced at my feet and saw that I needed a pedicure. Badly. People were about to be eating off me and I hadn’t done them the courtesy of getting my toes done.

More Confessions of a Naked Sushi Model from Vanity Fair.

via kottke.org

I won’t be there (out of town) but that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t. No complete details available yet, but recent editions featured well over 300 wines for festival goers to sample, by any measure a good way to acquaint yourself to Slovenian wines. If you’re near Ljubljana that weekend, there’s no excuse not to attend.

Limited info on the festival website here.

Hotel Slon, Slovenska cesta 34, Ljubljana
Wednesday, 19 Nov (trade, media, invited guests only, tbc)
Thursday (20) and Friday (21), 1-9 pm.

Don’t dive out of the window into a shallow pool of cheap jug wine just yet.

From Robin Garr’s 30 Second Wine Advisor last Friday:

Your 401(k) is a mere shadow of its former self. Your house is now officially worth less than you still owe on it, and so is your car. And you’re not absolutely certain that when you go down to your bank in the morning, you won’t find that someone has put a padlock on the door.

When hard times come knocking on the door, what in the heck are we going to do about a necessary luxury like wine?

His bottom line: shop smart, stupid. My favorite from his shopping-during-a-recession list?

Revisit your subscription list – Pricey wine magazines like Wine Spectator focus on the winestyles of the rich and famous and the pricey wines they drink; Robert M. Parker Jr.’s Wine Advocate is more serious but still tends to specialize in higher-priced and hard-to-fine “cult” wines. If you find you aren’t buying many of the wines reviewed in these costly publications, consider whether the subscription price is returning its value.

If these hard times hit here in Slovenia, Slovenians will be well-prepared on the wine front. As in neighboring Italy, Croatia and Hungary, and nearby Germany and France, wine for daily drinking is odprto vino, or open wine, purchased from winemakers or market stalls, generally starting at about 2 euros per liter. More often not, perfectly fine for daily quaffing. And if that becomes too much, no worries. Many simply make their own. And of course, everyone knows someone who makes their own.

The Louisville, Kentucky-based Garr has been to Slovenia several times, and had plenty of good things to say about wine in these parts. Search his site here for plenty of tasting notes and trip diaries. His free daily email bulletin is a must for anyone with anything more than a simple passing interest in wine.

barrel, originally uploaded by pirano.

I’ve mentioned Wine Library TV before, an informative and entertaining wine tasting program hosted by New Jersey-based Gary Vaynerchuk. With more than 80,000 viewers a day, it’s a popular program, and he’s already been making the rounds and spreading the word through various (US) national TV appearances.

Last week he took on three Croatian wines: 2006 Vivoda Malvazija, 2006 Kutjevo Mihalj Gracevina, and the 2004 Zlatan Otok Plavac Mali. The latter varietal, from Croatia’s Dalmatian coast, is widely accepted as a close relative to zinfandel. And he was thoroughly impressed.

“I want to have this with ostrich!” he said. That’s a good thing, by the way. Check out the episode here.

One small glitch: he describes Croatia’s Istra as being near the Italian border. True, it’s not very far. But there is a tiny country, with lots of good wine of its own, squeezed in between the two.

When you’re bopping through Croatia’s Istria peninsula, don’t forget to look inwards. Inland that is.

Smack dab in the center of Istra is the village of Motovun (population 400 and decreasing rapidly), a spectacular hilltop medieval settlement (elevation 270m /885 ft) affording sensational views of the Mirna river valley and mountains both near and far. The city walls date back to the 12th C., and the impressive city gate to the 15th when it was called Montona D’Istria. There’s simply no place like it in this area.

Istria figures prominently in the Croatian Tourism Board’s international PR campaign; part of that is for the region’s food and wine. The wine offerings are topped by Malvasia (Malvazija) and Teran (Carso Terrano) which both do quite well on both sides of the Slovenia-Croatia border. (In general terms, Malvasia is probably better on the Croatian side, Teran better on the Slovenian.) Local goat cheeses and olive oils are fabulous and bountiful, but perhaps the biggest culinary lure –certainly the most expensive– are the white and black truffles that are plentiful (if you know where to look) in the forests nearby.

The rapidly dwindling population is leading to serious problems for the hilltop community. Outside the main tourist season the village is virtually empty, with basic services beginning to disappear, and the infrastructure deteriorating. Current development plans, calling for the construction of polo grounds and a golf course and vacation villas for several hundred residents, are hotly debated. [More from the NGO Motovun Eco Town.]

An absolute must day trip if you’re in the area, and there’s plenty of interest to warrant spending a night or two in the area. The town also hosts a film festival each summer.

Wine: I bought one bottle, Kozlovic Othello 2003. Why? It’s a red blend (70% Teran, 15% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Merlot) and at 146 HRK (20 EUR/28 USD), it was the most expensive on the shelf of a delightful gift shop/local museum. That’ll tell me one of two things: it’s either a little-known bargain at that price, or, an overpriced offering targeted at day trippers and I was stupid enough to buy. I’ll let you know. Soon, I think.

A few more pics here.

Nice feature article in yesterday’s LA Times, a generally positive overview of a handful of Slovenian wines that are making their way onto the menus of the trendiest of restaurants. (I won’t fault the writer too much for this wildly off the mark remark: “When the region emerged from Soviet control in 1991 …” )

Food and wine critics at the Times were impressed enough with a recent blind tasting to give nine Slovenian wines additional ink, also in the 30-Jan edition.

Three of the nine mentioned were from Movia, Slovenia’s most widely known producer in the rest of the world, but it was nice to see mention of some internationally lesser-known varietals, such as Pinela, Ribolla (rebula in SLO), and Refosco (refošk is SLO).

goriska brda, originally uploaded by pirano.

… is the name of this 2001 abstract piece by Slovenian painter Janez Zalaznik. (My cure for hiccups, with 99.8% effectiveness, is a shot of lime juice, but no, not a good match with red wine).

I like it. Quite fitting after the last post. Currently on sale via Babele Arte for 2000 EUR. Details here.

Before it all becomes an even more distant blur, here are some haphazardly scribbled notes on wines enjoyed during the holidays. And what a spectacular wine season it was.

Listed more or less in chronological order:

These three were part of the ‘Christmas Cabs’ flight at a wine bar at Dulles Airport. Obviously over-priced there, so I won’t even mention their suggested retail.

- Fidelitas Cabernet Sauvignon 2004, Columbia Valley, Washington. The first of three I tried. Packs a wallop at 14.4%; vanilla, cherry and plummy. Dig it. Nice welcome to the USA.

- Hope and Grace Cabernet Sauvignon 2004, Napa Valley. Understated and elegant. The best of this trio. And it’s a shame I don’t have any more because this will absolutely rock in a decade or so. That sucks.

- Elizabeth Spencer Cabernet Sauvignon Special Cuvee 2005, Mt. Veeder. This was fairly well-balanced, but a little heavy on the tannins at this point. I’m sure it’ll be much better sometime soon after George Bush finally leaves office. Be patient.

First impressions? When have California wines gotten so strong?

Moving on.

- Devour Pinot Noir 2005, Napa Valley, Carneros. 13.8%. Bottled by Chateau Diana in Healdsburg, more cherry than plum on the palate, and that was about all I got from this. Didn’t live up to its name. This $12.99 (in Ohio) could be better spent.

- Chateau Loudenne Medoc 2004. Bordeaux, 13.5%. Intense ruby color, loved the blackberry bouquet! Great for another decade. $22.99 (in Ohio).

- Perrin & Fils Chateauneuf de Pape 2004 Les Sinards. 14%. Dark ruby, ripe, with sexy supple tannins. Terrific now, but if you can hold on to it for another 3-4 years, you’ll be very happy that you spent a few minutes reading this. $34.99 (in Ohio. Kinda steep. Bad Ohio, bad, bad.)

- Michael and David Phillips 7 Deadly Zins 2005 Zinfandel, Lodi, Calif. A star is born. I absolutely loved this wine! Bold, fruity, earthy and oak. The gimmick? Seven Lodi growers contributed fruit from their oldest vines, thus the titillating name. I want to sin some more. $15.99 (in Ohio).

- Maison Champy Beaune 1er Cru Burgundy Champs Pimont 2000. 13.5% Beaune Cote D’Or. 13.5%. Playful elegance. The breadth of aromas was so wide I simply lost track after scribbling “strawberry and cherry-lite”. $41.99 (in Southeast Ohio).

- Chateau Cos-Labory Grand Cru 1990 Saint-Estephe. It was a special occasion; a gathering of old friends who I rarely get to see, so spending $70 on this wasn’t a big deal. Particularly since ’90 Bordeauxs are extremely difficult to find, and especially since I earn euros. It was a gorgeous wine from the get-go, but we weren’t terribly patient. This needed air, and lots of it, but we were thirsty. (Bless me Father, for I have sinned…)

Phase three.

- Movia Chardonnay 1998, Brda, Primorje, Slovenia. Mirko and Ales Kristancic have probably done more internationally for Slovenian wines than any other winemaker. And this wine is just one reason. We tried this twice; beautiful light gold color, supple buttery notes, honeysuckle and passionfruit. Still extremely yummy and will continue to be for quite some time.

- Movia Cuvee White 1997. A blend of chardonnay, sauvignon blanc, pinot grigio, pinot blanc and rebula. Like all the Movia labels, its oak-aging gave this a luscious gold hue, just beautiful to look at. This still rocks hard a decade later. Enough said.

Phase four.

- Charles Krug Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 1998. Plummy, leathery, hint of chocolate. Great fruit on finish. This should drink well for at least another five years.

- Robert Pecota Cabernet Sauvignon 1994, Kara’s Vineyard. Calistoga, CA, Napa Valley. 12.5%. I’ve read about Pecota in the past, but his wines were always out of reach financially. Not that they’re all that easy to find in the first place. Which is why I’m really glad that my sister married Mike, who received this bottle, along with others in this batch, from his boss for Christmas. Simply fabulous, probably the best of the bunch. Not sure how much longer this will improve, so if you have a bottle, pop it open to celebrate the end of the Bush era next January, ok?

- Jip Jip Rocks Shiraz-Cabernet Sauvignon 2005, Limestone Coast, Australia. The Jip Jip Rocks are a sacred area to aboriginals, a 350 million-year-old outcrop. This 55% shiraz, 45% cabernet sauvignon was twist-off goodiness! Strong at 15%, it will mellow a bit but delicious now. I think the aboriginals will approve.

- Kunde Zinfandel 2004, Sonoma. Nice, but slightly disappointing for a well-know and relatively pricey producer.

- Bernardus Marinus 1994, Carmel Valley. Another gift my brother-in-law shared, this is a blend of cabernet sauvignon, merlot, cabernet franc, and petit verdot from the upper Carmel Valley. And yet another sensational 13-year-old.

- Thorn-Clark Shotfire Barossa Cuvee 2005, Australia. For $13.95 (about 9.50 EUR), this shouldn’t be so damned good. A blend of cabernet sauvignon, merlot, malbec, petit verdot and cabernet franc, it’s elegant and vibrant, brimming with energy. If any importers in Slovenia are reading this, get in touch with these folks ok?

Oh! The Martell XO cognac was caramel apple joy with a capital J.

I found this nifty USB wine dispenser while surfing about the other day, and while the choice of colors certainly makes for an inviting addition to my heap of useless junk collection, my local tech consultants advised against it; apparently the high speed lines available in my part of Ljubljana can’t quite handle the distribution of wine. Yet. (There’s a lovely instructional video on the dispenser’s website here.)

So I spent the 10 EUR on a bottle of wine instead, choosing to revisit teranton, a wine as Slovenian as the fabled ass sweat.

Like Kraški Teran, Teranton is produced from refošk (refosco del Carso) grapes that are grown only in the mineral-rich red soils of the karst in western Slovenia. it’s bottled by the VinaKras winery, but not every year; on average it’s bottled just two or three times per decade. Unlike teran (and particularly refošk), which is made to be drunk young, teranton is cask aged for three to six years, then bottle aged for another two to four before release. So don’t be too shocked to find the 1997 on store shelves these days; it’s the only vintage readily available in grocery stores, but you’ll probably still find older vintages at smaller, more specialized wine shops. (If I find one, I’ll let you know.)

The 1997 is unlike others I’ve tried, which I remember being spicy on the palate, a black pepper kind of spice. (I can’t consult those notes from years ago since they were stolen by a junkie who walked into my apartment a couple of years back and stole a couple of bags, one of which held a decades worth of wine files. I hope the fuckface learned something.)

This one had no hint of spice at all; instead, there was some forward plummy fruit with some hints of blackberry and cherry. Over all, it’s medium bodied-plus, pleasant on the palate, and well worth the 12 or so euros. It’s said to be best with kraški pršut, Prosciutto from the karst, and I have to agree, since I’ve never drank it with anything else.

By the way, kraški pršut is among the best in the world.

I had but one regret when I finally visited Udine last weekend: that I hadn’t made it there before.

The center of northeast Italy’s Friuli-Venezia-Giulia region, this charming town of just under 100,000 has a lot going for it. Its historic center is well-preserved and maintained; it’s missing lots (most?) of the grit that is common in many Italian cities; great food is a way of life; pretentiousness seems to be a foreign concept; and, oh yeah, it’s in the heart of Friuli-Venezia-Giulia wine country, and its Slovenia name is Videm.

From relatively narrow confines –beginning at the the sprawling Piazza Primo Maggio (May 1st), up and over castle hill, through the Piazza della Liberta and ending at the airy Piazza Matteotti– there is something for everybody. Some buildings date back to the late 12th C., and 15th C. Venetian influences are nearly as common as restaurants and wine bars. One solid recommendation is the Caffe Contarena, next to (or part of?) the 15th C. Logia del Lionello at the Piazza della Liberta. Not cheap but not outlandish either; I can still taste the polentina and the mushroom-stuffed ravioli. Ambiance is incredible, worth a visit just to enjoy its art deco interior (the right half) and the arch-shaped wine bar (left half).

Castle Hill (castello) is a must. The castle itself took its present shape in the latter 16th C. after the 1511 earthquake and it houses a nice little art museum (admission 1(!!) EUR) and Parliament Hall, one of the oldest such rooms in Europe.

Vino: I lost track of the few dozen wines I tried and note-taking was not usually an option. A few stellar standouts (semi) permanently etched into memory:

- Edi Keber Collio Rosso 2004 – Intense, big, well-structured, and packs a tasty wallop. Plenty of berry, leathery notes, and will certainly improve with age. Of course, there is a Slovenian connection here, not a particularly big surprise in wine-producing terms, where political boundaries mean nothing. Keber is from Zegla (Collio), a village a few hundred meters from the Slovenia’s Medana.
- Livio Felluga Vertigo 2005 – A cab sav/merlot blend, light leather and pleasant cherry notes. Like many wines already on the market these days, this is still quite young, and has the backbone and elegance to live on quite nicely.

This is primarily white wine country, and you can’t go wrong with the local masterpieces produced from the local Tokai Friulano (new EU regulations have forced producers on the Slovenian side of the border to change the name of the grape), a bone dry, elegant white.
- Mullino delle Tolle Tokai Friulano 2005. I can’t say enough about this wine, so I’ll keep it simple. From its light gold color to it wildflower aromas to its savory and delicate almondy taste, this is a nothing less than the wildest of fantasies in a bottle pleading to be uncorked. I’m exhausted just thinking about it.

Getting there: There are regular rail connections via Trieste and Venice/Mestre, nearest airport is Friuli Venezia Giulia Regional (aka Trieste or Ronchi, about a 30 min drive), and it’s a leisurely two hour (160 km) drive from Ljubljana.

Plenty of Udine pics here.

Udine 19, originally uploaded by pirano.

:: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: ::

More organizing – here are a few bottles from a recent trip to Paris, and again seeking thoughts, experiences etc.

- Pierre Charau Chateauneuf du Pape 2004
- Chateau Haut Padarnac Pauillac 2004
- Cheval Noir St. Emilion 2002
- Cuilleron L’Amarybelle St. Joseph 2004

The L’Amarybelle I tried at a shop tasting, it was yummy but young, and needs to chill for at least 4-5 years.

Hauled these bottles home from a recent visit to Rome, and humbly seek your suggestions, comments, notes, etc. on any and all. Thanks!

- Bigi Aliatico di Gradoli (vini Liquoroso), N/V
- Bersano Barolo 2003
- Vigneti la Selvanella Chianti Classico Riserva 2001

- Cadis (Cantina di Soave) Amarone della Valpolicella 2004
- Prunotto Dolcetto D’Alba 2006
- Nino Negri Inferno Valtellina Superiore 2004
- Mastroberardino Radici Fiano di Avellino 2005

Well, it took a little longer, but not much. For this inaugural mini-challenge, we pit a pair of cabernet sauvignons from Primorje (a quick overview on Slovenia’s regions here and open this in a new tab for this evening’s challenge theme song):

The 2005 from Dolfo (Medana, Goriska Brda) against that of Primož Štoka (Krajna Vas, Kras), 2002. Brda, the established international red area v. the uppity Kras, seeking respect for their classic varietals. 

Both came off the shelf at Mercator, one of Slovenia’s three major grocery chains, for EUR 7.99 (USD10.91/ GBP 5.39), and 8.72 (USD 11.91/ GBP 5.81) respectively, basically solid mid-range offerings that should give you something in return. Both received ample air before any quaffing ensued, but from the get-go, it was fairly obvious that Štoka was going to kick some western Slovenian ass here tonight. It was more of a romp.

The initial leathery raspberry aromas eventually turned jammy and pleasantly plummy, with great fruit on the palate and a nicely-balanced finish. I have no idea how Štoka’s wines age, but this one will be even better in a year or two, and has enough backbone to last longer.

By comparison, the Dolfo was flat. Significantly lighter in color and body, the upfront fruit simply wasn’t there on the palate, and it ended with a hint of unripe sour cherry –if you bothered to search for what was lurking behind the tannins. This 2005 is obviously still young; the tannins should smooth out and it’ll fill out a little more in the next year. But not much. For 73 cents, the difference should not have been this dramatic.

No contest. Štoka will return in the Piran Cafe Winter Less-Mini-Challenge, where it will fight for the right to move on to the inaugural Piran Cafe BIG Challenge in the spring. Stay tuned.

(If it’s of enough interest, view pic large to see the colors, along with the little flying things that went for a swim who also seemed to prefer the Stoka.)

If you’re in Ljubljana over the next few days, you should set aside a few hours and go in search of “Your Wine.”

Moje Vino is the latest incarnation of the former Ljubljana International Wine Fair. My details are sketchy on the number of wineries that will be participating, but I can guarantee with a fair amount of certainty that the 6 EUR cost of admission (includes coupons for 20 tasting samples) will be a solid investment.

Begins today and runs through Saturday (02-June), 2-8 p.m., Ljubljana Fair (Gozpodarsko razstavišče) Dunajska cesta 18.

No, this isn’t a review. It’s but a brief examination into the origins of Ritoznojčan, a Slovenian regional blend whose name quite unfortunately translates to Ass Sweat. (In both common US and UK English usage.)

True, the sweat that rolled off the hairy hind ends of over-worked peasant pickers does play a key role in the wine’s name, but it wasn’t just your average everyday ass sweat that led to this marketing nightmare for potential foreign importers. (“Hi honey, I’m home! I picked up a DVD and a bottle of Ass Sweat for tonight!” No, even the most open-minded of today’s wine consumers aren’t quite there yet.)

Back in the day, when pickers worked day and night for the counts who ruled these parts of Slovenia’s Štajerska, the landowners displayed their genial nature and kind-heartedness by allowing harvesters to keep an entire day’s worth of pickings for themselves. It was on that particular day, so the story goes, that the locals worked the hardest, thus the colorful descriptor.

Mainly produced around Slovenska Bistrica in the northeast Posavje region’s Maribor area, Ritoznojčan is a dry blend of Laški and Renski Rizlings and Šipon, is generally light in alcohol (usually less than 11%), quite crisp and moderately fruity. Fittingly, it’s probably best on a sweaty summer’s day.

Judging from the few I’ve tried, it’s not a blend that will knock your socks off, but it is a wine that in the end, quite thankfully, does not live up to its name.

Cheers!

BIRMINGHAM, UK — Five years ago tomorrow (Saturday), Slovenia’s Jolanda Čeplak produced one of the finest feats the sporting world has ever witnessed. At the 2002 European Indoor Athletics Championships in Vienna, the then largely unknown Slovenian broke the world record for the indoor 800 meters, a standard which had stood for more than 14 years with her mind-boggling 1:55.82 run. In a race that many long-time track and field observers immediately filed away near the top of their short short lists for “best ever,” both Čeplak and her long-time Austrian foe Stephanie Graf shattered the previous mark of 1:56.40 set by the East German Christine Wachtel in February 1988, also in Vienna.

This weekend here in Birmingham, Čeplak, who has since captured a European title outdoors in 2002 and the 2004 Olympic bronze medal in the event, is again among the favorites to reclaim that indoor continental title. I couldn’t help but think that this bottle of wine I picked from the list at a local pizza joint –mildly dry, pleasantly light, fruity, firm-bodied and with a nice long finish– bodes well for Čeplak’s weekend. (It certainly went well with the chicken salad I ordered.)

The first round is today, Friday, at 16.25 local time (17.25 CET), the semi-final on Saturday at 14.00 (15.00 CET), and the final on Sunday at 14.55 (15.55 CET). Both Eurosport and TV Slovenia will be providing live coverage. By the way, Slovenian Brigita Langerholc, whose biggest claim to fame to date was her fourth place finish at the 2000 Olympic Games, has produced her finest indoor season ever, and is a medal favorite as well.

Cheers!

Again, have been shirking my duties with this daily chore. Bad, bad me. Here are two, the first a somewhat inspiring view yesterday afternoon from the hallway of my relatively uninspired late-socialist era apartment building in northeast Ljubljana.

Had a fabulous dinner last night where I enjoyed škampi na buzaro for the first time. Absolutely delicious. (A Constantini 2004 merlot rocked as well; deep red, plenty of plummy fruit, delightful).  Both left me energized.

Lorax and his family live just a short hop from the central market, an enviable locale in stara Ljubljana. The convenience and charm of the market came up often in conversation, so on my bike ride home, I decided to check out what was on offer at my neighborhood market at the sprawling disaster known as BTC. Around midnight, there wasn’t much, but it is a clean, well-lighted place.

The café’s been shuttered for a few days; apologies for any inconvenience. Been busy with spring cleaning, which for the rest of our lives will now be carried out in February. It was time for stacks of newspapers, magazines and other such clutter to go, to make way for more stacks. Here’s how the home office is coming along:

Oh, a Tartini suggestion, should anyone ever seek your advice on a recording. I’ve already brought him up, but it’s always worth repeating that the best recording I’ve come across of The Devil’s Sonata by Piran’s favorite son is the Andrew Manze recording for harmonia mundi. Tartini said the mischievously haunting piece came to him in a dream, and Manze takes that dream and makes it his own.

I saw a glass of wine in a dream last night, but since a poll by YouGov revealed that 22 percent of men in the UK apparently lie about wine to impress women (only 11 percent of women fib on this topic according to the poll), I’m not going to bother with wine reviews at the moment, but do want to note the particularly huge amounts of money some people are willing to spend to clearly illustrate their bad taste in wine. Reports the Telegraph:

A rare bottle of Nazi wine with a portrait of Adolf Hitler on the label has been sold at auction for £3,995 … … The lot, which attracted worldwide interest, was expected to fetch only £500-800 when it went under the hammer in Plymouth.

That’s EUR 5,953/USD 7,812 for an undrinkable bottle that should have been enjoyed in a Berlin bunker back in May of 1945. The buyer remained anonymous, so unfortunately he can’t be outed as the No. 1 person in the world you should never ask to select the dinner wine. (Maybe those who’ve come across what CNN describes as “Small packets of sugar bearing the likeness of Adolf Hitler and carrying Holocaust jokes [that] have been found in some cafes in Croatia” should save them for their grandkids who can make a killing on eBay.)

I can’t end this with a rant about a grotesquely over-priced bottle of wine bearing the likeness of a one-testicled dictator, so will conclude with mention of another who apparently wasn’t missing much besides brains. If you haven’t seen it, check out The Last King of Scotland – Forest Whitaker was absolutely phenomenal as Idi Amin.

That’s how Gary Vaynerchuk, host of Wine Library TV, describes the popular Austrian grape, gruner veltliner. Check out this episode–fairly entertaining and quite informative– where a handful of gruners are tasted, spat and reviewed.

Note to SLO winemakers: This wine got quite a bit of hype last year due primarily to some well-publicised blind tastings, side-by-side with big name chardonnays. Maybe the same can be done with some lesser-known Slovenian varietals?