Carménère for the Thanksgiving table
This story originally appeared in the Napa Valley Register. For many wine enthusiasts, picking wine for the holiday table is one of utmost importance. Once the meat, stuffing, potatoes, green beans and pumpkin pie are prepared, the question is what to drink with the meal. Classic choices for red wines are pinot noir, Beaujolais or grenache, but as Thanksgiving approaches, perhaps the perfect wine for your holiday dinner should be carménère. In fact, Nov. 24 also marks International Carménère Day honoring the 22nd anniversary of the rebirth of the grape. Carménère is a grape variety that was one of the original blending grapes in Bordeaux, France. Thanks to phylloxera in the late 1800s, the vineyards were destroyed and it was thought that the grape was extinct. Meanwhile, Chile had transported some grapes from France and was busily producing an herbaceous red wine that they called “Chilean merlot.” Then 22 years ago, in 1994, on Thanksgiving, a French DNA specialist identified the Chilean merlot as the rare Bordeaux grape carménère. With the understanding of the true identity of the grape, the Chileans readjusted their treatment of the grape. Instead of picking early, as they had been doing, they let the grape reach ripeness by harvesting late.
23 November, 2016
Located on La Brea Boulevard, just south of Melrose in the space formerly known as Cube, Pizza Romana is owned by Alex Palermo. For those who loved the menu at Cube, rest assured that while Palermo changed the concept, those dishes are still on the menu. In addition, they put a large wood fired pizza oven in the center of the restaurant.
Alex Palermo grew up in Wisconsin, the son of a Roman father and American mother, and spent his vacations in Italy. He then attended college in Southern California. Having spent some time working at the La Jolla Pasta Company during summers and having visited Italy, he understood that homemade pasta is something that comes from "home". During his senior year in college, he took an entrepreneurial course. As Contadini was the only "fresh pasta" on the market at the time, he used his summer experience as an idea. He got a pasta machine from another company in San Diego and set it up at a friend's dad's restaurant in Santa Monica. He would work from 11pm to 4am making restaurant quality pasta for retail. Divine Pasta Company was born. His first client was Gelson's Market in 1992 and it grew from there where it can be found at Whole Foods, Trader Joe's and Costco today.