Wine & Spirits - December 2013 - (Page 22)

FINED& filtered SOMERVILLE, MA: BRONWYN pages worth of obscure beers as well as another two pages of wines from all over the former Austro-Hungarian empire and beyond. Kick off the evening with a sparkling grüner veltliner or a classic Sekt; move on to a bottle of Kruger-Rumpf Scheurebe; with its vibrant acid and ripe fruit flavor, it handles the robust food on the menu well. On a cold night, a glass of Dingac Vinarija Plavac Mali will warm your blood with its deep, spicy flavor. Together with the food, Bronwyn brings enough warmth to melt away even the deepest winter chill. -Mark DiMattei Bronwyn, 225 Washington St., Somerville, MA; 617-776-9900, bronwynrestaurant.com SANTA BARBARA: LES MARCHANDS Among the nearly two dozen tasting rooms of Santa Barbara's waterfront Funk Zone neighborhood, Les Marchands Wine Bar & Merchant is a different sort of animal. Here, hard-to-find Santa Barbara County offerings like Tatomer Grüner Veltliner and Sillix Grenache rub shoulders with a notably deep selection of wines from the Old World. It's the brainchild of two sommeliers: Eric Railsback, an Oregon native who attended Santa Barbara's Westmont College before directing the wine program at San Francisco's RN74, and Brian McClintic, MS, a SoCal native who was featured in the recent documentary SOMM. Chef Weston Richards, who runs the Spare Parts Bistro pop-up, keeps PORTLAND, OR: AVA GENE'S Ava Gene's, the second restaurant from Duane Sorenson of Stumptown Coffee Roasters, anchors upper SE Division Street as the most dynamic restaurant row in Portland. The menu is an ode to classic Italian fare, but the space evokes Portland(ia) with warm wood, eclectic art, tattooed servers and a nostalgic rock-and-roll playlist (think Janis Joplin and Jethro Tull). Slide onto a plush leather stool at the chef's counter and start with a trio from the giardini section of the menu, where chef Joshua McFadden (formerly of Roxanne's in the Bay Area and Franny's in Brooklyn) crafts transcendent vegetable combinations. Sweet meets salty in a composition of celery slivers, dates, almonds and Parmigiano Reggiano; a playful mix of melons, squid, jalapeño and cilantro finishes with a pop. All are good excuses to delve into Carly Laws's wine list, a selection of 130 wines highlighting lesser-known Italian gems. You might start with a glass of sparkling malvasia secco from La Collina, or a rosé from Terradora di Paola in Campania. The pastas, ranging from a seasonal corn agnolotti with chanterelles to the simple linguine with mussels, provide an excuse to delve into the bottle list. Laws has compiled just as many special occasion bottles (1989 Bartolo Mascarello Barolo, for instance) as she has savvy affordable options (Tamí Frappato for $28). Because you saved room for dessert, order the affogato made with Stumptown coffee, a sweet bite where Oregon meets Italy. -kerry newberry Ava Gene's, 3377 SE Division St., Portland; 971-229-0571, avagenes.com 22 WINE & SPIRITS DECEMBER 2013 photo by Eric Wolfinger At Bronwyn in Somerville's Union Square, chef-owners Tim and Bronwyn Wiechmann are intent on raising the profile of Eastern Europe classics with elegant variations on the basics, and beverages to match. Polish kielbasa comes poached in cream with a side of farm greens; Germany's fast-food currywurst goes upscale with grilled apples in place of the typical pile of fries. The schmaltz, made with chicken and pork fat and spiked with crisp cracklins, is addictive spread on crisp, thin-sliced rye bread; the knish gets a makeover with hazelnuts, shiitakes, riesling-braised leeks and Middlebury blue cheese. To wash it all down, they've gathered two the Les Marchands crowds from surviving on wine alone. On a recent visit, his smoked mussels with dill and a baguette lined up nicely with a Château Pibarnon Rosé from Bandol, while fried padrón peppers found a friend in the Jäger Ried Achleiten Smaragd Riesling from the Wachau. Though the composed plates are available only on weekends, simpler prepared dishes like tuna crostini and pork rillettes are available weekdays. On Mondays, McClintic runs educational tastings that highlight pairings like uni with muscadet and riesling with ramen. -Matt kettMann Les Marchands, 131 Anacapa St., Santa Barbara; 805-284-0380, lesmarchandswine.com http://www.bronwynrestaurant.com http://www.lesmarchandswine.com http://www.avagenes.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Wine & Spirits - December 2013

Wine & Spirits - December 2013
Editor’s Note
Happenings
Contents
Fined & Filtered
Acid Trips
The Great Whiskey Shortage of 2013
Spirits
Gadgets and Gi
New Destinations
Where to Eat & Drink in Seattle
Turning Champagne into Wine
Barolo & Formaggio
Douro, No Apologies
Walla Walla Cabernet
The Best for $10 or Less
Overview
Champagne
US Sparkling Wine
US Cabernet Sauvignon
Alsace
German Riesling
2011 Vintage Port
Barolo & Barbaresco
Rioja
US New Releases
International New Releases
Wine & Spirits Top 100

Wine & Spirits - December 2013