12 Monkeys

Wine-related resolutions for 2001

By Bob Johnson

IT’S THAT TIME of year when people resolve to get into better shape, eat healthier, quit smoking, and spend more time with family. Of course, by around Jan. 15, every one of those resolutions will have been broken. To avoid self-humiliation, I’m suggesting a few wine-related resolutions for others to embrace.

January

Resolve to think differently about wine. Too many people associate wine with special occasions. Then they go to Europe, immerse themselves in the culture, and come away thinking all Germans, Italians, and Parisians are candidates for the Betty Ford Clinic. Europeans know that a glass of wine a day does not a gutter-hugging drunk make. Study after study has shown that moderate consumption of alcohol–especially wine, and more specifically, red wine–contributes to a more healthful lifestyle for most people. The special occasion Europeans choose for drinking wine is known as “life.”

February

Resolve to share a bottle of red wine with your significant other. Yes, this is a not-so-veiled reference to Valentine’s Day. Let’s face it, women love romance, and what color do we most commonly associate with that pursuit? You got it: red. Toss in a few candles, some soft music, and a decent meal, and you have the makings of a memorable evening . . . that may well extend into the morning, if you play your cards right.

March

Resolve to hold your wine glass any damn way you please. All right, I admit it: Like every other chronicler of wine at one time or another, I have written about the importance of holding a wine glass by its stem. The reasoning behind this advice is that if you hold the bowl part of the glass, you’ll alter the temperature of the wine, making it warmer than is recommended. Two things: (1) There isn’t a restaurant in the world that serves every bottle of wine at exactly the “correct” temperature; (2) if your hand is throwing off enough heat to significantly alter the wine’s temp, you should be in the emergency room, not a dining room.

April

Resolve to host a wine summit. Have you been feuding with a formerly close friend or someone in your family? Someone has to bury the hatchet, so it may as well be you. Invite your antagonist to a public place, order a bottle of wine, and start talking. Wine brings people together, and it’s also the world’s most effective truth serum. By the time you’re draining your last glass, you’ll either be back on good terms or sharing a paddy wagon.

May

Resolve to adapt an ABC attitude. We’re referring not to the American Broadcasting Company, nor the American Bowling Congress, nor the Alcoholic Beverage Control spies . . . er, representatives. This ABC stands for “Anything But Chardonnay,” and it’s an attitude, should you choose to adapt it, that could open the door to some eye-opening and palate-pleasing wine experiences. Just as some beer drinkers always order a particular brand, many wine drinkers find it easy to get into a chardonnay rut. If variety truly is the spice of life, you can have some spicy times ahead if you occasionally think “ABC” when ordering wine. P.S.: The “C” can also stand for cabernet.

June

Resolve to break the food-and-wine pairing rules. Ever since Red Wine with Fish? hit the shelves at Barnes & Noble, food and wine writers have been questioning the “traditional” guidelines that urged red wine with (red) meat, and white wine with fish. While that’s still good basic advice, the problem is that it’s limiting; it precludes way too many sublime chow-and-vino possibilities. For instance: broiled salmon with pinot noir . . . a thick steak grilled in melted butter with a well-oaked chardonnay . . . spicy beef and broccoli with Gewürztraminer. Didn’t someone once say that rules were meant to be broken?

July

Resolve to refer to California sparkling wine as champagne. For generations, French winemakers have argued that only sparkling wine made in the Champagne region of France should be referred to as “champagne.” Some have even initiated legal proceedings to eliminate use of the word by “interlopers.” I’ve played along with this silliness for way too long, and this is the year I’m putting my foot down. If it looks like champagne . . . if it smells like champagne . . . if it bubbles like champagne . . . dammit, it’s champagne! (Do they still check passports in France?)

August

Resolve to embrace, rather than eschew, the wines of summer. The boys of summer were the old Brooklyn Dodgers. The wines of summer are chilled roses and lighter whites like chenin blanc, Riesling, pinot blanc, and Gewürztraminer. What do baseball and wine have to do with each other? Well, the Disney dynasty owns the Anaheim Angels as well as the soon-to-open California Adventure next door to Disneyland, and that new theme park will include a wine-themed attraction sponsored by Robert Mondavi. And if there’s anything better than a cold beer at a ball game, it’s . . . peanuts and pinot noir? . . . Cracker Jack and cabernet? . . . ice cream and ice wine? . . . OK, so there isn’t anything better than a cold beer and a hot dog. But you can’t spend all your time at the ballpark, so learn to love the aforementioned wines of summer and make some room in the refrigerator.

September

Resolve to trust your own palate. Don’t get suckered by the $100-and-up price tags on a (disturbingly) growing number of wines these days. Those prices have more to do with our proximity to the nouveaux riches in Silicon Valley, combined with somewhat limited supplies, than with quality. You name a hundred-buck bottle, and I’ll name five that are every bit as enjoyable for a third of the price. We all can indulge our champagne tastes on a Budweiser budget simply by learning what we, as individuals, like. Even if most of the wine you drink comes out of a box, that wine is good–to you. And when it comes to drinking wine, you’re the only person who counts.

October

Resolve to cook with wine . . . and even use some in your recipes. OK, it’s an old joke, but adding wine to certain sauces and stews can truly enhance and expand the flavor spectrum. Numerous books have been written on the subject, and many cookbooks include recipes that call for a splash or two of wine. It’s also a good way to kill off a bottle that has been open for a few days.

November

Resolve to mix it up on Turkey Day. Don’t pull your hair out trying to find the “perfect” wine match for your holiday turkey or ham. Perfection cannot be attained . . . unless you’re serving turkey or ham and nothing else. It’s all those other dishes on the Thanksgiving table that create the matching havoc, so the best way to handle the situation is to offer several different kinds of wine and put at least a couple wine glasses at each place setting. Your guests will figure out what they like on their own.

December

Resolve to learn the proper way to open a bottle of champagne (yes, including California sparkling wine that you’ve been calling champagne for eight months now). Uncorking a champagne bottle as they do in the movies is a good way to lose an eye–yours or someone else’s. To avoid possible catastrophe, slowly remove the “cage” surrounding the cork, then get a firm grip on the cork itself. Slowly–repeat: slowly–turn the cork until it emerges from the neck with a muted “pop” sound. The bubbles will be just as, well, bubbly with a muted pop, plus you won’t spill (i.e., waste) any of the wine via cascading spillage. If you simply must experience the sound of a loud pop, tune in a Lawrence Welk rerun on PBS.

From the January 4-10, 2001 issue of the Northern California Bohemian.

© Metro Publishing Inc.

Keeping the home fires burning: Comforting food and cozy surroundings greet diners at Manka’s Inverness Lodge.

Rustic Romance

Inverness Lodge the perfect winter retreat

By Paula Harris

WEND YOUR way this dark wintry night through the foggy backroads to Marin’s wildly beautiful Point Reyes Peninsula and your reward for the trek is a cozy superb supper served in the rustic and romantic comfort of an old lodge tucked away atop a hill under the stars. If you can find it!

It’s a real challenge to locate the turnoff for Manka’s Inverness Lodge in the misty darkness. We know there’s a signpost, we know there’s a hill, but we can find neither as we drive back and forth over the same stretch of road beside Tomales Bay.

The owners of neighboring restaurants must get really pissed off with all the lost souls heading for Manka’s who stop by in a panic (jeeze, they may lose their reservations) and ask for directions, as we did in two places on either side of the elusive eatery.

All fretting is forgotten, though, when you at last find the elegant old hunting lodge, built in 1917. Step into the cold, pine-scented night air and crunch your way through the leafy ground to a pumpkin-laden porch accented with a couple of creaky hickory rockers.

Inside is pure casual though sneakily indulgent comfort. The reception room is dark, but dotted with the golden-orange glow of mica table lamps. The light from a crackling fire dances in the large rock fireplace. The room is filled with deep plaid-covered couches, rustic wood furniture, baskets of logs, vintage fishing gear, and antique game boards. There are classic photographs on the walls, a chandelier fashioned from antlers hangs from the ceiling, and smoky jazz lazily emanates from the sound system.

The room is also filled with diners waiting to be seated. Lots of diners. It’s not usual to have to wait half an hour or more (even with reservations) to get into the dining room. Still, the ambiance is so mellow that any complaints are quashed by the warm room, the soft lights, and the relaxed and charming hostess in the ankle-grazing dark skirt who sips red wine and offers to bring you a glass of champagne (alas, not free) while you bide your time.

The wait is worth it. We are lulled into a state of relaxation seated in the shadowy dining room, which also has rustic wooden chairs, snowy linen tablecloths, more glowing mica lamps, and real ivy sneaking in through the window frames.

There is a five-course supper for $58. All that’s required is to sit back and relax and let the server bring you the chain of courses.

The large majority of what is served is grown and raised and caught within 15 minutes of Manka’s. The daily changing menu highlights wild game, local fish, locally raised birds, rabbits, lamb, abalone, and oysters–plus an array of greens roots, fruits, and olives grown on the property. Foragers ferret out wild mushrooms and pick buckets of huckleberries for the restaurant.

TONIGHT’S dinner begins with local goat’s milk camellia–a soft, delicate, not too “goaty” cheese served with a sweet syrup and fruits in square silver bowl. The delicious dish features a chutney of sun-dried sour cherries and pieces of candied pumpkin that were “plucked from the porch.”

Next up are bites of sweet soil-flavored baby Bolinas beets tumbling over a fluffy egg-rich parsley-garlic custard encircled with a butter sauce dotted with piquant black olives. Pure decadence.

The soup of Tomales Bay mussels is a creamy saffron-scented brew topped with ribbons of fresh green sorrel. The mussels are plump and perfect.

At this point, the “clearing ice of lemons” is a lovely palate scourer. It’s a tart, slightly creamy sherbet served in a small martini glass.

The main course is a choice between grilled axis deer or (for vegetarians) local wild mushroom risotto. Manka’s may be heavy on the game meats, but will accommodate vegetarians in all the courses offered on the menu. For example, the vegetarian in our party was served a delicate salad of spicy-bitter wild arugula dotted with pomegranate seeds and flecks of goat cheese.

The risotto is a nutty-textured delight flavored with cauliflower and served with porcini, beech mushrooms, and leeks. It’s a very satisfying alternative to the meat.

And the tenderloin chop of wild axis deer grilled in Manka’s fireplace is a rich-pink tender morsel on a slender bone. It’s accompanied by mashed parsnips, slow-roasted shallots, and a venison sauce flavored with oranges and autumn spices. What could be more perfect with a glass of deep red wine on a night like this?

The wine list, by the way, is expansive (and expensive), with more than 150 selections, a number of which are from small and often quirky domestic and foreign wineries.

Finally comes the dessert, a puddinglike bittersweet double chocolate gelato atop a pumpkin syrup-soaked pastry wedge (which is more the texture of a sponge cake) served with crunchy salty-sweet seasoned walnuts. The pastry base is too stodgy, but the rest of the dessert is wonderful.

Linger by the fire afterwards or plan to stay overnight in one of the lodge’s luxuriously rustic rooms or cabins.

Final note: Restaurant times at Manka’s frequently alter, so plan to call ahead for seasonal changes (and please note that the restaurant will be closed for several weeks from January to March) and complete directions.

Manka’s Inverness Lodge Address: 30 Callender Way (Argyle St.), Inverness; 415/669-1034 Hours: Dinner; the restaurant will close between January and March Food: Local delicacies, heavy on game meat Service: Usually a wait to get into the dining room, but service is great Ambiance: Woodsy, romantic, and relaxing Price: Expensive Wine list: Large selection Overall: 3 1/2 stars (out of 4)

From the December 28, 2000-January 3, 2001 issue of the Northern California Bohemian.

© Metro Publishing Inc.