Summer Cocktails at Le Vigne

It is seriously hot, sticky and thick in the South during the summer months. These cocktails help. They might not make you any less hot and sweaty but after a couple you just won't care!

shine on $10

rhubarb puree, apple pie moonshine, lemon juice, fei brother’s rhubarb bitters, prosecco

ain’t that the berries $10

berries from our garden, lemon, lime, pyrat xo rum, honey vanilla syrup, house made grenadine

lolling about $10

bourbon, peach puree, lemon, house made grenadine, domaine de canton, mighty leaf verbena mint tea

all in a fizz $9

crop organic vodka, rose port, wood sorrel, lime, pelligrino

Photos and detailed directions to follow soon!

Ivanabitch

I have recently been given a bottle of Ivanabitch red berry flavored vodka. This is not a product that I would normally get super excited about but something in the absolute cheese and b.s. factor promotion of this product has struck my funny bone. It even has me sounding like a cheese ball. Nonetheless, check out what the back of this bottle says and then visit the web site for another guffah. The vodka itself, by the way, is something that I would mix with Kool aid by the pool if I was ready to get totally blatto. Never would drink this processed "berry" vodka otherwise. Almost reminds me of the Tussin skits from Chris Rock. I digress...
Back of the bottle:
"Believe it or not, Dmitri Ivanabitch was strolling through the forests of Holland one spring day and stumbled into a patch of red berries. Scraped up and cut, he pulled out his flask of Ivanabitch Vodka and began cleaning his wounds. The fragrance of the berries mixed with his prize vodka was delightful. He rushed home with a pocketful of berries and began working on his next recipe- Red Berry Flavored Vodka.

Now, you can enjoy the clean, smooth, taste of award-winning Ivanabitch Vodka  infused with the sweet taste of red berry just as Demetri did so many years ago. Stay tuned to see what bush he falls into next and until then-beware of bushes!!"

Wow! Seriously! Scary bushes... wait until you see the web site. http://www.ivanabitch.com

Obsessed with Nero d' Troia!

I don't often blog about things that I don't have a funny story for but...I absolutely adore this producer. John Given is a little known wine dude from Italy- at least he is little known in my neck of the woods. In general, people think that Georgians have little to no taste in wine. I, of course, think that I have impeccable taste in everything. I digress, this little known wine has been one of the best sellers at the tasting room and restaurant in the Montaluce vineyard in North Georgia. I feel like this single fact attests to the taste of my customers and my staff. This juicy and lightly tannic wine has both rustic and new world charm and is incredibly food friendly and drinkable! I especially like this wine with salty or fatty meats but would be just as nice with parmesan and olives or a lamb loin. Even if its not this Nero di' Troia try another of this varietal. Good stuff!



Tasting notes from the web site!

NERO DI TROIA, PUGLIA IGT, 2007
(Certified Organic)
Azienda Agrobiologica Di Tuccio Raffaele (Antica Enotria)
Since 1993, Antica Enotria has been producing
their wines without the use of chemicals
pesticides, herbicides or fertilizers. The winery is
located in the province of Foggia just a few miles
from the Gulf of Manfredonia in Puglia.
Tasting Notes: A lean yet muscular, softly
tannic wine suggestive of dark red-berry fruit
with notes of licorice and leather.
90pts - Gregory Dal Piaz, snooth.com
"This has a hint of Band-Aid on the nose but there is
also deep, wild blueberry and blackberry fruit topped
with sweet licorice tones and a nice tarry overtone.
Light and lively on entry with very clear, brisk, wild
berry fruit. The tannins here are small-scaled but
firm, adding a light bitter underlay to the aromatic,
fresh, precise finish."
Region:  Puglia
Classification:  Puglia IGT
Area of Production: Daunia - Northern Puglia
Grape Variety:  100% Nero di Troia (Certified
Organic Grapes)
Soil: Mixed (Limestone&Clay)
Average Age of Vines: 9 years
Trellising System:  Guyot
Spacing of the Plants:  Approx 1800 plants per
acre
Production per Acre: 3.57 tons
Vinification Technique: After harvesting and
slight crushing, the grapes are left to macerate
on the their skins and ferment at a controlled
temperature of 25ºC for 12 days.
Maturation: Ages in steel tanks for 8 months
followed by an additional 6 months in oak
barrels.
Total Acidity: 5.50 g/l
Residual Sugar: 0.25 g/l
PH: 3.6
Alcohol: 13%
Total Cases Production 1250

Drink up!

Spanking the Mint

The first time I saw someone spank it- the mint- I was taking a Bar Smarts course and watching a video demonstration for the proper technique for making a mojito. Maybe it struck me so hilarious because I was "studying" for this course while "practicing" making cocktails and tasting them to make they were tasty. When I watched the demonstration for spanking the mint my own tasty mojito shot out of my nose as I guffawed burning the hell out of the lining of my nostrils and causing my eyes to stream tears.

I didn't think too much of the mint spanking issue until the first annual Killer Tomato Fest. Festivals like this are the mecca for cocktail geeks. The rules of competition for this particular festival stated that the cocktails and food had to be made with tomato thus the "Killer Tomato" moniker.  I was working the upstairs bar at JCT kitchen. The bar has panoramic windows that let me see all of the vendors and booths in the courtyard. The mixologist directly outside the the JCT bar is well known in Atlanta for his creative cocktail menus and is quite talented. He is also a cocktail geek which often means sporting odd outfits etc. This day he was wearing very tight shorts and an incredibly small mechanic's shirt. My view of him from the inside was of his back and his very tiny bum. Along with tomato his cocktail, of course, contained mint. I will never forget the look of him spanking that mint. He would shift his weight to one foot, hold out his left hand and lovingly place the mint leaves in his palm, clench his tiny butt and slam his open right hand into his left spanking the mint! I must have watched him spank his mint at least a hundred times that day. The first time I almost peed my pants. By the end of the day I was almost ready to join the mint spanking revolution.

The reason behind spanking mint is to release the essential oils in the mint so that you maximize the flavor and smell of the refreshing herb. I have never seen a difference between spanking and crushing for essential oil release. The only difference I have ever been able to see is the hilarity factor. I often choose to spank it because it amuses me.

I am also amused by seeing other people spanking it. I have a new trainee in my bar. She is an adorable blonde with a bubbly sense of humor. Last weekend I was teaching her to make an agave mint syrup for one of my cocktails. She spanked the hell out of that mint for 15 minutes. She made my week! I can't wait to make mojitos for this weekend's wedding. I wonder how many of my employees I can convince to spank it?

James Beard

James Andrew Beard (May 5, 1903 – January 21, 1985) was an American chef and food writer. The central figure in the story of the establishment of a gourmet American food identity, Beard was an eccentric personality who brought French cooking to the American middle and upper classes in the 1950s. Many consider him the father of American-style gourmet cooking. His legacy lives on in twenty books, numerous writings, his own foundation, and hisfoundation's annual Beard awards in various culinary genres.


So why do I care about James Beard in a cocktail blog? First, I was just privileged enough to be at his house to pour wine while the chef; Steven Hartman and the wine maker Maria Peterson, showed how incredibly talented they are! I have the honor of working with these talents and making sure the products that they have are managed in a responsible and gracious way.


About the food and wine:
Hors D'oeuvres
Springer Mountain Chicken Liver Mousse with Mead Macaroons and honey roasted peanuts
Pickled Georgia Shrimp and Honey-Cured Local Rainbow Trout Roe on Corncakes
Benton's bacon pound cake with sweet and sour huckelberry and maple creme fraiche
**paired with Mead(2x fermented honey wine) and risatta(dry rose made from vidal blanc, seyval blanc and merlot)
On The Table:
House cured ham, buttermilk biscuits, whipped butter, peach jam
**paired with 2010 primoro(fantastic white table wine made from vidal and seyval blanc)
First course;
Pickled Beets, spinning spider goat cheese, sorrel, montaluce wine vinegar, extra virgin olive oil
**2009 montaluce, tramonto(Bordeaux style red blend)
Second Course:
Gerorgia lamb terrine; radish, pesimmon preserves, mint
**2008 montaluce, cabernet sauvignon
Sauteed Sunburst Farms Trout; baby bok choy, house cured & smoked trout, sorghum
** 2010 montaluce primaluce (blend of 60% chardonnay and 40% pinot gris)
Riverview Farms Slow Cooked Pork Shoulder; ramps, young mustard greens, rhubarb
**2008 montaluce, centurio (reserve merlot)
Local Organic Farm Fresh Egg Custard; creme caramel sauce, candied pecan
** 2009 montaluce, dolce (vidal blanc and seyval blanc hybrids but sweet)


So beyond the fact that the team i work with every day is amazing... We kicked ass at the James Beard House and are super fired up to do the things that we already do well even better!!! Thank you James Beard. Side bar: there is still a mirror in place in the house where his bed was. He is so my idol!!!

Tequilla

My first experience with tequila was in the house of a rather nerdy and foul co-worker of mine at one of the first restaurant jobs that I ever had. I was just barely 19 and with no prospects for the evening and went over to party. One of my friends and I ended up sucking nasty booze straight out of the bottle and playing dungeons and dragons with said co-worker and his many roommates. After consuming a a bunch of tequila, a mixto similar to moonshine, and eating a worm, the evening got predictably blurry. I did, however, come away from the evening with a much more clear meaning for "machismo." If one doesn't feel f'ing invincible drinking worms out of a Mexican moonshine bottle and battling fake demons than I don't know what could possibly do it. Unfortunately, the next morning waking with sand in my eyes, fire in my stomach, bile in my throat and next to foul smelling co-worker my invincibility waned and I felt very, very invincible.

For a long time after this incident the thought of tequila sent my head reeling. Luckily, I can now appreciate the finer things in life and agave based spirits are one of those indeed. I would not, well...probably not ever eat a bug out of a bottle to show off to some smelly dude again. And unless already in a bad state I would never again drink bad tequila.

I am not a tequila expert but the good people at Imbibe magazine are. If interested check out this article http://www.imbibemagazine.com/almost-famous. Imbibe is the most beautiful magazine ever published, in my opinion, and should be bought in print. They have a mezcal recipe in the Jan/Feb 2011 that I can't wait to try. It is called the El Nacional contributed by bartender Casey Robinson. 1 oz. mezcal, 1 oz. Campari, 1/2 oz. Ramazzotti Amaro, 1/2 oz. dry vermouth, and 3 dashes chocolate bitters.This recipe is stirred over ice in a mixing glass and served up in a cocktail glass and garnished with a couple of drops of Laphroig and a lemon twist. Yum!!! I will keep you all posted on the results of this one. Until then buy an Imbibe mag and get inspired!

And A Bottle of Rum

I might need a vacation. I love my work and I love my family but my thoughts keep drifting on the beat of a steal drum. Warm tropical breezes and of course, rum. The fantasy of Johnny Depp as a pirate doesn't hurt my mind vacation either! 

Thomas Mario in chapter 11 of Playboy's New Host and Bar Book comments that "One of rum's most memorable qualities is that it never lets you forget where it comes from. So true. I love tikki drinks almost as much for the "mini" vacation implied in the layered flavors of goodness as for the sheer reminder of sunshine.Those of you that know me, know that I am one of the whitest people on earth and have to hide under 90 proof sunblock in the Georgia summer. So the actual tropical vacation for me tends to suck. The mini rum induced vaca is much better.


If in need of a little vacation to the tropics try the High:

HIGH:

Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass, garnish with a blood orange segment

1 ½ oz. Pyrat XO rum

½ oz. falernum

¾ oz Grand Marnier

juice of ½ lemon

3 drops Fei Brother’s whiskey barrel bitters

My Simple Recipe for Falernum:

50 cloves

1 tbsp whole all spice

2 tbsp dry ginger

Crush in mortar and pestal

Infuse 8 oz rum and zest of 8 meyer lemons for 1 day. Strain and put into heavy simple syrup-2c sugar to 1 c. water

But be careful. As Mario points out "Any young man today who has learned to wet his lips with something other than water knows that rum has a peculiarly persuasive effect. Whiskey makes a girl stop arguing. Beer soothes her. Gin disarms her. But rum cajoles."

Steaks and Strippers

The wedding season at Montaluce Vineyards where I manage the restaurant LeVigne is having its unofficial start this weekend. While I was mixing the bride's signature cocktail for the reception, a lovely purple hued pomegranate concoction, I was thinking of the men and their role in the wedding. Weddings are generally all about what the bride wants, and even though the man is certainly acutely aware of the repercussions of the day's events, he is not often involved in the bride's (and the other ladies involved) insane desire for the perfect day.

The big day for the groom is more often than not the bachelor party. Having never been a bachelor myself I will use the help of Thomas Mann, the eloquent author of Playboy's New Host & Bar Book from 1971 and of course, my own observations of men, booze and relationships. Mann says "Judgement day doesn't necessarily coincide with one's wedding day; it often occurs several nights before the nuptials are celebrated, during the trial by alcohol, the riotous rite identified as the bachelor dinner party." My idea of a the ideal bachelor party is one forged from some friends of mine who have a ritualistic male bonding session every year. Even though said ritual does not necessarily coincide with any upcoming nuptials it is nonetheless the ideal bachelor party. The event happens every year shortly before Christmas and has been fondly coined "Steaks and Strippers!"

The event started innocently enough as friends decided to go together to brave the holiday shopping expeditions for their ladies. Like a bachelor party; the celebration and good intentions of honoring the relationship, and the farer sex, went downhill after the second round of drinks. The Steaks and Strippers crew started with a plan to go shopping for the ladies. But of course, the gentlemen were hungry. As busy professionals they decided to meet at a restaurant. So; the Steaks and Strippers crew would meet at a steak house bar, to eat and fortify themselves for the shopping. Martinis happened. Wine and beer, then cigars, then shots... One can infer the progression. After the first year, and with the help of strategic planning and internet shopping the mall was completely eliminated from the day and the strippers were a permanent part of the equation. This kind of party seems like way more fun than the average wedding and definitely more fun than the average bachelorette party.

 

Having only been to bachelorette, not bachelor, parties. I can honestly say that I hate the bachelorette parties! Stuck with girls I don't know, drinking out of straws shaped like miniature penises, and aiding a drunk girl wearing slutty clothes and a veil covered in condoms is not my idea of a good time. I understand that facing a life with someone may be enough to induce bing drinking, in not only yourself but every friend and unfortunate relative you know. But really, does it have to be so awful for all involved? 

I think the Steaks and Strippers gentlemen, who have their pseudo-bachelor party every year and Thomas Mann have it down. Bottom line; have a plan, hire a private room at a steak house, pre-arrange cocktails and wine (to help the budget), make sure everyone eats (ladies you know that none of you eat before your weddings and therefore are a wreck for your bachelorette party) starting with the second round of cocktails, and last but not least, be aware of the cost of your last night of freedom. The Steaks and Strippers crew, while honoring debauchery, did so with planning and forethought. Drivers are always used, a day off the next day is required and there is no “movie” like consequences.

Jury Duty

I have recently completed my civic duty of being on a jury. During the long hours of rehashing the same material over and over-fascinating stuff like phone records- my mind would wander. I wondered what the lawyers liked to drink, the judge and of course what the jury juice of choice would be.

The defense: High profile defense attorney-day time; Arnold Palmer (lemonade and iced tea); evening possibly Pinot Noir or an occasional blended scotch. Co-counsel; vodka martini in the evening; Young buck assistant lawyer; Pinot Grigio and maybe Pimm's cups in the summer.

Prosecution: Investigator; bud light with lime (He looked really tough and in my observation really tough looking guys don't drink that much and often drink girly drinks. If living in Atlanta during the apple martini craze you would know what I am talking about. 6'4" and muscle bound with a green martini garnished with a cherry. Come on!) Female prosecutor; something strong. Still haven't put my finger on it but...Male prosecutor; nothing. Too obsessive and small to drink. He wouldn't want to loose control. Then I got to thinking...do lawyers drink more than most? http://philawdelphia.wordpress.com/2007/08/02/lawyers-and-drinking/
Interesting.

Judge; not much. Maybe good reds from California because he knows that they are good for his blood pressure.

Jury: This is the mixed bag! Too overwhelming to guess the booze proclivity of all 12 jurors plus the 2 alternates. I decided to ask the internet. Remember when one had to ask the universe for answers. Now just the internet. I digress. Here are the 2 interesting things I found...1) The oldest bar in Columbus, Ohio has just gotten a face-lift and been reopened. http://juryroomcolumbus.com/menu/JR_Menu_Booze.pdf  Here is their jury juice:

Jury Juice  $3
A hand-mixed lime daiquiri (rum, triple sec,
& lime juice) served on the rocks
Sounds good. Refreshing.
2) A doctor and a lawyer were attending a cocktail party when the doctor was approached by a man who asked advice on how to handle his ulcer. The doctor mumbled some medical advice, then turned to the lawyer and asked, "How do you handle the situation when you are asked for advice during a social function?"

"Just send an account for such advice" replied the lawyer.

On the next morning the doctor arrived at his surgery and issued the ulcer-stricken man a $50 account. That afternoon he received a $100 account from the lawyer.

For me, my post jury drink of choice would be a Manhattan on the rocks with house made vermouth, orange bitters, Eagle Rare whiskey and a bourbon cherry. Maybe 2 or 3.

VD Day

I have been married for years- most of them happily- but I regrettably am one of the least romantic women on the planet. My husband once took me to a rock, in the middle of a creek, with champagne and snacks awaiting us. I fell in. He has since discontinued the elaborate Valentine's day rituals and practices more "every day" romantic acts. For example, he makes me coffee just the way I like it. He also only puts the toilet paper on with the paper going over the top because he knows I hate it the other way. If this isn't romantic I don't know what is!

For those wanting to woo the loved one in more spectacular ways than making sure the t.p. is on right try this cocktail:
Love Potion #9

 2 oz. green tea (I use Mighty Leaf Green Tea Passion), 1/2 oz. honey vanilla syrup (add a little hot water to honey with a little vanilla paste or extract added), 1/2 oz. lemon juice, 1 1/2 oz.Cap Rock gin, 3/4 oz. Pama pommegranite liquor. Pour over ice, mix, garnish with lemon. This cocktail is pretty, not too sweet and not too boozy. This is a lovely way to get in the mood.

For those without a date there is always Dickle. http://www.dickel.com/home.aspx   Pun intended. However, there is no better way to get over heart ache or loneliness than whiskey. Tennessee sipping whiskey made from fine ingredients may be the best salve for a wound. The making of it is like a love story in and of itself. The passion of a man, stomped by prohibition, resurrected by another and chilled to produce the finest qualities. The aroma, the rushing water, the craftsmanship... ohhh... O.K. so I might be a romantic after all. Is it so wrong that the object of my romantic tendency is Dickle?

What does a bunny drink at a Super bowl party?

Today is the unofficial holiday- known as the Super Bowl -so I obviously have been thinking about the Super Bowl Party. I heard on the radio that over a billion chicken wings and 325.5 gallons of beer are consumed on Super Bowl day.So I got to thinking...what does a playboy bunny drink at a Super Bowl party? I was thinking champagne or something pink and girly.I was wrong. The girls are drinking Bud Light and hanging out with Snoop Dog. The world is weird. http://socialitelife.com/snoop-dogg-performs-at-super-bowl-party-02-2011

http://www.dallasnews.com/sports/super-bowl/the-scene/20110205-inside-the-playboy-party-if-you_re-not-at-the-party-you_re-a-loser_.ece
Enjoy the game!