Bryan Batt on Wine

Wine Spectator just published, on-line, one of my periodic interviews of non-industry people talking about wine. This one's with Bryan Batt, who plays art director Salvatore Romano on "Mad Men." Here it is:

Mad Men's Bryan Batt
The actor who portrays the art director in AMC's Mad Men enjoys exploring new wines, along with food pairings
By Robert Simonson

Actor Bryan Batt, 46, plays art director Salvatore Romano in the popular AMC television drama Mad Men, which is set at a New York advertising agency in the early 1960s. The show's cocktail culture is nothing new to Batt, though the seasoned Broadway stage actor, who grew up in New Orleans, also loves wine. These days, he splits his time between Los Angeles, where Mad Men is produced; New York, where he continues to take on the occasional stage assignment; and New Orleans, where he and his partner, Tom Cianfichi, own Hazelnut, a home decor shop on Magazine Street.

Wine Spectator: There are a lot of cocktails consumed on Mad Men. Your character, Salvatore Romano, is one of the few we see drinking wine. I guess Sal, being Italian, would be into wine.
Bryan Batt: Yes, he would like a nice Chianti.

WS: How did you get interested in wine?
BB: My friends own a wine store in New Orleans, and when I'm in town, we're either at their house having dinner or they're at our house having dinner. They bring wine and try to educate me more about what I like. Being able to sit back and really examine a wine and have the vocabulary to tell somebody what you like is wonderful. I used to like a lot of oaky Chardonnays, and they've opened my mind to the coastal California Chardonnays that are crisper and not oaked.

WS: Can you remember a particular wine that really opened your eyes to wine's possibilities?
BB: It was a Far Niente Chardonnay—a classic California Chardonnay, with intense fruit, a bit of spicy oak and a long, rich finish.

WS: Are you generally a red or a white wine man?
BB: I'm usually a white wine person. But I do love a Pinot Noir. I love a good Cabernet.

WS: Have you started to collect?
BB: I don't collect. But I do love, when I'm serving a dinner, asking around and finding a good wine that complements the meal. We have a traditional New Year's Eve dinner. It's been going on for about 10 years. One year [in New York] there was going to be a big snowstorm so we opted to stay home and invited about five couples. Tom ran to the butcher and asked, "What do you have that’s good?" The butcher said, "I have a veal shank. You make osso bucco tonight." Tom came up with a great recipe, and the tradition has lasted. We started in New York, and it's continued in New Orleans. So we always try to find a great wine that will complement osso bucco.

Don't Be Bitter. Buy Bitters.

There are some things in life that don't expect to have to worry about. The sun will rise. Gravity will keep people and objects safely earthbound. The grocery store will start carrying turkeys sometime after Halloween.

In the bar world, one of the accepted sureties of life is the ready availability and unlimited surplus of Angostura bitters. The little bottles with the oversized wrappers that are essential back bar tools can typically be found in almost any supermarket or deli. You don't have to search high and low. It's the Heinz ketchup of cocktail ingredients.

But, now, the unthinkable is happening. The Guardian reports that the world is in the grips of an Angostura shortage. Bars in England are struggling to keep in a steady supply. The website of Angostura's main UK importer, WB Distribution, says the product is completely sold out. According to the paper, "Trinidad's House of Angostura has blamed a shortage in ingredients and a financial restructuring. The firm is owned by CL Financial, a Caribbean conglomerate hit by a liquidity crisis, prompting an emergency bailout earlier this year by the government of Trinidad and Tobago. Patrick Sepe, chief executive of the US distributor, Angostura USA, said the production line ran dry in June and was only just getting back on track. "There has been a shortage," said Sepe. "You can't just turn on and off supply of bitters. It's not like producing bottled water – it's a very delicate, intricate process." "

The Great Recession hits you everywhere, doesn't it?

Some British bars have turned to the German company, The Bitter Truth, as a substitute.

Once owned by the rum firm Bacardi, the House of Angostura was sold in 1997 to CL Financial. "According to Trinidad's Newsday newspaper, CL leveraged Angostura's profits against a series of acquisitions including a deal to buy control of a Jamaican industrial company, Lascelles deMercado. It was reportedly left with a TT$600m (£57m) hole in its balance sheet."

So far, I have not heard of any bars in New York complaining about the shortage, but I will be asking around.

Whole Foods Speaks Truth to Power

I'm not a slave to trends, but I do like to try new things, if only to keep my taste buds up the date.

So, earlier this year, when I read that Ferran Adrià—the supposed super-genius behind El Bulli, the Michelin three-star restaurant in Roses, Spain, where you need take out a third mortgage and deliver over your first born in order to get a reservation—had created a beer "to drink with food, from a wineglass,” I made a mental note. Several mental notes, actually. One was, "in a wine glass? Really?" How precious. The second was, "to drink with food? What does he mean? Can't all beers be drunk with food?" But, the guy is noted by all and sundry for his creativity, so I thought I'd give it a try.

I wasn't in a huge hurry, so it wasn't actually until this past August that I thought to buy the wine/beer. I was walking down Second Avenue when I saw the Whole Foods beer store on Houston Street. I recalled reading that the beer, called Inedit, was carried at Whole Foods.

As a side note, let me just say here that I had never been to the Whole Foods beer store until that moment, because, well, because I hate Whole Foods. It's so expensive and bourgeoise and pretentious. But I have to say that beer store rocks. The selection is fantastic and the help are informed and friendly and independent-minded. How do I know this? Because they told me their genuine opinion of Inedit.

I didn't have much time, so I just went right up to the counter and asked if they had that new El Bulli wine. The man didn't exactly scowl, but he's didn't smile, either. He just led me joylessly, silently to the beer, grabbed one and handed it to me. I then took the beer to the cashier, another young man with a beard. He didn't seem too enthused by my selection, either. Something was up. I ventured a question. "So, do you like this stuff?" They looked at each other, silently agreeing to spill the beans.

"No," said the first clerk. "I think it tastes like cheap Champagne. Only not as interesting." Ouch. "Sorry, but you seemed like a nice guy," he explained. No, no, no! The truth is always appreciated. They then when on a mild tirade about how they found the maker's assertion that Inedit was the first beer to be drunk with fine food insulting and idiotic. I put the Inedit down and asked what they recommended instead. They steered me toward two other beers, one local and one foreign. They were both great.

A Southside at "21"

The "21" Club thinks its invented the Southside. It didn't. But you have to admire how they uphold the drink's honor.

The other day, I dined at the famed 52nd-Street eatery. I began my repast with a Southside, just to see if they upholding the standard well. I was eating with a regular, and she gently warned me against ordering one; the night bartender made them better (by which she mean sweeter). But I was in the mood and and I wasn't going to be back at dinner, so I went ahead.

I have no complaints about what I got. Beautifully refreshing and piquant, sweet enough for my tastes, and with more than enough ice to keep the chill on until I got to the bottom of the drink. (That didn't take long.) Nicely presented, too, the highball flecked through with pieces of muddled mint.

Mick Hucknall Talks Wine

You never know which celebrities are dabbling in wine these days, there are so many of them. One I recently talked to, for Wine Spectator, is Mick Hucknall, the lead singer of Simply Red. He seems refreshingly serious and well-informed about his winery. The wines will soon be available in the U.S.

Wine Talk
Pop Singer Mick Hucknall
The British frontman for Simply Red is making Italian wines on the slopes of a volcano in Sicily

By Robert Simonson

When British singer Mick Hucknall, 49, decided to become a vintner in the late 1990s, he had a potentially perfect name for his first bottling at his fingertips—Simply Red, the name of the rock group he has fronted since 1985, best known for the chart-topping hits "If You Don't Know Me by Now" and "Holding Back the Years." Instead, he named it Il Cantante ("The Singer" in Italian). Il Cantante's winemaker is Salvo Foti, who has been making wine in Sicily since the early 1980s for numerous Sicilian wineries, including Gulfi and Benanti. The Il Cantante lineup includes three wines grown in the volcanic soils surrounding Sicily's Mt. Etna. Hucknall spoke with Wine Spectator about his introduction to fine wine, how he became a vintner and his experiences traveling the world as a wine-loving pop star.

Wine Spectator: How did you get interested in wine?
Mick Hucknall: I developed a fascination with Italy early on in my career. We achieved success there shortly after [we did in] the U.K. My wine epiphany was in 1989. I remember the wine very well: Roberto Voerzio La Serra [Barolo]. That was the first time I drank a red wine that had what I described as "dimensions." It wasn't just a beverage. It had more depth than I initially realized. I found myself really enjoying the subtleties.

WS: Many people would have been content to continue drinking fine wine. You started a vineyard.
MH: Yes. An old friend of mine who was originally Sicilian, his father retired and wanted to move back to Etna. He bought a small property there at the volcano that had a villa and a vineyard. The tragedy came when he retired on a Friday and died on a Monday of a heart attack. My friend took it badly. He moved into the villa. I visited him there and he vowed he would make the villa into a beautiful property. He said, "Why don't we make some wine?" but we didn't take it that seriously until the day he introduced me to [winemaker] Salvo Foti.

WS: I understand that when Foti met you, he didn't know who you were.
MH: That's the way it should be. In this project, he is the star. If you're going to make a wine of excellence, you have to focus on who is making the wine. It's all well and good being a pop star, but what does that have to do with wine? I've tried to avoid the celebrity angle.

WS: How many wines does Il Cantante produce now?
MH: Currently, we have Etna Rosso, Etna Bianco and a Nero d'Avola. In the future we may well produce a sparkling wine and a grappa.

WS: Do you collect wine?
MH: Yes. I've been collecting wine since 1995. It's mostly French, some Italian. I have quite a lot of Hungarian wine as well, which is a bit under the radar. Having just come back from a tour of Australia and New Zealand, I was immensely excited by the quality of wines there.

WS: With all your touring, you must get many chances to taste wines in the places where they're made.
MH: We actually performed in several vineyards on this most recent tour. We performed at Villa Maria in New Zealand and Peter Lehmann in South Australia. One of my favorite moments was having a tasting with winemaker Peter Gago at Penfolds. I was doing a show that day, so I couldn't actually swallow any wine. Your readers may think I'm insane, because he opened some extraordinary wines.

Review: My Rice and Beans Wine

I know what you're saying. "You're what wine? Drink a beer, stupid!"

Yes, beer is the go-to alcoholic beverage when simple, humble rice and beans is the meal at hand. But, somehow, no beer as ever hit the spot for me like this unprepossessing, mass market Spanish wine—Marques de la Villa Malvasia from the Toro region.

I discovered the wine by accident years ago. Most likely, I had less than $10 in my pocket, and that's why I went for it. (It still goes for less than a sawbuck.) My relative poverty at the time also probably explains why I had rice and beans the same night I opened this bottle. But the combination was an amazing success. With rice and beans, you don't want to overdo it. You don't need a fancy wine, or a complex one. You want a light quaffer. And the Malvasia is super simplistic. The palate is one-note citrus (they'll tell you tropical and pear as well, but I don't know), decent acidity, and a light, almost watery body. That may not sound particularly appealing ("watery"?), but it's elementary package of attributes works magic with a plate of black legumes, rice, cheese and maybe some hot peppers. Fresh food, fresh wine. It's a perfect marriage.

For a while, I was ashamed to mention this little secret, fearing the judgment of wine snobs. But then I noticed the wine in LeNell Smothers' erstwhile liquor shop in Red Hook. And what do you think? She said she told customers that the bottle was her rice and beans wine. I wasn't alone!

Review: Chenin Blanc Surprise

I bought a bottle of Olek-Mery Chinon Cuvee des Tireaux 2006 white Loire wine on the recommendation of Crush, the midtown Manhattan wine dealer. They said they had tasted the Rosenthal-imported Chenin Blanc with small expectations and were "blown away."

I, too, was impressed. This little-known wine has incredible depth. I was most impressed by the unrelenting stoniness and the amazing structure. It's a Chenin of great presence.

Typically of a Rosenthal import, Domaine Olek-Mery is fairly small, with only 9 hectares of vineyards. It was founded by Jean-François Olek, a Poland-born nuclear power scientist. He and his wife didn't get to see much of the fruit of their labors. Olek-Mery died just after the 1991 harvest; his wife just before. Their two young daughters took over, and Nathalie Olek now manages the domaine. The vineyards are taken care of by the esteemed Baudry family and the wines are made by Bernard Baudry and his son, Matthieu. Well, no wonder we have a good wine here.

No chemical herbicides or fertilizers are used. The pride and joy of the domaine is the "Les Tireaux" vineyard, a special holding of older Cabernet Franc, with a recently planted plot of Chenin Blanc. It has a southerly exposure and soil of soft yellow chalk and sand. Most of the land is given over the the Cab France, which is what you see reviewed most in the press. But a very small amount of Chinon Blanc is now available. And that's what I got.

The nose begins with notes of ripe cheese, gooseberry, ginko and pear. The wine has a zippy, stand-up acidity, and a medium-rich mouth feel. I got flowering grass eucalyptus, asparagus, lemongrass on the palate, as well as metal shavings. At the back of the wine you hit this wonderful stoniness. Drinking the wine is a little like throwing piquant, green fruit at an old French stone fence.