moeraki is the home of fleurs place, an amazing and funky restaurant run by fleur sullivan who is so in tune with fresh food that she obtained her own fishing quota so that she could serve local fish and seafood that are literally "fresh off the boat".

at fleurs, the food is prepared in the slowest tradition of the slow food movement.  in fact, she claims that she was embracing the slow food attitude even before slow food started a while ago in italy.

all ingredients are fresh and sourced locally and their passion for authentic food and natural flavours can be tasted at every single spoonful.

take the seafood chowder we had on the night of our stay.  simply stunning.  the broth was so tick that my bread crumbs did not even sink in it.  the taste so intense and complex that even as i write this, 3 weeks after that fateful dinner, i can still taste it on my palate.  unlike anything i have had before...

another speciality, the blue cod wrapped in bacon was incredible.  juicy, tasty, sweet, smoky, fishy in a very delicate and savoury way.  every bite was better than the previous one and in fact, maria told me to slow down a few times so fast i was eating my dish...

a memorable dinner, probably one of my best ever and i will be forever indebted to jenny hawker of pisa range estate in central otago who suggested we go there.

you should book well ahead and make plans to stay the night in a very acceptable, if a little simple, little motel called the moeraki beach motels.  there is much nature to see in moeraki in particular the beach boulders and a colony of rare yellow eye and blue penguins.

fleurs place: at the old jetty, moeraki, otago, new zealand, tel: +64 3 439 4480

pressroom serves those crazy french fries i could travels on foot miles and miles just for a taste of them.  they are the best in the world i tell you.  i don't know why, may be it's the taste (perfectly salty)?  or the texture (firm, yet tender and crispy all at once)? or the fact they they are served straight in a narrow and cylindrical receptacle and in wax paper the way they do in paris??

in fact, when i go to pressroom, i feel like i am in paris, or in at a place that feels like my imagination of paris.  better yet, i feel like i am back in montreal.  home.  that must be it.  the homey feeling i get when i dine at pressroom.

the atmosphere, the dark wooden floor and furniture, the oyster & seafood bar at the door.  the huge black board with the wine list and daily specials chalked on the wall, the authentic menu, simple yet complete with all the classic french dishes...

check it out and order the steak frites with an appetiser of 3 oysters from all over the world...

the pressroom: 108 hollywood road, sheung wan, hong kong, tel: +852 2525 3444

first, not all wines are made to be aged.  second, not all grape varieties age at the same pace. third, each vintage, because of weather and other natural factors, yield different ripening levels that will affect the ageing potential of the wine/vintage.   and last, there are many different reasons, all valid, why one would want to or not to age a wine - mainly to do with style and most importantly taste.

in the old days, wines sold to overseas market were transported over long distances in wood barrels mainly because wood was widely available and it has excellent fluid retention qualities. 

the wines were mostly coarse and tough and it was discovered that the time spent during the voyage softened them up and, because wood is porous to oxygen, gave them an "oxidised" character that people came to like or rather to associate with wine.

and so, the ageing process was discovered.  since then, the techniques were refined but the objectives have remained the same: soften its tannins, integrate its flavours, and obtain an extra layer of complexity and flavours from the very slow oxygenation that the process invariably exposes the wine to.

today however, most wine drinkers do not have the inclination to age wines and  they are looking for wines that are soft, fruity, fresh, and pleasant to drink right away.  and so, most wine makers focus on producing this type of wine which makes the following question wholly irrelevant for 90 percent of us.

why age wine? 

first, you must like the taste of aged wine.  second, the wine must have enough concentration of fruit, and an excellent balance of alcohol versus its acidity (and tannin for reds) otherwise it will not survive the ageing process. last and most importantly, it has to have enough flavours and complexity to begin with - there is no point in ageing something that does not taste like anything or that is too simple and straightforward to evolve into anything more complex. the ageing will not "improve" the wine because there is nothing to improve!

how to choose wine to be sure it is "ready" to drink? 

here is what 90 percent of wine drinkers would like to know.  unfortunately, there are no clear cut answers to that either.  

white wines are always ready to drink and some, if they have the characteristics described above, can age for some time especially sweet wines, riesling, chenin blanc, chardonnay, gewurztraminer, viognier, and wines with majority semillon.

light red wines made from "light" grape varieties and made to be drunk young are a good start.  examples are: beaujolais, loire, cotes du rhone, languedoc, rioja joven, bardolino, new zealnd pinot noir, valpolicella, zinfandel, and merlot of any country.

usually, wines made with "heavier" grapes like cabernet sauvignon, syrah, carignan, sangiovese or made to be aged for a while like a bordeaux-medoc, brunello, amarone, barossa shiraz, rioja reserva, napa valley cabernet need a little softening before being pleasant to drink.

a good vintage chart compiled by a super taster will generally help and so will the recommendations of a trusted shop assistant in a good "caviste".

in the end, what does an aged wine taste like?

in an aged white, the crisp, fresh fruits and floral notes of youth will give way to "dried" characteristics.  for example, in a gewurztraminer, it will go from fresh rose petals to faded roses to dried flowers.  vegetal notes will become like dried grass, tobacco, and herbal infusion (tea), and fruit notes will evolve like apricot to dried apricot and raisin.  all aged whites will have notes of beewax, and some honey.

in an aged red, the tannins will evolved into a velvety texture with suppleness and finesse.  the flavours, like white wines, will mature from crisp, fresh aromas to dried fruits and flowers and further evolving to notes of chocolate, coffee, toast and then to animal characteristics like leather, meat juices, and game.  some will also evolve into mushroom, forest undergrowth, humus, truffles, and tar.

not exactly what modern wine drinkers have come to expect from a glass of wine...

and so, aged wines are not only an acquired taste but they also require dedication, ideal storing conditions, and the right "material" to begin with.

the problem though is that, as you become addicted to wine, such aged characteristics become the holy grail to seek for and it's all downhill from there on...

in fact, this "neo-bistro" is everything one can expect from a hip, up-and-coming restaurant in paris.  it's cool, it's aloof, and its a real culinary treat. 

the service was suitably distant but mindful and clearly understanding that i was there for a culinary experience and made sure of it the whole evening.

the menu is short (5-course), "fixe", and changes every day.  each dish, carefully prepared by a team led by inaki aizpitarte (in photo), a basque native, was at every bite impactful, subtle and complex all at once.  my main, simply listed as "tranche de boeuf, aubergine", was stunning.  perfect "cuisson" and served on a bed of "burnt" eggplant.  a stunning taste.  i was told afterwards that the eggplants are baked twice until they are slightly burnt and pureed with "secret" oils to make them taste smoky, tender, and somewhat "char-grilled".  with a syrah from cornas, it was a divine combination.

the wine list is organic and there is a large black board at the back of the restaurant which list the names of all wine makers listed on their wine menu.  as i always do when the menu is fix, i asked the waiter to pair each dish with a different wine so that i can explore the full spectrum of taste and matching possibilities.  i was not disappointed!

located in the 11th arrondissement, the decor is bistro of 30-50 years ago and the atmosphere, i can only imagine, feels the same.

listed for the 1st time on the san pellegrino list of the 50 best restaurants in the world (#40), le chateaubriand is moving fast up the list.

le chateaubriand: 129 av. parmentier, 11e, paris, tel: 01-43-57-45-95

fruit:

as i have written here before, let's not forget that wine comes from grapes and that grapes are fruits.  the riper and healthier the fruit, the better its quality and therefore, the better the resulting wine.

now, the concept is a little more complicated than that of course, but at the end of the day, if the fruit is not ripe, or if it is not healthy, for sure the wine will reflects this and give all kinds of off smell and off odours which the wine makers will try to mask with tricks of the trade.  quality fruits make the wine smooth and complex on the palate.

terroir:

people in the new world hates this word because first of all it is french, second, it is not translatable in 1 word, and third, new world wine makers make wines to reflect the grapes inside the bottle and very often do not pay much attention where it was grown.

however, terroir, which can be loosely translated as "a sense of place" is very important when one has optimum ripening in mind. terroir includes everything necessary to ripen the grapes properly: the exposure to the sun, the protection from or access to air currents and winds, the drainage and minerals of the soils and access to low water tables, the general climate of the area and the ripening season normal weather patterns. since grape varieties all have their own ripening requirements, it means that not all grapes ripen properly just about anywhere.

without a good terroir, there can not be good ripening.  perfect understanding of terroir by a wine maker leads him/her to highly targeted choices in wine growing and making which in turn leads to increased level of complexity and quality in wine.

passion:

wines sold in supermarkets for usd 2.00 like the (in)-famous 2-buck chuck in the usa is not what i am talking about here.

what i am talking about are wines that makes one buy them again and again not because of its price, but because it gave one pleasure.

passion is what comes into play when that kind of wine is being made and i like to think that wine making is still the work of an artisan.  each vintage, the wine maker has different raw materials that nature capriciously gave him/her that year.  beyond the equipment, beyond the tricks, and the techniques, it is passion that will guide the decisions in the cellar so that the resulting wine is highly representative of the vision and style the wine maker wants to create.  just like any work of art, wine of high complexity and quality are crafted to reflect a highly personal vision of the world.

and so it is.  it is not very complicated.  each time we sip a wine, we really need only to ask ourselves the 3 questions: was the fruit ripe and healthy?  does it gives me the feeling it was made from a place i can almost imagine?  does it give me a sense of the wine maker's vision and wisdom?

and how does such a wine taste like?  again, in keeping with the spirit of simplism, i focus on 3 simple ideas: complexity, length, balance:

complexity:

not very complicated to understand.  on the first taste, does it frankly reminds you of 3-4 aromas and flavours.  even better, does it change each time you take a new sip?  it should if it is to be called complex.

length:

how long do those 3-4 aromas stay on your palate after you have swallowed?  here i am not talking about the acidity (how much your tongue waters), or the tannins (how much your tongue feels "furry").  i am talking about the aromas, the flavours you perceive while the wine is on your palate.  if those stay less than 3 seconds, it is not very long, is it?  4-5 seconds it more like it.  if it lasts forever, even better still.

balance:

too many critics think that balance is a given.  i do not.  too many wines are uni-dimensional.  one or two flavours or characteristics sticks out and take over over the whole experience.  for me, it is not magical.  if it taste of oak and very little else, then it is not in balance, is it?  a good wine should be elegant and all flavours integrated and in harmony with each other.  otherwise, it becomes a pain to drink it.

on my return, i decided to hit my wine books and do a mini-research on the subject to de-bug what i think is an urban legend. of course, i am not a medical professional and if any doubts remain after reading the information below, you should consult your physician...

here is what i discovered:

• the word "sulfites" on labels includes free sulphur dioxide, sulfurous acid, bisulfite ion, sulfite ion, and complex sulfite;
• sulfur has been used as a cleansing agent and wine preservative since antiquity;
• sulfur is an element that form 0.5 percent of earth's crust;
• it is essential for vine nutrition, naturally comes from the soil, and helps control mildew;
• sulfur dioxide, or so2 (when sulfur is burned in air), is used as a preservative and disinfectant and is an important antioxidant;
• it prevents oxidation, an undesirable effect on wine colour and flavour and it kills bacteria and wild yeast, both of which create off-aromas and off-flavours;
• it is widely (and more liberally) used in the preparation of fruit juices and dried fruits;
• less is required at a lower ph (high acidity), therefore, the warmer the climate, the more sulfur will be used because grapes, being riper, will have less acidity;
• 99 percent of all wine makers use it;
• it is more obvious on sweet wines, or wines (mainly white) from countries with a warm climate like australia, california, and chile;
• healthier grapes at picking, higher level of hygiene in the cellar, and more acidic wines need less sulfur dioxide;
• in europe the maximum permitted by law is 160 mg/l in reds and 210 mg/l in whites while in australia, the limits are 250 mg/l for any dry wines;
• wines made "organically", without the addition of any sulfur dioxide are prone to oxidation and off-flavours generated by wild yeast and bacteria;
• sulfur dioxide is in fact a by-product of fermentation (producing as much as 5-15 mg/l of so2) and therefore virtually all wines and other fermented products contain it (which means that it is also present in dough and fruit juices);
• in the usa, south africa, australia, and new zealand, it is obligatory to state on the label that a wine contains more than 10 mg/l of sulfur dioxide;
• the world health organisation has set the recommended daily allowance of so2 to be 0.7 mg per kg bodyweight which, for a person of 70 kgs, means an intake of 49 mg per day, or 1/3 of a bottle of wine;
• it is found in many foodstuffs as an antioxidant and preservative, especially, dried fruits, fruit juices, squashes, fresh fruit salads, sausages, peeled potatoes, and many others;
• most dried fruits are preserved with much higher levels of sulfites than most wines (as much as 10 times the level in some instances);
• most wine allergies and source of headaches actually comes from hystamine production caused by lactic acid bacteria produced during malolactic fermentation (this implies that reds are more prone to headaches and allergic reactions as malo is an essential step in its production as opposed to most whites which do not go through malo );
• it was documented that for a very small percentage of the population, sulfur dioxide was found to give an adverse allergic reaction to asthmatics and other air-borne allergens sensitive people and some doctors have suggested that asthmatics avoid wine altogether.

so, there you have it.  if drinking fruit juices and eating dried fruits does not give you a headache, then sulfites in wine will not more give you one. 

as i always say, the best way to avoid a headache is to stay hydrated and that means drinking plenty of water before, during, and after wine tasting.

(my information was found in: the science of wine from jamie goode and the oxford companion to wine edited by jancis robinson, the art & science of wine from james halliday & hugh johnson)