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Since coming back from our trip to Southeastern Europe last summer, we haven't had the chance to eat any dishes from the region as San Francisco is lacking in restaurants specializing in Balkan cuisine. Fortunately, for all of us Ćevapčići lovers in the Bay Area there is Del Monte Restaurant in downtown Sunnyvale, on Murphy Avenue.     Del Monte, in spite of the name, is a 100% Croatian family business: Mate Slade, the head of the family, usually can be found in the kitchen doing what he loves best, while his wife Dragica can be found in the restaurant greeting the guests who all seem to know her, alongside her son who serves the tables. Originally from Dubrovnik, they came to California some 25 years ago by way of Louisiana, New Orleans and Washington D.C.     We recently had dinner for the first time at Delmonte with some relatives, and so we got to try almost everything in their menu. Although the decor is lacking in sophistication, it has a Croatian feel to it as well as a family atmosphere that we enjoyed together with the big plates of food.     Since the Slades are from Dubrovnik on the Dalmatian coast, we started with a Dalmatian platter of pršut (cured ham similar to Italian prosciutto), olives, Dalmatian cheese and anchovies in olive oil. Since they have a number of seafood and fish dishes, we decided to try some of them: fried calamari, mussels marinara, sole Dalmatian style and chicken with prawns. They even have linguine with different shellfish and calamari on a tomato sauce, which was very tasty.     They also offer meat dishes more typical of continental Croatia, such as different types of steak, a plate of mixed meats, or a delicious Goulash Croatian style which is one of their most popular dishes. However, our favorite dish was, of course, the Ćevapčići plate: pieces of minced meat made of a mix of different types of beef and pork, hand mixed and then grilled with a side of ajvar (red bell pepper spread). Heavenly meat.     To accompany this Croatian feast we needed to have Croatian wine, so we ordered a red and a white from their wine list: a Debit from Bibich that paired really well with the sole, and a Plavac from the Dingač Winery that we enjoyed as always with all sorts of meat. And, although we were too full to have a dessert, we couldn't resist finishing this perfect Croatian meal with a small glass of delicious Prošek, the nectar of the Gods!

Winners of the second annual American Wine Blog Awards were announced yesterday by Tom Wark who writes the wine blog Fermentation and who started them two years ago to give recognition to dedicated wine bloggers and stimulate new ones to start.     Among the winners we found one of our favourite wine blogs, San Francisco's acclaimed Vinography by Alder Yarrow, who won the awards for best overall wine blog and best wine blog writing. Not only is Vinography an excellent source of information and inspiration on restaurants and wine bars in San Francisco, but he has also reviewed several Austrian and Slovenian wines in the past, as well as one of our favourite Croatia whites, Bibich's Debit. We strongly suspect that he's been getting more into Croatian and Slovenian wines lately, since he celebrated the award with a bottle of Malvazija from Koper (perhaps by Santomas?).     Other winners of the American Wine Blog Awards included Good Wine Under $20 (best wine review blog and best single subject blog), Tablas Creek (best winery blog), The Wine Collector (best wine business blog), Chateau Petrogasm (best wine blog graphics), and Grape Radio (best wine podcast/video blog). Grape Radio is an excellent podcast (an online audio blog) that a while back devoted a very interesting show (click here to listen to it) to the Hungarian winery Disznókő, which produces really good quality Tokaji (such as this one or this one).     Twenty-four blogs in eight categories made it to the finals for the awards. Nominations were made by voters, and then winnowed down by a panel of 6 judges, followed by a vote of both the public and the judges to determine the winners. The public's tally got 70 percent of the weighting, with 30% of the voting power given to the judges. According to Wark, the judges were Jack Everitt, of the Fork & Bottle blog; Dan Fredman, of Dan Fredman Public Relations; Steve Heimoff, Wine Enthusiast Magazine's West Coast editor; Derrick Schneider, Obsession With Food blogger; Wolfgang Webber, Wine & Spirits Magazine's associate editor and blogger, and Tori Wilder, of Wilder PR.     Tom Wark, who said that currently there are more than 700 American Wine blogs, commented on the winners: "Anyone who has been paying attention to the development of the world of wine blogs will likely recognize the winners of the 2008 American Wine Blog Awards. They represent a variety of things in this world: The Standard, The Expert, The Innovators, The Dedicated".     For a more detailed description of all the winners, check the announcement, or if you're curious to see who the finalists were for each catergory, here's the complete list, which will provide you with a lot of good wine reading.

Last weekend more than 90 wineries participated in the 2008 Paso Robles Zinfandel Festival, which included an array of special events such as winemaker dinners, food pairings, seminars, open houses, a live auction and special tastings. Although (unfortunately) this year we didn't make it to the festival, we recently had the opportunity to visit Paso Robles Wine Country and to enjoy some of the region's fine wines.     Paso Robles is located on California's central coast, halfway between San Francisco and Los Angeles. Paso Robles has a long history of winemaking and grape growing beginning in 1797 when the first wine grapes were introduced by the Franciscan missionaries at the historic Mission San Miguel Arcangel. The Padres produced wine for sacramental purposes and made brandy for export. After Mexico secularized the California missions in the 1840s the vineyards were abandoned until European immigrant farmers started to arrive in the 1860s, following California's independence in 1850.     Today, Paso Robles is California's third largest and fastest growing wine region, with over 26,000 acres of vineyards (more on Paso Robles Wine Country history can be found here). Cabernet Sauvignon is the leading variety for the Paso Robles appellation, accounting for 38 percent of the region's planted wine grape acreage. After that the most widely planted varieties are Merlot, Syrah, Chardonnay, Zinfandel, Petite Sirah and Sauvignon Blanc. With Italian, Spanish and Rhône varieties on the upswing, more than 40 other varieties with 300 to less than an acre are planted in the region.     In the last decade, Paso Robles has seen an increase from 35 to nearly 170 wineries, of which about two-thirds produce less than 5,000 cases.     Among the few wineries that we visited during our brief passage through Paso Robles, we can recomend Eagle Castle, ensconced in a real modern-day castle. Founded in 2000 by Paso Robles natives Gary and Marylou Stemper with the motto "A royal experience", Eagle Castle produces an award-winning Viogner, a rosé and a few interesting reds. Our favourite was the recently released 2004 Zinfandel, a bold red with peppery notes both in the nose and the body, as well as a strong jammy flavor and a smooth finish.     Another winery that we particularly enjoyed was Castoro Cellars who produces, in their own words, "dam fine wines". Established in 1983 by Niels and Bimmer Udsen, the name refers to Niels' long-time nickname "Beaver", which became "Il Castoro" (beaver in Italian) when he was working in Italy. In the span of a dozen years, Castoro Cellars has gone from making a few barrels of wine for family and friends in a rented corner of someone else’s winery to a production of around 40,000 at present. They produce half a dozen whites, about twenty reds and a couple of dessert wines. We were lucky to taste a good number of their wines, including their 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon blend which was so easy to drink that we took a couple of bottles home. We also enjoyed their affordable Muscat Canelli, a perfect match for a fruity dessert or just to sip in the terrace at any time.     For those of us who missed the Zinfandel Festival, on May 16-18th Paso Robles will be hosting their 26th Wine Festival, which will be a great opportunity to discover this fast-growing wine region or to explore it further. Cheers!     

Yesterday's article by Corie Brown in the L.A. Times, From Slovenia? Wild, wild wines speaks enthusiastically of wines from Slovenia, a region that "is getting hotter by the minute". The article highlights the boldness of Slovenian winemakers, who are young, experimenting and obtaining some really good results. Revered wine expert expert Jancis Robinson is quoted to have said after her recent trip to Slovenia:     "They are quite anarchic and individual in their use of oak and, to my mind, are making more distinctive wines than most of their neighbors in [Italy's] Friuli."     Brown also spoke to Pieter Verheyde, head sommelier at Bastide in West Hollywood, one of the best restaurants in the Los Angeles area that have embraced Slovenian wines in their wine list. For Verheyde, "they're lively and complex with unexpected flavors", and bring diversity to Bastide's 1,400 label list. He pairs the Santomas Malvazija with a ceviche of scallops, the Refošk with dry aged beef, and the Movia Pinot Noir with Hawaiian sea bass. It all sounds delicious.     The two winemakers that the article talks most about are also the most famous ones in the US. Aleš Kristiančić from Movia is one of the biggest producers in Slovenia, with a production of 10,000 cases of wine a year from 57 acres of vineyards that would be considered tiny by American standards. Movia, established in 1970, is also the oldest private winery in the country and has been selling wines to the US for almost 10 years.     Another famous Slovenian winemaker is Joško Gravner whose wines, according to Silver Lake Wine co-owner George Cossette, have introduced many adventurous enthusiasts to Slovenian wines. Gravner is the one that started the amphora project - in which Gravner ferments his wines in clay jugs buried up to their necks in the ground in homage to ancient Roman tradition. "Gravner is stripping away the human intervention to create minimalist art," Cossette says.     The article concludes saying that although not many Americans know where Slovenia is, let alone its wines, selling them requires more time than with other wines, and customers need to taste the wines and take the time to get to know them. But it is that sense of discovery, of adventure, that makes them so exciting.     If you haven't had the chance to try Slovenian wines, or if you are not convinced yet, the L.A. Times article came with extensive tasting notes of a great selection of both whites and reds, including some that you can get through Blue Danube Wines:     -2004 Batic Pinot Gris Reserve: "A weird and wonderful wine from Vipava, with delicate aromas of sesame seeds, herbs and wildflowers. It has good acidity and a lingering fresh apple finish".     -2004 Santomas Malvazija: "From the Koper district in Primorska, a richly aromatic wine with a round mouth feel, zippy fresh pineapple and other tropical fruit flavors".     -2005 Guerila Pinela: "From the Vipava district in Primorska, a delicate honey-toned wine with stony Chablis-like minerality".     -2003 Kogl Magna Dominica Albus: "A blend of equal parts Auxerrois, Riesling and Yellow Muskat, this wine has inviting peach aromas and a taste of honey".

The Hidden Vine is a perfectly-named wine bar in San Francisco. Sitting on the edges of Nob Hill, The Tenderloin, and Union Square, owners and master hosts, Angela and David Cahill pour wines for the masses with, what cannot be stated in any better terms than "down home" hospitality. Amazingly, no matter how busy it is on any given night, you will always feel like you are their only guest and they are very excited to show you what new wines they have that month. Ah yes, that's an important element to their wine bar that's always fun in that they feature a different region each month to taste, so in addition to their wine list always being updated and tweaked, returning guests can enjoy something brand new, 12 times a year. But more on this in a little bit.     The history of their wine bar starts back on the East Coast. David and Angela bopped around New Jersey, Maryland, and North Carolina for awhile. It was in Chapel Hill that they encountered the West End Wine Bar. They had great times there and liked the whole setup of the place. They had had the idea to work in wine for some time and so they came out to the West Coast with this idea in mind.     In February, 2005, they officially opened up their doors as, The Hidden Vine. With all of the wine bars sprouting up in San Francisco that seem to be some play on 'vine', 'wine', 'uva', or the like, the name may seem too clever for its own good to those who haven't visited the bar. But, it is true that they are rather hidden, basically in the basement of the The Fitzgerald Hotel, their main entrance being on Cosmo Alley (pictured above) right across from Le Colonial. It's definitely a cozy space, where groups over five are tricky to fit in, but they make it work exceptionally well, bedecking it in big overstuffed chairs and nice, warm colors that ask you to sit, be mellow and have a glass with friends. And as they say on their website, their focus is to have it be low-key. You never have to shout over your glass of wine to your companions sitting next to you.     But cozy, "speakeasy-esque" setting aside, it is really the choice of wines that make this bar, and it is where the real enjoyment begins with The Hidden Vine. Their regular menu always has stellar choices in both glasses and bottles, covering an array of prices, regions, and varietals, both in the old and the new world. However, it is their featured regions of the month where the fun is for anyone who visits their wine bar regularly (such as the author of this article...), which gives them an opportunity to try wines and varietals from regions that they might have never tried before. For instance, I was in no hurry to try the wines of Washington State only to be pleasantly surprised at the selection of whites and reds that the duo of Cahill and Cahill chose for that month.     Some of the regions that have been featured in over their nearly three years in the business include: Germany, New Zealand, North Eastern Spain, Portugal, Southern Italy, South Australia, West Australia, Oregon, Argentina, Bordeaux, and Austria to name just a few. The last of which, Blue Danube supplied a number of tasty vintages for. Currently, they are featuring wines from Hungary, Slovenia, Croatia, and Montenegro, which Blue Danube has been happily supplying. People have been enjoying the likes of the Törley as well as Batić, Dingač, Kozlović, and Plantaže. They tell me that people have been very interested in the wines overall and greatly enjoying the Kozlović Malvazija and Törley Fortuna while excitedly learning about the link of Californian Zinfandel to the Dingač Plavac Mali that they're pouring. For those interested to partake, they will continue to pour through all of December and possibly in to January when they do a recap of their favorite wines for the year.     These wines they have selected are not the standard fare found in other wine bars and when asked why they decided to choose these wines now, Angela said that they like to balance out traditional regions with those that are new for most people or being discovered. This set of wines from Eastern Europe are giving them a jumping off point for possibly more in the future. Speaking of the future, some of the regions regulars have to look forward to in 2008 might include a return to Austria, another part of Spain, and maybe some other US States.     So, at their essence, The Hidden Vine is a wine bar that continues to have great service, great wines, great cheese/meat plates, and blindingly good olives (which seem to be impossible to find in other places). When asked if they had any far-ranging plans for the future other than these consistently great goals, David simply said, "Nope." which is the best thing any of us could ever hope for.

    Wine expert and co-owner George Cossette of Silverlake Wine in Hollywood decants Croatian and Slovenian wines from the Adriatic region for L.A. radio station KCRW. The station aired an interview with him in the show "Good Food" hosted by Evan Kleiman. You can listen to the entire show at the KCRW web site or download the interview only (5MB) as an mp3 file here.     During a recent Sunday wine tasting, George featured these unique wines in his store and sold almost every bottle in stock.     Here is the good news: Silverlake Wine has all these nice wines back in stock. So come on down...

Last Monday on November 12th, we hosted a private tasting event for the trade of all our new arrivals. This is a fun time for us because it allows us to share the wines that we've carefully selected to import for the first time with our colleagues in the trade and the media. This event was particularly enjoyable because we had new wines from all areas that Blue Danube Wine Company imports including: Austria, Hungary, Slovenia, Croatia, and Montenegro. The well known Bacar Restaurant and Wine Salon provided a most suitable setting for this tasting event. This restaurant in the heart of SOMA in San Francisco is hip and modern, yet at the same time inviting and warm; a perfect place for sipping exciting new wines amongst others who love wine.     Joining us for the invited tasting were the wine buyers and sommeliers of local wine shops, restaurants and wine bars as well as wine writers and critics. It was great to see such a diverse crowd because everyone tasted the wines differently and they're all looking for something unique to match whatever exciting plans they have for their wine lists or articles.     Most people started with the Austrians. Here, we poured the new vintages from Schmelz, Weinrieder, Juris and J.Heinrich. We also introduced two new estates, Bio-Weingut Geyerhof, a leading organic producer in Kremstal and Sommer, an estate from Donnerskirchen at Lake Neusiedel. For those who went to the Hungarian wines next, there was the entire Craftsman line-up from Hilltop and Szõke Mátyás as well as some great new sparkling wines from the traditional house, Törley.     From Central Europe, guests moved over to the Balkans. They were greeted by our greatly expanded portfolio of Slovenian wines. Guests enjoyed tasting many new wines from top Slovenian producers, such as those from Guerila, Santomas, and Batić. One of the biggest hits with this audience clearly was the a new Yellow Muscat from Črnko.     Lastly, it was on to the Croatian and Montenegrin wines. Several Croatian brands are becoming highly sought after brands, in particular the Kozlović Malvazija and the Marco Polo Pošip for white wines and the Pelješac Dingač and Zlatan Plavac for reds. From newly independent Montenegro, Plantaže is now shipping a "regular", lower cost Vranac in addition to their esteemed Vranac "Pro Corde".     Overall, it was a very successful tasting that offered a good number of guests their introductory tastes for these ancient wine regions, which is always a fun experience.

Last Thursday on November 8th, Blue Danube Wines supplied the wines for an Austrian Wine dinner at Café Venezia in Berkeley. It was a great opportunity for those not yet familiar with Austrian cuisine, to taste it while sipping some of the finest wines of that country.     Café Venezia is a nice, spacious restaurant on University Avenue that sits pleasantly far enough away from the student buzz of UC Berkeley, yet close enough to the town center to be very much a part of Berkeley. With high windows that look out to the street, you're beckoned in to a warm interior that is held up by a wonderfully friendly wait staff. The interior picks up on the restaurant's namesake with kitsch murals and a clothesline of laundry, while at the same time allows one to sit down, have a good meal, and feel pleasantly at home.     The four course dinner started with a tasty charcuterie plate of typical Austrian meats and cheese, paired with a new release of Grüner Veltliner from Schmelz winery. Grüner Veltliner, which accounts for over a third of Austria's vineyards, is one of the country's most famous varietals, having beaten world-class Chardonnays from the likes of Mondavi and Louis Latour in blind tastings organized by the Austrian Wine Marketing Board. The fresh, crisp, Grüner Veltliner Steinwand Federspiel from 2006 that we had matched perfectly the strong flavors of the smoked pork meat and Austrian paté.     The second course was definitely our favorite, with an expertly cooked Viennese schnitzel and a side of surprisingly delicious giblet gravy. The crispiness of the breading and the tenderness of the meat were just perfect. The wine paired with it was another one of our new releases from Schmelz winery, a Riesling Wachauer Weingebirge Federspiel from 2006, which was a bit drier than the Grüner Veltliner with a long finish that had a hint of white pepper. Riesling is the second most produced grape varietal in Austria. So with these two wines, we covered the most typical and well-known whites of the country.     Then came the reds with the slow-roasted goose cooked in the traditional St. Martin's Day style, stuffed with apple, orange, pear and marjoram. The wines we chose for such a full-flavoured dish were the the Zweigelt Siglos 2005 from the Heinrich winery, and the Cardinal Cuvée 1999 from Giefing. We started with the Zweigelt, the most widely-grown red grape variety in Austria, made from the famous Siglos vineyard of the Heinrich family. This light wine, somewhat similar to a Gamay, combines the bite and fruity character of the Blaufränkisch grape with the body of the St. Laurent, and so it is a very good pairing with poultry.     The Cardinal Cuvée, a blend of 60% Blaufränkisch, 25% Zweigelt and 15% Cabernet Sauvignon, had a much deeper, full body. This wine has a harmonious taste of sweet wood and spicy, chocolate aromas with a hint of dry plums. Made of grapes from the oldest vines on the Giefing estate (40-50 years old), and aged for 26 months, the Cardinal Cuvée is not surprisingly the flagship wine of the winery.     But after all these delights we still one last thing in the menu: dessert. And it was, of course, a good old apple strudel paired with a late harvest sweet wine, the Welschriesling from 2001 by Rosenhof. This fragrant, lively wine, with its fruity finish and a hint of almonds and autumn leaves, was the perfect ending for a perfect dinner.     All in all it was a surprisingly well-balanced and harmonious meal considering. And although Café Venezia is obviously an Italian restaurant, it has a very creative chef that every so often likes to immerse herself in the cuisines of other countries. Thus, after extensive research, chef Cindy Deetz manage to recreate the flavors of a few classics of Austrian cuisine as if she was used to cooking them like her famous Sicilian spaghetti with meatballs that are a house favorite.

So it was that last year, that the first Michelin guides entered the US with in New York City and San Francisco. We didn't get to read the 2007 guide, but took more of an interest this year as they're introducing Las Vegas and Los Angeles. Also, the director, Jean-Paul Naret was at a local bookstore to promote it a bit. So, we went down to see it.     As it turned out, the event also featured Marcia Gagliardi of Table Hopper there to talk as well. While very much about food and dining in San Francisco, it was something of an odd paring as listening to Jean-Paul Naret was amusing. He's a very charismatic fellow and very, very French. Putting Marcia next to him showed just how international he was and how local she was. In theory the line up should have worked to show different of approach to food that their respective writings take, when it actually just showed the different leagues that the two worked in.     Naturally, we bought a copy of the guide. Want to know some ratings? Well, it would be ridiculous to try and summarize all of it, since it is a very good guide for dining in the San Francisco Bay Area. But, a couple of highlights include:     Aqua (2 stars), Á Côté (which we previously wrote about here), Cesar, Ame (1 star), Rivoli, Rubicon (1 star), Slanted Door (Bip Gourmand), and Village Pub. Keep in mind that there is a maximum of three stars and just a mention in the guide is quite a stellar accolade. But, there are many, many more and our best recommendation is for you to go out and get one of your own. Now!

We recently had the enjoyment of eating at the new digs of Tinderbox. It's a restaurant in the Bernal Heights area of San Francisco that is wedged in the middle of a burgeoning gourmet ghetto. The dishes are focused around that growing genre of food called, "New American", which, as was the case at Tinderbox, means new twists on old dishes that surprise you in new ways. The menu has been coupled together with a very unique and tasty wine list compiled by the sommelier and general manager, Omar White. It includes a good number of Blue Danube Wine selections like the exotic Juris St. Laurent from Austria, an unoaked Hungarian Szõke Chardonnay, and the indigenous Pošip Marco Polo from the Croatian island of Korcula among others.     We started with a nice Dolcetto to warm up our palates. It was inviting and light, yet still flavorful and enjoyable to sip with our appetizers. It also had the ability to not trounce the fact that one of us had the grilled sardine appetizer.     From there, we split off with a glass of white for the cod and a bottle of Bura Dingač for the game hen, steak, and avocado cutlet. All of these dishes were delicious, but it was the last of which on that list was the most remarkable. The server summed it up best by saying, "Who knew you could grill an avocado?" Who indeed, but it works. It really, really works and when paired with a nice, deep-bodied red wine, it only works to amplify it.     Dessert was a lovely affair as well. Everything we had was paired with a very nice Five Puttonyos Tokaji. The sweetness of this Hungarian dessert wine was not overpowering to our closing dishes and once again, worked to complement not fight with the complexity of the desserts.     We found the atmosphere of the restaurant to be very nice and fit well with what we look for in a place to dine. The service isn't snooty, just knowledgeable and helpful, which is a welcome change to a great many restaurants in The City. It's also good to see that the establishment caters to people eating in groups (we were four) and those dining solo with a small, adjunct room just up a small set of stairs in the back. The crowd seems to fill in from about 8:30-10, but with a recent review in the SF Chronicle, the crowd is bound to come earlier and leave later. And naturally if this isn't enough word of mouth for you, read up on what others are saying these days.

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