Apr 18, 2013

Terri Judson

NMSU to host grand opening for the Bobby Lee Lawrence Academy of Wine – Las Cruces Sun

LAS CRUCES —New Mexico State University will host a grand opening for the Bobby Lee Lawrence Academy of Wine at 5 p.m. Saturday. The facility is part of the university’s School of Hotel, Restaurant and Tourism Management.

“The completion of the Bobby Lee Lawrence Academy of Wine is very emotional for me,” said Bobby Lee Lawrence’s wife, Marion. “Teaching people about wine was very important to Bobby Lee. His passion for all things wine should be passed on to future generations in the best possible way, and the Bobby Lee Lawrence Academy of Wine will do that. I’m excited about preserving his legacy. There are many, many people to thank for helping me realize my dream, and I am grateful to all of them.”

The Bobby Lee Lawrence Academy of Wine is a beverage management laboratory completed late last year inside NMSU’s Gerald Thomas Hall. Lawrence, known throughout the area as the “Southwest Wine Guy,” passed away in 2010. Marion Lawrence established the academy with a $250,000 gift to the university.

“This facility expands our ability to offer more wine education courses in the future,” said Janet Green, head of NMSU’s School of Hotel, Restaurant and Tourism Management. “More than anyone, students will get the most use out of the academy as part of their courses of study.”

The School of HRTM has a beverage management class and a basic wine education course. Green said the gift will help build on these courses in the recently completed academy of wine. The facility

has a design reminiscent of a Tuscan wine cellar, with natural travertine floor and granite-topped wine tables, wine chillers and space for students to both learn and study.

Lawrence was known around Las Cruces as a wine and food expert. He trained at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris and the Culinary Institute of America. He taught about wine at area wine festivals, wrote about wine for Sabroso magazine and had his own wine blog. Lawrence also had a successful media career.

For information about the grand opening event, contact Stella Lucero at 575-646-5995.

Upclose: House with a history

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Warwick and Jan Frith at the historic home they fell in love with, Claremont.

THE house named Claremont has been a quiet beauty in the town of Tenterfield for more than 130 years.

The restored home, built for a former Tenterfield mayor and government minister, was an unlikely match for a couple whose new Brisbane home had won the Housing Industry Association house of the year within its price bracket.

It was, however, here that Warwick and Jan Frith found their tree change more than three years ago.

“We’d been down here with friends fishing and been here for Food and Wine Festivals,” Mrs Frith said.

“We stayed here at times on our way to Sydney, and we always liked the feel of the place.”

Ironically, some time before they made the move, the Friths were here for the Food and Wine Festival and walked around town with some friends who were also visiting. As they walked past, one of the friends pointed at Claremont and said she would move to Tenterfield if she could buy that house.

The Friths later decided they wanted to make the move from their award-winning Thorneside home in Brisbane, but had a list of criteria for their new location.

“It had to be close to good doctors and a hospital, another thing was it had to have a classic car club – we have a 1957 FE Holden that was Jan’s father’s first and only car and it has been in the family ever since,” Mr Frith said.

“We wanted a nice golf course and four seasons.”

They considered Iluka before heading to Tenterfield to spend a weekend looking at land and houses.

“We decided we would try and buy an established place in town if we could,” Mr Frith said. “We thought it would be handy to walk about the place.”

They selected four properties that were suitable but, when it came time to get serious, only Claremont was still available.

Mrs Frith vividly remembers her first visit to the house which stands opposite St Joseph’s Primary School.

“I couldn’t believe what a beautiful old home it was,” she said. “It has been beautifully renovated.”

It was the conservatory room off the kitchen that was the clincher for the Friths. The couple spend most of their time there in the natural light that streams through in both the morning and the afternoon.

The conservatory – or family room – is a modern addition to a home with a long and colourful history.

The house was originally built in 1875 by Charles Alfred Lee, who ran the Maryland Store and was one of Tenterfield’s first aldermen and then mayor in 1875.

He was president of the hospital board, School of Arts chairman and chairman of the Tenterfield Railway League. Charles Alfred Lee followed Sir Henry Parkes as the Member for Tenterfield in 1884 and continued to represent Tenterfield for more than 35 years. In that time, he was the NSW Minister for Justice and the Minister for Works.

He died at Claremont in 1926 in possession of a cheque from his own account that was reported to have been on the bushranger Thunderbolt when he was shot, and was stained with Thunderbolt’s blood.

Claremont has been home to many people since.

One resident who has gone, but left a memory that makes the Friths smile is George Cooter, who was a typesetter at The Tenterfield Star and described to the Friths as “a real gentleman”.

When asked if any of the former residents who have passed on might linger in the halls of the old home, it is George that Mr and Mrs Frith mention.

“There are funny little things that happen,” Mrs Frith said. “The boys’ beds are always mucked up like someone has been sitting there and there has been a missing cushion that we have never found.”

While Mr Frith said the home is in great condition for its age, it is cold and maintenance is a daily challenge.

The two are keen gardeners and Mr Frith said he has dug every inch of the 8094 square metres of land on which the house sits.

“We started at one end and worked all the way through,” he said.

The couple said they continue to love Claremont and it will be their home for as long as their health allows.

Marvelling at the mighty Malbec

A high-flyer at more than 1,000 metres above sea level, Mendoza is the birthplace of Argentian malbec and World Malbec Day (April 17) is a great excuse to paint the town red.

Originally a grape native to south-west France, World Malbec Day commemorates the time in 1853 when the Argentinian president pledged to transform the country’s wine industry and tasked a French soil expert to propagate some new vines.

With a head for heights, the high altitude, abundant sunshine and low humidity suited malbec down to the ground.

So much so, the effect of cold nights at these high altitudes extended the growing season and rewarded winemakers with super ripe reds displaying fine tannins and well-balanced acidity.

It’s a style we’ve fallen in love with and the past 10 years has seen Argentina rise to the A-list with both consumers and trade.

To champion its world-wide appeal, more than 50 countries will be hosting wine festivals and events, with the Gaucho chain of steak restaurants headlining five malbecs in London, Manchester and Leeds for a week-long celebration.

For amigos thirsty for a taste of Argentina’s rich soils and ripening sun, here are some suggestions to ignite the tastebuds.

One of the country’s top producers, trophy and medal winner Vinalba is promoting some of its best-selling labels to mark the occasion, including entry-level Vinalba Malbec 2010, Mendoza (reduced to £5.99 from £6.99 until April 23, The Co-operative). Ripe and round with defining spice and dark berry fruits without excess weight, there’s a hint of dark chocolate lingering on the finish and firm tannins to make it a good all-rounder alongside tomato-based pasta dishes and tender red meat.

A juicy red with a sweet raspberry nose, Dona Paula ‘Paula’ Malbec 2012, Mendoza (£7.99, www.strictlywine.co.uk) is soft and smooth with dark cherry fruits, a lick of kirsch on the finish and spicy tongue-tingling tannins. Stylish and graceful, it’s the younger sister to the Dona Paula Estate wine and fresh enough to enjoy on its own.

To step into a world of blueberry and perfectly ripened damson fruit, try Argento Malbec 2012, Mendoza (£8.99; £7.99 each if you buy two, Majestic). Firm and dense with velvety smooth tannins, it maintains its juicy acidity at 13.5% abv, and is slightly lower in alcohol than the average 14% for malbec.

By law, Argentinian winemakers are allowed to tweak malbec with up to 20% of other grapes in the blend, but most like to showcase their signature red in all its unadulterated purple glory.

However, adventurous drinkers fond of an up-front style should try experimenting with Trivento Amado Sur Malbec 2010, Mendoza (£8.99, Morrisons), which has 10% bonarda and 10% syrah. Opulent and truly flavoursome with deeply textured fruit and a riot of cherries, plums, prunes, vanilla, chocolate and grippy tannins, it’s a great choice with chorizo sausage and a juicy steak.

Unlike French wine harvests, vintage doesn’t seem to matter in South America and, according to experts, the country hasn’t had a poor harvest in 15 years.

Bottled at optimum ripeness, the wines have no need to age and every year, thanks to improved viticulture, they seem to get better and better.

Indeed, consistency of quality at different price points is all part of malbec’s manifesto and Manos Negras Malbec 2009, Mendoza (£11.90, www.coevintners.com) has a textbook violet nose with bold, black-fruit flavours, bright cherry and a hint of mocha on the savoury, lengthy finish that maintains a delightful freshness.

A wine that greets you with arms wide open, Fincas del Sur Malbec 2011, Mendoza (£12.99, www.virginwines.co.uk) is delicious from beginning to end. Another violet beauty with seductive, soft, plummy fruit and a natural ripeness, the vibrant fruit aromas excite the tastebuds before the very first sip and never seem to wane… with or without steak.

A big gun that hails from Gaucho’s own vineyard, Vina Patricia Malbec 2010, Mendoza (£44.65, www.gauchorestaurants.co.uk) is made from low-yielding old vines. Rich and robust, as well as invitingly soft, there’s a hint of cigar box and a silky veil of mocha and chocolate to tame the tannins on the powerful finish.

Gaucho boasts the greatest malbec collection outside of South America, and Vina Patricia is a great introduction to the best of Argentinian terroir.

Sandestin Wine Festival continues tradition as area’s top wine event

“Uncork some fun in the sun” at this year’s Sandestin Wine Festival, which is reporting record ticket sales for its 2013 spring event.

Slated for this April 18-21, the Sandestin Wine Festival is known as the “Kentucky Derby of Wine Festivals.” It will be a picture perfect event complete with white tents, the tasting of hundreds of wines, Gulf seafood and other culinary treats, and live music.

Now in its 27th year, the event is the most established and continuously running wine festival on the Coast.

In addition to plenty of fine wines, the festival will also bring some star power to Sandestin. Food Network personality, Paula Deen, will be a featured chef on the Coastal Living

Cooking Stage on Saturday, April 20, and will also be a special guest at the festival’s VIP Connoisseur event.

“Paula’s southern charm, engaging personality and cooking expertise is a perfect match for our guests and the Sandestin Wine Festival,” said Lanier Motes, special events manager at the Village of Baytowne Wharf.

From “Paula’s Home Cooking” to “Top Chef,” Deen has been a popular personality on the Food Network for more than a decade. She has sold nearly 10 million books focused on her life of Southern cooking, and has her own magazine, “Cooking with Paula Deen.”

Deen will be joined by healthy eating expert Diane Henderiks, a personal chef and registered dietitian on a mission to teach America how to cook and eat well. Diane will entertain guests Friday, April 19, on the Coastal Living Magazine Stage during the Grand Wine Tasting event.

Diane is a regular contributor for Good Morning America, founder of “Dish with Diane” and has appeared as an expert guest on many of the country’s leading media including CBS, ABC, NBC, Fox News, CNN, BetterTV and on Martha Stewart Radio.

Beyond the celebrities, organizers recently announced the addition of two major wine industry players at the upcoming event.

ABC Fine Wine Spirits, the largest fine wine and spirits retailer in Florida with more than 145 stores, will pour special wine selections. This involvement complements ABC’s Panhandle expansion, and their focus on education and providing fine customer service. Just recently, the 77-year-old company announced Destin and Panama City will be ABC’s first expansion west of Tallahassee. Construction is expected to start late summer/early fall, with the stores opening in early 2014 The Sandestin Wine Festival is also pleased to announce that entwine™ Wines, will be the featured wine for the Coastal Living Magazine Cooking Stage. Food Network partnered with Wente Vineyards, America’s oldest continuously operated family-owned winery, to create entwine. Food Network’s culinary team works directly with fifth generation wine maker Karl Wente to make these signature wines delicious — on their own and paired with delicious dishes.

Proceeds will be donated to The Fisher House, a worthwhile organization that provides free or low cost lodging to veterans and military families receiving treatment at military medical centers.

Additional details and ticketing information is available at www.sandestinwinefestival.com.

DAYS OF WINE AND …

Here is a guide and rundown of events for the upcoming Sandestin Wine Festival.

Thursday, April 18
Wine Dinners at Sandestin’s Village of Baytowne Wharf.
Participants include Graffiti and the Solaris Dinner Cruise

Friday, April 19
Grand Wine Tasting, 5 to 8 p.m.
The pouring of hundreds of domestic and international wines and spirits makes for a grand event, and offers a rare opportunity to learn about the finest appellations from major producing countries in all varieties, styles and price ranges. Sample delicious fare and Gulf seafood paired with wines.
Location: The Village of Baytowne Wharf

Cooking Demonstrations at the Coastal Living Stage, 6 and 7 p.m.
Be entertained by culinary experts including Diane Henderiks. Diane will share her tips and tricks for creating delicious and healthy dishes that are simple to prepare. Suggestions for wine pairings included.
Location: The Grand Lawn
Price: Free with paid Wine Festival entry and wristband.

Retail Tent, 2 to 9 p.m.
Purchase your favorite wine or spirits at a special Wine Festival discount.
Location: Near the Baytowne Marina

Saturday, April 20
VIP Connoisseur Experience
Wine aficionados will enjoy a VIP tasting of rare and specialty wines. This VIP experience includes a celebrity reception from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.; a tasting menu lunch; a specialty Reidel wine glass; and express entry into the Grand Wine Tasting.
Location: SunQuest Cruises’ Solaris Yacht at Baytowne Marina

Grand Wine Tasting, 1-5 p.m.
Day Two of the main event features more fine wine and fabulous food.
Location: The Village of Baytowne Wharf

Coastal Living Cooking Stage Presents Paula Deen, 2:15 and 3:45 p.m.
Be entertained by Paula Deen and see one of her favorite recipes paired with wine.
Location: The Grand Lawn
Price: Free with paid Wine Festival entry and wristband.

Retail Tent, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Purchase your favorite wine or spirits at a special Wine Festival discount.
Location: Near the Baytowne Marina

Sunday, April 21
Sunday Brunch by the Bay 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Enjoy scenic views of the Bay, music and the charming marina while treating yourself to a delicious Sunday Brunch featuring wonderful champagnes and even a “Create Your Own” Bloody Mary Bar.
Location: Baytowne Marina

5 Best Music & Wine Festivals in the Nation

Slip into your dancing shoes, folks—here are the five national music festivals Wine Enthusiast gives props to for their pours.

It’s hard to find a music festival that doesn’t incorporate wine and food in some capacity, but it’s even harder to find the few who do it well. Slip into your dancing shoes, folks—here are the five national music festivals Wine Enthusiast gives props to for their pours.

Outside Lands is a three-day extravaganza of booze, bites and beats in San Francisco’s lush Golden Gate Park. The lineup of A-list bands—Neil Young Crazy Horse, Stevie Wonder, Metallica and Skrillex, to name a few—match the equally impressive bottlings being poured in the designated wine area, Wine Lands. The best part? Dozens of vintners from celebrated brands like Caymus Vineyards, Turley Wine Cellars, Hess Collection and The Prisoner, and local favorites like Tres Sabores Winery and Long Meadow Ranch, will be there to serve their prized pours.

Aug 9–11, 2013; $215 for 3-day ticket

BottleRock may have started as a rumor (some still believe it is), but it’s about to become a 40,000-person reality for the small town of Napa. At this wine-and-music festival, you’ll pick from a long list of bottlings and bites—plus it’s packed with VIP parties. Pairing over 60 stellar bands, including the Black Keys, Ben Harper and Primus, with wines from Miner Family Winery, Lloyd Cellars, Flora Springs and Grgich Hills Estate, BottleRock has something for everyone. To balance the blend, they’ve also added a killer lineup of famous comedians like Jim Gaffigan and Kristen Schaal to perform throughout the event.

May 9–12, 2013; tickets from $139–$329

Great Googamooga, held at Brooklyn’s Prospect Park, claims to be “an amusement park of food, drink and music,” and considering the masterminds behind Outside Lands conceptualized it, it may very well be. The event features a wine list of more than 100 selections from the likes of Copain from Healdsburg, California to the local Red Hook Winery, and beyond, as well as 85 local food vendors. The Yeah Yeah Yeahs and The Flaming Lips are just two of the many musical groups to grace the Googamooga stage.

May 17–19, 2013; tickets from $54.50–$79.50 per day

Lollapalooza in Chicago will play host to top-selling bands like The Cure, Mumford Sons and Nine Inch Nails, and it features a notably funky wine scene. Don’t expect traditional-style sipping here. If it’s anything like last year’s event, it will feature esoteric finds, sport bottle-style glassware, and the use of the wine-and-personality app Pass the Bottle to help you pick your pours. Food vendors for 2013 have not yet been announced, but if it’s anything like last year’s, which was curated by James Beard-awarding winning chef Graham Elliot, you can expect more than a humble state fair corndog.

August 2–4, 2013; tickets are $95

The Austin Food and Wine Festival focuses on food and vino. But don’t worry, music doesn’t play second fiddle. This year, get a taste of Allan Stone—whose first album jumped into the top 10 of Billboard’s Heatseekers chart—along with Delta Spirit and Whiskey Shivers. Of course, you can expect to see the stars of the celebrity chef firmament—Marc Murphy, Marcus Samuelsson and Andrew Zimmern, to name a few—to either appear at or compete in the Rock Your Taco showdown. Wine world all-stars like Charles Smith and Mark Oldman will also be in attendance. In addition to all of the food, wine and music events, attendees can enroll in education events and big-name tastings.

April 26–28, 2013, tickets from $250–$850

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Culinary programs at community colleges explode in popularity thanks to TV chefs

Culinary school enrollment

Related story: Degree from expensive Pasadena culinary arts school no guarantee of a job

It was 2006 when the pilot episode of “Top Chef” aired.

At the time, the now-overcrowded culinary arts program at Los Angeles Harbor College in Wilmington didn’t exist. The three-story, $40 million culinary arts complex at Los Angeles Mission College in the San Fernando Valley was but a blueprint. Nationwide enrollment at a group of 17 for-profit culinary schools owned by the company Career Education Corp. had yet to explode.

Is there a link between the blazing-hot popularity of food TV – led by “Top Chef” – and the booming market for culinary arts classes? Students and instructors alike say without a doubt.

“It brought a business and industry to light that was pretty much behind the kitchen door,” said Steve Kasmar, chairman of the culinary and baking program at Los Angeles Trade Tech, home to the oldest continuously running culinary arts program in the nation. “They did glorify it. “

Regardless, in just three years, the annual student load of the culinary curriculum at Los Angeles Mission College has more than doubled, from 250 to 600. And that’s not just because of the fancy new facility, which boasts seven spacious kitchens, each of them equipped with cutting-edge video technology a la the cooking shows. The surge is also happening at Trade Tech in downtown Los Angeles

and Harbor College – the two other schools with culinary programs in the Los Angeles Community College District.

Both of those schools have multimillion-dollar kitchen remodels in the pipeline, largely to accommodate the onrush.

“I’m packed with more than 60 kids per class – the cap is supposed to be 25,” said Giovanni Delrosario, who runs the 5-year-old program at Harbor College. “We have 90 more students on the waiting list. It’s phenomenal; I’ve never seen anything like it. “

Although the stampede for these classes is no doubt largely the product of an intangible trend – the term “gourmet” is becoming so ubiquitous it can even apply to ketchup – the food entertainment craze is a clear contributor. The popularity of TV cooking shows began heating up in the mid-2000s and reached a boiling point in 2012. (Soon after hitting an all-time high, ratings for the Food Network cooled slightly in the fourth quarter of the year.)

“It’s more glamorous now – we look at chefs like rock stars,” said Julie Valenta Kiritani,who recently finished a program at Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts in Pasadena.

The problem is, the shine of the kitchens on TV seldom matches the grime of the ones in reality. While the culinary schools churn out a torrent of graduates, the job market into which they are released is far from flashy – or lucrative.

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Instruction Assistant Steve Han gives students a tour

Job market limits

In 2010, cooks across the nation earned about $20,000 a year on average, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Food prep workers took home about $19,000 on average. For the kings of the kitchen – chefs and head cooks – yearly pay averaged $40,000, a livable wage, but hardly glamorous. What’s more, the bureau projects that job prospects for chefs and head cooks will contract by 1 percent in the next decade, even as the rest of the economy expands by 14 percent.

“Employment growth will be tempered as many restaurants, in an effort to lower costs, use lower-level cooks to perform the work normally done by chefs and head cooks,” the report concludes. “Workers with a combination of business skills, previous work experience, and creativity will have the best job prospects. “

Kasmar of Los Angeles Trade Tech conceded that the past couple of years have been an employers’ market.

“They’ve been picking by hand who they want,” he said. “You go work for nothing and they see if they like you. “

That certainly rings true to employer Ed Kasky, executive director of USC’s University Club that caters to faculty and staff. Kasky recently posted a job online for a sous chef and got 50 applicants.

“I can tell you that 75 percent of the people who applied were severely overqualified to be a sous chef,” he said.

Still, Los Angeles is generally considered one of the foodie capitals of the world, and instructors of the community college programs insist their students are heavily recruited. (None could provide job placement statistics for recent grads, though.)

“When Wolfgang Puck (catering service) wants to do an event for 15,000 people for the Oscars or the Grammys … they actually come and recruit at the school,” Kasmar said.

Delrosario, the instructor at Harbor College, says his graduates have been landing jobs all over the place – and not just in Los Angeles restaurants.

“I can’t crank out enough grads to fulfill all the needs,” he said.

Some of his students have gone to work in the homes of wealthy families on the Palos Verdes Peninsula, for instance.

Even more unique is the partnership Harbor College has forged with a group of restaurants in Australia, whose economy is booming. Since August, at least a dozen of the college’s students have taken jobs Down Under, where starting salaries run as high as $45,000.

One of Delrosario’s students, 23-year-old Minor De Leon of Gardena, even lucked into the Playboy Mansion, where he works as a junior chef making dishes for Hugh Hefner and his playmates.

“When I wake up in morning, I’m like, ‘Wow, I’m on my way to the Playboy Mansion,’” said De Leon, who was drawn to the profession by cooking shows such as “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives” and “Emeril Live.” “How many people get to say that every day? “

Louis Zandalasini, chairman of professional studies at Mission College (and a chef), said it isn’t uncommon for corporate chefs to take home $80,000 to $100,000, though not all students can expect to reach that level. However, students can realistically expect to make $40,000 to $60,000, he said.

“When you’re making that kind of money, you’ve usually been in that particular job as executive chef for 10, 12 or 15 years,” he said.

For the vast majority of entry-level cooks, though, the starting pay ranges from $10 to $12 an hour.

The good news for the tidal wave of chefs-in-training is that Food TV also has had a zeitgeist effect on the consumer. Hence, the explosion of affordable restaurants (and food trucks) offering all manner of cosmopolitan cuisine: French delicacies, premium gelato, spicy seafood dips, wood-grilled this or that, center-of-the-plate desserts.

“There are so many more food and wine festivals, where the food is now the star,” Kiritani said. “It used to be you’d go and see a band play, and that was more exciting than the food. Now it has completely shifted. “

Kasmar of Los Angeles Trade Tech is thankful for the enrollment boost they’ve inspired. After all, it has fueled future plans for a $36 million renovation to his facility, whose new incarnation is scheduled to open in 2016. But there’s been a downside.

“They glorified what we do, and what we do is really not glorious,” he said. “It’s hard friggin’ work. “

Culinary programs at community colleges explode in popularity thanks to …