Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/39104
INDUSTRy SPotLiGht Shellfi sh Endeavor S eems like crushing grapes isn’t the only thing winemakers from Southwest France can do. Hailing from Gascony, the team from Domaine du Tariquet arrived in NYC last month—bottles and mallets in hand. The East Village’s Back Forty restaurant was the site for a convivial crab boil, accompanied by the winery’s breezy summer whites and a rosé. The wines proved to be the perfect comple- ment to casual dining—with or without bib. Tariquet produces Central Coast Martini Shakedown E ach year, Chef Doug MacMillan and wife Shannon, owners of Rosa’s Italian Restaurant in Pismo Beach, CA, host the competition, sponsored by ABSOLUT, to raise consumers’ cocktail awareness and to provide fi nancial aid for culinary students and local culinary programs. This year’s sold-out competition raised nearly $6,500. Bartenders from nine Central Coast restaurants vied for the top Vodka Martini title. The 2011 winner of both the Judges’ First Place and People’s Choice Award was the Black Flower Fizztini, created by Jared Moore and Jay Britton of Steamers restaurant in Pismo Beach. Adding to the drink’s visual allure were wisps of carbon dioxide (created by dry ice chips) that emanate from the glass. —Laura Sanchez Rémy Grassa, Tariquet’s third-generation winemaker, shows THE TASTING PANEL’s New York Editor Lana Bortolot how to crack a crab. a Bas-Armagnac, for which Gascony is widely known, but has produced an Ugni/Colombard blended white wine since the mid-1980s (SRP $8.99). The estate has blending down to a science: Chardonnay shows up in two blends—once with Chenin and again with Sauvignon Blanc. With spicy-coated crabs, the ticket was 2010 Rosé de Pressée, a blend of Merlot, Syrah, Cabernet France and Tannat, which, for $10.99, got our vote for “Most Wanted.” Tariquet’s rollout in the U.S. focuses on the East Coast, and will expand to all U.S. markets in 2012. Imported by Robert Kacher Selections. —Lana Bortolot 10 / the tasting panel / august 201 1 The winning Black Flower Fizztini. BLACK FLOWER FIZZTINI by Jared Moore and Jay Britton, Steamers of Pismo 1½ oz. ABSOLUT Citron ¾ oz. elderfl ower liqueur ¾ oz. champagne 1 oz. 7-Up 1 oz. pomegranate juice 1 peach slice, 1 blackberry, 1 mint leaf PHOTO: ROBIN BARNES