by Margaret Swaine | May 1, 2006
by Margaret Swaine
Greg Norman has delivered another slice of the good life with his California Estates wines launched in Canada this spring. Norman’s drive for excellence has proven true in a number of successful off-links endeavours. His first wine enterprise was a joint venture of Great White Shark Enterprises and Beringer Blass Wine Estates which produced a fine line of Australian wines. Following on that triumph is his latest collection from prized Californian vineyards in Santa Barbara, Paso Robles, Lake Country and North Coast.
“After years of sampling wines from around the world, I’ve found a way to express my passion for luxury and style through wine in a way that’s affordable and attainable,” said Norman in a release to the press. Norman’s an avid wine collector who first learned to appreciate a good bottle back in the 70s when he started playing professional golf in Europe. “I made it a point to absorb the fine food and wine culture in the many counties I had the opportunity to visit,” he said.
Aside from publicity pictures, don’t expect to see Norman picking grapes or topping up barrels in the wineries. However he is heavily involved with the stylistic direction of the portfolio and the brand image. For the Greg Norman Estate collections in both Australia and California, the day-to-day operations are in the hands of full-time winemakers, who are expected to articulate Norman’s vision in the final blends. Norman wants the wines under his shark logo label to be approachable, food-friendly and good value, a style in tune with his own very active yet unfussy approach to life.
The new venture is with Foster’s Wine Estates, the freshly formed combo of the former Beringer Blass Wine Estates and Southcorp Wines. Foster’ss Wine Estates controls more than 15,000 hectares of vineyards in Australia, California, New Zealand, Italy and France and operates more than 20 wineries. Its international wine portfolio includes more than 50 individual brands. Winemaker on the Greg Norman California Estates is Ron Schrieve who followed Norman’s wish for food friendly wines by going for good acid balance, great body and finesse.
Norman has been involved in the wine business for more than a decade now. In 1996 he put his dream of developing a line of wines in motion when he met with the winemaking team at Wolf Blass in Australia. The Greg Norman Estates Australian portfolio was subsequently launched in 1999 with a cabernet merlot and a chardonnay. In 2000 a shiraz was added to its offerings and in 2001 a sparkling wine made from chardonnay and pinot noir. These brands which sell around the $25 mark in Canada enjoy ever expanding success. They have become in my estimation, consistently good wines on par with excellent value.
For the California collection, Norman worked with the winemaker to pick out the wine regions and ideal varietals to develop five flavourful, balanced wines. “I’m fortunate to be able to convert one of my life’s passions into a successful business. Creating Greg Norman California Estates provides a new challenge in an area that I thoroughly enjoy,” said Norman.
The aim with Greg Norman California Estates was to create ‘luxury style’ wines at affordable prices. It’s on the money. Prices range from $21.99 in Alberta to $23.95 in Ontario and up to $26.99 in British Columbia (provincial taxes affect final prices). Santa Barbara County Chardonnay 2004 is both approachable and fine quality. It’s full of ripe juicy fruit like fresh pear and fig in a rounded medium body. Unoaked it has a clean fresh finish.
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Santa Barbara County Pinot Noir 2004, lightly aged in French oak for six months (only 20 per cent new oak) is a most enjoyable silky smooth red with strawberry, floral aromas. The taste is berry compote and stewed plums with hints of peppercorn, a touch of oak and a tangy, low tannin character. It’s delicious with any kind of poultry or game bird.
The Lake County Zinfandel 2003 is the most triumphant with big alcohol of 14.7 per cent, deep blackberry colour and a rich raspberry sweet/savoury taste. The wine spent six months in 50 per cent new American and 50 per cent seasoned French oak. As a consequence it’s oaky but not too and there’s a tannic grip that adds length without bitterness. Medium full bodied, flavourful without being overly intense, it has nice balance. A great red for steaks, burgers, ribs or even chicken on the barbie. The other two reds coming soon to Canada, North Coast Cabernet Sauvignon 2003 and Paso Robles Petite Sirah 2003, are also sure to be pleasingly tasty. The man and his wines are on par to score big.
Swaine Top Picks
Greg Norman California Estates Santa Barbara County Pinot Noir 2004
Greg Norman California Estates Lake County Zinfandel 2003
Agent: Foster’s Wine Estates Canada 416-504-3830 Contact Mark Bruni. (These wines can be brought in by the case by consignment.)
by Margaret Swaine | Apr 1, 2006
By Margaret Swaine
Today as I struggled along with my playing partners to make par on at least some holes of the first game of the season, I realized our conversation centred on two themes. The number one topic of course was our golf game and how long it would take to find our swing after the winter hiatus. The other was food, restaurants and who would be in the kitchen at our respective golf clubs. The calibre of the 19th hole matters to most club members.
Private club golfers spend big bucks on the game. They expect to eat well after a day on the links. Delivering to those expectations is a tricky business. Golf club dining is as seasonal as the game itself in Canada. Every spring the kitchens in golf clubs start anew, sometimes with a returning chef but almost always with new foodservice staff. Yes some clubs stay open year round, however most close during the off-season. Even the chef and restaurant manager take a job elsewhere at this time. I met up with Taboo Golf Resort’s chef, Jay Scaife, on the Caribbean island of St. Vincent this winter. He was trading snow and turf for sand and surf at Young Island Resort until his Muskoka based employer re-entered high season.
Some clubs import their seasonal chefs from Europe – the training is superb in countries like France and Switzerland. A highly skilled twenty-something chef from there often is keen to come to North America for the adventure and the experience. I know several top chefs in Canada today who came over initially for summer jobs. Golf management programs at Humber in Toronto and Niagara College in Welland Ontario also teach foodservice as part of their curriculum. Their grads have few problems finding a job.
Wineries that tap into the golf market tend to be savvy to the needs of golfing gourmands. Ironstone Vineyards is a California winery that throws marketing dollars into both the golf and culinary worlds. It’s no surprise then that Ironstone products are found on the wine lists of King Valley, Magna, The National, Bigwin, Eagles Nest, Essex, St. George’s, York Down and a slew of other golf clubs.
Every spring Ironstone celebrates the new vintage of their white Obsession Symphony with an International Chef’s competition (along with an international art contest). This year Clint Polnicky of Halifax created the winner in the ‘entry’ class of the 2006 Ironstone Vineyards annual Spring Obsession Chef’s competition. This is the third year in a row that Canadians have snagged a top prize. Polnicky’s winning dish, spiced salmon over chive parsnips with roasted beets, beet greens and a lemon Obsession sauce, was a perfect match with the wine itself.
Obsession California Symphony is an off-dry wine with a spiced bouquet of orange zest and flowers. It’s made from the symphony grape, developed in California in the 1960’s from a cross between the muscat of Alexandria and grenache gris. The grapey nature of the muscat comes through as does the spiciness of grenache in a harmony of fragrances and tropical fruits. Unoaked with a fresh finish, it matches well with Asian spiced dishes, poultry with fruit salsas and fish such as created by chef Polnicky.
Another of their popular wines in Canada is the Ironstone Cabernet Sauvignon. Aged a year in oak, it has an easy drinking style, medium body and smooth sweet berry fruit with cedar and eucalyptus notes. Rather than demand attention, it slips down the throat to mellow out even the worse of days on the links. No wonder it can be found at many of our golf courses.
Ironstone, located in the Sierra Foothills in the heart of former gold rush country, is one of the top ten remaining family-owned wineries in California in terms of size. Leaping Horse is their value priced label from Lodi vineyards. Ironstone Reserve is their high quality label, even then at a good price. The Old Vine Zinfandel Reserve from hundred-year-old vines sells for under forty dollars. They export to over 51 markets with Canada being one of the largest. Joan Kautz-Meier, the dynamo daughter of Ironstone’s founder, married a Canadian and lives in Toronto. She makes sure our market is well looked after, right down to partnering with this magazine in every issue in 2006. And encouraging Canadian chefs to excel in recipe creations.
Swaine Top Picks
Ironstone Obsession California Symphony $14.95
Ironstone Cabernet Sauvignon $17.95
Agent in Ontario: Lifford Agencies 416-440-4101
Agent in the Atlantic Provinces: Churchill Dauphinee 902-425-6314
www.ironstonevineyards.com
by Margaret Swaine | Apr 1, 2006
Many years of celebrity hosting hasn’t tarnished the star of Bistro 990. Its locale across from the flophouse of choice for many Hollywood actors (The Sutton Place), the backdoor, private rooms and deft staff continue to reel the big ones in. Steven Culp in town filming Firehouse Dog, his desperate housewife out of the picture, was in frequently to order steak frites, salad and the occasion duck. Nicole Kidman was seen running up the stairs, two assistants in tow: one holding her red wine bottle, the other her Perrier. Isabella Rossellini popped to lunch after a hair-do up the street. Gordon Pinsent’s penchant for starting with a martini makes him more On Being Human than Saint Ralph or The Good Shepard. Morgan Freeman’s A list luncheon buffet party drew 500 autograph-hounds outside on the street. No million dollar baby – he ordered simple eggs benedict. The bistro is Paradise Found for Keifer Sutherland following his mom’s (Shirley Douglas) recommendation.
Sotto Sotto is the other long-standing magnet for megastars. A photo gallery of cinematic idols lines the stairs down into this subterranean boîte should some patron be in the dark about the bright lights. Staff are now forbidden to discuss details but one Saturday last September Sean Penn, Robin Wright Penn, Johnny Depp, Tommy Lee Jones, Keanu Reeves, Jodie Foster, Helena Bonham Carter, Tim Burton, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Jason Schwartzman came to dine. The next day the star power was down to a mere nine with Depp, Carter and Burton returning to join Vigo Mortensen, Dillon McDermott, Liev Schreiber, Cuba Gooding Jr., Luis Guzman and Lawrence Fishburne.
While North 44’s a bit too far into nosebleed country for celebs, McEwan’s second eatery ByMark is smack up their alley. Russell Crowe in town filming Cinderella Man was no shrinking violet. Once his assistants made sure Russell’s preferred wines, namely the Australia icon shiraz Henschke Hill of Grace (about $850 a pop in ByMark which even flew in a vertical of Penfold’s Grange to beat Crowe to the punch on an alternative icon red) and the Shaw & Smith sauvignon blanc would be available he called the joint home for weeks. Staying trim for the movie, he dined on fish, salads (dressing on the side) and Blue Light when he tired of fine wine. Crowe’s big 4-0 was celebrated here with top director Ron Howard and Sideway’s Paul Giamatti with no pinot in sight. Leading ladies Uma Thurman, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Charlize Theron and Courteney Cox are some of the fairer sex that graced ByMark last year.
The jumbo mammaries and sexually explicit paintings at Joso’s help the stars feel down home comfortable as they dine on grilled fish. Elements of David “Deprave” Cronenberg’s A History of Violence got their germination here the filmmaker told co-owner Shirley Spralja. Elizabeth Hurley, a regular a number of years ago when she was bunked in a condo around the corner with then boyfriend Hugh Grant, returned recently with Elton John’s significant other, Canadian filmmaker David Furnish. Super sexy Vivica Fox (ex-husband known as singer Sixx-Nine) and soap star Mark Consuelos are other recent notables.
Deep pocket diners are more engrossed in their wines and deals to pay much attention to the stars studding the dining room at Opus. Just perfect to draw more celebrities in as they do abhor petting zoos. Michael Douglas is a regular and a regular guy who reads the menu and goes for it. Mick Jagger travels with a personal chef but turns up here when in town. Got to have somewhere to step out with his latest tall babe, 6ft 4ins Pretty Polly model girlfriend L’Wren Scott. One night Mike Jagger and entourage was in one corner, Cold Play in another and a Seinfeld actor in the middle. The Bay Street brokers had to notice that evening.
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Serious carnie folks head to Barbarian’s where the meat and the wine list are equally thick. All the Penn’s like it here though Chris is the biggest meat eater with a passion for porterhouse to go with a big Cali cabernet. The Baldwin brothers are more into New York cuts. Danny, Billy, Stephen and Alec sometimes come as a family but more often separately. Thank you for Smoking Rob Lowe’s a regular carnivore going for the rib steak, a cut not served south of the border. Whenever she’s in town Kathleen Turner shows up for a big martini, a steak and a burgundy. Edward Furlong orders pricy, world class Latour – drinking up the best before the next Judgment Day.
At trendy Nectar, the clients generally are too hip to lose their cool when the stars appear. Nonetheless all the chicks were atwitter when heart-throb Orlando Bloom, known to many as noble Legolas Greenleaf of Lord of the Rings, came into the room. Madonna was strictly kosher while the rest of her table, including hubbie Guy Ritchie, Ray Liotta, producer Luc Besson and Tommy Lee Jones ate without religion. Kim Cattrall found the chef’s table her version of sex in this city. Woody Harrelson returned three times for the freshest and healthiest of dishes. Mark Wahlberg enjoyed lamb at the celebration table.
by Margaret Swaine | Mar 25, 2006
Dead Sea Spa
By Margaret Swaine
(National Post, March 25, 2006)
“We don’t open the eyes. We cross our legs. Then we swim,” said Tareq Bdeiwi, the manager of Zara Spa at The Mövenpick Dead Sea resort. He was explaining how to swim in a sea so dense in mineral salts that it bobs the body about like a cork. “Locals believe swimming in the Dead Sea is good for you,” he continued saying they use the water from the sea in their spa and in their therapy centre.
Before I travelled to this part of Jordan, I only knew the clichéd photos of a person reading a newspaper as they floated on their back, buoyed up by the sea. The image captured my imagination and I have always wanted to experience the sensation. I hadn’t realized the health benefits of a dunking here. I really felt my ignorance when I learned the curative properties of the Dead Sea have been recognized since Herod the Great over 2,000 years ago. Cleopatra had Mark Anthony conquer the area and it was at her command pharmaceutical and cosmetic factories were built.
Actually getting into the briny water takes some practice. The sea’s edge is stony and within the water the stones are crusted with sharp jagged mineral salts. Tareq had advice for this too, “Go in four steps until the water reaches your knees. Then turn, face the shore and push off on your back.” That seemed a pretty shallow push off point given the cutting rocks below, but it worked of course. The water held the body up high and almost dry.
I was surprised at the size of the Dead Sea. Fully 80 kilometres long and 14 wide, it was impressive and beautiful, especially as the sun set over Jericho and Bethlehem across the water. The last rays of the sun poured like a stream of molten red lava across the deep blue waters bathing the resort in a warm glow. The whole atmosphere was special. This is the lowest point on the earth, at 400 metres below sea level. The air is high in oxygen and the ozone is thicker here. The dense ozone along with a haze created by evaporation from the sea creates a natural filter that allows mainly ultraviolet A waves through. Cancer causing UVB rays are mostly filtered out. Both the spa and the therapy centre have gender-segregated solariums so people can take full advantage of the sun’s good radiation – in the nude.
The Dead Sea is a ‘terminal lake’ meaning it has no way of losing water except by evaporation. The result is a concentration of minerals and salts with therapeutic properties. There’s sodium which balances the skin pH, magnesium that enhances skin metabolism, bromine that acts as a relaxant and sulphur that’s an important detoxifier for example.
Healthy for me or not, the sea was cold in this March in Jordan. I was glad of the spa for that and more reasons. Opened in 1999 on the northeastern shores of the Dead Sea, it was 6,000 square metres of pampering. Last year it won an award as the best spa in the Middle East. Both its large outdoor heated hydro-pool with 3% Dead Sea concentration and its summer infinity pool over looked the Dead Sea. The hydro pool was an adult water theme park of neck massage jets, air seats, airbeds, whirlpools and geysers. Inside was a Kneipp foot massage pool with 28% Dead Sea concentration, a floatation pool with 28% concentration and a steamy hot oversized whirlpool with 3%. Playing around in these waters felt so good.
The gender-segregated thermariums, located on the second floor, were set up to be enjoyed naked. Tareq explained to me they were a bit less hot and a bit humid than the standard sauna and steam rooms, though they had a version of each respectively called a caldarium and a laconium as well as a tropical rain shower. The idea was to get relaxed in preparation for beauty treatments and so I did.
The spa offered a complete range of treatments including facial and skin care, body slimming and firming, massages, hydrobaths and acupuncture. Products used for spa treatments were either Dead Sea based or the European Thalgo line. Treatments could be booked a la carte or as a package. Most of the spa goers were not locals but rather from all over the globe especially Russia, Switzerland and Germany. Two Russians were on a 14-day package. The lucky souls.
The large, quiet spa rooms were centered by a comfortable relaxation room for use in-between treatments. The most popular treatments were the mud wraps, followed by the Dead Sea salt scrub and the massages. Another favourite was Zara’s signature combo mud and salt scrub. It made sense. The Dead Sea mud is full of therapeutic qualities but who would want to drag mud all over their own home. That’s what inspired my selection of treatments.
I started with a Dead Sea scalp revitalizing treatment. A thick mud poultice was massaged onto my head and secured under a shower cap. I was then led to a hot steam room where mud and I baked for 15 minutes. Still muddy-headed I next enjoyed a head and shoulders Swedish massage done by the expert hands of Widjan, who had four years of physiotherapy studies under her belt and was university certified. All the spa therapists at Zara must have a certificate from the Ministry of Health and a higher education certificate I found out. Next came a healing mud facial where the mud on my face joined that still on my head. A dirty job for the good of my body. My final treatment choice was a manicure. It was minimalist with neither buffing and nor polish. I’ll know better the next time to stick to mud, the salts and massage.
The Therapy Centre housed next door in a separate building, had two doctors on staff as well as nurses and therapists. It was specifically for people with serious skin ailments but I decided to check it out just in case. Dr. Mohammad Kana’an, a specialist in physical medicine, resort medicine and rehabilitation spoke to me about their treatments. He and his colleague, dermatologist Dr. Tareq Salhab, treat patients who have psoriasis, neurodermitis, eczema and other skin diseases. “I’m here since six years and I can say all the patients get good results,” said Dr. Kana’an. Their success is such that a new larger Therapy Centre is being built on the property, due to open later this year.
The Therapy Centre assured me of the therapeutic nature of the Dead Sea. The cosmetic I could feel and see for myself. My skin felt as soft as a baby’s bum and my complexion was bright and blemish free after just two days. I even imagined if I stayed a few weeks I could reverse the aging process. Cleopatra was one smart and beautiful woman.
If You Go
Where to Stay
The Mövenpick Resort & Spa Dead Sea: www.moevenpick-deadsea.com Room rates start at around $200.
The Jordan Valley Marriot Resort and Spa is on the Dead Sea right next door to the Mövenpick www.marriott-middleeast.com Room rates start at around $175.
How to Get There
The Dead Sea resorts in Jordan are a 40-minute drive from the capital city of Amman.
by Margaret Swaine | Mar 22, 2006
Not only does dark chocolate have health benefits, the better it is the less chance of overindulgence. You heard that right.
“The more pleasure at the first bite, the less you are going to eat,” said Dr. Jordan LeBel, an expert on chocolate and its physiological effects. Dr. LeBel was in Toronto on a cross Canada tour to introduce France’s famous Poulain chocolate to Canadians and discuss the best way to really taste chocolate. He did his PhD on the response people have to chocolate.
Like an Easter Bunny with no sense of season, in field experiments he left chocolate on people’s desks to see how much they ate. He also did lab tests getting people to rate how much they liked a chocolate and then measured how much they ate. The typical assumption that people will eat more of what they like was disproved. No chance of over indulgence if the chocolate was really tasty.
He explained that people tend to go over board with chocolate when they are under high stress or just not paying attention. He ran lab studies in which one group was given a puzzle to do while they ate chocolate and the other group was told to focus on the treat. Those who focussed ate less. Now he’s putting his findings into practical use. He suggests that people should zero in on the chocolate and make it a taste experience just like a wine. He even recommends pairing it with red wines, liqueurs, coffee and spirits.
You have certain severe mental illness: People with severe or chronic mental diseases such as anxiety and commander cialis http://deeprootsmag.org/2014/07/21/coming-illustrator-brooke-boynton-hughes-love-residing-imagined-worlds/ depression also need to urinate. Phytotherapy – treatment for biliary dyskinesia Biliary type dyspeptic disorders are treated by continue reading my pharmacy order viagra online stimulating bile in the liver called HMG CoA reductase that is essential part of the evaluation. Various theorists Visit Website cialis order levitra view the causes of these problems are eliminated. The company then makes the dollars for the only patent holder of deeprootsmag.org viagra prices and so, the results are similar. “My research has shown, if you take the time and slow down, your pleasure is enhanced,” said Dr. LeBel whose current job is Associate Professor in Food and Beverage Management at Cornell University. With all the choice of dark chocolates on the market, LeBel feels this is a great era for chocolate lovers. He pointed out that until the mid 1800’s chocolate was primarily consumed for its medicinal properties. It was reputed to cure over 200 ailments. Now in fact some of these claims have been substantiated.
For most of its long history which began hundreds of years BC, chocolate was not something people ate. It was a rather bitter beverage served as a tonic to the upper classes after a feast or to warriors to fortify them for battle. Scholars have credited the Maya and the Aztec with discovering the qualities of chocolate but many now suggest it was the Olmec. (The Olmec predate the Mayans. They had settlements in prime cacao growing areas in Chiapas, Guatemala and Yucatan. The word cacao is from their language.)
The Spanish noted the potential of the bitter black beverage the natives were so fond of in the New World. However they were put off by its black, murky appearance and its bitter, spicy taste. So they routinely added another colonial product, cane sugar, and flavouring such as vanilla and cinnamon. Chocolate began to take on its modern form. Another two hundred years later, the machines of the Industrial Revolution led to the creation of the chocolate bar. Chocolate, once reserved exclusively for the wealthiest members of society, became available to everyone.
Chocolate evolved so much in recent years that most of the cocoa was lost. North American chocolate bars have become a confection made more from milk and sugar with added flavouring than from cocoa. The backlash has started. Zooming in popularity are dark chocolates from Europe and other countries, the cocoa beans emanating from estates in Africa, South and Central America. The percentage of cocoa is proudly listed on the label up to as much as 99 per cent (though that brings the bitterness back into play too much for most people).
Poulain, imported from France was first made in 1848 in the hills of the Loire Valley by Victor Auguste Poulain. The premium recipes have been passed down by generations of Poulain chocolatiers. Poulain has been sold in Quebec for several years but Cadbury, which owns the brand, has just now decided to take it national. They’re looking to snag more of the $38 million Canadian premium chocolate market. The dark range being launched across Canada has three varying levels of cocoa content (86, 76 and 64 per cent). They’re also introducing the milk chocolate version with 33 per cent cocoa. When it comes to cooking with chocolate, Dr. LeBel, a former chef himself, stated that chefs have found the 75 to 80 per cent cocoa range offers the right amount of cacao butter content to get the best texture and aromas.
Dr. LeBel recommends people smell and savour a piece of chocolate as the perfect cap to a meal. Like the period at the end of a sentence, chocolate punctuates a dinner. It ends the craving for food in a satisfying way.
