David Higgins and Travis Pastrana Head to the Mt. Washington Hillclimb!

"David Higgins 75 and Travis Pastrana are headed to the 2014 Subaru Mt. Washington Hillclimb, a full-points round of the 2014 Rally America, to defend the Hillclimb Record for Subaru. Higgins set the current record of just 6 minutes and 11 seconds at the 2011 Climb to the Clouds event. For more information on Subaru Rally Team USA’s fight to break the 6 minute barrier between June 26 - 29, go to: http://subar.us/1hTtESd"

via Subaru of America, Inc.

Burlington Subaru Staff Feature: Crystal Careau

Meet Crystal Careau, one of our amazing salespeople here at Burlington Subaru. Check out her bio below, or head to our website to see the rest of our Subaru staff members!

Crystal Careau graduated from Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts with a degree in Sociology and minor in Child & Family Studies, and now loves working at Burlington Subaru because of the atmosphere and her coworkers! Her favorite food is chicken ala king, favorite Vermont beer is Switchback, and favorite sports are football and baseball.

Crystal loves spending time with her 6-year-old son and her nephew; especially going for walks, playing baseball and going to the beach with them. Best described by the Ben & Jerry's flavor "That's My Jam", Crystal loves meeting new people and getting them into the car they wanted. Come see Crystal at Burlington Subaru today!

Crystal's Hours:

Monday:

11am - 8pm

Tuesday:

9am -4 pm

Wednesday:

11am - 8pm

Thursday:

8am - 3pm

Friday:

Off

Saturday:

8:30am - 6pm

Sunday:

Closed

Burlington Wine & Food Festival Seminar Feature: Montinore Vineyards

Here is our final feature before the 2014 Burlington Wine & Food Festival. Rudy Marchesi of Montinore Vineyards will be giving a seminar called "Sustainable Winegrowing: Why it is Important for Wine Quality" during the morning session of the festival from 1:30 - 2:15 p.m.

Join us at this year's Burlington Wine & Food Festival this Saturday, June 21! Get your tickets here.

"Rudy Marchesi came to wine and to Montinore Estate via the Bronx and New Jersey. Guided by a passion that was instilled early on by his Italian grandparents, Rudy sought out Oregon as a place that enabled creativity and, with careful coaxing, could grow grapes capable of delivering wine showcasing the truest expression of the land where it was grown. A place where one could, within the estate, grow the grapes, make the wine and send it out into the world.

Rudy became proprietor of the 210 acre farm in 2005 after many years overseeing operations and as the vineyard consultant. Taking his experience as a winegrower, winemaker and wholesale distributor full circle, he returned back to the land, with a mission to make wine from the ground up.

Today, Rudy presides over the estate with daughter Kristin, who is leading the second generation forward as General Manager. Together, they work with the vineyard crew to nurture the land, and with the winemakers to craft wines expressive of the rolling hills and cool breezes of the North Willamette Valley, nestled at the foothills of the Coast Range outside Forest Grove, OR.

All are firmly rooted in the values of a well-lived life, one that includes the enjoyment of food and wine with friends and family.

Montinore wines are crafted for the dinner table, featuring fresh and lively flavors that give immediate satisfaction, but also are built with structure to age. The wines reflect the thrill Rudy receives “in the simplicity of artistry.” They are a celebration of a place and a culture where wine is part of the everyday."

http://www.montinore.com/

Burlington Wine & Food Festival Wine Feature: Birichino

Alex Krause and John Locke founded Birichino in Santa Cruz in 2008. Drawing on a combined four decades making wine in California, France, Italy, and beyond, they are focused on attaining the perfect balance of perfume, poise, and puckishness. Sourcing from a number of carefully farmed, family-owned, own-rooted 19th and early 20th century vineyards (and a few from the late disco era) planted by and large in more moderate, marine-influenced climates, their preoccupation is to safeguard the quality and vibrance of their raw materials. Their preference is for minimal intervention, most often favoring native fermentations, employing stainless or neutral barrels, minimal racking and fining, and avoiding filtration altogether when possible. But most critically, their aim is to make delicious wines that give pleasure, revitalize, and revive.

On June 21st both Alex Krause and John Locke can be found under the festival tent pouring their incredible selections as well Mr. Locke will be hosting a talk in the seminar tent from 2:30 – 3:15 pm entitled “What? You’ve Never Heard of Malvasia?” What? John Locke does not conform to the theory that you have to grow what everyone else grows. Nope, on the contrary…John has his own unique approach which is fascinating. Although he does produce a Pinot Noir – and a damn fine one – it is his work with Cinsault, Malvasia and Grenache that grabs oenophiles worldwide. Let John tell you why he chose the varietals he did, and sample along on this ride.

http://www.birichino.com/
http://www.burlingtonwineandfoodfestival.com/

Burlington Wine & Food Festival Seminar Feature: "An American Girl in Bordeaux"

Meet Winemaker Michele d’Aprix, who has studied under legendary winemaker Stephane Derenoncourt, will be pouring her wines & discussing her many projects in Bordeaux. Michele is a UC Davis Grad of their Viticulture & Enology program, who found her passion for winemaking in Bordeaux.

“As a student of organic chemistry, viticulture & enology, I have all the educational resources, lab skills, text books and molecule sets needed in order to turn that stale glass of water next to your bedside into something that would look and taste like wine. You wouldn’t want to drink it, but I learned how to do this. (The wedding feast at Cana is a parlor trick for any good Davis grad who paid attention.) But while attending UC Davis’ V & E program, I also learned how to make wine that you would not only want to drink but also could get paid to make. V & E is one of the coolest academic programs out there, and I learned things in those labs and lecture halls that I still don’t know how to fully make use of within my professional pursuits in the wine world. But Davis taught me, just in case. I learned what aroma looks like, learned how to create things and then, how to make them disappear (color, flavor, scent…not even kidding…this can be done). Davis provides its students with a basis of education and the practical chops anyone seeking work in a professional winery could need. To make a comparison, culinary schools are exactly like Davis, and nothing like Davis. And I’ve been shown why this metaphor makes sense.

Culinary schools teach their chefs proper techniques like sous vide, using induction burners, and molecular gastronomy to keep their students informed of the cutting edge that they’ll encounter once they leave the classroom. Davis does this too, and because the science can be so intense and all-consuming for the student enologist-in-training, things more philosophical like balance, character, and quality can get short shrift in the dialogue on how to make great wine.

But unlike Davis, great culinary schools and great chefs teach why temperature or acid matters in cooking via a conversation that involves eating, tasting & smelling – none of which are quantifiable, all of which are important in the assessment of fine food or a well-composed plate. The concept of how to make a great wine with a sense of place is not a focus of Davis’s program. It’s more elemental there. They breed and train eager, young enologists, via the molecule, from the bottom up. It was absolutely fascinating, and completely scientific. We were taught what wine is, where it comes from and how to change its physical & chemical properties. I was one of the lucky students because I happened to be there at a time when the trail blazing professors and researchers who founded the program were actually still teaching.

But…they don’t teach you what quality or feeling is at UC Davis. They can’t, because those things aren’t measurable; they’re not science. Nor is great wine, as I am finding out on a daily basis. Vintage to vintage, bottle by bottle, glass by glass.

I met Stéphane Derenoncourt in 2004, 2 years after I graduated from Davis.

Stéphane is not an enologist. He did not go to school to learn about vine physiology or the biochemistry of fermentation. In fact, I’d bet he doesn’t know off the top of his head what the molecular formula for TCA is, and I’m certain he doesn’t care. But he, a bit like Yoda maybe, can stand in a vineyard and tell you from a quality perspective, why one is better for Merlot, and not Cabernet Franc. And once the vineyard grows in, he knows how you better prune it, and once the fruit is picked, what temperature to keep the fermentation at, and how many times to look under the lid & give it a stir while it’s evolving. All of this is done by feel, loosely at times, and totally precise in moments. He learned wine could be ‘made’ without doing anything to it, other than letting it follow its natural progression once the vineyard has been shaped into what the soils, sun, wind, precipitation, personnel and winery can provide it.

Every vineyard has its limit with regard to the quality of wine you can grow there. Like he sees people, Stéphane sees vineyards as places to be brought to their full potential without crossing the line where they need to be manipulated.

Christopher Imports is a conduit to the work and philosophy of Stéphane Derenoncourt. As a portfolio of wines, it may not be limited to only the wines he makes. (I make a few myself.) But this project was begun with a desire to represent these ideals that I too have come to apply to my work in wine and I go forward grateful for having had the education (all different kinds), and responsible for teaching it to those who would listen. And taste.”

She will also be featured at a wine dinner at Juniper June 19th 6-8pm Michele’s wines will be paired with Chef Doug’s creative cuisine.

Tickets are $50 plus tax & tip.
Reservations can be made with Vermont Wine Merchants 802.658.6771 or brita@vtwinemerchants.com

http://vtwinemerchants.com/
http://www.burlingtonwineandfoodfestival.com/
http://www.hotelvt.com/dining-drinking/juniper
http://www.christopherimportsny.com/home/

Burlington Wine & Food Festival Feature: PortoVino Producer Le Vigne di Alice

Check out PortoVino producer, Le Vigne di Alice! Read more about them below in the words of those over at PortoVino. And don't forget to enter our Instagram contest to wine two FREE tickets to this year's Burlington Wine & Food Festival! Just post a picture of a meal you're eating, tag @BTVhyundai or @BTVsubaru and use the hashtag #btvfood. See more details on the contest here.

"Sisters-in-law Cinzia Canzian and Pier Francesca Bonicelli started Alice in 2004 to fulfill their dream of bottling artisanal Prosecco thatʼs all their own: estate fruit, pre-Dolomite, grower Prosecco. We call it Prosecco for non-Prosecco lovers (a category that includes us). Cinzia logged 15 years at her and Francesca’s husbands’ famous winery Bellenda. She also worked at the official Prosecco Consortium of Treviso, an experience that allowed her the rare privilege of years of tasting the range of sparkling wines made by the areaʼs producers. Francesca studied at Italyʼs oldest school of enology in nearby Conegliano; she has vast experience as a local enologist, which is quite different from being an expert Italian enologist. She knows her local grapes and how to vinify and bubble them. Alice, named after Cinziaʼs grandmother, has in just a few years become a rising star.

We’ve known Cinzia and Francesca almost since PortoVino was born — in a certain way PortoVino and Alice have grown up together. It didnʼt take long to understand that these women are joyful, caring, and possessing a passion for life and fine wine (including grower Champagne and Jura wines). At the same time, they are utterly serious, precise, and determined to produce amazing Prosecchi. Although it’s less fashionable nowadays to talk about cellar work, making any sparkling wine requires a degree of technical know-how and follow-through. You don’t just just dump grapes into the Charmat tank (where the secondary fermentation takes place) and push the Bubbles Now button! These women are to be counted on and trusted, from vineyard care and rootstock and clonal selection to longer fermentations and proper use of Charmat tanks. They are a small winery, working in small batches with exceeding precision. Their work in their nine hectares of vineyards is what the Italians call lotta integrata, more or less what we call sustainable. And in fact, Cinzia defends the use of that too-often weasel word and wants to make it really mean something in the Prosecco zone. Besides their choices in the vineyard, they’ve constructed a green winery with grass on the roof and solar panels that supply more than half of their energy.

It’s easy to make fun of Prosecco, as a majority of it is made in factory-sized cantinas to be pumped out by industrial producers in million bottle quantities. You cannot compare a small producer with a mega-producer in Prosecco, any more than you can in Lambrusco, Catalunya… or Champagne. If you are making millions of bottles of bubbles, you canʼt control the quality as you would if you were making thousands of bottles. And you certainly can’t make distinctive wines that speak clearly of place, soil, and tradition. In 2009, Italian wine law tightened the geographical zone and reduced allowable yields for wines labeled Prosecco. The new law also limited the term “Prosecco” to the zone and certain wines made therein; the grape formerly known as Prosecco, which must constitute at least 85% of wines labeled Prosecco, is now legally known as Glera. The tightened rules help weed out some inferior, high-yield wines and sparkling wines from outside the zone that used to be labeled Prosecco. But mega-production remains the rule, and we think that it’s grower-producers like Alice who will raise the quality and reputation of Prosecco, just as Récoltants-Manipulants have done in Champagne in the last decade or two.

Alice’s growing range of wines starts with an elegant and pure Extra Dry Prosecco and a serious single-vineyard Brut thatʼs a leader in its category (and, in a battle of the sexes, has taken the top award from Cinzia and Francesca’s husbands several years in a row). Cinzia and Francesca recently added two wines made with secondary fermentation in the bottle: .g (Metodo Classico, or Champagne method) and P.S. (Metodo Integrale; i.e., not disgorged). Rounding things out are two Vini Spumanti that, because of the grape varieties in each, can’t be labelled Prosecco (although all of the grapes come from Alice’s own vineyards within the Prosecco zone): Tajad, from local antique varieties that Cinzia’s grandfather made into wine for her grandmother’s osteria, and Osé, a Brut rosé and the only pink wine from the Prosecco zone that’s made with Marzemino as the added red variety.

As Alice’s motto encourages, “Life is a Bubble”, and as we like to say, “sparkling wine is wine“. Taken together, these two mottoes remind us that Alice, and all good sparkling wine, isn’t just for overt celebrations like weddings and graduations. When you’re drinking wine, whether as an aperitivo or during brunch or dinner, there’s no reason that some of it shouldn’t have bubbles in it. And if you’re drinking sparkling wine, like any other wine, there’s good reason to have it be good wine."

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