June - The Half-Way Point. How are we doing?

Chenin Blanc, Bitter Beers and Much More.

Kia Ora wine and spirited friends.

It’s that time of the year when retailers, restaurants, bars and cafés need to be more resilient as trade slows down. It happens every year, but we at Cahn’s have been through this before - we adapt and stay positive,.  This is just a temorary lull. Fear not; we still have plenty of new wares for you to enjoy.  

NEW ARRIVALS IN STORE

We are that store where you discover products you cannot find elsewhere. Check out our fresh new arrivals and collectables.

UPCOMING TASTINGS & EVENTS

TICKETS STILL AVAILABLE

Our next event:  Wednesday, July 22nd, from 6 pm to 8 pm

Ancient vines for modern times - the wines of Sicily

$65.00 - includes nibbles.

You might have heard ‘Chenin Blanc’ floating around in wine circles, or maybe you saw it on a wine list somewhere. So what is Chenin Blanc, and what is so great about it? It is a varietal whose ancestral home is the Loire Valley in France. It’s an absolute chameleon of a varietal, and can produce sparkling wine, dry and crisp, off dry and even sweet styles of wine. Chenin Blanc expresses distinctive notes of orchard fruits, like pear, apple, andquince, and lanolin.  Also, a certain honey note and waxiness that can come through. The intensity of this will vary depending on the producer.  In a warmer climate, the fruit spectrum can boast mango and guava characters. The appellation of Vouvray in The Loire Valley, France, is considered the fine wine cornerstone for this varietal, very much how Burgundy is for Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. However, countries such as South Africa and New Zealand are making their mark and gaining renown for this grape. South Africa (where it also known as Steen) even produces more Chenin than France. Want to know more about Chenin Blanc, give the C-Team a buzz or check out our selection below.

Frankie’s Words of Beer-dom:

Embrace the Bitter

There’s nothing to be afraid of, embrace the Bitter!  Calling it a bitter is a bit of a misnomer anyhow. It’s not super bitter, a little bit sure, but balanced with UK hops and a punchy malty body, it works. Typically, not ever higher than 5.5%, it’s a perfect midwinter pick me up. Have it with some hearty fair, like cottage pie, or bangers and mash, even a seafood chowder would pair well with it. Just make sure to take it out of the fridge and allow it to warm to 15C,; the malt flavours will show better at that temperature. If you want it perfect, find a craft beer pub that has a Handpull tap and enjoy a Bitter the way UK brewers intended (try Galbraith’s). Or ideally buy some from us so we can get even more Bitter!

Wine has allowed me to travel to many places in the world.  But it is the people whom I have met, who make this wine life so interesting and worthwhile.  Let me recount an episode: in October 2002, after spending a week on Corfu (mainly playing cards with Bostonian friends), I flew over to Florence and drove on to the various Chianti sub-regions, as well as the hill-top, fortified towns Montalcino and Montepulciano.  My first ever visit to the Chianti region and its epicentre, Greve in Chianti.  Kiwi Friends had recently been over and urged me to visit an iconic local restaurant called Casprini da Omero, established in 1913 and still family-run by the Casprini family.  My name-sake Martin had raved about the old Chianti wines on the beverage list and the 1kg Chianina steak (not available in a smaller portion size).  Located in Passo dei Pecorai, only a short drive from Greve, it can be missed if you blink.

I was on one of those small Nokia phones in those days and remember texting away wildly, trying to evade Martin’s urgings.  I finally succumbed and had one of the most memorable wine, food and wine talk experiences of my life.

I was staying just east of Greve in Chianti, with my wine supplier, Tenuta di Riseccoli.  With some time in hand, I drove to Passo dei Pecorai.  There is really nothing there other than a large parking lot with some older, one-story buildings, overgrown with greenery.  I sat down and waited for some time before an older, skinny, traditionally-dressed (for a waiter) gent deigned to attend to this foreigner.  I immediately spotted the Chianina steak – 1 kilogram for Euro 100!  I was not up for that, until the incessant urgings of namesake weakened my resolve.  Ok, steak it was.  I ordered a bottle of local, mid-priced Chianti, which was corked.  It took a while to explain to the wizened waiter what the matter was.  Eventually he called the owner, Signore Lando Casprini. Lando is short and stout, with sausage fingers, yellow-brown hands.  It looks like he has been digging in clay, with dirt under his square fingernails, around 60, with big bushy eyebrows, balding and wearing a green/khaki turtle-necked top.  It did not take Lando long to share his views on the ‘modern’ wine industry.  “My family has 5 generations in this area, and wine runs in my blood. I am despairing.”  Of course, Lando smokes heavily – the MS brand (Messis Summa = the best harvest), launched by the Italian State Monopoly in 1969.

His beef is with winemaking and sommeliers and wine lists.  Everything now is about money and speed.  Our language(s)?  Italian for him and Portuguese/Spanish/English for me.  Somehow, the common language of wine had us nodding and agreeing with each.  We became more, and more fluent with each glass of wine.  Lando then beckoned me with his chubby hands.  I followed him out of the restaurant, across the main road, to his wine cellar.  Hallowed land!  He showed me bottles back to the early 20th century, including a 1971 Chianti Classico from my hosts, Riseccoli.  Lando hand-selected a few bottles which we took back to the restaurant.  Of course, one of the 1971 vintage bottles was opened.  Classic, old Chianti.  12.5% alcohol, fine, typical Sangiovese tannins, dusty.  A bit like comparing today’s Bordeaux wines with those from a similar era.  His take is that this style of wine is no longer produced and the commercialisation of the industry is to blame.  “Wines are losing their local flavour and being made for the consumer. (Parker anyone?). People are planting in non-ideal locations.” After finishing, (yes, I did), the kg of steak (Chianina are local white cattle, named after the Chianti region) and two bottles of wine, with some greens (I think), Lando dragged me to the bar area where I enjoyed a home-made berry liqueur as well as a home-made limoncello.  How did I get home in pre-Uber days?  I survived to write these lines in my room at 23h00 that evening.  I have sketches of Lando and of the bar area.  This place sure made an impression on me.  I believe that Lando passed away some years ago.  His son Lucca is now running the place.  Later this year when I visit again, I will need to pay my respects!

My message?  Stop and order that expensive 30+ year old wine, speak to people who do not speak your language, order that crazy, momentous steak.  Laugh, smile, wipe your mouth, and I promise you, you will never wipe that smile off your face!

LET US DO THE HARD WORK

We look forward to seeing you at Cahn’s again soon.  And remember to visit Aleks and Hugo at Ground Wine Bar below the shop (open 7 days a week).

We look forward to seeing you in store soon, from Martin, Tristan and Frankie (The C-Team)