Author: Michael Hughes

Brooks Museum’s Art of Good Taste — Memphis’ premier gastronomic and vinous series — has rebranded itself the Memphis Wine & Food Series. Since its inception, this fund-raiser has brought some of the best chefs and winemakers to Memphis. Last year saw Chef Celina Tio, a competitor on Next Iron Chef and Top Chef Masters, and Giacomo Neri, whose Brunello di Montalcino was awarded number-one wine in the world by Wine Spectator.

This year, the Brooks is hosting one of the biggest names in Napa Valley, Silver Oak, which was arguably the first “cult” Cabernet.

“We got involved because of [event chair] Frank Muscari. He is an ardent fan,” says Charlie Campbell, Silver Oak’s director of national sales.

“This business is all about relationships,” Campbell adds. “This is a great event for us and a great opportunity to get involved with such a vital part of Memphis’ arts and culture.”

While the Silver Oak name alone could draw a crowd of wine trophy hunters, the Wine & Food Series planning committee didn’t stop there. Silver Oak’s executive chef Dominic Orsini will join Brushmark chefs Wally Joe and Andrew Adams and Felicia Suzanne’s Felicia Willett to create the courses for the series’ Patrons Dinners on May 6th and May 7th.

“Every year, the Memphis Wine & Food Series brings creative chefs to the museum,” says Adams, who is the Brushmark’s chef de cuisine. “Even after 16 years of working with Wally Joe, I still learn something new every day. This year, I am excited to work with Felicia and Dominic.

“Memphis has come a long way in the past decade with its food availability,” Adams continues. “Every week, I am introduced to new products or familiar products that are now local.”

Those fresh, local products will be featured throughout the Patrons Dinner menu. “I am excited to see how Dominic uses our Tennessee duck to make his ‘Duck Prepared Two Ways’: seared breast over spring vegetable fricassee and leg cannelloni with morel mushroom ragu,” Adams says.

Highlighting the local bounty alongside one of the most coveted wines in California makes perfect sense considering the national love affair with Southern food. What food lovers have at their fingertips in Memphis is covet-worthy, and events such as this showcase why.

“As busy as the week of Patrons Dinner and the auction is, the best part is anticipating and then finally walking past the farmers’ booths [at the farmers market] and seeing what we will actually cook,” Adams says.

“We will have the absolute freshest, seasonal local food. I am really excited to get rich golden farm eggs, which will be going into my chocolate cremeux.”

Supporting one of the important arts organizations in Tennessee while eating delicious food and drinking awesome wine seems like a no-brainer.

“The arts and culture are part of the soul of a city. They are what define the personality of a city,” Campbell says. “The museum is right there in one of the most beautiful parts of our city. What’s not to love?”

For more information about the Brooks Museum’s Wine & Food Series, visit memphiswineandfoodseries.org

Every month, there are multiple wine tastings across the city. These are perfect opportunities to sample new wines and break outside of your comfort zone.

Events like this are fun, of course, but that doesn’t mean politeness and manners don’t still apply. Here are a few things to keep in mind the next time you attend a wine or spirits tasting:

1) Don’t say “fill it up.” This is a “tasting” not an opportunity for you to get sloshed. Most events have multiple wines, and if you tried all of them (and swallowed), you probably would need a taxi. If you want to go back and resample any particular wine, there is ample opportunity to do so.

2) The spit bucket is your friend. Just because your glass has wine in it doesn’t mean you need to shoot it back like a fraternity boy does tequila. Pour out what you don’t want to finish, and by all means spit it out every once in a while.

3) Don’t treat the pourers as if they are your own private spigot. Interact with them, and if interacting isn’t your thing, then step aside to make room for other guests.

4) If there is food at the wine tasting (and there almost always is), don’t hoover up as much as you can as quickly as you can.

5) If you show up late, don’t complain that the wine and food are running low. Arriving at 8:15 p.m. at a tasting that ends at 9 is considered late.

6) Don’t pretend you know something you don’t. No one is going to judge you based on your lack of wine knowledge. That’s the point of tastings: to educate, increase awareness, and expose you to new wines. Ask questions, be curious, try grape types that you’ve never heard of or can’t pronounce.

7) Open your mind. Think you hate white wine or only drink red? If you are at a tasting, take it upon yourself to try as many different wines as you can. You might just find some new favorites. If you have a wide array of wines at your disposal, why wouldn’t you want to try as many different ones as possible? You paid your admission, so make the most of it.

8) If you enjoyed yourself at any particular event, ask to get on the e-mail list of the retail store or restaurant that hosted it. Whenever they put on any future tastings, you will be the first to be notified.

Wine tastings are immensely fun, and if you keep in mind the previous pointers, they will be even that much more fun for everyone.

In the cocktail world, there are two schools of thought on the Aviation. Some mixologists consider the original Aviation to be made with Crème de Violette, gin, and lemon juice. For others, this is a Blue Moon. By whatever name, I call it thirst-quenching. The bartenders at Sweet Grass have a deft hand when it comes to this cocktail. The Crème de Violette is the star of the show with its vibrant true purple color and heady aroma of fresh violet. At first glance, one might expect this unique liqueur to taste perfumey. But it does not. Sweet Grass’ Aviation has a perfect balance of acidity, floral sweetness, and intoxicating aromatics.

Sweet Grass, 937 S. Cooper (278-0278)