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The Austrian variety Grüner Veltliner is relatively new to the Finger Lakes... and it's doing rather well. Grüner Veltliner-- "GROO-ner VELT-leen-er" in polite company, "GV" to its friends. Terry Thiese, a notable importer of exquisite German and Austrian wines, once opined that if Riesling and Sauvignon Blanc had a baby together, it would be Grüner Veltliner... an especially food-friendly wine typically described as dry, full-bodied, peppery, and/or spicy. GV has long been as closely associated with Austria as is Malbec with Argentina and Pinot Noir with Oregon. In the past decade numerous Finger Lakes wineries have added plantings of GV to their vineyard acreage, almost as if to complete a "Teutonic Triad" alongside Riesling and Gewürztraminer. As with any other grape variety grown and vinified in the Finger Lakes, some GV's are good, some are so-so... but I am delighted to report that one we recently tasted is downright fantastic-- Weis 2023 GV-- $18-20 at your local store, a tad more at the winery. We found the Weis Vineyards 2023 Grüner Veltliner beautifully balanced and compellingly delicious, inviting one sip after another. I'd even say that after decades of tasting many of the great bone-dry and tightly-wrapped Austrian versions, the accessible, openly expressive flavors of this Finger Lakes bottling has finally made GV understandable to me. FOOD PAIRING With its pleasing vegetal notes-- something considered a negative in most varieties-- GV is habitually recommended as a safe choice with notorious "wine killers" such as asparagus, artichokes, and crucifers like cabbage and broccoli. That strikes me as nothing more than a convenient place to relegate a wine with a name few can pronounce and flavors that can be hard to peg. This Weis GV is particularly versatile-- crisp enough to pair with all manner of seafood, and also sufficiently sturdy to enjoy with pork and chicken dishes. It would also make a perfectly good before-dinner "cocktail wine," a huge step up in sophistication from the way-too-common Pinot Grigio. This is the kind of wine that makes a dinner host look smart-- an especially delicious version of a grape variety that lies beyond the radar of most casual wine drinkers. If you can't find this at your local store, Weis Vineyards will happily ship some to your door.

Thoughts on Billy Zoom, Co-Founder of LA Punk Band "X" Billy Freakin' Zoom BILLY ZOOM (by David Fewster) 1. For the past decade or so (ever since his cancer diagnosis) Billy Zoom has taken to ambling onstage about 20 minutes after the opening act, while the houselights are still on, where he will tune his guitar, fiddle with his amp settings, do a mini-sound check (because he doesn't trust a roadie to do it?) and then sit in his special chair and chat a bit with the crowd. AND STAY THERE. Which totally negates the concept of "The Big Entrance", where everything's dark and then a spotlight gleams and RA-TA-DA-TA-DA-DA! the band runs out and everyone goes wild. Instead, DJ, John and Exene are left to shuffle onstage like stragglers getting on the tour bus to see the homes of famous stars. Because Billy Zoom is a goddamn subversive. He doesn't give a rat's ass about your stupid hackneyed show biz conventions. Billy Zoom is perhaps the coolest person on earth. 2. I dropped out of college and moved to LA in the summer of '77, the same year the Masque started. I had vague aspirations of being a comic folksinger, a mix of Tom Lehrer, Lenny Bruce, and the Bonzo Dog Band, but mainly I just wanted to go someplace where absolutely no one knew me and I could reinvent myself into somebody less boring. I was aware of the new-fangled punk rock, but it was pretty scary to me, as it seemed to be populated mainly by the cool kids in high school who were already having sex and taking drugs and had an esoteric dress code and who were invariably mean and snarky to me, and why would I want to grovel to join their club? Plus, they all liked Bowie and I thought Neil Young's "Zuma" was the greatest record of all time. (I still do--fight me.) On the other hand, it took me no time at all to come to the conclusion that the Doors were the spiritual house band of Los Angeles, and how you felt about that would pretty much be a barometer for how good of a time you were going to have in the City of Angels. Luckily, I loved the Doors. Every time I heard " Can you picture what will be? / So limitless and free Desperately in need of some stranger's hand In a desperate land " I would burst into tears and blubber "Oh Lord, this is MY OWN STORY." All in all, I felt about LA like Henry Miller felt about Paris. The point is, I was in a receptive mood when my buddy's roommate in Hollywood put the first X album on the stereo. I literally rolled around the floor when "Soul Kitchen" came blasting out the speakers. The tempo, Exene's vocal inflections, the bizarre harmonies, but especially that guitar--Billy Riley's Flying Saucer Rock and Roll played by an actual alien, and if you didn't believe it all you had to do was see him onstage--legs akimbo like someone starting the splits and getting distracted halfway into it, staring at the crowd with nary a glance at his fretboard while wearing a constant shit-eating grin that might or might not be benign. I even went to see his one-off side project "The Billy Zoom Band" at the Whisky, where he played the entire Sun Records catalogue note for note so I could see how it's done. I bought a Gretsch! And the best show I saw in LA was a surprise gig at Club 88 in 1981, which X and the Blasters did right after the Blaster's first album and X's second both made Newsweek's Best 10 Albums of the Year and we were all on the top of the world. 3. Smoking on the sidewalk in Menlo Park a couple hours before X's Farewell Tour, I spot my fellow ticket-holders by their gray hair and black t-shirts displaying bands at least 30 years old. Time has not been kind to my peers in the pit-- in the last decade, it's become like the Death March to Bataan-- me, I'm 65, with COPD, hemorrhoids, anemia, so the second I get thru the lobby I scan the floor for some kind of support and find it in the form of a plastic trashcan about butt-high by the staircase, where I can sort of sit in comfort and still see the band from the waist up. And, thank God, the show was great-- Exene looked and sounded fantastic, John Doe resembles the grandfather in "The Grapes of Wrath" more and more each year, DJ Bonebrake was his usual robust & goofy self, Billy sat in his comfy chair riffing and showboating, occasionally walking four feet to his saxophone which was on a stand so he wouldn't have to unstrap his guitar (he licked the pick and stuck it to his forehead during sax solos--what a card!) Finally, after an exhilarating set and encore, they close with "I Must Not Think Bad Thoughts" and there's this big commotion I can't determine the cause of so I stand up on tiptoe and see-- OMG! Billy Zoom is assuming THE STANCE! Slowly, true, and with great determination he positions himself in a replica of his former spread-eagled glory. I glance to the rafters to look for evidence of trick wires, etc., but no-- It's true. This is really happening. It was a Miracle at Lourdes. A return to Shangri-La. It was 1979 again. Isn't it strange, the odd moments when suddenly you find yourself thinking we're all going to die soon? --David Fewster (from Four Feather Press anthology "Doors of Southern California: Portal Poetry") And here is an interesting piece about “Soul Kitchen” by X (DannyM.)

Some exciting news from our nearby wine region. We are pleased to share the news that WEIS VINEYARDS -- founded just seven years ago-- has earned its second NY Governor's Cup at the annual NY Wine Classic competition! (See HERE . ) We mentioned WEIS in two recent essays, welcoming them into our exclusive designation of "Grand Cru" Finger Lakes wineries. (Click HERE for more.) Dear Ashlee & Peter-- congratulations, and keep up the fantastic work! But wait-- there's more! Labeled as "Medium-Sweet," yet perfectly balanced with brilliant and refreshing acidity. This could be the perfect shellfish wine. We recently enjoyed an especially fantastic Riesling from the Dr. Konstantin Frank Winery -- their 2022 Reserve Riesling, made from late-harvested, botrytis-affected grapes. The folks at this year's NY Wine Classic agreed, naming it NY's Wine of the Year! This bottling alone is enough to secure the Dr. Frank Winery a spot in our "Grand Cru" club, even though they certainly don't need any such validation from Danny's Table; indeed, this historic winery has long enjoyed well-earned credit for their historical importance and consistently excellent wine-making. Coming Soon-- a feature essay about the Dr. Konstantin Frank Winery.

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Advice & Companionship for Living in Style Along the Path to an Increasingly Uncertain Future Your grumpy old mansplainer DannyM. is here to answer vexing questions and offer advice that you never knew you needed. Is he highly knowledgeable, or just plain opinionated? (Yes.) And he’s a walking set of contradictions— a sommelier-turned-truck driver with a knack for solving puzzles and a love of language; an ardent anti-elitist who equally appreciates roadside barbecue and classic French cuisine. He is (somehow) a skeptical positive thinker who doesn’t automatically accept the official explanation of anything. Rather, he strives to examine every important issue from multiple perspectives and then arrive at his own conclusions. All Posts Food & Wine Rants Survival in Style Shopping Fiction & More Recent Essays at The Table DannyM 4 days ago 1 min ATTENTION, DEAR READERS If I were only allowed ONE photo... R.I.P., Astronaut Anders. This morning our hosting website tricked your Grumpy Old Mansplainer into... DannyM 4 days ago 5 min THE WEIS SQUAD-- SIGN ME UP! Weis Vineyards was established in 2017 and named New York State "Winery of the Year" just five years later. Instant success? Think again.... DannyM Jul 6 1 min AMERICAN-MADE (and EXPENSIVE) Hurrah for those who diligently seek American-made products. Try not to go broke. Who says American manufacturing is dead? It isn't, but... DannyM Jul 5 1 min A FOURTH GRAND CRU OF THE FINGER LAKES WINERIES Danny's Table is pleased to welcome Weis Vineyards to the Top Tier of our region's wineries. The Weis Vineyards tasting room-- with a... DannyM Jun 27 2 min SUMMER, ACT 2: The "Dog Days" In the first week of July we enter summer's sultry midsection... a.k.a. the "Dog Days of Summer." Sirius-- a.k.a. the Dog Star-- is the... DannyM Jun 23 6 min THE DETERIORATION OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, CONTINUED The state of American grammar is getting worse. Mrs. Reed was laid to rest a decade ago, but her spirit survives within the remaining few... DannyM Jun 15 5 min CHATEAUBRIAND Beef cattle yield roughly 500 pounds of meat. Less than 1% of that --maybe 4 pounds-- is the Chateaubriand cut. The thick midsection of... DannyM Jun 7 2 min SUMMER, ACT I Summer is a 3-Act Play-- Early, Middle, and Late. To me, Act I means joy in the form of strawberries & fireflies & really late sunsets.... DannyM Jun 4 1 min MARY'S BARN MARKET A Second Reason to go to Weedsport, New York. Regular readers might recall the Mennonite-run Serenity Meadows Dairy Farm that I mentioned... Richard B. May 23 2 min MEMORIAL DAY SPECIAL To many folks, Memorial Day means a parade and a Monday off. It means much more to guest author RichardB. Take it away, Rich-- "I am... DannyM May 21 5 min DEMI-GLACE, CONTINUED-- The Art of the Saucier Demi-Glace rarely appears on restaurant plates in its pure form. However, numerous French sauces are derived from it. Here's how to use... DannyM May 13 4 min SPARKLING RIESLING? SHINE ON, YOU CRAZY DIAMOND! Riesling-based bubbly was never any American winery's idea of a showcase product. We recently tasted an exceptional version that could... RR Can restaurants exist only in cyberspace? YES. Click the images below for recipes and more! Get your seat at the table! Subscribe today for exclusive updates and notifications. Email Join Thank you for subscribing! Please check your email and follow the instructions to verify. Subscribe "A single conversation across the table with a wise man is worth more than ten years’ mere study of books." - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow "If I am more Fortunate than others I need to build a longer table, not a taller fence." - Tamlyn Tomita "If you're not at the table, you might be on the menu." - Way Too Many People

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