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7:05 AM ET
IN THE DAYS leading up to the NBA's Florida reboot, New Orleans Pelicans guard JJ Redick contemplated what provisions to bring for a stay in the Orlando bubble that would last at least five weeks. He initially focused only on the necessities and packed light. Then on July 8, once he arrived with the Pelicans at their appointed hotel, the Yacht Club, Redick gauged his room and hotel amenities.
One of his first efforts was to examine the wine list.
Redick quickly found that the list offered a collection of homogenous Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon -- the sort produced by the hundreds of thousands of cases each year. Connoisseurs identify these wines early, quickly move on and never look back. And Redick, like many in the modern NBA, is a connoisseur.
There's a saying in wine circles that all roads lead to Burgundy, a famed French region known for wines of limited production from small parcels of land. And that is where Redick's tastes largely reside. Burgundy is a deep-pocketed investment, as it's among the world's most expensive wines. But in recent years, after several dining experiences at Michelin-starred restaurants in which an elegant Burgundy accompanied a world-class experience, Redick fell in love.
At his hotel in Orlando, Redick did not see any such wines available, or anything close.
"OK," he thought to himself. "I need to remedy this."
Redick dialed his New York-based wine broker and immediately asked him to send a shipment. Then Redick went online to purchase an 18-bottle wine fridge for his room -- something to keep the bottles at the appropriate temperature, ideally around 55 degrees Fahrenheit.
Many of his NBA peers were making similar arrangements.
When 22 NBA teams started flowing into the bubble, so too did wine. After all, the nearly 1,400 players, staffers and others inside the NBA bubble are facing long hours of isolation in their respective hotel rooms on a restricted campus for up to 3½ months. Family and friends are far away. A pandemic is raging outside the Orlando campus. A historic social justice movement continues to unfold. Stress remains high.
So, Redick says, being able to open a bottle at the end of the day and share a glass at a distance with fellow players brings something beyond normalcy and comfort.
"It provides an escape," Redick says.
THROUGHOUT 14-HOUR DAYS that begin at around 7:30 each morning, seven days a week, roughly 20 trucks and vans -- Amazon, FedEx, UPS, the United States Postal Service -- deliver between 700 and 1,200 packages from all over the world to a 30,000-square-foot ballroom inside Disney World's Coronado Springs Resort.
A team of nine is tasked with sorting the packages and sanitizing them with a disinfectant mist, after which they're cleared to be distributed. The boxes head to each of the hotels or practice sites in disinfected vans that can hold about 200 packages apiece, steered by drivers who are tested daily for the coronavirus.
For all the packages coming in, one type stands out.
"Definitely wine," says Vernon Peterson, a member of the NBA's facilities team in his 16th year with the league.
The frequency of the wine packages is hard to miss. There is wine for players, for staffers, for reporters. There is wine from websites and wine brokers and wine shops and wine clubs and individual vineyards. Many have ordered wine coolers.
"You notice [wine-related packages] a lot during the day as they come in," says Heather Messer, who, now in her 30th year with the league, handles shipping and administration for NBA events.
Peterson and Messer aren't surprised. Everyone in the bubble is there for some time, with Messer and Peterson having arrived in late June and slated to stay until the Finals end in mid-October.
"I think after you work these long days, it's nice to unwind," Messer says. "It's a relaxing thing, and it's a reminder of home."
During their own long days, one of their biggest challenges remains sorting packages that don't have any address beyond "NBA" -- and plenty of boxes with wine have those labels.
"Every time we get excited when we have a wine box that's not labeled, and we think, 'If it sits here for 30 days, it should go to us,'" Messer says with a laugh, "but they never last more than two days. Somebody is always calling to say, 'Hey, I ordered some wine. Where is it?'"
A WINE MOVEMENT has grown in the NBA over recent years, with some players even starting their own labels, including Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry and ex-Miami Heat star Dwyane Wade. That movement is even more pronounced in the bubble.
Portland Trail Blazers guard CJ McCollum's hotel room constitutes a wine fridge of sorts. He keeps the temperature around 60 degrees when he's inside it and in the mid-to-high 50s when he's not, all in an effort to protect the 84 bottles that he keeps in boxes, out of the light. For the most part, McCollum shipped in pinot noir from Oregon, where he is a member at several local wineries, along with the first bottling of his own recently released wine, McCollum Heritage 91, also an Oregon pinot noir.
He has provided wine for members of the Blazers' staff and for teammate Damian Lillard's recent birthday that the team celebrated on site. McCollum even ordered six more cases that he plans to give away to other players.
"If you're in my hotel and you happen to be by the pool, you'll be able to partake in whatever I'm drinking that day," McCollum says, "so if it's during the daytime it'll probably be some bubbly. If it's at nighttime, it's probably pinot."
Pelicans swingman Josh Hart shipped in a wine fridge that can hold about 20 bottles before he even arrived, and he has had bottles shipped to him -- favoring Bordeaux and Napa Valley cabernet, though, he adds, "not the ones that shove fruit down your throat."
Blazers forward Carmelo Anthony, one of the league's most knowledgeable wine lovers, brought a selection of "old world" bottles from Europe into the bubble, according to McCollum -- and, sources said, cases of additional wine are on the way for Anthony, LeBron James, Jimmy Butler, P.J. Tucker and other players.
The Brooklyn Nets provided wine to accompany team dinners in the bubble, a team spokesman said. Before scrimmages began, Oklahoma City Thunder point guard Chris Paul and Bob Iger, executive chairman of The Walt Disney Company (which owns ESPN), helped organize a team-wide dinner and wine tasting for the Thunder at the Yacht Club, a team source told ESPN's Royce Young. The dinner featured a five-course meal prepared by a Michelin-star chef, after which a sommelier narrated the tasting for players and staff.
A National Basketball Players Association source said the union will be facilitating the delivery of wine from Frescobaldi, which represents a number of famed Italian wines, such as Masseto and Ornellaia, to all 22 NBPA player representatives as a collective gift for everyone on their respective teams to share. The source added that the NBPA will also offer Cheurlin Champagne, Isiah Thomas' personal brand and the official champagne of the NBPA, as a birthday present to each player celebrating a birthday inside the bubble.
On his last trip into the bubble, Milwaukee Bucks owner Marc Lasry surprised his team by bringing four cases of wine -- two of pinot noir and two of chardonnay -- from Kistler Vineyards, one of California's most acclaimed wineries, which he owns. The delivery was much appreciated, Lasry says, among a squad that is fond of team dinners, which can be traced to head coach Mike Budenholzer's 17 years as an assistant coach under San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich -- the league's top gourmand and the godfather of team dinners.
Lasry plans to bring more each time he visits the bubble.
"They'll be there for a while," Lasry says. "Every time I go down, I'll bring four or five cases. They're happy to drink it."
In the bubble, there are team-organized outings, including bowling, fishing and golf, all designed to help with well-being and self-care, but wine is different, several players say.
"Obviously, there's a little bit of alcohol, so it gets you more relaxed and loose," Hart says. "But the bigger thing is, this is an uncomfortable time in terms of not being with family, not being in your own house, your own bed for at least six, seven weeks."
McCollum points out that players are facing hours of isolation in their hotel room, often leaving only for basketball activities or scheduled COVID-19 tests.
"Other than that, you're in your room at least half the day, if you include sleep," McCollum says. "You're in your room a lot."
In the bubble, Hart is bereft of almost all comforts of home. When Hart is at home, he hangs out with his dogs, girlfriend and family, playing video games and enjoying wine, a burgeoning hobby for him that started to flourish in recent years, especially when he played for the Lakers. (In Los Angeles, he says, James and point guard Rajon Rondo would always bring wine on the team plane, and that helped jump-start his newfound passion.)
"I have my video game setup [in Orlando], and I was able to have wine, so I still have some type of normalcy, I guess," Hart says. "It kind of gives you a kind of sense of, like, grounding and, like, normalcy even during this uncomfortable time."
IN THE EVENINGS, players have been retreating to the players' lounge or the pool/patio area near their hotel and, from a respectful distance, sharing bottles of wine.
"You see some teams sitting at separate tables, [and] they're drinking wine or they're discussing things over wine," McCollum says. "I think it's become more common practice, especially associated with dinner -- a way to catch up, a way to reflect and relax after a long day of working out and obviously being restricted to the bubble."
Hart and Redick have opened several bottles together, the variety of which can be seen on Hart's new Instagram account: @jhartcellars. There has been Bordeaux and classic Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, and Redick has been introducing Hart to the wonders of Burgundy. Hart is quick to note, though, that Redick has been in the NBA longer and can more easily afford such wines.
"See, you can do that," Hart says he told Redick with a laugh. "You've been in the league for 15 years, built up some nice paydays. Burgundy is expensive. I'm still on my rookie deal, my man."
Redick has shared some of his wine with his Pelicans teammate Nicolo Melli, and Redick keeps a wine-focused text thread with his former Sixers teammate T.J. McConnell and McConnell's Indiana Pacers teammate Doug McDermott, both of whom are into wine. He has set aside bottles to share with them at some point.
McCollum and Anthony have enjoyed several bottles together, including McCollum's new label. It's a far cry from the times they've visited Oregon wineries together, engaging in barrel tastings and staying long after closing time, discussing the wine, guessing the soil types and vintages.
"He's got a really, really good knowledge of wine, especially old world, and he loves that stuff and has heavily exposed me to it to where I've been able to learn more about Burgundy and been able to learn more about some of those other regions that I haven't quite frankly been to," McCollum says of Anthony. "So kind of going through those things to where you truly understand and share and appreciate the wine with someone, it leads to a lot of great conversations and a lot of eventful evenings."
Wine brings people together in the bubble, players say, and as it flows, so too does the conversation about basketball, the state of the country and the NBA's unprecedented undertaking.
"This is something that no one has ever done before," Hart says of the bubble, then adding of the wine, "It definitely helps."
"wine" - Google News August 06, 2020 at 06:22PM https://ift.tt/3gM1Bpz
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kiratni.blogspot.com7:05 AM ETIN THE DAYS leading up to the NBA's Florida reboot, New Orleans Pelicans guard JJ Redick contemplated what provisions to...
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Wine windows were used in Florence during the Italian Plague so palaces could sell off surplus wine without touching the lower classes.
Hundreds of years later, innovative Florentines have reopened wine windows to dispense everything from coffee to cocktails in a COVID-friendly way.
Wine windows, or buchette del vino, are totally unique to Tuscany, and haven't been seen anywhere else in the world.
A dedicated Wine Window Association now looks after the 150+ wine windows still found in Florence.
When Italy went into lockdown in February, the nation came together to battle COVID-19. Opera singers and musicians regaled neighbors from their balconies while rainbow flags hung from windows with the words andrá tutto bene — everything will be alright.
In Florence, creative restaurant and bar owners have now taken inspiration from a medieval architectural quirk to keep their businesses and the spirit of the city alive. According to Florence's Wine Window Association, a handful of wine windows have opened across the city — some for the first time in living memory.
Centuries-old wine windows found across the city have been reopening as an innovative way to serve food and cocktails.Vivoli Gelateria
Wine Windows, or buchette del vino, are little hatches which were originally used to sell surplus wine direct to Florence's working class.
The Wine Window Association's president Matteo Faglia told Insider: "People could knock on the little wooden shutters and have their bottles filled direct from the Antinori, Frescobaldi and Ricasoli families, who still produce some of Italy's best-known wine today."
The windows are also serving coffee.Associazione Buchette del Vino / Wine Window Association
Wine windows are unique to Tuscany, but often go unnoticed
These wine windows are unique to Florence and Tuscany, and were once a normal part of everyday life here. Overshadowed by Uffizi Gallery's renaissance wonders and the beauty of the Duomo, they are a much-overlooked part of Florentine architecture.
Attached to old palaces and noble households, wine windows can be spotted around Florence, with many dating back to medieval times. Over 150 wine windows can be found within Florence's old city walls alone, with many more across the region. A full map can be found on the Buchette del Vino website.
These wine windows don't exist anywhere outside Tuscany.Associazione Buchette del Vino / Wine Window Association
As laws on selling wine changed in the early 20th century, Matteo Faglia told Insider: "The wine windows gradually became defunct, and many wooden ones were permanently lost in the floods of 1966."
Now, several wine windows have re-opened for the first time in generations, and are being used to serve food and drinks in a socially distanced way.
A post-COVID answer to Italy's aperitivo hour.Babae Firenze
The windows are now serving gelato and coffee, too
Ice-cream parlour Vivoli near the Duomo and Uffizi Gallery owns one such wine window, which they've opened up to sell gelato and coffee.
Much-loved Florentine gelateria Vivoli serves ice cream through the window.Vivoli Gelateria
Nearby, tourists and locals are enjoying cocktails from Osteria delle Brache in Piazza Peruzzi — served through a hatch which is both Instagram and COVID-friendly.
Osteria delle Brache isn't letting COVID get in the way of a good Aperol Spritz.Osteria delle Brache
Over the river in the Santo Spirito, restaurant and wine bar Babae serves glasses of wine through their wine window from 7 p.m. – 8 p.m. each evening.
"L'Ora della Buchetta," or wine window happy hour, at Babae in Santo Spirito.Associazione Buchette del Vino / Wine Window Association
The windows were used for a similar purpose during the Plague
This isn't the first time these windows have been used to stop the spread of disease in Florence. As the Italian Plague swept through the country in the 1630s, historians noted that the wine sellers understood the importance of self-isolation, and used the hatches for this very reason. Instead of taking payment by hand, the wine sellers would pass a metal pallet through the window and disinfect it with vinegar.
All this has been documented by the Wine Window Association, set up in 2016 to help raise awareness with both tourists and locals.
These tiny "wine windows" attached to palaces and noble homes in Florence were used to sell germ-free wine to the city's workers.Wine Window Association
Florentines are rightly protective of these unique pieces of history, and the Wine Windows Association is on a mission to preserve them. All the windows now have a protected status, but vandalism is still a problem.
The Wine Window Association is working to protect the city's 150+ wine windows from graffiti.Associazione Buchette del Vino / Wine Window Association
The association's president Matteo Faglia hopes that after COVID, attitudes to the wine windows will start to change.
"We want to put a plaque by all the wine windows, as people tend to respect them more when they understand what they are and their history," he told Insider.
Perhaps wine windows will be part of Florence's "new normal."
Will wine windows become part of the future of Florence’s restaurant scene?Associazione Buchette del Vino / Wine Window Association
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Photo: courtesy PTK/Adobe Stock Images
Have your best-laid plans been turned on their head this summer? No need to surrender. One of warm weather’s great pleasures—large chunks of ground beef sizzling on the grill—is still open to us all. Only this summer, in the absence of restaurant extravaganzas, your next cookout should be the splurge, not an afternoon washed down with nondescript red wine.
We tapped some of the country’s great sommeliers—from those running Michelin three-star programs to James Beard Award winners to master somms—to tell us what bottle they would choose for their next great burger. Some imagined a burger on their own menus; others riffed on the category in general and gave unexpected answers for the style of wine they want at their backyard barbecue. All shared tantalizing words about their take on the high-low split—with one somm unable to resist going really big.
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The Best Wines to Pair With Burgers, According to 8 of America's Top Somms - Robb Report "wine" - Google News https://ift.tt/3d98ONZ https://ift.tt/2KTSYuD Wine Aziz BloggerAugust 05, 2020AdminBandung Indonesia
kiratni.blogspot.com Photo: courtesy PTK/Adobe Stock ImagesHave your best-laid plans been turned on their head this summer? No need to surrender. One...
Photo: courtesy PTK/Adobe Stock Images