David Mitchell Whitewright - Wine Tasting, Grass Fed Lamb Meat, Wine Club

The past few weeks have put me in situations where I've been called upon to talk about wine. I'm not a shy sort, so such occasions are fine with me. For example, I was recently in Seoul hosting a wine dinner.
Now, there's all sorts of nonsense making the rounds about Asians and wine. Some of this talk is even put about, I gather, by Asians themselves in the mistaken belief that because they're not Western they can't readily grasp the fine points of wine.
So when I stood in front of 65 people at the wine dinner in Seoul, all but a few of whom were Korean, I was politely blunt. I said that being a newcomer to wine was just that. It transcends culture. Being Asian was meaningless. Everybody is a newcomer to fine wine at some point in their lives, and that includes Europeans.
I went on to say that 40 years ago we Americans were collectively as ignorant about wine as any group of Asian wine newbies. And that we generated our own horror stories of rich guys who swaggered around insisting that they only wanted the "best" and that they didn't care what it cost.
Then I asserted that talking about wine doesn't involve flavor descriptors. This, it turned out, was the real jolt. I could sense the surprise when I said it. I, in turn, was myself surprised.
Since when did flavor descriptors become the basis of intelligent wine discussion? I later learned from guests at the dinner that the wine instruction that they had received was invariably just a string of flavor descriptors for each wine under "discussion."
We all know, of course, how this I-Spy game of ever more precise-seeming associations of scents and tastes—coffee, chalk, bergamot, road dust and so forth—came about. It was we wine writers who did it. And we then did yet more of it as wines from everywhere increased exponentially.
You, the reader, want to know what a wine tastes like. And someone saying, "This here wine tastes really good," is hardly going to satisfy. With thousands of wines a year to review, writers had no choice. How many times can you describe a Pinot Noir as being "cherry-scented"? So you get more specific, summoning up black cherry, wild cherry, pie cherry, maraschino cherry, cherry jam and cherry liqueur.
There's nothing wrong with this and I, for one, will happily defend my colleagues in the tasting-note trenches.
That said, anatomizing the scents and flavors of a wine hardly tells the whole story. Nowhere is this more true than during a wine tasting such as the one I was doing at the dinner or, earlier, at two training sessions for the hotel's eager-to-learn restaurant staff.
So how should you talk about wine? Every taster is different, and I'm not about to say that the following features represent the entirety of what could or should be examined and discussed.
But I will say this much: If you're missing these points, you're not going to fully grasp the qualities of the wine at hand. For me, these are the six most important words in wine tasting:
Complexity. The single greatest standard used in assessing the quality of a wine is complexity. The more times you can return to a glass of wine and find something different in it—in the bouquet, in the taste—the more complex the wine. The very greatest wines are not so much overpowering as they are seemingly limitless.
Complexity is not an arbitrary standard. We are, in fact, set up to respond favorably to it. We have big brains and cortexes. We know from decades of work in experimental psychology that over a period of time, we always seek more complex stimuli.
In music, we invariably progress from the simple, or the “banal” as one researcher referred to nursery rhymes, to more complex melodic patterns. It appears that we favor—relish might be a more descriptive, if less exact term—uncertainty or lack of predictability. One researcher contends that uncertainty in music is complexity. And that uncertainty gives greater “meaning” to music.
Complexity is more than multiplicity. For a wine (or a melody) to be truly satisfying, especially after repeated exposure, it must continually surprise us (uncertainty) and yet we must still be able to grasp these surprises as part of a larger and pleasing pattern.
So it is with wine. A multiplicity of flavors and aromas without some sort of cohesion becomes jarring and eventually irritating. True complexity keeps surprising us, but never fatigues us. That's no small trick. But it's one that the world's greatest wines regularly pull off—and it's why they're so acclaimed as the greatest.
Texture. This is a feature of wine that too often is overlooked. Yet pay attention to texture, as it may be the most important "hidden" feature of wine quality. This is especially true with white wines; one of the "giveaways" to quality (and potential longevity) in dry white wines is revealed by texture.
If you have the privilege of tasting white Burgundies made in the 1950s or earlier, you will be surprised to discover how thick and dense the texture of those Chardonnay wines is. What made it so? Very low yields and small berry size. These features also were (and are) critical to longevity. Simply put, texturally thin wines are a giveaway to dilute flavors and short life span, never mind the gussying-up of a lot of new oak and showy flavors from lees stirring. Texture tells the tale.
Midpalate Density. Every taster has his or her go-to feature. For some it's bouquet. For others it's a wine's finish, whether it's short or long, intense or faint. For me, it's midpalate density.
The midpalate feature is sometimes hard for tasters to recognize. The easiest way to grasp the notion is to imagine a candy with a hard, dense center. You suck on the candy and figure that it's soon to be gone. Then you reach that hard, dense center and you discover that there's a lot more yet to come. Voilà! Midpalate density.
For you Pilates types, think of midpalate density as core strength. Without it, a wine is weak. Wines, like trees, die from the inside out. If a wine lacks midpalate density, it will, over time, prove to be shallow and merely showy. Midpalate density comes from the vineyard, rather than from the winemaking. It's a creation of low yields and small berries, often from old vines. I consider it absolutely essential in assessing both a wine's probable longevity and its potential greatness.
Proportion. The element of proportion is easily grasped. A wine, like an attractive person, should be reasonably proportionate. It shouldn't finish "short." You should have a sense of the wine's flavors being metered out to you in roughly equal amounts and time spans: the scent, the beginning taste, the midpalate and, critically, the finish.
Sometimes, especially with very young wines, these proportions can be skewed and later come into greater equality. But with a mature wine, you should expect reasonable proportion. If it's not present, then the wine is either on its way out or it never had the stuffing of real quality to begin with.
Finesse. The feature of finesse is a favorite of mine. It's something I look for almost obsessively. Finesse is how the flavors of a wine are delivered. Imagine a lay-up in basketball where the player drives toward the basket, gracefully leaps up and the ball rolls off his fingertips and falls effortlessly into the net. That's finesse. That's how wines should deliver themselves to you. Without finesse, wines are clunky, never mind how much complexity they might have. Finesse, like good manners, is essential to refinement.
Balance. The concept of balance means different things to different tasters. It's one of those classic you-know-it-when-you-see-it qualities. At its most basic, balance refers to an equilibrium created by roughly equal amounts of “fruitiness” and acidity in wine (and sweetness in a sweet wine).
Balance is essential in that it makes a wine invigorating to us. A wine that lacks balance palls very quickly. We sense it almost from the first sip. It's not easily measurable and it's far from exact. A wine, unlike a ballerina, is not either in balance or out. There's always a range in what constitutes balance for every person.
In recent years, as wines have become more alcoholic as a result of grapes picked at high ripeness levels, the concept of balance has come to include a wine's ability to "balance out" its alcohol level with buffering fruit density. This is why balance has become such a prominent term in today's wine vocabulary.

Just the fun of eating healthy and cooking lamb!

Hi everybody! Well the weekend turned out to be very relaxing around the farm! I spent part of the weekend at our office sanding an awesome table that we just picked up from the saw mill! And all throughout the weekend, I decided to grill and cook a bit! On the grill, I did a rack of lamb with rosemary and Olive oil. But this time I used a spice that I bought from Fischers Meat Market in Muenster Texas. The results were nothing short of amazing!

When our restaurant Kalos Pub opens up in Whitewright Tx in December, you're invited to dine with us as we provide premium whiskey, local wines from Lenoir Sage Winery in Bells Tx, hand rolled cigars,  gourmet teas and coffees along with Filet Mignon, T Bone Steak, Leg of Lamb, Lamb and Beef Kabobs, Tiramisu and cheesecake for dessert! All this with some awesome blues music in the air! We're looking forward to seeing you soon!

Really Cool Videos of our Grass fed Lamb!

Howdy folks! Deidra, my wonderful wife is playing around with making some videos. I hope you enjoy them as we learn how to make better videos for you. If you have any suggestions on how to make quality videos, we're all ears! We're about to open our restaurant here in whitewright. Take a look at our site and blogs Kalos. Kalos in the greek means good or beautiful. I believe you will agree with us once you stop by that the food, drinks and experience are truly kalos! We look forward to having you out soon!

Cooking Grass Fed Lamb Texas Style!

 Thank ya'll for all the questions over the last year or so! One that keeps popping up is, how do I grill different cuts of lamb? Well today is the day we start talking about how to just that! You can also visit our website Kalosfarms.com for recipes, great health related info, and place your order to begin your grilling journey!

 To begin with, steer clear of using lighter fluid or any quickstart charcoal. Yes they are a breeze to start your grill, but the fumes you send off from them are very harmful to you and your family, plus they greatly effect the quality and taste of your lamb. My choice is to use straight charcoal or a variety of natural woods. So get the chainsaw out and get your stockpile going!

Now that we have all that covered, seasonings... I personally like to use chipotle , or a number of other Texas Style seasonings.First I take the meat out of the freezer and let it thaw to room temp. Afterwards I'll start a little marinade with some Texas Style secrets! After letting the marinade and the meat sit for about 12 hours, I'll fire up the smoker and get the temp up to 225. If I'm smoking a leg of Lamb, I'll butterfly the leg prior to the marinade and place it on the smoker fat side up. Be sure to close the lid for around an hour and a half to two hours. After a few glasses of wine, (or beers) go back to your smoker and check your creation! It should be about ready to flip! So flip it! :) Now go back to what you were doing but be sure to maintain 200 to 225 temp on the smoker. after a few more glasses, go back and check on the leg. It should be ready to serve! So take the leg off the smoker, wrap in foil and let rest for thirty minutes. Get the plates ready and enjoy your dinner!

Kalos Farms Lamb Meat Texas Style

!!!Kalos Farms!!!

Here's a pretty cool selection of videos that will give you an idea of what you will find here at Kalos Farms! We hope you enjoy them!

Say YES to Grass Fed Lamb! No more Grain,Soy, or Other Supplements!

It's Time to Treat You Like Kings and Queens!

Good morning you guys! Listen, I am really grateful for all the support from you! I started Kalos Farms with the idea of being able to provide you with great quality Grass Fed Lamb Meat that you cant get anywhere locally. I put a lot of care and consideration in everything that goes on here. Now that I'm at the Collin County Farmers Market on Saturdays, and our Lamb is in some five star restaurants and food stores across the U S, I sincerely want to treat all of you like kings and queens! Kalos Farms is now opening our own restaurant with the sole purpose of treating you the way you deserve.

How would you like to come into my place and enjoy an elegant rustic ambiance coupled with personal service, an awesome grass fed steak or lamb dinner, wine and entertainment? We'll have your dinner prepared in front of you by a real chef and served to you by myself or my assistant.

We're going to open within the next two months. It will be by reservation only. There will be great food, wine and cigars for the guys and any ladies that enjoy a great smoke! I look forward to seeing you soon!

David

Ground Lamb Wraps

Lettuce leaves offer a light, fresh alternative to pita or flatbread. If you can't find red pepper hummus, plain hummus is a welcome substitute.

Ingredients

• 2 teaspoons canola oil $
• 1 cup finely chopped onion $
• 2 teaspoons minced fresh garlic $
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 6 ounces lean ground lamb
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
• 1/2 cup chopped tomato $
• 1/2 cup chopped cucumber $
• 1/4 cup plain fat-free Greek yogurt $
• 1/4 cup red pepper hummus (such as Tribe) $
• 8 Boston lettuce leaves $
• 2 tablespoons torn mint leaves
• 1 tablespoon pine nuts, toasted

Preparation

1. 1. Heat a large skillet over high heat. Add oil to pan; swirl to coat. Add onion and next 5 ingredients (through lamb) to pan; sauté 5 minutes or until lamb is done. Combine parsley, tomato, and cucumber in a medium bowl. Stir in lamb mixture. Combine yogurt and hummus in a small bowl. Place about 1/4 cup lamb mixture in each lettuce leaf. Top each wrap with 1 tablespoon hummus mixture. Divide mint and pine nuts evenly among wraps.

 

 

 

Lamb Wraps with Smoked German Sausage!

Morning ya'll! So, I woke up this morning with an idea to start making all sorts of lamb wraps for the spring and summer! With the temps starting to rise, the wraps would be a great and "cool" meal to have! There's a wide variety of wraps to be made! And I have a lot of smoked german sausage on hand! So I started out with some fresh lettuce, tomatoes,  some flat bread and some cuccumber and red onion! Here's the recipe I'm using! I hope you enjoy it! If you would like to stop by and pick up some lamb or simply hang out, just let me know!!!!!

Ingredients 

• 1 cup unpeeled cubed cucumber (about 1/2) 
• 1/2 cup reduced-fat sour cream
• 2 teaspoons red wine vinegar
• 1/3 cup (1.3-ounces) crumbled feta cheese
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/8 teaspoon dried mint flakes
• Cooking spray 
• 1 pound smoked german sausage, cut into 1/4-inch slices
• 1 onion, cut into quarters and thinly sliced
• 1 teaspoon Greek seasoning
• 4 (8-inch) flour tortillas 
• 1 large tomato, thinly sliced 
• 1 cup packed baby spinach leaves

Preparation

1. Combine first 6 ingredients in a small bowl; stir well. Cover and chill.
2. Coat a large nonstick skillet with cooking spray; add lamb and onion, and cook over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, 6 to 7 minutes or until lamb is done. Remove from heat; stir in Greek seasoning.
3. Divide lamb mixture evenly among 4 tortillas; top each evenly with cucumber sauce, tomato, and spinach. Roll up tortillas, and cut each wrap in half; secure with wooden picks, if necessary.

The benefits of eating wild at Kalos Farms!

Grass-Fed Basics

 

Back to Pasture. Since the late 1990s, a growing number of ranchers have stopped sending their animals to the feedlots to be fattened on grain, soy and other supplements.  Instead, they are keeping their animals home on the range where they forage on pasture, their native diet. These new-age ranchers do not treat their livestock with hormones or feed them growth-promoting additives. As a result, the animals grow at a natural pace. For these reasons and more, grass-fed animals live low-stress lives and are so healthy there is no reason to treat them with antibiotics or other drugs.

More Nutritious. A major benefit of raising animals on pasture is that their products are healthier for you. For example, compared with feedlot meat, meat from grass-fed beef, bison, lamb and goats has less total fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, and calories. It also has more vitamin E, beta-carotene, vitamin C, and a number of health-promoting fats, including omega-3 fatty acids and “conjugated linoleic acid,” or CLA.  Read more about the nutritional benefits of raising animals on pasture.

The Art and Science of Grassfarming. Raising animals on pasture requires more knowledge and skill than sending them to a feedlot. For example, in order for grass-fed beef to be succulent and tender, the cattle need to forage on high-quality grasses and legumes, especially in the months prior to slaughter. Providing this nutritious and natural diet requires healthy soil and careful pasture management so that the plants are maintained at an optimal stage of growth. Because high-quality pasture is the key to high-quality animal products, many pasture-based ranchers refer to themselves as "grassfarmers" rather than “ranchers.”  They raise great grass; the animals do all the rest.

Factory Farming. Raising animals on pasture is dramatically different from the status quo. Virtually all the meat, eggs, and dairy products that you find in the supermarket come from animals raised in confinement in large facilities called CAFOs or “Confined Animal Feeding Operations.”  These highly mechanized operations provide a year-round supply of food at a reasonable price. Although the food is cheap and convenient, there is growing recognition that factory farming creates a host of problems, including:
• Animal stress and abuse
• Air, land, and water pollution
• The unnecessary use of hormones, antibiotics, and other drugs
• Low-paid, stressful farm work
• The loss of small family farms
• Food with less nutritional value.

Unnatural Diets. Animals raised in factory farms are given diets designed to boost their productivity and lower costs. The main ingredients are genetically modified grain and soy that are kept at artificially low prices by government subsidies. To further cut costs, the feed may also contain “by-product feedstuff” such as municipal garbage, stale pastry, chicken feathers, and candy. Until 1997, U.S. cattle were also being fed meat that had been trimmed from other cattle, in effect turning herbivores into carnivores. This unnatural practice is believed to be the underlying cause of BSE or “mad cow disease.”

Animal Stress. A high-grain diet can cause physical problems for ruminants—cud-chewing animals such as cattle, dairy cows, goats, bison, and sheep. Ruminants are designed to eat fibrous grasses, plants, and shrubs—not starchy, low-fiber grain. When they are switched from pasture to grain, they can become afflicted with a number of disorders, including a common but painful condition called “subacute acidosis.” Cattle with subacute acidosis kick at their bellies, go off their feed, and eat dirt. To prevent more serious and sometimes fatal reactions, the animals are given chemical additives along with a constant, low-level dose of antibiotics. Some of these antibiotics are the same ones used in human medicine. When medications are overused in the feedlots, bacteria become resistant to them. When people become infected with these new, disease-resistant bacteria, there are fewer medications available to treat them.

Caged Pigs, Chickens, Ducks and Geese.  Most of the nation’s chickens, turkeys, and pigs are also being raised in confinement. Typically, they suffer an even worse fate than the grazing animals. Tightly packed into cages, sheds, or pens, they cannot practice their normal behaviors, such as rooting, grazing, and roosting. Laying hens are crowded into cages that are so small that there is not enough room for all of the birds to sit down at one time. An added insult is that they cannot escape the stench of their own manure. Meat and eggs from these animals are lower in a number of key vitamins and omega-3 fatty acids.

Environmental Degradation. When animals are raised in feedlots or cages, they deposit large amounts of manure in a small amount of space. The manure must be collected and transported away from the area, an expensive proposition. To cut costs, it is dumped as close to the feedlot as possible. As a result, the surrounding soil is overloaded with nutrients, which can cause ground and water pollution. When animals are raised outdoors on pasture, their manure is spread over a wide area of land, making it a welcome source of organic fertilizer, not a “waste management problem.” Read more about the environmental differences between factory farming and grass-based production.

The Healthiest Choice. When you choose to eat meat, eggs, and dairy products from animals raised on pasture, you are improving the welfare of the animals, helping to put an end to environmental degradation, helping small-scale ranchers and farmers make a living from the land, helping to sustain rural communities, and giving your family the healthiest possible food. It’s a win-win-win-win situation.

Great Spring Recipe!

                                                     Kalos Farms Spring time Recipe

Here's an awesome recipe for spring time here at Kalos Farms in Whitewright Texas! If you're looking for something that's fun and easy to cook, well here it is! I hope you enjoy it!

Ingredients

• 2¼lb leg of lamb, bone in
• 75ml olive oil
• 1 tbsp chopped rosemary
• 2 large carrots, roughly chopped
• 1 onion, roughly chopped
• 3 sticks celery, roughly chopped
• small sprigs of bay, rosemary and thyme
• pared zest and juice of 1 orange (use a potato peeler for the zest)
• 1 tsp plain flour
• ½ bottle rosé wine
• 500ml lamb, chicken or vegetable stock
• 1 tbsp redcurrant jelly

1. Preheat the oven to fan 180C/ conventional 200C/gas 6. Using a small knife, trim away any excess fat from the lamb and place the fat in the roasting tin. Then criss-cross the top and sides of the lamb with the knife, making shallow incisions. Mix half the olive oil with the rosemary, salt and pepper and set aside.
2. Place the roasting tin over a medium heat and warm the lamb fat with the remaining olive oil for a few seconds. Add the lamb and rub the rosemary oil over the top and into the slashes. Keep turning the lamb over in the hot oil until it begins to colour all over.
3. Tip the vegetables and sprigs of herbs into the tin, sprinkle the lamb with a little extra salt and roast in the oven for 50 minutes or until the outside fat starts to brown. Remove the tin from the oven and turn the temperature down to fan 140C/ conventional 160C/gas 4.
4. Scrape the vegetables away from the bottom of the tin and turn the lamb over. Baste with a little of the fat, then continue to roast for 45-50 minutes. Test by inserting a metal skewer into the thickest part of the leg: for medium-rare meat, the tip should feel warm to the touch and the juices that run out of the meat should be fairly pink.
5. Remove the lamb to a warmed serving dish and cover with a loose tent of foil. This will prevent heat escaping and will allow the lamb to relax while the gravy is made.
6. Blanch the orange zest in boiling water for 1 minute until soft, then drain and set aside. Remove the vegetables from the roasting tin (reserve any that aren’t too dark for tucking round the roast), then put the tin on a medium heat and skim away all but 1 tbsp of the fat. Sprinkle the flour in and stir constantly. Add the wine, orange juice and zest and stock and boil rapidly for about 10 minutes until the gravy thickens, colours and is reduced by about half. Taste and add salt and pepper if necessary. Finally, stir in the redcurrant jelly and simmer until melted, then strain. Serve the lamb surrounded by any reserved vegetables, with the hot gravy.

Spring is in the Air!

Good morning yall! Well it looks like winter is finally coming to a close! The grass is already starting to turn green, the baby sheep are being born and we're moving the clocks forward this coming weekend! Here on the farm, we are going to be raising grass fed beef and buffalo in the coming months! So hows that for a little all natural meat variety! I hope you enjoy what we are doing this year!

 

Future So Bright!

Good evening ya'll! I hope you are enjoying the weather we're having! Let's see,,,, what can I catch you up to speed on tonight! Well, we have three new Five Star restaurants and one all natural store buying from us now! We also have eight more baby lambs that were born over the last week! The office is starting to come together too! It seems like 2014 is going to be a truly fantastic year for everyone! Whenever I go somewhere, there's an overall sense of optimism and positive energy in the air! People believe that this is going to be a year of success and happiness! As it should be! Everyone has been working hard and they've weathered the economic storms that have come our way. Now its onto some fun times! Kalos Farms is undergoing some big changes as well! We are finally closing the trail rides after a very fun and exciting four years! I cant even begin to tell you about all the fascinating people from all across the globe that I have had the pleasure of meeting!

Ha! The funniest one was a lady from the International Monetary Fund in France. Just one more reason why I don't concern myself with the big interest of the world.  She was a sweet french woman,,, with a fire inside that was enough for all of us! Somehow the topic of Obama came up. After that, no one got a word in edgewise! The diatribe was long and crazy! I just sat back and laughed and said, "gee, look at how pretty the trees look by the pond!" After that, there came a silence and thank God we got onto a far more interesting subject, horses, fresh air and sunshine!

We are turning Kalos Farms into a Naturalist dream come true! From raising and breeding Dorper Sheep, Geese, Chickens, Texas Longhorns, and Nubian Goats that you can come out and milk yourselves! After a big day on the farm, you'll be able to relax in one of our cabins and enjoy a campfire and hot tub! I want Kalos Farms to become an educational depot for all the naturalist at heart! So stay tuned and I'll share with you the plans and completions as we move forward! Thank you for coming along for the ride!