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.