Wine is the correct answer!

Explicit content warning

05/11/20 • 67 min

Meet Jean Black, AKA the "Black Wine Guy". Jean has had a very long, interesting and unconventional career in the wine business, which began at the oldest wine shop in New York City, Acker wines. "What started as a package store in 1820, has today become the oldest and most respected wine shop in America. Acker Merrall Condit, located on the beautiful and historic Upper West side of Manhattan, has provided expert wine services for nearly two centuries." While at Acker, Jean sold, stocked, learned and tasted wines from all over the world. Jean quickly rose through the ranks at Acker and quickly became one of the top wine experts at Acker. It wasn't long before Jean found himself traveling to California wine country to buy wine directly from the vineyards. It was this time Jean fell in love with the "wine country" lifestyle. Hard-working farm life surrounded by great people, great wine, great food, even greater stories, occasional campfires and late nights. Many of Jean's selections come from this award winning vineyards and although we're not in California sipping on these fine wines it does give the consumer subtle whispers of Jean's amazing experience's at these vineyards. A FEW of Jean's top vineyards include, Ledge, Turtle Rock, Hill of Tara, and Argot.

This episode Jean paired two wines to serve with our Chef Jose Andreas "tinned" sea urchin ( Matt loved the urchin, Rich did NOT). A California blend from Willamette Valley and Spanish Txakolina. Both wines are phenomenal with seafood and affordable.

Previous Episode

Awww, shucks! Thats a damn good oyster!

Had a great time meeting up with Matt Ketchum, an oyster farmer from the North Fork of Long Island. Matt owns and operates Peconic Gold Oysters which has been operating since 2013 on a 10 acre underwater plot. Matt: "The nearby Peconic River provides a unique input of minerals. It is believed that the iron supplied by the river and the algae that bloom in the shallow waters combine to produce the gold color apparent on the oysters' shells throughout the growing season. They've noticed that an edible red algae, Gracillaria (seaweed salad) also thrives here. It is this combination of environmental factors acting in perfect harmony that combine perfectly to make for a cool, crisp, sweet flavor, and creamy texture, with a slightly metallic and smoky finish."

In addition to selling whole oysters, Peconic also sells freshly shucked oysters to go. Their farm stand is open every day and is set up for no-touch, curb side service.In addition, Matt has also collaborated with several business to produce oyster kimchi, oyster quiche and plans on working with a local brewery to produce an oyster beer.

We wrapped up the session discussing food and beverage pairings. Peconic loves to pair their oysters with wines from local vineyards. In particular, a cold, crisp Chenin Blanc. We met up with Sterling from Mama Roux who crafts "Cest Bon" a White Negroni made in collaboration with The Spirits Lab. We can't wait to try Peconic oysters matched up with the White Negroni!

Next Episode

Order your Sea Beans, here!

This episode is about the worlds first indoor aquaculture farm. "Heron Farms started as a research question asked by graduate student and founder Sam Norton at the College of Charleston: what if we used the problem of sea level rise as the main resource for a new kind of agriculture? In June 2018 the concept won first place at the South Carolina Department of Agriculture's inaugural ACRE Start-up Competition." And so it began...

Not only has Sam created a succesfull indoor farming system, he has also created opportunity to expand and potentially franchise his model. His systems have been designed utilizing shipping containers and are becoming increasingly streamlined and easy to operate. Food AND habitat restoration could be popping up in a coastal city near you.

Sam has also worked with local Charleston chefs and brewers to produce some innovative dishes including a Coastal Harvest Gose with Low Tide Brewing. We also have word that there is a distilled spirit project in the works. Cant wait, Tyler!

Order your sea beans here!