Grand Champagne Helsinki 2016: Enjoy Yourself/Educate Yourself 21-22-23.04.2016

It is again the Champagne week in Helsinki. The Grand Champagne Helsinki 2016 takes place this week in Vanha Ylioppilastalo starting from Thursday, ongoing during Friday and Saturday with a lot of different events and interesting lectures, which some are spreading around the city in restaurants. The ticket prices and events are very reasonable considering how interesting this event going to be, full of knowledge and interesting master classes and many many guests from champagne that you can actually meet them and discuss about their wines with them. To note here, the event will host 59 different producers. 

All 3 days, there are many different master classes happening and you can check them here via this link:

http://grandchampagnehelsinki.fi/master-classes/

it is good to be quick, because some of the classes are sold out.

I am personally studying the Champagne Region as much as I can at the moment, to renew all I know and learn more. Because this event is such a chance for one to practice what he/she knows and learn more, by tasting many different champagnes, meeting the winemakers and personalities from the houses, attending the master classes etc. I consider it like a three-day Champagne course happening right here in Helsinki.

Related to this event, last Thursday, I also happened to be in Ceesta Shop in Töölö with few more bloggers and we got an introduction to the event as well as tasting some champagnes, together with Essi Avellan MW and Taru&Christian From of Ceesta Shop.

Essi introducing the first Champagne we tasted, G.H. Mumm Blanc De Blanc Mumm De Cramant, a beautiful champagne to cheer up, with very peaceful bubbles as a cramant. The label corner is designed as folded and there is a reason. Read here more.

There are many restaurants setting dinners with guests and serving wines with special offers during the event dates. For example in Ravintola Pastis you can have a dinner with a set of 6 champagnes of the house Janisson-Baradon together with Cyril Janisson. Check all the events and offers via the link:

http://grandchampagnehelsinki.fi/edut/

Also to add, Grotesk is the official after party location of the event for all the three evenings. 

Last year the number of the champagnes that tasted was 150 and now this number will be 230. Unbelievable range of champagnes for Helsinki, all will be available to explore/drink/taste/study through this weekend.

There is also a dinner on Thursday and Friday in the same building, with Kari Aihinen, the head chef of the classic and famous Finnish restaurant Savoy. For the details, menu and pairing wines, click on the link:

http://grandchampagnehelsinki.fi/gch-dinner/

Also Essi's new champagne book will be launched on Thursday which is the first day of the event. 

A quick introduction video is also available to see:

After all, as I said, this is going to be a great chance for self-studies on wine, or as well as great opportunity to have a great time with a friend in such a different way, or just to enjoy great wines, Grand Champagne Helsinki 2016 is here. If missed, it is one whole year to wait for the next one ;) So, don't miss the opportunity! :)

Thousands of thanks to Essi, Taru and Christian for the lovely evening we had and also for organizing Grand Champagne Helsinki 2106, such a big and hard to organize event, as well as such an event serving to Finnish gastronomy and culture. Yes, bring in more poetry! Finland needs. Kiitos!!!

May your glass be filled with good Champagne. Greetings.

Natural Wine Joints in Helsinki: Part 2

Click here to read Part 1

Back with a few more important natural wine joints in Helsinki. Hopefully these posts will help readers who are looking for a place to drink nice wines, specifically so called "natural" style wines. Part 1 of this post has received quite good reactions so far and hopefully this one will, too. Well, writing in English, I hope this blog guides also tourists traveling to Helsinki who are wine aficionados at the same time.

Pekka, sommelier of Restaurant Grön, right before the service we had our chat. In Grön, you can check the 'wines by glass' written on the wall

Restaurant Grön: Opened relatively recent, and became first of all the favorite of the people from the restaurant industry, Grön is a restaurant focusing on local and organic products. Extremely delicious cooking is accompanied by a wine list highly dominated by organic, biodynamic and natural wines, which also has some classics. Pekka, the sommelier of Grön, had started working with classics in Restaurant GW Sundmans but two years ago he had bumped into naturals and now mainly selling natural wines, "with of course a certain quality level", he adds. Almost everything sold by glass, you can try many interesting wines during your dinner, but if you are still looking for some vintage champagne or any other fine wine, ask Pekka, he will have enough to make us all happy. I think the most fun thing about natural wines is that you can easily play with the color codes of food&wine pairing, as Pekka agrees and gives an example; "I did pair Fatalone Primitivo 2011 (a robust red) with our celery dish and the impossible looking pairing was just great."

Yeah. we all go Grön!

Carelia Brasserie & Viinikellari: Located across the National Opera House in Töölö, Carelia is established in 1996. Since then Tuomo and Kai, who first joined Tuomo in 1998, have been running together the wine list for some time, a list with about 200 labels which 45-50 labels out of them are more organic, biodynamic and natural production. Now Tuomo is more at the importing side of the business and Kai is taking care of the management. Carelia serves a French influenced menu with very reasonable prices, accompanied by its very nice and classic ambiance. Kai, the restaurant manager and sommelier of Carelia, tells me when I ask: "What is natural wine for you? -For me, I don't really care about how much sulfites are used during the winemaking, for me it is more the growing method, how the plants are treated, and of course, I would prefer it made with natural yeast." He also tells that the guests started to ask more and more about natural wines on these days and hopefully that is a growing interest.

Kai and Tuomo in Carelia

Organic wines of Eva Fricke is "hot" at the moment in Carelia, Eva was just here in Helsinki last Monday for Riesling&Co event also. Click here to see what the "very Goode man" says about her wines

Carelia is also a perfect place to have a glass of wine before or after opera shows. You can stop by for a glass anytime and ask Kai what wines to taste at that day, or maybe their new sommelier Laura will be guiding you what to chose the best of your need. In Carelia, wine prices start from 45€ to up.

Restaurant Spis: Chosen to be the "Restaurant Of The Year 2015/Vuoden Ravintola 2015" , Spis is a 18-seat restaurant serving "almost" only natural wines from very small producers. Jani, the sommelier and the restaurant manager of Spis, first had started to get more into natural wines about 6 years ago. He explains their cuisine as "Nordic and French technicwise", which is not in extremely strict lines. They also have past experiences of molecular cuisine, Jani says.

In Spis before service. Jani has coffee, I am the one next to the bottles :) 

Even though it is possible to order wines by bottle, there is no wine list here. Wine pairings are offered during the dinner which are 36€ and 40€ for the short (4 courses) and long menu (6 courses). The wine portions follow the food portions in size. Jani is regularly storing wines for few reasons, like aging or waiting for the right dish/moment for that specific wine and the wine line up might change from one week to another, but certain wines for certain dishes always remain. I asked Jani "do you think natural wine is just a trend or more?", he replied: " For now it seems more like a trend, it came, but absolutely it is something to stay." Then Jani asked me: "What is the spectacular difference between commercial and natural styles for you?" I do like all types of wines with a certain quality and deliciousness, but my answer for this question was: " Besides the flavor, the risk the winemakers take is the biggest difference according to me." Because I think, you might probably end up with a loss of a one-year-work, or end up with "a terrific wine" as Kristian Blanco, "the natural man", or "the man of the natural", or "the man in the natural wine bottle", describes :)

While my visit in Spis, we tasted few bottles together with Jani before the service, surprisingly, one of the bottles which is normally a very good wine, Michael Gindl Buteo 2015 was very weird to Jani, I also wanted to taste to see the problem, the extreme lack of acidity and the colorless-flavorless liquid in the bottle was nothing like wine, but water :) Obviously his colleague Mark did have some time last night to fill up the bottle with water and pack the closure very nicely. Hah! That was a good one, Mark, the bottle seemed like never opened before! :)

Here some labels of the many wines available right at the moment in Spis

La Maison: Since last autumn, the very dear friend, such a gentleman! :) , Toni Aikasalo is taking part in making the wine list in Restaurant La Maison and this relatively new French cuisine restaurant actually has lots of natural wines in their list. There is a nice selection of Champagnes with many of them being organic, biodynamic and natural style production. Also a few PetNat options available. The white and red wine selection includes some of the best natural wines available in Finland at the moment, and classics like Joly, Mosse and Villemade. You can also stop by in La Maison for a glass... or two.

Pictured: A very happy sommelier in its natural habitat

After all, natural wines are not "better" than any other good wine, but definitely something different to try. It is a different category that is not "new". Many well-known producers have been practising organic, biodynamic and natural methods for many years already. As Jani of Spis mentioned, I would really like natural wines to be something that "came to stay", some organic, biodynamic and natural wines might not give any special idea about these categories but some of them can be amazing and surprising, terrific and extremely delicious as well. Give a try if you haven't yet.

This might be continued.

May your glass be filled with good natural wines. Greetings.

Natural Wine Joints in Helsinki: Part 1

Click here to read Part 2

I have been thinking about to write about natural wines and restaurants in Helsinki serving natural wines, since the first time I was introduced to natural wines. Because it was totally different, another room in the tremendous world of wine. Since then, I have been studying, writing, interviewing/talking to professionals/friends and tasting (naah, sometimes drinking too) natural style wines to write this blogpost. You will now read few names of some restaurants and after that some more about natural wines and will read what the sommeliers and other professionals said about it. I sincerely thank them with all my heart, for all the help, and friendship.

Some Helsinki streets of Vin Nature:

Chef&Sommelier:  One of the best restaurants in the town absolutely, regardless of the Michelin star it has. The sommelier of C&S, Johan, had been anyway focusing on the more natural side of a wine list since they opened and he is introducing more natural wines into his wine list all the time. This is also where I was deeply introduced to natural wines by the Danish sommelier Solfinn Danielsen, when he was doing a guestplay in C&S.

Photo Courtesy: Basbas.fi

Baskeri&Basso (BasBas): Becoming many people's favorite in such a short time, a real bistro with a real bistro style atmosphere with a real bistro service with a real bistro style menu and food philosophy, is just, a real bistro. So far the only bistro that is a bistro, that I know. The wine list has some classics but the rest is extremely dominated by lovely natural wines, and so far by my knowledge, the first place which had "PetNat" wines as a separate title in their wine list. Correct me if I am wrong.


Juuri: Again one of the best restaurants with flavor bombs in your mouth, with a great work behind everything, as I know that I did work myself there for a short time. The sommelier, Pilvi, is always keeping a very nice and short wine list mostly consisting organic, biodynamic and natural wines. Ask for it.

Latva Bar: Juuri's little sister which is located on the same blog, just a short walking distance away, again serving naturals in the list, as the wine list is made by Pilvi again.

Grotesk: Lord Paul Hickman, the sommelier, keeps very interesting selections of wines and beers in his list, as well as naturals. He says, "I do introduce the natural wines to my customers saying that " I have an interesting wine, have a try", and then I pour a taste. If they like it, after that I tell about the natural wine philosophy. Also I have always sold Dagueneau, which is always more on the natural side." Go and ask for more. They also have a "friendly" pricing method, read about that here more.

PetNats in Sinne

Sinne: One of the longest wine lists in the town, Sinne is serving "classical preparations of Nordic ingredients" as the wine director Lauri Vainio describes. Lauri and Edmund as a wine duo, they have almost 20 different labels of natural wines and also recently added a PetNat title in their wine list. The wines of the natural winery COS from Sicily are must to try. Also every weekend PetNat wines served by glass.

Pastis: Otto Sovelius, my dear friend and the sommelier in Pastis, always keeps few bottles of natural wines in the list, for the guests who might ask for it or might ask something different and unusual.

This is not the end. I will write another post as a Part 2 and there will be some more restaurants in it. To be continued.



Now few words:

What is Natural Wine?

'Natural wine' term is used to describe the wine made with the minimum additives such as enzymes, sugar, sulfites, several chemicals, etc. and still made with the minimum technological manipulation, including the type of yeast, whether natural or laboratory produce. Lauri Vainio of Sinne  says: "This is a tricky question, probably the natural wine would be 'vinegar' thinking about all the natural process happening in nature." True that wine ends up in turning into vinegar, so which part of the process it can be called 'natural wine', when to call it 'natural', it is quite unknown. Many say "I don't like the term 'natural' to describe this style of wine." But yeah, do we have an alternative at the moment? Maybe "naked wine" as the natural wine advocate Alice Feiring would say so, who is also looking for the Leon Trotskys of the wine world. How sweet is that :)

Also the natural wine man of Helsinki, Kristian Blanco Sequeiros adds " Natural wine can be horrible, very tasteless and so on. But if you do not mess up with the nature, the symbiosis of the vineyard might bring out terrific wines with phenolic compounds at the highest.".... So true... Like a bottle of Joly... I guess I am in love with Nicolas Joly's wines. <3

Trend or Philosophy?

If I ask so, Niki Thieulon of Baskeri&Basso says "Both." Yeah, I agree. Philosophical way as the perfect reflection of the terroir, as well as the protection of the terroir itself, but also the demand for it might turn it into a trend. Hopefully not a trend because trends are doomed to die, but again, hopefully the demand rises, so more producers tend to go that way, I would not mind, I simply enjoy natural wine so much :)

Health Benefit Issue

Everyday we are reading many articles about how healthy the wine drinking could be as the consumption is kept in certain levels per day, but at the same time we might be drinking many unhealthy chemicals or chemicals that bind the aroma particules or simply killing the bacterias in wine. I am talking about the sulfites additive. There are always so much debates going on about it. One research in Spain proved that the good probiotic bacterias such we get from dairy products do also exist in wine content. As I always enjoy to say, "Wine is nutrition.", here I would like to put the words of the American sommelier Larry Stone: "Wine is comfort food." Absolutely. (!)

Niki says " The naturalists are now divided into two, those who add slight amount of sulfites and those who are totally against of it." But he also adds: "Sulfites or not, to me good and enjoyable wine is the one easy and tasty which I drink and I wake up next morning with no headache."

UPDATE: My words on sulfites can be understood as "It is such a bad thing", so I need to elaborate that part little bit. Sulfite is a natural product of fermentation and found in every wine naturally, here what is in question is the extra sulfite that is added into the wine, which is many times told to be nothing to worry about. It is also not a poison in wine because the amount of the sulfite added into the wine is under the threshold that might give any health effect to a human. Sulfites improve the longevity of wines. it stops a possible fermentation by the alive yeast in the bottle, if any yeast left. What I wonder, is that it might bound also fruit and other aromas too. So I don't really mean natural wine is the best, I don't really mean it is more healthy than any other wine, I don't really mean sulfites are such a bad thing.



Food Pairing
Thats the most interesting to me about natural wines. The oxidized notes and the body of natural wines first of all break down the color codes; "red wine with red meat/white wine with fish." I like color codes and they work well but I love the wines that are easily breaking down the color codes, I even did a wine workshop on that, but I am not the only one thinking of it. One evening I asked Paul Hickman of Grotesk to pair a white wine with their Picanha, the very soft and tasty meat dish in their menu, he just brought a natural white to the table, Sebastien Riffault, Akmenine, Sancerre 2010. The pairing was just perfection.



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So, after all, we are talking about wine. It is a product that might be prestigious to some, or can be a very simple thing, told by one of the most famous wine critics, Jancis Robinson, "Wine is a peasant activity." As simple as that. It is an agriculture product. It is the beverage of the Mediterranean publics for hundreds of years that was spread around the world. Why to puzzle that much about it? Maybe just, it is fun to do so?

I would like to thank Kristian Blanco Sequeiros very much of the big help he gave me while I was working on this post, I had the chance to taste many natural wines with him while having a long and lovely conversation.

May your glass be filled with good natural wines. Greetings.

Some Alsace Poetry: Gustave Lorentz Tasting in Helsinki With A Nice Range of "Gastronomic" Wines

Few weeks ago in Muru, there were some amazing wines to taste in the afternoon, and some other amazing wines were getting ready to be tasted in the evening, there was a nice, slight rush.

Pascal Schiele, the export manager of the Alsace producer Gustave Lorentz, came all the way through Helsinki and I can only say that I was just lucky and happy to be invited to that tasting by a very good friend, and it was just a perfect, beautiful, sunny day for such a beautiful occasion. (Note: The tasting took place out of the service hours, therefore not public space.)

Pascal Schiele of Gustave Lorentz. Behind at left, Muru's DRC bottles getting ready for the tasting.

We started in the early afternoon with the introduction of Alsace and Gustave Lorentz by Pascal. Of course Alsace is certainly one of the most interesting regions in the world and some of the best wines come from there for sure, I had fallen in love with Alsace since the first Alsace Gewurztraminer I had some years ago and Pascal did quite a good introduction to Alsace, how sophisticated the production and consumption of the Alsace wine, how it is a way of living, a culture, a lifestyle as itself, and the Alsace vineyards, and their own vineyards and more. A lucky man would be born in Alsace probably. I just simply love the wines of Alsace.

Well, then, we started the tasting with the Pinot Noir Rose and Pinot Noir before the whites. There is no rule that all wine tastings would start with whites, there might be some whites that need to be tasted after some light bodied red, or the line up would require such order. Today was a good example for this. The winery is producing a series of organic wines called Evidence and we had the chance to taste all of them too, together with many other Grand Crus.

What I realized in the middle of tasting that all the wines had some kind of same structure like a backbone which is mellow, elegant, like reflecting a mathematical formula, a design, a same skeleton that every other element was build on after like acidity, tannins, aromas, minerality and so on. This same skeleton that every wine has regardless of variety, is probably the signature of their winemaker Markus. Simply intelligent wines.

Pinot Noir Rose 2014: Beautiful color, red apple and slight orange peel at the nose with berry aromas. Velvety texture in the mouth, fresh with a nice acidity.

Pinot Noir Evidence 2012: Little bit different, "out of the box" Pinot Noir with its darker color and very nice fruity character. First vintage of that wine. Rather than earthy and peppery notes, a beautiful fruit is dominant at the nose and mid palate. Slightly oaked as PNs in Alsace are usually not oaked. Supple, amazingly delicious, beautiful final with heavy flavors of ripe cherry and berry aromas. Very food friendly, so to say "gastronomic". I just thought about an oven baked salmon or bonito cooked with tomatoes to match with this red right before Pascal said that it might be good with fish too. It is just so normal to consume fish with today's elegant, beautiful, velvety and light reds. This is one.

Pinot Blanc Evidence 2013: Green notes with amazing acidity, well minerality at the palate. Great wine to be served by glass in a restaurant since it is quite "an introduction wine" to Alsace. Great acidity. Told as getting a bunch of rain during the harvest. Available in Alko at the moment (surprise!!!).

Riesling Reserve Magnum 2013: Amazing parfum. Floral with daisy notes. Very satisfying with citrus and green apple notes.

Riesling Evidence 2013: Very nice tipicity at the nose. Sharp citric flavors, very high acidity. I would love it with a traditional creamy Finnish salmon soup.

Riesling Altenberg de Bergheim, Grand Cru 2008: Simply amazing wine. Even a body is possible to talk about, very fruity while having a relatively high acidity, Very distinct color, great balance. With a half an hour decanting it could be just amazing. Lemon, apple notes with floral background, it is like walking in a spring field blossoming flowers, you can hear the bees flying around. Beautiful. Intelligent.

Riesling Kanzlerberg, Grand Cru 2007: Slight stone fruits notes followed by a little honey touch, then citrus aromas take the scene again. Wonderful performance, simply joyful wine, just made up to make your day happier.

Pinot Gris Evidence 2013: Citrus flavors as a signature, in, and then s slighly smoky touch like ham, or i am too drunk, high minerality with a warm but fruity final.

Gewurztraminer Altenberg De Bergheim 2010: I just got the parfum into my nose. I instantly got a smile on my face. I simply love Gewurztraminer. Would I get married again? With the right woman maybe yes, and Gewurztraminer would be the right woman I guess. Beautiful yet strong, funny yet serious, self-confident yet humble, down-to-earth yet charismatic, honest and loyal, passionate (I mean passion fruit in case of Gewurz). This is a tasting note. Yes. After these words, you should be able to understand how the fruit, acidity, body, structure and condition of the wine are. If you dont get it, come on, get some poetry and imagination into your life, which is the same as getting a bottle of well made Gewurz for your dinner, just like Altenberg De Bergheim 2010. It is a wine that I want to swim inside. The sugar is masked so well by the acidity, which makes it sooo "gastronomic".

Pinot Gris Selection De Grains Nobles 2008: Sweet wine. Beautiful amber color. Cooked fruit aromas with caramel in the mid palate, such a velvety, joyful structure.

Gewurztraminer Selection De Grains Nobles 2007: Very classic Gewurz tipicity which is beautiful. Intense aroma of caramel and honeycomb. Oaked. Very long final with the beautiful essence of tropical fruits.

Gastronomic. it is the right word. Alsace is anyway well known of producing gastronomic wines that match with such cuisines that does not include wine in their dining culture, such as Indian, Chinese, Japanese, etc. and anyway Gustave Lorentz wines are greatly suitable for a great dining table.

I came home. Still felt like drinking something. Opened a bottle of red, no reason to say what it was, if so then it was French too, but my level of quality was so high that I just couldn't go more than half a glass, after having the very high quality wines of Gustave Lorentz, I could not enjoy that bottle I had and got a glass of water for myself. After having such well made, elegant, such beautiful, such serene wines, as the poet said "intelligent wines", then water might be the best beverage if you dont have anything to drink at least at the same level of intelligence.

By the way what is great about Restaurant Muru is that it is really a wine-driven restaurant running tastings and events every now and then, for example while we had this tasting by Finebrands, Team Muru was getting ready for a DRC tasting in the evening. Wine is not just a make-up for this team to correct their image and make money, but it is something "running" the restaurant, Samuil is doing a great job on keeping his crew, or lets say "pushing his crew" into wine, which is simply great and he takes that responsibility "to teach".

So at the moment, surprisingly(very), Alko has 3 products of Gustave Lorentz, some very recently started to be listed (Gustave Lorentz Evidence Pinot Blanc Biologique 2013, Gustave Lorentz Sylvaner Reserve 2014, Gustave Lorentz Riesling Reserve 2013). Go and check if you wanna have a idea about Gustave Lorenz. It is also available in some restaurants in Helsinki now... And Finebrands, thanks a lot, for the effort that is put in to bring such great wines to Finland. Do it.

May Alko shelves be filled with such wines like Gustave Lorentz. Greetings.

Wine Prices of Restaurant Grotesk in Helsinki: A Momentary Lapse of Riesling

"A Momentary Lapse Of Reason", one of my favorite Pink Floyd albums... A momentary lapse of reason. Also a very nice English phrase which is sometimes used to define "losing mind for a moment".

There is a restaurant in Helsinki, Grotesk, which the restaurant manager and sommelier Paul Hickman (and a good friend before all) started to sell the restaurants' wines for such prices with a very unexpected calculation method since more than a year now. Now I will write here his method of calculation. You will probably think that he lost his mind, maybe he has "a momentary lapse of reason". But no, actually what happens in Grotesk is a momentary lapse of Riesling!

Photo Courtesy: grotesk.fi

Few days ago I met Paul in Grotesk and quickly talked about this calculation on paper. So when you check the wine list, you start to see prices like 30 something or 40 something or 50 something euros etc... Of course depending on the type and quality of wine, there are higher prices too and anyway because of the high rates of rent and other costs, it is simply hard to survive as a restaurant so restaurants might keep the wine prices high, even some of them very but very high. But now check how Grotesk's wine prices are calculated:

The retail price from the importer has a Value Added Tax (=VAT=Arvonlisävero=ALV=24%) "in it", so to calculate, before the wine goes into the wine list, this tax gets excluded, now what you have is the price without tax. Now a certain margin added on the price which is 20€ for every wine regardless of retail price, quality or reputation. After that the VAT (ALV) added on top of that final number and there we go, we now have the price to be presented in the wine list. Sounds complicated right? So let's make it easy by numbers:

For a wine that is bought 45€ per bottle from the importer:

45€ / 1.24=36.29€ is the price we got. Now 20€ is added on it:

36.29€+20€= 56.29€. Now the tax added on this number again:

56.29 + 56.29 x 0.24= 69.80€ is the price you will pay.

Crazy. Right? But why he does that? I did ask. What he said is that he is willing to change the wine culture and the idea of wine drinking in a restaurant by finding a method which will keep them survive but also make the customer to be able to have more wine without fear. True, most of us are anxious about prices in a restaurant when we are having a meeting with friends or going out with someone special. Also, wine is a culture, Finland must see this truth someday, people get drunk and lose their health shot after shot filled by heavy alcohol, but wine should not be considered as heavy alcohol, wine is a culture, is a liquid form of art, it is comfort food; it is meant to enjoy slowly, it is not something you can get drunk on if you really dont drink 2 liters of it alone in half an hour, which makes it never possible to enjoy!

So I think Paul did a very "aggressive decision" with this method and started to run it since more than a year. There are anyways only few really wine-driven restaurants in the town and if the restaurants, sommeliers and bloggers do not act, the wine culture will never improve.

May your glass be filled with fine wines. Greetings.

COGITO CATERING (Wine Events, Workshops, Private Cooking Services)

If you are interested in a private dinner with your friends and family or a tasting event to share and learn more about wine or looking for catering services, feel free to contact

cogitowine@gmail.com

 I will be more than happy to do my best to help you. Thank you/ Kiitos.

Like the Facebook page and see the photos, just click HERE

From one of my events in Helsinki

"Chef", a French word that means "Cook", the person who is performing the cooking process of the food materials. For some reason some people take this word "Chef" so serious which make it so hard to understand and it is even worse if these people have no idea about cooking or the restaurant business at all, and they think they have a right to teach you what "Chef" means, regardless of the lack of confidence they have. They think, when you say the word in French, it becomes a "label". (Nothing against the beautiful French culture and language though).

Because of the reasons related to this issue, I am proud to call myself "a simple cook", after I have seen such people call themselves "chef" without any experience and knowledge, more of these, without creativity "the most important". Only some people I know really deserve "the label meaning" of the word "Chef" and they are such humble and kind people that they mostly refuse this labeling and prefer to call themselves "A Cook".

I decided to become a cook after I got into wine culture and since then always have wanted to be a cook working on recipes to design specific flavors to match with specific wines, so as being a simple cook specializing to highlight the wine culture, I started my own private company and since then I do catering of wine events, beer events and other beverage events as well and cooked many dinners for private diners too.

So if you are interested to book, contact: cogitowine@gmail.com

 I will be more than happy to do my best to help you. Thank you/ Kiitos.

Like the Facebook page and see the photos, just click HERE

IMPORTANT NOTE: Cogito is not a company that is selling wines. Sales, service and charge of alcoholic beverages are prohibited according to Finnish Alcohol Act if it is done out of a licensed premise which is open to public. Cogito applies all its services according to the Finnish Alcohol Act. Cogito aims to give catering services which are fun and informative, and wine service only would be a small part of the whole event with all the food, presentations and consultancy. Cogito never aims to advise and raise the alcohol consumption. Contact for more information.

For more info please continue to read:

Cogito is a small catering company highlighting wine and wine culture.

What does Cogito mean? 

We are living in an era which very big crowds of people had forgotten to think about what they drink and eat. Spending less time in the kitchen with the rush of the daily-urban life and slowly getting used to lose the sense of taste by consuming the industrial chemical vegetables, fruits and other products made us not to sense, therefore not to think about what we drink and eat. But once the wiseman said "COGITO, ergo sum. / I THINK, therefore I am. ". According to him, the existence came up with conscience. A quick analyze of this one of the most famous phrases of the philosophy history with today's nutrition-wise vision just brings up the idea of losing conscience hence existence. When we don't think about what we drink and eat, lack of thinking brings the question of nonexistence, that easily connects to the idea of "you are what you eat" too, an interesting and clear connection to what the wiseman said about existence. So dreaming about setting dinners and tastings where people have fun while thinking and discussing about the food, wine and other matching beverages made me start my company and think everyday about flavors and pairings. So much things to try, experience and learn. An expertise of wine&food is just simply impossible for a human life. So I read, learn and think. As much as I do, I realize how less I know. As I realize that, my hunger for knowledge grows bigger and I read, learn, and THINK more. Therefore COGITO!

Developing an interest in culinary arts and the passion of wine made me come up with an idea of setting up different wine events which for instance we taste red wine with fish and white wine with beef, compare wine to beer for cheese pairing and setting up many other events with the "out of the box" ideas while thinking and discussing with guests in a cozy, spontaneous and cheerful atmosphere. My type of wine tasting is a family dinner concept, funny, cheerful, friendly, rather than a silent, serious tasting like a business meeting. As Larry Stone said, wine is a comfort food, so put more wine on the table. Think winewise!

The very simple cook and the wine blogger behind Cogito

Contact via email - cogitowine@gmail.com - 

for more info and bookings. Private dinners, private tastings, parties and all kind of activities

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This Ain't A Restaurant Critic, But More: 300 Hours In The Kitchen Of Juuri

Internet is full of restaurant critics. Anyone just writes many good and sometimes few bad things about the restaurants they eat in. But I find only some of them really accurate, as I know only some of them certainly have a realistic critical vision of food preparation, wine service and quality(what to look for in terms of expectation as a customer). Without the knowledge and the consideration of how hard and tiring to prepare a plate of food with all its protein source, vegetable and sauce condiments; writing without this "knowledge/vision" certainly makes someone incompetent, unfortunately. People simply do not know what to appreciate and what not to care about. Many bloggers go to a restaurant only once and mostly write so many extremely good things, or bad things. But writing about a restaurant by only one visit is I think really wrong, unfair and inadequate. Internet makes people think they are strong and effective, but reality doesn't work like that. Only some of the bloggers I know have such a knowledge and respect for this business which make them trustworthy to follow what they write.

Photo Courtesy: juuri.fi

I dont say all these just to bore the readers, but I do say these to legalize all the words I will now write here about one of the casual-fine dining restaurants in Helsinki, Juuri Keittiö ja Baari (Juuri Kitchen and Bar so to translate). Not I was only a customer here, I was also an intern in this kitchen and worked 300 hours among "the heroes behind the doors" and after the first week of what I all have seen here, I starkly decided to write about Juuri because I saw that it deserves to pay serious attention.

When I was looking for a good place for an internship, a good place that I can learn, that Juuri came up as one of my few options. A friend of mine did intern there before me and I asked that friend about how Juuri was, as an experience. The answer was: "Yiiiieah, huuh huh... The big and tough guys. Good luck." Well that was not encouraging. It was really not encouraging to hear such words but still I decided to meet the head chef Jukka Nykänen and try my chance since I heard many good things about the food they serve in Juuri and to be honest their menu has been always interesting, full of pickled, cured dishes, many vegetables and interesting sauces etc. Especially Sapas, the Finnish style Tapas, where the "S" of Suomi (Finland in Finnish) replaces "T" of Tapas, is the name of many different small appetizers/starters, and are certainly one of the most interesting selections in what Helsinki restaurants have to offer.

So when I certainly decided to try it, I contacted maybe the most smiley restaurateur in Helsinki, Ilja Björs, one of the few personalities behind the idea of Juuri that was established more than 10 years ago. Via him, I reached the head chef Jukka and got an appointment with him, and then I went to Juuri, sat down together, discussed shortly and after all Jukka was positive about having me there. I was quite happy of that since I really wanted to be in that kitchen to see and learn about how their Sapas dishes are prepared already in action. I was going to be the first English speaking intern.

INSIDE THE KITCHEN

Samuli rocking the yellow beets

It is of course not easy to start in a new kitchen, you go in there, you have no idea where is the oil, where is the salt, sugar, where is the cutting board, where are the spices, what is used for what etc. Many questions and surprises while being extra careful to not to piss off anybody and interrupt their work. Starting in a new kitchen is quite embarrassing for the first few days, surely. And it was the same for my first day in Juuri too. It was a morning shift. It was a rainy, cold morning. I came and knocked the window after I saw Jukka from outside, working on the bread, then I walked to the door, another chef opened the door, Juuso, another big, tough looking guy, whom I was about to figure out that he is the most funniest and talkative hero in the kitchen actually. I remember, my first task was to chop red onions as brunoise, and I did, I did whatever I was taught in the culinary school for the perfect brunoise onion by the teachers and the cooking books, as I did when I worked in some other restaurants. Then suddenly I felt it, there was someone, a shadow, two big eyes behind me, I slowly turned over my shoulder, looked up and I saw his face, yes, that was Jukka looking at the onions over my shoulder, with sharp eyes and eye brows threading ("Jukan valvovan silmän alla" in Juuri slang :), he asked " What are you doing?" I said "Chopping brunoise." He said "Save them for another use and bring new onions, I show you." I did bring more onions and Jukka chopped them maybe 4 times smaller than what we were taught in the culinary school. The same story happened every day of my first week, with carrots, celeries, fennels and many more vegetables. You might think like "Hey so what, if one piece of carrot is little bit bigger than another?" Well then you can't simply get anywhere if you are looking for perfection in your plate. As simple as that. A simple cut might be the most important sometimes, you can only realize that at the final result, the plate. Also, it was about the level of cooking and the idea of perfection in the kitchen of Juuri, that even the simple cuts should be done with care. Sounds too much? Well just spend an evening in Juuri, you will understand what I mean.

Sakari rocking the evening service

Kyyttö Mozzarella in making

Juuri is OPEN EVERYDAY in a week, from Monday to Friday serving lunch and A la Carte and Saturday-Sunday only A la Carte. In a day in Juuri, kitchen starts with bread and cheese actions. I worked there last spring and at my time Juuri had own made mozzarella cheese made of the Kyyttö/Finnish Eastern cattle milk and a very delicious bread was made with their own growing yeast, everyday, fresh, delicious, beautiful. I am still a big fan of that bread. And then the last lunch preparations get to be done before 11:30am and at the same time preparations for evening service continues. The new orders come to kitchen anytime during the day. Almost all the ingredients used in Juuri are organic. In the kitchen, there is the recipe folder and every sous chef at least once touch this folder everyday to check a recipe, because it is so hard to remember all those different dishes, 12-15 different sapas with 4 different mains and 4 different desserts. What is hard in case of recipes is that the menu changing 6 times a year. The kitchen is so active, always new dishes coming up, I have seen Jukka with Kim working on new recipes at the back kitchen many times before, during or after the service, just the whole day whenever they have time for it. Jukka could easily change the menu only twice a year and keep the recipe issue easy. But no, the kitchen is always coming up with new recipes. I asked him why he is changing the menu 6 times a year, he just said these: "Well if I don't change then it is not a creative kitchen anymore. So many things are possible to do. I want this place to be a restaurant, not a museum. Otherwise it is just boring." I dont know what could be said after these words. He also has a background in restoration, he did study and worked in that business for some time until he decided to become a chef, so renewing things is his thing. Oh, there is also music included, he is also playing the guitars of a hardcore metal band, I know that some people call him "the killer chef" :)))

In Juuri lunch menu also changes twice a week. You can follow all the changes and news from the webpage www.juuri.fi. What I most appreciate in Juuri, is that they put the same effort in lunch dishes, same high quality ingredients like the A la Carte menu, similar cooking methods, same ideas and same time to be spent for a plate with care and perfection. For the price, that quality food is a great offer for your business lunch meetings or just having a very high quality lunch for yourself. I worked in many kitchens in short and long terms before Juuri and the idea in many of those restaurants (not all) was basically, "it is lunch, customers pay less than a dinner, so throw the food on the plate whatever it is and send it to them." This idea does not exist in Juuri. The quality of lunch dishes and the effort they put in are not lesser than the dinner service. There is a certain standardization of quality in the kitchen of Juuri, no matter it is lunch or dinner. But dinner has of course much more different options to enjoy. But all in all, great ingredients coming together with creativity, lots of time spent in the kitchen, strong stocks and lots of flavor concentrations are the base of the idea behind Juuri. Concentrating flavors is very important. That much concentration I only saw two years ago during my internship in the two-Michelin starred Chez Dominique.

In Juuri lunch is also important and prepared very well

Many different condiments come together in small plates; "Sapas", plated by number of diners

I have eaten in Juuri twice during my internship. It was of course quite nice to see the other side of the restaurant running and see the customer reactions during the evening service. I had dinner once with a bunch of wine enthusiasts and once with a very good friend who has been in Juuri 4 years ago and had not liked it at all. Now probably Juuri is one of the first on his list if he needs to take friends or his guests out. For me both dinners I had were great experiences with concise yet complete wine list of the sommelier Pilvi. It is very important for a good restaurant to have a properly priced wine list with a philosophy behind it. Because restaurants exist to offer experiences to people to "restore" themselves not only by the food, but together with wines as an experience and a sense of a philosophy. The idea behind Juuri is serving high quality food with the best local ingredients that they could get with intelligently made, organic and natural wines,"intelligent wines/smart wines" that have serious characters and different layers of aromas and flavors(organic and natural wines don't always mean "intelligent wine"). Pilvi could easily take 120 labels in her wine list but what she does is focusing on well made organic and natural wines and having about 7-8 sparkling, 10-12 white, 10-12 red and 7-8 sweet wines. Also a very noble Rose. A good selection of beers and alcohol-free drinks can be found too. What is amazing is that all these amazing wines are also available by glass. This is just perfection customerwise.

Ulysse Collin, a very small artisanal champagne house, much more different and beautiful than any other giant house champagnes at this level and at the right side the beautiful, funky, natural style Christian Venier of a PN and Gamay blend, simply cheerful

Sommelier Pilvi, with her sweetest smile, has been in the restaurant business for 13 years in several positions like as a bartender and waitress. She started in Juuri about 6 years ago and she first started to be interested in wine culture when she was working together with Karoliina Kettunen in Juuri and got influenced by her and worked together until Karoliina left in 2011. Then same year the wine bar Latva started to run in a 50 meters distance to Juuri (just around the corner) and Pilvi became responsible of the wine lists of both Juuri and Latva. She did manage very well by focusing on certain things. For example, if there is a question for Pilvi: Are you more into the story of the wine or just the price, flavor and label design enough for you?

-I am definitely more interested in the story and the producer. It all depends on what kind of effort and philosophy was put into that wine. Also organic and biodynamic wines are more interesting to me.

Do you educate the staff?

-Yes, I educate the staff 6 times a year every time the food menu changes, because I add new wines to the list also.

Tell little bit about your pricing policy.

-I keep the prices mostly about between 45-60€ that makes them affordable, reachable. I want customers to be able to drink these wines and I want to show them little bit different wines in my list.

This is what Pilvi says. There is also a small tasting room in Latva, you just need to contact and book it for your private events, wine tastings etc.

Roni, the food&beverage manager, is the key man who is one day running the restaurant side of Juuri, another day making coctails in Latva, and another day cooking the lunch in Latva, and another day probably running to another task. He is ready to handle anything with his cooking background. After a whisky talk we had, he showed me his tattoos on his arm (A Scottish island figure and his son's name in one word; "Jura" :) I asked him how he sees the improvement of Juuri in time since he has been working there for such a long time. "We are always improving because always trying to do the better of whatever we do and when we achieve it, it becomes our new standard and next time we try even better than that, until we achieve it."

The amazing Mosse Anjou which is a natural style Chenin and beautiful Chateau de Gaure Campagne, a classic southern blend from the Mediterranean coast of France

And of course other people working there during my intern... Some of the most friendly and funny chefs, for example Juuso, he will never stop talking and keep the laughter going on in the kitchen. He is just great and if you had a hangover last night and if he is the one cooking the staff food, then you are lucky, because he always cooks fatty but really delicious, full of protein staff meals. Then Sakari, always kind and helpful, and always calm and talkative, Samuli, silent but the sweetest and friendly sous chef ever, Kim, who will always share his passion on Eastern spices, he will always be there whenever you need help. He was also the best singer in the kitchen. Yes he was. Aleksi was another sous chef, and have you seen the movie "The Big Lebowski"? Yes, Aleksi is the dude. Kaisa, was one of the two ladies in the kitchen and she was such a hardworking person. Mirjami, the other lady in the kitchen, was probably the most smiley of all, so kind and helpful, always.

And the restaurant side was full of attractive and charismatic ladies, Pilvi, Anni, Johanna, Inkeri, Tiina, Nelli, Happy Zoe(She is happy)... They are just such sweet people. Oh I feel so emotional now... :(  Okay its gone :) So lets write more.

There is also the team Latva and during my intern there was Janne, Jesse, Eppu, Teija and Anne-Sophie. I am so sorry if I forgot to mention any other name. I also heard some good news that after I left, an old good friend, Mixu The 'Mixu'logist had started in Latva. Great man in great place! I should stop by soon for a cocktail by him.

So, after all, I finished my culinary school in two years. But I got a great knowledge and experience only in two months in Juuri. Now I am having a small company specializing on wine and food pairings. From time to time I do caterings and organize tastings and wine workshops. Actually i did my first workshop on "Fish and Red Wine Pairing" and then just the next morning the fish dish for lunch was paired with a red wine in Juuri. It was a funny coincidence and I was happy to see it because nobody really does these kind of "out of the box" pairings.

Team Juuri also released a cook book called "Juuri Nyt" which you can get from Juuri, Latva or any other Pihka lunch restaurants and last year I received the book as a gift by a good friend, he said "Deniz, if you want to know what is happening in the Finnish cuisine right now, this is the book you need to have." That good friend is definitely someone I trust his words. He is a culinary missionary. He is running his mission as a sommelier in a Michelin-starred restaurant in Huvilakatu since more than 4 years.

Juuri Nyt available to practice recipes!

Team Juuri: Ilja Björs, Antti Ahokas, Jarkko Myllymäki, Jukka Nykänen. Also Arto "Viinipiru" Koskelo and Mika Wist are credited for this book

The last dinner I had in Juuri. Looking forward to the next one

The last dinner I had in Juuri. Looking forward to the next one

So, why did I write all these here? In a wine blog why I decided to write about a restaurant? Because Juuri is not simply a restaurant just to make money. These people have an idea behind it and I have been at that "behind", I spent 300 hours in this kitchen, I saw everything at its place and got amazed of it. Of course it is a very hard work to get everything perfectly prepared, cooked and plated and you have to be such a passionate, hardworking and strong chef to be able to work in Juuri. I salute these people with all my heart, it was very nice to have an internship with them. my experience in Juuri will definitely help me a lot on the long path of wine&food that I will keep tracking.

You should most definitely have a dinner in Juuri one day and after that, please, send me an email about your experience to wineandfinland@gmail.com. I will be more than happy to read.

May your glass be filled with intelligent wines. Greetings.