PASSOVER WINE

 

KOSHER WINES FOR EVERYONE

By Doc Lawrence

Passover is an appropriate time to become more familiar with the delights of Kosher wines.

Kosher wine, said Mitch Schneider who lives in Israel and is well versed in this subject, “is produced according to Jewish dietary laws, called Kashrut. All the appropriate wine making equipment, tools, and storage facilities must be used exclusively for producing Kosher wine. Beginning with harvest, only Sabbath observant Jews are allowed to work in wine production. Only certified Kosher products like yeast can be used.”

Schneider, a career wine professional, offered a few Kosher wine nuggets:  “With some Kosher wine,” he observed, “you might see Mevushal on the label. "  He explained that this literally means boiled or cooked. “Back in history, the Jewish people would boil the wine in order to make it unfit for idolatrous use. Even if an idolater touched it, the wine would still keep the status of Kosher. Today, we use the process of flash pasteurization to make the wine Mevushal. Flash pasteurization is a very, very fast process in which the wine goes through a continuous flow while subjected to temperatures of 160 °F to 165 °F.”

I asked if the terms Kosher and organic were related? “I don't believe they are,” Schneider replied, adding that “in Israel, Yarden Winery produces an organic Chardonnay from their Odem Vineyard. In America, Baron Herzog Winery is not certified organic, but many of their wines come from sustainably grown, low spray grapes.”

Obviously, with all the diversity inherent in wine for over six thousand years, there are aspects of Kosher wine that should attract everyone who loves good wine.  Mitch Schneider believes that Kosher wine should have the same appeal a non-Kosher wine brings. “A Chalk Hill Cab that is Kosher,” he said, “will taste like a Chalk Hill non-Kosher Cab. I know many people won't even try Kosher wine, but the truth is, when tasting a wine, whatever your preconceived notions you had in your head will effect the taste of the wine.”

Schneider claims that there are amazing Kosher wine available today from around the world. More than a few, he states, “are being written about and rated in top wine magazines and winning top medals in various competitions. The days of sweet concord wine are gone! Today, Kosher wine is something to be proud of like any other wine.”

Schneider said to look at Vodka. “There is a Kosher certification on Stoli. Why? Simply for the marketing aspect. No one thinks of Stoli as the Kosher Vodka. Likewise, don't think of Kosher wine as sweet concord wine.”

Here are some of the superior Kosher wines Schneider said to look for in the American marketplace: Castel Winery from Israel – “Their Grand Vin label is amazing.” Hagafen Cellars from California – “Look out for their Pinot Noir.” Borgo Reale Moscato and Bartenura Moscato.- “Two wineries, one wine - both delicious and refreshing from Italy.” Yatir Winery from Israel plus Goose Bay from New Zealand-“their Sauvignon Blanc is crisp, and very well balanced.” 

I hasten to endorse the outstanding Yarden Mount Hermon Galilee Red Wine (2009) from Golan Heights Winery

What about Bordeaux? Or Burgundy? Schneider quickly responded, “we sure do have them,” referring me to two sites: KosherCuvee.com and Kosher French Wine importer.

Enough said. It’s time to pour a glass of Kosher Margeaux and, although we are in different countries, wine begins a promising friendship and transcends notions of time and distance.

 

CIVIL WAR 150th BEGINS

MORT KUNSTLER AT THE BOOTH MUSEUM


By Doc Lawrence

CARTERSVILLE, GA-The Booth Museum of Western Art has the elegant feel of New York City’s Lincoln Center. Instead of music, there are paintings, carvings and statues galore, displayed in an impressive space that garners well-deserved critical acclaim. It was the perfect place to meet Mort Kunstler, easily the most respected and popular Civil War artist in America. Kunstler, a Brooklyn, New York native who still calls New York state home, has a growing audience due in part to the just-launched Civil War Sesquicentennial, a monumental, multi-state commemorative spanning the next four years.



"War is Hell." Atlanta is destroyed

What makes Kunstler’s works both valuable and popular relates to his remarkable skills as an artist and the high quality of his paintings. First, he would be an acclaimed artist no matter the subject. Technique, accuracy, color, detail are uniformly striking. Romantic or nostalgic scenes, which Kunstler paints to perfection, are notable for a Norman Rockwell-like touch. Created on Kunstler’s canvass, Lee, Jackson, Grant, Sherman and foot soldiers are credible and all too human.   

Mort Kunstler says he never pretended to be a historian. “I’m an artist,” he told me during lunch in the museum, “and I got into the Civil War as a result of one painting about Gettysburg that became very popular. I found that there is so much about the war that most aren’t aware of and that really prompted me to paint what I found interesting.”

James McPherson, the Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and author of Battle Cry of Freedom praised Kunstler and his works:  “Of all the artists working in the Civil War field, none captures the human element, the aura of leadership, the sense of being there and sharing in the drama, quite like Mort Künstler. He has that enviable talent of being able to re-create history on canvas and to translate events into art.”

You don’t just see a Kunstler Civil War painting, you behold it. Most are powerful and the emotional impact is not predicated on battlefield blood and gore which Kuntler usually avoids. One memorable painting is centered on the casualties from the battle of Frericksburg. A  hospital is so overcrowded that the wounded spill onto the grounds.. While attending to wounded Union soldiers, a young Clara Barton, founder of the American Red Cross, takes time to serve hot broth to a wounded, grateful Confederate soldier. Nearby, poet Walt Whitman is nusing another injured U.S. Army soldier. “Acts of compassion,” says Kunstler, “weren’t uncommon and I like painting them.”  

It would be normal to think you’ve seen some of Mort Kunstler’s works before. Chances are you have. His works are in museums, national parks, bookstores,  galeries, corporate collections and homes coast to coast. To this day, I’ve yet to see wall calendars half as good as those featuring  Kunstler’s paintings. “Three come out every year,” he revealed. “I think they do well.”

Presented to coincide with the 150th Anniversary of the start of the Civil War, Mort Künstler’s Civil War Art: For Us the Living exhibition at the Booth Museum traces the history of our Nation’s greatest conflict through the paintings of one of America’s greatest historical artists.  The exhibit, which continues through early September, features more than 40 major paintings, plus preliminary sketches, documentary photographs, studio artifacts and other objects Künstler uses to create his masterworks. One painting, “War is Hell,” is in the Booth Museum’s permanent collection. You can almost feel the heat and hear the cries of despair during the burning of Atlanta in 1864.

Mort Kunstler maintains a friendship with Dr. James I. Robertson, Jr., Civil War historian and author of Stonewall Jackson—The Man, The Soldier, The Legend. Robertson , who has wriiten much of the text in the book collections of Kunstler’s paintings, said that “Mort Künstler is the foremost Civil War artist of our time – if not of all time. To study his paintings, is to simply see history alive.”

The Booth Museum of Western Art is a worthy destination for those who love art and history. It is one of Georgia’s greatest cultural treasures. The family-friendly environment mirrors the easy-going charm of Cartersville, a dynamic city with wonderful restaurants, locally-owned shops, and good sidewalks made for strolling. Just off I-75, the museum is an easy drive from Atlanta or Chattanooga.

More information: http://www.boothemuseum.org/.

RON BLOMBERG HONORED BY DRUID HILLS BASEBALL TEAM

Major League Baseball’s First Designated Hitter

                          

By Doc Lawrence

ATLANTA-Druid Hills High School’s baseball program honored its most famous alumnus, baseball great Ron Blomberg, at a ceremony between the Druid Hills Red Devils' double-header with the visiting Decatur High Bulldogs and Greater Atlanta Christian. The amazing feats by Blomberg were recalled during the festivities, making a solid case that some of his achievements may never be equaled.



RON BLOMBERG AT YANKEE STADIUM


Blomberg, a giant among Georgia’s many sports successes, graduated from Druid Hills in 1967 and was a standout in football, basketball and baseball for the Red Devils. Also in 1967, he was the number one pick in the country by the New York Yankees in the Major League Baseball Amateur Draft and went on to enjoy an eight year career with the Yankees and the Chicago White Sox.

But it is was one position, an inaugural of sorts, where Ron Blomberg made his lasting place in baseball’s rich lore: He became the first Designated Hitter in big league history. In basball, unlike no other sport, such hallowed moments are never forgotten.

Nicknamed "Boomer," Ron Blomberg batted left-handed and threw right-handed, playing first base and right field and after his playing days became the manager of the Bet Shemesh Blue Sox in the Israel Baseball League.

During his time at Druid Hills, a highly-respected school comfortably adjacent to the Emory University campus, Blomberg was more than an all-star in baseball, football and basketball. He remains the only athlete ever chosen for the Parade All-America teams in football, basketball, and baseball. He received 125 basketball scholarship offers, and John Wooden, the legendary basketball coach at UCLA, paid him a recruiting visit. Roger Couch, Blomberg's Druid Hills basketball coach, said he was “the finest basketball player I ever saw — high school or college."

Blomberg also received an astonishing 100 football scholarship offers.

During his eight year major eague career, Blomberg compiled an impressive .293 batting average.

THE ATLANTA BRAVES 2011

MEET ME AT THE WORLD SERIES!

“It breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in the spring, when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall alone."

                                      Bart Giamatti

ATLANTA. Baseball commands loyalty like no other sport. It embodies the American soul. During Civil War off days, both Union and Confederate soldiers played intramural baseball. It has always been a game associated with children, connecting generations with the days of innocence, green grass, fresh air and things cooking on the grill. From its earliest days, heroes emerged. Atlanta natives will tell you that Bob Montag, Dick Donavan, Chuck Tanner, Country Brown and the immortal Whitlow Wyatt, remain heroes from their championship seasons with the Atlanta Crackers, minor league baseball’s most famous and successful team and part of the Braves’ organization.



Brian McCann



At the north end of Atlanta’s Ponce de Leon Home Depot/Whole Foods parking lot stands an ancient and sacred magnolia, Atlanta’s Joshua Tree. This remaining connection to the baseball park once there lives thanks to activist Atlanta school children and sports fans who prevented its execution by crazed developers. Touch it, they say, and you can feel the presence of legends like Jackie Robinson, Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle and Eddie Mathews. Dekalb’s Tobie Grant had magic powers which she used to do good. When I was young, she told me to pray under its branches, something I still do when life gets complicated.



We’ll miss Bobby Cox, but Fredi Gonzalez, a native of Havana, Cuba, is big time, classy and can really coach. The combination of new kids and the veterans make this season interesting.

The Braves are very improved and the race to become champions makes the six-month season fun. This is a game that defies rules of logic and reason. Like Yogi Berra said, “Baseball is ninety percent mental and the other half is physical.”



ATLANTA’S RITZ-CARLTON BUCKHEAD

 COCKTAILS + JAZZ = AN ELEGANT EVENING



Christa Sladky Creates Gourmet Cocktails



By Doc Lawrence

ATLANTA-During the regal hotel’s first years in Buckhead, Atlanta’s shopping and fine dining district, I regularly walked here from my home after work to meet friends, enjoy cocktails and listen to the piano and vocal styling of the incomparable Freddy Cole, Nat King Cole’s brother. A recent visit, almost three decades later, confirmed that little has changed inside the palatial Ritz-Carlton, Buckhead. Freddy, still one of heaven’s gifts to Atlanta, spends his performance time touring Europe, but the gifted Theresa Hightower, a wonderful lady with a voice that combines Ella Fitzgerald with Sara Vaughn, sings here like a jazz angel beginning on Thursdays, and the intimate Wine Bar, features a rising star mixologist handcrafting cocktails.

Christa Sladky creates customized cocktails, making her own vermouth, ginger beer, fruit purees and much more using nothing from cans or jars. The effervescent Sladky took my order for an Old Fashioned (arguably is the oldest cocktail of them all) and confidently proceeded to modify it. Instead of Bourbon, she made it with Don Julio Anejo Tequila, a spoonful of raw honey, Fee Brothers Orange Bitters, a maraschino cherry, finished with some secret MoJo.

Stirred and served over rocks in the appropriate glass, Christa Sladky named it “Doc’s Remedy.” The ceremony recalled the story of the Mojito made in Havana’s La Bodeguita del Medio. It was fashioned for a local denizen, Ernest Hemingway. Christa’s cocktail was ambrosia: delicious, refreshing and became a near-perfect aperitif, readying my appetite for an evening dining in the Café, a reuniting with esteemed Chef Todd Richards and his distinctively Southern haute cuisine.

A devotee of the legendary Dale DeGroff, who pioneered the gourmet approach to recreating classic cocktails, Christa Sladky performs at the cozy Ritz-Carlton Buckhead Wine Bar Wednesday through Saturday evenings. The bar is her stage; the set is a collage of crystal bottles, soft lighting, elegant furnishings in elegant surroundings. Watching her work is great theater in a storybook bar, a virtuoso performance.

A one-of-a-kind cocktail, intelligent conversation, classic jazz, all a prelude to gourmet dining would be a memorable evening in New York City or San Francisco.  It’s here, now. An All-Atlanta experience, offered in de rigueur grand style at the Ritz-Carlton, Buckhead.

FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT IN OKLAHOMA

Bartlesville-Architecture, Oil, Opera and Good Living



PRICE TOWER



By Doc Lawrence

Headed into Bartlesville from the Tulsa, Oklahoma airport, I could see it on the horizon. I knew all about Frank Lloyd Wright’s masterpiece but seeing is believing. As soon as I detected the absence of right angles and the Cherokee red floors that I knew I had entered hallowed ground. Frank Lloyd Wright’s Inn at Price Tower is one of only three Wright structures in the world that offer architectural fans like me the opportunity to overnight.

When he completed it in 1956, Wright called his masterpiece-his only built skyscraper-the “tree that escaped the crowded forest.” On the National Register of Historic Places, the architectural jewel attracts visitors from around the world but is also known for its world-class exhibitions. 

My room was a Wright creation in every detail and the view was a panorama of the entire city. I changed clothes and headed over to the OK Mozart, part of the annual festival in Bartlesville that attracts national audiences and international acclaim. The fact that I could walk from Price Tower to the performing arts center said much about the quality of life in this city of around 35,000. The evening of classical music was a reminder that Oklahoma has contributed mightily to America’s landscape and regarding popular culture claims as its own Jim Thorpe, Gene Autry, Brad Pitt, Will Rogers, Reba McEntire and Ron Howard.

PONCA CITY

Ponca City is vintage Americana.  Here is the original home-a museum today-of oil baron Ernest Whitworth Marland, the tenth Governor of Oklahoma and founder and of Marland Oil Company. The displays of Native American and frontier artifacts, paintings and photographs are impressive. The other home, the spectacular E.W. Marland Estate was modeled after the Davanzati Palace in Florence, Italy. Marland, one of the mighty forces in the development of America’s oil industry and called this his “Palace on the Prairie” a castle detailed with carved wood, sculptured stone, wrought iron arched doorways, Waterford crystal chandeliers and hand-painted and gold-leaf ceilings. Complete with a leather-lined elevator, seven fireplaces, twelve bathrooms, it was designed and constructed as a showplace for fine art, and one-of-a-kind craftsmanship.

This magnificent mansion reflects the elegance of the affluent days of the oilman, who lived lavishly and entertained in the same style. Marland’s story and lifestyle stirs images of “The Great Gatsby,” and includes the tragic story of his financial ruin and his widow’s amazing journey.

E.W. Marland commissioned Ponca City’s Pioneer Woman Museum and the accompanying Pioneer Woman Statue "in appreciation of the heroic character of the women who braved the dangers and endured the hardships incident to the daily life of the pioneer and homesteader in this country." Local historical landmarks include Ponca City’s downtown district Grand Avenue and the theatrical palace, the Poncan Theatre.

The Conoco Museum showcases the accomplishments that expanded Marland Oil and Continental Oil Company into the global energy colossus, Conoco, and is a worthy stop before visiting Standing Bear Native American Park and Museum, featuring a dramatic 22-foot bronze statue of Ponca Chief Standing Bear.  A colorful 60-foot diameter circular viewing court is located at the feet of Standing Bear and contains large sandstone boulders around its parameter affixed with the official brass seals of the six area tribes, Osage, Pawnee, Otoe-Missouria, Kaw, Tonkawa and Ponca.

WOOLAROC

 Oil baron Frank Phillips was the founder of Phillips Petroleum Company. His Bartlesville home was built in 1909 and occupied by the Phillips until their deaths. Preserved by the Oklahoma Historical Society, this National Register Historic Site reflects the family life of one of the legends of the Oklahoma oil industry. But, his home in the Osage Hills country, Woolaroc, is a place for the ages.

Will Rogers said, "Of all the places in the United States, Woolaroc is the most unique." Once the country estate of oil baron Frank Phillips, it is now Woolaroc Ranch, Museum and 3,700 acre Wildlife Preserve where Phillips hosted U.S. Presidents, wealthy Eastern investors, dignitaries, Indians, tycoons, movie stars, lawmen and outlaws on this sprawling ranch southwest of Bartlesville. The museum comfortably fitted into nature’s beauty houses over 55,000 pieces including some of the greatest collections of western art, relics and exhibits that tell the story of the American West.

DOWNTOWN DEWEY AND BEYOND

Prairie Song, Indian Territory, has the look and feel of an 1800’s prairie village set on an authentic turn-of-the-century working ranch, which features more than 20 buildings including a two story saloon, a post office, trading post, rock jail house, chapel, covered bridge and train depot and is a brief distance from Dewey, the home of cowboy movie star Tom Mix

The Tom Mix Museum houses items from the local sheriff-turned-movie star’s personal collection providing a glimpse into the life of one of Oklahoma’s most colorful figures.  Numerous costumes, memorabilia and photographs of Mix, the first “King of the Cowboys,” are displayed at the museum. The Dewey Hotel Museum – A restored Victorian hotel, built in 1900, offers an array of period furnishings, rare photographs, clothing, and glassware depicting the early lifestyles of the area and the Cherokee Trading Post is a reminder that this area of Oklahoma is Native American heartland.

OK MOZART

This annual festival takes place each summer in Bartlesville and continues to be one of Oklahoma’s most unique cultural assets, celebrating music, culture, and the arts by bringing the highest quality concert artists to perform at the Bartlesville Community Center, a visually- and acoustically-stunning masterpiece by W.W. Peters, a protégé of Frank Lloyd Wright. Past festivals have featured artists such as Andre Watts, Joshua Bell, Branford Marsalis, Leontyne Price, Itzhak Perlman and Sir James Galway. This year, patrons enjoyed the talents of some familiar artists like Mark O’Connor, Barry Douglas, Anne-Marie McDermott and Ani and Ida Kavafian.

The finale was the performance of acclaimed mezzo-soprano, Frederica von Stade. The Woolaroc Outdoor Concert is part of the OK Mozart Festival and quite comparable to music venues like Wolf Trap near Washington, D.C. and Atlanta’s Chastain Amphitheatre. Food and wine all enjoyed in a family friendly environment. You sit on lawn chairs or blankets in the mini valley listening to the orchestra play selections from Broadway, movies and Americana while the brilliant Oklahoma sun sets over this magnificent fresh air facility.

Oklahoma is best described by music, whether the songs from the Rogers and Hammerstein Broadway classic of the same name or the cowboy classics of Gene Autry. And what other place on earth celebrates Mozart, Tchaikovsky and Jimi Hendrix in one music festival?

ATLANTA’S IRISH HERO

 Father Thomas O’Reilly

By Doc Lawrence

Since childhood days, I’ve known about the incident. Every word is true and remains one of the most fascinating stories I know about the Civil War and St. Patrick’s Day.

This wasn’t about battlefield courage, a strategy that resulted in a monumental victory, or a stirring, inspirational speech. No, it was about how an Irish immigrant priest acting alone on behalf of God and innocent civilians, confronted a mighty warrior, faced impending execution squarely in the eye and peacefully won a victory that somehow escaped history books.

A native of County Cavan, Ireland, Thomas O’Reilly, appointed as pastor of Immaculate Conception Catholic Church, arrived in Atlanta in 1861. Atlanta was a strategic transportation center for the Confederacy, and in 1864, the Union army, commanded by Gen. William T. Sherman, held Atlanta under siege with intense artillery bombardment. During the horror of Sherman’s extended assault, Father O’Reilly ministered to the wounded and dying of both armies, along

with civilian casualties.

After the Battle of Atlanta, the city fell, and the decision was made to destroy Georgia’s infrastructure as part of Sherman’s well-known “March to the Sea.” Sherman issued the order for Atlanta to be burned, including all homes and churches. Enraged, O’Reilly gained an audience with Sherman at his headquarters, which is now the site of the Carter Center and Presidential Library.

The confrontation was unpleasant. O’Reilly, failing in his efforts to persuade Sherman to spare the city, was told by Sherman that he was pondering whether to have the priest summarily executed by firing squad. Undeterred, O’Reilly reminded Sherman that his army was substantially Irish Catholic conscripts who would likely mutiny before burning a Catholic church. O’Reilly also informed Sherman that, in the event of the destruction of churches, he would take official measures to have every Irish Catholic soldier in Sherman’s army excommunicated.

Sherman relented. Although the city was destroyed, five Atlanta churches were spared—three (Immaculate Conception, Trinity Methodist and Central Presbyterian) remain active today.

O’Reilly was not executed. Upon his death in 1872 at age 41, he was buried in the basement of his church. A few possessions are on display. His resting place, which may be viewed by appointment emits the feel of a sacred shrine. I have visited there regularly over the years.

Each year, at the end of Atlanta’s St. Patrick’s Day parade, the Hibernian Benevolent Society of Atlanta places a wreath at the memorial for Thomas O’Reilly, which stands on the corner of Atlanta’s city hall. It was erected long ago by the congregations of the churches he saved.

The courage and tenacity of Father Thomas O’Reilly embody the ecumenical spirit that continues to make Atlanta an international beacon for human rights.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!