We sneak into Fine Cooking

Garagistes in the Aug/Sept issue of Fine Cooking

Here’s a cautionary tale: what happens when a magazine of impossibly high standards lets down its guard, for even a moment? It pains me to even say it: Les Garagistes.

It’s true. Like a wine stain on a pristine tablecloth, we’re on the back page of Fine Cooking (Sept/Oct 2010) in a quick Q&A about what we do and why. Luckily, the interview is artfully compiled by Kelly Alexander, a former editor of Saveur and now a freelance food maven, so I’m optimistic that the magazine will survive this indiscretion.

Seriously, though, we’re honored to be featured in such a legendary mag, so if you have a chance to pick up the issue, please do!

For readers new to the winemaking experience, one thing I should point out in advance about the article’s illustration — aside from the fact that in real life, we all still have chins. The friendly cartoon character stomping grapes in a barrel is more about the spirit than the fact of how wine is made. Virtually no one stomps grapes with their feet any more (except as a publicity stunt), and certainly not teetering in a barrel. But our cartoon winemaker certainly captures the giddiness we all feel when the grapes are in, crushed, and safely on their way to (ultimately) a glass near us. Jig-dancin’ and wine drinkin’? Yeah, that’s about right.

As you might imagine, Kelly was given only so much space to expound our epic tale. Luckily, most of what she cut from our hour-long conversation were animal noises and me shouting “holy coulis!” over and over again, but there’s one exchange I’d like to expand back out: what my wife thinks of it all.

FC: How does your wife feel about [wine being made in your basement]?

Giraud: She’s not really into the whole winemaking thing, but she loves all the hubbub and, luckily, the wine that comes out the other end. Plus, for about a month and a half our house is filled with this yeasty, fruity, ambrosial fragrance. But in deference to her, I rearranged our basement so splattering wine doesn’t rain down on our laundry.

There. Now I don’t have to sleep in a fermenter any more.

Thanks again to Kelly, and to the incomparable Susan Davis of North Carolina Public Radio, who pointed Kelly our way. Grab a copy today, and better yet, subscribe!

1 comment

1 Comment so far

  1. Susan Davis July 26th, 2010 6:52 am

    aw shucks Matt, call me Susie.

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