Jen Powell, our Wine Specialist for the Lamar Street Store in Austin, Texas, cut her teeth in the wine industry in Chicago, then moved on to own her own wine shop in New Orleans.  She has a passion for food and wine pairings with a deep love for cooking.  Jen views wine as living art – “Each bottle is like a little painting that you are able to see, smell, taste, touch and if you listen closely, it will speak to you.”

As we wrap-up 2008 and quickly approach New Year’s Eve, my palate dances with glee in anticipation of all of the delicious bubbly waiting to be discovered or remembered. The pop of the cork, the gentle bubbles in the glass, the beautiful elixir that we sip as the clock strikes midnight and the hope of the New Year fills us all. From Champagne to Cava, here is a bit about the bubble and some of my favorites for 2008.

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For those who enjoy the unexpected and esoteric sides of life, I have a souvenir for you to share with those you love to amuse. Algae. From green to red, slimy to coarse, and microscopic to enormous. Just mention the topic of algae, and many people think of the unsightly green film in swimming pools and fish tanks…or their eyes glaze over. Add to your unpredictability the story of potentially the most humble, unpretentious organisms on Earth.

My name is Tim Schaeffer, I am the founder of Depth, an exclusive brand at Whole Foods Market.  Depth offers body and hair care products based on the renowned skin benefits of marine algae, all formulated to meet the stringent Whole Foods Market Premium Body Care Standards. Prior to creating body care products, I was a marine biologist for ten years. My wife, Depth’s co-founder, is also a marine biologist, which is how we met. During my tenure as a marine biologist, my focus was on marine algae. I’d spend hours engulfed in all types of algae on land and underwater, studying their ecology and genetics. Believe me, I have first-hand experience in how algae can flabbergast friends.

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The third Thursday of November has always been the first day where the new vintage can be tasted in the form of Beaujolais Nouveau! Beyond the first taste of the year’s quality, Nouveau is more about celebration. Celebration of the harvest, celebration of the first revenue from a year of hard labor, and celebration of another year past all the way through the holidays.

Best enjoyed fresh, or before spring returns, Nouveau is a terrific compliment to the rich, earthy and spicy flavors that come across the holiday table. The crazy complex flavors of roasts, game, mushrooms, squash, root vegetables and flavorings such as sage, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, peppers, and the like are perfectly complemented by Nouveau’s grapey flavor and refreshing acidity.

In order to get Nouveau on the third Thursday of November, it is flown around the world to restaurants, bars and parties. Historically, fuel was low cost and the environment not foremost of consideration, so the carbon footprint wasn’t an issue. But with the environment ever more important to an increasing number of wine drinkers, the cost and fuel required to fly wine bottled in heavy glass around the globe has caused wineries to reconsider how this fun and eventful wine is distributed.

Whole Foods Market is proud to present the first ever bottling of Nouveau in plastic bottles! This lowers the carbon footprint of getting this wine to your table. Just think, less guilt while enjoying wine with friends! And it lowers the cost for you to get it to the table too. Just imagine sitting on a fatter wallet while you’re enjoying the same exact delicious wine with friends! It’s more than delicious. It’s a new way to enjoy this traditional regional wine.

Worried about how plastic changes the way a wine may taste? Well don’t be. Nouveau is for near term drinking. This wine should be in your belly before either plastic or oxygen has the time to impact the fresh juicy character of this wine.

Nouveau drinkers can rejoice with a lower priced and greener wine in 2008. If you’re not a Nouveau drinker, then there is no better year to join the celebration.

Erez Klein, our Wine Buyer for the Pacific Northwest Region of Whole Foods Market, began a passion for food and wine when travelling the world during his childhood. In college, his studies in political economy were waylaid by a course in wine appreciation and he found himself reading (and drinking) everything he could get hold of regarding wine and history. Before joining Whole Foods Market, Erez worked in Napa Valley with famed wine centric restaurateur Joyce Goldstein at Square One Restaurant and at The Auberge du Soleil Resort as Wine Director.

Steve Taron is a Wine Specialist in our Glendale, California store.

It’s time for the Holiday Edition of our Top Ten Wines!  In case you’re not familiar with the Whole Foods Market Top Ten wine event, a few times a year our national wine buyers select their favorite wines for exceptionally good values. Stylistically, the wines tend to be a fairly eclectic bunch, ranging from rustic to more refined. And, as is usually the case, there are more then 10 of them (12 this time ‘round). Why be limited by a number when you have a lot of good wines to choose from? Here is a short review of three of the Top Ten Holiday Wines that I believe deserve a little personal attention.

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Michael Franti is an American poet, musician, and composer. He is the creator and lead vocalist of Michael Franti & Spearhead, a band that blends hip hop with a variety of other styles including funk, reggae, jazz, folk, and rock. He is also an outspoken supporter for a wide spectrum of peace and social justice issues. And he is today’s guest blogger!

Back in the late 80’s, I hopped in a van with my band mates. Sleeping on floors across America, eating at truck stops, or on some lucky nights, enjoying a plate of tour spaghetti made with love and generosity by the people who loaned us their couches for the night. Eating healthy on the road took a bit of creativity back then. Often the most nutritious meal at a truck stop (filled with processed nacho cheese dip, soda pop and candy) was a can of sardines and some saltine crackers (which I would trade off with the occasional peanut butter and crackers). A truck stop salad was a wedge of iceberg lettuce smothered in thick Thousand Island dressing with a tomato slice and an olive thrown on top. Sometimes the only way to make my own “salad” was to order a burger with all the fixings and just eat the fixings!

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Whole Foods Market’s Jeff and David give Willie a big check.

Farm Aid and Whole Foods Market go together like locally grown peas and carrots! Anyone that was lucky enough to attend the Whole Foods Market sponsored event on Saturday would have to agree that the talent and energy around the show was truly inspirational. With performances from the likes of Jerry Lee Lewis, The Pretenders, John Mellencamp, Neil Young and, of course, Willie Nelson, the message of support for farmers and local producers was loud and clear.

The Whole Foods Market Boston local teams outdid themselves with the massive task of catering 3 full meals for the VIPs, production crews and artists along with offering tons of free tote bags and product samples for any of the 30k+ attendees that stopped by our booths. The grand prize winners of our “Destination Summer” online sweepstakes (and lucky us, they’re farmers too!) also had a blast, eating great food and grinning ear to ear the whole day. Kudos to everyone who had a hand in this huge undertaking!

Our guest writer, Honey Thompson, works on our marketing team and had an absolute blast helping out at FarmAid.

Danny Olivas joined Whole Foods Market Northern California marketing team in 2007, but has been involved with good food for much longer. Danny’s mom was a foodie and had a long career in fine-dining operations. She always bought the highest quality food the family budget would allow and in doing so, she passed on her passion for sharing good food with family and friends to Danny.

Earlier this month, I found myself getting my hands dirty digging up the lawn outside San Francisco’s City Hall alongside such influential people as Alice Waters and Mayor Gavin Newsom.

The occasion was the creation of the Slow Food Nation Victory Garden in San Francisco and the mayor was letting the group rip out the lawn to plant a quarter-acre garden. It is now the centerpiece of the Slow Food Nation festival, which takes place in San Francisco this Labor Day weekend.

Whole Foods Market got involved with Slow Food Nation to highlight the connection between plate and planet. As I was planting seeds that foggy San Francisco summer morning, I was thinking about how our organizations would work together to develop greater respect for food and the people who produce it.

For our part, I’m happy that many of the food producers featured at Slow Food Nation sell their products in our stores. This includes farmers and purveyors who exemplify local, sustainable food such as St. Benoît Yogurt, a French-style yogurt maker in Sonoma, California. These guys source organic Jersey milk from a neighboring dairy, hand-select the fruit and honey used in the yogurt at Bay Area farmers’ markets and use ceramic containers to eliminate packaging waste. In fact, Whole Foods Market recently gave St. Benoît Yogurt a loan to help expand their business.

When I look at the bigger picture, Slow Food Nation really seems to be picking up velocity. This is the first time that a Slow Food event of this scale has been held in the US (the parent organization is based in Italy and got its start in the eighties in protest to McDonald’s opening in Rome). Foodies, intellectuals and bloggers are eagerly watching to see how the movement will translate here in the US. Early indications are positive. Tickets are sold out and the media is buzzing.

It’s my hope that our partnership with Slow Food Nation will help draw attention to food that is good, clean and fair. No small task, indeed.

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