Interview with Wine Spectator Executive Editor Thomas Matthews: Part 3!

What are your thoughts on social media and how it has affected the wine industry? 

It seems right now that’s its still kind of a tempest in a teapot. I mean, there’s definitely a tempest, but it seems like it’s still kind of a small teapot. I’m sure as it develops it will have a broader and broader impact on culture as a whole and will be a more and more important part of a publication or media company that wants to get its message out and retain and interact with its readers. Wine Spectator has a Facebook Page and we're on Twitter, a few of our editors tweet but it's still kind of limited as we understand how people are using it. I would say our magazine readers are still not really social media people, and my guess is that most of our website users are not active either, but we do need to find a way to engage with the people who are engaged. I think the bottom line is real engagement with real people and how to really maximize that through social networks and we’re still experimenting.

Generally speaking, what are your thoughts on wine bloggers? 

You know people blog for so many different reasons from so many different angles that I think it's impossible to generalize. You have the trade people who are talking about the trade, you’ve got the explorers who are kind of learning and their blog mirrors their progress as they’re learning and that’s useful. Then there’s a few that are trying to be aggregators or pot stirrers so I don’t think you can really generalize, but it’s clear that some people are creating brands for themselves which they may or may not be able to monetize. I think, bottom line, the ones that I tend to go back to have a clear personal voice and point of view. They have a knowledge and a passion about wine you can see, and their content is educational enough so that there’s a reason to read it.
    

Was there one particular bottle of wine that sparked your love of wine? 

Many people have that epiphany bottle, but that never really happened to me. I mean really for me, I had drunk wine in college and after college and I thought I was learning about wine because I knew the difference between Margaux and Chateau Margaux but I had never really drunk any ‘great’ wine or nothing that really stuck in my mind. Just drinking the wine at the property [in Bordeaux] with the food that the woman cooked with the workers under the sun, that was enough. Since then of course I’ve had the great good fortune of drinking incredible wines and many of them have marked me in indelible ways but I wouldn’t say it was because of a bottle of wine that I fell in love with wine, it was really more the people and the place. 

What’s your favorite everyday wine?

A $15, 88-pointer from anywhere around the world. I mean I buy most of the wine that I drink. I have some very good retail shops in my neighborhood that I have good relationships with, so I’ll go in and ask them what they’ve tried that’s interesting, or I’ll read about something in a magazine that I’ll want to try, or I’ll just pick a wine because it’s from a place that I don’t know about. But on the other hand, my mother-in-law lives on our ground floor and she is a great cook and a real wine lover and unfortunately she’s developed a taste for Burgundy. So when I go down to her place for dinner, I have to take a Burgundy. I mean she’s ok with a Macon, but if I take a Chassagne she’s really happy, and if I take a Corton-Charlemagne she’ll cook me a Blanquette de Veaux. 

What are some of your favorite food and wine pairings? 

I like the classic pairings because I like the classic dishes and the classic wines like a Barolo with a Brasato, or a Burgundy with a Coq au Vin, or Bordeaux with lamb those are kind of where my tendencies go but I don’t feel like we should be that strict with ourselves most of the time. It’s fun to try to engineer a perfect match and it’s thrilling when it happens but I think random serendipity is also fun to try and some things happen that you wouldn’t really expect. When I was in Bordeaux I stayed for a night with my friends I met back in 1986 when I was living in the little village. He cooked fresh Brittany scallops that he does with a black pepper and bitter chocolate sauce and he served a 2007 Saumur Blanc. I mean that’s not a wine I would pick up off a wine shelf, and yet there was something about the mellowness of the Saumur that kind of nestled in with the sauce that was kind of hauntingly almost sweet and then there was the acidity that Chenin Blanc always has that picked up on the scallops so it just kind of "whoa"!

What would you like more people to know about Wine Spectator?

At Wine Spectator we’re critics yes, but we are educators first and foremost. Our goal is to help people understand the world of wine and find their way into it in a way that suits themselves. We’re not trying to lead anybody by the nose, we’re trying to encourage people to learn and engage and develop their own sense of joy and wonder and pleasure in wine. 

Secondly, we’re trying to be very professional about what we do. We have a big staff that takes a lot of resources, but we want to be fair and objective and authoritative in our wine reviews and balanced and authoritative in our stories. Really, it’s a mission of ours to be credible so that people will trust us as guides as they follow their own journey into wine. I think sometimes people see us as too commercial or as heavy-handed authorities, but we’re just a bunch of people who are passionate about wine who are trying to bring other people and ignite their passions for wine as well. I mean that’s been my journey, it was all serendipitous, it was kind of accidental and driven by passion and hope and risk and luck.

A big thank you to Thomas Matthews for sharing his fascinating story and helpful advice for those who are passionate about wine or interested in pursuing a career in the wine industry. To read the previous installments of this interview, please check out Part 1 and Part 2 here on The Glamorous Gourmet.
 

Cheers,

Interview with Wine Spectator Executive Editor Thomas Matthews: Part 2!

Thomas Matthews

Do you think credentials are important for pursuing a career in the wine industry?  

I think my generation came into the wine market when there were no credentials. I mean, I don’t have a journalism degree, I never trained as a wine buyer or sommelier, I kind of picked it up as I went along through experience and apprenticeship and I think for most people that sort of passion driving an apprenticeship is still the most common path. That said, I am all in favor of education. I think whether you take a wine tasting course with your local Society of Wine Educators person or take it with our [Wine Spectator] website online or do one of the certifications, all that’s very helpful, but for me when I look at a resume, I’m looking for experience and then in the person I’m looking for passion. Usually people who’ve got those things already have a credential, but it’s not crucial or sufficient. 

Did you have a mentor or someone who influenced your career along the way? 

Well, I had a literature professor when I was at [Bennington] college, Claude Fredericks, who really was a bon vivant. He was a great cook, well-traveled. He had a wine cellar and he sort of gave me a taste for the good life. He was a playwright in New York in the 60’s kind of an avant-garde kind of guy and a good friend of Jimmy Merrill, the poet. He was a very unique and creative guy and he deserved more recognition than he got. He also always encouraged my writing so that I would say is the person who sort of set me on the path, but I stumbled along pretty much on my own from college graduation until thirty-five when I got hired by Wine Spectator. Once I got here, Marvin [Shanken] has been the person who’s kind of brought me along and has helped me develop as a person.

What advice would you give someone interested in pursuing a career as a wine writer?

These days I think writing a blog is an excellent way in because that forces you to write and allows you to build a body of writing you can share with whomever might want to hire you. There’s not that many outlets for wine writing left; it used to be that more newspapers and more general magazines had wine columns or at least used freelance wine work and that’s a hard road right now. Writing on your own and of course learning and traveling and experiencing and interviewing people so that what you write has weight and heft is a way to build your own portfolio of clips. Ultimately, it’s the clips that count for anyone that’s considering hiring you as a writer.

Also, certification is not a bad route to take and working in some industry whether you’re writing or in a restaurant or working for a distributor or whatever just to gain more of the skills. I would say that most of our magazine is staffers and most of our staff writers have come young and inexperienced and have grown with us. So they started doing routine news reporting or writing small pieces and as they learned they got bigger assignments. The freelancers that I use tend to be based in wine regions so that they have their fingers on the pulse of someplace important to us. They tend to have some wine experience whether they’re former salesman or former winemakers or something like that so we know that they know the subject. 

How has the advent of the Internet and its increasing popularity affected the magazine? 

Marvin likes to say that Wine Spectator Magazine is by far the world’s largest circulation of a wine magazine, we have audited circulation of over 400,000, and that Wine Spectator online is the second largest. So really they have been built as separate entities, publications, businesses although they share a lot of content. Everything we put on the web is original to the web and is aimed at a slightly younger user to be a little brighter, a little easier to digest. Our [magazine] readers tend to be a little older, they’re still attached to print and we feel like people like to hold that in their hand, but I think we’re creating something on the web that’s more flexible, more diverse and hopefully will help us draw the younger generation more into our world of wine. 

Tell me more about the creation of the Wine Spectator website. It is incredibly comprehensive! 

Well, it’s a big effort. We launched in 1996 and we’ve been building ever since. We have some very talented people both on the content side and the design side and the fact that it accesses more than 250,000 tasting notes, which is really the world's biggest library of professional tasting notes, that alone makes it unique and I think very useful for people who are interested in learning. 

How does the Wine Spectator tasting department work?

We have eight people whose sole job is to handle the wines and the wine database. We take it very seriously and we have, I believe, the strictest and most objective and fair methodology for tasting of any wine critic I know. It starts with receiving the wines which come either as solicited samples from producers or importers or unsolicited samples...or purchases of wines for one reason or another that we can’t get submitted but feel we have to taste, that’s thousands of dollars every year. So the wines come in and they have to be unpacked and the first, and key step, is putting them into the database. Wine names are complicated and the database is huge and if you make a keystroke slip that wine could get lost forever so the tasting coordinators have to be incredibly orderly and conscientious to make sure they enter the wines in correctly. Then the bottles go into our cellars. We’ve got three cellars here in the building and they have probably 6,000 bottles at any given time because we're tasting about 10,000-12,000 wines a year here in this office. 

So then the tasting coordinator will pick the wines to set up into a flight of 15-25 wines based on some coherent theme. I might get 20 Riojas: ’09, ’08, and ’07 or maybe 20 Riojas ’08 depending on what’s in for tasting. Then they’ll all go into bags, the bags will all be coded, the codes will be entered into the database and I’ll sit down at a table with 20 bottles in the bags and the computer screen that has the codes on it and take the notes. After I’m done they have to bring those notes into the database, clean up after the tasting and set up another tasting. They’re also in charge of exporting those notes to the magazine for the buying guide, to the web for all of our web online features, and whatever other form we need. The tasting department also takes care of our Restaurant Awards Program which is about 4,000 restaurants. They also take care of our auction database where we track 10,000-15,000 wines at auction and probably 20-30 auctions every year. We then have to enter all that data, so it’s a very multifarious and technically oriented job but most of our senior editors have actually come through the tasting department. While they were in that tasting department tasting, they joined our apprenticeship program and passed, and became official tasters and started writing about the wines they were tasting and ultimately they’re in Bordeaux like James Molesworth visiting Chateau Latour. 

What are some of of the biggest changes that have happened at Wine Spectator during your tenure? 

I think the two biggest things that have happened since I’ve been with the magazine are in 1993 when we took the magazine from newsprint to a glossy, lifestyle magazine, and then the other thing was launching the website in 1996. It’s a team effort but I have to give most of the credit to Marvin. He’s really the visionary, he’s the guy that sets the pace and the goals and pushes everybody to get there. If I’ve done anything it’s nurture talent and set high standards for the quality of the content and the ethical integrity of the publication. I mean as we’ve seen recently, wine writing and ethics is a big question and hard to nail down but we have a clear set of policies and guidelines that I hope will keep us journalists first. That will give us trust and credibility with our readers, and that’s what makes a magazine successful. I would say quality content and quality people, those are my goals.

Stay tuned for the third and final installment of my interview with Thomas Matthews as he discusses his thoughts on social media, wine bloggers, and favorite food and wine pairings.

Cheers,

 

From Bordeaux to Christie's: an Interview with Wine Industry Pro Robin Kelley O'Connor - Part 1!

Robin Kelley O'Connor & Me

“How do you get into the wine industry?”

Many people including myself have asked this question at some point and I think it's fair to say, there's definitely more than one way to skin a cat. During a recent trip to New York City, I reached out to some noteworthy individuals in the wine industry who agreed to share their experiences and shed some light on the subject.

At the top of my list was Robin Kelley O’Connor, a man who has left few facets of the wine world unexplored. Not many individuals have gotten their start in the wine industry working for Steven Spurrier at Caves de la Madeleine in Paris, learning winemaking under the tutelage of Christian Moueix in Bordeaux, and collaborating on wine education programs around the globe with Kevin Zraly - and that’s just scratching the surface! With professional incarnations including twenty years with the Bordeaux Wine Bureau, two years at Sherry-Lehmann, and a recent appointment as Head of Wine, Americas at Christie’s Auction House, I thought O’Connor would definitely be able to provide some insight into the fascinating world of wine.

On a rainy December evening in Manhattan we had the chance to sit down at Oceana Restaurant at Rockefeller Center:

How did you first become interested in wine?

I didn’t come from a wine family but when I was at University [of Maryland] I took a wine appreciation course and, at that time, we were drinking Grand Cru Burgundy, First, Second, Third Growth Bordeaux de rigueur, that was just normal, what that professor would serve. He grew up partially in France and his family brought back hordes of wine and he shared it with us in this wine class. This is when these wines were all affordable and I was nineteen years old and I thought ‘Oh my God, this is an elixir! I have no idea what I’m drinking, but I love it,’ and a light bulb went off.

What was your first job in the wine industry and how did that come about?

I was studying Political Science and History and when I left University I went to Europe on a two-month Eurail pass with a two-month [plane ticket]. Well, my Eurail pass terminated, I ran out of money and my flight expired…and I was stuck in Paris and ended up working at Caves de la Madeleine for one of the great wine writers in the world named Steven Spurrier. He gave me a stockist job at Caves de la Madeleine…and he had a wine school, I didn’t get paid but I took wine courses at night. I eventually ended up in London taking classes at the Wine & Spirit Education Trust (WSET) and I happened to work for John Armit, the managing director of Corney & Barrow, one of London’s oldest wine merchants. I told John I’d love to work a harvest and he sent me to Bordeaux to work for the Moueix family. I ended up spending two years at [Chateau] Pétrus. After the first year at Pétrus I went to Champagne and spent a year at the House of Krug working and studying the art of Champagne making with the brothers Henri and Rémi Krug. The following year I returned to Bordeaux at Pétrus for another harvest. Following the Bordeaux/Champagne winemaking experience, I spent a year in Navarra in Northern Spain and Roussillon area in Southern France and I actually did a harvest in Switzerland in Vevey on Lake Geneva.

How did you find your way back to the States? 

I came back here because I got involved in a crazy sport called ‘Running of the Bulls’ in Spain. I got badly gored and almost lost my life and spent two months in the hospital in Pamplona in Northern Spain. At the same time my father was very sick, he was diagnosed with terminal cancer which I didn’t know and I came back to the States because I got word that my father was literally on his death bed. I was recovering from a life-threatening injury so I went back to Baltimore, where I grew up, and got medical attention. When I came back I decided I’d go to New York and find my way into the import/export business but I decided not to be a winemaker. I knew after five years of studying winemaking I didn’t want to be a winemaker; I wanted to deal with the finished product.

How did you make the transition to becoming a wine educator?

It came very naturally I think, I was very lucky. I believe I was the second American to pass the Diploma course at the WSET and I did that in London….after that there was this long spell before the diploma and all the ancillary WSET classes came to the US so when I got into New York and involved in the wine business, I joined the Society of Wine Educators (SWE). Simultaneously, that year I’d started working for Bordeaux [Bordeaux Wine Bureau] and I was the trade liaison/spokesperson for the Bordeaux region in the Americas for twenty years. My very first year a gentleman named Peter Sichel who owned Château Fourcas-Hosten in Bordeaux that’s now owned by the family that owns Hermès, said, “you must come to Portland, Oregon and do a Bordeaux seminar with me,” so I did! That was in 1990 so I’ve been a member ever since and I was on the board for many, many years and President of the SWE for four years.

How important are credentials in the wine industry? Is it more important now than in the past?

Credentialing I think is exceedingly important. Curiously enough I had the diploma from the Wine & Spirit Education Trust (WSET) for at least 10-12 years and it meant nothing in the US at all and now it’s very prestigious. I think it all gives validity; I think it’s very, very important. There really aren’t that many of us in this business so I really believe in credentials, I think it’s important. If someone’s serious they should have some sort of credential, I’m not one to say what they should have because there are many different opportunities but it really is important for an individual to grow professionally in the wine world, so to speak.

Who would you say had the biggest influence on your career as a mentor and how did they help you develop in your career?

There’s no question that Christian Moueix from Bordeaux has had the greatest single influence on preparing my life in the world of wine. I certainly would like to start with John Armit of Corney & Barrow because he gave me the opportunity and arranged for me to work for Christian Moueix. I would certainly like to thank Steven Spurrier for that wonderful August in Paris when my finances on a student budget wouldn’t allow me to purchase a new plane ticket and fly back home to the United States. But guess what, it was the best summer of my life! If you’re going to be stuck somewhere, Paris is not a bad place to be stuck at twenty-three or twenty-four years old.

Another mentor was the gentleman who was Christian Moueix’ winemaker at Pétrus and all his ancillary properties including Dominus in Napa Valley, his name is Jean-Claude Berrouet. He was the head enologist for the Moueix family and at the time I was there, they either owned outright or had the winemaking rights for fifteen Chateaux in Pomerol, St. Emilion, and Fronsac. Jean-Claude was the one I worked with every single day – he’s my hero as Christian Moueix is my hero.

What did Christian Moueix’s influence mean to you?

Christian took me under his wing, I am so indebted to the man as a mentor and in numerical terms I can never repay him but what I think I’ve been able to do in a way of a gesture is to pass it on and pass on the knowledge. This is why I’m so happily involved in volunteering my time for mentorship and endlessly giving time in lecturing around the world…and in organizations like the Society of Wine Educators and Sommelier groups. I also have had the privilege to teach at Cornell University School of Hospitality Management. I’ve been a guest lecturer at Cornell for 20-some years and the Culinary Institute of America, lovingly known in the world of food and wine as the real CIA in Hyde Park, NY and Cal Poly Pomona’s College of Hospitality Management…so every time I do something like that I think, Christian, this is for you, because how can I ever repay you but this is my way of giving back and he knows that. He’s delighted that he knows that his mentorship means something because again, the way I’ve been able to live my adult life to this point is to pass on that knowledge and do it happily…it’s been very, very gratifying.

What types of people have you mentored?

I’ve mentored a lot of different people, those students right out of college and culinary schools. I’ve mentored those that have literally given up Law, Wall Street and other professions to get them involved in their passion, so whenever I can do that it’s certainly a great, great pleasure.

Stay tuned for 'Part 2' of my three-part interview with Robin Kelley O'Connor wherein he discusses his most meaningful career accomplishments; his collaborations with Kevin Zraly and Clive Coates, MW; and gives valuable advice to aspiring wine educators.

Cheers,

The "Other Bordeaux" at Café Boulud Palm Beach with Renowned Sommelier Daniel Johnnes!

Recently, I had the pleasure of sitting down with Daniel Johnnes, renowned Sommelier and Wine Director of Daniel Boulud's Dinex Group, the epicurean empire that encompasses such world class restaurants as Daniel, DB Bistro, DBGB, Café Boulud and Bar Boulud. While impressive enough, that description does not really tell the whole story. Prior to joining Chef Boulud in 2005, Johnnes was the Wine Director of Montrachet, a New York City institution, and for 20 years did much to promote French wine, most notably Burgundy, to his loyal clientele. In addition, this confirmed Francophile is also an author, importer and the organizer of the epic Burgundy fête, La Paulée de New York which celebrated its tenth anniversary last year. I think Frank Prial summed it up best, "To describe Daniel Johnnes as a sommelier would be like describing Stephen Sondheim as a piano player. There's a bit more to it."

Mr. Johnnes was in town co-hosting a wine dinner with Café Boulud Chef Sommelier Mariya Kovacheva entitled, "The 'Other' Bordeaux." The evening focused on wines from smaller, family owned estates in this much lauded wine region created by "people who are really connected to the land." Although best know for his obsession with Burgundy, Johnnes decided to champion the cause for these vins bordelais a year and half ago. "There are two worlds of Bordeaux," he explained, "the wines that are an elitist traded commodity, and those you should drink and enjoy." The wines poured this evening fell squarely into the latter category and, according to Johnnes, best embodied "the quality, committment and tradition of winemaking" from this region. While Bordeaux generally conjures images of dust covered bottles tucked away in a musty wine cellar, these selections represent wines of "great value" that are ready for drinking and are intended simply, "to give pleasure." Chateaux featured at this evening's dinner included Château Jean Faux, Château de Clotte, Château Saint Julian and Château Beauséjour.

The first wine of the evening was the Château Jean Faux, Bordeaux Rosé 2009. This salmon-colored gem, a blend of Merlot and Cabernet Franc, was rife with notes of raspberry and rhubarb and was rather substantial for a rosé. This medium-bodied beauty paired nicely with a Galantine de Poulet et Pistache with red currant mustard and rhubarb-endive salad prepared by the very talented, not to mention James Beard nominated, Chef de Cuisine Zach Bell.

The next course was paired with two wine selections, the Château de Clotte, Côtes de Castillon 2006 and the Château Saint Julian, Bordeaux Supérieur 2006. The Château de Clotte (30% Merlot, 30% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Cabernet Franc & 10% Malbec) had perfumey aromas of black currants, rose petals and spice. It was well balanced with nicely integrated tannins and a lovely, lingering finish. The Château Saint Julian (60% Merlot 20% Cabernet Sauvignon 20% Cabernet Franc) was a bit different with a meaty, gamey nose and notes of blackberry, licorice and coffee on the palate. While different from the first wine, it was also well-structured with approachable tannins. These two selections were a nice introduction to the "other" side of Bordeaux and were paired with Truite en Vin Rouge (Trout in Red Wine) with leek confit and crispy Madrange Ham.

The third course was also paired with a duo of wines, the Château Beauséjour, Montagne-Saint Emilion 2007 and the Château Jean Faux, Bordeaux Supérieur 2007. The Beausejour (50% Merlot, 50% Cabernet Franc) had a nose of red currant, spice and cocoa and noticeably bigger tannins than the 2006's. This was a fabulous food-pairing wine that could have benefited from even a few more years in the bottle, although it was thoroughly enjoyable now. The Château Jean Faux (80% Merlot, 20% Cabernet Franc) had aromas of rose petals and spice with flavors of black currant, cherry and clove. It was less tannic than the Beausejour and I'd have to say it was my favorite wine of the evening. Both wines paired nicely with Jamison Farm Lamb Loin with porcini mushroon marmalade, coco beans and spiced shallot confit. 

Tonight's wine selections did much to dispel the image of those dusty, cellared bottles and were approachable, enjoyable and affordable (all retail for under $30), making the "Other Bordeaux" a place I look forward to visiting more often. A big thank you to Daniel Johnnes for taking the time to chat with me. After touching down at PBIA that very morning, he was on the first flight back to New York the next day to tend to Dinex's newest establishments, Boulud Sud and Épicerie, which had opened, literally, the day before! Mr. Johnnes did reveal the dates for the 11th Annual La Paulée de New York which will take place February 24-25th, 2012 - details to follow. Also, if you live in South Florida, you will not want to miss Café Boulud's upcoming wine dinner "The Spanish Wines of Galicia" on Thursday, June 9th featuring wines from internationally known importer Eric Solomon's portfolio. I hope to see you there!

Cheers,

Enjoy the Oscars in Style: Black Truffle Popcorn and Filet Mignon with Gorgonzola Sauce!

One of the most glamorous nights of the year is just a few days away - this Sunday is the 83rd Annual Academy Awards! If you are not on the guest list this year (wouldn't THAT be nice), why not enjoy a decadent meal at home while you root for your favorite films!


Kick off the evening with Black Truffle Popcorn paired with your favorite Champagne. I don't know about you but I could eat an entire bowl myself! I highly recommend using microwave Black Jewell Gourmet Popcorn. The shiny black kernels pop a beautiful snow white color and there's alot less hull than yellow popcorn. Once popped, add melted butter to taste, toss, and liberally sprinkle the popcorn with Black Truffle Salt. Black Truffle Salt is available at your local gourmet store and, if you live in Boca Raton, you can purchase is at The Spice & Tea Exchange at Mizner Park. As for bubbly, why not stick with the real deal and opt for a Taittinger Brut La Francaise NV. Made from both Chardonnay and Pinot Noir grapes, this sparkler is sure to get your night off to a glamorous start!

For the main course, why not go with the ever-elegant filet mignon? Dressed up with a glamorous Gorgonzola cheese sauce you have an award winning meal you can enjoy from the comfort of your own couch! Serve with mushrooms that have been sauteed in Worchestershire sauce, red wine, salt and pepper; and asparagus that have been peeled and steamed in salted water. Pair this fabulous meal with a robust red, like a 2007 Chateau Dauzac Bordeaux from the famed Margaux appellation. This Fifth Growth Bordeaux (according to the Classification of 1855) is a tasty blend of 52% Cabernet Sauvignon and 48% Merlot and pairs perfectly with the Filet and Gorgonzola Sauce.

Whether you are rooting for The Black Swan or The Social Network I hope you enjoy an evening of Oscar glamour with this fabulous meal! Which film do you think will win best picture? Do tell!


Cheers,










Filet Mignon with Gorgonzola Cheese Sauce
Steaks:
2 (8-ounce) filet mignon steaks
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 Tablespoons olive oil
2 Tablespoons butter, room temperature
Sauce:
2 cups heavy cream
4 ounces crumbled Gorgonzola cheese
2 Tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 1/2 Tablespoons minced fresh parsley


For the steaks: Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Season the steaks with salt and pepper to taste. Spread one tablespoon butter on each steak to coat. In a large, oven-proof skillet, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the steaks and brown on all sides, about 4 minutes total. Transfer skillet to the pre-heated oven and cook steaks to desired doneness, five minutes for medium-rare or until the meat has an internal temperature of 130-135 degrees. Let the steaks rest for 5 minutes.

For the sauce: Bring the heavy cream to a full boil in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Continue to boil rapidly for 25-30 minutes, until thickened, stirring occasionally.

Remove saucepan from the heat and add the Gorgonzola, Parmesan, salt, pepper, and parsley. Whisk rapidly until the cheeses melt and serve warm. If you must reheat, warm the sauce over low heat until melted, then whisk vigorously until the sauce comes together. Serves two.