The other evening we invited a few friends over for dinner. One of whom, Princess P, like us, appreciates old Burgundies, so we decided to subject all our invitées to a flight of Chablis of various ages. Specifically, Chablis 1er Cru, Fourchaume. Fourchaume is a one of the 1er Cru parcelles in the appellation of Chablis located north of the river Serein, rive droite as it is known locally, but this broad-brush description does not give credit to the significance of terroir, or the ground in which the vines grow.
Our first experience with terroir took place in Bordeaux while traveling with our Personal Historian, also on the rive droite but of the Gironde, while standing on the edge of a field at a T-shaped intersection of what can best be described as tractor tracks. When we asked the wine maker why they divided the field as they had, he explained that to the left of the tractor track was Pomerol, to the right Lalande-de-Pomerol and behind us Saint-Emilion. With further examination, we could see differences in the soil of each field – more or less gravel, more clay – that created the distinction that led to the division by appellation.
However it is in Bourgogne that we are much more struck by the importance of terroir. Here, unlike in Bordeaux, the wine is made from the juice extracted from one grape – Pinot Noir for red and Chardonnay for white – rather than the traditional blend of several grapes in Bordeaux. In Chablis, we find four appellations – Petit Chablis, Chablis, Chablis Premiere Cru, and Chablis Grand Cru – all white wines that exhibit obvious similarities but incredible differences.
Chablis is know for the Kimmeridge clay formed during the Cretaceous period and made up of limestone, clay and even fossilized oyster shells that date back to a time when this area of France was covered by sea water. It is the same Kimmeridge clay that forms the White Cliffs of Dover. So this limestone clay and the fact that Chablis is located at the northern extremes of sustainable viticulture give the sharp acidity and minerality that we associate with this wine. Closer examination of the region shows three subtle differences in the soil.
South of the river, rive gauche, the soil is typically Kimmeridgian with it usual mix of limestone gravel and light clay. North of the river, rive doite, the soil is similar but extremely dry, even arid. At the northern end of the Serein Valley in which Chablis lies, on either side of the river the limestone clay has been enriched over time by a great deal of a great deal of decomposed plant matter perhaps deposited there by the flow of the river and this is where the parcelle Fourchaume is located.
We had often heard of these distinctions but had never experienced the difference created by these deposits. Fourchaume is clearly a Chablis. In the glass, the color is a light yellow with pale green reflections when it is young, tending toward golden with age. The nose offers light minerality that lessens with age and the odour of white flowers that seems to melt into honeyed tones with age.
Not being completely sure what we would find upon uncorking the bottles, we chose our menu with trepidation, trying to avoid sharp flavors, vinegar and other tastes that could impact the flavor of the wine. We also decided to be traditional in the manner we opened the bottles – youngest to oldest. So we began with a 2004 Fourchaume from Domaine Châtelain. This is a small and relatively young domain, as are most in Chablis. The end of the 19th century heralded a difficult period for the region – mold, phylloxera, two world wars – and despite a 1938 ruling that established the Appellation d’origine controlée, by 1950 less than have the vineyards in Chablis were cultivated.
We opened the 2004 with a salad of peas, radish and feta dressed with a lemon cumin dressing. The salads was served over bean sprouts which were a bit large and coarse for the mix of spring peas and diced radish but the feta and cumin did add a nice counterpoint to the peas. The wine with its relative youth stood up nicely to the spice. The color was pale yellow, and the nose was lightly flowery with hints of minerality. In the mouth, the wine was fresh and fruity. There was light acid that the fruit supported with a slight sweetness. All in all, a pleasant wine to open with friends or a cumin dressing.
Next up was a 1999 Fourchaume from Boudin. More completely known as Boudin Père et Fils Domaine de Chantemerle, this domain is also a family business producing Chablis, Chablis 1er Cru Fourchaume, and 1er Cru Homme Mort. We had decided to serve it with salmon in a dill and caper cream sauce, pureed carrots and swiss chard. The Prince Consort is the roi de purée and he did not disappoint here. FYI: swiss chard is 'blettes' in French; it must originate in the francophone part of Switzerland.
Unfortunately, the wine was not up to our standards. Pulling the cork on this bottle, the scent was slightly sweet. Not a great sign. In the glass, the color was a deep yellow and the nose while slightly flowery still carried that light sweetness. In the mouth, the wine seemed past its prime, unfortunately, and several guests, including the PC did not finish their glass. We found it drinkable but not extraordinary.
As a ‘pre-post-script’ (does that make sense?), we had pulled two bottles of this wine from the cave but opened only one. The next afternoon, two other friends stopped by and we opened the second bottle for an aperitif. Wow, what a difference. Dear Readers, it is said, "Never judge a book by its cover." and we must add, "Never judge an older wine by one bottle." Although a case was bought from one owner, the first bottle was ‘off.’ The second was lovely – the color was still a golden yellow, but the nose was full of white flowers melting into honeyed ripeness. In the mouth one could understand why this was a Premier Cru; all the acid and harsh minerality was gone replaced by a structured wash of flavors including fruit, honey, even toast, all supported with a light tannin probably a result of the new oak barrels in which many 1er Cru Chablis spend some time. This was the winner and a great keeper!
To continue the dinner, we decided to tease tradition by pouring a 1998 Fourchaume from William Fevre with the cheese course. For this exercise, we had chosen cheeses typically from Bourgogne – Epoisses, brillat savarin, and several goat cheeses. Note, Attentive Audience, that Epoisses is capitalized because it is named for a city, most other cheeses are not; one could argue that brillat savarin is named for a man, therefore should also be capitalized, but I must say it is not, but that is French! Serving white wine with cheese strikes many Americans as anathema but in certain regions of France it is considered traditional to do so. One must be attentive and pair white wine with cheeses from the same region.
William Fevre was a respected Chablis producer that fell on difficult times in the late 1990’s. Henriot, the family known for the Champagne house that bears their name (but no longer own), bought the domain in the early 2000’s and have dedicated resources to restoring its reputation. This bottle stood up to the cheese handily, but brought us little more. Yes, it was obviously a 1er Cru Fourchaume, but we would not rush out for more. Several months prior we had drunk a 2003 Grand Cru from Fevre. Likewise, well made even if potentially too young, we did not think that that bottle lived up to its potential. We have decided to give the new owners more time to improve their production before passing final judgment.
For the final, we chose a much older bottle, and a Grand Cru. Knowing that with age, a good bottle will loose more and more acidity and express more sweetness, and a Grand Cru should age longer than a 1er Cru, we chose this for the dessert course. Unfortunately, the dessert we made was less than stellar which, naturally, reflected badly on the wine. Our recipe was inspired by one we had seen on French television, a series of 'healthy' pasta courses to make at home. The original recipe called for farfalle, which the PC does not like, and pomegranate - juice and seeds. Easy enough to substitute another pasta but finding pomegranates out of season in Paris was not so easy, so here we substituted dried papaya reconstituted with guava juice (don't ask why it is easier to find dried papaya and guava juice than pomegranates, it is French logic). The pasta is cooked in water seasoned with black tea and sugared. It is cooled and combined with the fruit, the juice, a bit of lime juice and served sprinkled with crushed pistachios and white sesame seeds. Perhaps it is better in its original form, with the pomegranate, but we will leave that to you, Loyal Reader, to try and report back.
The wine, a 1991 Grand Cru Les Preuses, La Chablisienne, did make an extraordinary effort to overcome its 'partner's' liabilities. It had beautiful color, a deep golden yellow; the nose was complex and expressed even the beloved mustiness of older Burgundy reds; in the mouth, it was full and round with a lingering flavor of honey and toasted nuts. It was successful but special; not everyone loves old white wines, even if we do! The producer, La Chablisienne, is an old and established cooperative in Chablis, buying grapes from 300 growers in the region, and it has produced excellent wines since 1923. We are sitting on a Jeroboam of 1998 Chablis (well, not literally sitting on it, but it is set aside) waiting for a large and festive occasion, hint, hint.... Interestingly, jeroboams from Champagne are 3 liters, equivalent to 4 bottles, but those from Bourgogne and Bordeaux are 4.5 liters, the equivalent of 6 bottles.
The real winner at this dinner, Dear Reader, was the 1999 from Boudin. Remember that Fourchaumes will be rounder and more flowery that many more readily available Chablis, then go buy it (and we know where, right?), drink it, enjoy!
Friday, April 10, 2009
Friday, March 6, 2009
Shang - NYC
Now here is an interesting post coming from a respected member of the Dining Community. He is a good source, because he has been dining out for years in our fair town, although we know that one must discount his criticisms at times because he is becoming grouchy with age!
Nevertheless he was lured into the Lower East Side, Orchard Street no less, to Shang. Located in the Thompson St. Hotel Group's new LES Hotel, Shang has created much buzz prior to opening perhaps mostly for the chef, Susur Lee, best known for his restaurants in Toronto. A true celebrity chef, he has even appeared on Iron Chef.
But we digress, the review on Shang: [the space is] "large, modern and fab. Great cocktails, inspired Chinese fusion small plates, amusing staff and mod, mod mid century décor. Will def def go back (when have you heard me say that??). Deserves its good write-up in New York, and yet only maybe half full when we left at 9:30." And finally, prices: "drinks $10 - $12- and the small plates similar."
All we can say, Loyal Readers, is, with a review like this from our friend, the Disgruntled Diner, then you must run, hair on fire to this restaurant. Lee is known for his global Chinese, hence the 'fusion' and is known to be a big fan of tasting menus.
This said there are two notes to make here: first, as the Disgruntled Diner said, "...only half full when we left at 9:30." While it was a Tuesday, it is NYC for goodness sake. We have to remember that restaurants are one of our greatest living assets and need to be supported. Chefs are making the effort to lower prices and allow patrons to cut costs by bringing wine, for example, but we, Eager Eaters, must try to support them. Go out, eat wisely, drink that aperitif at home and bring a good bottle of wine with you (we all know where to find that, don't we Loyal Followers). Make an effort to support the restaurateurs who are also making the effort.
Secondly, we'd like to harp on 'tasting menus.' We are so incredibly bored by dining companions who whine about ordering the tasting menu because they cannot eat so much and then proceed to eat a large appetizer, full entree and share a dessert. Tasting menus in a sophisticated restaurant are named for what they are - tastes. Traditionally, they are small plates that offer tastes built on a theme developed by the chef. Perhaps it is seasonal selections, maybe a riff on a flavor, but there should be a 'story' told in small plate chapters. When it works, it is magical, but telling a good story takes time on the part of the teller and attention on the part of the listener. Maybe it is actually Attention Deficit Syndrome that causes diners to refuse tasting menus. So if that is the problem, then say so; just don't bore us by whining while preventing us from ordering what we want!
Now, get out and EAT!
Nevertheless he was lured into the Lower East Side, Orchard Street no less, to Shang. Located in the Thompson St. Hotel Group's new LES Hotel, Shang has created much buzz prior to opening perhaps mostly for the chef, Susur Lee, best known for his restaurants in Toronto. A true celebrity chef, he has even appeared on Iron Chef.
But we digress, the review on Shang: [the space is] "large, modern and fab. Great cocktails, inspired Chinese fusion small plates, amusing staff and mod, mod mid century décor. Will def def go back (when have you heard me say that??). Deserves its good write-up in New York, and yet only maybe half full when we left at 9:30." And finally, prices: "drinks $10 - $12- and the small plates similar."
All we can say, Loyal Readers, is, with a review like this from our friend, the Disgruntled Diner, then you must run, hair on fire to this restaurant. Lee is known for his global Chinese, hence the 'fusion' and is known to be a big fan of tasting menus.
This said there are two notes to make here: first, as the Disgruntled Diner said, "...only half full when we left at 9:30." While it was a Tuesday, it is NYC for goodness sake. We have to remember that restaurants are one of our greatest living assets and need to be supported. Chefs are making the effort to lower prices and allow patrons to cut costs by bringing wine, for example, but we, Eager Eaters, must try to support them. Go out, eat wisely, drink that aperitif at home and bring a good bottle of wine with you (we all know where to find that, don't we Loyal Followers). Make an effort to support the restaurateurs who are also making the effort.
Secondly, we'd like to harp on 'tasting menus.' We are so incredibly bored by dining companions who whine about ordering the tasting menu because they cannot eat so much and then proceed to eat a large appetizer, full entree and share a dessert. Tasting menus in a sophisticated restaurant are named for what they are - tastes. Traditionally, they are small plates that offer tastes built on a theme developed by the chef. Perhaps it is seasonal selections, maybe a riff on a flavor, but there should be a 'story' told in small plate chapters. When it works, it is magical, but telling a good story takes time on the part of the teller and attention on the part of the listener. Maybe it is actually Attention Deficit Syndrome that causes diners to refuse tasting menus. So if that is the problem, then say so; just don't bore us by whining while preventing us from ordering what we want!
Now, get out and EAT!
Monday, February 9, 2009
California Wine Dinner
Back last December, with an eye towards propping up our favorite airline and earning a few miles… we found ourselves in San Francisco, or to be more precise, the San Francisco airport, with a few hours to kill. Now we and the Chef Cousin are always looking for an excuse to degust wine, and, although we find many, we find fewer to do so with California wines. So we decided to use our time in SFO and locate some drinkable wines to port back to Paris.
Not knowing the airport, having no real memories of what boutiques are available to travelers there and having decided not to exit security, we set off on a stroll through the terminal. The first thing that struck us was the art on display. We all know about art in public places and the lowest common denominator factor that seems to determine its choice. (Real New Yorkers among the Loyal Audience will recall the falderal over Tilted Arc in Federal Plaza and how the uproar over having to walk around one of the greatest pieces of public art in NYC caused it to be removed and cut into pieces, effectively destroying the work.) As a result, we were pleasantly surprised by what we saw immediately – a big David Smith sculpture – and soon after, prominently displayed, a display filled with brochures outlining a walking tour of the art in the terminal.
A big fan of monumental 60s & 70s contemporary art, we were more than happy to follow the tour figuring that if a wine boutique existed, we would find it under a large painting! To plug the airport and its art advisors just a bit more, the tour took us through a temporary exhibition that actually 1) had enough space to show a sufficient amount of work to make a point, 2) appealed to children (of all ages) and adults, and 3) was relevant to an airport. Impressive, no?
Sure enough, two and a half hallways later, we found the grail – Wine Wisdom, Terminal 3, Gate 85. We feel obliged to give them a plug as well and suggest strongly that you, Dear Reader, next time you find yourself in SFO leave time for a visit. The husband and wife team owning the store are knowledgeable and honest. There is a wine bar (!) where six or seven wines are available by the glass and a large selection of California wines available. Best of all, as Wine Wisdom is behind security, you can take the bottles directly onboard with you, just don’t open them in the plane; that is against FAA rules!
Back at the boutique, we noted a small selection of foreign wines, but do not disappoint us, Brave Followers, and buy anything produced outside of California in this store. Additionally, do not open your credit card portfolio for that grade of California wine found easily in East Coast wine shoppes. Both of these pearls of wisdom are dropped before you, Reader, with the warning that to the propriétaires of this fine establishment, you are a captive audience. Translation: it’s not as if you can change your mind and go down the street to the competitor’s shop; you are paying a higher markup than you would have paid at that last San Francisco Internet hook-up’s Noe Valley neighborhood wine store. Therefore, shop here if you did not find time to slip away to your favorite garage wine maker or to that little vineyard whose Zinfandel makes your knees weak, but you still want a souvenir you can share happily with friends (see the above reference to Noe Valley).
We were carrying some light reading along and used that as a starting point for our search. It was the end-of-year issue of Wine Spectator that, handily, included a list of the 100 best wines for 2008. Unfortunately, none of those wines were available, but the owners were willing to listen to my litany of wants and don’t-wants long enough to lead me around the shop and recommend or negate some bottles.
We call it the 40-Questions Game but it establishes the parameters. In this case: single cepage rather than Bordeaux-style blends, traditional California grapes – Merlot, Zinfandel, Chardonnay – but no Pinot Noir, none of the over-oaked Chardonnay and not more than $40 per bottle, were the rules. At the end we left with four bottles:
Grgigh Hills Estate Fumé Blanc 2006
Trefethen Family Vineyards Estate Chardonnay 2006
Trefethen Family Vineyards Estate Merlot 2005
Rockpile Road Vineyards Estate Zinfandel 2005
in a nice carrying box as we sipped, oops, zipped off to our flight.
The wines had a lovely temperature-controlled furlough in NYC before winging their way on to Paris recently. Note to file, Dear Reader: if you are travelling some distance, in any mode of transportation, be sure to allow your wine time for repose before uncorking. Offering up your prize bottle to the not-easily impressed in-laws after a four hour plane ride won’t win us any points if it is poured at the first meal shared. You’ll be more impressive if you further offer, after the luscious gift is unwrapped, that it will be best enjoyed after a few days of R&R on its side in a dark closet (the bottle that is).
Once in Paris, our well rested wines were to be the centerpiece of a multi-course dinner, the better to properly taste each and every one. Additionally, we had down in the cave, a bottle of Porter Creek Timberline Ranch Viognier Russian River 2004, and had received as a gift, a Stags’ Leap Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon 2005. Naturally, dinner invitees needed to include the Chef Cousin, La Serveuse and the Prince Consort; additionally critical mass had to be obtained so that 6+ bottles of wine could be consumed. We padded the guest list with His Nibs, Princess P’s Sister, and a seventh.
Luckily the guests were not foolish enough to bring wine, but we did receive some Champagne, which was opened first. Of note, was a bottle offered by the CC, a Brut Carte d’Or from Vély-Rasselet. We’d tasted another Champagne in the range produced by Vély at the Salon des Vignerons Independents in Paris last autumn and were very impressed. That one, also non-vintage, had a memorable finish of slightly sweet toasted hazelnuts that struck us as particularly beautiful. This Carte d’Or was fruitier and lighter in the bouche but in the finish remained the slightest hint of the toasted nuts, more a whisper but noticeable. This domain represents a great value scoring high on the price/quality ratio.
Avid Reader, you can follow our wine tasting notes at The Insiders’ Wine Club; here we wish to dwell a bit more on the food served. Since we could not pop the corks on these bottles to provide insight into the appropriate food with which to pair it, we had to guess. Two years earlier we had drunk a bottle of the Viognier and based on that decided to serve it with the hors d’œuvres – specifically, Pizza Savoyards. Invented by His Nibs, this pizza takes its name from the region in which the cheese used is made. On top of pizza dough, apples (or this evening, pears) are sliced thinly to cover, over that, red onion sliced into arcs, and Tomme cheese sliced thinly over all. We then sprinkle a bit of thyme and/or rosemary on top. Into the oven until the dough is cooked and the cheese well melted, about 12-15 minutes and you have a new appetizer that pairs well with wine. The Viognier worked excellently with this.
Naturally, prior to table, it is not necessarily possible to pair exclusively a wine with a food, so tailing onto the Viognier, we planned bite-sized Asparagus Mousse on Chinese spoons. Light, fluffy, clean and easy was the image so fixed in our head that even when the whipping cream would not peak and it took two blancs d’oeufs to achieve a whipped state, we held that picture. Unfortunately, at time of service, on the first Chinese spoon, our lovely Asparagus Mousse looked like what Parisian pigeons do all over parked cars in the spring when they have been eating leaf buds off trees.
Quick change of plan and the mousse was more appropriately served, a mid-sized soft quenelle, in a champagne coupe, garnished with asparagus tips. It looked beautiful, but no one guessed it was asparagus! Unfortunately, the recipe called for scallions which don’t really exist in Paris and we substituted the next best thing, ‘green onions,’ as they are called here, which look like overgrown scallions. With size comes gusto and what we learned is that these onions verts have much more umphff than scallions. Our guests thought they had been served a light onion mousse! But they liked it!!
Oh well, time to go to table. Here the plan was to start with the Grgich Hills Fumé Blanc paired with a Christmas Lima Bean Salad with Lemon and Cumin. We had found the dried Christmas Lima Beans in NYC and purchased them because they were so beautiful. You can see them here in this Washington Post article, but we substituted them into a recipe from Epicurious and served the room temperature salad in avocado halves. No last minute surprises here, but we found the limas a bit too al dente even though while cooking them they seemed to be loosing their skin with the color, and I think more olive oil could have added more moisture. The Fumé Blanc was beautiful and we recommend it highly.
Next up on the menu, a fish course to serve with the Chardonnay. Finally we settled on poached salmon flaked on to a bed of pureed artichoke hearts with a thin couche, a layer, of tarragon cream between the two. This was lovely, but as with each course, His Nibs had some criticism which we have now dismissed. Sadly the Chardonnay did not hold up. It exhibited all that typical over-oaked, overly sweet California Chardonnay taste that we hate. Best described as “oak chips in a stainless steel tank,” these wines constantly disappoint us even though we continue to try them in hopes that one will hit the mark and reveal why so many people will pay such ridiculous amounts of money for these concoctions. This bottle sat, unfinished, on the table.
Now for the meat course – pork roasted with purple potatoes and chunks of an orange autumn squash the French call potiron – very colorful and simple and easy. With this we’d chosen to serve the Merlot, another disappointment. It was red, it was wine, made from grapes, and drinkable, but not good, and certainly not worth $40! We’ve decided to avoid Trefethen Vineyard wines.
Cheese course!! One of the most important aspects of a French dinner, ours was served with the Zinfandel. Glorious, beautiful, yummy and appreciated by the French!! Rockpile Vineyards – find it, buy it, drink it!
Dessert was Galette des Rois, a flat round flakey pastry with a layer of frangipane, almond paste. It is produced traditionally for the religious holiday, Three Kings Day, in January. A favorite of the Prince Consort, the galette could have been served it with the CC’s Champagne but, as that was gone, we instead tried another wine also brought by him. It was a red Côtes-de-Provence. The region, mostly known for its rosé drunk in the hot summer, is itself hot and dry. This red wine was full of fruit and its terroir was expressed with a finish of grapes ripening in a hot Mediterranean field. Too bad it is not imported to the US.
Next up…dinner at the In-laws!
Not knowing the airport, having no real memories of what boutiques are available to travelers there and having decided not to exit security, we set off on a stroll through the terminal. The first thing that struck us was the art on display. We all know about art in public places and the lowest common denominator factor that seems to determine its choice. (Real New Yorkers among the Loyal Audience will recall the falderal over Tilted Arc in Federal Plaza and how the uproar over having to walk around one of the greatest pieces of public art in NYC caused it to be removed and cut into pieces, effectively destroying the work.) As a result, we were pleasantly surprised by what we saw immediately – a big David Smith sculpture – and soon after, prominently displayed, a display filled with brochures outlining a walking tour of the art in the terminal.
A big fan of monumental 60s & 70s contemporary art, we were more than happy to follow the tour figuring that if a wine boutique existed, we would find it under a large painting! To plug the airport and its art advisors just a bit more, the tour took us through a temporary exhibition that actually 1) had enough space to show a sufficient amount of work to make a point, 2) appealed to children (of all ages) and adults, and 3) was relevant to an airport. Impressive, no?
Sure enough, two and a half hallways later, we found the grail – Wine Wisdom, Terminal 3, Gate 85. We feel obliged to give them a plug as well and suggest strongly that you, Dear Reader, next time you find yourself in SFO leave time for a visit. The husband and wife team owning the store are knowledgeable and honest. There is a wine bar (!) where six or seven wines are available by the glass and a large selection of California wines available. Best of all, as Wine Wisdom is behind security, you can take the bottles directly onboard with you, just don’t open them in the plane; that is against FAA rules!
Back at the boutique, we noted a small selection of foreign wines, but do not disappoint us, Brave Followers, and buy anything produced outside of California in this store. Additionally, do not open your credit card portfolio for that grade of California wine found easily in East Coast wine shoppes. Both of these pearls of wisdom are dropped before you, Reader, with the warning that to the propriétaires of this fine establishment, you are a captive audience. Translation: it’s not as if you can change your mind and go down the street to the competitor’s shop; you are paying a higher markup than you would have paid at that last San Francisco Internet hook-up’s Noe Valley neighborhood wine store. Therefore, shop here if you did not find time to slip away to your favorite garage wine maker or to that little vineyard whose Zinfandel makes your knees weak, but you still want a souvenir you can share happily with friends (see the above reference to Noe Valley).
We were carrying some light reading along and used that as a starting point for our search. It was the end-of-year issue of Wine Spectator that, handily, included a list of the 100 best wines for 2008. Unfortunately, none of those wines were available, but the owners were willing to listen to my litany of wants and don’t-wants long enough to lead me around the shop and recommend or negate some bottles.
We call it the 40-Questions Game but it establishes the parameters. In this case: single cepage rather than Bordeaux-style blends, traditional California grapes – Merlot, Zinfandel, Chardonnay – but no Pinot Noir, none of the over-oaked Chardonnay and not more than $40 per bottle, were the rules. At the end we left with four bottles:
Grgigh Hills Estate Fumé Blanc 2006
Trefethen Family Vineyards Estate Chardonnay 2006
Trefethen Family Vineyards Estate Merlot 2005
Rockpile Road Vineyards Estate Zinfandel 2005
in a nice carrying box as we sipped, oops, zipped off to our flight.
The wines had a lovely temperature-controlled furlough in NYC before winging their way on to Paris recently. Note to file, Dear Reader: if you are travelling some distance, in any mode of transportation, be sure to allow your wine time for repose before uncorking. Offering up your prize bottle to the not-easily impressed in-laws after a four hour plane ride won’t win us any points if it is poured at the first meal shared. You’ll be more impressive if you further offer, after the luscious gift is unwrapped, that it will be best enjoyed after a few days of R&R on its side in a dark closet (the bottle that is).
Once in Paris, our well rested wines were to be the centerpiece of a multi-course dinner, the better to properly taste each and every one. Additionally, we had down in the cave, a bottle of Porter Creek Timberline Ranch Viognier Russian River 2004, and had received as a gift, a Stags’ Leap Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon 2005. Naturally, dinner invitees needed to include the Chef Cousin, La Serveuse and the Prince Consort; additionally critical mass had to be obtained so that 6+ bottles of wine could be consumed. We padded the guest list with His Nibs, Princess P’s Sister, and a seventh.
Luckily the guests were not foolish enough to bring wine, but we did receive some Champagne, which was opened first. Of note, was a bottle offered by the CC, a Brut Carte d’Or from Vély-Rasselet. We’d tasted another Champagne in the range produced by Vély at the Salon des Vignerons Independents in Paris last autumn and were very impressed. That one, also non-vintage, had a memorable finish of slightly sweet toasted hazelnuts that struck us as particularly beautiful. This Carte d’Or was fruitier and lighter in the bouche but in the finish remained the slightest hint of the toasted nuts, more a whisper but noticeable. This domain represents a great value scoring high on the price/quality ratio.
Avid Reader, you can follow our wine tasting notes at The Insiders’ Wine Club; here we wish to dwell a bit more on the food served. Since we could not pop the corks on these bottles to provide insight into the appropriate food with which to pair it, we had to guess. Two years earlier we had drunk a bottle of the Viognier and based on that decided to serve it with the hors d’œuvres – specifically, Pizza Savoyards. Invented by His Nibs, this pizza takes its name from the region in which the cheese used is made. On top of pizza dough, apples (or this evening, pears) are sliced thinly to cover, over that, red onion sliced into arcs, and Tomme cheese sliced thinly over all. We then sprinkle a bit of thyme and/or rosemary on top. Into the oven until the dough is cooked and the cheese well melted, about 12-15 minutes and you have a new appetizer that pairs well with wine. The Viognier worked excellently with this.
Naturally, prior to table, it is not necessarily possible to pair exclusively a wine with a food, so tailing onto the Viognier, we planned bite-sized Asparagus Mousse on Chinese spoons. Light, fluffy, clean and easy was the image so fixed in our head that even when the whipping cream would not peak and it took two blancs d’oeufs to achieve a whipped state, we held that picture. Unfortunately, at time of service, on the first Chinese spoon, our lovely Asparagus Mousse looked like what Parisian pigeons do all over parked cars in the spring when they have been eating leaf buds off trees.
Quick change of plan and the mousse was more appropriately served, a mid-sized soft quenelle, in a champagne coupe, garnished with asparagus tips. It looked beautiful, but no one guessed it was asparagus! Unfortunately, the recipe called for scallions which don’t really exist in Paris and we substituted the next best thing, ‘green onions,’ as they are called here, which look like overgrown scallions. With size comes gusto and what we learned is that these onions verts have much more umphff than scallions. Our guests thought they had been served a light onion mousse! But they liked it!!
Oh well, time to go to table. Here the plan was to start with the Grgich Hills Fumé Blanc paired with a Christmas Lima Bean Salad with Lemon and Cumin. We had found the dried Christmas Lima Beans in NYC and purchased them because they were so beautiful. You can see them here in this Washington Post article, but we substituted them into a recipe from Epicurious and served the room temperature salad in avocado halves. No last minute surprises here, but we found the limas a bit too al dente even though while cooking them they seemed to be loosing their skin with the color, and I think more olive oil could have added more moisture. The Fumé Blanc was beautiful and we recommend it highly.
Next up on the menu, a fish course to serve with the Chardonnay. Finally we settled on poached salmon flaked on to a bed of pureed artichoke hearts with a thin couche, a layer, of tarragon cream between the two. This was lovely, but as with each course, His Nibs had some criticism which we have now dismissed. Sadly the Chardonnay did not hold up. It exhibited all that typical over-oaked, overly sweet California Chardonnay taste that we hate. Best described as “oak chips in a stainless steel tank,” these wines constantly disappoint us even though we continue to try them in hopes that one will hit the mark and reveal why so many people will pay such ridiculous amounts of money for these concoctions. This bottle sat, unfinished, on the table.
Now for the meat course – pork roasted with purple potatoes and chunks of an orange autumn squash the French call potiron – very colorful and simple and easy. With this we’d chosen to serve the Merlot, another disappointment. It was red, it was wine, made from grapes, and drinkable, but not good, and certainly not worth $40! We’ve decided to avoid Trefethen Vineyard wines.
Cheese course!! One of the most important aspects of a French dinner, ours was served with the Zinfandel. Glorious, beautiful, yummy and appreciated by the French!! Rockpile Vineyards – find it, buy it, drink it!
Dessert was Galette des Rois, a flat round flakey pastry with a layer of frangipane, almond paste. It is produced traditionally for the religious holiday, Three Kings Day, in January. A favorite of the Prince Consort, the galette could have been served it with the CC’s Champagne but, as that was gone, we instead tried another wine also brought by him. It was a red Côtes-de-Provence. The region, mostly known for its rosé drunk in the hot summer, is itself hot and dry. This red wine was full of fruit and its terroir was expressed with a finish of grapes ripening in a hot Mediterranean field. Too bad it is not imported to the US.
Next up…dinner at the In-laws!
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Last From the Past I
Sadly since real attention was paid to regular entries there were many meals eaten, many miles traveled and many glasses lifted by us but much of it seems to have passed in a fog, or like juice from a raisin. Of course it had nothing to do with the wine we degusted for you, Dear Reader, that was research! Ah the sacrifices of an aging blogger.
Maybe age is part of the problem as there was a birthday hurdle to pass over. The when’s of this are not important but it was well enjoyed for all its fun. A friend once remarked that she celebrated her birthday all week, we liked that idea and that is rather the way this one went along. With warnings to the faint of heart among you, Loyal Audience, we cannot remember enough of the week’s festivities to comment intelligently on details at this late date!
There was dinner at Corton where Paul Liebrandt, the wonder chef, has landed after his two years of wondering in the wilderness thanks to Drew Nieporent of Myriad Group. Corton is housed in the old and hallowed site of Montrachet (smell a trend here, Avid Reader?) which has been completely and totally redone. The ‘80s minimalism’ of Montrachet has been renovated into an elegantly stark (‘naught’s minimalism’?) riff on the ‘90s open room-open kitchen theme except here the kitchen is viewed through a long rectangular window in which one could see Paul’s head bobbing all night long.
Unfortunately, his “bad boy cuisine” has been tamed, either by his wondering or by the hand-slap at Gilt that sent him on that trek because while the dinner was exquisite the dishes did not challenge as they had when we first stumbled upon him in Papillion on Hudson Street. As Alan Richman said in his GQ review on October 21, 2008, "Everybody has theories as to why … state-of-the-art cooking has failed to catch on in New York, the most fascinating one being that New Yorkers eat out so often that they don’t want to be surprised at dinner, just fed.” We can assume that Paul is answering this cry, tant pis. However, we only whimpered silently as there was one of his signature chicken dishes on the 3-course tasting menu.
Regardless of our selfish need to be challenged and entertained when eating out, we cannot recommend Corton highly enough. It is beautiful, formal without being suffocating, expensive but not too, and there are some of Paul’s evil twists if you know where to look, and that is all without mentioning Pasty Chef Robert Truitt, formerly of the ground-breaking (for NYC) Room 4 Dessert and the internationally groundbreaking elBulli. Now you begin to comprehend the connection between Paul and Robert!
One recommendation prior to your visit, if we may in our role as your humble tester, take some time to review the menus and the wine lists on line before the dinner. Not that they are obtuse or need to be memorized and the servers are lovely about explaining each ingredient included in every dish, but the wine list is a period piece, a list that offers a glimpse into dining in another time. What time? Avant-Crise (AC), before the crisis.
There is a gorgeous panoply of Burgundian wines with a focus, naturally, on Côte-de-Beaune, and Corton in particular but with a reasonably strong sampling of other regions in Burgundy and a broad flank of what the restaurant is calling “French Country” wines. Hmm, go figure. What will be most noticeable on this list to you, Attentive Audience, is the price for wines not yet of age, not drinkable. It’s wine pedophilia, we say!
Don’t misinterpret our critique here. They are not flogging only les enfants, there is a perfectly drinkable Nuits-St-Georges ‘Les Boudots’ Premier Cru, Domaine Leroy, 1996 for $625 and a probably slightly tired Puligny-Montrachet Premier Cru Domaine Leroy, 1978 for $375… Wait, what is that again? Now we love 1996, it’s one of our favorite years for red Burgundy – thin, elegant, raffiné – and never having tasted a ’78 we’d jump at the chance. But for $625 and $375 respectively?
That is what we mean by the AC period piece. Additionally, there is a Reserve Wine List, where the “wines are housed offsite in a temperature controlled facility and are available with 24 hours notice” according to the website. This list contains one of the most comprehensive lists of fine California wines we have ever perused in NYC; as a novice we’d label it exhaustive. And the prices, for recent vintages, would make that 96 Nuits-St-George blush.
In all fairness, the economics of running a restaurant in a major city like NY or Paris dictate certain realities, and the archaic liquor laws in the US layer on additional costs like so many fine couches de ganache. Additional insights into wine pricing can be seen at another of our blog sites - http://insiderswineclub.blogspot.com/ (Loyal Readers will also recall our earlier columns concerning this outrageous scenario in this blog as well.)
We all have heard of the various levels of mark-ups on wine in our fair city, anywhere from 300 – 500%. And it is correct to assume that if a restaurateur is lucky enough to have his or her own cave à vin, aging a bottle should add 10% annually to the original purchase price. In NYC, there are several locations where wine can be stored in excellent conditions for reasonable prices so we could 'guess-timate' a 20% increase on purchase price annually if storage is in these sites. We wonder, however, if Myriad group does not have its own cellar; if one owned six well reviewed restaurants in NYC, including Nobu and Corton, as well as a wine and spirits shop, Crush, wouldn’t you, Clever Reader, invest in your own wine cellar?
That said, let us take a small pop quiz:
If Drew sells a bottle of Marcassin 'zio tony ranch,' Sonoma Coast, 2004 (a California Chardonnay) for $250 a bottle, how much did he pay for it? (as you sharpen you pencils, Loyal Audience, make the charming musical ticking clock sound here to add suspense…)
Okay, time’s up; put down your pencils and let us check if you were indeed paying attention. If ‘ x ‘ represents the original purchase price upon release from the vineyard in 2006 (yes, yes, that was a tricky part), then ‘ x + 10%x ‘ equals the value of the investment one year later, and ‘ x + 10%x + 10%(x +10%x) ‘ equals the value of the investment at the end of year two when we’ll assume the wine was priced. Further assuming that the sommelier wishes to sell this wine, we can say that the menu price equals (x + 10%x + 10%(x + 10%x)) * 300% , correct? As we know the menu price is $250 working out the value of the algebraic expression gives an original purchase price of about $72 per bottle.
Are you as shocked as I am? Let us try it another way; assume the high end of each range – 20% appreciation and 500% mark-up. That gives us an original purchase price of around $35 per bottle.
We are still a little ‘bottle shocked.’ Maybe we’ll go sit in the cool cellar for a while. ‘Til later…
Maybe age is part of the problem as there was a birthday hurdle to pass over. The when’s of this are not important but it was well enjoyed for all its fun. A friend once remarked that she celebrated her birthday all week, we liked that idea and that is rather the way this one went along. With warnings to the faint of heart among you, Loyal Audience, we cannot remember enough of the week’s festivities to comment intelligently on details at this late date!
There was dinner at Corton where Paul Liebrandt, the wonder chef, has landed after his two years of wondering in the wilderness thanks to Drew Nieporent of Myriad Group. Corton is housed in the old and hallowed site of Montrachet (smell a trend here, Avid Reader?) which has been completely and totally redone. The ‘80s minimalism’ of Montrachet has been renovated into an elegantly stark (‘naught’s minimalism’?) riff on the ‘90s open room-open kitchen theme except here the kitchen is viewed through a long rectangular window in which one could see Paul’s head bobbing all night long.
Unfortunately, his “bad boy cuisine” has been tamed, either by his wondering or by the hand-slap at Gilt that sent him on that trek because while the dinner was exquisite the dishes did not challenge as they had when we first stumbled upon him in Papillion on Hudson Street. As Alan Richman said in his GQ review on October 21, 2008, "Everybody has theories as to why … state-of-the-art cooking has failed to catch on in New York, the most fascinating one being that New Yorkers eat out so often that they don’t want to be surprised at dinner, just fed.” We can assume that Paul is answering this cry, tant pis. However, we only whimpered silently as there was one of his signature chicken dishes on the 3-course tasting menu.
Regardless of our selfish need to be challenged and entertained when eating out, we cannot recommend Corton highly enough. It is beautiful, formal without being suffocating, expensive but not too, and there are some of Paul’s evil twists if you know where to look, and that is all without mentioning Pasty Chef Robert Truitt, formerly of the ground-breaking (for NYC) Room 4 Dessert and the internationally groundbreaking elBulli. Now you begin to comprehend the connection between Paul and Robert!
One recommendation prior to your visit, if we may in our role as your humble tester, take some time to review the menus and the wine lists on line before the dinner. Not that they are obtuse or need to be memorized and the servers are lovely about explaining each ingredient included in every dish, but the wine list is a period piece, a list that offers a glimpse into dining in another time. What time? Avant-Crise (AC), before the crisis.
There is a gorgeous panoply of Burgundian wines with a focus, naturally, on Côte-de-Beaune, and Corton in particular but with a reasonably strong sampling of other regions in Burgundy and a broad flank of what the restaurant is calling “French Country” wines. Hmm, go figure. What will be most noticeable on this list to you, Attentive Audience, is the price for wines not yet of age, not drinkable. It’s wine pedophilia, we say!
Don’t misinterpret our critique here. They are not flogging only les enfants, there is a perfectly drinkable Nuits-St-Georges ‘Les Boudots’ Premier Cru, Domaine Leroy, 1996 for $625 and a probably slightly tired Puligny-Montrachet Premier Cru Domaine Leroy, 1978 for $375… Wait, what is that again? Now we love 1996, it’s one of our favorite years for red Burgundy – thin, elegant, raffiné – and never having tasted a ’78 we’d jump at the chance. But for $625 and $375 respectively?
That is what we mean by the AC period piece. Additionally, there is a Reserve Wine List, where the “wines are housed offsite in a temperature controlled facility and are available with 24 hours notice” according to the website. This list contains one of the most comprehensive lists of fine California wines we have ever perused in NYC; as a novice we’d label it exhaustive. And the prices, for recent vintages, would make that 96 Nuits-St-George blush.
In all fairness, the economics of running a restaurant in a major city like NY or Paris dictate certain realities, and the archaic liquor laws in the US layer on additional costs like so many fine couches de ganache. Additional insights into wine pricing can be seen at another of our blog sites - http://insiderswineclub.blogspot.com/ (Loyal Readers will also recall our earlier columns concerning this outrageous scenario in this blog as well.)
We all have heard of the various levels of mark-ups on wine in our fair city, anywhere from 300 – 500%. And it is correct to assume that if a restaurateur is lucky enough to have his or her own cave à vin, aging a bottle should add 10% annually to the original purchase price. In NYC, there are several locations where wine can be stored in excellent conditions for reasonable prices so we could 'guess-timate' a 20% increase on purchase price annually if storage is in these sites. We wonder, however, if Myriad group does not have its own cellar; if one owned six well reviewed restaurants in NYC, including Nobu and Corton, as well as a wine and spirits shop, Crush, wouldn’t you, Clever Reader, invest in your own wine cellar?
That said, let us take a small pop quiz:
If Drew sells a bottle of Marcassin 'zio tony ranch,' Sonoma Coast, 2004 (a California Chardonnay) for $250 a bottle, how much did he pay for it? (as you sharpen you pencils, Loyal Audience, make the charming musical ticking clock sound here to add suspense…)
Okay, time’s up; put down your pencils and let us check if you were indeed paying attention. If ‘ x ‘ represents the original purchase price upon release from the vineyard in 2006 (yes, yes, that was a tricky part), then ‘ x + 10%x ‘ equals the value of the investment one year later, and ‘ x + 10%x + 10%(x +10%x) ‘ equals the value of the investment at the end of year two when we’ll assume the wine was priced. Further assuming that the sommelier wishes to sell this wine, we can say that the menu price equals (x + 10%x + 10%(x + 10%x)) * 300% , correct? As we know the menu price is $250 working out the value of the algebraic expression gives an original purchase price of about $72 per bottle.
Are you as shocked as I am? Let us try it another way; assume the high end of each range – 20% appreciation and 500% mark-up. That gives us an original purchase price of around $35 per bottle.
We are still a little ‘bottle shocked.’ Maybe we’ll go sit in the cool cellar for a while. ‘Til later…
Monday, February 2, 2009
Does it Merit that Wine, that Menu, that Price?
We are finally getting around to an entry that we started ages ago in an attempt to keep a promise to a talented chef we met recently in a restaurant in the South Street Seaport. However, before delving into that allow us, Dear Reader, to open, hopefully, a constructive discussion concerning a problem we have been experiencing with wine in New York City.
When we are invited to dinners in the houses of Intimes, we are pleased to drink the beverage they have chosen to serve with dinner, not because our Intimes are as snobby as we concerning wine, but because the host or hostess has given thought to the dinner, the diners and chosen his or her best idea to serve with the meal. Others at table may disagree with the choice, but we always respect the time, effort and money invested in creating the evening, including the liquid accompaniment.
Why are New York restaurateurs, seemingly often, incapable of making the same investment of time, effort and money when we dine at their tables? I am flabbergasted by the attitude toward wine and fine food in this town. Wine does not always need to be old, expensive or wildly popular. Instead it needs to be good, it needs to be fairly priced, and, most of all, it needs to work with the food. If a host or hostess can do the latter at home why can’t a professional.
That redirects us to our original idea, a South Street Seaport restaurant. Make an effort, Loyal Followers, to stay on point here and do not dwell on the whys of our being in the South Street Seaport, just know that it was worth the trip, no small part thanks to Eddy, the chef at Fish Market Restaurant, 111 South Street, http://www.fishmarketnyc.com/
Despite facing an elevated portion of the East Side Highway and the parking lot under that, there is a small view of the East River, but not enough to make the outside tables alluring. No matter, the inside of the restaurant was decently laid out with a long bar in front and a dining room in back. On the night we visited, it was rather unpopulated, especially compared to its neighbors around the corner which seem to be a magnet for young beer drinking professionals straight from work looking to score on a Friday evening, but crowded we imagine it could be noisy with its exposed brick walls and bare table tops.
The menu was sadly printed on disposable paper, legal size, folded in 3’s, but hidden here were small joys. Less joyful was the wine list, equally disposably printed and of little interest. In Fish Market’s defense, the restaurant has only been open 3 months but it has been cited in Andrea Strong’s http://www.thestrongbuzz.com/, and the chef has worked his way up through a variety of positions in excellent NYC restaurants.
We began with Calamari, fried, in a lemon emulsion with capers, olives, cilantro, and pepperacino, and a bottle of a South African Sauvignon Blanc. The Calamari was amazing – lightly battered and fried but not the least bit oily. The sauce was perfectly tart and the capers, olives (large green pitted ones sliced thinly), and cilantro brought a ‘green’ seasoning that balanced the slight burn from the pepperacinos.
Sadly the Sauvignon Blanc, although recommended by the waiter, not the least bit interesting, and for the price of $42 per bottle, it was disgraceful. Normally I would find Sauvignon Blanc to be very mineral with light tart fruit behind and little tannin. This one was overly sweet in the first taste and unpleasantly tartly tannic to the point of mouth-drying at the end. When we complained, one of the owners said that most people appreciated it but why not try something else. He spoke to the other owner, working the bar, who suggested a Spanish white, an Albarino, that it turned out was not on the menu. Nevertheless, they found it, opened it and I found it better than the first.
On the wine list were several decent wines including a Sancerre and a white Burgundy, but at $70 and $75 respectively, both were too expensive for the evening and their vintages. The restaurant bills its cuisine as Mediterranean seafood, but the wine list contained nothing that reflected that bent. Despite that problem and now happier with the white wine, the Supreme Travel Advisor raved to the waiter about the Calamari and demanded to meet the chef (that one is always husband-hunting!).
We are going to stop here because a point is made without our making it. We were there in the late summer and the restaurant is now closed. The food was exciting and challenging, and sadly for us Eddy-the-Chef is gone but then so is that despicable wine list. When will NYC restaurants learn that they cannot be the last to recognize that good wine goes with good food and boring Sauvignon Blanc does not merit $42 a bottle? In an age when the average consumer in a typical Manhattan restaurant easily knows as much or more than the server, it makes sense to price wine accordingly.
Expect more of these columns in the future! Until then eat, drink and write about it…
When we are invited to dinners in the houses of Intimes, we are pleased to drink the beverage they have chosen to serve with dinner, not because our Intimes are as snobby as we concerning wine, but because the host or hostess has given thought to the dinner, the diners and chosen his or her best idea to serve with the meal. Others at table may disagree with the choice, but we always respect the time, effort and money invested in creating the evening, including the liquid accompaniment.
Why are New York restaurateurs, seemingly often, incapable of making the same investment of time, effort and money when we dine at their tables? I am flabbergasted by the attitude toward wine and fine food in this town. Wine does not always need to be old, expensive or wildly popular. Instead it needs to be good, it needs to be fairly priced, and, most of all, it needs to work with the food. If a host or hostess can do the latter at home why can’t a professional.
That redirects us to our original idea, a South Street Seaport restaurant. Make an effort, Loyal Followers, to stay on point here and do not dwell on the whys of our being in the South Street Seaport, just know that it was worth the trip, no small part thanks to Eddy, the chef at Fish Market Restaurant, 111 South Street, http://www.fishmarketnyc.com/
Despite facing an elevated portion of the East Side Highway and the parking lot under that, there is a small view of the East River, but not enough to make the outside tables alluring. No matter, the inside of the restaurant was decently laid out with a long bar in front and a dining room in back. On the night we visited, it was rather unpopulated, especially compared to its neighbors around the corner which seem to be a magnet for young beer drinking professionals straight from work looking to score on a Friday evening, but crowded we imagine it could be noisy with its exposed brick walls and bare table tops.
The menu was sadly printed on disposable paper, legal size, folded in 3’s, but hidden here were small joys. Less joyful was the wine list, equally disposably printed and of little interest. In Fish Market’s defense, the restaurant has only been open 3 months but it has been cited in Andrea Strong’s http://www.thestrongbuzz.com/, and the chef has worked his way up through a variety of positions in excellent NYC restaurants.
We began with Calamari, fried, in a lemon emulsion with capers, olives, cilantro, and pepperacino, and a bottle of a South African Sauvignon Blanc. The Calamari was amazing – lightly battered and fried but not the least bit oily. The sauce was perfectly tart and the capers, olives (large green pitted ones sliced thinly), and cilantro brought a ‘green’ seasoning that balanced the slight burn from the pepperacinos.
Sadly the Sauvignon Blanc, although recommended by the waiter, not the least bit interesting, and for the price of $42 per bottle, it was disgraceful. Normally I would find Sauvignon Blanc to be very mineral with light tart fruit behind and little tannin. This one was overly sweet in the first taste and unpleasantly tartly tannic to the point of mouth-drying at the end. When we complained, one of the owners said that most people appreciated it but why not try something else. He spoke to the other owner, working the bar, who suggested a Spanish white, an Albarino, that it turned out was not on the menu. Nevertheless, they found it, opened it and I found it better than the first.
On the wine list were several decent wines including a Sancerre and a white Burgundy, but at $70 and $75 respectively, both were too expensive for the evening and their vintages. The restaurant bills its cuisine as Mediterranean seafood, but the wine list contained nothing that reflected that bent. Despite that problem and now happier with the white wine, the Supreme Travel Advisor raved to the waiter about the Calamari and demanded to meet the chef (that one is always husband-hunting!).
We are going to stop here because a point is made without our making it. We were there in the late summer and the restaurant is now closed. The food was exciting and challenging, and sadly for us Eddy-the-Chef is gone but then so is that despicable wine list. When will NYC restaurants learn that they cannot be the last to recognize that good wine goes with good food and boring Sauvignon Blanc does not merit $42 a bottle? In an age when the average consumer in a typical Manhattan restaurant easily knows as much or more than the server, it makes sense to price wine accordingly.
Expect more of these columns in the future! Until then eat, drink and write about it…
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