The Identity Question

Is it what it says? This is not a Clintonian fudge. My question is: Is this wine what it claims to be? Here are a couple of wines that, shall we say, did not represent themselves accurately.

The Princess, our friend and I took a junket to a winery that shall remain nameless. It has a spectacular setting high in the mountains, with an elaborate and fantastical villa that must have cost a great deal of money (this point is important). The other guests on this open tasting day were living the high life, with the type of beautiful view that Mad King Ludwig would have enjoyed if he were in California rather than Bavaria. I expected some of them to break out cigars as they sat on the patio, but we were spared that.

Too bad the wine did not live up to the surroundings. The various Pinot noirs, this winery's alleged specialty, were unfocused and showed no prospect of developing into anything interesting, nor of tasting like Pinot. The Cabernet sauvignon was uninspiring. Their Merlot was tasty, with enough stuffing to show it would be even better in 3-5 years. It was worth buying at 40% off, so we did so.

One worthwhile wine out of three seems to be about average these days. So is Pinot noir with no finesse or delicacy. The thing that really bugged us was the $40-50 price range on these wines. They were not worth the money to any of our party. The only possible explanation for the pricing, we felt, is the need to pay off the villa quickly. This may be a valid pricing strategy, as long as your customers are not aware of what else they could get for the money. That is ... unlikely. I have expectations of a $40 wine, and nothing we tasted here met them.

Now for the next impostor:

A well-established restaurant boasting a Wine Spec award-winning list should be a safe bet for a good glass of wine. The food was good enough, the wine list broad enough in California if not other regions.

Tonight we were didn't want a whole bottle due to the long drive home. So we looked over the token by-the-glass list. Are we not worth looking out for unless we buy a whole bottle? Apparently not.

I decided to try a Pinot since it would match our dinner best. Color: opaque and thick, not typical for Pinot. Taste ... well, it's wine of some sort. Our kind waitress goes back to the bar and verifies that, yes, the bottle is labeled "Pinot noir".

Maybe this bottle has been open too long? Our very kind waitress brings a glass from a fresh bottle. It tastes the same. Feh. I give up and get a Louis Martini Cabernet, which is basic but tastes like Cabernet.

Back home, I research the Pinot and find it has 20% Syrah. No wonder it doesn't taste like Pinot! This is not a case of blending to achieve more complex flavors - this is blending to achieve nothingness.

Castle Rock Winery, I will avoid your wines from now on. And Unnamed Restaurant in Carmel, you should be ashamed of yourselves for trumpeting an award-winning bottle list while foisting off a mediocre glass list on us. That's disrespect to your customers.

La Vierge de Bordeaux

We were in the mood for lamb chops and suitable accompaniments. Our usual Saratoga chops; asparagus, with aïoli of course. I doctored a bag of Trader Joe's insta-lentils with some sautéed onions, roasted red peppers, garlic, olive oil and fresh thyme. It was time to break out some Bordeaux.

The Princess was intrigued by the idea, having not yet been exposed to a really fine Bordeaux. I explained the Classed Growth system: in 1855 the wine brokers of France, at the request of Napoléon III, made a ranking of Bordeaux wines based on their price and reputation at the time. Although there have been many changes in vineyard ownership and actual quality since then, the assignments of properties into "first-growth" through "fifth-growth" have pretty much been set in stone.

The cellar held a 1997 Château Langoa-Barton (third growth), so we would have the double treat of something non-California (varietas vincit omnia) and some maturity, accelerated by being in half-bottle. I decanted and found a bit of fine sediment, and in the glass saw the slightest browning at the edge. This promised a different experience.

Now for the nose: wow.

Profound. (pause here for several minutes nose-in-glass as dinner cools dangerously)

Roasted meats, blackberries, smoke, black peppercorns and more spectres of umami swirled in our heads. When we finally tasted, the balance was perfect, everything in its place. I have paid more attention lately to balance and alcohol, and believe the modest 12.5% is helpful. A half bottle of this was really not enough. I never wanted to see it end.

The Princess pronounced it "intoxicating, earthy, rustic" and noted that fruitiness was not really in the picture, compared to our typical New World wines. She admitted that she "would like to try another Bordeaux sometime - maybe a second growth?"

Not quite around the corner

We arrived for dinner around 20.30, when only tourists are eating in Buenos Aires. The restaurant was almost deserted; another party of two (yes, tourists) was a few tables away. As it filled up, the service never slackened and the maître d' continued to dote on us as if we were the only table.

I don't recall what we ate or drank, except that it was delicious, but I will never forget the service. Example: My water glass was a little low, so I took the bottle of "con gas" from the service table. As I was about to pour, the maître d' flew across the room to pour it for me, apologizing profusely. Our waiter was only two seconds behind him and experienced his quiet wrath.

If only it were closer to home ... Lola restaurant in Buenos Aires.

Poisson avec passion

We dined the other night at Passionfish in Pacific Grove, where they have a very civilized wine pricing policy. This lets us try more (and more interesting) wines without breaking the budget. For us, it is mandatory to start with the fried oyster and arugula salad. My dinner was scallops with tomato truffle butter and thyme risotto; the Princess had sea bass with tomato aïoli and niçoise style vegetables.

I ordered the wine because it was a rarity: Tokaji Furmint 2005 from Gróf Degenfeld. How often do you see a Tokaji, let alone a dry one? It was crisp and somewhat aromatic; we smelled peaches and apricots. Happily we had enough to take home.

Next day: I felt like having something truffly again, so I did pasta with truffle oil. No recipe, just feeling my way through it. Soaked some dried morels in a little warm water, sliced them, strained the soak water and added to the pasta water. Whole wheat penne, butter, black truffle oil, shavings of Parmesan. At the table, we decided the truffleness was lacking, so rather than getting up for more oil, we grated more cheese on top. That did the job - the extra salt amplified the flavors.

The remaining Furmint was ... yum.

Dinner with the Princess

We went to Valentine's Day dinner at Au Midi, one of very few French restaurants in this area. (Note to the trade - let's remedy that.) Nice service, flawless food. An oyster in aspic with salmon roe forced us to confront our, er, aspicphobia. A great experience in fishiness and texture.

The Princess broke her fish habit by joining me in having filet mignon with morels and potatoes galette. As a confirmed mushroom-skeptic, I make an exception for morels, which have wonderful texture and flavor. What does it take to get a paper-thin browned layer on the very outside of the beef, while leaving the entire inside warm-rare? A defter touch than mine, for sure.

The Dashwood pinot noir from New Zealand had an incredible forest-floor earthiness, bright cherry fruit and wonderful texture. Not like a burgundy but better than most burgundies I've had lately. Altocedro malbec from Mendoza had more body than most malbecs, powerful plummy flavors and enough fruit to balance the tannins. Against my expectations the pinot was a better match with the beef.

Sorry, no vintage dates. One doesn't take notes in such august company.

Trying something different

There are NO Vietnamese restaurants in our sleepy burg, so we went on a trek to try one. Neither of us has any experience with this cuisine. Don't expect any profound insights here. Anyway, Xanh restaurant in Mountain View, CA was a pleasure.

Our wines were a somewhat assertive Trimbach Pinot Blanc and a more restrained Bonny Doon "Cigare Blanc" (made from Roussanne and Grenache Blanc).

The papaya salad with poached shrimp went well with the Trimbach's aromas of peach and lime; Frau Feinschmecker couldn't get enough of the nuoc cham vinaigrette. The Cigare had better balance with our "crab martini"; the Trimbach had a little too much personality for this dish. Finally, catfish in a clay pot with cilantro, ginger and chiles worked very well with both wines. Only being in public kept us from licking the plate clean.

Our waiter provided service that was exemplary, friendly and natural. In other words, I would hire him away in a second.

By the way, this is not the more distant restaurant I mentioned. Still working on that, likewise on some consistent formatting.

Good eats

Highlights of some fine recent meals:

at Fandango in Pacific Grove, CA
Their cassoulet was wonderful as always. If you can't spend all day (and more) in the kitchen to make your own cassoulet, get Fandango to do it.
The wine: 1999 Corton Clos Du Roi, Vincent Girardin. It was everything I hope a Burgundy will be. And so civilized that it's available in half bottles.

at Passionfish, also in Pacific Grove
Appetizers: fried oysters, then butternut squash soup with bacon (swoon). The kitchen split both of these for us without prompting.
Main: mahi with black pepper/rum sauce, cucumber salad, green onion rice
Wine: a Chablis Grand Cru by - oops, didn't write that one down. More nervy and elegant than the 2006 Petit Chablis by Roland Lavantureux we had last week.

Thoughts on a more distant restaurant soon ...