SFJoe

Balex was kind enough to feign interest in a dinner at my place a couple of nights ago, so I'll take a stab at some quick notes.  Some old friends from various wine boards are rather serious Loire geeks. Don, for instance, has a scholarly inclination (http://www.libraryth...nyc/yourlibrary).  He did a little prep for the dinner here: http://winedisorder....omment/56/6950/. For those who don't know the wines, I was a guest blogger on the importer's site here: http://louisdressner.../2013/4/24/204/. Joe's intro is here:  http://louisdressner...ucers/Foucault/.

 

Anyhow, these are rare wines, expensive for the Loire though not for their quality in today's lunatic market. They have always been the top end of reds in the Loire for me, though they are so unusual in their neighborhood that they were almost excluded from the AOC a few years ago (this sort of lunacy, excluding the flagship producer, is so common that I'm surprised it can still surprise me). Anyhow, the wines see more wood in their elevage than is common, and don't show their stuff young. The other folks also were devotees.  Andrew and Jenn brought a 1997 Clos Roche Blanche Sauvignon Blanc for a starter, as an example of how crazy they are. This is wine that even the winemakers wouldn't have thought to keep this long, but it was fresh and mineral, rich and long, so much better than expected.

 

Everyone brought wines from their cellars. All but the '89s were purchased on release. 

 

We had 5 wines of mine from 1997 (I have no more Coteaux, the anecdotal sweet wine)--the dry white Breze, then the Clos, Poyeux and Bourg reds. The white is still amazingly leesy on the nose, you would think Coche or some such, but it has chenin acidity. I have always been puzzled by this wine, I have no idea what to do with it, how long to keep it. It is evolving very slowly. I will not open another bottle for a long time.  

 

I opened the "Cuvee Buster" VV Saumur-Champigny from Filliatreau for context--it is done in steel, more typically of the modern appellation.  It retains more fresh fruit and good zip than the more mellowed Clos Rougeard wines, and is an interesting counterpoint.  I mention that I think it is my last bottle of 8 or 10, and that the wine has always been delicious.  Don says he hasn't started in on his yet, that maybe he should. That, my friends, is how you wind up with a big cellar.

 

The three '97 reds from CR were much in line--the Clos lighter and more evolved, the Poyeux bigger but still suave and delicate, the Bourg just waking up.  None of these are old, and the Bourg is young. Remarkable for what was a ripe and somewhat soft vintage for many in the Loire.

 

The 2 '96s (Poyeux and Bourg) showed well, in contrast to complaints I've heard from friends in other markets. They have the brighter acidity of the vintage and taste younger than the '97s. Both are very long, and almost primary. Bourg is burly from its deeper clay, Poyeux more delicate but still long and savory.

 

The '95s (same pair) are a bit in between '96 and '97 for me--less bright than the '96s, but not as ripe as the '97s.  Which is not to indict the '97s as too ripe, but they tend that way.

 

The pair of '89s were the only bottles to begin to show true secondary characters to me. More complexity, more evolution, but you would still call these wines in the middle of their lives. Maybe 35 or 40 in Clos Rougeard years. Another ripe but still structured vintage, these are just crazy delicious.

 

Sorry to be brief, but a busy day today.  Pix of the reds here:

 

A brief note to highlight the newly opened Pearl & Ash on Bowery between Prince and Spring. I was one of their first paying customers last night, and we had a fab meal at a very fair price.  I was working, so no pix of food and I didn't take notes, but we had most of the menu and there were no clunkers at all. Some lyophilized items give a bit of modernism to the food, but the flavors were vibrant and vivid, and you can get a real meal there.  

 

The space is pleasantly downtown--high ceilings, moderate lighting, moderate noise.

 

The wine list is unusually excellent and fairly priced.  It has great deals on current release stuff, but also remarkable depth in older classic Burgundy and Bordeaux.

 

The crowd last night included at least 4 people who have done Levi Dalton's podcast. All the wine luminaries were there.

 

Disclaimer--I am known to the house, and they took good care of us. But try it anyway.

I need to have lunch on a Saturday in LA and still catch a 3 PM flight out of LAX.  I'd like to go someplace with a decent natural wine list, but I guess I can BYO if I have to.  Someplace moderately ambitious would be fine, my friends are sophisticates.

 

Any suggestions within 20 minutes of the airport?  Venice, Santa Monica, what have you?

 

TIA,

 

Joe

Dinner two nights ago at the just-opened Giovanni Rana in the Chelsea Market (MPD) was the worst in quite some time.  The place makes all the commercial sense in the world--an enormous space in the MPD, meals that cook in 2 minutes, seemingly moderate prices.  Turn those tables, make a buck.  And it is their first week open, so they will doubtless improve.

The place is a branch of a global chain, so one didn't hope for brilliance, but I did have a hope that the resto upstairs from my wine storage facility would be a place to grab a quick bite.

But it was a bit shocking to get small filled pastas that had been so overcooked that they would fall to pieces on the way to your mouth.  Some meh stuffed artichokes.  Another pasta with more tooth but less flavor.  And so on.

But the real shock to this naif was to learn that you can open a restaurant in NYC in 2012 with a 100+ selection wine list, some priced in triple digits, and not list vintages.  You want me to buy that $140 Barbaresco without knowing even how old it is, much less whether it's a vintage of the wine I like?  I guess it's a sign of how silly I was to go in the first place.

Amusing decor note--there are many nonfunctional copper pots and so on hanging from high racks over the dining room.  I was perplexed to see copper spoons, and better, copper cheese graters, scattered amongst them.  Has anyone made cutting tools from copper since the invention of bronze?

Pic of decor in this article.

Sorry to bother you all, but don't be tempted just because the place happens to be convenient.