Comfort Wines

When a death in the family hits you hard, you immediately look for things and people to comfort you. Friends and family come to the rescue, reminding us of how rich we are in real terms, not monetary or material ones. And we turn to those things which inspire and impassion us to help us through the difficult times.

Seeking to celebrate the memory of my deceased aunt, who enjoyed life to the fullest (hmmm... must run in the family), I turned to what I would term "comfort wines". For me, of course, this would be Burgundy and Champagne. However, the stores in this part of the US are sorely lacking in interesting bubbly, leaving me no choice but to open a few of my Burgundies and the occasional Rhône.

My go-to red Burg down in FL is one I stocked up on a few years ago and which has never led me astray: the 2005 de Villaine Côte Chalonnaise la Digoine. Its white counter-part is the 2004 Carillon Puligny Montrachet. Both of these offer huge bangs of pleasure for the buck.

The Digoine was beautiful from the get-go, and as a vehicle for pleasure delivery, this lived up to its promise. It got better as it breathed, with lovely earthy cherries wrapped in a silken, minerally structure that ended with a long finish. Absolutely yummy, and look at that, I've got some more left!

The Carillon was absolutely crispy at first, with an almost quartz-like mineral structure wrapped in lemon zest. As it warmed up, almond skins and green apples rounded it out, giving it a soft wrapping of a steely skeleton with a medium finish. And as it breathed more, and seemed to gather more and more strength on itself, becoming an absolutely swoonaliciously good wine. Damn, that was my last bottle!

Then I found something interesting, something I'd heard about for a long time but had never had. Not that I was really looking that hard, but I had always wanted to taste de Villaine's famed Aligote. This grape usually doesn't make awe-inspiring wines, but, as with all things, something good can come of it in the right hands. Aligote from good producers can be quite nice. And despite the insinuations of those around me, I actually do have an open palate (and mind!).

At first sniff, the 2005 de Villaine Bouzeron Aligote, a somewhat deep golden-colored wine offers hints of wax and white flowers, wrapped in Granny Smith apples, but ripe ones. On the palate, it's got an interestingly waxy mouthfeel, reminding me of Chenin, but with more lemon and ripe apple taste than the Loire's grape. As it breathes, more lemons and some almonds show up to drift in the air above the wine, and similar aspects appear on the palate. The acidity was a bit shrill, but the riper notes kept it in check, and the finish was somewhat long. Not bad, an interesting experiment.

Then, being in FL and right by the ocean, I picked up some fantastic-looking (and eventually tasting) scallops. I also happened upon a bottle of 2004 de Villaine Rully Les Saint Jacques. OK, so it's a cheap tongue-in-cheek play on words. Apparently de Villaine seems to have flooded FL with his wines, and I have had the good fortune to find them all. Anyway, all you French-speakers are nodding, all you others are asking yourselves WTF is he talking about. Well, scallops in French is Saint Jacques, so I had scallops with a wine named after scallops. Sadly, that's about as clever as I get, folks. Shows over.

So, on to the wine. On the nose, beautiful notes of ripe scallops (do those exist? Would I want to taste or smell them if they did? Whatever, it smelled like that), with lemon zest and some red apples, and a slight herbal note. The palate was lean but well-rounded, with sparkling acidity (it felt like little stars going off in my mouth, really neat and definitely interesting). Very Chablis-like, but at the same time not. Very cool.

As this past week has wound down, I've taken to opening anything except for my last Digoine, so now came the Rhône varieties. First up was a bottle of 2004 Domaine Gauby Le Soula Vin de Pays des Côtes Catalanes. Interesting, to say the least. Ripe but not-too-ripe pineapple, bananas, lemons and some spicy hints on the nose. Some fat almonds showed up later as it breathed, adding some dimension and depth. The palate was not as fat as expected, surprisingly so considering where it's from (near the border with Spain on the Mediterranean side). That pineapple carried through, as did the other aspects, but they were all presented on a mineral platter that helped balance the fruitier side of the wine. Very pleasant, though I would have liked a bit more acidity (then again, I am an acid freak).

Next came the 2004 Janasse Chateauneuf du Pape Vieilles Vignes. Ooooh... This is a bruiser right from the get-go, but in that pleasant way that Chateauneuf can be in the right hands. Kirsch liqueur, brambles, cassis, some meaty notes and tons of dark cherries fill your nose, with just a hint of heat. It's a medium-bodied wine despite this, with those aspects carried through onto the tongue in a slightly sweet/ripe envelope and ending with a coffee-esque finish that lasted a while. Again, there was a light hint of heat at the back, which was a bit disconcerting, but still, this was nice. As it sat in the glass, more of the meaty notes came out, as did a harissa, Middle-Eastern spice note, reminiscent of a lamb tagine's smell right from the oven. Yum!

Overall, despite this being a pretty crappy 10 days, I have managed to reconnect with family from far afield, done some business, and tasted some pretty darn good wines. We toasted my aunt, who lived a wonderful life and was the epitome of elegance, both inner and outer. I smile as I write these words, knowing that she was always happy when surrounded by her family and friends. We are here now, surrounding her in memory.
Cheers!

Thanksgiving in Florida

The pre-Thanksgiving lunch
Well, another holiday has passed us by. I hope everyone had a lovely time with friends, family, and the Big Bird.

But I have to admit something: I hate turkey. I really do. Luckily, since I am the one who cooks on Thanksgiving, I get to choose what we're eating. One year it was leg of lamb, but the family complained that it wasn't "Thanksgiving-y" enough, whatever that means. So I relented the following year and made Cornish Game Hens. However, it's nearly impossible to get good quality ingredients where my family is in Florida, so we ended up with Tyson birds. While they were moist and juicy, their flavor was, to put it mildly, vile. Every single bird had a nasty metallic taste to it. This alone should be proof that you must avoid industrially-produced foods at all costs.

So this year, in keeping with the holiday's avian theme, I wandered to the Whole Foods near my mother's place. I was looking for a bird, any bird, beside chicken, turkey, or Cornish Game Hens. To my delight, I found some whole organic ducks, which would satisfy my blood-lust for fatty meat and my family's desire for a bird of some kind.

The Beast awaits its fate
Following a recipe I'd had for a while, I rubbed it with salt, pepper and some herbs, then into the oven it went.


My mother made a lovely ratatouille with the few fresh vegetables she could find in the area. Which meant not too many but just enough for it to taste delicious and look great.

Flipping the bird
After 45 minutes, I turned Daffy over onto his back to let his sinfully delicious fat drain through the whole body, bathing the meat in it.

The duck is done!
Lunch rolled around while we cooked, so I grabbed a bottle of the 2005 A&P De Villaine Côte Chalonnaise La Digoine. I had stashed a few bottles here on my last visit, and good thing too: the store I bought it from had gone out of business! This wine was lovely, with crisp dark cherries balanced by earthy notes on a really silken frame. Just delicious. Happily I have one left for my next trip.


The next day, I grabbed the left-over duck meat, tossed it with some salad and olive oil, and popped a special bottle I'd been saving for our last day: a NV Feuillate Rose Champagne. Gorgeous, creamy cherries and toasty notes filled your mouth, dancing around the little bubbles, with some beautiful acidity to firm things up.

The last lunch
This went quite nicely while sitting on the terrace, overlooking swaying palms, with a soft breeze playing over us. You know, Florida's not that bad after all.
Cheers!

Wining and Dining in South Florida

It's good to be home after a week of sun, heat and humidity in South Florida. That said, the weather wasn't nearly as bad as it could have been, I got some major tan lines, did some serious laps around the pool, and still managed to find some good wines. Food, as usual, was another matter, to some extent. There were some good, and some bad experiences.

There was Fifth Avenue Grill, where they tried to upsell us on their more expensive main course, after not only taking our orders for the $15.99 rib special, but also serving the salad and the drinks. How does the server not know that they "ran out" of the rib before taking the orders or serving part of our meal, especially at 7:15pm? The only other options were the lobster special or the shrimp special, both for $15.99, or ordering off the regular menu which had NYC prices for decidedly un-NYC sounding dishes. Steak with cheese sauce anyone? When I asked if I could get the NY Strip at the same price as the rib special (since it wasn't my fault that they "ran out" of it), I was told no. Nothing was comped, no apologies were offered. Bullshit they ran out, they were just trying to upsell us (and, I might add, succeeded, as I was in a meat-eating mood). But when dining out with elderly family, I've learned not to make a fuss...

We visited Bova, a popular Italian place that looks like it was plopped right out of South Beach. People here are so fabulous it hurts to look at them. That said, the food was good (my octopus app was fantastic) and service was very good. Best of all, BYO was $25, even for my bottle of NV Champagne Henriot Souverain. The wine was delicious too, BTW.

Another delicious find was FAH Asian Bistro, where the welcome was warm, the fish fresh, and the prices decidedly friendly. I would go back in a heartbeat.

Other times we cooked at home, which is always nice. There is a BBQ in the complex, where I sweated and steamed one night over some huge boneless rib steaks from Costco that were delicious. My wife offered us a bottle of MV Champagne Krug (and you wonder why I love her?) to go with them and what can I say? This was fabulous, but not as usual. I’ve had this wine before LVMH bought it, and since then something’s changed, though they deny it vehemently. But to my palate, this has become more lean and angular and less round and voluptuous, which it used to be. Maybe it needs more bottle time? Still, it was wonderful, with deep, toasty, yeasty, lemony and nutty notes, backed by hints of ginger and cinnamon aspects. The mid-palate was a bit shallow, but the front and back end were big and brawny. Tons of acidity seemed to strip the enamel off my teeth and leave with a lip-smacking finish.

My discovery was the 2005 A&P De Villaine Bourgogne Côte Chalonnaise La Digoine, a gorgeous red Burgundy. Wow, crisp, bright, clear and fresh red berries mingled with a lovely earthy note, with a gorgeously elegant mouthfeel that made you feel like you were tasting something more expensive than you were. This was just fantastic. As it breathed, it took on some dark fruit notes, all the while maintaining a balancing streak of minerality and acidity. The finish was medium-length, but it had that haunting quality that good Pinot Noir gets. A great food wine, this went well with some hanger steaks, arugula and boiled potatoes. Did I mention this was fantastic? And what a steal at $24.99! And yes, I bought up everything I could find. If you see this, buy it. ALL of it.

Over a light lunch of pasta salad, I grabbed a bottle of 2004 Carillon Puligny Montrachet, one of my favorite producers in Burgundy. We have another winner! I swooned right away as I sniffed this wine’s aromas, a lovely lemon and almond mix that was soft and wrapped in velvet, yet on the palate the lightly-oily mouthfeel was balanced with some spicy acidity. This was another wine that lingered on the end, reminding you of its presence in an almost teasing way. I could have hung out with this for a while if it hadn’t disappeared so fast down my throat.

For my last night in Florida, I accepted the gracious and generous invitation of some fellow local winelovers. We cracked some seriously impressive wines, again showing that this passion of ours usually brings out the best in folks. My host and his friends were friendly, generous to a fault, and a pleasure to spend an evening with.

I brought another 2004 Carillon Puligny Montrachet and a 2004 Santo Stefano Castello di Neive Barbaresco. Ooooh, welcome to traditional Piedmont. Roses, bright cherries, tar and earth mixed in a lovely bouquet above the surface of the wine. On the palate, it offered more of the same, with an elegant frame that carried the flavors through to the tart finish. Way too young, this was decanted for the better part of 2 hours before it was drinkable. Letting it breathe really allowed it to shine.

But best of all was the 1970 Mouton Rothschild. I love this wine’s label, drawn by Chagall, a favorite artist of mine, and shown here. Right away, this was unmistakably old Bordeaux: cigar box, leather, some dusty vegetal aromas and some cedar. But as it breathed, it really began fleshing out, a lovely red fruit emerged, and the mouthfeel really smoothed out and became balanced. Beautiful, if on the down-slope.

Surprisingly, I enjoyed an Australian wine (I know, I know, I'll never hear the end of it now): the 2001 Clarendon Hills Old Vines Grenache. Big and dark yet light on its feet, this was well-balanced and not over-the-top or too alcoholic. Why can't they make more wines like this?

So, while I will say we ate somewhat well, we certainly drank well (a recurrent theme in my life...). But prices in Florida are through the roof for basic foodstuffs of even mediocre quality. At least in NYC when we pay through the nose we usually get good stuff. Most importantly, we spent a lovely week with the family and enjoyed our time with them.

Now, back to work.
Cheers!

Au Revoir!

I leave for a week in Florida on Tuesday, so I won't be blogging too much as I have no Internet connection there (Sacré Bleu! Hard to believe in this day and age but it's actually nice in a quaint sort of way). I will, however, still be tasting some great wines (I know a shop or two near us that stock some interesting stuff) and eating, um, well, I'll be eating. Let's just say I'm never too impressed with the quality of the food where I am in Florida.

Anyway, I'll be back on the 23rd and promise to bore you all with what we ate and drank while in FL.
Cheers!