on wine (4) a few recent bottles

My yearly pension adjustment began on May 1, just before the recent decline of the stock market and feeling somewhat better "oiled" I went to the State Store to select a case of what we still refer to as "everyday wine," although they now are the same price as what were Friday and Saturday bottles (a category that went by the wayside). And spending some time in Cape May we found a still cheaper wine, a Cetamura '08 (from the Badia di Coltibuono) that used to be a favorite but unfindable for many years. The name means "beyond the walls" and refers to the fact that it is made from grapes not grown on the estate. But to my mind (and palate) it is one of the best "plain" Chiantis, a credit to the Badia whose name means "good harvest." It has a lovely dark color, nice robe and while not a light thirst clencher as the straw flask chiantis used to be with their greater amounts of white wines, it is lighter than the Badia's Classico that with their Riserva gets close to be a good Rosso di Montalcino. An old standby, often available in the State Store is Perrin's Vieille Ferme, a well made C. de Ventoux that we've been drinking for years, even before it became a CdeV appellation, mostly because it comes from Colette's "neck of the woods" and its white is even closer, namely the C. de Luberon.

Among the other bottles were a Beaujolais Villages from Drouhin (better, and cheaper by $ 1, than Duboeuf) as well as Drouhin's '07 C. de Beaune Villages (not "everyday" but at $14 instead of the same wine at 19 or even 23, a real buy). We drank one bottle to test and then splurged on a case for the cellar where it can rest: it shows great promise for further development; '07 was a 7 out of 10 year and Drouhin a grower/eleveur/shipper that has always been the most reliable. The last Beaune Villages I bought was Bachelet's '03 (at 18.95) and it's still unopened, primarily
because old man B. died and the sons having split the firm, the Beaune Villages hasn't been available. As I have written in earlier posts, Bachelet was my preferred grower, not in the least because of the good memories of meals with B's wines.

A new Beaujolais Villages from Laboure-Roi appeared in the State Store, a selection of grapes by the CEO of the company whose first name is Armand and the wine is called St.Armand because of his "pilgrimage" to find the grapes in the b-v region. That's misleading, for that name on the front label gives the impression that St. A. is a village. Too bad, for the wine is pretty good, livelier than the over sugared Duboeuf and even a bit rough when first opened, great color and good robe. I have generally liked all L-R shipped wines, not in the least because they have been less expensive, but I always wondered about why that would be. Recently Sherry-L reduced the L-R wines they carry and that too made me worry, though I'm sure Sherry-L prefers the more expensive wines that give a better profit margin; after all a store on Park Avenue is not in the business for the connoisseur of modest means.

Actually this "search for value" forces me to try wines I would normally pass over in favor of the tried and true. I wrote about some of these "new" discoveries in the previous Wine Entry. Last week I drank another Bourgogne "Vieilles Vignes" 2006 from Albert Bichot, a reliable "eleveur" in Beaune and while this was a generic pinot noir, it was certainly a good one, probably from the central Cote de B. Unfortunately it was a one time "manager's special." Last Sunday, being by myself, I had 1/2 of a bottle of 2007 Vaqueras "Chemin des Rouvieres," also a manager's special, as a try out, for there are several cases in the store and V. is one of our favorite wines, in very good years I can match Gigondas and is nicely austere, needing some air to demonstrate its breeding. This one was drinkable from the beginning, red berries, dark C.de Rh. Villages red, but perhaps a little soft, the way Beaume de Venise reds often are. The second half, the next day was still very acceptable and at 12.99 rather than 16 or 18 a bottle it's a good buy; I'm going back for more.

While we were birding on the Florida Keys we had dinner in Capri (Fl.City), an old fashioned Italian restaurant, that retained the traditional Am-It. dishes, but had also an impressive "cucina nova" menu. The wine selection was not extensively Italian and the best red was a plain Da Vinci chianti, a 2006 (a great year) and very enjoyable (espec. at a price that was close to Pa. State Store prices). We also ate at a place with a "pirate" theme, whose lunch platters were "routine" but whose dinner selections were pretty good for a "nascar" establishment and they had a better European wine selection, incl. a 2006 Brolio ch. classico (also relatively cheap). In fact we have found that away from the Mid-Atlantic and N.E., for ex. in Indiana, Michigan, etc. good wines are remarkably affordable, even in restaurants. We can enjoy good wine at restaurant prices in New York, but it's more pleasurable at Mid-Western prices.

Fortunately, it's not all "nickles and dimes," after all the cellar is still relatively well stocked and once every two months or so I break down and by a case of selective "lay away" bottles of good years that become available when stores want to reduce their inventory. This week it was the kindness of the Dutch government that sent it's annual vacation supplement in addition to the token pension that I earned for having worked there from 1948 thru 1957 (ah! if only I had worked more steadily!) There were some 2006 Rosso di Montalcino and Gigondas and before that I found several 2005 Latour Burgundies. The problem is mostly my age (and selfishness) that make me wonder why spend my (not so hard earned) pension on wines that I wont be drinking. My children appreciate them, but are equally happy with the more modest wines that I select (my former Friday/Sat. bottles for ex.).

Last Friday, when their were reunions at the College, a former student with her live-in came to dinner and as it was hot I served a wild salmon salad on a bed of my salad green, brussels endive leaves and org. tomatoes. With that we had 2 bottles of 2005 Chablis Montmains, a first growth from the Ch. de Maligny. It reminded me that first and great growth Chablis used to be almost the only white I drank before Colette told me that she had a weakness for Sancerre and our travels in Burgundy provided memories of great bottles drunk at such once-a-trip 3-star restaurants as Trois Gros, Lameloise or Cote d'Or. This Chablis was light, clear (not made to look like a meursault), crisp and with a good herby aroma and a pleasantly lingering aftertaste.

In the absence of Colette, I had invited some of my former male colleagues for a lunch. Unfortunately it was near 90 and we had to eat in the air conditioned room. The wine was a 1999 Beaune "Cent Vignes," a first growth from the Pont family in Savigny and shipped by Laboure-Roi. A truly great wine; the non-smoking gardeners detected raspberries and one of them thought of cassis that he had drunk with me in Burgundy before it was mixed into a Kir. Fine ruby red, no hint of chaudron in the finish. Went well with the quail that was stugged with foie gras and morels (we also had the first green beans from the garden). And the absolute perfect bottle was the last '97 Nardi Brunello d. Montalcino that I had a week later to accompany some filet mignon; just a berry and roses nose, great color and slow legs and no other sidetracking qualities. It's what drinking wine is all about, I guess.