Jeff Grossman
Jeff Grossman
The Dressner Event
The annual event is larger than ever. The main room is full to overflowing with French and German winemakers so the Italians, Chilean, and Slav are relocated to the side room. Even this durable author did not taste them all but I will offer highlights and tidbits of conversation that I did encounter:
- Cotar's vitovska and teran (refosco) are wonderful but I must learn to put the emphasis on the first syllable of each word
- Monte dall'Ora's ripasso is made over recioto lees, not amarone; meanwhile, the '07 amarone is beautiful with fine tannins and not too sweet
- Bera moscato does a sweet/savory flip in your mouth
- Ulivi gavi is made in acacia barrels
- Silvio Messana, of Montesecondo, is as voluble as always
- Luyt's ancient Mission vines have a wonderful nose (though less interesting to taste)
- Marc Ollivier is directing traffic in the middle of the room; when I ask why he isn't behind a table he says that he's forcing his assistant to improve his English!
- Francois Pinon says that he will only have sparkling wine next year due to the poor weather in 2012
- Mathieu Baudry's wines are gorgeous; I buy these and Montsecondo CCR before tasting
- Jean-Paul Brun's fleurie is better than the morgon today
- everything at Desvignes is showing well
- Comrade Brezeme's wines are also oinking and plumming along very nicely
I've placed my order already but I'm on the waiting list for the teran.
EVOO
Finally, I am in Boston, in possession of a working olfactory system, a free evening, and a dinner companion. We cannot get into Journeyman and we choose EVOO over Bergamot.
We stop at Back Bar for a cocktail. Tse Wei and Diane are on vacation, alas, but we enjoy our drinks. Mine was called Justine's Ephiphany (or something like that... sigh, I can almost hide my own Easter eggs) which featured a thin layer of chartreuse over a mixed base that included several floral smellies (Creme Yvette was one of them). My companion's drink had rum and ice cubes made of coffee.
We made our way to EVOO. Their new space is a series of rooms but we take one of the high-seated tables directly opposite the open kitchen. My dinner companion is the cook in her house so we want to watch the works-in-progress. It is Restaurant Week and so we order from the specials menu. Her smoked rabbit confit, served on a complicated salad, is lovely, tender and just barely smoky. I have a rabbit pate with pistachios and armagnac prunes that is classic. I am tempted by the Chinese Box but the waiter says that is a house standard so I plunk instead for Russell's Spaghetti, a mint-and-lamb bolognese served with a potato croquette "meatball". Her arctic char was acceptable. We shared a wiggly buttermilk panna cotta with rhubarb and pine nuts, and then a small cheese plate (a goat and a blue). The beverage here:
Rollin 2006 Pernand-Vergelesses - perhaps a bit loathe to come out and play but very pretty, aromatic, lightweight, red-fruited, just ripe, we are pleased
In The Cellar
As reported elsewhere:
Rollin 2006 Pernand-Vergelesses 1er - at first, quite fuller than the Villages, but it spends the next hour shutting down
Prod. del Barbaresco 2006 Barbaresco - a bottle numbered higher than 9125, which was the point at which the Prod. mixed the rest of the single-cru wine into the blend; good acidity and substantial fruit start out a bit combative but find accommodation with each other over the next hour; singing a nice song
La Baraka
In celebration of Dad's 82nd birthday we visit a favorite resto, La Baraka. Jean-Luc and Lucette are French citizens by way of Algeria so the menu has a few merguez and couscous plates on it, but basically this is a restaurant in the olde style. We order coquille St-Jacques, escargots, canard a l'orange, cassoulet, cotes d'agneau and mousse au chocolat. Everything is good.
The wine list is also the old style, listing only region and maker. No vintage, no vineyard. But prices are good and, although Dad orders a daiquiri, my partner and I order:
Drouhin ?? Chablis "Vaudon" - no doubt the most recent vintage and the most basic bottling but this is recognizably Chablis even if it lacks oomph of any kind
At Home
Checking in:
Brun 2005 Morgon - is kinda soft and murky, nice enough but drink or hold?
And with a seafood 'stravaganza tonight:
Drouhin 2002 Chablis "La Forest" - bright yellow, a rush of fruit cup greets me when I pull the cork, no ox here; the chalk and seashell are present but mild, lots of honeyed yellow fruit, dry as a bone, with substantial mouthfeel and lengthy finish; the acidity is softening so it's time to finish these up
The annual event is larger than ever. The main room is full to overflowing with French and German winemakers so the Italians, Chilean, and Slav are relocated to the side room. Even this durable author did not taste them all but I will offer highlights and tidbits of conversation that I did encounter:
- Cotar's vitovska and teran (refosco) are wonderful but I must learn to put the emphasis on the first syllable of each word
- Monte dall'Ora's ripasso is made over recioto lees, not amarone; meanwhile, the '07 amarone is beautiful with fine tannins and not too sweet
- Bera moscato does a sweet/savory flip in your mouth
- Ulivi gavi is made in acacia barrels
- Silvio Messana, of Montesecondo, is as voluble as always
- Luyt's ancient Mission vines have a wonderful nose (though less interesting to taste)
- Marc Ollivier is directing traffic in the middle of the room; when I ask why he isn't behind a table he says that he's forcing his assistant to improve his English!
- Francois Pinon says that he will only have sparkling wine next year due to the poor weather in 2012
- Mathieu Baudry's wines are gorgeous; I buy these and Montsecondo CCR before tasting
- Jean-Paul Brun's fleurie is better than the morgon today
- everything at Desvignes is showing well
- Comrade Brezeme's wines are also oinking and plumming along very nicely
I've placed my order already but I'm on the waiting list for the teran.
EVOO
Finally, I am in Boston, in possession of a working olfactory system, a free evening, and a dinner companion. We cannot get into Journeyman and we choose EVOO over Bergamot.
We stop at Back Bar for a cocktail. Tse Wei and Diane are on vacation, alas, but we enjoy our drinks. Mine was called Justine's Ephiphany (or something like that... sigh, I can almost hide my own Easter eggs) which featured a thin layer of chartreuse over a mixed base that included several floral smellies (Creme Yvette was one of them). My companion's drink had rum and ice cubes made of coffee.
We made our way to EVOO. Their new space is a series of rooms but we take one of the high-seated tables directly opposite the open kitchen. My dinner companion is the cook in her house so we want to watch the works-in-progress. It is Restaurant Week and so we order from the specials menu. Her smoked rabbit confit, served on a complicated salad, is lovely, tender and just barely smoky. I have a rabbit pate with pistachios and armagnac prunes that is classic. I am tempted by the Chinese Box but the waiter says that is a house standard so I plunk instead for Russell's Spaghetti, a mint-and-lamb bolognese served with a potato croquette "meatball". Her arctic char was acceptable. We shared a wiggly buttermilk panna cotta with rhubarb and pine nuts, and then a small cheese plate (a goat and a blue). The beverage here:
Rollin 2006 Pernand-Vergelesses - perhaps a bit loathe to come out and play but very pretty, aromatic, lightweight, red-fruited, just ripe, we are pleased
In The Cellar
As reported elsewhere:
Rollin 2006 Pernand-Vergelesses 1er - at first, quite fuller than the Villages, but it spends the next hour shutting down
Prod. del Barbaresco 2006 Barbaresco - a bottle numbered higher than 9125, which was the point at which the Prod. mixed the rest of the single-cru wine into the blend; good acidity and substantial fruit start out a bit combative but find accommodation with each other over the next hour; singing a nice song
La Baraka
In celebration of Dad's 82nd birthday we visit a favorite resto, La Baraka. Jean-Luc and Lucette are French citizens by way of Algeria so the menu has a few merguez and couscous plates on it, but basically this is a restaurant in the olde style. We order coquille St-Jacques, escargots, canard a l'orange, cassoulet, cotes d'agneau and mousse au chocolat. Everything is good.
The wine list is also the old style, listing only region and maker. No vintage, no vineyard. But prices are good and, although Dad orders a daiquiri, my partner and I order:
Drouhin ?? Chablis "Vaudon" - no doubt the most recent vintage and the most basic bottling but this is recognizably Chablis even if it lacks oomph of any kind
At Home
Checking in:
Brun 2005 Morgon - is kinda soft and murky, nice enough but drink or hold?
And with a seafood 'stravaganza tonight:
Drouhin 2002 Chablis "La Forest" - bright yellow, a rush of fruit cup greets me when I pull the cork, no ox here; the chalk and seashell are present but mild, lots of honeyed yellow fruit, dry as a bone, with substantial mouthfeel and lengthy finish; the acidity is softening so it's time to finish these up