Jeff Grossman
Jeff Grossman
attendees: Bruce+Tammy, Jeff
Dinner tonight at an 'alpine' restaurant I have recently discovered in my neighborhood. The menu is a mish-mash of Italian, Swiss, French, German, and Austrian plates but all from the mountain districts.
The three of us ordered chopped liver (topped with grated horseradish and sweet beets), veal schnitzel, diots de Savoie, roast chicken with black trumpets, cheesey spaetzle, and a few other things like that. All terrific. The celery root puree was at least half butter. We're still not entirely sure what an escargot sauce is but it was good on the chicken. The sauerkraut and the cucumbers were bedighted with caraway seeds.
We ordered some wine, too:
We ordered a white flight:
Abbazzia di Novacella 2024 Kerner - Alto Adige, utterly dry, herby, minerally, anything except fruit, someone thinks there is a hint of petrol
Grosjean 2023 "Vigne Rovettaz" Petite Arvine - Valle d'Aoste, that there is a mouth-watering, juicy, fruity wine!
Dom. Philippe Vandelle 2023 "Chainai" Savagnin Ouille - Jura, solid, textbook savagnin citrussy flavors and good acids, but the dullest of the three
We ordered a red flight:
Dom. Overnoy-Crinquand 2022 Ploussard, Pupillin - Jura, pale slightly pinky-red, good but not thrilling
Sandro Fay 2024 Rosso di Valtellina "Tei" - Lombardy, rather dark for nebbiolo, good and crisp, more wet earth than roses, OK
Dorigo 2023 Colli Orientali del Friuli, Schioppettino - by itself it shows a lot of malo and a lot of cocoa powder, somewhat weird; with food, those flavors merge/vanish leaving a mid-weight red-cherry sort of wine
The owner brought us a few more:
Vignoble Labauge 2023 "Le Blanc" Frontenac Blanc/Pinot Gris - Quebec, good acidity, nice flavors
Mae Son 2022 "Vino Orange" Muller-Thurgau - Alto Adige, even better acidity, only very slightly orange
Gunther Steinmetz 2023 Pinot Noir - Mosel, this is excellent, not at all green/herbal, I could drink more of this; and perhaps I may: my dinner companions had just returned from the Mosel, up near Piesport, where they visited an American couple who bought a failing estate (and the 40,000 bottles in its cellar) and are refurbishing it; that couple has struck a deal with an 'inspirational' neighbor to help them step off on the right foot... Gunther Steinmetz!
And one with dessert:
Ch. Boucasse 2019 "Vendemiere", Petit Manseng - definitely sweet but delicately so, nice viscosity (actually not our first choice for dessert drink but we've caught the restaurant just before they replenish their wine stocks so no palo cortado or chinato)
Dinner tonight at an 'alpine' restaurant I have recently discovered in my neighborhood. The menu is a mish-mash of Italian, Swiss, French, German, and Austrian plates but all from the mountain districts.
The three of us ordered chopped liver (topped with grated horseradish and sweet beets), veal schnitzel, diots de Savoie, roast chicken with black trumpets, cheesey spaetzle, and a few other things like that. All terrific. The celery root puree was at least half butter. We're still not entirely sure what an escargot sauce is but it was good on the chicken. The sauerkraut and the cucumbers were bedighted with caraway seeds.
We ordered some wine, too:
We ordered a white flight:
Abbazzia di Novacella 2024 Kerner - Alto Adige, utterly dry, herby, minerally, anything except fruit, someone thinks there is a hint of petrol
Grosjean 2023 "Vigne Rovettaz" Petite Arvine - Valle d'Aoste, that there is a mouth-watering, juicy, fruity wine!
Dom. Philippe Vandelle 2023 "Chainai" Savagnin Ouille - Jura, solid, textbook savagnin citrussy flavors and good acids, but the dullest of the three
We ordered a red flight:
Dom. Overnoy-Crinquand 2022 Ploussard, Pupillin - Jura, pale slightly pinky-red, good but not thrilling
Sandro Fay 2024 Rosso di Valtellina "Tei" - Lombardy, rather dark for nebbiolo, good and crisp, more wet earth than roses, OK
Dorigo 2023 Colli Orientali del Friuli, Schioppettino - by itself it shows a lot of malo and a lot of cocoa powder, somewhat weird; with food, those flavors merge/vanish leaving a mid-weight red-cherry sort of wine
The owner brought us a few more:
Vignoble Labauge 2023 "Le Blanc" Frontenac Blanc/Pinot Gris - Quebec, good acidity, nice flavors
Mae Son 2022 "Vino Orange" Muller-Thurgau - Alto Adige, even better acidity, only very slightly orange
Gunther Steinmetz 2023 Pinot Noir - Mosel, this is excellent, not at all green/herbal, I could drink more of this; and perhaps I may: my dinner companions had just returned from the Mosel, up near Piesport, where they visited an American couple who bought a failing estate (and the 40,000 bottles in its cellar) and are refurbishing it; that couple has struck a deal with an 'inspirational' neighbor to help them step off on the right foot... Gunther Steinmetz!
And one with dessert:
Ch. Boucasse 2019 "Vendemiere", Petit Manseng - definitely sweet but delicately so, nice viscosity (actually not our first choice for dessert drink but we've caught the restaurant just before they replenish their wine stocks so no palo cortado or chinato)