Chris Coad
Chris Coad
Bradley Kane, Esq. has had the misfortune of having his balcony closed for renovation for a good long time now. At long last, justice is restored to an imperfect universe, and his human rights as a subject of the crown have been restored to him. BALCONY IS OPEN, LET’S PARTY!
Thus it is that we shuffle, red-faced and huffing, through the early-August sweatbox that is the upper east side, and arrive at Kane’s on the dot of seven o’clock, a timeliness that has him reeling. It’s like we’re channeling Jay Miller!
A friendly little white to start things off, a Pascal Janvier Jasnières 2009. Pale straw color, smells richly lemon-chalky, hint of peachiness, smells good. A sip, and it’s a gentle, firm wine, still quite young but with a relaxed character that does a lot to wash away the road dust. Finishes quietly but friendly, very cohesive and a bit tight, but at the same time giving out an Open for Business vibe. Nice.
And now it’s time for Brad’s Eternally Popular Broiled Chicken. He shows us his secrets of preparation, on the condition that we swear a blood oath to never give them away. It turns out that the secret ingredients are: SALT AND HERBES DE PROVENCE.
With the now-not-secret bird there’s a Chateau Giscours Margaux 1994. I have a lot of ’94 Bordeaux. If you weren’t around then, that was the year the wine press freaked out, after the drab 91-93 run with OMG A TRUE CLASSIC BORDEAUX VINTAGE. Well, yeah, in the sense that a lot of the wines were hard, tight, tannic, severe as youths. I put most of mine away and decided it might be time to check back in now. This wasn’t a particularly friendly wine as a baby, so imagine my surprise when I stick my nose in the glass and get a quiet, velvety burst of cassis-raspberry redfruit laced with a slatey-graphite minerality. Eyes widening, I take a sip, and here’s a spreading, fleshily gentle wine, youngish but with enough secondary development to beguile the noseplaces. There’s a decent core of acidity, but it comes across as gentle, resolved, on the soft side. Which is fine. I really like being surprised like this, it’s a great match with the surprisingly spicy chicken (“Did I use hot paprika instead of sweet?” Kane wonders aloud.)
Now dessert, berries and Chantilly cream, cheeses, tiny sweet grapes and Francois Pinon Vouvray Moëlleux 1997. Medium amber color. Mmmm, lots going on in the smellies: light caramel, hay, touch of marmalade, quince, quinine. A sip, and it’s medium-sweet, balanced and smooth. It’s lost a lot of the baby fat it had on release, and now comes across as leaner but far more complex, with some really interesting leathery medicinal-herb kind of aromatics. I think have three bottles of this left in storage. It’s lovely to drink tonight, but there’s no hurry. As Connell would say, “Drink AND hold.”
As the night went on it cooled off, and we sat on the balcony as it got darker and talked about times past, how they were so much better than times present. We are old, and cranky. Which is kinda fun in itself.
Thus it is that we shuffle, red-faced and huffing, through the early-August sweatbox that is the upper east side, and arrive at Kane’s on the dot of seven o’clock, a timeliness that has him reeling. It’s like we’re channeling Jay Miller!
A friendly little white to start things off, a Pascal Janvier Jasnières 2009. Pale straw color, smells richly lemon-chalky, hint of peachiness, smells good. A sip, and it’s a gentle, firm wine, still quite young but with a relaxed character that does a lot to wash away the road dust. Finishes quietly but friendly, very cohesive and a bit tight, but at the same time giving out an Open for Business vibe. Nice.
And now it’s time for Brad’s Eternally Popular Broiled Chicken. He shows us his secrets of preparation, on the condition that we swear a blood oath to never give them away. It turns out that the secret ingredients are: SALT AND HERBES DE PROVENCE.
With the now-not-secret bird there’s a Chateau Giscours Margaux 1994. I have a lot of ’94 Bordeaux. If you weren’t around then, that was the year the wine press freaked out, after the drab 91-93 run with OMG A TRUE CLASSIC BORDEAUX VINTAGE. Well, yeah, in the sense that a lot of the wines were hard, tight, tannic, severe as youths. I put most of mine away and decided it might be time to check back in now. This wasn’t a particularly friendly wine as a baby, so imagine my surprise when I stick my nose in the glass and get a quiet, velvety burst of cassis-raspberry redfruit laced with a slatey-graphite minerality. Eyes widening, I take a sip, and here’s a spreading, fleshily gentle wine, youngish but with enough secondary development to beguile the noseplaces. There’s a decent core of acidity, but it comes across as gentle, resolved, on the soft side. Which is fine. I really like being surprised like this, it’s a great match with the surprisingly spicy chicken (“Did I use hot paprika instead of sweet?” Kane wonders aloud.)
Now dessert, berries and Chantilly cream, cheeses, tiny sweet grapes and Francois Pinon Vouvray Moëlleux 1997. Medium amber color. Mmmm, lots going on in the smellies: light caramel, hay, touch of marmalade, quince, quinine. A sip, and it’s medium-sweet, balanced and smooth. It’s lost a lot of the baby fat it had on release, and now comes across as leaner but far more complex, with some really interesting leathery medicinal-herb kind of aromatics. I think have three bottles of this left in storage. It’s lovely to drink tonight, but there’s no hurry. As Connell would say, “Drink AND hold.”
As the night went on it cooled off, and we sat on the balcony as it got darker and talked about times past, how they were so much better than times present. We are old, and cranky. Which is kinda fun in itself.
