Jeff Grossman
Jeff Grossman
The plan was to visit Racines for one of their new Tuesday night flights. This one focused on Loir wines so definitely in the wheelhouse.
It was not the plan to have dinner alone but that is how it turned out. Pascaline, Arnaud, and David kindly made sure to visit me at the table often.
I ordered the chef's menu and Liebrandt produced some nice plates:
- an asian-style sweet potato amuse, scented with miso and shiso
- a tart cold pho with crabmeat, tomato, peas, and cilantro
- parmesan gnocchi, hazelnuts, and sour cherry in red curry, covered with black truffle slices, and served in a scorched mini-pumpkin on a plate with smoldering wood shavings
- a creamy matsutake pasta with lemon, black pepper, and pine nuts
- venison with sweet potato and spiced apple
- a berry and calamondin dessert
The food, as the last time, was very good if a bit bumptious. (The minor squawk is that the pho was slightly over-seasoned; if you have beautiful seafood then let it speak. The medium squawk concerned the gnocchi, which were wonderful, but the smoldering presentation disabled my nose from four tables away until the smoke cleared. The big squawk was over-cooked venison; it came out rare on the second try.)
Also delightful are the glasses that showed up at my table, almost as many again as were in the flights:
La Villana 2017 VdT Bianco - Pascaline sez try this: savory and juicy, distinct taste of Jura (or orange wine) appears way into the finish... from Lazio (in honor of my recent trip), a white mix of old grapes on volcanic soils, 1 day of skin contact, bright and flexible at the table I think
Flight of two wines:
Dom. Belliviere 2016 Coteaux du Loir "Le Rouge Gorge" - cement dust and pink peppercorns (as always), there is a core of tannic grip and solidity (quite distinct from the nose), milder than my bottles at home usually are
Dom. de la Roche Bleue 2016 Coteaux du Loir "La Belle d'Aunis" - very similar nose but gentler and more open-knit and juicy on the palate, good but not great
Flight of two wines:
Dom. de la Roche Bleue 2017 Jasnieres Sec - sharp and strong, the PdA is more savory, this is kinda simple
Dom. de la Roche Bleue 2015 Jasnieres Sec "Le Clos des Molieres" - OMG, ten times the wine of the entry-level bottling, rich and vivid and complex and tactile, archetypal chenin
Flight of two wines:
Dom. Belliviere 2015 Jasnieres "Calligramme" - so much matchstick!, the wine underneath is crisp and pure (but wait 10 years to try again)
Dom. Belliviere 2005 Coteaux du Loir Blanc "Vieille Vignes Eparses" - 15-20g RS and some botrytis, very full and just a touch sweet, absolutely enticing served alongside a creamy pasta dish
a wine of albillo made in Gredos (possibly Ruben Diaz 2015 Sierra de Gredos Cebreros Fiorella Albillo Real) - With that creamy, lemony, peppery, vadouvan-y, matsutake pasta dish Pascaline sez try this (it has skin contact and 18 months under flor): on entry the sauce obliterates the wine but the finishes harmonize nicely, best to drink after the food, not with; Pascaline is still tweaking what wine to serve with the dish
Baltahzar 2016 Cotes du Rhone - chosen by the guy with the light beard (who was clearly not paying attention and who was making things up about the wines), yup
Philippe Bordes 2017 VdF "No Limit" - With the venison Pascaline sez try this (and it's a varietal): full-on red, spicy and intense, spicy!, not fruity at all, more leather and twigs and a bit of resin, my first thought is Madiran and Corbieres (or something else 'South France'-ish), I guess mourvedre... and it's all Saint-Chinian carignan, sans soufre, 3 mos on the skins
Many thanks to everyone at Racines for a lovely evening.
It was not the plan to have dinner alone but that is how it turned out. Pascaline, Arnaud, and David kindly made sure to visit me at the table often.
I ordered the chef's menu and Liebrandt produced some nice plates:
- an asian-style sweet potato amuse, scented with miso and shiso
- a tart cold pho with crabmeat, tomato, peas, and cilantro
- parmesan gnocchi, hazelnuts, and sour cherry in red curry, covered with black truffle slices, and served in a scorched mini-pumpkin on a plate with smoldering wood shavings
- a creamy matsutake pasta with lemon, black pepper, and pine nuts
- venison with sweet potato and spiced apple
- a berry and calamondin dessert
The food, as the last time, was very good if a bit bumptious. (The minor squawk is that the pho was slightly over-seasoned; if you have beautiful seafood then let it speak. The medium squawk concerned the gnocchi, which were wonderful, but the smoldering presentation disabled my nose from four tables away until the smoke cleared. The big squawk was over-cooked venison; it came out rare on the second try.)
Also delightful are the glasses that showed up at my table, almost as many again as were in the flights:
La Villana 2017 VdT Bianco - Pascaline sez try this: savory and juicy, distinct taste of Jura (or orange wine) appears way into the finish... from Lazio (in honor of my recent trip), a white mix of old grapes on volcanic soils, 1 day of skin contact, bright and flexible at the table I think
Flight of two wines:
Dom. Belliviere 2016 Coteaux du Loir "Le Rouge Gorge" - cement dust and pink peppercorns (as always), there is a core of tannic grip and solidity (quite distinct from the nose), milder than my bottles at home usually are
Dom. de la Roche Bleue 2016 Coteaux du Loir "La Belle d'Aunis" - very similar nose but gentler and more open-knit and juicy on the palate, good but not great
Flight of two wines:
Dom. de la Roche Bleue 2017 Jasnieres Sec - sharp and strong, the PdA is more savory, this is kinda simple
Dom. de la Roche Bleue 2015 Jasnieres Sec "Le Clos des Molieres" - OMG, ten times the wine of the entry-level bottling, rich and vivid and complex and tactile, archetypal chenin
Flight of two wines:
Dom. Belliviere 2015 Jasnieres "Calligramme" - so much matchstick!, the wine underneath is crisp and pure (but wait 10 years to try again)
Dom. Belliviere 2005 Coteaux du Loir Blanc "Vieille Vignes Eparses" - 15-20g RS and some botrytis, very full and just a touch sweet, absolutely enticing served alongside a creamy pasta dish
a wine of albillo made in Gredos (possibly Ruben Diaz 2015 Sierra de Gredos Cebreros Fiorella Albillo Real) - With that creamy, lemony, peppery, vadouvan-y, matsutake pasta dish Pascaline sez try this (it has skin contact and 18 months under flor): on entry the sauce obliterates the wine but the finishes harmonize nicely, best to drink after the food, not with; Pascaline is still tweaking what wine to serve with the dish
Baltahzar 2016 Cotes du Rhone - chosen by the guy with the light beard (who was clearly not paying attention and who was making things up about the wines), yup
Philippe Bordes 2017 VdF "No Limit" - With the venison Pascaline sez try this (and it's a varietal): full-on red, spicy and intense, spicy!, not fruity at all, more leather and twigs and a bit of resin, my first thought is Madiran and Corbieres (or something else 'South France'-ish), I guess mourvedre... and it's all Saint-Chinian carignan, sans soufre, 3 mos on the skins
Many thanks to everyone at Racines for a lovely evening.
