To Decant, or Not To Decant?

That is the question. Apparently We can invent controversy over just about anything. Immigration bill - controversy. Is global warming a real threat - controversy. Future of the war in Iraq - controversy. Decanting wine - controversy. Which one of these does not belong with the others?

If you guessed "decanting wine," you're wrong.

The answer is global warming. There is no real controversy here regarding global warming. It's happening and we have to deal with it, and it's going to require creativity, innovation, and social flexibility on a large scale.

There is some controversy, however, about whether or not we should decant wine. People decant wine for three basic reasons:

1) To separate the sediment from the juice.
2) To expose wine to oxygen.
3) To pour wine into pretty crystal vessels, thereby impressing our guests.

No controversy surrounding number 1. Many wines have a lot of sediment as they age, and this can be bitter and unpleasant to taste. Leave the wine to stand upright for 24 hours so the sediment falls to the bottom of the bottle, then SLOWLY tilt the bottle, pouring off the wine until only about an ounce is left at the bottom. I like to then pour that through a coffee filter, just to check it out. It feels good in my fingers, and I like to taste it, just not while I'm sipping the 1986 Sociando Mallet with BrooklynLady on our anniversary.

As for number 3 - knock yourself out. I even do this when I'm alone sometimes. It's fun to decant wine. So Sue me.

The controversy surrounds number 2. All of us heard somewhere or other that we should decant wine to help it open up, to facilitate the fullest expression of its aromas and flavors. Thisis absolutely commonplace. I bet that you regularly decant wine, and if you don't, you don't have a decanter and you're going to buy one. Many producers recommend decanting their wine when drinking it young.

So what's the controversy?

Some wine geek/people contend that if you have to decant wine in order to elicit aromas and flavors, if it needs this "artificially quick" oxygen injection, you shouldn't be drinking it. It's not ready, in that case. Jancis Robinson, in her seminal wine encyclopedia, The Oxford Companion to Wine, presents this argument in some detail.

I am absolutely guilty of drinking wine before its time. I am still rounding up the patience to age certain bottles. When my resolve falters (and I'm not Dubbya - my resolve does falter from time to time), I decant. But I must admit, I was struck by reading about this - this idea that I shouldn't be decanting or drinking these wines. Decanting will still fail to ensure that the wine will show its fullest expression, and therefore I should probably just hold onto it. But maybe decanting, if done a few hours in advance, can approximate the effects of bottle aging.

This is one of those things that I will never really resolve for myself, unless someone invents a reasonably priced time travel device. If I could taste that 1986 Sociando Mallet back in 1990 with a decanter, right along side the same wine in 2006 decanted (to remove sediment, of course) - maybe I would come to a meaningful conclusion.

Does decanting young wine make up for lack of years in the bottle? Just curious - what's your opinion?

WBW 34 - Washington State Cabernet

Hard to believe it's already Wine Blogging Wednesday time again. Created by Lenn almost three years ago now, WBW is a chance to try wine with a blogging community from around the world, to share experiences, to learn something new. This month our host is Catie at Through the Walla Walla Grape Vine, a blog devoted to Walla Walla Valley, Washington wines.

West coast wines are daunting to me, I must say. I just don’t enjoy the big and dense high alcohol wines that I tend to encounter from the California. California wines tend to be expensive, and quality tends to suffer at each price point in comparison with their counterparts from the old world. There are certainly exceptions – I’m not bashing west coast wine as a rule, even though it might sound that way. I am saying that in my limited experience, and with my limited wine budget, I have not yet found a reason to prioritize California wine.

But California is not the only state on the west coast making wine.

I learned several years ago that I enjoy Pinot Noir from Oregon, and that there are a few producers who make great wines at fair prices, prices that rival what I would spend for a bottle of Burgundy of similar quality (if not similar style). If there are Oregon wines that I love, might there be Washington wines that I love, at reasonable prices? I asked myself this question two years ago and I admit I’ve been pretty slow about getting answers. Probably because Cabernet based wines and Syrahs are not my passion. Also because the wines that sounded interesting to me tend to be in the mid to upper $30 range, and I usually don’t spend that kind of dough unless I already know and like the producer.

I did order a few bottles of Washington wine online though, just to take a shot. I relied on descriptions from the online store, word of mouth, and what I read in magazines. I narrowed it down to a few producers: Betz, Andrew Will, and Mark Ryan. Mark Ryan’s wines were the cheaper of the bunch, priced in the mid $30’s, and they had interesting names like Dead Horse and Long Haul. These are Bordeaux blend wines with most of the grapes coming from what is supposedly one of Washington’s best vineyard sites – Ciel de Cheval, or Horse Heaven Vineyard. If not WBW, then what better excuse to crack open a bottle?

Problem: the Mark Ryan bottle I have, while a Bordeaux blend, is not primarily Cabernet Sauvignon, as Catie requested. I hope she’ll let me slide with my blend of 48% Merlot, 42% Cabernet Franc, and then Cabernet Sauvignon and petit Verdot making up the balance.

2003 Mark Ryan Long Haul, $33 (Avalon Wines).
Dark purple and inky. Roasted aromas dominate, along with the heat of alcohol – this is 14.7%. With vigorous swirling I can smell some dark fruit, but it is fleeting. The nose even two hours later is nondescript with strong alcohol heat. The palate is also blurry. I’m trying to be forgiving here because I understand how difficult 2003 – very hot. But good wine makers make good wine in tough vintages. This wine is a fruit bomb, and the fruit is not impressive. At least come with sweet ripe juicy fruit if you’re gonna be a fruit bomb. This is roasted fruit that gives way too quickly to alcohol and Maybe Mark Ryan wasn’t trying to make a fruit bomb, but if this was supposed to be old world style wine with complex nuances, it is even more of a failure. After two hours open I could sense some cassis and some roasted black fruit, but the flavors were still out of focus and the wine is completely unsatisfying. And at $33, I feel a little ripped off, I must say. And I stored the wine properly, and all that. I just didn’t like it.

I’m not done with Washington, not at all, but I could sure use some suggestions about what to taste in order to keep going. That’s why I’m glad it’s WBW. Can’t wait to read the roundup.

Grocery - My New Favorite Restaurant

I always preface these restaurant reviews by saying something like "One visit does not a review make." And I suppose I should say that now, but I feel like throwing caution to the wind on this one. Grocery on Smith Street in Brooklyn is my new favorite restaurant, in the "fancy" category anyway. I would include a link but somehow they seem not to have a website. Update - they do in fact have a site - thanks Jack!

This place was really great - terrific food, and I mean terrific. Seasonal, fresh, uncluttered, vibrant flavors, balanced, interesting, and satisfying. Terrific. Professional service, lovely ambiance, this place has it all, except for the wine list, but we'll get to that.

BrooklynLady and I waited a LONG time to try this place. First of all, it got an incredibly high score in the Zagat guide a couple of years ago and the other places with such scores tend to be hugely overpriced and undergood (unless you are one of those people who has to have foam and/or gelee in every course). Secondly, it's on Smith street and I have yet to encounter a restaurant on Smith street that I genuinely enjoy. Actually, I think I'm realizing that I just don't like most restaurants, but that's another story. Lastly, we were turned off to Grocery about a year ago when I called for a reservation for a random Friday night and they insisted on taking my credit card information - if I canceled within 2 days of the reservation or didn't show, they were going to charge my card some amount. Well, they can get bent with that policy.

So why now, why Grocery? I'm desperate people! We live in NYC and cannot think of a place where we really want to go for a special dinner. So come our anniversary and our old standby 360 in Red Hook was closed for renovations, we needed a nice place on Saturday night. Let's give Grocery a shot. We joked around about how lame the place would be, about how low our expectations were. About how it was impossible to be disappointed because we already knew it would be all hype.

As soon as we walked in I felt a teeny bit annoyed because I had to bend over backwards to get a 9:30 table, yet the place was literally half empty. Half empty in the garden too. Maybe on that night a lot of people had their credit cards charged as no-shows...But anyway, our garden table was lovely, it was a gorgeous night, staff were really nice so far, so let's get to the important part - the food.

We ordered glasses of Charles de Fere Brut Blanc de Blanc Reserve. I've been developing quite a crush on Champagne lately. Blanc de Blanc indicates that the wine is made entirely from Chardonnay, and Brut refers to the level of sweetness in the wine. Although there is a classification that is drier, Brut is pretty much as dry as it's gonna get unless you're in a specialty shop. We loved this bubbly- great lemony and yeasty aromas, the mouth feel was full and light at the same time, flavors were bright, bubbles were fine. Even at $12 a glass, we were happy.

I now know that Charles de Fere is not technically Champagne, although some of the grapes do come from Champagne. I also know that an entire bottle should cost about $10, and that it's been called "the blue light special" of Champagne. Champagne lovers or Champagne snobs might even turn their noses at de Fere. Goes to show that regarding wine, you will always do better when you follow your own tastes, when you don't allow yourself to be turned onto or off of a wine because of reputations and reviews. If I find a place that sells this blue light special at $10, I'm buying a case! If I weren't sure of this, the following quote from the importer's website closed the deal:

The World of Charles de Fère. Where wine becomes something different, something special. Wine with a secret spirit so exciting that you can actually see it. Thoughts that last but a moment, the time required to float to the lip of your glass and attain freedom from earthly limits. A taste you can feel.

While we were perusing the menu, some one (one of the owners, I think) brought out a mouth amusement, or amuse-bouche if you understand only French. Chilled celery root puree with dill creme fraiche and small potato fritters. The celery root was served in those silver two-sided things that bartenders use to measure booze when making cocktails. Cool, smooth, and earthy, refreshing with celery and dill, this was yummy. The potato fritters were impossibly light and airy on the inside, yet fried crisp on the outside. I would have happily enjoyed this whimsical warm weather riff on Eastern-bloc cuisine with my blue light bubbly all night.

But then came our appetizers: BrooklynLady had roasted artichoke with a poached egg, I had a special salad of various micro-greens (mache, chervil, etc), radishes and smooth farmers cheese. Both were utterly delish. BrooklynLady wants to put a poached egg on everything now. At this point we understood that we were all wrong about Grocery. There was serious skill going on here, and within an eating framework that I appreciate - everything was available at the farmers market that morning.

Service was so good that you never really noticed them, which for me is the true test. They appeared before you realized that you needed them, they never rushed us or cleared one plate while the other was still eating, they poured wine without overfilling the glasses, they replaced cutlery and brought more water - these things might be obvious, so why do they almost never happen, even at "good" restaurants?

BrooklynLady ordered roast pork loin with spring vegetables and bacon, and I had a vaguely wintery duck with mushrooms and red wine reduction. The wine list, and here is the only problem I can think of with Grocery, offered few bottles under $50, and the whole list seemed a bit off to me. How could there be so many Mourvedres and not one Loire red wine? Not one Pinot for less than $70? Nothing on the white side excited us and paired well with our dishes, so we went with a 2005 Christophe Pacalet Julienas for $47. Hard to swallow - $47 for a Beaujolais! And when it turned out to be so-so at best, thin and dilute like sour cherry juice, we were sad.

I may be finished with wine in restaurants. Deetrane has said for a while now, just pay the corkage and bring your own wine. Another debate for another time...

Entrees were superb. BrooklynLady's pork looked like a TV dinner - there were carrot cubes and peas scattered about and the sauce was clear and glossy. Another whimsical move on the chef's part, because there exists no TV dinner that begins to approach what was happening with this dish. SO GOOD. And my duck was thinly sliced, a generous portion, the flavors of the mushrooms and the red wine complimented perfectly.

We didn't have time for dessert, but we saw such lovely looking confections going by that we had to try something. Our waiter told us that the steamed ginger pudding (!) would take a while, so we ordered instead the chocolate and fig cake with passion fruit sorbet and coconut ice cream. Ridiculously good, and I'm not even a chocolate person.

A word of caution - the check was a hefty one (even though they forgot to charge us for the glasses of bubbly, an omission we did not have time to go over with them, but we will straighten that out next time).

So that's it - our new favorite place for a special meal - Grocery. Live in or visiting Brooklyn? Like great food and excellent service? Check it out...

Recent Sips

I was lucky enough to taste some very interesting wines this month, many of them quite delicious and memorable. Here are some from the past few weeks that did not get their own post:

Burgundy

NV Domaine des Terres Dorees (Jean-Paul Brun) Beaujolais FRV 100, $19 (SIP Fine Wines, Brooklyn). The name of this wine is a little pun in French..."ef..er..vey...cent." Effervescent. Yes, this is sparkling Beaujolais from Jean-Paul Brun, producer of the popular and very reasonably priced old vine Beaujolais called Cuvee L'Ancien. So it was with excitement and hope that I brought this over to Adam's house one night as an aperitif before whatever lovely dinner he was cooking. Sadly, not a rebuy, no way. Low alcohol, which is nice - about 8%, but not enough bramble or acidity or anything to balance out the intense residual sugar. This was pleasant to be sure, but not interesting in any way. And it is more expensive than the NV Renerdat Fache Bugey-Berdon, a lovely and interesting low alcohol sparkling rose wine.

2005 Domaine du Vissoux Beaujolais Vieille Vignes Cuvee Traditionnelle, $14 (Chambers Street Wines, NY). I have enjoyed Vissoux's wines in the past, but I have tasted only their Cru Beaujolais - things like their Fleurie. Those are great, but they're also over $20 a bottle. How would this $14 bottle be? Heady nose of raspberry liquor upon opening, almost like candy. There is also some funky underbrush in the background. the palate is little intense at first, but the candied nature of the fruit wore off and things were integrated and lovely, a dusty sense to the wine. This is simply good Beaujolais, lip smacking and tasty with food (we had pork chops).

1999 Domaine Roger Belland Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Morgeot Clos Pitois, $ unknown. I have never heard of this producer, but there are MANY Burgundy wine makers I've never heard of. I like to think that list gets smaller, but who knows...any way, our pal Mike opened this while preparing dinner recently and we drank it alone, no food. BrooklynLady and I were both just wowed by this wine. Like crushed rocks and a drop of honey, this well structured Chardonnay had lots of personality. It did not have any of the tropical fruit and vanilla that I associate with oak, but that might be because of the 8 years in the bottle - maybe things are integrated by now. Or maybe the soils in this vineyard, Morgeot Clos Pitois, are very mineral, and this producer helps that character to shine in his wines. Either way, we enjoyed this classy and vibrant wine very much. A rare pleasure to taste a well aged white Burgundy.

2005 Domaine Bart Fixin, $22 (Chambers Street). This was my first taste of a wine from Fixin, and it was not an auspicious one. This wine was magenta in color with an almost electric hue. Raspberry on the nose, but that aspartame element too that I sometimes get in wines from "lesser" Burgundy villages like Pernand Vergelesses or Ladoix, for example. BrooklynLady thought this wine was undrinkable. I found it's flavors to be awkward and at times unpleasant, but I saw some promise there, some hints at something animal and interesting. maybe with five years in the bottle, this could become good wine. but who would go through that kind of effort in this case? Not me, that's one thing of which I am absolutely certain.

Oregon

2003 Daedalus Pinot Noir Seven Springs Vineyard, $35 (Winery). Another impressive effort from Daedalus. This wine from the exalted Seven Springs Vineyard was dark translucent purple with dark fruit, violets, and lots of spice on the nose. It needed some time to really open up, but once it did, it had a rich nose of flowers, fruit, earth, and spice, with a silky dark fruit palate. Excellent and balanced wine from a difficult hot vintage. Daedalus is moving up in my mind's list of top Oregon producers.

Loire Valley

2005 Domaine de la Pepiere Muscadet de Sevre-et-Maine Sur Lie, $10 (Chambers Street). Everyone went gaga over Pepiere's Muscadets this year. I wonder if the excellent review and scores in Wine Spadvocator had anything to do with that? Deservedly so, anyway, as the Clos de Briords (made from old vines) is truly superb, and at $13 or so, are you kidding me? But what about the "regular" Muscadet from the same vintage? This wine is light straw colored with saline smells and citrus peel. Very steely and tense in the mouth, yet light and fresh tasting, very pure. Delicious with shellfish, and I understand that this is a cliche, but I really mean it. This wine is DELICIOUS with shellfish. I can imagine sipping it alone, but then again, I love briny acidic Muscadet.

2004 Domaine du Closel Savennieres Clos du Papillon, $24 (Chambers Street). Holy cow! This is just fantastic wine! Closel never disappoints, but this was just ridiculous. Showing better than ever, the 04 Papillon is a deep gold color with a focused nose of nuts, bees wax, quinine, and hints of melon. The palate is razor sharp with pronounced mineral flavors, some herbs and stone fruit too. Great balance and acidity. Great with baked fish, this will clearly continue to improve for years. I have to exercise control and save some.

Rhone Valley

2004 Eric Texier Cotes Du Rhone Brezeme, $16 (Chambers Street). This lovely Syrah from Texier is an excellent value at $16. Light and lively with strong acidity, but not off-putting, as it can be in young Syrahs sometimes. Fresh red fruit and hints of tar on the palate. This versatile wine would pair well with cheeses, or roast chicken or turkey, or most anything off the grill - it is versatile because it has powerful flavors but it is light and acidic.

1998 Chateau de Cabrieres Chateauneuf-du-Pape Cuvee Prestige Tete de Cru, $33 (Wine Commune). A few years ago I got what seemed like a good deal on three bottles of this wine on Wine Commune. I was trying to branch out, to taste some CDPs and other Rhone wines. I spent 100 plus shipping on these bottles and if I could have that $ back I would know better what to buy now. One bottle was hopelessly corked and the other two were simply nothing special. Odd, since Parker's wine book gushes over this wine, but I stopped paying attention to that right around the time I bought this wine...Ruby colored with a dustynose of red fruit, but a muddy and almost roasted palate, nothing complex going on at all. Flavors are out of focus. Could be a secondary market storage issue, or maybe Cabrieres is making CDP in a style that I don't care for.

Italy

1997 Massolino Barolo Riserva Vigna Rionda, $ unknown. Adam busted out this wine with his braised shortribs. I know almost nothing about Italian wine and I have had fewer Barolos than I have fingers on one hand, and I only have five fingers on one hand. So you can tell, I have not had a lot of Barolo. This one really impressed me. It was dark and spicy on the nose, some pruney smells too. Still quite grippy and astringent, but also silky dark fruit and spices on the palate. I was intrigued by this wine, but I liked it more than everyone else at the table. More Barolo please...

12 Year Old Rose? YES!!!

You know how every so often you read something on a wine blog that captures your imagination, something about a wine you have never before tasted, something that sounds completely different and exciting? That doesn't happen too often for me, but when it does I am very happy. A while ago I read Eric Asimov's post on a rose from Rioja and felt so inspired.

Lopez de Heredia is a famous producer in Rioja, known for excellent wines that are held in the estate cellars for many years before release. This was quite common years ago but due to the expense of carrying so much inventory, and probably also due to the changing tastes of new wine drinkers, it is the rare producer in Rioja whose new releases are actually old wines.

Lopez de Heredia is one of these rare producers. I tasted and very much enjoyed their "new" 1994 white Rioja, and I always enjoy their old red wines, well both times I tasted them anyway. But a rose? An 11 year old rose? Preposterous! Rose, even serious rose (and we all seem to recognize that rose can be serious now) is for drinking young, for sitting on the deck or in the yard, for sipping carelessly on a spring evening. Would you do that with an 11 year old rose?

Well with the 1995 Lopez de Heredia Rose you could, and you'd have a great time, but this one, as comrade Asimov rightly points out in his post, this one rewards your attention. It is a confusing wine, full of contradictions. It was highly enjoyable on its own but with food it really sang. I must say that I was a bit mesmerized by this wine, and I tried to find more immediately, but alas, the 1995 vintage is long gone. Luckily the 1997, the "new" vintage, is on the shelves.

Why did we wait for a year to open and taste this wine? Never got around to it last summer, and I've been waiting for the right moment this spring. I wanted to uncork it with people before a wine tasting, as an interesting beginning to a night of wine. Never happened, lost in the shuffle. So the other night when BrooklynLady and I sat down on the deck on a gorgeous spring evening to a plate of dry Italian sausage and two Spanish cheeses, the creamy Clara and firmer Ibores, both goat cheeses I believe, it just seemed like the right time. Now 12 years old, this bottle of rose found a home. I would love to offer myself as the resting place for its brethren, if they so choose.

2005 R. Lopez de Heredia Rioja Rosado Vina Todonia, $24 (Chambers Street).

Beautiful salmon color with some rusty orange. Amazing nose of youthful strawberry and older sherry, some vanilla. Complex palate of vibrant and fresh strawberries and peaches, very nice acidity, very pure, with mature oxidized notes. Yes, these things are happening at the same time, and they compliment each other, they are not at war. I only wish that we had an older Spanish goat cheese - that 10 year aged cheese with ground almonds on the rind perhaps. that way we could have mirrored the young/old character of the wine with both young and old cheeses. Next time. A fascinating wine and a definite rebuy.

Self-Help from The Prince of Pinot

I know it's kind of lame to simply quote an entire piece from another blogger, but this is just too good. Check it out - Rusty's new self-help guide. These next couple of paragraphs might change your life!

From the most recent Pinot File newsletter:

Stop Hiding and Start Living With Pinot Noir

Do you have feelings of inadequacy? Do you suffer from shyness? Do you sometimes wish you were more assertive? If you answered yes to any of these questions, ask the Prince about Pinot Noir. Pinot Noir is the safe and natural way to feel better and more confident about yourself and your actions. PinotNoir can ease you out of your shyness and overcome any obstacles. Pinot Noir will let you show the world you are ready to do almost anything. Shyness and awkwardness will become a thing of the past. Discover the many talents you never knew you had. You will notice the benefits of Pinot Noir almost immediately. A regimen of regular doses of Pinot Noir will allow you to live life the way you want to. Stop hiding and start living with Pinot Noir.

Caution: Pinot Noir is not for everyone. Women who are pregnant or nursing should not use Pinot Noir, but women who wouldn’t mind being pregnant or nursing are encouraged to try it. Side Effects: Loss of money, loss of clothing, loss of virginity, loss of motor control, desire to dance like a retard or perform table dancing, heightened erotic lustfulness, may cause pregnancy, may make you think you can play all-night strip poker, may make you think you can sing, may give you the illusion you are tougher, stronger or better looking than others, may make you think ex-lovers are dying for you to call them at 4 in the morning, may give you the illusion that people are laughing with you, and may be a factor in getting your butt kicked. So what are you waiting for? Stop hiding and start living with Pinot Noir!

Flatbush Farm - An Update

It was my pop's birthday and the place he wanted to eat was closed, so we wound up at Flatbush Farm, a restaurant that we liked but didn't love. When you have a 4 month old baby with you who needs to be sleeping in 90 minutes, your options are somewhat limited. This was the only place in the neighborhood where we would definitely get a table for five people without a reservation, hopefully outdoors on a lovely evening, and where a baby might not be a disturbance to other diners.

We did get to sit outside in what is truly a great outdoor dining space - lots of room between the tables, plenty of trees and green, an airy and luxurious feeling to the place.

We start with a bottle of Astoria Prosecco, which retails for $7 a bottle and goes for $24 here. Whaddayagonnado, eh? We order two salads, both excellent, although a little over dressed. Frisee with mushrooms and blue cheese, and bibb lettuce with radishes and craime fraiche. Tasty and fresh ingredients, delicious outside in the garden. And the waiter brings five plates for us, which he should do, but since it so rarely happens without asking in restaurants, we thought it was nice.

Sorry to say, though, that things went downhill from here. The problems we experienced last time with the restaurant (spotty service, inconsistent and overpriced food) were still present, maybe worse this time around.

A pet peeve: I hate it when after considering what every one at the table will eat, I spend time with a wine list, order a wine, and am told that the restaurant is out of it.

Ma and pa order the spare rib special with greens and baked beans (good sides, so-so at best on the ribs), brother and I order the duck that I loved last time (this time, too fatty, poorly presented, mushy lentils, gloopy citrus sauce - the opposite of how good it was last time), BrooklynLady goes again for her French-dip sandwich. I order a bottle of the Shinn Estates Wild Boar Doe - Long Island wines on the mind I guess.

Waiter disappears for almost 10 minutes and comes back to tell me that actually they do not have that wine. Waiter should know that when handing me the list. Or at least when I spoke the words "Wild Boar Doe," waiter should say whoops, we're out of that one, sorry."

So I go for the cheaper but very tasty 2006 Roches Neuves Saumur-Champigny that we had last time. He goes away again, another 10 minutes, and comes back to tell me that that wine also is gone! Ridiculous. We went with a Bierzo that was pleasant, but that is totally beside the point. The place is half empty and they can't manage themselves better than that? Waiter crowned his achievement by pointing to a $55 Gigondas on the list and saying "This one is a Bordeaux and it's really good."

I am just not a fan of dinner at the Farm. If you want a nice place to have a drink in the garden, go for it.