Category Archives: Wine

Reuters reported yesterday that a six-liter Methuselah of Romanée-Conti 1976 sold for $42,350 at Sotheby’s New York. 

This guy used to own that bottle. His cellar eventually netted over $1.18 million dollars.

Romanée-Conti is one of the 6 Pinot Noirs from Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, the most prestigious Burgundian wine estate (you’d hope for that price, right?), based in Vosne-Romanée.

The bottle once belonged to Lloyd Flatt, an eye-patch wearing, New Orleans-based wine collector.  Flatt began hunting for world-class wines in the late 1960s and the Wine Spectator quoted him as saying, “Forty years ago, collectors had nothing to go by other than their own palates. Michael Broadbent had yet to write his Great Vintage Wine Book, Marvin Shanken had yet to buy Wine Spectator and Robert Parker was still in law school. My advice to anyone contemplating a wine collection today is to focus. Find something that you enjoy. Don’t try to explore everything all at once…Unlike an art collection, which is permanent, wine ultimately must be consumed. You shouldn’t even contemplate a cellar if you cannot accept that fact.”

For you nerdy folks out there interested in names for various bottles sizes, here is a chart I recreated from my Oxford Companion.

Collectors often favor larger format bottles, as they can lead to slower and more subtle aging of the wine.  As soon as you start your own winery, you’ll be able to begin a collection as impressive as Flatt’s.

photo from zinwines.com

I had the pleasure to meet Dan Philips this week and to taste one of his newer products, a sparkling version of the very popular Bitch Grenache. 

Upon the wine’s release last August, Dan put his thoughts down on paper and many of his comments are worth sharing with you.  “Over the years I’ve heard about every possible idea for line extension: Big Bitch (magnums), Skinny Bitch (riesling), White Bitch (chardonnay), Clos de la Bitch, Dom Bitch, Sine Bitch Non, Cloudy Bitch, and on and on…it straddles the line like a delicate tight rope walk between popular culture and fine wine, PT Barnum and RMP, Jr., Meryl Streep and Zsa Zsa Gabor (think Paris Hilton with an accent if you’re too young to remember Green Acres,) Krug and….? Well, something that has not yet been invented.  Until now.  It’s called Bitch Bubbly.  I can try to describe it, but you have to taste it AND see it to get it.  It’s pink.  It’s bubbly.  It’s basically a blanc de blancs with a hint of grenache.  It’s redolent of strawberry mousse.  It is made by Chris Ringland and has his trademark, crisp and vibrant balance.  And, it’s about the sexist thing you’ve ever seen in a bottle.” 

There you have it.  It’s made by a rockstar wine maker, it’s under $10 and it has a crown cap.  What’s not to love?

We’re in the process of building our team of wine instructors and we want to see potential instructors in action before bringing them onboard. 

So, in the name of education, I had to go drink wine and eat cheese at Murray’s this week.

6 wines and 6 cheeses go head to head.

I attended “The Harmony of Wine & Cheese” with instructors Louise Geller (in the cheese corner) and Amanda Crawford (in the wine corner).  Amanda did a great job; she was friendly and approachable, she easily commanded the room, she knew her stuff and most importantly, she picked some delicious, off-the-beaten-path wines.

1. Channing Daughters Scuttlehole Chardonnay 2008.  Unoaked, this Chardonnay had notes of citrus, green melon, fresh herbs and honey.  From the North Fork of Long Island, the high acid style of this wine was a perfect complement to the high acid, lemony goat cheese it was paired with; Vermont Butter & Cheese Coupole.  A classic pairing here would have been Sauvignon Blanc, especially an old world style, such as Sancerre, but the local Chardonnay did the trick.

2. Étoile Chardonnay Domaine de Montbourgeau 2006.  From the Jura region in SE France, this is Chardonnay made in a purposely oxidized style, giving lots of nutty notes (think fino Sherry).  The funk of the wine helped to offset the intense fruitiness of its cow’s milk cheese partner; Jura Erguel.  This pairing illustrated, “what grows together, goes together”.

3. Grignolino “Pogetto” La Casaccia 2008.  gree-nyo-LEAN-oh is native to the Piedmont region of Italy and tends to be pale-colored with lots of red berry notes, some spice, high acid and low tannins.  Tannins and lactose are not friends and when paired together will often yield a metallic finish.  This fresh, fruity and tart wine was a swell partner for the fruity, floral, washed rind cow’s milk called Rubloz, from high in the western, French-speaking part of the Alps. 

4. Lambrusco “Bocciolo” Ermete 2007.  Like raspberry pop rocks, this wine dances on the tongue.  Say what you will about Lambrusco, but a fruity wine with a bit of sparkle and a bit of sweetness is just about the perfect thing when there’s salty meat or cheese involved.  The cheese pairing was Podda Classico, a cow/sheep combo aged for just over a year from the island of Sardinia.  The cheese was crunchy, salty, nutty and intense, but once Lambrusco was added to the mix, both went down easy. 

5. Viña Bosconia Reserva, Lopez de Heredia 2001.  The current release from this very traditional producer had notes of pomegranate, dried cherries, black tea and rose petals.  The dill and coconut from the American oak were evident, along with a bit of musty funk.  It was paired with Mrs. Quicke’s Cheddar from Devon, a traditional, cloth-bound cheese with intense horseradish and damp basement notes (certain bites were reminiscent of corked wine).  The funk of the two proved a pretty partnership.

6. Alvear PX Solera 1927.  From the Montilla region in southern Spain, this is a fortified wine made in the style of Sherry (think solera system).  The grape is PX, Pedro Ximénez, and the wine had notes of prunes, marmalade and toasted hazelnuts.  While super sweet, it still finished very clean.  A classic pairing with a sweet wine is blue cheese.  Louise instead went with Monte Enebro, a salty little devil of a goat cheese from Castilla y León, Spain.  This was hands down the best pairing of the night. 

We hosted a team building event at school last night for the Klingenstein Center, part of Columbia University’s Teachers College.  The group made a 3 course meal and then sat down together to enjoy the fruits of their labor. 

I was not excited about the prospect of selecting a wine when I learned the first course was asparagus soup.

Asparagus, along with artichokes, eggs, garlic, cumin, chocolate and several other tasty things, can be tricky to pair with wine.  Certain chemicals in the asparagus can make your wine taste grassy, vegetal, tinny or just plain gross. 

When I saw the finished product, though, I knew I had to come up with something.

Asparagus soup garnished with a chicken lollipop, wild mushrooms and creme fraiche. It was too pretty to go wine-less.

The general rules when selecting a wine to match these dreaded spears are as follows: go with something crisp and refreshing (think Albariño or Pinot Grigio), try a sparkling wine (don’t go too yeasty here, maybe Cava), opt for an aromatic varietal (Grüner Veltliner is a good choice), and avoid tannic or oaky wines.  Ignoring all this, I chose a Chardonnay.

Specifically, I selected the 2006 Kumeu River Village Chardonnay.  Now to be fair, this is a wine from New Zealand, with notes of ripe peaches, flinty minerals and a distinct nuttiness, as opposed to an oak bomb that you might find from California.  While some of this wine (1/3) saw some oak, most was aged in stainless steel. 

The nuttiness was a perfect match to the earthiness in the asparagus and the mushrooms.  The ripe fruit notes worked really well with the sweet chicken.  The acidity worked perfectly, too, thanks to the addition of the crème fraiche. 

Sometimes it pays off when you don’t follow the rules.