Dr Vino's wine blog

(You ever eat Époisses after a huge meal? Run out a pound of the stuff, some big, bad supersomething red wine and plenty of bread as the candles on your table sputter, and everyone deconstructs what just happened, what was served and why and how it made everyone feel? Life gets strange and fast. Époisses is like a drug. It’s the tequila of cheese.)

So writes Sam Sifton, NYT restaurant critic, in a blog post about David Chang’s new restaurant, Ma Peche.

Epoisses, of course, is a deliciously stinky, gooey cheese from Burgundy with a rind washed in marc de Bourgogne, a local brandy. A little wooden box tries its best–mostly with futility, as I have noticed when transporting it on a crowded train–to trap the aromas that emit from these little 250g wheels. On the palate, the intense, earthy, barn-yardy ripeness can be lingering and dominating, almost too much to pair with wine. Which would you choose? Or is it…impossible?!?

Personally, the last thing I’d want with Epoisses is “some big, bad supersomething red wine.” In general, I find white wine and cheese produce successful, if underrated, pairings with cheese courses. Oh, and I’ve never had one of those apparent stoner moments with Epoisses that Sifton describes. Maybe his was a little too ripe?

Hi, soon visiting New York for a wedding, my wife and I intend to do some NY touristing. Drinking good Italian wine I can do in Italy or in my home country (Sweden), but where to find a good selection of reasonably priced US wines in NY? -Johan

Interesting question! I assume Johan would be interested in a bar to drop into before or after his wedding festivities on an evening. New York City wine bars are dominated by lists that focus mostly or entirely on Italian wines; an emphasis on French wines is probably second. But since the demise of Vintage New York, which focused exclusively on wines of New York, nowhere really leaps out to me as having a preponderance of American wines. This may have to do with the fact that it is hard to find tasty American wines that retail for under $12 a bottle, thus putting them at a disadvantage in a restaurant situation with higher markups.

However, it is possible to put together a flight of American wines at a few places. Terroir Tribeca has five American wines available by the glass, with the small sizes all under $8, including a trio of New York State Rieslings. There are certainly better options at some restaurants that aren’t wine bars per se but have some bar areas; Gramercy Tavern is one possibility. But perhaps the best bar-bar for this type of request is Morell, which not only has several wine domestic reds and whites available by the glass, but affords possible celebrity viewing at Rockefeller Plaza.

What’s your theory as to why finding abundant American wines by the glass at NYC wine bars is such a challenge? And what are your suggestions for Johan?

The British tabloid The Sun reports on wine fraud at a British supermarket: a wine consumer in Britain says he bought an obviously fake bottle of Louis Jadot Pouilly-Fuissé on closeout at Tesco. The consumer says that the label was so bad that it “looked photocopied” and had a screwcap instead of the normal cork closure. Moreover, he told The Sun, that it didn’t pass his taste test at home: “Instead of a nice French Burgundy, this was a cheap German Hock or Liebfraumilch.” A Tesco spokesperson admitted to finding “a small number of counterfeit bottles” and said that they were investigating the matter. (Click for label photos.)

Most wine counterfeiting seems to happen with supremely expensive wines, where the profits can be great on a very few number of units sold. Also, fewer people are aware of what a ’21 Petrus label should look like let alone what it should taste like. But with a supermarket brands, it seems that fraud could be more easily spotted given the large number of bottles that would need to be sold (thus more eyeballs) and consumer expectations for consistency, either in the label art or the taste. Generally, people want a fake Rolex, not a fake Timex.

But passing off cheap red wine as pinot noir, that’s another story…

Have you ever looked at a wine list and wished that you might want to try a half a bottle of one wine and a half a bottle of another wine? At Bar Henry, that dream can become reality.

John Slover, who previously worked at Cru, has assembled a wine list with 116 wines on the “market” list. Order any wine off this list and they will pour off half of it and charge you–gasp!–half the price of the full bottle. The remaining 375ml goes behind the bar and the wine gets written on a big mirror, where it is then in play and available for purchase by other diners, either as a half or by the glass. (The list also has 24 wines offered by-the-glass.) It’s a fun and innovative feature that offers the opportunity to try different wines at reasonable prices. The market list includes mostly French and Italian wines but also has selections from the US, Germany, Austria among other countries. Producers include: Tue-Boeuf, Belliviere, Knoll, Zilliken, Auguste Clape, Marquis d’Angerville, Paolo Bea and Cristom.

Bar Henry’s creativity features in a story that I wrote on the theme in the June 15 issue of the magazine Sommelier Journal. Unfortunately it’s not on their website, but if you are a subscriber, check out the story on the back page.UPDATE: the column is now online! Check it out at sommelierjournal.com.

Which wine bars or restaurants have you been to that are doing fun and innovative things?

Related: Bar Henry, 90 West Houston Street, (646) 448-4559 (map it)
“Finding a deal on the wine list at Bar Boulud in NYC“

SPIT: wine and football
NFL players endorsing (their own) wine? That’s a no-no. But the NFL accepting alcohol ads? Bring it on! [The Atlantic]

SIPPED: wine and “football”
Meanwhile, Spanish soccer star Andres Iniesta is plowing his profits back into a $9 million vineyard in Castilla-La Mancha! [Bloomberg]

SPIT: cellar age
Chateau Smith Haut Lafitte of Bordeaux will export about 1,600 cases of their wine to Montreal via sailboat! Incidentally, the shipper claims that the mode of transport will improve the wines “giving an impression of having aged a year in the process.” [Decanter]

SIPPED: the wine biz
Amazon, which tried to sell wine unsuccessfully, acquired woot.com for $110 million; the deal-of-the-day site sells wine among other things. Be sure to check out the CEO letter announcing it to the staff. [TechCrunch]

SIPPED: new bottles
Roederer will introduce a brown glass bottle in the fall for their brut premier Champagne. Apparently, the green glass bottle only kept out 92% of UV light. But their clear Cristal bottles come shrouded in orange crinkly wrap that filters out 98% of UV rays. Perhaps that should be sold as sun protection? [Drinks Business]

SPIT: keeping up with inflation
California’s budget may be reeling, but authorities won’t be hitting the bottle–for more excise taxes, at least, as they maintain excise taxes at 1991 levels. [Sac Bee]

SPIT: one-stop shopping
The WSJ reports that wine in NY grocery stores has been all but bagged (paper, not plastic).

SIPPED: irony
HoseMaster of Wine lists the top ten things he learned in Walla Walla.

I’m just back from a few days in the woods, largely free of wifi and cell phone access. One evening, after a day of swimming and fishing, we were able to relax with some relatives and a glass of wine. Or perhaps I should say a cup of wine since the cabin where we were staying didn’t have any wine glasses. I uncorked a 2006 “La Croix Picot,” a Savennieres from Domaine Jo Pithon, poured it into 16-ounce green glasses, and passed them around. Even our two-year-old son laughed at the lack of wine glasses!

The assembled crew thought it was a terrific wine, despite the lack of stemware, with good acidity, white flowers and a dry honeycomb note. I guess sometimes the glassware can’t hold a good wine back. Did you have any wine in extreme circumstances over the Fourth?

Unfortunately, even with stemware, it would be hard to replicate the tasting since Domaine Jo Pithon no longer exists. The man, Jo Pithon, however does still exist and is now making wine under the label Pithon-Paillé with his step-son Joseph.

When Fabian Cancellara crossed the line first in the short prologue of the Tour de France, his bike was impounded and put through an X-ray machine. So were 13 others. Apparently authorities are suspicious of tiny motors assisting riders in the Tour. None were found.

An article detailing the day’s events appeared in the NYT. In it, they also looked back at other ways riders have been suspected (or found guilty) of cheating in the Tour. This one caught my eye:

Some riders have been accused of guzzling alcohol along the way — including carrying wine bottles on their bikes — to dull the physical pain of the race.

Okay, then! Which wine do you think figured in the strategy there–something refreshing and low alcohol or a high-octane fruit bomb?

Image: reduced sized crop of an image attributed to Reuters

SIPPED: tranche
The wine word of the moment is “tranche.” The final dash of pricing the Bordeaux 2009 futures has concluded with a clap of thunder: controversial Cos d’Estournel at $3,600 a case, ditto for Leoville Las Cases, La Mission Haut Brion at $10,000 a case, and Lafite at about $15,000–if you can find it. And that’s just it: the top producers release fractions of the total production for pre-sale so what demand there is, pays top dollar.

SPIT: wine’s a Bitch
Grateful Palate International and R Wines are in receivership, a court-administered bankruptcy reorganization according to these filings with the Australian Securities & Investments Commission. Wines in the company’s portfolio include “Bitch” and “Evil.” An email yesterday seeking comment from Grateful Palate, the importer in California, received no reply.

SIPPED and SPIT: Bourgogne blanc
Per a new arrangement, white wine from Beaujolais will not be able to be labeled “Bourgogne blanc,” or white Burgundy, ending a decades-long loophole/tradition (depending on your perspective). [vitisphere]

SPIT: men
The brewer SABMiller has quadrupled the number of women on their tasting panels over the past decade. Why? Women may be better tasters than men. Maybe the company will start orienting their advertising toward women? [WSJ]