The Best Cellar

Trashcan-gate

2008-01-04T11:55:00.000-08:00

The following has nothing to do with wine.

I went to throw out the recycling the other day and found a large cardboard box in the recycling bin. Because of it, there was no more room in the bin, so I took it out. It was empty except for some of those air-pack things they use instead of the hated "peanuts." I took the air-packs out and pierced them, then found a receipt in the bottom of the box. It had our neighbor's name on it. They dumped their box in our trash. What makes it more insidious is that they went to the trouble of tearing off their name on the mailing label on the outside of the box. I went inside and told my wife.

Now what to do?
(a) Go for moral superiority and do nothing.
(b) Return the box to them with the invoice stuck to it.
(c) Talk to them either nicely or not nicely

I was going for plan (b), but the housekeeper broke down the box and threw it in the recycling before I got a chance. My wife saw the neighbor on the street and talked to them very nicely. The bat has been taken out of my hands, but did I do the right thing by turning them in to the fuzz in the first place?

The Usual

2007-12-20T15:30:00.000-08:00

I returned home from Mexico to receive an "Urgent (kind of)" message: I was invited to a tasting of Kosher wines!!! I couldn't make it but here's the email in response to "how was":

"You know, kosher wine tatsing at a hollywood writer's house, some merlot, rabbis, hookers, blow, the usual....."

Veteran's Day

2007-10-25T09:25:00.000-07:00

A little dinner with some old friends last night. That is to say the other fellows at the table were seasoned veterans of the wine game: Harold Applebaum, Jerry Magnin, Tom Rykoff, Joe Smith, Jim Craig...and me and Christian N. at Eric Greenspan's The Foundry on Melrose. Just another Wednesday night.

The Rundown:
1988 Salon Le Mesnil
1997 Bouchard Montrachet
1996 Marcassin Marcassin Vineyard Chardonnay
1976 Arnoux Romanee St. Vivant
1991 Jayer Vosne Romanee Cros Parantoux
1953 Cheval Blanc
1959 Latour
1975 Mouton Rothschild
and a Sauternes that had gone decidedly south.

Through a Glass Darkly

2007-10-11T08:45:00.000-07:00

We had some extra-curricular activity in one group this week.

There was some rumblings about the intentions of one member of the group whose several last-minute cancellations led to a contentious email exchange. This member is known for bringing older vintages, and another member wrote that: wines have not been up to the level that we have all raised the bar to....

I countered:
We seem to be in agreement that his wines are of a different character than some of the things most of the rest of us bring. Let me use an analogy from the Pleasure Chest on Santa Monica Blvd. They have a lot of funny looking things in there, but I can figure out what most of them are or where they go. Then there's a glass case with what look like some kind of weights in different sizes, like they might be used in fishing or something. Hmmmm? I asked the guy with six nipple rings what you use these for. He explained that you attach these weights to a ring around your cock or around your balls. I said, "Doesn't that hurt?" And that's when I got my life lesson. He said, "Preference."

It is the same with wine. He likes more mature wines. Really mature, tug on your balls with a metal weight kinds of wnes. He is not alone in his criticism of "Parkerized fruit monsters". The entire United Kingdom agrees with him. Futher, I think his entrees have often served as interesting and instructive counterpoint to the hype-driven juiced-up 21st century wine machine. Certainly the Guernica-era Rioja he brought downtown was incredible, and very valuable (try to replace that bottle on winesearcher!). His emphasis on older wines is reflective of his collection and his taste, not on trying to appeal to the mass hysteria that inevitably follows this one guy's blessing of 95-points. I think it's admirable that he sticks to his guns even as the catcalls get louder.

In other action, Steve Elzer, the host of our dinner this week, put together a fairly astounding group of "cult" wines, with almost every major name included: Harlan, Colgin, Bryant, Araujo, Scarecrow, and on and on. He suggested that we all chip in about $100 apiece and get a bottle of Screaming Eagle.

I objected on principle. I said, I thought the deal was "BYOBB," we all bring the best bottle we can and leave it at that. "We have had stellar lineups of all kinds of wine, but there was always a bigger, better name that didn't make the list because either no one had it or no one offered. We didn't go out and buy DRC or Latour or Guigal or Sassicaia to augment what was already a substantial group of wines. Much as I appreciate your largesse, or excess, with the wines for this dinner, and the thought behind it, I vote no on Screaming Eagle." I added that I would, of course, go with the majority, but the motion was shot down in committee.

In closing, I took the bus to the dinner.

Drinking the Kool-Aid

2007-10-11T08:16:00.000-07:00

The title of this blog refers to The Cult of Cults Dinner last night at the Campanile Clubhouse, not to the fairly astounding grouping of 23 red wines (and 7 more) that were poured. I am exhausted.

David Griffith says it's not the wine that kills you at these dinners, it's the food. He has an uncanny nose and correctly "guessed" most of the wines, which were served "Blind-ish:
Marc Abrams hair was there, having switched allegiance from the Mets to the Yankees to the Jets to the Giants to the Brooklyn Dodgers. (Why is it that the only people who read my too-infrequent blogs find something objectionable in them? I have been censored and censured, but I won't bore you with the details here.)
Jordan Posell and David Rauch were both savoring their last hurrah before new babies arrive, one scheduled for delivery on the night of the next meeting of this esteemed group.

There was so much wine it had to be broken up in to A and B flights. With the possible exception of the 02 Modicum, a wine made in partnership with the French Laundry's Thomas Keller, everything was of tip-top quality. These wines are so hard to get, come in such small quantities, and at such high prices, it's like they almost don't exist at all. It was quite a treat to see so many of them at one table. Bravo to Steve Elzer who put it all together and brought almost a case of these gems.

Assorted Grilled Cheese Sandwiches, Tray Passed Hors d'Oeuvres
96 Dom Perignon

Leek and Bacon Tart served with crème fraiche and fine herbs
02 Marcassin Vineyard Chardonnay (RP 99)
02 Sine Qua Non Whisperin E (RP 95)
02 Scholium Sylphs (N/R)
03 Maldonado Reserve Chardonnay (N/R)

Sauteed Trenne, beef bolognese (not again!)
03 Scarecrow (RP 98) 04 Maybach Materium (N/R)
02 Modicum (N/R)
03 Vice Versa (RP 90)
02 Hundred Acre (RP 98)
03 Buccella (RP 95)
04 Keeber

Braised Beef Short Rib, blue foot mushrooms, peppercorn cream
00 Shafer Hillside (RP 99)
01 Foley Cabernet (RP 99)
01 Pride Reserve (RP 99)
01 Switchback Ridge (RP 98)
01 Araujo (RP 97)

Grilled Rack of Lamb with shell bean ragout, salsa rustica
82 Grace
00 Harlan Estate (RP 91)
00 Colgin Cariad (RP 94)
04 Bryant (RP 95-97)
92 Colgin Herb Lamb Vineyard (RP 96)
93 Harlan Estate (RP 95)
94 Diamond Creek Lake Vineyard
95 Shafer Hillside Select (RP 99)

Pear Tatin with Mascarpone Creme
Araujo Grappa (just gross, but you practically have to take it, and the soap, and the olive oil, if you want to keep your allocation up for the wine. The "Tyranny of the list.")
01 Sine Qua Non Straw Man

Going to see the Pope

2007-09-06T04:48:00.001-07:00

I had dinner with Michel Rolland last Friday night. At least that’s the way I’m telling it. The Wine House put on a dinner with the world’s best known wine consultant and a handful of guests (three tables of eight, $135 per) in the small private dining room, just over the store. I saw an opening at his table and pounced like a tiger on the seat just once removed on his right. To my right was a couple who knew nothing about wine, just happened into this and had no idea they were dining with the equivalent of Phil Jackson or Stephen Spielberg. When I sat down, the guy pointed at the tasting menu and asked if we were really going to drink 14 wines. Yes, yahoo, that’s what we do.

The great man had a few bon mots, but was pretty much in a rote sales mode. He said that when he got started consulting his advice was “Ripe, ripe, ripe!” Thirty years later, with all the advances in technology and winemaking, his advice is “Ripe, ripe, ripe!” In answer to some who criticize his wine style as overripe, he made a great golf analogy: when you have a long put, sometimes you have to overshoot to get a chance of getting it in the hole.

He spoke at the table a bit about going to China and making wine in India (his wife Dany allowed that the most recent vintage was “not so terrible”).

The list:
2004 Remhoogte Estate, Stellenbosch
2003 Remhoogte Bonne Nouvelle, Stellenbosch
2004 Val de Flores, Malbec, Mendoza
2003 Yacochuya, Malbec
2003 Campo Eliseo, Tinta de Toro
2005 La Grande Clotte, Bordeaux Blanc

2004 & 2005 Bordeaux
Rolland-Maillet, St. Emilion
Fontenil, Fronsac
Bertineau St. Vincent, Lalande de Pomerol
Le Bon Pasteur, Pomerol

Swimming with Dolphins

2007-08-07T09:38:00.000-07:00

I went to a casual Monday night tasting last night in Malibu. I'll skip the table talk and get right to the wine:

Chapoutier L'Ermite '99
Niellon Chass. Maltroie '04
Smith Haut Lafitte '98

Gevrey Chambertin Les Varoilles '85
Chauvenet Echezeaux '85
Lopez de Herediz Rioja Vina Bosconia '76 (*wine of the flight and surprise of the night)
Casanova di Neri Brunello di Montalcino '95
Rostaing Cote Rotie Les Terroirs '02

Conterno Barolo Monfortino Riserva '95
Haut Brion '95 (*wine of the night)
Latour '95
Mouton '95
Sloan '03
Galardi Terra di Lavoro '04

Caprai Sagrantino di Montefalco 25 Anni '95
Feudi di s. Gregorio '97
Pahlmeyer Merlot '96
Anne Gros Clos Vougeot '00
Sine Qua Non Into the Dark Grenache '04
Norton Malbec

Yquem '86

Hate to See Her Go

2007-08-06T11:46:00.000-07:00

I had a funny exchange with a client this morning. I'm trying to get him to buy a fairly substantial amount of wine from another guy. I sent him a list with pricing on it, totaling $15,000. He asked me to trim it down to $10K, which I did. Then he sent me a supplemental list of stuff to price out. That added up to another $5K. I suggested he take the whole lot, back at $15K.

He wrote back: "The continuation of my marriage requires that I keep this under 10 grand."
I said: "She had a really good run and I'm sure you'll be sorry to see her go, but...."
He: "That's true, great wines are hard to find."

Another guy complained that his wife likes only cheap wines. He's tried to get her to go along with the program, but she persists in her plonk. I told him he's got to get rid of her. Then he told her what I said!
A week later I saw them out at a restaurant together. I said, "You're still here?"

The Ravages of TIme

2007-08-03T14:28:00.000-07:00

I have a consignor/client/friend who is divesting himself of most of his collection. I always have mixed emotions when an older gentleman sells his wine. Wine is just a thing and in the course of one's life we get rid of so many things, but a wine collection is romantic in bringing together people and passion and occasions when we entertained our friends and celebrated life's triumphs. This fellow sent me a note:

I HAVE THOROUGHLY ENJOYED ACCUMULATING AND DRINKING WINES, BUT AGE CREEPS UP AND THE BOXES GET HEAVIER AND DIFFERENT HOBBIES PRESENT THEMSELVES. FURTHER, LIFE DOES GET SHORTER AND THE YEARS PASS FASTER AND FASTER.

Reminder: Drink More Better Wine Today!

Cellar Raid: Proceed with Caution

2007-07-27T15:04:00.001-07:00

I have a client who is very keen to know the scores and prices of wines in his collection. He tries to buy only wines that rate 95 and cost $95-or-less. Some might complain that he's just buying into what some critic says, but it really not a bad way to go.

I sent him his Carte du Vin inventory book with all the scores and prices, and he asked me to make something for him that he can keep in the front of the book when he has guests over so they don't see all this stuff (especially the prices), just the names and vintages.

Would you select something that was more expensive or less expensive if you knew how much things cost? Would you pick a higher- or lower-scoring wine if the information was available to you? What does it say about you? What do you think the collector is making of it all?

I "give the keys to the cellar" to guests who appreciate it. Just give them the Carte du Vin invntory book and let them pick their best bottle. I'm always a bit disappointed when someone is offered free run of the place and they pick something more in the "everyday" wine section. It almost hurts my feeleings that they don't grab the highest scoring, most expensive bottle. Go for it you dummies! How often do you get this chance?

White Boys (and Girl)

2007-07-26T09:01:00.001-07:00

Last night we trekked to Petros, the great greek restaurant in Manhattan Beach, for an evening of all white and light wines, but no Chardonnays. David Rauch (who did most of the heavy lifting) and I played co-hosts to this adjunct affair, a quasi-official Xpensive Winos gathering, co-starring Al "Year of the Cat" Stewart, affiliate member/mascot/official chick Tracey Stern, and Terry Taketa along with the usual rogues gallery. As if reading our minds, the always prescient Los Angeles Times Food Section went on an on about the pleasures of different whites, to the exclusion of the overoaked Cali Cabs.

Petros is just terrific. I thanked him for providing us with a venue to sample our treasures. The truth that all wine collectors know is that you generally can't enjoy wine as well with a meal at home--and even Hef would have a hard time squeezing that many hot girls into his dining room. This was a bit of an over-the-top affair menu-wise, with seven fairly substantial courses paired with 22 wines. The run-down:

Signature Dips with Grilled Pita
Fried Calamari, lemon, olives, almonds and garlic sauce/Fried Sardines
1995 Krug
2006 Pax Rose
2006 Kutch Rose
2006 Tempier Bandol Rose
2006 Araujo Sauvignon Blanc

Grilled Octopus with aged vinegar, garlic, EVO and oregano sauce with boiled baby beets
2002 "Y" (from Yquem)
1990 Pavillon Blanc
1996 Dagueneau Pur Sang
2004 Dagueneau Silex

Lobster Spaghetti with chili, tomato, broccolini, feta and basil
1985 Chave Hermitage Blanc
2003 Chave Hermitage Blanc
2004 Vieux Telegraphe Chateauneuf-du-Pape Blanc

Greek Snapper with grilled vegetables, mashed potatoes and latholemono sauce
1983 Trimbach Clos St. Hune
2005 Kongsgaard Viognier Roussanne (WOTN!)
2005 Alban Estate Viognier

Spinach Risotto with giant shrimp, feta and scallions
1999 Sine Qua Non Tarantella
2003 Sine Qua Non Sublime Isolation
2004 Sine Qua Non Rejuvenators

Nikos Saganaki: Sesame crusted feta with golden raisins and drizzled with Greek honey
2000 Zind Humbrecht Riesling Clos Windsbuhl VT
2002 Robert Weil Riesling Kiedrich Grafenberg
1999 Kracher #4
1990 Suduiraut Sauternes

Walter Paige was there in body, but only drank the dregs of a leftover bottle of screwcap Pinot he brought with him. And it bears commenting that one of our regular members (who shall remain nameless--we know who he is) chose to keep his marriage intact by attending a performance of "Jersey Boys" instead. If you've met his family, you'd know it was a difficult decision.

Proper Wine Etiquette

2007-07-22T14:14:00.001-07:00

My father is from Boston and loves the Cantonese food there. He decided to get some "Chinky" food (no offense intended) from a joint called the Golden Temple on Beacon Street in Brookline, and the idea just sort of snowballed into a big (24) summer party, flying out the chefs and manager from the restaurant, uniformed servers, a major production. Someone said, "So is Joe going to open some great wines?"
I said "No. The best wine to pair with their signature dish (Lobster in meat sauce) is called beer."
Nevertheless, I suggested that a Rose' would probably be innocuous enough that it might do the job. I declined (I had beer and a Mai Tai), but saw that someone at Table #3 had a glass. I stuck my nose in it and could tell right away that it was too old, a little pruney on the nose. Much to my relief, it turned out I was right, it was an '01 Domaine Ott (we've got the '06 in the fridge now).
I told the guy to get rid of it and have some (Aubert) Chardonnay. He said he didn't have a glass. "Use your imagination," I said, and I took his glass and dumped it in the bushes.
A minute later my wife did the same with hers. Then another guy at the table followed suit, and...got caught, upturned glass in hand, by my mother! Don't expect another invitation any time soon, John P!

How to Win Friends

2007-07-13T15:56:00.000-07:00

I heard that the '99 Dom Perignon was on sale at Costco for $109. I drove down and filled up a shopping basket with eight 6-packs of individual gift boxes. It filled up every inch of the basket, two high, and the space underneath. Most of this is going to my wine group, Liquid Assets, and a couple other people, but it made quite an impression. An Asian guy started talking to me. People in line were checking me out. When I was leaving the building, past the security guy who checks off your receipt, an older fellow said he was in the liquor business for 21 years and never sold that much DP. Two women waiting for a parking space to open up stopped by to say hello. Call me Big Fish.

Odd Bits

2007-07-12T08:28:00.000-07:00

I have a client who's a very famous retired basketball player. I brought my faithful assistant Matt with me and he was suitably excited to meet a bona fide sports legend. The client greeted us at the door and we stood in the foyer chatting for a bit. He wanted to show us all the latest things in the house that has been undergoing a redecoration while he was out of town with another team. In the den, he points out the wainscotting. In a hallway he identifies one of several pieces by a West Virginia artist he found. At this point I wouldn't have been surprised if he pulled out some chintz fabric samples. Matt and I looked at each other like, "This is what sports legends talk about?"

La Noche

2007-07-02T16:44:00.000-07:00

Last night we had at it with Spanish wines at Ciudad, downtown LA. The evening was part of the X-Pensive Winos series, but the date and venue got changed last-minute-ish and the evening had a casual feeling to it. Unfortunately we didn't get to discuss the wines at the table (sitting outside on the patio on paella night with music wafting in the air made it difficult).

Tapas
Rabbit and Ham Croquetas fried croquettes with braised rabbit and serrano ham served with roasted pepper salsa
Fried Spanish Brie with grilled apricots, caramelized onions, homemade crackers, and warm honey
Bacon Wrapped Dates with cabrales cheese
Seared Calamari with white beans, peppers and bilbao chorizo
Lamb Meatballs with mint chimichurri
Mini Wild Mushroom Empanadas with warm chipotle sauce
1994 Pesquera Janus Gran Reserva (Barrow)
1995 Pesquera Janus Gran Reserva (Abrams)
1972 Vega Sicilia Unico (Traub)
1990 Vega Sicilia Unico (Smith)

Paella
Paella a la Marinera mussels, clams, calamari, tomatoes, onions, garlic, saffron and smoked paprika with piquillo pepper aioli
1947 Lopez de Heredia Gran Reserva Vina Bosconia (Goldstein)
1976 Lopez de Heredia Gran Reserva Tondonia (Goldstein2)
1981 Bodegas Muga Gran Reserva Prado Enea (Gelb)
1998 Remerez de Ganuza (Gelber)
2001 Remerez de Ganuza (Rauch)

Paella with Eggplant, Olives, and Capers eggplant, kalamata olives, manzanilla olives, capers, peppers, tomatoes, paprika, and saffron.
1999 Pingus (Smith Sr.)
2001 Pingus (Smith Sr.2)
2003 Descendientes de Jose Palacios Moncerbal Bierzo

Dessert
Barcelona Cake rich, dark chocolate cake topped with sweet crema and chocolate sauce
1970 Grahams Vintage Porto (Smith2)

We made do.

Grapes of Ass

2007-06-21T09:02:00.001-07:00

What could be simpler than Zinfandel with Barbeque? Entourage writer-producer Marc Abrams answers: How 'bout five flights of it? How 'bout some gourmet BBQ? Huh? What about that?

We had an additional item on the appetizer plate: kangaroo. All I could think of was--I'll never be able to say I've never had kangaroo again!

Appetizers included a Pulled Pork Dumpling; Crispy Cheese Steak Eggroll with fresh horseradish; Buffalo Carpaccio with Truffled Mustard Sauce and Balsamic Reduction were served alongside (the foloowing are all Zinfadel except as indicated):
2006 Kosta Browne Rose of Pinot Noir
2006 Pax Rose

Hickory Smoked Duck Breast Salad with Blueberry & Cracked Pepper Vinaigrette with Grilled Figs and Blue Cheese were served with:
1997 Ridge Morgan Hill Barbera
1984 Lytton Springs Private Reserve (the winemaker was previously in porn)
1992 Cline Bridgehead
1995 Ridge Geyserville*

A trio of BBQ meats: Southern Pulled Pork with Cole Slaw; Texas Style Brisket; and Red Oak Grilled Santa Maria Tri-tip paired with these "elegant recent releases":
2001 Carlisle Alexander Valley
2001 Carlisle Tom feeney
2001 Carlisle Carlisle Vineayrd
2001 Carlisle Gum Tree*

Yet more meat followed: a trio of BBQ Ribs: KC Baby Back, St. Louis, and Central Coast Beef Back were mated with
2002 Rafanelli
2003 Williams Selyem Tom Feeney
2005 Williams Selyem Tom Feeney
2005 Williams Selyem Bacigalupi*

Finally, a Sliced Ribeye Steak with Cassis Demiglace was served with a trio of Turleys:
Turley Hayne 1994-2001*-2003

Assorted cheeses and fresh berries met up with two wines that were dubbed "Grapes of Ass":
1998 Brogan Late Harvest Zin
2004 Scholium Oro Puro Lydian Queen

Nothing Succeeds Like Excess

2007-06-21T08:32:00.000-07:00

We had Justin Smith from Saxum down for a dinner at Campanile, one of the very few restaurants in town that knows how to put on a wine dinnner. Hats off to Jay Perrin for pulling this off. Eleven of us made our way through 29 wines, a little something like this (I think there was another course, but it got lost in the accounting):

Stamed Clams with sausage, saffron, rouille and grilled bread with
2004 Dopain Rousanne James Berry Vineyard
2004 Garretson Rousanne James Berry Vineyard
2005 Lone Madrone Rousanne James Berry Vineyard
2006 Justin's Dad's Grenache Rose

Grilled Cheese Sandwiches & french fries with
1997 Wild Horse Hospices de Rhone James Berry Vineyard
1998 Linne Calodo James Berry
1999 Linne Calodo Bone Rock
2001 KCBX Classic Cuvee (special charity bottling)

Sauteed Trenne pasta, beef Bolognese, peacock kale, shaved parmesan
2005 Bookers: Fracture, Ripper and Vertigo (at whopping 16.8+% alcohol)

Flat Iron Steak, red bliss potatoes and horseradish cream (a wine friendly sauce if ever there was one)
2003 Saxum Broken Stones
2003 Saxum Rocket Block
2003 Saxum Bone Rock
2003 Pegau Chateuneuf du Pape Cuvee Reservee
2003 Usseglio Chateauneuf du Pape Cuvee de Mon Aieul (an unpronounceable word)

Cheese, bread, biscuits and almonds with
2004 Sine Qua Non Papa
2004 Sine Qua Non Poker Face
2004 Sine Qua Non Into the Dark
2004 Copain James Berry Vineyard Syrah
2004 Villa Creek High Road Blend
2004 Piedra Sassi

2005 Saxum Broken Sotnes
2005 Saxum James Berry Vineyard
2005 Saxum Booker Vineyard
2005 Saxum Heart Stone
2005 Saxum Rocket Block
2005 Saxum Bone Rock

Who You Calling Dog?

2007-06-09T18:57:00.000-07:00

I'm one of the two dogs sniffing at a third's ass on the new CBS show "Creature Comforts". I'm pretty sure you can find us on YouTube.

Take it Out in Trade

2007-06-03T22:13:00.000-07:00

I am in the midst of a dispute over my fee with a client for the first time in nearly five years of doing business.

Usually I roll up to a guard house outside a gated community, or an intercom system outside the gated driveway of a mansion. This guy lives near the Santa Monica airport in a one-story dump undergoing some renovations. I always say that I never know what I'm getting into when I go on a new job. The client rarely knows how much wine or what's in the cellar--that's why they called me in the first place. Still, I should've suspected the worst when I saw catshit on the floor of the room with his three large wine closets. This was a difficult job, with two guys working for hours trying to sort out what was in the refrigerated units, and what was in the units was not the top stuff, but I try not to pooh-pooh someone else's wine collection out of hand. It is not mine to wonder why people buy what they do, or why they called me in the first place. I had one client with a cellar full of what I'd generously refer to as bad, cheap wine. Some of it had been improperly stored and appeared to have turnedAnd just because I've never seen a certain label or heard of a given wine, doesn't mean that it's not good or expensive.

The client did not pay my invoice and only responded after I called him, two months after we did the inventory. He couldn't believe the price. I can't be absolutely certain that I told him but, if not, he never asked me. He says if I had, he would have said no. I'm sure that if he told me that he would pay me 1/3 my usual rate, I would have declined the job. So now here we are, an honest dispute among honest men. He's trying to pay me in wine. I'm trying to get more wine than he's willing to part with. Hmmmph.

And now it may come down to this: what is the value of a bottle of wine? I picked one title at random from my own list: 2004 Beaucastel Chateauneuf-du-Pape.
The average price paid by the community of CellarTracker.com users is $72.06.
The average price paid at Winebid.com is $63.25.
If you sold a bottle of it on Winebid at that price, you'd get $51.23, after commissions and insurance, but you're not guaranteed of getting that price.
Several retailers including the Wine Club and Wine Exchange are currently charging $86.60, including tax. If they shipped it to you, the price would exceed $90.
I'm reasonably sure I'll see this on a wine list at some restaurant soon for over $100.

So what's the answer? What is the fair price for a bottle of wine? In the case above, is it closer to $50 or $100? Are they both fair? If the wine appreciates considerably and sells for $200 at auction, is that the price? Or just the price on that day? If it fails to appreciate and at some point can't be resold in the marketplace, does it cease to have value.

I believe the answer is that the price is what it's worth to you on a given day. We'll see how my settlement with this client plays out.

Cellar Raid

2007-06-01T08:39:00.000-07:00

My client and very generous friend Allan Rudnick wanted to have a couple of guys over to his new house for a game of Baci, wine and cigars. He asked me how best to make use of the cellar inventory and I proposed an old fashioned cellar-raid. Give everybody the Carte du Vin and let them pick their own bottle. Incredibly, he took the bait. “This is where six guys are better than four.”

Last night we did it, just as described above. The wines:

1996 Dom Perignon
2002 Marcassin Marcassin Vineyard Chardonnay
1999 Mommessin Clos du Tart
1997 Bruno Giacosa Barolo Le Rocche
1990 Haut Brion
1989 Margaux
1995 Maya Dalla Valle
1970 Taylor Fladgate vintage Port
nv Cohiba Robusto

This is the first Baci court I’ve come across. (Great idea, requires very little equipment, anyone can play.) Earlier in the day I was at a client’s house in Rolling Hills Estates that had a putting green. My guys were very impressed by the putting green, but I thought a driving range would be really impressive.

Straws, part 2

2007-05-14T18:02:00.000-07:00

We have a friend who is married to the owner of a Napa Valley winery. His wife had an eye surgery that required her to lie face down for a week afterwards to maintain constant eye-pressure. She could get up to bathe and eat, but otherwise she lay prone on something like a massage table with a hole cut out of a cushion for her face. Her loving husband brought some wine home for her, and served it to her in a double old-fashioned tumbler with a straw.

The Fall Out

2007-04-22T21:44:00.000-07:00

For those of you following along, I published the previous blog as a post on the eRobertParker.com website. I thought this was a good way to (a) publicize the event and (b) possibly sell tickets; (c) publicize the two 1982 Bordeaux auction lots, possibly (d) get some of the missing pieces donated, and (e) get some new bidders for them.

To be fair, I spend little time on Mark Squire's Bulletin Board and didn't have much faith that anything at all would happen, but felt that as a subscriber to the site, I thought it couldn't hurt.

I got up very early on Friday morning after a major league dinner at Campanile.
(For political reasons, I cannot go into further detail except to say that we had the following wines:
2005 Aubert Lauren Chardonnay
1994 Dominus
The Marauder/Sine Qua Non
Poker Face/Sine Qua Non
Into the Dark/Sine Qua Non
1993 Laurel Glen Cabernet
a Kosta Browne Pinot
and a Paloma Syrah--sorry I wasn't paying closer attention, but the dinner came as a rare spontaneous happy accident. I was living in the moment and not taking notes for future reference.)

I posted the blog exactly as you can see it here and went to take a shower. The time was around 6:00 am. I came back to the office a bit later, around 7:15, and had a response from a guy who offered up the nearly impossible to find 1982 La Tour Haut Brion, a 99-point Arpy (short for RP, which, in turn, is short for Robert M. Parker Jr.) wine, and is signing up for the event! I am blown away.

God Bless the Internet!

Wine Aficionado dinner

2007-04-22T21:38:00.001-07:00

I serve on the board of the Bogart Pediatric Cancer Research Program and the T.J. Martell Foundation. The fifth annual Wine Aficonado dinner is to be held on May 10th at Disney Hall, catered by Patina. It is a $1000-a-plate affair, the "tete de cuvee" of wine charity events in Los Angeles.

This year we are serving the following wines alongside a five course meal prepared by Joachim Splichal:
2001 Guigal Ex-Voto Hermitage Blanc
2005 Cold Heaven Cellars Viognier
2003 Colgin IX Estate Syrah
2003 Araujo Eisele Vineyard Syrah
2004 Pax Griffin's Lair Syrah
1998 Rostaing Cote Rotie La Landonne
1998 Penfold's Grange Shiraz
2004 Montes Folly Syrah

At this year’s dinner there are two rather extraordinary mixed 1982 Bordeaux lots being offered, including all five 1st Growths and six perfect 100-point scores.

Putting these lots together has been a lot of fun. I held a “wine-raising” dinner at La Terza in March called “BYO2B’82” at which guests were invited to bring two bottles of a specific 1982 Bordeaux; we’d open one bottle at the dinner, and the other bottle would go into the auction lot. (The invitation said that if you couldn’t make it to please send the “other bottle” anyway, and several people did. Two absent friends sent both bottles, which is what we call a “superstar.”) I think people liked the idea of making a small, relatively painless contribution that would become part of a memorable evening and part of a great auction lot that hopefully raises a lot of money for the charity. The rest of the bottles have been pieced together, one by one, from some of the finest cellars in the city. (* Wines with asterisks were poured at the dinner above.)

Right Bank
Lafleur (RP 100) *
Cheval Blanc (99) *
La Mission Haut Brion (99)
Certan de May (98) *
La Conselillante (95) *
L'Arrossee (95)
L'Evangile (95) *
Trotanoy (95)
Haut Brion (94) *
Ausone (93)
Latour a Pomerol (93)

Left Bank
Lafite Rothschild (100)
Latour (100)
Leoville Las Cases (100)
*Mouton Rothschild (100)
Pichon Lalande (100)
Cos d'Estournel (96) *
Gruaud Larose (96)
Ducru Beaucaillou (94) *
Leoville Poyferre (94) *
Lynch Bages (94) *
Margaux (94) *
Pichon Baron (94)
Calon Segur (93) *
Grand Puy Lacoste (93)
Haut Bages Liberal (90)
La Lagune (90)

Still trying to fill in (and this is where my friend and cyber-co-conspirator Steve Gelber urges me to get with the begging): Petrus, Le Pin, La Tour Haut Brion, Figeac, Canon, Ausone, Duhart Milon, Talbot, La Dominique, Montrose, Palmer, L’Eglise Clinet, and Pavie. Please PM me if you can help.

Bogart Pediatric Cancer Research Program is a tremendously popular and successful charity, especially in the entertainment business, raising funds that support children's cancer and leukemia research at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles. Even in a crowded charity field, curing cancer for kids is tough to argue with.

The evening includes a lively auction of some other incredible, unique lots, hosted by Bogart Board Members Ann Colgin, myself and Sandra Bernhard. Tickets for the dinner are $1,000 per person and are available for purchase by calling 323.330.0520.

Confessions of a Kosher Wine Snob

2007-04-02T11:30:00.000-07:00

Here is this year's Passover

Passover is finally here and while the family is wrangling over who will play host and who's invited, I'm wrangling with which wines to serve. The seder is a feast, after all, not just a long, drawn-out dinner party with responsive reading and some especially catchy tunes. We all know the story of Moses vs. Pharaoh, the plagues, the epic escape from slavery through the Red Sea. (It turns out that the story of Passover is actually older than the Cecil B. DeMille epic "The Ten Commandments.") The seder is like a Harlem Globetrotters "game" -- you know the ending before you even sit down to enjoy the show, but it always satisfies.

I went to the market the other day with an eye toward getting all my Passover seder fixings. There, screaming at me from a shelf as soon as I walked in was a kosher wine in a square bottle with a screw-cap promising it was "extra sweet." It might as well have said "extra awful" alongside the "extra day-old bread" and "extra-moldy cheese." This stuff has the body of a can of 10W-40 motor oil and almost all the aromatic charm. It pairs nicely with the pink horseradish condiment served alongside gefilte fish, if only because it's a fair fight.

All of which raises the question: If the ancient Hebrews threw off the chains of slavery and got out of Egypt all those years ago, why are we modern-day Jews still tradition-bound to this treacly, awful mess that passes for wine? I say it's time we, as a people, escape the chains of wine bondage and let our palates taste the Promised Land. To be fair to critics who worship the Golden Calf known as Robert M. Parker Jr. and his vinous gospel, writ not on parchment but on creme colored paper and mailed six times yearly, there is a proportionate percentage of plonk among kosher offerings. ("Plonk" is not a Yiddish word, though it could and should be. It is wine snob slang, meaning "cheap, bad wine.") Some are of the Two-Buck Schmuck variety, while some others aim high and miss wide, but there are more and more good kosher wines from all over the world that deserve a place on your table, and not only at Passover.

What better way to start off any feast than with a sparkling wine? No self-respecting wine snob is going to mistake the bubbles of the 1998 Yarden Blanc de Blancs from Galilee (around $25 per bottle) for that treif Dom Pérignon, but Champagne only comes from the Champagne region of France, and this is a more-than-suitable substitute. Serve very cold either straight or with a dram of kosher creme de cassis for a delightfully refreshing Kir Royale. Alternately, you can greet your mishpachah with the 2005 Bartenura Moscato, a sweet, lightly effervescent white aperitif from Italy in a striking cobalt blue bottle. At 5 percent alcohol this barely qualifies as wine and may seem more like hard cider, but it is absolutely delicious (about $12), and should be perfect alongside bubbe's chopped liver with the shredded egg on top.

At the dinner break, the intermezzo in the hagaddah, uncork one of the very good kosher Cabernet Sauvignons available. I tried several at a blind tasting with a panel of experts (consisting of a bona fide wine snob and some other guy we pulled in from the office), and two smaller production Israeli wines stood out. The 2003 Barkan Altitude Series +624 (about $40) is a no-nonsense wine with good backbone that suggests you should either decant it about an hour before serving or save it for your seder in 2009. This is only partly intended as a joke. One problem with kosher wine is that many people only serve it at Jewish holidays and then run to the store to pick up the best thing they can find. Many of these wines are comparable to some of the better Napa Valley Cabernets and will benefit from ageing, so as long as you're up get a couple bottles and put one away for next year. The 2003 Carmel Winery Limited Edition (about $50) is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Petit Verdot, Malbec and a bissel of Cabernet Franc selected from their best vineyards. This is a real mouthful of purple wine that will dance the hora with your sweet-and-sour brisket. Also highly recommended are Covenant from Napa Valley (any vintage will do, $90), and 2002 Château Pontet-Canet from Pauillac in Bordeaux, virtually identical to their non-kosher offering ($125).

Any true bacchanal deserves a dessert wine, and there's a doozy waiting in store for you this season, the fine Ruby Porto Cordovero, made by the proprietors of Taylor Fladgate and Yeatman, one of the premier producers in Oporto. This is the first-ever kosher Port wine. Imagine that! One of the requirements for a wine to be kosher is that it must be handled exclusively by observant Jews. The grapes that go into Port are crushed by foot in giant vats, and I have it on good authority that this wine was crushed by observant Jewish feet. Serve slightly chilled and drink while seated. At 20 percent alcohol, you should remember this little saying: Never have more than two glasses of Port, no matter how good an idea it seems at the time. Two glasses, then say "dayenu."

The Trifecta

2007-03-06T07:35:00.000-08:00

My wife and I went to Napa Valley this weekend. We were traveling with my sister and brother-in-law, Jeanne and Gary Newman, and Ali and Charles Banks (Screaming Eagle). Over the course of 40 hours and four meals, we suffered through the following wines variously at Redd, the Napa Valley Reserve, Ann Colgin and Joe Wender's (Colgin Cellars) house above Lake Hennessey, and Daphne and Bart Araujo's house (Araujo Eisele Vineyard) in Calistoga.

97 Dalla Valle
90 La Mission Haut Brion
02 Ramonet Chassagne Montrachet Les Ruchottes
89 Chateauneuf du Pape Cuvee des Celestins
90 Guigal Cote Rotie La Turque 90 Leroy Chambertin
04 Screaming Eagle
71 Camille Giroud Richebourg
66 Mouton Rothschild
66 La Mission Haut Brion
66 Palmer
66 Latour
02 Colgin Cariad
02 Coldgin IX Estate
05 Araujo Viognier
05 Araujo Sauvignon Blanc
93 Araujo Cabernet
99 Araujo Syrah
75 Yquem

I don't spend enough time up there.