29 March 2007

Wine and life: Paris and Philadelphia, what a difference

I would like wine to be as much a part of my life in Philadelphia as it is when I am in Paris.

Now, it's always different on vacation than normal life. More free time, more flexibility, more time to drink.

But even if I was on vacation in Philadelphia, it would not be the same. Not even close.

In Paris, wine is part of the rhythm that makes the city go. It adorns most, if not all, tables in restaurants. It is consumed at zinc bars, at standup bars, at tabacs, and at cafes. Red wine, newspaper, cigarette. Good wine shops pop up on most shopping streets.

One can duck into any of the establishments and get a good glass of red or white for 2-3 euros. A pichet for a couple more euros. At one wonderful bistro in the 1st, Le Rubis (10 rue du Marche-Saint-Honore, Tel: 01 42 61 03 34, Metro: Tuileries) a delightful Champagne can be had for 5.50E. (I spent about 3 hours there on my January visit and watched one elderly lady have a coupe de Champagne before AND after her shopping trip. Bon marche!)

In many places, a small glass of Beaujolais, Cotes du Rhone or Muscadet can be had for 1.60E, such as at the spectacular Le Duc de Richelieu (5 rue Parrot, 12th, Tel: 01 43 43 05 64, Metro: Gare du Lyon), which offers Beaujolais crus made for them at that price! (The Chiroubles is like raspberry in the glass.)

Just try getting that in Philadelphia. Almost nowhere is a decent glass of wine less than $8, and for that one often gets the very basic California varietal or Italian mass-produced plonk. Some bars have glasses of wine for $5-6 but that will get you over-oxidized dreck at best and ... urrrp! ... at worst. Then, of course, any decent bar customer will leave a tip, at least a dollar a glass. So a stroll around Philadelphia fueled by wine will cost ... $35-$40. It would be 1/3 that in Paris, helped hugely by the fact that 20 cents Euro is a good tip and leaving nothing is acceptable.

Of course, much of the cheaper wine comes from the fact that the vineyards of Beaujolais are much closer to Paris than Philadelphia -- but it can't be all that, because local PA and NJ wines often cost dramatically more than imported wines in Philadelphia. The exchange rate makes a difference, too, but, again, U.S. wine is often just as expensive, and Latin American wines, where the dollar goes a long way, are expensive too.

And the wine isn't THAT much cheaper in Paris. The Perrin brothers' acceptable Cotes du Ventoux brand "La Vielle Ferme" sells for $8 a bottle in Philadelphia. I suggest similar wines that Paris bistros and the like sell for 2.50E a glass (or less) are not much cheaper in France. But a glass of "La Vielle Ferme" would be $7 in Philadelphia at best.

Is it that much cheaper to do business in Paris? Evidence would suggest the opposite. I realize stupid Pennsylvania liquor laws are a part of this, but the same general situation exists in other U.S. cities.

What seems to be different is the attitude towards wine. In Paris, wine is regarded as an integral part of the meal. In Philadelphia, it's a profit center for the bar/restaurant. In Paris, drinkers do not subsidize non-drinkers' meal tabs. In Philadelphia, they surely do (if you doubt this, check out BYOB places where food prices are considerably higher than in comparable licensed establishments). In Paris, bartenders and bistro owners don't mind pouring small glasses of wine for customers. In Philadelphia, they do.

I doubt this attitude will ever change -- too much money involved. There is no reason -- none -- why a glass of Beaujolais Villages, from a bottle that sells for $7, should be more than $3.50 except for sheer greed (and since Philadelphia restaurants pay their (tipped) staff about $2.36 an hour and notoriously offer no health benefits there's a lot of greed going on).

Any wait person will tell you drinkers (and smokers, too, but that's another post) spend more and tip better. So shouldn't a restaurant be ENCOURAGING wine consumption? At the very least, shouldn't the people who order just food and tap water at least pay the going rate and not be subsidized by the drinkers? In fact, THEY should subsidize the drinkers, given the differences in their checks and tips! By turning wine into a luxury with the emphasis on short-term profit, Philadelphia restaurateurs are hurting themselves long-term big-time. Meanwhile, in Paris, the bistros bulge with wine drinkers spending generously.

But change is unlikely. Too bad.

I walk by a nice French bistro every day en route to work. I'd love to stop in and have a glass of wine every day, read the paper, have a conversation. But it would cost me $7-$10 to do so, and I wind up paying for part of the teetotaler suburban couple's steak frites. No thanks.

I'll save those occasions for Paris, thank you.

1996 Champagnes -- don't miss, right now!

1996 vintage Champagnes are getting hard to find in the stores. (For those of you lucky enough to have laid down a case or two of this vintage, and still have it, I am: 1) insanely jealous; 2) willing to be your dinner guest at any time; 3) making plans to raid your wine cellar).

However, as a recent experience showed me, a little hunting and they can be found, especially in bigger cities or in auction.

I cannot recommend enough making the effort to hunt down some of this vintage. Never has wine-searching time been better spent.

And there's no need to seek out Dom or Sir Winston Churchill 1996s, either (though both would be blockbusters as well as wallet-busters). 1996 is such a dazzling vintage, full of structure, heft and an amazing citrusy mouth-filling flavor that the non-luxury cuvees offer luxury-cuvee experiences at less than half the cost.

Having had several of the '96's -- including the lovely Billecart-Salmon Blanc de Blanc, pictured, as I was reminded by a commenter -- I can categorically say this is the greatest vintage of any single wine area I have ever tasted. I don't know enough 1982 Bordeauxs to comment about them specifically but I would make that comparison: big, bold, gorgeous wines that age for years.

Now: when to drink? The luxury cuvees have 10 more years, almost certainly, but would be spectacular now. But after a ravishingly luxurious, almost decadent '96 Laurent-Perrier Brut Millesme passed my lips this weekend, I would say that the basic Pols and Veuves -- if not Krug -- are ready to drink now.

In other words, for $60-$80 and some patience, you can enjoy one of the all-time best vintages of one of the world's classic vintages at its peak RIGHT NOW. What are you waiting for? Go get some.

Recommendations, you say? I should say right away that my ideal Champagne and my fallback favorite for any occasion is Pol Roger. I adore its combinaton of lightness and freshness with structure and character, and it refreshes as few other wines can. Pol equals class. If Pol's not about, Veuve is a good, solid, middle-of-the-road choice. L-P and Tattinger are lighter but in '96 still very substantial. Lanson is always dependable.

But almost anybody made great wines that year, and smaller produces such as Jose Michel, Diebolt-Vallois and Henri Mandois made gems worth seeking out.

Have a spring wedding, graduation, or other such celebration coming up? These wines will make it memorable. But don't save Champagne just for celebrations, especially the '96s -- great food wines and marvelous aperitifs for any occasion.

And they're at their best now. Good luck on the hunt.

22 March 2007

The beauties of the off-vintages

As Bordeaux prices sail into the stratosphere for top vintages -- a D. Sokolin New York Times ad today listed a bottle (one bottle) of 2003 Ausone for $1,499 (!) -- these great wines become more and more inaccessible for the average wine fan. This is a terrible tragedy, really, because these are the finest red wines in the world on a consistent basis -- as good as great Burgundy can be the inconsistency factor there, especially at $100-plus a bottle, can be supremely disappointing.

So can non-Rockefeller wine fans bid great Bordeaux adieu? Not at all.

The same NYT food section had an ad for 2004 Bordeaux from Zachy's. 2004 is a classic "tweener" vintage -- between the deep-baked grapes of the 2003 heatwave that make, apparently, massive fruit-bomb type reds and the 2005s that everyone is having orgasms over (I must say that the 2005s from Beaujolais are dazzling, so maybe the vintage was great all over France).

People with more money than sense will fling their dollars after 2003s and 2005s -- forgetting the perfectly good 2004s. And the prices in the ad reflect this - classed-growth Pauillac under $28, Grand-Puy Lacoste under $40, Cos d'Estournel at $85, Leoville Les Cases at $90. This is Zachy's too, which is not known for low prices (indeed the opposite).

Believe me, the 2004s at those prices will give immense pleasure.

As an example of what pleasures non-marquee vintages can bring, I drank my last bottle of the 1997s the other day, from Calon-Segur (St. Estephe), one of my very favorite properties, with a roast beef, roasted veggies, Yorkshire Pudding dinner. It could not have been better -- an exotic aroma; rich and racy on first taste, with heady eucalyptus scents roaring up to the nose. Then came light cassis, leather, tobacco, followed by a refreshing finish with a touch of that eucalyptus flavor. Spectacular -- and 1997 was considered a very shaky vintage. (Having said that, it's time to drink up the 97s; a Lafon-Rochet I had in December was sturdily good at first but faded as the night went on.)

In short: skip the overpriced 2000, 2003 and 2005 vintages and go for the off-vintages: there are treasures out there.

Next wine tasting

The latest in our series of Thursday tastings at the Pen and Pencil Club will be April 19, 2007 at 7:30 p.m. I will be presenting "Wines from places you didn't know made wine" -- four wines, some white, some red, from areas (far) outside the traditional wine regions. Come and see what surprises we come up with! Cost is $25 and includes appetizers. (A dinner menu will be available afterwards.) Sign up at the P&P bar or leave a message at the club at 215-731-9909.

This one will be fun. It's as much an exploration for me as for the guests -- perhaps we'll discover the next big thing. Or just a delightful wine you can stock your cellar with and impress your friends with ("It's from where?").

21 March 2007

Greetings!

After many delays and false starts, here is my wine blog.

Here you will find:

  • Details and writeups on my wine tastings at the Pen and Pencil Club and announcements of future tastings;

  • An archive of listings of wines from past Pen and Pencil tastings;

  • Wine commentary and tasting notes from bottles I've pulled corks on;

  • and other wine news and events of interest.

Please comment and add suggestions as you wish.