Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Reds, whites, and other fare

While we wait for the Zalto flutes to come, I've been drinking around, some reds and whites (plus two different Pineau des Charentes last weekend while in Charente-Maritime on the Atlantic coast).

The best quaff was part of a pair: a platter of pristine oysters with a sharp, nervy 2006 Pessac-Léognan from a château I did not note down (slap on the wrist). (And to continue my badness, I drank a couple of 2000 Château mumblemumbles and a 1995 Domaine hrmhrm Bourgueil and, oh yeah, a 2003 whatsit Chinon.)

A letdown - surprisingly - was a bottle I picked up on a whim to go along with what turned out to be God's gift to roast chicken - from the charcutier-traiteur in Fouras - a succulently golden, gleaming, moist and unstoppable force of nature in the form of silken flesh. The wine, however, a 2005 Chapoutier Crozes-Hermitage "Petite Ruche," was a complete washout! The thing had no body or heft at all, just a rainwater quality (all right, it wasn't Mamie's glass of wine cut with water, but it certainly played the card of... um... discretion.)

P.S. My latest article is out in the new issue of Gastronomica!

2 comments:

peter said...

Sharon,

Not sure if you still have fam in the US, but the 1996 Ridge Monte Bello is $150 in a shop I visit in RI.

You could have them ship it to the fam, then slurp it down next time you're in the states...

Sharon said...

Yes, my parents live on the North Fork of Long Island. Will probably go back to visit this spring, so I clearly should hold off on the U.S. wines till I'm over there (with my euros!).