Bastille Day Special! A 3rd growth Splurge at the new French local

Saturday night I headed to L’Ardoise, with a recently purchased bottle of ’99 Chateau Lagrange St Julien in hand (well, in backpack to be more precise). Conveniently located on Noe St, between the Castro and Hayes Valley, L’Ardoise is a small, cozy, classic neighborhood bistro. Since there are only about 40 seats and the warm, congenial atmosphere occasional encourages lingering over a leisurely meal, you may need to wait 10-15 minutes for an open table, even with a reservation. Another couple who was waiting ahead of us left. Unfortunate, as they probably would have eaten very well if our meal was any indication.

While we waited for a table, we were given a glass of sparkling wine and some complimentary frites at the bar. Everyone was friendly and apologized for the wait: our hostess, the owner, our server to-be. We enjoyed the fries with a very mild aioli (which seemed all the more tame compared with the head of garlic version I made earlier in the week). The sparkling wine, however, was cheap cava from Segura Viudas, which we probably would have been better without - we both suffered minor headaches later in the night, which I am tracing back to the cheap bubbly. Which brings up my major gripe with the otherwise spot on L’Ardoise: the wine list. There is very little of interest, especially by the glass. We followed our comped glass of headache bubbly with a so-so ’06 Chablis and a strangely medicinal Bordeaux Blanc (sorry – mediocre wine and no note taking means that I forget the produers for both). Wines by the bottle mainly consist of mediocre French, and industrial, boring California wines. Exceptions would be ’05 Tempier Bandol, ’04 Jasmin Cote-Rotie and ’04 d’Epire Savennieres, which are all fine but not exactly things I’d want to drink now, even with food; they’re too young. Oh, ’01 Chateau Meyney St-Estephe is good, but not exactly a value at $78. Hopefully, a wine rep in the SF area is reading this and will help L’Ardoise to re-tool their list with Muscadet, chenin, cru Beaujolais, etc.

Dinner was delicious. A succulent petite filet mignon, cooked rare, accompanied by an intense red wine reduction, and served with crisp, thinly sliced, fried potato rounds drizzled with white truffle oil. The intermingling of truffled potato and juicy, cooked to perfection beef is just a ridiculousy delicious, elegant flavor combo. I know, it all sounds a bit decadent but at $27 it’s a steal to me. Some people like BMWs, Diesel jeans…I like eating and drinking well, you know? We also had some haricots verts and sautéed baby spinach, both tasty and adding some necessary nutrients to this beef and potatoes dinner.

As for the wine…it showed young but very well. St. Julien, along with St Estephe and Moulis-en-Medoc, is generally amongst my favorite communes. 3rd, 4th and 5th growths are usually more to my liking than 2nd’s (as of yet I do not know from the first growths, I hear they’re a bit expensive these days). So the 1999 Lagrange, a 3rd growth St. Julien, was quite enjoyable. 1999 left bank bordeaux are generally very juicy, fruity wines, and the Lagrange did not prove to be an exception. It showed lots of savory dark cherry fruit on the nose and palate, with a bit of noticeable development – a touch of wet tobacco on the nose, some roasted and raw meat on the palate. Tannins are smoothing out and fairly well balanced with the fruit, but could use another several years to soften and integrate just a bit more. Overall, though, this is a tasty drink. Not a mind blowing bottle of claret, but solid. At $40 plus $15 corkage, it was a good deal.

And I feel the same way about L’Ardoise. What it lacks in exciting wines it more than delivers in the quality of food, service and typical neighborhood French bistro ambiance. Stop by and celebrate Bastille Day, the continuation of the Tour, or finishing another day at the office. You’ll be in good hands.

Diamond D - Sally Got A One Track Mind (1993)

I likes this track. Gotta love Diamond D. All you fellas makin' dough, watch for Sally, aiight?

Listening to this makes me miss New York. So the dedication is to everyone in New York city in the summer, no Hampton's or Martha's vineyard or whatever, I'm talking about everyone who stays in the stanky city during the dog days. This one's for you. Peace.

Wine for young lawyers

This blog, just like ODB reminded us about Wu Tang during the grammy's several years back, is for the children. In that spirit, I conducted an informal tasting for an IP law firm last night, sort of a 'lets show the summer associates a good time' type of event. Hopefully there was some value added as well, so that they learned a few things about wine, can at least fake intelligence on the subject during a date or dinner function, and, if I really did my job well, can develop better taste than a few of the partners of their firm (if you guys are reading this, I am only joking. Sort of. Well, not really, but who am I to tell you what to like and not like). Anyway, the structure of the tasting was to taste a classic French wine, give some background info on the region, and then taste a California example of the same grape variety. The only notable exception was a bottle of 2005 Mollydooker Enchanted Path Cabernet-Shiraz McLaren Vale, thrown into the mix by special request of one of the partners (which explains my previous gentle jab about taste).

A list of the wines:

FLIGHT 1 - Sauvignon Blanc
2007 Kathryn Kennedy Sauvignon Blanc
2007 Domaine Cherrier & Fils Sancerre

FLIGHT 2 - Chardonnay
2005 Chandon de Briailles Pernand Vergelesses Iles de Vergelesses 1er Cru
2005 Au Bon Climat Nuit Blanches Au Bouges XXV Chardonnay Santa Maria Valley

FLIGHT 3- Pinot Noir
2005 Domaine Gerard Seguin Gevrey-Chambertin Vielles Vignes
2006 Paul Hobbs 'Ulysses Valdes Vineyard' Pinot Noir Russian River Valley [another one that was not my pick, I wanted to do Calera, but this was another partner special request]

FLIGHT 4 - Bordeaux/bordeaux blend [at least it was going to be before the 'dooker request]
2004 Langoa Barton St Julien
2005 Mollydooker 'Enchanted Path' Cabernet Shiraz McLaren Vale

There was some engaging, interesting conversation with the summer associates. They show a lot of promise. They noticed how different the French wines tasted from their CA counterparts and asked why (I gave them the short answer: more sun, warmer weather, riper grapes, predilection towards toasty new oak in CA; less sun, cooler weather, higher acidity in grapes, hundreds of years experience in France). We discussed the role of the AOC system in France and compared it to patent law. We talked about sourcing grapes from different vineyards, why this tactic is employed, and why sauvignon blanc from Potter Valley will be different from the same grape variety grown in Napa.

Thank you to Sonnenschein Nath and Rosenthal for allowing this wine geek and aspiring arbiter of good taste to teach the children. To the summer associates, I encourage you to finish up law school without any scandal, drink good wine, and hurry up and make partner, young men.

Pairings of the weird

I was in a sherry type of mood tonight, so I tasted a few manzanillas and one fino that I recently bought. From that bunch I selected the La Gitana Manzanilla Pasada to drink with dinner, which so far does not indicate any lack of natural order, normalcy, or rational thought. However, the pairing is where things got a bit wacky. Dinner was spicy sauteed purple cauliflower, cabbage, carrots, garlic, onions , sauteed with coriander, sichuan pepper and the searingly hot african bird pepper. There was also broiled okra with red bhutanese rice. Now I love my vegetables and spice, especially when I have a cold as I do now. But this ad hoc stir-fry dinner has all the stylings of a hippie vegetarian dinner: nutritious but lacking in harmony of flavors.

Dinner tonight was spicy, and while it did not totally cancel out the delicious manzanilla pasada, it came really close. My fault for insisting on a sherry liquid diet tonight, all the way through dinner. Young German kabinett or spatlese, or a beer, would have been the proper choice for dinner. Oh well - sometimes when you have your mind set on drinking something, you just want to drink it. In that respect, you could say that tonight was my wine geek equivalent of drinking oaky Napa chard with fish, or Turley zin with any sort of food.

Spain - Photo's of Day 1-4

A few photo's from the first leg of my trip to Spain. Top to bottom, left to right: Jeff Koons' puppy sculpture, created from flowers and ferns, Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao; closeup of Juan Muñoz bronze sculpture, Guggenheim; Richard Serra steel installation, Guggenheim; tomb in the Catedral de Leon; detail of facade, Catedral de Leon; a navigator's vans, napsack and newspaper, Galicia; Angel Rodriguez of Bodega Martinsancho, with their first new style verdejo vintage bottling - 1981; Pile of trash at closing time on the floor of Vino Tinto, Valladolid. Photo's courtesy of Natalie.

Spain Pt. IV - Leon and Pilgrimmagers, Mencia and Ribeira Sacra; Lost in Galicia

Pilgrimmagers. Say it, it's fun. It is one of the few instances where I prefer an english word to its Spanish counterpart, peregrinos. Leon is a major hub along the most popular route of the Camino de Santiago, or the pilgrimmage which tens of thousands make (mainly by foot) every year from the French side of the Pyrenees through Spain's northern interior and all the way to Santiago de Compostela. A lot of walking, to be sure. Most of the people I saw trudging along above the national road leading out of Leon, young and old, often times of Germanic descent, usually with a large pack and a walking stick, seemed to hold a steady, deliberate pace. They were getting there, but their gait and expressions spoke of significantly more work ahead.

I hope that these pilgrimmagers spent at least a day, and ideally a couple of days, to rest up, refuel and take in the beautiful city of Leon. There is the famous cathedral, whose walls are adorned by so many beautiful windows of stained glass that it's easy to forget the other beautiful facets of this gothic cathedral. I'm not an architecture buff, and extensive gothic cathedral visits in Spain have left me slightly jaded, but this one is a stunner. There is the Casa Botines, an early Gaudi apartment building. The old city, its plazas, narrow stone roads (far more enjoyably explored by foot, not by car) and bars are where the action lies. There were delicious potatoes. One night cubed, fried, and served with a creamy, garlicky aioli (free when ordering a drink!). The next morning, sliced thinly (slightly thicker than thick cut potato chips) and fried to perfection, served with a caña of beer (or even more typical, with a 'corta,' a short 6oz pour - don't knock it America, sometimes you're better off with a smaller amount of beer). The pimientos de padron here, my first experience with the famous eponymously named Galician peppers from the village of Padron, were the best I would have the entire trip. They lived up to the great Calvin Trillin's billing of providing serious heat, but only 1-2% of the time. My hot one, though, was plenty hot. It gave me hiccoughs; to combat them I drank some beer and nibbled on more tortilla as well as some jamon iberico. The photo of me wagging a finger is immediately after consuming a blazing hot pimiento.

I give the pilgrimmagers lots of respect, because getting an 8am start on Saturday morning was not easy, and I had the benefit of a car, fresh, dry clothes, clean shoes, a smart, pretty lady friend navigator, and a destination just a few hours away: the beautiful Ribera Sacra.

We passed through the incredibly green, slatey, steep countryside of Bierzo, through Valdeorras (land of Godello) to the even more incredibly green, steeper countryside of Ribeira Sacra. Here we stopped at Adegas Algueira for a quick tasting. They were nice to squeeze in this meeting, as they were preparing for an on-site wedding that night (they also run a restaurant next to the winery). All the wines, white and red, oaked and unoaked, are fermented with indigenous yeasts and made from fruit on their own 8 hectares of vineyards. The '06 Algueira Blanco is a crisp, delicious blend of Godello, albariño and treixadura. Nothing to cerebral, just a dry white wine with good fruit intensity nice mineral accents and a clean finish. Their '06 Blanco Roble, produced from the same blend of grapes, is fermented and aged in new french oak. While proprietor Fernando Gonzalez Riveiro says it needs a few years in bottle, I say once it's this oaky it will never be al estilo mio. Now to the main event here, the reds from Mencia. The '07 Ribeira Sacra was vibrant bitter cherry Mencia fruit, tasty. The '06 Algueira Roble is a gorgeous wine. Aged for 12 months in new French oak, but with a suppleness of body, liveliness of acidity and fruit intensity that were all in terrific balance. Spanish red wines grown in slate and aged in new oak don't always have to be 14.5%, oaky, new wave gold plated trophy wines. This was 12.5% and a real steal, part of the building body of evidence that Ribeira Sacra has a lot ahead for lovers of lively mid weight reds; even the staunchest of francophile wine geeks who try these wines would have to agree.

We thanked Ana and Fernando and headed west towards Rias Baixas. Unfortunately, an afternoon visit with Do Ferreiro was not meant to be. We ended up in Vigo, a beautiful city with San Francisco style hills, a gorgeous harbor, and what appeared to be lots of cool stuff going on, but alas it was very far away from where we needed to be. Do Ferreiro's hometown of Meaño was nowhere to be seen on the map, and attempts to get more specific directions over the phone yielded no results. I felt terrible to have missed the appointment, which coupled with the poor cell phone reception made me reluctant to call and explain that we were unable to make it. Oh well, when on the wine route these things sometimes happen; hopefully I will one day get to Do Ferreiro and when I do it will be with a good bottle of California wine in hand as a make good for my prior no-show.

As we headed back east towards Leon, I noticed that the sunset was coming to a lazy close at 10:15pm. It was a long day, with the usual frustrations of road trips in a foreign country. But we had also seen and accomplished much: we saw one of Spain's most beautiful vine growing areas, tasted terrific Ribeira Sacra, ate caldo gallego and tasty round Galican bread, observed the typical gardens with their large, collard like greens, potatoes and vines trellised high above the ground. We even witnessed a huge bike rally in Moaña. All on a surprisingly sunny, warm Galician day, the only full day of sunshine for the twelve days we would be in Spain.

The 4th of July weekend that passed and the week ahead

Well, my belly is full of quinoa, olive oil and garlic - and as is my wont after a Sunday night dinner I am reflecting on the past few days and looking to the week ahead. The holiday weekend was terrific; a bit lazy, but well paced, with a working day at the wine shop on Saturday sandwiched between days off on Thursday, Friday and Sunday. During the days off there was time spent picking mustard and salad greens in the garden, finishing up Alice Feiring's excellent new book, grilling steak, working on the bicycle, and watching the Giants play their old rival the Dodgers. Nothing too exciting as far as wine over the past few days, though my bottle of '06 Bobinet 'Amateus' Saumur-Champigny has not been quite as enjoyable as I imagined it would be - simpler, more monolithic and with chunkier tannins and wood influence than I would prefer.

This week look for at least a few long overdue entries on my recent trip to Spain, as well as a possible book review on the newly released Alice Feiring and Neil Rosenthal books, both coming from a similar place aesthetically, as it relates to wine, but from two very different personalities with unique voices and perspectives.

A good week ahead to everyone out there.