So, a week in France (plus one night in Italy). With laptop stolen between CDG and Paris, I didn't take notes, other than writing down the wines and maybe a couple of words of comment later that night. This was actually first true family holiday (as opposed to trips that included family or Betsy playing) we've ever taken in 6 years of marriage. Betsy and David were very tolerant visiting a couple of wineries in Burgundy (separate brief comments), but I was trying to be non-geeky. Plus with the weak dollar I was aiming for bargains on the winelists:
At Bofinger (we were taken by our friend Muriel on our first night in Paris), we had a very decent choucroute (I was a little worried that it would be too touristy for good food, but it delivered). We chose a 2000 Lorentz GC Riesling; they brought instead a
2002 Lorentz "Kanzlerberg" Riesling Grand Cru. OK, we'll try. Pretty good- just a hint of sweetness, all about citrus fruit, good acidity, goes well with the choucroute. B
Night number 2 we ate at a little Moroccan restaurant in Le Marais, lamb and chicken tagines and couscous (we shared our dishes), along with a nice salad with merguez. Simple (but good) place, very basic list. The 2005 Domaine St. Roman Cotes du Rhone was something like 14 euros, and provided decent value at that price. Sweet cherry and raspberry fruit with a light tobacco touch, enough acidity to stand up to food, fine for the purpose. B-
David went off on his home Tuesday, and Betsy and I crossed the river to Allard. I had heard this well-known old place had had some off years, but was back on track. Food was very very good this night- I started with escargot, Betsy with a salad of green beans and smoked duck; we then shared the poulet de Bresse with mushrooms and potatoes. Really tasty. The 2002 Gaston & Pierre Ravaut "la Corvee" Ladoix 1er Cru was pretty good for the village. Rich fruit, balanced acidity, alittle minerality, just a hint of toasty oak. Nice midmodern middleweight. B+
Our first night in Beaune we ate at Le Cluny. Unimpressive "designer" food (I had a variation on coq au vin) all looked better than they tasted. All the most interesting under 50 euros wines had Xs next to them indicating sold out, I decided to try a new producer to me, the 2005 Baptiste Gay "Les Vergelesses" Pernand-Vergelesses 1er cru. I kept thinking "this can't be the wine, it'll get better." Nope. Fruit concentrate, like drinking some grape/cherry frozen mix. Overextracted, overoaked, overugly. C
Next night we went to Piqu'Boeuf, kind of a family/steak restaurant, suggested by Marc Dupin at Jadot. I had eggs in red wine and a hunk of Charolais; wine was the 2001 Alain Gras Auxey-Duresses Vieilles Vignes. Pretty nice wine, bright red cherry fruit, citrus peel, enough body for the steak without too much weight. B/B+
After a gorgeous drive through the Rhone-Alps region, Val'Aoste, and Piedmont (ok, the Piedmont part wasn't gorgeous, we were east of Alba), we had dinner Friday at Agrodolce in Imperia. Tasting menu with very good seafood- eggplant/pepper flan with mussels, a crudo of white fish (hake?) , baccala, calamari stuffed with buffalo mozzarella, clams in a squid ink with pasta, plus another white fish with couscous and fried leeks. Very good food, though the staff was a bit overwhelmed this night. Filippo and Luca chose the wines:
2006 Terre Rosse Pigato- bright, minerally, with a real core of fruit. I kind of expected a good Ligurian white to be very light and high acid, but this is more structured. Good acids, but not sharp. Lots of depth and minerality, I'm quite impressed. Probably my favorite bottle of the trip. A-/B+
(?) Neris Pinot Grigio
Ordered because they were out of this producer's Tocai Friulano. Perfectly acceptable inoffensive white, but lacking the interest of its table companions. A little too round for me. C+/B-
2005 Terre Bianche "Arcagna" Rossese di Dolceacqua
Bright red fruit, a little pine undertone, medium length. Develops nicely over an hour or two. Someone says it's like a good Nuits St George- not quite to my tastes, but it would do very well in a contest of Mercurey 1ers. B+
On our last night we joined Nils Gustaf and Christina Lindgren at their apartment in Nice. Nils made an excellent dinner, showing off the local specialties. We started snacking on some pissaladiere, while Nils poured from a wrapped bottle. I did my damnest to win this game of Stump the Chump, but remained the chump. I thought Alsace (bottle helped), but couldn't quite pin down grape. A little muted at first, then opens and becomes more floral. Nice balanced white, tiniest hint of sugar, apple edged with smoke and herbs. Not Gewurz or Muscat for sure. Didn't seem Rieslingish. Thought about Pinot Gris, but decided as he was trying to stump me maybe it was Chasselas. Nope. Pinot Blanc? PG? Nope. Auxerrois? Sylvaner? Nope. Wait, what's left? Definitely not Chardonnay. Nils says it has grape name of bottle. What white grape is left? Well, it's the Dirler.......Pinot Noir. Vinified without skins, it is a clear bronzey yellow. Actually better than any RED Alsace PN I remember. B+/B
I'm afraid I neglected to note the names of the Bellet blanc and rouge served with dinner. The white (with excellent salad Nicoise) was acceptable, but not really exciting. A little bit of RS, somewhat anonymous white pit fruit, a tad soft. B- The red (served with a delicious local stew that reminded me of brasato, but with citrus peel, as well as gnocchi and tomatoes stuffed with ratatouille- Nils is some cook!) was a different level. A little tannic at first, but smooths nicely with time. Ripe round red fruit, good balance, good length. Blind I might have guessed a Southern Rhone but more Syrah than Grenache driven. Very good. B/B+
I think these were all the bottled dinner wines. One would think on Bastille Day in France we'd have some great 1er cru, but in fact we were happily chowing down in a vegetarian Italian place in the Nice harbor, with a pichet of good local rose and another of not so good local white. Between Imperia and Nice we stopped for lunch in Bordighera , food was great (stuffed sardines, calf liver, pesto lasagna) but the quartino of local white showed that the excellent Pigato the night before might not be your typical Ligurian white.
All in all, we had a great time, even if budget kept us from any superstar wines.
Grade disclaimer: I'm a very easy grader, basically A is an excellent wine, B a good wine, C mediocre. Anything below C means I wouldn't drink at a party where it was only choice. Furthermore, I offer no promises of objectivity, accuracy, and certainly not of consistency