At Tocqueville the other night (1e.15th Street), silvery marinated sardines got my vote for best of New York. The wine list is not bad. Their strength is the Burgundy list. On it I was stunned to see a 2000 DRC Echezeaux at $295, which is terribly close to its retail price. (The typical restaurant wine list markup is up to 3x retail. I applaud a 2x markup or less. I tolerate 2.5x markup. I walk out of the restaurant at 3x.).
This DRC especially caught my attention, because this past week I wrote up a new hotel in Burgundy for Food & Wine Magazine--the quite gorgeous L'Abbaye de la Bussiere in the Val d'ouche. On their list they have this same 2000 on their list for the drop- dead, sticker-shock price of ….. €3800 a bottle...and they're just a few kilometers from the Domaine.
True, this is the lowest DRC on the ladder; in fact, many DRC snobs ignore it (this is taking snobbery too far, even for me.). True, it's totally too young to drink, but still, it is Domaine Romane Conti, and a great chance to snuggle up to greatness at a bargain price.
Resisting the call to save thousands of dollars on the bottle, we for a 1999 Domaine la Suffrene, Bandol, $58. Needed decanting. Was satisfying and it didn't even faint in front of the sardines.
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