I ground the coffee, boiled the water and poured into the French Press. I slipped a polar fleece vest over my ice blue, silk, loungey thing. Looking like quite the morning apparition, I plodded down the stairs to collect the paper, praying my neighbors were still asleep. I climbed back up the stairs, happy to have completed the mission in privacy. Once back inside my apartment, I plunged the coffee, pour in the heated milk and opened the paper.
Did you ever think you were going to get this intimate with me?
Mid-cup, I saw yet another FULL PAGE ad for the Wine of the Year from the Wine Spectator in the Times and realized that I forgot to look. So, to make amends, I headed to the computer and fired up the Wine Spec site to find out who was the champ.
Clos des Papes Chateauneuf de Pape. Chateauchamp of the year.
I really liked that wine in the 90's when it was affordable in its pre-Parkerized era. But now that it's $75 + a bottle, I haven't tasted it in quite a while. I'm sure it's big and bold and dense but perhaps still safe from new oak and does not have a 'marketer' or an advertising budget so I assume the tasting group at WS really did like it. What's not to like. But what IS a Wine of the Year?
On their video presentation they explained their choice as one that was unanimous. it was the wine that they all agreed on at a tasting! That seems so peculiar to me. The wine of the year was from a tasting and not from drinking? And, the wine of the year was a collective decision?
Thats politics, not passion. A mass decision for the masses doesn't seem to be fueled with enough emotion to warrant full page ads in the Times for several days running. I mean if Bruce Sanderson said, the wine he could not get out of his head, the wine that haunted him all year was the Chateauneuf du Pape, I might be curious.
And so I thought about the issue of The Top Wine. I thought. I rode my bike. I DID NOT GO CONTRA DANCING (all dressed up and just couldnt do it even though I love it so much. You know, balance and swing and sweat and gypsy and waltz and pass through.) instead I went to Margot at the Wedding (commendable but disappointing) and thought some more.
The top wine of the year to me is one that I couldnt have survived the year without. The wine of the year has to be something I am happy to drink every day. It is a wine that gives as much comfort as my favorite books or sweater. It is home in the best sense and never fails to excite, and I can afford it. For me the top wine is the one that pulled me out of the trenches. The previous year it was a 2005 Clos Roche Blanche Gamay. This year? Ladies and Gentlemen,
.... Clos Roche Blanche again, their Arpent Rouge! From the red zinger of grapes, Pineau d'Aunis. I might add that Pierre Rovani, remember him? Used to work for Robert Parker? Well, Rovani a few years back, referred to the grape that grows beautifully in the Loire as a "talking dog. It can speak but it was nothing to say."
I believe, I drained the market of every last bottle. Bring on the talking dogs.
I am sorry about that. But what could I do? My survival was at stake.
Clos des Papes Chateauneuf de Pape. Chateauchamp of the year.
I really liked that wine in the 90's when it was affordable in its pre-Parkerized era. But now that it's $75 + a bottle, I haven't tasted it in quite a while. I'm sure it's big and bold and dense but perhaps still safe from new oak and does not have a 'marketer' or an advertising budget so I assume the tasting group at WS really did like it. What's not to like. But what IS a Wine of the Year?
On their video presentation they explained their choice as one that was unanimous. it was the wine that they all agreed on at a tasting! That seems so peculiar to me. The wine of the year was from a tasting and not from drinking? And, the wine of the year was a collective decision?
Thats politics, not passion. A mass decision for the masses doesn't seem to be fueled with enough emotion to warrant full page ads in the Times for several days running. I mean if Bruce Sanderson said, the wine he could not get out of his head, the wine that haunted him all year was the Chateauneuf du Pape, I might be curious.
And so I thought about the issue of The Top Wine. I thought. I rode my bike. I DID NOT GO CONTRA DANCING (all dressed up and just couldnt do it even though I love it so much. You know, balance and swing and sweat and gypsy and waltz and pass through.) instead I went to Margot at the Wedding (commendable but disappointing) and thought some more.
The top wine of the year to me is one that I couldnt have survived the year without. The wine of the year has to be something I am happy to drink every day. It is a wine that gives as much comfort as my favorite books or sweater. It is home in the best sense and never fails to excite, and I can afford it. For me the top wine is the one that pulled me out of the trenches. The previous year it was a 2005 Clos Roche Blanche Gamay. This year? Ladies and Gentlemen,
.... Clos Roche Blanche again, their Arpent Rouge! From the red zinger of grapes, Pineau d'Aunis. I might add that Pierre Rovani, remember him? Used to work for Robert Parker? Well, Rovani a few years back, referred to the grape that grows beautifully in the Loire as a "talking dog. It can speak but it was nothing to say."
I believe, I drained the market of every last bottle. Bring on the talking dogs.
I am sorry about that. But what could I do? My survival was at stake.
I view the wine industry out on Long Island as a lifestyle choice. Its close to beaches, restaurants, shopping, ducks, its closer to the city than the Finger Lakes. Its got built in tourists. Bingo.
But to expect the area to produce life changing wine might be just too much to ask of the region.
I might be the lone cheese in the corner here. This year, plenty of acclaim has poured forth from people who have a lot higher profile than I. Writers from Jay McInerny to Lettie Teague have raved about the wines. Yet, when I walk out of the Windows on Long Island tastings, I scratch my red hairs and think, you know guys? I've been known to nod yes towards a ros here, a pinot gris there, a caberet franc over yonder, but I just dont think there is the right raw material in the acidic Long Island soil to make exciting wine.
Okay, sure Bordeaux has sand and gravel too, but also limestone, clay and plenty of deciduous forest to protect from the salt air. Could Long Island wines continue to improve especially as winemakers (have the courage to) move towards less recognizable grape varieties and maybe even blends? Perhaps.
Do I appreciate some style choices Long Island is making? Sure. They shied away from the heavy oak use before it got ingrained. They are closer to an interesting Long Island straightforward style and it's a smart thing.
I aint a winemaker. Just a drinker. I'm riffing on my travel, vineyard visits, research and instinct. But anyway, people reading my blog know that I do prefer naturally made, unyeasted or enzymed wine that come from soils that are emotional.
So, I have to remind the good people out there who are fighting the fight for their wines, to consider where I come from and to try to forgive me. I might have hurt the ego of some, but not the pocketbook. I didnt say the wines stink, I did say that they are overrated. And in that word is a world of difference. Hey, I think Bordeaux and Napa (okay, all of California) is overrated too!
Would love to know which wines you think are overrated. Write 'em down and send them in.
I said, I am so sorry, this is corked.
He was a short, nice looking man with gentle wavy and had just given a leggy, 6' 5" woman an awkward yet enthusiastic hug. He looked at me with hostility. Then said, "I just opened it. What you smell is cork, not corked."
Oh, he's pulling THAT one on me, I thought. Alice, don't laugh. Don't pull rank. Be sweet. Do not repeat the scene at 'inoteca.
He instructed me to taste it, as if the moldy basement aroma wasnt good enough.
Yes, its a perfectly lovely wine but this bottle is corked," I insisted.
He picked up my glass and smelled it. This is not corked. I know my wines very well."
"That may be, I said, holding my ground firmly, but I cant drink it because its tappo. Could you please bring another bottle?
He left burning the air behind him.
**
Several years ago I was in Rome and ordered a bottle of Barolo. It was a seven year old, and it was wildly, stinkilly corked. I tried to send it back. He refused, in a very similar attitude. He told me, "This is an old wine, it needs some air!"
As if that had anything to do with it. I was with Melissa and Ari Weinzweig (Zingermans) and I pulled out my cell phone and called my friend Elizabeth who lived around the corner. As it happened she was walking Buddy (RIP), her cute Jack Russell, and was right outside. She walked in like the princess she is, they greeted her. She called the waiter over, speaking rapidly in Italian. She bent her nose over the pitcher, she made a face, and waved her finger at the waiter, Tappo, she said.
Bottle whisked away. Bottled renewed.
**
And so this waiter at Una Pizza returned with a new bottle. He angrily plunked an espresso glass on the table, repoured the wine. I crossed my fingers, Youll see it tastes the same, he said in his gentle Italian accent.
Its great, I said after a very brief sniff. Fantastic, I said, knowing I was a bit hyperbolic but I was so relieved!
He tried it, This is exactly the same wine.
Yes, I said, its exactly the same, but this one isnt corked.
This guy and the guy from Inoteca would probably happily team up to knock me off.
As far as the pizza? It was good, but it wasnt Naples. Its not even as good as Frannys (which is one of the best reasons I know of to move to Brooklyn.)
The crust is too spongy, not enough (no?) salt. I missed the gooey, wild taste of really great fresh buffalo mozzarella. It was good. It was very good. The pie did have a purity. And if they offered a vegetable, (oh, throw some eggplant, some greens, some mushrooms into that great oven!). even with the surly waiter who doesnt understand a corked wine, I would go back.
Una Pizza Napoletana
349 East 12th Street (between 1st & 2nd Ave.), (212) 477-9950
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