To each his own.
When Paul Ryan paid $350 dollar bottle of this wine and some rabid woman thought it was her duty to play cop and I wanted to bop the agitator, (an associate business professor at Rutgers, named Feinberg--who on this links explains herself, though I don't think she added anything to the conversation.) over the head with a bottle of Screaming Eagle.
Take a look at this Outside the Beltway post. Human behavior, is a rare and strange weave.
" Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), a leading advocate of shrinking entitlement spending and the architect of the plan to privatize Medicare, spent Wednesday evening sipping $350 wine with two like-minded conservative economists at the swanky Capitol Hill eatery Bistro Bis."
The story gets bizarre.
The clash became especially heated when Feinberg asked the men if they were lobbyists.
“F—- her,” one of them replied and stood up in a menacing way, according to Feinberg’s account. Feinberg said her husband then “puffed out his chest” in response before the manager and a waiter came over and Feinberg decided she had said her piece and it was time to leave."
I think she somehow missed Wine 101 and erroneously believed that all wine is Two-Buck Chuck at different price points. Also, she missed that the choice $350 and not $3500, a more common clam point for bailed out Morgan Stanley employees.
$350 is more than I can usually deal with. Jayer-Giles is not my speed, but Ryan must make about fifty times what I do. To me, the idea of getting in between someone and his Burgundy that he can afford is not an arguable position. All relative. In the end, the wine retails for about $190, it wasn't even overpriced.
The comparison Foxites want to invoke is to the famed Edward's $400 haircut. Apples and nuts analogy; one about bells and whistles (cushy treatment in the chair) and perhaps overpriced vanity (such as the intial vinyl impregnated merchandise from LV), the other is about rarity, work, exploration, cultural and aesthetic.
Soil matters. All vineyards really are not created equal. And if you can afford it, why the hell not. Especially as the politician was there with two economists, not lobbyists, and all were splitting the bill.
So there they were, three people with two bottles of wine and a $700 wine bill. Big deal. If the government wasn't paying for it, or if there was a specific reason for shmoozing with the bottles, again, I fail to see the crime. The only crime was that from my point of view there were better choices on the list, and he could have done better, and cheaper.
I went to look at the list. As it turns out, it's not bad. If the gents were interested in good choices at better prices, they could have asked me, but what can I say; Ryan didn't call me for advice.
Outside of an eh-champagne selection, and a strange devotion to V. Giradin, there were wines at decent price points, and some were even palatable. Being Parker territory there was quite a bit of Chateauneuf, but some surprising choices like the Domaine Pierre André 2001, Châteauneuf-du-Pape $112 (delicious!). The 2001 and 2004 Clapes on the list for $165 and $195 were more greaet choices. And if I was there on my own budget I might have risked the 2005 Descombes Morgon for $36 (but I do remember quite a lot of brett.).
What the rabid woman failed to understand is that the table wanted Burgundy. Their choice seemed to indicate that the table wasn’t focused on price but on taste. They were dodging the sloppy 2003 and the stubborn 2005 vintages. The Claude Dugat 1er Cru, Lavaux St. Jacques 2004 Gevrey-Chambertin for $215, would have worked for them, and they could have saved a cool $145, but maybe they just wanted a GC.
In the end, the woman's behavior to me was far more interesting than the politicians, and the question I have, what I want to know is what was Feinberg drinking on that night at Bistro Bis to celebrate her birthday.
Really in the spirit of full disclosure, Feinbererg a public servant (via Rutgers) should disclose what she drank. And I don't want to hear her husband paid for it. And did she travel via Acela?
Posted by: Thomas Glasgow | 07/10/2011 at 10:02 AM
I am extremely curious to find out what she was drinking. For her sake, I hope she took the Fung Wah.
Posted by: Alicefeiring | 07/10/2011 at 10:06 AM
Thomas Glasgow. "And I don't want to hear her husband paid for it. "
She and her husband were celebrating her birthday. Do you have to pay for your dinner on your birthday? I wonder why????
Posted by: Rob Edmiston | 07/10/2011 at 03:06 PM
What bothers me is that every time something like this hits the news the industry in question takes a massive hit and goes into a nosedive.
Regardless of who is in the right or wrong the circumstances that result generally seems to end up with many other people losing their jobs or businesses. People are so squishy about enjoying some things in this environment.
Obama mocks people who fly to Las Vegas and Las Vegas economy tanks. Obama talks about how awful it is for people to have private jets and now the private jet industry is having serious problems.
If this nonsense gets into the news cycle how many people will avoid high-end restaurants or the higher priced wine list because they don't want some twit sitting next to them taking a youtube video of them on their smartphone?
How many public relations advisers are telling their clients to avoid such situations for the next few months? And what kind of unholy Hell will that unleash on those businesses and employees?
Posted by: Edward Royce | 07/10/2011 at 03:37 PM
the point is were ryan's guests lobbyists and did they buy the wine? that would be influence peddling; also "the woman's behavior to me was far more interesting than the politicians," should be corrected to read "the woman's behavior to me was far more interesting than the politicians',"
Posted by: Radleigh Tains | 07/11/2011 at 09:54 AM
From the story it is not clear if they were lobbyists, but it is clear that Ryan bought one bottle, the others bought one bottle. Seems kosher to me.
Posted by: Alicefeiring | 07/11/2011 at 09:58 AM
Some chat and further info downscreen here:
http://winedisorder.com/comment/56/5393/?all=true#new
But, Alice, how green do you suppose that 2004 GC still is?
But you're right about the Clape and etc., nice prices.
Posted by: Joe Dougherty | 07/11/2011 at 10:47 AM
Joe, wine disorder's is a most entertaining thread.
Posted by: Alicefeiring | 07/11/2011 at 06:02 PM
oh so silly . . .
1. cynical, but 3500 is more in the range of prices of trying to influance a politico.
2. great choice if you want burgundy in terms of the price to value ratio though I agree with Alice- there are better wines on that list.
In short why is this news?
B.
Posted by: 7stringBen | 07/13/2011 at 02:29 PM
Feh. Wasn't Jayer-Gilles one of the guys who went all in with Guy Accad back in the '80s? Kacher's Burgundies are all second-rate.
Posted by: Chip Hughes | 07/14/2011 at 08:30 PM
I like Burgundy more than the next person (I have a $60 Castagnier Clos-St-Denis from Uva in Williamsburg burning a hole in my cellar), and I give myself buzz cuts (the one benefit of being nearly bald), but I believe most people spend more on haircuts than on single bottles of wine even when they're splurging on the wine. Doesn't everyone agree that expensive haircuts and expensive wine are both luxuries? In fact, wine seems more of a luxury than a haircut for a politician because they're in the public eye.
Posted by: Lingpipe-blog | 07/18/2011 at 07:26 PM
I deplore the breach of common etiquette by Prof. Feinberg. Alice, I wouldn't accost you at a table, and I would be really interested in what you have to say, in contrast to Rep. Ryan.
Posted by: frank schmidt | 07/21/2011 at 07:03 PM
Frank, I felt her behavior was appalling.
Posted by: Alicefeiring | 07/21/2011 at 08:09 PM