BYO Madness

Three recent BYO experiences, all a bit different.

About six weeks ago, we had dinner at a BYO restaurant in Highland Park that specialized in ethic food. It was graduation season, and the place was crowded and loud. That was fine with us.

When the waitress brought the wine glasses over, I inspected them, mostly out of habit, I think. One glass had lipstick marks that hadn't fully washed off from a prior use. I asked the waitress for a replacement glass, and she told me that they were behind in clean-up, that this was the last clean wine glass, and she suggested that I just drink from the other side of the glass.

Not a really good answer, of course. She finally brought over what she called "traditional" wine glasses from their home country. Basically, it looked like a double shot glass. But it was clean, so we had that going for us.

The next time, we were surpised to discover that the restaurant was a BYO. The really bad news was that the place was in Pennsylvania. The good news/bad news end was that we were in walking distance of a State Store. Not having shopped in one for several years, I'd forgotten (blocked?) how dismal they were. There were few choices in chilled white wines, and none of those were particularly impressive. The best chilled white was Kendall Jackson Chardonnay; not a bad wine, but not interesting. At least there was a decent selection of sake, which is what I wanted anyway.

Last week, we finally found the happy BYO experience at Za in Pennington. It was a small, quiet place with excellent food. There was a group of four men at the next table who were probably part (all?) of a wine club. They opened with a champagne, had another 8-10 bottles of dinner wine, as well as a dessert wine. And one guy even brought his own glasses. That was a very serious group of wine lovers. That was a restaurant that I can recommend highly if you're in mythical Central New Jersey.

The World Can't Be That Small

A couple of weeks ago, I attended an industry event in Summit, NJ. I'd never been to that town, and the only people I knew were at that event. Or so I thought. After leaving the event, I stopped outside the downtown office building to make a call. As I was dialing, I heard a woman calling my name. I turned around, and this woman was standing in the doorway of the business next door, waving at me. I totally did not recognize her, so I said "You have to help me here." Her reply wasn't really helpful. She asked, "Where am I standing?" I told her she was standing in a doorway. It turned out to be a salon. Still, I had nothing. She finally gave me enough of a hint that I remembered. It was a woman I worked with at my first "real" post-college job, and she was an aspiring stylist back then. Now we hadn't seen each other is 20+ years, and I never would have recognized her. Now we're talking about what happened to everyone we used to work with, and someone should start a Facebook group from DISC.

Today, I tried out a new hair salon near home. The stylist is a former neighbor. I related to her the story I shared above, and as I finished, a woman came out from the back of the shop, stopping right in front of me, looking me dead in the eye. Once again, I'm at a loss, but this time she didn't make me guess. The salon owner turns out to be an old friend from my SAR days. She named the business after her daughter, and I just never would have known. And this was another person that I haven't seen in 20+ years.

Adelsheim Vineyard Willamette Valley Pinot Noir

One of the benefits of the Joe Canal's experience is tasting so many interesting wines. This was an especially busy week, so between Wednesday and Sunday, I got to sample more than 30 different wines. Now that did include 20 in one evening for a special event, but that was still a lot of wine.

Thursday night was a Walk Around France, and that's where I got to sample 20 wines (and one champagne). Many were very full-bodied, and that continued into the weekend where I tasted, among other wines, a Catena Zapata Malbec. The white wines were mostly light in nature, but the reds generally were not.

All that was prelude to the wine that I bought for Sunday dinner, which was the 2007 Adelsheim Vineyard Willamette Valley Pinot Noir. We didn't coordinate the menu, but Pinot Noir does pair well with a very broad range of food. As it turned out, the baked salmon and the Pinot paired superbly.

The wine was an almost-translucent garnet color, which made it look really alive. I caught bright cherries on the nose and palate, along with a little cracked pepper and allspice. Smooth, fine tannins led to a silky finish.

Since I hadn't had a Pinot at home for a while, it made me break out my copy of Sideways. I hadn't watched it for quite some time, and finishing the bottle of Adelsheim Pinot Noir while I watched the movie was a lot of fun. I did look for a film about the Oregon wine industry, but I couldn't find one.

Unfortunately, I poured my last glass of wine well before the movie ended. Stretching that last glass was a challenge, because the wine was exceptional. The Adelsheim WV Pinot Noir was one of those bottles that I hated to see emptied.

Oregon's Willamette Valley has earned its reputation for producing great Pinot Noir. I think Adelsheim's 2007 effort is a brilliant expression of that terroir.

Disclaimer

Unless otherwise noted, I have personally purchased all of the wine and alcoholic beverages being reviewed in this blog. This is standard policy, and will apply to future reviews as well, again, unless otherwise noted.

Chateau Ste. Michelle Syrah

Just the other day, I picked up a bottle of the 2005 Chateau Ste. Michelle Syrah. They're Washington State's oldest winery, and they produce some outstanding wines at tremendous value prices. I've recently enjoyed their Cabernet, and their Riesling as well. Chateau Ste. Michelle is also a big supporter of the Susan Komen Race for the Cure, donating $1 for every bottle sold during an October promotion at Joe Canal's in Lawrenceville.

The Syrah had a nose of lush, ripe fruit, with touches of sweet plum and cherry. There was an enjoyable burst of jamminess, and the fruit stayed on for the finish. With a retail price of around $11, the wine was a very nice choice. It would be a great choice for a party wine, because it should please both Cab drinkers and someone who is relatively new to wine.

In addition to their great wines, the Chateau Ste. Michelle web site has a great feature they call My Cellar. It's a password-protected space where you can store information about any wine you've tasted. It's a great way to keep track (especially via mobile device) of wines you've enjoyed while out somewhere, without worrying about whether there's enough light to take a cell phone picture. Check My Cellar out at http://mycellar.ste-michelle.com/my_cellar_login.php

Cork or Screw Top?

I recently saw an industry statistic that indicated that up to 7% of all bottled wines are lost annually due to problems associated with the use of cork. That's a whole lotta wine. During his visit to the Joe Canal's in Lawrenceville, winemaker Sean Larkin told us about potential problems with screw-tops, which are often the result of mis-matched parts. But there are lots of outstanding wines that are bottled with screw-tops, so what's a wine lover to do?

Number 61 on the Wine Spectator Top 100 wines of 2009 is a 90-point Italian red blend, Monte Antico, and it's in a screw-top. People are very interested in the wine, especially when Joe Canal's has it on sale for less than $9.00, but some are resistant when they see the screw-top.

One of my favorite wines (The Lucky Country Shiraz) is bottled with a screw-top. And Australia is a leader in the use of screw-tops, which are good economically and environmentally. Yesterday, a customer came in for a particular bottle of Two Hands wine, which was priced around $80, and it was a screw-top. So I struck up a conversation with him about the whole issue, and about the bottle of Monte Antico. He knew he was buying a great bottle of Two Hands wine, and he was totally unfazed by the screw-top. He added three bottles of that Monte Antico to his one bottle of Two Hands, based on the Wine Spectator ratings.

The Lucky Country Shiraz

The Lucky Country Shiraz is a refined and sophisticated wine, in vivid contrast to last week’s Boxhead (Boxhead Shiraz was perfectly enjoyable, but in a different way). Although equally young (both are 2008 vintage), The Lucky Country Shiraz has the feel of a mature, fully evolved wine. Equally easy to drink and a pleasure to savor, the Shiraz finishes very smoothly. This is a second label effort from Two Hands Wines, and the anticipated quality was delivered.

This Shiraz carries an opaque black purple color. You’ll get aromas of blackberry, licorice, plum and prune. The tannins are fine-grained and very smooth, leaving an aftertaste of plum, spice and pepper. The Lucky Country Shiraz is ready to drink today –and you’ll be glad you did- or it can be cellared for 2-3 years.