City Winery Wine: Actually, Not Bad!

While I always liked the idea of Michael Dorf's City Winery—the bar, restaurant, music hall and working winery situated in the heart of Tribeca—I was also more than a little skeptical of the kind of wine the place would turn out. A music impresario who fell in love with wine and suddenly decided to make his own? Hmm. Of course, my feelings about the possible product didn't matter in most cases, since I would never taste it; most of the barrels are privately owned by celebs and rich enthusiasts who have the bucks to heavily invest in their passion for vino. But Dorf said early on that some barrels would be reserved for use in the restaurant and be served by the glass. I was intrigued, but would the resultant wine actually be good-good, or just good-interesting?

I tried a few times last spring to sample one of the house wines, but the staff could never tell me if the stuff was actually ready to serve yet. So I gave up on the quest for a bit. The other day, however, I renewed my mission, and scored. There was Zinfandel, there was Chardonnay, there was Rose. What would I like? Since it was 11:30 AM (hey, you sieze your opportunities when they arise), I went for the white.

I was poured a nice, ample dose of a sunny, golden liquid. It was 100% Chard, I was told, from Lake County, California, fermented in steel tanks, unfined and unfiltered. For seeing no oak, the white still possessed a ripe roundness. It's was pleasingly medium-full in body, with some impressive acidity supporting the flavors of green apple and pear. I have to say it was rather well done for a first try, quite fresh and attractive. Nice job.

The homemade hooches are given snappy names. The Chard is called Downtown White, while the red has the much cooler name of Van Dam Zin (named after nearby Van Dam Street). I didn't try the Zin, because it was a whopping 15.5% alcohol. I sniffed a bruiser and I didn't want to spoil the pleasant impression left by the Chard. Another time.

How Many Creme de Violettes Do We Need?

At the Winebow tasting in New York last week, I was informed by the men manning the spirits section of the hall that the distributor had added a Creme de Violette to their portfolio.

An item from the large French distillery, Pages (which is part of the Verrenne company), the liqueur is called Page Parfait Amour, which is a category of liqueur unto itself which seems to take many forms, but in this case uses violets from the south of France in its distillate. (It was presented to me as a Creme de Violette.) Add this to the Creme de Violette put out by Haus Alpenz last year, and Creme Yvette, the proprietary brand that will be reintroduced by Robert Cooper this fall, after a 40 year absence on the market, and that's three Creme de Violettes (or purple liqueurs, anyway) to make your Aviation cocktails with.

Page Parfait is one of the many liqueurs that have been bought up in recent years by Jean-Pierre Cointreau. Yes, he's one of those Cointreaus, only he hasn't had anything to do with the famous liqueur that bears his name since his family divested themselves from Remy Cointreau in 1990. But he's kept busy, acquiring a liqueur here, a Champagne there and such.

Verdenne has been around since 1923. It is the third leading French producer of fruit liqueurs and crème liqueurs. In 1997 Védrenne merged with the Pagès Distillery.

I found the Parfait Amour to be less violet-driven than the Alpenz, but not as heavily fruity as the Yvette. It's somewhere in the middle, and light in body. Quite good.

Also on offer at the show (but not available to buy in the U.S.) was the Pages liqueur Verleine Velay Verte, a vibrant, green-tinted herbal liqueur that many compare to Chartreuse, though the flavor is actually quite different.

In Praise of Don Lee's Celery & Nori

One of the best new cocktails in New York has got to be the Celery & Nori at the Momofuku Ssam Bar in the East Village. This is a bit ironic, since it's a drink you can't get by itself, but must order as a companion to a meal. (Momofuku is too small and too popular a restaurant to waste one of its precious bar stools on a mere tippler.)

The drink is the work of Don Lee, late of PDT, but now in charge of Momofuku's growing drinks program. Lee, of course, is the man who rocked the cocktail world with his technique for "fat-washing" bourbon, resulting in the Benton's Old Fashioned, the massively popular (and much imitated) PDT staple.

Several of the original cocktails at Momofuku have a Asian bent. There's the Sake Lemonade, and the Reverend Palmer, which is grounded on Ceylon black tea-infused Elijah Craig bourbon. But, by Lee's own admission, the most interesting cocktail on the menu is the Celery & Nori (sometimes call the Celery & Nori Old Fashioned). A lot of new cocktails today give you a sense of déjà vu. They taste like something else you've had before. But I've never quite tasted anything Celery & Nori.

The drink is made of nori-infused Laird's apple brandy, celery syrup and celery bitters (nori, by the way, is the Japanese name for various edible seaweed species you see wrapped around your sushi rolls). It's a serious "up" drink, like a Sazerac, though not nearly as moody. You're meant to sip it, take your time. The aroma tickles your nose, like the first breaths of springtime. There are leafy, slightly minty notes, which go nicely with the apple flavors from the Laird's. Unlike most new drink, upon having one, I immediately wanted to have another.

Wish I had taken a picture of it. (That photo up top is of another Momofuku cocktail.) Guess I was enjoying it too much to think that far ahead.

Tanqueray Now Also Functions as a Lamp!

Even as the Great Recession rages, elite packaging of prestige spirits continues to veer toward the absurd.

I've seen more elaborate packages that this one, newly designed by Jeremy Scott for the premium gin Tanqueray Ten, but few that have an odder visual effect. Is it just me, or does the box, when opened, make the gin look like a lamp? And the inside pattern of the box rather looks like wallpaper, right? It's a tiny Tanqueray living room.

Darkness from Argentina

I doubt that famed French wine consultant Michel Rolland will ever overcome the portrait painted of him in the film "Mondovino" of a cackling, smoking Machiavelli, coaxed winemakers into the fruit-forward, oak-heavy International Style of wine from the back of his chauffeur-driven car. That portrayal was perhaps unfair. Certainly, the filmmaker of "Mondovino" had an agenda (one that I freely admit I share) against the homogenization, Parker-ization of wine, and in favor of the individual expressive of terroir and character.

But one thing's undeniable: if you saw the film, the image stayed with you. Rolland cut's an unforgettable figure. It was certainly my first thought when a bottle of Clos de Los Siete came through the mail. This Argentinean wine is Rolland's 20-year-old project. In 1988, along with six Bordelais partners, he touring the wine regions of Argentina looking for a vineyard location to make wine. He and he collaborators settled on a region 100 km sound of Mendoza, in the heart of the Uco Valley. The land was prepared, rocks removed, gullies filled, dirp irrigation installed.

The first vintage was the 2002. The name Clos de Los Siete refers to the seven partners. However, Roland's name is the only one that's one the label. Clearly, the winemakers think his is a marketable brand. No doubt it is.

The 2007 has just been released. And it's just as big, as juicy, as inky and oaked a wine as you'd expect, not only from Argentina, but from Rolland. The blend is 48% Malbec, 28% percent Merlot, 12% Cabernet Sauvignon and 12% Syrah. An international marriage of Argentina and France, then. The alcohol level is 14.5%.

The nose is powerful, hitting you with spice and blackberry and black current. Blackberry, in fact, is the keynote of the whole affair. It comes up strongly on the palate, along with tobacco, dark cherry, pepper, spice and clove. It's a big mouthful, smooth overall with a touch of roughness at the back. There's a nice acidity to lift up the overall heaviness of the juice. One could say it's sufficiently balanced. I was surprised to read there had been no filtering or fining. It's rough edges were few.

But there are not surprises here. This is absolutely the sort of wine you'd expect from Rolland. I could have, perhaps, made a tasting note similar to the one above before even opening the bottle, by simply relying on my expectations given the place of origin and the author. Furthermore, I would take issue with the press materials that state "Clos de Los Siete's Distinct Terroir Shines Through." I detect no terroir in this wine. It could just as easily been made in Australia, Napa, Languadoc, Chianti.

I make no denial that this isn't really my kind of wine. However, it's a good example of its type. There is skill in play here and it may very well appeal to the sort of enthusiast who revels in big South American reds. Certainly the price ($19) places it in the realm of a bargain.

The Sipping News

Dr. Bamboo, out of stubborn contrariness, samples several of the available—and by cocktail snobs, deeply loathed—spiced rums.

Germany wants to build a ghastly bridge across the river Mosel, and through some famous vineyards, all to cut a half hour from the commute from Frankfurt-Hahn airport to Belgium and Holland. The proposed highway will run above a clutch of other fabled sites, including the vineyards of Zeltingen, Graach, Wehlen, and Bernkastel. Said American importer Terry Theise about the politicians pushing the project: "This is a de facto statement about what they cherish or don't cherish, and to go ahead with this is a philistine's judgment. [The Mosel wines] constitute a symbol of Germany's contribution to the cultural heritage of humanity. It does not seem wise to devalue such a thing, or to risk desecrating it for the sake of a motorway." [Slate]

Guinness is 250 years old. [Serious Eats]

Ft. Defiance has reopened in Red Hook. [Village Voice] And, turns out, the DOH was wrong to close it in the first place. [Eater]

A Visit to Minetta Tavern

Keith McNally's redo of the classic Minetta Tavern has been getting a lot of attention lately, most of it good (the reviews), some of it bad (the flap about the difficulty of scoring prime-time reservations) So, I decided, somewhat counter-intuitively, it was high time I stopped by to check out the drink program.

A large, bald men was guarded the door. (They're all large and bald, aren't they?) A bouncer/doorman is a relatively rarity in the New York fine dining world. But I guess if you're hot....

I asked if I could get in and have a drink at the bar. "It's pretty packed in there. Try in 20 minutes." The guy was pretty pleasant and sincere about it, so I went across the street to the Rabbit Club and had a beer. No bouncer there. 20 minutes later I tried again. The doorman remembered me and squeaked me in. (I have found if you treat bouncers decently, and talk to them in an even, reasonable, friendly voice, you will go a long way.) The man was right; the place was densely packed. Every stool was taken, and what slim excess bar space there was was packed with well-toned, well-dressed flesh.

The bartenders were three in number, and mature of age. No whippersnappers. They knew what they were doing and worked cheerfully and efficiently. Cocktail-wise, there were six classics (Blood & Sand, Champagne Cocktail, Tom Collins, Martinez, Hemingway Daquiri, etc.) and 10 "house cocktails." A Maple Leaf Sazerac stood out (maple cordial instead of sugar) and a Rhubarb Sophie (vodka, cucumber, agave nectar, rhubarb bitters, lime juice). But I went for the Dodd Cocktail, mainly because it involved bourbon and egg white. It also has absinthe, lemon and peach bitters. The bartender shook the concoction dry and then with ice, and served it up in a martini glass.

It was good, as you might expect. But with each sip, it seemed more and more one-note. It's depth didn't grow, but shrank. Not bad, but I'll have to try a few more to see where this cocktail program is. All drinks are $14, making Minetta more expensive, per drink, that the city's best cocktail dens.

I like the general vibe of the place though. It still feels like the classic tavern it always was, what with the caricatures, murals, tin ceiling and tile floors. But now it's spruce and vibrant, not drab and sad. And it pulsates with a kind of urban evening entertainment you can only find in New York. It's a Gotham hot spot in the best, most romantic sense of the term.