February 2007
Posted: Feb 28, 2007 11:53am ET
I just finished what has to be one of the worst tastings I have done for the magazine in a long time— 2002 Brunello di Montalcino. It was a shocker. Most of the wines were diluted and uninteresting. Even big names did poorly.
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Posted: Feb 26, 2007 8:27am ET
I was happy enough this weekend to find a bottle of 2002 premier cru Chablis in the small cellar in my ex-wife’s house in Yorkshire. I was staying with my two children for a week there. I bought a case of the 2002 William Fèvre Chablis Vaillons back in 2004 and couldn’t wait to enjoy the wine with an array of British delights, particularly smoked salmon and potted shrimp.
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Posted: Feb 21, 2007 3:24pm ET
In my last blog , I wrote about meeting mega-chef Joël Robuchon in London, and my less-than-perfect experience at his L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon in Paris. The waiters there were downright rude and condescending.
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Posted: Feb 20, 2007 5:42am ET
I ran into super chef Joël Robuchon at breakfast last Saturday in London at the St. Martins Lane Hotel. I was there with my two children, getting geared up for a matinee of The Sound of Music. Robuchon had been fine-tuning his latest L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon, which is sort of high class zen-sushi-bar-looking place featuring all of his signature three-star dishes, and more, as well as a good selection of wines by the glass.
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Posted: Feb 16, 2007 7:06pm ET
Haaaaaa. Steak, frites and Bordeaux. Sometimes there’s nothing better than a simple steak, French fries and a green salad with a good bottle of Bordeaux. And I am not talking about first-growth or second-growth or trophy reds from France’s premier wine region.
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Posted: Feb 15, 2007 11:07am ET
I have a soft spot for Bandol, France’s coastal wine region. I had a bottle of Bandol red the other night at the excellent New York restaurant Mas, and I really was sad to see it end. It brought me back to last summer on the Cote d’Azur with some friends enjoying the sunshine, sea air, and beautiful sights – day and night.
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Posted: Feb 14, 2007 11:27am ET
I am in a rotten mood. Today is Valentine’s Day and I hate it. I have loathed this commercial celebration for as long as I can remember. Maybe it was because Heidi Hendrickson in the sixth grade didn’t accept my Valentine’s message.
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Posted: Feb 13, 2007 4:49pm ET
I am seeing wine bars in major cities, and what I am seeing, I like. In the past few days, I have been to two cool wine bars, one in Los Angeles and one in New York City, that are hip, fun and satisfying.
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Posted: Feb 9, 2007 5:21pm ET
What a foggy morning in Los Angeles today, not so much from the weather but from a slightly exaggerated evening last night. I had dinner at Sona (which is recent guest blogger David Myers ' restaurant) with L.
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Posted: Feb 8, 2007 12:21pm ET
Two 100-pointers for Brunello di Montalcino. The region is on a roll, both in Italy and abroad. As you know, my home is in Italy, so I spend a fair amount of time in Tuscany, and it never ceases to amaze me when I ride my bike or drive my sports car to Montalcino and gaze at the mountain of the medieval city.
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Posted: Feb 7, 2007 4:10pm ET
Is Manfred Krankl a genius? No. Is he super cool, and does he make excellent wines? Yes. Is he an artist and winemaker? Yes. Yes. I had lunch a couple of days ago in Los Angeles with Manfred, who makes Sine Qua Non wines, and I was inspired not only by his wine that we drank – 2003 Sine Qua Non Li’l E – but his philosophy of life and winemaking.
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Posted: Feb 6, 2007 5:56pm ET
Empty restaurants sort of scare me. Last night I went with a friend to a new Italian restaurant in Los Angeles and it was empty, except for one other table. It made me uneasy. Strange thoughts went through my mind.
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Posted: Feb 5, 2007 10:59am ET
John Gray is one of my favorite chefs, and you have probably never heard of him. I originally met him while he was working at the Ritz-Carlton in Cancun, Mexico, as the head chef, in the early 1990s. I remember the first time I tasted his food at a dinner with friends and it blew me away.
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Posted: Feb 2, 2007 12:13pm ET
I drink a lot of Chilean wine while I am in Latin America. It always seems to be available. It’s well-priced, and the quality is very good. It also seems pretty indestructible, even in the face of the heat and humidity that characterize the places I travel to, like Cuba or Nicaragua, for Wine Spectator ’s sister publication, Cigar Aficionado.
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Posted: Feb 1, 2007 11:00am ET
I was drinking a 2005 Concha y Toro Syrah Rapel Valley Casillero del Diablo a few nights ago in Havana in a small family-run restaurant called La Casa in Vedado, a nice and clean neighborhood in the city.
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