Weekend Reading

Some articles to read this weekend when you’re not hunkered down on the couch watching the Playoffs or--let’s be honest here--all three hours of the American Idol tryouts you recorded Wednesday and Thursday night. In which case, you’ll need to hop off the computer and head to your nearest liquor store for a liter-sized bottle of Wild Turkey.

Check out this week’s Good Life Report for tips on how to spend the sober part of your weekend if you’ll be in the Bay Area for the NFL Playoffs. You’ll also want to look at my review of the Shafer “Relentless” 2008, a Syrah - Petite Sirah beauty that will take away all the pain of your team losing, if, in fact, they do.

The current issue of John Mariani’s Virtual Gourmet features a great piece on what’s happening in Brussels right now, as well as a rundown of the most classically New York restaurants in The City. (Note: If you have a table at Rao’s, and an extra seat available, please let me know. I’ve never been, and will pay for the meal if invited. Just in case you were wondering...)

If you’re in the wine business, you’ve probably already started getting your press releases and invites to the various en primeur tastings and events around it this coming April. If you’re going, take a look at James Molesworth’s helpful guide to restaurants in Bordeaux right here. To his list I’d also add La Tupina. They start you off with a basket of fried duck skin. Few things in this world are better than that.

Hidden Ridge Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon "55% Slope" 2007

Named after the eponymous Hidden Ridge Vineyard, whose slope reaches an astounding 55% in some places, this is a wine of both pedigree and exuberance--not an easy balance to successfully pull off. It saw 20 months in oak, 85% of which was new and French, and was bottled without being fined or filtered. As such, it retains an astounding range of character and expressivity, and, though it’s still just at the beginning of what will be a long, exciting evolution, it is already a joy to drink.

Hidden Ridge Cabernet Sauvignon “55% Slope” 2007, Sonoma County

This starts off with a fabulously expressive nose of dark berry fruit, blueberry compote, and sage, as well as something that reminds me of roasted green bell pepper. On the palate, it shows sweet black fruit, dripping-ripe plum, and high-cocoa chocolate enrobed around beautifully made blackberry liqueur, all of which, on the finish, turn spicier, with glimmers of ancho and paprika. Dusty tannins, a sense of minerality, and wonderful balance imply that this will evolve quite nicely in the cellar. Drink now (with air) through 2025.

222 Years of Wine

You know it’s a good day, my friend Anthony Maffei said as we were getting up from the table, when the wine you drink at lunch is worth more than your car. And while our bottles at lunch this past Friday, celebrating the 35th anniversary of Scot “Zippy” Ziskind’s ZipCo Environmental Services and My Cellar wine storage company, may not have been worth more than my car, they certainly would have taken care of several payments, at least through the spring.

This is how things go when you’re fortunate enough to have a meal with Ziskind: His everyday wines would be very-special-occasion bottles for most wine-lovers. Knowing this beforehand, I spent that morning eating and drinking as blandly as I could--no coffee, no OJ, no Sriracha on my eggs at breakfast. Good thing I was careful: The wines he brought to lunch were remarkable. My tasting notes are below.

Heitz Cellar Cabernet Sauvignon “Martha’s Vineyard” 1976 (Magnum)

Fully evolved--what would best be described as a mature claret style: Aromas of leather, dried black fruits, and well-aged cigar tobacco lead to a palate that, with air, opens up to reveal dried currants, minerals, cocoa, porcini powder, and cedar. Drink now, or forever hold your peace.

Chateau Gruaud Larose 1982

The vivid color of this 30-year-old St.-Julien would lead you to believe it’s much younger than that. On the nose and palate, however, its age--and the character of that legendary vintage--sing through with beguiling clarity: Red fruits and mushrooms are perfumed and virtually dance above the glass. They’re joined by softly plummy spice cake, sandalwood, charred spearmint, scorched earth, and cinnamon. It’s all very complex and subtle--a wine heading toward the end of its peak years, and utterly beautiful right now. If you have a bottle, drink it now.

Cakebread Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon 1994

If I were to taste this blind, I’d never guess it was 18 years old: Cherry compote and thyme mingle with creamed leeks notes, these lending freshness and lift to the otherwise sappy, concentrated red fruits here. This is a great food wine for a chilly night. Drink now - 2023.

Chateau d’Issan 1996

A tale of two wines, one masculine and the other feminine. There’s a bacon-like heft to the nose that somehow, and seamlessly, turns to feminine, beautifully filigreed red fruits on the palate. Oak spice ties it all together, and a line of fresh oregano lends the Cabernet here that inimitable Bordeaux character. It was fascinating to taste this alongside the Cakebread: The two of these wines really embody the different stylistic expressions of Cabernet Sauvignon on both sides of the Atlantic.

D’Oliveiras Reserva Verdelho Madeira 1890

In 1890, Cy Young pitched (and won) his first baseball game. Yosemite National Park was founded. Ellis Island opened. So to have the opportunity to enjoy a sip of this wine--much less an entire glass--was humbling, to grossly understate it. And as fans of great old Madeira know to expect, it was remarkable, a wine with more layers than an onion. Aromatically, it found its footing in the toffee - honey - nutty end of the spectrum. (It reminded one guest of a Bit-O-Honey candy, which was a dead-on comparison.) Once I took a sip, however, it really unfolded, revealing cherry-flavored honey, candied fennel seeds, Indian and North African spices, Marcona almonds, brown butter, and spiced pralines, all of it carried on a texture like slippery silk. A wine this good more than justifies the 122-year wait.