Old Wines, New Ventures

So I've been dormant for a while, enveloped by a last minute move that I paid all too little attention to as I tried to squeeze out every party in my last days. Was great fun (a lot of pictures of me posing on top of my friends' bars), but I'm getting some lovely down time in my temporary lodgings in New York City.

I moved up here very short notice-my lease was up...why not right?! I was planning on going to the International Culinary Center in Soho, starting in January, and figured I would just start working and piddle away at looking for apartments until then ................................................................................... .............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................and then there was Napa.

My school worked out a full ride...if I shipped out to the California campus in the San Francisco Bay area. Good thing I was still in boxes!

While I play the waiting game for my 3000 mile move west for the winter, I've pretty much kept my head buried in my somm textbooks and hands busy over the stove. The one thing that I love about shacking up with my parents is that they lend me full control of the evening mealtime menu. I have a lot to update on this little journal of mine....

Regardless, I wanted to talk about my most memorable wine tasting experience in this post, since I have spent so much time studying it over the last couple of weeks. I'd like to bring wine a little bit more to the forefront in this blog, as I continue to learn more and more about it as a technical trade.

My absolute favorite thing about wine, and the reason why I am so passionate about it, is the people behind the wine. Whether it be the winemaker, the person who gifts it to you, that somm that serves it to you, or the person you're sharing it with. These particular bottles, which to this day are in the top...let's say seven (if I REALLY had to order them) that I've had in my lifetime. My friend Rocky (short for Rakesh), came up to my bar with a somm friend of mine Will for Will's 28th birthday. As a gift, he brought a bottle of 1986 Lynch Bages Pauillac Bordeaux. The cork crumbled when we pulled it out (thankfully not back into the bottle), and we chose not to decant it. Now this particular bottle was, hands down, the best I have ever tasted. As Rocky described it, the wine was reminiscent of an extremely delicious pencil shaving (hilarious, but so true).

There is a certain harmony and finesse that you get from drinking a bottle this old. The flavors have had enough time to truly blend, creating a wine that reveals new layers of flavor with every sip. As is typical with my friends, this was so delicious we decided we needed  more.

We walked across the street to my sister restaurant to raid our reserve cellar, and picked out a 1996 Pauillac Bordeaux and a 2006 Cote Rotie Delas (Rhone). It was fascinating to do a mini vertical tasting with the Pauillacs, and the Cote Rotie Delas was truly divine as well.

It is always an exceptional experience to drink wine this fine with people who are truly interested and passionate about what they are tasting. This not only was an evening of some of the finest wines I've tasted, but also a giddy, almost child like evening of eagerness, curiosity, and respect. 

I'll leave it at that, and be back soon with more food!!!

Eat well, drink well, and live vibrantly ;)