In the spirit of my friend I enjoyed last evening with, I’m listening to Daft Punk’s “Around the World” while blogging today. Hard not to dance to Daft Punk.
Now that I’m back from wine school she wanted to hear all about it, having recently developed a curiosity for this previously unfamiliar spirit, so we aimed for places with a decent wine list and caught one of the last showings of “Bottle Shock” left in the city. Dinner was Italian at Osso Buco in the NYU area where we gobbled pasta between words washed down with a pretty good house Chianti. I arrived early so at the bar I asked for a Frizzante (Prosecco, orange liquor and cranberry juice) but the barmaid was unfamiliar and I couldn’t recall one of the ingredients, so she recommended something tasty made with Prosecco and wild strawberry liqueur (with real wild strawberries steeped inside!). The pink bubbly cocktail with tiny strawberries bobbing at the top of the flute looked pretty girly (the Frizzante probably would have too) but it was deeeeeelicious — I ordered one for my friend and she seemed to like it. Light, off-dry and unique. Regrettably our waiter was just a little too friendly and chatty and not so fast with the service so we were late for the movie but I was able to recap what we missed quickly.
You can’t watch a movie about chocolate and not crave chocolate afterwards; similarly you can’t watch a movie about wine and not want to hit a wine bar after. In the Village my current favorite is Solex, a trendy-looking wine bar we happened upon on my birthday earlier in the year that turned out to be as much substance as form, and a short schlep from the movie theater. I was particularly pleased to see that their wine list had changed from some obscure and expensive “meh”-tasting New World wines to a textbook variety of French ones. If there were any place in the city to introduce someone with a novice palate to classic varietals in a classic style, this would be the spot. Our flight:
My friend’s first glass: 2004 Barth Rene Riesling “Rebgarten”, Alsace
Nose: stone, plastic, lemon, lime
Palate: tropicals, citrus, mineral
My first glass: 2007 Château Belingard, Bergerac, Bordeaux
Sauvignon Blanc, Sémillon, Muscadelle
Nose: cat pee, lemon, gooseberry, chalk, limestone, watercress, celery, mild white floral
Palate: grapefruit, lemon, lime, gooseberry, chalk, limestone, watercress, celery
Our second glass: 2006 René Lequin-Colin Pinot Noir, Bourgogne
Nose: barn, soil, cherry, cassis, gravel
Palate: cherry, raspberry, strawberry, dirt, barn.
High acid, heavy tannins, high alcohol, medium finish . . . probably could have used some more time.
For dessert (mind you by now we are not jotting down notes on a piece of scrap paper from my purse quite as well as at the first glass):
For my friend: 2005 Domaine de Durban Muscat de Beaumes de Venise, Rhône
For myself: Fladgate 10 year Tawny Port
I’d say the evening was a success — my friend seemed to like the wines she tried and we had a great time. And that is the point.
