I love old wine lists. An old colleague in America passed this over to me today. From a dining car going through rural America at the turn of the century. I know Stella and a soggy sandwhich must deliver higher margins and make more commercial sense these days. But, sigh, it looks great doesn’t it. Note lack of vintages, and parity of pricing between Yquem and Champagne.
Chez Panisse + General Holiday Miscellany
Between the 14th and the 24th of October, there has not been much email activity from Blast, nor many sales. Which is not great. But for two weeks of holiday in California, well, sacrifices need to be made. This was not a wine trip, we were in the middle of harvest season and would have felt guilty about imposing ourselves on smaller wineries, so we made do with some nice dinners and bottles. For our second night, just outside Malibu, we ate at a small local restaurant. The food was excellent, the wine list decent but nothing special. I couldn’t …
Burgunder Mit Otto
A wiser man then I was of the belief that you ought to limit your drinking of the best wines in the world. It wasn’t that he couldn’t afford them, he could. It wasn’t that he didn’t like or appreciate the top wines. He’d spent a life in wine and tried most things. It was rather a belief that once you’re drinking the best wines all of the time, their values don’t appeal in the same way for very long. You get jaded, yawning into your 1961 Palmer and your passion for the wines is dulled. You lack that fervour …
Medlar
According to Google Maps, it takes 24 minutes to walk from Sloane Square to Medlar on the Kings Road. Ten minutes into the journey, with the sun cruelly co-ordinating its heating efforts with some extremely low pressure humidity, the outlook was desperate. Too short a remaining journey to take a taxi but too long to feel anything other than raising blood pressure and the cold, damp horror of a sweaty back. Has mortal man ever known such hardship?* Such that, on arrival I wasn’t looking forward to the innovative modern French cooking, the laid-back professionalism of the kitchen or the …
Hip to be Square
“I used to be a renegade, I used to fool around But I couldn’t take the punishment, and had to settle down Now I’m playing it real straight, and yes I cut my hair You might think I’m crazy, but I don’t even care”. Bordeaux, long the uncle in the armchair, falling asleep whilst the kids slipped out to party, has been suffering for years. Unsold primeur sitting in warehouses waiting for the right price, a new generation disgusted with the greed and a posse of disgruntled buyers, persuaded to part with 10K for a case of Lafite sold as …
Bonhams Supper Club
The workmen that have been populating Bonhams auction house for the past eight months have left. The building noise has stopped polluting the usually serene atmosphere of the salesrooms and galleries and the work is done. The upgrade to Bonhams is finished and it looks very sharp, if a little anonymous and minimal for my liking. On a small 1st floor spot surrounding the Haunch of Venison square, a restaurant serving mostly lunch and breakfast opens every Thursday for dinner. There can’t be space for many more then 25 covers, so it feels intimate. On Thursdays the restaurant is opened …