Jean Luc Le Dû's Wine Tips
5 TIPS & 5 WINES
1. Always smell your glassware in a restaurant and be exigent
of its cleanliness. I know it sounds barbaric to stuff one’s nose
in a glass upon sitting down at a table, but I’ve had too many
good bottles of wines ruined by a cardboard-like smell. The common culprit
for this in restaurants is usually the dishwashing machine, and it has
a knack for malfunctioning at the most inopportune times!
2. Most great white wines, especially younger ones, benefit from
aeration in a carafe. It has been my experience that this is most
effective with wines from cooler climates like French wines from Touraine-Anjou,
Alsace and Burgundy but also German, Austrian and some Italian wines.
It seems that these wines with naturally higher acidity, (The warmer
the region the more alcoholic, fuller bodied, and as a result lower
in acidity a wine is), get softer, showing more of their subtleties
as they open up in a carafe. For most great producers I recommend a
good half hour in a decanter before serving.
3. Speak to the Sommelier or Wine Steward. Most good wine stewards
are in it for passion, a love of wine, and usually a love for food.
The sommelier profession has evolved a lot in the last 20 years and
it’s time to stop thinking of it as a bunch of snobs waiting to
make you feel like an ignorant in front of your date. Sommeliers are
wine lovers just as you are and would only be glad to give their 2-cents
about the list they so lovingly created if you only asked them. They
know the intricacies of the chef’s cooking and they tasted and
bought the wines. To let a sommelier discreetly know how much you want
to spend, point to any wine on the list in your price range and then
engage in a conversation with him about your tastes and what you like
to drink.
4. When you get to a restaurant check out the wine by the glass list
and order something from it. A good wine by the glass list is a
reflection of the whole effort of the wine program (and should not only
be filled with expensive prize labels); they are a harbinger of things
to come. Chances are that if the wine by glass selection is interesting,
the wine list will be filled with serious, quality conscious producers’
wines.
5. If you’re planning to drink rare or old wines in a restaurant
(and this doesn’t mean expensive, as this could be a “Pagani
Ranch Late Harvest” ’92 from Ridge or some other curiosity)
, call the sommelier ahead. Talk about the offerings on the wine
list and it will be his pleasure to prepare your wines in advance if
need be. This can mean standing the bottle up a few days before consumption
so the sediment can settle down; or decanting –or aerating- some
wines prior to the guest arriving at the table. Your experience as a
customer will be greatly enhanced if the wines you are served are correctly
prepared.
5 WINES under $20 I’ve enjoyed drinking recently:
1. Cotes-du-Rhone-Rasteau “Cuvee Paul Emile”, Domaine
Bressy-Masson 2000
2. Seresin Sauvignon Blanc, New Zealand 2002
3. Chateau d’Aighille, Cotes-de-Castillon 2001
4. Bourgogne-Chardonnay “Les Herbeux”, Domaine Roger Caillot
2000
5. Cold Heaven Viognier “Sanford & Benedict Vineyard”
2000
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