Don's Gillette's Weekly Wine Blog
Weekly musings from our store's resident wine guru
Don has over thirty years experience in the wine industry. For the last eighteen years his attention has been focused on the growing local industry. Don has a large following of customers who search out his opinions (never in short supply!) on new releases and on what's currently most distinctive on our shelves. Others seek his insights on wineries and trends that are still under the radar. Check back here each week for Don's latest thoughts on various wine-related topics. Read Don's full bio...
Email Don directly with your wine-related questions.
Memory, Reverie and The Silly Season
NVWE is a dedicated to California wines and it's hotel district location was chosen for its access to "out of state" customers. We have a good relationship with the local concierges and at their request, keep a number of French Champagnes in stock. Of course we only order bubbly that has our personal tasting endorsement.
Well, Christmas marketing has started and Thursday we saw the first example, a puzzling, if pleasant one. At about 11:00am, a lady in a black evening gown appeared and, offering an elbow, escorted Denise through the front door. Fifteen minutes later Denise reappeared from the back room and the lady in black reappeared at our front entrance: a clear indicator that the Silly Season had begun.
Now this elegant lady is known to us as a representative of a wine importer/distributor. We see her now and again, in other guise. Poised in our doorway, she looked like a Hollywood waif in search of a red carpet. Of course I accepted her elbow, and we departed.
Outside was a black Stretch-Limo. (Why not a pumpkin coach?) Upon entry I found another lady and gentleman in evening dress, guarding an ice-bucket of "Tete de Cuvee" French bubbly! Clearly my hosts felt these wines should be evaluated in circumstances more romantic than those of the sales room. I found myself unable to disagree. As the driver looped through downtown San Francisco, I gave the presentation my full attention.
I am a life-long devotee of bubbly and a morning bracer of Dom Perignon, Krug Grande Cuvee and Veuve Cliquot Grande Dame is to me an excellent attitude adjuster. I confess that bubbles and fine food bring me to a state near to outright bliss. I am however, willing to "tough it out" without the customary appetizers. I sat back in the seat, grabbed a glass, smiled and reminisced.
In memory, my first Doms were the frothy '66 and the luxurious '69. They didn't need food, but liked it. Grande Cuvee was just an idea then, but vintage Krug was another thing. Ferociously powerful in its youth (the '66 vintage was my first example), it hits an extraordinary pinnacle of richness in its maturity. I hold the absolute conviction that God drinks the '52 regularly. My mind drifts off at the mere thought of it!
Grande Dame evokes other days, including one of the most serendipitous in my life. I was in Santa Barbara, in the '70s and a roommate had been skin diving. He proposed that we learn if Sea Urchin was as wonderful as rumored. He was armed with the purple critters and some freshly made toast points. For my part, I had just brought home my first Grande Dame, so we quickly broadened the scope of his experiment.
Grande Dame and Uni (what they call Sea Urchin at the Sushi bar) proved a knee-trembling combination, as it has every time since. The Universe had clearly coalesced from the "Big Bang" and life evolved just to make such moments possible. I still feel that way. I get nearly the same feeling drinking great Champagne with raw oysters. People look at me funny while I am eating them, so it shows I guess.
Back to Earth
I stepped out of the limo, thanked my well-dressed hosts and stumbled, famished, back into the real world. On reflection, it is important to keep up to date on the new vintages.