Jump to content

Washingtonian Drinks Column


hillvalley

Recommended Posts

Reading Don's article scared me as I have a few bottles sitting in my cellar. I just opened a bottle of Albert Bichot 1998 Corton-Charlemagne. The cork was fine, the color pale. The taste...I am not great at written descriptions, but all I can do is moan, in pleasure. Someone would have to help me here, Tropical fruits? Fresh Apricots, slightest accent of oak. I opened this up for dinner, but I may skip the food and just enjoy this.

Don't be scared - I just looked at Don's article and I see what the problem was - by the looks of the bottles in the picture, Don was actually tasting Sauternes! :lol:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I just checked on winezap.com and they list only one RM Champagne:

- Guy Larmandier Cramant Blanc De Blancs:

- Produced by Guy Larmandier, the Cramant Blanc de Blancs Champagne is - an excellent Champagne Blend. From the Champagne area of France, this - Champagne Blend features a Dry taste and White color.

Someone will have to help me out here, is anyone familiar with this champagne? Pricing ranges from $39 to $54 depending on vendor.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Go to The Vineyard in McLean. They've got three or four bottlings from Egly-Ouriet, including an all-Pinot Meunier bottling I'm sampling at lunch today.

Larmandier is a good producer. I drank his Rose when the Red Sox won the world series, and it was dynamite--second only to Billiot's sappy, almost tannic rose at that price point.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I just checked on winezap.com and they list only one RM Champagne:

- Guy Larmandier Cramant Blanc De Blancs:

- Produced by Guy Larmandier, the Cramant Blanc de Blancs Champagne is  - an excellent Champagne Blend. From the Champagne area of France, this  - Champagne Blend features a Dry taste and White color.

Someone will have to help me out here, is anyone familiar with this champagne?  Pricing ranges from $39 to $54 depending on vendor.

Since when is Blanc de Blancs a Champagne blend? Blanc de Blancs is produced exclusively from chardonnay. Also, it's nice to learn that Champagne has a dry taste and a white color. Cramant is a place and Crémant is a style. Who wrote that stuff? :lol:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Since when is Blanc de Blancs a Champagne blend? Blanc de Blancs is produced exclusively from chardonnay. Also, it's nice to learn that Champagne has a dry taste and a white color.  Cramant is a place and Crémant is a style. Who wrote that stuff? :lol:

Direct quote from the webpage. YMMV...you think they may need a bit of an assist?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On my second trip through RM champagne on winezap.com I got different results entirely...following was returned from exactly the same search. Strange!

Larmandier, Guy Vertus Brut Champagne Premier Cru $33 - 42

White | Champagne Blend | France > Champagne

Vintages: N.V., ...all vintages

Larmandier, Guy Vertus Rose Champagne Premier Cru $38 - 38

Rose | Champagne Blend | France > Champagne

Vintages: N.V., ...all vintages

Larmandier-Bernier Ne d'Une Terre de Vertus Cuvee Non Dosee (Disgorged 15 March 2001) $40 - 40

White | Champagne Blend | France > Champagne

Vintages: N.V., ...all vintages

Larmandier-Bernier Vieilles Vignes de Cramant Grand Cru Extra Brut Blanc de Blancs $22 - 53

White | Champagne Blend | France > Champagne

Vintages: N.V., 2000, 1999, 1998, ...all vintages

Larmandier-Bernier Brut Blanc de Blancs 1Er Cru $33 - 33

White | Champagne Blend | France > Champagne

Vintages: N.V., ...all vintages

Taittinger Artists Series Collection Armand $250 - 450

White | Champagne Blend | France > Champagne

Vintages: 1981, ...all vintages

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Um, these are all champers producers with "rm" in their names--LaRMandier-Bernier, Guy LaRMandier, Taittinger Collection ARMand.

Now L-B and Larmandier are RMs, I believe, but that's purely coincidence.

I noticed the same thing but then I started to wonder...maybe I'll just do a search for champagne and see what comes back. Normally, winezap is a very good source of strange, esoteric and sometimes hard to find wines. Maybe they dropped the ball on this one.

The search for champagne came back with over 15 pages of Champagnes so I'm going to assume that the search for RM only looks for those letters in the name or description. You have to love search engines.

Edited by Escoffier
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Don's piece touting Godello as the up and coming affordable white is now available online.

I've struck out looking for it for sale thus far. Don's article notes that it is available at Jaleo, Bistro Bis, Corduroy, and Taberna del Alabardero and Vidalia and a search of the board's archives indicates it was at least once available at Cafe Atlantico. Have others seen it around town at restaurants or stores? What do those who have tried it think of it?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My apologies if I missed something, but is it true, as it would seem, that Mr, Rockwell no longer writes the wine column for Washingtonian?
So, for those of us 456 miles out of the loop, what happened?

Not much happened, actually. Todd and I pretty much concluded at the same time that it was a good time for me to move on - getting me to turn in a decent first draft ahead of deadline was like pulling teeth, and I was starting to run out of fresh ideas and become occupied with other things. We talked about it for awhile, and I remember one of our phone conversations went like this:

"You know you should really consider Dave McIntyre."

"Oh, I already have."

Dave is a better writer than I am, and I guarantee he's way more current in terms of what's on the market. My wine experience is long and deep, but it's also very Euro-centric and probably even a bit dated considering I don't even recognize the majority of labels I see in stores these days. There are a LOT more wines on the market than there were ten years ago, and I don't know how anyone can keep up with it all.

All this having been said, it was a good 18-month run, and I'm really happy to have been able to work with Todd and write the column. Now, it's all Dave's, and it will only get better from this point forward.

Cheers,

Rocks.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thank you, Dave, for your interesting February column. Yes, dry red wine really can go beautifully with chocolate, and it's refreshing to see this in print.

Next, can you puh-lease debunk the (false, wrong, incorrect) myth that red wine doesn't go well with cheese? If you walk into a restaurant on an empty stomach, and order a plate of twelve cheeses with a Cotes du Rhone, you're probably going to think it was a mistake.

If you have that same pairing after a meal - which Europeans have CORRECTLY been doing for a few hundred years, it works perfectly.

Whenever I hear "red wine doesn't go with cheese," I immediately think of inexperienced sommeliers who need to dine more.

Cheers,

Rocks.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Next, can you puh-lease debunk the (false, wrong, incorrect) myth that red wine doesn't go well with cheese? If you walk into a restaurant on an empty stomach, and order a plate of twelve cheeses with a Cotes du Rhone, you're probably going to think it was a mistake.

If you order a good beer instead, you'll be pleasantly surprised at how much better it is with the cheese, dessert or not. :mellow:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In the just-arrived Obama issue of Washingtonian, accomplished jazz trombonist and frequent WSJ beverage correspondent Eric Felten debuts a new "Drinks" column with an an article on...champagne? And factory fizz at that, plus mention of a couple of Virginia producers.

A bit disappointing out of the gate IMHO, and offering few indications as to the depth we might expect of future wine coverage. Nevertheless, this should mean good things for coverage of other beverage types, as Felten's coverage of cocktails and spirits has been second-to-none in recent years.

(12/20: edited to clarify sentiment and to cover author's embarrassing brain-fart :P )

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Does this mean the end of our own redoubtable DM's wine column in the Washingtonian :D? The selection of a wine topic for this column would seem to point in that direction.

Um, well, Dave, I have published 11 columns in the Post over the last three months (with the one coming in this Wednesday's editions.) Two on fizz - including a little "factory fizz" but focusing on more interesting stuff - whether made in Champagne or elsewhere.

And in the Shameless Self-Promotion Department, ..... [edited to delete the bleat :P ] ....

Thanks for worrying about me, Dave, but I've fine and you can read me anytime! And we can all enjoy Eric's column, too.

Cheers, and happy holidays to all! I'll retreat back into the shadows now ..

Dave Mc

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On page 133 of the December issue of Washingtonian (ironically titled the Best of Washington :)) you will find Rocks' premier article as the new wine columnist for The Washingtonian.

This month he covers artisanal champagnes and we learn that RM stands for more than romance......

Congrats!

This reminds me of a joke that was told to me by the incomparable Chad Lorenz, who was my primary editor at Washingtonian up until my final couple of months there (his departure hastened mine):

Chad Lorenz was not your primary editor, Don. I was your primary editor. I was the one who pushed for second and third drafts, I was the one who stayed up late at night polishing the writing, adding transitions, turning often rough ideas into a publishable column, I was the one who advocated for your work when challenges came from above.

I'll respond here so as not to cause distraction elsewhere. When I said "primary," I meant the person who did the low-level work; not the Big Cheese. Truth is, I don't really know what the structure at Washingtonian was, but when Chad left (and someone from another department supposedly absorbed his duties), things went downhill in a hurry - I didn't even recognize my own writing in my final piece. This is a clarification and not a complaint.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 11/28/2005 at 5:33 PM, hillvalley said:

On page 133 of the December issue of Washingtonian (ironically titled the Best of Washington :lol: ) you will find Rocks' premier article as the new wine columnist for The Washingtonian.

This month he covers artisanal champagnes and we learn that RM stands for more than romance......

Congrats!

I just now found out that my 2006 "Fool's Gold" Washingtonian column is the primary source used in the French version of Wikipedia, as well as the English version.

The premature oxydation problem continues to this day, without any explanation as to why it's happening. By now, there are literally billions of dollars at stake; yet, people remain in denial, as the auction markets have not corrected to reflect the true value (or lack thereof) of White Burgundy.

(To this day, I appreciate Todd Kliman trusting me enough to run the article - he was worried that it was too "wine-geeky" for such a mainstream publication, but he trusted in me when I assured him it would become a huge issue in the years going forward.)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...