dinwiddie

Don't tease, what are some of the big boppers you are opening? Any Motolo, Clarendon Hills, Octavius (since you seem to be featuring Aussie wines)?

I think Adam's PNs calm down with some age, so I don't open them young. Not that they aren't high in alcohol, but they don't have the in your face alcohol that most Zins do.

Does wine education and tasting come with the job as a perk?

For my wife it is a good CA Pinot Noir. Something about the lush fruit and lack of "alcoholiness" that she likes. That's why the largest variatal holding in my cellar is Pinot Noir, thank you Brian Loring and Adam Lee.

Hamden We took the boy up to Hamden CT to visit Quinnipiac Univ. and had lunch at Luce. Owned by Ralph and Anna Iannaccone, the Chef is Lucian Iannaccone. The first thing to say is that the wine list is fantastic. About 40 pages long, with a whole page of Gaja, 6 years of Ridge MonteBello available (the '94 was $125) and everything well priced. The food was wonderful. I started with Traditional Dru-Cured meats, prosciutto, soppessata and mortadella served with provolone Auricchio, fresh bocconcini mozzarella and grilled eggplant. For my entree I had Ucelletti Ticinese, veal rolled with spinach, sun-dried tomatoes, pignoli nuts, Gorgonzola cheese, in a fresh tomato and wild mushroom cognac sauce. It was sublime. My son started with mini crabcakes with a dijon sauce then had the Rissotto Pescatore, morsels of shrimp, scallops, calamari, lobster and Mediterranean clams simmered in a light tomato stock with Arborio rice. My wife had the Insalata di Spinaci, baby spinach salad with crispy pancetta, walnuts, caramelized onions, Gorgonzola, drizzled with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. She then had the Bucatini Calabrese, over-sized spaghetti, thinly sliced eggplant in a pomodoro ragout, topped with dry ricotta chese and bsil. Since it was lunch, we only ordered a half bottle of wine, but at $19, the 2004 Merryvale Chard was very good. Service was excellent and efficient and the restaurant is very pleasent, formal but not fussy. The dinner menu is a little more expensive, with beginning plates running from $6-13, and the entrees in the $20-25 range.

The GDL was a little young to drink, remember this was 1972, and they were intended as a gift to the professor's cellar from his friend. We drank some great wines, but to be honest, I couldn't tell you what they were other than the fact that they tended to be 2nd and 3rd growth Bordeaux or 1st Cru Burgandys. I was much more facinated by the company at dinner, since they tended to be high level diplomats (the American ambassidor to Denmark was there one night) and newspeople. As students we were invited with the proviso that we kept quiet and listened unless invited into the conversation. We were honored just to be invited since he only invited his best students.

My Ah Ha moment was when I was 19 but I didn't do anything about it until later in life. When I was a sophomore in college I went to the Univ. of Copenhagen for a semester. One of my professors at Whittier asked me to carry two bottles of the '68 GDL to a friend of his. I was glad to and delivered them at the Univ. The friend turned out to be one of the more important newscaster/commentators in Denmark and was teaching one of the classes I took. While I was in Copenhagen, he and his wife invited me and a couple of other students to dinner at this house three or four times. There were always three or four other people there, mostly political and diplomatic types. At every dinner he served lots and lots of food and and conversation and lots of great wines, mostly second and third growths from the 50s and 60s. I had never been exposed to wine before and these were facinating. But to be sitting and listening to the conversation and drinking them with people who were, to say the least, somewhat intimidating in their lofty station above that of mine, was an experience that I treasure. They spent hours and hours those nights arguing politics and economics and what ever else they wanted; and they talked about the wine. Alas, as a poor student, I only drank what I could afford and not much of that. It wasn't until about 15 years later that I started seriously buying and drinking better wines.

Is there a Take Out Taxi in DC. They deliver for a lot of restaurants in Montgomery County.

Thanks folks. I use the calculator to figure out points for things I make. I also have several of the Weight Watcher's cookbooks. I was just frustrated in trying to find good recipe sites and your suggestions have helped. I've bookmarked a few and rejected a few, but all in all, it has expanded the sources greatly.

Another good reason for restaurants to prefer users of OpenTable. It won't let you make two reservations at the same time for two different places. (There is a way around that, but I won't tell you what it is.)

I think you are talking about wines made by Michael & David Phillips. There is an Earthquake Vineyard that produces grapes used by Turley and others. But is is much more expensive. The Phillips make several "Earthquake" wines, including a Petit Syrah, and it is in the price range you are looking at. I've never tried any so I can't comment on them.

And their prices are excellent too.

I agree that the Columbia Crest Walter Clore Private Reserve Blend would be an excellent choice. I'd also suggest that a Zinfandel would be a good bet since it is the quintessental "American wine". I'd suggest that you try one of the Rosenblums, either the Rockpile Rockpile Road Vineyard if you can find it, or the Paso Robles Richard Sauret Vineyard. both are excellent (both the 2002 and the 2003 vintages) Another choice would be the 2002 Seghesio Zinfandel Sonoma County Sonoma (thier Sonoma County Old Vine is a little more expensive but very good) or for a little step up in price their 2002 Zinfandel Alexander Valley Home Ranch. You could also try some of the less expensive Ridge Zins, like the 2003 Lytton Springs but it is outside the $25 window. As to Cabs, the Worthy Sophia' Cuvee is an excellent suggestion but also think about the 2003 Buehler Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley. I've had all of them and for the price they are excellent.

My wife and son have joined Weight Watchers, and since I do about half the cooking, I'm looking for a good source of recipes on the web. I use epicurious.com, but wonder about other sources. Any suggestions?

I always perceved Palena's back room more as the bistro end of the restaurant's feel than a formal dining room, just as the the front room is the Americanized Cafe end. I don't expect FORMAL service, just attentive service. Every time I've been there I've enjoyed just that. Sometimes it was leasurely but I think that is more the kitchen than the service staff.

I can't complain about the service we got at Palena, but it was a very slow night in the back room so the server only had two tables to worry about. At times I have found the service leasurly, but attentive and inobtrusive.

Since I seldom buy wine from shops anymore (I get too much thru my allocations as it is) I'm not going to run out and look these guys up, but it is a great way to market to the less knowledgable, casual wine buyer. I'd be curious to see what type of selection they have though.

I went to Palena last night with some of the DC Crü and had a great meal. I started with the carpaccio, beautifuly presented and so tender and flavorful that you almost had to scoop it with the fork. The chestnut ravioli with lobster was a killer, absolutely fantastic. Light and so flavorful that I was relentless in getting the last of the sauce on my fork. The lamb two ways was to die for and the warm apple tart with caramel ice cream was the perfect ending. One of the others had the mapoleon and was nice enough to give me a taste. What a light and wonderful rendering. Wines were as usual, excellent. We started the evening with the '02 Radio-Coteau Zinfandel Von Weidlich while we were deciding what to order. The first course was accompanied by a '99 White Burgandy, though I didn't remember to write it down and now I can't remember which it was, but it was fantastic. We ended with the '02 Match Cabernet and an '02 Wolf Family Cab. While I liked the Wolf Family best at first, the Match opened up as the evening progressed and gave the Wolf Family a run for the money. All were excellent.

A large part of the problem is that when Merlot got popular a while back, there were acres and acres of the stuff planted and no thinning of yields. This led to a lot of insipid Merlot being produced. One only has to look at the wonderful Merlot from Paloma, Pride, Spring Valley, Pahlmeyer, or Behrens & Hitchcock to see that Merlot can be sublime. I recently opened a bottle of the Owen Sullivan R3 Columbia Valley 2001 that I bought when I visited the winery and it was wonderful, so much so that I'm not sure when I will open my last bottle.

Last year we took our son to Taberna del Alabardero for his birthday. We didn't mention his birthday to the restaurant but when we ordered dessert, they brought out an extra for him on a plate with Happy Birthday written in chocolate on it. David Bueno (the sommelier) said he had overheard that we were celebrating our son's birthday so the dessert on the house.

I use www.cellartracker.com for keeping track of my cellar. It is easy to use, allows you to do a lot of things, including print out a wine list or use bar codes if you have a bar code reader. Eric LeVine, who created it and runs it, runs it using donations. There are over a million and a half bottles listed by the users. It is easy to use and navigate, allows you to keep track of your consumption history, read tasting notes from other users, and invantory your cellar however you chose. With over 11,000 users, it is one of the largest cellar software sites on the internet.

I think it is all a matter of what you like. I like some Zins, Martinelli's and Rosenblum come to mind as does Ridge. I do not like how much alcohol some of the newer style Zins have, up to 17% in some years, but again, it is all a matter of what you like.

Try the wings, they are the best in the area. And believe it or not, the crabcake is excellent. If you haven't had the soul rolls, you should try those. But they are very filling.

Virginia changed its law before the case was heard due to a Federal District Court decision. VA requires that any wine shipped into the state have a 5% sales tax, plus 30 cents per bottle, charged.

It would be interesting to know who is making the wine for them. One assumes that this is the normal private label pactice of having your label put on wine made by someone else. (I seem to remember when I was a kid that the GI brand of coffee purchased in the base commissary was Maxwell House under the GI label.) It may turn out that there are several wineries involved, or Costco may just be buying up bulk or overproductions and having it bottled a la Charles Shaw.