dmwine

They're ripe when they turn a little bit brown, and the stem starts to droop. And when the birds start eating them.

Tom Shelton of Joseph Phelps Vineyards. An eloquent spokesperson for Napa Valley Cabernet.

Put Octagon in a blind tasting with $40 Bordeaux or Napa Cab and it'll do well. It's only the consumer bias against the "Virginia" on the label that promotes complaints about its price.

Did the health inspector never get there?

At the risk of blatant self-promotion, I once wrote an article taking on such foolishness.

Moti's. At least for this goy.

Many years ago at Paul Kee in Wheaton, I walked into the men's room to find a Chinese gentleman with the attire and cowlick to suggest he was fresh off the boat from the mainland, holding his small boy who was standing on the edge of the sink, baggy trousers around his ankles. The kid had good flow, something I appreciate even more as I get older. Having lived in Taiwan and Beijing and been used to footprints on toilet seats - if there were any seaters as opposed to squatters - I realized that these new arrivals merely needed some cultural acclimation. Still, I bolted from there, informed the manager, and have never been back. I think the place is still there though.

Depends on the cheese, non?

Wrong. It's about 92% Carmenere, 8 % Petit Verdot, at least for the 2005. You're thinking of the Montes Folly.

The Purple Angel is one of those highly extracted, "Parkerized" wines that are meant to make a point - in this case, Aurelio Montes is making the point that Carmenere can produce a world class wine. It is at least as good as many other $50 wines I've tasted, though I personally don't buy wines in this range as I have a family to feed and a mortgage to pay. A few years ago in the Giliberti/Franz era, the Post Food section ran a debate between the two of them, with Ben absolutely hating Carmenere and Michael defending it. It was entertaining, not only because it illustrated that there is no absolute objective truth about what makes a good wine, but also because they got rather nasty and personal about it, in a supposedly humorous sort of way. DornenPage might do a he said/she said, but they'd never divorce over a Carmenere. Joe, I take it you'd agree with Ben on this one.

When they first opened in 2002, I told a colleague who was a correspondent for a Greek newspaper about this new Greek restaurant called Zaytinya. His reaction was totally grounded in political and cutural prejudices, and rather comical. I awkwardly explained that there were a few Turkish and Lebanese dishes, but mostly Greek food and Greek wines, but I'd lost him.

"Truity"? Is that like "truthiness"?

Never mind.

Cancel my reservation! And where did that quote go??

This evening I opened a Linden '01 Claret I'd bought on closeout at MacArthur's two years ago for $19. It was gorgeous; probably could have improved for another year or so, though I'd suspect not much more. "Claret" is not Jim Law's top o' the line red, but the blend he makes from the juice that doesn't make it into his vineyard designated cuvees. Just excellent winemaking. Excellent wine. No qualifications necessary for it being "good for Virginia." This would stand up to most Cabs in the same price range. Unfortunately I don't know what the original price was, but probably $3-5 more. The blend was 2/3 Cab Sauv, the rest Petit Verdot.

Well, duh. Isn't this also why make-up sex is so good?

Calhoun's in Culpeper. If they go early, ham biscuits ............. Culpeper isn't exactly wine country, but it's a pleasant drive from Fredericksburg, and not too out of the way from Charlottesville.

Ahh, Suffering Bastard ... ! My mother got a laugh from that, too, though I doubt she ever tasted one. It was on the menu, little paper umbrella and all, at the Sampan Cafe in Springfield, our family Chinese place. It apparently is still there. Before it opened, we'd get carryout at Ding How, which, when I later studied Mandarin, I learned meant "Darn Good". As a kid, I liked the rice and the crunchy noodles in the plastic bag. Anyway, the Sampan had a family dinner (the usual Column A and Column B stuff) but also what I now realize was my first tasting menu. One of the items was a little nugget of tender, soy-braised chicken, wrapped in a triangle of foil. Just one or two bites, but exquisitely salty. I vividly remember my mother asking the waitress, "What IS this?" expecting some exotic Oriental name. The waitress sheepishly replied, "We call it chicken-in-a-tin-foil." Naturally, they had fortune cookies, and it was a family dinner ritual to read our fortunes aloud and laugh about the hokey wisdom or congratulate each other on our impending riches. One time my older brother bit into his and said, "I didn't get a fortune." Five minutes later, as my dad was settling the check, my brother started picking his teeth and pulled out a long, soggy strip of paper. Of course, the real reason we went back again and again was because they had sweet and sour pork with pineapple - my dad's hallmark of a quality Chinese place - and shrimp with cashews, my mom's favorite dish. And service was top notch - the waiters topped off dad's water glass with every sip. The last time I ate there was July 5, 1985. My rehearsal dinner. My wife, born in Taiwan, has never told me what she thought of the food.

If your friend is at all interested in the winemaking process, and what makes a wine taste like it does, I recommend "Backyard Vintner," by Jim Law of Linden Vineyards in Virginia. It's written for the home winemaker, but from the perspective of a commercial winemaker, with the idea of "Here's what you do if you want your wine to taste like ... It is much more informative and interesting than the usual "how a wine is made" type of book. No gossip about the industry, though. For that, you want James Conaway's books on Napa or Paul Lukacs' "American Vintage" - a nice history of wine in America, and now out in paperback. ETA: Hear, hear on "Adventures on the Wine Route" by Kermit Lynch. You might even be a cheapskate and just sign your friend up for Lynch's newsletter from his store, Kermit Lynch Wine Merchant, in Berkeley, Calif. Good reading every month.

This is another example of the "dining pros" such as "Rockwellians" thinking the world revolves around them, and only them. There are many people, including some who would gladly call themselves "foodies," who look forward to Restaurant Week for the chance to explore new restaurants they might otherwise not try because of the prices. I'm going to shut up now before Don PM's me ... ETA: OK, I'm calmer now. I just looked back (should have done so before shooting my mouth off) to see Eli is in the trade - so I'll say this: A lot of customers go to restuarants during RW who may not otherwise go - it promotes experimentation. Just because we jaded palates may avoid it, doesn't mean don't do it. Now, if your restaurant doesn't see any benefit from it, then that's another issue ...

Twist the bottle, not the cap. (Same as with a champagne cork.)

Thanks, Dave! I looked for DTour, couldn't find it, and the company's Web site indicated it wasn't distributed around here. Did I miss something good? Wouldn't be the first time!

You people are taking all the fun out of wine.

A very mild criticism from a rather rave review! I ate there for lunch this week while at a conference nearby at U-M Shady Grove. Sat at the bar and ordered the pork souvlaki sandwich, thinking it would be fast. Wasn't. The bartender who tried his best to ignore or forget me finally said the sandwiches take longer. Meanwhile, I was envying the guys who came in after me and ordered 2-3 mezzes and were served - and finished their lunch - before I got a sight of my own food. Anyway, as I was contemplating leaving, my sandwich finally came out. I was glad I stayed. The pork was terrific, the fries very decent. I had to scarf them down WAY too fast as I was late, but I'd go back if it weren't out of the way. Unfortunately, work intruded the second day of the conference and I wasn't able to go back and explore some more .......

Oh please! He's in prime wine country.