Steve Calderwood's - "From the Grapevine"
Sunday, December 20, 2009
In Praise of Older Wines -- How We Love Them!

By Steve Calderwood

Alter wein und junge weiber Sind die besten zeit-vertreiber. This is the quote on my favorite wine decanter which, strangely enough, my older sister gave me. It's a ceramic vessel that features a naked woman wearing only an open cloak with a strategically placed grape cluster. It translates to (and I paraphrase), "Old wine and young women are the best ways to spend your time." It rhymes better in German.

Why do I bring this up? Is it because I decided I wanted to tick off all of my more mature female friends? Actually it's because last week I had two occasions to experience old wines. In this day and age, that's pretty rare. We all get so caught up in buying a bottle and drinking it immediately that we never get to experience the voluptuous stage. When it does come along, you gotta revel in it.

My first experience was last Sunday at the Bagatelle, where I was hosting. An older couple had made a reservation and I escorted them to their table. I presented the wine list and the gentleman said, "Oh, we don't need that, we brought our own."

There are three golden rules to follow when you bring your own bottle to a restaurant: 1) Call and make sure they allow it; 2) It cannot be a bottle on their wine list; 3) It should be a special bottle.

"May I see it?" I asked and the gentleman obliged. My eyes must have looked like saucers when he pulled a 1997 Leroy Grand Cru Clos de Vougeot.

Clos de Vougeot is one of the best-known vineyards in Burgundy and Grand Cru is the best place within the vineyard. With the help of my trusty iPhone, I did a little research later and found that this bottle sold for $430 back in 1999 when it was released. The guest said he'd just purchased a case.

I told them we were honored they'd chosen our food to have with this bottle. I retrieved a decanter for Samantha, their server, to open and decant the bottle, which she did with great professional style. They then asked both Sam and me to get glasses and poured tastes for both of us and left enough in the decanter for us to have a small glass each after they left. There were powerful flavors running around in those glasses -- spice, olives, currants with a hedonistic finish that just wouldn't quit. I love old wine.

The next night was to prove to be another night for old wines. For you see, Sean McConnell of Grand Vin and I share a birthday, Dec. 12, but we're not the only ones. Martin and Fritz Busam of Martin's Restaurant share the day with us, so Sean, Fritz and Martin decided to put together a little birthday/Christmas party at the Restaurant and they invited me!

Martin would cook and Sean would bring the wine; always a recipe for decadence. We arrived at the restaurant and Martin was busy preparing Chateaubriand and Florida and Maine lobster. Sean then showed up with a '92 Kenwood "Artists Series" cabernet, a '99 Steele pinot noir, a 1977 vintage Smith Woodhouse Port, plus a few others. It's always a wonderful thing when Sean hits the backroom of the Grand Vin.

If you ever want a perfect example of why to cellar wine, the '77 port was the perfect example. When this bottle was released, it sold for $11, now 22 years later, the price has gone up a bit. Last year, the Wine Spectator did a review of vintage ports and this '77 was given 96 points, a much higher rating than when first released. The review reads, "Great dark color. Intense aromas of blackberry, stem and earth. Very powerful and youthful nose. Full-bodied and medium-sweet, with lots of milk chocolate, spice and berry character. Layered and balanced. So enjoyable. But just a baby. I remember this 10 years ago. It is really fantastic. Underrated by many, including me."

Yep, it was a good couple of days. Those darned Germans really know what they're talking about when they say old wines and young women. Now, if we could just get the young women to be quiet (oh, I did not just say that. Now they're not going to speak to me either.) Let's just move on to our one local wine event and have a Merry and a Happy!

Upstairs at Louie's will be having their next Art, Wine, and Water event on Monday, Dec. 21, from 6 to 8 p.m. Peter Vey will be displaying his works and Doug Shook will be creating some of his edible art. The cost is $15.

That's it for this week, so until next time -- wine a bit, you'll feel better.