huevos con vino

It’s been a while since I had a good Pinot Noir.  According to my wine spreadsheet, it has been 13 days, actually.  The last good Pinot was the Clos LaChance down in Phoenix.  So tonight, I decided to open a bottle of the 2004 Le Cadeau I’ve got stashed away in wine fridge #2.

With Le Cadeau, the biggest dilemma you face is which of their three different 2004 releases you should open.  Starting with the 2004 vintage, Le Cadeau procured the services of three big Oregon wine players to make each of the three Le Cadeau Pinot Noir releases.  Harry Peterson-Nedry of Chehalem fame was the featured winemaker for the Rocheux, and he has in fact continued to make Rocheux through the 2006 vintage as well.

The 2004 Rocheux is a bit different than the 2005 and 2006 vintages in one important way: the blend of clones.  The 2004 release includes some Dijon clone 667 grapes (about 10% of the total blend) to go with the even split of 777 and Pommard clones.  Tom at Le Cadeau tells me the distribution is usually 50% Pommard and 50% 777.  I do love Pommard, so it has been hard for me to keep my hands off this bottle until now.  And at only 117 cases released in 2004, I am already crying in my beer, so to speak, over the fact that I had just one bottle.

Here are my notes on the 2004 Le Cadeau Rocheux; I decanted the wine for an hour first, then tasted it in an absolutely massive Royal Doulton Ambience Burgundy glass (the shape of which helps funnel the aroma quite nicely):

• Aroma: Red currant and red cherry with wild strawberry and some fresh raspberry, plus subtle spices in the mix (seemed like baking spices, nutmeg and possibly clove but it was faint).  The bouquet gets a little more complex as the wine breathes over about an hour, revealing a mild black fruit side that surprised me in a good way.
• Flavor: Smooth but with a bracing acidity that is in good harmony with the red fruit flavors.  As the wine opens up over time, the acidity settles into a pleasing backbone that meshes well with the red cherry and sour strawberry flavors.  I like the dry finish of this wine!
• General impression: An excellent, slightly dry Pinot Noir that really reminds me of a fine French Burgundy in its elegence and refinement.  A long finish, good tannic structure, and pleasant acidic presence make this a wine that should last for at least several years in the cellar.

Clearly, after reading a recent review of this wine, I need to pour myself a bit more and spend a little more time appreciating the complexities of the bouquet and flavor profile.  Or else I need to quit eating Red Vines before I taste wine (just kidding).  One thing is certain: This wine is great now, but it should be even more enjoyable in about 2-3 years.

POSTSCRIPT #1: It is 24 hours later and my WineKeeper “Keeper” has once again done a perfect job preserving this bottle of wine in my fridge.  After dispensing a new glass of wine into the same massive Royal Doulton glass, I notice some of the earthy, mushroomy aromas that other reviews have mentioned.  I also think this wine smells absolutely luscious, like fresh cherry cider in a way.  I could drink this wine every day.

Ikea is one of those things that gets sprung on you, if you’re a guy.  You could be sitting around, reading a book perhaps, when suddenly it dawns on you that you need to buy dishes and glasses for 8 people just in case you happen to throw a dinner party the next day.  The HBO series The Wire shows this phenomenon quite effectively when one character (McNulty) has to run to Ikea to buy children’s bedroom furniture after he receives partial custody of his children.  I could watch that guy drunkenly attempt to assemble an Ikea bed all day long.  He ends up passing out on the bed once he has thrown it together. 

I can relate.

In my case, I don’t spring these Ikea surprises on myself.  They are sprung on me.  Note the passive voice construction of that last sentence, in which I have deliberately obscured the identity of the person who forces me to go to Ikea.

So my wife and I went to Ikea last Sunday to get one thing for sure (a dresser) and look at sideboards, buffets, and so on.  This post is indeed related to wine because we need a sideboard or buffet cabinet to house all of the fancy Riedel and Royal Doulton glasses we received from wedding guests last year.  I don’t know if you own any Royal Doulton glasses, but they are the Slovakian crystal equivalent of the 7-11 Big Gulp in terms of sheer girth.  The glasses we received are, I think, from the Ambience Burgundy line of glassware.  Each glass in this set of 4 holds 720 ml.  That’s just 30 ml short of an entire bottle of wine.  I don’t recommend filling these glasses to capacity.

Once at Ikea, the torture begins.  Actually, the torture begins in the parking lot since there are rarely any spaces available despite the two empty warehouses that hold all of the indoor parking spots.  We got lucky, at least: We only waited a few minutes for some other happy sods to leave with all of their carefully selected cardboard boxes.

After I parked the car, we made our way toward the store entrance.  In the process, I noted to my wife that it looked like the other people were looting the store.  We had to wade through waves of glassy-eyed, rapidly moving customers pushing massive handcarts loaded down with all those modular boxes that fit so well into a Volvo station wagon.  They really did look like looters, but with shopping carts and strollers and Starbucks coffee drinks.

Since we knew what we wanted to look at, I grabbed my wife by the hand and pulled her through the labyrinth, all the way to the center as quickly as possible.  I know from experience that “a couple of things” can mushroom to include picture frames, pots, plants, couches, etc.  When I’m stuck inside Ikea, I feel like a modern-day Theseus and my challenge involves preserving my checking account balance rather than slaying the Minotaur.

Anyway, we finally got the dresser and we also found a terrific stainless steel “sideboard” that is actually a kitchen cabinet setup.  It cost less than most sideboards, it looks elegant, and it can hold all of our glasses and china.  It’s hard trying to find furniture that matches our stainless steel dining table, mostly because stainless steel costs a lot if you shop at typical furniture stores.  So we were ecstatic to find such a nice, appropriately styled sideboard for less than $250.

At Ikea, the fun really begins once you get the goods home.  First I carried each of the four boxes up 28 steps into our apartment.  We don’t have an elevator and I only care about that when I come home from Ikea.  Next, I began unpacking all of the bits and pieces that come inside an Ikea box.  Then I spent five hours bruising and cutting myself, yelling, cursing, stripping screws, and generally going through absolute hell trying to bolt the first cabinet into the sideboard frame. 

I know all about writing good directions and I think my chief frustration with Ikea is their directions.  Yes, they’re entirely visual, but sometimes that can be a bad thing.  Worse still, their directions are frequently ordered incorrectly or else they omit entire steps in the interest of reducing the total page count.  When you combine these constraints with mass-produced furniture built to relatively inexact tolerances, you get major headaches and, apparently, cuts on the tops of your feet.  At least I do.

It’s about a week later now and the dresser and sideboard look great.  I still need to assemble the other cabinet for the sideboard; the box is sitting under the sideboard, waiting for me to get really excited about building something again.  It was all worth it, though, as I can now access my Royal Doulton Pinot Noir goblets anytime I want.  But I definitely feel a little traumatized this time.  So that’s Ikea 2, Huevos con Vino 0…since 2004, anyway.

If you read my blog, you know that I love Oregon Pinot Noir.  For my money, I would rather buy a case of good Oregon Pinot than 1-2 bottles of Burgundy, but then I live fairly close to Oregon so perhaps I’m a bit biased.  Don’t get me wrong, I love Burgundy.  But at $35-$50/bottle, it’s hard to beat some of these terrific Oregon Pinot Noirs.

For example, I think I talk about Domaine Drouhin at least once per week on my blog.  Other favorites include Le Cadeau and Lachini, with several more waiting in the wings to take their place in my heart, so to speak.

Bearing this interest in mind, it was interesting to see that the February 12, 2007 issue of the PinotFile (written by the Prince of Pinot) focuses on 2004 Oregon Pinot Noir.  I got very excited when I saw that the Prince specifically tasted some of my favorite Oregon wines: Domaine Drouhin and Le Cadeau!  How did they fare against some other Oregon Pinot Noir releases in a blind tasting?

Well, the Prince liked these wines a lot.  He named the Le Cadeau Cote Est and Domaine Drouhin Willamette Valley as two of his four “Prime Beavers.”  I am not sure what it means to be a “Prime Beaver,” but I love any tiered rating system that uses beavers.  Very innovative!

The other two Le Cadeau releases clocked in as “Choice Beavers,” along with the JK Carriere Willamette Valley release.  I do like the JK Carriere wines but they are a bit expensive in my opinion.  The big winner, and the Prince’s “Top Beaver,” was the Winter’s Hill Pinot Noir Reserve.  While it might be considered a bit unfair to match their reserve against the basic offerings of Domaine Drouhin and JK Carriere, I think it’s fine to consider all of the releases together.  I also really want to get my hands on a bottle of the Winter’s Hill Pommard Clone Cuvee release.  I do love Pommard-based Pinot Noir.

Finally, a few other standard names show up in the Prince’s review: Dusky Goose, Argyle, Van Duzer, and Domaine Serene all make quite classy wines.

Speaking of wines showing up, I received my 3 bottles of 2004 Domaine Drouhin Willamette Valley Pinot Noir last night!  Very exciting.  Apparently my wife had to answer the door in a towel with curlers in her hair.  Clearly I have trained her well.

A few months back, one of my best friends (and my best man, in fact) gave my wife and I a bottle of 2004 Cantine Ceci Lambrusco.  I didn’t notice it at the time, but this wine is biodynamic.  I guess I should have reviewed it for WBW #29, but that Lachini was worth it.

Anyway, the 2004 Cantine Ceci Lambrusco is also called “La Luna,” presumably because of the biodynamic farming practices that get the grapes from vine to wine.  Don’t believe me?  Check out the information presented here about this wine.  More producer details, this time in English, are available from the importer’s Web site.

I love the idea of a whole bunch of Italian people harvesting black grapes by the light of a crescent moon as the smell of a hearty Emilian meal drifts by on a light breeze and Francis Ford Coppola sits next to Marlon Brando and Al Pacino on a tiled patio.  Hmm…I need to quit thinking about those guys so often.  Perhaps it’s my love of The Godfather.

On a serious note, “La Luna” is definitely worth seeking out.  Here are my thoughts on this wine:

• Aroma: Straw, grape jelly, buttered bread.
• Flavor: Slightly sparkling, a little sweet and a little tart.  A nice sweet/sour combination with a smooth mid-palate and an off-dry finish.
• General impression: A delectable Lambrusco, particularly nice with pasta mixed with Feta and olive oil.

This wine is worth a bit of a search, although I have seen it for sale at least twice in the Seattle area.  It makes a great gift because it’s something a little different, although we’ll find out soon enough if I can store it in the fridge for very long.  The WineKeeper “Keeper” doesn’t work with carbonated wines, and my champagne stopper didn’t fit this bottle.  Luckily, I drank most of this wine last night with and after dinner (at 11% alcohol, that’s not too tough).  I definitely recommend this wine if you need to do any copyediting.  It makes that process go much faster….

I took my wife out for Valentine’s Day tonight, finally, after I came home from a business trip on V-Day proper and she felt somewhat sick on Friday.  So after a bit of last-minute shifting, I decided to treat my wife to dinner at a new place in town: Qube.  And no, we didn’t watch Gleaming the Cube after dinner.

I found Qube through Opentable.com, although the review at Gayot.com sealed it for me.  As an aside, I highly recommend Gayot.com as a site for good, thorough reviews of restaurants.  If they give a place a high score, you know it’s a good restaurant.  Qube got 14/20, which is a respectable score…particularly when you consider that Canlis gets a 15/20 and the Herbfarm gets 17/20 (the highest score I’ve seen at that Web site).

Qube is located on the corner of 2nd and Stewart in downtown Seattle.  This location is billed as Belltown, and while that might be technically true it’s a little misleading.  Belltown is a hip, trendy portion of downtown Seattle full of expensive restaurants, bars, and bitchy people.  2nd and Stewart is the closest thing that Seattle has to Baltimore, which is to say it’s still really nice but you’re more likely to see street crime at 2nd and Stewart than anywhere else in Belltown.  We saw two separate police incidents while eating dinner, which makes everything more like dinner theater.  I enjoy that for the most part, although I still have flashbacks sometimes to the time we had dinner downtown and somebody at the next table died.  But that’s a different story.

The aesthetic at Qube is Los Angeles meets Japan as seen through the eyes of a Los Angeles resident who has never been to Japan.  I like the decor but the place is drafty as hell, which isn’t too smart if you want to attract lots of trendy people wearing skimpy clothing.  The space itself is a little small: There is one huge community table plus a small number of individual tables crammed on top of each other like no other place I’ve seen.  We had to turn sideways to get through to our table.  That’s a little annoying.

The menu is impressive, particularly the tasting menu where you can get either 3 or 5 courses.  Wine pairings are also strongly suggested, but at $45 for the 5-course wine pairing I felt it was a little ambitious for the average diner.  The wine list is decent, if a bit befuddling.  I had a glass of 2006 Crios de Susana Balbo Torrontes, a lovely white that tastes shockingly similar to Viognier.  The information on the Web site actually draws the same comparison, which made me feel good about myself.  I like Torrontes and Albarino wines quite a lot, and this one was decent:

• Aroma: Lemon rind, honeydew, green apple, and a faint musky bouquet that captures your attention.
• Flavor: Melon and peach with a slight perfume overtone reminiscent of Viognier, or green Dots (but in a good way).
• General impression: A decent white wine, but at $10 for about 4 ounces it was overpriced.

For dinner, we had the following foods:

• Naan bread with dipping sauces
• Butternut squash soup with sesame-encrusted goat cheese; my wife had a lox “tapenade” with greens
• Braised pork shoulder in a hot pot with crispy yakisoba noodles; my wife had sea scallops with edamame puree and an onion tart that I ate and enjoyed
• Cinnamon cake with balsamic cherry sauce; my wife had a ginger apple crisp and ice cream

So, what’s my prognosis on Qube?  Take a look at my new summary system for reviewing a restaurant and see what you think:

• The Good: Good service, extremely good food; very intriguing presentations.
• The Bad: Cramped, drafty space; no half bottles of wine on the wine list; no easy/free parking nearby; video camera staring at me the entire evening.
• The Ugly: They need to learn how to steep green tea so as not to make the tea taste like bitter stems.

“The Ugly” came about when they brought some green tea, which was delicious at first and well presented, and then left the leaves in to steep in the hot water.  Big mistake with green tea.  It tasted bitter as hell after a few minutes, which was a shame.  We had no way to remove the strainer and we couldn’t get any service until it was too late.  A minor point?  Definitely.  But in a place that pays this much attention to detail, this experience seemed odd to me.

There was also a wall-mounted video camera watching me throughout the meal.  Now that’s a little off-putting.  I don’t know why they were recording the patrons, but it was like eating in an interrogation room at times except the food was delicious.

So was Qube worth it?  I’d say yes, if only once.  I can’t imagine going back.  The whole place felt a little too sterile and cramped for my taste.  I don’t know how you make a cramped place feel this distant and cold, but they have done a commanding job of it.  Then again, I don’t like the Los Angeles dining aesthetic.  I think the movie L.A. Story captured the essence quite well when Steve Martin goes out to dinner and remarks that he ate his food without really noticing that he had eaten anything at all.  Qube isn’t quite that much of a cliché, but it comes dangerously close.