Wine comments please

Perhaps my favorite week of the year is next week, Wine Week at Smith and Wollensky.

I'm there on Monday:

Stag's Leap Wine Cellars - Heitz - David Bruce - Justin - Hess - Smith & Wollensky - Morgan - Rosenblum - Flying Fish - Rex Hill - Voss

And probably Wednesday:
Far Niente - Grgich Hills - Joseph Phelps - J Vineyards & Winery - Smith & Wollensky - Charles Krug - Kenwood - Clos du Val - Cellar No. 8 - Avalon - Lake Sonoma - Lancaster Estate - Chateau St. Jean - Beringer

I'd appreciate any comments on the wines listed.

Rob

PS
For those unfamiliar with wine week, it's all you can drink of those wines (on that day) for $10. It's win-win whether you're an alky or a wino.

(Insert obligatory "Sideways" quote here)

I've had Stag's Leap Cab once -- a $300 bottle bought by the account manager at a high-end steakhouse (similar ones priced at about $130 at Binny's). Freakin awesome, and I'm not normally a Cabernet fan.

OOOH! Thanks for the reminder!

I'm going to call for next Friday (more for the availability of my calendar then the list of wines, I'd really like to do the Monday. David Bruce is one of my favorites for their pinot noir. Anywhoo, here's the Friday list:

Ironstone - Hanna - Byron - Mark West - Rock Rabbit - Smith & Wollensky - Simi - Chateau Ste. Michelle - Covey Run - J. Lohr - Columbia Crest - Montevina - St. Clement - Valley of the Moon - Cline - Trinchero - St. Francis - Sequoia Grove

I'm not familiar with all of them but like the Ironstone, Rock Rabbit, Chateau Ste. Michelle and J. Lohr, though Trinchero seems to ring a bell.

Urk. They are already all booked up on Friday so I made a calendar adjustment and am going Thursday, where the list is:

Chalk Hill - Robert Mondavi - Mount Veeder - Cosentino - Freemark Abbey - Smith & Wollensky - Ferrari-Carano - Rutherford Hill - Chandon - Franciscan - Estancia - Carmenet - Markham - Chateau Souverain - Sebastiani - Clos du Bois

Some new ones for me, old familars being Chalk Hill, Mondavi, Freemark Abbey and Clos du Bois.

It's all good.

Are they listed by descending price? That would make some sense, as the first mentioned wines, assuming they are Cabs (Far Niente makes only cab and chard., AFAIK), are expensive. Cellar 8 is probably a moderate zin, Flying Fish a Washington M--lot, Bruce a pinot n., Lancaster is interesting, a Bordeaux belnd/meritage. Others could be lots of things, but you probably knew that. The 2001 Far Niente is really good, especially for that price. Haven't had great luck with Heitz's stuff for the price (but it wasn't 10 bucks). No recent vintage experience with the other heavy hitters.

Wine Week Monday was fun, but not the best wines I've ever sampled. Most of the wines were good but not good enough. Like they got you to the starting line but then did not go anywhere. Hopefully, Wednesday will be better.

The best was the Stag's Leap SB and Voss's shiraz. Also, they poured about 6 samples before we had any food, so it all blurred together anayways. On the other hand, the steak sammy for $15, with fries, cole slaw, sauted onions and mushrooms and a nice pickle is still a good deal.

I am not the least mad about the ten bucks spent!

Rob

I attended the Monday session myself for the time and felt that for 10 bucks, those were some pretty decent tastes! This was my first experience with wine week at Smith and Wollensky so my perspective is obviously limited compared to past years. However, I felt that the field was, overall, fairly strong. My favorites were the Stags Leap Sauvignon Blanc and the Rex Hill Pinot Noir. Most of the other wines were good but not inspirational. I would strongly recommend to anyone who is interested in wine to seek this event out. Just make sure not to finish each glass poured if you want to be objective about them. Very enjoyable experience.

Wine week was MUCH better today. They started us with micro pours of J Sparkling. I would have been pissed about this, except for at dessert time, they gave me a whole glass of the stuff. Heavy but without the certain bitterness some champagnes have. Opened and closed the lunch nicely.

Next we had a trio of savigon blancs: Grigch Hills, Kenwood and Charles Krug. None of these had the super-sour tastes of some SBs, but they were all excellent, and especially great wines for the buck. The Krug was especially good with a huge nose of grass-vegetables.

There was a bunch of California cabs, including the pricey Far Niete as well as Joseph Phelps, Charles Krug, Kenwood Jack London, Avalon and Clos du Val. None of these were "classic" cabs with that dry leathery taste. The best, especially the Phelps were actually a bit sweet--the Phelps being almost bubble-gummy. The Far Niete was austere to the point of blandness.

Contray to good wine protocol, we followed th cabs with Merlots, another Phelps and Chateu St. Jean and Beringer. These were much more acidic, house wine tasting, but refreshing.

Finally, they brought out too more high alcohol wines, a Lancester Estate Meritage and a Lake Sonoma. The Lancester was the best wine of the day (or the best still wine of the day). It was balananced and fruity and very Euro tasting to my neanderthal palate. On Monday, we had a Zin that was just too heavy, better for shots than for sipping, but this Zin did not overwhelm at all.

Lunch itself was fantastic. I had the smaller slice of prime rib. My wife loved her skate wing, and we ordered brocolli just for the hollandaise. She had a divine bowl of complex black bean soup for dessert while I had the much less complex but equally divine coconut layer cake. A la Alain Ducasse, they bring a big vat of whipped cream to eat to your hearts content with the dessert.

Rob