Best of 2018

Best of 2018

Restaurants

Suerte in Austin ( go for the chef's menu)
BORDEAUX'S EPICURIALES -A food festival in Bordeaux
Sunday night 1/2 price Champagne at Monkeypod's in Maui
Paia Fish Market , multiple locations on Maui
Arturo's Pizza in Maplewood, NJ
Amada - Atlantic City
Spice Finch - Philadelphia
167 Raw- Charleston

Food

Duck from Vacciano farm, NJ
Fish from NJ waters especially tuna
Pintxos in San Sebastian
Trader Joe's citrus fruit
Crabs at the Jersey shore
Rainbow cookies from Ferraras
Maison Kayser bakeries in NYC and Paris
POG -Passion, Orange Guava juice drink found in Hawaii

Travel Destinations

City of Bordeaux in France.
San Sebastian, Spain
Wailea, Maui
Atlantic City, NJ - Ocean Resort
Wildwood Crest, NJ

Islands

Maui
Grand Cayman

Chocolate

DeBrands Ft Wayne, check out their caramel apples in October
Jacques Torres NYC
Teuschers, Zurich/ NYC
Maison du Chocolat,Paris

Culture

Delacroix exhibit at the Louvre and Metropolitan Museums
Orangerie- Paris
The Public Theater, NYC

Sporting Event

French Open Tennis

Wines

First my latest pet peeve.Wine ads that  list the highest score from any review that they can  find to entice us to buy a wine.I think that one needs to know a reviewers' tastes before blindly following their recommendation. This is true for almost anything like films, theater, restaurants etc.I have found that James Suckling is the current "name " wine reviewer with the highest scores. I disregard any review he gives. The only critics I follow somewhat these days are the Wine Spectator, Vinous and Jeb Dunnock. Jeb Dunnock previously worked for the WA but he wants to work on his own and wants people to know that he is personally reviewing all the wines he reviews. Letter Teague writes great articles in the WSJ and Eric Asimov in the NY Times also writes some very good articles.

The Wine Advocate has completely changed hands as Lisa Perrotti-Brown has taken over and many of their reviewers have left and joined Vinous. Nothing against WA reviews but I am just not familiar with their reviewers and I don't need more wine  reviews as reference points. I just dropped my WA subscription after a very long time because I no longer knew the critics.

Second peeve- How can you review a non vintage Champagne without the disgorgement date. This tells you when the bottling process of the wine was finished.Think about it - the WS reviews Moet Chandon Brut NV in 2015. do you think that the wine you drink in 2018 is the same bottling. A review of a NV Champagne without a way of identifying which bottling it comes from, is useless.

Reviewing the wines I have enjoyed this year, an eclectic bunch -Champagnes, Bordeaux, Tablas Creek, Willamette Valley wines, a very good cabernet franc from the Loire, a NJ Cabernet Sauvignon, Finger Lakes , NY wines. I found a 2008 Melville Chardonnay at Wolfgang Puck's restaurant in in Atlantic City for a reasonable price. Had a nice chat with Wolfgang during dinner. Municipal Winemakers in Santa Barbara, Assyrtikos from Santorini, Greece. I had some great Madeiras as well.

Here is a list of the best wines I have tasted in 2018.

White - Sparkling
2006 Saint-Chamant Champagne Blanc de Blancs Chardonnay
Red
2014 Tomasello Winery Palmaris Outer Coastal Plain  Red Bordeaux Blend

Red
2004 Pio Cesare Barolo Nebbiolo

Red
2011 Casa Ferreirinha Douro Quinta da Leda Red Blend

Red
2016 Patrick Lesec Gigondas Cuvée Romaine Les Espalines Red Rhone Blend

Red
2010 Christine Nadalie Clos La Bohème Haut-Médoc  Red Bordeaux Blend
 
White - Sparkling
NV L. Aubry Fils Champagne Premier Cru Brut Champagne Blend
 Disgorged 5/2018,
Red
2007 Bodega Numanthia Toro Termes Tinta de Toro, Tempranillo

Red
2006 Nervi Gattinara Nebbiolo

Red
2011 Domaine Drouhin Oregon Pinot Noir Laurène Dundee Hills

White - Sparkling
NV Domaine de la Bergerie Crémant de Loire Les Pierres Girards Chenin Blanc

 Red
2015 Jean-Maurice Raffault Chinon Les Picasses Cabernet Franc

White
2016 Ravines Wine Cellars Dry Riesling Finger Lakes

Red
2009 Orlando Abrigo Barbaresco Vigna Montersino Nebbiolo

Red
2009 Château Vieille Tour La Rose St. Émilion Grand Cru  Red Bordeaux Blend

Red
2015 Joseph Drouhin Savigny-lès-Beaune Pinot Noir

White
2017 Santo Wines Assyrtiko Santorini

Red
2016 Domaine du Pavillon de Chavannes Côte de Brouilly Cuvée des Ambassades Gamay

Rosé
2017 Tablas Creek Dianthus Paso Robles  Mourvedre Blend, Mourvedre

Red
2015 Jean-Maurice Raffault Chinon Les Picasses Cabernet Franc

Red
2012 Bodegas Muga Rioja Selección Especial Tempranillo Blend, Tempranillo

Red
2014 Château Carbonnieux Pessac-Léognan  Red Bordeaux Blend

Red
2016 Domaine Drouhin Oregon Pinot Noir Willamette Valley

White
2016 Ravines Wine Cellars Dry Riesling Finger Lakes

White
2015 Joseph Drouhin Saint Véran Chardonnay

Red
2015 Municipal Winemakers Pinot Noir Santa Barbara County

Red
2014 Château Haut-Bergey Pessac-Léognan  Red Bordeaux Blend

White
2017 Tablas Creek Vermentino Paso Robles Adelaida District

Red
2010 Domaine Drouhin Oregon Pinot Noir Willamette Valley

Red
2015 Municipal Winemakers Bright Red Santa Ynez Valley  Grenache Blend, Grenache

Rosé
2017 Bodegas Muga Rioja Rosado Grenache Blend, Grenache

White
2015 Chalone Vineyard Chardonnay Reserve

Red
2015 Château Siran Margaux  Red Bordeaux Blend

White
2016 Vía Arxéntea Monterrei Treixadura y Godello White Blend

White
2008 Melville Chardonnay Estate Sta. Rita Hills

White
2017 Albet i Noya Xarello Penedès

White
2009 Mayacamas Vineyards Chardonnay Mt. Veeder

White
2015 Mayacamas Vineyards Chardonnay Mt. Veeder

Red
2013 Mayacamas Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Mt. Veeder

White
2016 Gaia Assyrtiko Thalassitis Santorini

Red
2012 Domaine Drouhin Oregon Pinot Noir Louise Dundee Hills

Red
2015 Domaine du Grand Montmirail Vacqueyras Red Rhone Blend

Red
2009 Château La Cardonne Médoc  Red Bordeaux Blend

Red
2015 Château Tour Haut-Caussan Médoc  Red Bordeaux Blend

2016 Domaine Gaget Morgon Côte du Py Gamay

2016 Tablas Creek Picpoul Blanc Paso Robles

Red
2015 Manoir de Gay Pomerol  Red Bordeaux Blend

2016 Anthony Road Dry Rosè of Cabernet Franc Seneca Lake

White - Off-dry
2017 Anthony Road Riesling Semi-Dry Finger Lakes

Red
2013 Tablas Creek Esprit de Tablas Paso Robles  Red Rhone Blend

Red
2014 Château Tour Saint-Christophe St. Émilion Grand Cru  Red Bordeaux Blend

Red
2013 Domaine Drouhin Oregon Pinot Noir Laurène Dundee Hills

Red
2006 Artadi Viñas de Gain Rioja  Tempranillo

White
2016 Domaine Drouhin Oregon Chardonnay Arthur Dundee Hills

2010 Château de Jurque Jurançon Sec Emotion Petit Manseng
-
Red
2015 Château Prieuré-Lichine Margaux  Red Bordeaux Blend

Red
2009 Château Prieuré-Lichine Margaux  Red Bordeaux Blend

Red
2014 Château Siran Margaux  Red Bordeaux Blend
Red
2014 Château Fonbadet Pauillac  Red Bordeaux Blend

White - Sparkling
2014 Bonnard fils Vin du Bugey-Montagnieu Pétillant Brut White Blend

Red
2009 La Granja Nuestra Señora de Remelluri Rioja Reserva Tempranillo Blend, Tempranillo

Red
2015 Château d'Arsac Margaux Red Bordeaux Blend

Red
2015 Halter Ranch Cabernet Sauvignon Paso Robles Adelaida District

Red
2013 Joseph Phelps Insignia Napa Valley  Red Bordeaux Blend

Red
2013 Joseph Phelps Cabernet Sauvignon Estate Grown Napa Valley

Red
2013 Tikal Malbec Amorio Mendoza

Red
2006 Chalone Vineyard Pinot Noir

Red
2014 Joseph Drouhin Maranges 1er Cru Pinot Noir

Red
2015 Château Mongravey Margaux  Red Bordeaux Blend

Red
2016 Daou Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Paso Robles

White
2015 Pio Cesare Gavi Cortese

Red
1989 Château Meyney St. Estèphe  Red Bordeaux Blend

Red
2006 Ridge Santa Cruz Mountains Estate Red Bordeaux Blend

Red
2005 Bodegas Muga Rioja Gran Reserva Prado Enea Tempranillo Blend, Tempranillo

Red
2014 Daou Vineyards Unbound Paso Robles  Red Blend

White - Sweet/Dessert
2008 Disznókő Tokaji Aszú 5 Puttonyos Furmint Blend, Furmint

Red
2015 Municipal Winemakers Pinot Noir Sta. Rita Hills

Red
2007 Ciabot Berton Barolo Nebbiolo

Red
2009 Betz Family Syrah La Côte Rousse Red Mountain

Red
2015 Joseph Drouhin Gevrey-Chambertin Pinot Noir

White
2016 Valdespino Ojo de Gallo Macharnudo Spain  Palomino Fino

Red
2010 Château de Chantegrive Graves Red Bordeaux Blend

Red
2010 Bodegas Balbas Ribera del Duero Ardal Reserva Tempranillo Blend, Tempranillo

White
2013 Domaine Drouhin Oregon Chardonnay Arthur Dundee Hills
.
Red
2013 Tua Rita Perlato del Bosco Toscana IGT Sangiovese Blend, Sangiovese

White - Sparkling
2008 Pierre Gimonnet & Fils Champagne Premier Cru Cuvée Gastronome Blanc de Blancs Brut Chardonnay

White
2016 Castello della Sala (Antinori) Chardonnay Bramìto del Cervo Umbria IGT

Red
2014 CrossBarn (Paul Hobbs) Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley
 
White
2014 Tablas Creek Esprit Blanc de Tablas Paso Robles Adelaida District  White Rhone Blend

Red
2015 Municipal Winemakers Pinot Noir Santa Barbara County


Our traditional New Year's Eve meal - Peking Duck, Champagne and pastries from Ferraras.

Happy Holidays and Happy New Year

Holiday Gifts

Holiday Wines

I have found that many wineries have holiday specials which include free shipping. Shipping is my big complaint about buying wines from wineries. The shipping laws are antiquated and the discounts you get from the wineries are eroded by the shipping costs.

My 3 current favorites in the US, Domaine Drouhin http://www.domainedrouhin.com/en/, Municipal Winemakers https://www.municipalwinemakers.com/index.cfm?method=pages.showPage&pageID=E1FC2091-CADA-0EEF-0E16-2709C2CA1679 and Tablas Creek usually have holiday deals. So far this year Tablas Creek has posted their  specials which include free shipping on holiday packages. https://tablascreek.com/shop . I would recommend any of the packages. They do not ship to NJ among other states. TC wines are Rhone type wine. DDO wines are Burgundy style wines and Municipal Winemakers have a variety of wines.

Another favorite winery Daou https://www.daouvineyards.com/, is finally having some shipping promotions like $10 shipping for 6  bottles. Daou has great wines but they are pricey. They also do not ship to NJ. Daou makes excellent Cabernet Sauvignons and various blends.

Recent wines

2015 Bordeaux wines continue to impress. Chateau Siran, Margaux around $35 is very good.

Almost forgot about Nouveau Beaujolais wines for 2018. Usually come out the Thursday before Thanksgiving. The 2018 Deboeuf Beajolais $9 was like grape juice and I  would not recommend it.

Desserts

Thanksgiving was great. Baked a sour cream apple walnut pie and a pecan pie.

Also made a birthday dinner of magret of duck and a Marjolaine cake from recipe from Cocolat. The cake is layers of hazelnut/almond meringue with chocolate mousse and dark chocolate frosting.

It tastes much better than it looks with 4 layers of cake.

One of my best dessert cookbooks is Cocolat, Extraordinary Chocolate Desserts by  Alice Medrich, 1990. It is available on Amazon. The desserts are gorgeous and she gives detailed instruction on how to do all of the basics to make an amazing cake or other desserts. Only Maida Heatter's dessert books come close.

Enjoy.

Finger Lake Wines; Austin, Texas; Delacroix at the Metropolitan Museum; Apple dessert

 Finger Lakes Wines

The Finger Lakes region of New York state is producing some of the best value wines that I have tasted in a while. I have tried wines from  3 wineries over the last few months and all the wines have been quite good.

Dr Konstantin Frank http://www.drfrankwines.com/  I have tried their dry and semi dry Rieslings. They cost around $11 and are easily available. Costco and the Wine Library carry them.

Ravines Wine Cellars http://www.ravineswine.com/ I have tried their dry Riesling 2016 and it was great. Dry but with a hint honey that some great German Rieslings have. Around $14. I have seen their wine at the Wine Library.

 Anthony Road Wine Company http://www.anthonyroadwine.com/  We were at the Union Square farmers market in Manhattan and happened upon a stand for this winery. We tried their rose of Cabernet Franc and their dry Riesling. The rose was $10 at the stand the Riesling around $16. The rose was a robust wine not an innocuous rose. We enjoyed it. I have found their wine in Wegmans.

Each of these wineries make a number of other wines that I have not tried. The Finger Lakes region is on my list of wine areas to visit.

The Finger Lakes are in upstate NY



Austin, Texas

I had the opportunity to try some restaurants in Austin, Texas recently. Good food is all over but you need to get  away from the main convention and hotel area near the JW Marriott.

Austin is the midst of  an motorized scooter craze. Scooters are everywhere. They are left on sidewalks all over town. You download an app and set up a rental account and go. Apparently they can be dangerous for all as people ride them on sidewalks and streets. The ingenious part is that you get paid for charging them. People drive around in pickup trucks all night picking up scooters to charge.

Suerte https://www.suerteatx.com/menus/  Refined Mexican food in a trendy garage space. Excellent service and a very good wine list. The prices are also very reasonable. The restaurant has been discovered and may be hard to obtain a reservation.

We had an 11 course chefs menu that was $45 per person.It include Goat Barbacoa which all agreed was the best goat we had ever tasted.

The food was very good and I could appreciate the little touches and the ingredients. The service is top notch. Good wine glasses. However the food was not yummy but it was tasty. Would not want to eat there very often. The wines were great . The had a great Bordeaux Chateau Carboneaux for a very reasonable.

Cochinita Pibil Molotes

 Ceviche with Cobia

 Brisket tacos

 Fish a la devil

 A great wine we had after they ran out of the Bordeaux.

 Grilled sweet potatoes.

 Goat Barbacoa.

 Mango cake

 Coconut sorbet .

Odd Duck https://oddduckaustin.com/food-drink This is another restaurant that does small plates. Prices scan add up as you eat. The food was good, not great . Lots of interesting ingredients but I find that chefs many time try to overwhelm with ingredients  without a real focus for the dish being served. Decent wines by the glass. Trendy  space with a good vibe.

Shrimp.



Nachos



Peach cobbler, the peaches were not ripe.


Terry Black's Barbecue. https://www.terryblacksbbq.com/This place was good. We ordered meat by the pound and we ate more than I could believe. Turkey, brisket, beef rib and sausage. The turkey and brisket were great. The beef rib and sausage were good. The sides were the usual  - cole slaw, potato salad, corn bread, pecan pie- and nothing special. Beer by the bottle. Eat on picnic tables. Reasonable prices. A good spot for Barbecue.






Metropolitan Museum

I am on a Delacroix high. We saw a great exhibit at the Louvre in Paris in June and now that exhibit, minus a few paintings, has come to  the Met in NYC.
 https://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/listings/2018/delacroix Delacroix was the bridge between classical painting and the Impressionists.Do not miss it. It is here until January.
Hint: the first weekend of each month admission is free if you have a Bank of America credit or debit card.Go! Remember Hamilton.

Tis the season for apples. Hence my apple kuchen. Cake, apples  with a nut, struesel topping. If you would like the recipe, let me know. Use mutsu aka crispin apples if you can find them.

Enjoy.

France Part 3 - Paris; Jersey Shore - Wildwood Crest;

Paris

We left San Sebastian and drove back to Bordeaux. The drive was easy but finding the car rental office was a challenge due to construction. GPS sidenote. When we rented the car, we found it had built in GPS. We did not know how to use it so we asked the agent. She set it for San Sebastian.We started driving and I noticed that we did not appear to be following the correct roads to San Sebastian. I then used my phone GPS which showed a different route. The route to San Sebastian was really very simple. However the agent did not know how to use the GPS either and she had set if for San Sebastian, France. If I was not paying attention we would have ended up hundreds of miles away from our destination.

 From Bordeaux we took the high speed train to Paris. In Paris we stayed at the Marriott Renaissance Arc de Triomphe, https://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/parwg-renaissance-paris-arc-de-triomphe-hotel/?scid=bb1a189a-fec3-4d19-a255-54ba596febe2which is 3 short blocks from the Arc. We love this hotel.We stayed there a few years back.The rooms are large, we had a terrace with a nice view of the sunsets, breakfasts are very nice and the staff is friendly if not clueless. It was so nice to stay in a spacious room after the miniature rooms that we had been in in Bordeaux and San Sebastian. Of course it helps that we used points to stay and I have status with Marriott. The hotel is very expensive. However there is no need to spend big bucks on a hotel in Paris. Smaller hotels or Air Bnb accommodations  provide a wide choice of reasonable priced places to stay.

I know that it is a cliche but we really enjoy Paris. It is fun to walk and discover new areas and rediscover old favorites. The neighborhood around the Renaissance hotel is great. Very convenient to several Metro lines and it is very close to wonderful food options.

There is food market area a few blocks away on Rue Poncelet. There are probably 6 patisseries within 3 blocks of the hotel. One morning while at breakfast, I went out to 2 patisseries and brought back to breakfast croissants and other pastries. It seems that croissants these days in Paris are bigger and lighter than years back when they were smaller and denser. There are wine shops, cheese shops, butcher, patisseries, and fruit stores on Rue Poncelet.

We visited the Pompidou center https://www.centrepompidou.fr/en . It is a large cavernous building in central Paris. It was okay but they do have lots of things going on. It is also in a very modern area of Pairs with chain stores and a mall. Some paintings there. They have great modern art.

View of the museum.

The outside. This is permanent, not scaffolding.

A plaza near the museum.

Notre Dame.

We had dinner at a supposedly top bistro. La Bourse Et La Vie http://www.labourselavie.com/en/ A very tiny restaurant with great pedigree. The executive chef, Daniel Rose, has a top restaurant in NYC La Coucou.https://lecoucou.com/?utm_source=Google%20My%20Business&utm_medium=Website%20Button You need reservations. The staff was great. A tiny table. The food was interesting. Never had leeks prepared the way that they  served them.

Had this really exceptional sparkling wine that I had never heard of.Bonnard fils Vin du Bugey-Montagnieu Pétillant Brut, 6 Euros per glass.I need  to try to find it in the US.

I had Rouget in Bouillabaisse sauce. It was not very good. It was a new dish.The waiter had asked me how I liked the fish. I did not take a picture. The waiter was very nice so he brought me a dessert on the house.

Prices were a bit on the expensive side but as I have previously explained good wine by the glass in restaurants in France is a bargain although prices seem to be climbing. Many restaurants have set wine options to accompany your dinner. I would avoid these deals as they are expensive. I think that you can do much better with wine that you order yourself.

Leeks and hazelnuts. This is a specialty of theirs. Very good.

I believe that this was lamb.

Lemon sorbet with thyme and olive oil, another specialty. It was good, not great.

We had the opportunity to attend the French Open tennis tournament. We had a great time at Roland Garros stadium. I bought tickets on Stubhub because they were sold out far in advance on the official site. We only had grounds passes so we could not get into any of the major courts. However we lucked out as they put the Williams sisters doubles match on a tiny court with around 500 seats. We had great seats as you can see below.

It drizzled but clay courts can take the rain without causing delays.

The Williams sister won easily.

Another dinner in a small restaurant near our hotel. It was very good.

Rue Poncelet, a great food street in Paris.

Eugene Delacroix. Ever heard of him? A very famous French painter pre impressionism 1798 to 1863. The Louvre had a major exhibit of his works and a house where he lived is a museum in Paris. In addition a church near his house St Sulpice http://pss75.fr/saint-sulpice-paris/saint-sulpice-pas-a-pas/ has murals that he painted around 1850. Delacroix's work is sensational. I don't know where I have been all these years.

Entrance to his house in Fauborg St Germain.

Murals in St Sulpice.

The Seine.

Place de Concorde

Nike  billboard in Paris.

The original opera cake from Dalloyau, the patisserie that popularized it.

The baby bistro from Michel Rostang's Maison Rostang http://www.bistrotflaubert.com/ostang, Bistro Flaubert. The staff was great and the food very good. We had some interesting wines by the glass.Prices were reasonable.

Amuse bouche.

appetizer.

Dining room.

Magret of duck.

Pasta, it tasted much better than it looks.

Arc de Triomphe.http://www.paris-arc-de-triomphe.fr/en/ The Paris Museum Pass  https://www.parispass.com/how-it-works/compare-paris-pass.html?aid=268&gclid=Cj0KCQjwrZLdBRCmARIsAFBZllH-0DlQUL1X9njGBEGrr-v5yAWZizt4YCjW62bizePUe9uUBx8oFbgaAvmoEALw_wcBis one of the best things to have when staying in Paris.It is not cheap but if you want to se museums and other sites buy it. You can buy it the number of days that you need it. The pass allows you to walk into museums without the lines. It also provides access to the Arc De Triomphe.

Since our hotel was near the Arc we decided to visit the Arc around 9pm. We walked right up to the entrance. Most people like to walk up. We asked for the elevator and were brought over the the elevator and had a private ride up to the top. The view was exhilarating. Paris is pretty far north so it stays light quite elate.

La Defense.

Light show at the Eiffel Tower.

The Rodin Museum. http://www.musee-rodin.fr/en Gardens and his house loaded with great art.

s

A Van Gogh in the Rodin house.

We then walked to the Eiffel Tower. The Eiffel Tower is surrounded by security fences and you cannot walk under it anymore without going through security. In fact security is evident all over Paris ans every site has metal detectors and guards searching your bags.

The Louvre and I M Pei's pyramid.

We have been to the Louvre many times so we concentrated on the Delacroix exhibit. Just one great painting after another. He had so many styles.

The exhibit is travelling to the Metropolitan Museum https://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/listings/2018/delacroixin NYC. Don't miss it.

A Vermeer at the Louvre.

We found a very good small restaurant near our hotel, L Atelier du Marche. I passed by and it looked good. Very scientific. Great wine list. See below. No wines by the glass for more than 8 euros.

The food was very good and the prices quite reasonable.

The wine list, surreal.

The sunset from our room at the hotel. Never knew that Paris has such great sunsets.

More Delacroix. The garden of his house.

St Sulpice murals.

We also visited Musee d Orsay, http://www.musee-orsay.fr/en/home.html?cHash=1030a57d48 home of the Impressionists. Great art but not my favorite as I find it claustrophobic. It also have some ok places to eat. It is in central Paris but not that close to a Metro station.

The Metro is great. Clean, quiet and trains run every few minutes. You never wait. Beware of pickpockets. Many more in Europe than the US.

Sacre- Coeur in the distance.

Bateau Mouche.

The Orangerie,http://www.musee-orangerie.fr/en my favorite museum in Paris. It previously housed the Musee de Orsay collection. Now it is home to Monet's Waterlillies, which is the original site for the paintings. Do not miss it. The rest of the collection is awesome.

Wildwood Crest at the Jersey Shore. The beach in NJ is called the shore.

We spent a week in Wildwood Crest. Rented a house a block form the beach. Had a great time. The beach is wide and free. I found so me fish markets and bought some great flounder, scallops and clams. Found a great bakery Brittons Gourmet Bakery https://m.facebook.com/brittonsgourmetbakery/  Check it out.