A Hedonist in the Cellar_ Adventures in Wine - Jay McInerney [60]
With the exception of Ports, the cellar at La Tour d’Argent is stocked exclusively with French wines, with a special emphasis on Burgundy, that most ethereal and temperamental of all beverages. The list opens with a hundred-odd pages (they’re unnumbered) of vin de Bourgogne rouge, including twenty-three vintages of Romanée-Conti stretching back to 1945 and ten vintages of Jayer’s Cros Parantoux, including the 1990 for 410 euros. These are some of the reasons Burghounds from around the world jump on planes to Paris for the weekend. Bargain hunters like myself will find a huge selection of modestly priced mature Burgundies, like the ′85 Pousse d’Or Clos de La Bousse d’Or Volnay for 105 euros, or the 1990 Ecard Savigny les Beaune aux Serpentières for 94 euros, both of which Ridgway gently steered me toward.
“I get more excited by Burgundy,” Ridgway says, relaxing after lunch with a glass of 1947 Armagnac in his tiny window-less office down in the labyrinthian cellars, beneath the quai de la Tournelle. “It’s a more living wine.” It’s also a relative bargain since he buys direct from the domaines—something that’s not possible in Bordeaux, with its long-standing negotiant system. Every Monday Ridgway and some of his staff visit a different wine region to taste and hunt for new treasures.
The staggering collection of white Burgundies (Lafon, Coche-Dury, d’Auvenay, Raveneau) provides hundreds of complementary matches to the classic pike quenelles. When I selected the pike for my first course, Ridgway hooked me up with an ′83 Drouhin Puligny-Montrachet Caillerets, all honeyed flesh around a core of limestone. The signature pressed duck, an extremely rich, ancien-cuisine concoction—the sauce is thickened with the blood of three-week-old ducklings— is probably most easily matched with one of the thousands of Bordeaux or Rhônes on the list, like a ′75 Meyney for 136 euros or an ′81 Beaucastel for 184. For a special occasion, there’s a ′47 Pétrus (14,680 euros) or ′61 Mouton (8,342 euros). You’ll definitely want Ridgway’s advice if you’re eating the duck and drinking Burgundy. This is even more true of the duck à l’orange, a tricky dish for dry reds, though the version served here is less sweet than many.
La Tour d’Argent’s dedication to the wine drinker’s pleasure is perhaps best reflected by the number of bottles that are unavailable for immediate drinking; recent, immature vintages are listed without price, alongside the phrase en vieillissement. They are maturing. Want to drink a ′96 Bordeaux? You’ll have to wait. La Tour d’Argent is one of the few restaurants in the world that truly sells no wine before its time. Wish I could think of an American restaurant of which I could say the same.
FISH STORIES FROM LE BERNARDIN
What’s so exciting about eating a cow? She stands all day chewing, waiting to be led into the slaughterhouse. That’s not exciting food. But a wild thing swimming in the water—now that’s passionnant !
—Gilbert Le Coze
Since Brittany-born siblings Maguy and Gilbert Le Coze brought their fishy act to New York in 1986, no restaurant has done more to elevate and celebrate the role of seafood in this country than Le Bernardin, the four-star midtown temple to Poseidon, which consistently captures the top food rating in Zagat and earned Alain Ducasse’s vote as the best fish restaurant in America. Where better to ask the question, What do you drink with fish? And whom better to ask than Michel Couvreux, the diminutive, dynamic sommelier? In a puckish mood, Couvreux