The Divine Miss Lee is Lee Campbell the restless, job-hoping, sometimes wine-merchant, sometimes sommelier, sometimes from NYC. She was in town for a wedding and I was honored to be her escort. Lee and I met a few years ago on a trip to France and immediately bonded and have remained friends ever since. There is as much life in her as three of me, I’ll tell you that for nothing. Unfortunately, the best I could do for her in Santa Monica was another totally underwhelming, totally overpriced dinner.
2005 Wittmann Riesling Trocken
This was positively shimmering. Bright, floral, dry, with mouthwatering acidity that begged to be drunk. I could drink fuck-tons of this. Maybe twice my body weight. No shit. Pristine, crystalline and everything I want in an aperitif riesling. It went OK with the first course too, but who cares. I take back all the snide remarks I’ve made about weird Wittman wines in the past. This was $35 on the list. That means it is out there somewhere, cheap. Find it, but it, drink it, and tell your friends that the vlm rules!!!!
2002 Harmand-Geoffroy Mazis-Chambertin
Brought this to the restaurant. I loved a bottle of the 2002 Lauvaux St. Jacques earlier this year and so had high hopes for this. Unfortunately, it never really delivered. What ruine dit for me was what I think of as reduction, but what some others have called “gunpowder”. It obscured everything else about the wine and made it impossible to really enjoy. My experience with this type of thing is that it is a flaw in the wine, not in a particular bottle (and this bottle was in perfect condition). I’ve heard tell that this ages out, but I’m not so sure.
2002 Sociando-Mallet
I’ve been drinking Sociando-Mallet since I’ve been drinking wine. It was always a stalwart around the house as dad was a big fan. I was really disappointed by this bottle. It was all glommy, but diffuse fruit. I would have preferred something leaner and more nervy, if that’s what the vintage gave, rather than trying to make a 200 when none exists. Didn’t really have any backbone to it at all,, which makes it useless at the table.
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3 comments:
Where did you eat in Santa Monica that was so underwhelming? Inquiring minds want to know.
Everywhere.
The only good meal I had in Santa Monica was at Restaurant 2112 with Dan Fredman. I wrote about it here:
http://vlm-tr.blogspot.com/2008/06/jeebus-in-eden.html
Where is the Divine ML these days when she isn't in LA?
SFJoe
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