Last night, my husband and I went to dinner with friends, Stacy and David, at Vai Restaurant and Wine Bar. This is a relatively new addition to Manhattan’s Upper West Side and predominently features an assortment of tapas-style Italian plates, easily shared with the table. Ordering our first bottle of wine, we started the evening with a Falanghina, an Italian white wine which was very aromatic with good acidity. It paired well with our selection of a plate of five cheeses (Tallegio, Manchego, Pierre Robert, Parmesan and Asiago) and a plate of three meats (Speck, Serano Ham and Proscuitto).

Upon finishing up these plates and the wine, we determined that we were still hungry and chose to share the Tomato and the Truffle Pizzettas. Having decided upon the first wine, I gave Jared the task of picking the next, which we all agreed should be a red wine. He narrowed it down to a Sangiovese from Puglia and a Chianti. We went with the Sangiovese since he then noted that the Chianti was from the atypical (due to extreme heat) 2003 vintage.

With Jared having tasted the first bottle, this time it was my turn to taste the wine upon its arrival at the table. The server opened the bottle and poured my glass, which I proceeded to swirl, sniff and taste. My first inclination was that the wine was corked, but the flavors did not seem to be muted on the palate. Hence, I chalked up the musty nose to earthy notes in the wine. I thought about asking Jared for his opinion before accepting the wine from the server, but felt some pressure, particularly as a "wine expert" in front of our friends.

However, Stacy noted my hesitation and commented that I was a tough critic. I didn’t want her to think that I was being overly judgemental, so I confessed that I had thought I detected some TCA on the nose. We all proceeded to drink the wine with the pizzettas, and made some comments regarding the aromas and flavors we were getting.  David seemed less enthralled by the wine, disliking the intensity of the aroma. A little later on, he asked for our opinions of whether or not we liked the wine and explained that he didn’t really care for it.

At this point, I tasted the wine again and was more convinced that the wine was indeed corked and apologized profusely to everyone. We discussed the protocol for dealing with corked wines in a restaurant and acknowledged that the error was mine since I had approved the wine with the server before she poured it for the table. Moreover, the bottle was about half empty (or more optimistically half full). However, we decided to bring the faulty wine to the attention of our server anyway.

She smelled the wine and then brought it to her manager? who sniffed the bottle and instantly agreed that it was corked. We were brought a new bottle of the wine, for which I deferred the tasting to Jared, feeling somewhat embarrassed at my previous mistake. Our friends were eager to taste the new bottle and have the opportunity to compare its taste with the faulted version, which turned out to be a great learning experience for them.

My lesson for the day was to trust my instincts and be more confident in my assessment of wines. As an academic, I have accumulated significant knowledge about wine as evidenced by my earned credentials. However, with only two+ years in the wine business, my real-world experience with wine is more limited. Accordingly, I frequently feel less confident in my abilities and prefer the moniker "wine educator" to that of "wine expert." Last night’s experience has reinforced that I do have the skills necessary and that, especially now that I have left my previous career to pursue our business full-time, I need to think of myself as a wine professional and act accordingly.

On a final note, I would like to express our appreciation for Vai Restaurant in the way that they handled the incident. As noted, the wine was nearly finished by the time we brought up the issue and we truly didn’t expect the restaurant to take any action. We were more than pleased with the class and service they provided. And, of course, the food was quite good, too! If you have the chance to patronize this restaurant, please do so in recognition of their good service.

Taking advantage of both Restaurant Week and my self-employed status last week, I had the opportunity to visit three restaurants participating in this New York tradition. First established in 1992 in celebration of the Democratic Convention hosted in New York City that year, Restaurant Week participants offer a special prix-fixe menu. Originally, the cost for the luncheon corresponded to the year, i.e. $19.92. However, this has changed over the years and the current price is $24.07 for lunch and $35.00 for those restaurants offering a dinner menu.

On Monday, I dined with the lovely Marisa D’Vari of A Wine Story at Cafe Boulud. I started with the Gazpacho soup, while Marisa ordered the Hearts of Palm salad. We both followed with the Seared Sea Scallop and then shared the two desserts — a peanut butter and raspberry tart and an apricot creme brulee. The restaurant offered two wines with lunch — a Chardonnay and a Cabernet Sauvignon — both for $24.07 each. We ordered a bottle of the Chardonnay.

Tuesday afternoon found me at Artisanal Restaurant with my dear friend Sharon. If you have not been to this restaurant, Restaurant Week is not the week to go, as the options do not provide one with the true flavor of the restaurant, which focuses on cheese as an art form. While the menu was nice, goucheres, fondue and general selections from the fromagerie were not available. I enjoyed a plate of parmesan gnocchi, which was particularly wonderful with its accompaniment of summer vegetables. A Scottish salmon was equally lovely. My friend started with the soupe du jour, which was a chilled, beet soup, replete with horseradish ice cream. She still had this soup on her mind a few days later. For her main course, she enjoyed the Summer Vegetable Risotto. For dessert, we ordered the Marquis au Chocolate and a plate of cheeses du jour ($5.00 supplement), the latter permitting us to better appreciate the fact that we were in a cheese-oriented restaurant. However, as I am very finicky about the kind of cheeses I like, I really did not like the selections and simply ate enough to be polite. Artisanal has nearly 100 wines by the glass, offered in both glass and taste pour sizes, which is fabulous. I selected a glass of the Lirac Domain Lafond, Roc-Epine white wine, which comprises 50% Grenache Blanc, 30% Rousanne and 20% Viognier. This beautiful, Southern Rhone blend was full-bodied with rich fruit flavors and notes of almond/nuttiness, which we both found to be quite agreeable.

I finished off the week with lunch with my wonderful husband, Jared, at South Gate at the Jumeirah Essex House. We actually spent our wedding night at this hotel, opposite Central Park, so the setting was near and dear to our hearts. Arriving a few minutes ahead of Jared, I ordered a glass of an Argentine rose of Malbec, which had a vibrant, deep pink hue and aromas and flavors of red fruits and spice. Upon tasting the wine, Jared also ordered a glass of the wine. I kicked off lunch with a pea flan, which highlighted the beauty of fresh vegetables, coupled with the richness of morels. Jared had shellfish in a saffron sauce, which he graciously permitted me to taste. My main course consisted of mahi mahi, served with eggplant "caviar" while Jared had trout in a brown butter sauce. Although Jared’s creme fraiche cheese cake dessert was nice, my choclate pot au creme with chocolate madeleines was the highlight of the meal (and best dessert of the week), with crunchy chocolate pearls mingling with creamy chocolate mousse and airy whipped cream, complemented by a cup of cappucino.

I ended the week a few pounds heavier, but just as much happier, having enjoyed three fabulous lunches.

Several months ago, I was contacted about a new wine device called the Ravi and given the opportunity to test the Ravi. The Ravi was launched in Quebec, Canada and has a patent pending. This product is inserted into an open wine bottle with the intention of cooling the wine down to an appropriate temperature.

While we initially assumed that the target was white wine, instead, the focus for the Ravi was to ensure that red wines were served at the proper temperature. With the admonition that many people serve red wines too warm (room temperature refers to rooms prior to the advent of central heating), the Ravi seeks to lower the wine temperature to the perfect 55-60F. (Fuller-bodied reds can be served as high as 62F, but warmer than this becomes too hot.)

I intended to use the product soon after its receipt, but due to not reading all of the instructions ahead of time, I made an error, which caused a delay. The Ravi has two parts, which snap together. One piece is stored in the freezer for at least an hour prior to use to permit it to produce its cooling effect. The internal mechanism is a stainless steel tube, through which the wine passes, cooling the wine on contact.

One is advised to clean the Ravi prior to its first use and here is where I made my error. I wasn’t careful about not getting water inside the device, which the next instruction cautioned not to freeze the part with water inside. Accordingly, I had to wait until the water evaporated, which, due to the seasonal humidity, required waiting a few weeks. Once this problem had been rectified, the Ravi went into the freezer, but the sustained heat prevented me from having any interest in red wine.

I finally had occasion to use the Ravi at an event for a private client last week. We were presenting wines paired with the delicious dinner prepared by the hosts, which included a St.-Emilion and an Australian Shiraz, to accompany the main course of seared steak. We took the opportunity to bring the Ravi with us and used it to cool down these wines as we poured them for the event guests. Starting first with our own glasses, we were pleasantly surprised to note the success at which the device accomplished its goal. Feeling the bottle itself, the wine was much warmer than it was once it was poured into the glass. Accordingly, the serving temperature was more appropriate and the wine could be better enjoyed.

The only drawback was that the device itself is a bit cumbersome to use given that you are adding about 5 inches to the top of the wine bottle. In addition, we found that the wine seemed to get a bit stuck after a few pours, which required some effort to get it flowing again. However, overall, it did work for its intended use and can thus be recommended. The Ravi retails for ~$50.00, but as there are no replacement costs, it is a one-time investment if one is interested in having such a product.

Depending upon your en primeur agent, you should be receiving your 2005 Bordeaux futures sometime this summer. As noted previously, we purchased several wines for this much hyped vintage back in July 2006. The current (March 08) issue of Decanter has two articles from its tasting panels featuring this vintage — one on St.-Emilion and the other on the Cru Bourgeois (the classification of which, by the way, will be reinstated in 2009).

The panel was generally pleased with the wines and I noted that one of my Futures picks was listed among the Recommended wines with 16.4 points (of 20), just shy of their cut-off (16.5?) for Highly Recommended. The wine in question, Chateau Beaumont of the Haut-Medoc, received a very nice tasting note, noting that it should be held for 5-10 years and that there was more to come from this wine. The entry heralded the wine as a good value and listed the price at 8-9.5 British Pounds per bottle.

I was delighted to read the news and was compelled to look up our pending inventory to compare. We had purchased a full case, which we have listed at $12.50/bottle. A quick currency conversion indicated that the price in Decanter was $16.00-$18.85. But, what was it going for in the U.S.? I did a quick search on Wine Searcher and found the wine listed at $19.99/bottle at Star Liquors. Wine Library had it listed as out of stock, but their website also showed a sale price at $19.95 from $26.95/bottle.

Consequently, at an average price of $19.00, my investment has increased by ~50%, which I must admit, is much better than I have done in the stock market lately. So, I’m feeling good about the purchase. Of course, I didn’t buy the wine as an investment, but as Sherry-Lehmann has had my money since July 2006 (and the Bordelais have had Sherry-Lehmann’s money), I’m pleased to see that I wouldn’t have been any better off in investing my money elsewhere and buying the wine upon release instead.

Decanter did not include Chateau de Fonbel, of which we also bought a case, among its St.-Emilion tastings, but Wine Searcher and other internet searches yielded similar price increases for this and the other handful of bottles we purchased. I am looking forward to taking delivery of the wines in July, but will have to continue to wait to try them, or at least the Beaumont, for another few years, by which time the wines should have continued to increase in complexity, if not value. A wise investment indeed!

I recently took my first cruise vacation, which had some interesting experiences when it came to wine.

The wine list was an adequate mix of Old World and New World wine regions, with no particular strengths. However, we were a little surprised that there were no vintages listed with any of the wines. For some of the wines, we didn’t really care, but for others, we asked our server to confirm the vintage before placing our wine order. We surmised that this omission might be due to a need for flexibility in the ship’s inventory, but while it was annoying to have to ask, the information was correctly provided and there did not appear to be any deception going on.

Another surprise, but quite pleasant, was the fact that the ship used quality crystal stemware (Schott Zwiesel) for its wine service.

The mark-up appeared to be reasonable (we estimated it to be about double the retail price), especially considering that you are a captive audience; you can’t go elsewhere to buy wine. In fact, you can’t bring wine on-board. Your luggage is screened upon boarding and any alcoholic beverages will be seized until the cruise ends. I think that you might be able to pay a $25.00/bottle corkage fee to release your wine, but the policy does explicitly state that no alcoholic beverages may be brought onboard. 

On the second night of the cruise, we ordered two bottles of wine with dinner — one white and one red. At the end of dinner, neither bottle had been finished, but we were able to have the restaurant store our wine for us, with the ability to retrieve it at lunch or dinner, in any of the ship’s restaurants. This was a nice feature since there weren’t any half-bottles on the wine list.

We generally ordered wines in the $30-$50 range, but our one big splurge was a bottle of semi-mature Bordeaux, 1996 — our anniversary year– which we enjoyed on our night in the French cuisine specialty restaurant. It was probably not the wisest idea, but we got caught up in the sentimental moment. After our sixth bottle purchase, the seventh bottle, priced at or below the average price paid for the initial six wines, was free.

We had requested to see the ship’s wine cellar, but upon making an appointment to meet the beverage manager, were informed that the cruise line’s policy did not permit guests to visit the back-of-the-house areas. Consequently, we were unable to get information on turnover rates or on how the wine is stored with respect to countering the ship’s vibrations. However, I did find an interesting wine rack accessory product on the web — bottle retention straps — which the manufacturer touts as useful on cruise ships and in earthquake-prone areas.

My Valentine’s Day-inspired article on sparkling wines has just been "published" on Wine Sediments. This article provides an overview of the different production methods used to create sparkling wines and notes some of the more affordable options for those who love bubbly.