Question: Great article on wine shops in Paris. Do you have suggestions for wine shops in Bordeaux?
Answer: Yes I was back in Bordeaux again this May 2018. I always enjoy checking out wine stores. Naturally the shops have a bias for their own outstanding and diverse selection wines from right there in Bordeaux. A controversial issue is the growing number of Bordeaux and other wines now available at most competitive prices at the chain supermarkets. These have put added pressure on the specialty wine shops. However there is still the hallmark L’Intendant with those spiral stairs of Bordeaux wines of increasing prices as you ascend. Always a must with big bottles and some older vintages. La Vinotheque has a wider selection of French wines. Also Badie for Champagne. Outside Bordeaux – especially in St. Emilion (Martin as well as Vignobles & Chateaux) – have some fun smaller shops to visit. One of my favourites in the Medoc is La Cave d’Ulysse in Margaux! Enjoy your exploration.
Question: What are your thoughts Sid on serving wines blind at dinner parties?
Answer: An interesting and controversial question! Depends a lot on the occasion including whether more formal with a printed menu or a casual informal gathering as well as who your guests are. With a printed more upscale menu of several courses guests often appreciate the anticipation of seeing which wines are going to be served with each food course ahead of time. Sometimes we first print the menu without the wines listed and after the actual wines are disclosed then give them the second menu with those wines noted before they leave or even later by email. Bagged bottles can be fun particularly at more informal educational events among knowledgeable wine friends. For many decades as host I always have served the wines blind at all our dinner parties. As I get older and am tasting wine blind so often every week I am tending less to make it a work study over a relaxed dinner setting. When I am a guest I am attending with a lot of wine baggage so I still like to get my first quick impression of the wine blind without knowing what it is. However I don’t really like spending the whole evening analyzing and trying to identify each wine when that is detracting from my focus on the food, the matching and the group conversation. My wife always has had her wine served blind by me when we are at home dining alone and as a result has become a rather brilliant blind taster herself. You might be tricky today on Halloween or any day by serving the wine blind in an unexpected shape glass for that wine. For example a Bordeaux in a Burgundy glass or vice versa. Tricky indeed!
Enjoy dinner parties to the fullest by finding your own comfort level on the wine service you like.
Question: What is the main difference between Chianti and Chianti Classico?
Answer: Main difference is that although they share the same name they are entirely separate regions and different wines. Chianti is the name of a territory delimited in 1716 and the name of a wine made in Tuscany but not in the geographical zone called Chianti. Chianti Classico is the name of a wine made in the geographical zone called Chianti and the only one entitled to bear the historic Black Rooster symbol. Chianti Classico is now that original zone from 1761 then called Chianti. As of 2010 Chianti is banned in the Chianti Classico zone .
Different regulations apply including:
Chianti Classico: 80-100% Sangiovese; Up to 20% authorized red grape varieties; No white varieties; 7.5 tons /hectare & 2 kilos /vine with 4400 plants /hectare
Chianti: 70-100% Sangiovese; Up to 30% authorized red grape varieties; Up to 10% white varieties; 9 tons/hectare & 3 kilos /vine with 4000 plants/hectare
Question: Heading to Paris and would like a recommendation for a big wine shop with many selections. Your help please?
Answer: One of the delights of visiting Paris is popping into a diverse number of quite small wine shops in the 20 different arrondissements or districts all providing some unique wine selections. However one of the better ones to check out is Nicolas with many outlets usually with some wines on sale – especially Champagne. Department stores such as Bon Marche and Galeries Lafayette have extensive wine departments. Another must is the large Lavinia in the 1st A at 3 Boulevard de la Madeleine downstairs cellar with their excellent selections of older vintages of classic wines. They also have locations in Madrid & Geneve. They have a value priced exclusive at 19.90 euros like the elegant 2015 Pernand-Vergelesses from quality Burgundy producer Pavelot or even a vertical of Chateau Pichon-Lalande starting with the current vintage of 2015 (242 euros a bottle) back to more expensive older ones of 1988 (365), 1986 (575), 1985 (655) and 1981 (386).
Check out these suggested ideas and enjoy your wine shopping fun experiences in Paris.
The year is 1946. The Second World War has finally ended and you’ve just arrived at Chicago’s Union Station in an elegant Pullman car. After hours of riding the rails, you’re hungry and looking to experience the very best that the Windy City has to offer. So where do you go? The answer is simple: you head to the city’s Gold Coast; more specifically, the Ambassador East Hotel where The Pump Room, Chicago’s finest restaurant is located.
You walk into this elegant establishment and the first thing you notice are the crystal chandeliers, the blue sapphire walls, and a sunken carpeted dining room filled with white leather booths. As you sit down in one of these booths soaking in all of this décor, a busboy dressed in a white turban begins pouring your cup of coffee. Then, at the table next to you, king crab is about to be served—on flaming swords!! Waiting for your blini and caviar, everyone suddenly turns their heads to see who has just arrived. It’s Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall, recently married and about to sit down at the famous Booth One!
Welcome to The Pump Room!
Named after an English restaurant sharing the same name, it first opened in 1938 by restaurateur Ernie Byfield in the Ambassador East Hotel (now the Ambassador Chicago hotel). Described not as a place, but as an experience, it has been referenced in Frank Sinatra’s “Chicago (That Toddlin’ Town)” and featured in Alfred Hitchcock’s 1959 film North by Northwest, easily becoming one of the most famous restaurants of the 1940s and 1950s. Offering an irresistible blend of both style and substance, its runaway success along with the repeal of Prohibition basically saved the Ambassador East, built in 1926, from the economic hardships of the Great Depression.
center
A key to the restaurant’s success was its location combined with unprecedented star power. Chicago, being the country’s biggest rail transit hub, was a frequent stop for passenger cars traveling between New York and Los Angeles. With many movie stars experiencing an up to three-hour layover, Byfield capitalized on this fact by offering limo service from Union Station to The Pump Room for any celebrity looking to dine out. As a result, the restaurant became a popular spot for a who’s who of Studio Era Hollywood: Jack Benny, Joan Crawford, John Barrymore, Judy Garland and many other A-listers all dined at The Pump Room.
Another benefit offered to all these celebs was being seated at Booth One, the best booth in the house equipped with a mounted rotary phone and a perfect view. During the heyday of continental style fine dining, where dishes were served from rolling carts and/or prepared tableside, The Pump Room, with its lavish décor and flaming swords became so famous that it was chosen by American Airlines to create the first menu for dinner service from Chicago to London.
Sadly, the restaurant went into a period of decline starting in the 1960s. Although not as big as it was in the mid-century, many celebrities still chose to dine there. One, however, due to a strict dress code was denied service. That person—artist Phil Collins even made it the title of his 1985 best-selling album No Jacket Required. Closing its doors for the final time in 2017, The Pump Room will always be remembered as a restaurant synonymous with Chicago. As actor Paul Newman once said: “That was the place then.”
Sources:
Bizzarri, Amy. Discovering Vintage Chicago: A Guide to The City’s Timeless Shops, Bars, Delis & More. Lanahm: Rowman & Littlefield, 2015.
Block, Daniel R. & Rosing, Howard B. Chicago: A Food Biography. Lanahm: Rowman & Littlefield, 2015.
Corcoran, Michael & Bernstein, Arnie. Hollywood on Lake Michigan: 100+ Years of Chicago and the Movies. Chicago: Chicago Review Press, 2013.
Kupcinet, Irv. Kup’s Chicago: A Many-Facted and Affectionate Portrait of Chicago. New Orleans: Garrett County Press, 2012.
Levy, Shawn. Paul Newman: A Life. Hachette: Aurum Press, 2010.
Maruzzi, Peter. Classic Dining: Discovering Americas’ Finest Mid-Century Restaurants. Layton: Gibbs Smith, 2012.
Loading ...
