Midtown Manhattan's best picnicking (plus five more picks from New York City)

Jump to: Picnic pick | Eric Asimov's wine pick | Brooklynguy's wine pick | Alice Feiring's wine pick | Doktor Weingolb's wine pick | Special BYO resto pick


The plan was to blog but I stopped fighting the weak wireless signal that gave me the Internet one minute and totally disconnected me the next. So I decided to leave the laptop in my room and hit New York hard. While that made for a bit of gap in my blogging, I now have lots to say about my five-day getaway, including a few juicy tidbits about wine and food.

Consider this update as five posts in one (use the anchored links at top to navigate through it -- it's lengthy). I hope this makes up for the recent inactivity.

* * * *

First of all, as I alluded to my last post, New York City is fiery hot pit of asphalt and sweat in the summer months, especially when you are caught in Midtown or on a subway platform, or worst of all in Midtown on subway platform (Warning: Never take an uptown train from the 47th-50th Streets/Rockefeller Center station without a towel). What I discovered is that but just 10 streets down from that sauna stop on the B, C, F and V line, I discovered an oasis of refreshment and air-con at the corner of 37th Street and Madison Avenue, also known as the Morgan Library & Museum. The collection alone is well worth the price of admission, but what I went in for was its fantastic café which is at the centre of this amazing building complex.

As you can tell from the photo I posted at the top of this entry, the food is just as inviting as the cool and airy space of the café (pictured below), which the Morgan website accurately describes as "a casual dining atmosphere in the glass-enclosed central court, evoking European alfresco dining." You bet, alfresco! This is by far the greatest place for a picnic during the dog days of summer. Save Central Park for less humid weather.



The brilliant thing is that the Morgan Café emulates a real outdoor courtyard: the high ceiling is composed of a lattice of glass and steel slats, there are trees amid the small dining tables, and on exceptionally warm days like when I was there last week, the sunlight enters the space in bearable measured amounts through the help of automatically shifting shades along the glass structure (follow part of that transition in the photos below).



As for the café menu, plenty of picnic-perfect choices but my order of a plate of cold cuts, goat's cheese and olives is an amazing deal. For only $8 you get to make a couple of your own prosciutto and salami sandwiches (just slap on the cheese and that lettuce onto the complimentary rolls they offer you!) and for $7 more, get a glass of wine. (I felt like I won the lottery the instant this $15 alfresco feast started -- surely you can do no better in Manhattan.)

I chose the Château Routas Rouvière Coteaux Varois 2006, a salmon-coloured rosé from France's Provence region. It was thirst-quenching, quite dry and very likable alongside the spicy marinaded olives and salty cured meats. It had a drinkable table-ready style that some alcohol-drenched rosés from Provence don't handle as deftly. Light and appetizing, this wine is meant for casual lunches when it's really hot out. But I don't need to tell you that. See more detailed notes on this wine.

With this kind of fuel I had energy to wine-shop...

MÂCON, MÂCON-VILLAGES, AND THE MANY RESOURCEFUL TOWNS SOUTH OF THE CÔTE D'OR

My initial instinct was to take a tip from Eric Asimov and so I went for white Mâcon -- Burgundy's best summertime deal. If wine is your bag, Mr Asimov is much-respected and hard-to-miss in the blogosphere. Of all his recent recommendations, I'm finding these white Burgundies to be the most up my alley.

I love this style of Chardonnay, which is full of mineral and bright citrus flavours, though some deem it too light. I happen to value light, and not just because it often translates to light-on-the-wallet. This is Eric's point about Mâcon and its hinterland, known on the label as Mâcon-Villages.

While the results are not yet in on any specific Mâcon bottles (for that please refer to Eric's notes), I can report that New York definitely has better price-points on these wines than here in Quebec. These $12 bottles in Manhattan routinely convert to $20 bottles here in Montreal (and this is not usually the case with most French wines). Expect tasting reports for some Mâcons soon around here, most imminently for the one pictured here!

MACON, MACON & STUYVESANT, AND THE MANY GREEN STREETS OF BEDFORD-STUYVESANT

When I met the wine-wonderful Brooklynguy for lunch in TriBeCa, we discussed our common interest in wine and love for MTA buses. They are certainly cooler transportation than the subway and are routed all around the city and its four boroughs. To get to Macon Street in Brooklyn's Bed-Stuy neighbourhood, buses are the best means of public transit and, much to the glee of Brooklynguy, I recounted how I traveled along the #43 - Franklin, the #48 - Lorimer and the #25 - Halsey.

Why do us winos like buses so much? Besides being street-level and perfectly temperature-controlled (most of the time), they are wine-shopping-friendly, or to put it more precisely, they are bottle-friendly. This is because they have padded interiors and are rather spacious if you like to buy by the case. Most importantly the differential in ambient temperature between a shaded bus stop and the coach is a lot less bottle-shocking than sweltering subway platform and meat-locker train car. (Also the bus is more personable, even when you haven't got a supply of wine on you: just before getting off at Classon Avenue, a kind Bed-Stuy rider pointed out all the globs of sunscreen smudged across my face that I had missed smoothing out.)

Brooklynguy, being the generous and knowledgeable guy that he is, suggested I take advantage of a rare Beaujolais while I could and snap up the Domaine du Vissoux Pierre-Marie Chermette Beaujolais 2005. It's not that difficult to find in Manhattan. I would certainly get it again. It's an unfiltered wine and you can sense it immediately, as in I-can't-believe-it's-not-Beaujolais-cru. My uptown hosts thought it was bold, round, rich and delicious. A hit from an advised expert... check out the full review on Brooklynguy's Wine and Food Blog.

A HEAVY FAVOURITE FROM LANGUEDOC-ROUSSILLON

I have never met Alice Feiring, New York-based wine enthusiast of great expertise and integrity, though she has responded to my brusque queries and desperate emails. She is the one who saved New Year's Eve for us when we hadn't a clue where to take our Cervaro Castello della Sala Antinori Chardonnay for a hopping good time. Well, Alice answered that question and supplied so many more reliable suggestions, like this next wine pick, for instance.

Yes, it was a total no-brainer to instantly buy the Domaine des 2 Ânes Fontanilles 2004 when I happened past it at Astor Wines & Spirits. She wrote about it as an everyday wine with substantial value back in February so I wasn't sure it would still be in supply. Luckily it does seem to be quite well stocked. But unfortunately, it's put into one of those extra heavy bottles that sit in your bag like a stone and makes you wonder why you're schlepping around so much weight at a free jazz concert staged in Washington Square Park. My advice: Make your purchase on the way home rather than when setting out. Astor's open till 9 pm every weeknight.

I'D LIKE A SIX-DAY VERNACCIA IN NEW YORK

For THE best Vernaccia di San Gimignano that gets made you've got to try Mormoraia. It's a little more expensive than most Vernaccia varietals at about $16 per bottle but it does taste like the height of Vernaccia di San Gimignano, a grape that gets very little respect.

Respect is something that it may not need if pure aromatic refreshment comes this easily and this cheaply. In the Mormoraia Vernaccia di San Gimignano 2006 you also get great balance, nutty depth and a profound finish for an otherwise lightweight varietal. I wish I could've brought back more of this across the border. I certainly could've afforded more. As it stands on my map, I've clearly marked down New York Wine Co. (it's 21 Warren Street near the Chambers Street subway station), the Lower Manhattan wine shop that sold me this great stuff.

WHERE TO TAKE YOUR WINE PICKS OUT TO DINNER . . .

And to save the best for last, there's Petite Crevette, the longtime fish-specialty restaurant on Hicks Street in Brooklyn. I had the pleasure of taking a friend of mine out for a birthday lunch there even though she does not eat fish. Fish lover or not, this is a cozy little nook that charms you and sates you, thanks to Neil Ganic, "a chef who has a knack for turning out satisfying, homey but refined dishes that value flavor over frills."

Here's a guy who can single-handedly chat up your table and whip up a codfish burger at the same time. That neither one comes out overdone, rushed, or inauthentic makes this restaurant a true winner. Evenings are much busier so if you like the welcoming chit-chat and attention, definitely try it for lunch. Also definitely bring you own bottle of wine. There's none of those huge corkage fees here. Perhaps a vivacious and slightly rustic Greco di Tufo dei Feudi di San Gregorio 2004 to handle the flavourful fish and mouth-watering appetizers (two words: Cremini mushrooms!) as well as all the other non-seafood plates that are served.

Clos Roche Blanche makes my favourite wine of the year (at 3 BYO's)

And meals at three worthwhile corkage-free restaurants in New York help prove it!!

Around this time last year, I picked an excellent wine and called it my favourite of the year. Now that the first week of 2007 has already gone by, this post seems a little late. (Almost all of my time blogging has been spent migrating to the new version of Blogger. Though I actually threw the switch for Blogger 2.0 at the end of December, tweaking my new template and labeling 219 blog posts has been a time sink -- I spent the entire first weekend of 2007 on it and will still likely be playing with it for some time to come).

Though my brain is currently rather fried, I have notes in front of me taken from clearer-headed days -- days when I uncorked one of the many bottles of 2005 Clos Roche Blanche Touraine Sauvignon that I've been enjoying this year (and buying without a moment's hesitation). Without further ado then is my explanation of why this is a wine of the year, i.e. a wine I could picture drinking virtually every day of the year.

There are three main reasons really, and they apply to last year's winner too. One: it's very affordable so I could actually afford 365 bottles of it. Two is that it has classic lines, and therefore something I wouldn't soon get sick of, whether served as a refreshment or as a complement to food -- though eliminating red meat completely from my diet might be in order should that come to pass. And finally, the third thing is that it is simply delicious. A citrusy, star-anise attack. Herbal and zesty elegance in a bottle. Not only is it a lovely expression of Sauvignon Blanc, but as wine is it is a triumph with nice echoes on the finish and a bouquet of flowers, lemon peel and spice.

Just during my vacation in the second half of December, I opened three bottles of this stuff. I was in New York so I elected to take them to some of the city's great restaurant establishments that charge no corkage fee. Here's how that went down.

ANGELICA KITCHEN

Organic and vegan fare in the East Village (Second Avenue and East 12th Street) with a great ambience and an earnest staff, who kindly open bottles with a smile. Every time I've gone the roomy dining area is tee totaling by a strong majority but that's because people flock there for the sui-generis cooking: intelligent with local ingredients and a keen sense of flavour and balance, and very modern. In this food context (the scrumptious Greek lasagna with "soy" dairy, for instance), a Sauvignon like the Clos Roche Blanche is a natural. If it's lunch, skip over to Ninth Street Espresso (between Avenues B and C) for coffee and a treat.

AFGHAN KEBAB HOUSE

In the heart of the Theatre District dining strip (Ninth Avenue and West 50th Street), a very narrow room serves Afghan cuisine. (Another location does the same cross-town from Hell's Kitchen). In this restaurant, Sauvignon, or in fact any white wine is not exactly wise planning. I brought it anyway I love this juice so much. I order a shrimp kebab, carefully taken off the spit for you, and a simple salad and was happy with that. But bread and appetizers are quite large and indelicate affairs calling out for big reds. Yet some, like the Boulanee, are deep-fried and a smart Sauvignon cuts through the grease nicely.

MÉLI MÉLO (en route to lunch in Greenwich Village Connecticut)

The bright and colourful Méli Mélo at 362 Greenwich Avenue, a block west of the train station in downtown Greenwich (that's the state of Connecticut, not the Village), is just 45 minutes door to door from Grand Central along the New Haven line. This is a wonderfully French crêperie with great coffee and friendly service and despite the cramped conditions (its dining room is even narrower than the Kebab House's). Pre-drinking is definitely in order since there are no reservations and it's a wee spot that's quite popular. Queues form outside. So though we drank Clos Roche Blanche at our Greenwich host's house before setting out for the little resto, it would've fit perfectly on the menu should any Sauvignon have remained by the time they let us in.

C. Roussel & D. Barrouillet, Mareuil-sur-Cher, Loire, France. 13%.

In the news

The friendly Alice Feiring pointed me and a friend to The NoHo Star, a New York restaurant with a newspaper theme, on New Year's Eve. As a New York Times lover myself, this gave me a kick (especially how the day's paper is mounted behind glass above the urinals in the washroom). I heard that the space used to be a printing press before the restaurant opened 23 years ago.

Newsy items aside, The NoHo Star is a small miracle. I hadn't even heard of it before yesterday. The place is much more than what the diner-like setting promises at first glance. For one thing, this establishment charges no corkage fees on brought bottles. You only need to offer a small gratuity of a couple bucks (things change though if you want to open more than two bottles of wine).

We ended up drinking nothing from behind their spectacular bar -- a showcase of funky mosaic tiling which was a beauty matched only by the restaurant's wraparound paned-glass windows. We didn't drink from the bar because we each had a special bottle of wine to open to ring in the new year. And the food we ordered did not let down.

The Noho Star is real gem. It sparkles and so does its personable and efficient waiting staff. I am so happy we discovered it on a festive occasion like New Year's Eve. Thanks to Alice.

Open (even remaining open all evening on January 1, 2007!)

THE NOHO STAR 330 Lafayette Street (Bleecker Street); kitchen serves up daily until about midnight, weekdays starting at 8 am, 10.30 on weekends

Onion Square

Union Square greenmarket. Monday. Half past ten. The square looked more like a pumpkin patch than anything else but it was a display of gourmet onions -- including its smart cipollini onions -- that caught my eye.

(Actually the woman using her baby stroller to balance a giant pumpkin was quite eye-catching too... don't be alarmed, there was no child in the stroller at the time -- it was 100% pumpkin buggy and up to the task.)

I love onions. Many cooks say garlic is the most indispensable ingredient in the kitchen but something about garlicky cooking draws me away from wine and toward cognac (its ability to act as a breath freshener maybe?). This happens especially after I've just finished a garlic-heavy dinner and usually calls for my favourite alternative to Cognac: St-Vivant V.S. Armagnac, with its lovable wonky bottle. Onions, on the other hand, make me a better wine lover. Don't ask me why. All I know is please don't make me eat them raw.

Caramelized or blanched, roasted or stewed. Anything but raw.

* * *

A.O.C. Bedford. Moving SW to Houston and 6th Ave. Ten hours later. My New York hosts Frances and James and I made a wise choice to dine at A.O.C. Bedford. Mondays are corkage-free BYOW night (maximum one bottle of your own -- the restaurant remains fully licensed for additional drinks, should you desire them). But not only was it Monday; it was October. And you could really tell, in a good way. The chefs presented us distinctive seasonal dishes. Harvest time at the greenmarket was particularly evident in their butternut squash soup. It was made with 100% fresh squash and no cream. Amazing! It was richly and deeply flavoured -- the essence of squash with only a dab of garnish added to the centre of the bowl.

...I wonder if swan neck gourds have a similar culinary claim-to-fame or whether their interesting physiology is their best contribution to autumn. That's what the schoolchildren touring the greenmarket early in the day had thought. They grabbed one after the other by the goose neck and flung it about their heads. Or at least until the swan neck gourd farmer noticed...

The wines we drank seemed suitably autumnal as well. The bottle I brought was a rather light-ish Cahors and I rushed through it to get to Clos Del Mas Priorat 2003, a Grenache-Carignan blend on the wine list that really embraces fall fare like rack of lamb, duck breast and suckling pig, which were the three dishes we ordered.

This was my first taste of Priorat. It lived up to all the hype. Full, gripping flavour profile, extracted, not flabby at all. But it'll be A.O.C. Bedford that will have so much to live up to when I return for more at the next possible opportunity.

Favourite BYOW Restaurants in Montreal

Who wrote "Top 3 restos" on that ardoise (that's French for blackboard) propped up over there?

The establishments I'm about to profile are indeed at the top of my list -- and should be on yours -- but there are so many great bring your own wine restaurants in Montreal that I'll hold back from calling them the Top 3 or the best in the city. In these Jan Wong'ed times, a contention like that calls for some serious journalistic research to back it up.

No broad strokes here.

No extensive study either. It's just that when I go out to eat I almost always choose one of the city's plethora of BYOW options. So suffice to say that the restaurants mentioned below have been consistently good over the past years, always quite affordable, and I can't ever remember not enjoying myself over the course of repeated visits and various food orders.

Here are my "favourite" three places to bring a bottle to (all you out-of-towners should remember that Montreal's BYOW scene is strictly corkage-fee-free, another big plus!)...

Note: Restaurants are listed below are in no particular order.

1. Pizzeria Napoletana
   
   In the heart of Little Italy, there is real authentic pizza -- the best I have had in the city. The Napoletana menu also includes pastas and salads but most folks order themselves one of the thirty-something different four-slice pizzas. Check out the full menu on Napoletana's new web site. Extremely noisy room, no reservations taken, cash only and don't even think of asking for a wine bucket, but despite all that this pizzeria still is a must-visit BYOW resto because it has reliably got the best plates at the lowest prices. There are two SAQ outlets selling copious amounts of Italian wine that are quite close by: St. Laurent, corner Danté or Marché Jean-Talon North. Go for a Rocca Delle Macie Vernaiolo Chianti (the 2004 is delicious) which, at $13-and-change, will cost about as much as your pizza. Share both with friends.



2. La Raclette
   
   It's less noisy than the above, but no less colourful or fun. La Raclette is a wonderful neigbourhood restaurant nestled onto a quaint residential street in Plateau Mont-Royal. Always competent seasonal cooking loosely based around Franco-Swiss specialties. And the people-watching is a good as the eating making this a great place to relax. A beautiful green-hemmed terrasse is perhaps the prime spot to dine in all of Montreal during the summer months. You can't reserve a table outside, but you can inside, and indoors the restaurant is laid out in a congenial way that maximizes the camaraderie. And unlike the above, there's always an ice bucket waiting for you. Take a reasonably priced Chablis from an outstanding vintage like 2002. Saint-Martin from Michel Laroche for instance. The SAQ Express is a block south at Mont-Royal.



3. La Colombe
   
   Save your better bottles for the refined menu at "The Dove" -- a restaurant that celebrates the subtle fusion of French and more exotic near-Orient cuisines. Reservations are a must for the cozy groundfloor dining room of La Colombe, though the second level welcomes larger groups. Stylish, well-heeled, and conscientious for much less than you'd think you would have to pay. You wouldn't be wasting a $40 bottle if you uncorked it here. I suggest a Pinot Noir to accentuate the dishes that often feature rare and delicious mushrooms -- perhaps the nicely aged Coldstream Hills Pinot you've been saving in your cellar for some time. It's worth it. This is a gem near the end of the Duluth BYOW restaurant strip. SAQ Express, with an admirable selection of reserve wines, is just steps west at St-Denis, corner Duluth.

Before you decant, deep-sea dive

I don't know quite what to think now.

When I heard about wine anarchists cellaring wine at the bottom of a frozen lake, I first imagined the move as state-of-the-art, then as a fanciful prank. In the end, I think it was a sincere gesture made by wine lovers who don't like being hemmed in by the often constrainingly conservative world of wine.

News out of Saint-Malo, France indicates that the ocean-cellaring of wine is branching out in new directions. This Agence France-Presse newspaper article published last month suggests the unusual deep-sea storage of wine is getting serious attention from the more traditional wine establishment.

And that means you know the marketers can't be far behind. Click on the image above for the seductive offerings of Vina Casanueva, whose Cava Submarinas line of international varietals is not packaged in cases of twelve but laid out willy-nilly in barnacle-encrusted treasure chests. It's in this way that Cava Submarinas better gives wine adventurers "a legend emerging from the bottom of the sea". For their latest campaign, the winery also is kind enough to suit you up with goggles and an oxygen tank: access to this submerged cellar suddenly becomes self-serve.

If you're a pirate, that's probably how you'd want it anyway. Blackbeard will really get off on the video shown on the Casanueva site. Check it out, matey.

TASTY MORSELS

July marks the end of the birthday season among my closest circle of friends and this year we were really treated to some of the finest food BYOW Montreal has to offer. Our last stop was Restaurant Christophe, perhaps the nicest place in the city to bring out your favourite bottles for uncorking. We drank Domaine du Silène des Peyrals, among others. The way the food, the service, and the dining room ambiance came together, it was a real transportive experience. Like stumbling upon the most perfect Paris bistro.

If we once again put off the deep-sea diving during our next round of birthdays, we would surely call Christophe. Or even sooner than the next round of fêtes. They re-open after the Construction Holidays end on Sunday.

Night flight

The following crib notes are gathered from around the Internet and beyond for my imminently approaching birthday dinner.

Vineland Estates Dry Riesling 1994
L'entrée

The most memorable property along the Niagara wine route is none other than Vineland Estates Winery. Some say it’s because of its location—on the bench of the Niagara palisade, overlooking rolling hills and Lake Ontario. But there’s more to Vineland than just a pretty view. Its premium wines and world-class restaurant are what captured our attention.

Riesling has become the hallmark of the property, and a number of vintages have snagged top honors at championships not only in Canada, but also in France, Italy, England, and the United States. These changes are due to the efforts of general manager Allan Schmidt and of Schmidt’s brother Brian, Vineland’s chief winemaker.

Michel Phaneuf recommends Riesling with seafood, fish, fresh vegetables. Local pairings where terroir and dish come together are encouraged as well.

Well-aged Riesling will gain a colour of goldish yellow with a nose of petrol. 2006 marks the end of this varietal's astonishing design life. Konrad Ejbich rated it among the best of Ontario's current Rieslings and warned that it should be opened soon as it is beginning its decline.


Château Montauriol Mon Aureolus 2001
Plat principal

Composed of Négrette 50%, Cabernet Sauvignon 25%, Syrah 25%. The wine has a brilliant and deep ruby red colour. The nose is strong, velvety with a nuance of ripe red fruits. Elegant touch of blackcurrant and violet. Equally there are spicy undertones of « garrigue ».

On the palate the wine is robust, harmonious and long with nice touch of truffle and wood. The tannins of this wine are soft with a smoothness which is a characteristic of the local grape variety, the Négrette.

It is recommended to serve with red meats, game and hard cheese at a temperature of 17 to 19 °C. This wine is to be drunk within 2 to 10 years.

A favourite birthday wine. This vintage was a hit last year at La Colombe.


Tonon Rossi del Camul 2001
Plat/Fromages

Suggested by the Caveman, sommelier at L'Eau à la Bouche in Ste-Adèle. Click image at left for details on this wine.

[Understudy for reds: Giordano Da Uve Il Vinré 2003]


Domaine Bellegarde Jurançon sec Cuvée tradition Moelleux 2002
Dessert

Silt clay soils with a lot of pebbles left by torrent. 35% Petit Manseng, 65% Gros Manseng.

Individually sorted and handpicked harvest of fully matured grapes in order to obtain a typical Jurançon. Vinification and ageing in stainless steel vats for Gros Manseng, and oak barrels for Petit Manseng.

Thanks to blending the two grape varieties, the wine gets lively and fresh notes of matured citrus fruits from Gros Manseng, and refinement and maturity from Petit Manseng, which gives the wine all its roundness.

A perfect aperitif and wonderful dessert wine.


Lemaistre Grenache Riche 2002
Extra bottle, should it be needed ("for the table")

No it's not Port, but when served at the end of a long rich meal it feels like a light digestible version of it.


Check back and I'll let you know how it all goes down.

Chilled to the bone (Gelée jusqu’à l’os)

What do you do when you are in a fancy restaurant and your waiter opens your Crémant de Bourgogne all over your table, sending spurts of fizzy wine up and around you like a champion Daytona 500 racecar driver? Question his professionalism perhaps. And then ask the sommelier about how he can compensate you. It's a different story in a BYOW (Bring Your Own Wine) resto, like at Montreal's À l'os, for instance. In a place like that, you are your own sommelier. That means you are responsible for how the wine has been stored and prepared for serving. So when the server asks to uncork for you the sparkling wine that's sitting on your table he should really be offered danger pay. You've brought along this pressurized weapon with you; he can have no idea what he's getting himself into... SPLOOOSH!

A loss at À l'os.

We should have seen it coming but we didn't. That's because À l'os has a reputation for being the wine enthusiast's premier BYO location. They want you to think that you can trust leaving it all up to them.

In some of Montreal's BYO venues, you might cringe when you see your eager server manhandling your Vouvray. You might wonder what on the menu is as sophisticated as the vintage you bought with you for dinner. Not so, at À l'os. But wait. Why is the are puddle of bubbly on their floor? Why did we almost lose a third of our prized wine? Just moments after stepping into the place for first time, I felt a bit betrayed. This isn't what the scene is supposed to be like in here.

My friends nearest to where our waiter attempted to get a handle on our Prestige Moingeon Brut Crémant de Bourgogne, claim the bottle must've been volatile -- it was prepared for opening correctly and the technique the waiter used was sound: bottle cradled at an oblique angle, stopper gently nudged out of position, rendering only a faint release of air. By the time I looked over to the action, the bottle was perpendicular on the table and starting to froth uncontrollably. What a way to start the evening, I thought. And to boot, after all the commotion cleared, our table reset and the mess mopped up, we toasted our sparkling to find that it was already a shade too warm. DOIIING!

Light bulb! On a frigid night when it was minus 20 degrees Celsius (without the windchill factor), everything had seemed so thoroughly chilled to the bone. How could anything, let alone the wine that had been chilling in the fridge for several hours, get into the place with any warmth at all? I mean, picture it: There were the four of us, who had clamoured into the bistro rubbing our hands together; our drafty table, which was situated a little too close to an external door; the bottle of sparkling wine, which was icy cold to the touch.

But not cold enough. That heavy glass of the champagne bottle was hiding some wine that was above 7 degrees Celsius. And it was not happy! Violent, explosive, and too warm. On this night, who could've known? Not our waiter, who professionally handled the situation, and not us, still applying friction on the dinner napkins laid on our laps in a quest for warmth. But will we know better for next time, lest our brains freeze solid.

Let this be a lesson:

"Make Sure the Champagne is Cold ... Start off by chilling the bottle. The best serving temperature is around 45° Fahrenheit, that would be about 7° Celsius. If you put your hand on the bottle it should feel very cold not just cool. It's important to have a chilled liquid. Champagne that is too warm will foam and spill when you uncork the bottle. You'll lose some of the bubbly and make a mess." www.chiff.com/a/open-champagne.htm

"Temperature variations should be avoided and the bottles should not be moved. Before serving Champagne or Sparkling wine they need to be chilled. Not only will the champagne taste better cool, it will also foam less when opened. Ideally four to five hours of refrigeration is needed. Once opened it should be put on ice." www.thatsthespirit.com/en/drinks/articles/champagne.asp

"The procedure of opening a bottle of sparkling wine ... It is essential to keep the bottle oblique during the entire operation in order to prevent any possible spillage of wine because of the internal pressure. However this may happen in case the bottle is being opened when it is kept in vertical position or when its temperature is too warm or in case the bottle was energetically shaken." www.diwinetaste.com/dwt/en2002116.php

It's wise to depant after opening wines for certain people I know

"WHAT is with this blog business!?" screeched Jane, a friend who perhaps just came to realize that the time I used to devote to socializing is now being absorbed by my wineblog. She was exasperated. Not only did she recently end her blogging career two minutes after it started (she instantly forgot her URL), but she also has absolutely no interest in wine talk -- unless it's a discussion about getting the waiter to pull out a corkscrew. As a result a blog about wine is her sworn enemy and I was harbouring it daily.

And with that, she reached out for another swat at my shoulder, jaw clenched and making a show of looking fierce. I didn't get too pummelled because the group at the table behind us was up to no good. We all stopped and watched, brows raised, as one, two, three elegant pieces of stemware emerged glistening from a sleekly padded wine caddy. We knew our restaurant was bring-your-own-wine, but this was the first we had witnessed bring your own glasses. Jane was about to speak. But wait, now our neighbours were inserting drip-free wine pourers into their uncorked bottles in a way so that the paper bags wrapping the bottles stayed firmly in place and offered no hint of the bottle or the wine producer. Now I was sharing Jane's look. We were aghast.

I thought that if the wine glasses have to be that fine, it's obvious that someone's going to be indulging in some pretty exclusive wines. Good times! But now seeing these masked bottles turned my curiosity into obsession. What were they drinking? I was practically put off my food. Luckily I soon learned that this was not a elitist snub to the rest of the dining room but a tasting challenge for the diners at this table: Remark on each wine free of label bias and then reveal and compare notes. Now that seems like fun. I'll have to organize something like that sometime.

But maybe not when Jane is there. According to Jane, to decant a wine that benefits from a little breathing is cause for ridicule. She'd roll her eyes, as if the most pretentious act ever committed was unfolding right in her lap. I must admit that she's becoming a better sport with time. (I tell her that this is called mellowing out with age and then whisper that she is like a feisty Madiran.) Last time the topic came up, we were chatting about the general rule that it's almost always a nice idea to decant before dinner. She playfully jumped in: "I don't know about how I would decant, but I find that on most nights I like to depant just before I get into bed."

Maybe it's funnier after the third bottle.

Making a list and checking it twice

• Château de Fesles Anjou 2002


• Baron Philippe de Rothschild Pauillac 2000


• Corcovo Crianza Valdepenas 1997


• Luis Felipe Edwards Cabernet Sauvignon Reserva 2003


• Wolf Blass Yellow Label Cabernet Sauvignon 2003

This festive time of year is turning out to be great for tasting wine. In my school days, the ubiquitous wine and cheese party was more of an excuse to imbibe than to socialize and I had to learn that people who behave well tend not to put the drink before the chit-chat. Now wine presents to me the allures of the gourmand, and while I am admittedly eager to try new bottles at recent social gatherings, I still feel a bit of pressure not to misplace its importance. An enthusiast can be enthusiastic but there is a limit. When I get together with friends, I don't take notes on wine, mental or otherwise. The primary emphasis is on a good time. If a nice wine acts as a catalyst to that, then so much the better! And on the other hand, if someone uncorks something you would never open yourself -- something that's served at the wrong temperature or in the wrong order, or whatever -- you can graciously accept it and continue to enjoy the company and the sharing of food. In this way, focusing the right things at social events is kind of key to everyone's good time. Bottom line is that the priority is to interact with the people, not with the wine. Got that?

While I don't think these moments are given to wine research, they can still provide much fodder for future research. And that happened a lot this past weekend. Above are five red wines that started the weekend off with a bang at a bring-your-own-wine restaurant. I can't be sure of all the vintage years or if I even tasted them all, but I savoured everything I drank. It was a great evening of food and friends.

The remainder of the weekend was spent hosting/grazing with other friends. Below are the seven dead soldiers to prove it. I didn't jot down a list on the spot like a wine-fiend. I just tried to make a mental note of the name and year for the next time I'm at the wine store. When you are in the mood to explore, it's fun to open a bottle of something you haven't taken home before. And since we were quite spoiled at this get-together, take home any of these prestigious names whenever you get the chance. Unlike the first list, which always rose to complement our gourmet dinner in a way that didn't make any of the bottles stand out, the second list of full of fantastic products that will steal attention away from any food, especially if the wine is on the help-yourself table at a buffet.

• Monmousseau Touraine 2000


• Antique Senimaros Cairanne 2000


• Château Roquebrun Coteaux du Languedoc 2004


• Etchart Torrontes Cafayate 2005


• Domaine la Moussière Sancerre 2004


• Casa Ferreirinha Vinha Grande 2002


• Vila Regia Douro 2003