G is for Gnashing of Teeth
It’s a well known fact that the mark up on wines in restaurants is, at the very least, stratospheric. When it gets a little higher than that, it usually leaves me a little short of breath. Not least from the expending of oxygen required for the fuming that accompanies the expense. I mean, how difficult can it be to open a bottle of wine and to pour it into a couple of glasses at the table?
A fortnight ago, we were at Cantina which does a very good pizza and I thought it would be nice to pick a bottle of wine to go with the food. So I popped into the cellar and chose a modest bottle of Sicilian red. I think it was a Abbazia Santa Anastasia Nero d’Avola 2002 but it could well have been a Azienda Agricola something or other of the same varietal and of the same vintage.
It is an intriguing wine that starts off opening into red fruits and spices before curling up again into smoky acidity. It must have been at least a good twenty minutes before opening up again into plummy sweetness and kept right on going up the saccharine scale at what seemed to be an alarming rate before finally flattening out.
Imagine my surprise and (I must admit) dismay when I discovered the same wine was retailing (yes, that’s right - retail) for Eur 5 in Italy and the rest of Europe (except the UK where it was going for £7). Don’t get me wrong - I really enjoyed the wine and I would probably drink more of it in the months and years to come. I just think my enjoyment was somewhat marred by the fact I paid S$65 for it.
Two nights before that, we went to one of the wine bars at Dempsey after dinner and had a bottle of CVNE Imperial Gran Reserva 1998. In keeping with the history of the place (it used to be an army camp), the owners kept up the barrack exterior and even left the toilet block in use although they did the inside up with wall to wall racks for the wine and comfortable rattan sofas to sit on.
The beauty of the place is that you pay retail prices and they slap on a small surcharge if you drink it there. So it was something like $60 and $10 which is pretty good given the retail price was about the same as London prices and the surcharge was certainly less than in any restaurant anywhere in the world. With the one possible exception of the old Tate Gallery in London.
Anyway, the wine was excellent. Concentrated, complex and surprisingly New World in its outlook with a fair bit of new leather in the nose. Much more fruit than should have been expected given the vintage. Opened nicely into a bit of herb, a bit of spice and a bit of cedar and sandalwood. Felt a little less acidic than what I would expect of the Tempranillo but good structure with plenty of mouth-coating glycerol which should do well with a couple more years of cellaring. Certainly wins my wine of the week award.
Rounding off the week, I took along a bottle of Pio Cesare Barbera d’Alba 2000 to a little soiree on Saturday evening and not without some trepidation. The Pope may have declared the millennial year a Jubilee year and made the guys in Rome clean all the buildings and public statues but in the Piedmont, it just rained. So it was a pleasant surprise to find a wine that came with a good floral and strawberry nose, more red fruit in the mouth in what I can only describe as preserved fruit way.
Given the rain, it was no surprise the wine was a little lacking in concentration but while it was thin, it also tasted fairly old. It was pale and thin so if I had been the given the Rioja at the same time, would probably have mistaken this for the older wine. Still it was suave, sophisticated and a bit of a bargain at $34 from the Christmas sales.
Isn't it strange that you never get a sale at a restaurant?
A fortnight ago, we were at Cantina which does a very good pizza and I thought it would be nice to pick a bottle of wine to go with the food. So I popped into the cellar and chose a modest bottle of Sicilian red. I think it was a Abbazia Santa Anastasia Nero d’Avola 2002 but it could well have been a Azienda Agricola something or other of the same varietal and of the same vintage.
It is an intriguing wine that starts off opening into red fruits and spices before curling up again into smoky acidity. It must have been at least a good twenty minutes before opening up again into plummy sweetness and kept right on going up the saccharine scale at what seemed to be an alarming rate before finally flattening out.
Imagine my surprise and (I must admit) dismay when I discovered the same wine was retailing (yes, that’s right - retail) for Eur 5 in Italy and the rest of Europe (except the UK where it was going for £7). Don’t get me wrong - I really enjoyed the wine and I would probably drink more of it in the months and years to come. I just think my enjoyment was somewhat marred by the fact I paid S$65 for it.
Two nights before that, we went to one of the wine bars at Dempsey after dinner and had a bottle of CVNE Imperial Gran Reserva 1998. In keeping with the history of the place (it used to be an army camp), the owners kept up the barrack exterior and even left the toilet block in use although they did the inside up with wall to wall racks for the wine and comfortable rattan sofas to sit on.
The beauty of the place is that you pay retail prices and they slap on a small surcharge if you drink it there. So it was something like $60 and $10 which is pretty good given the retail price was about the same as London prices and the surcharge was certainly less than in any restaurant anywhere in the world. With the one possible exception of the old Tate Gallery in London.
Anyway, the wine was excellent. Concentrated, complex and surprisingly New World in its outlook with a fair bit of new leather in the nose. Much more fruit than should have been expected given the vintage. Opened nicely into a bit of herb, a bit of spice and a bit of cedar and sandalwood. Felt a little less acidic than what I would expect of the Tempranillo but good structure with plenty of mouth-coating glycerol which should do well with a couple more years of cellaring. Certainly wins my wine of the week award.
Rounding off the week, I took along a bottle of Pio Cesare Barbera d’Alba 2000 to a little soiree on Saturday evening and not without some trepidation. The Pope may have declared the millennial year a Jubilee year and made the guys in Rome clean all the buildings and public statues but in the Piedmont, it just rained. So it was a pleasant surprise to find a wine that came with a good floral and strawberry nose, more red fruit in the mouth in what I can only describe as preserved fruit way.
Given the rain, it was no surprise the wine was a little lacking in concentration but while it was thin, it also tasted fairly old. It was pale and thin so if I had been the given the Rioja at the same time, would probably have mistaken this for the older wine. Still it was suave, sophisticated and a bit of a bargain at $34 from the Christmas sales.
Isn't it strange that you never get a sale at a restaurant?
posted by porcorosso at 6:18 AM
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