49738 Fri Mar 22 13:04:25 -0800 2002 14 2 Los Angeles Area 0 250463 Help, 'hounds, help! I've been invited to a dinner at Chinois tonight. I'd like to treat the party to a nice bottle of wine. Being unfamiliar with their wine list, and a wine know-nothing to boot, I'm wondering: Do you recommend ordering something from their list, or bringing a bottle and paying the $20 corkage? If it's the latter, I'd be looking at something in the $50 range or less, if possible. The person we're honoring is a big fan of California reds, so that's a must. I'll be shopping at the L.A. Wine Co. in Culver City, if that adds anything. Thanks in advance for your help. Fri Mar 22 13:04:25 -0800 2002 0 Oopsie Daisy 1 250465 Chinois is wonderful but red wines don't work that well with the Asian inspired food. A nice Pinot Gris or some other semi sweet white wine will be much better. Fri Mar 22 13:15:20 -0800 2002 250463 0 russkar 1 250466 Order off the list. It is one of the best in town (for California wines), and extremely reasonable. Markups are in the $20 range, so you don't really benefit by bringing your own. BTW, red wine doesn't really go that well with the food at Chinois. Go with rieslings/sauvignon blancs and you'll be much happier. Jon Fri Mar 22 13:15:44 -0800 2002 250463 0 Jon Leventhal 1 250469 I agree with the posts saying that red wines won't pair really well with most Asian inspired foods on the Chinois menu, but you may find one or two dishes that may work. A better idea would be to order a nice Pinot Gris, Viognier, Gewurtz. or Reisling to enjoy with your meal (slightly sweet/crisp wines do better with the slightly spicy Asian type foods), but get a nice bottle of red wine as gift for your honored guest... I'd be happy give some recommendations on the gift if you could let us know what they like to drink, are they into wine, what are their favorite foods, what type of person are they? Will they want something they've tried or have heard of before? or are they "wine brand" conscious? Fri Mar 22 13:35:29 -0800 2002 250463 0 woo! 2 250476 Yes, please, I could really use your help with some rec's. The honored guest is a big wine buff. Again, his true love is California reds. I know he's a fan of Silver Oak and Opus One, but those are out of my budget range, right? He also drinks Paso Robles reds...but I'm not sure which ones in particular right now. And the wines of (pardon the spelling confusion) Jim Clendennon...can't remember his winery, either. I'm hopeless! lol. He is brand-conscious, but also quite open to new or "cult" wines. Something of that ilk would be a fun gift, I think. Thanks again for your help. Fri Mar 22 14:22:15 -0800 2002 250469 0 Oopsie Daisy 3 250478 Your pal has good taste in reds. If going the gift route within budget, I'd say try to find a bottle of White Rock Claret. Usually, you can find something like this at the Wine House on Cotner. Fri Mar 22 14:32:32 -0800 2002 250476 0 mc michael 4 250488 I'm happy to see this wine named by you. I love it White Rock, and have been buying it for the last 7 years, though I haven't tried the 98, which I heard was one of the better wines of the vintage. I was in Napa last spring and drove up the long road where White Rock purportedely exists, but my father and brother's curiosity ran out before we found it. The only bright side to the failed effort is that now I'll just have to go back, won't I? White Rock also makes a chardonnay, which -- alas -- I haven't tried. Fri Mar 22 17:15:18 -0800 2002 250478 0 Fidelixi 5 250490 Actually, I did make the drive last year. You have to get the phone number (they have a simple website whose name I don't have in front of me with the phone number)and call for an appointment. The proprietor then meets you at the end of a dirt (?) road, takes you into the cave and lets you taste the red and the white. You can then buy some to take or have it shipped. In fact, it's actually cheaper to buy it at the Wine House (when they have it) than to order it. Either way, it's good wine. The chard ain't bad, but it's the claret I like. Fri Mar 22 17:26:35 -0800 2002 250488 0 mc michael 6 250495 Here's the link. The # is 707/257-7922. Cheers! Link: http://whiterockvineyards.com/ Fri Mar 22 18:03:43 -0800 2002 250490 0 mc michael 3 250485 Ahh... says a lot. Alas you are right Silver Oak and Opus are both over $100, and over priced at that... given he likes big bad reds, here are some suggestions... ones that you will probably find and ones that if you can find, will make your friend go WOW! and not break the bank in the meantime... Also, Clendenon makes wine for Au Bon Climat/Qupe, which leaves some very interesting choices for possible dinner as well... Reccos: Corison Cabernet Sauvignon - Excellent "big" cabernet... fairly small production, but not too dificult to find. Cathy Corison is the winemaker, and this is a fairly well known wine to folks in that world, but not really mainstream, so you pal will both enjoy it, and be somewhat impressed that you picked it out... try for the '97 if you can. Turley Zinfandel - If you can find it... usually a highly allocated, very hard to find wine, made by the master wine maker Helen Turley. The funny thing is, this wine, although usually very hard to find, pops up at the oddest times, and if you see it in a store, buy it! Also, you can usually pick up one of the Zins for $40 to $60. Your friend will definitely have an eye popping WOW!! if you give him a Turley Zin... truly a great wine, but it will be a fluke if the store has it... Qupe Syrah - One of my favorite Syrahs from California, and relatively inexpensive (around $25 - $30), but an excellent representation of the varietal. Also, you should know that Qupe makes a great Viognier (pronounce VEE OHN YAY - sorry don't mean to assume, just in case you needed it) which should pair fairly well with the Asian inspired food at Chinois, in fact they might even have it on their list. Guenoc "Beckstoffer Reserve" - A pseudo-mainstream wine that is sometimes easy sometimes not to find. Make sure you buy the "Beckstoffer Reserve", excellent balance, great fuit, good wine. And fortunately one that hasn't been overpriced yet. Robert Craig "Affinity" - Great blended cabernet sauvignon that is done in the Bordeaux style. Don't know the price off the top of my head, but I have some, and don't recall it being really expensive. Try for the '97 if you can. Others that might or might not be in the price range you mentioned (I honestly can't remember, sorry), but thought I would bring up because they are probably to your friends taste and recognition factor... Cain Five - might be a little more $$ Chateau St. Jean Cinq Cepages - probably REALLY hard to find Phelps Insignia - I think it might be more $$ (80-ish?) Neyers Zinfandel - Excellent Zin, the same winemaker that works with Helen Turley on the Turley Zins Those are some suggestions off the top of my head, and if your shop doesn't carry this stuff, this should give them enough of an idea to suggest something similar in terms of quality, brand and "wow factor" in the price range you are looking for... Please let us know what you ended up getting and what his reaction was... now we are all curious! Hope this helps. Enjoy! Fri Mar 22 16:12:05 -0800 2002 250476 0 woo! 4 250496 A common misconception, however, Turley zin has not been made by Helen Turley since the 1995 vintage. The winery is owned by her brother Larry Turley and bears his name. Fri Mar 22 18:04:49 -0800 2002 250485 0 Melanie Wong 5 250502 You are right... I stand corrected. The good news is that I've been collecting Turley's for sometime and I still think they are fantastic. I haven't noticed a decline since the changeover... maybe that's just me, but I've been pretty happy. Fri Mar 22 18:24:59 -0800 2002 250496 0 woo! 1 250472 As a red wine drinker it pains me to admit that the statemnts about Chinois and white wine are true. Now, if your friend was just going to keep eating the foie gras...... Maybe, that's it: half bottle red to go with the foie gras, full bottle white for the rest. Fri Mar 22 14:06:54 -0800 2002 250463 0 mc michael 1 250473 Another benefit is that, for the most part, the white wines on the list will be significantly LESS expensive than the red wines... Fri Mar 22 14:10:32 -0800 2002 250463 0 woo! 1 250484 I am certainly no wine expert, and what I say next is pretty vague, BUT: About 3 years ago, I had a very memorable, blow-out expense-account meal at Chinois in Las Vegas. The kind of meal where we had the tasting menu and a la carte dishes! The extremely helpful server steered us to a pink champagne that was, I believe California based and mid-range in price, about $45 for the bottle (3 years ago). I have no idea of the name of the brand or any other identifying details. Still, it would be worth searching for it. Needless to say, this was one of the few times in my life where I truly experienced that "food-wine" synergy that I always read about. The slight (very) sweetness to the wine married very well to the Asian flavors, especially the sweet and spicy flavors that pre-dominate. In addition, the bubbles worked so well with the fried goodies (say the amazing calamari). If you can figure out a decent bottle of pink champagne NOW, it will really serve you well Rob Fri Mar 22 15:53:24 -0800 2002 250463 0 Vital Information