We happy that Bernard, who has sampled so many wines, has shared his notes with us. We do have, or have had for sale a few of the wines Bernard writes about, and we include a link to our stock page whenever it is a producer we carry (but since the stock page is kept up-to-date and the wines are sold, don't expect any but the newest of wines to show up in our stock!). Mostly though, since we specialize in County of Santa Barbara Wine and Central Coast Wine, we don't carry a lot of the wines Bernard writes about. But we think it is important that you be able to have an idea what they're like in case you are planning to buy some somewhere, or have them in your own collection. Enjoy.

Here are Bernard's notes from October 15, 1998:

All impressions are from memory; no notes taken.

First night at my cousin on Long Island. Italian food delivered to the house. Typical NY notch-above-red-sauce cuisine...veal, chicken marsala, good pasta. To drink, we pass on the 92 Groth Reserve (since I've had it) in favor of:
 

Next morning I catch the LIRR to Penn Station and a cab to 72nd and Madison where my wife and I have an apartment to ourselves. She's off to lunch with her sister at Time Cafe in mid-town (OK, nothing special according to her). I meet Jamie B. and Steve Plotnicki for lunch at Petrossian (my first time). Petrossian's food is very high quality, its cuisine reflecting the French influences in Czarist Russia.

For lunch, I recommend the $39 prix fixe. Among the starters, there is a trio caviar sampler with Osetra, Salmon Roe and Smoked Cod Roe. This comes with toast points that the waiter refreshes midway through the course. My main dish was marinated sturgeon brochettes, very nicely done. Dessert was included. I don't remember what I got, but I think it included pistachios.

The wine list is pretty overpriced, but there are some reasonable selections. We had La Doucette Sancerre (the 96 vintage, I think ). This has a lovely minerally and citrusy bouquet. Very crisp acidity with sufficiently rich fruit to keep the wine in harmony. It went very well with the caviars and fish. 89.

Dinner that night was at Babbo in the Village. Babbo is Mario Batalli's new Italian restaurant co-owned by Joe Bastianich (Lydia's son). Mario is known for his first restaurant, Po, and his Molto Mario cooking show on TVFN. Babbo is currently a very hot reservation. Our friend Barbara is a regular there, so was able to get us a table with 3 weeks notice.

Babbo features what I call rustic Italian cuisine, but there are some more contemporary accents to appeal to the style conscious. Every item we tried was excellent, with some verging on truly inspired. My wife had an appetizer of beef cheek ravioli. I had a salad which included a number of unusual  elements including sliced raw baby artichokes, crisp fried Jerusalem artichokes, roasted pumpkin seed oil, warm goat cheese tartlet... My main course was  chestnut gnocchi with wild Scottish squab ragout (fortunately, no shot was found). Dessert included a delicious pistacchio semi-freddo. To drink:

90 Clerico Arte (Nebbiolo/Barbera blend)--Still youthful, dark red color. Very classy bouquet that kept evolving in the glass to reveal many components, from red berries to balck cherry to violets, oak, floral aromas, some more earthy aromas,... The texture was silky. Very refined tannins. Some earthy complexity around a core of lush fruit. This kept getting better until the wine was gone. At the peak of drinkability and a good NY QPR at $75. 92.

I also had a decent glass of Pasito de Pantelleria dessert wine.

Babbo was so rich and filling (and fulfilling) that we cancel Friday's lunch at the Four Seasons. That gave us time to venture down to the Union Square Farmer's Market. We bought some superb sheep's milk cheeses (a brie and a firm cheddar-like cheese with black pepper) from Upstate. We had a late morning snack at Maury's (City Bakery, on 16th or 17th St.). Maury bakes high quality breads and sweets. He also features homemade marshmallows.

We took an excursion to Crossroads Wine Store (Steve: They want you to pick up your order!). I came away with two Austrian dry whites, a 95 Kracher TBA #13, and a 88 Dom. Cahaupe Quintessence.

Dinner that night was at Nougatine, a less formal dining area along side the  bar in Restaurant Jean-Georges. We could have ordered off the Jean-Georges menu had we wanted, but the less expensive Nougatine menu was just as enticing. I do not remember all the foods ordered, but my roast Poussin with crisp, buttery bread crumb coating and a sublime savory bread pudding (with shitakes?) was a very delicious dish. I was very impressed by the quality of the food and the fine preparation. The tables in Nougatine are awkwardly uncomfortable, a case of architectual mischief. My wife thought the atmosphere and service were pretentious, but I found the service to be absolutely proper. There were always staff nearby to accomodate the diners. Our meal was nicely complemented by the

94 Zind-Humbrecht Riesling Clos Windsbuhl--A very correct expression of Alsace riesling, with exemplary balance of crisp acidity, ripe fruit, and complex minerality. Finish was long and great. 94

For dessert, another pistacchio something that I can't recall. But with it was a very nice 95 Nigl Gruener Veltliner Ice Wein. This registered just short of Wow, lacking just a bit of comlexity in the nose. Otherwise, superbly balanced with fine acidity, medium sweet over-ripe fruit. 93

Next morning, we take the train up to Mamaroneck (wife's hometown) where we stay with her old childhood friend. I get the tour of the town and we have some decent NY pizza for lunch. That evening, my wife and I drive up to Chappaqua near the CT state line for a pre-wedding dinner at Crabtree's Kittle House.

I was told I should ask to take a tour of the Kittle House wine cellar. Their wine buyer, Michael Quigley, obliges. This WS Grand Award cellar has been built up over just the past 9 years. It is the kind of cellar I would have if I were so wealthy. It has all the hot ticket items from CA, breadth across many wine producing countries, focusing on small producers making world class wines.

There are maybe 2500 selections in this cellar. Although Bern's in Tampa has a much more impressive cellar and about 6000 selections, I found the offerings at the Kittle House much more current and in tune with my preferences. OTOH, Bern's has to win outright because of their incredible selection of Madeira, Port, and old Bordeaux. As I pass the domestic parts of theis cellar, I acknowledge the Araujo/ Bryant/Colgin/ Dominus/Eagle/ Grace/Maya/Marcassin bottles and start asking about stuff I don't get in my hometown...rare Burgundy and  Rhones. The Burgundy section avoids the big negociant houses in favor of the  small stars, as well as a good representation of DRCs. The Rhones have Chave, Beaucastel (including an Hommage), some fine Cote Rotie and Hermitage from Chapoutier and others.

I ask about Jacques Reynaud. Michael pretends to think he doesn't have any (at least I hope he was pretending). I spot a Fonsalette syrah. "Oh, yeah." We  wander around some more, sighting some Aussie, Loire, and Italian selections. No! Back to the Rhones. There's Pignan, a 90 no less. Could be. Ah... Rayas. What's that, a 93? Nope. Ooo! Tucked back in that nook I see my prize: 78 Rayas!

Back up stairs, our party are seated at 2 round tables a few feet from the bar. Fortunately, they've got a TV on because the Yanks had a whooping to deliver to the Braves at Yankee Stadium that night. I start paging through the wine list. Maybe a 90 Leroy Clos Vougeot for $350. Or 90 Rayas for $300. No. It'll be the now mature (but still long-lived) 78 Rayas, for $400. Amazing below auction  value. My brother-in-law Victor (also a wine lover, but unfamiliar with Rhones, he's willing to trust my judgment) will share in the cost. Sister-in-law Karla who arranged the dinner, sitting at the other table, wants to know why I'm going to order wine when it has been included in the dinner price. Duh! I have a chance to drink 78 Rayas and I should settle for the house pour?! In fact, I try the house white, a very respectable chardonnay, but I'm not interested enough to check the label.

The sommelier decants the wine into a lovely wide-based crystal flask. Riedel Bordeaux glasses are brought to our table (there's not going to be enough of this nectar to go around 2 tables, so Victor and I decide to be rather selfish). Now no one else at either table is a wine lover, except Walter who's on the  wagon. So Walter enjoys the smell, Hank (my step-father-in-law to be) gets a pour, as do my wife and her sisters Robin and Lori (Victor's wife). But first, I get to try the first pour from the sommelier. Better be worth it, I think...

78 Chateau Rayas--Medium dark red, ever so slightly orange on the rim. WHAT A NOSE! Um-um-ummm. I could smell this all day. It is the kind of wine that you can tell just from the aroma is world class grand vin plus ultra. No "need" to actually taste this wine to know it is acceptable. The bouquet starts with  some barnyardy, animal earthy characteristics layered above rich, sweet red  cherry and candy apple aromas. The fruit keeps poking through to announce its incredible ripeness. In the mouth, it is thick textured decadently concentrated red fruits. Vinted dry, it tastes sweet. So much going on it defies one to describe it. Metaphors fail. It's the kind of wine that would put the clamps on the BOOM-Meister Emeril Lagasse. Just gorgeous wine. My wife takes pity on the other table and brings her glass to them so they can sample. They don't know what they've got, but my other brother-in-law Michael takes offense that we didn't pass the decanter over to their table. Yeah, right. That would be like having your sixteen year old do his driver training in a Ferrari. Sorry, but if they want to drink 78 Rayas, they can buy their own bottle. How does this wine go down? The finish leaves me speechless. Triple WOW! It reminds me of the 63 Fonseca I had earlier this year, that kind of concentration and  candied fruit quality, but without the high alcoholic kick on the finish. I conservatively rate this one a 99+, leaving myself a bit of leeway to give 100 points to something else. If you ever get a last request before frying in the chair, order up a bottle of the 78 Rayas. I'm sure the Gov would offer you clemency for a few sips.

Oh, the food at the Kittle House was just OK. We had a fine salad with shaved Reggiano, a huge and properly prepared filet steak, and a variety dessert plate that had another pistacchio something or other among the chocolate and fruit things.

The wedding? It was at my sister-in-law Karla (and Michael)'s house in  Chappaqua. Reasonably short ceremony conducted by the rabbi. Not much pomp. The finger foods were boring. The RH Philips chardonnay was better than it had any right to be (this a Jim Laube value recommendation from WS). We had a pretty good Japanese dinner in Mamaroneck that night.

Monday we returned to the city. I got a tour of the Planetarium reconstruction and met some of the astronomers for dinner at Scaletta on 77 St across from the Natural History Museum. The food at Scaletta is well-prepared, mostly northern Italian. The wine was 96 Brussco di Barbi served too warm. It was a bit less fruit driven than the very good 94 and 95 versions.

I then caught a bus down to the Village (traffic slowed to a crawl on Fifth Avenue trying to get past the Matthew Shepard protest marchers). I met my wife and our friend at John Schenk's new restaurant called Clementine. I only had dessert--a glass of Bonny Doon Vin de Glaciere (exquisite as always).

Next morning, I stopped by Patisserie Peyard (a Daniel Boulud invention). They have a great selection of French-style sweets, breads, and other delicacies. Brought a few things back to Santa Barbara. This place will be on my must visit list each time I go back to the Apple.

Fantastic!