More stuff I learned in Vegas

1) A $600 meal is pretty darned good, but not all that much better than a $30 meal. I ate lots of good and expensive food in Vegas, but it wasn't all that much better than what I could get at home for a much more modest price. Fer instance, the Kobe filet at Shibuya was excellent, but not really any better than what I could get at Tokyo in Beaumont. And this goes triple for wine, sake, and booze in general.

2) There's an exception to every rule.

3) In this case, the exception is the cuisine of Joël Robuchon as served at L'Atelier in the MGM Grand (or at his higher-end restaurant, Joël Robuchon, I'm sure). This is stuff like you don't get elsewhere. I bought the cookbook (Simply French, Patricia Wells Presents the Cuisine of Joël Robuchon) just for the gaspacho recipe.

Wine Reviews: Cardinal Zin

Last Christmas, my brother and his wife gave me several bottles of wine with interesting names or lables. I finally got around to opening one. And it was this:

This isn't quite the right label, but it's the best Google Images had. Mine says "3002 Yeastly Bold Wines." And yes, the year is 3002.

My impressions: Full bodied, unpretentious, slightly astringent, smells nice, tastes good. Hints of black pepper, wild cherry, blueberry. In other words, everything a good Zinfandel should be.

I suppose some people might be put off by the screw cap. But I'm not among them. As far as I'm concerned (and all right thinking people agree), the only advantage of a genuine cork its it's alleged "romantic" appeal. A screw cap, on the other hand, has the advantage that it can be removed without tools, it won't dry out and crumble, and it won't react with the wine in a nasty way.

I like it.

What I like best about being off work:

It's about 3:30 in the afternoon and I'm having a glass of 2002 Joh. Jos. Prüm Riesling Kabinett Wehlener Sonnenuhr.

For breakfast.

My Wine Futures.

A couple years ago I bought some 2001 Bordeaux futures. They arrived recently. Big deal, you say, 2001 wasn't such a great year for Bordeauxs. And you'd be right, if we were talking reds. But mine were Sauternes (sweet white dessert wines), and for Sauternes, 2001 was about as good as it gets.

And I chose wisely.

I now have in my wine fridge six bottles (actually, these are all 375 ml half bottles) of 2001 Chateau Climens (Wine Spectator 100 points), 12 bottles of Rieussec (WS 99), six bottled of Suduiraut (WS 98), six bottles of LaTour Blanche (WS 97), six of LaFaurie-Peyraguey (WS 96), and a dozen others nearly as highly rated. Most of these have at least doubled or tripled in price since I bought them, which makes me feel like a real smarty-pants. (If only my 401k had done half as well.)

I'm hoping that by the time they're ready to drink in 2010 or so I'll be able to pronounce their names properly.

And by that time, I might even have someone to drink them with.

I believe that's the year my son turns 21.