This coming weekend my wife and I will be dining at Eleven Madison Park to celebrate a milestone birthday. She will not be drinking, so more than a bottle will be a waste.
I was hoping to go big (by my standards), but some changes to our family planning means we need to be budget conscious. Ideally I’d like to keep it to under $150/bottle or $200 tops.
I like traditionally styled wines and like a profile with secondary or tertiary aromatics. I like the inclusion of stems and am not offended by moderate levels of brett. I am turned off by massive amounts of tannin, or a fruit profile that is too ripe or candied. I’d likely prefer to go with Pinot Noir, Syrah, or Chardonnay. I’d be interested to taste something I might have trouble acquiring elsewhere. I like Riesling, but drink and can buy lots of great Riesling already, so am unlikely to go that direction. I doubt nice Champagne really fits in my budget despite that fact that is will provide pairing flexibility, but if there is a nice option I’d prefer a rich/mature style.
Honestly, if I was going to be limited to one bottle alone, I’d want maximum flexibility. The Paul Bara Rose @ 155 (~3.5 X retail) would make me happy. I’ve never had the Pierre Péters, Rosé for Albane @180 and might be tempted. In the finest Berserker tradition, not what you asked for.
How much is the wine pairing? (I assume they offer it)
I think wine pairing is $175 and I’d probably rather do that than be confined to one bottle for an 8-10 course meal. Though I don’t like to overly fuss over “perfect” pairings, the right wine at the right time can be superior to the “better” wine at the wrong time. That said, I totally agree on rose champagne as a good option for a single bottle. Such a wine carried through dessert at a Middle Eastern restaurant recently for me, but I think at EMP you’ll find something missing, since you’ll be tasting such diverse foods as fresh seafood and potentially fatty red meat.
I was going to suggest doing two half bottles (red + white), but didn’t see as much that interested me there.
I would trust the Som, tell them what you like, ask for them to point out a few wines they think you’d like and then have a few ideas for your back-up…
I agree with going with the wine pairing, especially if it is $175. I would assume that they pour 3-4 different wines for the 8-10 course meal. Since you are the only one drinking, I bet they pour some special stuff for you as well…
I hope you have a great time. My wife and I took two of our dearest friends to EMP for my wife’s 50th birthday, and to this day it remains probably the best restaurant experience we have ever had…
Gonon is probably not the best match for some of the food, but if you’ve never had one and you want to try, you’ll enjoy the wine itself. Tough choice between the 13 and 15, 13 is probably drinking better right now, but 15 is so good, if very young.
A northern rhone as the only bottle for EMP? i don’t think that’s a great idea.
i’d go with the pairing honestly… this situation is about as good a reason to get pairing as it gets.
I’ve always found EMP’s wine list prices to be especially egregious. It looks like they are still charging 5x+ markups on a number of Californian wines that I have in my cellar. For example, a $70 Rhys Horseshoe is listed at $390. It does not appear that markup goes down much at the high-end. So for your $200 budget you are getting a $35 wine. It does include tip though.
I had the EMP wine pairing once and found it to be generally uninspired. Perhaps that is because the wine (6 half-ish pours if I remember correctly) is not even the equivalent of a $30 bottle.
The corkage fee is pretty good for a 3* NYC restaurant at $75/bottle. I would bring two from the cellar.
I would do the 97 Becker Halbtrocken for $95! That is an excellent wine that will evolve over the course of the meal. And if you need a glass of red you can still add it on because the Becker is only $95. In fact I would choose that wine even if cost was not a factor.
