Eleven Madison Park wine

I am dining next week at Eleven Madison Park. They have a reserve wine pairing offering and I’m hoping for any comments regarding the quality of the wines or how interesting they may be. I need to decide whether to order a bottle from their very extensive and impressive wine list or to go with the pairing. I find in these situations that often you don’t know which wines you are getting until they arrive at the table, or if you are told in advance there really isn’t sufficient time to do any research. I’m also dining at Marea and Ai Fiori if anyone has any comments on the same situation there.

Glenn

I found the pairing underwhelming but it changes. I would either bring or buy a bottle of champagne and a glass or red, but that’s just me. That’s my usual strategy with tasting menus. 12 Chetillons or Crayers seems to be a good choice or bring vintage or nv krug.

It’s a 3-star restaurant. You should be able to get the list (or an example one) from them, no questions asked.

They used to allow BYO at a decent corkage. Well worth it.

The wine list is available on line here: https://hub.binwise.com/print/WineList_PDF.aspx?ListId=210&LocationID=120

A lot of gems…some pricey. But it is, as has been noted, a 3 Star and it is in NYC, where the cost of doing business is fairly high. Burgs are the star, but really nice Loire and Alsace selections, too.

those list prices include tip, i believe.

I thought they were also especially known for their Austrian and German wine selection…

For what it’s worth, I really enjoyed the reserve pairing when we were there about a year ago. Not every single wine, but most. Since I was basically the only one drinking, it let me go beyond what I would have experienced with just a single bottle. Most memorable for me was a mid '80s Joseph Phelps Backus Cabernet (1985 I think). Pours were fine in terms of size.

Yeah, I noticed that that part of the list is impressive.

Lots of good stuff on the list, so why throw yourself at their mercy? Some of it is even “reasonably priced”.

I’ve found this to be the case for almost every high end wine pairing I’ve ever purchased with dinner. While there are always one or two great pairings, or something that is new and fresh, most of the time I find that I am greatly disappointed that I did not buy (or bring) a bottle of champagne and a glass or so of red, or something like a couple of half bottles depending on the restaurant.

Yeah that’s my MO at most high end places; 96 krug and some Beze was perfect at oriole couple weeks ago.

I’ve found that in most cases as well, with one exception: Single Thread in Healdsburg serve nearly a dozen of some of the best wines I’ve ever had.
Sorry for the slight thread drift…

Michael was that Oriole in Chicago? If so did they still have that pasta with shaved white truffles? I thought that dish was stunning.

Yeah that’s one of his signature dishes. They said the soufflé and that pasta are always on the menu.

Nothing on that list to me suggests German wine is a specialty of theirs. It’s exactly what I’d expect to see for a restaurant of this caliber, but not more than that…

I’ve trusted the wine pairings at Piazza Duomo in Alba (3star) and at Taniere3 in Quebec City. I think if you’re “geeky” trusting the pairings can be fun & rewarding. If you’re particular maybe go for something else.

I have seen plenty of Grand award lists, and can think of few if any list outside of Germany with that extensive a list of German wines.

I like geeky, but I also like good wine and think that the “pairing” focus gets vastly overblown. Most of the time I would rather just have a great glass of champagne separate from my small plate than try a refined vermouth with X dish. Or oh my, it has a tiny bit of spice…better roll out a wine with significant residual sugar. I just don’t really favor some of those wines, and while it may be the “right” pairing, I often find that they’re just not wines I really want to drink. If I want pure exploration, I’ll go to a wine bar.

Have had the Reserve Wine pairings there on 2 occasions and was quite happy both times. Remember that if your dining partner makes different course selections from you, then the wine paired with that course selection will also be different than yours. End result, you get to taste a lot of stellar wines!