This past Monday evening, 7 “Burgheads” found their way to Apiary, Scott Bryan’s new haunt on the Lower East Side of Manhattan (well, just south of Union Square to be exact). A few notes on the restaurant. The food is excellent. My second time there, and the pork chop is off the hook. This time, I started with scallops and we all did a half portion of risotto. All excellent. Mondays offer free corkage. We all paid $80, which seemed to include a very healthy gratuity. Negatives on this night was the service. Glassware was hard to come by, and water service was slow. Still, I would go back to the restaurant. I would almost prefer to pay corkage on another evening, as long as a dozen wines are not being opened.
Onto the wines…
1990 Henriot Cuvee Enchanteleurs (Magnum): KA must find it difficult to go without bubbles, so he brought this one. I liked it a lot. Very crisp and extremely youthful, I would like to see this evolve for another decade…or two.
2000 Drouhin Beaune Clos des Mouches Blanc: This was served blind and compliments of David. I find this wine painfully young. Lots of acid. Needed more air time.
2002 Leflaive Batard Montrachet: Not a good sign when your WOTN comes so early, but this wine was outstanding! I cannot really say much more than, WOW! Bill, you da man! Or, as Robert Kenney once said of Jay S. Miller, “You’re my boy, blue!”
Louis Jadot Chassagne Montrachet Abbaye Morgeot: Others said this was too young. I am not a buyer. I am generally a fan of Jadot wines, but this wine is a pass for me. The fruit was just out of balance with the acid. Never came around.
1988 Ponsot Clos St Denis: Thank you, David. This wine was very good. Probably the best nose of the evening. I would not age it any longer, as my best sips were my first sips. Still, quite impressive given the vintage.
1990 Jacky Truchot Charmes Chambertin: Someone referred to this as “cheesy.” I wanted to like this wine, but although it got better as the night carried on, it was just never all that enjoyable. KA brought it, as he really wants to become a wine geek. Looks like he will have to wait to be inducted into that hall of fame. I think he hated more than anyone at the table.
1990 Louis Jadot Ruchottes Chambertin: Ian brought a winner as well. This was quite a nice wine. When I heard the price it is selling for, I may not be a buyer, but still a nice drink.
1996 Louis Remy Chambertin: The wine was flat and ininteresting. Lifeless would give it too much credit. If you own this, sorry.
1996 Robert Arnoux Romanee St. Vivant: It was not talked about much, but I quite liked this wine. Pretty juicy on the palate. It showed pretty well.
1995 Louis Jadot Clos Vougeot: No shock that Leo brought Jadot. Does he own anything else? As the night went on, this wine got better and better and better. I decided the order and put this towards the back of the pack, as I thought it might need time. Good wine, in a difficult vintage.
1996 Dujac Bonnes Mares. My contribution, dbl decanted by a member of my staff. Upon opening at arrival at the restaurant, I announced (shamefully) that the wine was corked. A couple of the others disagreed. So we poured it out. We poured it a couple of hours later and KA said it was corked. Doh!
I could not go without contributing a red wine, so I ordered a 2001 Gaja Sperss, and got it decanted as quickly as possible. I really enjoyed this wine. Clearly not an “elegant” Nebbiolo, but it sure was tasty. Most at the table really liked it and I was “saved.”
Good food, good wine, and a fun group of people (except for Leo). Looking forward to the next dinner!
Seriously, I should say that everyone at the table told me not to order anything. But I told them that I would not be ridiculed the next day for bringing “nothing” to dinner.
Dan, I enjoyed the evening. We’ll have to do another one soon.
That was my first Truchot and now I’m eager to try another only because I can’t believe that would be typical. KA as a wine geek wannabe is a funny line.
By the way, stems are always a problem there. I think Brett is looking to increase quantity they have.
Indeed, very generous! I told you not to, but you did it anyway, and set the bar very high. Next time I see you I’ll come with the case of wine, in case if one is corked, it will cost me less then the Gaja off the wine list. Very nice wine as it opened, ripe, sweet fruit.
My favorite of the evening along with 1995 Vougeot as far opposite as they were. St. Vivant was dominated by dark ripe fruit while Vougeot was red and bright.
First time at Apiary - food was excellent, service was mediocre at best, stemware/decanters are lacking and it’s noisy. If they are going to continue to do these byob Mondays, then they need to make some changes IMO.
On to the wines - I generally agree with Dan’s notes.
The Enchanteleurs was youthful but I found it to be approachable with a smoky roundness to it, not dissimilar to DP. I opened a mag of '88 Enchanteleurs the next night and it was leaner with higher acid.
The Truchot was my first experience with the producer and yes, I admit it, I’m a wine geek wannabe.
I just bought this at auction last week and had a bottle stood up and delivered to the restaurant a few days in advance. I thought the acid was too high for the amount of fruit that the wine contained. David Beckwith happened to be there, and he is the President of the Wine Geek Society and has familarity with Truchot’s wines. He felt the bottle was typical except that it was compromised by not having enough time standing up. He said his wines have a lot of fine sediment to them and this sediment still hadn’t fully settled and was holding down the fruit. Held up to light, it was a bit cloudy. Another bottle is standing and will be consumed in a few weeks to determine the fate of the other 10 bottles.
The Leflaive was my favorite wine of the evening. I don’t drink a whole lot of white burgs, but when I do I reach for a Leflaive much more than any other producer. Great fruit, the perfect amount (for me) of oak with length and crispness to the finish.
Reds in general were a bit too monolithic and uninspiring. My favorite of the evening was the '88 Ponsot followed by the Arnoux. Too bad about the Dujac for it surely would have blown every other red away.
While a nice gesture by Dan in ordering the barolo, I did request a DRC as a replacement and Gaja is not DRC !
This was a great evening! Sadly most of the Red Burgs did not live up to their price tags …
I think Dan’s impressions are pretty close to mine … though as something of an acid freak in wine I didn’t find the '00 Drouhin CdM Blanc too sharp … nor the Truchot but agree with Ray’s assessment that the lacking fruit caused it to be out of balance. The Truchot was OK but just didn’t give me that much pleasure. I blinded the Drouhin because I wanted to see what the reaction to it would be next to the Leflaive … I think it showed well but clearly was not in the same league.
My favorite wines were the Leflaive (no surprise), Ray’s Bubbles (unusual for me to like a Pinot dominated bubbly so much …), the Sperss and Leo’s '95 Jadot Vougeot in that order.
Honorable mentions for the Rouchettes Ian brought & while the Arnoux RSV didn’t really give it up to us that night I was was left with the strong impression that this wine has a very bright future in 5-10 years …
Thanks to Paul for organizing and for everyones generocity for pulling out the good stuff.
[quote=“Daniel Posner”]This past Monday evening, 7 “Burgheads” found their way to Apiary, Scott Bryan’s new haunt on the Lower East Side of Manhattan (well, just south of Union Square to be exact).
Here in the City, we call that the East Village. Nice notes, Dan.
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