Hi all. I’m in Monterey Bay & Carmel-by-the-Sea for the next week on my honeymoon and really would love to buy a case or at least a few bottles of nice ageable wine to commemorate this trip.
I’ve got all the restaurants down - we have Passionfish tonight, Aubergine tomorrow(so stoked for d’Yquem by the oz!), The Bench on Thursday, and Casanova Saturday… I just don’t know where to really go to buy something fine & potentially shipping.
Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!
No limit fine wines is around there.
Sounds like a great lineup of restaurants you’ve chosen. Aubergine had some really fun gems when we went in 23. I’d second Michael on No Limit Fine Wines. You might reach out ahead, peruse the site and have them pull some bottles for you? Broad, high quality selection and great folks on that team.
If you mean local, I like Bernardus. Crowd pleasing and somewhat age able
Report back about Carmel when you’re done! Staying there in the fall! Where are you staying?
Delivery from K&L?
Wow this place looks great, but unfortunately it looks a bit too far out of the way for us. We really wanted to go in-person to shop 
We are south of Carmel near the Highlands!
Passionfish was amazing. We split a half bottle of Matrot Meursault '22. It was rich with lemon pith, peach, white flowers, and seashell minerality. The highlight of the meal was definitely the grilled shrimp entree. Perfectly balanced and the sauce was truly exceptional.
The Cheese Shop in the plaza
Right next to the cheese shop is Wrath and they have some of the better Pinots for the shops in the area.
Definitely checking this out today!!
Congrats Alexander. Nepenthe & lunch or dinner @ The Post Ranch Inn. Both have great wine lists, and both will be unforgettable. Booking is key at both, and at Nepenthe tell them it’s your honeymoon & get a window table (ditto Post Ranch if you go, get a cliff/glass side table.) (the view is partic important @ Nepenthe. Don’t be shy @ Post Ranch & def try & walk the grounds a bit to check it out, incl the cliffside infinity pool behind the resto.) The Nepenthe list is online, and some deals still abound. The extraordinary deals @ Post Ranch Inn are long gone (impeccably stored 30+ year old grand cru burgs for a song), but I’m sure the list is still good, if now prob pricey. The hack @ Post Ranch since they have raised prices is to go at lunch - and really enjoy the whole experience.
Edit to add - Looking @ the Post Ranch list, while they have very, very considerably raised prices (looking only @ Burg) for the expected status-chasers/label whores, there are still some amazing deals!)
I Brand makes some ageable wine. Carmel Valley.
Thanks Theo. We were actually just looking at Nepenthe for our Friday drive to Big Sur, so your tips re: booking are very very appreciated!
Second The Cheese Shop.
I third the cheese shop. Cheese in the front and they have good wines in back
Finally back home! What an incredible trip. Nothing caught our eye in particular, so we didn’t end up buying any bottles.
Aubergine was incredible, but it wasn’t their best night of service.
The amuse bouche had a small spider on top of one of the bites, and one of the first courses arrived with only one dish instead of two.
We opted to share the reserve wine pairing and the non-alcoholic pairing. The non-alcoholic pairing was pretty weak. It was a lot of sweet fruit juices and extractions, wouldn’t recommend.
The reserve wine pairing on the other hand, was exceptional.
some quick notes:
Krug Champagne Brut Grande Cuvee 172eme - fabulous start. microfine bubbles, super fresh acidity, white flowers, lemon zest, brioche. Super precise and lovely balance with a long finish
2017 Domaine Jean-Louis Chave Hermitage Blanc - Come on man. Exotic fruit, white peaches, orange pith, chalky. Full bodied and wonderfully creamy. Absolutely coats the palate. Long rich minerally finish.
2022 Wittmann Westhofener Morstein Riesling - Petrol, granny smith apples, lemon zest. The palate is absolutely electric. Intense long finish. “Wifey approved”
Ulysse Collin ‘Les Maillons’ Blanc de Noirs Extra Brut(2020 base) - Much more sharp and intense bubbles than the Krug. Green pear, yeasty brioche, sea breeze saltiness that felt appropriate for Carmel-by-the-Sea. concentrated. Racingly fresh. Delicious. We both preferred this to the Krug.
1996 Chateau Ducru-Beaucaillou - wow wow wow! Just as I thought the pairing couldn’t be any better, they drop a 3L of this onto the table. Tobacco, leather, dried spice, cherry raspberry. sous bois, fresh topsoil. flawlessly integrated tannin. Pure finish, unbelievably soft.
This was paired with a roasted duck and mole sauce and it absolutely blew my socks off.
2007 Domaine de Montille Volnay 1er Cru Champans - Herbal, floral, wild stemmy cherry. Spicy on the finish.
2005 Von Hövel Scharzhofberger Riesling Auslese - Honey, peaches, flowers, petrol. Lovely acidity.
I also ordered a 2001 Lopez de Heredia Rioja Gran Reserva. This bottle was really incredible and show amazing evolution throughout the night. It was immediately cherry, leather, tobacco. Really tight with loads of structure. After 20m in the decenter it was already showing a lot more acid, soft tannings, more red fruit. After an hour it started showing even distinctive red fruits - strawberries, raspberries. Mint, eucalyptus.
Finally I opted for 3 1oz pours of d’yquem:
2006 - butterscotch, caramel. by far the most concentrated and heavy of the 3
1999 - much more sweet, but not as heavy on the palate. burnt caramel, saffron, apricot.
1980 - definitely my favorite. most exotic with tropical fruit, quince, orange zest, spice, cardamom, vanilla. superb.
Some of the other restaurant highlights:
The Bench at Pebble Beach - decent food, but the scenery was really the selling point here. Great finale to a romantic day of driving around 17 mile and taking in the views.
Nepenthe - Great food, the wine list was epic, but as I was driving I stuck with iced tea. More incredible views at our window seat. We got there at 11:20am and still had to wait 15m for seating.
Casanova - Incredibly romantic. amazing food. Great somm. Must go spot.
All in all, it was an amazing trip, and we will definitely be back!!
We celebrated my wife’s 50th at Casanova. Loved it.
Found this thread looking for a bottle shop
Any other recs?
In Carmel specifically?
