Quote:
Originally Posted by Oink
@ Everybody
So I REALLY need some help! I hope some of you american experts can come through for me!!!
This friday I am going to a new American steakhouse here in town. Me and my friend are looking to share a 72 ounce porterhouse which is pretty rare for danish restaurents .
Anyways they have a lot of american wine and I think it will be very fitting to drink some californian Zinfandel or Cabernet to a huge american steak. Problem is that I know jack and **** about US wine. All I know is that Napa valley is supposed to be hyped/good.
Here is the wine list. American wines are at page 7-8. The prices on the right is in danish kroner. Just divide by 5 and you have it in USD.
Any wines I just HAVE to try?
Or any wines which would be relatively god buys and good fits to a steak + fries + Bearnaise sauce?
http://www.mashsteak.dk/cms/filarkiv/Vinkort_MASH.pdf
Oh and price range is whatever
oink, if you're gonna go cab, some of those prices aren't that bad for resturant prices. Obviously the wines will be VERY different then what you're used to.
The 02 Shafer HSS is one of the best HSS's ever made, and the price isn't that bad for a resturant price(seriously, that's about 100-150 over general retail here in the states), just be sure if you want to go with that, that you call ahead and request that it be decanted for a good 2-3 hours before you arrive
don't bother with silver joke, same with the paul hobbs. They're just over oaked to **** and don't have enough fruit to back up the ridiculous amount of oak that they see
the 05 Rudd Oakville and 06 Rudd Crossroads aren't that bad for the prices, but will have a fair amount of oak on them, so again, requesting that the bottle(s) be decanted is required
either of the 92 Dunns would be very interesting, with the Napa cab probably being a bit more accessible, but the Howell Mtn would be a real treat(again, this will need a decant as the howell mtn is one of the most backward wines in the world, but also one of the most thrilling expressions of 100% cabernet at the same time when you catch them right)
The 99 and 00 Ridge Monte Bellos should be starting to drink well(with the 00 drinking better at this time due to it being a lesser vintage). I'm actually going to be doing a monte bello vertical next tuesday, but those vintages aren't included, go figure
. Monte Bello is more classic in style and comes off as a cali-bord hybrid. Both will need a decant, but not as much as the other wines
The Insignia is also a good price for a resturant for a high end cab/cab blend. It will certainly need a decant as well, but its drinking relatively well at this young point
don't bother with the Harlans. I've had both vintages, and while they are stunning in a sense, there is almost a feeling of them being too well made. THey just seem to lack a bit of soul for me
I'd feel utterly awful though if I didn't tell you to give the Cayuse's a go. Those bad boys are hard to get in America, so I wouldn't hesitate to recommend those to you. Again, they'll need a decanting, but they are damn good
my personal order of preference for what to suggest:
1. 06 Cayuse En Chamberlin
1a. 06 Cayuse Callioux
2. 92 Dunn Howell Mtn
3. 02 Shafer HSS
4. 04 Insignia(this and the Shafer will present the a very different view of what you'd normally find in europe for american wines, and are classic modern california wines)
5. 00 or 99 RIdge Monte Bello