Christopher

Reaching back, but to illustrate ... Arizona 206 1991 3 stars from Bryan Miller. No tablecloths, waiters in jeans and denim shirts.

When the house chaplin routinely says a prayer for the Redskins in the well of the senate. When the score of the Redskins game appears above the title of the Washington Post. When once a season D.C. prepares for Dallas Week When the most common bumper sticker is Redskins, Love 'Em or Leave Town When elementary school kids are taught Hail to the Redskins That a man rises to the level of Senator on the strength of his father's name and his father is The Redskins coach for the ages. Well then, I think you have a sports obsession. Not even the subway series came close the the fervor that grips Washington during the football season, although it has been muted since they moved the games out of the city proper. As for the worthy part ...? And now, back to the food.

Ditto Bob & Ediths In fact, not a classic but The classic

If this is a restaurant that allows one to bring in bottles with a corkage fee I would look for vitis vinifera juices. I know that there is this on the market (Navarro Grape Juice )and have actually had the Pinot Noir, which is pretty good. (These are not dealcoholized wines, these are juices that were never fermented.)

A friend of mine in the car sales business responded to the statement "We want to spend $X,000" with "I don't sell money, I sell cars." I have the same feeling when it comes to putting together a wine list. It is just that, a wine list. It is not a price list. But money is an object* and one has to have wines that are approachable for many budgets. Happily, there are many very good wines that can go on a list for $20-$40. The aforementioned Chateau de Amouresses CDR 2001 is an example. Where one gets into trouble is trying to put a square peg into a round hole. That is, trying to fill a price point with a wine, or style of wine, where the best examples are $40+. One can show the Amouresses 2001 at $35, but one may not be able to show a Chateauneuf du Pape for that fee and it would be irresponsible to propose a "less than" CNDP just to fill a price point. And this is what gets misunderstood. I can certainly show you a White Burgundy for $40. I cannot show you a 1985 1er Cru Meursault for that fee. So, to answer the question of the original post - no, I do not subscribe to this theory nor any other theory that tends towards mind reading the restaurant's pricing strategies. Nor do I care how I am perceived, I have no interest in controlling their opinions of me. My interest is to drink delicious wine with my meal, whether it's the house pour or a reserve selection. *A syntactical pet peeve is when someone uses the phrase "Money is no object." Money is always an object, it is not always an obstacle.

As a personal preference I like Hirsch 16yr neat. For a Manhattan, which I prefer dry, I like Basil Hayden. I've always thought they should call it Makers Marketing as they really do have a strong brand presence and what is specific to this Bourbon is that unlike most commercial Bourbons where the mashbill is corn, rye, barley, Makers is the only Wheated Bourbon with a mashbill of 70% Corn, 16%Wheat and 14% Barley What I know about Basil Hayden is that the percentage of Rye is very high and this is what adds some great pepper and spice that works very well with the vermouth in a Manhattan. In the wine world I believe in terroir and there is a limestone shelf that extends from Pennsylvania through MD, VA and KY and the water filtered through here is very sweet and I would think gives some characteristic to Bourbon that is not available (without manipulation) elsewhere in the US so while one can make Bourbon anywhere under the concurrent resolution, I wonder if that should be amended Or ... If what is really necessary for great Bourbon is great corn, why has no one set up shop in New Jersey and tried to distill from the sweet local corn?

From Sunday's New York Times - One establishment doing it's part

Pigalle @ 75 Charles Street South is my one destination restaurant in Boston proper. For truly bizzare Golden Temple in Brookline for Chinese with a wine list deep in Angelo Gaja verticals and high end single malts. Even weirder is that nothing is rounded so that a bottle of wine will price out at $73.26 -It makes no sense but it's a curious read.

This isn't about foie gras The motivation is a pathology that wants to deny that as a species we use aggression towards others in the service of our own pleasure. Foie Gras just happens to be the scapeduck. It would be a pathetic ruling. I'm going to order a whole lobe for dinner tonight.

It's akin to naming the cutters and drapers for a collection (Armani, Versace, Lauren, Karen etc.)

We go out into the world each day to reinforce our world view and insulate our egos. There are those who cannot accept the sadistic part of themselves and so split it off into outside objects. The 'restaurant' is frequently this object and is used as such. Someone else has to be the agressor but it must not be me - and so the follow up on Tom's show is simply furthering the insulation. This type of person is doing the best they can to stay alive in the world and using your restaurant and public forums like the internet to do so, which also addresses the anonymity issue as once again the person in question has removed (insulated) themselves from any true involvement in their role.

Was kicked out of Mr. Eagan's when completely shitfaced one afternoon! so then we went to Mr. Smith's in Gerogetown where our singing was encouraged and we tested their slogan that it was "The Friendliest Place In Town" We were evetually asked to leave there as well. Ah... The Zoo Bar Thank you, I haven't thought of it in ages - Lot's of fab, dark memories - Was 1st there in 1965 then again in the 80's. I remember it was reportedly the place one went to hire muscle and Larry Holmes' cousin was a regular fly there. One of my greatest evenings of debuachery occured there in 1983 - when I was beaten badly by a man whose lady I had just shagged in the bathroom. Later that evening, another old fly named German Joe and I cruised 14th street when it was still ripe with whores. I think the fee was $50 for the both of us ... "Half-a-hundred" she said. I'll never forget the phrase, or the service.

I agree, this remains the definitive entry level book.

Why? They are generally overpriced for such a new and unproven appellation. Not so new ... The modern vines were put in by Alex & Luisa Hargrave in 1974 and as early as 1985 were recognized internationally not only for where they were headed, but what they had achieved and recieved their AVA status the following year in November of 1986. (The Finger Lakes followed in February of 1987) So the New York State AVA's predate the following from CA: Sonoma Coast, Los Carneros, Chalk Hill, Stags Leap District, Arroyo Grande Valley, Mt. Veeder, Mt Harlan. I think that the North Fork Reds are very competitive. Especially the early releases from 2000 I agreed with this until three weeks ago, when the Corey Creek Gewuztraminer floored me. I ususally look to the Finger Lakes for my cool climate varietals. Is it Alsace? No, but it's much more varietaly correct than most New World Gewurztraminers I've had and is close in style to the Italians. So far the Finger Lakes have Riesling locked up. As a Lance Fan and a VA native I so want to be compelled but so far, save for Horton Viognier I remain distinctly unimpressed. Any recs?

Best example that I have had in from the US is Corey Creek from the North Fork. Acid and fruit with out being as cloying as most of the California ones I am familiar with.

And if you're like me and love the technical stuff; go here.

It was actually a case of Blue Moon A coors product. Damn. I was hoping to come by and drink the world famous Liebfraumilch of my youth.

Did anyone else catch what looked like a case of Blue Nun being delivered!?

The term significant other was coined by Freud and it referred to one's mother so ...

There is evidence at Geisenheim (of course) that Albarino may be a clonal selection of Riesling carried by the German Monks to the Iberian Penninsula during the 13th century.

What a great article. I love amari. Although my after dinner distillate of choice remains the 130 Alpine herbs of Chartreuse.

If you want a serious dive bar go to Subway on 60th across from the Bloomingdale's loading dock. $12 will keep you drinking all night. Silver Swan on 20th across from GT is also good.

I love the wines from this Domaine. They are powerful and while they do carry a hefty price tag, they usually back it up. The Deiss P. Noir is tremendous.

The line is : The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers. King Henry VI, Part II Act IV, Scene II

I have a colleague who will be in Phoenix this week and wants the full show: Captains, frette linens, tasting menus, great wine list. Any thoughts? Thanks