Coop

The aboslute gold standard for Rongon de veau was the Cafe de Paris. If they are no longer available, I'm sad. The last time I had them there they were served without sauce, not good. In the past though they were brilliant. Pink in the middle, tender and just a fleeting hint of urine, in a good way.

Under, the wine list at Earl's. Over, Aussie Shiraz. Under, Cru. Over, (priced) wine list at Lumiere. Under, the wine service at Fiction. Over, peek a boo showings of sommelier's underwear.

I had a great lunch at La Regelade this summer. Very good old school french bistro food. Well worth the trip to West Van. Very fair pricing for huge portions.

There are few bad grapes, just bad people. Even Ugni Blanc has a place, not in table wine but in Cognac. Here in BC you could substitute Merlot with Aussie Shiraz. We have a river of it for around $15.00, it's greatest sin is lack of originality. Merlot is one of my new favorites, after avoiding it for years. Lamaione, Massetto, Montiano and that's just from Italy!

George, I picked up a bottle of this in a trade with a friend the other night. Gave up a bottle of Seretta di Belguardo 2001 for it. I was hoping to find some reason to hate it, but it was really nice when we drank it last night. I shall seek out a few bottles and save them to drink with Mondovino when it comes out on DVD.

Glad to hear it Brent. Another one to look for is the Donnafugatta Sedara. It's more floral then most, very good especially in 2002.

The Kracher wines are available at The Marquis. Only the lower numbers, savvy Austrophiles picked up the higher (more intense) quickly. There is also a regular bottling available through the BCLDB.

At an excellent tasting last night at the Dudarave Wine Cellar the subject of Sangiovese and it's related grapes came up. Can we come up with a list of grapes that are related to this fine Italian grape. What about the grape used to make Vino Nobile de Montapulciano? Is it Prugnollo Gentile? What about Saggaarentino? I hope others share my interest on this subject.

Seeing this is the WOW we are discussing here are my thoughts on the availability of the 4 WOWs. #1 Renwood Barbera Not available. #2 Peter Lehman Shiraz BCLDB listing. #3 Planeta La Segreta Rosso (my choice) BCLDB listing. #4Trimbach Riesling available at many private stores. So Vancouverites could have participated in 3 out of 4.

Brad I do agree about the Moscato being a better pairing with the dessert, However the selection of Moscato d'Asti in Vancouver is Batasiolo or nothing. We had the beautiful de Gresy for a while but it's gone and none in the pipeline. Lobster and Montrachet is textbook. So is the Caymus (is it the regualar bottling or the SS?) with the beef. What about a TBA with the dessert?

I have been impressed by the 2001 vintage in Tuscany, especially for early drinking. The 1999 Chianti's seem very tight at this point as well as the other Sangiovese wines (Morellino DOC etc). I have found the 2001's to be alot like my favorite Chianti vintage, 1990. I have a bottle of this wine from 1999, I plan on holding it for another year or two.

Thanks for the love Keith. Ling I don't really like the roofing tar aromas that some old school Italian wines have. I believe this comes from a process called "governo". I'm not sure that's the case with this wine, but it's very strong in my notes. This just isn't a wine I care for anymore. I don't think it's flawed, just not for me. BTW if you may have noticed I love Italian wine, especially from this emerging (Sicily) area.

More importantly, who would you rather drink with? I'm just going to cut and paste what I said about the Salice Salentino on winefanatic.ca in October: "Dark purple black edge. Clear. Cherry mixed with roofing tar,very persistent aromas, almost vegetal. To me it's old school Italian. I have never liked this wine, although I used to buy it quite often. Nice in the mouth, raisiny finish, some acid. This wine kept me from buying Sicily until last year. Now I love Morgante Nero, Planeta's blends and the wines of Donnafugatta. Still no love for the Doctor." _________________

In my opinion, it certainly requires a little bit of structure. We should choose one wine for either a week or two week period. It would be pointless unless we post our tasting notes. BTW check out this link. Something on this page is hilarious or maybe even liabelous if you are Dale Degroff, Hugh Johnson, Robert Parker, Jancis Robinson, Michael Broadbent or even Matt Kramer. http://www.localwineevents.com/ 500 point if you find it.

Timberlake and Star Wars in the same thread? This is too street for me. Mrs Coop and I drove by this place yesterday, it seems aways from opening.

Hey Andrew are you in line for the next Star Wars movie yet?

So what good would it do to send these people a note about your dissapointment? They have already been told by the cities finest critic on the Food Network Canada that they have problems. It seems to me they aren't all that interested or equipped to improve on them. Sometimes what works in small cities doesn't work in big cities. Just my opinion from a far. After what I have heard about this place they won't be seperating me from any of my hard earned cash, or credit.

I agree that the Cafe de Paris had the best frites and offals in Vancouver, but when? During which chef/owner regime. If you like/hate this place wait 6 months and there will be a new owner/chef. I really miss what this place used to be, so let's hope it gets back to where it was in the 80's. BTW the only place that ever rivalled it for french bistro, was the place that was across the street for a while, La Pallette.

Feenie's burger doesn't do it for me. I think it's the panade they use to hold it together. Do they still do the Wagyu burger at lunch at West? I have had it twice. Very good, but messy.

Sounds great Alex. Can you post a menu and wine list for us?

Brent if you want to try Nero on it's own the real standard for me is the Morgante. It's about the same price as this wine and is 100% Nero. It has the classic leather and saddle nose.

3 bottles of Castelgiocond or Banfi Brunello 1999 (can't remember which) directly onto the concrete floor of my cellar. Unbelievably they did not break. Why? I have no answer. Raised my heartbeat to a dangerous level.

What's with those numbers to the right on the wine list? My biggest fear about the place is most of us have seen the chef cooking semi naked. Although he seems to be in nice shape, I would rather not have that in my mind while sampling the osso buco.

Jean, I really like this wine. We get it here in Vancouver for about $23.00 cdn. It seems to be more floral in 02 then in 01. I plan on buying the Tancredi 2001 later this week.

Thanks everyone for your participation. Get your notes in soon.