ball blog: January 2006

Finally, I get it

It's been a long time coming. For years, the only wines I would ever seriously consider worth my time were the big, California Cabs. But tastes, as they say, change. The palate goes through refinements and, with each bottle of wine (or beer or scotch, for that matter), it is sharpened and honed to a fine point. Tastes, they say, mellow. You come to appreciate subtler flavors as your progress.

My love affair with West Coast cabs took a serious hit this weekend, when I finally found a French red that spoke to me. The new mistress? Chateau Lagrezette. Too often, the French stubbornly put forth their best "terroir" and neglect the grape and it's inherent fruitiness. Like a peaty scotch that tastes distinctly like Scotland, your typical Bordeaux tastes like the loamy soils of France. Which is not to say bad. But I never quite understood the Old World appeal until I cracked this bottle Friday night.

On first look, it was dark and leggy. The juice was thick and smelled - can I say it? - medicinal, but that didn't put me off. I decanted it and let it breathe for about an hour before diving in headfirst. The first taste made me think that this was something produced by the Golden State, not from a bunch of beret-sporting Surrender Monkeys. Lest you think I'm blaspheming, it soon became clear that this was something rare and distinct, not like anything California's ever produced. The qualities continued to unfold as I cooked our filets. I got them to just barely rare (Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy be damned) added the demi-glace and dug in. The pairing was uncannilly good. I think it was Jay McInerney in Bachhus and Me who said there's not a better match than animal fat and tannins and I'm inclined to agree.

In sum, I give it a 92 on the traditional 100 scale, just behind what is still the best bottle I've ever drunk - a 1997 Far Niente Cab (I give it a 93 for now, but I'd like to revisit this vintage in another five years or so). I can close my eyes and still conjure that one, remembering everything about the meal that accompanied it. But the Lagrezette is a new thing for me. Give it time. If I can get my hands on a truly great vintage, say a 1990, I'll be ready to break throught the 95 barrier. Short of inheriting a bottle of Petrus, I'll stick with the under $100 category for my personal benchmarks, and that's just fine by me.

Book review blog now up and running

All right, so one, solitary post does not a blog make, but it's a start. Check out my book review page right here. I'll crank out reviews as I finish books (hopefully new ones like Jay McInerney's The Good Life, of which I scored an advanced reader's copy a while back), and I'll visit some old classics, too.

Read, enjoy, pass it along. Just don't tell Oprah. Please.

Our third child

Audio of the boys - January snowstorm '06

Listen to the boys wax philosophical on subjects like our cat, Bogie, the falling snow and the pronunciation of the word "dog," here. When you get to the page, make sure you click the WAVE files, instead of the others. They're a bit big (around 1 meg apiece), but the quality is rather nice. Your computer will probably take a few seconds to download it, then you might have to click "OPEN" in your download popup window. That should open the files in either Windows Media Player or directly in your browser window.

Made these recordings on my Olympus VN-480PC digital recorder, which has superb quality and features intuitive controls and simple design.