... almost done!!!  What a blast, 12 days of tasting in a row, I have to say, it's exhausting. The good thing about it, there's some good juices out there (and some some nasty ones!!!). But don't take me wrong, tastings are not always fun. Some of them are organized in a more professional way so you have good conditions to taste thoroughly. Others are just a big hip freezing open bar where you just spend your day pounding wine sorbet in a glass with no joy in a fancy location, what a shame!!!

Whatever, 2009 is a great vintage in every French region : good weather for harvest, ripe clean grapes with low acidity. Not a lot of juice everywhere though, so it's time to get a wine fridge and be ready to buy a lot.

The Sunday Night Delicacies keeps going on. Due to my late activities, I couldn't give you information about it last week, shame on me!!! So this week, we're going to have our first Surf & Turf dish with STEAMED COCKLES & CHORIZO.

Can you keep me some???

If you remember last year, we aired the Super Bowl on a gigantic screen, so if you're a football oficionados, this year you'll have to put your DVR to work, 'cause we don't have the cable connection anymore!!!

I'll be back on Tuesday so we'll soon be experiencing some new wines on the list. We're also getting close to announce some good news.

Meanwhile, wish you all a great week-end.

Cheers

P.S : go Colts...!!!

...thanks for your participation last Saturday @ the Chambers Street Wines tasting / donation for Haiti.

In order to make our next Sunday Night Delicacie, we had to go to Newark on Monday for some shopping. We found amazingly beautiful salted codfish. Yes, you're not dreaming, Jose's back on track and he will cook a huge amount of BACALHAO, so this time we should have enough for everybody, and especially for you NORA!!! 

The exciting season of wine shows is coming up as some 09 cuvees are ready to be tasted and some older ones are done with their elevage and are ready to release their quintessence and show us the talent and patience of all those dedicated winemakers. Our commitment to serve you the cleanest terroir oriented wines will take us down to France for a few days, in order to find the "Diamonds in the Rough" that we'll be drinking along in 2010. Some classic "usual suspect" and some new comers.

For now, the Regnie "Grain & Granit" 08 from Charly Thevenet  just got in. Rich, complex with bold, ripe red fruit aromas, the way I like my Beaujolais!!! About Beaujolais, we're expecting the Morgon "MMVII" from Marcel Lapierre within 2 weeks. Made with old Gamay, it is for me one of my favorite cuvee from the Beaujolais (may be after "3.14" from Jean Foillard and very close to the Fleurie cuvee "L'Ultime" from Yvon Metras).

Also, a new pour by the glass with this Cotes du Rhone Village "Vaison la Romaine" 08 from Eric Texier. 100% Grenache, this wine is well structured while being very fresh. With ripe red fruits aromas, the finish doesn't fade away leaving your mouth ready for more.

Paris, here I am!!! Finishing up my writing, arrived in Paris this morning after a nice trip with Denyse & Jo, he usual lunch @ Le Verre Vole, ready for a night out in the City of Lovers on a Saturday night!!! Watch out...

Guilhaume, so when are you coming???

Congratulations to my friends, 3 baby girls born in 3 days between New-York and Paris and all 3 are first child. All my love to you all for the beginning of your new adventures!!!

Guys, as we all know, the situation in Haiti is beyond everything we could imagine. Some people in the wine industry have quickly gathered to organize a tasting/benefit for Haiti. Kermit Lynch, Michael Skurnik, David Bowler, Dough Polaner and Louis/Dressner will have you taste wines from their portfollios. The minimum contribution asked for Partners in Health ( www.pih.org ) is $10.

 So this Saturday, starting @ 4.00 p.m, we all going down to Chambers Street Wines @ 148 Chambers Street for good wines and a good cause because Chambers Street Wines,  Polaner and Louis/Dressner will match donations...!!!

We hope to see you there, if you can't, look over Partners in health website to make any contribution you can.