Saturday, March 12, 2011
The Cocktail Party
My wife and I were planning a little get together, a cocktail party for some of her business associates. This brought up one of the oldest riddles in wine: What to serve to the masses. The problem is that, well, my collection has gotten a little too good and a little too expensive to just open up a vein and let it all flow out. As the average price in my small-but-mighty cellar has inched up over $100/bottle, I find it harder than ever to part with any of it. It's not just that "they are not worthy," but also that I've bought in too small quantities. I only keep a couple of cases of good Premier Cru white Burgundy wine on hand. My few chardonnays are from Aubert and Marcassin and J. Rochioli. I investigate my cabernet purchases under a jeweler's loupe.
So I found myself in this situation that I call the "meritocracy of friendship," and I'm not happy about it. I advise other people against it. The way it works is that you pick bottles of wine that you think are just good enough to impress people who don't know any better. It's not that I don't want to share my passion with other people, just not THESE people. We have to laugh when some rich guy won't throw away his 12-year old Sauvignon Blanc...from Trader Joe's with the $7.99 sticker still on it. "Put it over there in my wife's section. She won't know the difference." This might mean, "I don't know the difference," or "At heart I'm a cheap bastard," or "I'm not really that fond of my wife."
My answer was to meet them half-way: I went out and bought a Pouilly Fuisse from Jadot, an AC Chablis from Fevre, a delightful "grower" champagne. I went a little bigger on the reds, offering up some single bottles from the chai that I've been looking for a reason to open--not get rid of, mind you, but the end result was the same. It was more than good enough, and that's good enough for me.
