Does A 1969 Domaine de la Romanee-Conti La Tache Go With A Corned Beef Sandwich? How About A 1966 Chateau Haut Brion?
Corned beef on rye with spicy mustard is a classic example of simple goodness. A 1969 Domaine de la Romanee-Conti La Tache is a classic example of complex goodness. Do they belong together? Does it really matter? If you happen to be eating a corned beef sandwich and you are offered the opportunity to taste a 1969 La Tache, are you going to turn it down because the spicy mustard might overwhelm the elegant nuances of the wine? If you say yes, that's fine. This is America. You are entitled to your opinion. I, on the other hand, am entitled to mine as well and I didn't turn it down. I didn't turn down the 1966 Chateau Haut Brion or any of the other bottles that day.
In the late 70's and early 80's I
knew a man by the name of Eddie Ausch. Eddie and his wife Erica owned
a local business named Reisner's Delicatessen. They had two stores,
the original location opened by Erica's family in 1943 at Janaf Shopping
Center in Norfolk and another location at Hilltop in Virginia
Beach. They had the best wine selection in the Tidewater area.
Eddie loves wine. Eddie knows a lot about wine. Eddie loves to talk about wine.
Eddie has the same affliction as I. He has never had a problem
pulling a cork.
In fact, it was Eddie who infected me with this malady. Back then I had just
opened my first restaurant with my first wife, Sherrill. I was like a sponge
when it came to food and wine. I was absorbing everything I could. There was no
Internet back then so I spent time at the Hilltop location walking the
aisles looking at the different wines from all over the world. Eddie worked
those aisles too, but his focus was sales not free education. He is a
fountainhead of knowledge and it's not in his nature not to share, even
with a non-buyer like me. He could see that I had an interest in wine and so we
struck up a friendship. I have always thought that a cook should have an
understanding of wine. Food and wine are both parts of the equation of the
table. They are linked together and therefore a cook needs to know about wine. The
fact that I like to drink wine made this education easy to swallow, pun
intended.
We started eating in each others
restaurants and those excursions always included a bottle of wine or two.
(or three or four or five or six) Educating one's palate and mind takes time
and bottles, lots of bottles. I know that sounds crazy but it's true.
On a Monday in 1979, I wandered over
to the Janaf location knowing that was "wine buying day" and Eddie
would be there and not at Hilltop. When I say "wine buying day" I
mean that is the day the wine reps from all the different distributors
would meet with Eddie and get their orders for the week. It was my day off
and a good day to taste wine, as Eddie would always pull a cork. Whenever
he came to my restaurant I would do the same. I had been infected. These reps
occasionally had sample bottles of new vintages or new wines they had picked
up, so sometimes there were other new things to taste too.
When I came in I saw that Eddie was busy so I sat at a table and ordered a corned beef sandwich on rye with unsweetened ice tea. The spicy mustard was on the table. As my sandwich was served Eddie walked by and said, "Would you like the perfect wine to go with that corned beef?" "Sure" was my reply and I assumed he was thinking Zinfandel or Syrah.
When he set the bottle of La Tache down on the table, he saw the "you must be shitting me" look on my face because he said, "Are you game for this?" I looked up at him and said, "I'm game if you are." He laughed and pulled the cork. I'm sitting there wondering if I have enough cash on me to pay for that bottle. In all my trips to his stores I hadn't seen any Grand Cru Burgundies sitting on his shelves. I just accepted my fate and knew I had plastic in my money clip.
I'm not going to tell you that after 38 years I remember exactly how this wine tasted down to the nuances of fruit flavors and aromas. I do remember there was a depth of flavor I had never tasted before and a deep earthy quality in the overall impression of the wine. A lot of people will say that to drink this wine from the Burgundy "vintage of the century" with only 10 years of age was a crime. That wine is still drinking good today. Eddie infected me with another of his axioms. "It is a greater crime to drink wine too old than to drink it too young." Neither Eddie nor I had any problem drinking this wine. Neither did the 4 or 5 sales reps that came by. When asked if they would like to taste the La Tache, they all said yes with happy grins on their faces.
I had about a third of my sandwich left when we ran out of wine. Eddie jumped up from the table and returned in a minute with a bottle of 1966 Chateau Haut Brion. "This will go great with the rest of your sandwich." was all he said. He had that cork out of the bottle before I could say a word. I sighed with acceptance and tasted one of life's great pleasures.
Again I don't remember all the nuances of the wine. I do remember an intense depth of flavor and a nice sense of balance in the wine between the fruit, acid and tannins. There was also a deep sense of place in this wine. I noticed this in the La Tache but more in the Haut Brion. It's what the French call "terroir". It was as if these wines had absorbed all the special characteristics of the geography, geology and climate of the place from which they came. For me this was more pronounced in the Haut Brion. So much so that to this day it is my favorite wine. I have never been to this vineyard but I like to think if I were dropped into it, I could tell you where we were.
Needless to say this was not the last bottle brought out that day and there were a few gems from the sales reps. I remember a Grand Puy Lacoste, a Brane Cantenac, a trip back to Burgundy with a Nuit St. Georges, a trip out to his car for a sales rep for a bottle of Chateau Beaucastel Chateauneuf-du-Pape and another rep's bottle of Ridge Vineyard Lytton Springs Zinfandel. There might have been one or two more but I just can't remember.
I do remember when I got up to leave after five hours, Eddie wouldn't let me pay for a thing, not even my sandwich. I managed to slip a $50 bill under my plate for the waitress and walked gracefully (gratefully?) out the door. To this day I call this my "$2000 lunch".
Eddie and Erica's 25th wedding anniversary was the next year, 1980. My wife and I were sent an invitation. Eddie had secured one of those supper boats and everyone had a tour of Norfolk Harbour with food, entertainment and of course wine. I managed to secure a bottle of 1961 Chateau Haut Brion. Eddie and I both have a love affair with this wine. As I gave it to him, I could sense he was going to open it. I convinced him that it should be something he and Erica have later. The look in his eyes told me I had passed my final exam.
Over the years I left Virginia Beach and lost track of Eddie. Over the years I heard that Eddie and Erica's families were 'Holocaust refugees". She and her family got out of Austria in 1938 when they were sponsored by a cousin in Norfolk. She was 3. Eddie's family got out of Vienna in 1939 for New York when he was 8. When I knew them in Virginia Beach, they never spoke of this past. They were too busy living the present.
Whenever I see a bottle of Haut Brion or a corned beef sandwich, I think of Eddie. I see a lot more corned beef sandwiches than bottles of Haut Brion. For my last meal, I would choose a bottle of Haut Brion even in a bad vintage over any other wine. (Not that Haut Brion has ever had a bad vintage.) I don't say that because I love the wine and I do. I say that because it's my link to Eddie, the one who taught me that wine is for sharing. It brings family, friends and acquaintances together for a brief moment of peace. He taught me a lot about wine and living. And he did it all for the love of the game.
Thank you Eddie.
When I came in I saw that Eddie was busy so I sat at a table and ordered a corned beef sandwich on rye with unsweetened ice tea. The spicy mustard was on the table. As my sandwich was served Eddie walked by and said, "Would you like the perfect wine to go with that corned beef?" "Sure" was my reply and I assumed he was thinking Zinfandel or Syrah.
When he set the bottle of La Tache down on the table, he saw the "you must be shitting me" look on my face because he said, "Are you game for this?" I looked up at him and said, "I'm game if you are." He laughed and pulled the cork. I'm sitting there wondering if I have enough cash on me to pay for that bottle. In all my trips to his stores I hadn't seen any Grand Cru Burgundies sitting on his shelves. I just accepted my fate and knew I had plastic in my money clip.
I'm not going to tell you that after 38 years I remember exactly how this wine tasted down to the nuances of fruit flavors and aromas. I do remember there was a depth of flavor I had never tasted before and a deep earthy quality in the overall impression of the wine. A lot of people will say that to drink this wine from the Burgundy "vintage of the century" with only 10 years of age was a crime. That wine is still drinking good today. Eddie infected me with another of his axioms. "It is a greater crime to drink wine too old than to drink it too young." Neither Eddie nor I had any problem drinking this wine. Neither did the 4 or 5 sales reps that came by. When asked if they would like to taste the La Tache, they all said yes with happy grins on their faces.
I had about a third of my sandwich left when we ran out of wine. Eddie jumped up from the table and returned in a minute with a bottle of 1966 Chateau Haut Brion. "This will go great with the rest of your sandwich." was all he said. He had that cork out of the bottle before I could say a word. I sighed with acceptance and tasted one of life's great pleasures.
Again I don't remember all the nuances of the wine. I do remember an intense depth of flavor and a nice sense of balance in the wine between the fruit, acid and tannins. There was also a deep sense of place in this wine. I noticed this in the La Tache but more in the Haut Brion. It's what the French call "terroir". It was as if these wines had absorbed all the special characteristics of the geography, geology and climate of the place from which they came. For me this was more pronounced in the Haut Brion. So much so that to this day it is my favorite wine. I have never been to this vineyard but I like to think if I were dropped into it, I could tell you where we were.
Needless to say this was not the last bottle brought out that day and there were a few gems from the sales reps. I remember a Grand Puy Lacoste, a Brane Cantenac, a trip back to Burgundy with a Nuit St. Georges, a trip out to his car for a sales rep for a bottle of Chateau Beaucastel Chateauneuf-du-Pape and another rep's bottle of Ridge Vineyard Lytton Springs Zinfandel. There might have been one or two more but I just can't remember.
I do remember when I got up to leave after five hours, Eddie wouldn't let me pay for a thing, not even my sandwich. I managed to slip a $50 bill under my plate for the waitress and walked gracefully (gratefully?) out the door. To this day I call this my "$2000 lunch".
Eddie and Erica's 25th wedding anniversary was the next year, 1980. My wife and I were sent an invitation. Eddie had secured one of those supper boats and everyone had a tour of Norfolk Harbour with food, entertainment and of course wine. I managed to secure a bottle of 1961 Chateau Haut Brion. Eddie and I both have a love affair with this wine. As I gave it to him, I could sense he was going to open it. I convinced him that it should be something he and Erica have later. The look in his eyes told me I had passed my final exam.
Over the years I left Virginia Beach and lost track of Eddie. Over the years I heard that Eddie and Erica's families were 'Holocaust refugees". She and her family got out of Austria in 1938 when they were sponsored by a cousin in Norfolk. She was 3. Eddie's family got out of Vienna in 1939 for New York when he was 8. When I knew them in Virginia Beach, they never spoke of this past. They were too busy living the present.
Whenever I see a bottle of Haut Brion or a corned beef sandwich, I think of Eddie. I see a lot more corned beef sandwiches than bottles of Haut Brion. For my last meal, I would choose a bottle of Haut Brion even in a bad vintage over any other wine. (Not that Haut Brion has ever had a bad vintage.) I don't say that because I love the wine and I do. I say that because it's my link to Eddie, the one who taught me that wine is for sharing. It brings family, friends and acquaintances together for a brief moment of peace. He taught me a lot about wine and living. And he did it all for the love of the game.
Thank you Eddie.
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