Layne’s Wine Gig Presents
Holiday Wine Gift Guide
By Layne V. Witherell
For those of you who follow my stuff, you know that it can, at times, be straightforward, but at other times it can be totally tongue in cheek. This month is about removing some of the pain of actual shopping.
Searching “Wine holiday gifts” on your phone will find you in the biosphere of curated internet adorableness: the same gifts, one sommelier at a time, chosen for you… but actually not. Zalto glasses, Riedel decanters and stemware, including wine clubs that are sketchy choices at best. Instead, let’s go local!
GRIPPY TANNINS: A COOL HANG
16 Middle Street, Portland, Maine
Mon-Sat 1-6
You want to know what a “grippy tannin” is? Just throw down a glass of 3-year-old Barolo and your mouth will explode. Welcome to the essence of grippy tannins. This adorable tasting lounge named after that sensation is known for their décor (an Instagram photo treat), bachelorette parties, and “curated wine lists.” While I despise the word “curated,” Lindsay, the owner, moves from strength to bigger strength in her selections of by the glass and bottle offerings.
Lindsay is straightforward in her descriptions, recommendations, and choices. There are no “cosmic forces in the soil” voodoo here, no whack job charisma biodynamics, just brilliantly selected wines. She is no idealogue breathing down your neck, simply an informed source.
The problem (or selling point) is that many of her wines are pursued and purchased as “one offs”- now you see them, and then they’re gone. We don’t get a lot of masterpieces in Maine. Enjoy the moment. Her list is always made of solid choices that range the gamut from never seen Greek grapes to the tried-and-true new world with her recently discovered producers.
2021 Faves:
Evesham Wood Pinot Noir, 2018, Eola-Hills, Oregon, $11.00 a glass, $39.00 bottle. Classic Oregon Pinot Noir defined by a taste of strawberry, truffles, and currants.
She then poured us a rarity. This is what a good wine shop is expected to do if you are adventuresome. Abbott Claim Chardonnay, a top vineyard from Newberg, Oregon. $16.00 a glass and $70.00 a bottle. My #1 best wine in 2021 by far. The definition of elegance and energized liveliness. Worth the money and much more. This is the kind of wine adventure that makes your year.
Treat yourself to booking an event for your besties, or just hang out on the leather couch with her remarkable little wine list. You won’t be disappointed. Wear your best tiara and throw some confetti in honor of the bachelorettes.
NEW YORK TIMES YEARLY SUBSCRIPTION (price varies by zip code).
I like the fact that you don’t have to look for local restaurants anymore – the New York Times will do it for you. My wife and I were sitting at one of the four tables of Cong Tu Bot, a Vietnamese restaurant in Portland recently. We waited for our order as a photographer hovered over one of the tables, snapping adorable food and people photos. The restaurant appeared the next week as a nationwide top 50 New York Times pick for 2021.
This is what I call the trickle-down theory of local dining with locals now having the opportunity of waiting behind lines of even more tourists in our overrun little city. That publication is certain to list their three top Vietnamese restaurants in New York City. Let’s rent ten busses for our own invasion of a “table take over” and show ‘em what’s what.
LOBSTER WEEK (BOOK WELL IN ADVANCE)
It is with great sadness that the Maine legislature didn’t choose to consider a bill to make our revered lobster roll the state sandwich. We certainly support it on the West End a bite at a time. Between J’s Oyster, The Porthole, Boone’s, The Portland Lobster Company, Becky’s Diner, and countless others, my wife and I have more than consumed our fair share to qualify to put a referendum on the ballot.
We found one event during Lobster Week to be above and beyond the call of lobster duty and felt obliged to report on it. Purchase as a gift card and make a reservation for next year before the trickle-down restaurant people in New York get wind of it.
PETITE JACQUELINE LOBSTER WEEK 3 COURSE DINNER
First Course: Lobster Bisque (creamy lobster bisque, Maine lobster, coral tuile)
Second Course: Surf and Turf Tartar (beef tartar topped with a tempura battered lobster claw)
Third Course: Lobster Gnocchi (Parisian gnocchi, Maine lobster, tomato, red onion, tequila cream sauce, lemon, nutmeg and watercress)
The dinner is $65.00 for three courses.
This is an opportunity for a far-out holiday wine gift guide pairing!
There are only two words to describe a potential wine pairing as they usually offer suggested choices, but tonight, they just didn’t. Those words are “Far Out.” You must do a virtual out of body wine thought experience to make all three courses work as a gastronomic treat.
The thick, ultra-creamy Lobster Bisque calls for a palate cleansing white. Dom. Drouhin St. Veran White Burgundy (Chardonnay) $12.00 glass. This lighter next-door neighbor of Pouilly Fuisse is ideal as a refreshing, sturdy foil of satiny, creamy flavors alongside the bisque.
The Surf and Turf appearance on a menu sends chills through my body. These are not good chills, as the mere mention of “Surf and Turf” recalls the chef following the patron as the ultimate amateur when it comes to wine. There are two things happening here: a tartare and a lobster, both in their own way are great. Followed by a lobster gnocchi? A parade of richness.
For wine we need to slip down to the Cotes du Rhone region of France. Reds comprise the vast percentage of wines grown here. They resemble the Grenache grape crashing a hamburger party. But… there is a seldom seen white that will do the trick with our last two dishes.
Cotes du Rhone Blanc, Jean Luc Colombo, $43.00 bottle. It invigorates the dishes with an unnerving combo of grapes, leaving both “Surf and Turf” rendered as equal sensations. Those several mysterious grapes in the Cotes du Rhone Blanc include Roussanne and Marsanne, combine to work miracles of flavors on both the tartare and intense gnocchi with lobster.
Now, on to shop.
BUY LOCAL
Ben Coombs is known for those fabulous glass lobster buoys in the lobbies of Portland hotels, but he also creates wine glasses (see above) at ~$100.00 each. They are masterful, handblown, one-of-a-kind works of art (that you can drink from). You can support both a local artist and a local store.
Maine Craft Portland at 521 Congress Street is open Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sundays from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Drop by and see their current show and support local art. Say “hi” to Maria Wolfe, manager, and take a tour through a wonderland of great locally made art that you can wear, drink from, or just sit back and admire.
PORTLAND-FLEA-FOR-ALL
585 Congress St., Portland
Open Friday 11-5 and Sat 10-5
A cut crystal decanter is the kind of serendipitous find that will appear in this, our favorite, always surprising store full of vintage, antique, well made, and well-loved objects. For decades, the wine decanter was so woefully out of fashion that cut crystal masterpieces would turn up at yard sales for next to nothing. This eclectic store turns items frequently. When shopping here say “hi” to Erin and Nathaniel, the owners.
The decanter originally was used to “decant” older wines of the sediment that formed as the bottle aged gracefully in your cellar. Today, the average consumption of a bottle you just purchased isn’t thirty years, it is more like three hours.
Why a decanter? Because it is just downright awesome to serve wine from. Period. They aerate and liven up both the wine and you.
Get off your phone, buy local, and Happy Holidays!
Layne has been a professional in the wine business for many decades as a teacher, importer, writer, competition judge, and winery CEO. He was awarded the Master Knight of the Vine for his pioneering work in the Oregon wine industry.
Read more WEN Layne’s Wine Gig posts here.
Visit Layne’s blog at http://winemaniacs.wordpress.com/blog.
