The Wine Bento Box
There isn’t a lot of balance during the summer. Mom’s are juggling children – sometimes they fall, sometimes they land up in camp, from where they have to be collected, once the teenager has been dropped off at the boyfriends; fathers are juggling work and the longing to get out of the city, remove the tie, drink the wine. Graduates are juggling the promise of a job with the reckoning of being evicted from home if they don’t get one. It’s just a huge juggling circus.
It’s not that different in the land of wine – except we don’t go into the city, nor do we go to camp, nor pretend to be a taxi driver and we do get to salivate over wine pretty much all day – or at least on demand. Problem is much of the wine we get asked to taste is, in the view of the sales rep and his/her company promoting the wine, the absolutely definitive, God’s honest truth, American Idol winning wine for the summer. More often than not its rubbish. So we have to juggle the ‘balance’. And wine is all about balance. So often we use the phrases; ‘too fruity’, ‘too much alcohol’, ‘too much oak’, ‘too much stuff’. Good wine has balance, it has complexity, it has both yin and yang. It should coat the palate not dominate it, should highlight the foods not choke them to death, should cleanse the mouth not numb it. And because this weekend is so important to us as it symbolizes our independence and our abilities to juggle beer drinking red-necks, hot dog guzzling rug rats and macho BBQs we thought it would be a good idea to add a little balance to your weekend. So we compiled a list of ‘balanced boxes’ – think of them as ‘wine bento boxes’! They all come with a hefty discount to help juggle the wallet issue, but they do have to be collected from the store – we won’t be able to deliver any wines this Saturday – we can however, deliver Friday morning for orders placed today. To order simply e-mail us your request – please provide cc details, or call us at the store to reserve your bento box.
Another happy note this morning: the State legislature killed the ‘Primary Source Law’. This was the bill that was introduced by the New York State wholesalers to prohibit the practice of importing hard-to-find, rare, small production, coveted wines that are not available in this State from the wholesalers. The availability of these wines via the gray market have helped make New York among the most diverse and vital wine markets in the country and play a key role in the profitability of numerous New York retailers. This was a huge blow to the two major distributors and rest assured they will continue to throw money at politicians in the hope of getting it back on the books after the summer recess. Sadly, with this defeat, the yin and yang that I spoke about in the previous blog has been upset – since the distributors didn’t get this bill passed the chances are they will focus more money, villas, holidays etc. on ensuring that the wine in supermarket bill also gets quashed. There goes the balance! One small step for consumers who want to choose.
Back to the wines on offer this weekend. We made sure that in each bento box there is a balance, either between big, fat, chewy reds and bright, crisp pinots, or buttery pop-corn chardonnays and ‘frightfully yummy sauvignons’ (as one customer described them!). We also balanced a bento box for BBQ fish and BBQ meat – the surf and turf bento box. There’s also the manly man box, balanced with the etiquette and finesse of the feminine touch. All in all there’s a bento box that covers pretty much every side of the July 4th celebrations. Personally, I’m taking off to the North Fork and I plan to stock up on plenty of rosé, plenty of pretty little whites and a very large bottle of gin – mummsie arrives tomorrow night on the QM2 so my need for spirits will increase dramatically. Fortunately she inadvertently unsubscribed to this blog and I haven’t taught her how to undo the unsub!
Have a fantastic July 4th wherever you are and remember – stay thirsty…extremely thirsty!
Here are the Bento Boxes:
Bento #1 – 6 Lagrein/6 Sangiovese – Bento special take-out-order = $206.40. Usually $258.00
Suitable for all ages. No food allergies, well partnered with both robust fish and beurgers. Fresh and clean, both wines dance on the tongue, slip down easy and conjure up memories of freeloading in Tuscany:
Castelfeder Lagrein – $19.00
Tre Monti Petrignone Sangiovese – $24.00
Bento #2 – 6 Negrattino/6 Barbera D’Asti – Bento special take-out-order = $216.00. Usually $270.00
Suitable for all serious wine drinkers. A bold red from Emilio Romagna, to disguise any burnt bits on the pork ribs (you know you burn them!) and a bright Barbera to consume with the spicy shrimp you forgot were still on the grill:
Gradizzolo Naigarten Negrattino – $19.00
Bric dei Banditi Barbera D’Asti – $26.00
Bento Box #3 – 6 Nerello Mascalese/6 Chianti – Bento special take-out-order = $144.00. Usually $180.00
Money conscious, brand named hot-dogs on the BBQ this is your case. Ridiculous value with Chianti that tastes like the Tuscan countryside and a Nerello from Sicily that delivers all you need for burgers and chicken wings.
Lanciola Chianti – $15.00
Roccaperciata Nerello Mascalese – $15.00
Bento Box #4 – 6 Fruilano/6 Kerner – Bento special take-out-order = $216.00. Usually $270.00
A selection of whites that will change your mind for ever. Possible mind altering, rumor has it the CIA were using these wines in Iraq to turn victims into alcohol guzzling wine lovers – who then forgot their religious heritage. Fruilano and Kerner – forget that you can’t pronounce them or remember them; these are the wines of the future.
Scarbolo Fruilano – $25.00
Castelfeder Kerne – $20.00
Bento Box #5 – 6 Verdicchio/6 Soave – Bento special take-out-order = $182.40. Usually $228.00
Two whites that offer peace of mind when pairing white fish and white meat. Put on the SPF90 lie on the sand, have a bottle of either of these and a straw. Tell me that the weekend wasn’t the best ever! Perfect pair of whites that are perfect for the perfect table.
Fontezzopa Verdichio – $17.00
La Formica Soave – $21.00
Bento Box #6 – 6 Cep D’Or Saint Tropez Rosé/6 Raffault Chinon Rosé – Bento special take-out-order = $163.20. Usually $204.00
Get naked. Rosé is not the wine of choice at the new New York gay weddings it’s the wine of choice of sophisticated wine aficionados. Seriously refreshing pair of wines that will pair with anything up to a T-bone steak. I defy you not to like these wines.
Cep D’Or Saint Tropez Rosé – $16.00
Raffault Chinon Rosé – $18.00
Bento Box #7 – 6 Ferme St. Pierre/6 La Chapelle Gordonna – Bento special take-out-order = $192.00. Usually $240.00
My favorites – a Rhone rosee named after his daughter – fgs you don’t make a wine and name it after your 8 year old daughter and then make a bad wine – she’ll kill you when she grows up. La Chapelle – bliss in a bottle, sex in the city, this may just be the most romantic rosé I have tasted.
La Ferme St. Pierre Cuvee Juliette – $16.00
La Chapelle Gordonna – $24.00
Bento Box #8 – 6 Sauvignon Blanc/6 Chardonnay – Bento special take-out-order = $211.20. Usually $264.00
New from the guys that brought me Forth Cabernet, an enticing Californian sauvignon that doesn’t soak you in oak and set you on fire; paired with a busty chardonnay from Heitz that pairs perfectly with big lobster claws.
Forth Sauvignon Blanc – $20.00
Heitz Chardonnay – $24.00
Bento Box #9 – 6 Zinfandel/6 Cabernet-Shiraz – Bento special take-out-order = $187.20. Usually $234.00
Valley of the Dolls meets red wine. A zinfandel that isn’t over the top and will blush in front of a spicy chicken wing and a cab-shiraz that would make the chicken wing blush. What a perfect pair of reds we have.
Candor Zinfandel – $19.00
Van Ruieten Cabernet/Shiraz – $20.00
Bento Box #10 – 6 sauvignon/6sauvignon-semillon – Bento special take-out-order = $120.00. Usually $150.00
The tortoise and the hare – the yin and yang. Sancerre styled sauvignon from the south of France paired with a suavignon/Semillon blend from Bordeaux. Having shrimp? Having surf? Having fun? Have a little more with this pair of whites.
Tortoise Creek Sauvignon Blanc – $13.00
Chateau Chaubinet Blanc – $12.00
So here’s the deal. Each Bento box is a perfect pairing of either reds or whites or rosés. If you would prefer to swap one sushi for another be my guest – so long as the end result is a 6+6 of the above mentioned wines, you get the 20% discount – now that’s what July 4th is all about….not!
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