OOPS in The Kitchen ..This Happen to You

[Guest]

Hi BB,

 

I believe you are correct. I was a fine dining waiter for many years. I worked at the Hyatt Regency Waikiki, and got many of the rich and famous. Had an Arab party order 2 bottles of Lafite 1899. $2,000 a pop. We had to tell them that we were not responsible for the condition, as although we had purchased, we could not guarantee handling before that. If it was bad, they still had to pay.

 

After decanting, first bottle was good, but turned very quickly. Second was spectacular......As part of the tip, they left me half a glass. About $200 worth. It was truly amazing. Really.

 

note: this was a long time ago. I think the vintage was 1899, but could be wrong. In any event, it was around the turn of that century. Hyatt Hotel wine buyers go directly to the Rothchild estates in France. I would never buy an old bottle on open market. Storage is EVERYTHING. And with a really old vintage, is impossible know the history, unless coming from the original wine estate itself.

 

Beaujolais Nouveau- you are correct, again. We used to have 1 week a year, set aside to celebrate the release of this wine. Other than that 1 week, we never even carried on our wine list. Must be consumed within a month after pressing. I never really cared for it anyway......

 

HT

[Torneyboy]

Says orandanodes:

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Perhaps there are some exceptions, but Bordeaux wines are not known as wines that keep well after many (say more than 10) years.

Used to date a French girl when I was a student. Her father owned a chateaux in Saint Emillion region. From him I did learn a lot about Bordeaux wines.

Burgandy (do I spell this right) on the other hand do keep well. Exception being the Bordeaux Nuveau, which is pretty shitty but at times still tasty, but sells well due to good marketing. A 1 year old one though is good for cooking perhaps but not much else.

 

Maybe P127 can give us some Franch views on this

 

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Hi,

with this red wine talk ....do you also enjoy a nice glass of port? (or two)