On Jan 27, 9:29�am, DaleW > wrote:
> Betsy and I went to Oceana last night- our friends Ron and Nancy had
> made reservations for Restaurant Week. I know since Moonen left that
> Oceana isn't really a star restaurant, but food was very well done, if
> not cutting edge. Not one of the places that skimp for RW menus. We
> had a nice meal- I had a mahi eschabeche to start, Ron the fluke
> sashimi, and the ladies the celeriac soup with scallops and parmesan
> wafers (the best of the dishes, but all quite good). We went off the
> RW menu for a taste of gravlax and �salmon tartare, then had mains. I
> had the pan seared hake, Betsy the rockfish, and the others calamari
> stuffed with seafood sausage. The dessert eaters enjoyed the apple
> buttermilk cake and pineapple mousse, and agreed the chocolate dessert
> was adequate but least favorite dish of the night.
>
> We had agreed to be cautious with wine spending, but got the bonus as
> we sat of being told that in honor of RW that all bottled wines were
> 30% off. Yippee! We still stayed modest, and got one bottle of red and
> one of white
>
> 2007 Les Heritiers du Comte Lafon Macon-Milly-Lamartine
> White pit fruit and a little citrus, rich fruit accented by some nice
> mineral inflections. There's just a hint of roundness that suggests
> oak, but nothing obvious. Bigger than your average Macon,but not at
> all heavy or ungainly. Good acids, nice length, this is really lovely
> Chardonnay, perfect for a restaurant wine, $50 on list but $35 with
> the discount. B++
>
> 2006 Graillot Crozes-Hermitage
> ($65/$46 w/discount)This is really too young, but still pretty tasty.
> At first just dark fruit and some tannins, but opens as we progress
> through meal.
> Ripe blackberries spiked with black pepper, a bit of a roasted meat
> edge,
> some pleasant oregano-ish notes. Still seems a bit coiled and reticent
> at the end, if I had any of these I'd put away for a few years. B+
>
> We had agreed not to go crazy on wine, and were happy with the Macon
> and �Crozes. Neither Ron or Nancy is especially interested in sweet
> wines. But if one wanted, the best deals on the list were the Huet
> dessert wines: '89 LHL 1er at $150, '71 Bourg and '89 Constance @ $180
> - before any discount. Assuming those are full bottles, that's very
> low retail for the Constance before discount I'd guess? Then when we
> paid they included a slip saying the RW menu and 30% discount would
> continue till spring. I'd confirm those are full sized bottles, but
> someone could do well raiding that list.
>
> Grade disclaimer: I'm a very easy grader, basically A is an excellent
> wine, B a good wine, C mediocre. Anything below C means I wouldn't
> drink at a party where it was only choice. Furthermore, I offer no
> promises of objectivity, accuracy, and certainly not of consistency.
> �

I've alwasy found the Graillot to be a good QPR wine and consistantly
good quality. I usually find it for about $20-$25 retail and many
people don't know the wine for some reason.