Hungry T's Eating Journal

Monday Nov 14 - Supplier Lunch

Lucky me. I didn't make orzo, and I imagined I'd have to eat lunch out (it would probably have been a Dockside salad), but as fate would have it, we had a supplier in town showing us a ton of wines, and they were going to be here over the lunch hour (and when we have supplier in the office, lunch turns into a multi-hour affair).

Lady E. picked up some goodies at Pastaworks NW on the way into the office today. Forgive me for not getting all the names, but we had cheese, salami, 2 kinds of bread (from Pearl Bakery, Lady E.'s pick, I tend to prefer Ken's), ham, turkey, potato chips (Kettle brand, both the Salt and Pepper (my fave) and Salt and Vinegar (my 2nd fave)), cookies, and dark chocolate shortbreads.

Oh, and there was the wine. Our supplier had just flown into town, and didn't have her white wines chilled, so we tossed her bottles into the freezer and busted out one of our new Chablis. Last year, there was a problem with our entire Chablis shipment. It had been shipped in a non-refrigerated container, and it showed. The wine was unmistakably cooked. The importer (my favorite of all of our importers, not just because the wine is French, but because they are incredible cool as well) took full responsibility, and we were financially compensated. Needless to say, we were extremely excited to try the new vintage (2003). The Chablis is from Alice and Olvier De Moor, a hip young couple who own around 20 acres. Instead of inheriting vineyards from their families, these kids are making their own way. Their holdings are almost evenly split between Chablis and St. Bris (if you don't know about St. Bris, go out and get one RIGHT NOW to try. They are divine. One of the only viticultural areas in all of Burgundy to grow Sauvignon Blanc. They are probably closer to the Loire vineyards of Sancerre than to the Cote d'Or, so it does make sense).

So, we open the bottle, pour glasses all around, and stick our noses in the glass. The unmistakable smell of TCA. Damn! We chill another bottle to try later.

We eat, the supplier tells us about the properties we are tasting. They are Italian wines, and many of you know my disdain for Italian wines. These were quite good, and well priced to boot. Hopefully we will bring them in.

Bottle 2 of the Chablis is quite nice. I am looking forward to trying an uncooked bottle of their St. Bris, though, which I hear is simply amazing. Lunch wraps up a mere 3 hours after it began. A little more work, and then it is time to run home.

posted by Hungry T @ 8:19 PM