Passionfish time…..wine list...

That time of the year……trip to the Monterey Peninsula, and of course….dinner at Passionfish! Wife and I usually order a red and white…nothing crazy $ wise(remember, wife here!)….like maybe around $150 for the wine give or take? Check out the list……you guys see any must order stuff? It’s all good….but at initial glance, these caught my eye……

Arnot Roberts……all of them, but especially the 12 Kirschenmann Zin and 10 Fellom Ranch Cab.
Cédric Bouchard bubbles….Roses de Jeanne, ‘La Haute Lemblé’, Roses de Jeanne, Côte de Val Vilaine, Inflorescence, ‘La Parcelle’ Côte de Béchalin.
Domaine de la Tournelle…Ploussard or Trousseau
Not much Burgundy….maybe the 11 Dujac MsD, 11 Mongeard-Mugneret, Vosne-Romanée, Les Petits Monts 1er Cru…I’m in the mood for some vosne spice!?
Ceritas Chard…but we had that last time?
Domaine Dagueneau……always tempted for these!

Surprisingly no SQN on the list? I’ve never seen that? Maybe they have a Pearl Clutcher in the back?

So…what looks good?

http://www.passionfish.net/sites/default/files/wine-lists/22215.pdf

Also looking for dinner recs night two?

That list is absurd. So good. They even have one of my wines at $8 over retail. I love the approach. Wish more restaurants had the idea to do things this way, or the deep pockets that it probably requires. Enjoy Buzz!

The wines I find most intriguing are on the half-bottle list:

• A Tribute to Grace Grenache, Santa Barbara County ‘12
• Lopez de Heredia, ViñaTondonia, Rioja Reserva ‘02
• Domaine du Meix Foulot, Mercury 1er Cru ‘10
• Christian Moreau, Chablis, Vaillon 1er Cru ‘12
• Domaine Vacheron, Sancerre ‘12

That way you can have four wines instead of two and still come in under budget.

Agree mostly with Bob’s list—I’m still not sure I’d trust even the Lopez in 2002 vintage. For fulls, Rouget’s Gamay 11 would certainly be interesting and so much talk on WB lately about Clos Rougeard Cab Franc wines that $71 seems like a fair price for his Saumur.

maybe the 09 Dagueneau. In my brief experience, Serge has not been his father Didier. A very fair price on Boulay’s Montes Damnes, but I haven’t tried the 13 vintage. A ton of stuff for sure, have fun.

Mike

Big +1!! I might chose different half bottles but man what a way to try more great wines at an amazing price.

Bruno Giacosa, Barolo Rocche del Falletto, Riserva ’01 441

done. Ask them to decant the day before

I do see there is no more SQN in the list (only looked at it quickly). Also some other cult CA like Kosta Browne, Pisoni, Williams Selyem, etc. are also not there anymore. Should have gone there years ago but it is what it is.

Yea……I was going to couple that with the 10 Roulot Bouchères if Edson and his wife were going to meet us….but he can’t make it!

he’s like you, can never do dinner

I agree!! While most wine lists are either absurd for their poor selections or egregiously high markups, this list is absurd for it careful and high quality curation and for its pricing. Most of the time I have trouble finding merely one or two possibilities but this one is the closest to the experiences that I have in the countryside in Europe where every next section of the list my eyes go to I find selection after selection in virtually every price range. I think I’d need to spend a good half hour working through it…

Anyone know what their formula is for most of the wines! Is it a fixed $ amount over wholesale or a fixed percentage? Some of the wines seem crazy close to mailing list pricing and/or retail. On some I am not sure that I could buy the wine (including tax and shipping) and have it arrive for less.

leave me out of this. you can still get it.

first order the salon, then the roulot. before they serve you the giacosa, order the rouget ech. if you can’t finish it, save it for sunday and ill be over.

The Clos Rougeard is about $6 less than I paid at retail, and the 2012 Gonon is $5 less than Crush charged on a pre-arrival basis. This list makes me sick, as there are well over 100 wines that are both interesting and priced remarkably close to retail.

The Dirty and Rowdy wines are ridiculous values and tiny production. I couldn’t pass on the Clos Rougeard which has become ridiculously hard to get.

I’d find a way to work the Clos Roche Pineau d’Aunis Rose into the mix at $26, as it is ridiculously good and food-friendly. For a white, the De Moor Plantation 1902 is a delicious unicorn for $41.

I really, really hate it when people talk about this restaurant, much less posting the f**king wine list.

Especially when I live in a market of 400% markups. “We couldn’t survive without it, those bottles that aren’t selling downstairs have to be marked up 400%!”

Half 2013 gobelsburg gurner lamm 41
2011 Chave at Joseph 86
2012 Ceritas costalina bargain
2010 pur sang killer bargain
Carlisle Compagni Portis really nice bottle
Copain, Laureles Grade chard

So it’s wine first, food second?

I was gonna recommend the ganon. I got that when I was there. Very nice.

Take the Chave over the gonon. It’s killer

Snagged their lone bottle of 08 Clos Rougeard La Bourg when I was there over the holidays at $161. Ridiculous! Live about 30 minutes away. The lady that runs the wine is closely related to a Berserker board favorite.

GREAT PLACE

Mark

At first glance, I’d probably order the Prevost La Closerie and Arnot-Roberts Kirschenmann. The first is very hard to find at retail and they’re selling it at almost no markup. The Arnot-Roberts Zin entirely or almost entirely to restaurants. I had it at Chez Panisse and it was memorable.

My wife and I get down to the Monterey Peninsula every year or so. We always have dinner at Passionfish. The wine list is so well chosen and so well priced (as everyone has already noted!), but the food is also very good. We love Passionfish!