After starting a thread complaining about markups that has devolved and evolved all over the map, let’s talk about the final decisions, all of which turned out exceptional!
TLDR: if you go there, find and buy the older bottles!!!
Maillart Francs de Pieds 2012: super richness and verve. Lovely red fruit, tons of energy, surely a long way to its development but a wonderful entry to the meal and accompaniment to the first couple of courses. Corkage paid!
LDH Tondonia Gran Reserva 2004: at the absolutely silly price of $165 (same $ as many new release domestic pinots in the $50 retail range), we got what is certainly the most interesting and stupendous white wine I have had in years. Holy shit, we all just sat there for 15 minutes smelling this wine. What an incredible mix of stone fruit and nuttiness and fino sherry type notes! Any description is an understatement here. Suffice it to say this was magic.
Marc Sorrel Hermitage Le Greal 2004: opened and decanted early in the dinner and poured a couple hours later, this was also an aromatic journey to the sun and back. Perfumed and floral, gamey and peppery, deep dark red fruit…palate is exceptional too, repeating most of the aromatic themes. This had all the concentration one could hope for, yet was neither heavy or overwhelming at any point. It begged to be gulped, so we all had to tie our hands behind our backs to slow down! Also incredibly fairly priced at $280
Linden Late Harvest Petit Manseng 2004: our first choice of a dessert wine wasn’t available, but this was a lovely gem that I had listed as the backup. At $85, very fairly priced again. This was intensely tropical, pineapple and mango… didn’t come across as botrytis laced in any way but who knows! A wonderful treat at the end of the meal even if it was outclassed by the preceding wines
Thanks very much that is helpful. I actually grew up in Northern VA, so I know the restaurant well. But I still couldn’t get there from the acronym. So if couldn’t, I bet lots of others couldn’t either.
It has a ton of stuff, boatloads of big names, lots of expensive bottles! 90 pages and thousands of bottles on hand.
Since you mention Bresca, our favorite for the last 3 years in DC… their list has always been a disappointment for me. I will be corkage only there in the future! The service at Bresca and many others in that category impressed me far more than dinner last night.
Dan - can you clarify which wine this is. You say 1994 in header, but 2004 here. There’s no 2004 Gran Reserva yet but there is a 2004 regular Reserva. I looked at the wine list and it shows a 1994 gran reserva for $230, not $165.
Regardless, if it was the 94 gran reserva, great choice and great price, even if it was $230. I bought at retail for $90 six years ago, but the current release is retailing for $400.
IAWL is a sweet place; I’d like to get back there some time. There were very kind to my then 10-year old son, a burgeoning foodie. We had a Truchot off the iist, which was quite fairly priced, but might not have had the best provenance. It was not giving a lot. Glad the wine selection worked for you. How was the food?
When I used to work in DC. every time we said an organization we had to be like which XYZ? that one or the other? Too many overlapping abbreviations.
Side question to get back to the thread. Do you find drinking wine makes you fuller faster? This is one of the reasons why I limit my wine consumption at restaurants.
The food was very very good. I have no experience with 3* places, but I did not see a big difference over the many very good places with one star or no stars that are cooking creatively with good fresh ingredients. My reference point for really nice cooking and good service is Bresca right now. That is under $100 for 5 courses even now, and I would not note significant differences between it and the Inn. May be a sign of the times and difficulty staffing, but the service wasn’t polished.
I don’t want to sound like I am knocking it. Everything was great. For the $, I can do 3 visits down the street though.
The Inn at Little Washington was my go-to when they opened (we lived 20+ miles away). Sally and I would go there for lunch and have quiche. It has, shall we say, evolved.
Commercial post: My company sells them some wine.
The list is reasonably priced for a Michelin ***, not exactly chock full of bargains… except for the wines with bottle age, which are very reasonably priced.
I closed my eyes and threw a dart (well, not exactly):
$400 for a 2001 Corison Cabernet is, IMO very reasonable; it doesn’t show up on WineSearcher, but the 2000 (not quite as good a vintage) is $175.
I haven’t been there for about 10 years, do not know if I will ever go again, but it is a destination for sure.
Slightly off topic but do you really think that the IALW is really worth the $$? It has been a few years since my last visit but my takeaway from my last visit 3-4 years ago was: great food, great service, way overpriced. At this point, if I am going to drop that kind of dime on a meal in the DMV I am going to minibar.