Strip Joint
It was a strip joint, nothing more than a meat market. Places like this are always a bit sleazy no matter how elegant they pretend to be. I sat down at the bar almost expecting an invitation to a lap dance, but was handed a menu instead.
Such is the American steak house these days. I looked quite out of place in my Columbia Oregon garb surrounded by guys with gold chains and sport coats over their sport shirts, which were unbuttoned a bit too much, and shiny loafers. I got as close as I could to the TV and the baseball game, ordered my New York Strip medium rare and asked for the wine list. As my eyes raced down the list of big name California wines I realized that for these prices it may have been cheaper to go to a real strip joint and buy some “personal” attention than buy a decent bottle of wine at Morton’s. Who would have thought that illicit flesh could be cheaper than a bottle of Napa Cab and one-way-or-the-other a more memorable investment.
It didn’t take long before I understood that cabernet was out of the question for less than $100, so my eyes drifted to syrah and zinfandel. The selections from Ridge temped me, but they were 2005 vintage and I felt like keeping the enamel on my teeth. My eyes then focused on the vintages and there it was, 2001 Livingston Moffet, Mitchell Vineyard Syrah at a third or less of the cost of the least interesting cabernet sauvignon from much more recent vintages. Luckily for the next customer, I consumed this wine just in time as it is starting to dry out. The problem is that not having tasting the wine before, I can’t tell if the lack of fruit is the fault of the wine or the shipping and storage: I’m willing to bet it’s the latter. So I’ll give this wine the benefit of the doubt as all-in-all it had great appeal. The tannins were quite pronounced, but that was not a problem as my steak quickly absorbed them. It presented excellent balance with flavors that were wonderfully not a bit jammy, but loaded with rich earthy, meaty, smoky butcher shop characteristics. Given a fair chance I’d say this would be an excellent bottle of syrah. Too bad it wasn’t given a fair chance.
However, at a strip joint like Morton’s, no one cares about such details. My guess is this bottle was mistreated before they every received it. A summer or two in a hot Mid-Western warehouse or a day on a delivery truck on a hot August day will even rip the guts out of a robust syrah. However, at a strip joint no one is paying close attention to the quality of the wine. They only pay attention to paying a lot for it. The more you pay the better it must be.
I guess at all strip joints bigger is better.
Original post by Craig Camp