by David M. Bueker » Tue Oct 30, 2007 12:48 pm
Two weeks ago I spent some time in France on a business trip. Of course Paris was wonderful (if a bit strange during the simultaneous Rugby World Cup and transit strike), but one thing really stood out: eating lunch.
Two days in a row I was taken to lunch by people from our facility outside Paris. We ate both days at a local Brasserie (When I asked if they ate there every day they said "Of course, because the menu changes every day.") that was always full to exploding. The owner was gregarious to say the least, and welcomed our group both days with hearty handshakes and a quick trip to an unoccupied table. Both days I had the special, which on Wednesday was Duck Confit and Thursday Blanquet de Veau. Each meal was delicious, and each was accompanied by the same wine:
2006 Domaine Laurens Marcillac
It took a bit of searching to find out anything about this wine. Thanks to Randy and Eve for their help, as well as to the good old Oxford Companion to Wine. Made from the (unknown to me at the time) Fer Servadou variety, the wine was rustic, but pleasing with peppery wild red fruit, reasonable alcohol, and refreshing acidity. It was also cheap (available in the UK for around the equivalent of $12 US. Best overall it was an uncomplicated accompaniment to good food, lively conversation (more lively after the 2nd bottle than the 1st) and a general atmosphere of unfussy enjoyment of the pleasures of the table, even in a hurried, corporate-style lunch (though a hurried lunch in France is utterly relaxed compared to even a leisurely lunch in the USA). It was, I should mention, also a lovely accompaniment to the cheese course I was "forced" to eat (much less intimidating than the tarte tatin doused in Calvados I was served on day 2).
Overall what impressed me so much was how the wine was not a special part of the meal. It was instead an expected component of the whole. In fact the wine was never ordered, it just came to the table, and when the bottle was empty in the middle of lunch another appeared to replace it. Given the number of folks at the table nobody was in danger of being impaired (except me - they kept filling my glass no matter how little I had sipped since the last pour - little did they know how much training I've had), and we all went back to work to finish up the day.
I could get used to my wine being an unpretentious part of dining. There would be no more chasing after verticals, seeking out limited releases or obsessing over critical evaluations would mean more enjoyment, and less stress from what is supposed to be a pleasant component of the meal.
Decisions are made by those who show up