Pebble Beach Food & Wine is set in one of the most beautiful places on the planet, among the wealthiest of all populations outside of Monaco, Westchester County and Saudi Arabia, in an area blessed with a wealth of culinary and winemaking rock stars, and fabulously fresh produce from the prolific fields of Steinbeck country. Everywhere you looked, tables overflowed with food ready for immediate consumption and wine, equally ready for imbibing. We, especially in California, live in a culture of instant gratification, where what you want and your access to it depends solely on how badly you want it, and how much money you’re willing to fork over to stick a fork in your prize. At Pebble, as it’s fondly called by attendees, nothing stands between you and gratification, except the person ahead of you.
But Pebble Beach F &W is not just decadence on a silver platter: it’s a four-day immersion in everything related to sumptuous food, endless wine, bountiful booze and culinary one-upmanship. You can spend upwards of $4500 per person to attend all the OTT events, lunches, demos, seminars and hours long dinners. At that point, you don’t care that lodging costs $500 per night, because the car you are driving eats more than that in gas every month. Speaking of cars, I didn’t witness any Mustangs, Chargers or Camaros, but instead, a wealth of Mercedes, Bentleys, Jaguars and SUvs, mostly of the Lexus, Cadillac and BMW persuasion.
Amidst the endless opportunities for delight, are lessons for learning, and a nearly two hour encounter with ten Bordeaux from Chéâteau Lagrange and Château d’Issan as part of a seminar titled “The Bold & Beautiful Bordeaux” revealed to even first-timers the dark secrets of wines from Saint-Julien, on the Left Bank of the Bordeaux River, primarily planted to Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, with some Petit Verdot
We began our backward trajectory with 2005, and while you might be captivated by the promise of fruit in this widely touted vintage, these mere toddlers won’t start showing their stuff for another 10 to 15 years, and won’t be at peak until at least year 45. To say that patience is required is to state the obvious, but the rewards are oh, so worth it. When we put our collective noses into the 1995 and 1996 vintages, we knew we were getting close to the kitchen: we could smell the promise. With the 1990 Château Lagrange (44% Cabernet Sauvignon, 44% Merlot and 12% Petit Verdot), we knew we were in line to be served. Sweet cherries, black currants, fabulous balance and a delightful finish meant this wine had arrived, and from a high yielding year, it dispelled the myth that high yields mean mediocre wines. Not so. This is a vintage to seek out. But when we delved into the 1986 Château d’Issan (70% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot), the rewards of patience were even more evident: aromas of fabulous pepper, rose tea and orange zest switched every receptor onto high alert, ready to curl the tongue around the super-fine tannins and flavors of duck sausage and fine salami with a touch of angostura bitters. It demanded duck á l’orange.
We were urged to look for these vintages of Bordeaux, should we seek to relive this encounter with the past, sometime in the future: 2010 (marvelous), 2004 (good value, big wines), 2005 (classic), 2000 (excellent, good prices), 1995 (fine balance), 1990 (excellent), 1985 & 86 (worth seeking), 1984 (drink now or give to your friends) and 1982 (awesome, especially in Margaux).
More than anything, this Bordeaux retrospective drove home to me how we as a culture (? Did I use that word?) are so used to NOW, that we’ve forgotten how to practice consumptive restraint. As the French keep teaching us, it can often be richly rewarded.
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