by Julian Schultz
julian@oxfordwineroom.com

                     
"Those friends thou hast and their adoption tried, grapple them to thy soul 
with hoops of steel…." Papa Polonius gave this advice to son Laertes in 
Shakespeare's play, "Hamlet."

I was fortunate to be with four such friends of successful "adoption tried" 
recently. Each sacrificed to enable my enjoying a warm evening of hospitality with 
food and wine: Dr. Marshall Zamansky and wife-and-nurse Peg drove out of their 
way to deliver me and return me to and from Dr. Bob Ouellette and wife-and-former 
nurse Lu's new condo home for an evening of delicious dining, exceptional French 
Champagne, two Grande Dame red Burgundies and a magnificent Sauternes.

As is his modestly kept poetic wont, Marshall chose the scenic route to the 
Ouellettes: "for our eyes and soul to enjoy the wooded hills and verdant dells of 
mother nature, from drowsy Paxton to sleepy Holden to bucolic Boylston to cheerful 
West Boylston," he said.

Not long into the ride, I demurred, saying he was going not only "all around 
Robin Hood's barn," but also that he was driving around the barns of the Sheriff of 
Nottingham and King Richard. Peg, chuckling, said she was familiar with the 
antiquated Robin Hood's barn expression, which is rarely heard. My late and beloved 
Lillian brought it with her from Canada where she was born. I heard it many times 
when she remonstrated with me for my errant navigation when I was driving.

Thank God for the cell phone: Marshall, unable to release himself from his 
rapture with Mother Nature, was lost! Lost in her blissful embrace! He needed to call 
Bob for directions. With Bob's directions in his ear and Marshall's confirming our 
whereabouts to him as he drove, we finally arrived – only 20 minutes late after the 
appointed hour of 6.

What a great and gracious and glorious dinner the Ouellettes provided!

But what more would I expect? Lu, a serious student of skillets and kettles – a 
graduate student really -- and Bob, already a legendary wine authority, blissfully 
married Lu's food with his wine. I exclaimed that so eye-appealing was the 
combination that my savory glands were furiously salivating. That is when I got 
Bob's first concerned warning that I would need to restrain my avid appetite if I were 
to avoid midnight gastrointestinal discomfort and his having to listen to my recitation 
of the illness in detail the next morning.

I listened intently to my four friends as they discussed their past trips to 
France and the Zamansky's pending trip to that great country, noted among other of 
its triumphs, for its wine and food. I didn't need to go to France to enjoy its food and 
wine: I had both this night…with an extra pleasure: spirited and enlightening 
conversation.

We were hedonists this evening: We practiced and voiced life's pleasure 
principles as we reveled in- and described our sensuous enjoyment with the food 
and wine. We were eloquent, sniffing and sipping from the glass of flowing wine and 
describing the delectable food. Yes, this was a dinner to gladden the hearts and taste 
buds of man.

Being hedonists meant we were not dull statisticians who with fiendish glee 
seek to impress or to confound others with statistical details about wines that were 
being sipped and tasted: We were not diagnosticians of food and wine although, 
anomalously, my companions were of the medical profession.

After we toured the compact, yet cozy, yet spacious, premises of the newly 
built condo we were invited to sit in the living room that gracefully glided into the 
kitchen area. 

A quiet pop of the cork, the hiss of Champagne, and Dr. Bob poured the 
creaming Le Brun Servenay 1998 into our appropriately configured Champagne 
wine glasses. On the low table in front of us was a huge platter of duck liver paté with 
truffles, shelled tiny de-veined shrimp, unsalted crackers and an accompanying 
seasoned tomato dipping sauce. 

The combination of Champagne and shrimp was irresistible: We were non-
stop pumping away hand-to-mouth, and our good doctor continued to pour. That 
was when I got my second warning from Bob as he observed my obvious overeager 
consumption: "I'll be away tomorrow, so I won't be able to phone you and give you 
my customary extensive lecture that I know you don't like to hear after you complain 
that you are ill from having overeaten. So…slow…up." 

So I slowed up, lest he should deliver the full lecture forthwith. (Shhh! Don't 
tell. I ate slowly, but I put away a lot.)

The Champagne afforded all the superior attributes of a top-drawer sparkling 
wine: subtly yeasty, chalky, walnuts, apple-y, a nuance of sweet edge; pinpoint and 
extended sparkle, persistent collar of frothing mousse at the inside rim of the glass. It 
was spectacular on the palate and was arousing to the appetite!

Lu called us to the dinner table where at each place setting were proper size 
wine glasses: two balloon glasses for red Burgundy and a small, narrow dessert 
glass.

Bob, in artistic and skilled action, was opening a 1985 single vineyard Musigny 
and a '95 wine produced in the area of Chambolle that contains the Musigny vineyard 
– both are prestigious Burgundies made from the fickle Pinot Noir grape. There is 
always the plaguing question: Will the wine be drinkable after extended aging? 
There is an adage among the Burgundy cognoscenti: One in 10 red Burgundies will 
be magnificent, incomparable, to die for; the other nine? Forget 'em!

There was no "forget 'em" with Bob's Musignies. They had matured 
beautifully; offering generous perfumes, lingering bouquets, a delicacy of round, 
ripe, gamy, leathery, nutty complexity on the palate; and a vestige of ripe fruit 
remained in the '95 Chambolle. Their lightness and femininity reminded me of a 
Margaux from Bordeaux. We all hailed the wines as a remarkable treat, including Bob 
who said he hadn't tasted the wines in years.

The awesome bride to the wines was Maple Farms roasted duck – moist, 
tender, delectably herb and spice seasoned – with wild rice and whole and sauced 
cherries. So delicious! They were just so delicious with the two wines that I asked 
Linda Zachariewicz, my professional caregiver, to buy the duck at B.J.'s in Auburn 
and to prepare it for me. 

Without a moment of pause, the conversation led from duck and wine 
appreciation to the movie, "Sideways," that is about Pinot Noir wines made at 
California wineries. Did I see it, I was asked eagerly? No! I haven't been to a movie 
theater since my late beloved Lillian and I saw Dr. Zhivago in 1966 -- I think.

I was told, "You just have to see it!" Peg said she and Marshall would take me. I 
shook my head and listened to the discussion.

The Ouellettes and Zamanskys extolled the authenticity of the movie, saying 
the pouring, sighting, swirling, sniffing, savoring, and speaking about the aromas 
and flavors peculiar to the Pinot Noir wine were professionally accurate. Being 
professionals themselves, their laudatory comments about the movie were high 
tribute. 

"Actors applied the familiar aromas and flavors descriptors: cherries, 
blackberries, raisins, oak, tea, meat, nuts, cinnamon. I was very impressed," Bob 
said. The others enthusiastically "amen-d."

"You must see it!" Peg implored. "I will take you, Julian." She was dismayed at 
my no-thanks reply, to which I added that I disapprove of the pornography rampant 
on today's screens. They enlightened me about today's theaters that they said have 
two sides: the "immoral" and the "instructive." So be it. But I ain't goin'!

Next day, the Worcester Telegram & Gazette published almost a full-page story 
about the movie, indicating that since the movie appeared California wineries were 
booming with eager tourists who wished to sample their Pinot Noirs, relishing the 
variations of aromas and tastes among the wineries based on their different 
winemaking philosophies. Wine sales were spectacular, according to winery sales 
executives.

My next dinner with red wine will be with a Robert Mondavi Carneros Reserve 
Pinot Noir, which I have been inclined to overlook. So I, too, am influenced by the 
favorable propaganda of the movie.

The article was an enlarged text repetition of what I had heard the night before. 
I called Bob to congratulate him. And I will also congratulate the Zamanskys.

Not a vestige of the duck or its accompaniments remained on any of the five 
plates. Had seconds been offered, I am confident all five plates would have been 
refilled. Reading my thoughts, Lu said, "We consumed all of the poor little Aflac, 
none left."

But the Musignies remained in our glasses and in Bob's bottles. We 
exuberantly dispatched them to palate when Lu served four cheeses and crisp, 
chewy, round bread slices: Camembert, Goat, Havarti and Tellagio.

Perfection! Each cheese offered a different extended dimension to the wines, 
and the wines likewise added to- and prolonged the flavor and pleasure of the 
cheese. Dining couldn't possibly be better than this.

But heady conversation and heady wines had not ended. With flourish and 
high drama Bob uncorked Premier Cru Chateau Haut Peyraguay Sauternes 1998, 
lusciously sweet, but not cloying. With it Lu served a feather light Tiramesou cake 
dessert from France.

My notes on the Sauternes: "apricots, melon, peach; unctuous sweet spice; 
zesty and balancing fruit acids; smooth liqueur-ish swallow, forever goodbye."

I gleefully played musical wine. I sipped all four – Champagne, two 
Burgundies, Sauternes – with the four cheeses and bread. I was content to savor the 
cake uninfluenced by the Sauternes. My tablemates, however, enjoyed the dessert 
with the sweet compatible Sauternes.

A word more about Sauternes: Many wine lovers take exception to the high 
cost of these wines. A winery in the Sauternes district might allow 23 tons of 
combined Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon and miniscule amounts of Muscadelle grapes 
to hang longer on the vines for the purpose of producing this luscious style of 
dessert wine. When the vineyard is picked, only one-third of the 23 tons may be 
realized.

The grapes are attacked by a "noble rot," which shrivels and pierces the skins 
of the grapes and allows the water content to evaporate. What remains is the 
essence of grape sugar, which accounts for the uncommon and desirable 
sweetness.

I was reminded of an anecdote about the famous French author Guy de 
Maupassant when my compatriots started a discussion about the merits of the 
Sauternes: Maupassant was a noted gourmet and connoisseur of the finest wines of 
Europe.

One evening he held a sumptuous banquet for many friends to honor a young 
guest from Marseille. After the meal, Maupassant served his guests some rare and 
coveted premier cru Sauternes. 

The young gentleman form Marseille seized his glass of Sauternes and 
downed it with one gusty gulp! The usually composed host let forth a loud gasp of 
amazement and consternation. The guest perceived he had done something terribly 
wrong and asked Maupassant for an answer.

In his most diplomatic tone, the host offered this explanation: "Well sir, since 
you ask me, let me tell you that such a prestigious Sauternes of such acclaimed 
reputation deserves your deepest and most humble appreciation and respect."

"Please, dear sir, privilege me to instill the first rudiments of appreciating such 
a Sauternes, for I am one of the uninitiated," pleaded his guest.

"Quite willingly," replied Maupassant: "One lifts one's glass thus, holding it by 
the stem. One sights to observe its color, swirls to liberate its bouquet, sniffs to 
breathes its scent, sips to savor its inimitable Sauternes flavor; then thoughtfully 
swallows…and reflects."

"And then, monsieur?"

"And then," said Maupassant with the gentle smile of wisdom, "one sets one's 
glass on the table…

…and one talks about it contents."

As my late and beloved Lillian would have said: The dinner was done with 
grace and class. Grace and class: I remember, Sunday afternoon, December 7, 1941; 
we listening to the New York Philharmonic when the program was interrupted: Japan 
had bombed Pear Harbor!

Instantaneously Lillian declared, "We are getting engaged right now! I am 
familiar with the textbook, 'Japan Over Asia.' That is how Japan declares war: bomb 
and invade first, then declare war – sometimes not even bothering to declare. We will 
be at war. And you are no soldier to be firing guns from muddy ditches…they would 
need to find a place for you in the kitchen."

When I vacuously agreed open-mouthed, not really absorbing the import of it 
all, Lillian said, "We will get married and I will always try to conduct myself in our 
marriage with grace and compassion and will try to treat your friends likewise; I 
expect you will do the same for me, and will do it with dignity and class. For 59 years 
she unwaveringly, unstintingly exemplified grace and compassion in our marriage 
and with our friends; about my doing it with dignity and class -- ?

Oh, by the way, I didn't end up in the kitchen. I graduated Officer Candidate 
School, was commissioned in the Air Corps and mustered out as a Captain and as a 
Major in the Reserve; saw duty in Memphis, TN; Brownsville, TX; Greenwood, MS; 
Casablanca, Morocco, and Cairo, Egypt.

My not desiring to be a career soldier cost me! With my promotion to Major, I 
was assigned to the air base at Orly Field, France. I opted out and I reverted back to 
Captain. The Major's rank was transferred to my Air Corps Reserve status.

Wine pick: Victor Hugo Zinfandel (any vintage), $19. A zinfandel complete with 
all cherished zin attributes: blueberries, spice, pepper, plums, toasty wood, raisins; 
even Port-like; balanced with fruit acids, soft tannin, velvety texture; smooth swallow 
and extended aftertaste. Ages beautifully into mature complexity. A superb 
representation of zinfandel.

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julian@oxfordwineroom.com