Bethesda Lane

Looking for birthday treats, I ventured into a couple of the shops in the Bethesda Lane development for the first time and was pleasantly surprised.

The handmade chocolates by Jacques Poulain at Cacao are truly French quality, and even with the limited choices available the day I was there, delightfully varied. The macarons, which seem to be the big draw, are also quite nice.

Cork and Fork had a small-production champagne that the proprietor claimed is superior to Veuve Clicquot. Having tasted the Alfred Basely brut, a sophisticated pinot noir-chardonnay champagne, I can't argue with her. She has some other, higher-priced champagnes that are probably worth a closer look. Even though I tend to avoid shopping for wine in Maryland because of the state tax, I'll also explore her wine selection another time.

Weygandt Wines

Todd Ross, one of the proprietors of a new wine store in Cleveland Park, Weygandt Wines, believes that most New World wines are striving to achieve the quality of Old World wines. So why not just buy the Old World wines to begin with?

So his store carries mostly French wines, with a smattering of Italian, German and Austrian. It doesn't have nearly the stock, say, of an Addie Bassin's, but it has a great selection of largely handcrafted wines. It's a fun store, with the wines not displayed on shelves but resting in their cartons below "road" signs designating the region.

I took part yesterday in a private tasting arranged for a small group (try it, it's fun!). We tasted six wines destined to be paired with the courses in a French meal. Todd selected the wines, all French, most in the $20-$30 price range, and talked about them while he poured the samples (we paid for the sample bottles and for the wines we finally chose to go with the meal).

For the first course, a fish dish, Todd offered us a Pascal and Nicolas Reverdy Sancerre Les Coutes 2008 ($23), which had the crisp, flinty taste that this terroir lends to sauvignon blanc grapes. Aged in stainless steel vats, this wine offers a clean taste to cut through the fish, Todd suggested.

As an alternative, he suggested a 2007 Domaine de la Chapelle Pouilly-Fussé Vieilles Vignes 2007 ($34). This white burgundy chardonnay reminded you how silky and fruity the varietal can taste when it's not overshadowed by oak. This wine was aged in barrels with new and seasoned oak but this only served to round out the flavor. The Pouilly-Fussé would complement the fish flavor, Todd said. We thought both were terrific but opted for the Sancerre for the meal.

For the main course, a beef dish, Todd offered a Domaine Collotte Marsannay Clos de Jeu 2007 ($26). This Burgundy pinot noir, while still a bit young, had a beautiful ruby color and a light, refreshing taste. Todd suggested that a light wine could set off a heavy dish better.

As an alternative, he suggested a Domaine Alary Cotes du Rhone-Villages Cairanne La Font d'Estévenas 2007 ($28). This inky, fruity Cotes du Rhone -- 60% Grenache and 40% Syrah -- was outstanding and a great value. However, we opted for the Burgundy to keep the tone light.

For the cheese course, Todd suggested two fortified wines. My notion of what wines to drink with cheese, I'll admit, has undergone considerable revision in the past few months as all of a sudden, it seems, everyone is suggesting sweet wines with cheese rather than the red wines I have habitually had. Todd, for instance, said that red wine with blue cheese is not a good match, and on reflection, I have to agree.

First choice was Vial-Magneres Banyuls Rivage 2006 ($39), a white Banyuls that Todd said would pair well with most cheeses -- our selection includes a blue and a goat cheese, as well as a triple cream and a semi-soft, washed rind cheese. This dessert wine had yellowish-golden color and a honey taste that coated your throat and left you wanting more.

The alternative choice was a Domaine des Soulanes Maury Vin Doux Naturel 2007 ($25). A real contrast to the Banyuls, this inky red dessert wine truly had a soft, velvety mouth-feel from the rich Grenache and Carignan grapes grown in Roussillon in the shadow of a Cathar fortress. We found the choice too hard this time, so took one bottle of each for our meal.

The store has a great Web site, with a searchable database and information about each of the selections and vintners. Most of them are personally known to Peter Weygandt, the epynomous co-proprietor, and Todd. You can order online. The crew is also preparing to offer wine tours in Europe next fall.

Disclaimer: As always, I received no compensation or consideration of any kind from the store for writing this blog.

The Fishery

We don't eat as much fish as we would like, partly because we don't like the cooking odor from fish in the house. Also, we are both a bit picky about which fish we will eat.

I'm probably a bit more venturesome in that regard, so last night when I was on my own for dinner, I went to The Fishery, aka Chevy Chase Seafood Market, at Connecticut and Livingston and got some trout to grill.

When we do eat fish, we usually go to The Fishery. The fish there have invariably been fresh. They break down their own large fish and it's fun if you happen to be there when they are carving out fillets and steaks. The salespeople are very friendly and will always offer tips on cooking.

The trout, I realized only when I got home, were not only cleaned and gutted, but also deboned. So although it looked like a whole fish, it was essentially fillets with the head, tail and skin still on. I would have preferred to have the whole fish intact, except for cleaning, and will ask for that the next time.

I dressed the fish with lemon juice and salt, grilled over charcoal, drizzled with melted butter and accompanied with grilled eggplant (drizzled with fig and meyer lemon balsamic vinegar), sliced tomato and mixed greens.

Wine with the meal was a 2008 Chateau St. Jean Sonoma Fume Blanc that was excellent and paired perfectly with the fish. Thursdays are the night for my weekly cocktail, dating back to when it was the deadline for my contributions to UCG. Last night I had Tanqueray Malacca Gin with tonic.

I've always been a gin fan, but I'll admit that Tanqueray's recent creative series of commercials highlighting the exotic botanicals that infuse gin with flavor have enhance my appreciation. The Malacca gin has been sitting in my cupboard for some years. The label says it is more aromatic and flavorful than London Dry gin, and it certainly tasted good last night.

I've liked trout ever since I ate fish I caught in a Colorado mountain stream at age six or so -- my first and virtually my last fishing expedition. In Europe, particularly in Germany, you often find trout, the whole fish, on the menu. It will be poached (Blau because it turns blue as it is cooked) or dusted with flour and fried (Muellerin because that's what a miller's wife would do with a fish).

Once you get the hang of it, it's quite easy to fillet and eat a whole fish on your plate. As with meat, I think the flavor of fish cooked bone-in is generally better.

Rosé wines

Addy Bassin's MacArthur Beverages (on MacArthur Boulevard) is my favorite wine store in DC, at least for European wines. They have a simply outstanding selection of French, German and Italian wines with great Austrian and Spanish. The staff is expert, not just knowledgeable, and get out to visit the vineyards. Their recommendations are very reliable.

They have wine tastings most every Saturday and we get down there every six to eight weeks. Yesterday they had five rosé wines out -- a couple from Provence, a Virginia wine, a Cote du Rhone and a Bordeaux.

We liked both the Provencale wines, found the Virginia wine very drinkable but did not much care for either the Rhone or Bordeaux by comparison.

The one we ended up buying was a 2008 Domaine de Triennes, the second of the two Provencale wines we tasted. It is fruity and dry at the same time, in the wonderful flinty way that many French wines have. It is made from the Cinsault grape, according to the Triennes Web site, and the 2008 cépage won a gold medal.

The vineyard is at Nan-les-pins and was purchased at the end of 1989 by Aubert de Villaine and Jacques Seysses, two Burgundy vintners who were looking for a property in the Var. The former Logis de Nans is located east of Aix-en-Provence on a southern facing slope comprising 46 hectares of limestone terroir. It was renamed Triennes in the honor of the Triennia, bacchanalian feasts that happened every three years during Roman times. The photo above shows the vineyard.

Rosé is made by letting the skins soak in the first press to give it the color. It has historically been ignored by wine snobs as a cheap table wine and it will probably never rise to the refinements of the great varietals and labels. But they are taken more seriously now.

There was a huge fight in the European Union this spring over a proposed edict from Brussels that would allow vintners to mix red and white together and label it rosé instead of going through the longer, and more expensive process of making a true rosé. Many people probably think that's the way rosé is made anyway, but the French led the fight against this new rule. It would be like mixing Coke and Sprite together and selling it as root beer -- just not the same.

Fortunately, the campaign was successful and the rule was abandoned, so that rosé from Europe at least will continue to be made in the traditional way.

We drank a lot of rosé during our recent trip to France, which was in Languedoc just at the border with Provence. There were numerous Cote du Rhone vineyards there and we bought the wine at local organic vintner, Natura. It was a pale rosé (rosé gris), very light and delicate, and perfect for the climate and the food.

The Triennes is somewhat more robust and fruitier. It was our first choice, though the other Provencale wine, Whispering Angel, was a close second. They were similar, but the Triennes seemed more elegant. The Boxwood from Virginia was also quite good, much like the Virginia rosé we had last week at the farm dinner.

The tasting price for the Triennes was $13.99 a bottle, compared to the normal $15.99. That's more than we usually pay for a rosé, but that's why they have tastings.