Muck in the glass. Only in the last two years have I had a place for long-term storage, so I don't have much experience with opening wines that have aged long enough to throw off lots of sediment. But the other night my aunt, cousin and I drank a bottle I'd been sitting on for a while -- a 1998 Penfolds Kalimna Bin 28 Shiraz [PDF] -- and it left lots of muck in the glass and the bottle.
     I didn't think to decant it, partly because I didn't look at the bottle to see if it needed it, but mainly because it didn't occur to me that so many solids could come out of a wine I bought early in 2002. Even after the gloppy stuff fell out of solution, the wine was still plenty dark and purplish -- no caramel color to speak of. And it still tasted younger, denser and burlier than 95 percent of the wines I open within a week of bringing them home. Penfolds says the '98 Bin 28 is drinkable through 2016, and I believe them.
 :: posted by Dante Ramos at 12:02 AM
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More BYO news. I haven't checked this out yet, but rumor has it that Marisol has a corkage fee amnesty on Wednesdays. Thanks to e-mailer Isabella for the info.
 :: posted by Dante Ramos at 10:52 PM
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Another new BYO venue. A restaurant called Meauxbar opened on North Rampart Street about two months ago. Cousin Jerome knows the guys who own the restaurant. They have a license, but one of the owners said they'd do BYO with a $6 to $10 corkage fee. It might be wise to call and ask first, though.
     Incidentally, I ordered the apple-glazed pork chop, which came on sticky rice. It was delicious.
 :: posted by Dante Ramos at 8:37 AM
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New BYO venue. I had dinner last night at Sukho Thai in the Marigny. It's on Royal Street, in the same building Cafe Marigny occupied before the owners opened Marigny Brasserie on Frenchmen. The food was very good, and you can bring your own for a $5 corkage fee.
     I had the green papaya salad and the coconut chicken. Both went extraordinarily well with the Jean-Baptiste Adam Gewürztraminer that we brought.
 :: posted by Dante Ramos at 3:28 PM
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