2011 Philippe Raimbault Sancerre Apud Sariacum

“I see the light at the end of the tunnel, someone please tell me it’s not a train.” Sardonic lyrics from Mr. David Lowery, but my heart skipped a beat when I noticed that my “Blur” write-up from last year was written on February 18. I’m hoping for some R & R before the 18th of February, because blur is were I am every January. Along with the usual array of friends’ birthdays, family namesdays, Russian holidays, and the annual UGC de Bordeaux tasting, this year we added another Sauternes pairing dinner with Château Coutet and a live performance by my new musical project! So yeah, it’s been another Blur January (song title?). Whenever it all ends (sigh … Birthday Party tonight), I’m going to chill with something light, crisp, complex, and fun to sip! Hmmm. There’s a wine that we’ve been importing for many vintages now, but it hasn’t seen our sales floor in three!!! Ladies and Gents, for the first time in three vintages, back on our sales floor is the Sancerre Apud Sariacum from Philippe Raimbault! The vintage: 2011. Yep, for three vintages ALL of it had been earmarked for a high profile restaurant in southern California that has been pouring it by the glass and going through more than a handful of cases every week. Under normal circumstances, restaurants change out their “by the glass” lists periodically throughout the year. Not this one. Not with this wine anyway. What’s not to like? It’s a bright, crisp Sancerre with plenty of lift, complexity, and grapefruit-weds-lime citrus character. What makes this wine great is its overall quaffability. You can have it on its own where that citrus will dance on your palate buoyed by the fresh acidity and hint of mineral. Should you decide to pair it with lunch or dinner (I always love Sancerre with lunch), you can go many routes, it’s just that versatile. Let’s see … you can do raw oysters, seared scallops, a crab salad, crostini with goat cheese, roast turkey with creamy gravy and potatoes, or OMG … I’m famished! You get the picture.

So back to the resto for a sec. Saying that they flew through this wine is an understatement. But they flew through this wine for three vintages at a price north of 15 bucks-a-glass! Their bottle price was more than 60! Okay, Chez Vous might not be a trendy so-Cal restaurant, but you can have a bottle of celebrity Sancerre for yourself, your friends, and your family for just a bit more than Kobe Bryant, Danny Devito, Katy Perry, or Wolfgang Puck paid for a glass! If you love Sancerre, and we know you do, you owe it to yourself to try the 2011 Apud Sariacum Sancerre from Raimbault! Word. I do see a light at the end of the tunnel. I do. Birthday party tonight, namesday celebration tomorrow, and one more birthday to go, things should settle down come February 1. Our dinner with Aline Baly of Château Coutet at Restaurant Picco in Larkspur was a smashing success! Kudos to Chef Jared Rogers for outdoing his last effort, and putting smiles on the attendees faces. The UGC de Bordeaux tasting of the 2010 vintage was a fantastic tasting showcasing part deux of another pair of legendary vintages. No doubt you’ll be hearing more about that soon. And in the music department, the momentum is building … rumor has it that there will be another live show in February! Now that my schedule is beginning to slow down, it’s time to pull a couple bottles of 2011 Philippe Raimbault Sancerre Apud Sariacum; one for band practice and one for the fridge! – Peter Zavialoff Please feel free to email me with any questions or comments about Sancerre, 2010 Bordeaux, Sauternes/Barsac Pairing Dinners, Footballers kicking ballboys, or my latest musical project: peter.winehouse@sbcglobal.net

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