Unauthorized

Leslie Rudd, owner of Dean and DeLuca as well as Rudd Estate Winery, is also the proprietor of one of the country’s finest “comfort food” restaurants, Press. Comparable to one of Paris’s finest bistros, this is home cooking at its best. The quality of the poultry, seafood, bacon, Brussel sprouts, and hand-cut french fries is impeccable. This is the kind of restaurant the late, great A. J. Liebling would have gone nuts over. Using the finest purveyors and freshest raw materials money can buy results in brilliant cuisine that goes from strength to strength. However, if you are expecting super-refined, sophisticated cooking such as you would get a few miles down the road at the French Laundry, this is not the place. Press is home cooking that’s better than your Mother ever made!

I tried to drink more than a half ounce or so of each of the wines because there were so many potential superstars. Among the whites, the finest was the 1992 Leroy Puligny-Montrachet Les Folatières, followed by the 2004 Blaine Gagnard Montrachet. The 2005 Ramonent Montrachet was totally shut down. While it had plenty of weight, it also revealed shrill levels of acidity. I would not touch a bottle for at least a decade. It made quite a contrast with the mature yet still adolescent 1992 Leroy.

The red wines were all over the place, which always makes them difficult to calibrate. The finest red Burgundy was the 1999 DRC Echézeaux, a glorious offering displaying superb depth, richness, and length. The least impressive red Burgundy was the DRC 1993 Romanée St.-Vivant, which was earthy, with hard, nasty acid levels, and a shrill texture. The two finest dry reds included the sensational 1994 Beaucastel Hommage à Jacques Perrin and a gorgeously pristine bottle of 1990 Rayas that was just short of perfection. Close in quality were the 2005 Grace Family Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, the 2002 Hundred Acres Cabernet Sauvignon Deep Time, and an amazing bottle of the 1974 Mt. Eden Cabernet Sauvignon(which I have not had for a long time). The latter Cabernet is a remarkably young wine that should prove to be a Cabernet with nearly immortal longevity.

My highest scores went to the two fortified wines. The 1907 Seppeltsfield Para-Port, which tasted like a Tawny Port on steroids as it was unbelievably intense in aromas and flavors, and the 1945 Taylor Vintage Port, both of which merited perfect scores.

This was another fabulous charity event at Press restaurant.