If I’m lucky then tomorrow when I reach the one week mark there will be a dull and inexplicable BOOM over the city which the people will hardy notice because of all the other nice, but which will make the birds in the parks ruffle their feathers. That will be me passing through the New York Barrier, which is something like a cross between the sound barrier and a deep energy low which I never stayed long enough in the city before to reach the other side of. If I make then thanks are also due to Suzanne Winter, unofficial Riesling Queen of New York, pictured above at the Big Bottles from Burgenland party at The Third Man the other night. There I also saw the self-styled Riesling Overlord of New York Paul Grieco for the first time since hitting the sidewalk last Monday night.
Tuesday, while still waiting for my luggage to arrive I ate what is probably the best frankfurter of my entire life at Landbrot, 185 Orchard Street on the Lower East Side (see www.landbrotbakery.com). The Neuschwansteiner pils from the Höss brewery in Bavaria was crisp with honey notes and exactly what I needed at that moment. Also so far unmentioned on this page is the crab and turnip feast at the home of Sylvia and David on the Upper East Side on Friday night. Here’s the wonderful crab half of that soirée. Needless to say the newspaper is the New York Times!
Yesterday evening I was at a pretty wild party which was also on the Upper East Side, but whose precise location it would be indiscreet of me to reveal. Suffice to say that the question was not whether to sip the wine, rather whether to swig the wine or not. At the end of the evening I ascended a staircase to a kind of luxurious eagle’s nest, pictured below, where I found myself in a beautiful cloud. Unfortunately when I descended to the earth in order to pick up my coat and go home a shocking incident occurred just before I got in the elevator which left me utterly speechless. However, the hostess dealt with the offending individual with an aplomb which left me awed. The only thing which I missed was a glass of Riesling. But the next days will put that right, and how!
Justin Christoph just sent me a great comment to this which I reproduce in full:
You may find yourself drinking chardonnay at shake shack
And you may find yourself in an appellation in another part of the world
And you may find yourself behind the pages of a large wine list
You may find yourself in a beautiful wine bar, with a beautiful wine cellar
You may ask yourself, “Well, how did I get here?”
The drinking days go by, let the bloggers hold me down
The drinking days go by, terroir flowing underground
Into blue slate again, after the money’s gone
Drunk in a lifetime, riesling flowing underground
And you may ask yourself, “How do I tweet this?”
And you may ask yourself, “Where is that large wine list?”
And you may tell yourself, “This is not my beautiful wine bar”
And you may tell yourself, “This is not my beautiful wine cellar”
The drinking days go by, let three tier hold me down
The drinking days go by, terroir flowing underground
Into blue slate again, after the money’s gone
Drunk in a lifetime, riesling flowing underground
Same as it ever was, wrong as it ever was, right as it ever was
Write as it ever was, Type as it ever was, tweet as it ever was,
blog as it ever was, same as it ever was
Riesling dissolving and riesling removing
There is riesling at the bottom of the ocean
Under the terroir, carry riesling
Remove riesling from the bottom of the ocean
Minerals dissolving and minerals removing
The drinking days go by, let Robert Parker hold me down
The drinking days go by, riesling flowing underground
Into blue slate again, after the money’s gone
Drunk in a lifetime, riesling flowing underground
Into blue slate again, into the silent Mosel
Under the rocks and stones, there is riesling underground
You may ask yourself, “What is that beautiful wine?”
You may ask yourself, “Where does that wine route lead to?”
You may ask yourself, “Am I right, am I wrong?”
You may say to yourself, “Paul Grieco! What have you done?”
The drinking days go by, wine spectator hold me down
The drinking days go by, riesling flowing underground
Into blue slate again, into the silent mosel
Under the rocks and stones, there is riesling underground
Same as it ever was, same as it ever was
Same as it ever was, look where my glass was
Terror isn’t holding us, terroir isn’t after us
Same as terroir was, same as terroir was
Same as it ever was, hey let’s all twist our thumbs
Here comes the terroir
The drinking days go by
The drinking days go by
Drunk in a lifetime
Only riesling holds me down
Drinking the days go bye
You may find yourself drinking chardonnay at shake shack
And you may find yourself in an appellation in another part of the world
And you may find yourself behind the pages of a large wine list
You may find yourself in a beautiful wine bar, with a beautiful wine cellar
You may ask yourself, “Well, how did I get here?”
The drinking days go by, let the bloggers hold me down
The drinking days go by, terroir flowing underground
Into blue slate again, after the money’s gone
Drunk in a lifetime, riesling flowing underground
And you may ask yourself, “How do I tweet this?”
And you may ask yourself, “Where is that large wine list?”
And you may tell yourself, “This is not my beautiful wine bar”
And you may tell yourself, “This is not my beautiful wine cellar”
The drinking days go by, let three tier hold me down
The drinking days go by, terroir flowing underground
Into blue slate again, after the money’s gone
Drunk in a lifetime, riesling flowing underground
Same as it ever was, wrong as it ever was, right as it ever was
Write as it ever was, Type as it ever was, tweet as it ever was,
blog as it ever was, same as it ever was
Riesling dissolving and riesling removing
There is riesling at the bottom of the ocean
Under the terroir, carry riesling
Remove riesling from the bottom of the ocean
Minerals dissolving and minerals removing
The drinking days go by, let Robert Parker hold me down
The drinking days go by, riesling flowing underground
Into blue slate again, after the money’s gone
Drunk in a lifetime, riesling flowing underground
Into blue slate again, into the silent Mosel
Under the rocks and stones, there is riesling underground
You may ask yourself, “What is that beautiful wine?”
You may ask yourself, “Where does that wine route lead to?”
You may ask yourself, “Am I right, am I wrong?”
You may say to yourself, “Paul Grieco! What have you done?”
The drinking days go by, wine spectator hold me down
The drinking days go by, riesling flowing underground
Into blue slate again, into the silent mosel
Under the rocks and stones, there is riesling underground
Same as it ever was, same as it ever was
Same as it ever was, look where my glass was
Terror isn’t holding us, terroir isn’t after us
Same as terroir was, same as terroir was
Same as it ever was, hey let’s all twist our thumbs
Here comes the terroir
The drinking days go by
The drinking days go by
Drunk in a lifetime
Only riesling holds me down
Drinking the days go bye