Wine & Spirits - Fall 2017 - 22

I'll start by casting a critical eye on myself-or rather,
a list I wrote (as a consultant) for the opening of Belcampo Meat Co.'s flagship restaurant in Santa Monica, California. Belcampo is a vertically integrated
operation: At its heart is a ranch near Mount Shasta,
where they raise cattle and other animals according to sustainable practices. There is also a butchery onsite, which supplies meat to Belcampo's retail
shops and restaurants.
In other words, Belcampo is not your typical steakhouse. And so I didn't want to write what I considered to be the "archetypal" steakhouse list-i.e., one
loaded with big, trophy reds catering to the expenseaccount crowd.
Instead, I arranged the list by style, and filled it

"While we are mostly
French, with Oregon
wine, too, we do
have some Spanish,
Italian, German
stuff that is very
interesting. If I were
dining here, I very
well might go there,
as the wines we pick
from other countries
are ones we are
especially excited
about."-Andrew
Fortgang, Le Pigeon

WINE & SPIRITS

FA L L 2 0 17

mainly with reds, given the beefy tilt of the menu. But
not the usual "heavy" reds. Think about some of the
great beef-and-wine pairings in history-boeuf bourguignon and red Burgundy, bistecca alla fiorentina
with Chianti or Brunello; these aren't about brute
force, tannins and extract. They're about acid breaking down fat. This, I have to say, was the main message of the wine list. Of course I had some trophies-
back-vintage Dunn Howell Mountain Cabernet,
Philipponnat's Clos des Goisses Champagne-but
if you wanted a good deal, it paid to look past these
to the gutsy, earthy, higher-acid reds that were the
heart and soul of the list: cru Beaujolais like Chappelle de Bois Chiroubles ($45); Chianti Classico from
Monteraponi ($58); old-school, affordable St-Emilion from Château Haut-Segottes ($85); perfumed,
edgy Sonoma Coast Syrah from Wind Gap ($72).
The list at Belcampo has since evolved to be more
California-driven, and that's probably the right move
for Los Angeles-and for a California company that
is in large part agricultural. Honestly, I think my
opening list there had too much of an agenda-I
wanted guests to drink the way I wanted to drink.

THE HEAVILY FRENCH LIST IN
AMERICAN WINE COUNTRY

As if sensing my self-doubt over my acid-freak
agenda, one of the first things Andrew Fortgang
said to me as we discussed his wine list at Le Pigeon
in Portland, Oregon, was: "It's not 'my' list; it's the
guest's list." Well, aren't you just so humble and darling! But of course he's right: not only is it the guest's
list, it's also the chef's list, at least in terms of how it
complements the restaurant's food. It can't just be
about the sommelier's geeky favorites.
If someone were trying to "game" the list at Le
Pigeon-whose chef, Gabriel Rucker, is building on
a classical French base with local ingredients-no
doubt they'd first notice the heavily French bent,
and zero in on it. My first test: What's the Champagne situation? I spot a number of small-production
bottles under $100: Piollot's Come des Tallants Brut
Nature ($68); Chartogne-Taillet's Cuvée Saint-Anne
($85); Pierre Paillard's Bouzy Grand Cru Rosé ($96,
which is damn good for proper rosé Champagne and
would likely prompt even a cheapskate like me to
trade up). To me, the "affordable Champagne test"
is a hack to employ in any restaurant that purports
to be serious about wine.

photo by Carly Diaz

THE ANTI-STEAKHOUSE
STEAKHOUSE LIST

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Wine & Spirits - Fall 2017