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The French Laundry in California is a foodie Mecca. But with all its emphasis on the food, the restaurant's wine takes second place. Tim Atkin considers what's on offer in his latest wine column ...

From INTELLIGENT LIFE Magazine, Winter 2009

Thomas Keller has colonised Yountville in California the way Rick Stein took over Padstow in Cornwall. For Padstein read Kellerville. This small, beautiful, appealingly sleepy corner of the Napa Valley (population 2,916) is home to no fewer than four different Keller establishments: Bouchon, Bouchon Bakery, Ad Hoc and, most famous and expensive of all, the French Laundry. If Mr Keller didn’t exist, Yountville would surely have invented him.

The French Laundry is one of America’s most celebrated restaurants, with the plaudits, waiting list and three Michelin stars to prove it. The two-storey stone cottage on Washington Street has been a bar, a brothel, a private residence, a steam laundry and, more recently, a restaurant. Today it is widely acknowledged as the best place to eat “French” food on the west coast, or as my waiter put it, to have “a three-and-a-half-hour dining experience”.

As a wine inspector, my job is to review the contents of the cellar rather than the cuisine. All I will say about Keller’s cooking — and this is relevant to my criticisms of the wine list — is that it is some of the subtlest and most nuanced in America. The $240, nine-course tasting menu (there is no à la carte) is delicious: traditional, refined and beautifully cooked. There’s so much emphasis on the food, right down to a bewildering choice of six different types of salt, that wine inevitably takes second place. That might sound unfair on a selection of 2,300 bins, which includes most of the world’s finest names, 150 half-bottles and 44 wines by the glass. But it’s true. The French Laundry attracts people who are foodies first and wine-lovers second.

Maybe that’s why parts of the list feel as if they are aimed at label-fondlers. This is especially true of the Californian selection, which is full of over-priced cult wines. I’m sure there are people out there who are willing to pay $1,680 for a bottle of 2004 Harlan Estate or $2,050 for the 2004 Screaming Eagle, but they must be a dwindling band in the present economic climate.

Overall, the list is pretty pricey. Even in a three-star restaurant, it’s worrying to find that the cheapest by-the-glass wine (a Sancerre rosé) sells for $16, and that the most expensive (Krug Grande Cuvée Champagne) will set you back $45. High mark-ups are a persistent problem, adding to the impression that wine sales are subsidising the food. To cite only one example, just two of the 360-plus Californian reds on the list cost less than $100, and many cost three or four times that amount.

Being situated in the middle of the Napa Valley is a boon. Commonly considered California’s leading wine region, it attracts nearly as many tourists as Disneyland and supplies a consistent stream of punters to the French Laundry, not to mention local winemakers keen to impress their best customers. But there’s a downside too. Napa Valley wines, particularly modern-style Napa Cabernets, don’t generally work with Keller’s food: too big, too oaky, too obvious, too alcoholic. You can’t blame him for listing so many, but make sure you don’t order one.

There are, fortunately, more appropriate things to drink with the tasting menu, especially from Burgundy, an area the list specialises in. It’s also gratifying to see a restaurant carry so many wines from Italy, Germany, Austria and Alsace, as well as a generous number of Californian Pinot Noirs. The two wines I drank, recommended by a friendly, knowledgeable sommelier, were the spicy, concentrated 2006 Bründlmayer Alte Reben Grüner Veltliner, Kamptal ($150) from Austria, and the stylish, elegant 2006 Anthill Farms Abbey-Harris Vineyard Pinot Noir ($160) from California’s Anderson Valley. Not cheap, but great with the food.

If you ignore some of the prices, the by-the-glass selection is good too. Any restaurant that is prepared to offer its customers a German Riesling Kabinett, a traditional white Rioja, a Californian Roussanne, a Chinon, a Tokaji, a Sercial Madeira and a Brunello di Montalcino in small measures cannot be accused of parochialism or lack of nerve. It’s also a joy to see so many excellent half-bottles.

Overall, however, the list is not as exciting or as focused as it could be. It’s too long, relies too heavily on the Napa Valley, makes lazy, default choices in countries like Spain and Australia, and is not always selected to match Thomas Keller’s cooking. There are also a few whites, especially from California, that sound worryingly mature to me. Is the 1989 Hanzell Chardonnay, for example, still in peak condition? I’m not sure, and at $565 a bottle I wasn’t in a hurry to find out.

IN THE BIN

Number of wines: 2,300

By the glass: 44

Under $50: 3

Over $150: 1,600

Best value: 2005 Morgon, Marcel Lapierre ($50)

Worst value: 1997 Screaming Eagle Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley ($10,075)

Gluggability: 4 out of 5 stars

Expense account adjuster*: 5 out of 5 stars

Sancerre index 3.5 **

* Probability that the next-door table are paying with the company’s money

** 2007 Sancerre, Les Monts Damnés, Chavignol, Pascal Cotat is $175 at the restaurant and sells for around $50
in the shops

The French Laundry, 6640 Washington Street, yountville, CA; +1 (707) 944-2380

(Tim Atkin is a Master of Wine. His last Wine Inspector column for Intelligent Life was about France's greatest wine list. Mark Vanhoenacker recently compared the French Laundry with McDonald's.)

Picture credit: pvsbond (via Flickr), Sam Barker (of Tim Atkin)