Life can change in a heartbeat.

When the smoke cleared, I found that I was again, at a table for one.

Having grown up an only child, this was a situation I was accustomed to, but once coupled, never thought I would return to for any prolonged length of time.

There is a stigma attached to eating out, preparing a meal, going on vacation, or simply deciding whether to open a bottle of wine if one doesn’t intend to finish it within the 3-4 days it will last.

Cooking for oneself also presents a unique challenge.

Both socially, and practically, we are taught from an early age that meals are meant to be communal experiences.

Recipes and grocery portions available for purchase are parceled out with more than one person in mind.

It can be a daunting situation, especially if one doesn’t normally cook. It is another reminder that we are no longer at a table for two, especially if, due to a new living situation, one finds oneself without a full or even decent kitchen.

But one has to feed oneself. Developing this skill will help rebuild one’s self-esteem, brick by brick.

A separation can also lead one to reinforce connections with old friends.

So in the coming weeks, with the help of a childhood friend and celebrity chef, Chris Shea, we will be posting recipes and sharing easy shortcuts that will make cooking for yourself something to look forward to, as opposed to another reminder of solitude and a general pain point.

Speaking of splits, this is still a wine column, so here are my Top Ten Bottles For One (all are 375ml or 2 1/2 glasses):

• Esporao Monte Velho Red Portugal $6

  One of the best value reds ever. This blend of Portuguese varietals:

  Trincadeira, Aragonez, Touriga Nacional, and some Syrah is full bodied, well structured, and has generous black fruit with chocolatey smooth tannins. Drinks like a wine 4X the price. Mind-bogglingly good value.

• Fontodi Chianti Classico 2021 $36

  BALLER Producer, at an affordable price. Full-bodied, bursting with high-toned red fruit, great acidity, and earthy tannins that lend structure and length. Perfect for red meat or red sauce.

• Ca Del Bosco Franciacorta Cuvee Prestige $28

  One of my absolute favs. Made in the traditional champagne method, and a similar blend: Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, but the addition of pinot bianco give it a softness and surprising quaffability. Translation: almost too easy to drink. This screams: “quiche”, “grilled chicken” or “freshwater fish.”

• Ca Lojera Lugana 2024 $22

  This Northern Italian white is for all the Sauvignon Blanc/ Sancerre loyalists. Clean, citrusy and minerally, just lighter and less acidic. Layer upon layer of nuance with value for days..

• Chateau Bois Redon Bordeaux Superieur $8

  A great everyday full-bodied red that is smooth, balanced, and dry finishing. Merlot dominant, and easier than a Sunday morning. Great for everything from a bag of chips to a burger or impromtu cheese plate. Reminds me of sitting in Paris at a table for one facing the Champs Élysées.

• Ed Edmundo Cabernet Sauvignon, Mendoza 2023 $8

  Cab Sauv can be over extracted, over oaked and generally a fruit bomb in this price point. Not so here. This wine is surprisingly well-balanced and easy to drink. Packed with dark fruit, chocolate and earthy sage-forward notes. Have it with Pizza, or just enjoy a glass after work.

• Jadot Beaujolais $10

  Light-bodied, showing red cranberries and earthy notes. Classic Beaujolais. Ultimate picnic wine. Perfect with a rotisserie chicken, steamed tofu, or a fancy ham sandwich. Tired of Pinot? Try its less venerated cousin. Like Cousin Eddie to Clark Griswold in the best possible way.

• Contessa Abruzzo Pecorino 2024 $14

  Possibly the most undervalued region in Italy overall. This light-bodied, rustic white wine is great for Albariño, or Fiano lovers. Slightly aromatic, with white stone fruit and a minerally finish. Ideal if the thought of another night with Netflix and Pinot Grigio makes you sad. Watch Netflix (I recommend “Suits”) dump the Santa Margherita.

• Ridge Vineyards Lytton Springs 2023 $24

  One of the rare big names from California I will drink. This is Zin the way the good Lord intended. Powerful, and big as a mountain, yet balanced on the head of a pin. Fantastic black and red fruit, impressive structure, and an effortlessly smooth finish. Think spicy fare here.

• El Coto Crianza 2021 $10

  I love a good Tempranillo, and this is a good value. Yes, it is oaky and fruit forward, but the tannins more than balance it, and this wine is ideal with cold cuts like Jamon Iberico, or a nice chorizo omellette.

In American professional football it is unheard of for one individual to have such an impact on a sport where 53 athletes fill out a roster and 11 players take the field per side.

Tom Brady’s storybook career is a literally unbelievable Cinderella story: The 199th pick in the draft, and a longtime backup player that got his chance to shine due to a freak injury to the starting quarterback.

He took the field and NEVER looked back. He has more Super bowl rings, amassed more passing yards and Super bowl MVP awards than any other quarterback. He also led the NFL in many categories this year at the insanely ripe old age of 44!

In short, he is the greatest football player of all time. It isn’t even close. (Which makes my NY Giants’ two Super Bowl victories at Brady’s expense all the more satisfying.)

Sports, like wine, can be markers of our lives. I often reminisce about who I was with, and where I was in life when I saw the Yankees win in 1996, or the time I tried my first bottle of Dom Perignon 1995, or sold my first bottles of Mouton Rothschild and Prieur to the same table.

So in honor of Brady’s retirement I became reflective. I have been fortunate enough to see him, Mohammad Ali, Wayne Gretzky, the 1990’2-2000’s Yankees (I wish I could’ve seen Babe Ruth), Michael Jordan, Serena Williams, and Lionel Messi ply their collective crafts. They are on my Mount Rushmore.

I have likewise been fortunate enough to taste a few masterpieces of wine. The kind of wines I had no business being lucky enough to experience. I also list some I haven’t tried yet but are on my bucket list.

In keeping with my mission statement I also list which wines are the best VALUES in the categories I have ever tasted (relative to their prices).

• Champagne: Salon Champagne Le Mesnil 2007 (with apologies to Dom Perignon 1959, and Pol Roger 1949). The GOAT (greatest of all time) producer of Champagne’s masterpiece vintage opus is 100% Chardonnay from the Clos De Mesnil - the undisputed best place on planet earth to cultivate it. A unicorn vintage that is just starting to come into its own. This wine still haunts me. Total bliss. Working at Del Posto for a time gave me access to a superlative education on high end Champagne and Italian wine. Like a museum of fine wine.

  Best VALUE Champagne: Delamotte Blanc de Blancs (same producer, just from less prestigious vintages that get blended) Also not even close here. I stack this up against Krug Blanc de Blancs and do not look back. For the inevitable question: Armand de Brignac (Ace of Spades) and Cristal are for rap videos, and strip clubs, DP is great but overpriced these days, and Veuve is for try-hard bourgeois suburban brunches.

• Barolo: Giacomo Conterno Barolo “Monfortino” 1964

  If Brady were a wine, this would be a great parallel. In my not-so-humble professional opinion the finest Barolo ever produced, by the grand master of Barolo. The late, great Giacomo Conterno. His attention to detail remains unsurpassed and this vintage was particularly lush, and aged like no other in the modern era. Still vibrant, full of dimension, nuance, and an incredible vigor.

  Best VALUE in Barolo I ever had: GD Vajra Barolo “Albe” 2014 $34 If you can still find this vintage, you should buy it with both hands. (all you can get)

• Dessert Wine: Chateaux d’Yquem Sauternes 1811 BUCKET LIST. The only dessert wine considered a first growth in Bordeaux. Enough sugar and acidity to last sometimes 100 years. This particular vintage is undoubtedly past its storied drinkability window by now, but was the “comet vintage” that even Parker the antichrist-like wine critic responsible for the downfall of California wine after 1995 due to his smoker’s palate and oversimplified numerical rating “system” scored it a perfect 100 points.

  Best VALUE dessert wine ever: Donnafugata Ben Rye Passito di Pantelleria 2002

  One of the few Italian dessert wines to be vintage specific. Its name means “Divine Wind” in Arabic. It is a late harvest Moscato of Alexandria that shows gorgeous acidity and has great aromatics and notes of caramel, with ripe stone fruit. At $50 for a 375 ml bottle it is a spectacular alternative to Sauternes. I also take it over Vin Santo, or any other Italian dessert wine.

• Bordeaux (Left Bank): Chateaux Margaux 1982 , Chateaux Latour 1982, Mouton 1982, or Lafitte 1982 BUCKET LIST ALERT: I would happily choose any of these wines for my last meal. Although I haven’t tasted this vintage, any time I open a first growth is usually a special occasion unto itself. This was among the most revered “perfect storm” vintages they have ever seen. I am hoarding pennies for the day I can pounce on any of these.

  Best VALUE Left Bank Bordeaux: Chateaux Prieure Lichine 2015 Fourth classified growth for $50-75 !! (from what is shaping up to be another LEGENDARY vintage. ) This wine is medium to medium plus bodied, dark fruited, lush, and smooth, but powerful and structured. Young but super drinkable. Mind blowing at the price.. Among the best $50 I ever spent on wine.

• Pinot Noir: Domaine de la Romanee Conti “La Tache” 1990

  BUCKET LIST wine. A fabled vintage. Arguably the greatest Pinot Noir producer in Burgundy and by extension on the planet. (With apologies to Ramonet and Ponsot) I have tasted other vintages and was struck by the complexity and concentration. Easily the most commoditized wine of the last few years, but still valuable for a reason.

  BEST VALUE Red Burgundy: Domaine Sylvain Pataille “L’Ancestrale” Marsannay 2018 $50

  Great concentration of fruit with insanely elegant balance, amazing texture and depth. So good it makes me angry.

• South-Central Italian Selection 1: Emidio Pepe Montepulciano D’Abbruzzo 1975, and 2018

  Unlike any other Montepulciano producer, the house of Emidio Pepe pays attention to details that other winemakers flatly ignore and it shows. Including hand sorting and manual punchdowns, rebottling, and other terms you are probably glazing over at by now. Suffice it to say it makes for an ENTIRELY different Montepulciano. I recently enjoyed a vertical of this at our dear friends’ exquisite Abruzzese restaurant “Le Virtu” in Philadelphia. The 75 was smooth, elegant and nuanced. With secondary and tertiary flavors of plum and stewed fruit that emerged as the tannin eased away. Delicate and fleeting like watching a sunset. The current release is full bodied, with dark and red fruits, earth, mint, muscular acidity and and chocolatey well structured tannins. Like an Hermitage that was crossed with a Brunello. The 2018 only cost me 54 Euro in Florence and is by far the best Montepulciano for the money I have ever tasted.

• Tuscan selection 1: Biondi-Santi Brunello di Montalcino Riserva 1964

  In a category loaded with great producers and historically great aging wines, my fondest memory is of this special vintage a customer ordered and I DUTIFULLY tasted for flaws prior to serving. The complexity, fruit, and sheer length of the finish were addictive. Like seeing a fleeting glimpse of a Michelangelo painting for a few seconds.

  The best VALUES in Tuscan wine I ever had were Tenuta Montetti’s Caburnio 2009 Super Tuscan , (like Sassicaia but only $25 at the time) or Le Ragnaie Troncone (declassified Brunello) at $27.

Next time I will continue with more selections from France, Spain, and other areas.

Here is my take on a few well known wines:

1. Caymus Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon Estimated Cost: $90

Ladies and Gentlemen, may I present Exhibit A. There is perhaps no more overpriced, overhyped, and uninspiring, badly made American wine. It is a linear juice and oak bomb that is unfortunately devoid of any structure or nuance. All you get for your hard earned $90 is thin, flat, fruit and oak.

If a big name Napa Valley wine appeals to you, try the Freemark Abbey instead. Priced a smidge above half the price, and ten times the quality. At an average cost of $50, this pedigreed wine blows Caymus away in terms of depth of flavor, balance, structure, and elegance.

2.-Santa Margherita Pinot Grigio Estimated Cost: $25-$30

The very biggest ripoff in Pinot Grigio. Hands down the worst $25 you will spend in the northern Italian wine category. This is the textbook example of mass produced, low quality wine. You are basically paying for them to open more wine bars in airports and train stations and not for a decent wine in the glass. Insipid, flavorless, and watery.

Try Terlan Pinot Grigio instead at $20. Bright, medium bodied, fruity, refreshing and clean finishing.

3. Veuve Cliquot Yellow Label Brut Champagne NV Estimate Cost: $65

I wish they put as much money into the production of this formerly solid wine as they do all those branded promotional items like coozies, tote bags, umbrellas, tee shirts, car seats, condoms, colostomy bags, etc.

Want to impress someone when you bring a bottle to a dinner party, and aren’t sure the host will understand/appreciate a grower Champagne?

Try Delamotte. The second label of Salon (You know, the very finest Champagne producer in existence.) is a bargain. I could bore you with the geeky details about the Clos de Mesnil area, and how it is the most ideal place to grow Chardonnay in the world, but I have probably lost you already. Bottom line: At a mere $50 it makes VC taste like comparative battery acid.

4. Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc Estimated Cost: $30

This one was tricky because Cloudy Bay is legitimately tasty. The issue here is VALUE. Do I like it enough to pay $30?

Not when I can buy a similarly good wine like Massey Dacta for $12 ! It shows all the markers of a solid New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc: Grapefruit, vegetal notes, a tart mid palate, and SUPER clean finish.

5. Gaja Sori San Lorenzo 2015 Estimated Cost: $535

Angelo Gaja put Barbaresco on the map with his innovative techniques of winemaking and marketing in the 70’s and 80’s. He very quickly became the darling of critics, then inevitably the collectors. The prices then SKYROCKETED.

I am using one of his higher end wines as an example of Veuve-Cliquot-itis.

Open a bottle of 2015 Produttori del Barbaresco Paje Riserva at $70 (so as to have a fair comparison) and taste them side by side.

The Produttori version of Barbaresco shows just as much elegance, nuance, and length as the Gaja, with better integrated tannins, in my humble professional opinion.

Salute!

The traditional American “turkey and fixins” meal is a surprisingly confusing wine pairing for lots of people. This is especially true when one has varied palates to please at the table. The instinct is usually to reach for the same old wines.

Let’s try something different this year…

Finding the balance of flavors is key, and avoiding the same tired cliches of California Chard or Pinot Grigio keeps things fresh.

So in the spirit of stress reduction and the satisfaction of finding a good deal, here are my suggestions:

1. Gerard Boulay Chavignol Sancerre 2020 $34

   A minerally, all-purpose, clean and bright Sauvignon Blanc that will serve as a fantastic palate cleanser for the gravy and sides, without overpowering the turkey. Good for everything from passed apps all the way through dinner.

2. Red Tail Ridge Estate Dry Riesling 2020 $22

   The Finger Lakes AVA produces fantastic aromatic white wines. This is my favorite in the price range. Aromatic, petrol, and mineral. The terpenes and aromatics will make even the driest of turkeys more palatable. NOT SWEET.

3. San Salvatore Palinuro Paestum IGT 2019 $25

   A field blend of the main white grapes of Campania (Fiano, Greco, and Falanghina). Great balance, medium to medium-plus bodied, with a fair amount of complexity. Showing white peach and citrus zest, with a tart pleasingly mineral finish. Will elevate Turkey, while standing up to starchy or heavy sides like mashed potatoes.

4. Prudhon Bourgogne Aligoté 2018 $22

   The “other” white grape of Burgundy. Tastes like an unoaked Chard crossed with a Muscadet. Light to medium bodied. Faint orchard fruit on the front, with a really pleasant mineral driven finish. Won’t upstage anything on the table, and will elevate most Turkey preparations.

5. Storm Point Chenin Blanc 2020 $17

   Like a New Zealand Sauv Blanc with more body. Featuring tart apricot, and citrus blossoms and a delicously faint salinity. This is textbook Chenin Blanc with a ridiculously well balanced finish. This goes down easy!

6. Gruet Blanc de Blancs NV $19

   Sparkling is a fantastic pairing for Thanksgiving dinner. Yes. It is from New Mexico. Missionaries planted the vines over 120 years ago. It is made in the Champagne method. Tastes like a wine 5 times the price. You won’t believe how good it is.

7. Domaine Chantemerle Chablis 2019 $28

   One of the best values in Chablis. Perfect balance, nice stone fruit, and complexity. A great wine for the bird. Checks off the boxes of “Chardonnay” and “fancy” for your more “discerning” (annoying) guests.

8. Au Bon Climat Santa Barbara Pinot Noir 2019 $26

   When opting for a Thanksgiving friendly red, I go for something medium bodied with young fruit, good acidity, and pleasant tannins. The late Jim Clendenen’s swan song is a love letter to a Burgundy, at half the cost. See? I don’t hate all California wine!

9. Domaine Joseph Cattin Pinot Blanc 2020 $16

   For the Pinot Grigio lovers. This selection is a steal. Light to medium-minus bodied. More aromatic and substantial than Pinot Grigio, less acidic or residually sugary than most Riesling, with some honeyed notes and a tart, crisp, quick finish.

10. Movia Rebula Ribolla Gialla 2019 $27

    Orange wine is absolutely tailor made for this meal. It tastes like you left a Sauv Blanc in a smoker overnight, then crossed it with a lager beer. (in the absolute best sense) It will highlight the turkey with its tannin and mineral. The nectarine/peach notes will pair perfectly with the sweet potato, and your “beer only” guests will actually like this. Trust me on this one.

    Traditional Honorable Mentions (the usual go-to’s) :

    • Olivier Leflaive Les “Setilles” Bourgogne Blanc 2019 $25

      White Burgundy is the standard by which all other Thanksgiving pairings are judged

    • Les Jamelles Viognier 2020 $15

      A classic turkey pairing that won’t break the bank.

    • Beaujolais Nouveau Lapierre “Raisins”- 2021 $18

      Cliched, but oh-so-good pairing. Never drink it after New Years.

    • Terlan Pinot Grigio $21

      The best “Pinot-Greeg” for the money in my opinion.

Montalcino is one of the most celebrated wine producing appellations in all of Tuscany. So when looking for a good deal here, you have to do some digging.

Certified DOCG Sangiovese grown in Montalcino has an altitude limit to be named Brunello; it's not allowed to grow above 600m. This is tough to do.

Ricardo Campinotti, the owner and winemaker at Le Ragnaie opted instead for declassification- giving up the prestigious DOCG designation and calling it IGT Chianti Colli Senesi. 

2014 was a rough vintage, so from that point on, all the wines from that plot were labeled IGT Toscana Rosso.

So what does this mean to you, and what does “Troncone” mean anyway? First, Troncone means stump, and was Riccardo's grandfather’s nickname. Secondly, this all means you are getting a great Brunello at HALF the cost! This wine drinks like a $60-$75 bottle yet due to it’s declassification, retails for only $25

“Ragnaie”, meanwhile, if you were wondering, is the name of the vineyard, and means “spiderweb” in Etruscan dialect. It’s the name of the net that hunters used to catch small birds.

This 100% organic wine starts with Sangiovese vines that are relatively young, at only 14 years old on average. The wine is fermented in concrete vats, and sees a year in Slavonian oak barrels to let the tannins and acidity settle into the structure of this beautiful wine.

In the glass the wine has a solid, opaque core of raspberry and ruby red color, with variation at the rim.

On the nose, one is greeted by a bouquet of red fruit and red raspberries, cherries, and baking spices.

On the palate, this medium to full bodied red shows all the elegant hallmarks of a Brunello:

Fresh raspberry,  red plums, and pomegranate lead to herbaceous hints of thyme and wild rosemary and a slight salinity with elegant, ashy tannins. 

The best pairings for this wine are of course steaks, but it also does exceptionally well with red pastas, pizza, or soup dumplings on a cool night.

Salute!

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