After a visit to the Wine Gallery in Bordeaux where I tasted some of the best (or in any case, most expensive) wines in the world, La Brasserie Bordelaise was the destination for a bloody, but fatty, grisly and tough, entrecôte steak. What could match the power of Château Latour or Cheval Blanc to accompany such a dish?
This is just the sort of place I imagined an upmarket New York restaurant would look like.  Solid, spacious, salubrious and snobby, and that is a compliment. It is expensive in the evening but if, like me, you are on a budget, there are some great deals at lunchtime. I visited in September 2009 and unlike former customer, Monica Lewinsky, I managed to keep my stains on the tablecloth.
Signs of ageing are mostly self generated and excepting wrinkles, are usually related to the people you socialise with, the places you go, and the material goods you consume. I discovered what seems like yonks ago that BBC Radio 2 plays better music than Radio 1.  In fact it plays much the same music as Radio 1 did in the years when I used to listen in to Simon Bates and Noel Edmunds. I swapped my exciting Toyota sports coupé for a boring Mercedes Saloon about the same time (and yes, the interior was beige). Two cars later I have accelerated through an automatic gearbox, which took me a while to get used to, into full-on middle age – yes, a diesel automatic.
I like to think I have taken all this in my stride, but today I realised that I have just passed an altogether much more serious milestone. I have never seen anyone under 50 wear Ralph Lauren but I looked in my wardrobe today and found five shirts by this venerable, if ageing, New York designer. And what is worse, I actually like wearing them.
Meet a Yorkshireman and the word “baaaaaaaaaaaaa” springs to mind. How ironic then, that this land of sheep, where I have spent a large portion of my life, is seeing a proliferation of steak houses making a bovine takeover bid.
But here, sheep have other uses, mostly exercised at night and often, it is said, at the edge of a cliff so they push back harder. Such nocturnal activity demands that they remain alive. Perhaps this explains the fondness for eating beef, with or without Yorkshire pudding.
When it comes to dining, Leeds residents like to maintain their stature. Quantity is, therefore, the primary measure of a good meal. And there’s nowt wrong with that, provided that the quality is as good as the portions are big. And I prefer that they contain meat and not just carbo-fillers such as the eponymous local batter delicacy.
Blackhouse Grills is a juggernaut chain expanding rapidly, with six restaurants already spanning the country from Glasgow to London, but with the majority in the north of England. I spotted one in Leeds.
As taste sensations go, there is little to beat a hunk of well seasoned Argentinian beef, chargrilled and accompanied by a glass of decent Malbec. Chewing on the salty, aged and bloody meat causes a tingling in your gums as if a bovine mouthwash.   This then undergoes some kind of chemical reaction with the deep, moody, spicy wine that leaves you digesting the meal for a whole week. Sharp pangs – taste reminders – keep haunting you like salivating ghosts of taste past that make you press your teeth together in muscle memory.
As Argentinian steakhouses go, The Gaucho Grill takes the biscuit. Not only for great steaks with superb ghost potential, but also for awesome (by which I mean sky high) wine prices. Markups of over 300% are commonplace. That is four times the retail price and presumably they pay the importer much less! Is there a venue which matches the steak quality and authenticity, but where the only fleecing is associated with an occasional lamb chop?
In Leeds, a place I dine all too rarely these days, River Plate has appeared on the site once known as the Calls Grill. The menu looked pretty similar to Gaucho but, to be frank, the wine list looked cheap!
I used to love the Sunday Times Wine Club regular cases. I still admire their marketing and I still order plenty of wine from them. I just think that, once a member for a couple of years or so, one is better placed to select wines personally, than take the pre-mixed cases. Having said that, the mixed cases are by far the best value. What a dilemma.
I reconcile this dilemma by continuing my subscription to a single mixed case programme. The “President’s Cellar” delivers 6 bottles every six months at about £20 a cork. It does encourage me to try new wines occasionally. Generally the wines are for drinking, rather than laying down, and just occasionally they are not from Bordeaux or Burgundy.
This is how I acquired this St Joseph Rhône Ranger – I don’t know whether it is still available. The 2003 is still on the website at £16.91 per bottle. I have no idea whether this represents any better value than the 2001.
Made from 100% Syrah (I think) and aged in 50% new oak and 50% older oak casks, the 2001 is subtle with no strong aromas. The taste is spicy and fruity. Black pepper, fresh mint leaf and basil, with some bilberry, fig and peach.
Intense and concentrated flavour, it lasts forever in the mouth and is superb with rump steak. But, then it should be for the price!
Stumble It!