2006 Château Listran Médoc

So on my Atlanta junket, I had the pleasure of dining with 13 other conference attendees at a wonderful little French restaurant across the street from the hotel, called Bistro Niko, yes I know it sounds Greek, but I think that's because the owners of this chain of restaurants in the Buckhead area are Greek (they also own a Greek restaurant called Kyma which we dined at on Thursday).  At any rate, we had a chance to enjoy some wonderful French cuisine and some great wines as well (we only ordered 7 bottles between the 14 of us!).

Please excuse the crummy photo, but I took this at the table with my iPhone so it might not be as clear as it could be!  On this night, the wine was eclipsed by the food in my opinion, so I won't leave the delicious pairings until the end, but will give you a succinct play-by-play instead.  I hope you don't mind!

To start, I ordered a dozen escargots en croûte that I split with one of my new friends.  They were delicious!  The last time I was in Buckhead in 1994, we went to another French restaurant and that time I had escargot but they were in the shell.  These were served in garlic butter with a tiny puff pastry on top, and they were outstanding!  Then I ordered some wine for the table, if I recall, we had a bottle of the house Bordeaux, a couple bottles of Malbec, a bottle of house Pinot Gris, a bottle of house Sauvignon Blanc, and a couple bottles of the 2006 Château Listran Médoc.

Now this wine needed some time to open up, as my first taste was somewhat alarming with the nose of wet dog!  But after allowing the wine to breathe a bit, it really opened up nicely in the glass.  The wet dog evolved into some earthy aromas of oak and peat along with dried herbs.  The initial taste had very subdued fruit, with a hint of cassis, and at mid-palate there was a combination of aged tobacco and dark chocolate, yielding to an incessantly dry finish as only a nice Bordeaux can deliver.  Remarkably enough, I had this wine with seafood!  Specifically, with the

pâtes aux fruits des mer, which was a combination of sea scallops and calamari from Maine andMédoc stood as a near perfect contrast to the creamy richness of my dinner, so delicious!  We liked this wine enough to order a second bottle and at $36, I thought it might just be the best bargain on their wine list, and likely available outside the restaurant for under $20.  Overall, I would rate this one a solid 8, but remember to let it decant or breathe a bit in the glass to further your enjoyment!