Have you been down there recently? I was visiting restaurants in New Orleans last month calling on friends who have listed our wines for years. My toes are still tapping to the tunes I heard up Frenchman Street on my last night in town. Michel-Schlumberger wines roll along perfectly with the easy charm and mighty fine food of this time-honored place on The River. Surely folks here invented the finer points of Hospitality: welcoming smiles, glasses of wine, firm handshakes, a cozy corner table, and a genuine interest in any citizen of the world who happens along for a taste of something savory or sweet – just off the stove. Good Louisiana food is chocked full of distinctive flavors that bubble up from natural ingredients farmed organically and fished locally, then bound in layers of tradition. Perhaps that is why our wines match up easily; we live and make wine in a similar mind.
On a bright afternoon during my visit, I padded past the Quarter along the river walk on the way over to the Warehouse District, when the breezy scream of a calliope on a big river boat blasted out notes of pleasure; it sped me along. I was headed to Tommy’s Cuisine and Wine Bar to visit the proprietor, J.C., a man of easy grace and wit, who also knows the by-ways of culinary pleasure. When I reached Tommy’s – it is over on Tchoupitoulas Street - I found J. C., holding court near the bar. Without missing a beat, he chatted with patrons, another restaurateur, a waitperson, his chef, a food critic, and a wine salesman (me) and made all of us feel like he was there just for us. He told me our Cab is his favorite wine, then he offered me a glass. I thanked him and invited him out to the Estate for a look-see and told him we have our own kind of hospitality. Perhaps shaped by our off-the-beaten tract, Benchland beat, at Michel-Schlumberger we also love good music, local ingredients for our table- many from our kitchen garden, and delicious wines made from our organically grown grapes. Try a bottle at Tommy’s in New Orleans, or come out for a visit to the Estate.
Hospitality, wherever you find it, starts first with a smile, followed by a glass.
