Katrina Destroys Once Great Wine Cellar

"They may be drinkable, but they're probably better for salads,"


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051210/ap_on_re_us/katrina_wine;_ylt=ArAxYHwztsY34K.ZDnR.zwBvzwcF;_ylu=X3oDMTA5aHJvMDdwBHNlYwN5bmNhdA--
Katrina Destroys Once Great Wine Cellar

By MARY FOSTER, Associated Press Writer Sat Dec 10, 3:34 AM ET

NEW ORLEANS - In the dark, dank recesses of what was once one of the great wine cellars of the world, the fabled bottles sit. The 1870 Lafite Rothschild, the Chateau Moutons, Chateau Magaux — fine wines with enormous price tags, or at least they were.


The wine cellar at Brennan's Restaurant, winner since 1983 of Wine Spectator magazine's Grand Award as one of the 85 top cellars in the world, has 35,000 bottles that since Hurricane Katrina have gone from vintage to vinegar.........


The Brennan's wine cellar covers two floors in what was once the carriage house of the 1795 French Quarter mansion-turned-restaurant. Domestic wines are stacked to the ceiling on the first floor, European vintages on the second floor. Behind a locked gate is the private collection — dusty bottles of fine wines so costly they have waited for years for someone to taste them.

The collection, which was insured for $1 million, was ruined when the electricity went off after the hurricane. The wine cellar, normally kept at 58 degrees year-round, was suddenly at the mercy of the broiling sun and heat wave that followed the storm.
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I'm trying to picture how one would go about evacuating wines. Just moving them is dangerous.

Insurance company better pay.

This is sad to read, but people are far more important.

but honestly, shouldn't they have (a) off-sited some of it long before this, and (b) had a generator? Brennan's is in the Quarter, which was not under water. We all know by now that the wealthy and connected had access to things (like maybe fuel for a generator) that other commoners did not have. It would have been no surprise if they had been able to fuel a generator long enough to keep the wine cellar at temp. And New Orleanians for the most part (the ones who can afford dining at Brennan's, anyway) would not have been pissed off about them taking advantage of their dough and status. They have a restaurant in Houston, for God's and history's sakes. Could they not have gotten some of their stash over there at some point, and made some inroads on ending the old family feud, to boot?

NB: I'm not wild about Brennan's, there are much better places to eat in NO. I've had some pretty good meals at Mr. B's, but overall I thought Brennan's and Commander's Palace were overrated. (Though I am saddened to hear that CP's suffered a great deal of damage.) I'm more interested in how Arnaud's, Galatoire's, and Antoine's are going to make their way back, than in Jimmy's wine collection.

The sad part of it is that the insurance company will undoubtedly pay up, forthwith, because of the stature of this restaurant, and the negative publicity that could ensue if they don't.

On the other hand, people who have lost their homes continue to be 'stiffed' by the insurance companies who are supposed to cover their losses.

:nopity: for a wine cellar, in the face of a far greater catastrophe.

You know, this just doesn't tug at the heartstrings. I'm sorry.

Tens of thousands of New Orleanians lost their homes, their jobs, their neighborhoods, and all semblance of a normal life.

New Orlean's universities-UNO, Tulane, Xavier, Dillard, SUNO, LSU Med, LSU Dental, Our Lady of Holy Cross, Delgado-are struggling to resume their educational mission.

The public school systems in Orleans, St Bernard, Jefferson and St Tammany Parishes are saddled with catastrophic damage to their facilities.

Heck, what about the hundreds of small mom-and-pop restaurants in Mid City, Kenner, Arabi and Bucktown? Somehow, I don't think the insurance company will be quite as attentive to their needs.

Somehow, Teddy Brennan's Laffite Rothschild and Opus One don't seem quite as pressing a concern as these other matters.

is important.

But Teddy and Jimmy's wine cellar, who gives a shit. If your food isn't any good, all the Opus One in the world won't make it better, and if your food is a platonic ideal (to invoke Richard and Rima Collin), a cheap bottle of BV will suit just fine.