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Recently Gabriele and I had dinner at Proof in downtown Washington. It’s a stylish, wine-centric hot spot that has garnered a lot of praise in the last two years, including a “100 Best Restaurants” from Washingtonian.
I respect any restaurant that treats wine as seriously as Proof does. One thing I’d suggest would be to make the wine experience a bit more accessible. Almost every wine on the Proof list has a triple digit price next to it, and a pretty fair number have four.
Now I understand the restaurant wants to offer nice bottles that can’t be found everywhere. But excellent wine could be offered at lower and more approachable price points.
The list of wine by the glass is nicer and more varied than most, and we started with the Cimarone 3CV Bank 2010 Bordeaux blend. From Santa Barbara, this wine opens with a big, juicy nose that is matched with tannins that mellow quickly in the glass. The finish lingered on the palate and gave a bit of minerals and earth. It was a very drinkable California Bordeaux blend, which you don’t find in most restaurants by the glass.
With dinner we had a Pinot Noir from Radio-Coteau, a small volume producer in Sonoma. It was the Radio-Coteau La Neblina 2010, and we really enjoyed it. It opens with a big bright nose of raspberry that really jumps out. The wine is much more subtle than the nose suggests, very smooth and light. A quality wine and one that looks to retail for $45-50. So having said what I did above about the wine list, the markup we paid for this wine was quite fair.
The food was good as well. We had the chef’s tasting menu, with the cannelloni bean soup and scottish salmon ragout stronger than the Angus beef flat steak, which was a bit chewy and average. The cheese board afterwards was tastier and more varied than most. Service was excellent and well paced.
Proof is a must visit for the DC area oenophile. The bar area is attractive and is a good reason to visit, until you have a special event dinner to celebrate.
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