5 Reasons to Love (the Wine List at) 555 Restaurant in Portland, Maine
Posted 04/25/2008 at 10:05 PM by Cathy
1. It's approachable, meaning it's sorted into categories that don't scare anyone, like Fun and Aromatic Whites (New World and Old World). Not Quite Reds and Dry Rosés. You get the idea. One category of the list is even devoted entirely to Environmentally Friendly Producers.
2. Sure they have their "reach wines" – including at least four versions from Joseph Phelps of Napa and the iconic Penfolds "Grange" from South Australia – but I was more psyched about the long list of bottles available for $60 or less. Portland has plenty of young people and plenty of frugal people and plenty of people, obviously, who care about wine. 555 appeals to them all.
3. Some of the more recognizable wines to me were recognizable because I've just tasted them or written about them in the context of the spring-season palate shift toward lighter-bodied, fresher wines. I was happy to see the likes of Hugel & Fils and Pascal Jolivet, not just because I happen to like them but because they're current producers, current in the sense of in the game, in the sense of not stodgy, in the sense of personable, unpretentious wines. In that sense the wine list clearly reflects the style and sense of the people running the place.
4. It's easy to find a wine, or a few wines, on the list to pair with the chef's exceptional collection of special dishes, like the Bangs Island Mussels, or the Pepper-Crusted Diver Scallops, or the Grilled Caesar Salad. (Yep, that's grilled lettuce. Trust the chef on this one.)
5. It's just cool to have a 2005 Jackson Triggs Ice Wine on the list. Jackson Triggs produces the wine from the Niagara Peninsula, where grapes are grown as a cash crop. Once the Arctic wind swoops in and freezes the grapes, most of them are shipped to Japan where, apparently, people have a taste for ice wine from this particular location. 555 snagged a few bottles for themselves, and for their guests.
Bonus Reason: The chef is a nice guy.
Bonus Reason Plus One: The cost of dining at 555 is completely reasonable, despite the chef's fame as a Food & Wine magazine Best New Chef of 2007.
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