I have a new favorite holiday. Actually, I started in this direction years ago, when the New French Cafe’s ever-fantabulous celebration of Bastille Day was one of the true highlights of the year: fab food, wine, beer, people- (and dog-) watching and music.

So yesterday was a delight. I spent part of the afternoon at a World Class Wines tasting that featured great reds (including an $8 Lesac Petite Crau), whites (the $22 Emile Baillard Sancerre Croq Caillotes positively rocked, and the $9 Tertre de launeay Entre-deux-Mers was delightful) and pinks (another $9 gem, the Routas Rose’).

Then last night a couple of friends came by for baseball’s All-Star Game. My buddy Craig brought along a positively beautiful California cab made in old-world style, the 2004. Diamond Creek Red Rocks Terrace (from a winery founded by Minnesota native Al Brounstein). Full and rustic and deep as the ocean, it would have been the star of most any other night.

And for a time, it was last night. That’s because we had to wait a couple of hours while my friend Karl’s 2005 Louis Jadot Gevrey Chambertin Lavaux-Saint-Jacques unfolded in a decanter. It started off tight as a, well I can’t use the metaphor he rolled out, but our patience was more than rewarded. It was pure silk on the palate, with lovely cherry flavors and a bountiful finish, with a mystique that kept you coming back for more more more.

This is the kind of tres elegante wine that helps Burghounds keep the faith. It’s also an example of why Mike Steinberger’s Bastille Day column was spot-on. The premise: France is still the king of the wine world. The redoubtable Steinberger delineates several reasons why, as he puts it:

“For all the viticultural progress in California, Australia, Argentina, and elsewhere, most of the major grape varieties — pinot noir, cabernet sauvignon, merlot, grenache, syrah, chardonnay, sauvignon blanc, chenin blanc — still achieve their finest expressions on French soil. I think France also makes the best sweet, sparkling, and rosé wines. Certainly, there is no other bubbly that can rival a premium Champagne for complexity and pleasure. Hang out in wine circles long enough and you will meet scores of people who were once hooked on Napa cabernets or Australian shirazes but who have now partially or completely sworn them off in favor of Bordeaux, the Rhône, and other things French. You don’t find much traffic heading in the opposite direction.”

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