A truly exceptional dinner w/ Tête de Cuvées and Grand Cru Burgs
A truly exceptional dinner w/ Tête de Cuvées and Grand Cru Burgs
by cme18
17 Comments
cme18
An amazing dinner (for four!) concluding a long wine weekend. It was a privilege to spend hours with each of these wines.
The Champagne flight was paired with two courses: Caviar with creme fraiche and blinis to start, followed by the signature crab cake along with yellowfin tuna crudo with scallion chili crisp, yuzu pearls, and a coconut-lime vinaigrette. All three champagnes were poured simultaneously and enjoyed over the course of the evening, ~5 hours.
* **2006 Bollinger Vieilles Vignes Françaises**
* Stunning. A flamboyant champagne that jumped out of the bottle from the moment the cork was popped, evolving throughout the evening but never losing a step. A kaleidoscope of exotic fruits and flowers coming one after another. In the background, typical Bollinger autolytic notes were joined by a subtle minerality and umami that added up to one of the best champagnes I’ve ever tasted. Young enough to still develop without fear of falling off in the near future, however, I cannot imagine how it could improve. My WOTY.
* **2006 Krug Clos du Mesnil** * Wonderful to drink but still clearly on the upswing. This has at least 20 years before it may start to fall off. Quite tight immediately after opening, bouquet more so than palate, this wine evolved consistently and dramatically over the course of the evening, approaching but not equaling the Bollinger VVF by night’s end. Both bouquet and palate were dominated by white flowers, white fruits and ripe lemon, underpinned by a subtle minerality. The acidity ensured the fruit and overall size were in balance, ensuring that this wine was drinking quite younger than its 18 years. Considerably lengthy finish.
* **2006 Salon Blanc de Blancs Brut** * A wonderful champagne in its own right, this bottle was not totally ready. It showed fantastic texture on the palate, an immense finish, but the minerality and structure kept the fruit and florals masked except for glimpses throughout the evening. If I had another bottle, I’d wait a while before opening.
Next, an absolute masterclass in pairing by Jay, the wine director. This single-wine flight was paired with palmetto squab with grape-fig agrodolce, caramelized fennel, and a rosemary jus, accompanied by a summer squash salad.
* **1996 Hubert Lignier Clos de la Roche** * The wine half of one of the standout pairings I’ve ever tried, this wine was rustic in the best sense of the word. Considerably structured with a brace of acidity, this bottle had the fruit to complement the structure unlike many 1996s, but still needs a half decade or so for the tannins to fully resolve. Leathery with a duck-ish sanguine character, sour red and black fruits, subtle florals and spices. Immense finish. This wine really rewarded sipping and thinking about it. Fantastic to drink now but clearly not yet peaking.
Following the Lignier, another knocked-out-of-the-park pairing. These wines were paired with shawarma-spiced venison tenderloin with butterbean purée, roasted radish, greek yoghurt and a pomegranate zhug, accompanied by a brown butter chanterelle risotto with pickled chili and corn relish.
* **2001 Armand Rousseau Chambertin-Clos de Bèze** * The bouquet on this wine was relatively shy, especially at first, and especially compared with its La Tâche flight mate. Perfectly ripe strawberries and red fruits complemented by some damp earth. A wine to sniff, then sniff again before sipping. Texturally, like drinking a silk blanket. Over time the fruit gained prominence while remaining somewhat restrained, but throughout the evening the wine’s finish was measured in minutes.
* **2001 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti La Tâche** * My first La Tâche, and luckily for me this bottle was close to perfect according to my dinner mates. The bouquet was simply aromatic fireworks comprised of fresh strawberries and other red fruit mixed with Vosne spice, Chinese five spice, and all sorts of floral and spice aromas that danced between fresh and dried. A bouquet where you hesitate to sip the wine for fear of the palate not matching up. A hedonistic yet weightless mouthfeel with resolved tannins and the right amount of acidity to underpin the wonderful fresh fruit and tea notes. An electric finish that went on and on and was layered in and of itself.
Dessert. KISS with a seared foie gras and strawberry grand marnier jam with a pecan brioche crumb.
* **2001 Château d’Yquem** * Immensely concentrated with an initial punch of sweetness to the palate before flavors of caramel, honey, yellow, white, and exotic fruits come one after another. Miles-long finish. A perfect way to end the evening, even if it was eclipsed by the otherworldly ’83 the night before.
shitbirdie
Holy shit
corwintanner
Where was this? Sounds epic.
Ceber007
Go big or go home
swampbanker
Bruh.
thewhizzle
S tier wine flight
NihilistTheEconomist
Really solid line-up !
‘01 Burgs — good choice for those cuvées; you’re not giving up much by foregoing waiting.
Haven’t had Yquem that young but am sure it was great; nothing wrong with checking in on development.
Love VVF — I’ll take all the pre phylloxera European wine I can get.
Looks like a nice evening of very solid drinking !
FocusIsFragile
Daaaamn where was this? The food sounds absolutely perfect as well.
alex_korolev
Y’all drunk out some few cars boys 🤤💀
Cucckcaz13
There are too many oil princes in this sub. I feel like swine with my $50 barolo
ConferenceSure9996
Hot damn
FederalAssistant1712
Ouch. Dream line-up…. And, does Salon ever actually get ready???
2MainsSellesLoin
The best part to me is that it was a dinner for 4. You enjoyed the FUCK out of these wines. Not a tiny sip here and there. Francois Thienpont said when asked for advice when drinking Le Pin, make sure there aren’t too many of you.
People talk about fuck off money. This is a fuck off wine dinner. Goddamn this is life.
zeke_vino
I know this is a little off topic and your dinner isn’t that craziest one I’ve seen in terms of the amount of wine, but I always wonder, do people actually finish 1.5~3 bottles of wine per person over this sort of wine dinner?
I’m probably on the lower end when it comes to alcohol tolerance, but after 1 bottle of wine, I probably won’t remember much but “it was a great night” tbh. Or some people are just really good at digesting alcohol?
Understanding-Fair
Congrats, fuck you!
girlgonebiz
Wow….what a sight!
apileofcake
That’s quite a lineup!
I tried a 2006 Rousseau Clos de Beze this weekend, which was my first Rousseau GC, and I similarly was delighted by the Gevrey tannins aged to silk. 06 was pretty open upfront, though it wasn’t really being compared with something like La Tache. After 4 hours it was absolutely among the top couple of Burgs I’ve had.
17 Comments
An amazing dinner (for four!) concluding a long wine weekend. It was a privilege to spend hours with each of these wines.
The Champagne flight was paired with two courses: Caviar with creme fraiche and blinis to start, followed by the signature crab cake along with yellowfin tuna crudo with scallion chili crisp, yuzu pearls, and a coconut-lime vinaigrette. All three champagnes were poured simultaneously and enjoyed over the course of the evening, ~5 hours.
* **2006 Bollinger Vieilles Vignes Françaises**
* Stunning. A flamboyant champagne that jumped out of the bottle from the moment the cork was popped, evolving throughout the evening but never losing a step. A kaleidoscope of exotic fruits and flowers coming one after another. In the background, typical Bollinger autolytic notes were joined by a subtle minerality and umami that added up to one of the best champagnes I’ve ever tasted. Young enough to still develop without fear of falling off in the near future, however, I cannot imagine how it could improve. My WOTY.
* **2006 Krug Clos du Mesnil**
* Wonderful to drink but still clearly on the upswing. This has at least 20 years before it may start to fall off. Quite tight immediately after opening, bouquet more so than palate, this wine evolved consistently and dramatically over the course of the evening, approaching but not equaling the Bollinger VVF by night’s end. Both bouquet and palate were dominated by white flowers, white fruits and ripe lemon, underpinned by a subtle minerality. The acidity ensured the fruit and overall size were in balance, ensuring that this wine was drinking quite younger than its 18 years. Considerably lengthy finish.
* **2006 Salon Blanc de Blancs Brut**
* A wonderful champagne in its own right, this bottle was not totally ready. It showed fantastic texture on the palate, an immense finish, but the minerality and structure kept the fruit and florals masked except for glimpses throughout the evening. If I had another bottle, I’d wait a while before opening.
Next, an absolute masterclass in pairing by Jay, the wine director. This single-wine flight was paired with palmetto squab with grape-fig agrodolce, caramelized fennel, and a rosemary jus, accompanied by a summer squash salad.
* **1996 Hubert Lignier Clos de la Roche**
* The wine half of one of the standout pairings I’ve ever tried, this wine was rustic in the best sense of the word. Considerably structured with a brace of acidity, this bottle had the fruit to complement the structure unlike many 1996s, but still needs a half decade or so for the tannins to fully resolve. Leathery with a duck-ish sanguine character, sour red and black fruits, subtle florals and spices. Immense finish. This wine really rewarded sipping and thinking about it. Fantastic to drink now but clearly not yet peaking.
Following the Lignier, another knocked-out-of-the-park pairing. These wines were paired with shawarma-spiced venison tenderloin with butterbean purée, roasted radish, greek yoghurt and a pomegranate zhug, accompanied by a brown butter chanterelle risotto with pickled chili and corn relish.
* **2001 Armand Rousseau Chambertin-Clos de Bèze**
* The bouquet on this wine was relatively shy, especially at first, and especially compared with its La Tâche flight mate. Perfectly ripe strawberries and red fruits complemented by some damp earth. A wine to sniff, then sniff again before sipping. Texturally, like drinking a silk blanket. Over time the fruit gained prominence while remaining somewhat restrained, but throughout the evening the wine’s finish was measured in minutes.
* **2001 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti La Tâche**
* My first La Tâche, and luckily for me this bottle was close to perfect according to my dinner mates. The bouquet was simply aromatic fireworks comprised of fresh strawberries and other red fruit mixed with Vosne spice, Chinese five spice, and all sorts of floral and spice aromas that danced between fresh and dried. A bouquet where you hesitate to sip the wine for fear of the palate not matching up. A hedonistic yet weightless mouthfeel with resolved tannins and the right amount of acidity to underpin the wonderful fresh fruit and tea notes. An electric finish that went on and on and was layered in and of itself.
Dessert. KISS with a seared foie gras and strawberry grand marnier jam with a pecan brioche crumb.
* **2001 Château d’Yquem**
* Immensely concentrated with an initial punch of sweetness to the palate before flavors of caramel, honey, yellow, white, and exotic fruits come one after another. Miles-long finish. A perfect way to end the evening, even if it was eclipsed by the otherworldly ’83 the night before.
Holy shit
Where was this? Sounds epic.
Go big or go home
Bruh.
S tier wine flight
Really solid line-up !
‘01 Burgs — good choice for those cuvées; you’re not giving up much by foregoing waiting.
Haven’t had Yquem that young but am sure it was great; nothing wrong with checking in on development.
Love VVF — I’ll take all the pre phylloxera European wine I can get.
Looks like a nice evening of very solid drinking !
Daaaamn where was this? The food sounds absolutely perfect as well.
Y’all drunk out some few cars boys 🤤💀
There are too many oil princes in this sub. I feel like swine with my $50 barolo
Hot damn
Ouch. Dream line-up…. And, does Salon ever actually get ready???
The best part to me is that it was a dinner for 4. You enjoyed the FUCK out of these wines. Not a tiny sip here and there. Francois Thienpont said when asked for advice when drinking Le Pin, make sure there aren’t too many of you.
People talk about fuck off money. This is a fuck off wine dinner. Goddamn this is life.
I know this is a little off topic and your dinner isn’t that craziest one I’ve seen in terms of the amount of wine, but I always wonder, do people actually finish 1.5~3 bottles of wine per person over this sort of wine dinner?
I’m probably on the lower end when it comes to alcohol tolerance, but after 1 bottle of wine, I probably won’t remember much but “it was a great night” tbh. Or some people are just really good at digesting alcohol?
Congrats, fuck you!
Wow….what a sight!
That’s quite a lineup!
I tried a 2006 Rousseau Clos de Beze this weekend, which was my first Rousseau GC, and I similarly was delighted by the Gevrey tannins aged to silk. 06 was pretty open upfront, though it wasn’t really being compared with something like La Tache. After 4 hours it was absolutely among the top couple of Burgs I’ve had.