Tomorrow, Jean-Pierre Meslier from highly regarded property in Sauternes, Raymond Lafon, will come to Copenhagen to participate in extremely interesting tasting dinner for members of Danish chapter of Commanderie de Bordeaux,
Here's menu and wines:
First dish is Danish lobster with mild curry, carrot and watercress accompanied by Raymond Lafon 2008 and 2004.
Second dish is butter fried North Sea Turbot with sour apples, chives emulsion and smoked potato foam accompanied by Raymond Lafon 2007 and 2009.
In between - Raymond Lafon 2002
3rd dish is selection of the best Danish goat and sheep cheese accompanied by Raymond Lafon 1997, 2003 and 2005
4th dish is poached pineapple with truffle ice cream accompanied by the same wines as for cheeses.
It was my idea to arrange this kind of tasting/dinner and I also suggested menu as above based on my previous experiences with food and sweet wine at restaurants. Some ingredients in dishes will surely challenge the wines.
I'm thrilled for the combination of food and sweet wine tomorrow evening.
Last edited by greatbxfreak on Wed Nov 14, 2012 9:33 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Sounds great, Izak. The ice cream looks to me to be the most challenging food to match with the wine. My prediction is that the '03 Raymond Lafon will work best with it.
I wanted to post impressions last Friday, but became sick (flu) and it drained me for energy.
Here are impressions of how food coped with wines:
Danish lobster with mild curry, carrot and watercress accompanied by Raymond Lafon 2008 and 2004. 2004 was perfect for this dish, but 2008 seemed a bit too strong for lobster.
Butter fried North Sea Turbot with sour apples, chives emulsion and smoked potato foam accompanied by Raymond Lafon 2007 and 2009. 2009 suited perfectly this dish with its extreme intensity, sweetness and excellent acidity. 2007 suited the dish perfectly too with its elegance, finesse and fabulous acidity.
Danish goat cheese and two other cheeses on the plate were cow cheeses. Raymond Lafon 2003 fitted perfectly with all three cheeses because of it's enormous sweetness and cascades of flavours, Raymond Lafon 2005 coped well with cow cheeses but fell a bit short of goat one, while Raymond Lafon 1997 was perfect for goat cheese and overpowered the cow ones. We were promised to being served three chesses, goat and sheep ones, but kitchen backed out in the last moment.
Poached pineapple with truffle ice cream. Poached pineapple was perfect with all three wines (2005, 2003 and 1997), but truffle ice cream was too sweet and the first wine to go flat with the ice cream was 2003, followed by 2005 and 1997. I expected kitchen would serve sorbet with far more acidity like lime/passion fruit/red currant.
I will post later TNs on wines tasted without influence of food.
It's great to read of Sauternes enjoyed with savoury food - I think the combination can often work really well. Not just the obvious choices such as (blue) cheese and foie gras, but roast chicken and al sorts of seafood too. Only last week I drank half a bottle of Coutet 2010 with squid first, and then grilled chicken with caesar salad. It was divine!
Jean-Pierre Meslier is a lovely guy, and his wines are under-rated and under-priced I think.
Sorry to hear you were unwell. It's that time of year I guess.
Raymond Lafon 2009 – now in bottle and a real beauty. Very spectacular on the nose and palate with great range of botrytised flavours like pineapple, pear, apricot and acacia flower, exquisite sweetness and acidity. Extremely long on the palate with exquisite honeyed aftertaste. Fabulous stuff. Maybe a little vulgar – platin blonde (Marylin Monroe) or red haired. 97p.
Raymond Lafon 2008 - this wine was an elegant and refined version with acidity matching fruit sweetness perfectly. Pineapple and acacia flower flavours. Captivating wine with exquisite balance. Lovely structure and great style. 94p.
Raymond Lafon 2007 -strong botrytised aromas of lemon, grapefruit, orange peel and citrus, striking elegance and finesse, mineral, beautiful acidity and honeyed aftertaste. Stunning effort for the vintage. 96p.
Raymond Lafon 2006 - not quite pure botrytis, wind-dried grape aromas, nutty flavours (reduction - mature flavours), splendid acidity and fine balance. Brown sugar and crème brulée. Elegant wine which is in full flower now. 93p.
Raymond Lafon 2005 - pure, very aromatic with big intensity of flavours like fresh pears, apricots, guava and wallnuts, very rich, great balance and sophisticated touch. Fabulous wine with great potential. 96p.
Raymond Lafon 2004 – very pure botrytis, melon, sweet pineapple, very fine acidity which suited fruit sweetness perfectly, intense and aromatic, great balance and soft honeyed finish. Seductive stuff. 94p.
Raymond Lafon 2003 – no grapes went to waste in this vintage - 99.9% of entire harvest became Grand Vin!! Extremely intense nose of melasse, mango, candied mandarine peel, crème brulée. These botrytised flavors were incredible and deep. Extremely rich, unctuous and extremely long on the palate, with acidity matching perfectly gobs of sweetness. Flamboyant stuff and pure extravaganza. 99p.
Raymond Lafon 2002 - very elegant and delicate, tasty, acacia honey, lovely acidity, creamy texture and finesse. Real heart-breaker wine and extremely successful for the vintage. 93p.
Raymond Lafon 1997 - seemed to mature at express speed since I tasted it 4 years ago. Perfect botrytised flavours, perfect balance, acacia, mango and melon. Excellent acidity and sweetness. But also lots of brown sugar and crème brulée. Still strong and powerful. Wonderful treat today. 96p.
