Special Birthday Dinner at Annabelle’s in DC

[barsacpinci]

A member of the wine group that I get together regularly with celebrated his 75th birthday at Annabelle’s restaurant in D.C. He rented out the top floor in a beautiful room overlooking the huge houses in the Kalorama neighborhood. Marc F. provided all the wines for his birthday except for one that Joel gifted. We even got a visit from the executive chef Frank Ruta who was the sous chef at the White House. I was hoping someone else would post notes because I’m not as good with the descriptors, but here goes:
1995 Cristal - A beautiful mature Champagne. Light golden in color with tiny bubbles. Still showing melon fruit and brioche and, of course, the nuttiness that comes with age. I slightly preferred this to the Dom.
1996 Dom Perignon - More fruit forward than the Cristal showing oranges and pears on the palate. Beautiful Champagne.
2010 Faiveley Corton Charlemagne - One of my favorites of the night. Stone fruits, particularly nectarines, were very evident. A very powerful wine drinking very well this night and went great with the poached snapper.
1978 Remoissenet Chambertin Clos de Beze - When this was first opened, I loved it. A very floral nose. It showed tertiary flavors of leather and moss. But, it fell apart quickly as the evening went on.
1993 Ponsot Clos de La Roche VV - Just Wonderful. It was hard for me to decide if this was my favorite Pinot or the DRC. A very floral nose of dusky roses. Lots of power on the palate with dried cherry and spice. A long finish.
1990 DRC Richebourg - This was special! Not as floral on the nose as the Ponsot, but more spice and dark fruits. I definitely got blueberry notes on this wine more so than cherry. This was my second favorite of the night by a close margin. Group favorite.
1989 La Mission - Lots of leather and cigar notes on this wine. Very intense but perhaps a bit closed for me. I was expecting something more ethereal. I kept coming back to it and it was improving. Maybe it needed a longer decant for me. I have a bottle of this and the Haut Brion from the same year. When I open, I think I would slow ox it for a good 4 hours. I’m not sure how long Marc opened these wines.
1948 Lafite - This was a special gift for Marc that Joel brought for his birthday. I was surprised this was still alive. The color was a very cloudy vermillion. The palate was all moss, leather, and loam. Hardly any acidity left. This was the oldest wine I’ve ever had. A fun wine to taste.
1990 Sassicaia - A very deep ruby red color. Nice cedar and leather notes with a some herbs like Thyme showing thru. I think this was just a little past prime because I didn’t think it held up as well as some of the others this night.
1998 Grange - This was amazing. My WOTN. A lot of power to this wine. Very dark color with nose of blue fruit and smoke. A ton of blackberry and black raspberry on the palate and I definitely got some chocolate on the finish. My first time having a Grange.
1983 d’Yquem - A nice sweet Sauternes with a very light botrytis nose. It showed plenty of apricot on the palate with some oranges showing on the finish. A intense and powerful Sauternes.

[Nicklasss]

Barsacpinci, what a nice selection of wines. Very amazing and impressive! Birthday in DC rocks!

Thank you for reporting.

The only i ever had are 96 Dom Perignon, a long time ago, and it was a great Champagne already.

The 1989 Mission Haut Brion that Comte Flaneur brought in Denver Convention in 2019, was just great!

DRC and Ponsot, surely a great moment. I'm always wondering if someone would try a DRC double blind, what would be the result?

I need to try a Grange one day, and i will keep the 1998 as a possible one.

[NoahR]

Great notes!
Annabelle is a wonderful place. I miss Palena- Frank’s first and best place.

[ericindc]

Thanks for posting Brian!

I Def preferred the Dom over the Cristal. As for the Burgs, I felt bad but I loved the '78 Beze best of the burgs, even at the end of the night and it ended up being my WOTN. The Ponsot was IMHO also better than the DRC. The La Mission was my fav of the heavier wines, basically an almost perfect Bordeaux. I really didn't get the Grange.

I thought the '83 Yquem was sorta lost in the mix, but man that was one of the better Yquem's I've had. To me, it was better than the '75 or '88s I've had.

[Harry C.]

You underestimate your note-taking ability! Great notes and evidently a special dinner.