Dinner with Tim, François, and Bastien

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stefan
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Dinner with Tim, François, and Bastien

Post by stefan »

Last night Lucie and I met Tim, François, and Bastien (a friend of MichaelP’s who attended a BWE convention a couple of years ago) at Encore, a small restaurant in the ninth arrondissement. Corkage is difficult in Paris, but Bastien’s connection surmounted that hurdle. Although we had not seen François for years, it was as if no time had passed since our last visit. Tim we unfortunately see less often since he moved to Paris, but this was the second time this year. We’ll have to come more often to Paris.

Here is the list of the wines we drank, more or less arranged in flights:

NV Pierre Gebais Champagne

50 Meursault
05 Cataldi Madonna Trebbiano d’Abruzzo

07 Latour
26 Haut-Brion

88 Lafite

Corbieres, probably from the 1960s
75 Pavie

53 DRC Richebourg
69 La Tache

90 Filhot Creme de Tete
95 Cady Coteaux du Layon Chaume

The Champagne was a proper beginning while we were salivating over the reds. With the whites we had a thick soup of foie gras, artichokes, coffee, and mushrooms followed by scallops with lard and white truffles. The negociant village Meursault was almost brown but only slightly oxidized. The bouquet was distinctive and Lucie commented that it was “fresh on the tongue”. We all agreed that it got better with air. François observed that the nine year old Trebbiano d”Abruzzo was a good lead in for the tasty old Meursault.

The third course of John Dory in a butter, white wine, and Japanese vinegar sauce was obviously not a good pairing for the first growths, but we were all anxious to move on to reds. Less you think that we were committing infanticide I should mention that the Latour was a bit more than 100 years old. The bouquet of this Nouveau Beaujolais colored wine was amazing. It was light but beautiful in the mouth, not at all Latour like. “Needs veal; not fish,” said Lucie. Alongside the Latour the nearly black 26 Haut-Brion seemed almost young. At first its age was discernible only in the finish and its tannic structure was like a wine from 1985, but later one could tell on entry that the Haut-Brion was older than I. “It’s a cheese soufflé wine,” observed our pairing expert Lucie.

We started on the Lafite before finishing the other first growths, but put it aside as on first taste it seemed to be a steak wine. The extra air and the next course of sweetbreads, parsnips, white fish, and capers helped bring out the elegance of the Lafite. It should hold steady for a long time. The Corbieres was not bad and had a lot of fruit. “Beautiful summer wine,” commented Tim. The Pavie could be the centerpiece of a fine dinner even if it got overlooked because of the other great Bordeaux. I loved this classical St Emilion. IMO there was no need to modernize the taste of Pavie.

The next course was roasted pigeon, one of my favorite dishes. My habit is to drink Burgundies before Bordeaux, but this night we followed François’ preferred order. The Richebourg’s bouquet was mesmerizing. The liquid was spritzig, which made it weird in the mouth. The seal on this bottle must have been extremely tight for the bubbles to last for 60 years. The La Tache was a special treat for me as this wine was on my bucket list. Tim knew that from reading a BWE thread and, just happening to have a bottle, he surprised me with this beauty. The depth of the La Tache was incredible. This was Burgundy at its best.

The sweet wines were better by themselves than with the dessert of ice cream over some kind of pastry. Bastien and François related nice stories about the owner of Filhot, and we recalled that 1990 was the only year that Filhot made a Creme de Tete, a wine that has become a BWE favorite. This bottle was dark gold in color and the wine is now more or less mature.

For me the WOTN was the La Tache, although the Latour was a worthy contender. It will no doubt make Alex happy that the lesser wines blended in so well with those that have the highest pedigree.

Best, of course, was getting together with old friends Tim and François and new friend Bastien. The ears of François and Bastien perked up when Tim and I told them about the possibility of BWE France 2015, so maybe they will sign up if it occurs.
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Re: Dinner with Tim, François, and Bastien

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It was great seeing Stefan and Lucie again, and even better doing it together with a mini BWE group! Francois and I arrived a bit early to begin setting up the wines, and we had a chance to talk a little with the Sommelier and Chef. Bastien knows the Sommelier and owner well, and as Stefan mentioned, he set us up with the BYOB, which is challenging in Paris. Francois and I had decided amongst ourselves to make it a theme of risky wines with low fills, and most of the wines we brought were low shoulder or below. I've picked up quite some bargains at auction with lower fills, and even though they are often risky, many of them turn out to be stunning, as with tonight.

Francois was teaching the Chef, Sommelier and me his method for extracting old corks. It is a multi-step process, but I must admit that it works! I have destroyed many an old cork, and his method seems to keep many of them intact. We ran into an issue with the Latour, as the bottle had a ridge along the top of the bottle on the inside! I guess they don't make bottles like that any more... We ended up not opening all the wines that Francois brought as he had some extra ones in case his were flawed or dead.

For the wines, the Champagne was a very fresh and delightful start to the evening to warm up the palate as we were opening wines and greeting each other. We followed with the Meursault, which was a simple village wine from 1950. At first I wasn't that fond of it, but it developed in the glass over the course of about 30 minutes to shrug off some of its less pleasant flavors and revealed a very enjoyable older Burgundy. It was difficult up against the Trebbiano d'Abruzzo, as the freshness of this young wine along with the acidic structure captured your attention. But the Meurseault evolved into something surprising to me, and even more surprising it ended up being a good pairing with the soup.

Then we moved onto the reds. We poured the 1907 Latour and the 1926 Haut Brion, followed by the 1988 Lafite. The Latour had a light color, versus a surprisingly dark Haut Brion. The nose on these two couldn't be more different, the Haut Brion had the distinctive Graves aromas, whereas the Latour seemed nothing like a Latour. It had a sweet, perfumed nose with such complexity that you could sit there for hours just with this wine. Simply stunning. The Haut Brion was more powerful, and attacked the palate with some force, but Francois and the Sommelier both noted that after the initial attack, it fell back and stopped a bit short. The flavors were again classic Haut Brion, and over time Stefan noted that the older-wine nose began to develop. I think this wine actually had a long life ahead of it. Francois mentioned that he had written in his book (and still believes) that the 1926 is the best Haut Brion ever made. This example was close to the best, but still a notch or two below perfect. The 1907 Latour, on the other hand, was absolutely perfect in my opinion. The we brought out the 1988 Lafite that stefan and lucie so generously carried with them from Texas, which was such a youngster compared to the other wines. I mentioned that it reminded me a little of California Cabernet because of its youth, which I think offended Lucie! This wine was powerful, complex, exciting, but still closed. It really needed time in the glass to open up, and probably could have been decanted beforehand. These three first growths were in every way different from each other, but also in every way the pinnacle of what Bordeaux can be and is.

Continued on next post...
Last edited by tim on Sat Nov 08, 2014 10:29 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Dinner with Tim, François, and Bastien

Post by tim »

We moved on to the Corbieres. Francois was jokingly worried about this wine, as he bought it for 4 FRANCS (that's about 50 cents) long ago. But wow, I found this little wine to be one of the surprises of the night. It was light, refreshing, fully integrated, beautiful for a summer evening. Nothing wrong with this at all. Granted, it didn't stand up against the heavyweights around it for power and complexity, but it was nice nonetheless.

Now it was time for the Burgundy (and the Pavie). We poured the 69 DRC La Tache and the 53 DRC Richebourg. The La Tache had a fill just touching the year label on the bottle, and the Richebourg had a much lower fill than that, so two risky wines. Francois noted that the Richebourg had the classic DRC nose, and if judging on nose alone, I think Richebourg would have been the superior wine. But wow, the La Tache just took control of your palate and wouldn't let go unless you said "uncle"! An incredible display. I agree with stefan that this is Burgundy at its finest.

The 75 Pavie was an interesting addition to this flight. Francois didn't like it at all, but I found it to be powerful, still holding on to its 75 tannins, and while not a fruitbomb, it delivered classic St. Emilion characteristics that you don't find in the Perse wines. I would say it was in line with second growth Bordeaux of the time, not quite at the top level but very close. I have a couple more bottles of this so looking forward to opening them without the competition.

Finally we moved onto the dessert wines. I think I was the only person to not have a Chateau Filhot story to tell, as I have never been there, so need to add that to my to-do list. The 1990 Filhot was a great Sauternes, which stefan brought especially for Francois given his son Frederick's affinity for the wine. By this point, most of the diners at other tables had finished their dinners and left, and it was just us and the couple sitting right behind me. They had been commenting on the wines that we were drinking much of the night, and we started sharing some with them.

For me, the WOTN was the 1907 Latour, followed closely by the 69 La Tache. I can still smell the Latour in my mind this morning, and it has made it into my top five of all time.

What a wonderful evening shared with BWE friends! Thank you to stefan and lucie for visiting Paris, and looking forward to a smaller, less epic dinner this evening. And thanks to Francois and Bastien for joining us last night and making such great memories.

Now it is time for us to focus on getting BWE 2015 moving! I have a couple of magnums that I really want to open when everyone is here...
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Re: Dinner with Tim, François, and Bastien

Post by JimHow »

Wow!
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dstgolf
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Re: Dinner with Tim, François, and Bastien

Post by dstgolf »

WOW!! WOW!!

Hard to say anything following those two reviews. Sounds like a magical night with a reunion of old friends and new along with some amazing wines that got me drooling as I was reading. The 69 La Tache and 07 Latour have left me dreaming of possibilities to come.

Great review guys and now Tim et al time to get serious about planning BWE 2015. If this planning session is a sample of what's to come then I can't wait!! Would be nice to see Francois again along with many of the former road warriors. Just remember an air conditioned bus as part of the plan this time. :D
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stefan
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Re: Dinner with Tim, François, and Bastien

Post by stefan »

I neglected to say that the Meursault was really good with the soup; I'm glad that Tim pointed that out. Pigeon is of course very wine friendly and complemented all the reds that we had in front of us when it was served.

After yesterday, we'll go relatively low key tonight. Tim will come to our hotel at 5:30, where we'll drink only a bottle or two before he, Lucie, and I go to Le Gaigne for dinner. Tim plans on bringing a 1978, but ours are from the 1990s except for one Oregon Pinot Noir from 2006.
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Jay Winton
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Re: Dinner with Tim, François, and Bastien

Post by Jay Winton »

BWE at its finest. I couldn't even imagine drinking those old wines. 69 La Tache!!! Thanks for the report.
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Nicklasss
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Re: Dinner with Tim, François, and Bastien

Post by Nicklasss »

Epic! Good to know François is doing well! And discussing with Tim at each convention, I'm sure he is always ready to Have a nice time with any BWEer stoping in La Ville Lumière!

A very nice read, that's making us dream about great friendship, mature wines, Paris, Bordeaux and Bourgogne.

BWE will live forever.

Nic
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SF Ed
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Re: Dinner with Tim, François, and Bastien

Post by SF Ed »

Awesome. I've been lucky enough to dine and drink with Tim and Francois in Paris over the last few years, but that evening sounds over the top.

SF Ed
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DavidG
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Re: Dinner with Tim, François, and Bastien

Post by DavidG »

What a fabulous evening, well done!
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Re: Dinner with Tim, François, and Bastien

Post by Chateau Vin »

tim wrote:.......

Francois was teaching the Chef, Sommelier and me his method for extracting old corks. It is a multi-step process, but I must admit that it works! I have destroyed many an old cork, and his method seems to keep many of them intact. ....
Wondering what the method is.....Is it using corkscrew or some other....or a different method altogether.... :?:
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Re: Dinner with Tim, François, and Bastien

Post by DavidG »

I've seen him at work, during our 2005 visit to France. It's a combination of corkscrew and hands-on grasping and regrasping of the cork at the lip of the bottle and teasing it upwards, which helps reduce the risk of it falling apart. I've found it helpful on old crumbly or spongy corks, even when using the Durand corkscrew.
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