Dinner with Tim, François, and Bastien
Posted: Sat Nov 08, 2014 8:21 am
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.
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.