Dinner with Champagne, Barsac, and Volnay
Posted: Mon Sep 04, 2017 1:52 pm
Friends came over to watch the sunset and stayed for dinner, with hydrogen bomb and ICBM threats, we thought we should go all out so we opened the following:
With foie gras and pomegranate seeds on toast we opened the 2014 Climens: So young, I prefer younger dessert wines with foie gras but that was a little ridiculous, so much wasted potential. I should have gone with a 2011 Guiraud I have. Still, this is lovely with clean but little acidity, balanced sweetness and pronounced botrytis.
We needed more acidity and opened a 2008 Agrapart Venus Blanc de Blancs: This was amazing; precise and clean with a gorgeous pale color. Very refined and elegant, with great structure but so good, we drank it very quickly so I opened a 2002 Bollinger Grande Annee: More heft, color is deeper yellow, nose had a little oxidation and this has stronger backbone and would have gone well with any food. I much much preferred the Agrapart but both were delicious though very different.
With strip steaks, salads, and kale rice pilaf we opened a 2007 Marquis d'Angerville Volnay Champans: Great bottle! beautiful color, fabulous nose, elegant, clean, vibrant on the palate, structured enough for the steak with a good finish, it and blows away the 2005 Potel plonk we drank last week. To all the critics who poo pooed the 2007 vintage in Burgundy, you can take your 1999 and 2005 and sell them, I don't think I've ever been disappointed by a 2007 Burgundy.
We finished the Climens with a vanilla pot de creme, it didn't open much but went well with the custard.
With foie gras and pomegranate seeds on toast we opened the 2014 Climens: So young, I prefer younger dessert wines with foie gras but that was a little ridiculous, so much wasted potential. I should have gone with a 2011 Guiraud I have. Still, this is lovely with clean but little acidity, balanced sweetness and pronounced botrytis.
We needed more acidity and opened a 2008 Agrapart Venus Blanc de Blancs: This was amazing; precise and clean with a gorgeous pale color. Very refined and elegant, with great structure but so good, we drank it very quickly so I opened a 2002 Bollinger Grande Annee: More heft, color is deeper yellow, nose had a little oxidation and this has stronger backbone and would have gone well with any food. I much much preferred the Agrapart but both were delicious though very different.
With strip steaks, salads, and kale rice pilaf we opened a 2007 Marquis d'Angerville Volnay Champans: Great bottle! beautiful color, fabulous nose, elegant, clean, vibrant on the palate, structured enough for the steak with a good finish, it and blows away the 2005 Potel plonk we drank last week. To all the critics who poo pooed the 2007 vintage in Burgundy, you can take your 1999 and 2005 and sell them, I don't think I've ever been disappointed by a 2007 Burgundy.
We finished the Climens with a vanilla pot de creme, it didn't open much but went well with the custard.