Before last night’s jazz concert at the Disney Concert Hall, we had dinner at Nick & Stef’s downtown. The loose theme was older wines that go with dry aged beef:
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1982 Marchesi Barolo. A wine that my friend Jack bought in the last few years, but the bottle was in fine shape. It was pop and pour, so it took about 30 minutes for the wine to open up.
Just a fantastic nose–mushrooms/porcini, earth, and a slight floral note. The palate didn’t quite match the excitement of the nose, as the flavors weren’t as expansive as the aromas. But
still a delicious wine and very good with the beef. -
1990 Ch. Montrose. From my original stash bought on release. I double decanted it just before leaving for the restaurant, so it was already open for business by the time we got to it.
I know there’s a lot of bottle variation with this wine, but the ones I’ve opened have always shown very well. A very expressive note of dark berries, leather, and earth, all of which carry
through to the palate. While this wine might continue to improve with cellaring, I don’t think it has too much more upside at this point. A strong “wow plus” and nearly an “ay carumba.” -
1995 La Rioja Gran Reserva 904. A very pretty Rioja, although it suffered a bit in comparison to the two preceding wines by being younger and the oak needed much more time to integrate.
Probably needs another 5-10 years for the oak to integrate more thoroughly, but still delicious with the steak.
Bruce