We were scratching around the bottom of the François Frères barrique, trying to come up with a theme for the last Monday Table of 2015. Some bright spark, may have even be me, said ‘what about ‘Shit Hot’? The idea was for everyone to bring along a ‘Shit Hot’ bottle. Not a bad theme if I do say so myself. Paul Hanna generously agreed to facilitate the evening, using a bottle of 1865 Bouchard Père & Fils Volnay ‘Santenots’ as the centerpiece for a wonderful meal. He engaged the services of Scott Pickett to man the pans and it turned out to be a spectacular evening of wine and food.
A couple of killer snacks accompanied a bracket of three Krug. A light, pillowy soufflé of potato was piped with taramasalata and topped with faux caviar. It was kind of like best potato chip and dip of life. Puffed veal tendon with crayfish cream has gotta be seriously bad for you but tastes oh so good. The 1996 Krug is brilliant. It has complex aromatics of candied fruit, toast, truffle, brioche and citrus. It is intense, cut by sharp mineral and citrus acidity. It is creamy with pinpoint bead and such great depth and richness. The 1990 Krug next to it is ready to be consumed. It has some caramel sneaking into the aroma profile. It is broad and nutty and quite powerful in the mouth. There’s plenty of grilled nut action and it finishes long and dry. The 1966 Krug has just a gentle prickle from what bubbles remain. It was very floral on the nose and had some caramel and toffee development. It was sweet, round and vinous in the mouth with some fruit rind bitterness and a light green apple sting to its tail.
One of the boys quipped to Scotty that it wasn’t a bad start to the meal and that he had a lot to live up to. He responded with ‘the next 4-5 dishes should be alright’. He wasn’t wrong. Scallop and white truffle Risoni was off the charts. The white truffles weren’t the best I’ve had but the scallops were beautiful and the whole dish was harmonious, gelatinous, rich and flavoursome. It was the bomb with a bracket of white Burgs. Paul lined up three Grand Crus from Henri Boillot. The 2010 Henri Boillot Criots-Batard-Montrachet Grand Cru was really smart. It was exotic and ripe with layers of flavour. There was a light ‘Ramonetesque’ spearmint note and it had a sweet core of fruit and was particularly long. The 2010 Henri Boillot Montrachet Grand Cru smelt of custard apple and pineapple. It was super dense and sappy. It had so much intensity and flesh and just keeps coming at you once swallowed with loads of mineral infused orchard fruits. The 2010 Henri Boillot Chevlaier-Montrachet Grand Cru had a reserved nose of white peach and aniseed. It was layered, full and long and very mineral in the mouth.
A cheeky Leflaive wedgie was the order of the day before launching into the reds. A 2005 Domaine Leflaive Montrachet Grand Cru was just a little advanced. It was dense, rich, sappy and oaky, with remarkable concentration. It was unfortunately just a little dull. A 2005 Domaine Leflaive Chevalier-Montrachet Grand Cru was youthful, vibrant and punchy. Everyone thought it was younger than ’05. It had fresh white peach aromas along with mineral and spice. It was so detailed and direct in the mouth with great shape and intensity. It really powered on after swallowing. Mud crab, brown butter and sweet corn combined perfectly to provide a most amiable partnership to these two.
Three outstanding red Burgs were served alongside the 19th century wine. One of the lads had inadvertently brought the wrong wine along and a cab was dispatched to collect the 1959 Leroy Grands Echezeaux Grand Cru. It arrived just in the nick of time and was sublime. It had engaging scents of Indian spice (perhaps derived from the inside of the Melbourne cab), truffle and sandalwood. It was so silky in the mouth and had good volume and breezy, minerally acidity. I reckon the 1985 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti La Tâche Grand Cru has looked the same for about the last 20 years. It is a perfectly mature, elegant bottle of wine. It is fine and floral with aromas of rose petals, smoked meats and soy. It has just enough sweet fruit in the mouth coupled with earth and Hoisin flavours. It is lacy and delicate with real sneaky persistence to the finish. The 1990 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti La Tâche Grand Cru was quite a bit spicier and stalky than I have seen it before. It was a bit edgy but very good none the less. There were notes of sandalwood, smoked meats and black cherry. It was quite dense and youthful. 10 grown men were like little kids on Christmas morning as the 1865 Bouchard Père & Fils Volnay ‘Santenots’ was opened. The anticipation was palpable. As Paul accepted his pour with a grin we breathed a collective sigh of relief. The first sniff reveals a wine of age but there is freshness. There are no oxidative notes, just lots of tertiary things. You get some curry leaf, compost, sweet meats and woodsy smells. The nose is really engaging but it’s the palate that really wows. It has that oyster kind of slipperiness that I reckon you get in pre-phyloxera wines. It is vinous, silky and layered, filling every crevice of the mouth. It makes you slow down and come to it, enjoying the way it subtly titillates the senses. It shows remarkable persistence with savoury flavours leaving an ethereal perfume in the mouth well after the wine has disappeared. Suckling Pig, Ashed Celeriac and Beetroot is one of the best things I’ve eaten all year. The meat was so milky and intensely flavoured and the root vegetables gave textural contrast and added a delightful earthiness. Some fresh berries gave the dish luminosity.
Sher Wagyu, Shitake & Pomme Mille Feuille needed another bracket of world glass reds to wash it down with. Fortunately Paul had organised such a thing. The 2011 Faiveley Musigny Grand Cru was sweet and pure with delicious berry and cherry fruits. There was some sarsaparilla root and the wine was dense and creamy with outstanding balance and strong underlying structure. The 1993 Domaine Leroy Chambertin Grand Cru was really complex and spicy. It had plenty of 5 spice powder and freshly grated ginger. There was a sweet meatiness to it and a touch of sous bois sneaking in. The 2011 Faiveley Chambertin-Clos de Beze ‘Les Ouvrées Rodin’ Grand Cru had one of the best noses of the year for mine. It was so pure and fresh with notes of cherry and plum coupled with a little aniseed. In the mouth it is dense and powerful yet feels as if it has been spun from vinous silk. There’s a light floral spice to the wine and it really fans out and possesses that weightlessness that one sees in great Burgundy. The 2008 Domaine Leroy Musigny Grand Cru was heavily reduced on the nose. Colin thought that the wine would be good when it got rid of its shares in Yokohama tyres. It was certainly a super concentrated wine with a dense core of black cherry fruit. A strand of licorice weaves through the flavour profile and tannins are abundant yet sweet and spherical. The 2005 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti La Tâche Grand Cru is a very pretty, in fact a beautiful wine but it needs plenty of time. There’s perfectly ripe cherry fruit coupled with Asian spice. Its oak is noticeable but not dominant and it has good power and length. I later asked what Colin guessed this wine as and he responded with ‘I forget but whatever it was it was right’.
Chef’s choice of dessert to match a couple of aged sweeties was inspired. Apricot, White Peach and almond highlighted the in season fruits and were poached providing enough concentration and sweetness to match them with the richness of Sauternes and Barsac. The 1971 Chateau Coutet ‘Cuvee Madame’ had quite a strong smell of geranium. There were also notes of apricot, honey, lavender and peach. The palate was really peachy, round and full. The 1971 Chateau d’Yquem was a beauty. Complex aromatics of toffee, orange blossom, lavender and dried apricot. It was rich and sweet with good viscosity and outstanding depth. For all of its sweetness it finished with real precision and energy. Drinking absolutely in its prime.
Big D has treated us to many fine Ports over the years but the 1934 Quinta do Noval Vintage Port is one of the very best he has pulled out. It was just so damned youthful with a riot of red berry fruit on the nose. The spirit was clean and fresh and there were plums, smoke, raisins, licorice and bitter chocolate things going on as well. It was full and powerful, complex engaging and so long. Tete de Moine with Pear and Fig rounded the meal off superbly.
We left just after midnight thinking we were a bit ‘Hot Shit’ after so many ‘Shit Hot’ wines.
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