During a recent trip to LA to visit friends, we enjoyed an exquisite dinner in their home. This was after going to Patna the night before and Nobu Malibu for lunch earlier in the day.
Prior to dinner, we opened the 96 Krug I had bought for the Patina dinner, but serendipitously, an 00 Krug had been packed with our other wines because on this night, we discovered the 96` was flawed.
1996 KRUG BRUT- the 4th bottle of a 6 pack that had provided 3 gems; this one was sadly oxidized; it had been 2 years since I opened the last bottle, so this was unexpected; the color was a brown gold; all 4 of us kept trying to rationalize this was drinkable, calling it mature, but the caramel, butterscotch and nutty flavors just condensed this into another maderized wine and we gave up and moved into a bottle I had brought as a turn on gift for our hosts to drink at another time.
2012 LOUIS ROEDERER BRUT ROSE- obviously, this is not in the same league as a vintage Krug, but on this night, it knocked the dirty socks off of the Krug; it took 3 sips to clean our palates before we could decipher the treasures of this really fine rose that is full of fresh ripe red fruit and has a very nice mousse that helps to complete the deal at the end with heightened tactile senses joining in with the already appeased olfactory and taste senses.
At dinner, we enjoyed 2 wines from the same vintage and producer. Both were decanted and thoroughly aerated prior to serving into Riedel Sommelier Burgundy stems:
2003 DOMINIQUE LAURENT LES AMOUREUSES CHAMBOLLE- MUSIGNY 1ER CRU- this bottle was pretty closed down even after some vigorous aeration and eventually did reach a better place after a long time in the glass; I got red and black fruit in the nose with a smoke accent; on the palate the taste profile translated into red cherry, blackberry and black cherry more on the dried side than as in being fresh; it was full bodied, but had a somewhat abrupt finish that cut the experience shorter than I would have preferred.
The site’s name translates to "The Lovers”
2003 DOMINIQUE LAURENT VIELLES VIGNES BONNES-MARES GRAND CRU- this was a wowzer wine with generous gifts from the nose through the tail; the color was a youthful dark red purple; the nose had spicy red fruit in spades which once tasted turned out to be red raspberry, red cherry with some black cherry coming in late; this full bodied beauty, had a nice smooth texture and long climatical ending.
1895 DOLIVEIRA RESERVA MALVAZIA MADEIRA- the night before, we sipped some 1864 Solera Blandys Grand Came de Lobos Madeira so this was a youngster in comparison and it was just as fantastic with flavours of almond butter, toffee, black Mission figs, maple and butterscotch spreading out over the palate, all being delivered in a thick, syrupy texture to the back end.
Pereira d’Oliveira is one of the great old Madeira houses dating back to 1820. Owned by the same family since its inception it is one of the few houses to survive from the pre-phylloxera era, and with an almost unique selection of very old and rare stocks.
Our wonderful evening topped off a fabulous visit with dear friends who share many like and kind passions in common with us, the most important being enjoying life to the fullest without doing any harm. Life is good.
Cheers,
Blake