Herbert, the Suckling Pig, and 1977 Cabernets.

I am still a technopeasant so unable to include the photograph of Herbert.

The lunch was at MP Taverna in Irvington NY, with celebrity chef, Michael Psilakis at the helm. And the food was magnificent, and Herbert was turned into five different dishes, some really creative like the risotto some just focusing on the different piggy parts. It was a sort of an Iron Chef experience.

Now the wines. With the exception of the Heitz Martha’s all the wines were in great shape. Not altogether surprising in a drought vintage which took decades to come round. Lost my notes but here are my three highlights

Chapellet
Clear winner, and I think most people, scored it first. Had the structure of the vintage, but also a wonderful clear red fruit core that arrived in mid palate and stayed with the wine through its long finish.

Mount Eden
Also very strong. Powerful with a hint of green. Plenty of fruit but also violets and cedar. Excellent length

Ridge York Creek
This was surprising as I have recently had both 1974 and 1975 which both disappointed. This was delightful.

Sorry I missed this Mark. I look forward to the rest of your notes.

Sorry Maureen lost forever, but there were a couple of Berserkers there, and John Gilman will write about them in his upcoming newsletter.

A couple of vague memories
The Phelps Eisele was middling for me, but Gilman, who stayed on, told me it really opened up. He also liked the Mayacamas, which I did not.

The Kenwood which was served first as a palate primer was really fine.

Sounds like a great dinner Mark.

You do know of course that you’re officially 20th century. I mean having a meal without first photographing what you’re eating is so pre-2000.

Although actually naming your food does give it a vegan nightmare kind of vibe!

Nice to know that those wines held up so well.

I have a very nice picture of Herbert but don’t know how to upload it.

Thanks for the notes! Did Philip Togni make the 1977 Chapellet?

Cheers,

Hal

“I think the title should be amended”

That was exactly my thought when I saw the thread title!

Suckling does look a little bit like a Herbert.

I have a very nice picture of Herbert but don’t know how to upload it.

Perfect!!!

Anyhow, save the pic somewhere you can access easily.

Then when you’re going to reply to a post, go down just below the box where it has these 2 choices:

Select “Attachments” and you’ll see this screen:

Select “Add files” and when the window opens, hunt up your file. Click it and then select “Place inline”.

Cochinillo requires Spanish wines!

If anyone in Ohio wants to try to properly recreate this, I have land in Columbus and Hocking Hills to properly bury a pig with charcoal with. I even have a great farm for any age of pig.

We will certainly name the pig James.

Thanks Greg.

Herbert and James

Are suckling pigs all male? Sort of like how veal is a ‘byproduct’ of the dairy industry, where male calves are sent to the packers since they won’t generate milk?

No. Should have been Joe Cafaro’s last vintage.

Excellent vintage. Was the bottle of Mayacamas off? Greg Dal Piaz turned me on to ‘77s many years ago, and I’ve had a few. Mayacamas (now basically unaffordable) is my favorite although I recall Mount Eden being very good.

As I said, John was there at least an hour after us and felt t was getting better.

General consensus was that a lovely nose but dour and hard on the palate, and we had a sense that it was stuck there. I have only had it once, and that bottle showed a lot better.

I remember he brought a mag of it to the first Bersekerfest at PDH and it was one of the best older Cal Cabs I’ve had.

Great looking pig Mark!

Are suckling pigs all male? Sort of like how veal is a ‘byproduct’ of the dairy industry, where male calves are sent to the packers since they won’t generate milk?

Yes. We want the pig milk from the females.

Actually they’re both sexes and slaughtered very young. Mature male pigs taste too much like pig and Americans typically don’t like strong-flavored meat. That’s why most “mutton” is really lamb, since a grown sheep has a stronger flavor.

So if the male is going to be raised to slaughter age, it’s usually castrated.

But there are some people who don’t mind the stronger flavor of a grown male, or boar, and of course if you hunt them, you’re going to get that flavor in addition to the wild gamey flavors. There was a market I used to go to where they sold entire pigs or parts of pigs, and one of the farmers gave me some older male pig to compare with some female and they were indeed different. He’d grow some males to full size for chefs and butchers and people who wanted the stronger flavor.

As far as that Mayacamas, it was one of my in-law’s favorite wines and one that made me want to learn more about wine in general. Last time I had it was almost twenty years ago. What a great wine.