Another Charity night; old and young Nebbiolo, lots of champagne, sauternes, port, others

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Brief notes;

  • I sabered the NV Ployez Jacquemart Rosé; strawberry and orange, crisp, fresh and clean; I love this rosé; served with a cheese and charcuterie platter


  • 2008 Dom Perignon; Served with Shigoku, Kumomoto and Virginica oysters I shucked and added lemon and fresh horseradish. Pure and elegant, perfectly balanced. Excellent in its youth, with the best drinking years to come


  • 2017 Pépiere Clos de Briords; fantastic mineraled saline lemony acid bomb. It loves oyters.


  • 2001 Suduiraut. Served with a homemade paté, as I was afraid some of the attendees might be offended by foie gras. I was wrong, and this was a great wine but a poor pairing.


  • 1967 Musso Sebastiano Barbaresco Riserva. Fantastic. So much life and sweet fruit left, although dominated by mushroom and leather. Served with Inaudi Taglionini with lots of butter and fresh burgundy truffles.


  • 2010 Produttori del Barbaresco Barbaresco; much less tannic than I expected. Rustic, restrained, very nice. I’m glad I have almost a case left.
    Both nebbiolos were decanted all day; the 52 year old was stood up for months.


  • 1986 Château La Lagune; as is typical of this chateau, this over-delivered. Savory, resolved tannins, cedar, cassis, wonderful.


  • 2005 Betz Family Le Parrain: Corked. Good education for the guests, disappointment for me. Underlying material seemed very, very good. I have some regrets dropping off this list. These wines need time (and this wine needed a different cork).
    The left banker was served with seared Flannery Hanger steak and homemade garlic basil aioli sauce.


  • 2003 Dow Porto Vintage; the crowd loved this with a nice Stilton. Very sweet and dense, with full blown dark fruit; far too young, primary, no development at all.


  • With three sheets to the wind, restraint was lost as I made several trips back to the cellar.
    The first drunken victim: 2006 Taittinger BdB Comtes; I’d recognize that wine in a drunken stupor with my tongue tied behind my back. Stunning density, purity and glycerine texture; Lemon curdy, orange peely, briochey creamy deliciousness.


  • The next victim: MV Krug 165eme. I thought I had grabbed a 166, but found out otherwise while recycling the empties the next day. This was more grumpy and restrained than I would expect of a 2009 base-year wine, but its class and potential were clear. It was bad idea to open it, but I’ve had worse ideas.


  • We finished off our victims with a bottle (then another half bottle) of NV Billecart-Salmon Rosé, my “Old Faithful” of Grandes Marques Rosé. Tart and creamy orange and strawberry, this was a great end to our evening.

The tasting lasted seven hours, and I missed my 9:30 AM mountain bike rendezvous. I was barely up by the crack of noon. We met some fun people, and was happy to support Explorations Academy, a local school.

Cheers,
Warren

sounds like an excellent evening for a good cause. thanks for the notes

Wonderfully generous project and great report. I’ve recently had the Dom, Krug and Produttori. I too found the Produttori more approachable than expected and loved the Dom though I’m sure their best days are ahead of them. My experience with the Krug 165 has been more positive, but also expect more from it over time.

David,

I think it’s fantastic but needs time like all Krug. Also, it followed the ‘06 Comte which is precocious and flamboyant in its youth. By that time of the night, I was in no condition to properly judge anything and shouldn’t have been allowed back in the cellar.

Cheers,
Warren

Agree on the 86 La Lagune. I bought a couple bottles recently and the first one was wonderful.

Interesting Warren. I had those two side by side about a year ago and also preferred the 2006 Comtes. I was in the minority based on which was drained faster.

Good notes on a good mix of wines for a good cause.

Curious as to why you noted that the Suduiraut pairing a poor one?

Ramon,

For this tasting, I had to substitute a rustic pork terrine for my typical seared foie gras lobe. The pairing just didn’t shine for me. When I’ve paired it with foie gras at past tastings, it was more of an epiphany; a perfect pairing.
The Suduiraut paired better later in the evening with the stilton.

WT