LA visit- part 1 of 2
We recently traveled to LA to visit some dear friends for a 2 night stay and had such a fantastic time. It was centered around a shared passion for all things food and wine and heart felt fellowship.
Our lady host is a former caterer and she prides herself on creating special, one of a kind dishes which occurred throughout our stay.
Our host guy is a now retired CEO of a large wine distributorship and has a world class wine cellar and graciously shares many of his prized treasures.
Our first night stated off with a new champagne discovery for all of us that has to be one of the best QPRs currently available on the market:
NV FRANC BONVILLE BLANC de BLANC BRUT GRAND CRU- this is made from Grand Cru fruit sourced from the Avize and Oger villages in 2016 and 2017, disgorged February 2020 and dosed at 8.33 gpl; it is an amazing QPR as it resembles champagnes that sell for 3 times the price; it is loaded with acidity, has a pleasant taste profile that includes lemon oil, lime, kiwi, golden delicious apple and Anjou pear while being delivered in a super creamy substance all the way to the back end where it reaches its crescendo for a grand finish.
On this first night, we had a wondrous, creative almost 100% exclusively homemade dinner using mostly homegrown ingredients that consisted of roasted mixed nuts, creameaux de citeau and mofiterno al tartufo, fresh estate gazpacho, grilled vegetable kabobs, sweet corn soufflé, vichy carrots, chocolate chip cookies and vanilla ice cream while drinking purified water that consists of ozonated Sierra snowmelt. And, all the while listening to an eclectic mix of stereophonically amplified music broadcasted from personally assembled high end equipment including John Williams`s Star Wars. And, all the while sitting on a magnificent outside patio with candlelight illumination and a gigantic water fountain providing additional background ambience. How creatively unique is all of that? How about some bubbly?
1996 de VENOGE LOUIS XV de VENOGE BRUT- I had just had a the 95` version of this release and it was absolutely stunning, so I was expecting this to be as good, if not better; having had too many bad “older” champagnes lately, I was delighted to at least have had one stellar experience and was looking forward to and expecting another, but it was not to be as this was distinctly corky; before opening it, I was more concerned about oxidative notes and was delighted to find its yellow gold color, but the nose made my shoulders and enthusiasm drop; beyond that was some truly obvious signs it could have been a grand experience. The bottle shape is quite unique and one may have the idea to buy the wine and if it’s not all that great, at least keep the bottle and create something artistic with it although at a price tag way over $!00, that’s probably not all that realistic.
2010 MAISON JOSEPH DROUHIN BATARD-MONTRACHET GRAND CRU- my goodness, this just rocks on and expands on the palate with lots of energy, charm and class and may be the WOTT {wine of the trip}; it’s got power and finesse, is full bodied, super rich and has a creamy texture; the taste profile includes honeyed papaya, peach, lemon and pineapple; all of these goodies just persisted and held a steady course throughout and after each taste, I just looked up and noticed all of the silent appreciation the others were giving this beauty.
2003 DOMINIQUE LAURENT CHAMBERTIN-CLOS de BEZE GRAND CUVEE “VIELLES VIGNES”- this took a while to open up and each stage moved up a level toward excellence and when it finally arrived at its apex, it was drinking pretty good although it never got to a place where it could be considered superb; it had red and black fruit notes that on the palate translated into red cherry/ berry and black raspberry and black cherry with accents of leather, wood spice and oregano; it was full bodied, had medium to heavy weight and a long finish with a touch of astringency at the end.
1978 MAISON LEROY MAZI CHAMBERTIN GRAND CRU- this had lots of dried dark fruit notes with earth, leather and spices accenting the blackberry and black currant fruit; it seemed to be a bit tired and according to our host who had had a few stupendous bottles many years ago, it just seemed to have lost a lot of its energy; as with the Clos de Bexe, both were interesting and drinkable and we certainly obliged all the while knowing that they could have been much more, but hey, we had a great Batard and a fabulous meal and fine fellowship, so we had lots to be thankful for.
And if all of the above was not enough, small pours from a saved container of 1927 Warre Port capped it all off with nice licorice and coffee accented blackberry concentrate notes.
Cheers,
Blake
. So happy for you, Blake. Great notes.