TN's: Champagne and Red Burgs at Acker/Ai Fiori

Last evening Acker Merrall held their wine auction at Ai Fiori for the first time. Room was packed and it is not a small room. Both the kitchen and staff were very accommodating and professional. Kudos for the kitchen indulging my special requests that deviated from the prix fixe menu and special thanks to Hristo and Raphael for their wine service and making sure that me, The Chairman, THE Hillbilly and the Evictor not only had a seemingly endless supply of the proper wine glasses, but that we had multiple ice buckets as well as a large tub to house all of our Champagne. The evening started off energetically, and then THE Hillbilly almost singlehandedly led a charge that quickly turned it into more of a frat party than a wine auction. I am not sure who is banning us first - Acker or Ai fiori.
As much fun and as many laughs as I have had at previous auctions, the Cardinal may have laughed the hardest and most often at this one.

On to the wines and some very brief comments -

’70 Veuve Clicquot - JK was pouring this as I first sat down. Showed how even in this mediocre Champagne vintage, this label was still producing excellent Champagne 40+ years ago. Good caramel flavors, some effervescence and good acidity. Could have used a bit more fruit, but a very solid wine. Excellent

’71 Taittinger CdC - A close to perfect bottle in outstanding youthful condition. Still pale colored, with some effervescence, but it is subdued. A ton of light colored fruit with great sweetness of fruit. Ethereal. Staggering plus

’73 Taittinger CdC - More advanced than the '71 and heavier in body and taste. This was not a perfect bottle although the Hillbilly started out hating it and then the alcohol must have affected his palate because he thought this was better than the previous wine. Staggering minus

’78 DRC Grands Echezeaux - was this an extremely good bottle of Burgundy? Of course it was, but it didn’t and doesn’t live up to the pedigree and vintage. Excellent plus

’85 DRC Grands Echezeaux - the '78 was a boy. This is a man, although a man who is secure enough to show his femininity. Explodes out of the glass with aromas of red fruits and spice. As good or better on the palate. I chilled this and the previous wine down about five degrees and they both showed much better, although this was outstanding to begin with. Staggering plus

’90 Roumier Bonnes Mares - well, well, well. How do you follow up a stupendous bottle of '85 DRC GE? Well, with an even more stupendous bottle of Roumier. Dark fruits and balanced. There was not a single thing you could said about this wine that was negative. Killer minus

’91 Roumier Bonnes Mares - this bottle I believe must have seen some heat to it at some time during its storage. When nearly half the bottle is still filled at the end of the night with us, that tells you something. Good minus

’66 Leroy Chapelle Chambertin - I make fun of many of Leroy’s re-releases but this was no joke. At a beautiful level of maturity. Very elegant. Staggering minus

’90 Soldera Riserva - this is probably the best Brunello I have ever had, but not this bottle. Didn’t have the velvet lushness of good bottles nor the exotic spiciness either. Good

’38 Faiveley Romanee St Vivant 375mls x 2 - One word sums up this wine - Autumn. Excellent minus

’82 Krug - This was an evening of the have’s and the have not’s. This was a not. Good minus

’82 Dom Perignon - an outstanding example of this wine and clearly much better than the bottle I drank the previous evening (which I think was slightly corked). Starting to show that DP mature profile. Staggering minus

’82 Cristal - more advanced than it should have been this was a bit controversial. I liked it, but didn’t love it. One person thought it was totally beat down. Very good plus

’79 Salon Mag - certainly drinkable, but this was muted and stripped of both fruit and vibrancy. Certainly on the “not” side of the evening’s wines. Very good

’64 Salon - Big Boy generously poured me this wine (and the previous) and while not the best example of this Champagne that I’ve had, it was still stunning. Yellow fruits followed by a vanilla creamsicle finish that gets cut by a laser of acidity. Staggering

’69 Dom Perignon Oenotheque - disgorged in 2006 - This is my favorite vintage of Oeno commercially released. An unparalleled marriage of 42 years of bottle age and complexity along with the freshness of only five years since disgorgement. Loaded with yellow fruit along with all of the DP signatures - coffee, chocolate, round, creamy and soft. Killer

’69 Krug Collection Mag - stripped nearly bare. NR

’79 Ruinart Rose Mag - another not perfect mag. Drinkable but not exciting. Good plus

’90 Cristal Rose - looked like a cloudy, nearly brown mess in the bottle. Better in the glass, but not much. Good plus

’71 Dom Ruinart - definitely near the top of the second tier of Champagnes on the evening. Light and crisp. Very BdB. Staggering minus

’98 Krug - THE Hillbilly needed some more juice, so he ordered it off the list. Hard to drink due to the youthfulness of it especially in comparison to the previous Champagnes.

I was also poured a glass of '86 Truchot from a friend at a neighboring table that was excellent - one of the best neighboring table pours I received - but I don’t remember the vineyard. Excellent plus

Thanks to all of my tablemates for the usual generosity.

Fortunately, at this point I called it a night. Rumor has it that multiple bottles of tequila were polished off at the bar as well as some other transgressions just outside of the hotel.
Truly an incredible laughfest of an evening. I received multiple emails this morning telling me they heard THE Hillbilly laughing it up in the forefront and The Cardinal laughing in the background over the live webcast.
Additionally, this was one evening where raising one’s paddle may have actually hurt the auctioneer more than helped

Killer plus!

Thanks for the notes!!

Funny! I was just going to ask Ray if his scale goes to killer plus or if it stops at killer.
Either way…terrific group of wines!

Nice to see the 90 Roumier Bonnes Mares appreciated, the 90 Amoureuses is not too bad either. Cheers Mike

Ooohhh. So THAT’S a big night of vino…

Well done Ray. Sounds like a fun night! Thanks for the notes.

Sounds like quite the night. Thanks for the notes

Jeez.
This is almost a lifetime of great bottles of perfectly aged champagne.
Great notes.

Tremendous notes! Love the new avatar.

Somehow the two Dujac’s I wrote up got deleted from my original post. I knew the list of wines looked too short
’90 Dujac Clos la Roche - picking a favorite red between this and the '90 Roumier and '85 DRC was nearly impossible. Very intense, excellent concentration with deep dark fruit. Focused acidity on the finish. Staggering plus

’90 Dujac Clos St Denis - this was also a stellar bottle. A treat to drink these two Dujac’s side by side. I gave the Clos la Roche a slight nod due to its additional concentration, but this was hardly a thin wine. Staggering

Wow! I’ve even had a few of those wines. Good to see the 90 Dujacs and the Roumier BM reaching maturity and that 66 Leroy Chapelle is one I’ve enjoyed (and posted on) several times. What a night. Do you have a truck drop the wines off the night you’re drinking–how do you get so many wines to a restaurant?
alan

Alan,

I always try to have my wines sent ahead so that I don’t have to deal with it and more importantly to give the wines a chance to settle and/or be at the proper temperature when I get there. I always implore my drinking partners to do the same, but unfortunately one or two don’t listen as well as others.

When I hit the table right on time and you had a 25 gallon tub on the floor for our Champagne and shouted you owe me $ for the tippage and setup … well you my friend have setup one helluva high end kegger right here. Cannot believe someone didn’t trip over the Champagne…

Great time obviously, but some of the crowd was a little stuffy. The restaurant may not take us back, but my paddle got sufficient use so I’m not sweating our Acker friends.

You’ve threaded so much, I can hardly work through it all. The Chairman came through with the Roumier doing exactly what we need him to do : find some great Burgundy. The 90 was smoking indeed. Great flavors and length and very nice to drink. I thought the 90 Dujacs were a touch stemmy and a bit off their normal stunning performance, though still really nice. Preferred the CSD after lots of airtime which is never the case. 78 DRC GE was quite mature, totally autumnal etc.

You’ve got to give the Champagnes at least 60 seconds before passing judgment. 82 DP was in fact great, 82 Krug shot too dark but not noticeable through the bottle. I never loved the 71 CDC as much as everyone else, but it was great and a perfect quality bottle. 69 DP Oeno was a superstar, just tremendous. 73 CDC fat and fleshy and a bit advanced but still honeyed fatness.

Big Boy opened a 59 Salon that was too far down the road, but his monologue was priceless, think you departed at that point.

Great time indeed, but we needed a couple more bottles! Where was that damn 62 Dom P!!

The new moniker is seeming to fit even better than I anticipated. Wasn’t taking about your paddle, was talking about someone else’s.

I await the Chairman’s response!

I did miss the '59 Salon but when aren’t Big Boy’s monologues priceless?

Ray, as usual …

Sounds like a fantastic evening with quite a crowd!

Life at this table can take on the trappings of pulp fiction, and that was particularly so on this night, which was unlike others in ways having nothing to do with Passover. The subplots were swirling at a terrific pace, and drinking a fair bit for the first time after a couple of days out with an intestinal virus, I may have missed some. I know there was talk of reconciliation between the Evictor and the Evictee, to be brokered by Curley, but personally I remain sceptical. I was reminded of the Evictor’s strong sense of territoriality–and fairness–when I observed his fierce defense of our glassware against a potential poacher. That encounter involved wine glasses; I just don’t see him getting comfortable when it’s the 62 DP being targeted. Then there were the adventures of the not so gentle giant, Lennie, who like his namesake, becoming increasing addled, put others in danger of being paddled! Personally I blame George Cardinal Tuppatsch for that particular incident, as the clergy should be providing some adult supervision. Other, darker, tales were in the air, but I took my leave early and missed some of the excitement.

As for the remarkable lineup of wines, the 71 CDC was both my first Champagne of the nite and my favorite Champagne of the nite. The 73 CDC, while a good drink, had the misfortune of appearing “big-boned” by comparison. The 69 DP Oeno, while plainly great, didn’t have quite the same visceral appeal for me. As for the reds, I agree with His Eminence, and Hillbilly, that the 90 Roumier BM was the Burg of the nite. I’ve had several bottles from the same lot over the last few years and would say that the wine is at the front end of its window with plenty of positive development in its future. By contrast the Dujacs are further along; absolutely no rush at all to drink them, but I just feel they have less in reserve than the Roumier. I also agree with Todd that while the CLR and CSD were very good, they were not up to the very best examples I’ve had of either wine. Finally, I liked the 85 DRC GE a little less than The Cardinal did, and the 90 Soldera Ris a little more.

Really alot of fun. Food and service were first rate. Didn’t eat the bread.

A few too many sips from the Communion Cup affected my ability to properly watch over the flock.

Thanks for the re-stimulation. I just finished salivating from your notes re the Del Posto event in March. Happy to hear my friend, THE Hillibilly, is still in rare form and drinking mega bubbles with an occasional Burgundy thrown in.

Staggering plus notes.

Great notes Ray. Glad to see there’s no hurry to drink my singleton 90 Roumier BM. Maybe next year’s La Paulee in SF?

This would have been far more impressive had it been held at Da Fiore in Venice, rather than Ai Fiori. But I quibble. I am always interested in improving the mediocre food and wine experiences of my fellows…