Given that James Halliday was having a significant birthday, Michael organised a special Birthday dinner in his honour. We also wanted to pay homage to the recently departed Paul Bocuse, so Scott Pickett and Philippe Michel were called in to present a menu befitting. Both worked for Bocuse and regaled tales of the great man at the end of a stunning meal. The wines were diverse and generally splendid, and it was a treat to have James on hand to impart his knowledge and experience.
A starter plate housed a couple of plump snails in garlic and butter and the most wonderful oyster en gelée with caviar. The decadence continued with a Black Truffle Gougére followed by Ballotine of Foie Gras with a Sauternes jelly. Michael thought we should look at 1988 Krug Champagne Clos du Mesnil from both bottle and magnum. Both purchased new on release and broken out of their original cases hours before. The bottle was intense and complex. With great depth of citrus and green apple fruits. It had some nuttiness and real volume and power. The magnum was fresher and sheer Champagne perfection. It had some notes of struck match and fine white peach. There was a hint of toast and truffle and it had layers of flavour, fabulous tension and drive and great citrus cut and length.
The Australian Truffle Perigord Soup was the most wonderous bouillon infused with Manjimup truffle under the perfect souffle casing.
1957 Orlando Riesling Barossa Special Vintage: There’s a touch of petrol and some brulee development. The palate is quite full and limey. It is an old wine but possesses good freshness and vitality and worked a treat with the soup.
1960 Lindeman’s Hunter River Riesling Bin 1616: This was released in the mid 1970’s. Today it is a bit wooly on the nose and has toffee and honey notes a plenty. There is some tangy acidity and fruit rind bitterness to the finish.
1970 Lindeman’s White Burgundy Bin 3870: There are some nutty, aldehyde things happening on the nose. In the mouth it has a tinned peach sweetness and lemon curd flavours. It is quite round and persistent.
Red mullet was sublime. The boys had attached little potato scales to the fish and a reduction of sea urchin was unbelievably good.
2004 Coche-Dury Meursault Les Rougeots: There’s a heady scent of citrus blossom and ripe peach. It has some flint and candied lime notes. It tightens at the finish and length is good.
1982 Coche-Dury Meursault: A nice, mature white Burg that is just starting to tire. There’s a mushroomy thing from the cork and sweet peach flavours are full and plump. Acidity is gentle, and the finish is quite earthy.
West Australian Marron with Fois Gras and Fumet was a dish of richness and indulgence. It played perfectly with the ’83 Monty.
1983 Domaine Ramonet Montrachet, Grand Cru: What a wonderful bottle. There’s a suggestion of white mushroom along with pure white peach, mandarin and citrus blossom. It is rich, and textured, with layers of fruit and mineral. Length is superb and laden with spice.
1998 Domaine Ramonet Montrachet, Grand Cru: Quite an advanced colour with a burnt orange tinge. There are some ripe peach notes along with grilled nuts and a suggestion of crème brulee. The palate is a tad washed out.
Onkaparinga Venison had a silky texture that worked a treat with the older red Burgs. It’s accompanying sauce Poivarde was the bomb.
1923 Hospices de Beaune Savigny-lès-Beaune 1er Cru Cuvée Fouquerand Henri de Villamont Collection du Docteur Barolet: Has an engaging aroma of freshly grated ginger, beef stock, earth and red fruits. The palate is silky and fine and flavours build through the palate. It has crisp, minerally acidity and is a joyous wine to drink.
1928 Hospices de Beaune Beaune 1er Cru Cuvée Brunet Henri de Villamont Collection du Docteur Barolet: A little swampy on the nose with fairly high volatility. It calmed in the glass and showed some leather, teak and spice. A tertiary wine that still has some strength coupled with vinous sweetness.
1938 Maison Thorin Moulin-à-Vent: A complex and earthy wine with plenty of root vegetable and plant matter action. It has a shot of espresso and a suggestion of beef stock. There are red fruits still at this wine’s core and a finish punctuated by some balsamic volatility.
1964 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Romanée-Conti, Grand Cru: A subtle, mid-weight wine of lovely balance and proportion. There’s some beef stock to the aroma along with floral spice and red fruits. It has a sweet and rich middle palate and good minerally detail. The finish fans out and it has very good persistence.
1990 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti La Tâche, Grand Cru: Pretty sure this was a Rudy fake. Looked nothing like this legendary wine should. It was weird and swampy with a strange coffee oak thing going on.
1993 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Grands-Echezeaux, Grand Cru: Spicy, intense, cool and youthful. Loaded with raspberry and cherry fruits and strewn with rose petals. Lovely stony detail and real depth and drive. It has terrific breadth and the fresh, savoury finish drives on and on.
1929 R.Roger Musigny, Grand Cru: We believe this may have been from the Doris Duke cellar and it was pretty close to wine of the night. It was ethereal, fragrant and had a cool, stony personality. It filled every crevice of the mouth with an intoxicating perfume and was deep, long and beautifully balanced. Some tea-like tannins carried the extremely long finish.
With the more muscular reds, Duo of Blackmore Wagyu with sauce Perigueux was just the ticket.
1928 Château Latour: This bottle was in fabulous condition. It had a deep colour and a dense vinous core. There were notes of leather, vanilla, cassis and tar. It was rich and powerful, complex and long. A wine of authority and vigour with plenty left in the tank.
1955 Wynns Coonawarra Estate Shiraz Michael: An Aussie legend that was aged in a single 500-gallon whisky barrel. There are rumours that one of the Wynn children of the day had a petit pee pee in the vat, regardless of the truth this is good piss. There are complex aromas of compost, mushroom, leather, decaying leaves and spiced plum. The plum, cherry and cassis fruits in the mouth build and it is a wine with so much savoury nuance. Alcohol is in the low 11’s but it is a wine of real depth and notable freshness.
1959 Lindeman’s Hunter River Burgundy Bin 1590: There’s some sweaty saddle upon first sniff. It opens up to show good sweet fruit and plenty of mushroom and earth. It has real intensity and good grip and is still a wine of good freshness and character.
1953 Baileys Hermitage: A chunky, slightly rustic, dry red with plenty of personality. There are tertiary whiffs of liniment and Indian spice. The black fruits have a slight roasted quality to them and a strand of licorice weaves through the flavour profile. It has a very chewy finish.
Gateau Maurice Bernachon was a chocolatey concoction of wickedness, and perfect with the three iconic Aussie fortifieds.
Morris Muscat: This was a sample of a show barrel, not commercially available. There was some serious age on it and it is one of the most delicious fortifieds you could hope to encounter. There’s intense honey, caramel and raisin aromas and flavours. There’s delicate florals and all sorts of complex caramel and brulee flavours. For its sheer richness and power, it never feels heavy and length is phenomenal.
1912 Seppeltsfield Para 100 Vintage Tawny: Deep, dark and brooding, with raisin fruits, burnt toffee and molasses on the nose. It has an incredible thickness, like 40W70 motor oil. Flavours envelop the whole mouth and it stays with you for an eternity.
Explorer Muscat: This was bottled by Baileys in 1973 and sold for pittance. It had early 1900’s material topped with 1930’s stuff. There were 1200 bottles only ever made. It had some burnt sugar and raisins and was not as rich or powerful as the other two fortifieds but had fabulous balance and poise.
We really didn’t require any more food or drink, but I managed to force in a ‘wafer thin’ morsel of croquembouche. It would have been rude not to taste some of the birthday boy’s special cake that the chefs had made.
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Silly me; thank you Paul for pointing out where I went wrong
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