British Airways’ foul ups during my effort to return to Dallas from Edinburgh Scotland left me stuck in London on Monday. I’ve been deprived of travel most of my life and just love it now, and so I took that as a wonderful opportunity. I ditched the BA Holiday Inn Express Airport for a room in Mayfair, went to Buckingham, then across the Mall to the Horse Guards, then to the Admiralty Arch, up to Trafalgar Square, a wonderful visit to the National Gallery and their Courtaud Impressionists Exhibit which was really top-notch, then to dinner at Hide. Not a bad way to kill an afternoon and evening.
Dinner at Hide (Above) was excellent. The restaurant is on Piccadilly and easy access from most Mayfair hotels. The restaurant is split between Hide Above and Hide Below. Below is a la carte. Above is tasting menu. The tasting menu was really quite excellent and began with a mushroom broth, charcuterie of goose meats, and veggies with a lovely dipping sauce. Next was a leek and black truffle dish with leek soup that was just phenomenal. Then a little egg in a nest dish with egg custard with wild mushrooms. I thought it was a miss. Too heavy and rich with no lift. Thank god for champagne. Then duck, cheese, dessert of baked alaska. All of the plates, with the exception of the smoked egg custard dish (which had a great presentation), were immaculately executed and really quite delicious. 5 course tasting menu for 115 pounds. Highly recommended. Add the cheese course.
Hide’s wine list is absurd. The by the glass list is excellent. The half bottle list includes 1961 La Chappelle, but at 11,500 lbs, it was juuuuust outside my price range. There is an excellent array of affordable and quite excellent champagnes and the staff and list is well trained and executed. They even list which Krug release they’re offering (the 166eme). If you can’t find something out of your 500 or so choices, you can access any of 3,000 additional offerings from a retail store they’re connected with. Any bottle you choose from the i-pad–complete with search functions–will be delivered to your table in 15 minutes. Luckily, there was enough brilliant stuff on the paper list for me to find something worthwhile quickly.
2013 Marie Courtin Efflorescence Extra Brut - This champagne is 100% pinot noir and 0 dosage. And it is excellent. It has beautiful acidity, a fine mouse, and great energy and lift. The nose offers chalk, white peach, apple, biscuit, and a hint of berry, followed by lovely floral notes. The palate shows good weight but great lift from the cut of acid, and is mineral driven. It is complex, but honestly rather difficult to delineate flavor after flavor. There is undeniably a ton going on, though. Loved it. 94
1967 BV Georges de Latour Cabernet Sauvignong I had a long discussion about this with the Somm. He agreed that if the bottle was not right on point–as far as condition–he’d comp it. Given that it was 51 years old and in half bottle, I decided to take a swing. The cork was utterly perfect and the fill was low-mid neck. I could’t have hoped for better condition. I could have hoped for better wine. The 1967 is not very good. That’s okay. At 51, I was expecting an education, not a great wine. The ABV is listed at 12% and I believe it. The immediate take away from the nose is that it is slightly green and dominated by licorice. Leeks and licorice. The palate has some dried cherry, a hint of fig, licorice, leeks. The acid cut is aggressive on the back end, suggesting a wine that was probably never really in balance. 84
The BV was a fun experience. I can’t help but think the grapes were picked early, were green, and that the wine must have been brutal young with it’s massive brace of acidity and underripe fruit. Even so, it’s a pleasure to get a taste of history, and that’s the oldest Napa cab I’ve ever tasted. I was so pleased at the bottle condition, and the somm at Hide was a pleasure to talk to and knew of Wineberserkers (Maison Ilan and Kurniawan, mainly). Hans Larsson.
