On March 27th I held a dinner at my house for my wine group and a couple other friends. I have had a 1971 DRC Romanee Conti that I got in an assorted case, direct from Leroy through Bipin Desai, since around 1980 and I had decided that it was just too expensive to drink any longer and was going to sell it. The guys in the group said that it would be their only chance to taste the 71 DRC RC, so if they would put up some money we could open it and everyone would get a chance to taste it. Sounded like a great idea to me so why not make a great night of wine featuring that special bottle. All of these wines were bought on release and stored at 55 degrees since. I didn’t take any notes since I was too busy cooking and serving so these are from memory or at least what’s left of it.
I started cooking and tasting dishes about three weeks before the dinner to get just the right food/wine combinations. After trying a few different dishes for the main courses and a couple attempts at the duck I finally settled on the menu.
First up were the 3 vintages of Dom Perignon. The 1990 although probably the most complex of the three, was a little bit of a letdown after the last magnum that I had. This one seemed a little more advanced than I like, which is usually younger than older for Champagne to catch the youth and effervescence of it. Good but not outstanding. The 1996, always a favorite of mine, showed just why on this night. Plenty of yeast and bread, lots of life, very full in the mouth and overall another great bottle of 96 DP. The 2002 was good, but certainly out of its league in this company. A little lemon and citrus to this one, but if I remember correctly not close to what the 96 Dom tasted like at this same stage of evolution. This flight went well with the appetizer dishes.
The second flight were four bottlings of Ramonet’s 1986’s. I bought these all on release and in fact the Batard and Montrachet were hand carried back from the domaine. The Morgeot started off with a little bit of chemical to the nose but a bright color despite its age. It took this a couple hours to really open and show what Ramonet can do even with this 1er cru, and not one of their better ones at that. On to the Ruchottes - closed at first and not really showing much, but again with maybe an even brighter color than the Morgeot. After a couple hours this too went from next to nothing to honey and caramel full flavors in the mouth and a great finish. The Batard too had good color and seemed to open up faster than the previous wines. But this surpassed everyone’s expectations with great viscosity, butterscotch, a great finish and it lasted all through the night with this wine being a couple of the guys WOTN!! The Montrachet was next. I knew from the color in the bottle, especially compared to the others, that this might be a problem. At first upon pouring almost everyone was convinced that this was oxidized. But I kept on saying that it would come around and a couple others came along with me after a while. And it did open, but nothing compared to a couple of other 86 Montrachets I have had from Ramonet. And in the open bottle, after even a couple days, this wine wasn’t going anywhere, just sort of staying in a state of limbo between oxidation and coming out of its shell. Too bad, but I just happened to have the 1985 Ramonet Montrachet as a backup, so I was shamed into opening that one. Again not showing what this one should have been either, but I think it might just have been such an easy drink that it went down too fast and we didn’t give it the usual two hours to blossom. One thing about all these wines is that the usual Ramonet mint was nowhere to be seen. The seafood gratin, courtesy of Ina Garten’s recipe, proved a good balance to these wines with its lobster, shrimp, halibut, leeks, saffron, and cream.
For the third flight I decided to pull a few DRC La Tache to check out the state of these wines in my cellar. None were opened prior to pouring and decanted just to remove sediment, and I drank them in the Impitoyables. The 1978 was part of one of my first purchases of great wine - an assorted case of 1978 DRC for the then unheard price(especially for me as a poor, young novice) of $1,050! Thanks to Don Piestrup, my friend and wine guru and great composer, for forcing me to buy that case. It was in beautiful shape with a little bricking and the tertiary aromas of sous bois, mushroom, and spices were on display. Then the 1985 LT was poured and had a little bit of stewed aromas. Fortunately it blew off after about a half an hour, but this time the 85 showed like most of the recent reviews with not too much fruit and just a lack of gusto and life. This was my last bottle but the others that I have had from an original case were in much better shape than this and I had always thought “what are these guys talking about?? This wine is smoking!!” But this one, although pleasant, had seen better days. The 1988, a very dark color, showed its tough as nails reputation with lots of grip and plenty of tannins. Even after an hour or so this one still either needs lots of time to open or several more years. But the next day there was a little left in the decanter and I smelled the decanter and the wine had simply transformed into a gorgeous, spicy, rainbow of aromas. I tasted it and it had softened and opened a bit but still was on the tough side. I thought that was a good sign for future bottles of the 1988 - wait another 5 years to try this one again. Next up was the 1999 - one of my favorite vintages certainly since 1978. This was another great example of the 1999 vintage - dark color, dark,cool fruits, smooth tannins, and velvety texture with lots of depth. Maybe one of the best LT’s that I have had and this should live for quite some time. I will have trouble holding off on trying another bottle but I want to have this with more age and some more secondary aromas and flavors but this was still smoking at age 11+!! The 2001 has had some comments recently so that it why I thought it might be interesting to see it development at this young age (for me to open anyway). Lighter in color than the 1988 or 1999, but more open and probably a little more ready to drink than either of those. The Vosne spice showed through on this one with brighter fruits than the 1999 and generally a higher pitched wine. This will also be a winner in another few years gaining some deeper flavors. A little of the 1999 and 2001 were in the decanters the next day and both showed well with no oxidation and just more open and still showing well. Also great signs for both of these - I guess maybe some decanting would have helped with the last few but I think it is always better to taste it in the glass on the way up rather than on the way down. The Porcini ragu, which has sausage, chicken thighs, sage, tomatoes, in a red wine/porcini liquid based broth was a perfect match to this flight.
Then on to the star of the night - the 1971 DRC Romanee Conti. The color was as to be expected with a little browning at the rim. The nose wasn’t effusive, but almost calm, as if to say come and get me. And the wine was similar - after all the powerful and young La Tache, this was spherical, seamless, and just seemed to go down far too easily. I poured it in a Baccarat Romanee Conti glass which is about the size of a small bathtub and mentioned in the Richard Olney book on Romanee Conti. I usually don’t like big glasses like this but I thought I should try it. Actually the glass may have just been too large, especially when I smelled it in an Impitoyables, which concentrated the nose much more. Not much discussion on this wine with the group - probably a good sign that everyone was doing their best to get all they could from this once in a lifetime wine. The duck with prunes was served with a red wine reduction, to which I added a little hoisin sauce during the reduction and seemed to work well with the RC.
I ordered a selection of cheeses from fromages.com and was lucky to get the last of their allocation of Abbaye de Citeaux, which is the only cheese that DRC suggests to be served with Romanee Conti. It is a mild rind washed cheese similar to Epoisses but much milder and complemented the RC well. Also included in the cheeses were Epoisses, crottin de Chavignol, St. Nectaire, 24 month old Comte, and Coulummiers.
To round out an evening like this what better way to try six of the better recent vintages of Chateau Yquem?? The 2005 was almost clear in color with a very nice nose of grilled pineapple. I haven’t had many young Yquems so I can’t tell about the future of this one, but compared to the 2001 that I had at a similar age, I’ll take the 2001. This night the 2001 was one of the stars, as it is on every time I have had it. Coconut, tropical fruits, with great viscosity and a finish that just goes on and on. All the praise heaped on this wine is very well deserved. The 1997, a wine that Sandrine Garbay, the winemaker at Yquem, told me was one of her under the radar favorites, has been a go to Yquem for me lately. It always has great balance with enough age on it to show what Yquem can offer. It has a nice flavor profile with plenty of depth and body. The best QPR, if there is such a thing, of the recent bottlings and this one held its own with all these. 1988 has been my favorite of the recent tastings of Yquem and it was opened for me at the Chateau two years ago, and that bottle was as good as any I have had. So I was looking forward to trying this one against these others, but to my surprise this bottle was not up to par. It may be the first time I have had an Yquem that wasn’t next to perfect condition. It had a darker color than even the 1975 and a little bit of medicinal nose which also came out in the taste. Too bad, because it can be spectacular. I have had the 1986, which was from a case of 24, at least 10 times and it is always very showy, but with these other heavy weight vintages it seemed to be a little on the overblown side especially compared to the 2001 and the 1975. Lots of botrytis with good doses of honey and caramel in this one. I have had the 1975 several times and I have always thought it too be too young even as recently as a couple years ago. The acidity always seemed to come through too much and didn’t really let the wine open up to its fullest, but this one had finally come together and was ready to show the 2001 just where it might be in 25 years. Deep golden color, with lots of honey, tropical fruits, and a great balance of age, sweetness, and acidity. A tough call for the wine of the flight between the 2001 and 1975, but the 2001 gets it for me by a nose. The creme brulee with diced mango inside and toasted coconut on top was the dessert version of these wines and paired perfectly. Also there was a little left in each bottle of the 1986, 1997, and 1975 so I just put a cork in it and left in the refrigerator for 6 days. Then I had a little mini tasting with my son who also loves Yquem. All three of these were still going strong, with the 1997 and 1975 as good as they were on the night of the dinner if not even a little better!! Amazing stuff.
This night was a great meeting of friends and wine and is always my pleasure to host events like this for these guys - they make it all worth while. A special thanks to Bud Insalata for opening the wines and making sure everyone got a full pour.
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