Yesterday afternoon, three couples came over to indulge in some goodies with us - Allyson Bennett & Cabe Martinez, Laura Chancellor & Larry Archibald, and Cheryl & Bill Jamison. We started with a 1999 Vilmart Grand Cellier d’Or Brut and the side of smoked Norwegian Salmon & triple-smoked white Sturgeon filet with chive-horseradish crême frâiche, beet horseradish crême frâiche, & dill-horseradish crême frâiche; Tsar Nicoulai California Estate Osetra & Kelley’s Katch Tennessee River Paddlefish domestic caviars with blinis, crême frâiche, chopped chives, & separated hard-boiled egg yolks and whites, chopped; and Carollee’s stuffed cucumbers.
When we had finished the Vilmart, which was rich, yeasty, and complex, we had a 1998 deVenoge Blanc de Blancs - bright, crisp, with a little complex citrus note. Both were quite good with the fish and caviars, Then we opened the Champagne Cabe had brought, a 1989 Veuve-Cliquot ‘La Grand Dame’ Brut Rosé - slightly oxidized, with muted, tertiary berry fruit, but still tasty, especially with the smoked fish. Then for our last champagne we had a fresh, fruity NV Delamotte Brut Rosé.
As we were winding down on the Champagnes, I prepared a platter of pâtes - Pâte de Campagne, Pâte Forestiére, Pâte Poivre Noir, and a pork, truffle, and foie gras mousse with aspic; with coarse ground mustard and Lucques and Cerignola olives. The first pâte wine was a fruity 2002 Domaine Parigot Savigny-le-Beaune ‘Les Peuilles’. Nice, but a little light for some of the pâtes, so I brought up a 2001 Domaine Palliéres Gigondas - darker, richer fruit than the Savigny, and a great match to the pâtes. It was so good that I got another bottle up to help finish things off.
It was a great summer afternoon and evening. The first hour or so were spent inside with the air-conditioning running, cooling things nicely. Then we slowly made our way out to the patio bar and table, which were well shaded and comfortable.