Last night seven of us had dinner at Restaurant De Librije (***), Zwolle, The Netherlands. It turned out to be a memorable evening.
We sat at the chef’s table, which provided a unique view on / in the kitchen. A great setting. A big thanks and full credit to the people at De Librije for accommodating our little tasting and doing such an excellent job at it. The food was sublime and matched perfectly with the wines, which is a big compliment to the chef and sommelier as I can imagine these were perhaps not the easiest wines to pair food with. But they nailed it. A dish of ruffe (Rivierbaars in Dutch), a dish of sole with truffle, perhaps the very best dish with pigeon I have ever tasted, some venison… all executed to perfection.
The service and hospitality were impeccable and the people at De Librije really went out of their way to make our evening a success, and a success it was.
The wines we had lined up were:
- 2001 Domaine Leflaive Chevalier Montrachet
- 2001 Domaine D’Auvenay Chevalier Montrachet
- 1947 Montrachet - Vandermeulen bottling
- 2000 Domaine de la Romanee Conti Montrachet
- 1990 Latour
- 1990 Haut Brion
- 1970 Petrus
- 1964 Petrus
- 1945 Vieux Chateau Certan
- 1990 Clos du Naudin Moulleaux GoutteD’or
- 1975 D’Yquem
There were some back-up bottles in case anything was wrong with any of the above, but rather unbelievably each and every bottle last night was singing. Not just that they were good in the sense that they were not corked, oxidized or otherwise gone bad, no each bottle / wine probably could not have shown better than it did last night (that is not to say that all were perfect wines, that not, although some definitely were). Looking at the list of wines we had, that is a small miracle I think.
- 2001 Domaine Leflaive Chevalier Montrachet
A beautiful, tempting, easy drinking Leflaive. Full of tropical fruit. Lacks tension and minerality to be truly outstanding, but a very good bottle nevertheless and absolutely no signs of premox or whatsoever.
- 2001 Domaine D’Auvenay Chevalier Montrachet
Fortunately, this was not corked (another bottle opened by one of the attendees three months ago was horribly corked). Took a (long) while to open up. When opened before the dinner it was still extremely tight and gave little. More minerality (limestone) than the Leflaive. Whereas the Leflaive was lush and tropical, this was linear and restrained. But in the end, also here, it ultimately lacked that little bit extra to make it a truly great bottle. I guess it is the vintage.
- 1947 Montrachet - Vandermeulen bottling
A last minute addition by one of the attendees. Tasting a piece of history. I personally never have had a white wine this old (Sauternes excluded) and given present day’s problems with ageing white Burgundy, it is easy to forget that they can actually age brilliantly. This was still very much alive. Maybe not a perfect wine, but a brilliant piece of history which we were all extremely grateful for being given the opportunity to taste this. Thanks for this!
- 2000 Domaine de la Romanee Conti Montrachet
The person that brought this bottle said that it would blow everything else away and it did. Absolutely no need here to write down a long story full of superlatives. I will suffice with saying that this is brilliance in a glass and it does not get better than this. I left a tiny tiny amount of wine in my glass and when sniffing the glass at the end of the evening (several hours later) this wine still hits you in the face with the most amazing perfume. It is that big.
- 1990 Latour
Opinion on this wine seems divided (maybe due to bottle variation, I don’t know) but this was very good. A beautiful Latour. Way outperformed expectations I felt.
- 1990 Haut Brion
Have been fortunate to taste this a couple of times now and this was as great as ever. There was a lively discussion on whether 89 is better or 90. But ultimately, who cares, they are both brilliant bottles and preference for one over the other is a purely personal preference. There is just no denying that these are monumental wines. Drinking at its peak right now, fully mature.
- 1970 Petrus
A huge wine, full of dark/black fruit and perfectly balanced. A bit of sweetness, but in a restrained way. Intense. Brilliant texture.
- 1964 Petrus
As good as the 1970 was, this 1964 was just incredible. Unbelievable length. It has it all. I wish everyone on this board the experience to drink a bottle like this, monumental.
- 1945 Vieux Chateau Certan
By now, I have to admit I was getting quite nervous as this bottle was my contribution to the dinner. We just had a perfect string of perfect bottles, surely when you are opening this many bottles (many of them old) there has to be one with a flaw…? The fill level of this bottle was still into the neck, the cork was horribly crumbled and the lady at De Librije removed all small bits and pieces with almost surgical precision, but ultimately the wine had to be poured into a decanter to remove the pieces of cork. The wine was brilliant and believe it or not, despite its age it did not suffer from being poured into a decanter and held up in the glass throughout the evening. It did not fade. Another piece of history we tasted last night.
- 1990 Clos du Naudin Moulleaux Goutte D’or
A rarity, having been produced only three times in the past 100 years or so. I guess not for everyone’s liking. Extremely sweet, it reminded me more of a great Vin Santo di Montepulciano than eg a Sauternes. I can see why people would absolutely love this, and I can also understand why people loathe this. I am somewhere in the middle, but consider myself lucky having been able to taste this.
- 1975 D’Yquem
This shows why D’Yquem is the greatest of them all. Beautiful colour (by now I do know that colour says nothing on D’Yquem, some turn almost black already very quickly and others keep a light colour almost forever). But this had this perfect golden glow. Every time I drink an older D’Yquem I am always a bit in doubt: do I like them better young or old. The additional complexity and fullness that comes with age is stunning. However, the freshness and tension that they have when young (I mention a 2001 tasted recently) I can also highly appreciate.
So that was it, what a way to start the new year!
