dinner with Mike Lux: Krug, Rousseau, C Dury, Roulot, Pontet Canet, Weinbach / points or no points?

WINE TALK
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Michael Lux is a great chef and wine lover, and he prepared a fine dinner of filet of pork with mushroom wrapped in a pastry shell (among other delicious things) at his place in Alsace. but we also selected a series of wines to go with the dinner from his cellar. Mike has toured many of France’s great restaurants, spent some time in the kitchen at the Buerehiesel in Strasbourg and has experience as a food critic. Coupled with a great knowledge of Burgundy, we had a great time.

My initial feeling after the dinner was ‘so much ado about scoring wines,’ because the most important question is: do you like the wine, or do you not? Sure that is the first question asked by neophytes, but in the end, that is the most important question asked … experts.

Point being, we largely enjoyed tonight’s wines without being to meticulous about how many points out of 100 or 20 or whichever number you may choose they “deserved.”

Things started off with a nice bottle of Krug Champagne non vintage, but before the LVMH era. A bottle purchased in 2000, tasted in November 2009. A golden color, evolved. Nose of dried fruits and nuts but the palate was fresh, lively - quite young - and full of stuffing yet elegant and light. A very enjoyable wine that perhaps merits 90 points? 95? 100? Was it good or was it not? Point being: we loved this wine.

There followed a Coche Dury Meursault Les Chevalieres 1999 very smoky, very minty, grilled notes and thick and rich on the palate. Golden mature color. A nice match to the raw tuna with grilled sesame and spring onion. A rich and suave wine. Rather particular. 92 points? Tell me what you think…

Then came a Domaine Roulot Meursault Les Tessons Clos de Mon Plaisir 2000 (12.8%) very butterscotch at first, more “typically” Meursault, with gourmand richness but somehow more precise than the preceding wine… some 60 minutes later, more precise, more mineral, with distinct notes of white pepper. I think I like this more than the preceding wine. Mike referred to this as the femme fatale and the preceding wine as the porn star. How many points would you give each one?

Then came the filet mignon de porc enrobed in a pastry shell within which also porcini mushrooms… a perfect match for the Gevrey Chambertin Clos St Jacques of A Rousseau 2002, a wine which RECONFIRMED my love for Burgundy: cherry, cassis, light chocolate and a hint of acetone but not too much. A premier cru that may deserve grand cru status, but just a bit rustic. In any case, I just wanted to drink more of this bottle… more and more. In my mind, this was worth at least 94 points, but then someone less sensitive to rusticity could give it more points. Subjectivity over objectivity? Perhaps. In any case, I liked this wine very much. Too young because still a bit tight, but certainly in the “masculine” category. A rough rider. And delicious.

With 48 month old gouda and Saint Nectaire, we cracked open a Bordeaux. Ah ha, I kind of felt at home. I brought this wine over to Mike’s. Opened the day before, the 2000 vintage needed to breath. Double decanted. A mix of cassis and cherry aromas - and lots of tar, reminding me of Michael Broadbent’s comments on this wine. But overall very nice if TOO YOUNG. We ended up drinking more Roulot with the cheese, but I still liked the Pontet Canet’s power, even if it was still somewhat tight on the finish. For you owners of Pontet Canet 2000 wait a few more years. I am glad to have 3 more bottles.

My girlfriend Edith prepared a home made pear pie - simply delicious, that is pear cut over a pastry and cooked in the oven for about 20 minutes. Some sugar added that is reduced into caramel in the oven… And the perfect wine match. Perfect? Nah, but it felt nice… The Gewurztraminer Altenbourg of Domaine Weinbach 2007. This vintage showed good acidity - a perfect balance to the richness of Weinbach Gewurztraminer and guess what? It was showing pear notes that nicely echoed the homemade pie. Point score? Take your pick. I would give it at least 93 points, the wine. Edith’s pie gets just as many.

Mike likes to say that he likes acidity in wine because he likes to drink with food - I cannot agree more. Just a great time.

Yours, Panos

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Great post, Panos. Thanks a lot… and you’re too kind… :wink:

We had a great night indeed. The wines were quite good indeed. My WOTN must be the 2002 Rousseau Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Clos St Jacques. While primary, it had already some (little) evolution and has definitely the structure to go long haul… but was already very enjoyable last night.
My favourite white was indeed the 2000 Guy Roulot Meursault Tessons “Clos de mon plaisir”. Guillaume is the one who came up with the femme fatale definition for Guy Roulot’s wines (vs the “porn star” that Coche would be). And I think that it applied -again- so well…

I liked the 2000 Pontet-Canet quite a bit. Clearly too young, the tannins are still very strong and need another 10 years, I’d think, to integrate the wine fully. Very nice aromatics of red fruits and points of tobacco leaf and dark chocolate. Powerhouse this wine is… and would go well with some “lievre a la royale”, maybe?

Krug was its usual self: power delivered with elegance. The little age gave it the perfect bubble: creamy and teasing, very fine.

I loved the 2007 Weinbach Gewurztraminer Altenbourg. Really loved it. All in elegance, “restrained”, it had class. Great aromatics of rose water and pears, the length was also superb and calling for another glass. It was a great match for the brilliant pear tart that Edith prepared.

All I have to say is… we need to do it again [welldone.gif]

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Of the non-VT/SGN Weinbach Altenbourgs I’ve tried (e.g., '96 & '04 Pinot gris, '02 & '04 Gewürz, etc.) I’ve noted that the fruit always seemed to have an extremely ripe, somewhat fat, off-dry, VT character to it. I figure it’s a characteristic of the Altenbourg lieu-dit as far as Weinbach wines are concerned. Very nice, to be sure - but not what I usually go for when looking for dry PG or gewürz.

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You’re right. The Gewurztraminer is not dry, far from it. I reckon some 20g RS but it’s not sweet. More ripe fruit, as you rightly point out. And perfectly integrated sugars. It’s agreat example of Gewurztraminer, I thought. With incredible elegance that so many Gewurz do miss…

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My invitation got lost in the mail [cry.gif]

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Well… it’s not like we planned much at all… wines chosen in the cellar for immediate consumption… [oops.gif]

Next time, we’ll plan… and drink even better [dance-clap.gif]

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Regarding the Gewurztraminer, what makes the 2007 particularly good is the relative high acidity from the vintage.

Thanks very much for the kind words, Serge.