I know it’s a bit silly, but ever since learning about Curnonsky’s Five, I’ve wanted to try them all. I’ve finally assembled them and would love to hear how you’d recommend enjoying them if you were in my shoes. Here’s what I’ve got:
2015 Bouchard Montrachet
2014 Coulee de Serrant
1988 Yquem (375mL)
2013 Macle Chateau Chalon
1982 Chateau Grillet *
The context:
Coulee de Serrant is the only one I’ve had before. In fact, I’ve never had anything from Montrachet or Chateau Chalon.
There will not be a big group. Maybe just me and my partner- one or two others at most.
Most of these wines are stretching my budget- they’re not the sort of thing I drink often.
The options **:
1- A big blowout dinner with all the wines. Fun, but a lot of work, and maybe not the best for appreciating each wine.
2- Five meals, each featuring one wine. Optimal for wine appreciation, but kind of spread out and also a lot of work.
3- Two or three meals, each featuring a few wines. A happy medium?
I’m slightly leaning towards #3, but would love to hear what other people think. Also, what food(s) would you recommend? I have ideas, and I can throw them out there if this topic gets some interest, but this post is already too long.
Thanks!
Noah
* A young Georges Vernay Coteau de Vernon is on hand if this doesn’t show well. This is not promising. Price, availability, and mediocre ratings dissuaded me from purchasing a young Grillet as a backup.
**I don’t want to do restaurants, so I’ll be cooking.
I’m curious about this “a lot of work” factor! I can see why hosting a big dinner party is a lot of work, but not sure there’s any difference between #2 and #3 on that front? Presumably you will be eating and drinking anyway over the next days, weeks and months.
I would do them all at once and not worry too much about food. Get good stems, some light bites (bread, some charcuterie, etc), and 2ish people to drink with and enjoy those special wines over a few hours of conversion. Let the wines be the centerpiece of a warm 4+ hours. Don’t fuss too much - the winemakers did the fussing already.
I would do them all together at a restaurant that can supply multiple fish courses. Beware of the Coulee de Serrant. Large percentage of bottles are undrinkable.
Yeah, Joly wines are typically either utterly transcendent or just oxidized messes. Never had one in the middle and I’ve had vintages from the mid 90s to recent ones. I stopped buying because it’s just too all over the place (and not particularly affordable).
Francois Audoze celebrated these wines at one of his dinners, and I believe it is written up here. (I think I found it on a search here.). One of his pairings was one of the wines with a 36 month aged comte - which is a mind-boggling cheese & would ease your pairing/labor dilemma. I’m not sure the 36 month aged is available in the US, but if it is, I would def consider this. If it is not, my fromager/affineur in Paris (Marie-Anne Cantin) has it - and the 48 month - and, depending on when your dinner is, I’m happy to try & suitcase some back for you (vacuvin-ing it first). (I next return to the US Nov 18.) Outstanding on your Curnonsky recognition/fete!
I see more harmony with the Chang 7 going together than this set of wines so I go with option 3 unless you want to have fun trying to make an all-at-once menu that really does match up to each of the wines.
My home-cooking skills tend to make multi-course meals a really long drawn-out affair. In our 20s and 30s, pre-kids, we loved to do this. Start cooking (and sampling wines) mid-afternoon and carry on until after midnight. Made for lots of things to try and a really fun time. Now, I try to do 2-3 courses max and keep it ~5:00-9:00 with a 9:00-10:30 relaxation and glide to bed with last sips.
I did this sort of exercise early in my wine journey, but it was with a more loosely defined set of benchmark wines. Typically, we’d focus on one benchmark per meal as the showcase and put other wines of similar origin but less prestige along side to help identify what makes the benchmark special (or not). This really helped. For cuisine, we tried to match dishes of the cuisine local to the wine’s origin that intersect with our preferences and if there were really famous pairings, make sure we tried them out. D’Yquem and foie gras or the Comte example noted are good ideas.
Very different styles, def. not side by side …
Chalon is an oxidized style, Yquem is very sweet, CdSerrant and Grillet can be strange or great and need a lot of air …
I’d go with 5 dishes for 5 wines …
Chalon 1st or 4th, Yquem last … the rest depends on the food …
I would go with 3, especially if it’s the two of you or a smaller group. Personally I like having a reference point or contrast. And if you want more intimacy with the wines and follow them over the evening, that it’s also another goo d reason versus 1.
These are all wines I would much prefer with food. The notion that brings them together has nothing to do with a belief that they would complememt each other by being served at the same time. To me, a tasting with all of them is simply an intellectual exercise. This is fine if it’s what you like. For me, I prefer to maximize enjoyment. I’d do separate meals based around a single centerpiece wine from this list (other wines not on the list can be drunk as well, if you like). Who cares if it’s spread out? That just extends the pleasure and anticipation.
Well I don’t think this list of 5 is in accordance with what anyone would propose today (especially Coulee and Grillet), but it’s a neat historical exercise. For sure you want to do them in one dinner, one per course, the Chalon with cheese. Have a backup plan for anything that might be undrinkably bad (especially Coulee and Grillet).
One at a time. I like my wines one at a time and increasingly feel that they are simply wasted when Pelion is piled upon Ossa, feeling sad after the event that every single wine was traduced, however magnificent.
Thanks for the responses- great to read even if it was not clarifying at all! Votes were cast for all three options. HA! I expected nothing less…
I agree with everyone that it makes sense to have backups ready for the Grillet (which is old), and the Coulee de Serrant (which is always hit or miss).
A few questions:
Any recommendations for a good Coulee de Serrant backup? Maybe a Savennieres (which one?). Or a Huet sec?
Any recommendations regarding serving the Coulee de Serrant? I know Joly recommends an insanely long decant. Do people actually do this?
