Tuesday evening Cheryl & Bill Jamison joined us for the July Wine Geek’s dinner at Nostrani. We started with a lovely crisp, fruity NV H. Billiot Champagne Rosé. It was lovely with the amusée of canellini bean purée and heirloom tomatoes. We then saved the last half of the bottle to try with the dessert and had a 2004 Marc Deschamp Pouilly-Fumé ‘Les Porchesonnes’, which was very good with the next course of a salad with cheddar cauliflower, heirloom tomatoes, and baby arugula in a light crême fraiche dressing.
Then we had a 2000 Chateau de Puligny-Montrachet Chevalier-Montrachet - slight oxidation on the nose, which primarily added to complexity; rich, spicy nose and flavors of complex white fruits; adequate acidity and a very rich mid-palate; with a very long, complex finish. It was exquisite with the Maryland Crab Cake in a lettuce-brown butter sauce. The crab cake was lovely lump crab meat, barely bound together in a light crisp coating on a very complimentary sauce. Lovely.
Next came the very thick and rich seared foie gras with wild mushrooms, bacon, and a fig & plum reduction. With this we had two wines - a 1988 Chateau Doisy-Daëne Barsac and a 1999 Domaine Pavelot 1er Cru Savigny-le-Beaune. The Barsac was rich and not particularly sweet and very good with the foie gras with or without the fruits. The Pavelot was bright, red fruit and very good with the foie gras with the mushroom and bacon pieces. It was a large and very tasty piece of foie gras and good with both wines.
For dessert we had a small black cherry tart, which was a nice finish with both the remains of the rosé Champagne and of the Barsac. Another evening of great wine and food at Nostrani.