Killer burgs with AMAZING Chinese food (not crappy Mr. Chow ;p)

WINE TALK
1

After my adventure at Mr. Chow (Click here for notes on that dinner) I wanted to show Mr. Goldman real Chinese food by taking him into the depth of the real Chinatown of Los Angeles, Monterey Park. Unfortunately, he was out of the state during the planned dinner, so we trekked on without him.

Dr. Chien, Mr. Wei, Mr. don’t tell people I was there cause you guys are like my mistresses I’m ashamed of ;0D, and myself ventured back to one of my favorite Chinese Seafood restaurants, Elite. Service as usual was beyond excellent, especially for a Chinese restaurant and we just dove into a bunch of fresh veggies and seafood. I tried two things I’ve never had at Elite before, #1 a redonkulously good dry scalloped hot sauce, fresh chopped chili, chili paste and shredded dry scallop and #2 a white leafed Ong Choy. Ong Choy (water spinach) is pretty typical in Asian cuisine, known for it’s hollowness and crunch, but this was a really meaty soft texture and cooked with fermented tofu. Awesome dish. It’s funny, but I really love the way they prepare vegetables here, I’m always digging in for a second order of it.

We ordered a live fish (hello dinner!)

The fish was prepared two ways. The head was tossed with garlic and young green onions into a hot pot. I love it when they make the fish this way. The garlic and herbs are delicious!

Then the remainder was done in the classic steamed preparation.

We also ordered some charbroiled Pigeon that was tender and meaty. A cold plate of roast pork belly, duck and chicken. Also crispy chow mein with seafood.

Capped off the dinner with charred rice cake and fresh lobster

The WOTN for me was the 01 Arnoux Suchot. The three times I’ve had it, it’s been my WOTN each time. It just shows such power and density, really enjoy it. The leroys show how scary similar the winemaking process was for the Domaine in the 90’s… where everything just kinda tasted the same. Seeing these two 1er’s side by side, you almost would get confused which wine was which when you had them in glasses next to each other. My notes seemed really negative on the wines, but they were good wines, just missing that extra little something to push it over the edge




  • 1986 Etienne Sauzet Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Combettes - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru (7/13/2014)
    Wine is on point right now. perfect acidity, well balanced and a broad fleshed out sweet honeyed fruit. You smack your lips cause the palate is so rich and dense. I’d probably say drink up just because it’s starting to turn a little too sweet, but the bottle was still very tasty. white burgs from 86 are just tasting FANTASTIC right now and this is obviously no exception.
  • 1998 Domaine Leroy Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Aux Combottes - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru (7/13/2014)
    fantastic nose of bright fruit and spiced earth per the usual MO of Leroy but 98 rears its head. The initial attack is filled with crunchy red fruit but then you feel this hollowness on the mid palate, a little muddled on the high toned red fruit flavors but the texture of the wine was silky smooth and went down easy. When I was drinking the wine I thought of the wine as a circle of flavor and texture with a hole in the middle.
  • 1998 Domaine Leroy Nuits St. Georges 1er Cru Les Boudots - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Nuits St. Georges 1er Cru (7/13/2014)
    Like FYC said in the note below, we opened it side by side with a combottes from 98. The wine had more of an earthy feel to it than the combotte, while the combotte was high toned fruit, the boudot was darker more masculine fruit flavors. But after a couple of hours, you could barely distinguish the two, the combottes was a LITTLE brighter but the texture and nose were near identical.
  • 1999 Domaine Drouhin-Laroze Chambertin-Clos de Bèze - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Chambertin-Clos de Bèze Grand Cru (7/13/2014)
    Served blind. This wine kinda sucked. It was hollow and boring on the palate with no lift what so ever and definitely showed a touch oaky. It was rustic but without any complexity of fruit. Short on the finish. Wine didn’t change much at all during the night. Could it possibly be on the down slope? It tasted a bit tired to me. Sound bottle conditions so I don’t think it was improper storage.
  • 2001 Domaine Robert Arnoux / Arnoux-Lachaux Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Les Suchots - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru (7/13/2014)
    Boy oh boy, 3rd time I’ve had this wine in a year and it’s been up to snuff each time. THis was ROARING at the pop and pour. Such a powerful deep wine on the palate, just stuffed to the gills with incredible flavor that’s wonderfully conveyed on the palate. A beast of a wine and absolutely delicious.
2

wow, got me thinking of going there for lunch today! Love that Arnoux. And there are some 91 Leroy’s and 88s that rock–Brulées, for one.

3

Nice notes Charlie. Im always jealous of the Chinese food you get to eat.

About the Arnoux: Im curious if it seemed to have any tertiary development or if it was still young smelling and tasting.

4

Now those photos are mouth-watering! Only one GC, whazzupwiththat?

5

Love 88 and 91 Leroy fosho. The Beauxmont/Brulees/Boudots are fantastic! The 88 are drinking at epic levels right now :slight_smile:

6

Wow, those food shots are brilliant.

I have a couple '99 Drouhin-Laroze Bones Mares that hopefully didn’t suffer the same fate as your Beze. I guess I should try one.

7

'99 D-L was before the ‘regime shift’, around '02 or '05, where they started going for quality. A shame as with that vineyard material, they could have made amazing '99s. Such is life. Buy '05 forward with confidence and avoid '01 or earlier. Not sure about '02 or '03…

8

Great notes, Charlie, as always. Surprised bordering on shocked to see your notes on the 99 CdB. Wish we could ever see such a thing as an 86 white burg up here. I love 2001s, remains for me such a classic vintage—we don’t see any of those either, but the 10s have shown similarly to me and thus I’m buying a goodly number of those.

All best, keep up the good work.

Mike

9

Nice, sad to have missed this. :frowning:

10

Excellent report, Charlie, and great to hear about the '86 Sauzet – that kind of graceful aging used to be the norm. Now… [soap.gif]

“Mr. don’t tell people I was there cause you guys are like my mistresses I’m ashamed of.”

Too funny!
.

11

Charlie, thank you for the great notes. I also am not that keen on the Leroy signature you describe. Also the 1999 shows us that vintage and climat does not necessarily pull through, though the same can’t be said for the Suchot which sounds as if it lived up to its reputation, 2001 was a good VR vintage. Cheers Mike

12

Surprised to see pigeon done domestically. Would think it would turn more people off. Only had it in Xi’an, and half the people at the table wouldn’t eat it. Sadly we were having a dumpling race between tables, and I had to knock out most of the plate myself.
China 1136.JPG

1 Like
13

Tons of pigeon is eaten domestically. The menu just smartly lists it as squab.

Great notes and meal. Thanks.

14

Great wines and notes.
Looks like a nice night.
Had that Arnoux about a year ago, it was crazy good.

15

Wow, what a great night of wine and food!

16

Great dinner. Loved that roast squab. The skin on it was so lacquered and crispy. Better than duck. There are no pictures because it was devoured so quickly.

My WOTN goes to the 1986 Sauzet Combettes. Such a treat to have 28 year old white burg in a perfect spot.

I also agree that the Leroys are too similar to a fault. Having said that, probably one of the finest examples of 98s that I’ve had where the palate was not too soft.

  • 1986 Etienne Sauzet Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Combettes - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru (7/13/2014)
    Rich fruit, some vanilla but also with complex aged notes of buttered popcorn, white mushrooms, and hint of hazelnut. Possessed fine acidity which provided lift and balance. I loved this. My WOTN.
  • 1999 Domaine Drouhin-Laroze Chambertin-Clos de Bèze - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Chambertin-Clos de Bèze Grand Cru (7/13/2014)
    Served blind. The wine showed some age in taste and color. Some fruit, earth, forest floor, but all very light and lacking depth. I guessed a 1995 Gevrey Chambertin. Village. Would never have guessed this was grand cru.
  • 2001 Domaine Robert Arnoux / Arnoux-Lachaux Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru Les Suchots - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Vosne-Romanée 1er Cru (7/13/2014)
    I felt like this showing was a bit less impressive than the showing in March. Probably needed more air. Juicy sweet fruit for sure and nice structure. But this time, that extra something didn’t really show. Needs more time for my tastes.
  • 1998 Domaine Leroy Nuits St. Georges 1er Cru Les Boudots - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Nuits St. Georges 1er Cru (7/12/2014)
    Opened 8 hours prior. A bit angular at first. Really opened up at dinner to show dried fruits, black tea, a touch of spice. Very similar to the 98 Gevrey Combottes by the end of the night. Very tasty and in need of air if opening now.

Posted from CellarTracker

17

I squab at nice restaurants all the time

18

Food looks great Charlie, and the wine 'aint too shabby either!

19

People say pigeon instead of squab because it makes us feel hip and modern in food circles [snort.gif] saying roast squab just doesn’t have the same hipster take on it that pigeon does :slight_smile:

20

FWIW, the 1986 WB vintage is my favorite since I’ve been paying attention. The Sauzet Combettes, which was the signature wine of Etienne Sauzet (when he was in charge) is one of the signature wines of Burgundy/Puligny, for me. The 1986 was always a beauty. Sounds like it still is…great to hear.