Excuse the cross-post here about a dinner last night at Sarah Kirschbaum’s home. I just want to highlight a White Burg flight with Leflaive and Martray that meant the world to me.
Sarah and I organized this dinner to honor the memory of our mutual late friend Greg Croll. Greg was my college roommate at U.C. Berkeley and lifetime ride-or-die buddy. As you can see from this photo of us in the Bonnes Mares vineyard, Greg was a big man, with big appetites. He lived for glorious excess – always ready to order one more glass of Calvados at the end of the evening, one more fiery dish at the Cambodian bistro.
That spirit guided Sarah and Jonathan as they lovingly assembled the menu and prepped all week. They chose a flight of courses and accompanying wines that would’ve appealed to Greg, who was a guest many nights at their home.
You can read every impressive detail of how Jonathan spent days readying this pigs head torchon from a French Laundry recipe in the Epicurean Exploits section of the board. Greg was a snout-to-tail aficionado who never turned down any offal offered to him. He’d appreciate us slurping up every nook and cranny of a pig’s head. (Sorry vegans.). He’d also salute the diligence, commitment to detail and immaculate sourcing required to assemble this sublime dish.
Sarah told a funny story about acquiring the 1986 Leflaive Batard at the fabled Don Stott auction years ago. Let’s just say she used her wiles to stand down a rival bidder. Greg also had many Stott-sourced bottles in his cellar when he passed away. This bottle displayed the impeccable provenance associated with the Stott cellar.
As Sarah noted, it’s a rare and beautiful thing to drink a sound bottle of Leflaive before the Troubles – “pre-pre-mox” as she calls it. This bottle had everything you want in aged White Burg – Grand Cru weight, a rich and satiny texture, an intoxicating nose of preserved lemon and white truffle, resolved flavors of honeycomb and mushroom, and remarkable persistence. Don C. sagely predicted that the wine would open up and take on added weight after about 30 minutes.
When Sarah suggested pairing the Leflaive and Martray it didn’t seem like a fair fight. I had suitcased the bottle back to America after a trip to Burgundy with Greg. We had sampled the 2014 vintage with Jean-Charles Le Bault de la Morinière, who sold the estate to Kronke shortly after our visit. He made us sit in this weird antechamber while he seemingly tested our Burgundy knowledge with a series of pointed questions. When we passed his exam, he invited us to actually enter the main facility and head down to the barrel room to try his wines, some of the last he’d make at the estate.
The 2014 CC was dense and chewy from barrel, with years of promise ahead of it. Last night, it became clear that the early raw material has blossomed into an elegant and super fresh Grand Cru. It features stunning color, chiseled mouthfeel and lemon chiffon aromas and taste. It’s just at the start of a long drinking plateau. But I say grab it now.
As I get older, I’ve come to realize that it’s not really the wines or food I remember about events like this. It’s the bonhomie and fellowship amongst good people who enjoy each other’s company and the finer things in life. Drinking the wine gives you a buzz for sure, but so does the conversation if you have a lively group. Last night, we discussed Coltrane vs. Miles, the bittersweet challenges of raising children and why Quakers are called Quakers, amongst dozens of other topics. Greg would’ve loved to have been at the table. He was wicked smart and had a devilish sense of humor. He’d also appreciate the audacious and completely over-the-top ending trifecta of Montepulciano > Madeira > Sake!
Someone wise recently told me the path to happiness boils down to three things: being of service, being quiet and being grateful. I’m working on the first two. (Sorry Sarah for occasionally talking over people’s answers last night!). But being grateful comes easy when you have the means and friends to make special nights like last night happen. @Sarah_Kirschbaum @Dennis_Atick @dcornutt @Steve_McL