Sunday Night Wines

WINE TALK
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I hate Sundays. There, I said it. I always get the Sunday-night blues, thinking about the upcoming week, and worse, that day that starts it all, Monday. So I figured what better way to chase the Sunday night blues than by having a few good friends over for dinner? Chris Wilford and his better half Meredith, Christine Huang, Patty Mah and Veronica Moreno happily answered the call. In any case it’s never a bad night when there are 4 women and 2 men.

We began with two bottles of a bubbly I’ve been enjoying a lot of, the NV Jean-Francois Ganevat “La Combe” Rotalier Oh! Cremant du Jura. Crisp, with a floral and lemony note that floats on an very austere frame and that delivers a wallop of acidity, it’s a great crowd-pleaser and a lovely way to enjoy the apps.

The first course was a fresh cauliflower soup, perfect for the cool weather outside. With this, Chris opened his 2004 Domaine de l’Arlot Nuits St Georges 1er Cru Clos de l’Arlot. At first the oak got in the way, but soon it faded into the floral, green apple and lemony aspects of the wine, all carried on a slightly fat frame and ending with a smooth fade out. Gorgeous with the soup. I keep forgetting about Domaine de l’Arlot’s wines, which is odd as I always enjoy them when I have them. I need to stop doing that.

Next I carved up the mustard-crusted rack of lamb and plated while Chris poured the next wine, the 1998 Hubert Lignier Gevrey Chambertin 1er Cru Aux Combottes. I’d been meaning to try this, but this night it was a little on the disappointing side. Good, yes, great, no. There was nice purity of Pinot fruit, with red cherries and a hint of mint, but the finish wasn’t as long or as memorable as I’d hoped. Previous bottles of this have been hauntingly beautiful. We moved on to a 1996 Michel Gaunoux Pommards Grands Epenots. Very dark, almost slightly burned, we wondered if this had seen some heat damage, but once poured into a Burgundy decanter, it rounded out and smoothed off, becoming much more enjoyable, with ripe black berries and a nice earthy note. This was a very nice match with the lamb. There was also a corked 2001 Domaine Confuron-Cotetidot Vosne Romanee les Suchots. Damn it. [soap.gif]

I put out the cheeses and salad and popped the next wine, a 2004 Fevre Chablis Fourchaume. Wow. Just wow. Right from the get-go, this slapped you upside the head with a beautiful cheesy, leesy note, ending with a slight honeyed thing that made us swoon. The green apples, the lemony quartz and minerality were all there, but were smothered in that honeyed cheesy aspect in a really beautiful mix. Absolutely fantastic with the cheeses.

Dessert was a home-made apple tart from Meredith and home-made lavender honey-vanilla ice cream that I’d made. Christine’s half-bottle 1985 Willi Haag Brauneberger Juffer-Sonnenuhr Auslese cork put up a good fight but was no match to my surgical skills. Actually, that’s not true, I finally got frustrated and just pushed the cork in. The wine had definitely aged a LOT, losing most of its sugar, but rewarding us with honeyed, dried fruits, apricots and nuts on a rather lean frame. The finish, however, was a tad short. Still, this went quite well with dessert.

As we hung out after dinner, I popped a 2006 Raphet Bourgogne Rouge, which showed nicely with an exuberant sappy note and good acidity. Rounding out as it breathed, it offered more dark berries wrapped around an earthy core that while simple was quite nice.

The best part of the evening of course was the people. We laughed and talked well into the night, happily forgetting that Sunday always leads to Monday and a return to the rat race. Thanks to all who came and shared their friendship.
Cheers! [cheers.gif]