January 1st is Maman’s birthday, unfortunately for her. Not only are her gifts almost always bundled with Xmas, but I’m usually either very tired or hungover or both on New Year’s Day, so the best I can usually muster is a home-made Champagne brunch. So every year on January 2 or 3, I take her out to a nice restaurant. Last year, it was 11 Madison, this time it was Mas Farmhouse. The food and service, despite being a relatively quiet night, were outstanding. Corkage is a very reasonable $35 per bottle with a 2 bottle max, but their wine list is outstanding and something you should definitely explore.
We started off with a 2004 Champagne Marguet Grand Cru Brut, a wine that I brought and that I opened about an hour before we started pouring. By the time it hit our glasses, it had really opened up and begun to shine. For a 2004, it was surprisingly rich and velvety, with red flower notes, creamy lemon meringue and doughy notes, a mouthfilling texture riding a wave of tiny perly bubbles, and a long, clingy and surprisingly delicious finish that had hints of mushrooms and white truffles. Really gorgeous, and surprisingly soft (not unpleasantly so) for a 2004.
As the mains arrived, we poured the red, a 2008 Tortochot Gevrey Chambertin les Jeunes Rois. As a fan of 2008 reds, this was a great choice, especially at the price point and for the various dishes we were having. Right from the start, this showed lovely purity, with Asian spices, cinnamon, and bright red fruits wafting up from the glass. There was a real crystalline aspect to this that got my heart beating. Spicy masculine Gevrey character was carried along on an elegant, almost feminine frame, lithe and quite fetching. Think of a ballerina carrying along a weightlifter on her shoulders, pirouetting effortlessly with him. As it breathed, earthy notes joined the others to form a real symphony, both heavy and light at the same time. This was good now, but will be even better in a few years, and frankly I think it’ll drink well until then.
Cheers!