Some of Christine’s Bay Area buddies got a chance to see her again last weekend (she moved to New York at the end of last year), and Christianne and Christine cooked up another one of their memorable meals for us at Christianne’s place on Saturday to celebrate part of Ms. Huang’s 48 hours back in the Bay. We had a lovely selection of wines too for the occasion, including the '90 Karthäuserhofberg Riesling Auslese #13, a '95 Chapoutier Chante-Allouette and an '82 Jaboulet La Chapelle. The most fascinating wine for me, for its age and rarity, was the '69 La Romanée that Mark brought, that he inherited from his uncle’s large collection. The bottle was in great shape, despite a crumbly cork, and the wine sang with delicious tertiary Burgundian flavors. My top WOTN points-wise was our '01 Z-H Pinot Gris Clos Jebsal SGN.
Champagne Starter
with charcouterie and cheeses
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N.V. Vilmart Champagne Grand Cellier - France, Champagne
Yeasty, tart citrus, kumquat nose; tart kumquat, ripe citrus, lime, mineral palate; medium finish 91+ pts. (91 pts.)
Riesling
This was a delicious match for our kale salad. I love the complexity and minerality of this wine, which I’ve had several times.
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1990 Karthäuserhof Eitelsbacher Karthäuserhofberg Riesling Auslese #13 - Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer
Mineral, petrol, witch hazel, green melon nose; tasty, petrol, mineral, lime, green fruit, green melon palate with complexity and good acidity; medium-plus finish (95 pts.)
White Flight
Two very different whites with our halibut and shellfish stew.
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1995 M. Chapoutier Hermitage Blanc Chante-Alouette - France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Hermitage
Medium golden yellow color; nice lanolin, cream, marconi almond nose; surprisingly youthful, creamy textured, lanolin, almond, nutty, mineral, almond oil palate; medium-plus finish (93 pts.) -
2007 Diatom Chardonnay Babcock Vineyard - USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Rita Hills - Sta. Rita Hills
Light golden yellow color; lime, almond, citrus nose; tight, tart citrus, mineral, grapefruit palate, tastes unoaked but a little disjointed; medium-plus finish 90+ pts. (90 pts.)
Eclectic Reds
Both the La Romanée and '82 La Chapelle went beautifully with the lamb chops and faro. I enjoyed tasting the '01 Font de Michelle, which is starting to drink well, I think, after the '07 version of the same wine was one of my favorites at the '07 Chateauneuf du Pape tasting a couple days earlier. It was nice to see how the '01 DuMOL was doing, after Christine, Al and I had first sampled it together several years ago at the DuMOL seminar at Hospice de Rhone.
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1969 Bouchard Père et Fils La Romanée - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, La Romanée Grand Cru
Bricked light medium red color with clear meniscus; lovely cigar box, mushroom, earthy, tobacco nose; tasty mushroom, tangy tart red fruit, mineral, tobacco, rose petal, mushroom gravy palate; medium-plus finish (94 pts.) -
1982 Paul Jaboulet Aîné Hermitage La Chapelle - France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Hermitage
Bricking medium red color with clear meniscus; reduction and bottle stink at first, then pepper, cigar box, graphite, black fruit, tobacco nose; tobacco, smoke, liquid pepper, olive tapenade palate; medium-plus finish 93+ pts. (93 pts.) -
2001 Domaine Font de Michelle Châteauneuf-du-Pape - France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape
Slightly bricking dark red violet color with pale meniscus; ripe berry, plum, berry pie nose; ripe berry, berry pie, baked plum, tart and mineral palate with depth; long finish 93+ pts. (93 pts.) -
2001 DuMOL Syrah Eddie’s Patch - USA, California, Sonoma County, Russian River Valley
Opaque black red violet color; ripe black fruit, blackberry, caramel, baked plum and berry pie nose; concentrated, ripe berry, blackberry, currant, vanilla, black fruit, fig palate; long finish 92+ pts. (92 pts.)
Sweet finish
with assorted Humphry Slocombe ice creams and toppings
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2001 Zind-Humbrecht Pinot Gris Clos Jebsal Sélection de Grains Nobles - France, Alsace, Turckheim, Alsace AOC
From 375 ml - medium dark apricot color; concentrated, lovely apricot, apricot pie, almond, vanilla nose; ripe apricot, baked apricot, orange marmalade, peach pie, balanced palate; long finish (97 pts.)
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