l to r: Richard, Mark, Mark, Jonathan, Craig and Mischa
This was a fun, large-scale wine dinner as usual, with 20 guests, and everyone bringing either one large format bottle or two regular size bottles of the same thing. Our room at Donato Enoteca was opulent and spacious, with plenty of room for staging the wines, and for our mass quantities of stemware on the table. Most of our wines showed very well, a few of the younger ones being, as expected, a little too tight and youthful in large format. The only real dud was the '88 Clerget Meursault. In a couple of cases where we had two regular size bottles, one was noticeably better than the other, especially with our '86 Gruaud Larose, where one of the bottles was corked. A good size plurality voted the '00 Groffier Chambertin Clos de Beze the WOTN, a judgment with which I concurred. My next favorite wines were the '97 Insignia, the good bottle of '86 Gruaud Larose, the '94 Dofi, the '02 Pride Cab Franc and our “emergency Champagne” at the end, the Laurent Perrier Grand Siecle. Donato did a very good job on the food as well.
It was great to see Jonathan, who hasn’t been in our area since April, as well as his gorgeous sister, who I only get to see once a year at this dinner. Guests came from Sonoma and other points around the Bay, but our farthest travelers were a couple who made the trip from Hong Kong for the dinner. Thanks to Jonathan for keeping this fun annual tradition going, and to Mark for arranging things with his usual organizational finesse with the restaurant.
Champagne warm up
Our birthday boy started us off with a couple of mags of Champagne. The Perrier Jouet Grand Brut was, for me, easily the best of the two, and surprisingly good, with the Veuve Fourny seeming a little tired already for an '02.
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N.V. Perrier-Jouët Champagne Grand Brut - France, Champagne
From magnum - light golden yellow color; powdery, tart citrus, tart peach nose; tasty tart peach, citrus, mineral palate with depth and balance; medium finish (93 pts.) -
2002 Veuve Fourny & Fils Champagne Brut Vertus 1er Cru Blanc de Blancs - France, Champagne, Côte des Blancs, Champagne
From magnum - light golden yellow color; tart lemon, yeasty, dough nose; surprisingly mature tasting, creamy textured, tart lemon, baked lemon palate, lacking structure; medium finish (91 pts.)
Chardonnay Flight
The '02 Boillot was the easy winner of WOTF in this flight. Our food course for this flight, Anitpastino di Mare, consisted of seared scallops with Fregola, grilled Monterey Bay calamari, and poached prawns with watercress and basil olive oil.
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1988 Raoul Clerget Meursault - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Meursault
Dark apricot orange color; oxidized, sherry, marsala, hazelnut, prune nose; very oxidized, sherried, marsala, hazelnut palate; short-medium finish NR (flawed) -
2002 Henri Boillot Meursault 1er Cru Les Charmes - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Meursault 1er Cru
From magnum -bright golden yellow color; lovely lemon, vanilla, floral nose; tasty, tart lemon, mineral palate with good structure, but tight yet; medium-plus finish 92+ pts. (92 pts.) -
2002 Peter Michael Chardonnay Ma Belle-Fille - USA, California, Sonoma County, Knights Valley
Slightly cloudy light medium yellow color; honeyed, ripe lemon, apricot, botrytised nose; botrytised, ripe lemon, apricot, cantelope palate; medium-plus finish (91 pts.)
Cali Pinot Flight
This was a “tweener whackage” flight, sans food. The '78 Hanzell initially came off as oxidized, but made a miraculous recovery after 10 - 15 minutes in the glass. The '84 Mount Eden was very good, consistent with the few times I’ve tried it in the past.
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1978 Hanzell Pinot Noir - USA, California, Sonoma County, Sonoma Valley
Dark cherry red color with pale meniscus; initially a tomatoey tart red fruit and soy sauce nose, that changed over 20 minutes in the glass to a caramel and dried mushroom nose; tasted initially rather oxidized, but with air, made an amazing recovery, eventually showing tart cherry, mineral palate with good acidity; medium-plus finish (92 pts.) -
1984 Mount Eden Vineyards Pinot Noir Estate Bottled - USA, California, San Francisco Bay, Santa Cruz Mountains
From magnum - medium cherry red color with clear meniscus; initially heavy reduction nose that opened and changed to a tart red fruit, earthy, hibiscus nose, that further change after 45 minutes in the glass to a tobacco, dried mushroom nose; tasty, very tart red fruit, mineral, hibiscus palate with medium acidity; medium finish 92+ pts. (92 pts.)
Burgundy Flight
This was a really stunning flight, and my favorite of the evening. The Pommard and NSG were very true to their climats, and excellent examples of both. The Clos de Beze, while still youthful, was lovely and balanced. Our course for this dish was Agnolotti del Plin, housemade small ravioli of three “meats”: sausage, veal and tomato and onion; braised Niman Ranch oxtail, Sangiovese, asparagus tips and bigoli pasta.
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1985 Comte Armand Pommard 1er Cru Clos des Epeneaux - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Pommard 1er Cru
Cloudy, slightly bricking, medium raspberry red color with pale meniscus; earthy, ripe, black cherry, berry, herbal nose; focused, maturing, ripe cherry, berry, mineral palate, that deteriorates somewhat after 20 minutes in the glass, adding tobacco and leather notes to the nose and palate; medium-plus finish (93 pts.) -
1996 Domaine Robert Chevillon Nuits St. Georges - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Nuits St. Georges
From magnum - bricking medium dark cherry red color with pale meniscus; earthy, dried cherry, tart raspberry nose; tart red fruit, raspberry, rosehips, mineral palate; medium finish 92+ pts. (92 pts.) -
2000 Domaine Robert Groffier Chambertin-Clos de Bèze - France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Chambertin-Clos de Bèze Grand Cru
Dark cherry red color with pale meniscus; focused, gorgeous cherry, black cherry, berry and mineral nose; delicious, youthful, ripe cherry, black cherry, mineral palate with definition, balance and depth; medium-plus finish 94+ pts. (group’s and my WOTN) (94 pts.)
Cali Cabs Flight
The '93 Beringer, in large format, performed much better than when I’ve had it in regular format in the past. The Insignia and Pride Cab Franc were both youthful but excellent. Our dish for this flight didn’t exactly fit the wines, but was very tasty on its own: Filetto di Branzino.
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1993 Beringer Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Private Reserve - USA, California, Napa Valley
From magnum - opaque dark red violet color; big, cassis, berry, black currant, black fruit nose; tasty, solid, rich, ripe black fruit, berry, faintly herbal palate with soft tannins; medium-plus finish (much, much better in this format than when I had it in 750 ml earlier this year) (92 pts.) -
1997 Joseph Phelps Insignia - USA, California, Napa Valley
From magnum - dark red violet color; black currant, satsuma plum, berry, sage nose; plush cassis, berry, black fruit, baked plum palate; medium-plus finish (94 pts.) -
2002 Pride Mountain Vineyards Cabernet Franc - USA, California, Sonoma County
From magnum - opaque, very dark red violet color; cinnamon, spicy plum, anise, red currant nose; tasty, ripe spicy plum, anise, cinnamon, vanilla oak palate with depth; long finish 93+ pts. (93 pts.)
Spanish & Italian Flight
Another tweener whackage flight, without a food course. Both wines were young yet, but the Dofi was showing a lot of complexity. Both have many years to go.
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1994 Alvaro Palacios Priorat Finca Dofi - Spain, Catalunya, Priorat
From magnum - very dark red violet color; ripe cherry, oak, berry nose; youthful tart berry, sage, oregano, cassis palate with orange acidity and depth; medium-plus finish 93+ pts. (93 pts.) -
2001 Pio Cesare Barolo - Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo
From magnum - dark cherry red color; oregano, herbal nose; tight, youthful, tart red fruit, dried cherry, dried berry, tart black fruit, juniper berry, herbal palate with good grip; medium-plus finish (93 pts.)
Left Bank Bordeaux Flight
Our two Left Bank Bordeaux were natural allies to our final meat dish: Vitellino e Funghi, roasted white veal loin with mixed wild mushrooms and fingerling potatoes. The good bottle of '86 Gruaud showed very well.
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1986 Château Gruaud Larose - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Julien
Dark red violet color; tobacco, tart black fruit nose; tasty, tart black fruit, tobacco, mineral palate with depth; medium-plus finish 93+ pts. (a second bottle was corked) (93 pts.) -
1995 Château Pontet-Canet - France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac
From magnum - dark red violet color; ripe berry, black fruit, espresso nose; rich, plush, youthful, black fruit, berry, coffee, eucalyptus palate; medium finish 92+ pts. (92 pts.)
Cheese wine
It was a treat to try this 50-year-old vintage of a lesser St. Emilion. I didn’t expect that much, but was pleased at how well the wine was holding up, even in regular format.
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1959 Château Cadet-Bon - France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru
Slightly bricking medium red violet color; dried mushroom, truffle nose; mature black fruit, dried mushroom, tar, mineral palate; medium finish (92 pts.)
“Emergency” Champagne refresher
A celebration this big somehow required some additional, last minute Champagne. This bottle was a beauty, although not quite as strong as when I’ve had it on a couple prior occasions.
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N.V. Laurent-Perrier Champagne Grand Siècle Brut - France, Champagne
From magnum - light golden yellow color; yeasty, pain grille, tart lemon nose; tart lemon, kumquat, mineral, yeasty, baked lemon, pain grille palate; medium-plus finish 93+ pts. (93 pts.)
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