TN: Lobster Fest Chez Pelz with a Quartet of Fine Wines

WINE TALK
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LOBSTER FEST CHEZ PELZ WITH A QUARTET OF FINE WINES - (9/6/2009)

Lobster is in season right now, and our local grocery store had Maine lobster on sale for a laughable price, so I decided to invite friends over for dinner to cook up some lobster and enjoy it with some good wine. So I ventured out 30 minutes before dinner and got a hold of 6 nice lobsters and prepared them three ways.
With Appetizers

  • Sheep’s Cheese Puffs (Thanks Shannon and Dave - delicious)
  • Lobster Salad
  • N.V. Jacques Selosse Champagne Grand Cru Blanc de Blancs Brut - France, Champagne
    Lovely Champagne. Started the evening with this gem. Elegant, finesse Champagne that shows a certain airy-ness. Super fine mousse, apple, blanched almonds, brioche, and raw dough. Only thing that detracts ever so slightly from its greatness is that is seems very sweet on the finish, so I wonder what the dosage levels of this wine are. But I am not complaining.
  • N.V. Pierre Peters Champagne Blanc de Blancs - France, Champagne, Le Mesnil Sur Oger, Champagne
    L012007. Best bottle yet. Diametrically opposed in style to the Selosse we enjoyed 30 minutes earlier. Seemingly big and brawny with lemon zest and massive minerality. Fresh and structured and with lots of bubbles. This particular bottle is showing the first signs of mellowing out though as the fruit is sweeter than I remember it, and the wine isn’t as angry as it used to be. Quite good and in its price class, this has to be one of the leaders for folks like me who like their Champagne super-low dosage.

With Main Courses

  • Lobster in the Rough
  • Lobster Broiled
  • 2004 Vincent Girardin Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Caillerets - France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru
    As usual, this was very reliable. Fairly ripe, it shows apple, a touch of lemon rind, limestone rock, and some buttered popcorn. The oak stands out just a touch. I might be wrong, but this seems ready to drink and I’m not sure I’d want to hold these too long…I don’t know if this has enough acidity to go the distance.

With Dessert

  • Chocolate cream pie (Thanks Shannon and Dave)
  • 2004 Eddie Feraud Châteauneuf-du-Pape - France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape
    This wine continues to impress me. It’s all about the wonderful Grenache fruit. In my opinion, this is a clean version (less bretty) of Pegau. Similarly traditional texture and fruit profile. Dark plum and blackberry fruit with some meat juice, provencal herbs, and licorice. Doesn’t get much better than this for cuvee tradition in CdP.

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Thanks for the notes…I have been eyeing the Feraud CdP at our local shop but didn’t know much about them. Also, love Pierre Peters

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Steffen, what are the price points of the Selosse and the Peters?

(FYI, I’m talking with Wine-Searcher to see if we can integrate a search function into WineBerserkers.com - I know it would be handy for me!)

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That would be very cool, Todd! I like how here at WB you work to partner with best of breed organizations like Cellartracker! and now potentially wine-searcher.com.
It makes me think of how inflexible Mr. Parker’s organization has become with seemingly insisting on its own (still in development?) cellar tracking program and its own price searching program as well.
Am I the only one thinking about how Ebay had their own payment program in place but its users clearly declared Paypal was their preferred vehicle, and how Ebay had to go with Paypal instead?
I think this is a great move and one bound to help WB succeed even further. Very cool move, Todd!

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Todd. The Pierre Peters was $39 when I bought it locally, and the Selosse will run you slightly more than a c-note.

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The bottle of Selosse was not up to the level of previous bottles. As Steffen noted it seemed high in rs, low in acid. The Peters was just as good if not better than the Selosse. Usually I find Peters champagnes a little on the coarse side but last night’s bottle was good. A good match with the lobster for sure. [thankyou.gif]

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I like the way you boys and girls party down south. [dance-clap.gif]

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Thanks, Alex - that’s the plan, pretty much spot on. Partner with the best-of-breed in the industry to create an irresistible and unbeatable wine community, one that offers its members all possible advantages and tools.

We more than satisfy their requirements for integration, and I’m in talks with them as to more specific requirements, and how/where we could integrate it. If I could get a javascript function going, that would be fantastic, but if not, we can just have a readily available search bar here for everybody.

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Joe.

Just for good measure, I cooked up two more lobsters tonight [winner.gif]