Some wines from Valentine’s Day. I’m very much in the “it’s a Hallmark holiday” camp, so we didn’t make reservations. When Steve asked what I wanted to do, I told him I wanted to go somewhere fun, eat silly things, and drink a lot of wine.
2007 Andre Neveu “Le Grand Fricambault Silex” Sancerre
Strongly mineral-driven, with lemon zest and wet stones. Picked up a little RS on the palate, but there’s plenty of acidity here to keep it in check. It wasn’t terribly complex, but it was fresh and bright and should drink well for the short-term. A bit of trivia: this was my first white from Neveu, who makes a killer rosé of Pinot Noir!
2006 Grosjean Gamay Valle d’Aosta
With Café Castagna’s mouth-flllingly succulent hamburgers. Castagna has a well-chosen list with reasonable prices. The last couple of times we’ve been there, we’ve paired our burgers with '07 Lapierre Morgon. As I looked over the list, I noticed that 1) the Morgon was gone, and 2) that Aosta, Italy is actually on our summer Europe itinerary and I didn’t even know there was a wine region there!
The first sniff was surprising. It smelled more like a muted CdP than Beaujolais, with gentle notes of roasted meat and dark fruit, and a fair bit of stank. We had no frame of reference for this wine, but with the first sip, we both knew it was too warm. With a short visit to the ice bucket, the wine improved markedly. The nose was still more Rhone-ish, but on the palate, it was bright and slurpable like good Cru Beajolais.
2003 Royal Tokaji Company, Tokaji Aszú 5 Puttonyos
An unintentionally perfect pairing-- my husband selected a wine and I selected a dessert, but neither of us knew what the other had chosen. I ordered a piece of dense almond cake with candied apricots and whipped cream. Some pairings work because of contrast-- a really acidic wine with a really rich meal-- and some work by symmetry. This one worked on every level. The wine’s aromas of apricot, candied orange peel, and marzipan resonated perfectly with the cake’s flavors, and its gentle sweetness and bright acidity perfectly cut through the rich and sweet dessert. The only distraction was a dollop of whipped cream, which was easy enough to push aside.
This was my first taste of '03 Tokaji from any producer. 2003 was a hot vintage almost everywere; I don’t know how atypical it was for Hungary, but this wine has good balance and isn’t over-ripe by any measure. Very similar to the '93.
And a tangential aside… I’d eat this once a week if we didn’t have to cross the bridge for it.
