Tonight, to celebrate a friend’s birthday, we had them over for dinner with their 4 children, hoping they would all stay busy with our daughter and out of our hair.
With some Boursin, we enjoyed a bottle of '98 Coutier Ambonnay, which was not as ethereal as my last bottle - it was ever-so-slightly corked. Still leaps and bounds better than any Champagne I’ve yet had, but not earth-shattering as the other two bottles have been because of the very slight flaw. Still, nothing brings me more consistent joy than this bottle, and I wish it wasn’t so hard to come by.
Heidi cooked up some wonderful braised beef short ribs, and we served '95 Guigal Brune et Blonde Cote Rotie with it - a great pairing. My notes follow:
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1995 E. Guigal Côte-Rôtie Brune et Blonde - France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Côte-Rôtie (2/28/2009)
Right on the mark - if you have some, open it now. It takes just a few minutes to take in air and open up, but when it does, it shows a beautiful balance. Acidity is still present, the fruit is bright and ripe, and full within your mouth. Just enough ripe tannins to have a good presence, and a nice 20-30 second finish of red fruit, and a taste of charred wood. Fantastic. (94 pts.)
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Finished the evening with homemade cheesecake, fresh berries, and '03 Chateau Riessec.
We then moved on to Wii Fit and hilarity ensued.