In article >, Mark Lipton >
wrote:

> First of all, thanks to you all for your congratulations. The public
> celebration of our 20th anniversary took place this Saturday. We threw
> a party for our friends from work, our neighbors and friends from
> childcare. At its height, there were probably 40 or so people in our
> home, and a gaggle of 8 children aged 2-5 upstairs with two babysitters
> (Andrew was having a party in parallel with our own). We served various
> finger foods: a 5.5 lb side of farmed Scottish salmon that I smoked, a
> huge batch of gambas al ajillo, some skewers of moo ping from our
> excellent local Thai restaurant, bread and platters of cheese, salume,
> antipasti and vegetables. We had various still wines on hand, as well
> as a case of Gruet Brut, but the centerpiece to the event was Jean's
> gift to me:
>
> 1989 Veuve Clicquot "La Grande Dame" (3 L)
> nose: lemons, lightly toasty
> palate: subdued mousse, creamy mouthfeel, lemony fruit, moderately
> toasty finish
>
> The backstory is that Jean opened a bottle of NV Veuve Clicquot in '88
> to propose to me (yes, Larry, I am lucky), so she decided that it would
> be apropos to celebrate with a bottle of Veuve Clicquot from the year of
> our marriage and was able to find a double magnum for sale at Crush in
> NYC. We were both pleasantly surprised at how young and vibrant this
> wine was. Having only had La Grande Dame a few times previously, I
> can't say that I'm an expert on the house style, but this wine seemed
> less acidic but also a bit more complex than what I recalled. Very
> little earthy/mushroomy/oxidative character to this wine, reflecting
> most likely the large format. (side note: I got the cork out with some
> effort as the backpressure was much reduced over the standard for a
> young bottle) Consensus was that this was a crowd pleaser of an aged
> Champers, which in the end was for the best.
>
> Mark Lipton

Again congratulations. Can't say I have ever had Grande Dame as I never
wanted to pay the price. Sounds like a great party.