These are notes from one of our periodic dinners where 5 of us get
together, one cooks a meal and everyone ponies up wine that we just
haven’t found an occasion for before, because it is ‘too good’ or our
last bottle, or sometimes an oddball wine that doesn’t fit easily into
normal tastings.

This one was an interesting format – the host chose the meal and then
allocated a course to each other person (we didn’t know what the
others were tasked with) who had to come up with THE perfect wine to
match with the food. Makes one really think about wine and food
matching, and everyone did a good job.

With a trio of tartlets – Putanesca, caramalized onion, and oven
roasted tomato with little bocconcini ‘hats’, we had an extra wine I
kicked in:

Lanson Black Label Brut Champagne (nv) – clean yeasty nose with a hint
of vanilla, nicely balanced and a good showing considering this was
something I had left from the millennium (real, not year 2000, which
only the simple minded decided was the turn of century etc.)

With seared giant scallops on braised spinach and oyster mushrooms:

2002 Christian Moreau Chablis 1er Cru Vaillon – wet gravel nose, now
showing a little colour, smooth mouth feel and enough acidity to mate
well with the food.

With prosciutto and black figs (a tough challenge for wine):

2005 Vieux Telegraphe Chateauneuf du Pape Blanc - one of the best
white CNduPs I’ve tasted. A wax and honeysuckle nose, smooth and full
on palate with sweet honeyed fruit coming in at the end. Very nice
wine.

With duck confit salad with walnuts and walnut oil:

2002 Bouchard Pere et Fils Volnay Caillerets Ancienne Cuvee Carnot –
medium dark colour with excellent depth of fruit in the nose, mostly
dark cherry with a hint of spice, soft and smooth in the mouth, ending
with good acidity. An all round great drinking Burgundy with an
especially good nose.

With penne with elk sausage and sautéed eggplant:

1990 Ruffino Riserva Ducale Gold Label Chianti Classico – my matching
challenge and I dare say it worked out well as the wine was just spot
on, and perhaps the best Chianti I’ve had in years. Wish I’d bought
more! Quite good dark colour, lightening but not browning at the
edges, mellow full nose with aromatic wood and herbs. It still has
lots of tannin and acid but the weight to carry it for years to come.
I can’t say I think it will improve from where it is today, but it
should last for many years.

With poached sockeye salmon with beurre blanc, green beans amandine,
and potato:

1999 Dom. Weinbach Schlossberg Grand Cru Schlossberg Cuvée Sainte
Catherine " L'Inédit – from a small enclave in their vineyard, this
Riesling had a very rich nose, just like a late harvest wine with the
same concentration but no botrytis. It was also quite concentrated on
palate with great length and finished quite dry.

Every wine stood up in this dinner, with no failures at all, and an
excellent meal. My turn next, and I may just adopt the same
allocation technique as it seems to work so well!

On Aug 27, 10:09*am, "Bill S." > wrote:
> These are notes from one of our periodic dinners where 5 of us get
> together, one cooks a meal and everyone ponies up wine that we just
> haven’t found an occasion for before, because it is ‘too good’ or our
> last bottle, or sometimes an oddball wine that doesn’t fit easily into
> normal tastings.
>
> This one was an interesting format – the host chose the meal and then
> allocated a course to each other person (we didn’t know what the
> others were tasked with) who had to come up with THE perfect wine to
> match with the food. *Makes one really think about wine and food
> matching, and everyone did a good job.
>
> With a trio of tartlets – Putanesca, caramalized onion, and oven
> roasted tomato with little bocconcini ‘hats’, we had an extra wine I
> kicked in:
>
> Lanson Black Label Brut Champagne (nv) – clean yeasty nose with a hint
> of vanilla, nicely balanced and a good showing considering this was
> something I had left from the millennium (real, not year 2000, which
> only the simple minded decided was the turn of century etc.)
>
> With seared giant scallops on braised spinach and oyster mushrooms:
>
> 2002 Christian Moreau Chablis 1er Cru Vaillon – wet gravel nose, now
> showing a little colour, smooth mouth feel and enough acidity to mate
> well with the food.
>
> With prosciutto and black figs (a tough challenge for wine):
>
> 2005 Vieux Telegraphe Chateauneuf du Pape Blanc - * one of the best
> white CNduPs I’ve tasted. A wax and honeysuckle nose, smooth and full
> on palate with sweet honeyed fruit coming in at the end. Very nice
> wine.
>
> With duck confit salad with walnuts and walnut oil:
>
> 2002 Bouchard Pere et Fils Volnay Caillerets Ancienne Cuvee Carnot –
> medium dark colour with excellent depth of fruit in the nose, mostly
> dark cherry with a hint of spice, soft and smooth in the mouth, ending
> with good acidity. An all round great drinking Burgundy with an
> especially good nose.
>
> With penne with elk sausage and sautéed eggplant:
>
> 1990 Ruffino Riserva Ducale Gold Label Chianti Classico – my matching
> challenge and I dare say it worked out well as the wine was just spot
> on, and perhaps the best Chianti I’ve had in years. Wish I’d bought
> more! Quite good dark colour, lightening but not browning at the
> edges, mellow full nose with aromatic wood and herbs. It still has
> lots of tannin and acid but the weight to carry it for years to come.
> I can’t say I think it will improve from where it is today, but it
> should last for many years.
>
> With poached sockeye salmon with beurre blanc, green beans amandine,
> and potato:
>
> 1999 Dom. Weinbach Schlossberg Grand Cru Schlossberg Cuvée Sainte
> Catherine " L'Inédit – from a small enclave in their vineyard, this
> Riesling had a very rich nose, just like a late harvest wine with the
> same concentration but no botrytis. It was also quite concentrated on
> palate with great length and finished quite dry.
>
> Every wine stood up in this dinner, with no failures at all, and an
> excellent meal. *My turn next, and I may just adopt the same
> allocation technique as it seems to work so well!

Thanks for the great notes. I have the Moreau in my cellar and I've
enjoyed it on a number of occasions. Sometimes I find spinich a bit
hard to match with because there seems to be a component that clashes
with wine..is it tannin?

I also recently had the Vieux Telegraphe Blanc and I've become a real
fan of the white CNP's.

>
> Thanks for the great notes. *I have the Moreau in my cellar and I've
> enjoyed it on a number of occasions. *Sometimes I find spinich a bit
> hard to match with because there seems to be a component that clashes
> with wine..is it tannin?

Might be the iron or oxalate in it....Mark Lipton, where are you when
we need you?

Bill S. wrote:
>> Thanks for the great notes. I have the Moreau in my cellar and I've
>> enjoyed it on a number of occasions. Sometimes I find spinich a bit
>> hard to match with because there seems to be a component that clashes
>> with wine..is it tannin?
>
> Might be the iron or oxalate in it....Mark Lipton, where are you when
> we need you?

Got me, Bill. Oxalate is a more likely culprit, as lots of
iron-containing foods are no particular problem, but I've not made a
study of wine-killing compounds in foods yet (next NIH proposal, maybe).

Mark Lipton

--
alt.food.wine FAQ: http://winefaq.cwdjr.net

On Wed, 27 Aug 2008 07:09:32 -0700 (PDT)
"Bill S." > wrote:

[]
> 1999 Dom. Weinbach Schlossberg Grand Cru Schlossberg Cuvée Sainte
> Catherine " L'Inédit – from a small enclave in their vineyard, this
> Riesling had a very rich nose, just like a late harvest wine with the
> same concentration but no botrytis. It was also quite concentrated on
> palate with great length and finished quite dry.
>

Just drank a bottle of this in the 2003 version. It was very good, a powerhouse
also very long but with a sweeter finish. Just a touch of flab from
the year, I'd have like a bit more zing.

Thanks for the notes, Bill.

-E
--
Emery Davis
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