Bruce and Debbie Hayes were in town from Ontario, Ramon Cabrera
organized a little gathering at La Sirene in Soho. Bruce and Debbie,
Ramon and Marina, and Betsy and I had a nice time. Bob Ross was
supposed to meet us, but a minor traffic mishap kept him away. We
missed Bob, but had fun. I enjoyed the restautant- small, tight, but
friendly service and good food. I enjoyed my escargot a lot, but
really loved Betsy's mussels in curry, and envied the goat cheese tart
a couple people got. For main I got some excellent medallions of lamb
leg in a creamy garlic sauce, Betsy got a veal stew (tasty, although
just a tad gristly). I want to go back for cassoulet!

A nice assortment of wines:
1990 Domaine Fouguet Vouvray Sec
Wax/lanolin, apple and citrus, a light cheesy note. Bright acidity but
with a little rounding on edges from age. Shows fairly fresh and young
overall. B/B+

1993 J. Drouhin Batard-Montrachet
Much more advanced than a bottle couple years ago, nuts and sherry on
the nose. The oxidative notes hang in there, but there is enough solid
fruit and notes of honey and hazelnut to keep it interesting. Good
length. B

1995 Bollinger Champagne
I liked this, but have a bit less memory of it than others. I was
surprised that it was as sprightly as it was, as I've generally found
Bollinger on the heavier side. Apples and some yeast, good. B. (Didier
the owner sabered it- with a spoon)

1989 Ch. Pichon Baron
I really thought this showed well. Not huge, a medium bodied Bordeaux
closing in on maturity. Nice cassis fruit, deep accents of coffee and
cigarbox. Tannins are mostly integrated, moderate acidity, excellent
length. Wish I had some of this. Great with the lamb, and my WOTN. A-

1971 Anforio Barolo Riserva Speciale
A bit funky at first. Funk blows off, VA takes its place. VA becomes
less dominant after a bit. Still holding on to some rich red fruit,
there's plenty of tar and earth here. B

1989 Ch. Branaire Ducru
This is fairly fresh and lively, but suffers a bit from coming after
the P-Baron. Good dark plum fruit, pencil shavings, but without quite
the length and complexity of the Pauillac. B+

1990 Bollinger RD
More what I expected from Bollys. Big rich style of Champagne, full
bodied but with nice acidity to keep it fresh. Yeast rolls and
biscuits, some almondy nuttiness, long finish. Nice bubbly. B+/A-

There was an ice-cider that I neglected to note producer from. Quite
an unusual taste, the most concentrated apple taste I've ever
encountered.

2003 Suduiraut
By now my taste buds were failing (luckily Betsy was driving!).
Tropical fruits, some coconut, the richness of the vintage. Like many
2003 stickies I like this, but the fatness compared to say 2001 makes
me wish for just a tad more acidity. But quite tasty. B/B+

Wines were good, but people made the evening. Special thanks to Ramon
for organizing.

Grade disclaimer: I'm a very easy grader, basically A is an excellent
wine, B a good wine, C mediocre. Anything below C means I wouldn't
drink at a party where it was only choice. Furthermore, I offer no
promises of objectivity, accuracy, and certainly not of consistency.

DaleW wrote:
> Bruce and Debbie Hayes were in town from Ontario, Ramon Cabrera
> organized a little gathering at La Sirene in Soho. Bruce and Debbie,
> Ramon and Marina, and Betsy and I had a nice time. Bob Ross was
> supposed to meet us, but a minor traffic mishap kept him away. We
> missed Bob, but had fun. I enjoyed the restautant- small, tight, but
> friendly service and good food. I enjoyed my escargot a lot, but
> really loved Betsy's mussels in curry, and envied the goat cheese tart
> a couple people got. For main I got some excellent medallions of lamb
> leg in a creamy garlic sauce, Betsy got a veal stew (tasty, although
> just a tad gristly). I want to go back for cassoulet!

Was Bob going to drink wine or just socialize? Too bad about the
traffic mishap, though.

>
> 1995 Bollinger Champagne
> I liked this, but have a bit less memory of it than others. I was
> surprised that it was as sprightly as it was, as I've generally found
> Bollinger on the heavier side. Apples and some yeast, good. B. (Didier
> the owner sabered it- with a spoon)

Whoa! Don't get on the wrong side of that guy...

>
> 1989 Ch. Pichon Baron
> I really thought this showed well. Not huge, a medium bodied Bordeaux
> closing in on maturity. Nice cassis fruit, deep accents of coffee and
> cigarbox. Tannins are mostly integrated, moderate acidity, excellent
> length. Wish I had some of this. Great with the lamb, and my WOTN. A-

Thanks for that update. We drank our last bottle of this a couple of
years ago and loved it then. We still have a bottle of the '90, but
it's not quite at the level of the '89 IMO.

It sounds like a great night out, Dale.

Mark Lipton

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

On Sep 17, 10:24�am, Mark Lipton > wrote:
> DaleW wrote:
> > Bruce and Debbie Hayes were in town from Ontario, Ramon Cabrera
> > organized a little gathering at La Sirene in Soho. Bruce and Debbie,
> > Ramon and Marina, and Betsy and I had a nice time. Bob Ross was
> > supposed to meet us, but a minor traffic mishap kept him away. We
> > missed Bob, but had fun. I enjoyed the restautant- small, tight, but
> > friendly service and good food. I enjoyed my escargot a lot, but
> > really loved Betsy's mussels in curry, and envied the goat cheese tart
> > a couple people got. For main I got some excellent medallions of lamb
> > leg in a creamy garlic sauce, Betsy got a veal stew (tasty, although
> > just a tad gristly). I want to go back for cassoulet!
>
> Was Bob going to drink wine or just socialize? �Too bad about the
> traffic mishap, though.
>
>
>
> > 1995 Bollinger Champagne
> > I liked this, but have a bit less memory of it than others. I was
> > surprised that it was as sprightly as it was, as I've generally found
> > Bollinger on the heavier side. Apples and some yeast, good. B. (Didier
> > the owner sabered it- with a spoon)
>
> Whoa! �Don't get on the wrong side of that guy...
>
>
>
> > 1989 Ch. Pichon Baron
> > I really thought this showed well. Not huge, a medium bodied Bordeaux
> > closing in on maturity. Nice cassis fruit, deep accents of coffee and
> > cigarbox. Tannins are mostly integrated, moderate acidity, excellent
> > length. Wish I had some of this. Great with the lamb, and my WOTN. A-
>
> Thanks for that update. �We drank our last bottle of this a couple of
> years ago and loved it then. �We still have a bottle of the '90, but
> it's not quite at the level of the '89 IMO.
>
> It sounds like a great night out, Dale.
>
> Mark Lipton
>
> --
> alt.food.wine FAQ: �http://winefaq.cwdjr.net

As you know, Bob has begun a medication that precludes alchohol. This
was to be an experiment to see how he could enjoy an all-spitting
evening. It didn't work out, but just glad he's ok.
I like the '90 PB, but agree I'd give edge to the '89, the '90 has a
bit too much of that roasted quality.

"DaleW" > wrote in message
...
>.
>
> There was an ice-cider that I neglected to note producer from. Quite
> an unusual taste, the most concentrated apple taste I've ever
> encountered.
>
The bottle my friends & I drank with some duck foie gras a couple of weeks
ago was "Neige" from Quebec (cidredeglace.com) and, as you found with yours,
the apple flavour was intense.
Graham