TN: Laurent-Perrier and Jamet C-R
 

Last night, Jean and I celebrated our 16th Anniversary with a dinner out
(thanks to mom for the babysitting!) at the restaurant Jardiniere in SF.
With our very tasty dinner, we started with glasses of:

1995 Laurent-Perrier Brut

n: bright green apples and lemon, very little toastiness
p: crisp and refreshing, loads of applish fruit and a delicate mousse

A really splendid glass of Champagne, it went very well with my salad of
radish, fava beans and fennel on greens with a green peppercorn
vinaigrette but less well with Jean's diver scallops in truffle butter

With main courses we had a half bottle of:

2000 Jamet Cote-Rotie

n: minerals, cedar, smoke, quince and berries
p: medium body, soft tannins, deep fruit, a hint of bacon fat, good acidity

We had this half-bottle decanted a half-hour before consuming it and it
opened up nicely by the time our main courses arrived. It was splendid
with my duck breast, but a bit overwhelmed by Jean's red-wine braised
short ribs. Both of us remarked on the resemblance (in the nose,
mostly) to a Burgundy, despite its very distinct Syrah character.
Although it clearly has years yet ahead of it, this wine was thoroughly
enjoyable now.

Both wines were tremendous, and even though a reader might think that
Jean got the short end of the stick pairing-wise, she didn't seem to
mind at all (and, as is our custom, we shared every dish). All in all,
great wines, very good food and a lovely evening out to celebrate our
marriage.

Mark Lipton