Tonight, I was cooking pan roasted chicken with a lemon sauce a la Marcella Hazan. I opened a bottle of 2002 Lafouge Meursault "Les Meix Chavaux." All of my bottles of the Lafouge had floaters so I strained and decanted. Strong aromas of pear and mineral. Intense and creamy with spice, pear, lemon and oak, with a nice, long finish. A lovely match to the chicken.
Last week I was in California to spend some time with my son. Dinner was at Chez Panisse - the downstairs restaurant. I checked the menu for that evening when it was posted online the previous week and I packed a 1998 Ducru Beaucaillou to go with the chicken in a rich broth with a pancetta and black truffle pancake. I enjoyed a bottle of the same wine a week before at 11 Madison Park with a chicken and mushroom dish, and hoped for the same pleasure. It didn't disappoint me. It had an expressive nose. On the palate was leather, lead pencil with a layer of cherries underneath which became more prominent as it spent time in the decanter. Soft tannins and a good finish, although this second bottle showed more astringency than the first bottle after a couple of hours.
Lots of gastronomic indulgence while in San Francisco and the Bay Area, so my first night home was a dinner of spinach salad with orange and avocado and roasted salmon with broccoli. With that, I opened a 2004 August West Rosella's Pinot Noir. I've loved every August West Pinot I've had, but this one showed an imbalance of acidity. The fruit just wasn't there, but a glass the following night seemed to have improved. I'm not sure what's going on here, but I have one more bottle that I will open soon.
It is a quiet week both food and wine wise as we gear up for the annual "Peter Lugeresque" luncheon on Sunday with too much food and way too much wine.
