Another Christmas pig-out with the Usual Suspects. This time, at one of the hottest dinner places in town - The Goose Station - which specializes in, you guessed it, degustation menus.
Freixenet Cava Reserva Real - Rich and fresh. Dry and lemony. A most impressive cava; one of the best I've had.
Billecart-Salmon Rose NV - Possibly my favorite NV Rose. Crisp, strawberry fruit. Very refreshing. Particularly good with the salmon tartar.
Keiichi had previously announced that he would bring a Cos d'Estournel 1982. Little did Keiichi know that Jojo took that as a challenge and so also brought an '82. He didn't reveal his bottle except to say it was a Right Bank wine. Both would be served blind and we were to vote on our favorite. There was much trash-talking between the two contestants throughout the evening as we tasted. Although most of us declared our favorite wine early, I held back and took my time to let the wines develop. Both were decanted about 30 minutes before serving.
Wine A - Quite dark. Leathery and still tannic. Sweet fruit but a very dry finish. Round mouthfeel. Right bank? I preferred this at first but ultimately went with wine B as I thought this was starting to fall apart after and hour or so. Good. I got the region right. Le Bon Pasteur 1982. This was the winner by 1 vote. Keiichi couldn't believe he didn't vote for his wine!
Wine B - Very dry. Angular. Wet rag. Gentle sweetness after 30 minutes in the glass. Getting richer. Better and better. This got my vote. Very good. Cos d'Estournel 1982.
To be honest, I was frankly underwhelmed by the wines. They were good but no Wow. I guess expectations for 1982 were just so great I expected more. There were many more boasts by the two protagonists after the contest so we are sure to have many more rounds in this fight.
Raimbault Pineau Sancerre 2007 - Green pepper, slightly smoky. Grass. Grapefruit. Good.
Smith Haut Lafitte Blanc 2006 - Sweet, vanilla, oaky. Strong honey. Excellent but a little tiring to drink. Very modern. It's conceivable one could mistake this for New World Chardonnay!
Dr. Loosen Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Spaetlese 2007 - Good balance of sweetness and acidity. Very easy to drink. Green apples. Very good.
Pavillion Rouge du Chateau Margaux 1996 - Sweet, ripe berry. Well-balanced. Drinking very nicely now. Very good.
Lynch Bages 2002 - Extremely dark. Tannic. Very flavorful but primary. Should be excellent but in the meantime, stay away for a couple of years.
Taillefer 2005 - From Pomerol. Chocolate. Lots of fruit. Fleshy. Quite soft after at least an hour decanting.
We ended with an extremely decadent chocolate candy bar. I thought that wine would be wasted on it so I suggested a 15 year old BenRiach Madeira Cask Single Malt which I thought did an admirable job of standing up to the dessert.