Laura and I had dinner last night at Melange Cafe in Haddonfield, NJ with our friends Beth & Joe.
Starter:
Clouet Rose Champagne NV
Bright pink color, berry aromas and a dry, fruity palate. Excellent balance and refreshement. I would have more to say except we polished it off rather quickly. Very fine & well worth purchasing again.
Appetizer wine:
1990 Selbach-Oster Zedltinger Schlossberg Riesling Auslese
Drinking exceptionally well right now. Strong minerals & a good combination of fresh and dried fruit notes. Nice balance. The back end length/presence of this wine was the real surprise. A fantastic match with Laura's appetizer of lobster pizza.
Main course wines - we had a wide array of dishes, so two diametrically opposed wines fit the bill:
2004 St. Urbans-Hof Ockfener Bockstein Riesling Auslese
This wine craves oxygen right now to get past a strong fermentative/sulfur blanket, but a trip through the wine aerator set things right. Sweet indeed, but well balanced by the natural minerality/austerity of the Bockstein. It's a bit simple and luscious now versus complexity and character, but there's more than enough there to age for some time to come.
2006 Roumier Chambolle Musigny Les Cras
Speaking of needing oxygen...a certain reviewer that I implicitly trust suggested enjoying a bottle of this in its first several years. If that advice includes significant aeration then it works. Spice, red fruit and haunting/ethereal earthiness all come out with some air time, but overall the wine needs a lot of time, as it is very closed right now. There's tons of potential there, but that's what it is right now. When I was finishing off the last glass three hours later it was completely inscrutible.
