My family celebrated my brother-in-law’s birthday in style with dinner for 6 (plus my two 6 year old daughters) at one of Boston’s finest restaurants (where the wine community convenes regularly). The food was great and the wine service impeccable, as always. My in-laws were very impressed, reminding me how easy it can be sometimes to take that level of service for granted. It is good to be reminded just how good we have it there.
N.V. Chartogne-Taillet Champagne Cuvee St. Anne. We opened, of course, with some Champagne and this bottle did not disappoint. It offers up mildly tight but fine aromas of yeast, pears, yellow apples and citrus peels. Where it really shines is in the mouth, where is feels complex, layered and lush, with a great driving acidity to carry the tasty flavors of apple, pear, roasted nuts, marzipan and bits of slate and smoke. It demonstrates a very impressive combination of volume and lift, and leaves a lasting and pleasing impression. This is a wine with character that I like a good deal.
2005 Movia Pinot Grigio Brda Slovenia. This is rather dark yellow for a Pinot Grigio, and indeed the nose is also on the dark side, with all kinds of nutmeg and allspice aromas leading the way to wild scents of pistachio nut, musk melon, peach pit and green onions that are distinctive and unusual. In the mouth, it is dense and smoky, with a medium- to full-bodied feel and is still showing some vanilla and toasty oak on the finish. In the mid-palate, though, it is notably oily-textured and just packed with gingerbread spices, minerals, nutmeg and Christmas cookie sorts of flavors to go with some peach and musk at the core. It has a unique personality and takes a bit of getting used to, but I like that even if I can’t see drinking it with any regularity.
2005 Aubert Chardonnay Lauren Vineyard Sonoma Coast. This Chardonnay offers up an immediate and large-scaled--but hardly overdone--bouquet of spiced oak, vanilla, cream, apple, pear, hazelnut and brown spice aromas that are richly woven together. In the mouth, the youthful wood is again right out front, but it is quickly overtaken by a wall of yellow tree fruit, fig, brown spice and meringue flavors tha coat the tongue through the expansive and fanned out mid-palate. It is very long and plush, but seemingly not quite ready to put it all together. It shows a lot of breeding, but I’d prefer to wait a few years to let that shine through more directly. It didn’t pair real well with anything we were eating, either, so that may be influencing my thoughts a bit, too.
1996 Serafin Pere et Fils Gevrey-Chambertin 1er Cru Le Fonteny. Wow, this is just lovely Burgundy. The bouquet is almost intoxicating—with a wonderful sense of sappiness to the sour cherry and cranberry fruit intermixed with funky sous bois, clean horsebarn, deeply-worn leather and smoky notes found there in abundance. It shows off layers of sappy dark red fruit and complex earth elements in equal doses on the palate—feeling cool and savory. Texturally, it is beautifully milky and lush, but with enough freshness from the soft acidity to carry it along with ease. It just comes across as well made in every dimension and is entirely delicious to drink right now. This is a complete wine and pairs absolutely beautifully with my veal chop.
1998 Bosquet des Papes Chateauneuf du Pape. This sports a meaty, dense nose of tomato leaf, soy sauce, bacon fat, Christmas spices, dark chocolate and black fruit that feels real earthy and grounded. In the mouth, it is fairly chewy, dense and meaty—much less advanced than a bottle sampled a few years back. It tastes old-fashioned with its dark earth, Turkish coffee, Asian spice and dark fruit profile. It has a good amount of body and stuffing, the tannins are largely resolved and there is still solid structure and grip to it, as well as a solidly-framed finish. Word was that this was the better pairing with the suckling pig and lamb dishes.
2003 Chateau Rieussec Sauternes. This wine features just an utterly decadent and beautiful nose of vanilla bean paste, apricots, honey, baked peaches and tons of botrytis spices. It tastes of pure melted caramel, crème brulee, baked apricots and brown spices galore. It is dense, a bit heavy at times, and definitely an unctuous treat, but it also shows off a lot of lift without feeling volatile, just really vibrant and tangy beneath the luscious sweetness. It has it all going on, really and finishes exceptionally long. It is a great way to finish off a special meal.
-Michael