WTN: Lipton and Grossman visit, many bottles die

Mark Lipton was in town, and we were thrilled when he agreed to trek to Westchester for dinner Sunday. Jeff Grossman also agreed to make the trip, and we invited Alex and Hilary to round out table. Fortuitously, A & H were going to a play a block from Mark's hotel, so gave them a ride up. The basset hound was delighted to see everyone, and we settled down to pop lots of corks. Betsy was hard at work on dinner, I handled the appetizers and first sitdown course.

1996 Chidaine “Almendra” Montlouis Brut
The starter ( with Gabrielle Hamilton's pickled shrimp and apple/trout/horseradish bites). Big, deep, fairly subdued fizz, apple and bread with some mineral notes. Mark pointed out that it didn't really scream Chenin Blanc, true but I enjoyed a lot. B+

We went with a few whites as we waited for Hilary who had left to do some kid ferrying, and then sat down for a starter of white bean puree with smoked oyster and radish.

2006 Courier Sauvignon Blanc
I opened this because the winemaker used to post on AFW, where I first met Mark. Big, dense, not very SB typical, this is really interesting, but at the moment not so thrilling. B-

2004 F. Cotat “Culs de Beaujeu” Sancerre
Hey, it's Cotat, that means I like it. B+/A-

1989 Trimbach "Cuvee Frederic Emile Vendange Tardive" Riesling
Nice showing, dry but with rich sweet fruit, long and precise. A-/A - my WOTN

We moved to reds with Betsy's bouef en croute, a vegetable tian a la Alain Ducasse, and green beans with fromage blanc (Betsy was chagrined to realize later she forgot the toasted hazelnuts).

1979 Domaine De Chevalier (Graves)
A good showing, but then this always seems to show well
A-/B+

2002 Joseph Swan Syrah
Mark said someone declared this OTH, but seemed young and a bit coiled to me. I'm a fan of Swan's PNs, first Syrah I remember trying, thanks Mark! B/B+

1999 Clape Cornas
Jeff brought this, what a nice treat. Even tighter, you can sense the quality but currently quite stern, a B for now, but this could soar easily into A range

1988 Montevertine Riserva
With a lot of wines the only red I revisited twice, for me this is a pointe, just lovely deep Sangioves, what most Brunellos merely aspire towards. A-

1983 Morot "Teurons" Beaune 1er
I'm always a little concerned with '83s, but this was fine. Sweet good fruit, holding nicely, no sign of rot, though not most complex wine. B/B+

1988 Jadot "Clos des Corvees" Nuits St. Georges 1er
Jeff had just said that I seemed to know how to use Ah So when I tried on this and cork slid right in. We decanted through filter, loose cork or not a solid wine. Some tannin, dark fruit, quite masculine. B

1995 Fourrier "Clos St. Jacques" Gevrey-Chambertin 1er
When opened this seemed cranky, midbodied, dominated by unripe tannins. Mark thought it got better, and indeed it improved, but never seemed that giving to me. But by the end a B

With cheeses (good Ossau Iraty, Stilton, ok camembert, dying Muenster) and Betsy's lemon tart, a couple of half bottles:

1997 Trimbach Gewurztraminer Vendanges Tardives
Moderately sweet, but seemed a little short, I've definitely had better bottles of this . B-

2004  Pfeffingen "Ungsteiner Herrenberg" Riesling Beerenauslese (Pfalz) - good acidity, lots of botrytis, but a bitter edge.  B

Overall, a pretty good wine night- nothing cooked, corked, or over the hill, and even my least favorites were at least interesting.  However, more importantly the company was good and lively. Lucy was a little whiney when she finished her marrow bone, but folks bore it in good humor. Nice night with nice people.

Grade disclaimer: I'm a very easy grader, basically A is an excellent wine, B a good wine, C mediocre. Anything below C means I wouldn't drink at a party where it was only choice. Furthermore, I offer no promises of objectivity, accuracy, and certainly not of consistency.

Sorry I had to miss this , sounds like some lovely wines. From my experience 1996 was the first year that the new regime at Fourrier was really solid across the board. Some 1997s were messed up - notably the Combe aux Moines. Clear sailing after that other than the sporadic cork issues in 2001.

re Ah So - I recently splurged on a Durand and am very happy with it for old corks.

Looks like a lot of nice wines and dishes plus I'm sure the company was even better, I wish I could have come. I spent the evening nursing the injured back that prevented me from coming, and tried to make up for it with a 1988 Chauvenet Vaucrains which was pretty generic and not as good as a previous bottle so I opened 2009 Huet LHL Sec to salvage the evening.

Interesting on the Chidaine sparkler, I had a bottle of it back in November and it was weird. Didn't taste like Chenin but also didn't taste too good. There is clearly bottle variation because lots of folks love it.

Thanks for the notes, Dale. Looks like a good time with good company.
Aaaah, another ‘79 DDC, another positive TN.
I’m further encouraged by your bottle of ’89 Trimbach CFE-VT. Was this bottle from the same the case?

Spectacularly good evening -- what good hosting! what good cooking! what a marrow bone!

Wine update: Jim and I drank the Trimbach Gewurz after I got home and it was definitely corked. So, that's why it showed so faintly at the table. I finished the Clape tonight and it was still intensely-flavored but also still tightly-clenched. Guess I won't disturb the other bottles for a few more years.

Jay, thanks for info on Fourrier, I knew this was early (and maybe iffy) in new regime.
Rahsaan, hope your back is better.
Ramon,yes CFE VT was from auction lot
Jeff, that would explain it. I knew it didn't show as well as other bottles, TCA must have been just under my threshold (add in Gewurz aromatics-even scalped- and I'm not shocked to have missed it)

Nice lineup, sounds like a great time.

So last night we had Tofu Tuesday since I had missed Meatless Monday by going to a steakhouse for 1996 Bordeaux. We didn't actually do tofu, but instead Betsy made a dal with yellow lentils and spinach as well as some green beans (from a Madhur Jaffrey recipe, but she substituted the forgotten hazelnuts for peanuts, a grand idea). We tried leftover wines, most had survived surprisingly well:
'89 Trmbach CFE VT- wow, I think I liked this even more. What a wine
'04 Cotat- fuller, sweeter than Sunday, but just a hint of an oxidative edge
'79 DDC- this one shocked me by still showing ok, just a hint of pruniness
'83 Morot- ok, this didn't hold well, disjointed, VA, but no one would expect an '83 Beaune to hold well for 2 days open

I'll note that I admired Jay's Durand Monday
And I should have put a note in original post apologizing for defaming Mark at dinner, I misremembered who it was from AFW who had cancelled a trip a few years ago, and erroneously accused Dr. Lipton.

My next question would have been "how much longer to hold on to the '89 Trimbach CFE VT". Your Day 3 assessment that, it didn't die yet, just answered it, and that's great news.