From a long, leisurely dinner with friends in Manhattan on Saturday evening. Nice way to spend a weekend - drinking some amazing wines with some great people and fantastic food. The menu included a dandelion salad with tomatoes; crottin de chavignol and a few other assorted cheeses from Murray's; pan-roasted quail, veal sweetbreads and duck confit with roasted potatoes, followed by a mix of macarons and aged pecorino. And there was no shortage of good wine.
N.V. Agrapart & Fils Champagne "Terroirs" Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru
Very enjoyable and certainly a step up from the 7 Crus bottling - there's the same bright citrus and pear fruit but conveyed with more richness, and more emphasis on the savoury brioche/doughy/vanilla cream elements. Really well balanced with bright acids keeping it very lively and good length.
Chavignol flight with some goat cheeses
2010 Thomas-Labaille Sancerre Chavignol Les Monts Damnés
Good stuff. Pure, fresh citrus and grapefruit flavours with a vivid green herbal seasoning and a bright acid spine beneath keeping it lively and precise. Not the most complex wine, but nicely balanced and very easy to drink. But completely blown away by the
2010 Edmond Vatan Sancerre Clos la Néore
I love this wine (note to tooch: you were right about this). Thrilling as ever; vivid minerality, minty herbal flavours and fresh fruit conveyed in a seamless package with tremendous precision and clarity.
With the dandelion salad
2009 Alzinger Riesling Smaragd Loibner Loibenberg
Quite a powerhouse and a real contrast from the 09 Steinertal (which I had earlier in the week). While that's all about minerality and precision, this is a real powerhouse and much more exotic in its flavour profile, with ripe citrus and stone fruit flavours seasoned with bright floral, spicy and stony elements. There's plenty of weight and richness in the mouth, good acidity beneath but there's also a trace of finishing heat as this warms up (which wasn't noticeable in the Steinertal).
A pair of old Bordeaux with the duck confit
1966 Château Haut-Bailly
There's a wonderful fragrance straight away with that classic Graves earthy/smoky savouriness combining with sweeter red fruited elements and mature cedary notes, and with air it keeps building and gaining more depth. There's a lovely silken mouthfeel with structure fully integrated, and superb balance. Truly outstanding and perfectly mature claret.
1966 Château Beychevelle
A bit reticent at first but with some air it comes around, layering savoury mature leather, cedar and sous bois flavours with still-fresh red fruits and dried floral elements. There's a remarkable textural finesse and elegance here that brings a top red Burgundy to mind, and great persistence.
Onto younger wines with the veal sweetbreads
2001 Château Grand-Puy-Lacoste
Really suffered in its flighting, coming between a pair of outstanding older Bordeaux and the Cheval and Haut-Brion. It comes across a little ripe and dense right now with the oak still rather unintegrated and not showing any of the pencil lead/cedary elements I'd expect in Pauillac; with time it pulls itself together better with the fruit taking a step back and more savoury elements starting to emerge. Plenty of structure here, and this is more about potential than pleasure right now.
2001 Château Cheval Blanc
A great scent right away, with pure dark fruited flavours, fresh green herbal elements and more savoury cedar and tobacco elements combining into a wonderful fragrance. While it's obviously very young there's a sense of refinement here, flavour conveyed with both power and restraint, and great balance. Lovely right now with a few hours of air, but never reaching the heights of the Beychevelle or Haut-Brion. I thought this was superb, but not something that delivers for the price and hype - then again I'm biased towards those Graves reds.
2001 Château Haut-Brion
I'm amazed at just how well this is drinking right now. The fruit's still very bright and youthful, but already framed by layers of savoury cedar, tobacco, smoky and gravelly flavours with an aroma that keeps building with air, and a remarkable combination of power and elegance in the mouth - clichéd, yes, but it's really an iron fist in a velvet glove with superb balance and persistence. Outstanding right now, and the depth, structure and balance suggest it'll turn into a real knockout with time.