food pairing with older Bordeaux

I decided that it was time for me to learn the differences in style between the five communes of Bordeaux, so I plundered (with great pleasure) the cellars at work and came up with:
St. Estephe: 1990 and 1998 Cos d'Estournel (both ready to drink now, per H. Johnson)
Pauillac: 2003 Clerc-Milon (a magnum, to hold) and 2001 Grand Puy Lacoste (ready to drink now)
St. Julien: 2003 Leoville-Barton (to hold) and 1990 Ducru Beaucaillou (ready to drink)
Margaux: 1996 Ch. Palmer (ready to drink) (also have a 1996 Giscours and Prieure-Lichine already in the cellar, ready to drink)
Pessac-Leognan: 2002 Pontac Monplaisir and 2003 Ch. Carbonnieux (both of which are ready to drink, I suspect)
These are hugely exciting wines, I hope (being more of a Burgundy and Rhone person than a Bordeaux person). For those wines that are ready to drink, I am planning on making nice meals and enjoy them this fall and winter. The question is what to make and which commune goes best with what? My approach is that, with wines like this, the food should be as simple as possible, taking a back position to the wines. (Plus my ultimate intent is to imprint the five commune styles somewhere in my brain.) (And, hey, summer is never too soon to be planning wines and fall and winter meals, eh? hee hee)

In doing reasearch, it seems like a full range of meats are typically available in Bordeaux and used to pair with the wine. Here are a few ideas for meals - I would love feedback of any kind....reactions, suggestions for changes, which menu or meat with which wine....
1) the bavette bordelaise in Bouchon (steak with shallots and a red wine jus), served with sauteed potatoes with parsley, mushrooms in madeira, and steamed peas.
2) guinea fowl roasted with sprigs of rosemary over a bed of pre-steamed baby potatoes, with mushrooms in Madeira, and steamed green beans
3) venison steaks with a cognac sauce, with a rice pilaf and steamed green beans
4) Guy Savoy's leg of lamb (from P. Well's Bistro Cooking), complete as it contains veggies and potatoes with the lamb
5) lamb navarin (veggies are already in the stew), served with steamed potatoes
6) Duck Breast in creme de cassis sauce, with rice pilaf and quickly sauteed spinach
7) braised wild boar with a touch of chocolate in the sauce (have to work on the recipe for this), served with a simple risotto and sauteed spinach (I couldn't resist throwing in an Italian touch somewhere here but not entirely sure it works)
Thanks very much!! cheers, Bonnie

Bonnie,Hi......


Any of the dishes you write about will be superb. But forget thee not tournedos Rossini and the simplest of all, a grilled Porterhouse steak with matire d'hotel butter, the steak medium-rare (of course).


Best
Rogov

Heartily approve of all your food and wine choices and now fishing for an invitation!

This will sound strange, but I've proven time and again that this is superb, serve with a good Caesar's salad. A perfect backdrop to these classic wines. You might try Robin's "simple Caesar" at http://www.wineloverspage.com/user_subm ... 39621.html .
If it will mean anything to you, a friend had a 1906 Chateau Margaux and wanted to know what to serve with it. I told her about the salad and that is just what she did, and was amazed. You can maybe prep the group with escargot with a Burgundy and either put slivers of NY strip on top of the salad or serve it as a separate course after the presentation. Of course, potatoes and hericot vert would be nice too.

[Jenise]

I decided that it was time for me to learn the differences in style between the five communes of Bordeaux, so I plundered (with great pleasure) the cellars at work and came up with:
St. Estephe: 1990 and 1998 Cos d'Estournel (both ready to drink now, per H. Johnson)
Pauillac: 2003 Clerc-Milon (a magnum, to hold) and 2001 Grand Puy Lacoste (ready to drink now)
St. Julien: 2003 Leoville-Barton (to hold) and 1990 Ducru Beaucaillou (ready to drink)
Margaux: 1996 Ch. Palmer (ready to drink) (also have a 1996 Giscours and Prieure-Lichine already in the cellar, ready to drink)
Pessac-Leognan: 2002 Pontac Monplaisir and 2003 Ch. Carbonnieux (both of which are ready to drink, I suspect)
These are hugely exciting wines, I hope (being more of a Burgundy and Rhone person than a Bordeaux person). For those wines that are ready to drink, I am planning on making nice meals and enjoy them this fall and winter. The question is what to make and which commune goes best with what? My approach is that, with wines like this, the food should be as simple as possible, taking a back position to the wines. (Plus my ultimate intent is to imprint the five commune styles somewhere in my brain.) (And, hey, summer is never too soon to be planning wines and fall and winter meals, eh? hee hee)

What a great set of wines. And all the dishes you mention would be excellent, but know what I'd do? Since your goal is to create a mental imprint for each commune, I'd make the same meal (for me, rare beef, so the thick steak and maitre d'hotel butter with potato gratin on the side made with cream and butter) for every single one of these meals over the winter, so that the only variable in my memory was the taste of the wines. Which is another way of saying I do not think any particular type of food is better for any particular commune, though the experience of a certain food and a particular bottle occasionally transcends the rest.

Thanks for all the comments here! I read them eagerly. That's a very interesting idea, Jenise, about following the same menu for the wines in order to neutralize the food aspect. I will try that with a few of the wines (the lure of making different meals will probably get the best of me eventually). In any case, the plan is to make tasting notes on all of the wines, before eating, in order to have that first, unadulterated impression. The BBC has just started running a series on wine - the first episode had to do with the wine trade, with focus on Burgundy and Bordeaux and how they operate. For Bordeaux, they took Cos d'Estournel as the chateaux and Berry Brothers in London for the buyer and showed their interactions and how prices are reached in great detail. It was a nitty gritty look, just as the economy was going down but before the release of prices for the 2008 vintage. Wow it is intense, heavy business. Berry Bros did a blind tasting for the owner of Cos and clients. It was a 1870 Cos, unknown to the tasters! And only the owner of Cos figured out it was very old and a St. Estephe or a Pauillac. The rest of the trade folks were all over the place. Very interesting indeed. Anyway, thanks again for the comments. cheers, Bonnie

Bonnie,
when I read title I was going to reply roast chicken, but that's really based on really mature wines. Yours mostly have some age to get some complexity, but still have plenty of OOMPH to stand up to the red meat, etc.
Jenise's idea is very intriguing
I'm a little surprised at '96 Palmer being regarded as ready, but haven't had it. Palmer is usually a long ager, but I guess '96 was more forward in Southern Medoc than Northern. I look forward to your notes, both on the wines and the matches!

I decided that it was time for me to learn the differences in style between the five communes of Bordeaux, so I plundered (with great pleasure) the cellars at work

The cellars at work!! Any vacancies at your workplace...???

Bonnie,
when I read title I was going to reply roast chicken, but that's really based on really mature wines. Yours mostly have some age to get some complexity, but still have plenty of OOMPH to stand up to the red meat, etc.
Jenise's idea is very intriguing
I'm a little surprised at '96 Palmer being regarded as ready, but haven't had it. Palmer is usually a long ager, but I guess '96 was more forward in Southern Medoc than Northern. I look forward to your notes, both on the wines and the matches!

Yes, just backing up Dale's comment about really mature Bdx. For wines that might expect to do 30 years, drinking at 15 years will still have fruit that is quite primary and most likely still firm tannins, but hopefully some other complexities emerging. Thus I'd edge more towards the red meat (Lamb preferred) end of the spectrum.

For wines at or beyond notional peak (e.g. the Palmer in 10-20 years time), the tannins should have pretty much subsided and the fruit softened & developed other non-primary aspects. With these wines I really like Guinea fowl, but fully agree chicken. Plenty of variants though with Pigeon, pheasant & other game birds a sound option and I'm guessing some good matches with mushroom based veggie dishes.

Note that I'm a self-confessed necroviniac

regards

Ian

[Jenise]

I'm a little surprised at '96 Palmer being regarded as ready, but haven't had it. Palmer is usually a long ager, but I guess '96 was more forward in Southern Medoc than Northern. I look forward to your notes, both on the wines and the matches!

I thought that too and then I saw the 01 GPL. So 'ready' must mean "open and drinking well right now" vs. having arrived in an actual peak zone, though for some of these wines that would be true, too.

About the 1996 Palmer, I am using Hugh Johnson there. He distinguishes between being 'ready to drink' and wines that should be the first choice for drinking. The Palmer falls into the 'ready' category. Also, I tend to like my Bordeaux on the younger side rather than the much-older side. The 1996 Giscours is perfect for my taste at the moment, as was (the last bottle now having been downed) the 1995 Brane-Cantenac. (Ian, you made me laugh about the 'necroviniac'....why is it that the French tend to drink their Bordeaux on the younger side and the British on the older side, anyway?) Thanks very much for distinguishing between appropriate dishes for the different age stages of Bordeaux - it helps the planning, indeed. I will definitely then tend toward the beef, lamb and venison as opposed to the duck and guinea fowl (until I get perhaps bored with the red meat cooking, hee hee). Dale, tasting notes will definitely get posted when the wines are opened -- it will be fun to share. Mike, I work at a wine importer/seller; it's pretty cool since they've been in business for over 160 years, and have traditionally been Bordeaux specialists so they have a great selection of Bordeaux from a variety of areas and in a variety of price ranges. Up until 10 years ago, they would get the wine from the Bordeaux chateaus in bulk, then age the wines in large vats as well as barriques, then bottle the wines themselves. They have well-appointed cellars full of wine from all over now the now. Thanks again!! Cheers, Bonnie

What I find best is to really keep it simple, your proteins sound good although I may serve beef with the younger wines of the lot. And would add Roasted chicken. As for your chocolate sauce what I like to do is use nibs, lightly toast them then add some red wine,reduce then add demi and reduce, strain then mount with whole butter. If you want even a more intense chocolate sauce add chopped bittersweet to a strainer and pour sauce over it. This sauce is also great with Braised veal cheeks.