Japanese food and 50 yr old wine

So early in Dec is my wife's 50th birthday. Over the last few years, I've accumulated a few 1959s. I served one (at bro-in-law's 50th (with Betsy's approval, she thinks it was one of 2 '59s I have). Since she'll help me host my most serious group the night before her birthday. I'll surprise her by including a '59 Ygay GR. But a few days later (she's working on actual b'day) I'm having 14 of her closest join us at a nearby Japanese restaurant where she is a lunch regular and friend. Not really a sushi place, small excellent Japanese place where husband (who barely speaks English after 20 years here but is great cook) and wife (front end) are only employees. So the wines I should have for dinner (2 are kids, so 14 adults, I plan on doing the pouring) are 750s of 1959 Talbot, Lanessan, Moulin Touchais, and Caillou Creme de Tete. So I'm looking for thoughts on a few matching questions:

1) I love ankimo. And in some ways in resembles foie gras. I've had great experiences with demi-sec to moelleux Vouvray with fg, am I crazy to think this might work with the Moulin Touchais (I thought I'd save the Sauternes for end, likely to have less acidic verve, hard to serve in middle of savory courses)?

2) I'm thinking a beef or pork hot pot dish with the Bordeaux. I realize motsunabe or sukiyaki might not be first thing one thinks of when looking at fully mature Bdx, but I'm working within constraints of where she wanted party. Any other suggestions- Hirome seems very willing to work with my suggestions?

The rest of the dinner should be easy. I'll have Champagne to welcome, whites for the sushi/sashimi/tempura courses, reds for those that want reds at all times. But would love feedback on whether sweet Loire and ankimo is bad idea, and better ideas for a course for older Bordeaux (within constraints of what they do at restaurant).


PS I realize all 50 year old wines are iffy, especially something like Lanessan. I'll have plenty of backup - mature Bdx, Sauternes, sweet Loires

The problem I would have is not the ingredients but the preparation. Ankimo could work with a sweet Loire but it probably will work better if prepared in a similar way to foie gras; i.e. with some jammy sweet sauce to accompany it, along with some brioche points. Unfortunately, you run the risk in that case of ruining an excellent Japanese meal. Sorry, I know I'm not telling you anything you don't already know but I guess I'm just as stomped as you are. Maybe someone else will know better and be able to help.

In any case, early Happy Birthday wishes to Betsy from us.

[Jenise]

So early in Dec is my wife's 50th birthday. Over the last few years, I've accumulated a few 1959s. I served one (at bro-in-law's 50th (with Betsy's approval, she thinks it was one of 2 '59s I have). Since she'll help me host my most serious group the night before her birthday. I'll surprise her by including a '59 Ygay GR. But a few days later (she's working on actual b'day) I'm having 14 of her closest join us at a nearby Japanese restaurant where she is a lunch regular and friend. Not really a sushi place, small excellent Japanese place where husband (who barely speaks English after 20 years here but is great cook) and wife (front end) are only employees. So the wines I should have for dinner (2 are kids, so 14 adults, I plan on doing the pouring) are 750s of 1959 Talbot, Lanessan, Moulin Touchais, and Caillou Creme de Tete. So I'm looking for thoughts on a few matching questions:

1) I love ankimo. And in some ways in resembles foie gras. I've had great experiences with demi-sec to moelleux Vouvray with fg, am I crazy to think this might work with the Moulin Touchais (I thought I'd save the Sauternes for end, likely to have less acidic verve, hard to serve in middle of savory courses)?

2) I'm thinking a beef or pork hot pot dish with the Bordeaux. I realize motsunabe or sukiyaki might not be first thing one thinks of when looking at fully mature Bdx, but I'm working within constraints of where she wanted party. Any other suggestions- Hirome seems very willing to work with my suggestions?

The rest of the dinner should be easy. I'll have Champagne to welcome, whites for the sushi/sashimi/tempura courses, reds for those that want reds at all times. But would love feedback on whether sweet Loire and ankimo is bad idea, and better ideas for a course for older Bordeaux (within constraints of what they do at restaurant).

PS I realize all 50 year old wines are iffy, especially something like Lanessan. I'll have plenty of backup - mature Bdx, Sauternes, sweet Loires

Not an expert on old wine or Japanese cuisine, Dale, but several things are in play and the most important of them is that Betsy is where she wants to be with the people who matter most, and you're serving amazing wines as a tribute to your wonderful wife. That so transcends the rest of the experience that 'matching' almost becomes a moot point. That said I think the backdrop of Japanese cuisine will prove quite interesting. Re the ankimo and the Loire, I think this could work for the reasons you say. For all the kumquat chutneys etc I've had in this life served with foie gras and sauternes, one of the better matches to my non-sweet toothed sensibilities was a tomato compote on brioche--only lightly and naturally sweet from the intensity of the reduced tomatoes. That was 15 years ago and I much preferred it to most of the sweeter treatments I've had since. And in fact, two of my favorite all-time foie gras have been similarly restrained and are somewhat Asian in composition and ideas your chef could work with--the foie gras topped with grilled fresh pineapple and drizzled with just a bit of hoisin at Chinois on Main, and a foie gras with sauteed matsutake mushrooms and a very light drizzle of maple syrup that I had in Canada. Persimmons are in season--an edible garnish involving thin slices of fuyu persimmon might be an excellent foil. Attractive, too.

Sukiyaki for the old Bordeauxs sounds great to me. Again, maybe not the perfect match but there's nothing there that would offend the wines. In fact, the attributes of 'melange' may turn out to be a better match than you imagine.

First of all, Dale, congrats to Betsy and to you for organizing such a great event to help her celebrate her 50th! Speaking as a fellow food-wine matching OC, I'll make the following comments. First, will the ankimo be served with ponzu? I don't think that you're crazy for pairing it with the Moulin-Touchais (of course, you know this wine better than I do, so take my comments with liberal salt). For the Bdx pairing, I'd probably go ultra-boring with tonkatsu or katsu-don or a noodle dish such as yakisoba. Fortunately, the saucing is usually optional as most Japanese sauces that I can think of aren't terribly wine friendly. Sukaiyaki could be OK, but it'll depend a lot on how it's sauced: some preparations I've had have been a bit too sweet to pair well with Bdx. As Jenise says, though, I bet that Betsy will have a memorable night regardless of the food-wine pairing.

Mark Lipton