Old notes but still germane

Some friends and an old professor got together to celebrate my good friend RJ’s completion of his PhD. It’s a group that doesn’t get a chance to spend time together very often as we are spread out over the country at different universities. I haven’t laughed that hard in years.

1999 Gosset Champagne Brut Grand Millésime
Showed pretty well. Definitely made with a “house style” in mind, but that’s OK with me. It was a bit doughy and such but with good structure and a fine mousse.

N.V. Pierre Peters Champagne Blanc de Blancs Brut Cuvée de Réserve
Out of magnum. Very good bubbly. My regular Champagne these days, to the extent that I drink Champagne. I like the leanness and minerality.

2004 Breton Bourgueil Nuits d'Ivresse
From magnum. Ready to go and showed pretty well. We were telling old stories, laughing, eating, and drinking. The wine seemed perfectly suited to that kind of conviviality. Never my favorite of the Breton line-up, every wine has its purpose and this one was fulfilling it perfectly.

2006 Domaine Brana Irouléguy Harri Gorri
A bit disappointing. I was hoping for something more interesting. Kind of glossy and flat.

2002 Radikon Venezia Giulia Jakot
What I love about these wines is that people are immediately drawn to them. I’ve had people say to me that the wines are unsellable and that people don’t get them. I think that’s horseshit. At a table full of people that like wine, but are not geeks by any measure, they all loved the wine without any prodding from me. It’s delicious and great with food. I’d drink it every day if I could afford to.

30 yr old Chinese Liquor
WTF? Crazy.

Johnny Walker Blue Label
Delicious. We drank the whole bottle. If it were cheaper, I’d have it on hand all the time.

WNMBWMTF & Croix Boisée

Dinner with WNMBWMTF and her folks at Rue Cler. The new chef has really stepped up the game. WNMBWMTF’s folks have been pretty open and appreciative to cool wine, so I thought I’d test them further.

Pierre Peters Champagne Blanc de Blancs Brut Cuvée de Réserve
As usual, this is an great way to start a meal and a good value in real Champagne. Not the best bottling I've had of this, but still pretty good. I mean, for Champagne.

2007 François Chidaine Vouvray Clos Baudoin
Indicative of the vintage, this is slight and pretty with hints of honeysuckle over some pearish fruit, light as Spring rain with hints of rocks. Good and satisfying wine. It'll be interesting to see what Francois is able to do with this vineyard as he gets it under harness and has more experience working it. The 2008 was certainly promising in February but will need more time. This is ready to drink now.

1996 Domaine Bernard Baudry Chinon La Croix Boissée
I’m of two minds about this wine. The nose is gorgeous, with just enough bottle sweetness and secondary aromas to flesh out the residual stone-pit fruit and minerals. There is an undeniable chalky quality to Croix Boissée and this wine has it in spades. What really makes this wine rise above the crowd is the precision of it. You can truly tell the quality of the site. The palate is in a little more confusing place at the moment. It is coiled enough, but doesn’t really seem to fan across the palate. This could mean one of two things: either the palate is drying out or it is just not quite there yet. I think I'll wait another 3-5 for my next bottle.

Good Grouper

Made a simple dinner of broiled NC grouper with buerre blanc. The grouper was supposedly spear caught off the coast of NC. I have no idea if it is true, but I saw the whole fish at my brothers and it had a hole through the head. Anyway, very high quality fish.

2001 Pierre Peters Champagne Blanc de Blancs Brut Cuvée Spéciale Les Chétillons
This was just OK. Frankly, I enjoyed a bottle of the Brut Reserve recently more than this. It could be the vintage, but it seems to lack drive.

1997 Prager Riesling Smaragd Achleiten
Cork was soaked, so this probably saw some heat at some point. Still in pretty good shape, although rounder than I expected from Prager and this site.

1997 Freie Weingärtner Wachau Riesling Smaragd Achleiten
There was something off in this bottle. Maybe it was premoxed! Seemed like it was OK at first, but gradually slid down hill.

2002 Huët Vouvray Demi-Sec Le Mont
This was the most horribly flawed bottle I can remember in a long time. Some sort of combination of sewage, bleach, and vomit. It was so aggressively and stunningly awful that I was bewildered.

1995 Trimbach Riesling Cuvée Frédéric Emile
Again, a bit of mustiness right when opened that blows off nicely. This was a really grippy version of Frédéric Emile, especially in comparison to a recent 1997. No sign of the mysterious premature oxidation here. This showed really well with lots of minerals and only a hint of kerosene. I kept this in the fridge and enjoyed the rest 4 nights later when it was even better. Without a doubt, the best bottle of 1995 I’ve had and one of the better Frédéric Emile in recent memory.

1990 Château Suduiraut Sauternes
Really pretty mediocre. It was dominated caramel and crème brulée notes. It seemed to lack structure and precision. Too bad, I haven’t had good Sauternes in a while.