Casual dinner at our house with another couple.
With fresh gulf shrimp in Spanish tapas style:
- 2006 Pierre Sparr Riesling Reserve - France, Alsace, Alsace AOC
Was good again tonight, although with noticeably more fruit than the Luneau-Papin. The fruit had almost tropical elements to it but stayed in the apple and pear spectrum afterall. Was another great food match tonight.
With little neck clams Portuguese style (with dry chorizo and white wine broth)
and
Fresh Bluefin Tuna Sashimi:
- 2005 Luneau-Papin Muscadet de Sèvre-et-Maine Le L D'Or - France, Loire Valley, Pays Nantais, Muscadet de Sèvre-et-Maine
Amazing wine. Great minerality, great delineation, great finesse, great acidity, great roundness and no hard edges. To describe this wine in terms of fruit, misses the point of this wine, IMO, so I won't attempt. It is very floral, racy, zingy, and fun. Paired as well with the food tonight as any food/wine pairing I've ever tried. At the $16 I managed to snag this, this is a case buy. - 2000 Domaine Ste. Michelle Luxe - USA, Washington, Columbia Valley
This was not good. Very course bead, almost like one dropped a tablet into fizzy water. Very bitter on the finish and hollow on the mid-palate. We all tried and poured our glasses, and ultimately the bottle, down the sink.
With Ham and green beans
and
Veal shank provencal style:
- 1989 Olga Raffault Chinon Les Picasses - France, Loire Valley, Touraine, Chinon
Popped and poured. A slightly browning edge at first, but with air, the color becomes solid dark garnet red. The aromas of this leap out of the glass and I swear you could smell it from feet away. Leafy mushroom, earth, truffle, and cassis wrapped into a round, fully mature body that leads into a long, long finish. Just a joy to drink and although I think this has many years left in the tank, it is drinking positively stunning right now with all the secondary and tertiary flavors one could wish for. This is a benchmark wine for me. Not only for Chinon, but in general. One of the best wines I have ever tasted. Goes without saying that at less than $50 per bottle, this has to be one of the finest wine values in the world.
Assorted Cheeses and Easter Cake:
- 1998 Patrick Lesec Châteauneuf-du-Pape Les Galets Blonds - France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape
I suspect this wine was minimally corked. It was so subtle that the fruit was completely unaffected, but the nose was in my opinion. With that said, it still drank nicely and we almost finished the bottle. Definitely a more old-school wine in flavor profile that seems to emphasize the Grenache component very much. Very ripe year though, so viscosity was high. Plenty of underbrush/garrigue to match the kirsch notes this wine showed. Nowhere near over the hill. Was a great match for the cheeses.
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