Jayson Cohen
Jayson Cohen
True. The Magdelaine though was still the WOTN and maybe decade.
CWD: What did you drink last night (or whenever)?
- Thread starter Jayson Cohen
- Start date
True. The Magdelaine though was still the WOTN and maybe decade.
Jayson Cohen
Jayson Cohen
Brovia Barolo.
Cogno Cascina Nuova in a pinch.
But you are not wrong that you could just head north to drink Le Piane Boca.
Not a fan of Barbera myself. I’ve tried.
The Oddero Barolo Classico is also very good (a good part of it is sourced from Bricco Fiasco).
I've also enjoyed the Baudana village Serralunga Barolo a lot as well.
I had the '21 Cavallotto Barbera Vigna Cuculo recently and I thought it was absolutely terrific. It had rich red fruit married with lively, mouth-watering acidity. Really delicious (and kind of on the pricier side for Barbera, to be honest).
I've also enjoyed the Baudana village Serralunga Barolo a lot as well.
I had the '21 Cavallotto Barbera Vigna Cuculo recently and I thought it was absolutely terrific. It had rich red fruit married with lively, mouth-watering acidity. Really delicious (and kind of on the pricier side for Barbera, to be honest).
Eden Mylunsch
Eden Mylunsch
Over the weekend we went to visit friends in Las Vegas. He's a longtime wine collector and he's at a point where he's willing to open anything. He'd made dinner reservations at Jose Andres Bazaar Meat in the Sahara Hotel, and since we were probably going to be eating steak, he said that he wanted to bring Bordeaux, and to be honest, I was a little let down. His cellar is loaded with older Rhônes, Burgundy, Spanish wines, and no lack of old Barolo either, but he wants to drink Bordeaux? But who am I to look a gift horse in the mouth and turn down first growths? Initially he wanted to do 1982 and 1986 Mouton but couldn't find the 86 so he grabbed a 1982 Margaux instead. No big deal, he'd bought both wines as futures and had maybe $20 a bottle in them.
Once we got to the restaurant we ordered a 2010 Musar Blanc to get started. It took its sweet time waking up and was a little grippy and cranky at first, but after about 20 minutes in the glass the aromatics emerged and it became civilized. It's not the most forthcoming vintage of the wine right now, and will probably be more accessible with another decade in the cellar, but who's got time to wait around? Enjoy it with food now -- Andres' deconstructed caesar salad works really well with it, as did the smoked oysters.
Over the past five years, I've had Bordeaux accompanying dinner fewer times than Django Reinhardt had working fingers on his left hand. It's not as if I don't like steak -- I'm anything but a vegan, it's just when I eat steak there are always so many other options that I'd prefer to drink that I never get around to considering Bordeaux. I'm here to testify that I was wrong, at least where first growths are concerned. Since there were only four of us dining, we weren't sure how much we were going to drink and we opened only the Mouton to begin with. Given its age we decided not to decant and just pull the cork and let the exhaust fans in the nearby kitchen do their thing.
It was poured about 45 minutes after being deflowered and right away, it was clear that the wine was pretty magnificent. It had the sort of earthiness you want to roll around in (not unlike the late-80s Charles Jouguet wines, as a matter of fact). The tannins have slid right into balance with the fruit, and there was a perfect level of acidity present. By the time the steak arrived at table (we'd selected a 40oz ribeye that was a Wagyu/Black Angus hybrid mashup from Rosewood Beef in Texas) the wine was singing. It kept gaining in complexity in the glass. It was good. Real good. Like "why didn't I buy top-level Bordeaux when it was affordable?" good. Like "now I get how some schnook can give a wine 100 points" good. More importantly, it was a perfect pairing with the steak. It had enough weight to hold its own alongside the beef, and the Mouton's flavors were totally complementary to the hunk o'meat.
Halfway through the steak, we'd pretty much gone through the Mouton so the sommelier was summoned and he popped and poured the Margaux (he even brought fresh glasses because it's a klassy place!) As perfect as the Mouton was, the Margaux was a shade perfecter. Similar structure, but just a little more power and Vim! Zip! Vigor! I realize that this is the opposite of the general consensus of these wines, but maybe that night, if I were assigning numbers willy-nilly I'd probably give the Mouton 100 and the Margaux 101. And they were both glorious with the steak, and probably have been just as glorious without it. When I return to Bazaar Meat next visit we'll probably bring Bordeaux. Maybe try it at Totoraku the next time I'm in Beverly Hills.
-Eden (leave me off the list of Bordeaux naysayers, unless it's a list of former Bordeaux naysayers. I've been converted but not saved, because I can never seem to save a damn thing)
Jeff Grossman
Jeff Grossman
Traditionally, I think it's Bordeaux with lamb and Burgundy with beef.
But First Growth goes with everything. Nice story, Eden.
But First Growth goes with everything. Nice story, Eden.
My brother works with a company (not Rosewood) that has an Angus/Wagyu herd. The stuff is pretty incredible, IMO.
I had a pretty similar experience over the summer with my FiL and a bottle of 1990 Margaux. A "holy shit that's good" and "why didn't I buy top-level Bordeaux when it was cheap" good and maybe to the point of "fuck it, I'll pay the going tariff for a pristine bottle every now and then" good.
Peter Creasey
Peter Creasey
Eden, I need exactly the kind of conversion you experienced. I'm still with the Rhone, Burgundy, Barolo crowd you got converted from.
Interesting story...thanks.
. . . . . Pete
Very interesting discussion, gents. I don’t eat much steak at all (1-2 times per year, I’d say) but I have a hard time imagining either aged Bordeaux or GC Burgundy with it, but perhaps this just indicates a failure of imagination on my part. I do know of the Burgundy with beef trope, but perhaps I just drink the wrong sort (“feminine”) of Burgundy. Like VLM I drink most of my Burgundy with game or poultry, though I have read fictional accounts of DRC Richebourg consumed with steak.
Mark Lipton
Mark Lipton
Pavel Tchichikov
Pavel Tchichikov
serial number of the cow not included?
Pavel Tchichikov
Pavel Tchichikov
fuzzy indeed, which is why i wasted no ink in writing "second label" rather than second-label
sorry to disappoint but i am actually referring to langhe, although in my defense i do not experiment in that area and rely on occasional recommendations from wiser men and women, and tend to stick with those vintage to vintage. Also, some of them turn out to be declassified(*) barolo or barbaresco finished with a more delicate touch. IOW i am in no position to argue the inconsistency of the genre, as i cherry pick shamelessly and do quite well.
love barbera, mostly in food pairing context, but choosing one has become extremely difficult. The climate hasn't been nearly as kind to the grape as it has to langhe nebbiolo which, as discussed in another thread recently, continues to manage balance at up to 14%.
while i suspect that i own some of the same nebbiolo that is no more ready to drink in my cellar than it is in yours, i've been thrilled with carefully chosen langhe at the dinner table in the 5-10-year range, vintage depending.
(*) the 98 from beppe rinaldi sold by jamie for $38 has to be one of the more outrageous examples ever
Pavel Tchichikov
Pavel Tchichikov
shit, why didn't I think of this. I've accumulated a small but dangerous pile of aged chianto classico, mainly following luca's original doctrine, but have yet to breach it precisely because i hadn't made up my mind about what the hell to eat with the stuff. (interestingly i once had a great meal consisting of rosemary-laden steak florentine and a sesti rosato(!), but somehow never made the proper connection). i'll report back on this.
Oswaldo Costa
Oswaldo Costa
On the subject of Langhe, last night we had a very nice 2020 Giulia Negri Langhe Nebbiolo 14.0%. A wee touch lactic, suggesting young vines, but otherwise quite tasty and balanced, with no 14% heat at all. Zero flaws.
Speaking of zero flaws, yesterday Patrick Cappiello posted on IG a very short (TikTok length) video of why it's not only at bottling that a smidgen of SO2 is a good idea and won't harm a wine's "honesty" (my word). Worth a watch.
Speaking of zero flaws, yesterday Patrick Cappiello posted on IG a very short (TikTok length) video of why it's not only at bottling that a smidgen of SO2 is a good idea and won't harm a wine's "honesty" (my word). Worth a watch.
Claude Kolm
Claude Kolm
While Langhe Nebbiolo in the past may well have contained declassified Barolo and/or Barbaresco, I think increasingly those lots are going into village Barolo/Barbaresco blends. In part spurred or aided, I believe, by reclassification of some Langhe Nebbiolo vineyards to Barolo/Barbaresco.
Claude Kolm
Claude Kolm
While Langhe Nebbiolo in the past may well have contained declassified Barolo and/or Barbaresco, I think increasingly those lots are going into village Barolo/Barbaresco blends; in part spurred or aided, I believe, by reclassification of some Langhe Nebbiolo vineyards to Barolo/Barbaresco.
Oswaldo Costa
Oswaldo Costa
The 2020 is 15%. How much was this?
Oswaldo Costa
Oswaldo Costa
Thusly (yuck) buoyed, yesterday we opened the 2021 version, weighing at the more vintage-appropriate 13.5%. Another good one, with similar qualities, no doubt better in a year or two. Worth checking out, given the reasonable tariff.