Special Wines w/dinner (menu)

P

Peter Creasey

Peter Creasey
WINES

Hyde De Villaine Family Hyde Vineyard Napa Chardonnay '17
Le Vieux Donjon Chateauneuf du Pape '17
Anne Gros Echezeaux Le Loachausses Grand Cru '07
Chateau Ausone '55
Vineyard 29 Aida Estate St Helena Late Harvest Zin '12

MENU
Mother.jpg
. . . . . Pete
 
I knew de Villaine was in Sonoma but did not know they’d teamed up with Hyde. That one is of interest because I’ve never especially liked a Hyde Vineyard chard but almost always liked de Villaine’s whites.
 
It's nice that "lapin" becomes "rabbit" but when the translation for "Bavarois" is "Bavarois" then you still don't know what you're getting. (Yes, I know what a Bavarois is, I'm merely commenting on the uneven benefit of direct translations.)
 
Jim, I suspect you might not favor the Hyde de Villaine Hyde Vineyard Chardonnay modest oak. I have been buying it in each of the recent years.

. . . . . Pete
 
originally posted by Peter Creasey:

Jim, I suspect you might not favor the Hyde de Villaine Hyde Vineyard Chardonnay modest oak. I have been buying it in each of the recent years.

. . . . . Pete
Click to expand...
Good to know.
De Villaine’s property in the Cotati hills is pretty impressive although I’ve not yet seen any of those wines for sale.
 
The Ausone '55 was special in more ways than one. After the difficulty in getting it open, that it was even drinkable was a marvel.

Surely the most challenging bottle I can recall opening. The ullage was quite low even for a nearly 70 year old wine. The capsule seemed to be glued to the bottle and had to be scraped off a small piece at a time including from the top of the cork. I knew right away the Durand was a requirement; even so, when I tried to screw in the Durand worm, the cork started sinking. I managed to get the worm screwed in as far as possible which wasn't far enough as the Durand only pulled out part of the cork. The cork was in pieces totally soaked. I had to decant the wine through a metal wine strainer.

And then the tide turned. Impressive dark color, sweet Claret bouquet that promised great things. It was delicious on the palate right away and proceeded to blossom even more as the perfect complement with the Beef Wellington. No lacking in its length also. It would easily rival other great wines from the past.

Certainly a special treat, compliments of our generous dinner guests.

. . . . . Pete
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top