To commemorate our departure for points eastward, we opened a few wines with my cousin and his wife while eating Dungeness crab and sourdough, something of a family tradition.
NV Jacques Lassaigne Les Vignes de Montgueux BdB Extra Brut was a great start to the meal and a good pairing with our potato pavé with crab meat appetizer. Mineral, crisp with bright citrusy fruit and a minimal amount of toast and a very suave mousse, it was a crowd pleaser.
NV Pierre Peters Cuvée de Resérve BdB Extra Brut was an interesting contrast: more toasty and slightly less racy, it seemed a tad clumsy in comparison to the Lassaigne.
My cousins wife mentioned that her father, a Rutgers prof, was a compulsive buyer from Rimmerman who keeps sending them cases of Champagne and Italian wines such that they’re sick of both. First world problems indeed.
With our main course, I opened a 2017 Huet CdB Sec that I’d brought out for the Huet-a-thon (sad trombone). It was in fine fettle, still racy and lithe with a ton of minerality and abounding with pear/quince fruit. Both my cousin and his wife were over the moon with it; Jean, sadly, wasn’t so taken with it.
Since we were returning with more wine than our two shippers would hold, we had to sacrifice yet another bottle. In this case, it was the 2011 Baudry La Croix Boissee which was showing magnificently. Dark fruit, leather, earth and a hint of pencil lead. Silky, yet structured for the long haul. Drink and hold, as they say.
Mark Lipton