Jeff Grossman
Jeff Grossman
attendees: Paul, Jeff, Jayson, Jay, Dale, Chris, Brent
When you move in the circles of a VIP, the bennies flow freely. Tonight, we dine at Ping's Seafood, on Mott Street, a fish restaurant in the old style: floor to ceiling, wall to wall aquariums filled with edible wet specimens awaiting your death nod selection. Jay is a celeb here, as he is nearly everywhere there is good food and low corkage, so we are placed at a large, well-lit table in the back. Then an extra table is provided for all our table-dressing: bottles, cork-extraction tools, displaced teacups, receptacles for unused wine, and so forth. And, lastly, in a burst of unanticipated creativity, the restaurant sends us a bottle of wine.
The menu is mostly our preferred dishes... roasted quail and squab, crispy little fishes, clams in black bean sauce, Peking duck, hot pot pork belly and short ribs, whole fluke (two ways) and crab fried rice.
We are 7 at the table, hence a dozen plus bottles to report, mostly champagne and Burgundy:
Taittinger NV Champagne Brut GC "Prelude" - 50/50 chard and pinot, good color, leesy in the nose and then some older (oxy?) smells (Dale described it as almonds), palate is brisk and, well, very champagne-like, a good if four-square showing
Vilmart NV Champagne Brut Rose "Cuvee Rubis" - we did not know at the time but Jayson later said the cork read "07-07" (the disgorgement date) so probably 2004 base wine; this is cloudy and kinda orange color, a lot of fizz for an old champers and a lot of verve, too: salty, acidy, definitely long in the tooth; it probably was better 10 years ago but I find it fascinating; the table is divided
Vilmart 2016 Champagne Brut "Coeur de Cuvee" - very fizzy; good chalk and other minerality, so fresh and young; with some air it starts sprouting flowers and face-powder and all sorts of complexity; great, great wine (though, if you buy some, lay it down for a while)
Valentin Leflaive 2016 Champagne Extra-Brut GC BdB "16/40" - disg. 2/8/21, the numerics are vintage (2016) and dosage (4.0 g/l), "nice chardonnay nose" -Jayson, it's good but did not stand out for me
Le Temps des Cerises (Axel Prufer) 2024 VdF "Avanti Popolo!" - natual wine, carignan from Languedoc; very berry, it is indeed Puzelatish, zing zing, very good glou, Jay laughs (imagine my surprise to discover that Jay has had this before); someone said, "cherry-tinged knaidlach" (actually, I can't decipher my scribble but this is funnier)
Trediberri 2021 Barolo "Berri" - in a very light style, well-made, cranberry and lots of zing, but also not setting afire to anyone's imagination
Drouhin 1999 Chambolle-Musigny 1er - this is wonderful: mid-weight, thyme (or tarragon) snuffling around the pretty red fruit, good bottle!
Drouhin 2005 Beaune 1er Rouge "Clos de Mouches" - so dark, so floral, cherry and mocha(?), tingly, long, great texture, more vivid than the '02, WOTN
Drouhin 2002 Beaune 1er Rouge "Clos de Mouches" - Jayson thinks this is slightly off, black cherry and underbrush but not stirring
Drouhin 2018 Beaune 1er Rouge "Clos de Mouches" - this is too young, at least, it's too young for this table; stings my mouth a bit, somewhat pine-y, try again in a few years
Nathan K 2017 Finger Lakes Dry Riesling - green label (fruitier than the black label); 10.9%, the gift bottle, Nathan is Pascaline's partner in Chepika so a pleasant surprise, good freshness, dry indeed, restrained and well-mannered (is that the wine-maker's discretion or is the bottle getting old?)
Bruno Paillard NV Champagne GC BdN - disg Nov 2023; at first, another typique champagne, but with air this really becomes something more: less obviously leesy, more little stones, incredibly good with the food, like it a lot
Morot 2012 Savigny-Les-Beaune 1er "La Bataillere aux Vergelesses" - monopole; lightweight but really nice pinot fruit ...E
Oh, I think there were two other bottles on the table, too. Maybe from Jerez?
Totally ad hoc voting for WOTN:
Champagne
16 Vilmart - 2 votes
Vilmart Rubis - 1 vote
Taittinger - 1 vote
Burgundy
05 Mouches - 4 votes
99 Chambolle - honorable mention
When you move in the circles of a VIP, the bennies flow freely. Tonight, we dine at Ping's Seafood, on Mott Street, a fish restaurant in the old style: floor to ceiling, wall to wall aquariums filled with edible wet specimens awaiting your death nod selection. Jay is a celeb here, as he is nearly everywhere there is good food and low corkage, so we are placed at a large, well-lit table in the back. Then an extra table is provided for all our table-dressing: bottles, cork-extraction tools, displaced teacups, receptacles for unused wine, and so forth. And, lastly, in a burst of unanticipated creativity, the restaurant sends us a bottle of wine.
The menu is mostly our preferred dishes... roasted quail and squab, crispy little fishes, clams in black bean sauce, Peking duck, hot pot pork belly and short ribs, whole fluke (two ways) and crab fried rice.
We are 7 at the table, hence a dozen plus bottles to report, mostly champagne and Burgundy:
Taittinger NV Champagne Brut GC "Prelude" - 50/50 chard and pinot, good color, leesy in the nose and then some older (oxy?) smells (Dale described it as almonds), palate is brisk and, well, very champagne-like, a good if four-square showing
Vilmart NV Champagne Brut Rose "Cuvee Rubis" - we did not know at the time but Jayson later said the cork read "07-07" (the disgorgement date) so probably 2004 base wine; this is cloudy and kinda orange color, a lot of fizz for an old champers and a lot of verve, too: salty, acidy, definitely long in the tooth; it probably was better 10 years ago but I find it fascinating; the table is divided
Vilmart 2016 Champagne Brut "Coeur de Cuvee" - very fizzy; good chalk and other minerality, so fresh and young; with some air it starts sprouting flowers and face-powder and all sorts of complexity; great, great wine (though, if you buy some, lay it down for a while)
Valentin Leflaive 2016 Champagne Extra-Brut GC BdB "16/40" - disg. 2/8/21, the numerics are vintage (2016) and dosage (4.0 g/l), "nice chardonnay nose" -Jayson, it's good but did not stand out for me
Le Temps des Cerises (Axel Prufer) 2024 VdF "Avanti Popolo!" - natual wine, carignan from Languedoc; very berry, it is indeed Puzelatish, zing zing, very good glou, Jay laughs (imagine my surprise to discover that Jay has had this before); someone said, "cherry-tinged knaidlach" (actually, I can't decipher my scribble but this is funnier)
Trediberri 2021 Barolo "Berri" - in a very light style, well-made, cranberry and lots of zing, but also not setting afire to anyone's imagination
Drouhin 1999 Chambolle-Musigny 1er - this is wonderful: mid-weight, thyme (or tarragon) snuffling around the pretty red fruit, good bottle!
Drouhin 2005 Beaune 1er Rouge "Clos de Mouches" - so dark, so floral, cherry and mocha(?), tingly, long, great texture, more vivid than the '02, WOTN
Drouhin 2002 Beaune 1er Rouge "Clos de Mouches" - Jayson thinks this is slightly off, black cherry and underbrush but not stirring
Drouhin 2018 Beaune 1er Rouge "Clos de Mouches" - this is too young, at least, it's too young for this table; stings my mouth a bit, somewhat pine-y, try again in a few years
Nathan K 2017 Finger Lakes Dry Riesling - green label (fruitier than the black label); 10.9%, the gift bottle, Nathan is Pascaline's partner in Chepika so a pleasant surprise, good freshness, dry indeed, restrained and well-mannered (is that the wine-maker's discretion or is the bottle getting old?)
Bruno Paillard NV Champagne GC BdN - disg Nov 2023; at first, another typique champagne, but with air this really becomes something more: less obviously leesy, more little stones, incredibly good with the food, like it a lot
Morot 2012 Savigny-Les-Beaune 1er "La Bataillere aux Vergelesses" - monopole; lightweight but really nice pinot fruit ...E
Oh, I think there were two other bottles on the table, too. Maybe from Jerez?
Totally ad hoc voting for WOTN:
Champagne
16 Vilmart - 2 votes
Vilmart Rubis - 1 vote
Taittinger - 1 vote
Burgundy
05 Mouches - 4 votes
99 Chambolle - honorable mention