TN: Much Duck Fat, Much Madiran

J

Jeff Grossman

Jeff Grossman
1/19/09
La Sirene
Scott, Zachary, Tse Wei & Diana, Jeff, Jay, Cliff, Chris, and Seth

Prior to arriving Scott opened his magnum of 1979 Cahors for Kevin, Joe, and Denyse. Alas, they discovered that it is corked. Joe graciously gifted him -- and, therefore, us -- with a bottle of Dom. Richaud's special cuvee. Thank you, Joe!

La Sirene is starting to know us: "Ah, yes, you're the ones that bring your own glasses and want to open all the bottles yourselves." I suppose there are worse things to be known for.

Everyone* ordered appetizers and cassoulet. Amid the bacon and beans, the revelry commenced:

Edmunds St. John 2007 Heart of Gold - crisp and juicy, wow, what vermentino!

L'Oustal Blanc 2005 VdT "Naick 5" - slightly spirity? or some other aggressive chemical smell, rather bland following the HoG

Equipe Navazos "La Bota de Manzanilla Pasada #10" - untasted

Dom. Ganevat 2003 Cotes du Jura "La Combe" - untasted

Muller-Catoir 1992 Riesling Halbtrocken - 5 174 079 16 93, medium-dark gold, which raises some initial concerns, but no fear: full, balanced, glints of honey peeking out amongst plums and raisins, great wine

Dom. Richaud 2000 Cairanne "l'Ebrescade" - seems gritty and very big, Pezzy, feh

Dom. Berthoumieu 2005 Madiran "Cuve Charles Batz" - an initial whiff of butter and then it clamps down really hard, stern stern stern, so closed and angry about it

Primo Palatum 1998 Madiran - a whiff of bicycle tire, but true to its place: this tastes like a textbook example of (still slightly young) Madiran

Chateau Montus 1997 Madiran "Cuve Prestige" - TW: "Wine that reminds me of beer... in a good way"; too ashy for Jay to drink; seems OK to me

Chateau Montus 1995 Madiran - the first wine that is even vaguely open for business: lots of blue fruits (plums, blueberries, etc.) served in a decorative but sturdy tannin basket; yum

Chateau Montus 1995 Madiran "Cuve Prestige" - quite different from the normale: there is a taste of tired wood, a slight extra sweetness and loss of acidity; there's probably more to come, if one waits

Chateau d'Aydie 1990 Madiran - this one has a bit of brown sugar thrown over the otherwise typical flavor profile

Chateau Montus 1988 Madiran "Cuve Prestige" - from magnum; oh! another level of openness: vigorous, fruity, still a whiff of old rubber

Guibert 1985 Mas de Daumas Gassac - lovely but not able to cut through the duck fat in my mouth; another time

Clos Triguedina "Prince Probus" 1978 Cahors - still vigorous wine, lots of very red cherries, just barely up to the fat-cutting chore but I'll happily drink this wine

And, with the desserts (yes, even after cassoulet there is dessert):

Baron de Lustrac 1973 Folle Blanche, Bas Armagnac, Selectionn au Domaine Courros - bottled 2006; light and feminine, mild rancio, long Juicy-Fruit finish

The bill arrived compris and we left more on top of that. As people bustled out, I signalled to the kitchen and told the waitress to bring them the Heart of Gold, the 88 Montus, and the 78 Cahors. I saw the chef point to the magnum and say to the waitress, "Yes, that is a good one."

Wave KTHXBAI to the nice people!
 
I really liked the Mller-Catoir, it had at its core something very tropical, guava maybe, amidst the laciness and diesel. The Manzanilla sherry also was superb.

Of the reds, I liked the d'Aydie the best, as well the 95 Montus regular and the Prince Probus.

I took home the Primo Palatum and 97 Montus Prestige and drank the remains last night. The extra day benefited both considerably. The Primo Palatum opened up tremendously, showing black-fruited muscle and a savory finish (still tannic). The Montus still brought the funk (old tire, boiled boot, ash) but was significantly tamed and even refreshing. No duck fat was used in this experiment.
 
originally posted by Joe Dressner:
Dear Jeff:

It was Domaine Richaud.

Domaine Michaud is a guy who makes Brouilly.
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Thank you. Correction made.

(I really like Michaud's Brouilly. I had been curious as to why he was suddenly making wine in Cairanne....)
 
L'Oustal Blanc is made by the famous oenologue about town, Phillipe Cambie. I've tasted a few of the wines and they all taste weird to me.

I've liked the 00 Richaud Ebrescade in the past. More recent versions have tasted more woody to me, though I don't know if that's just me or if they've started using more wood.

Among the Madirans, I've only tasted the Montus. If people liked the Aydie better, I'll have to go looking for it.
 
Well, this was a very useful dinner. I discovered that I'm not really a big Madiran fan but it was still fun to see everyone and meet Zachary for the first time. And the cassoulet is great.

The Manzanilla Pasada was from the night before but still showing really well. I'm really impressed by the La Bota offerings so far. By understanding is that this was somewhat of a barrel sample so the final bottling will be slightly different.

If this auction purchase is representative looks like the 1992 Muller Catoirs are ever so slightly edging over peak at this point. Certainly no need to hold at this point or do anything other than enjoy them.

Surprisingly the Berthoumieu was a good match with the unexpectedly spicy duck liver salad.

Star of the evening for me was the Armagnac.
 
I guess I mostly agree with that, though I thought most were pleasurable in the context of duck fat pairing. The 1995 regular Montus seemed ready to me.
 
originally posted by Zachary Ross:
I guess I mostly agree with that, though I thought most were pleasurable in the context of duck fat pairing. The 1995 regular Montus seemed ready to me.
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It seemed ready to me, too. Very slurpable, as VLM might say.
 
The 78 Prince Probus Cahors was surprisingly alive and pleasurable to drink, slurpable even (though I thought I heard some noise from the other end of the table that it might be a fake).
 
No, it was clearly a counterfeit, far younger than it ought to be. I understand that '70s Cahors are particular targets for forgery these days, after some of the bigger names and vintages began to draw attention to themselves.

I agree it was certainly very slurpable wine though, whatever it really was.
 
Really? I got it from winebid for $25 - after checking Clos Triguedina's own web site, which attests to the longevity of the 1978 vintage. Ah well.
 
Huh. Well, the capsule was a lead one that had a bunch of old, crusty stuff stuck under it, and the cork looked quite old and was soaked to about 1/8" of the top. Fooled me if it was a fake.
 
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