It was Bill Lawrence's turn to host the Tuesday Supper Club and so Christine Huang, Marty Ellington, Suzanne Camhi and I gathered at his place a few weeks ago for a wonderful evening. Bill did a great job in the kitchen, serving up fresh stone crab claws and then sautéed Nantucket bay scallops with snap peas and mashed sweet potatoes. He cooked the scallops perfectly, managing to get a little bit of a sear on them while keeping them largely raw on the inside, which is what you want to do with these scallops as they're essentially ocean candy.
It being a seafood evening, white wines were the order of the day, save for a bottle of Port to go with the cheese.
Always a great time dining and popping corks with this group.
2002 Vilmart & Cie- Champagne Coeur de Cuvée - France, Champagne
Showing very nicely. It's quite ripe, with sweet apple and peachy stone fruit and pleasant yeastiness on the back end. Creamy across the palate with a pleasantly small bead, I wish more Champagne was made in this style. A-.
1998 Ch“teau de Beaucastel- Ch“teauneuf-du-Pape Blanc Cuvée Roussanne Vieilles Vignes - France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Ch“teauneuf-du-Pape
Never much of a fan of Rhone whites, or this bottling and this showed poorly. A gold color with oxidation on the nose and palate, that was strike one. Strike two would be the low acidity. Strike three would be the oak. There was actually a fourth strike in that there was an alcohol burn on the finish. Marty thought perhaps it wasn't an intact bottle, but this is how I usually find these bottlings. Christine actually liked it and just thought it needed more time. Um, nuh uh. Just not good and yer out! C.
1986 Domaine de Chevalier- Bordeaux Blanc - France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan
White Bordeaux is another category of wine I'm generally not a fan of as I don't particularly like Semillon and there'se generally too much oak in these wines for my tastes. That said, some of the best white Bordeaux I've had have been Domaine de Chevalier with 30-40 years on them, so the wine has had time to integrate the oak. This bottle seems to be on its way. I didn't love it because the oak is still sticking out a bit much for me, but there's good structure here and enough fruit that I think this could make some nice old bones. It's showing a bit of a lean profile with the aforementioned oak. The fruit has a lemon cream profile with a bit of mineral and nuttiness. With air the wine started to broaden out and the fruit fleshed out. B+/B.
1997 Trimbach- Riesling Cuvée Frédéric Emile - France, Alsace, Ribeauvillé, Alsace AOC
My last bottle and showing more maturely with more prominent petrol notes than in the past. Typical lime and mineral flavors and aromas with relatively low acid and and plump character, typical of '97. Rich and expansive on the finish. Paired nicely with Bill's sauteed Nantucket Bay scallops with lime and ginger butter sauce. Low A-.
2004 Trimbach- Riesling Clos Ste. Hune - France, Alsace, Hunawihr, Alsace AOC
We were all a little stunned by how open and accessible the wine was. It's on another level than the '97 FE was. Expressive and expansive with a terrific mineral character along with a slightly sweeter lime profile and floral notes, this is showing a rather flamboyant, but regal personality that's just a joy to drink. Dry, but nice ripeness to the fruit and balanced wonderfully. Just a joy to drink. Low A.
2001 Dönnhoff- Norheimer Dellchen Riesling Auslese - Germany, Nahe
From a half bottle. It's rather muted on the nose, though heavy swirling brought some passion fruit aromas up. I think we all feel that while quite enjoyable, this bottle easily reflects a growing criticism about Dönnhoff wines in that they don't age particularly well and that for many, the tend to show best within it's first six or so years. Indeed, while the wine shows a nice tropical fruit and mineral profile, with typical Auslese sweetness, there's a dullness and lack of focus to the wine. In it's youth this wine, as well as most other offerings from them in 2001, was riveting. Not so today. Now, it's entirely possible that perhaps this showing suffered because it's in a half bottle, but the phenomenon has also been seen in 750's. Food for thought. Low A-.
1994 Warre's- Porto Vintage - Portugal, Douro, Porto
From a half bottle and decanted a couple of hours ahead of time, we're catching it at a neat time to see the transition between youth and secondary development. The sweet plum, cherry profile is starting to fade and fig and a more mature prune character is emerging. This is just a real pleasure to drink. Sweet, but balanced and not showing a lot of heat. Hints of chocolate and baker's spices to go along with the fruit. What really makes the '94 vintage so special is there's a noticeable thickness to the texture that gives the wine terrific palate presence. A/A-.
1996 Ch“teau d'Yquem - France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Sauternes
Bill felt we hadn't had enough wine so he whipped out a half bottle of this. Thank you, Bill! Just popped and poured, it shows a little bit of VA on the nose with orange blossom and butterscotch. It's reflective of the vintage in that it's not particularly heavily botrytized, or viscous, but it has a very pleasant deftness to it. It's sweet and has richness, but it's fresh with nice acid levels and displays a pleasant leanness. On the palate there's orange blossom, pineapple and crème brûlée flavors with a pleasant bitter candied orange peel note on the finish. A wonderful way to wrap up a very nice evening. A/A-.
Some pics from the evening.
Stone crab claws.
Sautéed Nantucket bay scallops with snap peas and mashed sweet potatoes.
The group.
The wine.
It being a seafood evening, white wines were the order of the day, save for a bottle of Port to go with the cheese.
Always a great time dining and popping corks with this group.
2002 Vilmart & Cie- Champagne Coeur de Cuvée - France, Champagne
Showing very nicely. It's quite ripe, with sweet apple and peachy stone fruit and pleasant yeastiness on the back end. Creamy across the palate with a pleasantly small bead, I wish more Champagne was made in this style. A-.
1998 Ch“teau de Beaucastel- Ch“teauneuf-du-Pape Blanc Cuvée Roussanne Vieilles Vignes - France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Ch“teauneuf-du-Pape
Never much of a fan of Rhone whites, or this bottling and this showed poorly. A gold color with oxidation on the nose and palate, that was strike one. Strike two would be the low acidity. Strike three would be the oak. There was actually a fourth strike in that there was an alcohol burn on the finish. Marty thought perhaps it wasn't an intact bottle, but this is how I usually find these bottlings. Christine actually liked it and just thought it needed more time. Um, nuh uh. Just not good and yer out! C.
1986 Domaine de Chevalier- Bordeaux Blanc - France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan
White Bordeaux is another category of wine I'm generally not a fan of as I don't particularly like Semillon and there'se generally too much oak in these wines for my tastes. That said, some of the best white Bordeaux I've had have been Domaine de Chevalier with 30-40 years on them, so the wine has had time to integrate the oak. This bottle seems to be on its way. I didn't love it because the oak is still sticking out a bit much for me, but there's good structure here and enough fruit that I think this could make some nice old bones. It's showing a bit of a lean profile with the aforementioned oak. The fruit has a lemon cream profile with a bit of mineral and nuttiness. With air the wine started to broaden out and the fruit fleshed out. B+/B.
1997 Trimbach- Riesling Cuvée Frédéric Emile - France, Alsace, Ribeauvillé, Alsace AOC
My last bottle and showing more maturely with more prominent petrol notes than in the past. Typical lime and mineral flavors and aromas with relatively low acid and and plump character, typical of '97. Rich and expansive on the finish. Paired nicely with Bill's sauteed Nantucket Bay scallops with lime and ginger butter sauce. Low A-.
2004 Trimbach- Riesling Clos Ste. Hune - France, Alsace, Hunawihr, Alsace AOC
We were all a little stunned by how open and accessible the wine was. It's on another level than the '97 FE was. Expressive and expansive with a terrific mineral character along with a slightly sweeter lime profile and floral notes, this is showing a rather flamboyant, but regal personality that's just a joy to drink. Dry, but nice ripeness to the fruit and balanced wonderfully. Just a joy to drink. Low A.
2001 Dönnhoff- Norheimer Dellchen Riesling Auslese - Germany, Nahe
From a half bottle. It's rather muted on the nose, though heavy swirling brought some passion fruit aromas up. I think we all feel that while quite enjoyable, this bottle easily reflects a growing criticism about Dönnhoff wines in that they don't age particularly well and that for many, the tend to show best within it's first six or so years. Indeed, while the wine shows a nice tropical fruit and mineral profile, with typical Auslese sweetness, there's a dullness and lack of focus to the wine. In it's youth this wine, as well as most other offerings from them in 2001, was riveting. Not so today. Now, it's entirely possible that perhaps this showing suffered because it's in a half bottle, but the phenomenon has also been seen in 750's. Food for thought. Low A-.
1994 Warre's- Porto Vintage - Portugal, Douro, Porto
From a half bottle and decanted a couple of hours ahead of time, we're catching it at a neat time to see the transition between youth and secondary development. The sweet plum, cherry profile is starting to fade and fig and a more mature prune character is emerging. This is just a real pleasure to drink. Sweet, but balanced and not showing a lot of heat. Hints of chocolate and baker's spices to go along with the fruit. What really makes the '94 vintage so special is there's a noticeable thickness to the texture that gives the wine terrific palate presence. A/A-.
1996 Ch“teau d'Yquem - France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Sauternes
Bill felt we hadn't had enough wine so he whipped out a half bottle of this. Thank you, Bill! Just popped and poured, it shows a little bit of VA on the nose with orange blossom and butterscotch. It's reflective of the vintage in that it's not particularly heavily botrytized, or viscous, but it has a very pleasant deftness to it. It's sweet and has richness, but it's fresh with nice acid levels and displays a pleasant leanness. On the palate there's orange blossom, pineapple and crème brûlée flavors with a pleasant bitter candied orange peel note on the finish. A wonderful way to wrap up a very nice evening. A/A-.
Some pics from the evening.
Stone crab claws.