TN: Potluck at Jay's (May 27, 2012)

[Jeff Grossman]

attendees: Jay, Arnold, Salil, Jeff, Jim, Eden, Scott, Cliff, Brad, Sharon, Christine, Marty, Josh, Lisa, Chris

Memorial Day weekend in NYC, and the city is a ghost-town. Sure, thousands of interchangeable Ma and Pa Kettles are dragging up and down the same old pavements, but it's real quiet in the residential parts of town.

The weather has not been helpful, suddenly becoming warm and swampy, though there is an occasional breeze if you stand on the right corners. It isn't raining, anyway, despite the occasional sprinkle of droplets.

And, so we head out to the courtyard at Jay's building, where we find some shade, a bit of breeze (ah!), and enough wrought iron tables and chairs to seat everyone. Potluck al fresco.

And a good job we done:
- gougeres, hot from the oven
- cheese plate: La Tur, Brillat-Savarin, a washed-rind buffalo-milk cheese
- pate de campagne
- baguettes, baguettes, baguettes
- corn salsa
- shrimp app
- papaya salad
- cole slaw
- salmon sous-vide, two ways
- couscous with leeks
- leg of lamb
- potato gratin
- cheese plate: Landaff, Parmigiano Reggiano, Hoch Ybrig
- peanut butter and banana pie
- buttermilk pie
- biscotti, two kinds
- ice cream: strawberry cheesecake, burnt orange, vanilla, ube (purple yam)

I will admit that we pulled a few corks, too. Just enough to keep the whistle wet:

Vilmart 1998 Champagne Brut, Premier Cru, "Coeur de Cuvee" - magnum; universally acclaimed "funky" this does get better with time in the glass, eventually gets very chalky, not great today

Baudry 2011 Chinon Rose - so pale, so minerally, completely dry and somewhat astringent

d'Angerville 2007 Volnay 1er "Caillerets" - pretty, suave, very cherry, lightweight texture

d'Angerville 2007 Volnay 1er "Taillepieds" - distinctly earthy compare to its sibling, with more substance to cover over some slightly sharp corners; others though this was kinda closed

Pegau 1998 Chateauneuf-du-Pape "Cuvee Reservee" - robust, a bit spirity, but a pretty smooth performance by Grenche & Co., a little gravelly rather than fine in the finish

Mosse 2009 Anjou "Le Rouchefer" - gentle flowers and apricots, "Apple juice!" -Lisa

Dom. Closel 1995 Savennieres "Cuvee Speciale" - brought by Brad in some perverse demonstration of his ability to identify bad wines; indeed, deader than dead, to judge by Chris' face

Dom. Baumard 1996 Savennieres "Clos du Papillon" - Brad Demo II: lobster shells, cheese, bleh

Dom. Closel 2005 Savennieres "Clos du Papillon" - double-decanted at 1pm, this is waxy, citrusy, and bright

Cazin 1996 Cour-Cheverny "Cuvee Renaissance" - and this takes "citrusy" to 11, grapefruit and beyond, a familiar wine and still so good; Chris, how much more of this do you have?

Jose Dhondt 2002 Champagne Brut, Blanc de Blancs - magnum; I'm impressed with this one: chalky, crisp, clean, wow

Coudert 2009 Fleurie "Cuvee Tardive" - magnum; tannic and quite vigorous, a second "wow" wine in a row, but someone please remind me why we didn't wait 10 years before drinking this one?

Mugnier 2009 Nuits-St-Georges 1er "Clos de la Marechale" - very lightweight, very primary with a noticeable twang of tarragon, the lightness is kinda disturbing... is this shutting down?

Dehlinger 1994 Syrah - bread and bacon, warm, earthy

CVNE 1986 Rioja Gran Reserva "Imperial" - very savory, just a tad sour and a tad of school paste, dark berries and not sweet ones, like it a lot

Ch. Beychevelle 1970 St-Julien - persistently funky, not corked but not right

Ch. Haut-Bailly 1966 Graves - I did not have my pad handy but I remember this had the gravelly, damp earth sort of thing I like in Graves

Verset 2000 Cornas - magnum; exhilirating wine... a whiff of cumin, something kinda roast-meaty, a minerally smell like squeaky-clean steel; velvet texture, more wow

Clos Roche Blanche 2011 Touraine "Cuvee Gamay" - perhaps suffering from comparison with the previous wine, well, um, yup, this is clean, crisp, tasty gamay

Brovia 1998 Barolo "Rocche" - also showing a bit sour and fermented fruit cup, seems mostly all right but not entirely

Montevertine 1994 VdT "Il Sodaccio" - leathery, slightly lacking in fruit (even by AFWE standards)

Raymond-Lafon 1985 Sauternes - lots of yellow-fruit and sugar, slightly oaky yet with balsam notes

Foreau 1989 Vouvray Moelleux - OMG, sugar-sweet but such good acidity to hold it together, fabulous with every dessert and by itself

Warres 1975 Vintage Port - red-fruity, suave and sweet, pleasant enough but I'm over my allocation by now

Magnificent Thank-You's to all who cooked, came, drank, served, bussed, gabbed, posed, scribbled, and generally delightfully frittered away a Sunday.

 

[Ian Fitzsimmons]

Just enough.

'11 Baudry rose!

Our recent 02 Baumard Papillon at the MarkS jeeb was very good. My last '96, about a year ago, was also very good. Slightly acquired taste, but once you acquired it, it stuck.

Thanks for the memorably memorial notes.

 

[Sharon Bowman]

Awesome notes, Jeff. Hats are off.

A couple of divergences from your findings:

Vilmart 1998 Champagne Brut, Premier Cru, "Coeur de Cuvee" - magnum; universally acclaimed "funky" this does get better with time in the glass, eventually gets very chalky, not great today

Maybe I caught this when it was getting better, because I didn't get anything funky. Round, big but within reason, kind of a reflection of the house style.

Pegau 1998 Chateauneuf-du-Pape "Cuvee Reservee" - robust, a bit spirity, but a pretty smooth performance by Grenche & Co., a little gravelly rather than fine in the finish

If I were to write a note on this wine, it would simply be: Ick.

Mosse 2009 Anjou "Le Rouchefer" - gentle flowers and apricots, "Apple juice!" -Lisa

Unfortunately, I found this wine messed up. It lacked the expected searing Mosse leesiness. I can't quite recall what was wrong with it, but it disappointed me. I usually love his whites.

Jose Dhondt 2002 Champagne Brut, Blanc de Blancs - magnum; I'm impressed with this one: chalky, crisp, clean, wow

Just want to pile on. This was gorgeous.

CVNE 1986 Rioja Gran Reserva "Imperial" - very savory, just a tad sour and a tad of school paste, dark berries and not sweet ones, like it a lot

Was this not 1985?

In any case, it was brilliant.

 

[Unknown]

originally posted by Jeff Grossman:
Verset 2000 Cornas - magnum; exhilirating wine... a whiff of cumin, something kinda roast-meaty, a minerally smell like squeaky-clean steel; velvet texture, more wow

I love this wine. Amusingly enough, last time I had it was from magnum.

 

[Jay Miller]

I've come to the conclusion that 1998 is not my type of Champagne vintage. None of my favorites have performed well.

The Montevertine was much nicer than you (Jeff) describe with a lovely silken texture. You probably ruined your palate by drinking the Pegau.

the CVNE was, indeed, the 1986.

 

[Unknown]

originally posted by Sharon Bowman:

Jose Dhondt 2002 Champagne Brut, Blanc de Blancs - magnum; I'm impressed with this one: chalky, crisp, clean, wow

Just want to pile on. This was gorgeous.

Nice to hear. Because the 2006 from magnum last week was good. Really good. Intensely good. Outrageously good. In other words, too much of a good thing(*).

(*) On the palate only; on the nose, it's perfect.

 

[Brian C]

originally posted by .sasha:

originally posted by Jeff Grossman:
Verset 2000 Cornas - magnum; exhilirating wine... a whiff of cumin, something kinda roast-meaty, a minerally smell like squeaky-clean steel; velvet texture, more wow

I love this wine. Amusingly enough, last time I had it was from magnum.

Drank a 750 of this with the first of the Chelsea - Barca matches and it was just dazzling. Just in a perfect spot right now.

 

[Sharon Bowman]

originally posted by .sasha:

originally posted by Jeff Grossman:
Verset 2000 Cornas - magnum; exhilirating wine... a whiff of cumin, something kinda roast-meaty, a minerally smell like squeaky-clean steel; velvet texture, more wow

I love this wine. Amusingly enough, last time I had it was from magnum.

Huh, I found this nowhere near ready to drink. Quite closed.

 

[robert ames]

originally posted by Sharon Bowman:

originally posted by .sasha:

originally posted by Jeff Grossman:
Verset 2000 Cornas - magnum; exhilirating wine... a whiff of cumin, something kinda roast-meaty, a minerally smell like squeaky-clean steel; velvet texture, more wow

I love this wine. Amusingly enough, last time I had it was from magnum.

Huh, I found this nowhere near ready to drink. Quite closed.

it this was is still closed, it must have been stored at like 39 degrees. this vintage can be as profound as verset should be, but with typical storage not one to sit around and wait for. if i found myself searching for it in the glass, my first concern would be that it had already come and gone.

 

[Tristan Welles]

originally posted by .sasha:

originally posted by Sharon Bowman:

Jose Dhondt 2002 Champagne Brut, Blanc de Blancs - magnum; I'm impressed with this one: chalky, crisp, clean, wow

Just want to pile on. This was gorgeous.

Nice to hear. Because the 2006 from magnum last week was good. Really good. Intensely good. Outrageously good. In other words, too much of a good thing(*).

(*) On the palate only; on the nose, it's perfect.

Dhondt makes great champagne. I associate his champagne with another Jose -- Jose Michel, as I can never find enough of either.

 

[Sharon Bowman]

originally posted by robert ames:

originally posted by Sharon Bowman:

originally posted by .sasha:

originally posted by Jeff Grossman:
Verset 2000 Cornas - magnum; exhilirating wine... a whiff of cumin, something kinda roast-meaty, a minerally smell like squeaky-clean steel; velvet texture, more wow

I love this wine. Amusingly enough, last time I had it was from magnum.

Huh, I found this nowhere near ready to drink. Quite closed.

it this was is still closed, it must have been stored at like 39 degrees. this vintage can be as profound as verset should be, but with typical storage not one to sit around and wait for. if i found myself searching for it in the glass, my first concern would be that it had already come and gone.

It was from magnum, so that could explain it, in part, perhaps.

 

[Sharon Bowman]

originally posted by Tristan Welles:
Dhondt makes great champagne. I associate his champagne with another Jose -- Jose Michel, as I can never find enough of either.

Ach, I completely disagree. José Michel works largely in meunier and really isn't always very persuasive.

 

[Jay Miller]

I did not find the 2000 Verset to be closed. Of course the bottle had been open for about an hour before I had time to snag any.

It was still young, no need to worry about waiting, but I thought no absolute requirement to wait either.

 

[Jeff Grossman]

Another observation, made late in the day: This was a riesling-free event.

 

[Sharon Bowman]

[No message]

 

[Unknown]

has someone told winegirl they don't use all of riesling for sekt ?

 

[Tristan Welles]

originally posted by Sharon Bowman:

originally posted by Tristan Welles:
Dhondt makes great champagne. I associate his champagne with another Jose -- Jose Michel, as I can never find enough of either.

Ach, I completely disagree. José Michel works largely in meunier and really isn't always very persuasive.

I didn't mean to compare the two stylistically -- they are worlds apart. Just that I can't readily purchase them at retail in these locales.

And I couldn't disagree more about Michel's champagne. Red grape bliss.

 

[Brad Kane]

A great time at Jay's, as is always the case. The weather even cooperated. Plenty of good wine and good eats.

Since the '98 Pegau got poo pooed, let me just say it was the red of the night. Just gorgeous, not hot at all, wonderfully integrated with delicious fruit and spice and it was terrific match to Jay's juicy lamb. I know Cliff also loved it, so I certainly was not odd man out.

The '00 Verset was probably my second favorite red and I didn't find it closed at all. Young, but not even that young at this point. Mmmmm baconberry.

Both d'Angervilles were lovely, with perhaps the nod going to the Taillepieds as it had a bit more gravitas. The Coudert was showing surprisingly well from magnum. I thought it was quite a bit tighter on release and from a 750. If the '66 Haut-Bailley was the first mystery Bordeaux that was served, then it was necrophiliacs only. It was clearly over the hill, but that didn't prevent a few folks from oohing and ahhing.

The Cune was also surprisingly good. I hadn't been a huge fan of the '86 before, but this one was showing quite nicely.

As for the whites, I brought the '95 Closel to show Coad that it was still dead and to remind him that it was like that back in '98, too. He had been one of the naysayers that doubted me, even though I had gotten confirmation from Mme. de Jessey about that fact back in '01. I also brought the '96 Baumard Clos Papillon to see if there had been any improvement. There has not. Such a shame about that wine as on release, it was a stellar bottle of wine. A benchmark Savennieres, even. However, starting about ten years ago, a number of bottles started to show premox and with the exception of one outlier bottle, the last half dozen or so I've had in the last ten years have been negatively affected.

I made up for those two with the '89 Foreau Reserve. What a gorgeous bottle of wine and definitely in the top ten best wines I've had so far this year. Just classic apricot, orange marmalade, toasted nuts and earl grey tea flavors and aromas with plenty of sweetness that's fully supported by vivacious acidity. Miles to go with this one.

I liked the '11 Baudry Rose and didn't find it astringent at all. Nicely crisp and refreshing, as it ought to be. The '96 Cazin was as glorious as ever, though not showing as much red fruit as it usually does.

Getting on to the other two sweeties, the '85 Raymond-Lafon was pleasant enough, but there was nothing there that really makes it standout. 1985 wasn't much of a botrytis year and that hurt it.

The '75 Warre's was eh. It was a vintage that really never should have been declared, but the prevailing theory as to why it was is that there were fears the vineyards and houses would be nationalized following the revolution in '74. Also, some feel that since there had not been a declared vintage since '70, and with the previous four vintages being much worse, it was declared for financial reasons.

I didn't take many pictures as I thought the lighting was bad, but here are a few.

Chris is not a fan of the '95 Closel.

I actually coaxed a smile out of Sharon.

Well, maybe it was the Champagne that did so.

Jeff and Chris went to the same sale.

Purple yam ice cream.

 

[Salil Benegal]

I'll add to the praise for the Pegau - loved it, thought it was drinking beautifully with the fruit still quite fresh and bright (not overripe or hot in the least) and showing lovely developing earthy/leathery/other savoury flavours.

I did not find the Verset closed at all; in fact I thought it was absolutely compelling and my favourite from some excellent wines. The Dhondt, Taillepieds and Foreau were also particularly memorable (the latter with some of the cheeses - just wow.)

 

[Cliff]

Yes, the Pegau was lovely. I don't always like the style, but this one was beautiful. Nor did I have any qualms about Verset: a little herbal, perhaps, but perfectly open and delightful.

That was a terrifying 95 Closel.