Nice to be in DC to catch up with locals that I have not seen in a while. Also nice that everyone was in good spirits and properly en forme. Bob (with his customary multipack of wine), Maureen (ready to give detailed instructions to the wait staff), Cole (calmly providing a voice of reason), and Cristi (irrationally fearing the combination of eggplant, tomatoes and cheese and then later inexplicably fearing dessert wine). It was good fun!
I started off with a lovely 1990 Trimbach CFE VT. I’m no Trimbach expert so I couldn’t place this in context with a million other showings like I am sure all of you can. But if I could start every meal like this I would be a happier man. There was also a verdicchio to go with the octopus, and all was well.
There was an intriguing Etna Rosso wine that was frank enough for the eggplant with tomatoes and cheese, but also elegant enough to caress the palate and leave it intact as we progressed to the 2004 Truchot MSD which was fiercely something, stemmy, green, herbal, whatever you want to call it. Not the most delicious showing, but it didn’t offend me.
The 2002 Mugnier CM Les Fuées needed lots of air to get over reduction, and Maureen found it shut down all night. I’ll admit that the nose was fairly weak (or maybe my nose was getting weaker by every minute in the restaurant), but I still got a lot of pleasure from the silky elegant jewels of fruit on the palate. Maybe it’s easier to enjoy when you have no benchmark for the wine, and very little actual knowledge of the wine!
The bliss of ignorance extended to the Barolos, where I got a lot of pleasure from Cristi’s 1996 [INSERT NAME HERE PLEASE], which Bob declared as marred by new oak. In retrospect I get his point, but the pleasure of the moment was still there. Bob also contributed a 1971 Barolo [INSERT NAME HERE PLEASE] that had apparently spent 30 years in glass and was still amazingly fresh.
There was a 1997 Rieslaner BA that was a perfect match with the hazelnut panna cotta. I never saw that coming! And there was also general mirth from beginning to end.
Thank you!
I started off with a lovely 1990 Trimbach CFE VT. I’m no Trimbach expert so I couldn’t place this in context with a million other showings like I am sure all of you can. But if I could start every meal like this I would be a happier man. There was also a verdicchio to go with the octopus, and all was well.
There was an intriguing Etna Rosso wine that was frank enough for the eggplant with tomatoes and cheese, but also elegant enough to caress the palate and leave it intact as we progressed to the 2004 Truchot MSD which was fiercely something, stemmy, green, herbal, whatever you want to call it. Not the most delicious showing, but it didn’t offend me.
The 2002 Mugnier CM Les Fuées needed lots of air to get over reduction, and Maureen found it shut down all night. I’ll admit that the nose was fairly weak (or maybe my nose was getting weaker by every minute in the restaurant), but I still got a lot of pleasure from the silky elegant jewels of fruit on the palate. Maybe it’s easier to enjoy when you have no benchmark for the wine, and very little actual knowledge of the wine!
The bliss of ignorance extended to the Barolos, where I got a lot of pleasure from Cristi’s 1996 [INSERT NAME HERE PLEASE], which Bob declared as marred by new oak. In retrospect I get his point, but the pleasure of the moment was still there. Bob also contributed a 1971 Barolo [INSERT NAME HERE PLEASE] that had apparently spent 30 years in glass and was still amazingly fresh.
There was a 1997 Rieslaner BA that was a perfect match with the hazelnut panna cotta. I never saw that coming! And there was also general mirth from beginning to end.
Thank you!
