We had the Southeast Rosenthal representative in for a wine dinner at Rue Cler and while our Rosenthal dinners are always good, this set a new bar for the food and wine pairings (which is more interesting to me these days than killing unicorns or trophy hunting). It was nice to catch up and we had a good laugh about the current run on Levet, which (not so humbly) I predicted a few years ago when the run began on “old school” wines. Despite the fact that we both like the wines, we don’t understand what is currently going on. To me, it reminds me of the mid-90s when people bought pPradeaux and Alsatian wines based on high critics scores and then had them and were like “WTF?”. I remember customers calling me angrily about the 1990 Pradeaux Vielles Vignes because they opened one the day they bought it and it tasted terrible. They thought I had hoodwinked them when, in fact, they didn’t listen to me, they had to have THAT WINE. Anyway, good for Neal and the Levet family, it’ll be interesting to see how that shakes out in the medium term.
Commanderie de Peyrassol Côtes de Provence Rosé 2017
Assorted canapes
Playing to the crowd with this one, but I was really pleasantly surprised. I guess I forgot how bright and balanced Peyrassol rosé generally is even at this level. Juicy acidity with light berries and floral notes and a bright minerally finish. Kind of quenching and mouthwatering at the same time. Summer in a glass.
Henri Prudhon & Fils Saint-Aubin 1er Cru "La Chateniere" 2015
Pan roasted Sweetbread, Brown butter, sage, crouton, capers, almond
Among an evening of great food and wine matches, this really stood out, but as I said to a friend sitting next to me, brown butter and capers is really a cheat code. There was nothing blowsy about this 2015, which should come as no surprise to fans of Prudhon. A bit of reductive gunpowder sits on top of rocky, minerally, yellow pitted fruits. Nice breadth on the palate and as it warmed, fruity for a young Prudhon. I think 2015 will end up being really successful here. This is the rarest of their cuvées
Jérôme Chezeaux Nuits St. Georges 1er Cru "Aux Boudots" 2014
Gnocchi, lardon, maitake mushroom, baby carrot, pearl onion, red wine poached egg
Probably the most closed wine of the evening, but the match with this oeufs en meurette knock-off helped it out of its shell, at least on the palate. The nose would show, then hide, then peak. You can taste the quality in the balance and structure, this should be quite good in a few years. This producer flies under the radar a bit.
Dom. Lionnet Cornas Terre Brûlée Magnum 2009
Revier all Natural Ribeye, rosemary jus, Cherry tomato salad
This wine changed the most in the glass. I was cocky about how a 2009 would show after a Gilles 2009 not to long ago that was fully fruited and lovely albeit with years to go. This was almost black in the glass in a really old school Cornas manner. At first it was savory both on the nose and the palate with grilled herbs, leather and meatiness. It slowly opened with a hint of a floral note here and a smidge of fruit there. Then all of a sudden, it just popped. I love it when wines do that. This isn’t to say it became a gentle wine, but the fruit really came out, like when the sun comes out after a summer thunderstorm. It was juicy blue and black fruits that pushed to the front while the savory elements kept lapping out around the sides. The palate became smoother too with the dense tannin happy to reside in the background.
Le Clos de la Meslerie Vouvray 2009
Assorted cheeses
This was the highlight of the evening for me. Really intense nose that reminded me of the concord grape skin nose that you can get with intensely concentrated young riesling (e.g. Boxler Sommerberg). I think I've tasted these wine before but it must have just been in passing. The wine, though appearing dry if full, contains 31 g/l rs which I never would have guessed. Really excellent length that goes from fruit with a touch of wildflwoer meadow and honeycomb (just a whiff) to stones and shells. If other vintages are like this (and I intend to find out), then there is another player in Vouvray to pay attention to, I know I certainly will.
Commanderie de Peyrassol Côtes de Provence Rosé 2017
Assorted canapes
Playing to the crowd with this one, but I was really pleasantly surprised. I guess I forgot how bright and balanced Peyrassol rosé generally is even at this level. Juicy acidity with light berries and floral notes and a bright minerally finish. Kind of quenching and mouthwatering at the same time. Summer in a glass.
Henri Prudhon & Fils Saint-Aubin 1er Cru "La Chateniere" 2015
Pan roasted Sweetbread, Brown butter, sage, crouton, capers, almond
Among an evening of great food and wine matches, this really stood out, but as I said to a friend sitting next to me, brown butter and capers is really a cheat code. There was nothing blowsy about this 2015, which should come as no surprise to fans of Prudhon. A bit of reductive gunpowder sits on top of rocky, minerally, yellow pitted fruits. Nice breadth on the palate and as it warmed, fruity for a young Prudhon. I think 2015 will end up being really successful here. This is the rarest of their cuvées
Jérôme Chezeaux Nuits St. Georges 1er Cru "Aux Boudots" 2014
Gnocchi, lardon, maitake mushroom, baby carrot, pearl onion, red wine poached egg
Probably the most closed wine of the evening, but the match with this oeufs en meurette knock-off helped it out of its shell, at least on the palate. The nose would show, then hide, then peak. You can taste the quality in the balance and structure, this should be quite good in a few years. This producer flies under the radar a bit.
Dom. Lionnet Cornas Terre Brûlée Magnum 2009
Revier all Natural Ribeye, rosemary jus, Cherry tomato salad
This wine changed the most in the glass. I was cocky about how a 2009 would show after a Gilles 2009 not to long ago that was fully fruited and lovely albeit with years to go. This was almost black in the glass in a really old school Cornas manner. At first it was savory both on the nose and the palate with grilled herbs, leather and meatiness. It slowly opened with a hint of a floral note here and a smidge of fruit there. Then all of a sudden, it just popped. I love it when wines do that. This isn’t to say it became a gentle wine, but the fruit really came out, like when the sun comes out after a summer thunderstorm. It was juicy blue and black fruits that pushed to the front while the savory elements kept lapping out around the sides. The palate became smoother too with the dense tannin happy to reside in the background.
Le Clos de la Meslerie Vouvray 2009
Assorted cheeses
This was the highlight of the evening for me. Really intense nose that reminded me of the concord grape skin nose that you can get with intensely concentrated young riesling (e.g. Boxler Sommerberg). I think I've tasted these wine before but it must have just been in passing. The wine, though appearing dry if full, contains 31 g/l rs which I never would have guessed. Really excellent length that goes from fruit with a touch of wildflwoer meadow and honeycomb (just a whiff) to stones and shells. If other vintages are like this (and I intend to find out), then there is another player in Vouvray to pay attention to, I know I certainly will.
