Jeff Grossman
Jeff Grossman
attendees: Jeff+Erica, Jay, Jeff, Tse Wei+Diana
The theme is wines you used to have often but don't anymore.
Very creative and, in the end, worked nicely.
But first: We are at Tse Wei and Diana's house and that means the food will definitely outnumber and quite likely surpass the wines. Here's what I was able to capture:
- home-baked bread... crust crisp but still a bit of give, inside delicate and steamy
- "Herring in a Fur Coat"... a Russian salad, layered into an enormous glass bowl then inverted onto a plate (I'll note that the Russians use the word "salad" for almost any cold dish that has more than two ingredients)
- duck liver mousse... finely whipped and earthy, love it
- fennel and apple salad... with extra zing from two kinds of Asian pickles
- tiny baby radishes, greens on, with anchovy butter
- butternut squash... cold cooked chunks
- endive salad with orange, almonds, and three more ingredients I can no longer read
- Clams Casino... hot out of the oven
- Swedish Meat Loaf... bork! bork! bork! (you had to be there)
- Red-Cooked Pork... Diana says every district in China has a version of this recipe
- cranberry pie... not just cranberry sauce in a shell, in a creamier and milder style
- pecan-caramel crisp... they sent me home with this and my partner, who hates caramel, loved it
The whole style of the meal encourages taking a bit of this onto your plate, then a spoonful of that, and two pieces of that other, which is a good style for playing mix 'n' match with the wines:
Cedric Bouchard NV Champagne Brut "Rose de Jeanne", Blanc de Noir "Cote de Val Vilaine" - disg. 4/17, young and fresh, good middle-of-the-road champangne
Jo Landron NV "Atmospheres" - folle blanche and pinot noir; I like the pinot noir smellies, alas that they are in the minority here; not strongly tasty or fizzy or earthy or anything, really
Clos Rougeard 2004 Saumur-Champigny "Les Poyeux" - beautiful red fruit, vigorous but not assertive, maybe some chalk (or something earthy and fine-grained), mid-weight, just lovely
Clos Rougeard 2005 Saumur-Champigny "Les Poyeux" - sterner, leaner, more cab in this cab franc, mid-weight leaning towards heavy, still crisp and pure, drink and hold; Four days later: much the same, though the acidity has drooped just a bit.
Clos Rougeard 2011 Saumur-Champigny "Le Clos" - mildest tannins of all!, a bit more tobacco, a bit less folded-in on itself, nimble, really good tonight
=> Ah, yes, we used to drink Clos Rougeard whenever we felt like it. The 'Clos', anyway. That '05 Poyeux cost me $66 - SFJoe encouraged me to pick some up - so I would set it aside for something a little better than steamed steak (say).
Dom. Belliviere 2010 Coteax du Loir "Le Rouge-Gorge" - OMG bottle, full-on, vibrant pineau d'aunis, like magical spicy cabernet, mid-weight but levitating in the mouth, reminds me of this bottle
Dom. Belliviere 2015 Coteax du Loir "Le Rouge-Gorge" - young, typique, good but give it a few years to settle down
=> Living in Dressner Ground Zero, NYers pretty much always see Dom. Belliviere wines. But Tse Wei and Diana are only recently returned after many years in Boston, and the supply of pineau d'aunis there is a mere trickle.
Torres 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon "Mas La Plana" "Black Label" - reasonably civilized, tobacco and dark plummy fruit, kinda nice still!, the website says the style changed in 2008 towards something more accessible younger, on my way out I saw Tse Wei push a sprig of rosemary and four pieces of orange peel into the neck...
=> We used to have a lot of this at offlines. I have notes on an auction lot I won in April 2000. Here's a representative note from August 2001: 1978 Torres, Gran Coronas Black Label - very pretty, this bottle is more faded than some others I''ve had, old cedar and coffee notes
Smith-Woodhouse 1994 Vintage Port - awfully corked
And then some of us indulged in a pour of Blandy's 1996 Colheita Madeira "Malmsey" and/or a bit of Vergano Chinato (marked L01/102/13).
Thank you to our gracious hosts for a wonderful evening. A tip of the hat to all the charming guests, and to Bacchus for his kindly care of our memories.
The theme is wines you used to have often but don't anymore.
Very creative and, in the end, worked nicely.
But first: We are at Tse Wei and Diana's house and that means the food will definitely outnumber and quite likely surpass the wines. Here's what I was able to capture:
- home-baked bread... crust crisp but still a bit of give, inside delicate and steamy
- "Herring in a Fur Coat"... a Russian salad, layered into an enormous glass bowl then inverted onto a plate (I'll note that the Russians use the word "salad" for almost any cold dish that has more than two ingredients)
- duck liver mousse... finely whipped and earthy, love it
- fennel and apple salad... with extra zing from two kinds of Asian pickles
- tiny baby radishes, greens on, with anchovy butter
- butternut squash... cold cooked chunks
- endive salad with orange, almonds, and three more ingredients I can no longer read
- Clams Casino... hot out of the oven
- Swedish Meat Loaf... bork! bork! bork! (you had to be there)
- Red-Cooked Pork... Diana says every district in China has a version of this recipe
- cranberry pie... not just cranberry sauce in a shell, in a creamier and milder style
- pecan-caramel crisp... they sent me home with this and my partner, who hates caramel, loved it
The whole style of the meal encourages taking a bit of this onto your plate, then a spoonful of that, and two pieces of that other, which is a good style for playing mix 'n' match with the wines:
Cedric Bouchard NV Champagne Brut "Rose de Jeanne", Blanc de Noir "Cote de Val Vilaine" - disg. 4/17, young and fresh, good middle-of-the-road champangne
Jo Landron NV "Atmospheres" - folle blanche and pinot noir; I like the pinot noir smellies, alas that they are in the minority here; not strongly tasty or fizzy or earthy or anything, really
Clos Rougeard 2004 Saumur-Champigny "Les Poyeux" - beautiful red fruit, vigorous but not assertive, maybe some chalk (or something earthy and fine-grained), mid-weight, just lovely
Clos Rougeard 2005 Saumur-Champigny "Les Poyeux" - sterner, leaner, more cab in this cab franc, mid-weight leaning towards heavy, still crisp and pure, drink and hold; Four days later: much the same, though the acidity has drooped just a bit.
Clos Rougeard 2011 Saumur-Champigny "Le Clos" - mildest tannins of all!, a bit more tobacco, a bit less folded-in on itself, nimble, really good tonight
=> Ah, yes, we used to drink Clos Rougeard whenever we felt like it. The 'Clos', anyway. That '05 Poyeux cost me $66 - SFJoe encouraged me to pick some up - so I would set it aside for something a little better than steamed steak (say).
Dom. Belliviere 2010 Coteax du Loir "Le Rouge-Gorge" - OMG bottle, full-on, vibrant pineau d'aunis, like magical spicy cabernet, mid-weight but levitating in the mouth, reminds me of this bottle
Dom. Belliviere 2015 Coteax du Loir "Le Rouge-Gorge" - young, typique, good but give it a few years to settle down
=> Living in Dressner Ground Zero, NYers pretty much always see Dom. Belliviere wines. But Tse Wei and Diana are only recently returned after many years in Boston, and the supply of pineau d'aunis there is a mere trickle.
Torres 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon "Mas La Plana" "Black Label" - reasonably civilized, tobacco and dark plummy fruit, kinda nice still!, the website says the style changed in 2008 towards something more accessible younger, on my way out I saw Tse Wei push a sprig of rosemary and four pieces of orange peel into the neck...
=> We used to have a lot of this at offlines. I have notes on an auction lot I won in April 2000. Here's a representative note from August 2001: 1978 Torres, Gran Coronas Black Label - very pretty, this bottle is more faded than some others I''ve had, old cedar and coffee notes
Smith-Woodhouse 1994 Vintage Port - awfully corked
And then some of us indulged in a pour of Blandy's 1996 Colheita Madeira "Malmsey" and/or a bit of Vergano Chinato (marked L01/102/13).
Thank you to our gracious hosts for a wonderful evening. A tip of the hat to all the charming guests, and to Bacchus for his kindly care of our memories.