TN: TTG#5 -- Champers and Stickies

[jrufusj]

TTG ROUND #5 -- CHAMPAGNES AND STICKIES - Au Petit Paris -- Shirokane (2/17/2006)

Our Tokyo group got together for the fifth time, this time with a theme of Champagne and stickies. Au Petit Paris, a terrific little neighborhood French place, was kind enough to close up for the evening and host us. The group was kind enough to indulge my kinky tasting theme.

Blanc de Blancs to Open

With a small anchovy croissant, a delightful little bit of smoked eel, and some duck terrine.

• 1986 Alain Robert Blanc de Blancs Reserve Le Mesnil - France, Champagne, Le Mesnil Sur Oger
  Deepish gold in the glass with vigorous small bead that dissipates from view fairly quickly (but comes back on the palate). Nose is of rich and honeyed peaches allied to a strong toasted brioche note. Playing in the background are floral and mineral elements and a little hazelnut. This is a very rich and very Corton Charlie-like chardonnay Champagne nose. On the palate, this has good acid and a similar richness to Salon, but in a different flavor spectrum. The effervescence reappears here, but not entirely as mature Champagne creaminess, as there is still a surprisingly primary prickle that pops up from time to time. There is some ripe apple and a little more mineral than showed on the nose and a hint of vanilla sweetness, but it is largely about honeyed peaches (and fairly primary ones at that) . Concentration and finish are both respectable for the vintage. Overall, impressive depth and definitely an inducement to go WineHunting for affordably priced ‘85s, which I suspect will show more complexity. This '86 has plenty of life and (I believe) a lot of development left. Occasionally, I'm actually happy with a wine I bring. This was one of those times.
  

Fraternal Twins

With a beautiful big Kumamoto oyster, a salmon/cream mousse, and something I can't remember...then a dish of scallops with sweet red pepper sauce.

• 1985 Deutz Champagne Brut - France, Champagne
  Looking a little old in color, but not in bead and vigor. Ah! Classic old Champagne nose… This shows the tiniest (emphasize tiniest) sherry highlights which rapidly settle into mineral, light toasted water crackers, a slight bit of brie/mushroom, and some apple flowers. On the palate, though not youngish it is surprisingly bright with acidity and spritz. This is completely mature and no one could mistake it for young and vigorous, but it is delightful to drink now. The pretty mineral finish is starting to fade a little and it would be dwarfed head-to-head by some of the bigger wines to come, but none of that is a bad thing. This has much that I love in mature Champagne – filigree laciness, liveliness driven by acid and gentle spritz, pure mineral precision. Very enjoyable, but don’t sit on it. (Though the fact that it picked up weight in the glass leads me to think this has more life to go than it might at first seem.) Thanks Steve. Hope you were as happy with the restrained beauty of this one as I was.
  
• 1985 Deutz Champagne Brut Rosé - France, Champagne
  Fraternal twin to the wine above, this has not fared as well. It starts out nicely with the most beautiful light copper color. The struggling trickle of mousse is indicative of the texture to come. The nose shows browning baking apples and some plum pudding, along with a little toast if one searches. The effervescence is down to a slight tickle and the palate is sustained by a bit of oxidizing fruit and some smoked vine-wood character. As I’ve said before, it is as fun for me to drink things on the backside of the curve as the front, so I enjoyed this. But it does reconfirm my belief that most rosés do better a little earlier in their lives. For those who don’t share my taste in fading beauty, this one has passed you by. Not one to buy, but one of which I’m very happy to have a glass. Thanks Steve.
  

The RD Flight

With the remainder of the scallops, then with a great dish of kawahagi (trigger fish) over a risotto-type base enriched with lobster.

• N.V. Egly-Ouriet Champagne Extra Brut Vieillissment Prolongé Grand Cru - France, Champagne
  Ding, ding, ding! Now we’ve moved to young wine land. This is ’98 fruit from Ambonnay, Bouzy, and Verzenay and was disgorged in May ’05. Pretty color is slightly past youthful and into gold. Small-beaded mousse is restrained but oh so persistent. Nose shows strong pinot character with light plum and other light reddish fruit. These fruit notes are wrapped in nuts, yeastiness, and a bit of honeysuckle flower. On the palate, this shows great balance and good early integration of the mousse. The mousse is young, vigorous and prickly, but doesn’t get in the way of a full body of cherry and some peach. Flavors are pretty primary, but there is some nuttiness here. Texturally, absolutely beautiful with a full body that never gets heavy. Finish is strong, but the flavors on the palate are still pretty primary and probably need two or three or even four more years in bottle to develop the complexity that must be lurking. Vigorous and balanced but needing some time, this is a buy for me. Thanks Oliver.
  
• 1988 Bollinger Champagne R.D. Extra Brut - France, Champagne
  Still lighter than the Deutz rosé, but starting to take on the coppery tones that come with time on the cork as well as the lees. Fine and integrated mousse still shows good life, but looks gentle. The nose immediately delivers the array that one expects from this wine. Wide open notes of yeast, grilled nuts, ripe apple and white plum, toast, and a wee bit of mineral. The palate shows rich creaminess and ripe apple and peach fruit, along with some smoke – and enough acid to stay in balance. Body is good throughout and the only real oxidative notes show up on the finish along with more grilled nuts and toast. Absolutely true to type, this is a classic late disgorged Champagne. Disgorged in 2001, this is not coming apart but is showing the first signs that it may have had as much time on the cork as it can handle. Classic and a great pleasure to drink, but I worry that the toast/cream/yeast will soon overwhelm the remaining fruit and acid. Drink it now and let it thrill you, as the ’88 Bolly has held up better on cork than do many lees-aged Champagnes. Drink with pleasure but only buy to drink now and only with known storage. Thanks Michael and Lu Ping. I think you caught this one at peak.
  

Options Time

With a dish of perfectly cooked duck breast, garnished with classic French vegetables (turnip, haricots verts, etc.)

A tough wine for the “Options” game. Easy to get (a) single varietal, (b) pinot noir, and © Burgundy (from nose), but then I fell apart. Guessed ’95 for the vintage because of the more mature nose allied to roughish palate. Wrong! Guessed Côte de Beaune for source. Wrong! Once I knew it was Chalonnais, it was an odds-on guess to limit producers to Joblot or Faiveley. Mistakenly, I chose Faiveley based on palate character rather Joblot based on plumpness and oak. I know Faiveley and Joblot are completely different, but that’s why this was such a good “Options” wine. It is a schizophrenic split between (a) silkiness of Joblot oak, CdB fruit style, ’99 vintage and (b) rough, somewhat tannic palate that suggested ’95 and someone more traditional like Faiveley. Oh well. Didn’t make a complete fool of myself. If I’d had to guess blind from the start without options, I would have guessed a lesser Lafon Santenots like the ’95.

• 1999 Joblot Givry Clos de la Servoisine 1er Cru - France, Burgundy, Côte Chalonnaise, Givry
  This was the “Options” wine. Reddish burg color starting to fade some at the edge. Nose is open from the beginning, with some oak spice but also a classic pinot beetroot and cherry fruit. Nose shows some mature elements with a little forest floor and light earth. On the palate, an odd combination of creamy/silky oak and some strawberry and darker cherry fruit. Fairly big mouth presence and reasonable acidity combined with a surprising degree of tannin given the somewhat mature palate. Good concentration and moderate finish that shows very little of the mature notes from the nose. An atypical but impressive showing for the appellation and a good value, I suspect. If the oak and sexy silk on the nose settled down a bit and the sous-bois continued to grow, it would be a good value stand-in for a Côte d’Or Burg. If anything, at this point it was just a bit short on distinctiveness/typicity, so I’m not sure it’s as pleasing in its originally intended and native role as a Côte Chalonnaise wine. Does that make sense? As noted above, though, it was good enough to fool me. Thanks Oliver.
  

Crying Time

Intended to finish out the duck and lead into the cheeses. Sophocles would have been pleased.

• 1990 Bruno Giacosa Barbaresco Gallina di Neive - Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barbaresco
  Do you know how much I hate corks? When decanted, this seemed a wee bit musty but I didn’t have any reason to believe it was anything that wouldn’t blow off. An hour and a half or so later, this was clearly corked, but not so much that one couldn’t mournfully try to taste through the TCA. From what I could tell, it had lovely texture, good acid, a very little bit of tannic bite, and great classic earthy/tarry/plummy flavors. What a damn shame!
  

A Pair of Sauternes

With Monbriac, Rocquefort, Tomme de Savoie, and Epoisses and dried fruit (fig, strawberry, melon).

• 1990 Château Suduiraut - France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Sauternes
  Deep golden orange color with heavy viscosity. Clearly rich, just from the appearance. On the nose, a deep deep deep honey dominates all, with highlights of brulée and a little ripe stone fruit peeking out. On the palate, the viscosity and body carry a wine that is very sweet and still dominated by its honey character. Botrytis and enough acid keep this from cloying and the finish sees a little bit of orange blossom come into the honey. In the rich and seductive, but not terribly complex, school of Sauternes. This was so honey-driven that I was looking around for some feta to pour it over. Paint this on your lover. In other words, enjoy it for the very pleasurable thing it is, but look elsewhere for complexity and zing. At the right price, I’d still buy it. As the Byrds sang, “To everything - turn, turn, turn/There is a season - turn, turn, turn/And a time for every purpose under heaven.” Thanks Michael and Lu Ping.
  
• 1990 Château Lafaurie-Peyraguey - France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Sauternes
  A great contrast to serve with the Suduiraut. Lighter in color and texture, this was no less rich – just rich in a different way. The nose showed more evident stone fruit and flowers, with the honey a step more to the background. There was an Earl Grey tea note that was hinted at on the nose and came out more strongly on the finish. There was plenty of botrytis, but the herbal/floral complexity of the nose made it less evident. Palate was less rich/sweet but had nice texture (and was plenty sweet enough). While the Suduiraut and Rieussec were richer and more hedonistic, this may have been the best-drinking bottle that night. The Rieussec will probably eclipse it at maturity, but I certainly would have found it easier to have multiple glasses of the L-P than of the others tonight. Best bottle of this I’ve had. Thanks Bryan and Amy.
  

The Last Two

With remainders of cheese and dried fruit, plus a dessert plate. Desserts included pear ice cream (way good!), honey ice cream, something chocolate, and something else I can't remember. At this point, I really didn't need the dessert and was content with cheese.

• 1990 Château Rieussec - France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Sauternes
  Orange color that was deeper than the Suduiraut or Lafaurie. As always, rich and viscous and tempting to roll around the glass. Even on the nose, this is such a big wine, but has that element of botrytis lift that keeps it all fresh. Orange and lemon floral elements highlight honey and caramel. With a little time, the nose and the finish show some sort of slight herbal character to the honey that I was reminded of when tasting Greek sage and thyme honey yesterday. In the mouth, this is really big and very much in balance with good acid and lively botrytis. There’s a tropical flavor reminiscent of the passion fruit syrup I used to make Hurricanes last weekend and a lovely candied citrus peel flavor as well. This note is disjointed for a reason. This wine is bright and fresh but exceptionally big and concentrated. All the flavors are there, but they are a little disjointed like the note. Definitely worth buying, but it really does need time to finish coming together. Fun to drink now, but a sacrifice of what could be yet to come. Last bottle I had was more mature and integrated. Thanks David and Nicole and kudos on your storage.
  
• 1998 Zind-Humbrecht Pinot Gris Rangen de Thann Clos St. Urbain Sélection de Grains Nobles - France, Alsace, Thann, Alsace Grand Cru AOC
  Young wine and old color perplexes folks at the table. In what seems to be typical for this wine (based on reports of multiple vintages showing the same appearance), it has an older bright copper look. More than any other wine tonight, this one really needs time. When first poured, the nose shows candied orange, botrytis, and honey sweetness. With vigorous aeration, it begins to show some more typical notes of sweet earth, smoky mineral, and dried apricot and raisin. The palate follows the same path. It is never cloying, but at first it only shows sweet apricot/mango and botrytis honey. Time helps bring out sweet citrus (lemon and orange) and baking spice on the palate and more earth and mineral plus floral on the finish. Paired very well with anise-scented pear ice cream. This is a big, rich, botrytised hint of what it will one day be. I’m not always thrilled with other wines from Z-H, but I love Z-H pinot gris and this one didn’t disappoint. Thanks David and Nicole.
  

Great night though I think a few people were approaching the sugar coma stage. As always, good company and generous wine contributions from all.

Thanks to all.

Bryan and Amy -- Tag, you're it!

Jim

Posted from CellarTracker

[Brad Ballinger]

1986 Alain Robert Blanc de Blancs Reserve Le Mesnil - France, Champagne, Le Mesnil Sur Oger

Deepish gold in the glass with vigorous small bead that dissipates from view fairly quickly (but comes back on the palate). Nose is of rich and honeyed peaches allied to a strong toasted brioche note. Playing in the background are floral and mineral elements and a little hazelnut. This is a very rich and very Corton Charlie-like chardonnay Champagne nose. On the palate, this has good acid and a similar richness to Salon, but in a different flavor spectrum. The effervescence reappears here, but not entirely as mature Champagne creaminess, as there is still a surprisingly primary prickle that pops up from time to time. There is some ripe apple and a little more mineral than showed on the nose and a hint of vanilla sweetness, but it is largely about honeyed peaches (and fairly primary ones at that) . Concentration and finish are both respectable for the vintage. Overall, impressive depth and definitely an inducement to go WineHunting for affordably priced ‘85s, which I suspect will show more complexity. This '86 has plenty of life and (I believe) a lot of development left. Occasionally, I'm actually happy with a wine I bring. This was one of those times.

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For some reason, Alain Robert's wine's often are omitted from the lists folks provide to the question "Who are some good RM producers I should look for?" I'm equally guilty, and I don't know the reason for the oversight. They are soooo in the RM mode -- Blanc de Blancs, and minerally as all get out. The mineral, however, is as you describe -- more earthy than flinty/steely. It's a different beast.

Regarding the 90s Sauternes, my initial thought is too young on both for them to show much layering, complexity, and dimension. I still have mine hidden.

[jrufusj]

For some reason, Alain Robert's wine's often are omitted from the lists folks provide to the question "Who are some good RM producers I should look for?"  I'm equally guilty, and I don't know the reason for the oversight.  They are soooo in the RM mode -- Blanc de Blancs, and minerally as all get out.  The mineral, however, is as you describe -- more earthy than flinty/steely.  It's a different beast.

Regarding the 90s Sauternes, my initial thought is too young on both for them to show much layering, complexity, and dimension.  I still have mine hidden.

←

Brad:

I love the Robert stuff, but all of the vintage wines come pretty dear. The NV wines, though, are pretty reasonable and definitely something I would recommend. The vintage wines are well distributed and easily available here in Japan. The NVs are less so. Don't know about the US. Wine-searcher doesn't show a lot.

For the '90s Sauternes, I partially agree.

(1) The Rieussec needs lots of time. That was the point of my disjointed note -- that it had all the jigsaw pieces, but that they didn't fit together yet. I had three bottles foir a dinner party a little over a year ago that showed much more advanced. I suspect they were atypical due to questionable storage (came from a grey market importer). The bottle Friday night was pristine and, I believe, more indicative of where the wine should be at 16 years old.

(2) I don't think the Suduiraut is going anywhere. I could be wrong, but I didn't sense the hidden bits and hints that would tell me anything more was coming out here. Could be wrong, but I'd drink it now for its pure honeyed goodness.

(3) The Lafaurie was drinking the best I've ever seen it. It was much more advanced than a half-bottle I had about six months ago. This one was showing nice complexity (actually the best of the three on Friday night), but I do think there is more to come and that time will bring even more improvement. Less evolved bottles won't be showing as much, but I think this wine is past its completely monolithic stage.

The Suduiraut is the only one I haven't had multiple times recently, so I'm less confident there. But my gut says it won't ever show as much as the others.

I don't like gargantuan tastings, but I love small horizontals like this (and also small verticals) because it puts the wine in such nice relief.

Jim