Oysters with cabernet sauvignon vinegar pearls and eschallot
1990 Salon Blanc de Blancs
1992 Dom Perignon
Seared cobia, black sesame, mushroom milk, puffed rice with pickled vegetables and elk
1998 William Fevre Les Clos, Chablis Grand Cru
2008 William Fevre Les Clos, Chablis Grand Cru
Smoked duck, broccoli, cuttlefish, duck cheese and umeboshi
2009 Domaine Ramonet, Bienvenue Batard Montrachet Grand Cru
2008 Domaine Etienne Sauzet Montrachet Grand Cru
Baked rainbow trout, celery puree, soya braised veal tail, hazelnut and snow peas
1976 Charles Noëllat Clos de Vougeot Grand Cru
1982 Gaja Barbaresco Sori San Lorenzo
Roasted venison leg, mushroom puree, juniper oil, spaetzle, pickled red cabbage
1982 Château Mouton Rothschild, Pauillac
1975 Penfolds Grange Hermitage
Selection of cheeses with toasted walnut bread, lavosh and fruit
1999 Vega Sicilia "Unico†Ribera del Duero
Palate Cleanser
Krug NV
Roasted apple and clove, rhubarb sorbet, apple crumble and custard
1976 Joh. Jos. Prüm Graacher Himmelreich Auslese Goldkapsel
Almond gelato, chocolate, coffee cloud, pear and ginger
2005 Schloss Lieser Niederberg Helden Trockenbeerenauslese Goldkapsel Riesling
Options Wines
2004 Armand Rousseau Chambertin Clos de Beze
2004 Armand Rousseau Clos de la Roche
Right up there with one of my best tastings ever. The wines, the food, the service and of course the company were all fantastic. I might sound like I’m gushing and effusive throughout the write up as opposed to my usual laconic style but some of the wines were just that good.
We started off with lovely sweet oysters, these complemented the champagnes beautifully. The 90 Salon was a bit oxidative, but the power and intensity of the fruit had the roof of my mouth buzzing, this is a massive wine. Shame it wasn’t showing as well as it could, I think Len said it was an Auction buy, otherwise it would be staggeringly good.
The Dom in comparison was a bright and bubbly baby, such finesse and linearity and purity of fruit. It had a wonderful freshly split white bun aroma that almost seemed ethereal. This will last for another 15 in a canter.
The 98 Les Clos, was bursting out of the glass, the nose of this was brilliant, a cacophony of tropical fruits, rockmelon, lemons all vying for your attention. On the palate it was sublime, with a texture and length that went on for ages. The 08 in comparison was a bit closed and taut, seeming to lack vibrancy and fruit , and was totally overshadowed by the 98.
Next was the duck which was cooked to perfection, a hint of smokiness really setting it up nicely. The Ramonet was a big brooding wine, lovely notes of oak and malo and a real solidity to it, almost transcending it’s liquid nature. On the palate it belied it’s nose and was a modicum of power and elegance without being overblown and blousey. I actually preferred this over the Monty much to my fellow diners disdain. The Montrachet was probably a victim of its age, way too young, it had this nervous energy about it, like a young colt ready to spring. Lemons, grapefruit and oak all in perfect proportion with a steely backbone of acid. Very austere on the palate and a nice length with hints of honey, given time this will be a fantastic wine.
The 76 CdV was drinking superbly for its age. Real meaty and plum driven nose, nothing floral about this, a real mans burgundy
The tannins were fully resolved and it was soft and luscious, cedar, tobacco, leather all featuring, like a good Winchester chair in the den. It did fall apart a bit but we suspect it may have been inadvertently decanted along with the other younger wines for a couple of hours at the restaurant. The Gaja at 30+ years was a poster boy for fruit and structure in perfect balance. The colour was so youthful it was hard to believe it was an 82. Sour cherry, dark fruits with enough structure to have you sucking in your cheeks to extract every last nuance of flavour it carried. A master class of elegance and power.
As an aside the sauce/gravy that was with this dish was beyond good, I had to use my puppy dogs eyes on Len to scrounge a bit of dinner bun from him to mop it up lol, I think he managed to get his roll broken up to feed around 3 of us, we reckoned if they had this with the duck course it would have been the perfect dish.
The 82 Mouton, was hard to describe, it was just so good. The wine is just intense and opulent, and so youthful. Blackcurrant which moved to the sweet cassis end of the spectrum, with cedar notes, blackberry and spices. It was one just to sit on and smell and swirl and marvel. On sipping it just invades the mouth with fruit very much in the same vein as the Lafite we had a few months prior. It is relentless. I was left shaking my head at how good it was.
If Moira (Sparky) from Treasury Wines is reading this, you tell the guys that write Rewards of Patience, who wrote this “Tight-knit bouquet with hints of licorice, leather, smoke and "dark" fruit. Solid and concentrated on the palate, with fruit characters reminiscent of ripe plums, dark chocolate and licorice. A wine with very pronounced tannins. Will it ever soften out? (Rewards of Patience, 3rd ed., 1994).
You tell them that it does soften out and that it does taste magnificent. Second for me only to the 66 Grange. This was resolved, and exactly as described “Solid and concentrated on the palate, with fruit characters reminiscent of ripe plums, dark chocolate and licorice†this was Max Schuberts last hurrah, Bravo Max, bravo.
I’m not going to lie and will admit I actually teared up a bit having these two glorious wines in front of me, going from one to the other and just marvelling at them. (but don’t tell my mates at the pub that).
Tough act to follow, the Unico said “well screw you, have a load of this†and we got this supremely elegant and balanced wine, with cherries and kirsch flavours dominant (maybe a result of a bit of VA) the tannin structure was amazing, velvety and fine grained and resolving nicely into the wine, there was coffee, blackcurrant and other dark fruits. It is a wine that is just so right.
We then had a palate refresher of Krug NV as you do
to get ready for the dessert wines. Tight and racy, with pinpoint precision and acidity. As I’ve said before about Krug it just invades your mouth with tart lemon and grapefruit flavours, like one of those dental ads you can imagine all these little Krug workers in your mouth scrubbing away on the insides of your mouth with lemon flavoured brooms. Great idea to have this later in the proceedings like a Trou Normand. The 76 Prum was singing, I’ve had my fair share of 76 Rizzas courtesy of my good friend Shannon. And this I have to say was right up there with the best, it had this inherent freshness about it which mated perfectly well with the caramelised aged characteristics. There were nectarines and peaches and a subtle acidity on the back palate. It had a sense of creaminess and softness on the palate which had you swirling it around in your mouth getting every nuance of flavour from it.
The TBA was to sweetness as Grateful Dead are to amplifier volumes, this was past 11. Weighing in at around 550g/l it was a fairly rare bottle and not officially released due to the alc not getting up above 4.5% I think only 150 bottles were released. This was a real shock to the system, and to be honest it was let down by not having a requisite acidic backbone to stave off the cloying effects. The flavours were like a wall of noise, intense lemon sherbet.
Then we hit the Options wines….
They ended up being an interesting contrast of terroir and proof that not all 2004 Burgs are to be tarred by the under-performing 2004 vintage brush. I think only myself and one other preferred the CdB over the Clos de la Roche. The CdB has intense dark fruits and real gamey power to its nose on the palate it is more of the same, with spices coming through and a really nice structure holding it all together. The CdR had a bit more clarity and finesse but lacked the power of the CdB.
Brilliant night, many thanks to all for their generosity (x 10 for Len, a true gentleman and a scholar).
First time to Restaurant Foveaux and it exceeded all expectations, the wait staff were really friendly and nothing was too much trouble for them. The food was consistently very good with all dishes working really well.
I did a small handout to help with the night so if you’re bored you can download it here (13Mb though), thanks to Anya for helping with editing, layout and words of encouragement when I thought I would never get it finished in time (you get that when starting things about 2 days prior…) - any copyright issues I'll take it down.
Only took a couple of rushed pics, Cam took a heap so he’ll no doubt post them up.
