A Few Bottles With A French Laundy Menu ('91 Comte Armand, '90 Beaucastel, '97 Heitz, '89 Naudin)

Hosted a French Laundry-inspired dinner at my place Saturday night. The Legend, Rowdy, BeerCan, and Peter(as yet to be given a nickname) Simpson were in attendance. A few real nice bottles, a few decent bottles…a real good time all around. Pics via Rowdy, though Bowden may have some nice shots, too.

Tomato Tartare, Whipped Hericot Verts, Balsamic Reduction

The Wines. In order:

2005 Brewer Clifton Chardonnay Sweeney Canyon–Hello 16.4% alcohol Chard. This was served in honor of Liotta, who couldn’t make it Sat. We were all rather impressed theat it was able to wear that 16+ farily well. Interesting wine.

2003 Chateau La Nerthe CDP Blanc Clos de Beauvenir Nutty.

2008 Grey Stack Sauvignon Blanc–Still like the '07 better, but damn fine SB.

1989 Domaine du Clos Naudin Vouvray Moelleux Reserve–awesome with Bowden’s French Onion soup. Mature, served on the cool side it was a nice foil to the soup.

1991 Comte Armand Pomard 1er Clos des Epeneaux–Beauty. A+ nose. Still young-ish.

1999 Comte Armand Pomard 1er Clos des Epeneaux–Young as effin hell. 2+ hours in the decanter and it was still all wound up.

1994 Leoville Las Cases–Didn’t kill it as in past though it was quite nice on night two.

1997 Heitz Cabernet Sauvignon Bella Oaks–bloody well grooving. Great spot right now. Nice wine, great with the ribeyes and pommes anna. I’d love to have more.

1997 Seavey Cabernet Sauvignon–A bit heavy handed, again better on night two. Maybe I was too toasty at this point.

1990 Chateau de Beaucastel CDP–Very late in the night, but kicking ass! Clean. Beautiful weight. Tasted like a youngin’, not a late teen. Mature and diginified, unlike my dining companions. Kick ass wine.

Good times boys.

Wow, nice dinner lineup!

Can you give more details on the '91 Comte Armand’s nose? I’m a sucker for a great nose…

Thanks, Todd.
'91 Comte-Many layers…Dark fruit, toast, vanilla, pine. Smoky. Intense. The palate was not really in a giving space, but the nose was amazing.

I often find myself enjoying a wine purely on the virtues of the nose, even when the palate totally disappoints (in relation only to the nose, obviously still ‘drinkable’).

Well played, Dennis. Great menu. Great wines. Fun notes!

THanks, Tom. It was a good time, with good people.

Dennis- never had the Bella but the 97 Trailside is one of my all time favorite cabs. It really is just great and I could usually find it for about $ 60 at auction. Had the last one earlier this year. It was still very young and fresh but it was silky smooth.