TNs -- Burgundy and French Cuisine Gathering in Toronto

Berserkers,

Just shy of a dozen native Toronto Berserkers, friends and spouses got together last night at board member Dylan Provencher’s for a Burgundy themed gathering and some homemade French cuisine. Dylan and his wife Chelsea graciously hosted in their lovely home, the highlight of which is a beautifully designed kitchen and dining room which they planned themselves. Dramatis personae were myself, board members Jay Shampur, Mike Grammer, Peter Papay, Jeff Wong, Dylan’s brother Sean, and their friends Paul, Tim and Lori. There were outstanding food and dinner contributions which consisted of a three course meal preceded by a cheeseboard and a trio of desserts to end the meal. Naturally there was wine. A lot of it.

APERITIFS

PIERRE PAILLARD GRAND CRU NV BRUT ROSE – A very enjoyable champagne. Light salmon pink in the glass, a soft textured foamy mousse, and clean flavors of cranberry, rosewater and watermelon. Light toasty lees on the finish. High acidity and a touch of chalkiness. I enjoyed this a lot more than the Duval-Leroy we had recently, this was a much softer and more delicate style of Rosé champagne.

DUVAL-LEROY GRAND CRU 2006 BLANC DE BLANCS CHAMPAGNE – Duval-Leroy wins me back with this stunner of a champagne. Bright gold in the glass, super clean body, frothy mousse, crystalline apple and white flavors, very light on the toasted lees flavor. Crisp and lean. This was great and a tremendous QPR value. I prefer the fruitiness Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier lend to Champagne but I can certainly appreciate what a Blanc de Blancs brings to the table literally and figuratively.

To go with both of these wines, Sean put together a beautiful cheese platter for everyone to enjoy with surprising speed. As he himself deftly put it, making cheese boards is his only superpower. Well, if you’re only going to have one superpower, you might as well be good at it. The evidence of his power speaks for itself:

THE WHITE FLIGHT – BURGUNDY AND A COUPLE OF SURPRISES

We opened our whites to transition on to the first course, our salad. Of course our whites were white Burgundies but there were a couple of surprises thrown in as well.

MONTALBERRA 2012 RUCHE DI CASTAGNOLE MONFERRATO L’ACCENTO – Dylan opened this Magnum as our transition wine. Ruché is a native Piedmont red grape I’d never heard of before. The most striking aspect of the wine is how incredibly floral the aroma is. Muscat and cherries waft right up through. This is extremely fruit forward with lots of lacquered cherries and cranberry and a slight touch of coffee. Flavorful and refreshing for a red. This varietal unfortunately lives in the shadow of the other more well-known Piedmont grapes Nebbiolo, Moscato, Dolcetto and Barbera. It seems to be dismissed as a “beginner’s Italian” red wine on the Internet much like Montepulciano is which I think is a bit unfair. While it’s certainly not as complex as a Barolo or Barbaresco, it definitely has merits. Of course, I like Montepulciano for the exact same reasons I like this wine so I’m biased. I would like to note that “fruit forward” is not code for “sweet.” This is still very much a dry wine. Went well with the cheese platter remnants and I would give it a high QPR value nod. Really good choice as a transition wine into the whites as well. I’d like to keep this tradition.

FRANCOIS MIKULSKI 2015 BOURGOGNE-ALIGOTE – Our next surprise was this wine, which is technically a Burgundy as it is made from 70 year old vines grown in Meursault. This was smoky and phenolic, with intriguing cream, starfruit, and citrus flavors. It was a lot fruitier than a typical white Burgundy based on Chardonnay. You can taste the Meursault influence but also that it is nothing like Chardonnay in terms of flavor. This was an intriguing wine and it was actually a better match for the salad than the Chardonnays with the sole exception of the Chassagne-Montrachet. Another high QPR and a great treat to try.

VINCENT GIRARDIN 2010 CHASSAGNE-MONTRACHET – Surprisingly no gunpowder on the nose at all. Lots of fruit and flowers though. In the mouth, all apple, lemon and cream flavor. Really high acidity on this one to cut through the creaminess. Like serious Riesling level acidity. This was just great.

DOMAINE PINSON 2008 CHABLIS LES CLOS – This also had beautiful fresh apple fruit and cream on the nose. In the mouth, the apple cream flavor mixes with a slight touch of gunpowder, high acidity (though not as high as the Montrachet) and a huge amount of refreshing salinity! We’re talking serious Raul Perez levels of salinity. Tim’s first comment was this needed fresh oysters.

ROCHE DE BELLENE 2013 SANTENAY CHARME-DESSUS – Tons of sulfur gunpowder on the nose. This wine single-handedly convinced me of the truth of Jamie Kutch’s recent comment that flint aroma is due to sulfur and not minerality by reminding me of my old high school chemistry classes. Crisp lemon and green apple flavors highlighted by a distinct nuttiness on the finish. Jeffrey noted how distinct this wine was, saying it was just like white Rioja, only better.

LOUIS JADOT 2016 CHATEAU DES JACQUES CLOS DE LOYSE BEAJOULAIS – The lightest and youngest of the white flight. No gunpowder at all on the nose, this is all ripe green apple fruit and high acid. Extremely fresh and unpretentious. The flip side of that coin is that it lacked the complexity of the other whites. My first instinct would be to say this is a picnic wine. It’s the Burgundy equivalent of a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc.
MYSTERY WHITE – For fun, Dylan opened up one last white, served blind from a decanter. This has a clean but faint apple nose. Phenolic bitterness and chalk carry cream, apple and lemon flavors. He asked us if he thought this was Old World or New World and everyone was having a tough time figuring out if he threw us a ringer or not. I went with Old World due to the smoke and phenolics, but I mean just barely. I wouldn’t have been ashamed to guess it was a NZ Chardonnay even though it was wrong. The reveal is that it is the Joseph Drouhin Bourgogne Blanc. I This seemed familiar to me and then I remembered why: Serguei from Le Notre Bistro also served this to us blind in his restaurant and he was just as thrilled with it as Dylan was. It’s a “basic” $19.95 CDN Bourgogne that punches far, far above its weight. Comes really close to Chablis level quality that costs twice as much. Impressive craftsmanship for what is essentially a supermarket wine.

Our first course and match for all of these whites was the beautiful salad you see below prepared by Tim’s wife Lori made entirely of vegetables grown in her own backyard potted garden. Lettuce, arugula and three different kind of peppers including fresh jalapenos and cubano peppers were tossed with Chianti olive oil and bacon salt. The balancing acidity was provided not by a vinaigrette based acid but by the wine itself which made for an amazing food and pairing.

Our next course was a delicious Bouillabaisse prepared by Peter. He deigned to inform us of a few of the ingredients including olive oil, tomatoes, fennel, fresh Codfish and two secret ingredients he refused to divulge. We speculated they were sweat and tears but alas, his lips were sealed.

THE REDS

LOUIS JADOT 2012 CHATEAU DES JACQUES MORGON – This Gamay has a black cherry and cassis liqueur nose. High acid, loads of blackberry flavor, and good tannins which make the wine become a lot richer in body as it got warmer. Good to have this to break up all the Pinots.

MARQUIS D’ANGERVILLE 2005 VOLNAY TAILLEPIEDS – Cherry liqueur nose and flavors, extremely smooth tannin and very rich umami flavors made this a perfect match with Dylan’s Boeuf Bourguignon. This was the favorite of a number of people tonight from what I gather including Mr. Grammer. I had a softer spot for…
MARQUIS D’ANGERVILLE 2011 VOLNAY CHAMPANS – Contrary to the rich liqueur like flavors of the 05, this was loaded with fresh raspberry flavor and soft tannins. My immediate notes were that I enjoyed it much more than the 05 and it easily had the most fruit of all the reds. I understand 2011 wasn’t the greatest vintage for Burgundy but you’d never know it from this. Conversely, this was my and Peter’s favorite red wine of the night.

ROCHE DE BELLENE 1998 SANTENAY – The first bottle of this was completely corked. Cardboard nose, tastes like rotted grapes. Yes, I tasted it. I always taste wines that are corked to educate myself. Dylan got another bottle that was marked by a complex web of rich umami flavor, high acidity and salinity, and cranberry fruit flavor. Still perfectly viable after 20 years. Good wine but I must say between the three aged reds the Volnay and Gevrey-Chambertin were superior to this.

DOMAINE TORTOCHOT 2007 GEVREY-CHAMBERTIN 1ER CRU LAVAUX ST-JACQUES – More cherry liqueur flavors with a smooth body, integrated tannins and cherry fruit. I’m noticing the pattern here of the aged Burgundy Pinots hitting a liqueur like sweet spot just before the umami kicks in and I’m enjoying it.

MAISON ILAN 2011 MOREY-SAINT-DENIS PREMIER CRU LES CHAFFOTS – Unlike the younger wines where I noted the fruit was more forward, the rich cherry liqueur aromas and flavors were already developed in this wine. There was also an intriguing note of cedar to go along with the black raspberry fruit. I believe the unfortunate manner in which his business operated and how it ultimately ended obscured the fact that Ray Walker was a very good winemaker. Not that it means anything if you couldn’t actually get a bottle in your hands, but Michael managed to produce one for us. Since I have no dog in the fight, my unbiased opinion is that this was a very good enjoyable wine. But for the presence of the two Volnays, it might have even been my WOTN.

Of course I’d be remiss not to show you all the amazing main course Dylan prepared to go with our plentitude of red Burgundies. A classic Boeuf Bourguignon:


DESSERT WINES

To finish off the meal, we had not one, not two, but a trio of French desserts from three very different sources. One I made, the other was acquired from Le Notre Bistro, and the other was sourced from Pusateri’s Fine Foods. We accompanied these with a trio of equally different dessert wines:

CHATEAU MYRAT 2007 SAUTERNES – From a full pulled from Dylan’s cellar. You may recall my notes on this from the Winetasters of Toronto Sauternes event. I assure everyone nothing has changed. This is still the icewine of Sauternes i.e. it’s all liquid glossy candy and I mean that in a complimentary way. HUGE candied pineapple and roasted lemon flavors with honeyed sweetness to bind it together. Not a hint of glycerin botrytis nor the delicacy or floral aspects of, say, a Chateau La Tour Blanche, Rieussec or Yquem. Subtle this is not but the wow factor is still there. Take it for what it is as it’s great at what it wants to be.

J. DUMANGIN RATAFIA DU CHAMPAGNE – My last bottle of this wine went to a good cause tonight. While this wine has gone through a great evolution since I acquired it I don’t believe it will change any more so it was worth consuming. Huge creamy butterscotch flavors are followed by juicy tropical fruit and berry flavors in a very full body. Heat is completely integrated and no burn left at all. Great finisher.

FERREIRA DONA ANTONIA RESERVA TAWNY – This basic tawny overdelivers some pretty strong caramel rancio aromas and flavors along with some ripe plum. I admit I wasn’t expecting much and this was virtually indistinguishable from a 10 year old Tawny. Great QPR.

Our first dessert courtesy of yours truly was a classic Charlotte Russe aux Fraises which I honestly haven’t made in ages but immediately came to my mind once I knew of the evening’s theme. This was fun to make. I folded a Strawberry Bavarian cream into a “shell” of ladyfingers I had soaked in a freshly made lemon syrup and then decorated the whole thing with fresh berries and grated white chocolate:

Our second dessert was brought by Jay courtesy of Le Notre Bistro. Their Gateau au Chocolate “Weiss”, a flourless molten chocolate cake covered with an orange and chili marmalade. Man, this was good.

And lastly, a beautiful Satin Hazelnut Torte courtesy of Pusateri’s Fine Foods, a local upscale Toronto food store, brought by Jeff:

Whew. That was a lot of food and wine. What a great evening. Thanks to everyone for the generous food and wine contributions. A special thanks again to Dylan and Chelsea for hosting us. Looking forward to doing it all again sometime soon.

Nicely done all around! Sounds like a fine night, and Dylan and Sean are good peeps.

Some really interesting wines and great looking food Tran! Hi to all.

Great write up Tran, thank you! You hit it spot on.

The food looks sensational! (And the wines don;t suck either). Thanks for the report!

Great pictures of the food and wine, thanks for sharing.

Thanks for the tasting notes, Tran!!!

When I first was exposed to the Champagnes of Duval-Leroy, I was blown away by the relative value of the wines, across the board. I have not tasted one in about 10 years, so I am happy to see that the company’s still on the ball.

I particularly liked the “Femme” (even young but, WHOA, the price has jumped up!) but the “Rosé de Saignée Brut” was a delicious glass of bubbles, too!

Is Duval-Leroy in the same league as world-class Champagne? No. Is it a great collection of sparkling wines? Absolutely!

Really fine and fun evening, more laughing than drinking—well, OK, maybe not, but it was close!

I missed all the dessert wines, bit of a shame that.

2006 Duval-Leroy BdB

Nice and rounded in nose and mouth with soft mousse and good apple core centre. A “baby”version of the Taittinger Comtes? Can’t argue with the $60 pricetag.

2013 Domaine de Bellene Santenay Les Charmes Dessus

The others got an initial gunpowder, but it had blown off by the time I got to it. This has apple, unripe pear and a little stoniness. At a lower and drinkable level, but nice for what it is.

2015 Francois Mikulski Bourgogne Aligote

I found this expressed the vintage nicely—lilting fruit, rounded and slightly soft, but still fresh-tasting.

2010 Vincent Girardin Chassagne Montrachet Vieilles Vignes

Jay brought this and it had many fans, as seen by Tran’s post. For me, it’s a solid white Burg with traces of minerality and white fruit, but with a ceiling for me. Part of that is that this has that trace (distracting) sweet tinge that I’ve found with most 10 whites. That said, this is another example where I much prefer the white wines from this producer. Also, it does suffer in comparison with the brilliant 2014 Duc de Magenta Clos de la Chapelle that I had drunk earlier in the week.

2016 Louis Jadot Chateau de Jacques Clos de Loyse Beaujolais

Wow. A Beauj white. I haven’t had one of those before. And it’s hard to place—maybe an Alto Adige? It certainly is full of sweetness and a real floral side.

Dylan brought out a blind white and it was a real stumper. It’s so ripe and almost rich—not heavy at all but so forthright with peach and tangerine, apple and hints of melon. I guessed Italian chard, but the grape is the only thing I got right. This is, in fact, 2015 Joseph Drouhin Bourgogne. What a surprise!

2008 Pinson Chablis Les Clos

Hard to pin this down. There’s some seashell to this and some saline, but this is quite shy in nose and mouth. It expands a little after about an hour in the glass but then tucks away again. I don’t think this is a bad or premoxed bottle, and Paul who brought it thought it may simply be too young, but I don’t quite get that feel from it either. Regardless, it’s missing the drive and class of Les Clos, but I am happy to have had the opportunity to taste.

2012 Louis Jadot Chateau de Jacques Morgon

Very cinnamon—quite a burst in the schnozz with red fruit behind it. Very light and effacing in the mouth, this is clearly a wine in sleepy transition right now.

2011 Marquis D’Angerville Volnay Champans

Jeff brought this and it was a fantastic chance to taste different plots and vintages along with my 05 Taillepieds. I can’t say I got a ton of Volnay typicity, missing mid-dark fruit and earthy bits and the velvet glove feel, but wow—can any 2011 red be better than this? Such gorgeous clarity of fruit and it doesn’t go away the whole night. Purest sweet raspberry and crabapple, it slides effortlessly down the throat. This is luminous, has real star power and has to be a candidate for my wine of the vintage. Blind? I would surely have guessed an 02 or 10 Vosne or Echezeaux. WOTN and perhaps reaches a 92 score for me.

2005 Marquis D’Angerville Volnay Taillepieds

I opened it the day before, took a sip and decided this didn’t need decanting. It felt right, and it was for me—others commented that they wanted more openness, but I was more than just fine with this. Nips of soy around cherry and plum. I really like the length and suave grip with earth and chocolate joining the fruit replays. True Volnay and it really comes with time in the glass. #2 this evening.

2011 Maison Ilan Morey St. Denis Les Chaffots

Some of the gang knew about the story. I gave the Cliff notes version to the rest. Only Tran and Jeff had tried any of Ray’s wines previously. This is my 3rd-last bottle of the wines (have a 11 Mazis and 11 Aux Charmes left). This speaks of MSD to me with dark chocolate, earth, olive ad very dark blackberry. To taste, a definite ceiling but it’s showing OK with some herbs, blue and black fresh fruit and some energy…which does fade with glass time.

I didn’t take notes on the Ruche but it was a light and tasty treat. Also didn’t scribble on the Pierre Paillard Champagne which, different from Tran, was crisp with moments of robustness.

Yes, the first 98 Santenay was, I believe, corked. The 2nd bottle was clean, but retiring with lightly dried red fruit and some accompanying herbs. Not bad but not great. I’ll post on the 07 Tortochots in a bit—notes are on another piece of paper.


Much thanks to Dylan and Chelsea for opening their home to us and to everyone for their wine and food contributions.

Mike