Last night, we had a renewal of the Not the La Paulee Dinner dinner for those who like to drink wine but would rather pay for and drink good wine than pay $3000 to rub elbows with Christophe Roumier • Dominique Lafon • Etienne Grivot • Jean-Pierre de Smet • Chisa Bize • Jeremy Seysses (Dujac) • Jean-Marc Roulot • Alain Graillot and, to be fair, also drink good wine. 16 Berserkers and related people gathered at Bobby Van’s on 54th Street (not the one in the FKA Helmsley Building) with a choice to bring a GC Burg or a Cali Cab and just enjoy the wine and the company. Without disclosing out actual cost (we owe a big refund to the one guy who had to leave early), let’s just say it was below 5%!! of the La Paulee dinner ticket. There was no official final list of wines, but more or less we poured (I probably missed a few):
Starters:
2006 Pol Roger Churchill
2008 Henriot Millisme 200th Anniversary
2002 Taittinger Comtes
Whites
1995 Louis Latour Batard Montrachet
2008 Bize Corton Charlemagne
2016 Aubert Eastside
??? Soliste Sauvignon Blanc
Reds
2006 Colgin Cariad
2006 Alban Pandora
2014 The Vineyardist
1998 Clos de Tart
2007 Gerard Raphet Clos De Vougeot VV
2004 Jadot Chappelle Chambertin
2012 Spottswood
??? Harlan Maiden
2005 Bichot/Clos Frantin Chambertin
2014 Shafer Hillside Select
??? Soliste Syrah
I know there was a Baby Jesus because I finished it off directly from the bottle.
Except for maybe an ounce of the Aubert that I gave to a tequila distiller in the main dining room. there was no wine left, but unfortunately two corked bottles. The Batard was corked, but it was so amazingly delicious that I was able to taste extreme complexity and great flavor through the corkiness, although Brent, who is more sensitive, tossed it immediately. The other three whites were all excellent, with the Aubert being Aubert (I drink lots of Aubert) and the Corton Charlie matching my memory of the case of late 1990s that I bought and finished long ago. Laser [not Lazer] sharp with bracing acidity but not so as to ruin the wonderful floral-ish nose and the white fruit and meaty-ish palate. The Solist SB was excellent, well balanced, with none of those things we hate - cat pee or fresh cut weeds along the Hutchinson River Parkway. The tropical fruit was on the light side, but with a very bright and pure presentation.
I liked the red Cali wines better than the red burgs, but I thought they were all very good, and at least most of the burgheads I spoke with also enjoyed the Cali wines. The bubblies were ALL outstanding to my palate. The 2008 Henriot, which I got last summer for $65 a bottle, was the QPR of the night for me. Explosively great nose and a sharp but fruity palate from a house I had never tasted before. The Alban Pandora was also OUTSTANDING. Too bad their customer service is so horrible and the people have just been jerks to me, so I won’t buy direct. I think I picked this one up from Posner or at auction.
Picking out a wine of the night is impossible because I really loved a lot of them. The Colgin, The Shafer HSS, and the Corton Charlie were probably the top of my list. The Clos Vougeot was still too young but very nice, the Clos de Tart was very nice but not worth the current price at retail. The Vineyardist was very approachable despite its youth. The Baby Jesus, vintage unknown, was very nice to swig from the bottle as we were finishing up.
The intrepid group - Tom Rippe is off to to the left and out of view despite having brought the excellent Clos Vougeot.
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