60’s red Burgs was the very loose theme for last night’s Monday Table at Melbourne’s Rockpool Bar and Grill. Our devoted Sommelier is off to have a baby so it’s the last time she will be doing wine duties for The Table. In fact maybe she’s not that devoted to The Table, c’mon Sarah…we need you more than a new born. Her professional service and timing was up to its usual brilliant level.
We kicked of proceedings with a 1962 Pol Roger Champagne. It was in great nick, possessing plenty of fizz still. It was rich and spicy with layers of flavour and cut by bright lemony acidity. A Billecart-Salmon 1818-1968 150 Anniveraire was released in 1968 and is drinking beautifully in 2015. It was rich and biscuity. There were complex notes of brioche, grilled nuts and tarte tatin. There’s sweetness from the dosage and the more time it spends in the glass you notice the minerally acidity that holds it all together. Mousse is creamy. Cauliflower and Caviar Tartlets worked well with the Champagnes.
I surrounded a 1964 Armand Rousseau Pinot Blanc de Gevrey-Chambertin with Montrachets and asked the group to find the non-Montrachet, not as easy as it may seem. The Rousseau was in good condition, possessing a lightish colour for its age. It had some mild exotic smells and was a little cheesy. There were nutty smells and a little toast. In the mouth you get citrus and lanolin. It has a light lactic milkiness and is relatively compact. The 2011 Louis Jadot Montrachet showed plenty of spicy oak. It was rich and exotic with notes of banana, aniseed, custard and dried flowers. It was layered in the mouth and length was excellent. The 2001 Comtes Lafon Montrachet was quite developed but I liked it. Paul Hanna thought it smelled of a Violet Crumble and it certainly had plenty of honeycomb action. It also had some toast, ripe peach and preserved lemon. It slowly builds through the palate and is quite dense and long. Sauzet’s 2007 Montrachet was quite tight, young and fresh. It had some spicy oak notes and the fruits were of the citrus persuasion. It had the firm mineral spine of the vintage and flavours were direct and intense. I don’t reckon I’ve had a better young white this year than the 2008 Ramonet Montrachet. It is sheer perfection. The nose is so pure and direct. It smells of spearmint, white peach, aniseed and mineral. In the mouth it really builds, It is so focussed and so powerful. Explosive, sappy orchard fruit flavours envelop the palate. For its sheer size it is not heavy in the slightest and a strong line of minerally acidity carries the palate for an eternity. Pine mushrooms and scampi with sage, burnt butter and soft white polenta was brilliant with the whites and probably the dish of the night.
Red Lea corn fed half chicken with black truffle and creamed leek was a beautiful piece of chook, utterly enhanced by the truffle. Michael has recounted a story about a 1966 Leroy Chateauneuf that he has in his cellar on numerous occasions. Just to check in if the group has been listening I decided to add a bottle to the first bracket of 1960’s reds. Being a sneaky bastard I asked the table to identify the Leroy wine in the group. Most identified it, no one piped up and said it didn’t taste like Burgundy. I put them all out of their misery quickly and revealed the wine. The 1966 Maison Leroy Chateauneuf-du-Pape looked really fresh and still has plenty of grunt. It has some mushroom and earth development as well as dark fruits. The palate is sweet and full tasting of smoked meats and earth. A 1963 Domaine Bertagna Charmes-Chambertin was perhaps the best ’63 Burg I have seen. It had some herbal green notes but was very fresh and the fruit really sweetened up at its core as it took on air. In the mouth it was sweet and vinous with some meat and iron. Acid was quite whippy on the finish. It didn’t have the depth of the other wines of the bracket but it was fresh and quite alluring. The 1969 Charles Noellat Richebourg was rich, full, sweet and chocolatey. It was full and supple in the mouth with a hint of flora and just a touch of chewy structure the finish. A 1969 Domaine de la Romanee-Conti Richebourg was spectacular. You got all of the aged DRC soy and hoisin things going on coupled with some sandalwood, rose petals and bright red and black fruits. It was full and sweet in the mouth with a silky texture and great persistence. The 1969 Charles Noellat Romanee St.Vivant has sadly seen better days. It is sweet and vinous with a hint of flora but there are too many oxidative notes planing off the detail.
Rockpool is famous for its aged steaks and Greenham’s grass fed Cape Grim 36 month old rib-eye on the Bone with David Blackmore’s full blood wagyu sirloin didn’t disappoint. What did disappoint were a few of the dead soldiers we had. 1969 Maison Leroy Beaune, 1964 Domaine de la Romanee-Conti La Tache and 1966 Jean Gros Vosne-Romanee ‘Clos des Reas’ 1er Cru were all shagged. The old adage of no great old wines just great old bottles was in play. A 1961 Charles Noellat Romanee St.Vivant was starting to tire but still had some engaging aromatics. It smelt of rose petals, sweet cedar and earth. It was fine and vinous in the mouth with a nice supple feel and just a flex of sinewy muscle to the finish. A 1961 Pierre Bouree Romanee St.Vivant had been re-conditioned at some stage but was terrific. It was spicy and floral with a suggestion of sandalwood also. It was fresh and lively in the mouth with a lacy texture and nice minerally precision to the finish. An ethereal wine that drew you towards the glass. A 1970 Charles Noellat Romanee St.Vivant was developed, simple and quite soft. It was sweet and vinous with a little floral spice and a touch of fruit rind bitterness to the finish. A 1967 Jean Gros Richebourg poured out a deep, dark colour. It was sooty and meaty with some compost notes and a wisp of smoke. It lacked a little charm and grace.
I opened the 1990 Chateau d’Yquem about four hours earlier and it was opulent and exotic then but had shut down a little at the time of serving. It had some coconut ice, banana, honey and spiced pear notes. It was luscious and sweet with good depth of flavour and outstanding length. A 1975 Chateau d’Yquem was a little darker in colour than perhaps a great bottle would be. It had plenty of marmalade on the nose along with apricot jam, honey and toast. It too had a lusciousness and was quite sweet at its heart but finished with savoury freshness. Warm fruit crumble with vanilla sauce and ice cream was the accompanying dessert.
After cheeses, a Reypenaer VSOP cow’s milk number from the Netherlands and Rosso di Langa, cow’s and sheep’s milk from Piedmont, we were in need of a cheeky fortified to cap the evening off with. I had rummaged around my cellar to find the best Tunisian wine I own to serve the boys. The Muscat sweet de Tunisie annees 30 that I found was highly aromatic with gentle lavender florals and some fragrant tea perfume. It was light and ethereal in the mouth, playing gently between the sweet and the savoury. It had some ferrous things going on and the finish was fine, detailed and quite long.
It was fun to take a trip back to the 60’s and even more fun to bombard the boys with plenty of unfair options wines.
![[wow.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/7/7d450e9830889c8943b674446a21b7254cad657e.gif "wow"){kind=small}
![[cheers.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/0ff9bfcdb0964982cd3240b6159868fbdf215b1a.gif "cheers"){kind=small}
![[wink.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/04707e6a7bbb03e0153e349d8a9270d30e1e9525.gif "wink"){kind=small}
