Food looks killer plus! So, when drinking this many champagnes, do you ever just want a beer in between flights?
Nice line up!
Atera is such an excellent dining experience.
Lovely looking food, and a nice write up, thanks Ray!
I am a big fan of their BdB - an underrated champagne!
A number of houses that produce pinot dominated Champagnes have some issues with pre-mox in 1996.
Not sure of the reason but it seems to be limited to that particular vintage.
Food was really superb. The Caviar with pistachio ice cream and IPA was not just inventively brilliant, but was a near perfect dish and compliment to the Champagne.
My monkfish course (not on the regular menu for the evening) was the best monkfish I’ve ever eaten. I asked the chef for the preparation and he said one of the keys was roasting it on the bone as well as not over cooking it. I’ll have to see if I have access to buy monkfish on the bone.
The menu does look like a great pairing for those wines.
That caviar and pistachio dish is one of my favorites of the year. Monkfish on the bone is hard to find because the fish is so hard to break down - the anatomy is crazy - that most wholesalers don’t offer it in anything other than easy fillets. But I am sure you can special order it.
Awesome set of wines Ray! I have a hankering for a bottle of champagne now 
. See ya soon.
As far as anyone can determine it had to due with under ripe phenolics in the Pinot Noir grapes (I support this theory though I am not sure there is real hard data to prove it as data wasn’t taken by most in this area back then). A lot of grapes were picked based on the acidity and potential alcohol numbers on paper, but the phenolics and taste at harvest weren’t really checked or respected by most. That was a hard lesson learned as some made great wines, others disappointing wines, and still others made wines that shined early and have since disappointed. It was a lesson learned and we won’t see that mistake made again anytime soon. Phenolics (done by taste) were a big part of when to pick long ago and have now come back into the equation by most today.
Thanks Brad.