DINNER AT HOME

Historically, in our role as Tribal Leader, we have created evenings that fed and nourished, in more ways than one, our loving entourage. More recently, with much time spent in Paris, entertaining in New York has been neglected. Therefore, the combination of the purchase of great quantities of new china and a desire to provide our intimes with an opportunity to taste some of the wines about which we are blogging has produced a flurry of small to medium-sized dinners in that jewel box of an apartment so coldly nicknamed, by the Internet Sugar Daddy, the Cat Litter Box.

One of these dinners took place Saturday night in honor of an overnight business trip to the Big Apple by our favorite residents of Denver, the Osmotics. Now as many of our closest among the Audience will know, much good food and wine has been consumed with the Osmotics who are among those with the highest tolerance for eating and drinking for sport that we know. However, they had never eaten in the Cat Litter Box, and although they had ordered some wine, we also had never degusted with them. All in all, the time had come.

Typically we view dinner and the food served as a foil against which to unfurl various wines and that was exactly the plan on Saturday. This was the third of a short series of dinners (yes, you will hear about the others) during which we had perfected the creation, the presentation and the flow of courses that allow a great many wines to be drunk in one evening!

The soiree starts with hors d’oeuvres and wine, no cocktails. This evening was tapenade, green olives stuffed with a light blue cheese and cashews. The Prince Consort would be surprised as he insists we always lay out too many hors d’oeuvres; I say, “No need to eat everything.” but the reality is that Saturday we forgot to buy some of the spreads we enjoy as starters! The starter wines this evening were a 2005 Jurançon, a white vin de l’aperitif, slightly sweet, served very cold and, for the less adventurous, a 2001 Montagny 1er Cru, a white Burgundy from the Côte Chalonnaise, almost to Macon. It has a good mineral structure overlaid with significant fruit and is well balanced. Although we’ve never had a Montagny older than this, several younger but none older, the balance of fruit and mineral is so good that this appears to be a great age at which to consume this wine.

Our dinner was to have included another couple who could not attend but sent instead a magnum of Champagne with a personalized note! How does one do that? The bottle was from a shop nearby the Cat Litter Box yet far from their apartment and the note was perfect. We have not perfected the art of choosing and sending flowers by telephone and yet they managed Champagne and a note.

Anyway, the Champagne was quite special. We are a great fan of good Champagne and an enormous fan of magnums – they are so festive and when filled with Champagne, double the festivities. This one was by Champagne Jacquesson, a Chardonnay, Pinot Meunier and Pinot Noir mix. The maker also proudly notes that this production gave rise to 328,826 bottles, 12,050 magnums and 300 jeroboams! The Champagne was excellent as an aperitif – beautifully structured with light mineral, cool florals and a crisp almost steely taste. Even 24 hours after opening, the beauty was still apparent.

Now to table, where we sat down to a cream of wild mushroom soup garnished with a Parmesan crisp and black truffle oil. This course was chosen to support a 1999 Meursault, Le Limozin by Domaine Dujac. Interestingly enough, in Paris, we’d recently bought in a dozen 1999 Meursault, Le Limozin by Domaine Eric Boussey. We had tried it just before returning and were interested to compare. The Dujac was purchased in NYC at Park Avenue Wines, a great shop with no snobbery, a beautiful assortment and a broad, fairly priced selection of older Burgundies.

Meursault is a very particular wine that often upon opening makes us think it is corked. Apparently the parcelle, Le Limozin, accentuates this aroma because it was strong in both the Dujac and the Boussey bottles. Past that initial thought, the wine is heavy and clinging in the mouth. As it warms, the particular muskiness of Burgundies from this area becomes more evident but mixes with honey aromas and heavy white floral notes. With the thick and smoky wild mushroom flavor of the soup, the Meursault was an excellent choice.

The main course was pork roast. We find it easy to prepare – pop in a hot oven for some period of time and when you think of it again, pull it out and slice it. Naturally it needs to be seasoned with something and Saturday the natural thing seemed to be a bit of black bean salsa found in the fridge. Accompanying the roast were simple roasted spears of asparagus. All this planned to support a red 1998 Fixin 1er Cru, Clos de Chapitre Monopole, Domaine Guy Dufouleur.

Fixin is a beautiful delicate red wine and we greatly appreciate Dufouleur who coaxes so much finesse and subtlety from this elegant wine in many different millisimes. The use of the word “Monopole” after the name signifies that Dufouleur is the owner of the entire parcelle Clos de Chapitre. In the beginning, one can imagine that parcelles, or fields, were each owned by one person. Over time inheritance, marriage, debts, war and land sales divided them into small parts each owned by different people. It is rare when one person or entity controls an entire parcelle, but doing so gives one the right to use the moniker “Monopole” on the wine label.

The Fixin is so delicate despite its age it does not need to be carafed. We simply ‘splash’ it into large Burgundy glasses and it opens. With the pork and asparagus, it just sang. The nose carries that signature musk (we describe it as the smell of dirty gym socks!) and in the mouth there are red fruits that give way to warm spices and honey. Remember that tasting wine is a very personal experience. What we find in a 10-year old Burgundy may not be what someone else tastes. That is part of the beauty of it all! We could drink Burgundies like this Fixin always; what the French describe as féminin is a characteristic of a type of Burgundy that we adore.

Following the Fixin and through the cheese course were two different Savigny-Vergelesses both by Roger Bonnet. We bought the first of several different millisimes we now own not knowing much about Savigny but quickly learned they were worth drinking! Savigny is a reasonable but not distinguished appellation in the Côte de Beaune, and many of you, dear Audience, have heard of Savigny-les-Beaune, another Savigny. Remember that they are all grown in a village slightly smaller than the Manhattan neighborhood of Chelsea, but each field will have a slightly different terroir and each wine will have a slightly different taste. To the best of our knowledge, Bonnet has stopped producing wines and perhaps those that we bought were auctioned with the closing of the domain.

Saturday night a 1989 and a 1988 1er Cru were poured. We noted what we had previously thought at an earlier occasion when tasting these two wines together: we don’t find much difference. Both are slightly more complex than the Fixin but still fin and elegant. They need to be carafed for a bit before serving and continue to open in the glass. As with many old Burgundies, and these are 20 years old, the complexities created by the tannins or the minerality of the wine has mellowed and balanced with the fruit producing a ‘warm’ taste of spice, honey and musk. The aroma often carries the scent of alcohol, perhaps the first odor to rise from the freshly open wine but in the mouth it is round and pleasing. Personally, we continue to note also that we prefer the 1989 to the ’88 Premier Cru.

Dinner finished with a dense chocolate torte with a fresh mango sauce prepared by the A-Girl. The Savigny continued to evolve and was delightful with the chocolate. Another guest had brought Argentinean chocolates, Havannets – peaks of dulce de leche paste on small round cookies and totally covered in milk chocolate. A couple of these with a small glass of a rum aged with a vanilla bean found in Tahiti by the A-Girl and the evening was capped!

Bon nuit!