Holiday dinner organized by Ken Brown with many great wines!
Ripple Restaurant in Washington D.C.
Tasted Thursday, January 5, 2017 by PanosKakaviatos with 616 views
Introduction
For my return to Washington for the winter break, it was great to see fellow wine drinking buddies again here to kick off 2017. Thanks to Ken Brown for organizing the dinner. In addition to Ken and myself, participants included Ken Barr, Chris Bublitz, Karl Kellar, Howard Cooper, David Ehrlich, Scot Hasselman, Paul Marquardt, Randy McFarlane and David Zimmerman.
The food and setting at Ripple were great, as was the service, in a just-remodeled private room at the back of the restaurant.
Bravo to recently hired new chef, Ryan Ratino, who did a fantastic job with the pairings. I loved his trout, lightly smoked to the point where the smoke aspect was suggested and not overbearing, so as to let the wines sing. His hay smoked beef strip loin was all that was needed for the Haut Brion vertical, and I loved the duck breast, too. Excellent charcuterie went well with the Champagnes, although I would not have opted for any of the pickled vegetables, as they impeded proper wine appreciation. But that's just a small issue.
Once again, Ripple proves itself as a great wine friendly food venue (and stay tuned because very soon, it will be the site of at least two more dinner tastings: cru bourgeois Bordeaux and Château Montrose).
Of course two highlights: verticals of Haut Brion (vintages: 70, 90, 96, 98 and 01) and Yquem (86, 96, 99 and 03). We also enjoyed 1988 and 1990 Chave Hermitage and grands crus from Burgundy as well as three grand Champagnes that set the tone in grand style.
For full notes with plenty of pics, please click here: http://wine-chronicles.com/blog/haut-brion-and-yquem-and-more/
Flight 4 - A highlight of the dinner (5 Notes)
Much discussion over favorites, but that crushed tobacco perfume aspect that is typical to Haut Brion was a common link to all, within varying degrees. For Chris Bublitz, the 1998 was his favorite. For Howard Cooper, the 1970.
Closing
As Howard Cooper noted, aside from a badly faulty 1959 DRC (tragic, to be sure), all the wines showed very well and illustrated different points in excellent drinking windows. My only quibble was with the Truchot, which seemed a bit off. Opinions varied somewhat over favorites, and certain wines, but overall, the entire group had a fantastic evening with great wines.
Good health, happiness and success to all in 2017!
http://wine-chronicles.com/blog/haut-brion-and-yquem-and-more/
1990 Taittinger Champagne Comtes de Champagne Blanc de Blancs Brut 95 Points
France, Champagne
Perhaps I liked this more than the group entirely, although I found allies in both Ken Brown and Howard Cooper. Such clean lifting lemon-lime elegance and vivacity. Could you really suspect that this came from a solar vintage, dating from a harvest that took place over 25 years ago? To some extent. It was not the deepest of the three gorgeous Champagnes to open our holiday dinner, but I was hooked, lined and sinkered. Well, that last word does not exist, but the lovely nature of this wine certainly does. Long and lingering if not dense and substantial. For me, that is still a high "scoring" wine.
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1995 Krug Champagne Vintage Brut 96 Points
France, Champagne
When I first took a sniff, it was actually a bit closed in. But - boy oh boy - this is vintage Krug at its finest. Very vinous, very serious. While the Comtes de Champagne is elegant soprano, this is baritone serious. And such tasty brioche and red fruit aspects that scream Blancs de Noir Pinot Noir. Over time in glass, it just got better and better, and - as Ken Brown said - this estate has the uncanny capacity to make "effortlessly powerful" wines. Indeed, you could have a steak with this. Gorgeous stuff!
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2006 Dom Pérignon Champagne 94 Points
France, Champagne
After the sheer elegance of the Comtes 1990 and the supreme depth of the Krug Brut 1995, this younger Dom Perignon 2006 was just balanced Hermes fashion. We were all amazed at how this estate can produce so many (undisclosed amounts) bottles and maintain a consistent style. Sure, there is vintage variation and 2006 was a more solar vintage, but the wine was stylish and smooth. Not nearly as deep and profound as the Krug, and I do not think that this 2006 would achieve that depth in 10 years even, but it was damn delicious!
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