Celebrating Christine's birthday- with pics.

Christine's birthday was last week. Rather than go out to celebrate, what does she do? She decides she wants to cook a fabulous feast for her friends! I'm down with that as is Marty Ellington and Paul and Sandy Jaouen. Howard Camhi e-mailed me a couple days prior that he was taking an impromptu trip to New York with his son, Jake and so they, too, got a lucky invite to what would be an evening of great food and friends. Unfortunately, the wine Gods gave a bunch of our selections a rather hard time, but such is life. It in no way dampened the spirits of the revelers. In fact, it gave us more to laugh about.

• 1990 Pol Roger Champagne 2000 Selection Brut

  France, Champagne

  From magnum, it's a deep gold color, darker than I would've expected. Apples and intense nuttiness dominate the nose and palate, with a bit of yeastiness on the back. Ripe, but with good acidity. The bead is just a bit more lively than I prefer and overall I find the nutty character too dominant. B+.

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• 2004 Bouchard Père et Fils Meursault 1er Cru Les Perrières

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Meursault 1er Cru

  There's talk that this might be an off bottle. I'd say so. It showed an extremely unpleasant nose of intense vanilla with a strong chemical component. It showed better in the mouth, but there just wasn't a lot there. The oak stands out, but there's no real palate presence. NR.

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• 1970 Bodegas Riojanas Rioja Monte Real Gran Reserva

  Spain, La Rioja, Rioja

  Showing just as nicely as the few other bottles I've had over the past several months. This one took a little more time than the others to get going, though, with the last sip revealing so much more than the first. The wine was supple, elegant and fully integrated with typical cherry, leather, citrus and worn wood flavors and aromas. Just in a really good place right now and a surprisingly good match with Christine's porcini fonduta with black truffle. Solid A-.

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• 1989 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape Flawed

  France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape

  Not much worse than a corked magnum of this. Dang!

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• 1964 Alessandro Rivetto Barolo Riserva Speciale Flawed

  Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo

  Maderized.

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• 1978 Giuseppe Martinengo Barolo Riserva Speciale Flawed

  Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo

  Maderized.

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• 1990 Prunotto Barolo Bussia

  Italy, Piedmont, Langhe, Barolo

  This just isn't doing it for me. It's got plenty of ripeness that manifests itself in black fruit, but it's trying to walk the line between modern and traditional and it stumbles badly. There's tar, spice and chocolate, but it's overly extracted and shows coarsely with a big hole in the middle. I also find the tannins a little too influenced by the wood. B/B-.

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• 1966 Château Palmer

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux

  And here we have our wine of the night. Just a gorgeous showing and, imo, consistently one of the best bottles the estate has ever made. There's beautiful cherry and raspberry fruit here with a crunchy mineral component, a touch of tobacco and integrated, spicy wood. There's a wonderful freshness and liveliness to the wine that belies its age. Layered and perfectly balanced, it adds a pleasant herb/tobacco note with some air. Just a joy to drink and while a number of '66's are starting to get a little tired at this stage, while mature, there's no hurry with this one. The fruit is still vibrant. Solid A.

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• 1998 Domaine Ponsot Clos de la Roche Vieilles Vignes

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Clos de la Roche Grand Cru

  Acknowledging that there's a vintage difference and the fact that Howard just (generously) schlepped this bottle with him from California, so it might have been a bit shocked, but this wine is much tighter and unyielding in comparison to a 2000 tasted five days prior. Whereas the the 2000 was extremely fruit forward with a generous personality, here the cherry fruit is present and has a nice purity to it, but it's tightly coiled and doesn't seem to want to come out and play. There's a strong green note on the back end and the oak still needs to integrate some more and overall, the structure is a bit tough. Give it some more time to smooth out a bit, but I wouldn't expect miracles from this wine. B+/A-.

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• 1966 Château Climens

  France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Barsac

  Looked in good shape with a nice fill and possessing an orange/amber color. The vintage is noted for being rather lean and high acid for Sauternes/Barsac and it shows here. The wine shows grilled pineapple, lots of hazelnuts and hints of caramel on the nose and palate, but age has stripped it of much of its original sweetness and combined with its lean and high acid profile, has left it a bit ungenerous. I think it would actually work better as a food wine with a savory dish at this point. Drink up. B+/B.

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• 1997 Quinta do Noval Porto Vintage

  Portugal, Douro, Porto

  My second silly Port decision in a month. I had intended to open a '71 Baumard Quarts de Chaume, but seeing that we were having chocolate cake for dessert, I threw a half bottle of this in my bag just in case. I hoped to get an answer from folks when I got there what they would prefer, so I could at least get a couple of hours of decanting in just in case, but got none and in the end, we opted for the Port over the Quarts de Chaume. With no decanting, this wine was monolithic, just a black hole where neither flavor nor aroma could escape. After an hour or so there was the faintest hint of raspberry, but the evening ended with not much to go on. I corked the remainder and tried it a day and a half later. Though more open, with an intense black fruit and baker's spice profile and a cedariness that dominates, it's still rather reluctant to play nice. Call it an A/A- a day and a half after opening, but I'd lose these in the cave for at least a couple of decades.

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Some pics from the evening.

The group.


Some vino. I didn't get many of the bottles.


Pork and mushroom arancini.


Christine's homemade duck pastrami.


Scottish salmon tartare.


Fonduta just out of the oven.


Christine shaves an Italian black truffle.


Porcini fonduta with Italian black truffle.


Soooo good!


Crusting the beef with porcini powder.


Porcini crusted petite tenders of Piedmontese beef.


Bloody good!


Ricotta and mushroom agnoloti (she made the pasta, too!)


Leek Purée.


Much yum on a plate.


Chocolate layer cake with raspberry filling.


Christine went all Jackson Pollock on it.


A nice slice.