Tokyo American Club
Tasted Friday, August 25, 2006 by jrufusj with 738 views
Eight of us gathered at TAC for an end of summer dinner. Theme was summer wines, but we got a bit carried away in the chardonnay section and may have reached into autumn. TAC did a very good job with the wine service and a decent enough job with the food, though the portions were a bit large. Still, good quality for club food.
Steve, sorry for shamelessly stealing a few of your flight names.
With spicy crab cocktail
With goat cheese salad
With roasted pork
With roasted scallops and white bean cassoulet
Getting ready for the Constance
With assorted cheeses
Perfect bookends to the evening -- Elisabeth and Constance. Next to the K-B, the Mordorée showed fairly restrained, but when I put the K-B aside for a while, the expected size and a little heat came out. Glad to have tasted the Wiemer; I'm eager to sample a little more from the region. Leeuwin was probably most on form of the chards, but I enjoyed the Ampeau the most. Others may differ here. Couche was a bit clumsy, but I'd be interested to try a bottling with pinot for structure.
Great to see everyone again, can't wait for the next one.
1996 Billecart-Salmon Champagne Cuvée Elisabeth Salmon
France, Champagne
Lightest salmon copper with a tiny bead moving in wispy puffs like smoke signals saying “delicious”. At first, noses is closed up tight, tight, tight. Palate has a nice creaminess balanced with crispness as the wispy bubbles move smoothly over the tongue, then pop. There is a palpable sweetness adding to the creamy texture, but this is still all in balance. When it is still fresh in the glass, this is all about texture until an almost riesling-like cherry explodes on the finish. With time in the glass, it opens up more and more to show some light flaky-dough yeast on the nose, along with tart but ripe peach and berry. Citrus joins the cherry on the palate along with a hint of cinnamon. As much as it opens up, it is clear that this is very young. One of those wines I would have loved to be able to seal up and taste the next day. I managed to keep a bit in the glass for an hour and a half or so and it was still just beginning to blossom. Damn good wine!
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