A simple dinner with 1999s
Tasted Friday, June 21, 2013 by octopussy with 431 views
Introduction
As I consider "1999" by Prince one of his better songs (nothing can beat anything on "Dirty Mind" though) and as I like the concept of "fin de siècle", I took the occasion to invite some friends over for a dinner with some wines from the 1999 vintage. All wines were rather classic dinner table wines and my guests brought some more bottles to complete the line-up. All wines were served blind and uncovered after each course.
Flight 1 - Apéritif (2 Notes)
The two champagnes were served as Apéritif with just some sesame crackers. They were crying for food though and I should have served them with a proper course. Opinions were divided over which Champagne was the better for the two. In the end, there was no clear favorite. The Bollinger is definitely the more elegant of the two, but the Barnaut has great expression and I loved the hints of oxidative in the nose.
Flight 2 - Smoked Trout Mousse with Rheingau Riesling (3 Notes)
As the first course, we had a mousse of smoked trout with cucumber salad, which was mildly marinated in some joghurt, lemon juice and dill. Breuer's Nonneberg was corked unfortunately, which is a pity as I had just one bottle and was really curious to see how it is today. Therefore, it was a pair of two Schlossbergs, one by Breuer and one by Kesseler. Theresa Breuer had told me in advance that the late 90s Breuer wines are in a beautiful place right now and that the Kesseler should have a little more residual sugar. She should have been right. I very much preferred the Breuer Schlossberg as it was nice and linear with a very clear expression in the nose and in the mouth. The Kesseler was quite good too, but it was more on the opulent and rich side. Both went well with the smoked trout and a little less so with the cucumber salad.
Flight 3 - Foie Gras, Brioche and Sauternes (2 Notes)
Then we had Foie Gras d'Oie en bloc from with Brioche and a beautiful pair of wines to go with it - Rieussec and Climens. Here, the table really was divided over the question which wine everyone liked better. I totally admired the Climens, it was so clear and bright and weightless - substance without weight. Most of the others preferred the Rieussec. I have to admit that it was really great and extremely impressive with its dried fruit notes and expansive botrytis notes. But it was also a tiny bit heavy, not the kind of wine you want to drink two or three glasses of. Both wines obviously went well with the foie gras.
Flight 4 - Lamb and left bank Bordeaux (3 Notes)
As the main course, we had lamb joints seared three hours in red wine, Thyme and Rosemary, and with shallots and potatoes. The lamb was marvellous, it's from a race called "Eifeler Ur-Lamm" from the volcanic Eifel region close to the Mosel valley, and comes from a small producer who has managed to re-breed this ancient, more than 3,000 years old sheep race. It fell off the bones, was nicely intervowen with strands of fat and super-tasty. It also went very well with the first two Bordeaux, both from St. Julien. I had had both wines before and had sometimes even seen Lagrange ahead of Ducru Beaucaillou, even though the 99 Lagrange really is quite modern in style. 99 Ducru Beaucaillou seemed very "serious" to me a few years ago and still was quite serious now. I did like it a lot that evening though, it was really elegant and transparent, fairly old-school in style. Lagrange was good, too, but not as good as I had it before.
As an extra, one of the guests brought a bottle of 99 Marojallia, the Margaux venture of Jean Luc Thunevin of Ch. Valandraud. Blind, we guessed St. Estèphe or Pauillac, but in any case a high percentage of Cabernet Sauvignon. We were right only with the last bit. Even though it didn't have the charme of good Margaux, it was a really good left bank Bordeaux, not the kind of wine I expected and still with some potential to get better. It did seem incredibly young.
Flight 5 - Strawberries with Woodruff and Cream and Mosel Riesling Auslese (2 Notes)
To get fresh, we then decided to have dessert before cheese. For the dessert, I tried to capture some typical flavours of the Middle Mosel, the strawberry and cream typical for wines from Erden and Ürzig and the woodruff typical for some wines from Kröv, Traben-Trarbach and Enkirch. It had been hot the days before so that the strawberries (Sonata) were juicy and sweet. They were served with fresh woodruff and liquid cream. This was a near-perfect match for the two Mosel Auslesen. I had planned to serve a JJ Prüm 1999 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Auslese for dessert alongside the Schmitt-Wagner, but had it in my other cellar. The only suitable replacement at hand was a Dr. Loosen 1998 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Spätlese, but one of the guests luckily brought another Auslese, the 1999 Eitelsbacher Marienholz from the bishops. The bishops don't get much love from Riesling afficionados and I for myself also hardly ever had a super stunning wine from them. But for dessert, the Marienholz was just right, classic in style, not too sweet, fresh and lively. It couldn't quite compete with the Schmitt-Wagner Herrenberg Auslese, which was very old-school, quite lean, not too sweet, slightly tart as I like it and just right.
Closing
To finish the meal, we had the Rieussec/Climens again, this time with some Roquefort and Fourme d'Ambert. The wines were even better than with the Foie Gras, but matched the Roquefort much better than the Fourme d'Ambert.
In conclusion, except for the Breuer Nonnenberg we had bottle luck. All wines were spot on, ready to drink, some with more potential, some without, but all seemed in a good phase right now. My favorite flight was the Rieussec/Climens flight, followed by the two Mosel Auslesen. It was interesting to see that in hardly any flight the table could agree on a clear favorite.
1999 Bollinger Champagne La Grande Année 92 Points
France, Champagne
Rather light yellow, very fine perlage. In the nose, it's classic with Brioche, lots of quince, some lemon juice, just a very, very subtle oaky note. Great balance and harmony. On the palate, it's got good and lively perlage, it's delicate and restrained with fine quince and lemon notes. The finish gets longer with more temperature. Very good champagne with great balance and structure in a noble and restrained style.
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1999 Edmond Barnaut Champagne Grand Cru Brut Millésimé 92 Points
France, Champagne, Champagne Grand Cru
Medium yellow, very fine perlage. The nose starts off with strong oxidative notes of roasted hazelnuts, toffee and dried flowers. It adds some quince bread and fresh quince later. More expressive than elegant, but very attractive. On the palate, the perlage is very fine, the wine is extremely expressive with a great touch of oxidative notes, gripping acidity and lots going on. Long finish, too. Not no. 1 in elegance, but very high up as regards expression.
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