Decadence

Last evening I packed up an overnight bag and grabbed my dog for a visit to the Goldbergers. With my wife and son out of town, we had been planning a fun evening of food and wine. Rather than doing a big-gun tasting, we wanted to have a long, delicious meal featuring simply prepared, high-quality ingredients and some the best wines we could muster and savor.

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We started with scallops sautéed in bacon drippings and served atop an onion and apple 'marmalade' with crumbled bacon on top. Since I keep a Kosher house, Jason always tries to give me my fill of traif when I come over, and this dish did the trick! Served with it:

• 1996 Moët & Chandon Champagne Cuvée Dom Pérignon 95 Points

  France, Champagne

  The aromatics on this were initially restrained with minerality and some yeastiness, a whiff of vanilla. However, the palate was a revelation, huge and broad with explosive minerality and a light saline character. This was just so massive and concentrated across the palate. The finish was extremely long and lemony with some stoney character and a faint nuttiness. Gorgeous champagne!

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Served with seared foie gras in a blackberry and sweet wine reduction, yummy!

• 1988 Markus Molitor Zeltinger Schlossberg Riesling Auslese ** 92 Points

  Germany, Mosel Saar Ruwer

  AP# 32 89. This wine had wowed me in a tasting back in January. This bottle was not quite at that level, but it was still a gorgeously mature wine with so much to offer. The nose shows tons of diesel with a hint of honey and a spicy cinnamon element that came out with time. The palate is drenched with honey and minerality. At first, somewhat overwhelmed by the foie, the wine didn't seem to show much acid. However, after we cleared our palates and sipped for a while this showed more green apple and bright acidity.

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To clear our palates we had a sorbet of grapefruit, lime and champagne. Then we moved onto rosemary brined and grilled Kurobuta pork chops served with 'calamity' roasted potatoes. The fat on the pork was remarkably flavorful, so delicious! The calamity potatoes are so named for two reasons. (1) While reheating at the last second, they got a bit scorched. (2) However, the real calamity was the unfortunate meeting between my fingertip and the mandolin which I insisted we break out and use. Fortunately the cut (my first ever in a kitchen) was not deep, but it took a while to stop the bleeding. Anyway, the wine cheered me up!

• 1990 Paul Jaboulet Aîné Hermitage La Chapelle 98 Points

  France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Hermitage

  Oh my, the nose on shows dried herbs, cherry, hints of roasted meat, violets and tar. The palate was almost chewy, massive and mineral driven, such omnipresent structure, so primary and powerful. Unreal balance. I spent more time tasting than writing on this wine, but it was a masterpiece. It is better than I scored it, but it needs a lot of time still to really come around. With 5 hours in the decanter and time to watch it open and unfold we caught a pretty nice glimpse into what this can offer.

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It was tough to move on from the La Chapelle, but we had more in store so we put the decanter with 1/3 of a bottle back into the cellar for the end of the evening. Next we moved onto a simply grilled Lobels Porterhouse served with fava beans in truffle oil. This was my first Lobels steak, and I understand what the hype is about. The tenderloin side of the Porterhouse could be sliced with a butter knife it was so tender, and the depth of beef flavor was amazing. With that we broke out the expected bottle of 1983 Margaux and a blind surprise…

• 1983 Château Margaux 96 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux

  We elected to decant just before serving, and this one took some time to open up. Deeply tannic and showing massive structure at first, this opened up to show a spicy nose, cedary, smoky, violet, a hint of leathery barnyard, iron and lead. The palate was so earthy and loamy, silky smooth, screaming with minerals. Over the course of a few hours this showed such opulent and lush texture, remarkable mouthfeel, gaining weight and nice sweetness around the edge. I flirted with 97 points but ended up at 96. Absolute heaven with the steak.

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• 1983 Château Cheval Blanc 96 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru

  Jason served this one blind from the cellar, and it was perplexing. He partly picked it, because I have never been very impressed with Cheval Blanc, even the 1990. Everything about the palate screamed Bordeaux, but the nose was so exotic, almost bizarre, that I was wondering if this was a Rhone. Smokey with vanilla, creosote, peat, asian spice and a hint of bacon. With time the aromatics became almost 'fat' with ripe plums. On the palate this was very herbal and sweet, showing lots of structure and gaining spiciness. Exquisite balance. Exotic is the word of the day for this lovely wine.

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We finished off with fresh blackberries and a remarkably rich and tasty vanilla-custard ice cream that Tracy had made earlier in the evening. Wow, what a fun and delicious night, thanks for the amazing hospitality to Jason & Tracy!