Undisclosed Italian Location in NY, NY (The place closed in circa 2019)
Tasted Sunday, May 17, 2015 by odds with 394 views
Some time ago, few fellows who were curious about EMH black cat asked me to organized them a little tasting. Post our visit to Napa, we felt it was a good time to thank them for their hard work, and to support the vineyard by introducing people to high quality, consistent and reliable cab. One that stands well against the top calibers. We gathered in an undisclosed Italian Location in New York for the introductory course 'Black Cat 101'. More college courses should be like that. Three representative vintages that are accessible and available were picked to show different stages of a black cat. It was a purrring experience, indeed.
In order to start a good 'course' one must meet the pre-requisites, bubbles :-)
To build the expectation and prepare for the full bodied cabs, we needed to start with some wines with close proximity to Calistoga, but also different and complementing to the full body cab tastes. Since Rieslings were out of the question, we decided to go creative. Something new, and something familiar
Now we get to the important part of the day- Black Cat. If you are looking for this wine, you probably know something about it already :-)
No course is completed without some extra credit work, and few desserts.
Something about food pairing-- Those who had the spicy dishes (or steak) said the '06 complemented their meals best (better than the ’09). Those who took more ‘balanced’ main dishes (pasta, pork chops) tended to prefer the ’09 over the ’06. Both agreed that both wines were showing their best "wow", and developing over the dinner. Menu was built for six to seven and we ended up just five, so next time, we'd probably reduce one bottle from the appetizers. Great experience for all, and special thank you to our friends who enable us to open few black cats side by side for pure enjoyment, and to have good times.
2002 Pierre Paillard Champagne Grand Cru Brut Millésimé 94 Points
France, Champagne, Champagne Grand Cru
I first had this one shortly after the release, and we’ve been following the development of this one for a while now :-)
This time, we decided to put it on a solo show for starter. Goldish yellow, remains more on the bright gold side. Dry compare to other champs (which I like a lot) ,oak and fruits, or as one of the tasters said “glory in a bottle!”. Since this is the sixth time I’m having this one, I can’t really a lot more compared to previous notes, but I can certainly reinforce previous ones. Dry side champ, oak and fruits in first touch, more peach and lemon this time. Nice, long bubbles bubbles with long finish. We got few more of those in 2013, and I guess I under estimated how good this one would be because I believe we’re down to one or two bottles left, while this champagne still has years ahead of it to live and be enjoyable.
So, to sum- consistent with previous notes. Probably the most reliable champagne I can think of.
Vote by the bottle- empty bottle. Too bad we're running low on this one.
94+ rightfully earned
Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue