4 Star Syrah Dinner at 11 Madison Park

After the great '90 Italian wine dinner we had at 11 Madison Park a few weeks ago, thanks to Bruce, we decided it was time to go back, but this time with Syrah.

• NV André Clouet Champagne 1911 (95/96/97) 93 Points

  France, Champagne

  From the restaurant's wine list and drank with amuse bouche and sea urchin cappuccino. Second time having this bottle in the past month with same impression. Very light color, nice mousse, yeast and buttered toast on the nose, lemon and orange on the palate with some smoke and long finish.

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• 2001 Penfolds Chardonnay Yattarna 92 Points

  Australia, South Australia

  Paired with the farm egg and frogs legs and worked very well. This was a big chard, dark yellow color, almost like and aged sauternes. This is not your Cali butter and oak chard, more along the lines of a Coche. Starts with minerals and acidity. As it warms up it thickens and becomes more viscous and smoky with some wood overtones. Trent, who used to work at Penfolds, brought this bottle and thought it was drinking perfect and at its peak and I concur. It is a wine that is best drunk colder and pop and pour as it starts to fade after time in the glass.

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• 2000 Château La Nerthe Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée des Cadettes 92 Points

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

  Guillame's bottle and paired with the '90 Beaucastel and gnocchi. The nose on this was very sweet with vanilla and candied fruits. The palate was really tight, so I put this to the side and drank the Beaucastel which was open for business. After a couple of hours the palate started to reveal a little meat and smoke and dark fruits. Tannins were big, but I did not get a lot of acidity.

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• 1990 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape 94 Points

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

  Keith's bottle and paired with '00 la Nerthe and the gnocchi. This drank like a CdP tonight, horsey nose, sour cherry, pepper, blackberry, long coffee finish.

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• 1998 Penfolds Grange 95 Points

  Australia, South Australia

  Frank's bottle and paired with the '04 Astralis and suckling pig. I have had hit and miss experiences with this wine, but this one was definitely a hit. I must admit the nose was someone muted, but the palate had vanilla, blueberry, big sweet tannins, no heat (unlike the last time I had this wine) and pretty good acidity. Great mouthfeel and long finish.

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• 2004 Clarendon Hills Astralis 93 Points

  Australia, South Australia, Fleurieu, Clarendon

  Frank's bottle and paired with the '98 Grange and suckling pig. This bottle got very little air time as it was supposed to be a reserve bottle, but we decided to open it anyways (alcohol will do that to you). This has some nice dark sweet flavors of caramel, toffee and blackberries. Good balance and not a lot heat.

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• 1986 E. Guigal Côte-Rôtie La Landonne 93 Points

  France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Côte-Rôtie

  Jason's bottle paired with '89 La Mouline and angus steak. Similar to the Mouline, but not as big or bold. While the same grilled steak and pepper were there, they were not as strong as with the Mouline, acidity was more noticeable and flavors were a little more earthier. Could argue that it was more complex than the Mouline, but most felt the Mouline was more enjoyable in the end as I did, although at first I was leaning towards the Landonne.

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• 1989 E. Guigal Côte-Rôtie La Mouline 96 Points

  France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Côte-Rôtie

  Jon's bottle paired with '86 La Landonne and angus steak. Just like the last bottle, grilled steak, pepper, smoke, green spice, long finish, big tannins, but great acidity too. Drinks well right out of the bottle, but holds up for long time. Perfect match for steak.

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• 2003 Domaine Jean-Louis Chave Hermitage 97 Points

  France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Hermitage

  Jon's bottle and paired with '03 SQN Inaugural Syrah and lamb. This was the WOTN for me. Decanted for 4 hours prior to arrival and got another 3 hours at the restaurant before serving. The evolution of this wine is great. While obviously young, it can be very much enjoyed if properly aired. Upon opening it is all pine tar and menthol, dense and slightly bitter. It will go through a dumb phase for the next few hours and then start singing after about 5 hours. When served, it was showing licorice, anise, chocolate, menthol, coffee and just starting to show a little bit of blackberry/fig/raisin, which is the next stage if we kept airing it. The most compelling attribute of this wine is the body. It is so smooth, perfectly balanced and it just coats your entire mouth in a feeling of luxury. It makes you stop in your tracks. Perfect match with lamb.

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• 2003 Sine Qua Non Syrah The Inaugural Eleven Confessions Vineyard 93 Points

  USA, California, Central Coast

  Bruce's bottle and paired with the '03 Chave and lamb. This did not get the air time that the Chave did and I think that kept it from really showing its full potential. As with many CA syrahs, I got this canned corn thing on the nose. Palate had some big blueberry fruit, big tannins and some noticeable heat. Reminds me very much of the Colgin Syrah. Did not have the complexity of the Chave. Would love to try this again is a few more years.

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• 1995 Dom Pérignon Champagne Oenothèque 95 Points

  France, Champagne

  Guillame's bottle and paired with cheese course. It had been a long time since I last tried this bottle, 4 days I believe. Drank great as usual, tropical fruit, minerality, acidity, great mouthfeel. Very different and much bigger than the Clouet we started the meal with. It was a perfect end to a perfect night as we needed something to bring us down from those big syrahs, but it needed to be big enough otherwise our taste buds not have even noticed.

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I think we all really enjoyed the wines that night. While I rated them in a tight range of 92 - 97, I think the others would agree that all of the wines were great and few were just outstanding. Given the pedigree of the wines we consumed, that is to be expected, but does not always happen. What made the wine even better was the quality of the food and service. This was my third meal at 11 Madison this year and all of them were 4 stars. It just so happens that on this night Bruni agreed. At around 10pm there was a loud cheer from the staff as his latest, and I believe last, NYT review hit the web making it official. Well deserved!