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Lieux-dits-Cru Richebourg Dinner
Primehouse
Tasted January 7, 2008 by winefool with 1,056 views
Introduction
Absolutely one of the best wine dinners I've ever had the pleasure to attend. Food and service at Primehouse was great (though we did miss Rory) and the wines showed very well pretty much across the board. Tough to imagine topping this lineup anytime soon...
Details on the wine treatment are in Alan's post on eBob at http://dat.erobertparker.com/bboard/showthread.php?t=156177
Flight 1 - A Collection of Caviar (3 notes)
Wonderful sampling of different caviar presentations (all from Brown Trading - the Greek version called Calviseres (sp??) was the best) including the spactacular quail egg toast.
White - Sparkling
1996 Taittinger Champagne Comtes de Champagne Blanc de Blancs Brut
94 points
Tasted blind. Pale yellow color. Lovely rich toasty nose. Wonderufl rich lively acidity and good fruit. Lot of minerality, youth, vibrance, and depth. Easily the best of the three Comtes. 94-95 pts.
White - Sparkling
1995 Taittinger Champagne Comtes de Champagne Blanc de Blancs Brut
92 points
Tasted blind. Pale yellow color. Pale subdued nose with mineral hints. Very tight, not giving up much at this point, though good potential here. 91-92 pts.
White - Sparkling
1993 Taittinger Champagne Comtes de Champagne Blanc de Blancs Brut
90 points
Tasted blind. Perhaps not a perfect bottle? Medium copper color. Full nose of rich caramel toast. Creamy rich exidative yellow toasty fruit, but appears very advanced and (for this bottle at least) at the tail end of the window. Most people thought this was from the 80's with a couple guesses for the 70s. Drink up!
Flight 2 - Porcini Risotto with white truffle roasted pork belly (2 notes)
Red
1959 Gros-Renaudot Richebourg
95 points
Full garnet color. Lovely lithe aroma of bright floral rose, mature red cherry, and smoke. Wow, lovley round dried red cherry palate with lots of secondary and some tertiary complexity. Great fruit and energy remain here, along with an incredible long finish. This actually held up and continued to improve for several hours in the glass! A great burgundy. 95-96 pts.
Red
1961 Gros-Renaudot Richebourg
93 points
Full garnet color. Forward perfumed sweet rose petal and cherry on the nose. A little less energy left on the palate with a bit more tannin and structure, but still a lovely old burg. Just not in the same leauge as the 59. This actually showed very well with the food, but did not have the staying power in the glass, becoming simple after 30-40 minutes. 93+ pts.
Flight 3 - Its Own Course (1 note)
Red
1979 Henri Jayer Richebourg
95 points
Pale garnet color with some lightenting at the edges. Bright clean floral nose with a hint of red cherry. Mmmmn, incredible big rich secondary floral rose palate with plenty of both red and black cherry remaining. Some tannins and structure remain despite the color and it certainly has good acidity (and was therefore good with the food). One of the top five wines of a great lineup for me - really lovely, but certainly not one of the top values.
Flight 4 - Bone-in Veal Tenderloin with pan roasted sweetbreads, potato casserole, thyme, and garlic jus (4 notes)
Really great cut of veal and the sweet breads were perfect. A bit much thyme in the sauce for me.
Red
1969 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Richebourg
92 points
Medium garnet/orange with a little brown at the edges. Medium nose of sous bois, black and red cherry with a slightly canned note. Much better on the palate with nice rich sweet cherry and good spice. A lovely wine, but it did deteriorate a bit in the glass over time. Drink up. 92+ pts.
Red
1986 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Richebourg
95 points
Medium red color with some bricking at the edges. Full nose of black cherry fruit with clove hints - nice. Rich sweet black cherry round friut on the palate. Long tannins and acidity on the finish. A great DRC drinking right in the window. 94-95 pts.
Red
1993 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Richebourg
93 points
Full ruby red color. big nose of black fruit spice but with a shot of green pepper (odd for a burg). Classic 93 DRC - big bold tight tannic black fruit that is showing very young but looking like great stuffing for the future. Surprisingly the green note carried through to the palate for me on this one, which I don't mind, but didn't expect. 93+ pts.
Red
1996 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Richebourg
96 points
Full coffee red color. Lovely lithe round black fruit and a lovely asian spice note on the nose. Melt in your mouth round rich spicy black fruit on the palate with some slight coffee notes. incredible complexity and finishes forever. My (and the group's) WOTN. 96-97 pts.
Flight 5 - Braised Duck Tortelloni with butternut squash, wilted greens, duck breast (2 notes)
Red
1988 Domaine Leroy Richebourg
95 points
Full rich red color. Big forward floral rose and violet nose with great black cherry notes - usual spactacular Leroy nose. Big black chewy cherry tannic fruit with a long tight finish.
Red
1998 Domaine Leroy Richebourg
94 points
Full ruby red color. Incredible spactacular floral rose nose of blcak cherry crumble with a big brown sugar spice box overlay. Easy NOTN. Big black fruit on the palate - still tight and focused with energetic purple notes. Still young and will greatly benefit from 5 more years in bottle. Must try to resist!! 94-95 pts.
Flight 6 - Millbrook Venison Wellington with dried fig and mushroom farce, black truffles, foie gras, whole wheat brioche (4 notes)
Fantastic presentation with the seared rare venison warmed inside this big bread wellington with all the other goodies. A winner.
Red
1988 Domaine Jean Gros Richebourg
94 points
Pale red/garnet color. Loveli ripe smoky rich dusty red fruit nose with a bit of reduction. Big tight red fruit with structure and a slight green note on the finish. Very nice, but not quite as showy as our last bottle of this.
Red
1993 Domaine Jean Gros Richebourg
93 points
Full red/garnet color. Lovely round spicy red fruit nose with strawberry and a hint of spearmint gum wrapper (blew off with a bit of air). Nice black cherry fruit with some rusticity and good structure. Not the best bottle of this I've had, but very good.
Red
1996 Louis Jadot Richebourg
95 points
Full round opaque red color. Huge nose of blcak cherry, spice, and a hint of anise. Mmmmn, lush rich round sweet ripe cherry fruit with beautiful texture and mouthfeel. Sexy and rich. This bottle showed just as well as the last ex-chateau bottle.
Red
1998 Domaine Anne Gros Richebourg
94 points
Medium ruby red color. Huge full candied red/black fruit with a hint of heat on the nose. Big creamy red fruit with subtle chocolate (!) hints, good minerality, and a long finish.
Closing
I believe there were a couple of cheese wines at the end, but I didn't get them down...