'Le Lievre a la Royale' Long Lunch
cafe EPURE, Shop 403, inside Epure, Level 4, Ocean Centre, Harbour City, Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong
Tasted November 30, 2022 by Goldstone with 112 views
Introduction
Six of us got together for our annual long lunch to celebrate a very traditional seasonal dish of casseroled Hare done two ways in its own blood and with Foie Gras, accompanied by a very traditional and rich French Onion Soup with aged Comte cheese and black truffle. There's always a bit of a competition amongst French chefs over this dish but Chef Fabien at Epure excelled himself.
Flight 1 - Aperitif (2 notes)
Enjoying on the terrace in the cooler but sunny and newly-arrived drier Winter weather.
White - Sparkling
2002 Françoise Bedel Champagne L'âme de la Terre
France, Champagne
Quite mature-looking pronounced golden yellow colour. Drank as an aperitif but would have beneffited from light food such as Prawn Cevice or Scallop Carpaccio. Shows some age in terms of a fast-dissipating mousse but it’s still there if you swirl the glass. Still nicely languorous and persistent streams of bubbles. Nice nutty nose, lightly roasted hazelnuts, some oak, nicely matured. Predominantly Pinot Noir. Lots of character. Much more mature than 2002 DP or Cristal and I think it is probably at peak maturity. Lovely. My first time with this producer. 92+ Thanks, Pierre!
White - Sparkling
2008 Pol Roger Champagne Cuvée Sir Winston Churchill
France, Champagne
Drank as a second aperitif to follow a 2002 Francoise Bedel L'Ame de la Terre. Muted mousse but very lively tiny bubbles in copious, persistent streams bursting with visual energy. Light yellow gold. Nose is high piano notes ozone and sea breeze with yellow meadow flowers. Palate is REALLY scintillating, petillante mouthfeel, chalky, really lively and refreshing. Too young to demonstrate the signature Winston Churchill weight. Very satisfying and has a hugely long life ahead of it to mature and improve. 94+. Thanks, Hans!
Flight 2 - Le Tartare de Beouf (2 notes)
Excellent dish that went well with each of the contrasting wines drank in sequence.
White
2008 Mathilde et Yves Gangloff Condrieu
France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Condrieu
Brightly jeweled sunshine yellow gold colour. Nose is very buttery oak then the honey from yellow clover in a Swiss alpine meadow. Palate is so fresh, great and surprising acidity, impressive minerality. Lightly honeyed and with great finesse. Lovely light almonds tannic structure. Very impressive winemaking by a winemaker who is under the radar screen except amongst French sommelier friends. Thanks Pierre!
White
2001 Domaine de la Vougeraie Vougeot 1er Cru Clos Blanc de Vougeot
France, Burgundy, Côte de Nuits, Vougeot 1er Cru
Bright advanced canary yellow but still very jewelled and fresh-looking. Nose is fresh, minerally, touches of flint stones, very slight unsweetened popcorn, hints of lanolin, the oak treatment is very lightly deftly done. Palate has a super refreshing lemon zest acidity and cut. Very citrus in character but with some schist stone minerality to compliment it. Quite heady in a slow-mounting resonance and reverberance inside the head on a very long finish. 93+ Thanks, Olivier!
Flight 3 - Mushroom Cappuchino (0 notes)
Wow...this intermezzo was something really silence creating. You would swear it had espresso coffee in it but it was simply French mushrooms that Chef Fabien had reduced to a 1-24th volume essence using a laborious Japanese technique then simply fresh cream added....wow!
The Condrieu, Clos de Vougeot and the remainders of the 2 Champagnes paired with with it perfectly.
Flight 4 - Gratinee D'Oignons Au Vieux Comte (1 note)
A super-comforting and very layered dish....very evocative of 'Grandmere' recipes.
Red
1994 E. Guigal Côte-Rôtie La Turque
France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Côte-Rôtie
Very briefly decanted with an initact cork thanks to deft use of a Durand. Drank alonside a 2001 Jaboulet Hermitage La Chapelle. The La Turque has lightened to watery transparency at the meniscus but otherwise semi-transparent and a very slightly dusty/ near to separation hue. Nose is quite reticent but this then explodes on the palate. Palate is lovely sour cherry liqueur. Quite mind-expanding and contemplative on the finale. Probably fully mature but with a long plateau ahead of it. 93-94. Thanks, Daniel!
Flight 5 - Le Lievre a la Royale (1 note)
This was a stupendous dish....Chef Fabien managed to accomplish an element of lightness to what is usually a very heavy, gamey dish.
Red
2001 Paul Jaboulet Aîné Hermitage La Chapelle
France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Hermitage
Briefly decanted. Dense, slightly clouded red plums colour. Nose is absolutely gorgeous and alluring…plums, anthracite, perfumed hints of dried Indonesian black spices, cherry wood smoke. Palate is a lovely complementarity of deep velvet and brightly acidic confit black and red plum fruit. Very heady without being blunt…. gosh. Takes me close to reveries. 93-94 easy. Thanks, Eric!
Flight 6 - Le Brie Truffle Blanche (1 note)
Copious Alba white truffle shaved over gorgeous premium Brie.
Red
1991 Chateau Musar
Lebanon, Bekaa Valley
Decanted for 5 hours than re-bottled and kept in the fridge overnight.Very high shoulders fill. Cork was near-saturated and crumbly cheese in structure but came out in one piece with a Durand. Surprisingly almost no sediment on decanting but a ton stuck to the shoulder of the bottle. Immediate colour on opening is totally transparent, faded mahogany looking like a 1950s Rioja or Barolo. Immediate nose is high notes from a slightly out of tune piano that hasn’t been played for a long time. Very savoury and feral with tons of Unami and old luggage from a damp attic. Immediate palate is barely-awoken, deep-slumbering semi-confit red cherry liqueur, typical Middle East spice market etc. Almost from the first sensation in the mouth you are hit by an awesome wave of deep and endless resonance and reverberance echoing inside your cranium. Wow!
Mellowed beautifully overnight but with all the same elements. Mind-expanding finale. Could have been better with the hare and foie gras than with the Brie & White Truffle it was served with at the end of the meal. Not my best experience of this vintage. 93 this time as was overshadowed in the drinking order by the preceding 2001 Jaboulet Hermitage La Chapelle and the 1994 Guigal Cote Rotie La Turque.
Flight 7 - More cheese...Vacherin Du Hauts-Doubs (often known as Mont D'or) (0 notes)
Chef Fabien prepared this fondue-style in its round wooden box imprpmptu at our table....blending Armagnac and Alba white truffle into a round of runny artisanal cow's cheese from the Jura region.....it is made in the winter when the cows come down off the mountain but don't have enough milk to produce Comte cheese. Wow, this was good!. An experience I'll remember for years.
We continued with the remainders of our 3 reds for this dish, which also complimented the 2 whites for those who had kept some in their glasses.
Flight 8 - Cigars (2 notes)
Red - Fortified
1966 Quinta do Noval Porto Vintage
Portugal, Douro, Porto
Briefly opened before serving but not decanted and drank contemplatively over a cigar at the end of a long lunch. Soaked but intact cork extracted whole with the help of a Durand. Semi-transparent light ruby colour. Beautiful lightly spirited and fully integrated nose with no rough edges. Good fruit. Palate is very rich but still very secondary and hasn’t entered Christmas cake/stollen territory. Cherry liqueur and high-cocoa black chocolate. Absolutely gorgeous and still so young. 94+ Thanks, Hans!
Red
2004 M. Chapoutier St. Joseph Les Granits
France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, St. Joseph
Last bottle of a very long lunch and drank over a late afternoon cigar. Semi-opaque dark red-black colour. Nose is reticent red cherry and not helped by pnp. Palate is rather dried out with the tannin predominant above the faded fruit. Earthy. Would almost certainly have benefited from a 1-2 hour decant. I scored this 92 when last drank in more contemplative circumstances three years ago but it was outgunned today. Thanks, Daniel!
Closing
Bravo, Chef Fabien! And great that we could enjoy a table on the terrace overlooking Victoria Harbour. A great lunch with some super wines and cigars very generously contributed by all.
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