Triple Birthday Dinner

Ponsonby, Auckland, New Zealand
Tasted Thursday, February 5, 2015 by Marc with 330 views

Introduction

Tomato Consume

Couscous Salad with Tomatoes, Cucumbers and Melon

Corn Soup with Grilled Prawns and Shellfish oil
(Corn Soup with Tarragon Oil - vegetarian option)

Poached Snapper with Zucchini , Saffron Fumet and Tarragon
(Pumpkin Tortellini with Brown Butter - Balsamic Vinaigrette - vegetarian option)

Grilled Lamb Loin with Roasted Fennel, Corn Flan and Corn Broth
(Vegtable Pave with Thyme infused Broth, Ratatouille - stuffed Zucchini Flower - vegetarian option)

Cheese Board: English Cheddar, Stilton, 6 - month aged Appenzeller, Goat's Brie

Raw Food Cheese Cake

Flight 1 (6 Notes)

  • 2006 Beaumet Champagne Cuvée Brut 85 Points

    France, Champagne

    Tasty and fresh. Good depth and length. Clear and vibrant acidity. combined with understated autolysis character. Excellent value in vintage champagne - appropriate style and certainly has the ability to age in the short term(although I question whether it will improve).

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  • 2012 A Coroa Godello Valdeorras Blanco 87 Points

    Spain, Galicia, Valdeorras

    Firstly - a perfect match with a course of smoked couscous salad with flavours of the Mediterranean - both in terms of flavour profile as well as conceptually. Crisp acidity, smooth balance, and a strong lemony herbal character adds up to a delicious wine.

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  • 2009 Neudorf Chardonnay Moutere 91 Points

    New Zealand, South Island, Nelson, Moutere

    Rich and intense. On this outing, the wine does not feel completely open. The oak handling is generous but not yet fully integrated. Large scaled and very structured - this feels built for the long-haul and is certainly one of the finest "luxury" chardonnays from New Zealand. Sadly, the wine did not match well to a corn soup with grilled prawns and shellfish oil as the sweetness of the soup brought out the slight (current) raw aspect of the oak and the wine felt just a bit too tight for this dish. I could see this turning into even more of a knock-out with 10 years of age...

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  • 2008 Craggy Range Chardonnay Les Beaux Cailloux 92 Points

    New Zealand, North Island, Hawke's Bay

    Fabulous chardonnay - this feels opulent but still retains a nice sense of structure. Mealy and mineral with plenty of vanillin aspects. Very long and impeccably balanced. This drinks well now - in very early maturity. A slightly more structured version of this wine than previous vintages.

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  • 2007 Craggy Range Sophia 92 Points

    New Zealand, North Island, Hawke's Bay, Gimblett Gravels

    This is a fabulous wine that really delivers on all levels and is clear evidence just how far NZ has come with Bordeaux style wines. On the nose, textbook black doris plums point to the significant merlot content and the depth and integration of the nose is really something. In the mouth, this is still clearly primary but can certainly be approached now. Supple, refined and suave. Beautiful new world expression of merlot but with a wonderful sense of leanness that the Hawkes Bay seems to impart to Bordeaux style wine's acidity levels. Hard to fault and I could see this wine improving with time. Very refined, with the vivid fruit quality and ripeness a special characteristic. I would like to try this wine at age 20.

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  • 1995 Château Léoville Barton 93 Points

    France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Julien

    Tasted just after the stunning Craggy Range Sophia 2007, this beautiful wine shared similarities in terms of its gorgeous fruit ripeness (allowing for the difference in cepage). Distinctly leaner than the CR and obviouly echt-Bordeaux in style, this is a true vin-de-garde which (to my tastes) is only just coming into maturity. Very vibrant in the mouth, very structured. Some wonderful tertiary nuances of fall foliage and cedar bring lovely resonance to the proceedings. During the course of the evening this wine opened in wonderful ways and expressed itself to a deeper level than the (also outstanding ) CR - even though both wines were within a whisker of each other in terms of ultimate quality. Drinking now - 2035, based on tonight's showing - hard to imagine this is already 20 years of age.

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Closing

A lovely evening with close friends was happily complemented by a very even macth-up of wines.

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