Champagne and Chambertin
Marea in New york
Tasted Tuesday, November 23, 2010 by ricknat1 with 964 views
Introduction
Ray put together a wonderful BYOB night in the private room at Marea. The theme was Champagne and Chambertin. Someone broke the rules, but since they brought a 1937 Ausone, no one complained. Every wine showed beautifully except one magnum, the food was magnificent as the white truffles are at their peak right now and the company was great.
Flight 1 (2 Notes)
Served with Assagio di Crudo, a house specialty of amazing sashimi, there was a lot of debate over the 61 VC and whether it still had it in the fruit department or whether it was on the way down. The wines got better as the evening progressed and are wonderful with raw fish. The food was so good, we discussed having an all crudo evening.
Flight 2 (3 Notes)
I had the Astice, which is noava scotia lobster knuckles with burrata, eggplant and basil and is a dish I can never pass up at Marea. The other choices were Jumbo lump crab with duck prosciutto and fromage blanc in puff pasty or seared nantucket scallops. The 73 was dead, but the DP was magnificent and the Billecart held its own very nicely against it. Both improved over time int he galss.
Flight 3 (1 Note)
Everyone had the Uovo, slow poached egg with white truffles, polenta and parmigiana. Wow. Perfect choice, perfect truffles. The 76 Drouhin was a shocker and incredibly, clean pure and elegant. Served from Magnum
Flight 4 (2 Notes)
The 37 Ausone was its own course. Bought at auction in Hong Kong, it was in perfect shape, although the bottle was unreadable. Like the 55 Mouton we had in September, it was what it was supposed to be although as the night went on, it developed a back end of band aid. This was an exciting treat.
Flight 5 (3 Notes)
Back for more truffles, we moved onto house made Taglietelle with white truffles in a small amount of cream. Perfect. almost as many truffles as pasta and just enough cream make them sing. The 88 Chambertin was so clean and pure that it topped the two Bezes, but on any other night it would be a treat to have them.
Flight 6 (2 Notes)
I had the Creekstone Farms 50 day aged prime sirloin with bone marrow panzanella and braised romaine and a confit of cippolini onions. The other choices were swordfish with cranberry beans and pesto or baby chicken with squash, potato romensco and rosemary. As I recall, 89 was Leroys first year of Latricieres and her second year on her own and i could not tell if this is young or just not 100% integrated. The 91 sang to me.
Flight 7 (2 Notes)
We finished with a small cheese selection and the two Charmes that I brought, which on ay other night would be a treat and both showed extremely well but are still young in comparison to the Rousseaus and Drouhin
Closing
It was hard to leave any of these wines in the bottles or in the glass even though there were many we were up to the challenge. Wines that would be a special treat on other nights dimmed compared to some stars and my appreciation for older champagne continues to grow. Thanks to Ray and Mike
1961 Veuve Clicquot Champagne Brut Rosé Vintage 94 Points
France, Champagne
Caramel in color, no effervescence, rich, long, Ray says he detects meatiness and that this is not at its peak. He calls Carl and I necrophiliacs, but I think it is delightful and one of my favorites that just improves with time in glass. Mike says whiff of oxidization and I can see the reference, its just not bad with this wine. A treat.
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1982 Moët & Chandon Champagne Cuvée Dom Pérignon Rosé 94 Points
France, Champagne
Bright, young intense fruit. At one hour this as grown rich and at 2 intense. Really good. Long way to go
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