Right Bank Bordeaux Themed Euro Lunch
Donato Enoteca, Redwood City, California
Tasted Sunday, January 23, 2011 by rjonwine@gmail.com with 884 views
Introduction
This was another delicious, leisurely monthly Euro lunch at Donato Enoteca with great food from Chef Pedro Ayala. In our continuing, several month tour of the great regions of France, this month's lunch was devoted to wonderful, mature Right Bank Bordeaux. Our prior month's lunch, with mature Bordeaux from the Left Bank, was summarized here: http://www.rjonwine.com/bordeaux/left-bank-1982-horizontal/.
As usual, each attendee contributed a bottle. This time, our collective wines provided a delicious review of two great Bordeaux vintages: 1989 and 1990, along with a couple of other great older wines. Included was a three vintage vertical of one of my favorite Pomerols, La Conseillante, and a pair of St. Emilion's Canon-la-Gaffelière, from '89 and '90. To start, we had a flight of three very different rosé Champagnes.
My WOTD was the '90 La Conseillante. The '82 La Conseillante might have been WOTD, had our bottle not been slightly corked. The '89 La Conseillante and '89 Canon-la-Gaffelière were quite stunning too. For further details on the wines, vintages and food, see below.
Flight 1 - Rosé Champagne Flight (3 Notes)
These were tasty rosés from three producers I like very much. Olivier Collin has been making Champagne under the Ulysse Collin label since recovering 4.5 hectares of his family's vineyards in 2003 that had been under contract to Maison Pommery for many years. With an additional 4.2 hectares of vineyards recovered from Pommery in 2005, including 3 hectares that belonged to his grandparents, the estate is now 8.7 hectares. The Blanc de Noirs, which Collin first made in 2006, is from a plot called Les Maillons near the town of Sézanne that was planted in 1971. It's 100% Pinot Noir. This was an intense, minerally rosé, that could use a couple more years of bottle age. Charles Heidsieck is a regular favorite of mine, and this rosé was good, but lacked a little of the intensity and acidity of our other two Champagnes. It is an equal blend of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier, aged a minimum of three years on its lees. The Vilmart Cuvee Rubis consists of 90% Pinot Noir and 10% Chardonnay, from estate-owned premier cru plots in Rilly and Villers-Allerand. It is aged at least 36 months on its lees, in all or predominantly neutral oak.
Our dish for this flight was Bacala a la Valenciana, with capers, cherry tomatoes and green olives--a very nice pairing with our rosés.
Flight 2 - 1989 Flight (4 Notes)
On to the Right Bank, starting with a delicious flight of 1989s. 1989 and 1990 were both great vintages in Bordeaux, and in most of France. Both were hot years, with '90 tending to show even more ripeness, while '89s tend to be known for a bit more structure from high tannin levels. Merlot tended to fully ripen, as did Cabernet Franc. Acidity levels are quite low, with higher alcohol and lower acidity than in other great years, like 1982 and 1961. The vintage very much favored Pomerol and St. Émilion.
All four of our wines from this vintage were in good shape, showing youthfulness as well as some secondary characteristics. My favorite in this flight, for its relative complexity and elegance, was the Canon-la-Gaffelière. Canon-la-Gaffelière is planted 55% to Merlot, 40% to Cabernet Franc, and 5% to Cabernet Sauvignon. Comtes Stephan von Neipperg took over management in 1983, and his dedication to high quality and lower yields has led to a string of great wines. The La Conseillante was also showing well. Its vineyards are planted 80% to Merlot and 20% Cabernet Franc. Two other Pomerols, La Fleur de Gay and Le Gay, filled out our flight. Le Gay is planted equally to Cabernet Franc and Merlot, and our '89 showed much better, with good integration, than a bottle I'd had some years before. La Fleur de Gay is 100% Merlot, and is a special cuvee from a small parcel of old vines at La Croix de Gay, located between Chateau Pétrus and Vieux-Château-Certan.
Our delicious course for this flight was light and fluffy house made gnocchi with Niman Ranch pork spare ribs, root vegetables and pecorino romano. Yum!
Flight 3 - 1990 Flight (4 Notes)
1990, like 1989, was a hot year in Bordeaux--the hottest since 1947. Besides ripeness, many 1990 Bordeaux are said to have a roasted quality. Acidities are low, as in '89, and tannins, while ripe and sweet, are relatively high. It was a particularly great vintage for St. Émilion. I thought our '90 flight, which included two from St. Émilion and a pair from Pomerol, was a step above our '89 flight. The '90 La Conseillante was particularly delicious and rich, and had the longest finish of any of our Bordeaux. L'Evangile, which is planted three-quarters to Merlot, and one quarter to Cabernet Franc, sold a controlling interest in the year of this vintage to the Rothschilds of Lafite Rothschild (who became 100% owners in 2000 with Albert Frere). It and the Canon-la-Gaffelière were both quite delicious, and youthful, with the latter showing a little of the roasted quality for which the vintage is known. Pavie is planted 60% to Merlot, with 30% Cabernet Franc and 10% Cabernet Sauvignon. Pavie was owned from 1967 to 1998 by Jean-Paul Valette, and 1990 is supposed to have been one of his best vintages. I much preferred this '90 to more recent vintages under owner Gérard Perse, who has turned Pavie wines into excruciating, extreme Parker-styled Bordeaux, over-extracted and over-oaked. This '90, by contrast, was elegant and restrained.
Our dish for this flight was ridiculously good: Casoncelli pasta stuffed with house made sausage, and topped with guanciale, prosciutto, brown butter and sage. Some members of our lunch group were asking for this to be made a permanent course for our lunches, and others have already been back to the restaurant to order another round.
Flight 4 - Older Flight (2 Notes)
We finished with two lovely mature Right Bankers, with our final meat course consisting of pork tenderloin with guanciale and sauerkraut; grilled top sirloin with zucchini; and quail with rosemary, sage and spagna beans.
As mentioned above, our '82 La Conseillante was slightly affected with TCA, which kept it from showing as beautifully as I'm sure it otherwise would have. It nonetheless had some lovely secondary characteristics, and I rated it despite the flaw. 1982 is another vintage known for its heat, low acidities and sweet tannins. Cheval Blanc is the greatest Chateau of St. Émilion, and '83 was a very good vintage for it. This bottle was perhaps a little more advanced than a few that I've sampled in the past, but still quite tasty and elegant. A great way to end a memorable meal.
Flight 5 - Sweet Finish (1 Note)
We had to call for an "emergency sweet wine" to go with our Bosch pear in pastry with zabaione. This Vin Santo served quite nicely. It's made in the traditional way with dried grapes, and aged for three years in 110 liter oak barrels.
Closing
Our thanks to Donato Enoteca, and Chef Pedro, for another exceptional lunch, and terrific service, in an ideal room. Our two month exploratory visit amongst some of the great wines of Bordeaux left me wanting even more, but next month we're heading to the most northerly of France's wine growing regions for an all-Champagne wine lunch. I can't wait!
NV Ulysse Collin Champagne Blanc de Noirs Extra Brut Les Maillons 92 Points
France, Champagne
Light orange peach color; tart pink grapefruit, blood orange, yeast, white chocolate nose; tight, tart blood orange, very tart cherry, mineral, Clementine palate with the usual intensity one expects from this producer, and good acidity, needs 2-plus years; medium-plus finish
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NV Charles Heidsieck Champagne Brut Rosé Reserve 91 Points
France, Champagne
Light medium salmon color; nice, light tangerine, mineral, yeasty nose; tasty, tart strawberry, tart tangerine, tart light cherry, mineral, yeasty palate; medium finish 91+ pts.
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NV Vilmart & Cie Champagne Premier Cru Cuvée Rubis 92 Points
France, Champagne, Champagne Premier Cru
Medium orangey pink color; nice tart red fruit, tart cranberry, mineral nose; tasty, tart cranberry, tart red fruit, tart orange palate with medium acidity; medium-plus finish
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