Another Dinner with Greg & Sayo

Having finally moved into our new home and now being next-door neighbours with Greg & Sayo, we invited them over as our first dinner guests to celebrate.

• 2002 Louis Roederer Champagne Cristal Brut 93 Points

  France, Champagne

  Very young in colour. Light mousse then very persistent pinprick bubbles. Initially very reticent in all aspects, this really needed an hour to start showing its true depth. Lovely lemony and biscuitty nose that then segues into distinct brioche. Palate is very refreshing, zingy lemon oil and fresh-peeled fresh hazelnuts, white toast and very crisp acidity on the back end. Just starting to put on a little fat on the back end, which is now demonstrating great persistence of finish and growing resonance in the head on the finale. Overall, this is still very primary....very precise, clean, sharp primary elements in perfect pitch and harmony....austere but delicious.

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• 2002 Domaine Leflaive Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montrachet 96 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montrachet Grand Cru

  Deep but bright yellow gold urine colour. Nose is warmed hazelnuts and shavings of lemon zest, rocks and granite. Palate is incredibly pure sharp and crisp "essence of lemon" with absolute huuuge resonance and reverberence on the finish. Stunning and silence-creating. The nose, especially, is totally mesmerising... but that does an injustice to how lovely the palate is too. Still so young yet already so jaw-droppingly gorgeous. Er....after three hours in the glass (with an occasional refresh) it retained a laser-sharpness and focus over a long dinner where it even held its own at the end with Epoisses cheese and yeasty fresh-baked French baguette. Some time during that period it had also shifted up a gear and went to a totally higher plane.....total elegance, harmony and poise on the palate and an endless reverberent silence-creating, profound finish. Brilliant!

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...we continued to drink both wines over "plenty French Artisanale cheeses" provided by Chez Patrick Deli.

• 1996 Pahlmeyer Proprietary Red 93 Points

  USA, California, Napa Valley

  Totally "black hole" opaque black-red in colour with the merest watering at the meniscus. Nose is really young and reticent even after a 12-hour double-decant followed by 2 hours in the decanter.....elusive.....needs chasing....is all graphite and pencil lead. Palate is much more accessible and is gorgeously precise and with fresh acidic high notes...then really laser-powerful gorgeous pure blackcurrant fruit unfolded beautifully on the back end. This mellowed down with time in the glass and softened beautifully with strong French cheese. Very good indeed and has years ahead of it to further develop. This was more high-toned and less flamboyant compared to the previous bottle I drank back in January, possibly as we drank it at a quite cool temperature.

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• 2000 Viña Almaviva S.A. Almaviva 94 Points

  Chile, Maipo Valley, Puente Alto

  Deep, deep blood-red colour. Absolutely gorgeous, gorgeous nose from the first moment.....Pichon Lalande, surely? Earthy! So more-ish....the nose is to die for and is so schnozzable, which is not a word I'm often moved to. Palate is really salivating acidic freshness then real depth of black cherry and kirsch attack on the mid-palate followed by sharp, tart black cherries and assertive but very "clean" and precise tannins....brilliant precision and unctuousness but also real poise. Just a bit inky on the back end for some tastes (but not mine!). Very resonant and persistent on the finish. Still loads of time to mature. One dimensional? On the palate, maybe.....but the dimension is so lovely, who cares! I deliberately opened this to compare to a bottle drank a week earlier on a 34C restaurant terrace and today in a cool house you could better appreciate that the tannins promise this a long life still ahead of it. Just as you wouldn't with the Pahlmeyer 1996 we drank alongside it, I think you just enjoy this for what it is and don't think of it in Bordeaux terms.

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Great Dinner.....as always, thanks for the Cristal 2002, Greg.....and Angela did a brilliant feat with the food in a completely new kitchen.