Shane's Last Night Dinner

Shane was about to leave for his final term at Uni so Sayo organised dinner for six of us at their house. Greg and I did a bit of our traditional "see you and raise you" in advance, which led to another stellar evening of wines shared amongst appreciative friends.

It's awfully churlish to arrive and begin to chill out at a friend's home on a Friday night and then put both glasses of Champagne aside after a few sips......... I don't recommend this unless you're amongst very good friends.

• NV Ruinart Champagne Brut Rosé 79 Points

  France, Champagne

  Others really like this Champagne but it does nothing for me at all. I find it has a soapy palate and with a lanolin mouthfeel that lacks and cut or definition. Just my personal taste, I guess......... chacun a son gout!

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• NV Ruinart Champagne Blanc de Blancs Brut 79 Points

  France, Champagne

  Others really like this Champagne but it does nothing for me at all. I find it has a soapy palate and with a lanolin mouthfeel that lacks any cut or definition. I find it characterless: nothing really bad about it but....Just my personal taste, I guess......... chacun a son gout!

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This was delicious and the weight of the Mersault more than carried Sayo's deliberately toned-down spice infusion of the pigeon.

• 1997 Domaine des Comtes Lafon Meursault 1er Cru Charmes 93 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Meursault 1er Cru

  Bronzed yellow gold. Nose of eastern spice smoke, melted butter, crushed roasted whole lemons. ....very alluring. Palate is really smooth and mellow medium-level acidity that frames rich, buttery well-integrated oak, good finish of semi-dried whole lemons and super slate and crushed rock minerals. Great richness and reverberant length. Great balance. Lots of life ahead of it. Considerably better than the 1996 that we drank recently....the very appealing smokiness and depth is what characterizes this particular vintage.

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Moules Marinieres without cream..... small and sweet.......a perfect counterpoint to the "weightless power" of the Puligny Montrachet.

• 1986 Joseph Drouhin Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Folatières 95 Points

  France, Burgundy, Côte de Beaune, Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru

  One of several bottles acquired as a 2012 Library release direct from the Chateau. Rich buttery shiny gold colour. Looks very alive. Reticent but multi-layered nose of oyster shells, melted butter ... very subtle but really mesmerizing. Palate is a beautiful and subtle remniscence of expensive butterscotch boiled sweets at Christmas in my childhood. Huge resonance in the head and great length. Stunning resonance. Silence creating. All power and no weight. Absolutely gorgeous.

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Gosh, we racked up to some very serious wines tonight and the simple grilled steak was a brilliant complement.

• 1978 Chateau Montelena Cabernet Sauvignon The Montelena Estate 96 Points

  USA, California, Napa Valley

  Dusky semi translucent ruby red. Nose is elegant, poised perfect "at point" claret..... fresh plum and fresh dates, vanilla pod in the background., velvety plush nose. Palate is gorgeous acidic poise and tertiary fruit of fresh dates, fresh prunes, fresh succulent figs.....absolutely gorgeous...deep almost candied black cherry , it still has a belly- filling richness of fruit. Huge wave of deep reverberant resonance and near-endless length. Almost liqueur richness. Succulent. Just lacks that Lafite precision to take it into my ultimate pantheon of, for example, a Grange 1971. Fantastic. This has years ahead of it...still so fresh. Didn't fade one inch. Not decanted.
  
  I'm mid-way through 6 bottles and this bottle was a league better than the two previously drank between a year and two years ago. And they were better than the first I ever drank from a friend's case in 2009. Looks like an upward trajectory.......

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• 1985 Château La Conseillante 96 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Libournais, Pomerol

  Decanted for 2.5 hours. Bright, jewelled limpid near-transparent ruby red colour. Nose is OMFG purity of essence of Bordeaux: linear precision, perfect expression of forest floor....or damp late English summer deciduous woodland and bracken in my vocabulary.....graphite and pencil lead. Palate is superb muted acidity of attack followed by multi-layered sweet small-berried red and black fruits. Impressive purity with more Saville Row-tailored cut rather than velvet plush compared to most Pomerols. Absolutely stunning....almost profound. Just a bit short on length and resonance. That said, it still has a deep resonance of finely polished old shoe leather. Probably drinking near its peak now but with a decade or two ahead of it. Absolutely gorgeous....this is why we love 1985's.....thanks Greg!

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• 1964 Château Fourcas Hosten 88 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Listrac-Médoc

  Surprisingly fresh and bright transparent lambs blood colour. Nose is light lamb's liver blood and a gorgeous sharpened pencil-precise linearity. Palate is thin and died fast into mint leaves. Still a great pleasure to try it....if only for that precision on the nose. Thanks Greg!

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We have a weakness for opening "one bottle too far" on such evenings.......last time it was a Sassiccia 2004, which really was rather a waste (outclassed and too young)........but this time the final wine really grabbed and maintained our attention. But the conclusion was very easy...... drink the La Conseillante 1985 and the Ch. Montelena 1978 over the next 10 years whilst the Ch. Latour 1995 grows up.

• 1995 Château Latour Grand Vin 95 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac

  This was the last wine of a fairly bottle-laden evening but we'd been comparing some of the earlier wines with reference to Lafite/Latour linearity and precision...... so this bottle magically appeared.
  
  Black-red semi translucent. Very bright. Nose is OMG pencil lead.... and more pencil lead. Gorgeous! Dark lurking background on the nose of black fruits and red concentrated berries. Palate is similar gorgeous balance of still too young acidity and tannin but that cancel each other out. Moderate finish and length because it is still painfully young....although we didn't decant it and drank it within 1-2 hours. Vibrant and still incredibly young. Thanks Greg!

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What a perfect Friday evening........ thanks guys and good luck in your Finals, Shane!