Cassoulet Dinner with Friends

This dinner was made especially for a French importer of French wines and his wife. The Chez Panisse recipe for Cassoulet is stunning but needs some time to prepare. Sous vide duck confit was made a few weeks previously and lamb and duck stock were also made ahead of time. It is difficult to know what else to serve with this very mellow yet very rich dish, so I came up with the following menu...

Parsnip and Pear Soup, Pistacchio and Vanilla Oil
Wheatberry Salad with Yogurt, Cucumber and Melon
Cassoulet, Mesclun Salad
A Selection of New Zealand Cheeses
Pear Sorbet with Poached Pear Compote

• 2007 Domaine Yves Cuilleron Condrieu Vertige 91 Points

  France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Condrieu

  Very worked Condrieu with a huge amount of new oak handling that adds a bracing structure, which combined with the great minerality of the wine adds up to a very serious wine that will age very well but for my taste brings little of the melon and white blossom character and fruit derived opulent mouth feel that I prize in Condrieu. Certainly an outstanding wine but not typical. The oak and minerality worked against a coherent match with a Parsnip and Pear soup.

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• 2009 Clos des Papes Châteauneuf-du-Pape Blanc 94 Points

  France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape

  A very very fine wine that is still a baby but makes for a most impressive impression at the dinner table. Huge, tell-tale oxidative notes, honeysuckle, green herbs, massive minerality and huge (15%) alcohol combine in a surprisingly well balanced, massive and very serious bottle of wine. This is not at all flabby but is about as powerful a white wine that I have come across. For all of its complexity and weight, the wine matched beautifully with a Daniel Humm recipe for Wheatberry Salad with yogurt, cucumbers and melon.

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• 1988 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape 95 Points

  France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape

  An example of a Beaucastel achieving the transparency of the earth that John Gillman speaks of when describing these wines around he age of 25 and beyond. Very mouverdre with the tree bark character that is such an integral part of the Beaucastel style. Delicate, etherial, balanced, nuanced, perfection in proportion, this gamey wine came across as at least ten years younger than it was. I have followed this wine since release and in its youth it came across as very fruity and round (almost atypical for the estate) but around four years later it had closed up and was showing far more stern tannins. I then left the last bottle till the age of 25 remembering the 1986 (an unheralded vintage) at the same age two years ago that was exquisite. A very great wine that was a perfect match with the classic (and unequalled, in my experience) Chez Panisse Cassoulet recipe, in all its harmonious glory.

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• 1998 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape 92 Points

  France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape

  After a slightly worrying experience with this wine earlier in the year, this bottle makes me breath a sigh of relief. I do believe that Marc Perrin's view that this wine needs more time is correct. having said this, the wine will always be slightly atypical, in my view. Very ripe, very warm with Grenache character to the fore - there are hints of prune and a juicy richness to the fruit that marry to a palate of good breadth and power with plenty of structure. Not at all in the same class as the 1988 tasted just before, if this wine develops some of the exquisite transparency of that wine, the 1998 should become a more involving wine - although one that will always have a sweet, slightly plum/prune aspect with a rounder structure than classic Beaucastels. The round and gamey character was a fine match with a selection of New Zealand Cheeses.

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• 2009 Domaine Yves Cuilleron Condrieu Ayguets 88 Points

  France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Condrieu

  Very good wine that does not speak of Condrieu as the botrytis dominates the varietal character, for my taste. Very sweet and honied with a deep caramel color and palate with some floral aspects. The wine is beautifully made and has great richness but could use a bit more acid to liven the experience. Based on the color, I would think of drinking this up - but I imagine the sugar will keep this alive for quite some time...

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I decided to go with a Rhone theme for the wines and I especially liked the idea of starting and finishing with Condrieu (even though neither was particularly typical and in the case of the first wine, not a great match) and trying two Beaucastels in different stages of evolution. These wines seem to thrive on extended aging and certainly transform with age, in my experience.