Birthday's Eve Dinner

Dinner party in celebration of my wife's birthday.

Tuna tower with avocado, plum tomato and yellow bell pepper

Cold spring pea soup, quenelles of yoghurt and white pepper

Snapper seared with cannellini beans, chorizo and bouillabaisse sauce

48-hour short rib with braised daikon, pickled carrot and mustard seeds

Cheese board, fresh baked bread

Malt sorbet with olive oil and black pepper

• NV Billecart-Salmon Champagne Brut Réserve 88 Points

  France, Champagne

  Very good wine. Impeccable winemaking, great balance, good intensity, some complexity, fresh bottle. The wine delivers excellence but does not have (to my taste) that extra dimension that marks out outstanding champagne. Certainly very elegant.

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• 2008 Pierpaolo Pecorari Sauvignon 86 Points

  Italy, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Venezia Giulia IGT

  An interesting bottle. At age 6, this is round and rich with little discernible varietal typicity. There is a hint of canned asparagus but the real impression is one of minerals and a roundness of texture. If pressed I would have suggested an aged Alsatian pinot blanc. The wine is gentle and has excellent depth and is certainly not drying out. It may have enjoyed more vibrancy earlier in its youth.

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• 2010 Domaine Séguinot-Bordet Chablis Grand Cru Vaudésir 91 Points

  France, Burgundy, Chablis, Chablis Grand Cru

  Excellent Chablis of great structure and authority. It is currently very tight and in need of some time in the bottle to show its best but already one can appreciate the intense minerality, austere fruit quality, mealy complexity and tight acid structure. Excellent length suggests a long and positive evolution is likely.

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• 1989 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape 96 Points

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

  In terms of evolution, this wine is close to perfection. It has the sense of transparency that John Gillman speaks of as these wines approach 25 years of age but also displays the richness of fruit that is so much a part of the vintage. Still massively tannic in structure, but the seductive nature of the fruits adds a velvet texture. Gamey , feral, leathery with tree bark. This is a classic Beaucastel which should see another 15 years in a cold cellar. Perfection in mouth feel and as refined an example of Beaucastel as I have drunk. I may be stingy with the score and lovers of balance and maturity in wine will no doubt approach 100. Tonight I thought 96+ and hope that this will continue to delight and transform.

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• 2005 Domaine du Pégau Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée Réservée 93 Points

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

  Tasted directly after the 1989 Beaucastel, this came across as significantly more primary, yet still with great class and complexity. Certainly a different style, the Pegau offered a ripe and complex nose of dark fruit, earth and animal notes. Richly textured and layered - the Pegau is clearly an excellent prospect for the cellar as there is plenty of tannin left to resolve and the structure and balance of the wine are built for the long hall. This is not a simple over - the top new wave Grenache based confectionary CNdP but rather a wine that will continue to transform and deliver for at least another 10 years.

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• 2005 Château Lafaurie-Peyraguey 90 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Sauternes

  Drunk with an 11 Madison Park recipe of Malted Milk sorbet, olive oil and black pepper, this proved to be a wonderful match (as the wine was sweeter than the dessert). Opulent, botrytis infused apricots and peaches intermingle with lush oak and a creamy texture. Still a baby but certainly delivers a lot of pleasure.

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